0:00 Turn to the word of God. This one particular thing that's been on my heart this morning other than what I've shared. You know, Jesus said when somebody asked him a question in Matthew chapter 0:19 22. Please turn to Matthew chapter 22. Verse 36. Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? And you know, for the Pharisees and 0:36 Sadducees, it was the Sabbath. That was the only thing they thought about, you know, because that was an easy commandment to obey. You don't do some work and don't go on a journey. We tend to look at some of the easy commandments 0:52 as the most important. That's how we deceive ourselves. Because we are aware at the back of our mind there are some more important commandments, but I don't want to face up to them. So, let me pick an easy one like don't forsake the assembling of 1:09 yourselves. You know, come together on Sundays. It's a pretty easy commandment to obey. Uh so, they thought of the Sabbath. They so, they got a surprise when Jesus said, "That's not it." Verse 37. 1:28 Here is the great commandment. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul means your entire personality, and emotion and everything, and all your mind. That means my intellect, my devotion of my heart. 1:45 All means there's no place in it for anything else. That means it's not that I don't use my mind for study or work, but everything in is governed by God. It's in the atmosphere of God. Love for God that I do everything. 2:04 It's like you know, my breathing oxygen. That doesn't hinder me from doing my work. I do everything, but while I'm doing my work, I'm breathing oxygen. I live in an atmosphere of oxygen. And I do all my work. So, that's the meaning of loving God with 2:23 all your heart. Heart is filled with love just like fill our lungs with oxygen and do our work. Fill our heart with love for God. All our heart and all our mind and everything is governed by that, which means I never do anything that violates the 2:40 law of love to God. But it is not only that. Jesus said, "I cannot speak of one commandment because there are two sides to this coin. This is the most important side, but it's got another side. The second is like unto it, verse 39. 2:57 You shall love your neighbor as yourself. This is the meaning of the two arms of the cross. Vertical love for G- God and all our heart and a horizontal love for one another. And you can't have a cross with just one bar, 3:11 one plank. These are the two greatest commandments. And many times, you know, when we are when I think of people ask me, "Brother Zac, is it right to do this?" Sometimes there are some things which are not exactly black or 3:27 white. Certain gray areas where we're not sure. Is it right or wrong to do this? Is it right or wrong to watch this type of a movie or read this type of book or do this with our money? 3:46 There are We have to be face the facts that there are certain gray areas in our the world in which we live. Whenever we think of some of those gray areas, sometimes I myself don't have an answer, but I say, "Lord, I fall back on the two 4:02 important commandments. My doing this, does it violate my loving you with all my heart, soul, and mind? Then I won't do it. My doing this, does it violate my loving all my fellow human beings? If it violates the law of love, I'm not 4:21 going to do it." I found that many answers from recognizing that these are the two greatest commandments God has given us. And that is the answer for many gray areas that you find in your life. So that we don't 4:40 condemn ourselves about some things or become legalistic. You can't love others and be legalistic. It's not possible. You know, we read about the time when Jesus healed a man on the in the pool. He'd been lame for 38 years. 4:59 He was lying there and he says, "Nobody can help me." And Jesus went there and healed him. So, "Take up your bed and walk." But it was the Sabbath day. And there were Pharisees just waiting to catch people doing something wrong on the 5:12 Sabbath day. And they were not excited that he was healed. Guy was sick for 38 years. They They were concerned about, "Why are you carrying your bed on the Sabbath day?" You know, this is how religious people are. There's a difference between religious 5:27 people and spiritual people. There are religious Christians and I've seen a lot of them. There are spiritual Christians. The religious Christians are a pain in the neck. They They They always pick on somebody for some little thing. 5:45 How does it violate your love for God with all your heart if you carry your bed? Or how does it harm anybody else if you carry your bed? You can see how religious people can be so nitpicking about small small things. We got to get rid of it. 6:04 Can even be husbands and wives sometimes nitpicking about small small things. Ask yourself, is your husband or wife violating love for God with all your heart, soul, and mind? Violating love for your neighbor? And don't get so 6:19 upset if he throws his shoes around or his clothes around. It's not I mean, it's you've got to be considered for one another, but don't make such a big issue about small small things. You all got to learn many areas. Need to be learned to be 6:32 neat and tidy and all that, but sometimes getting upset about something is a greater violation of the law of God than a husband or wife who doesn't keep their clothes properly. Just got to understand that. Which is a greater violation of the law? 6:52 Or you see something in a brother and you're quick to jump on him. Keep these two in mind. Turn back to Genesis and see how sin first came. See, remember that God created man to have a 7:11 vertical relationship with him first. Love God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind. Not stop there, but to have a horizontal relationship with one's neighbor. And if you're married, your neighbor is your wife. 7:28 Then your children. I've seen some people who say, "We got to serve the Lord and serve people." And who neglect their families in order to do something for the church. I said, "Do you know that serving people include serving your wife and children 7:47 also? They are your closest neighbors. So, don't think that ministry in the church is more important than ministry at home." Sometimes people do that. I hope none of you will ever do it. I You know, I've been serving the Lord 8:08 50 years now since I quit my job. And I've traveled a lot, hundreds and hundreds of thousands of miles in India, mostly in the villages, traveling here and there. Travel itself can sometimes take quite a bit of time in India. It's such big 8:23 distances. So, I had to be away from home now and then, frequently. All these 47 years that I've been married. But, I was very concerned that I didn't think ministry to people was more important than ministry in my home because there 8:40 are also people at home, my wife and children. So, I said, "Lord, I never want my children to grow up saying Daddy was so busy serving the Lord, he had no time for us." May that never happen to any of you. Don't neglect your 8:59 family relationship, your wife, and children. And say that that is not serving the Lord, only serving the other people serving the Lord. So, here we see the origin of sin in Genesis chapter 3. 9:17 And you see a violation of these two relationships. First of all, love God with all your heart, soul, and strength. And Jesus said, "If you love me, you'll keep my commandments." There's only one proof of our love for God. It's not all these 9:29 sentimental songs we sing. Uh there's some a lot of modern day Christian songs written by half converted cowboys are not really like these godly hymns written by the old saints, you know. 9:47 Hold me close, never let me go. The guy wrote it to his girlfriend once, and now he's converted, he says it to Jesus. It's all sentimental nonsense. It's not the way I prove my love. Oh no, I'm going to hang on to you. If you love me, 10:04 keep my commandments. It's very practical. Keep my commandments. Put God first in your life. That's the proof of my love. It's not sentimental nonsense that I sing to God. It's the proof of my love. It's obedience to his commandments. When I 10:24 love my enemy, I'm proving my love for Jesus Christ. When I pray in secret and never tell anybody how much I pray, I'm proving my love for Jesus Christ. When I give money for God's work and try my best to hide it and only knows 10:43 about it, I'm just proving my love to Christ. When I speak the truth, when it may have consequences that I suffer, I'm showing my love for Jesus Christ. It's in practical obedience. That's what the Lord was testing Adam. 11:01 Adam, among all the thousands of trees there, you can eat from any of them. I want to test your obedience. There's one tree you shouldn't eat from. Do you love me or not? That's the test. The test was love God with all your heart, soul, 11:17 strength, and mind. So, whenever you read a commandment in scripture, even if it's a small one, something you think is really unimportant, you know, unfortunately, we have Christians today who say, "Well, that's not an important 11:28 commandment." I'll tell you, brother, sister, what makes a commandment important is who gave it. Was it a big man who gave it or some small fellow who gave it? So, if it's a great mighty God, creator of the universe, who gave it, it is a 11:44 big commandment. There are no small commandments for me in scripture. If you believe the Bible is God's word as I believe. Today, I believe the Bible is God's word because it has changed my life in 56 years since I started reading it. Completely 12:01 made me a very happy person and made me a very stable individual. Help me to fulfill the purpose with which God brought me out of my mother's womb nearly 76 years ago. I understood that purpose by reading this book. So, that as I come to the end of life, I 12:18 can look back and say, "Lord, thank you for this book that showed me how I should live on earth." And people ask me, "How did you know that when you started your Christian life when you were 19 and a half born again?" You 12:34 I said, "Well, in those days, I couldn't say that I had studied it. I hadn't even read it." But whenever I met a really godly man, and there were very few. I I I must say in the 56 years I've been a believer, I've met very few really godly men and women. 12:50 A few absolute saints. I met many religious Christians, and most of them are like that, but really godly people whose love for Jesus is fervent, whose even faces are radiant because they are free from anxiety and tension and bitterness and everything. 13:08 Their life is clear, you know, their heart is clear. And people with whom it's been a pleasure to be with, that every word almost they say is from God. I met a very few people like that in my life. In those early days, whenever I 13:24 met one or two people like this, and I would get to try and talk to them to find out the secret of their life. I found two things. One, they all believe the Bible is the word of God. Second, they were all filled with the 13:38 Holy Spirit. They believed in being filled with the Holy Spirit continuously. I learned something as a young Christian. I said, "Lord, this is the secret. This is what made these men godly, saintly, good people 13:57 because they love Jesus with all their heart, they believe the Bible is God's word. They took it seriously. And secondly, they believed in being filled with the Holy Spirit knowing that it's impossible to live this Christian life 14:12 unless God gives us his power with it. So, these two things became very important for me very early in my Christian life. Really study the one book, the only book God has given on this, the billions of books in the world written by him. 14:27 I wanted to know it and I still want to know it better. That's how I believe the Bible is God's word. My beginning and I'm glad that I I met a few men like that whose lives influenced me. And I believe that I must be filled with 14:42 the Holy Spirit. So, very early in my Christian life I just began to seek filled with God's Holy Spirit within. God's Holy Spirit's operation is very invisible. Um sort of he's a hidden person, the Holy Spirit. He doesn't want to 14:59 manifest himself. He doesn't talk about himself. He seeks to promote Jesus. If the Holy Spirit fills you, you talk more about Jesus than about the Holy Spirit. I'll tell you that. Cuz he has come to exalt Christ. You know that Jesus said that. 15:18 He will not speak about himself. It's a very important word to remember in concerning the ministry of the Holy Spirit. In John chapter 16, John 16, when the Holy Spirit of truth 15:38 is come, John 16:13, he will guide you into that all the truth and he will not speak out from himself or on his own initiative. Whatever he hears from the Father, he will speak. And he will disclose it to you things to 15:54 come. And he will glorify me, Jesus said. He will not glorify himself. Whenever I hear a person speaking always about the Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit, I have a question mark. Holy Spirit doesn't speak always about 16:13 himself. He speaks about Jesus. A spirit-filled man speak more about Jesus. The secret is the Holy Spirit. Of course, we got to talk about it and say, if you people ask you, "How did the How do you do this?" Fullness of the Holy Spirit, be filled 16:31 with the Holy Spirit. So, don't misunderstand me. But he's speaking about Jesus. And he will take verse 15, last part, of mine and show it to you. 16:50 He will show you me, says Jesus. Just like Jesus showed the Father. You know, this is the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They're so self-effacing. It's one characteristic of God. In Isaiah 45, it says about him, Isaiah 45 17:15 and verse 15. I don't know whether you know this verse, Isaiah 45:15. Truly, oh God, you are a God who hides yourself. What is the greatest proof that God has hidden himself? That he's created this universe. 17:37 There are atheists in the world. Can you imagine there The existence of atheists is the clearest proof that God has hidden himself. He He's there in the universe, you can see. I I mean, I sometimes tell people, "Do you believe that one day there was a 17:52 bang and a crash, and suddenly this watch came came into being?" Big bang and then a watch keeps perfect time. They say, "Isaac, don't try and fool me. Some intelligent being made this watch." I say, "Do you know that we keep watch 18:08 by the stars and the sun? They keep better time than this. You got to wind and put batteries inside. That one runs without it." And you mean no intelligent being created this? You got to be crazy. God hides himself. He could have very 18:27 every morning shouted out, "Hey, I'm here." There'd be no atheists left in the world, but he hides himself. Because he wants us to trust him by faith, by our conscience, within which every atheist also has. He may suppress it. 18:45 He knows he's guilty for God. Listen to that voice. It's the first voice of God you hear. Then we hear it in the Bible, and then through the Holy Spirit. That's why I say the Bible and the Holy Spirit are important. Keep listening to your conscience. It'll 19:02 lead you to the Bible to hear God's voice, Holy Spirit. So, God is a God who hides himself. Jesus came and he didn't speak about himself, he spoke about the Father. When the Holy Spirit comes on the day of Pentecost, he doesn't speak about 19:16 himself, he speaks about Jesus. So, if he fills me, I know. The Holy Spirit really fills me, I know that I'll be taken up with Jesus more and more. Beauty of Jesus. The Holy Spirit fills me and as I speak, 19:34 I'll speak about Jesus to others and everything that relates to him. So, turning back to Genesis 3, Adam violated that first law of love your neighbor, uh sorry, love God with all your heart, soul, and strength by disobeying God. 19:52 It was a violation of that first important commandment to love God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind. And then, what happens when you violate that commandment? Immediately, the horizontal is broken. 20:15 You know, the Bible says in 1 John 4, the connection between these two commandments, love God and like I said, you can't have a cross with only one plank. The two are dependent. You need the other. So, 1 John 4, it says in 20:32 verse 20, "If a man says, 'I love God with all my heart and he doesn't love his brother.'" In fact, he hates his brother. "He is not a believer. He's not a Christian." There is a name the Bible gives him in this verse, 20:51 "liar." How do you like that? Calling a person a liar because he says he loves God and he can't love his fellow believers. You're a liar, brother. You're not a believer. You're not a brother in Christ. You're not a Christian at all. 21:08 You're a liar. John is called the apostle of love. He didn't say that in anger. He was speaking the truth. Because listen to the reasoning and the logic behind it in 1 John 4:20. If you cannot love a brother whom you can see, 21:27 how can you say that you love a God whom you cannot see? That's the logic. And so this refers to the brothers whom you see. Uh do you love the brothers in Argentina? And China and Siberia and all? Very easy, right? 21:45 Cuz you don't see them. That's the reason. Very easy to love brothers whom you've never seen in your life. They never disturb you. They never never inconvenience you. But here it says the brother you see. Who's the brother you see or sister you see? 22:00 Your wife. Your husband. Your children. And the ones in your local church. That is the test whether I love God or not. 22:18 You know, my attitude to you, to my wife, is the test of whether I love God or not. Whether I can love my children and all their failings is the test of my love for God. Whether I can love 22:38 particularly the new believers who come to our church who got You know, new believers are like babies. They dirty their diapers and do stupid things. Pick up mud from the floor and put it in their mouth. You know how babies are. 22:54 And new believers can do a lot of stupid things. You hate your baby because it does all that? So, I see that God is very faithful to show me whether I love him or not. So, it's an obedience to his 23:13 commandments, number one. And love for one another. That's the whole secret of the Christian life. Obedience to Jesus' commandments. And that's why I say you got to study the Bible. Because I don't know the commandments of God unless I read God's 23:32 word. If you're serious about obeying God's commandments, you'll study the word. Definitely. I mean, if you want to pass a test, even a like in India, I don't know how it is here, get a driving license. They first give you a written test to Do 23:51 you know all the rules about signs and things like that? Signals and what these traffic signs mean? There There's a test. Do you know all this? And we spend so much time studying that because we want a driving license. We read the Bible like that to find out 24:11 what are God's commandments. It's So, how do I prove I love him? By keeping his commandments. How do I know what his commandments are? You don't read the Bible. I want to tell you you have no interest in loving God. I don't care how many times you go to 24:25 church in a week. You have no interest in finding out his commandments. That's why you don't read the Bible. You're more interested in studying the traffic laws so that you can get a driving license. That's far more important to you than 24:37 loving God. I want to know everything, and I tell you I'm discovering things even at this age. Of areas in my life where I thought I was perfect, and I'm not. I find that selfishness is like an 24:58 onion. No matter how many layers you peel off, there's still another one underneath. I thank God for light that comes to me in my home life, in my relationship with others. I say, "Wow, that was selfishness." 25:15 Or the way I said that. It was There was an element of pride in it. Be honest. There was an element of pride in that thing you said to someone. Okay, Lord, I'll peel it off. I still haven't finished. You keep going. My aim is to make these onions of 25:33 selfishness and pride as thin as possible before Jesus comes. I hope that's your aim, too. That's why I read the scriptures. Get light. If you love me, keep my commandments. And you won't know what those commandments are unless you read the 25:47 scriptures, and you won't know those other things which are not mentioned in scripture, which little things, unless you are filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will tell you. Something's not written in the Bible. 25:57 The way you spoke to that person, the way you did that. You're just seeking your own. Or Jesus never sought his own. I want to be like Jesus more and more in my life. Think what a wonderful person you'll be on this earth, what a blessing you'll be 26:11 as a wife or a husband or a father or mother if you walk this way. Every year you'll become a better person. You'll be a blessing to humanity, a blessing to society, a blessing in your family, and a blessing to the church. 26:30 So, when Adam violated this commandment of God that you should not eat from this tree, it wasn't such a difficult commandment. If God had said there are a thousand trees there, you must not eat from 999 of them and eat only one, 26:42 that would have been a tough thing. But when he said you can eat 999, but don't eat one, that's That's not tough, is that? You know how man's tendency is to go for that thing which God has forbidden. And then when that relationship with God 27:00 is broken, immediately your horizontal relationship with his wife is gone. He was ashamed. It says he had to hide himself. He had to put fig leaves. So, hide from whom? From his wife. Can you imagine anything more crazy than 27:16 that? And you see the You see the clear example, and this is what I wanted to point out to you. How do we know his relationship with his wife is broken? May God give us light. God came 27:34 into the garden. You know, I often think of that that Adam should have been the one running to God. Oh God, where are you? I failed you. Please forgive me. Instead of that, he goes and hides. You know, the tendency we have as soon as we've done 27:46 something wrong to hide. Hide ourselves, cover up that sin. God is so loving. He came into the garden and said, "Where are you, Adam?" That's how he came to Earth 28:03 through Jesus Christ, seeking man and saying, "Where are you? I've come to find you." That's how he comes seeking in your life, too. And he says, "I was afraid. I hid myself." It says God saying, "Why do you have to hide from me? You can't hide from me." 28:22 Let me ask you. Here's where you see that horizontal love your neighbor as yourself is broken. "Did you eat?" Verse 11, Genesis 3:11. "Did you eat from the tree I told you not to eat?" Multiple choice question. Answer yes or 28:39 no. That's all. Tick. You know how there are these examinations where multiple choice, yes or no. Very easy. But he doesn't tick either yes or no. He writes underneath. Third point, my wife, 28:57 she picked out this fruit and gave it to me. See, it's gone. How do you know his love for his wife is gone? Blaming her. Whenever you blame your wife, 29:15 you know you've stopped loving God. That's what I see here. I don't need to know that first part that he did ate from the tree or anything. As soon as I see he's blaming his wife, hey, something happened to this guy. He did something. That's why he's 29:32 started blaming his wife. His love for God has gone. Cuz he cannot love his wife. If you love your wife, you will not blame her. I don't know whether you know that. This wife, and not only he says, "You gave me 29:50 this wife." You ever pray, "Lord, why did you give me such a wife or such a husband? Such children." Don't ever say such things. Why you give me such brothers in the church? Blaming God. We're so careless in our speech. 30:13 But he was not careless when he blamed his wife. He was trying to deflect the blame. It's not me, it's her. And I I like to see this painting of Adam pointing wife, Lord, her. Cuz it's a classic picture 30:31 of the human race. Blaming somebody else. Never seeing that I'm to blame myself. Well, she didn't shove it in your mouth, Adam. You opened it and ate it. Why don't you admit that? You wanted it, too. 30:49 But this blaming You know, that's the reason why very often we don't get more light from God in many areas in our life, in our families, darkness. Cuz we have this habit of pointing the finger. I want to show you 31:06 a verse in Isaiah 58. Isaiah was a great prophet of God, and God told him sometimes to shout out some things. Some things you can say softly, but some things you got to shout out. Isaiah 58, verse one, cry loudly 31:25 and don't hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet and declare to my people their sin. And what is their sin? Verse nine, the last part, pointing their finger 31:45 at each other. Show my people, shout loud as a trumpet, how they point their finger at each other. The last part of verse nine. And let me read the whole verse, verse 32:04 nine. You You will call to the Lord, and he will answer. You will cry, and he will say immediately, "Here I am." If you stop pointing the finger at each other. Have you read that? Why doesn't God come immediately when 32:23 you pray and say, "Here I am"? Because you're pointing your finger too much at other people. Hello. Promise is, if you stop pointing the finger, when you cry, he will hear you. As soon as you pray, he'll say, "Here I am. What did you ask?" 32:39 I say, "Lord, I want to have that type of relationship with you. Where when I cry in my need, you say, "Here I am." When I pray, you answer. Lord says, "Stop pointing the finger." I say, "Lord, I'll give me grace. I'm a child of Adam. From childhood, 32:56 I've had the habit of pointing the finger. Haven't all of you seen that in your children? "Why did you fight with him?" "He hit me first." "Or he did that." "Or she did that." They got that nature from us. Don't 33:14 blame them. That is characteristic of Adam. It's characteristic of us. And we grow up, and we don't do it so crudely like children do it, but it's there. This attitude and it we are little civilized and cultured when we deal with others, but 33:34 like they say, when we are at home, we let our hair down. We start blaming each other. I want to encourage you, if from today, imagine if from today, everybody sitting here stop blaming their wife for anything. Stop blaming their husband for anything. 33:53 Can you imagine what your home will be like? A little bit of heaven on Earth. Who is it who doesn't want that? God or the devil? Who's the one who wants to prevent your home from being a little bit of heaven on Earth? 34:12 That's Satan. I want my home to be a heaven on Earth. So that my children can grow up and receive an inheritance. Not an inheritance in millions of dollars, but in the atmosphere of heaven, 34:31 which they can take with them when they go away. It's the greatest inheritance you can give your children. You who save up so much money to give your children, okay. Nothing wrong in that, but I hope you along with that you give them 34:44 a little taste of what heaven is like in your home. That'll come when you stop blaming, pointing the finger. How many times I've told you finish your language. I like something about 35:04 it says, "Your light It says, "When you stop pointing the finger, certain things will happen." Last part of verse 10, "Your light will rise in darkness." And in that gloomy time it'll be like midday sun. And verse 11, "The Lord will guide you 35:21 continually." "And you will be like a watered garden." Verse 11. Not like a dry barren ground. "And you'll be like a spring of water that's always bubbling up and satisfying the thirsty." "And those broken ruins you will build 35:39 up." The ruins of your home or the ruins of other people's lives. "And you'll be called the repairer of the breach. The restorer of streets to dwell in." And I want to be like that. I say, "Lord, I have only one life on earth. 35:55 I want to be a repairer. Not a destroyer. I don't want to go around blaming, blaming, blaming. There are enough people doing that." I want to read something to you which I read many years ago, I think 36:14 more than 45 years ago, and I have never forgotten it. I've written it down. It's a poem. It's a beautiful poem, and I just want to read it to you. It's speaking about Christ's hands. The hands of men 36:34 are often clenched. See that in a child itself. In bitterness and strife. In fear lest from their grasp be wrenched their rights, their powers, 36:52 their life. Their fingers often point to blame each other for their sin. But rarely do they bow in shame 37:08 and own the sin within. In Bethlehem Christ's hands were small. He was a baby. And helplessly grasped ours. For us 37:28 he had relinquished all. His life, his rights, his powers. And then his hands for us at Calvary endured the cruel nails. 37:45 No finger pointing blame as he by love alone prevails. Oh Lord, may my hand reach up to thee, 38:03 whose love reached down to me. My only pointing finger be to point to Calvary. I read that often. Cuz I 38:23 don't want any of the nature of Adam to be left in me. Pointing of the finger, there is a direction in which we must point our finger. Jesus gave up all his rights that we might come back to God. I want to spend all my life 38:44 pointing my finger at him. To him. Draw others to him. I see in Ephesians a word which came home to me with fresh light. Ephesians chapter 5 It says about Jesus' love for his 39:06 church. Verse 25, "Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her." As Christ gave himself for the church, husbands love your wives like that. 39:25 And he gave himself for the church so that that he might sanctify, make the church holy, cleansing the church. The church is all dirty. You and I are dirty. He didn't come to pick up clean people. He picked up dirty people, sinners. 39:42 Washed us with the word of God, the water of the word of God. Ultimately, here's the goal. Verse 27, "That he might present to himself this bride of his, like we must present our wives, the church in all her glory without spot, 40:00 without wrinkle, or any such thing, that she should be holy and What's the next word? Blameless. Without any blame. Imagine, 40:19 Adam blamed his wife. Jesus is going to present a wife without any blame. And he works on it. I want to have that attitude that I don't blame anybody. I want to present people without blame to God cuz I'm a co-worker with Jesus Christ. I hope you want to be 40:39 a co-worker with Jesus Christ. Blameless. Lord, I want to be like that myself. I want to have a conscience that is blameless like Paul said. And I want to cooperate with you in this work you're doing 40:59 to present other people blameless. That means nothing to blame in them. Are you cooperating with Jesus in that work? Seeking to cry Husbands, love your wives so that you can present them blameless one day. How can you do that if you keep pointing 41:15 your finger at her? Or why did God give you as a wife to your husband? Lord said Eve is to be a helper for Adam. Helper. Do you know who else is called a helper 41:33 in the Bible? Holy Spirit. Do you wives know that your ministry is like the Holy Spirit's? Holy Spirit's hidden in the background. A good wife supports her husband hidden in the background. I'm thankful I got a wife like that. You hardly see her. 41:51 She's in the background like the Holy Spirit. You don't see the Holy Spirit, but he's working there in the background. You have a wife like that. Doesn't matter if you don't get any credit. One day God will give it to you 42:04 when he comes again. Seek to present your husband blameless. Seek to present your wife blameless. And as you look at one another and don't always think of who's to blame. Their fingers often point to blame each other for their sin. 42:24 But rarely do they point it inward to see the sin within. Lord, give me a pointing finger that only points to Calvary, Jesus. Blameless, blameless. And you know what? By the way, it's one of the last words in the Bible. 42:43 The letters with the last letter in the Bible is the letter to Jude. After that is the book of Revelation, which is talking about the future, mostly. The last letter of the apostles is the letter of Jude. He was a brother of Jesus Christ, a 43:01 younger brother of Jesus, Mary's son. And he says, concluding the letter, the last portion of inspired scripture before Revelation, Jude 24. Now unto him who's able to keep us keep you from stumbling 43:19 and to make you stand in the presence of his glory blameless with great joy. To the only God our savior through Jesus Christ be glory and dominion. That's God's ultimate purpose. 43:38 That which started in Genesis 3 with man blaming his wife and Cain saying, "I don't know where my brother is." Through the years, through the centuries, the millions and billions of people who spend their time blaming one 43:55 another, finally God's going to accomplish something that in the end there'll be from this corrupt blaming one another generation of Adam, God would have picked out some gems from all this muck. You know, like you dig deep into the ground and you find 44:15 some diamonds in the midst of all that what underneath. God's going to pick out from some diamonds in the midst of this corrupt race of Adam, a few will not blame anybody. And you will not point the finger. 44:34 You are seeking to present everybody they meet as blameless. I want to invite you to be a co-worker with Jesus Christ in this job of presenting the ones you know around you 44:55 blameless. They're not blameless yet. There are lots of faults in them, just like there are faults in you. Sometimes we see, you know, whenever you see a fault in another it's usually the area where you have a strong point. 45:11 You'll never see a weakness in another way you yourself have a weak point. I mean, if you're an angry type of person, you'll never think anger is a serious thing in another person. But if he's not punctual and you're very punctual 45:22 you'll be very particular that guy is not punctual. Cuz that's your strong point. Have you noticed that? If tidiness is your strong point you'll be very particular about other people are untidy. But you won't be particular about 45:43 other areas which are your weak points. There's if something in all of us to blame. If you live long enough with me, you'll find plenty of things in me that you can find fault with. I'm not perfect. Paul said I'm not perfect. 45:59 It's It's illusion to think we are perfect. We're not become like Christ, but we're pressing on to perfection. I haven't reached the top of the mountain. I'm not at the foot of the mountain as I was 56 years ago. I've climbed quite a bit. 46:13 Still though, coming like Jesus is still a long way off. I can only say to people who are less spiritual than me, follow me as I follow Christ. Like climbing a mountain, Everest, 30,000 ft, 29,000 ft. 46:32 Say Jesus is perfect, he's reached the top. Rest of us are climbing. I can't tell people who are ahead of me to follow me. There are younger people than me. I can say to them, follow me and we're climbing this mountain. 46:44 Paul is ahead of me, Peter is ahead of me and I'm following. I want to see those footsteps and walk there. One of those footsteps is not blaming others. You see the footsteps of Jesus going up the snow. Don't blame anybody. 47:03 I see the Jesus hanging on the cross, sinless, but taking the blame for the sins of all humanity. That's tremendous. Do take the blame for us for somebody else did? 47:22 Keep quiet, okay. They blame me, let me keep quiet. It doesn't matter. If the real culprit is not found out, I'm willing to take the blame. That's the spirit of Christ. You know, where you love, you'll do 47:40 that. Think of an illustration. Supposing you're letting your 12-year-old son drive the car because there's no police vehicle 47:59 around. Just to try and teach him a little driving. And then you suddenly hear the police vehicle behind you. You suddenly push your child into the passenger seat and jump into the driver's seat. So that by the time the policeman 48:16 catches up with you, you're in the driver's seat. What is that? It's an act of love. You want to take the blame. Love is always willing to take the blame. 48:35 I don't want somebody else to be locked up. I remember hearing a story. It's a I don't know whether it's a true story or not, though. Twin brothers who looked exactly alike. And one of them uh It's probably just an illustration, but 48:54 anyway, it's got a point about it. One had murdered somebody in anger and blood was all over his shirt. He came running home and somebody alerted the police and they were chasing him. Fortunately, he got into the home in 49:08 time and told his brother what happened. And his brother said, "Give me your shirt, quick." And they exchanged shirts. And he stood at the door. The fellow said, "Yeah, this is the man." 49:27 Cuz he looked exactly like his twin brother and the police got him. And before they take took him away, he he said, "Can I have a word with my brother before I go?" He went back and said, "Don't spoil that shirt again that I gave you just now." 49:45 So, that's what Jesus says to us. He took the blame. He says, "Don't soil that shirt again. Keep it clean." And I say, "Lord, I want to keep it clean. Not only from sin, but especially the sin of pointing the finger." Let's seek to present one another 50:04 blameless in this church. If you really work at it, this will be one of the best churches in the world. Or not only this, any church that does that. God bless you. Let's bow our heads in prayer. The devil won't stop you from agreeing 50:39 with everything you heard today, but he'll try his best to make you forget it by tomorrow or next week. That's the thing you've got to watch out. Lord, you've given me a treasure. If you really believe it's a treasure, I want to preserve it more than 50:55 a million dollars that I inherited today. How carefully I will preserve that and invest it. Lord, I want to preserve. I believe you gave me a treasure today. I want to preserve it more than if I got a million dollars today. 51:11 I really want to preserve it. And I want to open my treasure chest every day and see if I preserved it or I've lost it. Lord, I want to live this life in such a way that my wife will see a difference in a few months wondering what happened. 51:31 My husband will see a difference. My brothers will see a difference because your Holy Spirit's working in me to make me more like Christ who is whose finger never pointed to blame others. Lord, help me judge myself each day 51:53 to walk this new and living way. I seek thy grace with all my heart to be made pure just as thou art. Heavenly Father, help each of us, we pray, glorify your name in the short time we 52:10 have on Earth. Life is so brief. Help us to be wholehearted. Pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Praise the Lord. Um as we heard Brother Zac today speak 52:28 about blame, I was reminded of something that um some of us in the men's group had covered in the one of his books, the new wine and new wine skins. You can download that online. Um but I was really touched by that um it just reminded me about this idea of 52:43 how God took the blame for us so that we didn't have to be blamed. And that was in Genesis 9, how God um placed the promise of the the rainbow in the sky. But if you go there, it actually the Bible actually says that God placed a 52:55 bow in the sky. And um just like a bow and arrow. So uh when there was the so much evil and wickedness in the world, um God wiped out mankind except for Noah and his family. And he was solving the 53:13 the problem of evil temporarily, but then um after he did that, God put a promise in the sky and that was to place a bow, just like a bow and arrow, but this time instead of aimed downwards, it was aimed upwards, like he was going to shoot the 53:25 next arrow uh at himself. Um he was taking the blame now. He was going to solve the problem of evil um not by blaming mankind or by taking it out on mankind, but by pointing it to heaven. And so he pointed the finger of 53:39 blame at Jesus um so that we could be without blame and be pure. And so, I was so touched by that and just, um, I don't think there's any other greater, uh, encouragement to live Jesus live for Jesus, to love him, to live for God, to 53:54 live wholeheartedly than the fact that God loved us and so much that he didn't, um, he took away the blame, our blame, not just by wiping it out but by taking it on himself. That's so much greater an act of love than just by overlooking it. 54:06 He didn't just overlook it. He took it out on himself, uh, in place of. So, um, praise God. We have such a what loving father, what wonderful eternity look forward to with our loving father. So, um, praise God for the message we heard 54:21 today. Um, we believe, uh, one thing one of the ways that God speaks to us is when we meditate on his word. And so, uh, let's just take a couple of minutes and meditate on what we heard today and ask God to speak to us and plant this not 54:34 just in our minds but in our hearts. And I'll come and close in prayer. The word that you've given us today, Lord, we pray that these truths would become part of us, that we would be doers of the word, that we would live 54:52 to never point fingers of blame but always to look how gracious you've been to us, Lord. Lord, we're the ones to blame but you took it. Lord, we pray that we would not love you with, or love others with with any emotional 55:09 worldly type of love that's not what you really lay out in your word but that we'd be obedient to your commands, that we would seek to love you by living for you, to do your will on this earth, Lord. Lord, help us not to live for our own 55:25 will, to set aside our own, um, our ego, our rights, just like Jesus did. So, that we can please you and do your commands, Lord, to deny our our own will to to crucify our flesh, to be on the cross with Jesus while we're living for 55:42 you, Lord. We pray that we would do this to love you with a godly love, not any the worldly type of love, Lord, and love others the same way. Thank you, Father, for speaking these things to us today. We um just praise you for 55:58 privilege of your word, and we ask for passion to know it so we can know how to live for you and what to uh what to obey. Lord, we want to be tremblers at your word, Lord. We read it, and we want to tremble at it and take it with fear and 56:13 reverence. Desiring to obey every command, even the big and small. Thank you, Father, for everything you're doing for this church. We pray um that you would continue to build up your kingdom on this earth, Lord. Thank you, Father, for 56:29 um everything you've done for us. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.
