Make the Exchange   (29:25)

Psalm 37:4.  Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

Ephesians 1:17.  That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:

“Delight thyself also in the Lord, and He shall give thee…”  Oh, how very different it is when we delight ourselves in the Lord instead of delighting ourselves in the desires of our hearts!  How often, when we run after things, even spiritual things, they prove to be will-o’-the-wisp: you can never grasp them; you never get them.  It’s like the basket of hay that’s hung in front of a donkey that won’t move.  He keeps moving then because he wants that hay, but he never reaches it.  That’s the only thing that makes him move. 

And that’s the only thing that makes some people move.  We talk about a “Pentecostal movement.”  And what makes people move?  Well, until they have spoken in tongues according to Acts 2:4, they move, and then they stop moving.  Or until they have a healing that they need, they keep moving, and then they stop.  Or if they have evangelistic service—a revival meeting—then they move, and then they have a revival—a “Pentecostal movement”!  But as soon as that stops—as soon as that’s not hung before their vision, why then they stop moving.  But it’s a very, very different thing when I have fallen in love with Jesus Christ so much that I “count everything”—including my spirituality—“but refuse.”  Everything has to go, thank God!  My heart is attached to absolutely nobody, and absolutely nothing. 

Have you discovered what an idolater you are?  When you have ceased praying your rosary, then you pray something else.  And when you have ceased worshipping Mary, or St. Sebastian, then you begin worshipping yourself, or some preacher, or some evangelist, or some movement, or some doctrine, or some book, or something!  And God says, “Don’t worship them.  Don’t fall down before them.  I’m a jealous God.”  Jesus Christ wants my whole attention to be riveted in Him alone.

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“None of the princes of this world knew Him,” but, “Ye see Me.”  Oh, when God gives unto you “the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him,” you’ll not be so dumb as to attach any importance to anything—nothing at all, praise God!  One time, we attached so much importance to our religious exercises, and we drowned ourselves in them!

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We’re interested in Him.  And as “they looked to Him, their faces were lightened, and they were not ashamed.”  And as you “delight yourself in the Lord..” oh, there is the true worship that God seeks.  And when God has graciously given to you “the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him,” why, beloved, that’s “life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.”  It lies in that knowledge, and the Spirit of God has come from heaven to make me know.

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“God would make known unto the saints what is the riches of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you.”  Oh, do you know what’s in you?  Do you know the Fountain that has burst forth within you?  Do you know the Son of Righteousness that has arisen within you?—Gentile, yes; “dead in trespasses and sins,” yes.  “But for His great love wherewith He loved us,”  because of His unsearchable mercy, He “has raised us up together with Him.”  And I’ll never be raised from the dead, and never be seated in heavenly places until I recognize through the Holy Ghost that “by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.” 

But that faith does not become active and does not become effective until the Spirit of God has quickened my understanding, and I say, “Oh…  oh…  oh…  Now everything is refuse—everything!  I don’t pay attention to anything anymore.  I have discovered Him!”

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When I discovered that I was not able to praise God adequately—my praises fall flat—I stopped praising the Lord, and He began praising in me.  Now I know it goes right through.  And when I found out that my prayer was an abomination in the sight of God, because it was produced by self, I stopped praying, and lo, there rose within me a mighty fountain: God came down from heaven to dwell within me, and to pray—God in my heart praying to God in heaven.  “We don’t know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit…”  And how does He do it?  Oh, when I discover Him, and when by faith I appropriate Him!

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Oh, it is possible to live a life today that is so perfect before God that He is pleased with me.  How can I live…?  I can’t live that kind of a life; I can’t even begin!  But, oh, when Jesus is the beginning, He is also the finisher, thank God!  When I have discovered Jesus Christ and realized that He is the “unspeakable gift,” oh, my Father, then I’m glad to present this body “a living sacrifice.”

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And when you have acquired the true humility, you’ll never get proud of your humility.  It’s a byproduct of delighting yourself also in the Lord, hallelujah.  Self-denial?  You’ll never pride yourself of denying yourself, like people do when they get up and tell how much they fast, and with a woebegone voice they tell us how, “Well, I guess I have to die.”  They ain’t dead!  Oh, no, that monkey’s only getting fatter!  But when you delight yourself in the Lord, there’s a “shout of a King.”

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Oh, listen, you’re wasting your time if you delight yourself in anything else!  But when you get acquainted with your Lord, you’ll find “All and in all” and “All and in all”—all that you can possibly need for past, present, and future throughout the ages of eternity provided in Jesus Christ.  And when you see Him, you’ll find out that you have no more desires for anything else.

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The story of “The Master’s Touch.”    (from 10:35)

How the music stand in which he delighted came to be forgotten.  “My music stand—my masterpiece—was gone, and in place of it, there was a beautiful gold-plated music stand standing right where my music stand had stood.”    (from 20:13)

A quote from the first verse of So nimm den meine Hände, a hymn by Julie K. von Hausmann (1862).

The Touch of the Master’s Hand, by Myra Brooks Welch

It was battered and scarred,
And the auctioneer thought it
Hardly worth his while
To waste his time on the old violin,
But he held it up with a smile.

“What am I bidden, good folks”, he cried,
“Who’ll start the bidding for me?
A dollar, a dollar,” then, “Two! Only two?
Two dollars, and who’ll make it three?
Three dollars once, three dollars twice, going for three.”

But, No,
From the room, far back, a gray-haired man
Came forward and picked up the bow,
Then, wiping the dust from the old violin
And tightening the loose strings,
He played a melody pure and sweet,
As a caroling angel sings.

The music ceased, and the auctioneer
With a voice that was quiet and low,
Said, “What now am I bid for this old violin?”
As he held it aloft with its bow.
“A thousand dollars, and who’ll make it two?
Two thousand!  And who’ll makes it three?
Three thousand once, three thousand twice,
And going, and gone,” said he.

The audience cheered,
But some of them cried,
“We do not quite understand
What changed its worth.”
Swift came the reply:
“The Touch of the Masters Hand.”

And many a man with life out of tune,
And battered and scarred with sin,
Is auctioned cheap to a thoughtless crowd,
Much like the old violin.

A “mess of pottage,” a glass of wine,
A game, and he travels on.
He is “going” once, and “going” twice,
He is going, and almost “gone.”

But the Master comes,
And the foolish crowd never can quite understand,
The worth of a soul and the change that’s wrought
By the Touch of the Master’s Hand.

He Is To Precious to Me, a hymn by Charles H. Gabriel, 1902:

He stood at my heart’s door ’mid sunshine and rain,
And patiently waited an entrance to gain.
What shame that so long He entreated in vain,
For He is so precious to me.

Audio Quality: Mixed