0:15 We have been thinking the last three Sundays of um the fact that the world is upside down and Jesus came to set us right side up. And um we need to see what that means because a 0:35 true Christian is one who seeks to follow Jesus in the way he lived and walked on this earth. And then his way of life is going to be very different from the way of life of people in the world. 0:55 Let me show you a verse in John's gospel chapter 14. With Jesus said at the end of his life, John 14. We read here in verse 30. John 14 and verse 30. The ruler of the world is coming 1:18 and he has nothing in me. Now, that means that Satan tried through in Jesus entire life to try and get a foothold in him through tempting him in various ways. I mean, three of those temptations are mentioned in 1:38 Matthew 4, but he was tempted all through his life. And the purpose of Satan in all temptation is to try and get one foot in the door. Because once he's got a foot in the door, it's very difficult to shut it. He just walks right in. 1:58 That's why you got to be careful that he doesn't get a little foothold in our life and Jesus was extremely careful. Throughout his 33 years. And it's interesting that Satan is called here the ruler of this world. If Satan can't come in through obvious 2:18 sin, he will try to come in through putting some worldly value in us so that we become upside down just like the rest of the world. And so we got to be careful. Remember one thing that of all the 2:38 created beings, Satan is the cleverest. It mentions that in Ezekiel 28. And if any of you think that you're cleverer than Satan, you are the first person he's going to deceive. If you humble yourself and say Satan is cleverer than me, 2:57 and he will fool me however smart I may be in earthly things, he will fool me by putting worldly values inside me. And maybe getting me addicted not to sinful things, but to legitimate things that make me 3:16 waste my time so that I have no time for God. He succeeded. Now I find with believers, the wholehearted believers, the devil succeeds more by putting the world into their minds than by sin because he knows he can't put sin into their life. 3:35 They're alert to sin. But it's like you have two doors, the sin and the world, and you're alert to sin and you keep the other door open and he walks in. And he doesn't care which door he walks into your heart by. One door is open, he'll walk in. So you 3:50 can be so carefully guarding the door of sin, and he walks in through some worldly attitude or value, and um he's got in. That's where Jesus was careful. He said, "The ruler of this world." Now, there are two worlds. One is the 4:08 people of the world. God so loved those people, and we got to love them, too. God so loved the world that he gave his son to die for them. But, there's another world, which is the world system that the Bible speaks of. You never read 4:21 about it in the Old Testament. You know, there are a lot of things you don't read about in the Old Testament, for example, how to overcome Satan. They never knew that. Because they would didn't have the Holy Spirit dwelling within them. It's no use 4:32 telling people who are not baptized in the Holy Spirit about demons and the devil and all. They They don't understand it. But, in the New Testament, after the day of Pentecost, Jesus was the first person who was dealing with the devil directly. 4:44 And um he recognized that the devil is the ruler of this world. Everything in this world is controlled by Satan. I don't know how many of you recognize that the entire entertainment world is controlled by the devil. Whether it's Hollywood or Bollywood or 5:00 even the music systems of the world, the whole music uh industry is controlled by Satan. And do you know how many so-called believers, people sitting here, young people sitting here, don't have a clue about that? They think they are Christians. They are 5:16 worldly, under the authority of the ruler of the world, the devil, who's out to destroy their lives. He's already destroyed their lives. Many of you, your children, many of you good believers sitting here, your children are being 5:27 destroyed by worldly music. You think, "Ah, it's innocent." It's not innocent. It's because you yourself are blind. Jesus was not blind. He knew that if the devil doesn't come in through sin, he'll try and come in through the world. 5:41 And we got to be careful that he doesn't come either way. And when we recognize that the world is walking is upside down and Jesus told us to walk right side up, then we need to recognize what there is in the world which the devil is 5:58 using to draw us away from Christ. See for example, I find a lot of young people today who don't have time to read the scriptures. And if you ask them why, a lot of people, even believers in our church, they don't have time every day to read 6:18 the scriptures. Is it because their life is full every day of a lot of essential activities? No. There are essential activities. Now, if you say that 24 hours of your day was filled with essential activities, 6:37 then that you couldn't read the Bible, I can understand. But if you look at your daily life, you'll find there are a lot of activities which are not so essential, which are just extras thrown in. Time is wasted that way. 6:52 And the end result is at the end of the day you don't have time to read God's word. I'll tell you the reason for that. The reason is, and now let me shock you by saying most of you sitting here do not believe that the Bible is the word of God. 7:08 You'd say that's not true. I say it is true. And I'll prove it to you. If you believe with all your heart that there was only one book in the entire world that God wrote, that's the Bible. 7:27 And you also believe that the most important thing in your life is your relationship with God, not your job, not anything else. You would really seek to know God's word, the Bible. The fact that you don't earnestly seek 7:46 to know that proves either that you don't believe that the most important thing in your life is your relationship with God or you don't believe that the Bible is God's word. See, I proved it to you. Otherwise, you'd spend time to study it. 8:03 You'd spend time every day to know God. And you would cut out certain non-essential activities to know God's word. And this is the reason why we are deceived by the devil. Remember, 8:22 the devil's tactics are all same old tactics. Though he's very clever, he knows that the best way are the same old tactics that have succeeded with human beings for 6,000 years. How did he start with Eve in the Garden of Eden? 8:40 With the word of God. Eve, does God's word really say that? And Eve got into a discussion about whether God's word said that and she fell. It's always with God's word. What was the first reply that Jesus gave to the devil in the temptation in the 8:58 wilderness? Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Now, if you believe that, now take this seriously. If you really believe that, 9:16 that you the only way you can really live, live life with a capital L, the way God wants you to live, the only way you can live that is by every word that proceeds from God's mouth. If I believe that, 9:35 I would try to find out every single word that proceeds from God's mouth. Cuz that's the only way I can live. I mean, if a doctor told you to take four tablets three times a day, and you took only one tablet once a day, 9:54 it'd be pretty clear that you don't have much confidence in the doctor. You don't believe what he says. You think you know better than the doctor. And if it's a good doctor who gave you that prescription, and you didn't follow it, and you're 10:08 sick, you got yourself to blame. So, when you have a heavenly doctor like Jesus saying, "The only way you can ever live on this earth the way God wants you to live is by every word that proceeds from God's mouth." If you believe that that heavenly doctor 10:28 knew more about the way to live than you know, you would seek to understand every word that proceeds from God's mouth. If you don't do that, uh no wonder you're sick. No wonder you have bad moods. You know, you're never supposed to have a bad mood 10:46 in the morning, noon, or night if you're a true disciple of Jesus. Why do you have them? Cuz you think you know better than the doctor. Why do you fight and with your wife? You know, you're never supposed to fight with your wife even one day in a year. 10:59 Why do you do it? Why do you complain so much against your husband or your wife or your neighbor or this and the other? The Bible says, "Let's finish with all murmuring and all complaining." Why is it? I'll tell you why, because you think you know better 11:11 than your doctor. The heavenly doctor. You have time to read so many things. What is essential for your work, of course, you know, your study if you're a student, you need to read. But so many other things you have time 11:28 for. And what gets neglected? God's word. Because that is last in your priority. And I'll tell you something, anyone who puts God's word last in his priority is ultimately never going to read the Bible. And the ruler of the world will come in 11:46 and occupy so many areas of his life. And he'll still have a very good testimony in the church because he doesn't commit obvious sins. But his sense of discernment will not become sharper. He'll be fooled by a lot of things. For 12:02 example, the entire Christian world has been fooled in the area of music. They're not able to distinguish the music with Jesus Christ would approve of and music with Jesus Christ would not approve of. It's very rare person in my 12:17 life that I have met who can discern that. How do you define it? It's not by explaining beats and things like that. It's a question of the Holy Spirit telling you that's not right. The vast majority of Christian young women don't have a clue about the type 12:33 of dress they should wear which Jesus would approve of. The vast majority. The vast majority of young people today do not know how to spend the money they earn because a lot of them are earning such a lot of money. And they don't know 12:47 how to use their money in a way that Jesus would approve of. Why is that? Because they don't have time to study the scriptures. And you think the devil hasn't got a foothold in their life? Of course he's got. They don't even know it. 13:01 And they're satisfying themselves, "I'm not committing adultery. I'm not doing this. I'm not I'm not I'm better than all those other churches." So what? It's like someone who got 20% in an examination saying, "I'm better than all 13:12 those other people who got 10%." Would you be happy if your child got 20% and came home and said, "Dad, I got I'm better than all those people who got 10%, 15%." That's exactly the way a lot of Christians are glory. And I 13:26 think a lot of Christians in this church, too. Because we're not allowing the Holy Spirit to show us through God's word, make our spirit sensitive to what is of the world. And we could be walking upside down, just like the rest of the world, and say 13:42 we are Christians. A Christian is supposed to live upright. That means his value system is exactly the opposite of the value system of the world. See what Paul said in Galatians in chapter 6 about his own 14:01 attitude to the world. Galatians 6 and verse 14, 14:18 may it never be that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ to most Christians is a place where Christ died for their sins, which is good. But here he speaks about another aspect 14:38 of the cross, that through the cross I, Paul, was crucified to the world. And the world to me. And verse 16, those who walk by this rule, 14:57 peace and mercy be upon them. They are truly God's chosen people. See, what does that mean? It means that the world is not going to dictate to me what type of music I listen to. 15:17 Not going to dictate to me how I dress. It's not going to dictate to me how I spend my time. The world is not going to dictate to me anything because I recognize the world is under the control of the ruler of this world, which is the devil. 15:35 There's a lot of things in education, a lot of things in advertisements, which are all controlled by the devil. And you got to have discernment. What what is of God and what is of the devil. You know, a lot of the medical world, 15:50 for example, a lot of it is controlled by the devil. I mean, God ordained medicines and doctors to help poor people, to serve them. For people who don't have understanding of medicines and who don't have 16:08 opportunity to uh you know, get treatment and all that. But how many doctors in the world are doing that? Even Christian doctors. They're all after money. And a lot of people just uh only interested in getting a reputation. 16:24 Medical world, which is supposed to be helping people, they're not helping people. They're just making money for themselves. It's the same with the education. How is it that so many people in the world believe that man descended from a monkey? Who 16:39 who Whose idea was that? You think it is clever science? It's like that picture I saw of a big gorilla hanging up in a classroom and underneath is written our father. Our father. 16:59 You want that? But that's what a lot of people believe. That that gorilla was their ancestor. I don't believe it one bit. I believe Adam was much more intelligent and much more good-looking and in every way a thousand times better than any one 17:15 of us when he was created, he was perfect. God never makes anything imperfect. But see how the devil's taken over? Whilst majority of people believe all this. Those are just a few areas. But here he says, 17:33 "The world I have been cru- I'm dead to this world." You know, it's um There was a godly man who put it like this. He said, "True surrender is to be so identified 17:51 with the death of Christ to this world that whatever did not appeal to him does not appeal to us." Just think of that. True surrender is to be so identified 18:10 with the death of Christ to this world that whatever did not appeal to him does not appeal to us. It doesn't mean we're not tempted. Jesus was also tempted. Do you know that Jesus was tempted with the world at the age of 30? 18:29 With all that maturity he had, the devil still felt, "I can tempt him with the world." He showed him the glory of the world. I mean, Jesus God didn't The devil didn't tempt Jesus with something which could not tempt him. 18:43 He showed him the glory of the world and said, "I'll give you this." Was it a temptation or was there no temptation there? It was a temptation. Jesus shook it off. It didn't even It's like water off a duck's back because he did 18:59 He had died to all that. He He was not going to bow down. But what did he say? "I'll give you this if you bow down to me." Right from the beginning, Satan has always wanted worship. You know why he became the 19:18 devil? He was the leader of the angels at one time, perfect, leading people in the worship of God. He had everything. Beauty, intelligence, authority, position. The only thing he didn't have was worship. God was being worshipped, and he wanted 19:37 the angels to worship him. That's why he became the devil. Whenever you want people to admire you, worship you, remember whom you're following. You're not following Jesus Christ. You're following the devil. 19:56 You know, you can be a preacher. A lot of preachers in the world who just want people to admire them and adore them and respect them. You know who they're following? The devil. There are music leaders who want people to admire them and respect them. They're 20:12 following the devil. But they may be music leaders in a Christian church. There are musicians who when they play the music, they're not interested in glorifying God. They want people to admire the way they play the musical 20:21 instruments. They are following the devil. They're getting people to worship them. The world is full of people. Look at all these film stars and the kings and queens and all that in the world and even Christian preachers and 20:35 Christian musicians, they want people to admire them. It's the spirit of the devil. He He wanted Adam and Eve, when they were created, to worship him. And they did. When they When he They did what he told them to do. Eat of 20:51 that fruit. They worshipped him. As we don't worship God, we worship you. Do you know the number of born-again believers who are worshipping the devil? In some subtle area. You say, "I don't believe it." Yeah, that's because you don't read God's 21:07 word. Your mind is not being uh sharpened to discern. It's like people who who don't have good eyesight. You You say, "Can you read what's written on that on that chart?" You say, "No, there's no letter there." There's a very clear There's a letter 21:23 there, but you can't read it. Because vision has become dim. The vision of many Christians has become dim. They don't see worldliness, which another godly man can see clearly. And they think, "Ah, that's his prejudice." 21:40 It's when the eye doctor says, "Listen, there's a letter C there." "No, no, no, no, it's not C. It's E. You're prejudiced, or you don't know the alphabet." That's not the reason, brother. Your vision is not clear. It's good to humble ourselves and 21:55 recognize that in many areas the world has got into our system, and it's taken away our vision. I believe that many who, when they were first converted, had a clear understanding of the world, have lost that. And that's how the bride of Christ 22:18 gradually becomes a harlot. There's a poem I read a long time ago where it says the church and once upon a time the church and the world walked far apart. The world was one side, the church was one side, the world was singing a giddy 22:33 song, and the church was singing a a hymn. But gradually the world said to the church, "Hey, listen. Uh let's put some zip into your music." And the Initially, the church said, "No." But gradually, the church said, "Okay, a little bit, perhaps. A little 22:50 bit." And gradually, the music of the church became exactly like the music of the world. And then the world said, "Listen, your dress, it's all so simple. Look at mine. I'm going to make it like mine. And uh gradually initially the church 23:05 resisted it but and gradually the church said, "Okay, I suppose there's nothing wrong in it. There's nothing sinful." And after a while little by little by little, you know, the devil doesn't come wholesale with a whole lot of things. 23:16 The world comes little by little by little and gradually at the end of the hymn the church and the world are walking hand in hand. But the church is still going to the meetings and singing the same old songs and uh the people in one 23:28 church are saying, "We're better than all those others because our doctrines are better. We speak in tongues." So what? If you're walking hand in hand with the devil and the world, what difference does it make whether you 23:38 speak in tongues or heal the sick? The devil's won the victory. But you recognize that? No. Vision is dim. How did it become dim? You allowed Nobody loses their vision all of a sudden. It's like cataract, you know, people get 23:52 old and they can't see in the distance. The cataract doesn't come one day you suddenly become blind. No, it's gradual. And if you allow the devil to uh put worldly values into your thinking, gradually your vision becomes 24:06 dim. You can't see it anymore. And then if you don't have the boldness to resist when other people in your good church are also going in that worldly way, uh you say, "They can do it, I can also do it." The devil succeeded with one one 24:22 one more person. You know, the devil can make one person worldly and make 10 other people follow that person. He's killed 11 birds with one stone. He's a master at that. And particularly if it's somebody whom you respect in the church 24:37 has also become worldly, then you say, "Uh he can do it, I can do it." If he can do it, I can do it. If she can do it, I can do it. That is the surest way to go to hell. I'll tell you that. That's the surest way to become worldly. 24:53 Unless you say, "Lord Jesus, you're my example." I'm not going to go the way a lot of other people. I'm not here to judge anybody. It's not my business. God is the judge. Let God judge, but I am not going to be like them. How many of you young girls 25:10 have the boldness to say, "I will not dress like other worldly girls, even if they sit in CFC?" How many of you young people will have the boldness to say, "I will not follow worldly systems in music, even if other young men in CFC follow that?" 25:25 Boy, you've got a great future ahead of you. But there are very few who have the guts and the boldness and the courage to stand like that and say, "I'm going to be different. I'm not going to judge them." No, don't spoil 25:38 the wonderful attitude you have by going and judging other people. No. That's God's business. You just say, "I am" and you don't even don't even have to announce it. You just have to take a decision before God like Daniel. 25:52 It says in Daniel, the great movement from Babylon to Jerusalem started with a young man called Daniel, who was 17 years old. Babylon is a picture of worldly Christianity. You read that in Revelation 18. And there's an Old Testament picture of that 26:08 when the children of Israel, God's people, went to Babylon. And then in he brought them back to Jerusalem after 70 years. And the whole movement from Babylon to Jerusalem started with one man, Daniel. And he was only about 17, 18 26:23 years old. And you know what was it that made him start that movement? Let me show you the verse. Daniel chapter 1. In Daniel chapter 1, we read 26:44 of a decision he made in his mind. Daniel chapter 1 and verse 8. Daniel determined. He made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the king's choice food or the wine 27:03 which he drank. Now, listen. He was not talking about adultery, murder, or pornography. No. Those maybe many young people stood against. He was talking about the smaller 27:21 commandments in God's law. In the book of Leviticus chapter 11, it said there were certain types of food you were not supposed to eat. In Proverbs, it said you're not supposed to drink the wine when it's fermented and stirs itself in the cup. 27:41 Daniel knew those commandments. So, he said, "I'm not going to drink that alcoholic wine, and I'm not going to eat of the type of food which God has forbidden us to eat." And I'm sure there were a lot of other young people around him who said, "Come 27:57 on, Daniel. Don't be silly. Those were laws that God gave to Moses when they were in the wilderness. We're living in much more hygienic conditions now, and we can eat. It's okay." But God had said, "No." So, Daniel said, "No, I don't care what you 28:16 fellows saying. I'm just not going to eat of that. I'm going to be different." You think that was easy? It's not easy to be different. It's not easy. You young people, ask yourself. Even in a school in child in school finds it difficult to 28:35 be different from the others. He determined in his mind, "I am going to be different." Have you made that decision in your mind? That is the thing that will move you out of a Babylonian attitude of mind and bring you into 28:54 Jerusalem, the true church of God. So, that's how it was with Jesus as a young man. His mind was set on the things above, on the things of God. Even as a child of 12, is this the one you're following? Is 29:13 this the one who you're following who at the age of 12 knew the scriptures? Who even though he didn't have a printed Bible at home, knew the scriptures. Learned it from childhood listening carefully and therefore kept the world outside. 29:30 In John 16, John chapter 16 and verse 33, because of this attitude of mind, Jesus could say at the age of 33, John 16:33, when he finished his earthly course, he could say, 29:48 "In the world, the last part of that verse, you'll have tribulation. But take courage. I have overcome the world." Not only the ruler of the world, not only sin, I have overcome the world. 30:06 Be encouraged. You'll face a lot of tribulation in the world, trial, pressure. Tribulation not only in terms of persecution, but the world trying to get into your mind. I have overcome the world, and I believe 30:25 every true disciple of Jesus should be able to say, "I've overcome the world." Think of that statement we I mentioned earlier where anything that did not appeal to him does not appeal to me. You know that whenever you get something 30:44 of the world which Christ does not approve of, if you have something in your life, maybe it's a way of music or a way of dressing or a way of thinking or anything you have in your life which Christ cannot approve of. I don't mean you're 31:03 dressing very simply when you come to church. Is Christ with you only when you come to church? He's not with you the other 6 days of the week when you dress and go somewhere else? Do you want Jesus to be with you every day of the week or just when you come 31:14 here? It's not the type of music you listen to or play on Sundays. Is Jesus not with you 7 days a week? A lot of Christians, they only want Christ on Sunday. They don't want him to run their life the rest of the week. They're not Christians. 31:31 They're Pharisees and they should call themselves by the right name. We're Pharisees. We come on Sunday and just say the right things, but we're not disciples of Jesus. Oh, forget it. It's too much too heavy a price. Let's be 31:41 honest. Yep. I have overcome the world. That's anything that did not appeal to him does not appeal to me. Now, I'll tell you this honestly, it's a mountain peak. I don't believe I have attained that top 32:00 even after 50 years of being a believer. I keep checking. Anything that did not appeal to him does not appeal to me. I say, "Lord, I want that. I haven't got there yet, but I'm determined to climb 32:18 this mountain that year by year it'll be more and more true of my life that whatever did not appeal to you does not appeal to me." But I'm sorry to say that what I've seen with many believers that they have gone down this mountain slope. 32:38 They were a little higher up a few years ago. None of us have reached the peak. We don't have to get discouraged if you haven't reached the peak. There are still a few things that appeal to us that didn't appeal to Christ. 32:55 We got to press on to perfection. But you got to take it seriously if you're sliding back. What is a backslider? A backslider is one who once upon a time was climbing this mountain wholeheartedly, but gradually slackened off. 33:11 Slackened off because he looked around at others. He didn't keep his vision on Jesus alone, who never slackened off, who ran the race. He turned away from looking unto Jesus, and like Peter, he sank. I believe it's happened to many people. 33:31 Some of you who came to this church 25 years ago, or 30 years ago, ask yourself, are you more worldly today than you were then? I mean, I'm not going to tell you. You ask yourself. I ask myself that. Lord, do I have values? 33:50 Maybe there was a time when you slipped up. Okay, but did you repent and come back and say, "Lord, I'm going to make up for lost time."? Or have you succumbed to the pressure of people around you? And particularly the type of uh 34:08 you know, the one of the greatest pressures people can face in our churches is, "Oh, brother, don't be legalistic." Okay, I'll be worldly like you. That's a tremendous pressure. Don't be legalistic. I get [clears throat] scared. 34:24 I'm not scared of people telling me I'm legalistic. I'm not listening to them. Because many people who say, "Don't be legalistic." are trying to drag you down to their own worldly standards. That's all. They want to justify their worldliness 34:38 by saying, "Oh, that's all legalistic." Call it what you like. But, sir, I'm not going to follow you. And madam, I'm not going to follow you, either. I'm going to follow Jesus. You couldn't scare Jesus by saying, "Oh, that's legalistic." 34:56 Oh, that's all legalistic to have all these rules about music and dress and Okay, brother, that's fine for you, but I'm not going to follow you. That's all. I have someone else I'm going to follow. I have only one life to live in this 35:09 world, and I can't afford to miss that road by listening to all your arguments about legalism and worldliness. I'm not going to listen to it. And wake up in eternity and find that I didn't follow Jesus, but I got scared of 35:21 all these arguments that I'm legalistic, and that's why I became worldly. No. I really believe this. I know there's legalism. I've seen people who are thoroughly legalistic, and it's very difficult to fellowship with them. 35:36 But, one of the primary marks of legalism, let me tell you this, is judging other people. It's one of the primary marks. You are not like me, therefore you're worldly. I don't do that, so I can't be a legalist. But, I have my own standards, which 35:55 other people may call legalistic. That's fine. And I disapprove of the standards of a lot of other Christians. They're all legalistic, but I don't judge them. I disagree with them. I disapprove of them. I go to many churches where I disagree 36:07 with many things. I say, "I'm not here to judge them." Dear brothers and sisters, I'll tell you something. If you really want God's best, you have to break free from the opinions of men, and particularly the opinions of fellow 36:23 believers, and particularly the opinions of people who you think are spiritual. They're not spiritual necessarily. Follow your own standards as you see Jesus. Don't judge others, then you won't be a legalist. You have certain values yourself and you 36:42 don't impose them on others, you'll never be a legalist. Legalists are people who impose their standards on others. I have certain values and standards. I never impose it on others. I don't even impose it on my sh- my sons or my 36:56 daughters-in-law. I have them for myself. I say, "That's for me." I may not agree with some things that my sons do or my daughters-in-law do. But I'm not here to judge them, but I'm not going to let my standard be affected 37:12 by them. No. Or by some sisters or brothers in this church. I disagree with a lot of elders in our churches, many things. I don't judge them. It's their business to go their way. I don't impose my views on them. I sometimes give a suggestion 37:32 to different ones at elders meetings and all that, but I never go checking up, "Are you following it? Are you following it?" No, it's not my business. I'm a watchman, like Ezekiel. I just got to blow the trumpet and say, 37:43 "Hey, there's some dangers here." After that, nobody's blood is on my hand. Dear brothers and sisters, I believe that you can walk, you know, freed from the pull of this world if you look at Jesus alone. That's the only solution. 38:02 And if you find someone who is really following Jesus, follow that example. I found a few in my life and I'm challenged by them. Sometimes I read a sentence in a book and it really grips me. I say, "There, there's a person who's 38:20 seen something of Jesus." And it convicts me and I follow that or I see something sometimes in a person. I see a a meek and a quiet spirit in some young sister. I say, "Boy, how precious 38:38 that sister must be in God's eyes." Bible says that. And then I see others who don't have that meek and quiet spirit who are sort of bossy and I don't judge them. It has between them and God. But I don't have much respect for them 38:55 because I see that's not Christianity. It's the spirit of the world that's come into such people to make them like that. Spirit of Christ is very different. He said, "Learn from me, for I'm humble and gentle." It's one of the most disobeyed commands 39:11 in scripture, Matthew 11:29. "Learn from me, for I'm humble and gentle of heart." We're not naturally humble and gentle of heart. We are proud and hard. But if you remain like that, it's sad. I believe that as we grow older 39:30 and as grow older doesn't mean you've got to become 60 or 70, that means you were 20 and you've become 25 now, you've grown older, you should become humbler and gentler as time goes on. That's how it should be. Particularly if you sit in a church like 39:46 this where you hear these truths regularly. So, let's think of this as a mountain. The way Christ lived, he overcame the world. The world had no power over him. He walked upright. Now, let me turn to 1 John chapter 5. 40:03 1 John chapter 5 and verse 4. "Whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith. Now, many people use logic here. 40:22 Well, I'm born of God, that means I automatically overcome the world. No. No, no, no, no, no. Don't read read it like that. I I know 90% of born-again Christians I've met have not overcome the world. They're defeated by the world all 40:36 around. They don't even know it. What does it mean? Let me read it like this. Whatever or whoever is born of God has the potential to overcome the world. That's how I understand it. In you is the potential 40:56 to overcome the world. You know, like a rocket. You see these rockets that have gone up into space? They are built with the potential to overcome gravity, you know, up to a certain number of miles above the earth's surface. 41:15 Gravity pulls everything down. But, if you can go beyond that area around the earth where gravity pulls, if you go beyond that, gravity can't touch you. That's why once these rockets have gone past that sphere of gravity, 41:34 there's nothing to stop them. It's full speed. Their speed increases to a fantastic speed, 40,000 km an hour. Imagine. You can't do that when gravity's pulling you. When gravity's pulling you, you're fighting gravity and your speed is 41:48 pretty low. But, once you've broken free of gravity, there's nothing to stop you. The life of God, which he's put into us through the Holy Spirit, is something like that. If you can break free by the grace of 42:07 God from the pull of the world, you've got out of that realm. There'll be absolutely nothing to stop you from shooting into God's presence, from knowing God better, better, better, better, better every day. And your life will be the most wonderful 42:25 life that any human being can ever live. You may have pressures, sorrows, trials, and that everything else, sicknesses perhaps, but it will never take away your joy. It will never take away your peace. You will grow in grace. Your life will 42:38 be like rivers of living water blessing thousands of people. That's God's will for every one of us. Why is it not so? We're allowing gravity to pull us down. It's like these rockets you hear of sometimes in the papers. They shot up 42:55 and then they fell into the ocean somewhere. Just couldn't break free from the pull of gravity. Gravity is a tremendous force. The world is like that, pulling everybody down. We got to fight it to break free from it. Fight it continuously. After a while it 43:15 becomes easier, you know, you That rocket, as I said, once it goes past the sphere of gravity, it's easy going. Unless it decides after a while because of the influence of other rockets who have not gone past the pull 43:33 of gravity to come back. That happens to some believers. They feel, "Hey, I'm hot. I don't laugh at the jokes other people laugh at, and I don't spend my money like other people spend their money. I don't spend my time like 43:48 other people spend their time." And then they sink back into the lower levels of gravity, and then their life is back to the same old moods and discouragement and anger and strife and complaining and everything else. But they still come on Sunday to 44:02 praise the Lord. Are you happy to live such a mediocre life? Or do you want a life that Jesus called abundant life? It's offered to us. There's a victory. 1 John 5:4, whatever is born of God has got the potential to overcome the world. 44:20 And this is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith. How do we overcome the world by faith? Now, today the only faith that the Christian world generally hears about is faith for healing from sickness. 44:39 Faith for getting money or a better job or a better house or a better car or more money or how to become a millionaire and things like that. That's not the faith John was speaking about. He was talking about a faith that 44:55 overcomes the world. You go to a Christian bookshop today and you see most of the books on faith are in relation to healing and material prosperity. 45:14 Try and find a book on faith that tells you how to overcome the world. I challenge you to go to any Christian bookshop and find a book based on the faith mentioned here. Faith to overcome the world. I'm almost certain you won't find it. 45:32 But you'll find plenty of books on all this false charismatic stuff. You know, I I go to brethren bookshops and I find they're selling this charismatic stuff. Brethren don't even believe in all these charismatic gifts, but 45:49 those are the books people want so money is money, whichever your doctrine may be. It's amazing the amount of compromise in Christendom today. Money has taken over. It It matter if the doctrine is wrong. If people want it, we'll sell those 46:05 books. We don't. The victory that overcomes the world, that's the type of faith we need. A faith in God's word which tells me the direction this world is headed. 46:25 Turn over the page to 1 John chapter 2. Let me tell you two things here. When John speaks about the world which is upside down. 1 John 2:15 The love of the world Do not love the world nor the things in the world which 46:44 is like saying don't walk upside down, walk on your feet, walk upright. If anyone loves the world, if anyone walks upside down then he's not really loving God. It's an amazing thing. If anyone loves this world system the love of the Father is not in him. 47:03 I'll tell you I'm not here to judge you. I'm not here to tell you what you should do. I am here to judge myself. And I say if my way of thinking is influenced by the world's way of thinking I cannot love the Father. If I allow 47:25 my understanding of music to be determined by this world, I cannot love the Father even if what I'm playing is so-called Christian music. I refuse to do that. I say no. I am not going to follow the world in 47:43 its music or its styles of dress or No, I mean I believe Jesus drove dressed like everybody else in his time, whatever the dress was, and it's it's right for us to dress in whatever There the appropriate dress for the community or part of the world we're 48:00 living in so that we don't look odd. We look just like the others so that we can witness to them. We don't distinguish ourselves by dressing in a special way like some pastors and priests dress to say I'm different from you. I'm not different. 48:13 We're just the same. Jesus dressed like everybody else. But Jesus was careful that he didn't follow the fashions of the Pharisees. The Pharisees had certain special fashions to make them distinguished. He wouldn't do that. They didn't have film stars 48:28 those days. They had Pharisees. They were the people whom they followed. Today we have film stars and models and all that people want to follow. But Jesus said, "No, I'm not going to follow any of those examples. I'm going 48:40 to um do what pleases my heavenly father." And so we see here if anyone loves the world, the love of the father is not in him. And the other thing, everything that's in the world, the lust of the flesh, 49:00 the lust of the eyes, the boastful pride of life, or as the message Bible says, wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, and wanting to appear important, wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, 49:16 wanting to appear important. This is all of the world. That's got nothing to do with the father. How many Christians are seeking to be free from wanting their own way? Can you imagine how much peace will come into a home if a husband and wife seek 49:33 to be free from wanting their own way? How many Christians are seeking to be free, totally free from wanting everything for oneself? And how many Christians are seeking to be free from wanting to appear important? That's the world. 49:49 Not talking about adultery. We're talking about a world system that's made everybody live upside down because they're seeking their own. They're wanting to appear important. They're wanting their own way. They're wanting everything for themselves. 50:02 There's nothing of the Father in it. There's nothing of Christ in all that. And if our salvation has not delivered us from all that, it's a pretty poor salvation. And then he goes on to say, 50:19 "It just isolates you from God." Do you know that, brother, sister? That way of life will isolate you from Jesus Christ. And that's what scares me. "It will isolate me." I'm reading from 50:39 the Message Bible. "If I want my own way, and if I want everything for myself, and if I want to appear important, it will isolate me from Christ. And I don't want to be isolated from Christ. I'd rather be isolated from all those 50:53 other things and be with Jesus. And then it goes on to say, "The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting." That's the meaning of lust. "The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting 51:11 is on its way out." Wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important, it's all on its way out. It's slowly on its way out. If it was on its way out in the first century, you can imagine it's pretty close to the edge of 51:26 the cliff now. I don't want to be a part of that. [clears throat] I want to be different. I want to overcome by faith, a faith that believes that the way Jesus lived is the only way a Christian should live. That's the faith that will overcome the 51:42 world. Do you believe that the way, the attitude of mind that Jesus had towards the world is the only way any Christian should live in this world. I believe that with all my heart. That the things that did not appeal to 51:56 him should not appeal to me. And if I As I said, I haven't attained it, but by the grace of God, I'm going to go higher and higher every day like I we sing in that song, I'm pressing on the upward way, new heights I'm gaining every day. 52:13 Still praying as I onward bound, Lord, lead me on to higher ground. Well, it's a good song to sing, but is that your prayer every day, Lord, lead me on to higher ground where I'm more and more free from the world and more and more free from the opinions of 52:30 my colleagues and friends and other Christians and everybody else and where my vision is focused on you everything. I believe the way you lived, that's faith. I believe the way you lived is the way every Christian should live. 52:45 I believe the standards you've laid down in God's word are the standards I've got to live by. I believe every little commandment you gave is for me to obey. That's faith. I believe. And I also believe that every one of God's 52:59 commandments are for my good. I believe that. This doctor knows what he's prescribing. I'm not going to think that I know better than this doctor. I accept his prescription. If he tells me to take something 10 53:16 times a day, I take it 10 times a day. Cuz I I don't know better than him. It's humility. Jesus hasn't changed. Let me turn you to Matthew chapter 8. It's an amazing verse where it says 53:36 Jesus marveled. Marveled. Can you do something that will make Jesus marvel? The only two places in the Gospels where it says Jesus marveled. He marveled when he saw faith. 53:55 That's here in Matthew chapter 8 and verse 10, the middle. When Jesus heard this, he marveled. He was surprised at a Roman military man. And he said, "All you Jews and Pharisees who read the Bible, you don't have as much faith as this 54:14 Roman military man." Do you believe Jesus sometimes praises an unbeliever? Is this the Jesus you know? Who looks at you as a believer and says, "You fellows don't have faith as much faith as this non-Christian." They were Jews. They had the Bible. This 54:32 Roman military man, he'd never read the Bible. He probably didn't know who Moses and the prophets were. But he saw something in Jesus. And where do you see the manifestation of his faith? Lord, my servant is 54:51 in my house, maybe 25 miles away, kilometers away. Jesus said, "I'll come to your house and heal him." He said, "No, you don't have to come. You stand here and give a command. And that sickness will go. Even though 55:10 my servant is lying 25 kilometers away in the house. It doesn't make a difference. This The distance doesn't make a difference Lord, to you. Whether that distance is 25 kilometers or 25 billions of kilometers from heaven 55:24 to earth, if he speaks a word, it's done. And the Lord said, "This is amazing faith. You believe that I can do this, speak a word and it'll the problem will be solved?" Yes, Lord. As I've often said, the message I get from all the Gospels is this. 55:42 Jesus can solve every problem. There's no problem he cannot solve. The only time he couldn't solve a problem was when people came to him with unbelief. Uh when they said, "Lord, we have this problem, but you know, it's a tough one. 55:57 We're not sure whether you can handle it." And Jesus said, "That's right. I can't handle it." You're absolutely right. I can't handle it. Not because I can't, but because you don't believe. And that's how we come to Jesus. "Oh 56:10 Lord, you're 25 billion kilometers away. If you speak the word there, do you think something will happen here?" The Roman Centurion says, "Yes." It'll happen. And the Lord says, "I'm amazed at that faith." And some others say, "But Lord, this is 56:23 a tough one. This is not an easy one. This is a problem I'm bringing to you. I don't think you can handle it." And they say, "That's right. Come meet me. It won't be solved in your life." Whereas another guy who's got a problem 56:34 10 times worse than yours, he gets his problem solved. Why? Cuz he doesn't go to Jesus with that type of unbelief. "Lord, I'm not sure whether you can handle this. I think I got to go to some human beings to help me here." 56:48 Well, the Lord says, "Go." But there was a reason why the Centurion had faith. You know, faith grows in a certain type of soil. I just want to tell you these two things before I close. Here was a man 57:05 who walked all that distance to plead with Jesus, verse five, for a servant, verse six, who was lying paralyzed at home, fearfully tormented. Now, many of you may have servants in your home. 57:23 If your servant is paralyzed or is in pain, what would you tell her? "Don't come to work today. Go home and back when you're better. Not the Roman Centurion. He had compassion for a servant. And said, "Let me talk to Jesus about 57:43 this." Do you have a compassion for people on a lower social scale than you? That's the type of ground on which faith grows. When you have compassion for those who are lower than you in the social scale, those who are poor, those who are weak. 58:00 The way you treat your servant at home is the way God will treat you. I've always believed that. I've had servants, helpers in my home. And I've been extremely careful how I treated them. Go and ask any of them how I treated them. 58:17 God's been good to me. I'll tell you that. Be good to others. God will be good to your children. God's been extremely good to my children. Because I've been good to the very poor children of others who come and worked in my home. 58:32 Are you? Are you like this Roman Centurion who didn't have a Bible? Military man. People think military men are very hard. But look how gentle he was towards his servant. And some of these non-military people are harder. 58:49 Secondly, he said to Jesus, "Lord, I'm not worthy." Verse 8. That you should come to my house. I'm a wretch. Do you really believe it when you sing Amazing Grace? How sweet the sound that saved a wretch 59:07 like me. I can say before God, I sing it with greater meaning today than when I first got saved. Amazing Grace that saved a wretch like me. I don't deserve that Christ should live in my heart. 59:27 But he does. Therefore, I don't think that I am a sort of a better wretched than some other worse wretched than me. Faith grows in the ground where I recognize I deserve nothing but hell. God's been good to me. I don't consider myself superior or 59:45 better than anybody. I'll tell you honestly, God is my witness. I picture myself sometimes the day when Christ returns. I shut my eyes and imagine that Christ has returned and he's coming to give his rewards. And I picture 1:00:06 everyone in CFC being ahead of me and getting those rewards. Honestly. I really believe that. Because to whom more is given, more is required. God's given me much and he'll require a lot more from me than from you. Dear brothers, 1:00:26 let's walk in compassion towards others and not judging others. Let's walk in humility and faith will rise up in our heart to believe that Jesus can solve every problem. God bless you. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, you've called us with 1:00:48 an amazing call to live different from the rest of this world. To live with heaven's values. To live by faith. We want to do that. We want to surprise you by our faith. Yes, Lord. Like that Roman Centurion, if 1:01:07 he could do it, why can't we? I want to do it, Lord. I want to surprise you every day with my faith. That your word is true. Lord, I don't want anything on this world to appeal to me that didn't appeal to you. 1:01:27 That's why I want to live. I pray there'll be at least a number here who want to live that way. Help us in Jesus' name. Amen.
