0:13 Yes, whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. We can trust the Lord that even this morning as we turn our eyes to look at him, that he will lift that veil and show us something of his glory. Brothers and sisters, I was encouraged by what we've been 0:38 hearing about fellowship these last few Sundays. I was thinking about vertical and horizontal fellowship and fellowship in the suffering of Jesus. And I was challenged to think about the cross of Jesus Christ and what it means for us 0:57 to take up that cross and follow Jesus. So the Apostle Paul said in Galatians chapter 6 and verse 14, Apostle Paul says, the only thing I want to glory in is the cross of Jesus Christ. 1:32 And what has this cross done? It's crucified me to the world and the world to me. When we think about fellowship with God, we think about the vertical arm of the cross. I want to think about the vertical arm of the cross first, then the horizontal arm. 1:55 It means that we are separated from the world. We just think about a physical cross and the vertical arm of that physical cross. It forces you to be separated from the world. And that is what is so painful to our flesh. And the need for a disciple to be separated 2:22 from this world is very, very clear in scripture. 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 16 says, you shall be holy as I am holy. You shall be holy as I am holy. That's the call of the Lord to be holy. What does this word holy mean? This word holy itself means separate. 2:48 The angels in heaven are crying out, holy, holy, holy, because there is no one else like our God. He's separate. He's different. And the Lord is saying, you shall be holy as I am holy. 1 John chapter 2 and verse 15 says, do not love the world or the things in the 3:08 world. For if anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. So it's talking over here about the world's system or the world's values. See, 3:30 yeah, we should not, I mean, we should understand scripture and its context. There is another verse that says God so loved the world. That is talking about the people of the world. You know, I can put my name there. God so loved me that he gave his son. 3:46 But when the Bible says do not love the world or the things of the world, for if anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. That's talking about this world's system or values. And it explains quite clearly what that is in the next verse. 4:00 1 John chapter 2 verse 16 says, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life. In the living Bible, it says the craze for sex, the ambition to buy everything that appeals to you, and the pride that comes from wealth and 4:19 importance. So these are things that are not from God but are from this evil world itself. And then verse 17 says, the world and its lusts are passing away, but the one who does the will of God lives forever. So, this vertical arm 4:40 of the cross represents the will of God. And it separates me from this evil world. And it's good for us to think about what is it that makes this separation so painful. We know that in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 19, when Adam sinned, 4:59 God said, he cursed the ground. And, you know, when he was talking about the results of sin, and what happens when we are separated from God as a result of sin. God says, from dust you came, and to dust you shall return. You shall return to the ground, 5:24 because from it you were taken, for you are dust, and to dust you shall return. So, we have a sinful flesh that's taken from the dust of the earth. And there is a strong pull from this dust to that dust. And in Luke chapter 14, verses 26 and 27, 5:51 where Jesus was talking about being a disciple, he says, you cannot be my disciple unless you hate your relatives, you hate your possessions, you hate your own self-life, you take up your cross and follow me. So, this strong pull that's there between my sinful flesh and the dust of this 6:09 earth, you know, Jesus said, what's the solution for that? You take up your cross and follow me. And unless my love for the Lord is so much stronger, is stronger than that pull from dust to dust, I will return there, like the animals. You know, I was 6:30 thinking about a rocket launch. You know, we know a rocket is very powerful. And if you've seen a rocket launch, it happens a lot slower than, you know, you might imagine if you didn't actually see it. They count slowly from 10 to zero, and then the 6:50 rocket lifts up. And you know, that fire, the explosive power is fighting against gravity. This pull of gravity is very strong, the pull of our flesh. You know, it's dust, dust attracting dust. See, if we think about the attraction between men and women, 7:17 the opposite sex, it's that same pull from dust to dust. I remember Brother Zach once saying, you know, when you look at a pretty woman, you should just realize that it's that the dust is organized, you know, arranged in a certain way. In 7:31 that situation, that's it. 50 years from now, 60 years from now, not much worth looking at. Go back to dust. And we can reason these things, but we know how strong the pull is. And it's the power of the Holy Spirit that can set us free, that can liberate us. 7:54 And that is what it means to be holy. Yeah, and if we think about gold, you know, good food, our clothes, all the things that we buy and see around us and value, you know, all of them come from that same dust. In the book of Ecclesiastes chapter 3 and verse 18, 8:15 Solomon says that God tests man in order for them to see that they are but beasts. And he says, verse 20, all go to the same place, all came from the dust and all returned to the 8:41 dust. Solomon is talking in a state of, you know, discouragement after having tried out all the worldly pleasures and found no satisfaction in them. And he says, and we can see from his life, that that is what will happen to us if we don't respond to the Spirit of God, 9:00 that upward call, that upward pull. And it's so easy for us to go back to the state of the animals. And yet we know that there's a big difference between man and animals, because God has breathed His Spirit into man. And when we turn and look at Jesus, we can get faith, you know, that can strengthen us. 9:20 Whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. And, you know, we know that Jesus can baptize us in the Holy Spirit and fire so that we can fight against the pull of this flesh. And yeah, 1 John chapter 5 verse 4 says, this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith. 9:46 Brothers and sisters, we look at Jesus and we see how He walked and we look at brothers and sisters in this church who have walked before us. And we have faith. Yes, I can escape this pull, you know, the pull of the flesh. 10:03 Yeah, but at the same time, if like Lord's wife, we turn and look back at this world, we will destroy ourselves. See, what was the situation? An angel had come down from heaven and had held their hand. And because of the Lord's mercy, was trying to grab them and take them away from destruction. 10:26 And I can relate to that situation as I think about myself in this church. God has sent His messengers from heaven and they've grabbed us. And they're saying, hey, run away from this evil world. But Lord turned back. Lord's wife turned back. And Jesus pointed to that. 10:45 He said, remember, Lord's wife. Luke 17, verse 32, Jesus said, remember, Lord's wife. Yeah, I was just thinking of, you know, an astronaut sitting in this rocket and he's taken off, you know, two seconds after liftoff. 11:07 And he's like, oh, I forgot my wallet. Or I forgot my mobile phone. If he tries to stop there, the rocket will crash. See, yeah, I would tell the astronaut, you will be out of coverage area. You won't need your mobile phone where you're going. You won't need your wallet where you're going. 11:31 But it's so strong. That connection that we have to the things of this world is so strong. Proverbs chapter 22, verse 3. Proverbs chapter 27, verse 12. Two verses say the same thing. It says, the wise or the prudent see danger or foresee 11:53 the evil and they take refuge. Where do we take refuge? We take refuge in the Lord. The name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous run into it. But the simple or fools keep going and pay the penalty. See, I was thinking about recognizing the weakness of my flesh and when we 12:10 are in danger of the pull of the flesh. It's like playing with magnets. I think all of us have played with magnets, you know, at least when we were children. If you try and play this game, like let me try and bring it close to each other 12:25 without touching, it will certainly touch. You can keep playing that game and keep getting burned. And this touching is not a harmless thing. There is a, you know, eternal impact and we can destroy ourselves if we play those games. Yeah, 12:43 if we must keep a distance, a detachment when it comes to dangerous areas. And I want to talk about some of these dangerous areas because that attraction between dust and dust, you know, is what we have to keep in mind. 13:02 There's a song of Keith Green. Keith Green has a song that says, it's dust to dust until we learn how to trust. He says, help me to follow through. Make every day a devotion to you because it's dust to dust until we learn how to trust. Yeah, 13:28 there are many, many such areas when we deal with the opposite sex. We must realize that, you know, we're in a dangerous area. When it comes to dealing with property, business dealings, making monetary investments, or spending time with our relatives or otherwise people in our own community 13:49 or social class or language or political or religious or qualification-based affiliation, you spend time in college, you spend time at work, we have to do these things. But we should realize that there is this strong pull. And there must be a cry in 14:07 my heart in these situations saying, Lord, I want a glory in the cross of Jesus Christ. No, what does it mean to glory? I've thought about three things. To behold, to be with, to be like. See, if I glory in Jesus, if I'm a worshipper of Jesus, I would want to see him, 14:32 to truly see him as he is, behold him, be with him, be close to him, and be like him. The Bible says I'll be transformed into his image. And, you know, in all of these areas that I talked about, we must be careful, not to look too closely with fascination, 14:55 you know, what is happening. We may need to do it if it's part of our jobs or whatever it is, but to guard my heart and not to spend too much time, not to get too close, and to cry out to Jesus for the help of the Holy Spirit to be holy, to be separated from God for his purposes. 15:16 See, I was thinking about that wonderful promise in 1 Corinthians 10, verse 13. We know that promise. It says, no temptation has overtaken you, but such as is common to man. That is the flesh that we have, the same temptation. Nothing is going to overtake you, 15:35 but such as is common to man. But does it mean we can take it lightly? You know, it says God is faithful. He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able to bear. When you are tempted, he will provide a way of escape so that you can endure it. And when we 15:50 look at that verse in its context, we see the verse just before that. What's the verse just before that? It says, let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall. When we take it lightly, that we can deal with this world, 16:08 and it'll be okay, it's not so serious. Brother, sister, we don't trust God. We don't really have faith in God. And it says, without faith, it's impossible to please God. 1 Corinthians 10, verses 5 and 6, it says, with most of them, God was not pleased, and they perished in the wilderness. 16:29 And these things happened as examples so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved. Yeah. And we know that Jesus has sent us into this world. You know, I was thinking of John 17, Jesus's prayer about his disciples. He said, 16:51 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. He says that again in verse 16, they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I don't ask you that you take them out of the world, but keep them from the evil one. 17:09 Sanctify them in the truth, your word is truth. See, what we are saying now and thinking about now are not the sort of things that this world encourages us to think about at all. And it's the truth of God and the love of God that is able to keep us and sanctify us. Yeah, 17:37 I think we all know and we treasure the fact that Jesus was called a friend of sinners. You know, was he a friend of sinners? Certainly. No, I'm a sinner. And Jesus became my greatest friend. Greater love has no man than this. 17:51 Then he laid down his life for his friends. And that's what Jesus did for me. But when we look at Jesus's example, I see something. I see that before Jesus was called a friend of sinners, you know, this is what it says about him. In Hebrews chapter 7 and verse 26, 18:11 we can look at that verse. For it is fitting for us to have such a high priest. Who is our high priest? One who shares in our flesh, who can sympathize with our weaknesses. And here's another description of the same Jesus. Holy, innocent. 18:33 Hebrews chapter 7 verse 26. Holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens. What a glorious savior. What a wonderful savior. And it is this Jesus who came down and became my friend. And your friend. 18:55 And what I should not do is say, oh Jesus was a friend of sinners and and use that as an excuse to indulge my flesh and spend my time in association with godless people or lukewarm or half-hearted, you know, so-called Christians. No, our call, 19:14 our fellowship is with the father and with his son Jesus. He's called us to holiness. No, that's an animal instinct. You know, they say birds of a feather flock together. I don't know if you've gone to a bird park. You'll see that very clearly. It's as though somebody, you know, 19:30 arranged it that way. Every tree, all the birds of the same type will be together. It's an animal instinct. It's thinking about Peter. He told Jesus, Jesus don't go to the cross. Jesus didn't call him, oh my friend Peter. He said, 19:49 get behind me Satan. That's the spirit of this world. You're seeking for man's interests, not for God's interests. And Peter, we know that he repented. He said, told Jesus, where shall we go? Not because you're a fisherman or because, you know, you like me or you have the same interests. 20:12 No, you have the words of eternal life. And he who does the will of God endures forever. Yeah, brothers and sisters, I want to point to Jesus' example in one more case or one more story. 20:32 We know the story of the woman at the well, John chapter 4. And Jesus said, my food is to do the will of God. That was a wonderful conversation that Jesus had with her in the will of God in John chapter 4. Because of that, the life of that woman, 20:53 and there was a revival in that city where many turned their hearts to God, to the kingdom of God. And we see something there in John chapter 4, verse 27. It says, after Jesus had spoken to her, the disciples came there. 21:12 John chapter 4, verse 27. And they were amazed that he had been speaking with a woman, yet no one said, what do you seek or why do you speak with her? See, why were they amazed that he was speaking with a woman? Because Jesus didn't do that. 21:29 That is not Jesus' lifestyle or his personality. He was very, very careful with whom he spoke. And they knew that. And they didn't ask him any questions, because they realized that he was in the center of his father's will. Yeah. And I just want to speak briefly about 21:50 the horizontal arm of the cross also, fellowship in the suffering of Jesus. Fellowship with my fellow believers means, at the same time, accepting, bearing with, forgiving others who are not like me, which is also painful to the flesh. See, you know, if I was 22:13 in my natural state, I would be like this or like this. But the cross forces me to be like that. I want to be closed, but the Holy Spirit says, no, you stretch out your arms and you open yourself and include that brother also, that sister also, 22:30 who is not like you in your temperament or your personality or your community or your language. But he's my child and my spirit is in him. If you want more of me, then stretch out your arms. Don't cling to your prejudices. Yeah. We know that 22:51 Jesus stretched out his arms on the cross and he brought together Jew and Gentile. That is what holds us all together, the love of Jesus. And if we want to follow in his footsteps and take up the cross, we must open ourselves. I see a 23:14 picture of this in Paul the Apostle, where he talks to the Corinthians. In 2nd Corinthians chapter 6, we see a picture of Paul stretching out his hands, 2nd Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 11. He says, our mouth has spoken freely to you, 23:39 O Corinthians. Yeah, so we should just think about this. Paul, you know, the Apostle Paul, who had revelation from God, who walked closely with the Savior, who had suffered greatly, is speaking to these carnal Corinthians and he's saying, oh, 23:56 I want to have fellowship with you. My heart is open to you. I've spoken freely with you. But the problem is that you are restrained in your affections. You're the ones who are not, you know, responding to me the same way. And yeah, 24:18 he says, in the same way, I speak as to children, open wide your hearts to us. And notice it is in that context that Paul says, do not be bound together with unbelievers. It's because we have these fleshly connections with unbelievers, 24:35 with this world, that, you know, we aren't willing to open ourselves to the fullness of what God wants to offer us. Saying, come unto me. I'll give you rest. Yeah, in that context, it's the next verse that says, do not be bound together with unbelievers. What partnership have righteousness 24:58 and lawlessness? Why did the Corinthians not want Paul? Because they were tied to this world. And brothers and sisters, I don't want that to be the case in my life. Where I'm not ready to receive the riches that Jesus wants to give me through fellowship, because I'm attached, 25:18 I have some fleshly attachment. May the Lord open our eyes to see the glory of the cross, the power of God's Holy Spirit to change us and to help us to grow in fellowship. Amen. Brothers and sisters, I hope we meant what we sang just now. The cross before me, the world behind me. 25:42 The one who wrote that song sealed his testimony with his own blood. So I want to turn to Colossians chapter four, verse 14. Colossians chapter four, verse 14. This epistle is written by Apostle Paul, probably in AD 60, 60 years after Christ. Luke, 26:11 the beloved physician, sends you his greetings and also Demas. Luke, the beloved physician, sent you his greeting and also Demas. So Paul was there and Luke also, Demas was with Paul. And then second Timothy chapter 26:34 four, verse 10. This is written somewhere around AD 66 or 67, six years later. For Demas having loved this present world has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Only Luke is with me. Luke is still sticking with Apostle Paul and Demas loved the world and left Paul. 27:06 We know Luke contributed two books in the Bible, the Gospel of Luke and Acts. But Demas probably could have wrote a book. He left, he loved the world and went. Have you ever thought what it would have been walking with Paul? I felt it would have been 27:30 like walking with a fire. He was a man, he was pouring out his life for gospel, for Christ. And Demas having associated with Paul for six years, he left Paul and went to this world. I don't know any of you think, brothers and sisters, we are not in danger of falling 27:55 into worldliness. That thought itself is an indication that the way of thinking of the world has crept into our heart. The Bible says, let him who thinks he stands, let him take heed. Almost all the apostles warned the first century churches about the worldliness. James wrote, 28:16 the friendship with the world is enmity towards God. And he called, he started his epistle with addressing them, brothers. Then he said, you adulterers, you don't know that love, if you love this world, you can't be, you will be an enemy of God. We heard what Suresh was reading from Apostle John, 28:39 who probably lived the longest. He warned, do not love the world and the things of this world. You know, when we think of world, if it is something like a way of dressing or something external, then we are deceived. And if it is a church, you can think that church is a 29:01 worldly church or we are deceived because it has nothing to do with outside. It is in the heart. It is outside, but it is also in the heart. You know, we live in the IT capital of India or the second IT capital of the world. And the advancement in physics or science and technology, 29:27 artificial intelligence and electric cars and flying cars, so many things. As you look at the newspaper, the advertisement, everything that we see, it looks like we're going to have a, it gives a sense of feeling that this world is going to 29:41 be a much better and safer place. You know, John Binion called this world around 350 years back, city of destruction. That was truly prophetic, city of destruction. We can turn to what Suresh mentioned about Lord. He was a good man. There was a, 30:04 he was righteous in some way and he decided to live in the city Sodom and Gomorrah. Sodom, this is in Genesis 19 verse 4. You know the story, some angels visited him. Before they 30:27 lay down the men of the city, the men of Sodom surrounded the house, both young and the old, all the people from every quarter. And they called Lord and said to him, where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may have relationship, relations with them. 30:51 But Lord went to them at the door and shut the door behind them. Please, my brothers, do not act wickedly. I have two daughters who have not had relationship with men. Please let me bring them out to you and do to them whatever you like, 31:11 but don't touch these men. I believe the world is overtaken Sodom and Gomorrah. If you come down here, then the angels warned him, verse 11. They struck the men who were at the doorway to the, of the house of, house with blindness, 31:33 both small and the great. So that they wearied themselves trying to find a doorway. And two men said to Lord, whom else have you here? He said, a son-in-law and your sons and your daughters. Bring them out. We are about to destroy this 31:51 place. So this is not the first time Lord hearing about God's judgment. He had an example of what happened at the time of Noah. The Lord destroyed this world with flood. Because God saw the heart of man was so wicked, so evil. 32:14 And there was violence everywhere. So God judged this world and Lord had this example before him. But you see his response. First you see his son's or son-in-law's response. Lord went out and spoke to his son-in-law. Said, get, get out of this place. 32:36 But he appeared to his son-in-laws to be jesting. They thought it's not serious. Maybe God is love. God is a God of love. He won't destroy. He's compassionate. And then Lord himself. It says verse 16. He hesitated. 32:59 Lord hesitated. He had a sense of righteousness. He had a, you know, sense of God. But there was something in his heart. Who was there in that locality. You know, I read about Egyptian, sorry, Israelites. They left Egypt. The problem that it was not that they was in Egypt. The Egypt was within them. 33:25 The world outside is not dangerous. But the world inside, it will destroy us. And it's good to see here the compassion of the Lord. The Lord had compassion in this verse 16 we read. The man seized his hand and then his 33:43 wife and the daughters and they pulled them out. It's like you're plucking someone out of fire. And verse 17, it says, escape for your life or run, run. You know, in first or second Timothy, Paul write to Timothy, run away from sexual temptation. Run away from the love of money. 34:06 There is a seriousness. There is a seriousness of associated with the warnings in the Bible. It's not a suggestion that, you know, you can be a little better tomorrow. Or it's a matter of our life and death. And they said, 34:22 you go to this mountains in verse 17. But the Lord said, oh, no, Lords. If your servant has found favor in your sight, I'll go to this place called Zoar. See how he's negotiating with them. We have another good example in Noah. 34:48 He was, he was not like, he was not like lot. He was not half-hearted. Hebrew chapter 11. Hebrew chapter 11 verse 7. Please turn to that word. It's a beautiful word. Hebrew chapter 11 verse 7. By faith, Noah being warned by God about the things not yet seen. 35:14 God warned Noah that he's going to judge this world. He's going to send a flood upon this world. You know, there was no example for Noah. But God, he trusted God's word. Says in reverence, he prepared an ark for the salvation of his household. By which he condemned this world. 35:37 He didn't approve this world. He condemned this world by his life. I don't think it would have been very comfortable for the family members of Noah. You know, you live in a place where there is no water and you start build an ark. 35:51 You read there the size of an ark. It's almost half the size of Titanic. Around 130 meter. That's maybe a little more than this hole. Maybe double the size of this hole. He alone had to build that ark. That is with wood. 36:09 You think it would have been very easy to build an ark. Why didn't God say, let there be an ark? He said, let there be light. Let there be separation. He could have said, let there be an ark. That's not the Lord. That's not Lord's way. You know, God kept Noah as an example. 36:26 He was called the preacher of righteousness. With his life, with his words, he was a preacher of righteousness. But he could save his family. But Lord struggled. Brothers and sisters, I hope we take these things with fear in our heart. Not casually take it. 36:53 I'm blessed by something that Suresh just shared. He was speaking about worship. We heard about a woman who lived with five different men. And then the Lord spoke to her about worship. What is the Lord looking for? Whom do you think the Lord values in the church? You know, once a disciple asked, 37:15 who will be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And he said, forget about being great. Unless you're converted and become like a child, you're not going to enter the heaven. But whoever humbles like a child, he will be greatest in the kingdom. What is 37:35 a little child? It's like I see a picture of a worshiper. A picture of a worshiper. The God is supreme. Not this world, not things of the world. A true worshiper. You know, Paul was a worshiper. I want to end with pointing out to Paul in Philippians chapter 37:57 3. Philippians chapter 3, 7 and 8. Paul writes, whatever things were gained to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. And more than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ, Jesus Christ, my Lord, for whom 38:23 I have suffered for the loss of all things and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ. He learned to count everything outside Christ rubbish. Brothers and sisters, we are not like that by our own nature. We are not like that. 38:43 But you know, there's a great hope for us who are honest. I've heard brothers mentioning in the beginning, I heard Brzac and Brother Ian. They were a bunch of people they fed up with themselves. And many of us, we come from different churches. We know we are fed up with 39:04 different churches, what they teach, exploit money and cheat. We tasted, some of us have tasted, fed up with the things. But as we come and hear the words here and when we turn to Christ, are we fed up with ourselves, 39:19 brothers and sisters? You don't need to turn there. In Psalm 73, you see a man who was taken up with things around him. It says he walked into the presence of the Lord. He said, I was like a beast. Have you seen yourself like a beast in the light 39:39 of God's love, God's glory? Then we have hope, brothers and sisters. Then God can make us worshipers who will say, Lord, I don't live for this world, Lord. I want to live for you. I don't want to give any place. I don't want Egypt in my heart. 39:56 I don't want to have a place for devil in my heart. Jesus could say that the prince of this world is coming. He has nothing in me, nothing. But Judas couldn't say that. Even he could say about disciples, they are not of this world. Remember, this is even before they are baptized in the Holy Spirit. 40:15 So their separation was so clear. They didn't want to. They made a choice. I don't want to live for this world. So may the Lord help us, brothers and sisters, to take serious decisions in our life. The decisions which will affect our destiny, where we are going to spend our time in eternity.
