I am asking you to look at the
Word of God in two passages.
The Old Testament, Zachariah, the fourth chapter.
Reading a rather peculiar passage of Scripture, but
very deeply spiritual.
From the fifth verse of the fourth chapter
of Zachariah, through to the tenth verse.
And then we'll come to a very practical,
easy-to-be-understood-down-to-earth passage
in the book of James, in the New
Testament.
Zachariah four, at verse five.
Please remember it's the Word of the Living
God, which liveth and abideth forever.
The Word that never passes away, forever settled
in heaven.
Then the angel that talked with me answered
and said unto me, knowest thou not what
these be?
And I said, no, my Lord.
Then he answered and spake unto me, saying,
this is the Word of the Lord unto
Jerubabbel, Jerubabbel, the governor of Jerusalem at that
time, who had the responsibility of the city
and the building of the temple.
Saying, not by might nor by power, but
by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.
Who art thou, O great mountain?
Before Jerubabbel thou shalt become a plain.
And he shall bring forth the headstone thereof
with shouting, crying, great, great unto it.
Moreover, the Word of the Lord came unto
me, saying, the hands of Jerubabbel have laid
the foundation of this house.
His hands shall also finish it.
And thou shalt know that the Lord of
hosts hath sent me unto you.
For who hath despised the day of small
things?
For they shall rejoice and shall see the
promise in the hands of Jerubabbel.
With those seven, they are the eyes of
the Lord, which run to and fro throughout
the whole earth.
Now from that deeply profound and spiritual passage,
we turn to a down-to-earth practical
passage in the third chapter of the epistle
of James, the first verse.
My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that
ye shall receive the greater condemnation.
For in many things we offend all.
If any man offend not in word, the
same is a perfect man, unable also to
bridle the whole body.
Behold, we put bricks in the horses' mouths,
that they may obey us, and we turn
about their whole body.
Behold also the ships, which are driven of
fierce winds, though they be so great and
are driven of fierce winds, yet are they
turned about with a very small help, withersoever
the governor lifts it.
Even so, the tongue is a small member,
and boasteth great things.
Behold how great a matter a little fire
can do.
And the tongue is a fire, a word
of iniquity.
So is the tongue among our members, that
it defileth the whole body, and seteth on
fire the course of nature, and it is
set on fire of hell.
May God add His blessings to the passages
of His word.
I notice in my little book, whereby I
have a record of many sermons preached throughout
the world, that I've preached well over 90
sermons in this pulpit, from that far away
September day of 1919, when I was just
back in uniform from World War I.
Over 90 sermons.
It's rather difficult to find new methods just
for Stanmore in some respects, but I've never
preached this method before.
I'm not guaranteeing that you mightn't hear a
distant sound of bells that you've heard in
other days, some of the old hands, you
know, before we finish the weekend, but I've
never preached this method in Stanmore before, and
I think it's a vital method.
Because in a world that is ever enlarging,
a big world, and a world that seems
to be coming bigger with the invasion of
space, how essential is the supremacy of the
small things?
How vital is the importance of the small
things?
Oh, I don't know, there's some I don't
think is so important or vital.
I think we're living in a world where
the big thing counts.
I want to tell you, my dear friend,
the small thing counts with God.
That's why the prophet cried out, who has
destroyed the day of small things?
And James, the practical apostle answers, behold, how
great a matter, a little fire kindling.
There is a young man who understands nothing
about great transactions, and the speaker was a
financial king, seated in his luxurious London office,
talking to a business friend.
And through the open door, they heard two
plants talking together, and one of them said
to the other, there you are, I've just
about balanced the budget.
Only a hake me out, that's nothing.
And like a flash, the financial king said
to his friend, there's a young man who
understands nothing about...
Hake me, make pennies.
Pennies, pounds.
Pounds, fortunes.
Behold, how great a matter, a little coin
can kindle.
When I was a very little boy of
about six or seven years of age, my
mother sent me across the road to a
humble store off of our humble home to
buy a few groceries.
And I handed the list to old Mrs.
Worth, and she started to attend to the
order, and she turned her back on me,
and started packing up the butter or something
in the old-fashioned way in which they
dug them.
And I saw some tantalizing little books.
They were not paperbacks, but paperfronts.
The whole of the front was covered by
beautiful little...
And a few minutes after, I received the
parcel of groceries and walked back over the
street and placed the groceries on the kitchen
table, and this precious little...
And suddenly...
Oh, I said, oh, Mrs. Worth, did she
give it to you, she said.
And I said, no, no.
Beginning to tremble inwardly.
Well, she said, how did you get it?
She didn't give it to you.
Oh, I...
I said, I took it.
You go straight back, said my mother, with
great firmness in her voice.
You go straight back, and you ask Mrs.
Worth if you can have that book, and
without asking for it.
And I went back very trembling, I can
tell you, across that street.
I wondered what was going to happen to
her little three-quarter
-inch books.
It's all right, you can have one.
And I went back feeling like I'd won
a kind of a little victory over my
mother.
Oh, my mother did good work that day.
She nipped in the bud a possible great
sin.
For nearly all great robberies begin with petty
thefts.
The little dishonesty.
Oh, preacher, someone might well say in the
congregation, why are you trifled with hyphenies in
advertisement books in days in which we live
with space exploration, marvelous inventions, electronic power.
They're only trifles.
That's right.
They're only trifles.
But who?
Who has to despise the day of small
things?
Why, that swan sculptor, Michelangelo, the master sculptor
of the ages, kept walking away at the
back of that statue until one man in
desperation said, oh, sir, it's as smooth as
it can be.
Yes, he said, and trifles make perfection.
More than that, trifles count with God.
Who has to despise the day of small
things?
The whole group.
How great am I?
A little fine.
Kindred.
Those two texts are true when you face
three of the greatest facts in life.
When you face three of the greatest facts
in life.
Face the fact of sin.
And sin is a fact.
Those texts are true.
Oh, that wonderful garden planted eastward in Eden
with every beautiful tree you could imagine, with
the peace of the paradise of innocence, and
our forefathers given the right of that garden
to eat of the fruit of any of
the trees, with one tiny trifling little prohibition
drawn round one tree in the midst of
the garden, the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil, and the word God Almighty
said thou shalt not eat of it, for
in the day that thou eatest thereof thou
shalt surely die.
And then came the tempter to Mother Eve
and said, Hath, God said, the dose of
death.
And then the direct line, thou shalt not
die, thou shalt be a God, known good
from evil.
She saw it was something to be desired,
and after all, it was only a little
trifle if she does make a mistake.
And she passed the forbidden fruit, gave it
to her husband, they both did eat.
And according to the Scripture, they fell away
from God.
The fall, theologically, the disaster of the human
race.
All the sorrow, the suffering, the sordidness, the
slaughter of the human race bound up in
that little bundle of a tiny trifling prohibition.
Why?
Because you're conflated with God.
Because disobedience is a deep, devilish sin.
And when God says a thing, He means
it.
And you've got to obey it.
Or count the cost.
If you will count the cost.
Out there in the cursed earth, sweating by
the sweat of his brow as he digs
in that cup with thorn and thistle, you
can hear the groan of Adam, I didn't
know what I was doing.
You can hear the shriek of Eve in
the travail pains of birth.
Oh, that I'd never touched before.
How great a matter a little trifling disobedience
can bring about.
Beloved, are you obedient to God?
God now commands all men everywhere to repent.
Are you obedient to God?
Again, except ye eat the flesh of the
Son of Man and drink his blood, you
have no life in you.
Is there obedience to God?
Oh, don't be a trifling.
Don't be a trifling.
It doesn't really matter a small thing counts
with God.
I don't think for a moment that Cain
meant to kill Abel at the beginning.
They both came to offer their sacrifices.
Cain, the prince of the earth, which he
felt for his own, though God had given
all the grace to enable him to eat
the harvest.
Abel, a lamb of the flock, the slayer
can come through blood to the Lord in
his own appointed way.
And because the Lord had not respect unto
Cain, that he had respect to Abel's offering,
Cain's countenance fell.
Do you ever see a countenance fall?
I've seen some people in my meetings in
the countenance.
I've been talking at times to people and
suddenly, because of the nature of the...
Be careful, Cain.
He's your brother.
That's all right.
I won't do him any harm whether I
hate the fellow.
Ah, hatred.
That hellish, tiger's cat of hatred that springs
up in the heart.
Have you never heard a woman say, Oh,
I dislike her.
You've never heard a man say, I don't
stand the fellow.
Be careful of her.
It can develop to a hatred that is
like unto murder.
Who so hateth his brother is a murderer.
And you know no murderer hath eternal life
abiding in him.
When they met in the field, that tiger
cat of hatred sprang forth and with one
blow Cain killed his brother.
How great a man a little fire of
hatred can kindle.
Beloved, save yourselves from hatred by quenching in
the grace of Christ the first seeds of
dislike, the first rising of resentment.
Keep a heart that is free from malice
and anger.
You never know.
We're living in an age of violence.
We're living in an age when men hit
and strike left and right because the demons
of hell are abroad.
Oh, what great a matter a little fire
can kindle.
I don't think for a moment that Sodom
and Gomorrah were always putrid places.
But I think there came one day into
the mind of a man in Sodom a
filthy thought and instead of throwing it out
of his mind he fiddled with it, he
caressed it, he nursed it, he meditated upon
it, he imagined things from it, he whispered
it to another man and to another and
to another and it went like wildfire through
the community and after years the whole place
is a sink of sordidness.
Oh, said Abraham, to God spare the place,
spare it for ten righteous men.
Yes, I will spare it for ten righteous
men, he said.
But when Abraham rose up early in the
morning and went to the high place and
looked towards the city oh, how great a
matter a little fire of filth had kindled.
The whole place was wiped out and even
the two women that were rescued with the
one righteous man had the awful stain of
the city upon them.
What an age we live in for filthiness.
An old comrade of mine from the second
world war wrote to me a couple of
weeks ago I got the letter this week
rather in which he was speaking about the
years we were together in the army when
he came to the Lord in our advance
at a sick ministry in the army and
he said it's a different world and it's
a dirtier world than in those days.
Was he right?
I think so.
It's a world where impurity prevails in many
a mind in many a heart it meets
you in the exorcism it meets you when
you come up against the ordinary bookstore it
meets you constantly in the conversation of men
and women Oh, Timothy keep thy heart pure
with the cry of Paul not an easy
thing to do No, the fight for purity
is a tremendous uphill fight but God is
able if you trifle with filthiness if you
trifle with immorality if you trifle with that
which is defiled in God's sight behold how
great a matter a little fire kindles Oh,
John said a dear fellow that I loved
who was aiming for the ministry and had
been found in a place of ill fame
Oh, Johnny said bursting into tears I learnt
this kind of thing at a boarding school
the other side of the world years ago
and it's got me down now I learnt
it I didn't despise the die of small
things yes, I did despise I let the
small grow to the large poor broken heart
of man of course impurity can break and
shatter the spiritual life and then I don't
think for a moment that Judas meant to
sell the Lord Jesus Christ at the beginning
he was one of the selected twelve he
had hopes of the Messiah's kingdom he desired
to be in that kingdom but as the
hopes began to fade and the cross loomed
up in the distance Judas spurned to an
old weakness John said he was a thief
he kept the bag and he bared or
he took from that bag that's the idea
of it oh I expect he meant to
pay it back I expect it was to
be squared up but just a little helping
of himself from the bag a little dishonesty
but the time came and he said the
whole thing has failed concerning Jesus of Nazareth
what will you give me and I will
betray him to you precious pieces of silver
down he said for the love of money
as one man said it's in every man's
heart and he got to quench it for
it will get the better of him and
he got his bag of silver and he
never spent it he went back and threw
it down before the priest and went out
and hanged himself behold how great a matter
a little fire a little fire a little
fire a little fire a little fire a
little fire a little fire fire a little
a little fire a little fire with
emotion, he didn't know.
He realised that sin boomerangs back.
You know on this platform, a way back
46 years ago, the first time I ever
came to Stanmore in uniform, there was another
comrade of mine in uniform, and another one
named Len Greenberg who was going in for
the ministry under Kluger.
You know that comrade only about two months
after I stood here on that 11th or
14th of September 1919, that same comrade who
was preparing for new life in the land
that he loved and had fought for, who
had been through Gallipoli, part of Gallipoli campaign
and through part of France, and had got
back safely, and was welcomed home, was rushed
to hospital.
His father rang me one Saturday, crying, praying
for Alex.
He said, pray for him John, oh pray
for him.
I said, what's wrong with him?
He said, he's got blood poisoning.
I said, how did he get it?
And he said, he scratched a pimple in
his nose last Wednesday, and this is Saturday.
The poison was racing through him.
It raced through many of us.
I nearly died myself with blood poisoning after
World War One, where our blood was low.
They didn't have the same medicines and things
to deal with it.
And when I rushed out to that coast
hospital that Saturday afternoon, he was in a
mad delirium, and Monday he died.
On Wednesday, I followed him to the grave,
helped to carry his coffin out of St.
James, Kirk, Sydney, with the Union Jack rake
round it, marched behind the gun carriage and
heard Chopin's funeral march in all its pathetic
stride.
And I thought through deliberately, and prayed.
And he scratched a pimple.
Dead.
Dead within a week.
Behold, how great a matter.
A little fire, kindle.
Behold, a man who'd been through so much,
taken so quickly by scratching a pimple.
And you can go on scratching the pimples
of pollution in your life, and the sores
of sin in your life.
Keep on scratching them as the years go
on, never willing to victory, never gaining the
supremacy by the Holy Spirit, always trifling with
sin, until perhaps, at last, being in hell,
he lifted up his eyes, and saw Abraham
afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom, and
said, Father Abraham, send Lazarus to dip his
finger in water, and cool my tongue, I'm
tormented in this flame.
Son, remember.
Remember the past.
Remember, there's a great gulf between the sticks.
We can't go to you.
You can't come to us.
Behold, how great a matter.
A little fire, kindle.
But look out for the spark of the
fire.
Don't let it get to the flames.
Oh, the texts are true, my friends.
They're true when it comes to sin.
And all of us know they're true when
it comes to sin, if we're honest with
ourselves.
But listen, the texts are true when you
come to the Saviour, when you come to
the Saviour.
Do you remember that Christmas morning long ago
that you often sung about, away in a
manger?
Picture it for a moment, that maiden mother
wrapping up that tiny little thing, a little
child just born in swaddling clothes, and placing
that little bundle in a manger for a
bed.
Think you can see the shepherd glancing in
and gazing at that little bundle there?
No one could be smaller, humanly speaking, than
that little child just born.
But bound up in the swaddling clothes is
the great matter of the world's redemption.
Yes, he grew up in favour with God
and man.
There was no trifling thing he left undone,
God would or man would.
And then he came to 30 years of
age, he came to John of Jordan to
be baptised, and thus it becometh
us to baptise him, and let me
be baptised in him.
No little point of his father's will will
he veer from, or divert from.
Suffer it to be so now, thus it
becometh us, us to fulfil all righteousness.
And he grew up, and he went out
to his ministry, and he gathered that great
company of 5,000 men besides women and
children, and he said, when shall we buy
bread that these may eat?
Oh, two hundred penny worth of bread's not
enough to feed this great company.
But the lad, a little lad, with five
loaves and two small fishers, was brought by
Andrew, and was willing to surrender his little
lunch to the Lord Jesus.
And the Saviour took that small lunch, insufficient
even for a boy, let alone for a
vast multitude.
And he gave thanks, and he broke the
bread, and the fishers, and gave to his
disciples, and kept on giving, and kept on
giving, and kept on giving, and kept on,
until the vast multitude was fed, until it
was overfed.
They'd had enough.
And there were so many crumbs and pieces
on the grass that he said, gather up
the flag and remind that nothing may be
lost.
Not a crumb lost of that gift given
to Jesus.
And I've often thought of it, if a
person truly, unreservedly gives himself back to Jesus
Christ, not a hair of his head shall
be lost.
He'll redeem you, rescue every hair of your
head from the power of the enemy, no
matter what he may do to you in
this world.
Oh, no despising about Jesus Christ.
He didn't despise the little children.
Suffer them to come unto me, and forgive
them not, for as such is the kingdom
of heaven.
He didn't despise the little woman who broke
the alabaster box of ointment, and annoyed at
his feet and his head.
And they all found fault and said, to
what purpose is this waste?
The money should have been gathered from sales,
and it would have served the poor.
Let her alone, he said, let her alone.
Whatever this gospel is preached, this that this
woman has done should be told as a
memorial of her.
Oh, man, in that mansion of ours tonight,
how great a matter that little fire kindled,
whatever this gospel is preached, it's going to
be told of her.
All through this age.
When he went through Jericho, he stopped there
under the tree where the little man of
the city had climbed up.
The detested man, small in size, small in
reputation, undesired, despised, sneered at, disliked, hated.
He stopped us there, and said, Zacchaeus, make
haste and come down for the day.
I must abide if I help.
And he made haste and came down and
received him joyfully.
Oh no, they're all offended.
He's gone for good.
Was a man like that a sinner?
Oh, but he didn't despise the little man.
The Lord deals with little things, little things.
Yes, the people that are not so important
and big as those that have headlines in
the paper, the Lord has time for them,
thank God, and loves them.
And so these little people that will be
humble enough to receive him and to love
him, he went through, he went through the
cross.
He didn't despise the weeping daughters of Jerusalem.
He didn't despise the brutal soldiers driving in
the spikes through his hands and his feet.
Father, forgive them, they know not what they
do.
He didn't despise the repentant feet when he
cried, Lord, remember me when thou comest to
thy kingdom.
There are the eyes that are blind to
thee today, so thou be with me in
paradise.
Oh, paradise.
Did you ever think of paradise?
Did you ever think of the beauty and
blessedness of the garden of God?
Heaven's glorious golden garden.
Did you ever think of the fact that
Paul was caught up into paradise?
Did you ever think of your day tonight
where you'd be?
With Christ in paradise.
And he was a sinner, right to the
closing moments or hours of his life, an
awful sinner, but he was obedient to the
repentance call.
He was obedient to that dying Redeemer, remember
me.
He didn't despise the poor suffering mother at
his feet on the cross, woman behold thy
son.
He didn't despise a world lying in wickedness
where he went into the unterrible darkness of
the three arrows of the cross, and no
one can fathom that.
He didn't despise us when he died the
death that was to deal the death load
of sin.
And coming out as the darkness began to
break away, Jesus knowing that all things were
now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
Then he didn't despise the Scripture.
He's thinking back to the 69th psalm.
In my thirst they gave me vinegar to
drink.
It must be fulfilled.
That's the Scripture.
The Roman soldier met that thirst with the
sponge dipped in vinegar.
And when he had received the vinegar, he
cried with a loud voice, it is finished.
Oh perfect life of love.
All, all is finished now.
All that he left his home above to
do for us below.
No work is left undone.
Of all the fathers in his fold, his
sorrows, one by one the Scripture has finished.
It is finished.
And I take a glance up as I
often do in these days in the earth
and mind.
And I see that vast heavenly home.
And I catch a glimpse by sight of
those millions that no man can number, clothed
in the white raiment of bliss and with
the palms of victory in their hands.
And I hear the song of that triumphant
multitude, worthy is the Lamb that was slain.
And I think they are like him.
They look like him.
Their garments seem to light like his garments.
Their faces are like him.
Behold, how great a matter that little bundle
of timber.
The text is proof when it comes to
the Savior.
And that proof certainly, you'll bear with me
a few minutes, that proof certainly when it
comes to the salvation of the soul.
All that's true there.
Who has despised the day of small things
in the salvation of his soul?
Captain Niamundi.
Here he's come from Syria, a leper, to
be healed of the leprosy.
And he comes to the door of Elisha,
to the gate of the prophet.
And the prophet goes in, or rather, the
servant goes in to tell the prophet.
And the servant comes out and simply says,
go and watch in Jordan seven times.
And he turned away in a rage.
He threw into anger.
We've seen them dip in the waters of
Jordan, when the great wizards of Damascus could
meet his knees.
I thought, the scripture tells us, he said
I thought that the prophet spoke, I thought.
Why must I do that?
And he would have gone back with his
leprosy for the last hour of his life.
And he's awful dead.
But his servants were wise enough and warm
enough to say, my father, if the prophet
had given you some great thing to do,
you would have done it.
Oh, how true.
If I could just erect my tower of
good works to each heaven, I'd do it
all right.
Because I'd get the praise.
But that's not God's job.
Why not rather wash and be clean, they
said.
Yes, he said, you're right.
You're right.
And he turned back a humble man and
he went down to Jordan and he dipped
in Jordan's water seven times.
And then, lo, his flesh has come to
him like the flesh of a little child.
He's like a born again man.
And he went back to the prophet, humble,
rejoicing in the God of Israel.
Of course, you always do that when you
get down low.
You rejoice in God's salvation.
It's such a wonderful thing that he saves
us without work.
He saves us on the ground of problem
gracious by the tidy sand.
He saves us in the simple little way
that's so easy that men who are proud,
and women who are horsey, and even young
people with their self-confidence, thrust it back
into his system.
What's that a young fellow to me in
the inquiry room?
It's to trust.
There's something to that effect.
That's the inquiry room I'm saying.
You wouldn't do the humble thing.
All you've got to do to be saved
is two little things, trust.
That's the first.
Only trust is.
Only trust is work.
Only trust is precious blood that cleanses from
all sins.
Only trust is invitation.
As many as received him, to them gave
he power to become the children of God.
Only trust is call.
Come unto me.
Only that lies in the heavy light, and
I will give you rest.
Only trust is work.
Trust him.
No doubt on him, and trust him.
Trust Jesus.
That's all you've got to do.
Except one other little thing.
That must follow.
And testify to him.
There's no escaping that.
No escaping.
In Romans 10 and 9 it goes the
other way about.
Whosoever, or either confesses Jesus as Lord, confesses
with his mouth Jesus as Lord, and believes
in his heart, trust.
God raised him from the dead, shall be
saved.
But the order of God generally in the
Scripture is to believe, and then testify.
Trust.
Trust in the fact it must be balanced,
or it's through.
Permit me to tell you this story as
I close.
When I was up in Townsville with the
chaplain in World War II, and right there
in the Baptist Manse one night, there was
a great company of servicemen, Air Force men,
soldiers.
And amongst them a group captain in the
RAAF.
Name was Fred.
And I knew him in our earlier days.
I knew his family very well.
And Fred suddenly said in the course of
general conversation round that room, in the burning
heat of a summer night in Townsville, he
suddenly said John did you ever hear how
I was converted?
And I said no Fred, I'd love to
hear it.
Tell the fellows tonight how you were converted.
I always like to get a person to
tell how they're converted, to never know what
might lead another person to be converted.
So I wanted him to tell the whole
company.
Well he said John you remember my old
mother don't you?
Wasn't she a godly Christian?
I said she was Christian through and through
Fred.
Oh lovely woman, yes dear old soul he
said.
I know that I caused her a lot
of trouble.
I was the black sheep of the family.
And he said in due time I went
off to sea to get away from all
that song singing of him singing in the
home island and everything.
And he said I came back several times
doing marine engineering.
And then I landed home once when I
was pretty well set in the luck of
resistance to God and to Christ.
And I was home for a few days
and all of a sudden he said to
me Fred I wonder, that's
the chap that says something about put up
your hand if you want to be praised
for.
Stand to your feet, stand to your feet
not from me, no no I won't take
you down.
I said turn away from her and walked
away.
And when I went outside I thought fellows,
he's telling all these boys you know, I
thought fellows he said what a cur you
are.
Your mother's done everything for you down the
years and you couldn't take her just to
hear her favourite preacher when she's old and
can't go without some help.
Yes what did she say there as I
went out?
Alright Fred I can't go then tonight.
Oh I must take her.
So he said I went back with very
bad grace and I said alright mum I'll
take you down to your lamb tonight.
Oh she said thank you very much Fred
and your brother and sister will come.
He said alright they can come I'll take
the lot of you.
He said I tell you I wasn't very
pleasant until I got in the car and
drove them all.
And when we got inside that church he
said was packed out.
See a church packed like that on a
weeknight.
And he said my mother shot along and
he said a man was beckoning.
The last place I went I was feeling
bad and bitter about things and he said
the service started with a few hymns and
suddenly Mr Lamb said let us hold that
cushion on the pulpit with all his might
and praying as though his soul was going
up to heaven.
My I thought that man darn it no
doubt about it.
He's not fooling the things of God.
It's over me boys is what he said.
I listened.
I listened to him preach for an hour
or more on the second access.
And I said I granted in it was
remarkable.
And when he came to the close he
said now let's bow and pray.
I said it's coming now it's coming now
I know it will come.
And then he said yes sure enough hold
up your hand if you want to be
prayed for tonight.
Just up with your hand where you are.
And he said suddenly something oh I got
the thought inwardly.
And he said a tear started to run
down my face.
And I grabbed my right arm around to
try and get my handkerchief out of my
trouser pocket and I dug into layers with
my elbow.
What are you doing lady said.
And I said I cried.
He said I dried my eyes as we
sang the last hymn.
Didn't ask us to come forward at all.
I wouldn't have gone he said I don't
think.
I don't know I was so upset I
walked straight out of the church and I
got into the car and they all came
they didn't say a word.
They didn't hear what had happened and I
drove them back home.
Let them get out drove the car into
the garage went straight up to my room.
Picked up a bible my mother had given
me two years before.
I never read it.
I opened the door and God speaks to
me I think.
He said I looked down and immediately I
was reading let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God believe also in me.
I do I do I said Lord I
believe I believe with all my heart I
do believe in Jesus as my savior.
He said I went to bed and I
was a bit restless.
I knew there was something else had to
come.
He said I got up in the morning
I didn't talk to them much.
I went into town as soon as I
could and I got what I wanted back
home.
He said I bumped into one of my
old comrades from the ship.
Chap like myself and they do well kind
of said oh Fred he's going to win
Fred.
What what what do you want to tell
me something.
No I'll be alright.
Oh have you got some chips Fred.
Yes he said I went to your lamb
place the chaps were laughing.
What are you talking about.
Lamb place.
Who's lamb.
Did you know.
Oh I'll tell you the truth I converted
to Christ last night.
I took him as my savior he said.
I'm trusting Christ as my.
Oh congratulations old man he said and shook
hands and so on.
And I was through boys he said I
was through.
I knew it.
I got the testimony out for Christ.
I'd given my first confession to Christ.
I knew it had to come.
I felt that the trust was there but
I had to talk about it some way
or other.
I had to testify and it was through.
Oh my dear friend some of us are
not through.
We're through in one angle and we're not
through in the other.
Some of us are through trusting people we
trust Jesus to the full.