2:12 [Music] Let's let's sing the first song. Praise is rising. 2:29 Hosana. Hosana. [Music] Praise is rising. Eyes are turning to you. We turn to you. 2:50 [Music] Hope is stiring. Hearts are yearning for you. We long for you. Let's all clap and 3:06 sing. Cuz when we see you, we find strength to face the day. In your presence, all our fears are washed away. Washed away. 3:24 Hosana. Hosana. You are the God who saves us. worthy of all our praises. Hosana. Hosana. 3:47 Come have your way among us. We welcome you here, Lord Jesus. Hear the sound of hearts returning 4:05 to you. Return to you [Music] in your kingom. Broken lives are renewed. You make us new. 4:29 Just when we see you, we find strength to face the day. In your presence, all our fears are washed away. Washed away. Hosana. Hosana. 4:53 You are the God who saves us. Worthy of all our praises. Hosana. Hosana. Come away among us. We welcome you here 5:15 Lord Jesus. Cuz when we see you, we find strength to face the day. [Music] In your presence, all our fears are 5:33 washed away. When we see you, cuz when we see you, we find strength to face the day. In your presence, all our fears are washed away. 5:51 washed away. Hosana. Hosana. You are the God who saves us. Worthy of all our praises. 6:10 Hosanana. Hosana. Come and run your way among us. We welcome you here Lord Jesus. 6:26 Please be seated brothers and sisters. Jesus is the name we honor. Jesus is the name we praise. Majestic name above all other names. The 6:45 highest heaven and earth proclaim that Jesus is our God. We will glorify. We will lift him high. We will give him honor and praise. 7:02 We will glorify. We will lift him high. We will give him honor and praise. Jesus is the name we worship. 7:19 Jesus is the name we trust. He is the king above all other kings that all creation stand and sing that Jesus is our God. We will glorify. 7:37 We will lift him high. We will give him honor and praise. We will glorify. We will lift him high. We will give him honor and praise. 7:56 Jesus is the father's lender. [Music] Jesus is the father's son. He will return to rain in majesty. And every eye at last will see that Jesus is 8:14 our God. We will glorify. We will lift him high. We will give him honor and praise. We will glorify. 8:30 We will lift him high. We will give him honor and praise. Only voices be glorified. We will glorify. We will lift him high. We will give him honor and praise. 8:48 We will glorify. We will lift him high. We will give him honor and praise. [Music] Sing out, "The Lord is near." 9:13 Build him a temple here. A palace of praise, a throne of thanksgiving made for the King of Kings. singing out a joyful song. 9:31 His love goes on and on. When praises abound, his glory surrounds us. Filling his temple here. Sing out, "The Lord is near." The Lord 9:54 inhabits the song of his saints and lives in their praises. The Lord inhabits the song of his saints and lives in their praises. Sing out, "The Lord is near." 10:19 Build him a temple here. A palace of praise, a throne of thanksgiving made for the King of Kings. Sing out a joyful song. 10:37 His love goes on and on. When praises abound, his glory surrounds us. filling his temple here. Sing out, "The Lord is near." 10:56 Sing out, "The Lord is near." Sing out, "The Lord is near. Father God, I stand in wonder. See your 11:21 glory in creation. Power at the greatness and power of your great name. I wait to see that day when all the earth will be filled with the knowledge 11:37 of the glory of the Lord. As the waters cover the sea, I will sing your praises. I will sing your praises. I will sing your praises forever more. 11:56 I will sing your praises. I will sing your praises. I will sing your praises forever more. Let's sing again from the top. Father God, I stand in wonder. See your 12:14 glory in creation. Marvel at the greatness, the power of your great name. I wait to see that day when all the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord. As the waters 12:33 cover the sea, I will sing your praises. I will sing your praises. I will sing your praises forever more. I will sing your praises. I will sing 12:52 your praises. I will sing your praises forever more. The next song, Jesus, Lord. Creation's voice proclaim it. Jesus is Lord. Creation's voice 13:17 proclaims it. For by his power, each tree and flower was plant and made. Jesus is Lord. The universe declares it. Sun, moon, and stars in heaven crying 13:36 Jesus is Lord. Jesus is Lord. Jesus is Lord. Praise him with hallelujah. For Jesus is Lord. Jesus is Lord. Here from his throne 13:59 eternal in flesh he came to die on Calvary tree. Jesus is Lord from him all life proceeding yet gave his life a ransom thus setting 14:18 us free. Jesus is Lord. Jesus is Lord. Praise him with hallelujah for Jesus is Lord. Jesus is Lord for sin, a mighty 14:39 conqueror. From death he rose and all his voice shall know his name. Jesus is Lord. God sent his holy spirit to show by works of power that Jesus is 14:58 Lord. Jesus is Lord. Jesus is Lord. Praise him with hallelujah. For Jesus is Lord. Is Lord Jesus is Lord. Jesus is Lord. 15:18 Praise him with hallelujah for Jesus is Lord. [Music] Ascribe 15:37 greatness to our God the rock. His work is perfect and all his ways are just ascribe greatness to our God the wrong. His work 15:56 is perfect and all his ways are just. A God of faithfulness and without injustice. 16:11 Righteous and upright is he. A God of faithfulness and without injustice, [Music] righteous and upright is he ascribe 16:33 greatness to our God the Lord. His work is perfect and all his ways are just [Music] ascribe greatness to our God the wrong. His work 16:51 is perfect and all his ways are just. [Music] A God of faithfulness and without injustice, 17:05 righteous and upright is he. A God of faithfulness and without injustice. Righteous and upright is he 17:23 [Music] in the presence of our holy God. 17:43 There's new meaning now to pray. You took all my sins upon yourself. 17:56 I can only stand amazed in the presence of your infinite love. I'm so small and frail and weak. 18:16 When I see your power and wisdom, Lord, I have no words than to say. And I cry, "Holy, holy, 18:33 holy, Lord, how awome is your name. Holy, holy, holy God. How majestic 18:51 is your name. I am changed in the presence of the holy God. [Music] In the presence 19:10 of your glory, all my crowns lie in the dust. You are rightuous in your judgment, Lord. 19:27 You are faithful, true and just. And I cry, holy, holy, holy God. How awome is your name. 19:45 [Music] Holy, holy, holy God. How majestic is your name. and I am changed 20:03 in the presence of the Holy God. Let's all stand up and sing the last song, dear brothers and sisters. 20:14 [Music] You laid aside your majesty, gave up everything for me, suffered at 20:33 the hands of those you had created. You took all my guilt and shame when you died and rose again. Now today you reign in heaven and earth 20:51 exalted. I really want to worship you my Lord. You have won my heart and I am yours forever and ever. I will love you. 21:08 You are the only one who died for me. Gave your life to set me free. So I lift my voice to you in adoration. Let's hear it from the door. 21:27 [Music] You laid aside your majesty, gave up everything for me, suffered at the hands of those you have created. You took all my guilt and shame when you 21:50 died and rose again. Now today you reign in heaven and earth exalted. I really want to worship you my Lord. You are on my heart and I am yours 22:07 forever and ever. I will love you. You are the only one who died for me. Gave your life to set me free. So I lift 22:22 my voice to you in adoration. [Music] Dear brothers and sisters, shall we bow 23:03 our heads in prayer? And we just uh continue in the same spirit of praise and thanks before an awesome God who is mighty to save and deliver. Like we sang, he is 23:21 a God of faithfulness and righteous and up upright is he and let's come before him. Cast away all that distracts us. Cast all the burden upon the Lord and recognizing the Lord himself is in the midst of his church and he's 23:40 our strength. He's our joy. And the Bible says the joy of the Lord shall be your strength. So brothers and sisters, let's uh come together with shout of joy as psalmist says. Psalm 66 says, "Shout joyfully to 23:57 God all the earth. Sing the glory of his name. Make his praise glorious. Say to God, "How awesome are your works because of the greatness of your power, your enemies will give faint obedience to you." Now all the earth will worship 24:16 you and will sing praises to you. They will sing praises to your name. Sellah, let's not be silent this morning, dear brothers and sisters. Let's lift up our hearts, lift up our voices, and recognize the Lord's presence. Lord Jesus, we praise you. Our 24:36 heavenly father, we praise you and thank you, Lord. Lord Jesus, you are the king of kings. You are the lord of lord. You're the ruler of the whole universe. Lord, you are a faithful God, righteous and upright. We bless your holy name, oh 24:48 king of kings, lord of lord. We praise you, bless you, Lord. You're worthy to receive praise and glory and honor, Lord. There is no one like you, Lord Jesus. We praise you, Father. We praise you and thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord 24:59 Jesus, for your faithfulness. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for preserving us, Lord. Thank you Lord for protecting us with your mighty power Lord Jesus. We praise you, bless you Lord. Let your name alone be honored. Let your name alone be 25:10 glorified Lord in our midst Lord. Thank you Lord. Thank you Lord. Thank you Lord for your word Lord Jesus. Thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit Lord. Father we come before you with all our needs Lord. We praise you father. We bless you 25:22 Lord. We pray that Lord you touch the touch those who are sick in our midst Lord. Heal them Lord Jesus. And those who are discouraged Lord. Encourage them Lord. Give us a word from above this morning. Anoint your servant Lord and 25:33 speak to us Lord Jesus. We long to hear a word from your mouth Lord Jesus. Thank you Lord. Thank you father for hearing. In Jesus precious and mighty name we pray. Amen. So please take your seat brothers and sisters. Let's look at our 25:46 memory verses. So last week we had a beautiful promise. Let's say with faith. Please repeat after me. Marks chapter 9 verse 23. All things are possible to him who believes. Amen. And for this uh today we have a 26:09 command. Let's say the promise once again. Marks chapter chapter 9:23. All things are possible to him who believes. And for this week we have a command. 26:28 It's may not be is it displayed brothers? Okay. So, uh Romans 12:16. Do not be hearty in mind, but associate with the lowly. 26:45 Let's say it once again. Romans 12:1 16. Do not beaughty in mind, but associate with the lolly. So this morning we have a great privilege. We can hear God's word from dear brother Suresh. Brother Sur over to 27:04 you. Good morning brothers and sisters. So by way of introduction to what I want 27:24 to share today, I wanted to play a a short clip. This is from 25 years ago. This is a short clip of brother Zach uh from his study of the book of Matthew uh which is part of the series uh through the Bible. So brothers and sisters just 27:40 let's pay close attention u to this clip and and and then I'll share what's on my heart. the kingdom of heaven. It's referred to as the kingdom of God in the other gospels, but the phrase the kingdom of 27:55 heaven comes 32 times in this gospel. And I was thinking about that. You see when an expression is used frequently in a letter or in a book we say there must be a reason the Holy Spirit inspired scripture and therefore there must be a 28:15 reason why he has used that so often. John the Baptist comes preaching saying repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And then after that Jesus himself picks up the same message in 4:17 repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 28:33 And even when he begins the sermon on the mount, the first thing he says is blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. So we see that emphasis right from the beginning. And um in the in the go sermon on the 28:51 mount itself, heaven is mentioned about 18 times just in those three chapters 5 to 7. So what I understand from this is the entire Old Testament, right from the time of God making a covenant with the 29:08 Jews in the Mount Si all the way up to this time was the kingdom of earth. That means you were going you were given a land in Canaan. You were given material prosperity. You were given physical healing. many many earthly 29:27 benefits. You had an earthly king, earthly riches and many things on earth. But now Jesus has come to lift us to another realm. And we must remember that as we turn to the New Testament 29:46 that the gospel is the gospel of the kingdom of heaven as opposed to the kingdom of earth. So when you say you're saved, you know, this is a very common expression among believers. We're saved. Saved from what? I'd say I hope you're 30:03 saved from the earth. Not just saved from sin and saved from hell, but saved from this earthly way of looking at things, the earthly way of behaving, earthly way of many things on this earth, you know, interest in earthly 30:20 things. This is the gospel of the kingdom of heaven. And Matthew is inviting those who are interested in a kingdom in heaven. Now you see there are a lot of people in India who would like to become citizens of the United States of America. 30:39 That's a very attractive place to go to. But supposing I say how many of you are interested in going to Timbuktu or some strange place in Africa? Nobody's interested in that. And it's somewhat like that. You know, hardly anybody in this world is really 30:56 interested in the kingdom of heaven because their mind is so much set on the things of earth. And when the gospel is not preached properly, you find a multitude of so-called believers sitting in the church who are 31:13 not interested in the kingdom of heaven. We have so many believers today who are not interested in the kingdom of he heaven. They want to go to heaven when they die but they don't want the kingdom of heaven. Now kingdom unfortunately is a 31:30 word which we don't understand today. When this gospel was written everybody understood it for example we don't say the kingdom of India. We don't say the kingdom of Sri Lanka or the kingdom. Kingdom is used only where there's a 31:47 king. Maybe the kingdom of Bhutan perhaps is there a king there? The kingdom of Nepal. But we don't say the kingdom of India. It's not a very common word today because there are not so many kings. What we use today is the word the 32:00 government of India. And that we can understand a little better. The government of heaven. That's what it means. Otherwise, we get this phrase kingdom of heaven. It's a nice spiritual thing to talk about. What what does it actually mean? It means the 32:18 government of heaven in your life. You know, when you live in India, you have to live under the rules of the government of India. And if you come into the government of heaven, you got to live under the rules of the government of heaven. 32:34 Is that what you were saved to? Have you changed your citizenship? You know when a person goes to another country, he changes his citizenship. He becomes a citizen of that country. Do you know what salvation really means? It 32:49 means being saved from the kingdom of earth to the kingdom of heaven. I'm sorry to say the salvation of many believers has not got that far. They don't want citizenship. They want to go there when they die and 33:07 all the time they want to live here on earth. And that is why their Christian life is so unsatisfactory. The other thing is there is a word used in Matthew which is not used in any of the other gospels and that's the word church. 33:25 Twice it comes in Matthew 16 and Matthew 18. Church. Jesus spoke about the church. Now put these two things together. The kingdom of heaven not mentioned in any other gospel. Church not mentioned in any other gospel. Put them together and 33:42 you say this is what the church is supposed to be. The church is supposed to be the kingdom of heaven on earth. In heaven everybody knows the government of heaven. God's rule is known there. But here on earth everybody runs their own 33:59 life. And in the midst of people who run their own life are a group of people who say no we don't run our own life. We are citizens of another kingdom of another country that is the church. Now do you think that the church 34:16 represents heaven in India? I don't think so. It's pathetic. That's the thing that's grieved my heart for years. I hope it grieves your heart. I'm not blaming them. I'm blaming us. I'm not saying they. I'm saying we. We, 34:35 not they. We are the church. And we have failed the Lord in this land. I don't want to point finger at anybody else. I pointed at myself as part of this church in India which has failed the Lord miserably in representing the 34:52 government of heaven. And I say Lord forgive us. help us to represent heaven better. And Matthew once you understand this background is presenting the ruler of this government of heaven, how he lived on earth and how 35:12 he taught particularly his teaching. Praise God. I 35:31 I don't want to ask you to raise hands, but I have a a hope and uh you know a longing that many of you would have heard this message before. Um if not, I would urge you to go to the CFC website and discover the rich treasures and resources there. I think 35:50 many of you have done that to some extent and that's why you are here. Um see very often you'll find if you get into you know a conversation with the elders in CFC Bangalore they'll point you to a book or an article or a message 36:07 of brother Zach. uh for example, we often ask new believers if they've read the good foundation. And it's not as though reading that exact book, you know, is essential to anybody's Christian life, but to have a good foundation is essential. 36:26 And uh the reason I point to that book or other books or teaching of brother Zach is because I find the teaching like this clip you heard just now is both clear no simple and it's distinct. It is different 36:45 uh from what we often hear and it's scriptural but there are really not many who present uh the gospel the distinct message of a of the gospel in a clear and simple way. The series from which this clip was taken uh was shared 25 37:05 years ago and uh I had just written a competitive exam. I was a very new believer and I missed the Old Testament but I was able to sit for the New Testament and I I heard this message and the distinct message of the gospel of the kingdom of 37:22 heaven. It challenged me and it will challenge us all now if we take it to heart. Last week we heard about what it means to be a disciple. The message that CFC has been preaching has been consistent over the years. 37:39 This is a message from 25 years ago. To believe Jesus means that we seek to follow him. And the week before that we heard that our citizenship is in heaven. This church is meant to represent the government of heaven 37:58 here on earth. And the good news is that we can repent or turn away from being earthly minded to being heavenly minded. to turn away from the things of this earth to the government of heaven to be ruled by the king of heaven. 38:16 Yeah. In John 14 and verse 30, Jesus called Satan the prince of this world. Jesus said, "The prince of this world comes and he has nothing in me." But if we are earthly minded, we open ourselves to be ruled or influenced by 38:36 Satan because he is the prince of this world. And uh if we go back to the beginning, if you look at Genesis chapter 3 and verse 19 where it talks about the consequences of sin on man. It says 39:03 that you are dust and to dust you shall return. And it says, "By the sweat of your face, you'll eat bread until you return to the ground because from it you were taken." Yeah, we know that God made man by taking dust from the ground. 39:20 And it says also about the animals. It says this uh about the animals on the sixth day of creation that God made the beasts of the earth uh and everything uh that that creeps on the ground. He made he said let the earth bring forth 39:38 living creatures. So just like the earth brought forth living creatures God took dust and made man. And he said because of sin from dust you came to dust you shall return. But the difference between animals and man is we know that God breathed into 39:55 man. And because God breathed into man, there is a potential for us to respond to the Holy Spirit, to the upward call of the Holy Spirit. And we can be born again and we can get new life. This is life in the spirit. And we can be joined together with 40:14 Christ and have fellowship with him and live for him. So that is the glorious opportunity that we have. And the lesson is clear. Unless we are born again, unless we live this way in obedience to the Holy Spirit, we sink down to the level of the animals. 40:32 And I noticed, you know, I was thinking of this, from dust you came, to dust you shall return. It says in Genesis 3 and:e14, the Lord said to the serpent, yeah, at the end of that verse, it says, dust you shall eat all the days of your 40:47 life. So what that spoke to me is if I'm earthly minded, if my kingdom is that of this earth, then I become food for Satan. I become open to his influences. In 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 4, 41:09 it says, "The God of this world has blinded the eyes of the unbelieving. The the god of this world has blinded the eyes of the unbelieving. This is a verse that we're familiar with. The god of this world, small g, 41:29 god or ruler of this world, Satan, has blinded the eyes of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Jesus Christ. Yeah. So how does Satan blind us? 41:49 This is this is how I thought of it that he throws dust in our eyes. He throws the dust of this world in our eyes. My my message is called cleansing our eyes from the dust of this world. 42:06 Yeah. From the beginning, we can see that Eve saw the fruit and it looked good to the taste and it was good to make her wise and she forgot the love of God. She was blinded to the love of God. 42:26 And that's what Satan does to us. He throws the dust of this world in our eyes and and blinds us. Uh he makes the things of this world seem attractive. See the glory of God is primarily not that God is 42:45 all powerful, all wise, all just. All these things are true. He's made this universe in intricate complicated you know complex perfectly intersh. We are wondrously made. He knows our every thought. He knows our every word 43:04 before we say it. Um, he's the Lord of all history. He knows everything that happens before it happens. He controls all the powers and authorities. The glory of God is 43:21 is that this sort of a God, this sort of a mighty God is a God of love and he loves me with an everlasting love. That is the glory of it. And it's and it's an expensive, unfathomable, deep love that God has. And we see this 43:40 love of God in Jesus Christ. And faith is to understand and accept the offer that God is making that I can be the object of his love. And Satan wants to blind our eyes 44:01 uh from seeing this glory of Jesus. I was thinking how he blinded the eyes of Judas with the love of money. No, Judas was looking after the money and just his eyes were drawn to it. 44:20 thought nobody would see and he started stealing, being unrighteous and Satan was able to blind him. And we know the path that he went. He became proud, rebellious. He was easily offended and he was blind to the love of 44:38 Jesus, the glory of God that was right in front of him. And there was a small correction that he received. Jesus said, "Leave her alone." He got all worked up and he went to the authorities and he was blind to the love of Jesus. It 44:55 says about Jesus that Jesus loved him to the end. That's the glory of God. The love of God is the glory of God. And Satan wants to blind us to the love of Jesus. In u first Corinthians, we heard this two 45:13 Sundays ago. Paul kept on asking the Corinthians, "Do you not know? Do you not know?" You know, "Do you not know the saints will judge the world? Uh, the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom. Your bodies are members of 45:27 Christ. Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. Do you not know?" And if you ask the Corinthians, you gave them an exam, you know, they were living in one of the leading cities of that time. They would, you know, get all the 45:40 answers right. Yeah. They knew. And Paul says, "See, you don't know as you ought to know." How do we know as we ought to know? He says, "You are carnal, fleshly, and these things are spiritually 46:00 appraised." The spirit of God has to take these things that we've heard and make it the way we live. uh in 1 Corinthians 8 he says you do not know as you ought to 46:19 know. But when you if anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, he is 46:38 known by him. And I see there that connection between love and knowing. It's only when our eyes are open to see the love of God through the power of the Holy Spirit that we know as we ought to know. That the way we live, what 46:56 spontaneously comes from our hearts and our lives and our lips is compelled by the love of God. And uh and if we don't allow the love of God to open our spiritual eyes, we are in danger of spiritual blindness. 47:16 We must wash our eyes of the dust of this earth. In John chapter 9, we see the miracle of the man born blind. We can turn there. Look at it. It says 47:34 Jesus took mud or dust and made clay and applied this clay to his eyes. Oh, it's unthinkable that you know we should take mud and put it in our eyes. But that was that was the healing that 47:54 Jesus uh offered this blind man. And to me that gives me a picture that we must be cleansed from the dust of this earth that blinds us. And uh the dust of this earth is unbelief that stops me from seeing the 48:13 love of God. And it's usually the attraction this animal attraction for some of these earthly things uh that brings up this unbelief in my heart. And uh this is a wonderful story. The man's physical eyes were opened 48:32 but his spiritual eyes were also open. And he says uh I don't know many things but this I know. I was blind and now I see. I was born blind and now I see. And you are trying to tell me that this 48:49 man is not sent from God. He was to be sent from God. because I know what he did in my life. It says he washed in the pool of silom which means sent and he understood his eyes of his heart were open to recognize 49:08 that this man is sent from God. This is a man of godly authority and I am under the authority of God and I can't do what you are telling me to do. And the you know he he he came under the government of heaven and the story ends 49:27 in John 9:38. We can look at it. He says, "Lord, I believe." And he worshiped him. He bowed down before Jesus. He understood what was really worthwhile. He paid a price. He was cast out from the church there for 49:46 Jesus' sake. and he worshiped him. He said, "Lord, I believe." And he worshiped him. And and we see that, you know, at the start of the story, the disciples asked, "Why is this man blind? Why was he born blind? Was it his sin or his parents' 50:02 sin?" They were thinking about, you know, the judgment of God against sin. It's true that God will judge all sin. All his ways are just. There will be perfect justice. But Jesus said, "Right now, I am here." 50:19 And this man is blind so that the works of God might be displayed in him. I want to make him a part of my story. I want to make him a part of how I show my love to this world. I'm going to make him a hero. 50:38 While I am in this world, he said, we must do the works of God. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world. While I am in the world, I want to show the love of God to this world. Brothers and sisters, Jesus said, "So 50:51 send I you. Go and be a light in this dark world. Show the love of God to this world. Pay the price. Follow me. Let the love of God compel you." and and we see that his parents missed 51:10 the opportunity. It's good for us to think about this. You know, they said their son was of age. Their parents, his parents had brought up this child. You can imagine that they must have, you know, tried every medical treatment. Son 51:26 is born blind. What to do? So much of grief, anguish over the years. And now he's forced to beg for a living. And suddenly his eyes are opened. You would imagine that they would be rejoicing and saying, "Oh, we must find out how did 51:41 this happen and go follow this man who did it." And they did not have the courage to say this man is sent from God. If anyone should have known that, the parents should have known that. Yeah. They were afraid 52:00 and uh because it says you know the Jews said that they would put them out so they were afraid. And I was thinking of what Jesus said in John 5:E 44. He said, "How can you believe when you receive 52:21 honor or glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God? How can you believe? You will be blind because you've taken the honor of men in whose whose breath is in their nostrils and you've sought that and you've made 52:38 that the big thing. You've, you know, put mud on your eyes, you can't believe, you can't see. And he says, "The father who sent me," John 36:37, few verses before that, "the father who sent me has testified about me. 52:57 He has testified about me. The works that I do testify about me. And uh he says, "But I know you." Verse 42, "You do not have the love of God in yourselves." So again, we see that 53:13 connection between faith and love. These people didn't want the love of God. The love of God was not, you know, their their great desire. They had forgotten the first commandment and they were seeking the honor of men and they had willfully you know put the 53:33 dust of this earth on on their eyes and Jesus said how can how can you believe yeah we we don't want to miss the opportunity our great privilege and opportunity is a part to be a part of Jesus's story to be the object of his 53:48 love in its fullness and to value that above everything else and the only way we can do that is by the spirit of God to cleanse ourselves of the dust of this earth. In John chapter 13, we know that Jesus 54:06 washed the feet of the disciples. We can go there, look at it. Jesus said 54:25 to Peter, "He who has bathed only needs to wash his feet and is completely clean. And you are clean, but not all." No, in in italics it's implied. It says, "But not all of you." You are clean, but not all of you. 54:44 See there are two ways you can read that phrase or understand that phrase and and Jesus actually meant it in both ways. Uh so he was saying two things. He was talking to 12 disciples. He was saying you are clean but not all of you. Now 55:02 the wrong way for me to understand it is most of us are okay but somebody over here is a problem. Okay. So whoever that problem is, I'm not the problem. We we'll find out who the problem is and solve the problem and then we'll all be 55:16 clean. That is true. There was someone who was going to betray Jesus. That was true. But that's not the only way to understand the verse. And we see that Jesus said, "He who has bathed only needs to wash his feet but is completely 55:32 clean." So what Jesus is saying is, "Yeah, you may be clean. You may be to some extent to a great extent seeking the kingdom of God in response to what God has done in your life. But it's good for us to examine every 55:51 area of my life and to see am I completely clean? Is there some area of my life where I have an attraction for the things of this world is stopping me from receiving in its fullness the love of God through the Holy Spirit. 56:06 And that is what I want to examine. And the heart of a disciple. And we see when Jesus said, "One of you is going to betray me." All the disciples said, "Is it I, Lord? Is it I?" And then Judas saw everybody else is saying, "Is it I?" He said, "It is I 56:22 also." But he couldn't say, "Lord," he said, "teer." Yeah. If we come under the government of heaven, we will cleanse ourselves. We'll ask that question. Is it I, Lord? Am I the one who's betraying you by an attraction, a love for the things 56:39 of this world? And uh yeah, that's that's the that's the attitude we we you want to we want to have. Where's the problem? I need you to cleanse me. I want to receive your love. That's the attitude of a disciple. 56:57 So I wanted to turn to Luke 17 27 and 28 where Jesus talks about what will happen when the son of man comes. It says this will be like the days of 57:18 Noah and the days of Lot. Says this is how it will be in the last days. The last days will be like the days of Noah and the days of Lot. And how does he describe what happened in the days of Noah and and in the days of Lord? 57:36 He spoke of three areas in these verses 26 27. He says, "Yeah, just as it happened in the days of Noah, so also it will happen in the days of the son of man. They were eating, they were drinking, they were 57:55 marrying, they were being given in marriage and until the day that the flood came and destroyed them all. It was the same as happened in the days of Lot. They were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, planting 58:07 and building. So as I saw this I saw like three three areas uh broadly eating, drinking, marrying, getting married, planting, building uh and you know you could think of it as food, sex and housing or 58:26 and God knows that we need these things. These are basic needs. Animals need these things and we need these things. But the question is are we going to put them in their proper place? The problem is that man will be occupied 58:42 with these things. His heart and mind and eyes will be set on this and he will bring judgment on himself. And this is not somebody else. We need to judge ourselves and say, "Lord, is it I? Am I the person in this place whose 58:57 heart and eyes are set on the things of this earth?" And uh yeah, we must be on guard and and look out to see if we're being blinded. I remember brother Charles used the phrase like chickens on a dung hill, you know? Are we just scrabbling through the 59:16 things of this earth? Food, marriage, property transactions. And we see temptations and problems in these areas in the lives of of believers. And everybody here, we all know it in our heads. If you ask us uh you know what are the most important 59:34 things in life? No, none of us will say oh no food, marriage is the most important thing or my house is the most important thing. No, nobody will say that. But how do we change? How how how is our heart going to change? 59:50 Does this should bring us to a sense of need and to recognize the hope of God's calling in Jesus Christ? Yeah. In Romans 8:6, it says, "The mind set on the flesh is death. The mind governed by the spirit is life and peace." 1:00:09 And in each of these areas, we are tested whether we really love the Lord. And we have to counter our animal instincts with the truth of God's word. In in Philippians chapter 4 and verse 18 1:00:28 and 19, we see a similar verse where Paul talks about many who walk and he says of whom I often told you. So Paul was talking about and concerned about and occupied with these people. 1:00:46 And I'm sure his his primary burden was, you know, for those who were wholehearted, but not many were wholehearted. He said, "All seek their own except for Timothy." So there were few. And he had a burden for the others. And he said, 1:01:01 "There are many who walk as I've often told you and now tell you even weeping that they are enemies of the cross of Christ." The question I need to ask myself is, am I am I in that number? It says, "Whose end is destruction, whose 1:01:15 God is their appetite or God is their belly, who glory in their shame, who set their mind on earthly things." Yeah. And the next verse says, "Our citizenship is in heaven, from whom we eagerly await the Lord Jesus Christ." 1:01:32 If we have a longing for the Lord Jesus Christ to be king of our lives, then we will repent of of this sort of a law setting our mind on earthly things. It I was thinking of this you know 1:01:50 phrase God being our belly in relation to food. Uh am I giving my stomach too much importance? So there is there there's an author called CS Lewis. He writes intellectual books but in some areas he's very clear. 1:02:09 He talks about gluttony. Okay, if you look look up CS Lewis and gluttony and you're able to understand what he's saying. He has a book called the screw tape letters where he talks about uh somebody who's like he's writing in the 1:02:24 form of you know one of the demons who's tempting somebody and he says you know one of the great triumphs of uh of Satan is that when we talk about gluttony gluttony is not preached at all about nowadays. He says the great 1:02:41 triumph is that we have managed to make people think only about eating too much. And gluttony means I eat too much. That's it. That's that's the definition of gluttony. And and people will you know try not to do that mostly for the 1:02:54 sake of their health. But he said see the big thing about gluttony is not that you eat too much. It's that you are very particular about what you want to eat. And if you don't give this god belly god 1:03:12 what what it wants then you get upset, angry, irritated and you're out of love. And uh no it's it's not just about how much you eat. It's see it's not just about also wanting tasty 1:03:31 food. No say suppose I want healthy food. If I generally look at, you know, trends today, there's a lot of talk about healthy food. What is healthy food? When to eat, how much to eat? You count calories. I'm not saying you shouldn't do these 1:03:50 things, brothers and sisters. But the question I want to ask myself is, u the word of God says whether I eat or drink, I do all things for the glory of God. And is that the standard? And am I doing all things in love? Uh am I am I going to get upset with my 1:04:10 wife if she put sugar in my coffee by mistake? Am I going to go go to some restaurant and behave badly because you know the food is not exactly the way I wanted it? Oh Jesus said my food is to do the will of God my father. 1:04:27 And brothers and sisters, we are being tested. And whatever we say about whatever how however much we say we love God in in in these areas, we have to examine whether we are truly disciples. And uh yeah, whether you know we will be 1:04:44 eating and drinking and not longing for Jesus to come, not longing for him to be the Lord of our lives. I I want to talk about marrying and and getting married also. Yeah. This is especially for young 1:05:04 people but has implications for all of us who are who are married. What do we look for? What are we attracted by? What are we taken up with? There's a a verse I you will look at it again. I I hope you have all considered 1:05:19 it. It's in 1 Peter chapter 3 and 4. encourage you to turn there. First Peter chapter 3. What is you know a beautiful sister in 1:05:45 the eyes of the Lord? It says, "Let your atonement be the hidden person of the heart, the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit which is precious in the sight of God." This is what I should be looking for. 1:06:03 Has God done a precious work in the heart of this person? That is what is my attraction because I want the will of God. I want him to be king of my life. See, if God told me, 1:06:20 you know, I'm a boy, marry this girl. Or if, you know, I hope all of us would say, "Yes, Lord. Thank you. Thank you for making things easy for me." But because God is a God of love, because he loves us, he won't do that. Because if 1:06:36 he did that, that would be force. So he tests us and he waits to see if we will listen for his voice and put his will first and put his priorities first. Yeah. And he said don't just look at 1:06:55 external adornment uh braiding of hair wearing gold jewelry putting on dresses you know the external there's something that we know but we might not have thought about this way before. I had reason to think of it because my 1:07:14 wife and I just drove past somebody who was begging on the street and he was a leper. I just saw a glimpse of him but like his face was almost like missing. We've seen people like that and such a such a hideous sight and then I I thought about this if we 1:07:34 think about the human body okay uh we've learned this in biology if you just go back to what you remember you know studied in schools at some point if you think about it the body contains living cells and dead cells. So which 1:07:48 are the dead cells in the body? So yeah the skin outermost layer of the skin and your hair those are all dead cells. That's why nothing you don't you know feel pain when you cut your hair and the outer layer of your teeth. These 1:08:07 are all dead cells. Right? So what we are looking at and what arouses this animal instinct is all dust. I I see I remember brother Zach saying this once when you look at a pretty girl remember that it's just the you know 1:08:26 arrangement of the molecules of dust that that makes her attractive. U and see you can say this sort of thing and understand it and nod your heads and smile but we know how we feel. We know what drives us. And it's only when the 1:08:43 spirit of God has done a work in my life that I say, "No, no, no. That's not the big thing. That's not the important thing. I want what you want. I want your priorities. I want what's precious in your eyes." Yeah. We seek to be surrendered to his 1:09:01 will, not taken up with some pretty face. I was thinking about this story in Genesis uh 8:7-9. It talks about the raven and the dove being released from the ark. It said the raven was set free and it went out 1:09:18 and went out rejoicing. Said, "Oh, all these dead bodies. What a feast for me." I can go anywhere, do anything. I'm a bird after all. You've been cooping me up in this ark for all these days. No, this is this is my nature. all these 1:09:36 restrictions. Now I am free. And a dove is the picture of a spiritfilled believer. It says it found no resting place for the souls of its feet and came back to Noah's hand. And brothers and sisters, you know how 1:09:55 it is in the world today in terms of how people dress. You see skin like everywhere. Uh yeah. Not just on TV and in your phones. No, like it's everywhere. It's on the streets, on the billboards, in your offices, in your colleges, uh in your 1:10:14 apartment building. You go down for a walk, you'll you you'll see this. And the church at least at least must be a resting place for for believers. And it it thrills my heart to see that that is mostly the case. 1:10:33 Uh, I would encourage you sisters to dress modestly, not just in the church, but at least in the church. Think about why I'm doing what I'm doing. Um, see this this you know layer of skin and 1:10:51 people in the world they'll mostly add layer of dust on top. People in the world will mostly add some layers of dust on top of it, right? They'll put makeup or they'll put hair dye or they might wear a wig or they might wear 1:11:02 cream or something. I'm not saying you shouldn't do these things. But in your doing of these things, consider your motives and consider whether you are acting, you know, within the love of God. And I trust that many of you will find a 1:11:19 resting place in in the church. No, the ark may have been relatively small and may have been inconvenient, smelly, but there's spiritual life there and 1:11:36 there's spiritual death in the world. And uh yeah, God's will is that our marriages can be a glorious picture of of heaven. Not not just you know like in the Old Testament where it was symbolic. 1:11:55 There are no stories that we know about the living relationship. I mean just glimpses that we have of the living relationship between husband and wife in the Old Testament. Some of them are good, many of them are bad. But what Jesus is calling us for is to 1:12:13 say come and look at my life. Come and look at my married life and there's a change. There's the government of heaven. There is joy and peace and righteousness. Because I have this commandment to love my wife as Christ loved the church. And 1:12:32 because he loves me, I am able to love like that. Because of the power of the Holy Spirit, I'm able to love like that. And this this is the calling that I have. And I don't want to be sidetracked by it. See, young people, 1:12:52 I mean, if you say, "Oh, does that mean God wants me to marry some ugly boy or girl?" See, the only reason we ask that question is because we don't believe and don't trust in the love of God. The kingdom of God is not just 1:13:05 righteousness. Righteousness, peace, and joy. God is a good father. He knows our needs. He knows, you know, what is good for us. But he wants us to be renewed, transformed by the renewing of our mind and uh to see what is precious in his 1:13:21 eyes and allow the Holy Spirit of God to transform us to hold on to what will last uh what what will last for for eternity. Yeah. I I want to talk about property 1:13:38 transactions as well. buying, selling, building. Now, if you get deeply involved in these things, even if your house is next to a construction site, you'll get covered with dust. Um, watch over your heart with all diligence. 1:13:55 Nobody's saying you shouldn't build a house. You should very often that's a wise thing to do. Very often it's wise to invest in property as well. But is my heart being drawn away from a love of the Lord? And again, we see the the example of 1:14:13 Jesus and and his priorities. He said, "Foxes have holes. Birds have nests. The son of man has no place to lay his head." It's it's not that he didn't have a house. He did have a house, but when somebody broke open the roof of the 1:14:27 house, he didn't have a problem with that. Brothers and sisters, it's good for us to examine ourselves and say, "Lord, there's there's so much more that I can be like you and I want to be like you and your spirit is able 1:14:42 to change me and uh I don't want to judge anyone else. May it not be. Lord, let me ask the question. I am the am I the one?" And help me cleanse me. Yeah. I want to close with reminding us all again once of the story of the 1:15:01 prodigal son in Luke 15. He started out saying, "Give me my share." You know, in all of these areas, food, marriage, building house, otherwise property transactions, very easy for us to say, "Give me my shell, 1:15:20 my life, my marriage, my food. And uh we we don't want to be super spiritual about this, but it's good for us to 1:15:38 examine our hearts. And it says about the prodigal son that he realized that he was eating pig's food. And he said, "Oh, my father loves me. What is wrong with me?" and he came back to his senses and he remembered the love of his father 1:15:55 and he said I must rise up and go and when I go back to my father's house yeah there'll be rules there but those rules are for my good and I want to be under the government of God I want to be under the government of the kingdom of heaven 1:16:13 may may God help us we'll let's bow our heads in prayer. Brothers and sisters, loving father, Lord, we thank you and praise you for this time. We thank you and praise you for these precious words 1:16:32 that we hear. And Lord, uh we want to turn our eyes and and see your love. Yes, Lord, you didn't come to condemn us, but to save us. You came us came to lift us out out of up and out of this mighty clay and set us on a rock to 1:16:52 stay. That eternal rock, eternal riches, the glory that is there in your kingdom when you are king and lord of our lives. And you're able to not only cleanse us but uphold us, Lord, through the power of your Holy Spirit. We're able to do 1:17:10 that. We want to have a longing and hunger and thirst in our hearts, Lord, for this life, the spiritfilled life. We thank you and praise you. We commit ourselves into your hands. Thank you for your word this morning. We pray in your 1:17:22 precious name, Jesus. Amen. Yeah. Yeah. We'll we'll have a song and after that, Brother Charles will will follow. [Music] 1:18:06 [Music] Check. Check. Is it I? 1:18:29 It is I. Let's sing the song. Oh, the spiritfilled life. Is it thine? Is it thine? Is thy soul holy filled with the spirit. [Music] 1:18:49 Oh, the spirit will life. Is it thine? Is it thine? Is thy soul holy, filled with the spirit divine? Oh, the child of the king. Has he fallen on thee? Does he 1:19:07 reign in thy soul so that all men may see your savior bless him may drift in thee? [Music] As he swept through thy soul like the 1:19:26 waves of the sea. Does the spirit of God daily rest upon thee? Does he sweeten thy life? Does he keep thee from care? Does he guide thee and bless thee in 1:19:43 answer to prayer? Is it a joy to be led of the Lord anywhere? [Music] [Music] Is he near thee? 1:20:04 Does he stand at thy side? Does he guard thee with strength? Has he come to abide? Does he give me to know that all things may be done through the grace and 1:20:20 the power of the crucified one? Does he witness to thee of the glorified son? [Music] Has he pured thee of draws with the fire 1:20:38 from above? Is he first in thy thoughts as he all of thy love is the service thy choice and his sacriice sweet is the doing his will both thine drink and thy 1:20:56 me does the run and his bidding with glad eager fear [Music] has he freed thee from health and from all of thy grief. Does thou hasten to 1:21:15 suffer thy brother in me? As a soldier of Christ, does the hardness endure is thy hope in the Lord everlasting and sure. As thy patience and meekness 1:21:33 are tender and pure. Let's sing the last verse. Make it personal. Oh, the spiritful life may be mine may be mine. And in my soul ever more the shikina may shine. Oh the spiritful life may be mine, may 1:22:00 be mine. In my soul ever more shine may shine. It is mine to live with the tempest or still is mine with the blessing. He goes to be filled. It is 1:22:19 mine even mine. For the Lord has so well. It is mine even mine. For the Lord has so well. Amen. We heard of the 1:22:57 kingdom of heaven. Jesus started it. He started his sermon with the kingdom of heaven is at hand and he also spoke the that the kingdom belongs to those who 1:23:15 are poor in spirit and the kingdom in those days I don't think they had governments like we have today most of them were kingdoms because There 1:23:32 were kings ruling different parts of the world. And today we have both kingdoms as well as governments. And in every kingdom and government and also in every institution 1:23:49 like schools, colleges, hospitals, corporate offices, there are laws and rules and regulations to abide by. 1:24:06 And if anyone in the organization or in the nation is rebellious, is disobedient to the rules framed by that organization, is given a show cause notice 1:24:24 or warned or afterwards he'll be dismissed. So that is how it is in the world as well as in every government and in every kingdom. Rebellion is not tolerated. Disobedience is not tolerated. Playing the fool with 1:24:42 the flouting the rules is not tolerated. So these are given so that there can be law and order in society. And um we 1:24:59 heard that God took the dust of the earth and he formed man out of it. And we are all the progeniator 1:25:15 genitors of those that from Adam we have all descended and have the same characteristics that Adam and Eve had our forefathers. And um when God was making Adam, he took a lot 1:25:34 of dust, gathered a lot of dust and he mixed it with whatever water or whatever he made different parts. See, when he made other things, he spoke he spoke to 1:25:52 the earth. He spoke to the sea to bring forth sea creatures. He spoke to the earth to bring forth trees and animals. And then he spoke to the skies, to bring forth birds in the air. But when it came to making man, he had a 1:26:12 conference as it were amongst themselves. God said, "Let us," he's including son and the spirit, the father, "let us make man in our own image." He didn't 1:26:30 speak to the dust. Let there be man. He could have done that, but he carefully, very meticulously, he made man in his own image. and he breathed into him the breath of 1:26:49 life and he became a living soul. It says he just didn't call them into existence. He didn't breathe the breath of life into animals or birds or fish but he 1:27:04 breathed his breath or his spirit into Adam and he became a living soul. That is why we are distinct from all the rest of creation. And in the kingdom there are certain rules 1:27:24 to abide by. We read about a particular thing in Matthew chapter 8 verse 12. Matthew chapter 8 verse 12. Here it says that 1:27:51 many shall come verse 11 from east and west and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, but the sons of the kingdom shall be cast out into the outer darkness. ness. Why? 1:28:09 The sons of the kingdom, not outsiders. The sons of the kingdom who were called once upon a time who thought that they were sons of the kingdom. They were cast out into the outer 1:28:28 darkness. In that place shall be weeping and nashing of teeths. Just think about that dear brothers and sisters. Sons of the kingdom can be cast away and many will come on that day. Jesus 1:28:50 said in Matthew 7 saying, "Lord, Lord, we did this, that, and the other in your name for you. We served you." But you know what Jesus said? Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't I forgot about it. He 1:29:09 didn't say that. He said, "I never knew she truly I tell you, I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of iniquity." That means there was sin in their life. Externally, their testimony was good. They were very active in 1:29:26 Christian activities saying, "I'm doing this, that, and the other for the Lord. I'm serving the Lord." But how is it in your personal life, your thought life, your family life? Is the Lord approving of that? Is he happy about that? Or 1:29:44 there you are failing and externally you are okay. Outsiders think that you are a pretty good person. But God may be having just the opposite opinion about you and me. and sons of 1:30:01 the kingdom will be cast away. And it's we read in Colossians 1:13 that God has know when we came to him in genuine repentance and faith he has taken us out of the kingdom of darkness 1:30:20 and has placed us into the kingdom of his dear son in the kingdom of light and that is our privilege. Some of us are in the kingdom of light, delivered from the kingdom of darkness, but we live as 1:30:36 though we don't belong there because we love what our flesh likes and we are in collusion with our flesh. We say yes to the flesh and no to the spirit. Whenever the spirit prompts us 1:30:54 to do something, we say no and yes to the flesh and keep on carrying the works of the flesh and thereby we become enemies of God. And Matthew 22:13 it says the kingdom you know that parable where the king 1:31:13 gave a huge banquet and those who were called didn't respond. Then he threw it open to others and many people came and when they came they were given a dress to wear and go into the banquet hall. But there was one guy who 1:31:32 thought that he was okay with his dress. That was his self-righteousness, not the garment of Christ's righteousness. He thought he was okay. And then he went and when the king came and saw all the guests reclining there at the table, he 1:31:51 noticed one fellow who was not wearing the garment that had been given to the rest. And he said, "Friend, how did you sneak in here?" And then he says, "Bind him hand and foot and throw him into the outer 1:32:08 darkness. In that place there shall be weeping and nashing of teeth. Is that possible to happen to a so-called believer? Yes. According to these two words that I read, the kingdom, 1:32:28 the children of the kingdom can be cast out. And the one who comes on his own merit without the righteousness of Christ can also be cast out. Bind him hand and 1:32:45 foot and throw him in outer darkness where there will be weeping and nashing of teeth. You know why God gives all these laws to us? Not to make our life miserable. God is not a killjoy. 1:33:04 He doesn't want us to live always gloomy and with long face and serious. The joy of the Lord is your strength. And Jesus said even on the eve of crucifixion, he said, "My 1:33:22 joy I give unto you, not as the world gives, give I unto you, that I have spoken these things to you so that my joy may be in you and that it may increase in you." He said, "Have you 1:33:41 ever heard in human history anybody telling these words just before being executed?" He was one who was filled with joy. Joy of the Lord 1:34:00 because of that he was able to endure that. The Lord says in Deuteronomy chapter 5 verse 29 it's uh it's a what 1:34:14 to say the grief in God's heart. He says oh that they had such a heart in them that they would fear me and keep all my commandments. Why? 1:34:33 so that it may be well with them and with their sons forever. Why does God give his commandments? We think his commandments are burdensome and heavy. But John says in 1 John 5, he 1:34:51 says God's commandments are not burdensome. Having lived with Jesus for 60 65 years, he says towards the end of his life, John the Apostle, he says, "God's 1:35:09 commandments are not burdensome." And the Lord says here, "Oh, that they had a heart in them to keep my commandments so that not because I want their life to be 1:35:25 miserable and gloomy and depressed. No, so that it may go well with them and with their children forever." This is God's will, my dear brothers and sisters. That's the reason why God has 1:35:43 given us his word. Let's love his word. Keep his commandment that we may prove our love for the one who loved us enough to give himself for us. May God bless us. Now we will we have the book of the 1:36:02 month and the announcements. Presenting [Music] the book of this month, A Girl's 1:36:25 Viewpoint by Sister Annie Pune. [Music] My name is Kupa. Kupa means grace. This is the story of my experiences as a 1:36:45 young girl. From my teenage years to the early days of my marriage. I faced the problems that many young girls face in Indian society today. But by God's grace, I overcame them and 1:37:06 came out triumphant. I met life's challenges head on, strengthened by God's grace and proved in my life that Christ could transform a weak, helpless girl into a jewel in his kingdom, enabling me to overcome every 1:37:24 limitation and disappointment in life. Looking back over my past life, I find myself full of thankfulness to my Lord and my Redeemer for all that he has done for me. He has transformed me from an insecure girl into a daughter of God and 1:37:42 a possessor of perfect earthly security as well as eternal security in heaven. This book is a must readad for every 1:38:03 growing girl. You can read this book for free online at cfcindia.com/books/girl's viewpoint. [Music]
