In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of using words wisely and knowing when to keep silent. He shares a personal story of encountering a young man with a rebellious appearance and warning him to seek God before committing evil acts. Tragically, the young man later brutally attacked and killed a woman. The preacher reflects on the power of words and the responsibility to speak truth, but also the need to trust God with judgment and not retaliate. The sermon highlights the significance of passing the test of responding to attacks with grace and love.

I see it's very loud and I'm very grateful because we're all scared. I see you all living, sitting there in great fear as to how loud he has left us. I hear a humming. Am I mistaken? No. Okay, I'm going to put this in my... Oh, it is humming. Why is it humming, brother? We don't know what it is, but perhaps it's just something of the bass or the treble tone. There you are. Very good. So long as it's loud. Is it loud? Good. I'm looking for fear on your faces, but you're just smiling, so it can't be loud enough. There you are. Thank you. Can we bow for a moment of prayer, please? Thank you, Lord, for this evening that we can gather in the name of Christ and out of love and devotion to Christ. Thank you we could sing the praises of our God together and be uplifted by music that is so godly. And we bless thee for those who play the piano and these instruments. We bless thee, God, for the preacher of this fellowship and his wife, his family, and for every member and for those who visit here at this time. And from what I understand, Lord, the past has seen many wonderful times of refreshing in this building. And although many have passed on and gone to glory and moved away and have become elderly, and oh God, we thank thee that there's still an open door here and a pulpit that is ministering truth. And I thank thee for the privilege that I could come and be part of this just for a moment to get to know these lovely people. And I thank thee for every kindness showered on me by them and every encouragement. So bless us, Lord. We're not a great crowd, but that doesn't matter at all. That means nothing. Despise not the day of small things. I often think more can happen in a smaller meeting than often happens in the biggest congregations there are in the world, even in this country, where nothing happens but grieving God at the way the word is proclaimed and what people gather in their thousands to hear that would never gather to hear such things as we would long to hear. So we bless thee we can be together under the word of God. We ask thee, Lord, to bless thy word to the depth of our souls. In Jesus the Christ's name. Amen. Amen. To everything there is a season. Ecclesiastes 3 verse 1 says, to everything there is a season and a time. A time. To every purpose under heaven. Verse 7, there is a time to keep silence and a time to speak. One of the greatest tragedies that could ever happen in any person's life is if they do not swiftly learn that most occasions, in most circumstances throughout life, are a time to keep silent. I want to repeat that. One of the greatest tragedies that could ever happen in any person's life is if they do not swiftly learn that most occasions, in most circumstances throughout life, are a time to keep silence. A time to keep silence. He that hath knowledge spareth his words. Proverbs 17 verse 20. The Bible speaks of unprofitable talk. Unprofitable talk. Job 15 verse 3. A fool, a fool is full of words. Full of words. Ecclesiastes 10 verse 14. A fool uttereth all his mind. Proverbs 29 verse 11. Proverbs 29 verse 20 condemns a man that is hasty in his words. Hasty to speak. A fool's voice. A fool's voice is known by a multitude of words. Multitude of words. Ecclesiastes 5 verse 3. The mouth of fools, the mouth of fools feedeth on foolishness. Proverbs 15 verse 4. 14. And then Proverbs 15 verse 2 says the mouth of fools poureth out foolishness. The mouth of fools feedeth on foolishness. And then the mouth of fools poureth out foolishness. Proverbs 15 verse 2. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good. And an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil. For of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh. Luke 6 verse 45. Those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart, Christ said. And they defile a man. 15. Matthew 15 verse 18. 1 Timothy 2 16. Son vain babblings. That's worthless talk. Son vain babblings. Worthless talk. For they will increase unto more ungodliness. And their word will eat as doth a canker. Cancer. Son vain babblings. Worthless talk for this. They will increase to more ungodliness. Their words will eat as doth a canker. Spread like cancer. The lips of a fool will swallow up himself. Ecclesiastes 10 verse 12. A pretty fool shall fall. Proverbs 10 verse 8. Literally a babbling fool shall be ruined. The mouth of the foolish is near destruction. Oh, be careful here. Proverbs 10 verse 14. If he's not careful, he's near destruction. But if he isn't, the mouth, a fool's mouth is his destruction. In the end, a fool's mouth is his destruction. His lips are a snare of his soul. Proverbs 18 verse 7. Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles. Proverbs 21 verse 23. Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles, God says. He that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life, keepeth his life. He that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life, but he that openeth wide his lips shall have destruction. Proverbs 13 verse 3. Keep thy tongue from evil, thy lips from speaking guile, nonsense, worthless. Psalm 34 verse 13. You can, you can. Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth. Keep the door of my lips. Psalm 141 verse 3. Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth. Keep the door of my lips. You know, from a young Christian till today, I'm saved nearly 50 years, I have prayed that prayer thousands of times. And every time from my soul, never just uttering words, that I don't lose my children's heart now, God. That I don't lose my wife's respect, dear God. That I don't lose the right to witness ever again, dear God. If I don't keep quiet now, that I don't stoop to become what this man is, as he's saying, dealing with me. Keep, set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth. Keep the doors of my lips. Psalm 141 verse 3. I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress, 17 verse 3. Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise. And he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding. Proverbs 17 verse 28. Psalm 39 verse 1. I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue. I will keep my mouth with a bridle. With a bridle. If any man among you seem to be religious and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain. It's worthless in God's eyes and men. Don't doubt that. James 1 verse 26. If any man among you seem to be religious and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain, worthless. Keep thy tongue from evil, thy lips from speaking guile. Psalm 34 verse 13. In the multitude of words they wanteth not sin, but he that refraineth his lips is wise. Proverbs 10 verse 19. Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin. That's a staggering verse. You see, when God says, in the multitude of words they wanteth not sin, it's the tip of the iceberg. Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin is a terrible, terrible statement. So is the tongue among our members that it defileth the whole body. Can that be? So is the tongue among our members that it defileth the whole body and setteth on fire the course of nature. It is set on fire of hell. So, if any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man and able also to bridle the whole body. If you have control here by the grace of God, you have control everywhere. You come to God, do you, for forgiveness for this sin, for that sin, fear of it destroying your credibility and testimony. And you're asking God, oh, why don't you come to God for the sin that causes all these sins? According to the Bible. Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin. If any man offend not, fail here in word, the same is a perfect man and able also to bridle the whole body. Be careful. This is the tip of the iceberg. You fail here, you're in failure in every aspect of life, God says. You have no control of the senses, the sensualities. What man is he that desireth life and loveth many days that he may see good? Keep thy tongue from evil, thy lips from speaking guile. Psalm 34 verse 12 says, 1 Peter 3 verse 10, for he that will love life, he that will love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, his lips that they speak no guile. Proverbs 4 verse 24, put away from thee a froward mouth. A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth, God says. Proverbs 15 verse 23, a man hath joy by the answer of his mouth. I preached in a town many years ago now, and all the churches without exception, even the old Catholic men, they canceled, and they came along to combine, and I was preaching, just quoting God's Word that I'd memorized passages and chapters and chapters on one facet of what God's vital teachings are. And after the meeting, all the preachers of the town and a lot of really godly people came over to the home where I was staying up in the high part of southern Africa, where the mountains are very icy cold, and the fire was going, and this big, almost a kitchen, I suppose, I don't know. There were everybody sitting there, but I didn't realize there was a very famous preacher in the meeting that night, just happened to be in the town, a very famous preacher. He was like a household name. He didn't exactly believe what I believed, a charismatic type of person, and manifestations and gifts are the big thing, and the vital evidence of what they termed the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Well, I just quoted scriptures that proved all that wrong. Sorry. There's 1 Corinthians 12, 13, 14, and then the rest of the scriptures, Romans 12, all these passages upon passages, all linking them up to prove that the evidence of the fullness of the Spirit, that simply means to be controlled by the Spirit as a result of absolute surrender. The evidence that God is in control, that I'm totally yielded and filled, controlled as a result by the Spirit, is the fruit of the Spirit, not gifts. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not love, the first gift ever mentioned, the first fruit ever mentioned is always primarily love. That is the result of agape love, not just struggling, but to the degree you're yielded, you respond with God's love. Love suffereth long and is kind. You can't do that in your own strength. Love your enemies. Beareth all things, believeth all things, endureth all things. Love never fails. Agape love, God's love, not human love. You see, to the degree you're yielded to God, that's how Christianity is. That's how Christ fulfills the law through you. Christlikeness is 1 Corinthians 13. But I was just putting everything into its priorities, even the order of gifts and what gifts there are, and what, in the light of other scriptures only, what gifts really are. For the gospel just been said. Nonetheless, here we are now in this building, about 50 men, women, all the preachers of the town, and sitting around, they're making lovely tea or coffee and cake or something. And this famous preacher that was there that I didn't realize attacked me. Oh, I mean with venom. He stood there when they introduced me. I didn't realize he was in the meeting. I mean, everybody knows him in our country. He's so well known because of the following that they have with all emotionalism and prosperity and whatever else, I don't know. But there, instead of taking my hand, he just started screaming at me. So he screamed. The veins are sticking out. And he was so angry with me because everything he stood for in his ministry had collapsed under all these scriptures. And he couldn't bear it. He just stood there screaming, how dare you? What's wrong with you, man? Oh, he just went on and on. So everybody got up, walked and stood around the walls. Some even walked out on the passage, fearful of the way this man just let rip. Lost control. Of course, I didn't preach his doctrine or emphasize what he emphasized. So I prayed, as I always pray for my soul, trembling sometimes. I said, watch, oh God, before my mouth. Please keep the doors of my lips. You see, this is the only religion in the world that you win an argument by doing nothing. It's the only religion on earth that you win almost every single circumstance against you by keeping quiet. Well, I asked God for this. And after a long time, he began to slow down and try and compose himself a little bit. And he just stands there now looking, as if to say, well, what are you going to say? What are you going to do? Everybody was trembling. I quite believe there wasn't anybody in that room that wasn't absolutely fearful of what was going to... He's going to stand up and wipe the floor of them with scriptures. So I just sat there. And then I looked at him and he's standing there waiting. Everybody's waiting tensely. And I said, I read in the newspaper that your wife was sickly. And I'm so sorry to hear that. How is she doing? You know, he was so shocked that I changed the subject and didn't defend myself that he fell into the seat. He'd never ever in his life experienced a Christian that didn't fight back or defend himself. I believe, and so did most in that room. He couldn't believe this man didn't say anything to all that he said other than change the subject and be kind. Love suffers as long as kind. Well, after a little while, I got up and I said, listen, you've got to forgive me, but I've got to get up early to get back to home, the plane and traveling to the airport. And I've got to get out of bed now. And I have things to do, showering. So please don't think I'm trying to excuse myself prematurely. I really would like to stay, but please forgive me. I want to excuse myself. Please, don't you go home now. You just... You know, that man stood in such a way that the whole room stood. Out of such respect. And as I walked out, every single person that I looked at, just utter respect. Even people touching me. Thank you, brother. I walked down the passage and joy welled up in my heart. God's joy. A man has joy by the answer of his lips. Why? Because the joy of the Lord is your strength. It isn't God smiling down at you. It's God in you. His joy. His grief if you fail you. And his joy if you pass the exam. If you seek the grace and God gives you the grace because he's obliged to give you that grace. And I went there not proud. I showed them what a Christian... I had nothing of that. I just had joy. God's joy in me. You don't work it up. You don't get joyful about your success in Christianity. Passing is in. No. God's joy is in you. Just wells up. Got on my knees and just worship the Lord. There's a joy. A man has joy by the answer of his mouth, God says. God says in Proverbs 15, verse 23, When thy lips speak right things. Proverbs 23, verse 16. How forcible are right words. Job 6, verse 25. A word fitly spoken. Proverbs 25, verse 11. Let your speech be always with grace. Colossians 4, verse 6. That ye may know how ye ought to answer. The words of a wise man's mouth are gracious, but the lips of a fool will swallow up himself. Ecclesiastes 10, verse 12. The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness and the end of his talk is madness. God says madness. And everybody thinks the two who've got sensibilities about them or any sense of discernment in the things of God. That thou mayest regard discretion and that thy lips may keep knowledge. Proverbs 5, verse 2. The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable, God says. The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable. In the lips of him that hath understanding, wisdom is found. Proverbs 10, verse 13. Wisdom is found. A woman that feareth the Lord. Proverbs 31, verse 30. Openeth her mouth with wisdom. Verse 26. In her tongue is the law of kindness. Someone that fears God. God says, here, you know she's, he openeth her mouth with wisdom. In her tongue is the law of kindness, but excellent speech becometh not a fool. Proverbs 17, verse 7. Proverbs 59, verse 12 warns us of the sin of the mouth. The sin of the mouth. Paul warns us. You see, James says in chapter 3, verse 5, the tongue is little member. But Paul warns us in Romans 6, verse 19, neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin. Thou givest thy mouth to evil. Proverbs Psalm 50, verse 19. Oh Christian, be careful. For death and life are in the power of the tongue, God says. Proverbs 18, verse 21. Surely the serpent will bite without enchantment and the babbler is no better. Ecclesiastes 10, verse 11. Their poison is like the poison of a serpent. Psalm 58, verse 4. The tongue is an unruly evil full of deadly poison, God says. If you have no control here, the tongue is an unruly evil full of deadly poison. James 3, verse 8. A hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth his neighbor. Proverbs 11, verse 9. Who is thy neighbor? Who is my neighbor? Proverbs 16, verse 27. An ungodly man diggeth up evil. He digs for dirt, God says. And his lips is like a burning fire. Oh, the tongue is a fire, God says in James 3, verse 16. A world of iniquity. He that uttereth a slander is a fool. He that uttereth a slander is a fool. Proverbs 10, verse 18. Whoso privilege slandereth his neighbor, him will I cut off, God says. Literally destroy. Psalm 101, verse 5. Don't play the fool with God now. Their tongue is as a sharp sword, God says in Psalm 57, verse 4. Swords are in their lips. Psalm 59, verse 7. He that goeth about as a tale bearer revealeth secrets. Proverbs 20, verse 19. A tale bearer revealeth secrets, but he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter. Proverbs 11, verse 13. He protects a man rather than destroys him when he finds failure. A tale bearer revealeth secrets, but he that is of a faithful spirit, that means he that in godliness, in integrity and godliness, the Hebrew, because of your fear of God, there's integrity, there's godly integrity, you conceal the matter. Love covereth a multitude of sins, you conceal it. The words of a tale bearer are as wounds, like a knife they go down into the innermost parts of the belly. Proverbs 18, verse 8. The words of a tale bearer are as wounds, like a knife they go down into the innermost part of, oh the pain, oh the damage, oh the suffering brought on others through a tale bearer. It's like a knife, his words, they're like wounds, they cause wounds. I stood with a young man many years ago now, 20 something years ago. Now he looked so completely evil that I trembled as I looked at him. And he stood there looking at me smugly, he knew I was a preacher. There he was with his mohawk hairstyle, these studs, these things all over his body, I don't know. So I walked up to him and that surprised him, in this factory. I said, you need to seek God boy, you need to seek God now, desperately, before you do something evil and wicked in this world that will destroy you. And then they called me, I couldn't say another thing, I just walked away, those words. That night he took a knife with a friend, took a woman, dragged her off the streets, young lady, did the most evil things imaginable to her, and then he took a knife, he took his knife and he stabbed her, 24 times, ripping, so that there's no one to give evidence against what he did. Oh, you may say that's a cruel illustration. Of course he went to life, you see this lady crawled, she somehow held her, she's famous in our country, there's books about her life. She crawled for two hours, holding her tummy a few inches, crying, don't let me die. Got to the streets, of course cars were stopped, police were called, the ambulance, by a miracle, I mean it's a miracle that she lived. They somehow kept her alive. When she could speak, she explained what these men looked like, and of course the police didn't have much difficulty finding out, because not everybody has these Mohawk airstrikes over there in Africa, and he starts, in that particular town the police went straight away, questioned him, took him and his friend, and the policeman said in a court case that as they were driving, he heard them saying to each other, she couldn't have survived, she can't have survived, she can't be alive, it's impossible. Terror bears, tempted murder, you don't have to take a knife to kill someone. Oh no, you might lose your testimony doing that. Oh, you just have to say one sentence, sister, that's all Satan needs. I've seen men in your country and other countries of the world, some of them famous preachers who were destroyed by one sentence, one sentence. And then when they were destroyed, those people, one of the principals where I was in a theological seminary, they came years later after that man was destroyed totally as a human, his family threw him out, his wife, the church dishonored him, excommunicated, and then they came out, those boys came back years later, unable to live with their conscience and said it wasn't the truth, it was a lie. We lie. He that hateth his brother is a murderer, God says, you don't have to take a knife because hatred can lead anywhere. Be careful. The words of a tale bearer are as wounds like a knife they go down into the innermost parts of the belly. Oh, it's attempted murder, how could she survive? So these people, how possibly could this person still be surviving with credibility? And what else can I do to destroy him? There's wickedness. You're a murderer, God says, with your lips. I mean, God said, it's an unruly evil full of deadly poison. God doesn't play the fool with words. This is deadly poison, like a serpent. You know what you're doing. You don't have to take a knife. You can be more cruel and make that death and destroy a person more evilly and more cruelly than if you took a knife and hit her 24 times, physically. Be careful what you do with your lips. If it destroys someone else, if it's to the intent of destroying someone else. You know those men who took up stones? To stone to death a woman caught in adultery. Jesus said staggering words to them, that not one of them expected. He, let him who is without sin among you cast the first stone. Now that's not just a record of some incidents, that's to us. This is a set book in the school of God. There's nothing else you've got, and you will face exams even when you want to destroy someone else that you think you have credibility to do. One by one, those men put down their stones, that which they'd taken up that could have killed her. They just walked away in silence. There was something else that Jesus did before they walked, you know. He stooped down and he wrote on the sand with his finger. Now I've heard sermons speculating what Christ wrote. I suppose you've thought about what could he have written I think those men really did know what he read. I believe it wasn't just for the sake of and they thought what's he writing. I believe. Now what do we do brother? I see you sitting there. No one can be sure what the Lord wrote, but it must have been significant. And my heart oftentimes thinks it's probably this, and I've never heard anybody say that from the pulpit. Some men's sins are open beforehand now. Like hers, found out and they face judgment now. Going before to judgment and others, they follow after. The day of judgment is coming, but it's coming. 1 Timothy 5.24. And that is why Jesus warned us all in Matthew 7 verse 1. Judge not that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged. And with what measure ye meet, it shall be measured to you again. Oh God lied. You say that's sacrilege. No, it's sacrilege to doubt anything in this book brother, sister, friend. Every idle word that men shall utter, they shall give account of on the day of judgment. Those men's stones would have destroyed her. Your words can destroy people. Every idle word that men shall utter, they shall give account of on the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be destroyed, God says. By thy words, you think by thy filthy thoughts or by thy filthy deeds. No, by thy words thou shall be destroyed, God says. Staggering verses, but now we need to be very careful and prayerful as to what to do. What to do when people do attack me to try and destroy me. That happened to me so many times. Oh, oh, always for one reason, what I preached. And oh yes, many godly people across the world said because of their jealousy that they don't get the pulpits or the openings or the followings. So, we need to be so careful and prayerful as to what we must do when people actually try to destroy us cruelly and unjustly. All that hate me, all that hate me, whisper together against me. Against me do they desire my hurt, David cried. Psalm 41 verse 7. Come and let us smite him with the tongue. They knew because the devil told him, that's all you need, give me your tongue. Come and let us smite him, literally destroy him with the tongue. Jeremiah 18 verse 18. But beloved, this is always a time to seek God to keep silence. 99% sir, of anything that comes against you unjustly and cruelly, you keep quiet. It's a time to keep silence. The 1% that you may ever be required to say something, you will seek God for grace with wisdom that every single person, especially those trying to condemn you, will be staggered and stunned to silence. But trust me, it's a time to keep silence. Strewn across the pages of the sacred book, you will find that there is the message of the cross, but there's also the example of the cross. Now, we might miss that. Old Testament and new, if you look at the context of what God's saying, there's always the message of the cross strewn throughout the Old Testament. Everything, just under 70% of the Bible of the New Testament is the Old Testament word, perfect, only this side of Calvary. But strewn throughout the pages of this book, you will find the message of the cross in the Old Testament and the new. The message of the cross, but there is the example of the cross always attached. The example of the cross is Isaiah 53 verse 7, he was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He's brought as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her seers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. 1 Peter 2, 21, leaving us an example, leaving us an example that he should follow his steps who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth, who when he was reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself to him that judges righteously. When men would destroy you, be careful. Seek God for grace to keep silence, leave the fighting to God. I did. When I didn't, I will be eternally ashamed and sorry that I didn't. And when I left it to God, oh my, the powers of hell trembled. I knew that. Leave the fighting and the judging to God. You don't know that man's background. You don't know what made him what he is or her. Don't fight back. I stood the man screaming at me in public because of what I'd preached in this town. I'd only quoted the Bible. I hadn't quoted one word, not even the prayer wasn't scripture, just memorizing. And he went wild. He went, he went insane in anger. And he was screaming and I cried to God, oh set a watch upon my mouth. Keep the doors of my lips now God. Oh, I lose the right to preach in this town if I give him what he's giving me. Oh, he fell down dead. I didn't know that was going to happen. Wilds out in the way with him is a terrifying warning. You don't know if you'll ever have another opportunity to pass the exam in God's eyes and men's eyes in the school of God. If people attack, you don't know if this is the last moment you can pass the exam to this man or fail. I remember in one town, three preachers tried to destroy me and to keep me out of that town forever when that town turned to God. And I went to my face. I didn't go there and argue with them or defend myself. While I was on my face weeping, all three dropped dead in 30 minutes. I didn't want that. I aged. I aged that God did that. I said no God, I don't think I can preach again if this is going to happen. But I did learn something. I learned why God said love your enemies. Bless them that curse you. Do good to them that hate you. Pray for them which is, you see, they're dealing with God. They're fighting God, not you if it's God's word that angered them. If it's the things you do for God, be careful. You learn to get on your knees in front of people trying to destroy you because they hate the word of God or offended by it and don't want it and reject its teaching. And you come defending it. You learn to get on your knees and beg men, no, not for me but for you. Stop. Please stop. Be careful. Be silent. You don't want God to do these things but, oh, be still and know that I am God, Psalm 46 verses. The word here is silence. Literally, silence. Stop now. I have lost control. I'll deal with this. Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue. Job 5 verse 21. Thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues. Psalm 31 verse 20 promises. Thou art my hiding place. Oh, what a lovely thing. Psalm 83 verses. In the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion. In the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me. You know, these circumstances drove me so close to God that as I look back now, I'm grateful. It's not what happened to certain people but I would never have known a relationship with God to the degree I do if it hadn't been for these attacks to destroy me, these unjust lies, cruelties. I drew and found a hiding place in God. Through those things, nothing else. The attacks against you for being uncompromising and faithful to this book, it will come. He became my hiding place. Oh, we sing, hide me. Oh, my savior, hide. Till the storm of life is part. I've learned to be there because this life is a storm, brother. Heaven's coming. In this world, he shall have tribulation. It's not heaven here. God told you. But you need to seek to find God as your hiding place. Thou art my hiding place. Not a broom that I go to when I travel 50 miles back from work. No. Psalm 71 verse 3, Be thou my strong habitation whereunto I may continually resort. Not a room but God. For thou art my rock, my fortress. I love that. Oh, that's the truth. In the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge until these calamities be overpassed. There's something in the set workbook of God, the sacred scriptures that tells us, that tells us why God even allows these things. It was orchestrated by the devil to destroy you. But it was allowed by God, orchestrated by the devil to destroy you, but allowed by God to make you. Isn't it, beloved, your darkest moment you ever face in life? God's doing his greatest work. He just doesn't leave things to the devil if he allows things. He that dwelleth in the secret place. Do you? Have you gone fleeing there and finding a hiding place? Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, thy habitation. There shall no evil befall thee. Oh, deliver me, O Lord, from my enemies. I flee to thee to hide me. Psalm 142 verse 9. In this sacred book I am given instruction how to behave myself before my enemies. Oh, how I love thy law. It is my meditation all day. Thou through thy commandments has made me wiser than my enemies. Psalm 119 verse 97. He instructs us in the holy book of how to behave ourselves. And now the Old Testament has promises were given to men and to the nation, God's chosen people. But, beloved, they were actually meant for you and me, otherwise they wouldn't be in the Bible. Don't ever doubt this now. Two-thirds of the scriptures are not just recorded history. They're God's divine word. Those promises are for you. They were written for us, Paul said, as warnings and for admonishing. These things are in the holy scriptures, sir, to take these promises as the sovereign God takes you where you are and speaks peace into your heart and healing. Their strength is to sit still, leave the fighting to God. Don't you go out now. This is your safety, and leave it up to God. He made a pit and digged it and is now fallen into the ditch which he made. I've seen this without doing a thing. I get scared for them. What they want to happen to me happens to them. They destroy them. Psalm 7 verse 15, his mischief shall return upon his own head. Psalm 7 verse 16, they have prepared a net for my steps. They digged a pit before me into the midst of which they are now fallen themselves. Psalm 57 verse 6, so shall they make their own tongue to fall upon themselves. Psalm 64 verse 8, he that diggeth a pit shall fall into it. That in the light of the rest of the scriptures is really staggering. Ecclesiastes 10 verse 8, without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit which without course, righteous course, they have digged for my soul. But that net that he had hid will catch him in his own destruction. Psalm 35 verse 7 says, this is God's ways, not ours. This isn't what we want. You don't want evil upon. But if you sit back and do nothing, you don't be destroyed. It's when you fight, you lose credibility. You lose peace. You come out wounded. Leave it to God. And he does these things. Keep me from the snares which they have laid for me. Let them fall into their own nets. Of course, David had light that we have far more with Christ's words. But be careful now, is a time to keep silence. And there's a time to speak. There's a time to keep silence in the home, to your family. Keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom. Micah 7 verse 5, from your wife. God says that when? Well, in its context, when you get saved. And they don't want to get saved. And they're shocked and now they're getting angry with you. And really, you're in for it. And then God says, look, keep the doors of thy mouth. Stop this. They know your stand. You don't have to condemn and challenge them and make the whole house go into a... You're going to lose them. I've seen people losing them. I said to one man, divorcing him in another country. I said, listen, read through the book of Proverbs. Take a highlighter and just write what God says you must do with your lips in all circumstances and what he will do. Just write it. And then obey it. Seek God for grace to live. Just Proverbs only. Oh, he did. His marriage saved. He's come back to stop the divorce proceeding. You see, God knows. It's the time you need to obey his word. Keep the door of thy mouth from her that lies in thy bosom. That's in its context, a man's enemies. But a man's enemies are the men of his own house. The son rises up against the father. The father against the son. The son, when he gets saved. When you get saved, your enemies aren't down there in some wicked place. They're in the house and you don't know how cruel an enemy can be until you find one in your own family, sir. Just get rightly saved. You think everybody just has heaven and earth when they get saved? No. Across this world, you can't believe what I've had to enjoy and see and try and work through with people who are thrown onto the streets and disallowed to ever see their children again in life. I've been in people like that in the Muslims who got saved. You think it's only their faith that you've got to brace yourself? I know people in your country who have burial services when they get saved by their families who are deeply religious but in darkness and forbidden to ever make contact till the day they die with them again as a family. Oh, but there's a wisdom God needs to give you. Look, they know. They know you don't like these things where they are still enjoying the old television, you know, with the moral decadence that you used to laugh with them and now you're weeping on your knees. How can they enjoy it? They're all feeling condemned to everything. Everything's in. Well, keep the doors of your lips and your wife. Just keep quiet now. They know you're still... There's a time you've got to stop speaking to men about God and just speak to God about men or you're going to destroy everything, in your home especially. And your wife opposes you for your convictions even if she professes to be saved. You could lose her. You need to seek the grace to be quiet and let your life do the speaking. You see, he that is soon angry, God says in Proverbs 14 verse 17, he that is slow to wrath, there's a great understanding. God says, but he that is hasty, impulsive, sore-tempered, exalteth folly. You're really doing wrong. Proverbs 14 verse 29, slow to speak, slow to wrath. That's the order in every single circumstance where you lose your temper, especially in the home. God says, slow to speak. By God's grace, slow to wrath, slow to losing your family's heart because it doesn't work. You just fail. It's not godly the way you get, especially in the home. The discretion of a man deferreth his anger, and it is his glory to pass over a transgression, where people transgress and you need to keep quiet, brother, sister. There's times, I know, in this country alone, everywhere, only they'd keep quiet. They know it's wrong. Just the look on your face and the knowledge you love God now. A soft answer turneth away wrath, but grievous, that means harsh words, stir up anger in every circumstance, especially in the home. If I have wounded any soul today, if I have caused one foot to go astray, if I have walked in my own willful way, O Lord, forgive. If I have uttered idle words of vain, if I have turned aside from want or pain, lest I myself should suffer through the strain, O Lord, forgive. If I have been perverse or hard or cold, if I have longed for shelter in thy fold, when thou hast given me some foe to hold, O Lord, forgive. Forgive the sins I have confessed to thee. Forgive the secret sins I do not see. And guide me, love me, and my keeper be, O Lord, amen. I preached too long. I'll have to stop that. Can we stand, please? Here is a newsletter that my wife sends out to many countries. They take the email and print it themselves and distribute it, and the post is paid, which I'm very grateful for, including America. So it has about three months of our itinerary. We only send three copies out a year, and many thousands pray, mostly preachers across the world, full-time workers and preachers, which I'm very honored to know so many who know what it is are praying for me and for my wife. But our itinerary here is given of this tour here in America, which is 12 weeks every year, and this is the 32nd time I'm touring your country, and I've spoken to quite a few hundred thousand people, and I'm very grateful to God for that privilege given to me, always in a conservative church. The liberal would crucify me. They wouldn't want me, and trust me, I wouldn't survive their music, let alone get around to preaching. But I do thank God for the lovely, God-fearing, reverential, and beautiful, uplifting music of your church, and I do thank God for you. Now, if you would like to receive it just by email, if you don't have access to email, then just your postal address, and if you would like to receive it and isn't going to be junk mail, and you know you pray, then I'd be honored if you would put your name and address here on these two lists I brought. I'm going to leave it somewhere here on the front, so you're going to come and have to stoop, you see, and I haven't got a pen here, so please could somebody, and there's some other lists if you need to. Here's the newsletter copy. They did print out, our dear brother printed out these copies, and I'm going to make sure everyone gets one. Who can we choose that looks really, where's Tiki Tiki, what on earth is his name? Rikki Tiki Troi Troi. Wow, highly intelligent name. Come here, Rikki Tiki Troi Troi. You make sure not one single person escapes. Don't tell them I said that. I want them to pray, even if they don't put their names down. Stand at the door and make sure not one escapes. Do you understand? Oh, there you are. Oh, he's going to do it now. That's wise and wonderful, and we do bless the Lord for you if you put your name and address down tomorrow, quarter to 11. That's good. That gives me a little time, and I'm very grateful, and then we have, I'm going for lunch with people who know how to eat. If you haven't been to a Cracker Barrel, which they took me to, you have never eaten before, intelligently. I do appreciate that. I'm going to meet the big family, the man who played the piano, the other one is doing the sound, and their wives are the daughters of this lovely godly man and woman, and so I'm going for lunch after the morning service, so I better not preach too long, and then in the night at 6 a.m. we come, so come before we sing a few hymns, which is just lovely, in the morning, quarter to 11, and six o'clock in the night. The last two sermons I'm going to preach, I don't know if God will ever let me back, and I might never, I mean, I'm nearly 70, you know, that's when you're supposed to die, according to the Bible, unless there's some very grace, and the United Nations says only a small percentage of the world go beyond 70. Generally, certain countries reach 100, 90, but generally the populations, the United Nations, without referring to the Bible, or thinking of the Bible, say generally 70, and a very small percentage of the world's population go beyond 70. So I'm nearly 70. If I go beyond, hallelujah, and if I get 100, so long as I've got my health, mental strength, and I can serve God, I'd love to preach at 100. Oh my, that would be good. Imagine dying in the pulpit, and you'll all get scared of coming, in case I do. Now, what are we speaking about? We're trying to end the service, aren't we? There's the lovely little list over there that you can put your name down, we'd be honored to email it to you, and also if you have to, if you need to, we'd be honored to send it by your post, postages, but in much of the world, the postal systems are collapsing, and so people are resorting to email, so we're trying to also, where we can, but you're very welcome to put your name down today or tomorrow, try and come back tomorrow, and that's the morning and the night, and pray as you come through that door, God, please speak to me, to a weak, weak man, and a very unworthy man, who at his best is deeply conscious he's nothing but unprofitable. It's only the grace of God, brother, there's nothing in any of us that can glory outside of the cross of Christ. There's nothing to glory in. So, come back, pray for me, pray for yourselves as you walk through that door, and ask God to change your heart, forever. He will, if we all pray that from our hearts, you know. He will. So, we come back tomorrow with seeking hearts, and prayer for hearts, and we try and bring others with us, by phoning them, prayerfully. If you pray first, you'll be stunned who will come. We could fill this whole place out, overflowing, if you did that. It's a shame on you if you don't phone someone. There you are, now you have to, or you won't sleep. Now, there you are. Do you love God? Yes, why don't you pray for us? Can I do that, dear pastor? You turn and face these dear people and pray loud, brother. Heavenly Father, bring us back here tomorrow safely, joyfully, and allow your presence to just comfort us and hold us. We pray all these things in the name of your loving Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen, brother. Thank you very sincerely. God bless you, you are dismissed, and the Lord bless you deeply. Thank you for being here tonight.