In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of keeping our focus on Jesus and his ability to see in the dark. He uses the example of Peter walking on water and how Jesus came to the disciples in the midst of a storm. The speaker also highlights the need for Christians to be filled with the love of Jesus in order to overcome spiritual stagnation. Additionally, the sermon mentions the special reward for taking care of one's mother-in-law and relates it to the story of Ruth and Boaz from the Bible. The sermon concludes with a reference to Psalm 63:5, encouraging earnest seeking of God in a spiritually dry and thirsty world.

This is Basil Nye. I really enjoy being here in the quiet, congenial and very pleasant atmosphere of these grounds and also meeting you, dear people, some for the very first time, others we've known for quite a long time. It's a real joy being with you all. I enjoy ministering to you. You've been a very, very fine crowd of people. You've been responsive and most cooperative and that means a terrific lot when a man's ministering the Word. The morning sessions have been exceptionally good. I really enjoy ministering in that joy love letter morning by morning and our hearts have been strangely moved as we consider our beloved Lord Jesus. As we continue, we're going to do so again tonight with favourite songs. It has been a real joy seeing you coming along and I don't think any of us will ever forget last night's meeting. We believe the Spirit of God was operating here in a very real way. We've had evidence of that for which we do praise Him. Now, you've been down here during the winter months. If you want to come up north during the summer months, then you come up to Guelph Bible Conference Centre. I've been in many conference centres. I'm not referring to the part of the Palms, of course, which is a retirement community. I'm now becoming very favoured and I feel will become a very popular conference centre. But I've been on most of them during on this North American continent and I haven't found one yet to equal Guelph. No, I haven't. No, I mean that. You'll find everything so helpful there during the summer months. It's nice and cool. Then, of course, all come back and bring others with you to the part of the Palms during the winter months. But come north and go to Guelph. I had a letter from Jamaica today and they tell me Mr. Wildridge is making very good progress. Going still around in crutches and he hopes to be taking part at the Easter Conference in Jamaica. It was our privilege to be there last year. There were 3,500 people gathered to each session at that wonderful Easter Convention. We're looking forward to going there again next year in the will of the Lord. But he, Mr. Gavin Hamilton, along with one of the local brethren, who is a pathologist, a dear man of God, called Zeruk Daniels, and he gave the closing message last year. Again, he tells me he's given the closing message this year. A man with will ability. Please continue to pray for Mr. and Mrs. Wildridge. He may continue to be blessed. She may have patience given to her in dealing with a man who's so active. And for a man being so active and being incapacitated and not able to get around as he's been accustomed to doing, it's not always just too easy. But she says he's a wonderful patient. So he must be practicing his own ministry. Is that right? Get right all then. Psalm number, what's it going to be tonight? Psalm 6-3, the 6th or 3rd Psalm. You've just come in tonight and not accustomed to my voice. It's psalms. We say psalms. Psalm number 6-3. Now you will remember that there are something like 150 psalms. These 150 psalms divide themselves into five distinct books. You have book one, from Psalm 1 to Psalm 41. Psalm 42 to 72, you have the second book. Psalm 73 to 89, you have the third book. From 19 to 106, the fourth. And from 107 to the end, you have the fifth book. Now did you get that outline? Well, well, you do very well. Here it is and here we go again. Psalm 1 to Psalm 41, the first book. 42 to 72, the second. Psalm 83 to 89, the fourth. And in the third, thanks a lot, I'm glad you're with me. 19 to 106, the fourth. And 107 to the end, you have the fifth. Now it is not without significance that you've got five books commencing the Bible. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. And those first five books of the Bible dovetail right in to those first five books of the psalms. In Genesis, you have the theme born and brought up. Born and brought up. Exodus, you are redeemed and brought out. Redeemed and brought up. Leviticus, you are sanctified and brought in. Sanctified and brought in. Numbers, you are preserved and brought through. Preserved and brought through. And then the fifth book, Deuteronomy, you are instructed and brought home. Instructed and brought home. Now these dovetails right into the five books of the psalms. Now, time won't allow me to develop that, and if you didn't quite get it, then buy the tape. Now you want to get Psalm 84, the secret of real true love, seeing joy. If you can't get the whole of it on the tape, it's on a record called the Living Voices. The first record made on Living Voices. And I think your tape's a little bit cheaper than the record though, for the record's only $2.75. But may the Lord bless you as you re-get those tapes and you go back over them in the quiet of your own heart and you know what people tell me? They can listen to me easier on a tape. And they can get it far clearer from the tape than they can when I'm preaching from the rostrum. So try it out. Psalm 63, please. Verse number 1. O God, my God, earnestly will I seek Thee. My soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh longeth for Thee, in a dry and thirsty land where no water is. I am going to read an expression coming four times in this wonderful psalm. Verse 2. To see Thy power and Thy glory so as I see Me in the sanctuary, because Thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise Thee. Thus will I bless Thee while I live. I will lift up my hands in Thy name. My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, and my mouth shall praise Thee with joyful lips. When I remember Thee upon my bed and meditate on Thee in the night watches, because Thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of Thy wings will I rejoice. My soul follows hard after Thee. Thy right hand upholdeth me. But those that seek my soul to destroy it shall go into the lower parts of the earth. They shall fall by the sword. They shall be a portion for foxes. But the King shall rejoice in God. Everyone that swears by Him shall glory, for the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped. The Lord will add His blessing to that reading from His word to our hearts tonight. I want to draw your attention to this expression coming four times. The expression is, My soul, didn't you notice that? Verse number one, you have the soul's desire. Verse number five, you have the soul's delight. Verse number eight, you got the soul's diligence. And in verse number nine, you got the soul's deliverance. May I go back over these four little d's? Verse number one, you got the soul's desire. My soul thirsteth for Thee. My flesh longeth for Thee. Then verse five, we see overflowing to the soul's delight. My soul shall be satisfied with marrow and fatness. Then down at verse number eight, you got the soul's diligence. My soul follows hard after Thee. Then verse number nine, my soul's deliverance. For those that seek my soul to destroy it shall go into lower parts of the earth. O beloved fellow believer, I know full well you did not come to these beautiful conference grounds just to have a holiday or a nice vacation. I believe you didn't come down just to get away from the cold bleak Canadian weather or the northern weather of the United States of America. I believe you came down here because you had a desire. You had a real desire. And it is a spiritual desire. It's a healthy desire. I know that's what it says. My soul thirsteth not after any dogma, not after any theory nor creed nor catechism, not after any religion. My soul thirsteth for Thee. There's a secret. My soul thirsteth for Thee. Now isn't that a healthy desire? What does the Lord Jesus say? Blessed is the man hungriest and thirstest after righteousness, for he shall be filled. If any man thirsts, he says, let him come unto me and drink. So you're coming to the right source when you're coming to our adorable Lord Jesus Christ. My soul thirsteth for Thee. Now notice again the next phrase. My flesh longeth for Thee. I was doing an expression this morning in the light of being homesick. Homesick. My flesh upon the whole man. My soul, my flesh, longeth for Thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water aids. I know, dear saint of God, this is a dry and thirsty land in which we are living. There isn't anything for the spiritual man or woman or young person in this old tottering cosmos. Nothing whatever. To him it's a dry and thirsty land where no water aids. The spiritual man finds no springs of water here. None whatever. So he looks away from me to the fountainhead. He looks away to the Lord. And notice verse 5 of the previous psalm. What does it say there? My soul waiteth only upon God, for my expectation is from Him. Verse 11 of the same 62nd Psalm. All power belongeth unto the Lord. So dear child of God, tonight look away. Look away to Him in whom all power is invested. All power belongeth unto Him. All my expectation is in Him. And Psalm 87, the very last phrase says, and I love this, all my springs are in Thee, O Lord. Oh isn't that just lovely? Have you proved that so down here during these days of conference? Can you truthfully say, all my expectation is in Him in whom there is all power? Because all my springs, all my resources are in the Lord Himself. And so again tonight you can say, Lord thou art enough, the mind and heart to fill. Oh fix my earnest gaze, O Holy Lord, on Thee. That was I duly occupied, I else where none may see. Yes, beloved, you've turned your eyes upon Jesus. You look full in His wonderful face, and you've found the things of the earth becoming strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. Now with that before your heart goes to verse number two. This is the desire of your heart, but where does it lead you to? It leads you right into the sanctuary. And what does it say here in verse number two? To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary. Now you've been in the confines and precincts of this delightful chapel, and in these wonderful congenial circumstances, and no doubt you have beheld the glory of the Lord. No doubt His power being manifested to you in one way and in another. And in a way, my friend, you can't describe to anybody else. It's indescribable. You can't explain it to anyone. It's so sacred, it's so precious between you and the Lord. Those have been intimate moments. Those have been moments, my friend, of this close intimacy, transactions taking place between your heart and the Lord. Now you're just about to leave this conference center and go back to your own sphere. All I want to tell you, keep your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face, no squinting. You know, when Peter was walking on the water, remember how the Lord goes, aren't you? Ah, he can see in the dark. He sees in the light of the day. Peter says, Amid be thou, Lord, bid me come to thee. And the Lord said, Come. And Peter did something I would never have done. Please, I don't think I would. Peter jumped out of that boat and began walking to the Lord upon the water. Everything went all right as long as Peter kept his eyes focused upon the Lord, Jesus. He didn't pray for 20 minutes. How do you pray for 20 minutes if you've been drowned? Now that word, doubt, comes from the very same root, looking two ways at one. You want to think, no two evangelists met one day back in Scotland, what were they doing there? In them, but never under them. Got that? In them, but never under them. And so, eyes focused on the circumstances, and some cells are taking, and no matter where they go, they'll never be happy until that big cell goes to the cross. And when it's cancelled at the cross, then something's going to take place, you know. Isn't that true? Amen? Pretty weak one, but I think you agree with me. But here it is now. And then you get one eye upon a self-centered and egotistic and nothing else. Now get this. Please don't squint both eyes on Christ. You're going from the mountaintop, and you're going back, my friend, maybe to the valley, but don't squint. Keep your eyes upon Christ. He'll never disappoint you. He'll never let you down. You beheld his glory, and so now you've been changed from glory to glory into the same image. And now his power has been made manifest to you. You've known that power in a living, vital way. He's the same Lord. He's the same Lord. His power is not something apart from himself. He is your power. He is your joy. He is your peace. He is your life. He is your love. He's just absolutely everything to you. And when he's in your heart and upon the throne of your life, all these things are just so blessed, aren't they? Verse number three, because I see my time's rushing. Because thy loving kindness is better than life. Do you know what I saw just now? No, no, no. There was that someone just looked round at the clock. Well, did you ever? I won't look at that person, at least not just now. And because thy loving kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. Now there's a great man of God, a great man of God named Mr. Harold Sinclair Cartier. You will remember him, his lovely rosy cheeks, lovely white snowy hair. His face just beamed as he said, well, if there's a reason, it is this. Every morning when I awake, I wrap my soul in his steadfast love. Mr. Alfred Mayes, another great giant, while in Victoria, British Columbia, was asked a similar question. Mr. Mayes' point is that you're always so triumphantly happy. And he gave almost a similar answer. There's never a morning before I leave my room, but I bathe my soul in his steadfast love. No wonder that one was ragedly happy and the other triumphantly happy, and everybody noticed this. Everybody could see this, that one was ragedly happy, the other one triumphantly happy. And the reason? They knew the secret of the sanctuary. They knew the joy of getting alone with God. Before they saw any other face, they saw his face. Before they heard any other voice, they heard the voice of their adorable Lord Jesus Christ. And in the quiet of their own room there, in the sanctuary, in the secret place, they just bathed their soul, and one enveloped and raptured his soul in the love of the Lord Jesus. And they had been girded for the battle of life, they set forth into a new day, strengthened and fortified with the love of God surging abroad in their heart by the Holy Spirit. Oh, my beloved brother, my beloved sister, what do I know of this? These are moments you just can't describe to anybody else. They're just so precious, they're just so sacred. You know what I'm talking of, don't you? If not, I trust you'll learn the secret tonight of getting alone, and to bring your soul in his steadfast love, to become Christ-occupied, moment by moment. No, I believe the greatest need is for the individual believer to fall in love with Jesus Christ. Got that? I believe that's the greatest need among us today is for the individual believer to fall in love afresh with the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, the wonder of this, beloved, tonight. Recognize the value moment by moment. It was Professor Drummond who said, it's the expulsion of a new affection for Jesus Christ. Isn't that true? And my friends, when we're heartfully in love with him and supercharged by the Holy Spirit, then my friend, over me, we shall find completely supplied because of a living intimacy with a living Lord, our beloved Lord Jesus Christ. Keep that before you and flip down to verse number five. And now what does he say? He's just overflowing, just bubbling right over, and he says, my soul shall be satisfied. The soul was desiring in verse number one, is now delighting in verse number five. He can look up and say triumphantly. They told me that marrow was essential for enriching the blood. And they also find that the stock made from the marrow is a success and all the pills, and I had a boy in Scotland to make soup with. Remember that? The marrow board, how beneficial, how nutritious the stock made from the marrow. It's giving you a prescription. Even Dr. Dan will agree with me. I'm sure he will. At least he smiles anyway. Now, may I help you right here? Might be a real help to you too, dear children of God. The marrow is essential for enriching. The fatness is essential for strengthening. Now get the picture from the book of Ruth. Remember way back in the book of Ruth, that wonderful love story. There you'll find Neulmine down in the land of Nome. Neulmine means pleasantness or joy, and now you'll find even through her suffering and sorrow, stripped of her husband, stripped of her two sons. There she is with her daughters-in-law, and the sweetness of her character shines light through her sorrow. And the daughters-in-law are won by the mother-in-law. She said, my Ruth means a friendliness or beauty, and you said, entreat me not to leave you to return. Where thou diest, I will be buried. And what happened? We find Ruth going all the way with Neulmine. Neulmine is a picture of Christ in humiliation. Do you get the picture from Psalm 63 verse 5? Fatness. Christ in humiliation. Do you remember the picture? Remember that. The old life will never produce anything but God. It's when you're raised up with Christ, you're buried. Now you're raised with Christ. Now you'll recognize your union with Christ in death. Jeffrey Booth says, there is no resurrection. And you must recognize your union with Christ in death. And when you're coming to resurrection, set your affection on things above, not on the things of the earth. And the result will be fruit like number seven. Because in verse number six it speaks about both day and night. We belong to him, and he's a meditation of your thinking of him. What kind of thoughts do you have when you awake in the night? Are they thoughts of the Lord Jesus? Does he fill your waking thoughts? Remember as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. May I be allowed to quote Mr. A. P. Gibbs, you're not what you think you are, but what you think you are. You are what you think. What kind of thoughts do you have in the early mornings? Are they of him? Precious is that condition of spirit of that soul. And notice verse number seven. Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice. Do you notice in verse number five it says, my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips. And when your heart's occupied with him and all his resurrection and power and glory, and you're linked up with him, then beloved, it's not long before your mouth's going to speak all these praises. So many Christians are like the Arctic Ocean. They're frozen at the mouth. The only way to get them defrosted is for the warm white love of Jesus Christ to be shed abroad in their heart by the Holy Spirit. And when that love is so white-hot, it touches the lips under the deems of the Lord. They say so. Now it's rather a weak one, but they say so. Very good. Now we go to father, shall we? Verse seven. Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice. Do you know, I know you're listening carefully, you're with me. Some of you look rather, yes, you're with me. You know there's a special reward for looking after your mother-in-law. You say, what? You say, I need it. There's a special reward for looking after your mother-in-law. How do I know? The book of Ruth. Both say to Ruth, it has been shown me what thou hast done for thy mother-in-law from the day of thy husband's death. A full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel under whose wings thou hast come to trust. Isn't that lovely? So there's a full reward for those who look after their in-laws. I'm not being funny, I mean it this time. It's truly true. You know, back in Britain, when somebody passes away, they usually get a mourning band or a black diamond on the arm. Perhaps the Irishman went into a dry goods store to get a mourning band. So someone said to him, the girl said to him, what width do you want it packed? Oh, he said, I didn't know there were different widths. Oh yes, the nearer and the dearer the relative, the wider the band. Oh, he said, give me a shoelace, it's my mother-in-law. But Pat didn't know the truth of Ruth chapter 2 verse 12, did he? A full reward shall be given thee of the Lord God of Israel. You know, I had the best mother-in-law in all the world. You may have the second best, but I had the best mother-in-law in all the world. I really did. She's in heaven today. I had the joy of hearing confession of faith from that dear woman, and I buried her, and I believe she's in heaven today. She's the best mother-in-law I ever had. She's the only one, mind you, and I have a feeling she'll be the only one too. Then may I help you right here? She said to some folks one day, Jim Balls was the best son-in-law I have. She had another free by the way, but she said, I don't know how he'll turn out. May I pause just now? Do you have trouble with your in-laws? Do you really? Here's a secret. Become Christ-occupied. Christ-occupied. And I want to tell you there's a special reward for looking after your in-laws. On the campus here, a marriage counselor came to see me the other day. And he went and turned around and said, I'm counseling people all the time. I've come to you. I want counsel. You don't know this marriage counselor, so don't worry about it. Don't try and think. We got down to brand snacks together. Says, no one ever talked to me like this. I'm not talking to you. The Lord's talking to you. The Lord got the victory. The burden was lifted. Christ was enthroned. Lord of all. That's the other secret. Verse number eight. My soul follows hard after thee. Thy right hand upholdeth me. Now may I pause? Thy right hand upholdeth me. Now this word, my soul, the soul of diligence, and the word here is a businessman's word. A man must be diligent in his business. If not, it's not very long before he goes into bankruptcy and the business goes into liquidation. If a man's not, what do you call it, diligent in his business, diligent in his service, then what happens? He goes into bankruptcy incorrectly so. It's a student's word, and here we find the student must be diligent in his studies. If not, he just flops out in the exam. The athlete's word, an athlete must be diligent in his training or he flops out in the field or in the time of competition. Now get the picture. The Bible says, not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. Now the businessman should be diligent in business, but how much more the business, the business of the Lord. The student should be diligent in his studies, but how much more so the study of the word of God. In 2 Timothy 2.5 it says, 15 rather, a study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed of rightly dividing the word of truth. The athlete must be diligent in his training and correctly so. It's good to have a body fit and strong and healthy. See the Lord never encourages laziness. Whether in the physical or in the spiritual, be diligent as a diligent soul is made fat. The diligent soul is made fat. Now I want you to get that and remember fatness belongs to the Lord and fat is precious to the Lord. But now what about the athlete? It says in Timothy again, a bodily exercise properly for a little while, but those who exercise themselves unto godliness will do it a life eternal. Now isn't that just wonderful? And so we must give all diligence. Oh yes we're desiring him, we're delighting in him, but it's all enclosed now in diligence. Diligence in service, diligence in study, diligence my friends in being a spiritual athlete. How important this really is for the children of God. Oh how I wish time allowed me to develop this. But again, this is a little Hebrew word here which means glued to, glued to. My soul follows hard after. My soul is glued to. Same word is used in the book of Genesis. A man shall leave his father and mother and he shall cleave unto his wife. Ruth cleaved to her mother-in-law. Job said the skillful advisors were closely joined together. Joined together, there's not room for the heir to pass. The psalmist said I am stuck to thy testimony. Jeremiah said the famine follows close after, close after. It's all the same Hebrew word. Now get the picture. In the first one a man shall cleave to his wife. You'll find affection. There is that beautiful bridal affection. Oh that wonderful affinity and affection for the lover of his heart. Now do we know that spiritually with the Lord Jesus? Is there that real affection, that spiritual energized affection for the Lord Jesus as there ought to be? Or you say James that's a logging of my heart. I want to know him with a deep heart affection. Then what about devotion? We find Ruth completely devoted to only oh my and we too must be utterly devoted to him. Devoted to him. And this leads now my friend to oneness. Oneness. We find the skillful advisors so closely joined together. And then we find the psalmist said I'm stuck. There you have and I love this with all my heart. Faithfulness. You're leaving this conference center. You're going back to your own place. May you go back with a heart filled with affection too. Devotion for. A wonderful intimacy. A oneness with him that you might manifest it in faithfulness in your testimony. Faithfulness to his word. Faithfulness in every detail. For remember trust and obey for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus than to trust and obey. I must close. Verse number nine. The soul deliverance. The soul deliverance. What does it say? But those that seek my soul to destroy it shall go into lower parts of the earth. Oh fellow believer. The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose. I will not. I will not desert to its foes. That soul's all hell shall endeavor to shake. I'll never. No never. No never forsake. I found a friend. Oh such a friend. He loved me ere I knew him. He drew me with the cause of love. And thus he bound me to him. And round my heart still closely twine those ties which not can sever. For I am his. And he is mine. Forever and forever. The soul desire. The soul delight. The soul diligence. And the soul's deliverance. Shall we pray? Hmm. As we bow together in the quiet heart of this evening hour. In the closing moment of this very wonderful conference. When transactions have taken place in so many lives. Has the Lord been speaking to you in some particular way during these days? And you know you ought to act upon your decision. If you have not will you do it tonight in this closing moment. And from your very heart we'll say. Have thine own way Lord. Have thine own way. Hold all my being in absolute sway. Fill with thine spiritual all shall see. Christ only always living in me. Have thine own way Lord. Have thine own way. Hold all my being in absolute sway. Fill with thy spirit till all shall see. Christ only always living in me. We're going to sing that again as a closing prayer. And I want everyone in this auditorium who means it. To rise to his or her feet. If you mean it from all your heart. This really is a desire. The ambition of your innermost being. You want the Lord to have complete sway in your life. Then as we sing it will you please rise that we may rejoice together with you. In the closing moment. Have thine own way. Have thine own way. We want to be absolutely 100% for thee. Absolutely all up for thee. We want to reign Lord Supreme without a rival in these lives of ours. And we just depend now upon the Holy Spirit to make all this so gloriously real. So gloriously possible. That in all things Christ will have. He must have. He shall have. The preeminent. God bless this assembled company. May the impact of this meeting tonight be felt in our home life. In our business life. In our church life. And upon the campus here in these beautiful conference grounds. We just commend this whole conference to thee. The ministry of thy word this week and during the past week. And we thank the Lord for this wonderful climax of seeing these thy beloved people with a real desire to go all the way with thyself. Bless O God thy word. And from our very hearts we cry. Not unto us. Not unto us. But unto thy name the honor and glory and power and dominion both now and forevermore. Amen. Keep remain. Just remain standing. We're going to sing the Doctrine and Covenants.