0:00 [music] Today we're going to hear the story about a man named George Douglas Watson. GD Watson. I'll show you a picture of 0:17 him. Here's a picture of George Watson. I'll start with a little bit of a personal intro introduction. I first came to hear about George Douglas Watson many years ago when I read his article others may you cannot 0:35 in which he wrote I just want to include a couple of paragraphs from that [clears throat] article. It starts like this. Uh if God has called you to be really like Jesus, he will draw you into a life of crucifixion and humility 0:51 and put upon you such demands of obedience that [clears throat] you will not be able to follow other people or measure yourself by other Christians. And in many ways he will seem to let other people do things which he will not 1:06 let you do. [clears throat and cough] And then at the end of that article, he writes, "Settle it forever." Then that you are to deal directly with the Holy Spirit. And that he is to have the privilege of tying your tongue or 1:22 chaining your hand or closing your eyes in ways that he does not seem to use with others. Now when you are so possessed with the living God that you are in your secret heart pleased and delighted over this 1:39 peculiar personal private jealous guardianship and management of the Holy Spirit over your life, then you will have found the secret of heaven. to paraphrase what he says there is that if you really want to follow God and 1:59 [clears throat] want to be used by him in a special way, you can't compare yourself with other Christians. God, if you want to be to let God get the maximum out of your life, you will have to allow him to do things in you 2:15 and to you and through you that you will wonder why other Christians don't face those difficulties. But those are the ones that God uses especially [clears throat] and that's definitely the case with GD Watson's life. GD 2:31 Watson was a man who stretched his soul to the maximum to explore God's unending grace. That's why he didn't like that many Christians were so half-hearted, satisfied only with earthly blessings and even after going through difficult 2:45 trials, they never grew and remained immature. If anyone listened to or read his messages, he would urge them to know the exceeding greatness of God's power to us who believe. That's a phrase from 3:01 Ephesians 1 19. That's why he was called an apostle to the sanctified. Many Christians can testify that God used him to answer their most challenging questions at critical points in their Christian journey. to those longing for purity and victory. 3:21 He was able to shed light on the deep hidden areas of character that need our attention. He believed that most Christians try to deal with holiness from man's side, how to obtain it, what to expect from it, etc. But hardly anyone has seen God's 3:37 side. Few have understood our father's unending resources, his great desire, his patiently chasing after us, and how he faithfully gives us his grace so that we might mature and be pleasing in his sight. 3:55 George was born in Virginia in 1845. His parents and grandparents were Methodists and in those days this was a precious Christian heritage. He grew up with regular family prayer times, Sunday school, and many other godly influences, 4:11 including special revival meetings frequently. But George was passionate and self-willed and would often say that he was the black sheep of the family. God has a way of using black sheep, I think. The worst of all six in his family, he 4:28 thought. Here's what he later wrote about God's early workings in his life. He writes, "My earliest convictions were when I was five or 6 years old. One night, father and mother went to church and left us children alone. The eldest 4:44 of us being 12 or 13 years old. We sang the hymn Rock of Ages and all of us were deeply convicted by the Holy Spirit. I prayed and cried without even really knowing why. At that early age, I sensed that God was calling me to preach. When 5:03 I was 12 or 13 years old, I started to think more seriously about religion. But my will was not thoroughly broken yet. When the American Civil War broke out, George joined the Southern Confederate Army at the age of 18. It was while he 5:20 was in the service that the great turning point of his life took place. One night while he was playing cards, he suddenly stood up, threw down his hand of cards and exclaimed, "Boys, this is my last game. Everyone was shocked, but 5:36 the conviction of the Holy Spirit had fallen deeply upon him." He went to a gospel meeting which was being held for the soldiers and ended up kneeling down and crying out to God to forgive his sins. When he got up, he was a changed 5:50 man. Whether the change in his life was real was soon tested. He started wholeheartedly serving his new master and held prayer meetings which made his godless fellow soldiers angry. Some would even knock the Bible out of his 6:06 hands mockingly. Although he was thankful for the newfound joy he had, he was troubled by how much he was affected by the ill treatment of others. He longed for even one mature Christian to guide him and show him how Christ had 6:22 won the victory on Calvary over all his lusts which battled against him. He would have saved himself much suffering and waste of time. By the end of the war, his health was very poor, but he still felt called to preach the gospel. 6:39 He took a course at a biblical institute in Concord, New Hampshire, and then joined the Methodist church in the Philadelphia area in 1868. Through it all, he was still seeking for inner victory, which he didn't have. He then attended a camp meeting in 6:58 Oakington, Maryland in 1869 where he heard his first sermon on how we are called to be made fully holy. This deeply affected him and after the meeting remained kneeling in prayer for some time seeking God for this experience. 7:17 George was deeply influenced by the godly Alfred Cookman who was also a part of the Methodist churches that area. You may remember we heard about Alfred Cookman a year or two, maybe a couple years ago. That man who the testimony 7:31 about him was somebody was challenged by just watching him walk down the street and being drawn to Christ because of him. And here was George Watson also influenced by Alfred Cookman. After that meeting, he experienced an inner peace 7:48 which he called perfect love and returned home to testify about how God had filled him with the Holy Spirit. Sadly, the very people who should have encouraged him mocked him because they didn't believe in the experience of 8:02 being filled with the Holy Spirit. the senior elder at his home church and others opposed him to such an extent that George yielded to the pressure and lost the boldness to testify about the victorious life through the power of the 8:16 Holy Spirit. You know, that's where I I'm so deeply thankful that in our church, we're taught about seeking to be filled with the Holy Spirit and um encouraged to do that and constantly because in many churches that that 8:33 teaching is despised and people are taught that you don't have to seek for it. So thank God that and here was an example of a young man who was filled with the Holy Spirit and then he went back to his home church and his pastor 8:44 discouraged him from seeking it further. Now thankfully as we'll see God had a plan for George Watson's life. Uh he never preached against it but he was afraid to stand up for it because of all the opposition he faced. This result 9:02 this resulted in much spiritual loss in his life. His Christian life, which had been restful, now became burdensome. He even returned to his old bad habit of smoking tobacco. Occasionally, young George would experience times of communion with God. 9:19 He enjoyed preaching, especially planning special meetings, and he had tireless zeal to serve in his church. He enjoyed studying the great truths of the Bible as well as philosophy. So these years were a mix of reaching out for 9:34 more of God while also seeking for an intellectual understanding of spirit of scriptural truths. His work did still meet with some limited success, but that was nothing compared to the deep hunger that was still eating at his heart. He writes, 9:54 "I was struggling terribly within myself. It seemed like my whole life was one unending struggle of my will. I was deeply depressed. If anyone said something unkind or critical to me, even if it felt like people were ignoring me, 10:11 that would throw me into the deepest gloom. I grew tired of being in front of everyone as the pastor of our church and tired of everyday work, but mostly just tired of myself. My wife became sick around this time and that was too much to bear. I had a lot 10:28 of trouble which others didn't see as trouble yet it weighed heavily on me. In October 1876, I began to seek God for holiness again. I had all sorts of bright ideas. I said I will grow into it. I tried the repression doctrine and that's a 10:47 doctrine which teaches that we overcome sin by pushing down sinful thoughts. Then I tried the Zinszandorf doctrine which uh taught that everyone is immediately fully sanctified at the moment they are justified when they are 11:02 converted. I was like a sailor first setting his sails one way and then another. You cannot actually tell what a man thinks by what he says. This was proven in my life when three weeks before I had a deep encounter with God, I said in a 11:19 preachers's meeting, "When God converts a soul, he makes it as pure as it ever will be." And yet at the same time, I was seeking for holiness myself. A local preacher encouraged George to invite some evangelists from Cincinnati 11:36 for a 3-day conference on the sanctified life. And Dr. Watson gladly agreed and was greatly moved by the message on the first night. The next day, however, he got angry several times at home. Clearly, the Holy Spirit was lovingly 11:52 allowing him to see his great need. His wife added fuel to the flame by telling him that she was ashamed of him, saying, "I'm afraid that with all your hype preaching, you don't even have a little bit of true Christianity." 12:09 He was deeply ashamed and went back and forth between justifying himself and crying to the Lord for help. Here's how he describes his experience. That Friday night, I was very teachable. As I lay on the edge of the bed with my 12:25 hand under my cheek and my face toward the door so that I would not disturb anyone. Then the Lord began to talk to me. He asked me, "Will you receive me?" "Yes, Lord. Will you let me allow your family to be sick for your wife to be sick? Yes, 12:44 Lord, I want you alone. Will you let me take your health from you? Yes, Lord. Anytime you want me to die, I will agree to go. Will you agree to leave behind the big ministry you have and take on a lowly ministry for me? 13:03 Yes, Lord. I will take the lowliest ministry in the remotest area if it is your will. Will you give up your tobacco habit so that your body will be my temple? I had tried many times to give it up but kept going back to it again. And I said 13:21 yes Lord I will give it up. I will do anything. Give me the blessing of yourself. When he finished I fell asleep. I don't know how, but when I awoke the next morning, I found the desire for tobacco completely gone. I never went back to it 13:39 ever again. The following Monday, December 4th, at noon, I went into my study and began reading the scriptures, beginning with First Peter chapter 1. Peter writes, "Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who are chosen according to the 13:56 fornowledge of God the Father by the sanctifying work of the Spirit." I stopped there. I said, "That is sanctification." It goes on to say in verse 8, "And though you have not seen him, you love him. I do love you and I know you love 14:15 me. And though you, Peter goes on to write, and though you have not seen him, you love him. And though you do not see him now, but believe in him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressable and full of glory. 14:33 As I uttered these words, God let loose a Niagara of salvation in my soul. I walked back and forth shouting, "Glory to God. Glory to God." After a time that slowly settled into a calm. Dr. Watson never looked back again, but 14:53 he was a very honest man and God was continually and lovingly using every means to conform him more and more into the image of Jesus Christ. Now that he had seen that the inner enemy had already been defeated by the cross, he 15:08 went all out to draw as many other others as possible into the same blessed experience of full salvation. This was not an easy task because the next church he went to serve was extremely worldly. The Lord did save a few and some others 15:24 experienced deeper fellowship with Christ, but they were in the minority. He would get so frustrated with them that he sometimes got angry and spoke harshly to them. In fact, he was so angered by their lack of spiritual 15:38 interest that he almost felt like punching them more than speaking encouraging words to them. When we read how he later became known as a mellow, gentle man, it is a wonder indeed. Here's what he wrote later. Sometimes I 15:55 acted wrongly with my wife. I tried to hurry her along and have her get the experience that I had. She had a different temperament from me and could not be expected to receive the Holy Spirit in the same way that I did. 16:10 Sometimes I would say things to push her along too quickly. I would then realize my error and ask for her forgiveness and go to God to be cleansed in his fountain. [snorts] I moved to another place and there too began pushing men too quickly. 16:27 An old wise man came to me and put his arm around me and said, "You are preaching holiness in the wrong way." Around that time, I had somewhat of a vision. I thought I saw a large flock of sheep. I was walking around among the 16:43 sheep with a club trying to keep them in order. I saw how wrong I was. Then I was in a hurry. I wanted to be as perfect as Paul in all things right away. The Lord has since melted me down and softened my heart. I love all God's 17:01 people. The devil has tried on one side to make me too tame, too timid. I had been too radical. And when I began to be too conservative, the Lord brought me back. I was like a pendulum, first swinging too far this way and then the 17:17 other way. And each time the Lord would bring me back. And now, after suffering many defeats, learning many lessons in this promised land of perfect love, I praise God for the trials of my faith and for his marvelous keeping power. It's a 17:35 wonderful phrase. His marvelous keeping power, the power to keep us. I have learned that I must be an uncompromising, unwavering witness to the cleansing power of Christ. That I must not make an idol of holiness 17:52 or holy people. Another deep phrase. I must not make an idol out of personal holiness or holy people. that I must not lean upon my emotions, but must walk by faith sometimes in seasons of darkness. 18:09 That Satan will tempt and try me more directly and boldly than ever before. That I must often be dead to things and plans that are in them themselves innocent. That I must sow and reap or sow and let 18:27 others reap. A sense of complete nothingness is growing upon me together with an increasing sense of the worth of Jesus. I believe that this is a mark of true spiritual growth that we increasingly sense that we are really nothing. Not 18:46 just saying I'm a zero or saying I'm a nothing, but really experience that sense I'm I'm really nothing and Jesus is everything. In the following years, George Watson burned with a passion to show God's children the possibility of experiencing 19:03 full salvation and scriptural holiness. He left his position as a church pastor to become an evangelist. This allowed him to reach many more Christians with the message. He avoided the danger into which many have fallen of glorifying the 19:19 crisis experience even though it was very real to him. That's also a very deep sentence worth uh maybe I can explain that a little bit that sometimes it's possible that when we go through a crisis or some difficult experience that 19:34 we start to make a big deal out of that experience and uh not everybody will go through that kind of an experience and the experience is just the passage the pathway to experience God himself. So we don't want to over glorify the crisis 19:52 experience and that's a danger that GD Watson was able to avoid even though he had gone through that crisis himself. He also recognized the danger of spiritual pride, finding fault with others, self-righteousness, the smug feeling of having attained 20:10 or exclusiveness, religious legalism and resting in an experience rather than in the great giver. The great giver, God himself. His books and articles are inspiring, honest, deeply searching and 20:27 to the point as seen for example in the chapter headings of his book soul food. This is one of the books he wrote and here are some of the chapter headings of that book which are uh which show how deeply searching and to the point his 20:43 writings are here. Some of the chapters are lukewarmness, ftting over ourselves, locacity, which is talkiveness, topics that many other people don't necessarily talk about, very practical, praying for an enemy. 21:01 Anyone seeking after God's best will be blessed by reading his books. His his books include t books entitled love abounding soul food that I just mentioned a pot of oil uh god's eagles our own god white robes 21:19 and spiritual feasts pure gold bridehood saints and a book called heavenly life. It's no wonder that George Watson shares so many of God's secrets in his writings. To him, communion with God was the most natural and the most valuable 21:36 gift he had been given through Christ. He used to say, "God is our nearest relative." I love that phrase. God is our nearest relative. And so, our heavenly father can understand us better than a husband can understand the 21:51 deepest secrets of his wife. In the same way, if our relationship with God is right, we can know God better than we can understand the closest friend on earth. Is that amazing that God wants us to come to that place of intimacy where 22:07 we know him even closer than the closest human being on earth, more than most Christians of his time, George Watson seems to have been given revelation of divine secrets. In one of his books, Dr. Dr. Watson gives a moving description of how God 22:25 knows and loves us as individuals. He reminds us that he who knows the number of our hairs of our head and whose eyes run to and fro throughout the whole earth can describe us in such detail that he can describe to his angels any 22:44 one of us by how we weep or smile or by any one of a number of personally identifying marks. me expand on that a little bit because it's a beautiful thought that George Watson writes here that that God can describe you to one of his angels with 23:02 great detail. If one if some angel was to go to God and say tell me about Santosh, God can describe me in perfect detail. That's a wonderful thought. I've never heard anybody describe it like that. But that's true. If God says he's even numbered the hairs 23:19 on our head, that means he knows every detail about us and he knows us more intimately and more deeply and more fully than any other human being does. Wonderful to to know that our God knows us that way. Watson traveled so much by train that 23:38 his body knew the brakes when when the brakes were being applied lightly or more steam was being generated to speed up and when the train was rounding a curve without even looking out the window. His body could just sense that 23:50 because he got used to traveling in the train so much. And he describes intimacy with God's leadings and prompings in the same way as the divine pull. And here's what he writes. This sensitivity to the motion of a train should be realized in 24:08 the spiritual life as well. If we remain humble and in a crucified state of mind and in unbroken fellowship of the Holy Spirit, the inner senses of our spirit will be just as sensitive as those of our body. 24:25 We can detect the littlest slowing down or the slightest veering to the right or the left. And praise God, we can be conscious when the heavenly engineer turns on more spiritual pressure. In other words, if that can happen in our 24:42 bodies to get to be become aware of how the train is moving, how much more our spiritual sense can be aware to God's slight turns and movements. That is God's will for us. Watson goes on to write, "It will often happen in secret prayer when 25:01 all the senses of our spirit are open to the moving of the Holy Spirit that we can feel a divine pull upon our hearts. Sweet a sudden longing of the soul after God stronger than before. A deep sweet passion for Christ takes hold upon the 25:18 fountains of our desire. An intense craving to be just like Jesus floods the whole mind. When the spirit gives us such gentle pulls to himself, we should open the throttle valve of the heart to the maximum. Let the tears flow, spend long 25:35 hours, even past midnight if needed. Let the divine power open its great sweet splenders to our mind. Let's press in during such times into the very bosom of Jesus. Let's take the slightest hint of his calling and experience deep and 25:52 passionate love with him. At such times, let's spread out before him all our unselfish longing for the salvation of others, especially relatives and friends and enemies, for great revivals, for mission fields around us. Many seasons of prayer are 26:11 without fruit. Listen to this carefully. Many seasons of prayer are without fruit because the amen is said too early. Just when the Holy Spirit is about to set his fingers on the heartstrings for a heavenly pull. I want to read that sentence again. Many 26:30 times of prayer are fruitless, are without fruit because the amen or the prayer meeting or the prayer time is ended too early. Just when the Holy Spirit is about to set his fingers on the heartstrings for a heavenly pull, we 26:46 decide to stop praying and we miss out. and to be sensitive to the leaning of the Holy Spirit. And if the Holy Spirit is nudging me and urging me or just nudging me towards to continue in prayer, don't end it too quickly. It's a 27:04 wonderful challenge. It is fascinating to read about God's coordination and timing in the life of this man who pressed so deeply into knowing God. During one especially difficult period, Mr. Watson would often wake up around 27:17 3:00 a.m. and pray out his need. It seemed to be always at 3:00 in the morning. It strengthened his faith when he received a letter from an old lady across the Atlantic Ocean in Nottingham, England, telling him that God had laid 27:32 it on her heart to pray mightily for him at the very same time that George had been praying. A dear pastor friend of his once visited him and told him how he had been awakened at 3:00 a.m. to pray for George. Another godly couple in Canada sent him 27:49 a letter saying that they had been strangely awakened several times at 3:00 a.m. to pray for him. George writes, "I saw in a stronger light than ever before that the Holy Spirit is an infinite personality and covers us with a tender, watchful ocean 28:09 of love." Beautiful phrase. The Holy Spirit covers us with a tender, watchful ocean of love. I saw the extraordinary proof of his compassion for and interest in me. proof that he would answer the prayers which he had marvelously prompted in so 28:29 many of us across the world. Another time when many burdens were pressing upon his heart, he prayed that the Lord would lay this prayer burden on some others as well. 4 days later, he received three different letters on the 28:43 same day from three different parts of the country. Each writer said that on a certain day, the exact day of Watson's agonizing prayer, they had been strangely burdened to pray for him. Still, another time he was in financial 29:00 difficulty after the orange groves in Florida in which he had invested failed due to frost. He had urgent bills that needed to be paid by a certain date in November, but he didn't tell anyone about his need. In the last week of 29:14 October, he received a letter from a poor widow 1500 miles away whom he had never met. Now, when I was reading this, I thought, okay, in the letter in the envelope is going to be some money. And I thought, why would he take money from 29:27 a poor widow? Well, let's keep reading. He received a letter from a poor widow 1500 miles away whom he had never met telling him that she had felt a powerful burden to spend a whole day in prayer for God to supply his earthly needs. 29:45 One day as he was praying he heard a voice saying money is nothing to me. It is only my wrapping paper and I have an endless supply. Oh that we would remember this. Oh that we would hear the Lord say this to us. Many of us carry 30:00 burdens, anxieties, worries because of money. And God's saying, as he says to George Watson, "Money is nothing to me. It is only my wrapping paper and I have an endless supply. Just give me continually your warmest love and 30:19 perfect obedience, and I will take care of your finances." He knew at that moment that his prayer had been answered. That same day, before the bill had to be paid, he received a letter from a businessman several thousand miles away, 30:32 saying that he had suddenly felt the urge to send him a check for $200. This was more than enough to pay off the amount that was due and still have some left over to do what? To give to the work of the Lord. That's what he did 30:45 with it. Here is an extract from Dr. Watson's writings which reveal God's ultimate purpose for each individual life. Before God can launch us out into the sweetness of his service and entrust to us great things for himself, we must 31:01 be perfectly subdued. Subdued means conquered, brought fully under the control of God. Subdued in every part of our nature to his will. We must be subdued in our hearts, in our 31:16 wills, in our words, in our tempers, in our manners. Subdued so thoroughly that we will be flexible to all his plans. And this is God's way of preparation that he first must subdue all of us 31:34 before he can really use us. Watson goes on to write, just being converted will not finish this work. Being able to preach strong sermons or write books on Christian holiness and sanctification will not do it. Nor will organizing 31:48 meetings and conferences or Bible schools. We must be subdued not merely in our own opinion or the opinions of others, but subdued so perfectly that God who sees all things knows that we are fully subdued. 32:06 God must conquer the person to whom he can entrust his great thoughts and plans. God must conquer the person to whom he can entrust his great thoughts and plans. The Holy Spirit must conquer us fully before he can use us to conquer 32:23 other souls. The Lord will begin to subdue us with gentle means. And if we sink lovingly and promptly into his into his mind, the work can be done quickly. But if we are strong willed and it is necessary and if it is necessary he will 32:39 put us between the millstones and grind us to powder until he can mold us without any resistance to his purpose. That's painful to think about that picture but God putting us between the millstones and grinding us to powder. 32:56 But God will do that if needed so that he can mold us without any resistance to his purpose. The greatest difficulty God faces in using his servants, even those who are zealous, is that they are not completely and constantly subdued under 33:13 his power. We must be subdued in such a way that we stop meddling in other people's matters that God has not entrusted to us. That's the mark that you're subdued. You're not you don't get involved in other people's affairs if it's not in your care. So 33:27 subdued as to not point fingers at other Christians who are doing what they can in various fields for the master just because we disagree with them. So subdued that we can hold our tongues and walk softly with God. Keep our eyes upon 33:44 Jesus. Attend to our own work and do God's will promptly and lovingly. glad to have a place in his kingdom and to do a little service for him. Oh, it is amazing to be absolutely conquered by the Holy Spirit and swing out into the ocean of God's presence and 34:03 work with him in humility without stumbling over or being easily annoyed by others and bend with every plan God gives us. He goes on to write, "When we are subdued in God's sight, he will work miracles in us and we will experience 34:19 his power in healing, in finances, in service, in gentleness, and in sweetness of the inner heart life. Miracles of grace that will astonish us and surprise our friends and utterly amaze our enemies when they see how great a work 34:35 God has done in us. Let's be subdued in every way, in everything. so subdued that we can keep still in God and see him work out the great bright thoughts of his eternal mind in our lives. God used George Watson all over the 34:54 United States and also abroad in the occasional trips he took to Great Britain and the Far East. His health declined in his latter years, but even though his body was weak, his inner spirit could not be quenched. In 1923, 35:10 he went to be forever in the presence of him whom he had sought to constantly know and serve on earth. And so George Watson lived uh 79 years. Here's a little poem that GD Watson 35:31 wrote that I thought I would read. Dear Holy Spirit, who can know the comforter thou art till they have felt deep need of thee from out of a broken heart? 10,000 griefs, dear Lord, have swept 35:50 across this heart of mine, but everyone has pushed me out still deeper into thine. I know though I know thou workst for my good the souls unfathomemed pains. The deep dark dungeons doleful cries 36:09 thou turnst to mellow strains. Thou art far sweeter than thy gifts, though they surpass all thought. And yet thy presence in my breast with precious blood was bought. Oh comforter, it is thyself who shows the blood to me and in 36:29 my mind revealth Christ like an eulgent sea. No creature in this world can know the way thou leadest me through storms and pangs and lonely griefs from self out into thee. Dear peaceful spirit, thou has borne my 36:48 sad heart far away into a gulf of tender love which melts it day by day. Blessed Holy Ghost, to me thou art a boundless crystal sea. And I can lose all loneliness when all alone with thee. 37:06 I can lose all loneliness when all alone with thee. I have no wish in all the world but to be filled with thee and drink my being full of love from thine immensity. Beautiful poem about the power of the 37:22 Holy Spirit and the um experience of knowing the Holy Spirit as our friend and comforter who reveals Christ to us. So that's the story of George D. Watson. Um wonderful. Well, I could see how the Lord I I I didn't know about his his 37:41 life until more recently when I read this chapter, but his writings have all almost every writing of his has blessed me. So, I encourage you if you get a hold of a book of his or some other writings of his, you will be blessed. I 37:54 want you to encourage you to read that article in it in its entirety. Others may, you cannot. It's a very very powerful article.
