Grace Brings Salvation — Erlo Stegen

We thank you, Lord, for the thunder and for the rain that we have received. And the thunder and lightning which brings rain, and we pray, Lord, that we may hear your speaking and hear your voice like thunder and lightning, and that it might bring about spiritual rain in our lives.

Amen. Somebody came to me and asked me to take this service this evening. And then somebody suggested that I should speak about that which I preached about at Mapumulo. We had a service there at Mapumulo recently.

There, where the revival started. And it's now for the first time after 43 years that I've preached there. Or rather, it's 43 years ago that I preached there. And then somebody suggested that I should speak about that.

Grace Appears and Brings Salvation

I read from Titus 2. Verse 11. For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.

We'll end reading there. These words are very precious to my heart. That the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared, it has been revealed to all men. Now, when it speaks here about the grace that has appeared, it uses the same symbolism or the meaning of the sun, the moon and the stars appearing.

If you go out now, it might be that you don't see the stars and the moon. You won't see the sun. But if the clouds would clear away and the mist and the skies would clear, all of a sudden you see, but my, there is the moon and the stars.

If the clouds would clear away and the mist and skies would clear, all of a sudden you see, but my, there is the moon and the stars. Now, it's not that the stars and the moon aren't there, that they had disappeared or that they are gone.

It's not that there's no sun. It would be utter foolishness to say, well, because I don't see the sun, it means that there is no longer any sun, there is no sun. And I'd say, well, show me where is the sun, I can't see it.

And then say, because of that, it's not there. So, there is such a thing that you do not see it. But then how beautiful, how wonderful when they appear, when they are shown to us and we see the lights in the sky, the sun, moon and stars.

So, there was a time when the grace of God was hidden and where people couldn't see it, where it was utter darkness. Where a person becomes depressed. Where a person's way is dark. Where a person becomes depressed.

But then the times turn and the earth turns and then the sun appears and it shines in its brightness and it shines upon all men, not just upon certain men, but it appears to all men. I hear it speaks about the grace of God, the grace of God which is far greater than the sun, the moon, and the stars, incomparably great, and it says that this grace of God has appeared to all men.

Grace Gives Life and Delivers from Sin

And it is grace which brings about life. It saves. As the heat of the sun kills off germs and bacteria and it brings about new life and growth, they found fish very deep beneath the earth, there where the rays of the sun never reach.

And they found that those fish are blind because they've never met up with the light of the sun. The light of the sun brings about life. And when the grace of God reaches, it brings about salvation. So, if you are depressed, if you are stumbling about in your blindness and in darkness, then it means you are in a pit, you are in a hole somewhere, where you do not see the grace of God, where the grace of God is hidden from you.

You're in that lake or in that miry clay where you are busy trampling around in your mud and the grace of God doesn't reach you. You're in your sin, bitterness, resentment, grudges, hatred, carnal and sexual lust, drugs, not showing respect, disobedience, that's what your life is like, it's rotten.

But we thank God that his grace has appeared and that that has now appeared which was absent from your life. Where this grace which brings salvation has appeared, where this grace reaches, it brings about salvation.

Just where as the sun reaches, it brings about health and it brings about a cure, so you are cured from your sin. And this grace is alive, it teaches us, as a teacher teaches a child. It teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions.

And it teaches you to live upright, uprightly, to live a straight life and if your life isn't as straight as a die, then that means you haven't yet seen this grace, you haven't yet met up with this grace.

Through this grace of God, you live an upright life, you live a self-controlled life in this world that has so perverted this crooked and depraved generation. If you say that you are in the grace of God and you are not saved from these things, you are not made well spiritually from these things, then you are just playing the fool.

I said that there are clouds and there is mist which hides the lights which are in the sky. Now the word of God acting and operative through the Holy Spirit dispels all darkness, it dispels those clouds and that mist so that it's totally clear, crystal clear.

The School Trap and the Poison of Sin

They said that there is a school in Germany that had a strict and an upright principle who wouldn't allow the children just to get up to mischief, he would discipline them. And he had a very sharp eye, if anybody would get up to any mischief, he'd be very quick to abuse.

And at that school, there was a child that was totally corrupt and incorrigible and I don't know why the child was like that, perhaps the parents didn't bring it up properly. There are parents that shouldn't be, that aren't fit to be parents, that shouldn't have children because they don't know how to bring up the children.

And this child influenced the other children, some of the other children and would poison them with this child's poison. I could get some children, they spread their evil teachings and they poison and they defile other children around them.

And then you get some children that can defile a whole school and poison a whole school just like you get a little bit of yeast that works through the whole batch of dough. And you can find the same in a nation, where the nation as a whole might be wholesome and upright, but then you get a few that start influencing the others and they spread their evil teachings and very soon you find that the whole community, the whole nation is corrupted.

And so some children had hatred started to develop towards that principle in their hearts. One day the principle had to go somewhere and come back late at night. And the children, the learners had heard that the principle was going to be away, they only come back at night.

So late at night, the principle came back, came back home. Now, fortunately, he was walking along with his walking stick, which was quite a thick, stout rod, quite heavy. And as he was walking along, going around the corner, going past where the dormitories were towards his place, all of a sudden there was a loud explosion.

And his rod, his walking stick that he had in his hand, was smashed to pieces as he was holding it. And when he investigated closer, he saw that it was a trap, a steel trap with steel teeth, a big trap, not for a rat or for a mouse, it was for that you used to trap game with, for foxes or big game.

If it would be trapped in that, it would cut off the head. If you put your foot in there, you wouldn't get free again, it would actually amputate your leg. The next morning, he gathered all the children together.

And he said, who has put that trap there? Who put that trap there? And there was no answer. And he kept on asking, he said, who has put that trap there? Let them come forward. Now you know that a heart that is devoid of the grace of God is pitch black and it is filled with Satan himself.

Rejecting Grace and Hiding Sin

Now, it is possible that a person closes his eyes to the grace of God, even though it's appeared to all men, but that he closes his eyes to it, that he cannot see it. It's possible that a person closes his heart, that the grace of God cannot penetrate.

And for that reason, unless a person opens up his heart, it will always remain black and dark. And instead of a person looking at that grace, opening his eyes and looking at it, a person turns his back upon it.

So nobody came out at the school. And whatever the principal said was to no avail. And some children, instead of them getting up and speaking out, they kept their mouths shut. Many school children are cursed in that way.

That instead of a person, instead of a school child standing up for the truth and standing for that which is right, they'll shut their mouths, they'll zip their lips. And in that way, they identify themselves, they associate themselves with the evil deed of that person.

And because of your keeping quiet, and because of you hiding away those things, you are identifying yourself with that person's sin. And so they didn't come out with it. The person who was responsible didn't come out with it.

Nobody else who knew about it said anything about it. And so the matter passed by, and they actually forgot about it. And that child who was responsible for that even finished his schooling career and carried on.

Sin Reaps Consequences before God's Judgment

Now, with certain nations, when the children leave school, they have to do their national service in the army. So he went to the army. And then war broke out. And he had to go and fight. And there on the forefront, he stepped onto a landmine, and it exploded underneath him.

Both his feet were smashed to pieces, and he lost both his feet. And he experienced excruciating pain. In those days, anaesthetics weren't as well developed as they are today. And painkillers. So he experienced terrible pain, a pulsating pain.

And he was as if he could feel his toes and his heels, even though they were nonexistent, they were amputated. But worse than that excruciating physical pain that he endured, was the tormenting of his conscience, where he was reminded of that which he had done at school, where he had tried to harm his principal, where he wanted to trap him in that trap and harm him, that his foot perhaps would be amputated.

He didn't succeed in that. But now he had to experience that where he lost both of his own feet. And for God has said, that which you sow, you will reap. And so you can do something that's evil, and you can be successful in that, and not be caught out.

And you can go and say, well, I got away with it. But your conscience will never leave you at peace. Day and night, it will remind you. And it'll come back to you about those evil things that you've done.

And how you've harmed that person. And how you've committed that abortion. And those different things, those evil things that you've done. And his conscience reminded him what God had said, what you sow, you'll reap.

And where you thought that nobody saw you, God's eye was upon you. God saw you, and he'll see to it that you'll reap accordingly. And the principal in those days then received a letter. And he looked at the letter, at the envelope, wanted whose handwriting was this, and then he opened it.

And then he started reading. Dear Principal. He said, for years, I was happy about the fact that I was never caught in that abominable act that I performed. He said, it was I who had placed that steel trap there.

And I'd forgotten that the Almighty sees everything. That there is nothing hidden to his eyes. And that there'd be a day where I'll have to stand before him and give an account of my life. And now God has revealed it.

And God has shown me how evil and how abominable that act of mine was. And instead of me amputating and cutting off your leg, God turned the tables around, and instead my feet were cut off. And said, oh, I regret that which I did.

He said, in those days, I didn't understand what I was doing. But he said, now it's dawned on me. The clouds have cleared away. It's crystal clear to me. I see it very clearly, what it meant and what I did.

And he said, now I want to expose my evil. So, dear sir, I'll ask you and I beg you for your forgiveness. And could you please gather the whole school together, he said, and tell them about me. Tell them it was I who had done it.

And that which has happened to me, my experience is testimony to the fact that God visits the sin, each and every sin that a person commits, God will visit that sin and give a person according to that sin.

You won't get away. The wrath of God. The blood, the irresistible blood of our master. The word of God also says that the wrath of God has been revealed from heaven against all that godlessness upon you, unless you escape to the cross, to that place where Jesus was crucified at Calvary for your sake.

The Father's Sin and Tom's Rescue

Now, the rest I will leave, just because of time, I don't want us to be here for too long. There's just one more matter which I'd like to touch on. Now, we go from Germany to England. At the coast at Norwich.

Her father was going along with his small boy. It was still long before that child was even to go to school. And the father had a big puffed up round face. He was a drunkard. He drank like a fish. His whole family went hungry.

And as he was going along with his small boy, holding him by his hand, he said, Father, I'm hungry. Could I please have a piece of bread, even if it's just a bun? And the father just ignored and carried on walking.

And the young boy kept on at it and said, Father, please, could I just have a piece of bread? And the father was angry and scolded the child and swore at the child and said, shut up and keep quiet and stop nagging me like this.

And after some time, the boy said, Daddy, please, can't you please buy me a piece of bread? And the father became so enraged, so furious that he took the child and he swung it over the cliff into the sea and carried on walking, muttering at himself.

And this boy was there in the sea and about to drown. And by the grace of God, God sent a big log or a plank piece of driftwood and it came closer to this little boy so that he could hold on to it and not sink.

Now, that schoolboy in Germany didn't realize that God is all seeing. But God saw what he did and God also saw this little boy here in the sea in England. And so this little boy hung on to this piece of driftwood, even though some of the breakers broke over his head.

The boy's name was Tom. And then a boat came by, a military boat full of naval military people. How he lay out. Full of sailors. And as they were busy scanning the coast through their binoculars, there they saw something drifting and they could see like human hands onto that piece of driftwood.

And they wondered what was that. So they quickly let down a smaller boat from their big ship and sent it to go and investigate closely. And they fished that little boy out of the water, put him into the boat and then into the ship.

And the boy at that time was already very, very weak. The captain asked him, what is your name? He said, Tom. And he said, how did you get into the sea? But he couldn't remember a thing. He was so exhausted, so tired that he couldn't remember anything except what his name was.

Adoption, Education, and a Life of Service

And so they washed the little boy with warm water and then put him into a warm bed. And then the following day, the sailor said, we're adopting this child now as our own. It will be our child and he'll grow up here on the ship.

And so they taught him and tried to teach him. And they brought him up. And then as he got a bit older, they decided to send him to school. They're in a certain harbor where they landed and they put together a fund so that they'd be able to send him to school.

And Tom grew up, eventually even completed his matric, whilst they, all the time, were busy funding his studies. When he had finished his schooling, he said he wanted to continue these studies and he wanted to study medicine.

And indeed, he did study and eventually he got his medical degrees. And once he was fully qualified as a doctor, he said that he wanted to go back to that ship and he wanted to be their doctor. And that's indeed what happened.

Tom Shows Mercy to the Enemy

And then war broke out. And one day there was a battle at sea with him and an enemy ship and many got hurt. And many died. And so they brought those who were injured and wounded to Dr Tom. And they had defeated the enemy ship and then they brought their wounded as well to him.

According to the Geneva Convention, if anybody is wounded at war, then you're not allowed to just finish them off and kill them off. So you treat that person as well as you can and try to heal them. Now you know what the older people would do?

I remember this still very well as a child. People would fight. Now, when the Zulus fight, they finish off the enemy if they get the opportunity. But in this particular case at our farm, what happened was the one person was chased by somebody else who had a spear and he was wounded.

But what saved his life was that a woman came and she cast herself on his body as he lay wounded. And that is against the Zulu custom. You can't injure that woman or the man. You can't kill him and finish him off.

If a woman has cast herself upon him, she saved his life. But they won't touch the woman. They didn't touch a woman. Well, they do it now because of communistic influence. The communists have taught them just to kill a woman and a child.

The Zulus didn't do that. And as she cast herself on him, that woman, the person that was pursuing that enemy would leave him, take his spear and go away. She saved his life. Now, in those days, they would finish the enemy off.

If the enemy lies there, they'll come with their spear and they'll finish the enemy off and then they'll lick off the blood from the blade of the spear. Or they'll maybe cut open the person and cut off a piece of the liver and eat that.

But if they do today, you'd get AIDS. Now, in Zulu, if a person is very courageous, you don't say, oh, he's got a nerve or this or that. You say, he's got a liver. That means he's courageous. He's a man.

Now you know why. Okay. So let's leave that there now. They took those wounded from the other ship, the enemy ship as well, and they brought them to Tom. And amongst those who were wounded, there was one who was very, very seriously wounded, very badly wounded.

Grace Reconciles a Father and Son

And Tom did his utmost to save his life as he saw that this man was busy dying and losing his life. And even though he would go about his other duties and tend to the other wounded, but this man couldn't or didn't leave his mind.

Every time you would think about him again and you would go back to him and find out how he was and whether you could help him still in any other way. Asking him, how are things? Can I still help you?

Is there something I could do for you? And the wounded person, as he saw how the doctor was treating him and really going out of his way, he said, doctor, I'd like to say thank you to you. The doctor, there's nothing I can give you or say thank you to you through it.

The doctor, all I can do to say thank you to you is to give you this book, to give you the Bible, but read the Bible, read it carefully and go deep, study it. He said, I was a terrible sinner, but God has shown me grace and I found grace in his eyes.

God helped me through this book, through the Bible and I got converted. So doctor, I'd like to give you my Bible, but I want you to promise me to go and read it and study it very carefully. And the doctor said, all right, I'll do it.

And then he went on his way, but he just couldn't forget that man and every now and again we'd go back to him. And then when he'd go, when he went back to him, he saw that there was something troubling this man.

There was something eating away at him. And now this doctor was a raw heathen. He knew absolutely nothing about Christianity. Many black people think all whites are Christians, but it's not the case. He knew nothing about the Bible.

Now, Dr. Tom had gone to university. It's studies, medical studies, learned everything about the human body, but he knew nothing about the spirit, nothing about the word of God. And he said, tell me, is there nothing that you want to say?

Because I can see that you are deeply troubled. He said, yes, there is. What did the doctor said? It's now for many years. It's not many years ago that I did a terribly wicked thing. So I've confessed everything else, but this thing is so terrible.

I've never confessed it. I was walking along on the beach with my little boy. So I was a drunkard. I would drink every or spend all the money that I had on booze. And my children went hungry. And he said, as I was walking along on the beach, my little boy, Tom told me, father, I'm hungry.

Tata. And he said, in my rage, I became so angry that I threw him into the sea, into the waves. And that's where he ended. That's where he drowned in the sea. He said, until today, even though I've become a believer, this thing doesn't leave me.

It troubles me continually. He said, sir, where did this happen? He said, there at Norwich. He said, what was the name of that boy whom you threw into the sea? And as tears streamed down his cheeks, he said, it was Tom.

And the doctor said, he said, are you my father? Are you my dad? Because I'm Tom. And I embraced each other when his father wet his son with his tears. And he said, oh, amazing grace of God. This wonderful grace of God that has been revealed to me and has appeared to me that I could see you as my son still alive before I died.

And he said, Tom, there was no greater sinner than me in this world. And yet I met up with the Lord Jesus and he forgave me my sin. He cleansed me. He saved me. He said, Tom, promise me that you'll read that book that I gave you, that you'll study the Bible, that through it you can find salvation.

And he said, Father, I promise you that I'll surrender my life to the Lord Jesus as well. And I'll study the word. And from now on, I'll serve the Lord Jesus. And this book will be the light for me to follow.

The father smiled as if his face was radiating the glory of God at the joy of this which he heard. And Tom embraced his dad. And as he was holding him, his father's body slacking in his embrace, his soul left his body and he passed away in Tom's arms.

The Call to Accept God's Grace

Now, this grace of God has appeared to you as well. God is presenting his offering it to you as well. Right now. Right now. And you can take that grace and trample it underfoot or you can turn your back upon it.

You can harden your heart and close your heart to that grace of God. That's up to you. And then hell will be yours for all eternity. And there won't be any grace for you in this world as well as in the world to come.

You'd be the greatest fool if you reject such wonderful, such great grace. She's here. And this amazing grace of God has appeared to all men. No matter which race, tribe or language you might be, this grace of God has appeared to you.

Are you going to open up the door of your heart, of your life to God, to this grace that God is offering to you right now? Just like Tom said, he said, Father, I promise you that I'm going to surrender my life to Christ.

And I'll take this book. I'll study it. And it'll be the light that leads and guides me in the rest of my life. And that this grace would teach you to deny all ungodliness, all worldly lusts and worldly passions, and to live uprightly and self-controlled in this world.

I heard that today the ashes at meetings. So you ashes as well need to show this grace and reveal this grace of God to others. Tom helped his father and his father helped him that he could meet up with the grace of God.

And may it be like that, that you will help others as well to meet up with the grace of God. Let's bow our heads. Thank you, Lord. That we could hear that your grace that brings salvation has appeared to all men.

Lord, may it be that each one of us would accept and welcome that grace with both hands. Not that we'd harden our hearts and close our hearts towards it, but that we'd open our inner being that your grace may enter in.

Work in an amazing way, oh Lord, in our lives that we will be helped and in turn be able to help others.