Lessons The Lord has Taught Me In 65 Years

My subject today is five lessons the Lord has taught me in 65 years. So why do I say 65? Because I was born again when I was 19 and a half, and it is 65 and a half years now. And the Lord's taught me many, many things, and I'm hoping to learn still more before Jesus comes again.

I was in the Navy when I got converted, and it was in the naval base that I got assurance of my salvation in India. And five years after I was converted, the Lord called me to quit my job. I had great ambitions as a naval officer, and the Lord told me to check that.

And I did, and the Navy took two years to let me go, but finally I left in 1966, which is 58 years ago. And since then, the Lord's given me the opportunity to share his word, mostly among the poorest villages in India. Jesus once said in Nazareth, the Lord has anointed me, he quoted Isaiah, to preach the gospel to the poor.

He specified to the poor. Again, in Matthew 11, when John the Baptist sent some of his disciples saying, are you really the one, or should we wait for somebody else, because John was in prison? And Jesus said to those disciples of John, go and tell him, the poor have the gospel preached to them. So from those two verses, I realized that Jesus had a tremendous passion to preach to the poor.

And so I said, Lord, I want to do that, because most of the evangelists who come to India preach in the big cities, because that's where all the rich people are, and where you get all the money from the offerings. And nobody goes to the villages of India to conduct a campaign there. So I began going there, traveling in buses and once in a bullock cart to get to a place where people who had not heard the gospel, non-Christians.

And through the years, it's been a tremendous joy for me to meet with people who had a hunger and who are born again, and who have now, we have a number of churches there, 50 churches in those villages, and godly men God has raised up to lead those churches. That's the best part of it. So I want to share, not that that's just a little testimony, but I want to share five lessons the Lord has taught me in 65 years.

And all of them, these are five things that the Lord has told me to do always, always. Number one, to remain assured of God's love. This is very, very important.

I'll tell you, if you are assured of God's love, the way I want to show you here in John 17 and verse 23, for many people, their favorite verse in the Bible is John 3, 16. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. It was my favorite verse for years, until one day God opened my eyes to see John 17, 23, which told me, the last part, that the Father is amazing, loves me as much as he loved Jesus.

Can you believe that? And it's not just me, it's for anyone who's a disciple. He didn't pray for the world. He said that earlier in verse 9, I'm not asking on behalf of the world.

So the person who still belongs to the world, who's not born again, or a Christian who's nominally accepted the Lord and is still worldly in his mind, it's not for them. But for those whom you have given me, these are the folks who said, Lord, you're first in my life. And for everyone who's put Christ first in his life, this promise is true.

Verse 23, that the world may know, Father, that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me. It's absolutely amazing. There's no verse like that in the whole Bible.

And when I saw that the first time, I said, that's amazing. I mean, the Father loves Jesus, no end to it. I knew from John 3, 16, God so loved me, but to love me as much as he loved Jesus, it's the most amazing truth.

And the Lord told me that that's something I must always bear in mind, because that's what brought security in our life. See, Jesus, before he left, he told the disciples in John 14, that I'm not going to leave you as orphans. I'm going to send the Holy Spirit to you.

And the Bible says in Romans 8, that when the Holy Spirit comes in, the first thing he does is cry out, Abba, Father. Now, Abba is a Hebrew word, which means dad. It's not been translated.

When the Holy Spirit comes in, he cries out, Dad. The most intimate father is a more formal word. And we can pray in public, our heavenly Father, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

But in our intimate prayer, I would encourage every one of you, when you pray, to say, Dad. Because that's what the Holy Spirit cries out, Abba. It means dad.

That's what I do. First thing, when I get up in the morning, before I get out of bed, I say, Dad, so good to be able to talk to you as I begin the day. Here's a habit you can pick up.

As soon as you wake up, before you get out of bed, talk to Dad in heaven. It can change your whole day. And spend a few moments talking to him.

Not asking him for anything. No. Just worshipping him.

Just telling him how much you love him. And how wonderful he is. Along with the angels.

And we'll be in fellowship with the angels when they're worshipping the Father. And he's not their Father. He's their God.

But he's our dad. And because he's our dad, it says, let me read you a verse in Zephaniah in the Old Testament. Some of these Old Testament prophecies have got a few verses here and there which are amazing.

In Zephaniah, this is just after the book of Habakkuk in the Old Testament. Zephaniah 3. And verse 17. It says, the Lord your God in your midst is a victorious warrior.

He will exalt over you with joy. And he will be quiet in his love. Now there's a paraphrase of that verse.

He will be quiet in his love. Which reads, he is silently planning for you in love. I have that written down in a paper on my table.

God is always silently planning for you in love. You know the security that brings to my heart and it will bring to your heart. If you believe that, and it's true, that your Father in heaven is always silently planning for you in love.

So that's the first thing God's taught me in these past years. And it's brought security in my life. We live in a world which is tremendously insecure.

All types of things can happen. Fears and sicknesses and calamities and people talk about wars and rumors of wars, etc. What will bring security to us? To be assured that the Father loves me as he loved Jesus.

Jesus could not die one second before the Father planned it. There were times when people tried to kill him. You read that in the Gospels.

The very first time when he preached in a synagogue, they wanted to take him out and throw him down the cliff. But they couldn't do it. How is it 200 people gang up and take hold of the preacher and they couldn't kill him? It's really amazing how God made him escape.

And sometimes when I read something like that, I meditate on it. How in the world did it happen? No angel came and pulled Jesus out. I had a feeling that those, you know how human beings are, they always argue with each other.

And these 200 people argued about which cliff should we throw him over. This one or that one or that one. By the time they had decided, Jesus had quietly walked away.

That's how the Lord delivers us. Not necessarily with angels and supernatural things. So he's silently planning for us in love.

The second truth that God has taught me in 65 years is begin your day with God and his word. And by the grace of God, I've tried to follow that for 65 years. From the time I was converted, I began to read the Bible every day.

In the morning, I was in I had a room in the naval base. And so I would get up, kneel down, pray for a few minutes, maybe 15 minutes or so. And get up and take my Bible and sit at my table with a notebook and read it.

And the result is in seven years, I really got to know the scriptures. I was single those days and I was not married. And I had to go to work only by nine o'clock.

And I could get up six o'clock in the morning and have plenty of time to study God's word. And it's made all the difference in my life. I got a foundation in those years by the time I was 26.

That's lasted all these years. That's the other thing God's taught me through the years. Begin every day with God.

And even though I know quite a bit of the Bible, even now, I go to the scriptures. I read the Gospels particularly a lot because the Bible says we run the race looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. And I can see Jesus' life, especially in the Gospels.

And there I see how he wants me to live. The way he lived. So I want to show you a verse in that connection.

You all know what are the first four words in the Bible. I hope you know that. First four words in your Bible.

In the beginning, God. That's how it should be every day in our life. In the beginning, God.

If you're going to a new job, in the beginning, God. When your day begins, in the beginning, God. And what are the first words of Jesus' public ministry? The very first words he spoke after his baptism.

When he was tempted for 40 days in the wilderness, and he was on the 40th day, the devil tempted him to turn the stones into bread. And these are the first words he spoke in his ministry. Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word, every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

Man shall live. So if your life has not come up to the level of what God wants you to, it's because you have not taken every word in God's word. Who is to blame? I see God has taken the trouble through the years to write a book for me, and I can't say that I love him if I don't take that seriously.

The Bible says we are the bride of Christ. The Bible also says in Revelation 17 that there's a harlot. The harlot is one who claims to be the bride, but is not loyal to the bridegroom.

Now what would you think of a girl who's engaged to be married to some fine man, but is away in a foreign country and says, Wait for me, I'll come and marry you. That's how Jesus is. He's telling us to wait for him.

And this man is greatly in love with this girl and writes her a 25-page love letter. And she just reads four or five sentences, one or two pages, and leaves it there. Do you believe that she really loves him? No.

If she really loves him, she'd read that again and again and again. That's the proof. It's very easy to think that we love him.

It's very easy to imagine that we love him. But if you really loved him, you'd read the one letter he wrote for us. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

That's the second lesson God's taught me. And it's changed my life. I've never faced a situation in my life, till today, and that's the honest truth, in all these 65 years for which there was no answer in God's Word.

There was always an answer when I was seeking God in any situation. But I wouldn't know it if I hadn't meditated on it. I encourage you, at least from today, read God's Word every day and meditate on it.

You know what it says in Psalm 1? It says in Psalm 1 that if you meditate on God's Word, whatever you do will prosper. And I can testify to that. I don't mean earthly prosperity, it's spiritually.

God will make your life a blessing. And the Lord told Abraham, I'll bless you and you'll be a blessing to all the people of the earth. And I want to say to all of you sitting here, if you follow God's principles, God will bless you and make you a blessing to everyone you meet.

Okay, number three. The third thing God's taught me through these years is to keep a good conscience, always. In Acts of the Apostles, in chapter 24 and verse 16, this is Paul's testimony.

I want to read beginning in verse 15, Acts 24, 15. It says here, in the last part of verse 15, I have this hope in God, there will certainly be a resurrection of the righteous and the wicked. Now we all know that.

There are going to be two resurrections. The resurrection of the righteous and the resurrection of the wicked. Now we can hear that and say, yeah, that's a fact.

It's going to take place when Christ comes. But Paul says, it's not just a fact for me. In the next verse he says, because of this.

Because there are going to be two resurrections of the righteous and the wicked. And I want to make sure I'm in the resurrection of the righteous, not the resurrection of the wicked. I do something.

I can't just sit back and accept that as a fact of history that's going to take place. I do something about it. And it says, how do I make sure that I'm going to be in the right resurrection? The resurrection of the righteous.

I'll tell you what Paul says. Because of this, I do my best. Acts 24, 16.

I do my best to maintain always a blameless conscience before God and before men. That's the way to ensure that I'm in the resurrection of the righteous. Now there's an easy believism that's been there for all these 20 centuries.

Where people say, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you're saved. And you say, oh, I accept the Lord. I sign the decision card and I sit back and live as I want for the rest of my life.

I'm deceiving myself. That is not salvation. There was an evangelist from India, from America, who came to India, one part of India.

And had a big campaign there. And there was a person I knew who was in charge of the follow-up. And he was given the addresses of some 500 people who had signed decision cards saying they'd accepted the Lord.

And sometime later, I met this brother, because he was to follow up with these 500. I said, how was it? How were these people who accepted the Lord and signed decision cards to that campaign? And he said, I went and visited all of them. I think about four or five of them were following the Lord.

99% were not following the Lord at all. So, it's a great deception when you think that so many people accepted Christ. They didn't.

They signed the decision card. They said, Lord Jesus, come into my heart. But Jesus said, the gate is narrow and the way is narrow that leads to life.

Matthew 7 and verse 13. The way to life is through a narrow gate and a narrow way. And unfortunately, a lot of Christians have knocked out the narrow way and said it's only a narrow gate.

In other words, you get in and you're there. But that's not what Jesus said. The gate is narrow and the way is narrow that leads to life.

It's like a marathon race. You come to the starting line, that's great. I mean, if one of you represented the United States in the Olympic Games at the marathon, getting to the starting line itself would be a great honor.

You're standing there representing your country and you're chosen to run the marathon for the United States. Wow. But if you keep standing there, that's not what they sent you there for.

You run and run and run and run and it's pretty tiring. These 26 miles all the way to the end. That's the picture of the Christian life.

The Bible says, let us look unto Jesus and run this race in Hebrews 12. So when you're born again, you come to the starting line. But that's not the finishing line.

There's a gate and a way and the whole thing is narrow. And that's why we got to keep a good conscience if we want to be in the resurrection of the righteous. That's what Paul says.

I do my best to always maintain a blameless conscience before God and before men. Now, how can we do that? Well, first of all, as soon as we are aware of some sin, we must confess it. In a thought, in a word, we know it.

Our conscience tells us immediately. This is what it means to keep a good conscience. Lord, I slipped up there.

I lost it with my eyes. I'm sorry. I don't want to do that.

Help me to overcome this. I said a rude word there. I was a bit thoughtless in the way I spoke to my wife or to your husband.

Forgive me, Lord. Number one. Ask God to forgive you because every sin we commit in the thought, word, deed.

There are five ways we can sin. Deeds, word, thought, attitude to people, and motive. You can do a very good thing with a bad motive.

It's a sin. Please remember this. You can sin in deeds and words and thoughts and attitudes and motive.

If any of these areas we sin in, we must immediately confess it. Lord, please forgive me. I slipped up there.

I want to overcome. I don't want to do that again with that wrong motive. I don't want to have that wrong attitude towards that person.

He may have a bad attitude towards me, but I'm a Christian. And I confess it, and the Bible says, If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us. The blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin.

But that's just one part of it. If I've hurt somebody, I must confess to that person too. That's number two.

Jesus said in Matthew 5, that when you come to the altar, and you're offering at the altar, Matthew 5, 23, there you remember that your brother or your wife or your husband, somebody's got something against you. Leave your offering at the altar. You're coming to the Lord to pray.

You suddenly remember you hurt your wife or your husband the way you spoke to him or her. The Lord says, Stop praying. Can you believe there's a scripture in the Bible that says, Stop praying? God's not going to hear.

Leave your offering there. Leave that prayer there. Don't proceed.

First, Jesus said here, Matthew 5, 24, First, go and be reconciled to your brother, your wife, your husband, that neighbor, that person who hates you, whom you spoke rudely to. Then come, present your offering. So first we confess to God.

Then we must confess to the person whom we hurt and ask his forgiveness or her forgiveness. There's one more thing we've got to do. We read in, you know, the Lord's Prayer.

Matthew 6, verse 12, So forgive us our sins as we forgive others. Have we forgiven all those who have hurt us? That's the other thing. First, I must confess to God.

There are three steps. Second, I must ask forgiveness from everyone whom I have hurt. Otherwise, my fellowship with God is broken.

Third, I must forgive everyone who has hurt me. Now, it's good to stop for a moment and think, Is there someone whom you haven't forgiven? Maybe your mother-in-law. Someone.

You don't like her face or the way she speaks? Have you forgiven? Somebody at work, your boss perhaps. Somebody who cheated you, stole your money, or borrowed and never returned. Have you forgiven? Jesus said, Matthew 6, verse 15, If you do not forgive others, your Father will not forgive you.

Can you go to heaven without your sins forgiven? Supposing you die tonight. Without having forgiven you tonight. Where will you go? Where do people go whose sins are not forgiven? Always keep our record clear.

If you do not forgive others, Matthew 6, verse 15, your Father will not forgive you. So, that's the third thing I've learned. Keep a good conscience always.

Paul knew that. He said, I want to be in the resurrection of the righteous. Number four, know that God controls all my circumstances.

That's a great lesson that's been for me. Please turn to Romans 8, verse 28. We read there that God makes all things work together for good to those who love Him.

But it doesn't stop there. The good is mentioned in the next verse. He predestined us to become conformed to the image of His Son.

So, when God works for my good in the circumstances, it's not to give you a prettier wife, or to make you more money, or to give you a better job. It is in order to make you a little more Christ-like. That is the greatest good that God can do for any of us.

To make us more Christ-like. And God controls all. God makes all things, A-L-L, all things work together for good to those who love Him.

In that connection, I also want to say, when God controls the circumstances, we read in 1 Corinthians 10, verse 13, the last part, God will not, the middle, will not allow you to be tested beyond your ability. Just like you will not ask your son to lift a weight he's not able to bear, according to his age. God will never allow you to be tempted or tested beyond your ability.

So, don't ever say that temptation is too strong for me. If it is strong, He'll give you grace. Because He's always said, my grace is sufficient for you.

So, I've been tremendously helped by this. I believe I can look into the entire future and say, I will never, till now, till Jesus comes, I will not be tempted by any situation which I cannot handle. God will give me grace for it.

Can you all say that as you look into the future? God is in control of all the circumstances of your life. This is what I've learned through 65 years. And I've proved it.

And that is why, you know, when Jesus was sending out His disciples into the world, He said, remember, Matthew 28, 18. Many people know that Jesus sent Him out and said, Go and make disciples of all nations. That's Matthew 28, 19.

But what was it based on? What was the foundation for that? The previous verse, All authority in heaven and earth is given to me. Therefore, go. Now, the way a lot of people go today is, Oh, there's a needy group out there.

You go to Mexico or some other place, there's a needy group there, go and preach to them. That's not the basis to go at all. All authority is given to Jesus.

That's why you go. Never be afraid. Oh, maybe you'll get killed.

That's okay. Paul was killed and Peter was killed. But they didn't get killed before they finished their work.

I believe that with all my heart. Like John Wesley said, I am immortal until my life's work is done. If you live in the will of God, I assure you, if you only desire to do God's will, if your aim is to make money, I don't know, I don't have any promise for you.

But if your aim in life is to do the will of God alone, you are immortal until your life's work is done. God is in control of everything. And finally, the last thing I would say, number five, remain humble and die to yourself.

Matthew 11, 29, Jesus said, there's only these two things he told us to learn from him. Not how to preach, but learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart. What am I supposed to learn from Jesus primarily? Gentleness and humility.

That's it. I may not be able to sing. Some of you may not be able to preach.

It doesn't matter. The most important thing to learn from Christ is gentleness and humility. And there's plenty of opportunity to practice this in our home.

To be gentle with your husband, with your wife. Great opportunity to practice gentleness, humility. We have plenty of opportunity to practice humility.

When people treat us badly or insult us, or hurt us, practice gentleness and humility. And I'll tell you the reason for this. Because there's a verse in 1 Peter in chapter 5. Another thing that the Lord has taught me these years.

1 Peter 5 and verse 5. God is opposed to the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. If you don't know that verse, it's one of the most important verses to know. The devil is opposing us.

Our flesh, our lusts in our nature are opposing us. On top of that, if God also opposes you, brother, there's no hope for you. And it says here, God will oppose anyone who's proud.

You may be proud of your good looks. You may be proud of your education. You may be proud of your position in life or the job you have.

You may be proud of your abilities perhaps to sing or to preach or anything. God is opposed to the proud. Why is it that many people are defeated by sin? You know there's a promise in the Bible that certain type of people will always overcome sin in their life? A particular group of people will always overcome sin.

Romans 6, 14. Sin will not rule over you if you're under grace. If you're not under grace, sin will rule over you.

And it's because people have not received grace. They've got grace for forgiveness of sins, but that's it. There's a lot more grace than that.

Sin will not be master over you if you're under grace. Then we can read Peter 5 and verse 5 again. God gives his grace to the humble.

He opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. So the picture I get is the devil and my sinful nature and all these things are opposing me. God is behind me, pushing me forward.

Who's going to win? If God is supporting me, there's absolutely no way that any sin can have power over me. And I've begun to experience that. You know I was just like anybody else, defeated in my thoughts, language, and many other things when I was born again.

I said, Lord, I want a life of victory. I don't want to be just forgiveness. I don't want to go to heaven when I die.

That's not my goal. My goal is to live and complete God's will before I leave this earth. So I want to please you before I leave.

That's how I discovered that grace can make me an overcomer. So let me repeat these five things that I said today. First of all, always remain assured of God's love.

He loves you as he loved Jesus. Don't be frightened because of circumstances. Number two, begin your day with God and his word, always.

And number three, keep a good conscience, always. Number four, know always that God is in complete control of circumstances. All authority in heaven and earth belongs to him.

He will never allow us to be tested beyond our ability. And finally, remain humble. And like Jesus said, take up your cross daily and follow me.

Die to self. So the way I look at that is, what does it mean to take up the cross every day and follow Jesus? It means that if I come to a situation that really irritates me and troubles me and I want to react in an angry way or rude way, I ask myself, how would I react if I were dead? That's what it means to take up the cross. Die to myself.

Follow me. Jesus said that. Take up your cross every day and follow me.

Most Christians do not know what that means. It just means recognize that in Christ, I've been crucified with Christ, like Paul said. And I choose that way of death every day.

Second Corinthians 4.10 says, always bearing in our body the dying of Jesus. That way you will be an overcomer every single day. Because you choose the way of death.

Because it's an eternal law of God for Christians. Wherever a person chooses the way of death, there will be a resurrection. A spiritual resurrection.

And I've experienced that again and again and again in my inner life. If I choose the way of death, God gives me his resurrection life in sight. Dear brothers and sisters, we have missed a lot in our Christian life because we haven't chosen God's way.

Let's choose it from today. In conclusion, the word I was quoting, which I didn't complete, Psalm 1. Whatever he does will prosper. Meditate on God's word and it says whatever he does will prosper.

Spiritually, whatever you do in your life will prosper. And I've experienced that in amazing ways. I'm not a very gifted person.

But God gifted me and did amazing things. And he can do the same for any one of you. When I was in school, I was the shyest and the most withdrawn person of all.

God filled me with the Holy Spirit and changed me and he can change you, any one of you. I want you to believe that today. That's great.