Health Update and Upcoming Trip to Amsterdam Conference

I'm glad that some of you good people have been praying for me because I went to see my doctor on Friday. I told him I was going to Amsterdam to help Billy Graham in that conference for evangelists. He said, well, if that's the case, I'm going to give you another cardiogram. He said the last time it showed some irregularity. That was after the operation I had. So he took it, and then he made a certain sound. Huh. I said, how do you interpret that? He said it's normal. So apparently the Lord has been helping us, and I still have to conserve my strength. My wife, of course, doesn't want me to get out of her sight, and I have to keep in mind S-W-M-B-O. You know what that means. She who must be obeyed. So I do hope that you'll pray for me. I have to be in Europe for about a month, and I'll be glad of your prayers.

I was talking to a lady recently, and she told me about a certain speaker. Oh, she said it was so inspirational. I said, what did he speak about? Well, she said, I don't really remember, but it was so inspirational. I said, what was his text? She said, I don't remember the text. I said, what was the topic? Well, she couldn't remember the topic either, but she insisted it was so inspirational. Now I like people to remember what I talk about. Do any of you remember what I spoke about last time? Nobody? I didn't hear that. I spoke on conscience. And the time before that I spoke on repentance.

When Billy Graham went to Britain in 1954, one of the archbishops criticized him for his emphasis upon decision. He said, decision is not a New Testament word. Had I been there, I would have been glad to tell the archbishop that the word decision is not a New Testament word, but the word repentance is. And the word repent means to change, to change your attitude, to change your way. It's the first word of the gospel. But I don't see how any man could repent without deciding to repent. Therefore, decision is really a synonym for this word repentance. Actually, we need to make a decision in order to obey the gospel.

So I'm going to talk to you this morning about decision. We make decisions every day of our lives. We get up in the morning, we decide what to eat for breakfast. Some people may decide just to have cereal, others may decide to have a full bacon and egg breakfast. But that's the decision. You decide. Sometimes when you're driving, when I'm driving home during the rush hour, I take 210 away around through the mountains, because Ventura Freeway is a nightmare during the rush hour. So I make a decision. On the other hand, when I came this morning, I decided to come straight through. These are little decisions. They don't last forever. But there are some big decisions you make in life.

For instance, my father was an American citizen. My mother was British. I was born a citizen, although I was born abroad. So I was never naturalized. But my wife was naturalized. She decided to become an American citizen. It was a twofold decision. She had to announce her intention first, and then she had to take the oath of allegiance in a public ceremony. Now whenever you decide to go to university, you decide to matriculate. That's the word they use. You enter the university. But they must find out, first of all, if you've graduated from high school. They want to know if you're qualified. So you make a double decision. You decide in your heart to go, and then you follow the rules and make your declaration.

I served as a chaplain in World War II in the Air Force. I decided I'd like to be a chaplain and serve the Lord with the men who were overseas. So I wrote to the chief of chaplains to announce my decision. But in due course, I got a letter from President Roosevelt telling me to report for duty. I had to go and take the oath of obedience to the president as commander-in-chief. When you decide to get married, you don't say, well, let's get married tonight. No, no, you have to get a marriage license. That's your intention. But that doesn't make you married. You have to go to a church, or a synagogue, or to some registry, and there declare your vows publicly, so that the great decisions of life are twofold. You decide in your heart, and you declare with your lips.

Now, the greatest decision in life is not one of these. These don't last forever. A man may decide to get married, but it's just for as long as you both shall live. When I enlisted in the Air Force, it was just for the war and six months beyond. We call that for the duration and six months beyond. But when a man decides to be a Christian, it's an eternal decision. It's for this life, and for the life to come, all eternity. So I'm not going to apologize for talking to you about the importance of the decision to become a Christian.

Now, it may be difficult for you to realize that at one time I was a sports reporter. I started my writing career as a sports reporter in Ireland. My editor said to me, the secret of good reporting is to get the facts. Find out who did it, and why it was done, and how it happened, and what it involved, and where, and when. He said, you may write a clumsy sentence, we can always rewrite it. You may misspell a word, we can always correct it. But if you don't get the facts, we can't invent them. If I say, did you hear about the tidal wave that hit Southern California? You say, no. When did that happen? Well, that's what I was dreaming about, about 5:30 this morning when I woke, about a tidal wave hitting California. It's important to find out where it happened, or if it did happen, or the circumstances. So I've never forgotten that. Who, why, how, what, where, and when.

Now I'm going to read a short passage of scripture to you. In fact, I think I can quote it. And in these six short verses, you'll find all the answers that you can ask about deciding for Christ. It's from Romans 10 and 9. But what does the scripture say? That's verse 8, Romans 10, starting at verse 8. But what does the scripture say? The word is near you, on your lips, and in your heart. That is the word of faith which we preach. Because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For man believes with his heart, and so is justified. And he confesses with his lips, and so is saved. The scripture says, no one who puts his trust in him will be put to shame. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek. The same Lord is Lord of all, and bestows his riches upon all who call upon him. For everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. It's short verses, yet they contain the whole of the gospel.

Now I'm going to ask the questions again. Who? Why? How? What? Where? And when? Do we make decisions for Christ? The first question is, who makes the decision? You'll find the answer in that short passage of scripture. You might as well keep your finger in the place, look at it now and again. You say, well, this is a strange verse to quote. There is no distinction between Jew and Greek. The same Lord is Lord of all, and bestows his riches upon all who call upon him. You say, I'm not Jewish, neither am I Greek. You might say, I'm an American. You might even say, I was born in California. Which is a rather rare thing for anyone to say. Or you might say, I'm Canadian. Or you might say, I'm Mexican. You're neither Jew nor Greek.

But the Apostle Paul was not referring to nationality when he wrote this. At that time, both Jew and Greek were subjects, citizens of the Roman Empire. Just as a Californian and a New Englander are citizens of the United States. Just as a Scotsman and a Welshman are citizens of Great Britain. Then what does it mean? There is no distinction between Jew and Greek. He's referring to something else. The Jew was the God-fearing man. The Greek, so far as Jehovah was concerned, was the godless man. He didn't believe in the God of the Bible. The Jew was the church-going man. The Greek was the pleasure-seeking man. The Jew, at that time, was a religious man. And the Greek was irreligious, as far as true worship was concerned. So the Apostle Paul is saying, in effect, whether you believe in God or not, whether you go to church or not, whether you're religious or not, you must come to this point of decision. Who? Everyone.

I was talking to an Indian in Bombay. He said to me, Saheb, I enjoyed your sermon. I said, thank you. Are you a Christian? He said, oh yes, I'm a Christian. I said, how long have you been a Christian? He said, all my life. But I said, surely you've had some personal experience. You've been converted, or you've confirmed your faith in some way. He said, Saheb, you don't understand. It was not I that was converted. It was my great-great-grandfather. He was converted from Hinduism to the Christian faith. So he said, not only am I a Christian, but I come from a long line of Christians. I said to him, do you know the Taj Mahal Hotel? He said, yes.

I said, supposing you saw a young couple having breakfast there. And you say to them, how long have you been married? And they say, we're not married. But our parents were married, our grandparents were married, our great-grandparents were married, and we both come from a long line of married people.

I was talking to a man, and he told me he was a Presbyterian from way back, no matter how far back. Well, he said, since the Revolutionary War. I said, you mean you knew George Washington personally? He didn't get the point. How can you be anything from a way back? You have to be it yourself. Who makes the decision? Everyone. Everyone needs to come to a point of decision. That was the first question. Who must decide? The answer is everyone, whether you believe in God or not, whether you go to church or not, whether you're religious or not. You must come to the point of decision.

This brings us to a second question. Why must the decision be made? Again, let's look at the scripture. It says in verse 10, man believes with his heart, and so is justified. He confesses with his lips, and so is saved. Now there are two theological words. First of all, justified. We don't use that word in its biblical sense so often, but the word justified means to be set right, which supposes that we're not right. I think you could say that there's bad in the best of us and good in the worst of us, but we all need to be set right. We all fall short of the glory of God.

I was talking to a man who said to me, well, I'll tell you what my religion is. Do your best, and God will do the rest. That's a nice religion. And where do you get it from? Well, that's what I believe. But I said, you must have some reason for believing it. What's your authority? I mean, who told you that that's how you... And he said, that's what I believe. Well, I'm going to ask you another question. Do you always do your best? Well, he said, not always. I said, then you're disqualified as far as your religion is concerned. We need to be set right with God.

I remember during the great campaigns of my boyhood, one of the slogans they had was "Get right with God." That's justified. To be justified is to be put right with God. And then it says we must confess with our lips in order to be saved. Some people don't like that word. One man said to me, I'm not lost. I'm right here. I don't need to be saved. But indeed he did. He needed to be saved from his sins.

My wife was with me in Brazil in 1952 when we had bad news from Africa. Her sister had married a Baptist minister, and they had gone up to serve the Lord in Central Africa. And the word came that her sister was dying of cancer. That was a rapid cancer. She was going down fast. So my wife took the children, crossed the South Atlantic, traveled up country, left the little ones with a girlfriend of hers, and then traveled into Central Africa and nursed her sister until she died. The doctor told her that her sister must have had cancer for about seventeen years. And that surprised my wife because her sister was a healthy woman, a busy Baptist minister's wife. But then she remembered that seventeen years back her sister had complained of a backache, and that's where it began.

And I think you'll agree with me that the tragic thing about cancer is you don't know when you have it at first. I was talking to a specialist in Melbourne, and he said to me, I wish cancer were more painful. I thought that was a cruel thing to say until he explained, he said, I wish it hurt more at the beginning than we could do something about it. The same thing is true about sin. You don't need to be a night stalker to be a sinner. You don't need to be some vicious crook to be a sinner. You don't need to work for the mafia. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

When I mentioned about that man disqualifying himself because he didn't always do his best, the word sin means to fall short of the mark. We all fall short. There's none completely righteous, not one. So the scripture says. Therefore the scripture is very clear. We confess with our lips in order to be saved. We believe in our heart in order to be set right. We must put our trust in Christ in order to be set right. But we need to confess it openly in order to be saved.

Now of course, we could ask some further questions. Another question is, how is this decision made? We've already talked about who makes the decision, everyone. Why must we decide? Because we need to be justified, set right with God, and because we need to be saved from our sins. But then, how is the decision made? Let's look at those verses again, because you find the answers scattered throughout the six verses. Verse 8, the word is near you, on your lips, and in your heart. That is the word of faith which we preach. But notice the second, next verse, verse 9. If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. That's the second time it mentions lips and heart. And then look at verse 10. Man believes with his heart in order to get right with God, confesses with his lips in order to be saved from his sins. Notice the third time, lips and heart. And then between two verses, verse 11 and verse 13, the scripture says no one who believes in him will be put to shame. Everyone that calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. You believe in your heart, you call with your lips. So that four times over in six short verses, the Apostle Paul tells you how you make the decision with your heart and with your lips. And it must be both.

There are some who will do one and not the other. There are some who say, I believe everything you believe. But they won't stand up and say so. They won't confess. On the other hand, there are people who will stand up and make any public profession required by their denomination, whatever the denomination is. Yet if you sit beside them and say, do you know that you are truly saved, they are not sure. They don't really believe in their heart, although they have said it with their lips.

At the end of World War II, I was still in uniform when I reached London and met a friend of mine who had served in Montgomery's 5th Army in North Africa. He asked me to attend his wedding. He was getting married the following Tuesday. I met the girl and there was something about her that made me very uneasy. I said to my friend, you are sure you are doing the right thing? He said rather crossly, well, it is rather late to talk about it, don't you think? We are getting married on Tuesday. I felt very uneasy. I am glad he didn't ask me to perform the marriage. When I conduct a service of marriage for a couple, I like to think it lasts forever. That is the way I feel about it.

I wasn't surprised when he came to see me about a month later. He said, I am in trouble. I said, what is your trouble? He said, my wife. Well, I said, you have only been married a month, maybe. It takes a little while to get adjusted. Look, he said, we went to Edinburgh for our honeymoon and she wouldn't even speak to me during the honeymoon. I said, what do you mean she wouldn't speak to you? She huffed. You know, I am not speaking to you. I said, why? You know why I am not speaking to you. I don't know. Of course you know why I am not speaking to you. That's all she would say. I had to admit it was a very poor start for a marriage. He said to me, what do you think I should do? I said, what did she marry you for? He said, I wish I knew. I said, are you living together like man and wife? He said, we have got an apartment. I said, I didn't ask you about an apartment. I asked you. No, he said, we are like two disagreeable lodgers. So I wasn't surprised. He said, I wish I knew what she married me for.

So he said, do you think I should get a divorce? You don't need to get a divorce. You go to the judge and tell the judge what you have just told me and the judge will annul the marriage. He'll say it never was a marriage. It's not enough to go through a form. You must have the right intention in your heart. You know full well there are people here in the States, for instance, I have known of G.I.s to go through a ceremony of marriage with a girl in Germany and as soon as she reached New York they parted company and then she got a divorce. If they are caught doing that, the girl is deported and the fellow goes to jail because you can't make a declaration like that without meaning it in your heart. So you must really mean it in your heart besides confessing with your lips. But the opposite is also true.

I was in business in Ireland, and I remember there was a girl there who was engaged to be married. She wore a lovely diamond ring, but she didn't like you to admire her ring. Now, her young man was honest, honorable. He was a gentleman in his intentions, but he was terribly shy. Every time she said to him, "John, don't you think we ought to get married next June?" he got so scared he went away and didn't come back for two weeks. When I knew them, they had been engaged 17 years. In fact, after World War II, when I reached my native city, the first thing I said was, "Whatever happened to John and Ruby?" They said, "Oh, he was killed during the Blitz." So they never did get married. Now, he had the right intention in his heart, but he wasn't willing to say so.

This verse of scripture is very plain. It says you must believe in your heart and you must confess with your lips. Believe doesn't mean merely you agree. The word believe means to put your trust. You must put your trust in Christ in your heart, and you must confess openly with your lips. You must say so. Christ said very plainly, "Those who confess me before men, I will confess before my Father. Those who deny me before men, I will deny before my Father." So this is pretty simple, isn't it? How is the decision made? Believe in your heart, confess with your lips. It must be both.

Now, this brings us to the biggest question of all. What does this decision involve? Well, let's look at the scripture again. What is it you're supposed to confess, and what is it you're supposed to believe? Verse 9: "Because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord, that's what you're supposed to tell people, that Jesus is your Lord.

I spoke to a lot of musicians, composers down at Maranatha. Chuck Fromm, who's a nephew of Chuck Smith, is a good friend of mine. And I said to those who write these popular choruses for Christians, always be sure to say who you're singing about. There's a popular song called "My Sweet Lord." The Beatles used to sing it. But it wasn't about Jesus Christ; it was about Krishna, who was their sweet Lord. Much heeded for them. So we must believe that Jesus is Lord. It doesn't say you must believe in a religious system or some particular denomination. It's a personal faith. You must believe in your heart. You must confess with your lips. And what you confess is, first of all, that Jesus is Lord.

When my younger son, who's a lawyer now, came back from Sunday school, I think he must have been about four years of age, he was talking about God said this and God did that and God said the other thing. So I said to him, "David, what do you think God is like?" Now, we were taught in seminary that God is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, transcendent, imminent, immutable, ineffable, eternal, sublime, and so on. The definition of God is very exhaustive. So I wonder what a four-year-old would say. He said, "That's easy, Daddy. That's easy." But what is God like? You see, explaining it to me, "God is just like Jesus." Now, I couldn't say anything better than that. God is just like Jesus.

If someone came up to me and said, "What's your wife like?" I could describe her, but you still wouldn't picture her. If I said, "Well, let me show you the photograph in my wallet," that photograph shows you what she's like. Not completely, but at least gives you some idea. But in the Lord Jesus Christ, you have a living photograph of God. God in human form. It says here, you must confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord.

I was speaking at the University of Chicago on one occasion for InterVarsity, when a girl raised her hand to object. She said, "I don't understand all this. If a man believes in communism, he's a communist. If he believes in socialism, he's a socialist. I believe in Christianity, am I not a Christian?" I said, "Not necessarily so." She said, "Then I don't get it." But I said, "You see, it's not like believing in something. For instance, if a man believes in vegetarianism, he's a vegetarian. But this is different. To be a Christian means that you put your trust in a living person."

I could see she still didn't understand, so I noticed she was wearing an engagement ring. I said, "Could I ask you a personal question?" She said, "Certainly." I said, "Do you believe in marriage?" She said, "Well, I'm engaged to be married." I said, "Would you mind standing up and telling all these girls why you believe in marriage?" She said, "That's too personal." She didn't exactly say, "Mind your own business." But that's too personal. Oh, I said, forget the personal side. Tell us why you believe in marriage as a philosophy, as an institution. You know, love is blind, and marriage is the institution for the blind.

She got up and she said, "Well, I haven't given this much organized thought. But," she said, "marriage gives a woman a career, a work to do, family to take care of. Oh," she said, "there are so many good reasons for marriage." I said, "Do you really believe in marriage?" She said, "Yes." Well, I said to the audience of girls, "How many of you believe in marriage like that?" There was a lot of giggling, and then they all raised their hands except one. Feminism wasn't very popular in those days. I said, "Now this young lady says if you believe in communism, you're a communist. If you believe in Christianity, you're a Christian. And now," I said, "you all tell me you believe in marriage. I said, I'm a chaplain of the United States Air Force, recognized by the state of Illinois to perform marriages. So I said, why wait, girls? Allow me to pronounce you all married." Well, there was a roar of protest. One girl said, "You're teasing us." I said, "Of course I am." Another girl said, "You've got to get a guy." I said, "That's right."

I said, "That's the difference between Christianity and every other religion. It's not a philosophy you believe in. If you believe in Hinduism, you're a Hindu. If you believe in Islam, you're a Muslim. So just believing in the principles and philosophy or even the theology of Christianity doesn't make you a Christian. You must believe in your heart. You must confess with your lips that Jesus is the Lord. It concerns a person. You put your trust in him. But it also says, believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead. You must believe that he's alive now."

Now, why this miracle of the resurrection? Why does it not say, you must believe that he walked on the water? You know, there is a popular song about putting your hand in the hand of the one who walked on the water and so forth. Why does it not say, you must believe that he walked on the water? You must believe that he changed water into wine. May I say, frankly, if the Lord had forgotten to walk on the water and hadn't bothered to change the water into wine, it wouldn't make much difference to our salvation. But if he had not risen from the dead, our faith would be vain. The scripture says so. We must believe that he is alive right now. And so he's able to help us by his spirit.

So when I ask the question, what does the decision involve? Not a religion. It doesn't say you must believe in Christianity instead of Buddhism. It doesn't say you must believe in Protestantism instead of Roman Catholicism. It doesn't say you must believe in the New Testament as well as the Ten Commandments. It doesn't say anything about religion. It says you must believe that God raised him from the dead and that he is the Lord. That becomes a great confession.

Now, this brings us to the last question. Where and when do we make this decision? Look at those six verses again. Who must decide? Everyone, whether you believe in God or not. Why must you decide? Because you need to be set right with God and you need to be safe from your sins. How is the decision made? You must believe in your heart. You must confess with your lips. What does the decision involve? Putting your trust in Jesus Christ as a person. And confessing him openly. You must believe that he's alive today. That he is the Lord.

So it finally brings us to where and when must this decision be made? Look at the very first of the six verses. What does the scripture say? The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart. That is, the word of faith which we preach. Now, what does that really mean, the word of faith which we preach? Phillips' translation, I knew J.B. Phillips, he's still alive by the way. He was a speaker at Forrest Home when I was there in 1950, I think it was. J.B. Phillips' translation translates this word of faith as the secret of believing. The word of faith. The secret of believing.

You have to admit, you've met some people who seem to have found that secret. You know sometimes unbelievers say, "I wish I had your faith." Or, "I wish I could believe what you believe." Sometimes they really mean it, they're wistful, they wish they could. But apparently there's something holding them back. What is the secret of believing?

Well, it says here, the word is near you, as close as your lips and your heart. During the Battle of Manila in World War II, I was trying to sleep in a miserable old tent. It was called the Bachelor Officer's Quarters. Miserable old tent with 20 army cots. Now, if any of you have been in the military service, you know there's only one way to be comfortable on an army cot, and that's to lie on your back.

There's always one frog in the pond to start the other frogs croaking, and soon, these other men were snoring. Some snored bass, some baritone, some tenor. I wish I'd gone to sleep before they started the barrage. In the distance, you could hear the artillery hammering away at the walled city of Manila because the Japanese fought to the last man. But a soldier can sleep through artillery fire. Just as, for instance, when you hear a thunderstorm in the middle of the night, it awakens you, and then you go to sleep, even though it still thunders. But this snoring was too close.

Then I heard a step on the gravel path. It was a pilot. He was looking for a bed. He'd been flying all day and half the night. He was tired. All he wanted was somewhere to lie down and sleep. When he came under the tent, he heard the barrage of snoring. So he started to swear. He said, where's that light? He didn't know that I was awake, so I spoke up. I said, if you stand right where you are. He started to swear again. He said, just tell me where it is, man. Why doesn't the army do things right? If they're in business, they'd be bankrupt, he said. And he started to swear again.

I said, look, I'm trying to help, and you won't even listen to me. If you stand right where you are, reach out your hand. There's a string hanging there. Pull that cord, and the light will come on. I wasn't going to get up and switch on the light for him. He could do it himself. So after a few more mutterings, he pulled the cord, and the light came on. And his bad temper evaporated. He saw there was one army cot empty. Now, he could have sworn all night, and it wouldn't have helped him. He could have cursed the darkness. It wouldn't have helped him. He could have asked me to explain the principles of electricity, and that wouldn't have helped him either. All he needed to do was to do what he was told. It was within his reach. Pull the cord, the light would come on.

That's the exact meaning of this verse. The word is near you, as close as your lips and your heart. You can't get any closer than that. You can do it. You say, what do you mean? You just believe in your heart. You decide to put your trust in Christ in your heart, and then you decide to admit it with your lips. It's as close as that.

Now, today is the 22nd of June, midsummer, 1986. Supposing you put it off till tomorrow. It's still the same decision. You must believe in your heart, confess with your lips. Supposing you put it off till the end of the year. You must believe in your heart, confess with your lips. Supposing you say, wait till I graduate from college. You must believe in your heart, confess with your lips. Wait till I get married. Then you must believe with your heart, confess with your lips. You say, wait till I'm on my deathbed. Then the minister can't tell you anything more than believe in your heart, confess with your lips. So in that sense, it's near you. It's so close to you. It's within your reach. And that means that you can do it right now.

If my wife were here this morning, and someone were to say, when do you want to decide to get married? She would say, we've been married for nearly 50 years. If you've already decided, you don't need to decide again. But if you're not clear in your mind about it, you need to decide right now. I've tried to illustrate this. I'm going to conclude with a rather personal illustration.

When I was on my honeymoon, I said to my new bride, when did you actually decide to marry me? She said, would you like to know? I said, that's why I'm asking. Well, she said, it wasn't when I told you. It was the day before. You see, I was in Lapland. That's north of Norway. And this girl that I decided to marry was a Norwegian girl in South Africa at the time. So I proposed to her by cable. I asked her to marry me. She sent back a cable, which I got in Norway, which said no. But I prayed about it. So I decided, I sent another cable grant to say I was coming. I traveled all the way out. I used a little psychology. Every place I got to, like London, Southampton, Canary Islands, St. Helena, and so forth, I sent another cable to say I was getting closer. I didn't say it in so many words, but I let her know I was getting closer. That's what you call a war of nerves.

And when I met her, after traveling 1,200 miles up country in Africa, I proposed to her again on the station platform. But she said, we'll talk about this some other time. She was a bilingual telephone operator. Well, actually, she spoke four languages. When I discovered that she was on the phone as an operator, I would call up, and if I heard the familiar voice, I'd propose again. And she'd say, I can't talk to you on official business. I said, when do you knock off? Three o'clock. I said, all right, I'll meet you coming out. So I just kept proposing every day, until she decided to marry me to get rid of me.

Now, when I asked her, when did you actually decide, she told me the day before. I said, well, why didn't you tell me then? She said, I wanted to be sure. My mother advised me this. My sister advised me that. She said, I wanted to be sure for myself. She said, the next day I told you. And that gave me a wonderful conviction.

When it comes to deciding for Christ, you must decide in your heart. Sometimes we put the cart before the horse. We ask people to make a public declaration before they've really decided in their heart. So I want to give you that opportunity today. Perhaps this is your first time here. Maybe you've been coming right along. But if you have not decided for Christ, if you have not put your trust in Him in your heart or confessed Him with your lips, you should do it now. And the first thing is to do it in your heart.

Let us all pray. And those of you who are sure that you're Christian, pray for those who are not sure. Now, if you are truly converted, you don't need to make this decision. But if you're not converted, or if you're not sure, or if you're not satisfied, or frankly, you know you're just not converted, you can make that decision now. You say, what do I say? Tell the person most concerned. Tell the Lord. Say, oh God, I want to be a true Christian. I want to be truly converted. Say that in your heart. He says, him that cometh unto me, I will no wise cast out. He will not turn you down. So just you say in your heart, I want to be a true Christian. That's your decision. You know what it involves? Repenting means to change. Turn right around as far as your attitude is concerned. But you must also confess with your lips.

Now, most people are shy in a public meeting. They don't like to make a spectacle of themselves. But at least you could tell someone sympathetic. I drove 70 miles to come here to talk to you. I'd like to pray for you. Have you any objection to my praying for you that you may become a real Christian? I don't see how you could have any objection if you've already said it in your heart. So I'm going to ask you if you'd like me to pray that you may become a true Christian. Let's keep it between you and me. Just raise your hand. Take it down again. I'll pray for you. Yes, I see your hand. And yours. Are there others? Yes, I see other hands.

You've prayed, Lord, I want to become a true Christian. Now, if you're truly converted, if you're sure of it, if you're satisfied, you don't need to ask my prayer. But if you're not satisfied, or if you're not sure, or if you know you're just not converted, I want to pray for you. Any others who'd like me to pray for you? Raise your hand. Yes, I see other hands raised. Yes, I see your hands.

I wonder if you'd be willing to go one step further. You've told me you want to be a Christian. How about letting someone help you to be sure? In other words, would you be willing to wait behind and let someone counsel with you, check up on it, help you with any difficulty? If that's the case, I want you to do that.