0:00 [music] >> So, uh today's story is about a man named Paget Wilkes. And I'll show you a little picture of Paget Wilkes. Uh Paget Wilkes was the second son of 0:23 Reverend Alphaeus Wilkes of Wilt Whitton near Ipswich. He was born on January 19th, 1871. His mother died when her four children were quite young. Uh Paget at 15 years of age was described as being easily irritable and 0:42 angry. So, if you're 15 years old and like that, don't be discouraged. There's hope. But he was still very lovable. Or any other age, even 50 years old and irritable and angry, but still very lovable. However, he did not inherit a God-fearing nature 1:00 from his parents in the same way that no one can. When he met a young woman who was enthusiastic about the joys of a life lived for Jesus Christ, he grumbled, "If ever I become a Christian, I'm certainly going to keep quiet about it." 1:15 His conversion happened very simply. He was invited along with a group of friends to hear the godly F. B. Meyer preach and surprised the others by agreeing to go. The message was on the work of the Holy Spirit in the heart of a sinner. 1:31 At the end, an invitation was given that anyone who wanted the Holy Spirit to begin his work within should, as the congregation sang the hymn, "We take the Holy Spirit now," change the we into I and sing, "I take the Holy Spirit now," 1:49 to make it personal. Paget did this, and he knew at once that he was born of God. His family and others saw the transformation immediately. His jealous and quarrelsome nature was gone. His desires, too, were changed, and he 2:05 soon found himself at a Christian conference where the speakers were some of the most spiritual men of his day. The messages were focused on the possibility of victory over sin through the cross of Jesus Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. 2:21 When the call was given to come forward for prayer, young Paget went forward. God was in the process of fashioning a saint, and that began in Paget's heart with a hunger for God himself planted by the Holy Spirit. At Oxford, Wilkies never failed to take 2:40 a stand for God. This is a very encouraging testimony for you young young people, young children as well. He was eager for everyone to know whose he was, that is, that he belonged to Jesus. So, he went to a shop and purchased 2:54 paper, black ink, poster brush, and tacks. And returning to his dorm room with these supplies, he hung scripture texts on the walls. That night, his roommates were astonished at his bold declaration of personal faith. Can you imagine coming back one evening 3:12 and all of a sudden your room is transformed because one of your roommates got converted and became a disciple of Jesus Christ. That's exactly what happened, and he was a bold witness, unashamed to stand for Jesus. Many years before, John Wesley had 3:28 formed the Holy Club at the same university, and Wilkies, likewise, soon found a few like-minded young men who wanted to be all out for God. A photo of a group of them has this scripture motto written under it. According to the way which they call a 3:44 sect, so worship I God. That's from Acts 24:14. According to the way, remember Paul said this people are called a sect, they're called weirdos or radical or too zealous. And he says, "According to that way, I worship God." 4:03 He was unashamed to be identified with those radical people. This courageous stand was necessary because of the persistent opposition to their public stand for the misunderstood doctrine of full sanctification by faith, which 4:18 Wesley had taught. See, Wesley taught, as we also teach, that it is possible to be fully saved from all sin, to come to victory over all sin. That's God's plan for us in this life. That we increasingly come to victory over sin. 4:33 But a lot of people don't believe it and will in fact even oppose it. And so was Paget Wilkes and John Wesley. His spiritual life was strengthened by public witness as he took part in open-air services. At the Martyrs' Memorial Monument where 4:51 the men godly men Ridley, Latimer, Cranmer, and others had died for their faith, Wilkes would preach the gospel message often, even while facing mocking and jeering. The opposition wasn't just in public places. Fellow students raided his room, 5:06 smashing dishes and burning his papers. They even left a handwritten warning, which sounds like a page from the Book of Acts. "Do not preach anymore." Signed, Lincoln College. Paget's reaction was similar to that of the apostles. He said, "I am so glad 5:24 that the dear Lord considers me worthy to go through this little inconvenience and that the devil thinks it worth his time to worry about me." Isn't that a good testimony? If the devil brings hardship in your way, if people make fun of you, 5:38 uh Paget took it the right way. He said, "Wow, the devil uh is considers it worthy of his time to worry about me." It's a great testimony as a Christian if the devil is bothered about you. That means he knows that you're a threat to 5:53 his kingdom. But Paget went on to say, "I can sympathize with my fellow students because 3 years ago I would have been much the same as them." A fellow Christian asked him, "Hey Paget, do you tackle everyone who comes to your room about his soul?" 6:08 "Yes, if he comes alone, not if he is with someone else. Then I don't want to embarrass him." Do you think that is wise? The the friend asked. And this was a Christian friend asking him. And in the reply, Wilkes read from John Wesley's 6:21 journal, in which Wesley had mentioned how he had tried being silent in witness one day when he was traveling somewhere. The sad result was that nothing had been accomplished for the salvation of souls and the Lord had rebuked Wesley. 6:36 So Paget continued, "If I believe a friend of mine is going to hell, I feel I have to warn him." One who knew him tells that if an extra large crowd gathered around the martyrs' memorial, it was usually a sign that Paget was the speaker cuz he spoke with 6:50 such passion. At one of the Christian camps held for public school boys by the Oxford undergraduates one evening, he read the following passages of scripture consecutively. "Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?" And do you 7:08 remember where that story's from? Yes, yeah. I think you got it right. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Daniel 3. "They answered and said unto the king, 'True, O king.'" "He answered and said, 'Lo, I see four men loose walking in the midst of the 7:25 fire and they have no hurt and the aspect of the fourth is like the son of God.'" Without comment, he read on. But the boat from a different passage. "But the boat was now in the midst of the sea distressed by the waves. 7:41 But straightway Jesus spake unto them saying, "Be of good cheer. It is I. Be not afraid." You remember that story? I think in Matthew 8 and elsewhere. And still without comment he read from another place, "Where they crucified him 7:56 and with him two others on either side one and Jesus in the midst." And then very quietly he added, "In fire, in storm, in death, Jesus in the midst." In 1897, Patrick married Gertrude Barthrope of Kingswood, whom he had met 8:16 at a conference in Manchester. Passing years proved the union to be God's choice for both of them. And later, the birth of a son Hamilton added much to their happiness. On one anniversary, as he looked back over many years together, he wrote, 8:31 "23 years ago we were married. Few have experienced so much happiness and so little of sorrow as we have. How good is God to those who seek first his kingdom and his righteousness." Remember this, children, especially. How good is 8:46 God to those who seek first his kingdom and his righteousness. He graduated from Oxford the same year that he got married. Wilkes was convinced that he was to become a foreign missionary, but the burning question to him was where. 9:02 The fascinating way in which his heavenly father led him in this decision is recorded in his own words. He wrote, "Almost a week after my conversion on March 10th, 1892, I realized God's call to the mission field. I was anxious in my ignorance 9:22 to begin immediately and seek training under Reverend Barclay F. Buxton, who was a missionary in Japan. I had read his little booklets on holiness. My father, however, was wise and guided me in a different direction and sent me 9:38 to university. I accepted God's closing the door on Japan and became interested in Africa as a mission field. Once I finished my degree, I applied to a missionary society in the hope of being accepted and sent there. But this wasn't to be. They rejected me 9:55 because they heard that I believed in the teachings of John Wesley about complete sanctification by faith. But God was still leading him and moving through all these rejections to guide him into his perfect will. With Africa still on my heart, see it he 10:12 had initially thought he would go to Japan with that man Barclay Buxton, but his father had said, "No, you must go to college first." And so he thought, "Well, maybe not Japan." So then he thought it would be Africa. And that's why he wrote 10:27 uh With Africa still on my heart, I visited the secretary of another society which was doing mission work in that continent who was also an old personal friend of mine. He assured me that if I made a clear commitment and wrote a letter, the 10:40 society would accept me. I asked for a week to decide and prayed for sure guidance. And this guidance came to me in an unexpected way. On the sixth day of that week period, as I was writing a formal letter to the committee saying that I 10:55 would like to go to Africa, out of the blue I received an invitation from Reverend Barclay Buxton to join him in Japan. How amazingly God gives us the desires of our heart when we truly seek his will. Another good line to remember. How 11:09 amazingly God gives us the desires of our heart when we truly seek his will. At the very time when Mr. Wilkes was seeking for God's will, Mr. Buxton had realized that he needed a partner to partner with someone somewhere who had 11:24 the same spiritual mind as himself if the work in Japan was to produce wholehearted disciples. It was clear to him that if he joined with the wrong type of helpers, the resulting spiritual children would not be definite born-again Christians. 11:42 God provided Mr. Buxton with time to pray for this in an unusual way. He had been preaching on some islands in Japan and was planning to return, but the small ship could not go through the storms that had come up, so it harbored 11:55 in a bay for 2 weeks. After all the food was gone and all the books had been read, he was forced to turn to uninterrupted fasting and prayer. I mean, there's not what better way to be forced to fast and pray than the food 12:10 runs out on the ship. He wrote, "It seemed that God had called me to pray. The burden on my heart was to have a companion missionary, and the promise that I read was Exodus 31:6, a most unusual passage by which God guides us, in that it writes that 12:27 Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, was given to Bezalel for the work of the tabernacle, and that these two were filled with the wisdom to make all that God had commanded. So, day by day, I diligently read my Bible in prayer that God would give me 12:44 such a partner. I also read in Ephesians 4:9 and 11 that such workers were the special ascension gifts of our Lord, and therefore I could confidently expect and pray for such a gift. There was no doubt that God was the one 13:03 who had called Paget, and a month after their marriage, he and his wife set out for Japan. When they arrived in that needy land, they found themselves in the midst of a work for God. Mr. Buxton was frequently invited to 13:17 speak on the infilling of the Holy Spirit to missionaries and students who were hungry for a deeper experience of grace. Wilkes was deeply impressed and affected by the prayer life of many of the Japanese Christians. Some had given up high honors and 13:34 profitable jobs in order to spread the gospel, and no sacrifice was too great for them to see God moving and souls being reached and saved. Such a spirit of prayer would come upon them that they would spend whole nights 13:49 up in the mountains. He wrote home this stirring appeal, "Oh, Christians at home, come and see. Come and see. Come and see. Let us go on our knees in shame. Jesus wept. He that goes forth and weeps." Then he wrote this little 14:08 sonnet, "Weep. Weep. Why not? If but thy tears be scattered for another's pain. For Jesus wept eternal rain that yieldeth fruit through endless years." He that cometh to God must believe that he is, 14:27 not has been or will be, but that he is. How often the devil says, "Yes, the blessing will come. It'll come tomorrow or when you take up a new work or go to a new place or if you are among some other people." But our God is a God of today. And if I 14:45 don't prove him today and get a blessing today, I'm pretty sure I won't get one tomorrow. See, that's what the devil wants us to think that we can change something or God wants us to wait till something else happens or tomorrow or next month or 14:58 next year. But God is a God of today. And like he said, "If I don't prove him today and get a blessing today, I am pretty sure I won't get one tomorrow." Let us remember that these souls out here as everywhere are surrounded by 15:13 wicked spirits in heavenly places. And so our fight and your fight is the same. Prayer. A thought that has been a great blessing lately is 2 Timothy 2:25 and 26, where we are told to instruct with all meekness the unsaved and 15:33 backsliders. And yes, even cold Christians for that matter. That is to say, when we meet some exceptionally difficult, irritating, and hopelessly conceited soul, how easy it it is to see the person and treat treat him based on all his sin and 15:49 foolishness. But the Lord asks us to put it down to the devil, to his trap and his captivity. The person must be pitied as one who is a captive, one who is in chains. See, we come across people who are maybe sinful people in the world or 16:05 people who are backslidden or um not on not wholehearted, and we can easily think it's their fault. We don't realize that they're captives. The devil has them in chains. And so we must see it that way. If we lay hold of this by the spirit of God 16:20 and look beyond the sinner himself and see all the hideous power of evil and Satan taking the person captive at his will, it will be easy to love with compassion as the Lord loves us and still loves them. We poor sinners must simply discern the 16:38 spirits of evil and war against them by faith and prayer and love, seeking the deliverance of those poor souls from the captivity which they may be ignorant of. Badger was also challenged by Mr. Buxton's prayer life, his emphasis on 16:54 holiness, and his Bible studies for students. He described Mr. Buxton as both wonderful and terrible at the same time. We see this in that while he had, from the time of his conversion, believed in and taught a deeper work of 17:09 God in the soul, despite much opposition, his heart was not completely satisfied. He writes about a time when they had gathered for a week of prayer. Mr. Buxton, and this is what he writes, Mr. Buxton was present, but he let Mr. 17:23 Mitani, who was a Japanese convert, lead the meeting. God's power came down indeed, and from 9:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. without the slightest break, we prayed. Everyone was searched and humbled before God. What followed was days of blessing. 17:42 Often we were up until 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning. The blessing was most often seen in the country districts, but the churches as a whole were wonderfully awakened. Words cannot describe all that this time of blessing meant to me, and what a 17:57 blessing it was to sit at my interpreter's feet and learn of God. Mr. Wilkes discovered that there was a divine secret behind this wonderful time of outpouring. His interpreter, listen to the secret to why those meetings were so blessed by 18:13 God. His interpreter, together with a few other Japanese believers, had been spending much time in prayer beforehand. Spending many half nights of prayer on the mountain. And on the evening just before that particular prayer meeting, they had 18:28 waited upon God until 3:30 in the morning. Mr. Wilkes experienced deep heart searchings during the following days and weeks. He saw in the others the complete absence of self-esteem, self-concern, and self-indulgence. And he observed the presence of the love 18:46 of God. And this revealed his own need. The climax came in September 1901, when the Holy Spirit descended upon a gathering of missionaries and local believers. One night, when only Japanese Christians were present, one of them spoke 19:01 powerfully on God's provision for victory through faith in Jesus. Mr. Wilkes, sitting there, was strongly convicted of his lack. And what followed was a fierce struggle, especially with pride. He knew that he must publicly declare 19:18 his need of divine cleansing and infilling. But what would the young Japanese think of him, their teacher, if he confessed that? Then the Holy Spirit asked him, "Are you better than they?" No, he was worse, for he had been given 19:33 much more gospel light than they had. So then and there the missionary, who had spent 4 years on the field, acknowledged his condition in front of everybody. And God filled him with his spirit, turning fury into experience, as 19:50 Wilkie's described it. It was shortly after that that he composed this wonderful hymn, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. Here are the words to that. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, sweetest name on earth. See, as even as I read these words, that's the one thing I one of the 20:05 things I also see about men and women when they are genuinely filled with the Holy Spirit, all of a sudden Jesus, the person, becomes very precious to them. Before that they can talk about theories and doctrines and have all the Christian 20:19 language, but once they're filled with the Holy Spirit, they get excited about Jesus, the person. And that's what we must long for. Dear family, if the person of Jesus Christ is not precious to you and Christianity is somehow something 20:33 you're doing or some way of life or doctrine or new covenant this and some other teaching, but Jesus the person is not precious to you, then what we need is a fresh outpouring and infilling of the Holy Spirit. Look at the words he 20:46 wrote prompt spontaneously when he was filled with the Holy Spirit. He writes, "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, sweetest name on earth. How can I, a sinner, come to know its worth? Oh, the sinful sorrow, oh, the strangest shame that I saw no beauty in that 21:05 sacred name. Never felt the sweetness, never knew the grace, never saw the love pain in that wounded face. Never found the mystery in that simple word, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, savior, lover, Lord. Now, 'tis past and 21:24 over, gone my guilt and shame. Jesus, Jesus did it. Glory to his name. Wonderful compassion reaching even me bows my humbled spirit in captivity. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, love me in my 21:41 shame. Oh, the joy and rapture of that sacred name. From that time, his focus was full salvation. He lived it, talked it, wrote it, and preached it. Anyone today who talked to those who were blessed by his in ministry will 21:58 surely wish they could have known such a man of God personally. But even though he was so spiritually fruitful and useful, few men have been more self-effacing. One who knew him well said, Patrick Wilkes would often say that he 22:13 was a cumberer of the ground. I had to look up what that phrase meant. Cumberer of the ground meaning somebody who's has no worth. I mean, he's like the dirt. Useless almost. Having no worth in himself. And he really meant it. 22:32 He returned to England in 1908 still burdened about the future of the work in Japan. He told his wife, "You know, Gertrude, I don't feel we can go back to Matsue, which was his Japanese island home, now that Barclay Buxton has come home 22:47 with his family. There will be a new leader, and we may not have freedom to preach the message of complete salvation. And that is what Japan needs. Focusing on educational and institutional work will never bring salvation to the people. 23:03 God didn't say, "Whoever shall study Christianity for 2 years shall be saved." But he said, "Whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." I believe the only answer to liberal theology and rationalistic criticism, 23:19 listen to this carefully, because that's what we face in the world even today. I believe the only answer to liberal theology and rationalistic criticism is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. And may God use us to bring it about. 23:34 He wrote to a friend in England on the same subject. We cannot see our future. In fact, we do not want to until God shows us. It seems unlikely that we will return to Matsue district under the new leader there because of the difficulties in the 23:47 way. Pray that we may follow the Holy Spirit as he wishes to lead us and not be tied down with preconceived ideas or customs of men. How glorious it is that we can present to a soul convicted of sin and instantaneous and immediate salvation. 24:06 Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Through a supernatural chain of circumstances and by obedience to the heavenly vision on the part of Barclay Buxton and Paget Wilkes, the Japanese evangelistic band came into being. 24:22 Remember last time we heard about the Africa evangelistic band. So, this was similar in Japan. As he looked around and God took Paget Wilkes back to Japan. As he looked around at the little group who formed the council of the new 24:35 mission with Mr. Buxton as chairman, Paget thought, "Those whom you have given me." That's what Jesus said. "Those whom you have given me." Said in John 18, I think it's verse 9. Men and women full of the Holy Spirit are far 24:52 more important to the work of God than money or genius. "Those whom you have given me, men and women full of the Holy Spirit, are far more important and valuable to the work of God than money or intelligence, genius, any of that. Nothing could have 25:09 given me greater confidence about being in the will of God. In other words, he looked around at the people whom God had called to him to work with, and he didn't see a bunch of intelligent people or a bunch of rich people, he saw men 25:20 and women, perhaps children, too, full of the Holy Spirit. When he returned to Japan, Mr. Wilkes felt that prevailing prayer was the prime secret to the working of the Holy Spirit. This is what he wrote about that. Here in Japan, there is a terrible 25:34 sense of the presence of the evil one, and nothing but prayer can conquer it. There is a specific point at which the puny soul of man can touch the heart and hand of God. That point can be reached by the individual who has the courage 25:50 and patience and faith to plead with God, and this always means conflict. It means warfare. The country is ripe for harvest, but it is only laborers who will reap. The half-hearted and unbelievers may organize, teach, and preach, but unless 26:07 there is the labor of prayer, willingness to have the heart moved with compassion, and constant study of how best to apply truth to the heart of a heathen, there will be no reaping. And he writes this little poem. Oh, sacred task, what honor great is this? 26:25 Too great to comprehend that he should need my heart to beat in unison with his, my stammering tongue with his to intercede. Back at home in England, a woman, and this is how we saw this in past stories as well, that there were the laborers in 26:41 the mission field out there doing the work, and behind the scenes there were people praying. See, even in our church, the Lord calls a few to maybe labor in a in a public, visible way with preaching or teaching or whatever, but he needs 26:55 those who will take up the battle and and pray constantly behind the scenes. That happened in the mission field, that will happen in every living thriving church. A woman felt burdened. Often it is women who the Lord calls and they pray in 27:10 secret. May have been a a housewife or a mother with children or a widow or somebody else, whatever their calling. She who was she felt burdened to gather together a band of prayer supporters. And she was so moved upon by the Holy 27:23 Spirit that night and day she carried a burden for the Japanese with the words, "Lord, bring me into touch with others upon whose hearts you can lay Japan." And I think, family, that in eternity you'll see that the work of God was 27:38 often furthered and expanded by men and women and children who prayed in secret, never leaving their hometown perhaps, but because they took up the the mission. For some years Mr. Wilkie, assisted by Mr. Mitani, published a 27:53 mission paper in order to spread the message of full salvation. It focused on salvation, sanctification, and the second coming of Christ. After 6 months it had reached a circulation of 8,000 copies and many wrote about the blessings they had 28:08 received through it. One of the lessons Paget learned through a life of knowing God was that it was essential to blend an uncompromising spirit of truth with a compassionate love for all men. This is very important. Please listen carefully. It's 28:25 it is essential to mix or to blend an uncompromising spirit of truth with a compassionate love for all men. You can't have one. You can't have that uncompromising spirit of truth alone, and you can't have just a compassionate 28:41 love for people. You must blend the two. When the Japanese government tried to revive ancestor worship and discourage Christianity, an ecumenical group of Shinto, Buddhist, and Christian leaders gathered to discuss it. Wilkes, however, strongly condemned it. 28:58 Like Jesus, he could be strict as well as loving. And here's what he wrote. We have unfortunately gone far from the Christianity of the first century early apostles. Imagine the mayor and corporation of Ephesus calling a 29:12 conference of religion and inviting Alexander the Jew and Demetrius the silversmith and Paul the apostle to have a friendly conference regarding the best method of producing religious feeling and good morality among the people. Can 29:26 you even imagine Paul accepting such an invitation? But of course, those days of standing for conviction are long gone. Oh, for a breath of heaven that will scatter these despicable compromises. May we at last be faithful to our God. 29:43 Another valuable principle that Mr. Wilkes learned was that it takes a minimum of truth to lead a sinner to a saving knowledge of Christ. Therefore, his dealing with seekers was simple and faith-inspired, producing immediate divine results in 29:59 changing hearts as opposed to mere mental agreement from them about the truth of scripture. What he's saying here is what we're reading here is that he realized that it just takes a little bit of faith and truth, the real truth. 30:13 Not a bunch of mental arguments and and arguing about this and arguing about that. If you preach the real truth and you seek to seek to inspire faith in them, then it'll produce real results and hearts will be changed. Otherwise, 30:28 you'll get a bunch of people that simply agree mentally and not don't have their hearts changed. After years of labor and observation, he also learned the need to work among the everyday people rather than the educated few. He wrote, "The 30:44 psychological moment for reaching Japan was lost, should I say forever, because the common people were not evangelized. In other words, many missionaries went and just preached to those who could say understand English or were intellectual 30:57 or educated. Missionaries have tended to glorify intellectual ability. The policy of seeking the intellectual and educated classes of society with an adapted message has been popular but disastrous to the work of God. But I don't think 31:13 all is lost yet as long as we give up this empty focus and give our time and attention to the poor common people. Professors and other high officials in state, university, and society, they make respectable figureheads for 31:28 committees and religious institutions, but with a few exceptions, they are lukewarm Christians and poor evangelists. Their faith is not infectious and never will be. It is too dignified." What a What a challenge for us. 31:44 Their faith, because they're they're dignified people, they're respectable, they're educated, they're intellectual, their faith is not infectious. Often faith is infectious by poor simple people. They have too many more important 32:00 matters that occupy their minds than the things of eternity. They have too many more important matters that occupy their minds than the things of eternity. If that is true about any group of people that Yeah, they meet for meetings 32:17 and prayer meetings, Bible studies, and all that, but they've got other more important matters that occupy their mind, God can't use such people. The poor common man, he goes on to write, "On the other hand, if he becomes 32:27 a believer, it is life and everything to him. He spreads it and seeks to bring others into liberty and joy. It has been, is, and ever will be true that m- that m- not many mighty or wise or great are called. I believe that so much of 32:46 the modern missionary work in Japan and elsewhere seems to ignore that some solemn warning. When the high and great and mighty will not humble themselves to accept the old-fashioned old-fashioned gospel as a child, sadly, their teachers will clip, 33:02 compress, and squeeze the gospel into all sorts of shapes and sizes until it appears acceptable to their eyes. I think we see that going on in this country as well. That what's unacceptable to everybody, the raw gospel, is changed and clipped 33:18 and shortened and made exciting and acceptable, but the power of God is not in it. Another secret to their blessing was the way in which the Japanese Evangelistic Band meetings were conducted. Mr. Milk Wilkes wrote, "I think I'm right in 33:32 saying that we are the only missionary society in this country that conducts its conferences the way we do." And perhaps that's true about us as well, that the kind of the way we have our meetings or conferences, we're the 33:44 only ones doing it that way. And we don't have to look around at others and say, "We're doing it differently from them." and change it. This was true about the Japanese Evangelistic Band. He writes, "In our meetings, we focus on scriptural 33:57 holiness and spend less time talking about the logistics of foreign missions. We have always found that the way to secure permanent, practical, and devoted interest in God's foreign mission work is to first ensure that souls are 34:12 brought into a real experience of holiness. In other words, in- instead of just doing a bunch of evangelistic calls and saying, 'Give us your money, go out in the mission field, do missionary work, support me because I'm going to 34:23 doing this.' We must make them come into an experience of real holiness. And then, that passion will come from inside them. Mr. Werner was someone back in England who was associated with the Japanese Evangelistic Band for some years. He 34:38 wrote about Paget Wilkes' view on being delivered from the sin of the heart. Just as it was said of Henry Moorhouse that he preached the love of God from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22, so Paget Wilkes preached from Genesis to 34:55 Revelation about complete salvation from the inner heart of unbelief through faith in the power of Christ. What is he saying there? That from everything that he preached from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22, Paget Wilkes always said 35:12 that this what the Bible is showing us is that you can be saved completely by an inner heart saved completely from an inner heart of unbelief through faith in the power of Christ. His great theme was that while a Christian might be conscious of any 35:27 number of sins that he is defeated by in his life, he must realize that unbelief is a sin and in fact the greatest sin that a person can commit. But he can never realize this until convicted of it by the Holy Spirit. Until he is convicted by the Holy 35:43 Spirit, he will only think of unbelief as a small weakness. Is that true? Perhaps true of us that we think, "Well, I don't have enough faith." And I just shrug my shoulders at it. "Oh, I wish I had that person's faith." And we do nothing about it. 35:57 Paget was convinced and that was what dominated the theme of his messages was that unbelief is the greatest sin. Until the Holy Spirit shows us that unbelief is more than just a small weakness, it's the greatest sin. But he can only see it, he says, as a 36:13 deadly sin when the Holy Spirit reveals it. Sometimes our heavenly father has to break the hearts of his servants in order to release the greatest blessing and fruitfulness and Paget Wilkes was was exception. In 1923, did you catch what I just said? What 36:29 what I just read? Sometimes our heavenly Father has to break our hearts in order to release the greatest blessing and fruitfulness. If you want to be fruitful and and really receive God's greatest blessing, the time will come where he'll have to 36:46 break something. Break your heart perhaps. And Paget Wilkes experienced that. In 1923, he faced heartbreaking sorrows that pierced his soul. Problems, misunderstandings. Many of his beloved and valued co-workers resigned and left 37:01 the work. All seemed to come in at the same time like a flood. He wrote, "In all the years of my missionary life, I have never found so many perplexities and difficulties and sorrows and disappointments as have happened to me in the past 6 months. 37:18 Only the master and I know how needed they were to keep me humble." Isn't that beautiful that he saw, "Lord, you needed to keep me humble. That's why you allowed me to go through this." In 1925, God led him to step down as 37:32 field director, but to continue his work elsewhere. He traveled to China, Canada, the United States, South Africa, Switzerland, and Great Britain proclaiming the message that was dear to his heart, complete salvation from all sin through faith. 37:48 Whether at conferences, house meetings like this, or in private conversations, he spoke boldly on it to people of all ages and ranks. Truly, he reflected Christ in word and action. Once a brother tried to start an argument argument with him after he had 38:05 preached the message of victory over sin in a meeting. Wilkes gently put his hand on his shoulder and replied, "My dear brother, this is too sacred a thing for me to argue about. I never argue, but if you wish to enter into this life, I will 38:19 gladly tell you the way." Isn't that a wonderful way? I was convicted by that. The real message of holiness and becoming like Jesus is too sacred a thing to argue with people about. We can argue about what's the best football team or who's going to win the 38:34 World Cup, but holiness, that's not something we can argue about. We can let it shine through our hearts. Let's not let the holiness of God and his calling over our lives descend into petty arguments over doctrine. >> [clears throat] 38:49 >> It's a wonderful testimony. Wilkie's leave a rich heritage, especially the dynamic series. Dynamic of redemption, dynamic of service, dynamic of faith, and dynamic of life. Another book well worth reading is the book Missionary Joys in Japan. The title 39:06 itself reflects the radiant spirit of the man who considered it the highest privilege to labor and endure for his master in that needy land. During his last illness in 1934, listen to this. He was really sick and in the hospital. 39:23 His biggest concern was that the nurse who was caring for him should come to know the joy of salvation. This Japanese nurse who was caring for him, he was his biggest concern laying in that bed was this nurse who's caring 39:35 for me needs to know the Lord. He told her, "Nurse, it will be worth all the expenses and all the suffering and pain and everything else I've gone through to be here if you come to the Lord Jesus. Promise me that you will meet me in 39:48 heaven." And he had the pleasure of seeing her come to faith before he died. He went on to be with the Lord Jesus on October 5th, 1934. Here's some lines from a man named William Hone which sum up Paget Wilkie's life very well. 40:04 The proudest heart that ever beat has been subdued in me. The wildest will that ever rose to scorn thy friends and aid thy foes was quelled, O Lord, by thee. Thy will, Oh Lord, not mine be done. I would be ever thine to sing thy praise 40:22 incarnate word. My savior, my Christ, my God, my Lord. Thy cross shall be my sign. Amen. A wonderful testimony. We've heard Paget Wilkes. I never heard of him till I read this book, so Yeah, may the Lord help us. I think 40:45 we've heard again, like many of these stories it's we're not we're not challenged by what he did. Yes, he did go into a far off country, but he his labor was not doing great miracles and being killed for his faith. He just died of sickness 41:01 at a at a certain age. But what we see in these stories is not men and women who did great things cuz in the eyes of the world or even traveling to a far off country. But we see men and women who were filled with the Holy Spirit. 41:18 And as a result of that, they challenged people to come to a life of greater holiness. Not just to convert people and let get them to say a pray a prayer, but to be wholehearted to come to holiness, increasing holiness. 41:36 And when we emphasize that as it seems like with Paget Wilkes as well, the work won't be a big work. He didn't have big grand crusades where thousands and tens of thousands people came. Often we see that it was in a home or small 41:48 meetings, small conferences. But that emphasis and that persist perseverance in preaching holiness, complete salvation, that's the way we're headed. That is the work that will remain. Amen. >> [music]
