0:00 The love of God, our battle cry. Oh, give thanks to the Lord for his love endures. Oh, give thanks to the Lord for his love endures. Oh, give thanks to the Lord for his love endures forever. 0:25 Forever. Please be seated, dear brothers and sisters. [Music] Blessing, glory, and honor, power and 0:44 might and dominion be unto thee, my blessed Lord. Blessing, glory, and honor, honor and might and dominion be unto thee, my blessed Lord. Coming down from your throne on 1:07 high, you died on the cross for me. Rising from the dead, you live to give me the victory. Oh, blessing, glory, and honor. Power and might 1:22 as be unto thee my blessed Lord. Blessing, glory, and honor. Power and mighty and dominion be unto thee my blessed Lord coming 1:40 down. Coming down from your throne on high. You died on the cross for me. Rising from the dead, you live to give me the victory. Oh, blessing, glory, and honor. Power and might and 1:59 dominion be unto thee, my blessed Lord. Think about his [Music] love. Think about his goodness. 2:18 Think about his grace and thrown us through. For as high as the heavens above, so great is the measure of our father's [Music] 2:36 love. Great is the measure of our father's love. Let's sing it again from the top. Think about his love. Think about his [Music] goodness. Think about his grace that brought us 2:56 [Music] through. For as high as the heavens above, so great is the measure of our father's love. Great is the measure of our 3:14 father's love. How could I forgive me? How could I forget his love? How could I forget his mercy? He 3:36 satisfies. He satisfies. [Music] He satisfies my [Music] desires. Think about his love. Think about his 3:55 goodness. Think about his grace that brought us through. For as high as the heavens above, so great is the measure of our Father's love. Great is the measure of our 4:18 Father's love. [Music] 4:40 the glory of your name, splendor of your name, none can compare with the power of that name. You are Jesus. You are 4:59 Lord. You are God. You have won the victor's crown. You have 5:15 triumph over sin and death. Your name is lifted high and raised throughout all the 5:33 earth. Every demon spirit of hell trembles when your mighty name is heard. and be your judge and force your 5:56 victory in the world. Oh, the glory of your name, splendor of your name. And none can compare with the power of that name. 6:14 You are Jesus. You are Lord. You are God. You are Jesus. You are Jesus. You are 6:33 Lord. You are God. [Music] Wonderful, merciful 6:56 savior, precious redeemer and friend. Who would have thought that a lamb could rescue the souls of men? 7:12 Oh, you'll rescue the souls of men. Counselor, comforter, keeper, counselor, comforter, keeper. Spirit we long to embrace. You offer hope when our hearts 7:37 have hopelessly lost the way. Oh, we have hopelessly lost the way. You are the one that we 7:53 praise. You are the one we adore. You give the healing and grace. Hearts always hunger for. 8:08 Oh our hearts always hunger for alm mighty infight father faithfully loving your 8:27 own here in our weakness you find us falling before your throne Oh, we are falling before your throne. 8:42 You are the one. You are the one that we praise. You are the one we adore. You give the healing and grace 8:58 our hearts always hunger for. Oh our hearts always hunger for. You are the one him only voices. You are the one that we 9:14 praise. You are the one we adore. You give the healing and grace our hearts always hunger for. 9:30 Oh, our hearts always hunger for. Sing our next song. You're the voice of hope, the anchor of my soul. [Music] 10:10 As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are your ways to mine. Ways are perfect. They never fail me. I 10:31 know you are good all the time and through the storms. Yet I will praise you despite it all. Yet I will 10:50 sing through good or bad. Yet I will worship for you remain the same. King of kings. You are the voice of 11:11 hope. The anchor of my soul. the anchor of my soul where there seems to be no way. You make it 11:33 possible. You are the prince of peace. Amazing. [Music] My lips will shout for joy, shout for 11:54 joy to you the most. [Music] You were the 12:13 one before time began. There's nothing beyond your control. My confidence, my assurance, rest in your 12:33 unchanging word. and through the storm. Yet I will praise you despite it all. Yet I will 12:50 sing through good or bad or bad. Yet I will worship. For you remain the same. King of kings. You are the voice of 13:10 hope, the anchor of my soul. [Music] When there seems to be no way, you make it possible. 13:33 You are the prince of peace. Amazing. My lips will shout for joy. 13:50 Shout for joy to you the most high. [Music] Let's all stand up there and [Music] 14:15 sister, King of Kings, [Music] Majesty, God of heaven, living in me. Gent 14:35 savior, closest friend, strong deliverer, beginning and end. All within me falls at your throne. 14:54 Your majesty I can but bow I lay my all before you now in royal 15:12 ro I don't deserve I live to serve your majesty Earth and 15:31 heaven worship you. Love eternal faithful and true. [Music] bought the nations. Ransom 15:49 souls, brought the sin near to your throne. All within me cries out in praise. Your majesty I can but bow. 16:12 I lay my arm before you now in royal road. I don't deserve I live to serve your 16:31 majesty. Your majesty again. Your [Music] majesty. I can but bow. I lay my all before you 16:48 now in royal ro. I don't deserve. I live to serve your majesty. Brothers and sisters, as we remain 17:31 standing and continue to fix our eyes on the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the ruler of heaven and earth. Every knee will bow and every 17:48 tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. It's our privilege to gladly serve gladly serve him now. He is the voice of hope. He's the anchor 18:16 of our souls. Where there seems to be no way, he makes it possible. He's the prince of peace. Amidst adversity, what shall we 18:39 bring? The fruit of our lips, sacrifices of praise, the confession of our hope. He is the one before time began and we rest in his unchanging word 19:00 that there is nothing beyond his control. Psalm 116 verse 12 it says what shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits towards 19:17 me? What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits towards me? I love the Lord because he hears my 19:36 voice and my supplications because he has inclined his ears to me. Therefore, I shall call upon him as long as I live. The cords of death encompassed me. The terrors of shol came on upon me. I found distress and sorrow. Then I called 19:53 upon the name of the Lord. I said, "Oh Lord, I beseech you, save my life." And the Lord is gracious and righteous. He's compassionate. I was brought low and he saved me. So return to your rest, oh my soul, 20:12 for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you. You've rescued my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling. I shall walk before the Lord in the land of the living. And even when I was greatly 20:32 afflicted, afflicted in the trial, in the storm, I confessed my hope. I confessed. I believed. And therefore, I spoke. So what shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits towards me? I shall 20:51 lift up the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. I shall pay my vows to the Lord. May it be in the presence of all his people. I shall offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving. May it be in the presence of his people in the courts of his house 21:05 in the midst of you, oh Jerusalem. Praise the Lord. Brothers and sisters, shall we lift up our voices and give thanks and praise to the Lord for all his goodness, all his benefits, all his mercies. Lord, we praise you and thank 21:19 you. We thank you and praise you, Lord. You are worthy. You are mighty to save. Lord, when we had no hope, you did it, Lord. You did the impossible. You pulled us out. You cleansed us. You clothed us with righteousness, Lord. You caused us 21:33 to stand in your presence, Lord. the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the ruler of the universe, and nothing is beyond your control, Lord. And you're able to finish all that you've begun, Lord. You're a mighty God. You're a 21:46 mighty God, mighty to save, Lord, to save to the fullest, Lord. The great extent of your salvation, the glory, Lord, of your name, the power of your name. We praise you and thank you, Lord. There's no one like you. This Lord, we 22:00 want to acknowledge your goodness, your greatness, your kindness, your power. Lord, we want to confess that you are able to do all that you've promised. Lord, we want to surrender ourselves into your hands even this morning. Lord, you who have begun a good 22:15 work in us. You are able to complete it, Lord, for your glory. We thank you and praise you. We commit ourselves. We commit today's meeting into your hands. We believe that you will speak to us, Lord, according to our need, to each of us in a language 22:31 that we understand. Lord, you speak to us. We thank you and praise you for your faithfulness, your steadfast love, Lord, and we surrender to you even this morning. Help us, Lord, to have soft hearts as we hear. We pray in your 22:45 mighty name, Jesus. Amen. Brothers and sisters, please be seated. So last week our memory verse was a promise from Matthew 10:39. You can repeat after 23:03 me. Matthew 10:39. He who has lost his life for my sake will find it. Amen. 23:22 And this week we have a command. Let's repeat together. Matthew 11 28. Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you 23:41 rest. Say that once again. Matthew 11:28. Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. 23:59 Amen. So this morning we want to hear God's word from brother Charles. Brother Charles, please come and speak to us. When we read uh the book of Genesis, the 24:32 beginning of creation, we know the reason with which God created the world and Adam and Eve. He wanted to have a family. children who will represent him on this 24:54 earth. Show forth his glory, his majesty, his character in this world. And also when he created them, he told 25:11 them that they should rule over all the birds of the air, the fish in the sea, and the animals on land and subdue and rule. He told them that was his original 25:31 intention that man should rule this earth. But we know what happened. Sin came and that destroyed everything. And instead of becoming 25:51 ruler over all these things, man became a victim and became dominated by fear. He hid himself behind a tree. When God came in the cool of the day, he hid himself behind a tree 26:10 because of fear. And uh mankind has been living like that ever since in fear, hiding from God, hiding from the light and the truth. 26:27 Always seeking to justify oneself. When God says, "Have you done that?" We point finger at somebody else. He made me do that. She made me do that. This is how we um blame each other. The blame game 26:46 started right there. And after God drove them out of the garden of Eden, Cain also followed in their footsteps. And we read about Cain that when he killed his brother own brother the first murder that took place in the first 27:06 family in outside the garden of Eden and that to an older brother killing his younger brother because of jealousy and because of that he got scared 27:24 when God spoke spoke to him. He said, "I am scared people will kill me." He also came under the dominion of fear. So original intention of God was 27:38 marred by sin because they listened to Satan. And God's intention was that these people, these children of mine should live without any anxiety or worry. 27:57 without any fear that they should rejoice before me or with me all the time and that there was no question of sin reigning over them because sin had not entered and they didn't know anything about sin. 28:17 But after these things happened, now we have scripture saying sin shall not have dominion over you. Romans 6:14. And rejoice in the Lord always. And again I say rejoice. 28:34 That was their original uh calling to live without sin to live rejoicing always before the Lord and uh be anxious for nothing when God is there the provider of everything almighty God the 28:54 creator and who has solution for everything. Why should why will anybody be anxious or worried? That was how God wanted them to live. But they lost all that. And 29:14 then the Lord promised the day they sinned, the Lord promised the seed of the woman will come and crush the head of the serpent. That is a prophetic promise that God gave mankind that he's going to send the 29:34 Messiah who will come and restore things back to where it should be. And Jesus came and before Jesus, John the Baptist came as his forerunner. And we read about that in Matthew Matthew's gospel, the first book 29:53 in the New Testament, chapter 3, verse 2. When John the Baptist started his public ministry, the first word he said to the people is, "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at 30:12 hand." And uh you go to the next chapter in chapter 4 verse 17 when Jesus began his public ministry like John the 30:32 Baptist. Jesus began to preach in verse 17 chapter 4. From that time Jesus began to preach and say repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Means it has come. The kingdom 30:49 has come because the king has come. So where there is king there is kingdom. And Jesus is telling and John the Baptist is telling that the kingdom of heaven has come. So it is one 31:07 thing to understand that the kingdom has come. It's another thing to know that you can see that kingdom. Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 3:3, "Unless a person is born 31:24 again, he cannot see the kingdom of heaven." So the kingdom has come. Now you can see the kingdom by being born again. And then Jesus told unless you get converted, repent and get converted and become like little 31:43 children, you shall by no means enter into the kingdom. So there is seeing the kingdom, there is um there the kingdom has come, there is seeing the kingdom and there is entering the kingdom by being 32:00 humble like the little children. And then in Matthew 5:3 on the the sermon on the mount, the first word that Jesus said is blessed are the poor in spirit. That means blessed are those who recognize their inadequacy. Blessed are those who 32:20 recognize they are spiritually bankrupt. They're helpless. They can't do anything. Like we see here, without Christ, I can do nothing. But with Christ, I can do everything. So when we come to the kingdom and to the king, we recognize 32:38 that we are helpless, absolutely helpless. And it's only he who has to give us help and grace and all that we need for life and godliness. And then the 32:57 Lord is willing to, you know, make all things work together for our good. Because that verse says that blessed are the poor in spirit. They shall not just see or enter into the kingdom but they will inherit the kingdom of 33:15 God. You know what is inheritance? After your parents pass on, they leave a legacy or a will that my son or my daughter will inherit all that I have. land, building, property, 33:32 bank balance, whatever, jewelry, everything belongs to. So the word I mean the Lord has bequathed it to us, willed it to us, saying that the poor in spirit will 33:51 inherit all that I have. This kingdom belongs to them. And uh we read further that Jesus John the Baptist they began their 34:07 ministry and Jesus he ended his ministry also by telling almost the same thing. That means we need to realize how important it is to repent. It's not just enough that we repent initially when we come to the 34:27 Lord because when the Lord opens our eyes sometime in our life, we recognize that we have nothing of our own that we can say on the merit of this 34:46 or that God should help me or I deserve it the kingdom of God or entry there. But when I recognize that it's only grace and like that word says in 35:05 Ephesians 2:8, by grace you have been saved through faith. So it is grace and faith working together, not of yourself, lest any man should boast. It is purely the grace of God, the mercy of God. And 35:22 when God's mercy is open to us and God's grace is extended towards towards us, we receive it by faith. That is I stretch out my hand. Faith is me stretching out my hand 35:42 to receive something from God's hand which he is giving to me which is grace and that's how the connection is established. my hand reaching out to God's hand who is giving grace to me by 35:59 grace is giving forgiveness of sins to me because of repentance and that to repentance remember you cannot repent as and when you like the Bible says that God is the one who grants repentance so we can't say oh yeah I 36:17 live and enjoy this life and at uh 11th hour I will accept the Lord on my sick bed or when on my deathbed. That is foolishness. Jesus said about one rich man 36:34 who when his field gave bumper crop he tore down all his barns and he built new barns and stored all the grains there. And he said to his soul inside his heart he's telling eat and be merry cuz you 36:52 have so much laid up for you enjoy yourself. He told but the Lord told him you fool today your soul will be required of you means today is your last day on earth my 37:11 friend. What will happen to all this? So you and I do not know what the future holds. We think I was telling the other day to somebody, every one of us who goes to 37:28 funerals, we think that oh my time is still far off. This will not happen to me so soon. We all tend to think like that. But I have heard of people who have died then and there in the cemetery only who 37:47 went to um see some attend some somebody's funeral and they they themselves died there and it can happen it happened to Ananas and Safara also in in acts five you read that when 38:05 they pretended like they were telling the truth even though they I And Ananas didn't open his mouth. But Peter said, "Why have you lied to the Holy Spirit?" He told him. He had not opened his mouth. So without opening your mouth, 38:24 you can tell a lie by your body language by quietly coming and giving it as if you're giving 100% to the Lord. He could have said to Peter, "Peter, only 50% I'm giving. 50% we have kept for ourselves we would have 38:43 been saved and when Peter told him confronted him you have lied to the Holy Spirit in your spirit being a hypocrite and he dropped down there dead and the interesting thing is that 39:01 his wife was not told about his death they took him buried him and then came back and then After a few hours the wife realized that the husband hasn't come home still. So she comes to the meeting to see where is the husband and 39:19 uh Peter says asks her also Ana and Safara is this a price that you sold your property for? There was no compulsion mind you and there was no commandment that they should sell everything and give uh the money to the 39:38 apostles there. It was their own pro I understand it is their own bright idea and the zeal initially they did like that and because of that probably the church at Jerusalem suffered and because of that they had to take collection for the church at 39:58 Jerusalem from Macedonia and other places other churches to help them in their time of need. So even Safara came and she also pretended and she said in fact she said yes that is the price that we sold it for. She opened her mouth and told a lie 40:15 and Peter said see the men who buried your husband are there right at the door they will carry you also. So she also dropped dead and they took her also and buried her. So my dear brothers and sisters, we 40:33 think that we have lot of time and we think we are okay. I'm not so bad as that brother or as that sister. We always think that you know I am better because I have not done this. I have not done that. I have not robbed a bank. I 40:51 have not murdered anybody. No, I have not done any grave sins. Only those things we think as sins but we don't realize the Lord is not talking about those things. The Lord is talking especially when it comes 41:08 to the new covenant things are different. In the old covenant God gave only the ten commandments. Out of the 10, nine they could keep. Even Paul the apostle says that he could keep the nine. But when it 41:26 came to the 10th commandment, thou shalt not coveret, he said, I f I found in me all sorts of covetousness. He was absolutely honest unlike many of us. But the word of God says in the new 41:46 covenant, Jesus has given us more commandments and more um what to say heavier commandments than what God gave on Mount Si. And the Lord said in Matthew chapter 42:04 5, he told about two sins which will take a person to hell which many people don't believe and many churches they don't preach about it. That is two internal attitude that can take a person to hell. 42:23 Not external sins. For instance, Jesus said, you go home and read that sermon on the mount, chapter 5 of Matthew. He said, you have heard it said that thou shalt not murder. But I say unto you, Jesus said to his disciples, mind you, he's 42:42 speaking to the disciples, not the crowd. He is speaking to the disciples. But I say unto you, anyone who gets angry with his brother, Unfortunately, in some translations, they have added the word 42:59 without cause in italics. That was not there in the original. Nobody gets angry without cause. Only a madman can do that. But Jesus said if anyone any of 43:14 you gets angry with your brother then it is equivalent to murder. You have murdered him. Anger is equal to murder. So how many of us take that 43:31 seriously? And Jesus said if you don't deal with that that will take you to hell. And another place, another sin in the same chapter, he said, you have heard it said that you shall not commit 43:48 adultery. But I say unto you, why is he using that word I say unto you? So I am the one who gave those ten commandments on Mount Si. With my fingers I wrote those tablets of stone. Now I'm writing. Probably that is what he was 44:07 indicating when in John 8 they brought that immoral woman they asked the question what do you say the law says we must stone her Jesus was writing on the ground we don't know what he was writing but probably he was reminding them this 44:27 is the finger that wrote that commandment there on mount si it was a reminder to them probably and he told them he didn't say you can cast stone or 44:46 please leave her alone be merciful or anything they wanted to catch him he said when they insisted he was not giving an answer when they insisted that he give an answer then Jesus lifted up his eyes and looked at the crowd out and 45:05 he said, "He who is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone." That was enough to shut everybody's mouth. And every one of them went away from there. Only that woman was left all alone and Jesus here 45:24 with his disciples perhaps. So we all think that you know I am I am better. I am no not like like that tax collector like that Pharisees said in the temple I fast so many times 45:41 in a week I give tenth of my income and this that and the other I'm not a swindler I am not no all self-righteousness he was exalting himself he was telling God I do all these things for you Lord as if he doesn't And here he was not even in the temple 46:05 outside somewhere. He was standing right there probably at the door unable to come inside because his conscience was bothering him. Unable even to look up to heaven and say Lord have mercy. I mean to ask the Lord. But he put his head 46:23 down and he was beating his breast and saying Lord have mercy on me the sinner. He didn't say a sinner he said the sinner. He recognized that I don't think there is anybody in this world as much a sinner as 46:41 me. And the Lord says this man, the tax collector went home justified. But the self-righteous man, we don't know what happened to him. So we have, we all have a tendency to justify ourselves. 46:59 Always for every act of ours, we think we are okay. The problem is with you, not with me. Husband can point out to the wife and say everything is with me. You work out 47:15 on your salvation. I am okay. I heard that. And wife can say the same thing to the husband. I'm walking in the light. My conscience is clear. You see with a clear conscience the apostle Paul went on killing people 47:33 Christians. So you can do so many things thinking that your conscience is clear. But who judges you? God by killing Christians. But the Lord knows your 47:50 heart, your motive, your intention. And we read even just before Jesus ascended to heaven. You know what did Jesus say? You turn with me to Luke chapter 24 verse 47. 48:10 Luke 24:47 he said almost the same thing he told he commissioned his disciples saying in verse 47 go preach saying that repentance for 48:29 forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all the nations beginning with Jerusalem. him. The first word that Jesus uttered was repentance. And just before he was lifted up to the heavens, 48:47 he said, "Go and preach repentance." Brothers, tell me today how many churches preach on repentance. It has become a forgotten jewel. They they think if I preach about 49:05 repentance, people will not come here. because they will be stricken in their heart and they don't like to come. You know the what is the mark of a true church? You know what it is? A true church the mark of a true 49:24 church is that judgment begins in the household of God. Judgment begins right here. Those who call ourselves part of CFC, part of the church, part of the body of Christ, judgment begins here. 49:43 That means we judge ourselves in the light of God's word. And we judge on a daily basis so that we may live in the light of his countenance. 50:02 And Jesus said even after Jesus went to heaven, you know, he told John the apostle, he told him to write seven letters to seven churches in Asia Minor. You read that in Revelation chapter 2 and 50:21 three. Seven churches. And out of the seven churches, there were only two churches, churches which were good. Philadelphia and Smyrna. and all the rest of the five churches. Jesus said even from heaven 50:39 Jesus told these five churches repent. So that means you re now recognize how important how important the word repentance is. Without repentance you cannot come anywhere near the kingdom. Without being 50:57 born again you cannot What's being preached is health, wealth, 51:15 and some pep talk. Something to lift you up so that the preacher can rob you of your money right under your nose. If you don't give, we will say God will curse you. This will happen. That will 51:33 happen. Jesus and the apostles were not in this kind of cheap business of getting money from the people. So dear brothers and sisters, be careful whenever you visit churches and you hear messages from other preachers. 51:52 See whether the man is leading you to repentance and to greater heights and greater light. If not, might as well, you know, strike those churches off your mind. The same 52:12 thing even the apostles when the apostle Paul towards the end of his life. You know what was his um message the farewell message to the 52:27 church at Ephesus in Acts 21 20 Acts 20 chapter 20 verse 21 he is telling how he lived. You can read the chapter later. How he lived, how he didn't coveret anybody's money or 52:47 clothes or any um anything that would have that he would have been benefited by. But he says you know how we lived how simply in simplicity we heard in the conference 53:05 simplicity and purity of devotion and he lived a simple life and he says he says solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Again, 53:23 even the apostle Paul is speaking about repentance towards the end of his life. He is not telling them now that you're children of God, God loves you, Jesus loves you, smile. Jesus loves you. You know 53:40 that saying some people have that bad smile. Jesus loves you. Where do you see that in the Bible? In fact, James tells, "Weep and mourn for your sins that God may have mercy on you, 53:58 that your sins can be forgiven." So without repentance, you can't smile saying that Jesus loves me. People say that just to, you know, give them a pep talk and comfort them in their sins. And the more they go to such churches, 54:17 more they sin and become like Jesus said to the Pharisees, you will make them double the sons of hell like you are said in Matthew 23. So even Paul spoke about repentance till the end of his life. So brothers 54:36 and sisters, this is very important. 10. Why I'm speaking about repentance is because we have about 9 10 people today who have repented of their sins who want to obey the Lord in the waters of baptism today and uh they have gone through 54:55 the baptism classes and they have set things right in their life to the best of their ability. They repented, asked the Lord to forgive them and they have accepted God's forgiveness by faith based upon his word and promise and they want to 55:13 walk in the light as he is in the light and they want to obey the Lord. You know obedience is another thing that is not preached in most of the churches. You know that's the one thing that Jesus said just before he was lifted to 55:29 heaven. He said, "Go and preach the gospel in every nation and preach them repentance and baptize them in the name of the father and the son and the holy 55:46 spirit." And then he says, maybe we can turn that turn there to chapter 28 of Matthew, the last two verses. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name 56:05 of the father and the son and the holy spirit and teaching them to observe or in other words teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. See some churches unfortunately when they preach about 56:24 repentance they say now that you have repented you're a child of God. God loves you no matter what. Your ticket is reserved. So what that means is now we can live as you like because you said that magic 56:42 prayer, Lord, come into my heart. And you said that and now you're a believer. Now you can live as you like because God loves you. You're a child of God. You can never lose your salvation. Far from it. We don't believe that. once said, always saved theory 57:00 because Jesus never preached that. The apostles, none of the apostles preached that. And it is all it's all come into effect only in the last couple of hundreds years ago. Once saved, always saved. Before that, this doctrine was 57:18 not there. And Jesus said, "Teach them to observe all that I have commanded you." And that is the one difficult thing for many Christians to do that because they say, "No, I don't have to 57:36 obey." I heard one preacher say that because Jesus has obeyed everything. Jesus has suffered everything. I don't have to suffer. I don't have to obey. He has fulfilled the law. Yeah, he has fulfilled as far as he was concerned. 57:53 But what about you and me? He suffered and died for our sins. So that when we repent and accept his sacrifice, his substitutionary death by faith, I am saved. That means my past is forgiven. My slate is clean as far as my 58:12 past sins are concerned. But what about from now till my life ends? I have a long way to go. What about my attitude, my words, my thoughts, my 58:31 motives, my sins that I commit after I am born again? For that Jesus says, "Obey my commandments." And Jesus also said in John's gospel 58:48 chapter 14, he said, "If you love me, you will keep my commandment." Not that you shall keep my commandment. You will, because you love me as an act of love, a labor of love, you will keep my commandment. Then 59:05 I will ask the father and he will give you another helper that is the holy spirit who will help you keep all these commandments. You know when Jesus said anger is equal to murder and lustful luck look is equal 59:24 to uh adultery. My goodness nobody can keep those commandments by themselves. But he said ask in the very next chap in seventh chapter he said ask you shall receive. Seek you shall find. Knock it shall be open unto you. What is he talking about? 59:43 He's talking about the Holy Spirit. You evil fathers know how to give good gifts to your children. How much more will your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those to them who ask? Ask for what? Power. When the Holy Spirit comes 59:58 upon you. Acts 18 Jesus said just before he ascended to heaven he said you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and then you will be able to be my witnesses not give witness but to be witness your life itself will be a 1:00:16 witness. So that is what Jesus meant and repentance can be genuine repentance can be fake. For instance, we we read in the old covenant, the king Saul, he also repented. He said, "I have sinned." He said to the 1:00:35 prophet Samuel. And he sinned. His sin was not so bad as David's sin. David also was his next successor, king. And he also sinned. And he sinned very badly. Really bad. 1:00:54 But when the prophet confronted him, he said, "I am the man." And he repented so thoroughly that he wrote Psalm 51, which even after 3,000 years, we read about that. The 1:01:11 whole world knows about his sin. But probably less than 80, no, I mean less than 20% of the world knows what Saul Saul's sin was. But David's sin was so genuine that God 1:01:30 forgave all his sins and he was not ashamed to call himself son of David Jesus. And uh you know there are examples like that in the old covenant and in the new 1:01:50 covenant. people who sinned and uh came to the Lord genuinely. Even we read about uh the prodigal son in the new covenant when he came to senses he came to the father's house and 1:02:12 told the father I have sinned against heaven and against you. I'm no longer worthy. That is poverty of spirit. I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. Just make me like one of your servants. Just give me food. That is 1:02:28 enough. And what he got? He got a robe, got ring, he got sandals, he the father cut fattened calf and threw a big party, welcomed him and restored him back to sunship. 1:02:47 And here is another man Judas who also made confession. He said, "I have sinned." Not only he made confession, he also made restitution by throwing the money into the temple, giving back those 30 silver coins which he had taken to 1:03:04 betray Jesus. He made restitution, confession, but he went to the wrong person to confess. He went to the priest rather than going to the cross. and then he went and hanged himself. So these are the pictures of genuine repentance and fake repentance. 1:03:23 Brothers and sisters, please take your Christian life seriously. Take repentance seriously. Repentance is the beginning and the end of your life. Till we die, we need to repent. After once we have initially repented of our past sins and accepted the 1:03:43 forgiveness of sins from God, we keep on sinning because it is there in our nature in our flesh. As long as we have this flesh, dirty flesh that we have which proclivities always to sin and sin and sin. That's why even the apostle 1:04:00 John includes himself in 1 John 7 and 9. He says, "If we say we have not sinned, we are deceiving ourselves." He says in verse 8, "But if we confess our sins, Jesus is just and faithful to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us 1:04:18 from all unrighteousness." Then he says in the second chapter verse one, he says, "My little children, I'm writing these things to you so that you may not sin." See this is God's will that born again people those who 1:04:35 have been saved stop sinning that I'm writing this so that you may not sin that is the first step the order and if the next verse next 1:04:51 line it says if anyone sins it says We have, he includes himself. He doesn't say you have an advocate. He says we have an 1:05:07 advocate. Jesus Christ the righteous who will, you know, plead our case, who will pardon your sins. Not that it is a license for us to go on committing 1:05:23 sin, but in case we slip up and fall, get up immediately and don't lie down there wondering what should I do next? What is the words that I should obey? Supposing you are walking on the road and you slip 1:05:42 on a banana peel. What will you do there? lying down on the floor on the road. What should I do next? Your automatic body responses, reflex, tells you to just jump up and 1:06:00 just dust yourself and keep going. That is what we have to do. If you've fallen 100 times in a day, get up 100 times. My dear brothers and sisters, God is merciful. God is gracious but don't think that oh 1:06:17 I have accepted the Lord 20 years back now it doesn't matter how I live you are living in deception the Lord wants you to live in the light of his countenance every day and every day when you pray Lord forgive my sins as I forgive those who 1:06:37 sin against me you are committing yourself there you know you're making a promise there to the Lord, Lord, you forgive my sins as I forgive that person who has sinned against me. And if I have forgiven that person who has sinned against me, then I have 1:06:56 every right to go to the Lord and say, "Forgive my sins." But if I want go only God to forgive only my sins, but I keep my hand on somebody's throat all the time, I will not let him go. I will not 1:07:14 release him. I will not forgive him. Then the Lord will call you back. He like he called back that man who owed him so much of money. He said, "I forgive you so much of debt, but you couldn't you have forgiven that man who 1:07:28 owed you some pitons." And then he hands him over to the torturers. It says so he had forgiven his sins once and now he calls him back and he says now I take back that my forgiveness. I will hand you over to the 1:07:47 torturers. Who are the torturers? Demons until you pay back. And that man could never pay back because that was such a huge sum. Somebody said it is the salary of 150,000 years. That much of money he owed the 1:08:07 king. The king forgave that. So brothers and sisters, what is our attitude? John the Apostle, John the Baptist was unwilling to baptize certain 1:08:24 people because especially the Pharisees when they came and stood in the line to be baptized. He told them, "Who warned you to flee from the wroth to come, you sons of snakes?" He knew that what was there in their heart. He could see through and 1:08:43 they were also standing in the queue to be baptized by John. John saw bring forth fruit in keeping with repentance. That means set your life in order. If you have repented and you have accepted forgiveness of sins, my dear 1:09:03 brothers and sisters, you have to do certain things like Zakius did. He told the Lord, "Lord, if I have cheated anybody, I'll give four times that amount to them and I'll give half of my money to the poor." And then 1:09:21 what did what did Jesus say? Salvation has come to this house today. So you pray every I mean as often as we do that we pray that prayer Lord forgive my sins 1:09:38 as I forgive those who sin against me. So God expects me to forgive others who have sinned against me. If you owe an apology to others, you need to do that after you have repented. If you cheated somebody or the government, give back 1:09:57 the money like Zakius did. Then the Lord will say salvation has come to this house. Then your salvation will be complete. Otherwise, you'll be living in so-called half salvation, halfbaked cake. You read about that in the Old Testament like 1:10:16 chapati not turned over. How many of you would like to eat that kind of chapati? or one on one-sided uh baked bread or cake even for that matter. So my dear brothers and 1:10:35 sisters be secure in these the three things. I am especially talking to these nine 10 brothers and sisters who are taking baptism today. Be assured and secured about these three things. 1:10:52 that God is your father and he infinitely loves you. Number one. Number two, that God is almighty and he knows every detail of 1:11:09 what's happening to you. And number three, that your father in heaven is all wise. He knows when, how, 1:11:25 where to help you in your time of need. He is a present help in time of need. So dear brothers and sisters, those of you who are obeying the Lord in the waters of baptism, make these things always 1:11:45 uh keep them in the forefront of your mind that my God is allloving God. He loves me in spite of myself. That doesn't mean that you can go on sinning and taking his goodness for granted. No, fear him so that it may go well with 1:12:03 you. Number two, that he is almighty. He can handle any situation. Number three, that he knows everything. He is the wisest person in the universe. Let these three 1:12:23 things sink in you and may you live in the fear of God every day, all day long, all your life. Let's bow our heads in prayer and commit these dear brothers and 1:12:40 sisters to the Lord. Dear heavenly father, we bless you and thank you, praise you, worship you, dear father, for who 1:13:00 you are. Thank you that you didn't go away from us when we sinned. You didn't disown us when we sinned and we were fit candidates for your judgment and wroth, but you demonstrated your 1:13:20 love in that while we were still sinners, you sent Jesus to die for us. Now that you have made us your children, how much more you will love us and you long 1:13:36 to give all that belongs to you, your divine nature, your divine character and provide for our earthly needs and sustain us through this life and to take us to glory. We thank you and praise you for these dear brothers and sisters who 1:13:55 are who have decided to follow Jesus. We pray that your grace and your mercy and your blessings will be upon them. That you will put the fear of God in their life. That they will fear to sin against you, to offend you in any 1:14:12 way. That they may love to live every day for your glory and for your honor. Thank you for this time. We bless you in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Now we will sing a song. [Music] 1:15:30 Yeah. Let's let's sing this song that says, "May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart bless your name, Jesus, and may the deeds of the day and the truth in my ways speak of you, 1:15:49 Jesus. For this is what I'm glad to do. It's time to live a life of love that pleases you. And I will give my all to you. surrender everything I have and follow you. Lord, be my vision, be my guide, be 1:16:07 my hope, my light, and the way. And I look not for riches or praises on earth. Only you'll be the first in my heart, and I will follow you. Let's sing. [Music] May the words of my mouth and the 1:16:27 thoughts of my heart bless your name. Bless your name, Jesus. And the keys of the day and the 1:16:42 truth in my ways speak of you. speak of you, Jesus, for this is what I'm glad to 1:16:58 do. It's time to live a life of love that pleases you and I will give my all to you. 1:17:14 Surrender everything I have and follow you. I'll follow you, Lord. You be my vision. Lord, you 1:17:33 be my guide. Be my hope. Be my light and the way. And I do not for riches nor praisees on earth, 1:17:50 only the first in my heart. For this is what I'm glad to do. It's time to live a life of love that pleases 1:18:09 you. and I will give my all to you. Surrender everything I have and follow you. I'll follow [Music] 1:18:31 you. I will follow I will follow you. I will follow. I will follow you. I will 1:18:49 follow. I will follow you. I will [Laughter] follow. I will follow you. This is what this is 1:19:06 what I'm glad to do. It's time to live a life of love that pleases [Music] you. And I will give my all to 1:19:23 you. Surrender everything I have and follow you. [Music] I'll follow [Music]
