Will you turn with me while I read
just one or two verses in the 14th
chapter of Romans.
Romans chapter 14 verses 7 through 9.
For none of us liveth to himself, and
no man dieth to himself.
For whether we live, we live unto the
Lord, or whether we die, we die unto
the Lord.
Whether we live, therefore, or die, we are
the Lord.
For to this end Christ both died and
rose and revived, that he might be Lord
both of the dead and the living.
Our subject for these morning sessions, forgive the
repetition, but I mention it merely for the
sake of those who have joined us just
today.
Our subject for the morning sessions has been
the challenge to every Christian to communicate Christ
in the context of the 1960s and 70s.
On Monday morning we began by considering the
means of communication, our only hope for great
revival in the moving and the incoming tide
of the Spirit of God in each one
of our lives.
And then yesterday we thought about the method
of communication, how this is going to be
achieved by each one of us personally.
And today I want to speak to you
about the message we must communicate.
And in a word, that message is the
sovereignty of Jesus Christ.
Acclaimed in heaven, acknowledged in hell, rejected
by the world, and alas, disputed in the
church.
God hasn't any problem with the devil.
He thrashed him at Calvary, gave him the
beating of his life.
Defeated him entirely, stripped from himself principalities and
powers and made his show of them openly.
Satan is a defeated foe, but he won't
lie down.
God hasn't any problem with the devil.
He hasn't any problem with the world.
Be of good cheer, said Jesus to a
little handful of his own.
I have overcome the world.
He has no problem with the world.
But God has one tremendous problem.
It's not with his enemies, but with his
friends.
It's to get those of us who know
him and love him living happily and gladly
and all together in accordance with his plan
for each of our lives.
Totally submitted to the sovereignty of Jesus Christ.
When that happens in a Christian life, the
Holy Spirit goes into business.
And that's desperately what we need to recover
in this day, urgently.
One of the remarkable things, if you think
about it, of this century in which we
live is that the form of government which
we now know as democracy, government by the
people, of the people, for the people, that
principle of government which 60 years ago was
hailed as the kind of thing that would
bring in utopia, has it back to the
wall.
It's very interesting that one of the founders
of the communist regime, Lenin, as part of
his thesis on communism, said that it would
be absurd folly to believe that the transition
from capitalism to socialism can ever take place
without dictatorship.
And he was right.
And today, as new countries emerge in Africa
and in many different parts of the world,
the order of the day is dictatorship.
Which the communist regime is pleased to call
a limited sovereignty.
And that's the horror through which Czechoslovakia is
going right now.
And that interests me very much because the
whole principle of Christian living is not democracy
but dictatorship.
Over and over again, Satan uses instruments and
tools and steals from the Christian church the
strategy of God.
To accomplish his end.
He knows perfectly well, for instance, that the
worthwhileness of every movement depends upon its ability
to mobilize its entire membership to propagate what
it believes.
That's why the church of the Latter Day
Saints are having a millennium.
That's why Islam is on the upsurge.
That's why Jehovah's Witnesses are moving fast.
We went to Edinburgh from Chicago about six
years ago.
Within six months of our being there, we
were visited twice by Mormons, twice by Jehovah's
Witnesses, once by moral rearmament but never by
anybody from a recognized Protestant church.
And time and time again, Satan produces his
counterfeit.
And Satan knows that the answer to this
world is dictatorship.
And the gospel is declaring that as the
answer.
The strategy of redemption for each one of
us is the acknowledgement of dictatorship.
Not the ugly thing that we have come
to understand by that word.
Not the Belsen of Hitler.
Not the concentration camps.
But the wonderful freedom of slavery to Jesus
Christ.
And so I want to talk to you
this morning, the Lord helping me, about what
place he has in your life.
Some years ago, many years ago actually, I
had a small car which I bought.
It was the kind of car I don't
get into, I put it on.
I spent about fifty dollars for it.
It had eight horsepower, but four of the
horses had died long before I got it.
It was quite a remarkable car.
I came to good terms with it, except
in cold weather.
However, the procedure of starting that vehicle was
quite fantastic.
It had of course the self-starter, but
which wouldn't work on a cold morning.
And therefore, as a substitute, it had on
the dashboard a handle labeled choke.
And in order to start the car, it
was essential that you pull out that handle
and hold it out, because it wouldn't start
automatically.
Now when the self-starter wouldn't work, there
was provided for you under the driver's seat,
a long starting handle, about this long.
And the technique was that you had to
go round to the front of the car
and push this handle right into the motor
until it connected with the crankshaft, and then
begin to turn the engine.
Never to this day have I understood how
the designers of that vehicle thought that anybody
on earth could with one hand...
You know how quick you are.
I was just thinking it out.
Could with one hand hold out this choke,
and with the other hand get round to
the front and begin cranking.
It was a sheer impossibility.
So the only thing I could do on
a cold morning was to get my wife
out from the washing and say to her,
would you mind coming and sitting here in
this car a minute and holding this handle
while I went round to the front and
crank it.
And as I did that, as we did
that together, eventually four of the horses began
to stagger to life, and with a tremendous
noise it began.
And then having got it started, I got
into the driver's seat and said to my
good wife, now thank you very much, that's
all, you can go returning to the washing.
It would have been absolutely futile and disastrous
if I had suggested to her that she
kept one hand on the choke, and if
she liked to she could have another hand
on the steering wheel, and she could put
her foot on the clutch, while I had
a hand on the wheel and a foot
on the brake and another on the accelerator.
Within a few seconds we would have met
with disaster.
There was only one secret of that car
successfully going along the road.
It was if one person was in control.
Now there's only one secret of the Christian
life, and that is where there's one person
in control.
And what I'm wanting to, I'm praying that
as I speak to you today, I may
just get right through into your heart, and
ask you, as the Holy Spirit may ask
you, listen, when the chips are down, I
mean when after a Sunday you've, forgive me,
but you've sort of turned off the spiritual
tap, and when the Monday comes you turn
on the secular tap, who is in control?
Really, when it comes to it, is Jesus
Christ Lord or isn't he?
Now nobody is going to hand over his
life to the sovereignty of another, unless he's
satisfied that the one who, to whom he's
to hand it over, has adequate claim, which
substantiates the fact that he is able for
any situation.
May I therefore, just for a moment, speak
to you concerning the claims of Jesus Christ,
the Lordship.
Whatever you or I may say about it,
God has put Jesus on the throne.
The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou
at my right hand, till I make all
thine enemies thy footstool.
Psalm 110.
The writer to the Hebrews, begins his letter,
by saying that God hath spoken to us
in these last days in his Son, who
being the outshining of his glory, and the
express image of his person, and upholding all
things by the word of his power.
When he had by himself purged our sins,
sat down on the right hand of the
majesty on high.
So Jesus is on the throne, far above
all, the head of all principality and power.
I just pause a minute, because I marvel
at this, you know.
It never worries me unduly, it concerns me,
but it doesn't worry me, what may happen
in Peking, or Hanoi, or Washington, or Moscow,
or London, or Paris.
Not one of them can lift a little
finger without permission of Jesus, who's on the
throne.
And that brings a tremendous sense of comfort
to my heart this morning.
Yes, God has put him on the throne.
He's back where he belongs.
But if I was to ask you, what
are his claims to sovereignty, I'd have to
go much further than that.
I'd have to go for the supreme claim
of sovereignty to the cross.
He's on the throne, because he bled on
a cross.
Do you remember this passage of scripture, which
I have before me here, Philippians chapter 2?
I think this is the most wonderful description
of a ladder down which he came, and
a ladder up which he climbed, as he
came down from the throne and went back
to it.
May I just read and comment very briefly,
because here, above everywhere in the Bible, are
stated the claims of Jesus Christ, which make
our dispute, and our argument, and our contesting
his right to reign and rule in our
lives, so utterly fantastic, that this mind be
in you, which was in Christ Jesus, who,
being in the form of God, that doesn't
mean just being like God, like you may
say your child is the image of his
father, not that.
Being in the form of God, the very
nature of God.
Oh yes, he was there from all eternity,
as we heard.
In the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was
God.
That's Jesus.
None of us would ever imagine that he
just began to live at Bethlehem.
Before the world was, he was God on
the throne.
Being in the form of God.
He counted it not a thing to be
grasped after, to be equal with God.
But, he made himself of no reputation.
The literal translation is, he emptied himself.
He emptied himself of his majesty, of his
glory.
He forsook all his rights.
His right to the worship of heaven.
His right to the throne of God.
His right, why, to the highest place, that
heaven abhors.
Which was his by sovereign right.
He forsook it.
He counted it not a thing to be
grasped after, to be equal with God.
And he emptied himself, and took upon him
the form of a servant.
A servant, may I ask, to whom?
Well, he was the servant of Jehovah.
I delight to do thy will, O God.
He was the one who'd come to fulfill
the will of God in his life.
He was a servant of Jehovah.
But he wasn't only a servant of Jehovah,
he was a servant of man.
Even the son of man is come, not
to be ministered unto, but to minister.
And to give his life a ransom for
many.
And do you remember that amazing occasion in
the life of our Lord Jesus?
I marvel at it.
When one day the disciples had come into
a home, and as the custom was, for
a slave to be prepared.
When they came from the dusty road, to
be prepared with a basin of water, to
wipe their feet.
No slave being available.
And the disciples not having learned humility, Jesus
did it for them.
He took a towel, he laid aside his
garments, and took a towel, and washed their
feet.
He laid aside his gums, he laid aside
his lorries, and took a towel, the form
of a servant, and was made in the
likeness of men.
Just as he had been in the likeness
of God, he was now in the likeness
of men.
He wasn't praying at being a man, he
was a man.
He wasn't praying at being a servant, he
wasn't a servant.
He was like God, he became like man.
Made in the likeness of man.
And being found in fashion as a man,
he humbled himself.
He chose a poor home.
He only had a borrowed tomb.
He owned no property, nothing.
He humbled himself.
And it always seems to be in a
principle, that that's the kind of person, that
Jesus uses, and takes.
He doesn't put up with it, he chooses
it.
Not many wise, not many mighty, but he
chooses to humble.
And he humbled himself.
And he became obedient, obedient, unto death.
Even the death, of the cross.
And now he's got to the bottom of
the ladder.
See, he was in the form of God
at the top.
And step by step down he came.
Made himself, of no reputation.
The form of a servant, the likeness of
men.
Humbled himself, and became obedient, unto death.
Even the death of the cross.
He says of himself, in that wonderful messianic
psalm, I became a worm, and no man.
A worm.
God, man, worm.
That's Jesus.
That's my savior.
My wonderful Lord.
He humbled himself.
He came, down that ladder, to the very
bottom.
And, put obedience back, where it belongs.
Even though it meant, the death, of the
cross.
Now watch the steps he took up.
Three mighty leaps, and he's back, where he
was.
Wherefore, God hath highly exalted him.
Notice, he humbled himself, he didn't exalt himself.
He could have done.
But God exalted him.
Oh, he could have done it, at any
moment.
In the garden, where his sweat, was it
were, great drops of blood, falling to the
ground, as he fought, tooth and nail, with
the devil, to do the will of God.
He could have called, upon a legion of
angels, that had been there, and he could
have exalted himself.
But just stop, for a minute, and let
this sink, into your heart.
He wasn't interested, in getting back to heaven,
without you, and without me.
Satan's strategy, from the beginning of history, until
the moment, Jesus cried, it is finished.
Satan's strategy was, keep him from the cross.
And, if you read the Old Testament, with
that in mind, what a thrilling book it
is.
How nearly, the devil succeeded.
You read the book of Esther again, where
the name of God, is never mentioned, but
where he, nearly succeeded, in keeping Jesus, from
the cross, and wiping out, the whole Jewish
race.
Satan's strategy, was to keep Jesus, from the
cross.
He was wanting, all the time, that heaven,
let me say this carefully, that heaven, should
be, an empty warehouse, in which, God would
walk, up and down, for all eternity, and
weep, and acknowledge, he was beaten, because he
hadn't found, anybody to do his will.
He hadn't placed, obedience back, where it was,
and God was beaten.
And Satan, fought tooth and nail, to keep
Jesus, from Calvary.
Obedience, unto death.
Say, since the Calvary road, he took, what
do you think, Satan's trying to do now?
Stop everybody, from hearing.
That's his motto now, and how well, he's
succeeding.
Just keep people, from hearing, the truth, the
glory, of redemption.
Not only, in heathen lands, where the name,
is never heard, but in university campuses, and
colleges, and all over the country, in a
secularized, civilization of today, how few, have really
heard.
No, Jesus wouldn't, exalt himself, but I tell
you, that God's, answer to Calvary, was to
get hold, of his son, and raise him
from a tomb, from the grave, to a
mighty resurrection, from the grave, to the sky,
in a mighty ascension, to the grave, from
the grave, to the throne, in heaven, in
a mighty session, where he sits, at God's
right hand.
God, has, highly, exalted him.
What a leap, he took.
Oh, my friend, I get excited.
You know, that always amuses me, what a
fuss they're making, about getting to the moon.
Must be, spending billions of dollars, or so
they are, but, mind you, it's very clever.
Very, very clever, brilliant.
Oh, but my, what a lot of money
it's taking, what an effort, what a fun
little machine, going, going to one day, land
on the moon, so to say.
My, I tell you, there's coming a day,
when you and I, will bypass the moon.
We'll bypass the lot, stars, sun, everything, and
we'll land right up, in glory, with our
wonderful Lord.
And that day, is coming very soon.
For God, has exalted him, and having done
that, he's given him a name.
A name, which is above every name.
And, as a drunken, thought of a sailor,
once wrote, when he became, a minister, of
the Church of England, how sweet the name,
of Jesus sounds.
In a believer's ears, it soothes his sorrows,
heals his wounds, and drives away his fears.
He gave him a name.
And it wasn't as if, there's any magic
in the name, because there isn't.
But God was making it known, with an
unmistakable act, of resurrection, of Jesus, from the
dead, to the throne, that this, is the
kind of life, the character, that God exalts.
And only that kind of life.
The one that's been obedient, unto death.
My beloved son, in whom, I am well
pleased.
And God, gave him a name, which is
above every name.
That at the name of Jesus, every knee
should bow.
Hitler's knee, Stalin's knee, every knee, every knee
in all the world, in all time, should
bow.
And acknowledge him, as Lord.
For the glory of God, the Father.
Well, my dear friend, very inadequately, that's the
claim, that Jesus has to Lordship.
That's the kind of life, that God has
taken up, from the grave, and put upon
the highest throne, and all the universe.
And what do you think, he's done it
for?
I'll tell you why.
He's done it, in order, that a 20th
century society, which has committed itself, to lawlessness,
where all authority, at every level, is rejected.
Where everything's right.
Where we have, situational ethics, where any kind
of, sexual intercourse, outside the marriage tie, is
not only legitimate, but encouraged.
Where, if you don't do that, you're called
a square, and not with it, in a
society like that.
God has put Jesus, on the throne, in
order, that through a new humanity, of which
he is head, that is through you, and
me.
He may demonstrate, to this society, that you
can't find happiness, that way.
That you can't find release, that way.
That you can't find peace, that way.
That you can only find peace, through the
sovereignty of Christ, expressed, through your life.
God has put Jesus, on the throne, and
put obedience back, where it ought to be.
And obedience has been fulfilled, by Jesus, not
for his own pleasure, not for his own
goodness, but in order that he may, have
a channel, have a life, have hands and
feet, and brains, and heart, and body, who
will express, that obedience, today.
And declare, to men and women, fellows and
girls, that the only way of, victory, and
happiness, and peace, is in the sovereignty of
Christ.
The tragedy, of our salvation.
I, some years ago, in Edinburgh, had a
very exciting time, actually.
When I arrived, I found the church, in
a bit of a ferment, because, the young
people, had started, a gospel beat group.
Do you know what that is?
A beat group, that plays, gospel tunes, gospel
songs, music, words, to beat music.
And the young people, thought they were wonderful.
The elders and trustees, however, every hair stood
on end, and were horrified.
And, they banned it.
And the young people, wouldn't have it banned.
And so, they mutually decided, that they would
leave the decision, to the new minister, when
he arrived.
So, I arrived, on the volcano.
And, they said, it's up to you, to
make the decision.
I got this beat group together, eight fellows
and a girl, and I listened to them
play.
I confess to you, that I didn't like
their music.
But I said to myself, I don't believe
this has any, saving power, but I think
it's got a lot of, drawing power.
So I said to the church, we're going
to give these, fellows and girls, an opportunity
of a lifetime.
And we're going to take, the largest restaurant,
in Edinburgh, with a ballroom.
That isn't a place where babies cry, but
a place where people, normally dance.
And in that ballroom, we're going to put
about, forty or fifty tables, of twelve, holding
twelve each.
And, every Saturday night, for as long as
we can get this place, we're going to
pack it, with young people.
Hippies, university students, college graduates, all sorts.
And I said to them, now before you
think, this is absolutely, of the devil, you
older folk, I've heard you sing, every Sunday,
at Charlotte Chapel, and almost lift the roof.
I've heard you sing, would you be free,
from your burden of sin, there's power in
the blood, power in the blood.
What's that?
Victorian dancehall music.
That's all.
Beat, of the nineteenth century.
Beat of the twentieth century, may be further
off being, but it's the same principle.
You know, we went into that restaurant, and
from the first night, we had to stop
people coming in.
Packed, the most extraordinary looking youngsters, in all
my life.
I'd never seen any crowd like them, I
didn't know, whether they were fellows or girls.
And for one hour, we ate in, we,
I was going to say, endured, beat music.
And they sang, and played, and spoke, and
gave their testimony.
And we had a good, Scottish high tea,
if you don't know what that is, ask
the principal, he'll tell you.
Good Scottish high tea.
And then, we showed a film, Moody's Signs
film.
And after that, which lasted about an hour,
Dust and Destiny, and films like that, I
stood up, and gave about ten minutes, straight
from the shoulder, and from the heart, gospel.
Without using the language of Canaan, but telling
them what basic Christianity was all about.
I tell you, I'd have given all my
life, to have in my church on Sundays,
an audience like that.
They listened with their eyes, and mouths, and
ears wide open.
They'd never heard it before.
They didn't know about Jesus.
I went up to twelve of them, and
sat alongside them.
And, I said to one of them, I
didn't know whether he was a fellow or
a girl, but he turned out to be
a fellow, by his voice.
I said, I said, tell me, this was
about the fifth week we'd done this, I
said, why do you folk come in here
every night?
And he said, well, I don't know.
He said, that's a funny thing, we're just
asking ourselves that.
And he said, we've all decided, it's because
you bother about us.
I said, bother about you?
Don't your mum and dad bother about you?
Oh, he said, no, they go to bingo
every night.
Bingo parties, dancing, shows, and they say to
us, go and whip it up.
Last Wednesday night, he said, I came home,
with my young brother.
We'd been out till three o'clock in
the morning, we'd come back with a lot
of loot, shoplifting.
A policeman came up in a car, and
he said, where are you going?
He said, we're just going home.
He said, come on, hop in, I'll give
you a lift.
So we got in.
He didn't ask us what we'd got in
our pocket.
He took us home.
He knocked on the door.
And my mother came to the door, and
she was absolutely mad.
Hopping mad.
Not with us, but with him.
The policeman.
For waking her up.
And she said to him, whose kids are
these anyway?
Yours or mine?
The policeman said, well, he said, they're not
mine, they must be yours.
She said, alright.
Listen, if they want to live like the
devil, you let them.
And banged the door into the policeman's face.
And then this fellow said to me, why
do you bother about us?
What an in for the gospel.
These people, who we think are a way
out on left beams, right away, they don't
know a thing about Christ.
And we have to come crashing, crashing through
society today, unashamed, with the tremendous truth that
it's in submission to the authority and the
lordship and the sovereignty of Jesus that you
can find fulfillment.
And before I'd left Charlotte Chapel, I'd married
three of those couples who'd got themselves cleaned
up and straightened out.
I tell you today, people are not so
far away from him as we think.
But they wait.
They wait for somebody to care.
And they wait for people in whose lives
there is no question regarding the sovereignty of
Jesus.
Now I've stated his claims to sovereignty.
I want to ask you, pressing the matter
a bit closer, what are the implications of
that sovereignty in my heart?
My will is not my own until I
make it thine.
It cannot reach the monarch's throne until itself
resides.
I think in life's alarm when by myself
I stand.
Imprison me within thine arms and strong shall
be my hand.
Therefore, the sovereignty of Christ means for you
exactly what it meant for him.
For him to be Lord now, how different
he is because he's a man on the
throne in heaven.
Flesh and blood with the marks of nails
on the cross upon him.
And for him to be Lord it meant
entire submission.
And for you and me it means exactly
the same.
It means what it meant to him that
from the moment I become a Christian I
forsake all my rights except my one right,
my one demand that I will never let
go and that is to do the will
of God.
And I'm telling you that Satan will fight
you as he fought Jesus tooth and nail
on that one issue.
Don't you tell me that you can have
Christ as your saviour and then when it's
convenient you can make him Lord.
That's not in my Bible.
Have you ever been able to answer this
question satisfactorily to yourself?
I haven't.
Jesus asked it.
Why do you call me Lord and don't
do what I tell you?
I've no answer to that.
That silences me.
Have you any answer?
I tell you if you were saved at
the moment of your conversion Jesus was Lord.
Can you recall when you were converted?
Forty years ago.
You know friend I sometimes ask myself I
find myself asking it more frequently indeed today.
Have I ever had such a spiritual moment
as I had right then?
Oh my when he came I knew my
need I knew my heart I just was
at the end of my rope.
I knew I needed him desperately for forgiveness
and cleansing and for creating in me a
clean heart and for saving me.
Oh God there was no other alternative and
I just came to him as I was.
I had nothing single reserve or qualification it
wasn't just a snap decision coming down a
line and signing a card it was in
a pub in the northern England.
That's where I met Jesus.
But I tell you there were no reservations
whether on yours when you were saved.
The day you came to Christ tell me
you didn't say well now I'll just try
it out.
You came because you knew you were a
sinner and you needed cleansing and he came
and he was Lord at that moment.
But I trembled as I think of the
many times since then when I have resisted
his sovereignty.
Oh yes.
Of his kingdom there shall be no end
said the angel as she announced to Mary
the coming birth of Jesus and what is
true prophetically is true experimentally.
Of his sovereignty there's no limit and right
to the day when I get through the
pearly gates by the grace of God right
to the day the devil will fight me
and thrash me and defeat me or try
to on that one issue for he knows
perfectly well that the moment I refuse the
will of God on anything the Holy Spirit
goes out of business.
Satan's enemy is the spirit of God not
you not me but the spirit of God
that lives in us.
That's why you and I are the battlefield
and Satan attacks on that one thing all
the time and if I say no on
any issue and friend I'm telling you forty
years after my conversion I could end my
life absolutely useless and bankrupt and helpless and
lose everything except my soul because I said
no to Jesus some temptation which I thought
I have overcome thirty years ago can even
today launch an overwhelming counter attack and if
I don't submit to his power it will
go down creatures in hell don't you tell
me any of you there's any quick shortcut
recipe for holiness you know I believe in
a second blessing yes I do because I
believe in a third and I believe in
a fourth and a fifth and a million
blessings but I tell you holiness is a
battle or a victory but it's a battle
all the time on a different area you
first I I wouldn't be surprised if we
were prepared to be honest if there are
people here would tell me that even today
even today before this hour Satan was at
you attacking you in regard to your relationship
to Christ and Satan is always challenging us
on this one thing it means submission that
means I've given up all my rights would
you just take a minute with me quickly
look how the apostle Paul faced this in
his own life 1 Corinthians chapter 9 this
church I don't want to launch into another
sermon but I just want to say this
to you this church which was so boastful
about it's gifts even speaking in tongues that
was the most carnal church of the whole
New Testament was disputing the authority of Paul
to preach to them 1 Corinthians chapter 9
chapter 9 verse 3 says my answer to
those who examine me in other words my
my qualification for apostleship is this haven't I
got power to eat and drink in other
words haven't I got the right to normal
ration verse 5 haven't I got power to
lead about a sister a wife haven't I
got a right to normal romance verse 6
I only and Barnabas haven't I got power
to forbear working haven't I got power haven't
I got a right to normal recreation verse
11 if you've sown unto you spiritual things
it is a great thing we shall eat
carnal things haven't I got a right to
normal remuneration I've got a right to a
lot of them but verse 15 I have
used none of these things none of them
for Jesus sake though I preach the gospel
I've nothing to glory of necessity is laid
upon me woe is me if I preach
not the gospel listen you've got a perfect
right to normal ration normal food have you
ever forsaken a meal for Christ really have
you really just given up one meal so
that you may really seek the face seek
the face of God in prayer and hold
on till God meets you have you really
ever in your life had a day of
fasting no you've a perfect right to normal
ration you've a right to normal romance emphasis
on normal two years ago a girl came
up to me after a morning service street
girl held out her left hand didn't say
anything to me but on it I looked
at once was a diamond I knew her
and she was a fine Christian girl I
knew I knew the fellow she was going
to marry as a matter of fact I
watched it develop preachers see it more from
a pulpit than most people imagine and I
saw and that day didn't surprise me and
I said well praise the Lord I'm so
thankful we talked about her wedding four months
later she came back again and held out
her hand this time there was no diamond
I said what happened oh she said nothing
I said nothing that must be the understatement
of the century and then she broke down
her heart had been broken you know what
she said to me I've become increasingly conscious
that God wants me on the mission field
and God has made it perfectly clear to
my fiancé that he wants him at home
therefore does it right to normal romance and
by the way fifteen months ago I saw
her on the mission field and she said
to me I'd rather be unmarried in the
will of God and happy than married out
of the will of God and miserable I
should add to be fair this postcript I
mean I for these things I somehow felt
that there's a possibility of that situation ending
fairly soon as a matter of fact subsequently
I understand it has ended but that girl
was tested to the limit a right to
normal romance you have a right to normal
romance you have a right to marry a
fellow who's a Christian you have a right
to marry a girl who's a Christian normal
romance you have no right to marry a
fellow or a girl who isn't but you
have a right to normal romance but that
won't be long my friend in the Christian
life before God begins to put you to
the test and say who do you love
most oh yes you have a right to
normal recreation sure 15 months ago a bit
more I flew into the Central Africa Republic
I went to a little place called Bambuti
I don't suppose you ever heard of it
way beneath the Sudan border 3 miles 35
,000 Sudanese refugees just chucked out by NASA
because they weren't Muslim never seen such squalor,
misery that any people could live in hopeless
the Africa inland mission had sent into that
town are you listening?
two girls I said quietly they hadn't any
men two girls and my wife and I
went there and saw it all say do
you like a day off a week?
so do I do you like nice shops?
so do I like nice clothes?
so do I perfect right to that they
hadn't a shop they didn't care about clothes
they didn't care about anything but pocket money
the one thing they were concerned about was
being among 35,000 people and they had
one desire with no rival and that is
to win them for Christ came out of
that absolutely humiliated as we thought of their
concentration and compared it with ours and we'd
never seen two people so happy in the
will of God perfect right to normal recreation
we flew in from Nairobi with Gordon Marshall
senior pilot of MAF Missionary Aviation Territory tremendous
organization 700 mile flight 8,000 feet bumped
about like a cork in a one-engine
Cessna plane two stops questioned over radio what
right has he to fly over Brazzaville territory
constantly in communication with people who wanted to
know what title he had to fly when
he landed first thing he did get out
his New Testament spoke to people who met
us in the national town took orders for
missionary shopping at the end of the day
after a weary day checking his engine filling
it up with gas he came to bed
I shared the room in which he slept
at a place called Oboe at 11 o
'clock at night that man was on his
knees with his open Bible for an hour
at 5 o'clock the next morning he
was up dressed, shaved on his knees again
for an hour and off for the next
leg of the flight a missionary aviation fellowship
pilot is a navigator pilot, missionary shopper radio
officer engineer, everything but above all a missionary
that man listen is a South African could
be flying a Boeing jet for South African
Airways and earning $35,000 a year instead
of which he's getting pocket money from MAF
why?
because Jesus is sovereign because people are lost
and because he cares because he has no
rights except to do the will of God
I say that sovereignty of Christ demands that
they never get you to Central Africa never
take you overseas but in your life right
now right now my friend when you listen
to me may the Holy Spirit thrust it
into your heart in the right your home
your heart right now is Jesus on the
throne seven days a week or is he
crucified afresh you can choose your own master
I have no right to press a choice
upon you and I'm not going to except
the right to choose you can turn the
whole thing aside but listen to me if
I never said anything to a congregation I
would wish I would wish this could be
my last word to you what you have
no right to do is to wear the
uniform of one master and do the bidding
of another the New Testament makes no provision
for that know ye enough that to whom
ye give yourselves servants to obey his servants
you are whom you obey well are you
Christ or the devil God or your own
submission now my time is gone but I
want just to say that this submission will
lead to a lifetime of obedience obedience it
meant submission for Christ it means submission for
you it meant obedience unto the cross to
him it means obedience for you unquestioned obedience
not everyone that saith to me Lord shall
enter into the kingdom but he that doeth
the will of my Father see a new
humanity of men and women redeemed by God
indwelled by the Spirit controlled by the Spirit
through whose lives the obedience of Jesus is
being revealed and who are rejoicing in the
thrill of liberty in submission to Christ a
lifetime of obedience after a Sunday sermon once
oh how it shook me a businessman came
up to me very wealthy man just by
his dress well said to me this I
listened to you this morning first time I've
been in church for ten years everything you
said to me today was real in my
life twenty years ago it lived to me
then but he said I have a big
business I have three hundred men under me
I get to work everyday at six I'm
never home till ten my kids have grown
up without ever knowing the Father my wife
has had to handle it all and he
said it's been a colossal success I'm a
millionaire many times over now but I shall
never forget the break in his voice when
he said to me and you'll excuse me
quoting exactly but oh my God what a
price I've paid obedience once living
once rejoicing in Christ once now out of
touch saved oh but useless impotent powerless carnal
my friend this question is not settled at
a conference it's settled in your life moment
by moment as you obey him and my
final word from which I will continue this
evening God willing and God helping me is
just this the claims to the Lordship of
Christ the implication of the Lordship of Christ
oh much more had I time the application
of the Lordship of Christ in my life
listen perhaps you failed to understand or perhaps
you didn't know that the crowning of Christ
as undisputed sovereign opens your heart to the
fullness of the power of the Spirit of
God in your life in order that he
may come within you and as he is
on the throne he administers the kingdom of
God in you you can't keep it up
but he can keep you up and if
Jesus Christ is Lord then the Holy Spirit
is in business in business in order that
he may make the Lordship of Christ a
reality every day of your life and
what a wonderful wonderful change in my life
has been wrought since Jesus came into my
heart I close with an illustration which I
heard from my good friend John Pritchard there's
a book written called Churchill's War Memoirs and
in it there's one volume Britain's Finest Hour
tells a story these are maybe not complete
facts but basic facts of how in the
Battle of Britain when we were all on
our own there was a little air force
base in a town in south east England
and if you'd gone into that air force
base that night you'd have seen six pilots
and six gunners of a fighter plane sitting
smoking and sipping coffee they hadn't had their
clothes off for about a couple of weeks
they were dirty bleary eyes exhausted all that
were left of a whole squadron the rest
had been shot down six planes six gunners
six pilots suddenly there came across the intercom
a message from air force headquarters enemy approaching
over the channel estimated strength five hundred immediately
coffee down cigarettes up dash to the plane
one man stops just in time to send
a message back message received and understood and
six planes were in the air we deal
with five hundred obedience it was taken for
granted wasn't in question it was total war
my friend my dear dear friend listen wake
up we are in total war we wrestle
not against flesh and blood but against spiritualities
and powers and heavenly places it's total war
and the only thing you can't fight you
can't win a war if you fight with
a limited objective called Vietnam chaos I'm not
saying whether it's right or wrong I'm only
saying you can't win a war like that
if you only want to sort of keep
people quiet while the enemy wants to push
you into the sea the answer is defeat
disaster you can only fight a spiritual war
if you have an unlimited objective all the
will of God nothing less nothing else nothing
more in my life message received and understood
let us pray