0:00 In Matthew chapter 7, before he spoke about the, no, after he spoke about the narrow way and the broad way, 0:21 He used another illustration. Verse 17 to 20. Matthew 7, verse 17 to 20. He said, beware, no, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. 0:51 A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, a bad tree cannot produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. And you will know them by their fruits. 1:21 tree which produces the fruit. So, when we think of having a pure heart, we have to think of the root from which that pure heart comes. Before Jesus, John the Baptist came and preached like this. 1:55 In Matthew 3 and verse 10, he said, the axe is laid to the root of the tree. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 2:16 We can think of the evil deeds that come out from our flesh like bad fruit. All the sins that come out from our life are like fruit. 2:55 But if you only cut off the fruit, it will keep coming again. And in the Old Testament, they were only cutting off the fruit. That means, if you commit adultery, you will be punished. 3:16 If you commit murder, you will be punished. And even in the Old Testament, if a son did not obey his parents and was very stubborn, he would be punished. So, punishment is like cutting off the, when the fruit comes up, you cut it off, bad fruit. 3:42 So, the entire Old Testament was like that. That's why when that woman was caught in adultery, the Pharisees said, stone her to death. So, people were afraid to commit sin because of punishment. 4:10 I mean, even today, the reason why a thief does not steal is because he will be caught and put into jail. So, human beings are mostly, they avoid sin because they are afraid of punishment. 4:34 But that's not the way Jesus lived a holy lie. The Bible says, Jesus lived on earth, tempted like us, but he never sinned. You must all know that verse, Hebrews chapter 4. 4:59 This is, this is a truth that we have, that we have preached in CFC for 45 years. And I want to tell you that most Christians have not seen this truth. And that is why they are defeated. 5:20 So, Hebrews 4, verse 15, it says, Jesus is called a high priest. It says here, he can sympathize with our weaknesses. 5:40 Why is that? No, he can sympathize with our weakness. Because he was also tempted like us. But he did not sin. You know, supposing somebody has gone through great suffering. 6:06 And he took it joyfully and did not grumble. That is a good example for somebody else going through the same suffering. So, Jesus did not only preach against sin. He demonstrated it by his life. 6:27 But because Christians have always worshipped him as God. And that is true. He was God from all eternity. 6:50 He is, along with the Father and the Holy Spirit, he created this universe. It is very difficult for us to understand God, because we are human beings. It is just like a dog cannot understand many things we talk about. 7:18 A dog is below a human being. It cannot understand many things in human beings. And the same way, God is so much above us that we cannot understand everything about God. 7:41 So, people say, how can God be three persons and one God? I say, that's because we are human, we cannot understand. Just like a dog cannot understand a human being. See, dogs think like this. 8:08 Why do these human beings wear clothes? We never wear clothes. We dogs never wear any clothes. Why do they send their children to school? We don't send our little dogs to school. Why do they keep money in a bank? 8:29 We don't do any such thing. Dogs don't use the money. Like that, there are hundreds of things a dog cannot understand. But even a little child can understand. So, if a dog cannot understand a man, it's not surprising. 8:53 There are many things about God we cannot understand. But we know God is three persons, but it's one God. They are all equal. And that's why Jesus said, when you baptize people, baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 9:21 But this second person, the Son of God, came down and became a man. He was still God, but had a body just like ours, was born as a baby, just like every human being. 9:45 In fact, when people looked at him, they thought he's just another man. But, just like we are tempted to sin, he was also tempted to sin. But he never sinned. And that's what it says here, that he was tempted in everything as we are, but he did not sin. 10:19 Now, why is it important to understand this truth? Because if you turn to 1 Timothy and chapter 2, see, the Bible is the only book in the world that tells us about how to live a godly life. 10:40 So, when you come to the Bible, you have to give up all your own ideas of how to live a holy life. And this is what I found in 1 Timothy chapter 3, verse 16. So, great is the mystery of godliness. 11:08 And another translation in the Living Bible says, it is true that the way to live a godly life is not an easy thing. And we all agree. 11:30 The way to live a holy life is not at all easy. It's a secret. The secret, it says, is found in Christ came like us in the flesh. And he was pure in his spirit. 11:52 Now, if he came without our flesh and was pure in his spirit, that's not a great thing. But when he came with a body like ours, and tempted like us, and never sinned in 33 and a half years, 12:17 then we want to know, how did he do that? Because that is called the secret of living a holy life. Secrets are not something which we publicly proclaim. 12:37 Secrets we whisper in somebody's ear. Here it says the secret, that living a holy life is a secret. So, to whom does God whisper these secrets? 13:00 Turn with me to the Old Testament. Psalm 25. Psalm 25 and verse 14. 13:21 Here it says the secret of the Lord is only for those who fear Him. Here it says the secret of the Lord is only for those who fear Him. 13:47 Here it says the secret of the Lord is only for those who fear Him. Here it says the secret of the Lord is only for those who fear Him. Here it says the secret of the Lord is only for those who fear Him. Here it says the secret of the Lord is only for those who fear Him. 14:02 Here it says the secret of the Lord is only for those who fear Him. Here it says the secret of the Lord is only for those who fear Him. And to them He will explain this new covenant. So, God doesn't tell it to everybody. 14:21 Because not everybody fears God. To fear God is to hate sin. You may not be able to overcome sin. But you hate it. That proves that you fear God. 14:44 In the Old Testament, people feared God. They hated sin. But they could not overcome it. Because they did not know the secret. That secret became evident only when Jesus came to the earth. 15:08 He came as a man, was tempted like us, and did not sin. And the reason he did not sin was the Father gave him grace. We think that Jesus did not need grace. 15:34 Because many Christians have taught grace means God freely forgives us. But that's not the real meaning of grace. See, in the same verse, Hebrews 4, 15. 15:58 Jesus was tempted like us, so He did not sin. And even though He was tempted like us, He did not sin. And then you say, therefore what? It says in the next verse. Therefore, we also can go to the throne of grace. 16:27 So that we can receive mercy and grace in our time of need. First, mercy. That is for forgiveness of our past sins. 16:49 Jesus did not need mercy from His Father. Because He never sinned. Why do we need mercy? We need it every day. Because in some way we are sinning every day. 17:12 Sometime, most of the time, without realizing it. So, we need mercy every day. But Jesus did not need that. But grace, Jesus needed. 17:33 We can put it like this. Mercy is for the past. Grace is for the future. For the past means, any failure. For my whole past life, I need mercy. Forgiveness of sins. 17:55 And if this morning, I failed, I need mercy for that also. But grace is for the future that I don't sin. So, let me repeat that. Mercy is for forgiving our past sins. 18:16 Grace is to help me to overcome sin in the future. And if I sin again, I need mercy. So, here it says, Jesus was tempted like us. But He did not sin. 18:37 Therefore, let us get the same grace that He got. Let us come with boldness to the throne of grace. And get the same grace to help us, verse 16, in our time of need. It's not talking about our financial need. 19:04 It's not talking about need for healing. It's not talking about the same thing mentioned in the previous verse, temptation. It's not talking about the same thing mentioned in the previous verse, temptation. When we are tempted, we are needy, we need help. 19:28 And Jesus got help, we can get the same help. So, people say, how do you say that Jesus got grace? See, most Christians do not believe that Jesus got grace. The only thing we get, need grace. 19:56 I'll tell you why they believe that. Because they don't read the Bible carefully. They read it so fast and so carelessly. See, Luke's Gospel and chapter 2. 20:28 We read that as He, as Jesus grew up in Bethlehem. No, He was born in Bethlehem. He grew up in Nazareth. And see what it says about His growth. In verse 39, Luke 2.39. He, in the city of Nazareth. 20:54 Verse 30, He continued to grow and become strong. And He increased in wisdom from the time He was a child. And what was upon Him? The grace of God was upon Him. 21:17 It's so clear. Jesus received grace. And if you get grace. And if you get grace, what happens? You overcome sin. See Romans 6, verse 14. It's a very important verse. 21:42 Remember this verse always. Sin shall not be master over you, because you are not under law, but under grace. So, if I am under law, that means law is over me. 22:06 I'll keep on sinning. Because the law only says, don't do this, don't do this, don't do this. But I still do it. I know it's wrong. Because the law tells me it's wrong. Don't get angry. 22:27 But I do it. I'm under law, I keep on sinning. But when you come under grace. That helps me when I'm tempted to get angry. So, if grace is upon us, we don't sin. 22:51 That is Romans 6, verse 14. When we are under grace, means grace of God is upon us. It's like saying, if you stand under this roof, if this is grace, then the rain cannot fall on my head. 23:13 Let me be any amount of rain. This is grace. I will not get wet. If you're under grace, you will not sin. And what did we read once again in Luke chapter 2? 23:33 We read there in Luke's gospel in chapter 2 and verse 40. Grace of God was upon Jesus. And when you're under grace, you don't sin. It's so clear. That's why he did not sin. 23:54 Not because he was God. Supposing Jesus came here as God. No, he came here as God. But supposing he did everything in the power of God. Then we cannot follow him. So many times Jesus said, follow me, follow me, follow me. 24:21 But how can you follow him if he had lived in the power of God? I say, Lord, I cannot follow you. You used your power as God to live on this earth. How can I follow you? I'm not God. And that is what the devil has blinded the minds of almost all believers. 24:45 He tells them, you cannot follow Jesus. He was God on earth. Yes, I know he was God on earth. But he did not use that power when he fought against sin. 25:07 See, let me use an example. Supposing an angel comes from heaven. And swims across a river with his wings. And says to me, follow me. 25:31 What will I say? What will you say? The angel says, follow me across this river. You don't know how to swim. You will say to him, I can't follow you. I don't have wings. 25:55 Supposing the angel says, I will teach you how to swim. And he flies across this river. And says, come, follow me. He says, come. He says, no, I can't follow you. But if he takes off his wings, 26:17 He becomes like us. That when you get into the water, you go down. And he shows you, see, I will also go down if I go into the water. But see, now how I am struggling, struggling, and I don't sink. 26:37 Now, do what I do. Then I can say to the angel, yeah, now I can follow you. In the same way, if Jesus came down, this is working. If Jesus came down as God, 26:58 and says, follow me, follow me. I can't follow you. Because you have a power as God, I don't have. But if he says, I lay aside that power, and I live just like you. 27:18 And I pray to my father for grace. And I did not sin for 33 and a half years. Follow me. That is the secret of living a holy life. I was born again when I was 20 years old. 27:46 And for the first 16 years, I did not know that Jesus came like me. I was defeated, as a believer, I was defeated, defeated, defeated, just like many of you. 28:11 I gave up my job to do full-time work, and I was still defeated. Until one day, God opened my spiritual eyes, to see one thing. The secret of godliness is, 28:33 Jesus came like you. I was seeking, seeking, how can I live in victory over sin every day? And so God saw, I fear him. 28:55 So he whispered a secret into my heart. What we just saw, the secret of godliness. That Jesus was tempted like me. grace, so he did not sin. 29:18 So let me explain the difference, between mercy and grace. Supposing you are climbing a mountain. That's the picture of living the Christian life. It's a struggle. 29:38 And then you slip. But you don't fall down, you're hanging on, with your hands, to the cliff. And you're about to fall. And you're too proud, to ask anybody to help you. 30:01 And you're hanging there, hanging there, trying to climb. And you hang there, for about one hour. And you become weak, and you fall to the ground. And your bones are broken. 30:23 Then you have to call for the ambulance, that picks you up, and takes you to the hospital. That is called mercy. You tried to overcome sin. You tried to overcome sin, you failed. You fell. 30:45 You got angry. You lusted with your eyes. You told a lie. Then you have to say, Lord, please forgive me. That is the ambulance coming and picking you up, and forgiving you, and fixing your broken bones, etc. That is the same thing. 31:02 That is the same thing. That is the same thing. That is the same thing. That is the same thing. That is the same thing. That is the same thing. Grace is different. Here also, I'm hanging there, about to fall. And I'm not too proud to ask for help. 31:21 I say, Lord, please help me. And I find his arms come under my armpits, and lifts me up, and puts me on the road. And I said, Lord, what happened? I didn't fall this time. 31:43 That was grace. When God forgives you after you have fallen, that's mercy. When God helps you that you don't fall, that's grace. Jesus never needed mercy, because he never fell. 32:04 But he needed grace every day, because he was tempted like us every day. How did he get it? Turn back to Hebrews 4. Hebrews 4, 16. Let us draw near to the throne of grace, that we can find grace to help us, in our time of need. 32:26 Our time of need is when we are about to fall. And we can ask for grace. And he'll get it. How did Jesus get it? Verse chapter 5, verse 7. 32:48 In the days of his flesh, he prayed. He prayed. And he prayed and supplicated, it says. And he prayed with loud crying and tears. What was he praying for? 33:08 What was he praying for? Father, save me from death. Save me from death. And it says he was hurt. 33:30 Which death was that? Was he praying, save me from physical death? Then we have to say he was not hurt. Because he died. But here it says, this death, he was hurt. 33:55 There are two deaths the Bible speaks of. Physical death, spiritual death. See, James chapter 1. James chapter 1, it says here, 34:17 verse 15. Lust, when it is conceived, it brings forth sin. And sin, when it is finished, brings forth death. It's not physical death, that's spiritual death. So what death was Jesus praying, Father, save me from it? 34:42 Spiritual death. He was saying, Father, I never want to sin. Because sin was death, spiritual death. That means my fellowship with God will be cut off. That is spiritual death. And he was praying, 35:02 Father, I don't want to sin. I don't want to sin. Give me grace. Give me grace. How did he pray? Verse 7, with loud crying and tears. That's why he never sinned. It says, he was hurt. 35:23 Verse 8, even though he was a son, he learned obedience in those situations. Now you know, why you don't get victory. Because, your prayer is so weak. 35:44 Lord, help me. Nothing came. Forget it. And you fall into sin. But Jesus wasn't like that. He was tempted to get angry. He would pray, so that he never got angry. 36:06 He was tempted with women. Tempted with money. Tempted to be proud. Tempted to take revenge on others. But never, never sinned. Because every time he prayed, 36:27 and he got grace. That is what Jesus meant, when he said, follow me. See, many Christians haven't understood that. I, myself, did not understand that. I'll tell you, because for 16 years, 36:47 I was not serious about overcoming sin. And I'll tell you something. Those of you, who are not serious about overcoming sin, you will not even understand what I'm saying right now. 37:12 You'll see, oh, this is all too complicated. That's because you're not interested in overcoming sin. You'll be honest. You have tried so many methods to overcome sin, but you're still defeated today. 37:33 But this is the secret. And I tell you, you can overcome, if you do it Jesus way. If you don't believe me, you follow Jesus method next time. You say, Lord, I want to follow you. I want to overcome sin. 37:53 So I remember when I was a young man, and I understood this truth. I was about 35 years old then. And when I was tempted, okay, I said, Lord Jesus, when you were in Nazareth, 38:13 you were tempted exactly like I'm being tempted now. What did you do? What did you do? I want to do the same thing. He prayed, wholeheartedly from his heart. I said, Lord, I want to pray like that. 38:35 And I found, I was lifted up by God, and I did not sin. So it says here, let us come boldly, and ask God for grace, to overcome sin. God is not going to do it, if you don't ask him. 38:55 See, there's a law of God. It says here in James 4, The last part of verse 2, remember this sentence always. 39:16 The last sentence in verse 2, you do not have, because you do not ask. You do not have, because you do not ask. You do not have victory, because you do not ask for it. 39:37 You do not have victory, because you do not ask for it. And if you ask, you do not pray, like Jesus prayed, with loud crying and tears, Oh Father, I do not want to sin. Supposing you are drowning in a sea, and you do not know how to swim. 40:00 How will you pray? It won't be a weak prayer, please help me. You cry out, Oh God, I am drowning, please help me. Or if a lion is chasing you, how will you pray? You cry out, 40:21 Oh God, please help me, save me from this. But we don't pray like that, when you have tempted to sin. We are afraid of drowning, we are afraid of being eaten up by the lion. But we are so used to sinning, 40:41 that it doesn't matter if we sin. I will tell you, it is much worse to sin, than to drown in the sea. When you see that, you will cry out to God, Lord, I don't want to sin. 41:01 If your husbands pray a prayer like this, Lord, 365 days of the year, I never want to raise my voice, and get angry with my wife. And the wife prays like that, 365 days of the year, I never want to raise my voice, at my husband. 41:27 Are you serious about that? Most married people are not serious. And that's why, 10, 15, 20 years, they still keep on defeated. They say they are following Jesus. Which Jesus? 41:48 Not the Jesus who was never defeated by sin. Not the Jesus who prayed, with loud crying and tears, to the Father to help him. See, we will pray like that, for sickness, to be healed. Or, to get a job, 42:08 or to get money. But the most, most important thing we need, is to overcome sin. To ask God to help you in this area. Lord, teach me how to overcome sin. Then I want to come back, 42:29 to what I showed you first, in Matthew chapter, Matthew chapter 3. I told you, I told you in the Old Testament, they dealt with sin, with a pair of scissors. Supposing you got a tree, supposing you got a tree, in your garden, 42:48 outside your house, and he is always producing bad fruit. But you don't want anybody, to see the bad fruit. Because people say, what bad fruit this man has. as soon as the bad fruit comes, you take scissors, 43:09 and cut it off. But the tree, keeps on producing fruit, every day, you have got to keep cutting it. John the Baptist said, Matthew chapter 3. Now, God is not coming with scissors. 43:34 He has come with an axe, verse 10. An axe that is laid, to the root of the tree. Then this tree will completely, stop producing fruit. Bad fruit. And he puts a new tree there. 43:55 No root, seed. And a good tree comes. So what is the root, which God wants to hit, in our heart? That is what the Bible calls, pride. 44:18 Pride is the root, from which, every sin, that you ever commit, comes. That has to be hit at the root. Another seed has to be planted, in our heart, which produces good fruit. 44:41 And that seed, is called, humility. God gives his grace, only to the humble. We read in 1 Peter 5, verse 5. Now, I told you that, we need grace, to overcome sin. 45:04 But God does not give grace, but God does not give grace to everybody. 1 Peter 5, verse 5, He gives grace to the humble. He gives grace to the humble. So when you pray, if you are humble, you will get grace. But if you are not humble, 45:26 you won't get grace, and you will fall into sin. And I will tell you this, no matter how much you pray, you will keep on sinning, because you are not humble. Say to yourself, this truth, I am falling into sin, only for one reason. 45:49 I am proud, I am not humble. Because if I were humble, I would get grace. And when grace is on me, I cannot sin. I know when I used to fall, I used to ask the Lord, Lord, I don't need to ask you, 46:09 why I fell. See, even in the thoughts, putting a bad thought, came into my mind. Even after I had overcome, external sins, in the thought I would fall, I said, why did I fall there? I don't have to ask. 46:31 Because I didn't get grace. There is no need to ask. If grace was on me, I would not fall in my thoughts. So, I never asked God, why did I fall? I knew the answer. I did not get grace. 46:52 And I did not have to ask, the second question also, why didn't I get grace? I know, God must have seen some pride in me, so He did not give me grace. So, two questions I did not ask. 47:13 Why did I fall? No need to ask. I didn't get grace. Why didn't I get grace? No need to ask. I was proud. So, whenever I fell in my thoughts, the only question I asked was the third question. 47:34 where was I proud? Show me Lord. And then the Lord would show me. Maybe the previous week, I did something good, and I was a bit proud about it. and like that, 47:55 I discovered areas of pride in my life. And as I discovered, I cleansed myself. and I began to get grace more and more. So, 48:15 when you sin, don't, don't ask the Lord, why did I fall into sin? The answer is, you did not come under grace. Don't ask the second question, why didn't I get grace? 48:36 That's also here. God does not give grace to the proud. So, you got two answers without even asking. I fell into sin because I didn't get grace. I didn't get grace because I was proud. So, the only question 48:57 you need to ask when you fall into sin is, Lord, show me where was I proud that you could not give me grace and I fell into sin. And it's amazing how God is so faithful and loving. He'll tell you. 49:20 Sometimes, He says, you compared yourself with somebody else and I thought you're better than him. Forgive me. I don't want to compare myself with anybody. It's a wonderful thing to discover more and more areas of pride. 49:45 It's like the children of Israel went and occupied more and more and more of the land of Canaan. I look at the land of Canaan like the land of pride 50:05 inside my life. Lord, you've shown me one area I'm going to conquer that. There's still many other areas I don't know but as God shows me I judge myself I conquer that. 50:26 And little by little I'm conquering this land of Canaan. There's still some areas left. one day one day when Christ comes back I would have conquered the whole thing. So the root which has to be 50:47 access to be laid is pride. Now I'll tell you another thing you don't have to be very educated to understand all these things that I told you. Even simple uneducated people can understand 51:08 if they have a hunger and a thirst for overcoming sin. But if you don't have a hunger and thirst to overcome sin in your life if you want 51:31 to overcome only external sin that may be just because you want a good testimony before people. Lord, I'd like to overcome anger because my testimony is spoiled that way. That doesn't show you fear God. 51:52 That shows you fear men. You want a good testimony before men. But when you want to overcome sin in your thoughts where no man can see there you're not seeking honor from men you're seeking honor from God. 52:13 So in that area if you want to overcome Lord, I'm really serious. He will show you that all he'll explain to you everything that you heard this afternoon. So I don't believe everybody here will understand. 52:35 The proof of your understanding will be that something will change in your life from tomorrow onwards. you'll have a great desire to pray that you overcome all sin. 52:56 Let's pray. heavenly father I can't explain all these things so clearly for everybody to understand. I tried my best but Lord only your 53:16 holy spirit can explain these things. and I know one thing father that everyone here who is sincerely desiring for victory you will explain it to them. 53:38 and I know the rest will never understand. Have mercy upon us. Help us to know the grace of God that gives us power to overcome. Pray in Jesus name. Amen.
