0:06 I want to turn to 2 Corinthians in chapter 3. And uh this is one of those chapters that speaks about the difference between the new covenant and the old covenant. Not all the differences, but just tries to show that the new covenant 0:26 is far superior to the old covenant. Now, you know that in CFC we speak a lot about the new covenant. But like everything else, it's very easy for that to become uh something we speak about without 0:46 experiencing. There are a lot of churches where people many years ago came out of the dead denominations preaching the new birth. And that first generation proclaimed the new birth. 1:05 You know, brethren assemblies, Pentecostal assemblies when they started out. But today when you go to some of those assemblies, the people there are not even born again. They still preach the new birth. And many of them are not really born 1:19 again. It's become a language. Now, we've been going 47 years as a CFC worldwide and little less in other places like you, but the great danger is 1:37 of our mouthing certain words without it becoming a reality in our life. And we can think that we are experiencing it because we understand it. There's a lot of difference between understanding and experience. 1:55 We must never rest satisfied with understanding. That is old covenant. We can say the old covenant was the word, God's word. It was very clearly written on a rock, rocks, 2:15 and which Moses brought down. But when Jesus came down, when Moses came the mountain down from the mountain, he brought the written word. But when Jesus came down, we read the word became flesh. John chapter 1 2:37 verse 14. So, if any word that I understand in my head, clearly, I mean clear enough to be able to explain it. If it does not become flesh in me, I have to say to myself, 2:55 "I'm still under the old covenant." However well I may speak about the truths that I understand, sin will not have dominion over me, over you. Romans 6:14. Truth. But if it is only in the head and it's not reality in my daily life, 3:14 if it's not a reality that my wife can testify to, that your husband can testify to, then we have to humble ourselves before God and say, It's like the old covenant. It's like the old covenant. It's the true word. There's nothing in the Old 3:31 Testament that is not true. The problem was it never became flesh in the lives of those people. And these things are written for our instruction. I've often wondered why three quarters 3:48 of the Bible is the Old Testament. I mean, if everything we needed to know was only in the New Testament, then why in the world is three quarters of the Bible, 39 out of 66 books are Old Testament? And pages-wise, three quarters of the 4:06 Bible is Old Testament. We have to learn something from there. The people who proclaimed the greatest truths did not often live them. They could not. I mean, there are many examples of that. 4:25 For example, in the New Testament, let me give you just one example. Two of the greatest men in the Old Testament were Moses and Samuel. And Ezekiel, for example, the Lord tells Ezekiel, "Even if Moses and Samuel stood here, I would not listen to them." 4:42 So, he takes Moses and Samuel as two great God himself tells Ezekiel. Moses and Samuel were some of the greatest prophets in the Old Testament. Outstanding men who prophesied to God's people. What they said and taught was accurate, and God 5:00 bore witness to both of them. But, their children were wayward. We don't know anything about Moses' children. All we know is we see him fighting with his wife in in Exodus 4, and read it sometime. It's cuz they Moses 5:20 had not even obeyed the elementary truths of circumcising a child. And I have a feeling that Moses probably wanted it, but his wife did not want it. So, he said, "For the sake of peace at home," he listened to his wife. 5:38 And finally, when God said, "I'm going to kill you." You read that in Exodus 4. I don't want to go there now. And then, his wife realized, cuz she was not a Jew, you know. She was not a descendant of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. So, 5:56 then she realized it's because our child is not circumcised. God's going to kill my husband. So, under that pressure she circumcised the child and threw the skin at the feet of Moses saying, "You're a husband of blood." 6:12 They never had a good family relationship. And the same with Samuel. He had two sons whom he foolishly appointed as judges after him. He was not able to discern 6:29 the spirituality of his own two sons. It's very sad. And so, the sons went astray. They were taking bribes. Can you imagine that? Children of Samuel taking bribes. And Samuel went along merrily traveling here and there preaching till the people 6:45 came to Samuel and said, "We are fed up of your sons." Now, you see that such a man if Moses and Samuel were here today, they would not qualify to be an elder even in a CFC church. Can you believe that? Can you believe that 7:05 Moses and Samuel would not qualify to be elders in a CFC church? Because their children were wayward. And then you see that there you see the height of the New Testament standard. It says very clearly in 1 Timothy 3 and 7:22 Titus chapter 1 the quality of life expected in in an elder's home, the way he's brought up his children. Because what it says in 1 Timothy 3 is, "If you can't bring up two children at home, how in the world are you going to 7:35 take care of hundreds of people in a church?" You're not fit to be an elder. That's what you have to say to Moses, that's what you got to say to Samuel. So, the new covenant in the So, I'm just trying to point out but they were great prophets of the old 7:51 covenant. What they taught was 100% truth. And we read in Numbers 12, Moses was the humblest man on the face of the earth. Yeah. Great man of God but 8:11 old covenant, great men of the old covenant. And we can look and learn a lot of things from them because they had many qualities which even today people don't have. But the new covenant is superior. And if it's only in a doctrine that we 8:27 talk about being different and it's not in our life, then we are not at the level of the word made flesh. Every word that we proclaim must have become flesh in us. Otherwise, let me wait and not proclaim it or let me say 8:43 this hasn't become reality in me yet but I'm striving to get there. That's honesty. See, Jesus came with grace and truth. And I've discovered in the new covenant truth is a very, very important 9:01 area of our life. That means total ruthless honesty. Total honesty, no pretense. Very, very important and particularly in this area that I don't proclaim something which is not true in my life. 9:20 Or if it's not true, at least I must be pursuing it, climbing towards it and acknowledging I've not got there yet. I You can speak about being free from anxiety, definitely. Because it's in God's word. But if you haven't got there, 9:37 you got to say I haven't reached the top of the mountain there, but I'm climbing and I hope you're climbing. In other words, you should be a little better today than you were 5 years ago in the area of anxiety. Otherwise, 9:47 you're not climbing. If you're on the same level as you were 5 years ago, then you can't say you're made any progress. I'm not saying you should compare yourself with what you were yesterday or last month, but compare yourself with what you were say 10:00 5 years ago. There should be some progress. If we don't evaluate ourselves constantly, there's no such thing as evaluating yourself in the old covenant. In fact, if you read the old covenant, some of those great men, they ascended to great heights, 10:18 tremendous examples and then sank down. You take a person like Gideon. Gideon is one of the first people in the Old Testament about whom it is written, "The spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon." One of the first people in the Old 10:36 Testament. You read that. Spirit of the Lord came upon him. He asked God for a sign and he went out and God chose him to lead 300 people to defeat thousands of Midianites. And he came back and he didn't want to 10:55 promote his children or any such thing, unlike Samuel. He was better than him. But, he said, "Okay, I want you guys to give me all your earrings and all the gold you have." And what did he do with that gold? You read in the book of Judges sometime. 11:12 I hope you guys read the Old Testament because it's written for our instruction. With that gold, he made an idol. This man, the mighty man of God who defeated the Midianites, went and made an idol. And the Israelites went after that. 11:32 There are so many stories like that. Look at the great man David. I'm just trying to show you where old covenant people lived and it's very easy if we don't make the word flesh in our life, we can end up like that. Let me show you 11:50 in uh 1 Kings. We know that the David is called a man after God's own heart. Even in Acts of the Apostles, Acts 13, David is called a man um after God Sorry, Acts 7. David is 12:08 called a man after God's own heart. And certainly he had great faith to kill Goliath. He started out so well. Outstanding man. Knew the word of God. Look at the some of the 12:26 Psalms he's written. Amazing. And he wrote many of them before he was 30 years old. But many of us are older than 30. Can you imagine writing scripture before you're 30 years old? What a devotion he had to the Lord. He would write in Psalm 27, there's only 12:44 one thing I've desired from the Lord that I may sit in his presence all the days of my life to behold his beauty. Psalm 27. He says verse four, that's the only thing he wanted. What a man he was when he started out. And he would not kill Saul even when he 12:59 had the opportunity. Saul was trying to kill him, but he would not kill him. He said, "No, I will not touch him. He's God's anointed." What a respect and fear he had for God's word. I tell you when you read the examples of 13:11 these men, I see many of us come short. We're not like that. He was an outstanding man. And uh you read Let me show you an example of how he treated one of his enemies. You read in 2 Samuel 13:30 and there was a time when Absalom, his son, chased him out of uh Jerusalem. And when he was running away from Jerusalem, this this is described in 2 Samuel and uh 13:50 chapter 15 and 16. And when it comes to chapter 16, 2 Samuel, there was a descendant of Saul who was disturbed that David had replaced Saul as king. You read in verse 5. Somebody from the family 2 Samuel 16:5, 14:08 someone from the family of Saul came and threw stones and cursed. Verse 5 and 6 of 2 Samuel 16 at David because David was now being chased out of the throne by his king. I mean, he wouldn't have dared to do that if David was sitting on the throne, 14:27 but he saw David being chased out by his son and he said he says to him, "Get out. Get out." Verse 7, "You worthless fellow." Can you imagine what a bitterness he had held in his heart against David for so long? And he kept it inside, but now he saw 14:42 David being chased out by his son and he said, "Yeah, you deserve it." And when Abishai, 2 Samuel 16:9, told David, "Let me go and cut off his head right now." Abishai was David's general. King said, "Not at all." See what he says 15:01 in verse 10. It's It's a lesson we can learn. If the Lord has, I would say, allowed him to curse David, who am I to say, "Why are you cursing?" He had such a understanding of the sovereignty of God 15:20 over people's speech that he said, "That man cannot curse me unless God has allowed it." I mean, he expressed it as if the Lord told him. The Lord doesn't tell. The language in the old covenant is not always accurate. What he means is the 15:37 Lord has allowed him to curse me, and I'm not going to fight him. And so, he said, "Let him go." And later on, when he comes back after after Solomon is killed, you read further down in one of the later 15:55 chapters that Shimei comes to him and says, "Oh, please forgive me." And say, "I'm I'm very sorry." Because now he sees uh 2 Samuel in chapter 19, David was restored as king. Then Shimei knew that David's come back as king. Now, what's going to happen to 16:14 me? I'm the one who cursed him. So, 2 Samuel 19, Shim- Shimei, verse 16, runs up to him. And he comes to meet him. And And he says to him in verse 19, "So, Shimei, the guy who cursed the king, oh, please don't consider me guilty. 16:32 I'm sorry that I cursed you. I know I sinned." Verse 20. Uh and Abishai again, "Shimei should be put to death for cursing the Lord's anointed like he did." Again, David says in verse 22, "What have I got to do with you? 16:47 No, he's not my enemy. I don't want anybody to be put to death today." And the king said to Shimei, "You shall not die." Man after God's own heart. Now, years later, he the time 2 Samuel 1 17:07 Kings chapter 2, the time drew near for David to die. And he called Solomon and gave him his last charge. This is some very very important things he has to commit to Solomon before Solomon takes over the throne. He says, "I want to tell you some very 17:26 important things, Solomon." And see how well it starts. Keep the charge of the Lord. 1 Kings chapter 2 verse um 2 and 3. I'm going away now. Be strong. Show yourself as a man. Verse 3, keep the charge of the Lord. 1 Kings chapter 2 verse 3. 17:43 Walk in his ways so the Lord keep his commandments and his ordinances, testimonies according to the law of Moses. Then you will succeed in all that you do and wherever you turn. Then the Lord can fulfill his promise which he spoke 17:59 concerning me that if my your sons walk in my ways there shall not lack a man to be in throne of Israel. Wonderful up to that point. And now you see what he says. You know Joab? Joab was actually David's nephew, his sister Zeruiah's son. Was 18:19 the general of his army. But I mean, he was very loyal to David and in loyalty to David he killed some of David's enemies uh like the two commanders Abner and Amasa who had come to fight against David. I mean, as his as his as a bodyguard of 18:38 David he killed him. But David said, "No, he shed the blood of war at the time of peace." And he put the blood of war on his belt about his waist. So don't let verse 6 last part. Don't let his gray hair go down to hell in peace. 18:57 This is a guy who was defending David when he killed those people. Don't let his gray hair gray hair go down in peace. What sort of a leader was David? Killing the guy who defended him. From people who tried to kill David. 19:18 Then he says, There's one more man I want to talk to you about. That is verse 8, Shimei. You remember that's the guy we just talked about. Who had cursed David, come and asked God's forgiveness and both time David said forgiven, forgiven. 19:33 And but he's kept it in his heart all these days. I know I don't know how many years after Shimei cursed him. This is this incident where he dies. But he's kept it in his heart. That guy, I can never forgive him. This is old covenant, brothers. 19:52 Old covenant of a man who started off as God's own heart, as man after God's own heart. And he says, you remember he cursed me. Of course Solomon was there not was not there to hear what David had told him that I've forgiven you. 20:07 And told him to go. He said, I Yeah, I told him verse verse 8, second King 1 Kings chapter 2 verse 8. When he came down to me at the Jordan, the last part of verse 8, I swore to him by the Lord, I will not put him to death and I will 20:24 keep my word because I swore it to the Lord. I will not kill him. Ah, but Solomon, it was not you who made that promise. So you can do what you like, right? You're a wise man. Don't let his gray hair go down to 20:43 Sheol without blood. Let him go down to Sheol with blood. To hell. You see how the man after God's own heart ended his life? Let me ask you, do you think he had forgiven Shimei? He said he had. 21:03 Twice. He said he wouldn't kill him. But he said, "Solomon, you didn't make that promise. You go and kill him. I won't kill him." According to the letter of the law, you know, people sometimes argue, "Yeah, I said I won't do it, but you do it." 21:21 Those are his last words. You know, people talk about the last words of a person before he dies. Here are his last words. "Don't let that MAN ESCAPE. KILL HIM." Next sentence. First Samuel, David died. Can that happen to a man after God's own 21:41 heart? Yep. The Bible says if you don't forgive others, Jesus said, "You will not be forgiven." Very clear in Matthew chapter 6. It's one of the things he said in the middle of uh this my sermon on the Mount, Matthew 6:14-15, 22:01 "If you do not forgive others, your father will not forgive your transgressions." Clear. Heaven and earth will pass away, the words of Jesus will not pass away. Now, my question is, was David forgiven? You think he had forgiven Shimei? 22:20 Not at all. It's pretty clear. Was he forgiven himself? Is the word of Jesus fulfilled there or not? Did Jesus speak? When he was on earth, he called himself the son of who? Son of David. And we would think he should be ashamed 22:42 to be known as the son of a man who took revenge on his deathbed. It's amazing. Jesus called himself the son of David. And do you believe David is in heaven? I'm not God. 23:04 I'm not here to judge. But I say I believe he is. Cuz I can't imagine that there are so many references to David in the New Testament and you know, even 23:24 in the book of Revelation. Where he's called Judah Jesus is called in Revelation 5:5 the root of David has overcome to open the seven seals. David comes in the book of Revelation. So what is the answer? 23:46 The answer is this. He was under the old covenant. A lot of things were permitted under the old covenant. Divorce was permitted under the old covenant. So he was 24:07 forgiven because it was a new covenant condition. In Matthew 6, if you don't forgive others you will not be forgiven today. If someone dies like that today a so-called believer who'd given his life to Christ, maybe filled with the 24:26 spirit and speaking in tongues and serving the Lord full-time and man after God's own heart but he can't forgive someone. He just keeps it in his heart and in his even in his deathbed he can't forgive. You ask me? I have no doubt that such a man will go 24:45 to hell. Even if he was filled with the spirit even if he served the Lord for 50 years like David. I'm just trying to show you the tremendous difference in standard 25:04 in the new covenant from the old covenant. The new covenant is very clear. Your Matthew 6:14 if your heavenly father will forgive you only if you forgive others. That's why he taught us daily to pray 25:23 forgive us our sins as we have forgiven others. Why do I say daily? Because he taught us to pray in that prayer for our daily bread. Not weekly bread. Give us this day our daily bread, which means even though if you don't repeat that daily prayer 25:40 daily, this must be the spirit of our prayer every day. The spirit of my prayer every day must be, Lord, I depend on you my food. And next thing is forgive me my sins. Just like I have forgiven others. 25:58 And then Jesus amplified that saying you know what that means? That means if you don't forgive others, God will not forgive you because you're praying forgive me exactly like I have forgiven that guy there. But you haven't forgiven that guy there. 26:10 Then God won't forgive you. You're asking God to forgive you forgive you in the same way you've forgiven that person. I believe heaven and earth will pass away. That word will not pass away. You know, a lot of people talk about the 26:23 new covenant, but I've seen even in CFC churches, people have not seen the seriousness and the importance of a new covenant. The word has to become flesh. And where it has not become flesh, we must repent. In the old covenant, they would repent 26:42 in dust and ashes. We don't know how to put dust and ashes, but we must cry out to God weep on our pillow at night. Do any of you weep on your pillow at night? Yes. Have you ever done it? I've done it numerous times in my 27:00 younger days. When I wanted to overcome and I was defeated defeated during the day, I slipped up. And some of you usually my thoughts of anger or something. Night is the time to think about all that and say, "Lord, I'm so sorry. 27:18 I dishonored you today." You know, the Bible says, "Blessed are those who mourn." 27:34 Matthew 5:4, "who weep they'll be strengthened." The word comfort in the New Testament always means strength. Why don't you get strength to overcome some sin in your life? I'll tell you. 27:53 You don't weep. You sin and you take it lightly. Ah, I'm sorry, Lord. Please forgive me. Oh, you Will you do it tomorrow? Yeah, I may do it tomorrow, but I'll go to the Lord and he'll forgive me. I doubt if you'll ever in your life come 28:09 to a life of victory. You will miss out on something so important an inheritance God laid out laid up for you. When a father writes a will, supposing your father was a very wealthy man, and he wrote you wrote down all the 28:24 details of his wealth and put your name in that will. I know how people in the world would be. They would be very eager to find out which bank is that other money in. My father distributed his money in so many banks. I must locate all those banks and 28:39 get all that money. I don't want one cent of it to go to somebody else. I don't want some bank to cheat me out one cent of what my father worked so hard and gave it to me in his will. Well, I'll tell you what our heavenly 28:58 father has written for us in our will. No sin will rule over you. And if you don't experience that, you should be seeking, why is it? Why is it, Lord? This is my inheritance. This is new covenant. 29:24 And yet in the Old Testament, we see some outstanding examples. David was a man who saw somebody's pretty wife, not only lusted after her, committed adultery with her, killed her husband, married him married the woman. And 29:46 one year later when the child is born, he's still not convicted. Till Nathan the prophet comes and says, "You're the man." Then he writes Psalm 51. And I believe he really repented. But he still couldn't get over his 30:07 unforgiving attitude. There are many things we see in these men who they were old covenant. There are areas in their life that we can follow them. Outstanding examples in certain areas, 30:25 but not in every area. Like I don't know what type of relationship Moses had with his wife. All I read is he fought with her somewhere. And what type of relationship Samuel had with his wife and how he allowed his children sons to take bribes and he 30:40 didn't even know it. Can you imagine an elder brother his sons taking bribes and he doesn't even know it? Or his sons misbehave his children misbehaving somewhere and he doesn't even know it. And that's how it was with some of these 30:52 men in the Old Testament. But it's not permitted in the New Testament new covenant. The standard is so much higher. It's like heaven above the earth. And that's not an exaggeration. You know how much higher the heaven is 31:10 above the earth? The people of Israel were promised an earthly kingdom. In the land of Canaan. And God gave it to them. To us God has promised the kingdom of heaven. So the difference between the new 31:29 covenant and the old covenant must be difference between heaven and earth. They were an earthly people. We are heavenly people. So we have to behave like They fought for earthly wealth. And got excited when they got a lot of 31:49 earthly wealth. We fight for heavenly wealth. The heavenly wealth is the nature of Christ. We have to fight to get more and more of it in our life. Our enemies are in our flesh. You know, many of the Psalms that you read 32:08 it's amazing. Lord, don't spare my enemies and smite their let smash the heads of their children with rocks. You read Psalms like that? How do you interpret it when you read those Psalms in the new covenant? Yeah, this is how I interpret it. 32:26 Lord, those wretched lusts in my flesh and the small little ones that come out of those little children of those lusts, I want to smash their head with rocks. I don't want I don't want to any trace of those lust in any part of my life. 32:42 That's how I read those Psalms. I don't have any earthly enemies. They I mean they may consider me their my their enemy, but I I have no enemies. And if they consider me my enemy, my duty is to love them. My duty is to forgive every person who 33:00 has ever hurt me at any time in my life, and I can stand before God today and say that is true. You think in 82 years people haven't hurt me? I mean, the number of people who would have hurt me from for my stand for Christ. 33:18 Every one of them I can stand before almighty God my father and say, "Lord, you know I have forgiven every single one of them. I do not wish evil for any of them." Those of them who are alive, if I see them today, I'll be very friendly with them. I 33:32 cannot have fellowship with them. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. There's a difference between forgiveness and fellowship. I have to forgive everyone. Everyone. Believers, unbelievers who have hurt me, without an exception. 33:49 But when it comes to fellowship, I don't try to be more spiritual than Jesus. No. I obey what the Bible says in Luke 17. The New Testament is very realistic. 34:09 Luke 17, verse three. "Be on your guard. If your brother Uh now, he's not talking about an unbeliever. If an unbeliever sins, just forgive him. 34:29 Say hi and bye. But if your brother sins, rebuke him. Now, you may not feel free to rebuke him because he's not willing to receive it. Then forget it. Don't say anything. But don't forgive him 34:49 until he repents. Have you read that? The same Jesus who said, "Forgive those who have hurt you." says here, "If it's your brother, forgive him until he repents. And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day he comes to you 35:08 and says, 'I repent.' Forgive him seven times. Because here it's a question of fellowship. He's not your brother, forgive him. If you don't forgive him, God won't forgive you. But here is the question of fellowship. 35:27 There can be no fellowship without repentance. So, you have a heart of forgiveness even to this person. He's a brother, but he's speaking about fellowship. Now, I'll tell you why I say that. Because in Matthew 18, when you compare 35:43 scripture with scripture, he tells you how to deal with a brother who sins. This is written in a small way in Luke 17. It's amplified in Matthew 18. When you compare scripture with scripture, you get the truth. Matthew 18:15, same words 36:03 as in Luke 17. What is it we read in Luke 17? If your brother sins, Luke 17:3, "If your brother sins." Think of those word four words in Luke 17:3, "If your brother sins, if he repents, forgive him." 36:21 Now, Matthew 18 is the same thing, verse 15. "If your brother sins." It's amplified here. Tell him, you know, there it says rebuke him, here it says go and show him his fault in private. Don't publicize it. Go and talk to him in private. 36:38 He's not talking about strangers. If it is Jesus was crucified not by his brothers, he was crucified by strangers. As soon as he was crucified he said, "Father, forgive them." And that's exactly what we must do when somebody crucifies us or hurts us 36:54 or does wrong to us. Whoever it is, "Father, forgive him." Immediately. There should be no delay. We follow Jesus' example. And that was the worst crime ever committed on the earth, the crucifixion of Jesus. Any sin that anybody commits 37:11 against you is 1% of the crucifixion of Jesus. You got to forgive him immediately. But if it's a brother, uh tell him, "What you did was wrong." Because his fellowship with God is broken. 37:30 It's like your hand being fractured. He's a part of your body. What do you do if your right hand is fractured? If it's somebody else's hand, you can forget it. But this is your hand. He's part of your body. Your brother. 37:44 He has sinned. Your right hand is fractured. What do you do? You can't ignore it. Go and fix it. Go to a doctor. Put a splint. That's what he says here. Go and speak to him. Fix the problem. And when it's fixed, the hand is working 38:01 okay, you're one with your brother. But if he doesn't listen to you, then what? This hand which has got a will of its own refuses to put a splint on it or uh get it fixed, then 38:20 take one or two with you. And say, "Hey, we got to get this fixed, man. You're a part of the body." And explain to him that what he's done was wrong. And if he still doesn't listen, verse 17, he just still doesn't want to get fixed. 38:37 Then tell it to the whole church. Tell it to the whole body. This hand of mine refuses to get fixed. It's broken, the bone. Right? It's become useless now. Treat him like he doesn't even listen to the church. 38:55 Treat treat him like a heathen. Treat him like an unbeliever. You come to a point in your relationship with a person who's a believer. You cannot forgive him. He has not repented. 39:13 You get two or three people to speak to him. He still does not repent. You tell it to the larger body of the church. He still does not repent. As far as you're concerned, he's an unbeliever. I've nothing more to do with him. 39:27 This is new covenant. I've seen very, very few people who understand everything in the new covenant. They only have some word like, "Oh, just love everybody." I'd like to see one of these people who talk about always love everybody build a 39:44 real church. Never. You know who builds churches? People like Paul. Who when he found that in the church in Corinth, there was a man 40:04 who was committing sexual sin with his stepmother. He said in 1 Corinthians 5 about this man, "I'm surprised that you guys have not kicked him out of the church. And you're proud and you're not mourning 40:25 over the sin that is in your midst. 1 Corinthians 5:2. This terrible thing that is there. And he says and this is Paul who says, "I I was not there with you all, but in my spirit, I have already judged him." And Paul are you supposed to judge 40:43 people? Yes. Because I God used me to plant that church in Corinth. God used me to appoint the elders in that church. So, other people may not have any right to do anything there, but but I do. I have a right to judge him just like a 40:58 father has to judge between his children when there's a fight between them. That's not the place to use the word judge not. He says, "I judged him." And so, in the spirit verse four and power of the Lord Jesus. And I have decided, verse five, listen 41:17 to this. To hand him over to Satan. Not that he should be lost eternally. No. Hand him over to Satan so that he'll get some sickness in his body. Some serious sickness in his body that will make him repent. 41:36 So that he will repent and be saved. His ultimate goal is that I should be saved. This broken hand of mine must be fixed. He's a part of the body. But it's not guaranteed that the guy doesn't repent. There's no hope, but 41:52 Paul wants him to be saved, but he's very strict. You know, there are just examples I'm trying to show you how the new covenant is such a high standard. And we must not take it lightly. When we say we are a new covenant 42:06 church, the standards of holiness that God expects of us. And when people don't maintain those standards of holiness, we got to treat them exactly like the Bible says. But if it is not a someone is not a part of our body, I don't care what he does. 42:23 He comes and crucifies me. I've forgiven. Father, forgive him. Whatever he does must be forgiven immediately. And then I pray, "Father, forgive me as I've forgiven him." I want you to see the difference between someone who's a part of your local 42:39 church is part of your body and someone who is not. There's a lot of difference. And if you compare scripture with scripture, you see that. See, it's only when we treat the church like this, like part of our body, that the rest of that verse 42:57 in Matthew 18 is fulfilled, where two or three come together in my name, I am there in the midst, the Lord says. The church that's following this type of standard, the Lord says, "I am in your midst, and whatever you ask," verse 19, 43:09 Matthew 18:19, I could be answered, and you can bind satanic forces on the earth. Cast them out. Oh, I want to see churches like that. Where Satan has got no power. 43:27 We want to see churches like that where where even two or three, particularly those in leadership, have got such authority. Cuz they obey scripture exactly. There's no wishy-washy type of human love. It's a strong divine love 43:42 that stands for the truth. That you know, like if Peter comes to Jesus and says, "I don't want Don't go to the cross." Jesus says, "Get behind me, Satan." Do you know that Jesus used the word get behind me, Satan, only twice 44:02 in the Gospels? One was when he spoke to Satan himself in the third temptation in the wilderness. When Satan asked him to worship and he said, "Get behind me, Satan." And the second time he used it was when he spoke to Peter. 44:17 Amazing. Did you notice that? He spoke to Peter with the same words he spoke to the devil. Because he said, "Peter, that's the voice of Satan coming through you telling me not to go to Calvary." Definitely, the devil didn't want Jesus 44:35 to go to Calvary because that is the end of Satan's kingdom. All humanity would be forgiven if they repented. Satan didn't want that. Peter didn't know that. He was ignorant. But the Lord wanted him to know the voice that tells me to avoid the cross 44:50 is the voice of the devil. And I want to apply that today, my dear brothers and sisters. When you hear a voice, listen carefully, in your spirit, that tells you, "Don't go to the cross. Don't die to yourself." That is the 45:09 devil. Stand up for your rights against your wife or your husband or that person or the other person. Don't die to yourself. Don't do that. You should say the same thing. I don't care who says that word. Get behind me, Satan. 45:25 You may not use that word, but in your spirit, you will say, "That's the voice of Satan and nothing to do with I'm going to die to myself." What was Jesus saying? He was just saying to Peter in Matthew 16:21, "I have to go to the cross and 45:40 die. But I'll be raised up." And Peter said, "No, no, no, no." Today, the Lord says, "You have to go to the cross and die and the Father will raise you up." And another voice says, "No, don't die. Stand up for your rights." 45:56 Okay? Do you turn around to that voice and say, "Get away, Satan. That's the Satan trying to tempt you. I'm going to die. It says Jesus steadfastly set his face to go to the cross. That's why the Father loved him. 46:21 The Father loved him because he was willing to pay the ultimate price in obedience to the Father. I want you to see in Matthew 14 Sorry, John 14. 46:38 A verse in John 14. See, when we don't read scripture carefully, we our understanding is very often from what we have heard from other Christians. And most Christians I've met in the in my life, I'd say 99% 46:58 of Christians have not studied the Bible thoroughly, even those who go to Bible schools. There's only 1% of Christians I've met in my life who have really studied the scriptures. If you ask people, why did Jesus go to the cross? 47:13 Most people's answer is, because he loved me. I say that's the second reason. What is the first reason? Say because he loved his Father. John 14 verse 31. John 14:31. So that the world may know 47:35 that I love the Father, I'm going to do exactly what the Father commanded me. Let's get up and go from here. You know where they went from there? To Gethsemane and to Calvary. Why did he do it? So that the world may know that I love the Father, I will do 47:53 exactly as the Father commanded me, go to the cross. Today the Father tells me, go to the cross. Jesus tells me, go to the cross. I want to prove to the world 48:11 to the world that doesn't believe, to the ungodly Christian world that doesn't believe taking up the cross, the importance of taking up the cross. Hardly any church preaches it nowadays. So, I love the Father. I love my savior 48:27 Jesus. And I will do exactly as he commanded me. Even if the vast majority of Christians don't believe in it. Vast majority of Christians don't believe in that you need to take up the cross to follow Jesus. They think they can follow Jesus 48:44 without taking up the cross. That is impossible. Jesus said, if you want to come after me, deny yourself, take up the cross, and then follow me. You can't jump to the third segment, follow me, without denying yourself and taking up the 48:58 cross. That's the way Jesus said. So, these are some examples I'm trying to show you of how the new covenant is so much greater. Let's turn back to 2 Corinthians 3 where we started. We started in this chapter, 2 Corinthians 3. 49:19 And now we can understand what he says here that the old covenant was a ministry of death, verse 7. 2 Corinthians 3:7. A ministry of spiritual death in letters engraved on stones. 49:38 But there was a glory there. There was a glory on Moses' face. It was a ministry of death means it asked you to do something you could never do. Yeah. Paul struggles with saying, "I tried my best to obey that 49:56 command which says, 'I must not lust.'" Romans 7, you read Romans 7. But I just couldn't keep it. It was a ministry of death. But there was a glory. But it was a glory, verse 7, which was 50:14 fading away. The glory of in the face of Jesus. Face of Moses was a glory that faded away. That's how it was with David. What a mighty man of God when he killed Goliath. And all those years when he 50:33 wrote the Psalms and chased by Saul. But that glory faded away by the time he he died. He was having bitterness against Shemei. I wanted to wanted him killed. It was a glory that faded away. Moses, the great man of God, 50:50 obeyed God in everything. But towards the end of his life, the glory faded away so that God said, "I punish you. You will not enter the land of Canaan. I know you've been waiting 40 years to enter the land of Canaan, but Moses, 51:03 you will not enter." What a punishment. I tell you, God's a very strict father. You could have thought, "This man has faithfully led my people for 40 years. He has only one desire to enter the land of Canaan. Let me just go in let him go 51:21 in and then kill him." No. The strictness of God. Moses, sorry. I'm sure he pleaded, "Oh God, please. I've been waiting for this for 40 years. And why did I slip up? Because these people are hankering for water and water 51:38 and water. In my anger, I accidentally hit the rock instead of speaking to it." The Lord says, "No." If it was one of those other people who did it, I could have forgiven, but you Moses, you knew me face to face. I won't even allow you to slip up once. 51:54 I told you to speak to the rock, but you hit the rock. That's serious. You will not enter Canaan. And no matter how much you plead with me, you will not enter Canaan. So, you have very strict father telling his son, "You will not go 52:08 to that picnic. No. No matter how much you cry." This is how God was. But but there was a glory in his face. It was a glory that's fading away. I've seen people today, 52:26 outstanding Christians when they first come to the Lord first two or three years, zealous, wholehearted. You see them 10, 15 years later. It's gone. By the time they get married, the glory started fading away. Some people wonderful marriages that 52:40 they they are married, so excited, glory is there. You just go and see that marriage three, four years later, it's fading away. That is old covenant. If you find in your life, my brother, sister, that the from the day you're converted 52:55 till today the glory has been slowly fading away, you are under the old covenant. In the new covenant, which is studied in is very different. Why did Moses put a veil on his face? 53:17 Because he didn't want the people to see the glory that is fading away. There were two reasons. One, he didn't want people to see the great shining face, but here it says another reason was so that people don't see that that glory 53:31 was fading away. Says in verse 13, 2 Corinthians 3:13. We are not like Moses. See verse 13. Who used to put a veil on his face, for what reason? So that the people would not see that their glory is gradually fading. Getting less and less and less and less 53:51 and less. He didn't want people to see that. You know how when we have come to a tremendous experience in our life and people have come to see what wonderful men and women of God we are and then we find we have slipped up 54:03 from there after the wonderful testimonies we've given in the church, we've slipped up and then we put a veil over. We don't want people to see that part of our married life. We don't want people to see some area of our life 54:16 because there's a glory that that was there is gone now. It's fading, fading away. That's not the solution, brother. Sister. Come to God in honesty and say, "Lord, I'm sorry I slipped up. I don't want to pretend before people. I 54:32 don't want to be a hypocrite." Turn to the Lord. It says here in 2 Corinthians 3:15, we're not to be like Moses putting a veil over our hearts. No. We turn to the Lord and the veil is taken away. I've got nothing to hide. 54:49 Come and see my private life. Come and see how I live at home. Scrutinize my accounts, my financial matters. Look into every area of my life. I don't want a veil over any part of my life. I don't want to hide anything. That's new covenant. 55:08 Are you there? And when we turn to the Lord, it says there's no veil on our face, what happens? It's not a glory fading away like old covenant, but it says in verse 18, 2 Corinthians 3:18, it's the opposite. As we look at the Lord, 55:27 the glory increases and increases and increases and increases from one degree of glory to another. This is the new covenant life where there's a greater glory of Christ in my life today than there was a year ago. Much more than there was 5 years ago. 55:45 And much less than what it will be next year. From glory to glory, it says in verse 18. There's no fainting. My dear brothers and sisters, I'm not saying this to condemn anyone. I'm saying it to challenge. 56:02 The Bible says the word of prophecy is to challenge people. To exhort them. Challenge them. And to comfort them. The times of ignorance God overlooks. Okay, maybe you were ignorant of all this. God forgives you. But don't stay there. 56:21 Press on and say, "Lord, I want to possess the whole land of Canaan. I don't want to have just one mighty victory like Gideon, you know, spirit-filled. Midianites are defeated and then backslide like Gideon did. I don't want to be like David killing 56:42 Goliath and doing mighty works, writing scripture in the Psalms, and then towards the end of my life the glory has faded away where I'm bitter against somebody, can't forgive someone. I don't want to be like Moses. I don't want to be like Samuel towards 56:57 the end of his life appointing his sons who take bribes as to replace him. What is the solution? I'll tell you. I'll close with one verse. You will remember it all your life. Philippians chapter 2. Small verse. 57:25 Paul says, "My dearly beloved, how he expresses himself. I want to say that, my beloved brothers and sisters, Philippians 2:12. My beloved brothers and sisters, as you have always obeyed me, not only when I'm there, but when I'm 57:44 not there. Whether people are watching you or not watching you, I have one exhortation for you. Work out your salvation with fear and trembling. And you don't have to do it alone. God, 58:02 the Holy Spirit, is at work inside you to make you live according to what is pleasing and good pleasure means what pleases the Father. What you have to work out, verse 13, what God works in. Let God work in you 58:21 and you work it out. That's new covenant life. In the old covenant, they did not have God working inside them. They had the Holy Spirit was outside. He was outside Gideon. He was outside David. He was outside Moses. He was even outside John the Baptist. 58:37 That's why towards the end of John the Baptist's life, he loses faith in Jesus. He loses faith in Jesus. He had seen the Holy Spirit come on him and the voice from heaven. He heard all that. But because Jesus did not deliver 58:50 him from prison, just because Jesus didn't deliver him from prison, he has a complaint. He sends his disciples saying to Jesus with a message, "Are you really the Messiah? Or are we to wait for someone else? Did I make a mistake there? 59:05 Was it imagination, that voice I heard from heaven?" This is John the Baptist. The glory was fading. This is how it was the greatest people in the Old Testament. But not with Paul. See how he ends his life in 2 Timothy 4:7. He says, "I've finished my course. 59:22 I've kept the faith. I fought a good fight." 2 Timothy 4:7. There's a laid up for me a crown of righteousness now. We're saying, "Dear brothers and sisters, let us end like that." But it's not going to happen overnight. 59:40 You say, "Lord, I'm determined to go this way. Fill me with the Holy Spirit. Work in me. Work in me to will and to do your good pleasure and I will work it out with the power of the Holy Spirit with fear and trembling. 59:59 Let us pray. Heavenly Father, help us to remember what we have heard. 1:00:20 Write it not only in our minds but in our hearts. And as your Holy Spirit wrote, as you wrote with your finger on those rocks in Moses' time, write it with your finger in our hearts and minds today. So that we shall have strength 1:00:43 to not just know your will but to do it. Yes, Father. That we shall finish our earthly days with glory. That the word we hear becomes flesh in us. 1:01:00 We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
