The Fragrance of Jesus

This message is one of the Times Square Pulpit series. It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing to World Challenge P.O. Box 260, Lindale, Texas 75771 or calling 214-963-8626.

None of these messages are copyrighted and you are welcome to make copies for free distribution to your friends. I'm going to talk to you tonight about the fragrance of Jesus. The fragrance of Jesus.

And then we're going to have an hour of intercession. We have a lot of things to pray about. This is a prayer meeting.

I won't preach long, but I've got something in my heart. And I didn't know that our speaker, without becoming the God, had been preparing my heart. And I told Pastor Don, when I asked what he thought we should do, I said, I feel like I should serve this.

The Lord had already prepared it in my heart. The fragrance of Christ. Lord Jesus, I thank you for the simple little word that you put on my heart tonight.

I don't know why you put this in my heart. There may be somebody coming in tonight that needed it. There may be many that need it.

I know I need it. Lord Jesus, I want to know you as my fragrance. I want to know you, Lord, as the sweetness of my life.

Lord, open our minds. Open our hearts. Let us hear from the Holy Spirit anoint me tonight.

Lord, I feel so confident that you're trying to say something special to all of our hearts. So simple and yet profound. So simple that it is profound.

That it opens up our hearts to you in a special way. We'll see you a little differently. We'll see you in a different light tonight than perhaps we've seen you ever.

In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Now, just leave your Bible open to Psalm of Solomon, the second chapter.

And I'll be coming to that in just a moment. One of my favorite writers is J.B. Stoney. He died in 1897.

He's a great man of God. I've got 11 volumes of his writings. 11 books.

Most of them 400 pages thick. All on Jesus. The headship of Jesus.

Some of the greatest revelations of Jesus I've ever heard. J.B. Stoney was born and raised in a rather home. And he studied to be a lawyer.

In fact, he passed the law exam. In fact, he was at the bar in England. The legal bar.

And they said of him, because he was so intelligent, graduated with honors, wealthy home, everything. In fact, they had said about him he had the world at his feet. But he went to a meeting, gave his heart to Jesus, and he was so stricken by the power of the word.

He gave up his law practice. He gave up his money. He gave up everything to give his whole life to the study of the gospel and to teach it.

And he spent years ministering to Christ all over the world. Here in America. There was an Englishman who ministered here.

In 1897. Now that's over 110 years ago. A hundred and eight years ago.

J.B. Stoney spent his last week bed fast. His wife had died and his daughter ministered to him in his dying days. And in his last week, this man so lived with Jesus, he had visions and revelations of the beauty of Christ.

And in fact, he told his daughter, he said, Daughter, we can't fully attain to Christ until we completely cut the world away. We begin to see in his dying day, he had wished that he had cut even more. He had cut so much.

He said, I could have gone so much deeper in Christ if I had cut, absolutely cut everything from the world. And with him, that meant just some of the ordinary things that you and I take for granted. But this man, this righteous God in effect, I don't think anyone has affected my life.

Any writer has affected my life more than J.B. Stoney. And his dying words were taken from Song of Solomon, the second chapter and the third verse. His dying words were, I sat down under his shadow with great delight.

I read the whole verse. Song of Solomon 2.3 As the apple tree among the trees in the wood, so is my beloved among the suns. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.

Let's start reading the first verse. I am the rose of Sam, the lily of the valleys. As the lily among the thorns, so is my love among the daughters.

This is Jesus speaking of his bride in type. And then the bride answers. As the apple tree among the trees in the wood, so is my beloved among the suns.

I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. Here's a man in his dying words saying, I spent my lifetime. He's looking back on his life.

He said, I sat down under my master's shadow with great delight. I sat down under his shadow with great delight. When I was reading these words, I was in my study just a few nights ago when this hit me.

And I was getting ready to pray, but there was some tension in my heart. I was thinking of all the burdens of prayer. I'm thinking about a brother in this church who's got a legal suit.

He's having a fight. Someone's trying to take his business from him, and he's in this battle. I wanted to pray for him.

I was praying for a young wife in this church who's in a legal struggle because a madman, a friend, a husband is trying to interfere with her life and her daughter. And I had that burden of prayer. I was thinking of finances.

I was thinking of all the problems that so many people have with unemployment. I was praying, O God, I need a message for Sunday night. I woke up that morning.

I was praying, and I felt uptight. I felt I've got to get into God. I've got to press in.

And I was pushing. I was striving. And I read the words of that man.

In fact, I had just finished reading his dying words. And they cut like a knife. It was like a sword in my heart.

And I heard the Holy Spirit whisper to me, David, where is your delight? You're sitting down under my shadow. That's the secret closet. But you're not delighting.

You're making prayer such a burden. You're so uptight in my presence. Where is your delight in my presence? And, boy, I began to read this.

It drove me. I got my concords out and found out where he picked this up from. And I picked it up.

And I read these words as the apple tree among the trees of the wood. The apple tree in Hebrew means a wafted fragrance. A wafted.

The wind picks it up and carries it out of the garden, so to speak. When I was a young boy in Barnsboro, Pennsylvania, growing up, just as a child, we had two big apple trees in our backyard, huge apple trees. We claimed them.

If there were two special times of the year, the apple blossoms filled the whole house. The wind would blow in the house. The whole house was filled with the smell.

The wonderful aroma, the fragrance of the apple blossoms. And then when the apples came, another kind of fragrance. When they fell to the ground, there was a fragrance.

Even in the water there was a fragrance. The apple tree speaks in the word of God as a wafted fragrance. My beloved, my Lord, my Jesus is to me as a wafted fragrance in my garden.

There's a sweetness. There's an aroma about him. And, you see, it hit me then.

I've known him as a provider. I've known him as my strength and my shield, my focus, my Lord and Savior, my hope, my healer, my baptizer, my coming king, my eternal life. And I got to thinking of all the ways I've known Jesus, all the ways I've preached him, all the ways I've heard him preached.

But I didn't know him as my fragrance. I'd never really heard it or understood it to this day. But here's a man who spent his whole life saying, Jesus has been my fragrance, and I sat down consuming that fragrance with great delight.

And it changed me. It changed me. The fragrance of Jesus changed me.

Look at chapter 3, verse 6. Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pours of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense and with all powders of the merchant? Now, look at me, please. Here's the picture. Solomon is a type of Christ in the song of Solomon.

The bride, the Sunamite woman is a type of the bride. That's you and I who serve the Lord. And here's a picture of Solomon sending his dandela, a beautiful dandela that's carried by probably five men and by sixty guardsmen of the royal palace of the king's own personal guards sent to bring this woman out of the wilderness.

Folks, where have we been? We're in a wilderness. This world is a wilderness, the scripture says. And here comes the bride.

He sends for his bride. And she comes, and the picture is, who is this that's coming out of the wilderness? Read it again. Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pours of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense and with all powders of the merchant? Behold his bed, that's his dandela, which is Solomon's.

Three score valiant men are about it, of the valiant of Israel. They all hold their swords, being expert in war. Every man with his sword upon his thigh because of fear of the night.

See, this is the angel of the Lord. This is the army of the Lord. This is what Eli just saw, this great army on horseback that nobody could see but those who walked in the spirit.

Who is this coming out of the wilderness? This bride. And look at the smoke. Look at the aroma.

You can smell the sweet savor far off before she even comes. She's dripping in myrrh. She's dripping in frankincense.

There's an odor, a beautiful, sweet-smelling odor, this bride that's coming. The king has sent for her out of the wilderness, and she's coming toward the king. And she's dripping.

She has imbibed this fragrance because she has been meeting secretly on the hill or the mountain of Myrrh. She's been meeting in his presence secretly on a mountaintop. In fact, I want you to see it here in chapter 4, verse 6. Chapter 4. Until the day breaks and the shadows flee away, I will get me to the mountain of Myrrh and to the hill of frankincense.

Thou art all fair, my love. There's no spot in thee. See what's happened.

This bride's been secretly meeting with the bridegroom. She's been on this mountain of Myrrh. And there's such a fragrance about this bridegroom.

There's such a fragrance about this man of hers, this love of hers. She spent so much time in his presence secretly that she has taken out his fragrance. She has taken out his aroma.

She has taken it into her lungs and her body. She is dripping with it. She's covered with the aroma of him who is, the Bible says, is just covered with frankincense.

I don't know. I'm an old spice man, you know. I have all these fancy perfumes that men wear.

I don't relate to that. I'm an old spice. But even an old spice, if I put enough on it, on Myrrh, have I spotted on, my wife will be around me five minutes before I know if she's an old spice.

The same aroma, it takes on. You take on the frankincense of the beloved. And this is what happened.

And she's coming out of the wilderness in Solomon's gondola, protected by the army of the king. And she's just covered with this. Until that daybreak, the shadows flee.

She spent a month secretly in beautiful converse, speaking to her lover. How this speaks of the secret closet. You know, it's impossible for you and I to go to the secret closet without coming out with this aroma.

It's impossible to spend time with Jesus without becoming like Him. And all the beauty and the graces of Jesus are showing forth in us. I can tell when a man or woman is praying.

You can see there's an aroma, there's something about them. There's a Holy Ghost dignity. There's something about people who spend time with Jesus.

They reflect what He is and who He is. His fragrance had clung to her. She's filled with the aroma of the king.

Now, you see, we love to be referred to as soldiers of the cross. In fact, the Bible does refer to us as soldiers. In fact, we put on the whole armor of God.

We have the sword in our hand. And we have the sword. And He's the captain of His mighty army.

We sing about the army of the Lord. And we love Revelation 19. Don't turn there, but I'll just read it to you.

Revelation 19, 11. We just, I love it, too, because I see Jesus and that great white horse. And I want to be in that white cavalry that comes marching back.

And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And he that sat upon it was called Faithful and True, and a righteous as he that judged and made war. His eyes was a flame of fire, that is set on many crowns.

There's a name written that no man knew but He Himself. He was clothed with the vesture dipped in blood, and His name is called the Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed Him upon white horses clothed in fine linen, white and clean.

I believe I'm in that army. I believe we're in that army. White and white horses clothed in white linen.

And here He is captain of the horse of Israel. Yes, I love that picture. It's a good picture.

It's true. But that's as far as some people want to go. They're just like the war mode.

They want to be soldiers. They want Jesus to come down and fight every enemy. And that's true.

That's wonderful. He is all of that. But He's more.

We love to see Him as our High Priest. We know He's touching the feelings of our infirmities. We know that our High Priest is seated on the throne, and He says, Come boldly into my presence, approach my throne with boldness, that you may seek grace and mercy to help in the time of need.

Isn't it wonderful to sit here tonight and know Him as a High Priest who's touched with the feelings of our infirmities? That you can go to Him with all your problems and your burdens. You can cry and you can weep, and you can leave this presence knowing that He's heard you. It's wonderful to come into His presence boldly.

And I thank God for my king on a white horse. I thank Him for being a High Priest to me who's touched with the feelings of my infirmities. He's all of that, but He's still more.

I thank God that I know Him as my deliverer from sin and Satan. I know I can go to the table of the Lord. We go every week to the table of the Lord here to celebrate the deliverance of our blessed Lord for us from sin and its dominion.

And we have a deliverer we can go to and say, Lord, save me and save my household. We've got a mighty deliverer whose arm is not shortened, whose ear is not heavy, who cannot hear. And He says, call upon me in the day of trouble.

And I thank God He's a deliverer. I thank God He knows what I need before I ask Him. Yes, He's my king.

He's my priest. He's my deliverer. He's all of that, but He's more.

He's my fragrance. And I'm afraid I've not known Him that way. I have not seen Him as my fragrance.

And yet I'm discovering now that almost every man of God who's gone before me, who walks so close to the Lord, always mention the fragrance, the Puritans and all those. You'll hear them talk about the sweetness and the fragrance of Jesus before they died. They always spoke of it.

Now keep in mind, please, that Jesus was a fragrance to His Father. He was a sweet-smelling savor, the Scripture says. Go to Exodus.

Exodus 29. Exodus 29. I hope you've marked Sarasota.

We're going to come back to that. But go to Exodus, please. I want to show you something in the Old Testament, the Lord bless to my heart.

Exodus 29. And let's start reading at verse 15. Exodus 29, beginning at verse 15.

Thou shalt also take one ram, and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon the head of the ram. And thou shalt slay the ram, and thou shalt take his blood, and sprinkle it round about upon the altar. And thou shalt cut the ram in pieces, and wash the inwards of him and his legs, and put them unto his pieces unto his head.

And thou shalt burn the whole ram upon the altar. It is a burnt offering unto the Lord. It is a what? Sweet savor.

Sweet fragrance, in other words. An offering made by fire unto the Lord. Now, listen, look at this way, please.

Let me set something free in your mind. You know the Old Testament tabernacle, don't you? It was a type of Christ. It was a wilderness tabernacle.

Moses thought all the directions on how to build it on the mountain, on Mount Sinai. And in that tabernacle, in the holy place, was an altar of incense. And there was perpetual incense that was burned.

I want you to see that in Exodus 30. Go to Exodus 30, verse 1. And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense, that's fragrance, incense, upon. Of cinder wood shalt thou make it.

Look at verse 6 to 8 now. Verse 6. And thou shalt put it before the veil that is by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the testimony, where I will meet with thee. And Aaron shalt burn therein sweet incense every morning.

When he dresseth the lamps, he shalt burn incense upon it. When Aaron lighteth the lamps at evening, he shalt burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generation. Folks, look at me please.

It was impossible to walk in the holy place without being absolutely overwhelmed with fragrance. I mean, it just covered everything. You could walk in and walk out without being covered with fragrance.

You had to inhale it everywhere, the aroma of fragrance, because that perpetual incense was being burned on that incense altar. Not only that, everything that was holy in that place, everything was sprinkled with a holy sweet oil, a fragrant oil. Look at chapter 30, verse 22, beginning to read.

Moreover the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Take thou also unto thee principal spices, and pure myrrh, five hundred shekels, and sweet cinnamon, half as much, even two hundred and fifty shekels, and sweet thymus, two hundred and fifty shekels, and cassia, five hundred shekels, after the shekel of a century, and oil olive of hymn. Thou shalt make it a holy oil of holy ointment, an ointment compound after the art of the apothecary, which shall be a holy morning oil. Now, folks, this oil was mixed with all kinds of fragrances, the best fragrances known to mankind.

They were put in the pocket of the druggist, the mixer, let them put it in the pestle and mix it all together. And when they mix all these beautiful frankincense and myrrh and spices, when they mix it all and then pour oil in it, make a mixture, it was a sweet smelling oil. Now, verse 26, And thou shalt make a tabernacle to congregation therewith, and the ark of the testament, and the table, and all his vessels, and the canister, his vessels, and the olive incense, and the altar burn off with all his vessels, and the laver, and his foot, or the stand in part which the laver stood.

Look at me please, here's the picture. They took this oil and they sprinkled it on everything. They sprinkled it on the altar of sacrifice, they sprinkled it on the laver, they sprinkled it on the holy place, they sprinkled it on all the covenants, on all the priest's robes, the garments, the vessels, everything had to emit this fragrance.

Everything had to be touched with this fragrance. Now, beloved, my mother, one of the priests of the gospel, used to teach from the old tabernacle. She used to have a little model and she'd tell us what everything meant.

This represents this, and this represents, all pointed to Christ. But I have never, I have to confess to you, I have never understood all the types and shadows of the tabernacle, because most theologians have different ideas of what each piece of furniture represented, and how it could be applied, and the applications. The applications have been so many and varied, you can't possibly understand it all.

But one thing I do know, and one thing I do understand, you couldn't go near that tabernacle without being impressed with fragrance. I mean, the very walls emitted fragrance. You walked to the altar, and that bloody sacrifice, it was sprayed, it was anointed with oil, there was a fragrance that came out of that.

The very sacrifice was mixed, was sprinkled with oil. There was an odor coming out when the fire came out, the fire emitted a fragrance. You would go then to the laver, and it had been sprayed with a fragrance, anointed with a fragrance.

The priest, everywhere he went, everything on him was fragrant. You go to the holy place, even the bread had that anointed oil sprayed over it. The candlestick had this anointed oil.

And the incense was burning constantly, perpetually, with this fragrance going up. Fragrance everywhere. You know what the Lord is saying? He was making a statement, and I don't think we fully understand it.

He was making a wonderful statement. All service, all sacrifice, all communion with me ought to be sweet and delightful and restful. It should not be boring.

It should not be odorous. It should not be burdensome. It should not be worrisome.

It should be like an apple tree with the fragrance. Prayer should not be boring. Prayer should not be burdensome.

It should be sitting down with delight under the apple tree and the fragrance of it blessing us all. Choir, worship, ministry, instruments, Sunday spirit, going to church, giving. It should be filled with fragrance.

It should be something we enjoy. It should be something that fills our lungs with sweetness. Serving Jesus in any capacity, if it has become boring or laborious, if it's worrisome to you, you have not known Jesus as fragrance.

And I said in my study, and I got to thinking of all the times I've gone in and said, well, I've got to force myself to pray. I've got to somehow get into the presence of God, and I push and I strive. And the Lord says, now you sit down under the apple tree and you begin to drink in the fragrance.

Rest in my presence. You don't have to force your way to the throne of God. Come boldly to the throne of grace.

I'm your fragrance. I'm not a mask that stands over you with a whip. I'm your perfume.

I'm your fragrance. Hallelujah. You know, God looked down at his son, and he was a sweet-smelling fragrance.

The cross, the sacrifice, there was not a moment Jesus hung on that cross that he wasn't a sweet odor to his Father. He was fragrance. He rested in what his son did.

You know, when he came out of the water, what did the Father say of his son? This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased, and in Greek it says, in whom I delight. This is my son in whom I delight. He's a delight to me.

He's a joy to my heart. I've got four children that are a delight to me. I've got eight grandchildren that are a delight to me.

I love to take them in my hands. I don't like it when I come into their presence, or they come into my presence and they're uptight, and they're so busy they don't have time to just sit down and enjoy my fellowship. I want them to come into my presence with ease.

I want them to come to me as a father and grandfather who loves them, who reaches out yearning for their fellowship. Hallelujah. And that's what the Lord wants.

He wants you to come into his presence. God mentioned it so well, in 2 Timothy 8, that prayer should not be hard work. It should not be hard work.

The only hard thing about it is bringing ourselves to a place of rest, bringing ourselves to a place of trust. The reason we get uptight about the service of God, we try to do it in the flesh. We try to look for some special feeling to hit us.

And we don't come by faith, we come by feeling. If we feel down and blue or dirty or filthy, or like we failed the Lord, we're not at ease. Then we should just go and say, Jesus, I failed you, forgive me, I love you, and let the fragrance begin to flood your soul.

Paul, in Ephesians 5, 2 says, Christ hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice, a sweet-smelling savor. He's given himself as sacrifice to the Father. He's a sweet-smelling fragrance, hallelujah.

Now, Paul tells us that everything we do for him or to ourselves, we should be the fragrance of Jesus. I want you to turn to Philippians. Philippians, the fourth chapter.

I want to show you one little verse that really touched my heart when I read it this week. Philippians. Philippians, the fourth chapter.

We're going to read verse 16. This is Paul speaking. Miss Walker? Anybody beginning to smell the fragrance? Verse 16.

And even in Thessalonica, you said once and again to my necessity, not because I desire gift, but I desire fruit that may abound to your count. But I have awe and ab and abound. I am full, having received of Epaphroditus, the things which were sent from you, an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God.

You know what Paul's saying? He's writing to these believers and he said, what you've done for me has the odor of Christ about it. I see Jesus in what you've done. You've done it from the heart of such love that reflects the very love of Jesus, the kind of love he would have shown me.

You have shown me the very heart of Jesus. He said, what you did for me in ministering to my need has the sweet fragrance of Jesus to it. Oh, that could be said of us.

That could be said of me. What you did for me, pastor, what you preached to me, you loved me enough, there was an odor of Christ. There was the sweet-smelling fragrance of Jesus that came forth.

It wasn't flesh, it was Christ that came. I detect, I smell Christ in this. I see and feel and experience the fragrance of Jesus in what you did.

I want you, in Philippians, the second chapter, turn back the second chapter. I want to show you this very clear picture of what it means to reflect the fragrance of Jesus. To be so full of Jesus that that fragrance is detected by others all around you.

He talked about Epaphroditus, verse 24, Philippians 2. This is a beautiful picture. It's incredible what you see here. But I trust in the Lord that I also myself shall come shortly, that I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and companion and neighbor and fellow soldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants.

Remember, Paul said what you've done, Epaphroditus, I smell the fragrance in it. Here's a man, his Epaphroditus was just full of the fragrance of Jesus. Look at it now, verse 26.

For he longed after you all, and was full of heaviness, because that you had heard that he had been sick. For indeed he was sick nigh unto death, but God had mercy on him, and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. I send him therefore to look carefully, that when you see him again, you may rejoice in that I may be the less sorrowful.

This is the end of side one. You may now turn the tape over to side two. Here's Epaphroditus, and he's been sick.

Now, when I get sick, I want to be pitied. In fact, I complained the other day, a couple weeks ago to my wife, just a little complaint. I said, honey, scratch my back or something, I'm feeling bad, and I just wanted some attention.

I said, honey, I just want to lay my head on your lap and just pat my head, anything. I was feeling sorry for myself. You don't men are babies.

The wife can get sick, and she's full of fever and dragging around, and she's doing her cooking, and she's cleaning, and everything else. And he's standing around and saying, shouldn't you lay down? Well, dummy, why don't you help her? Then a man gets sick. Ah! Moans and groans.

Ah, but here's a man. He's been sick, and he finds out. He said, he longed after you all, and he's full of heaviness.

His soul is troubled, because he's saying, they've heard that I'm sick, and it's troubled their hearts. He said, I've got to get down there and show them that I'm alright. He's concerned about them.

He's the one that was sick. But he's saying, he's telling Paul, they're troubled. They shouldn't be troubled.

They have a heaviness for me because I was sick, and I don't want them to feel heavy. I don't want them to feel that burden. I don't want them to carry that burden.

I've got to get to them quickly and let them know I'm okay. Boy, what a fragrance of Jesus. He's not looking for pity.

Isn't that something? He says, he longed after you all. He was full of heaviness because you heard that he'd been sick. He said, Paul, my heart's heavy.

They heard that I've been sick, and they're grieving for me. And I don't want them to carry that burden. He said, I want to go down and show them that I'm alright.

Boy, that's a fragrance of Jesus. I don't know if I can ever get there. Boy, I'd love to have that kind of fragrance of Jesus come from me.

Well, what about Song of Solomon, 4th chapter? Go back to Song of Solomon, 4th chapter. And look at verse 12. Begin to read at verse 12.

Let us get up early to the vineyards, and let us see if the vine flourish, whether the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates bud forth. There will I give thee my loves. Am I reading? No, I'm sorry.

I'm wrong. I'm in the wrong. Chapter 4. I want chapter 4, verse 12.

Alright. Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates and pleasant fruits, camphor and spikenard. Look at verse 14.

Spikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense, myrrh and alloys. In other words, a garden of frankincense and all the chief spices. A fountain of gards, a well of living waters and streams from Lebanon.

Awake, O north wind, and come thou south. Blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden and eat his pleasant fruits.

Look at me, please, in closing. O Holy Spirit, the word here is, O Holy Spirit, come and blow on my garden. See, this is the garden of God.

Let me have so much of you, Jesus. Let there be such a sweet-smelling aroma of Christ in me. The Holy Spirit can come and blow through my vessel and flow out to the world with the fragrance of Jesus.

Hallelujah. Alright. I don't know if I've... I haven't even scratched the surface.

There's so much more I could go on to, but I haven't seen the fullness of it yet. But I want to make you hungry for that. And I want you to know, I want us to know the fragrance of Jesus.

Is he a sweet-smelling savor to you? Do you get joy out of serving him? Does he bring real happiness and rest and peace to your heart? That's the fragrance. The more restful you are, the more you're sensing the glory of this apple tree. Hallelujah.

Among the trees of the sons of men. Hallelujah. Come, Holy Spirit, blow through this garden of mine.

What kind of odor is going to come out of your garden? I hope there's no garbage. I hope there's no stents of the world or flesh. I hope that when the Holy Ghost comes down in these meetings, there'll be a fragrance that'll come out, the sinner can smell it, everyone around you can smell it.

And I'll tell you what, if you go home, your wife and husband can smell it. What kind of an odor are you giving off? Is it the sweet fragrance of Jesus? I'll tell you what. I'm speaking along those lines again Sunday night when God makes up all our wasted years.

God's blessed me with an insight on how he makes up all our wasted years as if they've never even been. It's going to be added to what I'm going to continue that Sunday night. And I don't know what Pastor Bob is going to be speaking, but it'll fit into what God is saying to our hearts.

But Jesus tonight wants to reveal himself to us in a fresh way as our absolute sweet fragrance. Will you stand please? Lord Jesus, we're going to go into intercession in a moment, but it should not be a burden, it should be a sweet moment. It should be a time, Lord, of rest and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.

Oh, breath of God, breath of the Holy Ghost, come and breathe on this garden tonight, and may Times Square Church and every part, every member of this body be unto you as Jesus was to you, Father, a sweet-smelling savor, the beauty of Jesus to be emanating from us. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

The more we're squeezed, the more we're pressed, the more fragrance will come out. There'll be nothing but fragrance of Jesus to pour forth from our lips and from our hearts. Hallelujah.

Now I'm going to give an invitation while our heads are bowed. I don't know why God put this on my heart. It's a very simple, very, very simple truth, probably one of the most simple I've ever ministered here on this platform.

But for some reason or another, the Lord wanted it preached tonight. He arranged this all. God doesn't do anything by accident.

God is perfect in all of his timing and his planning. God wanted somebody here tonight to be ministered to in this particular way. I never questioned God.

If he gives me a word, I preach it and then go on and say, thank you, Jesus. But some of you here tonight need to come forward right here to the front, to the altar, and stand before the presence of Jesus and say, Lord, I've been pressed recently. You may have been pressed hard by family conditions, job conditions, things all around you that have been pressing in on you.

And what's coming out of you has been anything but fragrance. It's not been the fragrance of Jesus. It's been the stench of flesh.

Temper, reaction, testiness, and coming to Jesus uptight, just rushing into his presence or coming into his presence so uptight, not really coming into his presence with rest and peace and joy. But most of all, I feel this so strong. Lately, when you've been pressed, you don't want it that way.

But it comes out as anything but Christ. Jesus is not coming out. Oh, it comes out most of the time, but there's still some of that stuff that comes out.

Now, walking in here tonight, a dear sister stopped me, and in essence she was saying, Pastor David, I fail the Lord so often, and I keep asking the Lord to forgive me. Won't he give up on me, or will he keep forgiving me until I come to the place that I should be? And I said, oh, yes, as long as you don't make peace with that thing in you. I said, are you where you were last year? Oh, no, she said, I've grown, I've changed a lot, but I'm still not where I want to be.

I fall so short. And we all fall short of his glory. But can you honestly say when you're standing here tonight, that more and more, I'm not asking you do you pray more, I'm not asking you do you love the word of God more, because I believe you do all that, you've been faithful to the church, maybe even faithful in your giving, but when you have pressure applied to you, I feel the Holy Spirit say this very strong to me, when the hard time, when the pressure comes, is there underleaf and doubt and fear coming out of you, and ugliness, temper, and just people look at you, and in that moment they can't see Jesus, there's no fragrance coming out of you, in fact it turns them aside, it turns them away and says, that can't be Christ.

I don't want that in my life. I want to know that any pressure that comes to my life now is going to bring the fragrance of Jesus out of me. And that only comes by sitting in his presence with delight.

Hallelujah. If you have to come down here, step out of your seat. Let's pray first.

Lord, if what I've said now is touching somebody's heart, I don't know why, Lord, I'm not going to question you, but I know as sure as I stand in this pulpit tonight, sanctified, anointed by the Holy Ghost, that there are a number of people that need to come to the apple tree. They've got to come and say, Jesus, I need to spend more time with you so that I can take in more of your fragrance, so that when I'm pressed, I'll have your fragrance come forth. If you feel the tug of the Holy Spirit, come on down here and let me pray with you right now and say, Pastor, that's me.

I have not been showing forth the fragrance of Jesus. There's just been too much of flesh and self and the odor of the world, and I really want to show the fragrance of Jesus. O sweet Spirit, I need you Come, sweet Spirit, I pray Come in my strength and my power Come in my most special way O sweet Spirit, I need you Come, sweet Spirit, I pray Come in my strength and my power Come in my most special way You that are standing in the front, will you look this way, please? Just look up here for a moment.

Let me talk to you. I was standing here looking at you, and I thought, Lord, if I can see them so clearly and I see some of you deeply moved, how much more does He look upon you right now? He sees right where you're at. He knows what you're going through.

He knows what's in your mind and every thought you're thinking right now. And if you're thinking in your heart, and you're saying in your heart, Jesus, I truly want to be like you. I want to know you in that sweet, restful way.

And I want to be like you. I want people to see you in me, Jesus. I want to speak forth and shed forth and show forth what Jesus, who He really is.

Whatever happens to me, I want Christ. When I feel like blowing up, instead I want to have that smile of Jesus, and I want the gentleness and the sweetness of Jesus to come out of me. Whatever it is, I want Jesus to show forth for me.

If that's your prayer, raise both hands to the Lord right now. Just lift up your hands and pray right out of your heart, Oh Jesus, please come and touch my heart. Fill me with the sweetness of Christ.

Take away the flesh and self and sin. I lay it down at your feet. And I ask you, Holy Spirit, to fill me with the sweetness of Jesus.

Help me to take more time to sit at His shadow, to sit at your feet, Jesus, and to be delightful. That you be my joy, Jesus. That I can serve you with joy and gladness.

Fill my heart with gladness and joy. Now let me pray for you. Lord Jesus, I want you to come now and baptize those that stand here at the front with the joy of Jesus.

Oh Lord, in the sweetness of Christ, Lord, you've been so good to us. You've been so sweet. You've been so gentle to us.

Help us to show forth that gentleness. Lord, not looking out for self, but looking out for others. To be to others what Jesus would be if He were walking this earth.

Come, Lord Jesus, and forgive us for the flesh. Forgive us, Lord, for reacting in the flesh. And make us more like You, Jesus.

We want to be like Jesus. To be like Jesus. Lord, we want to be like You.

We want the world to see You in us. We don't want them to see flesh. We don't want them to see us.

We want them to see Jesus. Hallelujah. We would reflect Your fragrance and Your glory and Your beauty.

Hallelujah. All right, hands down. I believe God answers when you really cry out to Him.

How many of you that are standing up here are up here tonight for the first time in this church. You've never come forward in this church before. Raise your hand, please.

A number of you. Here's what we'd like to do. We'd like you to go backstage and down in the program so we can minister to you.

You don't sign anything. We just want to pray with you. Would you come this way? Make your way right through that door there, please.

All of you had your hand up just now. And we need the counselors, please. The counselors to go to the prayer room, please.

Right this way. Please let them go through there. All of you had your hand up.

Follow these that are going into the prayer room. And may the Lord supernaturally touch you and heal you and bring out of you the great beauty and the fragrance of Jesus. How wonderful He is.

Lord bless you. Hallelujah. All right.

You that are up here, standing here now, would you ask God to put it in your heart? Would you ask the Holy Spirit to put it in your heart right now that you would spend more time alone with Jesus? That's how. Didn't the bride say that she met Him on the mountain of myrrh, the mountain of frankincense and fragrance? And spending time in His presence, His fragrance touched her and reflected, and she picked up that fragrance. You pick up the fragrance of Jesus by spending time with Him.

Every day you should be spending time with Jesus. The people will see it. Your husband, your wife, your children, your friends, your sweetheart, your co-workers.

Everyone will see. Didn't it say they knew they were Jesus? What was that scripture? They knew that they had been with Jesus. They were unlearned and ignorant men, and they knew that they had been with Jesus.

How did they know? Because they acted like Jesus. Their manners of Christ came through. I want the manners of Jesus.

I want the fragrance of Jesus. Amen. Lord, I ask You to put it in our hearts to spend more time alone with You in the garden, on the mountain of myrrh, the hill of frankincense, the hill of fragrance.

Jesus, let this church be a sweet-smelling savor. Let this church, Lord, be like an altar upon which the sacrifice of praise comes up, O Lord, like frankincense to heaven, like fragrance to the nostrils of our Heavenly Father. In Jesus' name, amen.

We'll let you return to your seats and get ready for intercession, please. We're going to have a wonderful time in prayer tonight. Let's sing that again, if you will, please.

Just what you were singing. Come, O Savior, I need You Come, O Savior, I pray Come in the same time that Thou art Come in Thine own special way Come, sweet Spirit, I need You Come, sweet Spirit, I pray Come in the same time that Thou art Come in Thine own special way Conclusion of the tape.