Going Without Knowing — Leonard Ravenhill

Praise, Holiness, and the Coming Day of Redemption

Lord, we remember tonight the word of the psalmist in the last of the Psalms, in which he says, let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. And then that wonderful echo of that in Revelation chapter 5, everything in the earth or under the earth or in the sea or under the sea, everything, the fishes, things that fish and fly, everything shall praise the Lord in that day.

Now one of the songwriters said, in a nobler, sweeter song we'll sing thy power to save, when these poor lisping, stammering tongues shout victory o 'er the grave. We bow before thee tonight, Lord Jesus.

The place whereon we stand is holy ground. Your presence makes it holy. No man can sanctify it, but you have sanctified it. You've guaranteed your holy presence, not where two men are gathered together, but where two or three are gathered.

We thank you, you're meeting with people in a sick room tonight. You're meeting with people behind iron bars, away there in Russia, away there in China, away there in Afghanistan. These poor men, these poor Cubans, disillusioned as they are and distressed.

Lord, somehow manifest yourself there through somebody. Raise a testimony we pray tonight. Lord, we've sung already in this hymn, holy, holy, holy. Casting down their golden crowns. Lord, whether they're gold or anything, we don't care.

One day we want to bow with that multitude which no man can number, in the song which no man can sing, except the redeemed. Before the one whose name no one knows but God himself. Lord, what a day. I believe it will be brighter, as on the Damascus road you blinded the eyes of Saul on that Damascus road.

In that great eternal morning you'll be brighter than any sun that ever shone. Heaven has no need of sun because the other sun is there, the son of God. He himself being the light of the world and the light of eternity.

We bless you tonight, our father, for such a redeemer, who did, though he didn't leave his throne and his kingly crown to come to earth, to leave the splendor of spotless heaven. Without its sin, to come to earth with all its corruption, to a stable, stinking, smelly stable, typical of the human heart, to which he can come and cleanse and purify and indwell.

A Plea for Living Pentecost and Spiritual Awakening

We thank you for the going forth of your word tonight. Lord, we ask that there may be a tremendous urge of your spirit. I think at this moment some of you are not here tonight. Maybe many of you have gone to Jimmy Swaggart's meeting.

Lord, we ask you to invade it with a special moving of your spirit tonight. Thousands will be gathered there. Lord, make it just not a theological Pentecost, make it a living Pentecost. May it not be a sermon preached by a man, but an utterance from heaven.

Lord, shake those people until they hardly know whether they're in the flesh or out of the flesh. Lord, tear the veil of eternity away that they'll never be the same again. Never think again the same way.

Never act the same way. Never spend money the same way. Never be content the same way, either with themselves or with a world that's lost without God and without hope. Lord, we're tired of paper theology.

We're tired of terms and phrases and doctrines. We need the living Christ. As you walked in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, walk in our midst tonight. Make your word live. Make it vibrate.

And as we pray, God, God, give us groanings which cannot be uttered. Break the inside being of us. That part that yearns to be released, and even yet, with all our testimonies and talk of the Spirit, has not yet been released.

Lord, we feel the whole world is on the edge of crisis in a very different way tonight. Everything about us is breaking up. Nobody can be trusted. Politicians can't be trusted. Preachers can't be trusted.

Governments can't be trusted. Banking systems can't be trusted. Everything has a smell of death. But you're the Lord of life. Now, when your word says, Lord, accept the Lord, build the house, they labor in vain.

God, as the psalmist said, quicken us according to thy word. Not even our understanding of the word, but according to your word itself. The word which is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword.

Lord, we do not blush to tell you we're hungry for God tonight. We're tired of men's ways and church ways and preacher's ways. Lord, we've sung tonight, have thine own way, Lord. Have thine own way. Lord, we bless you who came to men as fishermen and a tax gatherer and others.

You came to that man on the Damascus road whose hands were bloody. He'd witnessed the death of the saintliest man that maybe had lived for centuries. That young man Stephen and Saul, or Paul as he would be, stood there and watched it.

And then later he went through the same experience. He was stoned and nobody cared for him. But Lord, we bless you that you can take the whosoever will. We thank you still as we sang tonight, have thine own way.

We are the clay, you are the potter. Lord God, give us a willingness to be willing in the day of your power. A willing to hide if need be, a willing to fast if need be, a willing to be unknown, a willing to be unseen.

Lord, this fake of a thing called by your holy name is not the true Christianity. Come in this dark hour, we pray, before the world shakes with a bloody revolution of communism. Shake it, Lord, shake it with the blood of Christ.

Missionary Endurance and Holy Love

Lord, while you, I think of that word of Newton's again, when he said, thou art coming to a king, large petitions would thee bring. Lord, I pray for every missionary, whether he's in China or Timbuktu, up the Amazon, in Afghanistan, wherever he's hidden in the world, the eyes of the Lord run to and from the whole world.

Let every missionary feel the impact of your touch tonight, because we believe God for them. Whether it's weariness of body, whether it's tiredness, struggling with a new language that's so difficult, whether it's indigestion with food that they're not used to, Lord, touch every one of them.

Revive them tonight, that they may be quickened and edified. Lord, deepen our love for thee, and if you do, you'll deepen our grudge against the world. The more we love you, the more we'll hate the world, its systems, its bondage, its cruelty.

Lord, we want to be a people who have a holy love, not a sloppy sentimental love, a holy love, a love that can sacrifice. Like that love that will not let me go, may I say, my love will not let you go.

Not tearfully, but joyfully to say, I lay in dust, lies, glory dead. Dear God. Bracey, wouldn't you want to pray? Well, let's go to the book, the book, the good old Bible. How many of you only brought a testament tonight?

Let me see how many only brought a testament. Good. Oh, you need a double barrel, you need the old and the new. Okay, we're going into Genesis chapter 24. Genesis 24. The first two lines apply to me tonight.

Abraham was old and stricken in years. Okay. I'm just going to go through step by step through this thing pretty slowly. Some years ago, I was preaching in Ohio, a place called, where? Toledo. And two ladies, middle-aged, about 40.

Thank you. They were sitting on the right in a kind of a covered part of the church. And they kept nudging each other, nudging each other. I thought, what's wrong? If you've got some fleas, scratch and get away.

Finally, this lady came. Hey, that was good this morning. I said, it usually is, but anyhow. Maybe you needed it. Okay. She said, did you ever hear a man called Follett? I said, yes, Follett. I'll tell you something about him.

His grandparents came to America when the Huguenots were driven out of France in that bloody revolution. And he comes from wonderful stock. She said, he's a great Bible teacher. And the last two mornings we've been here, you've reminded me so much of Mr. Follett.

Boy, I thought that was good. Quite a compliment. Of course, there's a difference between us, about a million dollars, but that's okay. But this is a study that he liked, and it's a study I like. And in some parts of it, I got ahead of him, but in others, I catch up with him.

So let's mix it tonight and give you what you can take. Genesis 24. Chapter 22, you have the story of Abraham, a type of the father. And then in the next chapter, you have Isaac, a type of the son, and also a type of Israel who was put on one side for a while.

Abraham's Servant Sent to Find the Bride

Abraham said to his eldest servant of his house, the rule over all he had. Notice that? That wasn't his wife, it was his servant. Ruled over all he had. Put I pray thee thy hand on my thigh, and I will make thee swear by the Lord God of heaven and the God of earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I dwell.

Thou shalt go to my country and my kindred and take a wife for my son. And the servant said unto him, peradventure the woman will not be willing. Boy, he knew women, didn't he? You don't come the first time you call.

Suppose she's not willing, so what? Suppose she's not willing to follow me unto this land. Must I needs bring thy son unto the land from whence thou camest? And he says no. Remember this, this is a type of the bride of Christ.

She's not taken out of the world, she's come from a special group. And he says, by no conditions at all are you taking my son back to Mesopotamia. God had delivered him from that land. And he says, I want, I want somebody of my kindred, my spiritual kindred is meaning.

Verse six, and Abraham said unto him, beware that thou bring not thy son hither again. The Lord God of heaven, verse seven, took me from my father's house and the kindred and which spake unto me and swear unto me, saying unto thy seed will I give this land and he shall send his angel before thee.

Isn't that fantastic? One man going on a journey and God says he'll send an angel. What did he say of us? What did you say when he got up this way? Oh, it's rainy, what a day. Who wants to go? What if you have an angel going with you?

He shall give his angels charge concerning thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. That's the very word that Satan tried to quote, but he misquoted it to Jesus. He will give his angels charge concerning thee.

Unto thy seed will I give this land. He shall send his angel before thee and thou shall take a wife unto thee from hence. Verse eight, the woman will not be willing to follow thee, then thou shall be clear from my oath, only bring not my son hither again.

And the servant put his hand on the thigh of Abraham, his master, and swear unto him concerning that matter. And the servant took ten camels of his master and departed, for all the goods of his master were in his hand.

How many camels? Ten. We say seven is a perfect number, but ten is a perfect number in scripture as well. Noah was of the tenth generation. The ten comes up so often. Noah was of the tenth generation.

There were ten plagues on Egypt. There were ten commandments. That's right, take it right through the book. There are also, when I think of it, ten clauses in the Lord's Prayer. You didn't think of that, but there are.

All the goods of his master were in his hand, and he arose and went to Mesopotamia and to the city of Nahor, and he made his camels to kneel down. Have you ever ridden a camel? Somebody used to smoke them, but I know that, but till he got smarter.

They're the most difficult. I haven't, I've seen them, I've been near them, but boy, I'm not getting on one. Takes you half a day to learn how to sway, and when they go down, you go over there, and when they get back, you go the other way.

But what does it say? He made his camels to kneel down without the city by the well of water at the time of the evening. What does that mean? He had control over them. You know, camels are about one of the most ugly things.

I think the only thing they get beaten in a beauty competition with would be rhinoceroses. Ugly camels. I used to do some painting. I've done some with a brush so wide, you know, but I used to do some watercolors.

I like doing watercolors. And we used to try in England to get little brushes with camel's hair. It's marvelous stuff. But the camel's so ugly, and yet it's so useful. There are hundreds of them roaming in Australia.

When they wanted to do a job there across the great deserts, they couldn't get horses, and so they took hundreds and hundreds of camels. And when the job was over, they left them there. So if you want a free camel, go over there.

But the camel is ugly, okay. But he made his camels to kneel down. That point shows me he had some... they were in subjection. It doesn't matter how ugly the situation is, we ought to be in... it should be in subjection to us, which we'll see as we go down the chapter.

Rebekah's Kindness at the Well

Verse 12. O Lord my God and my Master, of my Master Abraham, I pray thee, send me good speed this day and show kindness unto me. Behold I stand here by the water, and the daughters of the men of the city come to draw water.

It came to pass the damsel to whom I shall say, let down thy pitcher, and you know the rest I guess. Verse 15. When it came to pass, before he had done speaking, Rebekah came out, who was born of Bethuel, the son of Melchah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother, and with a pitcher upon her shoulder.

Now again, this is a type of the bride of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 16. The damsel was very fair to look upon, and had not known any man. And she went down to the well, and filled her pitcher, and came.

And the servant ran to meet her, and said, let me, I pray thee, drink a little water of thy pitcher. And she said, drink of my Lord. And she asted, and put her pitcher down, and gave him drink. When she had done giving drink, she said, I will water thy camels also.

Now he had asked for favor. And here is this one young woman come with all the rest of them, but she's fair to look upon, she's distinguished, she's pure. And yet she offers, this precious young woman offers to, what, give water to the camels.

In other words, she accepted the situation. I doubt if she'd ever done anything like that before, being confronted with ten camels. And yet she, she feeds one, or waters one, or waters another, and she goes on, and on, and on, and on, until every one of them has been satisfied.

Now sometimes when troubles come in our life, we'd rather starve them to death. But there are times when you feed the camel. God has a purpose in this. There's a hymn that says, his purposes will ripen fast, unfolding every hour.

The bud may have a bitter taste, but sweet will be the flower. I will draw water for thy camels over. I will draw water for thy camels until they have done drinking. Good night. How many gallons can a camel gone, how many miles can a camel gone a gallon?

Oh, they can drink, and drink, and drink. And yet she never gave up. She went on, and on, and on, drawing water until maybe she's exhausted. But she was going to be pleasant to this strange man. She didn't know anything about him anyhow.

And she hasted and emptied her pitch in the trough, and ran again unto the well to draw water, and draw for all his cattle. Verse 22, it came to pass, as the camels had done drinking, the man took a golden earring of half a shekel weight, and two braces on her hand.

I'm not going to stay there, but remind you afterwards, look at Psalm 40. In other words, it's typical of her ear being open to the voice of the master. Verse 35, she said, moreover unto him we are both strong provender enough, and room to lodge in.

And the man bowed down his head, and worshiped the Lord. And he said, blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who hath not left destitute of my master, of his mercy and his truth. I being in the way, the Lord met me in the house of my master's brethren.

I being in the way, the Lord met me. As I've said to you often, maybe the two hardest things in the Christian life, number one is to find the will of God, the second is to do it. And Jesus, God always comes to busy men, not lazy men.

Abraham, Moses, and Enduring by Faith

He comes to mostly with all the responsibilities of government. Learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. Right at the top, A plus, number one, number one student in the university. The seventh chapter of Acts will tell you that.

He was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. And he made commandments before ever he wrote the ten commandments, because he had authority. He was delegated authority. And yet God comes to him in the way, in the best way in the world.

He takes a man who wears a crown. He takes a man who goes down main street, everybody waves to him and cheers to him. Do you think that when Moses surrendered all he had, why did he do it? Well, we know why Abraham did it.

He endured as seeing him. No, he endured what? Because he saw a city that hath foundation, or looked for a city that hath foundation, whose builder and maker is God. What does it say, Abraham? He's, okay, right.

He looked for a city whose builder and maker is God. Moses, it says what? What did he do? Yes, but what did he do? He gave up the what? The pleasures? The pleasures and treasures of Egypt, and goes to the back side of the desert.

Don't you think the devil taunted him a million times in the 40 years? What are you doing with these stinking sheep? Your claws are ragged with reaching for sheep. You've got thorns in your feet. You could be riding in a chariot down main street, you idiot.

But remember when the chariot, the chariots of Pharaoh didn't, weren't able to come and destroy them. What did Moses do? He sang a song, didn't he? One of the great, is it, what is it, 15th chapter of Genesis or Exodus?

Exodus 15. I'm looking it up for a minute. Exodus 15, look at verse 1, please. Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for he out triumphs gloriously.

The horse and his rider he cast into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my song. He has become my salvation. He is my God. I will prepare him a habitation. And then verse 11, he says, who is like unto thee among the gods?

Who is like to thee? Glorious in holiness, fearful in praising, doing wonders. Somebody said that's the finest exaltation in the whole of the word of God. But remember where the man is. Do you think when he saw the, all the blood and all the carnage of the children of, not the children of Israel, the Egyptians, the bodies floating in the sea, maybe a million of them?

Do you think when he was the backside of the desert, some days in the heat, unbearable heat? Or do you think when he was taking a million people, disgruntled, dissatisfied, they said one day, were there no graves in Egypt?

If I'd been ruling them, I'd said, yes, you could have had one each when you were there. You didn't ask for them. Sure there were graves in Egypt. Do you think he ever thought in those pressures when even the holy man, Elijah, holy man, what's his name?

Aaron, compromised and made a golden calf. Do you think he ever thought that one day in eternity with a thousand billion trillion people there, do you think he ever thought that one day somebody would stand up one of the archangels and sing tonight or this morning, because there's no night there, we're going to sing right now the greatest song ever sung forever, better than Handel's Messiah.

What are they going to sing? The song of Moses and the lamb. The song of Moses? Not the songs of David, the psalmist, who wrote the most glorious things. Talk about praise and glory as much as you like.

There's nothing that's higher to eternity in my mind than some of the verses of the psalmist. They say, well, Psalm 45, lift up your heads, O ye gates, be lifted up, ye everlasting doors, the king of glory shall come in.

Typical of the resurrection. Typical of the day when Jesus comes in, ultimate triumph. And every nation and every person in the whole universe is going to praise him. And as we said earlier tonight, everything that hath breath shall praise the Lord.

Fish is under there, so what? I don't know if Balaam's ass will be resurrected. If it does, it will sing. Everything is going to sing, everything, nothing, all that should have been given to Jesus during the ages.

All the stuff that people said yesterday and didn't mean much to it. All they'll say at Christmas and it doesn't mean a hill of beans to them. All that Jesus should have had since creation. It's all going to be in one colossal manifestation of praise, as though you took every orchestra in the world and put them there.

They won't be able to touch that angelic host. And this we need to keep in view as we visualize the days in which we're going now, full of darkness. They're going to get worse, not better. But there's a hymn that says, the eternal glories gleam afar, to nerve my faint endeavor.

So now to watch, to work, to war, and then to rest forever. I thought of an old hymn of, whose was it today? Isaac Watts. He said, should all the hosts of death and powers of hell unknown, put their most dreadful forms and rage and malice on, I shall be safe for Christ displays superior power and guardian grace.

Now let my soul arise and tread the tempter down. Thy captain leads me forth to conquest and the crown. Again, I shall be safe for Christ displays superior power and guardian grace. There's going to be an awful lot of embarrassment in heaven and part of it will be the exceeding great and precious promises of God that we haven't used while we've been here on earth.

We've been so near to failure, so near to breaking down in sorrow, so near to breaking down because of opposition. And that's not our business. Our business is to be more than conquerors over the world, over the flesh, over the devil, over human frailties, over government frailties, over banking frailties.

His kingdom is not of this world. If it was, boy, I'd go into the atom bomb business. I'd blow the Vatican up first afternoon I was busy. Then I'd blast all the other rotten systems. Our kingdom is not of this world.

Suffering, Inheritance, and the Bride of Christ

Your rewards and mine are not going to be in gold and silver, they're going to be in suffering, in hardships, in brokenness, in the things we've endured for Christ's sake. You see, all that's laid up here for this beautiful bride, more than that's been given to us.

Let's go down to verse 31. And he said, Come in thou blessed of the Lord, where thou standest, why standest thou without? For I have prepared a house and room for the camels. And the man came into the house and ungirded his camels and gave, oh, mostly fancy being camels in the house.

And he gave him strong provender for the camels and water to wash his feet. And the men's feet were with him. Isn't that strange? Think that one out, Brother Bracey. The men's feet were with him. In other words, they're willing to tread the way that he goes.

And there was set meat before him to eat. I will not eat until I've told my ne 'er-end. Isn't that great? You know, we had a precious man here last week, remember? A big black brother stood there last week, six foot something.

He knocked at our door a few minutes before we came to church. I'd never seen the man in my life. And he said, Months ago, I got a copy of my Revival Taris. I read it and I cried for three days without stopping.

That's what God wants, he said. We tried to get him to eat. He wouldn't eat. We took him home after the meeting. Do you know he'd been on a bus for two days from Cleveland, never had a bite of food, hadn't a pen in his pocket.

We couldn't get him to eat. He said, It's too wonderful to talk about God. Years ago, God said, I'll let you see Leonard Raven. You've enjoyed his books. He came and he hadn't a dime when he got to our door.

He hadn't had a meal. He'd been on a bouncing bus for two days and a night. Boy, to hear that man talk of God made my dear Martha and I embarrassed the way he talked about God. God in his majesty, God in his glory.

Oh, how they pray over there, he said. That made me, that sparked me off by that verse. Meat was set before him to eat. He said, I will not eat till I've told my Aaron. That's what the boy did last week.

And he said, I am Abraham's servant. What do you think the man did? Good night, I wonder he didn't jump and hit the ceiling. Abraham? Do you think they didn't have a grapevine in those days? Do you think they hadn't heard of Abraham offering his son?

Do you think they didn't already know that Abraham was a friend of God? And this man is here at my door, his servant. Thus said he, by the Lord hath blessed my master greatly. He is come, become great.

He hath given him flocks and herds and silver and gold and men's servants and maidservants and camels and asses. And Sarah, my master's wife, bear him a son. When she was old and unto him he hath given all that he hath.

Isn't that amazing? Let me go to verse 48. This is patchy but here it is. Verse 48. I bow down my head and worship the Lord and bless the Lord God and my master Abraham, which hath led me in the right way to take my master's brother's daughter unto his son.

And now if I will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me, and if not, tell me that I may turn to the right hand or to the left. And Laban and Bethuel answered and said, the thing proceeded from the Lord.

We cannot speak unto thee bad or good. Behold, Rebekah is before thee. Take her and go and let her be thy master's son's wife. For the Lord hath spoken and it came to pass that when Abraham's servant heard their words, he worshiped the Lord bowing himself to the ground.

Why? Because the word, prophetic word that had been given to him was fulfilled to the very letter. And here is seeing the unfolding of God all the time. Verse 55. Her brother and her mother said, let the damsel abide with us a few days, at least ten.

There you've got the ten again. It's amazing how, how delightful people are until you come to the place where you want to do the will of God and it's going to cost them something. Then you find the in-laws are outlaws.

Oh, you can't go, darling. Oh, you can't, you can't go. Let others go to the mission field. You know, the first year of your life, I carried you around on a pillow and she's been on a pillow ever since.

Not you, darling, somebody else. They'll come with every kind of counsel and false and ridiculous. God comes on the, I had to deal with a man last night late, and the area of his trouble is in his affections.

They, the Christ, who crucified what? The affections and the lust. The lust, it's all right. Get rid of the lousy things. But the affections, tenderness, gentleness, kindness, my association with someone, I've had to break that shore.

Sign 2. No, they said, stay here ten more days. Verse 56, he said unto them, hinder me not, seeing the Lord doth pass from my way, send me away that I may go to my master. And they said, we will call the damsel and inquire of her mouth.

And they called Rebecca and said unto her. Let me step back a moment here. In verse 51, it says, Behold, Rebecca is before, take her and go. Now they're willing to let her go, but come to this verse right now.

Verse 55, let the damsel abide with us a few days, at least ten that she shall go. Verse 57, they said, we will call at the damsel, inquire of her. They called Rebecca and said unto her, will thou go with this man?

And she said, I will go. Isn't that a remarkable step of faith? I will go. What do you expect of it? You know, the first time I came to America was 1950. Boy, I didn't know anything about American language.

Boy, was I confused. Going for a hamburger, do you want everything on? Well, I knew what everything on meant. I said, sure. And so they piled, you know, used to have hamburgers like, I mean, this, evangelically this size, but this size.

They'd onions running out at one side and pickles at the other, and what do you call that, tomato juice all over your shirt and all the other junk. Then somebody told me their daughter was going on a blind date.

Well, I've eaten hundreds of dates, never knew they had eyes. A blind date, what's a blind date? Well, I found out. This is the first blind date on record. Go to a man, she didn't say, is he tall, is he fat, is he rich?

She could have asked a hundred questions, she didn't ask a question about him. She didn't say, how far is the journey? How long will it take me? Can I come back and see my mother every Wednesday? Do I have to give all my friends?

She didn't ask a thing. Why? Because she'd been told it was Abraham's son. Everybody in the world adored Abraham at that time, and his son, the son that submitted to the father, maybe only 18 years of age.

You try and tie an 18-year-old boy up with his feet, his legs, and his hands, and then take a knife over him. He'll maybe curse you to all eternity. And there he was, looking into the eyes of his father, and never said a word.

The type of the Lord Jesus is led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before a shearer is done, he opened not his mouth. And this precious young woman, beautiful, the fairest, the loveliest, in the whole of Israel, she has a blind date with a fellow somewhere over there.

She doesn't ask how tall he is, if he's oversized, or if he's over wealthy, or what. She doesn't say, is it a dangerous journey? Is it risky to go all that way? How many days journey will it be? Are there any fast food services on the way?

You know, we kind of think that she went so far and caught a bus. Do you know what humbles me? Thousands of things. One of them is turning to the back of my Bible, and just following some lines that show me the missionary journey of the Apostle Paul.

Look at them, it didn't go on a jet. They had something dawned on me, boy I could have shouted. You know in the world they have a jet set, don't they? They're very wealthy, the Hollywood people have a jet set.

You know the Christians have a jet set made up of preachers. You have a whole gang of them there in Dallas that own, personally own, a private jet. One of them, that young black man that came to me last week, said a young man in my country has been asked to teach what they're teaching in Dallas, and they've given him a private jet, that's a million dollars, to spread it through Africa.

We've got a jet set now amongst the Christians. Where in God's name are we going? They don't have any more power. You see, she's willing to go, I know not. As the hymn says, I know not what awaits me, God kindly veils my eyes.

It goes on to say, so on I go not knowing, I don't know whether this is true, I would not if I might. I'd rather walk in the dark with God than walk alone in the light. I'd rather walk by faith with him than go alone by sight.

Oh blessed, lack of wisdom, tis blessed not to know. Is it? You remember the more common hymn that says, keep thou my feet, I do not ask to see the distant scene, one steps enough for me, lead kindly light.

It was written by a cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church, Henry Newman, a brilliant scholar. He couldn't find what he wanted in the Church of England, he went to the Roman Church. But let me tell you this, after about 40 years in the Roman Church, when it pronounced absolution and all the crazy things they do, he was leaning over the gates in England, over his little cottage, leaning over the gate.

What doing? Sighing, I haven't found it. Lead kindly light amidst encircling gloom. And 50 years after he was still in the gloom of Romanism, when Martin Luther came, he rose up after the dark ages. What did he do?

One man, with the anointing of God, blasted the Church of Rome. It's still as evil, but listen today, our task is a thousand times more difficult than this. We've the Roman Church, we've Mormonism, we've Humanism, we've Moonism, we've a dozen other isms, and we, God help us.