0:12 Yesterday I mentioned how the Holy Spirit that came on Jesus is described in Isaiah chapter 11 as a spirit of the fear of the Lord. And 0:35 this fear of the Lord would make him sensitive to what was displeasing to his father. Make him quick of scent. Where he'd know which path to take. 0:52 And I mentioned how even in the Old Testament where people did not have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them did not know anything about grace, did not know have a Bible and uh yet the fear of the Lord 1:09 kept them from sin. And in a way that even Christians are not kept from sin nowadays. Joseph for example stayed away from adultery even at the age of 20 1:29 when he was away from his parents. The only thing that kept him from committing adultery was he to recognize that in that room where nobody else was but he and that woman he recognized God is here. Imagine a young 20-year-old 1:46 living in a distant country far away from his parents, a slave and um nobody to check up on him, living in a immoral society where adultery was very common, accepted to say 2:05 the God my dad taught me about is here. And I won't do want to displease him. How is it today? And I've come across numerous cases. Christian who claim to be filled with the Spirit, 2:22 speak in tongues, fall into adultery. Christian leaders who've been leaders for so many years fall into adultery. What does it prove? Is that really the Holy Spirit? How is it Joseph without the Holy Spirit 2:41 could keep himself away when nobody was watching? There's a lot of deception. That's what I want to warn you about. Not everything that's called Holy Spirit is Holy Spirit. There's a tremendous amount of counterfeit. And if you're aware of it, you'll be 3:00 protected. The fear of the Lord can keep you from sin even if you don't have the Holy Spirit. Listen to me. Even if you don't have a Bible even if you never go to a conference, just one thing 3:18 the fear of God. I give you one example in the Old Testament. That was Joseph. I told you that I would give you another example. Turn with me to the book of Job. Job chapter 1. Job is the first book 3:39 of the Bible that was written because he lived about 500 years before Moses and Moses wrote Genesis. So if Moses wrote Genesis, then Job was written 500 years before that. 3:59 It must have been Job who wrote it because there's so many details in that conversation that only Job could have known all that. He writes it in the third person. And the but inspired by God, I believe Job is inspired by God because I've 4:15 learned such a lot about God and about heavenly matters and about the devil from the book of Job that I cannot believe a man wrote it. It is inspired by God 100%. So I believe that the first of all the 66 books in the Bible was the book of 4:32 Job and that when God decided to write a book for man the very first sentence he writes is not about the creation of heaven and earth. God says that can wait 500 years. Let Moses come along 500 years later. I'll tell them how the earth was 4:51 created. Not even about how Adam sinned. That can wait 500 years. I want to first write about a godly man. That really challenges me. That when God wants to write a book for man he doesn't want to tell us even about 5:11 how sin came into the world, doesn't want to just write about the creation of heaven and earth. He wants to write about a man who feared him. So do you see the first sentence? Think of this is the first sentence that God writes 5:24 in a book for man. There was a man whose name was Job and just in case he's confused with some other Job, he says he's the one who lived in the land of Uz. God knows his address and I tell you God knows the address of every man 5:41 and woman. And he says this, the reason why he stands out is he was blameless. Blameless means according to the light he had he stayed away from what was wrong. He was upright. Means the devil couldn't bend him. 6:00 You know the devil is always trying to bend us from uprightness. He tried to bend Jesus saying bow down to me and I'll give you the world. Jesus refused to bend. Are you one whom 6:18 the devil can succeed in making you bend in your place of work to do something which you know is contrary to your conscience? Maybe that's the reason why you drift along and never become 6:35 what God wants you to be. I remember a number of situations when I was in the navy where my senior officer, much more senior to me, commander, would ask me to do something and I knew that was he knew it was wrong and I knew it was wrong and I had to 6:51 stand at attention, salute him and say, "Sir, I'm a Christian. I can't do that. It's against my conscience." And some of them would say, "You better forget about your conscience once you're in the navy." I said, "Sorry. 7:06 Christ means more to me than that." And I did suffer certain consequences. Once I was transferred within half an hour of standing up to something. And in the navy if you it's the military if you refuse to do something, they 7:22 don't just fire you from your job you go to jail. There's a thing called a court-martial. But God kept me from that. It never happened but a number of times I had to say, "I'm sorry, sir." But those are the days when my backbone 7:38 became strong. I find a lot of Christians don't have a backbone. They compromise because they know they'll get some gain from that. Maybe a little financial gain, a little promotion, please that superior in some way even though it's wrong what 7:57 he's asking me to do even though it's against my conscience. And God sees that and says this guy is not fit for my service. Sorry. It's like you know when they use when they try to get aluminum to make airplanes with they'll put it through severe tests like 8:14 putting it in the furnace and then taking it out and putting in ice cold water, back into the furnace and it would be if it's brittle they'd say, "We can't use that for the for making an airplane. We'll make children's toys or something with that." 8:25 And that's how it is. God tests us different situations which are like the furnace and ice cold water alternately. And if you pass the test, there's a fantastic ministry God has for you which you'll be thankful for all eternity 8:41 that you didn't compromise in those situations. Think of the future, my brothers and sisters. Don't live for the present. Isn't that what we tell our children when they don't want to study they don't want to do their homework 8:55 they don't want to study their subjects in school because they're not thinking of the future. They want to play games the whole time. What do you tell your 7 8-year-old? You got to study. You make them sit down and study. 9:07 They don't think about the future. This one mark of children, they don't think about the future. All those who children who just want to sit and watch television the whole day or play with their iPads and eat popcorn the whole 9:22 day um you don't let them do that if you're a responsible father or mother because you're thinking of their future. And I want to ask you, do you think of your future? Which is more than this world. Do you think how how you will be when 9:37 you stand before the Lord? Will you be able to stand before him with joy? Will you have an abundant Paul Peter speaks in 2 Peter 1 of getting an abundant entrance into God's kingdom. Job was upright. And it says this is the secret. It says 9:53 in Job 1:1, he feared God. He had no Bible. He did not have the Holy Spirit dwelling in his heart. He had no understanding of Calvary or of Jesus' love. But he feared God. 10:12 And because he feared God, he turned away from everything that he knew to be evil. And he brought up his children right. He had seven sons and three daughters. They were all grown up, by the way, because they had each their own house. 10:25 They used to have feasts in their house. Each of the 10 were living in their own houses, which means they were not little kids. And listen to this. At the end of their celebrations, when they they completed their feasting 10:38 cycle, Job would send for them. Imagine a father telling his 10 grown-up children who are living in separate houses, "Hey, fellows, come here. I want to see you." How many grown-up children would obey their dad like that today? 10:54 And he said, "I want to pray for all of you." And I want to pray that perhaps verse five, "in your heart" Listen to this. Not openly, but in your heart, perhaps you cursed God. 11:12 Think of a man who was concerned about the religion of the heart. Love without the Holy Spirit, without a Bible, not a Christian. Does Job did continually, verse five. A God-fearing man who brought up his 10 children 11:32 to fear God. And who earned the respect of his 10 grown-up children so much that when he called them saying, "Come here, sons, daughters," they came. What an example. And no wonder God could boast about such 11:52 a man to Satan. The Lord said to Satan in verse seven, "Where have you come from?" "I've been wandering around the earth," Satan said. He said, "Okay, you wandered around the earth and all your observations, did you meet Job?" 12:06 Satan accuses God accuses He's called the accuser of the brethren in Revelation 12 and verse 10. He accuses He doesn't accuse worldly people. They're already in his grip. He accuses those who claim to be children of God. 12:21 And he says, "God, look at that guy. Says he's your child. See what he's doing. You see the lies he's telling? Do you see the hypocritical way he's living? Do you see him watching pornography on the sly? He claims to be a child of God. Okay, 12:36 Satan says, 'My children doing that, that's okay, but this guy claims to be your child.' Look at how he behaves. He talks just like some of my children, Satan says. How is he different from my children? Do you know that Satan is an accuser? 12:50 And very often, sad to say, God cannot say anything because what Satan says is right. And what a delight it must have been for God to point out one man. The way to life is narrow and very few find it, Jesus said it. So, God Job could not point out 10,000 13:10 men on earth and say, "Job, Satan, have you seen all these 10,000 people?" No, it was one man. I remember the first time I read it and I said, "Lord, I want you to make me like that." I was very young Christian. I said, "I want you to be one whom you 13:26 can point out to Satan." In the midst of compromising, hypocritical Christians, "Lord, make me one whom you can point out to Satan." Because Satan knows a lot more about us than other believers. He knows all about your private life. 13:43 He knows how you keep your accounts. He knows whether you cheat on your taxes, even if the IRS doesn't know. Satan knows it. He knows everything about how you live at home, the things you do in private. And therefore, what he thinks about you 14:03 is a 10,000 times more important than what your fellow believers in your church think about you who don't know 90% of your life. And he couldn't say anything about Job. All he could accuse him, "Yeah, because you have blessed him so much. 14:22 That's why he's serving you." And God says, "You can test him." What a wonderful thing that God could allow a man He had such confidence in a man that he said, "Satan, you can test him. He'll still stand true to me." And 14:40 there were something Satan said which slipped out of his mouth which turned out to be a blessing to me. I'm sure Satan regrets it that he ever said it because I don't find it anywhere else in scripture. There's a threefold hedge around us. I 14:57 don't find that anywhere else in scripture. Job chapter 1 verse 10. There's a hedge around me. There's a hedge around my family. And there's a hedge around all that I possess. It includes my bank account, my business, and everything else. 15:13 A hedge that God guards that he cannot enter. Do you know that Satan cannot touch me or my family or my business or my bank account without God's permission. It's one of the amazing truths in Job chapter 1. And God allowed 15:32 Satan to open up the outer hedge number three and hedge number two. He said, "Okay, you can enter. Do what you like with his possessions." In those days, you know, man's wealth was his animals and there was not gold and silver primarily. 15:50 And then you can go also into hedge number two, his family. So, but don't touch him. You can't touch him. Hedge number two one is closed. You cannot touch him. It's a wonderful truth when I recognized that. 16:09 So, when something happens to my business or my bank account or my money, I say, "God opened up that hedge. Could not have happened without God's permission." When something happens, sickness or something in my family, I say, "Okay, 16:24 God opened up that hedge with a purpose. It did not happen accidentally." But he still can't touch me. And so, when God opened up that hedge, Satan destroyed all his property. Every one of his animals all killed. He 16:42 had 3,000 camels and 500 yoke of oxen and 7,000 sheep. They're all dead in a day. Satan does a complete job of wiping out his business completely. But when he came into the second hedge, which contained his wife and 10 children, 17:00 he killed the 10 children. He could have killed the wife because that was within that hedge. But Satan said, "That woman is more useful to me alive than dead. I can use her to keep on nagging Job 17:17 and irritate him day and night." Don't be a husband or wife like that whom the devil says is That fellow is more useful to me alive than dead. That's why he didn't kill her. And you see later on in chapter two how 17:35 he e- she even suggests suicide to her husband. Then, when Satan saw that he didn't succeed, God He said, "Yeah, that's because of that hedge number one. That's closed up. You know, I'll tell 17:54 you something, God." Listen to this. Verse four. Chapter two verse four. Skin for skin. A man will give up everything if he can protect his life. If he can keep his self on the throne, he'll give up everything. 18:14 He'll sacrifice everything so long as self is on the throne to run his life. There's There's not a truer word than that. God says, "Okay, I open up hedge number one." And God Satan went and struck him from 18:32 head to foot. Sickness, we see there, came from Satan, but God permitted it. I don't believe God gives us sickness. He permits it. I'll tell you why, because Jesus taught God is a loving father. I would never dream of giving giving 18:49 even a cough or a cold to my children. God is a better father than me. But he permits it. A lot of sicknesses come into this world because we live in a world which is under the curse. Indirectly, it does come from Satan 19:06 because Satan is the one who led Adam to sin. So, we live in a world which has got the curse on this earth. It's not been removed yet. So, the flu goes around and Christians can get it. Cough and a cold and Christians get all 19:24 types of sicknesses. But if you can remember that there's one distinction for a true child of God that God watches what comes to him. It cannot happen to me or my children without God's permission, without going knowing God knowing about it. There's a 19:40 beautiful verse in Job Job himself says that in chapter 23 verse 10. Job 23:10, he says, "He knows the way I take." And in the Living Bible it's paraphrased 20:00 beautifully. So beautifully that I once got it written up in a plaque and hung in front of me in my house. The Living Bible says, "He knows every detail of what is happening to me." Beautiful paraphrase. God knows every detail 20:18 of what is happening to me. The New Testament takes it one step further in Romans 8:28 and says, "God plans every detail that happens to me so that I can become more Christ-like." But I just wanted to point out that to you and I want to show you something 20:37 about what the fear of God did to Job. Turn with me to chapter uh chapter 31. Remember, this is a man who has no Bible, no Holy Spirit, nothing. Job 31:1 he says, 20:54 "I made a covenant with my eyes. Forget about adultery. How could I even look at a woman who's not my wife in a lustful way?" I say, "Hey, Job, have you read Matthew chapter 5 by the way?" No, there was no Matthew chapter 5. 21:14 Where did he learn not to lust after a woman? Not by reading Matthew chapter 5. You don't need a need a Bible. You don't need the Holy Spirit to stop lusting after a woman who's not your wife. But you do need the fear of God. 21:34 "Have you seen Job, a man who fears me?" I want to tell you, you don't need the Holy Spirit to stay away from many sins. You don't need the Bible, you don't need a conference. All you need is the fear of God. It'll keep you from many, many sins, 21:54 even lusting with your eyes. Or take a verse like this, verse 24, "If I have put my confidence in money" gold was money those days "and made money my trust." Where did he learn that? Did he read Proverbs? There was no 22:15 Proverbs. Who taught him not to trust in money? Which is one of the biggest snares for Christians today. Sexual lust, confidence in money. Here's a man who didn't have not a Christian, didn't have a Bible, 22:33 who knew that was wrong. The fear of God. The Holy Spirit, the spirit of the fear of the Lord, can do things for us which you know, so much of knowledge cannot do. 22:52 And here's a person who just has the fear of the Lord. Verse 25, "If I have gloated because my wealth was great." He doesn't do that. Verse 9, "If my heart was enticed by a woman or I've looked at my neighbor's doorway 23:11 to meet his wife." He knows these things. What about the way we treat those who are below us in the social status? Verse 13, "If I've despised the claim of my male slaves or female slaves." He's a rich man, he had slaves. 23:27 But if I he says, "If I have not recognized they're also human beings, they have a need, I must treat them properly. What then will I do if I've treated those below me, not recognized their needs, what will I do when God 23:43 calls me to give an account to him?" God will ask me, "How did you treat those slaves of yours?" Where did he read that? "Didn't the one who made me make that slave of mine also? Didn't the one who made me a cultured Greek make that uncultured barbarian 24:03 also?" You know who taught him that? Not the Bible, not a conference, the fear of God. I just want to point that out to you, dear brothers and sisters, to show you that it's the lack of the fear of God. It's not lack of the fullness of the Holy 24:22 Spirit or lack of knowledge of the Bible. It's the lack of the fear of God that keeps us ignorant about so many of these fundamental principles of how God wants a man to live. That's the reason. Verse 17, "If I've eaten my morsel alone 24:40 and not and not shared it with somebody who I knew was an orphan." Who taught him to care for orphans? Who taught him to care for those who had no clothes, verse 19, etc. "And if I've taken advantage of a poor orphan, verse 21, let my half shoulder 24:57 fall from its socket, verse 22." I tell you, when I read Job's testimony, I'm absolutely amazed. And I say, "Lord, what is this? So many people boasting about being filled with the Holy Spirit and all that." And 25:16 their lives don't compare anywhere with Job's. They're living in a world of self-deception. They want to boast that I'm in the club. I'm filled with the Spirit, I speak in tongues. I'd rather live like Job than like some 25:33 of these so-called spirit-filled people any day. So, the fear of God can make a tremendous difference in our life and I mentioned yesterday how the early Christians were Jews, so they learned the fear of God before they knew 25:47 anything about the grace of God. Once we understand the fear of God, then we can graduate to the grace of God. It's like you can't go to college before you've gone through school. The fear of the Lord is the ABC of wisdom. 26:04 And so, if we learn that, then we can learn geography, chemistry, physics, science, and all these things, but you got to learn the alphabet first. You can't even read the Bible without reading the alphabet, knowing the alphabet. So, the fear of the Lord is 26:16 the alphabet of the Christian life. And that the fundamental problem with people trying to go into the deeper Christian life is exactly like I said, trying to study chemistry and science without knowing how to read the alphabet. 26:32 So, let's begin with the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Fear of the Lord teaches me to hate evil. And if people think that is just an Old Testament concept, let me turn you to 2 Corinthians in chapter 7. 26:49 2 Corinthians chapter 7. He's talking about these wonderful promises that are mentioned in the previous verse. Let's look at these promises first, chapter 6, verse 16, the middle of that verse, "I will dwell in their midst. I will walk 27:08 in them." God is saying, "I will dwell with you. I'll walk with you. I'll be your God. You'll be my people. So, come out from all those worldly things and be separate from all the other worldly type of influences and don't touch what is defiling you, 27:27 your heart. I will welcome you. I'll be a father to you and you will be my sons and daughters." It's more important, more is greater than being the son and daughter of the greatest man in the world or a king. It's more greater than being a prince or 27:43 a princess. To be a son and daughter of almighty God who is the king of kings. Having these promises, we're chapter 7:1, when we have such wonderful promises, beloved, what shall we do? There's only one thing we can do. Let us 27:58 cleanse ourselves. There's a cleansing that Jesus does. He cleanses us in his blood. That is from the past guilt that I can never cleanse myself from. A million good works will not cleanse one of my sins. I need the blood of 28:14 Jesus Christ to cleanse my past. But now, this nature of mine which is self-centered, which I still have with me even after I'm born again, let us cleanse ourselves. That is a responsibility for us. There's a cleansing that God does from 28:30 my past guilt. There's a cleansing that I have to do from all the defilement of flesh and spirit in me. I see that as external defilement and internal defilement. Flesh and spirit. If I speak in a rude, un-Christ-like way, that's the 28:48 defilement of the flesh. If I have wrong attitudes in my heart, that's a defilement of the spirit. I must cleanse myself from defilement of the flesh and the spirit, but how do I do it? It says here, "Perfecting holiness 29:02 in the fear of God." There it is. Fear of God in the New Testament. That's how I pursue perfection in holiness. Christ was perfectly holy. And our goal is from the time we are born again, we have turned around from our sinful ways, 29:20 and it's a race. It's like a marathon race. I've just begun. When we are born again, we are just at the starting line. And I got a race to run. The finishing line is total likeness to Christ. That's perfect perfection in holiness. How do I 29:36 get there? Not just by asking God to fill me with the Holy Spirit, which I need, but by perfecting holiness in the fear of God, the same fear of God that Joseph had that kept him from adultery, the same fear of God that Job had, which kept him even from 29:55 lusting in his heart. With that fear of God, I can run this race because the Holy Spirit comes to help me. So, don't just leave everything to the Holy Spirit and don't say, "Well, I need to be filled with the Spirit." And why 30:10 not begin with saying, "I need a little more of the fear of God in my life." I've heard a lot of people come and tell me, "Oh, brother Zach, pray that I'll be filled with the Holy Spirit." Why not pray that you'll have a little 30:22 more fear of God in your life and then move on? Let's learn the alphabet before we move on to study complicated subjects like science and history and all that. The alphabet. I believe that this is the reason why 30:40 many people seem endlessly to pray for the Holy Spirit and nothing seems to happen. They live in the kindergarten perpetually. Their life is not useful to God. They feel well, "Oh, I'm not gifted." Well, why not? Is there a single part of 30:56 this body which doesn't have a function? The I mean, medical people say there's an appendix we don't know it has no function. It's humbler to say, "We don't know what its function is." 31:14 That's the real truth. Not that it has no function. A humble doctor will say, "I don't know what the function is. It must be having some function. God couldn't have created it without a problem." I mean, without a reason. 31:29 So, every part of this body has a function. It's not just the eyes and the ears and the uh hands and legs. You know, you can consider yourself to be a very insignificant Well, I'm not a tongue. I 31:47 can't preach. I'm not an eye. I'm not a ear. I don't have vision. I'm not able to hear God's voice so clearly like some other people. I'm not even a little finger. I'm just a small little nail. But, do you know when you feel scratchy, 32:03 which is the one part of your body that can really be useful? It's not your tongue. It's not your eye. It's not your ear. It's not even your finger. It's that wee tiny nail. That's the thing that gives relief. 32:20 Can you scratch somebody's back? You know what scratching somebody's back is? Giving a word of encouragement. Maybe you're not a great preacher. But, when when you're talking to somebody, can you conclude with one word of 32:38 encouragement? When you're writing an email, can you conclude with a word of encouragement? When you're speaking on your cell phone, can you conclude with a word of encouragement? Who cannot do that? We're so clever to make money. 33:01 We're so clever to pass advanced degrees in so many subjects. Is it that complicated to give one word of encouragement? You know what an effect it can have on another? I remember when I was very young, around 33:18 30 years old or something. I met a a very godly brother who wasn't very gifted in preaching. And I was a very young man. He was double my age. And he 33:36 put his hands on my shoulders and said, "God's got a great plan for you. God bless you." That's all he said. 40 years later, I don't forget it. What did he Did he preach a great sermon to me? I was at a conference. I don't remember 33:54 one sermon in that conference, but I remember what this what this man told me. And I've learned something from that. One word of encouragement. Do that with your children, my brothers and sisters. Our children need a lot more 34:09 encouragement than, "Why did you do that? And how many times have I told you not to do that?" I mean, they've heard enough of that. Why not speak some words of encouragement to them? Be tremendous. I feel that parents do 34:26 not speak words of encouragement. They don't scratch. Anybody can scratch somebody's back. And they all of us need it. All of us need it. You wives, you think your husbands don't need encouragement? Maybe he's a very capable guy, accomplishing many things 34:45 in the world, but he needs encouragement. I'll tell you that. The Bible says, "Encourage one another." Let me show you that verse. The Holy Spirit is the spirit of encouragement. God is a God of encouragement. And uh it says here in 35:10 First of all, Romans 15:5. Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement Do you know that the God is a God of encouragement? Your father is a father who encourages you? I love that title of God, God of 35:30 encouragement. And now turn to Hebrews chapter 3. When this God of encouragement fills you with his Holy Spirit, you become an encourager. And it says in Hebrews 3:13, the NASB 35:49 translates it like this, "Encourage one another." I know the King James says, "Exhort one another." But, obviously that includes the Greek means encourage as well. So, encourage one another day after day. In other words, 36:03 you know what that means? That means 24 hours should not go by in my life without my having encouraged somebody at least. Isn't that a good goal to scratch somebody's back at least once in 24 hours? I don't mean physically, 36:18 but spiritually, just to encourage a person. Somebody. To encourage a person. It could be a a waiter who served you in a restaurant. 36:36 He hears so many complaints. Why don't you tell him, "Hey, I really appreciated your service." What do you lose by it? I've tried to do that in different places. I say, "Lord, 36:55 if I can't give money to people, at least I can give them some encouragement." And that may mean a lot more to some people than money. Encourage one another every single day. As long as it is called today. I'll give you the example of one man who 37:11 did it. Turn with me to Acts chapter 4. Have you heard of Joseph? Not the father of not Mary's husband Joseph. Who's the Joseph in the Acts of the Apostles? Tell me. I'm sure most of you don't know. Joseph. 37:33 He was an apostle. Have you heard of the Apostle Joseph? I'm not joking. It's not a trick question. Turn with me to Acts chapter 4. Verse 36. There was a man called Joseph. He was a 37:52 Levite and this of Cyprian birth. And the apostles said, "We got to change your name. We got to change your name to Barnabas." Have you heard of Barnabas? You know, that's not the name his parents gave him. His parents called him Joseph. 38:10 But, he was just going around encouraging people after he was filled with the Holy Spirit every day. I said, "We got to change this guy's name." You know what Barnabas means? Son of encouragement, an encourager. Wow. Would you have qualified for that name 38:30 if you were there in the early days among the apostles? Imagine. He was such an encourager that when Saul of Tarsus, the man who persecuted Christians was going around trying to kill Christians, got converted and came back to Jerusalem, everybody 38:50 was suspicious. Ah, this guy's a spy. He's pretending to be a Christian to come inside and find out more about us so that he can sneak on us. Everybody suspected him. Barnabas said, "Well, let me give the guy a chance. Let 39:03 me go and see." He was the one who brought Paul and he showed that he was not a spy. He'd really been converted. And when Mark went along with Paul and Barnabas, John Mark, and 39:21 he found the going tough and dropped out. It was Barnabas who said, "Hey, Paul, let's give him another chance, man. We all got a second chance. Didn't you get a second chance? Why not give this guy a second chance?" I mean, he stood up for that so much 39:36 that he even parted from Paul. He was an encourager. It's a great gift to have. Why do we meet together as a church, a spirit-filled church? is a church where we always hear a word of 39:54 encouragement. I There's a American melody called Home on the Range. It's a beautiful tune. It's I wrote a a little 40:12 hymn for that. The church is my home where I never will roam. And uh one of the lines was where I've never heard a discouraging word. That's one of the original lines in that song, actually. I've never heard a discouraging word, 40:31 but only been blessed every day. That's the church where never is heard a discouraging word, but I'm only blessed every day. The church is my home where I live and I'll pray and I'll stay. 40:50 So, that's a spirit-filled church. I want to be in a church where I'm encouraged and challenged to go higher every week when they come together. Challenged to be a little more Christ-like. That's a spirit-filled church. 41:08 And as I said, every one of us has got a part to play in this, not just one or two. Everyone. Some may be gifted like the tongue, some with vision like the eye, and some who can hear God's voice more clearly like the ear. 41:24 But you're the nail. Encourage somebody. Scratch where they're itching. Every single person It says in Hebrews chapter 10. You know, we're trying to understand 41:43 what a spirit-filled church is. Hebrews chapter 10, verse 24. Let us consider That means you got to give some thought to it. How to stimulate one another to love and good works. 42:00 Have you ever obeyed that command? Consider. That means think. How can I stimulate somebody to love and to good works? How can I say something that'll challenge that person to love 42:19 more or to good works? Is there a word I can share? We encourage people in our church in our weekday meeting. Young people to get up and share for 2 minutes. Not too long. You don't have that maturity, but 42:38 share something that's on your heart that'll encourage others. And slowly you can develop into preaching God's word. We do that every week on a Wednesday meetings. And um you know, people develop and sometimes a word they speak 42:55 encourages others. You never know sometimes. Don't ever despise that little you have to contribute. It's like when you what you call a potluck lunch or something. Everybody brings along and whatever little you have it's it's not it's useful. 43:11 So, it's like that when we come share together in the church, everyone has something to give. Maybe one sentence that'll encourage someone. Hebrews 10, let us consider how to stimulate one another to love. 43:30 In the King James, it says to provoke one another. Provoke is usually associated with anger. But I like this, to provoke people to love. Isn't that a great thing to provoke somebody to love me or to love others? And to good works. 43:49 And so, we should not forsake, verse 25, our assembling together. Don't say I'm too lazy to go to the meeting today. It's raining, so I don't think I'll go. Do you ever say that about going to work? It's raining. I don't think I'll 44:05 go to work today. Why is work more important than meeting together with the saints? Not forsaking our assembling together as is the habit of some, even in the first century. People were making those silly excuses. 44:23 But so much the more encouraging one another. See what it says? Why do we assemble together? To encourage one another. You see how much it says that in scripture? And all the more when you see the coming of the Lord is drawing near. 44:41 And that was written 1,900 years ago. How much more today as we approach the coming of Jesus Christ? And the world gets more and more evil. Anti-Christian forces are rampant everywhere, not only in India, but in America and every part of the 44:57 world. Anyone who stands up for Jesus Christ and for the principles of scripture is despised. The standards of scripture are held up. You're made fun of. I see that 45:16 all over in the media. They're dead against upright Christians who stand for righteousness and the principles of scripture. There are certain sins mentioned clearly in scripture, particularly in Romans chapter 1. If you speak about them, you'll be 45:37 considered as considered as hate speech. Can you imagine how low people have sunk where God's word is considered hate speech because you speak against certain types 45:55 of sins. That's the time we're living in. You read Romans chapter 1, the last half of it, and you'll see what I'm talking about. Encourage one another. And as as the day draws near and there's a 46:14 lot of hatred and opposition of Christians, let us encourage one another. And in order to do that, we need to experience the Holy Spirit of grace. In verse 29, it's the one place in the New Testament it's where the spirit is called the 46:31 spirit of grace in the last part. I'm not referring to the whole verse, but the Holy Spirit is called the spirit of grace. And that's found in the Old Testament in Zechariah chapter 12. Zechariah 12 and 10 is what I consider 46:50 a partial fulfillment on the day of Pentecost. It's more fully fulfilled later on, but there's a partial fulfillment of that on the day of Pentecost where the Lord says, "I'll pour out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem." And there were 120 47:03 waiting in Jerusalem. "I'll pour out on them the spirit of grace." Grace is a word not found in the New Old Testament. And even in the King James version when it says Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord, that's not grace. It's favor. 47:19 Grace, John 1:17 says, came through Jesus Christ. There was no grace in the world till Christ came. It's a special New Testament word. And I'll tell you three things that it does for us. First of all, Ephesians 1, the true 47:35 grace of God. Ephesians 1:7, it says here, this is the first thing grace does for us. Ephesians 1:7, we have forgiveness of our trespasses. The last part of that verse, according to the riches of His grace. That means the grace of our Lord Jesus 47:55 Christ, the first thing it does for us is forgive our entire past. And it doesn't matter how great your sin is. If you have repented of it and you confessed it to the Lord, whether it's a small uh slip of the tongue where you spoke a rude word 48:14 or numerous adulteries, the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. The only sin that's not forgiven is the one that you don't confess or the one you try to hide. I don't mean that when you first come to Christ, you have to confess every sin. 48:33 It's impossible. We committed millions of them. And we cannot confess all of them. But I think that the story of the prodigal son, after he had ruined his father's name and done a lots of evil, he came back and said, "Father, I have 48:52 sinned." That was enough. That's how we come to the Lord. We don't make a list of all our sins the first time we come to the Lord. All we say is, "Dad, I've sinned. Have mercy on me, a sinner." And it says the dad embraced him and put 49:11 the ring on his hand, which is a picture of the Holy Spirit, and the robe of righteousness, and made him sit at the table. That's how we begin. But then once you become a child of God, we read in 1 John 1:9, "If we confess 49:27 our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us." So, then we have to be careful that whenever we know that we have sinned, we must acknowledge it. And meaning of that is don't blame the other person. Confess it yourself. 49:45 That's the difference between Adam who was thrown out of paradise and the thief on the cross who entered paradise. Have you ever thought of that? Adam was put out of paradise, the garden of Eden, and the thief on the cross who died 49:57 there, Jesus said, "Today you'll be with me in paradise." What was the difference? When God asked Adam, I don't have time to turn to that. It's in Genesis 3 and asked him, "Did you eat of that tree?" There is not a multiple-choice question 50:16 with four options. There are only two. Yes or no. But he doesn't take yes or no. He writes underneath, third point, "My wife gave me and you gave me this wife. Why in the world did you give me this 50:35 wife?" You see, that was why he was thrown out of paradise. He would not take the blame for his own sin. Instead of saying, "Yes, Lord, I'm sorry." And you find yourself like that sometimes? Trying to say, "But he did this." 50:52 Forget about what he did. What did you do? It's like children are sometimes. He hit me first. Okay. But did you hit him? You know, this is the tendency in man to think, even if you don't say it, "I'm not so guilty because he did that 51:11 first or she did that first." I want to tell you, you will never enjoy paradise if you have that spirit. You don't have to confess somebody else's sin. You have to confess your own. And I think that was the difference between the two thieves on the cross. 51:28 One thief was saying, "Get me down from this cross, son of God. If you're the son of God, get me down." What he was implying was, "Okay, I've done a few crimes. Maybe I deserve four or five years in prison, but not crucifixion. I'm not that bad." 51:43 That's what he was saying. "Get me down from this cross and maybe put me in jail for four prison for five years. Okay, but not not I'm not so bad." Jesus ignored him, but the other one on the other side said, "Lord, I deserve this. 52:01 I don't deserve five years in prison. I'm so bad that I deserve this. I'm guilty. And I don't my blame my parents for bringing me up wrongly. No, it's not their fault. I don't blame the company I had that led me into bad ways. No, I don't blame 52:17 them. So many people blame, "I didn't have a father who loved me." He didn't say that. Maybe he didn't have a father who loved him, but he didn't blame that. He took the blame himself. He took the blame. He says, "I don't 52:32 blame It's not that the police put a bigger charge on me than was it true. Nothing. I don't blame the police. I don't blame the judge. I don't blame the company I kept. I don't blame my parents. I blame only myself 100%." 52:44 And it's as it were, Jesus said, "Really? You mean you are 100% to blame? Well, you deserve to be in paradise with me today." He said, "Lord, when you come in your kingdom." And Jesus said, "You don't have to wait 2,000 years. Today." 52:59 You know, we talk about going to the foot of the cross. Go to the foot of the cross of the thief first. And kneel down at the foot of the cross there and learn something from him before you go to the cross where Jesus died. 53:15 And say, "Oh thief, teach me how to take the blame myself 100% then my paradise life will begin today." I can honestly say 53:32 I have foretasted foretasted heaven in many ways in my life. Real taste of heaven in my home life, my personal life, my thought life. I sleep well at night. It's like sleeping in heaven. 53:50 And it's because a good conscience is the best pillow pillow to sleep on. Where you have no sin on your conscience. It's not that I never sin, but as soon as I slip up in the smallest way, I go to God and say, "Lord, I'm sorry. I 54:09 slipped up there." Even if it's in the thoughts, nobody knows. And my heart is clean. I believe the blood of Jesus cleanses me. And I'm justified by his blood. This is grace. Forgiveness of sins 54:29 according to the riches of his grace. And if God's forgiven you like that, learn to forgive other people like that. Don't forgive in a stingy way. "I forgive you, brother, but you know, I can't trust you anymore. Sorry." 54:47 Imagine if God taught me forgave me like that. "Okay, Zach, I forgive you, but I can never trust you again. Sorry." I'd feel miserable. It says, "Forgive Lord, forgive us as we have forgiven others." So, don't be rude to people when you 55:07 forgive them. Okay, they slipped up. They made a mistake. Okay, forgiven. We have to be wise with people who have taken advantage of us. I'm not saying we shouldn't. But let's have a large-heartedness in our forgiving of others. That's what I'm 55:23 trying to say. You remember it says about Peter having denied the Lord, which is a terrible sin, three times. And there's a beautiful verse in Luke chapter 22 which says, Do you remember that? The Lord turned and looked 55:43 upon Peter. At that very moment when he he denied him the third time when the crew. And it says the Lord The Lord was in the standing in the court and he looked at Peter. What do you think that look said? It's not, "I told you." No. 56:06 It was a look which said, That's the way sometimes we look at our children. I told you. How many times I told you? His look said, "It's all right, Peter. You're forgiven." It was a look of forgiveness that made him weep. 56:24 When a tough fisherman weeps bitterly, you know that God touched him. Is there somebody who's looking who's waiting for a look of forgiveness from you like that? A look which says, "It's okay. You're forgiven." Imagine if husband and wife looked at 56:47 like We all make mistakes. Which husband or wife can say we don't make mistakes? But if you can learn to look at Jesus, it's okay. It's forgiven. I'm not going to hold that against you. Think your home will be a little bit of 57:00 heaven. It's you who are making your home into a hell, my brother, sister, not the devil. Forgiveness. That's what grace does. Forgiveness. The second thing grace does is Romans 6:14. The spirit of grace, a spirit-filled church must be a church 57:19 where we have experienced forgiveness like this from God and we learn to forgive one another. The second Romans 6:14, sin shall not rule over you because you're under grace. The second thing grace does is give us power 57:34 to overcome sin. Grace is a power to overcome sin. He keeps us. I remember when I first understood this, I slip and fall and the devil say, "Ah, you fell." And I say, "True. I fallen, but one of these days Romans 6:14 will be 57:54 true in me. Sin will not rule over me." I thought of Abraham. Uh you know, there was a time when God told him, "Change your name from Abram." I don't know how If you know that when he when God called him, his name was not 58:08 Abraham. His name was Abram, which means exalted father. But then one day in I think it's Genesis 17 or 18, the Lord told him, "From now on you're going to be called Abraham, father of a multitude." And he didn't even have Isaac till then. 58:28 And Sarah was wife and he goes to the registrar's office to change his name. "Change my name to father of a multitude." Father of a multitude? Abraham, how many children do you have? Not even one yet, but call me call me father of a multitude. 58:45 And he called all his three He had 318 servants. Imagine him calling him calling them all the next day. They all know Abraham and Sarah had no son for 40 years after marriage. "Okay, folks, today onwards my name is father of a multitude." 58:58 And all those 318 servants must have thought, "This guy's gone a bit crazy." But he kept saying it, saying it. Today, do you know what Abraham is today? Father of a multitude. That's the thing that helped me. "Okay, Satan, I haven't got victory over 59:18 sin yet. But one of these days sin will not have dominion over me." And I fall the next week again. Yeah, but I am an overcomer. And then I fall the next month. I say, "Yes, but Abraham is my example. I'm the father of a multitude. I'm going 59:34 to conquer a multitude of sins. I'm going to overcome her and over come her and believe it or not it happened. Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope. Faith is something I experience now. Hope is something I believe will happen 59:51 in me in the future. Confess Romans 6:14 every time to the devil till one day it will become true in your life. That grace will help me to be an overcomer over every known sin in my life. There'll still be a lot of unconscious 1:00:06 areas where I'm not like Christ. That will take me a long time to overcome, but wherever I know something is sin, grace will help me to overcome it. That's my faith. To me it's like cube of ice in a glass of juice, grape 1:00:23 juice or something. Only 10% of that ice is visible and I see that I know only 10% of the sins in my life. There are areas of Christ-likeness in my life like the hidden part of the ice cube which I don't even know. But I can't deal with them because I 1:00:38 don't know them. But that top 10% that I can see, I slice it off. What happens? What happens? A little bit of that's underneath comes up. That's what happens to ice cubes. And that's what happens in our life. When I deal with conscious sin 1:00:56 God, the reward God gives me is he shows me another area of un-Christ-likeness that I never even knew existed in my life. Then I can work on slicing off that. And when I do that, another 10% comes up. This is called sanctification, 1:01:15 progressive sanctification. Where I always have un-Christ-likeness in my life. I'm absolutely conscious as God has shown me over the years the areas little by little by little like an onion. I peel off one skin of selfishness and then I discover another 1:01:30 skin. I peel off that and the onion is getting thinner. And my goal is to get to the center of the onion. To be rid of everything un-Christ-like in my life completely. And I'm helped in the church when we come together and I meet with 1:01:45 others and I fellowship with them and I see I get light in the church. The church is the place where God's light shines the brightest. That's why I want to be in a church where the light of God shines bright. And I get light on myself. I can cleanse 1:02:02 myself. I'm passionate. Like some people are passionate of going to the top of their profession. I'm passionate about becoming like Christ, totally. I know it will take me years, but I'm going to get there. I'm determined to complete this marathon 1:02:16 race and run with the spirit of the winner. I hope you have that spirit. Grace will help you to overcome sin. God's word says so. It was God who told Abraham you will have seed like the sand on the seashore and like the stars in the sky. 1:02:35 In other words, you'll have an earthly seed like the sand on the seashore and you'll have a heavenly seed like the stars in the sky. That's what Abraham got. He got both. Through his physical seed he got all the Jews and Arabs that have 1:02:50 populate so many parts of the world. And a heavenly seed he's got those who have the same faith as Abraham the children of God through Jesus Christ. As the stars of the sky and the sea the shore, God is very exact in what 1:03:05 he says. And he fulfills it. It may take time. And so with you. So the third area where grace helps us is what we read in 2 Corinthians chapter 12. So grace forgives our sins, number one. It gives us 1:03:25 overcoming ability over sin. Let me just say a word of overcoming before I move on. I used to think of victory over sin as something I got and the Lord told me, "Don't say you got victory over sin. Say Jesus kept me from falling." It's the 1:03:37 same thing, but it's got a little ring about a different ring about it, right? When I say I got victory over sin or say Jesus kept me from falling. So say Jesus kept me from falling because that's really the truth. You see, sin is like the law of gravity. The 1:03:50 law of sin is like the law of gravity. Everywhere in the world it pulls you down. Even if it's a holy book like the Bible, gravity doesn't care for that. It just pulls it down. You may think you're a holy person, but gravity pulls you down. Sin will pull 1:04:02 you down. But why is it not falling now? Gravity is still pulling pretty hard right now. But this Bible's not falling because the power of life in my body is holding it up. 1:04:19 If I drop dead, it's gone. If Jesus were dead, he couldn't hold me up. Jesus is alive. That's why he can keep me from falling. It's because I'm alive that I can overcome the law of gravity here and keep this Bible from falling. 1:04:36 The Bible cannot boast, "I overcame." No. Zac kept me from falling. Jesus keeps me from falling. Humble yourself. Stay in the Lord's hand. That's grace. The third one is 2 Corinthians 12. Where 1:04:54 the spirit of grace helps us in the trials we face. 2 Corinthians 12. Paul had a thorn in the flesh which was a sickness from which he was never healed. Sometimes God allows a sickness. He doesn't give it, but he allows it 1:05:14 with a purpose. In Paul's case, it was to humble him because he had such a fantastic ministry that he was in danger of becoming proud. It says in 2 Corinthians 12:7, "To keep me from exalting myself." And I want to say to all of you brothers 1:05:29 and sisters who think you're very humble. Even the Apostle Paul was in danger of spiritual pride. So let none of us think we are going to stand. The one who thinks he stands will fall first. Every one of us, particularly if you're 1:05:45 pressing on in the Christian life you are in danger of spiritual pride. You're not greater than the Apostle Paul. He recognized it and I hope you recognize it. I recognize it. And he says to keep me from exalting myself. Why didn't he want to exalt 1:06:02 himself? Because he knows that God is the enemy of the proud. He gives grace to the humble. 1 Peter 5, but he opposes the proud. The way I picture it is when my lusts are opposing me, when the devil is opposing me, when 1:06:15 the world is opposing me, the world, the flesh, and the devil are all opposing me, I've got one person behind me pushing me forward. That's God. And I want him to be a be behind me. The world, the flesh, and the devil are no 1:06:26 match for God supporting me with his grace. I'll overcome all of them. But if I become proud God comes on the other side and starts pushing me back. And that's why many people don't progress 1:06:44 because God himself is pushing you back. Paul said, "I don't want to exalt myself. I want to remain humble, but it's a difficult job to remain humble and God gave me a help and the help was a sickness in my body." And I don't have time to show it to you, 1:07:04 but I think it was a sickness with his eyes. Which was a it's a it's a terrible thing if you if a preacher stands up here and his eyes are always leaking with pus. I mean, keep wiping it off and all. It's so embarrassing. Lord, heal me. Heal me. 1:07:23 I'll tell you why I say that. Just turn the page to Galatians chapter 4. In Galatians chapter 4 he says in verse 13 Galatians 4:13, "It was because of a bodily illness that I preached to you the first time." Paul was stuck in Galatia once because 1:07:40 of a sickness. He wanted to go on somewhere else. You read that in Acts 16, but he couldn't go. He was sick and he had to stay in Galatia and because of that a church was planted in that Galatian region. And then he says, "It's because of an 1:07:53 illness I got stuck in Galatia. That's how a church was planted. Churches were planted in your area." Now, and this sickness was a trial to you in my bodily condition. If it was an invisible sickness like cancer, that wouldn't be a trial to anybody. It was a 1:08:09 visible sickness that I mean, you don't like to see someone whose eyes are dripping with pus or some sickness like that. And you did not loathe me. Why should somebody loathe the Apostle Paul or despise him? When you see something repulsive 1:08:28 you received me as an angel. And here's how I know it's the problem was with his eyes. Verse 15, the last part. You were ready to pluck out your eyes and give them to me. How those Galatians loved Paul. Paul, we see you like this suffering. I 1:08:45 wish I could give you my eyes. You know, just like a mother sees a child suffering, "I wish I could give you my health." So he had a thorn in the flesh. It wasn't from God. It was a messenger of Satan. 2 Corinthians 12:7. 1:09:00 And it buffeted him. It kept humbling himself. You know, Satan said, "Oh, you're the great Apostle, right? You're the one who raised Eutychus from the dead. You healed so many people. Handkerchiefs that touched your body healed and cast 1:09:13 out demons. What about your eyes?" Lord, heal me. No answer. Lord, heal me. No answer. Three times I prayed. Verse 8. And finally an answer came. Not healing. You needed Paul 1:09:31 to protect you and keep you in humility. But my grace is sufficient for you. Because grace is a power that will help you in weakness. Like the Living Bible says, my power shows up best in weak people. Are you a weak person? 1:09:49 What you need is grace. And then Paul says, "That's wonderful. Then I'm perfectly content verse 10 with weakness, insult, distress, persecution, difficulties. For because when I'm weak, I'm strong." 1:10:07 So that's the third function of grace to help us overcome every trial and problem we can ever face in our life. Distress, persecution, insult. Whatever, name it. 1:10:23 Grace will make me strong. And if you're humble, you'll get it. That is a spirit-filled church where we hear the message of grace, forgiveness, overcoming sin, and thirdly, 1:10:41 strength for every trial I can ever face in my life. Could be a difficult neighbor. Could be a difficult wife. Could be a difficult husband. Could be difficult children. Could be a sickness that never seems to get healed. 1:10:57 Grace is sufficient to make you cheerful. And to make your life a paradise on earth even with leaking eyes. Isn't that wonderful? This is the message of the gospel. And this is why 1:11:15 this is what we must do in our church. Encourage one another with the message of grace. That's a spirit-filled church. There's a lot more about the spirit-filled church, and I'm sure the Holy Spirit can tell you in the days to come. Expand on 1:11:33 the message you heard in this weekend. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we pray that you will encourage us and help us. As we go out from here that the seed will produce fruit that lasts for eternity. 1:11:50 We humbly ask in Jesus' name. Amen.
