We prayed together in very simple language, he told the Lord Jesus from then on he was in business, that he was now going to appropriate the life of the Lord Jesus in him, as years before he had already appropriated the death of Christ for him, and I didn't see him again for years, in point of fact 14 years, I didn't even know his name, but when I flew in from New Zealand to Portland Oregon to have another week of meetings in a different church, he called me, he said would you come to lunch, I'd like to tell you the story of what's happened, his name was Louis Palau, at that time we were overseas crusades, he left a few days later to go to South America to lead an all South America crusade, there was television, satellite, radio, the ministry reached over 100 million people, and they received just under 200 ,000 letters, seeking further help in finding Christ, he spoke at Lausanne, he was at Christiwahl in Germany, a couple of weeks ago, 5 ,000 youth leaders in Germany, he invited me to join him in South America for all youth leaders of the whole South American continent, so that together we can introduce them to the fact that the Lord Jesus not only died that we might be forgiven, but rose again from the dead to invade our humanity and live his life in us and through us, the impossible life, the life of Jesus Christ, I had a call when I was in Lausanne in the bay area near San Francisco, from a pastor asking whether with one of his church men we could have lunch together, they drove down from Sebastopol in Northern California, invited me to have a series of meetings in their church, a couple of years later it was my privilege to do, it was at the instigation of this member of this congregation, a man whose name was Fred Gentner, he had been navigator in the United Airlines when navigators were still needed, he is now the personnel manager in the airport at San Francisco, and if you ever get there ask for him, Fred Gentner, he would be delighted to see you, he had flown to Japan, hadn't been a Christian more than a few years, but when he got to Japan, he was utterly depressed, right on his back, the bottom had fallen out of life, in the providence of God he bumped into a Christian United States serviceman and this young Christian gave him some very good advice, he said go to the mission book shop and see if you can find a little paperback, I know it will help you, and he recommended this particular little book, it's a very good book, I know that because I wrote it, it's the saving life of Christ, not that it's particularly clever or smart, it took me 12 chapters to explain what God explains in one verse, so it couldn't be pretty smart, the verse is this, Romans 5, 10, if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more being reconciled by his death, we shall be saved by his life, salvation is the life of Christ, shared with the sinner who has been reconciled by his death, he went back with that book in his hand to his hotel in Japan and he read right through the book from cover to cover that night, and the Holy Spirit graciously ministered to that man's need, showed him that the Lord Jesus who died from then, a death like this, did so that he might share a resurrection like Christ, and have the Lord Jesus living in him, and that no situation can ever arise at any time for which Christ in the Christian could ever be less than big enough, he got so excited that he bought a second book, rushed off to his pastor when he returned to the states and insisted poor man that he read it too, well he got quite excited and that's why they invited me to the church, and during that week of meetings I had as I usually do a young man to assist me in secretarial work and taping the recordings and preparing masters, it was a young fellow called Ronnie Weller he came from Florida, I led him to Christ when he was a kid of 11, he was then about 18, and I said to him Ronnie could I borrow your watch, you see mine's broken and I'll need one you know so that I don't overshoot the tape, not that that ever makes all that much difference, but at least I was willing, well he said all right I'll lend you mine but he said only on one condition, that you don't wear it, because he said there's a link loose in the armband and you get excited when you speak and you start waving your arms around I know exactly what's going to happen to my watch, so I promised that I wouldn't wear it, but I'm sorry to say that I forgot, and at one of the morning meetings I wore it and I got excited and I waved my arms around and sure enough that watch went into orbit and it bounced off the ceiling and hit the ground, now we neither had a watch, but the next morning Fred Gentner the navigator in United Airlines came to me and he gave me this watch that I'm wearing tonight, he said my wife has asked me to offer to you this watch if you would be her gift, well I said that's most gracious in that it meets a very real need and I'd be delighted to have it, and I did, I took it, that afternoon he drove me to San Francisco to get a ticket from British Airlines that had to be revamped, and on the way he told me the story of this watch, he said you see my marriage was singularly unhappy and finally my wife died in a mental institution and we were childless, but I married a widow with three sons, my step sons, her marriage was singularly unfortunate, she married a man who was terribly violent, he'd come back sometimes with blood on his wrists and his knuckles from the fights in which he'd been engaged, but he died, but he said eight years ago as it was then, while in Japan I bought this watch for my youngest boy, he was a gentle child, a little self conscious, a little nervous, but he was finally drafted into the United States services and sent to Germany, his company commander didn't really understand the boy and gave him a very, very rough time, so much so he became deeply depressed, an easy prey for those evil wretches who push drugs on the street, lead a boy into marijuana until finally he'd get hooked on acid and he shot his mind, he was discharged from the services on medical grounds and when he came back to the United States he could hardly find his way home, and one night my wife disarmed him, she took the gun out of his hand, but during the night he went out of the house, broke into his older brother's home, took a gun out of his gun case and in the morning we found his body in the woods by drug pushers who killed himself, he said my older boy inherited the violent traits of his father, he too would come back with blood on his knuckles, but during his university training as an architect he overcame this disability, but one day sitting in a restaurant that he had designed, talking to the owner about one or two things that needed attention, a long haired scurvy hippie type came in and was vigorous to a girl, and my older boy rebuked him to protect the girl, and this creature went out, got a gun, waited outside and when my son appeared shot him dead on the doorstep, and within months I lost two boys, one destroyed by drugs and one murdered, I'm only happy to tell you he said that my middle boy, a fine Christian is in bible school, but he said it was then that I went to Japan, I'd lost two boys, and life had seemed to come to an end, it was then that I picked up your book, it was then that I discovered that the Lord Jesus, my creator redeemer, who died for me living within me was big enough even for that, and I found total relief that my wife never did, for four years the room in which my boy who killed himself slept has remained as it was to this very day, nothing has been changed, this is what has been in her handbag, she never took it out, it was the symbol to her who's penetrated, that the Christ who died for her was the one who rose again to live within her, to share his life with her, and to communicate that life through her, and she too in embracing him not just as the one who died for her then but lives in her now, found that relief that was mine when I read that book, and when she came with this watch in her hand and said please give it to Major Thomas or throw it in the river, I knew at last the spell had been broken, yes that's it, you see it's in the moment of despair that you finally say Lord Jesus thanks, not just for what you did then but for all that you are now, whether it's a budding preacher or a broken hearted mum or dad, the marvelous thing is this, the good news of the gospel embraces the fantastic provision that God has made for every boy, girl, man or woman in their self -confessed bankruptcy to share the inimitable resources of supply that are ours by virtue of the fact that he is who he is, God where he died, the Lord preserves it as simple, I was brought low, he helped me, return unto my rest, fill my soul, get back where you belong, at last of the soul at peace with God his maker, return unto thy rest, get back to where you belong, O my soul, the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee, thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears and my feet from falling, listen to this, I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living, that could come straight out of a Pauline epistle, to know the power that flows out from his resurrection, that I might enjoy that spiritual and moral resurrection that lifts me out from among the dead even while still in the body living together with him, I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living, what shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me, how can I requite his goodness, and the psalmist finds himself in somewhat of a dilemma because he realizes that he's too poor and God is too rich, he I will take, nothing I can give, cap of salvation, I'll drink it deep all upon the name of the Lord, for I've learned that he's a God who cares enough to listen and I've learned that he's a God who's good enough to do something about it, so the only way, the only way that I can say thank you, the only way I can requite his goodness and satisfy his compassion towards me is to take, take what he provides and offer to him the sacrifice of thanksgiving, take and say thank you, that's how you became a Christian, how do you know tonight that your sins are forgiven, if it wasn't that one day convicted of the Holy Spirit of the fact that you were lost, you saw in the person of the Lord Jesus, the one who died a death like yours, that he might pay the price of your redemption, and though you never ever deserved it, you held out the open empty hand of faith like a child, you took what you never deserved, and ever since then, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, for it's no less true tonight that the Lord Jesus lives in you, two thousand years ago he died, why do you thank him for one and not thank him for the other, all that he is, is God, you can't have more, and you need never enjoy less, will take the cup of salvation, and I will offer to thee, verse 17, the sacrifice of thanksgiving, I'll take, take and say thank you, that's how the Lord Jesus shared the life of his father on earth, five loaves, two fishes, father, thank you, a man four days dead and stinking, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, John 11 and said father, thank you, I know you've heard me, you know that I know you've heard me, but I say it aloud father, so that these who are around may know that you sent me, that I am in you, and that you are in me, and that without you father I can do nothing, that you father who dwell in me are the one who does the work, I want them to know this father, simple isn't it, you see we've made the Christian life so complicated, we've substituted for the Lord Jesus every kind of recipe, every kind of procedure, every kind of gimmick, every kind of new procedure, rule or regulation, when what God has offered is not somebody other than his son, no personality, no movement, no churchmanship, there's nothing, nothing so sacred, nothing so biblical, that we may not place it in the place of Christ, and the moment you do, noble as it may be in itself or legitimate, it becomes the object of your idolatry, it's of him, to him, to him, anything, to whom alone be glory, I beseech you therefore brethren, present your body now to the Lord Jesus as he presented his to the father, so that he now may be to you all that he let the father be to him, the only one, you know Christ like that, never get to the end of your rope, have you felt at times that you're fit to quit, then quit, not in resignation, not in despair, but in the hilarious expectation that if you tonight bow yourself out, force him in, close with your humanity, vindicate his deity, on the day that Dawes stepped out, sharing his life on earth, on the way to heaven, lost the dome of the great cathedral, the artist who had been painting the murals, stood back to him, gave it his own handiwork, he was maddened with it, he was intoxicated by its sheer beauty, and that he might the better see it to advantage, he stepped back and still again, and still again, and yet again, till one more step would have sent him, pointing to his death upon the flagstones beneath him, and at that moment his assistant on the platform looked up and grasping the situation in a moment, and with amazing presence of mind, he grabbed a bucket of paint, leapt forward and threw it all over the painting, and in a rage, the artist leapt forward and said, you stupid ass, expose your picture, but I have saved your life, which would you rather have, to paint again, is it just possible that some of the things that I have been saying in these few days expose your picture, your own preconceived notion of the Christian life, and may I ask you this question, which would you rather have, your picture, or his life, once laid down, but now divinely imparted, taker of the divine nature, to paint again, the hand that holds the brush, will be the hand of God, which would you rather have, those magnificent ambitions, which you considered yourself to be so magnificently competent, your plans, your future, or his life, are you prepared to make this the language of your heart tonight, crucified with Christ, that's all I was ever fit for, if never before as from this night, the life that I now will live, by faith, in the son of God, that disposition that as from now, will let him do it, where to be, for me now, in all I do and say, and only one possible explanation, Jesus Christ, enthroned for who he is, Lord Jesus, you know how I have struggled, how I have tried, how noble have been my ambitions, Lord Jesus, with what tears sometimes I have recognized, last I see you, live the life impossible, and as you gave yourself for me, given yourself, I don't make you any promises, I just, I thank you Lord Jesus for the privilege now, not of letting the world see what I can do for you, letting the world see what you, can do through me, I want to thank you, you don't give me strength, you are my strength, you don't give me victory, and clothed with my humanity, thank you for the new day that will dawn as you step out, to seek and save, my flesh and blood to interpret your deity, so that others in my presence, may know, that you are in business, my Savior, my Lord, your own dear and precious name, would you turn threes in your hymn books, to number 476, again a familiar hymn, but don't allow the familiarity to breed contempt, take my life and let it be consecrated Lord to thee, take my moments and my days and let them flow in ceaseless praise, take my hand, let them move at the impulse of thy love, shed aboard in my heart by your Holy Spirit, so that you and me become the origin of what I do and say and am, take my lips and let them be filled with messages from thee, take my will God you know how pig -headed I've been, how self -opinionated, how almost unwittingly wherever I go I project myself, and draw attention to me instead of to you, that's smart, and I'm sorry, I want to apologize, take my will and make it thine, it shall be no longer mine, take my heart it is thy throne, take my love my Lord I pour, at thy feet it's treasure stored, and I will be ever, please stand in a moment to sing this, let this be your act of dedication, singing of this hymn, bow yourself out, bow him in, step out may be into a new future, life for you, never ever, to be the same again, as in every new situation you recognize who he is living where he does, Christ in the Christian, God in the man, and you stand back and say thanks for the privilege of being available for you to do in this, what you please, I am at last,.