This sermon emphasizes the importance of standing firm in faith and not being shaken by the winds of moral decay and societal pressures. It highlights the powerful ministry of John the Baptist and Jesus, showcasing the miracles and truth that validate their divine authority. The message calls for repentance, obedience to God's word, and a plea for God's mercy and intervention in the face of moral decline and spiritual apathy.

We now present the Lord's Challenge, our weekly broadcast, bringing God's invitation to people everywhere. This is an international broadcasting ministry which is being used of God to bring blessing to many people. Joshua Daniel, who will be speaking in a moment, urges you to stay tuned and listen to the Lord's Challenge, and to reach out and touch the loving Savior. Now we shall turn to Luke 7th chapter, and how religion and religious observances have become a kind of third-rate game, not like soccer, I'm arguing. Soccer is first-rate game, full of dedicated players. Religion is a third-rate game, and we shall play that game. You know, here we see from the 16th verse, and there came a fear on all, and the glorified God saying that a great prophet is risen among us, and that God has visited his people. And this rumor of him went forth throughout all Judea, and throughout all the region round about. And the disciples of John showed him of all these things. And John calling unto him, two of his disciples sent them to Jesus, saying, Art thou he that should come, or look we for another? When the men were come unto him, they said, John Baptist has sent us unto you, saying, Art thou he that should come, or look we for another? And in that same hour he cured many of their infirmities and plagues, and of evil spirits, and unto many that were blind he gave sight. Then Jesus answering said unto them, Go your way and tell John what things you have seen and heard. How that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached. And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me. Now when the messengers of John were departed, he began to speak unto the people concerning John. What went you out into the wilderness for to see? A reed shaken with the wind? And what went you out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they which are gorgeously apparelled and live delicately are in king's courts. But what went you out for to see? A prophet, yea, I say unto you, and much more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before your face, which shall prepare your way before you. For I say unto you, among those that are born of women, there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist, but he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he. What went you out into the wilderness for to see? A reed shaken with the wind? Well, this is the question which the Lord asked. What did you go out to see? Mark you, my dear friends, in the midst of the heat of the battle and in the midst of the fury of the winds and the trends which assail us, we tend to become like reeds. You know, the reed has its place. If the reed and the quill never met, we would be barbarians. You know, the Bible speaks of the paper reed. So, the parchments were made of reed. So, the reed has its uses, but also in the 29 chapter of Ezekiel and the sixth verse, the Bible speaks of the weakness of the reed. 29 chapter of Ezekiel and six and seven, and all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the Lord, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel. You know, you can make a reed a staff. So, when they took hold of you by thy hand, thou didst break and rend all their shoulder. And when they leaned upon you, thou breakest and madest all their loins to be at a stand. So, it's no good leaning upon reeds. You know, John was in prison. He had a tough life. It's amazing. Christians don't, those that call themselves Christians, let me say, don't look at all for a tough life. You ask a soccer player whether practicing and playing for a nation is tough. They will tell you that you will never make it. Most Christians will never make it. Why? The very idea is wrong. God is going to give me this. God is going to give me a free ride. God is going to put me in a nice Hawaiian hammock to swing with the lullabies of this world. I don't know what the idea is, but when Jesus called his disciples, he said, if any man will follow me, let him deny himself. That's exactly what we do not want. This wife is no good. I'll take another. And the man can be even a pastor. Or this husband is no good. I will go to my the sixth man now. And that same woman will set up as a pastor or something. It's simply shocking. Moral reeds are supposed to be leaders today. It is sad that Britain cannot be shocked into some sense before it reels like a madman into the grave which it is digging herself. It is sad that the Christian trumpet is so muted and people can get so cowardly they cannot speak the truth and stand for something. John stood for something. He stood for righteousness. The publicans and those that were not easy to bring at all to repentance were brought to repentance. You know, folks, we need to keep our moorings intact till our last breath. No regrets. You know, I never regretted following Jesus. How can I? On the contrary, I always wonder and wonder in public how God can still choose a foolish fellow like myself and how he can be so patient, so long-suffering, so tender. You know, my dear people, on the contrary, we see disgruntled people. You know, they are disgruntled about this or that. You know, I can't see that God's spirit will ever lead you into a state of just pointing your finger at somebody else. Never. When you look at Jesus, you'll point your finger at yourself. When you look at others, you will fall to blaming everybody else. When you start looking at people, that's what you will do. You'll be far from repentance, far from God. Now, in the midst of Jesus' labors, when these messengers came, the master's reply was, go and report what you have heard and seen. Right before your eyes, the lepers are cleansed, the sick are healed, the blind see, and the lame walk, and the dead are raised, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. You know, it is complained, pardon me, it's complained that in East London, there are people who live ghetto style. You know, some 12 people in a room. Now, this is nothing new. In the times of General Booth, he deplored the condition of the poor, and actually he began to settle some of them outside the country. Yes, the poor have the gospel preached to them. Now, we see how the great flood of immigrants that have come into this country have been largely ignored. And what did they do? They brought their own systems, their fetishes, their street dancing, which amounts to naked dancing in many cases. And as someone has been complaining, there are no go places in Britain where a citizen cannot go with his normal clothing. In other words, two laws, two sets of laws operate in this country, you know, and it is disaster to any country when its sovereignty is jeopardized. No self-respecting country will jeopardize its sovereignty. But you know, when your moral fiber becomes so lax and flaxy, then nothing seems to bother you at all. What do Christians stand for? All right, here we have a state religion. People are paid to preach. Mark you, dear friends, when people tell me, we will give you so much money if you come and preach in our country or something, I will tell them, look, because you mentioned money, I will never come. But it is a paid profession, whether you have a heart religion or not. Even people like John Bunyan, who had a heart religion, could not operate without being thrown in prison in those old days. All right. But a state religion, which means the Bible is read every Sunday. Mark you, we are not reading Marx. We are reading the Bible in the parish church, meant for the whole populace. And that same set of standards in the prayers, the liturgy for which the country's government is responsible, are trampled after that single hour. How can you have that? All right, Romans first chapter is for all of us to read, because they would not know God. God gave them up. So, in that connection of reprobation, homosexuality, together with other sins, is mentioned, particularly homosexuality. Now, can you conceive of that being read on a Sunday morning and can't respect paid to it, even amongst the members of the legislation, the rulers? No. In other words, you have got two sets of laws. The one which is paid for by the taxpayer is not upheld on the street. And why do I pay my taxes? The taxpayer's money is being utilized for upholding the word of God. And that is the constitution of the country, until the constitution is completely bowled over. And so, anybody who offers his protest at the evil that is going on, and the decimation of the nation, after all, homosexuality is decimation. Let's face it. It's the decimation of the population. All right. But should you mention it? Well, there are many who say they are offended. Why? You should not see the other side of the picture. Are we going to have some kind of thought control and freedom of expression is only going to apply to a certain group of lawbreakers? Now, these are all very, very strong trends, which are right before our faces. Look, friends, look, as long as I have the Bible before me, I will preach the word of God, whether they will hear or whether they will forbid, whether they will curse, or whether they will take up stones. My dear friends, to be offended about the things of God is a serious matter. See, reduce Britain to a reed, is that possible? Some of you certainly don't know British history. Some of you do not know how great sacrifices were made here in England for the truth of God's word, how blood was spilled and the fires at the stake were kindled and accepted fearlessly for the sake of the truth. My dear friends, when you fill a whole land with a bunch of people who are moral nitwits, what, what would you expect? They do not know the heritage of faith. They don't know the word of God. You know, at least in this context, it is right for me to use the word hell-bent on destroying the nation. Well, is not a voice to be raised? Is not the truth of God to be presented? No matter, it begins with a few, but a light lightened or a fire kindled by the spirit of God, we know not what it will do. Did you go to see a reed shaken by the wind? That's what the Lord Jesus asked. Today, the Lord Jesus can well ask us, will you sit comfortably on the galleries of retreats and churches and witness as a helpless reed shaken by the wind, the moral decay and destruction of a great nation? Yes. God can ask me, you know, as a matter of fact, I've been somewhat fearful this time to venture upon this retreat to preach at this retreat because I was checking my credentials. Am I fit for this job or am I only going to talk once again a nice set of beautiful messages? Listen, friends, quickly returning to slumber after the retreat is over is no way to treat God's word. No way at all. A reed shaken with the wind. God's children certainly do better than that. They stand before contrary winds. They overcome. That principle of the resurrection works in our inward being. Nobody can get us down. That's it. Anybody may try. Nobody can get us down because there is the principle of the resurrection. We rise again. We are up again. We overcome. We can be knocked out for the count, but I cannot come to terms with a religion that seems to take us nowhere, you know, in the course of this month. You know, from the end of June, towards the end of June, I was in Kashmir. Earlier on, I was preaching the borders of Burma. Dangerous places, but the Lord is reaching souls that have never been touched. The young people are being raised up in so many quarters. My, are you going to tell me that Britain is going to be the solitary exception, that no trumpet of the gospel will waken the nation, that death has taken such a strong hold upon the nation, that resuscitation is impossible? No, my beloved friends. The power of the resurrection can never be neutralized. Once that power comes into your life, you will rise. You will rise above the tide. The worst currents will not get you out of course. Now, that's my experience. That's the experience of many who have fought harder battles than we have ever seen. We have conditioned ourselves to be a soft people, and all we want of religion is lollipops. Lollipop religion. That's all we want. Give me a lollipop. The Lord Jesus never came to give us lollipops, and to return us to the cradle. So, we see how the Lord Jesus sent word. But at the same time, the Lord Jesus also said, of those that are born of women, note these words, and let the nation ring with these words, of those that are born of women, no greater prophet than John the Baptist has ever risen. What does it imply? It implies that Jesus Christ was not just a prophet, as some people would have us believe. He was the risen son of God, to whom all power is given in heaven and in earth. Whatever other philosophies or structures of men might seek to elevate others, these words spoken by Jesus can never be controverted. John was a mighty prophet. Now, today, of course, you know, folks, there are people who would want to venerate even me, though I tell them all the time, I'm just a very foolish fellow, whom the Lord touched and changed. So, we have got people who will say, no, no, no, there is this other guru, there is this other prophet, there is this other somebody else. Okay, whatever they may say, here is the fact that some of these men never did a miracle. You see, miracle is something which cannot be naturally explained. They never did a miracle. And here was the Lord Jesus Christ as he was walking into the City of Nine. Here was a widow, a weeping widow, bringing out to the graveyard her only boy, the only child, son, stopping the beer and dispersing the mourners. He raised the dead. Come, let us be able to prove Jesus Christ today. I see people, you know, I meet people who say, you know, I was declared dead and all the preparations I was, you know, for my funeral were made. And just at that time, the Lord touched me and I rose up. And the doctors declared, you know, the person dead. No, these are not old stories I'm telling you. They are taking place amongst very simple, ordinary people, as well as educated people. So, we don't need to use any kind of fraud or trickery in religion. You know, they tell me that sometimes fellows are paid to say I'm healed, paid to say you're healed. And you call that Christianity, call it anything else, but not associated ever with Jesus Christ. In Christ, there is nothing but the truth and only the truth. And because it is the truth, the truth of course cuts both ways. You know, it cuts the people in the congregation and it cuts the preacher. The preacher can't be a fraud. It's when the gospel does not function in this fashion that you have false Christianity, you know, false, you know, believers. Hallelujah, shouters, they may be. Oh, whatever they may do, they may turn the church into a dance floor. You know, they have no message from God, nothing to give. So, they will be employed the time shouting, singing. All right, the heathen have done it all these years. They have sung all through the night. And you want to imbibe that? You want to import it into Christianity? No. And most of the people go away without the word of God. My dear friends, let us be careful. We are here for the word of God. Heaven and earth may pass away, but not a jot or tittle of this my word, this my law, until all be fulfilled. Be very careful. Tremble at the word of God. Tremble at what God says. And you know, never let us be ashamed or offended or be apologetic about the words of our Lord Jesus. Never. May the Lord help us. Let us. Let us tell God, let me never be offended in you, Lord Jesus. Let me never be disgruntled or grumble. Forgive all my grumbling. Disobedience brings disappointment. Disobedience brings failure. Disobedience brings frustration. Disobedience. Let us tell God, forgive me, Lord, when I have known the truth and I did not do it. When I have known the truth and did not stick by it, stand by it. Forgive me, Lord, the grit and determination that this nation has shown in the fiercest of battles. Let it not desert her now in this great moral battle. Please, gracious Father, forgive us that we have allowed such decay and decline around us. We have been nonchalant. We have gone our way. Oh, he is fallen amongst thieves and is half dead anyway. Let's not bother about it. That's been our attitude towards Britain that has fallen amongst bandits. Oh, Lord, our God, at such a time when those that would rather defraud Britain have become the citizens of this land or have immigrated to this land, I pray and ask you that God will have mercy upon the inhabitants from end to end, including the little islands around Britain. Gracious Father, let not faith fail us. Our faith fail you. Your promises are still the same. Call on me and I will answer you. Our preaching ought to set up reverberations and resound in the royal court. Oh, Lord, our God, we beseech you and pray that we may not be found to be wanting at such an hour. Save us, Lord, save us. Save me, Lord, from being a deceiver. Oh, give me greater concern and tears for Britain, for the royals, for the lawmakers that are fast turning into lawbreakers. Here are humble prayers for our own families, that we may be families where the word of God is upheld. We ask this in Jesus' holy name. Amen. At the Layman's Evangelical Fellowship UK, PO Box 737, London SW2, 4XT, United Kingdom. View and order books written by Joshua Daniel at www.lef-beautifulbooks.co.uk. For more information about the Layman's Evangelical Fellowship International, visit our website at www.lefi.org. Please tune in next week.