Good evening, everybody.
Such a privilege to be with you.
Here, once again.
And tonight I only have one
verse of Scripture.
And when I read it.
I'll ask a simple question. Does this
Verse.
describe you.
describe your life.
He need not turn to it.
But it is found.
In the second epistle of Paul to the Corinthians.
And the fifth chapter…
And the 17th verse.
Does this verse describe you?
Prior to my conversion at age 22,
I would not have known.
what that verse meant.
We read here.
Therefore…
If any man be in Christ.
He is a new creature.
Old things.
are passed away.
behold all things are become
Yeah. What a special time in my life it is.
To be with you.
This year marked a very special anniversary.
For me personally.
Indeed, earlier this year.
I celebrated. Can everybody hear me?
Earlier this year, I celebrated with much
Thanksgiving to God.
The 50th anniversary.
of my soul salvation.
True faith in Jesus Christ.
My Savior.
Some of you I am meeting for the very first time.
And so allow me to give just a brief
biographical sketch.
of my life. I was born.
Raised.
And the religious.
French-speaking
Household.
in northern Canada.
I could not be.
I could not be more thankful to God.
For my loving parents.
who were devoted to one another as husband and wife
and devoted to me.
They're one and only char.
I cannot recall.
A Sunday.
As a child.
Or a teenager.
When I did not sit in a church pew.
And there I was taught
the religion of my parents.
And of my French-Canadian ancestry.
I did not question in those days.
My religious upbringing?
Our relatives were part of that church church.
Our neighbors were part of that church system.
And so were my schoolmates.
Had I been raised otherwise?
My parents would have been castigated
for being negligent of my soul's eternal condition.
But with all that being said.
If someone had asked me, you see.
During those years of religious life.
If I was saved.
I would not have known.
how I should reply to that question.
Indeed, I may have wondered why.
I may have wondered why that question was being asked of me at all.
Not surprising that was.
Since I knew not then in those days
that my soul was lost in sin.
And thus needed to be saved.
My eyes were blinded spiritually.
To the truth?
that religion was not at all the same.
that religion was not at all synonymous.
with Christianity, as revealed in the Word of God or in the Bible.
But you see, that was the problem.
The Bible was an unknown book to me personally.
Despite a religious household, the Bible was nowhere to be seen.
In our home.
In fact, I had not a Bible of my own when I grew up.
Nor had I ever opened the Bible.
or read any of its contents during all those years of religious observance.
And in truth.
I had never seen.
a church member where I attended.
with a Bible in their possession.
I had never seen one have a Bible open on their lap.
And had that been the case, it would have caused no little stir in the congregation.
So as a consequence.
Of not knowing.
The way of salvation as revealed in the Bible. I grew up in the false confidence of religion.
I thought my soul was safe.
For the first 22 years of my life.
I thought my soul was safe for eternity.
on account of my good works.
On account of my baptism as a baby.
on account of my keeping the church sacraments thereafter.
Unknowingly?
unintendedly.
I had taken up Christianity as a religion.
As opposed to be taken up with the Christ of Christianity.
I'd like to pause here just for a moment.
I was shaken up with Christianity as a religion.
And now with the Christ of Christianity.
And that could be so even at Wauwatosa Bible Chapel.
What is it for you?
Heaven forbid that there would be anyone here.
Taken up simply with Christiana.
As though it is nothing more than a religion.
Are you taken up?
But the Christ of Christianity.
Instead.
And sadly in those days.
I knew nothing the truth of the one and only gospel.
And what is that gospel?
It is the good news.
That salvation is a free gift.
of God's grace, received true faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
crucified.
Only a look unto Jesus.
is sufficient to be
Saved. And were it not, my friends, for the grace of God?
which opened the eyes of my understanding.
I give glory to God for my salvation.
And were it not that he opened my heart fifty years ago?
to look unto Jesus and to be saved.
I would still be trying in vain.
to live the Christian life without being a Christian in the first place.
What a futile endeavor that was.
trying to live like a Christian.
Without the Lord Jesus Christ living his resurrected life.
in me.
And true man.
Solui.
What was the turning point then?
What was the turning point, Louis?
In your life 50 years ago?
that brought you to the cross.
of the Lord Jesus Christ.
For the salvation of your soul.
a simple invitation.
I want to repeat that.
Am I speaking loud enough? I don't have a very powerful voice, really.
An invitation.
That's all it was.
But it changed my life.
I was invited on a Sunday afternoon.
In 1974.
to attend a college and careers Bible study group.
in a church near the university which I attended.
I could never have imagined.
the eternal implications of that invitation offered.
And accept it.
I cannot recall these many years later how many were in attendance that afternoon.
They were seated around in a circle.
But what I do remember vividly, however, was the topic which was discussed that afternoon.
That I will always remember.
The issue which was addressed by those in the Bible study
was the attributes of God's character.
To be honest, I do not recall specifically which attributes of God were highlighted.
It's 50 years ago.
But they would surely have included some of these
God's wisdom, his love, his holiness, his omnipotence, his faithfulness, his mercy, his grace, his justice, his omniscience.
I don't remember which ones were.
But I took note of one thing in particular.
Not one.
Not one of those attendees at that Bible study group
ever spoke in this manner. And if they had spoken in this manner, I would have stopped paying attention immediately and never would have returned.
Not one of them ever said this.
Quote, well, the way I say it.
If somebody would have said that.
I would have stopped paying attention.
If any one of them had simply offered their opinion of God.
Well, I would have thought to myself, why?
Why is my opinion of God not as valid as theirs?
Not one of them ever said, God is like this or God is like that. They didn't give me their opinion.
looked into the Bible.
to find out what it said.
of a God.
And about his son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And I saw then, sitting in that circle all by myself to a certain degree, just as a newcomer.
I just looked around.
And I saw then that the foundation
of their belief upon which they stood.
was not religious tradition.
was not the doctrine of men, but was rather
The Holy Word of God.
But I felt at a disadvantage.
in keeping up to what they were talking about for one basic reason. I was the only one.
That afternoon, who did not have an open Bible on their lap.
And to be honest, even if I had had a Bible that afternoon.
I could never have found by myself the books of scriptures
Where they look to discover more about the character of God.
It's a simple conclusion.
I drew.
I'm attending that Bible study.
50 years ago.
was this, I…
must read.
The Bible, if I want to know God.
And a way to salvation.
I asked my friend afterwards.
The one who had invited me. Can I have?
Can I have a Bible, please?
I want to read the Bible.
He said, what version do you want?
I didn't have a clue what he was talking about.
I said, what version do you have?
You set the new American standard.
I wouldn't even know what the old American standard was.
I said, well, just give me that one.
Listen, it doesn't really matter at that moment what the version of the Bible they gave me.
The Lord would have drawn me to Himself through the Holy Spirit, regardless of what version it was.
My friend never told me.
where I was to start reading the Bible. This is the first time I opened it in my life.
Despite 22 years of religious life.
So where did you start reading, Louis?
And why? Well, why?
I was studying at the time.
doing my master's degree in history.
Yes, what does that have to do with it? Well, I love the Roman Empire. I was studying, there was a course on the Roman Empire.
So as I was flipping through the Bible, did not know where to start reading.
Romans.
That's how ignorant I was of the Word of God.
I began to read the book of Romans because I thought it had something to do with the Roman Empire in the sense it did, but not in the way that I had figured.
And three weeks.
Three weeks after I began
to read the Bible.
My friend retreated into the background then.
And as if we're, as I read the Bible.
It was me and God now.
And he opened my eyes.
In my heart.
to see that I was a sinner.
And that…
I could not be saved through works.
through living a good life.
And that Jesus Christ had done everything.
that was needed for my
Salvation.
And on that today.
In that time, rather, I repented of my sin and trusted
in the Lord Jesus Christ to be my Savior.
50 years.
a goal but the christian life you see
It's just not an experience.
that happened 50 years ago.
the Christian life is also
evidence.
For the person who has been born again.
will inevitably show the characteristics
or the marks of the born-again life.
God started a good work in me.
back 50 years ago.
Yes, I repented. Yes, I trusted in the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior.
But God started a good work.
in May.
The new birth proves itself.
How can it be otherwise?
Right?
Are you still following me? You look like I put you to sleep.
All of you. How can it be otherwise?
For this new life.
Which is nothing less than the miraculous
supernatural action of God in a person's soul, it must of necessity be obvious.
What's obvious about you?
When people look at your life.
What is it that they can't help seeing?
When a person has become a new creation.
As we read a book.
When the oldest passed away.
And now, when all things have become new, surely
It will be obvious, right?
It will not go undetected by people who are watching on the sidelines.
True enough, at first, some of those bystanders will look at the changed life of a born-again Christian and may assume that he has simply become more religious.
But over time.
Over time, they will come to understand.
that this new life is not due to religion at all.
this new life can only be attributed
to a life-changing relationship.
with the Lord Jesus Christ.
So what were the marks?
of the born-again life.
For me.
50 years ago.
What were the things that happened in my life 50 years ago?
that…
were proofs.
that truly got it started.
A good work in me.
the Christian life is an experience
But it's also evidence, okay?
You ever go down the highway?
And you see that bright orange sign?
And what does it say? Construction ahead. What do you expect to see?
Two miles down the road.
You expect to see what?
Construction. And when a person says.
With this?
that they are a Christian.
I accept that, but I also want to see
the fruits of it in the life.
Have you ever gone down and traffic is backed up for miles and you finally get to the place where they're supposed to be construction?
Nobody's working?
There's no evidence of any work going on.
That was my religious life.
I profess to be a Christian, but there was nothing in my life
that indicated?
that proved that God had started a good work
In me.
No, I should hasten to add one before I share a few of these.
Are you still with me?
Before I share a few of these, let me just make something perfectly clear. None of what I'm about to say
are added to the all-sufficient work
of Christ on the cross for my salvation.
Christ.
has done it all.
These were proofs. They're not added to my salvation.
They were just…
proofs that God has started a good work.
in me. Amen.
Can I share with you a few of these?
As though you have a choice.
Testimony.
A born-again Christian.
is someone who has now come into the possession
of something by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, which he can now share with others.
It should go without saying, really?
First, you need to have something before you can tell someone about it, right?
Right?
Prior to my conversion to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, I was not converted to another religion. I was converted to
The Lord Jesus Himself.
who died for me, was buried for me, who rose again for me.
has ascended in glory.
for me and is interceding for me at God's right hand.
Before my conversion to Christ, I had nothing to share spiritually.
Was someone who crossed my path in life?
How can I declare to someone how they could be saved?
When I had no testimony.
of God saving my own soul.
True, his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who had died at Calvary to wash away my sins. How can I point someone to the cross?
How can I point someone to the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation when I had not been there myself?
It should not be surprising that in 22 years of religious life.
I had never felt compelled
I never felt constrained to speak to anyone
22 years of religious life. I had never spoken to anyone.
About the eternal state of their soul?
If I did not do so…
It was not because I was too shy, which I was.
It was not because I was too great an introvert, which I was.
That had nothing to do with it at all.
The reason I never shared anything with anyone
was due only to the fact that my soul was unconverted.
I knew not the joy of sins forgiven to be able to talk about it, to share it.
with others.
My lost soul had not received.
The gift of eternal life.
To be able to speak of it.
I hadn't. How can you have a testimony?
How can you share testimony?
When you don't have one.
And so right in the in the in the
In the days following my conversion, there was a new desire in my life.
was to share Christ.
I was still shy.
I'm still an introvert.
But now I had good news to share.
Why?
Because it was good news to me.
I remember many years ago.
going to a railroad yard, it doesn't matter really where it is.
A fairly…
Tall.
broad-shouldered railroad men.
said to me when I introduced myself.
He said, there's a whole lot of people around here that need your kind of stuff.
Have you ever noticed that the person who says that is implying that he doesn't need that kind of stuff?
And so he takes me.
out of a building and into another building.
I was wondering where he was taking me.
He took me into the lunchroom and there was a young guy sitting
There at a lunch table having a soup.
And the fellow said, he said, you see this young fellow here?
Yes, sir.
He's the guy that needs your kind of stuff.
So the four guys there…
I need what exactly?
I said, young man
Before I tell you of the one you need.
Let me tell you first of all that I needed him the most.
I never could have spoken to that young man.
of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ if I had not been there myself.
testimony was a proof.
an indication.
that God in his grace, true His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
had begun a good work.
I'm not asking you tonight.
if you're…
adept, I don't even know what word to use.
To share your faith.
Do you feel sometimes that you stumble over words when that comes about?
Well, I'm the only one to put my hand up, so I might as well put my only hand up.
Do you ever feel sometimes like you miss opportunities?
that the spirit of God seems to be opening up.
But that has nothing to do with it. I'm not talking about
being adept at sharing your faith.
Is there a longing in your heart?
Is there a longing in your heart to make Christ known?
to share with others.
about his precious blood that washes away all their sins.
Do you have a testimony?
to share with others.
That's what I'm asking you about.
That's a proof. That's a mark of the born-again life.
Can I share a few others?
Wow. Don't ask questions.
testimony. How?
How? In my religious days.
Before I was saved by the grace of God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
In my religious days, I had tried to live the Christian life.
by my willpower.
failed miserably.
Why? Well, I had a note.
word form of godliness in those days.
but not the power to change my heart within.
Religion can only touch up the surface of your life.
It cannot go deeper to change a heart alienated from God on account of sin. But following my conversion to the Lord Jesus Christ, I soon became aware.
I wouldn't have been able to understand.
to explain it to anyone.
And it was progressive.
It didn't happen overnight.
You understand? When I felt now.
there was a new
at work.
in my soul.
the unlimited power.
of an omnipotent God now working in me both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
Do you know what I'm talking about?
If you're a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you know what I'm talking about.
Power.
And that will, isn't it astonishing?
None of you find it astonishing.
I sometimes ask people, are you a Christian?
And they'll say, yeah.
Wow.
Wow. I want to say to the person, well, I wasn't exactly…
I wasn't expecting exuberance.
But I'm expecting a little bit of astonishment.
There's something astonishing about the born-again life.
Heaven forbid that we should stop to be astonished of the work of God in our soul transforming us
into the image of his son. And the best we can say is, yeah, yeah.
It's got to be more than that.
You ever get to the place…
Where you look back over several years.
And you're astonished.
And you remark with amazement
Am I even the same person I was before?
God forbid.
that after five decades of Christian life.
that I should ever cease to marvel.
that I should ever cease to be astonished.
God transforming.
is transforming power.
In me.
Especially so.
In the areas of our life where we are the weakest, do you have any areas like that?
None of you say yes. Oh, my God. I think I'm moving to Wisconsin. Nobody has that problem over here.
Right. And where change has been slow and remains a struggle. You become a Christian and immediately there's certain areas of your life that change.
quickly, but there are other areas, isn't it true?
that the progress is much slower, right?
Right?
Oh, ask God tonight.
Do not lose heart. Ask God tonight.
for his glory.
to make you strongest where you are the weakest.
A case in point of someone in the scriptures
Can I share one person of the scriptures like that?
Just one. Okay?
Onesimus.
prior to his conversion.
Onesimus was the unfaithful.
slave of his master Philemon from whom he had run away.
That was prior to his conversion. What happened after
What does Paul call him?
In Colossians chapter 4 in the ninth verse, what does Paul call him there?
Onesimus.
A fateful.
So everything about Onesimus prior to his conversion was what?
unfaithful. After his conversion.
What does he know? Faith.
Who changed him?
What power changed?
It wasn't psychology that changed them.
It wasn't religion that had changed. Onesimus at his very core.
And that change had not occurred overnight. It had occurred over time.
Surely those who would have known Onesimus in his former days would have said, only thee of power, only the power.
the power of the indwelling Lord Jesus Christ could have changed Onesimus.
My friends, I remember meeting a fellow
very quiet railroad man pocahontas division
Norfolk Southern Railway.
Quiet, shy, introvertish.
A dear brother in the Lord Jesus.
I asked him, I said, I'll name him John. I said, John.
John, how can I best pray for you?
And your witness for the Lord Jesus Christ in your workplace.
and he looked to the crown a little bit
as though he was a bit ashamed. He said, I have a violent temper.
The quiet guy?
The soft-spoken guy has got a violent temper?
It would be a surprise, wouldn't it, if people knew what we were struggling against?
those areas of our life where
Victory has not…
Always been ours.
Correct?
And so he said those railroad men
He said, I pray in the morning when I get and board that engine.
I say, Lord, help me now have a good witness to those men.
But they know how to get in under my skin the way.
I see them doing it.
And when the temptation comes, I react with anger.
And I know as I do so that I am ruining my testimony for the Lord Jesus Christ.
And he said, some of those men
I've gone to my father, who still works for the railroad, and he said.
My father, who had a good testimony, has a good testimony on the railroad. They would go to my father and they said, you have to speak to your son.
Sometimes he erupts with anger and it causes us worry that he's distracted from his job as a railroad engineer.
And he said, do you know how much that hurts me?
that I'm hindering the testimony of my own father.
And so I said, John.
I'll be praying that God gives you victory in that area of your life.
Where you're the weakest.
And for years afterwards, I would call him up, John, it's Louis.
Oh, it's you, Louie.
Boy, was he ever excited to meet me.
You want to go out and have a cup of coffee, John?
Yeah, I guess I'll know her.
Why didn't he look forward to it?
Because he knew what I was going to ask.
How are things going, John?
In other words, in that area of your life, John.
It's about the same, Louis.
Keep praying.
And that happened on a few occasions.
And then once.
Hi, John. It's Louie. You want to go out and have a cup of coffee, Louie?
What, he suddenly developed a love of coffee overnight?
He knew he was waiting for me. Come on, Louie. Ask. Come on, Louie. Ask.
So I can give glory to God.
And I asked him, how are things going, John?
He said…
Better!
You don't seem to get as excited about that as I do.
Maybe more French blood or something. What he was saying, it's not that I've got this licked.
What he was saying is simply this. God has started a good work in me and it has moved
on.
Don't lose heart.
If you're still struggling with that same area, trust the law.
You might get stuck in a rut, but God is never stuck in a rut.
He will send trials, difficulties, perhaps.
He knows exactly what it is.
to make you Christ-like.
in that area of your life where you're the weakest.
Did I make my point?
Power.
this life-changing power.
of God.
manifested in us as born-again believers is a proof that God has truly started.
a good work in us by His grace in Christ Jesus. A testimony, power.
Conflict.
Conflict?
Oh, that's a proof.
Oh man, that's a proof. You say, what kind of conflict, Lois
I thought my conflict…
My war with God was over when I trusted Christ. Yes, that part is over.
But there's conflict that begins, isn't there?
Once you're saved, right?
Anybody know what I'm talking about?
I'm sure you do.
It's not until a person has been born again.
that the inward conflict
described in Galatians chapter 5 verse 17 begins.
Do you know what I'm going to… I'm going to read you a verse and you tell me if you know what I'm talking about
Okay?
For the flesh lusts against the spirit.
and the spirit against the flesh.
And these are contrary.
to one another.
Do you know that conflict? If you do.
and the means that God has started the good work in you.
Prior to the new birth, an unconverted person is ruled by his passions and his loss.
He is entirely under the dominion of the flesh.
And that flesh rules over him.
There's no battle then. There was no battle in my life before I was saved. What the flesh wanted…
The flesh got… Where's the battle in that?
there was not the spirit there.
to fight against the flesh?
There was no conflict in those days.
Why should the flesh fight against the flesh?
But as soon as a person is saved by the grace of God.
and becomes a new creation, then a brand new fight begins.
Right? Right.
For the flesh will not let the Christian believer live in peace.
Even when the believer takes his final breath.
He will be fighting on a battlefield where the flesh and the spirit are contending.
I remember many years ago as a young Christian, I visited a dear brother in a hospital
He was in his late 80s.
had known the Lord for over 65 years.
I'd read through the Bible.
Every year, for all the years of his Christian life.
A brother mature in Christ.
And…
So I visited him almost on his deathbed in the hospital there.
A nurse came in to take his vital signs.
And she laughed.
And we had a time of prayer together.
And during the course of his prayer.
This is what he prayed.
Lord, would you please forgive me?
kind of strange, almost an interjection in the middle of his prayer.
Lord, would you please forgive me?
I was wondering, what is he asking the Lord to forgive him for?
And he said, forgive me, Lord, for I lusted after that nurse.
I…
I'm not saying that in a condescending way.
Dear brother, you've known the Lord for 65 years.
You're almost 90 years old.
And you're still lusting.
What did that teach me is that the battle, the conflict.
will continue until you take your last breath.
Do you understand? I'm not saying that.
to speak derogatorily of that dear brother. Please do not misunderstand.
I'm just saying that the Bible
that the conflict will continue.
Okay.
The proof is in the pudding.
one of the proofs that a person has become a new creation is the fight.
Whenever I could see a struggle.
in a new believer.
Then I knew that the Lord had indeed started a good work in you.
Amen. There's something else in close conjunction with that point.
And it's this one, conviction.
If you would have asked me prior to my salvation.
Louis, what's the meaning of conviction? Hi, sweetheart.
There you are. So sweet.
And she's running away.
What some of you would probably like to do
If you would have asked me, what does conviction mean?
You said, you're convinced of something.
You're a shirt of something.
I could never have imagined that that word had any spiritual meaning.
any spiritual connection.
True enough, prior to my salvation, when I committed a sinful deed, my conscience
It bothered me a little.
It would cause me simply to be remorseful.
but it was never compelling enough.
to move me towards being repentant.
Which means more than just being sorry.
Being repentant means being sorry enough to quit.
But once I was saved by the Lord Jesus Christ.
Everything changed then.
It wasn't just simply a conscience that I had to deal with.
It was the Holy Spirit convicting me of sin.
Do you know what I'm talking about?
I never experienced that.
Prior to my being saved.
And when I did, I knew.
then does something new had started.
that I was a new creation.
that God has struggled a good work.
So when you sin and you feel.
as it were, the conviction of God's Holy Spirit.
That's one of those marks.
those characteristics of the born-again life.
Separation.
Only a few more and then I'm finished, all right?
Separation.
What do you mean?
When someone is born again, they are given spiritual insight.
an understanding of what the Bible calls the world.
In the scriptures that turn to world simply means life without God in it.
It is man thinking of himself in his life in this world only.
It is living one's life without God in the picture. That's the very definition of being worldly.
My friends, the person who is worldly is not simply the person that is seeking to accumulate as much things as he has.
the person that is worldly is the one who is trying to live his life without God in it.
That's the definition of a worldly person.
But the new man, on the other hand.
The man who was born again has had his eyes open.
To see the vanities of that life.
I can't even imagine.
if the law, if the grace of god
had not saved me.
Despite being religious.
I lived a very worldly life.
Oh, I was in church on Sunday.
But I lived as though
I was the ruler of my own life.
I cannot even imagine.
Where I would be.
wasting my life, the one and only life that God has given.
to live for the vanities of this world and of this life.
the new believer in the Lord Jesus Christ slowly.
the sins slowly. It happens not overnight.
He begins to see…
the utter emptiness.
the sheer futility.
of earthly things.
as compared to the unsearchable riches of the Lord Jesus Christ. And as a Christian grows in grace.
He will not only lose his taste of the world.
He will go even further over time.
to hate the world.
Why?
You will come to hate the world because the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ reveals the hatred of the world towards his Savior.
And how can a Christian then love the things of the world when that is so?
That didn't happen to me overnight.
And it is still a battle.
I was sharing this this afternoon, seeing how the world is against
And how the world has no future but destruction.
the believer will conclude why or why.
Should I hitch my wagon to something that's going to go up in smoke when all is said and done?
Separation.
That's a mark of the Christian life.
But all that being said, I want to be careful.
Lest I mislead anyone.
I do not mean that the world can no longer tempt a Christian believer.
That's not what I'm talking about.
It will not be an easy sight.
An easy fight for the child of God to ward off the world's way, its godless mindset and its godlessness.
Right?
That being said, the Christian is aware that he is no longer a slave to the world.
Even though the world ever tries.
to get a foothold.
in his life. So if you struggle
against the things.
of the world that keep creeping into your life.
Don't lose heart.
Keep fighting in the Lord's strength.
Amen.
apart from being a Christian.
You can't fight on that battlefield.
the world will win every time.
but in Christ, you can be more than a conqueror.
over the vanities of this world.
Separation. All of a sudden, the things that I…
long for it before.
I no longer had over time
I said over time, how many times have I said over time
Louie, the only thing that's over time is your message is over time.
But over time, it doesn't happen overnight.
you begin to lose your taste.
of the world.
you see it, it's tottering us.
You see it's emptiness.
If that's the case, then rejoice. It means that you're a child of God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Rejection.
You know, something of that?
Prior to my salvation at age 22, 50 years ago.
If you would have asked me…
What does that word mean? I had but a vague understanding of what that word meant in a dictionary.
But I had never experienced what that meant in my daily life.
Certainly not in a spiritual sense.
And I could never have imagined.
that I would experience rejection from the very dear people
who loved me the most, my dear parents.
It was ever my desire.
Before and after my conversion.
to make them proud of me as their only child.
And such it was until I came to Christ.
My conversion changed everything in our relationship.
I sadly became.
an object of shame.
Before the rest of our extended family.
Prior to my conversion, my father would take me downtown in our hometown.
And he would introduce me.
proudly to his friends.
But after I was converted.
He would never take me downtown anymore.
When I was once a white sheep, I became the black sheep of the family.
It's not so bad when you have other white sheep around
But when your only child becomes a black sheep.
But that rejection.
that sword that came between us.
was approved, was an indication.
that truly God had started.
they could work in me.
My aunts and uncles warn their own children.
They weren't my cousins.
to avoid.
Sadly, my poor parents were the ones who had to bear the brunt of the unkind remarks of relatives.
My aunts and uncles
I was sometimes asked my parents.
What about that son of yours?
He was doing so well, wasn't he?
How did he get all the tracks over?
Has he come to his senses yet?
Those questions were never asked of me. They were asked of my parents.
And it hurt me.
that they were hurt.
They had no way to explain to their brothers and sisters what had happened to me when they didn't even know what had happened to me.
Years later, when I would be asked to visit my hometown of Kapas Kaysen to preach the gospel.
My parents went as far as to say
I never thought I would ever get this far.
And I wish not to speak ill of my parents.
If you come…
to this area.
to visit with your wife and your children.
You are welcomed. But if you come with your briefcase.
If you come with your briefcase, what was in the briefcase?
and vibe.
If you come, what's your briefcase?
You are not welcomed?
Their only child? I'm not welcomed anymore.
I remember on one occasion
I visited my hometown and visited a man that was interested in the gospel and unbeknownst to me, he worked with my father.
In the same pulp and paper mill up there in capiscasing in northern Canada.
And that man went to see my father the very same night. They worked in the same department. He said, your son came to visit me today.
Do you believe the same thing that your son believes in?
My father was angry.
Leave my son out of that.
And I discovered later that my mother was afraid to leave the house.
For days after I'd left the town, after I came to preach the gospel in my hometown.
Why? Because she was afraid to meet people downtown.
that I had shared Christ with.
And she would incarcerate herself, if I could put it that way, in the house.
My dear parents.
My loving parents.
My mother said to me, you would think Canada's big enough. Why do you have to come back here?
Does your Bible not tell you that you're supposed to honor your father and your mother? Yes.
But I can't put you first.
I couldn't put them first.
Why'd you have to come back here?
You can easily avoid this little town.
And every time I would go.
I was seen to burn the bridge to reaching my parents for Christ.
I went to the Lord once. Why?
Why, Lord, do you insist for me to come here?
I was reading in the book of Ruth at the time.
You remember, Naomi had two daughters-in-law?
Orpah. She went back to her people and we never hear of her again.
But Roof says, your people are my people. Your God is my God. I said, that's the problem, Lord. I have two people in Capascration.
I have my parents and I have your people.
the Lord's people, my brothers and sisters in Christ.
My father, when I went.
somebody had driven me up there. I didn't have my own car at the time.
He said, you're going there tonight, aren't you?
You're going there.
It didn't even have a name.
So I said to him.
Yes, Dad, I'm going there.
He said, feel free to use my car
I said, I beg your pardon, Dad?
feel free to use my car to go there.
That was the very first time.
That my parents…
ever try to understand?
My father had a blue cougar.
Mercury Cougar, blue.
You say, what does that have to do with it? Well, there was only one.
Blue Mercury Cougar in capiscase.
And the people knew where the Christian meant.
They knew where the dare was.
And so they would have seen my father's car there.
Right? And would have assumed what?
that Marcel Voirier goes to that meeting.
And so in many ways, he was identifying himself.
Not so much with my savior, but with me. And my mother said to me, for whatever reason you come.
You are always welcome.
to come home. People always ask me, were your parents saved?
You're going to ask me that question, weren't you?
My father sadly never got over the disappointment.
of me.
I was it always was
He always wish I was like my other cousins.
My mother was more gentle.
I could pray with them.
They're both past now.
Do I have the assurance of their salvation?
I wish I did.
I wish I'd been more loving towards them.
I do not wish to speak ill of them.
Forgive me if I have sounded that way.
But there's rejection.
You'll know it one way or the other.
you'll begin to lose some friends.
But that rejection proves that you are a child of God and that God has started a good work in you.
Amen.
It's inevitable.
And then finally there were words
They were worse and meant blessing to me now.
Before I was saved, I hated those words. Can I share just a few of them?
Please say yes.
dependence.
Man, I did that to wake some of you up.
Dependence.
I dislike that word before I was saved.
If I could have taken a pencil and erased that word out of a dictionary, I would have.
Because tempendence to me was what?
Defeat.
Everyone in the world.
here moves from here moves
dependence to independence.
when a Christian moves from independence to dependence.
and dependence opens up one of the most greatest privileges of the Christian life. Do you know what that is?
Right.
What a joy.
I never understood.
privilege of prayer.
Until I became a believer in the Lord Jesus.
Friends, the reason why we don't pray as much as we ought to pray
It's not because we're too busy.
Oh, we give that as an excuse. The reason we don't pray as much as we ought to pray is because we've forgotten
how dependent we are.
on Christ for everything.
Right? Do you remember the days after you were saved?
You didn't dare start a day without prayer, did you?
Right? Right?
And now that I've been saved for 50 years.
Do I think that I need…
that I've grown independent.
Surely as a Christian, we should move to more and more.
dependence upon him.
Another word that I disliked when I was disliked.
Unbelieving.
submission.
I didn't like that word.
No, I didn't like that anymore. No.
Sub means what? To put under?
Put what under?
Wow.
Before I was saved.
I would always put my will over the will of God for my life.
But after I became a Christian.
It was my desire then, not always victoriously.
was sub to put my
my will under the perfect will of God.
My friends, what is it for you tonight? I don't know you.
I don't know what's in your life.
Tinnitus one way or the other.
God doesn't coerce you, doesn't force you.
Is your will under the perfect will of God for your life?
Or is your will over the will of God for your life?
obedience.
I didn't like that word.
But now it's all obedience.
as a door that opens unto blessing.
Can I give you an example of that and then I'll end.
All right. You know, I used to sail.
Where? Lake Michigan.
Used to sail on Lake Michigan? Yeah.
I was invited by…
The company.
Out of Alpena, Michigan, to sail aboard their ships.
To have Bible studies. There are sailors aboard.
I would be on board the ship for three to four days.
And I would sail into Green Bay.
I was sailing to Waukegan, Michigan.
Waukegan, Illinois.
Muskegon, Michigan?
On the other side of the lake.
St. Joseph?
Right? Just further south?
Yeah, I would say Linda.
And…
It's the only place I ever turned down strawberry shortcake.
You turn down strawberry shortcade? What's the application of that?
Well…
When you have 10-foot waves
And they put strawberry shortcake in front of you?
I couldn't eat it. I knew if I ate it.
I wouldn't be able to handle that.
And the men looked at me.
And they said this, let me sit for a while. I'm tired now.
And they said, you should be on here when it really gets rough.
Great. And they weren't very empathetic, you know.
And one of the men said.
Don't let them kid you.
We've all been afraid here.
All of us have slept at one time or another in our sailing career with our survival suits on.
Don't let them kid you.
Can I give you an advice?
your stomach doesn't feel very good right now.
Go to the bottom of the ship. Go right down.
Just now, just go down there.
Stay down there for half an hour.
you won't be able to feel anything down there.
The ship is in the water.
up top here.
Right here.
Can't feel it. We don't seem to…
Why do you think Jonah fell asleep at the bottom of the ship?
Good. You have to. Right.
I never understood that until I escaped a shortcake.
And at any rate.
When I was invited
into the pilot house. And I've shared this with you before.
But you might have been asleep the first time I've ever shared it.
So I'll take my second shot at it.
When I would go into the pilot house of a Great Lakes ship and the pilot house of a Laker is always at the front, it's never at the back.
an ocean-going ship, the pilot house is in the rear.
Never in the font. You can always tell where they say.
And it was with one
Did I not speak a word?
in the pilot house.
When the ship is coming into par.
Why?
Because there's only one person who speaks in a pilot house and that's the captain of the ship.
And he always looks ahead. Why? Because the obstacles are ahead.
It doesn't matter where we've been. What matters is where we're going.
Right? There are things in my Christian life in 50 years.
That I wish were different.
mistakes I've made.
the times I've let the Lord down.
But great is thy faithfulness.
Right?
And the captain says something like this.
By the way, the captain never turns around.
And he'll say he'll say.
By the Great Starburst.
The wheelsman, who has the wheel in his hands, and that's why they called him a wheelsman.
has to repeat exactly what he has heard.
five degrees starbur captive. In other words, I've heard what you've said. If everybody is in there talking…
then the wheelsman may not hear his captain as he should.
That's why only one voice can be heard in a bother us.
I could not go in that pilot house and say a single word.
It is too risky.
Listen, you don't stop a Great Lakes ship by putting your foot on a brake.
It takes half a football field. Americans should understand that. Half a football field for it to stop.
And the railroad complicates things. You say, how does the railroad complicate things? They have those railroad swing bridges.
And you've only got three feet on either side, there's no margin for error.
If there's wind like there is tonight.
There's the current. There's no margin for error. If there's fog, have you ever been in Green Bay, there's always fog.
And once the wheelsman turns the wheel.
He says…
Five degrees.
Starboard Don Captain. What he is saying is this. Not only have I heard what you've said, I have done what you've said.
What would be the purpose of hearing it if he didn't obey it?
Do you understand how important obedience is on a Great Lakes ship?
If I went up to the wheelsman, Mr. Wheelsman, can I ask you a question?
That's the way he has a choice.
Mr. Wheelsman, can I ask you, are you having problems submitting right now?
You said…
I have no problems whatsoever.
Submission means safety to man.
As long as I hear…
And as long as I obey.
I said, why don't you? You've got the wheel in your hands
Why don't you do your own thing? He said, are you crazy?
I don't want to do my own
I don't want the responsibility of it.
The responsibility belongs to the captain.
Submission and obedience.
on a great lake ship is peace and safety.
I never understood that before I was saved.
Lastly…
I've never seen a worried wheel spud.
Nobody ever got the point of it.
Nobody ever gets the punchline of my stories.
I've never seen a worried whalesman. Why? Because the responsibility is not his.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the captain of our salvation.
Amen. But he never takes that wheel out of your hands and out of mine, does he?
Right? We're free agents.
We can choose.
to go one way or the other.
But it would be very, very silly
to not obey.
The voice of your captain.
Did you hear the voice of your captain today?
Were you in the word of God today?
Did you seek with God's help today?
to submit your will to his will.
to rest in him.
to obey him.
In obedience.
and submission and dependence.
There is safety.
There is peace. There is joy.
God never takes that wheel out of your hands.
And out of mind.
those words that I saw as depressing before I was saved
are not the joy of my life.
and a proof that God
I started the good work in May. And once God has started a good work in me, he has promised that he will finish that good work.
Amen, right? No Christian will ever be an unfinished work.
Schubert wrote an unfinished symphony, and if you've listened to it, it just says, well, he didn't finish it.
Well, I don't know.
But no child of God will ever be.
and unfinished work.
It's okay. The next time I come, you're going to ask me a question. I'm going to ask it a few of you.
All right?
Okay?
I'm sorry if I'm shouting.
But I'm always told afterwards, you didn't speak, you let your voice drop.
And that's what they always do.
And the people who say that are always the people sitting at the back.
It's a pet peeve of mine.
But, you know.
you're going to ask me this question the next time I come.
Okay? I'm going to ask it a few.
is the work of God's construction.
in your life.
In the same place it was a year ago.
Or can you say like that, Rivera Rotary?
It's better, Louis.
I'm not at the same place.
God has brought me forward into more Christlikeness. Remember this.
It is not great talents. It is not great gifts that God blesses as much as great likeness to the Lord Jesus
Will you be more Christ-like?
a year from now than you are today.
I can accept the fact there's construction in front of your assembly here.
But if I come back a year from now and there's still construction in the same place, then I get a little bit concerned about the city of Milwaukee.
Or Walatosa, whatever. Do you get the point?
The construction should move on.
And God will help.
to move you on to be more Christ-like.
The proofs of the Christian life.
growth.
It's not just an experience 50 years ago.
If you're invited at a banquet.
Are you satisfied with the soup?
Are you satisfied with the soup? The soup is just a preliminary.
Right?
It's just to build up your appetite for the rest.
Right?
The Christian life is never static.
You're not living on the experience of 50 years ago.
They can't stay there.
There's growth.
more likeness to Christ.
More love for him.
more desire to live.
A life.
worthy of our high calling in Christ Jesus.
Well…
It's my 50th year.
salvation. And I'm glad I was able to come to Wauwatosa to share it before the year ended.
Thank you for listening. It was a long while.
May the Lord richly bless you all.
Thank you for your welcome.
in your midst all these many years.
And the Lord's blessings on you.
Father, we thank you for the promise that
Despite the times when we feel like, well, the work of construction is in the same place sometimes.
Lord, you love us.
You have…
investment in us.
Investment like no other.
Your son.
the investment of his life.
given to us.
You will never forsake.
the work of his own hands.
Lourdes says there.
Psalm 138, the Lord will perfect that which concerns me.
What's our assurance of that?
our assurance of it is thy mercy, O Lord, endures forever.
and the work of his own hands.
So help us to live lives worthy of our high calling in Christ Jesus. We thank you for our salvation experience, but
It is our longing.
To have the Holy Spirit work in us.
Transforming us.
giving us boldness in our testimony.
More power.
to make us strong as we're the weakest.
Giving us victory in that conflict.
between the flesh and the spirit.
living a life separated from the things of this world.
Not separated from those in the world that we long
to reach for Christ, but separated from that godless mindset.
Forgive us, Lord, for sometimes it has a way of creeping into our mind.
Help us to grow.
that the next time we see each other…
We will give testimony the work of construction.
God's grace in me is not the same place it was in December 4th.
2024 in jesus name
Amen.
People have said louis
We thought when you got older, your messages would be shorter.
kind of convoluted logic is that somehow.
Thank you for your patience.
The Lord's blessings on you all.