In this sermon, the preacher reflects on a powerful experience he had while visiting a prison. He came across a young child who had written a note saying "God is with me" and was deeply moved by the child's faith. The preacher then contemplates his own reaction if he were in a similar situation, feeling the despair and hopelessness that prisoners may face. He criticizes the focus on materialism and money in society, including within the church, and emphasizes that God is more concerned with who we are rather than what we do. The preacher also references the story of the rich young ruler and highlights the importance of suffering and sacrifice in the Christian journey, as exemplified by the apostle Paul.

I want to read some verses now from the Gospel as John left it for us, recorded by John, in the sixth chapter. This, you may or may not know, is the longest chapter in this Gospel. And, you know, I find it difficult to find which is the key word in John's Gospel. He mentions in this one chapter, the sixth chapter, he mentions the disciples twelve times. And I think in the book he mentions disciples about forty-eight times. But then there's another word that is very emphatically laid in this Gospel, and that is the word believe. In the next to the last chapter, which is what, the nineteenth chapter if I remember right, the twentieth chapter, and verse thirty, he says, many of the signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. There is no complete record of the life of Jesus anywhere. Verse thirty-one, these are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Now that word believe is, is mentioned about fifty-one times, and believed is mentioned twenty-seven times, so you see again that he is very emphatic. The other emphatic word that he gives us in this Gospel is that, it's the Gospel of life. Life is mentioned forty-three times in this wonderful version of John's alone, not in the New Testament, but forty-one times he's stressing life. And altogether about a hundred times nearly, believe, believe, believe, because that is essential to true life in the Lord Jesus Christ. All right, the verses I want to read are verse sixty-six, down into sixty-nine. From that time many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him. Then Jesus said unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered, as you would expect, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life, and we believe and are sure, I like that, we believe and are sure, the suggestion is that he's established on a rock, there's nothing going to move him, we believe and are sure, that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. All right, to whom shall we go? For thou hast the words of eternal life. You know sermons have strange origins. I talked with a young man in Phoenix, as we went out a couple of weeks ago, and I found him one of the most interesting young men. He's only in his thirties, but he had a depth of spirituality that was just, just beautiful. He has been in a church, he's in a church which is very lively, and he's gone through the charismatic cycle, and there's been a lot of excitement, but now he's getting down to earth, and he's finding that people are kicking against many things that he said. But I mentioned something to him about Hebrews, and as we came back through that city, a lady said to me, you know the pastor came in the pulpit last Sunday, and she said his prayer was just, just unbelievably beautiful, and then he stood there, and he read through the epistle to the Hebrews, from the first word to the last, and then pronounced the benediction. I'm sure a lot of people discovered things in that book that they had never heard emphasized before. The book had suddenly become alive, and he wanted to share. I understand I've never been to a meeting in the Christian Science Group, but I understand that they only read each Sunday a selection of the writings of Mrs. Baker Eddy. They think she's the source of wisdom, and there's no comment made. They do have lecturers in other areas, true enough, but normally they read a sermon by Mrs. Baker Eddy. And sometime it might do us good just to read the word of God through like that, but the origin, I don't know whether it is because I talked to him about Hebrews or what, but preachers often find their inspiration in strange ways. You know, I believe as long as we live, God will present us with challenges. He has to provoke us to good works. And I discovered on this trip that there were children who provoked me. Now children can provoke you in the wrong way, I know. But I mean a child that provokes you in the spiritual area. One of them was a boy in the home, he's the brother of the boy I mentioned who is the artist. He's a big upright fellow, handsome young man with a beard, in a university. And recently he kind of dropped a bombshell in the house. He said, Dad, you know, I just love devotions in the house. Dad, you just make us have devotions, even if at times we seem to rebel, but please keep up those devotions, because I've learned more in family devotions, I think, than I have going to church. And I want you to know what that means, and that's why I say as children. It will be infinitely more difficult if you raise your children from the time they can understand until they're teenagers, it will be infinitely more difficult for them to wander away from God than if they had no family altar. In fact, the church in the house is what the New Testament talked about, and I think we might even go back to that. So I was challenged by that boy saying that the devotions in the home had meant more to him even than preaching. The second challenge came through a nine-year-old boy who was in the house where we stayed. He's not nine, he's now thirteen. He's a big healthy fellow, and well, he's an average teenager. He's thirteen years of age. And one day as we were going to the meeting, his mother said, we didn't tell you about him, did we? And I said, about what? I said, he's a big healthy boy. She said, yes, but you know, when he was nine, he was uncoordinated. The school he goes to, they play kickball, but when he lifted one foot, he fell over. His teacher was very disturbed. He's mentally retarded. He's on the verge of being mentally retarded. And this was a trouble to us. At that time, their only son, and here he's in this mess. Good-looking, black-haired boy, but he can't keep his balance. He can't keep up with studies at school. There were two outstanding things about that boy. One was, he came to his daddy one day and said, daddy, you keep saying that with God all things are possible. Now the doctors and others don't help me. Now, listen, daddy, I'm going to talk to God. And he said, well, that's great. Nine years, remember, I'm going to talk to God. So he said, I went and talked to him. You say, he's my heavenly father. And I said to him, Lord, I need healing. My body isn't right. I fall over if I get on one leg. And the other thing is, I'm slow mentally. Within a few weeks, he was coordinated. The school teacher came to see the parents and said, look, school teacher said I go to a certain church. They have a TV show. But she said, I don't understand what's happened to your boy. He says something about praying. Yes, well, that's it. We told him that since he believed God could do anything, he should go to God. So he went and the Lord touched his body and the Lord has touched. She said, he keeps up with the rest of the class. He's doing great. Is that the answer to it? Oh, I go to a famous church where they flash out every Sunday in a building a 17 million dollar job and another one in Florida. But I never heard anything like that in my life. You know, the thing that led to my mind was this, a little child shall lead them. But that teacher with all the knowledge did not understand. The other thing the boy said, when he wanted anything, he came to his daddy. Now daddy said, you know, daddy spoiled boys very often. And so, I suggest in future, instead of asking me for something, you ask the Lord. I could give you it and you don't need it. But he won't. So the little fellow prayed for something and it came mysteriously. No, daddy wasn't listening behind the door. He prayed on his own. There's no communication. And he prayed again and God supplied his need. And after a few months he came to his daddy and he said, you know, daddy, I find it easy to get things from God and get them from you. Well, I said, I think that's great. Man, if that boy keeps developing faith like that for his healing, physically, mentally, and then, believing God will supply his need. I'm not saying everybody has to go away. I'm telling you these children challenge me. The third was a story that's remarkable, a challenge that's remarkable. As soon as I heard it, I went in room and fell on my knees and gave God some praise. Maybe you read about a little girl that was kidnapped in Canada, 12 years of age. A man had dug a hole through the basement, pardon me, from his garage. It looked like a bomb-proof shelter, they said. And one night he kidnapped the little girl only three blocks away from home and he put that 12-year-old child in the basement. Hardly any food, no light, no communication, total darkness, and kept her there for over six months. And it seemed by accident she was discovered. He raped the child, he abused the child in every way. For six months, no daylight, no daddy, no mummy, no toys, no friends. That would drive most people up the wall. She's the emotions of a child, she hasn't the understanding either mentally or emotionally. 12 years of age, she had a birthday in that hellhole. She came out at 13 years of age by accident. The man who usually pulled the trapdoor over, hadn't put it over, and his wife discovered where he'd been going. She didn't know where he went at night. And when she shone the light down, she just saw a pair of feet, and she called the cops and said, my husband seems to have committed suicide, jumping down a hall. The police lowered the rope and they pulled him out. They were going to close up the hall and one of them said, I thought I heard a moan. And he looked down and he said, there was a light, and there he said, I saw the little thing. She had lost nearly 15 pounds. She was as pale as the paper. She'd been abused no one knows how many times. She'd been in the darkness with very little food. Again, no friends, no toys, nothing to divert her attention. Living misery, and wonder what in the world the brute was going to do. And as the man came up with a little child, he saw a piece of paper and he picked it up, and she'd written this on the paper. God is with me. God is with me. He'll bring me through. He moves in mysterious ways, but I'm sure he'll bring me through. I knelt down and thanked God for parents who'd instilled into that child's minds that God moves in mysterious ways. That child's got some faith, and I knelt down and thanked God, either for the parents or the teachers. And as I knelt like that, I tried to imagine my own reaction in a prison like that for six months, without daylight, without sufficient food, without friends, without communication, as some terrible monster coming at me when he wanted. And as I knelt there, this thought came to me, and I grabbed a piece of paper and put it down, that in every prison-like circumstance, trials, testings, tribulation, we do one of two things, we go to panic or we go to praise. And the child was really praising God. He moves in mysterious ways. She wasn't griping and complaining. And that drove me to this text. One hymn writer says, O all-embracing mercy, thou ever-open door, how should I do without thee when heart and eye run o'er? When all things seem against us to drive us to despair, we know one ear is open, one ear will hear our prayer. And this drove me to the text that I've quoted to you right now, where this man of God is facing the Lord Jesus, and Jesus says to him, or he says, Jesus says to him, To whom shall we go? For thou hast the words of eternal life. This chapter is full of miracles from beginning to end. It's full of sensation. It's full of drama. It's full of everything that the people like. Jesus, in this chapter, feeds the five thousand. He walks on the water. Miracle follows miracle. And they're excited about it. And then suddenly again, he turns again to his teaching. He says, Except ye eat of my flesh, and drink of my blood, ye have no life in you. And listen to what they said. You see, when Jesus went on smoothly, and he healed their sick, and he gave them food and everything, they were very thrilled. But Jesus laid down conditions of discipleship. And he said them in the synagogue of all places. You talk about courage to preach a thing like that? In the synagogue, not in the open air now? These things he taught in the synagogue, verse 59 says. These things said he in the synagogue as he taught in Capernaum. Many therefore of his disciples when they heard this said, This is a hard saying. Verse 66. From that time, many of disciples went back and walked with him no more. You see, they didn't just turn away, they turned back. He laid down the conditions of discipleship. That they were to eat of his flesh, which to me suggests his humanity, and drink of his blood, the divine miracle of redemption. In other words, it wasn't lip service anymore, it was entering into a unity with him, it was entering into a life with him. And when they heard that, they were not too concerned about following him. You see, there is no way at all, as I've said repeatedly, there's no way for us to escape trials and tests and tribulations. I saw some comments somewhere about this monstrous man in Russia who can lift what nobody dreamed any man would ever lift. I think it was 500 pounds clean lifting like that, down and up. Well, how many times do you think he's practiced that? Why, many a man ties 120 or something, and he keels over, he gets to 200, he thinks it's wonderful. And here this monstrous man gets hold of this huge barbell and lifts it up, there he is. And every time he's done it, from his infancy upward, he's been strengthening those muscles until eventually he can carry that load. Well, how can I prove myself to God, except in testings and trials and tribulations? There is no other way. Now, either I go sour in them and say, God has forgotten to be gracious, or on the other hand, I sing in the storm. I thought of the little girl down there, deprived of so many things. Do you remember what Paul says a little bit later to the Corinthians? We're troubled on every side. I don't believe God lets many people be troubled on every side. We crack under it, we get troubled on one side, it's bad enough. I thought of my own experience. You see, people think you just preach, it's a kind of a philosophy. No, no, no, no. I remember being a crumpled heap of broken flesh at three o'clock in the morning in sub-zero weather in Chicago, when I couldn't move anything but my fingers. And immediately said, my ministry is wrecked for two or three years. My wife and children are four thousand miles away. There are going to be colossal bills. Everything floods your mind at once. Now, I'll tell you what I've made up my mind to do by the grace of God. I'm not going to hurt God. I sure don't want to hurt anybody else, but I'm not going to hurt God. And this got down, down, down in my spirit this week. You see, this man, the Lord Jesus had a great following in this chapter. In the 28th verse, it says, they said unto him, what shall we do that we might do the works of God? Oh boy, don't we love to do. God isn't concerned what I do, he's concerned what I be, what I am. Do you remember the rich young ruler said, well, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And God, Jesus, hit him right where he was sore, because he'd made an idol of his success. And Jesus says, you sell everything you have. There's a certain man broadcasting out of Dallas, and apparently recently said on the TV, you know, people ask me why I drive a big Cadillac. He said, well, Jesus rode a Cadillac in his day. It was a donkey. There's only evidence once he did that, and he did it in line of prophecy. And some of the youngsters picked him up and said, oh, so he identifies with Jesus because he rides a donkey. Does he identify with Jesus by saying I've nowhere to lay my head? Does he identify with Jesus to say I have a Gethsemane? Kids are not fools. Then said unto him, what shall we do that we might do the works of God? Oh, if we could walk on the water, if we could do these miracles and feed the multitude, if we could cast out devils, well, that would suit us fine, wouldn't it? But supposing deep down in my heart I doubt him, and I'm convinced more and more, as I've said almost facetiously, that speaking generally of Christians today, we're the biggest bunch of unbelieving believers God's ever had to deal with. Most of us never had our backs to the wall in the truest sense of the word. I say, Paul says, I'm troubled not on one side, on every side. I'll tell you I felt it when I was picked up in a mess and put in a hospital bed. And the only thing that kept me from, I never before God, I never grumbled once, I never questioned once what he was doing. And when Dr. Tozer came to the end of my bed at four o'clock in the morning with his scarf around his neck as pale as a ghost, and he said, Len. And I said, Doctor, don't worry. I got two promises. One is I shot through the air from that upper story of that burning building to the ground. God gave me a promise, I shall not die but live. And as I lay here in bed, he gave me the other promise. As for God, his ways are perfect. And I said, those are my crutches, I'm going to get through. I'll need crutches, but these are the best crutches that there are. You see, in this other verse, the next verse, 29, Jesus answered and said unto him, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. Now, I believe the greatest thing I can do to God is swear my allegiance to him, come hell or high water. Jesus said in the 14th of John, Believe me, and if it mystifies you, believe me for the very work's sake. You see, there's not a believer here or anywhere else who isn't living in a fishbowl. Everybody's got eyes for us. They know our moods, they know when we're up, they know when we're down, they know when we're excited, we reveal it, they know when we're crushed. Now, I'm not saying there are not times of sorrow, sure there are. But we sang that lovely hymn of Isaac Watts's. Man, when I get to heaven, I want to talk with him for a long while. He wrote, When I survey the wondrous cross. He wrote that lovely hymn, Am I a soldier of the cross? He wrote that lovely hymn, Come ye that love the Lord and let your joys be known. The man knows the depths of sorrow and agony. He knows the ecstasy. After all, this has come to me, it may not fit anybody. I don't care, I'm telling you what God spoke to my heart. But God says in his presence there is fullness of joy. And if I live in his presence, I can live in fullness of joy. My spirits may be down, circumstances may be against me. I think of the Psalmist David, he had it as rough as anybody. Sure he plays his harp and has a great time in the 23rd Psalm. But there are times when his world broke up. He had a rebel son that tried to pull the throne from under him. He tried to steal the crown off his head. He was in peril of his own son. And yet he says on one occasion, My heart is fixed. I like that. I don't know anything else in the world that is fixed apart from that. Our emotions are not fixed. Our circumstances are not fixed. Our future is not fixed. There's a thousand things, but he says, My heart is fixed. I'm not sure if it wasn't what, it sounds like him who wrote a hymn. My heart is fixed eternal God, fixed on thee. And my immortal choice is made Christ for me. You can fault the apostle if you like, like everybody else on certain scores. But I'll tell you one thing, you can never find a murmur in him. He says we're troubled on every side, but we're not distressed. We're persecuted, but we're not forsaken. We're cast down, but we're not destroyed. I like Phillips' version there. He says we're knocked down, but not out. I noticed a comment there on the radio, was it yesterday, where somebody had been fighting and he said they knocked him down in the fourth round. And he got up and won the fight after about six more. He was knocked down, he wasn't knocked out. Sure we're gonna get abused. From the moment Adam transgressed against God, you and I and everybody else, we're living in enemy territory. We're living where Satan's gonna do everything he can to expose us to everything he can. But you know what? The good book says, doesn't it, that greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world? You see, again the Spirit of God bears witness. I remember being in a certain meeting where a brother laid down the law and it was just something, morning after morning. And just before I got up to speak after him about the third morning, I thought to myself, well how in the world will people remember all these do's and don'ts and do's and don'ts that this man's laid down? I couldn't have faulted them, they were fine. And then suddenly I got this thought, again, the Holy Spirit who is in us, he is the one that constrains us or restrains us. He is the one that says yes or no. The Word of God says, he will guide you into all truth. I say I don't want to hurt anybody, but I can grieve the Holy Spirit. You know, I listened to some of that radio stuff and that TV show out there. It was sickening and putrid. You see a man in a snow white suit and his coat is all covered with sequins and he moves and dazzles like Liberace or somebody in the light and he's proclaiming the whole council and he can tell you what you have in your pocket and he can read your mind. And somebody else dancing, jumping two feet in the air because they got a bit more money than somebody else. It seemed to me God is a businessman. They talk money, money, money, money, building, building, building. Well, it's a sign of the end of the day, one of the signs. The Word of God says before Jesus comes, as they did in the days of Noah, they bought, they sold, they planted and they builded. And everybody's building, even in the church of God. They're building bigger businesses, they're building bigger buildings. I don't find much to substantiate it here in the Word of God. God isn't in big business. God is a spirit. He's a spirit, I'm a spirit. And as a hymn writer says, spirit to spirit thou dost speak. And remember that in Ephesians, it says that we're to grieve not. Ephesians 4.30, grieve not the Holy Spirit of God. You know, I remember talking to a world famous person. And he said this, he said, well, I did wrong but the Lord hasn't punished me for it. In the Old Testament he used to punish people. You know, the more I say I walk with God and the Spirit guides me, I better watch every step because I'm in for more trouble than anybody else. Just this morning I was reading about the two of the sons of Aaron. You remember, they went in the tabernacle in the wilderness. They picked up the right censers, they put the right oil in, it was the right time. And they waved them and said their prayer and God smote the pair of them dead. Why? It was the right time to go in. It was the right censer, it was the right oil. And God smote them dead. And so angry was he that he said to their father, look, you don't mourn over them. Cast their bodies away. It was a detail. They took the wrong coals from the altar, that's all they did. They took the wrong coals from the wrong place to make that incense burn. And because of that, you see, God had told them again and again, you shall not defile it by this. It's a very simple thing. As I've said more and more, that God was very patient with Moses. He never rebuked him for being a murderer. But when he lost his temper for 30 seconds and smote the rock, instead of speaking to him, it cost him 40 years he was penalized. Oh, that's the old dispensation. Well then, don't ever quote to me that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever, or thou, God, change us not. You see, if I'm his, if I've sworn my allegiance to him, he demands every bit of obedience. And I believe two things that hurt God. One is my disobedience. And the other is my unbelief. I think again it was Isaac Watts that wrote, for him begun unbelief, my savior is near, and for my relief will surely appear. By faith let me wrestle, and he will perform. With Christ in the vessel, I smile at the storm. There is no place, anywhere, anytime that God has promised us immunity from testing and trial. I say one of two things, we go down under it. We get bitter or better through that circumstance. And yet we know this, God never pulls any tricks. Either I say, Lord, I'm getting more than I can bear, or I look to him and say, thank you Lord, you've trusted me. Do you know why? Because he said, I won't put anything on you that you're not able to bear. And if I do do that, and I break under it, I'll tell you something, you don't get back to the place that you left by just saying a prayer. Just this past week I've meditated on this fact, that people so seldom are asked to repent anymore. And when they do, they just say, I'm sorry. But that is not it. Sorrow is not repentance. Repentance is loving the thing I've done, hating it. Actually it means a change of mind. For the sinner it means this, that when he's thought good of himself, and that God was ugly that he sent him to hell. The sinner says, God is right and I'm wrong. He's right if he sends me to hell. And I was walking this way in darkness. I step out of darkness into light. Out of the kingdom of Satan, into the kingdom of his dear son. I love that thing. And I believe there's what John Wesley preached on more than anything else maybe to believers. I don't know which was the most. One, he preached on the witness of the spirit. The second thing he preached on was repentance to believers. A godless sorrow. Again I say when we preach about sin, we say, well, sin will hurt you, and sin will hurt the person you commit sin with or against. But first of all, sin hurts God. It's a transgression against the law of God. And God is hurt. The crowd have left him. From that time forward, many of his disciples, verse 66, went back and they walked no more with him. Isn't that terrible? Do you think they realize that he was the holy son of God? As I say, I don't know how this affects you. I don't have to. I can only tell you what God told me. I'd rather have preached something else than nearly did. Can you imagine those people standing before the holiest man that ever lived? God incarnate? Sure, they said, in the 60th verse, many of his disciples when they heard this said, this is a hard saying. Ah, God's all right when he does things good for me. When everything's easy and it's smooth. Ah, I love the Lord. Now he looks after me. This is all these boys blow up on TV and radio. You know, I gave God a hundred dollars. Give me a thousand back. You know, I did this, I did that. Oh, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. Somebody taught like that the other day. I said, would you go home and read the fourth chapter of the first letter of Paul to the Corinthians and then go home and read the fourth chapter in the second letter to the Corinthians? Where Paul says, under this present hour we suffer need. You know, there's a church in the Revelation that swaggered because she did everything. I think of it when I see that old peacock that comes around our house. If any of you would like to take it, please come and get the thing. His wife with him. But you know, they stood up and down outside the house. It's a beautiful bird. It can't sing a note. And there's some little black bird or something flies up there in a tree in the morning and I listen. Man, man, man. Oh, it trills. It goes up and down. Reminds me of the English thrush or the nightingale. Yeah, the peacock does all the strutting. He doesn't even lay the eggs. He can't sing, but he shows off a lot. The church in the Revelation did exactly that. She was rich and increased in goods and she displayed all she had. Another church is very shy and says, you know, we're not like that number one church. We don't have the qualifications and the quality they have. We feel awfully inferior. Then the master comes up who runs the business. And he says, you're rich and increased in goods and you need of nothing and thou knowest not. You're naked, wretched, poor, blind, miserable. And he goes to the little church and says, I know thy poverty, but thou art rich. Oh, what a personality cult we have today. I was looking at 44th verse of the 5th chapter where it says, How can ye believe which receive honour one of another and seek not the honour that cometh from God only? Now, this may not mean much to you, but to me it does. Because, you know, you go to a meeting and somebody stands up and says, here's a brother who's written so many books and he's known this and he's that and the other. I don't let anybody introduce me anymore. I say, you just say, Leonard Ramey will speak. Keep all your adulation and all your honours for the next man. He loves it. I hate it. I'm just your brother. I happen to write a book or two. All right. God gave me privileges. All right. But I'm not strutting about it. Oh, we're so choked up honouring people. It takes 15 minutes to get through the honours list. As Dr. Tozer said in one great conference, I'm tired of going to conferences to watch men strut. I know that thou art rich. Thou art poor. I know thy poverty. Thou art rich. All the jewels that are for the soul, if we only find them. The precious things, as the book says, are the lasting hills. It calls them something else that we don't always like. It talks about the treasures of darkness. Oh, there are tunnels. Everybody has to go through it. Depends how you get through them. That's the issue. But you know when you've gone through them and you've proved God on every count and you come out and you feel you've got a lot of treasures you couldn't have gotten in any other single way. Jesus said a few hard words. Oh, they didn't say a thing when he fed the 5,000. They enjoyed it. In fact, they got so excited in that chapter they were going to make him king. This is the man we want. He answers our problems. This is socialized food. Everything is easy with this man around. And talk about the supernatural. Do you know he walked on the water yesterday? We were all breathless. Amazed. Now if it said some of the people left him it would be one thing. But it says many of his disciples when they heard these sayings they said this is a hard saying. Well, are we just after the sweet and not the bitter? Easy days and not the hard days? I say these men will be astonished when they stand at the judgment seat of Christ and see that they could touch him and handle him and walk with him and talk with him and they rejected him. Can you see them pale faced when they stand before billions of people at the judgment seat and say we didn't really understand you the son of God the rabbis and others were against you and we listened to other people's counsel. I admit sometimes I kept sure yes, this is the one that Isaiah spoke about. Yes, I stood in the crowd and I heard a man say behold the Lamb of God the most amazing thing I think any man was privileged to utter. And yet you see so many people counsel against you and other people said there have been magicians around like this oh, I'm blazing mad now and God sentences them because they rejected the son of God. How much harder will it be for us who have the total revelation of God? We should hear his voice? Sure. We should obey that voice? Sure. From that time many went back from following him. And so Jesus says to Peter and to the twelve will you also go away? And Peter answered him. It's like Peter he always seemed to have an answer ready to pop out didn't he? But I like his answer. Do you know what? It revealed two things. It revealed that Peter had shed any confidence in the existing system that he'd been following and it gladdened the heart of Jesus Christ because he realized he got through to him. Well, how do you know? Because Jesus had said in verse sixty-three it is the spirit that quickeneth the flesh profiteth nothing the words that I speak unto you they are spirit and they are life. You notice that? The emphasis of Jesus I am the way, the truth and the life. Not an easy life. It's a life that goes opposite to the way of the world. It's values are different. As long as you're in it they'll take pot shots at you every time. You won't always have an explanation. All you say is his life is in me and I'm following the life and the light that he gives me to follow him. The words I speak unto you they are spirit and they are life. Then Simon Peter answered him Lord to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. So he got through to him. And we believe and we're sure that thou art the Christ of God. I say I believe that made the heart of Jesus glad. That at least he got so far that he realized that Jesus Christ alone was the giver of life. I like that hymn again of Wesley's thou art life the fountain art Jesus you lover of my soul thou of life the fountain art freely let me take of thee spring thou up within my heart. If he springs up within my heart I'll fight everything that comes in my way that opposes his truth and righteousness. He'll give me discernment to realize you see I don't care which way Satan comes to you through bodily affliction through circumstances through national things or any other thing. I believe that the only one thing that Satan is after in your life and mine is to get me to deny God. Is to get me to believe that God is unjust and unholy. That God is unfaithful. And immediately I take that side I hurt the heart of God. To whom shall we go? Well we can apply that in the day in which we live can't we? Where will you go? If we lose faith if we lose confidence where do you go? Tell me where you go? Every exit is blocked. If God isn't real if his word isn't true if I can't stand it in the most crucial hour of my life well where will you go? Where will you go? Tell me where you'll go? And Peter has realized this look Lord there's nowhere else we can go. We come unto thee because thou hast the words of eternal life. Where do you go for hope? If God's word isn't true. It's the only light in the tunnel. His promises are yea and amen that aren't always unveiled to us maybe as we'd like. And there's surely a price to pay for knowing the complete total will of God. To whom shall we go? For thou hast the words of eternal life. Where shall we go for mercy if Jesus Christ can't give it to us? Where shall we go for pardon if his death is not efficacious for us? Where shall we go for rest? Where shall we go for joy? His word says in his presence there is fullness of joy and in his right hand there are pleasures forevermore. Again I say I'm challenged by a little school girl. She disturbed my thinking. A little weak thing that's left in a cave without communication for six solid months. I don't know how many days that is I didn't work it out. But if you work it out the days and then work out the hours and work out the minutes and think that that little thing is days and hours and months in a basement without relief without anyone to speak to her dreading every time the man moves that wretched door to come down there. And she says he works in mysterious ways his wonders to perform. That was the work of a man who was on his way to commit suicide. Everything had dropped against him shut him in on every side and he called a cab. He said to the cab driver drive me to so and so. And as they moved I guess it was in the city of London Calfer that wrote some of our loveliest hymns. I'm not sure whether he was saved or not at that time it doesn't matter. But this I know he had got to such a situation there was no way out. I think he was actually unsaved. And he said to the cab driver drive me to so and so intending to jump in the river Thames and drown himself. And between here and there a fog descended. Terrible London fog. We drove through one yesterday morning that slowed us down considerably. I'll tell you what I noticed that when we went down in the valley it was thicker fog but once you climb the heights no fog. I said Martha look there that looks like a lake over there do you know it's just fog low cloud lying in the valley. And it made me think of the hymn I'm pressing on the upward way I don't want to live in doubts and fears and depressions the devil will cheat me unless I'm careful. I'm made to live up there. Cowper got almost to the river. The man was taking too long and so he signaled on the top of the cab he was in the old fellow pulled the horse over and he put his head out and he said where are we? He said sir I don't know where we are. Well would you get down and see? Well it's a house. Ask where we are? He knocked on the door. Where are we? Oh they said this is the residence of Mr. Cowper. You call him Cooper maybe Cowper C O W P E R What? I drove all around the city and came back to my own door and he went in and wrote the wrote the wonderful hymn God moves in a mysterious way his wonders to perform he plants his footstep in the sea he rides upon the storm deep in unfathomable minds of never failing skill he treasures up his bright designs and works his sovereign will his purposes will come to pass unfolding every hour the bird may have a bitter taste but sweet will be the flower. The other day I shared some thoughts on a message I haven't preached except when I was here first I guess on the ego and the thing that the Lord stressed to my mind he stresses different things at different times I guess to all of us when we read the word and the thing that he stressed was this you know there's a slang phrase you see sometimes in some of these stores on the side of the road you know they've all kinds of signs that you can buy and one of them said if God seems far away who moves? pretty simple and pretty profound if I'm God's today when I'm riding success or riding anything else and suddenly the clouds enfold me and everything else and darkness comes who moves? I'm convinced of this I may not convince you and that's alright but I'm convinced of this if we waited on the Lord more we'd make less blunders both in mental decisions and spiritual decisions wait on the Lord and he shall strengthen thine heart and then suddenly says he adds again wait I say on the Lord listen I'm not saying it once I'm saying it twice I'm stressing it you know I said to the folk the other day it seems sometimes if we have to do something in a hurry we give God the brush off well I won't have any meditation now or time of prayer I'll do it at the end of the day and usually you know what we come home so tired we can't concentrate to do it and then we say I wish I'd done it I remember one day talking to a nurse at a hospital she said this and I've never forgotten it she said it straight as we stood there she said can I give you a verse I said yes she said well I got it recently and it blessed me and this was it in the morning rest your elbows on the windowsills of heaven and gaze upon your Lord then with that vision in your heart go forth to meet the day isn't that beautiful in the morning lean your elbows on the windowsills of heaven and gaze upon my Lord I'm telling you you know this but he's unchangeable God has no grudge in his heart against you God has no bitterness whom the Lord loveth he chastens man when I saw that man with some plasticine I used to work with plasticine you couldn't tell what I'd made unless I told you what it was afterwards but I looked at that horse the muscles there in its thighs the jawbones showing through ah he said but you see Len this is my beautiful horse it's from a famous quarter horse and he said I photographed it and he had it there everywhere blown up and he said I measure and he made a chart how thick its neck was and then it's fetlocks and working upward and he had everything there and he said I work everything nothing to chance everything must be done to scale well I'll tell you what I believe God is a greater sculptor than that man isn't it amazing I puzzle over it sometimes where at the end of the greatest hymn of poetry of love ever written the apostle says now we see through a glass darkly doesn't seem to fit in with the poem huh? it's like the end of the 23rd psalm where it says he anoints my head ah forget it that's not that's part of another poem it doesn't fit in there why doesn't it? well if you're only used to putting motor oil in your car maybe that's the only oil you know but what about anointing my head with oil? because in that day and in some countries still today the shepherd has a corral like this and he has a little gate it has no gate you see them on the hills of Scotland almost a complete circle and a little gap and the shepherd takes his plaid and he sleeps across the doorway so that no wolf or wild beast or anyone can enter in in the morning he lets those sheep come out and he knows his sheep by name and as they come out he takes oil a cow's horn full of oil and he rubs it on the head of the sheep and out they go for the day and when they come back at night very often as they've gone through the briars there they're torn you see they've so much wool they're protected everywhere else but they're not protected there on the forehead are they? usually sheep they're not protected and so when he pushes through a briar or something and he gets a cut immediately the healing oil goes in the oil goes in and if he doesn't get torn the sun stroke but you know we're protected the same Swami says the sun shall not smite thee by day nor the moon by night you know people die of moon stroke as well as sun stroke and God's ahead of everybody he says the sun shall not smite thee by day in other words in the days of prosperity you can keep your balance and the moon by night when the world breaks and it's as black as hell and there's nowhere and he says the sun shall not smite thee by day nor the moon by night I say it's almost arrogant to say this but every one of us here who know God this afternoon you're more precious to God than the crown jewels and nobody's ever stolen them they've stolen an awful lot of things they've stolen things nobody could steal but nobody ever touched the crown jewels they're watched, they're guarded, they're protected they're protected by living men they're protected by electricity they're insured for millions of dollars but we're more precious to God than crown jewels he doesn't get excited about them but he knows his own sheep and he knows the way we take and that blessed hymn says his wisdom and I love this I like to say it every day I need it his wisdom never faileth his sight is never dim he knows the way he taketh and I will walk with him everybody else is fallible we had a letter sent over today from a lady who is she's pretty well off in this life we haven't met her often we had dinner in their home one night they've a beautiful home and everything else I believe she inherited money but that's by the way saying that only to say this they've every creature comfort but she said in the letter Len, Martha if I'd known a year ago what I was going through this year oh, I couldn't have taken it you see that's part of God's wisdom what did the hymn writer say? I know not what awaits me God kindly veils my eyes but every step of my onward course he makes new scenes to rise you see he's got it all marked out and if we saw it it might scare us to death unless you say look I'm so rooted in God I'm not shaking for anything or anybody but she said this has been a very precious year it's been a year of discovery you know you've got to go very deep gold, I didn't see any gold on top of the streets in California or anywhere else we happened to go to Beverly Hills for something a man was going to get a lot of famous people around and oh, the jewels and the beautiful, beautiful china in the windows vases, you know dozens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars so what? I kind of smiled I looked at the Beverly the Wilshire Beverly Hills Hotel where all the big shots go and have all their functions and I thought it's all tawdry it's all tinsel it's all empty but the hymn writer says there's love and life and lasting joy Lord Jesus found in thee to whom shall we go? there's no other door open there's no door of mercy there's no door of forgiveness there's no door of cleansing there's no door for strength there's no more door for wisdom as I've been travelling this last few weeks more and more as I've been driving I've been saying Lord, there are not many things I want years ago I might have want no, no, no, no, no one is I'd like health and strength a little few more years in his mercy the other thing is I surely would like more wisdom from above we're gonna need it there are testings there are trials there are tribulations but there's nothing that God can't handle and as this woman said in a letter the year has been rough but I realise this that while I don't know what's coming I put my hand in his and when you put it there you can say lead on O King Eternal whether it's the valley or the heights whether it's gain or loss what difference does it make I have behind me the resources of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost I have the greatest book in the world this guide book sure there are testings but wasn't it the man who has tested as much as anybody who says when he has tried me I shall come forth as pure gold you say well the blood purifies us exactly the blood cleanses the heart correction cleanses the mind we have to learn we receive instruction and the more we saturate ourselves in this book the more we do as the blessed old hymn says take time to be holy be still and know that I am God they that wait upon the Lord shall exchange their weakness for his strength and his strength is made perfect in weakness usually if you're looking for something you look for the strongest you know God uses the weakest men I finish with this I think it was Hudson Taylor who was asked one day why he had been such a success why did God choose you he said because he was looking for the weakest man and I candidated because I had no confidence in my flesh I had no confidence in my ability I just came to him in total helplessness and said it's yours take it do what you will with it and I've obeyed him father we ask that like your servant Saul Paul that we may be able to say I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision we thank you again for all the resources there are in Jesus Christ your son and our saviour we're treading hostile ground we know we have an enemy that doesn't love us in one degree and we have a God who doesn't hate us in one degree that you will with the temptation you've said make a way of escape it doesn't come very often as quickly as we would like it's not the course that we would take but again we thank you that your wisdom never faileth and your sight is never dim we pray Lord as we walk with thee that we may day by day take time to be holy and as your word says through the psalmist wait I say on the Lord and again wait on the Lord for all your patience with us we give you thanks for all the possibilities of grace we give you thanks keep us looking to Jesus the author and the completer the finisher of our faith we promise to give you all the praise and glory in his name Amen