I'm sure you'll all agree that was a great little hymn we were singing. Look to the Lamb of God. I want to speak to you about the Lamb of God tonight. And if there's one here who's not yet rejoicing in that wonderful salvation, you say, well, I don't know a thing about it. It's never come to me. Well, look to the Lamb of God. This is the key to the great gospel message. You see, someone loved you enough to die for you. You say, for me, yes, for you, if there was no one else in this world, he loved you enough to die for you. And yet you've been treating him rather shabbily, you know. You've been going through life without thinking much about him or bothering much about him. And the shadows are lengthening. And it's just possible that even tonight you could look into the face of the Lamb of God and there's life for a look. Now, most of you, I believe, can say, well, I love the Lamb of God, and it will be a message for your hearts, too. Now, just before we read the Scriptures, do you like to give you some little line about this week? I didn't know when I arrived here just what line of Scripture to open up as these days go by. But it's been growing upon me today that in the mornings it would be lovely if we could study some of the great... mighty men of David who surrounded him. He was used of God to make these men what they were. Well, you say you're going to talk just about the men. Oh, no, no. You'll find that all these mighty men had wives and just wonderful how Mrs. So-and-so is just as able to serve the Lord, David's greater son, as their husband. In fact, I think we have got a face pack, that it's the ladies that largely beat the men in service for God throughout the assemblies, the churches. We haven't far to look to see them working on every hand in a diversity of work, and these are the women, says Paul, who labored with me in the Gospel. Then as we turn to the evenings, Monday through Friday, feel constrained to talk about the coming back of the Lord Jesus. You know, just before the Six-Day War broke out in Israel, I had the joy of going with my wife and two very dear friends to spend two or three weeks in and around the land of Palestine. And we knew something was brewing, but we little realized that as we left, it would only be a matter of days when that war broke out. And I came back to Jamaica determined to study the Old Testament prophets. Those great old Jewish prophets that saw the dispersion of their people and then the regathering of that people to face their hour of trial. And somehow those books began to live in a new way. And I believe that this is something that's so up to date, it's so fascinating, and that we ought to spend time going over these great facts. In fact, only the other day, as I was coming up here, I told you there was a strike in Miami, the national couldn't fly, and I had to stand by on a united to get to Jacksonville. And when at last I got on board, I found myself sitting with a very fine, tall, lovely gentleman. And we soon entered into conversation, and I found out that he was the father of the mayor of Jacksonville. I don't know who the mayor of Jacksonville is, you may, but I don't. But he was the father of very proud of his son, whose mayor of the city of Jacksonville. And we got talking and soon found out that we disagreed. She didn't believe in foreign missions at all. Why should we go and trouble people with... with our religion and bother them at all. Leave them alone. They've got their own religion. It's just as good for them as anything we have here. And I said, well, of course, the only difference is this, that the Christian has a Lord who's alive. And in resurrection alive he gave his command going to all the world and preached the gospel to every creature. No, I am with you all the days, even to the end of the age. And I said, his commission spans, and if we are Christians and we are going to be disciples, we've still got to spread the good news he entrusted to us. Said, well, are people like it or not? It's our task until the Master comes back again. And then we got out of the Second Coming. And do you know he looked into my face, he said, do you know? He said, I'm convinced of this. He said, the Bible's coming through today. Did you think so? And so we were talking about prophecy, talking about these thousands of years old scriptures that spoke of the people of Israel brought out of Egypt and planted in the land to be a light to the nations, and how they failed. God said, I've got to punish you and judge you and scatter you amongst the nations, and the nations couldn't digest them. And I traveled in. Well, forty odd countries preaching the gospel, but wherever I go, I find the Jewish community. We've got fifteen hundred Jews in Jamaica, a little tight, well-off community with their synagogue and their rabbi, influential people. And as you go from island to island and country to country, you'll find them everywhere. And this book says that after two thousand five hundred odd years, the times of Gentile dominion will lift and they will go back to their land to face their trial. And today they are right back in the land, whether you like it or not, they are there, twenty-one or twenty-two years old. And they are surrounded by a sea of Muslim, Arabic people who want to annihilate them, push them into the sea, get rid of them, exterminate them. And they are facing their trial. coming up on them fast. They're in four days of sad, sad days of history and then one day their Messiah is coming back to be their Savior, the Savior of that nation. Do you know their eyes are going to be open to the fact that their Messiah is none other than Jesus? who came the first time and they rejected him and said we will not have this man to reign over us and nailed him on a cross outside the city gate. And he's alive. He's coming back. And they look upon the one that they've pierced. And with deep mourning and tremendous repentance, acknowledge Jesus' Messiah came and he's coming to reign. And did you know this? He's going to reign over all the world. Jesus lived. Not just over Palestine, over Great Britain, America, China, Congo, Brazilian forests. For a thousand years, every meal will bow and own Jesus the Lord. The one they spat on instead, we won't have it. God said, all right. Run your world without him. And they can't. The only solution to world problems is the return of Jesus Christ. So, night by night, we're going to take this subject out if you've got some friends around. If you're lovely if from Houston Heights or around, they could come in with you. If you could bring them up, invite them along. We'll just spend an hour around the Word of God studying the prophecies and get in the thrill of this blessed hope of the Lord's return. I know for the Christians, it'll be a purifying, strengthening hope for all of us a challenging hope. And I feel we must keep this subject right to the front in these momentous, wonderful days. These are wonderful days to live in. Don't you think so? Aren't you glad you've lived long enough to see these days? The seventies. The sixties saw a man on the moon. The seventies may see the man from the glory coming back again. Wouldn't that be wonderful? Now for scripture reading, shall we take our Bibles and turn again to the last book, Revelation, chapter five? I love the chapter so often read in the assemblies of the Lord's people. A chapter that gives us four visions that John the beloved saw. And if you look for them in verses one and two and six and eleven, you will find the words I saw, I beheld. And you ask yourself as I read this chapter, what did John really see? Chapter five, verse one. And I John saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book, written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals. And I John saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book and to loose the seals thereof? And no man in heaven nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon. And I John wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon. And one of the elders said unto me, Weep not. Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has prevailed to open the book and to loose the seven seals thereon. And I John saw And lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a lamb, as it had been slid. Having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. And when he had taken the book, the four living creatures and the four and twenty elders fell down before the lamb. having every one of them hearts and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints. They sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof, for thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation. And hast made us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth. And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne, and the living creatures, and the elders, and the number of them was ten thousand times, ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the land that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. And every creature which was in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them heard I saying, Blessing and honour and glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever. And the four living creatures said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth forever and ever. God will bless to our hearts the reading together of Holy Scripture. Now just before our talk, shall we quietly just close our eyes for a quiet moment of prayer? We would be still and know that thou art God. God who so loved the world that he gave his Son to be our Saviour. God who is not willing that any should perish, but that all might come unto him and live. Gracious God, wilt thou control the lips of thy servant and make him thy messenger? will God graciously control the ears as we hear thy word and may it reach our minds and our hearts with blessings may we largely forget each other and only be conscious that thou art here let us feel thy touch let us hear thy voice as we wait with expectation in the name of our Lord Jesus Amen. Now friends, you've got open in front of you a chapter, Revelation five. And this chapter is perhaps the best known chapter in the book, especially in the circles of Christians that are gathered here tonight. How often you've heard it read in a morning gathering. I think I could say this, that if you were to take this wonderful book of Revelation, you will find twenty-eight times the title given to the one who is being revealed to us, the Lamb. It's a unique picture name for our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lamb. If I was asked for a division of the book, I think I would stretch out my hands like this and say, here's the great revelation of Jesus Christ, twenty-two chapters in our English Bible. And you could begin to split out the book something like this. In chapter one, you get, as we saw this morning, the person of the Lamb. The person himself, who is the Lamb of God. Then in chapters two and three, you get the churches of the Lamb. Close with relief you get to chapter nineteen, and in chapter nineteen it's thrilling. It's the marriage of the Lamb. The time has come for the great union between the Lamb and his bride. And then as you move into chapters twenty, twenty-one and twenty-two, you seem to be stepping out of time into eternity. It's the rule. and reign of the Lamb of God forever. In other words, there came down amongst us from space a man. You may argue, you may shake your head, you may doubt this, but the Bible clearly teaches and gives a fact. The word was made a human being. Just think of it, there came from space amongst us as human beings, who was God-managesque in flesh. He came to taste our battles as a boy growing to manhood. He taught as never other man taught. He wrought his miracles, his signs. The reaction of a world, even religious world, was hatred. They didn't like him. He condemned them. They wanted to get rid of it. At last they nailed him to a cross. And on the cross he cried, Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. And that one who in those dark hours upon the cross offered himself without spot to God, and God made him to be sinned for us, he who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. He did something on that cross that allowed a gospel message to go out into this world. It's been sounding ever since. Christ died for our sins and was buried and on the third day rose triumphant. He's able to save to the utmost. And this is the message that rings around the world tonight. It's attracting people everywhere. Oh yes, it's all around the world I meet them. Some people think that this is a sort of Western religion. It's not. I go to countries where I'm speaking to a sea of black faces all the time. I go to another place like Singapore and it's yellow faces all the time. Ninety-nine percent of the great congregations in the central town hall, Chinese, Chinese, Chinese, devoted lovers of Jesus Christ, eager to win their friends for Christ. From every tribe and kindred and town and people, this gathering out of a people, drawn by the lamp of the Lamb of God, they look into the face of Jesus and they say, The Lamb of God, the one who took my place upon the cross, the one who died to redeem me to God. And they rejoice in the great salvation. Now in chapter five, you saw those five things that John saw. He saw in verse one a book, a sealed closed book. He says in verse two to five that there's no one worthy of opening this book, big enough and great enough, and he's weeping John as he sees no one. And then all of a sudden he's told to dry his tears, someone has been found. And he turns to see that someone, and he stays to face with the lion of the tribe of Judah. The kingly Lord Jesus, who stooped down in kingly Rhine and was born in Bethlehem. The risen son of David, greater than David or ever man who lived yet, just looks into his face. He says, I beheld the third king, he was a lamb. He was a lamb with the marks of Calvary, a lamb as it had been slain, a lamb with the marks of accomplished redemption in his hands, his feet, his side. It's one of the amazing facts that the Son of God will ever bear those marks. The Son of God became the Son of Man, that we might lift the fallen sons of men and make them eternally the sons of God. Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us to do such a thing, that we shall ever see him, the center, a risen, glorified man with the marks of Calvary, the head of a new race, who has brought many, not a few, many sons to glory. And then it moves on to the fourth behold in verse eleven. He says, I heard the voice of angels. I saw the living creatures, the elders. He said, it was an innumerable prong, ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, and they burst into the great cause. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain. Now I want to give you a little puzzle tonight. You know what I was a good boy, and I'm glad to tell you I grew up in a Christian home. One of the treasured memories of my boyhood days is a hard-working businessman who, as a father, loved this book and loved to teach us this book. A mother devoted, sweet, the best mother in the world to those wildish boys, Believe me, a mother who loved the Lord and taught us to put our hands together as little chaps but a bedside and say, gentle Jesus, meek and mild. And as I've grown up and gone out into a dirty, old, smucky, selfish, sinful and dying world, I thank God that he gave to me a Christian home. It's a heritage, a treasure. If you didn't have it, you're the loser. But the Lord always makes up to people. If you want God's best, you can have it and you can pass it on to your children and your loved ones and your grand, you know. Don't feel that you've missed out if you've missed what I had. But you know, when I was a boy growing up, I was really puzzled. My father and mother used to talk about the places of worship in the town, and I soon became aware of the fact that there was in the town where I grew an Anglican church, and there was a Baptist church, and there was a Congregational Church, and there were different denominational groups of Christians. And all these different places were called places of worship. But I very soon found that Providence Mother had a great regard for what they spoke of as an hour of worship. And they used to look forward to the Lord's Day morning, the Sunday morning, as the hour when they would go and worship. I used to go with them. Sometimes as a boy I was bored. Nothing to interest, a little lively fellow. A kindly mother gave me a pencil and paper, and I used to draw cats and dogs and kids and elephants and all sorts of things just to pass the time. Well, you see, fancy asking children to sit through an hour-long track that they don't like. Well, looking back now, I realize that in those days it was a discipline. And I thank God for it, because we are living in a world of undisciplined children today. They don't know how to sit still for five minutes. They rule the roof. They rule mother and father. They command the whole situation. And, of course, the days have changed. You mustn't touch the little gears today. Well, you'll pay the price. The price will come. It always has. It always will. And in these days, I looked back to those old days, and I was told, what was this thing called worship? I couldn't understand it. Now, they didn't help me. I'm sorry to say this. The folks who stood up on the sacred desk, and they stood there and opened up the Word of God's They didn't help me a bit. They would forget it like this. They would get started on the subject. Now, I say, now, dear friends, we are going to read today from Deuteronomy twenty-six. Now, let me turn to it. They would read from Deuteronomy twenty-six about a big basket of first fruit that was brought to the Lord and offered to the Lord. And, you know, that's a fascinating subject to any boy. Did you know that? Oh, I tell you, I pictured the melons and the papoas and the peaches and the grapes and the bananas in my mouth with water and just into this great basket of lovely first fruits. And when it had all gone through and the big basket had been brought and offered to the Lord, the preacher would stop and say, now he said, Christian friends, are your baskets full? Have you brought your worship this morning? And what worship had to do with a basket of lovely fruit, I couldn't make head or tail of the whole situation. You, of course, are clever, and you could, but I couldn't. And so I went away puzzled as a boy. Very puzzled what worship was. A little later another dear man would get up and he would say, now let's turn to John's Gospel, Chapter Twelve. And he would read that beautiful story of a woman bringing an alabaster box of very precious spikenard and how she came to the room and how she went to the Lord Jesus and how she broke it and she lavished all this precious spikenard on the Lord Jesus until the whole room was filled with the fragrance of the ointment. Oh, this is a great story. I love these Bible stories. Anything like that, you know, to taste or to smell. Mmm, smell. I could almost smell it, you know. You know, boys love smells. Did you know that? That's why they creep in when Mother's baking all those cookies and things. They come creeping in. Smell the ice, you know, they say. Of course. and the idea of this wonderful ointment. And then all of a sudden he was coming out, I'll alabaster Box's appointment. Who? This is a picture of worship and we can lavish it on the lawn. And I read Bumpadip. What is this worship we talk about? Now one day it dawned upon me that whatever worship is or whatever worship is not, there's one thing about worship. And it's this. It cannot be made or manufactured in five minutes. Simple statement, but there it is. Now you try this. Next Sunday morning at about eight o'clock, You say to your friend or your child or someone, look, one out in the garden and get a basket of lovely first fruits, please. You try it. You try it in your yard, in your garden, in your bedside, at home. I wonder what they'll bring in. You can't produce a basket of first fruits in five minutes. No, every fruit has to be watched until it comes to the time, and it's almost right, and it has to be plucked, and it has to be cladded together, and it could be lavished in five minutes, but it certainly couldn't be produced in five minutes. True, it takes a long time to grow. And as for the box of alabaster ointments, well, you can lavish it and break it, and the whole place can be filled with a fragrance in five minutes, but... Believe me, it's all those spices and roots and parts of the tree that has to be often dropped by drop, dropped by drop, squeezed out the very life of a plant. It may have to be compounded together with the art of the apository. It may take a long time. It's very costly. It can be lavished in a moment, but certainly not produced in a moment. And it dawned upon me, no one thought this. It dawned upon me that worship was something that was produced in a life. And it's not so much a place of worship. It's not so much an hour of worship. It's a life of worship. Ten days a week, a life of worship. It's produced in our lives. But the word itself, if you examine it, simply means the worthy ship. The worship, the worthy ship. Someone rooms large in your thinking. Someone that you in speech hitters say is worthy. And I can bring my best to that one. And I'll dare to say this, wherever you find the word worship in the Bible, you will always find men and women. going into the presence of someone bigger than themselves and conscious of the worthyship of that person bringing something and laying its gladness at the feet of the one's worth. You won't find this wonderful word worship in your Bible in Genesis one, two, three, four right away through the book of Genesis. In fact, you'll have to get to chapter twenty-two to find the word. And you'll see Abraham and Isaac and the servants and the donkeys going to that distant place. And they come to a certain place where they can see it in the distance. And Abraham turns to his servants and says, Abide ye here with the donkeys. I and the lad will go yonder. And what? Come again to me. And on the mountaintop you know how he built the altar? He broke the news to his darling boy, Isaac, laughter, that miracle son. And he put him on the altar top. With the fire and the knife he approached and lifted that knife and God stopped it. Just as the knife went up, God said, Abraham, Abraham, lay not thine hand upon the lad, for now I know. Now here is God, being thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son to be made. This is worship. This is worship. He is worthy of obedience. Even if I don't quite understand why. Even though I can't explain the whole situation. He's asked. In that obedience I bring, I offer. You can find this all through your Bible, right through to this chapter here in Revelation, where the great throng around the throne look into the face of Jesus, the Lamb of God, and they burst into the great throng. Worthy is the Lamb. The worthy ship of the Lamb of God has captured their hearts. They're in love with him. They bow before him to heal to him the period of their life. I wonder if you're living a life of worth. Oh, I tell you, it doesn't bother too much. It's important, but it doesn't bother me too much when I meet with people to ask them the question, now which place of worship do you go to? It doesn't bother me too much to say, well, now which hour of worship do you appreciate the most? You see, there's a danger here. Suppose some of you realize that there are lots of people today who wouldn't miss the breaking of the braids and the drinking of the wine for anything. It's the custom and tradition of their life of worship. But they're not living a life of worship. They're not worshiping on Monday, Washington, and Tuesday in business and Thursday right through the week, to the end of the week. And it's here that it's produced. It's Monday through Saturday, in the rush and bustle of everyday life, if you know and love Christ, and he's the worthy one, as it were the basket of first fruits, which you can grab the offer in the hour of worship, is being produced in your life. It's here the oil so precious, the alabaster box full, which in the lavishness, presence of cows withdraws out your heart, is produced. Are you living a life of worship? You see, I don't quite understand what it is. Well, look with me at verse twelve. This great crowd that's innumerable, verse twelve bursts into a great saying or song, we'll call it. A loud voice, they sing or say, worthy is the land that was slain. Worthy is that one who went to the cross, that one who was slain as the Lamb of God, which took away the sin of the world. He's now alive and now he's strongly burst into this song. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain. I'm going to ask you a question in view of this week's evening ministry. Do you think I'm right when I look into your face and tell you that it's quite possible? It's quite possible. I abhor any suggestion of fixing chimes or fixing dates or trying to partition up these great scriptures and say it will happen here, there, or everywhere. No, it's as prophecy is fulfilled before our eyes, our faith is confirmed. And we see the book as clearly told us at the age and happening. But here, is it possible? that next Sunday, the first day of the week, the Lord's Day, you and I, if we are real Christians, instead of gathering round the table and having a remembrance supper, could we gathering round the throne? For it only till he comes we keep this remembrance up. It's because he's absent from us, we keep it in memory. But faith could give way to science, and we could be round the throne. And with ten thousand times, ten thousand, it seems to me, our very beings were birthed out in this great song. Where, over is the lamb that was slain? Could you be singing that song in a week's time? Possibly? You say, yes. Possibly we all could, if we are real Christians. Well now, listen, listen, Jeff. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive seven things. And it is worthy to receive them round the throne up there, and all your being will be behind it, and you will sing it without any reserve or restraint, and you will say he's worthy to receive the seven things from my life. Is he worthy to receive those seven things from your life seven days a week down here in this old world? You say, well, yes, of course. Don't be too quick and say, of course. Yes, he is. And this is a life of worship. A life of worship is an attitude of heart towards your Lord Jesus, the one who loves you and died for you, that says, worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive. seven things in my life, power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and death. Now is he getting those seven things from you today? A practical question. If he is, you are living a life of worship. If he isn't, you are not living a life of worship. And so in a moment we're going to just test those seven things in my life and yours. It will hurt me, I know. Now look at the list. It lies there in verse twelve. Worthiness, the lamb that was slain to receive power. This word is a very remarkable word. It really means authority. Is he worthy to receive as authority, power over my life? Can he at any time of the week say, you're mine and I want you to do this or do that or do the other? And the whole attitude is, yes Lord, I'm under your authority. Now he's got it. If you return to the Gospels, you will find that the written Lord, when he was raised from the dead, looked into the face of his disciples, and this one who spent all those days gathering them like scattered sheep, revealing himself to them, he said, Now I've got to leave you. All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore. No, I am with you. He's got it. saw him going up the ascension and disappeared. You say that's the last the world has seen him. No, no. Ten days afterwards there came at the request of the Son from the Father a gracious person of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit, the Comforter. He's in the world today. You can track practically all the good wholesome work in the world for the gracious work of the Holy Spirit. I suppose most of you are brave enough to face the fact that there are two kingdoms in this world. There's the kingdom of darkness and there's the kingdom of God's dear Son. As the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience, it's manifested and fits the headlines. You can see it on television. You can see all the rude, rough footage of the evil spirit's work in human hearts. The lust of the flesh. The pride of life. The awful, yes, factory is grinding it out. The works of the flesh are manifest. They hit the headlines. It's world huge. But there's another gracious movement. The Holy Spirit of God is producing in lives the fruit of the Spirit. I'm meeting them everywhere. Oh, yes. If I travel from country to country and island to island, I meet them everywhere, large Christians. They look into my face and they say, you know, Mr. Wiley, such was some of you. I used to be this, that and the other, and they talk about all those dreadful things of their past and their selfishness and their carelessness. But one day Jesus captured them and one day a new spirit came within them, the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit of God, and as a truth is being produced. Today these two great kingdoms are clashing like that. If you're on the fringe of the battle, you'll know something about them. If you ever try to press into the kingdom of darkness and win souls for Christ, you'll be conscious of the enemy's resistance to hatred toward Jesus Christ. Listen, he is hatred in this world. It's kept out of blood what people have done. The battle's on. It's all around us. It's coming to its great crisis soon that we shall see this week. But the wonder of it is, that the Holy Spirit of God is allowing the power of Christ to rest upon a certain life. They look into his face and they say, Lord Jesus, you shall have authority over my life. You shall have power over my life. And I would like to just challenge you at this moment. Have you got this power over your life? When you say I don't understand what you're talking about. Well, I'll make it clear. If you were to turn to Luke's Gospel, let's see now, where is it? Chapter seven and about verse eight. You will find a man called a centurion, a Roman soldier, and he uses these remarkable words. He says, I am a man under authority. That means I am a centurion, shall we say a sergeant in the army. And he said, there's a great king back there at Rome, and he can say to me, go, and I go to the ends of the earth. He can call me from the remote frontiers and say, come, and I come and stand in its presence. He points to some task, and he says, do this, and I do it. And he said, I'm under the authority of Caesar, but he said, he has entrusted me with authority. You just turn the hand upside down. He says, give me a hundred men. And I could look into the face of a hundred men, and I could say to a man, Go! Go! Come! He's come! Do it! Go! That's authority. Are you under Christ, Your Father? Can he say to you at any time, seven days a week, Go! And your whole attitude is, yes, your fee, your envy. I don't know what it's going to mean to you. It might be go you into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He might want you to have a mission like that. It might be go home and tell them what great things the Lord have done for thee. I've seen this so often in my travels and preaching. I've seen God save a man. And as he goes out at the door and says to him, now you'll tell someone what's happened, won't you? Yes, I will. And maybe he has to go back to look into the face of a wife and tell a wife that he's been converted, that he's been saved by God's grace, that he's given his heart and life to the Lord Jesus. Maybe the wife says, oh, you're mad. He gets a reception like that, something. I've seen boys go home to parents, and I've seen these parents utterly misunderstand the kids when they say, Oh, I've got to give a view to you, mom and dad. Jesus Christ is my savior. I've given my life to him. Oh, rubbish. That's ridiculous. Half a nonsense. This is happening all over the world. It would be that someone would have to go home tonight under the authority of Jesus Christ and say, I've got to go home and tell them what they dreamed the Lord had done for me. The third word is come. Come, go, and the third word is do this. Into any task, the one who has authority can point and say, that's your job. And oh, there's a word for Jesus, none that you can do. It may be to discover the law. It may be to write a letter. It may be to visit a sick. It may be to do the thousand and one tasks of Christian service. The life of worship is lived under the authority of the Lord. Gladly, Lord, I do. Are you living a life of worship? Now look down the list and we'll be brief about it. The second word on that list in verse twelve is riches. Riches. But you've got them. Don't think of the Lord Jesus now as being poverty-stricken. He was born in a stable. A blue boy who dazed, he was a carpenter's known supposed son. Through his wonderful minister, he said, Go and catch a fish and take a penny out of its mouth to pay taxes. He said, Poxys have fools, birds of the air nest, for some of them hadn't got a home to go to, to delay his bed. And when at last, when they mailed into the cross, they gambled away his garments, but there was nothing else left. And he who was rich yet for our sake became poor, that we through his poverty might be made rich for eternity. But he's gone back and he's got the eternal riches. Oh, one could turn you to scripture after scripture, but speak of the Lord as the upholder of all things. By him everything consists, is held together in the spangled universe. My dear little men, blessed them. Wonderful Americans have trodden on the moon in the sixties. They've got out and crept onto the face of this cinder. They've left their footprints on the moon as they've moved around for a few hundred yards around their captain. But listen, Jesus rose and passed right through the heavens, abashed into palaces and powers and might and dominion, to the eternal throne of the north, the center of the universe, and sat down in risen manhood at the right hand of the majesty, in the heavens. and the university. Yet it only here in this little old world of ours that they squander money, sinfully and selfishly. If I gave you the figures of a meritor, how much he spends on liquor, How much he spends on gambling, how much he spends on drugs or even cigarettes, you would be amazed at the fantastic sums of money. How much does America spend in spreading the gospel of the grace of God? In God we trust written on their coins. Perhaps the supreme nation that stands with a torch in her hand for the Christian faith in the face of a world that's racing to the end. But how much does he spend on Polly Mission? That's critically small amount. How many Christians have laid at the feet of the Lord Jesus, their riches, and said, Lord, you're worthy of them. You've got to pay my debts. You've got to pay old uncle Sam. You've got to pay the tax-gatherer. You've got to meet my demands. Good Lord, I'm a steward, and I'm going to lay at thy feet what I've got and handle it for thy glory. All the selfishness there is today. I don't expect unsaved people who know never taste the grace of God to give money to the Lord or his work. I don't think he really wants it very much. Just think of it. There are men and women who are in half a mile of my voice right down here who have never given a dime, let alone a dollar, let alone a thousand dollars for the work of God. Wouldn't you? How interesting is it. Don't blame them. But the point is this the moment you learn to know Jesus as your Savior and he's the worthy one. You look into his face and you say, Where is the Lamb that was slain to receive? Rich. You can be a steward and handle your substance for the glory of the Lord. And I know. I know that out on the battlefront, wherever I go, I see. servants of God, men and women, sustained because, in fact, in the homelands there are those who love Christ and minister to their need. And this is true of all God's work. Some of us are wasting the only opportunity we'll ever have of being stewards in this world. Look at the chirping on the list. Wisdom. But he's got it. All the treasures of God's wisdom are wrapped up in Jesus Christ. He is wisdom. Yet how few today are taking the golden bowl of wisdom, that wonderful mind that lets us distance from the brute's creation around us. Don't you love the animals? I do. I think their instincts are glorious. Their inexplainable ways are marvelous. But they cannot sit and reason things out. They can communicate one with another. But they cannot reason things out, and believe me, let me say this with emphasis. There is a gulf today still between the lowest man and the highest beast that they cannot bring. They've been trying to for a long time, and they're absolutely pushing it down into the minds of your precious grandchildren as they go through school and college and university, that of course you're absolutely out of date unless you take... Jasperian, it's only a theory. Hook, line and seeker. We've come up from the little tiny protoplasm away up through the species and we are just moving upward. No. A man with a special creation and he's not a man moving upward, he's a fallen man. He may be moving forward, but he's certainly at heart a man with death raining in him. a fallen man that needs redemption and restoration to fellowship with God. And wisdom, this precious wisdom, is something up here. Is he worthy of us? Have you ever laid it to his feet? I'm surprised as I talk to the young people today. I say to them sometimes, Do you ever spend a crap time in your Bible? Yeah, Tom, tell me. You see, they're troubled. They're wondering what the will of God for their life is, who they'll get married to, and what job they'll go into, and they're questioning. I say, have you spent time with your Bible? Oh, oh, oh, oh, yes, I do, son. I just... Do you ever eat breakfast before you go out into the rush of the day? Oh, yes, I always get breakfast. But do you ever have a time of spiritual food before you eat breakfast? Well, sometimes... And I begin to dig and I find very, very soon that young people are rushing out into the day without without without bringing their mind to the word of God and the word of God to their mind and let this mind be in you which were this Christ Jesus. You know growing up without the mind of the Lord. You? Yes. Is it possible that this is a neglected book in your life? I tell you it's your lack, it's your essential sorrow as you see the wastage of the years, if you neglect the books. This is where you can find the treasures that can store your mind with those things that will be rich, that will grow in maturity and out of that treasure that's fully to God can bring forth things you are those continually. Wisdom, he's worthy of wisdom. So look at the next thing, strength. Strength. Oh, I know that many of us haven't got the strength we used to have. Don't worry too much. You know, you're no longer full of elastic like you used to be, and you see the youngsters running and jumping and swimming, and you say, I used to do that in the long ago, but you can't now, but don't worry too much. We can still be strong in the Lord and the power of His might. The great thing is, have we ever laid the strength for the thought that we have at His feet? And I talk to the youngsters again and again I say to them, listen, don't sing just as I am without one plea. Just as I am, I come, O Lord. Just don't stop there. Look into his face and go on singing, just as I am, young, strong and free, to be the best that I can be for truth, for righteousness, for the Lord of my life I am. I said, there was no regret if you squandered your strength for the Lord Jesus. And no regrets now that perhaps you have to take a stick and limp along. If you can look back and say, well, thank God when I was seventeen or when I was twenty-seven or thirty-seven, I was able to give some of the abounding strength of those years to the Lord. There were no regrets at the evening shadows length. Are you living a life of worship? What strength you have at his disposal? He's worthy of it. Look at the next thing on the list. Honor in a world today that so sadly dishonors him. Can we honor him in every situation? And I look up when I see that written Lord with all power, all riches, all wisdom, all strength, and around the throne, all honor. But down here, here, in Jacksonville, in Gainesville, throughout Florida, dishonor, given very little place. You know, I was working with a dear friend of mine. I hadn't seen him for some years. And he told me the story. He said, you know, Ravish, I'm serving the Lord whole time now. He said, I believe that Bible ministry is my gift and service. And he said, I shall be jacked up at the disposal of the Church of Peter's Christ who teach the Word. He said, I love to do it. And I could see his gift, his strength, his personality, a fellow just in his service. And usually it's developed, well developed in the things of God, at his base. And I said, well, Tony, what brought you out of a secular calling? Weren't you in banking? He said, yes, I was in banking. He said, I had a good job. I was timing in the bank. I was exhausted with a good many of the manager's personal interests. He was handing them over to me to put through for him. And he said, one day he called me into his office, and he said, listen. I've got three jobs I want you to do here, a rather special job. He said he went into them and he said, I absorbed what I saw and he said, I picked up the three papers and said, well, sir, thank you for giving me these tasks. But he said, I'm going to ask you, could you take this second one back? I don't want to tackle it. He said, why? Well, he said, sir, I cannot go and push that through without carrying back. He said, that's not quite straight. He said, the manager looked across. He said, look here. He said, you are here to obey my orders. And he said, you're climbing up in this bank. It depends largely on me. He said, I'm asking you to put those through for me. He said, sir, I'm not willing to put that second one through unless you let me be utterly honest with you. And two men, one at the top and the other climbing rapidly at the top, looked into each other's face. And he told me, he said, as a Christian, I realized that my whole future in the bank was in jeopardy. And I just whispered, Lord, I want to honor you. He said, that promise came strongly to my mind, them that honor me I will honor. I knew the Lord would have failed me if I honored him. Lord, I want to honor you. He said, as I just lifted up my heart, it came like a flash. How to look into the face of that man and talk to him. He said, look into his face and said, sir, now look, you're asking me to go out and look into the face of one of your best customers and tell him a lie. And he said, I'm a Christian, I can't do it, I'm not going to do it. But he said, if I went out and told that lie, came back with a transaction all through and put it before you, How do you know, sir, that when you call me into my desk into your sanctuary here, he said, how do you know I won't tell you lies? Two men gazed into each other's eyes. And that manager said, well, that's right. They took out the second sheet and put them over here and said, that's true. Do you know from that day, from that day that manager entrusted him, he was pushing to the top fast. And when he went in and said, I'm resigning, I feel God has called me to Bible ministry, to go out and teach the word of God. He said, don't be a fool. He said, you'll reach the top in our bank. He said, this is your calling. He said, no, he said, I'm pretty sure God's got another calling for me. And I want to tell you, quite frankly, I think you'll hear the name of this man. I won't reveal his name tonight, but if any of you want to know it, you'll know it. You'll hear his voice in the ministry of the Word of God, in the prime of his life. God is using him wherever he goes. He's been Christ to Jamaica, and we treasure his physics down there. Honoring the Lord in difficult situations. This is a life of worry. And now it has an excellent glory, and I must stop. The land is all the glory of Emmanuel's land, and we have no right to rob him of the glory down here. I say this to you, dear Christians, I say it to my own heart, for I need it. Oh, how easy it is for Shantier a man of God or woman of God to talk about. My church or my conduct as if they are. And they aren't. You are just a camel of blessing. No spiritual work can ever be wrought apart from the Lord by his spirit working through you to an end. Camels only, blesses, master. Thine must be the glory. Some of you know that I've got a little talk on donkeys, the five donkeys of the bank. And there's one donkey, the fifth one, that's very intriguing to me. I start with soles, lost donkeys, lost ashes. And then there's the redeemed donkeys that have to be redeemed by the miracle dam. And then there's the donkey that spoke. And they're the rats that spoke. And God's still looking for donkeys to speak through. And then there's another donkey that protruded at the side of the road and watched a battle and saw a lion devouring and was untouched and unarmed by the gracious provision of Father. And then there's this last donkey on which Jesus sat and rode into Jerusalem. You ever thought of that, don't you? As the donkey treads along the road, people are taking off their jackets, putting them right down in front of him. They're not going to swing along and swing the big branches off the trees and swing them down the donkey's way. Oh, the donkey's going along. Oh, I must be a wonderful donkey. I must be the most marvelous donkey in the world. They've never done this thing. I'm a donkey. Go all the way far. The donkey remembers that they are doing it for the donkey's sake. They're doing it for the sake of one who's dead.