I greet you all in the name of
our Lord Jesus Christ.
We praise God for his preserving us till
this present moment.
And we know that that doesn't make the
devil happy.
For he will try his level best to
hinder and disturb.
So the theme of this conference, More than
conquerors.
More than conquerors.
We are called, sent and commissioned as servants
of the Lord.
To every nation, to the whole world.
And I wonder whether we are fully aware
of what time we are living in.
And what types of things we are facing.
There is certainly no time to be asleep.
And no time to be lukewarm.
The enemy stands on his feet and is
standing on his feet in resistance.
If we don't conquer in the name of
our Lord, Things become awfully difficult in this
world.
But before we continue with the word of
the Lord, let's bow again and ask the
Lord that he would speak to us.
We ask you, Heavenly Father.
In the name of your only begotten Son.
That your spirit would work wonderfully in our
midst.
That you would accomplish what is upon your
heart, what you will for us.
And that your will would be done in
our midst as it is done in heaven.
Amen.
There were various sermons that I was pondering
about regarding this conference.
But as I looked at it and prayed
about it, I asked the Lord, What else
is it that you want me to look
at and consider?
Because I felt something else burdened upon my
heart.
And so
I
looked very carefully at the fact that it
is awful if we're speaking about God, But
we're not in direct contact with him.
And it doesn't help if we preach sermons
that are pleasant to hear.
And where people can flatter and say it
was a wonderful sermon, If it isn't with
life-changing authority from God that he speaks
and does his work.
Paul said, I didn't come to you with
clever persuasive words.
For I didn't want to make the cross
to be powerless.
We're tired of the phenomenon of sitting under
God's word and leaving unchanged.
So I've asked you whether you know what
time we are living in, What this is
really that we are facing on God's watch,
What the time is, the hour is, And
the things that we face.
Now let me tell you, and I let
you in on this, you from South Africa,
That those who hate God, communists for instance,
plan to swallow this land within ten years.
Atheists, communists, their strategy is to govern South
Africa within ten years.
If their plan succeeds, how awful it would
be, and you need to listen carefully you
Christians.
If God doesn't give us victory with the
message and the proclamation that he gives us,
they will rule.
Not only them, Islam,
Islam, There's
also in the march, they too have big
plans for South Africa, and the whole of
Africa in fact.
And they will not make us afraid with
the dead snake.
Or rather, that is not just a dead
snake.
They have said South Africa will see the
greatest revolution in its history.
And that is that they'll take over.
There are many different enemies.
Other things that we are presently facing is
for instance, homosexuality, Entrenching the rights of homosexuality
within our country.
And that means nothing less than that we
are living in Sodom and Gomorrah.
The very society in which we live.
But that doesn't seem to make us concerned.
We're not shocked by it.
It's quite natural, quite normal.
Even many churches are fighting for it.
And we are feeling quite at ease and
not concerned.
We have our freedoms.
As is the saying, that a frog, if
you put it into hot water, of course
it jumps out immediately.
It jumps in and it dies.
But if you take the frog, put it
into the pot with cold water, then you
kindle a fire underneath and the water is
warmed up slowly.
It can survive in water that gets pretty
hot.
But if it just jumps from outside into
it, it will die.
But if you warm up the water slowly,
you're conditioning the frog, the frog gets used
to it.
And the Christians get used to homosexuality, lesbianism.
And think, well, it's good.
And it's Sodom and Gomorrah.
We get used to the things of the
world.
And we get used to sin.
In the meantime, God has commissioned us.
He has said, go out and preach this
gospel to every creature.
May the Lord help us.
We who are in ministry and preaching, that
when we preach, we truly preach.
I know of a preacher who preached.
And after he had preached his sermon, the
people would say, my, what a mighty, wonderful
sermon that was.
But I know of another preacher, when he
preached, the people would say, my, what a
God, what a Savior.
I think that's the best compliment a preacher
can receive.
After he has preached, that the people aren't
impressed by what he says.
But that they meet with God.
And that they say, my, what a great
God.
What a holy God.
So let me share with you what the
Lord has laid on my heart for tonight.
Psalm 24.
From verse 3 to 6.
Who shall go up into the mountain of
the Lord?
Or who shall stand in his holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure
heart, who has not lifted himself up to
falsehood, nor sworn deceitfully.
He shall receive blessing from the Lord and
righteousness from the God of his salvation.
Let's ponder upon these words.
Or look carefully at them.
Who shall go into the mountain of the
Lord?
Who shall stand on his holy place?
Now there are many hills and many mountains
in this world.
But there is no mountain comparable to the
mountain of the Lord.
I speak spiritually.
I mean it spiritually speaking.
There is no mountain as high and as
exalted as this mountain.
There are high mountains.
Some people die in their attempt to get
to the peak of a mountain.
But this mountain of the Lord far excels
that and is far higher.
In ascending this mountain of the Lord, there
are times when you can only go forward
or make any progress on your hands and
knees, begging for the Lord for mercy to
help you on.
But there is no mountain as high and
as exalted as this mountain.
Not everybody who sets out to ascend the
hill of the Lord actually climbs the hill.
Because there are those who make an attempt
and then they finish off, their strength dries
out.
There is no mountain as high and as
exalted as this mountain.
There are those who make an attempt and
then they finish off, their strength dries out.
John Bunyan, when he writes about the pilgrim's
progress, he noticed one who was on the
way who just before the entrance, he just
fell away and collapsed into the crevice.
To ascend the hill of the Lord, the
mountain of the Lord, is not just an
easy, simple thing, but it is the most
wonderful, most glorious thing.
If a person is not completely surrendered, completely
determined with all his heart, he will not
climb the mountain of the Lord.
So let us look at the answer to
this question, because God asks now, who shall
ascend the mountain of the Lord?
Who is it then?
Because only the one who ascends the mountain
of the Lord will be truly blessed.
So listen, three things.
He who has clean hands, a
pure heart, and
then the one who has not sworn himself,
or lifted up himself to falsehood, to lying,
being deceitful.
These are the qualifications that you need and
you must have if you want to climb
the mountain of God and to stand in
His holy place, so
that you may receive the blessing of the
Lord.
I know there are preachers worldwide that say
you can't transplant a revival from Africa to
Europe, from Europe to Korea, from Korea to
the States.
I fully agree that you can't force a
sovereign God to work as you like.
But one thing stands firm, steadfast, and sure,
and can't be moved, whether you're a German,
a French, or a Jew, a Dutch, Burundi,
DRC, Zambia.
You come from a wonderful country, it starts
with Z and ends with A.
Zambia.
We know that you start with A and
stop with Z.
But you've got a wonderful country, it's just
the other way around.
Now no matter where you come from, even
if you start with Z and end with
A, these basic facts, you'll have to heed
and obey.
Otherwise you can do what you like.
You can pray and fast till you die.
You'll die without the blessing of God upon
your ministry.
You can't force a sovereign God to work
as you like.
But one thing stands firm, steadfast, and
sure, and can't be moved, whether you're a
German, a French, or a Jew, a Dutch,
Burundi, DRC, Zambia.
The Word of God has no limitations.
It is universally applicable.
Whether you're from any of these countries, doesn't
matter what type of person you are from,
this is what God says, if you want
to receive His blessing, this is the mountain
of the Lord.
It was in the Hebrides Islands, towards Scotland,
that some young people got together, seeking God
to pour out His Spirit.
These young men prayed for three months or
more, on their knees, pleading with God to
work among His people.
After three months, while praying, one
young man took his Bible, and he opened,
and read Psalm 24, verse 3, Who
will climb that mountain of the Lord, and
stand in His holy place?
He who has clean hands, a pure heart,
clean lips, and he turned around to his
colleagues, and he said, Brothers, are our hands
pure?
Is our heart clean?
And our lips?
And the place wherein they had gathered, shook
like the leaves of a tree.
And God started working.
Now, whether you're in the Hebrides, in England,
America, Europe, it doesn't matter.
Tonight, we are asked the question, Dear fellow
preacher, are your hands pure?
Is your heart clean?
And your lips?
Without fault?
When you pray, you can even pray for
revival, you can pray that the word of
God will run, that nations will get converted.
Before God answers your prayer, He'll look at
your hands, whether they are pure.
And that young man, in the Hebrides, he
says, Dear friends, if we pray for revival,
and our heart isn't pure, and clean, and
hands, and turned, it is spiritual hamburg to
seek God and to pray for revival.
Now, the question every preacher has got to
answer tonight.
Are your hands clean?
Is your heart pure?
And are your lips right?
We didn't go far.
It's simple.
Let's just face this squarely, and ask ourselves
in the presence of God, Are our hands
pure?
And clean?
I know of a young girl that got
converted.
She was a heathen.
When she got home, sat at the table
to eat, she started to pray.
Before that, she ate, and drank, like a
cow and a pig that doesn't pray when
it eats.
And she prayed and said, Oh God, please,
bless this food.
And she says, God replied, Strange that God
just speaks to the heathen, but we Christians,
we say, how does he speak to the
heathen?
How does one hear his voice?
Go to the heathen!
When they get to meet with, get to
know God, they'll teach you.
When she got home, sat at the table
to eat, and drank, like a cow that
doesn't pray when it eats.
And she prayed and said, Oh God, please,
bless this food.
He simply asked her, So you want me
to bless this food, but where does your
plate come from?
And how about this knife and fork?
Where did you get that from?
She told us that Jesus spoke to her
and said, I can't bless this food.
You can't bless this food, because it's special.
It's special because it's a table.
You can't be blessed with a table.
You can't have a table.
You can't have a spoon.
You can't have a plate.
You can't have any of these.
And the Lord said to her, I can't
bless it, your hands are not clean.
She left her food, she went to her
bed, wanted to sleep.
She knelt down to pray.
She said, Lord, speak to me tonight.
And as she related to us, she said,
then the Lord asked her, how can I
bless your night and bless your sleep?
Where did you get this roofing from?
She said, Lord, I stole it.
And what about the furniture, where is it
from?
She said, Lord, I took it from the
hospital and I used pickups to transfer it.
And the Lord said to her, I cannot
bless you.
She needed to put those things right.
Now brothers and sisters, we cannot ascend the
mountain of the Lord if our hands and
heart are not clean.
I've said that in Zulu.
But I learned lately that it's not only
black people that have got unclean hands, even
white people.
The color I've got and the hair I've
got.
I don't forget Reverend Nicholas Bengu, Pastor Bengu,
telling us, chatting to us.
How he had been preaching
in Port Elizabeth, East London area there.
And he was praying for revival.
It was in the 50s.
He was with his wife.
The Lord blessed them with one child.
They were extremely, extremely poor.
While they were on a preaching trip, their
child died on the way.
They dug a hole near to the road
and they buried their child inside, in the
grave.
They had no coffin.
They were too poor.
They just wrapped their child in a blanket
and buried it.
And so they continued.
But he and his wife were praying, Lord
please work mightily.
Let your gospel go forth.
Let people get saved.
And he related to us that as they
were on their knees praying, the Lord spoke
to him and asked him, where did you
get these sheets from on your bed?
Now they didn't have, they just had sheets,
no blankets.
There are some precious servants of the Lord
who are very dear in the Lord's work
but who suffer greatly.
And he told us that as they were
on their knees, the Lord was asking them,
where have these sheets come from?
And then he had to immediately say, Lord,
I bought these things from that van or
that pickup that came around with these different
articles, and they were extremely cheap.
And he had to admit before the Lord
that these things must have been black market
stuff.
That man could not have sold things so
cheaply without it being contraband goods.
He left his wife still on her knees.
And he pulled the sheets off his bed.
He went outside, struck a match to light
it, to burn it.
He told us that he never went to
his wife to ask for permission.
My dear, what do you think about this?
He just did it.
And he told us, the next morning they
were asleep without sheets now.
He went to
the
window and he looked outside, and he told
us that the remains were still smoldering, there
was still a bit of smoke coming out
of it.
He said they must have been good quality
German sheets.
When they burned those sheets, God came down
with his fire of revival, and they experienced
revival there in East London.
And people got saved.
And he told us, the next morning they
were asleep without sheets now.
You won't be able to stand in this
holy place and climb that mountain of the
Lord.
You won't get the blessing of God.
You can fast and starve.
You'll starve.
You can starve.
Not eat.
You can burn your body.
You won't get the blessing of the Lord.
But stealing isn't the only thing that defiles
our hands.
There are many things we can do with
our hands and without our fingers.
Things that are unclean before God.
Many awful things you can do with your
hands that are unclean before God.
Ask yourself, are my hands with blood?
Are they bloodstained?
In 1 Timothy 2 verse 8, I
desire therefore that in every place men should
pray without anger, lifting up holy hands.
Some translations, without anger, and doubting.
Hands that we lift up to God in
prayer, in other words.
Are they without anger?
Anger is a very common thing to us,
especially us men, isn't it?
The sin of a woman is this, because
you are masters in that.
But the sin of men is anger.
And it says, I want you men, if
you pray, to pray without anger in your
hearts.
Anger defiles the hands.
And it says, I want you men, if
you pray, to pray without anger in your
hearts.
Because I consider carefully, and don't do it
in a hurried fashion, but look closely at
your hands.
Are they without anger and getting irritable?
Friends, let's not just overlook it.
This is a fact.
God means what He says.
And if you want to stand in His
holy place, your hands have got to be
clean.
And if you want to stand in His
holy place, your hands have got to be
clean.
And without doubt, Evan Roberts said,
If you want to experience God moving, working,
if you want to experience revival, there are
four points.
He says, confess all your known sins.
Don't leave one stone unturned.
You know that John Wesley, when God started
working, they used to come together once in
a week.
And expose those sins that were not right
in their lives.
Can you understand why the fire burnt the
way it did?
The way the word of God revolutionized England,
ran through America?
Those were servants on fire.
They knew what they were talking about.
The second point.
Deal with and get rid of anything doubtful
in your life.
Is there something doubtful in your life?
That you think now, is this right or
isn't it?
Should a Christian do this or not?
He says there shouldn't be any doubtful thing
in a Christian's life.
You sisters, have you got ears to hear?
God says to the men, without anger and
doubt.
Strange, strange.
I would think, well, maybe this applies more
to the ladies in this time in which
we live.
But God directs it at men.
But, you women aren't exempt from this.
That which doesn't come out of faith is
sin.
Faith, a real thing.
The closest relationship with God, that it's born
out of that.
But if you doubt, God doesn't want that.
Now just by the way, his third point
was obey the Holy Spirit.
Immediately when he speaks to you.
And the last point, confess Christ publicly.
Confess Christ publicly.
Be ready to obey the Holy Spirit.
Obey him when he speaks to you.
It's not good for a man to doubt.
Hands without doubt.
Clean hands.
God notices the heart.
And he cares about the heart.
We are very observant, aren't we, about the
outer man and how a person looks and
how tall or short, whatever their attributes might
be.
But God looks straight to the heart.
And what really matters to us is that
God looks straight to the heart.
What matters to God is the heart.
Jesus said to the people, the prophets spoke
correctly of you, that these are a people
who draw nigh unto me with their lips,
but in their hearts they are far from
me.
It is the heart that really matters.
You want to see God?
Jesus said, Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they shall see God.
Dear friends, if we want to get places,
and if you want to get places, spiritually,
your heart has got to be right.
Your heart has got to be blessed.
Your heart has got to be pure.
He said to the people, to the Pharisees
and scribes, It's not that which goes into
your mouth that defiles a man, it's that
which comes out.
Evil thoughts, wrong thoughts, come out of the
heart.
Adultery, immorality, comes out of the heart.
An evil eye comes from the heart.
To steal, to murder, comes out of the
heart.
Then one can understand Psalm, the writer and
author of Psalm 139, Oh God, search my
heart, know my heart, and see whether there
is any wicked thing in me.
How is your heart?
What's its condition?
Before the Lord.
How is your heart?
If your heart is not pure, you will
never ascend the hill of the Lord and
stand in His holy place.
Brothers and sisters, from Africa or from Europe
or anywhere, are your hearts clean?
Pure.
Are there no evil thoughts?
Adultery?
Fornication?
Sexual immorality?
One of the first and most important things
in a preacher's life is his relationship with
his own wife.
If there are no righteous friends, the whole
world is corrupt.
That's why
it's
so important for a man to live with
wisdom concerning his wife as the weaker vessel
so that his prayers shall not be hindered.
So you want to preach to the nations
and you want to bring the gospel to
the unsaved and cast out demons and yet
your heart is a nest of demons?
So I'll ask you.
Ask yourself, are my hands clean?
Is my heart pure regarding my own spouse?
Am I pure in my relationship?
Is there anything regarding her or any other
woman?
And get that right tonight.
Don't wait.
Sort that matter out immediately.
Don't make a mistake and go to your
wife and confess all your filthy dirt to
her.
It's too much for her.
A woman trusts her husband and when she
hears that he's been up to mischief with
other women and maybe the wife's best friend,
it's too much for her.
There are men of God to whom you
can go.
They are faithful but they've got to be
in right standing with God.
And be trustworthy.
Otherwise, you can't entrust them with such a
thing.
As a daughter, as a wife, as a
mother, as a husband, so men, we
can't go out and expect to preach to
the world if right at home our marriages
aren't in order.
words in a foreign language We
know women who are saintly women, Godly women.
But through the unfaithfulness of their husbands, These
women are now dead because of diseases that
their husbands have brought to them.
So, let's face it.
Are our hearts clean before God?
Then our hearts might be into other things.
It might be money.
It might be material things.
Deception by different things.
And making idols of things.
And Jesus said that He will not give
us spirit if we are not faithful in
the things of this world like money.
He won't entrust us with spiritual blessing if
we are unfaithful in money matters.
You know the word that He says.
We won't get out of that place before
we have paid the last farthing.
And then our lips.
Are our lips spotless before God?
Is there no slander?
Using the name of another while they are
absent?
The Bible says if you see somebody sin,
go to the person and speak to them.
But you don't do that.
You go to somebody to slander them.
The Bible says we will give account for
every idol word before Him.
Has there ever been an idol word that
has come out of your lips?
John Wesley said about John Fletcher.
He says, amongst all the men of God
I know, I haven't come across a man
like John Fletcher.
In these last 32 years, I haven't heard
one idol word coming out of his lips.
Dear friends, if we want spiritual authority, if
we want to be endued with power from
on high, if we want to be spirit
filled men and women, we can't take these
words lightly.
They must be a reality in our lives.
Have we considered our hands?
Our hearts?
Our lips?
Just these three things which God brings to
our attention.
Will we go to bed without having put
right the things in these three areas?
If you want to truly be a servant
of the Lord where you are effective in
ministry, people get converted.
Every servant of Christ
must
be a vessel through whom God can work.
If the Lord is not working through you,
brother, sister, you are dead.
If people are not coming to Christ, if
people are not coming to Christ, if people
are not receiving the Lord and not finding
Christ through you, then there's something desperately wrong
with you.
Remember, we are wrestling with powers in the
air.
If those powers of darkness are not being
shaken, then there's something wrong with you.
And if you by God's grace and by
God's power can't shake the world, be rest
assured of this, the world will shake you.
Verse seven.
Verse seven as well from that Psalm.
Lift up your heads, O you gates, and
be lifted up, you doors, that the King
of glory may come in.
Who is the King of glory?
Who is the one who is strong and
mighty in battle?
The Lord, it is He, strong and mighty.
If you want God, the Lord who is
strong and mighty, then let the gates be
opened so that the King of glory can
come in.
And how do you open your gates?
Cleanse your hands, your heart, and your lips.
Don't harden your heart, no, whatever the cost,
so that the King of glory can come
in.
Are
we
opening our hearts, these gates?
Could we lift them up?
Or do we say, I can't face it,
I can't do that.
I'm not prepared to cleanse my heart, hands,
and lips.
How foolish and what a fool I'd be
if I'm not prepared to do what God
commands me to do.
Do you have an ear to hear what
the Lord says?
One of the points of Evan Roberts was
when the Lord speaks to you, you obey
immediately.
Do you obey Him?
If you obey, this service will have been
a blessing to you.
If you do not obey, well, it would
have been better that you hadn't heard it.
Lord, wouldn't you come down in our midst
now?
Touch each and every heart.
And look inside whether the hearts are pure.
See whether our hands and fingers are clean
before you.
And our lips.
Work by your Holy Spirit.
Oh God, search our hearts.
See if there be any wicked way in
us.
And lead us in your eternal way.
Amen.