0:08 I want to share with all of you about assurance of salvation. When we talk of the higher Christian life, our Bible is divided into Old Testament 0:27 and New Testament. And three-quarters of the Bible is Old Testament. And it's only about a quarter of the Bible that's New Testament. But that's referring to the content of the prophecies and the writings of the apostles. And we 0:42 need all of it. Why do we need to read the Old Testament? Because we learn from the mistakes of the prophets and of godly men and how God forgave them, how he led them. We can learn a lot of 1:00 things from the mistakes of Israel, the mistakes of Judah. You know, I often say that a wise man will learn from the mistakes of others and from his own mistakes. A fool does not learn even from his own 1:18 mistakes. So, if we are wise, we'll when we whenever we hear of somebody who slips up. For example, I read sometimes in the news that some pastor slipped up and fell into some sin. I don't judge him. I'm not the judge. God is a judge. 1:38 But and I don't want to talk about it also because I'm not a gossip or some news reporter. But I want to learn. Why that man claimed to be a Christian? He was in a good church. What happened? Why do I want to learn? So, that I don't 1:54 make the same mistake. If we learn from the mistakes of others, we won't make them ourselves. At least we'll be careful. We should not assume that we are above all that. We are all got the same flesh. I tell people I know every sin that 2:10 you're tempted with. How do I know? Not because I'm a prophet, but because I'm tempted by the same thing. We all came from Adam. Every one of us are tempted to different degrees to a certain extent because of our family 2:24 background, we are protected from certain sins. That terrorist and hijacker, they did not have the type of God-fearing family you and I had, so they went into certain wild habits which we may not go into. But basically, our flesh is the 2:42 same. I've often thought that the worst terrorist in the world, he's a child of Adam and I'm a child of Adam and if I had the same upbringing he had and his type of parents, I could have been a terrorist. I'm not better. 2:56 It's good to recognize that. Like Paul said, I'm the chief of all sinners. So that's one thing that we don't despise any human being. It's very, very important. That's one of the first things I want to mention here. I want to show you a verse which is good 3:10 for all of you to remember all your life. Job and the book of Job chapter 36. Job chapter 36 3:31 This is what Elihu who was one of the God-fearing people who spoke to Job whom God did not rebuke at the end of the book says in verse five, it's a very interesting verse. Behold, God is mighty or we could say almighty. 3:47 But he does not despise anyone. Think of that statement and never forget it. God is almighty, but he does not despise anyone. He rebukes people, he corrects people, he judges people, but he does not 4:04 despise anyone. The devil despises everybody. So, I look at it like this. Here at one extreme is the devil who despises every human being. Here at the other extreme is almighty God, holy God, who despises nobody, not even the worst 4:23 of sinners. He believes there's hope for the worst. That's why he doesn't despise anyone. And all of us are somewhere in between. The closer you get to God, the less you will despise people. The more you are away from God, the more 4:41 you will despise people. Maybe you'll despise your wife, or her relatives, or your mother-in-law, or somebody or the other, or your neighbor, or somebody in the office, or your boss. But the closer you get to God, who sees 4:56 sin more clearly than anybody else, you will learn to despise people less and less and less and less. You'll say, "Lord, I am also from the same seed of Adam." So, that's a little law that has helped me a lot. God despises no one, the devil 5:14 despises everyone, and all of us are in between, and we are moving, drifting either one way or the other. I hope we are drifting towards God. One proof of it will be we despise people less and less and less and less. And we don't agree with everything that 5:30 people do. In fact, there are a lot of things that even Christians do nowadays I don't agree with at all. Not at all, but I don't despise them. I say, "Okay, God has given me light. Light must always humble us." Remember this. 5:44 If light, if a knowledge of some truth makes you proud, you've not got it the right way. You got it the wrong way. Knowledge of a truth, if it's really divine and you got it in the spirit, it'll humble you. You look at a tree, 6:03 uh say a apple tree or a mango tree that we have in India. The more fruit there is in a branch, the branch goes down. The weight of the fruit brings the branch down more and more. Which are the branches that stand upright? The ones with no fruit at all. 6:22 I see a parable there. The people in whose life there's no fruit of the spirit, they are the ones who are proud. But the more fruit a man brings to God in his life, the more he humbles himself like that branch. So if God is 6:37 using you more, you will really be more humble. If you're proud, it's pretty indicative pretty good indication that God's not using you at all. You just have a high opinion about yourself. So, that's just one thing. But I find that many Christians could 6:53 have the same problem I had at the beginning of my Christian life. And that is self-condemnation. We think that we're being holy by condemning ourselves. No. Self-condemnation is never never encouraged in the New Testament. 7:08 That is not the same as judging oneself for one sin. Let me show you two verses. In Romans chapter 8, there's a wonderful verse which says, We must read I told you yesterday that 7:26 we should skip chapter divisions sometimes. One habit that I've developed is whenever I read a chapter, at the end of the chapter, I read the next three verses of the next chapter also because I see there may be a continuation there. There are many many 7:39 passages I could show you like that in scripture, it'll surprise you. Here's one of them. Romans 7:25. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord for delivering me from my past sinful life, but even though I'm forgiven, 7:58 I'm still with my mind I may serve the law of God, but I find in myself a flesh which is serving the law of sin. That's why we find conflict in ourselves. One day when Christ comes back and we are completely in him, this 8:12 thing called flesh will be eliminated, self-will. And that's what he's saying, my self-will is serving the law of sin. But in my mind, I'm serving God. So, with this conflict, it'll be there till Jesus comes. But if you are faithful that 8:29 more and more you'll be serving the law of God, but until then, Romans 8:1, but there is no condemnation. Just because my flesh is serving the law of sin, I'm not going to be condemned. Because my mind is serving the law of 8:41 God. So, I refuse to be condemned. Self-condemnation is not from God. It is from the devil. And don't think that's humility to keep on condemning yourself. Oh, I'm useless. I'm good for nothing. No. That's not for me to say. I'm a child of 8:58 God. Forgiven, my sin blotted out, how can I say I'm good for nothing? God doesn't think so. You're bought with the precious blood of Christ. Look at the things you have got in your house. Things that you spent a huge amount of 9:13 money for. It may be a very small item. Some people, you know, collect gold and diamonds. I've never bought any of these things in my life. I don't know, but I hear they're very, very expensive. And it looks very small little thing, a 9:28 diamond. They'll keep that in a case, and that's the most valuable thing in their house. If the fire house catches fire, they're They're going to grab the furniture, they're going to grab that small little It's got value. 9:41 Remember that about yourself, brother, sister, that you have value before God. Why? Not because you're perfect, but because God loves you, because Christ died for you, and you responded to his love. In whatever way, in a limited way, okay. 10:00 Like a little child doesn't know ABC or or anything, but you that you love the child, and that's how God loves you. There is no condemnation. It's very important to know because in my life took a long time for me to understand 10:13 that simple verse that even though my flesh serves the law of sin, there is no condemnation in me because my mind is serving the law of God. In my mind, I want to do God's will. Even though now and then I find I slip up, and I immediately repent, but I 10:27 don't condemn myself. I repent and come back to God and ask him to forgive me. No condemnation. And when there is no condemnation, we will be free from discouragement, also. A lot of discouragement comes to a sincere Christian because he sees so 10:43 much failure in his life. Say, "Okay, I failed, but I'm going to press on." And it's amazing how some of the great athletes overcame so many handicaps to win the marathon race in the Olympics and things like that. They didn't give up. They 10:57 never gave up, and they're an example to us. Paul says, "Run the race, and uh Lord, take an example from these athletes how they run the race and win a prize. In the same way, we can do it." So, I'll tell you how it will happen in my 11:13 own life. I think because I was born in a Christian family with my father who was born again. I used to He used to taking me to gospel meetings from a very young age. Used to go to a good Christian Sunday school. And I don't know when, perhaps at the 11:29 age of 13 itself, but have accepted Christ in some meeting. And many times I would have to sit in a meeting and say, "Lord Jesus, come into my heart." Somebody would give an invitation. And I would ask the Lord to come into my 11:39 heart, and I felt he had come. But a few days later, I wasn't sure. Cuz my life didn't seem to change. You know, um we who have been brought up in Christian families, young children, we are protected from so many evils that 11:55 when we accept Christ, we don't find a radical change like, you know, murderer who was converted or the thief who was converted. There's a radical change. In our case, we never did any of those gross sins. And so, when we are converted, we look 12:08 around and don't see much radical difference in our life. And then we can wonder, did Christ come in or what? And that is the condition of many children growing up in God-fearing families. It doesn't mean they have not accepted Christ. 12:23 So, it was it was like that with me. And so, I would accept Christ a second time and a third time and a fourth time. And I'm not exaggerating in the next 6 years. I must have accepted Christ about a hundred times. Well, one of those may have been 12:34 genuine. I don't know. But the result was I was always tossed about, always unsure. And I'll tell you something, as long as you're not absolutely sure that Christ has accepted you, that you're a child of God, you will not grow spiritually. 12:52 That's the foundation you got to lay. So, I say that because there could be some people like that here. Maybe some young man or young girl or some older person who's still very not very sure. Particularly if you're in a church which 13:05 is preaching a very high standard. You know, our CFC churches, we preach, "Let us press on to perfection." We have in the front of our pulpit back in Bangalore these words, "Let us press on to perfection." We're not saying we 13:18 are perfect. Don't misread it. We're saying we're not perfect. We're saying, "Let us press on to perfection." And so, we preach God's highest standard. But that's like going to a good school where the standard is very high. Don't 13:31 you want your children to go to a good school? And but then people can get discouraged when the standard is so high and I don't seem to measure up to it. The standard is pressing on to perfection. But there's a difference between the 13:44 completion of the building and the foundation. The foundation can be laid and we can be sure of that. Don't confuse the foundation with the whole building. The whole building, even in my case, is not completed. I'm still working on my 13:58 building. But my foundation was laid long ago. So I'm talking about you got to be absolutely sure the foundation is laid, otherwise you will not be able to proceed with the building. That means you must be absolutely sure 14:10 in your heart Christ has accepted me. And that's what I want to speak a little about. So what happened in my own case, where I was tossed about like this for 6 years, but I still had the habit of reading the Bible every day. It was just a habit. 14:24 I'm glad I kept reading a chapter or something every day. And one day I'd already joined the Navy and I'd been commissioned as an officer there. And one day my passage in scripture just happened to be that day John chapter 6. 14:39 And because I was going through the Gospels and that particular day I was in John chapter 6. And here as I was tossed about for 6 years, unsure, and in John chapter 6 I came across this one verse. Verse 37. 14:57 All that the Father gives me will come to me. And the one who comes to me, I will certainly not cast out. It would have been enough if Jesus had said, "I will not cast out." But for my sake he said, "I will certainly not cast 15:15 out." Because I was one of those really doubting types. I needed that word certainly. I will certainly not cast out. Well, I don't know how to explain it. But as I read that verse that day, suddenly a little faith came in my heart. 15:34 And I said, "Lord Jesus, come to you him who comes to me. I've come to you a hundred times." And I felt the Lord saying to me from that verse, "I never cast you out." I said, "Wow, I'm going to believe that verse." 15:53 To use a naval expression, I dropped an anchor that day. And for 63 years, my ship has not drifted. That's the honest truth. Never drifted for a single day because of one anchor 16:12 that has held. Him who comes to me, I will certainly never cast out. I hope that will be an assurance for some of you who are still living in doubt. Unsure whether Christ has accepted you. Perhaps one of your children. 16:31 Perhaps one of the younger ones, a little boy or a girl, not sure whether Christ has accepted you. You hear of the high standards in the church and you say, "I haven't got there." No, that's that's the superstructure. I'm talking about foundation now. 16:46 Being accepted. I'm talking about the kindergarten. You may you can join the kindergarten or whatever you call your pre-kindergarten. We have even pre-kindergarten in India, where the children come who don't even know ABC. 16:59 You don't know ABC, you're welcome. Come join the pre-kindergarten because it's only you start from there and one day you'll know a lot. But you have to start at some point. So just because you don't know anything doesn't mean you can't go 17:12 to school. You're the one who needs to go to school. So the Lord says, "I've accepted you. Be sure you've entered my school. Growth will take years. How long did it take for you to finish high school? You were 16 years old by the time you 17:29 finished it. But, you joined school when you were what? Very young. In India, they join school when they're four and five. So, this is what I mean. Be sure that Christ has accepted you. I will not cast you out. Now, in the old covenant, 17:45 they did not have that assurance. They were never sure, "Has God accepted me or not?" Because in the Old Testament, there was no such thing as the Holy Spirit coming inside, Christ coming inside. When we ask Jesus to come into our 17:59 heart, you know who actually comes in? Jesus Christ has got a physical body just like ours, and he's at the right hand of the Father in heaven. But, his spirit, the Holy Spirit, is here on Earth. And when I say, "Lord Jesus, come into 18:14 my heart," it's the Holy Spirit who comes in. And that's why it says in Romans 8, I want to give you verses that will help you have assurance. There's nothing as certain as the word of God. Martin Luther used to say, "Feelings 18:35 come and feelings go, but feelings are deceiving. My warrant is the word of God. Nothing else is worth believing." Feelings come, feelings go. Feelings are deceiving. My warrant, or my certainty, is the word of God. Nothing else is 18:54 worth believing. Romans 8 and verse 9. The last part. If anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, that is the Holy Spirit, he doesn't even belong to him. What does it say? 19:14 If you're born again, you have the Holy Spirit. Otherwise, you don't even belong to him. When you receive Christ into your heart, the Holy Spirit came into your heart. That's the seal of you were born again. It's the spirit who made you inwardly a 19:31 child of God. Now, that's different from being filled with the Holy Spirit. Let me use an example. Supposing you were looking at a a a home, a house on top of a hill, completely dark. All the rooms are dark. There are bulbs in every room, but no 19:51 room is lit up. Then all of a sudden, there are 10 rooms there, and you see one room lit up. Somebody's turned on the light in one room. So, if I were to ask you, was there any light in that house till now? No. Is there any light now? Yes. 20:08 But is the house filled with light? No. Light has come in, but it's not filled the house. That's the difference between receiving the Holy Spirit and being filled with the Holy Spirit. We invite Christ to come in usually to 20:23 one room in our house initially. The guilt room. We all feel so guilty. And your conscience will make every human being feels guilty if he listens to his conscience. And that guilt is what drives us to Christ to forgive us. 20:41 And that's the room we said, "Please come in." We are glad to get rid of the guilt. The light comes on means the guilt is gone. Christ has forgiven me. His blood has cleansed me. And the Holy Spirit assures you, you're a child of God. Your sin is forgiven. 20:57 The blood of Christ has cleansed you from all sin. Christ paid your price. All your past is blotted out. That's the beginning of the new covenant. Nobody in the Old Testament could say that. But, you still need to be filled. You need to 21:13 let the Holy Spirit open up allow the Holy Spirit to enter all the other rooms. For example, the Holy Spirit will say, "Can I come into your reading room to control the type of stuff you read?" Yes, you can read secular books and 21:29 newspapers, but it must be clean stuff. When you go to the internet, it must always be clean stuff. Will you let me come into your room? Into your computer room? Into your smartphone room? To control what you look at? 21:48 And you say, "Well, Lord, don't disturb me there. Let me occasionally watch some things which you may not like me to watch." He's a gentleman. He will not come into a room that you do not open. That room in your heart will remain dark 22:06 forever. Until one day you repent and say, "Lord, I'm fed up. Come in there, also." Can I come into your financial room to examine all your accounts? To see whether you're in debt to 22:26 anybody. Have you paid back your debts? To see whether you're paying your taxes righteously. Are you declaring clearly to the IRS all that you earn? Are you hiding things? And you say, "Lord, don't come in there. You know, in this world it's very 22:42 difficult to be totally righteous. So, please excuse me." He will not come in. He's a gentleman. That room will remain dark forever. You can pray for a hundred years to be filled with the Spirit. You will not be filled with the Spirit cuz you locked 22:54 the door from the inside. He knocks and says, "Let me come in." You won't let him come in. Many people are praying and praying and praying to be filled with the spirit, it'll never happen. Because he says, "I don't I stand at the 23:06 door and knock. If any man opens the door, I'll come in." He's willing to come and put light into every room of your life. Do you have a boyfriend or a girlfriend who's not born again? And you're still going around with him 23:20 or her. You plan to marry someone who's unconverted. You say, "Yes, she'll be converted later on." God says, "No." If you marry an unbeliever, you know, the Bible says there are two groups of people in the world, children of God and children of the 23:38 devil. That's what it says. When you're born again, you move out from being a child of the devil to become a child of God. So, however sweet that lovely girlfriend of yours is, if she's not born again, I'm sorry to say, but she's a child of the devil. 23:54 And if you marry her, who will your father-in-law be? Think hard. And you cannot stop your father-in-law from visiting your home. That's why I say don't marry an unbeliever. It's not wise. People have done it and 24:12 regretted it for the rest of their life. Since some people go and divorce, which is even worse. Yes, divorce is worse. You got to think about it before you get married. So, there are things like this, you know, where the whole you pray and pray to be 24:29 filled with the Holy Spirit, but there's an there's a room in your heart that's closed. He says, "I'm standing at the door and knocking. Will you let me in?" He will never force his way. He never forced his way, first of all, to come 24:41 into your heart right at the beginning. He will not force his way into any of your hearts. So, when you pray, "Lord, fill me with the Holy Spirit." And you hear somebody say you got to fast and pray, you can do all that for 24:51 100 years, you will not be filled with the spirit because you yourself have locked certain doors from the inside. And he says, "I stand at the door and knock. If any man will hear my voice and open the door, I will come in. 25:03 Revelation 3:20. He will come in. So, this being filled with the spirit Jesus said you got to thirst for it. See in John chapter seven. If any man thirst 25:23 John 7:37. This is the only time I read in the Bible that Jesus cried out with a loud voice. Most of the time Jesus spoke very gently and softly. In fact, there's a verse in Isaiah which says his his voice will not be heard in 25:39 the street. He wasn't like these yelling preachers who scream and shout hallelujah every now and then. No, he wasn't like that. It says here he but this one time he really shouted out. He cried out. And what did he say? 25:59 Is anyone thirsty for a deeper walk with God? Come to me and drink freely. And if you open your mouth and drink, that is to believe in me from you this water will come in which I'll give you will flow out from you like a river and 26:18 many rivers. That's the fullness of the spirit. So, you got to come to him and cry out. You got to be thirst You got to thirst for it so much that you're willing to chuck everything which is a hindrance in your life and say Lord, come in. I want 26:33 to get rid of everything in my life that's blocking you from filling every room. Supposing then you see that house on the hill and every room the light has been turned on. The spirit has come in. That is a house filled with light. 26:51 Till now it was a house that had light, but not filled with light. There's a brother who has the Holy Spirit, but he's not filled with the Holy Spirit. Why? Not because of any reluctance in the Holy Spirit's part. That brother, that sister will not open 27:08 certain doors. I say that because it's no use keeping on praying, my brother. Some people say, "Pray, brother. Pray more. Go and pray for the fullness of the Holy Spirit." I say, "Brother, you just open some doors first, 27:19 and then ask God to fill you." You don't open the doors, he's not going to bro you know, force his way into anybody's life in any area. He didn't force his way into you when you wanted forgiveness. He didn't force you, "Come on, you got 27:33 to get forgiveness of sins." No. One day you humble yourselves, "Lord, forgive me." I say, you open the door, he came in. God There's one thing God respects in every human being. There is one thing God respects in every 27:47 human being, the free will that he gave you. He'll even allow you to go astray. That's what I read in the beginning of the Bible. There's one thing God gave Adam and Eve, a free will to choose. And when God Almighty saw them, God 28:05 could see the whole thing going on in the Garden of Eden. He was not blind. He could see Eden. He could see Eve standing near the forbidden tree, and the devil coming through the snake. "Come on, eat this." And I'm sure with all my heart he would 28:22 E- Eve had a conscience. And I'm sure that conscience disturbed her at that time. Saying, "Remember what God said. If you eat this, you'll die." Just like your conscience disturbed you sometimes. And she did what you and I have done sometimes to 28:38 our conscience. "Oh, keep quiet. Keep quiet. This is something I like." And you take it, and you regret it for the rest of your life. God could have stopped it. He could have killed the snake. He could have brought some lightning and 28:56 thunder at that time. So, prevented Eve from grabbing that. Think of times in your life when you were going to fall into some sin. God could have brought an earthquake and prevented you from committing that sin. Why didn't he do it? 29:10 Because he respects your free will. He doesn't want to force a person to be holy. He doesn't force or force a person to come to heaven. He says, "You must choose of your own free will whether you want to come to be my child. 29:24 You must choose of your own free will whether you want to be holy." He could have made Adam without a free will. Easily. Adam would be like a robot. You know how these robots are programmed to do exactly what you program them to 29:39 do. I can imagine if Adam and Eve were like a robot in Garden of Eden, they'd have walked up to the tree of knowledge and good and evil, and the program says, "Turn right." They'd have turned right. Moved towards the tree of knowledge good 29:51 of life, and they'd gone there, reached out and take it. It wasn't their choice. Programmed. God does not want robots in heaven. You tell me as a God is a father. Would you like to have a naughty child who causes you a lot of problems, but 30:09 comes hug hugging you when you come back from office and saying, "Happy to see you, Daddy." Or would you like to have a little robot the size of a child as soon as you open the door saying, "Hello, Daddy. How are you? I hope you had a happy day." 30:23 You don't want a robot. You'd rather have a naughty child. God is like that. He doesn't want robots. He doesn't want people who are forced to say thank you, or forced to accept Christ, or forced to avoid sin. He wants children who have learned 30:43 to say no to sin. Isn't that the type of child you want? God is a father. When you look at yourself as a father, you see exactly how God is, a million times better, but a father. And like you desire for your children the best, how much you sacrifice for 30:59 your children, God is like that. How we are delighted when your children obey and do something right. How delighted your are when your children accomplish something in school or behave in a very kind way to somebody else. How delighted 31:14 you are. That's how God is delighted when your little child children act in a very unselfish way. Give that extra helping to their younger brother. You say, "Wow." Aren't you happy with the child like that? That's how God is, too. 31:30 So, free will is a very important thing. Think of the things God has created without a free will. The planets, the stars. They've obeyed God not only for two or three years, but thousands of years without a single split second of 31:47 disobedience. Perfect obedience that we can set our watches by the stars and the moon. We know exactly where the moon will be next month on the 25th of August. We can predict today where the moon will be, where each star will be 32:05 because we know they follow God's laws 100% exactly. God could have made Adam like that, obeying God for millions of years without disobedience. He could have made you and me like that. We would have been robots. And just like you don't want a robot in 32:23 your home, but a child, God wants children in heaven who will choose freely. And I want to tell you another thing. When we get to heaven, we'll still have a free will. Did you know that? Yeah. We're not going to lose our free will. 32:40 I'm not going to become a robot when I go to heaven. No. Then you may say, "But in that case, does it mean I'll sin again after I go to heaven?" Impossible. It's like asking, "Did Jesus sin? Did Jesus have a free will, first of 32:56 all?" Sure. He had to yield it. He We read that, his autobiography. I came from heaven not to do my own will. He denied it, denied it, denied it, rent the veil of his flesh in 33 and 1/2 years. That is the way through the flesh. 33:11 Saying no to our own will, like Jesus did. To follow Jesus means to say to a no to our own will every day, like he did. That's how he entered into the most holy place, and that's how we live in the most holy place. He had his own will, but he never did 33:26 it. He did his father's will, and that's how Jesus is in heaven now. That's how he was in eternity past, and that's how he was in 33 and 1/2 years on earth in the most difficult of circumstances. He never chose his own will. 33:39 The greatest example is the cross, where he gave Even there he denied his own will. And therefore, when we get to heaven, we will become like Christ. Which means what? We'll have a free will, but we'll never do our own will. 33:54 For all eternity. I'm absolutely sure that when I get to heaven, I will not sin even a fraction in thought, word, deed, attitude, motive for all eternity, millions and millions of years. Not because I don't have a free will, 34:07 not because I'm a robot, but because I've become like Jesus, who has a free will and chooses every single day to say, "Thy will be done in heaven." What he taught us to pray. So, that is true Christianity, and we move towards that little by little. 34:26 So, there is no condemnation during this earthly time of struggle. So, I was talking about old covenant and new covenant. It's very important to understand when you talk about higher Christian life, which we are talking 34:38 about in these in this conference. It's the life which those old covenant people could not have. For example, take the matter of forgiveness. Let me show you Psalm 32. This is Old Testament. Well, before that, let's go to Psalm 34:57 103. This is David, 1,000 years before Christ. Question. Could you have your sins forgiven before Christ came? The answer is yes. How could you do that? How could you have your sins forgiven when Jesus has 35:16 not yet died? Because they looked forward to the coming of Christ. You and I did not see Christ dying on the cross. But, how are our sins forgiven? By faith. We believe he died for us in the past. The Old Testament believers looked 35:33 forward and believed that one day the Messiah will come and die for their sins in the future. And they expressed their faith by killing a bullock or a goat now to say, "Here, this innocent animal is going to take my sin." A picture of 35:48 Jesus, the lamb of God, who would take my sin. But, they were looking to the future, we looked to the past. Neither of us actually saw Christ dying on the cross. So, David says in Psalm 103, verse two, "Bless the Lord, oh my soul, 36:02 and forget none of his benefits." And number one, he pardons all your sins. How many of your sins are forgiven, David? All of them. Really? Yes, all my sins are forgiven. Does that mean they're all cleansed? 36:22 No. Not cleansed, forgiven. See Psalm 32. It says in Psalm 32 and verse one. 36:46 How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, David says. Whose sin is covered. Not cleansed. Covered. David, your sin is forgiven. Is it cleansed? No, it's covered. But when you come to the new covenant, 37:04 you read in 1 John chapter 1, I'm trying to give you a Bible study that'll clear your doubts. 1 John chapter 1, verse seven. If we walk in the light 37:22 as God is in the light, we have fellowship with God. And I'll tell you something, walk in the light only means you're honest. That means you don't hide anything. You keep a room in the dark because you want to hide something there. Switch on 37:38 the light. Switch on the light does not mean everything in the room is neatly arranged or any such thing. The room may be a mess, but you've turned on the light and admitted this is the condition of my room. That's all it means to be in the 37:53 light. It means being honest and being sincere. I want to tell you all in Jesus' name that the main thing God requires from you is honesty, not perfection. He'll make you perfect. But he'll make you perfect if you're honest. 38:12 If the room is in a mess, acknowledge it's in a mess. Turn on the light. Don't keep the room dark because you want to hide the mess in your life. Then you will not be cleansed. But if you turn on the light, the promise is 38:26 the blood of Jesus will cleanse you from all sin. He will cleanse you and forgive you from all the mess you made of your life in the past. What do you have to do? Turn on the light. Be honest. Don't hide anything. Go to God and tell him. You don't have 38:44 to go to a man. When people come to me, I say, "Don't confess your sin to me. Go to Jesus directly. He's the one who forgives you." I'm not a priest here to forgive your sin. I don't forgive anybody's sin. I don't even want to know about it. Don't 38:58 pollute my mind with all your the dirt that you've done in your life. Go to God and tell him and I ask him to forgive you. He he listen to you no matter how bad you are. Turn on the light. Say, "Lord, my room is in an absolute mess. Can you tidy it 39:13 up for me?" He says, "I'll do it." But turn on the light and acknowledge. Don't try to hide something. That's all you got to do is say that to liberate you so that none of you feel condemned. This is cleansing. What did David say? 39:25 It was covered. See, if I if all your sins are written down here on this Let's posing this is a board where all your sins are listed. I take a big sheet and cover it. Nobody can see it. It's covered. But you lift up the sheet, it's there. 39:41 But that's not what the Lord does. His blood takes a wet sponge and wipes it all out and you can't bring it back. It's gone. Do you see the difference between covered in Psalm 32 and cleansed in 1 John 1? Very important. 39:57 I want to ask you if you confess your sin to the Lord, is it covered or cleansed? I feel many, many Christians are living that low level. It's covered. God says, "I won't remember it." But you lift the cloth, it's there. 40:15 And you feel condemned about something you did 10 years ago, even though you already confessed it 50 times. Haven't you confessed some sins many, many times, but really some very serious sins? I've done it. Bad things I did. Oh, Lord, it's so 40:30 terrible. I became a Christian and I still did that terrible thing. And I confess it, confess it. Years later you confess it again thinking that the more I confess, God will forgive me. Absolute rubbish. God's got good hearing. If you said it 40:42 once, he cleanses it. It's not covered. It's not covered. Listen to the good news. It's cleansed. The blood of Jesus does not cover sin. You know, there are people who say I'm under the blood. I'm not under the blood. That is an Old Testament. The 40:57 Israelites said that when they put the blood on the door posts and the blood of the lamb and uh they say I'm under the blood so that angel of death will pass bypass me. I'm not under any blood. I'm cleansed by the blood. 41:14 It's cleansed out of my life completely. I'm not under any blood. There are people who have all types of superstition about the blood of Jesus. I've seen people who dedicate a house and ask the Lord Jesus to put the blood 41:26 over that house. What's that? Old Testament stuff. Moses used to sprinkle the blood on the tabernacle. That is all old covenant. The blood of Christ cannot cleanse any house. You You got to get a vacuum cleaner, not the blood of Christ, to cleanse your 41:41 house. And so, don't confuse these things. The blood of Christ can only cleanse your sin in your heart. I say this because I've heard these things from people who They hear it somewhere and then they adopt it saying I'm being super spiritual and 41:56 I read that Moses sprinkled the blood over the tabernacle. I'm going to sprinkle the blood of Christ over It's a lot of rubbish and superstition. The blood of Christ cleanses sin. Doesn't remove the dirt in your house. So, 42:10 that's the first thing you need to see that the blood of Christ cleanses. The second thing you need to see is more than what David understood in the old covenant. Old covenant was the lower life. We're talking about the higher 42:21 life. That's new covenant. In Hebrews chapter 8, this is a great chapter. Just by the way, Hebrews is one of my favorite books. It's not the favorite book of many Christians because there seems a lot of tough stuff here to understand. Work 42:40 hard, brother. It's a wonderful book. It's the one book that tells me in Hebrews chapter 4, Jesus was tempted in exactly the same way as I am, but he did not sin. That's the verse that liberated me. When I realized that my savior was 42:54 tempted like me and he did not sin, that gave me hope that if he overcame as a man through the power of the Holy Spirit, I can also overcome. So, Hebrews is a great book. You know, I have a series on the internet, it's on our cfcindia.com 43:09 website called Through the Bible. It's also a thick book. It's probably here. Through the Bible where I've It's a commentary on the whole Bible. And um I find that many people do not understand the difference between 43:25 old covenant and new covenant. It's one of the main reasons I wrote that book. Because the new covenant is different. Even though we must study the whole Bible, we must realize we are under the new covenant now. And in Hebrews chapter 8, 43:43 and in that book you'll find If you listen to it online, I spent more time on the book of Hebrews than on any other uh the 70 hours, I think I spent 4 hours out of 70 hours of the Bible on Hebrews alone. And what I want to show you in Hebrews 43:58 chapter 8 that Jesus Christ, it says here, first about contrasting Moses and Jesus. He says in He talks about Moses in verse 5. He says all those things under under the law were only a shadow 44:17 of the heavenly things, not the real thing. You know the difference between a shadow of a man and the real man? Here's a man standing and here's his shadow. That's a picture of the old covenant, Jesus. You saw his shadow in the old covenant, 44:33 the law, the entire old covenant law is an exact representation of Christ, but it's not Christ. It's only a shadow. It says here the law was only a shadow of the heavenly things. And if a girl is in love with a boy, it's a shameful 44:49 thing if he she wants to marry the shadow. That's how many Christians are. They haven't married Christ. They got married to the law, to some rules and regulations. Don't do this and do that and do the other thing and don't do 45:01 this. They're living under the law. They haven't married Christ. The law is a shadow, says here. And Moses was the mediator of that, but Jesus verse 6 He is the mediator middle of verse 6 of a better covenant. The new covenant, the higher Christian 45:21 life. Most Christians are living the lower under the law. This is the higher Christian life. And it says here are the terms of this new covenant. And then it says in verse 7, that first covenant was faulty. Who gave the first covenant to Moses? 45:43 God. Is there a fault in what God gives? It says here. The first covenant was faulty. If it was without fault, there's no need for a second covenant. There's no need for a new covenant if the old covenant was good enough. 45:59 Why did God give the old covenant? Why did God give the law? The law was like a mirror to show you your sin. It was like an x-ray. Today's language we'd say an x-ray. A scan. An MRI, magnetic resonance image scan 46:21 that shows you the terrible condition of your what's inside your body which you can't see. But it doesn't heal it. The doctor gets a scan and then say, "Oh, you're okay now." No, the sickness is there. The scan only reveals your 46:36 sickness. Remember the law only will reveal your sickness. Christ came to remove the sickness. This is the simple difference between old covenant and new covenant. So, if you read the Bible and all you do is get convicted, convicted, convicted 46:53 of sin, you are going under the scan. Good. The scan is showing you exactly what's wrong with you, but you're not being free from it. Christ has come to free you from that cancer. To free you from the tuberculosis. And to free you from the leprosy. 47:11 And every other sickness that the scan shows in your body. So, the better covenant, the Lord says, the first covenant is faulty. Not because God made a mistake. But because God needed to go in two 47:29 steps. First to show you your fault. You go to a doctor, he won't give you a treatment first of all. He say, "Let me give you an x-ray." Now, ignorant person thinks, "Oh, he's giving me the x-ray. I'm okay." You're not okay. The x-ray only tells you 47:44 what's wrong with you. He takes a scan. So, that is God's way of first with the law showing you what is wrong with you. And if you acknowledge that, then you come to Christ to be forgiven. So, when the God when the doctor shows 47:58 you the scan and says this is the your inner condition of your body, you don't even know what's wrong with you. If you accept it, yes doctor, I agree with that. Will you treat me? Then he will treat you. So, if you acknowledge what 48:10 God says, you got bitterness in your heart against somebody. That's the scan. You haven't forgiven that person. You cheated there. And you don't want to set it right. That means you you've seen the scan, but you don't want to agree with it. 48:29 You have an argument with the scan. Well, you can argue with the MRI scan. That doesn't cure you. You might as well acknowledge it and go to the doctor and say, "Please, I agree with the scan. Please cure me." That's a simple thing God asks of you. 48:41 And if you come and acknowledge, it's amazing what God will do for you. What does he do? Let me There are three things mentioned here in the new covenant. Number one, I'll start at the bottom. Verse 12. I will be mercy He says in verse eight, 48:59 this is the new covenant. And there are three things mentioned in verses nine to 12, which I will read now. First of all, verses 10 to 12. Verse 12, I will be merciful to their iniquities and I'll remember their sins no more. 49:12 That's where you begin. God deals with us in mercy first of all. Mercy is different from grace. Very different. Many Christians talk about mercy and grace as the same thing. 49:31 It's not the same thing. They're two different things. Grace is higher than mercy. There was no grace in the Old Testament. Nobody got grace in the Old Testament. They got plenty of mercy. All the Old Testament people got mercy. 49:46 Grace came through Jesus Christ, we read in John chapter one. Grace came only after Christ came. We need to know the difference between the two. I never knew it for years because I went to a church where they never explained it to me. 49:58 And Jesus said, "You shall know the truth." John 8:32 What's the rest of that verse? And the truth will set you free. Why are you not free? Cuz you have not known the truth. The difference between mercy and grace. Well, I'll explain it to you right now. 50:16 I will be merciful. And one part of that mercy is I will not remember their sins anymore. Boy, I'll never forget the day when that word hit me like bringing light into my mind that made me supremely happy. 50:36 I remember it very vividly. I was walking on the deck of the ship I was working in in the Indian Navy. I'd already accepted Christ. I'd taken baptism. All feeling condemned about my past sins and failures. 50:55 And one day as I was walking down the deck this verse came to my mind. I will not remember your sin anymore. I said, "Wow! Really, Lord, you won't remember all those things?" He said, "I won't remember it." And I've never forgotten that verse. 51:12 That was 1961. How many years ago that is? About 61 years ago. And I've never forgotten that verse. That when I confess a sin to the Lord and he doesn't cover it with a sheet, he cleanses it with the blood of Christ. 51:30 Not only cleanses it, he says, "I will not remember it anymore." And you know one good thing that comes out of that? Not only the weight of guilt goes away from me, but the Lord says, "Treat other people like that also." 51:48 When somebody do something wrong to you, you're forgiving him. Every time you meet him, don't treat him like he's the one who treated me like this. Then you're still remembering. Lord, forgive us as we have forgiven others. 52:06 He does not remember our sins anymore. Is anybody here keeping on confessing the same old sin again and again to God 100 times like I did? It was true. Some sins I would keep on saying, "Lord, I did that. I'm sorry. I remember last year I did that. And Lord, 52:21 10 years ago I did that." Oh, it burdened me so much till I got this verse. And even after getting this verse, it took me some time for it to sink in. I will not remember their sins anymore. I want to tell all of you in Jesus' 52:34 name, if you have really acknowledged your sin and to the best of your knowledge taken the responsibility for it, that's important. Let me ask you a question. You read in Genesis 3, 52:51 when God asked Adam, "Did you eat from that tree?" It's very simple. Yes or no? That's all. But do you know Adam is so clever? He didn't say yes or no. You know what he said? Do you remember? This woman. 53:11 Whenever you see a finger pointed today by anybody, remember Adam was the first one. I wish somebody would have draw a painting of that. Of this husband pointing at his wife and saying, "This woman." That's what Adam ended. That has been 53:27 repeated by many husbands or wives pointing at their partner. "This woman was the cause." And not only that, "And don't forget God, you're the one who gave this woman to me." That's what Adam said. Go and read Genesis 3. 53:46 I've heard many husbands say, "Lord, what a wife you gave me? I'm the perfect man and you gave me such a wife." And many wives who say that, "What type of husband did you land me with?" Blaming God. Adam began it and that seed of Adam is 54:03 in you. That's why you blame them or you blame the pastor or you blame somebody else. This tendency to blame somebody else is what hinders us from spiritual growth, from God hearing our prayer. Before I continue with the new covenant, 54:20 let me show you a verse in Isaiah 58. Isaiah 58. You will know why the Lord does not answer your prayer immediately. Do you find your prayers not answered? Here is one reason. It may not be the only reason. 54:39 Sometimes if there's sin in your heart, Psalm 66:18 says, "If you got sin in your heart, the Lord will not hear you." But here's another thing. Isaiah 58:9, "Then you will call and the Lord will answer immediately. You will cry and immediately he'll say, 54:56 'Here I am. What do you want?' If you remove the yoke and stop pointing the finger at other people. Did you read that verse? Pointing the finger at your wife, pointing the finger at your husband, pointing at the finger at your children 55:15 perhaps. "I'm getting upset because of this child." No, you're getting upset because there's sin in your heart, not because of the child. The child just exposed it. But it was always there in your heart. You know, there's a 55:30 saint of God who was a missionary in India called Amy Carmichael. One of the few really godly missionaries who came to India. She made a statement once that a cup full of sweet water, or you call orange juice, whatever it is, 55:44 can never spill even one drop of bitter water, no matter how heavily it is shaken. Do you believe that? A cup of orange juice, you shake it heavily, will it spill bitter water? No. What spills is what is inside. So, when something spills out of your 56:03 mouth, don't say that person provoked me to say it. It was always in your heart. Somebody just shook the cup, that's all. Thank him for exposing what was in the cup. Yeah. Thank him for exposing. Oh, I never knew that was in the cup. 56:19 This guy provoked me and I discovered what was in the cup with all the bitterness and anger that came out of me. A cup full of sweet water can never spill even one drop of bitter water, no matter how strongly it is shaken. 56:32 This pointing of the finger, if you eliminate the the Lord will hear you. Let's go back to Hebrews 8. We really want to get this clearly in our mind, the new covenant, the higher Christian life. Number one, I will not remember their sins anymore. 56:48 Be assured that when God cleanses you, he does a complete job and he says, "I will not remember that that terrible thing you did a few years ago, so terrible. You don't want anybody to know about it. You don't want to your wife or husband 57:02 to ever hear about it." God says, "Don't worry. In time and in eternity, nobody will know that you ever did that." Isn't that wonderful? That you get up in eternity and for all eternity, nobody will ever know that terrible thing you did a few years ago. 57:18 That is the power of the blood of Christ. How good God is. God says, "Treat other people like that. Treat other people the way I've treated you. Be good to people. Be merciful. Don't remember their sins against them. They 57:34 are sorry. They have Don't tell a person, "You're always like that." I've heard husbands and wives say like that. "You always behave like that. You remember what you said 10 years ago?" Who's keeping the account of all the things that partners 57:48 did 10 years ago and 5 years ago? They sometimes even quote the date. It was the 23rd of November 2011 that you said this. Are these Christians who remember it so well? And God says, "I will not remember your sins anymore." 58:04 Brothers and sisters, let's be more like God in this area. It'll change your life. It'll change your family. It'll bring heaven into your home. Your children will grow up in the atmosphere of heaven where they don't hear husband and wife, 58:18 father and mother arguing and yelling and blaming each other. That's number one. Secondly, verse 11, they won't have to teach Hebrews 8, by the way, verse 11. They won't have to teach everyone as brother saying, "Know the Lord." But all 58:34 will know me from the least to the greatest. From the small child to the oldest mature saint, all can know me personally without through another secretary. You don't have to know God through a pastor. You don't have to go know a God even through 58:50 your father. From the least to the greatest means the youngest child in your home and the old grandfather, they can all know me personally. That's the second blessing of the new covenant. Know me as father. God wants you to know him as a father. 59:08 They could not know him as father in the old covenant. Even John the Baptist could not call God father. He was the greatest of Old Testament people. Jesus said that. There's no man greater than John the Baptist, not even Abraham, not Moses. 59:23 John the Baptist was the greatest saint under the old covenant right from the time of Adam. Yet he could not call God Father. And today the least youngest child of God can look up and say Father. Now we may say that, but you may not 59:41 know him in daily life. Uh we have many families in India where the far father works in a distant country to earn money. Many go to the Arabian Gulf to make money. Um and they have to come back once in a year or once in 2 years. 1:00:00 Um and the children grow up and you ask them, "Do you have a father?" Yeah. "Do you see him or talk to him?" No, no, no, he lives 2,000 miles away. Once in a while he comes and he writes letters to us, 1:00:18 but we don't know him very well at all. That is how many Christians are. Do you have a father? Yes, I have a father. He's a million miles away. Does he talk to you every day or come near you and help you? No, no, he's far away, but he's my father. I'm not an 1:00:34 orphan. That is not the way God wants you to live. He wants you to know him as a father who's intimately near you all the time every single day. I remember when the disci- when Jesus told the disciples, "I've got to go away now. 1:00:53 I've got to leave the earth." That's the time they got really disturbed. Because they felt all this time this wonderful. He was always with us. If food was short, he would multiply the bread. If the waves were s- may going to make the boat sink, he 1:01:06 would stop the waves. Any problem, Jesus was there. And now he says he's going away. But he said, "I won't leave you orphans." Turn to that verse in John in chapter 14. Why did God give us the Holy Spirit? 1:01:24 So that we might not be orphans. John 14. He had just told them that I'm going to go. John 14:2. Don't be troubled. In my father's house many mansions. I go to prepare a place for you. Verse three, if I go and prepare a 1:01:44 place, I'll come again. But that will be 2,000 years later. And they were all disturbed. He's going away. What will happen now if the there's a storm in the lake. What's happened now if we run short of food? Who will multiply the food for us? 1:02:01 And Jesus said, "Don't worry. Verse 16, I will ask the Father and he will give you a helper." You know that Holy Spirit's called a helper? You don't see him. He's hidden behind the scenes. He's 1:02:21 helping. Tell me, Bible question, who is the other person that God called a helper? Eve. Why? Something to humble proud husbands. 1:02:40 God said Adam can never make it without a helper. I got to make a helper for him. Then he'll make it. You wives, that's why God's given you to your husband. They can't make it without you. Thank God for a good wife. 1:02:57 I'm very thankful I have a wife. You hardly see her. Cuz she's like the Holy Spirit, behind the scenes. You don't see the Holy Spirit. And a good wife is like that, but this man does his things because of this helper behind the scenes. 1:03:15 What a tremendous ministry. Most people don't give any credit to the Holy Spirit. Most people won't give credit to you as a wife. But if you're a really good helper, that's what he that's what you are. Tremendous One day when Jesus comes 1:03:27 again, he'll recognize you. So, don't get discouraged if you don't get recognized here on earth or even if your husband doesn't appreciate you. The Holy Spirit's like that. Very few people appreciate the Holy Spirit. I tell you, he's helping them all the 1:03:41 time, assuring them, speaking to them from scripture. But how many times does he say, "Lord, I thank you so much. Thank you, Jesus, for giving me the Holy Spirit protecting me from sin, assuring me of your word, the helper." 1:03:58 And he says, "Because of this, verse 18, John 14:18, I will not leave you as orphans." So, what does this helper come to tell me? This helper comes to tell me, "You are not an orphan." Dear brothers and sisters, listen to me. 1:04:15 Have you heard the Holy Spirit telling you that? You're not an orphan. You've got a father. And not a father who's just in heaven, but a father who's near you. The Holy Spirit has come to assure you, "I'm near you. I'm here to help you. 1:04:31 You can trust me like you can trust your father. I will never let you down." Dear brothers, that's the second part of the new covenant. All shall know me, and you don't have to teach the little child. They will know me personally. 1:04:48 We must pray that our children as they after they accept Christ will get to know the Father directly and not just initially through us. We tell them God is a loving father, but they must gradually come to know God themselves. 1:05:03 God is my father. Adults, you need to know God is a father. A lot of insecurity is because you don't know God as a father. Many Christians behave like orphans. I have met a numerous orphans in India because there are many orphanages in 1:05:22 India. And I've seen these orphans who all their life they never knew the love of a father or mother. From the time they were little babies they were put in an orphanage. They grew up under good people but no father or mother to hug 1:05:35 them and kiss them and love them. And they grew up insecure and I see them when they're 30 years old, 40 years old, insecure. Insecure. Very possessive. They're always afraid somebody will take away their things. And when they when somebody's friendly 1:05:53 with them, they don't want him to be a friend of anybody else. You must be a friend only of me. That's an orphan syndrome. You see that in a church or sometimes. You want to be a special friend with one person and you don't want him to be a 1:06:04 friend of anybody else. You're an orphan. Learn to be secure. Your father loves all of them. He doesn't want you to have just this person as a friend. Yes, we are close to certain people but not in such a way that we tell him you can't be friends 1:06:19 with anybody else. By all means, we are friends with others, too. Your security is not in that person's friendship. Your security is in your father. Very, very important. Ask God to show you that he's a loving father who cares for you more than any earthly 1:06:38 father, Jesus used to say. Your earthly fathers know how to give good things to your children. How much more your heavenly father will give good gifts to those who ask him. And the third part of the new covenant is higher Christian life. 1:06:56 In Hebrews chapter 8 is number one, I will not remember their sins anymore. Number two, you'll know me as a father. And number three, I will write my law. Hebrews 8:10, not on tablets of stone. Moses was given two tablets of stone. 1:07:15 Four commandments on one, six commandments on the other. All the commandments related to God in one, all the commandments related to human relations in the other. But now the Lord says, the two tablets are not rock tablets, 1:07:30 but your mind and your heart. See here, verse 10. I will write my law on their mind and in their heart. Those are the two tablets of stone today. What does it mean when God says, "I'll write it in your mind and in your heart?" 1:07:45 Let me explain. He writes his laws in your mind means he'll give you a desire to do his will. Have you got a desire to do God's will? I believe many of you have. Don't think you produced it yourself. No. Don't be so proud. 1:08:05 Humble yourself and say, "God put that desire in my mind." He wrote it in your mind, a desire to do God's will. Look around you and see some of your relatives who have no desire to do God's will, friends around you who have no desire to do God's will. How is 1:08:20 it different with you? Were you better than them? No. Why did God pick you, one person out of your family, to be a wholehearted disciple? He wrote his law in your mind. Why did he allow you to spend all this money to come here to this conference? 1:08:38 Because you knew something of the type of stuff we speak here in this church. You wouldn't go to a strange church wondering what not knowing anything what they're going to teach there. You came here because you knew something. 1:08:50 God put a desire in your heart saying, "I want that." Praise God. It's God who put that desire. Don't take that credit to yourself. But that's not all. He writes it in your heart means he'll give you the ability to do it also. 1:09:06 Desire and ability. Then you can do the will of God. That is the new covenant. In the Old Testament, they only had the desire. Psalm 40, David said, "I delight to do thy will, oh God." But he couldn't do it. But in the new covenant, he says, "I can 1:09:22 do it." Sometime when you get time, compare Psalm 40 with Hebrews 10. Psalm 40, "I delight to do your will, oh God." Hebrews 10, "I can I come to do your will, oh God." That's the difference. That was old covenant. "I delight to do 1:09:41 your will, oh God." Psalm 40, verse 7. Hebrews 10, verse 7, "I've come to do your will, oh God." Do you know the difference between "I delight to do your will" and "I do your will"? That's God writing his law in your heart. 1:09:58 It's wonderful. Now, I'll show you one more verse, and then we'll move on. Philippians chapter 2, verse 13. We'll close with this. 1:10:14 New covenant, Philippians 2. Let this mind be in you, which is in Christ Jesus, verse 5. What is the mind of Christ Jesus? The attitude of Christ, Hebrews 2. Philippians 2:5, 1:10:32 Jesus delighted to do the will, and he did the will of his father. Those are the two tablets of stone. I delight to do will, I do your will. And now he says in verse 13, God is at work in you now to give you the desire and ability to do 1:10:49 his will. The same thing we saw in Hebrews. God works in you to do two things. First of all, to will his will, and then to do his will. That's the meaning of his writing his law in your heart and your mind. Now, don't let this just be a theoretical lesson 1:11:03 that you got today. Say, "Lord, it says in Philippians 2:14 that you will you work in me to delight to do your will and to do it. You have given me some delight to do your will. Now, work in me through the Holy Spirit to 1:11:17 actually do it." That is new covenant. That is the higher Christian life. And God says he'll do it if you open the door when he knocks. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for such a wonderful gospel where the Holy Spirit's promised to do 1:11:39 everything in our lives. We just have to open the door, yield our will. Help us all to do it. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
