In this sermon, the preacher begins by emphasizing that God is strong, glorious, tender, and has revealed his will for our lives. He then moves on to discuss the epistle of James, specifically focusing on the importance of being swift to hear, slow to speak, and not getting angry. The preacher also highlights the power of God and how he shows mercy, using the example of Pharaoh. Finally, the preacher references John's Gospel, emphasizing that believers are branches of the true vine, Jesus Christ, and that without him, they can do nothing. The sermon emphasizes the importance of knowing and recognizing God's will and the power and mercy of God.

Now you will know, because the subject has been announced, that I'm going to talk to you tonight on the will of God. And I did give permission for those who had been with me before when we thought on these things to go to bed. But if you've decided to come, well, the Lord bless all our hearts together. As we said earlier, there are so many people who are wanting to find the will of God. All sorts of questions, they've come up in this conference, and not only addressed to me, but to other people. They want to know the will of God for their lives, because we all, with one consent, I suppose, would confess that to do other than live, to do the will of God, is to waste our lives completely. And once you've wasted a life, there's no way of getting it back. You may be forgiven for doing so, but you will have lost your life, the 60 or 70 or 20 or 30 or what it is, years of your life. You can't relive them. You can have forgiveness. You can have eternal life. But oh, to have lost the opportunity for living for God for 40, 50, 60, 70 years on this earth, where it is the hardest to live for God. It'll be very easy in heaven, where it's difficult down here, and where God wants us to really know and live in his will. Now, I did tell you that I would take a long time tonight, doubly long, I think. And so we're going to get down to the truth. Will you start with me in the Ephesian letter? In the book of the Ephesians, it's one of those letters where Paul deals really with the great sovereignty of God, where he tells us that there's nothing really haphazard about this wonderful salvation of ours, and that it's really all going according to the will of God. We read a word like this. We'll start, shall we, in verse... let's start at verse 6. To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace, wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of his will. Now, let's face this immediately. There is a mystery about God's will. This is what the book says. But when Paul was writing this, he wasn't trying to make Christians believe that God's will for them was mysterious, for he says that the mystery of his will, that is, which has been a mystery unto others, has been made known to us. It's not mysterious to us. Amen? Did you all say amen? Did you say that because the Bible says so or because your experience proves it? God's will is mysterious to the natural mind. But you see, it has been revealed to us. And Paul isn't saying to these Ephesians, no, isn't the will of God a very mysterious thing? It's ever so hard. I mean, I do have pity on you poor Ephesians. And how about those people that might be born in the 20th century? I don't know what we'll think about them. They haven't got any sort of original apostles among them. I don't know however they're going to get on. It's so difficult, isn't it, to understand this mystery. Now, quite contrary to that, when you read your New Testament, you find that these people knew the will of God as simply as ABC. They had no difficulty about it at all. And yet one is constantly meeting this kind of approach. Can't find the will of God. Don't know what he wants me to do. And all these kinds of questions. Now, it's an impossibility for a man to stand up and tell every single individual in a meeting, like tonight, I suppose there must be probably two or three hundred of us here tonight, if not more, I don't know, and sort of give you all the details of God's will for the rest of your life. You see, you might get that if you were consulting a clairvoyant. They don't always work out all right. But you know, the great truth of God has nothing to do with clairvoyance and people reading your palm and saying you'll meet a dark gentleman and this sort of thing. Now, if you're wanting to know the will of God in the realm of fantasy, that is a realm in which you've been conjuring up rosette ideas about the future for yourself, usually with lace trimmings and bouquets. That isn't what the will of God basically is all about. That may be a detail, but only a mere detail. There is a fundamental revelation of God concerning his will. And as surely as you've been born, and if you have been born again, you can know the means of discovering God's will for your life without deviation, without any trouble at all, except it may come to the point of a self-crucifixion, and that's where you'll find your trouble. Not on whether or not God is moving in deliberate power to make you know what he wants of you. So we're going to look down into the scripture together, and this great mystery that we read about is this in verse 9. He's made known unto us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he has purposed in himself. Now, praise God, I'm ever so pleased that he hasn't revealed to me his will according to his wrath. I don't know anything about that, but according to his pleasure. Amen. That's marvelous. According to his good pleasure. And it's only as you and I are prepared to move into that which brings God good pleasure, that pleases him, that we can hope to have anything like a comprehensive basic knowledge of what he wants of us. But getting these things settled, we'll read on. This good pleasure which he's purposed in himself, and this is it, this is the mystery of his will, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, in him in whom we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. Alleluia. Now, there's this mystery of his will that's been made plain. We've read it in a sentence. And then there is this fact, and beloved, let's take heart tonight, he's working all things after the counsel of his own will. In other words, he will not consult your will. Amen. He will not consult another person's will or good pleasure. And alleluia. One of the wonderful things about God, and this is one of the wonderful things I love about him, he's absolutely masterful. That's right, you can't be a Christian unless you come in on God's terms. You do understand that, don't you? To do anything else than this, that is mere humanism, though you may clap your hands every time somebody shouts Amen. The tremendous thing about it, beloved, is that you and I have to see that God, bless him, is working everything after the counsel of his own will. Are you ready for that? If not, opt out. You're not likely to know God's will for your life if this isn't the basis of your approach. We'll read on just a little bit further. And he's doing this, verse 12, that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ. God's absolutely determined that in the end you are going to be to the praise of his glory. Now that's marvellous, isn't it? Now his will is set. But you see, if we turn to the Roman letter, and we read in chapter 9, we find words like this. It's written, verse 13, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Now you've got to know that God's got some hates as well as some loves. I hope each one of you are one of his loves. He's talking about personalities, he's talking about types of lives. Jacob have I loved, Esau I've hated. Any Jacobs here tonight? Any Esaus? Now let's not shut our eyes to the truth. The Bible is here to give the revelation of facts. God has got some great hates. He detests and abominates some things. And when people will implacably set their will to do the things that God hates, they'll also come under his hatred. At some time or another, even if it be from the great white throne downwards, you and I have to know this. And I suppose this should serve to spur us on to want to know and to do God's will, not in any sense of fear, except in that fear which is filial awe, that looks upon God and fears to do anything that is not right in father's family. And move on in the great grace of God. And we read on in this this chapter and it says, what shall we say then? I mean, when God says he hates Esau and loves Jacob, what are you going to say about that? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. He said to Moses, listen to what he said to Moses. I will have mercy on him, on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. Blessed be the name of the Lord. You know, there's one thing I'm very glad about, that God's not a jellyfish. I'm very glad he's not a wisp of grass that you can twist round your finger. I'm glad he's a being that has will and makes his choices. I'm glad that people can't push God around. I'm glad of that. We would have no security if we wanted a God that we could doctor up from our own imagination and sentimentalize him until he's a mere nothing, like foam on a wave. Or what's that stuff they give you to eat with jelly? Whip or something. So then, it's not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Hallelujah. I'm glad it's all on the mercy of God I've proved him to be so merciful. Amen. I'm glad he didn't say now, if you run well enough, that'll be fine. For, you know, I'm, well, I can't run so well as I used to. I only go up two stairs at a time instead of three. Now, I can't run like I used to, so I'm glad it's not of him that runneth. I'm glad my salvation doesn't rest upon my powers, my strength, my endurance. I'm glad it's not of him that willeth, either. For, you know, I'm about the weakest-willed man that ever lived. Yeah, somebody's nodding. They know that's true. I don't know whether you think you're the strongest-willed person that's ever lived. I'm very sorry for you if you are. Now, you're going to go through some real troubles. You're going to have some real troubles if you're one of these strong-willed people. I tell you what, so are a lot of other people, too, putting up with you. You're a dreadful person. The best thing, well, and so are these weak-willed persons. They're dreadful, too. It doesn't rest on willing and running. It rests on God that shows mercy. But this I want to tell you, if you don't will and run, you'll not get anything. But it doesn't depend on that. Amen. Hallelujah. Isn't this good? You mustn't think that just flopping about and being a jellyfish will shoot God. If he was a jellyfish, that would shoot him. God is a God that sets a sun running its daily course, spinning in the heavens. It's got to run. So do you. You understand that? Hallelujah. You don't mean it if you're not ready to run. Of course you don't mean it. You've merely persuaded your mind. That's all you've done. If you're not willing to really go, hallelujah. You've got to be. It's of God that showeth mercy. And what a tremendous thing. It says this, the Scripture says to Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Yeah, that's right. Now you know that God raised up Pharaoh and his name is declared throughout all the earth as the God that overthrew Pharaoh in the Red Sea. Hallelujah. You were nearly dancing because of that last night. Or do you know that God hardened Pharaoh's heart? There are times in life, in the processes of outworking God's will, that God has to step in. Do you remember that when Jesus stood before Pilate? And Pilate said, don't you answer me? Don't you know I have power to crucify thee and power to release thee? Jesus said you could have no power at all against me except it were given thee from above. Isn't that marvelous? Yeah. The devil couldn't have any power against you except it were given him from above. And how about that? You say, really? This is astounding. Does God give the devil his power wherever, wherever else did he get it from then? He never created himself. God created Lucifer. He's a fallen, wicked, sinful being, but he couldn't exist if God took his life and power from him. You don't understand these things. You don't need to understand it. That's why I said we can't promise to answer all the questions you'll put in that box. You don't understand these things. What we do know is that God doesn't do anything that's unrighteous, but he does do things and he doesn't expect you to vet him before he's allowed to do it. And he doesn't expect you to question him either when he's done it, and he expects you to give him the benefit of the doubt, especially the one that's in your mind, and believe that he's love. And the mystery of his divine love we'll understand fully by and by. Yes, that's right. He has mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will, he hardeneth. Now to the unregenerate man, Paul is speaking, thou wilt say therefore, why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? And Paul says, oh, don't talk like that, now. Plenty of people have resisted his will. Why we do it in everyday things. Resist the will of God if we're not very careful. I spend my life, as most of you know, and some of you already in this conference, seeking to show people how to receive a new heart from God. How to receive life, deliverance, whatever it may be. And I'd use a simple little illustration to them, which I've very rarely known fail, you see. And I said, you see, he's trying to press it in, now stop resisting him, and he'll do it. All you've got to do is stop resisting him. We've got an inborn self-protection unit that resists. We're all resistors. Hallelujah. And you know, some of you would be swept off your feet. You'd be overpowered by God tonight if you stopped resisting. Just stop resisting. Just give in. Just let him do it. Just let him have his way. Let him sweep all over you. Take what he wants from you. Give what he wants to you. Fill you. Be everything. Marvellous. Hallelujah. He knows how to get what he wants. You let him come and take it. What's not there, he'll create. This is the marvellous thing about God. You can't reply against God. Don't bring up any arguments. Don't try anything. Your reason has been interfered with. You are spiritually diseased. You don't understand. I'm talking about myself too, in a natural state, of course. You don't understand. God hasn't given an explanation for everything in his book. He's told us what he wants us to know. He's expecting you to believe him. And if you'll just believe him and open up to him, he'll do such things in your life of which you've never dreamed. Now that's the grandeur of God. You and I, beloved, must let him be God. If he's a lump of wood, or a lump of stone, or a piece of grass, or a piece of jelly, in your imagination, you don't know God at all. He's strong. He's glorious. He's tender. He's marvellous. He's revealed his will for your life and mine. Let's move on, then, into the epistle of James. In James epistle, chapter 1, he says in verse 16, Do not err, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. Wherefore, keep your eyes down, this is the important part for you, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, don't get angry about it, keep your mouth shut, and keep your ears open now. That's what James, at least that's what I'm telling you, I was born in Bethnal Green. The thing is, beloved, you've got to be swift to hear, you get your ears wide open to this. God begets of his own will. Now, he's the Father of lights, there's no shadow of turning in him, he's always done it this way, he's always done it this way. This is how he begot his own son of the Virgin, this is how he begot Paul the Apostle, this is how he begot everybody that's ever been begotten from above. He begot them of his own will, he decided to do it, he didn't decide upon any arbitrary factor of whether you ran well, tried hard, prayed much, worked night and day, gave your money away, or anything like that, he didn't decide it on that basis at all. He decided, and bless him, you know, I want to start dancing now, he loved me before I knew I was even there to be loved, he made up his mind about me and how I thrilled to this. This is why I love that hymn of the Wesley's, you know, what we call the Birthday Hymn. Oh, praise God. Is it number one in our Blue Book? Needn't read it now, we might sing it later about 11 o'clock. I mean that, I'm going to take a long time. It's no good you and me carrying on, dreaming away. We've got to get down to it, and don't think that's exceptional, there are two little girlies here, one of them was in the conference in Sweden, she'll tell you we carried on for hours and hours out there, hours and hours. Didn't worry, I said, don't worry about the meal, they said, let's carry on. It'd be a terrible indictment on England if we've got to go abroad to get people that are really hungry, the truth. God begets according to his will. I bless God, like old Wesley said, if it just pleased God that I should be born in a family that loved him, well all the better for that, glory be to God. If it pleased God that you should be born in a family, naturally, that didn't love him, well, praise God you're here tonight. That doesn't make a lot of difference. It's how you respond when you hear the Word of God. That's the truth. And he said that he begets with the Word of truth, and he begets of his own will. That we should be a kind of first fruits, like Jesus. Jesus was the first fruit of this marvellous action of God. And we are to be a kind of first fruits, each begotten of the directly spoken Word of God, bringing forth, brought forth from his own will. He decided it should be Mary. There were plenty of virgins in Israel at the time when Jesus was born, just like there were plenty of lepers in Israel when Naaman was healed. Plenty of widows in Israel when one widow was chosen by God. There were plenty of virgins in Israel. They weren't all of the Davidic line, I know. But God came to Mary. God spoke the Word to Mary. Oh beloved, that you're sitting in this room tonight and you have the opportunity of hearing the Word of God, you couldn't buy it with all the gold reserves in Switzerland. You couldn't buy it. And America has nothing as compared with this. Neither has Africa in its diamond mines, or the tea in China. Nothing. Nothing. That men and women should be privileged to hear the Word of God spoken directly, nakedly, purposely to them, bearing everything, tearing everything else aside. You. He's talking to you. Directly to me, oh God. What a wonder. If you offered him trillions of millions of angels as an offering for it, you couldn't buy it. It moves from his will to beget you. Amen. I'm glad of that. So you and I have to know, first of all, that if we want to know this will of God, the first thing to understand is that you yourself are an expression of it. I'll repeat that. You must know that you yourself are an expression of it. That you've been born again, you are already an expression of that will. You haven't got to find it, you are it. Has that gone in? Hallelujah. You've been begotten of that will. It was deliberate. He works everything after the counsel of his own will. Hallelujah. Isn't that a marvellous thing? Praise God. I'm glad of this. I want to tell you that in God's family, there are no accidental children. There may be in human families, but there aren't in God's. Deliberately, gloriously, sovereignly. Hallelujah. Begotten of the will of God. You were begotten of the excess of his love, of the outpourings of his vital seed. You were begotten of that. Amen. That's a marvellous thing for you to know. Do you know that? Well, now don't go seeking for it beyond the sea. You are a born, living expression of the will of God. You're born, you're alive because he willed it, because it pleases him. Hallelujah. You know, I tell you what to do. Put your hand on your chest. Go on. Somebody's been benefit from doing, benefiting from saying that God loves me. Now say this, I am an expression of God's will. Amen. That is in your new birth. Amen. I have been begotten of the will of God. Keep your hand on your chest. What's wrong with you? Is it only preachers that do these things? Somebody thinks her chest slipped. I didn't say hold your tummy. I said put your hand on your chest. It's clear. Put your hand on your chest. I know where my chest is. I have been begotten of the will of God. Say it to yourself. Go on. God wanted me. God deliberately begot me. I am an expression in my new birth of God's will. Then you're already in it when you were born. Amen. Now we'll go to the second point that we need to understand. Just drop back into the Hebrews letter and in chapter 10. Verse five. When he, that is Jesus, cometh into the world. Now will you listen to this? Because I'm going to make you say this in a moment. At least I want the Holy Ghost to. This is what he said. As soon as he was born now, when he came into the world, this is what he said. It's what you say to yourself that's important. That's why I've made you talk to yourself. Truth. He said, sacrifice. Oh, that's the first thing everybody. Oh Lord, my Lord wants me to make some sacrifice. Wants me to do this. Wants me to do that. Go to China. Go this. Go to Africa. Nigeria, somewhere else. That's the last thing he wants you to do. He never sends babes. Be quiet. Do you understand this? Everybody. Oh, I'm a Christian now. He might want me to go to France or something. Well, I know France is a terrible place except for people like salvation army people. General Booth sent his daughter when she was 17 or 18 years of age to France. A slip of a kid. And she conquered France in those days for Christ. They called her Hallelujah. She came home and stood in a rally in the Albert Hall in London. I wasn't there, but despite my white hairs. And she said, fear. Everybody's bound by fear. A little kid talking to them. Talk about faith wins the victory every time. And they weren't allowed to decide. The old general said to her, you're going to France. She said, oh, I've got to go and pray about this. The old general said, you're going to France. Children obey your parents in the Lord. Yeah, that's right. Too much self-will, too much license in the name of liberty, too much self-indulgence in the name of love. Let's understand what God is wanting. Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not. That's not God's will for you. But a body has thou prepared me in burnt offerings and sacrifices to sin. Thou's had no pleasure. Then said I, lo, I come in the volume of the book it's written of me to do thy will, O God. Now that's the first thing you've got to know. You've come not to make sacrifices and offer big offerings. You've come to do God's will. That's the first recorded utterance of Jesus. Hallelujah. He says it's been written in the volume of the book about me. The Bible's written about people who've done the will of God now, isn't it? And of all the people in the book that did the will of God and consummated everybody else's efforts in that line was Jesus. In the volume of the book it's written of me. I've come to do thy will, O my God. He wasn't sort of puffing up like this, like that. This is normalcy. He came of God's will and he came to do God's will. That's got to be your simplicity of life with no idea of making sacrifices and the pain you'll have to go through and the troubles you'll have to endure and the big this and that you'll have to do. It's normal. I've come to do thy will, O my God. Now, when a man talks like this, this is what happens. When he said, verse nine, lo, I come to do thy will, O God, he took away the first covenant that he may establish the second. Now, when a man starts to talk like that, something gets established. This is the way people get established. He took away the first that he may establish the second. Glory be to the name of the Lord. And he hadn't come to make sacrifice. He hadn't come to make offerings. Yet he could only establish it by the sacrifice and offering of himself. But he hadn't come concerned with Calvary in that sense and the sufferings and the sacrifice and the offering he got to make. He'd only come to do God's will. You must understand that Jesus Christ was not crucified on a tree, on a cross. He was crucified on the will of God. That's right. You understand that? If you don't, shake your head. Oh, yes, it was a tree outwardly. It was a cross. The Bible talks about it. We sing about it. But Jesus Christ was crucified on the will of God. He went to a garden called Gethsemane. And he said, not my will, O God, but thine be done. And he was crucified on his father's will. That's why he said to Pilate, you couldn't have any power against me at all, except it was given you from above. He saw things in true perspective. He sacrificed himself to the will of God, and God sacrificed him on a cross for the sins of the world. But he was sacrificed on the will of God. That took all the pain out of Calvary. You say, well, I always thought he suffered terrible pain. Well, so he did. But pain is defeated in a man when he's doing the will of God, and it has no power over him. Hallelujah. I've come to do thy will. Oh, my God. I've got a body. That's why you've got a body. Go on, put your hand on your body again. I've got a body to do God's will. That's right. Go on. That's marvelous, isn't it? Now, you see, you were born of God's will. Now you've got a body to do God's will. Isn't that marvelous? Hey, there. Well, everything's working in our favor then, isn't it? If God be for us, this is what makes old Paul shout. If God be for us, who can be against us? This man had got the revelation of truth. Got a body to do thy will. Of course, you know what he had to do with his body first. You must go through Romans 7, and understand it. He said, in my body I find this, I find that, I find the other. You see, a law working in his body, and sin overpowered him, and I don't know what, but he got that dealt with. Hallelujah. Praise God. And he passed out of that, and he found he got a body to do God's will. Hallelujah. He was born. Hallelujah. And he was born clear. He was born clean. He was born free. Amen. To do the will of God. Isn't that a marvelous thing? He didn't have any struggles for about ten years trying to get his old man under, or something like that. He realized he went under with Jesus Christ. He was born free of it. Blessed be the name of the Lord. And you've got a body that's been prepared to do God's will. Now, come to the point, I've come to do thy will. Oh my God. My body isn't to be expended on fleshly lusts. My inward powers are not to be devoted to the tearings and maulings of the devil, and the ideas and lusts of men. I've come to do thy will. Oh God. Praise the name of the Lord. There came a time in my life when this speaker came to a place where he decided his body wasn't for the state, for the state to do what he wanted with it. It was for God. Hallelujah. Amen. Perhaps you might have to face that decision in your generation. The tremendousness about these things, beloved, is that God is wanting us to move on. And God's will will not be a mystery to us, but simplicity. Let's move on yet more, shall we, into the scriptures. And this time we'll go into John's gospel. In this gospel, you know, we meet the glory of the word made flesh. The word and the will are the same. And in the seventh chapter, we find that Jesus goes up to a feast. It's the feast of tabernacles. He's got a wonderful declaration to make. He goes up at the middle of the feast. And in verse 14, we're told he teaches. And the Jews marveled, saying, how knoweth this man letters? Having never learned, they thought he was about the most marvelously taught person that ever lived on the earth. And he came from that place called Nazareth, if ever you did. He never went to university. He never had anything like that. He never got an O-level. And they marveled at him. And Jesus answered them and said, uh, this is the explanation. My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. That's the answer. See, we read on glibly, you know, parrot fashion. Never do that. A good long pause after that. Learn to read your Bible when that's sunk in. And you could see the wonder on their faces. It's quite simple, you know. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine. That's the way it's done. That's what you miss by reading the Bible as though you're on Intercity Express or something. My doctrine isn't mine, he said. His that sent me. And he let it sink in and he said, if any man, it's for you too, it's not just for me. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine. Whether it be of me or of God, that's what he said. So, you can know the will of God, you see. You can know the truth of God. You can know if what I say to you tonight is true or untrue. Just will to do his will, and not your own and nobody else's. It doesn't matter whether they wear a uniform or a crown or whether they wear a frock or whether they wear a suit. It doesn't matter. You've got to be determined to do the will of God. Now, God knows whether you're determined to do his will. Jellyfish need not apply. If you will to do his will, glory. Is there a struggle going on inside you about that? This is attracting you. That's drawing you. Prospects here are very alluring. Threatening there. Oh, beloved, I'll tell you the only thing that will carry you through on these issues is that somewhere deep down, basically inside you, you determined to do the will of God at all costs. Not that you're a little heroine or a little hero, but just because you're following the divine nature of which you've been begotten. Amen. I've come to do thy will, oh my God. Praise God. Now, you'll not do that will unless you will to do that will. When you will to do that will, and don't expect to be sort of puffed about in it, but realise that just as God is will in his make-up, so you are will in your make-up. You understand that? You must not think that you have affections, emotions, intellect, imagination, desires, and will, and conscience. You must not think you have any of those. You must think that you are affections, emotions, intellect, imagination, desire, and will. That's what you are. It's only that that makes you a person, a human being. That's what you are. Did you realise that? God is will. God is affection. God is emotion. All this that you have was derived from him. That's what he is, God, and it's pure, righteous, holy, wonderful, glorious. Amen. That's God. That's him. And you, when you were born, and he decided to make human beings, you were born affections, emotions, intellect, imagination, desire, will, conscience. You understand that? Praise God. The imbalance of human personalities that say, I've got a strong will. You're unbalanced. Oh, I've got tremendous emotions. You're imbalanced. You need healing. It's getting these imbalance that makes you a proper human being. You've been begotten as a kind of first fruits like Jesus, the balanced man, the perfect man. That's right. That's what you ought to be. Say, well, I have great desires, you know. Yeah, that's right. Can't leave food alone. Can't leave beer alone. Can't leave tobacco alone. Can't leave this alone. Can't stop eating sweets. Can't do this. Can't stop jigging about to music. God's come to make you a man. You will to do his will. I've been talking about Christian perfection. What is it that you want? Wasn't it the perfect man that said this? And aren't we told to mark the perfect man? There's the man. You're to mark him. Mark him. For he, the perfect man, is the mark for the prize of the high calling. Mark him. Go for him. Run. It's not of you that run. It's not just of the fact that you're running. Run. Mark him. Praise the name of the Lord. I've come to do your will. I will to do your will. Hallelujah. You'll never slip into God's will. You were born perfectly right to do it. But when you were born again, you were born corrected. You were born a new spirit. Don't read too many of these writings that sort of pour into you a soft sympathy that makes you understand that if you keep struggling for 25 years, you'll get some of these things that are out of line in your human makeup corrected. This is subtle humanism. It's psychiatry crept into where it ought not to be. Hallelujah. God works devastatingly. God works right along the line of his glorious son. Amen. I will to do your will, Lord. I want to confess to you that what doctrine I know, whether any other person agrees with it or not, it's not my concern. I know because I did just that. I willed to do his will. Whether I succeeded perfectly, only that day will reveal. But that's it. And that's the whole secret of it. It doesn't come from a baptism in the spirit, and it doesn't come from some chrism or chrismatic anointing or charismatic movement. It comes, beloved, because a man says, I'm going to do your will, Lord. Glory be to God. That man shall know the truth. That man shall have the revelation of the doctrine. That man shall not wonder when other people wonder. That man will not drift when other people drift. That man will not lose hope when the light goes out everywhere else. That man will not fail in the end. That man will arrive. That's right. That's where you've got to come, friend. Not because you've got a strong will, but because you're so weak you can't do anything else. That's right. My heart restores its borrowed ray, that in thy sunshine's blaze its day may brighter, fairer be. That's the truth. Hallelujah. Now, this is a tremendous thing that God is making known unto us. Now, when a man or a woman is born again, God does something inside them to which He always directs His truth. He creates something inside. It's in 1 John chapter 2. This is how a man or a woman... Now, please listen to this whatever you do. Don't miss this. When a man or a woman is born again, He is not left with a Bible in His hand and two eyes just to look to see whether doors are opening or shutting, or whether he should go catch the crest of the wave, or what he should do. God does not leave, please I underline not, He does not leave His children without the ability within them to know and recognize His will. If He did, He would be mad. If He cast us upon the fortuitous appearance of a book in the form as we have it, you see, I know God overruled to bring the Bible together, but not until hundreds of years after the church had been in existence. Please let that sink in. The early church never had a Bible wherein to find guidance. Have you realized that? What did they have? They had what you have, and you'll find it in 1 John 2. Verse 18. Little children, it is the last time, therefore you haven't got long, so you'd better listen. It's the last time, and as you've heard that antichrists shall come, even now are there many antichrists whereby we know that it is the last time. They went out from us. They didn't go out as sent forth to the mission field. They went out from us, but they were not of us. If they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us, but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. But you have an unction from the Holy One, and you know all things. You do, don't you? Put your hands up if you know all things. You've got the unction. You know all things. Well, you won't come to me about knowing the will of God then, will you? You haven't put any questions in the box, have you? Do you believe the Bible? What does that verse say? You have an unction from the Holy One, and you know all things. But I don't. No. Either you've not been born of God, and you're not a child of God yet, or else you have, through ignorance or through listening to wrong instruction, ignored the unction within you. So now it isn't functioning properly. Now let's see what the book says. I've not written unto you because you know not the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Therefore, though you may be lied to concerning the will of God and the direction of your life, you know immediately when there's a lie. How can you be deceived about it then? Now either John's leading us right up the garden, and we'd better rip this letter out of the Bible, and that precious gospel of his, and the book of the Revelation, in fact we'd better burn the Bible altogether, or else he's telling us the truth. Now he's telling us the truth. Who is a liar? But he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ. Now what's all this talk about Jesus being the Christ? We heard a little about it this morning, and we were told that when Jesus was born, he was born a saviour, who is Christ the Lord. He was born the anointed. What does it mean the anointed? Why this? The unction. It's the same thing. Our new birth is like his birth. And in verse 24 you're told, let that therefore abide in you which you have heard from the beginning. If that which you've heard from the beginning shall remain in you, you also shall continue in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that he was talking about, that he promised us. This comes in the baptism in the Holy Ghost, the real regenerating baptism. This is the promise that he had promised us, even eternal life. These things have I written unto you concerning them that said you should. But this unction, same word, the anointing, your christing with the Christ, your certification that you are in the family of God, the seal wherewith you are sealed that Paul speaks about in Ephesians 1, the anointing which you have received of him abideth in you. Amen. That's right. Yeah. That makes you a Christ one or a Christian. You've been christed with the holy anointing from heaven. And that is the anointing which teaches you everything. And it is truth. Let's read. You need not that any man teach you, but as the same anointing teaches you of all things and is truth and is no lie. And even as it has taught you, you shall abide in him. Now, this is how Jesus wonderfully did father's will. How did he know when to turn up on the banks of Jordan? Did an angel come to him? Did he read Isaiah and find a text? Did he see a door opening? What did he do? He came there by the anointing. He was guided by his father through the anointing within him. And he came to Jordan and he showed he was the anointed and the glorious Holy Ghost came down. The anointing of the anointed, all my brothers and sisters, what a glorious truth is this. Hmm. The anointed. Now it is to this, please listen, this is life or death. So far as spiritual prosperity is concerned, it's life or death to you. God directs everything to his children via the inward anointing. Now, you know, when the inward anointings come, I had a precious letter from Sweden. Birgitta brought it and she handed it to me. Don't look at that watch, Tony. I'm nowhere near finished yet. She brought me a letter and we had a wonderful time out there in Sweden. And I was talking on some of the tremendous truths and I was saying, oh, I know where it was from Galatians. And we were talking about that God sends the spirit of his son into our hearts crying. Oh, you ought to hear the Swedes say this. It's marvelous. They say, Abba, Father. You see, that's how they say it. Abba, Father. Hallelujah. I can't quite say it. Hey, Birgitta, stand up and say it. Go on. Are you shy? I hadn't noticed it. Go on. Abba, Father. Oh. Well, she must come from a different part of Sweden. But anyway, I said this, you see, and one gentleman sat in the room and my Edith frowned. That's your birth cry, I said. That's your birth cry. But I had a letter and it was written. He said, naming this brother, he said, it's right. It's shouting in my heart. Abba, Father. You see, it didn't shout in his heart then. It sort of gave him real mental pain. If you're trying to build your life on any other foundation than this, you must surely come to grief. The anointing is there when the voice is there. Abba, Father is there. Now, the one that makes you hear his voice initially will make you hear everything else about the will of God. You've been begotten of his will and Abba, Father is the cry and he directs everything to your consciousness through this anointing. He doesn't do it by telling you to buy a book for £1.50 about guidance. He does it by giving you his blessed spirit and that will teach you everything. If you'll listen to it, let every man be swift to hear. That's what James says. And this is how you know. People say, I don't know God's will. This is the only way you can know. It comes as an inward certainty, as an inward knowledge. It comes as inward truth. It comes as inward conviction. It comes and it anoints all your being and it creeps all over your conscious understanding and it gets stronger as the days go by. To those that listen and obey. So that a person moves with certainty. He's not now relying upon conscience. Sorry, he's not now relying upon prophecy. He's not now relying upon anything out with himself. He's not relying upon his daily readings, though God can speak to you through your daily readings. That's not what I'm saying. He's not relying on buying certain books like God Calling or things like that. He's relying only upon the glorious anointing of our same God. Excuse me, Lord, that I should use this term about you. The same God of ours that knows we can't help but go wrong unless he's done something about it to put us and keep us right. He's put it there. Someone once came to me and they said, I really ought not to talk to you, Mr North, but so-and-so, they want to know God's will. So, um, so after talking with them for a while, I said, God, what's God said to you about it? So God's spoken to you. And then we sort that out. So in the end, I didn't tell them anything. I said, you do what God says. And she said, yeah, I knew you'd say that because I spoke to so-and-so and that's what you said to her. That's right. If there's anybody in this room can prove that I've ever said any different from that, I'd like you to say so. You're not to rely on men. It's the most unsafe thing to do. God has put the anointing in you. He directs everything to that. If you won't listen to that, if you make excuses not to do that, if you try and turn that aside, you know, like the young man I once heard of, but of course, this was only when I was a boy, but it was a sort of a joke in our family. We used to have an elderly gentleman come and visit us. And he told us about the Irishman. I'm sorry, it's an Irishman, Benjamin, but this is what he said. He said he was having one of the usual problems, you know, that come to young men. You know, Tony. Well, we know, don't we? Do you remember that, Jan, you told me about taking a lamp? All right, then. Well, we won't say anything about it in the absence of the better half. But he was having his usual, you know, oh, he was going to marry. So he got down by his place and said, Oh, Lord, send me the one to marry, but let it be Mary. This was an Irishman. You know, he wouldn't have anything to do with it, love. All right. I try to tell them the joke. Well, one day this happened, some queer things happened in Devon. You never want to come to 23 Belmont Road. I was walking to go to the meeting, you see, and I met Tony. It was dark. He'd got a lantern in his hand. Carrying a lantern. I said, where are you going with that? He said, I'm going courting. Amen. Glory. Good to walk in the light, especially when you're courting. Well, I said to him, well, I used, I didn't take a lantern when I went courting. This is the absolute truth. You'd hardly credit his reply. He said, you know what he said? He said, no, look what you've got. Serves him right. He said it and I've told you. Amen. Beloved. Is that the way you go about it? Is that what you do? You've already made up your mind. How can God reach you when you've made up your mind? Are you sure you're sold out to the will of God? You've got to will to do his will. He has given you this inward unction. It is the truth. It's precisely because people have been moved off the ground of truth. And they're searching for something out here. They're searching for something there. Not the least of the abuses of the gifts of the Spirit is to make them serve this end. They are not substitutes for the inward anointing. If they don't function from the inward anointing, they are not knowledge and they are not truth. And God wants us to understand clearly what it's all about. This is inborn in you. Beloved, if you'd only been instructed to listen to the voice of God in your own heart, and the power that rises in you, it's all according to the power that works in you. And the power is the blessed inward anointing. Jesus Christ lived by it, so that he was called the anointed, or the Christ. And you've been baptised into Christ. Isn't that right? God's will for you, beloved, is very simple. He has not made it difficult. He has not hidden it far away, secretly thinking that this will sort of do you good, to have to keep on searching for years, or for months, making it hard for you. He made it all simple. He says it's all inside. It's all in here. You've got to go by your knowings. Cease to walk by your knowings and you will not walk in the light. Cease to walk in your knowings and listen to somebody else's knowings, or think they know and you'll go wrong. You'll know. You'll know. Transgress their inward knowledge for long and it will cease to function correctly. Then you'll be in trouble. You've got to do what you know to do within you. Amen. You haven't got to be one of these people that are waiting for a vision to appear. God can get visions, give visions, but do you remember the time when of old Paul and his company were cruising about, seeking to go and preach the gospel? Has it ever occurred to you why in the world they sought to go there and couldn't, and sought to go there and they couldn't, and sought to go there and they couldn't, until at last a vision appeared? Whatever were they doing, these apostles? Whatever were they doing? They were out on the broad stream of the will of God for their life to fulfill their ministry. And God wouldn't let them go wrong. God wouldn't let them go wrong at all. When they tried to do wrong, he stopped them. It wasn't wickedly wrong, but it wouldn't have been precisely what God wanted to do then for them and through them. So he just stopped them. Glory be to the name of the Lord. Isn't he wonderful? It's as safe as anything. They weren't cruising on the sea really. They were moving in the love and will and loveliness of God. The broad, broad sea became God's bosom for them. The wind that filled their sails was the wind of the Spirit. The hand that finally turned the tiller was the Holy Ghost. And they went to Philippi. They just obeyed. They just listened to God. They just went through with the Lord. And God reveals his will in this manner. He can give visions. He does give prophecies. He can speak to you by the book. Hallelujah. But his real, real purpose, beloved, is to get you really shut away with himself. I'll ask you a question. How do you think, how do you think God guides the Christians in Russia? They haven't got Bibles. They can't read Mrs. Cowman every morning and Oswood Chambers. There's not a book in their language, I should think. They never get the life of faith or renewal or a voice of faith. Or any periodical. All they get is hate, vilification, persecution, trouble. They can't read their Bibles. You wouldn't think they could ever do God's will, would you? But of course they do. Because God's not so crazy as to make it dependent upon a life of faith or a monthly periodical or even the Bible. But on himself and his own handiwork. No wonder old Paul says you're his workmanship. Created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that you should walk in them. Now God's ordained that you should walk in these works. All you've got to do is keep walking then. That's all. Hallelujah. Some people, they never get to know God's will and I'll tell you why. Because they're too concerned to know it. My, they have great wrestlings. And the first great thing about God for you, beloved, is that you should rest. You should be in rest. Are you in rest? You know, I learned a chorus out in Sweden. I don't ask bigoter after all this to come and sing it to us. But the tune is very, very lovely. I can't say I remember every note of it and I'm not going to try and sing it tonight. But the words in a rough translation are these. When I'm resting, resting, resting in God's love, I think it is. That's when his spirit works in me. That's the simplicity of the chorus. Yeah, go something like this. When I'm resting, resting, resting in God's love, that's when his spirit works in me. That's right. You're very concerned. You're frantic strivings. You're rushing hither and thither at the very things that are blocking you from knowing. You're too busy being about things you shouldn't be busy about. You've got to rest and trust God and he'll make it as plain as day. Hallelujah. That's right. Isn't that lovely? And I think we'll go at least one step further, maybe two, but we'll take one. We'll go into John's gospel again. And in chapter 15. And now listen to this. I am the vine. The true vine. You are the branches. You're just part of me. You and I are the branch together. That's what, are the vine together. That's what he's saying. You and I together are the vine. You're the branches. You're just a part of me. That's what he's saying. Yeah. Go on, put your hand on your chest. I am a part of Jesus Christ. I am a true part of Jesus Christ. This is the vine of truth. And you're a branch of truth. You're not a branch of error, not a branch of mistakes. You're a branch of truth. Hallelujah. Now we're going to go on. Let's look at verse 5. I am the vine. He's so insistent about this, beloved. You are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth the fruit of the vine. Much fruit. For without me you can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch and is withered. And men gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified that you bear much fruit. Now I want to tell you that God's really after getting glory. And listen to what he's saying here. You've got to be in a place where you ask what you will and it should be done. Hallelujah. Not you ask for my will that it may be done, but you ask what you will and it shall be done. Ooh, glory. I tell you, this person's got no trouble about knowing the will of God, have they? Are you one of these? You ask what you will. Why, this is absolutely fantastic. Fantastic. And it'll be done. Well, it doesn't work like that in my life. Well, well, this is where the fruit comes, you see. This is why you've got no fruit. This is where the fruit comes. This is how you bear much fruit. This is how Father's glorified. You've got to go back. If this isn't working in your life, you've got to go back and find out why and get your life adjusted and get it absolutely true. Now, God can only say this upon the basis of the thing we've been talking about. That you have in you an unction that teaches you everything and it's truth. So you don't ask for wild things that aren't true. You don't ask for things that aren't God's will. You say, well now, this is a tremendous thing. How does it work? Well, Paul tells us, we'll turn unto his letter to the Philippians. And in the Philippian letter, chapter two, verse five, let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, all right, now you've been begotten in God's image, and Christ is being formed in you. So though this is true about you, listen to Jesus, though he was in the form of God, and thought it not robbery to be equal with God, made himself of no reputation at all. He took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore, God also hath highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth. And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Wherefore, because this is so now, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Do you believe that? God is working my will. Go on then. How about that? God is working in me to will and do of his good pleasure. Go on, say it to yourself. God is working to will and to do of his good pleasure. Isn't that lovely? It's according to the good pleasure of his will, you see. And he works in me to will and to do of his good pleasure. Well, isn't that a marvellous thing? No wonder he can say you can ask what you will. And it shall be done. Herein is my Father glorified. This is a real child. This is a real branch. Now it's functioning properly. Now they're not worrying me night and day about knowing my will. Hallelujah. Now it's all working properly. Now the fruit's coming. Now everything is right, working in me to will and to do of his good pleasure. If this mind and this will is functioning right in you, if you're thinking properly, that is, if you're humbling always yourself, if there's no, excuse me, self-exaltation, and if God doesn't exalt you, then you never will be exalted. Hallelujah. And when you're listening obediently all the time, even if it's under death, you're just listening. Hallelujah. He'll work in you. Glory. And here now is the proper relationship. Father, so-and-so, so-and-so. Thank you. Lord, do this. Father, do that. Eh? Oh, praise God. This is the simplicity of living in the will of God. Then if he says, I want you to go to Israel. Father, I'm going to Israel. Amen. Father, I'm going to stop at home. Amen. Father, heal this person. Amen. You know, requests for self and about yourself almost die out of your prayer. This is right, isn't it? You know this, don't you? If not, you listen to me. It's all for others. Not, Lord, I want a bigger car. I want a better car. Lord, I want this. Lord, I want that. Lord, I want this. Lord, do this. Lord, do something else for me. Oh, oh. Lord, I don't know your will. Lord, this. Lord, that. There's a better place, beloved. This is what it is. Lord, you're working in me. Lord, I'm your child. I've come to do your will, Lord. Amen. Lord, I'm going to bring forth fruit. Amen. Lord, I'm here. Hallelujah. It's so wonderful. Till at last you stop talking altogether. Yeah, that's right. You stop talking altogether and you know it's right. Everything's right. Everything's perfect, oh Lord. Hallelujah. What a marvelous place to be. This is walking in communion. This is walking in sweetness. Walking in light. Walking in truth. Walking in the will of God. This is what it is. It's rest. It's joy. Oh, it's indescribable. It's truth. The blessed inward anointing is working. It listens to this. It hears that. It rejects that. It wants this. Oh, it's so marvelous. Can't begin to tell you. It's better than a computer system inside you. It's the glory of knowing God and walking in his way. I think perhaps I ought to stop. Did you know this about the will of God for you? Are you born of that will? Is there a power on your life tonight? Is there a hand touching you? Is there a voice speaking to you? Making you feel as though he's drawing you onto something real, some new ground, some inward realization where the voice of the Lord is over everything and where the blessed spirit has anointed you within and everything is right. And Psalm 23 begins to fade a bit about anointing your head with oil and your cup runneth over because the whole of your inward being is anointed yet. And you come out of the outward symbols that always fail in the long run to express the deepest truth. And you live in this glory of a life that's anointed. Amen. You feel God's doing that for you tonight? Well, you stand up. We'll pray for you. Don't stand unless you know it's real. You do what God's doing. If you know it's real, you've got to come out of all this guesswork position, this trying this and seeking that and coming into life, absolute glorious life. Amen. Amen. Praise God. Now we're going to pray for you then. And you believe God where you're standing. I want to say this, if any of you that are standing on your feet, or anyone else for that matter, has been in any way involved with evil spirits in the past, or any of you have given yourself up to listening to other voices and perhaps other voices speak in your inward personality, I want you to come and see me. If you're clear on that realm, now you just open your heart. We're going to pray for you. Receive now. I'm going to ask God to put you on the right foundation. And if you'll believe it, he'll do it now. Don't doubt. Hallelujah. And God moving in a real way. You've got to know that you in yourself have come forth from God as an expression of his will in your daily life. That's it. That's what you've got to know. Let go any other fantastic ideas of going to the Riviera or flying to Greenland or somewhere or becoming a great worldwide evangelist or something. Get yourself right here. Now we're going to pray. Hallelujah. Expect to receive now. Lord, I pray for these people. Lord, we come together. Father, Lord, let thy will be done now. Create in each one of them, each one of these dear ones, the whole foundation of newness. Create it in them, Lord. Everything. Break every other power, Father, in Jesus' name. Hallelujah. Lord, that in every one of these dear ones whatsoever is their need and state before thee tonight, I ask thee to do this thing in their lives. Set them free, Lord, from every bondage of everything else. Let them come into glorious liberty on this. Amen. Lord, I commit them to thee. Now you receive. Go on, right deep inside you. Hallelujah. The anointing that he gives is truth and it's no lie. Hallelujah. Receive with joy and thankfulness. Transact. Tell him you've received. That's right. Go on. Lord, I've received. And thank you. Reception is something that you do. Amen. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Come out of all the strivings and receive. And receive with joy and thankfulness. And listen. He'll work it out in your life. Amen and amen. Praise God.