The importance of Bible study tools and resources to deepen understanding and application of God's Word. It highlights various books, commentaries, and reference Bibles as essential aids for effective study, comparing them to tools that equip a golfer or mechanic. The message illustrates how different Bible translations can illuminate the meaning of scripture and stresses that a Christian's 'conversation' or conduct should reflect the gospel. Ultimately, the sermon encourages diligent study and the use of available resources to live a life worthy of the gospel, leading to spiritual growth and glorifying God.
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made the mention of being brief in prayer. I couldn't help but remember an illustration that Brother Harold McCabe used at the Believer's Bible Conference two summers ago when he was there. He wrote it again this summer. Hope some of your people are going to be able to join us. Third week in July. He was talking about how some people, they more or less have their devotion in public. They called on to pray and they catch up on their prayer. And this is a fault that some of the Lord's people have. Not too many, I'm glad to say. I think that we should really have our devotions and our time of worship and praise personally when we are in private.
But anyway, he was speaking about prayer this particular day at the conference at the Covenant College, and he told about the man who was given to prayers, long prayers. And he went to see this man that was very, very sick in this home. Everyone knew he was real sick. So he went to see the brother and his wife was there and he said, Now sister, you think it will be all right if I have prayers? Oh, by all means, yes, have prayer, brother. I'm sure my husband would appreciate it. He can hear you, I believe. He's conscious. And so the brother began to pray.
He prayed for the Lord's people at home, and he prayed for them in Europe, and he prayed for South America, and he prayed for Asia, and he prayed for India, and he prayed for the islands of the sea, and he prayed a long prayer. When he finished praying, he looked up and The man wasn't breathing. And he said, Sister, Sister, Sister. And they grabbed his pulse and he didn't have any. The man died. And the brother who prayed the long prayer said, Sister, he's dead. Yes. Well, when did he die? He was, oh, he died way back in Singapore. Now, eight and a half years ago, The Lord led us in Columbia to begin a Christian literature ministry.
That's all right. No, that's all right. I'll stay right here. And one of the reasons we started the Christian bookstore ministry and literature ministry is a fact that, and I've already mentioned this once or twice, When the Lord saved me at the University of Georgia in nineteen thirty-eight, some dear Christian people who had been greatly influenced and blessed by the Lord's people who meet in His name alone, as we do here, up in the Michigan area, these people were living in Athens, Georgia, and the intervascular fellowship chapter of which I became a member met in their home.
and they gave me some Christian literature that helped get me off on the right foot as a Christian. And I've never been the same because of the fact that these people supplied me with spiritual food apart from the Bible, which I needed. And that's one of the reasons we have a Christian bookstore minister in Columbia, South Carolina, and the other is the fact that there was not an evangelical, independent, non-denominational related bookstore in Columbia. And there was a tremendous need. And when we opened the bookstore, we didn't know there was such a thing as supplying Sunday School Literature to churches and assemblies, but today we supply Sunday School Literature for one hundred and sixty-five churches and assemblies of Christians over the country.
Now I tell you a little secret, if you want to make money, don't go into the bookstore business. But you can have a ministry and you can have a real vital ministry. Now I have observed that sometimes when you call a person's attention to a book or some book, that their appetite can get waived for books and they can discover a book. that they might have never discovered otherwise. Last summer at the Believers Bible Conference, we had Brother Art Miller there. And Art Miller, for a number of years, traveled for Moody Press, and he loved books, loved good books.
And he took two or three minutes every day to mention some of the books that we had back at the book table. And we did twice as much at the book table last summer as we ever have before. And the simple reason was Art Miller was there and mentioned the books to the people. Now I make no apologies for giving a commercial for good books because I know what they can do to the lives of people. Let me try to illustrate it this way. Now some of you men, how many of you men ever played any golf? Raise your hand. All right. Can you imagine going out trying to play a game of golf without a spoon or eight or nine iron?
Can you imagine trying to play a game of golf without a putter? Well, you could play golf, right, but you wouldn't win any tournaments. Can you imagine a man trying to overhaul an automobile without a set of sprocket branches? Well, now what a spoon or putter might be to a golfer and what a set of socket wrenches might be to a mechanic that's overhauled in a car, some of the books that I'm going to mention today is to a man that's studying the Bible. Now, granted, the most important book that you want to have is, of course, God's Word.
And you could be effective. If the only book that you ever had was the Word of God, don't misunderstand me, but you can be much more effective by spending much less time even studying if you have some of the tools that God has provided for his people. Now first of all, I'm going to mention a few books in general that the Lord has blessed my own heart into the hearts of many other people, and then I'm going to illustrate in the message that I'm going to give how to use some of the tools. And if what we say today will only whet your appetite to study, albeit you will not be in vain this week.
I remember Brother McKay once again at a work of conference and we were talking about tools. in preparing messages and so forth. And he told about a cousin of his in Canada that started preaching for a while and then he quit preaching. Somebody asked him why he quit. He said, well, I just couldn't find anything to preach about. And McKay laughed and rightly so because he said, my problem is not finding something to preach about. My problem is trying to find time to preach what the Lord gives me. I know I had a problem this morning. I had five different messages I'd like to have given this morning. So I'll tell you a little secret. If you get into the book, there'll be plenty in there. Now, numbers of you have heard of our friend and brother, Joshua T.
Bull. He's written about three or four books. Fortunately, most of them are in paperbacks. And they will challenge and stir your heart in your life. When iron gates yield. One of the few men ever to get into bed. To Tibet. the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now any book that Isabel Kuhn has written will be a spiritual blessing to you. This book is perhaps her bestseller in the arena. She's written another book called, and it's here somewhere, Green Leaf and Drought.
Now let me warn you about this book. Don't start reading it after dinner. at night because you probably won't get in the sleep. You won't want to put it down until you finish it. It's a real challenge. There's another book that they don't have in the bookstore, but they ought to have twenty or thirty of them called God Smuggler, about a man that his hobby and his life and his ministry is smuggling Bibles into closed countries, and he's been at all of them now. And God has richly blessed this man. Green leaf and drought. It's about a missionary family that was caught behind the bamboo curtain, and the Lord sustained them for ten years without any contact whatsoever with the outside world.
Another book by Isabel Coon, Stones of Fire. By the way, there's a real ministry in loaned-in books. But let me make a suggestion. have you a little three-by-five card box. When you loan the book, write down who you loaned it to and what dates you loaned it to and put their phone number down. We loaned a sixty-five dollar slide projected to a good customer, Christmas, and they were such a good customer that we didn't even bother to write it down. And they forgot to return it. We still don't know who is outside projection.
In fact, I've had to buy another one. So if you loan something, remember it belongs to the Lord and you ought to keep a record of who you loan it to. Another one by Isabel Coon. I have not read this one. Ascent to the Tribes. But you'll never go wrong by picking up any book she wrote. By the way, when you pick them up, be sure and pay for them. George Mueller, Young Rebel in Bristol. This is the kind of book that an adult would enjoy, but someone who likes adventure and challenge, this would be good for a teenager. Only seventy-five cents. Incidentally, I wonder how many of you knew that Dwight Lyman Moody was the first man ever to print a paperback. Until he started the Moody Coal Portage Library series, which incidentally, when they first started, they cost the nickel a piece.
He was the first man ever to print a book in paper. until then they always thought they had to be cloth bound with a hard, durable binding. But he was the first man ever to print a paper bag. Now, a lot of people sitting out here this morning, like I was until a few months ago, you were not aware of what the Book of Mormon teaches. Some of you right now, you don't know what the Book of Mormon teaches. Well, he has a little book called Fifty Measley Cents, four bits, one half of a dollar. It'll tell you what the Book of Mormon teaches. by my good brother, Gordon Frazier, who I was in room with, but I shared the missionary apartment with him back in November in Chicago.
Young people, one of our key phrases today, so what? Everybody's doing it. That's been one of the devil's theme songs, Dems of the Years. This is by David Augsburger, and it's very, very good, especially for young people. But you see, Christians, Even though we may be old guys, we need to know how to communicate with teenagers, and you cannot communicate with teenagers unless you know what they're saying and what they're doing. By the way, one of the secrets of working with teenagers is to listen to them. Listen to them. The triumph of John and Betty Sims by Mrs.
Howard Taylor. and a tremendous book and it could be a tremendous blessing to anyone who reads. This is the, these are related, rather John Sam was the nephew of my friend Jacob Sam. It's the secret of soul in it by my friend and brother Stephen F. Olford. And I have not read this book. I've reviewed it, kind of scanned it. I've heard him preach this so much that I know what's in it, but it's really tremendous. So here's a little, it's a Gospel.
It's the Gospel of John with the American Bible Society translation for in today's English. Now I happen to have met the man who translated this. The man knows and loves the Lord. He believes that Jesus Christ is God's Son, and irrespective of the fact that a lot of the independent Baptists have fought this translation, I personally believe that it's a good, accurate, modern translation. And don't get me wrong, I wouldn't be without the King James. It'll be here, and I praise the Lord for it. But especially for young people, this is a good translation, and it's a real help for a lot of people. Now this little story of the reasons why, when this first came out, I got a hold of it and read it, and it was such a blessing to me, I want to tell you a good one, by the way, on myself.
Maybe the Lord didn't lead me to do this, but I'll tell you what I did. I bought a forty-five dollar ad in letters of interest advertising that we had this little book, and I didn't get the first postal card from people that were interested in the book, but they just don't know what they're missing. This is a fabulous book. If you know anything about the little booklet, The Reason Why, you should read this book. It's a tremendous blessing. There are men of God that are being greatly used by the Lord today that were led to Christ reading that book. And incidentally, Mr. Layla's booklet, The Reason Why, has been updated, and the illustrations in it are all up-to-date and modern today, and it's not outdated, and it can be used today just as well as it was being used twenty-five years ago.
Now here's a little book. This is the number one bestseller of all the books that Moody Press has ever printed. The number two bestseller, by the way, is my friend Bob Cook's book, Now That I Believe. But this is number one. They sold seventy thousand copies of this book last year. The Bible in pictures for little eyes. On one side you have the Bible picture and right next to it in simple elementary English you have the story of the Bible picture from the Bible and you can even buy this now on record and you can let your grandchildren most of you would have grandchildren probably you can let your grandchildren or your nieces and nephews or your small children or whoever it is look at the picture and then Bill Pierce read the story for us real wonderful babysitters It's about three-ninety-five, I think, but it's well worth it.
Now there's a handbook, and it was on the one in here I'd tell them this, that sold thousands and thousands, perhaps two or three or four or five million copies, called Halley's Bible Handbook. But you know a lot of people are not aware of the fact that Halley's Bible Handbook was written by a man who is post-millennial and who believed in baptismal regeneration. A lot of you people have a Halley's Bible handbook on your shelves at home, but you didn't know that. This is the best handbook on the market today, put out by Moody, because there goes anything that Moody prints, you don't have to worry about it, and you know you can depend on it. Some of the publishers know you have to kind of scan through them and check up on who the author is. But anything that Moody Press puts their name on, you can rest assured.
It's sound, it's evangelical, it's fundamental. Ungo's Bible handbook. It can be a tremendous help to you. It's only four ninety-five. Of course, that used to be a really expensive book. Today it's getting to be about the common ordinary price almost. Now, the native topical Bible, my friend Billy Graham says, outside of the Bible, this is a book I depend on more than any other. Certainly there has been no book that has helped me more in my study. Now, if some of you might have gathered by listening to my ministry, I think and organize my thoughts as a rule many times by topics.
So you can understand how invaluable something like this would be to someone who likes to study something by topics. For example, you pick up the list and it just happened to fall open to the subject of heaven. We have one, two, three, four, five, six, seven pages about heaven. And it has the text, the references, and then printed out for you the verses about heaven in the Bible. And incidentally, I think this is even available in papermint in a condensed version.
Now also, I must have Ungah, Moody Press, has put out what I consider to be just about one of the best Bible dictionaries today called Ungah's Bible Dictionary. And, well, suppose you're interested in the Philistines. You want to find out about the Philistines? Well, you turn to the Philistines in here, and you find out all about Philistines. Here's something about Judas. You may want to find out something about Pontus, but this time Pilate. And so you turn to Pontus Pilate, and you've got a lot of facts there about Pontus Pilate, and on and on far into the night.
Now, for the time that I have left, one of my favorite methods of Bible study. There are a lot of methods of Bible study. Now, I do not know the original language, and I've already told you about the little Greek and Hebrew that I know. One I'm running a cloak and still another, I rest for it. But I tell you what I do have. I have a number of good, reliable, trustworthy translations. Now, a translation is communicating a thought that God has for us. Now, just as some of the Lord's servants speak to you and reach you more than another, some of the translations that are available today would speak to you more than another.
Now, let's face that. You see, each of us, some of us, have different wavelengths. And I can think of one or two of the Lord's servants. Well, Brother Willie mentioned one of them today, William Culliver of Moody. Every time I've ever heard that man preach, I got unconviction. Because somehow or another, he communicates with me. And I get something from him every time I have heard him. Our brother layman's trials are the same way. Every time I've ever heard that man speak, my heart is blessed and stirred and challenged and convicted all at the same time. And so you must remember now, and we all have our pet. Now I'm not even going to tell you which one of these translations is my pet.
I might, but I don't plan to right now. I might do it unconsciously. But I have before me here the Weymouth, which I have not used, a great deal. I have before me the William, which is published by Moody. I have before me Philip, which is published in England. I believe you get that from Macmillan now. And then I have before me a King James, but this happens to be a Thompson Chain Reference Bible. Now, if there were two things that I would say that a student of the Word of God needs more than anything else, it's a Schofield Reference Bible and a Thompson Chain Reference Bible.
I had a customer that came into the store about five or six weeks ago, and his pastor had recommended to him that he get him a Thompson Bible and a Schofield Bible. And he came in with about enough money to buy one of them. And he said, well, now, Brother Few, I want you to show me the difference between the Thompson chain reference and the Schofield Bible. took both of them off of the rack. And I went up to a table and opened them up. And I'll tell you, you talk about a fellow being confused. He was confused because you see that he wanted both of them. And he wanted them right then. And he bought them both right then. I sold him one of them on credit. He paid for one of them. He came in on Monday. He came in on Monday and paid me the rest of the money for the other.
And a week later, he came in and bought... one each for his son-in-law. He said, I've never seen anything like it in my life. He said, it set me on fire. He said, fifty years I've been living without this. You just think all these years I could have had this. You can transform a life. Now, we're going to take a word, a common word. We're going to take a word that's not even in usage much today, like it was the day when the King James was translated. And we're going to look it up very, very quickly. And that word is the word conversation. Look in Philippians chapter one and verse twenty-seven.
Philippians chapter one. Now you remember, beloved brothers and sisters, that in order to receive a message from God's word, you have to read it and let it speak to you. Read it and let it speak to you. Try not to do it hurriedly. Take your time. Now, you need a good concordance. Now, that's something Brother Bob doesn't have back in the bookstore. He needs to get him a good youngs or crudens or strongs concordance. I recommend strongs. They say strong for the strong, young for the young, and crudens for the crude.
Well, I don't know about that, but that's just among books, little circles. That's what they say. But if I had my choice, I'd take the strong. All right. Polytians one, verse twenty-seven. The Apostle Paul says in verse twenty-seven, only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ, that whether I come and see you or else the absence, I may hear of your affairs, that you may stand fast in one spirit with one mind striving together for the faith of the Gospel. Now, in my Thompson Chain Reference Bible, right out next to the word conversation, I have a little number, and the number is eight zero eight.
And after that number, there's a word, and the word is conduct. And after the word conduct, I have a reference. First Timothy, Four, Twelve. All right, now we're not going to turn to First Timothy, Four, Twelve. Now we're going to close with that. All right. Now, in my Thompson Chain Reference Bible, I turn back to number eight hundred and eight. In the back of my Thompson Chain Reference Bible, and let me tell you what I'm going to find when I get to number eight zero eight. I find a little paragraph. It says Christian conduct. advice concerning Christian conduct.
And it starts with Philippians one, twenty-seven. It gives me another reference, another reference, another reference, another reference, and another reference about Christian conduct. All right? Now, suppose I didn't have this. Well, I get just a plain common ordinary can call it. See? And I take the next reference. Well, that word is used in the concordance. So now I'm doing this today, just like I hadn't have had a constant chain reference. I'm doing it just like you would if all you had was a simple concordance in the back of your Bible. All right? The next time the word conversation is used is in Philippians chapter three.
At least it's the same word in the Greek. I'm not sure whether it's the same word in King James or not. Philippians three twenty. Yes, in the King James the same word. Verse twenty, Philippians three. For our conversation is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. All right. Now, out in the margin, in my Thompson Bible, I have the word Revised Version is our citizenship, which in this particular place is much more accurate. And below that we read Heavenly Citizenship, number four one, six, four.
And you turn to number four, one, six, four in the back of your Thompson Chain Reference Bible and you have every text in the Bible on Heavenly Citizenship. Now, I'm getting ahead of myself because I forgot to read this verse in Philippians in the Philip and in the Weymouth and in the William. Alright? We'll read it from the William. It's Philippians, verse twenty-seven. Now notice the different shades of meaning that will throw light on this verse. And it's fifth grade student to do this. Alright, this is in the William. Only... You must practice living lives that are worthy of the good news.
So that whether I come and see you or stay away, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit and that with one purpose you are continuing to cooperate in the fight for faith in the good news. All right. Now let's read that same verse in the Weimar. Waymouth, verse twenty-seven, chapter one. Only let the lives you live be worthy of the gospel of Christ. In order that whether I come and see you or being absent, only hear of you. I may hear that you are standing fast in one spirit and with one mind, fighting shoulder to shoulder for the faith of the gospel.
All right. And then we look into Philip. Philippians, verse one. I mean, chapter one, verse twenty-seven. Now listen to this. But whatever happens, make sure that's your everyday life. I like that. Ha ha. Not just when you're dressed up. Not just on Sundays. not just when they're looking at you in public. Make sure that your everyday life is worthy of the gospel of Christ.
Now look at what we've done. The only thing we've done, we've read four verses, the same verse in four different translations, and look at all the hues of the rainbow that we've gotten that shades light and meaning and thought. upon that one wonderful verse. We don't have time to read all of these. All right. Now we turn to Philippians three twenty. All right. Let's turn back to Philippians three twenty quite right quickly and we'll read it for you in the Williams. Philippians three twenty in the Williams. But we are citizens in the Republic in heaven from which we are eagerly waiting for our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
All right? We'll look in the Weymouth now and read the same verse, Philippians three, twenty. We, however, are free citizens of heaven and we are waiting with long and expectation for the coming from heaven of the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Alright? Now we'll read it in the Philip translation. Philip translation. But we are citizens of heaven. Our outlook goes beyond this world to the hopeful expectation of the Savior who will come from heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And one of the things, the overflow of doing this is what you see in the other parts of the verses. He will change these wretched bodies of ours so that they resemble His own glorious body by the power of His which makes Him the master of everything that is. And I get the reason and I can't find a good stopping place. and I just keep on reading. It's just wonderful. Like when I was a boy in Georgia, you could buy a milkshake for a nickel, brother Cox, down in Madison, and I'd go into town once a week, and I got a dime a lounge. I bought a milkshake for a nickel and a hot dog for a nickel, and I remember I'd start drinking with that straw, and I couldn't find a good stopping-off place. I wouldn't stop till I started getting that air bubbling up in the bottle.
That's the way it is, and you get to read in the Bible. All right? Now, We'll come across a word, conversation. Now I'm going to read from the Psalter Dictionary of New Testament Words by W.E. Vine. This is no longer available in the full volume edition. It's now available in the one volume edition. And Brother Willie doesn't have one now, but he's going to get one because I hope three or four of you at least are going to want one. Now I want to read you something about the word, conversation in the King James. Now we looked it up and here's what I get. This word is not used in the revised version, as it does not now express the meaning of the words so translated in the authorized version, which of course is the King James.
These are as follows. And then he takes every place where the word was used in the King James and tells you what it really means in the Greek today. In fact, there are only one or two places in the King James where the word conversation is translated that it really meant in the original. That's what you and I think of as conversation today. As a rule, the word conversation in the King James means manner of life, your conduct, your behavior. All right? Now, very quickly, let's go to First Peter. I'm having to skip a few because of time.
Let's go to First Peter. chapter one in first Peter first Peter chapter one and we look at verse fifteen and sixteen now once again though we are following this word conversation and we're going to see all these different shades of meaning but is he which has called you is holy so be holy in all manner of conversation. And out on the margin in my Thompson chain reference I have a little word and the word is behavior. And by the word behavior I have a number and the number is number eight oh nine.
And you look in the back in the Thompson chain reference Bible and you have a whole list of verses that have to do with the behavior of a believer. You don't have to spend two or three weeks tracing through your concordance in your Bible. It's all right there for you. Why go by Miami to get to Tampa when you go straight to Tampa? I don't see it. Because it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy. All right, the word conversation is used in verse eighteen. For as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers.
And who can stop without reason? But with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without thought. All right, let's turn to First Peter, chapter one, and see what Mr. Weymouth says. We'll read the fifteenth and sixteenth verses. And like obedient children, do not shape your lives by the cravings which were formerly yours in the time of your ignorance, but in imitation of the Holy One who has called you, do you also be holy in all your behavior? Since it is written, you ought to be holy because I am holy.
And in the Weymouth, Of course, we know that's a quotation, see, from Leviticus. And in Weymouth's translation, he has the reference there. Leviticus, eleven, forty-four. All right, we go down and look at verse eighteen. And we read in the Weymouth translation, Knowing that it is not with the perishable wealth, silver, or gold, that you were ransomed from the feudal habits of life, inherited from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ. as of an unblemished and spotless lamb, he was preached so forth and so on. Once again, it's a hard to find a good stop in place. All right. Now let's see how those two verses read in the Williams translation.
First Peter, verses one, or fifteen, sixteen, and eighteen. All right. First Peter. But in accordance with the holy being who has called you, you must prove to be holy too. For the Scripture says you ought to be holy because I am holy. Verse eighteen. Because you know that you have not been ransomed with things that perish as silver or gold from the futile way of living taught by your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ like that of a lamb without blemish or a single blot.
Then we come to Mr. Phillips and we see how Mr. Phillips translates First Peter Verses fifteen, sixteen, and eighteen. Now, I can't stand any longer. I'm going to have to tell you. I'm partial to the book. Listen to this. Don't let your character be molded by the desires of your ignorant days. Don't let your character, that's you, your character. Don't let your character be molded by the designs of your ignorant days. But, get this, be ye holy in every department of your life.
That's power. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Right. Right. For the one who has called you is himself holy. The Scripture says, Ye shall be holy. For I am holy. All right. Now verse eighteen. For you must realize all the time that you have been ransomed from the futile way of living, passed on to you by your Father's tradition. Not with some money payment of transit value, but by the costly shedding of blood.
All right. Now let's look at chapter two, verse twelve. Chapter two, verse twelve. And I'll read it once again in the King James. Having your conversation on it among the Gentiles that whereas they speak against you as evil doers, they may by your good works which they shall behold glorify God in the day of visitation." All right. We'll go back to Weymouth and read I Peter II. Twelve.
Beloved, I entreat you as strangers and foreigners to restrain the cravings of your lower natures which wage war upon the soul. Live honorable lives among the Gentiles. He was speaking primarily to Jewish Christians. Live honorable lives among the Gentiles. In order that where they speak against you as evildoers, from your good deeds they may witness your character and may glorify God in the day of visitation. All right, let's see what Mr. Williams says about First Peter. chapter two and verse twelve.
First Peter chapter two and verse twelve. Here we are. Keep on living upright lives among the heathen, so that when they slander you as evildoers by what they see of your good deeds, they may come to praise God on the judgment day. And lastly, in the Philips. First Peter, two, twelve. Your conduct among the surrounding peoples in your different countries should always be good and right, so that although they may in the usual way slander you as evildoers, yet when disasters come, they may glorify God when they see how well you conduct Now sometimes in order to get the meaning that the Holy Spirit is laying upon your heart, you have to see each one of these translations.
For example, there's a word used in the King James in this verse that wasn't used in the other verse and I like it very much. You know what it is? It's a word on it. And I think that's something that Christians need to be very careful about. You know, the standards of the world have permeated Christendom, and many of God's people, who otherwise would be very, very careful about their conduct, have become unconsciously terrible about honesty. I never shall forget hearing Brother Alan Redpath.
in St. Louis. I was there called some meetings in one of the assemblies and I happened to have an off day, Monday I think. And he was holding a Bible conference along with Wendell Lovelace in a large crevice in church, and so I went down. And I remember hearing Dr. Redpath speak, I couldn't tell you what he spoke on, but I remember this illustration, I'll never forget. He was talking about honesty. He was talking about how vital and how important it is for Christians, of all people, to be honest. He told about a well-known British Bible teacher. He didn't tell his name I'm so glad I don't know what to do.
But he said, if I were to call his name, all of you would know about it. Many of you would have heard him. And he said he was scheduled to speak at a huge Bible conference. He even told the name of the place in London, one of those huge halls that they go together and have big Bible conferences in about once a year. Maybe it was St. Albert Hall or something. I don't know. Anyway, he said there were three or four thousand people in there waiting to hear this famous Bible teacher. And he had a cold schedule and he'd just gotten off of the Queen Elizabeth in Southampton. And he'd gotten on the train, they're on special trains and those big boats used to come in, up to London. And Brother Redpath had gone to meet him at the gate.
And they had just enough time to rush in to wash their hands, get a bite to eat, and go to this big Bible conference where thousands of people are waiting to hear this great man of God preach the word. And as they went into the restroom to wash their hands before their little snacks, the man's pleas came up. Did he notice one, two, three wristwatches on his arm? Oh, brother, those watches must have cost you quite dearly back in the States.
If I'm not mistaken, that word dear is pretty meaningful in England. Dear, quite dear. Very expensive, you know. Oh, no, see, I have a friend in Philadelphia. He's a jeweler and he let me have them wholesale. Oh, well, even then, brother, bringing three expensive watches like that back into the country, well, the duty must have been very much. Oh, well, you see, brother, just watches. Just a few watches. In other words, I didn't bother to report them. Brother Redpath says, if that man stood up in that pulpit and preached and preached and preached, all he could hear was, Brother, guess what, guess what, guess.
Because if anybody in the world, it ought to be honest, it ought to be a man, a woman of God. Oh, it'll cost you. If you're real honest, it'll cost you more than your income tax return. But you'll sleep better at night. And God will be glorified. Whereas if you don't, it'll be right the opposite. Well, one of them can give them all to you.
Man, I say this is true. I love this. I hope you've gotten some out of it. I just love it. All right, turn to first Peter three. First Peter three. Now, the women may not like this, but it's in here, so we've got to read it. Especially those who have been active in the liberation front. Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husband, that if any obey not the words, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wise. All right, let's see what Mr.
Weymouth says. First Peter, chapter three, see what he says. First Peter three. Married women, in the same way be submitted to your husband, so that even if some of them disbelieve the words, they may apart from the word be won over by the daily life of their wives." I like that. All right, let's see what Mr. Williams says. Next time I do this, I'm going to have somebody else have these already and stand up and read.
I wasn't sure I was going to use it in time to get this done. In the Williams, you married women in the same way must be submissive to your husband so that if any of them do not believe the message, that means the husband, they may be won over without a word through the living of the wife. I was in Florence, South Carolina preaching. The assembly was very, very small, just a little group. There was a man there that the Christians had been praying for for years, had a wonderful sweet wife.
I had a real burden for this man. I loved him. Couldn't help but love him, but he was lost. The Lord had me on this particular morning to bring a message on the coming of Christ. And the Lord gave me liberty, and he blessed my heart. And I preached. And I dismissed the meeting. And I was so in hopes that Henry Blackwell would come up and let me talk to him, but he was gone. And then I greeted a few of the people, and they were speaking to me, and most of the people were gone. And then all at once I looked, and that was Henry Blackwell. And I said, oh, Henry, I'm so glad you came back.
I'd like to talk to you. I said, Henry, wouldn't you like to know the Lord is your Savior? He said, yes, Shockley, I would. He said, Shockley, if God can do for my wife Mary what He's done, I cannot live any longer without Jesus Christ. Dr. William Cubison tells a story of a young lady in an industrial community in Pennsylvania. So I'm not mistaken, this lady could have well been the member of one of his first churches. And this lady was saved in a little chapel.
And she really became a joyous, wonderful Christian. And for five or six months, everything went fine. And then a husband began to give her a rough time. He was giving her a rough time. And so this young lady went to see her pastor, and her pastor listened and listened, and, oh, she'd been preaching to her husband. This was a terrible thing to do. She'd been preaching to her husband. About how mean he was, how sinful he was, about why he was going when he died, if he didn't get saved. And dear brother, I'm sure this must have been brother Culbertson, even though he didn't say it. He said, now, sister, I'd like to ask you a question. All right?
You want to see your husband one? Yes. Sister, let me ask you a question. Yes. Sister, what does your husband like to eat more than anything else in the world? Now, brother, what in the world has that got to do with my husband being saved? Sister, you want to see your husband's age? Yes. All right. Answer my question. Well, if you must know, Pastor, he likes old stinking fish and I can't stand to cook. Sister? You want to see your husband save? Yes, I do. Well, sister, when your husband comes home from work tonight at five-thirty, you're going to have old stinking fish sitting on the table. The husband got about a block away and said, Hey, I wonder which one of our neighbors is having fish.
And the closer he got, the more he realized, well, miracle of miracle, this must become... Hey, you're not having things. Oh, yeah. Well, great day, why are you having things? You never would cook. Well, you see, honey, you remember a few weeks ago, a few months ago, when I became a... Yes, you became a... Well, you know, I've just been reading in the Word, honey, and I realized that my attitude hadn't been right. And sweetheart, the Lord has given me such a love for him that he's given me a new love for you. And honey, if you won't think every night, we're going to have faith every night.
You know the rest of the story I don't have to tell you. That man was warned because of love, because of devotion, because of submission. You know, those of us that travel around a lot of different places, we meet a lot of people and we observe a lot of things. You know, you can learn a lot of things if you just keep your eyes and ears open. And I've had a lot of women come to me, and I've got to close, I've gone too far. I've had a lot of sisters come to me, says, Oh, brother, I wish you'd pray for my husband. And sometimes I've been tempted to say, Sister, if I had to live with you, I wish somebody would pray for me.
That's right. Listen, there's absolutely nothing in the world that can beat love. And there's many a man that's never been one that has a Christian wife and the biggest hindrance to his being one was the inconsistencies in his wife's Christian life. Shall we pray? Our Father and our God, we thank you for the Lord Jesus and we thank you for this wonderful book and we do thank you also for the help that you've given us to study your book.
It's so very practical, so very simple, so down to earth, so filled with reality. Now we pray that you'll give us a love for your book, so much so that others may take knowledge that we've been with Jesus because of what it has done to our lives in Jesus' name. Amen.