Ambassadors for Christ — Corrie Ten Boom

Transcript

I'm very happy that I may tell again to a group of young people here what the Lord has taught me in a very difficult time of my life. You are in a difficult time, but I have also seen Heaven, and I can tell you I've always believed, but now I know.

Jesus Carries Us Through Darkness

I know that Jesus' light is stronger than the deepest darkness. When people sometimes ask me, How did you come through that terrible time that you were in three different prisons? Was it your faith? And I always say, No.

My faith was very wavering and weak, but it was Jesus. He has carried me through. When I tell a little bit of my experience, then you can be sure that the same Jesus who has helped me through will help you through.

But tonight, especially, I will speak about what it means that we are called to be ambassadors for Christ. First, I would have a word of prayer. Dear Father, in Jesus' name, I thank you that we can speak tonight about what it means to be the light of the world in a very difficult and dark time of the world's history.

Lord, I don't pray for a small blessing. I pray for a very great blessing. For we are in a time of very great problems. Our Lord, will you give us a new vision on the victorious life? Make it so, Lord, that we understand what you have to say to us.

And work in our heart with your Holy Spirit that we may say a happy yes on your challenge. And help me, Lord, not to stand in your way, so that the people may see you, Lord Jesus, and not me. Thank you, Lord.

Amen. It was some time ago that I was in Japan, and G .I. asked me to autograph his Bible. And I did it, and I found in his Bible a little poem that I liked so much that I copied it. And it was this, the Lord had a job for me, but I had so much to do, I said, you get somebody else, or wait till I get through.

I don't know how the Lord came out, no doubt he got along, but I felt kind of sneaking, like I knew I had done God wrong. One day I needed the Lord, I needed him right away, but he never answered me at all, and I could hear him say deep in my accusing heart, child, I've got too much to do, you get somebody else, or wait till I get through.

Now when the Lord has a job for me, I never try to shirk, I drop what I have on hand and do the Lord's good work. And my affairs can run along, or wait till I get through, for nobody else can do the work that God has marked out for you.

The Ministry of Reconciliation

In the Bible it's written that we are ambassadors for Christ. In 2 Corinthians 5, 17 we read, this is the translation of Phillips, For if a man is in Christ, he becomes a new person altogether, the past is finished and gone, everything has become fresh and new.

All this is God's doing, for he has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ, and he has made us agents of the reconciliation. God was in Christ, personally reconciling the world to himself, not counting their sins against him, and has commissioned us with the message of reconciliation.

We are now Christ's ambassadors, as though God were appealing direct to you through us. As his personal representatives we say, make your peace with God. And then, in 2 Corinthians 4, 5, it is Christ Jesus the Lord whom we preach, not ourselves.

We are your servants for his sake. God, who first ordered light to shine in darkness, has flooded our hearts with his light. We now can enlighten men, only because we can give them knowledge of the glory of God, as we see it in the face of Jesus Christ.

This priceless treasure we hold, so to speak, in a common earthenware jar, to show that a splendid power of it belongs to God, and not to us. We are handicapped on all sides, but we are never frustrated.

We are puzzled, but never in despair. We are persecuted, but we never have to stand it alone. We may be knocked down, but we are never knocked out. Some of the things that I said Thursday, I will repeat again.

And I was glad that some of you even asked me to repeat some of my stories. Do you realize that you are called to be the light of the world, the salt of the earth? The Lord Jesus has said, like the Father has sent me, so I send you.

Why did God send Jesus? To seek and to save that which was lost. Why does God send you and me to seek and to save that which was lost? I don't know if you all agree. I told Thursday about a boy, Piet Hartog.

Saving Lives and Saving Souls

He was one of my bravest helpers in the underground work. In my book, A Prisoner in Jet, you can read how my family, my friends, and I saved Jewish people during the war. I started alone, but after some time I had a gang of 80 people.

And in this gang were 30 teenage boys, 20 teenage girls, 20 men, and 10 women. Once a lady came to me and said, I'm the matron of a Jewish orphanage. And I've heard that they are intending to kill our babies because they are Jewish babies.

I said, no, that may not happen. What can I do? And I called my boys and we made a plan. And that same evening our boys stole about 100 babies. And the next day we distributed them over 100 families. It was not difficult to find a house for a baby.

Dutch people were no heroes, we were just human. Just imagine that I had a baby in my hand and that I went to your mother and I said, will you save this baby? And if you don't do it and I cannot find another address, this baby will be killed.

I'm sure that not one of your mothers should say, no, I have no time. No, it was not difficult to find homes for the babies. It was more difficult to steal them. But I will tell you a secret. Sometimes there came German soldiers to us.

And they said, we don't like to work any longer for Adolf Hitler. He is no good. I will not help that man with killing the Jews. And then we always said, we will help you. And we brought this man somewhere in Holland, in a farm.

And they stayed there for the duration of the war. And we took their uniforms. Can you now understand how we stole the babies? We had a truck and it was not difficult to paint on the truck some German words.

And our boys put on the German uniforms. And in the time that no Dutchman was allowed to come in the streets, after 8 o 'clock in the evening, our boys went in their uniforms and they went to the orphanage with the truck.

They put all the babies into the truck and then went out of the town. There we had made a big hole under the ground and we hid the babies there until the next day. Piet Hartog said the next day, I believe we do the most important work that exists.

Just saving lives from the morning till the evening. I don't long to go back to college. This is life. I said, Piet, I am so happy when I think of the babies we have saved. But there is a work that is more important than saving lives.

And that is saving souls. And bring people to Jesus. And then Piet smiled. And he said, what perhaps some of you think. He said, I am a Christian boy. I go to church, I read my Bible and I pray. But telling people about Jesus, that is good business for my pastor.

I said, Piet, every child of God is called to be an ambassador for Christ. A soul winner. And I will tell you, Piet, that in your life will come a time that you will see the most important work for you.

A year later, Piet came into prison and heard that he had only one week to live. And the day before he was shot, he wrote us a long letter. And he wrote, all the men and the boys in this cell are sentenced to death.

And I am so glad that I can tell them that they need Jesus. And that when they receive the Lord Jesus as their savior, he makes them a child of God. I have told them that they must bring their sins to him.

And that when they are children of God, that they can know that they have everlasting life. Now I know that the most important work for every Christian is to win souls for Christ. Young people, I have a message for you from Piet Hartog.

Don't wait until the last week of your life. But say tonight, Lord, take my life. And let it be consecrated, Lord, to me. Lord, make me a soul winner. And if you do that, the Lord will do it. And he will use you.

Christian Dedication and the Mission of the Gospel

I was some time ago in the communistic part of Germany. I was the guest of the DDR. That was the communistic government there. We were ex-prisoners of the concentration camp Ravensbruck. Where I had been during the war.

I had not realized that that was in the communistic part, but so I lived with them. Do you know that I have never seen so many absolute dedicated people. Children, teenagers, grown-ups, old people. Who had given, dedicated everything.

Surrendered their body, soul, mind, their money, their time, their house, their everything. For what? To spread over the world a godless philosophy of Karl Marx. And you and I, we have in our hand the very word of life.

You and I know that people need Jesus. And that Jesus has said, come to me all. Who are heavy laden and I will give you rest. We know the way to heaven. And sometimes I am ashamed that the communists are more dedicated to their work than we are.

I read somewhere many communists are articulate, many Christians are tongue-tied. Some Christians are like the St. Lawrence River in Canada, whose mouth is frozen three quarters of the year. I believe that it is the greatest joy to bring people to Jesus.

And everyone here in this room can be an ambassador for Christ. Because God has given us two things. First a book. What a book that is almost bursting by good news. 70 ,000 promises. All written on your name and signed by Jesus Christ.

And this book is the answer for the problems of sin and death. The two great problems in the human heart. And then the Lord has given us the Holy Spirit. When Jesus said and gave us the commission, he gave us also the provision.

He said, you will have power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And then he said, go and bring the gospel over Jerusalem, over Judea and over the whole world. Because the power of the Holy Spirit is for every one of us.

Every one of us can be a soul winner, an ambassador for Christ. The light of the world. I have here a flashlight that doesn't give light. Just like a Christian who is never willing to testify to his faith.

Now this flashlight is not broken. But there was only room for one battery. And there was no room for the second one because it is full with rags. Now what do I mean with that? That first battery is that what came in your heart when you said your first yes to Jesus.

When you received Jesus as your savior, that was such a tremendous event in your life. That the angels in heaven rejoiced. For your soul is very precious in God's eyes and therefore also in the eyes of the angels.

And I don't know if all of you have already done it. Then if you haven't, I hope you will do it tonight. Do what? That you will tonight ask Jesus to come into your heart. And he will come. For he has said, Lo, I stand at the door and I knock.

If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I come in. Now that is just the beginning. And when Jesus comes in your heart, then you must bring him your sins. But I can tell you that it is the greatest decision that a human being can make.

New Birth and the Fullness of the Holy Spirit

And many people are so happy. It is written in the Bible, you come from darkness into light, from the power of Satan into the power of God. Many people say, Hallelujah, I am saved. That's the end. Sure, say Hallelujah, I don't mind, but don't say it is the end.

It is the beginning. The moment that you receive Jesus, he does that miracle that you are born into the very family of God. And that moment the Lord throws wide the door of the treasure house and bids you go in and take with boldness.

All the promises are yours. You have not to start at the bottom, you can start at the height where Jesus finished at the cross. And if you think it is the end, I fear that you are like little Johnny who fell out of his bed.

And his mother said, how did it happen? He said, Mom, I fell asleep too close at the spot where I got in. When you enter into the kingdom of God and you fall asleep, you become a backslider. No, no, take!

All the promises of the Bible are backed by the gold reserve of the bank in heaven. And one is that the Lord has said, I will give you power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And the world needs Christians with power.

Teenagers with power. And every teenager here can have power because the Holy Spirit is here. And he is willing to fill your heart like the light is ready to flood a room that is open for its glance. But that second battery is the fullness of the Holy Spirit.

You know, the Bible has no suggestions, only commandments. And the sweetest commandment of the whole Bible is, be filled with the Holy Spirit. But the Holy Spirit cannot fill a heart where there are unconfessed sins.

This one is pride. This is envy, jealousy. These are unclean thoughts. This is inferiority feeling. Is that a sin? Isn't that humbleness? No, that's pride. That you do not accept your limitations. You will be more, you want to be more than you are.

This one is hatred. Did you ever hate? I did. I must tell you of two men who were present when my family, my friends and I were arrested. They both were Dutchmen. And they were so, now you can imagine what it meant.

When the enemy comes into your home and they take away everything and they bring your old father of 84 years old to a prison. And everyone was in the house. Everyone was brought to the prison. It was such a terrible thing.

It was as if death had come into our house. It was the most terrible moment in my life. And I remember that father, we had such an old fashioned Frisian clock. And when father passed that clock he said just, how do you say that, put on the weight.

How do you say that, you know such a Frisian clock you must not wind, but you must just push the chain. Pull, pull the chain. And I said, and father said, pull the chain. I said, no father. He said, why not?

I said, father we are not here tomorrow. Father did not quite understand what happened. Father died after ten days in prison. And three of us died in prison and I came back after ten months. Now this terrible moment was more terrible because of the behavior of two Dutchmen, Willemsen and Kaptein.

They were so cruel. And after the war, these two men were sentenced to death. I can tell you when I saw that these people were cruel for my old father, I hated them. When I saw how they were beating my friends and my sister, I hated them.

Loving Enemies Through Forgiveness

But the Bible tells us that we must love our enemies and that hatred is a great sin, that hatred is murder. And I am so glad that I know what to do with my rags, with my sins. The Bible says, when you confess your sins, God is faithful and just to forgive you.

And the blood of Jesus cleanses you from all the sins you confess. It has never cleansed an excuse. I said, oh father, in Jesus' name, forgive me my hatred for these two men, Willemsen and Kaptein. And the Lord forgave me.

And he filled my heart with the Holy Spirit and gave me, instead of the hatred, the fruit of the Spirit, love. And the love that is the fruit of the Spirit is love even for enemies. Now, don't think that I am so good that I can love my enemies.

When I try to let this stick stand on my hand, we all know that a stick cannot stand on my hand. But I can have it stand on the top of my finger. Now it stands because my hand keeps it. When I try to love my enemies, my sinful nature and the power of the devil makes me sinning and sinning again.

But when I surrender to the pierced hand of Jesus, his hand keeps me from falling. And will one present me blameless and with unspeakable joy in the great day when he will reveal himself. It is not try, but trust.

It is not do, but done. Our God has planned for us great victory through his Son. These two men were sentenced to death after war because they had caused the death of many Dutch people. And the Lord gave me the right to write to these men a letter.

And I wrote to both the same letter. I wrote, what you have done, that you have helped to arrest our family, has meant the death of my father, my brother, his son, my sister and many of my friends. My other sister and I have come out alive, but we have forgiven you.

And that is because Jesus is in our heart. And he has forgiven us our sins. And when you receive the Lord Jesus, then you will experience an ocean of love and forgiveness. That we could forgive you was just a fraction of that love and forgiveness that awaits you when you receive Jesus.

Then we sent them a little New Testament, underlined the way of salvation. And those of these men wrote us a letter. Willemsen wrote, that you could forgive us. It is such a great miracle that I have said, Jesus, when you give such a love to one of your followers, I believe there is hope for me.

And he wrote, I have brought my sins to Jesus. He has forgiven me. And I believe what you have underlined in your book. That when we receive him, he makes us children of God. That man died, he was killed, but reconciled with God.

And God has used my sister and me to be an ambassador for Jesus Christ. The other man wrote a letter, I know what I have done. Not only that I have helped to bring the family Ten Boom into prison. And I know that so I have caused the death of four of your family.

But I have also caused the death of thousands of Jewish people. There was only, there is only one regret in my heart. And that is that I have not been able to kill more of your brood. That man died in his sins.

There were two murderers at the cross. One said yes to Jesus, one said no. One heard from Jesus, today thou shalt be with me in paradise. The other died in his sins. Which murderer are you? Did you say yes or no to Jesus?

Confession, Consecration, and Spiritual Readiness

That is very important. But very important is also that the moment that you receive the Lord Jesus. That is a great work for you to do in this dark world. Now what can I do with these rags? Oh that is no problem, I have a waste basket in my room.

But what can I do, what can you do with your sins? I am going to invite you to pray tonight, search me O God. And God will show you if there is in your heart a dishonesty. Or whatever there is in your life.

And when you, when the Lord tells you that there is pride in your heart. Or envy, or hatred, unforgiveness. Then say yes Father it is so, will you forgive me in Jesus name. And you can be absolute sure that when you bring your sins to Jesus.

He cast them into the depths of the sea, forgiven and forgotten. And I am sure he put a sign, no fishing allowed. That is what Jesus will do, what a joy. And then when you know that all your sins are gone.

Then surrender and claim the fullness of the Holy Spirit. And the fruit of the Spirit is love and peace and kindness and goodness. And self-control and patience. And then you are the light of the world because of the fullness of the Holy Spirit.

I would say like this flashlight but he doesn't do it. I think I have overlooked a little egg. You see sometimes there is a very little decent sin in our hearts. We are all very decent sinners here. But you know in the eyes of God there is no decent sin.

The smallest, the littlest decent sin is a great sin in God's eyes. A little bit of vanity, a little bit of envy or worry or self-pity. And we cannot be filled with the Holy Spirit and be used as the light of this dark world.

Yes, I find the egg. But that is no egg, that is paper. It is just a dollar. There is nothing wrong with that dollar. This is no rag, this is no sin. It is only in the wrong place. A dollar must not be in my flashlight.

It must be in my purse. You see sometimes when you have too many dollars or no dollars enough. The devil brings the dollars into your heart. But your heart must be filled with the Holy Spirit. And what a joy.

Proclaiming the Gospel Without Fear

Every one of us can be filled with the Holy Spirit. You know I hear so much how people are fighting the communists. And it is necessary. You know when I was there in East Germany. Oh no, it was a short time after that I was in Berlin.

I was in West Berlin. That was the time that there was not yet a wall in Berlin. And there came a lady to me, to visit me. And I was in the YWCA. And that lady was terribly nervous and afraid. And when I talked with her, she whispered, there is a communist who is listening.

I thought, oh that is impossible. She said, oh yes, the communists are everywhere. And I am sure they have a little microphone here in this room. And they will hear everything that we say. Now I understood that this woman was really a nervous wreck.

And I prayed the Lord to help, to give me, to help her. And the Lord gave me suddenly a good idea. And I said to her, listen, is that so? That a communist is listening? She said, yes. I said, all right, then we are going to give him a message.

And I said, communists who are listening, I have a message for you. And now listen well, for it is a very beautiful message. Do you know that Jesus died for the sins of the whole world, also for your sins?

And I can tell you, communists, that when you bring your sins to Jesus, he will cleanse your heart, and instead of your sins, he will fill your heart with a peace that passes all understanding. And communists, when Jesus is in your heart, the worst can happen in your life, the best remains.

And so I went on to give that communist, that lady expected to be there, a good gospel message. And I wish you had seen the face of that lady. She was just happy. She said, oh, I have never thought about that we can do that.

And she said, I will do it always. I said, be sure that you do it. When you go back to East Germany, then just always when you are talking somewhere, don't forget to give a little message to the communists who are listening.

But you know, this was really the answer that we have for the communists. Of course, we can hate them, and we can fear them, and there are many people who are terribly scared for them, but we can also bring them the gospel.

And I can tell you, if you do that, then you will be happy, and there is no fear. Because the Holy Spirit gives you love, and perfect love, and perfect love casts out fear. I believe I told a group of yours that I was in my cell all alone.

Witnessing in Solitary Confinement

Four months I was in solitary confinement. It was a terrible time. I love people. And to be all alone was terrible for me. And there came a moment that I said, Lord Jesus, I know that I am called to be an ambassador for Christ, that I must be the light of the world, but Lord, you understand that I cannot do anything as long as I am alone in this cell.

No, Lord, I can't do anything. I had hardly said it, I had knocked on... Now, I had made a little hole in the wall. I had taken a bone, and I had made it sharp on the floor, and then cut between two bricks.

If you do that long enough, you can make a little hole in a thick wall. I had a needle. Can you imagine what it means to have a needle? Someone had sent me a colored towel, and I embroidered all my underwear.

I took the colored thread from that towel, and my slip was a whole picture. First, I embroidered a house, and the next day, a pussycat in front of the house, and then flowers in the windows. Now, the people at the other side of the wall had no needle.

So, sometimes I tied it at the bone, and I gave it through that little hole. So, when they knocked, I said, yes, do you need my needle? Wait a moment, I'll get it, but don't break it. But I heard a voice, no, Corrie, we don't need your needle, but please pray for us.

We have such a black day. One of us must be questioned, and she is so scared. Now, questioning was the most terrible moment for a political prisoner. They got the truth out of you. In a cruel way, they tortured you.

And I understood that she was afraid, and I said, sure, I will pray for you. But don't forget that Jesus has said, Lord, I am with you always, till the end of the world. But I will pray for you. And I said, oh God, I can do a little bit to be the light of the world.

I can pray, but not she. But I was called out to be questioned, and I will never forget that moment when I came into a little room, and I was alone with my judge. And I knew that my life was in the hands of that man.

If he should tell me, you must be shot, I should have been shot. And he asked me much about my childhood, my school, my spare time, what I did in my spare time, and I told him all. But when he asked me about my misdeeds, I did not tell him all.

He has known of eight Jews that I had saved, and perhaps there were 800. But when he asked me about my spare time, I told him about a work about which you can read in my booklet, Common Sense Not Needed, where I tell that I had a Bible class for feeble-minded people.

Now, feeble-minded people cannot go to a church, they cannot understand the sermon, and they need the Lord Jesus just as much as you and I. And when I told that to the National Socialistic Officer, he said, don't you think that a waste of time?

Hasn't it far more value to convert a normal person than an abnormal one? And I said, if you should know Jesus, you should know that he has a great concern and love for everyone who is despised or is in need.

It is possible that a poor, feeble-minded child has more value in his loving eyes than a poor, feeble-minded child. Then he called the policeman and said, bring her back to herself. But the next day I was brought again to him, and then he said, I could not sleep this night.

I had always to think over what you told about Jesus. I don't know anything of him. We have time enough for the question, he said. First you must tell me what you know of Jesus. Boy, that was a chance.

I said, Jesus has said, I have come into the world to light, that everyone who believes in me does not remain in darkness. Is there darkness in your life? And then that man said, darkness, there is no light at all in my life.

I hate my work. When I go to bed, I dread the moment that I must awaken. And suddenly I understood there before me was a man, not a judge in whose hands my life was, but a poor man who needed the Lord Jesus.

And I told him, when you receive the Lord Jesus as your savior, he will fill your heart with a joy unspeakable, with a peace that passes all understanding. And I can tell you, when I brought that man the old, old story of Jesus and his love, I was not at all afraid for him.

You see, when you love people, then you are not afraid. And when you bring the gospel, it is as if God's love streams through you. I just heard that years after that, Peter van Woorden, oh, I believe even it is written in his little booklet that is on the book table, you have there four of my books and one of Peter van Woorden in the secret place.

And I read in that book that this judge had never forgotten what we had said. My sister Betsy even had not only brought him the gospel, but she prayed with him. Four times she was questioned and four times she prayed with him.

And he said later, I can never forget your sister's prayers. And Peter van Woorden, who is now an evangelist, and who was also four or five times in prison, once had a street meeting in Bremen. And he spoke there and brought the gospel.

And then he gave an invitation and said, who will receive the Lord Jesus and put on your hand? And several put on their hands. And then he said, now those who have put on their hands come forward. And do you know, one of the men who came forward was that judge.

A Young Witness in the Concentration Camp

Now, we had brought him the gospel, but he had not accepted the Lord Jesus. But years afterwards, God used Peter to bring him to that moment of a decision for the Lord. In a concentration camp, there was a girl, one of my girl scouts, Billie.

Billie was very brave. She was only 15 years old. And every day she came to me and said, auntie, what is your message today? And I gave her one brief message. Then Billie had to work in a factory where she was together with 104 people who did not know what a cruel day could bring them.

And when Billie came always to me, and before she went to that factory and asked, auntie, what is your message? And I gave her one short message. Once I said, Jesus is victor. Or, underneath us are the everlasting arms.

Or, fear not, only believe. Then Billie went to that factory. And when she was working, she was not allowed to speak. And they had to work there, I believe, 11 hours every day. And when she was working, the woman next to her whispered, Billie, what is your message today?

And she whispered, Jesus is victor. And that woman passed it on to the next. And so they passed it on over the whole hall. Jesus is victor, Jesus is victor. Underneath us are the everlasting arms. Fear not, only believe.

That girl, when she enters the beautiful city, and the saints all around her appear, she will hear from many of her fellow prisoners. It was you that invited me here. Was she something unusual? No. Just a high school kid.

Following Christ Through Suffering and Martyrdom

But every morning she said, Lord, use me today. And if you say that, the Lord will use you. Now, I hope that tonight some of you, and perhaps all of you, will say to the Lord, perhaps when you go to bed, Lord, here, take my life.

And make me one of your ambassadors. But before you make that decision, I must warn you. To follow Jesus, and to be in his army, in this world where they have crucified them, is not very popular. It can mean martyrdom.

It can mean suffering. Perhaps there have never been so many martyrs as in this time. Napoleon once said to his men, to his soldiers, gentlemen, when you follow Napoleon, I cannot promise you food when you are hungry, shelter when it is bad weather.

What is waiting for you is blood and sweat. But one thing I can promise you, when you follow me, you follow an emperor who never lost a battle. You know enough about history that Napoleon lost his last battle.

When you follow Jesus, then it can be worse than blood and sweat. It can be in this time that you have to die as a martyr. But you can be absolutely sure that when you follow Jesus, you follow a king who has never lost a battle and will not lose a battle.

For every knee will bow for King Jesus. But it can mean martyrdom. But don't be afraid. The Lord increases the grace when the burden increases. When I was in the concentration camp, I had my Bible with me.

It was a great miracle. The Bible was a forbidden book. When they knew you had the Bible and you gave Bible talks, then they gave you a punishment that death came only after three days. I had a very small Bible.

It was the Old and New Testament, but so small that I could hide it under my dress. All the underground workers in Holland had such a little Bible, if they wanted it. When we entered into the concentration camp, I saw that we all had to stand on the line.