THE EXAMINER
TRANSLATION ALERT 72
The Examiner | Neal Frisby’s Sermon | CD #1278 | 09/06/1989 PM
Amen. Jesus, we love you, tonight. How great thou art! Lord, if everybody loved everybody, we would already be gone! In praying, I said, Lord, there is a delay, Lord—in your timing—the delay is on purpose. The Lord, He just revealed to me—with divine love in you like He said, we would already get out of here. It is delayed because of so much hate and so forth. He is showing us something here. How many of you know it? Amen. The Lord is really great. He will bless you tonight.
Now, listen here: The Examiner. Jesus is the Examiner. He will examine your faith. He will examine your love for Him. He can examine through the sword of the Spirit even to the marrow and the bones. He knows all about you. He is the Examiner. Listen to this: each day, souls are passing into eternity. They are leaving one place. They are going on from here. Just think, you might have had one day, a chance to witness to somebody. You look around and tomorrow, they are gone. They have passed on. You say, “Oh, I had plenty of time. I could have witnessed to them for five years. Just about the time I was getting ready to witness, they gave up the ghost, they are gone!” You see, you have one opportunity. Each one of you has been put here for a purpose. That purpose is to tell someone else about the gospel, witness to somebody else or you wouldn’t be here. This is what He has got you here for, and it will keep you out of problems.
So, Joel 3: 14. It’s a famous old scripture that we have read many, many times. “Multitudes [I mean multitudes, He said] in the valley of decision; for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.” Look at the souls in the valley of decision. If somebody could say something—in the valley of decision, you must work quickly, for that valley of decision will soon be over.
So, the Examiner. Jesus asked for total commitment several times. Boy, did He clear the crowds! The crowds vanished. He knew exactly what to say to get rid of them. Jesus asked for total commitment many times. Yes, Jesus Himself gave a total commitment of more than one hundred percent. He purchased the church, the great pearl, at a hundred percent. He gave it all. He purchased that with everything. He left heaven. He gave His all for the church. One time a young man came to Jesus and said, “Lord, what can I do to inherit eternal life. Jesus told him “only One is good.” That is the Holy Spirit, God. He was in the flesh there, but if you knew who God was, you knew who He was. He, by discernment, knows the heart of everyone. He knew the fellow had quite a bit [possessions], so He said, just sell what you have and take up the cross. Come on, follow me. The bible said he was sad because he had much. But if he had studied the scriptures and followed, he wouldn’t have lost anything, but it would be doubled to him according to the scriptures (Matthew 19: 28 &29).
Then there was another case. They were coming to Jesus from every direction, the Pharisees on one side and the Sadducees on the other side, believers and unbelievers, and all kind. They were coming from every direction to get a hold of Jesus. They were trying to talk Him up and lay snares for Him. They were trying to trap Him, but they couldn’t do it. They only trapped themselves, saith the Lord. So, this lawyer came to Him; you’ll read it all here. Bro. Frisby read Matthew 22: 35-40. The Pharisees sent him to ask this question. Jesus could have said something else to him because of all the commotion. At one time, He told them you can’t see anything because you are blind guides. But this time, He waited. There is a proper time for everything. “Master, which one of the commandment is the greatest,” he said to ensnare him? Jesus told him total commitment, watch! “Jesus said unto him, Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all they mind” (v. 37). See; that guy was backing down there. See; they thought they were going to get Him. That is total commitment. There it is right there.
Listen to what God said, “This is the first and great commandment” (v. 38). A while ago, not thinking about it, I said if everybody loved everybody else, we would be gone. That’s what is delaying it. It will come after all the pruning. He will finally get a group together that He can take out. Brother, it is getting closer. A quick short work, Paul said, will He do at the end of the age. How He will do it is a marvel. It will upset the devil and throw him off. He said this is the first and great commandment. “And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love they neighbor as thyself” (v. 39). Now, if everybody did that, it would be like I said at the beginning there. See; no matter what, you must love your neighbors, friends or whoever they are. You must love them, as that second commandment, as yourself. No time for hate or anything.
“On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (v. 40). It cannot be broken. Now, who has given [shown] the commitment to obey those first two commandments? Don’t say, Amen. I haven’t seen it around here. Which of you have? See; that’s God. Now, total commitment. He is really putting it down here. They asked for it; they got it, every time. This lawyer couldn’t argue. He [the Lord] knew human nature. That’s why He brought a lawyer. He had dealt with every liar, blackmail, every kind of a murder you can think of, the lawyer had probably handled it. Therefore, the [answer to the] question was put to him, and he said that is right. See, you would not have any need for me and there would be no need for people to be put in jail, if they would obey that one commandment. But the human nature of this world, the people on this planet, the unbelievers here, you see, they don’t do it.
Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision. Listen real close and you will get a real blessing out of this here. Jesus said, you better count the cost when you are going to bear the cross. Jesus also said if you are going to war or going to build a tower, sit down and think about what you are going to do. Count the cost when you commit. Now, we are going to talk about commitment here. You know what? Today, Christians, how many hours out of a hundred hours are they committed to God in prayer, in witnessing, in seeking and in loving the Lord God, worshipping the Lord God with all of their hearts? How many hours in a hundred hours are they doing something for the Lord, something that is the work of the Lord or something that the Lord would admire you for? How many Christians are committed to that?
Look at the world; in the world, you have the sportsman in professional football, he gives a hundred percent commitment, and most of them want to, for the pay that they are getting. All out, all out, see; hundred percent. The actor that wants the award, the actor that wants to be the best, he goes all out hundred percent, trying to put it over, many of them do. People on certain jobs get certificates and raises. They go all out, hundred percent commitment; the world does. But how many of the Christians are committing just a little bit to Jesus? So, He stopped here and there to show the [need for] commitment along with all the rest that He was teaching. Sometimes, this is left out, but it’s the way that He wants it and that is the way it is going to be preached. I have seen examples with my own eyes with my children [and other children too]. They spend 8 – 10 hours on a computer, trying to figure it out. How much commitment [to Jesus], may be a little bit of Sunday school here and a little bit there?
How about ministers today? How much commitment? How many hours do they stick it out with God? How much do they pray for the lost and the people that need to be delivered? They have a certain golf date that they have to go over here, see? There might not be anything wrong with some of the things they do, but it is the time that they are wasting instead of spending time with the Lord. They may have a luncheon down here. They have to meet with important people and they’ve got a meeting, more time is lost. How many all over the nation right now are committed to everything else but the Lord?
That commitment must be there. Jesus committed everything, the pearl of great price. He sold out everything for us with His blood. Everything that He could, He did for us with His blood. How many [people] are willing to commit a little bit? So, He said you better sit down and count the cost before you come to that cross. He was just instantaneous in His heart and mind [about] what had to be done. He counted it [the cost] and He did it. Can you say, amen? It wasn’t something that He stumbled into and said, “Oh my, I have woken up in human flesh. I have woken up as the Messiah here, now I have to do this.” No, no. You see, it’s all past vision for Him. He had to suffer, though. So, we see all these commitments—movies, sports, actors and people giving a hundred percent for this and a hundred percent for that. How pleasing is all that in God’s eyes?
I am going to tell you this story about a little boy. These parents had a little boy, the first little boy that they had. The little boy showed quite a bit of talent. So, they got him a violin. The little boy played the violin and it looked like he was getting good at it. The parents said, “We must do something about this. Let’s see if we can get somebody that can teach him.” So, they got the best. He had retired, but he was the best maestro. They called him, the master. He said, “let me hear your son play and I will tell you whether I will.” He finally said I will. The child had talent, so he would take him to a certain point. The boy at 8 years old, practiced for 10 long years with the master, the best there was.
The day came that he was opening up like in Carnegie Hall, a large place, to play the violin. He came up on the stage; the minute and the hour had arrived. The building was packed—the word had gone around that he could play the violin. Some even thought that he could be a genius. He went on stage and they dimmed the lights. You could feel the electric in the air. He got on the violin and he played that violin. At the end of the violin playing, they stood up and gave him an applause a great standing ovation. He came running back there to the stage manager and he was crying. The stage manager said, “What are you crying for? The whole world is behind you out there. Everybody loves you.” So, the stage manager ran out there and looked around. But the young boy had told him before, he said, “Yes, but there is one of them that is not applauding.” Well, he [stage manager] said, one of them? He went out there and he said, “Yes, I saw it. There is one old man there. He is not applauding.” The young boy said, “You don’t understand.” He said, “That’s my master. That’s my teacher. I didn’t please him like I should. I know it too, but the people don’t.”
So, today, who are you pleasing? You may please the public. You may please some of your friends. You may please many people where you are. But how about the Master? Where is the commitment? Even the boy had commitment to that, but he didn’t pass the test. He knew certain places he himself could have been better, but the crowd couldn’t catch it, see? But the master did. Later, he must have told him he did good probably, but he told him that’s not good enough if you are going to make a living out of it, son. There is the story.
Today, it is the same way. You know, the Holy Spirit looked down, God looked down and said, “this is my beloved Son, hear Him well” because He said, “I am well pleased in Him.” Well pleased—that’s the Spirit talking back…. Now, where is your commitment? Who are you pleasing? Oh, multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision. Jesus told two parables. One was about the sheep. The other was about the lost coin…. A shepherd leaves ninety-nine sheep in the wilderness in order to find one sheep that has strayed. A woman loses a coin and tries to find it with a lamp. She sweeps her entire house; it’s so important until she finds the coin. Both the shepherd and the woman threw parties to celebrate–not the kind of parties they throw in the world–but the celebration of the spirit; the fact that that which was lost was now found.
God is like that. Jesus tells us that there is rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents, over one lost person who is found. What wonderful good news that is! Oh, for that one, a commitment, the woman would not give up till she found that coin. That shepherd would not give up till he found that sheep. Boy that commitment was there for the lost. You see, there are people that are lost. They need something. There are people that are suffering on drugs. They are in pain, in sickness or they are confused mentally. They are lost, it’s terrible. These are lost souls. Those lost souls must be reached. You must never forget the love and the compassion for a soul…. There are people that are lost. Multitudes, multitudes in valley of decision. If you love the Lord God with all of your heart, all your mind and all your soul; now, all this people, human beings in the world who are lost, what does Jesus care about them? He, evidently, cares very much. It says here, God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son. He did better than that; He came Himself. He said, I am the Root and the Offspring. Are you with me? In Isaiah, in the bible and in the book of Revelation, the Pillar of Fire, the Bright and the Morning Star. I am the Cloud, Amen.
He did better than that; He wrapped Himself in the Messiah, here He comes. Isaiah said, “Oh, who shall believe such a report like this? The Everlasting Father! Who shall believe us if we gave a report like this, he said?” What a dramatic, dynamic thing for God to do, Isaiah said! He so loved them, he gave everything that He had and purchased the church. More than a hundred percent commitment and more commitment than human beings would give. But He pleased me, the Holy Spirit said. Yes sir, that’s there for our admonition. That’s there for our example. The lost people will be found by people who care as Jesus cares.
Now, here is the ultimate test of our Christian commitment: it is not really our attendance and our worship, which is very important as it is. It is not how often we read the bible for we read it often. The ultimate test of our faith is how much we care for a soul and a lost world. There is where it hangs for the law and the prophets. If you have love like you are supposed to have, you will visit the lost, you will save the lost. Attendance? Oh, people got to church a thousand times. They read the bible a thousand times. They can do all these things, but the ultimate test…the Examiner is the name of it [the message]. He told me to put it at the top [the heading].
You know, Paul said examine your faith; see what is wrong. Jesus, the Examiner—He is better than any medical doctor or psychiatrist. He can examine how much your commitment is and how much you love Him. Why? It says that sword is sharp like a two-edged sword that will cut down to the marrow. How can you escape Him not knowing what you really believe in your heart and how you believe Him? So, what is it? The final test is, how much do you care for a lost soul? He that saves his life shall lose it. Jesus says that there is no greater love than that a man should give His own life up. How many of you know what the bible said about compassion? Remember, love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy mind, with all thy soul and with thy body. He said love your neighbor as yourself, for all the law and the prophets hang on these two [commandments]. You don’t have to go any further. That would get the job done.
Now, listen to this right here: some people even in the church or across the land, they don’t care about the lost. They want to see everybody get what they deserve. Some preacher in trouble? People across the nation say, “I guess he got what he deserved.” Something happens to somebody out there? They got what they deserved. Someone gets mad at someone in church? He gets what he deserves. Where is the compassion, saith the Lord? “I could have turned to everyone of them and say, you are going to get what you deserve.” But He has a time and a place for that in the scriptures. Gets what he deserves? You know, that is the old human nature. It can rise up like that. But you know what? If you are committed beyond that little boy with the violin, you get right down. Remember that he practiced for 10 years, but I tell you what, the final test is what you think about that lost world out there. Those that God is going to take care of, He will bring them out of there.
They get what they deserve, see? Sometimes, maybe, they do deserve it. There are probably many people that do, but [how] do you know that [if] the Lord is not dealing in their hearts and wants them to come on home to get with Him? He is dealing with the nation. He is dealing with groups of people. He is dealing. God is dealing. We are talking about the lost. Forget about the others; your friends and others, and who you think deserves this or that, we are dealing with the lost. We shouldn’t be that way. You shouldn’t say, “Well, he deserves what [he gets]. We don’t know if they are not going to become a Christian. We have to have compassion for some of those as God directs it. Can you say, Amen?
[Bro. Frisby talked about a new game show where the players’ main goal is to send the criminals assigned to them to the electric chair and electrocute them. The manufacturer said that the game was a way to allow citizens who are frustrated by violent crimes to punish the criminals vicariously]. See; it is in the human nature to get even. Where is the compassion? Where did it go? What a game! Put them in there and electrocute them! You know what? If you have compassion for a lost soul, you might keep him out of the electric chair. I know a few cases that had not God saved the people, they would have gone to prison for life or to the electric chair, but by God’s grace, satan couldn’t do it. You may be saving somebody from a terrible thing by having compassion upon them.
See; set the captives free by telling them that they are free indeed. Set the captives free. All you have to do is believe the gospel, you can walk out. I don’t care how much you think you are serving [time in captivity/prison] or how much you think you have lost, you are free. Jesus has set you free. Come on out of there! You are free indeed. Whosoever Jesus sets free is free indeed. How many of you believe that tonight? In the valley of decision, souls are going this way and that way.
Tonight, who are you pleasing? Who are you committed to? Don’t let the devil’s little gimmicks turn you against one another. That’s what he has done since the age of time. The disciples turned against one another and all through the church ages, one church against another. See; that’s satan trying to divide the power that God has given us. It’s as easy as that. The Examiner—as the Lord liveth, God is my God, the Savior—He told me to take notes and bring it out like this. This is what we need, for the end of the age is closing in swiftly. It’s closing in faster than most people think. All of a sudden, we are gone! Then to whom shall you testify? Now is the hour. Now is the time.
Remember the love—divine love—the law and the prophets hang on those two things [love the Lord and love your neighbor as yourself] that Jesus spoke about. Total commitment: He came, and He practiced it. He made a total commitment for our deliverance and tonight we are free indeed. To say you are not free is to call God a liar. You are free, but you don’t want to be set loose. It’s like a person trying to hand you a key, the Word of God, and you won’t use it. This whole planet is free indeed, but they will not come out into the realm of Jesus…. What an hour in the highways and hedges and everywhere! What an hour to win the lost!
I pray with all my heart in all my prayers. I don’t know how many requests I have prayed over. People are asking for a deeper walk with God. They ask [me] to pray for their husband or their family. They ask me to pray for conditions of sickness, and some of the people ask me to pray, pray for souls. This is the hour to pray for the people that are lost. The hour that God needs this more in history is now!
Do you know the disciples thought that they were giving a commitment to God. Yet, in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus gave a hundred percent till blood broke out upon His face. He sweated. He said, “Can’t you commit yourselves one hour to prayer?” He never let one of them down even when they were scattered, even when fear fell upon them. Not one of them did He let down unless the one who wanted to let himself down. That is right, Judas. It had to be by providence that it was [that way].
So we find out, Joel 3:14: “Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision, for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.” Jesus said, look upon the fields that are there. Look upon them, He said, for they are ripe for harvest. He said the stage is just right. Don’t start having excuses and say tomorrow. He said, right now! He was speaking about our end of the age that would come upon us at this time. Look out there at the multitudes and multitudes of people! That scripture is for past, present and future.
So, we have it here: souls passing into eternity. Are you going to put yourself ahead of the Lord? Are you going to put anything else ahead of witnessing or saving the lost or praying—a commitment that you love God with all your heart and all your mind? Are you going to be committed like that or are going to let the devil keep on knocking you down, keep on beating you down and keep on knocking you down? How many of you believe that Jesus must come first? He taught that. There is not a soul here that can go against these scriptures for He bears witness within me that it was spoken exactly as the Spirit wanted to bring it.
The Examiner—Jesus is. Examine yourself and see what is lacking. Now, we are at the very end of the age. Like I said, the world is giving a hundred percent commitment in what they are doing. Christians, all across the land are expected to give a hundred percent commitment in everything unto the Lord. I tell you what; some of them are not going to be like [that] when He calls up there. We are in the last hour. Let God be the Examiner here tonight. What joy in heaven over one sinner, one backslider that comes back! Oh my, what a Lord we have!
This day how many of you are pleasing the world or pleasing some friends, pleasing this, the job or pleasing that, but you are not pleasing the Master? See; that is what is going to count. “But sir, you don’t understand. That man is my teacher.” And so, he went away crying. I tell you what this is the hour that God is calling us. Remember what Jesus said about divine love when He started this. In my mind, when I said if everybody loved everybody, see; we would have been gone. The ultimate test; don’t forget this, saith the Lord, is what do you think about the souls that are lost? Look at the woman with the coin in the parable and look at the man that went and got the lost sheep. See; so, what do you think about my people that are not yet in? This is what your commitment is. That is the ultimate test of your faith.
So, in this sermon, I gave all that I had. I don’t care who it affects or what goes wrong. I was told to do it and I would do it [I did it]. I believe He is pleased. But if I had shunned one word, one word that He told me to say and I didn’t say it, then I would say, “You don’t understand. That’s my Master.” I want to be that way with God in this message tonight. What a message! It will plant something in your soul that you will never forget. It will be with you. It will help you with healing. It will help you to get a hold of more salvation, more power and more anointing from the Lord.
So, tonight, let us pray for the souls of this world because it is climaxing. This generation is speeding out. We are moving towards the Great One, the Lord Jesus. We are getting ready for translation. It’s time for us to do our duty. I am going to pray tonight for every one of you to dedicate yourself in praying, putting the Lord first in there about souls, witnessing, getting a hold of Him, and listening to this sermon. Those who have done all that they could, worked all that they could, you know they are going to be happy, saith the Lord, when they hear this. See; it’s not going to affect everybody the same way because some of them have been martyred; they have died working for the Lord. They have been worn out working for the Lord. They are going to be happy to hear this. This is a boost to you, a boost that God wanted me to tell you tonight.
He said, “O lawyer, love the Lord thy God with all your heart, soul, mind and body.” Boy, He said, that’s where the law and the prophets hang right there. So, I am going to pray for you. Love Him tonight when you are down here. Thank Jesus that His hand is with you and that He is guiding you and shall guide you on. He will take care of everyone of you. Lord bless everyone of you. Come on down! What a Jesus!
The Examiner | Neal Frisby’s Sermon | CD #1278 | 09/06/89 PM