In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of staying close to God and not straying away. He warns that if one's mind becomes disaffected and poisoned, they will question God's presence in times of suffering and tragedy. The preacher also highlights the need for both love and wrath in the Christian faith, stating that anger arises when love is refused. The sermon concludes with a story about a rescued child and the soldier who decides to adopt him, illustrating the power of love and the importance of inwardly crying out to God.

and asked the favor whether he could bring a young lady up to the local where I was stationed at that time. And the story was, she was a Christian, and he was a brother, he was, sorry, the field leader of the Red Sea Mission, was his brother, he was the home base secretary, the two brothers that started it. And this girl had suddenly gone blind, sitting in her office. When I say girl, comparatively, she was twenty years old or more. And she'd gone blind, suddenly, sitting in her chair. He was a doctor, so of course he'd have a look at her. There seemed to be no reason why she went blind. We've had her examined in Moorfields, that's the big, famous eye hospital in London, where all the specialists work. And we've had her there, they've had a look at her, they cannot account for her sudden blindness. What happened, we don't know, which you have to have there for prayer, etc. All right? So, it was agreed. And she came up in the company of another young lady, who was also a worker in their office, both Christians. When they arrived, I went down and met them. And after observing her, asking no questions, except saying, well, we're very glad you've come, that sort of thing you would say at this time. And I said to her companion, go up and put her into bed. And the room in which she was placed was called Alien, anyway, if it means anything to him. And I'll come and see you in the morning. I said so, they popped her into bed, and I went up to see her next morning. She was the picture of misery, suddenly to lose her sight, and she was curled up in bed. Strangely curled up in bed, no problem. We started to talk. I said, tell me about yourself. And so she started, and I said, oh no, I don't want to know these things, I want you to tell me right from the beginning, your earliest memories. Perhaps you may think that's psychology. Well, you know that God is a psychologist. He invented souls, a natural psyche. And she went right back in her memories. Painfully she struggled up from her pillows, I mean painfully in her mind. And she told me, my first memory is standing with my mother in the garden. I was only three. It rang a bell in my mind, you may be careful, because I was only three when I spoke as I spoke. I was standing with my mother. She was talking over the hedge between the neighbours garden and I. And I heard my mother say, now you think, if you are parents, or going to be parents, and think you will have children, you will be held culpable before God, unless you are very careful. You must receive children as a gift from God, if you say you are God's people. And I heard my mother say, she said, to the woman over the hedge, of course, we didn't want this one. The mother sublimely thought that her child would not understand this. So it's really, it's an eye opener, when you know the truth. And I knew we were at the root of her trouble. And I said to her, look my dear, she told me many other things besides this, but now we must go back to this occasion in your life, when you heard that. If you'd asked her a million other things, she wouldn't have remembered them. But that went right down into that little receptive part, you be careful if you ever have children. And I said to her, you know my dear, if you want to receive your son, you will have to forgive your mother for saying that. And I quoted to her the Lord's own saying, if you don't forgive people their trespasses, neither will your Heavenly Father forgive you your trespasses. Very pleasant, isn't it? Written there, in Matthew's Gospel, for you to read and believe. And I said, if you will repent, God will give you a new pure heart, if you will receive it. Because that's where everything starts, in you physically, with a heart beating in your mother's womb. Forever your bone, your flesh was formed around it, or any bones were taking shape. You have to go back to the heart, you must, because that's stuck in your mind, and you've never forgiven your mother for saying that, have you? She said, no, I haven't. Alright, God will give you a new heart. You haven't started to become a Christian, unless you have a new heart. Not a child of God. Do you understand that? It is a matter of forgiving, Moses preached forgiveness of sins. There were Christians, not one of them. You keep that very clear. She listened. I suppose she'd never heard anything like it before. I said many other things. I said, you must forgive your mother. She said, I can't, she's not here. Oh, it doesn't matter about her presence. It is invisible presence of your mother through her words. You have an invisible presence. Do you understand that? It's the presence of the soul. It's the shape, if I may use that word, of your soul and your inward spiritual heart, which God is most concerned with. I said, never mind. You've got to ask your mother, here and now, to forgive you, and forgive her. She wrestled with that. It was news to her. All right. After a while, I said, God will give you a new spirit too, as well as a new heart. He will make you a real born child of God. People are talking a lot, they're calling themselves Christians. So she sat up in bed. And she said, Mother, I said, put your arms around her, dear, put your arms around her. She needs forgiving for saying that you forgive her. And she needs your forgiveness too, and God's forgiveness. So she put her arms around her. This was absolutely news to her. She'd never heard anything like this before. Neither had I until God taught me in my heart. All right. And she said, Mother, I forgive you. She was in this, you hear me sobbing, that's the result of the stroke I had a year or so ago. She put her arms around her, just as though she was there. Mother, I forgive you. All right. Immediately she was a changed person. Immediately. It's the immediacy of God's work in you. It's an immediate change. And a permanent one. All right. And she'd hold him in a chair. And then I began to understand this position. She was in the fetus position, in her bed. That was the peculiar way she was lying. You sometimes lie like this, don't you? Do you think back? Right. Praise the Lord. We prayed together. I said, now, I'll come back tomorrow and talk to you about your blindness. So I left her. And I went back the next morning. To deal with this sin, this thing, this offense, this real hatred that had come into her heart. That's free. Remember. And I said, how are you? Oh, how about your sight? She said, yes. I put my hand on her eyes. I said, receive it, Bev. She received it. The cause of her blindness was her mother's sin and her own compounded. She was rejected in the womb. We did not want this one. So if you are a mother, or going to become a mother, you have a very responsible position. So her memories went back to three, as mine went back to three. Now, I could keep going all morning to give you that kind of story. You're like a lot of babies. You like to hear stories, don't you? Well, Jesus told a lot. You equate yourself with the stories he tells. But then there were, and we're going to catch up with our reading and our point, times when he never told stories. I've mentioned this before. But he used the parabolic method. You will remember in chapter 12, where we were yesterday, he said something which sounded most mysterious. I didn't stay. I mean, time flies. Look at the time. It's half gone this morning. He said this, Except the corn of wheat fall into the ground and die. And he's talking about you. You better listen. Except you fall into the ground and die. You'll be forever alone. Hell is a lonely place. You won't be the only one there. If you go. But it's long. No love, you'll see. No love. Here, then, is a tremendous thing. He said if it doesn't, now listen, this is a law operating in your life now. If you don't fall into the ground and die, you'll forever abide alone. And you won't have Jesus. As though you may say Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus all day long. It's reality, not words. After all, Jesus is only a name. It's a wonderful one. Be careful. All of God's got to be in one. All of God is always in everything that he does. Think that one over. You can write it down. But you never forget it. Here, then, beloved, is the truth. That was a parabolic thing. Call the wheat for you. The ground will die and rise enough. You can picture it in your mind. You fill out the parable. Here, then, is the tremendous truth. You and I have to get into our hearts. And then we went on through there. And he spoke about, Father, glorify your name. And God came back. But that's the result. God is never glorified in your life until you have fallen into the ground and died, spiritually. The old spirit of you, the real you. I'm talking to your spirits now. You think I'm talking to your bodies. I am not. I'm talking to you. Because that's who you are. Who you really are. A thing that I cannot see. But if I'm long with you, I'll begin to start to understand you. And know you. And he winds up that 12th chapter, just to go back, to make the link. He says, as the Father, verse 50, has said unto me. That's what I speak. And the earth. Although you would remember with pleasure some of the things your father said, not many now. This is the eternal connection. You've got a never-dying spirit. That is, you'll always have self-consciousness. Always. That is the great I. I am self-conscious. God is self-conscious. He says, I am. Who I am. And I want to say this. You started me off on this. I've got a job to get away from it now. That's the most important thing. I listen to you. If I listen to you for long. These are the bases of knowing people. Not say, I'm a Christian, or I'm a Wesleyan, or I'm a Baptist, or I'm this, that and the other. Listen. I shall recognize you. So don't get too acquainted with me. If you don't want me to know you, don't get too acquainted. I shall listen for that I am. Not I want. Or not I think. I want to get deeper down in your thinking. I want to get to say to myself, who is this woman? Who is this man talking to me? That's right. And I shall know. See, there's a saying in England about birds of a feather flocking together. But God doesn't go by your fine feathers. That's a humanist approach. You. Who are you, son? Who I am. Who are you, daughter? Who I am. And I shan't so much listen to what you call your testimony. Your testimony will be coming out of your mouth when you least expect it to. And as if your actions are coming through. Wonderful, isn't it? It really is. So really we're on the great truth now. Now you're knowing that you have to be born again. Come out of the womb of God. He's child. Unusual language, isn't it? To you it won't be to people like Dalton or Brother Hick. But that's it. I am. Who are you? I am. Who I am. That's who I am. Or I am. Paul got very near to her. In his gospel. That is, in Corinthians. Only part of his gospel were the things he preached. In the Corinthian letter. Went into the 15th chapter. Which you think is the resurrection chapter. Oh, that's the resurrection. He says, I preach unto you the gospel. And then he goes down and says. More or less he says, I'm not fit to be a preacher of the gospel. I persecuted this communion. I think he was. I think he did. But he said. I found mercy of the Lord. Then he says. Now listen to this. By the grace of God. I am. What I am. He changes one letter. God said, I am that. I am. Paul got as close to it. As any man or woman there. I am. Just changed the T into a W. What I am. By the grace of God. You want to keep that in the forefront of your mind. You never go wrong. If you do. I mean deeply. Seriously wrong. It's the I am. What you say. Oh, I am going to the shops. I am going on a holiday. I am. I am. I am. That's the thing. Who are you? Not what are you. Who are you? We are all to accept the fact that we are all Christians. We wouldn't be here if we reasoned. Unless we were. Or not at all. We want to serve the Lord. But that's quite immaterial. If you are. I am. In the gracious sense that Paul spoke it. I am. What I am. You'll be serving God. You won't be able not to. Now here's the great thing. Come to John. I should spend the morning preaching. I love preaching. Jesus did spend nights and days. Preaching. Quite natural. Now then into 13. At this point in John's gospel comes the great division. John's gospel can be more or less divided into halves. The first 12 chapters given to what he did. Selected incidents and sayings. But now. The last week of his life on earth is crammed into these chapters. You can divide John between 12 and 13. But don't divide them in the sense that you make them irrelevant to one another. They go right on. Now before the feast of the Passover. When Jesus knew that his hour was come. That he should depart out of this world unto the Father. Having loved his own. Which were in the world. He loved them. I love it. I love it. It's all he knew to do. Love them. Love them. You'll be a cold, inefficient servant of the Lord unless you learn this secret. It isn't all standing out in the street though. I've done plenty of it. Shouting out the gospel. Having loved his own. Jesus only preached because he loved. That was his incentive for preaching. He loved. But now he's particularizing. Having loved his own. Most people out there were not his own. They professed to be what we would call Christians. Only a word wasn't invented then. We are Moses' disciples. We have followed you around all over the country. Listening to what you said. Admiring you and what the works you have done. They weren't his own. Listen. The good shepherd we pass through this chapter. I know my sheep. The shepherds. And my sheep know me. And they follow me. Alright. Indeed I call my own sheep by their names. Very particular. I mean, you would know your name. I only know the names of about one. That's him. The tremendous thing you must see. The particularization of the gospel. Known unto God for all his works. From the foundation of the world. That's Luke writing. Because you know he wrote the Acts of the Apostles. This is a marvelous thing for us to see. Before he spoke. Taking verse 50. I'm wanting to emphasize this chapterization. And versification in the Bible. You've got to avoid becoming the slave of other people's teachings. Before he said anything more. In John's gospel anyway. He comes back to the beginning. God's so loved. He's back there. Be sure you love people before you talk to them also. Oh you should be full of it if you say you're full of God and the Holy Spirit. You can't pretend with God you see. You can't pretend on this I'm a Christian kind of thing. You know what this word Christian, Christianity means? It's a great big umbrella. Under which people come and crawl. They call them churches. They're shells. Here is the thing to see beloved. He loves them. Now listen. Learn from this verse. You've got to learn to love to the end. Marriage is based upon that. As long as we both shall live. You've got to love them to the end. And that's sometimes the hardest thing. Let's go on. Suffer being edited. The devil now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot. Simon's son. To betray him. Jesus knowing that the Father has given all things into his hands. And that he has come from God and went to God. This should sum up your life and thinking. You've got to know. Now you answer it in your own heart. That you've come from God. In other words you've been born again. Don't get mixed up to salvation and new birth. They would all have said it should be joined. But keep what God is specifically saying. He never mixed you up. Neither did any of the Bible writers. These are doctrines built up. You've got to go back to the original. Salvation is included in new birth. But very often you find that when people talk about salvation. New birth is not included in it because they're coarse. They're vulgar. They're not sweet. They call themselves saved. But the whole purpose of salvation is not to save you from hell. It's to save you from yourself. You are born in sin. Shaken in iniquity. And you can't be forgiven for that. Keep the two ideas clear in your mind. And it shall forever be muddled. And you'll muddle everybody else that listens to you. You can't be forgiven for being born in sin. Nothing to do with you. You can be forgiven for just being you. Or what nationality you are. You can't be forgiven for that. Keep it clear that the lack of thinking is so obvious. As you go into church after church. That isn't to say if you're truly born again you are saved or forgiven. I wish people learned to distinguish in their thinking. That's the art of thinking. The ability, if you like, to split hairs. Not merely split hairs. I've used a phrase. To know what it is Jesus is specific. When he said you must be born again. It didn't just mean you've got to be forgiven. John Baptist preached forgiveness. Moses preached forgiveness. Upon certain conditions. Neither of them preached new birth. I know I'm making you think. And that's what I want to do. I had to discover it. Jesus, after John had baptized them. They'd all say all will include all. They'd all been forgiven. They'd all gone down into Jordan. They'd all been baptized. Now they were church members, weren't they? But they weren't church members. And the one that Jesus, that John Baptist came into the world for. To introduce. He comes to a lot of forgiven people. And says, you must be born. What we synthesize these things. Made one equal the other. But they are not equal. Jesus is above all his teachings. They'd all been baptized in water. Wouldn't you say they were all Christians? All Christians should be baptized in water. I'm not saying about them. But he had it. No one. One girl's nigger demons were staggered to his roots. Weren't they? Let's go on. They can coincide, of course, forgivers. They can coincide. But they are not the same. All right. He loves them. And into Judas' heart had come the devil to really get Jesus betrayed. You know what they could have said, don't you? For one of his own disciples to betray him. What official teaching. But of course, he wasn't born again. But Jesus had forgiven him his sins over and over and over again. You can't be born again. Over and over and over again. Or just born. Put it on the human level. You can't be born again. That's what confused Nicodemus. Man, when he's old, into his mother's womb. Born. And Jesus knew, of course. He shot every boy at the beginning. He knew the man didn't understand. I haven't got a clue. I sometimes think this when I stand up in churches to preach. I wonder how many have a clue. I must be honest with you. Let's go on. Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands. And that he was come from God and went to God. Now, beloved, you take this in. I ought to have another six years ahead of me in which to teach you these things. Nearly every verse is tremendous. Listen. You've got to know that you've come from God. And that you're going to God. Notice, he didn't say, I've come from heaven and I'm going back to heaven. It's the church that's fallen into that trap. He's gone to make a new heaven. And a new earth. It's also John's the one that tells us these things. Can you see what it's all about? Oh, God, forgive me. I was going to say the trouble with God. Excuse me, God. I don't mean that. He said, he will forgive you. Because he loves you. And I wonder whether, he says, wonder when they realize, whether they ever will, they're leaving another birth. When by your birth you get the nature, by your birth, by that you become a child by birth of your mother and your father. You don't get forgiven by birth. You've got nothing to forgive for. Unless your mother thought you kicked a bit before you were born and hurt her. I don't know. Don't you understand? This new birth that we come onto is an event in God. Oh, you should see. I meet people who say, it isn't very long. You know, I'm married. Well, a performance show. One or two people worship in this church. I'm as old as that. But the next news I listen for is David. That's an event. Tremendous. In the mother. It has nothing to do with you at all. It has an event in God. Have you ever become an event in God? Not just forgiven by God. You do see now, don't you? At least I've tried to make it play. So that you understand there's no reason why forgiveness and birth should not coincide. If you come with your whole being open and your understanding enlightened. I'll have a cup of tea, please. This poor man. He got a little black fellow there. And he was holding him tight by the hand. And the announcer said, it was the hand of salvation. You know what I thought. The hand of salvation. For this little chap. I don't know how old he was. Was eating his first food for so many days. And he, as a member of the rescue team that picked him out of the pit of death. He'd been put in there with the dead corpses. A living little fellow. And he'd gone and taken him out. Wonderful. Glory be to God. Do you know how to cry? Inwardly. Though your face may be dry. You see inward crying is much better than those volumes of tears that might flow out of your eyes. I'm looking at a young lady. She could cry at the drop of a hat. She apologized to me once. She said, I've always cried. She's not now. But there it is, you see. There it is, beloved. And I looked at this. Now you sit and look at it with me, will you? There he was. He was oblivious to everything. Except a white hand that had a hold of his little hand. And his other hand was up. And then he said, That soldier man, or relief man, he said, I'm going to adopt him. I'm going to make him my son. What do you think of that? Praise the Lord. I thank God. And then I get to the place where I can't thank him anymore. I've thanked him so much I just sit there and drink it all in. And take it as being my own. It's all for me. I'm one of his special ones. I'm one of his favorites. Oh, you are too. Don't think I... But the trouble is you may not think that, you see. You may not think you're so blessed. You may not. But I do. And I don't know how to express it. Although I'm supposed to be able to express things, I don't know how to do it. That's how God got. He got like that. He couldn't say it anymore. He said, If you want to know what I've got to say, Look at Him. He's my Word. I'm saying it all in my Son. There are things you can't say. You've got to be something. Don't you understand? If God was just talk, Where could we have hope? He is. Alpha. Omega. Everything is compressed within it. Within that, there's my hope. That's where I began. I began in God by His grace. So many, maybe millions of years ago. I don't know. That's where I began. In the heart of God. Oh, come with me and join in the mystery of this great thing. Let it grip you. Don't you understand? God is wanting to share Himself. Eternity. Every day. Every minute. He's wanting to do it. He's wanting to swallow us all up in love. He's taken our sin. He's done everything else. He's suffered and suffered and suffered. For you. And for me. Isn't it wonderful? He wants you to be able to lie back In the glory of this eternity. And live. Not like something you see on pictures With some man, fat, lounging back in a harem or something. Not something that panders to the flesh. Something that's real and glorious. That's going to stand you when your body is rotted away in the ground. And you'll never be thinking about flesh anymore. This is what it's about. This great and glorious love of God He's given us things that we can enjoy while we're in the body. Praise His holy name. But all these rightly understood Are to point you to the greater. The one who in simplicity And in purity And in dead honesty to you Created you first in His heart. In His spirit. You. What He, shall I say imagined? I don't mean merely imaginary. What He imagined. You know that no artist in this world Can ever draw a picture before he sees it first in his imagination. No architect can construct a building But first he sees it in his heart. In his imagination. So with God. What He wanted for you and for me. Beloved, you must not come short of it. You must not fail here. You must have it all. It's a way beyond what any preacher has ever been able to tell you. Or any teacher able to explain to you. We have a mind. It comes in the mind. And God speaks these precious things. Written them in the book. And there are some who have read the book longer than others. And understand a little bit more about it. But oh, beloved. To lie on his breast. That's one of those great words of Wesley. To lie at the foot of the rock. Or rise to be hid in his breast. General Booth's favorite hymn. What a marvelous thing it is for us to understand, beloved. You've got to come into this world, friend. You've got to come. It's the world of the Spirit. And this is how God began it. Nothing, nothing of man will ever do. You look out on this world. And I've heard it said, you know. The sneers and the jeers. For instance, when I was quite a young fellow. I can remember when the 14-18 war was over. And men came home from the front. And they lived their lives. And then there was a general strike in England. This is where our family came right down. That is, oh, not my wife. I mean my mum and dad. I can remember having to. I don't like to say this. But my mother, my own precious mother. With children crying around her skirts. And determined to go out and steal bread. To satisfy our hunger. Nothing. You grumble. What are you grumbling about? If you hadn't wasted so much money, you'd be alright. And just as she was going out the door to do it. They came and knocked. She opened the door. And there stood a dear saint of God. With a loaf of bread in her hand. God prevented my mother from committing a crime. But she would have done it for me. And my sister. She would have done it. What mother would see her children starve. Hey. I talk about the dregs in the East End of London. These are the reasons. Beloved, you're rich. You're rich. You're well off. And if you complain anymore, you're complaining against God. For you believe you're God's child, do you? You believe He's looking after you, do you? You say, yeah, but this government I've got to tell you, friend. It's time you got away from governments. It's what Norman said. I agreed with him. We were having a chat about that. He stood up and he said, whatever happens to us, it's God's will. You see, the whole thing for us to understand, beloved, is this. Let me keep saying it. God helped me to make it plain. There were those engaged in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. You see? And you will say that men crucified Him. But you must know that it was God that had it done. Don't you see? For you. So you say, these wicked men. God says, oh no, I had it done for you. It's whether you're on one side or the other. It's whether your vision is right. It's whether your understanding has come to any kind of fruition in these great things. I'm not talking about the devil imposing things on us. Do you not see what it's about? Oh God, make us grateful. Make us understand. We'll stop grabbing for this, that and the other. We'll stop being jealous of other people. We'll be grateful for what we have. Bless the name of the Lord. This will kill ambition in you, the ambition that wants to climb up over somebody's head, standing on their shoulders. This will slay it. Do you believe that promotion cometh from the Lord? As the Scripture says, it doesn't come from man. Beloved, it all started with God slaying the Lamb. His own Lamb. Slain from the foundation of the world. I don't know why. I think there are going to be some questions I'm going to say to the Lord. I think, well why Lord? Why? Why did you begin upon this when you knew this was going to happen? Why did you do it? And then perhaps you'll look at me and say, nothing. But just look into my eyes and heart and I shall know my answer. He loves me. He loves me. The world's gone wrong from the beginning. No correcting it. And if as you read on in this glorious book, come to chapter 16, I heard a great voice out of the temple, in heaven this is, saying to the seven angels, go your ways and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth. And the first went and poured out his vial upon the earth, and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his name. And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea, and it became as the blood of a dead man, and every living soul died in the sea. They're squabbling about who shall fish where these days. They don't know this is ahead. Perhaps they wouldn't believe it if they read the book. I think probably one of the most atheistic countries in the world is France, and they're squabbling about the fish quota now. I know there are others. And so we go on. The third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of water, and they became blood. And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and was, and shalt be, because thou hast judged us. I wonder if all this talk about water and putting up prices for us, whether they know there's an angel of the waters. I wonder if they do. Do you? Do you thank God for water? You would if you were in Rwanda. Or at least you thank something, somebody. Just think. One of the things I want to do is make all English people ashamed of themselves for the way they grumble. They're dead scared that somebody else is going to have something better than them. That's what it's all about. It's all jealousy. Wrong and right doesn't enter into it. Where eternal things are concerned, they may among men. Everything is astray from God. There cannot be right in this earth. There never has been, and there never will be. That's the thing to get hold of. And understand it in your heart. And get it deep down inside. I'm not preaching politics. I take no part in them whatsoever. I never have, and I'm a bit too old to start. I think the more you get entangled in the politics of this earth, the less you'll know about the politics of heaven. And the Lord wants us to get into this. We read it right on and on and on. And this angel, he says, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged us. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink. For they are worthy. Do you think that it's righteous? Do you? If you had to judge, you say, What, men, all their source of water supplies turn to blood? You say, if he's a God of love, why doesn't he do this? Why doesn't he do the other? Why does he let this suffering take place? Why these great diseases? Why, why, why? The never-ending question. There can't be a God. Or if he's a God, then he's not a God of love. That is the calculation of the human heart. And you watch it doesn't get into you. For you, sometimes, I imagine, if you are a normal human being, we'll be asking, Why? Why? Why? Over a million people, just say, If they get that right, it'll start again next year. There's no stopping it now. It's all going to gather apace. Until the end. That's what it's going to do. Nothing will stop it. Nothing. Get that deep into your heart. Nothing is going to stop it. Because of what? They shed the blood of saints and angels, and prophets, verse 6, and thou hast given them blood to drink. They're worthy. And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments. And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun, and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues. And they repented not to give him the glory. And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast, and his kingdom was full of darkness. They gnawed their tongues for pain, and blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds. You see, beloved, the judgments of God never bring men and women to repentance. Never. They blaspheme Him. Blaspheme Him. Blaspheme Him. That's what they do. Beloved, it's not only because they've shed the blood of saints. I can think of people who've been cut down. Think of people who've been tied at the stake in rivers to drown. Think of people who've tried to climb up. I think of the Quakers in their real beginnings when they were men and women of power, of God in this land. They were shut up. I can never drive past, or go by train past a certain city in this country when I think of the time when the Quakers, men, God's messengers to this country, they were put in there and they were on the ground floor and their food was put on the top floor and a rope was down through the ceiling and if they wanted food, they had to climb up this rope to eat it. And they used to try climbing up there and drop down dead. That's how men have treated the messengers of the gospel, English men. This country is ripe for judgment, beloved. So is every country. Don't you think it doesn't matter? It's God's mercy and God's grace, beloved, that He hasn't poured out judgment upon the whole world yet. But He's going to. Beloved, you're in this tent. You are accountable to God now for hearing the gospel. You've heard it sung. You've heard it read. You've heard it preached. From now on, whether you be 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, or whether you go right up to 80, I think there may be somebody a bit older than that here, it doesn't matter, beloved. You've heard it! You've heard that God slew His Lamb before the foundation of the world. In His heart, in the blessed mystery of redemption, He did it, friend! He did it! And you are accountable for that from the moment you've heard about it. You are accountable to God. At first, you may not have understood this. You might have groped through feebly trying to get hold of something, something to hope in, something to trust in, something that will last you through the eternity into which you enter every moment you breathe. Did you know that? There's no going back. You can't be unborn. You can't touch the past unless the Lord God Himself who knows every minute of your life and mine looks upon you and me with mercy and with grace. No hope whatsoever. Punishment won't make you do it. Punishment won't make you come. No! Men's hearts can get so hard that when God does things, they say, guard them, they swear, they curse. I've heard them. Going back to that First World War again, I can remember when just a little chap and I could see women in the Methodist church, I think it was, where we went then at that particular time and the husband wasn't there and the excuse the wife used to give was always this, He's seen so much, you know, in the war. He's seen so much. Don't want any more now. Before the 1418 war, men used to flock to the churches with their wives. I'm talking statistics now. After the 1418 war, it was more women than men because they made the excuse, we've seen terribly, there can't be a God or if there is, I rebel against Him. Men are still saying the same things and women too. And yet, He loves them. It's all happened, beloved, because when God made man, although He'd already slain His land to redeem him, He went astray. Be sure, every one of you in this room, unless you are the Lord's and walking on with Him, your mind will be disaffected. It will be poisoned. You will ask questions and questions will be asked you. You will be shown pictures and you will be sick at the sight of them. I mean proper pictures, say where they're running corpses into a mass burial ground. You see them. Where's God in all this, you'll say. Where is He? I'll tell you, friend, He's knocking at your heart's door and I tell you this, it will get worse and worse. This last war was worse than the 14-18 war. This last great famine and exterminating deaths and plague worse than anything before. And yet we're not in the time when God is going to pour forth His vials of wrath. You know, beloved, you must have wrath if you must have love. Of course you must. Anger against love being refused. Not just love of a young man wanting to propose to a young girl and she says no and he murders her or something like that. That's all wrong. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about this. There is wrath as well as love. And this word grace that we talk about is based upon the long suffering of the love of God that He holds back from doing what this world so richly deserves. That's right, grace. To allow you and me time and opportunity to get it right with Him. The Gospel doesn't touch you. Suffering doesn't touch you only to make you harder and more callous. All these other things are all there served up to you from Satan into your receptive heart and mind. That's right. And you believe it. And you side with it. And he who preaches the Gospel is not wanted. What a tremendous state everything is in. That's the world. Now I'm going to ask you a question. Is your name written in the book of the life of the Lamb? Is it? You see, God foreknew it all. He saw what was going to happen. Never took Him by surprise. He compiled a book, beloved. You're sitting there. You tell me whether your name's in that book. You can all ask me. Point your finger at me. I'll tell you about myself. I can't tell you about you. I can only tell you about God and myself. Basically. Because I believe other people's names are there. Of course. But it comes to this. I must know for myself, beloved. This is all about eternity. All about eternity. No marks. No yen. No francs. No pounds. No dollars there. Nothing. What a tremendous and glorious future we have to look forward to. You will know the biggest troubles in the world are all about money. Aren't they? Well, aren't they? They're all about money. And God allowed His Son to be sold for 30 pieces of silver by a traitor. I always wonder why He didn't say, Well, that's enough. Let's finish with the world. They crucified My Son. Let's plot it all out. Let's start all over again. So He said, No, hold. Wait a moment. There were the unborn millions that He foresaw. He wanted to give you, friend, whoever you are, whatever your age, He wanted you to have the opportunity of knowing love. Real, eternal love. Love that redeemed your life by shedding His precious blood. Love that knew you didn't know. Knew you didn't understand. Knew you wouldn't. Knew you would read the newspapers. Knew you would hear the gossip. Knew you would watch the television. Knew you would listen to the radio. He knew who your friends would be, who your neighbours would be, who your school teachers would be. He knows it all, friend. And He loves you. And that's what it's about, this Gospel. To rescue you from hell, from Satan, from death, from yourself. And all the stored up misrepresentations, misunderstandings, wickednesses, rescue you from it all. Make you white. Make you pure. Make you clean. And say, I'm going to make a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwells righteousness. And you and I will not be there unless we are righteous. He's not having anybody there that's going to spoil this great new creation. Nobody. So He proposes to make you new while you're on this earth. Absolutely new. Whoever you are, whatever you've done, wherever you come from, wherever you may hope you're going, He proposes to make you new on this earth. Right down here. Absolutely new. He's not just talking about forgiving your sins. That's a sort of a prelude to it all. He's proposing that He will take your sins away and prepare your heart by His grace to have a tremendous change take place inside. He'll deal with you, your ego, your personality, the way you come over to other people, the sound of your voice, the attitude that you take in this world, in your home, with your neighbor. He proposes to take you up and be made a new creature. Who wants that? You? Some have put their hands up. If I said, stand up all of you that want it, would you stand up? Stand up then, if you want it. If you don't want it, keep sitting. Perhaps there was a time in your life when you wanted to win the football pools or something. But you never did, did you? So you may want this and not have it. Do you understand? And it isn't a gamble. It's by the utter commitment of yourself unto Him. Totally. That's what He's claiming. When Christ died on the cross, beloved, He paid the price for you. You've been bought. Last night I was saying, He looked upon you as one of His sheep even though you weren't and hadn't been following Him. It's the same with God. He bought you. He bought you. And every minute you've lived your life away from God, you're a thief and a rogue. Do you understand? Do you understand? You've been bought by God. He sent His Son into the world. And when these vials and these plagues are all poured out, it's because men and women have refused to have Jesus Christ. And God will not force Him upon you. You will notice I'm not asking you whether you want to go to heaven when you die. I've said it enough from this place. That's not good enough. God's going to make a new heaven and a new earth. The present heavens have been marred and spoiled. Yes. Not just by Sputniks and I don't know what cruising about up there. In my eye, the mullin, she said, Moon? God will never let anybody land on the moon. Well, soon after she died, somebody did land on the moon. You may have some kind of ideas. They might be semi-scientific. And if it's all scientific, you're in a worse state. The whole tremendous thing for you to get hold of, beloved, is that the heavens are contaminated. Do you understand that? That's why He's going to make new heavens. The heavens you sometimes dream about or talk about or think about, they're contaminated. You and I are to understand that God's going to make a complete start again. He's not going to have a lot of planets in the sky that have been smashed in through by I don't know what. This is the latest scientific wonder. There was a book called Worlds in Collision. All these kinds of things. Try to be scientific when you come to the Bible and you'll turn out to be a fool. Now leave it alone, beloved. You have enough to get your soul absolutely right with God. Utterly. Don't just come out with I believe this or I believe that. I believe the other. There will have been people standing up like you. Perhaps you'd better sit down. There will have been people standing up like you in buildings this night and they've been saying what they believe. I believe in God the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth and all that. They will have been saying that. It's beyond believing, beloved. This is something that either your heart opens up to and says, Lord, I take in all of it. All that you say. All that you, I don't want it explained to me, Lord. All I want is you. I want to be right with you. That's where it's got to come from. Something deep down in one's security. Eternal security. Something in you that you don't know how to live, you don't know where to live, you don't know what's going to happen. You can't tell, beloved. You've got to have a soul that's satisfied in God. You're a poor, homeless orphan of a thing. Vainly struggling through to try and understand something. It's all in the book. You know, I looked at our precious brother and sister here being married for 40 years. I think something better than that happened to them about four years ago. In this conscience. Is that right? That's right. Something better than that. Beloved. Beloved, what's happened to you since you've been here? Oh, I believe. I've been a Christian at least 10 years. Do you know that for nigh on a thousand years a man named Adam lived on this world? You can read about it in Scripture. And he lost everything. He lost everything. It's all in this book of Genesis. It's only sin that's cut down men's lives. Do you understand that? Men living nearly a thousand years. Yes. Now it's a butter for the comedian's jokes about being as old as Methuselah. Beloved, it's only sin that's done it. It's sin that destroys health, not necessarily your own. But as you know, sometimes I've been interested. I don't know whether I shall ever ask a person that. But you know, I've never heard I may be wrong, Norman. You might have better information than I on these things. But you know, I've never heard of one Christian having AIDS. A born-again Christian. Have you? No. Makes you think, doesn't it? Film stars, people like that, they have it. Thou raised millions to help the AIDS people. So shouldn't they be helped? Shouldn't the poor innocents out in Rwanda have more help than a man that through his sin and a woman has got a disease? Tell me, you judge right. These little things, they have no chance. Do they? Well, shouldn't the AIDS people be helped? Yes, yes. But do you understand what I'm trying to say? I never heard of a born-again Christian having AIDS. If you know of one, please let me know. I know you can catch it. I know you can be an innocent victim. That's the tragedy with sin. It fastens on innocent victims. That's how it goes on. And that's how father or mother, you may already have ruined your child because of sinful activities. Oh, I don't mean these degrading things. I mean your losses of temper, the way you speak, your attitude, the thing you're showing them when their little innocent eyes are fixed on you and they hear your voice so they don't understand a thing you're saying, but they know you. That's the thing. God has to save us from everything, change everything. So wonderful. He began there with the Lamb, right there in the beginning, as though somebody, Archangel Gabriel or somebody could have said to him, if this was possible, pardon my imagination, I have a very vivid one. The Archangel Gabriel went up and said, you know, God, don't you, what's going to happen? You know. You know what happened to Lucifer. You know what's going to happen. Don't do it. Don't do it. It will be a dishonor to you. They will be your public disgrace. The devils will mock at you. God said, I think about a little boy that's going to be born in Bethlehem, I think about him. Where were you born? Greece? India? Germany? France? England? Where do you come from? If I haven't mentioned your nationality, I meant to. I'm thinking about him. I'm thinking about her. Look, I don't know whether this has happened. You must pardon my vivid imagination. See, I've got his name in my Lamb's Book of Life. Oh, but he's not going to be born until the 20th century. That's right. I thank God you've heard him, son. Thank God you've heard the Gospel man and woman. Now the responsibility is yours. I'd better leave it. The threat of 11 o'clock. I'll continue by God's grace tomorrow night, for I have hardly touched it. I could read that Hallelujah in two senses. I told you I've got an imagination. Now then, beloved, I'm talking to you, the one I can't see, whose face I cannot pick out. How about you? You stood up. You said you want it. Stand up if you're going to receive it now, tonight, in this room. If you are going to receive it, and this is a contract with God. I see some understanding that needn't have stood. But I'm glad that hearts have responded so fully. It doesn't matter whether you may be making a mistake according to men's intelligence and understanding. Be sure of this, that you have this night placed yourself utterly in the hands of the living God. That's right. To be your God, to be your Savior, in whose life you will live, and in whose service you will spend the rest of your days. Sit down. I'm going to repeat the last sentence. In whose service you will spend the rest of your days. Stand up. You will spend the rest of your days in the service of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't say you'll ever stand on this platform. I don't say you'll go out to Timbuktu as a missionary. I'm not saying that. There's plenty of service to be done in the area where you live. You know, there are too many people bolting off abroad to do this, that, and the other, and they don't do a scrap with the church to which they belong. Is that true? If it's you, put your hand up. Be honest. Only two people have been honest, not three. I know there's a lot more than that. You're so ashamed of yourself. You're to give yourself up to serving the Lord. And you serve Him best by living to the utmost of your ability in your district, in your church, where you go. Giving yourself. I'm tired. That's how I've gone on all my life. When you're tired, when you've done your day's work, when you've done this and done that and you've got this to do and something else to do, that's the time to get up and serve God. Oh, I serve Him in the job I do. So did I. Beloved, General Booth once wrote a book, The Darkest England and the Way Out. It was a classic among salvationists. They don't read it now. There was a bishop, an archbishop, named Temple. He wrote a book toward the conversion of England. I'll guarantee this present archbishop wouldn't talk like that, nor the one before him. Is that right, Norman? That's the area you moved in. Beloved, talk, talk, talk, talk. I charge you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ that you set about saving souls in your district, your neighbor, people around you. Show God that you mean it. Rorah is a lovely place to come. It's a lovely place to go away from too. I don't mean forever. Come back next year. But go to serve God. That's right. You could give, cancel some of your other things. Oh, I paid for it. Yeah, that's right. So much money down the drain. See, you love money. Get rid of it. Be real. Unless you may be classified with the man who thought that Jesus Christ could be bought for 30 pieces of silver. And he was an apostle. God help us all. You mean it? All right. I have determined to follow Jesus. I have determined to follow Jesus. I have determined to follow Jesus. No turning back. No turning back. No one for me. The world behind me. The cross before me. The world behind me. The cross before me. The world behind me. No turning back. No turning back. Though no one joins me, still I will follow. Though no one joins me, still I will follow. Though no one joins me, still I will follow. No turning back. No turning back. Is that right? Let's pray. You pray. Don't pray out loud. Just talk to God in your heart. Father, oh God of many tears. God whose heart must have been broken. God who feels, who loves. Sorry that you made man at one period, but he did it and started again. Father, who extended the day of grace until this moment, so that we should hear the truth that has occupied thy heart and fought through these centuries. Thou who made this time for man to be born, to live, and to die. Oh Lord, with us now, loving us more deeply than any preacher can preach. Oh Lord, forgive our foolish ways. Oh Lord, be gracious unto us. Extend thy mercy toward us, oh God, lest we sing and clap and dance and neglect thy work. We love it. We love ourselves. We love to feel good. Thou, oh God, must have wept in the beginning to sacrifice thy Son for us. Lord of all hope and faith, who gives unto him and her that will receive it everything that he and she will ever need to live with thee for eternity. Beginning with our stubborn wills, our unclean hearts and minds of filth. Beginning, Lord, to create in us a desire for holiness, to be right instead of wrong with God. Oh Lord, who understands the bafflement of our minds, who knows that we don't know. Oh Lord, who knows we've been told so many wrong things about thee. Oh Lord, who knows the age in which we've been born, this shallow, cheap, tinsel, pretentious age that knows nothing better than to get itself involved in things like AIDS. Oh God, our Father, when men only blaspheme thee, when men only turn their backs on thee, thou is kept on and on with us here. Lord, God, we owe all to thee. Can we give thee anything? Oh Lord, thou hast need of nothing if you feel you need our love. Let it all come, Lord. Let hearts in this room tonight come into absolute release. Let the certainty of thine indwelling come to this man, this woman, this young person. Oh God, that thy great everlasting life of love should embrace us all and never let us go. We worship thee, we worship thee.