0:00 [Music] because he's planned your life before you were born. But with many people, God is not able to fulfill his purpose 0:18 because during that period of training, training of misunderstanding by others, trial, difficulty, financial hardship, so many things. If he's got a great ministry for you, he'll take you through a long period of trial. 0:35 God had a great ministry for David. He had 10 years of wandering in the desert. His life threatened almost every day. God had a great ministry for Joseph. He kept him in a prison for 13 years or at least 12 years 0:50 before he became second ruler in Egypt. God had an even greater ministry for Moses. So he took him away from Pharaoh's palace and looked after sheep for 40 years. And that was not the worst part of it. I don't know whether you've 1:08 noticed. He had to live with his father-in-law as I believe for 40 years. Jethro was his father-in-law and he had no other home there and Jethro had many daughters and he married one of 1:26 them and for 40 years he was looking after sheep. I mean to live with your father-in-law even for one year can be quite a test and how does God train his greatest servants by taking them through all types of trials and humiliation and 1:45 humbling and because of that I believe that even Jesus in the 30 years which are nothing is written about in scripture he must have gone through many many trials oppressed by his four younger brothers and two sisters you know when you have 2:00 to live with four younger brothers and two sisters. You're a young man, young boy, 13, 14 years old, and you have four brothers and sisters who are younger than you who are very irritated because you never sin. They try their best to 2:16 irritate you and you don't get irritated. That's how Jesus was. Can you imagine how frustrated they are? And they all gang up together and say, "We're going to irritate him tomorrow." And he doesn't get irritated again. And 2:28 day after day after day after day they try and try and try and Jesus lives without sin. You know there's a verse in the Bible which says when the Holy Spirit has come many people are many people when they seek 2:47 for the baptism of the Holy Spirit they seek for speaking in tongues. Let me tell you, brother, that's not the greatest gift. And I'll tell you why. Because Jesus never spoke in tonesues. His fellowship with the father was so 3:05 perfect that he did not need to speak in tonesues. Speaking in tonesues is a gift for imperfect people because communication with God is not so perfect. He it's a limitation. And particularly for those who are in leadership like Paul, he says, I thank 3:21 God I speak in tongu more than a few. But I'll tell you something more important which the Holy Spirit wants to give to all of us and that's what I sought for and God has shown me and has changed my life. Turn with me to John 3:36 chapter 16. You know sometimes we read a scripture and we don't see the depths of what is written there because scripture is a very deep well. Uh I don't know whether you have ever drawn water from a well. We have many 3:54 wells in India. In the house we lived in there was a well and you could draw water from it endlessly. You keep on drawing water there's always water there. You draw water after 10 15 years there's still water there. A well is a 4:08 wonderful thing. So God's word is like that. There's a depth there. You keep on getting revelation and there's more there. There's more there. And I am constantly discovering new things in scripture. I've discovered new things 4:21 even this year which I hadn't discovered in the last 65 years of reading the Bible. It's an amazing well of revelation. So people who don't read God's word, they missed out on tremendous lot. Imagine getting to heaven and 4:36 discovering that I missed out on so much of God's word. Okay. John chapter 16 verse 13. When the Holy Spirit has come, he will guide you into all the truth. 4:54 Okay? What is the truth? You don't have to define it. John 14 verse 6. Jesus said, "I am the truth." Put scripture with scripture. Jesus said, "I am the truth." Then go to John 5:14 16:13. The spirit of truth will guide you into all the truth. That he means he will show you more about the life of Jesus. That is the primary ministry of the Holy Spirit to guide me to show me how Jesus life 5:30 was. Okay. A little further. And he will verse 14 glorify me because he will take of the things of mine and disclose it to you. Disclose is a word called connected to reveal. He will 5:50 reveal it to you. Reveal is connected to the word revelation. Revelation is different from understanding. In the Old Testament, you never find the word revelation. That's a New Testament word. Understanding is comes by study. 6:08 Revelation comes through the Holy Spirit showing us something which doesn't come by study. It's just he just opens our mind to see something which is you cannot discover by study. The Pharisees understood the Bible by study. 6:28 Study study study study. That's why they were some of them were called scribes. And they spent years studying. And if you wanted to know what the Old Testament law said about something, you go to the scribe and the scribe will 6:39 tell you, "Okay, let me turn to page so and so and this is what it means." But all those people who studied the scripture so much the entire Old Testament pointed to Jesus. How do I know that? I don't have time to show you. take time to read it 6:57 sometime in John in Luke 24 when Jesus was walking with the two disciples to Emmas it says he do you meditate on scripture I'll tell you how I meditate on scripture let me give you an example I don't have time to turn there Luke 24 it says Jerusalem to 7:16 Emmas was 7 miles I don't just read that and move on I meditate I'll tell you how I'm giving you an example how I meditate I say, "Okay, how long does it take to have a leisurely walk for seven miles?" Did you ever think of that when you read 7:35 that verse? Yeah. It must take maybe 3 hours if you walk about 2 miles in 1 hour in a leisurely pace. Maybe more than three. Okay. Three or four hours. And then I go on in the same chapter Luke 24. It says 7:55 Jesus began to open the scriptures to them from throughout the Old Testament from the law and the prophets. That is the way they described Old Testament in those days. Law and the prophets. So 8:13 the entire Old Testament which is we call Genesis to Malachi. He opened up to them. That means he explained to them not every page but the important truths because Jesus in one place said the scriptures speak about me. That means 8:29 about him. So all the old testament spoke about Jesus right from Genesis 3 the seed of the woman will crush the serpent's head. Jesus or in numbers the serpent lifted up in the wilderness. The picture of Jesus hanging in on the cross 8:47 dying for us. The rock smitten. Jesus being smitten so that rivers of living water can come for us. The entire Old Testament like this. Right up to Malachi, the son of righteousness. Su n, son of righteousness, Jesus. So the 9:03 entire Old Testament speaks about Jesus. Every book there's something about Jesus. And it says in Luke 24, he opened the scriptures from Genesis to Malachi and showed them about himself. Wow, what a Bible study that must have 9:19 been for 3 hours. And it says in the and then at the end it says Luke 24, he revealed himself to them. All of a sudden they didn't know it was Jesus. They thought it was some man who's knew the Bible well. And then he disappeared. 9:32 And then you know they said to one another in Luke 24 these two I believe they were a husband and wife because they were living in one house and whenever we read two disciples we conceited men think they must be men why 9:45 not think that one could be a woman I believe it was a couple who stayed in one house and Jesus in they invited Jesus to their house and then Jesus went away so here's this couple to whom Jesus had explained this and they say uh at 9:59 the end of it when they were in their home Didn't our heart burn within us as he opened up the scriptures? Have you ever been in a threehour Bible study where every moment of those three hours your heart was burning with revelation, 10:15 revelation, revelation? It's amazing when Jesus teaches the scriptures to you how it'll be. I'm sorry to say there are many believers who cannot even think of five minutes that they have spent with Jesus 10:34 studying the scriptures with their heart burning with revelation. They use their mind so much not the heart. They read, they understand, they compare it this they compare this commentary that commentary and they get a lot in their 10:47 head but nothing in their heart. These people their hearts burned for three hours as Jesus opened up the scriptures. I read things like that and say, "Lord Jesus, you're the same yesterday, today, and forever." 11:02 When I left the Navy in May 1966, that is nearly 60 years ago, many people told me, I was young, 26 years old. People said, "Brother Zach, you must go to a good Bible college now because then 11:22 only can you serve the Lord." You know what helped me? never to go to a Bible college in my life. I read that Jesus walked with the disciples to Emmas for three year three hours and opened up the scriptures to them. It was a Bible 11:37 college there on the road to Emmas and they hearts burned within them. And I said Lord I read in your Bible that Hebrews 13 7 and 8 Jesus Christ the same you know the verse yesterday today and 11:54 forever. I believe that Lord you are the same who walked with those disciples to Emmas and opened up the scriptures to them their hearts burned. And if you are the same, do that for me. I will never go to a Bible school. I will walk with 12:09 you. Walk with you means as soon as I am aware of sin, I'll confess it. Those days, I didn't have victory over sin. That took a little time to come. But I said, Lord, this I'll do until I get victory. As soon as I'm aware of 12:20 something, I'll confess it. And I promise you, Lord, I will not justify myself. I will take the blame. If there's a tension between me and another person, I'll take the blame. I'll say it must be some fault in me, not in that person. Lord, I'll always 12:37 take the blame. There must be some fault in me that there's this problem. If there's some tension between me and my wife, I'll say it must be me. Must be me, Lord. I decided with every relationship I have, I'll say if there's 12:49 a little problem, it must be me. Lord, show me where I'm wrong. And once the Lord's convicted me, then that person may not want to have fellowship with me. I say, okay, my conscience is clear. The Lord has shown me that my conscience is 13:02 clear, but I want to walk with you. And I can tell you the same thing that he did for those disciples in on the road to Emmas, he has done for me. I've seen the most amazing things in scripture 13:20 which nobody has taught me. Jesus walked with me and opened up the scriptures. And it says here, the spirit of truth, the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ comes through the Holy Spirit and shows me 13:37 Jesus, I'll tell you honestly, if the Lord were to tell me, do you want revelation on my life on earth or do you want to speak in tongues? I say any day I want revelation on your life on earth. much more important. He will show he will take of mine verse 13:59 14 and reveal or disclose it to you. So what does the Holy Spirit come to do? He fills me and he wants to take of the things of Jesus earthly life and reveal it to me. Disclose means something hidden. He opens up. The Holy Spirit 14:18 says this is hidden. People haven't seen it. I'll show it to you. Now, what is it in Jesus life that is hidden? That he raised the dead. That's not hidden. Any non-Christian can read the Bible and say Jesus raised people 14:34 from the dead. That Jesus spoke the sermon on the mount. Any non-Christian can read it and say it. You don't need revelation for that. Revelation is disclosing the things which are not written in the Bible about Jesus' life. 14:49 What are the things not written in the Bible about Jesus? We read that when he was 12 years old, he went to Jerusalem. You don't need revelation to know that. When he came home, he submitted to Joseph and Mary. It's written there in 15:00 one sentence. What you need revelation is how did Jesus live for those 30 years? The last three and a half years, there's plenty written in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The 30 years almost nothing. And I say Lord before I think of your ministry, 15:19 ministry is secondary. Life must come first. Let me show you that also in scripture. Acts chapter 1 verse one. Acts 1 verse one. It says this is Luke wrote the acts of the apostles and he's writing to Theophilus. The first account 15:39 I composed Theophilus that is referring to the Gospel of Luke of all that Jesus began to do and teach. Now meditate please don't go beyond verse one without meditating on it. Don't rush into verse two. This is how 15:55 you miss treasures in scripture. Okay. Now I'll give you a little revelation from Acts 1:1 which many of you may have never got unless you heard it from me earlier. What do I learn from acts 1 vers1 16:12 Theophilus is the person to whom Luke wrote the gospel of Luke also you go to the gospel of Luke read Theophilus name there also so now he's referring to the first account I composed he's saying theophilus you remember the go what we 16:28 call today the gospel of Luke that I wrote to you how does what is the title that Luke gives to the gospel he wrote here it is All that Jesus did first and then taught. I meditate on that and I learn one thing. I must never teach what 16:46 I have not done. Did you get that from that first verse? Because you rushed past it. You never got it. You see how you missed something in that first verse? Because you rushed past it. All that Jesus began to do and teach. 17:03 I must not teach what I have not done. If I teach what I have not done, I will be a Pharisee. To follow Jesus, I must do and then teach. Do and then teach. When I do some more, I can teach more. When I do some more, I can teach some more. 17:20 I must not try and teach what I've never done. I must not teach what I've read in some book. But that's what a lot of preachers are doing. Maybe some of you who preach are doing the same thing. Stop it from today. Do you really want to follow 17:35 Jesus? Here is what Jesus did. He never taught what he hadn't done. That's why God kept him for 30 years without preaching. And then he preached for three and a half years. What did he preach for three and a half years? What he did for 30 17:49 years. All I get all I I get all that from just verse one. You see the tremendous power of meditation. Never rush parts to verse in scripture. Particularly in the New Testament, you can rush past all the list of names in Chronicles and so and 18:08 so begat so and so and so and so was a father of so and so. All that you can rush past. But when you come to statements like this, you got to meditate. He began to do and teach. So if I were to ask Luke now, okay Luke, that is the title for your first book. 18:27 Can you give me a title for your second book, Acts of the Apostles? Luke will say, "Sure." What is it? What Jesus continued to do and teach through his new body, the church. The first was what he did in his 18:44 physical body, what he did and taught, Gospel of Luke. Now, what he continued to do through his new body, the church. So I realize that I've got a part in that because I'm a part of the church. You see what a lot I'm getting from just 18:58 verse one that I have to now as a part of the body of Christ follow Jesus' example Lord Jesus through the Holy Spirit. Let me do something then I can teach it. Let me do some more and I can teach some more. This is how this is the 19:16 Bible school that we want to go through where Jesus walks with us and teaches us more and more. We do it, we teach it. We do it and we teach it. We do it and we teach it. This is the way of ministry and that's the only type of ministry I 19:31 want to have. Now, if there is a goal I'm going to attain, I've not yet reached, then I have to say, I'm pressing on this way. I'm hoping to reach this goal I've not yet reached. Is honesty. Absolute honest. Don't ever preach as if you have attained 19:45 something. Be anxious for nothing. That's in scripture. Philippians 4:6. You can preach on it if you're honest and say, "Brothers, I'm not sisters. I've not reached there yet, but I know the way." And it's getting better with 19:59 me every year. I find I'm less anxious this year about things than I was last year. I was very tense about a lot of things last year, but much better now. I'll be better next year. And I'm going to reach that place where I'll be 20:09 anxious for zero. be anxious for nothing. You can preach on it if you admit that you're on that way. It's like I'm saying I'm I'm climbing Mount Everest. Mount Everest is 29,000 ft something. I've reached about 100 ft. 29,000 ft is a long way to go, 20:26 but I'm climbing. I see the footsteps of Jesus here and I'm putting my feet in his footsteps and I'm going getting a little but I believe next year I'll reach 200 feet. 29,000 ft is a long way but I'm going. That is honest testimony. 20:41 You can speak on any verse of scripture. Even if you have not reached it, if you are honest and say it's getting better every day. I'm getting less anxious. If you haven't overcome anger, you can speak on it. Be honest and say 20:55 it's better. Ask my wife if it's not better at home. Yes, your wife should be able to say, "Oh boy, my husband is a different man." So, this is how we must study scripture. Now coming back to John 16, 21:11 Jesus said he shall take of mine John 16:14 and show it to you. So I'm asking the Holy Spirit, Lord, take something of your inner life of 30 years and show it to me. How did you live those 30 years? And the Lord shows me how he obeyed 21:31 Mary. You know, I mentioned the other day when Jesus is out playing games and suddenly his mother calls him in while he's about to bat and he has to drop the bat and go and all the people tease him. He's not bothered about that teasing. He's 21:44 obedient to his mother. Go and draw some water. Comes back by the time his batting turn is over. He doesn't bother about it. He obeyed his mother. He's happy with that. I saw something about Jesus there. Or I can imagine that 22:00 his brothers and his he had four brothers and two sisters that we read in Mark chapter 6. They were all younger to him. They didn't believe in him. Mary must have told the mother Mary must have told these four younger boys and two 22:13 girls, listen, this older brother of yours was not born like you folks. The Holy Spirit came upon me. I had no He has no earthly father. is God is father. Ah they say don't try and tell that old mom I don't believe it. He's just like us. They did 22:32 not believe in him. John chapter 7 says they did not believe in him. Picture this in your mind. These are the things I meditate on. A young Jesus growing up for 30 years in the home. And these younger brothers seeing him never 22:49 get angry, never disobeying father or mother, never depressed, never fighting with anyone, never running after money, never complaining about anything in the house, never saying the food is not good enough, always willing to share the food with 23:07 all his siblings even if he gets nothing. such an unselfish life. Always concerned about his brothers and younger brothers and sisters and never taking advantage of them in any way. Helping them in numerous ways even though they tried to 23:22 irritate him, forgiving endlessly. They saw all that and they didn't believe in him. I say Lord make me like that. that even if people don't believe what I say and I I want to be an example to the younger 23:42 brothers. Every person in the church is a younger brother and sister to me if I'm their elder and let them see in me the life of Jesus. I'm not waiting for them to behave like me. Jesus did not wait for his four brothers and two 23:55 sisters to behave like him. He had to be a representative to manifest the life of his father to those people under him. And if you are a elder or a leader in a church or even if you're an elder brother in your home, take Jesus as your 24:12 example. You're called to manifest the life of Jesus to your younger siblings. They don't believe in you. They don't irritate you. They irritate you and tease you in numerous ways. Look at Jesus in Nazareth. You'll be tremendously helped. And the Holy Spirit 24:27 has come to fill you to make you like him. Don't seek out I want to be a great preacher and I want to speak in tongues and I want to do miracles. Brother, forget all that. If he wants you to be like that, one day he'll make you. Seek 24:41 first of all to do and then teach. Seek first of all to be like Jesus. What did we read? The Holy Spirit will take of my life which is not revealed in the Bible and show it to you. That means not the last three and a half years. Many people 24:54 meditate on the last three and a half years of Jesus mentioned in the gospels. Forget it. that will come later. Meditate on the 30 years of his life. You see that's not written in the Bible. That's why the Holy Spirit has come to 25:07 show you in your in your life how he lived. I can imagine for example these are the medit results of my meditating on the Holy Spirit showing me how Jesus lived the first 30 years. I think when I read something I think you've all read this 25:24 in Luke chapter 2 at the age of 12 his Joseph and Mary walked off to Nazareth and forgot to left him behind in Jerusalem. After two days they find him two or three days and they find him sitting in the midst of the greatest scholars in 25:41 the temple talking about scripture in a way that puzzles those great scholars. And how old is Jesus? 12 years old. How did he have that knowledge? He was not born with all that Bible stuffed in his head. No, he was born just like us. 25:57 He was knowing nothing the day he was born. Just like any other baby in the world. A baby has to acquire knowledge. And how did Jesus know the Bible by the age of 12? Remember there was no printed Bible those days. Nobody had a printed Bible. Printed 26:14 Bibles became available in the world only in the last five or 6 hundred years. For 1400 years of Christianity, people did not have a printed Bible. The letters of Paul and Peter and John and all were there few copies. Some people 26:30 would copy it, handwritten copies, probably very expensive to buy because they would write it on leather, parchment, and very few people. Usually there'd be one copy maybe in a whole area. And if you wanted to read it, you had to go 26:44 there and read it. In Jesus' time, there'd be one copy of the Old Testament. In the synagogue, so in the synagogue in Nazareth, there'd be a copy of the Old Testament. That's the only place in Nazareth where there's a copy of the Old Testament. 27:02 So Jesus goes there to the rabbi when he's 5 years old and says, "Rabbi, can you please open the book of law?" the book and read some passage for me. And the rabbi is excited that a 5-year-old boy comes and asks him because nobody comes there is interested 27:20 in knowing the Bible. He's excited. He says, "Sure." And he will read something and he reads a small passage and Jesus says, "Stop. Can you just read that again?" Thank you. He reads it again. And Jesus tries to memorize it because 27:34 he can't take a copy with it home. Memor can you just read it once more? Thank you. I don't want to read more than about say 10 verses. And he goes home and he meditates on it what he heard. Next day he comes to the rabbi again. Can you show me read some 27:53 more? And the rabbi is thrilled that this boy is coming. Every day for seven years the rabbi covered Genesis to Malachi. That is how Jesus learned the scriptures. We all say follow follow everywhere I 28:12 want to follow follow here's where we must follow every day to read a few verses we have it with us we don't have to go to some synagogue and read and meditate don't read too much because it won't be we won't get anything we just satisfy ourselves I 28:29 read one chapter read a few verses meditate and say Lord thank you for speaking to me think about it. Think about it during the day. When you're at work and when you're in bed at night, if you wake up, think about what you read that day. Only 10 verses or 28:46 seven verses. Sometimes I read only three verses because there's so much to meditate on. Sometimes only one verse. Sometimes I meditate on one verse for three days because there's more in it. See to me the it's like the traffic 28:58 light. I come to a verse and the light is red. Okay, I've got to read read. Oh, it's still red. I've got to read some more. I got to read some more. I can't move beyond that verse. The right light is red. I wake up next morning. I try to 29:13 go to the next verse and know I'm stuck in the same verse. The light is still red. And after I meditate after two or three days, h the light becomes green. Now I can go to the next verse. This is how I meditate on scripture now. And 29:26 scripture becomes alive to me because the Lord sees I'm really interested in going to the depths of what how the Lord wants to reveal not make me understand but give me revelation. It'll make a tremendous difference in your life. The Holy Spirit has come to 29:45 show you the inner life of Jesus. That's how he got to know. By the age of 12, he could know so much of scripture that he could discuss with the Bible scholars of his day. Some of us and you know when I first understood this. I was 30:00 in the Navy. I was not married because I was an officer. I had a comfortable room for myself and a lot of a luxurious sit of situation. So what I did was every morning when I got up, I'd kneel down by my bed for about 10 15 minutes and pray 30:19 and then I would sit at my table with my Bible and a notebook and meditate before I went for the day's work every day. And I said, "Lord, in you I believe you learned the Bible by the age of 12 in seven years. In seven years, I want to know this Bible." 30:36 And the Lord really helped me. By the time I left the Navy after I had by the time I'd been a believer for seven years, God called me to his service. Seven years after I became a believer, I really knew the scriptures and that's remained with me because I 30:55 meditated, meditate has remained with me. It's helped me all these 60 years of my ministry. I believe that God could have given many of you older people a ministry if from the time you were born again you had really taken the study of 31:10 the scriptures seriously. Imagine how when were you born again? 15 years, 20 years ago. From that day, if you just spent a few minutes every day meditating, meditating, meditating on scripture. I mean there are so many other things you do. You watch 31:27 television. Supposing you had scrapped 15 minutes of that television and meditated on scripture. Where you would be today spiritually? Can you imagine? And imagine if you had scrapped that one hour of television and meditated on 31:38 scripture. Where would you be today's spiritually? Not only where would you be, how many others you could have been a blessing to by today if you had just followed the example of Jesus, he would have revealed scripture to you. 31:55 Well, I'm not trying to condemn anybody here. Please listen carefully. I'm trying to show you how you should live from today onwards. There's no use condemning you about the past. And I will not do it. God does not do it. I'm trying to encourage you from 32:10 today, from tomorrow morning. Will you follow this practice? Lord, I want the Holy Spirit to show me the life of Jesus in scripture and make me do and teach. Acts 1:1, he did and he 32:26 taught. So you ask Luke, "What is your title for the book of Acts?" what Jesus continued to do and teach through his spiritual body, the church. Aha. So I am part of that spiritual body. He wants to continue to do and teach 32:45 through me. I have to do first and teach. That is the principle I have followed. And so it's in a sense it is easy for me to speak because I have to speak for my life to as I get older I find my memory is 33:05 not so sharp as before. So I have to keep a few notes. But this is the way God wants us to. Okay, let me share some other things which I had written down. But this is something I want to just 33:21 mention. That song that we just sang, I wrote that in 1977. Two years after CFC, the first CFC started in our house in 75. Two years after that, God gave me this amazing revelation and that is in John 17:23. I should come 33:40 there. For many years in my life, my favorite verse in the Bible was John 3:16. The early years of my life, I was born again in 1959 and God baptized me aresh in the Holy Spirit in 1975. For those 16 years, the my 34:00 favorite verse, if you had to ask me, what's your favorite verse? I say John 3:16. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. But something 34:10 happened after I was baptized in the Holy Spirit. I began to it was like the Bible became a new book to me and many many things are. And one of the things that happened to me then was I found a new verse in the Bible which I had never 34:27 got understanding on before. It was John not John 3:16 but John 17 verse 23. How many of you know John 17:23 to me that is the central verse in the Bible today. Not John 3:16. 34:44 I value John 3:16. But that's the first step. God so loved the world that he gave his son to die for me. Praise God. I took that step. What's the next step? John 17:23. That the world may know. John, so the middle of that verse. So that the world 35:02 may know, Father, this is Jesus prayer. That you sent me and you loved them, my disciples, as you loved me. The fact that God loves me, I know that is in John 3:16. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. Whoever 35:20 believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. God loves me. I got it from John 3:16. But how much did he love me? Well, he gave his son for me. That's great. But John 17:23 leads me to a still higher level. 35:35 He loved me as much as he loved Jesus. That's an amazing truth if you meditate on it. Is it possible that Almighty God could love a wretched sinner like me even after I'm born again as much as he 35:54 loved Jesus who lived such a perfect life? Yes, that's not for the whole world. John 3:16 is for the whole world. God so loved the world. But here the Lord says in John 17, this is a prayer. He says verse 9 John 17 I'm not talking about 36:12 the world now I'm not asking on behalf of the world this is not for the world this is only for those whom you have given me these disciples whom you have given me this I'm prayer is only for them so John 3:16 is for the whole world but John 17:23 is 36:30 for disciples aha I'm not asking on behalf of the world but on behalf of those you have given me Lord I'm also your disciple iple, I want to follow in your footsteps just like those 12 disciples. I want to be your witness on earth. Then this is true for 36:47 me. The father loves me, loves Zakunan as much as he loved Jesus. It revolutionized my life. That's when I wrote that hymn that this is the good news. 37:07 I always thought that the good news was the gospel. Christ died for our sins. Yeah, that's what we need to explain to the unbeliever. What's the good news for the believer? What's the good news for a disciple? Christ died for my sins is great. But 37:24 that the father loves me as much as he loved Jesus. It was revolutionary when I understood that. I said, 'Lord, then I believe that everything you did for Jesus, you'll do for me. And I'll tell you why I say that. I have four sons and even though 37:43 my wife and I had very limited income. Everything I did for my first son, I tried my best to do for the other three. Whatever education I could give for my first son, what I could pay for, I did for the other three. Whatever food we 38:01 could buy and give for the first, we could buy for the other three. Whatever clothes I could buy for the first one, I would get for the other three. I never did anything special for my first son, which I would not do for the other three 38:13 because I wanted to be an impartial father who loved all my children equally because I believe that's what how God wants a father to be. I didn't have favorites. I didn't say this is my favorite. Some people the f eldest is the favorite. 38:30 Some people the youngest is the favorite. I say Lord I want to be like you. Completely impartial. No favorites. All are equal to me. Whatever their shape, size or whether they obey or don't obey. They are my children. I have to take care of them. I 38:45 mean they may grow up and learn to obey but I want to be impartial. I want to love all of them just like I love my eldest. And if I'm like that, how much more God, God's eldest son is Jesus Christ. Romans 8:29 says that he might 39:02 be the eldest among many, many brothers. I'm one of the younger ones. And if I a redeemed sinner with so many imperfections could be impartial in the way I treated my children so that every one of the younger ones would be treated just like 39:22 the eldest one. God is a much better father than me. He will treat all the younger brothers of Jesus just like he treated the eldest one. This is revelation. John 17:23 became my favorite verse in the Bible. God loves me as he loved 39:39 Jesus. So that's what I wrote in that song. As he loved Jesus, he loves me. If he helped Jesus to live without sinning, he will do the same for me. 39:58 That's how I got understanding that I can get victory over sin from John 17:23. If Jesus was sick, God would heal him. I don't know how many of you believe 40:15 that Jesus also became sick. I read that in Isaiah 53. Some people think that those who live pure lives will never get sick. But the one who lived the purest life of all was Jesus. And it says in Isaiah 53 verse three in the middle, he was a man 40:36 of sorrows acquainted with grief. And in the margin of my Bible, it says the original Hebrew does not say grief. The original Hebrew says sickness, acquainted with sickness. But the translators dare not put sickness there. 40:55 That they wouldn't believe like many many of you believe Jesus was never sick. The translators could not believe that Jesus was sick. Even though the Bible said he was acquainted with sickness. No, we better not put sickness 41:05 there. We put some other word. They were liars to put grief there. But anyway, they were honest enough to put it in the margin. The actual word is sickness. And verse four again they put surely our griefs he bore. But in the margin it 41:19 says sickness. He bore our sickness. Now, how do I know that the word here grief in he bore our griefs in verse 4 is actually sickness? Okay, because Isaiah 53:4 is quoted in the New Testament in Matthew chapter 8 and there 41:35 in Matthew chapter 8, the same Isaiah is verse is quoted in Matthew 8:17 and there it says he carried our diseases not not griefs. They quote that same verse here from 41:52 Isaiah 53:4 in I Matthew 8:17. There it's he carried our diseases, our sicknesses. So when I compare scripture with scripture, I discover that verse in Isaiah 53 is he was acquainted with sickness. 42:10 Do you know that's not a sin to be sick? when you live in a sin-cursed world to get sick is not a sin. Do you believe Jesus ever hit his He was a carpenter. Do you believe Jesus ever hit his thumb accidentally when hammering a nail in 42:27 his carpentry shop? I believe it could have happened. But he didn't curse like other carpenters do when they hit their thumb. He didn't sin. If he was to be tempted like we are, I believe he had to hit his thumb at least 42:45 once and overcome that temptation. He was tempted exactly like me. Name the temptation you have faced in in your life. Go to Hebrews 4:15. You'll discover Jesus was tempted like you. That's what changed my life. Lord, there's no temptation I face which you 43:04 did not face. Are you tempted as a young teenager? What a young teenager. What is a young 17year-old man? A strong young 17-year-old man tempted with most lust. Tempted by pretty women, tempted to think about women. Do you believe 43:21 Hebrews 4:15 that Jesus was tempted exactly like we are? I believe it. He was tempted with lust, but he never sinned. Not once, not even for a moment would he think about lust with towards any girl 43:41 or woman. He wouldn't be he'd be very careful in walking or being with other young girls. He was tempted like us, but he did not sin. That is the thing that encouraged me. What he did for Jesus, he'll do for me. I did not know this when I was 17. I 43:59 discovered this when I'm 35, unfortunately. But I now teach it to people who are 16 and 17 that Jesus was tempted like you. Look to him and be over overcomer. I wish I knew it when I was 17. I wish some spiritual people who I knew at that 44:14 time would have had told me but they never told me this. I had to discover it for myself. Do you know that in my entire life nobody explained to me that Jesus was tempted like me when he was 17 years old. I had to gradually discover it. 44:29 He was tempted exactly like me and he did not sin. I did meet some people who mentioned it but that was much later in life not when I was a young teenager. It makes a tremendous difference. The Holy Spirit will come and take of the 44:44 things of mine and show it to you. And one of the most wonderful things he showed to me was Hebrews chapter 4:15. He was tempted like me. He became sick like me 45:01 but he never sinned. You know what a tremendous we we can be tremendously tempted when we are sick. We have temptations when we are sick that don't come to us when we are healthy. Any of you who have been sick know that 45:20 that all extra temptations come to us when we are sick which we don't have when we are healthy. And if Jesus did not face that, he was not tempted like us. So he had to be sick too. Then he faced those sicknesses, temptations, but 45:35 he never sinned. Hebrews 4:15, he we he priest who can sympathize with us because he was tempted exactly as we are, but did not sin. Dear brother, sister, meditate on that. It revolutionized my life when I read it 45:55 and understood it. I understood it about 15 16 o years after I was born again. 16 years of defeat because I I could always say, "Lord, you didn't you did not know what I'm facing now. You don't know the struggle I'm having with lust 46:11 as a 19year-old young converted boy. Lord, you did not know it because you were God." At the age of 35, I discovered that he was tempted like me. So then I went around telling teenagers, you know, Jesus was tempted like you. 46:29 Are you strongly tempted to lust? Jesus was tempted. But he never sinned. Not the slightest speck of impurity in his mind. He resisted it. How did he overcome? That also is written here in it's written right there. Hebrews 5 and 46:43 verse 7. in the days of his flesh that is during his 33 years he prayed with loud crying and tears what is he praying with loud crying and tears I don't believe it is for healing from sickness he prayed with loud crying and tears to 47:02 the one who was able to save him from death and he was heard his prayer to be saved from death was heard he did not die that's the You say but he did die. No, this is not referring. There are two 47:20 deaths in the Bible. Physical death, spiritual death. He did not he did die physically. So obviously he was not praying for that because it says prayer was heard. So it this death mentioned here must be the other death. Spiritual 47:32 death. That means his prayer was don't let me die spiritually. What is spiritual death? It's always the result of sin. Compare scripture with scripture. James chapter 1 verse 15 47:49 verse 14 temptation if you yield to it it conceives verse 15 and produces sin James 1:15 so and then when sin is finished it brings death spiritual death so the process is lust tempts you you 48:08 yield to it you become sin it finally leads you to die spiritually But if you don't yield to it, you won't die. So Jesus prayed, I don't want to die. I don't want to yield to this temptation. And he was heard because of 48:23 his godly fear. Hebrews 5:7. He feared God so much. Father, I don't want to sin at all. And how did he pray for it? Loud crying and tears. Verse seven. Why haven't you got victory over lust? 48:42 I'll tell you. You don't pray with loud crying and tears. When was the last time you prayed with loud crying and tears to be saved from the sin which you're always falling into? Anger, sexual lust, the two things that plague 49:01 people, bitterness and unforgiving spirit. These are some of the primary sins that human Christians have. When was the last time you prayed with loud crying and tears? Oh God, my father deliver me. Please cry, cry, cry till tears come out of 49:20 your eyes. Have you ever prayed with tears to be saved from sin? I have and God answers. See, when you cry about something, it's like imagine if your precious, you got only one child, six years old. fallen into some sickness 49:38 and the doctor says no hope. Boy, you'll pray with tears because that's your only child. You'll love him so much and he's in hospital and he's dying. How you'll pray? You'll pray with tears. You'll you you won't nobody have to tell 49:52 you to fast. You'll give up food automatically and you'll pray because you're earnest. When you're earnest about overcoming sin, just like you want your child to be healed, you say, "Lord, I want to be healed. I want to be delivered from sin 50:05 in my life. I want to never get angry in my life. I never want to lust in my life. When you pray like you would pray for a dying child, I tell you, you'll get an answer. Jesus prayed like that with loud crying and tears. That's why he used to go to 50:19 the wilderness. He used to go to the wilderness because he didn't want to disturb anybody with his loud crying and tears. I remember when I understood this, I lived in Bangalore, a city of 10 million people, crowded. I said, "Lord, there's no 50:37 wilderness anywhere near here I can go." And you know what the Lord said to me? You can make your bed a wilderness early in the morning when everybody in the house is asleep. As you wake up, you can have a loud cry in your heart without 50:51 any sound coming out of your mouth. Make your bed your wilderness. And let there be a cry in your heart, loud as anything, but no sound from your mouth. Cry out for complete freedom from sin. For complete victory over 51:11 anger and sexual lust, particularly why do I mention these two? Because those are the two sins mentioned in the sermon on the mount which Jesus said can take you to hell. You know the word hell is mentioned only three times in Matthew 51:27 in the sermon on the mount and it's in relation to anger and sexual lust. You read it and I said Lord I want to pray about these two particularly. I want to be completely free from 100% free from anger in any provocation any situation 51:46 100% free from sexual lust in any provocation any situation all the time not most of the time but all the time I don't want to be I don't want to have sickness at any time spiritually I don't want to sin at any time and pray 52:01 earnestly I tell you in Jesus name the Holy Spirit will give you victory those who are serious about But those whose Christianity is, "Oh, Jesus forgives me. He forgives me. He forgives me." Okay, maybe you will get 52:18 to heaven. I can prophesy one thing. You will live with regret for all eternity. That you took advantage of your savior all the days of your life on earth. That you had no gratitude to him for dying on the cross to save you from sin. You had 52:37 no desire to be saved from sin. You only had a desire to be forgiven. I'm not ashamed to speak the truth directly to you. I don't have to apologize for it because I want you to be pure. Your life will be so much more effective for the Lord in the days to 52:55 come. God needs witnesses on earth. He needs pure witnesses and he wants you to be one. Yield to him today. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, please help us all to take sin seriously, 53:14 to take it as seriously, Lord Jesus, as you yourself took it when you were on earth. Help us to walk that way. We don't want to just sing follow, follow, I will follow everywhere, anywhere, I'll follow you, Lord Jesus. Those are empty words. If you're not 53:30 following you in the area of crying out to be free from sin, help everyone here, Lord. Everyone, I don't mean 99% but 100%. Everyone here will really seek to go this way and be effective witnesses for you in their hometown, in their 53:48 office, in their home, so that the devil is put to shame. Make it true for everyone here, young and old. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. [Music]
