In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes that the purpose of the Southworld conference is not just for games and enjoyment, but primarily to hear and receive the word of God. The speaker encourages the audience to take heed of how they hear, as the effectiveness of their experience at the conference depends on their attitude and receptiveness. The speaker highlights that the speakers themselves are not the main source of spiritual growth, but rather the word of God, which should be received with meekness. The audience is reminded that the manner and state of their hearts when hearing the word will determine whether they receive nothing or have a life-changing encounter with Jesus.

Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for the privilege, once again, of sitting under Thy Word, that Word which is Thine instrument of power for the perfecting of the saints, and indeed for the saving of the lost. And we ask, Lord, that Thy Holy Spirit may quicken it in each heart. We pray Thee, here this evening, may we know that You have wrought something special in our hearts through this Thy Word. We ask it in Thy dear name. Amen. Now, I want to turn you tonight to one sentence. This is our reading, this is our lesson this evening. Luke, chapter 8, verse 18. Luke, chapter 8, verse 18. And these are the words of the Lord Jesus himself. One crisp, penetrating sentence. Take heed, therefore, how ye hear. Take heed how you hear. Now, we've come to the South World, what for? For tennis? For swimming? For the water polo? For the football competition? For the excursions? Not really. There are very few of us who've come principally for that. We're happy to participate in all these games and fun and enjoyment, but that's not the reason for which South World exists, this particular conference. And I would say it's not the purpose for which the great majority of people come. They've come to hear and to receive the Word of God. That which is the centre of our conference is this wonderful thing that you can hold in your hand and which you can hide in your heart. It's going to be a time of hearing, and hearing from God, hearing from Heaven, hearing from this Holy Word which we trust will be quickened and made alive by the Holy Spirit. Right then. Take heed how you hear. That's very important. What you get of good for your soul out of these days will not depend principally on the speakers. It'll depend on how you hear. It's such an important thing to sit under the ministry of the Word of God. The Word of God is His instrument of power for the accomplishing of moral and spiritual miracles in our lives. And it's an essential part of the Christian life to sit under its ministry. That doesn't mean merely in your own study of it. That is absolutely essential. I don't say reading of it, study of it. Joe Church has a book, Every Man a Bible Student. Well, maybe we've just got to reading it, the Scripture Union portion, but that's chicken feed to what God really wants to give you and what He really wants you to be and do. Every Man a Bible Student. Very important. But I don't think that's what is meant by this phrase which we sometimes use, sitting under the Word of God. It is sitting under the ministry of it as it comes to you from those whom God has raised up amongst His people to open it. It's an essential occupation of the Christian life. Alas, that Word of the Lord is all too rare or rarely expounded in the power of the Spirit, maybe you say. But you can be so hungry, you'll find it. And you'll get it. And you'll find yourself enjoying this extraordinary privilege of sitting under the Word of God, which is going to work effectually in those that believe. Not merely in those who read it, but those who sit under the Spirit's exposition of it, which God has ordained in His Church. Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 2.13, When you receive the Word of God which you heard of us, ye received it not as the Word of men, but as it is in truth, the Word of God which worketh effectually in them that believe. It is His instrument of power for the perfecting of the saints, for the chiseling off of the hard corners, for the renew of their minds and understandings, for the restoration and revival of their spiritual life, for the acquiring of insights, understandings, heavenly power, being led by its means into ways of fruitfulness, which means blessing for others, because a man has allowed the Word of God to work effectually in him. It's there for the perfecting of the saints. And it's only as you and I know how to hear it. Take heed how you hear. The Lord said this sort of thing in a similar way and yet a different way. He said in another place, Mark 4.24, take heed what you hear. And now that's important. Not everywhere do you hear the Living Word spoken. Not in every church, alas. Not every book, alas. Alas, there are those who profess not to be dependent on the Holy Scriptures, not to be tied by them. They venture into all sorts of other avenues and bring to the people of God things that don't profit. The sheep too often look up and are not fed. And if such might ever be challenged, they might say, well of course they've got to be on that. They've got too much light to believe those old-fashioned things. But you know what the Bible says, to the law and to the testimony, if they speak not according to this Word, it is because there's no light in them. Not that there's too much light, but none at all. And so it's important that you take heed what you hear. And if God has called you, and he may, to be in the church as his witness, that you might feel isn't feeding you, you are still called upon to be able to serve. And he may. Sometimes he does. But you know, you'll find ways of supplementing your diet, if it's lacking in your church, without leaving your church. I'm not saying you should never leave your church, and I'm certainly not saying you should leave it. God guides differently. But you need to take heed what you hear, to be able to discern, because it affects your thinking. It mauls your thinking. And you must somehow give yourself the opportunity of hearing the pure Word of God. Now, I don't think that that is going to be an issue too much with us. I don't think take heed what you hear is going to be too much of a problem, because though we do not profess great gifts of ministry, if you want to know the truth, we're a team of Mephibosheth. We're pretty crippled. If you heard a team getting together and finding out what the will of the Lord is, and they begin by sharing how it's been with their souls those days, and how many times they've had to come to Jesus for the cleansing power. Do you know there's not a stitch of righteousness amongst the whole lot? You say, is this the bunch of cripples that are going to minister? Yes, you said it. But it's God's way to work to acknowledge weakness. And He despises pride and supposed strength. And so we've learnt not to be over-concerned when we feel our weakness. As long as the Mephibosheth are sitting at the table of our David, where there's abundant provision, not only will they be fed, but others will be fed through them. And I want to tell you, we accept this old book without a question, or we don't understand everything. But I've had so many puzzling passages, which I left wisely on the side of the plate, later resolved for me, that I'm prepared to trust God with all the still puzzling passages. You know, someone came to his minister and said, you know, I find some passages very difficult in the scriptures. He says, that's strange, so do I. What do you find particularly strange? Well, there's one text, for instance, Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated. He said, isn't that strange? That's been the very passage I've been, I found a stumbling block. It's puzzling. Tell me, which part of it do you find so difficult? Oh, well, Esau have I hated. Oh, he said, that's not so difficult for me as Jacob have I loved. I hope, and I hope you will feel, that as to the source of what is taught here, there's no question where it comes from. I would like to feel that there's no need for you to say I must take heed what I hear, because the far bigger problem is take heed how you hear. I'm not, I need this word as much as you. I want to tell you, I'm not the world's best listener to other people's sermons. I have problems. I think preachers are not good listeners on the whole. And very often those that are not engaged in the holy work of opening the scriptures to others get more blessing out of a meeting than those of us are. And for all of us, therefore, here is something tremendously important. Take heed how you hear. Have you not had the experience of getting absolutely nothing out of a meeting? Frankly, not enjoying it, not appreciated at all. Somebody else. They've had the word of God brought to the heart. They're just praising the Lord. Wasn't that wonderful, they say to you? Yes. Now how come? Same meeting, same preacher, same message. One man got nothing out of it. The other, it was life and bread to his soul. The difference lay in the manner and the state of heart in which those two men heard. Take heed how you hear. Well, how are we to hear? James tells us very clearly how are we to hear. And I'm reading a verse or two from James 1, 21. He says, Receive with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save your soul. How am I to hear the word? You are to hear it and receive it with meekness. Do you always do that? I want to suggest that sometimes you receive it with criticism. Anything but meek. You didn't like that meeting. You didn't like that preacher. You didn't like that sort of message. You're not used to it. It could really offend you. And you are not receiving the engrafted word with meekness. Instead of the word judging you as God intended it should do, you are judging the word. Or rather, very often the man who gives the word. That's the way to hear. To receive with meekness the engrafted word. Well now, how do you do that? What does it mean? And I'm going to give you a definition. And this is something I've been having to do. Something I'm learning now. You are to surrender as you hear the word your preferences as to the way in which the word comes to you. When the word does not come to you in the way in which you would you prefer it should. Now all of us have preferences. Preferences in preachers. Some we prefer some to others. Preferences as to certain aspects. Preferences as to how long a meeting lasts. Preferences of whether it goes a bit deep or whether it's just light and full of jokes. We have all sorts of preferences. And I don't think it's wrong to have preferences. But when the word of God doesn't come to you along the line in which you would prefer it to, you are to surrender those preferences to Jesus and accept it as it comes as coming from Jesus himself. Listen. You and I are to recognise that the way in which God's word comes to us is the way in which he wants it to on that occasion. There might be some mistakes. We might got our time all wrong. We had a bit too much singing, put the preacher on a bit late in the day that made the meeting late. And you would have preferred it otherwise. You'd like a crisp short meeting and then you're out to night camp. But it didn't turn out that way. And God's in control. In the centre of the circle of the will of God I stand, says a hymn, there can be no second causes, all must come from his dear hands. And the way in which his word comes to you, which may not be ideal, perhaps nobody will say what's ideal, perhaps on some is the way in which he wants you to have it on that occasion. And when you don't like it, and when you resent it, or go away disgruntled, you are not receding the engrafted word with meekness. You had an opportunity to do a lovely thing. I would have preferred this, this and this. But it hasn't turned out that way. Jesus, I want to tell you something, I'm going to surrender quite deliberately my preferences to thee, and I accept the way it's come is the way on this occasion you wanted it. You won't go away unblessed. You will be hearing with a meek and quiet spirit. And you will get blessing out of any old meeting. Yes, we do have these problems. Perhaps you find sometimes the emphasis in our conferences difficult, unacceptable. You say, revival, renewal, come to the church of God this way and that way, you keep on keeping on. And you know, but you refer it otherwise, can't we change the tune? Now, it's very good because, my goodness, this Bible's so full of varying themes. It's very good if we can explore them. But if it should happen that it doesn't turn out that way, you are to accept it, that's the way God's allowed. He could have changed it had he wanted to. And if it does nothing else, it gives you a chance for what I would call brokenness in hearing. If you want to get something from God, you've got to go this way or you get nothing. That's why some get nothing out of meeting others. Their souls are fed and they've met Jesus and something precious has happened because of the manner in which each heard. You might prefer to hear one of the preachers more than another, but he's not on. Do you know he's hardly spoken at all this week? That's the way God intended it to be. There's no other way of peace in your heart than that. Do you know, God doesn't always use the most gifted or the strongest. In order to confound the pride of man, I've noticed it's his way to pick up someone who isn't all that perhaps gifted, and that's the man he sends. But you can sit there feeling so sulky. It hasn't come your way. Dear one, I'm learning in all sorts of ways to give up my preferences, all sorts of ways. I mean, we are rational beings. We've got a complex house party. Some of us have been involved in it, and I thought that would be a great idea, but it is done another way. Okay, hallelujah, Lord! I have another chance of surrendering my little preference to thee, and be happy, and praise. Everything goes on very well. I don't think it would be any better if my bright idea had been adopted. In all sorts of ways, especially in hearing the word of God. And I remember, I recall today an illustration of this beautiful, to me, beautiful illustration. A few years ago, Pam and I were in Tanzania. We'd been in South Africa, and we'd worked up north to Tanzania, and on into Uganda. And Festo Kadengu and a bunch of other of the Revival brethren, mostly clergy, were conducting a team campaign in Dar es Salaam, the capital of Tanzania. And there were 14 of them. One other European and ourselves in that team. And these brethren, they had been so full of enthusiasm and initiative, they got all the churches involved. We had two meetings a night, six and eight o'clock, in a whole lot of churches simultaneously. Well, of course, they could speak Swahili, but I couldn't. Therefore, I had to go to the churches where they spoke English. And strangely, they were the Roman Catholic churches. I found myself preaching again and again in the Roman Catholic Cathedral. Praise the Lord for the opportunity of offering them the message of grace there. And it was welcomed, I found. And then I found that I was invited. One of the things where they did have the service in English was an important, ordinary Roman Catholic parish church. It was the one to which the President, President Leary, attended. And his chaplain, who ran that church, was on the committee and was the most enthusiastic member of the organizing committee. And his church was included. And one meeting at eight o'clock, I was scheduled to be there. Now, I just had a meeting in the Salvation Army at five, at six, whatever it was. And we had a very good time. And in good Salvation Army tradition, I gave an invitation to come to the dear old Penitent Foreman, find the Lord. And we had an encouraging response. And then at eight o'clock, I was to go to President Leary's church. Now, he wasn't in residence. He might well have been in the congregation, had he been at home. But his chaplain was there. And his chaplain was my interpreter, had fluent English. And I gave the message. And I was encouraged by having seen people openly turning to the Lord. And I ventured to move in that same direction in the Roman Catholic church toward the end of my message. I was just asking them to do something which wasn't terribly demonstrative, but could have been very helpful. And that was to ask for prayer by raising their hand, if they knew that they needed and were deciding to receive Jesus Christ. And when I got to that, my interpreter said, they're not used to this. I shouldn't do it. I said, just translate for me. You see? And the dear man obediently translated. And quite a number of hands were lifted. And then I said, do you want me to translate? Those who lifted your hand, can I have a little instruction talk with you over in that part of the church? And he obediently did it. Now, he was a little upset about that. And he came to me afterwards. And he said, you know, I went to my bishop about our participation in this campaign. He said, yes, provided the counselling is not interfered with, because we reckon that we do the counselling in the confessional. And that must not be tampered with. He said, oh, you're quite right. Well, of course, here was I, giving an invitation and doing counselling. And he said, this is going to make it very difficult for me with the bishop. But perhaps Jesus wanted it that way. Bless his darling heart. That's it. If it's come out that way, I'll accept it from you, Lord. I don't suppose anything terrible happened. But that is, to me, a little bit of an illustration that, alas and alas, we don't. We do not. And our failure to surrender our preferences to that which doesn't naturally appeal to us turns to criticism. And I've never heard of a man with a critical spirit getting blessed by God unless he confesses that criticism as a sin. And where you failed to make that necessary surrender, and where criticism has come into your heart, then you need to repent, call it sin, and take it to Jesus. And that's been happening, you know, in the conference. On Friday morning, we had a testimony meeting over at Bronte, and I heard something that made me praise the Lord and chuckle at the same time. There was a dear sister there. She was a mature Christian. She was a long-time worker in the Christian bookshop in a big city. But I don't know her background, and church association might have been different from what she found here. And she said, oh, God's done a new thing for me. And amongst the new thing, he said, he's dealt with my critical spirit. And she said, when I came here, I find they prayed with these and thous. Oh, I got so critical. Haven't they moved with the times yet? Some people pray, not all of them. You'll hear people pray in every conceivable way. They were praying with these and thous. And then the authorised version, I haven't heard it for years, was the version not all of them speak of, but some of them use. In fact, she said, hallelujah. I saw it as sin. I took it to Jesus, and then everything. Hit her for blessing. It didn't matter a bit whether we prayed with these and thous or any other way. It didn't really matter a bit which particular version she used, as long as she got the living word of God to her heart. But she saw it. And it wasn't, she didn't slip into it. She didn't do it right the first time. Who does? But that's not the end of the story. You're always given a second chance, the chance of repentance. You remember that prodigal at that parable of the two sons who were told to go and work in the father's vineyard? Do you remember that? And one said, I won't. Nevertheless, afterward, he repented and went. You know, there's always an afterward. I mean, there's some things you can't do right the first time. I mean, what I mean is this. Take jealousy. That thing's come and struck you before you had a chance to make a choice. We've always got the idea, first there's a temptation, then there's a time lag in which you make your choice for good or ill. But very often there's no time lag. Sometimes I say, Lord, may I not be jealous of so and so? Everyone is appreciating him and saying lovely things about him. I don't want to be jealous, Lord. Don't let me be jealous. He says, you're too late. Am I right? Do you have a clear-cut moment of choice? Sometimes you don't. No problem. There's always an afterward. And the Lord is sometimes looking more at what you do afterward than what you do before. Afterwards, there's always this beautiful, lovely privilege of going to Jesus as a penitent once again for the cleansing power and being washed and made clean in the blood of the Lamb. I want to tell you another instance. I'm trying to throw these stories out just to get the thought over. Clearly, Benoit is over with us from Switzerland. And in Switzerland, there's a Swiss version of Southwell. It's a little more beautiful, their version, than ours. You should see that hotel where they have their meetings. You should see the marvellous scenery. But we've run very much in fellowship. And nearly always, there's someone from England who goes out to join the team for fellowship's sake from England. And I think it really began with some of us feeling there was need for an international revival conference. They'd been blessed in the same sort of way as God was working in our hearts. And others had in other countries, Brazil. And so we had this international conference in a most beautiful hotel. It's now continued, not as an international conference, but as a Swiss conference. And it goes on. It's been on for 17 or 18 years. But this is in the early years. And there was a dear friend from Brazil and some from America and other places as well. And we took a whole aeroplane from England. We hired, rented a Swiss aeroplane. We let the pilot do the flying. He didn't hire it to that extent. And we had a wonderful time. And in that conference, there were two young ministers from California, Michael Markham and Ben Leamaster. They were men who'd been touched in some measure by the revival message. And they were so hungry, like our dear friends from America and Canada are here. And they came expecting great things. I don't know how these fellows get the money together to make these journeys, but where there's a will, there's a way. And God seems to do the impossible. Listen, when it's God's will for you to do something, he'll see that there's the money for it. And that's the only explanation. Well, these two came. Mike Markham had a letter from him only yesterday. And Ben Leamaster. And so we launched out in this thing. Now, the team put on as the first speaker each day a certain dear brother who'd been greatly used of God in revival in East Africa and in other parts. And although he's been so greatly used of God, he isn't the world's clearest preacher. He's not the world's most consecutive and logical preacher. He might even appear to wander around a bit. That doesn't seem to be any problem to God. The Holy Spirit's used him again and again. They tell me his African language, whatever it is, isn't too good. But all that he's got of that language, God seems to use. Though, of course, some people might think that when he speaks over here or anywhere, not too impressive, but we know from experience that this is the brother whose words seem to get right to people's hearts. And I went into the lounge of this hotel after a few days, and there were my two American friends sitting in a corner looking dull and disconsolate and dissatisfied. And Mike said to me, he said, Roy, we've come 6,000 miles for this. And he couldn't quite get the hang of what our brother was saying. I did. I was more used to him, but they couldn't get the hang of it. And whereas it was understandable, it was inexcusable. I said, you know, I understand. I can understand. You're not making it up. You're not getting anything. This is falling short of what you thought a revival conference was going to be. Listen, you have fallen, have you not, into the sin of criticism. This situation, that this particular brother has been asked to give the first leading message each morning, hasn't happened without the Lord. Not that anybody claims special guidance, but the fact it fell out. As things come in the word of God, that's what they're meant to be. And you're quarrelling with God. And you're criticising God. And, of course, other people. And you know, I think, dear brothers, Ben and Mike, we ought to repent. I'll join you in it too, because I understand. I could easily feel that. And those dear brothers sitting in that hotel lounge, they called it sin. They called it the sin of criticism. They saw they were not willing to surrender their preferences and preconceived ideas to Jesus, and it had led them into the sin of criticism. And they were forgiven. For if you confess your sins, you're forgiven. Whatever cloud that had caused between them and the Lord just vanished away. He blotted out as a thick cloud their sins. They were washed and made clean by Jesus. They were completely restored to fellowship with Him. You can't be better related to God than what the blood of His Son makes you. And they'd come by the way of the cross. Thereafter, every single thing in that conference, whoever was speaking, hit those two young men for blessing. And they ended up thrilled, rejoicing. And they went home to try and share with others what they'd been learning. Take heed how you hear, and be willing to put it right. And if you didn't surrender your preferences, and criticism did come up, and you probably expressed it to others, you've got to repent. Unless you want to go away empty. There can be no second courses, or must come from His dear hand. And if you don't repent, I'm going to tell you, you're going to get nothing out of these meetings. And you'll also become the dumping ground of other people's rubbish. Now I have found that if I've got a critical spirit that I haven't settled with God, I may not say very much, but somehow it's apparent. And other people with critical spirits know there's one person at least who will agree with them. And they come to you and they dump their rubbish on you. One man said to me, I don't think he would mind me mentioning this, one man said to me, I think I'd better change my position in my tent in the camp. All the people who are disgruntled always come to me, and dump it on me. Well I said, why should they? Well the truth is, there was something in his own heart that wasn't settled. Will you remember that? If other people have a way of dumping their rubbish on you, it's because you're not right. If you are, you say, brother you need to do what I did. I know what you feel, I actually did, but I've been to Jesus for the cleansing fire, and my am I praising the Lord. But if you don't, you become a partner in other people's sins. And then when you do at last repent, you've got a lot of people to go around and say, my brother, will you forgive me? I let you down. Let me down? You didn't let me down? Oh I did terribly. You remember when you said that? I didn't challenge it, because I was doing the same myself. But when you've got through, you can help other people. The devil is the great one to drive wedges in the team and in the fellowship, but Jesus is the great one to take them out. Every one of them. There was a situation years ago in which a big unpleasant wedge came between me and my dearest friend in Bristol. And his wife wept over it. And someone else had the same sort of views that I had, and they called me. I said, oh yes, yes, yes, I agree with you. And then someone else, and the devil put wedges in. But when the Lord showed me I was wrong to harbour that criticism, that I had not surrendered in that matter my preferences, and taken the situation as coming from Jesus, I had to ring that other person up. I said, sister, I let you down. Well you didn't let me down. I did. I didn't challenge that you were critical of our dear brother, and the fellowship was being broken. She said, thank you so much. And she saw that she was indeed wrong. And she in turn called somebody else, I let you down. I let you down. And you know Jesus took out every wedge. And we were united in fellowship once again. Take heed how you hear. Just a last word. It goes on to say in James, Receive with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save your souls, but be ye doers of the word and not hearers only. Receiving it with meekness not only means that I surrender what I might prefer, to accept this as coming from Jesus. And the strange thing is you get good out of it, somehow, and you'll be at peace. But receiving it with meekness means you do all that with the intent to obey what he's saying to you in his word. With the intent to respond. You're not to be a hearer only, thinking the attending of a meeting and purring over it is enough. It's not the hearing but the doing. And in as much as the word I believe you're going to hear is the gospel. The gospel for saints, not only for the unconverted. That is, it's going to be good news for bad people. That's the gospel. If it's good news for good people, there are no good people. It says so. There's none that doeth good, no not one. And in as much as that's what you're going to hear, what you're going to hear is the word of grace. God's offer of blessing and fullness, though you don't deserve it. And you're going to see that your very lack of desert is your qualification to grace. Grace wouldn't be grace if it isn't that word round, that way round. And in as much as it's God's love for the unworthy, the unworthy have to confess wherein they're unworthy. So the thing, the doing, will almost always, it varies, but almost always will involve some form of repentance. Taking the place of the wrong one. To be a candidate for grace. So to be a doer. Intend to respond. Otherwise the doing might be making some legal promise to have longer quiet times. That might be your response to a message of law, but it's not the response acquired from the message of grace. Acknowledgement that you're wrong is the one response which opens all the fullness of God to you. 1 Peter 1.2 says, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification of the spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Obedience! I've had problems with that. You know, isn't this a bit back on law, me doing it? Everything depends on my obedience. Here's the definition of obedience. Unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, which means obedient sprinkling of that blood. And I want to tell you that's your step of obedience, the response. Obey! Call it sin. And by faith sprinkle that blood shed for you to cover that thing. God intends it for that purpose. Man, there's blood there. Blood. Nothing but blood is going to put you right again. If you fall into some wrong attitude, it needs blood! Eternal blood! Nothing else will satisfy God, and it's been shed. And you can say, Lord, I'm claiming it for this thing that I confess. And I tell you, you're not a hearer, but you're a doer. And it all arises from taking heed how you hear. Receiving with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save yourselves. So that's a sort of little prelude. Well, it's quite an appropriate one. We come to hear, then take heed how we hear. And I want to tell you, this applies to me. I've been finding myself taught to do it, even these weeks. I think you have to in a team. So with all of us surrendering our pet preferences to Jesus, he's the one who's running the whole show. You would almost fall over yourself, that's lovely, that's grace abounding, in surrendering your particular preferences. That's lovely. Isn't it nice in the home when it's that way too? And Jesus alone is the one who's doing it all and having the final say. Let us pray. Lord Jesus, we want to thank thee for this word of thine to our hearts. We're going to do some hearing together. And you say at the very outset, take heed how we hear. Lord, we want to learn. We want to learn how to receive the drafted word with this meekness. We thank you for the bounding blessings that's going to come to our souls. The lessons we're going to learn, the emancipations we're going to enjoy. In thy dear name. Amen. Now a closing hymn, 219. Usually this is the hymn before the message, but we're having it after. Master, speak. You're thinking of the whole conference. Master, speak. Thy servant here is. 219. Raise together the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.