0:07 When Jesus was breaking bread, that's the first time he used the word the new covenant. He said, "This is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for the forgiveness of the sins of many." But beyond the blood of Christ, 0:33 which brought forgiveness, the new covenant is fulfilled in us only through the in filling of the Holy Spirit. Many Christians know 0:52 about the blood of Christ, how it forgives, and people rejoice in that. And if most Christians, I'd say more than 90% of born-again believers, my observation, 90% 1:09 have never come into a victorious life. It's like saying 90% of the children don't know how to walk. They're alive. They know how to crawl, but they haven't learned to walk. Most children learn to walk by the time 1:27 they are 1 or 1 and 1/2. But here are born-again people who've been 20 years, 25 years, they have not learned to walk without falling. Think if your child was 20 years old and was always stumbling and falling all the time. 1:46 And think if you had three or four children like that. I'm sure it would disappoint you. If you want to know how God feels, that's exactly how he feels when he sees those who claim to be his children, 2:03 but have not taken seriously the matter of seeking to walk as Jesus walked. I don't think many people even take that word seriously. So, so one of my favorite verses, I'll begin with that. 2:23 1 John chapter 2 verse 6. 1 John chapter 1 verse 9. Well-known verse. 1 John 1:9. If we confess our sins, 2:41 he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That's the first lesson we learn. Good. But then, 2:59 don't stop there. Chapter 2 verse 1, just two verses down. My children, I'm writing these things to you. I know you can get forgiveness through the blood that you don't sin. I'm writing these things to you that you 3:16 don't keep on stumbling and falling, that you have to keep going back and saying, "Forgive me." Keep going back 20 times a day. I mean, that's good. It's better than being totally dead. I mean, it's better to have a child who's at least crawling 3:36 than a child who's dead. I agree. But that's not God's perfect will. Dear brothers and sisters, you must be convinced that it is not God's will for me to keep on sinning. It's not God's will for me 3:54 not to learn how to walk. So, from there he goes on to chapter 2 verse 6. The one who says he abides in Christ ought or must must walk in the same manner as Jesus walked. 4:13 That's a goal. The goal is one who never sinned. When you send your child into the kindergarten, I think all of you will hope at least I hope at least he will finish, even if 4:32 he never goes to college, I hope he'll at least reach the 12th grade and graduate from school, even if he never goes to college. That's the minimum. Out in the slums in India, they don't care. They don't They don't even go to the 4:52 kindergarten. And when I look at the lives of a lot of Christians, how they live in their personal life, in their office life, in their financial life, in their home life, it reminds me of the slums in India. They're not bothered. 5:09 But we know how important it is to teach our children and give our children education. Or take another matter of hygiene. Do you teach Do you teach your children to wash their hands before they eat? How careful people were 5:28 during this time of COVID spreading all over. There was the sanitizers everywhere. And people were going to office and sanitize their hands, they'd come out and sanitize their hands. It's amazing how careful they were to 5:44 avoid COVID. They were scared of dying. There was rumors all over. People were getting COVID and dying, and they were scared of dying. When I saw that, I said, "I wish Christians would have that type of scare of sin." To really avoid how they'd wear masks 6:02 and I don't want to breathe that person's breath, it may be COVID. I don't want to spread my infection to that person. If we had that type of attitude of steward sin, I tell you, this COVID thing is a tremendous example for us. 6:21 It teaches us that many Christians are more afraid of physical death than eternal death. They're more afraid of physical death than of spiritual death. The spiritual death in their lives every day. 6:39 It's like COVID germs all over their body. Doesn't disturb them. So, dear brothers and sisters, I believe that we're not the only church, but I believe God's raised up churches like ours to teach people to go beyond 1 John 1:9 6:58 into 1 John 2:6. "This is my blood of the new covenant," Jesus said. So, that new covenant is way beyond forgiveness. And when we think of this life, 7:16 you've heard me say many times, if you've heard my messages, that the church is like a three-story building. Let me repeat it for those who haven't heard me. And the most important part of that three-story building is the foundation, 7:31 like every building needs a good foundation. And if you don't have that foundation properly, you will your building will crack. Maybe not in the first floor, it'll crack on the third floor. I've seen buildings that have 7:47 cracked on the fourth or 10th floor, and always the fault is in the foundation. So, you see the crack coming all the way down. So, what is the foundation? God so loved the world, but more than that, you've heard me also say that to me the 8:07 most precious verse in the Bible is not John 3:16. I know that, but John 17:23. And if you don't know that verse, please know it today. This is what changed my life years after I was born again. 8:26 When I discovered this amazing truth, I had read the Bible for 16 years before I discovered this truth. I'm sure I read that verse many times, but it just went through my mind like a lot of like a lot of things go through your mind. 8:42 Jesus' prayer to the Father was, "I want the world to know that you sent me through them. I also want the world to know that you love these disciples of mine 8:59 in exactly the same way as you love me." I got that revelation about 35 years ago. That's when I wrote that song. That when bowed with burdens and with 9:18 care, your soul is in despair, you don't have to fear, God is very near. He loves you as he loved his son, and he will help you, too. He loves you as he loved his son. You know, I believe that's a phrase that 9:36 you can meditate on for a long time till you're gripped by it. Lord, I want you to I want to know this, that you love me in exactly the same way as you loved Jesus when he was on the earth. 9:55 Now, I have to qualify that by saying it is not for everybody. See what Jesus said earlier on. In verse 9, 10:13 "I'm asking on behalf of these 11 disciples of mine." This is not a prayer he prayed for everybody. It's not even a prayer he prayed to the multitude who listened to him. They were let This is the last supper. The traitor Judas had left. There were 10:32 11 people left. And he said, "Father, I'm asking on behalf of these people who have put me first in their life, who've given up everything to follow me. I'm not asking on behalf of worldly people." And I would add, Jesus does not 10:51 pray this prayer for worldly believers. For those who say, "Lord, forgive my sin." And whose ambition is to live for the world, he's not praying for them. And I don't want to hurt any of you, but if any of you are like that, I have to 11:08 tell you the truth. Jesus is not praying this for you. Because he says that, "I'm not praying for the world. I'm not praying for those whose heart is in the world." And if your heart is in money, if your heart is in the pleasures of this world, 11:22 I'm sorry to say this, but this prayer is not for you. But I'm praying for those who have decided that God is more important than money, that God is more important than all the pleasures of this world, 11:40 who are serious about giving up sin. For those whom you have given me, for them I prayed that they may that the world may know that you loved them as you love me. 11:58 So, if you're one who's decided that Christ is going to be first in your life and everything to you, just like your marriage, if you're a faithful husband or a faithful wife, your marriage partner is the only person on earth 12:16 whom you're going to be attached to. You cannot think of loving anybody outside your husband or your wife. That's That's the one. That's the way we are to love Jesus Christ. And the other man drawing us is the world. The other man drawing us away from our 12:34 bridegroom is money. And if you love money, you're like an unfaithful wife, married, but always wanting to be with another man. Think about a wife who always every now and then sneaks away to another man. That's the believer 12:53 who loves money more than he loves Jesus Christ, exactly like an unfaithful wife. Jesus is not praying this for such people. He's not saying that the Father loves such believers like he loved Jesus. He does not. I have to make that clear so that we are 13:10 not deceived. But anyone who says, "Lord Jesus, you're first in my life." The other day I spoke on what is the most important thing in our life. It is to love God with all our heart, all our mind, all our emotion, all our strength, 13:27 and everything. You say then, "How will I take care of my needs?" You work. God told Adam to work with his work with his hands and sweat, and he would earn his bread. God wants you to work. God One of the first thing God told Adam 13:42 after he put you know, clothes on him with animal skins, he said, "Work hard now. Earn your bread." And that's what he'd say to you, "Go and work in an office or go and work in a factory or go and work with your hands or whatever profession you have and earn 13:57 your bread. Sweat and earn your bread. There's nothing wrong in that. And God will provide for you. But put God first. Seek the kingdom of God first. And then then we can experience 14:16 the love of the Father in the same way as he loved Jesus. And I remember when I got this revelation years ago, as in another verse of that same hymn which I wrote then is as he cared for Jesus, he will care for you. 14:35 That's an amazing truth that's blessed me through all these more than 40 years since I understood that. In different situations, as he cared for Jesus, he would care for me. In storms and dangers and when people 14:52 seek to attack you or trouble you or make life difficult for you, as he cared for Jesus, he'll care for you. There are many many situations I see in the gospels where it says, "They tried to kill Jesus, but they could not." 15:07 And one reason, his time had not yet come. That's all. It's not that the people were too few or Jesus had many people to defend him. Jesus had nobody to defend him. But they could not capture him because of one reason. His time had not yet come. 15:25 Do you think there were germs in Nazareth? Nazareth was not as hygienic a place as we have today. They didn't have such rules of hygiene as they had then, and I'm sure there were a lot more germs in Nazareth than there are in our surroundings. 15:44 What about Jesus? Could he be Could he become sick and die by one of those germs? There were people dying in those days with sickness, I'm sure. There were people getting different sicknesses in Israel at that time. How is it none of them could attack 15:59 Jesus? Maybe they could, but in fact, in Isaiah 53, it says he did get sick. He had to get sick. Otherwise, he would not know what we face when we are sick. I praise God for that verse. It says that he is acquainted with sickness in Isaiah 16:17 53. That is part of his being tempted like us so that he knows what sickness is like. But he never It couldn't kill him. No sickness could kill him because of one reason. His time had not yet come. 16:37 That's helped me so much in my life. I don't care who tries to trouble me, enemies or germs or sickness or you don't have to live in fear, my brother. If you have decided that God is first in your life and nothing on earth is going 16:49 to be more important than Jesus Christ, you can be pretty sure that as he cares for Jesus, he'll care for you. It's brought tremendous comfort in my life. I don't care where I live. If God tells me to live in Afghanistan, I'll live 17:01 there, and I know that until my time comes, nobody can touch me. Like some great saints have said, "I'm immortal until my life's work is done." The ones who said that are those who committed their whole life to Christ and 17:16 lived for nothing else but God. They could say Jesus could say he's immortal till his life's work is done. He Nobody could kill him. So, it's an amazing way to live on this earth because it brings such rest and peace and freedom from anxiety 17:34 in our heart. Now, why do I say all this? We're going to think about married life. And I believe that a lot of the problems between husband and wife and parents and children is because they are not secure in the 17:54 love of God. It's insecurity which is the root cause of many many sins. The way a husband or wife may snap back suddenly at each other, get upset, be in a bad mood, 18:12 it's all because of insecurity. Believe me, it is. I know because for years and years and years in my life, I was insecure. And when you're insecure, you'll snap back at somebody who says something to you that hurts you. 18:28 Or when you're worked up so much, you'll snap at people. You can't help it because you're basically insecure. That's the reason. There's no other reason. I remember hearing of a wife who 18:46 told her husband once, "How do you Supposing you hear a knock at the door, and you open it, and a stranger is there, total stranger. How would you speak to that person? Total stranger. You wouldn't snap at him. You wouldn't 19:05 be rude at him." And she said, "Just talk to me like that. That's enough. I'm not asking for anything more. Talk to me like you would talk to a stranger." Imagine a wife having to ask that. "Will you please talk to me just like you talk 19:20 to a stranger who comes to the door?" It should be much better than that. But many husbands and wives do not talk to each other like they talk to a stranger at the door. Why is it? Insecurity. We're not sure that our Father loves us 19:40 as he loved Jesus. And that insecurity produces a lot of unconscious tension in us that makes us say these things, do these things, and hurt things, and keep offenses in our mind for years and years and years that we remember, 19:59 and not only remember what your partner did many years ago, but remind your partner, "Remember what you did on such and such a date 25 years ago?" Uh-huh. Imagine if God told you like that. Imagine if God spoke to you saying, 20:16 "Remember what you did 25 years ago? I haven't forgotten it." How would you feel? Thank God God never speaks like that. If there was a sin you confessed yesterday, he's cleansed it in the blood. 20:35 And he says, "I will not remember." God will not say to you, "Remember what you did yesterday?" No. He says, "I will not remember it anymore." I urge you, dear brothers, the Bible says, "Forgive one another as God has forgiven you." 20:53 It's one of the most important requirements in marriage. I've sometimes told married couples, "I'll give you one sentence of advice for your entire married life, even if you're married for 50 years. 21:10 Be quick to ask forgiveness, and be quick to forgive. That's it. I should now go. You can live with that for the rest of your married life." 50 years from now you'll need it. Be quick to ask forgiveness. In other 21:30 words, as soon as you're aware that you hurt your partner or your children, be quick to ask forgiveness. "I'm sorry, my son. I was wrong. 21:51 I should not have said that to you. I should not have punished that punished you for that because I realized it was not your mistake. Please forgive me." Have you ever spoken like that to your children? Are you quick to speak like that to your 22:07 wife or husband? Let's learn it now. Forgiving one another is a kindergarten lesson. It is kindergarten. I'll tell you one or two other kindergarten lessons in a moment, but 22:26 this is the first one. 1 + 1 = 2, my child. What is that? The child says, "1 + 1 is 1." No. 1 + 1 is 2. Teach that child through the whole year 22:44 1 + 1 is 2, and the next year comes and when the child says, "1 + 1 is 0." No, my child, it's 2. Forgive one another. Ask forgiveness quickly. That's what I'm saying. 1 + 1 is 2. Ask forgiveness immediately. Don't wait 23:04 till tomorrow. If you wait till tomorrow, you're saying 1 + 1 is 1. When will you learn it? When will you learn it? 1 + 1 is 2. Ask forgiveness quickly. I mean, if you did it unconsciously and 23:22 you don't even know that you hurt somebody, then you can't do anything. But as soon as you're aware of it, and usually you're aware of it pretty quickly, that you said something that was meant to hurt. That's evil. 23:39 That's like sharpening your knife to hurt your wife or husband with words. That's terrible. You scheme and plan, "What shall I say that will really hurt her? And make her wake up." That's like saying 1 + 1 is 0. After 10 24:00 years of studying in the kindergarten, you're saying 1 + 1 is 0. God is not upset. Would you be upset with a child who's so stupid after 10 years saying 1 + 1 is 0? No, you'd be patient. "Okay, my son, let me work with you. 24:17 I will work with you as long as it takes to teach you that 1 + 1 = 2." That's how God is. I thank God for it. I thank God I I thank God he was like that with me. For years and years he was patient with me. And that's the main reason why he's 24:34 taught me to be patient with others. The Lord reminds me, "Think how long it took for you to learn that 1 + 1 is 2. Think how long it took for you sometimes to be quick to ask forgiveness, to quick to blot out from your mind that memory of 24:53 all those things, never to remind the person about the past." That's what makes us merciful to others, particularly a church that preaches holiness. Many years ago when we were putting up our first 25:13 building of CFC building in Bangalore in 1981, the brothers who were putting up the buildings asked me, "Brother Zac, what verse shall we put up behind the pulpit?" And I said, "What do you think is the biggest need 25:30 of people who preach holiness to others? We're a church that's preaching holiness, victory over sin. What do you think is our biggest need?" I'll tell you. Be merciful to others just as God has been merciful to you. 25:50 And that's the verse we've had behind the pulpit for all these from 1981 till now, 40 years. And we still need it to be reminded of it. Be merciful to others. How? 26:09 Exactly as God has been merciful to you. It's a kindergarten lesson. Why am I emphasizing it? Because through the years as I've observed believers, I've observed 26:25 so many married couples in CFC churches, it seems as though they never learn 1 + 1 = 2. Be merciful to others just as God has been merciful to you. Now, I know today you'll remember it. 26:47 The question is whether you'll remember it tomorrow. And next week. You will remember it if you keep on remembering how much God has been merciful to you. Every day of my life 27:06 I seek to remember how God has been merciful to me. I wake up in the morning not thinking of the faults of other people. I wake up in the morning thinking of how God has been merciful to me a sinner. 27:24 Every morning. I'll tell you honestly, even this morning, I said, "Lord, I am the sinner for whom you died on the cross. I sometimes raise my hand. Say, "Lord, I'm the one in the crowd of all these people in heaven, I'm the one 27:41 who you died for me on the cross. I'm the one." Take that attitude. It will change your life. You'll be a much happier person. You'll be Your mind will be free from anxiety and pressure. 27:58 It's amazing what God will do for you. You know, the river of God seeks to flow through us. God is more eager for the mighty power of his Holy Spirit to flow through you and me than we are. We think we are very eager to be filled 28:16 with the Spirit, not even 1% as eager as God is to let the mighty power of his Spirit flow through you. It's we who block it. We put rocks and stones in the way, and the river is blocked. That's the only reason. 28:34 And one of the biggest rocks is an unmerciful attitude towards other people, beginning in your own home, and towards others who you work closely with. Be merciful. And if you haven't taken it seriously 28:53 till today, I urge you, my dear brothers and sisters, take it from today. It works. It's like a person who was seriously sick saying, "This pill worked in my life. I was much more sick than you with this sickness, but this pill worked." That's 29:09 what I'm saying. It worked. Be merciful to others as God has been merciful to you. It works. You need to take one every day, sometimes four or five times a day. But take that tablet. It will cure you completely, 29:27 and it will change your life. And it will make you a person who people will long to be with, and who will long to hear something from your lips that will bless them. You You be like that. 29:46 You don't have to have any great gift of preaching or you don't need You don't even have to have a great knowledge of the Bible. Do you know that all the 11 apostles did not know the Bible even 10% of what you folks know? 30:03 Did you know that? They only had the Old Testament. But they did not know 10% of what you know because they never had a physical Bible with them. They had to go to the synagogue to hear the Bible read. How much can you remember of the Bible if you never had a 30:19 Bible at home? Imagine, just picture yourself never had a Bible at home. From childhood, you never had a Bible, never seen a Bible. You could only hear it when you come to the meeting. How much would you remain in your mind? 30:33 Very, very little. That's how those early apostles were. And yet, they turned the world upside down for Christ. You know why? Because they sought to fellowship with Jesus every day. That's the secret. 30:52 So, dear brothers and sisters, let's begin here. The other kindergarten lesson which I always emphasize is don't keep an offense. Don't get offended. Somebody said something, somebody did something, 31:11 and you're hurt. Hurt? Whenever people tell me they're hurt, I tell them that's easy. Easy to overcome it. Die. D I E. Simple solution to many situations lie. D I E. It's a small three-letter word 31:29 that Jesus taught us. Die. That's the next lesson. 2 + 2 is 4. You learned 1 + 1 is 2. Be merciful to others. Let's go to the next step in the kindergarten. 2 + 2 is 4. Not 3. 31:49 Not 2. 4. Die. You will never keep an offense if you dead people don't look grumpy or sour at anybody. You call him the devil, he's not disturbed. You call him a prophet, he's not puffed 32:08 up. It's wonderful to die with Jesus. What a wonderful solution. That's a kindergarten lesson. Unfortunately, people are taught all types of fantastic truths in churches when they haven't 32:26 learned 1 + 1 and 2 + 2. Well, how can you go study trigonometry and algebra and all those things when you haven't learned elementary 1 + 1, 2 + 2? That's why so many Christians who've been Christians for 20, 30 years, suddenly you hear they divorced their 32:41 wives. They fell in love with their secretary. What's that? Where did that come from? They never learned their kindergarten lessons properly. They suddenly jumped to college without learning 1 + 1 is 2 and 2 + 2 is 4. I'll 32:57 tell you this is the honest truth. And it's quite likely that most of you came from such churches where you were not taught 1 + 1 is 2 or 2 + 2 is 4. But they taught you all these college truths. They tried to teach you 33:16 trigonometry and algebra and chemistry and physics before you learned 1 + 1 is 2 and 2 + 2 is 4. So, let's get back to basics. There are many wonderful things to learn. There's more to learn in the Christian life than any 33:33 postgraduate education in college can teach you. I'll tell you that. There's amazing things that I've discovered in scripture, that I've come to know about God. But it all began with learning to be merciful to others 33:51 and never to get offended with anything that other people say about me or say to me or do to me or do to my family. I I Lord, I will D I E. So, this is really the secret of the 34:12 Christian life. I cannot love God with all my heart I spoke about that the other day, the most important commandment. If deep down within there's a little bit of this love for myself. We all begin with a heart full of love 34:30 for ourselves. All men seek their own. If you want a description of the human race, it's given to us very clearly in Romans chapter 3. It's good for us to see that. I'm sure you read it sometime, but let me show it to you again. 34:48 Romans chapter 3. Recognize this. This is a description of the human race, of the children of Adam. This is how we were all born. And this is our basic nature. Romans 3 35:06 verse 10 onwards. There is not a single person who is righteous before God, not even one. I don't care if you came brought you were brought up in the most God-fearing family and your father and mother were saints. That's fine. 35:26 You were born completely unrighteous. That's what you were. There is no one who understands God. You did not understand God. You may have learned all the Bible stories and been able to repeat all the parables, all the miracles of Jesus, but 35:43 you don't understand God. There's no one who seeks after God. Some of you may think, "No, I sought after God from my childhood." No, you did not. You sought after a Christian religion. Whichever your parents taught you. 35:58 There's a lot of difference between that and seeking after God himself. There's no one who seeks after God. Until God does a work in our heart, we do not seek after him. You might as well acknowledge. Everybody's turned aside. 36:15 From childhood, they've gone astray. Haven't you seen how small children grab before the other person grabs something on the plate? That's proof that they don't know God at all. God doesn't Jesus wouldn't do that. They've all turned aside. They've all 36:32 become useless. Have you ever acknowledged that basically you are a useless person? I'm not saying that. Don't get upset with me. It's what the Bible says. Everybody's become useless. Unless you start there and recognize 36:52 where you start from, you will never come to a godly life. You have to go through these verses and say, "Lord, that's what I am as a child of Adam. Useless despite all my Bible knowledge. No one who does good. Now, you may think 37:07 you've done a lot of good in your life. It's like you know, a a very lovely apple in the hand of a man's whose hand is full of leprosy. The hand is oozing with leprous germs, 37:26 but the apple is a beautiful apple. Would you take it and eat it? Supposing a person's whose hand is full of leprosy gives you a lovely apple. Why don't you eat it? It's not good, you say. You You have an understanding. 37:46 That's why the Bible says in Isaiah 64 and verse 6, "Their good deeds are like filthy rags." All their righteousness, all their good deeds are like filthy rags. Have you ever seen that? 38:07 You may pat yourself on the back for some of the good things you did. Good, but in God's eyes, they are filthy rags. Have you seen it like that? Have you ever said, "Lord, that was a filthy rag for which I was patting myself on 38:19 the back." There's no one who does good, not even one. Just in case you thought you escaped, not even one. Their throat is an open grave. That means death comes out of their mouth when they speak. Anger, bitterness, 38:36 snapping at people. It's an open grave. The stink. You know stink of death. You go and see a dead person even the next day, the stink has begun. Imagine if the person's been dead long time in a grave, open grave. The stink, 38:52 the stink. We have to acknowledge this is how our words are. This is what comes out of our mouth. Their tongue, they deceive people. They try to give people the impre- What is deception? It's trying to give people an impression that I'm a 39:07 holy man. Haven't you tried to fool people like that with your words? Speak about all religious stuff and spiritual stuff to fool people to make them think you're very spiritual and religious. That can happen in a church like this. 39:20 Their throat, they are deceived. The poison of asps is under their lips which You see how like the the snake just suddenly stings. It You know, it's amazing how quickly a snake's tongue goes out. It's It's so quick. It's almost like 39:36 lightning. You think it's pretty far away. It can't hit you, but suddenly it's stung you. That's how we are. Everything going smoothly at home, suddenly the sting comes out of somebody's mouth. So, the Bible says, "The mouth is full 39:53 of bitterness, cursing." Maybe cursing is not there so much in us, but bitterness. "Their feet are swift to shed blood." That is to speak evil of others is shedding blood. You don't have to take a dagger. Words are enough. 40:12 Sometimes words are sharper than a dagger. They are swift. You won't speak like that about your son or daughter. Oh, no. Even if they did something terrible, it's my daughter. That's my son. Oh, no, no, no. But about somebody else, somebody else's 40:32 children, and somebody else, oh, we're ready to speak all types. Their mouth is quick to shed blood. What is the result? Destruction, verse 16, "and misery are in their 40:51 paths." "And the way of peace they have not known." Their home is not a home of perfect peace 24 hours of the day as it should be in the house of a child of God. 41:10 Do you know whenever Jesus came to meet his people, do you know what his first words were? "Peace be unto you." "Peace be unto you." It's one of the early Christians used to 41:26 meet greet each other with peace. There are many countries where even today Christians greet each other with peace. But I've seen after they say peace, they start fighting with each other also. It's just a just become a ritual. Peace. Let's fight 41:45 now. I've got something to tell you about yourself. It's become a ritual. Okay, the sum of it all is in verse 18. "They do not reverence God." 42:02 The fear of God is a reverence for God. More and more as I've meditated on the reason why many Christians do not come into a life of victory. I mean, I've preached it for 40 years at least, and I still find so many people 42:20 in our many of our CFC churches, they have not taken it seriously to come to a life of victory because I've come to see, yeah, they have ex- they've had gifts of being filled with the spirit and speaking in tongues and um they've understood so many truths and 42:38 all that, but I said, "Lord, why is it still like that?" And the answer I got is "Holiness can be perfected only in the fear of God." "There is no fear of God before them." 42:56 They've had many Christian experiences, they've understood many truths. But see this verse in 2 Corinthians in chapter 7. First of all, God gives us a promise in saying 2 Corinthians chapter 6 43:14 and verse 18, "I'll be a father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters," says the Lord Almighty. Since we have such a wonderful promise, what are these promises? Verse chapter 6 verse 16, "I will dwell in them. I'll walk among them. 43:34 I'll be their God. They shall be my people. And I will welcome you," verse 17. "I'll be a father to you," verse 18. "You'll be my sons and daughters," says Almighty God. "Therefore, what should we do? 43:50 Let us cleanse ourselves from every bit of the defilement of flesh and spirit." I'm reminded of these surgeons when they go to perform a surgery. I don't know whether you know what they do. 44:08 They go and wash their hands. I mean, not just like the way we wash our hands in a sink. They keep on washing. I don't know how many minutes is it, 10 minutes or so, they keep on washing, washing, washing, washing, washing because they don't want 44:21 one little germ. They're going to cut open a man's body. And if one little germ goes from their hand into that person's body, that person's going to die. They're so careful. That's the picture I get. Let us cleanse ourselves from all 44:37 defilement of flesh and spirit making our holiness perfect. How? In the fear of God. Many people have thought the fear of God is an Old Testament word. For us, it is the grace of God. Let me tell you something. The first disciples of Jesus 44:59 they spent 30 years at home before they became disciples of Jesus. And do you know what they heard at home for 30 years from their parents as Jewish children? Peter, Andrew, James, John, Matthew. I believe they all had good Jewish parents, 45:18 and they were taught one thing. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." They were taught to fear God, reverence God. "Children, obey your parents 45:35 because you must fear God. Don't ever commit adultery because you fear God. Don't bear false witness against your neighbor because you fear God. Don't kill because you fear God. Children, honor your father and mother because you fear God. Don't worship 45:55 idols because you fear God. Don't ever take the Lord's name in vain because you fear God." They heard that for years and years and years and years and years. Your pharisaical elders in the church may be hypocrites. Don't speak of evil of 46:13 them. Don't speak evil of your rulers, the Bible says. They feared God, feared God, and then after 30 years of listening to that on the day of Pentecost, they experienced the grace of God. And that's why they could live such good 46:31 lives. But then when they preach the gospel, they are preaching to the gospel to a whole lot of people in the world who never knew the fear of God. They first of all hear about the grace of God. I think that's true of almost all of us 46:50 here. You learned about the grace of God before you ever learned about the fear of God. You say, "Oh, fear of God, that's Old Testament." It's not. 2 Corinthians 7 is not in the Old Testament. It says you cannot perfect holiness 47:05 without the fear of God, and I've discovered that is the reason. The vast the difference between those apostles and today's Christians is they learned the fear of God for 30 years and then heard about the grace of God. And boy, they really appreciated the 47:20 grace of God then. But today's Christians have never heard about the fear of God. They straight away hear about the grace of God from day one. "Come to Jesus. He'll forgive your sin today." And they are born again. What have they learned about the fear of 47:37 God till then? Zero. But they learn about the grace of God, which has forgiven all their filthy sins in a moment. 30 years they lived in sin. They've accepted Christ, and it's all blotted out. And they say, "Thank God I'm a sinner saved by grace." What have 47:55 they learned about the fear of God? Zero. And so, they live for the next 20, 30 years struggling, defeated, defeated, asking God to forgive them, defeated, ask God to forgive them. My brothers, that is the reason why your life is so defeated and shallow. 48:14 Mine was no different. It was the same. I never learned the fear of God. I didn't have Jewish parents. No, we were in the we are all new covenant people, right? New Testament. Grace of God, grace of God, grace of God. Well, then you come to learn that you 48:32 cannot perfect holiness without the fear of God. The fear of God is to be sensitive. To be immediately aware, you know, like a pin prick. Even a a little ant, small, teeny, weeny ant comes and bites you, you feel it 48:51 immediately. That's how we know the fear of God. A small little thing, you feel convicted. That was not 100% true what you said. Have you ever felt convicted about that? I know in my younger days, sometimes I drive my scooter up to a 49:14 gas station. We call it a petrol bunk in India. And the guy was putting the petrol into my scooter, he'd be a little careless, and some of it puts puts spill on my trousers. And I say to him, "You got to be more careful." 49:33 And I drive away. And the Lord would say to me, "He didn't do that deliberately, that boy." Jesus would never speak like that. And I would weep 49:51 as I was driving the scooter. In those days, I was not sensitive enough to go back to the gas station and ask forgiveness from that boy. Later on, I learned to do that. But that's slowly the Lord began to 50:11 speak to me through little things. That's not how Jesus would speak. That's not how Jesus would respond to that person. And I said, "Lord, I'm sorry." I raised my hand. Lord, I'm the sinner. 50:29 I admit. Forgive me. And as I kept on doing that, little by little, the Lord taught me how not to snap back people. Be sensitive. Be quick to acknowledge, 50:48 "That is not the way my savior would speak." That's not the way your savior would speak to your wife or to your child. Yeah, they did something wrong. Like I've often said 51:06 this, if you tell your child to do something, maybe they're playing with a toy, and you say, "Let me come and help you do it." And you know how children are. "No, no, no, Dad. I can do that. Just leave me alone. I can do it. Don't trouble me." 51:21 And they make a mess of it. And they come to you after they've made a mess. It may be building a toy, maybe anything else, maybe even doing their homework or something. You wanted to help them, but they thought they knew 51:32 more. And after they make a mess, they come to you. Say, "Dad, I can't do that. I did it all wrong." What do you say? I've said, "Never tell them, I told you so." Those words must never come out of our 51:49 out of our mouth to anyone. In my past godless days, I did has come out of my mouth. It was a great expert speaking. "I told you so." I know I never say that now. Cuz I'm not the expert. 52:08 I'm a sinner saved by grace. So, I say, "Never mind. Let's fix it." There's nothing that cannot be fixed. The greatest problem in the world, Jesus fixed on the cross. What problem is there which is bigger than that? 52:28 Let's fix it. God didn't come down from heaven saying, "I told you so." He came down from heaven to the cross and said, "Let's fix it." That's the way you should talk to your children. Let's fix it, son. Never mind. Never mind. 52:45 Let's fix it. And that'll draw your children's heart more to you than these words of the expert, "I told you so." There are people who can say that to their husbands and wives, "I told you so." "I told you not to do it like that. I 53:04 told you." The great expert. Dear brothers and sisters, if you ever think you're an expert, go back to that passage in Romans 3:10 and read it again. Any Any Any day you get the idea that you're some sort of expert, go back to Romans 3:10, meditate on it, 53:23 memorize it. May make it part of your memory verse, Romans 3:10 onwards, that whole section till you reach that last verse, "There is no fear of God in their eyes." You say, "Lord, teach me what this I'm talking about married life. Our 53:38 subject is marriage, family life, the way to bring up children, the way to live at home. This is the way. Take it seriously. Be quick to ask forgiveness. Be quick to forgive. In the Old Covenant, 53:59 God never emphasized husband-wife relationship so much. It was not important. You read about Moses fighting with his wife, but he was still the leader of Israel. We read about Samuel's children 54:19 taking bribes. Can you imagine a prophet, one of the greatest prophets, and he was the one who warned Eli about the way his children were. When it came to his own children, they were just as bad. But Samuel was still a prophet till the 54:36 end of his life. He was a prophet. His children were taking bribes, we read in was it 1 Samuel 7 or 9 or something, but still he was the one who anointed David later on. He was a prophet. In the Old Testament, the way you brought up your children, 54:55 unimportant. And if you're an Old Covenant Christian, it doesn't matter how you bring up your children. You can be like those Old Testament people, and but your faith will also be Old Testament, and your life will be an 55:08 Old Testament life. How you related to your wife, absolutely unimportant in the Old Testament. But as soon as you come to the New Testament, it's very, very important. It says a man cannot be an elder in a 55:27 church, 1 Timothy 3. What is the first qualification of being an elder? Not Bible knowledge, not ability to preach. All that can be put aside. Let's begin with most important requirements. Number one, family life. Not a divorced person. The husband of 55:50 one wife means loyal to one wife. First qualification for being an elder, 1 Timothy 3:2. That doesn't mean that you signed on the dotted line and on the on your wedding day in the wedding certificate, your signature there, "Yes, I'm the husband 56:08 of wife." It's not just that. Understand the spirit of it. The spirit of it is, "I am loyal to one woman. I don't have eyes for another woman. I have eyes for one woman. Because for me, 56:28 beauty is not in the external. Charm, the Bible says, Proverbs 31, is deceitful. Beauty, physical beauty, is empty. I'm quoting Proverbs 31, the last few verses. 56:48 But a woman who fears the Lord, she may be ugly in the eyes of the world. She may not be charming. She may not have that slim figure that all those models have. But she fears the Lord, greatly to be 57:03 praised. That is what God values. And one of the prayers we need to pray is, "Lord, help me to see people the way you see them." It's one of the prayers I prayed many, many times. Not only in relation to wife and husband, but even in relation to people. 57:23 "How do you see them, Lord? Give me your eyes." And then the Lord reminds me, "God does not see as man sees." Have you read that verse? 1 Samuel 16:7. God does not see 57:41 as man sees. Cuz man looks on the outward appearance. He listens to He looks at the charm, the beauty. Will you say to yourself, "Lord, never let me look at that." You'll be saved from many temptations, you men, if you say, "Lord, help me to see as you 57:59 see." The charm is deceitful. Deceitful means That person's trying to cheat you. Imagine like a I I see it like a person who's trying to give you a fake $100 bill. The charming woman whom they put on their billboards and all that, it's a 58:19 fake $100 bill somebody's trying to fool you with. Don't be fooled. It's deceitful. Why you want to take it? And beauty, empty. Is somebody giving you 58:38 something which supposed to be full, but it's empty. That bottle is supposed to be full of whatever precious thing, but it's empty. You go and buy something from this store, and you come home and you find that bottle you bought, "Hey, there's nothing 58:54 in it. It's empty." That's what the Bible says, "Beauty is empty." If you say this to yourself, it's one of the lessons Maybe that's the first grade lesson. You get got past learning 1 + 1 is 2 and 2 + 2 is 4. Let's go to the next one. 59:12 Charm is deceitful. Beauty is empty. Forget about going to college and all that. That can wait. Let's get past first grade. Charm is deceitful. Beauty is empty. But if your wife fears the Lord, 59:32 she's a million times more attractive than all those women you see on billboards and in the advertisements and all that. Tell me honestly, you men, do you believe that? Do you really pray that God God will give you his eyes? 59:49 Lord, give me eyes like yours. Don't let me people fool me with a fake bill. That's a fake bill which I see in those advertisements. It's fake, absolutely fake. I don't want to be fooled anymore. Maybe you have been fooled in the past 1:00:06 and you took those bills and ruined yourself. You're not going to do it anymore. We have one of the first lessons we need to learn in married life is to learn to value and appreciate your marriage partner. And that's got nothing to do with 1:00:26 physical beauty. It's not got nothing to do with her physical you know, that hourglass type of figure. It means nothing. Rubbish. Her figure and her appearance are not the thing. What is her heart like? 1:00:45 Man looks on the outward appearance. God looks at the heart. And that's something we must pray as husbands and wives, Lord, help me to see the heart. The heart is not perfect. 1:01:04 But maybe there's a sincere desire in that person's heart to be a godly person. I want to believe that as I look at all of you sitting here today. Honestly, I say this before God. You would not be sitting in this church 1:01:24 if you did not have a somewhat of a desire to live a godly life. You would not be listening to me regularly if you didn't have some desire to live a godly life. I want to believe that that is there. Maybe a little spark 1:01:40 in somebody. It's not yet a big flame yet. In some people's hearts, it's become becoming more and more of a fire. Praise the Lord. But I want to believe that there is a spark in you of a desire to live a godly life. I want to see that. Man looks on the 1:01:58 outward appearance, but God looks at the heart. That's why I don't want to despise people. Very important to learn to look at one another the way God looks at it. I know we have reached only the first grade, but I'll tell you you'll go a 1:02:12 long way if you get past kindergarten and the first grade. Let me show you a verse in the book of Job. Chapter 36. Job chapter 36 and verse five. 1:02:33 A very, very important verse about the nature of God. We know God is holy. We know God is loving. We know from Jesus' example, God is very humble. You remember Jesus washed his disciples' feet in John 13. And you know what he told them after that? 1:02:50 Do you know what he told them? If you have seen me, you've seen the Father. I saw the Father when I saw Jesus washing people's feet. I saw God the Father as one who's willing to wash my feet, my 1:03:08 dirty feet. That's what he said. You read that in John 13. After washing the feet, he said to them, "If you've seen me, you've seen the Father." He said in John 14 at the last last supper. Okay, Job 36 and verse five. God is almighty, 1:03:25 but he does not despise anybody. That's all. Just half that verse. Remember that all your life. It's been a tremendous help to me in my life. This is again first grade lesson. He does not despise anyone. 1:03:51 People despise others for many things. Oh, look at his accent, with what accent he speaks English. Where did you learn your accent? You go to some other country and you speak with your accent, they won't understand you. 1:04:09 God's not bothered about a person's accent, you know. God's not bothered even about a person's grammar. You despise a person because his grammar is bad? When I 1:04:28 went down to the villages of India, you know, in India is like a continent, not a country. Like you go to Europe, you from Spain, you speak one language, you go to France, it's another language. Then you go to Belgium, just across the 1:04:44 border, it's another language. You go across the border to Netherlands, it's another language. You go across the border to Germany, it's another language. You go across the border to Austria and those Romania, it's another 1:04:56 language. India is like that. You go from Kerala, it's one language. You go from there to Tamil Nadu, it's another language. You go to Andhra, it's another language. You go to Maharashtra, it's another language. You go to 1:05:09 Gujarat, it's another language. India is a continent. So, when I go down to these villages, I'm going to people who speak a language I never learned. But I can speak to them today even though I can't read or write that language 1:05:29 because they were merciful to me when I spoke to them in my broken Tamil, which is the language where most of our village churches are in that state. They didn't make fun of me. They My grammar was wrong. They bore with it. 1:05:46 And gradually, over a period of time, I learned to communicate. Isn't that how our children learn? They make so many grammatical mistakes. You don't despise them. They're learning. Never despise a person. You can bless a person if you don't 1:06:03 despise them. Just because you are an expert in one area. And we are all experts in our particular field. Maybe my field is the Bible. I don't despise somebody who doesn't know the Bible. It's okay. Or he misquotes the Bible. It doesn't matter. I can help 1:06:19 him. What is your specialty? Which field are you really a special uh specialized in? That's the area where you can look down on others. Ah, he doesn't know that. But he knows a lot of other things which you don't know. So, God does not despise anyone for 1:06:38 anything. For his inability to speak well, maybe the way he dresses, maybe he's not as rich as you are to have all those fancy clothes. He dresses in a very simple way. He doesn't despise anyone 1:06:58 for anything. He doesn't despise anyone for the way they were brought up. There are many people in the world who are very crude, very crude. We used to have brothers from the villages who'd come to visit us in Bangalore. 1:07:17 And they'd walk into the bedroom without knocking or anything. You got to accept it. That's how they are in the village. They don't know There are no doors in the village to knock and I come in. And if you want to love this brother and 1:07:31 draw him to Christ, okay, I'm not saying we leave him like that. We bear with him and teach him. We had children who would come and scribble on our walls. On the church was meeting in our home. Our walls were full of people practicing ABC and 1:07:46 uh addition and all that. Now, if I was bothered by that, we'd never have built CFC. I said, "Lord, you know what? I used to get up and say, 'Lord, I don't worship my walls. I worship Jesus Christ. I can rub that off. Repaint it. It's okay.'" 1:08:04 We had a village brother who came to our house and there was a little child, you know, in the in the villages, they don't wear napkins or any such thing. Children don't wear napkins. It's too expensive. They're poor, rock bottom poor. 1:08:16 And he brought along his little child and the child climbed on my center table in the sitting room and urinated on it right there. So, what? We've got soap. We've got cloth. We can wash it off. I was more interested in winning that 1:08:32 person to Christ than being bothered whether my table is getting dirty. It didn't get dirty. It can be wiped off. I said, "Lord, I don't worship my table. I don't worship anything in my house. I'm a worshiper of Jesus Christ, 1:08:50 period." That's how we built the church. People would people would come from far away and they wouldn't tell us they're coming. They'd land up and we're trying to build the church. 1:09:09 And then everybody's gone home for lunch and after the meeting's over and this person lives 20 miles away. It'll take ages for him to get back home. Well, I had a wonderful wife. She'd give her lunch to that person then 1:09:27 go without lunch that day. That is how we built the church in the early days. And if we complained about that, we would never have built the church. Here's a person coming, he's in need, we have got to help him. Maybe next Sunday he won't come, it 1:09:46 doesn't matter. We we don't We're not We don't feel sad that we gave him a lunch. Sure, we are happy to bless people. You know, I've discovered through the years Jesus paid such a tremendous price 1:10:03 to build the church. Ask yourself, what price are you willing to pay to build the church, to build your home. Say, "Lord, I'm willing to pay any price, any price." Let's pray. Heavenly Father, 1:10:31 what we've spoken about sounds so great and huge, and yet we know these are just kindergarten, first grade, second grade lessons. Help us to learn them thoroughly so that we can build the body of Christ here on earth in the one short life you 1:10:51 give us that we may not waste our lives. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
