0:00 and his full purpose. And this is related to the new covenant. I believe that all of us with all of our hearts should seek to understand the new covenant 0:17 and enter into the new covenant fully. And that will solve many problems in our life. I believe the answer, the solution to many, many questions that many believers ask is 0:36 related to the fact that we have not you know, finished with the old covenant living by the law and rules and regulations and entered into the new covenant. And one of the privileges of the new covenant is to know God. 0:54 I quoted that verse yesterday in Hebrews 8:11 that says all shall know me personally. And when it comes to the knowledge of God we are told in 1 John chapter 2 1:13 and verse 27 you don't need anyone to teach you because the anointing from within will teach you. That doesn't mean you don't need a teacher cuz God has set teachers in the church. So, what does it mean you don't need anyone to teach you? 1:34 You need teachers to teach you the Bible and the truths of scripture. Christ has given teachers to the church. But you don't need anyone to teach you about God as your father. The Holy Spirit See, there's a difference between 1:50 knowing God as a father. You don't need someone to always tell you that. The Holy Spirit will come within and cry out Daddy. You know that's what it says in Romans 8. I wonder whether the Holy Spirit's ever done that in your life. 2:04 Says in Romans 8 in verse 15, the we have received a spirit of adoption, not a spirit of slavery like the people in the Old Testament, that cries out Daddy. That's the translation of the Hebrew word Abba. I don't know why they didn't translate 2:23 it. There's some of these unfortunately some of these uh very godly men did not translate words like baptism, a Greek word. They should have translated it as immersion. That's what it means. There wouldn't have any infant baptism 2:38 in the world if they had translated it. In the same way people are sort of scared to call God Daddy. But that's exactly what it says here. The Holy Spirit will cry out saying Daddy. In our Indian languages, the word is Appa. 2:52 Very similar to Abba. It's uh you know, father is a more formal word. There's nothing wrong in that. Daddy is more intimate, Dad. And uh uh I'm delighted that the Holy Spirit's 3:11 makes me look up and say Dad. It brings a lot of security into my life when I'm surrounded by problems, when we face problems in our family. And if if you I mean, I've been in Christian ministry for uh 3:31 46 years. And anyone who's in Christian ministry faces tremendous opposition from Satan in the family. And always if I couldn't look up and say Dad, I'd have drowned long ago. Now, I want to tell you this is the secret to know God 3:50 as Dad. And uh nobody needs feel discouraged. Read Read the I mean, if you want to strengthen your faith in that, read all those passages in scripture where Jesus spoke about the father. And begin with the story of the prodigal 4:06 son. How he had made a mess of his life, living with the pigs. And he came back and he saw the father running when he was a long distance. It's the only place in the Bible, the only place in the Bible where you see God running. 4:25 And he's running to welcome a sinner who's made a mess of his life. If you're like that, you got to see God as one who's running to welcome you, change put a new dress on you, to find your security in that. 4:42 And that he welcomes sinners to sit with him at his table, not after keeping them in the servants' quarters for 6 months. Straight away. The very same day. So, it it makes a tremendous difference. It delivers us from this 5:01 We live in a world full of insecurity. Why don't have I can honestly to say today I have zero jealousy of any ministry that's better than mine or anything. I have no competition with any other preacher because of one reason. I know my dad. 5:20 He has given me exactly what he wants me to do in the body. My liver is not in competition with the kidneys or the pancreas or any other part of the body inside. My tongue is not in competition with a hand. No jealousy. 5:37 Can it be like that in the body of Christ? Yes. It all depends on your knowing your dad. If you have competition with another brother in in church or at some other church, you know what the solution to that is? You got to know your dad. 5:51 And um if some of you sisters wonder why in the world God made you a woman instead of a man, you need to know your dad. Or if there's some man here who wonders why God didn't make you a woman, you need to know your dad, too. 6:07 He has not made a mistake. He's given us exactly the gifts we need. Uh he decided long ago what ministry we should have in the body of Christ. And if you can fulfill that, you would accomplish the purpose with which God 6:23 allowed you to be born on this earth. And it'll be a great tragedy, my brothers and sisters, a great tragedy, if you land up in heaven one day and discover that even though your sins are forgiven, you did not accomplish 6:42 the purpose with which God sent you on this earth. Because you went after money and honor and tried to compromise and please people and settle for God's second best or 10th best. It may look all right now. You may be accepted by other Christians 6:59 and you may uh think yourself better off than them, you know, wiser than them because you get the best of both worlds, the best in heaven and the best on earth. It's like that Sunday school boy who was asked the teacher told the Sunday school children 7:13 one day the story of the rich man and Lazarus. You know how the rich man died and went to hell. And Lazarus, the beggar, went to heaven and then at the end asked the children, "Well, children, what would you like to be? 7:28 The rich man or Lazarus?" And one smart boy got up and said, "I want to be like the rich man on earth and Lazarus after I die." Are you aiming for that? I'm not saying that by being a beggar on the street you go to heaven. That's not 7:43 my point. My point is what are you aiming for? What are you living for? Are you living for the things that are eternal or the things that are temporal? So, we know God is our father. That's the basis of everything. We begin there. 7:59 But God is three persons. And that's a mystery that we'll never be able to explain on this earth. And when I try to explain that to non-Christians and others, I use the example of a dog. I say, "Can you I mean, there are clever 8:15 I heard there are clever chimpanzees who can do addition." Um they somehow train them to add three peanuts and say that three 1 + 1 + 1 is three. But there's no chimpanzee that's ever been taught to do multiplication. 8:34 That's impossible. 1 * 1 * 1 is is what? One. That confuses a chimpanzee. How can one one peanut multiplied by one peanut by one one A chimpanzee has got to be a human being 8:52 to understand multiplication. That 1 * 1 * 1 is 1. And we have to be God to understand how three persons can be one God. To me, that is one of the greatest proofs that the Trinity is the truth that my shallow empty mind cannot grasp 9:12 it. If a dog could understand everything that a human being could understand, it wouldn't be a dog anymore. It'd be a human being. And if I could understand all of God, I'd have to be God. But a dog can understand enough for what its master is 9:27 telling him. And I I can understand enough for what God wants me to do. The difference between a man and a dog is so little. And yet a dog can't understand us. Is it surprising that we can't understand God who is so much above us? How arrogant we 9:41 are to think that we should be able to explain everything about God. I'll tell you in I can't explain the Trinity, but I believe it. In fact, I know it's true because I know the Father. Through the years I've come to know the 9:55 Father as my dad. I've come to know Jesus as my elder brother. I've come to know the Holy Spirit as a person moving in me, speaking to me. One whom I can grieve 10:10 if I speak a bad word or a rude word. So, I mean, today if somebody told me no there is no Holy Spirit. It's like telling me that my wife doesn't exist or something like that. It's crazy. I think he's just off his head, that's 10:28 all. But when if you don't know God as Father and you don't know Jesus as your brother and you don't know the Holy Spirit then you get into arguments about theology. Is three persons or one person or how is it all? You know, the secret of it all is to 10:43 know God. This is eternal life. That didn't happen to me overnight, but I pursued the knowledge of God my life because I've understood what Paul told Timothy, "Lay hold of eternal life." Lay hold of it and the more I've come to know God 11:00 the more my life has become secure and stable, free from competition, free from jealousy, ready to cooperate. Free from feeling that I'm superior to anybody willing to accept the newborn believer as equal to me in every area. 11:19 And willing to be like others. Jesus, I say the first principle of all ministry is Jesus was made like his brethren in all things. Hebrews 2:17. Before he could serve us, 11:38 he had to empty himself of that position of the privileges of being a being God. He was God from all eternity when he was on Earth, he was also God. But see how he hid that so much. See, God is a God who hides himself. Isaiah 45 11:57 15 says, "Oh God, you're a God who hides yourself." One of the great characteristics of God is that he hides himself. He has hidden himself so much in this universe. How do we prove that? There are so many atheists in the world. 12:15 All these atheists in the world prove that God has hidden himself so wonderfully that they think he doesn't even exist. He exists, but he's hidden himself. And Jesus, when he was on Earth, though he was God, he hid himself 12:32 that people thought he was a man. Not only that, they thought he was the prince of devils. That he was they thought he was demon-possessed. How wonderfully he hid himself. For a brief moment on the mount of transfiguration, he removed that veil 12:46 and they saw him and they fell on their faces. No man could have survived if Jesus had lived on Earth with that glory. He had to hide himself. He hid himself, but he made himself like us in all things, then he could serve 13:03 us. The first principle of effective ministry, become like the people you serve. Don't ever elevate yourself. That's what I have against titles. Jesus said, "Don't call yourself rabbi. Don't let anybody call you father." I 13:21 mean, as religious father. Or you can add it today. Pastor, reverend. You're all brothers. You're brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ. I stood up in many a church and said, "Please don't give me these low-down titles like reverend and pastor 13:39 and all that. Call me a brother. I'm a brother of Jesus Christ. Don't call me insulting titles like reverend and father and all that." I'm a brother of Jesus Christ. Are you going to give me a bigger title than that? You're a sister of Jesus Christ. 13:52 Are you trying to look for a bigger title than that? No. He made himself like us. He became our elder brother. And if you want to serve others, make yourself like them. When I speak to teenagers, I do my best to be like a 17-year-old 14:10 in my thinking, in the way I speak, and try to be interested in what they're interested in. When I speak to 6-year-olds, I try to be a 6-year-old. Talk to them about what they're interested in. Otherwise, I can never serve them. 14:26 Big people can never serve God. The trouble with too many Christians is that they're too big. That's the reason why so many fathers don't have fellowship with their children. They're too big. They're not willing to come down to the 14:40 level of their children. And that's why even though you can rule your children as long as they're at home, they grow up and they have no more fellowship with you. And you have failed. You have utterly failed. So, the principle on Jesus became like 14:54 us and as as we know, Jesus is our savior. There's another way that we need to know him. And that is as our forerunner. It's a title that a lot of Christians don't know about. It's in Hebrews chapter 6 and verse 20. 15:10 Jesus is our forerunner. And what does that mean? That means one who ran the race in front of us. The same race we have to run. That's why it says in Hebrews 12:1 and 2, 15:28 let us run this race looking unto Jesus. I must show you that verse. It's one of my favorite verses. 50 years ago God showed it to me. And I'll tell you how he showed it to me. I was in a church where they studied God's word, 15:47 emphasized the study of God's word. They did not teach knowing God as the most important thing. They did not explain to me that that was eternal life. They were all born again people. And theoretically they all knew God as 15:58 Father, but they would get anxious, they would get angry, they'd do all the sins that normal believers commit. They never told me about victory over sin. And they were elders there, double my age. I was only 22. And I could not honestly look up to them 16:17 as men of God. Men who knew God. They're very few like that. In my lifetime I've met a few whom I knew there's a man who knows God. They were not like that. And I was a young person. I I wanted to be a Timothy to some Paul and I couldn't 16:34 find a Paul. So I said, "Lord, what shall I do?" Paul said, "Follow me as I follow Christ." But I don't look at any of these people whom I can follow because I see these elders are lovers of money, they lose their temper, they do all 16:46 types of things which I I don't see that I don't see Christ in them. And then that's the time the Lord gave me this verse and said, "You'll always have someone to follow if you look at me. Wherever you find some man 17:05 who is following me, follow him as he follows me, like Paul. But if you don't find any man who's following me, then look at me. So, that's what I try to do. Whenever I find a really godly man, and once in a 17:23 while I do, I see his example and I try to follow what I can see in him as he follows Christ like Paul said. And where I don't find such a person, I've always got Jesus there in front of me. It's like climbing a mountain, you know. 17:38 And there's somebody we're climbing this huge mountain which is 30,000 ft high like Mount Everest. And Jesus is already at the top. He He walked this way up. And there are a few brothers ahead of me who have gone ahead and I can look at them and follow 17:51 their example and climb this mountain. But supposing a time I lose sight of them, I can still see the track of Jesus. So, that's the meaning of forerunner. He ran the same race in front of us. And it says in Hebrews 11:40, at the end of 18:06 this wonderful list of heroes of faith, the last verse says, "God has provided something better for us." So, whenever you read Hebrews 11, "David did this, killed Goliath. God has provided something better for us." "Moses split the Red Sea. God has 18:21 provided something better for us." "Joshua pulled down the walls of Jericho." Remember the last verse, "God has provided something better for us." "Elijah raised the dead." Remember the last verse, "God has provided something 18:31 better for us." Whenever I read the Old Testament, whatever people did there in the Old Testament, Genesis to Malachi, including John the Baptist, who was also under the old covenant, I remember Hebrews 11:40, "God has provided something better for 18:46 me." And you know what that is? Chapter 12, verse 1 and 2, Jesus as my forerunner. I'll tell you my testimony, that is what changed my Christian life. When I saw that Jesus became a man, 100% a man, not a sinful man, 19:05 but a man. He was not born of a human father, so he did not have that sin element there. He was without sin, but he was 100% a man like me, tempted like me, gets tired like me, hungry like me, thirsty like me, needs to sleep like me, 19:23 had sexual drive like me that he controlled, never allowed it to get out of hand. Everything, he was a man 100%. And he was tempted like me. You don't have to have sinful flesh to be tempted. Adam did not have sinful flesh, but he was tempted. 19:41 And Jesus was tempted like me, every point, not just one or two points, but he never sinned. Tell me what you're tempted by. Jesus was tempted in exactly the same way, but he never sinned. You may have sinned, he didn't. 19:59 So, when I saw times in my life as a young man tempted strongly in some area, I would say, "Lord Jesus, when you were in Nazareth, you were also tempted exactly in this area, right now which I'm being tempted by. Whether it's sex or discouragement or to 20:16 get angry or to get irritated or to be anxious, whatever it is, Jesus was tempted in Nazareth during those 30 years. And I say, "Lord, you never sinned. What was the attitude you took towards temptation down there in Nazareth that 20:27 prevented you from sinning? I want the Holy Spirit to give me that same attitude now because the same spirit that dwelt in Jesus dwells in me." I wanted to know God. I wanted to know Jesus Christ because this is eternal 20:41 life. To know Jesus, make that the pursuit of your life. To know Jesus, how he lived on earth, looking unto Jesus, not one who split the Red Sea or pulled down the walls of Jericho, not even one who turned the water into wine, not even 20:58 one who raised Lazarus from the dead. No, looking unto Jesus who endured the cross, verse two. That's That's he's our forerunner. You don't say looking at the Jesus who raised the dead. Doesn't say looking at the Jesus who 21:12 made water into wine. That's the type of That's the way a lot of people are looking at him. Look at their lives. Look at these preachers who always talk about healing the sick. And uh preach on television and in big crusades 21:23 about good Jesus can do this for you. God can do every miracle. You know, it's very humorous for me when I hear of these people. I've seen some of them here and there on some television program. And I know I don't go for these crusades. 21:36 But you know what they say? God can do any miracle. Now, I'm acting like them. I mean, they run up and down the platform. I'm not going to do that, but God can do any miracle, they say. He can open blind eyes. 21:54 HE CAN OPEN DEAF EARS. HE CAN HEAL CANCER, AIDS. He can raise the dead. The only thing he can't do is give me money. You got to give me that. So, he'll pass the bag around. There's only one miracle God can't do. And do you know what surprises me that 22:15 millions of dumb believers sit there and say, "Ah, we'll give him the money." Can't you see the stupidity of that whole thing? Almighty God can do every miracle except give me money. What a hoax. 22:35 What's the solution to escape this deception? Looking at the Jesus. He healed the sick. Never took any money from them. What about all these people who heal sick people and put photographs on their website of, you 22:55 know, me laying hands on this sick person. They're not healed, but you think they're healed. Photographs of me with crowds of people standing in line. Do you think Jesus would do it? If there were photography in that day, 23:08 get the photographers here. I'm praying for the sick. Is that the Jesus you've seen? How is it you believe these dumb, foolish disgrace to the name of Jesus Christ people who put such photographs on their website and distribute it saying, 23:24 "Here's me healing the sick in um some place in Africa or India or all these people." I can't understand how believers are so dumb to watch all this. Do you know what Jesus did when he healed the sick? He said, "Don't tell anybody about it." 23:40 He didn't get them up on the platform and say, "Now tell people I could hear only 50% in my ear. Now I can hear 60%. I'm healed." He didn't This is this type of stupidity. Looking unto Jesus all delivers us from 23:58 all this deception. So, whenever I see people standing up I compare them with Jesus in the scriptures. And the trouble with a lot of Christians is they haven't read the scriptures to see what Jesus is like. So, they cannot they don't have anyone 24:13 to compare him with. And therefore they get deceived. And I say, "If you don't study the scriptures and you got the Bible in your own language, you deserve to be deceived. You deserve to be deceived by all these deceivers." 24:28 And you'll wake up in eternity. You may not even make it to heaven if you follow these people. The Lord will say to them, "I never knew you." Do you know what is the most important thing that Jesus told his disciples? Always follow me. Follow me. 24:47 In what area? Am I supposed to be a carpenter? Am I supposed to dress like he dressed? Am I supposed to have long hair like he had? Or a beard like he had? What area am I supposed to follow him? Be a bachelor? Live in Nazareth? 25:04 There are many many things. What am I supposed to follow him in? In his life. Not in his ministry, not raise the dead. I've never heard of a single human being in 2,000 years of church history who went to a a grave where somebody'd 25:21 been dead for 4 days and raise him from the dead. Not even the apostles. That's what Jesus did at Lazarus' tomb. Is that where we got to follow him? Is that the meaning of "The works that I do shall you do also"? No. Who are supposed to do the works that he 25:41 did? Not apostles. Not prophets. Did Jesus say we're supposed to do the works that he did or not? Yes. If you read the Bible slowly, you'll see that it applies to you. John 14:12. 26:00 "Everyone who believes in me." Do you believe in Jesus Christ? If you do, you know what you're supposed to do? "The works that he did." So when I ask people, I'm talking about this subject of looking unto Jesus 26:18 and running the race, I'm supposed to do the works that he did. That's how I run the race. So when I ask Christians, "Tell me some of the works that Jesus did." They'll say, "He turned the water into wine. He fed the 5,000. He walked on 26:29 water. He raised the dead. He healed lepers." I say, "Okay, anything more?" "Yeah, he preached great sermons." I said, "Listen. You're telling me what he did in the last 10% of his life, 3 and 1/2 years. Is that all he did?" 26:45 Supposing you write the biography of a man and you write only about the last 10% of his life. That's not a complete biography. And all the four gospels only tell us about the last 10% of his life. 3 and 1/2 years. But he lived on earth 27:02 for 33 and 1/2 years. Didn't he do any works during the first 30 years? The works that I do means what? The works that I did in the last 10% of my life? No. The works that I did all my life. We say, "Well, it's not written in the 27:16 scriptures. How will I know?" That depends on whether you're interested. John 16:14 says, "When the Holy Spirit has come, he will take of the things of mine 27:35 and disclose it to you." Disclose is a word means, you know, it's something hidden. The Holy Spirit will say, "Hey, here it is." That's meaning of disclose. The secret of the Lord, Psalm 25, is with those who fear him. 27:54 And to them he will reveal his covenant. There are some things the Holy Spirit does not show everybody. And I'll tell you the principle. If you're an external type of Christian, there are two type of Christians. External type of Christian and internal 28:10 type of Christian. I'm not talking about personality, extrovert, introvert. No. I'm talking about an external type of Christian. 99% of them are like that. In other words, they are only interested in their external life. 28:22 Born-again Christians who are only concerned that their testimony before men must be pure, holy. They must have a good testimony before people. That's all they're concerned about. They'll be terribly grieved if their external testimony was spoiled. 28:41 They lost their temper. Ooh, so many people heard me. That disturbs them much more than the hundred times they lusted in the last one week in their thoughts. These are external type Christians. Most Christians are like that. 28:59 The fact that they love money and they dream about money and think about money all the time, they're not bothered by that because nobody knows it. The internal type of Christian is the one who's more concerned about the inside of the cup. 29:12 Who's not bothered what other people think about the outside. But the inside of the cup, Lord, is there some thought in me that is unlike Christ? Is there some attitude in me towards someone that's unlike Christ? Is there 29:25 an anger inside me which I'm keeping bottled up like a good Buddhist or like someone who does yoga? But not like a Christian. Lord, I want to repent of that. That's an inward type of Christian. And if you're an external type of Christian, 29:43 you will only see the external things that Jesus did. All your life. What will you see? He cared for the poor. He healed the sick. He um touched lepers and everything in the gospels. But if you're an inward type of Christian, 30:02 the Holy Spirit will disclose it to you. Things which are hidden in Jesus' life. What he did during those 30 years in Nazareth. I'll tell you my testimony. For 16 years after I was born again, 30:21 I never knew anything about that inner life of Jesus because I was not interested. I was interested in ministry. I wasn't interested in being filled with the Holy Spirit and having a pure thought life. No. My external life was pure 30:40 from the day I was born again till today. Nobody could find a spot in my external life in 53 years of my Christian life. Whether money matters or fooling around with women, zero. That's all I was interested in. And then the day came 30:59 when I said, "Lord, I want an inner life. My inner life is not corresponding with what I'm preaching." That's the day God filled me with the Holy Spirit and began to show me parts of Jesus I never knew before. And it was in from the same Bible. 31:15 It was like I got a new Bible. I remember the first time God really filled me with the Holy Spirit. I said, "Lord, if this is not just an emotional experience, but a real experience from God, I know something will happen. 31:29 The New Testament will become a new book for me altogether, cuz the one who wrote it is the Holy Spirit. And I started reading Matthew chapter 1 that day all over again. I'd already read it for 16 years. And I started reading, and boy, oh boy. 31:44 In the last 37 years, I've seen the most amazing things in this book that I had read for so long, cuz the Holy Spirit disclosed it to me. But you cannot understand it, however clever you may be, 32:02 however much you read commentaries and go to Bible schools, it's not there. The Holy Spirit will show you things nobody can show you. Eye has not seen, neither has ear heard, neither has entered into the heart of man, the things that God has prepared for 32:22 those who love him. 1 Corinthians 2:9. But God, next verse, God has revealed them to us through the Holy Spirit. That's what happened to me. The things that the wise and intelligent could not understand. And God showed me things in the 32:39 scriptures, truths in the scriptures, which I never read in a book, never heard in any sermon, disclosed by the Holy Spirit. And I saw that Jesus walked the same way as me. 32:59 That's what helped me that I could walk the same way and the same Holy Spirit that dwelt in him He was giving me. Here's one human being completely forgiven of all my sin now through the blood of Jesus. And there was another who became a human 33:12 being for my sake. The Holy Spirit filled him and helped him to live a godly life and to fulfill a ministry. The same Holy Spirit comes into this human being. Won't he help me to live as he lived? And fulfill my ministry, not his 33:29 ministry. No. If God wants part of God's ministry for me is to raise the dead, I believe with all my heart I can raise the dead. That was part of his ministry, Jesus. He will help me He won't help you to fulfill my ministry. One of the things I 33:44 have to keep telling my fellow elders in India is please don't try to preach like me. You're not called to imitate me. Because you'll kill your own ministry. If the hand tries to be like the eye, try to see, see, see, see, it'll waste 33:59 It'll never be a hand. I say God's given you a unique place in the body. Be that. Don't try to be God needs only one Zac Poonen in the church. He doesn't want another. He won't but he wants one of you. So, I will have my ministry, not Jesus 34:16 ministry, not Paul's ministry, but my ministry. The life I'll have the same life that Jesus had. Which was in Paul. Which was in John Wesley. Which was in William Booth. And which is in Sadhu Sundar Singh. And can can be mine, too. 34:34 If I'm as yielded as don't those men were. So, we can have the same life that you see in another person, the same humility, the same purity, the same love, the same passion, the same zeal, the same godliness, but a completely 34:50 different ministry. So, when Jesus said, "Follow me," he was not telling us to raise the dead. The works that he did in one sentence, I'll tell you all the works that Jesus did in 33 and 1/2 years. That sentence is John 35:04 6:38. I always call this the one-line autobiography of Jesus' life. If Jesus were to write an autobiography of his life, 33 and 1/2 years, one sentence. I have come from heaven for 33 and 1/2 years on Earth 35:22 never to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. So, I want to explain to you in a few pictures what it means to deny your own will. John chapter 1, verse 14, first of all. John 1:14. Here's a picture of the tabernacle. 35:39 Now, I show you that picture of the tabernacle because it says in John 1:14 in the margin of my Bible, "The word became flesh and tabernacled among us." That's the word in my margin. That's the actual word in the Greek. Tabernacled 35:57 among us. And when he tabernacled among us, we beheld his glory. The glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. So, I want you to see here in the tabernacle, there were three parts. There was the 36:10 outer court, and the holy place, and the most holy place. The outer court was visible to everybody. The holy place and the most holy place were hidden. And there was a separation between the two. So, there were two parts hidden 36:28 and one part visible. The Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 5:23 that man is spirit, soul, and body. Three parts. Man is not just soul and body. That's what people who don't know the truth say. 36:46 But, the Bible says God will sanctify you entirely, which is spirit, soul, and body. Man is a trinity because he was made in the image of God who is a trinity. Not three persons, but three parts. And here are the three parts. 37:03 Most holy place, holy place, outer court. What do these three symbolize? Now, I'll just show you the next picture there after that. Here's how the the covered part of it, most holy place, holy place, outer court corresponds to 37:21 spirit, soul, and body. It's exact. God is very exact in the picture. All the Old Testament pictures of the lamb being slain or the anointing oil, picture of the Holy Spirit, everything in the Old Testament is a perfect shadow 37:37 of what is fulfilled in the New Testament. The bap- going through the Red Sea is a picture of water baptism. The cloud coming down from heaven is a picture of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Everything, if you really read the Old 37:47 Testament with New Testament eyes, you'll see amazing things. You'll see pictures of the New Covenant all over the Old Covenant. Ezekiel's, you know, dead bones coming to life. First just having flesh, then having breath, then becoming an army. It's all 38:03 a picture of New Covenant life. So, here it is. What the Old Covenant Tabernacle symbolized is spirit, soul, and body. Now, once we see that, I want you to go to the next picture, which is just the Tabernacle itself, soul and body. Spirit 38:20 and soul, rather. The spirit and soul, I told you there are two parts of us, two parts of the tabernacle were covered, and there are two parts of us that are invisible. This is the outer court everybody can see, but there are two parts invisible, 38:32 spirit and soul. Now, you look at it on the outside, it looks like one tent. And people who don't know God say, "Man is body and soul." That's because they look at it in the outside. You look at the tabernacle in the outside and say, 38:45 "Yeah, outer court and a tent." No, sir. Inside the tent there's another partition. You need to know that. And that's only those who get inside who will know it. And people who don't know God think it's body and soul, and I 38:57 don't blame them because they're looking at it from the outside. But once you get inside the tent, you find, "Hey, there's a holy place and a most holy place." And it corresponds to spirit and soul. And the spirit and soul, the soul 39:12 is our basic personality, our mind, by which we think, our emotions, with which we feel, and the will. And the will is the door to to the spirit. The will is that thick curtain like this 39:31 between the most holy place and the holy place. It's wonderful they have this illustration here, right here. There was this thick veil, you know, which in the Old Testament nobody could go, the high priest could go only once a 39:46 year, signifying that the way into the most holy place was not yet open. You need to understand this. It's all got to do with Jesus being our forerunner. And that's where you see this secret of following Jesus. It's not just interesting diagrams, it's 40:01 very relevant to life. What is this thick veil, which could not be torn, which prevented and by the way, God dwelt in the most holy place, not in the outer court, not in the holy place. Remember, God does not dwell in our body, 40:18 nor in our mind, nor in our emotions, but in our spirit. That's where he wants to dwell. When it says that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, that's true, but it's not in the hands that my the Holy Spirit dwells. I hope you know that. You 40:31 can cut off my hands, I'll still be filled with the Holy Spirit. You can cut off my legs, I can still be filled with the Holy Spirit. So, if God dwells in my body, I'll have to lose some of the Holy Spirit when I cut off my hands or legs. 40:41 You know that. So, it's not He dwells in my body, but not in this flesh, inside inside that tent. And not even in that first part of the tent, but in the second part of the tent. And that could not be true in the Old Testament. That's why the Holy Spirit 41:01 could not dwell inside people because there was this thick veil. But in the New Testament, you know what happened when Jesus died on the cross? That veil was torn from top to bottom. Hallelujah. Not from bottom to top. Who did it? Not man. 41:18 God. God did it. Tore it from top to bottom and said the way's open. Now, when the way is open, why should we live in the outer court? Why should we live in the holy place? There are some interesting things in the outer court. 41:37 Sacrifices, Calvary. The two things in the outer court, you know, the uh altar of sacrifice and the laver of water, symbolizing forgiveness of sins and the water baptism. There are many Christians who spend all their life in the outer court. My sins 41:55 are forgiven. I'm water baptized. I'm all right. Okay. That's all they'll have. They live in the outer court all their life. There are hundreds and thousands of people there. There are some people who move there beyond that into the holy place. 42:07 What's in the holy place? The bread on the table, symbolizing God's word. People are interested in studying God's word. And the lamp stand symbolizing the oil and the Holy Spirit bringing light. We're interested in the baptism in the Holy 42:21 Spirit. And the altar of incense and prayer. Incense to God. These are the three things. Now, there are a few Christians who move on from being just forgiven and water baptized to studying God's word, filled with the Holy Spirit, spend time in 42:36 prayer. But they're still in the holy place. Activity. Activity. All the priests are very busy. There are very few who go into the most holy place and become worshipers. Because in the in the most holy place 42:57 there's only God. There's only God. There's nobody else. If you were to go to that Old Testament tabernacle in those days, you see a lot of people running around the outer court, a few priests running around the holy place, but you looked 43:12 into the If you could look into the most holy place, there's nobody there. It's boring. Nobody to talk to except God. And until you find God interesting, you'll find the most holy place boring. The trouble with a lot of Christians, if 43:27 they're honest, is they find God pretty boring. That's why they always like to be in the outer court, holy place. And I'll tell you something, one more thing I've discovered through the years. You cannot build a church in the outer 43:38 court. You cannot build a new covenant church in the holy place. You can only build it where God dwells in the most holy place. And you got to get there first, invite other people to get there, then you can build a new covenant 43:51 church. Everything else will be an old covenant church. In the holy place in the outer court, internally be the holy place church will be better than the outer court church, agree? And the outer court church will be better than the Babylonian church which 44:05 is right outside the camp. But the real new covenant church is in the most holy place. That's why it's not just an interesting diagram. This is very practical. So, we need to understand how to get in there, and that's the will. And why do I 44:20 say it's the will? Let's turn to Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10, we read, "Brethren, verse 19, we have confidence to enter." When it says the holy place, it really means the most holy place. The holiest. 44:38 We have confidence to enter the holiest first of all, by the blood of Jesus, because that has to take care of our past life. You cannot enter there unless your past life is completely taken care of. The blood of Jesus has cleansed you 44:55 completely from all sin. You haven't justified any sin you've committed. You haven't blamed somebody else like Adam blamed his wife. You've taken the blame yourself and asked Jesus to forgive you. He's forgiven you. Then, 45:10 by a new and living way. This is what I want to talk about, this new and living way. Not a door. The veil is called a way. Through the veil. Now, we would think the veil is like a door. I just get in. No. The veil is called a way. 45:29 A new and living way. You know the difference between a gate and a way? Jesus said there's a a narrow gate and a narrow way that leads to life. And this is not a narrow gate, it's a narrow way. There are many who probably come through 45:44 the narrow gate, but they haven't come through the narrow way. They don't walk the narrow way, cuz that's a daily thing. There's a new and living way which Jesus inaugurated for us. How did he inaugurate it? Through the 45:58 veil. That is his flesh. Now, we need to understand here what flesh means. Did Jesus come in the flesh? The Bible says, "The one who does not confess that Jesus came in the flesh has got the spirit of 46:16 the antichrist." 2 John. What does it mean when it says in 1 Timothy 3: 16, "Great is the secret of godliness." Or as the Living Bible says, "It's true, the way to live a godly life is a real secret." 46:36 But the answer lies in Christ who came in the flesh. It's a secret? I thought even the non-Christians know that Jesus Christ came in the flesh. He came in a body, yes. But they don't know that he came in the flesh. The flesh 46:57 in the New Testament is used in two ways. One is in terms of meat, of this physical body. But there is another use of the word flesh which is more important in the epistles. The flesh fights against the Holy Spirit. You know that verse. 47:16 Galatians 5: "The flesh fights against the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit fights against the flesh." Galatians 5:17. Is the Holy Spirit fighting against your body? How can he fight against your body when it is the temple of the Holy Spirit? 47:33 Is he trying to destroy my body? Is my body fighting against the Holy Spirit? Read the Bible slowly. Stop at that red light. The flesh lusts. Lusts means Lust, by the way, is not a bad word. 47:51 It's lust when it's conceived becomes sin, then it becomes bad. Lust just means strong desire. Now, I'll tell you why it's not a bad word. Because it says here the spirit lusts against the flesh. Does the Holy Spirit do anything evil? 48:06 No. The spirit lusts against the flesh. It only means strong desire. The flesh has got a strong desire against the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit's got a strong desire against the flesh, and they are contrary to one another. 48:25 So that you cannot do what you want to do. There you understand what the flesh is. The flesh is what I want to do. My will. The spirit is what God wants me to do. Which is against my will. 48:45 Remember the one-line autobiography of Jesus? I came from heaven not to do my own will. In other words, to deny my flesh. But to do the will of my father. In other words, the Holy Spirit fought against this flesh in Jesus. That is, my will. 49:03 Did Jesus have a thing called my will? He said, "I came from heaven not to do my will." You see it in Gethsemane how he struggled for 1 hour. The spirit fighting against the flesh. Father, I don't want to drink this cup. There's 49:23 nothing wrong in being honest. Jesus was honest. To tell the father something honestly, that's not a sin. I say you can tell God anything if you conclude your prayer with "But Father, not my will, but thine." 49:41 You can ask the Father for anything in the world. Conclude it with this last sentence, "But not my will, but thine." It's okay. You know what Jesus prayed for? "Please take this cup away from me." It was completely against the Father's 49:55 will. Have you stopped at Gethsemane and listen to that? There's nothing wrong in telling God, "Dad, I don't want to do that. But if you tell me, I'll do it. 50:13 However much it inconveniences me, however much it causes me pain, if I have to die, I'll do it." He was obedient unto death. But did he feel like doing it? No. Does it say in Hebrews 12, "Let us follow Jesus who enjoyed the cross?" 50:30 What does it say there? Endured. Some people are trying to enjoy the cross. You're trying to be more spiritual than Jesus. You can't be. He endured the cross. It was painful for him for 33 and 1/2 years to deny his will 50:48 365 days of every one of the years. Multiply 365 by 33 and 1/2 and you'll know how many days he had to take up the cross. He endured it. And that denying of his will was the tearing of his veil. The veil that is his flesh. 51:11 That is his self-will. And the last shred of it was torn when he hung on the cross. And God tore that veil in the temple and said, "It's finished." When Jesus said, "It is finished." It was not only the punishment for my 51:27 sins was finished. Everything that is called my will in a human being was finished. The veil was rent. I pray you'll get revelation. It changed my life. The secret of the Lord is with those who fear him. If you want to be an inward type of 51:47 Christian, you'll understand it. If you're satisfied with just your good testimony before men, you can hear this message and listen to it on the DVD again and again and again. I tell you, in a hundred years you won't understand 51:58 it. You won't live it. Cuz God sees you're only interested in your testimony before men. The approval of men means much more to you than the approval of God. God says, "Why should I show you about an inner life when you're not even 52:09 interested in an inner life? You just want to show other people that you and your wife are so wonderfully happy with each other. You're not bothered about the way you talk to each other at home. That doesn't bring remorse. That doesn't 52:23 I'm not saying you should confess your sins at home to public to others, but I'm saying, "Why doesn't it bother you when you talk rudely one word to your husband or wife at home? Why doesn't it bring a sorrow into your heart?" I'll tell you, because you're an 52:38 external type of Christian. Nobody in the church was there to hear it. Have you ever had this experience that you and your wife are having a uh how shall I put it? An a pretty loud discussion. Let's put it like that. Uh 52:58 heated argument with the elements of anger, you know, a little bit of chili powder and all in it. And then you hear the doorbell ring. I hope he didn't hear what that last sentence I said. Why do you feel like that? And then this person comes in and you're 53:17 talking sweetly to your wife again and you guys are smiling at each other. And once he goes away, we continue round two. Why? Because the one whose opinion we were concerned about is gone. This brother in the church. 53:37 Now who's here? Uh Holy Jesus, we're not bothered about him. You are an external Christian. You won't understand a thing of what I'm saying. You'll understand it enough to be able to even preach it to others, but you won't understand a thing of it 53:51 spiritually. Because you're not interested. Dear brothers and sisters, this is not an intellectual thing. You have to understand it in the spirit. The will is the door to the spirit. 54:10 This will of man, which we got from Adam. As we don't have to tear the veil today, by the way. The veil has already been torn by Jesus. He was tempted in every point. All the way from the top bottom to the top, every single point. 54:28 Always the test was from childhood. For example, when he was a little child and Joseph and Mary tell him to do something and he didn't want to do it. It's his will. You've seen that in children. But he said, "Okay." 54:47 I don't know what he called them, dad, mom, "I'll do it." That was the beginning of the tearing of that veil. For 30 years at home and 3 and 1/2 years later on when people called him the devil. How do you feel like when people when people 55:04 call you the prince of devils when you've done something good to somebody, they say that's the prince of devils doing it. Jesus wasn't upset. He said, "You're forgiven." He didn't say you'll get leprosy like Miriam got it when she opposed Moses. He 55:19 didn't say you'll get swallowed up like Korah who rebelled against Moses. No. He said, "You're forgiven." And every time he denied his own will and did the will of his father the veil was symbolically getting torn and torn till finally 55:34 in Calvary, he was obedient unto death. Flesh was over. And that is called in Hebrews 10:20 a new and living way through the veil that is his flesh. I'll tell you this, you probably some of you probably never heard this in your whole life. 55:53 Well, there are many things in the scriptures you don't understand because when there's a red light you don't stop. You come to a verse like that and you crash through the red light and go. That's why you never understand it. 56:08 Many verses like this. Think of it. If you don't believe me, take a concordance and look at the word flesh in the New Testament. See what it means. My will is like this and this is God's will. And where my will crosses God's will, 56:28 there's a cross on which I have to die. That's the meaning of that veil. That's why I say that will is the door to the spirit. If the will is yielded, the way to the most holy place open and that's how I follow Jesus. I cannot 56:42 follow Jesus by raising the dead. Elijah raised the dead, he couldn't follow Jesus. Moses split the Red Sea. God has provided something better for us, that is Jesus who endured the cross. Now you understand Hebrews 12:2. Now you 56:59 understand how he's our forerunner. His left, right was, you know, like in the military, you walk left, right. To walk as Jesus walked means not my will but thy will. Not my will but thy will. That's how he walked all through his life. 57:13 All through his life, left, right was not my will but thy will. Not my will but thy will. And the veil was rent. This is a new and living way. Why is it a new way? Because there was no such way in the Old Testament. Why is it a living fresh way? Because 57:26 every day I have a new opportunity, a living opportunity to die to my own will and live doing the will of God. And what is the wonderful result? It says in Hebrews 12:2, "Who for the joy set before him endured the cross." Why was he willing 57:42 to go through this veil? Because on the other side was a joy. What was that joy? Wasn't the joy of a ice cream or more money or the silly things that the trinkets 57:59 that earthly Christians seek after. Psalm 16:11 says, "In his presence there is fullness of joy. And at his right hand there are pleasures forevermore." There is only one place in the universe where there is fullness of joy. 58:19 It's not in making money. It's not in being a very famous person. It's not in getting the biggest position on the earth. It's in the Father's presence. The day you realize that, you'll seek it with all your heart. You'll be willing to deny your will a 58:33 million times a day for that. At his right hand there are eternal pleasures. Psalm 16:11. Why do people go after earthly pleasures? They haven't got the eternal pleasure. There was a man who said, "When a man goes to a prostitute's house, he's 58:50 actually seeking for what only God can satisfy him." He's trying to find a pleasure which will never satisfy. The real eternal pleasure is with God. But he thinks it's in the it's in that brothel. When a man tries to make more and more 59:06 money, he thinks he'll get pleasure from there. He's a fool. He's as foolish as the guy going to a brothel. He doesn't look as ugly trying to earn money like the guy going to brothel, but it's the same empty pursuit. Why do you so many 59:20 parents neglect their children at home? The mothers go running off to make money and work. It doesn't matter if the children go to hell or become worldly so long as we can live in grand style and have a luxurious life and we can 59:33 make earn a lot of money and give them all to our children and they're going to waste it anyway. And these are choices we make in life. It's a question of what is priority in your life. But if we choose eternal pleasures 59:51 you know, if I found eternal pleasure that's the way to overcome the lust for pornography and to look at pretty women and lust after them. These people who are doing this are the people who have not found that eternal pleasure. 1:00:04 It's like asking the prodigal son when he came back to his father's house and he's enjoying this wonderful chicken curry and the fatted calf and whatever was there on the table and you ask him, "Hey, listen uh would you like to go and taste some 1:00:17 of that pig's food once again? You know, that lovely food you had last year?" He says, "Are you off your mind? You want me to go and eat that rubbish again?" You go and ask a person who's dwelling in the most holy place 1:00:30 uh who's enjoying the eternal pleasures of God's presence come and watch some pornography. His reaction is exactly the same as telling that prodigal son taste some of the pig's food. I want to ask you honestly, my brother and sister, 1:00:48 tell me honestly when you're tempted at the computer to look at pornography, is your reaction the same as the prodigal son sitting at the father's table being invited to go back and eat some of the pig's food? If not let me tell you, you are not 1:01:03 dwelling in the most holy place. You're not going through the new and living way. You're not enduring the cross every day and you can try and battle lust for the next 100 years, you'll still be defeated. You can battle it, battle it, battle it. 1:01:16 It's like the prodigal son sitting at the father's table and saying, "Oh, I long to go for that pig's food, but somehow I've got to eat this chicken curry and this uh tasty food over here. But I Oh, I wish I could go to that 1:01:27 pig's food. I'm battling, battling, battling a desire to go and sit with the pigs. You think he was sitting like that? Is it Is your battle with sin like that? It'll always You say, "I've been a believer 20 years and I'm still 1:01:42 battling. I want to go to the pigs. I want to go to the pigs, but I'm pulling myself back." You haven't tasted the eternal pleasures. I'll tell you why. You live an external life. You're only interested in keeping the outside of the cup clean. You're a 1:01:59 Pharisee. Pharisees can never dwell in the most holy place. And you try to build a new covenant church. The pattern may be right, but it will not the life will not be there. Yeah? I want to use another illustration. See, Jesus told the story of building on 1:02:18 sand or building on rock. It's the same story again. The sand is mind and emotions. The rock is when the will is blasted. He said that at the end of the sermon on the mount. If you want your life to be solid, unshakeable 1:02:37 in the time of temptation, unshakeable in the time of trial, you cannot build it on your mind intellectual understanding of the word or emotions excited about the word, what you call praise and worship. It doesn't make you a solid Christian. 1:02:54 First of all, it's not worship. It's called usually praise and thanksgiving what we have. People don't understand what worship is. But even that praise and work thanksgiving, even if you do it every day, you will still long for the pig's food 1:03:08 once in a while. Because it's in your mind and emotions. You remember what Jesus You know that what Jesus immediately before the story of the uh wise man and the foolish man, Matthew 7 verse 24 onwards. He's He He said, "Not everyone who says 1:03:25 to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven." That's how he introduced that parable. When a man says, "Lord," it means his mind is right. Intellectually. When he says, "Lord, Lord," that means he's excited about it 1:03:39 also. But he's still on sand. Lord, Lord, Lord, still on sand, brother. "But he who does the will of my father." You see that? Matthew 7:21. The will has to be blasted. You see it right there, mind, emotion, and will in Matthew 7:21. 1:03:57 It's not Lord, it's not Lord, Lord, but doing the will, that means I blast my will to do the will of God. Now you see the next picture. Here's the house on sand. Pretty good house until the storm comes. You know how your 1:04:16 life looks so pretty till that pretty girl walks in front of you. Or some opportunity to make a little money by telling a small lie. Or some other barrier. Some trial and temptation. 1:04:35 Severe trial. Until then your house looks beautiful. Then it collapses and you wonder why. You say, "Most of the time I'm strong." That's right. When it's clear weather, my house looks nice. It's only in the storms that it 1:04:48 collapses, right? That's it. And the next picture. Here's another house where the man was sensible enough to go through the mind. We don't neglect the mind or the emotions. In yoga, they say empty your mind. I don't believe in that. We must fill our 1:05:04 mind. But we don't stop with the mind. That's the point. He dug through the mind. I believe in emotions. I believe in being excited about praising God with all my heart. I weep sometimes. I'm excited. I can clap, raise my hands, 1:05:18 and everything. But, I don't stop with that. I blast my way all through that till I hit my will. Not my will, but thine. Now, I want to say this. You can listen to God's word, understand it all, be excited about it, and say, "Boy, wasn't that a wonderful 1:05:35 word?" Hang on. You got to go blast your will now. That's why when somebody asked me, "Brother Zac, what's the difference between your church and other churches?" I say, "Well, in many ways, we're similar. We uh we uh we don't claim to be the 1:05:51 best church or we're not perfect. We've got hypocrites in our church just like every church. But, I say for one thing, for other churches, Sunday is the most important day. For us, the most important day is Monday and Tuesday 1:06:06 and Wednesday and Thursday and so on. Meaning, is how we live at our home and our office and how we behave with our home people at home and in our workplace and how I behave when everybody's angry on the roads and the traffic is being held up. How I behave, 1:06:25 that's where my Christianity is tested. Not when I sit looking like a holy person in church and singing wonderfully, "There's no God like Jehovah." and all that. That's not the time when I find out whether I'm rending the veil. No. 1:06:39 So, in our daily life, if I go through the veil which Jesus has opened, he's my forerunner. And all of us have that opportunity every single day to go this way if we want to. In temptation, 1:06:58 the devil of the flesh is knocking at our door, and Jesus says, "I'm knocking at your door. Whom are you going to open to?" You are the one who decides Which whom you want to let enter. And the accumulated the accumulated effect of those 1:07:16 decisions over a period of many years makes you finally the man or woman you are. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, help us to go beyond 1:07:41 intellectual understanding and excitement at truth to that which really matters. To say, "I've been born on Earth not to do my own will, ever, 1:07:59 but to do the will of my heavenly Dad in every single day, every single moment." Help us to walk this new and living way, Father, we pray. So that we can build a new covenant church in Jesus' name. Amen.
