0:00 As I have come across so many Christian congregations. >> [clears throat] >> One reason we started a new church in Bangalore 50 years ago was because we did not see 0:19 a church that was following what Jesus taught in the new covenant. And you know, the old covenant was something that God gave for a period of time. And that has been abolished. 0:39 The Old Testament scriptures are the word of God that teaches us how God led people under the old covenant. But the old covenant itself, you know, a covenant means agreement. There's an agreement that God made with man. 0:57 And that is described in the entire Old Testament. And when Christ came, he abolished it. Now in the Old Testament >> [clears throat] >> all you had to steer clear of was the 10 Commandments. I mean, the last of 1:14 the 10 Commandments nobody could keep. But it's very interesting to see if you read the 10 Commandments seriously nine of them even non-Christians can keep. You know, there are non-Christians who 1:34 don't worship idols and who don't take God's name in vain and who honor their father and mother. I find sometimes I find Hindu families children honor their parents more than I find here in many American families 1:52 among so-called Christians. So that's a commandment which is in the old covenant and a lot of people can keep it. But when it came to the 10th commandment, you know, all the other commandments, murder, adultery, and everything else, people could keep. 2:08 But if you turn to Exodus chapter 20, all those com- commandments are listed there in Exodus in chapter 20. All the way from verse one right up to 2:30 verse 17. So, >> [clears throat] >> you read through them. I don't want to read all of them. You know all of it. Every one of them uh most people can keep. But when it came to the last one, 2:48 you [clears throat] shall not desire. Covet means to have an earnest desire for your neighbor's house, or your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or female servant, or ox, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. 3:06 In the old covenant, nobody could keep it. And that is why, >> [clears throat] >> if you turn to Mark's gospel chapter 10, you must read the scripture carefully. When there was a young man who came to Jesus, 3:24 Mark chapter 10 verse 17. Please take these scriptures seriously because there's a lot of truth here you can understand. Mark 10:17. When Jesus was just about to go on a journey, a man ran up to him and knelt and said, "Good master 3:41 >> [clears throat] >> teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" Remember, they were all under the old covenant. Remember the entire life of Jesus, he was dealing with people under the old covenant and he never talked about the 3:54 new covenant except to his disciples towards the end. But otherwise with all the Jews and all he was only dealing with old covenant standards. So, he said, "Why do you call me good?" Mark 10:18, "Only God is good." And then 4:10 read carefully, "Don't you know the commandments? Don't murder, don't commit adultery, don't steal, don't bear false witness, don't defraud, and honor your father and mother." I mean the idol part of it there's no need to mention because no in 4:24 no Jewish person worshipped idols and or took the name Lord's name in vain. He takes all the other commandments beginning with those related to man starting with commandment number five, you know, honor your father and mother 4:37 and all that. But notice um he did not include the 10th commandment when he told this person. He did not mention the 10th commandment, "Don't desire your neighbor's wife or um Why didn't Jesus include that?" Have you ever thought of it? You I'm 4:54 sure you read this passage. And here is one example of how Christians read the Bible carelessly. I don't want you to answer me this question. You answer this question to yourself. How many of you noticed that the 10th commandment was missing here? 5:13 Then you can see for yourself how carelessly you read scripture. And that is how my dear, I'm not saying that to condemn you. I'm saying that to say that is why you miss so much in the Bible. Because we don't read careful. We are in 5:31 a rush. The Bible says, "Blessed is the one who meditates on the law of the Lord, not who reads it." There's no blessing in just reading. You got to read, understand, and meditate. You can read and understand, but if you don't meditate, you don't 5:47 get. But when you meditate on a scripture like this, and Jesus leaves out the most important commandment. Why? Because he knew that no one could keep it under the old covenant. And that's why >> [clears throat] 6:06 >> when this chap says, "I kept all these things." Verse 20, if he had included the 10th commandment, and if that guy was honest, he could not have said, "I kept all these things." He could say, "I kept all these things." 6:16 because Jesus went only up to commandment number nine. And then he said, "I kept all these things from the youth up." and and Jesus said, "Okay." He didn't question that. All these things Jesus listed many, many Jews kept. 6:31 And any God-fearing Jews kept all those commandments Jesus mentioned in verse 19. He says, "But there's still one thing you lack." You >> [clears throat] >> love money too much. And if you want to Now, there's no commandment in the Old Testament say you 6:49 should not love money. But now here was a person who's saying, "I want to inherit eternal life." In the old That's another thing I want you to notice. In the old covenant, there is no promise of eternal life. You read the Old Testament. The Jews 7:09 were not promised eternal life. Nowhere. Exodus to Deuteronomy, all the law. There's no promise of eternal life. There's no promise of heaven. There's a promise of prosperity on the earth. There's a promise your enemies will be 7:23 defeated. There's a promise that you will have if you honor God and obey your parents, you'll have a long life. Many things like that. You will prosper and you'll be healthy. And God will keep sickness away from you. All those things are there. Every 7:40 blessing promised under the old covenant is earthly. So, when a person is seeking for eternal life, and this is an old covenant man who comes to Jesus, he was obviously seeking for something more. Maybe he heard Jesus speak about eternal 7:59 life in different sermons, I don't know. But anyway, he comes seeking for eternal life. He's not coming seeking for prosperity on the earth or to overcome the enemies and all that. And then the Lord says, "You want eternal life? 8:15 There's one thing you lack. You love your money too much. And you got to be detached from it. Go sell all that you have and give to the poor. And you let treasure in heaven come follow me." Now, that is not a new covenant 8:32 commandment. Please remember this. Jesus did not teach that every believer must first 20 months sell all that they have, give it all to the poor, and then only they let treasure in heaven and come follow him. That was something he told this 8:50 particular person. In the new covenant, there is no commandment that you must sell everything you have, you empty your bank account, and sell your house. Now, God may call some people 9:07 to do that. And I've heard of different servants of God who did that when God specifically, you know, one in a million or one in 10,000 God may call. I've heard the testimonies of people who sometime in their life God told them, 9:27 "Sell everything you have, empty your bank account, and come and follow me." But as I said, that's one in a hundred thousand or one in a million believers whom God calls to and the people have obeyed, and later on then God was testing them. 9:40 And then God has blessed them and prospered them and used them. I know in my own life I remember remember very clearly when I left when I left the Navy 60 years ago, it was May 19 9:59 66. It's exactly 60 years this month. That the Lord told me the same thing. Give up empty your bank account, and I earned quite a lot of we had a good salary as naval officers, and I earned a lot in 8 years. And the Lord said, "Give it all away to 10:15 the Lord's work." So, I did that. When I stepped out, I stepped out with zero in my bank account. And the Lord said, "Never tell your needs to anybody. Trust me for your needs. And never take a salary, never ask anyone for money. 10:33 I will provide your need." And just like Jesus, you know, different people gave. We read in Luke chapter 8. Different people blessed Jesus, and that's the Lord said, "You must live like that." Paul lived like that. So, now as I said, there's only one in 10:47 10,000 or 100,000 that God calls like that with a specific calling. Here was one of those people who got called like that. And when he was not willing to follow then the Lord said, "Okay." He said in verse 23, "How hard it will 11:04 be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God." I don't know how many people believe that statement. How hard it is. He didn't say it's impossible. He just said, "How hard it is for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God." It's easier 11:23 verse 25, "It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." So, there must be a detachment. You don't have to give up your wealth as I said, 99% of people God does not ask 11:37 them to give up their wealth. They can keep it, they can use it. There are many many God-fearing millionaires who have served the Lord and people with good salaries who serve the Lord and I don't say any of them should give up their 11:49 jobs. But, the point is their hearts must be detached from it if they are to come into the kingdom of heaven. So, what I'm trying to say is in the new covenant, the Lord was establishing something 12:08 completely different. I told you the 10th commandment people could not follow. What about the Apostle Paul? The Apostle Paul was a very God-fearing Jew and he was who tried to keep the commandments. But, see what his testimony is in Romans 12:25 and chapter 7. He's talking about in Romans chapter 6, he talks about sin will not have dominion over you, Romans 6:14. And then in Romans 7, you know, Romans 7 by the way is a chapter 12:44 which I have never heard anyone in my life in any YouTube message or any book explain it properly. Everybody gets stuck in the last 12 verses, 14 to 25. 13:04 And they all say that is Paul referring to his previous unconverted experience. That's ridiculous. Paul finished with unconverted people in Romans chapter 3. Then he says he goes step by step in Romans. It's like standard one, standard 13:19 two, standard three, standard four, like that. He goes all the way to the end. And in chapter 6, he says sin will not have dominion over you. And then you can't imagine that chapter 7 he's going back to his old unconverted 13:31 life. No. So, I'll try to explain that if you can understand it. In Romans 7, Paul's he's very honest. He says, "My brethren, in Romans 7:4, you were made to die to the law through the body of Christ." Romans 7:4. "That you might be joined to the one who 13:49 was raised from the dead." And then he says in verse 6, "We have been released from the law. So that Listen to this carefully. We are not under the old covenant. So that we can now serve in the newness of the Holy Spirit 14:06 and not in the oldness of the letter." The old covenant was a letter law. There was no Holy Spirit indwelling people in the old covenant. There was a letter of the law. They had to follow it exactly. But he says, "Now in the new covenant, 14:21 we serve in newness of the Spirit." And then he says, "What does that mean? Does it mean that the law is sin? No. On the contrary, I would not have known sin." Listen to this. Verse 7. "I would not have known what sin was 14:35 except for the law." And so the 10 Commandments was not given to deliver people from sin, but to show people what sin is. Okay. And then he says, "There was a time before I knew about the law." Verse 9. "When I was alive." 14:51 That means I thought I was okay with God. That's the meaning. But then when the commandment came, it deceived me and killed me." Verse 11. And what was the particular commandment that he could not keep? He describes it in verse 7, the last 15:15 part. The law said, "You shall not lust. You shall not covet. You shall not desire your neighbor's house, your neighbor's property, your neighbor's money, anything. That is the thing that convicted Paul. 15:32 The 10th commandment. You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor. He was absolutely honest. He says, "I kept all the nine commandments. When it came to the 10th commandment, I got stuck. I could not keep it." He doesn't mention 15:50 any of the other nine. He kept all the other nine. Just like in the case of the rich young ruler, Jesus mentioned only nine. And here also, Paul says, "The other nine I could keep, but when it came, verse 10, to the 10th one, 16:04 I would not even have known that coveting was a sin," he says in the last part of verse seven. "I would not have known that coveting was a sin unless the law had told me, 'You shall not covet.'" You shall not desire something that is 16:15 not yours. That's a very strong word. And Paul was honest. And I've discovered one thing through the years in my Christian life, God meets with people who are absolutely 16:34 honest. I use the word ruthlessly honest. That means what? Determined to be 100% honest. Let me put it like that. That means they will not hide anything in their life from God. 16:53 We don't have to reveal our inner life to other people, but before the Lord, I must be transparent. To mean to walk in the light. That that expression is not found in the old covenant. It was impossible to walk in the light in the old covenant. 17:07 But in the new covenant, do you know the well-known verse? 1 John 1:7. If we walk in the light, and which light? As God is in the light. Then we have fellowship with one another. Now, if you're not familiar with that, just turn with me to that verse. 1 John 17:24 chapter 1 verse 7. I some of you are very familiar with it. Please be patient because there may be other people sitting here who do not or not familiar with it. I've You know, I told all the elders in our churches that a good teacher 17:44 is one who can make sure that the most ignorant student in the class can understand. If you only teach in such a way that all the clever people understand, you're not a good teacher. A good teacher is one who ensures that 18:04 even the least intelligent child in the class understands. And that requires patience. And in my ministry, so teaching ministry of God's word, I have sought to follow that same principle. Some of you are well known and well 18:22 versed in the scriptures. You know the You have read regularly in your meetings in churches for years, but not everybody who sits in our churches is like that. Not everybody who sits in a meeting like this is like that. 18:33 So, at whose level shall I speak? If you are one of those Bible scholars, my dear brother and sister, I'm not going to speak at your level. Be patient. I'm going to speak at the level at of the one who's most ignorant of scripture 18:49 among all of you are listening to me. And do you know the basis of fellowship with God? Some of you are clever will also understand something. When something is explained to the least intelligent person, the intelligent 19:01 person also learns something. So, when something is explained to the carnal person, even the one who thinks he's spiritual will learn something. For example, 1 John 1:7 If we walk in the light, I'm sure you've all read this verse. Now, let me explain 19:18 to this to you and see if you've understood it. If we walk in the light as God is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. And we can put it like this, only then do we have fellowship with one another. And which light is that? It is not the 19:35 light that of what you think you get from the Bible. What does it say? If we walk in the light as God himself is in the light, now, how in the world can I walk in God's light? God's light is immense. But it says here, if I don't walk by 19:54 that same principle as God is in the light, I cannot have fellowship with him. Read carefully. If we walk in the light as God is in the light, we have fellowship with him. And yet it's quite possible that numerous people among you who are 20:10 listening to me, imagine that you have fellowship with God. Are you sure you have it or is just imagination? There are a lot of Christians who imagine that a multi- millions and millions of nominal Christians in the world. If you 20:26 ask them if they have fellowship with God, they say, "Yes." They're not even born again. Millions of people there. You go to Roman Catholic church and ask them if they have fellowship with God. Ask the priests in the Roman Catholic church if 20:38 they have fellowship with God. They say, "Sure." Go to any church, people regularly regular church-going people, any church, 90% of them are not born again, but they think they have fellowship with God. How do you know you have fellowship with 20:52 God? How do you know that like they are deceiving themselves that you're not deceiving yourself? Well, you can't deceive yourself if you take this verse seriously. If we walk in the light as God is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and 21:09 it is only then that the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. So, your sins are not even cleansed if you don't walk in the light. You believe 1 John 1:7? I've spent years meditating on scripture. 21:28 In the first year of my Christian life, first 2 3 years of my Christian life, I read and read and read and read the Bible. But then I started meditating. And it's only when I started meditating that I began to understand. 21:41 You know, Psalm 1:3 says, "Blessed is the man who meditates on the law of the Lord day and night." Have you read that verse? Psalm 1:3, "Blessed is the man who meditates on the law of the Lord 24 hours of the day." Day and night means that. 21:56 It doesn't mean we are reading the Bible 24 hours of the day. We may read the Bible only 15 minutes in the morning. But the meditation on it, you think about it during the day, you're driving the car and you think about what 22:08 you read in the morning or you're sitting in the office in the middle of when you have a break for a minute, your mind is free from your work and you think about something you read in the morning. Do you have that habit 22:19 of thinking during the day of something you read? Maybe you read about you read yesterday or something you read in a book or some something related to God's word. That is the meaning of meditating on the law of the Lord day and night. 22:32 Now, I'll tell you why it's very important for me. Because I had a great desire that my work must really I have only one life and I said, "Lord, I don't want to end up in heaven uh discovering I wasted this one life." I don't want to be like the prodigal son 22:52 getting all the father's wealth and wasting it. Now, some of us may not think we are prodigal children because we are not living in sin. You're not living in sin, I know. But there's a wealth that the Father gives us. Not just money. 23:09 I'll tell you something more important than money God gives us. Our life. 24 hours a day. For me, God has made me >> [clears throat] >> in terms of time. God has given me 86 years. 23:29 In terms of time. I mean, God has given me a tremendous wealth. 86 multiplied by 365 days. Wow, what a huge number. Days that is. In terms of days, I'm a very wealthy man, but I have to answer to God for every one of 23:46 those days that I lived. I can't just play the fool. I have to take seriously this tremendous wealth God has given me, which is 86 into 365 days. >> [clears throat] >> Plus the odd leap year additional days. 24:05 It's quite a huge amount of days. Thousands and thousands of days. And I have to answer to God, "What did you do with this wealth I gave you?" We think of wealth only as money. I'll tell you time is a more is more valuable than wealth. 24:25 Many people get so disturbed when they've lost a few thousand dollars. But they don't feel disturbed if they've wasted a few days. I don't want to waste a single day of my life because it is something God planned. There was 24:40 something I believe this that from the day I was born, God had a plan for my life. I came to know him only when I was 19. But God had a plan for every day of my life. Let me show you that favorite verse of mine. Again, if you already know it, be 25:00 patient because there are others in who are listening to me who don't know it. So, be patient for those who are not as clever and intelligent and scholarly as you are. One Psalm 139. He says about when I was in my mother's 25:16 womb, Psalm 139 verse 13. You In my mother's womb, verse 16, you saw your eyes saw me as an embryo. I was an embryo in my mother's womb. You know what that means? The earliest form of a baby in the 25:34 mother's womb womb is called an embryo. And while I was there as an as an embryo before I was born in God's book, which means in God's mind all the days that were planned for me not the years, the days. That means 25:54 every single day. 365 days in a year and 366 days in a leap year were all recorded while there was while I had not even had the first day on earth. And what was recorded in your book means in God's mind? 26:14 It was a plan that God had made for my life. Right from the day I was born. Every day. It says every single day was recorded there before my first day was there. And he says in [clears throat] the next 26:32 verse, "Oh, how precious are your thoughts?" means Lord, what a wonderful plan you made for my life before I was born. That's the meaning of verse 17. How wonderful is the plan that you made for my life? And that is the best possible plan that I 26:49 could ever do. That I could ever fulfill. If God made a plan for my life, I know I can't make a better plan than that. Now, what about the years we waste? I think of the years I was not born again, 19 and 1/2 years I was not even 27:09 born again. I was I wasn't very worldly because I had God-fearing parents, but I didn't live for the Lord. And mercifully God kept me from murder and adultery and theft and all these major sins because I have grew up in a 27:27 God-fearing family. I never fell into those things, but I didn't do the seek the will of God. No. So, what about person like that who's converted only at the age of 19 like me? Now, 19 years of my life wasted, how can I fulfill God's plan? 27:46 That's where when I read the Apostle Paul's testimony at the end of his life, it encouraged me. You know, Paul wasted nearly half of his life. Paul died when he was around 67. And out of those 67 years, the first 30 years 28:02 he not only didn't follow the Lord, he was against Christ. He was against Christians. That's worse than me. I was never against Christians. But here's a man who nearly half his life he was fighting against God without knowing it. 28:18 And yet that man, 30 years he lived for himself, or we'd say for the world, under the old covenant. He was God-fearing according to old covenant standards, but he wasn't living for God. He was so blind, he persecuted Christians. 28:36 Then he got converted around the age of 30. And he died when he was 67. So, he had only 37 years out of his 67 where he could do God's will. But yet at the end of that he says, in 2 Timothy 4, listen to me. 2 Timothy 4:7 28:54 I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. That's the thing that struck me. I fought a good fight I can understand. Verse 7, I kept the faith faith I can understand. 2 Timothy 4:7. Those two statements at the beginning 29:10 and the end I can understand. I fought a good fight and I have kept the faith. Okay. But the middle part of that sentence, I have finished the course which you appointed for me. How how did he do that when he wasted 30 years? 29:28 Have you thought of that? So these are some of the things that come to our mind when we meditate on scripture. If you don't meditate and you just read through that, you won't even think that this guy who's writing this wasted half 29:40 his life fighting against Christians. And I don't think how in the world could he have completed his course if half his life he was listening to the devil. And that encouraged me. That I didn't spend 30 years, I spent 19 29:58 and a half years as a worldly person unconverted. Can I finish God's plan for my life when I wasted so many years? And I got hope. If Paul could finish it, I can finish it, too. But Paul was determined. You know, he 30:17 when he got converted, he was radical. His conversion was not half-hearted. He was so radical that when he got into full-time work, Christian work, he decided he would not take a salary and he would not depend on people. He 30:31 would trust the Lord to provide but never let people know his need. He had a need, he would tell his heavenly father. He was radical in all those areas. And he never starved. God took care of him. He went through a lot of trials, 30:49 but he finished the course. Now, you know that Jesus also said that at the end of his life? Before I turn to that, let me turn you to 1 Corinthians 11. In 1 Corinthians 11, 31:07 Paul says, "Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ. Or follow me as I follow Christ." And that's a good challenge to take up. Paul, you know, just like the life of 31:27 Jesus is an example for us. Paul has given us an exa- The Lord has given us Paul's life also as an example for us. He says, "Follow me as I follow Christ." And I believe those of us who are sincerely following Paul and Christ 31:43 should be able to say to other people in our churches, if you are any type of leader, "Follow me as I follow Paul as he followed Christ." We should be able to say that. Not just listen to me, what I'm preaching is the truth. 32:00 A lot of people are concerned that what they preach should be the truth accurately. That's good, very important. We want correctness in doctrine. But more than that, we should be able to say to a person, "This doctrine that I'm preaching, 32:18 see what it accomplished in my life. See what it did to my attitude towards money. See what it See how it resulted in the type of family I brought up. Go and ask my wife what this gospel message has done for us 32:37 in my family relationship. Follow me as I follow Christ. Come and follow me, come and live in my home. Visit my home all of a sudden and check how I live. I wish there were a video kept in a home 32:56 that they could listen to how I speak to my wife every day, morning till night. We should be able to say follow me. I've nothing to hide. Is it like that in your life? This is true Christianity. 33:15 Now come back to 1 John chapter 1. If we walk in the light as God is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. You know, many people when they ask how your sins are cleansed, 33:32 they go to 1 John 1:9. They say if we are uh confess our sins, he's faithful and righteous to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But please remember that verse 9 comes after verse 7. And the place in the Bible where it says 33:50 the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin is not in verse 9, it is in verse 7. And many people quote the blood of Jesus has cleansed me from all sin. I say, "Hang on, brother. Quote the whole verse. Don't just quote the last part of the verse, the blood of 34:07 Jesus has cleansed me from all sin." Let's be honest. Whose sin is cleansed in the blood of Christ? I'll tell a person who I say, "You please open your Bible and turn to 1 John 1:7 and read it." Even a 10-year-old child can answer that 34:23 question. Whose sin is cleansed by the blood of Christ? 1 John 1:7. The one who walks in the light as God is in the light. Next question. Who can have fellowship with God? 34:41 1 John 1:7. The one who walks in the light as he's in the light. You see how all these standards have been lowered in Christianity. Today, it's pathetic to see what is being taught in most churches. Where do you hear churches which teach that 34:59 we must walk in the light as God is in the light. And what does it mean to walk in the light? It does not mean to be as holy as God is. In that case, nobody's blood nobody's sin can be cleansed. If that word read if we are as holy as God is holy, then 35:17 the blood will cleanse us. Then there's no need for blood to cleanse me if I'm as holy as God is holy. Does walking in the light mean Look, let's ask a question step by step. I want to go through that verse slowly. Does walking in the light mean 35:33 that there's no sin in my life? That's the first question. What do you think? Walking in the light as God is in the light, right? In the standard of God's light, if I walk in that light, does it mean there is no sin in my life? 35:48 Because if it means that, then I don't need the blood of Jesus like it says in the rest of that verse. Think about it. If walking in the light means I'm holy as God is, what is the need of the rest of the verse? The blood of Jesus 36:01 cleanses me. If I was to say there's no sin in my life to be cleansed. So, this is where we need to meditate on God's word to understand it. So, walking in the light as God is in the light does not mean being as holy as 36:14 God is. Number one. Because the person who's walking in the light as God is in the light has got sin in his life that needs to be cleansed. That's not referring to Jesus. Jesus did not have any sin in his life to be cleansed. 36:29 There's no sin in God. Yet the person who's walking in the light as God is in the light as God sin in his life that needs to be cleansed. But it's not cleansed if he doesn't walk in the light as God is in the light. So I try to understand that verse. 36:43 And I see it like this. Light is something that reveals everything. You know, people who commit crimes, those who commit adultery and theft and murder and all, they always do it in the dark. They don't switch on the light and 36:58 say, "Okay, I'm going to do something." All sin is committed in the darkness. Hidden from people. They lock the door, turn off the lights. Then they commit sin. Even young people who commit sin. 37:14 Turn off the lights, lock the door. So the opposite of that is to be absolutely honest. That is the meaning of walking in the light as God is in the light. That means I hide nothing. 37:33 I say, "Lord, search me, oh God." That beautiful prayer in Psalm 139 and verse 23. Psalm 139 2 verse 23. It's an Old Testament prayer. 37:51 Psalm of David. But it applies to us. And let me read it to you. You know, David was a person who longed for the new covenant. He never got there. He was an old covenant person till the end of his life. But you can see in verses like verse 23 38:07 and 24 that here's an old covenant man who longed for the new covenant. Search me, oh God. Psalm 139 verse 23. Search I cannot search myself. That's the first thing you need to see there. Sometimes when we meditate, miss these 38:22 things. It's not enough to search your heart. Your prayer must be, "Oh God, I do not know my heart because the Bible says the heart is deceitful." Jeremiah 17:9 says the heart is deceitful. So, if I search myself, I will not know what sin 38:41 is in my life. I have met people Christians, born-again Christians, who do something so obviously wrong, and they say they have a clear conscience. They get angry, lose their temper, and they say they've got a clear conscience. 38:57 They got bitterness and a grudge against somebody, and they say they've got a clear conscience. What deception. So, we have to say, "Oh God, you search me and know my heart. And see if there is any wicked way in me." You see, Lord, and tell me because I 39:18 don't know. I can deceive myself that I'm a very holy person. This is basically what it means to walk in the light. As God is in the light, I say, "Oh God, I do not know the corruption of my own heart, but you please search me and tell 39:33 me. I want to be ruthlessly honest with you." Please tell me if there's any area in my life where I've got a wrong attitude towards somebody. This is means to walk in the light. Let me take one example. Can you honestly say right now, 39:55 please listen carefully, that there is not a single human being in the world whom you have not forgiven? You have forgiven everybody in the world of whatever they did against you. You know, if you're older than 5 years 40:14 old, somebody has done something against you. Even as little children, somebody hurt each other. And some of us are 30, 40, 50, 60, me 86. Lot of people have done many things against us. I can stand before God today and say, I 40:30 have forgiven every human being who has ever done anything against me, said anything against me, even thought anything against me. I have forgiven every one of them. I hope you can say that. That's not some fantastic statement. 40:45 I'll tell you why it is not. Because Jesus said in Matthew 5:14, if you don't forgive others, 6:14 rather, 14 and 15. If you don't forgive others, you will not be forgiven. Do you know the number of believers who 41:06 don't know that verse, who don't believe it? Matthew 6:15. All of you, please stop for a moment and think. It's like, you know, you come to an arithmetic problem, and it's a bit of a tough one. And so the teacher says, "Hang on. 41:24 Don't think you've understood it. Pause and think whether you've understood it. If I give you a problem tomorrow," the teacher says, "will you be able to solve it based on what I've taught you just now? You have not understood it," the teacher 41:40 says. Please take it seriously. Matthew 6:15. If you do not forgive others, your father will not forgive your sins. Take that seriously right now. 42:03 That's why I ask, is there a single person anywhere in the world who did some harm to you or some harm to your children. >> [clears throat] >> Sometimes if they hurt our children, that hurts us more than if they hurt us. 42:21 Is there anybody like that who spoke some evil about your son or daughter or about you? Maybe they harmed you just with words or spread stories about you which are false. Or any other evil. Maybe somebody robbed you of some money or cheated you of some 42:38 money that you deserve to give you or somebody took a loan from you and didn't pay back. My question is have you forgiven that person completely? You say, "How?" I say, "In exactly the same way as you want God to forgive you. 42:58 In that way." How do you want God to forgive you? With just a little bit unforgiven? No. You want God to forgive you so completely there's no not even a blocked of sin in your heart. Lord, forgive me like that. Even in the Lord's Prayer 43:17 which is earlier on in Matthew 6. How often are we supposed to pray that prayer? You don't have to repeat that prayer. That is very clear. And Jesus said, he didn't Jesus didn't say pray repeating this. Matthew 6:9 Pray in this way. 43:35 Very clear. That means he was giving us a pattern how to pray. Understood? You don't have to repeat it. Pray in this way. Okay, the next question is how often should we pray in this way? Not repeating it, but in the spirit of 43:53 this prayer. The answer is every day. Can you tell me why I say that? Where does it say pray this every day? He only said pray in this way, verse nine. Matthew 6:9, pray in this way. 44:12 Where did he say pray every day like this? When you meditate on the scripture, you find it. And that is in verse 11. Give us this day our daily bread. 44:29 So, that means it's just for today. It's not for tomorrow. Give me this day the food that I need for today. And when he said pray in this way, it means everything in this prayer this must be the spirit of my prayer every 44:46 day of my life, even if I don't repeat it. And in a nutshell, it means when I pray, I must first seek that God's name should be hallowed, his kingdom should come, his will be done on earth. Then I pray for my needs. Basically, 45:05 that prayer can be divided into two parts. First, whatever concerns God's will and God's glory, then what concerns my needs. And Jesus said pray in this way. Nobody taught me that when I was young, unfortunately. I used to repeat that prayer from before 45:23 even before I was born again, because my parents taught me to repeat it. And that's the only prayer I used to pray when I got up when I was 10, 12 years old. But much later only I understood that this must be the pattern of all my 45:35 prayer, where my primary request is not for my healing, and not even for my food, not even for my forgiveness. My primary request must be Lord, in a world where your name is dishonored, let your name be glorified. I used to 45:52 think of that in India, where I lived for 80 years. I said Lord, your name is tremendously dishonored in India. Let your name be honored, let your name be glorified. And here I make myself available to you every day in some way if I can glorify 46:07 your name in this land and be a witness and a light for you. Let your name be glorified. Let your kingdom come in India. And let your will be done in this country where so many are worshipping idols. That's how I prayed. 46:21 I prayed that for years. And you know how wonderfully God answered that? >> [clears throat] >> By allowing us to preach the gospel >> [clears throat] >> in two towns in India where the gospel had never been preached 46:39 since the time of Christ. It's a tremendous honor to be able to give the gospel to someone who's never heard the gospel in his entire life. And a whole village where the gospel had never been preached for 2,000 years. We have a church there 46:58 today. And another village, a second one. All the other villages we went to, the gospel had somehow gone there by literature or tract, but these two villages, no tract, no believer, no gospel, no church, nothing. And I think even today ours is the only 47:13 church in the in those two villages. I was greatly excited. Let your name be hallowed. Let your kingdom come. Let your will be done on earth as it is done in heaven. >> [clears throat] >> And then I love then I'll pray for my 47:29 food and my daily bread and even forgiveness of my sins. Jesus said that, you seek the kingdom of God first and his righteousness. All your earthly needs will be added to you. I can testify to that over the last 60 47:47 years. My wife and I have sincerely sought to I seek God's kingdom first and his righteousness in our life, we have tried to forgive to the best of our knowledge every single human being who's done harm to us. People who hurt 48:06 us, called us the devil, published tracts against us and wrote all types of things against us. Everyone is forgiven. And the Lord's forgiven me. And I want to say to all of you very plainly, my dear brother, sister, please 48:22 listen this carefully because this concerns your eternal destiny. You say I accepted Christ so many years ago. Good. But I believe you can lose your salvation. And I'll tell you why. Let me show you this verse in Hebrews in 48:40 chapter Hebrews chapter 3 verse 14. Have you ever read this verse? Hebrews 3:14. Please turn to it. 48:58 Become familiar with the Bible. Hebrews 3:14. We become partakers of Christ when? If capital I F if we hold fast the beginning of our com- 49:18 and assurance, which is when we were born again, until the end. Until the end of our life. Or until Christ comes again. Now, does that mean we have become partakers of Christ even if we don't hold fast 49:36 the beginning? Is it like that? Even if we don't hold fast our assurance till the end, we still become partakers of Christ? Then the word of God means nothing. My brothers and sisters, tell me a church which preaches that. 49:53 Show me a sermon on YouTube that preaches that. You hear many of my sermons that preach that, but show me some other sermon that preaches that you you're you can become a partaker of our Christ only if you hold fast >> [clears throat] 50:11 >> that assurance firm until the end of your life. It's written in the word of God. People say this is the word of God, but they don't preach it. Okay, let me ask you another thing. Matthew 6:15. We were reading that. Forgiveness. 50:31 Listen carefully. If you do not forgive others, I'm reading slowly so that you understand it. Matthew 6:15. If you do not forgive others, then God will not forgive your transgressions. Did you notice something wrong in what I 50:53 read? There was something wrong in what I read. I deliberately read something wrong to see how many of you would detect it. Let me read it again. If you do not forgive others, then God will not forgive your transgressions. 51:13 I left out something very important. Your father. Not God. God means he's talking to unbelievers. Your father means who's he talking to? Believers. Is God the father of unbelievers? No. 51:31 He's the father of believers. That verse can only be spoken to believers. I can't tell a group of unbelievers that if you don't forgive others, God will not forgive you. No, that's not my message to them. If a group of believers are sitting in 51:45 the meet their God is their father, then I can tell them, "Your father will not forgive your transgressions." He's telling believers that if they don't forgive others, their heavenly father will not forgive their transgressions. 52:03 Okay, next question. If a believer dies without forgiving others, where does he go for all eternity? Okay, answer this question if that's a tough one. Answer this one. People whose sins are not forgiven, 52:23 where do they go in eternity? What is the gospel you preach? People whose sins are not forgiven, where do they go for eternity? You don't have to answer me. You know the answer. So, supposing a person at the end of his 52:42 life, he says, "I'm not going to forgive somebody." Or even if he doesn't say it, he doesn't mean in his heart he doesn't forgive someone. I This is my word for him, even if he's on his deathbed. If you don't forgive others, 52:58 your heavenly father will not forgive your sins. There are many people who tell me, "Brother Zac, you preach such a high standard. You're so strict." Tell me, am I stricter than Jesus Christ? Show me any time where I have preached 53:16 something stricter than what Jesus said. There are 2,500 sermons of mine on YouTube. Show me one sentence I said anywhere which is stricter than what Jesus said. Never. I don't raise the bar higher than what Jesus made it. 53:33 But at the same time, I don't lower it below what Jesus placed it, because it's the eternal life of people is at stake. Their eternal destiny is at stake. And if I deceive them, I'll be answerable for their blood when they go 53:48 to hell. I don't want that. I'll be answerable to God. He'll ask me, "Why didn't you tell them the truth? Just because you wanted to be popular with them?" I'd say, "No, Lord. I don't care for popularity with anybody." Nobody I want to say this honestly, to 54:06 the best of my knowledge, nobody in the world can who has ever heard me can say that I did not tell them the truth. Even in personal counseling, I've told people the truth to such an extent I remember one person who I counsel in 54:19 such a way who person was part of our church in India. I counsel him in such a way he got so offended. He never came back to my house. He's never seen me till today. He's left my home and gone. I don't know where he is. 54:29 It's quite possible he's lost because I confronted him and told him this, "You don't forgive others, you will not be forgiven." And he had treated one poor servant girl very badly in his house. And I said, "You must go and ask 54:44 forgiveness from that servant girl. She's a poor somebody's poor daughter was working in your house and you treated her so badly. And you never asked her forgiveness just because she's a lower caste in society. God will not forgive you. 54:58 Go and set it right." He got offended with me and never came back to my house. I don't know where he is. I hope he's repented somewhere. I don't wish that he should go to hell. Brothers, listen only to people who will tell you 55:12 the whole truth and nothing but the truth. You will be thankful for such brothers and preachers in eternity when you stand before the Lord. If we walk in the light, how easy it is. Just be honest. What is it that took the 55:32 the thief who was dying on the cross to heaven? And the thief on the other side of the cross did not go to heaven. What is it that made the difference? Where one person walked with Jesus that day in heaven and the other person went to hell the 55:47 same day. Both of them were criminals. Both of them had murdered people. They had made so many wives widows by killing their husbands. They had made so many children fatherless by killing their fathers. And they didn't with they were not just 56:03 given an ordinary crime like Barabbas and all. These are such criminals that they are to be crucified. The worst criminals were crucified and these were two of the worst. Hanging on either side of Jesus. What was it that took one of them to 56:22 heaven and the other to hell? He walked in the light. He was honest. I don't know if there are other things he said to Jesus there. You know, indeed we read only about a little bit he said, "Lord, remember me when you come into 56:42 your kingdom." How in the How in the world did he know that this person hanging here is got a is going to come one day in a kingdom? Somehow there was faith in his heart. He must have heard something somewhere and he believed this is the person. 56:55 You can't imagine all those Jews walking down the by the cross thinking this person is going to one day come in some kingdom. This man had some faith put in his heart by God. This person you see hanging here is one day going to come in the kingdom. 57:08 You better get right with him. I mean, he didn't ask for any reward or anything. Many people are waiting for a reward. He said, "Lord, will you just remember me? Please remember me when you come in your kingdom." He was 57:22 absolutely repentant. If he had a chance, he would have gone and set matters right. There are some things in life we cannot set right. Don't condemn yourself if there is something you cannot set right. Maybe you hurt somebody and the guy has 57:41 died. How can you ask his forgiveness now? He's gone. You should have taken the opportunity before he died. So, what to do now? God understands. He's not going to send you to hell because you can't ask forgiveness from somebody who's dead and gone. 58:00 That thief on the cross he did not get the opportunity to go and ask forgiveness from all the widows whose husbands he killed. He did not get the opportunity to go to all those children whom whom he had made into orphans by killing their father. 58:15 How did he go to heaven? God sees what opportunity we have. Like that verse says in the Bible, to him who has God requires something, but who does not have God does not require it. So, if you have the opportunity to set 58:33 things right and you don't set it right, God requires it of you. But in some cases you don't have the opportunity. Maybe there's somebody who hurt you so badly and you didn't forgive him and the guy is dead now. There's no way of you being able to ask 58:47 his forgiveness. Somebody you hurt. God says it's okay. Ignore it. He doesn't torture us. But he sees where you have the opportunity. And if you don't take it. Not just have you forgiven others. 59:07 The other important question is have you asked forgiveness from people you have hurt? That is in Matthew 6, Matthew 5. Read carefully. Matthew 5, he's talking about prayer. Matthew 5:23 59:25 If you are presenting your offering at the altar, that's a prayer. You're presenting your prayer in God's presence, Matthew 5:23. And while you're praying, you suddenly remember that you hurt your brother. Or you hurt your wife. 59:42 Or you hurt your husband. Or you hurt your sister. Or you hurt your neighbor. Or you hurt somebody in the church by something you did, some false story you spread about that person. Or some way you got very angry with him. 59:55 Or cheated him in some way. Or borrowed something and you did not return it. Many, many believers have borrowed money and not returned it. They've borrowed different things and not returned it. They've spoken evil about people. 1:00:09 Have you spoken evil about somebody? Have you asked that person to forgive you? For ruining his reputation. You say, "Ah, that's not important." Aha. You'll discover at the judgment seat of 1:00:26 Christ that it is very important. You there, you remember that your brother's got something against you. Leave your offering at the altar, verse 24. This is the one place where God says Jesus says, "Stop praying." That's the meaning of leave your 1:00:43 offering at the altar. We come to the altar to offer a prayer and Jesus says, "Leave your offering there." The amazing that Jesus says, "Don't pray." But in many places where Jesus says, "Pray." But here is one place where he 1:00:54 says, "Don't pray." Don't pray until you're first reconciled to your brother. Then come and pray. These are all plain statements that anybody who knows English can understand. And yet there are multitudes of Christians who have completely ignored all these 1:01:13 verses. And I've just taken a few. You know, when we started 50 years ago in in Bangalore, these things I'm teaching you now are what we taught. 1:01:32 And we've been consistently teaching it for 50 years. And wherever a new CFC church is planted, we preach it. Not everybody accepts it. I don't know whether all of you will accept it, what you heard today. I hope you will. 1:01:52 I don't know whether you will. I don't know whether you remember it 1 year from now, or whether you'll forget 1 year from now what you heard today. I hope you'll never forget it. Because your eternal destiny is dependent on it. 1:02:07 This is not something that you can just settle today and go because something may happen next week when somebody troubles you, and you're tempted to be unforgiving. And if you are unforgiving, remember that you cannot pray to God, 1:02:27 cuz he will not listen to you. If you don't forgive others, he will not forgive you. And if you're not forgiven, you can't walk in the light. So, what does it mean to walk in the light as God is in the light? It means just to 1:02:42 be absolutely honest. Very simple. There's one thing that even a prostitute can be, honest. There's one thing that a murderer can be, honest. And that's what that murderer on the cross had, one good quality, honesty. 1:02:59 He acknowledged. He did not deserve anything. Dear brothers and sisters, covet 100% honesty. Be ruthless. That's the word I use. Be 1:03:17 ruthless with yourself in the area of honesty. You must be ruthlessly honest. And don't try to justify yourself. Okay, I'll close with that verse. 1:03:33 Luke chapter 16. This is the last verse I want to read. Luke 16. Anybody who justifies himself, 1:03:53 that means he tries to prove that I'm okay when he's not okay. That means he tries to declare Justify means I declare myself to be righteous when God doesn't think so. Let me say this respectfully, but truthfully, God detests you. 1:04:17 D E T E S T. God detests you. As the King James version puts it, you are an abomination in God's eyes. Abomination. That is used in the Old Testament for 1:04:36 what you flush in the toilet. What you flush out in the toilet is what's called an abomination in the Old Testament. You are an abomination in God's eyes. Who? You who justify yourself in the sight of men is an abomination in God's eyes. 1:04:56 Dear brother, sister, be dreadfully afraid to justify yourself. Better to humble yourself and acknowledge your guilt even in anything that you heard today. I hope you know that I love you brothers 1:05:14 and sisters. >> [clears throat] >> I love you so much that I'm willing to be unpopular in my preaching. People don't love you so much. Many people seek popularity so much. It means they don't love you. They seek their own popularity. 1:05:31 That's why they preach all these gentle messages that hurts nobody, that convicts nobody. But I'm not going to be like that. I love you too much for that. I don't believe that I can preach a message if I don't love the people I 1:05:44 speak to. So, I hope you will take this seriously. And those who justify themselves are an abomination to God, and I trust that none of you will justify yourself, but will come before God in brokenness and humility and say, "Lord, show me. 1:06:02 There may be something I don't see in my life. Maybe there is somebody who I have not forgiven. Maybe there is somebody deep down in my heart, some person who did something to me last year or something, and it's just still bothering 1:06:12 me. That usually bothers you when you go to bed at night. You go to bed at night and think of some think about somebody in a bad way? Ah, that's the one you need to forgive. Okay? Let's pray. Please bow your heads and for a 1:06:29 moment be still and ask God to show you if there's anyone you have not forgiven. Number one. And if there is name the person to God. You don't have to say it publicly. In your thoughts, Lord, 1:06:49 this person who's done harm to me, I forgive him right now. And this other person who's done harm to me, I will forgive that person right now. And this other person and this other person and maybe this family and maybe that other person, last year. 1:07:09 And Lord, I remember now, 5 years ago somebody did something terrible to me and I just couldn't forgive him. Or this other person who did some harm to my children. Boy, I just couldn't forgive that person, but I forgive him today. 1:07:24 Lord Jesus, in your presence I forgive because you have forgiven me, a criminal and a sinner, so much. I've committed so many sins and you just blotted it out with your blood. Right now, in your name, I forgive this this this this and all 1:07:40 the other people people I don't remember. Lord, I forgive them as well. And I'm not saying this because I want to go to heaven, Lord. I'm saying this because I want fellowship with you now, on this earth. I'm not interested in heaven, I'm 1:07:56 interested in fellowship with you. And I'm saying this not to go to heaven. I'm saying this because I want fellowship with you, Lord Jesus, right now, every day. And heaven will be just an extension of that fellowship. Help me, Lord, to walk with you 1:08:14 in humility. Not to judge others, that's your business. I don't want to sit on the judge's seat. Only God is the only righteous judge. I'm sorry for the times I've sat there, Lord. Forgive me. Let me take the place of the witness 1:08:32 in the court, not the judge. You told me to be a witness, not a judge. Help me to be a witness about my savior. A witness about what my savior has done for me. Not to be a judge of anybody. Heavenly Father, I believe there are 1:08:52 really some sincere people here who are praying to you right now. Father in heaven, please give them an assurance in their heart that you've heard their cry and forgiven them and cleanse them in the blood of Jesus 1:09:10 Christ so that they need not be condemned and the promise in Hebrews 8:12 Your sins and your iniquities I will not remember anymore. Take it. The sins and iniquities the Lord says I will not remember anymore. And if God does not remember it, you 1:09:29 don't have to remember it either. And Lord, now I pray another thing. Please help us all who have forgiven others to remain in that spirit from now until you come again. So that tomorrow if somebody does something against us, we forgive them 1:09:45 immediately. We don't wait for a meeting like this. We forgive them immediately. And give us also grace, Lord, to go and ask forgiveness from anybody we have hurt with our words. We don't want to be super sensitive or oversensitive 1:10:01 and stupidly go and ask people forgiveness unnecessarily. But where we are really convicted that we have really harmed somebody, we want to really ask forgiveness where they know we have harmed them. Lord, we want to be a pure church here 1:10:15 in Austin. We don't want to be a third-rate church like so many other churches in the world. We want a pure, strong church. A church in which you, Lord Jesus, can come and find delight. And like heavenly Father, as you said 1:10:29 about Jesus, "This is my son in whom I'm well pleased." That you'll be able to say about CFC Austin, "This is a church in whom I'm well pleased." Give wisdom to the elders, Lord. That their task is not easy. Please give anointing and grace to the 1:10:47 elders to lead this church forward from strength to strength. Help us, Lord. It's We don't say it is an easy task to serve your people or to build a church, but we know that with the power of the Holy Spirit we will do a first class job by the grace 1:11:04 of God. Bless every elder brother here with an anointing. Give them boldness to speak the truth and give them compassion to help the weak and the stumbling. Thank you, Father for hearing our prayer. 1:11:23 In Jesus' name. Amen.
