In this sermon, the preacher addresses the misconception that God is biased and only saves those who are good-looking or small in stature. He shares the story of a man named Ernest Lorric who struggled with feeling unworthy of God's acceptance due to his difficult upbringing. However, through repentance and prayer, Ernest found salvation and freedom from his enslavement to sin. The preacher also mentions a booklet specifically written for children who grow up in conservative environments and struggle with understanding their salvation. Overall, the sermon emphasizes the importance of repentance, faith, and the assurance of salvation through Jesus Christ.

Answers for those who grew up in conservative evangelical Christian homes who are struggling to find assurance of salvation by Roy Daniel. Now, do you mind if I read this to you? Because I can give you a sermon, but it's not going to be as good. Because this took hours and hours and hours and hours, and I've got the brains to remember what I wrote. So, I'm going to actually do it tonight. I've never done this before. I've never ever read a sermon. My dad would say, Roy, did you read a sermon? I'd say, well, Jonathan Edwards did. But Roy, did you read a sermon? I'd say, Dad, you know, I know, I know, but I did, after tonight. Okay, so, forgive me. This is not normal. This is due to Ezra's alarm clock not going off, and a few other things, but mainly because I don't want to miss something, and something that is very simple, but that is very precious. Okay, this is going to be... Now, just imagine, when I was a little kid, I was trying to justify my sin, when I was getting to the point of actually reading this to you. And one of the things I thought of was, you know, when I was very little, my mom used to take out books and read me stories, and I so enjoyed it. So, I thought, whoa, you can read something and people enjoy it. Okay, let's... And that was just justification, but I got down to the fact, I'm just going to do it whether people like it or not. Let's pray. Father, thank you so much that we are gathered here tonight. We can look to Thee, not to ourselves, for Thee to work, for You to open up Your Word, for You to show us our souls, the problems in our lives, and the lies in our lives, and how You can help us, and what You want us to do. In Jesus Christ's name, Amen. If you fast off, there's two types of things you have to think of when you're listening to this. Number one, you might have this problem. Number two, you might one day meet someone with this problem. And it's probably only going to be about two or three people in a church, evangelical church. But Christ died for those individuals. And if we were just worried about the masses, then we wouldn't worry about this message. Because there are people like this that we meet, and I was one of them. Then it's very important that we understand how to deal with them. Okay, I'm going to read. I know a person who grew up in a religious evangelical house. He read his Bible and longed to know for sure that he was saved. He prayed to accept Jesus Christ often, but nothing happened. He went out in meetings and still nothing happened. He was desperate. He could not understand how God could mock him. Why? When he prayed, and prayed, and tried, and tried, did he still not know? He later started to give up, and went into sin. He thought, what is the use of seeking God if you never find Him? He went into deep sin, and said terrible things like that he wished people would land up in hell. He was totally and utterly on the broad way that leads to destruction. So many people struggle with knowing they are saved. Many seek and can't find faith. Are you like this? Please, I beg you, don't give up. I know exactly what you are going through and experiencing. This booklet is specifically for people who seek God and cannot know they are saved. Number one, it is not specifically for ungodly people who grew up in ungodly homes and hate God. I've seen people throw me satanic signs with their fingers when I tried to witness at the university students late at night in the USA sector. At another university in South Africa, I've had drunk people, young scholars, shout at me and tell me I'm judging them. Neither, number two, is it specifically for religious people who are proud and believe that their good works will get them to heaven. Number three, nor is it specifically for liberal evangelicals who believe to be saved, all you have to do is pray a prayer and then you can carry on with your life sinning. Just remember to sing in church a few times. This booklet is specifically for children who grow up in a conservative environment, who are often told they must be born again. They are told from childhood that if they are born again, a miracle will happen in their heart which leads to biblical fruit in their lives. These children are evangelical home children, kids, and they have their own set of problems and struggles. If you are the fourth type of person and are struggling to know that you are saved, this book is written prayerfully for you. Is the following your story too? When I was a small boy, I prayed every day to be saved until my grandfather, from Yaniru, said you pray once for your past sins and then you are a child of God. I prayed once but nothing happened. A few years later, I went by and I felt scared of hell and prayed again to be saved. Nothing happened on the inside. I try to be good by reading the Bible and witnessing, but every few years I'll be scared of hell in a meeting or through something someone said and I'll pray again to be saved and nothing happened. I kind of hoped I was saved but never knew. I once felt joy because I told myself I was saved but then it lasted for a few hours and was gone. Looking back, I saw again that nothing had happened inside. I started to get angry. I gave up and started to do sins behind my parents' backs. I so wanted to be saved, this is my life by the way, but I had tried so many times to be saved and nothing happened. God put me in a situation where I needed Him and cried out to God that if He took me out of my troubles, I would serve Him. In an hour or two, God solved all my problems. I then tried to follow God in my own strength. Still, I doubted day by day and could only hope my sins were washed away. My story is the story of this song. This is a famous hymn. Oh, how well I do remember how I doubted day by day, for I didn't know for certain that my sins were washed away. When the Spirit tried to tell me I would not the truth receive, I endeavored to be happy and to make myself believe. When the truth came close and searching, all my joys would disappear, for I did not have the witness of the Spirit bright and clear. If at times the coming judgment would appear before my mind, oh, it made me so uneasy, for God's smile I could not find. When the Lord sent faithful servants who would dare to preach the truth, how my heart did so condemn me as the Spirit gave reproof. Satan said at once, to ruin you now to confess your sin, keep on working and professing and you'll enter heaven's gate. But at last, I tired of living such a life of fear and doubt, for I wanted God to give me something that I would know about. So the truth would make me happy and the light would clearly shine and the Spirit gave assurance that I'm His and He is mine. So I prayed to God in earnest and not caring what folks said, I was hungry for the blessing of my spirit, so it must be fed. Then at last by faith I touched Him. And like sparks from smitten steel, just so quick salvation reached me and I know, I know it's real. See, then one day I met with Jesus. I was so happy, I went out and testified to people everywhere and eventually in many countries of the world to thousands of youth from evangelical homes as well. I suddenly found out I was not alone in my experience. Thousands of kids in conservative evangelical homes everywhere were going through what I had been through. They prayed for salvation many times in their life and nothing happened. They tried for a while and then prayed again. This had been going on for years. They were so frustrated. They did not tell anyone much. But when you cornered them, they admitted this was their sad Christian life. So many people I meet on the outside, they're smiling. But this is their experience on the inside. They just don't want to talk to people about it because they're ashamed. I saw the following results in different people's lives. Some started to believe that their sad experience was all Christianity was about and they became religious people who went to church and that's about it. They were often on false foundations believing that they are saved because they said a prayer. Well, they actually still were spiritually dead religious people. Number two, one person I know and many are like him got so angry after praying again and again and finding nothing happened that he blamed God and turned to sin. He said, how can God say that He will meet with me and every time I pray nothing happens. This frustration led to rebellion in his heart and huge sin in his life. Some people, number three, experienced amazing feelings or miracles and thought they were saved when they were not. They carried on in sin and thought they were right with God because of the miracles and feelings they received. Number four, some people just carried on struggling on and on and on. And number five, some people like me met with God and know for certain they are saved. There's biblical fruit in their lives which followed their salvation. Now if you are in the situation that you pray and pray for salvation and nothing seems to happen, I want you to know two things. Number one, you are not alone. You're not a special case. They will never know you are saved. Many thousands all were like you and Christ died for every one of you. Number two, there is hope. No one cannot know they are gloriously saved. Amen. You can know. There is hope no matter how much you feel there is no hope. The three days before I got saved, I remember this so clearly, I longed to know I was saved but felt I could not work up faith. I was depressed and thought I would never be saved because I could never know that I had faith. On the third day something happened to me that was not mere emotional experience. I met with Jesus. I want to take you on a journey specially written from my heart for people who just can't know they are saved. You try and try and nothing happens. Please pray, this is in the booklet, and ask God now to open up the truth of this booklet to you. The truth sets us free. Remember, most despair of ever knowing is often when you are about to know. You must have hope. You see, the Bible talks of hope deferred which makes the heart sick. That is when you get hope to be saved and then nothing happens. The more you get such hope, the harder it is to have true hope again. Let's say after a meeting you feel to pray again to get saved. In your heart you have hope that this time God will hear me. You pray and nothing happens. It is as if something inside you gives up that you'll ever know that you are a child of God. It's wonderful to know that the Bible talks of another hope that maketh not ashamed. Hope that maketh not ashamed is a hope that works. With this wonderful hope you hope that you know you are saved and then you come to the point where you know that you are saved. That is very possible for every person on earth unless you don't want it. Paul talked of this hope in Hebrews when he says to them, they fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us. Those who have done that. In this booklet I'm going to by God grace put a new hope, put a hope before you that works. I hope any sinner can flee to lay hold of and know he is saved. I want to ask a question. Do you still have hope? Do you still believe the promises of God concerning salvation? Do you believe you can know that they are part of your life and you are a child of God? I remember a time when I lost hope in an area of my life. I got sick. I felt like I would die. I called an ambulance. Ezra, you remember that? Later I went to three doctors and I even went into a hospital for the night. They gave me pills. That's bad, eh? For eight months. I eventually became so weak if I ran 30 yards my body would collapse. Honestly. I could do nothing. I couldn't even preach at that time. In USA someone told me of a natural specialist. I didn't want to go because I thought what could he tell me? I eventually was half forced to go. And there as he tested me and after a while he told me exactly what was wrong with me. Two weeks later I was feeling better off my pills and on my way to recovery. I cried before that doctor when he explained the answer to my problems. You know why I cried? Because for the first time after so many doctors and specialists I had hope. Do I hear Sarah laugh? Abram was told by God that he would father thousands. Sarah, his wife, knew about this but time went by. She got older and older and nothing happened. A sad thing happened. Sarah lost hope in the promises of God. She did not believe that God could give her a child. Then God came to visit her tent and he said that she should bear a child. She heard this and what did she do? She laughed. God rebuked her for laughing. Soon at an old age she was pregnant and had a child called Isaac. Are you like that? Have you lost faith that God's promises of salvation can become true in your life? Have you prayed many times to be saved and nothing happened? Now you read this book and you laugh in your heart. You say this is just another person trying to help me. It never worked before. Why would this work now? If you are like that then you have Sarah's laugh. I want to rebuke you. I want to rebuke you like God rebuked Sarah. God said Sarah would have a child and she did. God said that you can know you have eternal life and you can. You have to run for refuge from God's wrath of your sins and a hold of the hope set before you. You want to know how to know? Firstly, and these things might seem tedious to go through but each one is important until we come to the point how to deal, how to get faith. I am going to deal with that very radically. Firstly I would like to look at a few reasons why various people struggle to be saved or to know they are saved and then I will give you clear steps how to radically deal with the doubt in your life. This is biblical teaching and it works. I have sat down with people and I have given them some illustrations. I am going to give later in this booklet to you guys and they have had years and years of doubting and immediately they have known that they are saved or not saved. So let's go. The first thing is let us examine your motive. My friend Ian Waterson, he is a very funny guy there in Africa, watched a film as a kid on hell. He was so scared he went to his older sister and asked to pray with her to be saved. She asked him, do you want to get saved? Because you want to get saved or just because you are scared of hell? He answered, because he wanted to be saved but he knew it was only because he was scared of hell. He later said he was not sorry about his sin but merely scared of hell. Nothing happened in his heart. You see God commands that we are to repent and believe the Bible. We have to repent, sorrow over our sins. I met a man recently who said he used to be sick of his mother rebuking his sin. And now he was sick of his sin but every day he went back and did evil gross sins with his friends. He was starting to hate his life of sin. But that is not good enough. You have to be sick of your life of sin. So sick that you are willing to give it up. You can't just feel all bad, you have to decide you are willing to give up the life you once loved for Jesus. For Jesus. He was not ready and so I did not pray with him. I wanted to see him so sick of his old life that he did not just feel all bad about it but would do anything to stop sin and have Jesus. I met a man once he told me he went to church and prayed often to be saved. He longed to know he was saved. I told him a few things. Later I saw him at a convention and on the last night he rode away early. The next time I saw him which was two weeks later a tear rolled down his face as he saw me. He said Roy it was my fault. It was my fault that I couldn't know that I am saved. I had sin in my life and I did not want to confess it and give it up. I met with God the moment I was willing to give up my sin and I know that I am saved. If you are truly sick of your sin you will want to give it up to have Jesus. This is very important. We must be careful now. The devil is usually clever. Some of you might have experienced this. He is evil and hates you. One of his greatest weapons is the weapon of this question. Isn't there some sin you haven't confessed or don't know about yet? He will tell you that you cannot be saved until you know what that sin is. Isn't that just like a torture? He gives you a problem which has no answer. God's Holy Spirit shows you a sinner and expects you to be willing to give all sins of the heart and indeed that you know are biblically wrong. And any he may show you. He doesn't tell you there may be something else but I will never show you. That's not God. God doesn't leave you in torment. God wants to bring you to the point that you know you are his child. And if you are humble, he is willing to help you every step of the way. If you want to know what is sin, look at God's word. You have broken God's law. You have lied or stolen or disobeyed your parents. You have lusted in your heart. If you have then know a million years of good works could never buy forgiveness for even one sin. You are helpless. There are many wrong motives for becoming a Christian. If you simply want a better life or you feel pressurized by your parents to become a Christian or you feel pressurized because all your friends are Christians then that is all wrong reasons to seek God. You must be so sick of your life of sin that you want to give up the old life and secondly you must want to have a relationship with Jesus in which he is the final highest authority in your life. Secondly, do you realize you are utterly hopeless? Another thing that keeps people from salvation is they don't know they are hopeless. One of my friends was in a meeting. For years he had been living his own life in his own way. In this meeting he started to realize he was a sinner and on his way to hell. The preacher brought an illustration. He asked a volunteer who came to the front and sat down on a chair. The preacher took ropes and tied the man with many loops around his legs and body. Eventually he knotted the rope behind his back. The preacher then asked the volunteer to set himself free. He tried and tried but could not. The preacher then asked how can this man be set free? The answer was something. Someone had to come from the outside. Listen carefully. Someone had to come from the outside and set him free. He was hopeless to set himself free. Sin has a power in our lives. The power binds us in a way we could never set ourselves free. We are utterly helpless. We have but one hope and none other. That hope is as Jesus said, If the Son shall set you free, you shall be free indeed. We have to realize that God has to come from the outside. We are utterly hopeless. We must be willing to give up our sins. Only God can set us free from a life of sin. If Jesus comes and sets you free, then you will be free indeed. If Jesus comes and sets you free, you shall be free indeed. He comes from the outside and sets you free through His mighty power. You can do nothing to set yourself free from the powerful chains of a life of sin. You are like a man tied to a chair. Jesus is the someone who can come from the outside and set you free. You have to ask Him to do that. Now thirdly, are you looking for unbiblical proof that you are saved? Or even unbiblical means to be saved that keeps you from simple faith? I'd like to go through a few things that people think they need to be saved. A girl who did not wear a head covering. I read the testimony of salvation of a girl and she said many years ago she prayed to be saved and afterwards remembered she prayed without a head covering. I once was in a place and I prayed with a head covering and I forgot the men aren't allowed to do that and I was in trouble. She felt because of this God could never have saved her. God does not have to wait for you to wear a head covering to save you. God has saved people when they cried to God half drunk and He set them free in one moment. I know a girl God saved at a party. She suddenly came out of conviction and felt her life she was living was stupid. She felt sick of her sinful life and went to a room and called out to God to save her. God did save her there. She had no head covering on when God saved her. We should come willing to be changed but we should come just as we are. Another one, a child who randomly opened her Bible. You can't believe, I'm going through these things, listen carefully to this, how the devil keeps people from being saved, a whole lot of things. A girl in America told me she struggled to be saved. I sat with her for hours explaining how the devil can keep you from knowing. One of the things she said was that she knew she could not be saved. She said she knew she could not be saved because she tested God and the test failed. Listen to this, she said she prayed to God and said, God if I'm saved then when I open the Bible randomly please give me a verse that proves I'm saved. She said she opened her Bible and nothing happened. This is very dangerous. Unfortunately even godly people do this. In the early 1800s many Methodist lay preachers used to pray to God for guidance and then randomly open their Bible to get an answer. To illustrate how dangerous this is, read this true story. A lady was phoned by a suicide case. The person on the phone told her, I'm about to kill myself. The lady was terrified and did not know what to do. She took her Bible and prayed, God tell me what to do. I'll open my Bible anywhere and you give me the answer. The woman opened her Bible and the verse she saw was this, Go and do thou likewise. Sad that people do this. Don't work out complicated tests of whether you're saved or not. The Bible gives very clear and simple tests of salvation which we shall discuss soon. Next point and I'm going to start to give this as preaching. The person who thought meditating on heaven would prepare him to be saved. I know a person and this person wanted to get saved and prayed to be saved many times and just couldn't get saved. And so eventually this person thought there's something missing. I've got to do something to be saved. And so this person started to think if I meditate on heaven, then eventually if I meditate for long enough I'll be ready to be saved. This really happened. I met this person last year in an evangelical home. And so he was meditating on heaven, hoping that they would prepare him to be saved. This is an evil lie of Satan. If you're a sinner then you don't need anything but to repent and come to Jesus. If you try to prepare yourself in any way, then you're saying Jesus is not enough. The cross was not enough. You need to add to God's work before he can save you. It is so clear from scripture that we have to have godly sober over our sins and come to Jesus. Nothing more. There's no head covering, no meditation, no good works need to precede salvation. You must come as you are willing to be changed. That's it. Then there was a lady who wondered if she was Protestant. Anybody here wonder if you're Protestant? I'm definitely Protestant. I was told by the Jehovah's Witnesses I'm one of the elect 144,000. Officially. In case any of you wondered. Many people feel that they cannot know if they are saved because they do not know if they are Protestant or not. My great aunt, a lovely aunt. She struggled with this for years. Let me ask you a few questions about the following verse. God does command all men everywhere to repent. Tell me, did Jesus say God commands all men everywhere to repent except if they don't know if they are Protestant? No. Nowhere did anyone ever preach the Gospel message in the Bible and then say before any of you believe this message, just make sure that you're Protestant. When I got saved, I did not think of whether I was Protestant or not. I thought of one thing and that was I was a filthy sinner. I saw only one hope and that was Jesus. And I called out to that Jesus and he saved me as he promised he would. All that call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Obviously if we're willing to give up our sin, if we're repentant. The great aunt, who was bound by Satan, by that lie that she first had to know if she was Protestant, fortunately was helped to resist the lie. Hallelujah. And she came to the point when simplicity, she looked to Jesus to save her and he did as he promised he would. She became a deep godly person and a soul winner for God. And I remember when she died of cancer, knowing she was a child of God. 1 Timothy 2 verse 3 and 4 states, For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who will have all men to be saved and come unto the knowledge of the truth. All men means all men, including you. God wants you to be saved. Another thing that keeps you back, there was a man who had evil thoughts, Charles Spurgeon, had a wonderful salvation experience. And after salvation he experienced evil thoughts. Evil thoughts came into his mind continuously. And he went to his grandfather and he really thought, I'm not saved. And his wise grandfather told him, These are the devil's brats, not yours. Don't own them to yourself. You see, the devil can often tempt you with evil thoughts and then make you feel miserable because he tells you the thoughts were sin and you are a deep sinner. Of course, we must resist these thoughts, but the fact that they come do not mean we are sinners. It just means we are normal Christians that have been tempted by an evil foe. I once prayed with a person, this happened, I prayed with him and he was literally shaking under conviction of sin. And I explained the gospel message and I just felt, tell him about this. And I said, after salvation you are going to be amazed by the evil thoughts that come to you that you never had before. And straight after that he prayed and he went to his room and he came to me and he said, Roy, I'm so glad you told me that because straight after I prayed with you there were just these evil thoughts coming to me. And the devil came and he said to me, you can't be saved now. You can't be saved. It's impossible that you are saved. And I kept on reminding myself of the truth of what he said. The truth of what he said. And eventually the light broke through and I realized I resisted the devil and he fled. And he has become a stable Christian who loves the Lord. He is an amazing man. He really met with God. But when he came to me before salvation he didn't even have a Bible. But this is the thing that happens to Christians. It doesn't mean you are not saved. These evil thoughts come to you. Number five, the man who was angry with his wife. I met this man in Richards Bay, South Africa. I shouldn't have mentioned the time, but anyway. And I said to him, he said to me, Roy, I don't know if I'm saved. I've been preaching for 40 years and I can never come to the point where I know I'm saved. I said to him, listen. First he said, Roy, the thing is, you know, I've tried so hard and then I get irritated with my wife. And then I can't be saved because I'm irritated with my wife. I was like, what? You think that you're not saved because you get irritated? Anybody here never gets irritated? Ezra, you're not allowed to. Anybody here never gets irritated? I mean, if that's the standard of salvation the devil gives to some people, of course you're never going to think you're saved. I said to him, dear sir. I didn't say, let's look at your salvation. I just said this, do you ever rest? He said, well, actually not really. We don't take one day of the week off. We work till about 12 o'clock in the night, soul winning. I said, brother, if I worked like that, I would never feel I'm saved. That's not the point. And I would get irritated. I mean, if you don't ever sleep, is anybody here never sleep and not get irritated? I mean, sometimes when I haven't slept and there's nothing, I can drop a key and it's like, aah. And then I'm going to sleep for a few hours and it's like, oh, I love you key. Not exactly, but that's how it is. There's a few other things here which I'm going to skip because I'm going to bring in a sermon later during the week. People who think they do not have enough knowledge to be saved. You know, there's a boy I read of yesterday in the newspaper. It was obviously not yesterday. And he was a genius. We don't have geniuses like this in Africa. He was an American. At age two, he could read. That's ridiculous. At age four, I wasn't even crawling, I think, at age two. At age four, this is American, by the way. At age four, he was reading medium-sized complicated novels, evil novels, maybe Harry Potter or something. At age 13, he was finished with school and now he's in university at age 14 or so. At age 13, he's midway through working towards a few bachelor's degrees and ultimately his master's. You would think at age 13, he has such a knowledge, he would know how to know God. Well, he is an avid evolutionist. He's studying evolution. The Bible states clearly the world, this is such a precious verse, by wisdom, knew not God. This is the world's wisdom. It means you can know how to make a space rocket, an atom bomb. You can be a brilliant scientist and all this wisdom will not in and of itself equal knowing God. It will bring you to know God. You don't have to be clever to know God. Isn't that wonderful? I would never be saved. The only person in this room who would ever get saved is Timothy. He's a clever guy. He's a clever guy in sheep's clothing. He doesn't look clever. Matthew 11, verse 25, I thank you, Father. Listen to this. Lord of heaven and earth, Jesus says, because thou hast hid these things from what? From the wise and prudent, and has revealed them unto the braves. God can save the wise and he can use wise people. Paul was a learned Roman Jew and Luke was a qualified physician, but he loves to save the fishermen like Peter who don't have much education at all and use them mightily. 1 Corinthians 1, verse 26, 27, 28, it states, For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things that are mighty, and base things of the world and things which are despised. That is wonderful words. God has chosen the base. Hallelujah. Now for those who came late, the reason I'm reading this is Ezra's alarm clock didn't go off and I decided that I was going to, because I spent about three weeks working on this, that I could better say it and not miss out important points by reading it. I can bring it without reading it, but there's some points I'd really like to bring without missing anything. And I was just seeing I was missing things with only an hour to prepare. Okay. Some feel God is biased. Some people think God would save the good-looking, the sporty, the good. And this is strange. Some people, they don't think this, because subconsciously they think it, because they're ugly and they think, what am I? Like me. The good, public speakers, the men above the women, but feel so worthless that they could never be saved. We've just read above, God has chosen the base. God has saved lame people and thin people and fat people. Sorry. He died for all of them. He has wonderfully saved people who are pathetic and mad. Ezra. He does save people who are good-looking and rich and sporty, but he does not love them any more than the base and not-so-clever ones. God is not biased even slightly. He sees all the sinners and all needing salvation in Jesus Christ. No one has an easier, harder road to salvation. You come as a sinner and you come to Jesus. Psalm 147 verse 10 states that God taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man. In other words, God does not favor the Olympic athlete above the fat farm worker. Any farm workers here? God is not biased towards men above women. God loves women. Some say God only talks of his sons and not his daughters. But in 2 Corinthians 6 verse 18 it states, And I will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters. It says in the Bible, Sayeth the Lord God Almighty. Although Jesus chose 12 male disciples, or apostles, of his best friends in life were Mary and Martha, he loved them and their brother Lazarus deeply. We can carry on. Obviously Mary was demon possessed and he set her free and he chose her. In a sermon earlier last year I mentioned, he chose her to be the first one to see the empty grave and take the news to the disciples. God is not biased towards women. He loves them and died for their sins. God is not biased towards any nation. Black people, they honestly think African Africa is the white people's religion many times. Not that the Jews are very white always. But, at the end of the day, I mean if you read in the Bible, we read of the Ethiopian, you know, the only person we ever read that God sent one person way out of his way to win. Was it a white person? A Jew? It was a black person. And God specially sent someone out of the way and even took a whole section of the Bible to write about it. Fourth, black person. Of course, Moses was married to an Ethiopian, at one stage in his life. And then there's people who try the law. I know a person, he's my friend, he was deep in sins and drugs. He distrusted everyone. He wasn't new age, he wasn't anything. He was just nobody. One day he read Psalm 22 which talked of Jesus' death 2000 years before it happened. And as he listened to this, he thought, wow, how can this thing, how can 2000 years before the time, this Bible talk about something that happens 2000 years later? And he started to think, wow, perhaps this Bible is true. He heard of the new birth, but thought that after you pray to be saved, you have to keep all the law in the Bible to keep God pleased. Brandon, know anything about that? He tried to keep all the law. He kept the Sabbath day and fasted much. One day, he sat in a house church and heard a sermon. The speaker stood up and said these words, listen, you all have to realize one thing, we can lay all of our sins and do everything that is right and that is fine. We can stop all of our sins and do everything that is right and that is fine. But after doing all that, you are still unsaved. There has to come a point where God saves you. You have to stand still and let God do everything. He sat there and realized that was his problem. In one moment, he stood back and stopped trying and just looked to God to save him. And in one moment, he was saved. Spurgeon, at a young age, realized he was a great sinner. He longed to know God. And what did he do for 10 years? He knew of his sin, he had a burden for his sin, but for 10 years, he tried to keep the law and tried to keep the law and tried to keep the law. And then one day, he was in a Methodist meeting. As we know the famous story, Isaiah 45 verse 22. Look, that preacher priest, the lay preacher, look unto me and be saved all the ends of the earth for I am God and there is none else. The lay preacher cried out, anyone can look. You don't have to be very wise to look, Brandon. You don't have to be good looking or sporty or talented to look, Ezra. Anyone can look. Anyone can look. This person sat there and said it was as if God was speaking to him. Anyone can look. So he looked and was saved. Like that. Salvation is not a huge thing you have to work up over years of law keeping. Salvation is something that Jesus paid for fully on the cross and so all we have to do is look to Jesus to be saved. Now I'm going to read something that probably you've never heard of. There's a little church in Rhineland, Wisconsin. And in it were some people who really believed, and this is not my words, this is Brandon's, believed in keeping the law to get to heaven. Now this is not all of them, this is some of them. They believed that one is saved by grace but that you have to continually keep the law to stay right with God. A preacher came to the church in a normal everyday conversation and said, these simple words repeat, this is Brandon, not me speaking, don't be so hard on yourself. When he said this, something clicked in one of the girls in the church. Her name was Dot Dot Dot. Brandon said, I to this day don't know what really happened in Dot Dot Dot. But I do know that was the beginnings of something mighty in her life. She said she felt peace and joy like she never had before. She felt happy and free and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 2 Corinthians 3 verse 17. She knew that God loved her and many other things. She said she no longer felt condemned by God. There was therefore no condemnation that being Christ, Jesus would walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. She had to use the same old religious jargon the preacher had used for hundreds of years. She used it, sorry. But now she knew what it meant. When Brandon saw the amazing change in her life and that she now did not serve God out of fear but out of love, he started to pray much for the same experience. Anybody called Brandon yet? Just ask me. He said, I prayed this prayer all summer yearning towards that hand and not willing to give up until I found it. Brandon also said, at that time in my life I was a baptized member of the fellowship here in Rhineland and I've been for a few years. I'd hardly quit all my graces and it was really my Bible and praying. I would say I was a pretty good Christian. I agree. Jesus said in John 5 verse 39 and 40, Search the Scriptures for then you think you have eternal life and there they will testify of me and you will not come unto me that you might have life. He just read the Bible and thought, well done Brandon. One of the troubles I had was that especially when I was down and depressed I would remember back to my past and the sins I had engaged in and those pictures would just fill my mind and my heart. I would want so bad to go back to that old life. Jesus states in Luke 11 verse 33, Now do ye pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness. Sometimes in my heart I would take up those old sins again just for an hour or two until I would realize how sinful it was and then I would repent again. After a bout of this sort of back sliding in my heart I would feel that God had turned his back on me. I would feel like he was disgusted me for wanting to sin like that. I felt that he was disappointed in my failure and inability. I felt like I had to prove myself all over again to God. That's what I went through. If I didn't read my Bible for a few days, which I think we should read our Bible every day, but if I did that then I felt like I was probably not saved. I felt very good if I read my Bible for a few days and that was how I lived. That's the only way I could quench this I don't know that I'm saved. I felt like God would turn his back on me after a couple of days until I could prove that I would be faithful to him again. Brandon was truly in bondage to fear. That was my words. 2 Timothy 1 verse 7 states, For God hath not given us a spirit of bondage against fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. During my trip to Asia, by the way, Brandon is a world traveler, I got to meet some of the Tibetan people. The Tibetans are some of the most devout Buddhist people on earth. I believe that they are the most devout because they are the most afraid. They have huge laya massaris. What's that? I'm sorry, I just wondered. Temples and shrines in every city and town. They fly prayer flags from all the high points of the vicinity. They walk down the street spinning prayer wheels in one hand and fingering prayer hands on the other. Anytime they sit idle they're still spinning their prayer wheels and touching their prayer beads. Oh man. They just do so much, I can't read at all. I mean, there's a lot more. I was told that when it's time to pray Bali in the springtime they pray for a day or two before they even start plowing to atone for all the worms and bugs that they killed in the plowing. Serious? I never knew that. Then as they plow they have the women and children sit nearby with prayer wheels continually to make atonement for all the bugs that get killed. That's amazing. The Tipiticans believe in reincarnation so they're killing their ancestors. I wouldn't feel bad killing a bug. I mean, if my ancestor was so bad that he came back as a bug he deserved to be killed. And I'm sure if I believed in reincarnation and I killed a bug he might come back as something better so he felt good about it. I saw similarity between me and them and their type of living in a state of constant condemnation trying to sum up appeased impossible God. For I bear them record Romans 10 verse 2 verse 3 and 3 says that they have a zeal for God but not according to knowledge for they're being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness have submitted themselves to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness of God. The preacher who God used in Dodo Dodd's life came to Rhineland again. He was just chatting away saying how that they had a nice variety of people show up and that a movement that kept the Jewish Sabbath Saturday had come to the meeting. Turning to me Brandon says in my living room he said something like you know Brandon that movement sounds like they preach the gospel but if you listen carefully you'll realize that they're preaching salvation by the blood of Christ and good works by Christ's sacrifice and by keeping the Sabbath or not eating meat. The preacher went on to say that that is not the true gospel and Brandon went on to say at that moment it hit me that I believe the gospel just like them. I believe that I was saved by the blood of Jesus Christ and by being a good boy. He just kept chatting. Neither one of us are aware of what God's Holy Spirit had begun in my life. We went to bed. Oh that's precious Brandon. It's the truth. Amen. We've got confirmation that this is the truth. This fleeting revelation that I've been trying to be accepted by God by Christ's sacrifice and by being good grew in me. As I reflected on what had happened in the last few days a light started to go on inside of me. I don't remember exactly when in that day it finally came into being. Whether it was in that morning or when I woke up that afternoon or even if it had started the day before but suddenly I understood. Brandon I want to ask you a question. Do I give your testimony better than you give it? But suddenly I understood. I wish by my words because probably you should be standing up here giving this but anyway. I wish by my words that somehow I could explain what happened Brandon says. But I can only just use the same words that we Christians have heard our whole lives. I suddenly knew that I personally was accepted by God merely by faith and purely by faith. That God loved me. That God this is just Brandon was tickled pink with me. I almost didn't put that in my book. I thought you know I'll put it in. That I was precious. That's in two of my books. One for the Seventh Day of Advent is Ezra. You get into many of my books. I'm not a false prophet. That I was precious and dear to God and that He loved me immensely. I suddenly felt free. I didn't have to perform for God. I didn't have to be good enough for God. I was accepted by God by my faith only and His grace only. It wasn't my works or performance. I knew I was accepted by God. I knew I was no longer condemned. I was His precious child. And of course we have, He that believeth on Him is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Remembering back, still Brandon, that was one of the most heavenly days of my life. My feet lifted off the ground really. And I was in cloud nine. Americans have strange expressions. And the neat thing is they haven't hit the ground since. Man, this was before they hit the ground. I know they hit the ground since then. I too felt like there wasn't a single sin in my body at that stage. Obviously he struggled at times like we all do. I felt like my whole being wasn't even capable of sinning. And he's far and out it is. I felt like an angel. I just love. How do you know what an angel feels like? I just love loving and helping and serving others. I just love God's people. Most of all I just love my Lord Jesus Christ my Savior. You know 1 John 3 verse 14, what does it say? We know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer. And we know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. 1 Corinthians 8 verse 3 states that if any man loved God, the same is known of him. Amen. Brandon, isn't there any charismatic here? Pentecostals? I'm conservative but I love Pentecostals who say Amen. Thank you. Suddenly I realized he died for me. He died because he loved me. Christ was the most precious thing on earth to me. There was nothing I wouldn't do for him because of what he had done for me and there was nobody or nothing that could convince me to turn from him. As the months went on, Brandon found out that it was still possible to sin and that there were still times in life but none of these troubles compared to the troubles I had before I had this assurance of faith. I'm sure Brandon can testify. We all know he went to times where he was utterly depressed about himself but that doesn't mean that he lost that ultimately. The spirit of the soul bear witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. I can truly say that sin is powerless over me thanks to the blood. When sin approaches me now, I'm not in bondage to it but I now see it as a choice that is relatively easy to make with Christ's help. I'd like to say something. This is absolutely wonderful. You know what is wonderful? When that happened to Brandon, the whole of heaven or God was rejoicing in the presence of the angels. And if we don't get excited about it, I don't know. It's just absolutely amazing. Brandon, that's precious. Okay, number seven. Some people feel their sin is too great. I don't know if there's anyone like that. Yeah, but you know, some people with very small sins, I'm not saying small sins are small sins, but they haven't killed six million Jews. And they honestly believe the sin is too great. Let me ask you, when God's word states that Jesus tasted death for every man, what does every mean? It means Jesus died for the gays and murderers and rapists and liars and rude kids and thieves and you. 1 Corinthians 6 verse 9 to 10 says what? It speaks to sinners such as gays and thieves and then speaks to the Christians in verse 11 with these amazing words. And such were some of you. But you are now washed, you are sanctified, but you are justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the spirit of our God. Wow, these gays and thieves were totally forgiven. They were washed clean of their sins. They were sanctified, which means they were separated to serve God. They were justified, which means God will never even remember their sins. They are right with God as much as Jesus is right with God because God sees him through the righteousness of his own son. And that's not Calvinism, that's just the truth. Now, I sinned the other day and I believe you sinned wrong and I felt. One thing I knew afterwards was two things. I'd done wrong, number two, I'm still saved and God still loves me, but he's greedy. So I was forgiveness, but I know you can live that. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red as crimson, they shall be as wool. If you believe your sins are too great to be forgiven, think of this verse. As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn you from your evil ways, for why will you die? Now, this is not talking about Evangelical Christians, but I know people in Evangelical Christians who have done at one point in their life a deep sin and they can't forget it. Proverbs 28, verse 13 states, He that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but he that confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. That's pretty simple. God states in Isaiah 43, verse 25, 26, I, even I, am he that blotted out thy transgressions for mine own sake, not yours, and will not remember thy sins. Put me in remembrance. Let us plead together. Declare thou that thou mustest be justified. So you declare. Do you want to be justified and made as if you never sinned? Remind God of these promises and declare your sins and he will justify you if you are willing to forsake them. Make you as if you never sinned, forgive you totally, and remember your sins no more. That's one of the most amazing things when I got saved, is I knew that God other people, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, He said, if you do not know that you are saved with such assurance that you can never doubt, then you are not saved. After many years of preaching, you know, John Wesley, people don't, many Wesleyans, Methodists, who preach the witness of the Holy Spirit as a feeling, a voice inside you which tells you the whole time you are saved, he realized he was wrong. And people keep on preaching from when he was young. He realized, after many years of preaching, that doubt can arise in true Christians due to attacks of the devil and lies. Scripture said he did not always feel saved. And yet the great preachers knew he was saved. And that he knew he was saved because, based on God's Word. Now John MacArthur, I don't agree with him, but he states that we should never look for a feeling that tells us every few minutes we are saved. Deal Mooney stated that if we could, if we should not look, we should not look to our feelings, as Satan can change our feelings 70 times a day. But he cannot change the Word of God. Is a feeling inside called the witness of the Holy Spirit, the main test of whether we are truly Christians or not? Some would have us think so. The problem is many drunkards have testified to feeling God's presence inside. And they say this proves they know God. People who lie daily to their parents have told me, Roy Daniel, that God gave them an amazing feeling of peace and this proves that they are saved. One person said to me, if I'm not saved, then why did God give me this peace? My answer is the peace was not of God. If what we are looking for is proof of salvation in the form of a strange priest inside, then we will easily be deceived. Countless unsaved people have had amazing feelings of peace and it was not God's peace because it did not lead to godly fruit. After looking at the history books, it seems the godly of the last 400 years have differed greatly in their views of feeling, as proof of salvation linked to the biblical term, witness of the Holy Spirit. I did a study on it once, went through all the godly people and at one stage some of them believed that you had to have this feeling. Many people preach that, and I've heard godly people preach this, godly, of the best, greatest preachers on earth. If you don't know that you know, that you know, that you know that you're saved, not possibly the devil is attacking you or possibly you're unsaved, which is true. Because most people who don't know they're saved are unsaved. But they say this statement, I've heard godly preachers preach this. I don't defy them, I defy the statement, because it's causing damage. If you don't know that you know, that you know, that you're saved, you're definitely not saved. You know, after salvation, I believe that. And I preached it. And I preached it for a long time. Why did I preach it? Well, when I was saved, I had feelings that went through my toes and through my ears and I felt so much peace, man, you could stick me in the knife and I knew I'm going to heaven. So I thought, well, this is it. And I read the Bible. Oh, it's also in the Bible. There's a piece, the part of understanding, Philippians 4 verse 7. Romans 8 verse 16, the witness of the spirit. Wow! Perhaps that's the peace I had. And guess what? John Wesley preached it. Wesley! Great! And then I heard godly preachers preach it. This statement, you have to know that you know, and if you don't know, you're not saved. I thought, okay, I'll go and preach. And I preached to people and guess what happened? Some people got wonderfully saved. Other people were seeking for this peace I told them about and they sought and sought and sought and then they got angry because it never came. And next thing, they got frustrated and they got into depression, or they almost rejected God. What changed me? Well, one, two things. I was in a desert, Namibia, South Africa. Long time after I was saved. Driving in my car, and I remember till this day, it's the first time I ever doubted my salvation after salvation. I'm driving in the car and suddenly this thought came to my mind, oh, you're saved. I thought, what? Did I think that? How could I think that? I don't believe you can think that. You're saved. And of course, I knew I was saved. I mean, the devil couldn't convince me, but... Then suddenly I was at an airport in London and I read Charles Spurgeon. My conversion. And I read there of this covenant, how he got saved and so on. And then after salvation, I read that he doubted. And I was in depression, literally. You know why? Because if he's right, if he was saved and then he doubted, I had to change all my messages. And that was hard. I mean, my messages were on the internet. What do I do? And I sat there and I struggled and I struggled. And honestly, that's not a small thing for a preacher who pours his life out preaching and really believes something. And then I came to the point where I said, OK God, if this is true, I'm going to change. And I'm so glad I did. Because it was then I preached a sermon called Faith. Not the faith and feelings you guys have heard. This is two hours. In which I emphasize faith is simply trusting in the faithfulness of God and not a feeling. You could work up by saying, I believe, I believe, I believe. A million times until faith suddenly happened inside you. I preached this two hour sermon for Christians but was amazed that a father came to me later and said, Roy, thank you so much for that sermon. My son could never believe he was saved. He was always looking for a feeling. And now he says he knows he is saved. He was so excited. I preached another sermon called Faith and Feelings. You know that one. It was such a simple sermon. I could not believe it would have much effect. Honestly, I was thinking, you know. I've never made an appeal after that sermon, not once. Even so I'm amazed at how many people have testified they've been saved through that sermon. A small boy told me in a car after a service in Africa that he had doubted for years he was saved. But after this sermon he knew he was saved. Another man who was a druggie and longed to be saved but could not find a feeling was so shocked by the truth that he met with God through that simple message in the middle of the message. And for the first time he knew he was saved. He went on to memorize so much scripture of the Bible and he's gone around lots of places in America testifying and witnessing for the last three or four years. He's radically, wonderfully saved. And what is it through? It's only the opposite of John Wesley. Faith and Feelings. Oh, by the way, he said, when I heard that you don't need a feeling that's when the feelings came. When I just stood on the Word of God. That's an encouragement. What is a Christian? This is so important. Listen carefully. You mind me carrying on or should I preach some other time? Can I carry on? If someone wants to leave, it's fine. I won't condemn you. I'll just speak against you when you leave. Christianity is not something that is gained by climbing a mountain of religious works and experiences and then you're a Christian. Christianity is receiving a person. It is knowing a person. It is having a person. The Bible states, he that hath the Son hath life. If you have Jesus, then you are a Christian. The Pharisees tried to follow God by keeping a million rules and reading scriptures every day for hours. Even reading the Bible cannot make you a Christian. Jesus said, search the scriptures, for them you think you have eternal life and they are they which testify of me and you will not come unto me that you may have life. The way for a sinner to receive eternal life is by coming to Jesus. You can read your Bible for years and years and you'd never come to Jesus. You can try to honor your parents and you'd never come to Jesus. You can keep all the Old Testament laws and you'd never come to Jesus. You see, to be a Christian, you have to have met and experienced and know Jesus. If you have Jesus, you are a Christian. Some people make salvation so complicated. They fill in their hearts, I know all I have to do is come to Jesus in prayer or by looking to Him to save me. But surely there's something more. I need a feeling of faith first. I need to feel worse of my sins. I need someone in the church to pray with me. Or else Jesus will not hear me. Some people make salvation so complicated. I've heard one preacher, an honestly saddened preacher, said there are nine steps in salvation. And if you don't get through all these nine steps, you will not be saved. If you miss one of the steps, you are not saved. I don't read that in the Bible. First you have to be awakened. Then slowly you have to feel worse about your sins. And then you have to see the different sins. You know, I mean, please. I need to have the gospel eventually. I'd like to read you about the most stupid army in the world. It's called the USA Army. Bully beef recipe. How do you say it in American? Recipe. Recipe. Recipe. Did you know that about 20 years ago, the USA Army wrote a cooking manual in which it gave instructions how to provide bully beef for its troops. You can imagine it should just be a few lines. You know, step one, open the can. Step two, put the bully beef on the plate. You know what they did? This is just the US Army. The US Army wrote over 20 pages on how to serve the bully beef to its troops. 20 pages instead of a few words. You see, people likewise make the gospel so complicated. The truth is, if you have Jesus, you have eternal life, and you are a child of God. You don't have to follow 20 pages of instructions or read your Bible for years before you can know Jesus. I, and I want to be honest with you, I've read through my Bible many times. But especially, there's many books I didn't like before salvation. And I hadn't even read through the Bible once when I made this. If a sinner is repentant, all he has to do is come to Jesus and have eternal life. On the cross, the thief, the dying thief rejoiced to see that found in his day. Look to Jesus and realize who he was, the non-sinful son of God. Recognize his own sin and simply ask, remember me. He was told he would be with Jesus in paradise that same night. Notice there were not 29 steps. All he knew was that he was a sinner and the man hanging next to him could forgive his sins. His prayer was not a perfect one. It was just the words, remember me. How simple was this man's salvation and how complicated Satan would have us make ours. One day a Pharisee and a sinner prayed in the temple. The Pharisee was proud of the mountain he was climbing, of law keeping and good works. Looked down at the sinner and talked of how much better he was than him. The sinner did not even look up his eyes to heaven but in a simple prayer cried, God be merciful to me a sinner. He did not say much. He did not pray some perfect doctrinal prayer. He simply cried out to God for mercy for the sinner he was and the sins he had done. Some might say it could not be that simple. But look at the result. Jesus said he is justified. That means God will never ever remember one of his sins. Sadly the Pharisee who was keeping a million laws went away unforgiven for all the sins he had done. Still written in the books to be opened on judgment day were the times he was rude to his parents as a child, the time he lusted after women, the small lies he had told. Nothing was forgiven because he did not seek God but was focusing on his worthless good works. The sinner was not climbing any mountains to become good. He realized he was in a pit and needed mercy and cried out as a sinner for this. He found mercy for his sins. If you want forgiveness you must come to God for mercy for your sins. But some say I try to believe and I cannot. I try and try and try and try and try. You are making a simple yet deadly mistake. You do not realize that unbelief, listen carefully, is not something you can fill by trying and trying to have it. Listen, unbelief is a sin you have to confess. And if you can gather that it could change your life. Unbelief is not something you've done all these sins and now I've got to get faith. Oh I wish I could get faith. Oh man, faith, faith, come, come. Unbelief is a sin that you have to confess. And that has radically brought people to salvation. Romans 14 verse 23 states Whatsoever is not of faith is sin. Hebrews 11 verse 6 For without faith it is impossible to please him for he that cometh to God must believe that he is and he is a reward of them that diligently seek him. 1 John 5 verse 10 He that believeth not God has made him make God to be a liar because he believeth not the record that he gave of his son. You know how big the sin of unbelief is? You make God to be a liar. And on the one hand this should make you fear because it adds the greatest sin to the long list of sins you have already committed. But on the other hand, listen, it should give you hope because sin is something you can deal with in a moment. In fact, Jesus dealt with all sin 2,000 years back on the cruel tree of Calvary. He became all your sin and was punished for your sins. Then he arose and now ever living to intercede for sinners who come to God for mercy through him. That means he's waiting every moment of every day his whole life is consumed. He is ever living for you to come and confess your sins so you can intercede to God and you can be forgiven. You know that the blood of Jesus Christ was taken into the sanctuary of heaven. When we come with our sins to God to be forgiven in Jesus' name, then Jesus stands there in love and reminds God the Father of the cross who he died for your sins and in a moment you are forgiven. God the Father also loves you and wants to forgive your sins. That is why the fact that faith is not a lack of feeling that you work up but rather a sin to be confessed is a wonderful thing. It means you can deal with unbelief now simply by confessing it as a sin and being forgiven. When we confess our sins Jesus does not only forgive them but sets us free from the power of sin. Let me repeat, many believe, and you'll meet this when you're speaking to evangelical children, I know I'm a sinner but I just can't get faith, I can't get faith, I can't get faith. You don't have to get faith, you have to confess unbelief. They don't realize it is not an empty space to be filled but a sin to be confessed. And I'd like to give you an example. Ernst Lurk, a friend of mine in Polokwane, South Africa is a married man with four daughters. He knows he is saved. In 1985, before he had a stomach operation, he prayed for salvation and repenting of his sins. He grew up in a terrible house and so struggled usually to see that God would accept him. He was comparing God to his own parents and situation. After his repentance, it was a hard path. He was enslaved to calming pills and so on and so forth. A great preacher in South Africa's history, an amazing man, he knows his Bible off by heart, whole Bible, Dr. Vilimaré, held a series of meetings at a church nearby. He made an invitation that those who wanted to receive Jesus for the first time or make a new decision should put up their hands. He was one of those who raised his hands. After the prayer, Mr. Vilimaré said that anyone who wanted to see him or ask more questions, they could come and if they made an appointment, they could come to him. So the guy came to Vilimaré. He asked him to tell him about himself, this is Vilimaré. He started to talk about the house he grew up in and Mr. Vilimaré asked him dryly and seemingly with little compassion, did you grow up in a broken house? As he said, there's a huge sorrow welled up in his heart and he had anger. He started to cry and cry and cry. God in a strange way was healing years of bitterness, he said. He was angry. He was expecting a kind old man who would encourage him, but instead the man looked at him dryly. He did not realize that this was God's kindness. The more sympathy Mr. Vilimaré would have given him, the more I would have used the situation, he says, telling him stories to get more sympathy. I would have received sympathy and yet never faced my sin of unbelief. When I'd eventually finished crying, Mr. Vilimaré said, so why have you really come? Very dryly but in love. He said the real reason was that I didn't know if I'm going to heaven. Dr. Vilimaré quoted a few verses such as, as many as received him, to them gave him the power to become the sons of God. He said, I know all those verses but I still doubt. I just can't work up faith for God to save me as a person. Mr. Vilimaré looked at him with absolutely no sympathy and said, it's simple. Then he quoted 1 John 5 verse 10, he that believeth in the Son of God hath the witness in himself. He that believeth not God hath made him a liar because he believeth not the record that God gave of his son. Dr. Vilimaré looked at him gravely and said, if you do not accept the witness of God, you make God to be a liar. Suddenly, he felt he was at a crossroads. He realized, when I was having sympathy, I was thinking, oh man, I'm terrified, it's so sad that I go through so many years and can't get to the point where I know that I'm saved. And he was sympathizing himself. Suddenly he realized, what I mean sympathizing is sin. And he brought the sin to God and God saved him. In one moment, when he said, listen God, I confess this sin. Bang. And that has happened to many people that I know. They've all been trying to work up faith, oh I'm a sinner, I'm a sinner, oh I'm so, they're sympathizing with themselves. And then suddenly they realize, it's a sin. And they confess that sin and God saves them. You see, you'll never deal with your unbelief by trying to work up faith. Many people split unbelief from their sins. They know they've broken God's law and need faith for God to forgive them, but they don't believe God will forgive them. The sad thing is, they're splitting unbelief from their sins. They feel sorry for themselves because they can't believe. They don't realize they're feeling sorry for themselves for sinning. Unbelief is a sin. You will never be able to work up faith. Faith is a gift from God. Instead of trying to work up faith for years and years and years and wonder where it is, you can deal with your unbelief in a moment by going to your knees somewhere and confessing it as sin. 1 John says, if we confess our sins, His faithfulness just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We make God a liar by not believing He will do His part if we do our part. We're actually better than God. I did my part, He's not going to do His part. We make Him a liar. If we confess our sins and don't believe He has forgiven us, then we should confess one last sin and trust Him to forgive and cleanse us from it. The sin of unbelief. The simple truth has led people to stop years of seeking for faith in their own strength. They simply dealt with their unbelief through confessing it as a sin and asking God to forgive them for Christ's sake. Instead of trying to fill a gap, confess the sin. And it's as simple as this. Instead of trying to confess the gap or repeat it, confess the sin. One thing you have to realize is God is incapable of lying. He that spared not His own Son, but liveth Him up for all us. How shall He not with Him, or should He really give us all things? You see, God gave His Son to die for you. Why would He lie when He said that if we confess, He will forgive and cleanse? If we want to be saved from our sins and want to forsake our sins, if we want to know Jesus and serve Him, then we know that all we have to do is come to Jesus. In Pilgrim's Progress, they had the slew of the spawn. Who's read the Pilgrim's Progress? Are you in the slew of the spawn? We read in the Bible as a sinner. The pilgrim, we read the pilgrim had a burden on his back. He received the burden by reading the Bible. When we read the Bible as a sinner, then God can show us our sin through the Holy Law. As we read more, it's possible the sin becomes a burden. We long to lose. If we read the Bible and realize who we are. We long to know that we're on our way to Heaven. In Pilgrim's Progress, we read on and find Pilgrim is told by evangelists, he must seek to follow the light and come to a narrow gate and eventually the cross. He is told to follow the light. That light is Jesus. He walked towards the light, but on the way, he got to talking to someone else. They were so busy with this that he did not see a swamp, the slew of the spawn. He fell into the swamp and was stuck. He did not know what to do. The swamp is a picture of people who want to be forgiven and become children of God, but fell into the pit of doubts and unbelief. Oh, I can't get saved. I know I'm a sinner, but where do I look? I know I must look to Jesus, but where do I look? Oh man, there's no way I can find Jesus. They pray again and again and nothing seems to happen. They don't expect anything really to happen, but hope so and try. God, please forgive me. They have made one big mistake though. They've taken their eyes off the light. They're not coming to Jesus, but trying in their own strength to work up faith. Listen to that again. They're not coming to Jesus, but trying in their own strength to work up faith. They're failing and failing and failing. The story goes on and the evangelist comes along. He looks at Pilgrim and after talking to him, does two things. He firstly helps Pilgrim out of his hand and then tells him again to walk towards the light. Now just as the evangelist helped him out, so this booklet can help you out by giving you hope again. Secondly, just as the evangelist pointed to the light, so I would now like to point you to the light, Jesus Christ. John 8 verse 12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. John 12 verse 46 I'd like to read you a simple poem I wrote. If I could paint a picture of Jesus' love so fair, if you could feel the nail prints in Jesus' hands right there, if you knew why He did it, for the sins that you have done. He said, It is finished. The price is paid, my son. It is finished. What blessed words of glory. He has done all to pay my sins. I don't have to keep the law or experience some strange experience. All I have to do is come to Jesus. Don't go the way of the law. Don't look for something that is missing. There is nothing missing from what Jesus did on the cross. When you come to Jesus, it is not what you pray that counts. I know many fear, I did this, that they will say the wrong words or do not know enough. All you have to know is you are a sinner and all you have to do is come to Jesus. There is an amazing verse in the Old Testament By His knowledge, shall my righteous servant justify many. Wow, that is a verse of hope. You see, this portion is a famous chapter on Calvary. It talks of Jesus dying for our sins after He rose up to justify many by His knowledge. This means that He will make many as if they never sinned by His knowledge. You may be confused why I am so excited. Well, it does not say by our knowledge. When I was saved, I did not know doctrinally every point of the new birth as I do now so much. I had not read through the whole Bible. I believed a lot of lies. I knew one thing, this is all I knew, and that was I am a sinner and only Jesus can help me. I cried out to Jesus for mercy. I said all the wrong words, but it did not matter. God did not say, Hey, I want you to understand what is about to happen to you before I do it. I am glad He did not because then I never could say it. No, God saved me. I still do not fully understand. I do not know if Timothy understands at all. I do not. And he did it after I said pretty normal prayer without any fancy words. I just came and looked at Jesus and He saved me. And of course you can go on. There are so many stories of people. There was a girl in India. She, at five years old, listened through the door. She heard Jesus Christ. And somehow the Holy Spirit worked in her. Leave your idols. Follow that name. What did she know? She had never read the Bible before. She had never heard anything about Christianity. She just heard the name Jesus Christ. Is that enough to save you? Well, she said, I am going to follow this Jesus. I am going to believe in this Jesus. I do not know why. I have heard this name. I have to do this. I am believing. And she got chucked out of her house because she refused to worship those gods. For 17 years or something, she never met another Christian. She stood up for Jesus. All that she knew was Jesus. He is now in the name of heaven, by which any man shall be saved in the name of Jesus Christ. And she got saved so much that she was radically saved. You think she needed all this knowledge? No, God says, by my knowledge shall my righteous servant justify me. I know I have done it on the cross. I know how I have done it. You come to Jesus. Not nine steps before you are saved. Some people worry they have not said the right words. My uncle, when he got saved, he was a drunken rebel, confessed everything he ever did. And afterwards went and made right with everyone. My father was a druggie, did not mention any of his sins by name. My father did not say, lie, steal, anything like that. My uncle, druggie, also druggie, alcoholic, whatever, he named all of them. And God saved him. My dad, I am a sinner. God saved him. God does not look at the words you say. By my knowledge, shall my righteous servant justify me. God did not say to my father, hey, you did not confess for hours like your brother, so I will not save you. God saw a sinner, broken over his sins, coming to Jesus with a few words in the moment he saved him. My uncle felt peace when he was saved. My dad felt nothing. But later when he read his Bible and saw that God in him was making the Bible alive for the first time, that was wonderful. Oh, I would love to just bring this. My mother. I know I preach, that people really need to come to God for the right reason, else He will not save you. You cannot just come because you are scared of hell, because you want a better or more enjoyable life. You have to come sick and tired of a sin, wanting a relationship with God in which He is your Father. You have to seek Him for forgiveness and surrender to Him. You cannot just receive forgiveness and then go your own way. You have to come to Jesus willing to surrender and follow Him from the moment He forgives you. The problem is this truth can be used by Satan, listen to this, this truth can be used by Satan to make people believe they can never be saved because they never will know if they are repentant or not. You wonder, okay, I am feeling sorry about all the sins I am willing to give them, but perhaps there is another sin I don't think about. That's what people think. My mother grew up in a conservative home. Every day they read the Bible. She was told of Jesus' death and the necessity of a new birth. When she was six years old she heard the Christmas story. I love the Christmas story. She heard how God gave His Son to die for our sins. She felt in her little heart that God gave His Son, but she was just living her own little life for herself. That's very simple. She wasn't thinking, you know, what are all the sins I've ever done. She just realized, I'm going my way. He gave His life, I'm going my own life. That's all she knew. She thought, I have never given anything to God. She knelt down and said, God, I want to give myself to You, to live for You. Forgive me for living for myself. She did not feel a huge burden for her sin. She just made a choice to give herself to God because He had given His Son. At that moment, God saved her. She did not feel much, but from that time to now, she has grown into one of the deepest Christians I know. Everything the Bible says must be in a Christian is in her life. She is truly saved. Zeal Moody spoke of a ship that was full of hateful people. And basically in the ship, what happened in the ship? They were full of sinners, murderers, people cussing, people drinking all the time, drunkards. And suddenly a storm came and the storm was beating on the ship. And oh, they were scared. And then they realized, we're going towards the rocks. We're going to the rocks. We're going to the rocks. We'd better think of God now. Oh, the tears rolled down their faces. And they cried out, Oh God, forgive us for our sins. And the ship turned around. And they said, Please save us. And it went the other way. Oh, the next day, they were cussing away, drinking again. Were they repentant? You see, it's not how much you shout that makes you repentant. There's a deal, when he said, I'd much rather have a guy who looks at his sin and decides I'm willing to give it up than someone who goes, Wait, wait, wait, about his sin. I'd like to end off with this. The dreaded cycle. This is what many people end. It's called the dreaded cycle. The cycle is a circle. Many people I've met have been in this cycle. When I grew up, I prayed to become a Christian. And one of the things that I worried about was this. I know if I'm a sinner, I can get saved. But if I'm already saved, then I'm not a sinner. So how will I ever know that I'm not saved so I can become a sinner so I can get saved? Does that make sense? That's very stupid. But that's so many people I've met that are going through that cycle. They come to a point where they really want to know they're saved. But they think, Okay, I know. Will God save me if I don't know I'm a sinner? And I've prayed to become a Christian and I don't know if I'm saved. So if I pray this time to become a Christian, how do I know I can come as a sinner? And they go around in circles. My one friend, I think I mentioned him in this series, the day he found out it was one of my dad's meetings and he just realized I'm a sinner. Hallelujah! I'm a sinner! He was so excited he's a sinner and I can get saved. And he became a missionary. But it's a thing that many evangelical kids go through. They want to know I'm a sinner, Lord, but do I mean it? And I meet people like that. And you know what I tell them? Apart from the fact that faith is sin, there's a very simple answer to this. I sat down with someone in America. He had all the fruit of one John. To me, he was saved by the fruit. And I said to him, Listen, when you come to a doctor, what do you tell the doctor? Of course, we're against doctors, yeah, but just pretend there's a good doctor somewhere in the world. When you come to the doctor, what do you tell the doctor? You tell him what you know. Okay? Well, you know, I said, that you've done, you might not know that you saved or not, or that you're a sinner still, but you know you were born a sinner. You know you've done enough sin to go to hell. You know that you're really confused. You know that you'd like to know that you're saved. Don't go to God and think, Oh no, I don't know what to do. He's not going to accept me because I really don't know. God isn't like that. That's the devil. You go to the doctor, and I say, You just do this. End it. If someone I see they're living in the world and there's just worldliness all about them, I say, Listen, you're unsaved. Go repent. But if someone's struggling and he doesn't know, I say, Go to the God and just speak to him. Just say something like this, God, I was born a sinner. I've done sin. And I really want to know that I'm saved. And I prayed then to become a Christian and nothing happened. And I prayed then and I don't know if anything happened. And I prayed then and right now I'm very confused. But I know you tasted death for every man and so you can pray. And I've said this to so many people. Just come to him like a doctor. When you come to the doctor, Doctor, I've got a sore head and a sore toe and a sore stomach. His job should be to find out why you've got a sore head and a sore toe and a sore stomach. You tell him what you know. You don't tell him what you don't know. And I've said this to people and you cannot believe how at peace it comes to the end of their struggles. Because they realize I can get out of the cycle. I can get out of the cycle of wondering, Am I a sinner so can I come to God? No, I just, I understand. I have done sin. Everybody's done sin and I can come to God and I can just treat him as a doctor. He's the great physician. There was never a kinder physician than him. And he saved a little girl who just said, You realize you must follow Jesus. Let alone someone who's confused and knows a lot more than that little girl. I'm just going to read the last section to you. This is part of a sermon that I brought two years back or a year back but it's so important. You may say, But Roy, you have told me all that I have to do. As a repentant sinner or confused person who doesn't know I'm saved has come to Jesus. But where is he? You say, Roy, I sat in my room and I longed to meet him but I cannot feel him or see him. I try and try and cannot see or believe that I know he is there. Where is he? Well, you will definitely never find him in your feelings, number one. He is not anywhere in you before you are saved. So don't try and look for feelings of faith there. So where is Jesus, you ask? So I can come to him. The answer is simple and you've heard this before from me, John chapter 4. We have a woman by the well. She was a deep sinner. She had slept with me and we go in there and he says, 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, Jesus said to this woman. There, far away from the temple, this woman asked for living water and she was made alive. It's that simple. If you are a sinner and know the gift of God, in other words, that God gave Jesus to die for your sins and also who is speaking to you, that Jesus is speaking to you, even while you read this booklet, then you would ask and he would have given you living water. And it's so simple. I know people in Africa, they saw people who were alive spiritually and they literally had a seeking for that and reading John 4 they suddenly realized it's that simple. If you know the gift of God, that Jesus died on the cross and what it is and who it is that speaks to you, then you would just ask. It can't be that simple. Yes, it is. Jesus, my Lord. In that moment, they received. I've told you of that lady who had a, that lady who in a party got saved. There's a verse in the Bible, it says, Acts 17 verse 27, that they should seek the Lord if happy they might feel after him, Paul says to sinners, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us. Paul longed for them to feel to seek the Lord, to forgive their sins. And then he says something amazing. Remember he's speaking to Greeks, thousands of miles from the Jewish temple. He says, though he be not far from every one of us. You see, Jesus is not far from every one of us. He is everywhere. He was in the bathroom at a party. He was in the bedroom of that religious old man. And he's standing by you while you read this book. He is the great physician. His hands were pierced for you. Will you not right now bow before him whom your sins pierced and confess your sins, including the sin of unbelief. Won't you bow down and surrender to the great physician now. If you could but see the love in his eyes as you read the last lines of this book. He is right here now. Will you not come to him? John 4, 5 verse 40 says, And ye will not come unto me that ye might have life. You know that song I wrote? 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 to sinners by his side. Our Savior cried forgive just before he died. And there 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 his 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 have asked in living streams to make your whole life new. A thorn crowned on his head a sinner by his side. Our Savior cried forgive just before he died. Have you ever wondered if he would say the same to you? If you came to him with all your sin including the sin of unbelief to make your whole life new. A thorn crowned on his head two sinners by his side. Our Savior cried forgive just before he died. And that's what he's living to do to any person. Let us pray. Father, I just want to thank you for what you did in my life. How you took me out of that dreaded cycle and you saved me. How you've helped so many other people to find peace and get out of all the lies of the devil that are keeping them thinking they couldn't be saved or could never be saved or never become saved. Lord, I just ask that you'll give a burden to some of the people here also for this type of sinner, for this type of person who's struggling to find faith, who wants to find faith. And that you'll remind them when they meet such people that faith is not a gap that you have to fill. Not a feeling in your heart that you have to work up. It's a sin that has to be confessed with all your other sins. And also that we can come to you as a great position. And when we're confused about ourselves, there are things we can know about ourselves and what Jesus has done on the cross. And we can come and tell you what we know. And we can ask you. Lay it before you and say, God, I want to know. And if I have done enough sins, to go to hell a million times, then I'd just like to ask you to forgive them in case they're not forgiven. In Jesus Christ's name. And Father, I ask all of us, as you would work in our hearts to long for the different types of souls out there. The different types of people who are sinners, but they need you. We long to go out to tell people the truth that can set them free. So that we can have people in heaven with us. A crown of glory because we saw one as Daniel said. Because we went out and preached the gospel. I want to see them in heaven amidst the bright angels so fair. I want to hear them singing of Jesus, my Savior so dear. Will I see them in heaven? Will they be with me there? Are they washed in the precious blood that Christ has shed for us here? Will you go tell them? Father, please work in our hearts to realize this is no joke. This is what God gave us. He gave us such a responsibility to go forth and preach the gospel. We would go Lord and stop making excuses. In Jesus Christ's name, Amen.