In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of staying faithful to God and not being enticed away by worldly distractions. He highlights the book of James as a powerful cry to those who have drawn away from their relationship with God. The speaker urges listeners to draw near to God and return to a tender walk with Him. The sermon emphasizes that anything other than a vital relationship with God is agony and encourages individuals to come back to God and avoid straying from the truth.

The Apostle John put it this way, I wept much because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon. And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not, behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has prevailed to open the book and to loose the seals thereof. And I beheld, and lo, in the middle of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a lamb as he had been slain. The lion and the lamb, our Lord Jesus Christ. Well, we are grateful for the presentation of his life and the implications of his redemption through the message that our brother Keith has been bringing to us, and I'm glad you are all here tonight to draw again from the fountain of the word of God, empowered by the Holy Spirit and taught by a faithful servant, and praying that as we learn tonight and as we are challenged tonight, the path in which we walk tomorrow will be a path of glory to our Father and blessing to a lot of others, especially to our unsaved friends. Would you welcome with me for our ministry tonight, Brother Keith Daniels from South Africa, faithful servant. Brother, you come. Thank you, sir. Thank thee, Father, for each one gathered here tonight in thy house out of love for Christ. Thank thee so many in this town love thee, that thou art busy with them in their lives. We thank thee, God, that the gates of hell shall not prevail against thy building, thy church. We thank thee for those who sang, honor them and bless them, for giving of their gifts. We thank thee, dear God, for our pastor and all I've heard of him, Lord, from so many. We worship thee for him and ask thee to bless him and his dear, gracious wife. Now, Lord, as we come before thee, seeking God to speak to us, we ask thee, Lord, in mercy, come. By the working of the Holy Ghost, make thy word living. The letter killeth, the spirit giveth life. Give life, O God, to this book, as only the Holy Ghost can. Come and mercy on me and wash me in the blood and anoint my lips and heart with the Holy Ghost. Quicken my mind and speak, Lord, to all hearts. Cleanse the atmosphere with the blood of Christ and hold us safe under the blood of Christ from all the powers of darkness. In Jesus Christ's name. Jesus Christ's name. There's a letter in the New Testament written by a man called James. Now, James is referred to in the Scriptures on a number of occasions as the brother of our Lord. The brother of our Lord. We find, on a number of occasions in the New Testament, he's referred to as the brethren of Christ and the sisters of Christ, the brothers and sisters of Jesus. James was one of them. Mary, that godly, holy woman, don't doubt that, after this miraculous, unconceivable thing—unperceivable—after God had come in fulfilling what Isaiah said in chapter 7, verse 14, Behold, a virgin shall conceive. Before Mary and Joseph were married, she conceived. This miracle, this miracle of God's choosing this godly, precious soul. Oh, behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel. The Hebrew word meaning God. God with us. God with us. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name God. God with us. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifested in the flesh. God was manifested in the flesh. Oh, after this amazing fulfillment of what God had told Isaiah would happen in 7, verse 14, Mary and Joseph were married at the command of God to Joseph. And they had a normal relationship like any husband and wife, a holy, normal relationship as God made you. A holy, holy thing. And they had other children, the brethren of Christ, the Bible talks of as they refer to them. The brethren, the brothers and the sisters of Jesus our Lord. Mary and Joseph's children were referred to on a number of occasions. James was one of them. The brother of our Lord. The brother of our Lord. The brother of our Lord, James, spoken of again and again in the New Testament. James had the privilege of growing up in the home where his elder brother was God, manifested in the flesh. He did not know this was his God. He thought this was his brother. But it must have been a staggering, awesome, amazing thing to live in that home. To live with the only man that was sinless from birth to death. The only man that was totally, utterly perfect in every reaction, in every word. It must have been the most heart-rending thing to look at this example and to wonder at the only man that was ever totally sinless in his home. James knew to have that man living in his home. Oh, it must have been staggering, but he still didn't know this was his God. He didn't know. Suddenly, suddenly, his brother starts to preach and to do miracles. But suddenly, within a short while, had the whole of Israel stunned. For never in the history of the world, in three years, never in the history of the world was anyone ever to do such miracles as this brother, suddenly. James was there, don't doubt it. Stunned. I can't even begin to comprehend what was going on in his mind as he heard words proceeding out of the mouth of his brother. Words proceeding out of the mouth suddenly that no man had ever spake like this, with such authority, with such clarity, with such revelation to the things of God, that the whole of Israel was staggering. It was affecting the whole land. Within a short while, no one was not aware that there was someone doing miracles at Elijah. No man had ever performed so many, so many amazing... James was there, I believe, broken, confused, stunned, unable to even comprehend what was going on, but looking in wonder. Here he was, listening to his brother and watching his brother with the thousands and thousands that were drawing from all over the land to look at these amazing events. But suddenly, I believe, a fear came in James' heart, as conscious of the jealousy of the religious leaders who had never ever had such revelation, had never ever had such revealings of the things of God, or had such grip by the people concerning the revelations from the heart of God to man. Never were they able to speak like this. The jealousy, the envy, the hatred that was stirring up in their heart as the crowd thronged to a vital, vital reality concerning the things of God. Oh, suddenly, he was conscious there was danger here, when he heard his brother in no uncertain way, in no uncertain way, proclaim that he was the Messiah. And something no one had ever dared to say about the Messiah, he was in no uncertain way implying that he was the Son of God, and that he was God. God. It was coming through loud and clear, and James knew, this is all these enemies of his are needing. This is all these enemies need it. Blasphemy. Oh, it must have rent the heart of James as the crowds began to be stirred up, as he began to see what was coming with all the other brethren and sisters, watching what was inevitable. As this brother of theirs was taken, taken, and the judgment placed upon him. Oh, as he saw his brother emerge, scourged, ripped apart, unable to bear a cross, his body opened, so open that he could not bear a wooden cross. He stumbled and sunk, thorns smashed into his head, blood. Oh, what was going on in the heart of James, as he looked at his brother? What is all this? As he saw them nailing the cross, the nails into the cross, and lifting him up, and the crowds, the darkness, suddenly sweeping across the earth. Such darkness has never been seen. Crying out, crying out as he stood there hearing his brother, saying it is finished, and dying. Oh, I believe the heartbreak, the confusion, the overwhelmed confusion must have brought this man into such terrible sorrow and grief as is indescribable, indescribable. We read the most staggering words about the brethren of Christ and about James, when Christ started to proclaim in no uncertain way that he was the Messiah and God, God. We read his brethren believed not on him. They didn't want what was coming, but this is blaspheme now. This is our brother. His brethren believed not. Where they turned to Christ, we don't know. The scriptures don't tell us. But I would say, almost without any doubt, that on hearing of his resurrection and no doubt seeing him, suddenly James realizes this is not his brother. This is his God. And his brethren turned to Christ. James turned to Christ as people like Peter stood in thousands now aware of the resurrection, the proof that this was God. Thousands daily turned to Christ. One of them was James, coming with an open heart, never, never again to refer to this as his brother, never again to refer to Jesus as his brother. From then onwards to the day he died for him, and he died for him, rather than deny him being God. He referred to him only as his Lord and his God, his Lord and his God. James was the one who suddenly began to stand out. So much so, something so took place in this brother of Jesus, something so took place in his heart that he stood out above all the apostles. He became revered above every apostle. It was to him whenever any controversy arose in the New Testament, all the other apostles, Paul included, the final word of authority was what James said. Again and again, it was to James they looked for the final. He surpassed somehow in authority through his holiness, through the way God took hold of his life by the Holy Ghost. He surpassed them all and was looked to with such awe and reverence by the entire Church, the thousands and thousands of Jewish converts who had turned to Christ, and by all the apostles themselves, including Peter and Paul. It was James they looked to. This man surged ahead spiritually, it seems, yet he clung to God and reality, and became a holy man of God, a holy man of God. And then the persecution started. Oh, suddenly men like Saul of Tarsus, who became Paul, enraged by the fury of the religious leaders from the high priest down, to try and stomp out this sect, this heretical sect that had risen up amongst the beloved Judaistic belief that was causing thousands to turn daily, thousands. The whole world was turning upside down when men realized this Christ that had been crucified, the miracles, they couldn't deny it as everything was put together, the scriptures were pouring out showing from the Old Testament how this must be done to him, how he would die, how he would rise from the dead three days later. Everything was being revealed suddenly in the light of what had happened. Now suddenly the whole New Testament becomes living, understood. And as they preached, thousands turning, the fears that crept hold as they realized how many of them were losing, losing, losing, that this was the Messiah when they didn't believe it was the Messiah, the leaders. They stirred up people like Saul, young Saul of Tarsus, zealous, zealous, and they tried to stomp them out. They began to stone them. Stephen stood and Paul stood by as they stoned them to death to try and stop. Oh, the persecution was unbelievable as it spread right across, throughout Jerusalem, right across Israel. They were just hounding them like dogs, to stamp them out, to do something to stop them, anything at any cost, to stop this, even death, stoning them. And so they spread. They fled from Israel. In their thousands and thousands, the first fruits of the church, the Jewish Christians, before the Gentiles were effectively being reached, they fled. They fled all across the Roman Empire. They fled, leaving home, leaving everything, just fleeing for their lives so that they could escape death that was certain. They fled to all parts of the Roman Empire, taking with them, taking with them the gospel. God knew what was happening. Taking with them the gospel, yes, but now, without the protection of the apostles, who remained in Jerusalem at this point. There they were with all that was going on. They remained in Jerusalem. And then God came upon James. The Holy Ghost took hold of this man and gave him such a burden for all these children of Christ, scattered throughout the Roman Empire. The burden that came upon him as God moved him to write what is believed by most scholars as the first epistle of all the epistles of the New Testament. The first ever moved by, as God moved a man to write that was to become part of the scriptures. God took hold of this man and the burden, the compassion, the throbbing, longing for them to be kept pure doctrinally, to be kept pure from becoming worldly or compromised. Every verse throbs with love that you seldom find on any page of the entire Bible as this book of James, this letter of James. But he knew, he knew, would be spread and taken and rewritten to all these Jewish converts, all these Christians, these Jewish people, scattered throughout the Roman Empire. And so this heart-burdened he writes, and he addresses his letter. He addresses his letter from James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting, greeting, my brethren, my brethren, count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations. This word means trials. My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations, knowing this, knowing this, that the trying of your faith, work with patience, but let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing, wanting nothing. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally and abradeth not, and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering, for he that wavers is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. A double-minded man, a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted, but the rich in that he is made low, because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. For the sun is no sooner risen with the burning heat, but it withereth the grass than the flower thereof falls, and the grace of the fashioned it perishes. So also shall the rich man fade away in his ways. Blessed is the man that endureth temptation. Again the word trials. Blessed is the man that endureth temptation, for when he is tried he shall receive the crown of life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempted be any man. But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin, and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren. Do not err, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of life, with whom is no variableness by the shadow of turning. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth. Of his own will gave he us birth, wrought he a new birth, made he us his child. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a firstfruits of his creatures. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath, for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. Wherefore, lay apart all filthiness, lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass. For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgeteth what man of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. This man shall be blessed in his deed. If any man among you seem to be religious, if any man among you seem to be religious, and brideleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain. This man's religion is vain. Pure religion, and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. Pure religion, and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons? For if there come unto your assembly a man of the gold ring and goodly apparel, and there cometh also a poor man in vile raiment, and ye have respect to him that wears the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place, and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool. Are ye not impartial in yourselves, and become judges of evil thoughts? Hearken, my beloved brethren, hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him? But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seat? Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by which ye are called? If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scriptures, thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well. But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law's transgressors. For whoso shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. So speak ye, and so do as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty. For he shall have judgment without mercy that has sold no mercy, and mercy rejoices against judgment. What does it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warm and filled, notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body. What does it profit, even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone? Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works. Show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works. Thou believest that there is one God, thou doest well. The devils also believe and tremble, but wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works? And by works was faith made perfect, and the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God. Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, not by faith only. Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead. Also, my brethren, be not many masters, teachers of the oracles of God, the modern says. Self-constituted preachers, John Calvin says. Self-appointed preachers who weren't ordained by God, John Calvin says. My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body. Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths that they may obey us, and we turn about their whole body. Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and have driven the fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, with a servant to govern and lift us, even so the tongue is a little member, and boasts of great things. Behold, our greater matter, a little fire kindling, and the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. So is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and set it on fire, the course of nature, and it is set on fire of hell. For every kind of beast, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind, but the tongue can no man tame. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we God, even the Father, and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. Doth a fountain send forth of the same place sweet water and bitter? Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? Are there divine figs? So can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh. Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion. And every evil work where envying and strife is, there is confusion, and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. From whence come wars and fightings among you? Come they not hence even of your lusts at war in your members? Ye lust and have not. Ye kill and desire to have and cannot obtain. Ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask and miss that ye may consume it upon your lusts. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Do ye think that the Scripture saith in vain, The Spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? Do ye think that the Scripture saith in vain, The Spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? What? He giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. He shall lift you up. Speak not evil one of another brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judges his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judges the law. But if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy. Who art thou that judgeth another? Who art thou that judgeth another? Go to now, ye that say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy, and sell, and get gay. Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this or that. But now ye rejoice in your boastings. All such rejoicing is evil. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. Therefore to him that knoweth, that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. Go to now, ye rich men. Weep and howl for your miseries as have come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered, and the rust of them shall be a witness against you. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields. It is you kept back by fraud cries, and the cries of them which have reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Samoas. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanted. Ye have nourished your hearts in the day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and killed the just, and he does not resist you. Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold the husbandman waitseth for the precious fruit of the earth, and has long patience for it, until he receive the early and the latter rain. Be ye also patient. Establish your heart, for the coming of the Lord draws nigh. Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned. Behold the judge standeth before the door. Take, my brethren, the prophets who have spoken in the name of the Lord for an example of suffering, affliction, and of patience. Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, as the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy. But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath, but as your yea be yea, and your nay nay, lest ye fall into condemnation. Is any among you afflicted? This word afflicted means cruelly treated, unjustly treated, for your faith, for your righteousness. Is any among you afflicted? Do you know what he says, just three words? We'd expect a little commentary, but he just says three words. This is all God wants you to do, and all you need to do to survive, no matter what the devil would do to destroy you. Three words. Is any among you afflicted? And James, the holiest, godliest of them all, it seems, if not in the most certainly the most revered of all the apostles, he says these three words to you. Is any among you afflicted? Let him pray, let him pray. Is any merry? Let him sing songs. Is any sick among you? Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up. And if he has committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another that he may be healed. By the way, confess your faults physically in this context. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another that he may be healed. The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months, and he prayed again, he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit. Brethren, if any of you, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him, let him know that he which converted the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins. Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him, let him know that he which converted the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins. This book of James, the letter of James, has become one of the most controversial of all the books in the Bible, if not the most controversial. One would say perhaps Romans is the most controversial, but through the ages more blood flowed through this book in the name of Christianity than any other single letter in the Bible or book. You see, James made a number of statements here that caused tremendous, tremendous controversy with Rome. James made this statement that we discussed the very first night we gathered here, I think it was Wednesday night. Just briefly I mentioned to you about this one passage concerning where James says, what is the prophet, my brethren, though a man say he has faith and have not works? Can faith save him? We found out and we looked carefully, and I'd like just to briefly explain to you, in case there were those of you that were not here, because I don't want you to walk out here confused, not looking in the light of other scriptures, but in one or two minutes I say this. James had no controversy with Peter, with Paul, whose teachings were clear. It is by grace he is saved through faith, not of works, not of works. It's the gift of God. To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted to him for righteousness. Not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. James had no controversy, no argument with Paul. Don't doubt that. Don't doubt that. You might, when you first go through the Bible, like Luther did, and Luther made the terrible mistake of saying this is an epistle of straw, as Rome stood up with her theological champions to defend their cause and their doctrine, and they said, look at the book of James, if you say you're not saved by works, which Luther said is of the devil to say such a thing. Look at the book of James! Luther made the terrible mistake of saying it's an epistle of straw. He implied it was not divinely inspired. Now you have to have mercy on Luther. He had no documents written by evangelical scholars that we can sit under and to sort things out whether there are controversies or difficulties in the Bible. Luther, of course, later on apologized to the whole world and he said I've made a terrible mistake. When he suddenly realized there's no controversy here. You see, when I was first saved and I came across Romans 9, I wept. How could God save us? What does this mean? Everything contrary to what I believed in my God. When I looked at different passages in the Bible, I couldn't explain them. They seemed to contradict so much of all I did embrace. But that wasn't the Bible's fault. That's me. God can't just suddenly burst light into your heart, sir, and you know everything. No! A few years later, a few times more through the Bible, suddenly I sat and I said, oh, now I understand. Light comes more and more as we delve into the scriptures. There's no such a thing as a controversy in this book. There's no such a thing as a contradiction. Not one single verse, friend. Can you honestly? Let me tell you, at times, because of your limited light, you would say such things as Luther did. But later on, as more light came, Luther realized, no, this is what Peter said. This is what Jesus said. This is what Paul taught. There's no controversy. He realized, no, James did not say that you're saved by works. No, you're saved by faith. But you're not saved unless your faith works. And that's what James said. That's what Jesus said in Matthew 7, 17. That's what John said, 1 John 3. That's what the whole New Testament cries out. You're not saved. You're saved by faith, not by works. But you're not saved unless your faith works. And I could go to other controversies that have raised and caused incredible bloodshed. Amazingly, the Bible causes that when people of extremes held on to doctrines. But I'd like to bypass every controversial statement he made. And I'd like to do that for one reason. I'd like to get to the heart of this letter. Because as I've gone through this letter, prayerfully, on my knees again and again and again and again and again, I came to understand that there's one throbbing cry in this book. Every single verse that we get stuck on. And for my doctrines around those few verses and raids and doctrinal issues, no, the whole book throbs with one single heart cry from James. And I'd like to somehow, by God's grace, show that to you tonight. You see, I do not know of a more awful cry to those who have become unfaithful to God as this cry from this epistle. I do not know of a more awful cry to those who have become unfaithful to God as this cry from this epistle. In his last thought, in chapter 5, verse 19, he says, Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, or in the more modern translations, if any of you stray from God, if any of you has drawn back and wandered from God, I wonder how many people sitting here tonight have erred from the truth. James asks in chapter 4, verse 5, Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The Spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? Do you think that the scripture saith in vain that the Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost, that God has put in you is jealous? Do you think God says that in vain in the book? The Holy Spirit that God has put in you is jealous? He's jealous. In chapter 1, verse 27, he says, Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the world. Oh, God is jealous of us. God is jealous of us and to those of us who have not kept ourselves unspotted from the world, James cries out in chapter 4, verse 4, Ye adulterers and adulteresses, knowing that the offensive of the world is enmity with God, you become unfaithful to God. Tell me, beloved, have you kept yourself unspotted from the world? That's all that matters. Have you kept yourself pure or do you sit here tonight and your peace with God has become spotted by the world? Your testimony has become spotted and tenderness with God? You've drawn away. It wasn't God's fault. It wasn't God's fault that no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tenderly any man, but every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Then when lust is conceived, it brings forth sin. Oh, the devil enticed you as he saw you there when you were vitally real. He trembled. He trembled. Do you remember when you were real? Do you remember when you were real? When you did more damage to Satan than a man with degrees behind his name, because all that he knew was all up here, not just that it is you had was here and every step you took, you did more damage to Satan. He trembled. He saw what you were doing for the kingdom. Reality is all that matters in this religion, sir. Reality and Satan trembles. Do you remember when you were real? Do you remember when your quiet times were real? Can every one of you please remember when nothing would keep you from prayer? Nothing would keep you from the Bible, no television, nothing, not even church activities. Nothing would keep you from God. Nothing would make you neglect God. Do you remember when you were real? Do you remember when you used to take the pen, sir? God remembers. Do you remember when you used to mark? Oh, you used to mark it and put the date. This isn't just coincidence. God's speaking to me. This book becomes a living miracle. God's speaking to me. You marked and you marked all the verses as they burned into your soul and you became conscious of God. God communing with me. God literally speaking. It's living. And suddenly you look back and you realize every single verse you've marked on the whole page, the whole Bible throbbing. Everything was throbbing. Do you remember when you were real with God? Do you remember when you testified? Nothing could stop you testifying. Oh, so little wisdom for all that fire. That's all God needed. Do you remember the trail of damage you did against Satan? Nothing, with all your limited knowledge, but just the burning truth in your... Do you remember? God remembers. God remembers. He's jealous. Do you think he says it in vain? Have you gone and let the world mar you and drawn away? Oh, the devil saw you and he trembled and he worried and he looked at the damage you were doing. And in all his thousands of years of knowing how to handle men and how to make them fall, he did everything. What can I do? He looked at your everything, every weak spot in your life. And he put something there to entice you. What was it, sir, that drew you away from that walk with God? What did the devil put into your life to entice you? It was him, you know. It wasn't God. Don't blame God that you didn't have enough grace to stay real. It was the devil who enticed you in his worry, his fear of what you were doing. And you, oh, you were enticed. You'd drawn away your own lust. You allowed it to conceive and bring forth a sin. And look at the state you're in now. You've drawn away from vital reality with God through the devil enticing you away from that walk when you allowed what he was saying to happen. Was it the television, sir, that drew you away from the quiet times? What was it the devil used, sir, in your life that made you draw away from that tender walk with God? And in this religion, sir, anything other than vital reality is agony. You can't be a Christian unless you're vitally real without being in agony. Agony. You've drawn away. If anyone sitting here tonight knows it's the truth of their lives, that what James is speaking about here and crying out to you, you've done. If you've drawn away, then I have the most glorious message from the heart of God right in the book of James for this man who cries out in chapter one of those that have drawn away when they were enticed and they have no tender walk with God anymore. Those who've drawn away, he cries out in chapter four, verse eight, draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you. Come back to God. You've drawn away. Come draw back now. Draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you. Let the devil be a liar. Call the devil a liar. Call men a liar, but don't call God a liar. If you're sitting here tonight in the context of what God is speaking of and you know, you know this man's not twisting a word. This is what God's saying to me if I'm guilty. God says to you, don't call him a liar. Don't doubt him. I don't care how far you've gone. I don't care how far the devil drew you away. I don't care how destroyed your testimony is through the world that you've compromised with. God says to you in his jealousy of what he wants back, what he wants new from your life. In his jealousy, he says, come back. Don't doubt me. God isn't going to lie. He cannot lie. Draw nigh to me and I'll draw nigh to you, child. I don't care how far you've gone. I'll draw back to you. I'll give you back the walk you knew. Listen, listen to the greatest appeal in the entire scriptures, in case you don't believe in appeals, by the way, James did. The greatest appeal in the whole Bible to the backslider from the heart of God, he is in this chapter. Chapter four, verse four, the adulterers. Listen carefully to this appeal. Step by step of what God says you do and he'll bring you back to a closer walk than you ever knew before. No matter how far you've gone, you can find reality again if you're willing to this. The adulterers and adulteresses he starts with. He's not speaking here about people being unfaithful to their wives, by the way, or their husbands. That has nothing to do with what James is speaking. You are unfaithful to God. You're his child. You're the bride of Christ. You've been washed in the blood. He dwells in you. The spirit of God is in you. But in spite of all that, with the Holy Ghost in you, you've become unfaithful to God. You're a grief to God. The adulterers and adulteresses. Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Ever whosoever will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. You stand there with the enemies of God. What are you doing? What they enjoy. You're standing there enjoying the things the enemy of God. You place yourself there with the enemies of God and what you're enjoying and what you're doing again and what you're trying to fill up life with. What you're touching, what you're tasting, what you're handing, you should never touch. Why don't you name the name of Jesus? The adulterers and adulteresses. There they stand in the galleries of heaven watching you as you stand singing the praises of God in this church. They watch you as you walk out while the church is in watching. You stand with the devil's people and you take what they enjoy. Whether it's on the or in a cinema or in music that's devilish or in books and magazines or places you frequent that you saw anybody seeing you come in and you'd never be able to carry the name of Christ again in your life. No one would believe you but you're going in, going in. Oh, you adulterers, they cry as they watch you walk out of the church back to that adulteress house. You've become unfaithful to God. Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Do you think that the scriptures say if in vain the spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? Do you think that the scripture says in vain that the Holy Spirit that God has put in you is jealous? Is jealous? But oh, this is what makes James so holy. He can't wait to cry this. He couldn't spare to make people know that they've got to act now fast and ruthlessly with life before life's gone and any moment left to be real and meaningful to God. But, he says, even if you're guilty of all this, and that you certainly are, if you haven't kept yourself unspotted from the world, lady, but don't give up, child. He hasn't given up on you, but he giveth more grace. The next verse says he hasn't given up trust now. There's all the grace you need to come back. He hasn't given you up. He can't. He so loves you, so wants back what you once gave him. He giveth more grace. He giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. You see, you've got to humble yourself, God said. If you're too proud, sir, to publicly say it's me, but all I said I am. I've betrayed God with my life and I'm a grief to him. Here come the conditions now. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. God promises you. All the powers of heaven will make Satan's hold on you, no matter how far he's got you to go back into the world. God will simply put him to flight. You have the authority of God Almighty, and if you don't believe God can do that, then you know nothing of God. Satan has nothing, nothing, that God, can't stop in one second, totally, and put him to flight. The moment you give God the right to, and God says you give me the right to do that, when you do this, submit yourselves to God. Come back again, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Tonight, show the devil you're going to act toward God. Draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you. Draw nigh to God tonight and he will draw nigh to you. Don't doubt him now, don't call him a liar, he's waiting. You say, how could you doubt me, that I could stop the devil and take and transform you and give you back a holy walk, a vital reality, a tenderness where the whole Bible becomes living again, where your testimony becomes throbbing again, where nothing will make you miss God in the mornings or the nights, or every moment you can spare, nothing will make you miss God in telling the world in the way you used to, there's more wisdom now. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, he's not speaking here to the unsaved sinners, he's speaking to you, you who are backslidden, you who've got... Cleanse your hands, ye sinners. Oh God, when I look at the things I've done, when I look how far I've gone, Lord, though thy Holy Spirit is in me, oh God, cleanse me. If we confess our sins, his faithful and just to forgive us our sins, to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Come, confess, child, confess tonight by the blood. I need cleansing. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. God, I don't only want to be cleansed from these things and the guilt of them, I want the blood to go deep and cleanse that which has caused me to draw away from you. Oh, create in me a clean heart, oh God, renew a right spirit within me. Renew a right spirit within me, create in me a clean heart, purify your hearts, let the blood go deep, God. I don't just want to be washed from the consequences of the guilt of it, I want thee to wash me and create in me a clean heart again. Oh, let the blood go through and through and through and through and through and through, Lord. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. Be afflicted and mourn and weep. Can you imagine saying that in the pulpit of God today? Even in the evangelical church, can a man get away when you only want to be happy-clappy? So long as you keep them happy in everything, no matter what. So long as they're happy, even if they're compromising, even if they're backstabbing, even if they're in sin and wickedness, don't offend. No, can a man dare to stand in the pulpit and say, be afflicted and mourn and weep? Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heaven. You have no right to laugh, lady, if you're guilty. You have no right to laugh and have joy in the house of God when you're a grief to God, when you walk out that door and you drag him into such pain. You've never experienced such excruciating torment as the Holy Ghost, who's able to be grieved like you have an own grief for God and begs you don't grieve the spirit. Oh, be afflicted and mourn till I give you guilt and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he shall lift you up. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he shall lift you up. You who need to do that, I want you to stand. That's going to cost you. And I'm going to pray for those who stand. You who need to say, oh, that is going to cost it, oh, to humble yourselves, that he will lift you up, child. Come, I want you to start walking forward, those of you that are. Come. Let's stand in the front here. Come. No music. Just you and God to humble yourself. Show him. Let me tell you something. Satan is trembling. The powers of hell are trembling. When they know what's going to happen now and you're going to cause more damage than has ever been caused before in your life, before you were backstabbing, before you became a grief to God, before you compromised at the television, before you compromised in any way and became spotted by the world. You didn't keep yourself unspotted from the world. Satan's trembling. Don't doubt that. But I guarantee you from my heart, if you pray this prayer from your heart, God cannot lie. His honor is at stake. His integrity is at stake right now in your life. Don't doubt this. God, God will make you holy, vital, pure of heart and hand and life, and he'll take a hold of you again in the most wonderful way. Your next step will be holy, and your next step, and your next step. You're going to start thrilling heaven again in your quiet time. You're going to start becoming conscious that heaven is smiling and standing still. It's so precious what they see coming from your heart again. God's going to enable you. Bow your heads now. Not with your lips, please, lady. Please, sir. That doesn't matter to God. With your heart, please, just say, Lord, these words this man is praying, this is my prayer, God. And God, the liquor of the hearts will not turn you away, I guarantee you. I guarantee you. My God, have mercy on me that I became unfaithful to thee. While I carried the name of Jesus in the church and sang the praises and had joy singing, when I walked out there, heaven cried out, you're unfaithful. You're going out to the enemies. Doing what they do when the church is not locked. Forgive me, God. My God, in shame, in shame, I humbled myself before thee. But I don't care what the cost, Lord, though many are watching me, though my wife's watching me in shock. All that matters to me, God, is that thou dost restore me, restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. Please, God, forgive me. I looked at the blood to cleanse away everything I did that hurt thee so much, every neglect of the times I should have given thee. If I truly loved thee as I ought to have, I would never have gone to someone else. I would have gone to thee. Lord, forgive me for neglecting the quiet times, the Bible, for loving the TV more than the Bible. Forgive me that I had anything that I loved more than thee, Lord. Wash me in the blood, God, from everything I've done that grieved thee, that caused such jealousy and grief in thy heart that no man has ever felt. No grief has ever been felt as much as thy grief on me, Lord, by any human that loves me. My God, please, forgive me. Wash me now in the blood of Christ from all these things, and wash my heart, Lord. Create in me a pure heart, O God, a pure heart, a clean heart by the blood. Go through and through with the blood to create in me, for out of the heart come all these things. Fill me afresh with the Holy Spirit. Please, God, take complete control of me. I don't wait for emotions. I refuse to believe thou wilt not do this. I refuse to believe God is capable of not doing this. Thou art doing this for me, Lord, for I have thy word as the authority, and thy word cannot lie. My God, I put my hand in thy hand tonight, and I ask thee to keep me from ever falling away again, ever compromising again, no matter what I lose, no matter who I lose as friend, no matter how I have to discipline life, but especially in the quiet time, Lord, for if I never neglect the quiet time again, I'll never go back to these places. I'll never do these things that grieve God again. If I give thee that time, I will protect that time with my life. More than anything I protect in life, every day of my life, I will guard that time with God, for I know that I will never ever fall away again and grieve thee if I don't neglect the quiet time. Make it real again, Lord, so that I love it more than anyone's company or anything that I love thy company, and can't wait to get to it. Do it, Lord. Keep me now, my God. Keep me, that I may keep myself from being spotted by the world again, that I may keep myself pure for Christ's sake, and because I love thee with all my heart and soul in Jesus Christ's name. Can we all stand in this congregation, please? Beloved, you who stood in the frontier, somebody appeals, I make a heart, but I tell you something, the love God feels for you now that you were willing, in spite of the cost of his appeal publicly, you are the apple of God's eyes. You're the treasure of this God of mine. You filled heaven with such joy that if you just knew, all of us would burst into worship, joining them at what is happening right now in the heart of God and the angels. Don't doubt that. You're so much to God. Go now in the love of Christ, and never let it happen again. He gives you the grace. He'll give you all the grace you need to walk with God through this world to your last step. If you never neglect the quiet time now, that's going to guard what you found here again tonight. The devil won't ever be able to take this away from you if you never neglect the quiet time. The quiet time, soak yourself in it every day, in prayer. Tomorrow morning, I believe quarter past nine is the first service. They have two services here, and I think at half past ten finishes, call it to eleven the second service. I don't know how I'm ever going to get through in the short time. Your ministry is so gracious. I'm hoping and praying he's going to somehow make all the time I need by shortening the preliminaries. I don't know how we can do without all the lovely singing, but if this gracious man of God who leads us could lead us in one hymn, I don't know, and a choir one hymn, and a short prayer, and the announcements. I don't know if that's possible. If it's not, God will help me. I'm going to ask your minister to have mercy on me, and I know he will, because he is so gracious. I really mean that, and I'd like you to come tomorrow. The second meeting, I believe, is at quarter to eleven, half an hour, quarter of an hour after this we leave the first session, and I'll be preaching the same message. If I can't get through it in the first session, you'll have to come to the second session, and we'll get through the second, okay? I'd like to bring a message that has brought thousands and thousands and thousands across this world to try to walk with God in fruitful ministry, and I thank God for that, and only your prayers and only God's grace will bring anointing to who is so unworthy, but who loves God for the privilege of standing in the pulpit. Woe is me if I preach not the gospel. Please pray for me as you prayed for me today. Do you know, I found the strength surging into my body and my mind today in a miraculous way, and I just said, Lord, they're praying. You were praying, weren't you? You should have seen how God equipped me. I think I could preach for another month or so after this, if we all prayed. Now pray again for tomorrow, please. I love you with the love of the Lord for bowing before God tonight, but I don't love you. If you knew the love he felt for you, if you could see Jesus Christ's face in one moment, his eyes looking at you, you'd never have another fear till the day you died, if you saw how much you mean to him. Without a word, if Christ could just look at you tonight, you'd walk out of here screaming with confidence. Don't doubt now this God that you came to, because he told you to. He won't, he won't leave you. I will never leave you, no forsake. I will never. I am with you till the very end, to the last. Our minister will commit us to God, please. You come if you can, especially to the second session tomorrow at quarter to eleven. Thank you, sir. Father, we give you thanks for the love, the patience, the power that you have for us, through us, toward us, and in forgiving us, cleansing us, and purging us. And may it be that as we walk out of this place of worship tonight, into the place of continuing worship and service, that we may be salt and light to the world of corruption about us. And we give you thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen. May God bless you richly as you go out to find his truth applied in your life. Good night.