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     1. The Fire Is Burning   (2:43)
     2. I Came to Kindle a Fire on the Earth   (39:07)
     3. Ho, Every One that Is Thirsty   (2:58)

Luke 12:49.  I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled?

I Kings 18:24, 30.  And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord: and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, It is well spoken. ³⁰And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him. And he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down.

Jesus says “I am come…”  Now, we know that He has come. What did you come here for?  We used to sing a song in Sunday school: “What am I in this old world for?”  There must be a reason why God let me come to this world: evidently not to live like an animal, and not to fulfill the lusts of the flesh and then go to hell.  God put me upon this earth for another purpose, and Jesus says, “I am come.” 

Dear Lord, what did You come to do?  Did You have anything in mind toward me when you came to this world?  Dear Lord Jesus Christ, I’d like to know whether you really did something for me—whether you came to save me, to bring me out of my “bondage, sorrow, and night, into Thy freedom, gladness and light.”  It is such a wonderful study to go to the New Testament and find out how much God has willed toward us.

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And you don’t know your loss.  You don’t.  You positively don’t know your loss.  Whether you prefer softball, or television, or the “lust of the flesh,” or the “lust of the eyes,” you’re preferring Satan—you’re preferring the devil.  You are!  And there’s a “fire prepared for the devil and for his angels.”  “And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire,” the Bible says.

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Yes, you can do as you please.  You can serve the devil.  You can serve the flesh.  You can be “blinded by the god of this world.”  You can satisfy every whim and every desire of your heart.  You can let Satan blind your eyes.  You can rise up in pride like all these unbelievers and all these agnostics do.  You can do that if you please.  God somehow allows man to make his own choice between heaven and hell, between light and darkness.

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I fear that most people today who claim they’re saved are not saved at all.  Ask them, “What are you saved from?”  They smoke and chew tobacco and chew gum.  “They love their fancy dress, and some have wronged their fellow men, refusing to confess.”  And all these “idols behind the door”—and not only behind the door, but in the heart!  And like the Athenians in Athens, the Bible says Paul went about and saw them so religious—the city full of idols, and there was one little corner devoted to the Living God.  And isn’t that the condition of many hearts?

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“How much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Ghost to them than ask Him?”  There’s not enough hunger.  There’s not enough desire.  Our meetings would be so different if there were a real desire, a real hunger.  You wouldn’t have to be patted on the back and told to come to the altar; you’d come.  You wouldn’t have to be told to pray; you’d pray.  You’d cry; you’d call on God, and the fire would begin burning.

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And Elijah said, “Come on.  The God who answers by fire shall be God.”  Listen, who is your God?  Who is your God?  He’ll answer by fire.

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There are men “greatly beloved” by God—God who is maligned, and who is cursed, and who is blasphemed by His very people.  Jesus Christ is being “crucified again” every day by those who claim to be followers of the Son of God, and “in works they deny Him.”

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He said, “Behold, I send the promise of My Father upon you.”  And He says, “rivers of living water.”  Why, this very body… That’s what’s the matter: “I beseech you by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice.”  Do you know what is meant by “the vessels”?  “The foolish virgins took no oil in their vessels.”  This body—this body is filled with powers of death, powers of lust, powers of pride.  They lodge in your body until you’re “transformed by the renewing of your mind.”  And the little praying you do won’t do it!  It’ll take vehement desire.  It’ll take honest-to-goodness repentance.  It’ll take a real getting down into the very grave of Jesus.

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The story of an inheritance lost.  “And you don’t know your loss.  You positively don’t know your loss.”    (from 1:02)

Germany in the aftermath of World War II.  “I had hundreds of people standing in front of me in the rain there in Stuttgart, listening to the preaching of the Gospel, and nobody made a move to move out.  I said, ‘Well, these are the happy people.’”    (from 5:41)

The story of Adolph, who perished in the Eastland Disaster.  “Strange.  He got there on time; he got there ahead of time.  He couldn’t go to meeting ahead of time.  He didn’t like meetings.”    (from 15:30)

Love proved by letter writing.  “Every day he got a letter.  Every day! … How could that girl do it?  They say they have no time to write; they’re liars! … Oh, repair that altar.  Make sure that God is first!”    (from 28:51)

Comments on the home altar.  “Father and mother, God has commanded you to let the fire burn which Jesus Christ has kindled at the cost of His own life and His resurrection.  ‘He is the King of glory,’ praise God!  And if He isn’t the King in your home, soon there will be another ‘king.’”    (from 31:36)

The solution for complaining spouses.  “I said, ‘Listen, I have a wonderful medicine.  Whenever one of you two gets mad, the one that gets mad, you go to the other one and say, “Come, darling, let’s praise the Lord!”’”    (from 35:01)

Jesus, I Come, a hymn by William T. Sleeper, 1887:

Out of my bondage, sorrow, and night,
Jesus, I come, Jesus, I come;
Into Thy freedom, gladness, and light,
Jesus, I come to Thee;
Out of my sickness, into Thy health,
Out of my want and into Thy wealth,
Out of my sin and into Thyself,
Jesus, I come to Thee.

Majestic Sweetness Sits Enthroned, a hymn by Samuel Stennett:

He saw me plunged in deep distress
And flew to my relief;
For me He bore the shameful cross
And carried all my grief.

HRW refers to a friend who perished in the Eastland Disaster in 1915.

Audio Quality: Poor

Original tape marked: C/90 Sermon (#33).  We ran light hiss reduction, DeHummer, 8 filter, -24dB at 58.60Hz, and compression.  At around 25:38, “Of David we read—of Daniel we read…” changed to “Of Daniel we read…”  A number of coughs in the congregation should perhaps have been removed.

The original media and project files are available upon request.