In this sermon, the speaker reflects on their personal experience of coming to faith in Jesus Christ. They recall the moment when they understood the concept of salvation by grace through faith and the power of Christ's blood. The speaker also shares how they were encouraged to publicly declare their faith and the impact it had on them emotionally. They then mention the transformative power of a man who lived a godly life and how his example led many to seek God. The sermon concludes with a touching story of the speaker's dying Auntie Emily and the importance of being present for loved ones in their time of need.

Well, bless you. Thank you for the lovely testimony and thank you for the lovely singing. Thank you for that lovely hymn, He's Still My Soul. I do love that hymn very deeply and thank you. If you sang it for anyone, it was from my heart. I do bless God for that. It's amazing how some of the hymns are used by God as the means to which to lead us right into His presence and to His heart. I know Luther said when he couldn't get through to God, which was often it seems, he just felt a brick wall, he said he just started singing the psalms. And he said he suddenly realized why God gave us the psalms. He said he found no matter how tired he was, no matter what the devil was doing to wear him out, no matter how numb his mind was, no matter how fearful he was, and he had many times great fear, Luther did, great fear just took hold of him. But he said as he sang the psalms, he was just lifted into the presence of God. And he found that was his means to which to get in the end. He sometimes bypassed what you and I would normally do and just went straight to the psalms and just sang. And so he was through to God. Wesley did the same of course, but he had Luther's hymns and many others by that time, and his own brothers, which lead us into the presence of God. And so did Andrew Murray. It seems the great men of God, so many of them, a great part of their quiet time to come into the presence of God in preparation of heart was just singing the great hymns of the faith. And they were right near the heart of God. Don't bury what God's given us. We've got a great inheritance. Don't find yourself dying before you learn how to survive and how to get through to God with the hymns of our faith. I heard my daddy singing four o'clock in the morning and so did our neighbors hear him. And I asked him one day, why is it that you sing so long in your quiet times? And he was so ashamed he couldn't believe anybody had heard him. Well, he said that he just found that in using the hymns, he just got right into God's presence. So he didn't waste any time doing anything else. And then he would start his readings and his prayers. Just after a good time, a great time singing the hymns of our faith. Try it. Take them and say, God, this time I'm not singing just to be heard because I have a wonderful alto. Or a deep bass. A lovely tenor. So let's hope everyone can hear me, you know. This time it's just for Thee, Lord. Thee and me. Singing from my soul. You'll find most of the hymns, most of them are the greatest prayers ever penned in the heart of the godliest men that ever lived. Many times. Just their cry was penned in the school of God and all the doctrine. Bless God for that. Now I have something I forgot to do and keep forgetting. And so I'm going to do it right now in case I forget again. My dear wife puts out the newsletter. A lot of you receive it. But last night people were coming to me and saying, how do we hear from you and know how to pray from you. They were leaving last night, some of the folks. So in case more are leaving, there's the newsletter. And there's a copy, the only copy I've got left. And the last one. So put your name and address down. If you'd like to pray earnestly from your heart for me and my family. I'd be deeply grateful. Please don't put your name and address down unless you are someone who prays earnestly daily for the souls of the lost. And not just for yourself. Don't please put your name down if you just pray earnestly by yourself and for yourself or for those who affect you. Otherwise you wouldn't pray for anybody else. Earnestly. God doesn't look at the words that proceed out of the mouth. He looks at the heart. If you don't pray from your heart for souls, for the lost and for your land daily, all this will just become junk mail to you. Don't burden yourself then. Please, but if you pray earnestly for others, if you've got past your own soul as being the only thing that mattered, the only thing you groaned about, grieved and made sure you got through to God about, but other people, then I would all be honored if you would put your name and address down. That's the only motive of my heart and my wife for ever asking for someone to put their name and address down, is your prayers can mean more safety for me, my wife, my children, spiritually especially, and anointing. And more people can be loosened from the powers of the devil and able to come to meetings and arise as scales taken as you pray. You're only a prayer away from Africa. You're only a prayer away from 250 million Islams in Arab countries. You might not get there, but if you prayed once for them, as earnestly as you prayed for your problems, oh, so do put your name down if you're a prayer warrior and have the world on your heart and your souls on your heart and your nation on your heart. Father, thank Thee for this time we can come together this morning. Thank Thee we can be together as God's people. Thank Thee for the lovely hymns of our faith. Thank Thee for the great hymn, Be Still, My Soul. We do bless Thee for that, Lord, that we are called on God to be still and know that I am God and to leave the fighting to God and to just come and many times rest in God as He takes care of the problems. Because if we try, we just do more damage. Help us to learn to wait on God and to learn to not move until peace floods our hearts daily. In a world that if we don't wait on God until peace floods our hearts and minds, we walk around with great fear. Because this world is in a fearful state and our only hope of peace is to be still, carefully, long enough until it all sinks in that God is still in control. God is still on the throne and He will never leave us nor forsake us. He is with us to the end and He cannot lie. He cannot deny Himself for what He promised. So, our Father, we come before Thee and we worship Thee this morning for Jesus Christ, for Christ afresh, for His blood, for His death, for His life, for His intercession and that He is coming soon. And we will be gathered up, caught up with those who are waiting for Him. Oh, we do bless Thee, our Father, that if Thou didst come and I would be stunned if we managed to die before Thou didst come. Time is so ripe, God, even so we long for Thy coming. While we live, perhaps today, it would be good, Lord. But we wait for Thee and while we wait, there's something left to do. While we still have breath, there's something left for God to do in us, through us, through us. Have Thy way, come now, God. Don't let this meeting be wasted, this opportunity, but take it, lift us up and visit us in Thine own way. Through the revelation of the Word of God and the moving of the Holy Spirit, keep us all under the blood of Christ. Wash me very carefully, Lord, in Thy mercy. I ask Thee to wash me afresh in the blood of Christ, to fill me with the Holy Spirit, to quicken my whole being and to take this base, weak and despised man. And in my weakness, let Thy strength be made perfect. For without Thee, we can do nothing. Our expectation is in Thee and Thee only. Come to the hard and harsh here today. Oh, God, the devil is so powerful, there could be people who just are so full of criticism. There can even be someone here for one reason, just to find fault, to catch a man in his words, to bury him. The devil is so powerful, they could think they're doing God a justice. Please cover everyone under the blood. Thou does know the thoughts, Thou does know the bitterness, the hardness of heart. Thou does know what the devil can do to even a child brought up in a God-fearing home. How he can become so brazen and hardened against God's Word that nothing touches him anymore. He just allows himself to become more and more bitter, more and more angry, and one day to become a hater of God. Have mercy, God. Keep every mind, every thought, every heart under the blood of Christ. Undo the hardened hearts by the power of the blood of Christ, by the Holy Ghost. Come in mercy, break down hardness, take away criticism, take away condemnation. Lord, if someone wanted to find fault with me, they'd have to write volumes of books, what they will find. Take out of people's minds, men's faults, weaknesses, baseness, mistakes. Let them just take with both hands what can come through the weakest, basest man, if they just want to hear God. Because God only chooses the weak things of the world, to confound the things that are mighty, that no flesh can glory in His presence. Come, God, we need Thy presence, that everyone knows with whom they have to do. Move upon all of us, everyone, especially the hardest, hardest, most closed mind and heart here today. In Jesus Christ's name, for His sake, Amen. Forgive me for saying this, but if any baby makes a noise, that somehow you know this old man's battling. And you'll see my eyes normally get bigger with fear, and then I do look a little bit undone, and then I'm close to having a heart attack. Don't do that to me. There is a baby's room back there, and this isn't to offend you. I think you'll be more offended if I did die here today, and you knew you were the cause. That would be sad. I don't want to put you through that. But if you sense that it in any way is disturbing, it's not for long, brother. You should have seen my child, and you'd have mercy on me to know what we went through. There is a lady's room there. The door normally should be shut, otherwise it's no good even going in there. But there's a loud speaker, and a lovely comfortable chairs, and you'd have less disturbance there, and no one would be disturbed at all. That isn't to offend you, and if you get offended, you'll grieve this poor man's heart, and you'll grieve Christ's heart. I suppose the words that have stunned most people in the world, who are religious but not saved, are the words Christ said to the deeply religious Nicodemus in John chapter 3. You needn't look it up, because you all know these words. I'd be stunned if young people couldn't quote these words to the youngest here today, being brought up in God-fearing homes. But Christ said to Nicodemus, this deeply learned man, and deeply sincere and transparent religious man, in the ordained religion God set up on earth, He said to this man who wouldn't want to be seen with Christ for fear of man, because he knew that this man called Christ, called Jesus, was in deep troubles with the religious hypocrites of the day, who were out to destroy him and to catch him at his words. Very few people can destroy you, sir, if you're from God. But the people who really have a good chance are the religious leaders of that day and right till this day. You'll find your worst enemies are sitting out there in bars or brothels. They're standing in religious garbs as angels of light. But oh, can they destroy you if you aren't bleeding of blood? And that's all they live for. But this man, fearful of them, came to Christ and he began to open up his heart and his recognition that this is a man of God. He didn't acknowledge that he was the Messiah, though, and so he's seeking truth from Jesus. And Christ looks at him and says, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot, he cannot see the kingdom of heaven. There's no hope of heaven unless a man is born again. Now, Nicodemus was confused by this statement in John 3, verse 3. And so would you be. How can a man be born when he's old? How can he be born again? Can he go into his mother and be born again? Can he be in his mother's womb and come out a second time? He was deeply staggered by this statement of Jesus. And so would you be. And then Christ ultimately brings out all his teachings, culminating in the answer he gave in verse 6. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. When you are born into this world, you are born a child of your father and mother, not a child of God. No one is born a child of God. You are just a child of your father and mother. You are not a child of God, even if your father is the most deeply religious person on earth, and your mother, and godly. You are not a child of God. You are born physically of the flesh, but now you must be born again. You must be born again, Jesus said. You must become God's child. That never happened when you were born the first time physically. You have to be born spiritually. You can't be born spiritually unless you are born spiritually, raised physically, should I say. And only when a child has the intellect to be able to embrace the promises of God of his own free will, the work of Christ on the cross, can he be saved, can he be redeemed, can he be born of God. A child, a baby, cannot do that. You must be born again, as you take the intellect God has given you, the conscience God has given you, the ability and the grace God has given you, and the light God reveals to you in his love, and you embrace it. By grace are you saved through faith. Faith in the shed blood of Christ, being justified freely by grace, through faith in his blood. There's one moment God justifies you, declares you righteous, washes you, your robes are now made white in the blood of Christ. You become his child. At the moment that you, by grace, look to God in faith, embracing the shed blood of Christ from the cross, you are born of God. You are born again. You become God's child. You become a child of God spiritually. At that moment, you become God's child. Can I ask every single person sitting here this morning to please answer God right now? No one else matters here. Just Jesus, every single person sitting here today. When were you born again? Will you please answer God? In your heart, please. But answer right now, God, there I was born of God, born of the Spirit. God gave spiritual birth to me. I became his child as he gave spiritual birth. By his grace and the work of the Holy Spirit in my heart and intellect, he wrought birth to me. And I became his child spiritually. When did that happen? When were you born of God? One of the great tragedies people face in this world is when a child is born. And fearful complications are experienced at the time of birth. At the time of birth, fearful complications are experienced. During the delivering of the baby, many sadly die at birth. The hope and expectation of a life about to be given to a family results in its death. Its beginning was its end. It was born dead. Born dead. But even more tragic, beloved, in the light of this book, are the complications often surrounding the spiritual birth of so many multitudes of Christians. Even more tragic, in the light of God's word, is the complications often surrounding the spiritual birth of so many multitudes of Christians, or should I say, of professing Christians. We have three children. There is Noel, he is 22. There is Roy, he is 21. And there is Samuel, he is 13. We wanted more children, but that was all God had in his heart to give us, and we are grateful for that. When my second son was born, Roy, Jenny had tremendous complications. And so, the doctor, a gynecologist, a Jewish man, having compassion on her and tender care for her and deep respect for her, he didn't charge us any of his fees that he would normally charge, but being missionaries, you've got to be very hard to charge a missionary in Africa. So, out of love, compassion and respect for those who seek to serve God, even as a Jew, he wouldn't charge us as a family. And he took tremendous care of Jenny with all the complications surrounding her pregnancy. He was deeply concerned. There was even more concern with our third child, who we nearly lost. And Jenny nearly died. I nearly lost my wife. But when Roy was in this lovely hospital that the doctor recommended and carefully put us, a hospital of great repute, this gynecologist had set her up in a special section of the hospital and told the staff that he was to be called. In goodly time, so that he was at hand before that birth took place. But I don't know how the devil did this. I don't know how Satan could possibly have accomplished this. For some reason, Roy nearly died at birth because those who were expected to help and assist him at his birth neglected to assist him. They weren't there to assist him in a situation where they were known to assist with great professional ability, great wisdom. But in that situation, there was a neglect, a total disregard of someone that needed assistance desperately at the time of birth. All hell seemed to break out in that hospital. They decided to have a furious, explosive argument that must have been brewing for a long time. And I couldn't believe it, nor could most people in the hospital. The way that staff lost all control and all outward respect was lost. The way they started screaming. And I think nearly physically fighting at one stage. They all ran, pushing each other into some big room. And that door, we could hear the screaming. There was something of an explosiveness in that hospital that took place right there when Jenny was very close to needing help desperately. And I watched Jenny for a while. She never complains. I worship God for that. I probably daily say thank you to God for my heart is that my wife never, ever complains. When everything's falling apart in life, Jenny seems to somehow see light, see good. She's been a rebuke to me. And I do bless God for that. But suddenly I realized Jenny must be in extraordinary pain when she said, Please, Keith, I don't know why they're not here, but I am really hurting. And she began to weep. So I walked into this room where they were all fighting and I stood at the door and said, Could someone please help my wife? She's desperately in need of help. The matron turned and shouted, Out! There's time! There's still time! Get out! I sat with Jenny a while longer until I saw her begin to writhe in pain, her whole body just jolting. And I realized Roy was being born. And I didn't like what I saw. I began to weep. And I walked back in that room and I walked into the center of the room and I said, If anyone in here has a conscience left, if anyone in here is left that has a conscience, could you please help my wife? The baby has been born, nearly fully born. And my wife is in a terrible state and I fear she's going to die and the child, unless someone assists her. And I sobbed. I stood there and just sobbed. They panicked. They ran, they're screaming. When the matron looked at Jenny, she just burst out sobbing, loud. She couldn't control herself when she saw what my wife was enduring without any assistance. They called for the gynecologist who had to get from the other side of the city to the hospital. Well, when he did arrive, the baby, Roy was virtually born. There was some last stage that even they didn't want to think of what they were going to do. There were such complications. He was in a terrible state and so was Jenny. And he, the doctor, the tears just ran down his eyes, poured down his face. He had such tender love for Jenny and he couldn't believe what she had gone through so unnecessarily. And then when he had helped Roy and helped Jenny and given her medication he turned with tears pouring down his face and trembling and he shouted in front of me at the hospital staff calling them incompetent failures and that he would never, ever work with this hospital again until the day he dies. He's lost all faith in him. Then I stood beside him looking at Roy and I was still weeping silently at this time and he knew I was weeping. He didn't want to look me in the eyes. And I said, he's abnormal, isn't he doctor? I just saw these big feet. So he looked up and he smiled at me and he said, no. These big feet just mean he's going to be a tall boy that's all big feet mean. So eventually he assured me that Roy was normal and safe. But I knew he had fears of how long Roy had taken to be born which shouldn't have happened. And I remember thinking to myself what will the repercussions be if this child lives? What will be aftermath? The repercussions of neglect when he needed help. What will be the repercussions for the rest of his life if this child lives? I remember thinking that on a number of occasions. There were repercussions tragically on Roy for many years. And specialists who we had to go to mostly agreed it was to do with the birth and the problems and the lack of assistance. The neglect of health he should have had. We couldn't take them to court of course. I have convictions maybe you don't have but I just don't as a Christian do that. But I I was sorrowful to see how Roy couldn't help himself. For many years he couldn't understand why he couldn't help himself. He couldn't understand why he reacted the way he did react. And nor could many young people. And they can be cruel. Under stress or under any pressure. There were some strange reactions Roy would give that were unbelievable. And he himself so condemned himself. So abhorred himself for these reactions and these he just didn't know why he couldn't react properly. And normally. But I do praise God from my soul that as we fasted and I did have to fast for Roy. God eventually healed Roy totally. So that he didn't just get healed to total normality. He became extraordinary as a human. I say that carefully. But I say it. To the glory of God he became an extraordinary human. Achieving straight A's. Achieving so much that I don't even know where his mind is going to lead. It's so amazing. And it's ability to retain things. But I thank God for his healing. And the lovely person he's become. I do thank God for that. From my heart. But oh how tragic it is to see so many who professed to be born again of God. How tragic it is to see so many who professed to be born again of God struggle. They struggle to survive spiritually because of neglect, of correct teaching or follow-up that was necessary. Do you know many children because of a bad beginning and difficult they need to be put into an incubator and tended till they get built up till they can survive. They need help. They need assistance. They need a follow-up to that birth. How many who struggle to survive spiritually because of such neglect. The great tragedy is many have to even resort to lie to themselves about their spiritual birth which they profess faithfully but don't possess. That is tragic to me. How many struggle throughout their lives mainly because of wrong doctrine. A blunted sword from the pulpit. No cost was ever counted. But somehow a call was made to come to give your life to Christ and somehow it was impressed on them that now they are born of God. Compromise in the pulpit is a terrifying thing that people respond to. And tragically the complications and the repercussions of these people through insufficient teaching compromising teachings and compromising lives of those surrounding them at the time of birth that somehow they have to emulate. And it doesn't tally with this book. And so the condemned hearts the complications, the fears of people, many, many who profess faithfully but were they born dead? Tragedy. Doctors and specialists have many books on the subject of complications and the repercussions of those complications at the time of birth. I would like to title the sermon today Complications and Their Repercussions of the Spiritual Birth in Evangelical Pulpits and Churches. Physically if a person is born prematurely premature births some survive but many don't. But be careful here child of God in the spiritual birth the spiritual rebirth no one can survive premature births. None survive a premature birth spiritually. What do I mean by that? Pastor Joe sitting here once said and I'm not going to be word perfect but that's where you've got to forgive me unless you came here to catch me at my words. But this dear man once told of how at your open air what we call an open air I think you call it street preaching here I don't know but Joe and Jay and many of you love to go out in the streets and preach. I believe from my son you're very different with the amazing aggressive approach and that you don't let anyone get past you know without knowing they're going to hell. In case it's the only time they pass someone who faithfully could proclaim it. But Brother Joe was telling me and I was deeply amused of how he was standing one day and crying out as people were passing so you have to give them in those few moments a full message there's hell, there's heaven, there's the blood. And it's not easy. But he's trying with all his heart you know there's a hell and quote a verse you are all going to hell you're facing that and you can find salvation. Well there was a little boy Joe said brother if I get it wrong forgive me put me right afterwards but not now. And so this little fellow was standing there intrigued swept up in this whole thing and taken up with this brother Joe pouring his heart out to people who probably were running as fast as they could to get out of reach of the gospel. But this little fellow was swept up and looked and suddenly he tried to emulate a copy and repeat after Joe with as much expression and as much earnestness and zeal as what brother Joe was. So I don't know from what I can remember brother Joe says I was a filthy sinner. So this little fellow after saying something to the effect of there's a hell he says I was a filthy sinner this little guy says. But God saved my soul 23 years ago I don't know when was it. This little fellow says 23 years ago God saved my soul. So he's looking up at Joe and he says carry on we're doing a good work here brother. So brother Joe was extremely impressed by this little fellow and I should imagine a lot of people were taken up because I would have stopped as a sinner just to look at this little fellow. But he copied Joe word by word. He heard the words and he knew how to say it. He knew how to say it with expression. He had an example here and the terminology of being saved and how to be saved and there's a hell there's a heaven there's a way to God and I was saved. Hallelujah I know I'm not gonna hell anymore I know I'm saved. Well this dear little child really repeated everything with detail and expression to the degree that he deeply impressed brother Joe. But I went to my knees after this little conversation and I always find sermons I don't know how many sermons God is working out in my heart in one day brother it's quite exasperating but I get through. You can't believe sometimes right through the night many times I can't sleep. So I go from Joe now and I'm thinking and I thought well you know it is true so many know the terminology through background through just circumstances and they can say things just as they ought to to impress. But how many never experience salvation. This to me is a great great tragedy. Having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof. Do you know what that means? Having a profession knowing the terminology but having never experienced God's true salvation. They're deeply religious they have the terminology knowledge of the terminology but no deliverance from sin no experience of true salvation has happened on so many occasions that it's unbelievable in this world. I have another son you haven't met him some have years ago he came once but somehow the Lord never let him come again after Denny Keniston and oh twice he came to America sorry when he was a very small little fellow loves American Christians but this little fellow Noel he's my eldest boy he's 22 now nearly 23 any moment now he was such a good boy that it was uncanny. I suppose in many ways because of Roy being hypoactive and all the other repercussions in his life we saw Noel as something absolutely perfect but Noel never ever put a step out of line he never ever ever ever needed to be told to do something a second time you just tell him Noel pack up your toys it's packed up Noel go to bed he's to bed Noel do this he does it no matter how much effort Noel that boy just was exemplary and all he lived for was the smile of his father and mother I can honestly say that my son lived for one thing and it brought great joy to us he lived to just please daddy and mommy whatever we wanted he did with his whole being out of love for us and I love him for that he had a testimony a testimony I believed a place a spot where he gave his life to Christ a bible beside his bed but then he reached teenage years now in our country we didn't have homeschooling like you don't judge us we're way behind the times we're twenty years behind your sin even let alone the good things you do but somehow we are way behind in Africa and my boy went to school a very good school one of the best in the world voted one of the best three, four schools in the world in South Africa it's an amazing privilege South Africa has but my son was in one of the best schools in the world high standards no swearing a lot no second chance you get one chance and you're expelled that's how good they are but there at that school as soon as he went from primary school into high school peer pressure in that school because of the state of the world you can't suddenly make a person become pure he's brought up in front of his parents looking at depravity on televisions in cinemas listening to swearing and cursing you can't just suddenly say because he's in a school he's no longer gonna just be that which he's been brought up to well these boys Noel, I was conscious peer pressure was there but I didn't know to what degree he said daddy it isn't only the godly boys that want my friendship for some reason daddy they're godless they're fighting for my friendship and he didn't say it as if he was proud of it he was worried he said daddy you can't imagine how they are forcing the way they want me Noel was terribly popular I always feared that he was popular amongst the Christians everyone wanted to be near Noel but the godless wanted Noel also the godless boys and girls they were fighting for him all the time fighting for his attention fighting for his friendship fighting to be near him especially at high school and my son took a dip and that staggered me because I had promises for Noel when I knew Jenny was pregnant the promises God gave me and I always stood up and here now my boy under peer pressure was doing things that when I heard I just went on my face through the whole night sobbing before God he didn't even know that I knew I had to speak to God for a long time before I had the courage to speak to Noel who had never ever once given me one problem in his life I couldn't believe what my son was involved in what he was doing I couldn't believe the devil could have done that to my boy I remember coming to this country and not just praying for the service that night but in war weeping, going down the street praying for my son for the devil to be rebuked and God to save the whole situation of what was happening well, eventually I won't tell you to what degree I did fast at one stage but my boy got up ripped himself from these boys totally in such a way they will never come near him till the day he dies I can say that the way he said get out of my life forever thank God he did that and he sought God so desperately all by himself seeking God for salvation from a desperate heart embracing with all his heart God's blood but also his risen resurrected power to deliver him from the things that had taken hold of him and he began to show true stability and fruit and blossom in a lovely way but time went by and one day he took me to a meal my eldest son all my sons when they want to get daddy alone they say daddy, I'm taking you for a meal they save their pocket money as missionary children and say daddy, we know you haven't got so we're taking you often times it's humiliating but that happens and I've always let them and so he sat me down now undivided attention is needed I know that and he staggered me when he related to how it all happened he said daddy I've never ever spoken to daddy about what really happened but I think it's time now because I think I know what happened now I myself am clear about it daddy I so loved you and I so loved mommy that I'd have done anything anything for you and as long as I can remember from a little baby I heard about being born again as I heard other words formulating in my mind I heard how to be saved I heard all the terminology and I became conscious that this is the thing that had to happen to me this is what daddy and mommy are longing and waiting for and so I found a testimony but daddy there was a problem I did it for you not for God I don't know how I found that mistake daddy but I did that and I even believed a lie for a while but something was wrong daddy because it wasn't real and I had to keep up this lie I knew just what to say to impress everyone I knew the terminology like very few people would ever know I was brought up in a preacher's home I knew just what to say daddy to impress everybody that I was saved just to make everyone convinced and not only that daddy I even knew what to say exactly how to say it just to make everyone convinced I was on fire for God not just saved I sensed how everybody would talk about Keith Daniels son exemplary I was like the example everybody that's how a boy should be that's how God wants you to be I would see and sense what people were saying but my heart always condemned me daddy it condemned me more and more and more and more because it wasn't real it wasn't real it wasn't real daddy and this I've learned it must catch up to you at some point and it happened to me the moment peer pressure came I realized how little reality I had in life how little resistance I really had when they got near enough to me the moment strong temptation came daddy I just turned everything in my heart and found no ability to say no I just grabbed and I went down daddy as much as I love you I went down I don't think anyone can escape that moment if there's no reality in this world it's gonna catch up at some point the devil's gonna have a person who isn't real who has a profession but no position who has terminology but no reality who never experienced true salvation but has a testimony of it it'll catch up the world's in too much of a state for you to stay away from sinful people all the time and daddy I had to desperately make a stand for God I had to desperately seek God and rip myself from my friends but when I found Christ in truth daddy and I have I asked God to never let me ever say anything again that I did not experience in truth to never ever let me say one word that wasn't a living reality in my life to never ever seek to impress anyone especially daddy apart from what was in my life as a vital reality to never let me say a word about my walk with God or my profession of God's salvation and daddy maybe I don't impress the crowds as I used to I don't anymore daddy but at least I'm not grieving God every time I testify and at least my heart isn't condemning me anymore I want that daddy rather than anything else daddy might want me or people might expect of me being noisy when I was just saved that was 38 years ago this year there was a young fellow they called him the boy preacher he was just in his 20's but he had a youngish face like a teenager and he was very popular the crowds thronged to hear this fellow preaching and I as a young saved boy would just go to hear him preach in these great auditoriums in the stadiums where the crowds would flock to hear him with his great liberty he had in presenting the gospel it was soon after I heard him the first time that in the newspaper on the front page it all came out that this boy that had taken South Africa by storm was found out to be living in terrible depravity and the newspapers don't need the second page once they find that out even if there's a war going on that's that's more damaging to God because the front page don't doubt it when you find that the details oh how they love to harp on this week after week it wasn't just for a little time that he was living in depravity it was for a long long time it was all coming out that while he preached he would go from the pulpit right that night into depravity the next day he was back in the pulpit calling out for people to come to Christ and they came work that out try and work that out I'm still trying I'm trying to think I'm scared to even touch doctrinally but there's something about the word that can even be honoured if an ignorant heart out there embraces it even through a man who is so unreal when it came out he disappeared off the face of the earth his parents aged and died prematurely because he disappeared so totally nobody knew whether he was dead or alive he just fled for fear of facing another soul on earth who found out I met his fiance oh she was so truly beautiful so broken she said to me no one has ever seen him that's the real hurt I don't know if he's dead his mummy and daddy don't know if he's dead that's hurting years went by I was walking down the street one day in a very large city in South Africa probably a city about the size of San Francisco or Chicago perhaps and there were just throngs of hundreds of people walking along the paving of this main road in the centre of the city and there I saw this face I couldn't see other faces that was the marvellous thing about it I just saw a face I couldn't even focus on another face but they were coming it was him oh he had aged he had aged to the degree that it was beyond comprehension that someone could have become an old man in a few years and he was bent the way he walked there was nothing of dignity or honour left just brokenness and as he walked past me I just put my hand out and touched his arm and he stopped and he looked up at me and I didn't say a word I just looked at him and he looked at my eyes and within seconds tears started coming down his eyes because he knew he knew someone had recognised him something that obviously didn't happen he said nothing he just looked at me and tears welled up in his eyes the way I was looking at him I said listen I don't mean to be obnoxious in stopping you will you forgive me if I just ask you one question because I wept about you I prayed and wept about you I'm so sad I just need to ask you one question would you please grant me that were you ever real did you ever repent ever in your life where you turned from a life of sin or did you go into preaching into testifying you say fill of sin and stay in sin right through was there ever a time in your life you were real that you repented of sin that Christ set you free and you knew you were free indeed for if the son shall set you free you shall be free indeed you servants of sin did you always live a lie and why why did you have done that how would you have done that he took my hand and just led me to some steps and he sat and he looked at me for a good while putting his head down thinking and then looking at me again and then he said I went to a church dragged by friends where the gospel was being preached an appeal was made I responded I was prayed for the sinners prayer I prayed I was given a card that I signed my name and put the date by the person who counselled me today I receive Jesus as my saviour there were scriptures confirming what I had done there were scriptures and some sentences about follow up and what to do then from that church my friends took me all excited we're going to an open air come with us so I went I stood in the background oblivious to what was really going on at first but I listened as they stood up there sharing scriptures sharing testimonies in a matter of sentences sometimes in a matter of 2-3 minutes I listened I was enthralled and then someone turned to me and said you've given your life to Jesus today don't you want to tell the world you've become a Christian you're saved and I went forward and by what I'd heard just in those few moments standing there at this open air meeting I knew just what to say so I said I've given my life to Christ I'm born again I had such a liberty that I shocked myself as I'd never spoken publicly and I shocked everybody else who said come with us they went from the open air to another meeting and this was a big church now on a Sunday night and they made it because of the liberty I had that I testified before the preacher this one person I knew I stood up and I found ten times more liberty than at the open air how to speak everyone is good and hallelujahs oh well they don't really do that but amen in our country and it was with such liberty that within a short while of being in bible studies being in groups and listening to converse going on amongst Christians I shared and with illustrations and little scriptures I was given opportunities and with such amazing liberty people were gripped and they took hold of me after a while and said listen you are a preacher you're meant to preach they sent me to America paid all the fees and one of the most esteemed conservative seminars in the world here in America I didn't just graduate I had the top academic results the aggregate I was the highest academic achiever in the whole seminar I went back to South Africa they put me in pulpits the biggest pulpits all over just opening one door opening ten the next thing it was auditoriums the next thing it was stadiums then he put his head down again and thought for a while then he looked up at me and he said was I ever real did I ever stop sinning did I repent you say repent no it was never ever a day I could say my sin stopped not once my heart condemned me but this limelight subconsciously not even here how could I reject this how could I disappoint everyone it was forced on me but it was meaningful going to America coming with the highest academic the biggest pulpits I always said in my heart God will deal with the sin eventually I wanted it to be dealt with but no I never ever ever ever ever knew any moment in my life where I could say I was set free then he staggered me he said but you know I believe I was sincere the night I came out and I believe God did save me and I believe God somewhere will get me right with him I said I am so sorry but this book tells me be not deceived no unrighteous person shall enter the kingdom of heaven and here is the sins after that comma one two three this is the sin of your life you never turned from it you never were delivered from it there was nothing in this book to confirm only verses like this not that defilers shall enter therein if you want to say you're going to heaven you'll have to pull out at least 50% of this book's pages and then carry a book saying this book confirms I'm going to heaven hereby we do know that we know him John said if we keep his commandments he that sayeth I know him and keepeth not his commandments is a liar the truth is not in him if any man be in Christ he is a new creature all things are passed away Lord all things have become new does that not matter to you you servants of sin that means you don't choose when to sin even if you lose your wife you can't stop it isn't a matter of personal choice I decide to sin today even if I lose my children even if I lose my health even if I lose my work my honor my everything I lose I can't stop but Jesus says to such men and women and children who are servants of sin not choosers to do sin there is slaves of sin if the son shall set you free you shall be free indeed I'm not talking about sinless perfection I'm talking about a life of sin turned delivered that confirms this book confirms doesn't condemn but now beloved we must be very careful at this point not to deny God's salvation if God has saved us and I want to take care very special care after these radical statements I've made we may have serious complications that confuse us continually concerning the spiritual birth but we must be so careful in allowing the devil to cause us to live in doubt if God has saved us he would love to make us live in continual fear and doubting God there is such a thing as the witness of the Holy Spirit take that away and you and I are going to live in fear for the rest of our lives no matter what happens the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirits that we are the children of God yesterday I couldn't say it I'd lie if I stood in front of you and said I know I'm saved but today I can stand and say in one day I can look at the same person who says are you sure you're saved I know beyond any doubt I'm saved and I know I'm not hypocritical I'm not taking a chance I'm not grieving God my conscience doesn't condemn me why? because between yesterday and today something happened as I embraced Christ the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirits that we are the children of God there's a moment God tells you confirms you're mine and this book doesn't condemn you it confirms all the way through he that believeth on the Son of God 1 John 5 verse 13 he that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself hallelujah he that believeth not God hath made him a liar because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son and this is the record that God has given to us eternal life and this life is in his Son he that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God that ye may know that ye have eternal life and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God you must know we know we've passed some death unto life and that John the only one in the world that says that there's no condemnation to them which in Christ Jesus hallelujah and we know it ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear God has not given us the spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind I love these words 1 John 4 verse 16 we have known and believed the love that God hath to us God is love and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him herein is our love made perfect that we may have boldness in the day of judgment because as he is so are we in this world there's no fear in love the love God expects us the trust God expects us to have the faith there's no fear in love but perfect love casteth out all fear because fear hath torment and he that feareth is not made perfect in love he that feareth he that lives in fear and doubts God can't perfect as he wants to the things he would be able to if he didn't live in all these doubts and staggerings through confusion and ignorance concerning the new birth but then we must be careful now about these things called doubts a lady phoned my wife Jenny many do from America and I sometimes listen carefully to the conversation with great interest of my wife's wisdom I am still trying to catch up with what God's shown her oh my I can't of course she was saved when she was six how can you catch up with someone that never backslid never neglected God once never went in the world once what a privilege to be saved as a six year old girl to have the witness of the Spirit never once to no backsliding never once how do you catch up no hope I don't try anymore I just learn well thank God for Jenny I heard this conversation this little lady was saying to her it seemed the second time she had mentioned this Jenny how this girl one of the children here in America of this family had doubts oh such doubts but she was such a godly girl she really was a godly girl and the fruit was there but these doubts oh the doubts and then she turned to her mummy and said mummy it doesn't help if you keep telling me I'm saved if I've got these doubts it doesn't help me now she's asking Jenny now what on earth am I going to do this girl is living in such fear well Jenny said these words I don't think she knew I wrote them down but Jenny said it is so it is so tragically that if the devil can't get children if the devil can't get children from a godly home to go into sin then he rides their backs with doubts he rides their backs with doubts for years and sometimes throughout their life I had an auntie my mother's side of the family they were ten children but my one auntie auntie Emily she was the eldest of the children she was exemplary in her nobleness in her integrity in her purity of living I can't say that of my uncles and aunties her brothers and sisters but this auntie Emily would be the one who would get up with tears in her eyes whenever there was blaspheme or profanity or dirty jokes she would be the first to just get up and walk away and they all felt rebuked I could see that but they carried on once she was out auntie Emily was the one who always came to us and put Bibles in our hands and little books about Jesus and always took us to carols by candlelight and any other services she could she was always the one every time she said I'm praying for you I pray every day for you but then the years went by and my father who was an alcoholic smashed the bottles never touched a drink again he didn't go through withdrawal stages much to the confusion of Alcoholics Anonymous he threw down 60 cigarettes a day that he'd smoked nevertheless for over 20 years and he didn't touch them again he didn't have any desire to he stopped every single thing he picked up this book devoured it and turned the world upside down in the 9 years God left him to be as a Christian on this earth he led more people to Christ than most ministers in 10 lifetimes could have led to Christ and he never preached he just walked with God and his life staggered the world especially the business world of South Africa and multitudes came to Christ because they couldn't recover from the reality of this tremendous transformation this delivery this radical transformed life that if any man be in Christ he's a new creature all things are passed away all things have become new nobody could deny that nobody could deny that knew him and so they began to seek God but then one day my auntie Emily lay dying and she called for me and this message got through Emily is crying that you get there I got there before she died she had such dignity couldn't believe a woman could have such dignity so close to death and she was in terrible agony and as she realized who it was suddenly sitting next to her holding her hand a little tear came down her face and she said oh Keith I'm so glad you got here I haven't got much longer she said it very slowly not like I'm speaking she said Keith when I was a little girl I was in a church taken by people where they made some form of appeal to come and receive Jesus Christ into your heart to become a child of God I remember coming out as a little girl kneeling praying as other people were praying with us I remember asking Christ to save my soul to come into my heart and I remember the joy that flooded my heart as a little girl walking out of that building going down the street alone back to the house I remember this beginning to skip and burst into joy as I just sensed God I was God's child I loved the Bible from that day in the church right through the years I loved this book I didn't go into the worldly places I didn't go to the dance I didn't go to the places my brothers and sisters went to I couldn't stand blaspheme I couldn't listen to profanity or dirty jokes Keith I was kept with all that all my life and the joy went on through the years I can't tell you the joy that this book was to me every day but then you came to Jesus Keith and your daddy and your brother and that shook me to the core when I saw your life so change and when I saw the way you testified and the way you witnessed and the way you spoke of being born again I wasn't told those things no one followed me up like you no one gave me these ways this ability to be able to go after souls I didn't know terminology I tried in my ignorance but Keith no one ever fed me with the things you were fed when I saw the way you were witnessing when I saw the way people were turning to God who were in sin through your daddy I thought this never happened to me and the doubts the fears and Keith I've been so scared to tell anybody but I want you to know my boy I'm so scared I'll go to hell because of your lies the radical transformation the way you became so religious that I never became I think through ignorance of terminology and no example ever I'm scared I will go to hell because of your radical transformed lies that never happened in my life what am I going to do and now the tears have rolled down her face I took her hand in my hands and I said Auntie Emily just shut your eyes and pray with me it took a while but I prayed oh God thank you that as a young girl I came out in that meeting and received thee with all my heart as my savior thank you for the joy that came in my heart thank you for the peace thank you for the love I found of thy word thank you God that it's keep me through the years from ever going into the world into the defiling places from ever using blasphemy from ever wanting a dirty joke that it's keep me pure thank you God that I didn't have to have radical transformation smash bottles and throw down cigarettes and stop swearing thank you for preserving me from that defilement by saving me when I was a child thank you God but now God I have a problem I'm about to face thee and I do have doubts and forgive me for these doubts if they not of thee but just in case God just in case I want to come once more with nothing but the blood of Jesus nothing in my hands I bring simply to the cross I cling I bring to thee his soul and offering for my sin his death I look to the blood to cleanse me because thou has promised thou wilt in no wise turn away anyone who comes to thee through Jesus Christ that he tastes the death for every man that whoso shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved and I come I come with Jesus oh God just in case please save me right now by the blood of Christ from hell in Jesus Christ's name she opened her eyes she smiled and she died D.L. Moody said oh don't create doubt in a person that has not had a radical experience like you have because you were in sin and they were not don't create doubt by your sermons in the hearts and lives of young children who never had a turning radical transformed life where all things became everything passed away and everything became new and you put in the mold of your life because you had to know that but they embracing from their hearts and truth found salvation they might not be able to turn to a place where they had the experience you have that's so radical that everybody knows and they know but they embraced also truth and it came to their heart and he said all that matters is the witness of the spirit and Moody said I used to make the grave mistake of standing up and preaching again and again if you can't show me a place a date a time when you were saved you're not saved he said I used to stand and say I can show you the place the year the date the time where I was born and I can show you the place the date the time where I was born again and if you can't you're not born again he said but then God rebuked him in so many godly homes as he went God began to so rebuke him that his heart was just fearful of what he was doing and he had to change as a preacher he said I went into homes of such godly people who were so influential to bring others to Christ who were so holy that I couldn't come near them who were so full of faith but they couldn't point to a day they couldn't point to a moment a place where everything changed and became new and he said but this they did know the spirit bore witness to their spirits that they're saved that's all they do know they know that they know that they know and he said I have done damage in making people get into doubts that shouldn't have he says be careful now he said I began to pray about it and then I stood up and apologized to the world and he said and this is the illustration God gave me because when I was a boy lying out in the fields which I did often he said I would lie there right through the night and just watch the stars watch the whole universe go the wonder of creation and I sat and I lay there looking up through the dark of the night oh it was total dark total dark no sun no light just darkness and the stars that's all and then I lay there I didn't move until the sun was shining above me light no darkness and he said someone asked you at what point exactly did light come he said if you're honest you'll say I don't know I really don't know I can't be sure but this I do know it was dark but now there's light hallelujah many of you especially you brought up in the protection of godly homes that didn't touch defilement and filth like auntie Emily at six years of age like my wife never been into a cinema in her life never heard a dirty joke to the end in her life never once blasphemed never once picked up a dirty book never once never once I mean we had a television delivered to our home Jenny took the aerial and threw it out and said I'll keep the box in case one day we find something we can trust that's actually documentary and decent for a video but I won't keep the TV I never argue with my wife you know you can't hallelujah for such a life you might be brought up in a god free home when your daddy your mommy kept you and you didn't have the filthy depravities to turn away from that you can say there and the world can say there look at the change that fulfills the scriptures all things pass away all things become new you might have never known a day in your life where you had to stop anything you just received embrace as a child and were kept through the years like auntie Emily full of joy but this you do know there was a time in your intellect as a child when all that was told to you in truth about the blood you embrace you came as a sinner even as a child and you somehow grasped the revelation of the salvation of God by grace through faith in the shed blood of Christ and this you do know joy unspeakable and full of glory love for this people love love for souls and love for God in our country there was a lady called Eileen Tauchy she was one of the great soul winners the ladies the missionaries the ladies of the soul winners in Africa I hope you know that not the men in case you think women should all just get off the field if you say that sir two thirds of the whole force of missionary societies would get off the field today because two thirds of the entire mission force of the world are ladies did you know that? you want to give that order fine just remember you've got to face God about the souls that don't come to him yet be careful at what point they've got to say to the souls they lead to Christ now you're ready to take over that's between them and God but they do they say as fast as they can when they've got that man ready to take over leadership but until then they scream them to Christ Eileen Tauchy was one of the great soul winners of Africa her name is almost like a household word in our country she brought so many multitudes to God but Eileen Tauchy when she lay dying dying I walked into the hospital to see her and out walked another very godly woman missionary and she said brother Keith I can't believe it Eileen Tauchy is full of doubts about whether she's going to heaven or hell she's brought all these souls to God and now after all that she has doubts now that she's dying isn't that staggering I said no it's quite in order she said what ha I said it's you know when listen carefully death is the last enemy in case you don't know it's an enemy not all of us like Stephen see Jesus and we just say hate me no most of us you're going to face such suffering such as the body becomes more and more frail and the mind sinks do you ever sat I sat with many dying the mind sinks they just feel like oh you know what an enemy it is to still keep everything intact mentally and the old devil is right there to the bitter end when Christ died I think he won't be there to the bitter end to try and make us doubt to try and haunt us in our confusion in our minds collapsing in the ability to function oh no the great man of Pilgrim's Progress the great Jonathan oh John Bunyan thank God for John Bunyan where would I be without John Bunyan and now when I was saved we were told if you didn't have next to your Bible the Pilgrim's Progress you were backslidden so we dared not have it not have it next to our Bible well I love the Pilgrim's Progress above any other book I've read on my whole life apart from the Bible itself but this is not a book this is God's word but of any book about God's word Pilgrim's Progress there's not a book on earth that can come within a million miles of it don't deprive yourself of reading it over and over again you deprive yourself of one of the greatest inheritances we have of our faith and you can start when you're a child and stick to the King James Version stick to the original document written in English for God's sake or you lose most of the impact you might even be diverted into error but let's not get into that oh I'm being naughty but let's get back now I do divert Pilgrim's Progress this man had I believe it was a revelation I can't believe it was this wisdom you know it was a revelation to the heart that was above what God normally would give to a man to give us this book Pilgrim's Progress no wonder it's the second greatest selling document in history next to the Bible nothing has ever sold near Pilgrim's Progress apart from the Bible not sold been printed throughout the ages this generation the devil's trying hard and he's coming close to achieving it bearing Pilgrim's Progress well this man speaks of course did you know Pilgrim's Progress and they're just under two thirds of Pilgrim's Progress the scriptures exactly as they stand did you know the only thing they're doing is putting a man literally living those scriptures saying experiencing he puts a man who is the man you me to identify with every single thing put into a circumstance of someone living it going through it embracing it using it as a sword and experiencing everything God says the devil is and devilish people will do word perfect I think it's just no wonder God honors it so much it's mostly just the Bible word perfect hallelujah and we put ourselves in the man's shoes here's Christian the big terrible burden of when he embraces the cross you know but all scriptures all scriptures even the burden even the witness of the script and right the next step in his home the man's enemies become the member of his own household you don't have to go out there when you say your life turns everybody who hasn't turned with you their heart's condensed so what do they do they call you deranged beginning with your wife well it's just under condemnations it's to bring her to Christ but the fact is everything oh the slave the spawn do you remember the slave oh everybody's against me what's against me I'm deranged my children oh well she's keeping the children from the fanaticism even the preacher says it's a heresy oh what am I going to do you know well it happens to all of us the preacher says it's a heresy you know they come and say this is madness you don't have to be born again and all that oh everything the experience makes me write through everything even the disillusion trying to get out of it and learn to just praise God and overcome oh well right to the bitter end the experience we weep through the whole book I wept through the book I especially wept through the end where there's the river you know going into the lane of Canaan now and oh just the scriptures of going to heaven now the last moments of this walk that I'm still going to face I realize so much of it as I was reading the first time and there the other side of the river that he's going to pass through death he's sinking into death now and his sickness is poor old Christian that's what I'm going to face the last enemy and then he's sinking well the other side of the river hallelujah were two angels heavenly pallbearers waiting just to take him and sweep him into heaven escort him home right into the light and the brightness of God and all the angels that all rejoiced when he was saved they were just rejoicing at his homecoming and then Christ said oh well I sobbed I couldn't read the last five pages for hours I just couldn't I just sobbed what I'm going to see and here he is now going into the river he's sinking he's dying and thank God he has a friend hopeful oh and what happens I said to this lady who's staggered doubts whether she's if she's doubting her own I said what about John Bunyan he gave us the best book and God gave him revelation listen Bunyan said as Christian lay dying going into the waters now he's sinking he's going into death thank God there was someone next to him called hopeful and what did hopeful do when he doubted when old Christian began to doubt he just whispered into his ears reminding him of the promises of God and as he whispered reminding these promises of God peace just flooded Pilgrim's heart again and he went through oh thank God for hopeful in case you don't have a hopeful you better memorize the Bible so you can be your own hopeful memorize that which you need to you'll be stunned how much you can if you want to oh hallelujah doubts come it doesn't mean you're not saved feelings come and go my word John Wesley said that his heart was strangely warm I love that I really love that when he listened to justification by faith the sermon of Luther being preached in the Moravian little gathering there after he'd seen the Moravians singing as the sick was this poor old sick was about to sink and his heart was full of fear poor old Wesley he didn't have peace but he wanted what they had so he's listening now to Luther's justification by faith the sermon being read by this little group and as he was listening about the blood of Christ and the justification by grace through faith and the shed blood of Christ he embraced in his heart in his intellect and his heart was strangely warmed hallelujah that's a lovely way of putting it bless God but that can cause confusion and Wesley was the first to admit that that can cause great confusion you see people come up to me in their multitudes and I mean multitudes and say how can I know you talk of the witness of the spirit you talk of Wesley's heart being strangely warmed I've embraced God with all my heart I haven't come superficially I've been desperate I've cried I've clung to God how can I be sure I'm saved how can I know and I say well let me ask you a question when you came to God when you really trusted God were you able to live without this answer me when a baby is born really born he doesn't need university education to be able to understand the vocabulary of how to say I need milk mother he doesn't have to know one word he just knows I'm alive and there's one thing he needs milk everybody knows you don't need a university education as a mother to know what he's crying for the only thing that he'll survive with he doesn't need he just knows that he needs one thing milk to survive and that's a natural thing otherwise he's not he's not really alive he just won't know he needs you know you can put a big big toy in that little baby and say me and he'll say no you can give him a million dollar check for his future bank account look that should make you happy no I want milk nothing else will satisfy him if he's truly born and you when you're saved do you honestly think you can be saved and not desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby oh beloved I ask these people one after the other in their multitudes I'm talking about multitudes who've walked up to me or even preachers who listen to me preaching and then ask questions how do I know how can I I say when you did give your life to Christ as you say you did were you able to face a day without devouring this as your only hope of survival did you find nothing of a desire that you couldn't do that you you neglect friends you neglect anything you give up everything that could keep you from devouring this book because man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God you don't live stay alive by food physically you do yes but now that you're born again you stay alive by something else this word of God by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God you live by it and you know it when you're hungry you know it when you need it and when you're saved you need it from the next breath to the last breath you're able to take you want this if you're saved tell me did you desperately want this were you able to live without it from the time you say you were saved go along fine you'll keep a testament it doesn't matter no reality you're as real as you love this book you love God as much as you love this book full stop don't tell me ten things one thing you love God today sir as much as you love this book today as much time as you gave this book today you're as real as the time you gave this book read someone if you disagree with me to find out how unreal you are and how lacking of every single thing that could be food from God will ever be in your life if this book isn't your delight not just one of your delights your delight in life that you meditate day and night and nothing can keep you from it not even sleep at times to prevent the night watches when you're born again you can't get enough the night I was saved I got up on my knees praying for God to save me and I thought this thought why don't I feel any different I don't feel any different I feel the same that confused me you know the old Scottish minister that led me to Christ he was an amazing man he died a few weeks later God just kept him for me I don't know how this happened but he looked at me and he said to me it doesn't matter that you don't feel any different I thought that I was stunned how does this man know what I'm thinking he really shook me feelings will come and go till the day you die my boy and he put the old King James Bible in my hand he said this is your source of survival go home get on your knees my boy now doesn't matter how late you get home open to John read John take a pen my boy never open this book unless you expect God to speak to you put the pen next to you and when he speaks mark whatever God cries out confirm me to your heart you say whatever God confirms to your life now my boy you go start now in John when you're through John get to Matthew get through Matthew to Revelation three times at least don't miss one word then start in the Old Testament three four five of the Old three four five of the New never less often more but never less you finish there chapter five of Genesis put the mark you finish chapter five of Matthew put the mark tomorrow or tonight or the next night you open up five six seven eight nine ten put the mark five six seven eight nine ten you get through the New more than the Old but that's necessary because you don't want to get into the bondage of the Old Testament law but don't neglect the New for the Old but don't neglect the Old because you won't understand the full revelation of the New you need it you need it you need it you need it you need it you need you need you need you need you need you need greatest priority in life. This book kept me from what people would regard as essential, ninety percent of what most people regard as essential and they cannot do without. I wouldn't go to because this book needed me to give undivided attention and meditation and love that nothing would keep me from and I have never doubted once of my salvation. I have only grown daily with the confirmation all the time, everything, not condemning, confirming and every circumstance and the sovereign God has me just where I'm reading in a circumstance I suddenly realize this might have been written two, three thousand years ago, but it was me God had in mind. This isn't just something happening out of its context that I'm trying to believe in, this is exactly word proof of what God needed to tell me. I embrace it, I take it and it comes about. Hallelujah! This book is living, it's not just a book, it's a miracle, it's the heart of God and a sovereign God where you're reading in a sovereignty just where you need to be, that a continual consciousness of God speaking to you at this time in every circumstance flooding your heart with peace that passes all understanding daily from the day you're saved to the day you die. Beloved, that is where my witness was, God's word, a confirmation by the Spirit in my heart and intellect is what he is saying to me and I have no doubt. Praise God! Wesley grew to understand this and he said these words, this fellow happened to speak to some big United Methodist annual conference this year, I won't tell you the name of the man, but they asked him to speak on John Wesley and I don't know if he'll ever survive having done it to this lot, but anyway, this is what he said, one of the things about Wesley, one of the things that was to start John Wesley on his quest for God were the dying words of his father Samuel. One of the things that was to start Wesley on his quest for God was the dying words of his father Samuel. On his deathbed he said to John, the inward witness, son, the inward witness is the strongest proof of Christianity. But Wesley went on and said, while the inner witness received due consideration by Wesley in his doctrinal deliverance of salvation from the pulpits and from the squares where he preached in the open air, while the inner witness received due consideration by Wesley, it was balanced by his attitude and comprehension of the essentialness of the scripture concerning the witness. The balance between the objectivity of the word of God and the subject of inner witness of the burning heart. Wesley said, God has given us one book and one book only, through which he tells us how to be saved and through which he confirms to our hearts that we are saved. And his peace will continually flood our hearts till the day we die. Through the book witnessing with our spirits your mind. My property, my responsibility, O give me this book only. Let me be a man of only one book, for this book alone will keep my heart in peace with God concerning eternity. When were you saved? When did this book, when? I'm asking you just once, if you sitting here today know that God is speaking to you, you've never, ever been saved, even if you're a preacher and you've never, ever, ever, ever been saved. In truth, perhaps like that preacher, perhaps like my son, done it for daddy, but never, ever experienced God, never. It's a heart condemning until he's reaching God with his soul, found God in truth. I want those of you sitting here today who know you've never, ever been born again in your life. Religious in the home of a preacher that you have never truly experienced. You have a profession without a position. You have terminology without reality, without experience. And you're grieving God. You have sinned that you've never repented of. I want those of you who know God is speaking to you, and you've never, ever, ever, ever been born of God, in spite of all that you've sinned. And you say to God, Lord, I come in obedience to thee now. Now, God. Now, God. And those who even have had doubts, but just need somehow, like Auntie Emily, that confirmation, that in case, God. Because I don't want to go through doubts anymore. Because it's something that was real. I really believe it was, but Lord, there's these doubts. But I need just once and for all to embrace truth. And I come with nothing but the blood of Jesus now. To be 100% sure because of complications of the time. Lack of knowledge. Lack of truth being presented to me. Lack of care of deliverance from people who should have assisted me. Lack of follow up. I come to be sure. I want those of you who need to see God to be 100% sure that you're born of God. And to know what to do once you've prayed. I want those of you God is speaking to, and who would say to God, here I am, God. I don't lie anymore. I don't grieve thee another step. I don't go on. And in case God is never, ever, ever speak to me again like this. I'm not taking a chance on coming, God. I'm going to seek thee today. I'm going to seek thee with my whole heart and in truth and the life I've been given, especially in the sin and of what it means to be saved. I want those of you who would say that to God and need to say that to God, need desperately, no matter who you are, no matter who you shock. Don't shock God by saying no to God. I want those of you who need to seek God for salvation. And to be sure, to be sure that you're sure, that you're sure. I want you to seek God today and in all your heart, desperately to seek Him. And those willing for that, willing for that at this cost of doing it publicly, I want you to stand and say, it's me, God. Would you stand, those of you that need to, and say, here I am, God. Yes, just say, I know it costs. But imagine the costs if you don't. And God never confronts you like this again. Is there anyone else? I'm only asking once, and that's your answer to God, not me. Is there anyone left here that would say, here I am, God. No more doubts, no more confusions, no more misunderstandings, no more hoping, but full of fear, I come, God. Well, hallelujah, for the three that are brave enough to say to the world and to the devil, but especially to God, here I am with all my heart. I want the three who have been brave enough to do this without bowed head and secrecy. I want the three who are standing to please just come out and go and stand in the back there right now. Walk to the back, please, right now. Don't be fearful of man. God is so loving you right now. If you could see His face, if you could hear the glory in heaven, angels rejoicing over one sinner. I want three soul winners, three men, please, to go and pray with these dear brethren separately. You don't have to even preach another sermon. Just pray them through, let them pray, and then afterwards just help them and take their names and make sure you give them books that help you, especially Pilgrim's Progress, as soon as you can. And we'll be praying. I want one other thing. Those of you that have had doubts, and today God has given you total peace, flooding your heart, concerning all the things, to come to God and say, forgive me, God, for the doubts I've had, but I want to trust Thee that for the rest of life I'll never neglect the book again. That will keep me from doubts, that will flood me with peace that passes all understanding. We need to take the souls to rooms, please, somewhere, alone, if you can. I'd be very grateful that they don't have to be prayed for in front of everybody. I'd be deeply grateful if we could help that person to do that, brother, so that they're alone in some room. Those of you that need to say, God, forgive me for neglecting the one place, the one source, the one thing, forgive me for the doubts that have come from my neglect of it, but from this time forth I will not, Lord. Those of you that need to say, God, forgive me, the doubts have been my own fault in many ways, but from today I will never neglect this book. I'll give it priority by Thy grace, God. By Thy grace, I will attempt to the day I die to never neglect this book and its place in my life that's needed to keep me flooded with peace daily and confirming in my heart daily I'm Thine, so that no fears and doubts will come. I need forgiveness for the neglect. I need forgiveness for allowing neglect and the fears that have resulted and the doubts and the staggerings. But I, by Thy grace, God, will not neglect this book again. Those who need desperately to say that to God right now as a commitment to God, by the grace, would you stand and say it's me, Lord? Yes. Yes. Father, everyone that's standing, give them the grace, by Thy grace alone, not to fall into condemned hearts if some circumstance arises that they have to, not give the time that they would every day, but just give them the grace that every day that they can, and that will be most days, give thee the great moments of their day to this book. Meditating it, not reading it fast. Meditating, talking to God as He talks to them, a two-way conversation of what He's saying, talking about it to God through revelation opens up every depth there is, Lord, and continually opens God. Lord, please forgive them where they've neglected this book. Wash them in the blood of Christ. And in mercy, come and give them the grace they need as they stand before Thee looking for it, that from this day to the day they die, they will never, ever let anything keep them from this book again. From the time needed to be alone with Jesus, and I pray from the next time they get along with Thee, beginning today, it will just be a wonderful peace flooding their heart as this book becomes living, throbbing, alive, that they will know, that they know, that they know daily, God is speaking to me, not condemning me, confirming He's with me. Until they find every promise in the book is mine, every chapter, every verse, every line. And they take the promises by faith, and endure every storm, every trial, even death, as they come to Thee with the promises that flooded their heart with faith. Remember the word, unto Thy servant upon which Thou hast caused me to hope. O flood their hearts with peace and hope and faith, for faith cometh by the word of God. Till the day they die, because of the time they spend devouring this book, that God can confirm always, you're mine, you're mine, you're mine. Bless their lives, and bless those three that are praying through to God now for salvation. God give them the grace to find true salvation, that the Holy Spirit will bear witness with their spirits today, whether it's a heart made strangely, warmed, or when they open the book and suddenly find vital light bursting from every page confirming to their hearts that God is saved. Do it, Lord. Come and save their souls, mightily, in mercy. Bless every one of us, mightily, as we go through this day now. Help us to walk with God. Help us to walk with God. And if there's anyone left in this building that remains unsaved, damned, going to hell for eternity, O God have mercy that they may somehow be spared, and that somehow they will be given grace, moments to still seek Thee in spite of their total rejection of Thee again through pride or wanting of sin. Have mercy, have mercy, have mercy. But don't let them ever find any happiness in sin, or any happiness in religion, without true salvation. Bring them to total despair, till they come desperately to God. Keep us all under the blood. Come back tonight in a way, Lord, bring us back and make us all so conscious of God that we'll bow in His presence, every one of us. Come visit us to such a degree that we will just know we have to do with God and nowhere else in this whole world, just me and God. Come visit every heart in such a way tonight, tomorrow morning, tomorrow afternoon. Bring those who can come in this weather, but bring them safely and put it in their hearts to come. Don't let anything divert them, please God. Prepare every heart that we may come here thirsting for God, thirsting for God, not to be seen of men, not to hear men, but just thirsting for God, and that's the only reason driving us, every one of us here. Please answer these prayers above that we're asking or believing, because all of us are asking faith of our Father in heaven, in the name of Jesus Christ, and for His sake. Amen. Can we all stand, please? God bless every one of you. Brother Joe, would you come, please, in case you need to tell us something, and to have a short prayer. Imagine me telling someone to be short, brother. But it's just because I've been so long. When you're with the Lord, it's not long. Amen. If you'd like to come back to pray, we'll have prayer at 3.30, but just if you do come for that, that you'd be praying and nothing else, and then there's church bringer practice at 4.30 for singing tonight, and then our meeting at 5.00. Let's pray. Father, we thank You for these decisions made, Lord. Lord, You saw these folks standing up, Lord, and I know that was a kick in the devil's teeth, Lord. And Lord, I praise You for their courage in You, Lord, that the grief of heart is greater than the sneer of man, Lord, and fear You above all else. And Lord, I just pray that You'd bless them and answer their prayers, Lord. I pray for traveling mercies, Lord, and Lord, that folks would just come out tonight. Lord, as I was telling brother Keith, Lord, 17 years ago, going to the party Saturday night would have never stopped me. Nothing would stop me, Lord. And Lord, I just pray that You'd honor our diligence in this weather by keeping us safe, just so we can meet with You again. And we'll thank and praise You in Jesus' name. Amen. You're dismissed.