Walk in Love — Joshua Daniel

O gracious Father, we do thank you for these precious lessons which thou dost teach us out of your Word. Imprinted in our hearts, we pray you, thy living Word may stay imprinted in every action and motivation that comes out of us.

Lord our God, you have said that we are the salt of the earth. We do thank you for the knowledge of Jesus Christ, which is now going forth to many nations. Lord, how benighted people can get, even in this favored emerald isle, where the gospel is not proclaimed in those regions.

Dear Lord, we do pray for the big cities and the little towns and villages of this kingdom, as well as the villages and towns and cities on the continent. We do pray that there will be people who will guard themselves with strength in their inner man, equip themselves with the word of grace and power, and be faithful in their proclamation, as well as in their daily presentation of a practical Christian life.

Let us not fail, we beseech you, when it comes to action. Lord God, let us not be tardy either. Speak to us afresh, and please let the quickening power in your living Word take over and give to us what our sputtering mortars that have stalled, or perhaps never fired in their whole existence, may come to life and gain the needful momentum that this day and hour requires.

Please, Lord, draw near to us. It would be just dreadful to fail you at such an hour as this. So help us, in Jesus' holy name. Amen. Now, if you will please turn to the book, Ephesians, the fifth chapter.

Walking in Love as Christ Loved Us

Be you therefore followers of God as dear children, and walk in love as Christ also has loved us, and has given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling saviour. But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness let it not be once named among you as becometh saints, neither filthiness nor foolish talking nor jesting which are not convenient, but rather giving of thanks.

For this you know that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. So, therefore, when we turn to the Lord with repentance, you have heard in Brother John Plowman's testimony how there came repentance upon him.

Today, of course, church membership seems to take for granted the fact, they take for granted at least whatever may be the fact that here is a man who is a good Christian. And as John himself said, he was far from that.

Now, think of that. The Lord Jesus Christ first taught, repent, and believe the word. You know, it was on the law books of Rome that every Christian, Christianity was banned. And it was on the law books of Rome that every Christian should be killed.

And some of the emperors enforced this, and some of the emperors did not. That was all the difference. But the cross was very, very real. I wonder how many church members we would have had if that were the modern law, and how many of you would be calling yourself by the matchless name of Jesus Christ either.

But mark you, dear friends, so Christianity always carried with it a price tag. And today, preachers appear to make it a smooth ride, nothing to worry about. It's a fine, smooth ride. I've not seen it that way.

And to this day, I meet boys and girls at the university and elsewhere who suffer a great deal of persecution. In fact, their lives are threatened, but still, they have made their irrevocable choice to follow Jesus.

So we cannot have a watered down Christianity, which has no cross in it. So my dear friends, we begin with a miscalculation. We don't take all the equation and say, hey, am I going to follow Jesus at this price?

That's where the love of Jesus comes into play. When the love of Jesus constrains you, nothing appears to be a heavy price, nothing. And subsequent to this, begins the practical walk. The second verse says, walk in love as Christ also has loved us.

Forgiveness as the Test of Walking in Love

Walk in love. I cannot measure the potential of such a walk. When you begin to walk in love and react with love and forgiveness, I do believe that most of you say some prayer whilst there's a lot of difference between praying and saying your prayers.

Yet, most of you, I would say, have some kind of praying which you do. Now, what is the condition that followed the Lord's prayer? The immediate condition that followed the Lord's prayer is, if you forgive not, your heavenly Father will not hear you.

The spirit of unforgiveness, it rankles in the breast. It festers. It is a cancer. A spirit of unforgivingness. When you find that somebody has done something so offended you that you find it so hard to forgive.

My dear friends, you know, when a cobra attaches itself to your legs and entwines your foot and begins to bite you repeatedly as cobras are said to do on provocation especially, well, you know, one way is to try to shake it off in the sense that you kick so hard.

Well, of course, you're not kicking the creature but it has wrapped itself around your foot and is trying to get a real bite or two or three of them in and you kick your foot so vigorously it goes flying.

Now, if that's how you deal with a poisonous creature, I wonder how you deal with a poisonous thought. Something that keeps biting you, poisoning you, poisoning your thinking. I wonder if you obey God's word and say, Lord, I just leave this matter in your hands.

I'm sure I have been an offense to many people. Now, here is somebody who has offended in this manner or another. I will forgive. That's there an end. No more of that. You know, some people cannot forgive.

There's not that forgiving spirit. I remember a young man who said to me last night, I nearly killed my wife, his young wife. I said, but why? Well, I was so furious when she confessed to me that when she was a girl, she had acted very improperly under duress from one of her own uncles.

Well, you know, my dear friend, I asked this fellow, but how did you live in your youth? He said, my, I lived a wicked life. That's true. All right. You're not ready to forgive your wife when under duress, some guilt and sin came into her and you want to be forgiven.

Well, you know, different measures are used generally by society. A husband apparently can do whatever he likes, but if a woman does it, oh, it's terrible. Well, that may be the way society judges, but sin is sin.

Sexual Purity and the Call to Holiness

Here, the Bible tells us walk in love. And then it goes on to say what this walk specifically would mean. Certain things were never to be found or mentioned. Even the occasion to mention them should not arise.

Third verse, but fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not be once named among you as becometh saints. And now my dear friends, one of my children, the youngest of them, she said to me, Daddy, I know what these boys want.

And she has learned also how to keep such fellows at bay. You know, some girls apparently don't know how to say no, not only just girls, but very mature persons too. That's what I notice. It is amazing.

But the Bible tells us that in the Christian walk, there are certain things which should not put up their heads. But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not be once named among you as becometh saints.

One of the wisest of men whom I have learned to respect said, adultery is a sin against a nation. It is the breaking of vows. It is a sin against your family. It is a sin against society and the family unit being the unit of society.

It is a sin against a nation. And today, you know, the way that people are going, the newspaper is so full of it. It's so trashy today. You don't have to go somewhere to buy a pornographic book, yet the morning's newspaper has enough pornography in it.

As a matter of fact, you see how it begets enormous problems. Children become nervous wrecks. Medical world is swamped with all kinds of cases. The classroom cannot function. One sin. And the Bible says, let it not be once named among you.

And yet, you have a nation that seems to think that this is just normal. And we cannot be Victorian. We can't be puritanical. We can't be this, that or another. These Christians are a queer bunch. And of course, most Christian congregations are no example at all.

No example at all. Anything seems to go, even in the pulpit. I was preaching in Sussex once, many years ago, and they said to me, here's a scandal over here. The vicar is carrying on with another woman, and his wife seems to know all about it, but she tolerates it to such a degree that this has become a shame.

Well, this was 50 years ago. Nearly 50 years ago, or a little short of that, 46. And you know how the things have developed lately. And what an escalation there has been in this kind of devious and immoral conduct, shameful conduct, about which nobody seems to be ashamed.

And so much of it is covered up. And you know, fellows beginning to say, I was a chorister or something, and you know, the priest abused me. What a shame and a scandal. The Church of Jesus Christ becoming a place of impurity and immorality, and that is just becoming so accepted.

Can't believe it. And that with the Bible before us, let this not be once named among you as becometh saints. As a matter of fact, I wish I had a room full of priests, men of the cloth, and pastors and leaders, because if there is no cleansing, and if there is no deliverance for our families and our young people from this code of immorality, there is very little hope.

You see, you can't have a nation steeped in sin where nobody's word can be trusted. Then how do you function? You can't function in the family. You can't function anywhere. And the Bible also mentions, notice friends, covetousness, the last commandment.

Covetousness, Debt, and Contentment

Why did the put it as the last of the Ten Commandments? Thou shalt not covet your neighbor's wife. Thou shalt not covet your neighbor's property or animals or anything that belongeth to your neighbor.

You know how today people are all out to follow the Joneses next door? Somebody has bought this, so I've got to buy this. This designer clothes, you know, do I have to wear at the back of my seat some odd name and go parading it around?

I don't know. Do I have to pay 20 pounds more for buying that wonderful vocation of carrying on the seat of my pants some amazing name? My dear people, how ridiculous can we get? You know, I always believed in having, you know, when I could afford it, my own tailor.

And so I don't envy somebody who has got a well-tailored dress because we had our family tailor from my childhood. And he would come out with very well-stitched clothes. So that's what I was used to.

Now, but of course, today I have little time for tailors and so on, whatever it is. Listen, covetousness, just keeping up with the Joneses or looking at somebody and there it becomes a lifestyle. And you see how people are so into, been so into borrowing.

I do not know if every one of you here is free from debts because the Bible says, oh, no man anything save to love one another. Oh, no man anything. It's a terrible thing, you see, when you have got to think all the time, money, money, money, where am I going to find the money for this, money for that, and so on and so forth.

We lose our sense of moral values altogether. It becomes money, money-dominated, money-saturated, money-ridden minds. And you become meaner and meaner. Money makes you meaner and meaner till you are looking out to see from whom can I grab this or whom can I get this.

You know, folks, instead of the wonderful heart which Jesus gives, what shall I give? You know, friends, I would make it a point not to use the phone of my hosts. When I started my itinerations, you know, not everybody had phones.

They used the public call places, those red boxes which used to be there at least, whatever it is. And I would not want to leave even a small phone bill for my host to pay after I have left. So before I left a place, if I did have to use use their phone for any reason, I would leave adequate money to cover the cost under the phone.

And some of them would find the money and say, you forgot this money under the phone. They were not used to that kind of thing, you know, because they would say, Mr. Daniel, please use the phone. But I would not.

You see, when we produce people who are so mean, who can go and be the guests of somebody and leave their, besides, their bills behind. You know, I embarrass certain people. When I first came to Britain as a very young fellow, of course, I was not known.

And when I turned up in one famous Bible college, first of all, they wondered if this fellow can preach at all, whatever. And after three days, after I'd preached there, I said, I want to pay for my stay in this Bible college.

And I put down some money. You don't know how the president of that college, the principal of that college felt so embarrassed. But of course, he could not refuse it because I insisted. I invited myself, I came here, and I need to pay.

You know, folks, if all of us were people who were more into giving than into receiving, what a blessed life yours would be. See, I saw my parents. I saw them giving. When they could ill afford it, they would still give.

They would still give. And you know, God would just supply what we needed the right time. And here the Bible says, covetousness should not be once named among you. So there should be no arguments about money in our families.

You see, when my children were growing up, they knew very well that there wouldn't be 10 pennies in the pens in the house, and none of them bothered us saying, give me this or buy me this. Not one of them.

They were contented with what they had. So the first boy's clothes would go down to the second, and the second would pass it on to the third, and they were happy. They were even happy with my haircuts, which left a lot of notches, and their friends would laugh at them.

Yes. You know, when you have three boys and you need to be careful with your limited resources, you turn into the hairdresser, whether you know the job or not. Much to the discomfort of your boys. Fortunately, you girls never needed that treatment.

Now, just think of this, covetousness. And today, with this borrowing and endless borrowing, with never a prospect of clearing off all their debts, the nations are in dreadful trouble. The banks are in dreadful trouble.

And when I see how they are cutting back today on jobs, I think there's going to be a lot of sadness and misery. And with every redundancy and loss of jobs, there is going to be an escalation of divorce.

Oh, the sadness, the sadness. You know, my dear friends, we need to have a compassionate heart. Now, when I see somebody who is all the time wanting to just climb, climb, what for? To do more good? To serve more people?

No. It's just a question of stacking more money. And the Bible says, let not covetousness be once named among you as becometh saints, as becometh the children of God. Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient, but rather giving of thanks.

What happy people we must be, contented people. Godliness with contentment is great gain. You know, in a Christian home, there should be a spirit of contentment, joy, love, peace, long-suffering. The devil is always ready to bring some garbage truck right into your home.

How would you welcome it in your drawing room? A garbage truck. Suppose it crashes right into your living room tomorrow morning. And you'd say, hey, please leave all the garbage for me. Don't you take it away.

Unload right here. You know, garbage trucks come in and go out. I don't like all that rubbish brought into my house. There are some wise people who say, look, if you are going to talk evil about God's children, no.

I'm not prepared to listen. I don't want you coming in with such stories. There are some people of character who just turn them out. Garbage trucks not permitted. You know, friends, you can't have revival and garbage trucks going together.

You just can't have it. And some people love garbage trucks as though they are the guardians of some tip, garbage tip. You see, let it not be once named among you. Not foolish talking, neither filthiness.

Walking by Faith Rather Than Sight

So then, if you turn to the fifth chapter of Second Corinthians, you will notice how we ought to walk. Second Corinthians 5, 7. For we walk by faith and not by sight. I find it very hard to teach people this lesson.

I walk by faith. By the grace of God, I have done so. When there is no evidence of adequate supply, when everything stands against a drought, a meaning, a drought situation, or some other situation, you know, this food shortage is hitting many people today.

And they are blaming it upon China and India eating well. Isn't that good for a change? However, the poor world stands to suffer if these big nations get to overeating and swelling up like toads. You know, some of them have the appearance of toads already.

And let me tell you, it's not for their good, nor for their health. Whatever it is, shortage. You know, my dear friends, when these things are brought to us, shall we cut short God's work? You know, I'm trying hard to kind of limit the numbers at some of our retreats, because I want the quality to go up.

But I don't see how I can stop it, even at 10 ,000. It seems very hard. That means the kitchen has got to be upgraded, water supply has got to be upgraded, and then lodging places have to be built. Some of you do not know that steel prices have doubled and tripled in the last few years.

And most of our structures have to be reinforced, steel buildings. And so mounting bills all the time. And are we going to say, hey, there's no need out there. We'd better stop and say, that's about it.

That's okay. We can do more. We can serve more people. No, the Lord Jesus Christ went where there was need. Now, if you're going to make it the rule of your life, where that you will go, where money is to be found, let me tell you, you will self-destruct.

God's way is going where there is need to supply what others cannot supply. That's God's way. That's walking by faith. Now, it might seem like a very hard lesson for most of you. But let me tell you, that's a very rich lesson.

Your soul will be enriched, and you will be fulfilled walking by faith and not by sight. You know, when you look at things, they appear so dismal. You know, it looks like the bottom is falling out of our present civilization.

And if you begin to think of what are my children going to do, what are my grandchildren going to do, I tell you, you will worry yourself to death. But if you can communicate faith to your children, all else may pass away.

Heaven and earth may pass away, but not a jot or tittle of this God's word will pass. You can anchor your trust and your hope in Jesus. You know, my dear friends, at a time when inflation is hitting new heights, and people, the most brilliant minds, do not know how to control inflation.

And then, you know, balance, industry, they have got to produce more jobs. That means more money going out to the banks, and the banks being emptied by panic-stricken investors. Oh, this is a very difficult time.

But let me tell you, if you anchor your trust in Jesus, he will not fail. Everything else may fail. Don't take me for a prosperity preacher, because I know want, or I know hard times. I know tough times.

I know what it is to walk in the valley and have the strength reach from God when no one can help. So, my dear people, walking by faith, last of all, please turn to Galatians, the fifth chapter. The sixteenth verse says, walk in the spirit.

Walking in the Spirit and Rejecting the Flesh

My goodness, we are all walking in our bodies, I suppose. Indeed, we are. Our legs carry us, and we walk as normal. That's the normal walking. But here we are told, Galatians 5, 16, this I say then, walk in the spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

Walk in the spirit. My dear friends, you know, this is another level of walking. Walking in the spirit, praying in the spirit, singing in the spirit. You know, when you want to walk with Jesus Christ, you don't want a lot of clutter in your lives.

You know, your life becomes very simple. Your taste becomes simple. You don't want to carry a lot of excess baggage with you and worry about this and worry about that. No. Life becomes very beautiful and simple and productive and creative.

Walking in the spirit means God's spirit teaching you how to walk. Walking in the spirit. You don't fulfill the lust of the flesh there, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh when you walk in the spirit.

You see? Now suppose I've got a lovely vessel here, a nice-looking silver gold vessel, and I'm pouring some precious liquid into it, and I take no note of the huge leak below. So I keep pouring, and it keeps leaking.

And when I look for some, my vessel is full, isn't it? No. All of it has leaked. You know, we spring a lot of leaks in our lives, and some of these leaks are formed by our welcoming them. We welcome the clutter.

We welcome the unspiritual talk. We welcome the slander or evil speaking. And then you will get a big leak, and you begin to wonder, oh, what's happening to all my prayer? Where is it going? And so on.

There's a lot of this, you know. So you become unproductive, unfruitful. Nothing creative comes out. But when you're walking in the spirit, you get directions from God. Thus said the Lord. God begins to speak to you.

Speak these words. Do this, and God will give you fruit out of your labors. Now the 25th verse says, if we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit. You know, we claim many things, you know.

I'm afraid there's so much positional Christianity around today in the world. What do people say? Oh, I'm seated in high places in Christ Jesus. I'm seated in the heavenlies. And what are you talking?

Slanderous words. And you're sitting in the heavenlies, are you? You're not. What's your head thinking? Some rubbish. And you say, I am seated with Christ Jesus in the heavenlies. What nonsense is all that?

You know, we don't need such philosophy or theology. Yes, in Christ Jesus we have received so much. But if you don't possess it, if you don't retain it, and if you willfully throw it, and so, this many nations are being deluded by religious phrases, big phrases.

And I don't see any of it in practice. Now that's the difference between Christianity and other religions. Other religions may talk high philosophy, but when it comes to practical living, nothing but lies and deceit.

But when you come to the Christian walk, you live in the spirit, and you can be trusted. Your word can be trusted. You know, I still tell some of those fellows, you know, with whom I deal with, I tell them, hey, listen, my word is more than a document, and you can be sure every penny of your money will reach you.

And they believe me. All kinds of people believe me. In fact, not one person I can cite who did not believe. And of course, I stay true to what I commit, and see that every bit of their money is safely given to them.

You know, I am talking about some of those big deals in seven and eight figures. You see, and I don't go to some bank and get a bank guarantee, and this, that, and the other. No. I say, I'm going to pay you, and it will be done living in the spirit.

Oh, what a chance is given to us today to show forth Jesus. Let us pray. Let us tell God, oh God, let me not talk about high things and live in the gutter. No, Lord, I don't want empty phrases. I want to live in the spirit and walk in the spirit.

I want to walk by faith and not take fright at every event that comes across my path. Lord, I want that faith which is anchored in Jesus, my wonderful Savior. I don't want anything to stand between me and you.

Gracious Father, let your nail-piercing hands be upon all these, my dear friends. I thank you, Lord, in this brief retreat of ours. Your presence has been with us, but only we want to live in your presence wherever we go.

We want to carry your peace with us. We want to carry your thoughts with us. We want to walk in the spirit, Lord. There are many real problems waiting for us, many real battles waiting for us. Please teach us how to overcome in every situation.

Oh, teach us faith, Lord, that we may walk by faith and not by sight. So help us, we pray, and enable, Lord, all the families represented here. I plead with you and ask you, all the families that are represented here, please, Lord, to bring your light and salvation to the families.

Oh, let them not fight against the truth. Let them not hurt themselves. Oh, my Father, let it not become like an old, old story which they've heard again and again, and therefore they have seen nothing of it in practice.

What a tragedy! What a tragedy! If any member of our family should say anything like that, what a tragedy! Lord, we want those around us to have a living presentation of Jesus Christ. So hear our prayer in Jesus' almighty name.

Amen.

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