In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of opening one's heart to the Lord and allowing Him to work in one's life. The preacher encourages the congregation to fully surrender to God and receive His blessings and guidance. The sermon also mentions the need to put one's spiritual power and resources at the Lord's disposal. The preacher shares a story about a woman who felt unworthy but learned that God can use anyone who is willing to serve Him. The sermon concludes with a reference to Mark chapter 14 and the promise of greater things in store for those who follow the Lord.

With you, junior citizens of glory, at the Park of the Palms has been a tremendous benediction to my wife and me. The Lord bless you all and lead you on to greater things in this wonderful portrait of Emmanuel's Lamb. I hope that some parks and palms and people like you are in Emmanuel's Lamb. Well, of course there will be, because we'll all be there by his sovereign grace. Now, don't you get the idea that you're getting old? You know, Caleb was getting a little bit that way. But he was really moving on when he was getting older and older, flagging not in any way. Sir Winston Churchill once was invited back to his old school, Harrow in Middlesex, a public school, which in Britain is a private school. And the headmaster said, now boys, the great Sir Winston is coming. One of our old boys, the greatest of all our old boys, is coming back today. Get your pads ready, your pencils ready, he's going to make a speech today in this old school. And when he was formally introduced with a lot of ballyhoo, as they call it, Sir Winston stood up and he said, Boy, never give in, never give in, never give in, never, never, never. Now, of course, the scripture says, let us go on. It means, never give in. Great things ahead, better days ahead, the glory shining before us. Let us go on to perfection, let us go on to glory and Emmanuel's Lamb. And Caleb was going on and on and on, and they got to Canaan. He is the outstanding Old Testament example of an overcomer, you know. He overcame when he was a young man, at the age of 40. Please note the year. At the age of 40, a young man, he went into Canaan and brought back a good report and lots of grapes and things. And he said, we are well able to go in because we believe God. However, he was still overcoming when he was a middle-aged man, between the age of 40 and 80. Please note the year. Middle-aged man between the years of 40 and 80, when he was wandering in the wilderness, through no fault of his own, because they all disbelieved God. And from Cadex Sarnia, they went back into the wilderness for 40 years. He thought he better go with them, save the defectives in their suffering. But now he was over 80, he was beginning to be a little older man now. And he was 85, and they said, Caleb was riding up the land of Canaan. I think we ought to give you a nice little bit in the ballad here, where there's some nice palm trees and a beautiful park, and a little river, and it's easy to cross if you don't care. You're getting on now, you know, Caleb. He said, me? He said, give me this mountain. But they said, Caleb, you're 85. He said, give me this mountain. But they said, Caleb, that's a mountain. He said, give me this mountain. But they said, he said, the giants are there, the other kings are there. He said, that doesn't matter to me, the Lord is with me, and I wholly follow the Lord. Give me this mountain, and let us go on to greater things. There's far more in store for you in Christ than you'll ever conceive, up to this present moment in time. Let us go on, and on and on, until we think it's worth it, on the course of eternity, in Emmanuel's land. And then, well, I think it would be time we had Jesse as a part of this. Well, that was just a little informal introduction. We've got the formal understanding. We must read the scripture from Mark chapter 14. Now, we have a lot more in Mark, of course, to meditate on, but this will be our last chapter that we're looking at on this occasion. Because, and I have to go up to Greenwood Hill later on in the year, for a week, and talk on Mark there for a week. So, we'll have to read these chapters from 14 onwards. Up there, you say you're going to be up there, and I wouldn't dream of repeating myself. It might be plain repetition from your point of view. Let us read the scripture together from the 14th chapter of Mark, and verse 12. The first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the Passover, his disciples said unto Jesus, Where wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou mayest eat the Passover? And he sent forth two of his disciples, and said unto them, Go ye into the city, and there shall a man bearing a pitcher of water follow him. And wheresoever he shall go in, ye shall say to the good man of the house, The master saith, Where is the guest room, the guest chamber, where I shall eat the Passover with my disciples? And he shall show you a large upper room furnished, and prepare there made ready for us. And his disciples went forth, and came into the city, and found, as he had said unto them, They made ready the Passover. Now, verse 26. When they had sung a hymn, they went out into the Mount of Olives. Jesus saith unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night. For it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered. But after that I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee. Peter said unto him, Although all shall be offended, yet will not I. Jesus saith unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this day, even this night, before the cock crows twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. But he spake, the more vehemently, If I should die with thee, I will not deny thee in any way. Likewise also is the law. The Lord blessed for us the reading from his precious word. There is the good man here, and the principle of preeminence for the savior. And there is Peter here, and the principle of the cross. There are other people here, and other principles underlying their stories too. We'll just see how far we go. Maybe we'll only just talk about the first one. If possible we'll mention the second one, but that will be all for this morning. May God bless for us our meditation in his holy word. And may we again this morning see the savior. This preacher's prayer I have in the front of my Bible. I ask thee not for supplications, for pictures exquisitely wrought, For speech of grand and gracious terms, For tones that thrill and words that burn, But let me touch thy garment's hem, and bear the faith unto thee. The house was filled with the odor of the ointment, And may the atmosphere of the presence of the Lord be with us today, As we again seek to exalt him, So that they saw no man save Jesus only, And say that he is good for the year. Now they said, Lord where shall we prepare this Passover that's coming up? And he said, go into the city and follow a man. He will be your guide. You cannot mistake the man because he's doing a woman's job. He is carrying a pitcher of water. You'll meet him at the gate of the city. If you follow him he will go into a certain house, and in that house there is another man who is the good man of the house. And you shall say to this second man, the good man of the house, The master saith unto thee, where is the guest room for me and my disciples where we can eat the Passover? So they went and they found exactly as the Lord Jesus said unto them, the first men carrying a pitcher of water. And they followed him and he unconsciously became their guide. They probably didn't know that these were following him. That's often the case of course with you and me. And our lives, especially as we have little ones and children in our homes, our lives are always an example to others, whether for good or evil. We are unconsciously guiding others. Let hope and trust and pray beguiled by our lives and witness and guiding others to the saviour himself. For no man liveth to himself and no man dieth to himself. And so it was that they came to this house and he entered in and they met the tenant of the place. Now this is really all that this means. In actual exegetic and interpretation of the word, he was either the owner or the tenant living in the place at the moment. The master said, you shall say to the good man, where is that guest room for me? But of course, although this man was only the tenant, he was a good man in a very scriptural sense. Because he had done something which makes a man in the scriptural sense a good man. And it's the only thing which does make a man a good man. This man had got a place prepared for the Lord. The point is, you see, the Lord is good. And none is good save one that is God. And Jesus is God. And you never become good through your own goodness or faith. You become good in his goodness by finding a place for the good Lord, as this man did in his home, so that you and I, in our hearts, are room for him. Like David said, I will not be sleek to mine eyes tonight, or slumber to mine eyelids tonight, until I find out a place for the Lord. And be patient for the mighty God of Jacob. The Lord wants to come and dwell with you. It is for you to swing the heart door widely open and find a place for the Lord. And then by the good Lord within, you will be a good man. Now you see, some people try to make themselves good through trying and their own good works. It doesn't happen that way. It's unscriptural. It's the wrong way. Flesh is flesh. We must invite the faith in him and do what this good man did. We must find a place for the Lord. We read of Barnabas. He was a good man, it says. A good man. And it goes on to say he was full of the Holy Ghost and of faith. Well of course Barnabas was a good man. He had found a place for the Lord. He was full of the Spirit of Jesus. The Lord Jesus by his Spirit was not only living in him but controlling every avenue and department of him. It is no wonder he was a good man. Now Luther's maxim was this. We don't become good by doing what is good. Having become good in his goodness, we begin to do good things. I use the word good. He used the word righteous. We don't become righteous by doing what is righteous, but having become righteous in his righteousness, we begin to do what is righteous. Now we must learn this. This is the only way of blessing, of goodness, of salvation. He died that we might be forgiven, and he lives to make us good by his own indwelling presence. That's the secret of the normal Christian life. Now you never work yourself into goodness. You'll never work your way to the good heaven. Nothing that's divine will ever enter there. You must find a place for the Lord. One of my friends, Edwin Lewis, who's now gone home to Gloria, a great evangelist from Britain, decided on one occasion that most of the people in his meetings who came unconverted were not converted, were not Christians because they felt that they could make themselves good and so acceptable to God. That God would look upon them because they're trying to be good. Now that's the biggest hindrance that I know in my evangelist sickness. I know what I'm going to do. He said to himself, Edwin, next time you have a mission you've got to speak every night for the two or three weeks on one text. By grace, by his faith, through faith, not of work, not of good work lest any man should die. By grace, through faith, and not of work. And this is what he did. Very clever evangelist. A different sermon every night for three weeks, but all on the same topic and from the same text. He was saying you have paid by the grace of God alone. You put your faith in what God has done in his grace through his son on the cross of Calvary and give up your work, lay your deadly doing down at Jesus' feet. And he speaks like this for three weeks every night. There was a lady there who'd been listening and along regularly, he didn't know her, so he thought he would introduce himself on the last note. So he said, I'm Edwin Lewis. He said, glad to see you coming along for the meeting. He said, I haven't missed one. Well, he said, I'm delighted. Thank you very much for coming. Had you received a blessing? Oh yes, he said. I wouldn't have missed one of them for work. Well, he said, now that's fine lady. He said, tell me what are you depending upon for your soul's salvation? Well, he said, listen Mr. Lewis, I'm doing the best I can. And he'd been preaching against that for three weeks every night. It just goes to show you that men cannot see that their goodness is not good enough for God. That their good works and deeds and labelliness is no use in the sight of God to try to cover their sins. They cannot see that salvation is by the grace of God in his goodness and through the work of Christ on the cross without anything for Christ to do. They cannot see this unless the Holy Spirit illumines the mind and takes the veil away. That's why we not only have gospel meetings but prayer meetings as well asking the Holy Spirit to remove the veil that men may see their goodness, their righteousness and their eternal purity within the Lord Jesus and as a result of inviting him into their life. Behold, he said, I stand at your house door and knock and if you will open the door and let me in I will come in and I bring all my goodies and all my goodnesses and all my provisions with me. I will come in and suck with you, share your life but, more important, you will suck with me. I'm bringing in a lot with me. My righteousness, my victory, my peace, my rest, my salvation my goodness is all procured for you at the cross of Calvary. If you let me in, then the blessing is yours to ignore. So, this man was a goodness in the spiritual sense of the word because he had a place prepared for the Lord. Now, when this good man was speaking of the Savior coming his way because he heard the usual rumor that he'd gone about to chop his head back Jesus of Nazareth said, I don't believe it. They said, oh well, it's Elijah then. He's preaching and he's mighty and he's river-possessed it must be Elijah to come back from the dead. He said, I don't believe it. So, they said, well, it may be that Jesus of Nazareth is the promised Messiah, the Savior of the world. He said, I believe that and before he comes my way I must find Jesus of Nazareth, the son of God a place in my heart and in my home. And I'll find him a place in my home to show that I've found him a place in my heart that I believe in Jesus. Now, you see, I know what I'll do when he comes this way. I'll get a room ready for him. I know that that's a shed down the yard which we used to keep lumber in. We'll get that cleaned out and whitewashed and we'll put a little table and a chair in that and that will do for the night. Did he? Not on your life, sir. No, sir. He said, up there is my best room and my biggest room and when the Savior comes that's what he's getting from me my biggest room, my best room. Now, that reminds me, if you know your Bible, of Colossians chapter 1. I know you know your Bible. Colossians chapter 1 and verse 18c which means the third part of the 18th verse where it says that in all things he might have the preeminence, the first place. And the apostle goes on to say these Christians at Colossians and you and me this morning at the heart of the farm that God has given Christ the first place in everything. He's made him number one in creation. Not that he's the firstborn of creation. Doesn't mean he's the first to be born in creation. This next verse says that he's creation. No, it means he's the kid number one of all creation. In other words, he is the preeminent one. Firstborn in the church. Firstborn in the resurrection. The head of the church and the first in the resurrection, number one. And first in conservance. He is the preeminent one upholding all things by the word of his father. Let me go on. In Colossians chapter one. And the apostle of course was refuting an error in Colossians that one man reported in chapter two and four times over you can prove that one in chapter two that one man was bringing this error into the church that Christ was not sufficient for our salvation. We need a lot more. We need a lot more intermediaries between men and God because we are so sinful and God is so hateful. We are not an angel. This is one of a number of intermediaries from God. It's not right. And the apostle goes on to show that it isn't right. Christ is the one. He's the first in every sense in the estimation of God. And so he said to us that he should be number one in you as well. In your heart and all. You make a place for the Lord and make your place the first place. Give him the preeminent place. Like the good man of the house said I'll give to the master my best little master which is my biggest dream as well. And then when he was thinking of the master coming this way maybe he sat down and looked into the fireplace. Oh they don't have fireplaces there do they? He was looking through the window and saying to himself and thinking and so on. Now if the master comes this way I must of necessity give him the best place in my house to show him I've given him the biggest place in my life. But I must leave some of the furniture there for him. I don't want to leave it all because some of it's rather good. Some of it's antiquity now, valuable. It wouldn't do for the disciples to come in with the master and use that nice piece just there as for it. And it wouldn't do for the master to open that drawer in that set of drawers there and knock that sitting drawer down he wouldn't be able to look in there. Now I'll either have to get the whole piece taken out or else lock that drawer up and that nice piece I'll take outside and put it in my own down below. Did he say like that? Nothing in there. He said no, he said when the master comes I think he's going to have the first place in you. What you're saying this morning I'm doing now. I know you are. You respond very well to God. You're not responding to me. It's the Lord who's saying in everything Christ will have the pre-eminence the first place. And when you do something tomorrow morning say no, it's Jesus first in this. It's for his Lord. I'm saying don't do that. It's for his pleasure. It's for charity. For me. For me. For Jesus. For the Lord Jesus in the first place. You never think you do. I know you are responding this morning. And this man says not only am I going to give the Lord Jesus the throne of God my only saviour the biggest roof but I'm going to leave all the furniture there in its place and all at the master's disposal. I'm going to ask you is all your furniture at the master's disposal? I'm not talking about your chairs and your tables and your pieces of furniture in the home and I know that's quite true with many of you you sit in your homes and you furnish it to the Lord and you invite some of these workers from Britain and other places and you treat them as though they're Americans and you show real presence in your homes and you give them the best chair to sit on and I remember I had some fellowship once two or three years ago in a certain home and they gave me a chair to sit on and I broke the chair. What do you do in a case like that? And lo and behold when we came back to do a year's ministry in that same assembly and other assemblies around as well I have to say that was a good year and other assemblies around as well lo and behold the assembly had given to us a nice little house and they bought a set of furniture from one of the saints and there was a chair to sit on and he was very proud of it and he came back to me and said look at this after all that time. Well now this man he found a place for the Lord he found a big place for the Lord and he put all the furniture at the Lord's disposal and I like that and I wonder if all your gifts in power, in talent and energy are at the Lord's disposal. I learned a great lesson myself one day through a brother some of you may know his name Richard Dennis and in one morning he put himself at the Lord's disposal in his chair and the Lord said here I am what do you want me to do? and the Lord said to him ring up David's sister so he rang me up and the result of that you know was a tremendous blessing for me and for the work of the Moreland Bible College that I represented at the time it's a long story and I've done a dream a series of details this morning but to see what happened when you put yourself and your furniture all your spiritual power at the Lord's disposal there was a woman once who wasn't very good looking in her own opinion and she said to a young man that was looking over the hedge into her garden she said oh don't look at me he said I am black the sun has looked upon me and she said don't look at night it's fruitless I can't give you anything it's a thing to do you see when you go into the instances of a friend to give them some fruit like when I visit you you give me chocolate you come to England and you're all welcome don't all come at once I give you a cup of English tea and she hadn't got any fruit to give but in spite of her fruitlessness and her own crumbliness he loved her just the same and then she started to respond to his love she said tell me oh how whom my soul loveth the way you are going I'm from your way I've been eternified by the thoughts of my companions now you are for me your love is wonderful it's great it is love and action to the unlovely and undeserving and so she followed and she started now to do something in her dream for him in a new way she was compelled by love for him to show such grace to her to serve very well in Ding Dong in King Lee and the result was at the end of chapter 7 quite a contrast from chapter 1 in chapter 1 she said there's no fruit in this cup but in chapter 7 she said to my beloved she took him by the hand and she said let's go for a walk together and he agreed and she said let's go into the vineyard and see what does the tender grain do and she said let's see if there's any fruit there if the vine is flourishing she knew very well there was lots of it she wanted him to see what she'd done out of love for him and then she said in the last verse that our dates are all manner of pleasant fruits new and old which I have laid up for thee O my beloved and she said to him don't only look at the fruit but take it with all your love for me all all for Jesus and all my feelings for Antony with all your concern for me and the Lord's discretion talking about finding a place for the Lord and giving him the preeminence I was thinking of Stanley Mould the beloved man of God the Bishop of Durham now forced onto his reward which I'm sure must have been a great one he really knew his stuff and his writings are most powerful from the Scriptures and he on one occasion was very very perturbed and restless in his study and he was sitting in his study trying to prepare a sermon just wouldn't go and he looked around his study and there was a terrible mess papers and books and rubbish everywhere and he said to himself I hope my wife doesn't come in and he said what a terrible thing it would have been for the Lord to come and find this place and then he fell asleep and he slept over his desk you know had a good nap for a few minutes and he dreamed that he was in his study well he was and he dreamed that he'd heard words that the Lord was coming to visit him and he started rushing about in his study putting the book up in the shed and then putting the library right and then picking up the waste paper here and taking it outside and he was rushing around and he'd only got a little way when there was a knock at the door and he didn't know whether to let him in or not it was a knock and there was still quite a lot of distress he opened the door he said come in and he woke up and then he sat and started to write alas ill-ordered so this is nearly noon the household stuff lies heaped amidst the gloom the table empty stands the couch undressed oh what a welcome for the eternal guest welcome now and yet this doleful scene is in itself my cause to hail the in this dark confusion seen at once demand by those like present lord and orderly hand I speak no more to hope change amend before the coming of so great a change or were set on scenery and for ill above all else to speak these ancient words come in oh come the book stands open now I knew would I be nothing it was now to find but to make this troubled heart a worthy dwelling place for thee as thou art to take the gloom the terror and the pain come all my friends they come lord Jesus please I do hope you will let me don't try to make yourself good just let the good lord be good I do hope this morning you will give him the first place the preeminent place making number one in your life like Peter stuck in the heart of Africa dying for the sake of Christ in his ministry worn himself out in missionary work and his wife sending such a lovely letter a nice endearing letter you know her eyes can sometimes and he wrote back and he said to her lovely letter thank you very much Mary said I would describe for you the following three times a day before meal say this lord Jesus my saviour thou art to me dearer than ever I do hope that in all things he might have the preeminent and then of course place your all that you have what is in your hands your present gifts and talents at the lord's disposal you'll be mind you you're not older than Caleb years are nothing regardless he didn't say if you're twelve years of age you may be baptized he didn't say if you're over eighty five years of age you can't ask for a mountain and do anything else for God you don't come near to it with the everlasting almighty God and when we point to ourselves and all that we have at his disposal you'll be surprised how God is going to bless you by the indwelling presence of his power and use your gifts and powers in his holy service now there's not a lot of time left to mention this on a very important principle but I think we ought to in the five or six minutes that are at my disposal now I'll just give you a rough idea of what I had in my mind and I hope you won't forget what I've already said you think you're inclined to forget well don't listen to this next three minutes okay because I think that's the message for somebody here this morning because I think there's somebody here who needs to open the heart and let the Lord see it I do and I think there's somebody else who needs to open the heart as wide as I can be and let it in in all its fullness and take it for what it is I think that's the main message for this evening you can see what my problem is now because I'm afraid to have lots of problems you know they're not dangerous they're elephants yes my problem is whether to close now or give you this last idea I'll give you the idea because you see Peter in the second portion was accepting the principle of the cross in his life but he was accepting it in the flesh now earlier on in Matthew 16 he was blankly refusing the principle of the cross and he said to the Lord Jesus do it far from you Lord you're not going to suffer and die and the Lord Jesus said now you get behind me Peter and I'm quite sure that Peter would not take up the promise at that time and just as Christ was tempted to give up his life for in the hour of temptation by Satan so again by Satan through Peter was a similar temptation now this principle of the cross was the principle of life for the saviour leading to death he was born that he might die and give his life a ransom for others and he saved others they said when he hung on the cross and himself he cannot say and this principle for the saviour and his cross were the Christ and his suffering are inseparable and they are inseparable for the believer as well this is the binding principle of all through service as we give a place for the Lord and give him all our gifts and powers for his service we must appreciate that Christ will lead us on to the end of ourselves so that we can find him in his glorious fullness whosoever will lose his life for my sake that is the one who's really going to find him except that we fall into the ground and die to bodies alone but if it dies it will bring forth much truth that which counts is always that which costs we must believe someone has said it we must if we would believe believe someone has