Post by Get off of TMB on Mar 29, 2020 9:47:40 GMT -5
William Lewis - 1979,
I want to read some verses from I Peter 1:8-12...don't turn to this; I will speak mostly from Isaiah. "Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you.
I thought of these Old Testament prophets and thought of them...for a lifetime who accomplished a diligent search in their day, and in some ways we could say that they didn't have as much to search as we have. Isaiah, Jeremiah and the Old Testament prophets...most of all they had to search was the books of Moses...Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. And of course, the books of Samuel and Kings and the Psalms...some of them. They didn't have as much... because they contributed a lot themselves. And after the Gospel writers and the Epistle writers and the words Peter wrote...and we have all of that. Look what we have to search into!
Do we search diligently like they did? They were concerned about our salvation...this very important eternal salvation. Like that hymn that will be in our new book: "Nothing matters but salvation, in this life or that to come." That is very true; those words could be in the Bible. Maybe we think all the inspired word of God is only in these pages, No indeed! Peter said....those who preached the Gospel unto us preached it by the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven." What were they preaching? Genesis, Exodus, etc...Moses. That is where they got it. What are we preaching today? What Peter and Matthew, Mark, Luke and John wrote...we have it all. Yet if what we are saying isn't of the Holy Ghost....it doesn't have any life in it.
As we sang: "Beyond the sacred page I seek Thee, Lord; my spirit pants for Thee, O Living Word!" Not the word that is down here in black and white...and not that we would take away from what IS there....but something there beyond the black and white, that only the spirit of God can show us that will guide our feet into the way of peace. That is "beyond the sacred page."
It tells us the Lord made Himself known to Samuel...a child...."By the word of the Lord." When he read, and when he listened...God made Himself known to him. He saw the Lord. We heard about seeing Jesus. That is in the books of Moses that Samuel was reading. He saw the Lord. "Beyond the sacred page I seek Thee, Lord; my spirit pants for Thee, O Living Word."
This is something the angels desire to look into...and they are still desiring and waiting, for the unfolding of it. We read about their part in it in the Book of Revelation. "Another angel" and "a mighty angel" and "an angel flying in the midst of heaven having the everlasting Gospel to preach." I heard George Walker say that during the millennium men won't be preaching the Gospel...angels will be preaching it. That is the time of the millennium reign of Christ. In that age it will be different from the age we are in now. The devil will be bound and his angels in the pit with him. And the angels of God preaching it and a chance for people to believe. It is called the everlasting Gospel. I like to think of those mentioned that wanted to understand and how diligent they were...and how diligent are we? Do you get bored in God's way and service? If you have this Book you shouldn't get bored. There is nothing in this world like this BOOK to read. And He is always there and will help us see beyond the sacred page. The Holy Spirit will help us to see Him.
Isaiah 24, 25, 26, 27 chapters...they began to appeal to me back in the "wild sixties." We were hearing about dating ourselves talking about the World War...and I just missed that by a hair. In the fall of 1939, I launched out to give my life...I left home in September. Hitler was in force. I didn't know then in October of that next year...13 months from that time....there would be the first conscription and I would be in on that. My name was along with many other names. I went through that whole set-to with Class 4-D "until further notice." That was the 'preachers' class. Do you know why that was? I had been preaching a year...and if you had been out preaching a year you would be considered Class 4-D..."until further notice." I still have that card, and I'm going to hold on to it. I remember the wild 60's and most of you do...and what it was like. And we got into the glories of the 70's when you could get 15, 16, 17% interest on your money. And then we hit the dismal 80's and down she fell and away she went. And a lot of old family farms will be turned over to the bank this fall.
Back in the wild 60's these things began to appeal to me and I began to preach them. I told them maybe we will live long enough to find out if I am a true prophet or not. Isaiah told about things that the Lord would do. I could see that is beginning to happen. One of the expressions of the wild 60's was: "I really am shook up over that!" That is what this talks about in Isaiah 24. It talks about all people...everybody...it says, "The people, the priest, the servant, the masters, the maids, the mistress, the buyer, the seller, the lender, the borrower, the taker of usury, the giver of usury." All in the same boat. That is not the word here...but that is what it is talking about. They are about all in the same boat today. I was just reading in the newspaper...just glanced at it...in the last ten years do you know who has just about bought the United States lock, stock and barrel? The Japanese. They hold the biggest part of the United States debt. Give them about another five or ten years and you will find out who really won the war. That is all here. Do you believe it? "The Lord is making the earth empty." It doesn't say it is something the devil did. He has done an awful lot of things...much of the misery in the world you can lay at his door. But this is something the Lord is doing...."He will turn the world upside down, etc."
It has only been in the last few months that a man couldn't join a labor union and say you will pay me that much for doing that little. He is taking a job now for what he can get. Vs 4,5,6. "The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish. The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. There fore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate; therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left."
A lot of difficulties we are having in our society today can really be traced to the weakness of men. Do you know what is the matter with our time? "Few men are left." I am not talking about somebody that wears trousers...a real man in what he ought to be. I was talking to a lady...and her husband called and she went down to see what he wanted. She said, "He called me a lot of other things but when he calls me by name I know he wants me right now." There is another man and he always called his wife old Miss. And she was subject to him and it was for Jesus' sake. I admired her....because she could be obedient to him. He was a tyrant....but she was obedient for Jesus' sake. She didn't live very long....but was delivered out of that. Sarah called Abraham 'Lord' in her heart. But we wouldn't have known it...but the Lord told that (Gen 18:12). It was in her heart because that was the kind of man Abraham was. He had earned that respect. "Few men left" because they are burned up with their human desires...rather be making another dollar than be at home with their wife and children. Burned up with lust and all kinds of human desires. ":The inhabitants of the world." "They have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, etc." In Minnesota we have learned that you don't travel the highways on Friday afternoon...you don't travel....because the highways are full of boats. On Friday afternoon and Sunday evening. So we just don't travel those evenings if we don't have to. What is wrong with that? In its place, nothing......
Talking about one of our friends...he was speaking in meeting...he bought a thirty-thousand-dollar boat...he had the money...that's one of the troubles of having money. Every time a little black cloud came up...he had to run and see about that boat...thirty thousand bucks in it...after awhile he got to thinking, I don't own that boat it owns me. So he sold it. He was a wise man. There was another man...He was driving a truck. There is nothing wrong with driving a truck. He had started it when he was young....and was at home on weekends, etc. Then he bought himself a truck of his own....and started hauling frozen chickens....to make his living. He was out one Saturday afternoon and looking after that truck. He crawled out from under that thing...and said to himself, I am either on that, or in that, or under it 24 hrs of the day. He got another job. The very time he got the job...another man bought that truck. The man said, "You want a job driving for me and you have a truck of your own?" He said he was going to sell it..."If I can't sell it, I am going to run it off in a ditch and hire a bulldozer to cover it up!
"The city of confusion is broken down." Verse 10. They talk about the city of confusion...in the Old Testament and New Testament...it is Babylon. There was a natural Babylon but there is a spiritual Babylon. The city of confusion is really the city of Babylon. And "every house is broken down and shut up." There was a time before that...recorded in Revelation 14,18, & Is. 21. "Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit and the cage of every unclean and hateful bird." (Rev 18:2) By her fall....becoming the hold of every foul spirit and the cage of every unclean and hateful bird....she couldn't keep it up because God wasn't in her...they just crowded in until God brought her down. At that same time there came a voice from heaven, "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." The Lord's people in Babylon?? You read in the Old Testament about the people of Israel being sent away into captivity...but there were some that went along that weren't so wrong....but they were never a part of the Babylonian captivity. So in the time we are talking about when Babylon fell, a voice came from heaven: "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities." God has had all He can take now...and you haven't been held responsible for being in there until now....but now you hear a voice from heaven....you had better get out and now you understand what is in her....if you stay there after being warned.....then you are going to be held responsible....and be a partaker of her sins.....and you will have to suffer her plagues.
There was a time.....and I talked to people who lived in that time....they gave me their testimony....and God said....you better get out of there...you see the wrongness that is in that. One lady told me....she came home with her husband from church....and said "I am not going back...there is no love and fellowship there and there is respect of persons. They didn't go back....they sat there until the Gospel came. Another lady told me....she was 96 years of age...When I was young and living in a certain city....went to a certain church Sundays....it was communion Sunday...they passed around the bread and wine and I took it. The next thing was the collection plate. It seemed God spoke from heaven...."You have just paid for what He died to give you." If there was a hole in the floor I would have gone into it...she said....and she never went back. The husband thought she was out of her mind and he moved away. She went once to the Methodist and once to the Presbyterian church...and then sat there until the Gospel came. She said...I went to the first Gospel meeting and knew that was what I had been waiting for. She was 96 years old.
"Her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities." This said: "The city of confusion is broken down." From that time until now is has been broken down.
Arnold and I were at the same time over in the south of Ireland...the most Catholic nation on the face of the earth. Dublin is the most crime-ridden city on the face of the earth. The young people don't go to mass anymore....it used to be said in Latin....then they heard it in English and it sounded like Mother Goose. In Latin it sounded like it was serious, etc. They turned to drink and drugs and crime. Why? Because they were taught from the time they were born that the Catholic church was the only true way of God. When that shattered they don't believe in anything. They became infidels and atheists.
I heard a man say...it is nearly 40 years ago now....he had preached in France many years: "There are millions of people in France and the majority of them were Catholic...if they were religious....but there are fourteen million atheists...and you might wonder....they were taught that the Catholic is the only church...and they began to realize it is not. They don't join some other....they just don't believe in anything." I heard something I never forgot: because we teach our children it is the only true way of God...but if we don't demonstrate in our lives to them of the reality we are telling....that it means more than a dollar....than a million dollars...like we heard, it means more in my own life...if they lose confidence, they won't be anything....they won't know what to believe in.
There was one man who was troubled about his daughter and son. The root of his trouble was and is....that he could miss a Sunday morning meeting to go to a horse show....he had a way with horses. There is not one of them in the way of God today.
It says the city of confusion is broken down. The time will come when every house is shut up and no man can go in....it is happening in other countries more than in ours. Vs 11. "There is a crying for wine in the streets; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone." Rev.18. Yet to come...."Babylon is fallen." But it isn't overthrown. At the end of that chapter...18..."A mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city of Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all." It hasn't been overthrown yet....all the other is taking place gradually. The breaking down is over the years....but there is coming a day when it will be overthrown in violence. This other hasn't been in violence....insidious in working....but the day will come it will be overthrown...and that is when people will be partaking of her plagues.
Verses 13,15. "When thus it shall be in the midst of the land among the people, there shall be as the shaking of an olive tree, and as the gleaning grapes when the vintage is done...Wherefore glorify ye the Lord in the fires, even the name of the Lord God of Israel in the isles of the sea." We are in the days of the gleaning of grapes. We are gleaning grapes and the grapes that stay on until they are gleaned are the sweetest and juiciest. The people you are finding today...there is something wonderful...regardless of where you find them....whether they came out of that city that is broken down or out of the snake pit...we have seen them from both places....it is a wonderful thing. Last year....in a meeting....there was a lovely couple....sitting out in front of me, and they began to weep. Why? Because they were the kind of people I was talking about. The gleaning grapes...after the main harvest is over....you get some wonderful fruit.
We heard about the fire...the fire of love...the fire of persecution....keep the fires burning...the fires of sacrifice, love joy...keep the fire up..."glorify the Lord in the fires." (Vs 15) Don't be talking about your persecution...don't be calling attention to it....glorify the Lord. "Let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name." (Heb 13:15)
Vs17,18. "Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth. And it shall come to pass, that he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare; for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake." A great shaking....people running from the fear....the pit....the snare. "Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth; for the powers of heaven shall be shaken." (Luke 21:16) A lot of people are afraid and they have a right to be afraid...running from the fear and falling into the pit. Those young people we talked about over in Ireland...they got into the pit of alcohol and caught in the snare....the Moonies and others get them and they are worse off then than they were. But some escape...if we are keeping the fires burning. Some escape because they see that....and say...That is my way out. You might wonder why those men went down to David in the cave...."And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him; and he became a captain over them, etc." They saw he was going to be king...and they knew: If I want a part with him when he is king, I want a part with him now. I still say that this is my only way out.....what I saw in the beginning was...I can't afford to let anyone take this away from me....I see this is my only way out.
The earth is coming to that point when the earth will fall and rise again. There have been falls of civilization. There was a time when some said the sun never sets on the British Empire...but not anymore. The United States was to take up and succeed....but I don't know....most everything is taken out of mans hands any more....did you notice that? Even the haughty people of the earth (vs 4) they don't know what is going to happen. It is going to be rescued and saved by the Lord....He is going to come. It won't be able to rise again. The Lord will come and save the situation and for a thousand years He will show what He intended from the very beginning, and what the devil obstructed.
Vs21,23. "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth. And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited. Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously." Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets will be brought back here and God will "reign before his ancients gloriously." Wouldn't we like to have a part that? As sure as everything else is taking place, this will, too. Chapters 25, 26. "Give up his dead." And everything seen clearly. What a wonderful thing to have a part in that. 26:20. What we need to be doing now...hiding ourselves....praying to our Father in secret....praying and keeping alive and awake to Him...be the manner of people we ought to be in the manner of time we live. "Shut thy doors about thee; hide thyself as it were for a little moment, etc." Zeph. 2:3. "Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have kept his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness; it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord's anger." And you go on with confidence.
I would like to mention one more thing. Ch 27:1. "In that day the Lord with His sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea." When He comes again He is going to punish him. Then He is going to slay him...after that he won't be able to do one thing any more. Psalm 104:26. It says about him, God made him to play in the sea. What is the sea? Is. 57, "The wicked are like the sea."
Do you know why this world is in such turmoil? ....made it a play ground....but God is playing with him....just like a cat plays with a mouse. He takes his paw and is so unconcerned...but just let that mouse make a move!
I don't know what it means to you but it means an awful lot to me. Ch 27:13., "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcast in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem."
Do you want a part in that? Keep the fires burning!
I want to read some verses from I Peter 1:8-12...don't turn to this; I will speak mostly from Isaiah. "Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you.
I thought of these Old Testament prophets and thought of them...for a lifetime who accomplished a diligent search in their day, and in some ways we could say that they didn't have as much to search as we have. Isaiah, Jeremiah and the Old Testament prophets...most of all they had to search was the books of Moses...Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. And of course, the books of Samuel and Kings and the Psalms...some of them. They didn't have as much... because they contributed a lot themselves. And after the Gospel writers and the Epistle writers and the words Peter wrote...and we have all of that. Look what we have to search into!
Do we search diligently like they did? They were concerned about our salvation...this very important eternal salvation. Like that hymn that will be in our new book: "Nothing matters but salvation, in this life or that to come." That is very true; those words could be in the Bible. Maybe we think all the inspired word of God is only in these pages, No indeed! Peter said....those who preached the Gospel unto us preached it by the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven." What were they preaching? Genesis, Exodus, etc...Moses. That is where they got it. What are we preaching today? What Peter and Matthew, Mark, Luke and John wrote...we have it all. Yet if what we are saying isn't of the Holy Ghost....it doesn't have any life in it.
As we sang: "Beyond the sacred page I seek Thee, Lord; my spirit pants for Thee, O Living Word!" Not the word that is down here in black and white...and not that we would take away from what IS there....but something there beyond the black and white, that only the spirit of God can show us that will guide our feet into the way of peace. That is "beyond the sacred page."
It tells us the Lord made Himself known to Samuel...a child...."By the word of the Lord." When he read, and when he listened...God made Himself known to him. He saw the Lord. We heard about seeing Jesus. That is in the books of Moses that Samuel was reading. He saw the Lord. "Beyond the sacred page I seek Thee, Lord; my spirit pants for Thee, O Living Word."
This is something the angels desire to look into...and they are still desiring and waiting, for the unfolding of it. We read about their part in it in the Book of Revelation. "Another angel" and "a mighty angel" and "an angel flying in the midst of heaven having the everlasting Gospel to preach." I heard George Walker say that during the millennium men won't be preaching the Gospel...angels will be preaching it. That is the time of the millennium reign of Christ. In that age it will be different from the age we are in now. The devil will be bound and his angels in the pit with him. And the angels of God preaching it and a chance for people to believe. It is called the everlasting Gospel. I like to think of those mentioned that wanted to understand and how diligent they were...and how diligent are we? Do you get bored in God's way and service? If you have this Book you shouldn't get bored. There is nothing in this world like this BOOK to read. And He is always there and will help us see beyond the sacred page. The Holy Spirit will help us to see Him.
Isaiah 24, 25, 26, 27 chapters...they began to appeal to me back in the "wild sixties." We were hearing about dating ourselves talking about the World War...and I just missed that by a hair. In the fall of 1939, I launched out to give my life...I left home in September. Hitler was in force. I didn't know then in October of that next year...13 months from that time....there would be the first conscription and I would be in on that. My name was along with many other names. I went through that whole set-to with Class 4-D "until further notice." That was the 'preachers' class. Do you know why that was? I had been preaching a year...and if you had been out preaching a year you would be considered Class 4-D..."until further notice." I still have that card, and I'm going to hold on to it. I remember the wild 60's and most of you do...and what it was like. And we got into the glories of the 70's when you could get 15, 16, 17% interest on your money. And then we hit the dismal 80's and down she fell and away she went. And a lot of old family farms will be turned over to the bank this fall.
Back in the wild 60's these things began to appeal to me and I began to preach them. I told them maybe we will live long enough to find out if I am a true prophet or not. Isaiah told about things that the Lord would do. I could see that is beginning to happen. One of the expressions of the wild 60's was: "I really am shook up over that!" That is what this talks about in Isaiah 24. It talks about all people...everybody...it says, "The people, the priest, the servant, the masters, the maids, the mistress, the buyer, the seller, the lender, the borrower, the taker of usury, the giver of usury." All in the same boat. That is not the word here...but that is what it is talking about. They are about all in the same boat today. I was just reading in the newspaper...just glanced at it...in the last ten years do you know who has just about bought the United States lock, stock and barrel? The Japanese. They hold the biggest part of the United States debt. Give them about another five or ten years and you will find out who really won the war. That is all here. Do you believe it? "The Lord is making the earth empty." It doesn't say it is something the devil did. He has done an awful lot of things...much of the misery in the world you can lay at his door. But this is something the Lord is doing...."He will turn the world upside down, etc."
It has only been in the last few months that a man couldn't join a labor union and say you will pay me that much for doing that little. He is taking a job now for what he can get. Vs 4,5,6. "The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish. The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. There fore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate; therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left."
A lot of difficulties we are having in our society today can really be traced to the weakness of men. Do you know what is the matter with our time? "Few men are left." I am not talking about somebody that wears trousers...a real man in what he ought to be. I was talking to a lady...and her husband called and she went down to see what he wanted. She said, "He called me a lot of other things but when he calls me by name I know he wants me right now." There is another man and he always called his wife old Miss. And she was subject to him and it was for Jesus' sake. I admired her....because she could be obedient to him. He was a tyrant....but she was obedient for Jesus' sake. She didn't live very long....but was delivered out of that. Sarah called Abraham 'Lord' in her heart. But we wouldn't have known it...but the Lord told that (Gen 18:12). It was in her heart because that was the kind of man Abraham was. He had earned that respect. "Few men left" because they are burned up with their human desires...rather be making another dollar than be at home with their wife and children. Burned up with lust and all kinds of human desires. ":The inhabitants of the world." "They have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, etc." In Minnesota we have learned that you don't travel the highways on Friday afternoon...you don't travel....because the highways are full of boats. On Friday afternoon and Sunday evening. So we just don't travel those evenings if we don't have to. What is wrong with that? In its place, nothing......
Talking about one of our friends...he was speaking in meeting...he bought a thirty-thousand-dollar boat...he had the money...that's one of the troubles of having money. Every time a little black cloud came up...he had to run and see about that boat...thirty thousand bucks in it...after awhile he got to thinking, I don't own that boat it owns me. So he sold it. He was a wise man. There was another man...He was driving a truck. There is nothing wrong with driving a truck. He had started it when he was young....and was at home on weekends, etc. Then he bought himself a truck of his own....and started hauling frozen chickens....to make his living. He was out one Saturday afternoon and looking after that truck. He crawled out from under that thing...and said to himself, I am either on that, or in that, or under it 24 hrs of the day. He got another job. The very time he got the job...another man bought that truck. The man said, "You want a job driving for me and you have a truck of your own?" He said he was going to sell it..."If I can't sell it, I am going to run it off in a ditch and hire a bulldozer to cover it up!
"The city of confusion is broken down." Verse 10. They talk about the city of confusion...in the Old Testament and New Testament...it is Babylon. There was a natural Babylon but there is a spiritual Babylon. The city of confusion is really the city of Babylon. And "every house is broken down and shut up." There was a time before that...recorded in Revelation 14,18, & Is. 21. "Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit and the cage of every unclean and hateful bird." (Rev 18:2) By her fall....becoming the hold of every foul spirit and the cage of every unclean and hateful bird....she couldn't keep it up because God wasn't in her...they just crowded in until God brought her down. At that same time there came a voice from heaven, "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." The Lord's people in Babylon?? You read in the Old Testament about the people of Israel being sent away into captivity...but there were some that went along that weren't so wrong....but they were never a part of the Babylonian captivity. So in the time we are talking about when Babylon fell, a voice came from heaven: "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities." God has had all He can take now...and you haven't been held responsible for being in there until now....but now you hear a voice from heaven....you had better get out and now you understand what is in her....if you stay there after being warned.....then you are going to be held responsible....and be a partaker of her sins.....and you will have to suffer her plagues.
There was a time.....and I talked to people who lived in that time....they gave me their testimony....and God said....you better get out of there...you see the wrongness that is in that. One lady told me....she came home with her husband from church....and said "I am not going back...there is no love and fellowship there and there is respect of persons. They didn't go back....they sat there until the Gospel came. Another lady told me....she was 96 years of age...When I was young and living in a certain city....went to a certain church Sundays....it was communion Sunday...they passed around the bread and wine and I took it. The next thing was the collection plate. It seemed God spoke from heaven...."You have just paid for what He died to give you." If there was a hole in the floor I would have gone into it...she said....and she never went back. The husband thought she was out of her mind and he moved away. She went once to the Methodist and once to the Presbyterian church...and then sat there until the Gospel came. She said...I went to the first Gospel meeting and knew that was what I had been waiting for. She was 96 years old.
"Her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities." This said: "The city of confusion is broken down." From that time until now is has been broken down.
Arnold and I were at the same time over in the south of Ireland...the most Catholic nation on the face of the earth. Dublin is the most crime-ridden city on the face of the earth. The young people don't go to mass anymore....it used to be said in Latin....then they heard it in English and it sounded like Mother Goose. In Latin it sounded like it was serious, etc. They turned to drink and drugs and crime. Why? Because they were taught from the time they were born that the Catholic church was the only true way of God. When that shattered they don't believe in anything. They became infidels and atheists.
I heard a man say...it is nearly 40 years ago now....he had preached in France many years: "There are millions of people in France and the majority of them were Catholic...if they were religious....but there are fourteen million atheists...and you might wonder....they were taught that the Catholic is the only church...and they began to realize it is not. They don't join some other....they just don't believe in anything." I heard something I never forgot: because we teach our children it is the only true way of God...but if we don't demonstrate in our lives to them of the reality we are telling....that it means more than a dollar....than a million dollars...like we heard, it means more in my own life...if they lose confidence, they won't be anything....they won't know what to believe in.
There was one man who was troubled about his daughter and son. The root of his trouble was and is....that he could miss a Sunday morning meeting to go to a horse show....he had a way with horses. There is not one of them in the way of God today.
It says the city of confusion is broken down. The time will come when every house is shut up and no man can go in....it is happening in other countries more than in ours. Vs 11. "There is a crying for wine in the streets; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone." Rev.18. Yet to come...."Babylon is fallen." But it isn't overthrown. At the end of that chapter...18..."A mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city of Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all." It hasn't been overthrown yet....all the other is taking place gradually. The breaking down is over the years....but there is coming a day when it will be overthrown in violence. This other hasn't been in violence....insidious in working....but the day will come it will be overthrown...and that is when people will be partaking of her plagues.
Verses 13,15. "When thus it shall be in the midst of the land among the people, there shall be as the shaking of an olive tree, and as the gleaning grapes when the vintage is done...Wherefore glorify ye the Lord in the fires, even the name of the Lord God of Israel in the isles of the sea." We are in the days of the gleaning of grapes. We are gleaning grapes and the grapes that stay on until they are gleaned are the sweetest and juiciest. The people you are finding today...there is something wonderful...regardless of where you find them....whether they came out of that city that is broken down or out of the snake pit...we have seen them from both places....it is a wonderful thing. Last year....in a meeting....there was a lovely couple....sitting out in front of me, and they began to weep. Why? Because they were the kind of people I was talking about. The gleaning grapes...after the main harvest is over....you get some wonderful fruit.
We heard about the fire...the fire of love...the fire of persecution....keep the fires burning...the fires of sacrifice, love joy...keep the fire up..."glorify the Lord in the fires." (Vs 15) Don't be talking about your persecution...don't be calling attention to it....glorify the Lord. "Let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name." (Heb 13:15)
Vs17,18. "Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth. And it shall come to pass, that he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare; for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake." A great shaking....people running from the fear....the pit....the snare. "Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth; for the powers of heaven shall be shaken." (Luke 21:16) A lot of people are afraid and they have a right to be afraid...running from the fear and falling into the pit. Those young people we talked about over in Ireland...they got into the pit of alcohol and caught in the snare....the Moonies and others get them and they are worse off then than they were. But some escape...if we are keeping the fires burning. Some escape because they see that....and say...That is my way out. You might wonder why those men went down to David in the cave...."And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him; and he became a captain over them, etc." They saw he was going to be king...and they knew: If I want a part with him when he is king, I want a part with him now. I still say that this is my only way out.....what I saw in the beginning was...I can't afford to let anyone take this away from me....I see this is my only way out.
The earth is coming to that point when the earth will fall and rise again. There have been falls of civilization. There was a time when some said the sun never sets on the British Empire...but not anymore. The United States was to take up and succeed....but I don't know....most everything is taken out of mans hands any more....did you notice that? Even the haughty people of the earth (vs 4) they don't know what is going to happen. It is going to be rescued and saved by the Lord....He is going to come. It won't be able to rise again. The Lord will come and save the situation and for a thousand years He will show what He intended from the very beginning, and what the devil obstructed.
Vs21,23. "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth. And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited. Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously." Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets will be brought back here and God will "reign before his ancients gloriously." Wouldn't we like to have a part that? As sure as everything else is taking place, this will, too. Chapters 25, 26. "Give up his dead." And everything seen clearly. What a wonderful thing to have a part in that. 26:20. What we need to be doing now...hiding ourselves....praying to our Father in secret....praying and keeping alive and awake to Him...be the manner of people we ought to be in the manner of time we live. "Shut thy doors about thee; hide thyself as it were for a little moment, etc." Zeph. 2:3. "Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have kept his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness; it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord's anger." And you go on with confidence.
I would like to mention one more thing. Ch 27:1. "In that day the Lord with His sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea." When He comes again He is going to punish him. Then He is going to slay him...after that he won't be able to do one thing any more. Psalm 104:26. It says about him, God made him to play in the sea. What is the sea? Is. 57, "The wicked are like the sea."
Do you know why this world is in such turmoil? ....made it a play ground....but God is playing with him....just like a cat plays with a mouse. He takes his paw and is so unconcerned...but just let that mouse make a move!
I don't know what it means to you but it means an awful lot to me. Ch 27:13., "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcast in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem."
Do you want a part in that? Keep the fires burning!