0:05 So, we want to come to our concluding study on um Satan's tactics. It's going to concluding study, but it'll never conclude in your life because you'll be keeping on discovering 0:22 the ways in which Satan seeks to trip us up, but once we have understood that the purpose of temptation is to help us to be overcomers. How would you be an overcomer if you had nothing to overcome? 0:41 Even Jesus was tempted as we are. It's one of the truths that revolutionized my life. The first was the you know, of course, the forgiveness of sins when I understood that. 0:59 And then, the baptism in the Holy Spirit. I As soon as Jesus was baptized in the Holy Spirit filled with the Holy Spirit he was tempted, and he came back in the power of the Spirit. I want to show you Luke chapter 4. 1:17 And it says Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit had descended on him, chapter 3 verse 22. Like a dove. And then, Jesus, Luke 3:22, the Spirit 1:38 of God came upon him. Luke 4:1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, went into the wilderness led by the Spirit. Led by the Spirit into temptation. Think of that expression. Led by the Holy Spirit to be tempted by the devil. 1:57 Led by the Holy Spirit to be tempted by the devil. Jesus, what about you and me? Led by the Holy Spirit to be tempted by Satan with a purpose. And there he was full of the Holy Spirit when he 2:16 went into that temptation. That's the reason he overcame. We try to face temptation without being filled with the Holy Spirit. No wonder we fall. Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, went and tempt was tempted and he never 2:36 fell. I find a lot of Christians, I've said that again and again, they are satisfied very often with a counterfeit experience because they want to boast to others, I've been filled. If you want to boast to someone, 2:55 boast to the devil. Satan, I've been filled with the Holy Spirit. And you can try what you like. No use getting the approval of men. Somebody thinks you're a spirit-filled person. I couldn't care less whether they what they think. 3:11 It's trash. He doesn't know my life. He doesn't know anything about me. I don't want his certificate. The certificates of men are trash. It's like counterfeit currency. Throw it away. Burn it up. I want to be really filled with the Holy 3:27 Spirit because I know that that's the thing that'll help me. I know it certainly I'll tell you honestly, this is the thing that helped me. My life and my ministry and the thing that always used to challenge me. I say, "Lord Jesus, you who were so 3:38 perfect, if you needed the Spirit of God to come upon you, who am I to think that I can go and face temptation without being full of the Holy Spirit?" I got to be the most conceited snob on the face of the earth to think that Jesus needed to be filled 3:55 with the Holy Spirit and face temptation. I don't need to be. So, don't again and again I say, don't let your attitude to the Holy Spirit be a reaction to the extremes you've seen in other people. Seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit 4:11 and be open to everything that the Holy Spirit has to give you. Every gift. I would never have been able to serve God if God had not given me supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit to serve him. I would be a discouraged, gloomy, 4:26 depressed person as I was in the days before I was filled with the Holy Spirit if if God hadn't met with me. So, if you're desperate, I want to encourage you to seek God and you don't have to go to a meeting. In our church, I always encourage people 4:42 to seek God on their own. Jesus is the Spirit of God is everywhere. The danger of going to a meeting is some person will whip up whip you up emotionally and you may get a counterfeit experience or some guy who has no authority to lay 4:59 hands on your head, you'll allow him to lay hands on your head and I don't know what'll happen. I don't encourage anybody to let some stranger lay hands on their head. I remember I was in Australia once and this lady came up to me in a meeting I 5:14 had never met her before. After listening to me, she said, "Brother Zach, a few weeks ago an American preacher came here and preached on the baptism of the Holy Spirit and asked people to come forward who wanted the baptism of the Holy Spirit and I went 5:27 forward and he laid hands on my head and my whole life has been confusion ever since." Well, I said, "You probably received another spirit through that man." I never encourage people to lay hands on their head. I remember once when 5:39 somebody, a good brother, I was praying with him and he suddenly laid hands on my head. I pulled it out immediately. He got offended. I don't care. I'm ready to offend a thousand people. I said, "I don't want you to lay hands 5:50 on my head. Sorry. We were in the middle of prayer." I fear God. And I don't allow any Tom, Dick, or Harry to come and play the fool with my life. So, do that. Uh I remember an earlier occasion when I 6:09 didn't have that boldness to pull up people. I was much younger. I was only about 25 or something. I was in a meeting where um I was went with another brother. We were all kneeling down in chairs. And I suddenly saw this person who was 6:25 preaching going around laying people hands on people's head. I didn't know what to do. So, I buried my head under another person's head as he was knelt down so this guy this person wouldn't reach my head. I was determined and from very young 6:40 age, I'm not going to let anybody I don't have confidence in lay hands on my head. So, that's why I said, "You don't have to go to a meeting. Go to the Lord in your room and say, 'Lord Jesus, you are the baptizer in the Holy Spirit. You're 6:52 the one who can immerse me in the Holy Spirit. Like some years ago, I went to a man and he immersed me in water. I was baptized in water. Now, I come to you. I want this so desperately. What is there which I have not yielded to you?'" 7:05 I hear it is, Lord. Show me. I'm desperate. Cry out to God. Fast. Pray. Show your earnestness to God that you want this more than anything else. It was a secret of the early Christians. It was a secret of the apostles. Timid, 7:23 fearful people sitting inside a locked room afraid of the Jews, afraid of people defeated by sin. And Jesus said, "Go into all the world and make disciples of all nations." This timid bunch of people, where would they go to the all the world? They were 7:39 sitting inside a locked room. And they were ready to go because Jesus said and he said, "No, don't go yet. Don't go yet. You're not fit. You need to be empowered with endued with power from on high." And they waited and when they were endued with 7:52 power from on high, the first thing they did was throw open the doors. They came out, all the fear went away from their life. It is not a gradual deliverance from fear over a period of 10 years. It was instantaneous like that that Peter 8:03 who was afraid to stand before a servant woman and tell servant girl and tell her about Jesus would now stand before chief priest and say, "You crucified the Christ." They were locked up. They were beaten. They were killed, but they were filled 8:16 with the Holy Spirit. But they were witnesses. They ended their life gloriously. Even if they died, some died at the age of 30. Stephen, the Apostle James, they died very young age. But they completed their course. That's That's the way to live. And I 8:32 say, "Lord, that's the only way I want to live. I don't want to live a single day on this earth without being filled with the Holy Spirit. I'll It'll be a wasted day." I remember the days in past years when I did I was born again and 8:47 I I think of the wasted years and were defeated by sin even though born again and just drifting along, going to meetings, feeling emotional, and living the same old wretched life and trying to serve God and fruit that never 9:00 remained. But it's all different now. You can have Jesus with you all the time. Do you know what fullness of the Holy Spirit is? It is like having Jesus with you all the time. It gives you tremendous power in 9:18 temptation. Do you know the first day when God created man? That was the sixth day when he created man at the end of the sixth day. Man's first day was a Sabbath day. The seventh day was the first day for man. And it was a the day and 9:37 that day he was with God the whole day. And what do we see? The devil never came anywhere near him. The eighth day, he went out into the garden. And he should have taken the presence of 9:55 God with him. But he didn't. That's the devil came and knocked him down. But it's always interested me that that first day the devil couldn't come anywhere near him. The presence of God has such a tremendous power when you're filled with 10:10 the Holy Spirit. Temptation, you just knock Think of how Jesus knocked off temptation. It's like water off a duck's back. It is written, gone. Next one, it's written, gone. Next one, it's written, get behind me, Satan. Get away, Satan. 10:22 Gone. Think of overcoming temptation like that. It was not just quoting the word of God. He was filled with the Holy Spirit. In Genesis chapter 1, you read that the earth was in a chaotic state. And the Holy Spirit moved upon that earth. 10:40 Number one. And the word of God went forth every day. The first day God said, second day God said, third day God said. It was a combination of the Holy Spirit and the word of God that brought beauty into that wretched ugly earth. 10:55 And that wretched ugly earth is a picture of our wretched ugly lives. We may look so pretty. But when we open our mouth and speak, we're ugly. We stink. Our language, way we behave, the things we pursue. And if people could look in 11:13 look into our thoughts, it would be stinking even more. It's that earth corrupt is exactly a picture of our life. But the Holy Spirit and the word of God changed it into such a beautiful world that God himself looked and said it's 11:27 very good. And that's what God can do with our life. But the very first thing it says there is in Genesis 1:2, "The earth was without shape and dark and deep, the Holy Spirit moved." And you go to the end of the Bible, Revelation 22, it says, "The Spirit and 11:42 the bride say, 'Come.'" It's the Holy Spirit right through scripture. And like I've often said, when Jesus walked on the earth, walked in Nazareth, they did not know that it was Almighty God, the second person of the Trinity, walking there. 12:01 Imagine. The second person of the Trinity was there for 30 years, and they didn't even recognize him. They didn't honor him. It's the same today. The Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, has come, is moving around, most Christians 12:17 don't even bother about him. They think if they come to church, read the Bible, sing some songs, and everything else, they're okay. I would say to you, brothers and sisters, let's learn the secret of those early Christians. 12:33 They longed to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I'm not a Pentecostal. I'm not a charismatic. I've never been a member of a Pentecostal charismatic church, but I know what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Jesus is my 12:45 example, perfect spirit-filled man, Paul, Peter. These are my examples, not many people nowadays, cuz most of them live for money and honor and fame. They're not like Christ. When you get close to them, they got it First of all, you can't get close to 12:59 them. They're like royalty, film stars, you can't approach them. They're not disciples of Jesus. And I don't want to be like them. I want to stay as far as possible from today's so-called so-called spirit-filled people. 13:15 So, don't get turned off by them, but look at the scriptures and see these godly men. See how Jesus is filled with the Spirit, went into the wilderness, came out, overcame. That's the only power we have against Satan. So when we today we we considered 13:32 Satan's tactics with uh Eve, with Job, and with Jesus, and we want to see now Satan's tactics with a believer. There are many ways in which Satan comes and but when we look at Hebrews chapter 4 first of all, we read here in verse 15 that we have a 13:49 high priest in Christ who was tempted in all points as we are. I don't know where in what area you're tempted, but I want to tell you in Jesus' name that he was tempted. Are you tempted to be anxious? Hebrews 4:15, Jesus was tempted to be 14:09 anxious. Was he anxious? No. Are you tempted to be afraid? He was tempted. Name it. Are you tempted to commit suicide? Jesus was tempted. Jump off the roof of the temple. That was suicide. 14:29 He said no. There is no I I just took these extreme examples to say there's no area that you're tempted with today that your savior was not tempted with. Not the same circumstances. No, he doesn't say Jesus faced the same 14:45 circumstances we face. He didn't have a drunken father like some people have. He didn't have angry motorists on the road yelling at him like we have. Circumstances are different, but the provocation to temptation is the same. 15:03 Exactly the same. He was tempted to be angry, bitter, selfish, jealous, but he never sinned. Temptation came is like a thought flashed into the mind. When it says the devil said turn the stones into bread, it was a thought 15:18 flashed into his mind by the the He said no. When it says the devil took him to the top of the temple, where was he? Was he on the top of the temple or was he in the wilderness? He was in the wilderness. You mean the devil made him walk to 15:33 Jerusalem from there? Say, "Come follow me." And Jesus meekly follows behind the devil, climbs up the top of the temple. No. It was a thought in his mind. Go to the top of the temple and jump down. He said, "No." When a thought is flashed into your 15:48 mind, you don't sin. That's temptation. If you yield to it in your mind, you sin. But if you don't yield to it, you reject it, you don't sin. Some people are waiting for a life where they won't even be tempted in their thoughts. That's impossible. You got to 16:01 go wait till you go to heaven. A lot of people condemn themselves because they say, "Oh, boy, what a horrible thought I had." I was sitting in church and I had this horrible thought. Did you reject it? Yes. Well, then you were only tempted. 16:17 And you'll be tempted till the end of your life with the most horrible thoughts. Can you imagine a more horrible thought than this? Bow down to Satan. Is there anything worse than that? Jesus was tempted with that. A thought flashed into his mind, "Why 16:34 don't you bow down to me? I'll give you everything." I say that to liberate you from condemnation over A lot of believers are confused about temptation and sin. A conception has to take place. I want to show you that. First of all, you see Hebrews 4:15, he 16:51 was tempted in all points like we are, therefore he can sympathize with us, and therefore Hebrews 4:16, let us go also to the same throne of grace and get grace to help us overcome temptation. James 1. One of Satan's tactics 17:09 is to make believers confuse temptation with sin and bring condemnation to their life perpetually because Satan knows that believers will be tempted all their life and if he can make them feel that temptation equals sin, he can keep them 17:24 condemned all their life and make them useless for God. I know he did me. Till I read scripture. You know, the answer is scripture. If you know scripture, he can never get an advantage over you. That's why I keep telling people study 17:41 the word of God, brethren. Study the word of God. You don't need to have information about all that's happening in the world. Study God's word. That's more important. James chapter 1 verse 14, everyone is tempted when he's 17:56 carried away and enticed by desire. Lust just means desire. Lust, by the way, is not a sinful word. Unfortunately, we always associate it with sin. But it's not necessarily sinful. It means strong desire. Because in Galatians, it's 5, it says, 18:16 "The Holy Spirit lusts." Is that sin? The Holy Spirit lusts against the flesh. Galatians 5, I think it's 17. It just means he's got a strong desire against the flesh. I thank God for that. I have a flesh which is tempting me, but 18:33 if I open myself to the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit's got a tremendous desire against the flesh. And if I open myself up to it, I'll have that power against the flesh. That's why I need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. 18:45 So, we're drawn by desire. But when that desire conceives, then sin takes place, not otherwise. If a thought is flashed into your mind, that's temptation. If money is attractive to you, that's 19:04 not a sin. Let me ask you a question. Did the devil tell Did God tell Eve and Adam, "When you go into the garden, you should not even be attracted by the tree of knowledge of good and evil." Was that the command? No. 19:23 Supposing Eve stood there and was tremendously drawn to this beautiful tree of knowledge of good and evil, but didn't touch it, walked away. She had not sinned. There you see temptation and sin right in Genesis 3. The fact that you're 19:38 attracted to something does not mean. In fact, without attraction, there is no temptation. Have you thought of that? Supposing God had made the tree of knowledge of good and evil ugly, stinky, smelly, full of thorns and all that, 19:52 and told Adam and Eve, "Don't go near the tree of knowledge of good and evil." And Adam had a look at it, "Oh, I don't want to go anywhere near that even if God didn't tell me. No, thank you." It had to be attractive for it to be a 20:04 temptation. Otherwise, there's no temptation. I mean, if God had made a command saying, "Don't lick the toilet bowl." Are any of you tempted to do that? I hope not. There's nothing attractive about it. 20:26 There is no temptation there. Temptation for temptation, something has to be attractive. And the fact that something's attractive to you does not mean that you're sinning. It just means you're being tempted. You say no. In fact, the stronger the 20:45 attraction and you say no, the stronger you are spiritually. So, you don't have to pretend that money's not attractive. It's attractive, but I will not do anything wrong to get it. I'll never do anything wrong to get it. 21:00 I'll never violate God's laws to acquire money even though it's so attractive. It's so attractive for for to have plenty of money because it can make me live very comfortably. Sure, there's nothing wrong in living comfortably, but 21:11 if you acquire it in wrong ways, then there's something wrong in it. If you If there's a pretty girl, you don't have to say, "Oh, no, she's not pretty. She's ugly." That's telling a lie. You're just fooling yourself. Yeah, she's pretty. So what? 21:29 No, God's not told me to look at that. God's given me my wife. Or God if you're single, God will give me a wife if that's God's will for me, but I'm So what if I'm tempted? I'm not going to be drawn towards that. I'm not 21:41 going to keep staring and looking and be tempted even more. I'm going to turn my eyes away. I say this to liberate you from wrong ideas. Don't become a a heathen ascetic trying to get rid of desire. That's not That's 22:01 heathen religions teach that. It's yoga. It's not Christianity. Christianity that temptation is attractive, but you say no. Any type of temptation. So it's only when there's a conception takes place. Think I'll give you an 22:18 illustration. Here's a a very pure virgin girl going by a road, a Christian girl, and there's a there's a very handsome looking evil rich attractive man who calls her. 22:37 Come, come with me. And she looks at him, you know, the way boys and girls are attracted to each other. She's really drawn to him because everything about him is so attractive. He speaks so nicely and he looks so handsome and he's so rich. 22:52 He's got a nice big car and everything else that's attractive about him. He seems to be such a nice man. He's not a Christian. She's drawn. She says, "No." Again the next day, drawn. She says, "No." Did a conception take place? No. 23:12 There's no sin. Desire, when it conceives, brings forth to sin. So, the devil puts the desire in our mind. Now, through our own flesh, I say, "No. I don't want it." No conception took place. 23:29 I may struggle to say, "No." But, I'm determined to say, "No." The devil can't rape me. No, impossible. Unless you're not filled with the Holy Spirit. See, that strong man may try and get a hold of this girl to rape her. She's 23:45 helpless. But, we've got the Holy Spirit. She says, "No." It's like a strong man walking beside her saying, "You can't touch her. That's my daughter." And he comes and this strong man fights with him. That's the picture of the Holy Spirit. 24:03 Desires against the flesh fighting with me. And all any temptation, maybe I'm tempted to be jealous or bitter. The Holy Spirit's there with me to prevent me from falling from that conception taking place in my mind. 24:19 So, don't confuse temptation with sin. Let me mention and a few things. I'll just give you a few thoughts that'll help you concerning overcoming Satan. Now, the devil tempts us. In chapter 6 of Ephesians, Ephesians chapter 6, this is a very 24:37 important principle that we got to learn. Ephesians 6 verse 12. Our struggle, it's talking about our struggle in temptation. And the struggle is because we are attracted. As I said, you're not attracted to a toilet bowl or to the garbage dump. 24:56 No, there's no temptation there. There's no struggle to walk away from the garbage dump or from some stinking surrounding. The struggle is to walk away from something attractive. So, our struggle there's a struggle. And the struggle is not with flesh and 25:13 blood, but with the rulers, powers, principalities, the world rulers of this darkness, the spiritual forces of wickedness in the second heavens, in the heavenly places. So, if you want to fight against these evil forces that are seeking to knock you 25:30 down in sin, there's one decision you have to take in your life. And that is Hebrews uh Ephesians 6:12, you decide once for all in your life that you will never fight with flesh and blood. Flesh and blood means human beings. 25:48 You will never fight with human beings. You say, "I'm never going to fight with human beings, and therefore I'm strong to fight the devil." Have you made a decision in your life that you'll never fight with human beings? 26:04 I know years ago this is the verse the Lord showed me and said to me, "You if you want to overcome Satan, you will need to decide never never again to fight with a human being. Never again to fight with a human 26:26 being." I thank God I made that decision years ago, so that I could conserve all my energy to fight with the devil. I said, "I'll never fight with my wife. I will never fight with neighbors. I'll never fight with 26:45 uh Christians. I'll never fight with people of other denominations, even over matters of doctrine." People come to argue with me about doctrine. I say, "Listen, if you want an explanation of this doctrine, I will give it to you from scripture. 26:59 But if you're coming to argue with me, sorry, I'm not interested. You can assume that you're won the argument. Let's talk about something else. Because I'm not interested in fighting about anything. I will not fight with 27:12 flesh and blood. Because temptation is so strong. I want to conserve all my energy to fight with the devil. I want to say to many of you sitting here, you're not able to overcome temptation because you spend so much time of energy 27:30 fighting with human beings that when temptation comes, you're so weak. Imagine if you've been wrestling the whole day with a number of people. Wrestling, physical wrestling, I mean. And you're exhausted at the end of the 27:45 day. And some weak fellow comes to fight with you, and you get knocked down. It's because you're exhausted fighting with all those other people during the day. But if you were not fighting with any of those people during 27:59 the day, you even a strong person comes, you're going to resist him. That's a picture. If you spend your energy fighting with human beings, arguing, fighting with your marriage partner, arguing, fighting with your grown-up children, or with neighbors and 28:14 people in the office and with your boss and all human beings, you can be absolutely sure that you'll be defeated day after day after day after day in temptation. And that's the tactic of Satan. Get you to fight with human beings. 28:33 We wrestle not because we're in the new covenant. In the old covenant, they fought with human beings. Their enemies were the Philistines, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Moabites. All these people were their enemies. Have you moved out of the old covenant? 28:51 All people who fight with human beings are under the old covenant. You may not call them Philistines, Hittites, or whatever it is. It may be your husband, your wife. It may be your neighbor, your boss. The names are different, but it's the same thing. 29:04 You got to finish with it. You got to decide once for all, I've finished with wrestling with flesh and blood. I'm so thankful that I didn't waste my years wrestling with flesh and blood. I did in the early days when I was 29:19 stupid and foolish because I didn't have a spiritual father to show me Ephesians 6:12 and say, "Zac, don't fight with human beings." I wish I had. I always tell young people in our church, "You guys are so lucky." From a from your youth 29:38 you hear the whole truth of God. And you can walk that way. I wish somebody had told me these things when I was 19. I learned it after I was 35. But I tell the young people in our church I challenge you to run with me the 29:56 spiritual race. I don't know whether you'll win. Even though you got a head start on me. I started when I was 35 and you guys are starting when you're 16, 17. I'd like to see whether you win because I'm so sad that I disappointed the Lord so much in 30:15 my younger days that I'm running so fast that you guys I don't know whether you have that zeal to run that fast because you think I haven't let the Lord down so much. So, you'll sort of jog along and I'll still beat you. 30:30 I want to challenge you. That's a type of good competition. Let's pursue each other and see pursue humility and purity. Overcoming temptation is a good race to run. Follow Jesus who was tempted in all points as we are and overcame, overcame. 30:44 I want to make that little white circle as big as possible before Christ comes again. Not to get any reward in heaven, but to show my love for Jesus. Lord, here is how I show my love for you. Not by giving money here and 30:57 preaching here and going there, but I'm going to be faithful in temptation. James 1, we wrote read that verse. Faithful in temptation equals loving Jesus Christ. So, that's how I prove my love for Jesus. Blessed is he who endures in 31:11 temptation. He'll get a crown of life. It's the Lord's promise to those who love him. That's the proof of my love, my And as I love him, my circle increases. It's a proof of my love, and I want to stand before the Lord one day 31:24 with as big a white circle as possible in the black circle I inherited from Adam. Do you have that passion? I hope you got it this weekend. And I hope you'll get it today at least in this last session before you go. Then decide that you will not wrestle 31:42 with flesh and blood. It's one of the main ways in which Satan destroys homes, Christian homes where husband and wife are perpetually arguing and quarreling. They go home from a church service and start the arguments. It's amazing how 31:57 quickly the devil has come. It's almost as if they'd never heard anything in the church. What do they hear in the church? Just went for entertainment, had a good sing-song session, and went back with more energy to fight 32:08 with each other. Don't let the devil make a fool of you, brother sister. Don't fight with your brothers in the church. I remember churches where if people really didn't want me, I just quietly left. I never stayed there and create trouble. 32:25 No. I remember one church where I was preaching and after few months of preaching about the fullness of the Holy Spirit and the baptism of the Holy Spirit, they said, "We don't want to hear this." I said, "God bless you, brothers and 32:37 sisters. I shall quietly leave. I shall not create any problem. I shall not ask anybody in this church to leave with me. I'm not a troublemaker. I'm a man of peace. And I shall quietly leave." And I left. That's how we started the 32:54 church in our home. One of the greatest blessings I got was when that church gave me the boot, kicked me out. I shall be eternally thankful to them for kicking me out. Otherwise, I'd have rotted away in that church. Everybody's done good to me all my life. 33:12 Even the people who thought they were doing harm to me, they they get into eternity and say, "Boy, we thought we wanted to harm him. This is the best possible thing that ever happened to him." We wrestle not with flesh and blood. 33:24 I remember when we started meeting, there was just few of us in that first days we met in the in our home. And I said, "Brothers, there were two, three families that on their own decided to leave that Baptist church. We met in our home and I said, "We have 33:39 a rule here now. We are not going to spend our time spoke speaking evil about those Baptist church or about those deacons or elders. That's not our business. Or to judge them. God bless them. We don't wish any evil for them. 33:52 We're going to spend our time judging ourselves." That's it. I was once in a conference in one of our states in Kerala where somebody came to me and said, "Brother Zac, I'm also fed up with these Pentecostals. I want to join 34:06 your church." I said, "Please don't join because we are not perfect. If you're fed up with others, you'll be fed up with us one day. We are actually a bunch of people who are fed up with ourselves, not fed up with others. 34:20 The day you get fed up with yourself, come and join us. If you're fed up with others, you're not welcome. We're not gathering people who are fed up with the Pentecostals, fed up with the Methodists, fed up with the Baptist, 34:32 fed up with the Hindus. No. We're only gathering those who are fed up with themselves because Jesus said, let me paraphrase his words in Matthew 11:28, "Come unto me, all you who are fed up with yourselves, and I will give you rest." 34:48 That's my paraphrase. It really means that. Weary and heavy laden. He said that to Jews who were struggling to keep the law, defeated, struggling, defeated, struggling, defeated, struggling, defeated, weary, heavy laden, this 35:01 burden, fed up. He said, "Come to me. My yoke is easy." It's easy because we're fed up with ourselves and not with other people. I'll tell you this, if you're fed up with other people, the burden will be very heavy on you. 35:19 It'll be really very heavy. You won't get proper sleep at night because thinking of all those fellows who harmed you. You'll be dreaming about them. You'll be tossing around in bed thinking about how shall I answer this fellow if I meet him 35:30 next time, etc. But when you're fed up with yourself, you you you weep for yourself. Those are good tears. It's a repentance that brings godliness. It's a sorrow that brings godliness, not a sorrow of the world. So, decide that you'll never wrestle 35:49 with flesh and blood. Put an end to it today. The times of ignorance God overlooks. It's a great verse, Acts 17:30. You were ignorant until today about this, but today you're not. Stop fighting. Stop arguing. First of all, in your home. Jesus said 36:08 you shall be witness to me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the uttermost parts of the earth. Start with Jerusalem, and for you, Jerusalem is your home. Start there. Love one another means in your home. If you can't love one another in 36:22 Jerusalem, don't try reaching out to Judea and Samaria, the uttermost parts of to earth. That's hypocrisy. Like it says, if a man cannot bring up two, three children properly in his own home, how is in the world is he going to 36:33 be an elder for 100 children in the church? He cannot be. Everything begins in the home. That was not important in the Old Testament. If you're a person who ignores your home life and thinks you can go and serve God, you're a follower of Moses. 36:48 You read in Exodus 4, he fought with his wife. We don't hear anything about his children. His children were They were not even circumcised. They were disobeying God's word and you don't read anything about Moses' home life. 37:01 He couldn't say, "Come and see how I live with my life." It was chaotic and they were fighting. The last picture we see of Moses and his wife in Exodus 4 is fighting with each other. But he was a prophet of God. And boy, did he speak the truth? Yes, 37:16 under the Old Covenant. Are you still under the Old Covenant? In the New Covenant, it says, "Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church." Begin there before you learn to love your brothers as Christ loved the church. There are 37:34 two people whom God said we must love as Christ loved the church. Ephesians 5, "Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church." In John 13:34, "Love one another as Christ loved the church." Both. And to to love my brothers and sisters 37:53 as Christ loved me, I get practice at home with one person. And if you can't do that with one person in your home, your husband or wife, where are you going to do it do it with the others? That's a deception. You think you love them because you see 38:09 them only for 2 hours a week. You don't really love them. It's because you see them so rarely, you think you love them. The test is with the one person who lives in your home. Decide today, my dear brothers, never to 38:27 wrestle with flesh and blood. Okay, I want to move on from there to Ephesians 4. We looked at this earlier. Verse 26, "Be angry, but don't sin. Don't let the sun go down on your wrath." Anger, don't give the devil an opportunity. Anger 38:46 retained is one tactic of Satan to destroy you. The tactics of Satan with believers. Keep them angry. Whether they express it or don't express it, the uh the person who is, 39:05 you know, an extrovert, who's very expressive, he expresses his anger. The person who's an introvert, when he gets angry, he keeps it all inside, but both are equally destructive. Whether you express it or keep it inside 39:21 is destructive. Ecclesiastes says anger dwells in the bosom of a fool. Even in the Old Testament. If you have anger in your heart, the Bible says you're a fool. Number one mark of a fool. He's got anger in his heart. 39:40 I think it's in chapter 7. I don't remember it exactly. It's Ecclesi- Anger dwells in the bosom of a fool. But here it says, "Don't keep that anger. Don't let the sun go down on your anger because it'll give the devil an 39:56 opportunity in your life." He's waiting for an opportunity. Turn to Genesis chapter 4. Genesis in chapter 4, we read When God wanted to 40:21 tell Cain something, he said, "Sin is crouching at your door." Genesis 4:7. Sin is crouching at the door of your heart. Anger is crouching there. 40:40 Waiting, you know, like a tiger at the door. If you knew there was a tiger at the door of your house, what would you do? Would you open it to see how he's getting on? Its desire is for you, but you must master it. The message of victory over sin doesn't 40:57 come in Romans 6:14, it comes in Genesis 4:7. The first sin that was committed outside the Garden of Eden, God immediately comes and says, "You got to overcome it." It must not be just forgiven, you must master it. Sin shall not be master over you. 41:14 It couldn't be accomplished till the Holy Spirit came, till Jesus died, but God's plan was there. This anger crouching at your door, this bitterness crouching at your door, this lust crouching at your door. Look at the number of people who've been 41:30 ruined by it because they opened the door and let the tiger in. You would not You would never let a real tiger into your Why did you let it in? You thought, "Oh, it's a little pussycat. I can take care of it." It was not. 41:50 That lust was not a pussycat. That anger was not a pussycat. That bitterness was not a pussycat. It was a tiger. You let it in and it ruined you, scratched you and tore you to pieces. Have you learned a lesson at least for 42:03 the future? I hope so. Don't give the devil an opportunity. Don't even slightly open the door. Resist him. Keep him out. Now, you know that verse in Ephesians 4:26, "Be angry and don't sin." is a quotation from Psalm 4. 42:22 For those who are interested in Bible study, here's a very good bit of advice I'll give you in Bible study. Whenever you come to a verse in the New Covenant, in the New Testament rather, which is a quotation, find that quotation. Stop your Bible 42:38 study and find that quotation. I always do it. This is how I study the Bible. Like I said, by the sweat of your brow you learn your bread. You got to perspire when you study scripture. Uh take the trouble. You know, whenever I 42:51 hear a person quoting a verse in ordinary conversation and I don't know it, I s- uh while the conversation goes on, I turn to my Bible. I say, "I want to find out where I don't remember that where that verse is." I always look it up. 43:04 It's like I used to tell my children, "When you read a book and you come across a word which you have never come across before, put the book down and take a dictionary and find the meaning of that word. You'll improve your 43:13 English." The same thing I do with the Bible. If somebody people people are quoting if somebody quotes a verse in a in a meeting or, you know, I'm reading a Christian book and there's a verse quoted in brackets and I don't know that 43:23 verse, I put the book down and turn to the Bible. If you have that little simple little practice, you would have known the scriptures much better today. You can start it today. You read a verse in the Old Testament, it says, "As it is written." 43:39 It's quoted many times you find that in the New Testament, "As it is written." Have you ever stopped to find out where it is written? It doesn't take long. You can have a concordance, you can find it immediately. For example, as it is written, "Out of 43:54 his innermost being will flow rivers of living water." Try and find out where that's written in the Old Testament. I you'll really get a revelation. It's not written exactly like that, but it's picture language. It's in 47. Read 44:08 it. You'll see what the fullness of the spirit is all about. But be angry and don't sin. I go back to the Old Testament, it says in Psalm 4 and verse 4, "Tremble." And in the margin of my Bible it says, "Tremble with anger, 44:25 but don't sin." It's the same verse. But how did they overcome anger in the Old Covenant? That's what I want to find out cuz they didn't have the Holy Spirit then. "Tremble with anger and don't sin." So how do I not sin? 44:39 When you get angry, go and lie down in your bed and meditate for a little while. Good practical advice. That's what it says in verse 4. "And be still." What a wonderful advice in the days when people didn't have the Holy Spirit. 44:57 And so if you're tempted to be angry in your home and you don't have the power of the Holy Spirit, second best, go to your bedroom and lie down and be still for a while. Then when you're cooled off, come back. 45:20 But let that produce in you a desire for a better way. God has provided something better for us that we can be filled with the Holy Spirit. And never give the devil an opportunity. If you turn back to Ephesians 4, it says, "Be angry but don't sin." 45:39 And God gives you a time limit on that saying, "At least by the time you go to bed, get rid of your anger." Now that's for people who are carnal, you know, in in India in our examination system, marks are given out 45:57 of a hundred in all subjects. Physics, science, mathematics, everything, marks are given out of a hundred. We don't have grades A, B, C, D. It's marks out of 100 and they have 40% as pass marks. If you get 40% you're passed. 46:13 So, here this is like if you want to pass, just pass. Now, a really serious student won't be happy with 40%. He's aiming for 100. He's aiming for 99 or 100. But, some are sluggish. They say, "Okay, 40% okay, you pass." So, for those who 46:32 want only pass marks, God says, "Okay, at least by the time you go to bed, get rid of your anger." And some people fail even there. They carry on the anger when they've gone to bed. They haven't set things right with their husband and wife before going to 46:47 bed. But, for the wholehearted Christian, for the one who wants 100%, it's a little further down in verse 31. This is the one who wants 100%. Verse 26 is for those who only want to pass. VERSE 31, "LET ALL wrath and anger and clamor be put away from 47:03 you." Completely get rid of it. And then the devil won't be anywhere near you. Chase that that tiger away from your door. And he doesn't come anywhere near him. I'll fire a few shots in the air and chase him off. Resist the devil and 47:23 he'll flee from you. So, here are two ways I mean in in the early stages God is very merciful. He knows that you can't put away all anger. You know, when it says here in verse 31, "Let all wrath let all anger let all clamor making a lot of noise at 47:42 home and anger, let all slander and gossip be put away from you along with all hatred It's a powerful verse. I tell you you can work on that verse for 10 years. Because you don't want to give the devil opportunity. Put it all away. But, if 48:00 you can't get there, at least begin with verse 26. That by sunset, you've got rid of it. You've cooled off. And you ask forgiveness from each other. And go to bed. I remember once a brother came to me and said to me, "Brother Zach, you 48:19 conducted my wedding about 20 years ago. And when I got married, you told me and my wife, 'Never go to You told me never go to bed without settling everything with your wife.' He said to me, "I want to tell you 48:38 today, I've kept that word for 20 years. I took it seriously." I said, "Wow. That's a greater miracle than raising the dead." 20 years? You obeyed that exhortation that you never went to bed 48:57 without clearing everything from your heart with your wife? I'm sure we all have tensions when we get married. I'm proud of such people. I'm proud of such brothers who have taken this little exhortation like that seriously. 49:14 How many of you will take it seriously? That's the basic Whatever you What is pass marks here? C grade or whatever it is. That's the basic minimum. Settle it before you go to bed. Now, if you want to get an A+, then get 49:29 rid of it all together. That will come. Work on it. Ask God to fill you with the Holy Spirit. Anger is one of the ways in which the devil destroys Christians. Ruins their testimony. Makes them hypocrites. Because they've got to keep on 49:46 pretending that they're not like that. They've got always pretend that they are pleasant and and when we get rid of it, it's bring such a sense of God's presence into our room. I mean, have you ever been to a home? You visit a home and you see the husband 50:05 and wife yelling at each other. Tell me what you feel like. I'll tell you how I feel like. I feel like uh see you later and walk out. That's exactly how I feel. Now, I'm not that holy. Imagine if Jesus sees you and your wife fighting with 50:19 each other. He'll say, "See you later." And he'll walk out. You want that to happen? No. I want my home to be a home of peace. And if it takes 10 years to get there, I'm going to get there. That's the 50:38 attitude you should have. I don't care how long it takes. My home is going to be a little bit of heaven on Earth. The devil's not going to get a foothold there. There's a lovely expression I find in Revelation chapter 12. 51:03 Verse 7 and 8. There was war in heaven. And Michael and his angels were not waging war with each other. They were waging war with the dragon. Isn't it wonderful if it can be said that about you? That husband and wife were waging war, 51:22 but not against each other. Against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels also waged war determined to stay in that house. And they were not strong enough. BECAUSE THIS HUSBAND and wife were filled with the Holy Spirit. 51:41 And they cast the dragon and his angels out of the house. And there was no longer a place for found for the dragon and his demons in their house. I love that. That's the way your home should be. Then your home will be like heaven. 51:59 There was no place found for the dragon and his demons in that home. Think of what an inheritance you can give your children. If you determine who should take the lead, tell me who's the head in your house and 52:17 I'll give you the answer. Who's the head in your house? Brothers, are you the head in your house? I told people in our church, "If you brothers are not the head in your house, you must veil your head and 52:35 sit in the meeting." Don't be a hypocrite. Uncovered head means I'm the head in the home. If you're not the head in your home, be honest and veil your head, brothers, and sit in the meeting. Say, "I'm not the head in my home. My wife My wife runs 52:50 the home." I keep my head unveiled because I am the head in my home. Not a dictator. I seek to be like Jesus who was the head of his disciples. Make sure that there's no place for the 53:08 You can't change your partner, but you can change yourself. And decide first of all that there's no place going to be found for the for the devil through anger in my heart. I will not give the devil an opportunity. I'm going to put it all away, 100%. 53:25 I'll be quick to apologize, quick to take the blame, unlike Adam. How quick Jesus was ready to hang on the cross to take the blame for sins he never committed. How quick Adam was to point his finger and blame his wife. I was once an Adam. I've been cut off 53:42 from that tree. I've been planted in Christ. And I partake of his nature who was quick to take the blame for the sins of others on the cross. Have you partaken of that nature? Another area where the devil gets a foothold in our life, a 54:00 tactic of Satan. You read in 2 Corinthians and chapter 2. 2 Corinthians chapter 2. And verse 10. 2 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 10. 54:19 If you have forgiven anybody anything, I also forgive. You know, this is a man who had committed such a terrible crime. He'd committed sexual sin with his stepmother. Not his own mother, but his father married again. And he was living in sin with his 54:37 stepmother at home and living in the church. And the church was so carnal, the elders were so powerless. They did not put him out. They had this soft idea of human love. Paul the apostle said, "Put him out." 54:56 Put him out of the church. We don't want all this wishy-washy type of human love in the church. Not only that, as an apostle, I hand him over to Satan so that he'll get sick. He gets so sick that he'll finally turn to God 55:12 and his spirit will be saved. And it happened. By the time it comes 2 Corinthians 2, you know, the people took it seriously. They put him out of the church. They took it so strictly, they wouldn't visit him, they wouldn't talk to him. 55:27 And he says, verse 6, chapter 2 verse 6, "It's enough. The punishment which is inflicted by the majority." What is the punishment? They had nothing to do with him. They say, "You repent of your sin. You brought such dishonor to the name of 55:43 Christ." I tell you, we don't have many elders with tough love like that today. And that's like Paul. That's why we have wishy-washy churches. Because we have wishy-washy leaders. Paul's love was a tough love 56:03 that sought the best for people. Not just to comfort them and make them happy. So, hand him over to Satan. Let him get sick. Let him suffer. Let him take sin seriously. Let him consider how he has dishonored the Lord. And believers, keep away from him. 56:21 Let him see how dark it is when he has no fellowship. I remember once I had to tell a brother in our church, not for something like immorality, far from it. But he was a tremendous gossip. He was always gossiping this, that, and the 56:39 other about others. And one day I told him, "Brother, we don't tolerate this in our church. I want you to sit at home and don't come for the services for the next 2 months. Your wife and children can come, but you can't come 56:53 because you're a gossiper. I've told you so many times to stop it, and you don't do it." He sat at home. And some folks who had earlier left because they were offended with our strong preaching heard about this. Oh, brother Zach has asked this chap to go 57:10 and sit at home. So, they tried to go and provoke him a little bit, try to get him to their group, or whatever it is. And they went and met him, and they said, "Oh, we hear that brother Zach has asked you not to come go to church." 57:25 He said, "That's right. He's my spiritual father. And I'm just waiting for the 2 months to be over. And I'll go back a different person. He came back completely changed. Tough love works. We've seen it happen again. That's just 57:45 one example. When we are concerned more about the name of Jesus Christ than about my own reputation of being known as a gentle, nice brother. God is glorified and God stands by us. We've seen that. So, it says here because so many people inflicted 58:05 Finally, that guy came to his senses. That brother discovered how 2 months without fellowship even was darkness. And he began to value the church. And he said, "If If I have to stay away from sin in order to be in the church, I'm 58:17 going to stay away from sin." Some people need help. Some people stay away from sin because they love Jesus. Some people stay away from sin because they're afflicted. Some people stay away from sin because they see the darkness there is when you're 58:29 put out of the church. Always the aim is redemption. We never want a person to be put out permanently. Never. Even the prodigal son who goes away in rebellion, the father waits for him to come back. And I tell you, this has been 58:43 my attitude to every backslider who's ever tried to come back to our church. If I see him take one step towards me, I run like the father. But I don't run before he takes that first step. If I see him still sitting with the 58:57 pigs, I say, "I'm willing to wait. Take your time. You sit there 20 years, you sit 20 years. But you're not going to come back to the church as a king. You're going to come back to the church saying I was a sinner, good-for-nothing, 59:10 rotten sinner. I come back. I don't even deserve the last seat in your house. I deserve to be in the servants' quarters." When a person comes with that spirit, we run and welcome him and lay out a feast for him. That's Christianity. That's what Jesus 59:24 taught. Tough love that father had. He never sent any food packets or money to his son in the far country. Let him get to the level of the pigs. That's a picture of God. Tough love. And I tell you we've seen it work 59:42 through many years. And do you think these people to whom I've shown this doubler hate me? They respect me immensely. They love me because they saw I wasn't just interested in um spoiling them. I wanted to do them God's best for them. 1:00:00 Don't you want that for your child? You pamper your child, you'll produce a child for the devil. You treat your children with tough love, they'll grow up to be godly men and women. So, that's how it was. Satan didn't get 1:00:16 an advantage there. Now he says, "Forgive him." Verse seven. "Comfort him. Strengthen him. Otherwise, he'll be overwhelmed with excessive sorrow." As much as Paul was strict in punishing him, he was equally wholehearted in receiving him back. 1:00:34 That's how it is. There were no grudges in his heart against him. No. I urge you, reaffirm verse eight, your love for him. And to this end also I wrote to put you to the test whether you will be obedient to me as an apostle in all things. Thank 1:00:50 God those Christians in Corinth were obedient to the apostle. They didn't think they knew better than him. And therefore, it went well. That man came back, I'm sure as a repentant sinner. He I'm sure became a good brother in the 1:01:03 church. And now he says, "If you're forgiven him, I also forgive. And what I have forgiven, I have forgiven in the presence of Jesus Christ." Verse 10. Why do I forgive in the presence of Jesus Christ? Because if I don't forgive somebody, Satan takes an 1:01:20 advantage over me. When you don't forgive someone, Satan's got an advantage over you. Is there anybody you've not forgiven? Maybe some terrible thing that person did against you or your daughter or son or somebody spoke some terrible evil 1:01:34 against you, spread a scandal about you. Do you know how many scandals have been spread about me? I can say before God, I love all of them. Because I don't look at them as evil. I look at them as sick people. When a person speaks evil of me or 1:01:53 scandalizes me or tells false stories about me, I look at him like a man who's got leprosy. I We've got a lot of lepers in India. Their fingers are eaten away, nose eaten away, and they look so horrible. Do you ever get angry if you see a man 1:02:06 with leprosy? I don't. I feel sorry for the poor man. And I see this person who's angry with me and hates me and tells stories about me, I see his soul. I look inside his soul. His soul is leprous. How can I get angry with him? 1:02:25 Impossible. Wha- Once upon a time it was a struggle to love him. No longer. I don't wish evil for any of them. Do you wish evil for a leper when you see him? Supposing a person's got cancer. He's wasting away, cancer. Do you get 1:02:43 angry with him? Do you see that a person who does evil to you has got a cancer? Who speaks evil against you has got a cancer? The devil's got a hold of his life. You need to have compassion on him. That's how Jesus looked at the world, 1:02:59 full of leprous, cancerous people. But when we don't see with those eyes of Jesus Christ, we just see our honor, our name. How dare that fellow say that against me? Now, then Satan gets an advantage. It's difficult to forgive. I'll tell you, 1:03:16 it's easy to forgive when you see them with the eyes of Christ and when you see how much Christ has forgiven you. So, let's take that position. Let's bow before God in prayer.
