0:00 So we call ourselves a New Covenant Christian Church and I think in all these five years there's a lot that you have heard about the New Covenant both in maybe videos that you watched at home on the internet and also messages that you've heard from different ones I've shared here through 0:24 the years so we considered some of the marks of spiritual growth which is a spirit of thankfulness humility and a deeper fellowship among ourselves what is what are some of the dangers as we seek 0:46 to pursue this life I think one of the dangers which I have seen because we've been planning churches for 40 years I've seen one of the dangers is particularly for clever intelligent people which most of you are or if not all of you is the danger of thinking that because we understand the doctrine 1:11 and we can explain it clearly and that we are better than other churches that don't understand the doctrine or they don't preach it that can be a tremendous deception the Bible says in John chapter 1 and verse 4 that in Christ was life and that life was the light of men 1:42 Jesus told us where to be to be the light of the world what does that mean in the Old Covenant here we read of the light as the life of Jesus is very clear in him was life and that life was the light of men 2:03 so that's why he said I am the light of the world in John chapter 8 in verse 12 I am the light of the world but he also said in John chapter 9 in verse 5 that I'm the light of the world only as long as I'm in the world Once I leave the world, I mean it's very clear, as long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. 2:33 We know that he's not in the world now. He said in John 17, Father I'm coming to you, I'm no longer in the world. Then he gave that responsibility to us. He said in Matthew 5.14, you are the light of the world. He looked at his disciples and said, you are the light of the world. 2:55 So if somebody were to ask you, who is the light of the world today? Say we, we as a church. You say, not Jesus. Jesus said he was the light of the world as long as he was in the world. I believe his word in John 9 verse 5. 3:14 And then he turned around to us and said, you are the light of the world. Now that's an awesome responsibility. And that's why we don't like to say it. We don't like to say, we are the light of the world. Because we look at the way we are living. 3:26 And some of us may be pretty ashamed of the way we live. Say, how can I say we are the light of the world? That's what should bring us down on our faces and say, why are we living like that? Why are we living in a way that we are not the light of the world? 3:40 Something is seriously wrong. Okay, if you are newly born again for a couple of years, that's okay. It's like little children take about two years to get steady on their feet. And we read in the Old Testament that when God brought the Israelites out of Egypt, 4:01 it took two years for them to come to the borders of Canaan. You read that in Deuteronomy 2.14. Then up to two years they came to the borders of Canaan. God told them to go in. And they didn't go in. So they wandered for another 38 years. 4:18 So what I see from that is, Canaan is a life of victory and triumph. Picture of it. And God expected them to come to that in two years. So I see that as God's plan. That if you are born again, if you are really sincerely born again, 4:34 in two years you should come to life of victory. If you haven't, I think part of the reason is, there's not been a proper repentance. That means we are born facing sin with God on our back. Repentance means a 180 degree turn where God is in front of us 4:58 and sin and the world are behind us. Now, with many, many Christians, that is not true. Sin and the world are not behind them. And that's because they heard an improper gospel. A gospel that emphasized faith. 5:19 Believe, believe, just confess your sin and believe. And did not emphasize the most important thing, repentance. So, without repenting, or repenting 90 degrees instead of 180 degrees, with one eye on the world, one eye on God, 5:34 they try to believe and confess their sin. And they imagine, I'm okay, you're not okay. The message that John the Baptist brought as a forerunner to Christ is the message that is the forerunner of the gospel. 5:56 The gospel is salvation through Christ, but there's a message that prepares the way for the gospel. That's the message of John the Baptist. Repentance. And he said, I've come here to raise the valleys 6:16 and bring down the mountains and make the crooked places straight and to remove the rough places and make them smooth. These are four different pictures he used about repentance. bringing down all the high thoughts and lifting up all the depressed valleys 6:30 and making the crooked things in our life straight and making the rough places smooth. You read that in Luke chapter 3. He was preaching repentance. And that was the preparation for faith. Paul said in Acts 20, I preach repentance and faith everywhere I go. 6:48 So that is the reason why, and if that's been true in your case, you can see perhaps that is the main reason why people have not grown spiritually or have not come into a life of victory in two years or can be here for five years 7:03 and still be defeated, even though you've heard and heard and heard and heard. And still you're yelling at each other at home and still lusting and pursuing after money and things like that. And you've got all the right theory. 7:24 But the light, which is the life of Jesus, is not shining. And that's okay. But the sad thing is, it's not bringing us down on our faces in weeping and saying, Lord, why isn't that happening? I've been here so long. And why isn't that happening in our life? 7:43 We're not disturbed by it. That's a serious thing. I've often told people that the fact that you sin is not as serious as the fact that you don't weep after you sin. That's more serious. That shows a lack of sensitivity. 8:02 It's like, you know, when we get a little injury on our hand, we immediately react to it and want to do something about it. If you get a cut, you don't just leave it. But if you have leprosy, you wouldn't even feel that 8:15 because lepers don't have sensation. So when I sin and it doesn't make me weep, it's an indication of our conscience having lost its sensitivity. It's a serious condition. It's spiritual leprosy. I know a lot of people who have come to our church in Bangalore 8:35 and who have said to me after a few years there, Brother Zach, I don't really believe I was saved until I came here. I said, why? He said, I thought I was born again in the other church I attended. But I was so defeated by sin 8:52 and I realized that I never knew what repentance was until I came here. I never got a clear understanding of what sin was until I came here. So until you understand what sin is, how can you repent from it? If you know where south is, 9:07 then you can turn around from south and face north. But if you don't know where the south is, then how do you turn around and face north? So if you don't know what sin is, you can't repent. So you don't know what darkness is, 9:18 you don't know what the light is. And that, I believe, is where the devil has blinded so many people concerning what is darkness. The darkness in our life is basically due to our self-centeredness. that our life is centered around myself. 9:38 We grow up like that. The entire world lives a self-centered life. Whether they are politicians or businessmen or academics or mega-church pastors, very often it's self projecting themselves. And if my life is self-centered, 9:58 I'm really following the way that Adam went. Even if I've added a little religion to it, because, you know, the way Jesus is being preached by many preachers today is he will bless you. Well, who in the world doesn't want to be blessed? 10:16 There's not a single human being in the world who doesn't want to be blessed. Come and Jesus will bless you and he'll forgive all your sins. He will take you to heaven and he will even bless you materially and he'll make you healthy. 10:31 Well, every human being in the world wants to be healthy. Every human being in the world wants to be wealthy. Every human being in the world wants to be blessed and every human being in the world wants to go to heaven. So, the entire world 10:44 should respond to such a gospel. And most people do. But Jesus said, the way to life is narrow and very few find it. So, that must be another gospel altogether. And that's the deception that's going on in Christendom today. 10:59 So, that's the thing we have to stand against and proclaim as error by the light of our lives. In the Old Covenant, if you read Psalm 119, we read there Psalm 119 and verse 105. 11:23 Psalm 119, verse 105. Lord, your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. You see there in the Old Testament, the light was the written word, the law and the messages of the prophets. 11:44 Thy word is my light. What is the light in the New Covenant? The life of Jesus. In Him was life and the life was the light of men. So, in what way was Israel supposed to be a light in the Old Covenant 12:05 by going, by keeping the law and keeping everything written in the word as long as they kept those commandments, God was happy with them. You are my witnesses. But in the New Covenant, it's not by keeping certain commandments 12:21 that we manifest the light. So, remember this very clearly in your mind. In the Old Covenant, the word was the light. In the New Covenant, it's the life of Jesus that is the light. And I believe these two are symbolized 12:38 in the two trees in the Garden of Eden. There was a tree of knowledge of good and evil and there's a tree of life. To me, in one sense, that is a picture of Old Covenant and New Covenant. Because knowledge of good and evil 12:54 is not wrong in itself. Don't we want our children to know what is good and what is evil? To do evil is wrong. But to know what is good and evil, why did God tell Adam, if you eat of that, you will die? Why does the knowledge 13:15 of good and evil bring death? You need to understand that. You see, you could have spent five years here recognizing more and more what is good and what is evil. It's evil to shout at my wife. It's good to speak kindly to her. 13:33 knowledge of good and evil, many, many things and through the years the more you hear, the more you hear, you understand what is good and evil. And you may be sitting around the tree of knowledge of good and evil the whole time. 13:42 Because this book can be the tree of knowledge of good and evil to you or the tree of life. It all depends on how you approach it. I show you that from the New Testament. This is the big difference between the Pharisees 13:56 and Jesus. The Pharisees knew the scriptures. Jesus knew the scriptures. The Pharisees prayed. Jesus prayed. The Pharisees fasted. Jesus fasted. Do you know the Pharisees even did evangelism? They crossed land and sea to make proselytes 14:11 we read in Matthew 23. Jesus did evangelism traveling around. The Pharisees gave their money to God and Jesus gave also. So what was the difference? There's a lot of similarity and yet one was all religious and the other was spiritual. 14:30 Living under the Old Covenant makes a man religious. Living under the New Covenant makes a person spiritual. There's a world of difference between the two and it's very, very easy to sit in a New Covenant church and to take the letter of the law 14:45 and just be a Pharisee. Say thank you that I'm not like other men. I thank you that we're not like other churches. And yeah, the Pharisees had a pretty good life. Jesus himself gave a certificate to the Pharisees. Do you know that? 15:04 He gave two certificates to the Pharisees. Good certificates. They weren't all evil. There were a lot of things wrong with the Pharisees. There were two good things He said in Matthew 23. One is Matthew 23 and verse 25 He said 15:23 you clean the outside of the cup. Isn't that a good testimony that our external life is clean? Isn't it good not to be a drunkard or a gambler or sexual molester or you know very gracious and good externally? You keep your external life clean. 15:45 The Pharisees were like that. Jesus gave that certificate. If Jesus gives you a certificate that your external life is clean that's great. There's one more certificate He gave to them and that was in verse 2 and 3 He told His disciples 16:02 everything the Pharisees sit in the seat of Moses the other people who proclaim the law everything they tell you to do do isn't that a good certificate? Jesus wouldn't say everything that the Jehovah's Witnesses tell you to do 16:20 do or everything that the Roman Catholics tell you to do do about whom would Jesus say every single thing that they tell you to do do do I would say in a new covenant church everything they tell you to do do whatever they teach 16:38 from the pulpit is absolutely spot on right and yet they were Pharisees is that possible? so what are the two things Pharisees had which are good absolutely right doctrine and a very good external life do you have absolutely 16:57 right doctrine and a good external life? you could be a Pharisee Jesus also had absolutely right doctrine and a good external life but he had something more he had an inner life that was pure he had a private life where nobody 17:18 could see that was pure and full of love that is what makes the difference so all of us sitting here we may have the right doctrine and a good external life everybody sees it and admires you thinks you're a wonderful Christian 17:36 because they can only see your external life you know all of us we know I mean apart from members of your own family all the others you meet here you actually know only about less than 10% of their life 90% of their life 17:54 you never see even a wife does not see that major area of her husband's thought life she sees zero in there even if they've been married 50 years he could be absolutely impure there and his wife may be thinking he's such a pure 18:14 man because externally he's pure that is the great area of deception and that's the great danger that new covenant churches can face and the only way we can overcome that if I is if you 18:35 refuse to live before the face of man and say Lord it's only your opinion about me that matters I refuse I refuse to live before my wife or my husband or what they think of me it's good it's good to have a good testimony before 18:53 men let your light shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify and glorify and glorify your father in heaven so I'm not devaluing a good external testimony it's very very important I mean if your life is bad 19:06 before men itself then it's hopeless at least we should become that that is a minimum standard that our light shines before they see our good works and glorify our father in heaven what I'm saying is that's not enough Jesus 19:22 wasn't living before men he lived before his father in Isaiah 53 the well known chapter about Jesus and his crucifixion and his death on the cross we read these words at the beginning Isaiah 53 19:42 I don't know whether you noticed it sometimes a little phrase you can miss what is the first thing mentioned in Isaiah 53 it's not about the cross it's not about his bearing our sins and carrying our griefs and being afflicted 19:58 by God and smitten all that comes later the first thing mentioned about Jesus in Isaiah 53 verse 2 is he grew up before his father like a tender shoot like a root out of a parched ground and before men rest of 20:19 that verse says he has no form or majesty and nor appearance that people should be attracted to him and he was despised and rejected verse 3 that's okay but he grew up before his father this is where we are to follow Jesus 20:35 so the tree of knowledge of good and evil is something that tells us what's right and wrong and external life we can set it right according to that and yet not enjoy eternal life 20:55 which is the nature of God within us a person who is partaking more and more of eternal life which is the life of God will find that his inner life becomes purer and purer it's not just his external testimony before men 21:10 that is new covenant Christianity that's what Jesus said is the new wine the old wine is what the Pharisees had a good external testimony but a pretty corrupt inner life and I fear I fear that many who understand 21:30 new covenant truths could be living like that and we don't want to get a rude shock when Christ comes again and discover that you were no better than somebody sitting in an old covenant church except that your external life was 21:47 better or your knowledge and understanding of good and evil was better that's the great danger so we read in John chapter 5 about this difference and you know Jesus spoke to the Pharisees and he says in 22:08 John 5 in verse 39 you search the scriptures well that's a very good thing we do it too a lot of people today don't search the scriptures I'm sorry to say we have a generation of Christians growing up today who know more about 22:24 television than God's word a lot of Christians they consider themselves Christians I don't know how they call themselves Christians if they spend more time before television than the word of God what sort of Christianity 22:36 is that I can't imagine Jesus living on earth even if you're living today watching television more than reading God's word or knowing God's word there's something fundamentally wrong with that type of Christianity where they 22:50 can spend hours watching sport in just a few minutes in God's word and you could be a new covenant Christian with that attitude means that this is a ritual I have to go through because I'm a Christian I have to sort of go through 23:07 the ritual of reading the Bible every day but my real interest is not sin not sinful things but a lot of other things you know the Bible says all things are profitable all things are lawful but not all things are profitable 23:18 and the difference between a carnal soulish Christian and a spiritual Christian is this both may stick to doing only lawful things but the spiritual man is from the hundred lawful things that he can do he selects ten profitable 23:35 things and does that and there are very few Christians who do that type of selection of the way they use their time or spend their money or the way they live their life and if God sees that I ease my conscience by saying 23:52 I'm not doing anything unlawful well you keep a good testimony and you may get to heaven I hope so but you can get there with a lot of regret about the way you lived on earth I don't know whether you're familiar with that 24:07 verse if you're not let me show it to you 1 corinthian 6 and verse 12 all things are lawful for me he didn't mean by that sinful things Paul had already come to give up sin he was saying among the things that I've given 24:23 up sinful things but among all the other things that I can do now which are not sinful they're all lawful but among them maybe only 10% is profitable and I select what is profitable and spend my life doing that yeah I have 24:43 a little time for other things but those are not the main things in my life and so all things are lawful for me but I won't be mastered by anything he refused to be mastered by anything on this earth you shall know the truth 24:59 and the truth will set you free if there's anything on earth that masters me I'm a slave to that it may not be a sinful thing maybe a good thing maybe eating maybe a sport maybe my profession maybe a job 25:19 and that masters me it's the most important thing for me in my life I want to say to you my dear brother sister you're not a new covenant Christian at all you're an old covenant Christian with a little bit of new covenant 25:33 whitewash which fools people but you know in your life what masters you a new covenant Christian is one who is mastered by God the law Jesus explained the law once when people asked him he said it is to love God with all 25:52 your heart soul and strength and mind that the Pharisees missed so coming back to John 5 I was pointing out that verse he was speaking to the Pharisees and he said to them in Matthew 5 as John 5 39 you search the scriptures 26:08 which is a very good thing but your mistake is you think that eternal life is there that eternal life is in these pages and ink this is only paper and ink there is no eternal life in paper and ink it can give you knowledge 26:28 it can give you information correct knowledge correct information it's like reading a good chemistry book you get correct information on chemistry so you can get correct information about God and about Jesus by reading the 26:43 scriptures but you think eternal life is there it's not there that was the mistake of the Pharisees they thought eternal life is in a book you read it you know the scriptures you know the verses you know all the teachings 27:00 of the new covenant and I got it on life no it it it it is these that bear witness of me Jesus said so the scriptures bear witness of Jesus and if we don't see Jesus in the scriptures then we missed it completely and he 27:20 says you you're unwilling to come to me that you may have this eternal life so you see the contrast there between the tree of life the tree of knowledge of good and evil let me read you like this you go to the verse 39 you 27:35 search the tree of knowledge of good and evil because you think eternal life is there but it's not there but you won't come to the tree of life that you may have eternal life so I believe that is one of the dangers we face 27:50 was that being satisfied with our external testimony being satisfied that our knowledge of doctrine is all accurate very accurate that we can explain the new covenant so clearly that other people can understand it understand 28:07 it what intellectually it just makes you a good soulish Christian not a spiritual one because you still may be satisfied doing lawful things and not selecting the prophet of the lawful but yet your testimony is very good 28:20 you know if you examine your life and see whether do you constantly compare your life with Jesus life or not I seek to do that every day and for many years 28:41 now I think I have understood new covenant doctrine for a number of years now but I I've discovered through the years that that's not enough I'm not purifying my doctrine because there's very little left to be purified I've 28:59 studied it pretty thoroughly and my doctrine is pretty accurate but I'm purifying my life you search the scriptures and you think eternal life is there it's not there and through the scriptures you're supposed to come to 29:14 me turn to 1 John and chapter 3 see we've all got this doctrine right because we've heard it many times Romans 8 29 that we are predestined to be conformed to the image of God's son Jesus Christ that he might be the firstborn 29:33 among many brothers so we've got it right I mean if you have a questionnaire on new covenant I think most of us would get probably 100% which only proves you've got a good knowledge marks for that questionnaire on new covenant 29:50 theology but it doesn't mean that necessarily that your life is like that so we've understood our goal is to become like Jesus Christ that's a destination I have to go to and like you've heard me say if your ticket says 30:06 San Francisco to New York and you get into how do you know you got into the right plane well every hour you should be getting closer to New York if you're not you're in the wrong plane you're in the wrong flight how do I 30:22 know that I'm going in the right direction predestined my destination is becoming like Christ every year I should be becoming a little more like Christ and the best person to tell you whether that's right or wrong is your 30:42 marriage partner can tell you darling you're becoming more Christ like something has changed in you in the last one year not your knowledge is better or you preach better or you share better or you pray better the Pharisees 30:59 could do all that so 1 John 3 says we know here's the destination in the middle of verse 2 right now beloved we are the children of God verse 2 we are born again but it has not yet appeared what we shall be our destination 31:18 when he comes we shall be like him we would have reached our destination becoming Christ like but how do you know whether you are going in the right direction that it says in the next verse if you have this hope or if you 31:32 are going the right direction you will be purifying yourself constantly to what extent as he is pure in other words you will not stop purifying yourself until you become like Christ which is only when he comes again so 31:55 how do I purify myself there is a cleansing of my life like I've said many times which is the guilt of my sin I can do nothing about it I cannot purify my sin cleanse it away only the blood of Jesus death on the cross that 32:08 can take I have to purify myself with God's help the past God takes care of the future I have to take care of to me it's the picture of the Egyptians God killed in the Red Sea he buried them all the 32:29 Israelites didn't have to lift a finger but the Canaanites the Israelites had to kill themselves God didn't say okay I'll kill the Canaanites for you you see the difference between the two one is the old man that's crucified 32:42 with Christ the other is the flesh which I have to crucify Galatians 5 25 Galatians 5 24 says those who are Christ crucify the flesh but Romans 6 says the old man was crucified by God the Egyptians were buried by God the 32:59 Canaanites I have to kill myself the Old Testament picture is exact that's why it's good to study the Old Testament and the Egyptians are all buried in a moment one moment the old man is finished it's not a gradual process 33:15 it's like baptism the baptism symbolizes your old man is buried and you're up again it's in a moment it's over but the flesh is a lifelong thing it's like the Israelites went into the land of Canaan and each of those giants 33:29 represent different lusts in our flesh desires and passions and they had to kill them one by one by one by one and the New Testament speaks about conscious sin and unconscious sin and we need to know the distinction it's 33:47 I have to finish with conscious sin constantly and as I finish with conscious sin God shows me a little more of what I was unconscious of unchrist like areas that I didn't know about and I can deal with that and move on 34:00 that is the mark of Christian progress this is the way that I know I'm in the new covenant that someone asked me this brother what is the proof that God is blessing you and I said first of all let me tell you it's got nothing 34:19 to do with my ministry a lot of people who cast out demons and prophesy and heal the sick who will stand before Jesus and say boast about all that and the Lord say I didn't even know you can you imagine that anybody who 34:37 glories in a ministry doesn't have a clue how it's going to be in the day of judgment Jesus Jesus said that in Matthew 7 22 to 23 many will come to me many means hundreds of thousands of people preachers who 34:57 will stand before Jesus and say Lord Lord we did miracles in your name we cast out demons in your name we prophesied that means we preach great sermons in your name and Jesus doesn't say you're telling lies you never did 35:12 that no that's not what he tells them because if they were bluffing they wouldn't dare to bluff Jesus even if they were trying he would have told them hey that's all lie you never did any of that and you never did it in 35:25 my name no he accepts it in Jesus name you preached you cast out demons and he did many miracles not one or two you read Matthew 7 23 many miracles but I will say to them depart from me you who lived in sin so 35:46 that shows me one very important thing about the day of judgment that the important thing in the day of judgment will not be how much ministry you had but what your attitude to sin was because when it comes to ministry you 36:02 can feel so inferior to someone who is so gifted and I've seen that in the church that some are extremely gifted they got ten talents you got only one but God's not going to evaluate us on the basis of how many talents you 36:17 had you don't have to feel discouraged that you can't preach like somebody else or do miracles like somebody else or cast out demons like somebody else because that's not going to be the important thing in the day of judgment 36:28 the important thing in the day of judgment is going to be was there sin in your life did you deal with sin in your life and that puts us all on the same level who here can say that somebody else has got an advantage in dealing 36:44 with sin we've all got the same flesh we've all got the same access to the Holy Spirit's power if we want to we all have the same opportunity to humble ourselves God gives grace to the humble who's preventing you from humbling 37:00 yourself and getting God's grace nobody only will not rule over you when you're under grace I mean this is a verse that I never get tired of repeating it Romans 6 14 says I can never sin as long as grace is over me if I'm 37:18 under grace during the moments I'm under grace sin cannot rule over me the moment I move away from that covering of grace sin gets power over me and when is it I move under from the covering of grace when I become proud 37:34 God gives grace to the humble 1 Peter 5 5 but he resists the proud and I sin because at that moment God has not given me grace I made this a law rule in my life that anytime I slip up even if I slip up in a word that 37:55 was unchrist like one word that was unchrist like that's sin I say Lord I slipped up there and I know why I slipped up I didn't get grace from you that's why I spoke like that oh that's why I did that thing and I didn't 38:13 get grace from you because you saw some area of pride in me which I still haven't seen please show it to me that's what I always do and if you do that I guarantee you will walk on this path of self 38:34 purification by the power of the Holy Spirit that you will not be the same person next year that you are right now you will be more Christ like you will progress towards your destination you are on the right flight then 38:48 moving in the right direction I just want to save all of you from self deception the Bible speaks about deceiving ourselves and it's one thing for the devil to deceive us it's okay but the Bible often speaks about deceiving 39:08 ourselves and that's what I'm trying to saving you save you from see for example Galatians 6 and verse 3 if anyone thinks he's a somebody when he's a nobody he deceives himself do you 39:32 recognize that you're a nobody maybe you recognize that when you got first converted that you're a nobody but I've seen very often people people after they've been a few years in a church they no longer feel that they are 39:45 nobodies they are now senior believers they're sort of somebodies in the church that's why they don't grow they're deceiving themselves if anyone thinks he's a somebody when he's a nobody he deceives himself do you 40:09 know that you're supposed to be a nobody till the end of your life because that's the only way we can give Jesus the right place I don't know some of you may have seen that video of mine of a message I 40:29 gave in CFC Bangalore where I got seven or eight brothers to come up one by one and hold a zero in front of them I said one by one I gave them different titles okay here's the most handsome man in the world zero here's 40:50 another the cleverest the most highest IQ man in the world zero here's the one who won a number of gold medals in the Olympics zero here's the great scientist who discovered great things zero here's the megachurch pastor who 41:05 preaches well zero and like that a whole lot of zeros I should put them all together what are they zero you know that's actually from a verse that Nebuchadnezzar can you imagine getting light from Nebuchadnezzar yeah Nebuchadnezzar 41:27 once made an amazing statement in Daniel chapter 4 in verse 35 if you haven't seen it you're going to see it get some light from Nebuchadnezzar the king after he repented he says in Daniel 4 35 all the inhabitants of the 41:43 earth are accounted as zero it's amazing all the inhabitants of the earth are zero Paul said that in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 just so 42:03 that you know that I'm scriptural when I teach it 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 6 he's talking about the church in Corinth how it grew I planted that church 42:23 Apollos came along later he was a great teacher watered that church but God was the one who caused the growth it's like a little baby you can take care of it but God's the one who brought it to birth and God the one caused 42:41 it to grow so then the one who plants is nothing the one who waters is nothing God who causes the growth is everything Paul says the same thing as Nebuchadnezzar I may be a great apostle planting churches I'm zero Paul says 43:01 Apollos is a very eloquent teacher he's also a zero it's only God that's everything so in that message I finally took another big one and I put it in front of them I say let me call just one of them I said just one you 43:22 see how his value suddenly increases from zero to ten and that one represents Christ when a person becomes has Christ if he doesn't have Christ he's a zero ten of them all together still zeros but one of them gets Christ 43:36 one in front of them he gets value and now I said I want to show you what fellowship does I said one more brother please come in here it doesn't become eleven it becomes a hundred one more brother joining in fellowship becomes 43:48 one thousand and all the way it becomes millions so we need to recognize till the end of our life Lord I want to be a zero I want to be a nothing before God I believe that God does so many things to reduce us the high thoughts 44:07 we have as descendants of Adam because we give value to the wrong things why do people get proud they get proud because they have accomplished something people have accomplished something even if they act humble in their 44:20 mind they think we are pretty important and if you are one of those who has accomplished things in life may God have mercy on you it's good you accomplished it but don't let it make you think that you are somebody nothing 44:35 you're zero maybe you're very good looking every time you look at the mirror you feel so nice that God made you so handsome with other human beings don't happen to be so good looking as you are if 44:56 you studied chemistry you know what molecules are molecules are all matter is made up of molecules and a good face is just a different arrangement of molecules if those molecules in your face were arranged slightly differently 45:10 you would be very ugly so what we are admiring is the arrangement of molecules it's worth nothing intelligence and accomplishments and what all stupid things human beings boasted we're 45:30 all nobodies the only thing that has value is Jesus Christ and how much of his life you have if you don't discover it now I guarantee you'll discover it when you stand before Jesus in the day of judgment I don't have the 45:49 slightest doubt you'll discover in that day when Christ comes again and you stand before him that accomplishment in any field on earth intellectual professional sport good looks everything was zero and the only thing that will 46:08 matter in that day is in the one life God gave you on earth how much did you partake of the life of Jesus Christ in your inner life whatever men may have thought of you it's absolutely no difference men thought of the world 46:27 of Annas and Caiaphas the high priests who crucified Jesus what did God think of them Annas and Caiaphas were the mega church pastors of those days what did God think of them he thought more of that humble fisherman Peter 46:47 who was not recognized why because he was gripped by the life of Jesus Christ and if you happen to be a very clever respected person like Paul you got to give all that up he says I counted it all rubbish that I 47:07 might gain Christ there's a way to gain Christ it's not easy but it's possible turn to Philippians in chapter 3 he speaks of all his the things he could glory 47:28 in Philippians 3 verse 4 the last part if anyone else thinks he's got a mind to put confidence so he can glory in the flesh I can glory more than all of you he says I'm first of all part of the nation of Israel God's chosen 47:44 nation verse 5 a Hebrew of the Hebrews that means both my parents were Hebrews not just one of them and I was a Pharisee the highest level of people who obeyed the law and as to zeal I persecuted the church because I was 48:01 convinced that Jesus was a false prophet and the old testament said we got to get rid of false prophets and their followers so I did that he was completely wrong but he was sincere and as far as the righteousness which is 48:15 in the law he was blameless he once stood before a high priest and told him all my life I have lived with a good conscience how many people can say that I can't say that I can't say that from my childhood I always honored 48:28 my parents never told a lie I can't say that but Paul could right from childhood he was just like that rich young ruler who told Jesus all these commandments I kept from my youth there are a few people who brought up an 48:41 extremely God fearing families Paul was one of them he doesn't mean you are necessarily right he was totally wrong going in the opposite direction but he had a good conscience is 49:02 it possible for you because it shows how insensitive our conscience is something which depends on what we understood of the truth and if we understood very little of the truth that's your level of conscience and you could 49:15 be completely wrong that's why we need the light of the what we really like in the light of Christ so he says here I was blameless but all of that I count as loss for the sake of Christ when I saw Jesus I 49:36 realized what these other things were zero and he says I count all things verse eight to be lost to be zero in view of the surpassing value of knowing Jesus and when he says about knowing Jesus he's talking about life you know 49:56 Jesus said in John 17 3 this is eternal life that they might know God and Jesus Christ from the son he's talking about an intimate knowledge not just head knowledge and for him I've suffered the loss of everything I'm willing 50:13 to get rid of all these zeros I've gloried in in my life I want to ask you my brothers sisters all of us have accomplished something in life right maybe you did well in school or college or in your profession or in Bible 50:28 knowledge or maybe you're respected in this church as a spiritual brother or a spiritual sister you have accomplished something are you willing to count it all rubbish Lord the opinions of all the brothers and sisters in 50:45 my church the elders think highly of me rubbish that I may know Christ and you know that word in the Greek I'm told is I don't know Greek but I've only been told it the word rubbish it refers to human dung human 51:06 dung all the honor of man do you really consider all the honor of your fellow believers in this church and of the elders in this church as human dung then you'll come to know Christ we value that so much and we inwardly 51:26 glory in it and those are like brakes that hinder our vehicle from moving forward you can have your foot on the accelerator do so many right things but if you got your foot on the brakes as well you're not going to go very 51:44 far it's exactly what happens I have to deliberately say that's all rubbish it's all human dung I'm not going to go after human dung what do I care about that person's opinion about me why do that mean so much to me why 52:00 do I sit back and meditate on what somebody else thought about me or what somebody thought about my prayer or my sermon or my it's amazing what all things we glory some of the dangers of people in new covenant churches concentrate 52:22 on the life of Jesus inwardly that I may gain Christ and he says this he's writing this when he's nearly 65 years old he says I still haven't attained verse 12 I haven't become fully like Christ and therefore I'm pressing 52:37 on he says there's only one thing I do verse 13 forgetting what lies behind verse 13 now when we look at that verse we often like to use that verse to say I like to forget all the mess I made in my life so far but when Paul 52:51 says forgetting things behind he says I'm forgetting how Christ like I've already become and he was probably more Christ like than anybody on earth at that time and he says I forget all that all the churches I planted and 53:03 all the ministries I fulfilled all the people I raised from the dead and all that I forget all that I'm pressing on to become more like Christ to lay hold of to the upward call of God verse 12 last part to lay hold of that 53:22 for which Christ laid hold of me he knows that Christ laid hold of him to make him like Christ he wrote Romans 8 29 by the way so he knows what he was laid hold of he says I'm wanting to lay hold of that for which Christ 53:35 laid hold of me that's the only thing in my life and what about all your ministry Paul it's just an overflow of my life I'm not concentrating on my ministry I'm concentrating on becoming like Jesus and there's an overflow 53:48 from that which results in ministry and preaching and healing the sick and blessing people and planting churches it's just an overflow I don't get occupied with that there's only one thing I do to lay hold of that for which 54:01 Christ laid hold of me make that your goal in other words get to the tree of life don't be satisfied with all the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil I know so much more of what is right and what is wrong and 54:14 the more I listen to the internet sermons and more I listen to the messages here I get to know more of what is right and wrong and I'm avoiding certain wrong things and doing what's right things it doesn't mean you're becoming 54:25 spiritual it's life it's life there's a difference between imitating Christ you know there's a very well-known book called the imitation of Christ I don't agree with it because imitation doesn't mean that you're the 54:45 real thing I often use the example of training a dog to imitate a cat I mean there are people who train dogs to do all types of things now supposing a good trainer could teach a dog to say meow meow meow and it does it perfectly 55:03 until it meets another dog that comes to fight with it and the old nature comes out again does that sound sort of familiar in your experience where you struggle so long to behave Christ like and then all of a sudden you 55:23 encounter somebody who really works you up and then you discover hey the old man is not really dead no we have to partake more and more the life of Jesus a cat can never say bow and bark 55:45 at another dog it's impossible because of nature it's not it's not been taught to say meow meow it's nature we we must not rest until nature has taken over and I often think of this why 56:06 can't the Holy Spirit do that in you and me if Adam could do such a wonderful job of communicating his filthy nature to me so well from my childhood that I could fight readily get angry readily and scream and yell and steal 56:25 and tell lies easily what a job Adam did don't you think the Holy Spirit could do at least an equally good job to give me the life of Christ or do you think Adam could do a better job giving me his life than the Holy Spirit 56:45 can we must not be satisfied with external behavior it's good it is second best definitely it's always good to be with a well behaved person who never gets angry never gets upset and always very kind second best but the best is to have 57:04 the life of Jesus where it comes from within there is not an act that's put on because you know if it's only put on you never know when it will change all of a sudden a little bit of road rage and suddenly this disappears 57:17 nature don't be satisfied till the Holy Spirit is filled you that's why I say the most important thing in the New Covenant is not the doctrine it is a life that comes through the Holy Spirit that's why being filled with the Holy Spirit 57:34 is the most important thing in the New Covenant do you know that most of us can probably explain the New Covenant better than Peter I don't think Peter could explain the New Covenant better than most of you who have sat here 57:49 for so many years but he was spirit filled spirit filled that is the important thing in Genesis chapter 2 we read of these two trees knowledge of good and evil and life and Adam could have easily accessed 58:10 either of them but by the time Adam is thrown out of the Garden of Eden something has changed notice that in Genesis 3 it says here now God put a flaming sword in front of the tree of life and there were 58:33 a number of cherubs cherub means cherubs plural a number of angels that were guarding this tree of life and a sword that turned in every direction now that was not there before Adam sinned before Adam sinned 58:54 he could just walk up to the tree of life and take it but now there's a sword you know what that symbolizes it symbolizes death to self that's the only way to get to the tree of life now if I want to get to the tree of life 59:11 the sword has to fall on my self life around the tree of knowledge there is no sword going round and round that's why a lot of people prefer to go to the tree of knowledge and satisfy ourselves and have so much understanding 59:28 now of new covenant and we can share things and sing new covenant songs and so many things there's no no sword there so what I say to you there is no cross in your life no cross on which you are being crucified you are in the wrong tree 59:47 that's the best way to find out if in your daily life there is no cross on which you have to die in your home life going down the roads in your office life in your thought life 1:00:08 when you are just lying down in bed before going to sleep or when you wake up in the morning if there is no cross on which you are being crucified on which you die you are at the wrong tree keep that as a 1:00:31 principle by which you can discover which tree you are coming to you know it's a tree of knowledge of good and evil has got a lot of fruit in it a lot of knowledge you can acquire about true Christianity new covenant Christianity 1:00:46 and all the rest of it amazing truths which most of Christendom doesn't even know or talk about you go to the internet and listen to all the sermons there and some of the things you know there is nobody preaching there I mean you may hear it 1:01:01 in CFC's messages but nowhere else and therefore you can think that I really got something if there is a cross in your life you have really got something turn with me to Matthew chapter 16 you know this is why in many places 1:01:23 a new covenant church church is not built because a new covenant church can only be built with new covenant people the new covenant church is built around the tree of life not around the tree of knowledge of good and evil 1:01:38 you cannot build a new covenant church with new covenant doctrine a bunch of people a bunch of people who have got new covenant doctrine you can't build a new covenant church they could be around the tree of knowledge of good and evil 1:01:53 but a bunch of people who have taken up the cross every day are bearing the dying of Jesus in their daily life and thereby have the life of Jesus see Matthew 16 this is the first time that Jesus spoke about building his church 1:02:12 he never spoke about it before the first time I will build my church verse 18 the middle and what is the mark of Jesus church the gates of Hades or the powers of spiritual death will not be able to overpower it the gates of Hades 1:02:35 you know Hades is the Greek word where people go when they die so we could paraphrase it as the powers of spiritual death will not be able to overcome this church because these are people who have already died you've heard that story 1:02:54 I mentioned before of this missionary in the 19th century I think his name was James Calvert who went from England in the days when the Fiji Islands were occupied by cannibals he was a young man 25, 25 years old or something 1:03:11 had a burden to go as a missionary to preach the gospel to these cannibals in the Fiji Islands and he got into one of those steam ships in those days or sailing ships I don't know they went all the way around to Fiji and just before 1:03:29 he got went ashore there the captain of the ship asked him are you going to go and live here with these cannibals you'll die he and his wife and James Calvert said we died before we got onto the ship 1:03:49 I've never forgotten that we died before we boarded the ship so we're not going to die now we already died these were the men who knew the Lord maybe James Calvert couldn't explain the new covenant doctrine like we can 1:04:10 but he understood what it is to die to himself and his own ambitions and desires who would go into the midst of cannibals to tell about Jesus he's going to make money what's he going to get in those days there was not even 1:04:26 publicity to get fame there was no media reporting hey this great missionary is sacrificing you'd get nothing except the joy of having brought somebody to Christ yeah these people these are you know I remember as a young 1:04:42 Christian stories like this that challenged me it wasn't doctrine that challenged me as a young Christian it's stories of lives of men who really did something for the Lord before they left this earth I don't think James Calvert 1:04:59 was probably a great preacher I think many of us can preach better than him but the man lived a life and these are great examples so I will build my church Jesus said and the powers of death will not be able to destroy because these people 1:05:16 have already died like James Calvert said I already died I'm not afraid of powers of spiritual death now coming to attack me impossible overcome the gates of hell the Bible speaks about Satan having the power of death Hebrews 2.14 1:05:35 He who had the power of death Jesus overcame Him who had the power of death but He can't have power over me because I've already died like James Calvert says I've already died how can He kill me I've already died I'm not looking for reputation 1:05:50 honor position fame money nothing it's a dead man is not looking for these things a dead man can't be offended a dead man is not expecting respect it's a wonderful thing to die with Christ so this is the first time that He spoke about the cross 1:06:04 and in connection with this notice this verse 21 see the connection from that time from which time from the time that Jesus began to speak about the church and how it would overcome the gates of spiritual death Jesus Christ 1:06:20 told them how He Himself must suffer many things and be killed and be raised up the third day that's the first time He spoke about the cross the first time He spoke about the church He spoke about the cross but He was going to die 1:06:36 and immediately Peter says no Lord look at the love Peter has for his master I will never let anybody catch you like that and kill you God forbid it and to this loving action of words of Peter see how Jesus replies get behind me Satan 1:06:58 only twice Jesus ever said that once was to Satan himself when Satan offered him all the glory of the world he said get behind me Satan the second time was to Peter would you say like that to someone who trying to save your life 1:07:17 that's all that Peter was trying to do save Jesus' life from being killed he says get behind me Satan you see God's way of is not our way we wouldn't think of praising a Roman military man like Jesus did a centurion saying 1:07:37 oh I've never seen faith like this in all of Israel we'd say no no no I'd like to be a little sober in what I say about him because he may get buffed up Jesus is so different from us you know when we get to his way of thinking 1:07:50 we'll find it very different and then he turns around to Peter and says get behind me Satan and to Judas Iscariot who comes to betray him in the garden of Gethsemane he says puts his arm around and says friend have you come to 1:08:04 betray the son of man Jesus was so different and when we become like Christ I tell you we'll say get behind me Satan to Peter and we'll say friend to Judas Iscariot that's what Jesus said ask the Holy Spirit to show you Jesus 1:08:22 God says my ways are not your ways my way of thinking is completely different from your way of thinking you're just becoming a refined human being what we need is to become God like Christ like partake of his nature and human beings 1:08:38 may not understand us sometimes they didn't understand him when he whipped people out of the temple turned that tables of money he didn't say gentlemen will you please remove these coins from here never spoke like that that would be 1:08:53 more Christ like right imagine going up to Jesus Christ and saying you should be more Christ like that's how crazy a lot of Christians are because their understanding of Christ like is formed in their own imagination not from the scriptures 1:09:09 there's only one book in the world that tells me how Jesus was like that's it and why does he turn to Peter like that because he says your mind verse 23 is set on man's interest not God's interest you're trying to 1:09:30 avoid the cross from that time verse 24 Jesus said it's not only me who's got to go to the cross if you want to follow me you got to go to the cross as well then I will build a church through which the gates of hell will not prevail 1:09:42 so see that whole verse 18 in the context of verse 21 to 24 and you see the close connection between building the church and going the way of death to self and how man's interest what the Lord told Peter it's man's interest 1:09:59 to avoid the cross God's interest is to go the way of the cross and the voice that tells you to avoid the way of the cross is the voice of Satan even if it comes through your best friend Peter or if it comes from the greatest 1:10:18 preacher in the world get behind me Satan I listen to now and then to messages here and there by different preachers and have to say that that's not for me that is man's 1:10:38 interests Jesus will make you rich Jesus will make you healthy I say get behind me Satan your mind is set on man's interests not on God's interests how many of you are able to recognize the preacher who is getting you to have 1:10:55 your mind set on man's interests your own interests not God's interests as the voice of Satan you don't have to go up to him and say get away Satan but inwardly you have to reject it when I hear a preacher teaching me to seek 1:11:12 my own interests and not God's I inwardly say get behind me Satan I don't want to listen listen to that I hope he will say that at least from now this is the way of life he who has 1:11:34 years to hear let him hear what the spirit says to all the churches there's a lot that God has planned for you in bringing you to this church I want to tell you don't miss it and if you 1:11:55 take it seriously allow the Holy Spirit to speak to you and fill you I guarantee at least from now on you'll have no regret about the way you live the rest of your life I mean we may have a lot of regret about the past but at 1:12:10 least from now we'll have no regret about how we live the rest of our days because we've seen the way of the cross let's bow before God Heavenly Father as we bow before you we pray that you alone who 1:12:30 can show us what is light and what is darkness you who way back in the beginning separated the light from the darkness I pray in Jesus name that you will separate the light from the darkness in our mind and in our hearts 1:12:45 and in our lives so that we understand what it is to walk in the light and what it is to walk in darkness and that we will not walk along a path which is a mixture of light and darkness but that there will be a clear separation 1:12:59 in our life between the two a light which is the life of Jesus and everything else which is darkness Help us, we pray. We ask in Jesus' name, amen.
