Burn, Burn Your Black and White Sins — Corrie Ten Boom

Thank you very much for that welcome. I don't know if you know the story of the woodpecker. You know that bird that picked with his beak against the stem of a tree? And the very same moment, the lightning struck the tree and destroyed it.

And the woodpecker flew away and said to the other bird, My, I didn't know that there was so much power in my beak. When there is power tonight, it is not through me, but through the Holy Spirit. And I'm so glad that I speak here for people, for many people who know what it means, praying.

And I ask you, will you pray in the time that I speak? Will you pray that even when I die for my own experiences, that we may forget the channel, seeing only Him, that Corrie ten Boom may be hidden behind the cross?

I know that when you pray in the time that I speak, we will have a great blessing. And we need a great blessing, for we live in a time of very great problems. And that's why we need the Lord more than ever before.

Jesus’ Prophecy of Persecution and the End Times

So pray that the Lord will speak to us, and that I may be hidden behind the cross. I will read for you now some of the texts from Luke 21. Where the Lord Jesus showed some of the signs of the time. And it was as if he described 1972.

He said in Luke 21, verse 10,. Nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes and famines and plagues, in this place or that. There will be dreadful sights and great signs from heaven.

But before all this happens, men will arrest you and persecute you, handing you over to synagogue or prison, or bringing you before kings and governors for my name's sake. This will be your chance to witness for me.

So make up your minds not to think out your defense beforehand. I will give you such eloquence and wisdom, that none of your opponents will be able to resist or contradict it. But you will be betrayed, even by parents and brothers and kinsfolk and friends.

And there will be some of you who will be killed, and you will be hated everywhere for my name's sake. Yet, not a hair of your head will perish. Hold on, and you will win your souls. And then, verse 25,.

There will be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and on the earth there will be dismay among the nations, and bewilderment, and the roar of the surging sea. Men's courage will fail completely, as they realize what is threatening the world.

For the very powers of heaven will be shaken. Then men will see the sun of men coming in a cloud, with great power and splendor. But when these things begin to happen, look up, hold your heads high, for you will soon be free.

And then, in verse 32,. This generation will not disappear until all this has taken place. I didn't know what generation the Lord meant. Till some time ago, suddenly I saw it. The generation that will see the signs of the times, that's the generation that will not pass away before all this happens.

Which generation is that? Your generation. Perhaps very soon the Lord Jesus will come, and tonight I will speak about what it means that we know the plan of God. The world doesn't know it, but we know it.

God’s Plan and Readiness for Christ’s Return

In Ephesians 1, 9, I read it from the translation of Phillips, because that is in English that even a Dutch can understand well. So I hope you don't mind it. There is written in Ephesians 1, 9, God has allowed us to know the secret of his plan.

And it is this. He purposes in his sovereign will that all human history will be consummated in Christ, that everything that exists in heaven and on earth shall find its perfection and fulfillment in him.

And here is the staggering thing, that in all which one day will belong to him, we have been promised a share. God has no problems with this world, only plans. There's never a panic in heaven, even not now.

And when everything seems so mixed up and so dark and so dangerous, God has a plan. But have you ever been afraid for Jesus coming again? I was. I read about these ten virgins, and five were ready, they were wise, and five were stupid.

And I thought, I am much more like a stupid virgin than a wise one. They were good girls, they waited for the bridegroom, they had oil in their lamps, but only not enough, just like me. And I was sad.

Do you know that feeling? That feeling of being afraid for Jesus coming? I knew it all, it will be such a joy when Jesus comes who has promised, I will make everything anew. Then this world will be covered with the knowledge of God like the waters cover the bottom of the sea.

But what about me? And then I took the book, and in this book I found my answer. And I am going to tell you what the Lord told me from this book about how to be ready for Jesus coming again. When I read how Peter said, because you have a hope like this before you, I urge you to make certain that such a day would find you at peace with God and men, clean and blameless in his sight.

Oh, then I thought, how can I be clean and blameless in God's sight? Then I read what the Lord says in his word, where this hope purifies himself like he is pure. And I understood it is now time to get dead serious with God.

But then I found that in this book is the answer. And I can tell you one thing, that everyone who is here, everyone can be ready for Jesus coming even if he should come tonight. Perhaps you say, but you don't know me.

No, I don't know you, but I know him. I know him who is willing to make you and me ready. Paul says, May the God of peace make you wholly through and through. May you be kept in spirit, soul and body in spotless integrity until the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

You, I, is spotless integrity, embodied soul and mind? Yes. And that is possible, because the rest of the text is, he who calls you is utterly faithful and he will finish what he has set out to do. The first thing, if you have never done it before, is to give your life to the Lord Jesus.

Ask him to come into your heart. And that is the first great step. And it is good that you know that the time is very short. It is now the time of grace. But then, then there follows more. We have to be right with God and right with men.

Confession, Cleansing, and the “Rags” of Sin

I have here a flashlight. That flashlight doesn't give light. It is not broken, but there is only one battery in it. And this flashlight is like your and my heart, our life. That first battery is that what happens when you receive Jesus Christ as your savior.

And that was so important that the angels rejoiced. The angels will also rejoice when you do it for the first time tonight. For your soul is very precious in God's eyes. Many people think that when they have received Jesus that is the end, but it is a great beginning.

When you think it is the end, then it is like little Johnny who fell out of his bed and his mother said, Boy, how did it happen? He said, Mom, I fell asleep too close to the spot where I got into bed.

No. The moment that you receive the Lord Jesus, the Lord opens wide the door of the treasure house and which you go in and take with boldness. All the promises of the Bible are yours. All is written on your name and signed by Jesus Christ.

But now you must cash your checks and the bank account of the Bible is not frozen. All the promises of the Bible are in Jesus, yea and amen. Now I will tell you why I did not get the second battery in it.

It was because this flashlight is full of rags and perhaps you understand already what it means. They are unconfessed sins and first I must remove all these rags before I can have room for the second battery.

Now I will tell you a little bit about these rags. This one is a bad temper. That's a great, a very great sin. It is a cruel sin. The Bible says a bitter spirit which is not only bad in itself but can also poison the life of many others.

This one is beautiful but it is holier than thou. That's a smoke in God's nose Josiah says. This one is pride and this one is inferiority feeling. Is that a sin? Isn't that humbleness? No, that's also pride.

That is that you do not accept your limitation. The Bible says each man should live his life with the gifts that God has given him and in the condition in which God has called him. This one is worry. It's often in my heart.

This is criticism. Do you know criticism? Oh, I like what Paul says in Romans 14. When he speaks about criticism he says, after all who are you to criticize the servant of somebody else especially when that somebody else is God?

Isn't it so that we often criticize exactly God's children? It is to his own master that he gives or fails to give satisfactory service and don't doubt that satisfaction for God is well able to transform men into servants who are satisfactory.

I like the humor in this Bible. I never know if it is Paul who had the sense of humor or Phillips or perhaps the Holy Spirit perhaps all three of them. Why then criticize your brother's actions? Why try to make him look small?

We shall all be judged one day not by each other's standards or even our own but by the standards of Christ. That is therefore stop turning critical eyes on one another. If we must be critical let us be critical of our own conduct and see that we do nothing to make a brother stumble or fall.

Now, this one is playing with sex. If you do not win the sex battle you do not win life's battle. This one is disobedience. Oh, I could speak about many more. Oh, and I think of this horrible one that is the occult sins.

Occult sins are now so terrible in the time that the Antichrist is busy to make ready his great army. Occultism is so strong but I have not to tell it to you. You know that the Bible tells that it is an abomination in the eyes of God.

Divination. Read it in Deuteronomy 18 .10. Divination is fortune-telling, observer of time, an astrologer, an enchanter, genuine magician, a witch, a sorcerer, charmer, hypnotist, counselor with familiar spirits as a medium, wizard, the clairvoyant, necromancer, one who consults with the dead.

Some Christians even carry the peace sign, that broken cross, and that was designed in the first century and used during witches' masses to signify the power of Satan over the broken power of Jesus Christ.

We must be very careful. But I know that you are people who are educated. Many people teach you the danger of these sins. But do you know that the Bible tells that stubbornness is in the eyes of God also witchcraft?

Stubbornness is as bad as worshiping idols. Now, I could speak three evenings about the rags, about sins, but I don't do it, but I will invite you to have a time with the Lord tonight and ask him, search me, O God.

You can say it in biblical language and say, search me, O God, and know my heart. You can also say it in other language, Lord, show me if there are rags in my flashlight, and that is the same. And it is necessary, because this is necessary to be ready for Jesus' coming.

And the great joy is that there is an answer, because at the cross, at the cross where I first saw the light, and the burden of my sins rolled away, it was there by faith I received my sight. Bring your sins to the Lord.

And then when you have brought your last sin to the Lord and confessed it, then ask him to fill your cleansed heart with the Holy Spirit. And the Lord is willing and ready to fill a cleansed heart, a heart cleansed by the blood of Jesus with the Holy Spirit.

And when he does it, then the fruit of the Spirit, love, peace, kindness, goodness, self-control, makes you the light of the world. You see it? Oh, no, I am sorry. He does not do it. I think I have overlooked a little rag.

You know, we are, as far as I know, very decent sinners, aren't we? And when there is a little decent sin in our heart, we think, oh, that's all right. But God doesn't say it is all right. A decent little sin is a great sin in God's eyes, I am sure.

There is still a rag. But that is... No, there is no rag. That is paper. Twenty dollars. Oh, no. No, no, that's no sin. That's no rag. It was only in the wrong place. You see, when you have too many dollars, or not dollars enough, the devil likes to bring dollars into your heart.

But your heart must be filled with the Holy Spirit. And he makes you ready for Jesus' coming. Oh, what a joy is that, that we have only to confess our sins, and he does the job. That is very, very clearly said in the Bible, that we have to confess and turn away from our sins.

And then that is not a trying and trying to be good. Have you ever tried to be good? I did. But I had no success. I experienced that the devil was much stronger than I. I know the one in whom I have placed my confidence, and I am perfectly certain that the work I have committed to him is safe in his hands until that day, when I understood that and my fear disappeared.

Just read the Word of God. It is God that works in you both to will and to do his good pleasure. To the end, he may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Overcoming Temptation Through the Holy Spirit

You know, I believe that the Lord Jesus is longing more for his coming to you than you are longing that he comes because he loves you so. Jesus loves us, and he will be so happy when you and I are ready that we have just to lay our weak hand in his strong hand, and he will do the job.

He will keep you steadfast in the faith to the end, so that when his day comes, you need fear, no condemnation. There is very much temptation in this time, especially the devil is very active with the children of God.

I have really never been so often tempted than in this last year, and it is because the devil knows that his time is very, very short, and when you are tempted, don't fear, for Jesus also was tempted, and you can stand the temptation through the power of the Lord.

Some time ago, there came doubt in my heart. Oh, what a terrible sin is that. The Lord Jesus said, I will send you the Holy Spirit, and he will convict you of sin, of righteousness, and judgment, of sin that they do not believe in me.

Doubting in Jesus Christ is one of the great sins, and that doubt came in my heart, and I am so ashamed, because I know the Lord Jesus already 75 years, believe it or not, I was five years old when I asked him to come into my heart, and he came, and he has never left me, but doubt came into my heart.

That's not possible. Jesus in me? In my heart? No, no, I doubted, but then I took the Bible, and whenever doubt comes in your heart, take the word of God, catch you jacks, and I read from Ephesians 3, when I think of the wisdom and scope of his plan, I fall down on my knees and pray to the Father of all the great family of God, some of them already in heaven and some down here on earth, that out of his glorious, unlimited resources, he will give you the mighty inner strengthening of his Holy Spirit, and I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts.

Living within you, as you trust in him, may your roots go down deep into the soil of God's marvelous love, and may you be able to feel and understand that all God's children should, how long, how wide, how deep and high his love really is, and to experience this love for yourselves.

Though it is so great that you will never see the end of it, or fully know or understand it, and so at last you will be filled up with him, with God himself. Now glory be to God who by his mighty power at work within us is able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream.

I said, oh Lord, you can do it. Isn't it a joy that when we pray that we come in the realm of God's ability, then we can bring him our disability. And then through the word and through prayer the doubt disappeared.

Did it ever come back? Yes. But now, the second time, I knew already what to do. When there comes temptation in my heart, I always say, Lord Jesus, will you go to the door? And when temptation sees the Lord Jesus, then he is already gone.

What a joy is it. You know, there are two ways to see your sins. When the devil shows you your sins, and it is always to make you despair, and then he says, so you are, and so you will remain your whole life, and there is no hope for you.

The devil is an accuser of the children of God, night and day, 24 hours a day job. And how he tries to get children of God down in the feeling of doubt and guilt. It is quite different when the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin.

It is always in the flood light of the finished work at the cross. And then the Holy Spirit says, for these sins Jesus died at the cross. And then you are not in despair, for then you know I may confess my sins, and he will forgive and cleanse me.

Forgiving Enemies and Releasing the “Black and Whites”

The Lord Jesus has warned us that when we do not forgive those who have sinned against us, the Heavenly Father will not forgive us our sins. Do you realize that? I must warn you, for many people do not understand that the Lord Jesus really meant business when he said it.

Oh, it was in my heart a very great problem. I was, during the last world war, my family, my friends and I had saved Jewish people in Holland. And then the Gestapo came and brought us all into prison and concentration camps.

You can read it in my books. And I have experienced terrible things there. But I can now tell you, after my experiences in three terrible prisons, I've always believed, but now I know from experience that Jesus' light is stronger than the deepest darkness.

And you cannot go so deep when you are a child of God. Always deeper are the everlasting arms that carry you. But one of the very difficult lessons I had to learn, was to forgive and love my enemies. But the Lord taught in me, can you love and forgive?

And when you claim the love of God through the Holy Spirit, you can love these people and forgive them. Some weeks ago there came a woman to me, and I had spoken about this great miracle in my life, that the Holy Spirit had given me so much of His love that I could forgive my enemies, also those who had murdered four of my beloved.

And so I spoke for these people, and there came a lady and gave me a key. And she said, will you destroy that key? I said, yes I will, but tell me what is that for a key? She said, that is the key to the house of the woman who has stolen the love of my husband.

I know that angels rejoiced, and I rejoiced. I experienced something else. Sometimes it was difficult to forgive little sins of others. Some time ago I had some Christian friends who did something very mean against me.

And I said, now Lord, you have helped me to forgive the murderers of my family. Now Lord, it is not difficult that you give me the love and forgiveness for my Christian friends who have done that mean thing.

And the Lord did it, and I could forgive them. But do you know what happened? It was about two o 'clock in the night I awoke, and I thought, how in the world could my friends do that? I said, Lord, there it is again.

Oh Lord, help me, take it away. And the Lord helped me and took it away, and I slept well, and the whole day was fine. And the next night, believe it or not, again at two o 'clock I awoke, and I thought, when I think what I have done for my friends.

I said, Lord, there it is again. Lord, help me. And the Lord helped me and was all right. But the third night the same happened, and I was really disgusted. But then I met an old German minister, and he said, Corrie, you know when in Germany in the little villages we ring the bell for the church on Sunday, ding, dong, ding, dong, and there comes a moment that we stop.

But after we have stopped, there comes still another ding, another dong, another ding, dong, that doesn't matter, they do not belong to the rest. And so it is with your bitterness against your friends, you have stopped, and now these ding-dongs that come later, don't worry about, you just tell the Lord, isn't that good?

Perhaps you have the same. I know that many of you have read my book, the book that John Shallow wrote. And John Shallow said to me once, say, Corrie, can you tell me? I had, of course, to tell him many things of my life, because it was a biography.

So I told him about my friends who had done that and how I had forgiven them. The book was hiding place. And then he said, say, what about these friends who have done that mean things? I said, oh, I have forgiven, I will not talk about it.

Yet I know it. But what about them? I said, oh, how do they feel about it? He said, oh, they take it very easy. They simply say that they have not done it. But they can say that, but I have everything black and white.

Now, I had just preached, and John had heard me, and I had said, when we bring our sins to the Lord Jesus, he casts them into the depths of the sea, forgiven and forgotten. And he put a sign, no fishing allowed.

It's not in the Bible, but I say that. He said, your sins are in the depths of the sea, no fishing allowed, and the sins of your friends you have black and white. And he said, oh, God, give Corrie the grace to burn all the black and whites of sins of her friends as a well-smelling sacrifice.

Oh, I can tell you, I burned them all. Say, have you black and white? Have you black and whites of sins, great sins or small things that people have done against you? Burn them before you go to sleep, because Jesus has said, if you do not forgive, you have no forgiveness.

You are not able. I was not, but he is. He will do it. And just claim Romans 5, 5, the love of God is shed abroad in my heart through the Holy Spirit was given to me. Perhaps it is still more difficult to forgive the little things of everyday life than a great thing that they have done against you.

But that love of God through the Holy Spirit is available. You have just to bring it to the Lord, and he will do the job. And you never are so happy through the ocean of the love of God as that you forgive and love your enemies.

Surrendering Every Area of Life to Christ

We are not able. We cannot love our enemies. We cannot be good enough in body, soul and mind in spotless integrity to be ready for Jesus' coming. We are not able, but the hand in the glove, that is the Holy Spirit.

And the Holy Spirit will fill us, and he does the job through his fruit and through his gifts. But we must surrender all. When my hand is in the midst of the glove, my whole hand is in the glove, but the glove cannot do anything because the fingers are not filled.

Every finger must be surrendered. Every little corner of our life must be surrendered and given to the Lord. And when we do that, then he does the job. He does it to make you and me ready for his coming.

He who has begun the good work in us will perform it. He will keep us steadfast in the faith. But we must surrender all, lay our weak hand in the strong hand of Jesus. Even that little shelf behind the door, tear it down, throw it out, don't use it anymore, for Jesus wants your dwelling from the ceiling to the floor.

He even wants that little shelf you keep behind the door. Oh, what a joy that Jesus was victor, that he is victor and he will be victor. And he is coming soon. The best is yet to be. And may a dying Savior's love and a risen Savior's power and an ascended Savior's prayer and a returning Savior's glory be the comfort and joy of your heart.

Amen, we pray. Search me, O God. Show me if I am ready. Lord, many people who know the Bible very well tell us that all the signs of your coming we can now read in the newspapers. And we believe it, Lord, that we belong to that generation that will be there when you come.

O Lord, show us if there are rags in the flashlight, if we are right with you and right with man. And we pray and thank you that we can bring it to you and that we have to go fetch it. And you are able and you are willing to fill us, to cleanse us with your blood, Lord Jesus, and to fill us with your Holy Spirit.

Lord, show us if there are still black and white of sins of others. For, Lord, we know that if they are there, then we have no forgiveness. Lord, we pray and thank you that you love us so and that you are willing to fulfill that what your hand has started in our lives.

Speak to us, Lord. And we praise and thank you that you will do the job to make us ready. And then we can only rejoice and say, Lord Jesus, come, come quickly and use us to hasten the day. Hallelujah.

Amen. Thank you.