0:18 A couple of Sundays ago I'd spoken here on faith. Before that for two Sundays I'd spoken on grace. Now the reason for that is these are two of the most important words in the New Testament. 0:38 Very important because our salvation depends on it. Ephesians 2:8 says by grace are you saved through faith. And we need grace all the way from the time we are born again all the way till Christ comes again. You need all the time. 0:57 Grace upon grace we read in John chapter 1. It's not the same level. The Bible says grow in grace. And I like I've often said grace is God's hand reaching out from heaven saying take my gift. Faith is my hand reaching up 1:16 and saying thank you, Lord, and taking that gift. If God extends his hand and you don't extend your hand, you get nothing. If you extend your hand and there is no God who's extending his hand to you, again you get nothing. 1:30 So you need grace and you need faith. And we saw how there is a lot of false grace which proves that the real grace is very precious. Like I said people don't counterfeit brown paper and newspaper and toilet paper. 1:49 They counterfeit diamonds, gold, currency notes. Only something valuable is counterfeited. Grace is counterfeited. There's a lot of counterfeit grace. And just like if you went if you ever went to buy diamonds or gold in a store, you'd take someone who's 2:08 experienced. Not someone who's studied in a college about the theory of diamonds and gold. There could be a lot of clever people who've studied about minerals in colleges and got postgraduate degrees. But some uneducated goldsmith who's 2:26 dealt with gold will have a lot more experience. In the world of diamonds and gold, it is not study and knowledge but experience that matters. And so if you want to understand true grace, don't go to some scholar. But go to someone whose life manifests 2:50 that grace in increasing measure. The same with faith. Don't go to some scholar who can explain this verse and that verse about faith. But one whom you have seen living by faith. And there are very few people like that. 3:09 That's what I would go to. And there's so much of counterfeit grace, there's so much of counterfeit faith. I want to go to someone in whose life I've seen grace and faith, not someone who can preach theories. I have to warn you because 3:26 there are people who follow theories, young upstarts who got spin their own theories and who lead themselves and other people astray. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. I showed you this verse in 2 Peter 1:1 two Sundays ago where Peter speaks about 3:44 faith of the same kind as we have. Of the same kind as ours in 2 Peter 1:1. And three or four verses earlier in the previous chapter in 1 Peter 5 4:03 he says in 1 Peter 5:12, this is the true grace of God. These two verses are so close together. 1 Peter 5:12, this is the true grace of God. And two verses later, 2 Peter 1:1 this is a faith of the same kind as ours. Peter was so concerned 4:20 that people should not get a false grace and people should not get some kind of faith which is not the kind of faith Paul Peter says which I got. Do you want to get the type of faith that Peter had? The apostles had? Then listen to God's word. 4:38 See just like in grace I we saw in John chapter 1 that from Christ we receive grace upon grace upon grace and we need it all our life. And there is a fullness of grace that is in Christ that can gradually come to us. You know, we are like an empty cup. 4:56 We receive a little few drops when we are born again and the cup must be filled up grace and grace and grace and grace till one day the cup is full and we become completely like Jesus Christ in our character. Faith is also like that. 5:09 Just like it says grace upon grace we read in Romans chapter 1 uh Romans 1 and verse 16 I'm not ashamed of the gospel because for me Paul says the gospel is not a doctrine. 5:27 It's not a sermon. It's not a message. It is a power. The gospel is a power. Many Christians have received it as a message. A message is for people's heads. Minds. Power is for people's hearts. 5:47 The Bible says it's good that the heart is strengthened by grace. We don't receive power in our mind. We receive instruction in our mind. Power we receive in our hearts. The Pharisees had instruction. But they did not receive the power of 6:01 the Holy Spirit. So they could not follow Jesus. I fear that in faith many of us are trying to understand in our minds and the cleverer you are the more you can understand and explain. But some simple person who doesn't have 6:19 1/10 of the intelligence you have will have faith and come to a glorious life which you will never come to either in your life or your family life because it comes by faith in the heart. So remember like grace strengthens the 6:32 heart we saw in Hebrews 13:8 faith must be in the heart. And the difference between true false grace and true grace is false grace is in the mind, true grace is in the heart. The difference between false faith or counterfeit faith and true 6:46 faith is false faith is in the mind. You know, people who are clever are you like lawyers? This verse, that verse, the other thing, the other thing. These are the clever people who go astray. And there are people at two extremes of 6:57 understanding in faith. Both clever and both go astray. But then there are simple people who come to God with faith in the heart that's born of the Holy Spirit. They are the ones who live. So there's in Romans 1 it says 7:14 it is the power of God not for everybody. It's the power of God that brings salvation. Salvation means saved from sin. The real gospel is something that saves us from sin. But it's for everyone who believes, everyone who has faith. 7:33 Whoever he is. Whether it's a religious person like you or an intellectual person like the Greek or like it says in other places a barbarian. Uncultured, uneducated. Saved by faith. For in it in it, in this gospel which we see is a power, the 7:52 righteousness of God which is not a theoretical thing is revealed from faith to faith. From faith to faith to faith to faith to faith. Just like we saw grace to grace. You find faith also is something that has to grow. That's what scripture says. 8:11 And we saw in our last study, the righteous man further in verse 17, the righteous man shall live by faith. Not only be saved by faith but live by faith. Now unfortunately that phrase live by faith has been devalued like a lot of other terms in the New 8:29 Testament like currency is devalued. The word live by faith has been devalued till a lot of Christians when they talk about living by faith they think of some full-time worker who's not getting a regular salary and they say he's living by faith. 8:42 You never find that expression in the New Testament. I find that a lot of Christians who use lot of expressions which are never found in the New Testament. Like some people ask me, Brother Zac, do we have a sinful nature? I said, do you 8:57 find the word sinful nature in the Bible? No. Then tell me what you mean. Are you talking about the old man or you talking about the flesh? They say, no, no, no, I haven't thought about that. Then go back to the Bible and read the Bible and use 9:08 biblical language. Then I'll tell you what it means. But if you invent some word called sinful nature and ask me to explain it, I don't know what you mean. This is the problem with a lot of Christians. I think a lot of people you 9:18 also don't realize that the word sinful nature is never found in the New Testament. Never. What you need to know is the distinction between the old man and the flesh. And the reason why so many people are confused is because they don't know the 9:30 difference between the old man and the flesh. We've spoken about it enough here. And it's not our subject today. The righteous man shall live by faith, not the full-time worker. That's the first thing I want to tell you. 9:41 It's not full-time workers who live by faith. A righteous person. If you don't live by faith, you're not righteous. And if you're righteous, you got to live by faith. You're saved by faith and you live by faith. The initial salvation all the way up to 9:53 the end. Salvation has got three tenses, past, present, future. Saved from the penalty of sin once for all when we are born again. And every time we sin, when we confess it, we are saved from the penalty of that sin. 10:11 Saved from the power of sin. That's the present tense, day by day by day increasingly in our life from grumbling, complaining, murmuring, getting angry, lusting after women and hurting others and harming others, telling lies. 10:27 Loving the things of earth more than the things of heaven, all types of things that we need to be saved from. Seeking the honor of men, seeking to impress people instead of God. What a lot of things we need to be saved from, from 10:38 the power of sin which has destroyed us. And one day we'll be saved from the presence of sin completely where we will not even be tempted. So, salvation is from the penalty, the power, and the presence of sin and all of it is by 10:52 faith. So, it's because of confusion in the minds of people, they don't distinguish between past and present tense. You know, if you wrote if you wrote English and you didn't distinguish between past and present tense, you're 11:04 going to have very bad English or any language or future tense. It's one of the things they teach us in grammar, past tense, present tense, future tense. So, we need to understand that we got to live by faith, not just be saved, but 11:16 live by faith all the way. And that's why it's important for us to know what biblical faith is. First of all, as I told you, it's in the heart. Not in the mind. And let me repeat what I said earlier, Proverbs chapter 3 and verse 11:35 five. Proverbs is one of those rare, almost new covenant books in the Old Testament. He gives grace to the humble. You find that in Proverbs 3 verse 34. He scoffs at the scoffers. That means he 11:55 resists the proud. Exactly, it begins in Proverbs 3, not in James or Peter. And but look at Proverbs 3:5, trust in the Lord, not with your mind, but with your heart. And don't lean upon your mind when it comes to faith. 12:12 Got it? You want faith? Look for it in your heart, not in your mind. In other words, you don't come to faith by argument. You don't come to faith by study. You come to faith by the Holy Spirit giving it in your heart. It's 12:28 inexplainable. A lot of things in our mind we can explain. You know, in chemistry, two parts of hydrogen plus one part of oxygen is water. 2 + 2 is 4. This is all explainable. But there are certain things of the heart. For example, 12:45 you're deeply in love with your wife. I hope you are. But how do you explain that? I mean, can you explain it mathematically? You can say you do a lot of things for her. I'm not talking about that. How do you explain what's in your heart? 13:04 The real things, the things of real value are in the heart. Not in the mind. Eternal value. The mind is good for life on this earth, make money, do a good business, advance in your profession, come first in the class, a 13:20 lot of things. I'm not against that. But if God has given you a good mind, be thankful. But don't despise someone else whose IQ is lower than yours. God created him also. It's like a 13:36 white man looking down on a black man. Aha. You despise only those white people for looking down on dark-skinned people? When you are a clever person and you despise someone who is not so intelligent, you are guilty of the same 13:54 thing, brother. You who point a finger at others, you're guilty yourself. That's all in the mind. But faith is in the heart and in I find even among Christians there are people who can understand a certain doctrine so well and explain it 14:08 so well that they look down on somebody who can't explain it so well. I never get into theological arguments with people. You know why? I'll tell you. Because if I win a theological argument with somebody, it only proves two 14:22 things. One, I know the Bible better than him. And second, I'm cleverer than him. It's like they say in the criminal courts, it's not the guilty person who gets condemned and the innocent one who gets free, it's the one 14:38 who has the cleverer lawyer who escapes. Even if he's guilty. And the poor innocent guy, because he's got a poor lawyer, gets condemned to jail. It's cleverness. The whole world operates on that basis, business, clever people, lawyers, clever people, doctors, 14:54 clever people become great doctors. But in the kingdom of God it's in the heart. Romans chapter 10. Romans chapter 10. 15:12 Let me read to you verse 10. Romans 10:10, with the heart man believes resulting in righteousness. What about if with the mind a person 15:31 believes, it will not result in righteousness. It will produce a self-righteous Pharisee and an argumentative Christian. Because he depends on his mind, but faith in the heart. Now, I'll tell you how to distinguish between faith in the heart and faith in 15:49 the mind. Faith in the mind will not deliver you from sin. The righteous shall live by faith. Faith in the mind, a man can explain all the doctrines, but he still loses his temper. And if he's honest, he's still lusting 16:04 after women in his mind, even if he's 80 years old, he'll be lusting after women in his mind. He's not delivered from sin. He's got deception in his life. And worst of all, he's proud. Now, pride is not considered a sin by most people. 16:22 But do you know that the Bible says that the opposite of faith is pride? Do you know that verse? I like to show people verses that are in their Bible which they have never seen. It's in the Old Testament in the book of Habakkuk. 16:38 We just quoted a verse from Romans 1 just now, the righteous shall live by faith. Do you know where it is first mentioned? It's first mentioned in the Old Testament in the book of Habakkuk. Habakkuk is towards the end of the Old 16:56 Testament. It is just before Zephaniah and Haggai. You know, fourth or fifth book from the end of the Old Testament. Habakkuk after Micah and Nahum. In the book of Habakkuk in chapter 2, we read this expression that we found in 17:18 Romans 10. The righteous will live by faith. In the last part of verse 4, the righteous will live by faith. That's what Paul quotes in Romans 10:17. But he doesn't quote the first part of the verse which tells us the opposite of 17:36 the man who doesn't have faith. We would think that the opposite of the man who doesn't have faith is the unbeliever. The unbeliever and the man who has faith. No. He says the proud person and the man who has faith. You see the contrast? 17:51 It's very important to see that. It's the proud person who does not get grace. We saw that when we studied grace. And it's the proud person who won't have faith. So, it all depends on pride. I want to tell all of you. 18:10 Some of you are good-looking. Thank God for that. You didn't create your features. God created it. But if you are proud of it, you lose faith and grace. Some of you are intelligent. Again, you didn't create it. God gave it to you. 18:24 But if you are proud of it and look down on others, you lose faith and grace. Maybe some of you have done well in your profession or business, made a lot of money. It's God's goodness. But if you are proud of it, you lose faith and grace. 18:37 Maybe some of you know the Bible better than others. Good. But if you are proud of it, you lose faith and grace. Maybe some of you have become spiritual through the years and not like some others. If you are proud of it, you lose faith 18:50 and grace. You see how easy it is for us to be proud and the way we know whether we are proud is is there anybody you look down upon? Maybe people of another community. You know, there are people who say, "Oh, people of that community, they're always 19:09 like this." They won't get faith or grace. I never want to be like that. I come from the Syrian Christian tradition in Kerala where people are very proud of their ancestry. I come from such and such a family, from such and such a family. They they keep 19:27 their family names on the gates of their houses and let everybody know what a big family I came from. So, people sometimes tell me what their family were name is and they ask me which family I came from. I say, "I came from the family that was kicked out of 19:40 the Garden of Eden many thousands of years ago. I belong to that family. Sinners, born sinners, saved by the grace of God. I've got nothing else to boast about. I want to live like that all the days of my life. On the last day of my life, I shall 19:59 believe I'm a sinner saved by grace. Not a sinner, but a sinner saved from sin by the grace of God. It's a very dangerous thing, pride. There can be pride of all types of things. Yeah, I mentioned some of them. Spiritual pride 20:15 is the thing that stinks in God's presence more than anything else. So, if you want to understand true faith, dear brother sister, pursue humility. Pursue humility. That's the way. There There's a great verse in the Old 20:32 Testament which says, "Those who are humble seek for more humility." Uh that's a great verse. I think it's in Zephaniah. And if any of you think you're humble, seek for more humility. Zephaniah chapter 2 verse 3. All of you who are humble, 20:54 seek the Lord. All of you who have obeyed his commandments, seek the Lord. What should you seek for? You're already humble. Seek for more humility. Have you ever heard this exhortation? You humble brother, 21:13 seek for more humility. Are you Do you feel you're one of the humble brothers in CFC? Humble sisters? Seek for more humility. That's the way for more faith and more grace. It's a wonderful thing, you see, just like in a baby, 21:29 there's birth and growth. Birth is not enough. Birth is great. You can't have growth without birth. Just like when we spoke about grace, there's a foundation and a superstructure. Jesus spoke about a man who built a wanted to build a 21:45 tower and he laid the foundation and never went any further. There are people who talk about this foundational grace, where we are justified by grace, but don't grow in grace. They don't overcome sin. We studied that when we studied grace. 21:59 You need to perhaps go back and listen to those messages again. They're all on YouTube. In the same way, there's birth and growth in faith to faith. When it says birth and growth, so many people confuse that. I mean, I find a lot of Christians. 22:18 They're so happy that they are born born again. Boy, great. I'm born again. It's like parents who were barren for had no children for many years. Finally, they have a child and say, "Great. I've got a child now." And they never bother to 22:34 feed it or clothe it or educate it. What's going to happen to that child? Even though it was a miraculous birth, in a few years, it's dead. Then all you can glory in is, "My child was born on such and such a date." That's exactly how it is with many 22:54 Christians. Born again on such and such a date. A child was born, but they never nurtured it. They've never allowed it to grow. Which of you parents will be like that? Which of you older parents have ever been like that with your children? 23:06 Were you happy that they were born, or you said, "Birth puts upon me an awesome responsibility to make sure we bring up that child that it'll grow." We all understand that when it comes to physical birth, but I'm sorry to say, most Christians do 23:22 not understand that when it comes to being born again. There's a growing up to salvation. Have you read that verse? How to grow up to salvation? May I show you another verse that you've never seen. 1 Peter 23:40 and chapter 2. If you're a baby, verse 1 Peter 2 verse 2, it's good. You're born again. He speaks about being born again in two verses earlier in 1 Peter 1:23. New birth, born again by the word of 23:59 God. How were you born again? 1 Peter 1:23, by the word of God. There's no other way, and by the Holy Spirit. Now, as a newborn babe, 1 Peter 2:2, you again need the word of God to grow to salvation. What is this growing up to 24:18 salvation? I thought I'm already saved. No, he says, "You got to grow up to salvation." To salvation from the power of sin. A lot of people are born, they think only that. Think of your little child. Think of how much pain and effort and labor you put 24:33 in to bring up that child. Birth is an act of a moment. Your child is born, they can even put a time on this birth certificate, at such a particular time, born. Growth, you can't put a time on it. All the time. Don't you love to see your children grow 24:52 taller, better, every class to class, promoted? That's how it should be in our Christian life, by faith. Birth and growth. It's very important for us to understand this. In the Old Testament, there was not much emphasis on faith. 25:11 And the reason was because God was not revealed as a father. No person in the Old Testament could say, "Oh Father." I mean, there are a few references in Isaiah where Isaiah says, "Oh, you are our father." But nobody dares to 25:28 stand before God and say, "Oh Father." The first human being that walked on this earth who dared to call God Father directly was Jesus Christ. Nobody dared to call him Father before that. Nobody could 25:45 because he was the son of God. And the wonderful thing Jesus did when he died on the cross and took the punishment for all our sins so that our past could be wiped out completely. And that's not the end. And sent the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost to 26:02 come and dwell in our hearts so that we can be born again. And we can grow. And the Spirit of God, the first thing that he does when he comes into a heart of a born again child is cry out, "Daddy." In the Hebrew, Abba. You read that in Romans 8: 26:22 14 to 16. The Spirit of God comes within us and cries out, "Daddy." You know how delighted you are when the first time your little baby says, "Mama." "Papa." You don't You Your joy is only a 26:45 fraction of the joy God feels when he hears somebody say to him, "Daddy." Do you believe that? That's one of the great truths of the New Testament about God. 27:04 God is a father. Not just the master of the universe, but a father. This is what changed my life completely theoretically in my mind. I knew him as a father from the time I was born again, when I was 19 and a half. But 27:25 I would sin. I would be anxious. How can you be anxious when your almighty God is your father? Theoretically, he was. I didn't know him as a father in my heart. I knew in my mind. If you'd give me a question paper, "Is God your father?" I 27:42 would say yes. Tick yes or no. Yes. There's a lot of difference between knowing him in your mind and the Holy Spirit revealing. I felt in those years, for 16 years after I was born again, I was like a child whose father was 27:58 working in some distant country and whom I'd only seen photographs of for 16 years. I was not an orphan because I had a father, but he was living in some distant country. Think if you were a child who'd never seen your father from the time of your 28:16 birth for 16 years. You're not an orphan, you have a father. He sends you money now and then to take care of you, but he's never hugged you. He's never kissed you. He's never spoken to you lovingly. You read some letters of his now and 28:33 then in the Bible, and you know he's there, but that is the condition of many, many believers. Do you know one of the great privileges you have in the New Testament? It's to know God in your heart as a father. To talk to him every day. 28:51 To hear him talk to you. This is my life now. Every day. I don't glory in my knowledge of the Bible. Knowledge of the Bible is not eternal life. Knowledge of the God as a father, that is eternal life. It doesn't matter if you don't know the 29:09 Bible much. Do you know that for 1,400 years, Christians never had a printed Bible? Printing was not discovered. And even in the early days, the epistles of Paul were handwritten and a few people had copies of it. Most Christians never had one. 29:25 But they had the Holy Spirit. They could cry out, "Daddy." That was their faith. And that's how they grew. They grew not by Bible study. You know, we have so many groups today who have Bible studies. I'm not against it. 29:42 I wish we had more knowledge of the Father. That's what we need. More knowledge of God as our loving father. This is eternal life. That they might know thee, the only true God. And Jesus Christ whom thou has sent. That means to know God as a father. 30:00 And Jesus spoke so much about a father. And I want to show you a few things that Jesus spoke which stirred up faith. Turn to Matthew chapter 7. This is how we can have faith. Jesus said in Matthew chapter 7, 30:21 this is how we grow in faith. We are born of faith. And we grow in faith. Matthew 7 and verse 10. Uh verse 9, sorry. Matthew 7:9. What father is there among you if his son asks for a loaf of bread? He won't 30:41 give Will he give him a stone? Will you give a stone to your son if he asks for bread as a father? No. If he asks you for fish, will you pick up a snake and give it to him? What simple illustrations Jesus used. I love that. My own mind thinks 31:00 in pictures, in illustrations. That's how I study the Bible. That's why it's become so living for me. Because my savior taught the Bible like that with pictures and illustrations. He wasn't like the Pharisees giving great lectures on unintelligible 31:17 doctrines. He used simple examples which even an ordinary person could understand because God has hidden these things from the clever and the intelligent. He's revealed them to so that even the illiterate person can understand. An 31:29 illiterate person knows what a father is. And he says, "Will you fathers give a snake to a child who asks for fish?" No. And he says, "Compared to God, all of you are evil." Compared to God, every father is evil. I mean, God is so such a good father 31:46 that the best father on earth is You know, God is a hundred. The best father on earth is pretty close to zero. 0.001. God is a hundred. And if you know how to give good gifts to your children, being a zero 0.0001% father, can you imagine how much a 32:06 hundred percent father will give good things to those who ask him? I believe that. I believe it with all my heart. Sometimes our mind says, "Hey, but why didn't he answer this prayer?" And our mind says, "What about that other 32:21 thing?" And a lot of people argue. Clever people come and argue, "What about this? What about that? Why has he allowed so much poverty in the world? Why has he allowed babies to be born with AIDS? Why are there so many beggars 32:29 and lepers in the world?" Brother, you can live with all your intellectual questions because you're so clever. You'll just mess up your life. I know in my heart I cannot answer all your clever questions. But I know in my 32:43 heart that my dad in heaven is a good God. Some of these things I can't explain because I'm not as clever as you. And certainly not as clever as God. If I were as clever as God, I could give you 10,000 answers to all your questions. 33:00 But I'm not as clever as God, and that's why I can't answer some of these questions I mentioned. I acknowledge some of these questions I don't have an answer. God says, "My ways are not your ways. My thoughts are not your thoughts. 33:13 As the heaven is high above the earth, that's the difference between God's thoughts and mine. That's why I can't explain these things. But in my heart, I know God's a good God. He's my father. He cares for me. That's why I can be free from anxiety. 33:28 That's why I can believe that he'll make everything work for my good, that he'll give me good things when I ask him. When I ask him for the Holy Spirit, he's not going to give me an evil spirit. I ask for fish, he's not going to give 33:38 me a snake. Why are people afraid to ask for the Holy Spirit? There are unbelievers who say, "Oh, brother, be careful when you pray for the Holy Spirit, you may get an evil spirit." What have you got in heaven? A devil or 33:48 a heavenly father? He's going to give you a snake when you ask for fish? Have you read the Bible? How much more will your heavenly father give good things to those who ask him? That's the first thing we need to know about God. 34:04 That he gives good things. Let me turn you to the same passage in Luke 11. Same passage. In Luke 11. Sometimes comparing the gospels, we see something more of what Jesus said. Luke 11 verse 11. 34:22 Now, suppose one of you fathers is asked by son for a fish, will he give him a snake instead of a fish? No. If he asks for an egg, will he give him a scorpion? You see, a snake can look like a fish and a scorpion can look like an egg. That's 34:35 why he uses such examples. The snake looks like a fish and a scorpion looks like an egg. The Lord's not going to give you something that looks like the real thing. He's going to be give you the real thing. And you know, a loaf of bread can a 34:48 stone can look like a loaf of bread. So, he says, "If you ask for bread, he won't give you a stone. And if you ask for an egg, he will not give a scorpion." And then again, the same word, "If you being evil fathers, you know how to give good gifts 35:02 to your children." But this time, notice what he says. "How much more will your heavenly father give the best possible gift that heaven can ever give to his children?" What is that? The Holy Spirit. My life was changed when God filled me 35:19 with the Holy Spirit. Dear brothers and sisters, honor the Holy Spirit. Value the Holy Spirit. Don't be turned away by the extreme fanatical things that some people who claim to have the Holy Spirit do. 35:38 Whenever I think of a spirit-filled man, I think of Jesus. The perfect spirit-filled man. I never see him pushing people down. I see him lifting people up. I never 35:58 see him falling on the dark ground and kicking his legs and laughing. No. I don't see the Apostle Paul doing those things either. Another spirit-filled man. So, when I see all these crazy antics of people today who claim to be filled 36:14 with the spirit, it doesn't disturb me one bit. And if you insist on going to such a meeting to see what's happening, I'll give you a verse to go with. Psalm 91. A thousand will fall on my left side and 10,000 on my right, but it will not come 36:34 near me. And another verse in Jude. Jesus is able to keep you from falling. Isn't that wonderful? Go with those two verses when Whenever you want to go and visit such meetings. Psalm 91 and Jude. Great. What I say is so many people have wrong 36:54 understanding of the Holy Spirit, so they turn away. But I want to invite you to really seek God to be baptized. Baptized means immersed in the Holy Spirit like you were immersed in the baptism tank one day, and your whole body was covered under 37:09 water. I remember once when we had a baptism tank here, one tall brother was being baptized, and he didn't go in fully. Went up to here or something. And I said, "Dip him again. This upper part is the most important part that has 37:22 to go to death under the water." Cuz all our problem comes from up above here. Put him under the water. So, he dipped him again. He completely submerged. And that's how God submerges us under the Holy Spirit. It's like standing 37:39 under a waterfall, completely drenched. Seek for that. Seek for it. There are people who despise water baptism. There are people who despise baptism of the Holy Spirit. But that is the answer to the Christian life, to be filled with God's Holy 37:54 Spirit. The real thing that makes First of all, that makes the Father real to you. Real. By faith, you receive the spirit. How much more he'll give the Holy Spirit. Galatians chapter 3. I want you to turn 38:11 to Galatians chapter 3. In Galatians 3, we read the mistake that many Christians make today when seeking for the Holy Spirit's power. This is the Galatians were also making. And Paul is so strong. He says, "You 38:30 foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?" Now, if you heard a preacher stand up here and say, "You foolish brothers and sisters, who has put a spirit of witchcraft on you?" You'd say, "Brother, that preacher is not very Christ-like." 38:48 That's what you'd say. You know, you'd be accusing the Holy Spirit who inspired scripture of being un-Christ-like. Do you believe this verse is inspired scripture? Do you believe the Holy Spirit speaks like that? Do you believe the Holy Spirit says, 39:03 "You foolish people, who has put a spirit of witchcraft on you?" I tell you, we need more spirit-filled preachers like that today to deliver Christians from deception. This soft, gentle type of approach will not deliver people. 39:19 You can't massage a person and get rid of his cancer. You got to take a knife and cut him open. All these doctors who fool you that with massage, I'll get rid of your cancer. Don't go to them. Got to go to a doctor who's got a knife. 39:32 He'll deliver you from your cancer. It's the same spiritually. All these people who give you soft massages with their words, they don't deliver you. Look at your condition today. Look at your family condition. Look at the bossy wives that live in our homes. 39:45 They're listening to all these preachers who massage them. Look at the people defeated by anger after so many years. Look at the people who say CFC speaks too much about sin. Well, if there's cancer, there's cancer. If this scan shows cancer, you better 39:59 face up to it and be delivered from it. How many of you would be happy to say, "Well, the doctor said I've only got 10% chance of cancer, so I'm not going for a checkup. I'm all okay." 10% chance of cancer and you ignore it? I 40:11 wouldn't. If a doctor told me I had 1% chance of cancer, I'd say, "Doctor, get rid of it." What about if you have this 1% chance that you're a defeated Christ-dishonoring Christian? Foolish Galatians, we need strong preaching, I tell you, in our pulpits. 40:31 We have a soft, pampered Christianity, and that's why Christ's name is so dishonored on earth today. You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? You someone who ask you something. I'll tell you. Paul never spoke like that to the 40:47 Romans. You know why? Cuz he never planted the church in Rome. He never spoke like that to the Colossians because he never planted the church there. But he planted the churches in Galatia, so he could speak like that. To the Corinthians, the church he 41:05 planted, he could say, "Shall I come to you with a rod?" Because he said to them, "You can have 10,000 teachers, but you have only one father. I'm your father." As a father, I have four sons. I spoke more strongly to them than to any other child in the 41:22 world. I discipline my four sons more than I I never discipline other people's children. It's none of my business. I remember one one young brother once asked me in another country when I was there in the United States. 41:39 He said, "Brother Zac, I find that when you preach in CFC, you preach so strong and hard. I see those messages on YouTube. But then I see when you preach in some churches in other countries, you speak so graciously." He said, "Why is that?" 41:56 I said, "I'll tell you. Because in CFC, those are my children. The other people I preach to, they're not my children. I discipline my children very strongly. I speak to my children very strongly, but I don't speak to other children, 42:10 other people's children. I mean, do you speak to other people's children the way you speak to your own children? No. I said, "That's the difference." So, the brother said, "We want to listen to the message you give to your 42:21 children." So, how to find out on YouTube which are the messages you speak to your children? Tell us the color of the curtain in CFC behind your back, then we can detect it as soon as a message starts where this was spoken, and those are the ones we 42:35 listen to. Think of the passion of some of these young people to hear strong messages. It'll go well with such people. So, he says to them, this is the question. Did you receive the spirit through the works of the law 42:58 or by the hearing with faith? Verse two, the last part. Did you receive the Holy Spirit by doing so many works, you know, the law commanded, pray so many times, fast so many times, give money so many times? Did you do all that and thus, after so 43:17 many years of praying and fasting and giving money, at last you got the Holy Spirit. Is that how you got it? He tells the Galatians, "You did nothing. On the day you were believed in Jesus Christ, you opened your heart to be 43:31 filled with the spirit, and you hadn't prayed, you hadn't fasted, you hadn't given any money. You received the Holy Spirit." Teaching us just like salvation, you cannot earn it. Receiving the power of the Holy Spirit, it's a gift. 43:48 And when a king gives you a rich gift, you give your little 10 rupees to him, he'll feel insulted. You know what he'll do? He'll take back the gift. You're trying to pay me 10 rupees for this expensive gift I give you? I really believe, brothers and sisters, 44:06 the reason why many, probably people sitting here, have never really been filled with the Holy Spirit is because you're trying to earn it. Think of all the multitudes of people around the world who are trying to earn forgiveness 44:21 of sins. Have they got it? No. They cannot believe in a God who gives forgiveness freely. There is a saying that the devil is always stealing. Human beings are always selling. 44:41 And God is always giving things free. It's like that. Everything God gives us free. Look at the rain that falls from heaven. You pay for it? All that lovely, pure water. What about the water you get from the Bangalore water supply board? 44:59 Oh, you better pay for that. Look at the oxygen God gives you every day. Volumes and volumes of oxygen free. Go to some hospital and ask them to give you a little can of oxygen. You better pay for it. That's how it is. 45:18 God gives everything free. Man will sell. He'll sell oxygen. He'll sell water. He'll sell everything. And salvation as well. You go to that church, they say you got to pay your tithe. And if you pay your tithe, then God will 45:35 bless you. God is not a human being. He doesn't sell. He's not a businessman. You can't do business with God. You can't give money to God and expect his blessing. But there are people who do that. There are born-again people who think 45:51 that if I give some money to God, God will bless me. And we are about one of the only churches that preaches the opposite. That's why we don't take an offering in this church. Because we want people to We want We need money for the church. I mean, we 46:06 need a lot of money to do our web ministry itself. Costs such a lot in buildings. And we're going to have a new conference hall. It's going to a lot of money. It requires that, but we don't go begging. No, never. That's living by faith 46:25 even in the areas of finances. We receive freely. God gives us the spirit freely. And I'll tell you the two most important gifts I got in my life, most important. I've received many gifts from many people, but the two most 46:38 important gifts I got in my life was forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ and the power of God through the Holy Spirit. And they both were given to me absolutely free by God. And when God has given me his most expensive gifts free, 46:55 I should also give what God has given me freely to others. That's what we have taught in this church. That's why Ian Robson and I, when we started this church, decided that we would never take 1 rupee from this church for our services. And we 47:11 have served for nearly 38 years and never taken 1 rupee from this church. And whenever the church does spend something on us, we pay it back. Either we or our children pay it back in one way or the other, so that the we are 47:27 never will receive because what we give to the church is not a great thing that we do by giving to others what God gives us freely. I mean, think of this. You remember when Jesus multiplied the five loaves and two fishes. 47:42 And the disciples went about distributing. They were in little groups of 50, those 5,000 people sitting there, 100 groups. And wait, imagine 5,000 people. Can you imagine how far that last group was sitting? Have you seen a crowd of 5,000 people? 47:57 That last group was sitting so far away, they wouldn't even have known uh seen this many many meter, hundreds of meters away, Jesus multiplying the loaves. And then this disciple comes with the basket of loaves. And he said, "Loa- loaves." And the 48:12 disciples say, "You got to pay for this. This is expensive." And he starts collecting money from them. Can you imagine one of those disciples doing that? Do you think they did it? They do it today. They do it today 48:31 in many churches. The spiritual loaves that Almighty God has multiplied and blessed and given to that servant of God, he passes on and he says, "Pay up." I know Pentecostal preachers myself 48:54 who say this. People come to this church to listen to my preaching. They are blessed by it, and they give money. So, I deserve that money. And they collect the money not in small offering boxes like ours, in buckets. 49:14 Women come and put their earrings and ornaments, and they and the pastor and his wife take that bucket home and count it at home. You don't believe it? They are some names that you know. 49:34 And then he's he pays his assistants. This is today's Christianity. And I'll tell you these are not the type of servants of God that Jesus called. I have observed Christian workers who claim to live by faith. We're talking 49:51 about faith. In this country for 54 years. And I've said as I've said before, I've seen two types of Christian workers in India. Sometimes when I speak to a non-Christian about Christ I have to first tell him 50:11 the Christianity I'm talking about is not what you have seen in 95% of Christians. They're humbugs. They're hoaxes. They're counterfeit. I'm talking about you about real Christianity that you may see among 5% of Christians in this country. 50:26 That you see in Jesus Christ. And in those who are really following him. So as I said, I see these two types of Christian workers. One those who never did a secular job in their whole life. They went straight from school to Bible 50:44 school because they didn't do well enough to go to a Bible college to go to a secular college. Never earned a never did an honest day's work to earn their money earn living. And what is the result? When they go out to serve the Lord 51:03 they've never sacrificed anything to serve the Lord. I mean, if they had a really good job and sacrificed it you say, "Hey, guy paid a price. Must be something real to his faith." But if a person had no job and he was employed by some Christian organization 51:21 to be a preacher or a pastor or a Christian worker and to send reports every now and then to America or somewhere to get money. Well, he hasn't lost anything. He's gained. There are Christian workers in in our land today 51:34 who earn 10 times what they would have got if they were in a secular job. Is that profitable? Godliness has become a means of profit for them. These are the ones who bring disgrace on the name of Jesus Christ. When Jesus 51:47 came to earth did he get a higher salary on earth or a lower? Did he come to more comfort or less comfort? When you say you follow Jesus, he came from heaven. It was a tremendous step down to earth. Those are the Christian workers I want 52:03 to meet in my life. And I'll tell you from my experience, those are the ones that have blessed me the most. And you read in the Gospels that every disciple whom Jesus called, all 12 of them they were secular they were in secular 52:21 employment when Jesus called them. Jesus never went to a fellow who failed in high school and say, "Come be a be my disciple." Because there'd have been no sacrifice. There'd have been a His name would have been disgraced by saying Jesus calls all 52:34 these unemployed people and gives them a job. He never called one unemployed person. That is the folly of preachers who come from Western countries who want to promote their organization and there are multitudes of unemployed people in this country who 52:48 are ready to preach anything you tell them to preach if you pay them a salary. You want me to be a Jehovah's Witness? I'll be a Jehovah's Witness. How much will you pay me? The Mormon says, "I'll pay you more." Okay, then my faith is Mormon. Some 53:01 Baptist churches, "I'll pay you more." Then you become a Baptist. I've seen this happen. People have a great burden for radio ministry because they got a job there. Suddenly switches to child ministry because they offered a better salary. 53:13 This type of humbug is not living by faith. So when we think of living by faith, remember the righteous shall live by faith. That's how we all of us are called to live. It's a wonderful thing. God is a father. I want you to see another thing about 53:31 God as a father that Jesus explained. In Luke chapter 15, God's Jesus spoke about God as a father who welcomed back a son who had messed up his whole life. The story of the prodigal son, you all know. 53:51 He ran away with half his share of the He didn't took it legally from his father. "Give me my share of the property." Two sons. "Give me 50%." He took his share and went off, wasted it all. And finally ended up with the pigs 54:04 eating pigs food. Rock bottom. And then he came back. And it says he did not run. The father ran to welcome him. Picture this a sinner slowly coming back and God running 54:22 to welcome him. This is the picture Jesus painted about a father. That's why the Jesus told Peter "Peter you're going to deny me three times today. You're going to reach the level of the pigs." I believe it's that. When you deny Jesus Christ who did so 54:41 much for you you've reached the level of the pigs like the prodigal son. And Jesus said, "When you get there he didn't stop him from going there. The father did not stop the prodigal son from going there. Some Some prodigal 54:56 children need to go there to learn a lesson. But when you get there don't lose your faith. When you get to the level of the pigs, don't forget that your father will run to welcome you if you come back. That's the picture God 55:12 gave of a father who welcomes sinners not after they have changed but who want to change. Who have turned around and say, "Lord, I'm still defeated by so many sins. But Dad, I want to change." Do you want to change? God will run to welcome you. 55:32 This is the picture. So this is how we have faith. Faith in a father who's so eager to bless you like fathers bless their children. A father who's so eager to run to welcome you back. That is faith. 55:51 I want to say one more mark of faith is Luke chapter 18. The three things about a father. One is a father who gives us good gifts, not snakes and scorpions. And the other is a father who runs to welcome a person who's made a mess of 56:09 his life. And the third is a father who will never Luke 18 forget to hear your cry when you cry for justice. He speaks here about a widow. He used a 56:28 parable, Luke 18. There was a widow, verse three. Who was being oppressed obviously by some neighbor because she was a widow, no male member in the home. Husband has died, no male children. Probably no female children also. 56:42 And the neighbor is oppressing her, taking her property little by little or whatever it was. She goes to a judge and says, "Please give me protection." Luke 18:3 from my opponent, my enemy. And the judge was unwilling. But this widow kept on persisting, kept 56:58 on knocking at his door at 2:00 in the morning. Midnight knocking at the door and the judge got fed up. This woman is persistent. And he says, "Even though I don't fear God and I don't respect man." verse four. "Because this widow bothers me, 57:11 I'll give her legal protection." He had that power. And he said, "Okay, I'll give it." Legal protection. That means what she legally deserves to get. Otherwise she'll wear me out. And the Lord said "Just like I contrasted evil fathers 57:26 with a good father I'm contrasting an evil judge with a loving God up in heaven. If this unrighteous judge will do this much for a widow who persists and persists and persists don't you think a God who loves you in heaven, a father 57:45 will hear you and bring justice for you against Satan against your enemies if you cry to him day and night? Verse seven. That's one thing the Lord taught us. One mark of faith is 58:04 I pray and I know I will get an answer. That's the lesson here. If that widow could get it from an unrighteous judge I will certainly get it from my loving father. But the Lord says 58:22 "By the time I come back to earth." Verse eight, last part. "How many will I find on earth having this type of faith?" I tell you there are very few even today. So that's the third mark of faith in a father. One who 58:40 will definitely hear my prayer. You may have to persist. But the mark of your faith is you don't give up asking. Because you're asking a father. And you say, "Why does Why do we have to ask our father so many times?" It's not 58:57 for his sake. I have found that persistence in prayer is what plows up the ground in our heart heart so that when God sows the seed it'll sprout and produce a good fruit. If God gave it like that 59:14 as soon as I ask I get the seed sown, it's on rocky ground. Nothing will come of it. But I have found through the years as I'm praying for something and I pray and I fast and I seek God. I remember 10 years I prayed that I would see a new 59:29 covenant church. Some people pray for one week and hope to see it answered. I prayed for 10 years before I saw a church being born. How precious it is when Abraham waited 25 years and got a son. We value those things which we have 59:46 persisted and prayed for. Don't give up. One mark of faith is one mark of genuine faith is that you don't give up when you pray to your father. You know he's better than any unrighteous judge, he will bring justice for you. He will answer 1:00:03 that prayer. And especially when I hear that challenge from Jesus, "Will I find such faith in anybody when I time when I return to earth?" That the coming of the Lord is near. And he's saying, "Do I find people like that with such faith?" I want to raise 1:00:18 my hand and say, "Lord, I want to be one like that." Among a million Christians, I may be one. I hope you'll be another. I hope many in this church will raise their hands and say, "Lord, I'm going to be one of those who will have that faith that persists 1:00:32 and doesn't expect that I prayed once and I should get an answer." That's faith. That's living faith. Let's bow our heads before God. Our heavenly father, we bow before you. 1:00:56 We want your name to be glorified in our life. We want to live by faith. Saved by faith and to live by faith. The type of faith that we've just read of. Faith in you as a loving daddy who cares for us, who will answer our prayers. 1:01:17 Who will welcome us with wide open arms, running to embrace us and hug us when we have messed up our life. Thank you, father, that we have known you as such. I pray that everyone here will know what it is to be filled with the Holy Spirit. 1:01:37 Not just as an experience, but something that helps them to know you as a loving daddy in heaven. Pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
