Be a Holy People — Bertha Smith

I want to thank the committee this morning for inviting me here. I thank the church for putting in my room a lovely basket of fruit, which I've enjoyed very much. I thank the church for this wonderful corsage, which adorns me this morning.

And I praise the Lord for all the messages that I've heard these days and for the privilege of sitting at the feet of the Lord's service. Dear Lord, we lift our hearts to thee and praise and gratitude this morning for the good hand of our God upon us.

Lord, we praise thee for your marvelous patience through these years. We're just amazed. We don't know how you've ever put up with us, all the sins that have been forgiven. Lord, we thank you for this good day.

We pray just now that you glorify yourself in this hour. Lord, we pray in Jesus' name and for his sake. Those of you who were here the last time I spoke, remember that I had a Chinese illustration which the Lord put into my mind, showing how black people, these condemned people who are in the hands of the devil, who have the nature of sin just because they're human beings, come to the cross of Christ.

Justification and New Life in Christ

And when they come and take refuge in Christ's death, God charges all the sin of that person and everything that that person is that's unlike holy God to Jesus Christ. And he charges the death of his son to that person.

And he sees that person as if they had been put to death, as if they had suffered hell for their sin. And the punishment of his son is all the punishment that's necessary for that person's sin and everything they are that's unlike holy God.

And because of that, the Holy Spirit comes into their hearts. They stand before God in the presence, clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And they stand before God just as righteous as Jesus Christ is righteous.

They are accepted in the Beloved. And the Holy Spirit comes into their hearts, and they are regenerated. Not only have a position of righteousness in the sight of God, but the life of God. And if you could describe in figures, they have a million times more than Adam and Eve ever lost.

Adam and Eve were never even born the first time. Well, I praise the Lord I was born the first time, 84 years ago today. And I thank him that I was born the second time, 68 years ago in September. If I hadn't have been born the second time, I never would have known you.

But I was born into the family of God with the life of God in me. And my body became the dwelling place of the creator of the universe to live down here in this world and just move around for the Holy Spirit to express his blessed son through my personality.

The Bible calls me the temple of the Holy Spirit. I like to think of myself as being a little trailer temple. I move around so much. But I'm just moving around here in this world for the Lord Jesus Christ to express himself to me.

I was over in Little Rock at the first church week before last for a Christian life conference where the Lord worked glorious in the hearts of so many people. And one man looked at me at the close of the service when we were just talking and he said, Miss Bertha, you live so close to the Lord, you must just long to go on to the Lord and be with him.

I said, not a bit. I said, heaven can wait. I'm not a bit homesick for heaven. I'm having heaven down here. When the Lord doesn't break my heart over something, I wish he broke it a lot more because when he breaks my heart something happens.

But that can wait. And I want to live down here just as long as it pleases the Lord to let me stay down here to share with people a little bit of what the Lord has done to me, what he's taught me in this book.

The Lord has been so specially good to me. He's let me sit at the feet of some of the world's greatest Bible teachers, some of the world's greatest soul winners, Dr. R .A. Cowrie, Dr. E .Y. Mullin, Dr. A .T. Robinson in our Southern Seminary, the old men of God back down to when men who'd walked with God trained other preachers how to preach, other young men how to preach, who'd had experience in life.

Dr. Campbell, some of the glorious professors that used to be at the Biblical Seminary in New York, Dr. Reese, Paul Reese, Ms. Marie Munson, Dr. Trumbull, and I just couldn't name the others, Ms. Marie Munson, Dr. Culpepper out in China, and many other saints.

And then he's let me get into situations where I was forced to put into practice what those people had taught me, and friends, I found it worked. I just found it worked. And I want to live just as long as I can to tell other people about it.

He gave me a verse some time ago, take me not hence until I have declared thy faithfulness to coming generations. And when it just broke my heart to leave China, and nearly 42 years had been so short, and the work that God had called me to was over, and I was still carrying 15 hours of work a day.

I didn't know I was an old woman. Now, I didn't open my mouth because I know the board has nothing else to do but to have a retiring age, or limit. But I just never dreamed that anything in this life could ever touch me.

I like giving up my work that the Lord didn't know was my work, giving up the place that the Lord had put me in over there for him to express himself through me. And the Lord just comforted my heart by just putting it into my heart, and just called me just as definitely as he ever called me to China, and the only thing that ever kept me over there.

The only thing that took me there in the first place was I knew I was called of God, and that certainly was the only thing that kept me over there after I got there. It's easy to go to the States. But he called me just as definitely to come back home and do what I could.

Just add my bit. What he could do through me to help bring a reviving to Baptist Church. And friends, you know I'm not planning to go to heaven. If I died, I'd be at this point in my life. I'm just hoping to stay down here and become.

Holiness as the Calling of God's People

Well, we were talking, go back now to what I was saying. We brought those dead people to that cross, and you remember those black dead people to that cross, and they entered into Christ, and you remember I put that Chinese black man into two red men, and I put them up there on the board.

And I meant to continue with that board, because I thought I was speaking tonight, to talk about those people up there, those red people. They passed through the cross, and they were in Christ, and they were God's children, and they were saints, and they were born from above, and they were the Lord's disciples, and they positioned before God.

They were washed whiter than snow, and God had even forgotten they ever sinned, and they had eternal life, and they were empowered by God to be what he, to live for him down here in this world. And the Holy Spirit had come into their heart, and God's standard for those people was, that we put up there, was that they were to be holy.

They were to be holy. God's people are not to act like the world. The devil crowd are in that broad road going to heaven. God's people are walking with him in that narrow road, but he leaves us down here among these people that are in that broad road in order to be different, and show them we're going in a different direction.

We do not belong to this world, we are not a part of it, and we are citizens of heaven, temporarily living down here in this world. And all that we have to do with these people down here in this world, that are going with the devil's crowd, is just to be a witness to them, and just to show them there's a better way.

And do it in every way we can, by speaking, by telephoning, by showing them our lives, by our testimony of what the Lord means to us. And do you remember what that young Indian official said to Dr. Billy Graham, out in India, when Dr. Graham asked him why he was not a Christian?

He said, show me one. And we are to show these people the difference. And that's what we're down here for. And God's purpose is that we are to be holy. Why? Why? Why? His standard for every person who's been received into his family and whom he lives is that they are to be holy.

Because holy God will never fellowship with anything that comes from the devil. Holy God will never fellowship with sin. The Holy Spirit is always grieved by sin. And friends, the older I live, the more I realize how sensitive the Holy Spirit is.

The essence of all holiness. How could he be comfortable in the presence of anything that comes from the devil? And when he's not comfortable, he's grieved back in a corner where our hearts are. I think a personal illustration will show you something of how the Holy Spirit is grieved.

The Holy Spirit's Sensitivity to Sin

I've always loved to keep house. And I just love to do anything about housekeeping. Now, my mother taught her four daughters to do everything in the world that needed to be done around the home. But as a sacrifice, I always had to make, because I never did have time to keep house in China.

I couldn't have gotten a drop of water out of the well if the house had been on fire. Pulled up with a windlass and a big tub about that big. And whenever we had running water, the cook heated it out in the wash tub outside and dipped it out and ran to the tub with it before it got cold.

Ran into the house with it. Well, I came home, and I was able to keep house before I wrote a book. If you ever want to have any peace, don't ever write a book. Because too many people will get your name.

And then you'll have so much mail and so many telephones. Come here and go there. And while you appreciate it, you don't have much rest left. I don't want any. I'm resting when I get to heaven. But I did enjoy it when I first got home.

And I had time to cook. But I hadn't been cooking very much. I hadn't been accustomed to an electric stove until a young neighbor and his wife, a pastor out about two miles of the country church. He graduated Southwestern.

Had a Texas preacher and his wife and 12-year-old son come out to spend a week with him. And my sister was away from home that week. And so I thought, well, I must have Brother Carla's friend come down and have them come down for lunch with us one day.

Well, I was just sure that I was not going to get frustrated because long ago I learned that word didn't belong in any Christian's vocabulary. And I just start in time so I can do what I do commonly and not give the devil a chance to make me get frustrated.

I did a little praying that morning, but I knew that afternoon that I'd have time for my regular quiet hour after they were gone. And in the summertime we had lots of flowers. I made bouquets and fresh flowers and put them everywhere they ought to be.

And my mother always taught her daughters, now when the preacher comes, he's the Lord's servant, and we're going to serve the very best for him. He's the Lord's servant. And I got out a pretty Chinese embroidered linen tablecloth and put it on the table.

And I got out the best china and the silver and the pretty crystal and had everything looking pretty. And I was just getting along fine with my dinner, just praising the Lord for a while. And then lo and behold, after a while, just five minutes before 1230 when they were to come, the doorbell rang.

And I was just putting green beans into the pot to cook. Well, of course, I was embarrassed. But I didn't have to give any excuse whatever. I didn't have to tell them why dinner was going to be late. I don't know why on earth I said what I did to them.

Well, the McCollies had been to my home before, not for a meal, but just resting. And I said that the dinner's just going to be a little bit late. One of the units on the electric stove is burned out, which was quite true.

But there were three units left in an oven. And that was all I needed to prepare that meal. And I asked the Curleys to take the guests into the parlor and show them my Chinese things. Well, after a while, I got the dinner ready.

Now, what I didn't tell those people was that I had already burned up two pots of green beans. I was not accustomed to an electric stove, hadn't been cooking on it very long. And I had plenty of units to cook that dinner.

Three was plenty was enough. But fortunately, I had burned up all the fresh beans. But I had a can of canned ones I was able to put in. It didn't take them long to get done. And we had dinner and sat down at the table and just had a good time.

And after dinner, we chatted a little bit, and then we had prayer together. I'm sure we got on our knees and all prayed around. I'm sure I prayed. I couldn't imagine myself not praying on an occasion like that.

And after they'd gone, I cleaned up what had to be done as soon as possible and went upstairs to my room and got my Bible and read it. I don't suppose I got anything from it. And got on my knees to pray.

And friends, when I got on my knees to pray, my praying wasn't going as high as it seemed, and I don't think certainly no high. God was not there. There was nobody to pray to. I was just saying words.

And I said, Lord, what is the matter? What's happened? What's happened? What's the matter? Well, you know, when you want to know, it doesn't take you long. People that don't know the Lord's will are not willing to do it.

That's the reason we don't know it. We don't know what the Lord wants us because we're not willing to do it. As soon as we're willing to know, he'll let us know. And he let me know in a hurry. Why did you tell those people?

For what reason did you give your guests that dinner was going to be late? I told them dinner was going to be late because one of the units on the stove was burned out. And that wasn't true at all. Dinner was going to be late because I'd already burned up two pots of green beans.

And, you know, I couldn't pray. And there wasn't any use to say, Lord, forgive me. I had enough spiritual sense to know that wouldn't work to say, Lord, forgive me. I had to go downstairs and get in the car and drive out two miles to those people's home.

I got out there to their home. And they have one of these new modern pastoral rooms where the kitchen is the front and the two women are there. And I said, where are the two men? They said, back in the study.

I said, will you please call them now? And I looked at those four people and I said, I didn't tell you all the truth about why dinner was late today. Dinner wasn't late because one unit had burned out in the stove.

Because I'd already burned up two pots of green beans. And they looked at me as if, just looking at me as if, what a low-down missionary. Nobody said a word. I just turned right around, walked out, went out and got in my car and went back home, went upstairs.

I went upstairs and got on my knees. And, friends, I could pray. I could pray. Well, now I could have argued and said there's no principle involved in that. It didn't hurt anybody. It really didn't make any difference with anybody.

But the Holy Spirit, who is the essence of holiness, was not going to let me get by with that thing. And I praise the Lord he didn't let me get by with it. I don't know when I would have been able to have gotten in tune with the Lord again if I hadn't made that thing right.

The Holy Spirit is sensitive. And his people have got to live a holy life. He will have no fellowship with anything that comes from the dead. Now, he is so merciful. He goes on and does a lot of things that we ask him to do without our being consciously in fellowship with him.

He just has to. He just has to. And, you know, sometimes some other people's prayer is the same thing we are. And you may be hearing that other person's prayer instead of ours. But we just can't fool God and get by with anything lower than his standard for us.

And he couldn't have had a standard any lower. We are to be a holy people because he is holy. Now, if I had my chart here, I was going to uncover those red men and take a look at that black man inside of that red man.

The Unchanged Sinful Nature and Death with Christ

And I was going to ask these two preachers who represented those red men that came to the cross the other night, how long they had been Christians and how long they had been preachers. And then we were going to take a look at that black man inside and see how much that black man had changed since they had been saved.

And then we were going to take a look at that last person. The first person that I put up there, remember, was myself. And after 68 years of walking with the Lord, and it took me so long to ever get into the kingdom of God and get saved, after the Lord did his part by showing me how lost I was, that I'll tell you, my desire has been unto the Lord ever since then.

And I think I can say I've been walking with the Lord 68 years. And I gave up my family and went to China. And I'll tell you, when a single woman goes to China, it's altogether different from a family going.

The family goes, they take along the person they love best. And they have their home out there. And the people they love best are there with them. When a single woman goes, she gives up everything. And not only that, but I went through all those wars and bombings, and went hungry in those communist sieges.

Well, surely my black human nature would have changed, wouldn't it? You think it would have? Wife would have taken off that red man, that black man wouldn't have even been a little pale. Just as black as I was the day before I was saved.

By nature, my nature. My nature hadn't changed a bit. And I gave this somewhere, and a woman came up to me and said, Bill, I'm just all confused. I said, what do you conclude with that? She said, well, you tell me that I must be holy, and then you tell me I'm just as black as I can be.

Well, how do we be? Whose holiness are we to have? This old sinful human nature's not got to change into something holy. It never is going to change. The Lord didn't come to improve this old sinful human nature and make it get a little bit better and a little bit better and a little bit better.

And get that black color to peel a little, peel a little, peel a little. It's not fit to live. The nature of the devil, the only remedy for the nature of the devil is to put it to death. And the Lord Jesus Christ came to take us to the cross.

If the Lord could have improved this, Jesus Christ would have never died our death. We had to die, as we've been presented here all the week. We had to die. And we couldn't die for our own sins. The wages of sin is death, the soul that's finished shall die.

Always has been God's holy law and it always will be. Holy God never excuses sin in anybody. I heard a woman some time ago, a young woman who had sinned, and she was just heartbroken over it. I don't know whether she was heartbroken because she'd sinned or whether it got out.

And she said, Of course God has forgiven me, but I can't forgive myself. Now what about that? Now what about that? God had not forgiven her in the sense that she was talking about. God hadn't forgiven her but couldn't forgive her because he loved her.

God couldn't say, oh well that's all right, you're sorry and I forgive you, that'll end it. Literally God doesn't forgive sin. He has to transfer that sin to his son and that sin had to curse the life out of his son.

And that's God's forgiveness, that's the only kind of forgiveness he has. He transfers our sins, sins to his son. He doesn't excuse us because we're sorry. That sin must be punished, it comes from the devil.

And that woman didn't realize that what her sin cost God. That Jesus Christ had to shed every drop of his blood before God could forgive her for that sin. God is holy. And he must punish sin. I read an incident one time that really happened in the Civil War.

Substitutionary Death and the Transfer of Sin

One man's name was George Wyatt. I've forgotten the other man's name. George Wyatt was a young man in the middle age with a house full of children. And he was called into service in the Civil War. He had a young friend in the community.

His name I've forgotten, we'll call him John. And John went to George and said, you know, I don't have a family, I'm not married. And I just can't bear the thought of you leaving your wife and children to go off to the war.

You let me go in your stead. And I'll just take your card and I'll just go and sign my name as George Wyatt. And I'll take your place. And he did. And Louie was killed and John was killed. But you know, it was announced that George Wyatt had lost his life in battle.

George Wyatt had died. And then after a while, when they were just combing the country, when boys even 16 years old were being called to fight, they were just going through the country hunting anybody they could get.

And Louie found this man there with his family, named George Wyatt, who hadn't gone, hadn't been enlisted. So there he was. His name was handed in and here he was called to come and enlist. And he said, I've already died in the battle.

I've already died in this war. And there they had a record of where he was from, his address. And there he died. He'd been killed in battle. Well, how'd the government do that? They had to admit that he died.

And he didn't have to go. Had he died? Yes and no. He died, but he's still living. He died in George Wyatt, in that man named John. George Wyatt had died. John had taken his place in death. I was up in security Colorado a few years ago.

I was in Colorado Springs. And that's security church for a week. And that's not far from Camp Carson. At that time there were 25 ,000 young men there getting ready to go to Vietnam. And some of them came to my meeting.

And one young man came who had been a ministerial student in college. But he just decided he'd get his military training off first and run up there. He was an assistant to the captain. But he came and he said, I'm a Christian, but I'm not worth a thing.

I'm not worth a thing. I can't help these men any. I'm just overcome with the same sins they are. Well, then when he learned about this death to himself, he took it. He got his sins forgiven up to date.

And he took this little leaflet that was handed out to you today on this big guy. And he did what I told him to do. And I'd like for you to do the same. He underscored every statement in that leaflet that applied to him.

And that was most of it. I used to get these little leaflets from Scotland. They're printed over here now. And the church ordered these for you to have. And I want you to take this and do the same as they did.

You underscore every statement in this. And that will help you to see a little bit more clearly what this sinful human nature is like. After people have listed their sins and written all they can think of, I like to hand this out to them and then let them see what they can add.

Well, this young man had done that. And he was just so sick of himself, he transferred all these sins to the Lord. And he transferred this black sinful self over there. And he came just wanting to know how he could be empowered to live right.

Well, we got on our knees before the Lord. And as we talked about, God's plan for this old sinful nature is that it was put to death in his son. Now, he doesn't force you and me to accept that position of death.

Yielding to the Holy Spirit's Rule

And the Holy Spirit comes into our hearts when we're saved. And the average saved person is filled with themselves and this big eye, this big eye. Because we didn't know that we were to take that position in death with Christ for ourselves.

And we were to sign this old self, this old ego that was contaminated by the devil and made sin by the devil through Eve and Adam. We didn't know that we were to sign that to death and accuse in the name of the Lord to let it rule over us.

And he thanked the Lord that he had died in Christ. And in the name of the Lord, he refused to let this old self rule over him anymore. And he praised the Lord that God had been seeing him in that position of death ever since he was saved.

And if he's seen in that position of death, I'll take that for myself. And by a definite act of his will, as well as an act of faith, he has signed this old self to death. To a position of death. To a position of death.

And then he enthroned Christ in his house. And set himself in service to God. Now the Holy Spirit, who has come into his heart, has been ready to take over until he's saved. But the Holy Spirit is holy.

And he just takes the place in our hearts that we give him. After he's saved. He never overrides our will to be in pain for us even after he's saved. He doesn't force us on our will. He pleads and he does all kinds of ways to get us to let him have all there is to us and kill us.

But he doesn't force us. And because that young man was so sick of himself, that he was ready to break forever with this big eye and take the place by faith that he knew God had been seeing him and had learned it from this world ever since he was saved.

And all he wanted was that Christ would be magnified through his personality. Through his cleansed personality. He couldn't have a cleansed personality as long as this contaminated devil nature was in charge.

But when he assigned that to the place of death and cleansed in the blood of Jesus for cleansing, he could hand over his cleansed personality for the Holy Spirit to fill him and magnify Christ. And then he wanted Christ magnified.

And that's what the Holy Spirit does. His heart was prepared for the Holy Spirit. It was already in his heart just to take over and fill his soul. And he prayed after he said, Lord, I thank you for giving me strength to die.

But you think of people dying because they don't have any strength to live. But he knew the Lord had given him strength to die. And then he prayed this prayer. Another prayer. Lord, I thank you. You've taught me how to live good.

And it turns out that's what we have to do. We have to learn to live good. Now death doesn't mean separation of breath and body always. Sometimes death is used to represent the breaking of fellowship.

You remember when that prodigal son was away in a foreign country and he came home, what the father said about him? This my son was dead and alive. Well, that young man was physically still alive. Of course he was.

But he was dead to his father. No fellowship with the father. Dead to his father. And that's what that young man meant up there in Colorado Springs when he said, I thank you for teaching me to live good.

And that's the secret of glorious victory. And that's the only way we can live whole. And that's the secret. We don't need the one way. We don't need. And that way is that we assign this old self to the place of death.

And as I said a moment ago, we're clung to the blood of Jesus to be cleansed from all the contamination that has been within us. It's contaminated us with the nature of the death. And we hand over our cleansed personality to the Lord.

For the Holy Spirit to fill us and magnify Christ. The Holy Spirit doesn't magnify himself. He magnifies Christ. I was in one of the churches in Memphis the March of last year leading a Christmas night conference.

And I never had any hands shaking in my conferences. I have a prayer room. I won't even pray with people until about this half over, but in most churches, most churches people are not ready. And you just waste time and comfort them before they get ready to face up to the sins by praying with them.

I'll pray for them, but send them home to face up to their sins. And then there's some places, some churches by Wednesday I can invite people to go to the prayer room. Some places by Thursday. I remember when I was here Thursday morning I was pressed down and invited to go back to the prayer room.

Twenty people went back there. The pastor and the psalm reader and the assistant pastor and seventeen women. And those three men and sixteen of the women, every more poor than them stood out their hearts to the Lord.

They were ready. And some of them had already died as the pastor had. The pastor had been living dead for four or five years. And he had wonderful peace. And all he had to do was to, by faith, incorporate the Holy Spirit and take over and fill his soul.

And that's what he did. Same thing in the heaven and the earth. Well, I think it was about Thursday night that people, when they gave an opportunity, maybe they did so at the daytime, to go to the prayer room.

And the first person to come was one of the most handsome women I've ever seen. Tall, stately, beautifully dressed with a beautiful purse. And she came walking down the aisle. The pastor was shaking hands with him, and I just joined her and went on back to the prayer room and got on my knees beside her.

Dying to Self and Living for Christ

And I said, what do you want the Lord to do for you? She said, I can't stand the life I'm living any longer. And I said, just tell the Lord that. And she opened her heart. She said, Lord, for thirty-eight years I've been working for you.

I've done everything in the church a woman could do. I've taught Sunday School. I've worked in training unions. I've worked in the WMU. I've been in associations. I've been a youth president. I've done everything that a woman could do in a church, and I have worked so hard.

And I'm so sick and tired of it. It's been worth nothing. It hasn't changed anybody's life. I'm so sick and tired of it, I can't stand it. I talked that night, I think, on dying to the church. And she told the Lord she was ready to give birth to her son.

And she poured out everything in her heart that to me was unholy, and she'd really assigned this old church to birth. She told the Lord that all she wanted to live for was that Christ might be magnified through her personality, and she knew that was the work of the Holy Spirit.

She could do it, but only the Holy Spirit could do it. And to ask the Holy Spirit to come out of that crowded corner where she'd had him weaned and take over and fill her soul. And that's what he did.

He just did it. The prayer room was a long, narrow Sunday School room, and the other women had come in and filled up all the other chairs around the wall. And when she started thanking the Lord, she was in that position of death.

And the Holy Spirit was filling her soul to magnify Christ through her personality. I got up in that prayer, she didn't need me anymore, and I went on over here to help another woman. And that woman just started saying, Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, praise the Lord.

And the minute she got up, she started walking back and forth along to that room. And she started praising the Lord. Hallelujah! And the Baptist said, Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Well, the rest of us did, but the Lord just got up and sat down and looked at us.

And I looked at her face and heard her praising the Lord. And the joy of the Lord just started filling my soul, and I just started laughing. And I just sat there and I just laughed. And the more I laughed, the more she shouted, the more she shouted, the more I laughed.

And after a while she came out with this, Who would have thought I would shout at my own funeral? She had a funeral, friends. She had a funeral. And by the way, that woman proved to be the cousin of Miss Pearl Caldwell, that wonderful missionary in China who was so used during that revival over there in the 36 churches that came to town.

Well, she died. And there wasn't any need for anybody to pray and beg and agonize for the Lord to fill them with the Holy Spirit till they're ready to die, to be set. You might get an emotional experience.

The devil might fill you up. Did you know that the devil can counterfeit joy? I didn't know that until recently. I found out the devil can counterfeit joy. And he can just fill you with ecstasy. And it's a counterfeit.

It's not joy at all. I think I'll give you an illustration of this. I don't have to stick myself to things. We had a marvelous young man, Mr. Steve Morrissette, a Bible teacher at our Baptist College over in North Carolina, Gardner Webb College.

My sister is a college history teacher. In her last nine years of teaching, she taught there. And the young man came while she was there. She was very fond of him. We often invited him down to our home.

He learned quite well. And he was just a great man of God. He had his own home just off the college campus. And about two acres of land. He built a little chapel over at the back where he could just have Bible classes.