In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of three verses that carry the theme for the evening. The first verse highlights how God understands and transforms our emptiness into something beautiful. The second verse encourages us to bring all our mistakes and failures to the cross, where the Lord can make something beautiful out of them. The third verse focuses on the application of the blood of Jesus in our lives, specifically in relation to living the Christian life. The speaker expresses gratitude for a seminar that helped them understand the message of Romans 6, 7, and 8 and apply it practically in their life.

He claimed the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him. Then on the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you. And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son. And he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and they went both of them together. And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father. And he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire, and the wood, but where is the land for the burnt offering? And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a land for a burnt offering. So they went both of them together, and they came to the place which God had told him of. And Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham. And he said, Here am I. And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him. For now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked. And behold, behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went, and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. And Abraham called the name of that place, Jehovah-Jareh. As it is said to this day, in the mount of the Lord it shall be provided. Jehovah-Jareh means the Lord will provide. And that mountain was called by that name in memorial of the fact that at the last moment, as God said he would, he did indeed provide for himself a lamb for a burnt offering. You'll understand that. Abraham said, God will provide himself a lamb for for himself. It wasn't only Abraham who needed the lamb for the burnt offering, but God needed one. And God said, I'm going to provide, and indeed, in an extraordinary way he did. Now, I want to turn you over to the first chapter of the book of Leviticus. And I want to put a few verses in that chapter alongside Genesis chapter 22. And Leviticus contains all the regulations for the worship of Israel, and for the various offerings that they were to offer. And the first chapter contains details about the burnt offering. There were five offerings listed here, which Israel were to offer. And the burnt offering was the first, and perhaps the most important, but there were four others. But just these few verses that relate to the burnt offering. And the Lord called unto Moses, and spake unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man of you bring an offering unto the Lord, ye shall bring your offering of the cattle, even of the herd, and of the flock. If his offering be a burnt offering of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish. He shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord. And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him, to make atonement for him. And he shall kill the bullock before the Lord. And the priest, heir and son, shall bring the blood, and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar that is by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And he shall flay the burnt offering, and cut it into his pieces. And the sons of heir and the priest shall put fire upon the altar, and lay the wood in order upon the fire. And the priest, heir and son, shall lay the pot, the head, and the fat, in order upon the wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar. But his inwards and his legs shall he wash in water. And the priest shall burn the whole on the altar, to be a burnt offering, an offering made by fire of a sweet savour unto the Lord. All right, there's our scripture. Amen. It's all full of suggestive revelations of Jesus. And we'll look into that in a moment. Let's sing our hymn then, brother, you know the tune. Jesus keep me near the cross, there a precious fountain, free to all, a healing stream flows from Calvary's mountain. Jesus keep... To pick out three sentences, three verses, from those passages. And I want to put these verses side by side with one another, and let them carry the theme for this evening. And whereas you may not remember all that one tries to say on these verses, if you can remember these three verses in their sequence, that will bring back to your heart what I trust will be a message of tremendous comfort and challenge to your heart. Now the first verse I want to bring to you is in chapter 22 of Genesis, and verse 17, verse 7. The words that Isaac uttered to his father as they were going up to that hill. That boy little knew why they were going there, though he had often accompanied his father on journeyings which ended in the offering of a sacrifice. And this would apparently be one such journey, because the father had the knife in his belt. And he himself was carrying the pot with the fire burning in it. And upon his back he was carrying the wood. But the thing that was missing was the lamb for a burnt offering. And so the son turns to his father and says, behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering? There then is our first sentence. Where is the lamb for the burnt offering? Where is the lamb for the burnt offering? Now the burnt offering was the first and the chiefest of the five offerings which were prescribed for Israel to offer. Long before the offerings were codified in the book of Leviticus, men were offering burnt offerings. I believe that offering that Abel offered to God way in the beginning of things was a burnt offering. And we are told quite clearly that the offering which Noah offered after the flood was over was a burnt offering. We are told that he took various of the clean beasts that came out of the ark and he offered them for a burnt offering under the lawn. And the burnt offering was one of the offerings in the book of Leviticus which was called a sweet savour offering. An offering made by fire of a sweet savour under the lawn. Not all the offerings were called sweet savour offerings. The sin offering was not called a sweet savour offering. Anything but. For that wasn't burnt on the altar at all. Its blood was sprinkled there, but the body of the sin offering was taken without the candle to the place where the refuse was cast and its body was burnt there. And it is not said to be a sweet savour offering unto the Lord. There we see the judgement of sin. But the burnt offering was different. And it was specifically called a sweet savour offering. Now if you ask what this greatest of the offerings, the burnt offering, the fact that it was a sweet savour offering, what it is meant to signify to us, I would say it simply means that man's life is to be a sweet savour offering to the Lord. It's meant to be such that it gives God pleasure which is the chief end of life. Revelation 4 says, Thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they were and are created. And your life and mine were intended to be such that from them would go up the odour of a sweet smell that God might take pleasure in the person whom he has created. But that can only be as a man is willing to be as a lamb to the burnt offering. By that I mean as he's willing to have the disposition of the lamb. Now the lamb is the meekest and gentlest of all creatures. You can do what you like to a lamb. You can kick it and it won't retaliate. It won't turn on you and snarl at you. And it's the easiest thing in the world to take a lamb to the slaughter. It just looks at you with its great eyes and just lets you do it. And you're not likely to be a person from whose life there goes the odour of a sweet smell up to God unless you and I are willing to be as the lamb and to have something of that disposition of the lamb. The disposition of submissiveness, willing to take it, willing to bow to what God allows to come, willing to give up when called upon our rights and not retaliate. And inasmuch as the lamb was often as not used for a sin offering as well upon which symbolically the sins of the people were laid, the disposition of the lamb for us indicates the willingness to take the blame. And there's not likely to be much of a sweet savour going up from my life or yours unless we have something of the disposition of the lamb. We read in one place in the New Testament the phrase the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit which in the sight of God is of great price. And Psalm 51 tells us the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart thou wilt not despise. And only inasmuch as that is something of my disposition is there likely to be an odour. But I want to suggest to you that unless you are very unlike me that's the one thing about us which is lacking. The lamb for the burnt offering? I wonder. I find this a very searching thing. Where is the lamb for the burnt offering? You could ask me other questions and I wouldn't be so dumbfounded. If the question was where is the lamb? I might qualify. I can be as bold as a lion sometimes. In my time I've stood out in street corners speaking to virtually non-existent crowds in a street meeting. Oh, there was a time when that was a test whether a man was really dedicated. When you have a street meeting with a few friends whether or not there were many to listen. In my time I've been bold. And if the question was where is the lion? Some of us would get by pretty good. You could be bold. You could stand up for God. Praise God for it. Or if it was where is the tiger? My goodness we can fight like cats. We could even do so in the name of the law. In defence of His truth. Where is the tiger? But that's not the question. It's not where is the lion? Nor where is the tiger? But where is the lamb for the burnt offering? And the simple truth is this. You and I have not been as lamb for the burnt offering. We've been so strong. We've been so hard in our treatment of people. So quick to be resentful when our rights have not been respected. So unwilling to give up our point of view. So quick to accuse the other person. And we're never seldom heard to admit we're wrong. And I want to tell you this is the thing that finds us out. Perhaps the last thing that we said of us. That we're as lamb for the burnt offering. And as a result there doesn't go up to God from our lives the odour of a sweet smell but rather the odour of a foul stench. Our relationships with other people get snarled up. Instead of love they're resenting us and we're resenting them. And the whole thing is a foul stench to God. And yet this is the one thing He's looking for. It's as if He's using to us the words of Isaac himself. Behold the fire! Plenty of enthusiasm in the Lord's service. And behold the wood! A splendid program for the church. But where is the lamb for the burnt offering? Where is brokenness? The brokenness that gives up its right. That yields its point. That loves the man who's against us. The brokenness that prepares to take the blame itself. And so often that's the one thing missing. And yet it's the one thing that God is looking for. And you know it's only too possible to be busy in our Christian lives and service but without brokenness. Without cowardly love. Without the admission of we're to blame on this or that matter. And it isn't only God who says where is the lamb for the burnt offering. Sometimes we say it. We distressed ourselves about how we are. How we react. Our attitudes. So quick to take offense. So quick to vindicate ourselves and justify ourselves. And so unwilling to admit ourselves to be wrong. And when there's been some such incident and perhaps it's over you feel so sad about it all. And maybe some of us are saying when, when, when, when will it ever happen to me? Where in me is the lamb for the burnt offering? However am I going to walk in peace with God? So there is the first. Let me repeat it to you. Get the cadence of it and the power of it. Where is the lamb for the burnt offering? And I believe there are many situations. Many church fellowships. Many activities. And yet the Lord has to say I can see fire there. And I can see wood. But the one thing I want is missing. The Lord hearkened and heard it says in Jeremiah 8. But no man repented himself saying what have I done? But each man rushes as a horse into the battle. And we think we're doing God's service. And yet he still has to ask the question. But where is the lamb? He hearkens and hears. Does he hear us? Taking the blame? Acknowledging wrong? Putting it right? And you know I want to tell you when you put a thing right with another person it's about the biggest act of love. It really is. Because that which you're confessing is an unloving thing and in putting it right, that's love in action. But how solemn is it seen? In the most active groups it can very often be the one thing missing. In our big activities and our committees and our projects there's the fire maybe and the wood but God says that where oh where is the lamb for the burnt offering? Now we come to the second text and it happens to be in the very next verse. It was Abraham's reply. And Abraham said my son God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. It was really rather embarrassing for Abraham to be asked that question because he knew who was likely to be the lamb for the burnt offering. This beloved small son of his. And I rather imagine he must have almost choked when he said my son God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. Because the son was looking around where is this lamb? We've got the wood, we've got the fire, we've got the knife. He'd been on trips like this before that there was brought one with them. Maybe there would be one roaming the countryside. And he was looking around for this lamb that was still missing. When suddenly having built the altar in anticipation he felt the strong arms of his father get hold of him and stretch him out on the wood and bind him there. And the boy looked up terrified and Abraham shut his eyes. And he reached for the knife and he had it upraised I imagine when suddenly he heard a voice from heaven saying Abraham, Abraham do thy son no harm for now I know thou searest me in that thou hast not withheld thy son thine only son from me. Look behind you Abraham. There's a ram caught in a thicket. That is the lamb that I provided for myself. Take that Abraham, release thy son and offer that ram up in the stead of thy son. With what relief did not Abraham release his son? With what relief did not father and son offer that ram? Killing it, sprinkling its blood and offering it upon that altar. And you know it's like that with us. Just as you are bracing yourself to make that full of consecration to be the sort of person that really pleases the Lord that really is the lamb for the burnt offering just as you're prepared as the old hymn says to lay your all on the sacrifice on the altar of sacrifice the Lord says stop! I've already provided me for a burnt offering. And he shows us Jesus caught so to speak in the horns of a dilemma. Jesus, his son caught in a thicket. There's a passage which I believe really applies here where you see Jesus caught like that ram was caught. Caught in a dilemma. Listen to him in John 12, 27 Now is my soul troubled, he says and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. But for this cause came I unto this hour. And there is the ram caught in a thicket. One part of him naturally would pray Lord, Father, save me from this hour. But the other part of him told him that he was brought into the world for this very same hour. And he decided in the midst of the dilemma it was neither to be one thing nor the other he prayed Father, glorify thyself in this situation. In other words, Jesus said I'm willing to be the lamb for the burnt. He himself said no man taketh my life from me. I lay it down of myself. Of myself, I'm the lamb. They're not going to have a scrap with me and overcome me. I'm voluntarily going to be the lamb and lay down my life at my own will. And that comes out in some of these texts where it talks about Jesus giving himself for us. The son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. And I was most interested to to find somewhere that the Greek word give himself is really give up him. Just as a man gives himself up voluntarily to the police. So Jesus, the lamb gave himself up voluntarily. Do you remember that passage? When they came to apprehend him in the garden of Gethsemane and he came out to meet them and he said whom seek ye? They said Jesus of Nazareth. I am he. And when they heard him say that they all fell on their faces backward. He said tell me who are you looking for? Jesus of Nazareth, I've told you I am he. Take me and let these his disciples go their way. And he voluntarily as the lamb gave himself up. That's what he gave himself up for. A cross was a punishment reserved only for criminals. It was a Roman punishment. And everybody thought he must be a criminal. Why there was one on one side of the cross and another on the other side of the cross. It was obvious he must be one too. And he didn't do what I would have done. I would have said look please understand I know I'm in this awful predicament. I know it does look as if I'm a criminal too but I would have you know I'm not. I'm doing this for others. He didn't say that. He just let them think. He was indeed a criminal. He was numbered as a transgressor. And perhaps that was in deepest pain. Had his disposition been other than that of the lamb he would have caught it a day long before. He would have said I'm not going to have you treat me like that. I insist you treat me with respect due to my position. He didn't say that. He just let them do it. And he was the lamb caught in a thicket. And because of this wonderful surrender of rights not to them but to the father the cup that the father has given me to drink shall I not drink it? Because of that they went up from Calvary that which has never gone up from my life the odour. He was indeed the lamb for the burnt offering. A sweet savour offering. He says so in effect when he says therefore does mine because I lay down my life. I don't have a battle. I voluntarily lay down my life as the lamb. And from Calvary they went up the odour of a sweet. And I think we've got to realise that Calvary was not merely for us perhaps more important it was for God. It's true he bore our sins and our sorrows he made them his very own. It is true he settled our debt in his blood on that cross but listen, the manner in which he did it the disposition manifested in his willingness to do it and to take what was coming to him because it was the father's will. It brought out all the inner perfection of the lamb. Out from the fires of Calvary went the inner perfections that God had been looking in vain for in the sons of Adam but he found them at last in his own son and an odour of a sweet smell went up to heaven and this was something for God not merely for us. Now this is an aspect of the cross that perhaps we don't often think about but in Ephesians 5 we've got a direct reference to the cross, to Jesus being the lamb for the burnt offering it says in Ephesians 5 verse 2, walk in love as Christ also has loved us and given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour. What is that? But a direct reference and God got something out of it. He was being so disappointed in man and Adam and his descendants could only lament as he sees them, where is the lamb for the burnt offering? Wait a minute, God says I provided myself a lamb and this beloved son is my lamb for the burnt offering and I get from him what I've never got from the sons of men an odour of a sweet smell and so dear one you might think he's blaming you for not being the lamb for the burnt offering. He's blaming you for being anything but a lamb, he isn't he's saying I'm not blaming you, I've got a lamb for a burnt offering, I have provided one and I believe over Calvary you could write the words Jehovah Jireh the Lord has provided. That phrase the Lord will provide is normally quoted as he's going to provide the finance necessary for this or that project or this or that need in our personal lives the Lord will provide, but I remind you that phrase comes from Genesis 22 and it refers to the Lord providing a lamb for the burnt offering of Jesus Christ. This is the first great meaning of Jehovah Jireh he did not spare his only son but gave him for a world undone and he found that long last for himself a lamb so there then is the second sentence before us first, where is the lamb for the burnt offering second, the Lord will provide himself for a burnt offering. We come now to the third and this comes from Leviticus chapter 1 and this is perhaps the most important or the thing that applies to us more particularly than any other part of our message. Leviticus chapter 1 the passage which we read verse 3 If a man's offering be a burnt offering of the herd let him offer a male without blemish he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord and he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him now, you might well say as you consider the point to which we've just come I quite agree Jesus is the lamb for the burnt offering and I quite agree that I'm anything but a lamb but how does that affect me? I'm no lamb but he is this shows us a connection and the connection is this those inner perfections that came out to the satisfaction of God from the fires of Calvary do indeed form the basis of our acceptance for me, the odour of a foul step and sometimes it's just as well you keep the door shut and don't ask too many or somehow you keep the mouth shut until they've gone because when the door's shut all sorts of things happen and they are indeed a foul step the way we talk to one another the way we contest things even in our family and you've just told me that Jesus is the lamb for the burnt offering, yes he is you say, well what's the connection? why my dear friend, this is the connection, that all that came out from Calvary that odour of a sweet smell as he gave up his will, as he turned the other cheek, as he gave his back to the smiters and his cheeks to them that plucked off the hair, was exactly what God had been looking for from man and never found what he'd found in his beloved son, but more than that those perfections are to form the basis of our acceptance he died for our sins, granted but the manner of his dying the infinite merit of it all, to the Father's eye is the ground on which he's going to accept you, when you repent there's a lovely hymn we sing sometimes in prison, I like quoting these hymns, next to scripture I think, are hymns, Jesus we hide ourselves in thee God looks upon thy spring, it is our only plea he hears thy precious name we claim it as our own the Father must his well beloved, he sees thy spot, covers all our sins, the golden gates have welcomed, because all those merits, all that fragrance is made over to us thou hast fulfilled, and we are justified ours is the blessing, thine the curse, we live for thou hast, and this is the connection, where is the Lamb, not me there's the Lamb and all that went up to the Father from Calvary, is to be the basis on which he's going to accept you, we stand upon his merits we know no other stand, not even where glory dwelleth, in Emmanuel's land but, but we must do what the Israelite of old did, he brought his offering, but what he had to do before anything could it could avail for him, was he had to lay his hand upon the head of that burnt offering, that's what he says, and he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering now what does that mean for us the laying on of hands in the case of Paul and Barnabas what did that mean, why they were going to go out on their first missionary journey and the church said we're going to identify ourselves with you come on, come forward the elders are going to put their hands upon you, and it meant they identified themselves with Paul and Barnabas and Paul and Barnabas in effect went out as them, and when people are ordained to the ministry today it is done by the laying on of hands and the other ministers, the other churches, identify themselves with this new minister and they say go out as us, and what that Israelite of old meant when he laid his hand upon that burnt offering, in a moment to be slain, was he identified himself with that burnt offering, he's saying that death that that lamb is going to suffer is mine that's what I deserve and this is a wonderful picture of repentance at a deep level, I am to lay my hands, so to speak on the head of my burnt offering on the head of my Jesus as he's going to Calvary and I say, my sin, this particular thing that's come in, these awful reactions this argument where I've been so angry, this matter in which I've been so resentful, this thing that's hurt me and I don't like being hurt and I criticize the person who's done it it's all sin, sin, sin, but listen you've got to say and mean it that this sin that I'm seeking to repent of deserved, I remember once finding I had to repent and confess jealousy, it wasn't perhaps a very big matter but I felt it was no doubt about how I felt and I called it sin and I felt at that time it was right to share it with a brother who was in measure involved and I find it difficult to confess to jealousy have you ever confessed to jealousy? if so you know how difficult it is it really pulls the inside of you out it does me and in order to make it a little easier for myself I did it with a bit of a laugh I told him at this instant, he said I'm sorry, I was a bit jealous over that and he turned on me, eyes in which there wasn't a bit of glimmer of a smile, he said Roy, touch Jesus' blood this thing that I'm wanting to be forgiven and cleansed this thing from which I need to be restored back to God, it deserves what Andrew Bono is it not all the blood a Jewish altar slain could give the guilty conscience peace, takes all my sins away, a sacrifice of nobler name and richer blood than they, listen, my faith would lay her hand on that dear head of thine while as a penitent went out to link up and have fellowship with our friends in the East African Revival, and a great it was really meant for leaders, there they were great crowds of them, and every so often during that convention the lost were saved we didn't make invitations they just told the people as they were walking out, I've just been saved and they'd be surrounded surrounded by a milling crowd, and we really saw what was at the heart of Revival, and almost at every session they sang one hymn and they repeated it again and again if you like, this was the Revival hymn for them, and it was the one I've just quoted not all the blood of the on Jewish altar slain could give the guilty conscience peace or take away the stain, but Christ the heavenly Lamb, takes all our sins away, a sacrifice of nobler name and richer blood than day, and then came the heart of it all my faith would lay her hand on that dear head of thine, while as a penitent I stand and dare confess my sin, that was brokenness accepting that my sin, my attitude deserved that, but he's finished it he did it for me, and I believe that's the way of peace there must be that sort of repentance in our coming to him, not enough and one, his blood, that's what the draft you call it, for the army, saying your father's name on their lives, and the young man said I'm not quite sure, nothing very serious, and the sergeant said it was serious enough to kill your mother, and to start relationships with you and the Lord and you and the other person, nothing very serious serious enough to cause that old rugged cross to be erected, and I've got to identify myself with Jesus and say that put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering, and then it, it shall be accepted for him it's then, you get this glorious positive, and when I take that step, Jesus is accepted for me, you got that you, the man who's been anything but a lamb you who've been an I, who've manifested anything than that which pleases God, and yet as I go to the cross of Jesus, and I identify myself as one who deserved what he took, but he's taken it for me, and dare to do that, Jesus in all his sweetness and loveliness is accepted for me Jesus thy blood and righteousness my beauty are, my glorious dress, midst flaming worlds with these arrayed, with joy shall I lift up my head and I want to tell you you're as right with God as the blood of Jesus can make you utterly free utterly without a hangover of guilt able to give your testimony with peace able to share with the one who was involved enough their forgiveness too because Jesus has been accepted for you, you stand then in literal experience on his merits, you know no other stand, not in where glory dwelleth in Emmanuel's land, that is what is meant by accepted in the beloved one, he's the one who's beloved he's the one from whom the odour of a sweet smell goes up to God from Calvary but inasmuch as it was for me then I, as I put lay my hand upon his head so to speak as I identify myself and acknowledge myself to be the sinner he is accepted for me and I am accepted in him and in his merits, many a times I've been we've got here the spiritual head which is absolutely of course right not to really find their own spiritual walk with Jesus you think okay well he's going on with the Lord and I'll do my best to look after him and the family and be a good wife but you're missing out, that's not enough and one day the Lord's going to take him maybe, before you we've got to have our own walk with the Lord Jesus, we've got to find what is the where and when all the other things go which they can well do in these days we could find our way of life just disappearing overnight, where are we going to be and we've got to know, it's not got to be head knowledge, it's not got to be what we're learning in Sunday school what we're listening to the pastor saying Sunday by Sunday, it's got to be our real walk with Jesus for me and I don't know how you're finding it do you find it easy to walk with Jesus I told you on Sunday and as I say you've probably forgotten that for a long time I was seeking a walk with the Lord that was real I'd been, as I said, saved from a really a non-Christian background although it was a very loving family and I praised the Lord for the love and the care but people who had no time really for Jesus and then God in his mercy took me to that winter sports party in Switzerland where I heard of Jesus as my personal saviour and I realised then it was for me and praised the Lord I was saved but really to live life as a Christian that's where it gets difficult I think we can be content with just beginning and we sort of feel well that's ok, I'm saved, I go to church I do all the right things it's not enough and I knew in my heart it wasn't enough and it was an up and down sort of life sometimes you know having left that atmosphere of the world and it being my family I think probably if I got back if I got away from the Lord the old atmosphere seemed to overtake me I don't know if any of you have had that experience and it was so difficult to get back to the place where I felt I was with the Lord and I knew there must be something different but as I shared with you a bit on Sunday I felt well you know the books that I read very good books many of them, books on victorious life which probably some of you have read can't even think of them now but you know books that really are seeking to help Christians I found I would try to do the things they said and I couldn't do it I'd go so far but then something else would happen and I'd feel again a long way from the Lord and then when these folk came from East Africa and they shared their testimony with us of how God had met them as missionaries and shown them sin shown them the power of the blood of Jesus shown them how they could walk day by day with him it just spoke to me in such a wonderful way and I knew after ten years this is what I'd been waiting to hear now it's interesting to me that before then I can't remember how many years before but during that ten years I can remember at one time being attacked I think I would say attacked I thought that I knew were dishonouring to the Lord and I was so convicted about it and I didn't know how to cope with it and then out of the blue it seemed as if the Lord said to me the blood of Jesus takes away all sin and I remember catching hold of it and applying it and to my thoughts and it was as if that passed and that attack I think it was, it went but do you know I forgot all about it because nobody was preaching it nobody preached in our church although it was an evangelical fine church no one preached the power of the blood of Jesus that one could apply the blood in this sort of a way and so I forgot about it and then when these people came they spoke about the same thing and I thought oh that's what I remember the Lord showed me years ago and yet as I say I began to react a bit about it until the Lord really brought me really to see that this was his way of blessing and then I didn't really fully tell you I think the other day I remember it was one afternoon meeting and they were speaking of one of the pictures that the Lord had given them in Africa when it was an African brother brought it in their picturesque way of speaking but they were repeating this story about how they were picturing a convention in Africa where people all sit on the ground, thousands come and they sit under the trees and they're so eager to hear the word of the Lord and they pictured the Lord Jesus going around the rows and he had on his shoulder a golden water pot full of the water of life, the Holy Spirit and he would stop at every person and just longing to fill their lives, their cups they said, with the Holy Spirit and as he would look into each life he would look to see if it was clean, that cup that life and if it was he could pour in the Holy Spirit, the water of life and this he was doing as he went around but they said that as he went to some people he would sadly shake his head and walk on and that was what spoke to me and the Lord said to me, Pam this is what I see in your cup and I can't fill you with the Holy Spirit and it was this very deep reserve and shyness that I had, this sort of tied up personality, I would never dream of speaking to you as I'm doing today and I had felt that it was me that I was, that was what I was going to be for always people were different personalities some were bulliant and outgoing others quiet and the Lord said to me call it sin and then I can fill you and so I called it sin that day I can remember praying out loud to that great big old Anglican church which was something and calling it sin I saw that there was a tie in the blood of Jesus to take it away and of course really this was pride you can say well how is it that that is sin purely that it's pride that we don't want people to see the little small person that we really are so we build around ourselves this wall and keep people conveniently out fast and that was what I did, I didn't want anyone to come too near and so the Lord helped me and set me free and I learnt something so deep then that if I can conceive something of sin then there's all the power of the blood of Jesus to set you know we have a sort of atmosphere in which we live at home where people are looking so much to their backgrounds and blaming their backgrounds, blaming their parents for how they are now and I think too in some circles you know you can blame almost demons for how you are now and this is part of the art of dodging repentance anything you see or it's my father he was too strict or he was too soft or my mother was too this or that or I went to the wrong school or we had too much money or too little money or anything except being able to see it's my sin and for my sin Jesus had shed his blood to set me free and I learnt that when I could see something of sin it wasn't a terrible thing you might think oh how terrible you know that sin what an awful thing no it's a wonderful thing to be able to recognize it because if you recognize it there's all the power of the blood of Jesus to set us free so don't be frightened of seeing something of sin it's God's way of bringing us through into liberty and there were so many different attitudes that I had to see which I felt were just normal everyone else sort of reacted that way this was what was done and then God wouldn't let me get away with it I began to see that when things went wrong there was a shadow between the Lord Jesus and myself and a peace that I had had began to be disturbed and if I didn't come to the Lord and say Lord forgive me what was that and he'd show me quick as knife it was that you said or that you felt and as Roy said yesterday that hectic Saturday he had when guests were coming and guests were going all the time he was saying yes Lord yes Lord yes Lord and all the time the blood of Jesus was cleansing the Africans say it's like a windshield wiper all the time keeping that shield clean so you can see and your fellowship with Jesus is kept and so I found that that I can come back with all these things and my fellowship restored talks about peace through the blood of his cross again quoting the Africans they used to say that when something comes to disturb that peace just the little things of life you can react to somebody very often it's the husband and wife relationship I think is our closest relationship we react so quickly don't we I know I reacted because Roy wasn't coming here you know I sort of felt self-pity I felt a bit left and I had to ask the Lord to forgive me about that and shared it with Roy and these are the sort of things all the time life is like that and they said you know that first thing comes and it's just like a little bit of mosquito netting that comes between us and the Lord Jesus you can see Jesus quite well through that mosquito netting there's just a little bit of something in our fellowship and you feel that little bit of peace is ruffled if you don't get that right something else comes and that's absolute ground for something else to happen because you're not at peace fully in your heart therefore because you're not at peace the next thing gets you more quickly you react more quickly because you're still reacting from the first thing and then that's like a blanket where you can still hear through a blanket hear the Lord Jesus saying put that right but you can't you know you're not seeing and then if you don't get that right it's like a wooden fence and they go on and on and it's like a brick wall and then it's like a steel and so you're finding yourself so far away and then the devil says well now you're so far away it takes an awful long time to get back you've got to really work at it to get back to be right with God and that's what I thought you see in those days before I heard this message I had to really work at it to get first away that steel wall and then the brick wall and then the fence and then the blanket and then the mosquito net and then you know, then you were back having worked your way and you see we think it's a long way out therefore it must be a long way back and that's the lie of the devil it may be a long way out but it's a quick way back because of the power of God of Jesus now you might say well that's not very fair on the Lord you know why should I come back so quickly it's not right you see and that's our human thinking it's not right, I don't deserve to come back, I ought to work my way back, I ought to you know, suffer the consequences but really I think that is doing death pipe to what Jesus has done he said it's finished and because he knows the type of people we are, he knows we need this quick way back, that we cannot work our souls to save or to get right and so it's a long way out but it's a quick way back, there's a hymn that says it's only a step from sin to grace, so why not take it now and so often all these hymns we when we're singing them we're thinking of the unsaved, it's wrong to do that, we must the gospel is for Christians the good news is not only for the unsaved, but it's for us, we must preach the good news to ourselves and tell ourselves it's only a step now we're going to Milldale next week on Saturday and last year we were at Milldale and we had a absolutely super time oh the Lord just blessed us all so much and it was really the message of the power of the blood of Jesus which set people free all over the place and the minister there, he said he got up I think at the end and he said you know I've got to change my message I've said to people man, if you go away from God, every step you take away from God you've got to take that step back again he said now I see that it may be a long way out because of the blood of Jesus you should have heard the place it almost took off for glory it was wonderful really you see and all these things just confirmed to Roy and me this is God's message, this is God's way whatever it is I've got all sorts of notes written down here and I don't think I'm following them very well and he also said they'd had conferences every year, maybe twice a year and he said you know we've had all sorts of speakers coming to our conference and talking about revival and he said after a few weeks or months, we've given up because the message has been so difficult for us to follow we followed it with good intentions to begin with but after a bit we've just given up he said now we've heard this message we have no excuse and this is it we have no excuse what more could the Lord have done than he has done he's absolutely done everything to make it possible for us to walk with our Lamb, no more could have been done by Jesus than he has done and it's available for each of us as I say where we are as wives and mothers where we are in our own spiritual walk where we are in our sort of situation I don't know you, I don't know what your situations are, what your background is but what I do know is that this is sufficient for each one of you and for me, for us to walk with the Lord Jesus and to know his life and his peace and his joy and his fullness, the fullness of the Godhead bodily dwelleth in my Lord and I am complete there's a chorus that says that maybe we're all teaching that one, maybe you know and this is what we're longing for I believe if we've got anywhere as Christians at all, we long for the fullness of the Lord to be in our lives, to be experiencing it, to be satisfied and for other people to be blessed and this is the way and I remember a group of young people singing a chorus they bring these choruses out of the blue, you know we have what we call a Sunday night round the piano at our conference in August and Roy usually leads it and they all love him leading it he's sort of almost the grandfather of the conference now and he likes leading singing and you haven't really seen him in full he can really take off for glory and when, you may think that English people are reserved but you wait and see when they're really blessed when the Lord really comes down and we can be as expected as anybody else and we have a lovely time and this Sunday night round the piano is at the end of the Sunday and people bring their contributions we're not so gifted, you know, as you folks are, we don't have the sort of duets and solos and beautiful choirs we're much more I don't know homespun perhaps you would say we're not so sophisticated but we enjoy people doing their little bits in their singing and the young people bring their contributions and a group one evening sang you may know this one too love is flowing like a river flowing out to you and me flowing out into the desert setting all the captives free let it flow through me let it flow through me and you can change, love, grace, joy peace, but it's the picture of it, it is flowing like a river, flowing out to you and me flowing out into the desert setting all the captives free as they see the blood, the captives are free I'm absolutely sure this is how captives are free, this is how this captive became free free from my tired upness, free from my self-pity, free from my tears, free from my all these different things my resentment, but how does it flow through us out into setting all the other captives free by the blood of Jesus, you know you can be a missionary, you can be a pastor, you can be a worker in the church, you can go to all the seminars, you can know it all you can be a bishop you can be a deacon but unless you're being cleansed in the blood of Jesus that love is not going to flow out into the desert to set the other captives free I told you again, I'm going to repeat it and then I'm going to finish it, this friend of mine who was in Rwanda little tiny country in Africa where I was working, secretary she was a nurse and she gives her testimony about walking from her home to the hospital you remember and how this African met her and said are you praising the Lord sister no she wasn't praising the Lord because of having lost her temper, feeling accused here she was a missionary can't be losing her temper she felt in the dark and accused and miserable and when she said oh no I'm not praising the Lord, he said has the blood of Jesus lost its power and walked on, left her, nothing else, not for you a missionary, losing your temper, all this and as I said, as she walked she thought well of course the blood of Jesus has not lost its power, why am I in the dark why am I letting the devil accuse me and as she walked she came back to Jesus Lord forgive me for losing my temper, just put it under the blood and she came out into the sunshine again and then when she got to that hospital and had to deal with all those patients as a missionary, Jesus the love of God could say to her you know she would have been a missionary in name only wouldn't she if she had gone there with this sort of burden of her sins feeling all chancy thinking about it all the time how the devil makes it you know we can be the most mature Christian dedicated missionary and yet something like that can happen in the twinkling of an eye and all the blessing goes but praise God it's a quick and this is what the Lord wants us to see I'm absolutely, maybe a long way out, maybe you felt well it was a long way out, this has happened, that has happened and I feel in the dark I feel down, how much can I sort it out, you know you feel you've got to sort it out, this and this that Bill Gaither song something beautiful, something good all my confusion he understood, all I had to offer him we say was emptiness and strife but he made something beautiful of my life and then it says in the verse I can't remember it but you probably know all the things that have gone wrong, he bundled them all up in the rags of his life and laid it at the oak and then the Lord made something, so that's what we can do just bundle it all up and say Lord I give it to you and put it under the blood and you can go out free you know what I did with you I don't plan on making that up don't most of us think come on gave the Lord your answer, I know because I was 47 when you met God numerize