Tokens of His Compassion - Part 8

Not his body. His soul was made an offering for sin. I'll tell you what he said, how he interpreted that, he said, gentlemen, it was damnation and he took it joyfully.

He tasted the pangs of hell. Why? I say he was born without a father, he finished without a father. Why? Because he says, my God, why has thou forsaken me? I can understand Peter, he was always vacillating.

I can understand Thomas, he was always doubting. I understand the frailty of God, here I am in a crisis moment. If ever I needed you it's now and I'm deserted, it's as black as hell.

There's a hymn in this hymn book, we might try and sing it, we've never sung it. Man of sorrows, what a name for the Son of God who came. Ruined sinners to reclaim, hallelujah, what a savior.

Bearing shame, bearing shame and scoffing rude, in my place condemned he stood. I've ever figured those three crosses here, the central cross with Jesus, here's a thief and there's a thief, and all the crowd are going there, laughing, mocking, scorning, and Barabbas comes up and says to a buddy, you know I should have been on that cross, that was mine. That miracle working fellow took it, oh what a marvelous man, I'm glad he took my place, I'd be writhing in agony.

When did last you see him writhing in agony for you? How in God's name do you get through your prayers without breaking down at times? I could have wept the whole day today. Of course modern preachers don't, it's too embarrassing, it's too infringing to preach, not to weep when you preach, don't care a hell of beans. The man who does, preacher who doesn't weep for the lost should not expect people to come and expect people to come and weep for their sins.

The reason they don't come and weep for their sins, he never weeps for them, that's why. The billows of hell broke over him, before he gets to Gethsemane he can stink the horrid wretched drainage, for the drainage of the city went there. All the corpses went there, all the lepers only were allowed to walk there, anybody deranged had to go and be put outside the city wall, everybody they thought was unclean and undesirable was put there.

Come on now, you say that's a horrible figure, well friend let me tell you tonight, you may be a church member, you may have paid your dues and your tithes, and heaven knows that will get you to heaven with some churches, but honestly let me say this, if you're not born again of the Spirit of God you go to hell anyhow, and it will be the misery of that place I've described a million times worse. When some of these proud preachers get there and discover the girl they passed a hundred times at the end of the block, while they were preaching salvation, selling a body every Sunday. All the people in the tavern, within a few hundred yards of this building, just yesterday I think it was, a precious man 56 years ago shot himself.

I wondered why. I hadn't knocked at his door, I admit that, I wonder if anybody ever did. I think the greatest tragedy in the world tonight is not Ethiopia, as terrible as it is, it's not Afghanistan being raped and devoured every day by the wicked vile Russians.

Disagree if you like, I believe the greatest tragedy in the world tonight, I believe the greatest tragedy in the world tonight is a sick church in a dying world. We dare to bear his name and we're destitute of power, we've all the blessed excuse the modernists and liberals have given us for not believing in the Old Testament, for not believing the miracle of working power. I've made it said many times to Dale and Bet and a few others, I'd be happy to go to heaven tonight.

I've preached over 60 years and I've had some wonderful meetings, but I want to see God do something in this garden valley area before I die. The devil kicked us around like a football. We were going to have a great church, we got a great building down the road there, and it dissolved somehow.

We had another great group up the road and they'd gone. What are we going to do, run away and let the devil have the whole place? I remember the first time I heard people in the Christian Missionary Alliance church singing a hymn, O to be like the blessed Redeemer. It made me think.

I wonder if I really wanted to be like him. He was never popular, he was never very well accepted. Do I, come on, do you really want an intimacy with God that he shows you the world as he sees it? Well, I preached in a big church in Canada a few years ago.

Two lovely girls, they're school teachers in England, they're actually Welsh. One of them came forward, she's a brilliant scholar, I think she studied in some universities, Oxford and Wherefore. She came to the altar and she wept and wept.

I mentioned her name, I knew her daddy well, I'd known her for some years. And when she got saved, she said, please God,