2 Corinthians chapter 13 and verse 5. I want to begin by reading from verse 19 of chapter 12, just to provide the context. The Apostle Paul, summarizing what he has just been doing, says, have you been thinking all along that we've been defending ourselves to you? It is in the sight of God that we've been speaking in Christ and all for your upbuilding, beloved. For I fear that perhaps when I come, I may find you not as I wish. and that you may find me not as you wish, that perhaps there may be quarrelling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder. I fear that when I come again, my God may humble me before you, and I may have to mourn over many of those who sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual immorality, and sensuality that they have practiced. Chapter 13, verse 1. This is the third time I am coming to you. Every charge must be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. I warned those who sinned before and all the others, and I warn them now while absent, as I did when present on my second visit, that if I come again, I will not spare them. since you seek proof that Christ is speaking in me. He is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you. For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you, we will live with him. by the power of God. There's five, which is our text. Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? Unless, indeed, you fail to meet the test. Allow me to just go a little further. I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test, but we pray to God that you may not do wrong. Not that we may appear to have met the test, but that you may do what is right, though we may seem to have failed. For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. For we are glad when we are weak and you are strong. Your restoration is what we pray for." I'll end there. Well, as Emmanuel was saying at the beginning of this message, in fact, rather service, including the end of our morning service, every year around the time that I began my pastoral ministry, I preach what I refer to as the pastoral anniversary sermon. And basically, I try to think and pray in terms of what message would be relevant to us in view of the last one year and in view of where we ought to be going. In the midst of all this, I'm definitely very, very grateful for all those that have played their role in crossing me to the next boundary. No doubt my wife is number one on the list, and then comes the children that have now abandoned us all together. They sort of fell in love and said bye, but they played their role and continue to do so as we continue relating and they continue to express their love and concern for not just me but the work of God that takes place at KBC. And then of course the church officers, the deacons, the elders that make up quite a formidable team. We function together very much like a left and a right hand. And then KBC has a lot of administrative staff now. We keep adding more and more and more. And it's just a joy to see the way in which we function like a well-oiled machine. I don't need to be around supervising and pointing people to what to do, but everybody is just doing what they know they ought to be doing. And it's just a joy to see all that. And then apart from that is everybody else. Kawata Baptist Church has slightly over 400 members now. And to just see how so many are involved in the work of ministry. So it is with a sense of gratitude that I often pause to consider what the previous year has been and to also look forward to the years ahead. I often think in terms of five years, gaps, and just in the last day or two, the thought that I should be standing here saying 40 years feels like, just sounds awkward. 40 years as a pastor in one church. But if the Lord is pleased, we might see that happening. After all, that's how I felt five years ago. when it was 30 years. As I was praying about what to share with you, my mind particularly settled on this text, chapter 13 and verse 5 of 2 Corinthians. Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves? that Jesus Christ is in you, unless indeed you fail to meet the text. Now, why has my mind been gripped by this topic? In fact, I was quite surprised as I was going through the sermons that I have preached for the last 30 years, the anniversary sermons, 30 years plus, that I hadn't dealt with this text as yet. I couldn't believe it myself because One of the concerns that I've had, and I'm sure the elders share in this, is that a lot of you have come into membership in the church in your youthful days. You've come in as teenagers, and perhaps some of you in your early 20s. And most of you would therefore have come in before the big trials of life come in. issues to do with sexuality and marriage and finding employment and deciding where to settle in life and so on. Those epoch-making decisions are yet to come upon you. That's usually the time that many of you have come to profess faith in Christ. And what has tended to happen is that when these Real tests have come. When the world has removed, so to speak, its velvet gloves and has begun to fight with you with bare knuckles, we've ended up with individuals coming unstuck. Coming unstuck, first of all, secretly, so that as elders we are not there to help the individuals at all. until obviously God in providence, often clearly out of disgust because of the hypocrisy, has as it were opened the wardrobe doors and the skeletons have fallen out. And that's happened again and again and again. And one asks the question, why don't such individuals simply take the time before the Lord to say, Lord, If you have not really saved me, save me now. And that's where this sermon is going. simply to learn to make that cry in the midst of the trials of life, in the midst of a misbehaving heart, in the midst of God's Word speaking to us from the pulpit and even as we read, to be able to say, Lord, in the light of what's happening, if you have never really saved me, save me now. The Apostle Paul was concluding here what, in a sense, he's denying when he says in chapter 12 verse 19 that, have we been defending ourselves to you? To a large extent, that's what he had been doing. If you go back to chapter 11, in fact, all the way back to chapter 10, Paul says, I pour myself and treat you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ. I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold towards you when I'm away." That statement is a tongue in cheek statement. That's what people were saying about him. He says, I beg of you that when I am present, I may not have to show boldness with such confidence as I count on showing against some who suspect us of walking according to the flesh." And then he says in verse 7, look at what is before your eyes. If anyone is confident that he is in Christ, which he will be dealing with in chapter 13, let him remind himself that just as he is Christ, so also are we. And then he begins to speak about himself. He says later on there, I'll jump the many things he has said in chapter 10. Chapter 11, I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me for I feel a divine jealousy for you. since I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin." And so, excuse me, I want to speak my mind off, he goes on to say. And then what is he speaking about? I'll quickly jump then to about halfway through verse 21. Halfway through verse 21. But whatever anyone else dares to boast of, I'm speaking as a fool, I also dare to boast of that. Are the Hebrews? So am I. Are the Israelites? So am I. Are the offsprings of Abraham? So am I. Are the servants of Christ? I am a better one. And then he rebukes himself there and says, I'm talking like a madman. Chapter 12, we continue this one. I must go on boasting. though there's nothing to be gained by it. In chapter 11, I talked about a lot of other things, by the way, that he had already gone through. I will go on to visions and revelations, revelations of the Lord. And even there, he now speaks about going on to a third heaven. So in many ways, what had happened was that they were false apostles. that had shown up and were questioning, putting question marks on Paul's own ministry. And what he did here was, in about two chapters, go against every grain in his being to show evidence that he was truly a servant of the living God. But as he enters into chapter 13, he is basically turning the microscope, or telescope, or examination scope, he's turning it right round from himself now to them. He's basically saying, yes, there you were, busy examining me, testing my apostleship. I have defended myself. Now, can we turn that around to yourselves? Hence, verse 5 says, examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Now, the English does not represent the Greek appropriately. In Greek, the first word that is mentioned is where the emphasis is in a sentence. The first word. And so, in actual fact, verse 5 reads, Yourselves, be under examination to see whether you are in the faith. Yourselves, be put to the test. In other words, the emphasis in that text is not so much the examination and the testing, but yourselves. You had shown your torchlight on me, I am now saying, turn that around and put it on yourself. Well brethren, this is not just something that the people in Corning should do. This is a biblical duty for all of us. We need to be individuals who are honest before God, as the Apostle Paul had been in opening himself up in the last two chapters. to be honest before God so that we examine ourselves to see whether we are truly saved. The Apostle Paul here is consequently saying to these believers, do a spiritual audit. Bring as it were your books in the light of heaven and say, do the books balance? Does this really show that I am a spiritual being, that I have been brought from death to life? Is this the evidence that this is really showing? Why is he being so adamant about this? Well, it's primarily because there was a lot that was going wrong in the church in Korea. And Paul is saying, no, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ is not supposed to be like this. In the last few verses, we've already seen him talking about it. And he's saying that I am afraid that when I come to you, I might be utterly disappointed. I'm afraid that that might be the case. Let's look at those two fears, verse 20 and verse 21 again. in the previous chapter. This is not the fruit of the Spirit. This is not what Jesus Christ produces in his people. It is not. But let's read it. Paul says in verse 20, For I fear, there it is, apostolic fear. I fear that perhaps when I come, I may find you not as I wish and that you may find me not as you wish. In other words, I find you in sin and then I come and discipline you. That's not what I want to happen when I come. And then he says, that perhaps there may be, and these are the things he's afraid he will find there, quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder. Paul is saying, it will break my heart. If I come to the church and this is what I find because that's not the fruit of the Spirit. He goes further, another fear. Verse 21, I fear that when I come again, my God may humble me before you. Again, this is about mourning as he puts it here. And I may have to mourn over many of those who sinned earlier And then he says, and have not repented of their impurity. In other words, it's stubborn, ongoing sin. Repented of their impurity, sexual immorality, and sensuality that they have practiced. He repeats this in chapter 3, chapter 13, sorry, and verse 2. He says there, I warned those who sinned before and all the others, and I warn them now while absent. It is this that makes the Apostle Paul say, examine yourselves. There's something wrong. You can't just continue as if everything is okay. Fine, you challenged me to examine myself. I've brought out the evidence. Now, it's your turn. Yourselves be under examination. See if you are really in the faith. Brethren, those are the occasions that should drive us to ask God, am I really saved? It's when we find ourselves continuing in sin, stubbornly going a way that we know the Bible condemns. Instead of going into secret sin and hypocrisy, saying, okay, at least people don't know. No, go to the foot of the cross. That's the time to do a spiritual audit. So that you examine yourself to see whether you are in the faith. It's the time to test yourself. to see whether you are really in the faith. But let me add on, because the whole idea behind this self-examination and testing is to look for evidence whether Jesus Christ is in us. That's what you're really looking for. Look at the way he puts it in our text. Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves and then look at this. Or do you not realize this about yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you? That's the issue. The way I am living, can I honestly say that a natural man cannot live like this. That he can't. It must be because Christ is living in me. That's the only way you can explain this life. Can we honestly say that? Now there are at least three areas of testing that the Apostle Paul uses. in the wider text that is before us. And those are the ones I just want us to quickly go through. Three tests. One is doctrinal, so I'm letting the cat out of the bag. The second is moral, and the third has to do with works of love. So, doctrinal, moral, and works of love. Sometimes they refer to it as social. Social at a horizontal level. So let me begin with the doctrinal test. In chapter 11, the passage that I had just begun reading to you, where he was saying that I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin. Then he said, but I'm afraid. that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts would be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. Now listen to this. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, Or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, here is his problem. You put up with it readily enough. That's what worried Paul. Because there's only one gospel. There's only one way of salvation. It is through the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by faith only. It is not through factory made systems of come forward, repeat his words or whatever else it might be, baptism or church membership. It is purely by repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Any other claim to the gospel is nothing but a backdoor into hell. Now, you all agree with that. I'm sure you do. Then why is it that in the name of love, We are willing to either marry or get married to people who definitely don't show this fruit. We're still, we even want to go and join their church where error and heresy is being taught week after week after week. How? How? Shouldn't that in itself say to you, there's something wrong? Why am I not so jealous about the gospel that I'm willing to even be killed for it? Why am I so willing to just sell it off as it were for me to get what I want? Why is it? The apostle Paul had said in first Corinthians chapter 15 and verse one, This was just a few years earlier before writing this letter, the second one. This is what he wrote in chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians. Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preach to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved. If you hold fast to the word I preach to you, unless you believed in vain, For I deliver to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. This is the gospel, he says, on which you stand, and this is the gospel by which you are saved. Full stop. There's nothing more and nothing less than this. But yeah, I've sat in enough meetings where my own church member says to me, the problem with you Baptists is you think you're the only ones who are correct. Since when did it become you Baptists? I thought we are both Baptists. And when did we say we are the only ones who are correct? When? I thought it's obvious that the gospel is what is correct. And that was on that basis that you joined the church, that together we might journey to heaven. Why? In the name of love. Have you now thrown all this back into one's face? My point is, if you are thus willing to sacrifice the gospel for whatever advantage it might be, examine yourself. Am I really a Christian? Is Jesus Christ who died on the cross to pay for my sin? Is he in me? Is he dwelling within me? Or is he not? So the first is a doctrinal test. The second is a moral test. that brings us exactly where we are in 2 Corinthians 12 and 13. It is this issue that made the Apostle Paul bring this matter up. Because he had already taught the Corinthian church about the vital place of morality and especially sexual morality. Look with me. Again, at 1 Corinthians. But this time, chapter... I hope I have it in my notes here. Looks like I put it elsewhere. Oh, yes. Chapter 6, 1 Corinthians, chapter 6. 1 Corinthians 6. And... Verse 9. Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, he said. Now this is Paul writing years before he wrote his second one. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. He's saying you can't inherit the kingdom of God if you are living like this. And it says, that's how some of you were, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. Let's jump on to verse 14. And God raised the Lord, that is Jesus Christ, and will also raise us up by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For as it is written, the two will become one flesh. But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Listen to his plea here. Flee from sexual immorality. You can't make it any clearer. Flee! Run for your life, he says, as far as sexual immorality is concerned. Why? He gives the reason. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body. But the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own. You were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. Nothing can be clearer than that. Listen. to 2 Corinthians chapter 12 and the last verse. I fear that when I come again, my God may humble me before you, and I may have to mourn over many of those who sinned earlier and have not repented of their impurity, sexual immorality, and insensuality that they have practiced. In other words, over the years, some individuals continued in this same way. Despite all the warnings that he gave, you cannot go to heaven while living in sin this way. You can't! And so he's saying, instead of spending your time trying to find out whether I'm a real apostle or not, why don't you spend time finding out whether you are Christians or not? Because there is a moral test as well. Friends, Jesus Christ cannot be living in your soul and you are comfortable in sin. It's not possible. It means you are just religious. You have a mental ascent of biblical truth. Most likely, it's because you were brought up with that mental truth in Sunday school and in your home and so on. And therefore, that's just the way you began to live. Otherwise, as far as God is concerned, when He comes into our hearts, He brings about a moral transformation, a moral clean-up from the inside out. That's what happens, from the inside out. In other words, if you ever fell into sexual sin, which is possible, You are like a cat that immediately jumps out of that mess. Not like a pig that remains in it, groveling in that scene and groveling in that scene. No, you jump out of it. Because your heart has been changed. There's a second test. It's a moral test. There's a third test. and it is a work of love. Let's go to chapter 8. Chapter 8. I will read verse 1 to verse 8. We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God. There it is. God's grace that has been given among the churches in Macedonia. Corinth was in another province. Macedonia was a province Corinth was in Achaia, which was another province. So Paul is mentioning the evidence of grace in the churches in this province called Macedonia. For in a severe test of affliction, in other words, they're going through a very difficult time, their abundance of joy and extreme poverty, so they don't have the money, have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. This cannot be human activity. You don't have individuals who themselves are going through a difficult time, and financially they're going through a difficult time, and yet they want to give joyfully, they want to give. This is by the grace of God. Verse 3, for they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, beyond of their own accord. In other words, we did not untwist them. They freely were doing so. In fact, it goes further saying, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints. There was a famine that was taking place in Judea at this point. And these churches, the brethren in these churches were saying, look, we don't have the money, yes, but we just want to participate. We want to love the brethren. We want to give to relieve them of their suffering. And then he says in this, verse five, and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord. and then by the will of God to us. It all began with the Lord himself first. Accordingly, we urge Titus that as he had started, so he should complete among you this act of grace. But as you excel in everything, in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in holinessness, and in our love for you, I wish you said your love for us, but that's beside the point. See that you excel in this act of grace also. Now look at the next verse. I say this not as a command, but to prove exactly the same word as test yourselves. Prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine. Prove that your love is also genuine. So that when these brethren come to get a collection from you, the churches in Corinth, in Achaia, that it will literally be the same thing, the same thing. That you will also be saying, we want to love the brethren. We want to love the brethren. May I suggest to you that love is a major component of evidence that Christ is in me. Love. Love at a very practical level. Not that love we give in social media, eh? Good use picture. Love you all, love you all. No! Don't even know who's reading it. This is about you putting your hands in your pocket and sharing your actual little peanuts of a salary with those who are in need. As John Wesley rightly put it, the last part of a man to be converted is his pocket. His pocket. Before that pocket is converted, just know the heart is not. because it's a genuine life of love, love for God at its maximum with all my heart, soul, strength, but also love for others, loving my neighbor as I love myself. When the Lord Jesus Christ was picturing the day of judgment, the final day of judgment In Matthew 25, look at the way he put it. Matthew 25, the final day of judgment. You'd almost think that his teaching is salvation by works. But the point he's making is this, that this was evidence that I was in their hearts. This was the evidence. Matthew 25. And I begin reading from verse 34. Maybe begin with verse 31 to give the context. When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. Before Him will be gathered all the nations, and He will separate people one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. Then He will place the sheep on His right, by the gods on the left. Verse 34, Then the king will say to those on his right, Come, you who are blessed by my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me food. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you welcomed me. I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to me. Then the righteous will answer him, saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you estranged and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you? The king will answer, truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me. There's the evidence. A life lived for others. So what about me? Others. Others. And genuinely out of love. Giving and giving and giving. You say, how? It's because it's Christ. in me doing it. Left to me, of course, I would tighten the zips in my pocket even more. Of course, I want to build the biggest enterprise for myself as much as possible. Of course, without Christ, life is about me. But if he is in my soul, just as he lived on earth on his own two feet, going about doing good, he continues to go about doing good through me. Through me. May I suggest, dear friends, that when your life is a little warped soul that everything is about me, myself, and I, my happiness, and all the rest of it. It's just me, me, me, me, me. Just know Jesus is not in you. Now, you may argue with me now, but on that final day of judgment, the last part of this is what will take place when he says, depart from me. You cursed into eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you gave me no food. I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink. I was a stranger, and you did not welcome me. Naked, you did not cloth me. Sick and in prison, and you did not visit me." And most of you remember I preached from 1 John, an entire series. And when we came to chapter 2, chapter 3 rather, John gave two tests of salvation. The first was the moral test, you remember. It says, he who communes in sin is not a child of God. He gave a second test, and that test took even longer. And it is this, love for the brethren. Love for the brethren. Love for the brethren. What Paul is saying, back to our text, after these three tests, is really that your answer should be, yes, of course, because the evidence is overwhelming that is showing you that it's not you who is living, it's Christ who is living in you. And so he says, examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith, test yourselves, or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you and is expecting the ones that pass the test to say, of course, the evidence is there. So the world may... Is that true about you? Is that true about you? that that's the way you would speak. That knowing myself before my conversion, this life is certainly impossible. There's only one way I can explain my life. It is by bringing Jesus into the equation. Suddenly, it makes sense. Surely, he must be Let me hurry on, because the Apostle Paul ends with the possibility of failing the test. The possibility of failing the test. And this is the way he puts it at the very end of our text. He says there, Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? And then he says, unless indeed you fail to meet the test. You fail to meet the test. Brethren, let me put as kindly as I possibly can. If you fail the doctrinal, moral, and love tests, they know that you're actually still on your way to hell. Even if you are registered as a KBC member, even if you were interviewed in coming into this church by the elders and they concluded you were saved, remember it was on profession of your faith that you were brought in. But if you are failing these tests, you're on your way to hell. Look at the way the writer to the Hebrews puts it. Hebrews chapter 6. We're never quite told who wrote the book of Hebrews. But Hebrews 6 and verse 8, this is the way it is put. Hebrews 6 and verse 8. Maybe let me begin from verse 7. For the land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated receives a blessing from God. So if I could just try and change that, because this is picture language. It's basically saying those souls, those individuals, who are receiving the Word of God, ministry from the Lord, and it's resulting in them producing fruit, and that fruit is blessing others, God in turn will bless such a soul. Okay, that's the first. This into the last. But if it bears thorns and thistles, So here it is, it's receiving the reins, but what is being produced instead is that which is doctrinally wrong, that which is morally wrong, that which is selfish to the core, and therefore is not being a blessing to others, not being useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated. It is worthless. It is worthless. The phrase there amounts to the fact that it has failed the test. That's the phrase there. It has failed the test. And because it has failed the test, it is threatened with being cursed. It is near to being cursed. And then in the end, this is what's going to happen. And its end is to be. burned. Its end is to be burned. Thankfully, there is hope, and the hope lies in that phrase, near to being cursed. In other words, as long as we are still alive, we have the opportunity to make amends. And that's why this self-examination is so important. Because it gives us the chance like a self-audit to realize that your books are failing to balance. And therefore, you go back to say, okay, where have I missed the road so that you can correct everything to balance the books? It is an opportunity. for you to go back to God and say, Lord, if you have not really saved me, save me now. Why is it that I don't treasure the gospel? Why? Why is it that if you poke me left, right, and center, it won't be the gospel oozing out? Why is it that I'm not even burdened about sharing the true gospel with those who are my neighbors and friends and workmates and schoolmates and so on? Why is it? Lord, if you've never really saved me, save me now. Why is it that I easily go off the rails morally? I'm willing to argue and gossip and slander. I'm willing to defraud and steal and so on. I'm willing to live in sexual immorality. I'm willing to do anything as long as I'm not uncovered. Why is it, Lord, save me? Save me now. Why is it that my life is not a life of love? for others. When I'm praying, I only pray for three people, me, myself, and I, Kwasi. It's always what I want, what I want, rather than praying for others consistently that they might know the grace of God. Why is it that I'm not living for my fellow church members? I'm not in their homes. to encourage them, in the hospitals to visit them, wherever it is that needs are, encouraging them with God's word. Why is it? Could it be, Lord, that I am not saved? If so, save me now. Sadly, too many people prefer to take the wrong route, and it's the route of hypocrisy, until providence and ethics. Don't. Don't. Don't do that. Because Jesus is an ever-present Savior. Don't do that. I want to assure you, Jesus really saves. He does. He changes you from the inside. He actually does. He makes you hate sin and love righteousness. He actually does. So don't content yourself with something in the middle. I'm not as bad as the guys in Mukoweko. So therefore, at least it means I should be a Christian. As I said, look at your life and say, what drives me? to live the life that I live. What drives me? Because this is not natural. What drives me? And the only way I can explain my life is by bringing Jesus into the occasion. I remember in my early Christian life at Lusaka Baptist Church under Pastor Joseph Fukui. My seat used to be somewhere there. Just short angle, but the first pew. That's what I used to say. And there were many times, times I cannot count, when Pastor Sifuke finished his sermon, and it was as if glue was between my bottom and the chair. I couldn't get it. And I was crying to the Lord, Lord, in view of what I've heard, if you haven't saved me, save me today. Never forget. It wasn't only once. On a number of occasions, as I paused at the end of what was earth-shattering to my soul. I would say, Lord, if you have not saved me, save me now. I want that picture that I've seen in the Word of God as it's been expounded, I want that to be me and nothing else. If that's the real Christian life, Lord, please don't allow me to be deceived by some mediocre kind of Christianity and then in the end I find myself in hell. Please, Lord, don't. I don't mind throwing away 30th March 1979 as my day of salvation. I don't mind throwing it away, but please save me today if you haven't saved me. I want to plead with you on this 35th anniversary. Examine yourselves to see whether you are really in the faith. To see evidence that my life can only be explained by Christ in me. the hope of glory. And oh, how I pray that if for any reason, any reason, the test that I gave, you find yourself lacking, don't try and convince yourself, no. Right where you are in that pew, cry to Jesus. Jesus, if you've never really saved, Save me today.