In this sermon, the preacher describes a beautiful location with magnificent mountains where he was invited to preach. Initially, people were more interested in enjoying their holidays and visiting the glass chapel in the hotel. However, after the preacher delivered a simple and powerful message about being born again, many people started attending the meetings instead of going on holiday. The preacher emphasizes the importance of bearing fruit in one's life, as God seeks fruit from His people. He warns against taking chances and playing the fool with God, urging listeners to stay close to Him for safety. The sermon ends with a personal anecdote about being led astray in a misty mountain area, highlighting the need to trust in God's guidance.

Now I'd like us to bow for a moment of prayer, please, before we sit under God's holy, sacred word. And I believe it's the closest thing you can come to sacralism, blasphemy, is to let this book be preached from, or you leave open it, unless there's a deep reverential fear of God. So let us bow our heads before God, please. Father, have mercy on all of us, wash me afresh in the blood of Jesus, fill me with the Holy Spirit, and sanctify thy word to our hearts, and our understanding. Help us to have a reverential fear of God when this book is dealt with. Come, visit every heart in Jesus Christ's name. Amen. I'm going to read to you a few verses that you all know, and I don't know if you need to, because there's a lot of passages I'm going to refer to before the end of the sermon. Is this loud enough? I hope it is loud enough that folks don't have to lip read when I drop my voice, so I hope it's loud enough. In this passage of Luke 13, from verse 6, Jesus spoke this parable. A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came and sought fruit thereon. That's the one thing and the only thing that God looks for. That's the only thing God looks for. He came and sought fruit thereon and found none. That's the most tragic thing that could ever be written against your life. He found none. The one thing he wanted, he sought, and he found none of what he, God, wanted. That's the most tragic statement that will ever be written against your life, if God has to say that about you. He found none. Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, the keeper of the vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit. I come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down. Don't play the fool with God, sir. Don't you play the fool with God. Cut it down. Why cumbers it the ground? And he's answering, said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also. Here's the compassion of Christ. Beyond comprehension, no matter how long you take to be what God wants or to see anything of what God wants in you, there's true compassion here. Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it and dung it, fertilize it, and if it bear fruit, if it bear fruit, if it bear fruit, well, and if not, then after that, thou shalt cut it down. I read this poem a few years into my salvation, never forgot it, never forgot it. Thy life and mine, Lord, I've thus been comparing. Same covers me, filled with amazement that thou art still sparing this barren tree. Thy life and mine, Lord, I've thus been comparing. Same covers me, filled with amazement that thou art still sparing this barren tree. It's amazing, Grace. Nothing less. Filled with amazement that thou art still sparing this barren tree. Years ago in Africa, my wife and I were sent to a part of what is known throughout the world as Zulu land, Shaka, Dingan, the great Zulu nation, the greatest black tribe of Africa. There's no doubt of that, the most feared, the most fearful. But it is called through all sorts of political history, Natal. Now, we were sent, I was sent to be the district superintendent for a number of years, I think five years in all. I have been in a number of situations across southern Africa, over a couple of years in each district where we head the work. They released me from that many years ago just to go and preach everywhere because of all the invitations. But on that particular time of our lives, we were in Natal, in our headquarters, which was our home and the home of all the missionaries that we had to teach and organize all their activities. Now in this situation, when they sent us to Natal, something tragic happened. The worst drought in living memory hit that particular part of Africa. Now there was devastation. I don't know if you've ever been in a situation where the animals are just dying. There's no way of keeping them alive and there's no way a farmer can survive. The crops are all just dying. There's a dearth, there's a death on everything and it was tragic to see this. It got to the situation where to have water, we weren't allowed to use the taps. We had to wait until this particular tank would come to the different parts, the suburbs of Pietermaritzburg, which is the capital of Natal. And there each family was allowed a certain ration of water and we would stand there and then take back and that's your water. The toilets, we'd put bricks into the system that only a small amount was allowed to go through because if you went over a limit, you were charged. You could have your water cut off totally. So we were really facing the worst drought in living memory and it was devastation. The gardens of the lush and plush homes of that particular city and they were beautiful homes. But the gardens were dead, the flowers were dead, the grass was dead. There was nothing. It was like a desert in what normally would be one of the most beautiful cities to drive through. I can't in any way give you an idea that you could comprehend the devastation that hit that particular province, what you call a state. Now I love a garden. I don't know about you, I don't know if men are supposed to love gardens, brother. I just happened to love a garden. And all the headquarters, sometimes they gave me headquarters with 12 acres of the most beautiful, we had rows of all this. Not that I spend my time too much in it, but that's when I get home, I just said I've got a gardener who always worked there and he was desperate to stay alive, so we also gave him work. But this garden of a mine was dying, absolutely, and that devastated me. So, being a preacher and being this old man, I decided to do what no one else in the entire community thought of. I thought to myself, you know, the only plants surviving are the succulent plants. We call them rockery plants. They don't really need much water. They survive in deserts. When everything's dead, you find succulent plants. I suppose you might call them rockery plants, I don't know. There's botanists, there's people here who know so much. Forgive me if I've got the wrong word, okay? But I'm trying to act like an authority. Don't tell me I'm wrong. Good. Okay. Anyway, rockery plants, that's about as down to earth as you can get in my limited knowledge. But I loved them, okay? And I used to collect them because I thought they're surviving. They're actually flowering on just the dew, where everything's dead. Beautiful flowers, these things, you know, succulent plants, you normally get in deserts anyway. But I thought to myself, I'm going to make a garden just of succulent plants. So, as I went around preaching, and oh, I was always traveling, I would look at every preacher's home that I stayed in and say, will you give me a slip of that? Yes, of course. So, I had, from all the preacher's homes across that part of Southern Africa, many, many, many towns, and many, many farming communities, that they would give me these, and I would even stop on the road and say, whoa, I'm going to take that from the old, the barren land, you know, just dig it out and put it in my, and take it home and plant it there. Then I realized the plants need rocks, so I would get the most beautiful rocks. Could I have that rock? Of course you can have it. Oh, I just saw it in between my beautiful plants. Makes them really look lovely, you know. In the end, I had a garden that people would actually travel across the city that they heard about it to see. It was so beautiful, because I must tell you, nobody had a garden left anyway. So, here I was, but I wasn't doing it for people. I just loved it. I was thrilled when the Jew, no water, I couldn't water it, and look, you're flowering. I did speak to them, you know. They say Prince Charles speaks to his flowers, and that means he's a bit nutty. I thought, well, I am too. I don't want people to know. I've just told you now, but anyway. There you are. So, I loved my plants, you see, and I loved the garden, and I was so grateful, and I used to love to walk around and talk to the Lord, to be honest with you, and thank him. It was amazing how beautiful my garden was. Now, something really staggering happened. I was walking in the city one day with my wife past a florist shop. Now, it was an exclusive florist shop, you know, the best. You don't even want to look at the prices, but there was a succulent plant in the window. I looked at it. I've never seen anything so beautiful in my life. Now, I've grown in love with these particular plants because they're giving me a garden. They survive where nothing else can survive. You learn to respect them. So, I looked at, oh, look at that. I'm going to get that, you know. So, when I had time, I walked in. I said, you don't have a price on that. What are you charging? So, because he told me, I said, that's robbery. You can't charge him. How could anybody charge such a, I mean, that's robbery. Sorry. He was very indignant, but that's what we're charging. So, I said, oh, no, I could never. So, I walked away. No, I was really disgusted with the man. Robber, thief, highway robber. No, I didn't call him that, but anyway, so I was very hurt, but you know the most horrible thing is that every time I went to town, I felt like a magnet drawing back to that shop. I didn't want to, and it's still there. Nobody's bought it. Look at it. Oh, it's magnificent. Look at it. It'll be the best in the whole. It'll lift my garden up to a realm it's never ever thought of reaching in dignity. Okay, so what did I do? Eventually, I said to the Lord, I hope it's not sin, but I have put aside these little ranches. It's like your dollars, and I've got enough now, and please forgive me. I really did ask for forgiveness in case this was extravagant. So, I went inside, and I looked at him, and he remembered me, and I said, I've got enough money. I'm a missionary. It is robbery, but I'm going to get it. Okay, so he says, why particularly this plant? I said, I want it for my rockery. Your rockery? Yes, I have a rockery where nothing survives. The rockery plants, these succulent plants are surviving. They don't need water. Everybody's garden's dead. Mine is alive and thriving. So, he got a bit excited with me as I was telling him, and I said, I need to put that, and I've got the spot, the very spot. It's the best spot of the whole thing, but it's going to make my... I've just longed for it, you know, so I'm so glad God helped me to get the money, even though it's robbery. So, he didn't know whether to laugh or cry at me, you know, so he said, I don't think that's a very wise idea, sir. What are you talking about? He says, I don't think you should put this plant in your rockery garden. I said, why not? He said, it's too good. You can't put this in a rockery. I said, sir, I want it for my rockery garden, otherwise I wouldn't get it. He said, no, I don't think you do. You do not want to put this in your rockery garden. I said, I do. Now we're having a bit of a fight, you see. He said, listen, this plant is very, very special. I said, I know. He says, it's so special, it needs no water at all, ever. It doesn't even need dew. I said, no way, sir. Everything needs water of some form, even if it has to have dew. He said, not this plant. Now he's beginning to look at me a bit angrily and also to think to himself, is this fellow really so backward? He doesn't know what's going on. So he said, this plant is artificial, sir. So I said, artificial? It can't be. It is. He says, this won't survive in your rockery garden. You have to put it inside. That's why it's inside. Oh, I don't want an artificial plant. After all this, you don't want it. Oh, I don't want it. It's artificial. There's no fruit. I can't take slips. It's worthless. I've lost respect for it. So he was a bit disgusted. I walked away heavy hearted. It's a terrible thing, you know. So I want to call a sermon today, artificial Christians. You look, but there's no fruit. You can't bear fruit of any form. Nothing else can happen through you. No other Christians can ever be made by God through your life. There's no fruit of any form that God requires. You're artificial. You look everything. You won't survive any severity of what comes upon a Christian. You can't be out there. You'll never survive. You'll just crumble. Under all that God allows to come upon Christians in this world. You're artificial. You're worthless. Total, your religion, your whole concept, everything you apply is totally worthless to God and man. You're artificial. That's a tragedy. That's a great tragedy in this world. God speaks in this parables of the sower. And he comes to the point where he speaks of they that fell upon thorns or they which when they've heard, they go forth and they choked. It's really tragic. Choked with the cares of riches of the pleasure of life. They bring no forth with no fruit. They can't. They believe. But that which is surrounding them in circumstances of this world, they're unable to bring any fruit, any fruit. For that which is on the good ground are they which in an honest and good heart having heard the word, keep it and bring forth fruit with patience. This word fruit is staggering in the light of all the scriptures. John, Matthew seven, the Lord Jesus said these words. He shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles? Always. Even so, every good tree bringeth forth good fruit. But a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit. Neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. Whoever by their fruits, he shall know them. Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father, which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, preached according to Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, Wesley? So that doesn't mean some trance you go and you know prophecy in this dispensation with a high pitched voice that you adding to the word of God some new message. That is trash. Run. There's no such a thing as prophecy past this book. This is the finished prophecy of God. Any prophecy that is of anything in the dispensation God gives for the edifying of the church is this book taken and expounded on. The prophecy given by God. Don't add to it, sir. God may strike you dead. Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, preached in thy name, and in thy name have cast out devils, and thy name done many wonderful works, miracles. And when I profess unto them, I never knew you. I never knew you. I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work iniquity, you that never came to a place of repentance. You're still in your sins. Whosoever committeth sin is a servant of sin, enslaved to sin. But if the Son, capital S, shall set you free, you shall be free indeed. Tell me, is God joking if you aren't in Christianity? Know ye not that to whom you yield yourselves, servants to obey his servant ye are, to whom you obey, whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness. But God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which has delivered you, being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. And I would like to go on, the whole Romans 6, 1 John 3, everything that cries out that unless God set you free from enslavement. You see, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. All things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. If you don't think that's Christianity, please take it and cut it out. But don't carry a Bible that you say you're a dear to, but you reject what God says happens if you're saved, if anyone's saved in this building. That happened, don't doubt it, even if you're a child. They should know you by your fruits. James asks a staggering question in chapter 2, 14. What is the prophet, my brethren? Do a man say he has 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 full, notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body, what is the prophet? Even so faith that 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's one God, thou doest well the devils, the demons also believe, and tremble, but wilt thou know, vain man, that faith without works is dead. The word there means worthless, worthless to God if God matters any more in Christianity. You should know them by their fruits. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father, which is in heaven, many will say to me, not just some, the most, the Greek word says, the most who preach, the most who say they cast out devils and Jesus who do miracles. I never knew you. In spite of all that, yes. I wonder what percentage of today's preachers standing behind our pulpits will cry out, Lord, have we not prophesied, have we not cast out devils, have we not miracles? I never knew you. You see, the one thing that lacks is not religion, not preaching, not seeing miracles in Jesus name. He didn't say that didn't happen. That makes me scared. There was no fruit. The fruit this Bible cries out to you or you go to hell unless it's there. And that's love, not hatred that tells you that. So yes, it's fruit. It's only fruit. It's amazing. Jesus speaks of the blind, leaders of the blind. That is something. Of course, he's speaking about blind spiritually, not physical blindness, but he adapts it again and again to the blind. Those who say they see, but they don't. The Pharisees said, are we blind also? And Jesus said, you say you see, but you are blind. But your sin remaineth because you say you see, even though you know you're blind. You don't want to accept truth. You remain in your blindness. You'd rather remain there. That's a staggering, fearful thought that the dear Lord Jesus was bringing about. I'm stunned at how blind people think they see. I'm stunned, tragically stunned. I was once preaching in Cape Town, a beautiful city, voted as the most beautiful city in the world by most tourist class in the earth, those who travel all the time. There is no city more beautiful on earth, they say, not Rio de Janeiro, not in Switzerland, Austria. South Africa's Cape Town. Come there to see why I'm very privileged where I live, okay? In Cape Town, they let me preach. Years ago, I remember a young fellow first married, how I would preach up to seven times a day, most days, in meetings, upon meetings, upon meetings, upon meetings, all over. And it was wonderful. One of the meetings I preached almost daily at, sometimes twice a day, sometimes three times a day, were lunch hour meetings. Now, the buildings, the skyscrapers, all over the center of the city, something about the size of Chicago, I would say, Cape Town, San Francisco, well, I would go, and there they had advertised in this particular building, that everybody on each floor of this business, and of the buildings around, that there's any Christians that have any ability to know or to bring others, they would come and attend in the lunchtime. So I had a particular time, you see, brother, I was really limited to time, otherwise they would be fired, they'd lose their work if they didn't get back. So I had to say, stop there, boom. So I had these lunch hour meetings, and oh, I spoke sometimes to 200 people in these auditoriums, these conference rooms, in these buildings. And it was a lovely privilege, day after day, to preach in Cape Town, across Cape Town, you see, in these meetings. Now, one day, I was up there, don't know what floor, right up in the skyscraper, in this big, beautiful auditorium, probably about twice the size, and there was a lot of people, from all over the workplace. And I was preaching my heart out, okay? In the time I was given, I poured my heart out. And then it was all over, everybody rushing to get back to all the floors, all the different places where they come from, to get back to the workplace in time for the lunchtime, when the time was finished. So, when I'd finished, now I had a little prayer, and I went to what you people call elevator, we call it a lift, it goes up and down, okay? Takes you down or up. So I saw the elevator, the door was closing, but I just said, stop, stop, jumped in, there was a lady behind me. And then another lady comes along, and she shouts, wait, wait, are you going up? Now the lady behind me, she said, I always thought I was, until this preacher preached this sermon today. Now I'm not sure anymore if I'm going up, I'm almost sure I'm going down. Now she had no joke in her, she was deadly serious, and she was very angry. Now this poor lady standing outside the lift didn't know whether to get in or not, because she saw this lady's angry with me. Now I, of course, looked and smiled, but she just looked at me, you know, she was very aggressive. Anyway, I won't tell you what happened before we got out, but the fact is, I always thought I was, but suddenly I'm not so sure. After one sermon, oh, I always thought, amazing how people think they're going up, when they're going down. Suddenly God shows him, oh, suddenly. I was in a town called Danhauser, very young, me and this young fellow called Philip. The two of us went out there and we preached in a Presbyterian church. It was the only church in the town, it was a mining town, and the man was saved through our before I was born, through our workers, so he was the Presbyterian minister. Believe it or not, Presbyterians are going to heaven also, if they're washed in the blood, born again. Okay, so that's just in case you were wondering. Nonetheless, we were in this Presbyterian church, and God came, and the whole community came along. There was no room, that mining community, the whole community was there. I doubt there was anyone left in the entire community that wasn't filled out there in that great hall and also in the overflow hall. No, there was a man, his name was Picard, Mr. Picard. He was a manager on the mine, but he had problems, he had drinking problems, and him and his wife were divorcing. He wasn't in the house, she was still in the house, he had gone to find other premises, and the divorce procedures were going on. He hated her, he couldn't bear to see her, he didn't want her till the day he died near her again, near him again. That's how bad things were. Now, the different Christian friends invited her and him, not corresponding to do it purposely, to the same meeting. There they sit, they walk in the door, he looks around, there's the woman he hates more than anything in the world, and there's a man she couldn't bear to be near again. They can't look at each other, they're divorcing after many, many years of marriage, but they hate each other now. He had a real drinking problem, he really was alcoholic, and he was an embarrassment to the community, though they hadn't fired him yet, but the fact is their marriage was destroyed through drinking especially. So, they're both sitting there, very uncomfortable to know that they are in the same building, and they hear the gospel, and a lot of people came forward and get on their knees around the altar to seek God to save their souls, and there he was on his knees, weeping, fled out, weeping before God, and there was his wife on her knees, weeping, sobbing, crying to God, and God saved them. Don't doubt that. I will in no wise turn away anyone who comes. He will in no wise turn away anyone who comes to him through Christ Jesus. You see, Christ takes the death for every man. How can God turn you away when you come with nothing but the blood of Jesus? So, they stand up now, tears pouring down their faces. He looks around, and he sees her. She was out also. They walked toward each other, and he put his arms around her, and he sobbed, and he begged her for forgiveness and to take him back. Only God can do that, but there's nothing God can not do if you just allow him. Their marriage was totally healed. All the bitterness, all the anger, all the ammunition of every single thing that ever happened in life, never to be mentioned again, wow, through one moment, salvation, Christ in you, forgiveness. God does it in one moment, sir. Wonderful. Now, we, of course, were invited to go to their home, and this wasn't that occasion. It was the following occasion we came back to the town, and this lady is probably one of, if in the Guinness Book of Records they could find who were the best cooks on earth in history, she was one of them, if not the best. I'm not sure. Your silly was magnificent, so please don't think this is a slant on you, but this lady, I don't know how she did it. I even said to Ginny here when we got married, and by the way, don't do this. Don't tell your wife someone cooks better than her. Trust me, I know a poor man that said, my mother did it this way. The wife picked up the plate and put it on his head. Go back to your mother, so don't do that, okay? She wasn't exactly sanctified, though she said she was saved. I don't know about that. Anyway, don't do that, but this lady, now we went to have a meal. I don't know what she did with this meat, smothered in onions. She said something about it cooks for hours and hours and hours, so that your teeth don't have to bite, they just crumble through it. And the onions, it was magnificent. I still remember it. It was one of the most wonderful meals I've ever had in my life. This lady was one incredible cook, so of course, we respected her deeply and enjoyed everything on that table because it was incredible. Now, he began to tell us of the strangest and the most hilarious, unbelievable incidents that have happened in their marriage. He began to say he was full of fun, you know, laughter, humor. He didn't tell jokes, thank goodness. I hate jokes, but humor, I don't think is sin, okay? You see the funny side of things. I don't think we meant to walk around and think that's sin, otherwise gravity would be full stop, which I don't know whether that's exactly what the dear Lord wanted. But he told us of incidents that I cried in unbelief. He, about his wife especially and about him, but what he said, do you know what happened to us to her? She's a farm girl. She had never ever seen the sea in her life. She had never ever ventured past about a 50 mile radius of the town, the farming community town. We were in the mining and the farming, the next one was Dundee. Now, that's how she grew up. She didn't go, she didn't want to go anywhere, she's just a farm girl and that's it. And now we married, he says, and one day we go to the doctor and there was something that he referred her to a specialist. Now she had to go to the big city. So now we're on our way to go to see the specialist and we get to the city, one of the great cities of, like Johannesburg is a great city. Believe me, it's so great you can't believe the size of it. Millions, 12 million, just the one section, sorry. But Johannesburg, so they go to the city. Now he says to her as they're driving in the city that she's never ever seen such things in her life, you know, cars and all, but anyway, this was a farm girl and she's sick. Now she has to see the specialist. He says, we're late. I somehow miscalculated everything, especially this traffic, so I can't come in with you, but I'm going to drop you at the building. Now you are going to go to the ninth floor. To get to the ninth floor, you have to get in the elevator, we call it a lift, okay, you get in the lift. Ask somebody where the lift is that goes up and takes you up to the ninth floor. Now you get pressed, you go to the ninth floor, ask somebody to help you, they will help you, but get in the ninth. When you walk there on the ninth floor, you will see a beautiful sign that says the doctor's name, okay, the specialist. Go in, there's a little lady, she will tell you to sit down or take you straight through because we're really late. I will find a parking. When I found a parking, I will come back to the building and I will come up and I'll be with you, you'll be safe. Now just do what I say. She says, okay, okay, so he drops her and I said, go get in the lift and go up to the ninth floor. He's driving around, he finds his parking, he comes back now running down to get to his wife, who'd never been in the city, and he looks up. Now, tragically, you might not believe this, but this really happened, okay. I don't know if you've ever seen on the outside of buildings where they take, pulling up with ropes, these scaffolds, you know. This lady was going up and she was just pointing to these poor workers that were cleaning the windows, renovating, I don't know what they were doing, and the big eyes, you know, they were just pulling her up on these, so what is your doing, what's wrong with you, you told me to get in the lift, come down. Now listen, people in ignorance do the most amazing, incredible things when they think that's how to get up. It is so unbelievable, it's staggering that humans can do it, but it's amazing, it's more staggering how people in religion, religious movements, believe this is the way up. It's so staggering that it's more obnoxious than what that dear lady did in her ignorance. My word, I won't tell you the name of this person, I dare not, I will be in trouble, but there is a man who's a farmer, and he always said, I will not wear glasses, I do not need glasses, and he was trying to read, trying to see things sometimes, battling, so one day the dear man saw these glasses, what do you call them, glasses, we call them glasses, he was spectacled, so he, no one's looking, and he put them on, and he says to his family, I'm so ashamed that I was so proud to admit I needed glasses, these glasses are amazing, I've struggled all these years, and look, I can see so clearly, and oh, he was, I'm so ashamed, all these years I could have had this, now his daughter looked at him and said, Daddy, I don't know how to tell you, Daddy, but that, those glasses are not helping you at all, oh, but they are, I used to struggle, I can see so clearly, Daddy, you can't see, those are just the frames, there's no glass in them, he looked at her, oh, but you know that man, through pride, kept those glasses on and said, it does help me, I can see, for three weeks, insisting, don't tell me I can't, didn't help me, oh, it's amazing how people through pride will not back off from total darkness and stupidity, that humanity can't comprehend that you could be so ignorant as to think that God could, through this, give you sight, you say, I see, but you don't, you say, once I was blind, but now I see, but you're still in total darkness, through religion, through Jehovah Witnesses, who believe they see so much that they go to doors that will slam in their faces and tell them to get away, they're the devil, but they'll go to the next house, because they believe they see where they've got nothing of truth, nothing of God's light, nothing of the Holy Spirit, they're going straight to hell, no witness of the Spirit, Mormons, and many, many, many who sit under the banners of Christianity worldwide, where there's no truth, but they believe that, this is the way, I see, I'm in the right movement, I'm doing the right thing, I've got my church, that's good enough, it's amazing, but what is even more tragic in the Bible, is when Jesus speaks to the Pharisees, he said, they be blind leaders of the blind, now that's something, if you're blind, but if you're blind and you say to others, follow me, I know the way, that is darkness, that is darkness, oh, how great is that darkness, and they're everywhere, they're everywhere, blind, leaders of the blind, I can see, I know the way, and everyone that follows them, Christ said, fall into the ditch, go straight to hell, as they fall into hell, everyone that followed them, that they said they knew the way, they know, they see, they understand, they hold the book as if they're an authority, but they don't have any understanding of anything in it, and they stand there in this outrageous, obnoxious, offensive position of saying, I see, let me lead you, let me show you, but they're totally in darkness, total blindness, that's something, I don't know about you, but when I drive behind cars, vehicles, they have these stickers, now the stickers are so offensive today, that I have to ask God's grace, not to get deeply angry, you see, you pull up behind these cars, these, and they've got bigger stickers there, some of them are so stupid, it's unbelievable, but there you are, you know the man really is, but other stickers have got indecency, and moral decadent things, and it's so disgusted me, when it first started to be the trend, in our country, I remember going behind a car, and it was so evil, what this man blatantly wrote across there, doesn't care that the world knows he's filthy, he even wants others to be filthy with him, I got out of the vehicle, the lights were red, I didn't care, and I knocked on his little window, he pulls down the glass, I said, sir, my children there, I can't put them in a fortress from filthy people like you, to keep them from being depraved from people like you, if you want to be filthy with that, why don't you go in your room and be filthy, but why do you have to force children, whose parents love God, who pray for God to protect them from evil and depravity, and you force them, I'll never be able to take out of my children's mind, so the day they die, what they read, on your car window, shame on you, you're going to hell, and you deserve to, to face God's judgment, it isn't only you, you make others sin with you, you're so brazen in your sin, it's disgusting, well one day I'm driving, and I'm coming now behind cars, and there's stickers, that was when it first started, everybody had stickers, even Christians, now at least you know they're saved, you hope they keep the speed limit, otherwise people go to hell through them, but there was a sticker, that shook me, it says, don't follow me, I'm lost also, exclamation mark, I thought how stupid, but of course being a preacher, I suddenly thought, all preachers who are unsaved, should have that, by law on their vehicles, no, under the pulpit, imagine that, thus say the Lord normally, does he, don't follow me, I'm lost also, that is really what should be in most pulpits of the world, if you're honest, I'm lost also, we had a guide, up in the Drakensberg, the highest mountains in Southern Africa, the mountain range, much like your great gorge, but they're beautiful, and I had to preach over Easter, in this beautiful Christian hotel, so it was over Easter, all these people come from all over the world, it was such a beautiful place, overlooking Champagne Castle, Devil's Peak, all these magnificent mountains, so I preached, they said, just inviting whoever on holiday, would like to come, because they've got a chapel, that is glass, and as you sit, you just look at all these beautiful mountains, it is so magnificent, and beautifully done, with wood and stone, but after I preached, and all many people came to the meetings, it seems like they stopped their holidays, and started flocking to the meetings, morning and night, they said to me, we are going to give you something extra for coming, just to really say thank you, now they said, we're going to give you the best rooms in this hotel, the most expensive for the most lovers, and you have one week, the meals, everything, all the privileges, going up the mountains, going on the tours, and with guides every day, wanted to go up these mountains, so of course I went, and this one guide, he's a Christian, he of course, he spoke a lot, but I mean, oh he really did, non-stop in the car, and everything, and seems to know everything about the mountains, so he says, those of you that are this age, and this age, you will reach that hill there, we leave picnic, then you come back slowly, the rest of us, we started early, we have to get to the top, it's going to take four hours to get up to the top, four hours back, we'll be back to take them back, and it'll be dark, but we're going to go right to the top, but that's this age up, and that really no, they can make it otherwise, we leave you to die, so we all, those of us that had any energy, and I was young, we went up the mountain of course, and oh, the higher you get, the more beautiful it is, and the less you can breathe, this oxygen, you see, brisk cold, and whoa, but you can't just run anymore, you can't go, you know, we didn't have oxygen mask anyway, anyways, now we're going up, and we're getting up very, very, very, very high, and as far, you can't believe the beauty, the clouds beneath, we're now so high, we're above the clouds, and you just look down, you can't see the car anymore, you can't see the vehicles, you can't just see, oh, the eagles coming, oh, now, this guide said these words to us, look, I know the way, I know the way, but it's dangerous, so don't take a chance, stay close to me, if the mist suddenly gets, it just suddenly comes, just stay very close to me, just look at each other, and stay close, you'll be safe, because I know these things, like the back of my hand, these paths and trails, suddenly, with no warning, we were just covered with mist, it was like seconds, I couldn't see my hand in front of me, you have to look, oh, there is someone, and I touched him, now he says, just follow each other, stay close to me, I know the way, you're safe, so we're all just walking, suddenly the clouds lift, in one second, just a great drift, we stood there with a thousand foot drop, on a little edge like this, it was about so big, he had led us astray, I looked down, I just held on to the rocks, I could hardly take another step, I was so fearful, everybody, some women just began weeping, sobbing, but what was so terrible was this man, the guide, he went hysterical, you know, I can't actually tell you how he cried, it was embarrassing, I looked at him and I was more scared at him than I was at the drift, and he's the guide, ah, we're in trouble, I don't know this, I'm a tour guide, I'm not a mountaineer, so I said, listen, just listen to me carefully, listen to me, I shouted, everybody looks at me, I noticed when it cleared for a little while, there's a little ledge across here that's not so narrow, pull yourself up, help him up, push him up, push the guide up, he's the one in the most trouble, the rest of us at least were a little bit sane, he had no ability to think, he was, he was actually not even standing, he was, so they pushed him up, you know, and he got up on this little ledge, and we all climbed up onto the little ledge, clouds are there, you know, and he was so embarrassed, he was so ashamed, he hardly spoke again, well, he didn't speak again, that was it, he was actually ashamed, but he was ashamed that all his talk about knowing like the back of his hand, we're safe following him, not a word anymore, so when the clouds cleared, of course, we went down, with a bit heavy hearts, for his sake, and came close to death, all of us, very, very close to death, through following a man who said, you're safe if you follow me, I know everything like the back of my hand, but he didn't, he thought he did, I was once in a city, German community, we have great German communities, they speak German to this day, in their thousands, in German communities, all started as missions, where the gospel had been taken to the blacks, you see, when a German gets saved, it's like a Jew, those two nothing will stop them, be careful of them before they get saved, I hope there's no Germans here, or Jews, nonetheless, when you get saved, there's no one that can come near you, perhaps Anabaptists, let's be careful there, they're also very unique, if they go through with God in that book, not in man-made standards, but that book, nothing will stop them, now, in this big German community, I was in the Lutheran church, the biggest church, the others were like little small houses in comparison, the main church, the church buildings are magnificent throughout the world, where Germany tried to be empire builders, when England was, and France was, and Portugal, their communities grew, and the church was the center of everything, so the communities, all the preachers there, but when I arrived in this town, I was late, and they were singing, something like half an hour, and I just arrived in the town at the house, the lady said, they're singing, they're prolonging the singing, come in, get in your suit, we have to do that in different places, okay, I become all things to all men, and get down there, they're prolonging the singing, now she says to me, there's a man standing here waiting for you, brother Keith, you have to speak to him, he wants to pray with you, I said, but I'm late, she says, you have to, you won't, so there stands the Anglican minister, a father somewhere or the other, that's what they call Anglican preachers, with his white collar, black robe, and he says, brother, I know you're late, but I have been here a few times through the day waiting for you, I want to just have a prayer with you before you preach tonight, there's so many souls in that meeting that I'm burdened with, and I know that God has to reach them tonight, and I believe through you, will you please let me pray, I said, let's get in the car, you drive me to the church, and you can pray, okay, now he started weeping, and he groaned like someone in agony, agonizing and sobbing, groaning, crying out to God for the loss of that town, oh my God, and he's weeping, I just looked at him, I opened my eyes, where does an Anglican minister be the first person in the whole community in any town I've been to, that sobs for souls with me, so I was preaching, now look, there he was sitting somewhere towards the front, and with tears, and he's in prayer, agonizing while I'm preaching, the place was full to capacity, every preacher in the town was in there, after which I walked up to him, and I said, you know, not many Anglican preachers are the first to groan for souls like you do, and I said, I want you to join with me when I'm about to preach, and he put his head down and said, brother Keith, I'm so ashamed to tell you this, but for close to 30 years, I was a preacher, but on my road to hell, I was a blind leader of the blind brother, I was so sincere that I spent two hours every morning with the Anglican prayer book, praying the prayers, alone with God, in my sincere attempt to be what God wants us, I spent hours seeking a message that I believed would enable and equip people to be what God wanted them to be, through my ministry, I was sincere brother, but I was on my road to hell, and how did God show me I was wrong? One day, there was an accident in our town, we're not a very big town, brother Keith, we have a hospital, but where there's any real tragedies or severe cases, we have to take them to the cities, so we have an ambulance service, and everyone has to be on duty on certain days, all the men, we give our names, our telephone numbers, and the phone goes, and said there's a terrible accident, just at the entrance of the town, and a couple of cars are piled up, there's people lying dead, but there's some living, come down immediately, the other man with the ambulance will be there, to take them down, anyone that's alive, to the bigger cities, where there's more facilities to keep them alive, so we have had training of what to do, almost like a paramedic, but he said here we, I rushed down there, I got out, and there was lots of people, the cars, all the people, just thronging to try and see what they could do to help, and I looked at this one person, that was still living, of all the bodies, that lay dead, and covered up, it was a young man from my congregation, brother Keith, he had been from a little boy, every Sunday, and now he was a man, I think he was 19 or 20 years old, if I can remember what he said, brother, his body was chopped in half, he had no legs, I couldn't believe he was alive, they were trying to strap up, and he was alive brother, and I fell on my knees, and I said, oh my God, my God, it's you, it's you, and his eyes were just flickering, his lips going, and he said, oh father, that's what they call the Anglican priest, thank God it's you, I'm dying, I'm dying brother, I can't face God, I'm so full of sin, I'm so ashamed to tell you, but I'm so evil, I'm so wicked, help me to face God, not to be going to judgment and hell, please help me, that I, in the last moments of it, help me, please, they said to me, we've got to put him in, so they picked up what was left of him, and pushed him onto the ambulance back part, and they pushed me in, and said, he needs you, the other people drive, speed him, and I looked at him, and he looked at me, and he was dying, he had seconds to live, and I knew it, and he knew it, and the despair in his eyes, as he looked at me and said, help me, I can't face God, I cannot die like this, help me to face God, I hadn't brought my prayer book, an Anglican preacher doesn't pray without a prayer book, you can't, and I didn't know what to say to him, with his fear of facing judgment, and he looked at me with desperation, and then suddenly, with condemnation, and he realized, I didn't know, in truth, how to help a man to face God, that knew he was full of sin, and he's facing, he died. I couldn't eat, brother, I could not eat anything for days, my stomach wouldn't, I couldn't sleep night after night, I just couldn't sleep, not one minute, brother, and I was so torn apart in my mind, God, who under my ministry could face me, with peace concerning their sins, in truth, I don't know the way, he said, brother, some people came to me that know you, and they said, you're not staying in this state, you're coming to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, that you can get saved, I said, what are you talking about, there's meetings down in King Williamstown, another German town, very big city, and we're taking you, and you're not saying no, you're going to hear the gospel, you're going to hear what you needed to hear, no, my family who didn't know the gospel said, you're going, daddy, go with them, please, I drove down, we go into this massive hall, people everywhere, all the pastors, all the Lutheran pastors, all the different churches, it was filled with this preacher, and I looked in, and I said, I can't go in this door, look at me, man, how can you expect me to walk in like this, and be facing everybody, they know me, let me stand here at the door, right at the front here, I will listen to the whole sermon, but don't you make me face this crowd, so I stood there listening, brother Keith, and I heard the gospel of Jesus for the first time in my life, preached in some such simplicity, that a child could grasp how to be saved, and I said, but God, I know these verses, but I've never ever identified, I've never been able to put them like this, I've never seen them like this, to be born again, and unless a person's born again, you're not born a child of your father and mother, the man says, you have to be born again, no one's born a child of God, so I found myself before the man had finished his sermon on my knees, weeping, groaning in agony for God to save me, asking God's mercy that I'd never ever seen this, after all these years of preaching, and trying to lead people, that I didn't know the basic first principles of the faith, and while I was on my knees, brother, weeping for God to save me through the said blood of Christ, a peace flooded my heart, a peace that passes all understanding, it was like a wave of divine love went through me, and I couldn't cry anymore, agonized, I just began to praise God, I knew God had saved me, now brother, I went back to Stutterheim, saved, I went into the pulpit for the first time in all those years, saved, and I looked at these people, and I said, listen carefully, I have been a blind leader of the blind, I don't know one of you that isn't blind and going to hell, because I was blind, and you thought what I was teaching you was Christianity, you've never heard anything of the truth, because your leader who led you was blind, but now I see, and I will not rest or give anyone in this building peace, until every one of you see, and are no longer blind and going to hell, I will not let anyone die like that boy died of my congregation, and went to hell, because I couldn't help him, I will hound you, but none of you will find peace from this man, until you see with me what I found, and I preached the gospel for the first time in my entire career as a preacher, and brother, about two-thirds, nearly eighty percent of my entire congregation have given their lives to God, that I am truly convinced they're saved, and they're soul winners, but the rest, oh it's like a burden I carry on my back daily, that I weep daily for, I hound them, they were in the meeting tonight, and I was praying for all the lost, but especially for my flock, that sat under my ministry, that still haven't given their lives to Christ, that if they die, tonight will go to hell for eternity, now I spoke to one of the other preachers, the Dutch Reformed preacher of the community, I went for tea with him, and he said in the fraternal, the minister's fraternal, where the different ministers come once every two months, to discuss things and to pray, even the unsaved preachers come to that fraternal, he said this thing was brought up about this Anglican minister, and the one man said, do you know that he's going to every single door, knocking on every door, and pleading with every soul to come to Christ, he said brother, not one of us, not one preacher could stop him, not one wanted to, he said, others might think sheep stealing, you know, none of us were offended, not with this man, not with this man, he went to every single door in the entire community, I'm talking about hundreds of homes, there's not one he has not been to since he's been saved, and in every door he wept, there was not one home at that door, that he didn't weep for them to give their lives, yes, so he's, I've been a preacher for all these years, close to 30 years, and I was going to hell, you weren't preaching, but you're going to hell, and this has happened, unless you're born again, the same as that boy went to hell, crying for help, I'm giving you that help now, he has pled in every single door, he didn't stop there, he went around to all the small holdings, and in the farming community, there is not one single place he has not visited, weeping, weeping for them to come to Christ, and he's led many, many, many, but none of us as preachers will stop him, or be offended, his interference with our people, our members, not this man, even if you're an ordained preacher, with seven years of degrees, through the best universities in the world, on theology, you can be blind, believing you know the way, but you don't, because there's no fruit, no one came to Christ through you, because you hadn't come to Christ, there's no fruit, nothing of what God really said should happen, there was never a day, believing didn't save, even demons believe, they don't doubt a word, that doesn't save them, unless there's fruit, a moment that it starts, so it doesn't gradually come, it starts when you get up from your knees, your wife that you hate, you love, and you never bring up anything of the past, that's God's salvation, old things pass away at that moment, all things become new, yes, you've got to grow, you're not sinless perfectionist, but you set free from the damnable sins that God says, be not deceived, no unrighteous person shall enter, and he names the sins, if you're still in them, even if you're ordained, today they try and defend people with those sins to stand in pulpits, in spite of what God says, you're going to hell, there's no fruit, what God says will happen, you've never been set free by the Son of God, from enslavement to sin, from the sins God damns, the souls who don't turn from him, I come seeking fruit on this tree, but I find none, nothing, even if you've preached for nearly 30 years, nothing, can we stand please, Father take this message, and don't let anyone in this building that's not saved, that's going straight to hell with all their religion, find any peace in anything, until they find themselves seeking God to save them, as they come with nothing but the blood of Jesus, and by grace through faith being saved, not believing that his blood cleanses, but embracing, having an encounter with God, as they turn from all known sin for God, not only to forgive them, and wash them, but to set them free, that they become new creates, new creatures, where all things in one moment pass away, and all things become new, and everyone that knows them in the earth will see it, will they not save God, and that that fruit will go on to perfection, as they devour the scriptures from that day, till the day they die, and they will not be able to do that, because unless you save, that book is undiscernable, it's dead, the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life, the moment the Holy Spirit is in us at salvation, this book becomes alive, that's how we know we saved, and they devour that book, and fruit will come, fruit will come, that the whole world will stagger at the power of God in a life, even if it's a child who turned, help us to find thee, and to bring forth fruit more and more to perfection, the day that God takes us to heaven, that's that moment, ultimate perfection, now God, until then we have to be set free, we have to be new creatures in Christ, we have to be born again, we have to know by the Holy Spirit bearing witness in our hearts, that we are the children of God, that there's no condemnation to them which in Christ Jesus, that we know we've passed from death unto life, because if we don't know, we're not saved, but he that believeth on the Son of God hath a witness in himself, the Spirit itself also beareth witness with our spirits, that if we don't have the witness of the Spirit in our heart, that we know, then we don't have salvation, God help us to know, as we come with all our hearts, nothing in my hands I bring, not my religion, not my parents upbringing, not anything, but the blood, nothing in my hands, I bring simply to the cross, I cling, the first moment God will ever look at our prayers, to save us, is when we come with nothing, nothing of our lives, our good works, that are as filth in God's sight, filthy rags, they can't justify us, only the blood, and then to look to the living Savior, who died but rose, to come into our hearts and to set us free, to transform us, to devour the scriptures which will become alive if we're saved, till the day we die, which will be the means by which God feeds fruit through our lives, is the Word of God, till the day we die, now God do it in every one of our lives, we're not saved, and those of us that are saved, help us to be very clear and very careful of what we preach, or what we accept is saved, in Jesus Christ's name, Amen.