0:19 We saw in our last session that the grace of God was upon Jesus Christ as a child. Now, to some people it's blasphemous to say that Jesus received grace. And if you told people that Jesus needed grace, they'd call you a heretic. 0:43 But that's because they don't read the Bible carefully. It says in, we saw that in Luke 2.40 that the grace of God was upon Him as a child. And He grew in wisdom. And we saw in Hebrews in chapter 2 that by the grace of God, 1:00 He tasted death for every man. And so from birth to death, Jesus demonstrated He was the first man to walk on earth with the grace of God upon Him. Now why do a lot of Christians feel that that's heresy? Because they don't know the difference between grace and mercy. 1:26 For years and years and years, Bible schools have taught people that grace means the unmerited favor of God. That's not true. You'll never find it in scripture. Don't believe all these things we have heard for years and years and years and years. You know, 1:44 a lot of people, we sing songs of Jesus as the Rose of Sharon. Shall I tell you Jesus is not the Rose of Sharon? You show me one verse in the Bible which says He's the Rose of Sharon. It isn't there. It's the bride that is the Rose of Sharon. We 1:58 sing songs that Jesus is the Lily of the Valley. He's not the Lily of the Valley. It's people who haven't read the Bible, who study in Bible schools who say He's the Lily of the Valley. You read Song of Solomon, it's the bride who's the Lily of the Valley. 2:11 I challenge anybody to show me anything different. But there are Christians who sing it and sing it and it's become gospel truth for them. I'm just using it as an example. We preach that the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. It's not true. If we walk 2:26 in the light as He is in the light, then only the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. How can you just preach the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin? That's half a verse. And a lot of heresies come out of half verses. I'll tell you a lot of things people don't know. 2:47 They don't know the difference between the old man and the flesh. I guarantee that 99.9% of people come out of Bible school, you ask them, what's the difference between the old man and the flesh? They don't have a clue. It's the same thing. 2:57 They'll talk about sinful nature, a word never found in the New Testament. You know these people who fight for the King James Version, how do they use the word sinful nature which is never found in the King James Version? 3:08 They're absolutely inconsistent. Christendom is filled with people who don't know the Bible. Because they go to Bible schools. They don't study it. They don't sit down and study carefully scripture over scripture. They say this is the word of God, and they use words which are not found in 3:27 the Bible. And they say things like Jesus is the rose of Sharon. If you imagine, if you studied a chemistry book like that carelessly, you'd get all mixed up. If you studied physics like that, you wouldn't even pass high school. 3:43 I just mentioned these things to show you, there are numerous things. I could spend a whole hour teaching you unscriptural things that are being taught in Christendom today. But I don't have time for that because we're talking about something positive. 3:56 About Jesus. It's much better to talk about Him, the real Jesus. So, Jesus lived like this. You know, mercy is God forgiving us. Let me show you this verse, Hebrews 4.16. Just to prove that difference. In the Old Testament, we read this word mercy often. But we 4:18 don't read about grace being given to any man. Jesus was the first person. And in Hebrews 4.16, we see the difference between the two. Now, the reason why I say this is because there is a verse in John's Gospel, chapter 1, verse 17, which says, The law came by Moses, 4:37 but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. There was no grace till Jesus Christ came. And truth meaning reality. Nobody could have a life of reality till Jesus Christ came. Jesus Christ came to give us grace. And Jesus Christ came to give us reality. Now, by reality, I mean, 4:59 please listen carefully. This is the crisis that hit me about 30 years ago. A crisis of reality. I discovered that what I was preaching was not true in my inner life. That's unreality. Reality is where whatever you say and confess is true in your inner life. You don't speak 5:22 what's not true in your life. You know the well-known proverb? Practice what you preach. Do you know that Jesus never practiced what he preached? I'm going to shock you this afternoon. Just to keep you awake. Jesus never practiced what he preached. 5:42 He preached what he had already practiced. You know the difference? Practice what I preach. Maybe I'm going to practice it 10 years from now. Jesus preached what he had already practiced. Where do I get that? Acts 1, verse 1. He did and then taught. You follow that pattern. 5:59 The first verse of Acts of the Apostles is, Jesus did and taught, and we're supposed to do and teach. We're not supposed to teach what we haven't done. That's reality. Nobody could have that reality until Jesus came. Okay, Hebrews 4, verse 16. Let us draw 6:16 near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. You see the difference? That we may find mercy and find grace to help in time of 6:37 need. Mercy is what Jesus never needed because he never sinned in thought, word, deed, attitude, motive. There was no sin in him at any time. But grace we saw, he had. What was that grace? To help him in his time of need. 6:54 Did Jesus have a time of need? Well, it says here in the previous verse, verse 15. He was tempted like us in all things. Let me ask you, what is your greatest time of need? I'll tell you what mine is. It's when I'm tempted. 7:11 My greatest time of need is not when I run short of money. You know we can live without money? I mean, I don't mean that we can live without a lot of things that money can buy because there's so little that we really need in order to live. But Jesus said, 7:31 man shall not live by bread alone, we obtain bread by money, but by every word of God. And God's called us to live a holy life. And Jesus said that's more important than the type of food you eat, the type of house you live in, the type of car you drive. All these things are secondary. 7:54 A vehicle is to take us from one place to another. People lived on earth for nearly 6,000 years without cars. And a lot of things that we have today, a lot of people, our forefathers, lived without them, which we call necessities. 8:08 But there was one thing that's been true all through the years, that man must live by the word of God. That's never changed. And so our greatest need is not financial. We may think it is, the devil sometimes fools us. Your great need is financial, 8:23 or your greatest need is to get married. No, our great need is to obey God. And when we try to obey God, the person who is serious about obeying God finds so much temptation to disobey God. And that's when we need grace. Grace can help us obey. 8:44 Another verse in 2 Corinthians tells us what grace is. 2 Corinthians 12. Paul said that when he had a thorn in the flesh, I believe it was a sickness, he prayed many times that God would heal him, and God didn't heal him, teaching us that sometimes God does not heal sickness. 9:03 There's no man who has ever prayed to be freed from sin that God said, sorry, I won't free you from sin. Never. But there are cases, Timothy had a stomach, problem with his stomach. We read in the last verse of 1 Timothy 5, Paul must have laid hands on him numerous 9:18 times and prayed for him, he never got healed. Finally Paul told him, take some medicine. I mean, instead of being constantly sick. So Paul had a sickness too, from which he was not healed. He prayed numerous times, it's right to pray when you're sick, that God will heal us. Because sickness, 9:33 according to 2 Corinthians 12.7, is always a messenger of Satan. Sickness is never from our heavenly father. God's a much better father than you and me. None of us would give sickness to our children. God is a million times better father. He never gives sickness to his children. 9:49 Sickness is always a messenger of Satan, but sometimes, God permits it. He prayed three times, God said no. I'm not going to remove it. And whenever God says no, there's a very good reason. And then he told him, my grace, never mind your sickness Paul, think of my grace. Never 10:08 mind your financial difficulty, think of my grace. My grace is sufficient for you. It's more than enough to make up for all those lacks you have in the material, physical realm. In your case, a physical sickness. My grace is enough for you because this sickness makes you weak. 10:26 Financial difficulty makes you weak. There are other things that make us weak. And my power is perfected in weakness. In other words, like another translation says it, my power shows up best in weak people. You know like, the stars are shining right now in the sky, but you can't see them 10:51 because it's not dark enough. But when it's dark, the stars shine brightly. It's like that. In weak people, the weaker we are, God's power manifests itself perfectly. So grace, according to this verse, is power. That's the other thing we learn about grace. Grace 11:12 equals power. Power from God to meet whatever is our lack. It may not heal the sickness. It may not remove the financial difficulty. It may not give you a better circumstances to live in. It may not remove that difficult neighbor. But it will give you power in the midst of 11:31 those circumstances to be more than a conqueror. To walk like Jesus. That's grace. My grace is sufficient for every need. This was the grace that was upon Jesus in fullness. And that's why his life was so wonderful. He wasn't the 11:48 richest person in Nazareth. He didn't have the biggest house in Nazareth. And whatever vehicles or carts they had, he didn't have the best. But he was the most triumphant and the most wonderful person that lived in that town. And so can you and I be. 12:05 That's our calling. To walk like Jesus. To live like Jesus. This is the real Jesus. The grace was upon him and that's what helped him to live the way he lived. And that's what, and he was an example. He said, follow me. Now I want to show you another thing about grace. 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 5. 12:30 Here it says, that God gives his grace to the humble. Now we earlier saw that when grace is upon us, Romans 6.14, sin cannot have power over us. It cannot touch us. It's like saying, if I'm under an umbrella or a tent, the rain doesn't make me wet. 12:55 It's like that. Grace is like an umbrella or a tent. Sin can't touch me. The rain can't touch me. If I'm under the roof, the rain can't, it can be pouring outside, but if I'm under the roof, rain can't touch me. Grace is like that. 13:10 But if you're not under grace, or half of you is out of grace, you get wet. It's like that. But under grace, Romans 6.14 says, sin cannot touch you, if you're under grace. But if you're under law, sin will have power over you. Under law means, you are determined to try 13:27 and live up to that standard, which you heard in the pulpit the other day. You try it brother. Israel tried it for 1500 years, and they failed. I don't want to try it again. I don't want to try which people have tried, something which people have tried for 1500 years and failed. 13:41 I learned from their lesson. I say, I don't want to try it. But there's another way, Jesus made a better way. In fact, do you know the meaning of the word Jesus? It says in Matthew 1.21, by the way, this is the first promise in the New Testament, the real Jesus, the real Jesus, 13:56 the first promise in the New Testament, Matthew 1.21, you must call his name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. Not even forgive their sins. That was in the Old Testament. Psalm 103, David could say that 1000 years before Jesus came. Bless the Lord, O my soul, 14:12 who forgives all your iniquities. Not 90% of them, not who will in some future day, 1000 years from now, when Christ dies, forgive all your iniquities. For God, there is no past, present and future. Christ died before the 14:25 foundation of the world in the Father's eyes. And David could be forgiven right there in Psalm 103, 1000 years before Christ. He could say, Bless the Lord, O my soul, who forgives all your iniquities. But what he could not say was, Bless the Lord, O my soul, 14:38 who helps me to overcome all sin in my life, who saves me from my sin. He couldn't say that. That's only after Jesus came. Jesus will save you from your sin. And how is that? By grace. Grace came through Jesus Christ. And so, but why is it then, so many people don't 15:00 get victory over sin. Why is it the vast majority of believers whom I have met, cannot testify that God has given them power to overcome sin in their life. And sin and this legalistic life go pretty close together. Some people come out of sin and then 15:15 they get into legalism. It's like getting out of one pit and falling into another one. Here it says, in 1 Peter 5, 5, God gives His grace to the humble. He doesn't give it to everybody. He gives it to the humble. So if I'm not humble, I'm not going to get grace. And if I don't get grace, 15:38 I won't get victory over sin. So, in some particular situation, if I lost my temper and I sinned, I don't have to ask God, Lord, why didn't I get grace? I know the answer. Somewhere along the line, I was proud. Because if I were humble, whether I like it or not, God would 15:58 give me grace. And in that particular situation, the fact that I lost my temper or lusted with my eyes or I did something wrong deliberately, I know that that particular moment I fell into sin. And if I fell into sin, according to Romans 6, 14, 16:14 it's because I was not under grace. I moved out of that covering. Grace was here and I was here. I didn't get grace. Okay. So, what is the reason why I didn't get grace? That's very clear. Here in Romans 6, 14, 1 Peter 5, 5, He gives it only to the humble. And 16:36 I was not humble. Isn't it good for us to think about that? Lord, every time I fall into sin, there's one more proof that I'm not humble. And I who thought I was such a humble person, I who have given such a reputation to other people 16:55 that I'm a very humble brother and a humble sister, and we all love to have a reputation that we are humble brothers and sisters, but God shows us the reality of it when we fall into sin. And if you love the truth about yourself, it's very difficult 17:10 to love the truth about ourselves. But if you do love the truth about yourself, in that moment, you'll say, Lord, I realize now, I'm a proud man. I'm a proud woman. Help me to humble myself. And so grace was upon Jesus from birth till He died. 17:31 It must prove one thing. If He never sinned, which means grace was on Him all the time, it must mean there was never a moment in His life when He was proud. To me, that's an amazing thing that a human being can live on earth for 33 and a half years and never be proud for a single moment. 17:50 You say, well, that was because He was the Son of God. Oh. If He lived as the Son of God, then He was not, if He lived as God on earth, then He's no example for me. I can't follow Him. He was tempted like me. Otherwise, I can't follow Him. 18:07 You see, we like to take away the credit from Him, which He deserves. By saying, oh, it was easy for Him. It wasn't easy for Him. Do you think you're glorifying Jesus when you say, oh, He overcame sin because He was God? It's like saying, well, that angel went across the swimming pool because 18:26 he's got wings. It's not so easy for me. When I go to the swimming pool, I go down. No, Jesus didn't fly across this earth and say, follow me. It's like an angel flying across a swimming pool and say, follow me. I say, I'm sorry, I can't. 18:41 I tell that angel, listen, if you want to teach me to swim, you better get rid of your wings and take a body like mine, which is subject to gravity and jump into that pool and you'll know how I feel when I get into that pool and then try and teach me. And so, if Jesus came to earth as He was God, 18:57 no doubt, He didn't cease to be God, but He didn't use His power as God when He lived on earth as a man. This is the wonderful truth you see in the New Testament. Jesus lived on earth as a man. He did not use His resources as God. It's like a missionary 19:11 coming to India or a millionaire from a western country coming to a poor country and telling people in the slum, I'll teach you how to live on $25 a month, which is what they earned there. And supposing when they're not looking, he keeps using his credit card, 19:35 he's cheating. But if he says, listen, I am a millionaire, I won't deny that, but I give you my word, I'll never use my credit card. I will live, I'll work like you, earn $25 a month, and teach you how to live within that income without getting into debt. 19:51 That's how Jesus lived. He was God, but He never used His heavenly credit card on earth. Because we don't have a credit card like that. Where we can just have access to the things He had access to. He lived like us. He was tempted like us. 20:06 That's why, when I saw this for the first time, about 30 years ago, I wept with joy that Jesus had become like me. I always thought He came down, but He sort of lived in a five-star type of flesh, just a little above mine. And of course, 20:23 I could never follow Him, because I didn't have a five-star flesh. I had minus something flesh. And when I realized that He came like me, and He never sinned, I really got light on two things. One, I could never make an excuse for my sin anymore. 20:46 And two, if one man did it, so can I. Now, if you say God did it, I can't say so can I, because I'm not God. But if one man did it, so can you, so can I. Right or wrong? Right. I thought of it like this, supposing there was some remote island on earth somewhere, where nobody knew how to swim. 21:18 And for generations and generations, people had believed man can never swim. Because when a man goes into the water, he sinks. Right? He does. And so for generations, for years, from the time of the forefathers, nobody can 21:33 swim. And there on that island, nobody could swim. Everybody would be scared of the water. They wouldn't go near the water because they could drown. And then one man comes from some other part of the world who knows how to swim. And he says, he has a river, let's go swimming. 21:49 He says, oh no, no, no, be careful. Man can't swim. And they see him swimming across that river to the other side. And when he comes back, they touch him and say, have you got a body just like ours? Are you sure the weight is the same? Are you sure the density and specific gravity is the same? 22:05 Are you different? And he says, no, I'm just like you. No, it can't be. It's not possible. He says, okay, just get in the water. I'll show you. Do what I do, and you can go across the river just like me. And the first person, a lot of people say, no, 22:20 no, no, it's not possible. It's exactly like Christians today. No, no, no, victory over sin. Oh, brother, it's not possible. It's not possible. Nobody from our forefathers onward, nobody's ever got victory over sin. It's all a strange teaching. But we say Jesus did it. No, no, no, he was different. 22:34 He's got a different type of flesh. And Jesus says, do what I did, and you'll get victory too. And the first man who has the courage to do that gets into the river and goes across and then people believe. Hey, it's possible. It's possible. That is true Christianity where a person can sin. 22:54 He's not teaching swimming on a blackboard, you know, move your legs like this and move your hands like this. No, no, no, we're not talking about theory. We're talking about what we do. We do and we don't practice what we preach. We preach what we've 23:05 already practiced. And we follow Jesus and Paul said, follow me as I follow Christ. And I believe that's the great need in every church of living examples who have overcome sin and if they fall, we get up and say, yeah, I fell there. I'm not trying to cover up 23:28 my sin. You know, if you try to cover up your sin, you'll never get victory over it. Supposing you lust with your eyes and you say, well, I was just admiring the beauty of God's creation. Really? Who are you trying to bluff? The devil's not fool, 23:44 God's not fool and you're trying to fool people. It's not true. You'll never get victory over that sin because you justified yourself. And justifying yourself is the mark of a Pharisee. And every time you get angry, you say, well, there was a reason for it. 24:00 I give you my word. I promise you, you'll never get victory over your anger because you justify yourself. But if you say, Lord, that was a rotten sin that was wrong, that was evil, that was adultery, that anger was murder. 24:16 I don't want to murder anybody. You know that Jesus said that in Matthew chapter 5, anger was like murder and lusting with your eyes is like adultery. You call it murder, call it adultery, and I guarantee you'll get victory over it pretty soon. 24:29 But you call it righteous indignation and admiring God's creation and all this type of rubbish, you'll never get victory. That's the reason a lot of people don't get victory. They don't call it by the dirtiest, filthiest name they can think of. 24:40 And therefore they don't hate it. Jesus overcame. This is the real Jesus we see in scripture. He got grace continuously because he was continuously humble. And you and I can get grace continuously if you're continuously humble. And if you don't get victory over sin, 24:59 if you don't get victory over lusting with your eyes, if you don't get victory over anger, if you don't get victory over seeking the honor of men, if you don't get victory over the sins that plague you in your life, go before God and fall down and say, God, I am a proud man. 25:14 I'm just fooling people around me that I'm a humble brother and a humble sister. I'm not. You're proving to me day after day that I'm a proud man. And when you confess that, say, Lord, I want to be humble. Please humble me. Please let me humble myself. 25:31 Give me grace. You'll get it. God loves honest people. God loves those who are downright honest and say, Lord, that's my fault. I take the blame. You know the difference between Adam sinning and David sinning? Now, in human eyes, whose sin was greater? Adam who just ate of the 25:52 fruit of a tree and David? Committed adultery with somebody else's wife, killed off the husband and married the woman? Anybody will tell you David's sin was greater. But how is it that Adam, there's no record that his sin was forgiven. As far as I know, 26:10 he went to hell. But David, he's in heaven today. You know the difference? Both of them confessed their sin. But with the difference, you can confess your sin and you can confess it the Adam type of way or the David type of way. And you confess it the Adam type of way, you'll never be forgiven. 26:29 It's very important to know how to confess your sin. And I'll teach you this right now, how to confess your sin. When Adam, God came to Adam and asked him, did you eat of the tree? He said, yes. But, you know the problem was with my wife. She 26:44 was the one who gave it to me. And the moment you confess your sin with, but, this was the reason and that was the reason and somebody else did this and my wife did that. Brother, you are a follower of Adam. Sister, you are a follower of Adam. Your sin will not be forgiven. 27:05 You'll be kicked out of paradise forever. Because Jesus said to the Pharisees in Luke 16, 15, you are those who justify yourself before men. One mark of a Pharisee is, he may confess his sin. Yeah, I made a mistake, I ate the fruit. But, 27:20 this was the reason. This is the reason why so many people don't have fellowship with God. They've always got a reason why they fell. Yeah, there's a lot of pressure in the work today and that's why I sort of lost my temper when I came home. That's not the reason, brother, sister. 27:35 The reason is, you are proud. Don't say there was a lot of pressure at work today. How did David confess his sin? Read Psalm 51. He said, Lord, you're absolutely right when you judge. I am the criminal. I am the one to blame. 27:52 It's not Bathsheba, it's not anybody else, it is me. I should have been going out to fight with the kings in battle. As it says in 2 Samuel 11, verse 1, when the kings went to battle, David went to sleep. I should have been out on the battlefield. And if I had gone on the battlefield with my army like I 28:11 normally do, I would never have fallen into sin with Bathsheba. But instead of going out on the battlefield with all the armies, with my army, I decided to take a day off and sleep at home. That's why I fell, Lord. It's my fault, 28:29 one hundred percent. You know what God said about David? That's a man after my own heart. What was so great about David? He was absolutely honest and he didn't blame anybody else. And let God find somebody like that over here who will not blame anybody else, who will say, 28:45 woe is me, oh wretched man that I am. You know when you see God, that's what you say. When you hear about the Lord, it's different. I want to show you the book of Job. Job was a very wonderful man. He was the most upright and righteous man on the face of the earth. How do I 29:09 know? Because God himself certified it. And when God certifies that a man is righteous, you can be pretty sure he's righteous. He was a man who feared God and hated evil, God said that. And God could say that even to the devil. When the devil said, 29:23 I've been going around the earth, God said, have you seen Job? Satan said, sure. God said, there's nobody like Job on the earth. A man who fears me, who hates evil, in the whole earth you will not find a man like him. Imagine getting a certificate like that from God. 29:37 What a wonderful man he was. And if you get time sometime, you read just one chapter, Job 29, when you get time, and you'll see the type of things he did. He helped the widows. 29 to 31, three chapters where he speaks about how he didn't make gold his God, 29:56 he didn't worship money, he didn't lust with his eyes. Do you know that Job did not, he made a covenant with his eyes not to lust with a woman, 2,000 years before Matthew chapter 5 was written. He had such a high standard of holiness, and he would help the poor, he'd help the blind to cross 30:17 the street, and take care of the strangers, and the widows, and never, his holiness was practical. But with all these wonderful things, he never worshipped idols, with all these wonderful things, he had one big defect, one serious problem. He was, and that's a 30:39 serious problem that many many Christians who live holy lives also have. Many Christians who help the widows, who care for the orphans, who fear God, who hate evil, who do many many good things, have this one problem that Job had, and that is, he was proud of his righteousness. 31:02 He was proud that he was such a holy man, he was not like other people, you know, carnal and worldly and all that. No, I've got ten children, and I brought all of them up in a God-fearing way, seven sons and three daughters, and I pray for them regularly. You read all that in chapter one. 31:21 What a wonderful man he was, and he was pretty proud of it. Only one weakness. He was proud of the fact that he was such a holy man, he was proud of the fact that he got such a wonderful family of ten children. And that spoiled everything. It's like making a wonderful dish, 31:43 curry or something like that, and then putting one lizard inside. Just one. Not too many. Just one dead lizard we put inside. I mean the best cook in the world, we got him to make the best chicken curry, and we put one lizard inside. 32:01 I'd rather have that third-rate curry made by the fellow who doesn't know how to cook. Thank you, I don't want this. That's what God says too. All your righteousness, you become proud of it. It's like having this lizard inside it, 32:16 spiritual pride. Would you touch it? No. God doesn't touch it either. How to get rid of it? How to cleanse Job of this pride? You know whom God used? Who? Satan. That's right. Now you know why God allows Satan to hang around. Now you know why 32:39 he allows him to come and trouble you in some way. God used Satan to humble Job. And God can use Satan to humble you and me. Sometimes he humbles us by making us fall into sin. God used Satan to trouble Job, to harass him, to kill his children. 33:03 Boy! All in a moment. I've never heard of anyone who lost 10 children in one day. Have you? Have you heard anyone who's lost even 50% of his children in one day? Or 30% of his children in one moment? Here a man lost 10 children in a moment. 33:21 And on top of that, he lost all his business in a moment. All at the same day, he lost his children, he lost his property, he lost his business. And a few days later, he lost his health as well. Who did it all? Not God. Satan. Why did God allow Satan to do it? To make Job humble. 33:42 His big problem was, with all his holiness, he was proud of it. And we have seen that everywhere. People who pursue holiness become proud of their holiness. How do we know they are proud of their holiness? They look down on other groups who they think they are not as holy as we are. It's like, 34:04 you may be good. The many things you do may be good, but there's this dirty lizard in your curry. It spoils everything. And then finally, God, after he had broken Job completely, you see, humility and brokenness go together. And the Bible says in Isaiah 53 that it pleased the Lord to crush Jesus. 34:30 God allowed Jesus to be crushed and broken through circumstances. And one reason why God allows difficult circumstances for godly people is to break them so that he can give them his grace. That's why he allowed a thorn in Paul's flesh. 34:50 That's why he allowed Timothy to have stomach trouble that he never got healed from. He had to keep taking some medicine till the end of his life. Now I've seen people like that who have some infirmity and God allows it. 35:03 They pray and pray and pray. They may be faithful servants of God like Paul and Timothy. Paul and Timothy were the best. And people like Demas who were running after money, they were probably healthy. But Paul and Timothy, they got something better than money. They got grace. 35:18 And sometimes God allows you to have that, my brother, sister, because he sees you're such a wonderful brother, you're such a wonderful sister, you've raised such a wonderful family, but you've got this stinking lizard in 35:29 your life called spiritual pride. And he doesn't find any other way to get rid of it except by giving you some sickness or some trial or some difficulty. And it won't go. You can pray as much as you like. It won't go. Because God wants to give you something better. 35:45 He wants to give you grace to be an overcomer in your spirit. God's a good God. He doesn't give us little trivial things which we ask for, which are worthless. He gives us something eternal instead. He's a good God. But 36:02 he's trying to get rid of pride from our lives. And when God revealed himself to Job, when God revealed himself to Job and said, Do you see how great I am? And Job saw how small he was, and I believe that's a great need for us to get that 36:19 revelation. How God, how great he is, and how small we are. Like Isaiah got a revelation of how holy God is, and all his apparent holiness, all his so-called holiness just disappeared. He realized he was a filthy person. Then, 36:34 I want you to see these words of Job when he comes to the end of this trial. Job 42, verse 5. He says, Lord, till now I only heard of you, but now my eye sees you. Now I see you at last. Till now I knew about you, 36:57 I'd heard of you so many wonderful things, I knew what God was like, but now I see you face to face, and I repent in dust and ashes. That's always what happens when a man encounters God. He has no eyes to see the faults of people around him. He sees his own sin, and he falls before God 37:23 in dust and ashes. And it says, immediately after that, God doubled everything Job had. He got back ten children, and he got back double all his property. God blessed him abundantly, once he had accomplished this work. And I believe it's God's desire to bless all of us abundantly. 37:43 But he has to humble us, because it's a law in God's dealings with man that he gives grace to the humble. And we cannot get grace if we don't humble ourselves. And that is the greatest thing we see in Jesus' life. Right from the beginning. I want you to turn to Philippians chapter 2. See, we need to humble 38:03 ourselves because we are sinners. But Jesus never sinned, and he still humbled himself, which teaches us there's all the more reason why we need to humble ourselves. The godlier we become, the more we need to humble ourselves in all situations. The more God uses us, 38:22 like the branches that bear the greatest fruit in a tree hang down the lowest. Which are the branches that stick up like that? The ones that have got no fruit in them. And the more God uses you, the more the branches go down in humility. And that's how it is. Because 38:37 Jesus, we read in Philippians chapter 2. Though he was God, equal with God from all eternity, he did not hang on to that as something that he had to grasp, Philippians 2.6. But gave it all up. And he was made in the likeness of men, being found in the likeness of men, 39:00 he took the form of a servant. Now, I understand that verse to mean that every human being is supposed to be a servant. Every human being is supposed to be a servant. If you are a human being, you must be a servant of God and of other human 39:23 beings. That's the meaning of it. He took the form of a born servant, I want to read it like this, because he was made in the likeness of men. Verse 7. That means because he became a man, he realized, which a lot of human beings don't realize, Oh, 39:42 am I a human being now? I've got to be a servant. It's automatic. I'm supposed to serve others. I'm not supposed to lord it over anybody. Today we have kings who lord it over people, we have pastors and preachers who lord it over other people, 40:00 trying to control people's lives. They haven't understood. They haven't understood what human beings are supposed to be like. Leave alone, those who claim to be examples among human beings. Jesus understood it. He understood, as soon as I become a man, I am supposed to be a servant. I'm never supposed to 40:18 be anyone other than a servant. That's why, when they wanted to make him a king in John chapter 6, when he fed the 5000, they said, boy, this is the fellow whom we've got to make king. And they wanted to make him king, he ran away. He said, no, 40:29 I'm not going to be king. That's why he never allowed himself to be called by any title. He said, don't you disciples take titles to yourself. You're all brothers. And he always called himself an ordinary man, a son of man, an ordinary man, an ordinary man. 40:48 Because he knew what a man was supposed to be before God. And he had no problem in the last day of his life on earth to wash the disciples' feet. That's what he was. That's what he was calling. As a human being, he knew that's the only thing I'm supposed to do. I'm not supposed to exalt myself. 41:04 I'm not supposed to lift myself over other people in any way. I'm not supposed to make people feel small. Because that's how God is. A godly man is one who will never make you feel small. Jesus was like that. He revealed the Father, the real Jesus. 41:22 He didn't even make a prostitute feel dirty in his presence. Isn't that great? That a prostitute, a drug addict, a murderer, I mean in the presence of the Pharisees, they felt terribly sinful because these holy Pharisees were around. But in Jesus' presence, 41:42 Jesus never made them feel small even though he was the holiest man that walked on earth. That's the mark of a holy man, of a real godly man, that he never makes you feel small. He never makes you feel inferior to him in any way. This is the real Jesus. 42:00 He never made anybody he met feel inferior to you. Do you meet people who make you feel inferior to them? There are lots of people like that in the world. There are lots of people like that in Christendom. I straight away rule them out. They don't know Jesus, 42:15 they don't know God. See, the Pharisees were like that. It says in Luke chapter 18. You know, Jesus told many parables. He spoke many parables, but in one parable, only one, he said this parable is for certain type of people. 42:42 He never said that about any other parable. There's one particular parable he spoke only for certain type of people. I want you to read that. Luke chapter 18 verse 9. He also told this parable to certain ones who trusted in themselves that they were righteous. So he's not talking to worldly 43:02 Christians here. He's talking to people here who are holy, they avoid the world, they dress modestly, they do everything right, and they are pretty happy with their own righteousness. They are happy with the holiness in their homes and many many things. And very often, 43:26 along with this, comes that attitude that Job had, looking at others, verse 9, with contempt. We can look at other people with contempt. Like the Pharisees said here, Lord, I thank you that I'm not like other people, I'm not like this other man over here. We can say something similar. Lord, 43:45 I thank you that I'm not like people in those denominations over there who don't have light. I thank God I've got light. And I thank God that my children are not being brought up like that guy's children or those people over there in those denominations. Boy, I thank God I'm not like that. 44:00 And you can say that and not even feel that you are one of the first class Pharisees in your generation. That's the wonderful thing the devil does. He makes you a Pharisee and he doesn't even make you think you're a Pharisee. 44:11 You think you're a Christ-like humble person. But you're defeated by sin. Which shows there's no humility as far as God's concerned. This is the subtlety of false holiness. And the only way we can escape it is if we see the real Jesus. He wasn't like that. 44:29 He did not view anybody with contempt. If you look down on someone, it proves you're not like Jesus. You're not like God. The Pharisees viewed others with contempt. I want you to see this verse in Job chapter 36. There's something about the character of God mentioned here which we must know. 44:47 Because if you want to be like God, you've got to be like this. Job 36 and verse 5. It says God is mighty but he doesn't despise anybody. Listen to this. God is the mightiest person in the universe but he doesn't despise anybody. The world is 45:09 full of people who despise others because they're not like God. The world is full of churches that despise others because they're not like God. I go into a church and I say, how come there are no black people in 45:32 this church when there are so many black people in this community? Because they're not like God. They despise certain type of people. Okay, go ahead. But you're not like God. That's all I can say. Because God doesn't despise anybody 45:49 and he's the mightiest person in the universe. And I don't want to be like you fellas. I want to be like God. Have you ever thought about that? Have you ever thought about certain types of people who live in your community 45:59 who are not found in your church? There are no representatives of them in your church. Have you ever thought about the reason? The reason could be a certain snobbishness on your part. You say, no, no, no, no. We treat everybody alike. 46:11 Yeah, you say that. But there's a certain odor that comes out of your church which you don't sense. Have you heard of body odor? All the perfumes and deodorant companies in the world make money because of body odor. Think if our body odor were all sweet, all the perfume companies would have to close 46:32 down. Deodorant companies would pack up. But it's because there's a body odor that comes out that we have deodorant companies and perfume companies. Because body odor is not pleasant. But very often, listen to this, this little secret in 46:47 case you didn't know about body odor. The person who has it doesn't know it himself. It's other people who know it. And other people may be kind enough not to tell you, but that's true. That's just courtesy and decency. 47:05 You know that spiritual pride is exactly like body odor. The person who has it doesn't know it. He thinks he's the humblest guy around, but other people can sense it. And you know, people can sense when you make them feel small. You don't 47:22 realize it yourself. You think you're a zealous Christian, but you're making people feel small. How are there ways we can make people feel small? You know, Jesus could have made people feel small by how spiritual he was. Have you ever thought of this? I try to use my imagination. 47:39 All of us have used our imagination in our unconverted days for a lot of filthy things, right? Why don't you use your imagination now for some good things? So one of the things I use my imagination for is I imagine that I'm living in Nazareth when Jesus was a carpenter. 47:56 I don't know who he is. Nobody in Nazareth knows who he is. And I hear of this carpenter, this nice carpenter who works here making good furniture and he helps widows and doesn't charge them for it and does all types of good deeds. 48:08 And I say, I'd like to go and meet this guy. Who is he? And he's a person who seems to know the scriptures. And when I go to meet him, I spend half an hour with him. He's 25 years old. It's long before he started. He's never 48:20 healed a sick person, never preached a sermon. I just go and spend half an hour with this carpenter. And I come back. And I've asked myself, what would be the lasting impression that this carpenter of Nazareth made on me? Have you ever thought about that? Supposing you had spent half an hour with 48:38 Jesus when he was 25 years old, when he was unknown, nobody knew his son of God, he never preached a sermon, never healed a sick person, no miracles, nothing. Just like an ordinary person, like many other carpenters in Nazareth. 48:49 And you spent half an hour with him. What would be the lasting impression you'd have got from him? I'll tell you what I think. I think I would have come away thinking, boy, what a humble man. I've never met a humble man 49:05 like that in my life. He would never have left me with the impression, oh, what a holy man. I've never met such a holy man in my life. See, holy men put an awe, they've got an awe about them. I think I would have felt like that about the Pharisees. 49:23 If I went to the Pharisees, they would have impressed me with their holiness and their knowledge of scripture and how they know this verse and that verse and the other verse and the interpretation of various verses. But Jesus wouldn't awe 49:34 me with all that. He'd have made me feel that I was just a person just like him. That's a wonderful, this is the real Jesus. I think if children could come to him, and he would play with the children. I'm sure if he were here, he'd probably play with the children. 50:00 Jesus is like that. He was always, you know it says, he was God and he became like us. This is the first principle of effective ministry. I live in a country where I've seen missionaries of all types in my lifetime. A few I have respected immensely and wanted 50:20 to follow their example. More than 90% of them I have no respect for. Not because their doctrines were wrong, but they had this body odor that came out of their spirit. Not body odor, spirit odor, let's call it that. This making you feel small, you know. 50:44 And I have zero respect for such people. They don't know God. God doesn't make anybody feel small. When you look down on someone, we never say it. We don't say it like the Pharisee today. That's crude. Oh, I'm not like other people. We just think it. And it's just as bad. 51:01 When you think it, it's a spirit odor that comes out. We got to get rid of it in our thinking. I don't believe any of us go around saying, Lord I thank you, I'm not like people in the other denominations. You never say that, because that's crude. You lose your testament, you lose your reputation 51:14 for humility, right? So we don't say that. Because we want to preserve our reputation for humility. We just think it. And the more we think it, the spirit odor comes out of our lives. How is it it never came out of Jesus' life? Because he never thought like that. 51:30 He never looked at a sinner and said, boy, what a filthy sinner he is. No. He just loved him. People were all the same to him. He was colorblind when it came to people. They were all the same to him. They were creatures made in the image of God, whom the devil had destroyed. He could 51:49 look at a prostitute and say, there's a creature made in the image of God, supposed to glorify God in her body. And oh, the devil has ruined her. And he was mad at the devil, and he was determined to deliver her from her sin. That's how he looked at prostitutes, murderers, thieves, 52:08 people who were ruined by the devil. He never made anybody feel small. In the Old Testament, there's a verse which God says, I'm the God of the widows and the orphans and the strangers. Have you read that? He was the God of the people who were marginalized by 52:23 society. You know people who are marginalized by society? He was the God of those people. In those days, it was widows, strangers, orphans. Israel society marginalized them. God said, I'm there. I'm not in the middle with you Pharisees. I'm with those widows and orphans. That's 52:43 why when Jesus got up to preach, he said, I come here to preach the gospel to the poor. He didn't come here to preach to all the upper middle class people. Sometimes, you know, I thought about this in many churches that I go to. Did Jesus only come for decent 53:05 middle class people who were brought up in good God-fearing homes? Because I say, hey, this church seems to be full of people who were brought up in good God-fearing homes. We don't have any converted prostitutes here and we don't have any people who are evil, 53:21 who are outright evil. Whereas if you went to Jesus' church of 12 people, there were converted murderers and converted prostitutes and all hanging around with him. Because he never made them feel small. And I've asked myself, I've asked this much about our own church in Bangalore. I say, 53:35 Lord, have we missed something? Have we missed something of the real Jesus? Have we got an imaginary Jesus here who is sort of 90% like the real one, but one important 10% is missing? Is it because there's a spirit order coming out of us? You know, 53:50 I heard a story of some woman who was divorced and a single mother and struggling to take care of her family and not knowing how to, well, she had problems with her husband and didn't know how to get back to him. And she went to a secular marriage counselor. 54:11 And the marriage counselor was counseling her and asked her, did you go anywhere for help? Did you go to some church? She said, oh, church? Boy, I wouldn't go there. They would just look down on me, this person who's divorced and 54:26 who's in this wretched condition, they wouldn't help me. I wouldn't go anywhere near a church. It's a true story. Is that the testimony we have? We're so holy. We keep all the sinners out of our churches, see? Because we're a holy bunch of people. 54:45 That's not the real Jesus. I'm sorry to say, that's not the Jesus of the Bible. And you say where two or three are gathered together, there is Jesus in the midst. There may be a Jesus, but not the real one in your midst. Because these people, you know, 54:59 these out and out, these people who have made a mess of their life, who have divorced a couple of times, two or three times, if they say, oh, this bunch of holy people won't understand my problems, let me go somewhere else. What sort of church is yours? Is it a place for sinners to be 55:13 saved? Is the Jesus in your midst a friend of sinners? Not one who leaves them in their sin. The church is like a hospital. And if a hospital is a good hospital, it can say, bring the worst cases, we can handle them. What is the mark of a bad 55:28 hospital? Bad hospital is, oh, your fever is a little too high, we can't treat you. You better go to some other hospital. Your case is too bad. What sort of hospital is that? A good hospital will say, listen, we can take the worst cases. 55:44 But we can treat them, they don't remain in the same condition here. They get better. God is almighty, but he doesn't despise any. Jesus didn't despise anybody for anything. What are the things people despise people on earth for? They despise 56:01 them if they are poor. They despise them if they are uneducated, or they are not smart. I'm trying to find out who are the people on the margins of society, because I know those are the ones God loves. The ones who are marginalized 56:18 by society. Those who are poor, or who have a particular color of skin, or who got some very bad habits, drug addicts, and people who have, or sometimes people who are just fat. We've seen all these advertisements about slim people and how you can become slim, and fat 56:37 people are marginalized by society. God is the God of fat people. Did you know that? How do you like that? Do you despise a person because he's fat? Do you know the number of people who by the grace of God are slim, who take pride on that? Who think, I'm not a glutton like that man. 56:58 They don't say it, but they think a lot of thoughts like that. There's a spirit order that comes out of such people. Jesus never despised a fat person. He didn't believe that being slim was being godly. It had nothing to do with that. That's 57:11 for advertisements in newspapers to sell products, and to fool people. God was not interested in all that. He sees every person as a soul valuable to God. Someone whom Jesus died for. He never despised anyone for anything. And I tell you there are very few Christians 57:32 like that on the face of the earth. But you can be like one of them. I'm determined to be one like that. I'm determined with all my heart that I will never despise a human being for anything. Not even if he's a sinner. 57:45 He can be the worst sinner on earth. Let me ask you a question. How many of you believe that you have the same flesh as Osama Bin Laden? I have it. Was he born of Adam by the way? Were you born of Adam? Is it possible? His 58:07 circumstances were different. His upbringing was different. And he turned out like that? By the grace of God, my upbringing was not that. I say I thank God that he did it. But in myself, I'm capable of the worst possible terrorism and 58:25 evil and sin that anybody is capable of. If you don't believe that, you must be believing some. There are different races that came with different heads. I believe everybody came out of Adam. And we all have that flesh. 58:39 God doesn't despise anyone. The real Jesus never despised anyone. Everybody could feel comfortable in his presence because he came to save them. So much so that the holy Pharisees called him a friend of sinners and despised him. Now I 58:54 want to tell you he didn't make such a lot of bunch of rules and regulations that most people wouldn't be able to follow them. His great battle throughout was this battle with religious people. He cared for those who were marginalized by society. He 59:14 cared for that leper. That poor leper who nobody had ever touched for so long. On the margins of society. You read the gospels like this, how he would go out to the people marginalized by society. Prostitutes, lepers. 59:28 And he would welcome them and save them and bring them into his kingdom. This is Christianity. I remember attending Times Square Church in New York once. Where David Wilkerson was. That's his church and he wasn't speaking that day. But I did get a chance to meet him. 59:50 A very humble brother. A man who is world famous in his ministry. But it hasn't gone to his head. A humble brother who is seeking to serve the Lord. After serving the Lord for more than 50 years. There was this other brother who was preaching there who was a director in his Teen Challenge ministry. 1:00:07 And he said, I was a drug addict. Down in the gutter. In Boston. Nobody cared for me. All the religious people with their church services. Till David Wilkerson came by and picked me up. And that's what David Wilkerson spent so many years doing. Picking up these 1:00:31 drug addicts from the gutters. Bringing them to Christ and leading them into a ministry. And here was a man. What a message that man gave today. I couldn't believe this guy was a drug addict. Lying in the gutter in Boston. And I tell you if there were not a few 1:00:42 people like David Wilkerson around. Where would that man be? Have you ever thought. If all the preachers and Christians were like you. What would have happened? Ever thought of that? If all the churches in the world were like yours. What would have happened to all the drug addicts. 1:01:00 Who are lying in the gutters. I say thank God. That all the churches in the world are not like yours and mine. Thank God for the David Wilkerson's. Who do something which none of us ever do. Which I have not done. I will not criticize that man. I say that man 1:01:17 has been given a ministry by God. And I praise God for it. I've got my ministry. And I've learned to respect and value people who have other ministries. I may not agree with all of them. But there is something about God using people. 1:01:30 God doesn't consult me before he uses people. Thank God for that. And he doesn't consult you either. He just uses people. Whether you like them or not. Whether you like their face or not. I praise God for that. A lot of people don't like my face. 1:01:42 But God still. He still loves me. It's wonderful to be able to see Jesus. It's how he loved people. He cared for them. He himself was so secure in his father's love. He was concerned about. He came to earth to build his father's house. That's why. 1:02:03 You know the first recorded words of Jesus in the Gospels? The first recorded words of Jesus in the Gospels? You know what it is. When he was 12 years old. Don't you know that I must be about my father's business? That I must be in my father's house. 1:02:19 From that age. There was a sense in his mind. My father's house. My father's business. He wasn't here to make money. He wasn't here to live a comfortable life. His uppermost thing from that age was. My father's house. My father's business. 1:02:38 My father's house. My father's business. And as soon as he came out into the ministry. And he saw his father's house being ruined by people who were making money. He took a whip and chased them all out. My father's house. 1:02:50 See this is the real Jesus. Who was concerned about the purity of the temple. And today the church. And he's concerned for those who should be in the church. Who are being kept out. And people who are occupying center stage in the church. 1:03:07 Who are just religious people. Who don't know Jesus. Who are making a whole lot of rules and regulations. That keep people who should be in the church out. Is that happening in your church? Maybe the Jesus in your church is not the real one. So this is what he's saying. 1:03:23 It was all because of his humility. I want you to turn to Matthew chapter 1. I want to show you something here. Which I saw once. Which really blessed my heart. Matthew chapter 1. We read about Jesus. That he was. In that genealogy about Jesus. Sometimes we don't get much out 1:03:37 of these genealogies. They're pretty boring. But I saw something in Matthew chapter 1 once. Have you noticed. You know in Jewish society. They never listed women's names in the genealogy. It was all men, men, men, men, men, men, men, men, men. So and so. 1:03:54 Even in the genealogy of Mary. Which is found in Luke chapter 3. They don't mention Mary's name. Can you imagine a genealogy of Mary. They don't put Mary's name. That's how the Jews were. They said you know. Joseph's father-in-law was so and so. You got to know that Joseph's wife was Mary. Okay. 1:04:14 But here. The amazing thing is there are four women's names mentioned here. In this genealogy. And all these four women. You want to know the history of them. The first woman is Tamar in verse 3. She was the one. Who committed adultery with her father-in-law. Judah. And got a son. 1:04:35 The son's name was. Paris. And that's in the genealogy of Jesus. A woman who committed adultery with her father-in-law. Second one. The second woman mentioned is Rehab. Verse 5. She was the most well-known prostitute. In Jericho. In the genealogy of Jesus. 1:04:59 She wasn't even a Jew. And third. Is Ruth. Verse 5. Ruth was a Moabitess. You know who the Moabites were? The descendants of Moab. You know who Moab was? Moab was the son born. When Lot committed adultery with his own daughter. Lot and his own daughters. Incest, incest, incest. 1:05:24 All the way. In the genealogy of the son of God. And Ruth came from that line. And the fourth one. Is the wife of Uriah. Verse 6. Bathsheba. A woman who was unfaithful to her husband. Slept with the king. And then married him after the. 1:05:44 An adulterous relationship. And to her was born Solomon. I mean. If you had a genealogy like this. Full of incest. Would you write that in the first page of your biography? How many would say. Well one of my great grandmothers was the most well known prostitute. In 1:06:03 such and such a town. And somebody else was born out of incest here. And somebody else was. You know why Jesus chose that? So that he could identify with those who are marginalized by society. So that he could identify with people who were born out of incest. 1:06:20 And say. Hey. I know what you feel like. My ancestors were also like that. And I am proud to put their names in the genealogy. Are you the most well known prostitute? Were you born to the most well known prostitute in the town? Don't worry. 1:06:34 I understand that. It's in my genealogy too. He was the friend of sinners. He didn't come to save decent middle class people. Who were brought up in God fearing homes. He came to save sinners. And if our church is like Jesus Christ. We would 1:06:51 want to save sinners. And we will never save them if we despise them. We have got to love them. That's how Jesus was. Let's pray. Heavenly Father. We pray you will give us light. We got more than enough light on your word. 1:07:12 And we got plenty of light on other people. Please give us some light on ourselves. And our hearts. And the odor that comes out of our spirits. Which we can't even smell. Give us grace Lord. Deliver us from the high thoughts we have of our own spirituality. Help us to see how we 1:07:31 are a million miles away from being like you. Despite all our apparent holiness. Help us to humble ourselves. Help me. Help each one of us. To put our face in the dust like Job. And repent in dust and ashes. Because we have heard of you many times. 1:07:45 But we have seen you Lord. We have seen you Lord Jesus. What you really were like. And we worship you. We want to follow you all our days. In Jesus name. Amen.
