The character of Jeremiah  by Terry Prather

   Jeremiah is the book that tells you how God deals with nations. Do
you realize that there are some nations which the Bible mentions that
are not even in existence any more? The nation Moab, for instance, is
not around any more. And yet Jeremiah chapter 50 mentions that God
would judge the nation Moab. What happened? Well, according to the
Bible, He judged them so hard they're not even in existence.

   There are some other countries that God has judged. The nation of
the Hittites are not even around any more. There was a big problem with
archaeology for the longest; they said the word "Hittite" was just a
scribal addition to the Scriptures, and that there never was such a
city or group of people called the Hittites. In 1973 they unearthed
some things which they couldn't recognize. They didn't look like
anything they had seen before. They got to searching around and
searching around; then, all of a sudden, through decoding the language,
that these people called themselves "Hittites." What happened? Well,
the Bible just proved them wrong again; that's what happened!

   You give it enough time, and this book is going to prove itself over
and over and over again. Every sphere and atmosphere, every amount of
knowledge--historical, medical--in ANY way possible--this Book is going
to prove itself to be true time and time again.

   And God purposely lets the world make a complete fool out of itself.
And then he'll show these fools what has already been written down; and
it will just come up and prove the Bible every time. Archaeology backs
it up; history backs it up. Any kind of sphere of knowledge you want to
look at will back up this old Book, the Bible.

   Now, Jeremiah was a preacher whom God called from the womb. We don't
believe in abortion; we believe it's wrong. One of the reasons we
believe it's wrong is because God called Jeremiah when he was in the
womb--and he moved. God did a lot of things with some of his men who
were still in the womb. John the Baptist was in the womb for six
months, and he saw Mary, the mother of Jesus, come in--and, boy, he
jumped and leaped from within the womb. What happened? He was
ALIVE--that's what happened! And he knew that that was something
wonderful; God called him.

   Jeremiah is a similar person. He's a man child, and he's called to
go to a nation that's stiff-necked and hard-headed. God said, "You go
and you preach to them." And Jeremiah's a hard preacher. He's such a
hard preacher that he preaches to over five different kings. He
preaches for over 23 years. The end result is, he winds up with about
three converts--and that's it. After only 23 years of preaching, three
people finally fell in with him, and God blessed those three men and
helped them. Jeremiah was that kind of a preacher.

   In fact, God said, "Jeremiah, I don't even want you to get married.
The time is so rough and so bad, I need all your attention to be
focused upon me. Don't get married." And he didn't get married. And
Jeremiah had no children, no offspring.

   You say, "What happened to Jeremiah?" You'll see him in heaven.
You'll see him one today.

   I want you now to see what Jeremiah preached to the nation of
Israel. Jeremiah 4:1-4:

   If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the LORD, return unto me: and
if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight, then shalt
thou not remove.

   And thou shalt swear, the LORD liveth, in truth, in judgment, and in
righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in
him shall they glory.

   For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up
your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.

   Circumcize yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of
your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my fury
come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the
evil of your doings.

   Look here in verse 1. Here, through the prophet Jeremiah, God says
something that is somewhat confusing. He says, "Return unto me: and if
thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight, then shalt thou
not remove." The interesting thing about this is that it's almost an
impossibility. It's almost an impossibility to put anything out of the
sight of God.

   Why? Psalm 139:7: Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or whither
shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art
there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the
wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even
there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I
say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light
about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth
as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.

   God says, "Take the abomination away out of my sight." That's
impossible, because God is everywhere. He's in heaven; he's in hell.
God is between you and me. You say, "What is that?" Well, that's a good
definition in a roundabout way. What is God? The Bible says, "God is a
spirit." What exactly does that mean? Well, if God is in heaven and
hell at the same time, and darkness and light are both alike to Him,
then that tells you something tremendous about God. You say, "What is
God?" God is space. The space between you and me is God. And yet, I see
you, and you see me. But between us, although we can't see God, God is
there. That's space. That's God.

   And so, when God says, "Thou shalt take away thine abomination out
of my sight," that's impossible to do--unless God has a certain place
that He looks.

   That's what we want to explore now. Does God have a certain place
that He looks upon man? I believe that He does. Let me show you what
I'm talking about.

   Go to the book of I Samuel, chapter 16. This is a wonderful portion
of Scripture. God gets mad at the king, and He decides He's going to
get another king. And so God goes looking for another king, and He
knows who the king is. But yet He's going to do something with this
king that He's never done with any other king. Look at verses 6 and 7.
You know the story if you know your Bible at all; Samuel goes to the
house of Jesse to search for a king, but he doesn't really know who the
king is. Samuel, being a "good, American Christian," looks at what we
would look at. He saw the first guy coming in; he was a nice, big,
strapping fellow, with a lot of muscles and a lot of hair and a lot of
good looks. He said, "Surely the Lord's anointed is before me."

   And the Lord said, "Hey, don't look at him. I've rejected him. He is
not what I want."

   Verse 6: "And it came to pass, when they were come, that he looked
on Eliab, and said, Surely the Lord's anointed is before him. But the
Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his ountenance, or on the height of
his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man
seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh
on the heart."

   The reason why you have nowhere to hide or nowhere to run, is
because God looks at the heart. I don't care where you go or what you
do. No matter where you are, God has one place in mind. If God has two
eyes, or if God has seven eyes, or if God has one eye--I can't figure
out how many eyes God has got, because I keep running across a God who
has got all kinds of eyes--I don't care how many eyes He's got, I want
to tell you that God has got but one place to look with any of His
eyes, and that's upon your heart.

   There's no place to hide.

   I don't know about you, but I'd hate to be a sinner, away from God,
running from God, having heard the gospel, having known the way of
salvation--and reject it and be running from God. Why? Because there's
no place to hide.

   God would be looking at your heart all the time.

   People keep wondering about where the heathen go. "Where do the
heathen go, if they don't know anything about the gospel?" I'll tell
you where they go! They go to K-Mart; they go to Woolworth's; they go
to Sears. That's where the heathen go! If you don't believe it, just
look around; they're everywhere, brother!

   I'll tell you where the heathen go. They'll go to Heaven if they get
saved, and if they reject Jesus Christ, they'll go to hell. You say,
"What if they never heard?" Brethren, they have heard. In 1990, the
whole world has heard the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. If there is
some place out there in Papua New Guinea where they've never heard,
then let me tell you something--it's not those people who are at fault;
it's God's people who are at fault. God is trying to get somebody out
there to talk to them and so they could get witnessed to and so they
can hear the gospel. Do you know why God sends missionaries? Because
God looks upon the nation; He doesn't look at how good they are. He
looks upon the nation and He sees how wicked they are. But yet He'll
look--not at their faces, not at the king, not at the monetary
value--but He'll look upon the heart.

   If there's one lost sinner in Africa, brother, God will work on a
Christian to get him over there. Why? He'll look at that heart. He sees
in that heart that that fellow has but one thing, one commodity, that
God looks for in a sinner.

   What is it? I'm glad you asked! Look at Jeremiah chapter 5. When God
looks at your heart, this is what God wants to see. God wants this
thing in your heart more than anything else. I'll tell you something;
there are a lot of people who have this all fouled up. That's why they
teach this heresy that some are born to die and go to hell, and some
are born to get saved and go to heaven. They don't understand the
Bible. Let me tell you something; God looks at the heart. When He sees
this commodity in the heart, He'll save you. Here's the commodity:

   Jeremiah 5:3: "O LORD, are not thine eyes upon the truth?" That's a
question. "Thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved: thou
hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they
have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return."

   What happened to the nation of Israel? God started looking at the
individual, and He said, "There is no truth and desire in their heart
for the truth. Therefore, I'll turn that nation upside down."

   God turned the nation of Israel upside down and shook it until 2500
years later, in 1948. What happened? God didn't bring them back because
they were looking for Him. God brought them back because of His
prophecy that those whom He scattered He would bring back at the end
times. Brethren, that's how we know we're in the end times.

   Let me ask you something. Have you got truth abiding in your heart?
Is there something in your heart that longs to know what the truth is?
I mean, absolute, unadulterated, final truth--do you want that now? You
ought to. Let me tell you something; the reason you got saved is
because you heard the gospel, and the gospel bore witness to your
heart. The reason it bore witness to your heart is because you had a
desire for the truth. Brethren, that's what will save you every time!
That will save you, whether you are a sinner, lost, going to hell, or
you're a Christian who has made one of the biggest blunders in your
life. It'll still save you.

   David did something that was absolutely horrible under the Old
Testament. David did a sin for which there was no blood atonement
provided in the Law. There weren't enough lambs, there weren't enough
cattle, there weren't enough goats to wash away the sin that David did.
David was guilty before God. He should have died, and they should have
stoned him, because there was no sacrifice to be made for him. And yet
God saved him.

   Why did God save him? I'm glad you asked! Look at Psalm 51. The
reason there are people who are right now dying and going to hell is
not because they don't want to go to hell; it's not because they don't
want to go to heaven. The reason they're going there is because they
don't want the truth. The reason you invite people to come to church
and they don't come to church is because they don't want the truth.
They look in their heart, and it's not there.

   David committed a terrible blunder. But in his heart, he desired
something, and that so impressed God that God saved him in spite of the
fact that there was no sacrifice to offer. Psalm 51:5: "Behold, I was
shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me." Well, so
much for your mother; your mother is a sinner, too. Verse 6, referring
to God: "Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the
hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom."

   Why did God not kill David? He killed and dethroned Saul, because
Saul disobeyed him in just one area of his life about killing the
Amalekites. I looked at that whole thing and I thought, you know,
that's kind of strange. Here's ol' Saul, and God just kind of cut him
off real quick. But here's David: After he has been on the throne, he
committed adultery, and then had the man killed and then lied about it,
and then didn't repent of it until God confronted him about it.

   I mean, if he was anything at all, he should have repented after he
did all that. But he went on for a good year--I know that because there
was a baby born out of it, and it takes a baby nine months, so you can
safely say it was anywhere from nine months to a year--that he got away
with it and was living in secrecy about his sin.

   Then, one day, God sent an old prophet. He stuck that bony finger in
his face and said, "Thou art the man." You think about that. Yet David
should have died. If God's going to be honest and even, he should have
died, because God killed Saul and let Saul get dethroned and didn't
help Saul. He wrote him off.

   But there was one thing between David and Saul that was different.
It made all the difference in the world. David had the desire in his
heart for the truth. Even though he may not have lived like it, when
God looked upon David's heart, he saw a man who had a desire for the
truth. He wanted the truth. Even if it was the truth about himself; he
still wanted the truth.

   There is no place to hide when it comes to things. There are some
things that God wants to do now. If He saved you, then He saved you
according to the truth. Amen? What is the truth? Jesus said, "I am the
way, the truth and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me."
Now, that's the plain, Scriptural, spiritual truth, and there is no way
to get around it. And yet, how many times in the world we hear them say
other things.

   I heard the Pope today--that old wino, liquorhead, abomination,
leading the Roman Catholic whore. You say, "I don't like you talking
like that!" That's the problem. That's why there is not going to be a
whole lot done in these last days. It's not the world getting upset at
God's preaching; it's the Christians getting upset. You know, you ought
to be ashamed of that, if you get upset because somebody says something
that's truthful. Now, isn't it true that the Roman Catholic Church is
the whore of Revelation 17, 18, and 19? Isn't it true that the pope,
John Paul II, leads one of the biggest abominations there is? Isn't it
true that they talk about the "Queen of Heaven" as Mary? And isn't it
true in Jeremiah, if you read the book, that God beats on Israel
because they've made "cakes"--little wafers--and patted them down and
held them out to the queen of heaven? You say, "Yeah, it's true!" But
you get upset. You know why you get upset at that kind of stuff?
Because there's no truth in you. You're letting truth slip away from
you. There's no place to hide from that kind of stuff.

   People say, "Well, I'll just leave this church and go to this church
down the street." Well, you go down to this church down the street, and
I'll guarantee you they won't say anything about it. You say, "Well,
they've got a bigger crowd than you do." I know they do. God bless them
for having a bigger crowd; maybe one day God will give us a big crowd.
But God will have to do it.

   You say, "Now wait a minute, preacher. You said I got saved by
having the truth?"

   That's right. For desiring the truth, God saw that He could give you
the truth, and that you'd respond to it.

   You say, "Wait a minute, preacher. I've got the truth now, but some
of this preaching makes me upset. What do you say about that?"

   I'll tell you what I say. I say your a compromiser. That's what I
say. I say that you compromise so much with the world that when the
truth is written down, and the truth is preached, and you get mad, then
you're a compromiser.

   Now listen. What would you do if tomorrow morning President Bush got
on nationwide television--every station everywhere covering his
speech--and he says, "I make a decree as President of the United States
that every homosexual be taken and shot to death." Now, you know he's
not going to do that.

   But let me ask you something. Do you know what God told a king over
there in II Kings? Do you know he commended him for? He said, "Because
you drove the sodomites out of the country. I'll spare you." Do you
know what Romans 1:18-29 says? It says that God gave those people
over--now you listen to me!--He gave them over to a reprobate mind, a
reprobate soul, and a reprobate body. You say, why? Because they did
not love the truth. They did not glorify God as they ought to.

   If tomorrow morning, President Bush made that decree in this
country, I guarantee you, it wouldn't be the ACLU that would rear up
and say, "Hey, wait a minute; you can't do that." It would be a
Christian church that would stand and say, "Now wait a minute. God is
love, and God is not going to do that."

   Brethren, I want to tell you something. God is going to judge
America, and He's going to judge the nation with this disease called
AIDS. You watch out.

   This little fellow Ryan White--you remember that little fellow who
died of AIDS a couple of weeks ago? The news media always calls it what
they like to call it. They called him an activist. That's not true at
all! That kid was not an activist. That kid just got dealt a raw deal,
and got AIDS. He wasn't queer. He wasn't a faggot. His daddy wasn't a
faggot. There was no faggot in his family. But he went down to the
blood bank and got AIDS--from the blood bank! Those lying people on
television and radio are telling you that our blood is secure. It isn't
secure! They're saying, "We know now what happened." They don't know
what happened! I don't know about you, but that makes me mad!

   I don't know; maybe I would become an "activist" if that were my
kid. I think that would bother me a bit. You know, your health is
important. You lose it, and you'll find out how important it is. That
kid wasn't even 18 years old. And because some liberal, modernistic
politician who hates God and hates the Bible and wants to show that
he's a "do-gooder" stands up and says, "Well, we can't do anything we
want with these homosexuals; they've got their rights"-- brethren,
they're killing our country! And they're killing our kids-- eighteen
years old. God have mercy. Ryan White didn't deserve that.

   I'll tell you something. There are going to be a lot of things come
down on America, and we're going to look at it and say, "It's not
right." You know whose fault it is? Brethren, it's the Christians'
fault.

   We had a proposition in this country years ago called Proposition 6.
Those sodomites wanted to get into our schools and said, "Hey, we want
to teach an alternative lifestyle." Brethren, the Christian Church
couldn't get enough of us together to vote it down--and they voted it
in! And so now, in our public schools, we can have a homosexual up
there teaching homosexuality. I say God is going to judge this country
if we don't get on our face before God and help out! It may be too
late, but I'll tell you what, brethren. There are a lot of things going
on about which you and I are being lied to and lied about, concerning
this AIDS thing.

   My son was telling me about an event the other day in his classroom.
The teacher got up and asked, "Is AIDS the judgment of God?" Josh and a
little girl named Mickie Phillips--brother Joe Phillips's daughter--
they both said, "Amen!" You ought to have seen what happened; all the
kids turned around and looked at him. What did you do, Josh. He said,
"We just sat there and said, 'That's true!' Why wouldn't it be?"

   But the teacher came back with, "Well what about all these people
who get AIDS and it's not their fault?"

   Hey, it's still the judgment of God. I can't help it; you may not
like it. I don't like it; it bothers me to say that. But God's not
going to say, "OK, you're innocent." Listen, when the judgment of God
falls because of sin, a lot of innocent people get hurt! And brethren,
you better listen to me. It's true--if President Bush came out and
said, "All right, we're going to kill all the queers," it would be a
Christian church--it might even be a Baptist church--that would raise
up and say, "Oh, no, God is love."

   Let me tell you something; God is love. But God is also holy; He has
character. And God will judge this country. And you and I had better
get on the right side--on the Lord's side.

   There is no place to hide, brethren--no place to hide.

   The thing we need to find out is what God desires. Amen? I don't
know about you, but that's what I am interested in. What does God
desire? He desires the truth.

   What about you? Do you desire that?

   Look at Psalm 37. I've taught the verse I'm going to show you a
certain way, but God showed me something else about it recently. It's
one of those wonderful passages of Scripture that you'll find written
on greeting cards; you'll find it everywhere. This verse I'm going to
show is a good verse; it's an honest verse. It's a verse you can live
on. But I want to give you a different understanding about it now.
Notice what it says in verse 4: "Delight thyself also in the LORD; and
he shall give thee the desires of thine heart." Now the standard
teaching on that thing is this: If you get happy and excited and
delight yourself in the Lord and serve Him, then you'll have some
desires, and God will take care of those desires. I taught it that way;
I've even claimed those promises that way.

   But now I want to give it to you in a different way. Is that verse
teaching that, if we delight ourselves, we get something from God?
Rather, if we delight ourselves in the Lord, God gives us something,
and it's not necessarily materialistic things. If we delight ourselves
in the Lord, God will give you and me the desires of our heart. What
does that mean? Well, let me give you one. First Peter 2:2 says,
"Desire the sincere milk of the word." If you've got a desire in your
soul to get this Book and read this Book and have this Book speak to
your heart and to your soul and make you a better man or woman, a
better Christian, a better father, to make you a better servant of God,
you didn't get that desire from the preacher. You didn't get that
desire from the world. You didn't get that desire from the devil. You
got that desire from God, because God put that desire in your heart.
Why did God put that desire in your heart? Because you delighted
yourself in the Lord.

   Let me give you another one. The Bible says in Hebrews 6:16, "But
now they desire a better country." I want to tell you, if you've got a
desire in your soul for a better country--I mean, really, just look
around this place sometime, and you'll see all that's going on in our
society, and see all the filth and the abominations that are in our
country. People say, "Well, I just can't see them." Well, turn off the
television and turn on God and you'll see everything you need to see.
Amen? And you ought to have a desire for heaven. That desire only comes
from God; it won't come from anywhere else. You have to delight
yourself in the Lord.

   Let me give you another one. The Bible says in 1 Timothy 3:1, "If
any man desireth the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work." You
say, where does a man get the desire to get in the pulpit and preach
the Bible, or to pastor a church, or to become a missionary or to teach
a Sunday school class? He gets those desires from God. And, brother,
you won't get a desire from God unless you delight yourself in the Lord.

   Let me give you another one. In Philippians 4:17 Paul said, "I
desire fruit that may abound to your account." Do you want to have some
fruit when you go to heaven? Do you want to bear some good works? Do
you want to see somebody get saved? Do you want to see something done
for God? That doesn't come from the ground. That doesn't come from the
fireplace. That comes from the bosom of God, and you'll have to delight
yourself in the Lord.

   Let me give you another one. In Philippians 1:23, Paul said, "I have
a desire to part and be with the Lord." You say, why did he do that? He
didn't even have a TV and he saw how wicked it was! Paul said, "I've
got a desire to be with the Lord." Do you know what that is? That's
fellowship with God. You and I ought to have a fellowship with the Lord
that is so rich and sweet and pure that, brother, it energizes you and
gives you power. It gives you zeal for God. But you won't have any
desire like that until you delight yourself in the Lord.

   Let me give you another one. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 14:1 to
desire spiritual gifts. You know, I don't know about you, but I believe
God is still giving out some spiritual gifts. I believe preaching is a
spiritual gift. I believe soul-winning is a spiritual gift. I believe
there are things God wants to give us as spiritual gifts. But you have
to desire them! You say, "Why don't I desire them?" You don't delight
yourself in the Lord. Delight yourself in the Lord, and He'll give you
the desires of thine heart.

   Let me give you another one. Romans 10:1, Paul says, "My heart's
desire and prayer is that Israel might be saved." And he prayed that so
much that he said, "I wish I could be accursed for my people." That guy
had a burden; he had a burden for lost people. You say, "Where did he
get it from?" He delighted himself in the Lord, and God gave him the
desires of his heart.

   Let me ask you something. The desire of the Bible and heaven and
preaching and fruit-brearing and fellowship with God and spiritual
gifts and burdens for lost people and the burden of the Lord--those
things come from God. That's God putting the desire not in your mind,
not in your soul, but right in your heart. There is no place to hide.
God is looking at the heart. I just wonder, is it really true what I'm
saying? When God is looking at your heart, what does He see? Is there a
desire to make a lot of money? Is there a desire to get a bigger house?
Is there a desire to get some materialistic things? Let's wake up to
the fact that we've got more materialistic things than we know what to
do with. Amen?

   Listen, when I walk out of my house, as God is my living
witness--and some of you, you could bear witness to this if you had
enough guts to say so!--I get confused as to which car I want to take!
That's right, man! I have three different cars--four cars counting my
son's car. (If I want to take it, I can't whip him any more, but I've
still got voice control. I can say to him, "I'm taking your car
tonight; you take this car.") I've got four different automobiles that
I can walk out to and have the key to all of them. And, thank God, I've
got the pink slip to all of them. Amen? I get confused sometime as to
which car I want to drive.

   Brethren, you talk about materialistic, let's talk materialistic!
Listen, sometimes I get confused when I go to dress. I open the closet,
and I have seven or eight suits to put on; I've got all kinds of
shirts; I've got all kinds of ties. I wore the same tie today because I
was so confused; I said, "Aww, forget it; I'll wear the same tie
again!" I looked over in the corner and counted seven pairs of boots I
could have have worn today. They all fit and looked just fine! You talk
about materialistic--man, let me tell you something. Brethren, we've
got everything we ever needed and a lot more.

   I look around and see two toilets on the inside of my house. You
say, "What's with that?" Fifty years ago you couldn't have said that!
Fifty years ago, if somebody wanted to stand up and give a testimony
and say, "I just want to thank God that I've got an indoor toilet,"
they'd say, "What is he talking about?" Brethren, I've got two of them
at my house! I've got a bathtub and a shower. I've got two televisions.
Two remove controls--one works and the other doesn't! The other one is
on its way out; it just doesn't know it yet.

   We've got so many materialistic things, we don't need God to give us
the desires for those things! My goodness, God already blesses His
people abundantly! And He'll take care of all your needs.

   One Sunday school teacher I once had, a little old mountain man who
preached up in the woods and came down to be our Sunday school teacher,
said, "God takes care of all my needs, and half my wants!" And boy, if
that isn't true!

   Listen, let me ask you something. When God looks on your heart, what
is it that He sees there? Truthfully, listen to me. Do you truthfully
desire to know this Book? Truthfully tonight! Do you truthfully desire
to know heaven? You think about it? Think about someone who's there
that you know. It could change your thoughts. It could change your
whole attitude, to think that one day I'm going to be in heaven. Do you
truthfully want to have that tonight?

   What about preaching? Do you really desire to have some preaching
that will help you? I had a pastor one time who was a Sunday school
teacher turned preacher. We lived up in Klamath at the time. My wife
got saved under his preaching. My sister got saved under him. My little
brother got saved under him. My mother got under deep conviction under
his preacher. That guy didn't have enough education to put in a bag to
take to school. But, I'll tell you what--when I'd go there to church,
I'd say, "I just wonder what he's going to preach tonight." I mean, I
had a real joy about this guy, the way he preached. I'll never forget
him; that guy's name was Carl Boyd. When that guy would bow and pray in
the pulpit, I sometimes--honest before God--would have to open my eyes,
because I thought he was talking right to the Lord.

   This guy would preach, and my heart would get filled! One night we
had a revival, and we had an evangelist come in. I was so disappointed.
The evangelist was good, but I would much rather have listened to the
preacher. He just filled me up with the word of God, and he just loved
God, and it just showed! God bore witness to him.

   You know what? Is there a desire in your heart, truthfully, for the
preaching of the word of God? Is there really?

   Is there a desire to really bear some fruit? I'm saying there is no
place to hide. You maybe think you can fool me; you're only fooling
yourself. You certainly can't fool God. God is looking at your heart.
Is there a truthful desire in your heart to bear some fruit? Are you
discouraged? Are going to quit? Are you going to back up and say,
"Well, God's not blessing; therefore, I'm getting out."

   Listen, you compromiser, why don't you quit compromising and
listening to the world? That's the way the world handles it! Brethren,
from our royal seed, and from our heritage, we've got Christians who
were under the blood of Christ who never quit even though they lost
their families. They still stuck hard for God. What do you and I have
to be discouraged about? What have we got to be upset about?

   We'll go home today and open the refrigerator. You talk about food--
there will be wall-to-wall food on the other side of that refrigerator
door! I want to tell you something; there are some Christians over in
Ethiopia who love God and are just as saved as you and I. But they'll
go home tonight to one bean--nothing! You know what they'll do? They'll
probably say, "Praise God!" We'll go home tonight, and we'll look, and
we'll be confused. Do I want apple pie or strawberry pie? Do I want ice
cream or yogurt?

   Brethren, we have got it made in America! Of all people, we ought to
have revival. If ever anybody ought to have revival, it ought to be
Fundamental Baptist Church--because God has just been so good to us and
blessed us and helped us, and worked on us, and has done wonderful
things for us!

   Let me ask you something; when God looks on your heart, is there a
desire for spiritual gifts? One of the spiritual gifts is the gift of
helps. The gifts of prophecy and wisdom and faith. Really and truly, as
God looks on your heart, is He going to see a desire for that? Or is He
going to see a desire for something that is absolutely worldly and
ungodly? There is no place to hide.

   Let me ask you something. Is there a truthful desire in your heart
for a burden for lost people? Man, can you remember how it was when you
first got saved? I can remember; I witnessed to everybody; I talked to
everybody; I just wanted to see people saved, because it was the
greatest thing that ever happened to me.

   I remember one time I saw a Roman Catholic priest. I talked to that
bird. I figured, "Well, the reason he's a priest is because he needs
that kind of understanding, he needs that black robe, he needs that
backwards collar, he needs all those adornments." But, I'll tell you
what, I went up and talked to that guy and said, "Man, isn't it great
to be saved?"

   I was in Thailand at the time. That guy looked at me and said, "Oh,
a fanatic."

   He just about quenched my fire, man! I finally went and told
somebody about it. I said, "You know, I don't think that priest there
understood what I meant when I said I was saved."

   This guy just laughed to high heaven. He said, "Man, that Baal
worshipper doesn't know what you're talking about!" He said, "That guy
right there is the biggest false prophet there ever was."

   I said, "Wow! Really?" I didn't get offended. It didn't make me mad.
I said, "Why do you say that?"

   He opened the word and said, "Man, here, look here at what the Book
says. Here's what the Book says. Here's what the Book says. The Bible
says, 'Call no man your father which is open this earth,' Matthew 23:9."

   I went, "Wow!"

   He said, "Man, we're in a battle."

   Let me ask you something. Is there a desire in your heart for some
truthful desires of God? There ought to be! There ought to be a desire
for God's Book, there ought to be a desire for you to do something for
God, there ought to be a desire for the Lord Jesus Christ like you've
never had in your life!

   Just Him, and Him alone. He's all-sufficient. Amen? He's risen from
the grave. He's all-sufficient. Brethren, He sits up there at the right
hand of God, and He's able to take care of everything we've ever had a
need of being taken care of! If you need a job, the Lord Jesus Christ
said He'll take care of that. You ought to love Him for it. You ought
to have a desire in your heart to fellowship with Him, to love Him, and
to get alone with Him and to pray with Him, and to have all kinds of
desires towards Him.

   There is no place to hide. If you don't have it, you're a
compromiser. You need to get right on that matter.

   Listen to me. I don't know about you, but I'd hate to go to heaven
discouraged, broken, and unthankful. I really would. I'd rather go to
heaven, maybe not having all my faculties, maybe not having the best of
health, maybe not having the best that this world can offer-- but I'd
rather go to heaven, brethren, being on fire for God and having revival
in my heart and a truthful desire to serve God. I'd rather have tonight
than anything.

   I want to tell you something. I don't know what it's going to take
to put all of those things in my heart, but I'll tell you right now, it
starts in one place. It starts with delighting yourself in the Lord.

   You say, "What does that really mean?" Let me tell you what it
means. That thing of "delight yourself in the Lord" means one thing. It
starts with a thanksgiving unto God for what you have, where you are,
and what you're doing. Being thankful for everything about you--that's
delighting yourself in the Lord.

   I close by way of testimony. I remember one night we brought little
Manuel down here in this church. We found out that, at just three years
old, he had cancer all riddled through his body. I remember one member
of the family came up and said, "Hey, would it be possible that we
bring him before the church, anoint him with oil, and then have the
elders pray over him?"

   I said, "You bet. Let's bring him forward tonight."

   Boy, you talk about bad news, brethren--that's bad news. I remember
we came down here, and we put him in the middle in front here. Some of
you were there. We started praying. That night I did something I never
have done before. I usually have everybody pray, but that night I
called specifically on people to pray. "You pray, brother." "You pray,
brother."

   I stood there in that pulpit and, man, my heart was broken. I
thought, "Lord, that's not fair! That's not fair, God."

   Boy, God rebuked me! To one of the men, I said, "Brother, you pray."

   And that guy bowed his head and said, "God, tonight, Lord I want to
thank you. I want to thank you, God, for letting all this happen."

   My heart broke. Here I was complaining, trying to blame God, not
finding out what grace was all about. And, boy, that's all I needed to
hear. "God, thank you!"

   The greatest sacrifice you'll ever make in this lifetime is when
something happens, and you don't understand it, and you say, "God,
thank you."

   You say, "How?" "Delight thyself in the Lord, and he shall give you
the desires of thine heart."

   Although all the prayers that night were good, and I thank God for
them, that one prayer that night did me some good. After awhile, I
started having trouble with my health. I'll be honest with you, man, I
would spend weeks and weeks on end, trying my best to say, "Lord, I'm
thankful, I'm thankful." But I couldn't do it. I want to be real with
God, because I believe that God looks at the heart. You can't run. You
can't hide.

   Finally, I got alone with God and said, "God, I can't thank you for
this. Lord, I wish that I could, but, God, I can't be a phony. You know
my heart. God, you look at my heart, and you see that I'm not thankful
for what's happened. And, God, you see that there is something there
that's bitter." I want to tell you something, man. It wasn't but just a
couple of days ago that I finally went to God and said, "God, there's a
problem between you and me. Lord, I am not thankful. I'm not thankful."

   I got down and I poured my heart out to God, and when I got up, I
had all the grace I needed! And then, when I said, "Lord, I'm
thankful," I meant it!

   I don't know what's going on, but I'll tell you what; I'm breathing
better now than I've been breathing in a long time.

   Hey, let me tell you something. It'll cost you something to live by
faith. It'll cost you some tears, it may cost you a job, it may cost
you a friend, it may cost you a relative, it may cost you some things
in this life. But, I'll tell you, I've made up my mind. I would rather
live by faith and serve Him whom I've never seen, and love Him whom
I've never seen--but one day I will!--I would rather live that way, and
have the peace of God and the joy of God in my life, than to live the
other way and be a compromiser with this world. And be a phony and try
to make do and make it look like I'm living for God.

   I don't want to be that way. You say, "Why?" There is no place to
hide, no place to hide! You either have to come clean with God, or
you're going to wind up being a compromising phony. And one day you'll
meet Him who you've never seen. And then it will all come back. It'll
be too late then. Saved, but yet no serve.

   There's no place to hide. When God is looking at your heart, does He
see something there that shouldn't be there?

   I tell you, I don't know about you, but I want God to see something
in my heart--that I love the truth, the truth about myself. I don't
know what it is, man. The Bible talks about the dross, on which God
puts the fire, and it kind of "bubbles" to the top. That's how they
make silver real pure. They boil it, and when the dross comes to the
top, they have this thing like a swing-arm, and it swings it off and
wipes it off. And then, after awhile, all the dross is off, and then
there is this hunk of pure, fine silver.

   It seems like this past week in my life, God has been bringing this
thing up and that thing up. You say, "What do you think He's doing?"
He's trying to make the dross get out of me so there will be a piece of
silver that's worth having.

   I'm not there. I've got a long way to go, brethren. I'm not bragging
by any shape or matter. But, I'm just saying, I thank God for what He's
done in my life, and I thank God that He's doing something in my life.
It's almost like I'm saying, "OK, Lord, what's the next tragedy we've
got to face?" I can look back and see what God has already done, just
in the revival in my heart. There's something there, brethren, that's
real.

   I'm saying this. If God is not real to you, if the Bible is not
real, if your salvation is not real to you, it's because you're not
thankful. You ought to be thankful if you're saved. If you're saved and
going to heaven and your sins are covered under the blood, and you've
got fellowship, then you ought to be thankful. If you're not thankful,
then you're a compromiser. That is, you've given half your heart to the
world and half your heart to Jesus Christ. Whether you realize it or
not, Jesus says, "Hey, thanks but no thanks! I want it all! Until
you're ready to give it all to me, don't give it to me at all!"

   The world's not that way. The world says, "We'll take anything
you've got." Because they know what they can take from you, God won't
get all of. They'll waste your life with riotous living.

   Is that what God sees in your heart? You say, "Yeah, Preacher, I'd
like to have those things, but I'm just too busy. I don't have time for
God." Let me tell you something; you'll regret you ever had that
thought. You need to get that out.

   No place to hide, no place to run.

   God's here looking at your heart. What does He see?