In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of appreciating the true meaning and preciousness of Bible verses, particularly John 3:16. He shares a powerful story of a father who had to make a split-second decision to sacrifice his own son to save a train full of passengers. The father's grief is compounded when he sees the passengers unaware of the sacrifice made for their lives. The speaker relates this story to the lack of understanding and appreciation for the sacrifice God made through Jesus Christ for humanity's salvation. He contrasts this with the simplicity of salvation, stating that if people truly understood the gift of God and who Jesus is, they would ask for and receive eternal life.

Well, as you heard, my name is Roy Daniel and I'm very privileged to be here and to be able to preach to you. Some people think that, sometimes things of preachers and there are certainly preachers who think it's their right to be able to preach, but I consider it a privilege and a real responsibility to stand up from the pulpit. The Bible says, Be not many masters, for we shall receive the greater condemnation. I'd like us to open our Bibles to John chapter 3, verse 16. It's probably, along with Psalm 23 and a few other verses in the Bible and chapters of the most famous portions in the Bible and probably the most famous in the entire Bible is John chapter 3, verse 16 as far as verses go. But to many people, this verse, even though it is staggering and it is a verse that is amazing in what it says, to many people it's just another verse. It's not precious to them simply because they've heard it so much. If you come to South Africa, you'll meet many people living in the most beautiful city probably in the entire world. Much more beautiful than Rio de Janeiro and more beautiful than San Francisco and all these different places across the world is Cape Town. It's an amazing, amazing city. Very, very beautiful and yet people who live there do not appreciate the beauty that many of them say this until they leave there after 13 years and they long back for it. And there's people when it comes to Bible verses that they've so many times heard this Bible verse that it's meaning and preciousness is not there, very real in their life. Now I'd like to read with you this morning John 3, verse 16, one of the most precious verses ever to be penned. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Let us pray. Father, I just thank you for the privilege this morning of being able to stand up here and preach. I ask for thy mercy and thy grace and thy anointing through Jesus Christ alone, not through anything else but thy Son. Father, I ask you to bind the devil and his demons in this meeting in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ. I ask you to open up our eyes of understanding to behold the wondrous things in thy law. And I ask thee to speak with us and above all to be present as we talk of thy wondrous gift, the greatest gift that was ever given. I ask Jesus Christ thy Son. I ask all this in Jesus' name. Amen. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. I often ask the question, I wonder if people realize how much God gave when he gave his son. You know, I have an aunt in South Africa and I've got a few aunts but this particular aunt used to live in Johannesburg. She now lives in America. And she came down to visit with her children, my mother. She came to visit my mother in Cape Town when I was a little boy. And I remember we went to church on Sunday at the church we were going to that stage and there was a parking lot outside but we didn't park in the parking lot, we parked in the road next to the parking lot. And there were cars going past. And my aunt at that stage had a little baby that had been born recently and there was a baby seat in the back of the car. And I remember to this day, even though it might seem not an important thing that happened, I remember to this day a little thing that happened was when that little baby, when she opened the door at the back, that little baby somehow fell out of that car and fell head forward onto the ground. And I've never ever heard someone scream in anguish and fear, almost, as I heard my aunt scream as that little baby which she loved was in danger, was falling to the ground in that busy road with cars going past. She screamed out in fear that her little child could be hurt. Do you know how much more God loved his son than any mother could love her child? You know, when I think of the story of Abram in Genesis 22 where he was told to offer up Isaac, we have in that story so many parallels between Isaac's offering and Jesus being offered on the cross. You have the three days before he died. You have that he was carrying his wood so Jesus carried his own cross. You have so many pictures of Jesus in the story in Genesis chapter 22. But I often think when I look at that portion, that it wasn't just that God was giving a picture of Jesus Christ, but God was, yes, showing to a single man what it is like to send your only son up a lonely hill to die. He was giving a taste of what it was like to a man, what it meant to give your son to die. You know, last year, October 9th, I got married to the prettiest, loveliest, most wonderful lady on earth. I always thought my mother was that until I met Jerusa. And she's wonderful. We are happily married. We love each other. She's phenomenal. She doesn't change. She's just absolutely wonderful. I'm not going to spend the whole sermon telling how wonderful my wife is, but she is wonderful. But generally what happens when you get married is your wife falls pregnant and she's dead. And we were so excited for about three months. You know, people start giving you, we had two suitcases full of baby socks. I didn't know if it was a girl or a boy at that stage, so they were giving pink socks and blue socks. It was absolutely wonderful. We had baby cots given to us. You couldn't believe, actually our house was, our flat was this small for all the stuff, so it's good it stopped eventually. But I remember one night after we were so excited for so long and dreaming of this little child that was coming. I remember one night, what happens to many people on various occasions, there was a miscarriage. And we lost that child. I remember it was late at night, about 12 o'clock. I was sleeping in bed. I don't know what I was dreaming of, but suddenly I felt a tug on my hand and my wife was standing there and she just looked down at me with a white face and she said, Roy, we've lost the baby. And I don't know how to explain to you the anguish, the confusion in that moment, especially if it's the first one. And you're sitting there and you don't know what to do. And I stood up and obviously there was the practical implications for a few hours that we had to deal with. But I remember after that, we, at about three o'clock in the morning, we were lying in bed. And I don't believe in visions, I don't believe in dreams and strange stuff like that. There wasn't any strange dream or strange vision or anything like that. But just as a dad sitting there on his bed, it came to me this thought that was a bit like a dream, a daydream. And I saw a little child, about three years old, that looked a little bit like a combination of my wife and me. And this blonde little fluffy-haired child cried out, Daddy, Mommy. I remember sitting there on that bed and I began to sob and to sob and to sob. It's for the first time I realized how much I loved this little child that I'd never seen before. The next morning I woke up and I took my guitar, I'm not a very good guitar player, but I took my guitar and I started to just strum to myself. And I wrote down a little song. Thank you, Father, for giving your son. I can't understand why you did. But when I think of the one that we've lost, I thank you for giving Jesus. Thank you, Father, for giving your son to die on the cruelest of trees. Thank you, Jesus, and thank you, God, for doing this. For me. You know, the great preacher, the Baptist preacher, Deal Moody, in the 1800s, he used to preach hellfire and brimstone, just like Phoney did, just like many others did, with great effect and people were saved. But there came a day, a day which changed his life, when a young man from Europe wrote him a letter. And in this letter he said, I've been called of God or God is leading me to come preach a series in your church. Could I preach in your church? And Deal Moody, I think, sat down with Torrie also, I don't know if Torrie was around at that stage, and they kind of decided that he shouldn't preach because they didn't know who he was. But in those days you didn't have telegrams that could go to Europe as easy and so on. You might get a letter one day and you get the person the next day. And it became that this man came to their church, this young man. And Deal Moody just felt obliged to let him preach a whole series of meetings, I think at least seven days. And he stood up and he preached on one verse and only that verse. John 3 verse 16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. And that series of meetings changed Deal Moody's life forever. He became known as, figuratively speaking, the apostle of love. Yes, still he preached against sin, but he preached with love. In fact, when he came to Europe and preached, I think it was either Cambridge or Oxford, and they asked, why did Spurgeon not have as great an effect as Deal Moody? When these people broke before God and many of them got saved and turned from their love of money and love of drink and love of worldliness and love of everything. And people who used to laugh at the gospel were seeking God. Why was it? Then one man said, never man spake as Deal Moody spake with such love for my soul. That's what melted me. One of the illustrations that this young person used in that series of meetings was he said, if you could climb Jacob's ladder and get up to heaven and stand at the gates of heaven and ask the angel Gabriel just one question, how much did God love the world? He said, Gabriel wouldn't answer, God loved the world this much or God loved the world that much or anything else. He said he probably used just one verse. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. You know there's a story, I believe it's a true story that a preacher, a train master preacher used to preach and he had this illustration of a young child, a father that used to work at a drawbridge. And there was a railroad tracks that went over this drawbridge and he had to fix a mechanism or something or run it. And he took his little child with him one morning and his child, a little child was playing under the great instrumentation that he was fixing. And suddenly there was no train, in spite of the fact that there was no train scheduled for that time of the day, suddenly a train came around the corner and was rushing towards him. And he had a few seconds, a few split seconds to decide, must I pull down the lever bringing down that drawbridge and crush my son? And so saved this train and all the passengers. Or must I jump, save my son? And those people would be smashed. In one moment he brought down the lever, that drawbridge came down upon his son. And then a father sat with his little son, his hands on his head, grief torn through his body while a train passed by. You know the hardest part for that father was when he looked up and he looked at the passengers passing through the window and he saw them smiling and joking and they were playing cards. And they had no idea of the sacrifice it took for them to be able to live. You know there are so many people across this world who have no idea of what it cost God to make it possible for them to be able to come right with him. There's another story, true story of a man who was rebellious against his parents. And he had such an argument with them that eventually he left his parents. And he ran away and for about 10 years he was away from his parents. I think his dad died in that time. And then he met a person, I don't know the exact way that he got saved, but I know that he got saved in a meeting or through someone witnessing to him and he got radically changed. And when your heart is changed you want to make right with those that you have wronged. And this person wanted to go back to his mother. But he was dead scared. He was dead scared that his mother would say, I don't want to see you because he was such a rebel when he had been in the house. And so he wrote a letter and he sent this letter off to his mother. And in that letter it said, Mother I'm going to drive past on the train that goes past your house. And when I come past your house if you want me to come back, if you're willing after all that I've done, and I understand if you don't want me to come back, but if you want me to come back then please put a white handkerchief in the tree that's in the garden. And so he got and his friend was with him into the train and they started going along the line and they were going nearer and nearer to the house and he was so scared that his mother might not want him to see him because of all the terrifying things that he'd done. That he said to his friend, friend look out the window, I don't want to look. And suddenly his friend was peering through the window and they came nearer to the house. They came at a time when his friend said to him, look! He looked out the window and he was amazed. There wasn't just one white handkerchief. That mother so wanted, so loved, so wanted her rebellious child to come back that she'd literally put towels right through the garden, white towels and sheets and everything that was white that you could see. She didn't want him to miss it. You know in Luke chapter 3 verse 38 we read that Adam was the son of God and he rebelled and he ran away. And God so wanted all of mankind to know what he would do in his love for them to be able to come back to him that he literally put through the Old Testament a river of blood pointing to the day when his son would die with open arms for our sins. So that we could come and surrender to him receiving eternal life through Jesus Christ. I have a friend who came to visit me from America. My dad preached at his wedding. A lovely Christian. But he wasn't always a lovely Christian. He used to be a rebel. He used to sit at the back of his church, his father's church, where his father preached and tried to irritate him by playing the drums. And that wasn't the only thing he did. He was getting into very lots of wrong things. He was on his way to hell. Because if you're rebellious against your parents in a godly home, I can guarantee you you're not in submission to God. But he heard the preaching of a preacher. And under this preaching, he got saved. And he told me, I want to tell you the story of how this preacher got saved. He said, as a young person, I think the guy's name was Billy, as a young person, he experienced absolutely no love. His father and mother used to swear at him and throw knives and forks at him, beat him up. He never ever experienced one word of love from one person that he could remember. And there came a day as a young teenager that he decided, what's the use? He said, I'm going to take my life. And so he walked down the American road and he looked. In South Africa, we don't have very high water towers. But over there, there was a, in South America, you've got lots of water towers in different places. And there was a ladder. And he started to climb up this ladder towards the top. And he went up and up and up and up until he got to the very top. And there was this kind of a ledge or a pipe or something. He started edging his way out, hanging so that he could jump. And as he hanged there, trying to work up courage to be able to, to jump and take his life. Suddenly, as he was hanging there, longing to die, to get out of this world where no love is, he heard a voice. Now, I'm not a charismatic. I don't believe in voices from heaven all the time. In fact, I'm very scared if I hear a voice. But this voice didn't tell him to speak in tongues or fall over or anything like this. All that this voice said was, Danbilly, I love you. And he was so shocked that somebody out there actually loved him, that he went back and he climbed up. Now, the next day, or within a few days, there were a Baptist couple, a man and wife, walking down the street. And the lady, also not a charismatic, not being led all the time. I get scared when people get led to eat green food and, you know, they're led in every single direction. But this lady said to her husband, I don't know why, but something is pressing upon my heart that I have to go to that door, knock on that door, and just say something. And the husband said sure, and they went and knocked on the door. And Billy came to the door, and this Baptist pair looked at this boy and said, we just, I don't know why, but we've just been led to say that Jesus loves you. And he was so shocked after experiencing that on the water tower that he went with them to the church. Now, I'd like to say a very important thing. He wasn't saved. Voices do not save you. In fact, they're very dangerous unless you're led by. Jesus, the fact that Jesus loves you does not save you. In that meeting, you heard the old-fashioned gospel of Jesus Christ. As he heard of sin and hell and fire and judgment, he started to realize where he should be for God. And then he heard of Jesus dying on the cross for God, Son of the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. And as he heard this message and realized that he'd been going his own way and he needed to repent, he came and surrendered to the King, and he was saved as a free gift from God. And then he became a preacher, and he started to preach in different churches. And he preached in this conservative church where my friend was, and sitting among his friends who were rebels, a whole lot of them on their way to hell, or they called themselves Christians, all these young people, in rebellion against the adults in the church because they were old-fashioned. And from the pulpit, he didn't say, God is a God of love! In love, he cried out to those youth, who are you following to hell? Because that's where you're going without Christ. And as he sat there, he realized that this person loved him, as he said, who are you following to hell? And my friend came to Christ that day and became a minister later on. And my dad preached, although my dad might not know all those stories about him because he spent a lot of time with me, my dad preached at his wedding. Some people say God doesn't love. Look at the sin of this world. Look at the death, the disease, the suffering, the murder. In Africa, when we go to schools, almost every single parent is divorced. We sit with little children, tears going down their faces. They talk about their parents being Satanists. Beat them up if they tell anybody. People say to me so often, Roy, how can you call God a God of love? With all that goes wrong in this world. You see that blaming God for what man has done. In my Bible, in the King James Bible, when I read Genesis chapter 1 and so on, and I memorize it or whatever, then I come to the verses which God says, looking around him at all the things which he created. It was good. And God saw that it was good. And God saw that it was very good. There was no sin, no disease, no suffering. God created a perfect world. And into this world, man did a very stupid thing. He rebelled against God. He ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And at that moment, when he did that, sin entered in the world. A curse entered into this world. Disease, suffering. And sin became an avalanche. One little stone in a mountain will often start other stones growing. And eventually it becomes an avalanche. And that's what happened through time. Adam and Eve ate of fruit. Cain killed. There were then gays. There was idolatry. There was murder. There was the Holocaust. There were so many things that happened every day. There's the most hideous diseases out there. Divorces are everywhere. Children are being destroyed in this avalanche of sin through the ages. And only one thing in time could stop that avalanche. And that is the cross of Jesus Christ, 2,000 years back. Don't blame God for what man did and what man brought into this world through his sin. You say God doesn't love. Do you know how much God gave when he gave his son? Do you know what God went through when in Gethsemane he saw his own son crying out in Matthew 26, verse 39, Oh my father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt. As his son was calling out to his father as he was about to become the substitute for sin, not become sin. For he hath made him to be sin that knew no sin, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. That verse doesn't mean that Jesus Christ became sinful in his nature as the word of faith, Joyce Meyer, Joel Osteen, all these rubbish preachers. Sorry to say they're not even preachers. Their doctrine is so heretical. As these people preach that Jesus became sinful, no, Joyce Meyer stands up and she says, he was born again in hell because he became sinful. No, the Greek there means that he was put in the place of sinners, not that he became sin. Sometimes for the Catholics and the word of faith and the charismats, we have to go to the Greek and just help them. But when Jesus stood there in the place of sin, so in the place of sin that his father, it is written in Isaiah 53, verse 10, yet pleased the Lord to bruise him. At that moment he was so in the place of sin, so much a substitute for sin, that God the Father looked down upon his son and bruised him. Do you know what he went through when he did that to his son? God loves. Romans 5, verse 8, for God commendeth his love towards us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Amazing thing is he didn't die for wonderful people, people all over that love him from birth and just do what he wants. No. Romans 5, verse 6, for when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. He tasted death for every man, even on the cross. He died, he showed for his love when he said, Father forgive them, for they know not what they do. And it's at this point in the sermon that I'd like to read a verse, Isaiah 53, verse 6. Most of you know it. All we, like sheep, have gone astray. It's a hard verse. Most people don't accept that they've gone astray, that they're on their own way, especially people who grow up in evangelical conservative homes. I haven't gone astray. I'm on my way to heaven. I believe in God. But there's another thing that we get from these sheep. So many people, so many people don't realize that they're not just one in seven billion people. They know God loves them and I remember I struggled with this as a child. God loves me, but you know, I'm just one in many people and he does love me and he did die for me, but what did he save me? And I know the Bible says he'll save me, but am I important for him to stop everything and do a great work in my heart? You know, when Zacchaeus was in the tree and Jesus walked past and there was a crowd of people and this little dwarf was in the tree, I think he got the biggest shock in his life when Jesus stopped everything, looked up and called him by name. Because that moment he suddenly realized, I'm not just one in a crowd. This God knows me by name. He took time to worry about me, a sinner. I'd like to read with you Luke chapter 15 verse 4 to 7. What man, what man of you having a hundred sheep if you lose, listen, not 10 of them, not 20 of them, not 30 of them, one of them does not leave the 99 in the wilderness and go after that which is lost until he find it. And when he had found it, he layeth it on his shoulders rejoicing. And when he cometh home he calleth together his friends and neighbors saying unto them, rejoice with me for I found my sheep which was lost. I say unto you likewise, joy shall be in heaven over one sinner, not that believeth, that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons which need no repentance. You know, there's a song I used to, when I was at Bible college, we used to go to the fisherman's villages on the weekends for two years to different farms to preach to people, to hold children's meetings, to gather people together in houses and preach then we also went to prisons. I remember before I went to the prison to preach the one day in maximum security, or was it in the juvenile, I can't remember. I remember late at night taking out this little song, about eight years back, and crying as I thought of how God loved those prisoners, murderers and rapists. And I'd like to sing, not sing it, read this song to you, it's a song you all know. There were ninety and nine that safely lay in the shelter of the fold, but one was out on the hills away, far off from the gates of gold, away in the mountains wild and bare, away from the tender shepherd's care, away from the tender shepherd's care. Lord thou hast here thy ninety and nine, are they not enough for thee, are they not enough for thee? But the shepherd made answer, this of mine has wandered away from me. And although the road be steep and rough and steep, I go to the desert to find my sheep, I go to the desert to find my sheep. But none of the ransomed ever knew how deep were the waters cross, nor how dark was the night that the Lord passed through, ere he found his sheep that was lost. Out in the desert he heard his cry, sick and helpless and ready to die, sick and helpless and ready to die. And then my favorite verse, Lord whence are those blood drops all the way that mark out the mountain's track? They were shed for the one who had gone astray, ere the shepherd could bring him back. Lord whence are thy hands so rent and torn? They are pierced tonight by many a thorn, they are pierced tonight by many a thorn. All through the mountain's thunder-riven and up from the rocky steep there rose a glad cry to the gate of heaven, rejoice, I have found my sheep. And the angels echoed around the throne, rejoice for the Lord brings back his own. The love of God is unparalleled to every individual, black, white, Indian, child, bigger, blind. Mark 10, we read of a rich young man. And one of the most amazing things about this rich young man is that we read that Jesus loved him. And let me repeat, just because Jesus loves you doesn't mean you're on the way to heaven. This rich young man came to Jesus, and I'm going to say to him my own words, but he ran up to him, knelt down to his knees and basically cried out, good master what shall I do that I may be saved or have eternal life? And Jesus looked at him and said, why do you call me good? There's none good but God. And Jesus wasn't saying that he wasn't God, but what Jesus knew is that the way that this person reasons of what good is, was by works. Why do you call me good? Do you call me good because I do good works like you do good works? He said basically if you want to have eternal life then you should keep the 10 commandments, the law. And that young man looked up and he said I've kept it from my youth, every single one. I've been good to my daddy, I've been good to my mommy, I've done all these different things. And Jesus pointed down loving him. Jesus shone, shined as Jesus is the light in the darkness of this world. Jesus shone upon him and showed him his sinful heart and deeds. When he asked him to sell all that he had and he showed this person, you have a love for money in your heart. And that man, though Jesus loved him, walked away sad. Let me tell you something, just because Jesus loves you, doesn't mean that you're going to heaven. I've said that already. But unless you're willing to surrender to Jesus Christ, to realize that your good works don't make you good, that you're helpless before God, willing to give up your old life and surrender it to Jesus, then even though he loves you, you will walk away. Though you ask for eternal life, you will walk away without it. I can just see many preachers with this young man came to them and said, sir, I want to be saved. You want to be saved? Wonderful, sit down. We've got a convert, let's get the books ready for the statistics. So that everybody can know another soul has been saved. Soul sits down. Now listen, you are a sinner. Repeat after me. I am a sinner. Jesus Christ died for your sins. He did? Wonderful. Now accept Jesus Christ. Say this after me. I'm a sinner and I want to repent and I ask Jesus into my life. I'm a sinner, I ask you to repent and I'm going to repent and I ask Jesus into my life. Now you are a Christian. Welcome into the family. Now that sounds pathetic, but that's how most Christians start their walk nowadays. It's not like Jesus, are you willing to give up the sin? Well, let's say they did that. Are you willing to give up your sin? Well, I've got that. Well, wait a minute. We grow slowly after salvation. You don't have to worry. Just ask Jesus and then we'll deal with that later. No, that's not how it works. You have to come to God to surrender. Yes, there's a grain process afterwards, but you have to turn from your life of sin. Number two, you have to realize that you're helpless. You know, there was a great preacher in South Africa about 30 years back and one of my friends was saved under him. My friend's dad used to beat people to death and he wasn't much better than his dad. Quite a hard fella, even though he went to church, traditional church. He came under the preaching of this great old Afrikaans preacher in another language. As he was sitting there for the first time under the gospel message, he saw this man do a strange thing, the preacher. He asked, could there be a volunteer? One man came to the front and took big ropes up and he started to tie that man, this volunteer, to the chair around and round and round and round. Eventually, with many knots, he tied him so that he couldn't move. He looked at the man and he said, man, untie yourself. The man tried and the man tried and the man tried and he couldn't. Then he asked a very simple question. What does this man have to do to be set free? Someone cried out. I wasn't there to see exactly how it goes, it's a basic story, but someone cried out. Someone has to come from the outside to set him free. There's only one person that can set you free spiritually from the outside, and that's Jesus Christ. If the Son therefore shall set make you free, you shall be free indeed, John 8 verse 36. You have to realize that you're helpless. Good master, what shall I do that I might have eternal life? It's not what you can do. It's Jesus setting you free. It's Jesus coming in and making, if you're willing to surrender, as a free gift, making you a new creature. I'd like to quickly look at a few people that were willing. First of all, in Luke 23 verse 42, there was a man on the cross. Amazing, a thief. Yet, as he was hanging on the cross and he looked at Jesus and he realized that he was a sinner and he was willing in his heart to surrender to the king that was hanging next to him. He said these simple words, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. You know, he was saved, just like that. Amazing. The lesson I get from that is that Jesus always has time, even when he's dying on the cross. Don't let the devil lie to you and say that Jesus is the busiest person on earth. He doesn't have time for you. God has time for a sinner, even on the cross, to grant him eternal life. Then we have the blind beggar. This wasn't to do with salvation, but it just illustrates the point. Just outside Jericho, blind Bartimaeus, in Mark 10, we read him crying out, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy upon me. When he heard that Jesus was passing. And all the people, they said, you're not important enough. And that's how people think. Beggar. Jesus. And this poor person was crying, but he would not keep quiet. And he cried out all the more, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And you know what Jesus did? Though he was the king of kings, he stopped everything for a blind beggar. What love. And he said, bring him unto me. And then he said these words, what would thou that I should do unto you? It's like, what a wonderful question. For me? A blind beggar? Does he love me so much? Yes, he does. Children. Matthew 19, verse 14. The disciples. This wasn't even that. The worldly Jews, the disciples, where we're crossed, the little children, were coming unto Jesus. And their parents were bringing them to be blessed. Put his hand on them and bless them. And Jesus said these wonderful words, suffer little children and forbid them not to come unto me. You know, the reason I wasn't saved at the age of seven wasn't because Jesus wasn't willing to save children. It was because I came for the wrong reason. I came wanting to not go to hell, but not wanting to give up my sin. But my mother, when she was seven years old and hearing the Christmas story from her grandfather, came under conviction and realized that she was a sinner, came to God in simplicity, and God on that day saved her just like that. And she has had the fruit of John, chapter one, John. Every single fruit that God says, these things have I written unto you that believe in the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe in the name of the Son of God. Every single one of the eleven areas of test is in her life through the years. My father can testify it, and we can testify as children. She's saved at the age of seven. God suffers little children to come unto him. He's got time for them. A woman who was a sinner, a deep sinner, there in the Pharisee's house as they were all sitting nicely at the table, a woman came in with her long hair, and she was a sinner, obviously a prostitute, and she came to Jesus with an alabaster box, and she took the oil out and started putting it on him, and she cried, tears rolling down her face, and she took her hair and started to wipe and wipe and wipe. And this Pharisee looked down and said, oh, if he was a prophet, he would have known what type of woman she was. And the story goes on. I'm not going to say the whole story, but basically it came down to this, these wonderful words, amazing words. He that is forgiven much loveth much, but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. You know a big problem I have with many liberal evangelicals and conservative people is I don't see love for God. They haven't been forgiven much. Most people in conservative churches that I've sat down with who admitted that they were false, not saved, or the fruit wasn't in their life, when I asked them about their salvation, they said to me, well, I was very scared of hell, and then I came out and asked Jesus into my life. But there's no fruit. There's no love. They haven't been forgiven much, therefore they don't love much. The problem is if you don't love God, you don't know. And then of course the woman at the well, John chapter 4, amazing. In John chapter 4 we have a woman. She's such a sinner. She has had how many? Six or something men. And the one she's staying with now, Jesus said, isn't even your man. She's living in adultery. And what does God say as he looks at this woman? Get out of my sight! He said, if you knew. Of course he showed her his sin a few verses later. He said, I know everything about you. God knows what you do in your heart, little children. God knows what you do in the dark. God knows what you do to your parents that nobody at the church sees when you're rude to them. God knows every sin that you ever did. And God showed her, I know you. I'm not just being friendly because I don't know you. I know you. But before that he said these amazing words. Listen carefully. If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that speaketh unto you, then you would have asked, and he would have given you living water. Salvation. Eternal life. You know, I've heard preachers in South Africa. I've sat under them. There are 11 steps to being saved. Step number one, come under contrition. Step number two, feel very, very bad. Step number three, pray for three hours like the Puritans. Step number five, and if you haven't gone to the step, then there's no, you can't go further. If you miss a step, you're not saved. 11 steps. I actually heard one preacher preach 11 steps to salvation, and if you miss one, you're not saved. How simple didn't God do it? Jesus said, if you knew the gift of God, that God gave his Son to die on the cross, for God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. And you knew who was speaking to you, that God his own Son speaketh whether through preachers or his word, and in that time through himself, then you would have asked, and he would have given you living water, and you would never thirst again. You know, a man in Africa, Omnas Barnard, my dad knows him well, he died this year, I was at his funeral. Lovely old man, I used to take out for tea. He once, he saw a person in our mission, and he saw that this person is alive. This person, when he reads the scripture, it's not a dry book to him, or just a lot of principles that I learned from some course or seminar. It is actually alive to him, God speaks to him. This guy's got love for God that I don't have, I'm just dead spiritually. And he wanted what that person had, and he sought it, and sought it, and sought it. What shall I do that I might be saved? And he couldn't do anything. The more he did, the less he was saved. But he wanted to surrender to God. But nothing he did made him saved. And then one day, he was sitting in his bed, late at night, looking through the scriptures, oh, that we had a few more people like that, looking through the scriptures to find an answer. The more he read, the less he was saved. So one day, he read late at night with a little torch. That's why he's got glasses, he said. He read with a torch. John chapter 4. If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that speaketh to you, you would have asked. He said, it can't be that simple. It cannot be that simple. I cannot become a Christian after all that I've been doing to become a Christian. I can't become a Christian just by asking. Knowing the gift of God, well, it wouldn't harm to try. So in simplicity, he just said, God, I take this verse as it is, and I ask thee to give me eternal life. Jesus, give me eternal life. In one moment, he was alive. He was a new person. He became a missionary in our organization for quite a few years. Lovely old man, cried, tears rolling down his face. Lord, that moment, it was so simple. When the truth hit me, like sparks on smithing steel, just saw salvation reach me. No, I know, I know, it's real, the old man said. Do you know the greatest proof that you're saved, according to Torrey, is love. But he's just a man, so we'll go to the Bible. 1 Corinthians 8, verse 3. But if any man love God, the same is known of him. If you want to know if you're known of God, if you love God, you know God. Now many of the charismatic churches, they have this huggy, huggy love. You know, everybody, we love God, and we love each other. Let's all hug each other. And it's amazing, but then many of them, I won't go into what we found out about many of them, but it doesn't mean that you love God. We read in the Bible what it is, the proof of love. 1 John 5, verse 3. And 2, verse 3. 1 John 2, verse 3. For this is the love of God. What is the love of God? To hug each other? No. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments, and He's, that's Jesus Christ's commandments, not the law of the Old Testament, the commandments of Christ. And His commandments are not grievous. They're not a burden to us. You know, many people in South Africa try to do the commands of the Bible. You can take the Bible and try to do every single one, and you won't be saved. To keep is totally different than to do. It means to watch, to guard from injury by keeping the eye upon. A fortress for the full military line of apparatus. You are there to guard Christ's words. Why? I'll tell you why. Because there came a day in your life when you realized you were a sinner. And you came to God, and you didn't just come to escape hell, you came to surrender to Jesus Christ. And when you surrender to Jesus Christ, receiving, not doing anything, what shall I do that I might be saved? No. As a gift, you received eternal life. And at that moment, you loved much because you were forgiven much. And because you loved Him, you wanted to protect and guard and put a full military apparatus against those who would destroy His word. You love Him, therefore you protect His commandments. This is the love of God, that you keep, not do, His commandments. If you've never had that day in your life where your life was changed, and from that time on you loved God. Yes, you might have made mistakes and failed at times. I'm not preaching sinless perfection, but there was something in you, a love, a seed, that wanted to do His will because you loved Him. Because in Romans 5, verse 5, the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Spirit in us. And in 1 John it says, we love Him because He first loved us. And if that's not in your life, then you're not saved, and you're on your way to hell. One, according to the Scripture. Very clear. He that sayeth, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in Him. And that's one of the most kindest things to say to a sinner, so that they can stop seeking God and not go to hell. 1 John 3, verse 14, we read another aspect of what it is to be a Christian and love. We know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. How do we know that we're Christians? How do we know that we've been translated, according to Colossians, from the kingdom of darkness or delivered into the kingdom of His own dear Son? How do we know that? It's because we love the brethren. Again, not a huggy-huggy love. 1 John 3, verse 16, Yer by perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. You know, when I was young, so about nine years back, when I got saved, the main reason that I went to camps was because I enjoyed the fellowship of the other kids. Now, there's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing sinful in that, but that was the main reason. Some of the meetings were quite convicting. I felt very bad sometimes. I almost felt unsafe at times. And I came out in meetings, but the main reason I went there as an unsaved person and enjoyed it so much, and my father took me, so I had to go, but the main reason I would have gone anyway is because it was so nice to kick that soccer ball in between and so nice to do all the other things, which is legitimate, very good to do. But that was the reason I went. You know, since I got saved, since God changed my heart, ripped out the heart of stone and put back a heart of flesh that loves Him, since then, when I go to camps, yes, I enjoy kicking a ball. I even break something sometimes. But I'll tell you this, there's something new. Those people I stand with, I used to before talk about doctrine. People thought I was the most amazing thing as an unsaved person, but it's living. When I come to people and I meet someone who loves the Scriptures and wants to study the Scriptures and just can't, God speaking to him, the veil is taken off his heart like it was taken off my heart according to 2 Corinthians chapter 3. The same thing happened to him that happened to me, and we love this Word, and we talk about the Word, and we can discuss the Word and disagree about certain things, but yes, we love each other because we are one. True Christians love, when it says love the brethren, it doesn't mean you love everybody who calls himself a Christian. It means that there's something that brings you together when you really are saved. And if that isn't in your life, then you're not on your way to heaven. You're on your way to hell. I remember going up Africa and going in a tent, and they used to rip out tents apart with knives next to us. It was quite a fun experience. And we were cooking on fires with little cans and stuff. You should do it sometime. And very ignorant, I can tell you, I'm the worst guy with tents and stuff. But going up there, I remember in the middle of all these people, you ask people, are you a Christian? Yes, I'm a Christian because God's good to me. Yes, I'm a Christian because of that. Then you meet one little family, and the Word is precious to them. And they talk about the time when they came as sinners to surrender to Jesus Christ, and He changed their hearts, and they became new, and the fruit of God was in their lives, and the tears got on their eyes, and I don't cry because I'm not a teary guy, but my heart was one with them, and they said, look at the other people. Oh, I long for them to know Christ. You know, we hadn't been together for five minutes, and we felt like brothers. And that wouldn't have happened before I said, because if I met them, I'd feel strange people. Very nice, and exactly what a lot of good people in South Africa say sometimes, and I agree with them totally. As soon as I hear there's a soccer game down the road, I'd love to get to it. And there's nothing wrong with a soccer game. There's nothing wrong with playing balloons. But if that's not in your heart, then God says, you don't know that you've passed from death to life. I've come to the last page of six pages. We can be called the children of God. Oh, what a blessing. God saved us, the proof is there, the love, there's many other proofs in the Scripture. 1 John 3 verse 1, Behold, the manner of love the Father bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. You know, it's wonderful how Jesus loves Christians. John 11 verse 6, Now then, Jesus loved Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Wow. John 13 verse 1, Having loved his own, he loved them unto the end. John 13 verse 23, I mean, you all know this verse is absolutely amazing. You find John, the beloved apostle, leaning upon Jesus' breast, upon his chest. Isn't that pretty amazing? You know, Jesus isn't like the Muslim God, who's sovereign and far out there and can be touched and can be... He has God, the Creator. Allowing a man, like a father to his child, be on his breast. You know, when I read my Bible, I don't have to work up, for God to bless me, amazing feelings of faith or anything. I know he loves me. When I don't feel anything, you know, sometimes you don't, when you're sick or anything, or you haven't eaten, and I read the Bible, I know he's going to bless me, not because, as a Christian, I have to get some amazing faith, and let's see where God is that I can look at him with that faith. No. It's because he loves me. He wants to speak to me. I just have to trust him, rest in him. He's taken the veil off my heart already. I don't have to take it off, rip it up, or some fleshly work. And he will speak to me if I trust him, and stay right with him. He longs to spend time with us. We don't have to impress him by working up feelings of faith, or things like that. We just have to come and spend time with God. And that's so sad. So many Christians do not spend time with God, but he longs to spend time with you. I'd like to end off with this thought, this area of thought. Matthew 26 verse 50 to Christians. Matthew 26 verse 50 we find the word friend. Who did Jesus say friend to? In Matthew 26 verse 50. He said it to Judas Iscariot who kissed him. Let me ask you a theological question. What is the difference between the kiss in Psalm 2 where it says kiss the son, in other words kiss Jesus Christ and the kiss of Judas Iscariot? The one was a regal kiss. In Psalm 2 we are told to kiss the son lest he be angry and we perish from the way when he's wroth his kindle but little. In the Bible we have two examples of regal kisses. A regal kiss is very simple. You come into someone, you kiss them, you declare them to be king. When Samuel kissed anointed Saul as king, he kissed him. That's an example of a regal kiss. Very common in eastern the old days. In Psalm 2 we are told to kiss the son. Surrender to him as king. You can't come into him in any other way. Judas Iscariot kissed him as a traitor. If we want to be Christians we have to kiss him as king. Surrender. You don't have to go to the priests and elders and get 20 pieces of silver from them and go and bring a lot of soldiers to Jesus and stand there and say and kiss him and then you are a traitor. You don't have to do that to be a traitor. I want to ask you Christians, are you traitors in the friends that you have? That argue with you young people and say your parents are old fashioned. Once at bible college a young man came up to me and he said, Roy, I would like to do something, would you like to do it with me? I said, I think I better ask my dad's permission at 21 years old. Just his advice on that because it sounds a little different to what I've done before in certain areas. He looked at me and he got angry. He said, my young boy, what are you doing? You listening to your dad? Still young man! 21 years old! So I phoned my dad. My dad said that's not a good thing to do and I didn't do it. It didn't kill me, I still can throw water balloons and I've married a wonderful wife and I still am free, it's wonderful. It didn't make me a total legalist to actually ask my dad's advice. But if you have such friends, brother, you are betraying Christ. The movies you watch. I was once an art teacher. Two art teachers and in between there was a time where I was sitting with my Bible in a room and there was Bible college students and missionaries and a whole lot of people in a room next door and they got this television thing and they got this movie thing and they had gone out and got this thing from a shop and whatever they got, I was sitting there reading my Bible as a good Pharisee and as I was sitting down there reading my Bible, trying to have a quiet time just on my own, I started to hear swear words coming through. I started to hear God's name in vain coming through. My heart started to get cold. I started, I couldn't believe what was coming through the door. And I couldn't have a quiet time. And I grieved and I literally was sick from what I heard that these people who preached the week before, these people who were speaking to hundreds of kids the week before, these people who were doing so many things at a time, at schools, at churches the week before, now suddenly they are listening to this rubbish? The next morning I took one of them aside and the leaders said, come with me. We sat down on stones and I said, don't listen to me, look at me. I said, how dare you? How dare you? Expect to the next week be preaching to souls that are lost and they were to hell of Jesus Christ. And you listen to that rubbish the day before? The guy started to cry, tears went down his face. I didn't speak to any of them, I just eventually we had a prayer meeting a few hours later. All of us together in a wonderful prayer meeting sitting there, that's wonderful, let's pray. Oh God, you can't believe how sinners can pray. Oh God, will not bring revival, we need these, the Bible says, we can't do anything without you, John chapter 15. Oh, through all these verses they're going. I stood up and walked out in disgust. Grief, not disgust looking down at them, disgust that they could do that with the name of Jesus. And that guy I'd confronted that morning, confronted them. And they made right with God. And oh, that next meeting, how God came. That next series. And it doesn't mean that every time it's going to come like that. We've been right with God and he hasn't come like that always, but oh how he came in that next series. It was the nearest I've ever been to revival in my entire life. So one of two times. People from all over the town just walking down the streets to invite each other to the meetings. In the meetings, in the children's meetings we experienced the presence of God. People were just making right, left, right, and center. Absolutely phenomenal. Movies! Let me shock you. I despise Facing the Giants, Flywheel, Fireproof, and I think they've got a new one coming out, Courageous. Why? Very simple. They preach against sin, but not the world. They are leading entire churches that I've been to in America down the way of liberal Christianity. Look at their dresses. I've been in youth camps and big people's camps and they say, let's show across our country, let's show these movies and I'm not in charge. By the way when I'm in charge and people come to me with those movies I'll say, out, to the movies, not them. I've never allowed it and I never will. Because when I sit there and listen to what these young people are watching, I see young people throwing up clothes into the air, their dresses off, the revival is happening, going above their heads almost and it's revival. The music they play is of Mercy Me, one of the worst, most worldly bands in the entire of America. My wife has sent an email to them asking them if they happen to have a testimony and they couldn't find one. They did send one back, we might have one one day, you know. That's actually what they sent to us. We don't really know. Hillsong? Young people? I've been in England and the Hillsong church is there and of course they've got them in Australia. They allow a preacher from South Africa to preach there who has babies born out of wedlock but he said it's fine, it's a love child. And they said, but what's wrong with it? It makes me feel so great. I feel like I'm worshipping God. Those films are only good in that they preach against sin. Lying, stealing, sleeping together, honour your parents, things like that but it does not face the world. The worldly things, the worldly music, the worldly clothes dress. That God, it's as bad if a woman has a dress like that as a man who commits adultery in his heart. It's the same sin. But let's go into that Christianity because they're not like Benny Hinn. They're not like Joel Osteen. Oh conservative church, listen to these movies and start dressing like them. I'll tell you why you should. And this is the argument they use. Because they're not like Benny Hinn. They're not like Joel Osteen. They preach against sin. Men love the world. He's the enemy of God. Your video games? I go into bible colleges sometimes. I see people killing each other. They don't just kill each other. I mean cowboys and Indians. And I mean that's not exactly the same as seeing a granny. I see the Christians supposedly sitting there with a big gun, shooting and blood spurt. Her head falls on the ground. Her stomach lies on the ground. It's a literal woman that they've killed. And yet in bible college, no we're not doing it. I the Lord hate violence. You that love God hate iniquity. But there's no evil thing before your eyes. Video games with women badly dressed? Video games with satanic characters many times? Clothes dressed? Oh in the conservative churches across America you'll find the girls getting less and less and less. Their dresses are getting nearer and nearer clinging to their bodies showing the curves that only their men should see. Their husbands. Breaking biblical principles I could show you for hours from the scripture, what the bible says, from the Hebrew, from the Greek, from the context, from across the scripture, what it says about clothes dressed. It doesn't save you. You don't have to be dressed like a monk. You don't have to have a box around you with two little holes and that's all you are. You don't have to do that. That's not Christianity. That's not modesty. But modesty is modesty. And it still counts to God. Music you listen to? In South Africa, my dad remembered there was a satanist that got saved. And when that satanist got saved, a high up satanist in the church, he came to him, you know how we use rock music? I'll tell you how we use rock music. We use rock music in the nightclubs in the night. There's people who we know would never get involved in the first levels of satanism. Glossy glossy and all those things. Because there's a line, a moral line in their sinful hearts which they will not go over. But we tread down on that moral line. We attack it with rock music. Not the words, Keith Daniel. Not the words. The music. The beat. And then we take people, not all of them, but many of them that would never have been willing to get involved in the first levels of satanism. All willing. When we bombarded them with that and that's the same music that we find in churches. And it's not only rock music that's wrong. There's many music that's wrong. How you use your voice even. Do you portray Jesus in your friends, your movies, your video games, your clothes, your music? Do you have idols in your life, young man? Is there anybody on earth that you would rather be like than Jesus Christ? Sports person? If your greatest desire is not to be like Jesus, be like anything else then you've got an idol in your life. My little children, last verse of 1 John, keep your souls from idols. Even as Christians. It's so easy to come in your heart. In Ezekiel talk of the idol being set up in their hearts. Well, by the way, lots of people complained. They said, you must preach in the love of God. So I went up in a liberal church and I preached in the love of God. I got into trouble anyway. But some of you might be sitting here. Perhaps you're a person who's unsaved. The only reason you've come to God to be saved is because you're scared of hell. Not because you want to surrender to Jesus. Give up that old life and receive the gift of eternal life of Jesus Christ and you realize you don't love God. You haven't been forgiven much and therefore you don't love much. And it doesn't show in your longing to keep Christ's commandments as the Bible says must be in your life. Or perhaps you as a Christian have started to compromise. In your friends, in the movies, video games, your clothes dressed, your music, your idols. You've been influenced by the worldly mainstream Christianity of things like fireproof and so on, which is very emotional and so on. There's a lot of good in it but there's enough bad to not watch it. You don't need it. You really don't need it. I've survived without it. In fact, I'm happily married. And I still throw water balloons. But you might realize that you've got compromise in your life as a Christian. Don't let it go. Don't let the devil pluck up the seed that has been sown. Listen carefully. Go make right with God. He loves you. He will give mercy. He will restore. He restores my soul. He doesn't just regenerate. Take unsaved people, make them new creatures. He restores. He takes that which is fallen and he makes it new again. He can do that to you as a Christian no matter how far you've fallen, no matter how much rubbish you've allowed into your life. You can come to God and say, I'm sorry. Then you can go home and throw that stuff away. I'm just going to end off with reading this song that I wrote for those who need mercy and then we'll pray. I wrote this song when I led my first Christian scientist to the Lord, an 80-year-old woman. An 80-year-old woman who didn't believe in hell because didn't believe in dying, didn't believe in sin, didn't believe in judgment because that's what they teach them in that rubbish religion. She came to the Lord and I wrote this song and when I sang it to her, I'm just going to read it to you. There is a love much greater than a mother's for its child. It is the love that drove our Lord to be crucified. A thorn crowned on his head, a sinner by each side. Our Savior cried, forgive just before he died. One day a woman came to him and kissed the Savior's feet. She knew that she had met the one who a sinner's need could meet. A thorn crowned on his head, a sinner by each side. Our Savior cried, forgive just before he died. He said, if you knew the gift of God and who is speaking to you, then you would ask him living streams to make your whole life new. A thorn crowned on his head, a sinner by each side. Our Savior cried, forgive just before he died. Did you ever wonder if he would say the same to you? If you came to him with all your sin to make your whole life new. A thorn crowned on his head, a sinner by each side. Our Savior cried, forgive just before he died. He loves you. The blood of Jesus Christ is either on your heart or under your feet. It's an old saying. Many people say it. And through their worldliness, they're trampling him. Even though they think they're living for him. If there's an area of your life that's wrong, I encourage you, go to God alone and make right. Whether it's a movie, whether it's sin, or whether it's you've never met with God before. Let us pray. Father, I just stand up here humble, humbled, nothing, weak. But I know that thy strength is made perfect in weakness. And my cry from my heart is that this word that went forth would not return unto thee void, but that thy Holy Spirit would not let go of people yet that know there are areas of their life or perhaps their whole life if they're unsaved, which have come under the light of Almighty God. And that in his light, in his love, God has been speaking to that person or persons about compromise or about sin in these lost and evil days. And that you would help them, Lord, to save themselves from this untoward generation, that they would be a holy priesthood, a peculiar people, different from other people, not in strange and obnoxious ways that cause offense, but in that they hate that which you hate, for music down, and love that which you love. And I ask this in Jesus Christ's name, my dear Lord and Savior. Amen.