The Preacher Who Made Atheists Cry: Why This Old Sermon Still Breaks the Internet

A Sermon So Powerful the Devil Himself Tried to Erase It From History

I’ve been thinking a lot about the content we’ve been putting out lately. We’ve spent months diving deep into the uncomfortable parts of scripture - the ones most pastors won’t touch with a ten-foot pole. Devils and demons. Fallen angels and their hybrid offspring. The coming Judgment. All those subjects that make people squirm in their pews.

And look, there’s a reason we went there. Most churches avoid these topics like the plague because let’s be honest, pastors have mortgages to pay and families to feed. They need people in those seats every Sunday. So they stick to the feel-good messages and leave the hard truths buried in the back of the Bible where nobody has to think about them. But we took a different approach. We talked about AI and occultism and all those warning signs that some folks might call fear porn. Because ignoring these things is exactly how we end up enslaved. It’s how demon empires rise while God’s people are too comfortable to notice.

But today I want to do something different.

Today I want to share one of the most powerful sermons I’ve ever heard. It’s pure joy. Pure truth.

Pure Jesus.

This is the kind of preaching that reminds you why you believe in the first place. Why you got down on your knees and gave your life to Christ. This is the good news that makes all those warnings worth it.

The man preaching is Dr. S.M. Lockridge and this sermon has been viewed millions of times online. People call it the greatest sermon ever preached in this generation. I’m not going to argue with them.

Just read it. Let it wash over you. Let it remind you who Jesus really is.

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That’s My King - Do You Know Him?

By Dr. S.M. Lockridge

I’ve come to say today that in these days when we’re killing ourselves trying to live.

People still think that they can find peace of mind in pills. They try to eat their way to ecstasy. They try to drink their way to pleasure. They try to smoke their way to settled nerves. They try to puff their way to popularity and push their way to power. They try to bully their way to friendship and bum their way to world peace.

But I’ve come today to say that I know where a poor man has a chance. Where a sick man can get well. Where an ignorant man can become wise. A bad man can be made good.

A good man can be made better.

And even a dead man can be made alive. It’s in Jesus Christ.

We live unto the Lord and when we die we die unto the Lord. Yea, the grading for which Christ died and lived again and lives for always is that he might Lord both of the dead and the living.

Jesus Christ is Lord!

Now this word Lord means having power of authority!

The great commission is based on the claims of our Savior’s Lordship. Jesus came and spake unto them saying “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost and teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And lo I am with you always even unto the end of the world.”

“Lord” means Ownership.

His Lordship is based on His ownership. The earth is the Lord’s and it’s fullness thereof. The world and they that dwell therein. For he hath founded it upon the seas and established it upon the flood.

Now he didn’t have to put a signature in the corner of a sunrise. He’s the owner!

He didn’t have to put a laundry mark in the lapel of a meadow. He’s the owner!

He didn’t have to carve his initials in the side of the mountain. He’s the owner!

He didn’t have to put a brand on the cattle of a thousand hills. He’s the owner!

He didn’t have to take out a copyright on the songs that He gives the birds to sing. He’s the owner!

Beyond the human level the word Lord stands as a reverent illusion to God. Now the orthodox Hebrew in Jesus’ day is in our own would not even pronounce the sacred name: God, Jehovah or Yahweh.

Instead when He read the sacred and incommunicable name of God He would simply say The Lord.

Hear oh Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord.

Now Christians have applied this title to Christ in the latter usage. On either the human or divine level the title “Lord” is a mark of respect and implied pledge of obedience.

Once Simon Peter stood before a hostile crowd and said “God has made that same Christ whom you have crucified both Lord and Christ.”

Christ represents the thing that God hath done to redeem us. Lord represents what we ought to do because we are redeemed.

Now we ought to call Him Owner because He possesses absolutely our lives. In Him we live and move and have our being. We ought to call Him owner.

We ought to call Him Father and be obedient sons and daughters.

For He’s our only hope and He’s our only help. God is our refuge and our strength. He’s a very present help in trouble. Therefore shall not we fear though the earth be removed and though the mountains be carried in the midst of the sea. Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.

There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High. God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved. God shall help her and that right early.

The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved. He uttered his voice, the earth melted. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge.

Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations he hath made in the earth. He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth. He breaketh the bow and cutteth the spear in sunder. He burneth the chariot in the fire.

Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted among the earth.

The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge.

Jesus is Lord! Because he came down the stairway of heaven. Born in Bethlehem. Hid in Egypt. Brought up in Nazareth. Baptized in Jordan. Tempted in the wilderness. He performed miracles by the roadside. He healed multitudes without medicine and made no charges for his service.

He conquered everything that came up against him. He took your sins and mine and went out on calvary and there died.

While hanging on that cross Jesus said several things. But when the thief taunted him and said “If you be the Christ come down from the cross and save yourself and us?” To that taunt Jesus never said a mumbling word. But the silence seemed to have said “You just wait until Sunday Morning!”

And I’ll show you...I’ll show you that it’s better to come up out of the grave then it is to come down from a cross.

And he dropped his head in the locks of his shoulder and he died!

I mean he really died!

Don’t pay any attention to a swoon theory. He died!

Oh he died until the sun refused to shine. He died until the veil in the temple was ripped in twain. He died until Matthew said the dead got up out of the grave and walked the streets after the resurrection.

He died!

The centurion said “Surely this must have been the son of God.”

I’m trying to say He died but I don’t like...I don’t like to stay there talking about “He died.” I like to rush on and say “He was buried in Joseph’s new tomb.” “He was buried in a borrowed tomb.”

Now that used to bother me!

The one who holds the waters in the hollow of His hand and meets out the heavens with a span. Comprehends the dust and weighs the mountain and a scale and a hill in a balance. The one who walked on the brow of nothing and with a gesture of His hands words were formed. Scooped out the seas with the palm of His hand. Dug deep the gorges, piled up the hills and propped up the mountains by His will. The moon and the stars leaped on His arm.

Being buried in a borrowed tomb.

Well he wasn’t going to stay there long.

YES!!!

He just went down in that grave and stayed in the grave long enough to clean it out and make it a pleasant place to wait for the resurrection. And on schedule he got up with every form of power in the orbit of His omnipotence!

You know men are thinking that maybe one of these days His power is going to fail him. They’re thinking that one of these days that somebody will wrestle His power from Him. Some have in mind they’re going to destroy His power.

Well brother, if you’re going to destroy His power, what are you going to use for power?

If you try to destroy Him by fire he’ll refuse to burn!

If you try to destroy Him by water He’ll walk on the water!

If you try to destroy Him by strong wind the tempest will lick His hand and lay down at His feet!

If you try to destroy Him by law You’ll find no fault in Him!

If you try to destroy Him by seal of an empire He’ll break it!

If you try to destroy Him by putting Him in a grave He’ll rise!

If you try to destroy Him by rejection or ignoring Him soon you’ll hear a still small voice saying “Behold I stand at the door and knock. If a man will open the door I’ll come in and sup with him and he with me.”

Jesus is the pearl from paradise, He’s the gem from the glory land! He’s truth’s fairest Jewel and He’s time’s choicest theme! He’s life’s strongest chord and He’s light’s clearest ray! He’s purer as white’s peak. He’s joy’s deepest tide.

His name stands as a synonym for free healing, friendly help and full salvation. His blessed name is like honey to the taste. It’s like harmony to the ear. It’s like help to the soul. It’s like hope to the heart!

He’s higher than the heaven of heaven’s and He’s holier than the holy of holies. In His birth is our significance. In His life is our example. In His cross is our redemption and in His resurrection is our hope.

At his birth men came from the east and at his death men came from the west. And the east and the west met in Him. Hallelujah the Lord God omnipotent Reigneth!

And at His name, to His name, in His name every knee is going to bow and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father!

Every Knee!

The young knee. Every knee. The old knee. Every knee. The white knee. Every knee. The black knee. Every knee. Wounded knee. EVERY KNEE is going to bow and every tongue is going to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord!

You know many say “I’ve got a lot of living to do. I’ll accept Him as savior and I’ll acknowledge Him as Lord but I’ve got a lot of living to do.”

You don’t really live until you come to Him who said “I am come that you might have life and that you might have it more abundantly.”

And then some I hear praying “Lord when I must go somewhere and crawl up in a dying bed and learn how to die.”

Brother, who told you you were going anywhere else? And who told you you were going to have the strength or the time to crawl up in a dying bed? And who told you you had to learn how to die? You learn how to live and as you live so you die.

But I’m not going to wait because border-line salvation is better than being lost but that’s too dangerous to risk. That’s the reason the prophet said “Seek Ye the Lord while He may be found, call on Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and He will have mercy to our God for He will abundantly pardon.”

I’m not going to wait. I acknowledge Him as my Lord NOW!

The Lord is love and His love is stronger than sin, it’s deeper than sorrow and it’s mightier than death! The Lord is my light. The Lord is my strength. The Lord is my salvation. The Lord is my rock. The Lord is my fortress. The Lord is my deliverer. The Lord is my high tower. The Lord is my shield and my buckler.

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

You know this old world is a wilderness of want. We’re always wanting something. A man will break his health down trying to get well and then he’ll turn around, spend his wealth trying to get his health back.

If it isn’t one thing it’s another. From the rocking in the cradle to the folding in the grave something is always running out. If your bank account gets low then your blood pressure gets high. If you got money your health breaks down. If you got a job your eyesight gets dim. And if you got food on your table your faith gets weak.

If it’s not your enemies bothering you it’s your so called “friends.” If it’s not your kin-folk mooching off of you it’s your church-folk. And while you’re building up over here it’s falling apart over there.

But the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

A little girl was asked to recite this verse and she said “The Lord is my shepherd and that’s ALL I want.” They said she’s wrong. I say she’s right! “The Lord is my shepherd and that’s all I want.”

I shall not want for rest, for He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.

I shall not want for refreshment, for He leadeth me beside the still waters.

I shall not want for forgiveness, for he restoreth my soul.

I shall not want for guidance, for He leadeth me in paths of righteousness for His names sake.

I shall not want for companionship, for yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I’ll fear no evil for thou art with me.

I shall not want for comfort, for thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

I shall not want for sustenance or provision, for thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my own enemies.

I shall not want for joy for thine annointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over.

I shall not want for anything in this life. For goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.

And I shall not want for anything in the life to come, for I’ll dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

I didn’t say I would camp or tent or tabernacle but I’ll DWELL in the house of the Lord forever!

I’ll dwell in a land where we’ll never grow old. I’ll dwell out there where the silence of eternity is interpreted by love. I’ll dwell in the sun-kissed regions of an unclouded day. Dwell in a city that hath foundation whose buildings maker is God.

Dwell in the house of the Lord forever!

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About Dr. S.M. Lockridge

Shadrach Meshach Lockridge was born March 7, 1913 in Robertson County, Texas. He was the oldest of eight children and the son of a Baptist minister. After graduating from Bishop College in Marshall, Texas he worked as a high school English teacher for two years. But in 1940 in Dallas, God called him to preach.

In 1942 he accepted his first pastorate at Fourth Ward Baptist Church in Ennis, Texas. Ten years later in August 1952 he was named pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in San Diego where he would serve for the next 41 years until his retirement in 1993.

During those four decades at Calvary Baptist his ministry reached more than 100,000 people. He preached at crusades, revivals, religious rallies and evangelistic conferences around the world. He served as Moderator of the Progressive Baptist District Association, President of the California Missionary Baptist State Convention and the first president of the National Missionary Baptist Convention of America. He held all three major positions at the same time.

Dr. Lockridge held multiple doctorates and honorary degrees. He was a sought-after speaker even after retirement and served as guest lecturer at numerous schools and universities. He was also on the faculty of several institutions including the Billy Graham School of Evangelism.

He was active in the civil rights movement and under his leadership Calvary Baptist hosted several of its leaders including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Dr. Lockridge went home to be with the Lord on April 4, 2000.

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If this sermon lifted your spirits today, if it reminded you of the joy and power of knowing Jesus Christ, then you have a responsibility. You are called to be a light in the darkness. And right now someone in your life needs to see this light. Maybe they’re going through hell. Maybe they’ve forgotten who Jesus really is. Maybe they’re drowning in all the bad news and darkness of this world.

Share this with them. Send them this post. Let them read these words. Let them remember that no matter what demonic empire rises, no matter what judgment is coming, no matter how dark it gets, Jesus Christ is still Lord. He still has all power in heaven and earth. And He’s still making dead men alive.

Don’t keep this light to yourself. That’s not what lights are for.