Keep Yourself Pure

[00:00:00] This audio sermon is provided by AnabaptistSermons.com and may be freely copied and distributed. You may not sell or edit this sermon. Our prayer is that you would be blessed by this ministry. Thank you. It's a wonderful hymn and bless you for singing it from your soul. The Mennonites, oh let's be careful I get into trouble. So, Amish, Hutterite and Mennonite. They are the only people in the world, I think, that every single assembly could go on a world tour as a choir and outdo most professional choirs that the world's got. [00:00:47] Because they've trained from when they're babies Yes, you've learned to harmonize And not many other groups across the world or cultures do that So you don't know how precious it is When I first heard you all singing My word, I couldn't sing When I was down in some of the groups there Of people from all these movements of the Anabaptists So thank you for singing as I've come to deeply appreciate when I've ever been in your midst. [00:01:19] I am honoured, you know, not being from an Anabaptist background. I hope you don't look upon me as a Gentile. But anyway, I'm washed in the blood of Jesus Christ from the other side of the world where they don't even know what a Mennonite is. So I've been educated. What I brought this forward for is And I have a newsletter that many thousands of people across the world receive every second or third month. My wife writes it with all our itinerary for two, three months and many preachers across the world. [00:01:58] I would say most, over half of the names who have over the years been requesting the newsletter to pray are people in full-time ministries, missionaries or preachers across the world. But if you'd like to receive it, I'm going to leave this here. It's not too low to stoop. And here's two pens. So I'll be very grateful. This is what it looks like. I haven't got copies. So I don't know if our brother Jim and others would be willing to try and photocopy this for you who'd like to see this 10-week tour of America that I've done for 32 years now, 32nd time touring America, to many of the godliest, deeply conservative people. [00:02:39] I've never been in a worldly pulpit in my life. Thank God. I probably would die. One of us would, they or me. But here's a copy and you could just look at it and perhaps tomorrow night I can mention just where I'm going. So, now, before we're all here till midnight, like last night, you know Paul preached till midnight and someone died, and I don't want that to happen to me through my preaching. [00:03:16] So, I better get going. I was going to preach something last night that I had somehow brought to your attention, that was in my heart as I preached around this country. Most of the sermons I'm preaching is just quoting the word of God which has been the ministry God gave me but there are other messages God puts on my heart and so this is supposed to be my conscience You'll find out if I've got one tonight Okay, I'm going to put it on after my prayer [00:03:46] It's my sermon, not my prayer including in the time If I'm not finished and I go in another hour, don't worry You don't have to see me again. You just don't ever invite me back, you see. So you can all think, well, it's wonderful he's going on. We'll never have to sit through this again. It's only tonight, okay? Let's just bow for a moment of prayer, please. Our God, have mercy on me. Wash me in the blood. If there's a smallest thought, the smallest reaction, the smallest word I uttered that was not holy [00:04:21] and utterly Christ-like in my baseness and weakness, forgive me. Wash me deeply in the blood, fill me with the Holy Spirit, anoint my mind and all of our hearts by the Holy Ghost's unctionizing and mercy to give revelation and to help us to leave this place never to recover till the day we die. Now, Lord, no man could ever do that for us and we can't do it for ourselves No matter how hard we've tried, but oh God, if thou wouldst look upon us in mercy to honor this prayer [00:04:56] As thou dost see the motive of our hearts To glorify Christ in our lives while we still have a few breaths, a few moments Loaned to us by God only once in all eternity That we can choose to be everything God wants us to be Help us not to lose this moment in Jesus Christ's name. For his glory. Amen. I do hope this is loud enough. The man put it nice and loud last night. [00:05:31] Now if it's not loud enough, I'm going to put it right on my lip. And you will be very sorry for the consequences. And so will I. Would you please put it a little bit louder, brother? There's something a little bit gone down. And then don't worry, they might have hurting ears, but at least they would have listened Don't worry too much about the tape or the recording, it's those who are here tonight I care about And we need to let them hear Okay, in John 8 verse 34, you all know these words [00:06:07] The Lord Jesus said, now that's too loud, it echoes Aren't I terrible? He's going to have a nervous breakdown tonight, not me. But there's a happy medium, but please leave it when it's perfect and don't even look at it, it might change. John 8, 34, the Lord Jesus said these amazing words, because whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. [00:06:44] But that's not talking about one sin. This is a life of sin. And we become conscious, every one of us, that we can't stop. Even if we lose the respect of our children, even if we lose our health, at this point you become conscious, you're enslaved to sin. [00:07:21] Whosoever committeth sin, God manifest in the flesh told us, is enslaved to sin, the servant of sin. Romans 6 verse 16, Paul says, Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servant ye are, to whom ye obey. Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servant ye are to whom ye obey, whether of sin, and of death, or of obedience, and of righteousness? [00:08:03] Whosoever committeth, this is a life of sin, not one individual sin, sin is the servant enslaved to sin. but Jesus goes on to say in verse 36 of John 8 if the Son, capital S that he was making so everybody got more and more aware who he was speaking about God the Son if the Son shall set you free from an enslavement to a life of sin [00:08:36] enslavement to sin If the Son shall set you free, but that's salvation. Have you been saved? When did Christ set you free? Not to sin less perfection. If the Son therefore shall set you free, ye shall be free. [00:09:08] Indeed, indeed, now either he lied, did God lie, or is your salvation another interpretation that has to bypass all the words of Christ and everything else? If any man be in Christ, this happened, or God's book means nothing, what it says means nothing, if any man be in Christ, he is. A new creature, all things are passed away, behold, all things have become new [00:09:43] That doesn't happen over a year or ten years, that happens when you get up from your knees, saved And the world sees it Behold, look, God says to your family, look, God says to your enemies And if God can't say that to everyone that knows you Look, all things have become new You're not saved, even if you're a child Don't tell me a child has to go and be wicked [00:10:14] before he can be seen to be a transformed creature a new creation where all things of his nature has been set free and changed by God But we must be careful here You see there is a verse that Christ tells us of a broad road in Matthew chapter 7 That leadeth unto destruction [00:10:44] Now that word destruction I have preached many many verses and passages through the Bible Just quoting what God talks of eternal damnation Where the smoke of their torment ascends up forever and ever The lake that burneth with fire and brimstone everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels and all those whose names are not written by God in the book of life oh, that destruction is just many, many passages and verses [00:11:17] to tell you it's everlasting the soul never dies oh, prepare to meet with God It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this judgment, God says, be it, don't doubt it. There's no changing God's mind for all eternity, no matter what you scream or promise or cry. Prepare now thyself to meet with God or face destruction. Now we won't go into all those verses. [00:11:49] There's a broad road that leads us to destruction. and many, do you know what that word means? The masses, the most, on this earth. Not God's will. The masses are on that road that lead it to destruction. But then Jesus doesn't stop there. He speaks of a narrow road. Hallelujah, I love the word narrow. And some man said to me, Oh, you narrow. [00:12:21] I said, hallelujah, coming from you, that means I'm saved Oh, if the church generally, what's called the church of Christ, even the evangelical don't look upon you as narrow There's something wrong with all the compromising going on today There's a narrow road And everybody that looks at you will say you're on it Narrow! Oh, there's a narrow road, Christ said Not only a broad road that most the masses take [00:12:54] There's a narrow road that leads to life Now I'd love to preach on that Revelation 21 on and on the passages of what God speaks of eternal life The wages of sin is death The second death, eternal damnation, separation from God But the gift, the free gift of God is eternal life Through Jesus Christ There's a narrow road, Jesus says, that leads to life and few, this is tragic, few, few, there be that find it, that's tragic, but that's not God's will, when I look at the rest of the scriptures, oh and I'd love to take part tonight is to show you, that's not the will of God that any should perish, who will have all men to be saved and to come to the, God now commandeth all men everywhere to repent, [00:13:49] I believe that. He takes the death for every man. Well, what is this narrow road? Where is it? How do we know there's a broad road? You know that beautiful painting that's on most Christians' walls? Of the broad road and there's all the worldly places and people are frequenting it, going on. And then there's separate to that broad road, there's a little narrow road, up to the little gate that you have to go through, and there's the cross. and the burden falls off like pilgrim's progress, you know, as he looks and he's on the narrow road [00:14:24] and he has this separated from the broad road, far away from it, of these people going to eternal life. The other way to the destruction, the city of destruction. Well now, that painting is not exactly true. I have it, I wouldn't do without it, it's beautiful, it has great truths in it. But, if one has to be honest with the scriptures and with practical Christianity, the outworking of true Christianity that narrow road is not going a separate way far away no, all it is in honesty [00:14:56] is right there on the broad road but you've turned you're just going against the flood of all these you're suddenly not without them you are turned but you from that moment cannot be hid from your family. That's why Christ says, if you come to salvation, a man's enemies become the members of his own household [00:15:28] in the night, if they haven't truly been saved. Even the religious, even the preachers are your enemies. A man's enemies become the members of his own household, beginning in the house, those still on the broad road who've never done this. They won't let you get away from them. You can't be hid. They're not going to walk past you and say, Oh, you don't smoke anymore? That's fine, you know. Why? Why don't you come to the drinking place anymore? Why don't you swear or blaspheme anymore? [00:15:59] Why don't you go to the worldly places? Why? They will not let you get away with it because their hearts are now condemned that they have never turned like this. Beginning in your home. All who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. God says, all! You don't get away in the devil's world. This is his territory. The prince of this world. The prince of darkness. We're not suddenly escaped when we're saved and on heaven. [00:16:35] And separated from anybody that can hurt you. You are right there. with Satan's children still following him, enslaved to him and they will let you have it because their hearts are condemned, but don't worry that's because they're under conviction and many will turn with you under the narrow road if you stay consistent beginning in your home all God needs is one in the house the rest haven't got much chance eventually for God to speak it's the greatest message God can ever preach is a life living out the scriptures not someone preaching [00:17:05] for God to use Oh, so we're on the narrow road now that leadeth to life Blessed are they which are persecuted Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake For theirs is the kingdom of heaven You can be sure Not for stupidity's sake Many, many multitudes of Christians who talk about being born again [00:17:37] are persecuted not for righteousness' sake, for stupidity's sake. They bring it on themselves. I probably would persecute them if I was unsaved. Be careful that it's righteousness, not utter stupidity that God never requires or asks you to be. Oh, but you're on this narrow road. But now be careful. On this narrow road that leads to eternal life. To the celestial city, God knows that Satan has had thousands of years of watching every reaction of man [00:18:17] Before salvation, after salvation, who hates Christ and therefore hates those who would love him Who would choose to follow him when he chose to reject him And was cast out with all the angels that rebelled also and chose to reject God and now they're desperate demons and oh God knows that as you turn and you become a new creature and he sets you free from that enslavement a life of enslavement oh God knows as you're on your road now [00:18:49] on this narrow road to the celestial city that all the powers of hell will be against you and work through all Satan's children to the degree they've allowed themselves to be Be controlled by him, willingly, in their pursuit of sin, with both hands, diligently And God knows, God knows there's the possibility of failure God knows, there's the possibility you could fall with all the powers of hell against you [00:19:22] And so God does all through the scriptures I wish I could give you just that sermon tonight, just the scriptures A mercy if we fall My little children, these things write I unto you that you sin not. You don't go with the crowd. But if any man sin, anyone who's turned from a life of sin that God wants to keep by the power of God from these things Oh, God knew there's a possibility of a failure under the circumstances of all the power of hell against you [00:19:56] and God says to you, don't give up. Get up! And he makes provision. He cries out in the same God who you put your faith to save your soul in the same book, the same God says, If any Christian wants you on the narrow road, not a life of sin, it's not a sin-excusing doctrine that you just go to hell and say I'm saved, and you're tumbling under the blood of Christ afresh in sacrilege, saying I'm saved and washed in the blood of heaven. Oh no, whoso confesses and forsaken his sins, the same shall have mercy. [00:20:28] But if you have forsaken, if God has set you free, there's a possibility though, and God knows it, and that doesn't mean you're unsaved If any man on the road to the letter with all the powers of hell against him falls, it's not the end, don't you give up, get up, get up child The same faith you put in my promises, I've given you other promises, this could happen Oh, Christ sets you free and free indeed gloriously freed from enslavement to a life of sin [00:21:00] but not to sinless perfection that you know how impossibly sin again He knows the powers of hell could bring you to a failure with all that comes against you you could be staggered take your eyes off Christ and fall but that doesn't mean God gives you up and you've got to get saved again No! We must be very careful here God does not say when He saves you from a life of sin and enslavement that you shall be free indeed from temptation to sin from this time forth [00:21:31] that isn't in the Bible Christ was tempted and He was tempted in a way that blood it was such temptation He was driven by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil tempted and he was God manifested in the flesh in his human form and so God knows having been tempted we have not a high priest that cannot be moved with a feeling of infirmities all points tempted like as we why? [00:22:02] so that no matter what your sin he knew what you went through I don't know how God did that to Christ as Satan tempted him but he understands because he went through it in a human form yet without sin We've become boldly, let us come boldly to the throne of grace to obtain mercy when you need it Don't you let the devil keep you down and fearful to get up and give up Oh, you get up and come to the Savior who ever liveth to make intercession for us Who's at the right hand of God, who shall separate us from the love of this wonderful Savior [00:22:34] Who ever liveth to make intercession for us, who went through Come boldly, don't come brazenly, come in humility if there's a failure but come, don't give up. God does not say when He saves you from the life of sin you will be free from temptation to sin from this time forth. Beloved, we must never forget that temptation is not sin. And the devil will tell you that. He'll tell you that for a long time if you're not willing to listen to me tonight. [00:23:08] Temptation is not sin. Temptation is not sin. You're saved. You're not unsaved because you're tempted. When God saved my soul, oh, I don't know if God will ever be able to show me another man in history that was so desperate to be saved as I was. I was on my knees and my whole being was ripped apart. It's like my soul was torn, wrenched and agonizing before God to save me. [00:23:42] I didn't want to be saved from hell, I wanted to be saved from sin, I wasn't even thinking of hell, I wanted God to set me free from things I couldn't stop, that were destroying mother and father, and aging them, and everyone that loved me, I wanted to be set free, but I couldn't, and I was enslaved, oh I shall never forget when God saved my soul, the glory that Christ had delivered me [00:24:16] the consciousness that I had been set free by God from enslavement to sin but I also remember the shock, the fear, the confusion when suddenly in spite of my consciousness and everybody in my life's consciousness God has set him free from enslavement to a life of sin No one in the world would have argued with you because everyone that knew me knew I couldn't. I'll never forget though, the first time I was strongly tempted after my salvation, that was really fearful. [00:24:57] I was so shaken and confused, there was suddenly a drawing power that I couldn't understand. but temptation is not sin many people seek God earnestly in deep sincerity for the salvation of their souls and God does save them but they are staggered and shaken and the devil accuses them in their sensitivity and ignorance as to how they can now still have any drawing power if God truly set them free [00:25:28] how can there be anything, anything tragically, subconsciously they have this illusion that the Bible offers what God only promises in heaven and only there brother you won't have to do with Satan and demons and evil people even those in your home you have to stand up against that the devil will use from the day of your salvation as he sets up everything in his devices to make you fall and take your eyes of Christ they cannot grasp the temptation to sin is still there [00:26:00] even though they become deeply conscious Jesus, that they are new creatures in Christ, that they've been set free from moral decadence, set free from things that destroyed their lives, the drunk in one minute, he didn't have to go to Alcoholics Anonymous, 25 years of alcohol, couldn't stop, pow, he's free, but there's other things, and there's temptations, when he didn't realize, temptation could never come back Now, James says, blessed is the man that endureth temptation. [00:26:38] There's something wonderful there in the school of God and here in the devil's territory. Oh, blessed is the man that doesn't give up and listen to the devil and say, oh my, I can't be saved if I'm tempted. If I still have this drawing power, even though God set me free from all these things, there's one aspect here, how come, oh no, blessed is the man that endureth, doesn't give in, just run, flee, oh, like before you were saved, no, temptation is not sin, what, endureth temptation, for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. [00:27:14] Let no man say when he is tempted that he, I am tempted of God, I am tempted of, for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempted any man, but every man is tempted when he is drawn away, with his own lust, when he is drawn away and enticed, isn't that terrible? Every man is tempted when he is drawn away Then when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin [00:27:46] He wasn't sinning until he allowed himself to conceive allowed the lust to conceive the temptation, but there's a point of conceiving and bringing forth the fruit of yielding of embracing, of entering into but it's not sin until that conceiving you see Beloved, a magnet has an amazing drawing influence [00:28:21] on an object as a child you can't work it out you're not scientifically minded but you see it a magnet has this amazing drawing influence upon an object, but only, only when it comes close enough to it. Only if it places itself close enough to be influenced. There's no drawing power around it, it's there. But when you get close enough to it, there's a drawing power. [00:28:56] There's a drawing power. Sin, beloved, is the same. enter not into temptation it doesn't say there won't be any more temptation here and in heaven no, in this world, enter not into there's some moment that you can honestly you have something to do with lust conceiving when you give up this enduring where God promises he'll never suffer you to be tempted above that you're able to bear his holiness is at stake, his integrity is at stake, his word is at stake [00:29:29] there's a point like he did to say to Job with the devil get away, enough he'll say to you on any level where the devil tempts you or tests you there is because God is God, the devil is not a zillion times less powerful than God it's a billion, zillion, trillion, plus a billion multiplied by ten zillion and then you haven't come close God is God, and you're his, but in the testing ground In the school of God and on this earth where Satan and his demons [00:30:01] There's a great war going on after you say Probably more than ever you were before slaved against you Now he hates you with intense hatred But temptation is not sin Enter not into temptation Lead us not into temptation Watch and pray that ye enter not into There's an entering into the point where it concedes and you have something to do with that. Though God promised you, I won't let you get tempted above what you're able to bear. [00:30:33] You're sort of hung on. He'll deliver you. Oh, keep. Beloved, if you allow yourself to get into a situation where sin draws you in, if you allow yourself to get into a situation, it's not God's fault, where sin begins to draw you in. Oh God lead us not into any situation where I can be drawn, keep me, keep me alert where temptation can't draw me but deliver us, deliver us God from this, from evil, from anything that could happen that the devil is planning by bringing all these circumstances. [00:31:16] God, beloved, expects us also to keep ourselves pure It's not up to God You say, oh, it's in God's hands, nothing No, it isn't The responsibility of man before he's saved to get saved And the responsibility of man after he's saved to obey God And to use his common sense and his conscience Quickened by the Holy Ghost According to the word of God He's always there till the day you die Why? God expects us to keep ourselves from these dangers. [00:31:48] God expects us also to keep ourselves from this entering in where the devil is trying to draw us. You enter in, God expects us not to let that happen. When I was at theological seminar, I had to go. Not everybody is born a Mennonite that doesn't have to go to Bible school to go out in missionary service. Most of them will come up the streets The world, you can't just send them in the field, they'll do nothing, they're damaged [00:32:18] They need to be doctrinally prepared And they need even to be told how to dress How to eat So many of these, there's a training so that you don't go do damage So I went to this theological seminar because 90 something percent of every missionary society in the world Wouldn't accept you unless you've been through some seminar so I was there, there was a lot of ladies many men, but there were ladies who wanted to go on the mission field you see, keep silence in the church, be careful [00:32:51] most full time workers for God are women you want to know why? because the men wouldn't go to Africa to die in their thirties and forties riddled with diseases Jesus, as they have in their thousands, I've known how many, who go into the huts, who crawl there, to win souls, who under the trees, oh, don't judge them, these women, they do preach, teach, say from the word, while men are standing there, but when these men get saved, they can't say suddenly, oh, you're the pastor, no, use your common sense, don't judge a woman who says, look, I'm going to train you, but as soon as you're ready, you take over, so that there's no woman having authority, [00:33:34] But don't judge the woman for bringing him to Christ and setting up a situation where she can put a man in charge. Oh, I'll tell you something, the men get the pulpits across Africa, the women get the souls. The women are the ones that reach the souls. And you want to take what they say is two-thirds of the full-time workers on Mars missing across the world and say they're sinning? You tell that to God before you do and see how many souls won't be reached that you will be damning if you ever had that implemented. Now these women were there at our theological seminar [00:34:08] One of them, one of them was, she was a drug addict They picked up her body in the gutters She lay and when they did wake up these people they wondered how they weren't dead When they realized what they had survived through one night and the stupor of these terrible drugs that they were enslaved to. Well, there was a sea king from her heart wanting to get out of the gutters [00:34:40] and these Christians that work in the streets, that go out there in front of the nightclubs in these places where the drug addicts all lie and riddle with drink and sin, they took her when she began to show her desire. She was listening to them and they washed her, they clothed her, they fed her, they housed her. and they led her to Jesus and this woman was gloriously freed totally, not over a matter of trying to go with withdrawal [00:35:10] there was a moment God just set her free and she came to the seminar wanting to be a missionary for Christ now, there's a long time in that seminar before they say, alright, you're able to go out in the work now the seminar I belong to You didn't pass exams by academic, it's as if you could live it, and you have the right to preach it, so I thank God I went there, otherwise I don't accept you But, this woman from the gutters, from the streets, through drugs, I quite was fond of her, because I thought there was a lovely integrity there [00:35:54] and in spite of all the ruins of her skin and life from the gutters she really had turned out to be a very wonderful person and one day she said of what she was going to do as we came close to the end of the years we were acquired there and she said stop please Who's ever banging their foot, please don't. [00:36:25] You don't even know you're doing it. But I do. Now we will look and we will stop you. Okay. You want to preach one day in here. Okay. You might be excited about what I'm preaching, but outside we'll both stamp our feet together. Not right now. I'm sorry about that. but she said that she is feeling impressed by God to go back to the streets [00:36:56] to win people that she can identify with, that she knows what they're in and to share a testimony, she felt God wanted her to go back to that situation and work on those streets to bring these people to Christ and I said to her, I don't believe that's God's will for you Now she was offended at my questioning or doubting that it was God's will And I said you could be drawn back Most of us could never go back [00:37:28] Near the friends, the people, the atmosphere That destroyed our lives when God set you free Most of us couldn't go right back into it I don't know if it's God's will you might be drawn back Oh, she had some understanding that if Christ sets you free, you're gloriously freed, you couldn't go back. Christ delivered me, how can I go back? Well, she went back. And this dear lady was there, on her knees, bringing souls to Christ. [00:38:01] I don't know if it was a year, a year and three months. One day they found her riddled with drugs, lying in the gutters. And the next thing I was told, contacted and told, she was dead Her body lying in the gutters, filled with drugs She died in the gutters And for a few years she had been delivered from I don't understand doctrinally I don't know what your persuasion is about [00:38:33] That can't happen if you were saved Look, I'm not here to defend a doctrine You want to go out there and defend the doctrine? Please go. I'm here for a show and I'm here to warn you. I'm here to warn you what I know can happen. You argue all your arguments about it. Go away. Get seminars of arguing to see who wins the doctrine. I'm not interested in your doctrine. I'm interested in anything I can do from the scriptures to warn you. [00:39:04] Be careful. Be careful. God expects us to keep ourselves from danger. From danger. God says to us, keep thyself pure. Oh God, I thought that's what salvation was No, you, you have a part [00:39:35] Through common sense and a conscience To keep thyself pure Keep thyself pure, James says Pure religion And undefiled before God and the Father is this To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the world. There's something you've got to do. There's something you've got to do. Keep himself, to keep thyself pure, God says. [00:40:07] Keep thyself from anything, anyone, any place that your common sense and conscience will warn you could draw you back into sin. You have a responsibility, sir. Don't just say it's all God. Rabbis Oh, you haven't got the same Bible I've got You will find that there's a drawing power After you're saved Eventually the devil's going to set it up [00:40:38] Don't doubt it There's a drawing power of old friends There's a drawing power of circumstances that you knew of the past There's a drawing power That will always overpower you if you are out of touch with God by neglecting this. A drawing power suddenly that you won't even know how it's possible you can be so weak. What am I, what was I about? My wife's father is a farmer. [00:41:17] A very godly man and he also preaches. He's never been through seminar or any theological institution but he has the pulpit across southern Africa a few preachers who've got degrees from universities on theology because he's loved by the farmers and on his tractor he was taught by the Holy Spirit to face every hardship a farmer knows and survive as he sought God. In drought, in hardships, oh he walks with God and is when many thousands walk with God across Africa through his life and ministry. [00:41:51] But he's a farmer. And on the farm he grew up with a young man of the country, of the continent and many of them are enslaved to alcohol because a great part of Africa pays. Part of your salary is wine. they want it, it isn't only the farmers it's demanded they're enslaved from little boys to alcohol it's a tragedy written across millions in Africa [00:42:23] where the wine farms are so, it's a terrifying thing but it's a way of life and a tragic way of life because they're enslaved from teenage boys from 11, 12 year old boys and no parents, the parents don't even mind they just, it's everywhere, that's our payment Well, this one man grew up with my father-in-law, he knew him for a long, long time from boy And my father-in-law, Jenny's daddy, preaching always to his workers, to all the laborers across the whole of the lands [00:42:58] All the farmhomes, gone from generation to generation, they stay, that's home, that's it And they work on the farms This man was so enslaved to drink, but he was a good man But when he drank, which is normally the Fridays, Saturdays, eventually, that was really their days, just lost control He became violent, his personality changed Oh, alcohol is an evil, a terrible evil And he would beat his wife and his children [00:43:31] And they lived in fear of life, for the weekends especially because it wasn't the same man that walked through that day lived in fear of him coming back his wife was a Christian and she would come into the houses on the farms and have a working place to as a domestic help with the maintaining of the cleaning of the house etc but that's her way of an income and she would walk into the house there [00:44:03] with her eyes blown up and swollen, her face cut open, her body all bruised and weeping again and again and they all knew it was her husband. A horrible thing. I wonder how many millions of homes right now face that. But one day this man got so desperate when he saw his wife, when he saw his children, He didn't know he had done it. He couldn't believe it. He would weep in sorrow and remorse and self-aberration and begging people to help him. [00:44:41] But one day he kneeled with my father and Lord gave his life to Christ in desperation to set him free. And he stopped drinking in one moment. After all those years from a teenager. Jeffrey, now his children, his wife didn't come into the workplace, into the houses of the owners of the farm with bruises, she didn't come with all these scars, she came with a smile, no tears and she said the children don't live in fear of him coming home [00:45:13] and this went on and on, a year, two years he carried his bible oh he went to every meeting prayer meeting everywhere he was just so excited but he had friends from childhood not only my father-in-law was his friend friends of his own nation his own culture that were still enslaved to drink that drank as teenagers with him and they said we're getting him we'll get him back [00:45:43] we'll get him back and They waited one night as he was coming home from a meeting and they grabbed him and threw him to the ground where no one could see him and they opened his mouth with their hands and poured alcohol making him groggy and almost drowned as he tried to fight them off and he lay drunk totally drunk hobbled into the home, his wife on her knees weeping [00:46:17] Why? Why? He went back to drink. He was a lorry driver. That was his, people call these big trucks. They have it there to take all the vegetables, all the farm produce to the marketplace all over the country where the best sales are going. And so he was under the influence. This is a few weeks after they did that to him, and this big truck rolled, and many people, oh, but he was killed, drunk, driving, died drunk. [00:47:00] It was three days later after his death that one of these two men that did that to him that was his childhood friend was standing with all these big machines that sought out everything on the produce because of the demand and somehow he slipped and fell into this machine and his body went out like mincemeat it's a thousand pieces [00:47:31] and even the godless said it's God's judgment on him you don't have to wait for the day of judgment if you're that wicked for God's wrath to come on you don't you play the fool with God And you, young people, who still want Satan and don't your people back, if they get saved, how evil that you could do, that you could want that man back to destruction and damnation, because you stood and you forced him back. [00:48:18] Don't play the fool with God. Proverbs 4, verse 14. enter not into the path of the wicked you choose that I don't understand this man I let God explain one day how he let the devil go that the devil could have done that that's beyond my comprehension but there's a horror in my heart of what friends will stoop to what Satan can make them stoop to [00:48:50] to get you back and I'm not going to hide such illustrations because they're not your doctrine I want to warn people to be careful even when you go home if you know there are such friends enter not into the path of the wicked go not in the way of evil men [00:49:21] avoid it, pass not by it, don't even go near it, turn from it, pass away, do you think God cries out that there's no danger, and he's crying this out to godly people, Psalm 1 verse 1, blessed is the man, God's blessedness written across your life, you don't have to say you're blessed when God does that, that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, What does that mean? He will never allow the ungodly to influence him again. [00:49:55] He walketh not in the council. No matter what they try to do or say or persuade. Go! Go! No standeth in the way of sinners. What does that way mean? He will never go ever again where sinners go to sin. No! Nor sit in this seat of scornful I'll never go near I won't allow myself to be drawn near to those who hate God [00:50:27] And God's people and righteousness He that walketh with wise men in its context godly wisdom Shall be wise, have godly wisdom But a companion of fools shall be destroyed God says in Proverbs 13 verse 20 But the devil will try to use your old friends [00:50:59] The devil will try to use your old friends to get you Near the drawing power of the magnet of sin That once you were enslaved to The devil will try, don't doubt that I was saved a few years, quite a few years I began to preach And one day, one day friends from my teenage years found me [00:51:36] They weren't looking for me, I wasn't looking for them And quite frankly I didn't want to even see them I had said once, loud and clear, get away from me till I die. If you don't come with me to Christ, I don't want you near me in case you draw me back. But one day, the years went past, and this group met me in the streets of a city. and the one looked at me and they'd all aged. [00:52:08] Sin, sin will destroy you. Satan doesn't care. He hates you. Don't you believe you're going to survive sin? I just looked at their faces. They aged, aged in their pursuit of sin. And they looked at me, shaken, at what I looked like as a young Christian preacher. And they said, Keith, that everyone who is laughing and joking and mocking you, but no one's laughing anymore. [00:52:51] None of us. none of us laugh at you anymore no one jokes about you anymore but then he said these strange things he stood there with this little group of old friends that I once used to always be with but Keith, there is a confusion people say becoming a Christian like you have you become too good no one is good enough for you you throw people down like dirt [00:53:23] that's what Christianity does, you know, you're too good for any why don't you just come tonight there's a gathering of old friends I don't know how many is going to be there but there's quite a lot will be there it's not in a night club it's not in an evil place it's in one of the apartments it's just a little gathering or something come, just once just come and show them that you don't throw people away like dirt when you become a Christian, like you have. [00:53:56] That you don't not acknowledge their existence and their feelings of just being cut off and ostracized like dirt. That you might get contaminated being near them. Just come and say hello. So that that argument can be thrown away. You know, I looked at this fellow, he wasn't smiling, he wasn't being facetious, he wasn't being evil. he just was asking a very sensible thing for an unsafe person to ask of a lifelong friend try all right, I'll come [00:54:27] so they must have probably gotten a phone and said this person is actually coming back to say hello to us I don't know how many probably would have been there but I remember I had to be out of the city by quite a few miles and the time came that I had to leave that I could get there so that everyone after the working hours could be there and I got in the vehicle and my heart somehow just said, no, this is not God's will. No matter what he said. But I went and as I drove something remarkable happened, something staggering happened. [00:55:03] A storm started, a storm that, you know, you people have tornadoes and you can go to sleep. Africa doesn't know those things. But this storm was so severe, I'd never seen anything like it. My life within minutes of driving along the freeway, the clouds, what's happening here, whoa! And the lightning and the thunder and the winds and the rain pouring, the winds pushed my car off the street. The cars couldn't control, they were just smashing into the, there was just total devastation as I drove. [00:55:37] I could hardly see in front of me what I saw, the vehicles unlost. God, what's happening? And I had to drive so slowly. I said, God, is this Thee, trying to stop me? Is all this for me? But you know, in spite of this, I drove on, slowly, sliding, nobody else was driving, they couldn't. I finally got to the centre of the city [00:56:13] where these apartments were that I had to find in this one building and the rain had stopped a lot but the winds, like I never knew the severity, there just never were such winds I tried to open the car door I couldn't even push it open God, eventually I got out and I could hardly stand, I was holding on and I looked out, that's the building, well they must be there I suppose and you know as I started to try and move from the car, something terrible happened [00:56:48] there was one old building, high, about 10, 12 stories high that the sheets of steel, the corrugated iron that must have been from old buildings just lifted up, it was like the strangest thing to see The winds were so severe it just lifted the whole roof, ripped apart, and flew up, and these sheets were flying, and then I looked at this and goodness me, I stood looking, and every single sheet just suddenly started coming toward me, and right with such swiftness, just floating up, and I threw myself on the ground, on the tower, crying, God help me. [00:57:28] I would have been chopped in half everyone smashing these things and I got up and I got in the car and I said God forgive me please don't destroy me have mercy on me please God I'm going home, stop this now I was weeping in fear, I drove home the storm lifted up ten minutes later the wind stopped as I was on the road I got home and the devastation must have been billions of our currency, let alone millions. [00:58:08] I got home. I got on my knees, still weeping, fearful, trembling. Could this have been God doing this for me? And I opened the Bible. I don't do this much in life, but sometimes I've resorted to it. and my eyes fell on a verse I withheld thee from sinning against me and I knew that just doesn't happen God told me [00:58:43] you might doubt Oh, the devil will try to use your old friends in a way you won't realize when you get into their territory close enough to the magnet with the drawing powers back you won't know what it is it's just back in Yield not to temptation the old song tells us [00:59:13] For yielding is sin. Each victory will help you, some other to win. They're watching. But as you yield, you've lost them. You'll never win them. Fight manfully onward, dark passions subdue, look ever to Jesus He will carry you through, but look to Him [00:59:44] Ask the Saviour to help you, comfort, strengthen and keep you You want to live this? He has a holy obligation to give you all the grace Not to get into the drawing path when you're tempted of the magnet of sin Son, evil companions, never forget that Bad language, disdain, God's name, hold in reverence [01:00:21] No, take it in vain, be thoughtful and earnest, kind-hearted and true But look ever to Jesus, he will carry you To him that o'ercometh, God giveth a crown Through faith we will conquer, though often cast down He who is our Savior, our strength will renew [01:00:55] but look only to Jesus for He will carry you through ask the Savior to help you you've got to ask and then He has a holy obligation to give you what you're asking Him to fulfill that this book demands of you to keep thyself pure unspotted from the world again He has a holy obligation now to give what he demands of you when you want it. [01:01:29] There's the magnetic effect of circumstances. You will always find when you venture near the past venues. I knew a farmer who became one of the great priests of Africa. He was unique. He was feared. Oh, he was fearful. But this man won multitudes to God through his uncompromising, fearless preaching of the Bible, no matter where they put him, what pulpit. But he was a farm boy, and a very poor one in those days. [01:02:05] When I was first saved, he was an old man. He had preached across our land and brought... But as a farm boy, he told us one day in the pulpit, they were so poor he didn't even have shoes. That was Africa farmers. Many of the children, there was no money for shoes. and he said the farmer beside them they could see the house, they could see the fence the two farmhouses were closed they were more affluent and more profiting [01:02:36] prosperous and those boys had shining shoes and new clothes going to church on Sunday they would put everything they could looking like poverty-sickened farmers and there was always envy from this man's heart As he looked at this other boys and girls always prospering and everything, you know, he was totally unsaved, of course, he envied them and kind of hated them. But one day the worst thing on earth that could ever happen was this young boy his age, the eldest son who was going to take over the farm like he was going to take over his daddy's poor farm, this oldest son was given a horse. [01:03:15] Now that was something, you might think horses are thrown away, there's so many, Africa, a horse costs money, a horse is something, for anyone, if it's a good horse Anyway, this young fellow suddenly is on this beautiful horse, you know, going off to the town, the community town, and he couldn't believe it, there he was in this lovely clothes, looking over at him, knowing he's looking with envy Looking at him, I have a horse now, oh, he hated to see this, he's got a horse, I'll never have a horse, I've got to walk barefoot most of the time, the town of my age, growing up now, old Suze if I've got any, well, one day something remarkable happened, he found he had enough money after an incredible amount of sacrifices, [01:04:07] I don't touch it that he heard this man, this boy was selling his horse So he went where he didn't like to go But he looked this one that he hated in the eyes and said I hear you're selling your horse, yes I have enough money for what I have here You want to buy my horse? Yes If you finish with it Don't want it, don't want to sell it I'd like to buy it Here's the money, okay So he got this horse. Now he's dreamed daily about having a horse. He's got it. The horse. He's got it. [01:04:45] So what does he do? He puts the best he could on. Combs his hair back with water so that it's plastered down, you know. And he gets on his horse and he's going now with the same look that he's envied and hated because he never had a horse. So he's going down now into the community town, the town of the farming community. Then he's going down the street, and of course everybody sees, oh look, he's got a horse. That's an achievement, you know, so he's going down with his horse. And he is so thrilled to go in this town with his dignity. I have a horse. What did the horse do? The horse suddenly starts going where he didn't want him to go. [01:05:25] Thank you for watching! and the reason with it that it went where it's not supposed to go. [01:06:00] So he gets on the horse again and says, Now behave yourself or I will kick you. So he's going down now. The dignity comes back. The people are watching, you know, and the girls, etc. He's got a horse. Suddenly the horse does the same. You're born a goat. But he goes and stops in front of another building, just stands. And he was really angry. But the horse wouldn't move, so he gets off and pretends that's where he wants to be, you know, in case people wonder what's wrong with this man, he can't ride a horse [01:06:34] So, eventually he gets on and does it with another building, so he now stands there and he thinks to himself and he begins to realize, you know, this horse had another owner and out of habit of everywhere that owner went it just went it was so used to it, it was just habit it just didn't wait for the owner to say he knew this is where the owner is going to stop so he realized this horse has to know something he's under new management [01:07:04] hallelujah There is an old chorus I sang one day down a street when I was conscious Christ has set me free. And I walked down that street and I've done many strange things. But I sang loud. I think they should have put me in prison because you don't do that in our country. Down the street. I'm the property of Jesus. [01:07:35] Satan has no right to me. You see, I was under new management. and the joy in my heart knowing it, knowing it but there was the drawing power when you got close enough to the places you used to go that I had to learn to protect myself from because I was the property of Jesus to look to him for grace now to keep me from the entering into temptation into the magnetic field of that [01:08:07] the drawing power of sin Satan creates circumstances while you and I are asleep. Do you honestly believe the devil sleeps? Do you honestly believe he doesn't hate you with such intense hatred that while you are sleeping him and his demons are just thinking what can we do to set up circumstances through our people and events that we can create? Do you think the devil can't do that? Do you think things just fall into place that create circumstances where you could fall and get drawn back into it? [01:08:37] Oh, the devil's devices, we're not ignorant, he doesn't sleep while we're sleeping, he's working What can we do to get his eyes off Christ, to get him staggered, to get him the drawing power of the magnet of his past of sin Satan creates circumstances he knows would set off a chain reaction in my life He can't know my thoughts, hallelujah But, he's watched me from birth into the first sin I did, into habit, into sin that destroyed me, into sin I tried to stop [01:09:12] He knows! He's not ignorant We have a terrible enemy who's got demons everywhere working with him to destroy and hurt the people who love God And this, we must never forget He creates circumstances, they don't just happen that he knows will set off a chain reaction in my life because of the past chain reaction that he's witnessed in my life in past circumstances before my salvation and even after my salvation. He knows. He might not know my thoughts, but he knows how to get them going in the direction, [01:09:50] in his direction through his knowledge of my past habitual sins. One of the devil's great lies is when he accuses us of sin because of our thoughts. We must realize that there's a great difference between thoughts of evil through memory of places and things. Memory is not sin. God didn't save you and blot out of your memory what happened to that building, what happened to that friend if he comes near you, what that woman's after. [01:10:24] We must realize there's a great difference between thoughts of evil and evil thoughts. It's not just the physical presence that draws you in, it's the allowing. We're suddenly drawn in a past memory of what goes on in that life, what goes on in that place, in those circumstances that draws you. So he creates knowing what your thoughts must be, though he doesn't hear your thoughts, because of past watching you. You know I once said to a very godly preacher in our country, an old man [01:11:00] Why am I saved? I have no doubt I'm saved I've been set free from things that damn my soul But there's so much thought Where do these thoughts come from that aren't, they're evil How can God deliver me from that? He said listen my boy There are thoughts of evil But that's not sin The godliest man you'll find on earth if he's honest Will tell you there's thoughts of evil But they're not evil thoughts You've got to reject those thoughts of evil before they become evil thoughts [01:11:32] You see, he says you can't help it if the birds fly over your head Nothing you can do about it But you had something to do with it if they lay a nest, you know, and eggs You've got to reject evil thoughts, thoughts of evil before they become sin They're not sin, you don't have to confess everybody has through memory but the Bible says bringing every thought into captivity unto the obedience of Christ [01:12:03] you have a part to play the devil knows he can create a chain reaction by something that will make you think of things of past memory, the memory of it is not sin but don't allow yourself to be going in the chain reaction bringing every thought that brings about the past chain reaction through knowledge of sin in sinful places and sinful people that draw you to these circumstances if you continue to harbor the thoughts until they become evil thoughts. You've got to reject them [01:12:33] and bring those thoughts into captivity unto obedience of Christ. Reject them! Before they become thoughts of evil. And then there's the magnetic effect of circumstances entered into in ignorance. Oh, the devil knows that. If you didn't choose, you didn't even know. And suddenly you find yourself in the devil's territory. Don't think that won't happen to you in this world. He's the prince of this world. [01:13:07] This book says it's his territory until Christ redeems us from this body. We're in it. There's the magnetic effect of circumstances entered into in ignorance. and you've got to do what God tells you to do because God tells you that could happen in the Bible. A man by the name of Colin Peckham who was our principal at our theological seminar and then went to Scotland, Edinburgh, to one of the great institutes [01:13:38] where he sent missionaries of deeply conservative, uncompromising preaching and he has influenced the lives of many, many hundreds and hundreds of godly preachers that went out across the world, onto Nissenfield, most of them but Conrad Peckham is a great man and I thank God for his influence upon me he's godly he's not an academic drowned by academic qualifications and trying to impress anybody he walks with God and he tries to help us to walk with God if we want to preach before we have the right to preach you walk with God I loved him for that Conrad Peckham shared with me one day [01:14:09] of how when he was a young Christian he was in Amsterdam in Amsterdam in Holland in Europe and of course it's beautiful You see the beautiful architecture, the unique Dutch cables on every building, even the skyscrapers, it's a totally beautiful, it's not like these concrete blocks, you know, Amsterdam is a uniquely beautiful place to walk, the canals, most of the streets are not tar, they're water, most people go, it's a unique situation, it's like Venice but only far more in orderliness and more modern. [01:14:41] but he was walking these all the places he could in the areas of the center of the city looking and drinking and all these wonderful new concept of life it's a way of life in its own, Amsterdam and he was enjoying it and the evening came and he was trying to get every minute he could before he had to leave the next day of what he could see of Amsterdam while he was there because he never came back so he suddenly found himself in a situation, a circumstance where he what is this? and he saw women [01:15:12] dressed as women shouldn't dress and all surrounding him and calling him in and coming in front of him and things they did and he looked around there's red lights you know and he realized he's come to what the world knows because their government doesn't stop it makes so much venue for men away from their families who want to be evil but in Amsterdam and he realized I'm in this place that I remember somebody saying about [01:15:43] but I'm right in it, I'm right in it as far as he looked back everything just saw these men and women all going and the horror as these women were approaching him all over calling out to him dressed in a way that shouldn't be dressed that he never saw a woman like this he's a young Christian from a godly home And what did he do? He said, there's a verse in the Bible that came to my mind, Flee, flee, youthly lusts. [01:16:15] You know what this really means in the Greek? Run! God says, the circumstances you dare not linger, you dare not walk away in dignity and say, no, no, no, you run! So what did he do? he turned and he ran like somebody trying to win the major event of the world screaming at the top of his voice help me God, help me you think that's madness? [01:16:49] he didn't lose his purity, his integrity his godliness he entered into a place in ignorance into the devil's territory but be careful don't think you will stand just because you're saved you won't don't walk away slowly in dignity and try and act you didn't mean if you suddenly find yourself in the territory in situations of Satan that is his strongholds, atmospheres, territory [01:17:21] don't you dare believe you don't have to flee you turn and run and you run so fast and don't look back because many a man who found himself in circumstances through ignorance didn't run and were destroyed that I know of who were preachers the magnetic effect of circumstances entered into an ignorance but now I want to consider the magnet another startling truth [01:17:54] This is the truth about the effect of a magnet. I want to look back at it. If you turn the magnets around, this was something that my little mind, I've never been scientific, so forgive me if you know all the terminology, and all I can talk about is the magnet doing things, of course there's a polis, oh well anyway, don't let's get technical, you know what a magnet does, even if I don't really know why. You turn the magnets around, okay, something remarkable happens. [01:18:25] You as a child see it, you can't get over it, you try it, they don't draw. When it suddenly comes close enough, nothing will stop it, boom, it's drawn. You turn it around and you push it close enough and at the same place it actually reverses its effect, it pushes it away. it cancels out the drawing power not only that, it actually reverses the whole effect of the magnet [01:18:56] and pushes, you try and put them together, no how are we to reverse the drawing power of temptation that we know can ruin our integrity if we draw into it We need to look at what will have that effect on our lives towards sin and the magnetic drawing power of sin. [01:19:28] Now, a young man walked up to me in America quite a number of years ago and his little wife, she had two babies, one in her arms, one crying beside her. Now she looked like a battered bird. She had dark swollen eyes and she looked unkept. And he stood beside her and he looked like an animal. I thought to myself, what sin has done to you? Look at you. He just looked like somebody that was wild. [01:20:10] and my heart just broke looking at these two I knew they were in such grief through a life of sin and then I, sure they've sat through my sermon and I said you need salvation oh no, we have been saved so I questioned them I asked them of every aspect they had done everything and then she said something remarkable she said God set him free from things that you wouldn't believe he could ever be freed from [01:20:46] He's free, there's such transformation But there's so much of the past still influencing him There's so much, even though God set him free from the moral and the evil that you can't believe a human could do And I saw in a moment God delivering him, transforming him and I know he's saved he sought God so desperately and his seeking God made me seek God to save me but we're going through a terrible, terrible, terrible time [01:21:16] because of the past effects and the repercussions the aftermath of living a life of sin and evil the repercussions of going against the God-given conscience to the degree oh, she said to me he is saved, don't doubt that Mr. Daniel but we came here because we heard videos and things people have sent us and he said I have to hear this man and I have to pray with him and we travelled, I don't know, they said 19 hours to get to that meeting [01:21:48] she said please help him is there anything you can tell him? we're saved, but is this all salvation is going to be? I said I have only one advice to give you. Romans 12 verse 1 says, I beseech you therefore brethren, Paul says, Christians, I beg you. Now Paul begs you, as Christians, I'm going to beg you tonight. [01:22:25] I'm begging you to take this to heart. you're born again and if Paul and the Bible cries out I beg you don't divert from this don't argue this and you come to a place where you present you dedicate your bodies a living sacrifice you see when an altar was a sacrificed animal it was dead but you have to be the same totally in the altar totally given to God totally surrendered [01:22:55] yielded nothing of a fight on the altar you can do that in the light you've been given of your own free will but as Christians he's speaking to not you that are still going to hell in its context I'm not lying I'm not reading some heretical doctrine here I'm just telling you what the scriptures say there's a moment of total absolute surrender that's required of you and I wish I could have time just to give you the scriptures strewn through the Bible of what actually even Jacob at Peniel [01:23:26] don't tell me he wasn't saved Oh, what a mess he was, and what his mess brought him, and he was still Jacob, double deal, until he came to a place of absolute surrender. Don't tell me that was there just for a story of one unique situation. Nothing's in the Bible that isn't God's heart saying what he wants of you. And oh, how godly he lifted him up and said, you're no more Jacob. Israel, a prince, and that was spiritual, not in a human field of tribes and nations. all in one moment when God, confessing to God [01:23:56] what he really was in spite of all that God did to honor him and show him he's with him this man was still Jacob double dealer, usurper this man came to absolute surrender he had been fighting with God over many issues that needed to be dealt with, that brought a lot of hurt on his testimony, a lot of hurt upon God and a lot of hurt upon him that weren't the will of God before, but after that, that man walked with God in an unusual way that literally, I don't know if anyone else alive at that time was so godly as Jacob, who now was Israel. [01:24:33] But it happened after he had always, he had been God's young man that God loved, but he had to come to a place of absolute surrender. I beseech you, I beg you, brethren, by the mercies of God that ye present your dedicators, An absolute dedication, a dedication where you absolutely surrender your body's living sacrifice. You're not dead. Holy H-O-L-Y. Be not transformed, be not conformed anymore to the world, drawn into it. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that perfect and acceptable will of God before you die. [01:25:16] that God can have his way, come to a place of absolute surrender. Now that's not a doctrine, that's a verses of the Bible. Don't you tell me this strange doctrine. Rubbish! You go elsewhere if you want to tell me this is a strange doctrine. I don't care about doctrines. If God says he wants and Paul's begging you, it's because I'm begging you. don't accuse me of heresy that that happens to you [01:25:47] when I said to this young man did you notice something after you've made this dedication by faith and absolute sincerity before God as best as you can, everything, God take everything on the altar, God God doesn't turn away and say, no way I won't take him, he's not earnest enough God will take your word as weak as you are but you really are putting everything God, I don't want to fight any longer but there's something further by the renewing of your mind don't ever be conformed drawn back into anything of the influences of the world [01:26:19] that can destroy your testimony now that you can prove that God can have his way now with you you have a part after that it's a daily it's a present continuous tense that the renewing of your mind is a continual process after this moment of dedication the renewing of your mind that you may be transformed Changed! By the renewing. Now how do you renew your mind? I said to this young man, listen carefully. [01:26:50] There's one thing I see in this book about how that happens, how you change the bent towards sin. The mind bent through habit, through everything in the past. How it gets rectified and brought into alliance with God's will. That God has His way. and that's the word of God itself. I pray not thou would take them from the world but thou would keep them from the evil. How? Jesus said thy word. Keep them from sanctify them. [01:27:20] Keep them from going back. Keep them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. It's the word of God. Wherewith also a young man tends his way by taking heed according to thy word But the degree you soak yourself in the Word, you'll know the washing of the water by the Word. There's a cleansing. You want to wash yourself from things that were involved in your washing. There's something else that a child of God, the blood cleanses you from. [01:27:52] It is the cleansing power. But there's the washing. There's something of the cleansing power of the Word of God that keeps you. Wherewith also the young man cleansed his way by taking heed according to thy word. But don't tell me it's holding the Bible, it's devouring the Bible. Sin will keep me from the Bible, but the Bible will keep me from sin, they write in the front of their Bibles. I had to choose a young Christian. And I said, listen, this is a decision you have to make daily to reject anything else. [01:28:25] The devil tells you, you need to do that you don't have to do, and you know you don't. And soak yourself in the Bible now. Make this the greatest moment of your day, your life, the greatest priority, the most guarded, treasured thing in your life Not your work, not your girlfriend, not your wife This, you take God's word and devour it Be consumed in the word of God As much as God gives you time, you put away anything else You get away from the crowd, you just be alone with God and devour the word of God [01:28:56] To the degree you will, you will be all these influences of the past will be undone, and your mind will be renewed, changed, to transform you totally. It's not just a moment that God sets you free from moral things that will damn you as you read the Scriptures, but to be made holy and kept pure and transformed into the image of Christ that was lost to the fall, to the degree you soak yourself in the Bible when you're all absolutely surrendered, that is. You're not fighting with God, you just by faith do that. [01:29:29] Well, I said, it's up to you, but I guarantee you, God will undo everything of the past. You never stop being tempted, but you will not be drawn in and failures and sorrow written across your face. So, they went. I didn't see them for a few years. One day I was in another state, this young man stands beside a young woman who's lost a lot of weight, Other children, but I didn't have the black rings, beautiful hair, beautifully, modestly dressed, clean face, bright eyes, joy [01:30:08] And this young man, clean, short hair, lovely dressed and pure face and bright eyes and joy I didn't know who they were And they told me, and she said we came a long way again to find you We heard you were here, this is the closest you were We came here to tell you he did, he went back, she did the speaking His father was a Methodist minister He was born in a Methodist minister's east, he was a saved man they say But this boy was just a mess [01:30:39] And he went home from what you said to him and said Daddy, this is what this man said Daddy, I want you to help me You know I'm saved daddy Daddy, the effects of the past have so destroyed me that there is more needed here And you know that, Daddy And this man says it will be undone to the degree I suck Daddy, I want to stop working I need a poem [01:31:12] I won't be able to provide for my wife and children Daddy, I don't want to be a loafer I'm not asking for something permanent I want to stop life until I find what he said would happen. I want the whole day. I want the night. I want the months that if needed until I'm rectified and changed by the renewing and changing my mind that this book will do. And his daddy wept and said, Of course, I will provide for you as long as you want. [01:31:46] What father would argue with such a tragic son? His wife said he went into the other room, shut the door for hours in the mornings, hours in the afternoons, hours into the nights, sometimes through the nights. He didn't call them out and say, time for me, no. Day after day, week after week, month after month, daddy didn't say hurry up now, it's getting time, you go and get your own work. [01:32:21] No one did. And she said, Sir, suddenly I looked at this man and I saw everything I ever believed God would do when I first came Was done when he applied his life to these things And I did too He works, of course he works But every moment he has spare time he goes to be with Jesus Christ alone and with the word And I don't fight him, nor does anyone else who argues [01:32:51] that is neglecting me, because this is what I want, this man, that God has made, that God has transformed from the effects of past sin through what you said he must do. To the degree you soak yourself in the word of God, young man, to that degree, Every bit of bent and leaning toward Satan's ways is undone [01:33:24] You will be tempted, but you will find the most staggering effect to say no And bent another way, that's reversed Rather than you're weak all the time And have to look all the time in desperation for grace It's this I looked at a preacher in one town in my country Who told me he was married with children but he had a terrible habitual sin that's very degrading in his past that I don't want to bring up and he said he's drawn when he sees these [01:33:54] drawn back into it he so struggles and he's so frightened he's so scared of what's going to happen he so loves his wife, his children but there's this incredible weakness I said listen, I told him the same I said listen to me, you're a preacher the devil's hammering you because he's got a lot of shame to bring on God's name because of who you are, what you chose to do, which is noble, that God, separated from you, chose to preach. But you've got to deal with it. I told him the same. [01:34:25] I said, listen, I don't know when they're going to ask me back into this town, but when they do, I want you to invite me to have another meal with you in the same restaurant. Even if it's five years, even if it's ten years, I want you to remember, and I want to look at you, if you did this, to see what I know God will do. But if you don't do what I have asked you to do, please don't ever ask me to meet you because I don't want to weep for weeks when I look at what's left of you even though you're saved. It's up to you and I left him. Well, I don't know how many years it was. It was a few years and I went back and he did invite me back and we went to the same restaurant and he sat there and I tell you something, maybe the same little features in some ways, but you wouldn't recognize the purity and integrity and refinement of the Holy Spirit. [01:35:10] Every ghost in the way he spoke, the way he looked, the confidence, the joy, the peace, the refining of God, having his way of the life. Here, here. But it's your responsibility, your choice. It's not meetings, it's not videos, it's not tapes, it's not books, it's not friends and fellowship. These things have a part But the daily, the daily most meaningful thing is the meditation of the word of God [01:35:44] There's nothing more important, no doctrine, no experience you could ever come near after salvation The greatest thing, the most vital thing is the meditating of the word of God And to the degree you do and make that your goal Read Psalm 1 every day before you walk out of the door without meditating day and night. No hurry. Meditating means there's nothing to hurry for too because this is the most important. Read Psalm 119 to see what God says will happen to you if you don't make this your life. [01:36:22] How you won't survive but how you'll survive no matter what comes against you in life. If you won't survive you'll triumph through thy word. I had perished at Ness, my delights were in thy word but that's your choice from tonight and let me shock you if you don't start tonight you never will I guarantee you when God speaks, confronts you, shows you the way [01:36:52] if you don't start right away you never will can we stand please Father in mercy and all of us help us not to push this message out of our lives and just go on but to change and to apply everything as the Holy Ghost reminds us to write things down so we don't forget and years from now help us as if we're sitting in the meeting [01:37:23] that the whole message will come like a vengeance back to us in circumstance upon circumstance that we will turn running screaming and we won't give up because of the habitual things of that old horse but know we're under new management and apply ourselves to the things as we look to the new management as we look to our God as we avoid evil shunning, evil companions and anything that in any way could draw us into that drawing path As we keep ourselves pure, oh God help every one of us never to recover from this message [01:37:59] Though it was brought in weakness through a weak-based despised man But brought in integrity for God's glory Oh God, write this message on our hearts Even on children yet today before they become defiled And enslaved to the degree they open their consciences and go against their consciences Which God gave to protect them They'll be enslaved to those things if they touch Oh God have mercy To help us to know we have a responsibility [01:38:31] It's not just in God's hands According to this book And if there's anyone here Lord that's not truly born again They can't apply themselves to these things They have to seek thee until they stand up a new creature in Christ All things pass away when they're off the broad road and the narrow road and everybody on earth knows it and sees it and becomes even their enemies. But it's righteousness, you see. Help them to find thee as the Savior and then to apply themselves to what is in their mind now and to die climbing. [01:39:10] In Jesus Christ's name, all of us, us from our innermost beings, in utter sincerity, for thee to grant this grace, that this message will not be lost until the day we die. In Jesus Christ's name, for his sake, his glory, and out of love to him, we ask it in faith. Amen.