This sermon emphasizes the importance of undergoing a spiritual audit before God, reflecting on the need for integrity, transparency, and repentance in our lives. It highlights the significance of being accountable for our actions, thoughts, and words, and the necessity of nourishing our souls with the Word of God. The speaker urges listeners to seek genuine transformation and to strive for a life that withstands God's scrutiny, ultimately aiming to come forth as gold in His eyes.

You know, I wonder how many of you have been audited by the IRS? You know, one or two? I am told that it is a fearful thing and they can be very, very strict in their audit. You know, I was telling you about some fellows who don't want to deal with checks. They want to deal with cash. I wish they would be first audited and some way devised to see such thieves sent out. You know, thieves should not be made welcome anywhere. Anyway, I wanted to see what our spiritual audit is going to be like. You know, did you ever think of a spiritual audit? When God weighs you in his balances and finds everything where you have gone into the red or tried to wangle your way through. You know, it looks like many people try to wangle their way through. Twist and turn, that's the natural way. You know, defend yourself, argue about it, resent anybody who thinks otherwise or thinks poorly about our spiritual conditions. I wish all of you would tell me, Brother Joe, we don't see Christ in you. It would help me to be humble. I won't resent it. I will only ask you to pray for me. Because I don't never want to be a pretender. Yes, once upon a time, I was a hypocrite. But now I want to be clean and clear and transparent in the sight of God and all men. But where's the problem? If I have something dirty to hide, then I have a problem, yes. But if I have nothing to hide, I say, come on, let's take an audit. So, my dear friends, we come to Psalm 139, where we see a part of the audit to which I am referring. Psalm 139, please. O Lord, thou hast searched me and known me. Thou knowest my down-sitting and my up-rising. Thou understandest my thought afar off. O, quite a summation of our whole day's activity, from the rising up to our down-sitting and our thoughts, our distant reveries. God says, I know them. I have searched them out. O Lord, thou hast searched me and known me. Thou compassest my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. All my ways. And the fourth verse, an audit about your words, you know. For there is not a word in my tongue, but lo, Lord, thou knowest it altogether. My God's audit of our tongues, of the use to which your tongue has been put, are you ready to face an audit? And yet we are here in this camp or retreat, and ostensibly to have God speak to us. Where's the difficulty about an audit? That's exactly what we should desire. Lord, I want a real good audit. Of where I stand. You know, my friend, you do not want to assume on one occasion as I did. You know, I had pulled out what little money I had in London and bought myself tickets because I had meetings to address out here in the United States. And so, many years ago this was, and by that time I had two little children or at least one, another being expected. But whatever it was, I drew everything or, and all the time I kept thinking, oh, there's money in the bank for me to return, to buy my tickets in London for the return journey. There's money in the bank. So, you can imagine when I did arrive at the bank, after finishing all my engagements in the United States, I went to my bank and found that I had used up my money for the earlier tickets, and there wasn't money. I said, Lily, it looks like you will have to just stay behind for some time with the children while I go in labor, and probably by then God will send us the money. Well, my dear friends, the Lord was very merciful to supply what was needed, of course, without my asking anybody for a penny. So, the tickets were bought and I could travel to the next place to labor. Now, you see, friends, what happens when there is a miscalculation? And in a matter like spiritual life, you're apt to make hopeless miscalculations, because it's not like passing grade one, grade two, grade three, grade ten, and grade twelve, going on to college, and then the freshman year, and sophomore, and so on. There's no such grading, and so everybody thinks he's an authority unto himself. So, you see, there's endless trouble in our churches. You know, the fellows who would be most closely resembling in their thinking, Judas Iscariot, will somehow become the secretaries or the president of the board of the church, or whatever. And when you have somebody there without faith, you have a church where there is very little room for spiritual progress. And there is a lot of bickering and fighting over little things. Oh, the carpet! We need a new carpet. It needs to exactly match. We must call for a committee to select the right color. Why? You have no contents in your upper story. You need to call a committee for that. And on and on, and the committee can't agree, and they get into a squabble, and so on and so forth. My dear people, how absurd can we get when we go to the Lord? Thou knowest my down-sitting and my uprising. There's not a thought, even my thought, which is afar off. Thou knowest. And every word on my tongue. What have you to fear? You know, many years ago, I don't want you to emulate me. I was riding my bicycle, and there was no light. And whom did I see as I approached a crossing? A policeman with his outstretched button. I had to do some very quick thinking. I just swerved and took off in the crossroads. You know, I was a naughty fellow. And the policeman knew he could not keep up with my speed. However, you can't do that with an audit from God. You can't do that. I got away, but that's not the way to treat law enforcement. It would have been much more honorable. I was just a teenager at that time, and it would have been far more honorable for me to get off my bicycle and say, I am very sorry. Please, let me at least push my bike home. But in that case, I did not. You know, folks, all right. It could have been serious if I had been arrested. Whatever it is, an audit from God. When God audits you, how do you stand? You know, there is just a continual flow of idle words, idle chatter. People have time for idle chatter. I never had time for idle chatter. Never. Never sat down with a cup of tea and said, now let's talk, my lad. I had friends, I had popularity, and all that kind of thing. But I never could find time for idle chatter. Samuel Johnson, the celebrated literary man of England, he complained about John Wesley. Oh, he always appears to be in a hurry, and he will not sit down. You know, those were the old coffee house days. Not that we have gone far away from Starbucks today, but whatever. That was the age of the coffee house. You see? And when people, literary people, gathered around their cups of coffee, I suppose they poured out all kinds of speculations and all kinds of plans, and so on and so forth. The complaint was John Wesley would not do that, because John Wesley preached every morning at five o'clock. And then he would proceed on, on a horse, through all kinds of weathers, and then address another open-air gathering. And you know, when I see the life of Whitfield, a great preacher that sprang out of the ministry of John Wesley, and he would say, 10,000 people were waiting at the Kennington Common. 20,000 heard me. 20,000. Did they have any public address systems? Did they have beautiful halls? No. They had a message. They had no time for nonsense. Today, we have too much time for all kinds of foolishness. You see, as a matter of fact, I don't know in what kind of research you are. The, the legs of a centipede. You know, how many of their legs or any legs of the centipede broken? Do they, how do you fix them? My dear friends, all right, you better investigate your centipedes. Or human peds. But let me tell you, you see, so much of it is an idle speculation. Do you know that in 1993, 1993, it was said that nearly half the population, the adult population of the United States, were functionally illiterate? And 40% definitely were. What? How is that possible? Well, we have devised ways by which illiteracy grows. You know, John Dewey, who started the progressive education as it was known in Columbia University, he would not, he did not believe in Jesus. He believed that Christianity was the greatest hindrance in education. John Quincy Adams said in the early 19th century, in the 1800s and the beginnings of the century, that only four out of a thousand were illiterate in America. Only four. We have progressed so wonderfully in our public education. Shocking. But, my dear friends, there's so much idleness. How do you audit an idle person? Idle words. You know, it is all a big speculation about, I must get rich early, quickly. What nonsense. How sad. You know, somehow the culture which prevails around us today is, come on, get a big job, make a pile of money. That's not the culture of the Lord Jesus Christ. The culture of the Lord Jesus Christ is, build the kingdom of God. Be a sacrificing person. There is blessing in sacrifice. See, folks, now, when we talk of a spiritual audit, let's come to Job chapter 31. You know, there's quite an audit here that is taken by Job in the 31st chapter. First verse, verse, I made a covenant with my eyes. Why then should I think upon a maid? I made a covenant with my eyes. You know, yesterday I was mentioning the leakage, which stall, the leakage when all the gasoline in my car was drained and the car stalled. All right. Is there any other, any spiritual leakage like the leakage that you can get from these eyes? You know, unless our eyes are directed by God, we will go into a big tailspin. Very sensible people get into a great tailspin. Dive earthworks. Why? You see, there's something compelling about what your eye sees, something unforgettable, and you begin to desire something which is not God's choice for you. What happens? Have you made a covenant with your eyes that you will not seek, nor see, nor seek? Some of those things that appear to attract you? So many have not. Here, Job has made a covenant with his eyes. Why then should I think upon a maid? The fourth verse, please. Doth not he see my ways and count all my steps? Count all my steps. I am stumped here, my friends. I am stumped. You mean to say I can account for all my steps? No. Some of my steps were so foolish, so wicked, so lustful, so shameful. I can't account for all my steps. Here the Bible says, doth not he see my ways and count all my steps? If I have walked with vanity, yes, I have. Any audit that God makes will show that I have walked with vanity. But I did not persist in it, my friends. The Spirit of God recalled me very quickly to repentance. If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit, well, I do not know all the things that some of you are having to face. But I see that almost everything today is riddled with deceit. What? I can't understand this. I have fought against this, against medical malpractices, the stealing of medicines by doctors and nurses, and people have gone and restored what they stole, or from the patients who were under their care. My dear people, and to see today that Medicare, which is really poorly funded, and is not said to last too long, should have so many robbers falsifying their claims. All right, medical profession is under great stress today. Equipment has become exceedingly expensive, and doctors to maintain their offices, the overheads are horrible, malpractice insurance is horrible. Yes, there are all these things which are there, but they are no excuse for deceit, you see. And so, I do not know what is the kind of trials or temptations you are particularly subject to in your field, but I'm sure there are. And here is a declaration, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit, let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know my integrity, that God may know my integrity. What can we talk of integrity in the face of God's light? That God may know my integrity. If my step hath turned out of the way, and my heart walked after mine eyes, and if any blood hath cleaved to my hands. You know, friends, to take an audit in the sight of God should be a daily experience. In other words, there should be almost no need for it either. There should be no need for it. Can't God trust his children? Can't I ever be trusted by God? I have paid my own blood to purchase this fellow, and yet I cannot trust him fully. Is that the audit? It's a shameful thing to me. If that is the audit that God makes of my life today, I can't trust him fully. Well, I might trust him up to 10 million, but 10 billion, no, he might turn out to be a crook. What? How should there be any difference between 10 pennies and 10 billion? It's a matter of integrity. It's a matter of truth. It's a matter of my walking with God. Is that negotiable? No, it's not. My Christian walk is not negotiable. That's it. They're an end. Let it be 10 billion, no, 100 billion, or whatever. So, when we see Job making this audit before God, let's turn to 23rd chapter of Job, 10 and 12. But he knoweth the way that I take. When he has tried me, I shall come forth as gold. You're saying, I just am so amazed at the integrity of Job. In the face of all that he suffered, all your children are dead. The next news, all your property has been stolen. The next thing, ulcers all over your body. You get hold of a few pot shirts to try and scratch yourself. And yet, he would not wilt before temptations. He would not utter a word. Of course, he did wonder, why does God pursue me in this manner? And now he finds an answer. I shall come forth as gold. So, as far as he was concerned, he said, hey, all this audit, all this cleansing is for my good. I'm going to come out as gold. There'll be no kind of false glitter about me. And all the false glitter, who wants false glitter? I don't care for false glitter. I want reality. Now, my dear people, and the twelfth verse, neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips. I've esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. Of course, for all spiritual weakness, you can trace it sometimes to lack of nourishment. And today, people are undernourished with the word of God. Very badly undernourished. You don't know how guilty I feel, my dear friends, especially when I see huge congregations. And I say, Lord, am I just going to give these folks a little drizzle? You know, you call it spitting or something. A little drizzle. Does a drizzle produce a harvest? No. Am I to give them a little piece of entertainment? No. I have never aimed to be a clown. I don't want to be a clown. But it leaves me in deep sorrow. Here is this great multitude of thousands. They need the word of God. They need something fresh from God. And if we don't, if I don't give it, it is criminal. You know, folks, where is the hardship? If you are studying God's word every day, and if your soul is nourished with God's word, you will have something to give to others. But if you are malnourished, and you are yourself going on a thin diet of very little study of God's word, well, you'll have nothing to give anybody either. I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. Yes, the word of God. So, while we take an audit like this, and go to God and say, Lord, thou knowest this will not pass muster. This is not the kind of audit I can be happy with. My years, my time on earth should have been better spent. And certainly in future, it will be better spent. But this audit is very painful to me. Last of all, turn to Psalm 17, please. Three and two. Second verse says, let my sentence come from your presence. Third verse, thou has proved mine heart. Thou has visited me in the night. Thou has tried me and shall find nothing. I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress. So, you have searched me and found nothing. Nothing incriminating. Nothing that causes me to hang my head in shame. Oh, that should be our testimony. That should be our audit. I have seen and investigated this person, and I find there's nothing wrong. You know, some time ago, I have, we had, Lily and I were sent where the customs agents began to dip in and thrust their fingers under the clothing, see where the money is hidden. Of course, they didn't come up with any, huh? Whatever it is. Of course, in the meantime, I could speak to those customs agents about the Lord and so on. However, today, people are not ready to trust. Even people who say they are Christians. It's a sad thing. You know, actually, in back, a few years earlier, some of these men who were Christian ministers, they would walk into that customs area. I've had people come in and greet me in the customs area. A judge's wife, she walked in. Yes, she had nothing to fear. Actually, instead of being that kind of light today to the whole world, you know, people are not ready to receive some of our words. They have heard all this before. So sad, so sad. Oh, my dear people, what an opportunity for us to show forth Jesus. Let us pray. What an opportunity to say, you have searched me, you have tried me, and you have found nothing. Nothing ugly, nothing doubtful, nothing dirty. You have searched me and have found nothing. Oh, my Father, have mercy upon us. We stand before your audit because of the blood of Jesus, which cleanses us and gives to us a new nature. Where would we stand in an audit like this? I know thou knowest my down-sitting and my uprising. Thou knowest my thought afar off, and my words before they are on my tongue. Lord, we would never have made it but because of Jesus, because of Calvary, because of thy great salvation that lifts us above deceit, above lies, above all this kind of wangling and horse-dealing that we seem to see around us. Oh, my Father, have mercy upon us and grant that once again the name of the Lord Jesus Christ will be lifted up in the land and the whole world. Please, Lord, have mercy even upon those murderers who have killed those voluntary medical workers and doctors just last week. Now let their conscience begin to work. Let not the Islamic conscience and Islamic teachings completely deaden the souls of half the globe while Christianity whimpers and cringes in a corner. Oh, my Father, save us this awful infamy and shame to the name of Jesus. These men need the word of God. What they need is not new mosques where they can store some arms and continue their doctrine of hatred and killing. Lord, let us not just play about these things. Our audit will show that we were just not fit for this age, that we just were just pretenders. And those that only sought to fill our pockets. Oh, Father, never at such a time as this have mercy upon us and teach us to be true that when you search us, you can truly say, my beloved son, my beloved daughter, in whom there is no speck or dirt. So help us in Jesus' holy name. Amen. The Layman's Evangelical Fellowship UK, PO Box 737, London SW2, 4XT, United Kingdom. View and order books written by Joshua Daniel at www.lef-beautifulbooks.co.uk. For more information about the Layman's Evangelical Fellowship International, visit our website at www.lefi.org. Please tune in next week.