This sermon emphasizes the importance of surrendering 100% to God, leaving behind all sins and distractions to fully abide in the Lord's power and grace. It highlights the need to be prepared for Jesus' return, to be at peace with God and others, and to be representatives of heaven on earth. The message also touches on the richness of God's love, the necessity of repentance, and the role of prayer in doing God's work.

Can we have a word of prayer before I give the message that the Lord has given us? Father, in Jesus' name we pray that you will show us a little bit more than before, what it means to be called the light of the world in a very difficult time of the world history. Speak to us, Lord, and I thank you that you are willing to do it. We will listen, Lord. Amen. I'm so glad that we have had a little bit of time together and have listened together to the Holy Spirit, what he had to tell us about our being in this world and having a great work to do. We have heard, and we are remembered of it, that we are living in a time that we can expect Jesus' return very soon, and we have to be ready for him by being at peace with God and men. We have even listened to a message about persecution, and the Lord told us by the letter of Peter that whenever we have to suffer persecution, the spirit of glory, God's spirit of glory, will be resting on it, so we have nothing to fear. There is a work to do for us always, but now it is very clear that we are representatives from heaven on this earth. We are Christ's ambassadors. And we have a great task to witness to our faith, to win souls for eternity, to use the time. The days are evil. We have heard about the tremendous riches that we have in the Word of God, the boundless resources that we have in Jesus Christ, and one of the greatest riches is the ocean of God's love, and nothing can separate us from that love but our sins. But we have also heard about what we can do when sin comes between God and us. When we repent, he is faithful and just to forgive us, and the blood of Jesus Christ will cleanse us from every sin we repent. So we stand on victory ground together with the Lord. We have heard about a very important work we have to do by prayer in the session. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. And it is very clear to us that to do this important work and to be here what the Lord means us to be, we have to surrender. Not a little bit, but 100 percent. Not 99 percent, but 100 percent, totally. And we know that we can again and again step out the territory of our inability into the ability of the Lord. And the Lord is our hiding place. My times are in thy hand, my God. I wish them there. My life, my friends, my soul, I live entirely to thy care. My times are in thy hand. Whatever they may be, pleasant or painful, dark or bright, as best may seem to thee. My times are in thy hand. Why should I doubt or fear my Father's hand will never cause His child a needless tear? My times are in thy hand, Jesus, the crucified. The hand our many sins have pierced is now my guide, my God and guide. My times are in thy hand. I'll always trust in thee. Till we have left the weary land and all thy glory see. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3.9, In this work we work with God and that means that you are a field under God's cultivation. We are God's husbandry, we are God's garden. I read in a book of Spurgeon a very good word. He says, Oh, to have one's soul a field under heavenly cultivation, no wilderness, but a garden of the Lord, walled around by grace, planted by instruction, visited by love, weeded by heavenly discipline, guarded by divine power. One's soul, thus favored, is prepared to yield fruit unto the glory of God. Isaiah speaks about until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest. Once there came a man to a gypsy smith and he asked him, How can we have a revival in my church? And gypsy smith said, Go to your bedroom. Make a circle of chalk on the floor. Kneel in the midst of that circle and pray, God send a revival in the midst of this circle. That's good, eh? Do you understand it? No, I don't ask you to make the floor dirty by chalk, but will you pray the prayer? And the Lord can use you for a revival because you are a field under heavenly cultivation, no wilderness, no wilderness but the garden of the Lord. We are walled around by grace. And I have experienced in times of deep suffering but also in the everyday life that that grace is always there. He gives us more grace when the burden grows greater. He sends us more strength when the labors increase. To add affliction, He adds His mercy. To multiply trial, His multiplied peace. When we have exhausted our store of endurance, when our strength has failed, ere the day is half done, when we reach the end of our hoarded resources, our Father's full giving is only begun. His love has no limit. His grace has no measure. His power, no boundary known unto man. For out of His infinite riches in Jesus, He gives and gives and gives again. The Lord gives grace to live and to die. I heard a moving story of two men in Rustia. And they were brought before a court. They were friends and they had not seen each other a long time. And from one door men came and from the other door the other came. And so these two friends stood together in front of the judges. It was Easter. And one of the two said the Russian Easter greeting, The Lord is risen. And the other answered, The Lord is risen indeed. That moment they both were shot. Isn't that a beautiful death? To die with such words on your lips. Death is not terrible for a child of God. Why should you fear? I remember that I have seen death in the eyes rather often. I stood every day in front of the crematorium. Six hundred people were killed. Bodies were burned in that crematorium every day. I didn't know before that a week before they killed the women of my age, I should be set free by miracle of God and a blunder of men. But I was not afraid. I knew in that valley of shadow of death I will not be alone. Jesus will be with me. I remember that we had to go to a shower room. Oh, we could be there with more than a hundred people and there came showers from the ceiling, hot water. And it was a tremendous joy. But before we came into that room someone said, The shower room is also the gas chamber. We didn't know will it be gas or water today. These moments you look death in the eyes. And I was so glad that the Lord had given me grace. I was walled around by grace. And we are planted by instruction. Now this book is full of instructions. Some are really heavy and difficult. When I think that there is written in this book that you must thank God for everything. Thank God always. I remember when we came in that room in the concentration camp that suddenly I saw that the cots where we had to sleep on, they were full of lice and fleas. And I said, Betsy, Betsy, look, all these lice and fleas. And Betsy said, What have we read this morning in the Bible? I said, Now what have we read? She said, Thank God for everything. I said, I cannot thank God for fleas and lice. He said, But we must. And, you know, that later we understood that we could thank for these lice and fleas. Because we were pushed together with 700 in a room that was built for 200. And it was so dirty and the guards and the officers would never come into our room because they were afraid to get fleas and lice from us. That was good. And that was a reason that twice a day Betsy or I could bring a Bible message to the people around. And the Bible was forbidden. And we could thank God for lice and fleas. Again, it is when we see the right side, and even when we see the wrong side, we must just thank the Lord. We have instruction. And the Lord shows us very clear what we have to do. I remember about 30 years ago that the Lord told me to go off the world. And I went first to America. I didn't know anyone in America. And America is very much bigger than Holland. I can tell you, I had such a difficult time. Now it is not so difficult for me to work in America. I have many friends. It is a joy to be there. But in that time I didn't know anyone. And then the Lord told me to which town I had to go. I remember that Chicago scared me. When I came there, oh, these skyscrapers and these many, many, many people and houses. I said, Lord, how can you send me all alone to this big city? I felt so small. Now then I saw a church and I went to the church. And I asked where the pastor lived. And most of the time the pastor lived very close to the church. I went to the pastor and I said, Have you perhaps a week meeting where I can give my testimony? And then the pastor said, Oh, just come in and tell me what kind of testimony have you. And then I told about what I had learned in the difficult class of life school when I was a prisoner. And the Lord blessed it. And that pastor gave me an opportunity to speak and he sent me to another minister. So it happened that after two or three weeks I could look back and say, Oh, Lord, what a blessing have you given in Chicago. How is it possible? Yes, that was a difficult beginning of my work as strength for the Lord. It has been very often difficult. But I knew always I am planted by instruction and I have to obey. And when you obey, you can abide in the Lord. For the Lord says, Abide in me like I abide in my father and obey his commandments. I have understood that love and obedience belong together. And we are visited by love, by God's love. There are several kinds of love. There is the human love. And human love fails very often. God's love never fails. And Paul writes to the people in Ephesus, We are accepted in the beloved. And in this good translation, I like so much, of Phillips, there is written, God has made us welcome into the everlasting love he bears for his son. Did you ever doubt your love for God? I doubted mine. Did you ever doubt God's love for Jesus? Never. And into that love, you and I are made welcome. Isn't it a miracle? Yes, we are visited by love. And that's why we can be victorious. Sometimes we have disappointments. Sometimes I am discouraged. You know that feeling? Then I think, no, I am not able to do the job. And once when I was in Russia, I was very much encouraged by a minister. He told me a little story. He said, you know, there was a big apartment house and there were many, many families living there. And these families always put their junk in the basement. Now, that basement was full of junk. But there stood also a harp, a beautiful harp, but it was broken. The owner had tried and tried to find someone who could repair it, but nobody was able to repair that harp. One evening it was a terrible snowstorm. And there was a knock at the door and there stood a tramp. And he said, oh, can I please spend the night in your house? It is such a terrible snowstorm. And he said, yes, just come in, but we have no guest room here. But wait, you can sleep in the basement. So they made a little corner of the basement clean and put there some straw and there he could sleep. After he had been there several hours, suddenly the owner of the harp heard beautiful music in the basement. She went down and she saw this man playing her harp, beautiful. She said, man, how is that possible? How could you repair that harp? I have never found anyone who could do that. And the man said, when I was young, I made this harp. And when you make a harp, when you make something, you can also repair it. Do you understand what encouraged me? Who has made me? Who has made you? We know it. Read it in John 1. Nothing is made without the Son of God. Do you think that he who has made you can repair you? Do you see how tremendous, helpful and healing his love is? We are readed by heavenly discipline. Yes, the Bible gives us a very clear discipline. The Bible says nothing can separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ. But we know from experience, and the Bible says it in another place, our sins can make divisions between God and us. It is possible that the Lord is very close to us, but we do not feel it and experience it because there is a sin in between. And then we are readied by heavenly discipline. Remember the rags in the flashlight? The rags made that there was no room for the fullness of the Holy Spirit. When our heart is with unrepentant sins, it is not a good dwelling for the Holy Spirit. And I showed several rags, and it was jealousy or pride. It could be playing with sex. It could be stubbornness, disobedience, neglect of fellowship with other Christians, forgotten promises. Did you give God a promise? Did you forget it? God did not forget it. There are sins that are very serious in the eyes of God. And we read that in Deuteronomy 18, 10, that are the sins of occultism. There is terrible much occultism now in the world. People look at stars for their guidance, and they do not understand that when we belong to the Lord, we have to deal with eternal values. We have to step out the temporal values in the world of eternal values. So we don't need the stars. We have the Lord to guide us. Now, there is written that these sins are an abomination in the eyes of God. I read in Deuteronomy 18, 10, There shall not be found among you anyone who uses divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord. And because of this abomination the Lord thy God does drive them out from before them. They should be perfect with the Lord thy God. That is the abomination, that instead you ask from God your guidance and help, you ask from the enemy, from the devil, your help. And that is the abomination. I found very often that when I told the way of salvation to someone, that they said, I see it and I should like to receive the Lord Jesus as my savior, but I am not able. The moment even when I should call the name of the Lord, there is something that comes in between. There is a shadow in my life. And then most of the time I ask them a question. Did you go to a spiritualist meeting? Or did you go to a fortune teller? And interesting it is that they always say, oh yes, I did indeed, but I did it for fun and I don't believe it. But when you do these things for fun, you come in the territory of the enemy. I was in Germany, and East and West Germany are parted. People from West Germany may never come in the territory of East Germany. When they come there, then immediately they are brought to prison. And now sometimes the boundary is in the midst of a wood. Now it could be that people from West Germany were playing a game in the wood, and playing a game they did not see where the territory of the enemy started, and suddenly they are playing in East Germany. That moment they are imprisoned. And of course they will say, oh, but we didn't know it. We just had a game. That doesn't matter. There is no excuse. They will be brought into prison. When you do the sin that is written here, an occult sin, if you just do it for fun, you are in the territory of the enemy and you are in his power. And that is the reason that you are not able to enter into the life of victory of Jesus Christ, because always the enemy will come in between. But there is hope for you. When you have experienced that, and you feel it, and you know that you are one of those who have played that dangerous game, the Bible tells that we are weeded by heavenly discipline. Repent. Say, Lord, perhaps I have not known that it was a sin, but now I see it in the Bible that it is a sin, in Deuteronomy. I know it. Will you forgive me, Father, in Jesus' name? And then the Lord will forgive you and cleanse you, and then you are free. For the devil is strong, much stronger than you and I, but Jesus is stronger than the devil. Hallelujah. Jesus is victor. It is good that we are a garden of the Lord, weeded by heavenly discipline, and we are guarded by divine power. What is that a safe knowledge? What is that a safe feeling? You know, that power of the Lord, he also uses sometimes by sending us his angels. I just mentioned the power of the devil who works with demons, and they are there. Sure, they are a reality, but there are far more angels than demons. Only a third of the angels have fallen, so two-thirds are still angels. And these angels are ministering spirits sent to this world to help and assist those who belong to the Lord. And I have experienced the help of angels very much. I know that when I entered in the concentration camp, I had my Bible hidden under my dress on my back, and I saw that everything was taken away. We were all searched by the guards. Oh, how I was afraid, and I said, Oh, Lord, send your angels around me. But then I thought, yes, that's good when the angels are around me, but angels are spirits, and you can look through a spirit. So I said, Lord, when you send your angels around me, let they not be transparent today. You can pray very unorthodox when you are in great need. But God did it. The woman who was going in front of me was searched, and then my sister went behind me, and they did not see me. What a joy. That divine power and help is there, and the angels are His servants. I was in Indonesia, and they told me that once there was a whole church of people, a whole group of people who were living on the mountains, and it was a small village. But they had built a church, and there were perhaps 200 people, all Christians, and suddenly they saw that a huge army came and surrounded that village. They understood they are the army of the communists. They knew. They come to destroy us, and they all went to the church, and they prayed and prayed and prayed, and someone stood in the door of the church, and they saw the army coming, and then suddenly they turned around and left. The next day happened the same. The third day happened the same. But then, after that, the enemy disappeared and didn't come back. They found on the way a man who was wounded, so they brought that man into their village, and they treated his wounds. But then they asked him, say, could you tell me why didn't you enter into our village? You were with such a huge army, and we were just with 200 people. And the man said, we didn't dare to enter. We saw all these soldiers in white uniforms. There were no soldiers in white uniforms. They had seen angels. And I'm so glad that the enemy saw the angels. It is possible that people should say, oh, when you see angels, no, that is just your fantasy and a faith, but that's not the reality. But the enemy saw them, and they who believed did not see them. I have once seen angels. Oh, I have experienced them very often, but I will never forget that I was very afraid. It was for the first time that I came in Russia, in Moscow, and I had a red suitcase full with Russian Bibles. When I stood there in the custom office, I saw that these officers ransacked every suitcase. My, how scared I was. I thought, my. When that man ransacked my suitcase, now he will find my Bibles. What will he do? Send me to prison? Send me back to Holland? Of course, he will take these precious Bibles. And I prayed, oh, Lord, help me. Now, I like to pray with an open Bible. Do you do that? I like to say, Father, you have said your word, now you must do it. And God likes that. For God has many business with his promises, and he likes it when we also mean business with the promises. And I claimed Jeremiah 1, and I said, Lord, here is written, God watches over his word to perform it. Now, Lord, that suitcase is full of your word. For all my Bibles, your word. Will you now please do what you have said here, and will you watch over your word, my Bibles, to smuggle them? No, Jeremiah did not say smuggle. You know, I found that it doesn't matter so much when you do not give an absolute, clear exegesis from the word of God, when you act on the word of God, and the Lord sees your faith, then he does what you ask. And the same moment that I prayed it, I saw around my red suitcase light beings. I cannot describe them, because the moment I saw them, they disappeared. And I am sure they did not disappear, but they disappeared from my eyes. They were angels. Now, I can tell you also my fear had disappeared. I knew those who are with me are more and stronger than those who are against me. I am guarded by divine power. My suitcase was the last that had to be looked for. The man took it and said, Is that your suitcase? I said, Yes, sir. It's a very heavy one. Yes, sir. He looked around, he said, Oh, I am through with my work. I will help you, lady. And he took the suitcase and carried it to the car of the interest. I almost had shouted Hallelujah, because I didn't do that. What a joy that we are guarded by divine power and that they are angels. And that is not only the moment that we are in great danger. No, today there are angels around you. There are angels here. And they have a job to do, and that job is to help you and me. It was some days ago, some weeks ago now, that I had to speak in a church. And it was taken on the TV and from the ceiling there was a very strong light shining into my eyes. So, so light that I couldn't stand it. I said, Lord, I cannot speak here forty minutes perhaps and stand in that light. Lord, I know that there are many angels here. Will you put one angel between that light and me? The same moment that the sharpness of that light was gone. I was so happy about that experience. The whole time that I spoke, that angel remained between that light and me. For it was so easy to stand there. I believe we must learn to live as rich as we are. My, how rich we are in the promises of the Bible. And we are guarded by divine power. One's soul, just favored, is prepared to yield fruit unto the glory of God. Yes. And because God is the husband man, and we are a field under heavenly cultivation, that's why we have a victorious life. And we can so depend on the Lord that He brings forth fruit in our lives. I remember that I was in Russia and, oh, it was a joy to speak there in the churches. No, you are not allowed to preach in the churches when you come from outside, but you may bring greetings. So I asked the minister, may I bring greetings? He said, yes. And I brought greetings half an hour. And when I was through with my message, I said, Pastor, may I say goodbye? And he said, yes, you may. And then I said goodbye, half an hour. So I had a whole hour for my message. Sometimes in America they give me 20 minutes when I speak in a church. I say, hmm, I go to Russia, there I have no hour. Oh, and it was a joy always to encourage these people and tell them from experience. I went through a very difficult time, and there the Lord Jesus was a reality. He was with me always, what He has promised, till the end of the world. And I saw my sister, star before my eyes. But do you know that the Lord Jesus never had let me down? I could tell these people when the worst happens in the life of a child of God, the best remains. But one morning I was in my hotel, and I said, thank you, Lord, that you give me an opportunity to encourage the Christians. But, Lord, the communists have an eternity to lose or to gain. Give me an opportunity to bring the gospel to the communists. Lord, I need a miracle for it, but you are a God of miracles. And I had hardly said it. I saw on the floor next to the wall little holes in the form of the holes of a paper box. And I understood, hmm, that is the secret microphone. I had forgotten that in the communist countries, the rooms they give to a foreigner is always a room where there is a secret microphone. I gave a message to the communists. Did they listen? Sir, not only did they listen, but they took it on the tape. And they didn't keep the tape. They brought it to their superiors. And I can tell you, I have brought what I call my paper box messages, because I think of these holes in the form of the paper box always when I was in a country behind the Iron Curtain. Oh, it was such a joy! I could say, people, I have here a book in my hand, almost bursting on good news. And in this book is the answer for your problems. For in this book you can read everything what you need to know about Jesus Christ. And he has said in this book, Come unto me all who are heavy laden, and all that's also you. It was a joy. And I always had in myself a little bit of a feeling of humor. You will say, wasn't it dangerous? Oh, no, they couldn't do anything. If I had said something political, then it could be that I had difficulty, but I don't speak about politics. I speak about the Word of God. What a joy is it that our soul is favored and prepared to yield fruit unto the glory of God. Oh, to have our soul under heavenly cultivation, no wilderness, but a garden of the Lord, walled around by grace, planted by instruction, visited by love, weeded by heavenly discipline, guarded by divine power, one's soul is favored, is prepared to yield fruit unto the glory of God. And because God is the husband man, we are able, we have not to remain in the territory of our inability. I will show you a little bit of illustration. When I try to let this quarter float on the water, no, it cannot float. Oh, and I tried it the whole day, it cannot float. But I can have it float. I have here a piece of pine wood. When I put this together with a piece of pine wood, look now, it floats. You see it? I am that quarter. That piece of pine wood is the Lord. You are that quarter. The Lord is the wood. Keep close to Him. He is able. Do you remember the little stick that cannot stand? It can stand on the top of my finger when my hand keeps it. Surrender, surrender to the wounded hand of Jesus and He will make you more than conqueror. But that surrender must be absolute. I learned a little illustration of a little boy who had his hand in a vase. It was a beautiful vase, very expensive. But when he had put his little hand in the vase, he couldn't get it out. He went to his mother and mother tried. She put some paste on his hand, but he couldn't get it. The father was called. And the father said, that boy cannot go always with that beautiful vase around his hand. We must just cut, make it, break it. But he said, no, that beautiful vase to break it. And the father said, listen boy, when you keep your fingers very close to each other, then perhaps Papa can help you to get rid of the vase. He said, no, Dad, I cannot do that, for then I lose my quarter. Oh, the father said, you do it. And when you lose your quarter, you get a whole gilder. And then the boy put his finger together and he could come out. He had left the quarter. Did you surrender everything but that little quarter? You cannot be free. When you will be free, you then surrender all. Not 99%, but 100%. And now I must finish. And I hope that the Lord has turned your eyes in the right direction. Look around and be distressed. Look within and be depressed. Look at Jesus and be at rest. And I don't look back. God knows the fruitless efforts, the wasted hours, the sinning, the regrets. I leave them all with him who blots the records and mercifully forgives and then forgets. I don't look forward. God knows all the future. The road, that short or long, will lead me home. And he will face with me its every trial and bear for me the burdens that may come. I don't look around me. Then would fears assail me, so wild the tumult of earth, restless seas, so dark the world, so filled with woe and evil, so vain the hope of comfort or of ease. I don't look in. Then I am most wretched. Myself has naught on which to stay my trust. Nothing I see save failures and shortcomings and weak endeavors crumbling into dust. But I look up into the face of Jesus. For there my heart can rest. My fears are stilled. And there's joy and love and light for darkness and perfect peace and every hope fulfilled. Hallelujah. What a joy. Amen. Let's pray. Thank you, Lord, that I have not remained a wilderness. Now, pray together with me. Just repeat my words, if you mean it. Thank you, Lord, that my life has not to remain a wilderness but a garden of yours. I surrender all. All. Even that last quarter. Even the shelf behind the door. Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee. Thank you that you bring forth fruit for eternity. Also through me. Make me ready, Jesus, for your coming. Make me at peace with God and with men. Yes, Lord, I will forgive. I will love my enemies. And you will do the job. Come into my heart and make it your garden. No wilderness any longer. Hallelujah. Amen. And now may the love, mercy, and power of Jesus Christ be multiplied to you during these days of titanic spiritual warfare. The Lord wins and is able to hold you up and cause you to triumph in all situations you may face. Amen.