0:00 Lift up your hearts. Lift up your voice. Rejoice again. I say rejoice. He sits at God's right 0:20 hand till all is forsome and accord to his command and follow his feet. So lift up your 0:40 heart, lift up your voice, rejoice again. I say rejoice. May be seated, please. As we sing, blessing and honor, 0:59 glory and power be to the ancient of days. From every nation, clap and sing. All of creation before the ancient darkness. Every tongue in heaven and earth shall declare your glory. Every tongue in 1:18 heaven and earth shall declare your glory. Every knee shall bow at your throne. In worship. You will be exalted, oh God, and your kingdom shall not pass away. 1:36 Oh, ancient of days. Sing it again from the top. Blessing and honor. Glory and power. We sing. Blessing and honor. Glory and power be to the ancient mountains. From every 1:55 nation, all of creation bound before the ancient of days. Every tongue in heaven and earth shall declare your glory. Every knee shall bow 2:11 at your throne in worship. You will be exalted, oh God. And your kingdom shall not pass away. Oh ancient of days, your kingdom shall 2:28 reign. Your kingdom shall reign over all the earth. Sing to the ancient your days for none can compare with your matchless 2:44 words. Sing to the ancient days. Every tongue in heaven and earth shall declare your glory. Every knee shall bow at your throne. In worship you will be exalted. Oh 3:04 God, and your kingdom shall not pass away. Oh ancient of days. Oh ancient of days. Oh ancient of days. Oh ancient of days. Oh ancient of days. God is building a people of power. 3:27 He's making a people of praise who will move through this land by his spirit. and we'll glorify his precious name. Build your church, Lord. Make it strong, Lord. Join our hearts, Lord, through your son. Make us one in your body in 3:42 the kingdom of your son. Let's join our hearts together. Unite our voices. Sing to him. Bless his name together. [Music] For God is building a people of 3:57 power and he's making a people of praise who will move through this land by his spirit and will glorify his precious. Build your church Lord. Oh build your 4:14 church Lord. Make it strong Lord. Join our hearts Lord. through your son. Make us one. Make us one, Lord, in your body, in the kingom. Good job. Let's sing it again. God is building a people 4:34 of power. God is building a people of power. And he's making a people of praise who will move through this land by his spirit. 4:51 and will glorify his precious name in your church. Oh build your church Lord. Make it strong Lord. Join our hearts Lord through your 5:06 son. Make us one Lord in your body in the kingom of yours. Build your church Lord. Oh build your church Lord. Make it strong Lord. Join our hearts Lord 5:26 through your son. Make us one Lord in your body in the kingdom of your son. No other name but the name of Jesus 5:43 is worthy of glory, worthy of honor, worthy of power and all praise. Join with us as we sing. No other name but the name of 6:00 Jesus. No other name but the name of the Lord. No other name but the name of Jesus is worthy of glory and worthy of 6:22 honor and worthy of power and all praise. No other name but the name of Jesus. No other name. No other name but the name of the 6:42 Lord. No other name but the name of Jesus is worthy of glory and worthy of honor and worthy of power and all 7:01 praise. His name is exalted. His name is exalted far above the earth. His name is high above the 7:20 heavens. His name is exalted far above the earth. Give glory and honor and praise unto his 7:35 name. Sing no other name by the name of Jesus. No other name but the name of the Lord. No other name but the name of 7:55 Jesus. is worthy of glory and worthy of honor and worthy of power and all [Applause] [Music] 8:14 praise. So I worship you through all my raise my hands. I'll raise my hands and I'll sing your praise. I'll bless your 8:32 name and lift it high with heart and soul and voice I cry. Jesus I worship 8:50 you. Jesus I worship you. Jesus I worship you my 9:06 God and my kings. in the quarters again. Only the voice is [Music] Jesus I worship you. Jesus I Jesus I 9:25 worship you. Jesus Jesus I worship you my God and my king. [Applause] [Music] We saw the other day 10:10 that there is a balance in scripture and sometimes balances in the immediate verse following or immediate verse before that. So those of us who only remember individual verses and 10:29 memorize them, it's good. But be careful that you don't take a verse out of its context. For example, there's I'll give you one or two examples. It's very popular for people to quote, 10:48 "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin." But do you know that's only half a verse? The full verse is 1 John 1:7. If we walk in the light as God is in the 11:05 light, then and then only the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. What about someone who does not want to walk in the light of God? That means he's not willing to allow God's light to shine into every area of his conscience. He 11:21 doesn't want that. I want to say the blood of Jesus does not cleanse him from all sin. And this is probably the only church where you'll hear that said. quote God's word exactly because in this word we have the 11:38 word of life that shows us the pathway to glory and the devil is a master at you know dividing God's word into two and split taking out the condition and giving you the promise the promise is 11:57 the blood of Jesus will cleanse you from all sin the condition is if we walk in the light and the devil is a master at cutting out the condition and making you memorize the promise. Many of you know this promise. I give them eternal life and 12:16 they shall never perish. No one will pluck them from my hand. My father is greater than I and no one can pluck them from my father's hand. You know that's also only half a verse. It's in John chapter 12:33 10 verse the verse begins at 27 but people quote it from verse 28. It's very common for people to quote the latter half. The verse begins with my sheep hear my voice. Are you one of his 12:50 sheep? Secondly, do you hear his voice? Third, does he know you? Fourth, do you follow him? Then I give them eternal life. They'll never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. My father's given them 13:09 to me. He's greater than I. No one was able to snatch them out of the father's hand. You know, a lot of people think CFC is preaching new truths. It's not. We're not preaching new truths. We're just quoting the whole scripture. 13:21 The Bible says in 2 Timothy 3:16, "All scripture is inspired by God and is profitable to train us in righteousness, to make us perfect." So what I mean is it's the whole scripture is like a circle. You take half that 13:39 circle and say that's inspired by God, but you leave out the other half, you're going to deceive yourself. Do you know that the devil quoted half a scripture to Jesus? If he can quote it to Jesus, why won't he quote it for 13:53 you? You read in Matthew chapter 4 is very, very important. I'm just trying to teach you how to study scripture so that you're not deceived. Matthew chapter 4, the only difference, I'll tell you this. Please listen to this. The only difference 14:07 between us and other churches is we quote the whole verse and the whole scripture. We quote the condition whereas most other churches only quote the promise. If you want to classify it generally, that's about it. We quote the 14:19 whole scripture. Others quote just the promise. Matthew chapter 4, we read that when the devil came to Jesus and told him, "If you're the son of God, turn the stones into bread." And Jesus said, "It is written." That's why he was different 14:34 from Eve. When you know that the devil came to Eve also questioning, "Has God really said? Has God really said?" And for 6,000 years, he's been telling people, "Has God really said that?" Imagine how far he's gone today. 14:53 There are parts of the world where the devil says, "Has God really said that marriage must only be between a man and a woman? How far he's gone because he leads step by step by step by step by step. He doesn't suddenly come up with 15:07 wild things. I heard of a experiment I don't know whether that's true or not of how they uh how they put a frog in ordinary cold water and he was quite comfortable there and they raised the temperature little by little over a 15:20 period of time and uh and uh they didn't make it boiling hot suddenly the frog would have jumped out but they raised it maybe few degrees kept it there and the frog was comfortable in that temperature then raised it a little more and the 15:34 frog was comfortable in that temperature raised it slowly over a long period of time to the point where it killed the frog. This is a picture whether it's the our experiment is true or not, I don't know. But it's a perfect picture of how 15:48 the devil, you know, just makes you compromise a little bit. You just tell a little lie here or a little compromise here or you skip something which your conscience tells you ignore it and little by little he he's got a foothold 16:00 in you. Once you've ignored something which your conscience tells you or once you've ignored some scripture, the devil's got a foothold in you. And when the devil came to Eve and said, "Has God really said?" And he got Eve into a 16:14 conversation. And then Eve said, "Yeah, we may die." G and the devil said, "You will surely not die." See, he contradicts God's word. And the de devil led her astray. That's how sin came into the world. Remember that sin came to the 16:30 world because the devil questioned God's word and made Eve discuss God's word with him in got into a discussion with God's word and gradually led her into sin. Whereas when it came to Jesus, Jesus said there's no question of discussion. It is written. 16:45 That's the end of the matter. Then the devil said, "Oh, I can't tackle him the way I tackled Eve." So he says, "It is written." Okay, then I will also quote, "It is written." So the next temptation the devil comes with it is written 17:00 because this person quotes it as written. So if he finds that you're one of those who are stickler for God's word, he will bring God's word to you but quote half of it. And so he comes to Jesus in the next temptation and says if 17:11 you're the son of God, throw yourself down because it is written. He's quoting Jesus' own words. It is written. He will give his charge of angels charge over you on their hands. They'll bear you up lest you strike your foot against a 17:23 stone. You compare that with the original verse in Psalm 91 and you'll see a slight difference. It says in Psalm 91 and verse 11 and 12, he'll give his charge of you to guard you in all your ways and they will bear you up. And that is a 17:43 promise to those who dwell in the shadow of the Almighty. Verse one, for whom is it? Is it for everybody? that promise in Psalm 91. No, it's for one who dwells in the shadow of the Almighty. And when I see the word shadow of the Almighty, it 18:00 means this. Supposing you and somebody are walking towards the sun. The sun is in front of you and somebody's walking. If how do you walk in the shadow? You walk in the shadow by walking behind him. That's the only way you can walk in a shadow. You're not 18:16 walking beside him. You're walking in a shadow. So to walk in the shadow of the Almighty means I'm walking behind him. And if I'm walking in the footsteps of the Lord, then he will give his angels charge over me to keep me in all my 18:26 ways. But if I go wherever I like and I say, "Oh, he has said his angels will give charge over me." You'll be as foolish as the way the devil tempts him tempted Jesus. But Jesus said, "You quote it is written." Well, let me tell 18:39 you verse seven. On the other hand, it is also written. So the truth of God is not found just in it is written. That is one wing of the bird. But if it's one wing a bird, it'll just go in circles. And a lot of people who quote one 18:54 scripture go in circles. But all scriptures inspired by God. So it is written plus it is also written. Then we don't go astray. I'm just give you that little warning on Bible study because so many people I find I I get letters from people who quote one 19:13 scripture and they even trying to correct us and then when they when we quote another scripture and say it is also written this they never reply back they don't even have the honesty or the humility to say thank you brother for 19:28 correcting me I see the whole truth now no they are humiliated ated by the fact that they were proved that they were wrong by another scripture. Not what we thought we just quoted. It is also written. That's how we reply to some 19:41 emails. Some of them are honest and humble enough to say, "Thank you for showing us that we learned the truth." If you are humble enough and thankful, when somebody shows you something, corrects you in something, if you have 19:54 the humility to say, "Thank you, brother. I did not see that before. You are on the right path and you'll never go astray." But it requires humility to say thank you so much instead of saying oh yeah yeah yeah I see it. That's an 20:11 arrogant way. Has has somebody shown you the truth a little better than you saw it before. Have you ever gone up to him and say thank you brother for showing you that I never before but thank you so much. That's very good. So I want to show you one of these 20:26 places in Hebrews chapter 3. You know sometimes people say brother we preach such strong things in the church. We terrified people with the word of God. But I say do you know that in the Bible? Let me ask you something. Who 20:44 preached about hell more than any other preacher? You know who it was? It was Jesus Christ. You read in all the New Testament, look for the word hell in a concordance. It's a good way to study the Bible. I I bought a concordance. One 21:01 of the first things I did when I earned some money way back in 19 63 was to buy a concordance and a really good concordance. And I began to study words in that study what the script all that the scripture says about grace and about 21:20 faith and about hell. It's so easy when you have a concordance. Take a concordance and look for the word hell and find out and you can write to me if you like. How many times did Paul preach on hell? How many times did Peter preach 21:33 on hell? How many times did John preach on hell? And how many times did Jesus speak about hell? You'll really get a surprise. And Jesus spoke about hell in a very scary way. Uh before I get here, maybe I 21:51 should show you that Matthew chapter 5, how many of you know this that in the entire sermon on the mount is very the sermon on the mount is the longest sermon that Jesus preached uh to the multitudes. I mean there's a long message in John 14:15-16 also but 22:11 the longest sermon that Jesus preached to the disciples as in general and to crowds listening was in Matthew 5:6 and 7 and it is the end of that sermon that he said if you hear my words and obey them you'll your house will be founded 22:23 on a rock unshakable that means my life will be unshakable I want an unshakable life I want a life where the devil can tries to shake me the circumstances shake me unconverted relatives shake me Christians Call me heretic and shake me 22:37 and I will be unshakable like a rock. One way to get there, obey Matthew 5:6 and 7. That's why when we started CFC in 19 1975, we preached on the sermon on the mount verse by verse through many 22:54 weeks. And you can go to our website and go to the New Testament verse by verse and listen to verse by verse through Matthew 5:6 and 7 and through the whole New Testament if you like. or you can go to another series we have 23:07 on our website called All That Jesus Taught and there you'll see the whole sermon on the mount again. So we have many um u series there in our website where you can listen to the sermon on the mount. But I want a family life that is 23:24 unshakable. There's so many attacks on the family in these days. Some the devil tries to come between husband and wife, come between parents and children. So much of that in the world today. How shall you build an unshakable home? I 23:36 want to tell you, take the sermon on the mount seriously. Because at the end of that, he said, if you listen to my words and obey them, it's the unshakable word of God that can never fail, your life will be founded on a 23:52 rock. But if you listen to it and you don't bother to obey it, you can think you're very spiritual. You will shake. The devil's too smart for all of us. You'll be building on sand. So let me show you. Do you know that in the sermon on the mount only two 24:09 places only two places Jesus spoke about hell. Did you know that hell is mentioned in the sermon on the mount? In two context. Actually the word comes three times but in the context of two sins. That's what I mean. Three times 24:24 the word hell comes in the sermon on the mount but two sins. There are many many sins mentioned in the sermon on the mount. Judging others, being anxious, doing your works to show other people, hating your enemies, that's a sin, you 24:39 know, to hate your enemies. And not speaking the truth or loving money, that's another sin. Many sins like that are mentioned in the in the sermon on the mount. And of course, many things mentioned in the first part, not being pure in heart, not 24:56 being poor in spirit, not being peacemakers, etc. But among all these sins, Jesus mentioned two, only two out of all these sins which are in danger of taking you to hell. And do you know what those two 25:12 are? Anger and lusting after women with your eyes. Anger applies to all men and women. Lusting after women with your eyes is it doesn't just apply to young people. It can apply to older people. If you don't conquer it in your younger 25:29 age, you can be 80 years old and still be defeated by it. You have to fight and battle it in your younger days. Fight and battle anger. Fight and battle lust of the flesh. Matthew chapter uh 5 and verse 22. I say to you that everyone, 25:48 there's no exception. Everyone. Whenever Jesus uses the word everyone, everyone and you know I haven't researched it but I think it's only in relation to these two sins that Jesus said everyone. Everyone I mean in relation to lust of the eyes leads on to 26:07 adultery also. Everyone. Everyone. You try and search out that for yourself. He uses that word everyone. So there's nobody left out. Everyone who is angry. are you included with his brother shall be guilty. You get angry, you're 26:27 guilty. And I know in some versions, I think King James version because they thought the standard was too high, they the trans the translators added a little phrase called without a reason. Angry without a reason. Even Osama bin Laden was not angry without 26:47 any reason. and he had a reason for getting angry. Once you put without a reason, all anger is justified. That's a very convenient phrase that people put in. Tell me, do you ever get angry without a reason? I mean, you got to be mad to be angry 27:00 without a reason. Always there's a reason, but that is not in the original scriptures. And I believe the NASB is very accurate. He who's angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court. And whoever shall say, when the 27:13 anger in the heart boils out to words, he's more guilty. And when it goes on to say more words then you are guilty to go to hell. That's the first place. The second is in verse 28. I say to you that everyone who looks on a woman to lust 27:31 for her that means to lust for her body. I wish I had her body has already committed adultery because in his mind he wanted her. He couldn't get her for some reason. And therefore, you know, this lusting comes with the eyes. If 27:48 your right eye makes you to stumble, tear it out, throw it away from you. That means basically it means just be like a blind man. Because if you tear out your right eye, is it still possible to lust with your left eye? Do you need two eyes to 28:03 lust? No. One eye is more than enough to lust. So, you need to understand what Jesus was saying. I mean, if you tear out your right eye, you got to cause you to lust. Tear it out. The principle is if after that your left eye causes you 28:16 to stumble, tear that out as well. Basically what it means is be like a blind person at that moment which means close your eyes or turn your eyes away or switch off the computer or something and get away from there so that you're 28:30 not because if you don't do that you may save your body but your body will go to hell. It's better that one member of your body perishes than your whole body be thrown into hell. I mean, is it possible for a person's whole body to be thrown into 28:47 hell? Who is he talking to? Is he talking to the Pharisees? See Matthew 5 verse 1 and two. His disciples came to him and he opened his mouth and taught them. He's telling his disciples, you're my disciples. I'm telling you, you can go to 29:07 hell. There are not many preachers who say that a disciple can go to hell. Jesus did. And he said if you you can sin with your right eye sexually. And then he also says verse 30, you can sin with your right hand sexually. Now you know what that means. 29:24 Cut it off. Throw it away. Cut off the left hand. In other words, be like an armless person. So you can't sin with your hands sexually otherwise your whole body will again go to hell. Everyone. Everyone. So these are strong words. You 29:42 know some people say brother Zach speaks very strong. I say you haven't heard Jesus. That's why he said things like Matthew chapter 12 and verse 36. I say to 30:00 you, I say to you, every careless word men shall speak, they shall give an account in the day of judgment. I take that word seriously because in that day I'll be justified by my 30:18 words. We are justified by faith. But faith without works, James says, is dead. And if it's real faith, I'll believe the words of Jesus. Faith means to believe the words of Jesus. What does it mean to be justified by faith? Faith 30:33 in what? Not just general faith. You have faith in a vehicle that brought you here from wherever your home was. You believe that that vehicle will take you. That's why you got onto it and rode it here. This is faith in God, in his word. 30:49 And his word says that every careless word you speak, you'll give an account of the day of judgment because by your words you will be justified. I believe that with all my heart. I didn't believe it for many years after I was born again, but I 31:03 believe it now and I'm very careful with my words. So you see, think of things like that. How Jesus called people generation of vipers and all that type of stuff. Now let's turn to Hebrews chapter 3. Again, a warning to believers. Take 31:19 care, brethren. Hebrews 3:12, "Lest there should be in any one of you believers an evil unbelieving heart in falling away from the living God." Verse 14, we become partakers of Christ only if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until 31:39 the end. I feel there are lots of believers, lots of believers and possibly some of you sitting here who think, imagine I am a special favorite of God. Those verses don't apply to me. Uh-huh. How the devil has fooled you. 32:00 You're a special favorite of God. That those verses don't apply to you. Whom does that apply to? I remember quoting these verses to an elder in a brethren assembly once and when I quoted this verse he said 32:20 don't quote to me from Hebrews that was written for the Hebrews. Uhhuh. Then there are I have nothing there's none for nothing for Zakunan here. This is for the Thessalonians and the Corinthians and I'm searching for something for me and I find nothing. Can 32:35 you believe that an elder in a brethren assembly said that's that's written for the Hebrews and not for us? Which part of the Bible was written for you then? It's amazing what all things people think to get out of obedience to 32:52 scripture. But the devil is a very smart guy. He's got clever arguments to prevent you from obedience to just go and claim the promises without the conditions. Brothers, take care, brethren, believers. Who are these 33:08 brethren? Word 31, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling for whom Jesus is the apostle. These are not Hebrews. These are not Jews. These are born again believers. to born again believers. He says, "You believers be 33:24 careful that you don't have end up with an evil unbelieving heart." That means you don't believe all these warnings given in scripture. You don't believe these warnings about anger and sexual lust. Because people sometimes ask me, 33:38 "Brother Zach, why do you in so many of your messages speak against anger and sexual lust?" I'll tell you because those are the only two sins mentioned in the sermon on the mount that can lead people to hell immediately. There are other sins 33:54 obviously they're not so serious. They are serious because they're sin. You know there are diseases some are more worse than others. I mean if you have a cancer that's worse than having a cold you know that having a cough and a cold 34:07 is also a sickness. Cancer is also a sickness but one is worse than the other. And so there are different sins, but some sins are worse than the others. You got to see that sin is exactly like sickness. Some are worse than the 34:20 others. So I don't know what is worse than the others. I may think murder, oh that's worse, terrible. Adultery, that's terrible. Or some things like that. But Jesus says anger and sexual lust are the ones that he relates to things that'll 34:35 take you to hell. So I say, Lord, I'm not the one who knows about hell. I'm not the one who knows what serious sin is. I just take your word. I mean, you listen to a doctor. Why can't you listen to God's word when Jesus says something? 34:46 Please take God's word seriously. It'll change your life. It'll change your whole life. It'll change everything in your life. Even if other people in your church don't come to a glorious life, you will come to a glorious life. And 34:58 people will see that and come to you and say, "Brother, how did you come to this life?" And you'll tell them, "I took God's word seriously." I believe it's the first step. Take care, brethren, lest there be should be in any one of 35:11 you an evil unbelieving heart. Can a heart of unbelief be evil? Yes. That means you don't believe what Jesus said. You don't believe it's going to happen. Do you know there are so many believers who don't believe these things won't happen to me because 35:29 I'm sort of a special favorite of God. God has no special favorites. I fear. I live in the fear of God. And I believe what it says in verse 14. Be we become partakers of Christ if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence. That means we started the 35:49 race well. And if we finish well, then we become partakers of Christ. But I'm a partaker of Christ now. But I've got to finish well as well. That is one side of the truth. warning, exhortation. Now I want to tell you the 36:06 other side of truth, encouragement. Verse 13, it's right there. It's the balance of scripture. But encourage one another daily. Otherwise, you will be hardened 36:23 by the deceitfulness of sin. So you see warning and encouragement. That's the balance. How to save people from sin. Warning. How to save people from sin. Encouragement. Now, we think that encouragement may not save people from 36:39 sin. It does. It says if you want to be saved from the being hardened, how do you get hardened? You keep on ignoring scripture, ignoring scripture, ignoring scripture. You get hardened. After some time, you don't even feel. It's a terrible state to come 36:57 to. That God's word is preached in power and you don't even feel it. You don't even feel anymore that lusting with your eyes is a serious sin that can take you to hell. You take it lightly. Ah yeah, it happens. We're all men. What to do? Or 37:14 you don't even feel that careless words can bring judgment to you. That shows your heart is hardened. Brother, be careful. while it is called today. Verse 15, don't harden your heart today. If 37:32 you hear his voice, there is hope for you. Don't harden your heart. So, there's warning, but there's encouragement. Verse 13, encourage one another as long as it is called today because your heart can be hardened by the deceitfulness of 37:49 sin. That means sin can deceive you. Oh, I'm not serious. The sin says this is not serious. This is not serious. This is not serious. It's amazing how, you know, when I think of these small teeny weeny germs called viruses and bacteria, it's 38:07 so tiny you got to need a microscope to see it. And that small little thing can kill a man. What a small thing it is that kills somebody. To me, that's a picture of sin. It's not just lions and tigers that can kill human 38:26 beings in this world. Lions and tigers can kill human beings, but the smallest little thing of a bacteria or a virus that can kill you too. And so sin must be taken seriously. But the way to help people not to be hardened is not always by 38:42 warning. That's what I wanted to emphasize today. Not always warning, warning, warning, warning. That's necessary. The Bible is full of warnings. We read some of Jesus warnings. But there must be encouragement and I want to share 38:56 something of that with you. First of all, I want you to see John chapter 3 and verse 17. God did not send into Everybody knows John 3:16. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. But John 3:17 is another great 39:14 verse. God did not send the son into the world to condemn or to judge. Judge usually means in the New Testament condemn. When it says judge not, it doesn't mean that I should not have any discernment. Sometimes people ask me uh 39:29 what is the difference between judging and discerning. I sh I tell you judging is always condemning as a condemning attitude towards somebody. When you judge in discerning you don't condemn. You're discerning so that you don't go 39:44 astray. Hey, I don't want to be led astray by that guy. I sort of discern that he's not genuine. I discern that that guy's after money. I discern that that guy's seeking his own. So I I I don't condemn him, but I discern and I 39:57 keep myself clear of such people. God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world. Please remember this. Condemnation is not what Jesus came for. If you ever feel condemned by any preacher or by anybody that's not from the Lord, what 40:17 does the Holy Spirit do? Convict. You need to distinguish between conviction and condemnation. Condemnation makes you feel hopeless. Conviction shows you the sin but gives you hope. Jesus didn't leave it like that, saying, 40:34 "Oh, well, if you can't get victory over anger, you're going to hell." He didn't leave it there. He sent the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost to show that you can overcome that. You can overcome that anger. You have commands in the New 40:50 Testament like Ephesians 4:31, put away all anger. All anger means all anger. If you take it seriously and you say, "Lord, your command says, put away all anger." Ephesians 4:31. I believe your Holy Spirit can help me in my life. I remember when 41:09 praying for the Holy Spirit to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I said, "Lord, if it takes 10 years, I'm willing to wait 10 years." You pray like that to God. Lord, I don't care how long it takes. 20 years, 20 years. Earlier the 41:22 better, but I'm going to get it. I'm going to put away all anger. Or it says rejoice always. I don't know how long it's going to take, Lord. If it takes 20 years, I am going to come to the place where I rejoice always. It's 41:36 like climbing a mountain. The Holy Spirit will lead you to that place where you will all rejoice in the Lord 24/7. Not rejoice in your circumstances. We cannot rejoice in our circumstance. Some of them are miserable. But it says, 41:48 "Rejoice in the Lord always." Isn't that possible? Has he changed? God is still on the throne. He still loves you. The devil's been defeated. Christ shed his blood for your sins. Those things are never changed. Rejoice in the Lord 42:00 always. That means fix your mind on him and don't be anxious for anything because you got a father in heaven who cares for you. So never allow the devil to condemn you. Never, never, never. Condemnation is from the devil. Romans chapter 8, this is a great 42:18 verse. Romans 8:1, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Now, whenever you read a verse like that, like I've often told you, read it in its context. That means read the verse before it, read the verse after it. 42:36 Okay, let's read the verse before it. Verse 24. Wretched man that I am. Romans 7:24. Who will deliver me from this body of death? He's feeling so miserable because he's so defeated. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ 42:51 our Lord. But he says, now this is a difficult passage, Romans 7:14-2. But I believe he's referring to unconscious sin that comes forth from us even when we don't want to slip up. It's not that I choose to do 43:08 it, but accidentally I slip up. You know there's a difference between a 10-month old child who is falling and when you trip somewhere and fall. You have learned to walk but once in a while you may trip on a stone or a banana skin and 43:23 fall. That's not because you haven't learned to walk because you're a bit careless. But when a 10-month old child is falling that's not yet learned to walk. It's falling and falling and falling and falling. So there's a picture of one 43:36 who's defeated that 10-month old child. And you are a picture of one who's got victory, but you can still fall any day. I mean, you can fall as you go out of this hall today. So, none of us can say, "I will never fall again. I can trip on 43:49 a stone or a banana skin today." So, victory over sin doesn't mean I will never fall again. It just means I've learned to walk, but I may trip up sometimes. So there is no so it says Romans 7:14-25 is talking about that unconscious sin. 44:08 There's so many areas in our life which we don't have light on. And so he says so then this is a very difficult verse to understand if you don't see understand what I'm saying with my mind in my conscious area. Let me paraphrase it. I'm serving the law of 44:24 God. My entire conscious area I'm serving the law of God. But in my unconscious area, which is probably 90% of my life, the law of sin is working. That means there's a lot of unconscious sin in the best of us. Please remember that. It's a 44:44 liberating truth that there are areas in your life you're not conscious of, but which are sinful. And someone who is more godly than you can see it. You can't see it. And 45:02 if a person condemns you for that, it's because he doesn't know God. Whenever I see someone doing something which I see as wrong, I see that must be an unconscious area in that person. I don't condemn that person. I mean it's not like adultery or 45:22 telling lies which even the worldly person knows is wrong. the ten commandments. Ten commandments everybody knows. I'm talking about other areas of selfishness and pride. Very often I can see that in some people a selfishness 45:38 and a pride. It's glaringly obvious to me. But I say to myself for him it is still an unconscious area. So he is not guilty. God does not hold him guilty and I will not hold him guilty. Take that attitude and it'll also help you to 45:57 recognize in the same way there must be unconscious areas in me because I'm not perfect either. And so there must be things in my life that other people can see which I don't see myself yet. And if he condemns me for it, it's because he 46:15 hasn't yet become godly to understand God's way. I don't condemn because I've seen there is unconscious and conscious there with with my mind I serve the law of God but unconsciously what what can I do my flesh is serving the law of sin and even 46:31 though now now understand this verse even though my flesh is serving the law of sin unconsciously yet verse 8 verse there is no condemnation I don't feel condemned you see the connection between verse 25 and Roman Romans 46:49 8:1 Though my flesh is constantly serving the law of sin unconsciously there are so many areas of my life that are sinful uncristlike that's the meaning of sinful I don't feel condemned as I discover something say I 47:07 discover something tomorrow and say wow you mean I've had this thing in me for 75 years and other people had to bear it in me for 75 years and I'm discovering it now. Thank you Lord for my dear brothers and sisters who have patiently born with 47:25 me for this wretched thing in me which I'm discovering now. Thank God I can cleanse it away now. But that is not the end of it. There are still other things in me that people have to bear with. Remember this my dear brothers and 47:40 sisters. It'll help you to be very merciful to your fellow believers in the church that everybody's flesh serves the law of sin. And when we preach victory over sin, we are not saying we have become like Christ. There is no 47:59 condemnation even though unconsciously I discover things in my life as time goes on. You can see that balance also in one John in chapter 2. You know, we quote this verse often. 1 John chapter 2:6. The one who says he abides in him 48:17 must walk as he walked. So I must walk as Jesus walked. There's no doubt about it. There's no exception to that. All of you say you're in Christ. You must walk as Jesus walked. But John says further on in chapter 3:2, we will be like him 48:35 only when he comes. So you need to understand the Bible says in understanding be men be mature. Don't be a child in understanding. 1 Corinthians 14:20. So in understanding be mature. Understand the difference between walking as Jesus walked. 1 John 2:6. And 48:54 being like him. 1 John 3:2. We will be like him only when he comes. You know when we tell people we're seeking to walk as Jesus walked. You say, "You mean you'll become like Jesus?" I said, "No, I'll become like Jesus only when he 49:05 comes. I believe we must walk as Jesus walked. What is the difference between walking as Jesus walked and being like him which is in the future. Walking as Jesus walked. Walking is a conscious act. We don't walk in our sleep. I mean 49:20 I heard of some people walk in asleep. I hope none of you get up and walk in your sleep. I don't remember that I have ever walked in my sleep. Walking is a conscious act. You put one step forward. You're not sleeping and putting one step 49:35 forward. It's not unconscious. Walking is not an unconscious action. That's what I'm trying to stress. You put one step forward, then you put another step and another step. This is walking. So, it's referring to the conscious area of 49:51 our life. Obviously, being refers to my total personality. That includes conscious, unconscious, everything. Being I am not yet like Christ. All of us must have the humility to acknowledge it so that when people question us what does CFC teach I see 50:10 this is it in my unconscious area which is 90% of our life we are not become like Christ but if we pursue in his footsteps that area will gradually become more like Christ this is called progressive sanctification becoming 50:29 holier day by day that's why some are more than others. And it all depends on your faithfulness. For example, if you see an unconscious area of your life tomorrow, say some new area you never seen. Thank you, Lord. You shown me an 50:46 uncristlike area of my life. And you ignore it. Oh, well, it's not serious. You'll never overcome in that area. You'll stagnate. You'll be like in fourth standard forever because you were taught something new in fourth standard. 51:01 maybe geometry and you didn't want to study it. So you fail and you keep on remaining in fourth standard forever because you didn't take that subject seriously. Another student who sat with you took it seriously and moved on to 51:15 fifth standard. So whenever the Lord teaches you something new, it's like a teacher teaching you something new in the class. Take it seriously. The ones who progressed in academics and in education the way you want your children to 51:26 progress is those who take something new, they are taught seriously. Oh, this is a new subject. I want to learn it. They go on then they learn something further. Isn't education like that? Every year you're turning something new, 51:37 something new, something. It's a perfect picture of the Christian life. It says Jesus learned obedience. You know that verse learned is an education word. Hebrews 5 and verse 8. As a son, he learned 51:56 obedience. And thus verse 9 became perfect means complete. How do you explain Hebrews 5:9? Jesus was made perfect. You know if you don't compare scripture with scripture and you don't study scripture carefully, you'll be confused. Jesus was 52:15 made perfect. You mean he was imperfect and he was made perfect? He was never imperfect. There was no sin in him unconscious or conscious. He was different from us in one area. that he had no unconscious sin because he was 52:30 not born like us. He was born without a human father. He was born of the Holy Spirit. So we have to admit there was one area he was not at all like us. He did not have unconscious sin. He did not have dirty dreams like you may have. 52:46 Never in his life because he had to be a perfect offering when he died on the cross. And that's why he never asks us to be like him in the unconscious area because he was born of the Holy Spirit. We are born of the Holy Spirit when we are born 53:01 again. But by the time we are born again, we have probably got 20 years of living in sin be behind us. Some people 30 years of living in sin behind us. And those years of sin have built in so much sin in our unconscious way of thinking. 53:17 See a lot of things you dream about are the things that you have filled your mind with. the trash you filled your mind with in your past days. For example, somebody who for 25 years has watched pornography, pornography, read 53:28 filthy books, and seen filthy pictures and all that. He's going to be plagued with filthy dreams for many years. And think of somebody who kept himself pure because he was brought up in a godly home for 20 years uh in purity in his mind. He's not going to 53:41 have so many dirty dreams. Otherwise, other people will be struggling with dirty dreams when even when they are 50 years old because they're not faithful. You can gradually get rid of it slowly, slowly, slowly, slowly as you fill your 53:52 mind with God's word. It takes a long time. And that's what should make us hate ever to put any of that dirty stuff into our mind again. Because if you put it, you'll be plagued for another five years with dirty dreams. Haven't you 54:04 suffered enough with dirty dreams? Why put one more stuff in your mind that'll plague you for another five years? That'll take you another five years to be completely clean. Be very careful once you started walking the way of 54:16 purity. be very careful what you put into your mind. Jesus never had unconscious sin because he never in his life put anything dirty into his mind or spoke anything sinful. So there is a difference but in tempted he was tempted 54:29 like us. But in temptation each time he uh overcame some sin God has never been tempted. The Bible says that and Jesus came as a man was tempted. So he overcame that. It was an education. It's like learning a new subject. Then he was 54:46 tempted another area. He overcame that. Tempted another area, overcame that. Little by little, he covered the whole range and he became complete. Perfect means he got his degree. And having got his degree, he has now become a professor. Verse 9. Uh 55:03 this is I'm paraphrasing it. Jesus completed his education being tempted in every area and completed it. That's the meaning of perfect. And now he's become a professor to all those who will obey him to lead them to eternal salvation. 55:16 That means he's now going to teach you the same way he went. Hey, I'll teach you how to overcome that temptation and that one and that one. I I've I've gone through the whole range. The Lord says, um, I hadn't done that when I was in 55:29 heaven, but I came to earth. I've gone through the whole range of education and I've got my degree and I can lead you if you listen to me. I will lead you exactly in my footsteps till you also experience the salvation. I it 55:44 depends on how serious you are to follow him. It's a wonderful message. There's no condemnation for unconscious sin. So let me turn you again to 2 Corinthians in chapter 3. In the old covenant that is a ministry of condemnation. It says in 2 Corinthians 56:03 3:9, sorry, 2 Corinthians 3, yeah, the ministry of condemnation, verse 9, is contrasted with the new covenant, which is ministry of righteousness. The ministry of condemnation had a certain amount of glory. He's talking about the glory of 56:22 Moses and his face. Verse seven, his face was shining. But do you see in verse 7 the face of Moses the glory was gradually fading away the Old Testament glory Moses' face shone when he came down from the mountain but he put a veil on it. It 56:41 says he put a veil over it in verse 13. Why did he put a veil on it? One reason was people were scared to look at him. But there was another reason. The other reason was in verse 13 so that people don't see that this glory is gradually 56:57 getting less and less and less and less and less and after two or three days it had gone completely and he didn't want people to see that. That's why Christians also put a veil over their life when the glory goes away little by little by little. 57:09 They don't want people to see that. Hey, I'm not as spiritual I was as I was last year and there's a glory fading away. I better cover it up. These are the hypocrites. If you live under the law like in the days of Moses, the glory will fade away 57:24 gradually. You may come to a wonderful glory because you're revi revived in a conference and a glory suddenly came but in 6 months it'll all go. But if you live in the Holy Spirit, it's the opposite. See verse 18. In when 57:40 you come into the new covenant of the Holy Spirit, it increases the glory. You may not ever reveal it to everybody but keeps on going from glory to glory to glory. This is one of the fundamental difference between old covenant and new covenant. 57:53 In the old covenant you get all stirred up in a meeting and then over a period of time it gradually fades away till it comes to the next conference again. You get all stirred up and then you put a veil over it. You don't want people to 58:04 see that you're backsliding and it's all gone away. That's why some people have to live from conference to conference of a week to week in a meeting. But in the new covenant it is from glory to glory to glory to glory. There may be very 58:15 little increase but it keeps on going up. The path of the righteous is like the shining light like the rising sun that shines more and more and more and more. The sun never backslides. That's the path of the righteous. There's the 58:27 same thing here from glory to glory to glory. So we must make sure that what we have attained we don't go back on. You know, in the children of Israel when they occupied the land of Canaan, they killed one giant and they got his 58:43 territory. Good. Then they go kill another giant and get his territory. Every giant you killed, his territory became yours. And every sin you conquer, there's a glory you get there. That's yours. But you read in the book of Judges, they 58:59 backslid. And some of those giants grew up, the children grew up to be giants and took over the land again. And Israel was slaves. Israel was slaves again and again and again and again in the land of Canaan. The book of Judges is a perfect 59:11 picture of the lives of many believers. They occupy a land and then they give it back to the devil. They give it back to the flesh. We must determine, I'm not going to give anything back. It's with great difficulty that I conquered 59:24 something and by the Holy Spirit's power, I'm going to go from glory to glory to glory to glory. And I see in the land of Canaan that I'm not condemned because way in the north of Canaan there are some giants still living. I haven't seen them. How can I 59:37 kill them? How can I kill a sin which I haven't seen? Unconscious sin. In the land of Canaan, you can see conscious sin and unconscious sin. They saw the city of Jericho. That's all. That's conscious. Conquer it. Whole of Canaan 59:51 is unconscious sin. You haven't conquered any of them. Never mind. You conquered what you saw. Good. Now you conquered Jericho. Go to the next. Next. Next next. That's how Joshua progressed. But by the time the judges came, they 1:00:03 all backslid. The they went to we can say they went to churches that didn't preach strong message of conquering the all the giants in Canaan. The result was the giants conquered the Israelites and they were slaves. The judges is a pathetic 1:00:15 book. One of the most pathetic books in the Old Testament. Even some of their leaders were leaders like Samson who was constantly defeated in his inner life. So dear brothers, these are all warnings for us. There is no condemnation, but we 1:00:30 must make progress. In the old covenant, there was condemnation. In the new covenant, there's a glory. We must believe that God can lead us, the Holy Spirit can from one degree of glory to another. I want to give you some 1:00:42 examples, not to encourage you to sin, but to comfort you. Do you know that after the apostle Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit, it is says in Acts chapter 10 that the Lord told him to go and 1:01:01 preach to the gentile Cornelius and he had never in his life preached to a non-Jew till then. Up to Acts chapter 10, they hadn't preached. Peter had not preached the Gentiles. And when the Lord told him was preparing him 1:01:18 to go to the Cornelius house, he had to give him a vision. And in that vision, he saw animals that were called unclean in Leviticus 11. The Lord told him to eat. And there were all types of animals in this crawling. Acts 10:12, 4-footed 1:01:34 animals, crawling creatures, some of them which are clearly forbidden by God in the law in Leviticus 11. Some birds that were forbidden. And the voice came from heaven, arise and eat. And Peter said, "No, Lord. I have never in my life eaten 1:01:49 anything unclean. Even today, the Jews don't eat certain types of food, pork, certain things they don't touch." No, Lord. I have never eaten that. And a voice from heaven said a second time, listen to this word, "What God has 1:02:04 cleansed, don't call unholy." This happened three times. Verse 16. to convince Peter that what God has cleansed don't call unholy. And he was perplexed. What does this mean? And immediately somebody from 1:02:21 Cornelius's house came and said, "Peter, Cornelius is looking for you. Cornelius is a gentile." Then he understood. I always thought of the Gentiles as unclean pigs. You know in India also we have this cast system that we think certain 1:02:37 people are lower level. You don't have to belong to the different cast. You can look at somebody as lower than you because he's not so educated or he's not so cultured. U he's crude in the way he does things. He's not 1:02:56 civilized and they do things in a very uncultured way and you're a very civilized cultured person and you get disturbed. I've seen some very civilized cultured people, Christians. I say, "You guys will never be able to work in any 1:03:12 villages in India. You'll get so offended you'll run away." I I remember one missionary told me, a missionary who came with his wife to India to serve the Lord in India. He couldn't last year long because his wife used to see people 1:03:29 urinating on the side of the road and he said, "Oh dear, I can't live in this country." And they he had to go back to America. I mean, if you can't bear to see the sight of people urinating on the side of the road, brother, you better if 1:03:41 you can't go to America, you got to die. That's the only way to get out of it. Because there all types of crude things people do. It's not a sin. It's not a sin because even in the Old Testament, you read about men piss 1:03:53 against a wall. Have you read that? Men are described as people who piss against a wall. If you don't believe it, read that in the King James version. That that is so common. It's mentioned in the Bible. What do you do that? Did God 1:04:06 reject them? So many things which are not sin which are crude, uncultured. I remember a westerner who came to India and say you guys eat with your hands. You don't use fork and spoon. I said no. I say we eat the way Jesus ate with 1:04:23 his hands. You guys don't use toilet paper. Use water. Yes. Jesus never used toilet paper. Do you know that? It's amazing what all people think that people think Jesus used toilet paper and had fork and spoon. Probably he drove in 1:04:39 a car as well in that case. It's crazy the imagination people have just because they've grown up from childhood in a certain way. I say these are the ways we can despise people because of something which has got nothing to do with sin. 1:04:52 You don't become holy by using toilet paper. You don't become holy by using a fork and a knife. And yet these things have been so ingrained in my mind as a reaction. How can they do that? You're not fit to be a missionary. You better 1:05:04 live in some high top first world country, live there for the rest of your life. You'll never serve God because even what God has cleansed, you call unclean because they eat with their hands or they don't use toilet paper. 1:05:18 What God has cleansed, the man's heart is clean. I've been tremendously blessed as I've been mixed with you know crude uncultured people who love Jesus Christ and I learn from them and I become a very rich man and spiritually 1:05:34 and the people who made me spiritually rich are not the PhDs and the highly cultured civilized people some very univilized uncultured people who love Jesus with all their heart something like Peter crude fisherman if you want 1:05:46 to see what the fish what Peter looked like a fisherman go Go to the beaches. Go to the coastal areas of southern Tamil Nad. You see what the fishermen are like. I've seen number of them. I've seen some of them in our churches. Crude 1:06:02 fishermen. And I think of them and I say that's what Peter looks like. Yeah. Or on the coast of Kerala. So you know what? God is cleansed. Don't call unclean. And Peter who was filled with the Holy Spirit had a difficulty. So 1:06:16 don't get discouraged. He also had a difficulty going to these crude uncultured Gentiles but he overcame it. But years later you read in Galatians even though he got that vision even though he went to Cornelius house 1:06:34 one day he was uh sitting in a place along with some other brothers and with some gentile believers. Galatians chapter 2 and uh he was eating food with them and Paul had to correct him. Paul remembers 10 years junior to 1:06:53 Peter spiritually and as an apostle and age. Can you imagine somebody 10 years younger than you and he was an apostle 10 years before you and you go up to him and rebuke him. Galatians 2:11 when Peter Cphas means Peter came to Antioch. I opposed him to 1:07:10 his face because he stood condemned because before some people came from James was the leader of the Jerusalem church and he was a very strict man. You can see that from his letter the letter to James. What a strict man he 1:07:25 was very very strict and a bit of a legalist. I think he got better by the time he wrote James but that time he was a bit of a legalist. And he was very strict about not eating with the Gentiles. Gentiles can be here in the same room but there must be 1:07:42 another table. We Jews sit at one table. And Peter was sitting eating with the Jews and Gentiles at the same table. Then he saw some brothers from James' church are coming through the door. He immediately said, "Excuse me, brothers." 1:07:56 And he went and sat in another table with the Jew. This is Peter, the great mighty apostle. And Paul saw that Peter getting up and going to sit with the Jews. And he publicly got up. Hey brother Peter, what are you doing getting up and going 1:08:11 there? And Peter, can you imagine how Peter felt? And he says not only Peter, some of the Jews and Barnabas who was Paul's friend. He says he also started went away with them. He was led away by their hypocrisy. Verse 1:08:30 13, Barnabas, you also I praise God for men like Paul. He preserved the freedom of the gospel, the equality of all believers. We need men like that today who don't differentiate between 1:08:50 Tamilians and Malalis and Anglo Indians and Maratis and white men and black men and yellow men and whatever it is red men or whatever it is all colors of skin all levels of education culture uncultured barbarians Greeks all 1:09:07 together one body in Christ the only thing that unites us is Jesus Christ what I'm trying to show is don't get discouraged Ed, if you find you also did some unwise things like this like Peter, that's what I'm trying to show you to 1:09:20 encourage you. It happened to Peter, a spiritfilled man, mightily used in one sermon of 15 minutes, he brought 3,000 people to Christ, but he slipped out. But he repented and he was forgiven. I'll show you another example in Acts 1:09:35 chapter uh 21. I'm sure this will encourage you tremendously. Acts chapter 23. This is a great encouragement. Why? Because the other sin of Peter's is not something uh is a little easier to conquer. You know, 1:09:54 being one with people of different culture. But this is anger. Anger is a sin which many of us find difficult to conquer. And Paul who preached victory over sin, who lived in victory for years, and now he's about 55 maybe 20 1:10:10 years. He's been a disciple, apostle, planted churches, all that. And now one day when he was in front of a judge, Acts 23, Paul looked at intently at the council and said, "Brothers, I have lived my life with a perfectly good conscience before God up 1:10:29 to this day." And it was true. And the high priest, Ananas, sitting there said, "Slap him on his mouth." And they slapped him and immediately Paul lost his good conscience. It just took about one second. Paul said him, "God will strike 1:10:45 you, you whitewashed wall." Do you think that is a man of the good conscience who speaks like that? He got angry. Let's not call it by any other word. Paul lost his temper. The man who had preached victory over sin for 20 1:11:02 years lost his temper. The man who said, "I've lived with a good conscience." Up until this day, God humbled him that very moment. At that moment, I think a little bit of pride came into Paul. That's the only way he lost grace. Any man who sins 1:11:22 at that moment, he's lost grace. It's happened to me. And I've said, "Lord, I lost grace at this moment. I want to repent immediately. Come back. I'm not learning to walk. I've learned to walk, but I tripped over a stone because I was a bit 1:11:38 careless or a banana skin. It happened to Paul. I want to say that to encourage you. And he said, you know, was it right to talk to that person saying, "You whitewashed wall, you're trying to judge me according to the law and you're not 1:11:55 following the law yourself." Well, legally you can say it's right, but that's not the way a Christian speaks because when they slapped Jesus on his cheek. He only said, "Why do you slap me? If I have spoken, what is the 1:12:07 truth?" He didn't get angry. He didn't call that judge some names. Anything less than Jesus standard is sin. And Paul came to less than Jesus standard. But he immediately repented. He said, "Do you revile God's high priest?" He says, "Oh, I'm sorry. I was 1:12:25 not aware that he was a high priest because I remember God's word which says you shall not speak evil for ruler of your people. So remember that Paul didn't have the light we have at that time. He was growing and yet he was 1:12:37 aware. My point is as soon as you're aware of sin if you can immediately confess it and apologize back he came back to what he said in the first verse. I'm living with a good conscience. That's what he did. So living with a good conscience does 1:12:52 not mean that you never slip up. It means that you set things right as soon as you slip up. Whether it's Paul or Peter and that's our encouragement. It may be anger. It may be despising somebody of another culture. It may be 1:13:06 lusting with the eyes. Suddenly you slipped up and you began to admire a beautiful woman. Now there's nothing wrong in admiring beauty, but it's pretty dangerous. I'd say it's like going to the edge of a cliff trying to 1:13:22 see like little children. How close can I come to the edge of the cliff without falling down? The chances are you'll fall down. Let me read to you in um Proverbs chapter 6. Jesus spoke about not desiring a woman's 1:13:40 body. But here in Proverbs 6 and verse 25, it says, "Don't desire her beauty in your heart." How do you desire a woman's You don't desire a body. Of course, you wouldn't dream of touching her body. No, no, no. I'm very pure in 1:13:57 that area. I wouldn't touch her body at all. I hate it. I maybe see you got my wife or or even you're not married. I'm single, but I won't touch a woman's body till I get married. Don't desire her beauty. Because if you start admiring a woman's 1:14:14 beauty, one day a woman will catch you with her eyes. It's amazing. Eyelids. You know how some of these flirtatious women flicker their eyelids again and again? Catch you with her eyelids. The Bible's very practical, I tell you. Don't let a woman catch you 1:14:33 with her eyes and the way she closes and opens her eyes at you. Don't let her catch you. And it begins with desiring a beauty in your heart. See, these are warnings given to us because it's like taking verse 27. It's like taking fire inside your shirt. 1:14:53 Put fire inside your shirt. That's what it says in verse 27. Dangerous. You'll burn up and kill yourself. So, what I'm trying to say is that there's hope even if you have fallen. When Peter fell, he fell into sin. Terrible sin. 1:15:13 Denied Jesus. Do you think denying Jesus is worse than getting angry, worse than lusting in your heart? I believe so. Because Jesus said, "If you deny me, I'll deny you before my father." He never said, "If you lust with your eyes, 1:15:25 I'll deny you." Never said, "If you get angry, I'll deny you. But if you deny me before men, I will deny you before my father." And Peter did that three times. And that beautiful verse it says in Luke 22, the Lord turned and looked at 1:15:42 Peter. How did he look at him? Do you think he looked at him saying, "I told you you'd do this." No. He looked at him and said with his eyes, "It's all right, Peter. I'm praying for you. God still loves you. 1:16:01 Don't give up. Don't give up. What is the sin my brother you have fallen into. You fall into some terrible sin. You're ashamed of it. People don't know about it. Never mind. Go before God. You haven't sinned as much as Peter. You did it three times 1:16:19 in one night. Worse than what you did. The worst sin of all, denying Jesus three times in one night. Can you see the Lord looking at you today with compassion? and saying, "I don't condemn you. I see 1:16:37 you have repented." And Peter went out and wept bitterly. It says, it's a beautiful verse there in Luke chapter 22. The Lord turned and looked upon Peter verse 61. Luke 1:16:54 22:61. And Peter went out and wept bitterly. Have you wept bitterly over some sin in your life? I hope you have. I have many times. It's a mark of true repentance. It's not the only evidence of true repentance. But if you really feel sorry 1:17:13 that you hurt the Lord so much, you weep bitterly because you're so sorry that you let down Jesus by that action. You slipped up. But just because you slipped up, is all hope gone for your life? He 1:17:30 thought everything was gone. He thought he could never be an apostle again. That's why you read in John 21 he decided to go back fishing. When he said I'm going back fishing, he was telling people not just as a you know 1:17:48 entertainment or relaxation. He says I'm going back to my fishing. I tried being an apostle three and a half years and at the end of three and a half years even though I said even all deny you I will not deny you. I failed 1:18:00 miserably. So apostilhip is not for me. And some of you may say this business of following Jesus and CFC standards are too high for me. I can't be here. Brother, if you're really sick, you need to be in a good hospital. And CFC is a 1:18:15 pretty good hospital. We can treat the worst cases. A good hospital is one that can treat the worst cases. Have you seen that? Sometimes you take a terribly sick person to a hospital and they say, "We can't handle this. Take it to that super 1:18:29 special hospital. CFC is a super special hospital for the worst cases. Worst. Absolutely worst. Worst prostitutes, worst drug addicts, worst anything. Sinned so terribly. Come to CFC. Jesus says, "Come to me." He came to call sinners to 1:18:49 repentance. You haven't sinned as badly as Peter. The Lord turned and looked at Peter. And if the look of Jesus has made you weep bitterly, I want to say to you, there's hope for you. Because when the Lord three days later Jesus rose from the dead and he 1:19:07 sent a message to the disciples through I want you to see this verse Mark 16. And the day when Jesus rose from the dead, this is a great verse. All of you must remember it. Mark 16. The angel when they came to the tomb they Mark 16 verse 5 they entered 1:19:25 the tomb they saw what was a young man they thought it was a young man it was an actually angel and the angel said don't be amazed Mark 16:6 you're looking for Jesus the Nazarene who was crucified he's risen he's not here's the place where they laid 1:19:43 him now go this is the verse I want you to Never forget it. Mark 16 verse7. Go and tell his disciples and Peter. Why and Peter? Wasn't he a 1:20:01 disciple? Why not and Matthew and James and John and why only and Peter? Never forget those two words and Peter. They're one of the most encouraging words in the gospels that Jesus took special note because if they had if he had just gone 1:20:19 and said ah Jesus sent a message for the disciples Peter would said that doesn't apply to me I'm not in that I was but not there today. So the Lord included his name specially. I do you feel you're the one who has failed the Lord most in 1:20:38 CFC in your church. The Lord says go and tell my disciples and put your name there. I'm going in front of you and you'll see me there. I want you to I want to see you. It's as if the Lord saying I want to see 1:20:57 you. there he said, "I'm going to Galilee. I want to see you. I want to be with you." This is how the Lord encourages. And later on when he met Peter after they went fishing in John 21, he called Peter especially out of 1:21:13 all those disciples. He called everybody John 21:12 to come and have breakfast. And then he called Peter alone and said, "Hey, Simon, do you love me?" Verse John 21:15, "Do you love me more than these?" 1:21:32 See, in the English language, it doesn't come out so clearly. But there are two words for Greek in the Greek for love and and Jesus spoke in Aramaic. I presume there are two different words there which Jesus used. That's why the Holy Spirit 1:21:45 has used two different words. What Jesus is asking Peter, do you love me? That supreme love that a man should have for God where nothing else on the world is important for him. Nobody on earth is important for him. And Jes Peter says, 1:21:59 "I love you, Lord, but with a friendly type of love." If he was the old Peter, he said, "Oh, sure. If there's anybody on earth who loves you like that, it's me." But that's he's a broken person. Now then the Lord asked him a second 1:22:13 time, "Do you love me with that supreme love that a man should have for God where he loves him more than everything on earth and all other people?" Peter's at the lower level. Lord, verse 16, I'm sorry. I'm not at that level. I only love you at 1:22:27 this level. And then you see this is the wonder of it. Peter came, Jesus came down to that level. Okay, Simon, verse 17. Do you love me with this at least with this lower level of love? He's broken. He said, "What can I say, 1:22:45 Lord?" Verse 17. You know everything. Once upon a time, I thought I knew my heart that I could promise you I won't do this again. I won't do this again. But I'll never say that again. Have you come to the place where you can say, 1:22:57 "Lord, I can never say to you, I'll never do that again. I've said that so many times and done it again." I said, "I'll never do that again. I'll never speak like that again. I'll never do that again." And I did it again. Lord, I'm not going to say 1:23:11 anything. You know my heart. You know to the best of my ability. It's a lower level, but I love you. I want to love you more, but right now this is the level. Please help me. And each time Jesus said, "That's okay. I accept you at that level and I'll give 1:23:29 you a ministry." Not just I'll accept you. Think of that. Think of that. Some of you failures sitting here that the Lord comes to you and doesn't just say he'll restore you. He said, "I want to give you a ministry. I want you to encourage other 1:23:44 people because you've gone through failure and the world is full of failures and you'll be able to encourage them more than these other people who've lived a fairly good life all along. Some of you who have messed up in your past 1:23:58 life, don't ever forget that God loves you. He doesn't want to just restore you. Please believe this. He does not want to just restore you. He wants to give you a ministry. He says, "Feed my lambs. Feed my sheep. Tend my sheep." And you get 1:24:16 all discouraged and say, "How can I do it? I messed up." No, I'm commanding you. I've restored you. Don't believe the lie of the devil anymore. When I cleanse a person, I don't remember his past anymore. I clothe him with my righteousness and I 1:24:30 give you a command. tend my sheep. Some of you elders who are discouraged because of your past failures, the Lord is saying to you, come on now. Take that responsibly seriously. Look after my sheep. Look after my lambs. How many of you will say amen to 1:24:50 that? Only so many. How many will you say amen? Amen. Praise the Lord. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you. There is exhaltation and encouragement in scripture. We would have been 1:25:09 discouraged if it was only one. Thank you. You're a God of encouragement. Help us. We pray each one, all of us, including me. We have failed so much in the past. We don't come here to make promises saying, "I will never do that 1:25:27 again." We can't say that. Once upon a time we did when we did not know the corruption of our own flesh. We don't say that anymore. We say like Peter, Lord, you know everything. And you know we want to love you more than everything else. But Lord, 1:25:45 there are things we love on this earth. We pretend we don't love them. But I want you, Lord. We want you to free us from anything that prevents us from getting closer to you. Thank you. We will not live in condemnation from 1:26:02 this day. We will not live in discouragement. You're a God of encouragement. Thank you in Jesus name. Amen. We'll have a break of 15 minutes and come back please by 10
