In this sermon, Keith Daniel shares a personal experience of encountering a tramp and sharing the word of God with him. He emphasizes the importance of sharing the scriptures with others, regardless of their circumstances. Keith also recounts a frightening incident where he and a companion were chased by a dog and sought refuge in a stranger's house. The sermon concludes with Keith reflecting on the need for young preachers to have both passion and wisdom in their ministry.

Can we bow for a moment of praise? Father in mercy, come and visit us this morning. We love thee with all of our hearts. We long for the smile of God in heaven. Be upon our lives, today and all of our lives. God may honor us. Come in mercy, Lord, and make the word this morning, as only God can. No man can bless us. We've learned it, Lord, through the years, throughout his name. Men can thrill us. Some men can so speak. We walk out praising God, but we're stunned when we find we're just the same. Nothing, only God can change. So our expectation this morning is in thee and thee only, Lord. We all confess it. We look to thee. We look away from ourselves. We look away from the preacher. We look to God. Have mercy on us. Once this pause, I have nothing to commend myself. I have only hope in the blood. I think to trust him. I think to tell the others. I only have the blood to look. Fill me in mercy, and in great mercy on all of us. Keep us under the blood. Christ's name. If you look at this verse, if any man be in Christ, any one in the whole building, if you're in Christ, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. All things are passed away. Behold, all things, all things are become new. 1 John 2, verse 3. Hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar. The truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected. Hereby know we that we in him. He that saith, he abideth in him, ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked. James chapter 2, verse 14. What is a prophet, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and hath not works? Can faith save him? A brother, a sister, be naked, and destitute of daily food. One of you, say unto them, depart in peace. Be ye warmed in thirst, notwithstanding ye give them not those things that are needful to the body. What of a prophet? Even so, faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say thou hast faith, and I have works. Show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works. Thou believest that there's one God. How doest well the devils also believe and tremble. But wilt thou know, o vain man, that faith without works is dead? The dear Lord Jesus said in Matthew chapter 7, 16, Even so, every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire, for by their fruits ye shall know them. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, preached in thy name, and in thy name have cast out devils in thy name, in thy name done many wonderful works. And will I profess unto them, I never knew you, I never knew you. They pass from me, ye that work iniquity, any man be in Christ, don't doubt it, he's a new creature. All things are passed away, behold, all things are become new. One more verse, a verse so familiar to children, I remember my Sunday school teacher again and again trying to preach them this verse to us. Numbers 32, 23, Be sure your sin will find you out. He loved the promises of God, that's a promise. Be sure your sin will find you out. One of the most embarrassing moments of my life was when I was a young preacher. Oh, so much fire, so little wisdom, but the little bit of wisdom I had God took because it was fire, you have to have fire. There I was wanting to win the world to God, then this terrible embarrassment happened to me. I remember our district superintendent who was giving a watch over us as young evangelists out there in South Africa, telling us where we'd go now, what we'd do. He said to us, I want you to visit all the Christian trains, and there are so many in the farm areas, in the farm little town and communities, go visit all these. Don't just preach, go and get to know the Christians. Go get to meet them, go get to learn from them. Well, we went out, this young fellow and I, two of us, we went from farm to farm through the whole day into the night, one farm after the other, in the small farming community towns, one house after the other, with these big plots of land. And I began to learn something as a young preacher in the faith mission of South Africa. I learned there are two things that you fear, you dread, you dread. You won't believe what those two things are. One is dogs. Now I could spend an hour talking to you about dogs, what they did to me. The other is coffee. Now you won't understand that if you don't come from South Africa, we have what we call the Boer. If you heard of the Boer War against England, the Boer, the Afrikaner, white, they're farming people, they don't like to sit and eat dinner, eh? Well, the Boer loved coffee. Believe you me, that coffee is something to experience. One cup and you could die. And they don't have these little dainty cups, you know, like the English of South Africa. We're very English. Part of England is in South Africa, even though the Boers were anti-England. All the English were totally English, Union Jacks flying and all. Well, we have these little cups for tea, you know, dainty little cups. The English like the Boers, they have these, I wouldn't say a mug, I'd say a bowl for coffee. And every farm, they didn't ask you, it was ethical, they just brought the coffee out, you just had to drink it. Oh, this black poison, that reet. I tried to do something with the sugar, I learned to put up to six spoons and to try and somehow taste it. After six homes in one morning, you felt sick. You had to go home to your hostess, wherever it was, and try and eat your lunch, and then you had to face six more homes in the afternoon, and come back to eat dinner with all that coffee. You know, they actually got sick, the missionaries, who weren't used to it up in the Transvaal, really the Transvaal, the Free State, that's the Afrikaner's land in South Africa. Well, this brother that I was with began to twitch. Now I didn't quite know what happened, but I saw him twitching, and then I got a bit worried. I said, you know, we need to see a doctor. He said, well, I hate a doctor, he hated medicine. But eventually he said, we'd better get to a doctor. So we went to a doctor, and I sat there with him, and I was very worried. We were far away from our district superintendent, from our mother and father in the faith, and here we were, and I took him to the doctor. And the doctor looked at him, made examinations and tests, and sat there for a while, and he said, do you perhaps drink a lot of coffee? I think. So this brother looked at him and said, all the time, doctor, all day. This doctor said, you know, you've poisoned your system. He said, you've actually poisoned yourself with coffee. Look at your eyes, the white is all discolored. It's coffee. And he said, you've got to stop totally. He said, well, doctor, how do you do that in this country? He said, he looked at me, he said, you make sure that the people know that this boy doesn't have coffee. He's always sitting in a car to the next farm, and sitting for hours, and coffee, and sitting. Before you get to the next farm, get out the car and run. You're young, get all your energy, you can't have no exercise and drink coffee like old men. So he said, you are in charge. Even though this fellow was really my captain, I had to be sure that I made sure that people didn't give him coffee on no account. He was to drink glasses of water all day. I had to bring it to him. I don't know how many glasses it was so many years ago, but he had to just take water, no coffee, and run. We started running around before we set to the next farm. Anyway, we got to this town with these large plots, and we were rather tired, to be honest with you. But we knew we had to finish this town, so we went into this particularly large home, and as we got halfway, here came this dog. Like a galloping, you know. It was big. So we ran. We couldn't get back to the gate, so we ran for the house, and it was after us. I was banging on the door, and this brother was kicking as this thing was trying to eat up, and he was screaming as the dog began to get the better of him. In the end, I realized we're not going to win here, and I opened the door. It was open, so I jumped, and I pulled him, and we banged the door. And as we turned around, there stood the lady of the house, wondering what all this commotion was. She had got out of bed with her dressing gown, her head in curlers. And the black domestic maid there, the maid of the house, she stood there with a bread knife, coming to us. Who are these two men in our house? They were frightened as they stood there with this knife looking at us. I said, oh, please forgive me, Tunny. Well, Tunny is off to the cons for auntie. You always call them auntie or uncle if they're older. Sorry I came in your house. Your dog was hurting us, and we were so scared we just had to get in. They just looked at us, and they said, we're from the faith mission. We're from the AED. We've come to visit you. And in the end, the lady tried to speak after a while. We wondered why she wouldn't speak, but then we realized she didn't have her teeth in, and that was terrible. It was awful. Now we're all embarrassed. This brother of mine was sweating. He was so fearful we had done damage here to this home. We were going to lose these friends forever for the faith mission. So the maid, the black lady, said, go in the lounge. Go sit in the lounge. She took her madam. She took her to go back to the bedroom to get dressed. So now we're sitting there, and we were feeling terrible. What a start. Anyway, eventually the lady comes through. We heard the kitchen, the cups going. And this brother said, whatever you do, don't tell them we don't want coffee. Of course, here it came through. Boom, these big things, too big. Don't tell them we've done enough damage here. If we say we don't want their coffee now, I'll drink it. Just this time. So I said, oh my. Anyway, the lady came through in dignity, and she went back to the kitchen, and she tried to get these rusks that you dip in the coffee, these little hard bread. And I saw in the middle of the lounge was a fern. Now this was a beautiful fern, you know. And it was in a big wooden thing, a stand. And as she went back to the kitchen, I just looked at the brother. I grabbed his cup. I grabbed my cup. I ran, and I poured in the fern. And as I sat down, I put it down. And she walked back in, and there were two empty cups. So I looked at this brother. His eyes were like this. But I was so proud of myself. And the lady sat down, trying to be dignified after all this indignity. And she tried very hard to sit dignified and compose herself and look at us. And we were all embarrassed still, a bit tense. And so she started to speak. But as she tried to speak now, in the middle of the lounge from this fern stand, we just heard this terrible noise. It went straight through. And it watered out, you know, every terrible drop. I agonized. And as this carried on, I said, when is this going to end? She looked at this fern. Well, she looked at this fern. She couldn't believe. She didn't know what was going on. After a while, she looked over at us, and she looked at our cup. And this poor brother, I've never seen it before, but the red, you know, just went up. I was so fearful for this fellow. In the end, she looked at us horrified, as if some strange people were sitting here. I said, Sonny, it's not him, it's me. We don't normally do this in a house, you know. But this brother is sick. The doctor said I mustn't let him have coffee. And we were so embarrassed at the way we had to get into your dog. And I was so scared, and he was scared we were going to offend you. So I just tried not to offend you, and I put him in the fern. She looked at me for a while, and eventually she started laughing. But then she screamed. She laughed like I'd never heard a woman laugh. We didn't know what to do. She laughed and laughed and laughed. And, you know, she loved us. She gave us a big donation. And she said, please come back whenever you're here. Don't think she normally had missionaries like that. Anyway, I'm sure that lady has thought often about the verse. When she thought of us, she thought of that verse, Be sure your sin will find you out. Be sure your sin will find you out. That verse I'd like to read just once, if I had the opportunity today, to all of God's people and all the churches across our country. Be sure your sin will find you out. I was once walking in the town of Durban, numbers of years ago now. It's a large and beautiful city, Durban, in South Africa. At the center of the town is what we call a monument, all of the British Empire, all the different queens and kings, and the heart of the city as the people rush through. And they have many open air meetings there, trying to win Christ, win people to Christ. And as I was walking through all the bustle, all the hundreds of people just crisscrossing to get to each part of the city, this big center of the city, I saw a young man standing there. And he had tracts of salvation. He was dressed clean, and he looked clean. And the way he was giving these tracts out, I stopped in respect. I looked at him and thought, look at this fellow. He didn't want to let anybody pass. It was like there was something of a desperation in him that he wouldn't lose anyone. He wanted to give a tract. Please read this, sir. Please, please take it. Please stop, take this. He didn't want to let anybody pass. Giving these tracts out of salvation. And I looked and respected him. After a while, I saw he looked at me, and he recognized me. He walked up to me and said, are you Keith Daniel? So I said, yes. So we started speaking. He said to me, he said, Daniel, have you got any time? Are you in a hurry? Or have you got some spare time? I said, well, I'm going somewhere, but what do you need? What do you want? He said, there's a tramp. Down and out, who's here in the town gardens always, is sitting under the statues. And I've tried to bring him to Christ. There's something different about this tramp. He wasn't always in the gutter. This man comes from somewhere good. And not too long ago, he just suddenly lost everything. But I just saw him. I can't get through to him. Won't you please come? I know you'll still be somewhere here. Come and speak to him. So I said, surely I will. Let's go. So we went around to one of these big statues. We eventually found him. He stood slowly when he saw us coming to him. He was dressed like a tramp, and he looked like a tramp. The man who gave up is sitting in the gutters now. This young fellow looked at him and said, this is Mr. Daniel, Keith Daniel, the preacher. And I believe that if you just listen to him, what you can't understand of what I'm trying so often to tell you, I believe he's going to be able to help you to find God, to show you the way to God, what God can do for you. Won't you please listen to him? So the man beckoned that I could speak. And I began to talk to him about God. And I found something. Oftentimes we give just our testimony. But I found, give the word of God. And I began to give the word of God. It's what God says that matters. And so even if it's to a tramp, leave something of what God says. I began to quote the scriptures to him, of what God holds out to the sinner, what God promises he can do, no matter how destroyed the life is. And I held out the scriptures to him. And as I was quoting scriptures, eventually he started quoting them with me. So I quoted another scripture. The word perfect, he quoted with me. I looked at him and said, but how is this possible? You know everything that I know. You know everything I'm telling you. You know everything I know. And I find tears welling up in my eyes to see a man in the gutters who knew so much. And then tears welled up in his eyes. And he said, I was Dutch Reformed doomeney, minister, a preacher, the largest denomination of our country. I went to a university, theological seminar. And I attained after seven years, the highest, the highest of all marks, of all the theological students. I was the top theological student of the university when I graduated. I was taken straight away to one of the largest Dutch Reformed churches of South Africa, right into the pulpit. There were five other ministers, but I was the one as young as I was, who was given the pulpit because I could preach, could preach. And I preached. It was an evangelical Dutch Reformed church. I preached what you're telling me. I preached the gospel. I said, what went wrong? And then the tears really came. Sin, sin, sin. Somehow sin wasn't dealt with, even though I had testimony. So I went to university and I attained the highest degree, the highest marks of the entire university in the theological system. Sin was still there. It's possible, you know. It's possible to get into a pulpit, one of the largest evangelical churches in the nation, because you can so preach, because you're so attained academically in theology. They have to, they're obliged to put you in the greatest church, right into the pulpit. It's possible to stand up preaching gospel. And sin is still in your life. Never doubt it. He said, it was sin. I had this problem, sin. Oh, I always used to think, and my heart condemned me, as I stood in the pulpit, my heart condemning me. I thought, God's going to deal with it some way. Some way it's going to stop. I sinned. Then one day I stood up and I was preaching, calling for men to come to Christ. And suddenly I looked out and I saw a face. It's your face. Someone who knew about my sin at me, all into sin. Somehow I got through that sermon. I don't know how I got through, holding myself up in the pulpit. My heart was, I don't know how I did, but I got up and preached again. And this time when I stood up and I began to preach, I didn't see one face. I saw the devil won't let you get up. I couldn't preach. I couldn't preach. Here were people looking at me, knowing, knowing that here I am, crying out the sinners, and yet I'm a sinner myself. I couldn't preach. I just walked from the pulpit, determined never to go up again, no matter what the cost. And it cost, I won't tell you, the whole thing of what it cost me, that I lost my family, lost my heart, lost everything. One thing led to another, and I'm in the gutters. I'm in the gutter. But you see, what I was doing was wrong. I had no right to stand in the pulpit of God and cry out to others. And I was still in my sin myself. And I had to make a choice, either stand up in the pulpit and look at the condemnation of others who I would be guilty of sending to hell, or get out of the pulpit forever. I made a choice, and look what it cost me. I can't go back to the pulpit. It was wrong. I was wrong. I had no right. You have no right. I watched you. I watched you when I saw you standing there with your Bible, with your text, your desperation, calling people, not wanting to let anyone go by. I watched you because of my background. I watched you carefully. Watched you when you spoke. I watched you the other day when you stood there. Suddenly, two men. I saw you laughing. Eventually, I saw you go in that building. I knew something of those men. I waited until you came out. And I waited again. I had no right to come the next day onto the street. You have no right. You're wrong. You're wrong in what you're doing, in thinking you have the right. The two of us just looked at him. I looked at this young man. He had turned white. Little, but he'd been found out. And the greatest shock of all came. Looked at the two of us, this man having given up the honor. And this man who's clinging to God with every breath in his body, never to lose the right to be in the pulpit. Look every man on earth in the eyes and say, come to God and have the right to say to them. He looked at these two men. He said, so what? Being a Christian doesn't mean you never sin. Being a Christian doesn't mean you can't sin. He turned. He walked away from above the steps, back onto the street. There's a Bible that he's seen. I believe to this day. But you are, speak so loud, that the world can't hear what you say. They're looking at your walk, not listening to your talk. They're judging by your actions every day. Don't believe you deceived by claiming what you've never known. They'll accept what they see and know you to be. They'll know you by your life alone. So don't you deceive by claiming what you've never known. They'll accept only what they see and know you to be. They'll know you by your life alone. I remember the same town just a little way away from where I stood in the town gardens of Durban. And I was walking along the pavement of the city hall, alongside the city hall of Durban. And the crowds were coming. And suddenly I saw faith coming along the pavement past me. A face I hadn't seen in many years. The last time I'd seen that face was when he stood in a stadium with thousands of people, and he was preaching the gospel. He was almost a household name in South Africa, though he was young. The way he preached, I sat at his feet, as a young Christian again and again, listening to him as the city halls were filled and then it was suddenly found out that the man was living in the most depraved sin imaginable. Not only just one. It had been going on. Everywhere he was preaching, he was living in his depravity while he preached. The damage done in the country was unestimable. The thousands that stumbled over this life, when all the stocks wept across the land of this preacher's sin. Here he was. He just disappeared. No one knew where he was. I remember once standing with a young fiancée. Broken. She didn't know where he'd gone. No one knew where he'd gone. No, he just couldn't face the world. He just left. Disappeared. Gone. No one knew where he'd gone. Here he comes now. Aged. Aged. But I recognized his face as he walked along. And as he passed me, I put my hand out and I grabbed hold of his arm. He looked at me and before I said a word of tears just swelled in his eyes. He knew. He knew I knew who he was. I said to him, I need to ask you something. I need to know something. Were you ever real? Were you ever real? Were you always in sin? Why do you preach like that? Or were you ever real that you really knew God? Were you ever truly saved? He took my hand. He walked with me. Up on the steps of the city hall and we sat. He talked to me, asking about me. Then he said, Was I ever real? Oh, he says, Keith. I was in a meeting. They made an appeal. I came out. I prayed the sinner's prayer. I was counseled. Were you like you? I prayed the same prayer you probably. They said to me that day, Now you must testify. So there was an open air meeting. I went along, listened to all the testimonies given. And I kind of gathered. Now you tell you've given your life to Christ. So I started testifying. I stood in front of the loudspeaker there and the speaker testified. I'm saying something about the way I spoke. Testimony in a church. They took me and I stood up there and began to speak. Summoned the people. So I was given blueprints everywhere. Testify. Suddenly, speaking. Turn. Smallest personal opportunity. Next thing, you're going to Bethany. Getting theological. You're a preacher. This gift was sent to America. One of the angelical seminars of America. Fully paid for from all the Christians back home in South Africa. Came back after a while. Satan's the biggest pulpit. Because I could speak. I could preach. People listen. It wasn't only the pulpit. It was a city hall. It was a stadium. Did I ever turn from sin? No. No, my sin. Was I ever saved? I believe I was. So you won't believe it, Keith. Obviously from. I was sincere. I tried to have quiet time. I believe that I did. Somehow. I still believe I'm saved to this day. And do you know, Keith, that most ministers in this country. Most ministers in this country with me. Who defend me and say I am still saved. You see, I believe in one thing. Always saved. Don't you believe in that, Keith? I believe somewhere along the line, God's going to get me right. Your earnestness worries me, Keith. You seem to worry about my soul. I'm going to be honest with you. I'm not ready to give up my sin right now. I'm enjoying it. But somewhere along the line, God's going to get me. Because once saved, always saved. He'll get me right. Don't you believe in the faith mission work? Once saved, always saved. Most ministers would stand on my side right across this country and say. They're with me. Don't you people believe once saved, always saved? I said, yes. Once saved. Always saved. If you stay saved. But be not deceived. No unrighteous person shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. Not the defilers shall enter there. And I began to give scripture. There's one word that's missing in the pulpits today. And I want to shout it loud and clear this morning. Bring it back in the pulpits. We could have revival. Just one word. There's so many seeking Christianity, but we're missing one word. When they come to give their lives to Christ. Repent. God now commanded all men. I like that. Not some men. God now commanded all men everywhere to repent. Repent ye therefore and be ye converted that your sins may be blotted out. Unless you've repented from them and been converted from them. They've never been blotted out. Repent ye therefore be ye converted that your sins may be blotted out. Who shall confess us and forsaketh his sins the same shall have mercy. I don't see anywhere in the whole Bible. We're believing to save you. Unless you repent. That's one thing God can't do for you. That's one thing you have to do is turn to God. Maybe not able to set yourself free. But turning from sin to God to set you free. That's repentance in salvation. Repenting, confessing, believing that he is able to keep you. He is able to set you free. If the Son shall set you free, you shall be free indeed. All we need to tell sinners to repent. For the Son of God can set you free. Repent. If you come to God with utter sincerity, repenting from your sins. I'm finished God. I'm not coming with my sins. I mean what drunk would believe you if he comes with a bottle and kneels down. And you allow him to pray with a bottle for God to save his soul and get up and walk out with a bottle. What sin would you like to come to God with knowing you're going to walk out the door? Knowing you're not going to give up what? You wouldn't accept the drunk standing there with alcohol. You'd say get rid of it before you pray. Throw that away. You can't come to Christ with it. You're more hard on the drunk than you are on yourself. If you come to God and through repentance, coming God for forgiveness, but forgiveness for that which I'm turning from and looking to thee to set me free from. When you come to God for forgiveness, when you come to God in repentance, confessing and turning from your sins and trusting him to save you by setting you free, repentance is vital. But then he made appeals here through this convention. One was the one way to survive from the moment you're saved. The one way is to abide in him. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not. There's the quiet time. There's the devotion. There's the soaking yourself in the word of God that keeps you from sin. There's the discipline of the quiet times and applying yourself to the word of God. It's no good standing up in missions like this to become a soul winner, dedicating your life to God to win souls. Unless you are saved yourself, unless you are living in victory, that you may be blameless and harmless, sons of God, without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation among whom you sign as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life. You can't hold forth the word of life as a soul winner if you aren't blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke. No one can rebuke you. You don't go to a sinner in turn to come to Christ and he rebukes you because you're still in sin. You're blameless, without rebuke, God said. Then you have the right to hold out the word of God to all the things we've been seeking God for. The result is in committing ourselves to God-concerned soul winning, concerning the one thing that you desperately needed to survive and not make separate, the quiet time, devoting yourself to soak yourself in the word of God as the greatest priority of your life or faith comes, and victory, the sanctifying power of the word of God. Sanctify them by thy truth, by word of truth. All these things I've been holding out to you, they start, they keep you. God honors even in soul winning that you dedicate your life for. But if you haven't repented, be sure you're single. I guarantee you, even if you go to varsity, be sure and let's all stand. I don't want an appeal this morning. We've made appeals for you to be saved and numbers of you have come. I want you, God speaking, to not leave this place until you've let God deal with one thing, from the depth of your soul, crying out for one thing. Give me the right, Lord, the right to be a soul winner, a dealing with myself. And he will when you ask him, when you name him, when you turn to him, and when you're determined to be kept from it by the things. You're as safe as your quiet time, no safer, as real as your quiet time. All of us who name the name of Jesus have the right to name. Oh, be careful with your walk in this time. Be careful you don't lose the right to name the name of Jesus. You do the things we've been preaching of. You've been seeking God and committing to God that God and you will never, ever lose the right to name Jesus. You neglect these things, oh, how swiftly I guarantee you, you're going to lose the right to ever name him again. Father, will you commit us?