0:18 We've come to the last Sunday of the year. And um there's nothing particularly significant of about this Gregorian calendar, which dates this year 0:36 as 2019. But one thing is significant, that it is God who determined that the earth should go around the sun in 365 and a quarter days. That was not some man's invention. So, 0:57 even if different people have different calendars that end at different months, once in a year is good for all of us to examine ourselves. At least once in a year. I mean, a wholehearted person 1:17 will judge himself every day. And really serious Christian would judge himself many times a day. But very few are that serious about their walk with God. It's like some people seek to keep healthy every day, and some people have 1:35 a health checkup once a year. But at least once a year is a good thing, a spiritual checkup. And also in schools, promotion from one class to another is usually after 1 year. Not after 6 months or once a month. 1:52 So, spiritually also, 1 year is a good period of time in which we can examine ourselves in a number of areas, whether we have become more obedient to God's commandments. You know, these uh 2:11 memory verses are alternately a prome- promise and a command throughout the year. So, we have 52 weeks means we go through 26 promises and 26 commands. So, we have a balance, like two legs we walk on. It's not enough to claim the promises. 2:29 We must also keep the commands. So, that's a good thing to evaluate ourselves. And you know, all these memory verses are available online. So, if you want to check up whether you took seriously all the promises and the commands in the last 52 weeks, you can 2:46 check it up online. And if you want, you can go to CFC India and ask them to tell you where that where those verses are listed. But it's good for us also to examine ourselves whether we have grown spiritually. Just like we want our children to grow 3:06 physically, we promote it to the next class. And if we really believe that our spiritual life is more important than our education and even our health, physical health, then we should definitely have a check 3:25 on our spiritual life. Especially those of you who are concerned about your physical health, you want to keep fit, you know, so quick to go to a doctor if you have a stomach ache or something serious, you must also 3:41 keep a check on your spiritual life. It's very important, and that is the proof that we believe that our spirit is more important than our mind and our body. Man is spirit, soul, and body, three parts. Just like God is a trinity, man is a 4:00 trinity in his person. And it's not body, soul, and spirit, but spirit, soul, and body. For many people, it is body first. For other people, it's their soul or their mind and emotions first. But a spiritual man is recognized by the 4:16 fact that his spirit is more important to him than his mind and his body. So, if you take great care to feed your body and to keep your body healthy, and are very sensitive to the slightest little pain or sickness in 4:34 your body, even a mosquito bite you would react against. And in the mind also, you seek to educate your mind. You read the newspaper, for example, you know what's happening in the world. You uh send your children to school to learn 4:50 the alphabets and to get an education. That's enhancing the mind and and to get a degree, to get a job. All that is good. To keep look after your physical health is good. To have a checkup is good. To educate your mind is good. But if with all that, if 5:05 you ignore the spirit, you become like an animal. So, let me turn you first of all to Genesis chapter 1. And let's see something there that we can learn for our life. In Genesis chapter 1, 5:24 everybody knows that God made man on the sixth day. First of all, God created the universe, verse 1. Not in 6 days, in a moment. Some people say God created the earth in 6 days. That's because they don't read the Bible carefully. 5:44 It says God made or remade the earth. He created the earth in verse 1 of Genesis 1 in a moment. Hebrews 11 says with the word of God, he spoke the word, all the stars, planets, and the moons and everything were created in that moment. 6:01 But then between verse 1 and 2, the ang- the head of the angels fell and became Satan, and the demons angels fell with him, became demons. That's not mentioned here because this book was not written for angels. This book is written for man, so man's 6:15 history begins in Genesis 1. But the history of the fall of the angels is recorded later in his Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28. So, then when the earth fell, I mean, when the angels fell, the earth lost its form, verse 2, and shape, 6:34 and it became empty and dark. Just like when Adams fell, the earth was cursed with thorns and wild animals, etc. So, when Satan fell, you read in verse 2, the earth suddenly became without shape and empty and dark. And then it says two things happened. 6:53 The Holy Spirit moved over that earth. The word of God went forth. And then and thereafter, we don't read the word created. God made, verse 7. And God made, and God made, and God made, and God made. Which is different. Created is from 7:10 nothing. Made is from existing matter. So, God remade the earth in 6 days. That is the accurate way to understand Genesis 1. But in the sixth day, God made man. Everybody knows that. But what a people a lot of people don't 7:24 know is God made the animals also on the sixth day. The fish and all the others were made earlier on in the fifth day, but the animals were after the fifth day. In Genesis uh 1:23, you read the end of the fifth day and the beginning of the sixth day, 7:44 Genesis 1:24, he created the animals. And we know the animals have got a lot of the internal parts of the bodies of the animals are very similar to human beings, many animals. And they are made of the same dust of the earth. If an animal dies and 8:00 disintegrates into dust after many years, and a man dies and disintegrates into dust after many years, if you examine both, dust is exactly the same. There's no difference between the body of an animal and the body of man, because both were 8:14 made from the dust of the earth on the sixth day. But one thing made a difference. Do the animals have a body? Yes. Does man have a body? Yes. Do the animals have a mind? Sure. It says the snake was the sharpest mind of all the animals. 8:33 Dogs have a mind. You understand that. They can understand you. Do the animals have feelings? Sure. Don't you see dogs who are happy or angry? That's feelings. Just like man. What is it the animals don't have? Spirit. They have a body. They have mind and 8:51 emotions. But they don't have a spirit. And so, they're not living souls. And so, after God made man uh from the dust of the earth, it says here that he breathed into man, 9:10 verse Genesis 2, verse 7, the Lord God made man from the dust of the ground. And there was one big difference between him and the animals. God breathed into him. And when he breathed into him, man became a living soul. 9:27 That is, he got a spirit. Now, the message from that is that the one thing and the only thing that differentiates man from all the animals, all made on the sixth day, is that you have a spirit, 9:45 which includes your conscience, an awareness of God. Every human being has that, even the barbarians in the jungle. They have an awareness of God. that's why they make idols and worship the sun or worship mountains and Why do they do that? You never find an 10:03 animal worshipping anything. And you always find animals are looking down all the time, whether it's dogs or cows or donkeys or anything. Man is the only one who can look up. Have you ever seen a cow looking up? No. They're 10:17 created to look down because that's all they're made of. The earth. And when human beings begin to look down at the things of earth, they become like animals. All you need All you need to do to become like an animal is have your mind occupied with the 10:36 things of earth. You can know the Bible and you can go to church every Sunday, but you let your mind be occupied 365 days with the things of earth, you're no better than an animal. If you don't recognize that your spirit 10:50 is the one thing that distinguishes you from animals. Read that here. He became a living soul because God breathed into him. And that conscience is the voice of God in every human being. That's what makes the barbarians aware 11:07 there's a God. That's what makes a little child whom you have not taught anything about God. You go to an atheist child. Father and mother are atheists and that child grows up and the father and mother have no faith in God 11:22 and when the child does something wrong he's convicted in his conscience. Who taught him that? Not his parents. His parents don't believe in God. When the child tells a lie to its father and mother, its face is indicating I'm 11:33 telling a lie. Why does it feel that way? An atheist child. It's not because it's taught the Bible. It's the proof that every child is born with a conscience that makes him aware of God. Now, the parents can kill that conscience over a 11:47 period of time and say, "No, no, no, there's no God." And brainwash him or the parents can put him in one path of religion or another path of religion or another path of religion. I mean all these things just make people 11:59 religious, whether Hindu, Muslim, Christian, anything. Just different religions. They need not come in touch with God. A lot of Christians who are no better than people of any other religion because they've got a religion. 12:12 They don't They've no contact with God. Their parents have got a religion by taking them to church or reading the Bible to them and making them religious and thinking that's enough. That's no better than I'll tell you honestly, 12:23 that's Christianity as a religion is no better than any other religion in the world and no better than atheism. Because they don't listen to the voice of conscience. Christians can tell lies just like anybody else. They got bitterness against others just 12:38 like anybody else. What does that prove? They're no better than anyone else. It's just a religion. A religion that doesn't change their life. A religion doesn't make them sensitive to their conscience. So, it's very important to know this. 12:52 Before and you know, from the time of Adam Adam and Eve the when I believe when Eve went to the forbidden tree in the Garden of Eden God Why did God forbid one tree? Just to test, will these people listen to me? That's all. 13:12 There are 10,000 trees there with so many fruits and so many other things which are very attractive. Because it says the Lord God made all those things very attractive. It says in Genesis 2:9, God made to grow every tree. 13:27 Have you read that? Every tree. Genesis 2:9. It's pleasing to the sight and good for food. Every tree was like that. Then why does it say that about the tree of knowledge of good and evil alone verse six, when the woman's chapter 13:46 three, sorry, chapter three verse six, when Eve saw that tree was good for food and a delight to the eyes. When Genesis 2:9 says every tree God made was a delight to the eyes and good for food. Why? She concentrated on this tree alone 14:02 which was a delight to the eyes like all the others, pleasant, good for food, just like the others. Because the devil made her go to the one thing God had forbidden. You can test that with your own children if you want to see how human nature is. 14:21 Supposing you're leaving your home, say, for half an hour and you tell your little child, "Now, while I'm while I'm away you can do anything you like in this room and play with anything. But you see that one drawer there? 14:36 Don't open that. Anything else you can open." You know what the child will do? As soon as you're gone, if you don't believe test it out. He'll go first to that drawer and open that. That is Adam's nature. So, you can prove 14:54 Genesis 3 in your own home. Even though there can be 101 other good things you put there that's the one they'll go for. That is human nature. Rebellion against God is there inbuilt 15:11 in the flesh we inherited from Adam. And I want you to recognize that is in all of us. That's the poison of Satan that came through the flesh. When Adam sinned, we inherited it all the way from our parents. 15:27 And so, let's go to the origin of that. In Isaiah and chapter 14. It's important to understand this because this is the same nature we got in our flesh. And if you understand what's, you know, like doctors try to understand the cause 15:44 of a sickness. The difference between a doctor and a others is we know what the sickness is but the doctors know the cause of that sickness. And so, they say, "Don't just treat the headache with a some headache relieving tablet like 16:02 Crocin or something. No. Hit the root of it. Don't just treat the sore in your skin. Hit the root of it. That's why they give us antibiotics. So, when we look at the problems we have in our life we we tend to deal with that problem. 16:20 Okay, we deal with this problem with the child. Deal with this problem, the external. That's like uneducated people and not treating the source of the sore but just putting some ointment there. You treat it there, it'll come on this hand next. 16:35 So, a doctor who knows the reason for this gives an antibiotic that hits the root of it and an uneducated person can't understand that. How can I take something into my stomach and get this healed? But it does get healed. 16:48 In the same way spiritually we think of so many problems we have. Hit the root of it. What is the antibiotic that spiritual antibiotic that can hit the root? We got to understand the root. That's what a study of medicine has accomplished 17:04 through the years. I mean, some sicknesses they still haven't discovered where the root is. But many others they've discovered and that's why there's so many medicines which are always to hit the root of a sickness. So, we got to understand the root of sin 17:17 which is the greatest sickness of all and see whether we have hit that throughout this last year. Not just hit the symptom but hit the cause. So, here's where sin began in Isaiah 14. This is referring to the head of the 17:37 angels who's called in verse 12 middle star of the morning. And that is in the Latin language translated as Lucifer. It's not his name. Just by the way, we really don't know the name of the head of the angels. 17:57 It's never been mentioned in scripture. We know the names of some of the other angels like Michael and Gabriel. But the head of the angels who became Satan, his original name is not known. He's only known here as star of the 18:10 morning, son of the dawn. And the because the translation is Latin is Lucifer, he's known as Lucifer. Okay, let's call him that. But that's not his name. Or in the margin is his Helal or shining one. Okay. You have been cut down to the earth 18:25 because Here's the reason. Here's the root of sin. Here's the first sin that ever came in this universe in a perfect world that God created. In Genesis 1:1, before he created man all the planets, stars, everything and then the angels, millions of them. 18:45 They were created to worship God. They had a free will. But they were not made in the image of God like God made Adam later on. But they had a free will and they were created beings, intelligent, very intelligent. In fact, 19:01 the devil's intelligence is far superior to yours and mine. And intelligent people go for intelligent people. That's why the devil didn't go into the donkey. He went into the snake. Okay. So, he said in his heart, the head of 19:16 the angels He was already the head of the angels. There was no created being above him. Every created being was under him. All the millions of angels were under him. Only one person was above him, God. He was not happy with that. 19:34 He wanted to go He wanted to be the lord of the universe. And he said, "I will ascend." Verse 13. Verse 14, "I will ascend." Verse 13, "I will raise my throne." So, once you understand the origin of 19:54 sin, it was a desire to go up above others, to rule over others, to have authority over others, to even become equal to God and go above God. I will raise my throne, verse 13, above 20:13 the stars of God. I will sit on the assembly. I will ascend above the heights of clouds, and I will make myself like the most high God. Here's the origin of sin. Wanting to go up, 20:31 wanting to be above everybody else, and even to be equal to God. That's a danger that can come to many human beings. Many dictators in the world act like God in the way they 20:51 mistreat others and take advantage of others and exploit others. All these men who exploit helpless women, you know, exploitation is spirit of the devil. Rule over others and rule over their bodies and commit adultery and murder. 21:07 It's all ruling over other people's bodies. I want to kill that man, rule over his body. I want to commit adultery with that woman, rule over her woman. It's all from here. Have authority over others. Have authority over the rule 21:18 them even though God has not given you authority. And ultimately, it's like I want to be God. So, remember that's the origin of sin. The origin of sin is wanting to be above and rule others when God has not given you that position. I mean, if he was 21:36 uh ordering the angels around, that's fine cuz God had given him that authority. That's fine. There's no nothing against that. If God gives you authority in an office, for example, over people who work under you, of course you must rule over them. 21:49 But, if you want to overthrow the CEO, the top person, that's rebellion. The same thing in a church. Same thing in a home. God's appointed authority everywhere. Way back in the beginning, there was 22:07 authority. God was the ultimate authority. And the head of the angels was the authority over the other angels. And I think there were different degrees of angels. I don't know all about it. But, rebellion against that authority 22:20 was the origin of sin. Rebellion, remember that word. Against authority. And so, he says, "You'll be thrust down to hell." And what is it that made him rebel? That we read in Ezekiel 22:38 and chapter 28. Where does this uh spirit of rebellion come from? Here again, it refers to in the last part of verse 12, Ezekiel 28, verse 12, referring to the seal of perfection. Ezekiel 28, 23:00 to the king of Tyre. The king of Tyre was the devil. Living inside, verse two, the leader of Tyre. You read in verse two, the leader of Tyre was the earthly king. But, inside his heart was the real king, the devil. And so, to the leader of Tyre, he says 23:18 in verse two something, but then the one who was inside and the devil, to the king of Tyre, say, "You were once perfect. Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden." That's not the earthly king of Tyre. That was the 23:32 the devil who is behind this earthly king. You were in Eden, the garden of God. Do you know that the that Lucifer was before Adam in in Eden? There was an Eden, garden of God, in Genesis 1 verse 1. And that's where 23:49 the head of the angels, Lucifer, was. And that's where the angels were. And he was perfect in beauty, verse 12. Perfect and full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. Imagine, he had wisdom, he had beauty, and he had authority. 24:07 The three things that people look for today, wisdom, beauty, authority. He had it. And it was all perfect in fullness. And he was in that beautiful garden. And it's because he was in Eden, and later on he was cast out, 24:25 that later on when he saw Adam replacing him in Eden, he said, "I've got to get this fellow out of Eden also. I can't have him replace me." You know, just like if you're dismissed from a position and somebody else, for example, you are an elder in a 24:42 church, and you were removed and somebody else was put as an elder and you're very jealous of that person. You won't submit to him, and you want to push him out some of the other. That's the spirit of Lucifer. And I've seen it happen in CFC 24:54 churches. Let me tell you. Some elder is removed, somebody else takes his place, and he's determined never to submit to that person and to create problems. It can happen anywhere. The spirit of Lucifer. Don't think it's only out in the world. 25:09 It can be anywhere. It can be in the so-called most religious spiritual circles. It can be in an office where you're dismissed from some position and somebody else takes that position and you want to do everything to make life 25:22 miserable for him. It started in Eden. When Adam replaced Lucifer in Eden, this giant was Lucifer was determined to get him out at any cost. And he succeeded. Tempt him, make him fall just like he fell. Eve knew that I mean, 25:38 Lucifer knew that rebellion against God is the most serious sin. And that's why he went to Eve, and even though as we read there, every tree was a delight to the eyes and every tree was good for food, the devil said, "Hey, 25:53 look at this one." Eve just had to look at all the other thousand trees and they were equally good. The Bible says that. But, the devil makes you concentrate on the one thing which is forbidden. Remember that in your life. 26:10 He'll make you look at something, maybe at a woman who's not your wife. Look at something God has forbidden. Covet something. Covetousness is to long for something God has decided not to give you. It could be a woman, it could be a man, 26:26 it could be a job, it could be money, it could be anything. A longing for something God has not given you. A discontent with your present the things God has given. That's how Lucifer rebelled. 26:46 So, even though he was perfect, you know, you can have so much in your life and yet you can be rebellious. And he goes on to say he had so many gifts. For example, it speaks in verse 13 in the margin of um where it says settings and sockets, in 27:02 the margin it says tambourines and flutes. In the margin of my Bible. So, the devil was extremely musical musical. All music is not from God. The devil was created with a tremendous gift of music. And I tell you all this rock music that 27:19 you see in the world is straight from hell. It's designed to lead people to be occupied not with the content of the words of glorifying God, but to exalt oneself, to draw people to oneself. 27:37 You know, true music or true preaching for that example, for that matter, is to Christian music and Christian preaching must be to draw people to Christ. It's like I heard of a man who went to listen to two preachers in a town. 27:56 And he heard one preacher and said, "Wow, what a wonderful sermon." And then other Sunday, he went to hear another preacher and he said, "What a wonderful savior." When people listen to a preacher, you can either say, "What a wonderful 28:10 sermon." Or you can say, "Wow, what a wonderful savior he presented to me." And I tell you, most preachers in the world, Christian preachers, are more interested in people saying, "What a wonderful sermon he preached." They are drawing attention to 28:28 themselves. That is the spirit of the devil. You can preach the most powerful sermon in the world with the spirit of the devil, so that people say, "What a wonderful sermon." What a wonderful angel, perfect in wisdom, full of beauty. 28:43 See, it's so subtle. We may think we are doing something religious. There's a sin in the holy things. Let me show you this verse in Exodus. It's a very interesting verse in the book of Exodus. I'm going to see if I can find it. 29:05 I'm getting old. In the place where the Lord told the Israelites to anoint oil uh anoint to put a a cap on 29:24 Aaron's head, he was told he must have this label on it called holy unto the Lord. And the reason was he has to carry the he before God the iniquity, the sin 29:41 of the holy things. Anyway, I'll find Is it 28? Thank you. Yeah, I was wondering what this 32 was. Thank you very much. We need the body of Christ for every little thing. Exodus 28, right? And verse 30:01 30. Yeah, let's look at 36. Here it is. That's the right verse. Exodus 28:36, "You shall make a plate of pure gold and on it engrave, 'Holy to the Lord.'" And verse 38, "It shall be on Aaron's forehead to take away what? 30:20 To take away the sin which is in the holy things." That's an amazing verse. I think it's the only place in the Bible where you see that expression. The sin in the holy things. Sin in the sinful things we can understand. Adultery, murder, all types 30:36 of things. But sin in the holy things. Do you know there can be sin in the holy things? A preacher can preach the most powerful sermon and it can be to make money or it can be to get honor. I know. It's very easy for me to use my gift to 30:54 make money or to get honor. But if I do that, it's sin in the holy things. It can be the most wonderful sermon and I've sinned before God exactly like Lucifer, exactly like Adam and Eve. And many people don't realize it. 31:09 Our calling in life is never to draw people to ourselves. Let me show you a verse in John's Gospel chapter 10 which applies to everybody, not just to preachers, all of you. John chapter 10. It says here 31:28 Jesus said verse nine verse eight. He said he's the true shepherd. I am the shepherd of the sheep. Go verse 11, "I am the good shepherd." 31:44 Verse eight, "All who came before me are thieves and robbers." John 10:8. Now you know the word before in English means before in time or before in place. 32:03 Someone comes in Someone who stands in front of me. Supposing someone is standing in front of me here. I can say he's standing before me. He's not after me, he's before me. So, look at it like that. All who come and stand in front of me 32:21 are thieves and robbers. Every preacher who exalts himself before Christ and puts himself in front of Christ is a thief and a robber. And if you draw people to yourself as a Christian even if you're not a preacher I want to tell you in Jesus' name you're 32:40 a thief and a robber. Man has not been created to place himself before Christ or before God. That's what the devil did. God was there before Adam and Eve saying, "Don't eat from the tree." The devil came in front of God and said, 32:57 "It's okay, eat it." And Eve foolishly ate of that ignoring God. So, that Turn back to Ezekiel 28. You see how how this sin began in him. He had all these gifts, perfect in wisdom, beauty, 33:17 musical. Imagine a human being who is very well muscular man, very handsome, good looking and with a lot of wisdom and tremendous money amount of money and authority and a very musical person. Boy you think what a wonderful human being. 33:37 Such a person is in extreme danger of drawing people to himself rather than to Christ. And I believe that's why God made um some of the prophets and apostles not so good looking. You know, Elisha was a very bald man. 33:57 And we read in 2 Kings chapter 2 they made fun of him. Some of the people, some young people made fun of him, "Oh, you bald head." And the history tells us the Apostle Paul was only about 4 ft 11 in high. He's a very short man. 34:14 Shorter than almost all the young ladies here. Less than 5 ft. The greatest apostle. And he was bald and he had a hooked nose and he had diseased eyes. And nothing attractive about him. 34:35 He wasn't this handsome uh film star type of preacher. No. There was nothing that could draw people to him. But he was so mightily anointed with the Holy Spirit that he drew people to Christ. He himself was crucified. Christ lived in 34:51 him. That's the opposite of the devil. So, in Ezekiel 28 we read because he was so gifted. Not only that, on top of all this, Ezekiel 28:14, he was anointed. So, I told you this wonderful man who's got all these gifts. On top of that he's 35:07 anointed. Wow. Say what a man. And verse 15, Ezekiel 28:15, blameless. But then it says in verse 17, this is the greatest danger. His heart was lifted up 35:24 because of his beauty, his wisdom his position. And God cast him to the ground. God is always in the business of resisting the proud, putting down the proud. So, what I wanted you to see here is the origin of sin in this universe 35:44 was not adultery. Was not murder. Was not lusting with the eyes, not anger. All these things that we have spoken about which are very evil mentioned in the Sermon on the Mount, you know many, many other things, you know, 35:57 hating your enemies and all that. We are supposed to love them. The origin of it all like the doctors go to the root cause. Here's the root of all these sins. Pride. Discontent with your circumstances. I wish I had a better house. 36:21 Not work hard and get a better house, that's okay. But to be discontented is quite different. You have to be content. The Bible says be content with what you have. And if God gives you something better, be happy about it. 36:33 Be content with what you have. It's discontent. And discontent is what makes you look at somebody else who's got something you don't have and you envy him. And I tell you that should never be found in a Christian because it's that's 36:47 what the devil had. He was discontent with his position. He wanted more. He wanted to go up. Beware of this. It could be even with your children. You want your children to go above other children, to come first in the athletics 37:05 and first in the school. There's nothing wrong in that. But if you are doing it in order to push other people down, there's everything wrong in it. I had four sons. And to all of them I said, "I never am interested in your coming first in the 37:19 class because that depends on your intelligence. And unfortunately you got your intelligence from me. So, I can't blame you if you're not intelligent. It's my fault. Why can I How can I blame you for not coming first in the class if you got 37:35 your intelligence from me? But I'll tell you if you don't work hard, then I can pull up pull you up. I'm not interested in your I don't care if you come 15th or 20th in your class. But if you don't work hard and you come 37:50 first I'll have no value for that. Because you'll never do well in life. If if you don't work hard and by your ability you sort of accomplish something. No. It's hard work that will ultimately make you succeed in life, not intelligence. 38:09 One of the greatest scientists in the last couple of centuries was a man called Thomas Edison who invented the electric bulb and the gramophone and many other amazing things he invented. And he said that success is 1% inspiration 38:28 and 99% perspiration. That means hard work. I believe that. The same thing applies in the Christian life. It requires a lot of hard work to study the Bible to grow in the Lord and especially if 38:47 you're a preacher to give a really good word that will help other people. You have to really work hard. 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. Now if you're too lazy to study the Bible and you want to be a great preacher it's 39:06 covetousness. It's just wanting honor for yourself. So um be careful about when you have tremendous gifts that it can make you exalt yourself above others. When you want your children to be better than others and 39:24 you compare See, it happens in some places in families where you compare your children with your brother's children or sister's children. And you inwardly become proud, "Oh, my kids can do this or my kids have accomplished this." 39:37 Beware of that. It's the spirit of Lucifer. I'll tell you that to your face. It's the spirit of Lucifer. Or you got such a big job or you got a better car or all the stupid things worldly people are proud of. It's shame 39:50 on you if you're a Christian and you're proud of all those things. Or even if you're proud of your Bible knowledge or proud of spirituality or anything. Verse 17, your heart is lifted up because of your beauty and wisdom. And 40:02 it could be in anything. And they were he was cast down. So, we see rebellion. So, here are the cause of sin in the universe, pride, comparison with others, exalting oneself, 40:20 rebellion against authority. These are some of the things that made the devil the devil. And when you come to the last book of the Bible, uh the not the last book, the second last book, the last letter, the letter of Jude, just before Revelation. 40:39 He says here, Jude says, I verse three, I was about to write to you about our salvation. In other words, I wanted to write to you something like the book of Romans explaining salvation, forgiveness, victory, and things like 40:58 that. But I don't know, the Holy Spirit changed my mind to write something else. And I was urged to write to fight earnestly for the faith which is once and for all handed down to 41:17 the saints. Paul has written Romans. So, it's I don't need to repeat that, he says. But something else I want to challenge you people about. I mean, it's it's the second last book of the Bible. I want to remind you. He says about there are people nowadays, 41:35 verse four, who are turning the grace of God into licentiousness. In other words, turning the grace of God into a license to commit sin. You know, like you can't drive a car till you get a license. Once you get a license, you can drive a 41:52 car. So, the meaning here is they misunderstood grace, forgiveness, as though now I can commit sin. Now I can commit sin because it doesn't matter. The blood of Christ is there to cleanse me. They treat the blood of Christ like 42:10 tap water. Hebrews 10:29, they treat the blood of Christ like a common thing. And the common thing is tap water. Why? Your hands are dirty? Oh, water is there, cheap. 10 minutes later, your hands are dirty again. Never mind. 42:26 Water is there, cheap. Half an hour later, your hands are dirty again. Water is there, cheap. That's how some people treat the blood of Christ. Oh, I sinned. Okay, the blood of Christ is there. Turn the grace of God into a license to commit sin. 42:41 And there are lots of preachers, born again preachers, who are preaching that. It's the lie of the devil. Jude warns about it. Turning the grace of God into a message of licentiousness. They want to comfort all these people who are 42:57 disturbed. They need to be disturbed. I remember hearing of the great I think it was Charles Finney, the great evangelist in the 19th century. He used to invite people to come forward uh after they preached the gospel and 43:12 say, "If you want to repent, come here and repent." And turn he preached repentance, not just believe, but repent. And he explained what repentance was, give up your will and yield to the will of God. And there was this one man who came 43:24 forward in the midst of others and he was terribly in agony over his sin. And some counselor went to comfort him and said, "No, don't worry about him." Finney pulled him aside and said, "No, let him groan and he's he's rebelled so much 43:38 against God in sin. Don't comfort him so cheaply. Let him go through that agony of weeping and struggling and come through it." Some people treat it so cheaply. Oh, it's all right. The blood of Christ is there. You're forgiven. 43:53 Turn the grace of God into a license for sin and thereby they are denying the Lord Jesus Christ. And then he says, "I want to remind you of certain things. Number one, the people who were in the land of Egypt, God saved them. 44:10 But afterwards destroyed that entire generation of 600,000 people. Once saved, always saved? No. He says he saved them and then destroyed them. You read that? Saved by God and then destroyed. Not 44:28 only saved, but baptized in the Red Sea. As you read in 1 Corinthians 10, baptized. Baptized in the cloud. Then destroyed because they didn't continue in faith. I'll give you one more example, he says. The angels, Satan the head, 44:45 who didn't stay in their proper abode. They didn't stay where God told them to stay. They wanted to go up. Cast out. Even though they were perfect in wisdom. That man the angel was perfect in wisdom, perfect in beauty, anointed, 45:03 gifted, musical, everything. Cast out. But God didn't take away his gifts, you know. Satan still has all the gifts which he has. He's got supernatural abilities today, Satan. All these demon-possessed people, they do supernatural things. Where did they 45:17 get those abilities from? God. God cast them out, but he didn't take away the gifts. And you find preachers today who lost the anointing of God, but not but they have the gifts. You need to recognize the difference between a preacher who's anointed and 45:33 has the gifts of the spirit and a preacher who has the gifts of the spirit but lost the anointing. If you don't distinguish between these two, you'll be led astray by the devil. Because the devil has got amazing gifts, more than any preacher in the world. 45:49 But he's lost the anointing. He did not lose his gifts. If Satan could get inside a person, he'd preach a much better sermon than anybody else. But he'll draw people to himself, not to Christ. He's a He's the most intelligent created 46:06 being. And he can produce the most wonderful sermon with the most beautiful illustrations, quoting scripture here and there. He quoted scripture even to Jesus. So, don't be impressed by somebody who just knows scripture. 46:19 We got to understand that spirit of rebellion, discontent, pride. And he reminds them the next in verse six, the angels who did not stay in their proper abode, God has cast out into utter darkness. And then he speaks about another 46:36 rebellion in verse 11. He says he speaks about the rebellion of Korah. See that word rebellion? He's These are all in the same spirit. The Israelites who came out of Egypt, God said, "Go into Canaan." They rebelled against God saying, "No, no, no. These 46:55 people are too strong. Stronger than God." These Canaanites, they are 8 ft tall. We can't conquer them. Two people, Joshua and Caleb, said, "So what? Our God is stronger than them." They possessed the land. Another case of rebellion is Korah. I 47:10 want you to turn and see, have a look at that in Numbers and chapter 16. In Numbers 16, we read verse one. This is what Jude is referring to in the second last book of the Bible. He's talking about rebellion, rebellion. 47:27 He says, "I wanted to explain to you salvation, but then the Lord reminded me, tell them about rebellion, how it can destroy them. Give them examples." And he gives the examples of the angels. He gives the examples of the Israelites. 47:39 And he gives the example of Korah. Numbers 16:1, Korah was the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi. Levi had a son called Kohath, you read there. Kohath had two sons. One is Izhar, whose son was Korah. And the other was a 47:57 son called Amram, whose son was Moses. So, Moses was Korah's first cousin. Moses' father, Amram, was Korah's uncle. They were first cousins. 48:15 And it's possible that Korah was older than Moses. Because, you know, Moses was born at a time when all the baby boys were being killed by Pharaoh. Kill all the baby boys. How did Aaron was born earlier than that, so he escaped. 48:33 And Korah was probably also born before that. So, he escaped, which means he was older than Moses. Moses escaped by being put into the river lake river Nile in a basket, as you know. So, I have a feeling that Kohath thought, "How in the world does this 48:50 cousin of mine think he's so great? He's my cousin. He's younger than me. And in Eastern culture, younger people must respect their older ones. Not in the church. Not in the in the purposes of God. The purposes of God. Abel was superior to his older brother, 49:08 Cain. Joseph was superior to all his older brothers in the tribe of Jacob. And David, the youngest son, was superior to all the others. In God's economy, sometimes the younger people are more valuable to him than older people. 49:24 You see, in Indian culture, we go by age. God does not go by age. He goes by spirituality. And sometimes a person much younger can be 10 times more spiritual than you. And you must learn to submit to his authority. Because it's spirituality that counts in 49:42 God's economy, not seniority in age like in government service. So, it's important to remember that. And this rebellion came, he rose up before Moses, verse two. And he gathered 250 leaders. It's a very interesting story, you must read. 49:59 And they assembled, and they told Moses, "Now, you've gone far enough. You think you're the only holy ones? Why do you exalt yourself?" You know, just like a lot of people rebel against us even today. Don't think you're the only holy 50:12 Christians and all that. Okay, okay, we keep quiet. We do exactly what Moses did when people accuse us. Listen to this. This has been my example for 45 years when people have accused me of all types of things. Moses heard this, verse four, and he 50:25 fell on his face. And the Lord has always told me, "When people accuse you, fall on your face before God, and keep your mouth shut. Don't reply." Moses didn't reply. He says, "Tomorrow come, verse five, the 50:44 Lord will show." And I always believe, "Wait. It may not be in one day like here. Wait. Wait 40 50 years. God will show who he is backing if you're willing to wait." So, wait. 51:03 If you're not sure that God is backing you, then you will rebel immediately and fight back. If you're sure God is with you, you won't fight. No. So, the next day, they came. Now, listen. Who are the people who You got to read 51:16 the Bible slowly and carefully. Read verse one. Dathan, Abiram, Korah I mean, Korah was the leader. Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and On. How many people? 1 2 3 4. 51:35 Korah, Dathan, Abiram, On. And he said, "Come tomorrow." And the next day, who all come? Only three of them. Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, as you read in verse 24. 51:55 What happened to On? Have you thought of that? He got a little sense that night. He said, "No. This is rebellion. I will not join this group of rebels." And his life was saved. And his family's life was saved. Because he chose not to rebel against 52:15 the God-appointed authority. But the other three, they went. And the Lord Moses said, "Stay. Get back." Verse 27, "From the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram." On was not there. He was far away. He didn't join this 52:30 group. And Korah, Dathan, and Abiram stood at the doorway along with their wives and their sons and their little ones. And Moses said in verse 28, "You will know by this that the Lord has sent me to do these things. If these men die a natural death, 52:46 then I will say the Lord has not sent me. But if the Lord does something new, and the ground opens its mouth, verse 30, and they swallow them up, then you will know that these people have not rejected me, they've rejected the Lord." 53:00 As soon as he finished speaking, verse 31, the ground opened up, and they went straight down to hell. I mean, we read of Elijah and Enoch who went straight up to heaven without dying. Here are people who went straight down to hell without dying. 53:13 They went straight down. And all that belonged them, verse 33, went alive to hell. And the earth closed over, and that is how God judged rebellion against authority. 53:32 Discontent with their position, the same spirit that Lucifer had. Discontent with what God has given, rebellion against God-appointed authority. Now, the interesting thing I want you to see in Numbers 26. Read the Bible 53:46 slowly, carefully, study scripture with scripture. Numbers 26, verse 10. Verse nine, the sons of Eliab, and it says here on the last part of Numbers 26, verse nine. They contended against Moses and Aaron 54:04 in the company of Korah. They Thereby they contended against the Lord, verse 10. Numbers 26:10, the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up along with Korah, and the company died, and the fire devoured if 250 men. But, 54:22 listen to this. Verse 11, the sons of Korah did not die. How is that? Last minute, they were standing there. These sons of Korah turned on to their father Korah and said, "Dad, sorry. 54:41 We're not standing with you. We're standing with Moses, the man of God." They left their father and joined Moses. They escaped death. Boy, what wise children. Their loyalty to God and to his appointed authority was a million times 54:59 more than their loyalty to their earthly father. There were people like that in Jesus' time, those who Jesus said, "If you love father or mother more than me, you're not worthy of me." And these sons of Korah, you know, their 55:16 descendants wrote this psalm. I want you to turn to the psalm. If you read at the top, it's probably written by the sons of Korah themselves, which it came down the years. Psalm 46. Do you read at the top of the psalm what 55:31 it says there? A psalm of the sons of Korah. Look at what Look at what they're singing. These are the people who escaped. God is our refuge and strength, a very hand present help in trouble. We will not be afraid, though the earth should 55:48 shake and change, and the mountains slip into the heart of the sea, the waters roar. We will not be afraid. Because we are in the city of God, verse four. We are in the dwelling place of the most high, verse five. God is in the midst, 56:02 and God will help us. And God, come behold, verse eight, the works of the Lord. The Lord is a very, verse one, a very present help in trouble. You know who wrote that? The sons of Korah. Psalm 47, 56:20 the sons of Korah. Clap your hands, all you people, and shout to God with the voice of joy. And there are number of psalms like this written by the sons of Korah. Psalm 48, great is the Lord, greatly to be praised. Psalm 49, hear this, people. 56:39 Sons of Korah, sons of Korah, sons of Korah. Scripture written by people who stood against the spirit of rebellion found in their father, and said, "We're going to stand with God and with his anointed man." Jude says, in the book of Jude, "Remember the 56:58 rebellion of Korah. Learn a lesson from it." These things are written for our instruction. Like Jesus always said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." So, as we look back over the last year and all that has happened, 57:15 here's what we can examine ourselves in. Have I been discontent with my situation anytime in this year, always coveting something which other person has? I want unhappy with what God has given me. Wishing that my children could be like 57:33 that those people's children. Envious of somebody else's children having a gift which you don't have. Could be any type of gift. Could be intelligence. Could be the way they do in school. Could be musical gift. Could be athletic gift. Anything. Envy. Envy. 57:48 Envy originated with the devil. Beware of it. It's especially in the spirit of competition that there is in the world which can enter into your spirit. Be thankful that your children are healthy. And don't worry if they don't come first in 58:05 the class. Do they work hard? Do they work with the measure of intelligence that they got from you, father and mother? Be thankful. Be thankful for the little gifts God has given you. Have you got a roof over your head? 58:22 Don't compare your house with somebody else's. Be thankful. The moment you do that, you're move you're moving in the direction of Lucifer. Let me show you a verse in Job, chapter 36. Job 36, 58:43 and verse five. This is a verse you must always remember. Job 36 and verse five. God is almighty. Nobody more powerful than him in the whole universe. 58:59 But he does not despise anybody. Despise means look down upon. Almighty God doesn't look down upon anyone. Jesus was on earth demonstrating how he 59:17 would not look down on a leper. He would not He would not even look down on a Samaritan woman who was divorced five times, and was now sleeping with a man who was not even her husband, not even legally married. Jesus did not despise her. 59:33 She was a sinner who needed salvation just like you and me need salvation. We're sinners, too. But so many sinners despise other sinners. Are you like that? Oh, I didn't divorce. I'm not sleeping with the person who's not my husband. I'm not saying those 59:49 things are right. They're evil. But if you despise them, you're not going to be a servant of God. They we say it's wrong to say that something's wrong is one thing. Jesus constantly pointed out sin. He even said dirty thoughts are sin. 1:00:05 That was his standard. Getting angry is sin, but he wouldn't despise anyone. He wouldn't despise someone who fell into sin. No. A woman caught in adultery, he said, "I don't condemn you, but don't sin again." So, Job 36:5, here is God 1:00:23 here on my right side, doesn't despise anybody. And on my left side at the other end is the devil who despises everyone. And now listen to this. All of us are somewhere in between here. You despise one person or more people. The more people you 1:00:42 despise, the more you're moving towards the devil. Who despises everyone. Maybe you don't despise everyone in the world. You're not as bad as the devil. You despise a number of people. You're somewhere here. God doesn't despise anyone. 1:00:55 If you want to move closer to God, stop despising people. You'll move closer and closer to God till you come to the place where you despise nobody. I want to be like that. It's no use just saying, "I want to be like the Lord." 1:01:09 Well, if you want to be like the Lord, stop despising people. Stop looking down on people. Do you know there are people sitting here who do not respect these three elders who are sitting here? Charles, John, and Stephen. 1:01:26 I know it. You can't fool me. God's given me enough discernment. I can look at a person for 5 minutes and discern him through and through. Cuz God's given me that responsibility. And I can see that some of you don't despise do not respect them as elders 1:01:42 because you think you are superior to them. Maybe more educated. Maybe a higher social level. Maybe you speak better English. Maybe you're more cultured. All these stupid things that the devil puts into your head so that you don't submit 1:01:57 to authority. You know who's going to be the loser? Not them. You. And I must warn you now so that you don't blame me in the day of judgment that I did not warn you. Believe me, what I told you today will come back to you in the day of judgment 1:02:11 if you have not learned your lesson. Maybe some of you are older. And maybe some of you think you know more of the Bible. Or in some other ways you think you're superior. Aha. You don't realize with all your gifts, you're going the way of Lucifer. 1:02:29 You're discontent. You want to say things to pull them down. Well, what shall I say? I'll only say one thing. May God have mercy on you and open your blind eyes and show you that despite all your seniority in CFC, you think you've 1:02:47 been here longer than them, but you're pretty close to the devil. Who despises everyone. I want to urge you before the end of this year move closer to God who despises nobody. He is God is greater than you, right? 1:03:06 He's almighty. But he despises no one. I want to be like that. I never I You know, a lot of my work, I'll tell you, in the villages of Tamil Nadu where we have so many churches, I've gone there for years. I've gone there for from 1983 till now. 1:03:25 It's 36 years. I've gone every year down to the villages of Tamil Nadu. And I mingle there with some who are cannot read or write. And I fellowship with them. I did not know Tamil. I learned Tamil slowly with making mistakes. It doesn't matter. I 1:03:44 communicate with them. Because I don't despise them. I believe I can learn something from them. And they've taught me a lot of things about Christ. My fellowship with them has drawn me to Christ. Some of you will never go to a 1:03:59 conference in Tamil Nadu because you only come to the posh conference in Bangalore with the educated people. But look at your spiritual condition because of that. I would advise you, my brother sister, humble yourself. Mingle with people who 1:04:11 are at a lower level of society who love the Lord. You will grow spiritually. I'm telling you from my own experience. To me, it doesn't make a difference whether a person is PhD or cannot read or write. The only thing that interests me is does 1:04:26 he love Jesus Christ? Does she love Jesus Christ? That person can draw me closer to God. I will never in my life despise anybody. I will never despise a backslider backslider. There are some backslidden young men here. Whenever I meet them, I get I get a hold 1:04:45 of them. You know, children of our believers. I grab a hold of them and talk to them for some time. Try to draw them to the Lord. I don't despise them. No. If I despise a prodigal son, maybe he's with the pigs, ruined his life because he rebelled. I 1:05:02 will not despise him. I hope that he will turn to the Lord. I'll try to turn him back to his father in heaven. Dear brothers and sisters, I want to tell you my testimony. I've been a I'm a very happy man as I end this year. 1:05:20 I can say before God that I've not despised people. I don't despise a sister who decks herself with jewelry. My wife and I don't wear no jewelry. Not even fake jewelry. But I don't despise someone who wears it. I mean, poor girl, 1:05:38 she she's got an inferiority complex. There are people like that. They feel inferior to others and they try to make themselves more attractive by putting some ornaments or something. I don't despise them. I feel sorry for 1:05:50 them. I say, "Okay, maybe um they are feeling a little inferior, so they're trying to present themselves. Okay, good." Or they maybe in some cases they just following the culture around them. Okay. They dress a certain way. Okay, 1:06:03 fine. Beware of despising people. You know, we for example believe all our sisters should veil their heads when they pray. But some sister comes here and does not veil her head. I say before God I will not despise her. I will never tell her don't come to CFC. 1:06:18 I will assume she doesn't have light on it. She doesn't understand it. I won't say she's rebellious. But there are sometimes sisters who examine others and say, "Why are you wearing jewelry? Why aren't you veiling your head? And why are you dressed like 1:06:32 this?" I'm not here to do all that. I always tell be dressed modestly. Dress in the way that you would dress if you were walking with Jesus in the marketplace. Don't tempt other sisters by your dress, but I will not despise. 1:06:48 And I want to tell you at the end of this year I'm a very happy man. I want to encourage you, my brothers, at least next year start your year in a good way. Learn these things, characteristics of the devil. Pride, wanting to go up, 1:07:05 wanting to push other people down, go above them, discontent with your situations, and pride in your abilities or musical ability or um cleverness or intelligence or good looks or all these things or spiritual knowledge or Bible knowledge, anything. 1:07:21 Lord, help me to have low thoughts about myself. Look at Jesus. The almighty God came to earth. He would never wanted to be a king. On the last day of his life, he is washing the feet of those fishermen who are so much inferior to him. 1:07:38 He's washed their feet to show that these things mean nothing. He selected not the great scholars. He He called uneducated the Pharisees called them in Acts of the Apostles these unlearned uneducated people. Those are the ones 1:07:50 Jesus called. Don't despise them. Don't think God has any value for your education or your intelligence. You were made on the same day as the animals. And if you become proud of your intelligence, you're down at the level of the animals. 1:08:05 The snake is proud of its intelligence. He says, "I know more than the donkey." But it's a snake. So what? So many people are proud of certain things which God has no value for. I speak in tongues. Do you know who's the first 1:08:22 the first example of speaking in an unknown language in the Bible? Tell me. It's a Balaam's donkey. But it still remained a donkey even after speaking in a language it had never learned. So what is that? Don't be proud of these 1:08:39 things. Thank God that your sins are forgiven. Till the end of your life, my brothers and sisters, say, "I'm only a sinner saved by the grace of God." May God help us. Let's pray. Dear brothers and sisters, as we end 1:09:02 this year, I want to encourage you to bow down before God in your heart and say, "Lord, forgive me for all the areas of sin in my life that I was ignorant of until today. I want to repent. I want to repent of rebellion against 1:09:18 authority. I want to repent of despising people thinking that I'm superior to them intellectually or spiritually. Forgive me, Lord. I've not fulfilled your purpose this year because I despised others. There's so much more that you could have done in 1:09:33 my life if I had humbled myself, if I had learned the lesson of the devil. I could have gone so much further in the last 362 days. Help me, Lord, at least next year to do it better. Help me not to forget what I heard today. 1:09:50 To see the origin of sin. And to do pull it out of the root, not just the superficial things on the outside. Please help us, Lord. I'm a needy person. I recognize that every day of my life. I'm a sinner saved by the grace of God. 1:10:07 Not just a sinner, but a sinner saved, saved from sin, from committing sin by the grace of God. Thank you. Saved from committing conscious sin so that I can live with a clear conscience. Help us all to live like this throughout these coming days of this 1:10:22 year and the rest of next year to grow in grace and the grace of our Lord Jesus so that we can become more like him, more like him in humility and humility before you, humility before people, and gentleness in our conduct. We pray in Jesus' name. 1:10:37 Amen.
