In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the difference between how the world gives and how Jesus gives. He uses the example of a cautious deacon in the church who would carefully measure out small portions, contrasting it with Jesus' generous giving of full measure, pressed down, and running over. The preacher also highlights the importance of using the resources that God has given us and not wasting them. He encourages the listeners to reflect on their prayer life, stating that a person's spiritual character is more important than their knowledge. The sermon concludes with a mention of C.T. Stud, a missionary, and his ancestral home.

This teaching is presented by Last Days Ministries. If you would like to receive a free subscription to the Last Days magazine, which is colorfully illustrated and filled of challenging articles to help you in your relationship with the Lord, please write and let us know. You may also request a sample pack of our most ordered tracks or a list of our currently available teaching tapes on audio and video cassette. Either use the coupon on the inside of your cassette case or write to us. Last Days Ministries, Box 40, Lindale, Texas 75771. Please indicate what you would like us to send you. We're going to look in the gospel recorded by John the 17th, pardon me, the 14th chapter. Say 17th automatically, nearly. John the 14th chapter. I'm thinking particularly of verse 27, peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you, and others the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Perhaps you'll remember without looking that the first verse of this chapter is, let not your heart be troubled. I suppose there's more trouble in the world tonight than ever there's been in history. I saw a book a while ago and the title was very simple and very understandable. It was Famous Last Words. And you know sometimes these are written in a kind of a jovial fashion and sometimes they're quite serious, sometimes they're quoted from nobodies like film stars or important people like preachers. And there's a big gap. But you know these words are really the famous last words of Jesus. And we say that Jesus was not only a king, but he was a king of kings. I saw a statement the other day about the new baby that was born in England of course, where most clever folk are born, and it called it a billion dollar baby, a billion dollar baby. I didn't know they were so expensive but there you have it. A billion dollar baby. And this little thing doesn't know anything about it, it will have enough troubles when it does, but it becomes heir to the throne. When I was a boy it was an empire, but the empire's just about gone. And there's no doubt that the, I think the Queen of England is the second wealthiest woman in the world. The Queen of the Netherlands, the real queen, is the richest and I think Queen Elizabeth is the second richest. And my wife is not the third, but anyhow. Normally you think of a king leaving as the Queen of England would leave, all right, she'd leave Buckingham Palace and she has a marvellous castle in Scotland called Balmoral and she'd leave that, and there's another wonderful place called Sandringham, and they have another one not too far out of London which is very popular. And normally a king leaves a lot of material things. And yet Jesus, the king of kings, left nothing at all material. The daughter of William Boole, the mad ashore, she came to a church I pastored. She was a marvellous old woman, as ugly as sin, but she was very nice. And she was very masculine, very tall, nose like a banana like the rest of the Boole family had, you know. And quite an authoritative preacher. And all her life she'd lived by faith. And somebody said to her one day, I don't know how you dare go on like this. You live by faith. You live on what people hand out to you. And she said, yes, that's quite right, I do. Are you happy about it? Yeah. Why? And then she said, because my master did that. He had to borrow everything. He had to borrow a body to come into the world. He had to borrow a boat to go over the Sea of Galilee. He had to borrow an upper room to celebrate the Last Supper with his disciples. He even had to borrow a penny once for an illustration. And he wanted to borrow a cup from a woman at a well. And she listed all the things that Jesus borrowed and said, I'm not a bit embarrassed. But I'm sure there's no other king in history who has been so poor as Jesus, and yet nobody so rich. Again, the Word of God says he was rich, but for our sakes he became poor, that we through his poverty might be made rich. One of the old English hymns says he was poor to give me treasure. He was slave to make me king. He was hated without measure, heaven's love to me to bring. Now these disciples left all and followed Jesus. You find people say sometimes, you know, you get saved, and then after all the preacher begs and scrapes and begs you to leave all and follow him. And, well, that was not true with the disciples. They came very often in explaining sanctification. People say, well, it's a place where you leave everything and you become separated to God. Well, they were separated to God from the first day they yielded everything they had. They gave up their business careers, they gave up their futures, they left their homes, what else could they leave? And yet it's to those men that Jesus prayed in John 17 and 17, sanctify them through thy truth, thy worthy truth. It's more than a separation as in the Old Testament. You could separate vessels, but that didn't make them any useful just because they were separated and they could be filled and they could be put into service. Now Jesus is leaving these disciples. They don't like it. He's promised them another comforter will come and they don't like that. And he says, when he, the comforter which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father has sent in my name, he shall teach you all things. Now that word comforter comes from two Latin words, comfortis, comfortis with strength it means. So when the Holy Ghost comes, he comes with strength. Or change it to Acts 1.8, you shall receive power or you shall receive strength, the Holy Ghost coming upon you. Now there's one promise, this is part of the legacy that Jesus is giving to his disciples. And never is there here that he says, peace I leave with you and my peace I give unto you. Now if you just took a kind of glance over history, you might say that history is peace interrupted with war. Whereas actually history is war interrupted by peace. Right now how many millions of men are there under arms? We're told on the border of China for instance there are a million Chinese and nobody knows how many Russians on the other side of the border. We have more money invested in war machines, in death than ever in any period in history. I sometimes wonder why we dare call this civilization, I don't see much very civil about it. When I see the six o'clock news and I see houses going up and babies lying in the street and women weeping. And folk don't know where to go or want to sleep or anything like this in a day when we have more culture and universities and learning and books than ever. And yet we're still savages, we're still barbarians. Now Jesus says, peace I leave with you. But then he qualifies it, he says, my peace I give unto you. And then he says, not as the world give I unto you. Now you could go back to the second chapter in Luke and say, well of course you can say it about Jesus, whatever you take him in history. But there is no divorcing Jesus from peace. And there is no real peace without Jesus. You see 700 years before he came in the ninth chapter there of Isaiah, it says thou shalt call him what? Wonderful, counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace. And when the angels came through the sky, in the second chapter of Luke there, it says that they, we usually say they sing. Charles Wesley, Englishmen don't often make mistakes, but Charles Wesley made one and he said, the herald angels sing. No, there's no angels singing in the Bible, I know of. It says the angels said, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men of good will. Now isn't it really wonderful that those shepherds, I guess they went out every night and never expected anything unusual. And suddenly there's a heavenly host, the sky lit up and here's a glorious company of angels. I don't know whether they could see them or not. But they were all chanting. It must have been very wonderful to hear them. I don't think there's anything more wonderful than hearing a crowd of men sing. Women do, you know, not so bad, but you get an all male choir. Boy, there's something about it really stirs me. And as you know there are no female angels anyhow in the Bible. So, all the angels in the Bible are males. You notice that? They've all got men's names. It's rather discouraging ladies, but anyhow. Remember there's no sex in soul. No colour in soul. There's neither Jew nor Greek, the good book says. None, nor female, nor female. And then as I thought about that today, this heavenly host suddenly coming, you know, it's changing history. The other night some of you stayed up, I believe, to watch the eclipse. I was tempted to stay up because, you know what the prediction was? The prediction was it would turn into blood. I don't know if it did, did it go blood red? Yeah, it was a rather wonderful thing. I think it's happened once before in history, but remember the prophecies. The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and notable day of the Lord. But you look at the stars. When I was a boy I thought heaven was all flat like this, you know. And these were little baby stars, these little things that don't shrink very much. And these other big ones were planets and so forth. And then I discovered, of course, if you look from the back and I put my hands like this, you can't tell the gap between. And so some stars are millions or trillions or quadrillions of light years away. Stars are divided by space. Continents are divided by water. Religions are divided by prejudice. People are divided by, well, race. And then black and white and yellows and browns and all the rest of it. But the amazing thing is that history is divided by a babe. There's an old song that says they were looking for a king to bring salvation nigh. He came a little infant thing that made a woman cry. But isn't it wonderful that while those shepherds were watching their sheep and looking out for wolves or something, that this heavenly horse suddenly came to them. Why didn't the angels go knock on the door of the chief priest and say, listen, I want to tell you something, hurry up, get out of bed, because history is going to be changed. And go to the chief priest. Why didn't Michael come instead of the other angels and knock at the door of one of the leading men in the Sanhedrin. Or, best of all, go to Caesar's palace. Now you see there's a consistency in the word of God. There's not much consistency, maybe with God's people always, but with the word of God there is. And he takes the things that are not to bring to naught the things that are that no flesh should glory in his presence. Do you want to be strong? Be weak. Because the stronger you are, the more self-sufficient you become. But the weaker you are, the more you're cast on guard. I've heard people say, oh, if that man ever became a Christian. Boy, I mean, with all his ability. Do you know how he graduated? Do you know this? Do you know that? I'm not interested. Doesn't necessarily mean he'd be a, if I dare prostitute the word, or I can prostitute it but misuse it, a superstar for God. And by that I don't mean a scintillating platform personality. I mean a man that will do more in the kingdom of God. You know, really do it. Pull down strongholds. I'm getting a bit anxious in my spirit to see this happen in the day in which we live. I don't see the church pulling down many strongholds. Or putting to flight the armies of the alien. And yet I say that you cannot divorce Jesus from peace. There Isaiah says, he's a wonderful counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace. And then the acclamation in the skies, glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace to men of goodwill. Now Jesus is entering here in this 14th chapter. I've described this before. It may not suit you, it suits me. That like the river in Ezekiel's vision, you know, it starts going deeper, it's ankle depth, and it gets deeper to the knees, and deeper to the loins, and waters to swim in. But from the 14th chapter of John, it gets deeper in the 15th chapter, deeper in the 16th chapter, deeper still in the 17th chapter, deeper still in the 19th, and so forth. Now, usually, it seems to me, when I've heard, I haven't heard it preached enough. But years ago, I heard somebody preach on this, you know, peace I leave with you, my peace, makes all the difference in the world. It makes all the difference if you read it in the context. He says, the very same peace which governs my life, and where's he going? Well, he's going to Gethsemane, to be beaten up with the devil. According to the 9th chapter of Hebrews, he prayed with strong crying and with tears. Haven't heard much of that, have you? Church you go to, does a pastor pray with strong crying and tears? Or the deacons? Does anybody? We live the gospel, so it's a fairy tale, I think. We don't realize that this is an issue between the powers of darkness, and the powers of the kingdom to come, and it's not a temporary issue, it is an eternal issue. Now again, Jesus is going into Gethsemane, and he says, I've got peace. All the disciples didn't like to think that Jesus would leave them alone, but he says, I'm sending a substitute, I'm sending you another comforter, and he will abide with you forever. And I'm going on my pilgrimage, and it's going to be a battle. Now he knew what was going to take place. He'd already testified on three occasions that he was going to die and rise again. On the Mount of Transfiguration he'd borne testimony, they'd borne testimony there, that Jesus was going to suffer. They talked about his exodus, by the way of death. And yet Jesus is as poised as though he were going, as we would say, to a wedding, or a function. He's going to be isolated there, his disciples are going to run away, and he isn't going to get upset and imbalanced about it. He knows too much about human nature. He's already fortified himself in God. He's already seen their failures, he's already been through forty days of temptation. He's been rejected by his own family, he's been rejected by the synagogue. And instead of weakening him, every time there's an assailing by the devil, it strengthens him. You see, he knew positively he'd come on earth to do one thing, and that was to do the will of his Father, and that was to be the redemption of men. Now I say, when you take it, at least when I take that in that context, my peace I give unto you, not as the world giver. Well, how does the world give? Well, it gives very stingily usually, doesn't it? We used to have a joke around where we lived as children, there was a little shop there, and they sold linens and fabrics. In those days we used to have elastic on rolls, you know, pinks and blues and yellows, narrow and wide and black and all the rest of it. And they used to say, the lady there, she would say, you want a yard? Oh, I'll give you a good measure. And she stretched it, you see, to make you think you were getting a good yard. But how does the world give? I used to go and spend my half penny on Saturdays at a shop that was run by a lady, Mrs. North. I loved her, because she was nearly blind. And when she was weighing anything out, the scales would drop down, and she'd still keep pulling candies on, you know, and pull them on. And I was always told never to speak, you know, out of place, so I never said anything to her. I just took the bag, and then took the extra ones. I went home one day, and Dad said, come here, honey. You've got candies in one hand, and you've got a bag there. How much? Well, it was Christmas, and I'd spent four cents. And I got, I guess, about half a pound of candies, real good English candies. And my father said that couldn't be. Where did you go? Scargill's? Scargill? I wouldn't go to Scargill, he was a deacon, deacon in the church. He could have taught Scrooge a few lessons. I went to Mrs., my good friend, Mrs. North. You mean the lady across the hall over there? Yeah. Well, she's nearly blind. Yeah, I think she's something wrong with her eyes, that's true. You know, he turned me out, took me to the door, he said, you go back to that shop, and go back to Mrs. North, and tell her what a naughty boy you've been, and apologize to her, and make sure you never do that again. Because Mr. Scargill, the old Scrooge that was a deacon in the church, he got to be a nervous wreck when he was weighing any of those little tiny things, you know, we used to suck. He'd shake it like, oh, one too many, take it out. My goodness, he was so careful. Well, that's how the world is. As Jesus did, he gives full measure, pressed down, running over. One of the embarrassments we're going to have in eternity is how little we've used of the resources that God had for us. Oh, mercy, we talk about going to heaven as though it's going to be a Fourth of July forever and ever, and three hamburgers, and French fries, and mercy. None of that junk there anyhow, but by the same token, when we get inside those gates by the grace of God, and we look back and see the twisted course, and we look back, and see where God was waiting for somebody to listen. I'm afraid very often when we pray, we do all the talking. That's bad manners. I like to talk behind their back. And sometimes when I'm in company, I have to kind of bite my lip and say, he let somebody else do some talking. Let me listen here for a while. I've often wondered how many people there were that God could have called on when Saul was on the road to Damascus, but Ananias, Ananias not only prayed, he listened. And God said, you go to the street called Straight, go to the house called... You see, he knew his name and address. Do you live as conscious of the fact that God knows your name and address? You say you supply all your needs, but what's he going to do? Is he going to be looking for you in Dallas when you live here? He knows us. He knows our names are engraved on the palms of his hand. You never did this, did you? I'm sure you're such a lovely lot of folk. You never wrote any answers to questions on your hands, did you, before you had examinations? No, never did it. Innocence is a lovely thing. But anyhow, lots of people did. Put them on the fingernails, you know. Put them on the palm of their hands and teachers are looking. You look and look for the answer and put it there. It's an old custom. It's not new to our day. They did it in those days back there in the scriptures. Men used to write. They didn't have computers in their pockets and all these other gadgets and things. And so they made a marking on their hands. And God says that your name and mine is engraved on his hands. But I wonder how often we could have given, to use a link onto the hands, how often we could have given a helping hand to somebody if we'd only listened. Now the listening side of prayer is not easy to develop because our minds go wandering all over the place. I talked this morning with a man again. He was in this place not long ago. Maybe you didn't see him. Some of you did. You didn't know much about him. And he called and said, I enjoyed the couple of times I saw you down there and the talks we had. He came with Dave Wilkerson to talk for half an hour and we talked three and a half. And then he came the next night and talked two hours. And he said, I'm getting back into line now. The Lord's straightened me out since I was down there. I'm glad we had those talks. Because you see, he'd been praying a minimum of eight hours a day. And his maximum prayer was 16 hours a day. Now you tell your cousin that, that goes to a seminar in Dallas, he'll think you're nuts. But I think those boys in the seminaries these days, if Joshua had said we're going to march around the city 13 times, they'd have said you're nuts too. Some foolish things are wisdom with God and some wise things are foolishness with God. And he said this morning, Brother Raymond, I've got things straight. I go to the little church and the Lord's just shown me now what to do. He's made it clear to me I have to pray a minimum of five hours a day and a maximum of ten. That's pretty good going, isn't it? And God revealed his secrets to him. You see, the strength in the life of Jesus too was the strength of his prayer life. No man again is greater than his prayer life. Your whole spiritual character hangs around, not your knowledge. You may have a head stuffed with knowledge, so what? If you'll forgive the exaggeration, I'll tell you, and if you won't, I'll still say it. But from the Gulf of Mexico, sorry, this way, to the border of Canada, from New York to California, the whole nation is about four feet deep in cassettes. And I mean gospel cassettes. Some are tunes, some are music, some are dreadful, and some are sermons. We've never had more knowledge. But the good book says what? Be ye doers, doers of the word. You know, all this that we've got stored up here, or back here, if you want to say, it's in the repressed complex of the subconscious, that all that stuff is going to be brought to judgment one day. Sometimes I look at my library and think, now, is the Lord going to challenge me on all these books? Jesus has come through the whole period of his, at least up to this point, up to trial, and he says, My peace I leave with you, not as the world giveth I unto you. Again, let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Now, if you look down to verse 30, he says, Hereafter I will not talk much with you, for the prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me. Now, he knows the prince of this world is coming, and yet he says, I've got peace that will take me through it all. Now, that's a striking thing. The prince of this world cometh and he findeth nothing in me. Look at 1 John 4, and verse 17. I'm reading, as you know, from the usual version, King James. 1 John 4, what is the verse? Oh, 17, I'm sorry. 1 John 4, 17. Herein is our love made man perfect, and that word perfect means unblemished, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we at the judgment seat. It doesn't say that. It says, so are we in this world. What was he like in this world? Well, he said, the prince of this world cometh and findeth nothing in me. Now, if there's nothing in me, Satan can't tempt me. Well, he can tempt, but he won't win. This is what I'm expected to be in the sight of God. Maybe not in the sight of the world or your church even, but in the sight of God, it should be that the prince of this world has no territory inside of me that he can work on. No Trojan horse, I'm not hiding something. God has cleansed me, his Spirit has come to abide in me. And therefore, when he comes, then he switches, you see, from temptation. Temptation is very often quick. You know that lovely old hymn that says, I need thee every hour, stay thou nearby, temptations lose their power when thou art nigh. And if you read 1 Peter in the first chapter, he makes it very clear there, there's a time when temptation won't affect you at all. I dare to say this, you'll maybe discover how true it is in a few years to come, or a few days to come, I don't know. I believe you can get to the place beyond temptation. Not that you will not be tempted, but Satan will give up in those temptations because he knows that you'll get over it every time. We have his presence, we have the Spirit within us, we have the blood to cover us, so then he does something more. You see, a temptation may last just as quickly as the flash of an eye. And so according to 1 Peter, he switches from temptation to trial. Now I can't find in the life of Jesus, after the 40 days of temptation, maybe I haven't searched enough, but I can't find after those 40 days where Jesus was tempted. And I can find his trials. It's full of trials. Full of testings. Full of tribulations. And there's a testing of our Christian character. You see, peace, we think of peace as being the absence of war, well it's more than that. I'm sure most of us, if we could have our choice, we'd have an area where there's no tribulation, no distress, no persecution, no opposition, no friction. Wouldn't have to be in the same bedroom as this guy anyhow, but no opposition of any kind. We'd like all the hills to be pulled down and all the valleys to be lifted up and all the crooked places to be straight. And boy, if we had it like that, we'd get victory every day. Except it wouldn't develop character. You see, outside of reading the Word of God, I find nothing more profitable than reading biographies and autobiographies. How God made man. How he tested them. How he tried them. And he doesn't do it, you know, he doesn't do it, well, in common language for son. He's testing us for this reason, our dross, as the hymn writer says, our dross to consume and our goal to refine. Look at Colossians 1 for a minute. Excuse me. Colossians 1.20, and having made peace through the blood of this cross. Who needs peace? Well, two people at war. Who's at war? I'm not sure that the first charge that God will bring against us, at least in so-called Christian countries, I'm not so sure the first charge he brings against us will be that we're bad. I think it may be that we're mad. That we've been to bail ourselves of the resources that there are in Jesus Christ. In a redemptive way to redeem us from all iniquity. Jesus made peace through the blood of his cross. We've got two parties here. This party is a fraction with this other party. This party says, well, I'm willing to meet him. And he says, well, I'm not willing to meet him. What do you do? They can't do very much. Sometimes a mediator comes in. Mr. Habib has been running around the Middle East for weeks now trying to get peace between the folks in Lebanon and Israel and so forth and so on. The amazing thing is that though we were the transgressors, we don't seek after God. God seeks after us. And Jesus made peace through the blood of his cross. Now that doesn't look too vast, does it? Doesn't look too majestic. It doesn't sound very challenging. It doesn't sound very awesome. But wait a minute. That's the, what, 20th verse? Go back in the chapter a minute. Go back to verse 12. Giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son. Well, is that right or isn't it? There's only two kingdoms. You're either in the kingdom of darkness tonight or the kingdom of light. Your life draws its satisfaction out of the kingdom of darkness or out of the kingdom of light. Again, delivered us from the power of darkness transformed us or translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son in whom we have redemption through his blood even the forgiveness of sins. Now, wait a minute. Who is this person? Is this Gabriel? Is this the apostle Paul? Who is it? Well, see the vastness of who this person is in verse 15. Who is the image of the invisible God created by him? Were all things created that are in heaven or earth visible and invisible whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers all things were created by him notice the verse that begins with for by him it ends by him and for him and he is before all things and by him all things consist. Verse 19 For it pleased the Father that in him should all the fullness dwell. And verse 20 having made peace through the blood of his cross by him to reconcile all things unto himself by him I say whether they be things in earth or things in heaven. Now this is the person all things consist by Jesus Christ. He was with the Father before the world began. As the old hymn says he laid his glory by. See all the time for want of a better word I say there was an itch in this world. It didn't belong this world this lousy stinking rotten world. And it's made very clear in the 17th chapter of John he says I'm aching to get back to thee with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. But if you want to get a tiny peep of that wonderful glory you read Isaiah 6 you see. But Isaiah says well he saw he had a vision of God always me I'm undone and it's for my eyes I've seen the king. He's only had one king. And if you go to the 12th chapter of John it says this take Isaiah when he saw Jesus on the throne. Now it's that Jesus who was with the Father before the world was when this world was a piece of mud in the womb of the universe. Before I was a bird in the sky or a blade of grass in the field or a flower he was with the Father in the beginning. And yet he comes and he takes the sin of the whole world the sin of the whole world. By him all things were created in heaven or earth visible or invisible whether they're thrones or dominions or powers or principalities. Now don't let that get away from you. And remember this one who created this vast universe. Isaiah says he made the stars those heavenly flames he counts their numbers calls their names he put all our fault to drown but he in his perfection in his holiness unspotted the uncreated being let it all on one side and he took all the curse of the human race upon him. Took all the sin of the world upon him. You know an old hymn we used to sing in Sunday school in England that was written by an American lady there is a green hill far away without a city wall. He died that we might be forgiven by his precious blood. Now I wonder if we really started on the front row and went right around the building tonight how many of us thank God for the blood because if you haven't fallen to sin today it's because of the covering of the blood because we're a part of the spirit of God and yet the world goes on what does the world care about Jesus tonight? Again there's blood spilling in Lebanon oh we've forgotten all about the blood in Vietnam that's behind the Russians are still baptizing people and little children there with poison gases you see it's stale CBS didn't talk about that tonight many could have gone to Cambodia but that's stale now they've chopped millions of heads off people if you're wearing glasses you're suspicious you're an intellectual so you got killed first they've destroyed the money system they've destroyed all the freedoms they've pulled the postal system apart they've pulled all the telephones out so what? who cares about that? after all the baseball season's on you can't cut it to any burdens and then of course we could have gone to Afghanistan but that's stale and then we could have come up a bit further to Poland but that's not very filling the world to me is like a man who's been hit with a truck and then the truck behind runs over him and I've seen people like that I've seen the skin off you can see in the body the man's eyes are blotched and he looks a wretched kangaroo and I believe the world looks exactly like that to God tonight both physically and morally and spiritually you see there's no other way there's no other way for men to be saved but it's by him he reconciled all things to himself and because of that we're obligated to tell men we're obligated it's not an option as I've said very often to people but I've gone to a rally soon with students from about 5 or 6 states and I pump it into them listen, you say I didn't get a call to the mission you don't have a call to the mission for you it's a command to go into all the world and preach the gospel you don't wake up with a nightmare or your eyes running with tears or you've had a vision in Cambodia or some other hellish place you're obligated to go I was going to say Hudson Taylor but it wasn't Hudson Taylor it was William Carey went to India I preached in his famous church there it was a humiliating experience and yet I enjoyed it put my feet there and said William Carey used to stand here the stone floor in the church it's still in its old condition of over a hundred years ago and he had a son who was very talented and his son seemingly was going to be a missionary then one day he got invited by the parish and other things to become part of the embassy there and I think he became the ambassador for England the court of St. James as we say suddenly came along a while after and said to Mr. Carey I didn't notice your son around where is he? is he still a missionary? he said no, he's stooped to be a king everything's second class after being in the kingdom of God being a servant I'd rather be the least in the kingdom of God you make so many home runs and the record stands for 20, 30 years some whippersnapper comes and wipes it off like that a girl today ran the mile in the slowest, quickest time ever she ran one mile not three seconds off the world record and she's an American she beat the Russians so what? fine but tomorrow it may be beaten what are these perishing things of clay that A.B. Simpson used to talk about and I used to do a service in an air force big air force field in England during World War II and as I went up the shoulder of the hill over in the distance the moon always seemed to shine that way there was a great big castle of a place beautiful place with a race course outside and that was the place where C.T. Studd was raised his father's ancestral home I saw C.T. Studd just once my dad was a great devotee of C.T. Studd and their magazine came into our home every month at least I used to read it and they never failed to put in that slogan of C.T. Studd if Jesus Christ be God and died for me no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for him God only had one son and he was a missionary and you can't do better than that can you? if that was the highest calling for him and it was the lowest because as an old hymn says why didn't he come as a baby? why didn't he come back in the chariot that largely went up to heaven like the Feast of Tabernacles or the Feast of Pentecost somebody will look out of the tent one night and say hey wake everybody up see what's going on this is a shocking comparison but every time in the winter when I see a sleigh you see this famous Santa Claus and his deer they put them on the roofs of houses down in town here and of course it was better than that but Elijah went up it why didn't Jesus come down like that? he's going to come one day with 10,000 of his saints and before you stick a bumper sticker on your car you know smile God loves you why don't you change it and put on he's coming with 10,000 of his saints to bring judgment on the wicked you might have no car left but then if your insurance is alright that won't matter either but you see there's no way that it affects the Prince of Peace it says it wants peace that's sheer hypocrisy remember in the book of Jeremiah where it says that the people were hewing out cisterns that couldn't hold no water some of these old farms you'll find a rock and somebody chipped the rock and made a place so the water could rest in it and the irony of the situation is at one end of that valley there was a gusher of water and they died in fever they died with sunstroke trying to find water when water was supplied there well it's a perfect analogy of the day in which we live God has supplied the water in Jesus Christ God has supplied the life in Jesus Christ and yet maybe there's something about us that doesn't really advertise this too much to the world peace I leave with you peace I give unto you not as the world gives us he's going to give us full measure pressed down and running over now Isaiah 26 verse 3 do you know what that is? that will keep him in what? perfect peace whose? ah so there it is you see you get up I remember when we were in New York there Dr. who was it? Reedhead yes thank you Reedhead a little boy to the doctor he said the doctor he said you've got to go to the doctor can't get rid of this earache what will he do? well he said put your head like this and he'll put some warm oil in it he says no it will run out at the other ear I sometimes wonder how much of our teaching runs out at the other ear I wonder how often you pray over something at the end of the day that would never have happened you don't have the glasses you don't have the kettle anymore wait a minute supposing this is your last day on earth supposing you're going to die tonight don't please don't all die tonight but if some of you do it will be alright get out of the way but anyhow if this is my last day on earth would I walk triumphantly into the presence of the eternal God and say here I am Lord I really live full stretch for you today that will keep him in perfect peace please turn your tape over for the remainder of this message there were various battles when we had meetings we used to have a lot of youth meetings and let them put questions in a box at the back I had nearly always somewhere to go when it was time to answer them I gave them the other guys no I tried to take my share lots of young people used to say this now look Mr. Lane I'm saved as far as I know the spirit has control of my life oh my thought life my thought life and the devil accuses all the time evil thoughts wait a minute wait a minute ok there are two kinds of thoughts evil thoughts and thoughts of evil what's the difference you say oh that's playing with words oh no it's not it's like asking you do you know the difference between a houseboat and a boathouse what is it a loss or something oh well just share it over there don't leave it at this time evil thoughts evil thoughts and thoughts of evil what's the difference well evil thoughts come from an evil heart thoughts of evil come from outside from the enemy well then how can you tell the difference because if you still have an evil heart you foster those evil thoughts and you'll get a lot of mental pictures and you'll get a lot of satisfaction out of what you see but if God has dealt with that evil in your heart and Satan is attacking from the outside when he comes you say forget it I've got over that and the best way to do it is a simple illustration we have a phonograph at home you just call them phonographs I don't know what they're called now there's so many bits and pieces on them but anyhow you put a disc on a phonograph disc and then you press a button and the thing goes zzz you know 38, 78 whatever it is now if you get that thing going and take a cup of sugar and pour it on man alive what would happen he would pee at you or something so you stop the whole thing and you wipe all the sugar off it and you put it back again and you just pile it up with sugar what happens? nothing now if you stack all the sugar on it if it isn't engaged you stack the sugar on it stays there if it's engaged and you start dropping things off they fly in every direction he can't get in on it if your mind is vacant he will therefore thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because he chastened thee thou wilt keep him in perfect peace your God said to Abraham walk before me and be thou perfect that word in the Hebrew actually means be unblemished, be unbroken let's take another scripture before I'm finished Psalm 119 and verse 165 do you know what that is? okay I'll give you the first two words great peace great peace have 20 different answers okay great peace have they which love oh my these shoes fit tight don't they I mean you never get offended about anything do you? great peace have they it's not just peace what was it in Philippians again where it says peace that passeth understanding and it only passeth it not only passeth understanding but it passeth misunderstanding too look there's no way we're going to get rid of all the billows and all the education and all the opposition of the enemy and all the trials that come on the flesh and all the trials that come in marriage or the trials that come in other ways they're going to be there the thing is how do we respond to them have I got that peace you remember that lovely hymn lost his four daughters on the way to England the ship went down only half and he grabbed a piece of paper and wrote a hymn when peace like a river he got it from Isaiah peace like a river attendeth my way and sorrows like sea billows roll whatever my lot I don't think he was lying I think when the news came your four darling daughters being trained at the university all accomplished women spent all that money in them spent all the years training spent all the years then in a second stanza another third stanza he says if Satan should buffet if trials should come let this blessed assurance control that Christ hath regarded my helpless estate you know I believe that Hudson Taylor was right when he said this if you're living in the light all the light God has given you if you're taking every day the covering of the blood and the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit you know he will abide with you he said this that whatever comes in your life by the time it gets to you it already got a permit from God that it could come in your life I like to think of Job I like to think of the challenge you remember the challenge of who Job to God no God to Job where have you been been very busy in the room how did you get on fine I just about licked everybody and the Lord says there's one man on earth I can't manipulate I can't take advantage of him at all his name is Job and Satan says remember what Satan says you put a hedge around about him this is like Job there's a hedge around him now Satan said that you put a hedge around about him you just take that hedge away and let me get at him and I'll say what he's made of you know his piety after all he's the richest man in the world if you pull the rug from under him he'll kill you to your face so wait a minute well then you pull the hedge away and the Lord said I won't do that see God never takes advice from Satan he doesn't take it from us I've tried to give him some sometimes but he won't listen and here's this defense here's this fence take it away take it away and let me get at him and the Lord said I won't do that but I'll bring it a bit closer to him and you can destroy everything outside Satan says that's great I'll go down he goes down and what does he do destroys his cattle pulls the house down everything else how did he get on with my servant Job no he didn't even screw he didn't? no oh well the first thought of Satan was bankruptcy for Job the second was bereavement he went and killed his children seven children and he killed them well how did he get on today what did he do I killed his children what did he say he just stood and said the Lord gave and the devil took it all away did he say that what did he say neither the devil to help him to get unloaded well let me go down again I'll take the whole protective system away the first thought was bankruptcy the second was bereavement the third was boils how many of them had a boil oh no wonder I had so many you didn't get your share and I got them all I had 15 in a row oh they're terrible let's be honest pain, ache, wake up in the night something you'd chew your leg off no it was just another boil I had boils down my back and I ended up with an abscess on my chin oh I can think at least a little sympathy with Job so he's bankrupt, he's bereaved he's got boils and then his friends came boy they were great early five to ten in the night build up a shoe hut he wasn't very big he was only a shoe hut but anyhow build up a shoe hut I've got a guy sitting in the corner and then just like the devil he took everything that Job had and left him with a nagging wife isn't that terrible I mean he could have taken her first surely but anyhow kept the best wine till last he took her, she came along remember what she said she said why don't you curse God and die you know what the Hebrew says the Hebrew of that is why don't you blaspheme God and go commit suicide there's sin in your life you know that you're wrong but my goodness when Job came out at the end he came out with what he came out with another forty his cups were all double oh we all want to get to that place you know of maturity quickly we all want fulfillance in our lives but dear dear to God don't strip me that was the wrong thing to do well that's the way God does things and Job is described and even in that scripture there he's described as a a man who was perfect in his generation but they couldn't unbalance him that will keep him in perfect peace whose mind and his mind was stayed on the Lord nations came, bankruptcy came bereavement came he still retained his integrity he didn't even question God a few years ago the artists in England had asked well they were always given a theme and this year the theme was peace perfect peace and the artists went off in different directions we had a year in which to get the subject done and the day came you know the grand opening and all in the gallery we had all these wonderful pictures and one picture was a picture taken in the Scottish Highlands at that time those mountains were very beautiful and you kind of go up the mountain and then there's a great big lake and it's so closed in it's like a big saucer and the wind never seems to ripple the water it looks like a sheet of glass and the cows were standing up to their tummies in water and everything is still and beautiful and this guy thought and then he wrote underneath peace, perfect peace and he thought boy these fellas won't go long these judges they'll come round and say oh look at that that's him and he followed the first two judges and one of them said think of that isn't that perfect peace he said no it's stagnation and then they got the prize and pictured a tree and the branch of the tree the water was coming within about a foot of the tree and at the end of the branch there was a nest and there was a bird sitting on the nest and if the water had come out another few inches it would have destroyed the whole thing and hurled it to destruction but the little bird was sitting there quite calm and the man had put underneath perfect peace and he got the prize amongst the guarantees that Jesus has for you in case you don't know and he said to him the more the devil will try and drive a wedge doubt or fear or uncertainty or all the other things he can use against us and yet as we're rooted and grounded in him oh what's that hymn that says I can only think about the second middle of the first verse can't think of that now it's gone wait a minute his sight is never dim he knows the way he taketh and I can walk with him well as the other chorus, modern chorus says I don't know what there is in tomorrow but I know who holds tomorrow you know it's so easy in a nice environment like this you're all young and vivacious and happy and talking about this, that, the other and there's a suffering, lost world outside and enjoy your freedom while you have it enjoy what luxuries you have while you have them you may be going to some hell hole up the Amazon or somewhere that's if you're big enough to take it because your pastor may have to change your diapers from night to day if you don't grow up but if you persuaded yourself that God wants you not to stay as a babe but to stay as a man and there'll be a time when he breaks up the nest like he does with the eagles and you know the little things go screaming down and then the mother eagle comes underneath and gets them on her back and takes them up there again there's no shortcut to spiritual maturity no five easy steps God makes us all so different the possibilities of grace are open to everyone of us exactly the same but if Jesus taught us 20 years from now I'll make a prophecy 20 years from now you won't be meeting in this room isn't that a fantastic prophecy you may be scattered all over the earth and yet 20 years from now you'll either be a weakling or you'll be a warrior you'll either face the enemy and he can put all hell on you it won't shift you God is the refuge of his saints when storms of sharp distress invade e'er or before we can offer our complaint behold him present with his aid let mountains from their seats be hurled down to the deeps and buried there convulsions shake the solid earth our faith shall never yield to fear his wisdom never faileth God didn't make any mistake in that thing that came in your life you may have misinterpreted it doesn't mean it was a mistake he's going to test us, he's going to try us there are no free scholarships there are no free crowns there's nothing but sheer as they say when you get to heaven salvation's free, rewards are not free crowns are not free you'll be amazed when you get there to see how near some of us came to be if I dare put it in this way spiritual millionaires and we just missed it well you didn't commit sin maybe it was a pair of sparkling eyes that upset you maybe it was a bit of security in something else and it looked just so nice judge not the Lord by feeble sense but trust him for his grace behind the frowning providence behind the smiling face I think it was Cowper that he had awful fits of melancholia and depression and one day he called a cab in London there and he said to the cab driver drive me toward the Thames he intended to commit suicide and they'd been in the cab about 10 minutes and suddenly a grey big blanket of thick London fog came down the driver didn't know where he was and he kept going round streets and round streets finally the men always carried a stake he'd beat the roof of the cab the cab was sitting at the front there horse cab of course and he said just check where we are right now there's a gateway round the steps and that's where we are he'd been riding for nearly an hour round town he was back at his own door so then he wrote God moves in a mysterious way his wonders to perform he plants his footsteps in the sea and rides upon the storm deep in unfathomable minds of never failing skill he treasures up his bright designs and works his sovereign will he's the potter, we're the tray there's a right to make your vessel to honour a vessel to dishonour a vessel that's publicly seen a vessel that's heading away somebody with a dazzling ministry somebody up a stinking area I'd not been up the Amazon I'd only wanted to go but I've been in some countries you know it's something when your plane leaves New York and you land up in New Guinea which I landed up in and you go down Main Street it doesn't have a shop it doesn't have a church it doesn't have a school it doesn't have a hospital what does it have? it has a stack of mud and mud houses and they all wear the same uniform a G-string and there's no sanitation there's no schools for kids and you wonder why somebody didn't hear God's voice or somebody heard and they were afraid you can't have fear and peace they don't go together God has not given us the spirit of fear but the spirit of love and the power of the same and the further you get into the word of God and get grounded in it stick your finger on Hebrews 11 6 and say God is a reward of them that seek him no, diligently seek him God is what? in fact he's got every answer to every situation you have but you won't embrace those unless you know they're there I keep finishing I've already finished with that a friend of mine was in a conference there were hundreds of wonderful people there a deep alive conference they call it in England and he held his Bible up and he said every one of you that believe this book from cover to cover raise your Bibles oh, I've got all the Bibles all over the place put them down put down your Bibles how many of you have read the Bible through? raise your hand and if I have to think of the congregation you seem just funny people you believe a book you've never read I wonder how many treasures there are in here that I haven't claimed yet with all my old years and that you haven't claimed don't be as slow as some of us have been read it, believe it because there are only two things to do with it and behave it it is a lamp to our feet it is a light to our paths we want your peace to so dominate us that there are those wars round about us and there are disturbing factors round about us and there are situations that would distress us that we may be so have that peace which passeth all understanding and all misunderstanding that peace because you're indwelling us where nothing offends us you can try anything out you like on us and people can try out what they like but we've got that deep settled peace in our souls we thank you for it because the prince of peace is abiding in us we remember again these areas of the world which are tormented by the devil and superstition and heathen doctrines and pray that the light may be speeded to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death may we be able to say with Paul in that great day I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision and we give you praise in Jesus name Amen we really hope that this teaching has ministered to you and may have drawn you closer to our Lord Jesus be sure to write if we can be of any help or provide you with any additional ministry tools