Witnesses to Him

I want to continue with the theme that I have been speaking about which is how the church of Jesus Christ can rise up and administer the authority and demonstrate the victory which Christ has obtained on behalf of the church. I want to say, first of all, that I do not believe that this can be done by an individual. I believe it is to be done by the body of Jesus Christ collectively. I believe it is the entire body which is to demonstrate the victory and the authority of Christ. It says in the third chapter of Ephesians that this is the purpose of God,

“…that by the church might be known unto the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, the manifold wisdom of God.”

God has chosen the church as a collective unit to reveal His manifold, many-sided wisdom, and every child of God is a revelation of one aspect of the wisdom of God. You have a special revelation to give to the world, and not merely to the world, but to principalities and powers in heavenly places, a special revelation of God’s wisdom as manifested in His grace in your life. And no one else can give that particular revelation that you have to give. We are together, collectively, a revelation of the manifold many-sided wisdom of God.

And so when I speak about the glorious potentialities that lie within the church today and the tremendous purposes which God has for the church, I want to emphasize that it is not going to be fulfilled by some gifted, talented individual. It’s the business of the church as a whole, and that’s what God and all creation have been waiting for.

Again I want to say that I feel some of you, in some sense, could possible feel a little neglected that you have not been ministered to individually in the way that possibly you expected when you came to this camp. Some of you came specifically seeking physical healing, and I realize that this has been a theme of many CFO Camps for a good many years. And I’ve always respected the emphasis that the CFO has placed on prayer, but I want to suggest to you that God is calling you to have a new sense of responsibility, not just on the individual level, but collectively for your nation. I believe that God is looking to groups such as this to become effective in the critical situation which now confronts your nation. I think you’ve got to look above the individual level and the individual need, because if your whole nation crumbles, your individual needs are going to look very small in the light of that catastrophe, and it could happen. It could easily happen. In fact, only divine intervention can prevent it, and you should be the one to precipitate divine intervention.

Last night I spoke to you about the place of fasting as a means to precipitate divine intervention. When it’s practiced in accordance with the principles of God’s Word, I suppose there is no greater weapon available to the people of God. The history of God’s people as recorded in the Scriptures shows time and again that when God’s people got earnest enough to deny their stomachs and seek Him and forget about the things that are material and temporary and impermanent, then God moved and history was changed.

There are many such records. There are records also outside the Bible. Times when men and women got desperate with God, prayed and sought God, the whole course of events was changed. There is no doubt in the Second World War when the British nation proclaimed the Day of Prayer, that critical moment, God intervened at Dunkirk. There is no question about that. It definitely happened. I’ve spoken to many men who were eyewitnesses of what took place. When a nation will humble itself before God, there’s almost nothing that God will not do. Our pride and our self-sufficiency are the barriers that keep God back.

I didn’t intend to say this but let me point out to a remarkable fact. In the first book of Kings, the 21st chapter (this is not what I planned to speak about, but it just comes to me), you’ll find there in this 21st chapter of 1 Kings that the prophet Elijah was sent to proclaim the judgment of God upon King Ahab and his whole household because of his outstanding wickedness. And Elijah was sent to tell Ahab that he and his household would be blotted out completely by the judgment of God. And Ahab, this wicked king, when he received this message from God, turned his face to the wall and sought the Lord with prayer and fasting and God said, ‘Because he has humbled himself I will spare him and his generation.’

Now if God would do that for King Ahab when he prayed and fasted, how much more will God do for you if you would pray and fast? Let me just read those words. The end of the 21st chapter of the first book of Kings, the 25th verse.

“But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the LORD, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up.
And he did very abominably in following idols, according to all things as did the Amorites, whom the LORD cast out before the children of Israel.
There was no one quite so wicked as Ahab, that’s what it says, But listen,
And it came to pass, when Ahab heard those words [of Elijah], that he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly.
And the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,
Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me? Because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days: but in his son’s days will I bring the evil upon his house.”

Even Ahab could cause the judgment of God to be suspended for one generation when he got earnest enough to seek the Lord with prayer and fasting. And you are a chosen generation. You’re God’s people. If God would do that for a wicked, idolatrous king, what will He do for the church of Jesus Christ when it becomes as earnest as Ahab was? You know the great condemnation in the last day would be, we never got as earnest as King Ahab.

I’ll have to read to you another Scripture I didn’t intend to, but in 2 Chronicles chapter 7 and verse 14—2 Chronicles chapter 7, verse 14—God says,

“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

You are God’s people called by His name. You are Christians because the name of Christ is called upon you. So this promise is for you and in 2 Corinthians 1:20, the Scripture says,

“All the promises of God in Christ are yea, and in Christ amen to the glory of God by us.”

This promise is included amongst all the promises of God. You are identified as the people of God upon whom His name is called. You are Christians because you are called by the name of Christ, so this is for you. ‘If my people which are called by my name,’ will do four things: humble themselves, pray, seek my face, turn from their wicked ways. Then, God says, I will do three things: ‘I will hear from heaven, I will forgive their sin’ – whose sin? The sin of His people – ‘and I will heal their land’ – the land in which they live.

Now to me (and I was trained as a logician), there is one clear deduction from that verse. If the land is not healed, the fault is with the people of God. And I believe that. I believe the condition of America today, the responsibility lies at the door of the people of God. It’s the church that’s responsible. Not the beatniks, not the hippie, not the alcoholic, but the church. The church is answerable for the land in which it lives. It always has been. The church is the salt of the earth. But if the ‘salt has lost its savour,’ if it doesn’t do any more job, ‘thenceforth good for nothing.’ You know that? a solemn word. Good for nothing. That’s what you are if you’re not doing your job. I don’t know how it is in America, but in Britain ‘Good for nothing’ is a pretty abusive phrase. But that’s what Jesus said, ‘You are good for nothing if you’re not doing your job as a Christian.’

Now today, why I introduced that— Let me point this out, because the first thing required of God’s people is not to pray, but to humble themselves. That’s the hardest. When you can get religious people to humble themselves, anything can happen. That’s what Evan Roberts said in the great Welsh Revival. He said, ‘Bend the church and bow the world.’ It’s not hard to bow the world when you can bend the church. It’s the church, it’s the stiff-necked, self-righteous, self-sufficient churchgoer that stands between God and revival. It’s God’s people that have to humble themselves. It always has been. You can look right through the Bible. First epistle of Peter the 4th chapter,

“The time is come that judgment must begin [where?] at the house of God:”

And if it first ‘begins at us,’ Peter was not in any doubt as to who was meant by that. Where shall the ungodly and the sinner be found? Ezekiel the ninth chapter God sent six men with slaughter weapons

through the city to bring judgment on His people and He said, ‘Begin [where?] at the sanctuary.’ And with whom did they begin? With the elders, with the leaders of the people. And so it is today when God’s judgment comes, it will come on His people and primarily on the leaders. It never will change.

How do you humble yourself? Notice please, you have to humble yourself. Don’t pray, ‘God, make me humble.’ It’s not a scriptural prayer. God consistently says, ‘You have to humble yourself. Don’t ask Me to do it.’ God can humiliate you if you require, but only you can humble yourself. Humility is something that comes from within. It’s not imposed from without.

Well Ahab humbled himself, you’ll see in that passage I read. He humbled himself by fasting. Psalm 35 verse 12:

“I humbled my soul with fasting; . . .”

I subdued this ego in me that demands and says, ‘I want this and I want that.’ I denied it. Jesus said, ‘If any man will come after Me, [what’s the first step?] let him deny himself.’ Fasting is denying your old ego. It’s denying its wants. It’s saying ‘No, there’s something more important than you. You just wait for a while. I’ll attend to you when it suits me. But now my spirit is going to be taken up with God.’ It’s good to know a way to humble yourself, and I tell you it makes you feel like a worm when you fast. Did you know that’s good, because you know what you are? You are a worm. But as Brother Billy said, ‘God can take the worm when it realizes its identity and make it a sharp threshing instrument to thresh the mountain.’ But I think the worm has got to realize it’s a worm first. And there’s nothing like fasting to make you feel like a worm. And when you’re feeling like a worm, say, ‘Praise the Lord, now I realize what I am. I’m a worm.’ I mean it. Fasting makes me feel miserable and it’s a good kind of misery. I need to be miserable, so do you. It’s this arrogant, self-sufficient ego of mine striving around that gets in God’s way. It needs to be humbled. ‘I humbled my soul,’ David said, ‘with fasting.’ I suppressed it, I told it where it belongs—not to dictate in the affairs of the kingdom of God.

“Oh what a wonderful verse: Hebrews 12:9:
We have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?”

You want to live? Be in subjection to the Father of spirits. Submit your spirit to His spirit. It’s a wonderful feeling. Oh it’s good to get down. Do you know I lie on the ground sometimes just to tell myself where I belong. You hardly find a man of God in the Bible that hasn’t been on his face before the Lord; not one, practically speaking. Where you belong is where you came from, out of the dust. Just get acquainted with the fact. It says in the book of Lamentations a strange thing. I’m just trying to get to my outline, but it just doesn’t . . . the more I try the further it gets. This is really between me and the Lord this because I’m a person I think I’m going to say this and I decide to say it, but…

But in the book of Lamentations— And, you know, the sad thing about the Lamentations of Jeremiah is that they were written, in a sense, too late. Now Jeremiah says, ‘I can see it all. I can see where we went wrong, I see what we did wrong, but it’s too late.’ And as far as that particular epoch was concerned, it was too late. The judgment of God had passed over, the people had been carried away, the little children were dying of starvation, the men had been killed in war, the mothers were bereaved, the city lamented, they were put to an open shame, and there was no way to change the course of events. They had left it too late. It’s a tragic book, the book of Lamentations. But it’s good for us it’s there. Let’s make up our minds. We’ll not have a book of Lamentations over the United States. When we all see so clearly it was coming and it came. We could have stopped it, we could have changed, but we didn’t, and now it’s too late. There comes a time when it is too late. There’s no question about that. There comes a moment when it is too late. Some say that moment has come. Personally, I do not believe that, but I think the time is critical. I’m convinced the need is urgent.

“And in Revelation the third chapter, verses 22 and following, we read,
It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed,… [Should be Lamentations 3:22] And if ever that sentence was true, it’s true today.
It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.
The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.
It is good for a man that he should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
He setteth alone and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him.
He putteth his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope.”

But I can say that really this is a little part of my personal testimony. ‘It is good for a man that he should bear the yoke in his youth,’ and that was my condition about twenty-seven or twenty-eight years ago. And the Lord saved me and baptized me in the Holy Spirit I was a soldier in the British Army. And I stayed a soldier four and a half years. I never could see why I had to stay a soldier when the Lord had saved me and baptized me and called me, but looking back I realize out of the various different forms of education I had, the most valuable was the four and a half years I spent in the army after my conversion. It wasn’t the most enjoyable, but it was the most useful part of my total education. And I can remember being in the desert night after night and day after day, months on end, never seeing a paved road, surrounded by carnal, blaspheming soldiers that had no interest in God and the things of God, unable to escape because there was no way you could get away from it. And there came moments of desperation when I sat alone and I kept silent and I even put my mouth in the dust. You might not think that that would be literally fulfilled, but I can remembered times when I cast myself down upon my face on the surface of the desert and put my mouth in the dust, if so be there might be hope. You know it was very good for me. I didn’t enjoy it, but it was very good for me. That’s where we belong, in the dust.

There’s so much today in contemporary life that seeks to help us to forget all the unpleasant realities of life. We’ve changed so many labels. We don’t call people ‘old people’ now. We call them ‘senior citizens.’ We talk about ‘undertakers,’ we talk about ‘rest parlors.’ Everything is done to cover up the unpleasant facts, but they’re just as unpleasant and just as real. We get sick, we get old, we get die, and none of those realities have changed the least bit. And if you think that people don’t get sick and don’t get old and don’t get die, and change the realities by changing the labels, you’re living in a fool’s paradise. We live in a world of unpleasant realities. The great thing about the Gospel is it enables you to look these unpleasant realities in the face and not be afraid of them.

Well, praise the Lord. Well, now I seem to have got through that. Now I want to take a little while to speak to you about another tremendous means that God has put at our disposal as Christians to gain the victory in the spiritual conflict. I want to speak to you today for a little while now. I’ve taken a good part of my time, about the power of testimony. In Acts chapter 1 and verse 8, Jesus said this to His disciples and they were the last words He ever spoke to them while He was on earth.

“But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”

What is the primary purpose of receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit? It is to make us witnesses. ‘Ye shall be witnesses.’ Notice He does not say, ‘Ye shall witness.’ Some people are professional witnesses, but that’s not what He was talking about. He was talking about being a witness in everything we say and do our whole life is a witness.

Notice also we are to be ‘witnesses unto Him.’ We are not to be witnesses to an experience, nor witnesses to a denomination, but we are to be witnesses to the Lord Jesus Christ. And you will find the Holy Spirit always begins to lift when people become witnesses to anything other than Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit moves on. He is come to make us witnesses of a person and that person is the Lord Jesus Christ. And the purpose of Jesus is this witness shall be extended to the uttermost part of the earth. Pentecost was like a great stone thrown into the middle of a pond. It produced a tremendous splash, but the splash was not the end. Out of that splash ripples began to go outwards in all directions, one wave after another. And the purpose of God is that those ripples should go out from that great central splash until they’ve touched every margin of the pond, until they’ve reached the uttermost part of the earth.

And I never can say this without giving my personal testimony which just happens to fit in with this. When I got out of the British Army ultimately after those five and a half years, four and a half years converted, one year unconverted, I stepped out in the city of Jerusalem. I never went back to Britain at that time, and the day I ceased to be a British soldier I became a missionary, not the accepted way. I never went before a board, I never interviewed with anybody accept the Lord, but He told me that He had called me. The Bible says, ‘Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.’ He also told me very clearly that the door was open at that time and if I wished I could step through, and if I waited it would close.

I’ll tell you there are two things that don’t wait for man’s convenience: God’s opportunities and God’s judgment. They never come when we would wish them to come. We have to decide whether we’ll fit in with God or let Him move past us. God showed me as clearly as anything. My grandfather was dying at home of cancer, my family hadn’t seen me for four and a half years, I was the only grandson, the only male descendant of the entire family. Everybody thought that it was logical that I would go home. The British Army was waiting to transport me, had that obligation. And God said, ‘I’ve opened the door. You can go in now if you want to, but if you wait the door will close.’ And I’m glad. That was one of the critical moments of my life that I stepped through the door that God opened.

So I became a missionary. I started my preaching career in the city of Jerusalem in 1946, and praise the Lord, twenty-one years later I’ve got to the uttermost part of the earth. You know where that is? Well, if you don’t know I’ll tell you, it’s New Zealand. You look at the globe and you measure from Jerusalem, and remember this is to be measured from Jerusalem, the place where the stone was thrown in, to the farthest inhabited area of the earth’s surface. It’s the east coast of New Zealand. There’s not a question about that.

Christmas 1967 I made it. I got there. This year my wife and I were back again in New Zealand. So in twenty-one years I got from the center to the circumference, and that’s what we’re here for, to be witnesses to the uttermost part of the earth, till every tribe, and nation, and kingdom, and tongue has heard about the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know, we’ve been remarkably slack about it. You know that out of about two hundred million people in the continent of Africa, about one hundred million have never heard the name of Jesus. And if you go to the sub-continent of India the proportion is much smaller.

I saw a picture in a magazine once of an old Oriental lady, gray, wrinkled, stooping. She said, ‘The old, old story,’ she said, ‘I’m old and I’ve never heard it once.’ Oh tell me the old, old story. Remember there are lots of people that have never heard it once. It’s not old for some people. It’s startlingly new. I had a friend who went to Russia and he testified to the stewardesses on the plane. He got out John 3:16, started to tell them. And he told them, ‘God loves you.’ And they said, ‘God loves us? Impossible. Never heard it in our lives.’ And he led those two stewardesses to the Lord in the airplane before the rest of the passengers. But they had never heard in their lives that God loved them. It was totally new to them. What are we here for? To be witnesses, to tell people, to let them know, to let them see.

Now we do it in many different ways. I know some good people that can follow a principle. They get into an airplane, they sit next to somebody and, lo and behold, in ten minutes they’ve told them everything. Well, I try to do that and it’s the biggest failure with me. Believe me. I just have to let God let me be myself. The way I witness to people would be quite different possibly from the way that you would witness. But people know when it’s real, see? If I tried to be like Jim Christian or somebody like that, it would be a farce. We just have to be natural. But I’ve discovered if I’m just natural in the Lord, I am a witness. One way or another, I speak to people. God speaks through me to people provided I’m prepared to let Him. But this is the primary purpose of our being here.

This is the last words that ever fell from the lips of Jesus when He was about to leave. Have you ever thought actually, because you know when you say farewell to somebody who’s very dear to you, there’s that moment of farewell that you treasure, and it’s imprinted on you memory and it’s like an inward photograph.

I remember when my wife and I said good-bye to one of our daughters and son-in-law that was going to East Africa as missionaries with their little son. And it was a very vivid scene as we stood there and the train steamed out of the platform. Every detail became imprinted on our mind. And I’m sure that for those disciples this was a vivid scene when the Lord was taken from them and they knew that in that way they’d never see Him again. And I’m sure that the last words that ever fell from His lips were particularly significant and sacred. And have you ever stopped to think what they were? ‘The uttermost part of the earth, the uttermost part of the earth.’ I’m sure that they went out echoing that in their minds. Where was the heart of the Lord? In the uttermost part of the earth. ‘I’ve died. I’ve paid the penalty. The work is finished. But no one will benefit from it unless they hear about it. I might just as well never have died if men and women don’t hear about My death.’ Isn’t that true? It’s perfectly true.

You know, somebody said: They painted a little scene when the Lord got back to heaven and the angels and He was worshipped and welcomed. And they were telling Him how wonderful all He had done was. And then one of the angels said to Him, ‘Now, Lord, You’ve done all this and You’ve paid the price and You’ve made salvation possible. What is Your plan to get this to the people that need it?’ And the Lord said, ‘Well, I’ve got eleven men down there, twelve men.’ And the angel said, ‘But you know how unreliable they’ve been. They’ve misunderstood You, they’ve failed You, they’ve denied You. Suppose they should fail. What alternative plan do You have?’ And the Lord said, ‘I have no alternative.’ And that’s true today. You are God’s plan and He has no alternative. If you fail, the whole thing fails. We are His witnesses. The Bible says that. You can be terribly distressed about the awful things that appear in the newspaper and on the movie screens but, you see, we are His witnesses. We’re the ones that He’s relying upon to make Him known.

“John 12:31 and 32 Jesus said in preparation for going to the cross,
Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.”

Where? At the cross. Oh, that’s good news, isn’t it? Through the cross the prince of this world was cast out. At the cross the road was stopped. He couldn’t get beyond the cross, he has no way. Tell your good news: the devil can’t get beyond the cross. He can’t get over it, he can’t get under it, he can’t round it, he can’t get through it. That’s where his territory ends—at the cross. He’s cast out.

“David prayed in one of the psalms, he said:
Lord say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. Draw out shield and spear and stop the way against the enemy that persecutes my soul.”

And you know, the Lord answered that prayer at the cross. At the cross the Lord said, ‘I am thy salvation,’ and He stopped the way against the enemy of our soul. If you’re living on the right side of the cross you’re out of Satan’s territory.

“Salt of the Earth (6), M/L 224 Colossians the first chapter:
God hath translated us out of the authority of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of his love.”

Translation is total. The two men translated in the Old Testament, Elijah and Enoch, and neither of them left their bodies behind. They went entire and God has translated us spirit, soul and body out of the territory of darkness into the kingdom where the rules and the laws are the laws of love—the Son of God’s love. The Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit of life hath made me free from the law of sin and death. Not going to happen in the next age, it’s happened now. I have been translated out of the area where I’m under the laws of Satan, and I’m under the laws of the kingdom of God. This is translation. Why? Because of the cross.

Now is the judgment of this world. They thought they were judging Jesus, but they were judging themselves. Do you know that? The judgment that came upon Jesus was the judgment that was due to them. He was judged in their place. He was their substitute. Now is the judgment of this world and because of the judgment of this world falling upon Jesus, the prince of this world is cast out. His authority is finished. He has no more claim over the new man in Christ Jesus. As I told you, Jesus was the last Adam. He finished all that, and then He was the second man, the head of a new race, emerging through the resurrection on the right side of the cross where there are no more shadows, where it’s the light of God’s countenance. Now is the judgment of this world and now is the prince of this world cast out. I love that statement.

In dealing with people that need deliverance from evil spirits, I’ve discovered that the great weapon is the cross. Oh, how demons tremble when you know how to tell them about the cross. Oh, how angry they get. I enjoy tormenting the devil. Maybe I shouldn’t say that, but I do. Oh, I enjoy it. The demons believe and tremble at the Scriptures. I’ve seen them tremble many, many times at the name of Jesus and the blood of Jesus and the testimony of what Jesus did on the cross. Friend, you do not need to be afraid of the devil. It sounds a startling statement, and I only dare to make it when the anointing of God is upon me, but you do not need to be afraid of the devil. ‘Submit yourselves to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you.’

“Now then the next statement,
And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.”

Whose business is it to lift up the Lord? Ours. And I’m convinced that if every Christian did his best to lift the Lord up, all men would be drawn to Him. I don’t believe that’s an exaggeration. I believe it’s the exact truth. I don’t say all men would come to Him. Some men would resist the drawing, but there would be such a drawing that every man all over the world would feel the tug of the Holy Spirit drawing him to Jesus. If you and I were doing our business—and what’s that? Lifting up the Lord Jesus. That’s what we’re here for. Not to promote a church, not to tell people about a denomination, not to advertise the devil, but to lift up the Lord. Oh, the tragedy is—and I say this without being critical—I think the majority of God’s people spend more time advertising the devil than they do advertising the Lord. You go to the average prayer meeting it’s a long list of advertisements for the devil. ‘Oh, I’ve had this and I’ve had that and I’ve been sick here and I’ve been sick there, and my doctor said this and my doctor said that…’ The Lord is a thousand miles away from all that.

Listen, I want to give you some Scriptures about what to talk about. There’s no problem getting the people here talking, it’s only just getting them talking about the right thing. Psalm 77 verse 12. Did you get that? It’s a good reference, make a note of it. Psalm 77 verse 12.

“I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings.”

And, friend, if you meditate on the right thing, you’ll talk about the right thing. It goes together. Joshua 1:8. It’s really a companion to Acts 1:8, I think. Joshua 1:8:

“This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.”

The Bible doesn’t tell you how to be a failure. The Bible tells you how to succeed, and it’s all there in Joshua 1:8.

“This book of the Law shall not depart out of thy mouth; thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do…”

Three things: think the Word of God, speak the Word of God, act the Word of God. You’re invulnerable. You cannot fail. God doesn’t love Joshua any more than He loves you. You do the same, you’ll get the same results. But it’s what you meditate on and what you speak about that’s decisive in your experience. This is true, all true. Salvation depends on it. Romans 10:9 and 10,

“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”

You cannot be saved on the basis of a wrong confession. If you misuse your mouth, salvation is not for you. You must confess with your mouth the right thing. To confess means to ‘say the same as.’ This is vitally important. Confession for the believer is saying the same thing with your mouth as God has said in His Word.

Philippians 4:8. I don’t know if I’m going to get through all this now, but I really got started. That’s one thing. Philippians the fourth chapter and the eighth verse:

“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”

There’s eight things to think about, and you will not find anything negative, discouraging in that list. It’s all good. Somebody pointed out to me about the land of Egypt where I spent a couple of years, there are two kinds of birds. I’m not sure that I know their names. One feeds on living flesh, the other feeds on carrion. What this person pointed out was very simple. Each bird finds what it’s looking for. The bird that’s looking for the living flesh finds living flesh; and the bird that’s looking for rotten flesh finds rotten flesh. And your mind is just the same. Your mind will find what it’s looking for. If you want to feed on carrion, it’s there; and if you want to feed on the ripe, juicy flesh, it’s there. You can feed on the good or

the bad. Paul said, ‘Think on these things, direct your mind.’ Your mind is not your master, it’s your servant.

Now if you are a captive of a demon, there may be those here that actually cannot direct their mind. Then you need liberation. But let me tell you also, after you are liberated you have to cultivate the right habits of thought. God won’t do that for you, and it takes time. But you can cultivate the habit of thinking about the right thing. It’s a commandment of the Word of God.

“Whatsoever things are true, just, lovely, pure, honest, of good report, if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things.”

And in Philippians 3:3 parallel with that. ‘For we are the circumcision.’ Now the circumcision is the outward mark of God’s covenant people. In the Old Testament it was in the flesh, in the New Testament it’s in the heart, but God said the uncircumcised man child to Abraham is cut off from his people. If he doesn’t carry the mark he doesn’t belong to the people. And this is the mark of New Testament circumcision, this is the mark of God’s people under the new covenant. We are the circumcision, look at the mark.

“…which worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.”

That’s what it is to be circumcised with the circumcision of the new covenant. And everyone that doesn’t have this mark doesn’t belong. ‘Worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus,’ boast in Christ Jesus. It’s a very, very powerful word. Make a continual boasting about the Lord Jesus. That’s the distinguishing mark.

Oh, I remember Brother Lloyd Webber, some of you may know him, pastor of the Church of Christ or the United Church, or some such thing, I forget which particular form it is, in Elk Grove Village. A minister for years, unconverted. Went to the Full Gospel Businessmen’s Fellowship International in Chicago in 1965. He’d just been at a convention of his own denomination where they talked about nothing but social problems and integration and all these things. He moved on to the Full Gospel

Businessmen’s Fellowship. He didn’t understand about speaking in tongues and all these things, but one thing he noticed—they only wanted to talk about Jesus. And as a result he was converted and baptized in the Holy Spirit and now his church is a lighthouse for the whole of that area. At least a hundred people in his own congregation received the baptism. People go there from all around. But this was the thing that impressed him, they weren’t talking about social problems, they weren’t talking about education, they were talking about Jesus. He said, ‘These people are different.’ They were from all denominations as you know: Catholics, Protestants, all sorts. But they weren’t talking about Catholicism or Protestantism, they were talking about Jesus. And that’s the business of the church. We’ve got to make our boast in the Lord. We’ve got to be very bold in glorying about the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let me give you a few beautiful verses from the book of Psalms. Psalm 34. I’d like you if you’re really concerned, to write these references down and take them. And I want you to notice that it’s a decision. It’s a decision. You’ll notice the psalmist David makes a decision, what he’s going to talk about. He says in Psalm 34 verses 1, 2 and 3:

“I will bless the LORD at all times [I will]; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.”

That doesn’t leave room for complaining or murmuring or negative talking, does it? You can’t have the praise of the Lord and all these negative confessions in your mouth at the same time. You’ve got to have one or the other.

“My soul shall make her boast in the LORD:
Friends, we can be very boastful if we boast about the right thing, and that’s Jesus.
…the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad.
O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together.”

To magnify means ‘to make great, and exalt means ‘to make high.’ That’s the business of the church: to make the name of the Lord great and to exalt the person of the Lord. And if we do it, friends, the whole atmosphere will change around us. This atmosphere will change in your city, your community and your nation. It’s true, it’s been proved.

In the great Welsh Revival, God’s people came together, testified about what God had done and spent a couple of hours praising the Lord. And you know what happened? Every tavern, every saloon was closed, every boxing match and every football match ceased, because there were no spectators. It’s a recorded fact of history when God’s people got busy doing what they should have been doing, God took care of their enemies. God took care of their enemies. God took care of their social problems. He can do it when we win the victory in the Spirit we have won the victory. We can just sit back and watch God deal with our enemies.

“Psalm 71, Psalm 71 verse 8,
Let my mouth be filled with thy praise and with thy honour all the day. [Let my mouth be filled and verses 23 and 24.]
My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto thee; and my soul, which thou hast redeemed. My tongue also shall talk of thy righteousness all the day long: [that’s a pretty long while]”

Psalm 105 verses 1, 2 and 3, these are only short selections out of many possible facets. Psalm 105 verses 1, 2 and 3,

“O Give thanks unto the LORD; call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people. Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him: talk ye of all his wondrous works.
Glory ye in his holy name:”

Notice glory. It means to boast, to exalt, to be extremely confident. Talk – about what? Of all his wondrous works. Psalm 145 verses 1 through 12. This will be just about the last passage we’ll be reading. Psalm 145 verses 1 through 12, and again I want you to notice the emphasis on decision. I will do it, I will do it, I’ll do it on Sunday morning, I’ll do it on Monday morning, I’ll do it because I’ve made up my mind to do it. Because I’m not a flabby jelly pushed around by every wind of circumstances, but I’m a mind and a will that can decide what I’ll think about and what I’ll talk about. Oh, the great sin of passivity, you know that. But as I’ve pointed out, we ministers are responsible. We’ve trained God’s people to be sitters, and sitters they are. We’ve given them the idea being a Christian is sitting in church and that’s what they do, sit in church. And then we try to devise some explosion that will blow them out of their chairs. We brought the situation on ourselves in the first place. Psalm 145 verses 1 through 12. I’ll tell you what. If you’ve got a book we’ll read it together, the first 12 verses, and that will be the close. I haven’t got to the text that I was going to speak about, but never mind about that.

[Lady makes a comment] Thank you, it’s nice of you. After all I can see she doesn’t want to go and do ‘Devotion in Motion’ in that weather out there. ‘Devotion in Motion’ is for the ducks today, that’s for sure. [Laughter]

All right, now then Psalm 145. Now I know I don’t pronounce the same way you do, but I’m not asking you to change.

There’s a man in Midland, Texas, who listens to my tapes. I heard about this, and he’s prayed my deliverance prayer so often, he says, now he prays it with an English accent. Anyhow I’m not asking you to do that and we’ll read the King James Version because it’s the one that most have. I’m not saying that the others aren’t good, but that’s the one. Now remember. This is a real personal decision. Are you there?

“I will extol thee, my God, O king; and I will bless thy name for ever and ever.
Every day will I bless thee; and I will praise thy name for ever and ever.
Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable.
One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts. I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty, and of thy wondrous works.
And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts: and I will declare thy greatness. They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, and shall sing of thy righteousness The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger and of great mercy. The LORD is good to all; and his tender mercies are over all his works.
All thy works shall praise thee, O LORD; and thy saints shall bless thee.
They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power;
To make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom.”

Let’s read verses 10, 11 and 12. That’s really sums up what I’m trying to speak to about, and it’s the saints, notice that. It’s the people of God that are going to do this. We’ll just read verses 10, 11 and 12.

“All thy works shall praise thee, O LORD; and thy saints shall bless thee.
They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power:
To make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom.”

You know what came on the Day of Pentecost when the Spirit of God fell? What were they all talking about? The wonderful works of the Lord. Hallelujah. What happened? All Jerusalem came to find out what was going on. And if we were doing the same we would get people coming. When we lift the Lord up, He immediately begins to draw men to Him.

Let’s make it our aim and our resolution in all that we do, in all that we say, to uplift and glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. Many times we’ll find we fail—at first especially—but let’s ask the Lord to forgive us and let’s make up our minds we’re going to be living advertisements for Jesus Christ. Enough of advertising the devil, enough of speaking about what he can do and he has done. Let’s turn over to advertising the Lord. After all, He’s worth advertising. His products are reliable. You can trust in them. Every one of them carries a written warranty. Praise the Lord, Amen.