0:00 Dear brothers and sisters, it's a great joy to be able to share God's word with you. And I thank all of you who prayed for me so that God will give me the right word. It's not easy to know exactly what people need because the needs are so 0:18 varied. So when whenever you have a meeting, if you pray for the one who speaking, you don't realize makes a tremendous difference. Sometimes we think very lightly of prayer. We think man's gifted. Of course, he can always have a 0:34 word. It's not true. I'll tell you from more than 60 years of preaching experience that I don't always have a word. But when I when a lot of people pray for me, I always have a word. I found that again and again and again. And I know 0:49 when people pray for me and I know when people don't. I can sense it. So I believe you guys are praying for me. Thank you so much. >> [clears throat] >> In India, one of the things we have seen sometimes is in the new in the papers 1:05 suddenly one building has collapsed. That happens quite often because uh one reason is they put cheap use cheap material but very often the reason is they didn't lay a proper foundation and so the thing crumbles but I've seen that happen in many 1:25 Christians lives they've been believers for 5 10 15 years and then suddenly something happens they crumble you suddenly hear of pastors who've been pastors for 20 30 years and suddenly they go fooling around with some woman 1:38 and destroy their whole life and their ministry and their family and everything. Why does this happen? It is not a something that happens at that time when they failed. You see that building collapses not because some fault was in the fifth floor. The fault 1:57 was in the foundation. The foundation was not laid properly and then it went high and high and then it became too high and it collapsed. So the devil is very very clever to ruin people's lives and I've seen very many cases in my lifetime of heard and 2:17 seen people who have collapsed and fallen away and almost invariably it's because the foundation was not right. So I want to say a few words about the foundation before we proceed further just to make sure that all of you got 2:33 your foundations right. So let me turn first of all to what Paul says in uh when he was writing to somebody about how he himself 2:53 proclaimed the gospel. He speaks about repentance and faith. Those are the two things he says. Repentance and faith are needed in order to lay a good foundation. If you have either one of these missing, 3:13 then the foundation is lacking. Now, the reason I say that is because let me show you that verse first. Acts chapter 20 when Paul was speaking to the elders of Ephesus in Acts chapter 20 verse1 17 Ephesus was the place where Paul had 3:31 spent a long time. In fact he says here in verse 31 Acts 20:31 I was with you for 3 years and night and day I preached. That means they have two meetings a day for three 3:49 years. Can you imagine listening to the Apostle Paul twice a day for three years? That's what uh 2,000 sermons. And what was the main thing he was preaching? 4:06 He says in verse 21, Acts 20:21, I solemnly testify to both Jews and Greeks solemnly. Paul was very serious about his preaching. He was not a joker like a lot of preachers are. A lot of preachers 4:24 crack jokes just to become popular. Paul was not a joker. He knew that the Christian life is a serious thing. There's not I mean there's a place for humor, but not for becoming a joker. He says, "Seriously, I testified to Jews 4:38 and Greeks means the whole world. The Jews considered there were only two categories of people in the world. The Jews and the non-Jews." Okay? And what did he preach to them? Listen carefully in verse 31. Repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus 4:55 Christ. These are the two things. And it's like the two electric wires that touch in a switch. When you put on a switch, you know what happens inside? Just two electric wires touch and that's how the lights come on. That's all. And 5:07 when you turn off the switch, those two wires are separated and the lights go off. So repentance and faith are like those two. If you don't if you don't let them touch, there's not going to be the light of the Christian life in anybody's 5:19 life. And Paul was very keen that everybody should have a thorough repentance and real genuine faith. And he says, I seriously taught that everywhere. And later on he says in verse 27, I did not shrink from 5:39 declaring to you the full purpose of God. And so repentance means a complete about turn from everything that we know to be sin. Now when we are first converted, we don't know the depth of sin and 5:57 corruption that is within us. We see a little bit mostly superficial external things like going to movies and um losing our temper and few things like that and initially okay that's all God wants. Whatever you know to be wrong you 6:16 turn from it. It's an attitude towards sin. I want to turn from it towards God. It's like in the military there's a command called about turn. And uh when you do an about turn you your back goes to what you were looking 6:35 at and you're looking in completely opposite direction. That is one of the finest definitions of repentance that I can think of that there was a certain direction you were facing in your life and like all human beings and repentance means you turn 6:52 about you turn around completely looking towards God and what's behind you the world and its attractions. So that's the first thing I want to ask you dear brothers and sisters. Have you had such a repentance in your life? 7:08 Now what the world means is something you'll discover more and more and more and more as time goes on. I mean today I today I have a much better understanding of the world. What it what the world means the spirit of the world than when 7:21 I was converted and repented 66 years ago. But I was genuinely repentant according to the light I had and I was born again. But I didn't have all the light I have today on what sin is. So you don't need to know everything about 7:35 sin. If you basically if you say Lord I want to turn from everything that is anti- good that is the world and the flesh and the devil and I want to turn towards God. That is repentance. And as time goes on as you walk with the Lord you'll get 7:50 more and more understanding of what sin is and you'll keep on repenting. I believe that if you're one mark of growth is that you're repenting all the time in your life. I'm repenting all the time because I'm discovering new areas. 8:04 I'll tell you when I stop repenting. I'll stop repenting if I become a backslider or when I become like Christ. Until I become Christ, become like Christ, there's something I have to repent of. And if I stop repenting, I 8:19 must be a backslider as long as I'm on this earth. Because everyone who's unlike Christ will if he's passionate about fulfilling God's [clears throat] will, he will have a great longing to become more and more like Christ in his life. And I want to 8:37 turn you to that verse in 1 John chapter 3. Please turn with me in your Bibles. Good to know these verses. You know, I've asked many people, what is your hope for the future? They say, "Our hope is that Christ is coming back 8:52 and I'll see him face to face." I said, "Is that all?" And I say, "That is only half the hope of the Christian." And that is a trouble with most Christians. They got half a hope. What is that half? Christ will come back and I will see him and he'll 9:06 take me to heaven. But according to 1 John chapter 3, that is only half the hope. Please turn with me to 1 John chapter 3 and verse two. There it says we know that [clears throat] when Christ appears two things will happen. 9:24 See carefully and our seeing him is mentioned second. We think seeing him is the main thing but the first thing mentioned is here is we will be like him and then it says we'll see him. So there are two things that are going to happen 9:40 when Christ comes again. We're going to see him and we're going to be like him. So our hope is a double hope. Whereas you ask the average Christian, what is your hope that you look forward to the future? They say I'm looking forward to 9:51 seeing Christ. Why? I said that shouldn't be enough. You must have a double hope that you will not only see him but want to be like him. Now it's not not a question of just having the right answer like in a question paper in 10:03 an exam give the right answers. I'm not trying to tell you that because there's a way to find out whether you have a double hope or a single hope. All Christians have the hope that Christ will come back and they'll see him. But 10:14 very few have this hope that we will be like him. Theoretically, you may say, "Yes, I believe I'll be like him." But the test is this. What is the test? That's mentioned in verse three. Everyone who has this double hope, 10:32 the hope of becoming like him which is fixed in him, he will keep on purifying himself until he reaches Christ's standard of purity. I've not reached Christ standard of 10:49 purity. Neither have you. Are you purifying yourself? How often? once in a year. I find I need to be alert every single day. I believe that we should have a spirit 11:09 of repentance. Repentance means an above turn from anything that is [clears throat] unlike the spirit of Christ in our speech, in our thoughts and uh in our attitudes towards people. Sometimes husband and wife sit at home 11:27 and talk about other people and the conversation is not something that you would like to have if Jesus was sitting at that table. If Christ was sitting at that table, your conversation would be slightly different. But when husband and wife sit together 11:41 at a table and talk, it's as if Christ is not there at all. So it's very important to practice the presence of Christ in our homes if you really want to understand repentance and have a continuous repentance in your life. And that is the only way we can 11:57 become more and more like Christ. If you find you're being defeated by the same sin again and again and again and again, it means you're not serious about repentance. So there's repentance must be a continuous thing throughout our life. 12:11 But it begins with when we are first converted, repentance and faith. Faith is [clears throat] not just an intellectual thing. As you know the best example of faith I have found in my study of the Bible is what I always say 12:25 the branch in the tree. A branch you pull it out from the tree. Even if it's produced fruit for 50 years it can produce no more fruit. It is dependent on the tree to produce fruit even after 50 years like it was dependent on the very first day. 12:44 Faith is like that and there I there's never a time that can come when I can be on my own. Without me, you can do nothing. A branch will accomplish nothing. So this is the best picture of faith I have had. It has helped me 13:00 tremendously. Even when I preach the word of God, I picture myself like a a branch. I say Lord I want to be like this branch and I want your sap to flow through me through my heart and mind and then that I can express it so that it's 13:17 words that you give me that can flow and I believe even if you're not a preacher this is the way we must live and then I have the strength to overcome some temptation that suddenly comes up during the day if I determine 13:37 to live by faith. To live by faith means to live in constant dependence upon Jesus Christ who is the tree and I am the branch. And anytime you fell into sin, it's because your connection was 13:54 not right. It's impossible to fall into sin if you're depending upon the Lord. How can the the Lord refuse to send the sap that produces victory? The fruit in the branch is victory over sin and increasing Christlikeness. And you think 14:11 the Lord will not supply that. But he doesn't force anyone. If we tend after some time we can begin to think, yeah, I've had so much experience of overcoming that I can sort of live on my own. We don't say that, but unconsciously we think we can be 14:28 independent of Christ. And that's when the fruit starts to wither. There is never going to come a time when I can be apart from Christ. And I believe not even in eternity. I'll be dependent on Christ for all eternity. There's the Christian life. This is what 14:43 it means. The pictures the Lord uses for example of stones built on a building. Everything is dependent on the foundation and that is Christ. or in a body everything is dependent on the head the brain controlling the parts of the 14:57 body in constant every part of my body is in constant dependence on the brain which is controlling my hands and everything so every member of the body has to be like this and if we live like this we will have wonderful fellowship 15:11 with each other too when does my right hand for example stop having fellowship with my left hand I'll tell you when we have what the Bible what people call a stroke. You get a stroke and your right hand is paralyzed. What does that mean? 15:27 The connection between that hand and the brain is gone and then it does not cooperate with the left hand. You want to do the left hand wants to do something the right hand and the right hand just hangs there. It won't cooperate. You see a brother who 15:40 will not cooperate with you in some situation where the Lord's work has to be done. What has happened? The guy guy's paralyzed. His connection with the head is gone. And we have to have constant connection with the head. And when the right hand 15:56 or the left hand is in constant connection with the head, how beautifully they work together. When I see a person playing the piano blind, he plays all the notes so perfectly. And it's amazing the coordination of the fingers. And it's 16:09 all from the brain. Each finger hitting the right note and without a single mistake, they keep playing time endlessly. That is a picture of how God wants brothers and sisters in the church to work without a false note. Amazing what 16:28 it can be. So that is faith. So I so I told you repentance is turning about and faith is this helpless dependence on the Lord whether you call it the hand upon the brain or branch in the tree. So that's where we have to begin. So we 16:43 need to make sure that we have a good foundation and then let [clears throat] me just share a few things from Romans. In Romans 5 it says I'm trying to take you through the foundation very quickly and then we can move on. Romans 5 it 17:00 says being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. From the beginning of our Christian life, one thing we must have in our heart is peace. Peace is one of the greatest gifts of God. And it says as soon as you're born 17:18 again, you have peace. You know the doctors say if there's something irrit irritating you in your body, that's an indication of some sickness. If you're always feeling scratchy somewhere, something wrong with the skin, that means something wrong with 17:34 the blood in your body. that's causing that itching. So peace means I don't have any sickness, anything bothering me, no symptom of anything. Peace with God. And God wants us to begin our life with peace and to 17:51 always live with a conscience that is at peace. Whenever the conscience is disturbed, no peace, it is a symptom that something is wrong in your life. You may think you're a wonderful Christian, but your conscience disturbs 18:07 you. Dear brother, sister, say to yourself, something is wrong somewhere. Either between you and God in the vertical direction or between you and some other person, believer or unbeliever, in the horizontal direction. That's why the conscience disturbs you. 18:24 Now it is possible to become so insensitive in your conscience that even when you have an evil attitude towards somebody else your conscience doesn't disturb you. That is the indication of a man whose conscience is dead. You know 18:39 you put a five ton weight on a dead man he doesn't feel a thing. He won't move at all. But you don't need a five ton weight to make you feel under pressure. Even a few pounds, you'll feel the pressure on your body. But a person who's dead doesn't 18:58 feel anything. So when I can do something wrong or speak something evil or you know judge people as if I'm God and not feel disturbed about it, it is an indication 19:16 that there is some death in some part of my conscience. Otherwise I'll be disturbed. So that's one good way to ask ourselves whether I do I have peace with God. It says here peace with God through Jesus Christ. That must be what we have 19:34 continuously. In fact that's the indication that everything is okay. So [clears throat] we must remain in that position all the time and we must be convinced that we are justified. Justified means declared righteous. 19:53 God says you're righteous because I'm clothed with Christ. And if my conscience is clear, I can live in that peace with God all the time. So I want to move on from there to Hebrews chapter 8 because you know in CFC we emphasize new 20:12 covenant. The main difference between what we preach and what other churches don't preach is the new covenant. But I don't know whether everybody in our churches understand what new covenant is. 20:31 So here in a nutshell is the new covenant in Hebrews chapter 8 and verses 7-13. the small passage and um this is actually a quotation from 20:47 the Old Testament in that is quoted here pointing forward he says in Hebrews chapter 8:8 the days are coming says the Lord when I will affect a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the 21:06 house of Judah you read about that in Jeremiah and chapter 31 1 about you take can take time later on to read it. He's quoting from Jeremiah 31 verse 31 onwards. I will make a new covenant. They did not have it in the Old 21:21 Testament when the Lord once said uh you remember that he said that in Matthew 11. The greatest human being from the time of Adam to the time of Christ the greatest human being Jesus said was it was not Abraham. to John the 21:38 Baptist. He was the greatest. And then Jesus said, "But the least person in God's kingdom who comes in the new covenant is greater than even John the Baptist." That doesn't mean we are more spiritual than John the Baptist because I've 21:57 hardly ever found a believer who's more spiritual than John the Baptist. But it means that we have greater privileges than John the Baptist had. It's like someone who's born in a palace as a prince, a son of a king. He has a 22:13 tremendous number of earthly privileges that someone who's born in a poor house does not have. Something like that that when we come John the Baptist was the greatest prophet and the old covenant, but on the day of Pentecost when the new 22:29 covenant was established, the least person in the new covenant gets to be greater. It's like that person who lives in a in a country but even if he's from a rich family he's not as great as the son of the king who was a prince. So 22:47 something like that. So in the new covenant we are brought to a higher level and we need to understand that. So the first thing I told you is to have peace with God. We must be absolutely sure like I said in Romans 5:1 we are 23:03 declared righteous. You should not have any doubt about that that God has declared you righteous because Christ has come into your heart. Even though you're not perfectly righteous. It takes time to become like Christ because you 23:16 are in Christ. God considers you righteous. We must be established in that. That is what gives us boldness when we come to God in prayer. You know many people don't understand what does it mean to pray in the name of Jesus. 23:32 Why do I have to pray in the name of Jesus Christ? Because I'm I'm saying Lord, I don't have any righteousness to stand before you. But in Christ, I can come freely like your I'm a son of God or a daughter of God. I can come boldly. 23:47 That's why we use the name of Jesus. Very important to understand what it means to take the name of Jesus when we pray. For many people, praying in the name of Jesus means it's time to say amen. But it's a lot more than that. It 24:01 doesn't mean that's the end of the prayer. It means I have boldness to come into God's presence and ask and demand that the things I ask for should be answered because I'm accepted in Christ. We need a lot more boldness. 24:17 I find many believers don't have that boldness. They come before God in Christ's name because they're not so sure that they're declared righteous by God in Christ. They're always looking at their own limitations and weaknesses and 24:30 say, "Well, I can't God can't God can't God can't God can't God can't God can't God can't accept me and well none of us are perfect but it's the attitude that God sees. So if your attitude is one of repentance, Lord, I want to give up all 24:42 sin. I don't want to love this world. I want to love you with all my heart." That attitude ensures that God supports you 100% and accepts you as you are. So [clears throat] once we have that here is this new covenant. So I want to begin with 24:59 the new covenant is mentioned in this is the covenant I will make verse 10 onwards verse 10 to 12 are the three points of the new covenant. So I'll start with the first one is mentioned it goes backwards. It starts with verse 12. 25:16 The first thing in the new covenant is the Lord says, "I'll be merciful to their iniquities and remember their sins no more." That's the first thing. And I want to ask all of you, are you absolutely sure 25:35 that God does not remember your past life? Does not remember means is not that God has got a poor memory, but he does not hold that against you. >> [clears throat] >> I don't care what crime you committed in your past life. If you've given your 25:48 life to Christ, the blood of Jesus has cleansed you so thoroughly that God says, "I don't even think about your past life. I will remember their sins." Verse 12, no more. Are you sure of that? They couldn't say 26:06 that in the Old Testament. There's a lot of difference. You know in the Old Testament, let me show you that verse in Psalm 32. Blessed is the man. Uh whose sin is, it says here, whose sin 26:22 is covered. Psalm and 32 and verse one, transgression is forgiven. Yeah. And your sin is covered. Covered means you take a handkerchief and put it 26:39 over it. Cover it. It's not seen. But you lift the handkerchief, it's there. Covered is different from cleansed. The Old Testament sin was not cleansed. It was only covered because it could not be cleansed until the blood of Christ was shed. But now 26:59 the Lord says the blood of Jesus cleanses us. Do you know the difference between being cleansed and being covered? Cleansed. It's gone away. And the Lord says, "I will not remember your sins anymore." 27:17 It's a wonderful joy for us to know that all the wretched things we've all done in our past life, God doesn't hold anything against us. Nothing. I don't care what it is. He says, "I don't don't remember." It means it's not that God's got a poor 27:36 memory. I choose not to remember it. That's what it means. I choose not to remember anything that you have done. Now, I'll tell you, I'll prove to you that it doesn't mean God's got a poor memory. Because you know the story of 27:52 where Jesus said in Matthew 18 of a slave who had a tremendous debt to the king and the king forgave that huge debt completely, maybe millions and millions of dollars. But then that slave went out, you read in Matthew 18, the last part, and he 28:10 found another slave who owed himself 10, $20. and he caught him by the throat and say, "You pay up." And he locked him up in jail for that $20. And the king heard about it and he called that man back. He said, "I forgave you millions of 28:27 dollars and you couldn't forgive that guy $20. Well, I put you into prison. And not only I'll put you in prison, you read Matthew 18, I'll hand you over to the torturers." Torturers are demons. So when you don't forgive somebody after 28:43 God has forgiven you so much, he literally hands you over to the demons. Yeah, the demons may not possess you, but they'll harass you in many ways. There are believers who are harassed by the demons. And I'll tell you the 28:57 reason. There's somebody they have not forgiven. They keep a grudge against someone who did something against them. Sometimes [clears throat] even against their husband or wife. It's terrible. And I urge believers say, if you're being tortured in your mind 29:14 and you're restless in your life and you can't sleep at properly at night, ask yourself whether you've got a grudge against somebody or you haven't forgiven somebody who's done something wrong to you. That's the only reason you're being 29:28 handed over to the torturers. Forgive them completely. Think of how much the Lord's forgiven you. The maximum evil that other people have done against you is not even 1 millionth of what we have done against the Lord. So what the 29:42 Lord's forgiven us million times more we can forgive. These are all trivial. They are cents compared to the millions of dollars that our debt was forgiven. So that's very important. [clears throat] And then the Lord says I will remember 29:55 your sins no more. We have to have this is the first step in the new covenant to be absolutely sure the Lord does not remember my past anymore. and that when I confess it, it's not only forgiven but blotted out, provided 30:11 I have forgiven everybody else. And if there's one person on earth I have not forgiven, I'm telling you in Jesus name, your sins are not going to be forgotten by God, he's going to remember it and he'll have the torturers troubling you 30:25 till you learn to forgive that other person whom you haven't forgiven. That's what Jesus said. That's the truth. So, but if you follow that principle, then you can get this first part of the new covenant established and be clear in 30:42 your mind. I come before God with a clear conscience. I'm not going to be disturbed by my past anymore or even what I did yesterday because I have repented of it, confessed it, and the blood of Jesus has blotted out my past. And because I have forgiven 30:59 other people, God's forgiven me completely. Their sins and iniquities I will remember no more. And think of that phrase we found in Romans 5:1. Justified. Justified means just as if, 31:17 not only just as if I had never sinned, but just as if I had always been righteous. To never have sinned is one thing. To have always been righteous is a higher level. I used to think justified means it's just as if I had never sinned. That 31:34 itself is great. But justified is not just as if I had never sinned. It's just as if I'd always been righteous from day one of my life. It's a wonderful thing to recognize that God has justified me in Christ. The blood of Christ not only 31:49 forgives me but justifies me. And you I'm sure all of you have heard that word justified. If somebody had asked you before today, before I told you now, what is the difference between forgiven and being justified? Would you 32:01 know the answer? It makes a tremendous difference. Forgiven is one thing. Okay, I did something wrong. God forgave me. But to be justified means God looks at me as if I've never committed a sin. Not only commit a sin, as if I've been 32:15 righteous all along in my life. It gives me tremendous boldness when I come before God because I say he's not only forgiven me, he's declared me righteous. He says, "I'll be merciful. I will not remember their sins anymore." Okay, 32:28 let's move on to number two. The second part of the new covenant is in verse 11. And that is they shall not teach every man his neighbor saying his brother saying know the Lord, but all shall know me from the least to the greatest. 32:47 So here is talking about knowing God intimately. as a father. This the first next step after our sins are forgiven. We need to know God as a father. Know him intimately. 33:06 You know, like a little child. He before he can do anything for his dad and mom, he knows he's got a daddy or in God God's case is both a daddy and a mommy. In Isaiah 49:15, he says, "Can a mother forget her sucking child? Even they may 33:21 forget yet will I will not forget you. So God is a father and a mother to us. And to know him intimately all shall know me. And it says they don't have to one person teach the other saying brother know the Lord. Verse 11 Hebrews 33:38 8:11. They shall not teach one man his brother saying know the Lord. They'll know me personally. In other words, you don't have to go through your brother to the father. In the Old Testament, it was like that. You had to go through Moses to God or you go 33:54 to go through Elijah to get in touch with God. But not today. And here it says, even if you're the youngest, what does it say here? Not the greatest to the least. In the world, you always talk about greatest to least, from the king 34:07 to the beggar. But in the new covenant, in the church, it is very different. It's from the beggar all the way up to the top. From the one who's the least, all will know me. Starting with the one who's like a child. That's why Jesus once picked up a child 34:24 and said, "You disciples, let me tell you the kingdom of God is like this. Learn to become like a child who trusts." You know, I used to use this example sometimes. And I say, supposing you put a little child on some high place, 34:43 say 8 ft up on some stool or ladder or something, and you stand there as a father and say, "Jump. I'll catch you." A little child will jump immediately. But the older they are, they say, "I'm not sure you'll catch me, Dad." 35:02 The child is so trusting and and Jesus said the kingdom of God the kingdom of God is like little children. Simple trust. They shall not teach one man his neighbor saying know the Lord. All will know me starting with not the greatest 35:21 starting with the least. So that is the second part of the new covenant that is to know the Lord. You could not know the Lord in the old covenant. You could not as I told you in the old covenant you could only your sins could 35:35 only be covered by now cleansed and not only cleansed but declared righteous as if you never sinned in your life and you were always righteous in your life. And the second thing is that you can know God personally as a father 35:49 from day one. You don't have to come to a certain amount of maturity before you know God as a father. But from the day one itself you can know God as your father. And that is what the Holy Spirit does. See with please turn with me to Romans 36:08 in chapter 8. In fact that is one of the main ministries of the Holy Spirit as soon as we are born again. It says in Romans in chapter 8 that when the spirit of God comes in 36:27 Romans 8 verse1 15, you have not receive a spirit of slavery, but you receive a spirit of adoption that cries out aba. Aba is a Hebrew word. Unfortunately, they did not translate it. But if it was translated to English, it should be 36:46 daddy. I don't know why they didn't translate it. People are scared to call God daddy. But that's how little children call their father. And it's in crying out dad, father. That is the spirit of sunship. That's 37:05 the meaning of adoption, sunship. So all shall know me from the least to the greatest. Right from day one, we are to know God as our father. That's why Jesus said when you pray, begin by saying our father who art in 37:24 heaven. And even if you don't repeat that in every prayer, it must be with that confidence that you pray. I'm talking to my heavenly dad who is my father. Therefore, he loves me intensely and he's our father. Our 37:41 father who art in heaven that means he runs the whole universe. He runs this whole world. There's no problem he cannot solve. So I'm saying I'm talking to you dad. You love me and you run you run this whole world. There's no problem 37:56 you cannot solve. Now here is my problem. That's how we must come in prayer. Our father who art in heaven. All shall know me. All shall know me as their father and all shall know me as the God who rules everything in this 38:12 universe and on and the whole earth from heaven. Now if we don't start here, we're going to have a lot of problems in our Christian life. And uh that's how it is with a lot of Christians. They don't start there. They skip all these things. 38:27 First of all, they keep getting con condemned about past sins. They don't believe they've been completely forgiven. They think the small sins God forgives but the terrible sins they committed as if the blood of Jesus cannot cleanse that and so they live 38:41 under condemnation and the devil is delighted when he finds any of God's children living under condemnation I'll tell you what happens to such people they condemn other people also they themselves live under condemnation and 38:53 they condemn other people so we must be sure that we are declared righteous and then we must know God as our father and then and know him as our father, a loving father who runs the universe. That's why Jesus taught us to pray when 39:07 you pray, say, "Our father who art in heaven." That's the second point. Then the third point is in verse 10. We saw verse 12. We saw verse 11. Now we come to verse 10 of Hebrews 8 verse 20. 10. Here it says, "I will put my laws in 39:23 their mind and write them in their hearts." There are two things. When it says, "I will put my law in their minds and hearts." You know, Moses when he was in the mountain, God wrote the ten commandments on two tablets of 39:41 stone, two rock, two big flat pieces of rock with his finger. The Holy Spirit, the finger of God is the Holy Spirit. Wrote all the commandments on, I believe, four commandments on one related to God and the six commandments 39:57 related to man on the other. One was love God with all your heart, four commandments, and love your neighbor as yourself, six commandments, starting with honor your father and mother. So these are two tablets of stone. One 40:09 relating to one's relationship with God, the other rel relating to one's relationship with fellow men. So these are the commandments that were written on two tablets of stone. Now today those two tablets are here it is 40:25 mind and heart. I will put my law in your mind and I'll write them in your heart. What does that mean in practical terms? When it says he puts his law into our mind 40:43 it means he gives us a desire to do his will. That means according to God's standard, you shall not lust after women with your eyes. And God puts it in my mind. I have 41:02 a great desire through the Holy Spirit putting that in my mind never to lust with my eyes after any woman. Or the Lord puts a desire in my mind never to get angry with somebody for something 41:21 they did or did not do which I expected them to do. He puts a desire in my mind not I don't want to get angry with that person and all his laws. 41:36 This is writing God's law. I will put my laws in their mind. In the Old Testament, it was written outside. And if you read it in the Bible, it's like an old testament. Written outside. Those days it was written on rock. Now 41:53 you got it in a book. But it's outside. It doesn't help you. But he says that which you read in the Bible, I will write it in your mind. That's wonderful. God writes his law means the desire he has for my life. 42:12 He puts it in my mind how I should react in a Christlike way in a particular situation or towards an evil person. He puts it into my mind. This is how you must treat that person who is troubling you. This is how you must react to that 42:28 evil person. This is how you must react to this difficult situation you're facing in your office. or with some relative. Okay, it's in my mind. But that's not enough. So God says and I put it in your mind and I will write it in your heart. 42:48 What's that? That is God giving me the ability. Desire alone is not enough. I can have a great desire to do God's will, but if I don't have the ability, I can't do it. So I must have desire plus ability. So God says, "I'll give you the desire 43:05 and I'll give you the ability." Do you believe, my dear brothers and sisters, that God will give you the desire to do everything that is in his will for your life. God will give you that desire. Don't be proud and think that you are so 43:21 spiritual that you got that desire. God put it in your mind and he'll give you the ability to do it as well. Do you believe it? There's nothing you can receive from God if you don't have faith. what you read here if you say no no no 43:37 no it can't be possible then I'll tell you in your case it will not be possible but here's some believer who was converted last week you were converted 20 years ago and you don't believe it but here's somebody who was converted 43:48 last week he says I believe it that God will make me give me the desire to do his will and give me the ability to do his will he will go far ahead of you even though he was converted only last week and you were converted 20 years ago 44:00 because of one difference he believes that God will give him the desire and the ability desire very often people have but they don't believe that God will give them the ability to do his will also I will put your law in the mind put my law in 44:14 your mind and I will write it in your heart see this verse in uh Hebrews and chapter 13 Hebrews 13 in the middle of that verse 44:35 Hebrews 13 and:9. It is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace. What does grace do? You know the well-known verse that we quote very often in CFC churches, Romans 44:54 6:14, sin shall not rule over you because you're under grace. And here it says where that grace comes. The grace comes to strengthen your heart. What for? So that sin does not rule over you. Romans 6:14. You put 45:13 Hebrews 13:8 verse uh sorry verse 9 with Romans 6:14. The heart is strengthened so that it we don't sin. And God says I'll do it. It's not a question of your determining from tomorrow onwards I'm not going to sin. You'll fail. I'll tell 45:29 you. Trust God who put the desire in your heart to please him to also give you the ability. I think many people will acknowledge yeah it was God who gave me the desire to please him. But do you believe my brother sister that the God 45:45 who gave you the desire to please him will also give you the ability to please him? Many people think yeah God has put the desire in me but I somehow don't have the ability. You're trying to produce the ability because you thought 45:56 you had the desire. You are so conceited. Let me tell you frankly and straight. You were conceited to think that you had the desire. You created a desire to please God. That pride robbed you of God's grace. Because God gives his grace only to the 46:14 humble. He doesn't give his grace to everyone. It's very clear in 1 Peter 5:5. God gives his grace only to the humble. And the humbler a man is, the more he gets grace. Grace is like a river of water. You know, have you seen when the 46:32 rain falls and you find the lower parts of the road or field the water tends to accumulate there. If a field is sort of up and down, the water starts to rushes to the lowest place. You see how water rushes to the lowest place when there's 46:48 a rain. That's how God's grace is. It looks around for who's the humblest person around here. Who's the humblest person in this church? the grace will rush to that person first. That's how it is. But grace will strengthen the heart. And if 47:03 God was if you acknowledge humbly that God is the one who gave you a desire to please him, then you should also acknowledge he will also give you the ability to please him. Because he if he can write his law in your mind, if he 47:16 can put his law in your mind, he can write it in your heart as well. Both are in the same verse. There's no separation. I will put my law in their mind and I'll write them in their heart. If he gives you the desire, he'll give 47:28 you the ability. You must have faith. That's all. Without faith, it is impossible to please him. And without humility, you will not get that grace. So very often I think that I have developed a desire to please God. I have 47:45 not. I'll tell you left to myself, I would have zero desire to please God. If I have even a slight desire to please God, it is because God put his law into my mind. area and I also believe that you'll give 48:15 me the ability. You don't tease me by saying this is my standard now try and reach it. Imagine if God told me this is my standard you try and reach it. I say Lord I give up. I can't reach it. But when God says this is my standard 48:33 and I'll enable you to reach it. Ah then it's wonderful. But I have to cooperate with God. That's all because otherwise it's not that he puts me inside an airplane and lifts me up. Not like that. I cooperate with him and at every step he puts his law into 48:52 my mind and gives me the ability. So this is the new covenant. These three things in the new covenant that you need to understand. Meditate much on it. And I believe that if everyone in a local fellowship seeks to live according to 49:08 this, you know what will happen? I'll tell you. They will become one body in Christ because the Lord is controlling the each one's thinking and they will be united together. Why does this left hand cooperate with the right hand? It's 49:26 because the head is controlling both of them. When a person is paralyzed and his left hand doesn't work anymore connected to the head, then it doesn't cooperate with the right hand. So when you see a brother who's not able to cooperate with 49:37 another godly person, that person's paralyzed. He's not in connection with the head. We see sometimes difficult people in a church. The reason is they're not connected to the head. They like a paralyzed member. They may be 49:50 born again, but they're paralyzed. And so we have to encourage them and tell them trust in the Lord, repent. Usually something in their life not set right and that's why they're paralyzed. Somebody they've not forgiven. 50:07 So let's apply all these things to our own lives and see whether we can live as God says we are to live. Now this is just some seed thoughts that I put into your mind. Now as you when you go home I want to ask you to meditate on Romans 5 50:25 and this Hebrews 8:10-12 because now you've understood what the new covenant is all about. And this is how the old new covenant is superior to the old covenant. All these three areas number one the old covenant they did not have 50:37 the assurance that their pastors blotted out. Now we have that assurance. Number two they knew him as God. We kn know him as our father. And number three they could only look at the commandments and never keep it. But now we can keep it. 50:50 That's how in all these three areas the new covenant is superior to the old covenant.
