Tozer Speaks: Volume One: 128 Compelling & Authoritative Teachings of A.W. Tozer

by A.W. Tozer

That’s what Jesus was doing on earth those thirty and three years. He was being observed by God and men and devils, that He might be shown to be the perfect lamb, that there was no fault in Him, so that even a Pilate could say, “I find no fault in this man.”

Jesus always talked about having the “day” while He was on earth, but that when He left the earth, it would be night. He warned that “the night cometh, when no man can work.”

Remember, you are on earth and God is in heaven, so don’t be afraid to dream high spiritual dreams and don’t be afraid to read your Bible and believe it.

Don’t be afraid to read the Book of Revelation, and don’t let anybody shoo you away, and say it is oriental imagery.

Now that word “hope” was used about 140 times in the Bible, and you will find it in Greek literature and in other writings.

And the word “living” comes from God Himself, for it is the strongest word in the Bible for life. It is the word used of God Himself when it says He is the Living God.

If you are going to heaven, you had better begin to live like it now, and if you are going to die like a Christian, you had better live like a Christian now!

The true Christian hope is not vague—it is valid! The hope of the world is vain, but the hope of the Christian is a valid hope!

A sinner really doesn’t dare die. But Christians dare to die.

First,

Second,

“Only Dr. Tozer could say this in this way!”

1. The Christian church must be more than a heavenly institution being operated in an earthly manner.

2. The characteristics of a Spirit-filled congregation.

3. The kinds of people who will not be at home in a Spirit-filled church.

4. The kinds of people who will be happy in the Spirit-filled group.

Seventeen nations were there and heard them speak in their own languages.

First,

They want to keep their religion disengaged from practical living. Their religion is here and their living is over there. On Sunday they go in and polish their religion, but about 11 p.m. in the evening they put it on the shelf. On Monday they go out and live the way they want to live. I refuse to surrender to that kind of thing and to that kind of people. We are to be a church of the living God, and not a gathering of the influential and the big shots.

We lay out the plans for our own lives and say, “Now, Lord, it is nice to serve you and we love you, Lord, and let’s sing a chorus,” but we won’t change our plans in any way. We’re going to keep our own plans.

People want the benefits of the cross but yet they do not want to bow to the control of the cross. They want to take all the cross can offer but they don’t want to be under the Lordship of Jesus.

That was Christianity for the sake of fun, Christianity as an entertaining medium. The whole thing is offensive and foul before God Almighty. My brother, the cross of Christ isn’t fun, and it never was fun.

There is such a thing as the joy of the Lord which is the strength of His people; there is such a thing as having joy unspeakable and full of glory, but the idea that Christianity is another form of entertainment is perfectly ridiculous.

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The Holy Spirit said through the Apostle Paul, “… even so the things of God knoweth no man but by the Spirit of God.” God knows Himself, and the Holy Ghost knows God because the Holy Ghost is God, and no man can know God except by the Holy Ghost.

Now that is perfectly plain—the One who reveals God to us, who reveals Christ to us, is the Spirit of God.

I contend that we are in error to believe that Bible study can remove the veil that keeps us from spiritual perception.

First, the Christian life is conceded to be very much like the natural life—only jollier and cleaner and more fun!

Jesus Christ stands alone, unique and supreme, self-validating, and the Holy Ghost declares Him to be God’s eternal Son.

I don’t bow down to great men. I bow down to the Great Man, and if you have learned to worship the Son of Man, you won’t worship other men.

We had better act now while we can do something about it and bring the Holy Spirit of God back into the church.

First, the fellowship of the church has degenerated into a social fellowship with a mild religious flavor.

I want the presence of God Himself, or I don’t want anything at all to do with religion. You would never get me interested in the old maids’ social club with a little bit of Christianity thrown in to give it respectability. I want all that God has, or I don’t want any.

Second, our failure to honor the Holy Spirit has allowed many unspiritual, non-spiritual and anti-spiritual teachers to be brought into the church.

Consider with me, if you will, that “spirit” is another mode of being—spirit is not matter.

But the Holy Spirit is not material. Therefore, He does not have weight nor dimension nor shape nor extension in space. Now one power of spirit is to penetrate matter, to penetrate things of substance. Your spirit, for instance, dwells in your body somewhere, and it penetrates your body and doesn’t hurt the body.

I tell you that the Holy Spirit will not be just an addition. The Holy Spirit must be Lord, or He will not come at all.

A man named Athanasius said, “No! The Bible teaches that Jesus is God.” There was a great controversy, and some came to Athanasius and said, “The whole world is against you!” “All right,” Athanasius replied, “then I am against the whole world.”

You know, most of us are so busy reading religious fiction that we never get around to the creeds.

“The Father is uncreated, the Son is uncreated, and the Holy Ghost is uncreated. The Father is infinite, the: Son is infinite, and the Holy Ghost is infinite. The Father is eternal, the Son is eternal, the Holy Ghost is eternal, and yet there are not three eternals, but one eternal. So there are not three uncreated nor three infinite but one uncreated and one infinite.