0:00 churches is to be able to build fellowship and avoid conflict and make a church one body. Even churches that preach holiness 0:19 and many other good things, when it comes to fellowship and unity, it's sadly lacking. And interestingly, it's the thing that Jesus himself could not accomplish 0:38 with his 11 disciples despite all the preaching that he preached to them and everything that he told them about the father and desire for them etc. Yet at the end of it all and on the last 0:56 day they were still fighting as to who's going to be the leader after Jesus goes. There was a fight for who is the greatest you or me. And in 20 centuries of Christianity, that type of fighting, whether it's externally or inwardly trying to prove 1:15 that one is bigger or greater or better than the other, has continued in almost every church. And if we ask ourselves why is it that those disciples, why is it Jesus even Jesus couldn't do it? 1:33 That was the one thing that he said in John 14:12, "After I go, you will do a greater work than me." That's not a physical miracle because nobody's ever raised anyone the equivalent of raising Lazarus from the dead after someone was dead for 1:50 4 days. That's never happened ever. Even the apostles didn't do it. So, what was the greater thing that Jesus said we would do in John 14:12? It would be making people one, which he couldn't do. And the reason he couldn't do it is 2:05 because those 11 disciples didn't have the Holy Spirit within them. So once the Holy Spirit came within on the day of Pentecost, they became one. So then why is it that Christians who are now living after Pentecost are not one? And not only now, even in 2:24 the first century, the Corinthians were fighting with each other, the Christians there. And I'm sure they claimed like a lot of people today that they were filled with the Holy Spirit. In fact, Paul tells the Corinthians that they don't did not lack 2:38 in any gift. That's let me show you that verse. 1 Corinthians in chapter 1. There were some positive things about 2:56 these believers in Corinth. First of all, verse 4, 1 Corinthians 1:4, there was a grace that they had been given in Christ Jesus. They had tremendous gifts in verse five 3:15 of speech and knowledge. And verse seven says they were not lacking in any spiritual gift. That means they all spoke in tongues or most of them anyway and they had many 3:32 other gifts of the Holy Spirit. But he says, "I hear verse 11 that there are quarrels among you and there's conflict and all types of things." So 3:51 having received the baptism in the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the spirit didn't seem to make them one. And that's exactly what we see today. I mean, churches that claim to have that experience are still not one. there as 4:04 much conflict in churches that preach the baptism in the Holy Spirit as in churches that don't preach it. So obviously that's not the solution because if that were the solution, these folks should have been one or those who claim it today should be 4:19 one. There's something else which these folks in Corinth and many Christians today haven't understood and that's what we need to see. What is it that makes Christians one? 4:39 If you turn to Ephesians, which is the great letter on the body of Christ, there's no letter in the New Testament, no book in the New Testament that speaks more about the body of Christ as Ephesians, 4:56 the worldwide body of Christ of which he is the head. mentioned Ephesians 1 and Ephesians 4 and which principle applies even to the local churches and here 5:14 he speaks about unity. There's something in our flesh that you know repulses someone else another child of Adam and we see that in 5:33 children I mean they could be siblings that they'll be fighting with each other that selfishness which thinks of oneself is there in all the children of Adam and even after we are born again it's not gone born Born again a truly born again 5:52 husband and wife find still find it difficult to be one and truly born again brothers and sisters in a church find it difficult to be one. It says in Ephesians chapter 2 6:09 that there is an enmity in our flesh. Uh we read here in Ephesians chapter 2:15 that there's a enmity in the flesh which Jesus abolished on the cross. There's something in my flesh that does 6:30 not want to accept another. Even if that person's your husband or wife or there's something in it which seeks our own and that's what prevents unity. I mean, think of a husband and wife who are deeply in love with each other and 6:49 yet they have conflict. Why is that? Because they have great feelings of love for one another. No doubt. But there's an innate selfishness in the flesh 7:07 which prevents unity. And that's why conflict comes. And if you want to know what God's will for us is, Jesus said, you know, you know, in John 17, I pray that they'll be one as you 7:25 and I are one. That means the father in heaven and Jesus on earth. And Jesus came with a flesh which had a self-will in it. They were still one. 7:41 And the only way they could be one now it's not talking about the unity in heaven. In heaven of course if they were one from all eternity that unity cannot be an example for us because we're not God. 8:00 But when John 17 when he spoke about unity he was speaking about his unity when he was on earth with the father in heaven. Perfect unity. when he was on earth as a man having a self-will, which is another term for the flesh. 8:22 Whenever the Bible speaks about Christ coming in the flesh, all it means is that he he had a self-will. He didn't have sin. We are sinful flesh, but he was not sinful flesh, but he had a flesh, which means he had a a will of his own. 8:38 a will of his own which was different from the will of the father and the clearest manifestation of that is in Gethsemane. He did not want to drink the cup. 8:55 The father wanted him to drink it. And it wasn't just a one-s sentence prayer. We read in Gethsemane that he was struggling for at least one hour. father. But he would always say, "Not my will but thine." 9:13 And in John 6:38, he said, "The whole repurpose I've come down from heaven is to deny my own will and to do the will of the father." So that was how he was one with the father. If at any point in Jesus life he had done his own will, there would 9:30 not have been a unity with the father. fellowship with the father would have been broken immediately. So when he says to us take up your cross and follow me, 9:47 what he's saying is like I did, you must say no to your own will all the time. It's only then that you'll be one with the father. And when you're one with the father, you will become one with other believers 10:04 who are also one with the father. So the enmity spoken of in the flesh here is this self-will. I mean that's how sin came in Eden where Eve said, "I'll do my will, not God's will." That's the origin of sin. 10:24 It's the origin of is the root of all sin. what you see in Adam, God has said this, but no, I want to do this. God says, "Don't eat, but I'm going to eat of that forbidden tree." And so there came a conflict between Adam and Eve as well because he also 10:41 wanted to do his own will there. And then of course they have conflict with each other, begin to blame each other. And you see there right at the beginning in Eden, Adam begins to blame Eve. It's almost the very first thing that happens 10:53 as a result of sin. And there began the separation of husband and wife, conflict, separation from God, separation. And Jesus came to rectify that by never doing his own will. He put to death that enmity in the flesh. It says in verse 15, he abolished in his 11:12 flesh the enmity so that in verse 15, he can make the two into one new man. There's no other way to make two people one and reconcile them both in one body. Who are these both? You're speaking about two people 11:31 and those two people are in verse 12 uh verse 11, the Gentiles and then the people of Israel. In verse 11 and 12, he's speaking about two groups of people, Gentiles. And so there were people saved among the Gentiles, 11:51 non Israelis, and there were people saved among the Israelis. And there was tremendous conflict between them. They were the two greatest opposites in the whole world, the Jews and the Gentiles. 12:07 And these are the two whom Jesus brought together and made one. And the reason why so much is spoken about Jews and Gentiles in the New Testament is because they were the greatest opposites that ever 12:25 existed in the history of the human race. They detested each other. And there are many differences among human beings, but none as great as the Jews and Gentiles. So here it says that the greatest opposites were brought together 12:45 by Christ. At the cross he made them one body. Verse 16 through the cross having put to death the enmity. And this is what the New Testament calls what Paul calls a mystery. 13:03 You know if you go to chapter 3 he says by revelation there was made known to me this mystery and what is this mystery that you might know my insight verse chapter 3:4 into the mystery of Christ 13:21 which in other generations was not made known but has now been revealed and that mystery is really very simple actually very simple and yet very complicated. it that the Gentiles must become one with the Jews. Verse 13:38 six. And you can certainly understand that's a great secret. How can two opposite people become one? And if you want to know how difficult it is for two people to become one, go and ask any husband and wife. You don't have 13:56 to go to Jews and Gentiles. You can go to people of the same race. It's so difficult to be one. And if any husband and wife is honest, they will admit that the reason for lack of unity is a 14:14 strong self-will. my will, [Music] my personality, my dignity, my reputation, my interests, I don't want them to be crossed. Then there will be no unity 14:36 because such a person has not died. Even many Christians who speak about death, they haven't really died and that's the reason for defeat in their own life 14:56 and lack of fellowship with others. Now it's you know we can always say that the fault is with the other person even among believers when they don't have fellowship with each other there's a tendency to say it's because something 15:11 wrong in the other person even if we don't say it we think like that I think even between husband and wife to think the fault is with the other person that's why we're not one but the very fact that we think like that proves we haven't died 15:27 because a dead person doesn't even think like that. I remember when many years ago when I was meditating on this matter of dying with Christ, I think when I the Lord first began to 15:45 manifest this truth to me more than 40 years ago, I didn't understand it all fully, but I used to I was thinking at different passages in scripture which spoke about death. what happens when a person dies and applying it to 16:00 this inward death that Jesus brings us to when we are crucified with Christ. And one of the passages I saw those days was Psalm 146. In Psalm 146, it speaks about death. 16:18 It speaks about mortal man in verse three. Uh mortal man. Psalm 146:3, in whom there is no salvation. And here's a description of death. His spirit departs. 16:36 He returns to the earth. And in that very day, his thoughts perish. Then you know you have died. When your thoughts have perished, that means you acknowledge that your 16:57 thoughts could be completely wrong. You put it to death. I could be wrong. My opinions could all be wrong. This is a what Paul means when he says in 2 Corinthians 10 to take every thought captive 17:16 to the obedience of Christ. In 2 Corinthians 10:4, what are the lofty things within us? Say 10:5, sorry. What are the lofty things within us which rise up against the knowledge of God? That's our own thoughts, 17:33 my strong opinions about various things. The demands that I make on other people, not not verbally. It's all sort of silent inward demands that we can 17:52 make on one another. You know, I could be expecting respect from others. My thoughts haven't perished then. I expect someone to treat me in a certain way, to be respectful. Maybe 18:09 because I'm older and he's younger and I'm a bit offended that he treats me like a peer. I haven't died. I'll never be one with that brother. This is what happens very often among Christians within the older generation and younger generation. The big gap that 18:28 comes because the older person thinks, hey, how does he how dare he treat me like himself? I'm not like himself. You know like the laborers who came in the first hour when the folks who came at the 11th hour got their wages. Their complaint was how 18:47 can you make them equal to us? It's a characteristic of the race of Adam. How can you make that person equal to me? He was converted yesterday. I was converted 50 years ago. How in the world can you make him equal to me? 19:03 And if we have any thought like that, our thoughts haven't perished. We haven't brought every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. And however much you may think there's a fault with the other person, probably the fault is 19:17 with you. You're not willing to die. I believe this is the secret. This is the reason. If you really want to be one as husband and wife, you really want to be one in a church, 19:35 this is the price. And I might as well tell you that most Christians are not willing to pay it. And so they'll never be one. They'll never be one in their home. There may be a superficial unity just to you know like window dressing to show 19:52 other people in the church that we're one or in the church to show other churches we're not like other churches we don't have conflict. I mean the absence of conflict the fact that we don't fight with each other that doesn't 20:06 mean we're one. How I mean Jesus and the father he didn't say I don't fight with the father that proves I'm one. No, there a lot of people we don't fight with. That doesn't mean we're one. And maybe you never fought with your neighbors. It doesn't 20:18 mean you're one with your neighbor. So the absence of conflict in a churches doesn't prove that we're one. I mean, we can be thankful for that because that's thousand times better than other churches. That's not our standard. 20:32 He didn't pray that we shouldn't have conflict with each other. He said we must be one. All men will know you're my disciples when you don't fight with each other. No. All men will know you're my disciples when you love one another. And that 20:46 means we're one. And means I don't seek my own. My thoughts have perished. My opinion of myself is gone. I In other words, you cannot offend me by what you do or don't do, by what you say or don't say. You cannot offend me. 21:05 I believe that is where we must begin. And I always say that's the kindergarten lesson. There are a lot of sins in our life which take a long time to get rid of. With men, sexual temptation is an area where it's a battle for many decades 21:25 before a person can come to rest in that area. It's a constant battle. Even after you are born again and filled with the spirit, if you're not watchful, you can fall. Anger is another area where we may have to fight and struggle. Takes time. Love 21:43 of money is another huge area that can take many years to really overcome. Totally. I mean there are layers of the love of money like an onion and to get right down to the center of the onion can take many years. Some people just 21:57 take off one layer and say I'm free from the love of money because in some area they were a bit generous. That doesn't prove anything. very deep rooted. Selfishness, pride, these are all very deep deep rooted. But one thing we can 22:10 get rid of easily if we want to is getting offended. I say that's the kindergarten lesson. We really got to finish with it. And if you don't make progress here, you're really not going to go to the next class, to the next grade. 22:29 And why is it I get offended? My thoughts haven't perished. I talk about dying with Christ, but I've not really died. I don't want to die. I don't want to take and it's not something I can do once for all. I wish I could do it once 22:40 for all, you know, like on Calvary, finished and gone. But it isn't. The old man is finished and gone in a moment. Romans 6 says, "The old man is crucified with Christ and buried. That's over." That's what God did. But the flesh 22:58 is something we had to crucify all the time. In Galatians 5:24, they that are Christ have this attitude of they crucify the flesh. It's God killed the old man, but we have to kill the flesh. It's so clear. Romans 6 is the old man 23:13 and Galatians 5:24 is what we have to do or Romans 8:13 is what we have to do. If you through the spirit put to death the deeds of the body. So you you need to understand the difference between Romans 6 6 Romans 6:6 the old man God put to 23:30 death and Romans 8:13 the deeds of the body we have to put to death these are two different things or the Old Testament example of that is very beautiful the armies of Egypt God killed them but the armies in Canaan the Israelites had to kill see the 23:49 difference they didn't Israelites didn't have to lift a finger to kill the armies of Egypt. That's the old man one moment in the river gone. And that that's why the Israelites going through the Red Sea is a picture of our 24:04 baptism. It says they were baptized in the Red Sea. 1 Corinthians 10. And our baptism is a picture of our old man buried. That is the Egyptian army buried. And God did it all. God, he crucified our old man with Christ. But when it comes to the 24:19 armies of Canaan, the giants in Canaan, the lust in our flesh, God doesn't kill them. He doesn't kill one of them. We got to kill them. But in God's power, if we don't depend on God's power, then the giants rule the land. And that's 24:34 exactly what we read in the book of Judges, how they allow the giants to rule in pockets here and there. the few little bits of area where they conquered. You know, repeatedly it says in Jew in the book of Judges, but the Israelites 24:48 allowed these people to live here and the Israelites allowed some other folks to live there. Exactly. The book of Judges is a perfect picture of believers. They've conquered certain areas in their life and they're quite 25:00 content. There's a whole huge land of Canaan to be conquered. But they seem to be content that they have occupied two or three areas or a few areas and it could be written about their land. But they allowed the flesh to rule here and 25:11 but they allowed the flesh to rule there and they seem to be content with it. I mean um it amazes me. Don't you feel surprised that God wanted God told them very clearly that the Canaanites were all to be killed, but Israelites just 25:26 allowed them to live? And we're supposed to finish with all the flesh with its affections and lust. But so many believers just don't seem to take it seriously that so many of those lusts are still living. So that's the reason why this unity is 25:41 not there. And we can talk about it and sing about it, but we'll never come to that unity unless each is willing to say, "Lord, I want to go down to the death of the cross." It's on the cross, what did we read in Ephesians 2? That on the cross 26:00 he made them one body. So it's anybody, two brothers, if there to be one, they must both be crucified. If husband and wife want to be one, both must be crucified. Their thoughts must perish. 26:17 And when we do that, Satan can't rule over us anymore like he did. There's a secret of freedom from Satan too. That also I saw in an Old Testament picture in another place where death is described in the book of Job. Here's another place in Job where the 26:36 book of where death is described that when a person dies, he says in Job chapter 3, why did verse 11, why didn't I die at birth or come forth from the womb and expire? 26:59 Because if I had died then verse 13 I would have been lying down quietly and I would have been at rest. You know why there's so much unrest among Christians and in their heart and with one another? They haven't died. That's all. 27:17 And uh in death the weary verse 17 are at rest and they don't hear the voice of the taskmaster verse 18 and the slave is free from his master. Our master was the devil and in death I'm free from my 27:37 master. It's the only way if the slave can be free from his master. A servant can leave his master by resigning his job. But a slave there's no resignation. He's bound to his master for life. And the only way a slave in 27:50 those days could escape from his master was by death. And the slavery that and the human beings are slaves to the devil. To be really free from the devil is by death. And that's what God accomplished for all his children on the cross. And that's 28:07 why people in the Old Testament continued to be slaves of Satan. Even men after God's own heart like David was a slave of Satan at different times. But in the New Testament in depth when we are crucified with Christ the slave 28:21 is free from his master and you can come to the place where you hardly even hear the voice of the taskmaster that we who frequently heard the voice of the devil now we hear the voice of God. So it's a wonderful thing if we choose 28:37 it. Uh, and it's amazing that Christians who most Christians don't even know about it because their leaders never teach about the cross. And even those who talk about it, they don't live it. And it's not once for all. Like I said, the old man being 28:56 buried is once for all. But the battling the flesh, which is the giants in Canaan, is a daily affair. I mean at the end of Joshua's life, God says to him, there's still lot of land to be possessed. He sells Joshua a whole 29:12 lot of land to be possessed. Now you got to encourage the others to possess the rest of the land. So that's a daily affair. That's why Jesus said you got to take up the cross daily. Every single day I have to choose to die. When I was a 29:30 young Christian, I was taught by my I was completely newly converted and the elders in the church I was attending said, "You must read your Bible every day. You must pray for a little while every day. You must try to witness to somebody if possible 29:46 every day. You must seek fellowship with other believers. Try it every day. These are the four things I was taught. Read your Bible, pray, fellowship with others, and witness to others. and try and do that every day. Read your Bible and pray every day. 30:03 Now, it's very interesting that none of these things are mentioned in scripture. Nowhere in the Bible does it say I got to read my Bible every day or pray every day or fellowship with others every day or witness every day. They're good 30:17 habits. I'm not saying they're bad. In fact, it's a very good habit to read the Bible every day. But it was impossible for Christians for over a thousand years because nobody had a Bible. How could they read it every day? 30:29 So God was very realistic. We there were no printed Bibles till about 500 years ago. So but there's something else the Bible says we are to do every day and that is take up the cross every day. And that's the one thing no none of the 30:43 others told me. The Bible says I must encourage others every day. Hebrews 3:13 I must take up the cross every day. It's very interesting that Christians are so pathetically ignorant of the scriptures 31:01 that they swallow what preachers tell them to do and don't know what the Bible tells them to do. Think of this. I swallowed it. I have to read my Bible every day, pray every day. The Bible says we got to pray always, not every 31:15 day. It's like breathing. I got to do it all the time. I've got to read the Bible every day. So, I would read my Bible to ease my conscience. Maybe 15 minutes, half an hour. I pray every day. I got to sort of go through the ritual of 15 31:25 minutes of prayer and try and witness to somebody and ease my conscience. This is how I lived. And why did I swallow all that and not do what the Bible says I must do every day, take up the cross every day? Because I just sat there and I was not 31:42 like the Bereans who checked up with the scriptures what the whether the Apostle Paul was saying was scriptural or not. I just swallowed it. And it's quite possible that a lot of you sitting here though this may be a very good church may still be swallowing 31:57 a lot of things which may be good things. But if you don't see it in scripture, you're not going to have a good foundation for your faith. Jesus said, "He who hears my word and does them will build his house on a rock unshakable." 32:14 God wants us all to have an unshakable life. And that's only possible if I hear his word. Remember what he told Martha when Martha was busy doing so many things. I found a lot of Christians who find a lot of satisfaction 32:31 in doing something for the church. Yeah, I'm helping in the church. I'm doing this and I'm doing that and I'm doing the other thing. And praise the Lord, the church a lot of things to be done. Could be practical things, could be 32:44 visiting folk and helping folks. all wonderful, but it's all Martha. Nothing wrong in it. But there's everything wrong in it if you don't do what Mary did. That's what Jesus told Martha. He didn't say that it's wrong to serve me. How can 33:00 it be wrong to serve Jesus? And Martha was unselfishly serving Jesus in the kitchen, but the her trouble was she gave priority to that and neglected to do what Mary was doing. and she thought Mary was wasting her time just listening 33:15 to the Lord. I believe all of you could profitably examine yourselves and see whether you find your satisfaction in doing something for the church. I'm not asking you to stop doing that. I believe we should serve the church 33:32 continuously. I've been doing it for 50 years and I'll never stop serving. But that's not my priority. My priority is to listen to the Lord every day. And if I don't do that then my service is not going to be so effective and I 33:48 can whatever I do for the church is going to be far more effective if I first begin by listening. So if I try to hear what God is saying if I get to know the word I'll discover that Jesus said this impossible to follow me 34:05 unless you take up the cross every day. I come across people sometimes who are very argu argumentative about which version of the Bible you should use particularly the King James version fanatics and um 34:24 whenever they asked me I said see I'm not going to get in an argument with you about it I'll tell you one thing in India in the 22 languages in India in the hundreds of dialects not one of them is King James version. I remember somebody sent me an email 34:40 once. You must destroy every Bible which is not King James version. I said we'll have to destroy all the Bibles in India. Nobody will have a Bible left in thousand mill 1,000 million people in India because not one of them is from 34:51 the King James version manuscript. But anyway, that's uh but what I tell such people is I said I've got a little book at home called the New Testament in 26 translations in one book. And I said, do you know what I've discovered? 35:10 Every one of those 26 translations say that you have to take up the cross to follow Jesus. On that there is unity. whichever translation you take even even if you take the Roman Catholic translation. So I said let's begin there where all 35:28 the translations are agreed instead of going into the root meanings of Greek words here and there. Whatever root meaning of any Greek word you go it says you got to take up the cross every day if you want to follow Jesus. There is no other way. And you 35:42 know we can get taken up with studying so many other things which is all good. And with all that study and information and Bible study of various verses, you still won't follow Jesus if you don't take up the cross every day. 35:57 And you will not become one with someone who is totally different from you like the Jew and the Gentile if you don't take up the cross every day. And that is God's ultimate goal. That is the secret of holiness. Not my will but thine. 36:17 Putting to death the deeds of the body every day. That means I choose to die every day. I choose to take my position with Christ as dead. You know what the Bible says in Romans 8:61? Reckon yourself dead. Count yourself as dead 36:33 and act on it. Dead with Christ but dead with Christ and alive in him. So it says through the cross, it's a wonderful passage here. Let me get back here in Ephesians 2. Uh Jesus made these two groups 14 36:51 Ephesians 2:14 into one breaking down the barrier of the dividing wall. Is there a dividing wall between you and another brother here? Or you sister and 37:08 another sister? something that you can't accept in that other person. It could be some silly earthly thing and maybe just their personality and you can't accept it. See, for example, I find some human 37:32 beings are very curious. They always are asking questions, inquisitive questions about things that don't concern them one bit. Even Christians, does that irritate you? If a brother is like that or a sister's 37:52 like that, you know how many people get irritated? I never get irritated. I don't answer them. I sometimes say, well, how's that going to help you to live a more godly life knowing that getting that unnecessary information? 38:13 You're silenced. I say it's not necessary for you to know that unnecessary information. You see, there are things in others that can irritate us. We don't say anything because we've been trained to be 38:31 cultured and courteous. But there's something inside us that rejects them because I haven't died. And that person is not going to change for the next 10 years despite all the messages he hears in the church. 38:48 But if I die, I'll be at peace. My thoughts will perish and I am at rest. It's a wonderful way. And then if somebody else chooses that way, you'll I'll become one with them. We cannot become one with 39:05 people who refuse to die. So if I'm willing, then this dividing wall will be broken down. He he broke down that dividing wall and he abolished in his flesh this enmity so that he might make two into one and 39:24 reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross. The Lord is not making a churches full of a bunch of holy individuals. No, he's making people one. He's going to not present a 100,000 holy 39:43 individuals to the father. He's going to present one body. This is the mystery and it's really is a mystery. The Bible speaks about two mysteries, two great mysteries rather. There are many smaller mysteries like the mysteries of the kingdom, mystery of 39:58 iniquity, etc. But it speaks of two great mysteries. One is the great mystery of how to live a holy life. uh 1 Timothy 3:16, great is the mystery of godliness. 1 Timothy 3:16, 40:17 that means like the living Bible says, it's true that the way to live a holy life is a it's a secret. But the answer lies in Christ who came in a flesh and his spirit was pure. He was justified in his spirit means his spirit was pure. No human being had ever 40:35 lived with a self-willed and kept his spirit pure. Jesus was the first. The answer lies there to see how he did it. If I look unto Jesus and run the race, I can do it too. That's the great secret of holiness. And the other great mystery is Ephesians 40:54 5 and verse 32 where he says Christ and the church. That's another mystery. The church being one with Christ is a tremendous mystery. How can so many people become one? Again, the answer is the same if I'm willing to deny my own will. 41:13 Now, I'm sure you probably heard some of this many, many times. The thing is to actually put it into practice and say, "Lord, I want to choose to die." And I'll tell you how for myself how I can know 41:31 whether I'm dead in a situation is by being at rest in over many coffins in India they write over it rest in peace. If there's some stirring in the coffin you know the person isn't dead. Don't 41:49 bury him yet. Um but if he's really dead there'll be no stirring rest. So for myself I ask myself is there a disturbance in my heart over something? Problem is not with the other person the 42:06 problem is with me. I have to die. Anytime there's a disturbance in my heart over anything it means I have not died. I have not accepted the sovereignty of God there. So if I pursue this way, 42:28 it becomes easier and easier as time goes on. And we have a greater control over ourselves. You know, the Bible says the fruit of the spirit is self-control. I can control my tongue. I can control my eyes. I think most people will acknowledge 42:46 that their greatest sins they have committed in their entire lives as Christians is they cannot control their eyes and they cannot control their tongue. If he could control our eyes and control our tongue, we'd be saved from so many 43:02 sins. The fruit of the spirit is self-control. And um if I say Lord, I want to die with Jesus. I want to choose that way of death consistently. Consistently 43:20 not judge other people to see whether they are dead or not. It's not my business. See, when Jesus died on the cross, he wasn't looking around to see if the other thieves were dead or not. It didn't didn't matter to anyone one at 43:33 all. They hadn't died. Doesn't matter. I want to die. That's our example. I have to make sure I die. And one way I know that is that there's rest. So when Jesus says, "Take my yoke upon 43:51 you and you will find rest." Matthew 11:29. It really means take up the cross and you will find rest. I could paraphrase it like that. Take up my cross 44:09 every day and your soul's restlessness will subside and you will be at rest. This is God's will for his people. It says in Hebrews 4, there remains a rest for God's people. And that is this is the rest. This is the Sabbath rest. 44:28 There remains Hebrews 4:9, a Sabbath rest for God's people. And if you want to know what the real meaning of the Old Testament Sabbath was, this is it. This is why the Lord was so particular about the Israelites keeping the 44:44 Sabbath. It was picturing this wonderful life of rest. Rest that comes through death to self. Rest in peace in the coffin. Reckon yourself dead. 45:01 And I see a beautiful picture of this in Revelation where it says, "Those who came off victorious, Revelation 15:2, they stand on a sea of glass." 45:22 It's a beautiful verse. Those who come over victorious, they are standing on a sea of glass. That means a sea that's perfectly smooth. 45:42 Whereas Isaiah 57:20 says, "The wicked are like the troubled sea tossing about and never addressed." That's how we were when we were unconverted. Isaiah 57:20. From there to come to Revelation 15:2, 46:00 where I am standing on a sea of glass now. There's no turmoil. I have learned to enter into God's Sabbath rest. And then like it says in 15:2, if I can 46:16 hold the harps of God and sing, that's meaningful. And I say that's the way I want to sing. Every Sunday morning when I come to sing, I want to stand on a sea of glass and sing praises to God. A life, a heart 46:35 that's got no complaint against a single human being that's not making any inward demand on anybody. perfectly happy to accept the way others have treated me or neglected me or insulted me. It's okay. I'm on a sea of 46:54 glass. It's a wonderful life. And let me say in conclusion that you will never choose this way unless you can believe in a sovereign God who has promised 47:14 that he will never allow us never allow anybody never allow any human being to test me beyond my ability to bear. 1 Corinthians 10:13. It is impossible. 47:33 No demon, no human being can ever test me or try me beyond my ability to bear that God will give me grace. That's the only way I can be sure that I shall stand on the sea of glass forever. 47:51 There will never come a time when I'm not when I'm standing in a sea of turmoil. Dear brothers and sisters, this is our inheritance in Christ. Canaan's land. Don't let the devil rob you of it. To be a church, united as one 48:10 body is our inheritance. It doesn't matter if other people don't do their part. You do your part and leave the rest to God. That's what I decided. I'm going to do my part. That's all I 48:27 can do. Paul said in Colossians, I do my part in filling up that which is lacking in Christ's afflictions. Whether the other fellow does his part or not, Paul says, I'm not bothered. What can I do? I have no control over 48:41 another. But if I do my part, and little by little a few people get gripped by this truth and also do their part, we'll have a body. Let's pray.
