0:00 I would like to begin by emphasizing some of the things we need to stress in this church and I'm speaking from experience in our own home church in 0:17 Bangalore 50 years ago and subsequently in many other churches. And the first thing [clears throat] that I want to the first verse I want to read is proverbs chapter 9 and verse 10. Proverbs 9:10. It's a very important 0:36 verse. It's good for all children also to remember this verse. You know, I used to encourage in our church parents, if your children 0:54 are old enough, encourage them to have a Bible and to come with a Bible to the meeting so that they became familiar with their own Bible and look up verses. That's a very good habit for them to learn. And it's only one day a week that 1:11 we come. It's good for them to do it because then they can get familiar with it and use it at home as well because I find in most American churches, nobody brings a Bible. They just come there and listen to a sermon. And it's to me it's a I'm not here to 1:28 judge anybody, but I think it's an act of irreverence. The one book that God has given, we don't value it enough. Proverbs 9:10, the fear of the Lord or reverence for the Lord is the beginning or the ABC of wisdom. So God's great desire is that we all 1:48 become wise because we are all foolish children of Adam to begin with. And the ABC of wisdom is to reverence God, the fear of the Lord. And that's the first thing that we need to 2:06 teach everyone in the church and all our children to respect God and to deal with reverence in all matters concerning the Lord because in the world they make fun of so many things about God. They make jokes about Christian 2:22 things and we have to teach our children when they go to school and all to be separate from that. Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Reverence for God is what we need to teach our children. It's like kindergarten they 2:36 teach ABC. In the same way in in the home we need to teach our children reverence for God, respect for God because that is how they will learn to respect elders and respect their parents, respect their teachers and 2:55 respect older people. A lot of that is lacking today. I'll tell you the more advanced society has become in financially you find children growing up with no respect for teachers and no respect for authority and rebellion 3:08 everywhere and we need to make sure that our children are completely different from that that we have children who are respectful of authority and are not disobedient in school or rebellious at home. That is the first thing because 3:27 the Bible says train up a child in the way he should go and when he's old he will not depart from it. And if we want our children to be a good testimony in their generation [snorts] we have to work on them at home. Every 3:42 one of us needs to have that responsibility both father and mother. Please take that very seriously. And then the next thing I want to say is that in in this church we have tried to 4:01 proclaim light in areas where rest of Christendom is not emphasizing. Now there are many things which are emphasized in Christendom but we want to emphasize the things which are in the Bible that are not emphasized. I remember when I started my 4:18 ministry, the Lord said, "Listen to all the preachers you can [clears throat] and compare it with the Bible and then see what is left out which they don't preach at all. Find the 4:37 passages particularly in the New Testament. Find everything in the New Testament which no preacher preaches at all. And that's how I discovered that the one subject which is almost never preached about is obedience to God 4:54 because we taught that salvation is by faith and it's not by our works. So the end result is what the devil has converted that into is you don't have to obey at all just it's all forgiveness is free and that is how the devil has led many 5:10 people astray. Now, if you had started with the fear of God, that would not have happened. You see, the early Christians were all Jews. All of them. The 3,000 people who were converted on the day of Pentecost were all Jewish people. And the Jewish 5:28 people had one big advantage over you and me. You know what that is? that from their childhood they were taught to reverence God. There was no salvation. Salvation was if you fear God and obey 5:46 him. That's all. So they were taught from childhood you must reverence God and obey all the commandments. And they heard that for so many years. And then one day they hear about the grace of God that forgiveness is free 6:03 that you'll never be able to come up to God's standards. And so God is Christ died for us and we receive him. His righteousness is put to our account. But who are the people who learned it first? The people who had learned to 6:19 reverence God for say 30 years and then they learned about the grace of God. Whereas in our generation without learning the fear of God at all, I mean all in our homes we are not taught the fear of God. We are not taught about 6:36 God's command. Without learning anything about the fear of God, we suddenly hear about the grace of God. And that's why you have a whole lot of children growing up who don't have any reverence for God. I mean [snorts] even the way they sit in 6:50 a church, you see there's no reverence for God at all. Whereas no Jewish child would no Jewish parent would ever allow his child to sit and play the fool in a synagogue. Never because they taught their children from childhood. The fear 7:06 of the Lord is the reverence is the beginning of wisdom. I'm mentioning this to say that we have misunderstood the grace of God and it has made our children and young people very lax and loose towards spiritual things. And we 7:22 call that grace. That's not grace. That's false grace. And we will always end up with false grace if we don't begin with the fear of God. So remember this is the advantage that the apostles and all those generation of Jews had that they had 30 7:37 years of learning the fear of God then learned about the grace of God. Whereas we have just jumped into the grace of God. It's like going to college without ever going through school. Can you imagine if a young chap is straight away 7:49 put into college who's never been through kindergarten or school, he's going to sit there absolutely confused because the way to get to college is go through school through 10 years or 12 years of school and then enter college. 8:03 So think of that is learning the fear of God and then going to the grace of God. So if you jump to the grace of God, it's like going straight to college. And that's why you have a whole lot of people who are not growing up to be 8:14 godly men and women. Do you have a desire that your son and daughter should grow up to be a godly man, a godly young man, a godly young woman, and grow up to be useful in God's kingdom. That was certainly the desire my wife 8:31 and had I had for all our four children that they'll grow up to revere God and fear him and uh walk in his ways out of their own conviction. not blindly following me but out of their own personal conviction that they should come to know God personally. And 8:47 so I was very very strict with them as a father because if you want to know what how the New Testament teaches about bringing up children. There are a lot of verses in Proverbs but you can say that's Old Testament. But here's what 9:05 the New Testament teaches in Hebrews chapter 12. See, it says here Hebrews 12 is talking about fixing our eyes on Jesus. Verse two, looking unto 9:24 Jesus. We run the race following in his footsteps and we spend our life considering him verse 33 and resisting sin etc. And then he goes on to say in verse five, the last part, 9:42 "My son, don't regard lightly the discipline of the Lord and don't faint when he reproves you." Have you ever heard the Lord reprove you? Reprove you means correct you. Rebuke you. We live in a generation where 10:00 we don't hear pastors and preachers rebuking their congregation. That's unheard of. they just butter them and please them and keep on encouraging him them and saying nice things to them and ruin them. But here the Bible says 10:16 those whom the Lord loves, he disciplines. Verse six, and he scourges. Scourges a leather whip. This is New Testament. This is not Old Testament. The Lord disciplines everyone whom he loves. Can you prove to me that he loves you? 10:37 You say the God loves me. How do you prove it? I'll tell you. I can give you examples in my life where God disciplined me severely. That's how I know he loves me. According to Hebrews chapter 12 and verse six, those whom the 10:51 Lord loves, he disciplines. You asking, how do I know the Lord loves me? People say Jesus died for me. I say because the Lord disciplines me. You go to John 3:16 or you go to Hebrews 12:6. Why don't people see the love of God in Hebrews 11:04 12:6? I need to see the love of God not only on Calvary. I see that very clearly, but I see the love of God for me in Hebrews 12 verse 6. Those whom the Lord loves, he disciplines. 11:22 And it says here verse 8, if you are without discipline in your life, you're not really a son of God. You're an illegitimate child. What the world calls a bastard, an illegitimate child. There are a lot 11:40 of illegitimate children sitting in churches today who have never been disciplined by God. That's why they keep on doing a lot of wrong things. They watch pornography and they come and sit in the church and break bread. Can you 11:53 believe that? That we have a generation of people watching pornography in private and then coming and breaking bread in the church. This is it's because they've understood a false grace. Absolutely false grace. And they 12:07 grown up married people doing that. Where did they learn all this? Because they have not taken scripture seriously. the they did not begin with the fear of God. They began with the grace of God, the grace of God, the grace of God. Now, your unconverted 12:22 days, you did a whole lot of stupid things, sexual sin, and even stealing or anything. But once you've given your life to Christ, how can these things continue? And if it does continue, let me ask you, has the Lord disciplined you when you do 12:37 it? What do you what does the Bible teach that a parent should do when their child seriously disobys him? It says here in last part of verse six, the Lord scourges every son whom he receives. Whips us. Have the Have you ever had the 12:57 Lord spiritually whip you in some situation because you did something seriously wrong? That's a mark of his love. That's what the Bible says. We live in a world where they think that God's a father's love is shown by taking 13:16 a child on to restaurants and trips and getting them a lot of clothes and lot of things. All that is a mark of love. But without discipline, our tendency is to go towards the devil and the world. So I sought to follow what 13:35 the Lord taught me from his word about what discipline means. It is for discipline that you endure. And if you're disciplined, it says verse seven, God deals with you as with sons. Because what son is there whom his f verse seven 13:50 whose father does not discipline? That's a question. What son is there or what daughter is there whom his father does not discipline? I'll say I can tell you numerous Christians whose children are not disciplined. I watch their life and 14:04 I can say it. That's the answer to that question. Why is it that? Because the fathers haven't understood the grace of God at all. They haven't understood the fear of God beginning. They've understood grace before they learned the fear of God. 14:18 That's a fundamental problem with a lot of Christians today. And that's the reason why so many churches are so weward. That is one reason why God started CFC so that we would once again have a generation in some places. We are not 14:33 the only church in the world. I'm sure there are hundreds of other churches like ours. But one of the churches that would teach the fear of God to respect God's word and to obey him that salvation by grace does not mean that we 14:47 don't obey the Lord. See, many people say uh we're saved by grace through faith. There's a favorite verse. It's a very clever habit of the devil to teach us half a verse or incomplete phrases and make that verses by which we live. By 15:05 grace I am saved through faith. Okay, let's look at that verse and read the whole full sentence. I'm just trying to show you how we can take off half a verse in scripture and 15:18 go astray. Ephesians chapter 2 verse 8. For by grace you have been saved through faith 15:36 that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not as a result of works so that no one may boast. Okay, that's the foundation. I fully agree with it. You cannot be saved by your good works by we are saved by grace. God's 15:56 free gift and our faith reaches out and receives that gift. But then why has God laid that foundation in our life? That foundation is by grace through faith. So that we can now allow him to do good. Verse 10, good who 16:19 do good works which God prepared beforehand, so we should walk in them. So the place where it says not good works in verse 9, the very next verse it says there must be good works. Unfortunately, people live in verse 9 all the time, not as a result of works 16:38 because if I do works, I'll boast. Don't mix the foundation with the building. The foundation is I fully agree by grace you're saved through faith not of works verse n a workstless anyone should boast in other words we say in the foundation 16:56 of this building we don't put windows and doors and all types of things in the foundation no foundation is all solid stone but then we don't put the whole building full of solid stone there are windows and doors and roof and all that 17:09 that's the difference between the foundation of the Christian life and the Christian life itself So many people have said by grace are you saved through faith not of works and then they try to build a whole building like that. It's not like that. 17:24 This is the foundation. But then the building is in verse 10. There are good works which God already prepared that we should walk in them. In other words, for each believer, God has made a plan that you are certain good works God has 17:39 planned for you before you were born. I'm very thankful to know that. That's why one of my favorite verses is is in Psalm 139. I often look at that and I say, "Lord, this is wonderful that this psalm is written about me." You can say 17:55 that about yourself too. Psalm 139. Psalm 139 says that the Lord, see this applies to you as well, remember as well as to me. The Lord verse 13 formed my inward parts and wo me in my 18:14 mother's womb. When I was an embryo, a little small little thing called an embryo in my mother's womb. It was God who was weaving my body. And in that unformed state, my body was not yet probably formed. It says verse 16, God's 18:33 eyes were looking at me. When did God start looking at you? Children, you must know this. When did God Almighty start looking at you? I'll tell you when he started looking at me. When I was inside my mother's womb before I came out, God 18:49 looked at me and he looked at you. That's a tremendous encouragement to know that he doesn't forget about you. He saw you when you were in the mother's womb and he's watched you all the time from that time that you come out and he 19:00 wants you to be his disciple. And he says, "When I was in my mother's womb, verse 16, in his book, in his book means in his mind, all the days that were ordained for me was already numbered." 19:19 When I was not even born, my first day had not come out. I not even born. But God had already planned all the way till the end of my life. I don't know when my life is ending, but I know it's already planned. exact number of days, the date that the 19:35 Lord decides that Zakunan has to leave this earth one way or the other either either by the rapture I hope it'll be that or some other way but God has determined that and before there was in one of those days everything was written down in a book 19:53 and it was not written just he will live for so many days no in God's mind that's God's book. He has written what I should do on those days. He doesn't want me to play the fool for so many years. There's something I'm supposed to do with my life before I 20:13 leave this earth. I wish all of you would be gripped by that. You may have an earthly job. Of course, you need an earthly job. Jesus had a earthly job. That's how he supported himself. He has four younger brothers and two sisters 20:25 and a widowed mother because Joseph had died. And Jesus had to be an example to work hard and support them. And he had to work much harder than any of us had to work to support his family. Because how many of you have a widowed mother 20:39 and four brothers and two sisters to look after? Hardly anybody here. That's what Jesus had. He had a really tough life. And he worked hard and came home persspiring because he was earning his living to support his family. 20:57 And he is our example and he wants us also to fulfill a plan that he has made for our life. The day of Jesus crucifixion was determined before Genesis 1 verse one that he to be crucified on such and such a date. 21:17 And it is based on that date that God appointed the Israelites to come out of Egypt on that date, which is 1,500 years before Jesus actually got crucified on that date. It was determined. That's called a Passover. 21:35 In the same way, our arrival and departure from the world is determined. But then Jesus also had in his plan, God had planned that he should do certain things before he departs the earth. And that was the passion of Jesus' life 21:51 to know what does God want me to do before I leave this earth. He has to be an example for us. And when Jesus came to the end of his life, he said in John's gospel chapter 17, if you already know this, good to be 22:11 reminded again. You know, we all say we want to glorify God. I believe if I were to ask you honestly, do you want to glorify God in your life? Every one of you will say yes. And that's right. We want to glorify God in our life. Okay. Now I'll tell you how 22:29 to glorify God the way Jesus did it. John 17 and verse4 I have glorified you. He's telling the father in prayer. I have glorified you on earth. How? By finishing the work 22:48 which you gave me to do. That's how Jesus glorified God. I read that long ago and I was gripped by it. I said, "Lord, this is amazing. I can't afford to waste my life. I can't afford to waste one single day of my 23:05 life. You've given me a work to do, and I'm committed to do it." And it's not full-time Christian work. Jesus was not doing full-time Christian work. He was doing full-time work for three and a half years. 10% of his life, he did 23:19 full-time work. So, don't say, "I'm not a full-time worker." 90% of Jesus life he was an ordinary secular job like most of you are and in that ordinary secular job he did his father's will so if you can't follow Jesus in the last 23:37 10% of his life you can certainly follow him in the first 90% of his life some people may be called to follow him in full-time Christian work like me but there 99% of people are not called to that but they've still got an example in 23:51 Jesus' first 30 years. Those first 30 years, we need to ask the Lord to show us how did you live. Lord, help me to do my work in my office or in my shop or wherever you work exactly like you worked for 30 years in the 24:10 carpenter shop. I [snorts] want to follow your example there. That's why he came. He could say follow me. He couldn't he couldn't have said that if he didn't work hard. If he just came from heaven and died on the cross and go 24:25 gone away. He couldn't have said follow me. The reason he had to be born as a baby was so that he can even tell a little kid you can also follow me. What did Jesus do as a young person? That's written very clearly in Luke's 24:44 gospel chapter 2. And all of you children must know that when you sing the song follow, follow follow, I will follow Jesus anywhere, everywhere, that is not into Christian work. No, no, no. For children, here is what it means to follow Jesus. Luke 24:59 chapter 2, when Jesus was 12 years old, like some of you children are 12 years old or younger. Luke chapter 2, Jesus was 12 years old when he went into the temple. 25:17 We read that in verse 42. Luke 2:42, he was 12 years old and he went to the feast. And when he came back home to Nazareth at the age of 12, verse 51, he continued in subjection to his earthly parents 25:36 until he was 30. So what was Jesus doing from the age of 12 to the age of 30? Part of that time he was a carpenter but at home he was obeying his parents. So it's no use saying I want to follow 25:54 follow everywhere anywhere if I'm not if your children are not obeying your parents you're not following Jesus. Children can follow Jesus and older people can also. And that is how verse 52 Jesus kept on increasing in wisdom. 26:13 How did Jesus increase in wisdom? By obeying his parents. And if you want that your children to grow in wisdom, teach them to obey their parents. And then they will grow in favor with 26:30 God and men. as they grow up, God will show them so many other areas of obedience. I'm very thankful that I learned to obey my parents when I was young. I was not a rebellious killed kid. I was taught to obey my parents and 26:46 I was disciplined if I did not obey. And I've seen the difference in children who are taught to obey their parents when they young. They grow up to be useful members of God's kingdom. And I've also seen children who are just allowed to 26:59 grow up any way they like. Just like a lot of people I see in this country. And you see they're not effective for God. Very very important. So let's take this very seriously because then such a brother such a person can grow up to be a very useful 27:14 brother in the church. The church needs a lot of people. So I want to move on from there to what the Bible speaks about. two places in the scripture we are given a warning from the Old Testament example and I want to point out that to you now 27:33 in 1 Corinthians 10 he says in verse 1 Corinthians 10:1 he says I don't want you to be unaware brothers that he goes on to say that all those who came out of Egypt did not enter 27:53 Canaan that's basically what He's saying in in uh they came out of Egypt delivered from slavery through the blood of the lamb. But with most of them with 600,000 men and many women nearly 2 28:09 million people God was not well pleased. The number of people who entered Canaan was a small percentage of those who came out of Egypt. And so what the Lord is saying is the 28:27 fact that you have your sins have been forgiven that's coming out of Egypt does not mean God is pleased with you. But a lot of people think, "Oh, I've accepted Christ. His blood has cleansed my sin. God is happy with me." No, he's not. 28:42 He wants you to enter into the land of victory. The land of Canaan is a picture of a life of victory where the giants are killed. You meet a giant, you kill it. You meet another giant, you kill it. That's how Joshua lived. And the picture 28:58 there is a temptation is the giant. You meet a temptation and you overcome it. It may take time. It took a long time for them to conquer Canaan's land, but they fought against that temptation. Fought against they didn't just sit back 29:11 and let the giant defeat them. A lot of Christians, they accepted the Lord. They've come out of Egypt by the blood of the lamb, but then they're defeated. Defeated by the giants. The giants of temptation are defeating them all the 29:24 time and they sit back and accept it. That's the story in the book of Judges. There's a big difference between the book of Joshua and the book of Judges. In the book of Judges, the Israelis just sat back like a lot of believers today 29:37 and allowed the giants to rule the land. A lot of believers are like that today, defeated by so many sins and they accepted. Whereas Joshua didn't do that. He said, "This land is to be conquered for the Lord." This body of mine, you know, the 29:54 land of Canaan today, the land of Canaan, which Israelites occupied, today the land of Canaan is this human body. This is the land of Canaan. And the land of Canaan in those days was occupied by many giants. Just like there 30:09 are many giants inside this body of ours in our mind and in our heart and everywhere trying to rule us, rule us, control us, do this, do this. And we have spent our life being enslaved to those giants of anger, bitterness, 30:24 gossiping, backbiting, hatred, and all types of things being busy bodying other people's matters and so many things. You can make a big list of it. These are the giants that rule rule inside our body. And if you allow them to continue ruling 30:39 the body, you're just like the book of Judges, the giants ruled the land and Israel was defeated and they worshiped idols. Many times you read the idols today are money. Money is one of the idols that many Christians bow down and 30:53 worship. Pleasure is another idol that many Christians bow down and worship. A comfortable life. That's another idol that people worship. We got to be free from all this idol worship. Say, "Lord, I want my life to count for you. I don't 31:08 want just to live an easy life on this earth. If you give me a comfortable life, I accept it. But my life must count for you on this earth before I leave. I'm very thankful that I was gripped when I was a very young person with one 31:22 thing. When I stand before my Lord in heaven, I don't want to have any regret over how I lived on this earth. Let me ask you my brother, sister, if the Lord calls you home tonight 31:38 and you stand before him, I hope it won't happen, but if it does, will you have regret when you look over your life, the way you lived until today? If you're a parent, will you have regret over the way you brought up your 31:58 children until today? We must always be ready. I must have no regret. This was my passion. Lord, I don't know when I live. I mean, I I was 19 and I didn't know that I would live another 67 years. But I said, Lord, I don't want any regret 32:17 when I leave this earth. And I seek to live every day without I don't want any regret, Lord, when I come to the end of my life. If you choose each day like that, Lord, I don't want any regret when I come to the end of my 32:29 life that I wasted this day, just hanging around doing nothing. I don't want to have a regret that God, you gave me a full life and a Bible in my hand which I can read in English, but I never bothered to read it or study it. 32:41 I don't want that regret. What will I do if I get up to heaven and the Lord says, "I gave only you only one book to read. Did you read it?" What will I say to him? Oh, Lord, I looked up the news and the internet and I looked up all those 32:56 things, but I didn't have time to read your word. That is the Christendom we live in today. And they ease themselves by saying, "I put some money in the offering box." I tell you, God's not interested in your money at all. We are 33:10 the one church who says that God's interested in your life. Something more important than your money. He said, "I want your life." What would you think of a woman who tells her husband, "I'm I'm from a rich family. I'll give you money, but I can't 33:28 live with you." What sort of wife will that be? We're supposed to be the bride of Christ. We are not supposed to live one day for ourselves. Will you marry a woman who tells you, "Allow me one day in a year to go and live with somebody else." Will you marry 33:45 a woman like that? One day, 364 days, I live with you. This is what it means to the be the bride of Jesus Christ. Not even one day do I live with somebody else because I'm the bride of Jesus Christ. Every day I 34:04 live as a married bride of Jesus Christ, seeking to please him, living in his presence, and pleasing him. I'm emphasizing the things that we emphasize in this church. Dear brothers and sisters, is I want I thought all of you 34:20 should know and that you don't forget about it. In 1 Corinthians 10, it says these things happened verse 6 as an example for us. Don't let us tempt the Lord as they did. Don't grumble. Verse 10. These things 34:40 happen as an example and they offer our instruction. What was it? They came out of Egypt and they did not enter Canaan. That is repeated again in Hebrews chapter 3 twice in the New Testament. Hebrews in chapter 3, he says there 35:05 verse 12, take care brothers. Is he talking to believers now or unbelievers? Verse 12. Take care, brothers, that there should not be in you an evil unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. You'll hardly 35:24 ever hear anybody preach that in any church nowadays that you as a believer, a brother, take care, brothers, that even one of you can come to unbelief and fall away from the living God. You say, "Can we fall away from the living God?" Sure. 35:43 So if you don't want to fall away, it says, "Encourage one another daily, otherwise you'll be hardened." And here's a great verse. If I have accepted Christ, is that the end of my Christianity? No. Have I become a partaker of Christ just 35:59 because I once asked him to come into my heart? Okay, here is the answer. We become partakers of Christ if that if is capital I if we become partakers of Christ if we hold fast what we started out in the 36:19 beginning and hold that firm until the end otherwise you're not going to be a partaker of Christ and that's something that is not taught in many churches it's almost as though that verse is not in the Bible do you know that there are 36:33 Uh there was a man in the brethren assembly. They preached once saved always saved. They said the book of Hebrews is not for us. I said really it says in Hebrews that we we can we are partakers of Christ only if we hold fast the beginning of the 36:49 assurance firmly. And he said but this not book is not for us. That's for the Hebrews. Well I'm not a Colossians. So why should I read Colossians? I don't believe in Ephesus. Why should I read Ephesians? It's crazy what all 37:01 deceptions that the devil has put into people's minds. God's word is given for us, especially the New Testament. Everything in it is for us. And I I'm I've studied the New Testament. I know that everything in it is for me. And I know it has changed my 37:15 life. But he warns us here. The people of Israel, verse 16, they came out of Egypt, but they did not endure until the end. And God was angry with them for 40 years. And therefore, what is the result of that? Chapter 4:1. We today, let us 37:31 fear, lest a promise comes to us of entering into his rest and we don't enter into it. That's why we need to exhort one another daily. That's why we need to take seriously what we hear in the church. That's why we need to take seriously 37:48 what we read in God's word. We It's very important to read comforting messages. It's very important to listen to them of God's love for us and care for us. Very, very important. And there are many people preaching that. I'm just trying to balance up the 38:01 other side and say we also need to take care lest we slip out, slip up on what God has planned for us. Take the Christian life seriously, brothers and sisters. This is what we emphasize in this church. Amen.
