0:01 [Music] I want to turn first of all to John chapter 1 verse 14. We are told here that 0:28 the glory of God was seen in Jesus Christ full of grace and truth. We've spoken of a lot about grace in CFC 0:49 in new covenant churches. But we need to think a little more about this word truth. In John 1:17, three verses down, it says, "The law was given through Moses, 1:07 but grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ." So, does it mean there was no truth in the time of Moses? There was no truth among people in the Old Covenant or that the Old Testament did not 1:25 contain truth. The Old Testament is full of truth. There's no light in all those pages of the Old Testament which is threequarters of our Bible. So what does it mean that truth came through Jesus Christ? It's very important to understand 1:41 whenever you come across a verse in the Bible that you don't understand, you must um dig in there and say, "I'm not going to give up till I understand that." Otherwise, you'll be like a farmer who's 2:00 plowing his field and whenever he comes across a rock, oh, he says, "Well, I won't dislodge that. Let it be there." After a while, his whole farm will be full of rocks. But a good farmer will just dislodge every single rock and get it out of the 2:15 way and plow every part of the field so that he can get a good crop. So if you want to get a good crop, whenever you come across a difficult verse in the New Testament or something that you don't understand, you see if you just read the New Testament, you 2:33 won't discover this. But if you do what this Psalm 1 says, blessed is the man who meditates on God's word day and night. We can't read day and night. We're not supposed to. We have got many other things to do. But it's a wonderful thing that we read 2:52 just once in a day perhaps and we can meditate the whole day at night too in the middle of the night if we wake up. So that's the wonderful thing about God's word that we can acquire truth even when we are not actually having a 3:05 Bible in front of us. In fact for 1400 years nobody had a Bible after the the day of Pentecost. So when we come across a word like this truth, we need to ask ourselves why is it say that truth came only through Jesus Christ. 3:23 Obviously it means much more than what we understand as yes and no. But the New Testament speaks a lot about truth and it's very important for us to understand that word. The opposite of truth is lie. 3:41 And let's look a little bit at that. John chapter 8 here Jesus says in John chapter 8 and verse 44 4:05 in the middle of that verse it says about the devil. In fact the whole verse is about the devil. the devil. He says to those Pharisees, "Your father," John 8:44, he was a murderer and 4:21 there is no truth in him. The devil's got no truth in him. Jesus is full of truth and the devil's got no truth in him. So these are two opposites. And whenever he speaks a lie, 4:38 he speaks from his own nature. For he's a liar and the father of lies. So remember that the devil is the father of all lies. Not the father of all liars, 4:56 the father of all lies. We're not liars. We are children of God. But do children of God tell lies? Do you ever tell a lie? That doesn't make you a child of the devil there. But whenever you if you look back over 5:14 your life and whenever you told a lie and your motive was to deceive, the devil was the father of that. You may have been the mother. The devil cannot produce a child without a mother. He's the father. So he's always looking 5:32 for mothers. through whom he can tell a lie. So please remember that anytime you tell a falsehood, you are being the mother and the devil's being the father of a lie. Now there are times when we may not want to tell somebody the truth. We and many 5:51 times where we conceal something then we prefer not to say anything. But it's a very serious thing to lie. And if we allow any of that to come into our system, they're going to be serious consequences. And I'll tell you what 6:07 they are. In in the teaching of Jesus and what we read in the gospels, do you remember what is the sin that he rebuked and exposed the most? 6:26 In the Old Testament, they had ten commandments and nine of them were all external. That is you don't worship idols, you don't take the Lord's name in vain, don't commit adultery, honor your father and mother, etc., etc. 6:42 So, which is the number one sin that Jesus condemned? He did say out of the heart comes forth murders, adulteries and all that. But when you think of what is it he spoke against the most, 7:01 I would say it was hypocrisy. Because you got we got a whole chapter on that in Matthew 23. He denounced the Pharisees not for murder, not for adultery. He denounced them in that whole chapter 7:18 for various forms of hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is another form of lying because it is basically giving people a wrong impression 7:36 of my life. That's a lie. It's presenting a lie even though I don't open my mouth. You can tell a lie without opening your mouth. That is hypocrisy. And Jesus denounced that more than any other sin. You there are two sins which I would say 7:55 Jesus condemned the most. One is lying and the other is pride. And by lying I mean hypocrisy and pride. The opposite of hypocrisy is reality. So truth means reality. And uh when it says grace and truth came 8:16 by Jesus Christ, it's not speaking the truth. All those Old Testament prophets spoke the truth. But reality, the reality of true spirituality could be possible only through the new covenant and that was revealed only in 8:31 the life of Christ. Even the Old Testament prophets did not have a total freedom from hypocrisy. Jesus was the first person who walked on earth who was 100% free from hypocrisy. That's the meaning of truth was revealed by Jesus Christ. 8:51 And in a number of places in the New Testament, we are told we have to love the truth. Let me show you the first sin that was committed that's described anyway in the early church after the day of Pentecost. 9:10 On the day of Pentecost, they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and there was tremendous power manifested. And the first sin described after that is in Acts chapter 5. You know the story where Ananas and Safara, they didn't murder anybody. They didn't 9:28 commit adultery. Yet both of them died as a punishment. God punished them with death right in the midst of the church meeting. Uh teaching the early church a very serious lesson. What was that lesson? 9:47 Not that murder is serious or adultery serious because Ananas and Sapra never did that. And we need to understand what is it that the Lord emphasized to the early church right at the beginning. So Ananas just stood in line with all 10:04 the others. It says in those days people were selling their property and let's read Acts 4 and verse 34 in the middle of that verse. Those who owned lands and houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales and lay it at the 10:20 apostles feet. And there was a man called Joseph who later was called Barnabas who was 36 who also brought all that he got from the sale of his land and laid it to the apostles feet. You know people sold their land and whatever 10:33 the money they brought all of it and laid it in the apostles feet. There was no command which said you must sell your land or your house. They did it joyfully. There was no command that said when you do sell your house, you must 10:49 bring all of it and give it to the Lord. No, there was no such command either. Then uh but it was a voluntary action. So Ananas and Safh stood in line with all the others 11:06 and laid part of the money. Let's assume they brought 50%. Now, if you sold a property for $100,000, your own property, and you brought $50,000 of that and gave it to God, I would say you're a wholehearted Christian. And where in the world do you 11:25 find people giving 50% of their house sale money to the Lord, right? Hardly ever heard of anybody like that. So if Ananas gave 50% $50,000 which he's a whole lot of Christian why in the world did he die there. It's not a question of how much you 11:44 give. It's something we have emphasized constantly in our churches. God is not looking to see how much you give. Is it 10% or was it only 9%. Or exactly 10%. Was it before tax was deducted or after tax was deducted? A lot of people have these arguments. 10% 12:02 before tax is deducted or after income tax is deducted. All these things are covetous people. I put them all at rest by saying God wants zero. He doesn't want anything. He doesn't even want 1%. That's what we've taught all through the 12:16 years because God loves a cheerful giver and if you can't give cheerfully he doesn't want anything. So Ananas and Safara gave cheerfully. He was not reluctant. Nobody asked them to stand in line and give and they gave 50% let's assume and they brought a 12:34 portion of it and laid it at the apostles feet and they never said a word but they laid it there and walked away and as they walked away Peter calls him back. Hey Anan has come back all the others were leaving the gifts and going 12:47 away but the Lord gave Peter discernment and he said come back why have you told a lie? Did you hear that? Satan is the father of liars. I told you. But he always wants a mother. And he found a mother in Anonyas. 13:05 And so it says in Acts 5:3, Satan has filled your heart to produce a lie. Satan united with you to produce a child called a lie. But Ananas could have said, "Hey, I didn't even open my mouth. What do you mean I told a lie?" That's what where we 13:24 learned something. You can tell a lie without opening your mouth. You can come into the church and tell a lie without opening your mouth, without saying a word. And if you understand that, it'll be a great deliverance for 13:41 you. And I'll tell you why in a little while. Because that is the secret of being free from sin. Because you know Jesus said in John 8:32, you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. What is it that will set us free from sin? Truth. 14:00 Which truth? Not 2 plus 2 is four. Those elementary truths. No, it's the truth which eliminates hypocrisy from our life completely. That will set you free. And the reason I'll tell you this honestly, I've seen it through many many years. in all the 14:17 years I've seen CFC churches for 46 years that many many brothers and sisters are not really free from sin because they have not battled lying. They've not hated the lying of hypocrisy, 14:37 the lying of pretense, the lying of coming into the church pretending that we are more spiritual than we really are. Pretending that we are wholehearted when we are not. Pretending that we are giving everything when we've given only 50%. 14:53 Maybe you and your wife know that. Like Ananas and Sapara know that. And if Peter were here, he would say this. Why have you why has Satan filled your heart to tell a lie? And like I said, Ananas could say, I never opened 15:07 my mouth. All he did was stand in line with a bunch of wholehearted people who were giving everything. and just giving an impression because I'm in this line everybody will think I'm giving 100% and I can always 15:23 say well I never open my mouth and I believe there are many many brothers and sisters sitting in CFC churches where we emphasize wholeheartedness emphasize victory and they assume that because I'm a part of this church because I'm associated with CFC 15:43 thank God, everybody will assume that I'm also wholehearted, but maybe you're not. Why has Satan filled your heart to lie? And look what he told him. While the land remained unsold till Acts 5:4, it was yours. Nobody asked you to 16:03 sell your house. Nobody asked you to sell your land. And I would add to that saying, nobody's asked you to give 10%. Nobody's asked you to give even 1% in the offering box. Where do we teach in CFC that you should give even 1%. For 46 years I have taught 16:20 you don't let give anything. You must be detached from everything possessing nothing. But you don't have give actually give anything to God except what you voluntarily choose. But if you do give, don't pretend that you've given more. Don't pretend 16:37 especially in your life that you're wholehearted when you're not. And if you keep something for yourself, I want to say to you, I want to set you free. All of you, you are not sinning. Let me comfort you by saying you're not 16:54 sinning. Even if you give nothing to God in all your whole life, are you happy? And the second thing the Peter told Ananas was after you sold it and you had before you sold it the house 17:12 was yours. You didn't have to give it. It was entirely yours. After you sold the house and you had the cash, it was still yours. Verse four. Nobody asked you to give it all and you could have given half or you can give a 1/4 if you 17:31 like. Supposing he gave instead of he said oh just give me 25%. And he put 25% at Peter's feet and all he had to add was one sentence. Brother Peter, my wife and I did not feel that we should give 100% like the 17:50 others. We feel we should give only 25%. You know what Peter said? Praise the Lord Ananas for your honesty that you did not pretend that you were giving all. God will bless you mightily. You would have gone away alive. Not only 18:08 alive but blessed by God because of what? Because he was truthful. Learn a very important lesson from the very first sin that is mentioned in the early church. and he fell down and died immediately 18:26 and the people buried him immediately. They got rid of such people immediately in the early church and after a while his wife came along 3 hours later verse 7 and Peter gave her a chance again to be truthful and asked her 18:44 did you sell the land for this price this time she spoke a lie. Yes, that was the price. It's amazing how many wives will stand by their husbands through thick and thin, go to hell with them, be 19:02 a hypocrite with them, die with them. God created Eve to be a helper to Adam. And I want to say to all of you wives, you were created to be a helper to your husband. 19:20 And if your husband is in some situation planning to tell a lie, I hope you will be the helper that God created you to be and tell him, "Darling, please don't do that. Speak the truth. It doesn't matter if we have less money. It doesn't matter if we 19:39 don't get that job. But I don't want you to tell a lie and get that job. I don't want you to get a lie and get that certificate. I don't want you to tell a lie and get that visa. I don't want us to tell a lie and get a child in 19:53 admission in some college. No. Then you're a real helper to your husband. Otherwise, like Safara, you're just another agent of the devil along with your husband who's telling a lie. I'm convinced through many years of 20:13 observing Christians even in RCFC churches that there is not that intense hatred or hypocrisy and lying that there should be. So many people they want to always 20:31 pretend that they are more spiritual than they really are. Even those who preach, you know, you can preach in such a way that you give the impression that you have attained to something. It's a lie because you haven't attained 20:49 to it. If you're honest and say, "Well, brothers, I just want to say I haven't got there yet, but I'm telling you honestly, I'm pressing on there." Yeah, that would be honesty. It's very, very important because I tell you these are very, very small things. 21:06 what you can say how how much smaller can it be than this that Ananas just did not say one sentence that's all he missed saying was Peter I sold the land for more and I only bought a part part of it here that would have saved his 21:24 life you see how the same sin that Jesus denounced intensely in Matthew 23 was the thing that crops up as the very first sin in the early church. Now turn to John 8 and verse 21:46 32 verse 31. First Jesus said to his Jews who believed in him, this is not to unbelievers. This is to the believers. 22:05 You may be a believer and I believe most of you are. Here's Jesus' word to you. If you continue in my word, then you are truly disciples of mine. Not because you made a decision some 22:21 years ago. If you continue in my word, then you are my disciples. And then if you continue in my word, one thing will happen in your life. You will know the truth and I can say add there. You will know the truth more and more. You will know the truth in 22:41 increasing measure and that truth will make you free. God's will, my dear brothers and sisters, I wish we'd be gripped by this. God's will for every one of us is 100% freedom. 23:01 Please remember that. 100%. There's not a single area in my life where I must be bound by any habit. Lusting, anger, bitterness, murmuring, complaining, 23:17 fear, anxiety, love of money, nothing must bind me. God's will for me is 100% freedom in every area. But that will come only if I know the truth and if I love the truth. 23:37 If I'm completely free from that spirit that was in Ananas and Safara, we got to hate it. That is the truth that came through Jesus Christ. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. People who are under the law 23:55 could not experience grace. They could not experience reality, the truth. I believe, my own conviction is that even the greatest man in the Old Testament, John the Baptist, had hypocrisy in him. He was not free from hypocrisy. The 24:14 first person completely free from it was Jesus Christ. It says truth came by Jesus Christ. But they were not expected to be free in the old covenant because they didn't have the Holy Spirit within. What is the Holy Spirit called? Turn 24:29 with me to John's gospel and chapter 16. First of all, John 15:26, he's called a helper. And earlier on in John 14:16 also, Jesus always referred to the Holy Spirit as a helper. 24:48 I will ask the father. John 14:16, he'll send you a helper. And verse 15, 26, when the helper has come. Isn't it great to know that the Holy Spirit is a helper? Just like Eve was made a helper for Adam. You wives should 25:07 really appreciate that that you have the same title as given to the Holy Spirit. Can you imagine that? What a wonderful thing it is to be a wife, a good wife. You have the same title as the Holy 25:24 Spirit. God said about Eve, I must make a helper for Adam. And Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit as a helper. What does the helper do in our life? The Holy Spirit. He never shows himself. But from behind the scenes in a hidden 25:41 way, he supports us in such a way that we can do what God wants us to do without anybody seeing it. We get the credit, but the Holy Spirit's done the work. I'm absolutely convinced about that when I preach God's word. People give me the credit, but they 25:58 don't know that the Holy Spirit's helping me all the time before I speak, while I prepare to speak, and while I'm speaking, he's the helper. So, I will never dare to take the credit to myself. Impossible. It's like that. That's how a good wife 26:13 is. Not very visible behind the scenes. That's why she covers her head because he says, she says, I don't want the glory of man to be seen. I want to cover myself. But she's not that she's doing nothing. 26:30 She's doing a tremendous work behind the scenes to support her husband, not just cooking for him. and keeping the house but helping him to be true truthful like Safara should have helped Ananas when he suggested let's keep back the money some 26:50 of the money saf should have said that's fine we need some money for ourselves we'll keep that in the bank but when uh but Ananas please when you go before Peter be honest and tell him we are not giving all the money but giving only a 27:04 part of it that's what Safara should have told Ananas then she'd have been a true helper But she was not. And both of them died. And I wonder through the centuries how many husbands have suffered because their wives never 27:16 helped them to speak the truth and lost out spiritually. So the Holy Spirit is called a helper. And he says in verse John 15:26, the Holy Spirit that is the spirit of truth. 27:34 That means the spirit who makes me free from hypocrisy. What type of helper is he? As children of Adam, let me tell you brothers and sisters, I know from my own life what is true in your life. I often tell people I know everything about you 27:54 even though I don't know you because of one reason. You've got the same pleasure as me. So I know every single thing you're tempted by. I don't know how to be a prophet. I just have to be honest. You have the same flesh as me. You were 28:11 born of Adam. And so I know every single dirty lust you are tempted by cuz I'm tempted by the same things. And so 28:28 if I seek to be free from that, I can help you and the Holy Spirit helps me. The Bible says the spirit fights against the flesh and the flesh fights against the spirit. So if the Holy Spirit is the spirit of truth, my flesh 28:47 is constantly fighting. You know, Galatians 5:17, the spirit fights against the flesh, the flesh fights against the spirit. So if the Holy Spirit is a spirit of truth, the flesh is constantly trying to make me a hypocrite. 29:00 Give people a better impression about myself than is really true. Get people to admire me more than I deserve to. Get people to think of me something wonderful which is not absolutely true. Or get people to think that I produce all that myself without 29:16 the help of the Holy Spirit. Deception. be quick to give the glory to God because there's one thing God will never give us. You know that. Let me mention that. If you don't know that verse, I want to show it to you. I remember God 29:32 showed it to me very clearly many years ago. It's in the book of Isaiah. And uh it says there Isaiah 42 and verse 8, there are many things God gives us. He provides all our need, financial need, 29:51 earthly need. Don't worry about food and clothing. The Lord said he clothe the flowers and he feeds the birds. He take care of us. He gives us his power. He gives us his love. He gives us his Holy Spirit. But there's one thing God will 30:05 never give us. His glory. My glory. Isaiah 42:8. I will never give to another. Do you know that? Do you know that when you try to take credit to yourself for anything? 30:24 You're touching the glory of God. He doesn't give it to anybody. I have no right to claim glory for myself. I have no right to take credit for myself for anything. Because Jesus said in John 15 30:48 and says here without me you can do John 15:5 apart from me you can do zero. Are you gripped by that? And if some of you say well there a lot 31:10 of things I can do without Christ. I agree but nothing of eternal value. No. What we can do without Christ is all of earthly value. Maybe you can preach sermons and maybe you can do a lot of jobs. Maybe you're 31:28 good in your profession in your factory work or your office work or your computer work or you're very clever. You can do all that. But things of eternal value, zero. Without Christ, zero. With Christ, Philippians 4:13, I can do 31:41 everything of eternal value. Without Christ, John 15:5, I can do nothing. These are the two sides of the coin. Apart from Christ, I can do nothing. Philippians 4:13 is the other side of the coin coin. With Christ, I can do everything. 31:57 So, anything of eternal value that has been accomplished through me must have been through Christ. Simple logic. If you preached a sermon or shared a truth with somebody which blessed him tremendously, it must have been from the 32:14 Lord. Even if your sister said something to somebody on the phone which he said, "Oh sister, that blessed me so much. Ah, that must have been from the Lord." So be quick to give credit to God inwardly. very very important very very important 32:37 that we don't touch the glory of God I mean it's been my experience many times you know after meeting people come to me and say oh brother Zach that was so blessed to hear you it's such a blessing it helped me so much that 32:48 message and I don't tell all of them hey hang on hang on it was God and that's just trying to get more credit for my humility I don't want that so I say thank you very much then secretly I go before God and say Lord I don't touch 33:01 that that's I don't want to get any credit from anybody for humility. So I accept what they offer and I say thank you. The Lord knows that I don't take it to myself. Give the glory to God. Give the glory to God. If your children are doing well, 33:19 praise God because a lot of believers their children are not doing well. But dear brother, sister, beware of touching the glory of God. You think it was your ability that brought those children? Well, that my children are following the Lord. I fall 33:39 before God and say, "Lord, it's got nothing to do with me or Annie." It was all your work. It was all of God. All of God. everything in my life if I've been able to survive till today without depending on people for money or 33:57 being a full-time worker without sending any news reports about my work or expecting people to give me money. It's all of God 100%. Please, dear brothers and sisters, be very careful not to touch the glory of 34:15 God. So it's the Holy Spirit is called the spirit of truth and he's the one who will make me completely free from hypocrisy. I cannot otherwise. I can try as my best I will not be free 34:34 from hypocrisy unless the spirit of truth makes me truthful and I know the truth. The truth will set me free. What will I be free from? I'll be free from the opinions of men, which is a very important freedom. 34:51 Really, I tell you, I have battled it and battled it. And you have to battle anything. The Holy Spirit gives us power. We don't sit back and we're not robots. God does not made his children into robots that the Holy Spirit just 35:09 programs them and they act. No, he gives us a free will and he ch tells us every day to choose the way of the cross. That's also not once for all we receive Christ but then after that every day Jesus said you must deny yourself. The 35:27 Holy Spirit prompts me to go down and die in each situation and then some resurrection life comes out of that and we give him the glory. The truth will set you free. So if you find uh Jesus said in John 35:46 8:32, you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. And we've seen today that truth is total freedom from hypocrisy, total freedom from pretense, total freedom from giving people an opinion about myself which is not true or 36:04 hating any joy that comes out of the fact that somebody got a better impression about me. No, you know there's a verse in 2 Corinthians chapter 12 that Paul says something like this. Uh I don't know whether you notice this 36:20 verse. 2 Corinthians 12 and verse 6. Don't miss these little little verses that come in between. I do not wish to boast. If I do wish to boast, I will not be 36:38 foolish. But I'll be speaking the truth. But I do not do it. I refrain from this. Why? So that no one will credit me with more than he sees in me or hears from me. Meditate on that. 36:55 No one will credit me from being more spiritual than what he really sees and hears from me. He's saying that I want my inner life to be exactly equal to my outer life. That's what he's saying. That's a great truth. Lord, I want that 37:15 in my life, too. And I believe that's the reason why Paul accomplished so much. And and it was not easy for Paul to remain like that. You read the next verse in this context. You see, don't separate verse seven from 37:33 verse six. Paul had a longing that others should not have a better impression of him than was really true. And so it wasn't easy. So God had to help him because there was a temptation in her in him just like it is in us to 37:52 give people an better impression about ourselves than is really the case. So God had to help him by giving him a thought in the flesh. I believe it was an eye problem as we read in Galatians 4 which is I don't know whether some his eyes were 38:08 constantly leaking some type of pus coming out of there all the time that he had wiped it every time when he was speaking that's why he says to the Galatians that you would have pulled out your eyes and given them to me anyway he 38:20 said Lord get rid of this because it's a hindrance for me when I speak um it was tormenting him like it says in verse 7 tormenting him And I prayed three times. That's all the Lord said. Three times no. It's wonderful if we can hear the Lord 38:39 three times saying no and we accept his will. Okay Lord. Very often we hear it 25 times and we still may not accept it. Three times was enough for him. Lord said no. No Paul. 38:56 No Paul. No Paul. Okay Lord. And the Lord said, "My grace is enough for you. You will always have these eyes leaking. It'll humble you before people, but thereby it'll protect you from pride." It says there in verse 7, last 39:12 part to keep me from exalting myself. Such a great man like Paul. 25 years after his conversion, he writes to the Corinthians 39:27 to keep me from exalting myself. Yeah, we also need help to keep us from exalting ourselves because because God's grace is only given to the humble. And that's why he says in verse 9, my grace is enough for you, but I can't 39:46 give that grace to you if you're not humble, Paul. and you're such a mighty servant of God that there's a great danger of people getting a higher impression about you than is really true. So I have to give you something to 39:58 humble yourself. And I've seen that in my life and I believe in all of our lives. If you're really wholehearted and you want to follow Jesus, sometimes he may give you a a thorn in the flesh. And remember when he gives it to you, it'll 40:12 be to keep you humble before God so that you can love the truth and be inwardly free. even though you have a physical infirmity. And so he says in verse 9, I'll boast in my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Let me show you 40:30 another verse. It says in Ephesians in chapter 4 a phrase which is very important. Uh 40:48 again he speaks here about deceitfulness in verse 14 the last part of verse 14. We must not be children. He says in Ephesians 4:14, "Tossed about by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming." But see the word truth comes here again. 41:10 Speaking the truth in love, we grow up to him who is the head. So our spiritual growth is hindered if there's any element of hypocrisy in us. And we when we say speaking the truth it 41:29 means by our life. Ananas remember told a lie without opening his mouth. And we can speak the truth without opening our mouth. If Ananas could tell a lie without opening his mouth I can speak the truth without opening my 41:43 mouth. By the way I present myself before people. Presenting myself in uprightness and honesty in love. And if I live like this, let's say instead of speaking the truth in love, I 42:00 read it like this. Living the truth in love. And that's how it is in the margin. Holding to the truth in love. Holding to reality in love. We grow up to him who is the head. Because grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. And if I am to 42:20 grow up to him who is the head in truth in 100% freedom from hypocrisy. So the truth is characterizes my whole being 24 hours a day. I have to love this and then if I do this it says here I 42:37 will be a very effective member of the body of Christ and help the body to build itself up in love. So all of us seek to be effective members in the body of Christ. 42:54 And one way we can do that is by really seeking that our lives will speak the truth in love. And let me give you one more verse. Ephesians in chapter 4 and verse 43:14 25. laying aside falsehood. Think of ananas again. What does it mean to lay aside falsehood? I'm laying aside giving people an impression or even hoping people will get an impression which is not 43:32 absolutely true. Not really of myself. I don't want to give people an impression of my home life which is not absolutely true. I remember years ago when my all my 43:50 children were small um very small and one of the brothers we were preaching victory in the church and one of the brothers came and asked me uh brother Zach do your children ever 44:07 fight with each other I said sure they're children of Adam they're not born again Yet they're all small and just because I have come to know the truth and I'm filled with the spirit doesn't mean my children are like that. It'll take time 44:25 for them. They will grow up into it as we teach them and discipline them. So don't be discouraged if you discover that your children are like the children of Adam. They all start out there. We all start from that same ground and we 44:39 have to work on them uh to bring them to reality in Christ and that'll take time but we we are told to fathers must bring up the children in the discipline and instruction of the lord. 44:59 So we are not don't have to give an impression that everything is perfect in our home if it's not. I'm not saying we should go and confess all our sins in public. That's not God's will. But don't give an impression which is not true. I remember 45:13 years and years ago when I was still defeated by sin in the early years, that's I think it was before we I don't remember it was probably before CG started. I was in a meeting in 45:31 another country and um they were all giving testimony and this was a group that believed in victory over sin and everybody spoke about a wonderful home life and um and I said well I said 45:50 I'm still struggling but I believe I have hope that my life will become wonderful and my home life will become wonderful. And you know, one brother came to me after the meeting and said, "Brother Zach, I want to tell you your testimony 46:05 helped me more than all the other testimonies I heard today because you gave me hope by your honesty. We help people when you're honest. I'm not saying we should confess our sin. No, we should not confess our sin in public. You do not have to confess any 46:25 sin you did in private before anybody. But what I'm saying is don't give people a false impression that you're victorious when you're not. Don't even give that impression. Say, I'm I'm not I'm still on the way and I believe it'll be true in my life. 46:44 But we must preach the truth. If you're not free, completely free from anxiety, for example, should you preach do not be anxious? Yes, because Jesus said that. But you don't have to give people impression that you're free from it. You 46:57 can say, "Well, I'm on the way. I'm climbing this mountain. I believe I'll reach the top one day, but I believe the goal is do not be anxious for anything." So, here's what it says in Ephesians 4 and verse 25. 47:15 Laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor. For we are members of one another. Now, with this understanding of truth that we've been thinking of today, you see what that means. You don't have to confess your sins in 47:33 public, but don't give a false impression. Many Christians are discouraged by the false impressions other people are giving. Now, that is not, as I said, let me repeat, is not the oper opposite extreme of confessing all our sins. I believe 47:50 that any sin, every sin must be confessed in the circle in which it was committed. For example, my thoughts, I don't have to confess that to any human being. It's only to God. You don't even have to confess your thoughts to your wife or your husband 48:07 because you did not sin against them. You sinned against God. Sin must be confessed in the circle in which it was committed. If only God was in that circle, you confess only to God. If one other person was there, maybe you got angry with one 48:21 person, then God plus that one person, you confess to them, but to nobody else. But if you hurt the church, then you confess to God and to the whole church. So sin must, remember this principle, sin must be confessed only in the circle 48:35 in which it was committed. It's the exact opposite of the Roman Catholic teaching where you go and confess sin to some priest. There are some Protestants who teach that also. I'm sorry to say. They say you must have a a partner to 48:50 help you in holiness. A partner to whom you you go and confess everything. Say you watch pornography. You go and tell that person. Nobody saw it except you and God. But you go and confess to that person, brother, I'm sorry, I 49:04 watched pornography yesterday. And they say that that'll help you to get victory. That's not taught in the Bible. That is psychology. How will it help you to get victory? I'll tell you how. by the fear of man, not the fear of God. True holiness comes 49:20 through the fear of God. Now tomorrow if you're again tempted to watch pornography and say, "Oh, I better not do it because I have to go and confess to that brother." So what is going to keep you from pornography that day? The 49:31 fear that you have to go and confess to that partner of yours, that's not holiness. It's a fake. And I'm sorry to say there are Christians who teach that sin must be confessed only in the circle in which it is committed. 49:46 And it's not by the fear that I have to confess to another person that's keeping me from sin. That's not genuine holiness. I've mentioned that because there are so many Christians who teach this false teaching. If you don't find something in 50:01 scripture, never accept it. Walk in the light before God. If we confess our sins to him, he's faithful and just to forgive us. Walk in the light with God. Speak the truth each one with your neighbor. 50:17 And verse 27, don't give the devil an opportunity like Ananas and Safara gave. May God help us. If there's more from what I've said, I believe the Lord will expand this message to you in your own way. Don't let it ever condemn you. 50:35 Condemnation is not from God. There's no condemnation in Christ Jesus. But everything that God speaks to us is to help us to go one step higher. I love that verse. Let me conclude with this in Revelation 4:1. 50:53 It's a favorite verse of mine where the Lord tells John Revelation 4:1, "Come up here. Come up higher." That is what my message is saying to you 51:11 today. Come up higher. And that's what every message I preach, I seek it to be this. The Lord's voice saying, "My son, my daughter, I love you. Come up higher than where you are right now." God bless you. 51:30 Amen. Let's bow our heads in prayer. So while our heads about in prayer, I want to ask each one of you. Don't think of anybody else right now. Just think of yourself and ask the Lord to show you through the 51:51 spirit of truth, the helper, not whether you're perfect, but whether you're getting an increasing love for the truth. in your life. An increasing passion 52:09 to be totally free from hypocrisy, totally free from seeking the honor of men for your spirituality or for your ministry or any of that garbage. The honor of men is all fit for the trash can. Lord, help me to be free. Help us all, 52:28 Lord, we pray. And if one particular if some particular area God reminds you, ask the Lord for help in that area. Thank you Lord for your word sets us free. You said you shall know the truth and the truth will set you free. Let it 52:43 be so in many lives today. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. [Music]
