0:19 I want to turn to a verse that many Christians know. It's Matthew chapter 6 and verse 33. Matthew 6 33. There are verses like this which are very wellnown 0:38 but which because people have not carefully meditated or thought about they don't really understand. And if you don't understand a verse you won't be able to obey it. and then you don't get the benefit of 0:55 the promise accompanying that verse. Seek first God's kingdom and his righteousness and all these other things. And the other things he's talking about in the previous verses are, you know, what 1:13 shall we eat, what shall we drink, what shall be clothed with? Verse 25, he's talking about food and clothing and shelter, which means a house to live in, a job, because that's how we get money for food and clothing and shelter. 1:32 So that's in other words all our earthly requirements will be thrown in by God like a bonus if we fulfill that first part of that verse as a condition. A lot of promises 1:50 in God's word have a condition and it's a very common practice among Christians to take a promise without thinking about the condition and then they wonder why it's not fulfilled. It's not fulfilled because the condition 2:06 was not met. There are some amazing promises in scripture about God providing all our earthly needs about healing us from sicknesses and giving us victory over sin and being able to enabling us to hear his voice 2:24 every day. But all these things have got conditions. You know God wants to give us everything that he has. I don't know whether you believe that but even Jesus when he was on earth when we sing that song what God did for Jesus 2:42 he will do for you but Jesus God did a lot of things for his son because he fulfilled some conditions it wasn't automatic the Bible says in Philippians 2 for example because Jesus humbled himself God exalted him to the highest place in 3:01 the universe Not because he was the son of God. He already had that place before he came to earth. But when he came to earth as a man, he went back as a man. Before that, he had the highest place in the universe along with his father, 3:15 equal with the father as God. But when he went back as a man, he had the highest place in the universe as a man. And that was not given to him because he's a son of God. Philippians 2:es 5 to8 says because he humbled himself he 3:33 was given the highest place. So that old question that some of the disciples James and John asked Jesus, who's going to sit on your right hand and left hand in that final day? That means who's going to be closest to the 3:48 Lord in the final day? The answer I know is from Philippians 2:5 and 8. He got the highest place because he humbled himself the most. And in human history, whichever human being has humbled 4:04 themselves the most closest to Jesus will occupy the seats closest to him in eternity. That'll be a reward. And that's not going to be based on your gifting 4:22 because gift is something God gives you. You can't take credit for it. For example, if you have a good-look face, you're pretty foolish. If you take credit for it, you were born with it. God gave you those features. If you are 4:37 intelligent and you're proud of it, you're a stupid person. Really, really stupid because you didn't create your intelligence. God gave it to you when you were born. But humility is not something you're born with. You choose it. 4:55 So God doesn't give you a place in heaven or glory because of your intelligence or your good looks or even your spiritual gifts which are something that God gives. We can't take credit for it. You know as Christians very often we admire people 5:13 with gifts. somebody who is a great preacher or somebody who claims to be a great healer. I stopped doing that long ago. I admire a person for his life. I don't care whether he's got gifts or not. If he's a godly, humble person, I 5:28 don't care if he has got zero gifts. That's the person I admire. That's the person I want to follow. So, it's very important to recognize that when God rewards people, it will not be according to gifts. So, the person sitting on 5:41 Jesus' right hand and left hand may not be a preacher. It may be some poor widow in Africa who nobody ever heard of who humbled herself the most compared to any human being on earth. And all of us have equal opportunity if you're really eager to be 5:57 close to Jesus in eternity. I am I hope you are not for any honor because to me that is the greatest reward to be closer to closest to Christ. So but there are conditions. So in the same way here is a condition all your earthly 6:15 needs will be added to you. Whatever your earthly need is if you see God's kingdom first and his righteousness and this is an inward thing. You see even your wife even she's you've been married many years may not know whether your deepest desire in your 6:34 heart is to seek God's kingdom first. Let me show you another verse which shows why God gave so much to Jesus in John 17. It's a verse I've often quoted but is good for all of us to be reminded about it again and again. When Jesus was 6:51 praying just before he went to the cross he said these words to the father. It's very beautiful words. They've always been a challenge to me and I hope they'll be a challenge to you. John 17:10, he looked at the father and said, 7:06 "Father, every let me paraphrase it. Everything I have and that I am is yours and therefore everything that is yours is mine." 7:25 See, it was like an exchange. God says said to Jesus, "I'll give you everything I have. You give me everything you have." So, it's not because he was the son of God. It's because he gave everything he had to the father, 7:42 his reputation, his plans, his future, his possessions, his ambitions. And sometimes it's easier to give our possessions than to give our plans for the future. He gave everything. thing and the father said, "Oh, well then you 7:58 can have everything that's fine." So all these people who tell you to give 10% to God, they get only 10% from God because the law is like that. You give 10% to God, God says, "I'll give you 10% of what I want you to have." That's 8:12 absolutely foolish. I don't want 10% of what God wants me to have. I want everything of what God wants me to have. So I don't believe in a 10% type of Christianity. That was Old Testament. Jesus. If you're following Jesus, all 8:27 that I have is thine and therefore all that you have is mine. I'm sure all of us would like to have everything God has. Imagine what a life you will live on the earth. You'll always have access to everything 8:45 God has. It's a blessed life. Nobody will be able to conquer. You'll never be afraid of any enemy. You'll never be afraid of some sickness or accidents or the fears that the world puts into people's hearts. The people of the world are full 9:03 of fears. It will not be in your mind because everything God has becomes yours. So always remember that if you're missing out on something God has promised, it's because you've not fulfilled the condition. And it's pretty foolish not 9:21 to fulfill the condition. I picture it like this. You know, I often thought of myself as a poor poor poor beggar woman. You know, because we are the bride of Christ. So, I think of myself as female. We are a poor beggar woman sitting on the 9:37 roadside with a little tin can collecting all the pisas that people drop into it. And here's a rich multi-millionaire prince comes by in his car and stops by me and 9:52 says, "Listen, I want to marry you." Now, it looks like a joke, but when Jesus says, "It's not a joke." It's really like that. A prince coming to a beggar woman sitting on the I hope you see yourself like that. I see myself 10:08 clearly like that. And that's what changed my life. That's what made me immensely grateful to Christ and why I decided I'd only live for him. Because here was this prince coming to this beggar woman saying, "I want to marry 10:20 you." And I sit there thinking it's a joke. It's not a joke. He really wants to marry me. This wretched poor ragged beggar woman. He wants to marry me. And not only that, he says, "You give me everything in your tin can and I'll give 10:35 you all my riches. We'll have a joint account and you put whatever is yours into the bank account which is probably three or four rupees and he puts everything that he has and says then you you can you can operate and take 10:47 anything you want. Don't you think it's got to be a crazy idiot who refuses that offer? You have to think in the world if something like that happens there's got to be some catch in this. It can't be true. And when you realize it's true, it's too 11:05 good to be true. Have you seen the gospel like this? Have you seen salvation like this? It will change your whole concept of Jesus Christ. And you'll feel so ashamed that you ever do one single thing to hurt him, that you 11:19 ever do that you don't trust him when he's given himself so completely. It's a it's an insult to such a savior to think that he will let us down that after coming and picking us up from the gutter as it were that halfway through he'll 11:34 say I've had enough of you. No, you see an earthly king even if she if he marries a beggar woman like that out of some great compassion after some time he may get fed up because he may say well I was thought you would change after I did 11:50 all this for you but you're just a sim rotten old person. I'm fed up with you. You can go and sit on the street again. An earthly king would do that. But in the case of Jesus, remember he knows the future. When he marries that beggar woman, 12:07 that's me and you. He knows every single stupid, foolish thing that I'm going to do from that day onwards to the end of my life as soon as he marries me. You know, the day I was converted, that was 57 years 12:25 ago, God knew every single foolish, stupid thing I would do in these 57 years. And I've done a lot of foolish, stupid things. Learn just like every believer, particularly in our younger days, we got a lot of lot of zeal 12:39 without wisdom. And uh even if we don't do sin, we commit a lot of foolish mistakes. We criticize people, we judge people, we criticize servants of God and judge servants of God. And I've done all those foolish things. And God didn't give up 12:54 on me. He knew every foolish thing I would do. And I don't know what else I'm going to do. I think it's not going to be as foolish in the future as in the past. But I don't believe I'm perfect. So there may be imperfect things that I do 13:09 even in the future. But my consolation is that Jesus already knows it. My husband already knows everything I'm going to do till the end of my life. And he says, "I still chose you." I sometimes, I'm not serious, but I sometimes ask 13:28 husbands, "Would you have chosen the same wife if you knew all the foolish things that she did in your life till today?" I hope your answer is yes. Some husbands will say, "No, if I had known all that, I'd have chosen somebody 13:41 else." And I ask wives, would you have chosen the same man? If you seen how hard he was going to be towards you and how dictatorial and all that, would you still have chosen him? Isn't it wonderful? Now on earth, we don't have that choice. You marry 13:56 somebody, you don't know what he's like. They look so nice and sweet and all, but few years after marriage, they're quite different. Both are different. You don't blame the other person. You're also different. The other person is also 14:07 different. But Jesus, he knows every single thing right up till the end and says, "I know. I still want you." And that's my comfort. That's why none of us should ever feel condemned when we slip up and do something foolish today, 14:25 oh Lord, are you going to forsake me now? No, he will not. But you'll miss out on something that he has for you if you hold back. I mean, if your only aim is in life is the selfish, self-centered aim, I want 14:42 to go to heaven when I die. To tell you honestly, I don't even know whether you're born again. If that is your aim, that's not my aim. I can stand before God today and say, I'm ready to go to hell or Jesus if you're there. I'm not interested in 14:59 going to heaven. I'm interested in going to be with Jesus. My passion is to be with him. I mean, if you're in love with somebody, you'd be happy to stay in a hut with that person. If you're not in love and you're only interested in his wealth, you'll be 15:12 interested in what type of house he can get you. There are women who marry like that. They're not interested in the man. They're interested what's his job like, how much is his salary, what type of car can he drive, and what type of house can 15:24 he get me? Possibly some of you married like that, but that's not the way we're to be united to Jesus. So in a true marriage, it's out of fervent love for one another where I say, "I don't care whether you live in a hut. I don't care if you ride a bicycle 15:41 all our days and if you never have a car, it's quite okay. I I love you for who you are. I don't care if you lose all your money. I don't care if you lose your health." See, that's the type of attitude that we are to have towards Jesus. Lord, I don't 15:56 want anything from you. You've already done more than enough for me on the cross. and I give myself totally to you. That type of relationship is going to make you the mo going to give you the most satisfying Christian life. 16:12 So coming to this question of seeking the kingdom of God first and his righteousness. The right attitude to that is not you know even though there's a condition seek God's kingdom first and his righteousness and all your earthly needs 16:27 will be added to you. If you are seeking God's kingdom and his righteousness because you want all your earthly needs added to you, again, you'll have a problem. I'm not seeking God's kingdom and his righteousness because I want food and 16:44 clothing and shelter taken care of me for the rest of my life. No, I don't care if I don't get food, I don't get shelter. I will still seek God's kingdom first in his righteousness because we love him because he first loved us. That's the only reason why we 17:02 want to seek his kingdom and his righteousness. So motive is important. Though God may give us many things, if that is the reason why we give ourselves to seek his kingdom first, then something is wrong. Our giving ourselves to Christ must only 17:19 be based on he loved me so I love him in return and I desire nothing from him. When I say nothing, I mean nothing. And then later on, if I in life, if I get nothing, I don't have a complaint. Do you ever go to God and say, "Lord, why 17:36 didn't you do this for me? I mean, I've been so faithful and you didn't do this for me." Ah, that means you came to the Lord for his wealth. You married your husband not for who he is, but because he could get you something. I hope 17:52 that's not the way any of us are united to Jesus Christ. Can you honestly say before God today, Lord, from today onwards, if you answer no prayer of mine, never do anything for me, never heal me or any member of my family of 18:07 any sickness, allow me to grind in poverty till the end of my life, I'll still love you and live for you the end of my days. That is the true disciple of Jesus. And I want to tell you that is the only person who's going to have a 18:18 very satisfying Christian life. My Christian's life's been extremely happy. When I quit my job 50 years ago to serve the Lord, I never knew what the future was. I'd given away all my money for the Lord's work. And but I said, "Lord, I 18:35 don't want money. I don't want a house. I don't want anything. I want to live for you and serve you and show my gratitude for what you did for me on the cross till the end of my life. And I want to live as long as you want me to 18:47 live. and I'll sacrifice anything, health, money, everything in order to serve you. And if I don't have a place to sleep, I'll go and sleep in the railway station. I actually told the Lord that I'm not interested. I don't 18:59 want anything in in return from the Lord. And that's why my life has been extremely happy and extremely satisfying. I say this because I see so many grumpy Christians who got a complaint against God, complain against the church, complain against this. I 19:14 don't have a complaint against a human being in the whole world. I'll tell you honestly, I do not have a complaint. I hope you can live like that. That's how any true Christian should live. If you got a complaint against your wife, 19:27 you need to be wholehearted Christian. It'll disappear. If you got a complaint against your husband, you need to be a wholehearted Christian. It'll disappear. I'll tell you that. If you got a complaint against a brother or some 19:37 elder or somebody else, something's fundamentally wrong with you, not with the other person. There may be 10,000 things wrong with the other person, but if you have a complaint, something's wrong with you. So, it all depends on having that type 19:52 of relationship with Jesus Christ where I love him for nothing that he will give me. I love him because he first loved me. So, what does it mean to seek God's kingdom first? When I first read that verse as a young Christian, I thought that meant doing 20:09 Christian work. Seek God's kingdom. Don't go and do missionary work. Witness to people. will give out tracks, preach and sacrifice and give money for God's work. But it took me many years to discover that that was not the kingdom 20:20 of God. That is activity. So turn with me to Romans 14:17 where the kingdom of God is defined by the Holy Spirit. And this is what we are to seek first. And then some of you are looking for a 20:40 job. Some of you are looking for better house. I'll tell you the way to it. Seek first the kingdom of God. Here it is in Romans 14:17. The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking. It's not having a good house. Is not having money to have a good meal. 21:00 It's not having money to buy good clothes. And if you I'll tell you this, if you people are interested in good clothes, you know there's some women who always want to buy clothes. I don't believe that they're going to be wholehearted 21:13 Christians. I don't believe in my life that they can be like that. Jesus said, "If you have enough clothes to take care of yourself, why are you keeping on why do you keep on buying clothes? Go and look into your wardrobe." Some of you, 21:25 you got so many clothes hanging there and you still want to go go buy new ones. I say, "Are you a Christian? Are you one who believes that all the money God gives you is given by him to be used for your glory? If you have 21:37 plenty, go and give it to some poor person. Why buy you already got a hundred sets of clothes in your cupboard. Why do you want to buy some more? It's amazing how why people uh can't figure out why is my Christian life so 21:51 shallow? Why am I so defeated in so many areas? Cuz you got a wrong attitude to money. That's it. It's not eating and drinking. It's not fine clothes. It's not a fine house. It's not a question of getting a better car or keeping up with somebody else or 22:07 all this rubbish. If you're in that rat race, I might as well tell you, forget about being a Christian. Just be a churchgoer. Come on Sundays and sit in the chair and have your lunch and go home. I don't know whether you'll get into heaven at 22:23 last. I hope you will, but I seriously doubt it because that's not the type of person God is populating heaven with. God is populating heaven with wholehearted disciples of Jesus Christ. And if you're a wholehearted disciple of 22:36 Jesus Christ, I can guarantee you a place in heaven. If you're not, I don't know. So, it's not eating and drinking. It's got nothing to do with the the things of the world. The kingdom of God is first of all righteousness. 22:54 But it's a particular type of righteousness. Righteousness speaks of being right in every area. of our life being upright but it comes from within. In the Old Testament, the righteousness of the law was on the 23:13 outside. But even there, there was a pretty high standard, you know, like you shouldn't commit adultery, you shouldn't steal, you shouldn't uh murder, and you shouldn't desire other people's property, and you must honor God and honor your 23:32 parents and give time to God. In those days it was a Sabbath but the principle is to give time to God. That was an external righteousness. And also the Lord said that you must care for the widow and the weak and the poor. 23:50 You know God in the Old Testament he he said I I'm I want to see how you deal with strangers and the poor in society. And I'm going to deal with you according to that. And I believe that's true in 24:08 the New Testament, too. You've often heard me say, the way you treat your maidervant at home, listen carefully, the way you treat your maidervant at home will be the way God treats you. Believe it or not, I've seen it. We've had servants in our home and I've 24:30 been extremely careful to treat them the way I want God to treat me. And I'll tell you this, God's been exceptionally good to me and to my children, every one of them, because we've traded servants at home properly 24:49 right from the beginning. I want to ask you all of you judge yourself. How long have you had servants in your home? How have you treated them? Go back to the time you got married from then till today. And if you have treated any 25:07 of them badly, repent. Repent. I remember one brother in our church. He treated his servant so badly and I heard about it. She got sick and he when he invited me to his home for his son's birthday, I said, "I'll never come to your home 25:25 till you have repented of your sin. Go and ask forgiveness from that servant and her parents." But he got offended and left the church. Well, fine. He has to answer to God in the final day. I tried to save him from final judgment, but he didn't want it. 25:40 He just got offended and left the church. Well, he'll have to answer for that in the final day. He's not going to escape. Just because it happened 30 years ago doesn't mean he's going to escape. I want to tell you, if you have 25:50 treated anybody badly, if you don't want that to come up in the day of judgment, you better settle it now. Find out where that person is and go and apologize and ask forgiveness. Otherwise, I prophesy and I tell you in Jesus name, it will come up when you 26:07 stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Everything that's not settled on earth will be settled then. That was Old Testament righteousness. But New Testament righteousness is much more than that. Paul said in Philippians and 26:21 chapter 3, Philippians chapter 3, he says, "I want to be as far as the righteousness in the law is concerned." Philippians 3: I was blameless. There's nothing wrong in my life according to the Old 26:41 Testament standard of righteousness. Everything I was perfect. But he says, I don't want to be found in Christ. Verse six, with that righteousness that I got from the law even though my external life was perfect. And that very few people can say that 27:01 that from childhood, a rare person like Paul who must have been an exceptionally god-fearing young man that to the best of his knowledge he always honored his parents, never committed adultery once in his life, never stole anything, 27:18 never did anything wrong. There are a few people like that who have lived very upright lives, very rare, but there are a few. And Paul was one of them. That rich young ruler who came to Jesus, he was another like that. But he says, "When I stand before the 27:36 Lord, I don't want to glory in any of these things. I can't stand before the Lord even with that perfect righteousness. I don't want to be found with that. I want to be found with a righteousness that comes through faith in Christ 27:53 on the basis of faith which puts me on the same level as the murderer and the thief and the crook who got converted. Do you many of you I I think at least 28:10 some of you have probably lived very good lives from the time you were born because you had a god-fearing upbringing. That's great. I'm not saying that those who have fallen badly are worse, but sometimes those who have been 28:30 brought up in a very good way can be a little proud of it. And Paul having lived such a good life till it when he came to know Jesus, he said, "Boy, I'm the chief of sinners in all the world." When you hear somebody saying he's the chief of sinners in all 28:47 the world, you think, "Boy, this fellow must have lived a very bad life." No. The man who said that lived a more upright life than perhaps all of us. Think of it. He did not want that. He didn't glory in that. And I believe that one reason why 29:04 some very good people who have had a very good upbringing from childhood in their home don't come to a godly life is because they they feel that they're a little better than those other people who lived in such terrible sins like 29:20 adultery and theft and murder. So learn something from Paul. Don't glory in that righteousness. because I had a god-fearing parents and I was sent to Sunday school from a very young age. It kept me from all the gross 29:40 sins that other people in the Navy were indulging in. All my colleagues on the ship were indulging in all types of terrible sins and God kept me from all of them. In all those years when I was in the most ungodly surroundings on a 29:54 ship, the only I wasn't converted, but it kept me from these gross sins that the Old Testament law condemns from all of them all my life till I got converted. But when I got converted, I realized that in the presence of God's 30:11 holiness, the uprightness and good life I lived as an unconverted person did not make me superior to the worst crook who got converted. And that's what brought me to enjoy my salvation. 30:30 So Paul says, I don't want to be found in that righteousness. Never think that because you had such a good upbringing in your younger days, you're better than anybody else. That's the thing God convinced me about. Exactly the same 30:45 that Paul was convinced about. Just just because you didn't commit all those gross sins that other people have committed in your younger days and you lived a fairly pure life, that doesn't mean you're any better. You need 30:56 salvation just like anybody else. And you're saved on exactly the same basis. And when you're saved, you're on the same level as all the other crooks and thieves and murderers. I I rejoice in it because I rejoice only in the fact that the only righteousness 31:10 I have today is what Christ clothed me with by faith. That's why my life's been so happy. Have you got that? Have you got that understanding that when you came to Christ, all your righteousness was like filthy rags? 31:29 nothing to glory in. And then you come like this beggar to the king's feast who was given that robe and he just wears it. And I I mention this because I have seen sometimes people who had a who lived a very good life sometimes look down on 31:49 others. And I almost feel like saying I wish you had sinned more in your past life. you would have been a little more humble. You're so proud because you haven't sinned enough. That's not the best way to be humble. Jesus never sinned and he was the 32:09 humblest man who walked on the earth. But I've seen the arrogance of some people who look down on others who have failed because they themselves have never failed so much. I've seen that. I've seen that in CFC people. And the 32:21 result is they've never grown spiritually. They come to a certain level and get stuck and they don't even see it. They don't even see it because they have not given up their confidence in the righteousness that came through the law. 32:38 So it's very important that I might have the righteousness that comes. He says that's the only thing I want to I don't want to be found. What a meditate on this verse. I don't verse Philippians 3:9. I don't want to be found 32:52 with my righteousness in that day. I don't want to be found with my own righteousness at any time in my life. I don't want to talk about it. I want to consider myself exactly the same as the filthiest adulterer and the filthiest 33:06 thief and the filthiest crook in the world. I'm on the same level, not one bit higher than them, even though I never did any of those things. The only righteousness I have is the righteousness of Christ. If you start from that foundation, 33:21 you'll have a very, very good life. And it'll be very easy for you to come into the presence of God to see that you're such a filthy sinner because you see those inner attitudes and sins inside which nobody sees. And you come 33:39 into the presence of Christ. I can tell you my honest testimony. If there was no verse written in scripture where Paul saying, "I feel I am the chief of sinners." I would have still said that about myself at certain times when I'm in the presence of God 33:56 and I see the glory of his holiness. I've really felt that cannot be a greater sinner than me in the whole world. If you have never had even one occasion like that, I would say you've never really come into God's presence. 34:13 I've had a number of occasions like that. Not all the time, but certain times when the glory of God is very powerful. When we come into his presence, you say, "Oh God, there cannot be a sinner worse than me in the whole world." And I'm 34:28 very thankful that God gives me such revelations now and then because that's what helps me to keep my face in the dust. And I believe that some of you are missing out on God's grace because you're not your face is not in 34:43 the dust because every now and then maybe you got some recognition in the church because you're a senior brother or a senior sister and that's sort of got to your head and it's got a bit puffed up and you're losing grace and 34:57 your face is not in the dust. I'll tell you honestly there'd be a lot more grace in many of our lives if we had kept our face in the dust. The thing that helps us to keep our face in the dust. If you recognize that your righteousness is 35:10 like filthy rags and you don't want to be found before God with that, but you want the righteousness that is a free gift of God that God gave you in Christ that clothes you in the same way it clothed the worst sinner in the world. I emphasize that 35:27 because I've discovered that this is the reason why some people never come into a really godly life. And moving on from there, let's get back to Romans 14:17. The righteousness that comes from God has got two characteristics. 35:47 And that's how you know that it is the real righteousness. You know, like if you go to a gold smmith, there's fake gold. There are things which I've looked at sometimes, you know, I see some things, hey, that looks like gold. And somebody 36:03 tells me it's not gold. I'm not an expert. I've never handled gold in my entire life, so I don't know what it looks like. But a lot of things look like gold to me, and I'm fooled. But a goldsmith, he tests it. He says, "That's 36:16 not real gold. It's like diamonds. I've I've heard that there are pieces of glass that you can make to look exactly like diamonds, and ordinary people are fooled." I mean the world is full of crooks who are cheating people with fake 36:27 things. So here is a fake righteousness which gives you a lot of honor before people and uh you're happy with that that people think you're a very godly man. Don't be fooled. If you really have the righteousness of God, 36:47 you'll have these two things along with it. If you don't have it, it's not the righteousness of God. Romans 14:17. One is peace and the other is joy. That is the mark of new covenant righteousness. What does that mean? 37:06 If I have the real righteousness of God and I'm not fooling myself, it's very easy to fool myself. Oh, I'm clothed with the righteousness of Christ. I often tell this, not often, sometimes tell the story of uh it's one of the 37:20 children's fairy tales of the emperor's new clothes. I don't know whether you have heard it. Well, listen to it. It's a children's story of this emperor who always liked fancy dresses and there were two crooks who wanted to make money 37:35 from this emperor and so they came said we are special tailor and we got a special type of cloth but the interesting thing about this cloth is the only person who can see it is one who is fit for the job he's doing. 37:54 If you're not fit for the job you're doing, you this cloth will be invisible to you. So they had nothing. So they held up their hands like this and say, "King, can you see this?" The king couldn't see anything. He said, 38:10 "Boy, if I say that, that means I'm not fit to be the king." So he said, "Yeah, yeah, it's beautiful, nice color and all that." Then he called his prime minister in and told him the condition. And the prime minister also couldn't see a thing 38:23 but he couldn't admit it because then he says I'm not fit to be the prime minister. So he also said yes yes yes it's beautiful and like that all the officials in the palace and the king was convinced everybody else could see it 38:33 but only he couldn't see it and everybody felt like that. All the others seem to be able to see it. I'm not able to see it. What clever crooks these fellas were. And then the king's birthday they said we're going to make a 38:44 dress for you with this special cloth. So they weaved and all that. And on the day of his birthday, they made him take off all his clothes and put this special dress on him. 39:02 And he had to go walk through the parade leading the parade with this special dress. Not one stitch of dress clothing on him. And the whole country was told only those who are fit for their job can see this dress. Nobody could see it but nobody wanted to 39:21 admit they are not fit for their job. So they said, "Oh, beautiful dress. Beautiful dress." Yes. The king was absolutely naked. Till one child cried out, "Hey, the king is naked." And they knew that must be the truth. Because a child, what? He doesn't have a 39:35 job. He's just speaking the truth. What is his story there? What's the application? I've seen Christians like that. I'm clothed with the righteousness of Christ. I'm holy. But look at the way they live. 39:52 Stark naked in sin. Look at the way they live in their home. Look at the way they talk to their wives. Look at the way they behave in their office. Look at the way they handle money. But I'm clothed with the righteousness of Christ. This 40:04 invisible righteousness of Christ. I'm often reminded of that story. Dear brothers and sisters, you laughed at the emperor. Is the devil laughing at you? Is the devil laughing at you as you walk through the world saying, "I'm clothed 40:24 with the invisible righteousness of Christ, and you're stark naked, filthy with sin." Don't fool yourself. Apply these tests. Do I have peace in my heart? It's one of the marks of the fact that 40:44 the Holy Spirit's got nothing against you. Colossians in chapter Colossians in chapter 3, it says here in verse 15, let the peace of Christ be the referee, that's what it says in 41:05 my margin, be the referee in your heart. Colossians 3:15, "Let the peace of Christ rule or be the referee in your heart." Now, we all know in a football game, 41:21 soccer or hockey, there's a referee and the referee is always watching to see if a foul has been committed. So, let's say a soccer game, you're playing around and you're kicking the ball and suddenly the referee blows the 41:38 whistle. Whether you think a foul has been committed or not, you have to stop the game. And you know, people who know the rules stop the game. Everybody stands still. They're not running for the ball anymore. But some stupid guy who doesn't know the 41:55 rules and doesn't know the doesn't care for the referee's vessel, he says, "Oh, everybody's standing still. I can go and score a goal now." and he takes the ball all the way at goal and kicks it in and raises his hand and the referee says 42:07 come back that's not a goal just bring it here and in a sheepish way he has to come back and say what's wrong you committed a foul and the moment you committed a foul everything you did after that does not count so when the peace of Christ has gone 42:26 from your heart that means you feel an unrest in your heart about something. You're agitated. Is the referee blowing the whistle saying something is wrong? Not with the other person but in your life. Do you know that the world around could 42:48 be evil and it never agitated Jesus because he lived with a piece of heaven in his heart. People could call him. Do you know the names that people call Jesus? Let me list some of them. Beybull, prince of devils. Samaritan that in those days was saying 43:11 you low cast, lowest cost, that's illegitimate child. They told him once in John's gospel, we are not born of fornication like your mother had you. 43:29 What all names they called him, it never disturbed his peace. He loved them. He would always say it's forgiven. It nothing could disturb him. The way 43:45 they spat on him or whatever they did to him, they told lies about him in court. This man said he will pull down this temple and construct it in 3 days. Absolute lie. Jesus didn't shout out, "Hey, hey, I 44:02 didn't say that." Say what you like. He was so much at rest. He committed his cause to one who judges righteously. He didn't fight there. This is how our savior lived on the earth. His peace was never disturbed 44:22 when people threatened him. He knew that he could not die before his father's time. He was at rest no matter what happened. Always forgiving, always keeping his heart at rest in his father. That's why when he stood before Pilate 44:39 the emperor emperor's deputy there the governor and when p he wouldn't answer Pilate and Pilate said don't you know I have power to kill you crucify you or to release you Pilate was agitated because he didn't 44:58 get a reply from Jesus Jesus was calm he said you don't have any power over me except what my father gives you. And that shut Pilot's mouth. He didn't know what to say. You don't have any power over me except what my father gives you. Do you 45:17 believe that? Do you believe that your boss in your office has no power over you except what God gives him? Or a judge in a court, I mean, I've faced situations where in a court where I said that you have no power over me except 45:30 what my father gives you. I can say that to everybody on earth. The people who you feel are attacking you or harming you, you really believe they have no power over you except what the father gives them. In the Old Testament, there 45:43 is an incident where I think it's 2 Samuel 15 where you know when David was rejected by ejected rather eject ccted by his own son Abselum and he had to run for his life there was an enemy of David called Shimi said ah I'm so happy this guy's out now. 46:03 and he went and cursed him, called him a dead dog and all types of things. And one of David's soldiers said, "Let me go and chop off his head." David said, "No." You know what David said there? This Old Testament man, he said, 46:18 "If God has permitted Shimi to curse me, God has allowed him to open his mouth and curse me, why should I fight against God?" Do you ever say that when somebody curses you or somebody does something to you? Say, "Oh, God has allowed him to 46:37 say that to me. God has allowed him to cut me off on the road, come in front of me." Little things agitate people nowadays or anything like this. I accept it. There's there was peace in Jesus' heart. and you read these 46:56 situations in the gospel and say, "Lord, this is the way I want to live on this earth." I want to say to you, my dear brothers and sisters, ask yourself right now as you're sitting on that chair, is there something somebody said which 47:13 is still agitating you? Maybe he said it years ago, but it's still bothering you. something somebody wrote to you, you got offended because your boss rebuked you or maybe a pug in the office shouted at you. You say, "How dare he 47:31 shout at me?" All the silly things that so-called believers who claim to be wholehearted believers get upset with. You haven't got the kingdom of God. You haven't got the righteousness from God. You haven't found this peace in your 47:45 heart. The righteousness from God gives you peace in your heart. Nothing will disturb them. Like that verse in Psalm 119 says, "Great peace have those who love thy law. Nothing shall offend 48:03 them." Do you know that verse? I think it's Psalm 119 verse 165. Perhaps you can find it. Great peace of those who love thy law. nothing will offend them. I I want to live like that. Jesus said, 48:23 "Blessed is he who is not offended in me." I've often said that getting offended is the kindergarten lesson we have to learn to overcome. Never. I decided years ago I'm going to overcome it. I used to get offended. Sure. Like every other human being, but 48:41 I finished with it years ago. It is I can challenge people. It's impossible today for anyone to do something to me or not do something or say something or not say something and offend me. Not possible. I've gone beyond that. All 48:56 those battles are down here and I'm above that. You can live there. If you believe that nobody can say something without God permitting him. If Shimi curses David, God David David says God's permitted him. It's okay. I'm not 49:11 going to fight against God saying why did you permit him to say that or why did you permit him? Do you see God in all these situations? You remember that verse which Jesus said blessed are the pure in heart for they shall 49:26 you know the rest of the verse you know that verse in Habacook. Blessed are the pure in heart. It's not in Habacook. It's in Matthew chapter 5. I hope you read it. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. And I want to explain to you what that 49:44 means. That when your heart is pure, you will see God everywhere. Everywhere. And in everything. And in everything that people say and do to you. In the harm that people seek to do to you. The if you're pure in heart, 50:03 what will you see? You won't see that person. You'll see God. You won't see Shimi cursing you. You'll see God. You won't see Pilot threatening you. You'll see God. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. When you see human beings 50:20 and you're upset with human beings, the problem is not with them. The problem is with you. Your heart is not pure. If you see God in every situation, you'll be at peace always. So seek for purity of heart. And you know you have purity in heart when you 50:38 see God everywhere. That's the test for me. If I don't see God everywhere in all the things that people do or don't do, the things that promised people promised to do for me and they did not do it. Okay, God was there. They promised to do it and they didn't 50:55 do it. Okay, praise the Lord. You'll never be upset with your wife. Maybe she didn't make breakfast in time and you had to go to the office. You'll see God there. Oh Lord, you want me to fast today, right? Thank you. I'm going 51:09 to praise you and I you saw I love food too much so you give me an opportunity to fast. You'll see God in every single situation. And I'll tell you something, the result of that, you'll never have a complaint against any human being. 51:24 You'll be be able to obey that command in Philippians 2, which says, "Do all things without murmuring or complaining because you see God everywhere in your peace in your heart." And the result of that, you'll be at peace with people. It'll be easy to have 51:38 peace with people when you're pure in heart because you see God there. God permitted him to do that. God permitted him to harm me in that way. God permitted him to promise to do something and not do it. Ah, praise the Lord. That 51:50 was God. The guy promised to do it and he didn't do it. Do you see God there? If you're pure in heart, you'll see. If you're not pure in heart, you'll be just upset with him for days on end. It's a wonderful life when you live in 52:05 the kingdom of God with the righteousness of the new covenant. But there's a lot more to say to that. You can meditate on it. I'll say one more thing. It's when you have peace in your heart that the devil will be crushed under 52:18 your feet. Read Romans 16:20. Romans said, "The God of peace will crush Satan under your feet. I want Satan under my feet. Not once in a while. 24 hours." Yeah. And Satan can hear me when I say that. Satan, I'm going to have you under my 52:37 feet 24 hours. My Savior defeated you on the cross. You can't touch me. You cannot. And I'm going to ensure I'm going to live in peace with God. And from my heart, I'm going to have peace with all human beings. If they don't want to have 52:55 peace with me, that's up to them. But I'm going to I'm going to keep my heart pure. I'm going to see God everywhere. And the devil will be crushed under my feet. The other thing is joy. And the mark of divine righteousness is joy. Joy means 53:11 tremendous gladness in our heart. It's not smiling all the time. Don't confuse joy with smiling. You know, I've seen a lot of I've been to a lot of charismatic Pentecostal churches where the song leader will clap and smile and shout and say, "We must 53:30 all rejoice in the Lord. Come on, shout. Come on. I don't see somebody clapping or the" and the poor fellow starts clapping because he's been exposed like that. What a stupid thing. I don't see somebody raising their hand there and 53:42 the fellow doesn't want to raise their hands raises. This is all stupid. I never listen to such people. I remember once when I went to a charismatic meeting where they asked me to speak. This was in England. And when I went there, 53:56 I didn't know it was first time I was going there. It was a group of about 70 80 people. And in the time of singing, they all got into the center and started dancing. And they said, "We're free from the opinions of people." And they dance 54:11 around. I was the only one standing by the chair. And I said, I'm free from your opinion. So I can stand here. If I were afraid of your opinion, I join you and wiggle around over there. Well, I'm free from your opinion. If you 54:25 really want to be free from opinion, you it's not by doing what everybody else does. It's by saying I'm not bothered. I'm not here. And you know the what happened? They did not let me speak. There's one meeting where I went to they 54:37 wouldn't let me speak. And on the way back they said, "Oh, brother Zag, we had some other program and somebody wanted to testify and all." I said, "Perfectly okay. I'm not offended. I had peace in my heart. I saw God there also." 54:50 And later on I heard the leader of that uh movement fell into adultery. I'm not surprised. That's what happens with all this type of stuff. So what I say is you'll never be offended. You'll have joy in your heart. But these people their joy is only for 55:05 that little time. How do you know whether you have joy in your heart? It's not how how loud you shout and yell and scream on Sunday morning when you sing. No, it's when things go wrong in your life. When people upset you, do you have 55:17 joy in your heart? That is the time to say, "I rejoice in the Lord always." It's easy. You just got to be an extrovert to shout and sing in the meeting. And God has not made everybody extroverts. But extroverts and introverts can rejoice in the Lord 55:33 always. A lot of charismatic song leaders are extroverts and they fool themselves thoroughly that they are rejoicing in the Lord. They don't. I say go and test yourself when your wife yells at you. Go and test yourself when you have problems 55:49 on the road or in your office or with difficult people. Then let me see if you rejoice. Then you know you're rejoicing the Lord. Not Sunday morning. I don't believe in Sunday. Sunday morning is acting just to show other people. So 56:04 don't be discouraged if you're an introvert and say you can't rejoice in the Lord. Don't be foolish fooled by this superficial frothy uh so-called joy that charismatic song leaders have. I I compare it to, you know, if you put a lot of surf soap 56:20 powder in a bucket of water and splash it around with the hand, there'll be a lot of bubbles on top. Have you seen that? You go back after half an hour, what's left? It's all gone. That's exactly this frothy type of singing I've 56:35 seen in charismatic circles where people shout and raise their hands and raise shout and yell and clap and all that. You go and see them later on in the same afternoon in their home. It's they're grumpy and sour and yelling at their 56:47 wives and is that joy? I don't want that. I want a joy in the Lord. It's 24 hours anytime when things go wrong, when things go right, every all the time. And that's why I say for us in CFC, the important day is not 57:05 Sunday. Somebody asked me that what's the difference between in your church and other churches. I said this other churches the important day is Sunday. Is the singing good? Is the preaching good? I said I couldn't care less for that. In 57:15 our church the important day is Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. In other words, how you live at home, how you behave in your office, that's what we teach. And if you've lived a good godly life throughout the 57:28 week, even if you don't raise your hand on Sunday morning, even if you don't shout, God will hear your praise from your heart much more than the the other fellow is clapping and singing and shouting who gets honor before people. 57:44 Do you want honor before people? When you I want to ask you, I've asked myself this many times. When I sing to the Lord, even sing these songs, am I concerned what other people are saying about me, how I'm doing it, I tell you 57:58 honestly, when my when I was 20, 30 years old, I was not today. I finished with it years ago. I couldn't care less whether people think I'm worshiping the Lord or not. I want to be conscious of Jesus right here. And when I sing those songs, 58:14 I say, "How marvelous, how wonderful is your love for me." I want to be talking to him. Lord, you loved a sinner, condemned, unclean, like me. That's exactly what I was singing this morning to Jesus who was here. I don't know who you were 58:32 singing it to. I know in my younger days, I used to just sing. I wasn't even aware of the presence of Jesus. singing and supposed to be singing to Jesus, but you're not singing it to him. You're just going along with the tune. I wanted you to 58:46 check yourself, my brother, sister. Are we going through a ritual on Sunday morning? Seek for the joy of the Lord. It's when I began to seek for 24-hour joy that I really began to experience what it is even when you sing on a Sunday morning 59:01 to sing to the Lord. I stand amazed in your presence, Lord. I I I sometimes have to shut my eyes because I get distracted seeing around and stand amazed in your presence, Lord. That you could love a sinner condemned, 59:18 unclean like me. How marvelous, how wonderful that is. Did it strike you this morning as you sang that song that it is so wonderful and so marvelous? Many times when I sing songs like this, the tears come in my eyes. I don't know 59:34 how to manufacture it. I can't manufacture it. But it comes automatically when you think of how much Jesus loved a wretched sinner like me. The mark of the kingdom of God, true righteousness, is a joy that's there all the time 59:52 and it's tested when things go wrong and not on Sunday mornings. Dear brothers and sisters, seek for this righteousness. Jesus said seek first. Seek means not just look around. I mean if you 1:00:12 lost a one rupee coin somewhere is not much value nowadays. You won't look for it long. You're walking through the grass and you lost a one rupee coin. Even a beggar won't spend too much time looking for that. But if you misplaced a wad of thousand 1:00:28 rupee notes that you had somewhere in the house, boy, how will you look for that? That's called seeking. Seek this righteousness with all your heart in secret. Get before God and say, "Lord, this is the 1:00:46 righteousness I want." Not this invisible emperor's clothes where I go around saying I'm clothed with the righteousness of Christ. I want the real thing and the real thing will be manifested. It says in Romans 8:4, the righteous requirement of the law is 1:01:02 fulfilled inside us. Little by little, that righteousness becomes a part of me. There is a growth in this. I'm not saying it happens all of a sudden. But if you keep fooling yourself with external joy, you'll never get it. 1:01:18 That's what I'm trying to say. If you think the great thing is external joy, you'll never find that inward joy which lasts 24 hours. I'll tell you one mark of having an inward joy that lasts 24 hours. An inward peace. You will never be in a bad mood. 1:01:37 Never means never. Jesus was never in a bad mood. You could never catch Jesus in a bad mood. Impossible. You never find Jesus grumpy and sour and offended. There are some people like that. And you know by the fact that they refuse to 1:01:56 talk to you. Have you seen that sometimes in a home? A husband and wife, they won't talk. Even some who shout and yell in the meetings, they won't talk. They're grumpy and sour. That is not the righteousness of the new covenant. 1:02:13 That's a deception. Seek with all your heart for the righteousness which comes from God by faith in Christ. That means by dependence on Jesus. Lord, I can't produce this. I want you to do it in me. I want you to write your law in my 1:02:29 heart. There's many times I pray that. Lord, the life you have described in the New Testament is such a wonderful life. But I cannot produce it. Please write it in me with your finger, the Holy Spirit. Write it in my heart. Give me your 1:02:43 nature so that it'll come out from me. I yield to you. I open myself to you. I want to be filled with the Holy Spirit. You've already put it in my mind. That means you've given me a desire for it. Now also do the second thing. Write it 1:02:59 in my heart. Make this nature mine. Like we sing in that song. Oh thou spirit divine, make all thy nature mine. Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me. All his wondrous compassion 1:03:16 and purity, oh thou spirit divine, make all thy nature mine, that the beauty of Jesus may be seen in me. I believe that is the greatest need in our CFC churches. Seek for that righteousness which is 1:03:35 full of peace and joy in the Lord. God loves you. He loves you so immensely. He says you're the apple of my eye. Why can't we rejoice in him all the time? Is it only Sunday morning that we are the apple of his eye? Is it only Sunday 1:03:49 morning that the hairs on our head are counted? No. All the time. I remember yesterday when I was at this wedding, I was praying Lord what shall I promise shall I give this couple getting married? And Lord spoke to me clearly. 1:04:06 Tell them that the hairs on their head are counted. remember remember that all their life. It's a very wonderful promise. The hair on my head is counted. That means the smallest little thing in your life, God's intensely interested in 1:04:20 it. You need never be anxious. You need never be worried. Say, "Lord, with such a care you have for me. Why should I live with anxiety and fear? Why should I have grudges and bitterness against somebody? Why should I be upset with 1:04:32 people? Why should I become grumpy and sour and in a bad mood when I have the almighty God, ruler of this universe, taking care of me? Live in that comfort and joy, my brother. You are precious to him. You are very, very precious. He's not going 1:04:46 to carry you halfway through the river and say, "Oh, I've had enough with you." And dump you there. Trust him, love him, and say, "Lord, with such love that you've shown me, I'm not going to hold back anything from you. You can have all 1:04:58 there is of me." Let's pray. So while our heads bowed in prayer, I don't want you to feel overwhelmed by what you heard, the way to respond is very simple. Very simple. Be honest. That's all God 1:05:17 wants. He doesn't want you to make big promises, but he wants you to be honest and say, "Lord, I am agitated in my spirit. I confess it because of this matter, because of that 1:05:37 matter, because of this brother, because of this sister, because of this relative, that relative, this person, this neighbor, this boss, whatever it is. Lord, there is a little agitation in my spirit that's bringing bad moods into my life. 1:05:55 But Lord, you know, I'm sick and tired of it. I'm sick and tired of having this type of life. Lord, you know it. I want a better life. I want a godly life. Please help me. Write your law in my heart. Lord, I'm open. I'm willing to 1:06:09 pay any price. You think God won't hear you? Of course, he will. If evil fathers know how to give good gifts to their children and this is a good gift, the righteousness of God in Christ and you don't have to pay for it. It's by faith. Open your 1:06:26 heart and say, "Lord, I want this at any cost. Write your law in my heart. Make your nature mine." Heavenly Father, you know those who are sincerely, honestly crying out to you right now. I pray that you will give them an 1:06:42 assurance, a little assurance in their heart that you've heard them and the work has begun and you will do it to completion. Thank you, Father, in Jesus name. Amen.
