0:00 As I have traveled around and observed Christians in different places, I've discovered that very few Christians have understood the meaning of the word grace. 0:26 It is used extensively in all Christian churches and by all Christians in letters and emails and in songs. But I've met very few in my life who know the scriptural meaning of grace. 0:49 And it is one of the most important words in the New Testament. So one of the first things we need to understand is what I want to show you from John's Gospel, Chapter 1. John's Gospel, Chapter 1, we read. Now I want all of you, particularly those who are not from this local church, to listen to this with an open mind. 1:26 Consider the possibility that you have been wrong all your life about your understanding. If you don't come with that open mind, you may not benefit from what God wants to show you to change your life. Not just to get your new definition of grace. 1:45 I'm not interested in definitions. I'm interested in the reality. And the first thing I want you to see is John, Chapter 1, Verse 17. John 1, Verse 17. 2:06 I'm sure you've all read this verse. If you're a reader of the Bible, you've definitely read the Gospels. The law was given through Moses. That we understand. The law was basically the Ten Commandments and 603 other commandments, totaling 613 commandments in the Old Testament, which was the law. 2:33 And one had to follow all that to please God. But grace, there was no grace until Jesus came. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. That's very clearly written here. In the literal translation of the Bible, it says in the margin, grace came through Jesus Christ. 2:59 There was no grace before that. So what does grace mean? Is it forgiveness of sins? Psalm 103. It says, David, a thousand years before Christ, says in Psalm 103. 3:25 Bless the Lord, O my soul. Verse 2 and 3. Who pardons all your iniquities or sins. How many sins of David were forgiven? All. So forgiveness of sins, all sins, iniquities mean sins, was there in the Old Covenant. 3:54 What did Jesus bring? What did Jesus bring? Grace did not bring forgiveness. Forgiveness was an act of God's mercy. Now, if you were to ask the average Christian, who sat in church for years, if you don't believe me, test it out. 4:14 If you don't believe me, test it out. Some of you are from God's mercy and grace. When you go back, ask your leader or pastor or whatever you call him, brother, could you tell me the difference between mercy and grace? I'm almost certain you'll get the wrong answer. 4:28 I'm almost certain you'll get the wrong answer. Or he'll say it's the same thing. It's not. And it's the ignorance of that that's kept so many Christians in bondage. There's a great verse in John chapter 8 and verse 32. 4:48 John chapter 8 and verse 32. You will know the truth, Jesus told his disciples, and the truth will make you free. And so the devil's aim is to prevent you from knowing the truth, so that you remain in bondage to him forever. 5:09 Keep an open heart today to the Holy Spirit. Ask him to help you to know the truth, because it will make you free from some bondage in your life, which is still there. Bondage to some sin, bondage to some habit, bondage to some prejudice in your mind against something. 5:32 God has to get rid of that prejudice. It's prejudice against certain things because we've been brainwashed in a certain way. The amazing thing about brainwashing is the person who's brainwashed doesn't know he's being brainwashed, or has been brainwashed. 5:47 So it's very important to come to you, God, with an open mind. And it's very, very few Christians who have the humility to acknowledge, I could have been wrong all these years. And I come to the Lord with an open mind. I remember when I was seeking for victory over sin in my life, I was forgiven, I knew that. 6:10 Christ was my Savior. And like they sing, my sins are all forgiven, I'm on my way to heaven. That was all true. But I could not get victory in my life. I could not overcome sin in my life. I could not have complete, 100% control over my tongue. 6:28 When I speak to my wife, or when I was upset with somebody, I did not have control over my tongue. And yet I knew that if I don't have control over my tongue, I'm just like an unbeliever. The tongue is the test, very often, for salvation. 6:51 In the olden days, before they had so many electronic gadgets, the doctors, 200 years ago, if somebody was sick, they'd say, show me your tongue. Every doctor, 200 years ago, would say, show me your tongue. Because they could discover from the condition of the tongue, whether the person was sick. 7:10 It's the same today. I tell people who call themselves believers, and spirit-filled believers, and tongue-speaking believers, I say, forget while you're speaking in tongues, tell me how you use your tongue at home. They say that speaking in tongues controls, the spirit controls the tongue. 7:30 I say, the spirit controls the tongue when you're in the meeting on a Sunday morning, and you cannot control your tongue when you speak to your wife on Sunday afternoon. That's not the Holy Spirit. That's a counterfeit spirit. 7:41 Beware of it. If the Holy Spirit cannot control the way you speak to your tongue, to your wife on Sunday afternoon, whatever tongue you speak in on Sunday morning is a fake. That's what I tell Pentecostals. I'm not against the gift of tongues. 7:58 People have asked me, Brother Zach, you speak against the gift of tongues. What is your own view on it? Okay. I will tell you my view and my experience on this supernatural gift of tongues that the Holy Spirit gives. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 14. 8:13 We believe the entire scripture. And I believe in the genuine gift of tongues. I also believe it's not given to everybody. 1 Corinthians 14. Here is my testimony about speaking in tongues. And it's my testimony. My personal testimony. 8:34 1 Corinthians 14. It's recorded in scripture also as Paul's testimony. I say, Zach Poonin says, I thank God I speak in tongues more than you all. But in the church, I would rather speak five words with my mind in English that I may instruct others than 10,000 words in a tongue. 9:01 So, you say, Brother Zach, where do you speak in tongues then? To the Lord, usually when I wake up first thing in the morning. It's between me and the Lord. It's a private love language. God gave it to my wife some months before he gave it to me. 9:24 But I've never heard her speak in tongues. It's between her and the Lord. She doesn't hear me speak in tongues. It's between me and the Lord. There's a relationship I have with the Lord where my wife doesn't come in. There's a relationship my wife has with the Lord where I don't come in. 9:42 And that is what makes our bond to each other very strong and firm. The Lord is first in our life, in her life and in my life. But speaking in tongues is not the mark of power. The Corinthians spoke in tongues and they were the most carnal church. 10:02 And there are many churches like that today that speak in tongues. They're the most carnal of all. But grace is different. When you get grace, things are very different. So grace came only through Jesus Christ. And what is that? 10:18 So let me turn to Romans. And lead you systematically through what grace does in our life. Well, before that, before I go to Romans. Who was the first person on earth, the first human being, who lived under the grace of God. 10:37 You'd be surprised to know. It was Jesus. And you read about it in Luke's Gospel, chapter 2. Luke's Gospel, chapter 2, verse 40. The child Jesus continued to grow and became strong, increasing in wisdom. 11:05 And the grace of God was upon him. That's how he began his Christian life. His life on earth, I mean. That's how Jesus began his life on earth as a child. The first human being that had grace over him was Jesus Christ. 11:28 And he says, follow me. He's an example for us. And we read in Hebrews, in chapter 2. Hebrews, chapter 2. And verse 9. We see him who was made a little lower than the angels for a while. 11:52 That means he became human. Namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death, that's on the cross, crowned with glory and honor. And it is by the grace of God that he went to the cross and tasted death for everyone. So we saw how he began as a child, the grace of God upon him. 12:14 How did he go to the cross? With the grace of God upon him. That is how Jesus lived his life. So if you want to know the secret of Jesus' victorious life. Why he never sinned in all through. Don't say it's because he was God. 12:30 He had given up his powers. He had not given up his deity. He was God on earth. That's why when people worshipped him, he accepted the worship. But he did not use his power as God when he was on earth. Very important to understand this. 12:44 Otherwise, he cannot say, follow me. I'll say, Lord, I cannot follow you. You were God. How can you tell me to follow you? But he says, I never used my power as God when I was on earth. To use an example, if some billionaire in a western country decides to come to some poor slum in India 13:01 and wants to teach the poor people there how to live with their limited income. Many of them earn $50 a month. And their surroundings are filthy. They live in a small hut. And here is this billionaire who wants to, out of compassion, teach them how to live in India, in that village, on $50 a month. 13:22 And they say, don't preach theory, show it to us. He says, okay. He's a billionaire. He's got a credit card worth billions of dollars. But he tells them, I will not use this credit card during the time I'm with you. He builds a little hut there, works like everybody else and earns $50 a month and keeps his house clean and lives in a good way in his house for $50 a month. 13:49 And he says, follow my example. And they ask him, are you cheating? Do you ever go secretly to the bank and draw some money with your credit card? He says, no. This is how Jesus lived on earth. He had a credit card. He was Almighty God. 14:04 But he said, I never used that power as God even once. Otherwise, he cannot say, follow me. How did he overcome? How did he have wisdom to answer people who questioned him? Grace. The grace of God was upon him. And that is the grace, believe it or not, that he offers every one of us. 14:30 I don't preach with human ability. I sought for grace. And you can seek it too. For the particular ministry, you cannot have my ministry. That's my particular calling. You know, the hand cannot become the tongue. It can be a first class hand, but it cannot speak. 14:49 And you can be a first class brother in the church, but he may not give you the gift of preaching God's word like me. But there are other people who have gifts that I don't have. The body is like that. We have different gifts and we function together. 15:01 And I need the other members in the body as much as they need me. So, Jesus had all the gifts. He was the full body of Christ. But all of us, the best among us is only one member in the body of Christ. But each member can function fully in that function only through grace. 15:18 That's why it's very important for us to know what grace does. So, we saw what grace did for Jesus. Okay. Let's turn to Romans chapter 5. In Romans chapter 5, we read how we are justified by faith. 15:42 Romans 5 verse 1. We first of all read of forgiveness of sins in verse chapter 3, verse 24. We are justified as a gift by grace. That's what grace does first of all. Grace justifies us. Justifies us means declares us righteous. 16:05 Because we come to Him as sinners, receive Christ as our Savior. Grace declares us righteous. Okay. And then we go on from there in Romans 5. And it says here, We are justified by faith and we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 16:28 And then we go on from there further because grace to forgive us is not enough. In Romans chapter 6, it says here in verse 14. Now, one step higher. The first was we are justified means declared righteous. But we still haven't overcome sin. 16:48 All our past sins are blotted out and God has declared us righteous by grace. First step. Then, Romans 6 verse 14, we come under grace. This is one step further. We're talking about what grace does for us. Now sin will not rule over you. 17:08 Let me take the opposite of that. Sin rules over you because you're not under grace. Are you forgiven? Are you forgiven? Yes. Are you justified by grace? Yes. But you're not under grace. So you still get angry. You still get upset. 17:30 You still can't forgive somebody. You still keep bitternesses. You still tell an occasional lie. And you still lust after women. You still, even if you don't watch pornography, you still watch that occasional picture of some pretty woman. 17:51 Grace is not upon you. Grace is not upon you. You're forgiven. And you've received mercy and you've justified and you're a child of God. You can sing the songs. But you're not under grace. When you're under grace, sin cannot rule you. 18:11 It's like if I'm under this roof, any amount of rain falls outside, not one drop will fall on my head. Or like an umbrella, a really big umbrella. I stand under it. It can be pouring rain outside. Not one drop will fall on my head. 18:25 I am under an umbrella. Grace is like that. Temptation can pour all around me. It will not overcome me. I will not get wet at all. Sin cannot rule over you when you're under grace. That is what most of Christendom has not understood. 18:49 Because it's not preached. Because the preacher himself has not experienced it. Now let's turn to Hebrews. Let's turn to Hebrews in chapter 13. It says in verse 9, 19:12 Don't be carried away by strange teachings. Strange teachings are not just in the 20th century. In the first century it was there. And don't be carried away by these strange teachings. It's good for your heart to be strengthened by grace. 19:34 The heart is the source from which all sin comes. In the Ecclesiastes it says, Anger dwells in the heart of a fool. You can get rid of anger from your mouth by self-control. I remember a Hindu convert who came to our church in India who said, 19:56 I conquered anger before I became a Christian by yoga. Yoga taught me to control my tongue. And he was speaking the truth. And he was speaking the truth. He would not get angry. He was not a Christian. He was an idol worshiper. 20:13 He could control his tongue and not get angry with his wife or anybody else. But anger was in his heart. He wasn't saved. It was suppressed. Yet yoga gave him the strength to keep it down. It could be boiling inside, but yoga taught him to control his tongue. 20:33 That's not victory. That's deception. It's like having a house full of snakes and you don't let any snake get visible. You think your house is pure. It's deception. I don't want that type of deception that to get a testimony I don't get angry. 20:49 I'm not interested in a testimony of getting angry, of not getting angry. Pescius 7, I think it's verse 9, says, Anger dwells in the bosom, in the heart of a fool. Anger dwells in the heart. And if I haven't got rid of it from the heart, 21:05 it's no use saying I control it in my tongue. That's just one example. Lust dwells in the mind, the thought. And I may never go and touch a woman or do anything embarrassing to her and I can be lusting like anything in my mind. 21:21 I haven't got victory. It's self-control. There even yoga can't help. So, we need to understand grace because that is the only way that sin, we can be delivered from sin, from within. That is how Jesus lived. We saw from birth to death, it was grace. 21:41 Grace, grace, all the way. Now the question comes, how can we receive this grace? That's also given in Scripture. In James, in chapter 4, God is opposed to the proud. 22:02 Verse 6. There are two categories of people in the world, even among believers, the proud and the humble. Now, believers are categorized by different ways among Christians. There are Protestants and Catholics. There are a few believers among Catholics too. 22:21 Protestants and Catholics and the Protestants subdivide themselves to Baptists, brethren, and they call so many people in groups. But God subdivides all people into two categories. The proud and the humble among Christians. 22:40 Christians, I don't care what denomination they are in. There are proud Christians in every group. And there are humble Christians in every group, hopefully. But the mark is this. The humble receive grace. But God is opposed to the proud. 22:57 So, I see that in relation to temptation. When I'm tempted, there's only one way, if the devil comes and temptation comes and pushes me backward, there's only one way I can overcome if God comes behind me and pushes me forward. 23:16 That is God supporting me. That's grace. Supporting me from behind and no power can, no temptation can overcome me. Grace helps me to overcome. And that is given to every humble person. But it says God opposes the proud. 23:38 That means when I'm tempted in some way and God sees I'm not humble but proud, God gets on the other side and pushes me back. I mean, the devil's already pushing me back. Imagine on top of that if God himself begins to push you back. 23:53 It is happening to many believers. That's why they're defeated. They haven't got grace. They're not under grace. Sin cannot have dominion over you. When you're under grace, so I want to say to all of you, every time you fall into sin, 24:10 go to God and say, Lord, why did I move out of this umbrella of grace? What happened? And the Lord will show you some area in the recent past where you became proud. How do I know? From personal experience. When I've slipped up sometime, 24:31 my thought life or spoke an angry or a rude word, I've gone to the Lord and said, Lord, why did that happen? Tell me why did it happen? I don't want it. I don't want a single bad thought. I don't want a single rude word to come out of my mouth. 24:44 And the Lord will point out to me something, just a few days before that, where I was a bit proud. The Lord says, that is it. You thought too highly of yourself over there. You spoke of yourself in a very exalted way. My grace was drawn at that very moment. 25:04 There's no partiality with God. He doesn't say, oh, this is Zach Poonin who served me so much, let me continue to support him. No. If Zach Poonin or any Tom Dick and Harry becomes proud, grace withdraws immediately. It's a law. 25:19 It's like water. Water will always flow to the lowest place. It's a law. Grace always flows down to the humble. So, after that happened a few times, I have learned to say to myself, I don't have to ask God. I say, Lord, I was slipped up here. 25:39 Show me where I was proud. It's my immediate question. I don't ask why did I fall. Show me, Lord, where was I a bit proud? Where did I get lifted up? Where did I get puffed up? And the Lord may say, somebody praised you over there 25:50 and it went to your head and you didn't give the glory to God. It went to your head. You really thought something when that guy said some good things about you. Lord, forgive me. I've learned to detest myself. You know, like Paul says, 26:03 oh, wretched man that I am. You know that expression of Paul's in Romans 7? Oh, wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me from this? I have felt exactly like that. Oh, wretched man that I am. Why in the world did I get proud at that moment 26:18 when that guy said something good about me? Why didn't I give the glory to God immediately in my mind? Why did I take it to myself when it was not me who did that? It was God who gave me the grace to do it. Why didn't I get alone? 26:33 I don't have to say it publicly before him and say, oh, I give the glory to God. That's a pious statement which means nothing in most cases. It's getting alone before God and say, Lord, I don't touch that praise because you gave me the grace to do it. 26:46 You know, the number of people who they get some appreciation maybe of a message they gave or something they did and that's enough to ruin them. They're defeated the next day. On Sunday, they get puffed up with some praise somebody gave them. 27:01 Monday, they are sinning. The reason is they got puffed up on Sunday. They didn't give the glory to God. God withdrew His grace. It became evident to you only the next day. So James 4 says, God is opposed to the proud. He's in front of a person pushing Him back. 27:20 But if He's humble, He gets behind Him and pushes Him forward. And just in case you didn't read that properly, it's repeated again in 1 Peter 5.5. I wonder why God repeats exactly the same phrase again. It's for those people 27:38 who read the Bible carelessly, they missed it. God says, I love you so much, I'm going to repeat it to you. Exactly the same words, 1 Peter 5.5. God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble. Therefore, particularly your younger men, 27:53 you younger men, respect people who are older than you in the Lord. Don't think that you know so much and you despise that brother who's that godly brother who's older than you. You don't value him, you don't respect him. 28:13 Be subject to your elder brothers. and all of you, including the elders, clothe yourself with humility towards one another. Not just before God. Be humble towards one another because then God will give you grace. 28:36 Amazing word. In James chapter 4, it is relating to He gives us greater grace so that we can resist the devil. In James 4.6, God gives grace to the humble. So submit to God so that you can get the grace so you can resist the devil 28:55 and he will flee from you. If I want the devil to flee from me, according to James chapter 4.6 and 7, I have to receive grace from God. If I receive grace from God, the devil will be afraid of me. I remember the day a few years ago 29:12 when very clearly the Lord said to me, as you were afraid of the devil in the past, from now on the devil will be afraid of you. I'm thankful for that word. It delivered me from all fear of, not of Satan attacking me, of fear of the devil 29:31 having any power in some situation where I was involved. That I could deliver people. Not just from demon possession, which is a very easy thing, but where the devil has infiltrated a church or brought some confusion into a church 29:45 that God would give me grace to drive the devil out. Every elder brother needs that. You can't do it with experience. You can't do it with the counsel of others. You've got to get grace. And that grace is given to anyone 30:01 who's humble without, there's no respect of persons with God. Absolutely no respect of persons with God. So that's what it says, God gives grace to the humble. Therefore, 1 Peter 5, 6, humble yourself under the mighty hand of God 30:18 and he will exalt you at the proper time. When I read that verse, you've read that verse many times. How have you understood it? That he may exalt you at the proper time. How did you read that? That you'll become an elder one day? 30:40 Rubbish. It means he'll exalt you over sin. Sin will come under your feet. Sin shall not have dominion over you because you're under grace. That is Romans 6, 14. So I always tell people, have two verses with you. It's enough to take you through life victoriously. 31:02 First of all, 1 Peter 5, verse 5. God gives his grace to the humble. Determine to humble yourself. And I'll come to that in a minute. And when you get grace, then go to Romans 6, 14. That when you come under grace, sin cannot, 31:20 shall not, rule over you. No sin will be able to rule over you. In your battle with sin, you'll be the conqueror. Sin will be under your feet. Do you see the reason why you lose your temper? Do you see the reason why you have dirty thoughts now 31:37 and you cannot control them? Do you see the reason you said accidentally some words will cloud you? It's not accidentally. You accidentally became proud. That's why accidentally those words came out of your mouth to your wife 31:50 or to your husband. That's why accidentally you got upset in a moment. You think it was an act of a moment. Oh, just for a moment I got upset. Yes, but that moment came because sometime previously you were proud. God's grace was withdrawn 32:04 from your life. It was evidence. It's like the devil doctors say this is a symptom of some serious sickness. That moment when you lost your temper it was a symptom of a serious thing. Grace had departed from your life. Go before God 32:19 and say, Lord, don't ask him why. Just say, show me where I was proud. So whenever, if I'm ever defeated anytime in thought or word, I don't say, oh, that was just a slip up. I was careless. No, no, no, no, no. Go before God 32:35 and say, Lord, don't ask why. Just say, where was I proud? That is the best way to discover because then you'll be more careful next time. You'll be careful when people praise you and appreciate you to quietly go before 32:49 God and give it to Him, the glory. You don't have to do it before that person to show that you're a very humble person. I'm not interested in showing any human being that I'm humble. If I were interested in showing people 33:02 that I was humble, I would not speak like I do. I would speak in a more gracious, gentle type of way and allow people to be defeated so that I could get a reputation as a very gracious, humble person. I'm not interested 33:15 in that. I'm not interested in what any human being thinks about me because their opinion is fit for the trash can. They don't know my inner heart. What do they know about me? All the people even in my home church, know perhaps 33:28 maximum 2% of my life. What do they know about 98% of my life? Do they know how I live with my wife at home? Do they know how I treat my children? Do they know how I handle money? Do they know the type of what are things 33:43 I see on the internet? Do they know anything about it? They see 2% of my life on a Sunday morning or they listen to me preaching and they determine whether I'm proud or humble. They don't have a clue. I say that for your benefit too. 33:57 People who meet you just on Sundays don't have a clue whether you're a humble person. But when you're defeated by sin you know definitely yourself whether God thinks you're humble or not. He definitely gives grace to the humble 34:10 and he never fails in that area. And he knows exactly those who do humble themselves before him. This is so important brothers and sisters because without grace we will not be able to overcome sin. And when Jesus was under grace 34:26 that's who he overcame. So let me show you further in that. Grace doesn't mean he did not have to battle. How did Jesus overcome sin? We are told in Hebrews chapter 4 a verse that really revolutionized me in understanding 34:46 or before I go to Hebrews 4 let me turn to 1 Timothy in chapter 3 verse that many times I quote and you may have heard me quote it also 1 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 16. By common 35:08 confession great is the mystery of godliness. He who was revealed in the flesh was vindicated or declared righteous in the spirit seen by angels proclaimed among the nations believed on in the world and taken up in glory. 35:27 See this is a bit of a complicated language that's why sometimes I turn to the living bible which I have here on my phone and I'll just read that same verse to you in the living bible 1 Timothy and chapter 3 and verse 16 35:45 1 Timothy chapter 3 verse 16 here it says in the NASB great is the mystery of godliness and the living bible paraphrases it like this it is quite true that the way to live a godly life 36:05 is not an easy matter isn't it simpler great is the mystery of godliness it is true the way to live a godly life is not an easy matter okay he who was revealed in the flesh was vindicated in the spirit seen by angels proclaiming 36:22 the nations and so on that's the NASB I read it in the living bible you know this man living bible the one who paraphrased it is a man called Ken Taylor I met him personally he's one of the humblest brothers I have met in my 36:38 life and I met him after his living bible had become popular worldwide and he had started Tyndale house printers I met him once when he asked me permission to print one of my books in his publishing house that's how I came 36:53 to know him and I saw his spirit he was such a world famous man I was a young 27 year old brother and the way he spoke to me I saw a humble man and I was not at all surprised that God used him to write this fantastic paraphrase 37:09 called the living bible okay read listen to me the way to live a godly life 1 timothy 3 16 is not an easy matter there we all agree the way to live an overcoming life consistently overcoming sin is not an easy matter but 37:25 the answer lies in Christ who came to earth as a man was proved spotless and pure in his spirit and was served and observed by angels and this is what we preach among the nations and accepted by men everywhere and then 37:46 he was received up again to his glory in heaven yeah so it is really secret of godliness means the way to live a godly life that's what he's talking about the secret of godliness secret of how to live a godly life is seen 38:01 in Christ coming in the flesh now the flesh has got two meanings in the bible one is this physical flesh it's very often used in the old testament in the new testament it's not just referring to physical flesh it's referring 38:16 very often to something else for example let me show you Galatians I'm doing a bible study but it's a bible study that help you in your daily life Galatians and chapter 5 see what it says here Galatians 5 and verse 17 the 38:36 flesh sets its desire against the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit against the flesh now the Holy Spirit is not against my body this flesh the Holy Spirit is not against this this is the temple of the Holy Spirit why should 38:50 he be against this so that's not the meaning of flesh what is it that the Holy Spirit is against in me it's not my body this is his temple he wants to take care of it it's my self will which is called the 39:11 flesh in the New Testament Christ came in the flesh which means he had a will of his own we thought about that earlier he had to say not my will but thine that is the autobiography of his whole life Christ came in the flesh 39:28 but he never yielded to the flesh he never did his own will when and says the flesh sets its desire against the spirit Galatians 5 17 is talking about my self will my self will is always against the holy spirit and the holy 39:42 spirit is always against my self will and these are in opposition to one another and you and I know that very well and if you allow the holy spirit to take over you will not be able to do the things that you want to do the 39:56 Holy Spirit will give you strength to stop it you want to think in a certain way speak in a certain way and the Holy Spirit will put the brakes and you won't be able to do it the wheel will put his foot on the brakes and 40:10 you suddenly find you don't say that and you suddenly find that thought doesn't come into your mind it's amazing the power of the Holy Spirit and that is grace that is given to the humble the spirit is against the flesh 40:23 then he goes on to speak about all the deeds of the flesh in verse 19 so this is the grace that we need to receive and that we need to live under all the time to live under the grace of God this is the grace under which 40:40 Jesus lived now turning back to Hebrews 4 15 the secret of godliness you know I never discovered this for a long time but this is one of the things that led me into a life of overcoming sin Hebrews 4 and verse 15 first of 40:57 all verse 14 we have a high priest Jesus Christ verse 15 one let me put it in a positive way and it says he cannot not one who cannot sympathize with our weakness which means one who can sympathize with our weakness let 41:15 me put that verse 15 in a positive way we have a high priest who can sympathize with our weakness and what is our weakness our weakness is that we fall into sin so quickly we are not talking weak that small little thing 41:33 make us trip and have a dirty thought the small little thing makes us trip and speak an angry word very small thing and the Holy Spirit sees our weakness and he sympathizes with it and we have a high priest who can sympathize 41:52 with our weakness that is Jesus Christ he is talking about Jesus Christ there and Jesus Christ is a high priest who can sympathize with our weakness why because he was tempted in every single point as we are and did not 42:09 sin that's why he can sympathize you see like in the physical realm if you have gone through some severe suffering in some area you can sympathize with another person who is suffering in the same area you know if a woman 42:27 is having a very severe problem in her pregnancy or in her birth another woman who's gone through that thing can sympathize with her more than I can I can offer her sympathy but a woman who's gone through that will say I 42:40 know exactly what you're going through in this difficult time of pregnancy I cannot say that Jesus can say to us I know exactly what you're facing in the time of temptation why because he went through the same thing himself 42:54 he was tempted in every point not just in every point in all things is one statement he was tempted with every temptation that comes to you and me but the other thing is as we are that means with our limitations he 43:15 did not use his heavenly credit card which he had as God he could have used it but he didn't use it he lived on earth though he was God he did not use God credit card he lived as a man with grace upon him that's why he overcame 43:30 that's why he could go to the cross he was tempted as we are but never sinned therefore you say therefore what if Jesus was tempted like that how does that help me therefore because of that if you believe it we can come 43:47 near to the throne of grace the throne is called the throne of grace and when we come to the throne of grace we get two things there one we get mercy which Jesus never needed mercy is forgiveness of our sins that's the first 44:03 thing we need because we failed so many times Jesus never needed mercy at any time because he never sinned but then we get the other thing which Jesus also needed which is grace and grace for what to help us in our time 44:16 of temptation that's the meaning of time of need what is my time of need not financial need not physical need my time of when I'm tempted it's my time of need I need something to help me overcome this the sudden temptation 44:34 that came to me and I slipped up in my tongue and I slipped up in my thoughts that's the time of need what I need then is grace and if I fall I need mercy so I first need mercy for all the times I have fallen in the past 44:47 and say Lord forgive me then I need grace so that I don't fall again next time in the future many Christians live their entire life only getting mercy mercy mercy mercy mercy I say brother that is Psalm 103 you're living 45:03 in Psalm 103 you're living a life 3000 years ago which David lived be merciful to me O Lord praise the Lord that's mercy but now it says let us go to the throne of grace we're not going to the throne of mercy today it's 45:22 called in verse 16 a throne of grace you'll have a completely new understanding of the New Testament now that you're beginning to understand what grace means what the throne of grace is there you can receive mercy and grace 45:34 you understood the difference now and because Jesus was tempted in exactly the same point as we are he battled now let's see how he battled Jesus is a high priest where chapter 5 verse 2 ignore these chapter divisions sometimes 45:52 these chapter divisions confuse us because we read a chapter and then we close the Bible and read the next chapter the next day and we have completely forgotten where the earlier chapter ended there are so many places in 46:05 the Bible where I found that it's almost as if the devil made that chapter division there so that people don't understand the wonderful truth that is there Hebrews 11 and Hebrews 12 there should not be a chapter division 46:17 there John chapter 7 and John chapter 8 there should not be a chapter division there because there's something continuous that gives you a truth which you don't realize if you read that chapter the next day because you forgotten 46:28 what you read the previous day so all this is the same theme that a high priest who's taken among men is appointed to be behalf of men and he can deal gently with the ignorant and misguided and like Aaron was given this 46:44 honor Christ has been given this honor verse 5 to be a high priest and it's in the days of his flesh here it is verse 7 in the days read flesh now as in the days when he also had a self will that's not when he was in heaven 46:59 in the days when he was on earth with the self will just like ours which is called flesh he prayed with prayers and supplications how did he get victory how did he get this grace he was humble but in addition to his humility 47:17 one proof of his humility let's say was he prayed with loud crying and tears that's a proof of the humble Jesus his humility was seen in the fact that when temptation came he didn't say ah I am God watch this get away Satan 47:37 that would be using his credit card as God he know that we don't have that credit card he didn't use it how did he overcome temptation then listen to this carefully and you'll discover why you didn't do it his humility was 47:55 seen in this way by recognizing I cannot overcome this temptation as a man with my human strength and therefore I pray to my father in heaven and how will I pray with loud crying and tears tears verse 7 to the only one who could 48:16 save him from spiritual death the only one now it says how do I know it's referring to spiritual death there there are two types of death spiritual death and physical death so when he says he was crying with loud crying 48:33 and tears to be saved from death is he talking about Gethsemane where he wasn't praying with tears is that where he was talking about no because here it says this death he was heard he was heard means he didn't face that 48:52 death so which was the death that he did not face he faced the death on Calvary he never prayed to be saved from that he didn't pray to the father save me from that he said not my will but thine be done when it come to Calvary 49:06 but there was some other death that Jesus prayed with loud crying and tears and said father save me from that death and he was heard he was heard he was saved from which death the soul that sins will die that's 49:28 the death James describes temptation sin and death like this temptation sin death is described in James like this James 1 14 one is tempted when he's tempted by his own lust lust 49:49 when it conceives speaking like conception a mother giving birth to something lust conceives because the woman yields to a man and so she conceives if she did not yield to the man she would not conceive so lust conceives 50:10 and gives birth to sin and sin when it is finished brings death that is the death Jesus prayed to be saved from in Hebrews 5 the sin that comes through lust conceiving and Jesus prayed with loud crying and tears father I 50:30 don't want that to happen in my life James Hebrews 5 and verse 7 and he was heard he was heard because of his godly fear I tell you the fear of God is the thing that's lacking in most Christians today just like 50:50 the grace of God the one big advantage that the Jewish people had when they became believers was this take a man like Peter let's assume he came to Jesus when he was 30 years old for 30 years he had been drilled in 51:11 his home the fear of God fear of God fear of God fear of God be afraid of God there are 613 commandments be afraid that you don't slip up on any one fear of committing sin and then one day they hear about the grace of God 51:27 that will just forgive you ah what a wonderful message but today's Christians haven't heard one thing about the grace of God in their previous unconverted life they they they have been living in sin randomly and freely there's 51:41 no law nothing for them and then one day they hear about the grace of God I can be forgiven they don't appreciate it it's like people were in prison for a whole 50 years or something they get released they appreciate it 51:55 more than somebody who just went in for a day so we don't appreciate it like those Hebrews 5 7 why was his prayer heard not because he was the son of God he 52:16 was heard because of his godly fear that is the godly fear that's missing in many Christians today because they heard about the grace of God and they never heard about the fear of God and the Bible says in Proverbs the fear 52:33 of God is the beginning of wisdom it's the ABC of wisdom and so the trouble with many Christians today is they have been put into college without having gone through kindergarten they didn't go through kindergarten they 52:50 didn't learn the ABC and all of a sudden they are put in a class where they are taught physics and math and literature and they can't understand what's going on because they didn't learn the ABC imagine if you were put straight 53:01 into college or even put straight into fifth grade or something to study physics and chemistry and all types of things and you haven't learned the ABC you'll sit there confused that's exactly the condition of christian was 53:15 sin and sin and sin and sin and they keep on asking for forgiveness the Jews had an advantage they were drilled into the kindergarten lesson why do I solve it why do I call it the kindergarten lesson Proverbs 9 10 says the 53:31 fear of the Lord is the beginning or the ABC of wisdom the fear the reverence for God Proverbs 9 10 is the ABC of wisdom and we have not learned the ABC as Christians and we are suddenly put into fifth grade 53:52 hearing about geography and history and I can't understand what's going on because I haven't studied the alphabet so it says here he was heard because of his godly fear so I come to this conclusion that before we learn the 54:10 grace of god all of us need to develop a greater fear of god reverence for god and his word and then when we cry out when we say lord i slipped up there one thought that came one word came out of my mouth it should not have 54:28 come reverence for god makes me guilty because I spoke one rude word to my wife or in a provocative situation in the office one rude word and it convicts me oh god why did I say that reverence 54:48 for god and a person who lives like that cries out lord help me when he's tempted cries out with tears in his eyes I've cried out many times with tears weeping lord I never want to sin in my life I can't remember the number 55:05 of times I wept and prayed but because I did not want to displease my heavenly father I did not want to displease my savior who paid such a price to forgive my sin I don't want to take that lightly my dear brothers and sisters 55:22 please take seriously what I've said ask God to teach you the fear of God and then the grace of God it will completely change your life it will change your family life it will change your life in the office it will make 55:41 you a flaming witness for Christ and if you are an elder brother in some church please go and fall down before God and say Lord have mercy on me what type of example am I to tell other people follow me as I follow Christ 55:56 where am I following Christ am I praying with loud crying and tears like Jesus prayed where the same flesh as me and had to battle it with loud crying and tears to overcome and I think I can smoothly sail across without 56:11 loud crying and tears my forerunner had to pray with loud crying and tears so that he would not sin because of his godly fear and I think I can follow him without any loud crying and tears I want to ask you Christians who 56:23 are defeated by sin when was the last time you prayed with loud crying and tears when was the last time your pillow got wet in your home at night because of your tears I'm not saying it doesn't have to be loud crying I remember 56:42 saying Lord I don't want to disturb everybody with loud crying the Lord said you don't cry loud with your noise there can be a loud cry in your heart which nobody hears but the tears will come out of your eyes if you're 56:56 really sincere there'll be a loud cry in your heart not others will not hear a word but there'll be tears in your eyes because you say Lord I slipped up one bad thought came into my mind one one bad word came out of my mouth 57:09 I don't want to do it again those of you who take sin like that I guarantee by next year's conference you'll be a different person I'm not saying you'll be different tomorrow takes time but you will be a different person 57:24 in one year I can give you a written guarantee if you take sin seriously from today learn to fear God and cry out to God for the grace of God I pray that it will be true for most of you no for every one of you even the young 57:41 people here you need to live an overcoming life you need to live an overcoming life so that you don't slip up in the sexual you need to be an overcomer so that you finally end up in a godly marriage to a godly person and 58:02 not someone who just falls in love with your pretty face or someone who falls in love with your wealth and marries you dear brothers and sisters let's raise up a generation in this land of people who will be flaming witnesses 58:17 for Christ by a godly life even if your church is small Jesus church had only 11 people but it was such a powerful church turned the world upside down for 2000 years so don't worry if your church is small but let it be a 58:31 powerful church let's pray so as our heads abound in prayer please remember what you heard today god gives grace to the humble humble yourself therefore you can never overcome sin if 58:52 you do not come under the grace of God but if you come if you humble yourself the grace of God will definitely be over you and cry out in your heart with loud crying and tears to the one who's able the only one who's able 59:11 to save you from falling into sin he can keep you from falling it's the last of the last episode of Jude 24 unto him who's able to keep you from falling and to present you without any fault in the presence 59:31 of glory with exceeding joy to him alone be the glory forever isn't that interesting there's the last promise in the new testament the last verse of the new testament before the book of revelation unto him be the glory who 59:46 can present you he alone can present you faultless before his presence heavenly father lord jesus do that for us do it for those who are crying out to you with need in their heart right now and let that cry cry not decrease 1:00:05 in intensity but only increase in intensity until it becomes a reality in every life and we really come under the grace of God we pray in Jesus name Amen God God God
