In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of living out the will of God in our lives. He highlights that our actions and character reveal who we truly are, whether as parents, teachers, or pastors. The preacher shares the story of Paul's transformation from a persecutor of Christians to a devoted follower of Jesus, illustrating the power of encountering God and surrendering to His will. He emphasizes that verbal profession of faith is not enough; true faith is demonstrated through a holy life that manifests God's glory. The sermon concludes with a prayer for those who have not yet chosen to do God's will, urging them to make a decision and persevere in their faith until the end.

Let us pray. We thank you, O Lord, that we have received this day and may it truly be a day of the Lord. Meet on Sundays, Lord, we meet on this, your resurrection day from the dead. And your being raised from the dead by the power of God, may it be a day when indeed that resurrection power would raise each and everyone out of the grave of sin and of the tomb of the world. Meet with us, Lord, by your holy word. Amen. Matthew 7, from verse 21. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name, and done many wonders in your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. We are speaking about the text which says, not everyone who says, Lord, Lord, will necessarily enter into heaven. Only those who do his will. Yesterday morning I got a phone call. Now there are many who are not here today. Many of the girls have gone to a fire to take a service there. The young men have gone to a fire to take a service there. They have gone to Claridge, they have gone to Peter Marisburg, and yesterday or the day before they have been there in one of the areas lower down there which is a very criminal area, also a squatter camp. They have gone to a fire to take a service there. They have gone to a fire to take a service there. Two, they were at another service there yesterday, and then in the evening they went to a tent service, a tent that had been pitched for the whole month. Now you know how usually tent services tend to be very noisy affairs. Yesterday morning they had been approached by the Indian pastor from that area and he said, please do come to our church. They said, we're sorry but we've already arranged an evening service where we've got to be. He said, it doesn't matter, just come for half an hour, then you're released to go back to the service at Claridge. So yesterday after they had spoken in that service, many came to them very grateful that they'd been there. They said, now we can see the real difference between one who says he's a Christian and one who is genuinely a Christian. They said, so many people say we are believers. When we see true believers, one can see a difference. There is a great difference. They asked, what can we do to be as you are? And we want to go to the place where you are from. We want a genuine Christianity, not just in word, not a fake thing. We want the real thing. We had a meeting. I'd asked one of the hostel girls to give her testimony. After she'd spoken, a certain man who was present said, Pastor, I want to go to the place where you are from. I want to see the real difference between one who says he's a Christian and one who is genuinely a Christian. He said, you just need to look and see here. Just watch. You'll see whether she's a girl who is pure and has stopped with promiscuity, one who has parted from flirtatiousness with boys. You can see it. It's evident. That person who said that isn't from our church either. They said, if you want to see a person who's really alive spiritually, just look at the face. You'll see. We can see that this girl has parted from flirting around with boys. We can see it written on her forehead. I was astonished. I remembered Paul who wrote, I long to see your faces so that I will see where you are spiritually. I wish to see your faces so that I can see in what you still lack in your faith. Those people took note even of the very face of people. But now people make themselves up. They use all sorts of oil and powder and this and that to make themselves up so that it's not evident. It's because of the lack of glory that they do that. But if a person is upright and genuine and in a real relationship with Christ, is truly alive, it is unmistakable. It is evident even on the face of that person. Even you ladies, if you want to really be beautified, you will find that there's beauty in having the Lord Jesus Christ in you. You don't have to pay a fortune for makeup. I tell you the truth, just look at people right in their faces. Or if they are drunkards, addicts or immoral, promiscuous, just look and see and behold. Some, when you look at them, one gets a shock and one asks, what's actually going on with this person? Often you find in the Psalms, Lord let thy glory be upon us. If a person sings or preaches or is just in the act of thinking, let Jesus be evident. We need no one else. If it's the devil in a person, well let the devil be evident. But don't mix him with the Lord Jesus. We want to see Christ only in your life. The people in that service, which had been so noisy, when these young people got up, there was an instant quietness. A stillness that came upon the audience and an amazement as the people looked at these young people. Jesus said, not everyone who says Lord, Lord, will enter into heaven. And this word in the Greek, when it says Lord, it means I am yours, I am yours Jesus. But Jesus says, no, not everyone who says I am yours Lord is necessarily his. Only those who do the will of God. We people take much note of what comes out of the mouth. Jesus is not satisfied with your verbal assent. He wants life in you. He wants the real thing from you. Jesus discerns between your statement, what you say and what you profess, and your life. Your profession and your practice. Only the will of God takes a person to heaven and his will is holy. It is holy. That holiness must be manifested in our lives. It doesn't matter whether you are a man or woman, child or adult, black, white, whoever you are, his glory must be manifested. Seek the will of God. Don't be troubled by many other things. There where you are, you must be doing God's will. Andrew's mother phoned me this morning and she told me a story. She said, I want to show you this thing. That early this morning I came upon an old book and I said to myself, let me open it. As I opened it, I found something written in 1951. And she said, I remember that time you were there in Lilienthal. Now her father was a pastor and a very clever, brilliant man, but he hadn't yet met with the Lord Jesus. His faith was in his head and not in his heart. Jesus was without and not within. He was working for the Lord, yet without the Lord. He was like this very text where they say, Lord, Lord, but Jesus himself says, I do not know you. Now in those times, he met with the Lord, with Jesus. And she said, on that very day, which is today the 26th, on that very day in 1951, that is exactly 55 years ago, her father collected or brought together all their children and said to his children, I want each one of you now to give me your testimony where you stand with God. And she said, I had to say, I don't know, there was nothing I could say. But I did say that very day, Lord Jesus, here is my heart, I give it to you right now. And then her father gave her a letter or a book. And they wrote together, the 26th of March 1951. She said, she and her father wrote in that book, on that very day, the 26th of March 1951, I give my heart to the Lord today. And she said, that was truly my conversion. Now that was a wise pastor, bringing his children together and demanding to know from them, where do you stand with regards to your relationship to God. You parents who are here, have you ever got your children together and asked them where they stand with God? It will be evident who's on the way to heaven, who's on the way to hell. You might be totally deceived by the veneer of Christianity in your child. They speak the right language, they pray because they've got to pray, but they're not on the way to heaven. In the letter by Peter, in his epistle, he said, let everyone be ready with an answer to anyone who questions him about his faith. To the point that I've asked the school children, that each one should say where they stand regarding the Lord Jesus. And the one who says, well I'm not able to talk, I'm too shy to speak, well I say, that makes your faith to be useless. If you really have a faith, let it be known. Peter said, anyone has the right to demand from you regarding the faith, and where you stand regarding the faith, to question you, and then you can show them and say exactly. Can you stand up right now, and say where you stand regarding the Lord Jesus, what He has done for you. Tell us the sins that you lived in, and whether Jesus has set you free from those sins. You who are in this service today. Have you got the testimony of your Lord Jesus Christ? Jesus said, many will come to me. Many will come to me saying, but Lord, don't you remember that we prophesied in your name, that we cast out demons in your name and did many wonders, and Jesus said, I will declare to them, I do not know you. This text should shake us to the very core of our being. To every single person, even the preacher, let him ask himself, am I one of these to whom Jesus will say, I did not know you? Jesus said, I will declare to them, I never knew you, depart from me you workers of unrighteousness. Now biblically speaking, to know a person, meant a great intimacy with that person, without holding back anything, hiding anything from that person. Because Jesus, God, is light, there is no darkness in Him. Adam knew Eve, and she bore him a son, Cain. To say, I know a person, biblically speaking, has to, with regards to the greatest intimacy possible, that something comes about because of that intimacy. God said, Abraham, I know Abraham, I have known Abraham, so that he would have authority over his family and his whole household to keep my word. You parents who have children, who have rebelled and have turned away from God, is there something that you have hid away from God? You parents who have children, who have turned away from God, is there something that you have hid away from God? To have Godly authority over your household is only through an intimacy with God, meaning that you hold back nothing from Him, everything is in the light with Him, through that there comes about an authority. God said, I have known Abraham, so that he would have authority over his household to keep my word. If you truly want to have a Godly pastoral authority over your household, you have to have an intimacy with God. If you want to have a Godly pastoral authority in your family, of your children, then you need to make sure for yourself that you are truly one with God, that you have a true relationship with Him. It doesn't help if you Bible punch your children and you are just an irritating noise, you are an empty sounding drum. There is nothing in it and it produces no effect in your children. To have children reveals what you are a parent. To have your school children reveals what you are like a teacher. To have a congregation reveals what you are like a pastor. That you should know Him, Jesus Christ, so that He can say on judgment day, I have known this person. If you truly meet with God, you will seek His will. Paul had been Saul. He had been a rebel against the Christians. He would do everything in his means to fight against them and to arrest them. Anything that hurt the Christians pleased Saul. But when lightning came down from heaven, heavenly light came down and Jesus spoke and he immediately, Saul said, Lord what do you will for me to do? And he was changed into a Paul. He had one desire, Lord what is your will now? Paul could say, I have not consulted with flesh or blood, even though he was a Pharisee and his father was a Pharisee, but because he met with Jesus Christ he could say, I have not consulted with flesh or blood. All he sought was, Lord what do you want me to do? If you have truly met with Jesus Christ, you will have one desire and that is to do His will. Even if you live in Sodom, in Gomorrah, whether you are in this type of school or that type of school, it does not matter where you are, you will live for Him. Paul was totally surrendered to Jesus Christ after just three days. He was filled with the Spirit. But today you can find people who have been Christians for 10, 20, 30 years but not yet filled with the Spirit. Things went deep with Paul. He said, I don't seek my father's will or my mother's will, I seek now what God has to say. Now you know that I have six daughters. Of those who are married, four of them, each one came to me and said, I get married because I feel it is the will of God. Their husbands also said that. I said, I don't seek my father's will or my mother's will, I seek now what God has to say. And they said, they feel it is the will of God. I said, fine, alright, but I have been observant and I continue to be, to see, to watch their lives, whether my daughters or sons-in-law, were they truly genuine in saying that it was the will of God. I said, I don't seek my father's will or my mother's will, I seek now what God has to say. And this pair today, I say the same. I will observe them and my daughters who are getting married, I will be watching them and considering their life and the young men to whom they are getting married as well. To say that you are doing God's will is not just a superficial thing. I know with all my heart, I know with all my soul, I know with all my heart, I know with all my soul, I know with all my soul, I know with all my soul, I know with all my soul, I know with all my soul, I know with all my soul, I know with all my soul. I know with all my soul, I know with all my soul, I know with all my soul, I know with all my soul, I know with all my soul, I know with all my soul, I know with all my soul. If it is the will of God, it remains the will of God. It is something constant. It will persist right to the end, that this person is walking in the will of God. That person's very life, so that it is inscribed upon them, evident upon their foreheads, this person is in the will of God. When a person wakes up, they get up for the will of God. When they go to sleep, they go to sleep in the will of God. Everything in their life is about God's will. But if you find a person who says it is the will of God, but their life is opposite, it is awful. Now the Jews of old, in the times of Jesus, especially those from Galilee, when they would get engaged, they wouldn't visit each other. A person who was engaged would be looked down upon if they would be visiting each other. But on the day of marriage, they would come together for the first time. The young man and the young girl, they would both be virgins right till the day of marriage. No messing around and visiting each other. Firstly, when the Jews would get engaged in that time, they would do it in agreement with their parents. Then they would come together and it would be announced. Their engagement was not just a light-hearted affair, it was something of real deep meaning. And then their day of marriage. I like that. I don't like it. And if I see Esther behaving in that manner, being flirtatious and secretly talking with boys around the corner, I would say goodbye, out of my house. I don't want that. Cell phones have their good side, but they have their evil side. It is used also for great wickedness. That is not walking in the will of God. Yesterday, They asked me yesterday, when Paul had come, where should he be put up to sleep? I said, well, it is of no interest of mine. Remember, this is only for engagement, and in engagement there is no relative arrangement. Only when they were married. You saw, he, the bridegroom to be, standing on one side of me, my daughter on the other side. There is no contact. I am like a wall between them. Nothing, nothing, nothing. On the day of their wedding, of course, I am not between them. Then they are totally united. But remember, Jesus can come back any time. He could come back next week. Do we want something that is defiled when Jesus comes back? We want a pure bride. Jesus wants a pure bride that is without fleck or blemish. And when she, the bride, walks in in a white dress and veil, that symbolizes virginity. I have not been touched by a man. It has become a rarity for a girl to still be a virgin today. 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They had a little boy, a little son. They had a little boy, a little son. They had a little boy, a little like the heathen do any longer. And I say, Lord, I thank you, not that I deserve it. I'm not anything that I should deserve such a thing that my daughters should all follow you in this way and should get engaged and married in this way, that my wife and I got engaged in this way and got married. She bore me these six daughters and that they have followed the Lord in this way. And I thank you, Lord. I thank you, Lord. And I thank you, Lord. I thank you. I am a man of my word, a man who has a good heart, a man who has good manners. and I say to all of my daughters follow your mother in that you be faithful to the Lord and living in this way otherwise you are just like illegitimate children from the bush and I say to my sons-in-law as well I have entrusted my daughters to you and I watch your life I observe you till I die you will also have children but if you are not fully living for the Lord how will your children end how will you have authority to demand of your children that they follow the Lord if you yourself don't do the will of God I close now I ask every one of you whether you're a child elderly with your Indian colored white from Germany from South Africa whoever and whatever you are do you know the will of God are you doing the will of God only that person who does the will of the Father will enter into heaven your profession is not enough it's not just what you say with your lips what you are who you are is really what matters we are still headed for judgment on that final day the father is not going to ask me whether I know you or not he will ask his son the Lord Jesus Christ have you known this person and you'll say yes or whether he did not know that person the reality the substance the truth will come to light on that day let's bow our heads work O Lord and inscribe your words upon our minds and hearts write your words so indelibly that no rubber can ever rub them out Lord the one who has not yet chosen to do your will may he say so now and choose now and be able to say with Andrew's mother 55 years ago I said yes Lord Jesus I give my heart to you you know us all you know us so well whether we have made an absolute surrender to you or not and Lord those who've made that decision may they persevere right to the end till their last breath work O Lord that there might be joy in heaven and crying in hell