0:00 [Music] I'd like to turn you to turn with me please to one Timothy first letter of Timothy in 0:17 chapter 6. We speak in this church a lot about godliness. And godliness is to live a Christlike 0:36 life. And we have taught something which is almost not taught anywhere else. that the secret of living this godly life is what we read in 1 Timothy 3 and verse 16. Let's turn there 0:56 first. Great by common confession, great is the mystery. Mystery means a a secret that you can understand only if God gives you revelation. You cannot understand it by study. You cannot cannot understand it 1:13 by research. God gives you revelation then you understand this mystery uh you read about mystery Babylon I think many people haven't understood that it's you got to get a revelation as to what is false 1:32 Christianity Babylon same way here the mystery of godliness or the mystery of how to live a godly life that is a real mystery Because so many Christians who say they are born again who say we are better than all those other nominal 1:50 Christians when you look at their lives and the quarrels they have at home and so many other things you wonder what is their godliness the secret mystery of godliness has been hidden and we have discovered that that 2:07 mystery was revealed was in Christ coming in the flesh 1 Timothy 3:16 [Music] and was declared vindicated means declared pure by the Holy Spirit seen by angels believed in the world and taken 2:26 up in glory. So Christ the secret of living a holy life is seeing how Christ came in our flesh tempted as we are and yet never sinned. That is a mystery because I see so many 2:44 Christians have not understood it. It is a mystery indeed. But 1 Timothy 6, it adds something more to that. It says here that godliness has got great spiritual profit. There's no doubt about that. I can testify to that. 3:03 A godly life. You may not make a lot of money, but there's tremendous spiritual gain and profit by godliness. And that's what it says in 1 Timothy 6 and verse 6. Godliness or living a godly life actually is a means of tremendous gain 3:21 if it is accompanied with contentment. Because he says there are some people who men of depraved mind in verse five the latter part of verse five men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth who use the message of 3:38 godliness to make gain for themselves. Oh we have millions of such people in the world today who have preach a message of salvation to make financial profit. They make financial profit on the internet. They make financial profit in 3:56 their tele Christian TV programs and in all types of things, crusades and whatnot. Godliness has become a means of gain. And I want to say to any of you sitting here, wherever you work, wherever you live, if godliness has 4:14 become a means of profit on this earth for you, you got to fake godliness. If you're trying to make money or gain something through claiming to be godly or proclaiming a message of 4:33 godliness, it's a counterfeit. But he says there is a gain in godliness, but not the type of god gain you're thinking of. It's not a gain of making a lot of money. is the gain that comes from being totally content with the appointed lot that God 4:52 has planned for you. Godliness with contentment is a great gain. So, I thought I'd share a little bit about contentment because I don't know if all in our churches are content with 5:10 their life and with how God has ordained their life. It's very important because if you have godliness without contentment, I would say there it's a sort of a fake godliness. Real godliness will always bring contentment. I found that in my 5:27 life and one of the evidences of contentment is that we can give thanks. How can we obey a command which says always giving thanks in all things? Have you seen that command in Ephesians and chapter 5? No. Some of these things 5:47 people just take lightly. It's a command. But it's more than a command. It's a promise. Always. Of course, you all know the meaning of always. That means in all circumstances whatever may happen 6:05 whatever may not happen in all circumstances giving thanks for everything nothing is excluded. You know when you read this you got to examine your life. Am I always giving thanks for all things in 6:23 the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to God our father? Now here it says this is not a command by the way. It looks like a command always give thanks but it's a pro promise. It's a promise based on what will happen verse 18 when you're filled 6:42 with the Holy Spirit. So people ask me what is the evidence of being filled with the Holy Spirit? Some people say it's speaking in tongues and some people say something else but I say this is the evidence. You'll be filled with the 6:56 spirit. You'll always give thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the only place in the Bible in the New Testament where we are commanded to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Ephesians chapter 5:1 18 a 7:09 command be filled with the Holy Spirit. There are two commands in that verse. One is don't get drunk verse 18. And the other is be filled with the spirit. It's contrasting. Don't these other folks who get drunk with wine don't do that. Do be 7:25 filled with the Holy Spirit. Now, if you think that getting drunk is a sin, then I would say if you're not filled with the spirit, that's a sin, too, cuz it's in the same verse. How many of you would think of 7:43 coming to a Sunday morning service drunk? You wouldn't dream of it. How many of you would think of coming to the Sunday morning service without being filled with the Holy Spirit? Oh, that is okay. How is that? It's in the same 7:56 verse. Two commands in the same verse. One we take seriously. Don't get drunk with wine. The other well if we want to optional. This is the careless irreverent way in which we read scripture which makes our lives remain 8:14 shallow shallow shallow all through our life. We are satisfied with a shallow defeated home life. We need to seek God and be honest. The first step to victory over sin is 8:32 honesty. God loves honest people. And that is the easiest thing to have honesty. Remember the woman who was caught in adultery. What did she do? To be released completely. Did you do it? Yes, I did 8:50 it. Okay, go. You're forgiven. So, here is something that we need to face up to in relation to what we read in 1 Timothy 6. Can I honestly say that my godliness, whatever version 9:08 of godliness I have, has made me content with my circumstances, then I will give always give thanks for everything. And I also want to mention something that I've proclaimed many many times. The first step you know to 9:26 backsliding is when you stop giving thanks. When you stop giving thanks, when you're not thankful for your wife, when you're not thankful for your husband, when you're not thankful for your children, you've started going 9:43 down. the end result may be seen much later. And that, as I've often quoted, is found in Romans chapter one. In Romans chapter one, you see a terrible list of sins at the end of that 10:01 chapter. Let me read to you some of them. Romans chapter 1 29. filled with unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil, envy, murder, strife, deceit, 10:20 malice, gossiping, slandering, hating God, insolence, arrogance, boastfulness, inventing evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful. This is the bottom of the pit. But where does the first step 10:37 downwards begin? go back and you'll see where the first step begins. You go back, it says in verse 28, God gave them up. Earlier on, it says in verse 26, God gave them up. Verse 24, God gave them up. Three times in that passage, it says 10:55 God gave them up. God gave them up. God gave them up to all types of terrible sins, to immorality, to homosexuality. You know when it's only when God gives up people it says in verse 24 he so that their bodies would dishonored among them in verse 26 when 11:15 God gives up people women exchange the natural function for that which is unnatural that is homosexuality among women when you see homosexuality among women is a case of God has given them up and in the same way men also So when 11:33 they instead of the they burn in their desire to for other men, what is the reason for it? Verse 26, God has given them up. But where did it all begin? This is all the downward steps. Let's go back to the first step downwards. That is in verse 11:53 21. When they knew God, it says all of creation tells you there's a God up in the heavens who created this universe. They did not honor him as God or give thanks. Unthankfulness is the first step to go all the way down. Now, many of us may 12:12 not reach the bottom described here, but you're already going down probably into other sins. If you have an unthankful spirit, you know how important that is. We read about one time when 10 lepers were cleansed and only one man came back 12:29 to give thanks. And he was not even a Jew. There were nine Jews and one Samaritan. The Samaritans were the people who didn't know, they were not taught the scriptures. But the one man who didn't know the scriptures, he's the 12:40 one who came back to give thanks. So unthankfulness is due to discontent with our appointed Lot. Let me show you another passage in Acts chapter 17. These things are very practical. I 13:01 find New Testament is extremely practical. Acts 17, it says in verse 26, God made from one man every nation of mankind. We all know that he made Adam and from 13:20 that one person he made all mankind. We all agree there and he gives breath to all things. We agree there. Uh and then he and then he says having made of one man all nations. The latter part of verse 26 he 13:39 determined the appointed time in which they should live. that you and I should be living here in the 21st century was determined by God. That you should be born in the 20th century was determined by God. He appointed time and not only 13:54 the time in which we should be born, the boundaries of our habitation. God determined where we should live. I'm not saying you have to live in the place you were born. But wherever you are living today, you may say, "I chose to live here." God in his 14:11 sovereignty determined the boundary of your habitation. And the reason why he brought you to a certain place is so that in that place verse 27 you can seek after God and find him. And 14:31 so when we don't have a thankful spirit we can say we are discontented. And you cannot have a godliness with discontentment. So that's a good area in which we can examine ourselves to see do I have a spirit of thankfulness for my 14:50 wife and children and for everything God has given me. Let me read to you something that I read somewhere once about contentment in terms of material things. We live in a country where we have such an abundance of 15:08 material things and we have an abundance. We can still be discontent because we say I don't have this, I don't have that. It's like children can sit at the breakfast table and say I'm not happy with this this type of jam. I 15:20 want the other type of jam. Countries in the world where they don't have jam at all. That's some of the things we need to tell our children. We need to teach our children them from that age to be content with what they have. So here's what I read. 15:36 If you have money, even a little bit of money in a bank, you are richer than 92% of people in the world. Did you know that? You've all got money in a bank. You are richer than 92% of people 15:54 in the world. You are among the richest 8% of people in the world because you got some money in a bank. I'm just trying to help you to be thankful even from an earthly standpoint. If you have a house and a refrigerator, you are richer than 75% of 16:11 people in the world who don't have a house and a refrigerator. You're among the top 25%. You've just got a house and a refrigerator. If you can read, just read, you're better than two billion, that is 2,000 million people in the 16:30 world who can't read and many other millions who are blind. Be thankful. If you have never experienced war, torture, prison, starvation, you're 16:48 better more than than 500 million people in the world who are experiencing these things. If you're more healthy than you're sick, you're better than 1 million people who are going to die this week. How many people are going to die 17:05 this week? 1 million. every every week, but you're healthy. Be thankful. If you can go to a Christian meeting like this without fear of being arrested, you're better than 3 billion 17:23 3,000 million people in the world who cannot go to a Christian meeting for fear of being arrested. If you're thankful to God for these blessings, you're truly blessed because most people are unthankful for these things. They never 17:40 even think of being thankful for these little things. They take it for granted. So there's a great need, dear brothers and sisters, to learn to be content for whatever God has done for us, especially for our salvation and all 17:57 that he's done for us in Christ. Learn to be thankful for our children. It's a very good habit to teach our children to be thankful for little things, not to complain for I don't have this and I don't have that and I don't have the 18:09 other thing. See, when God made Adam and Eve, there were all types of fruit in the garden. Think of all the wonderful fruit we have eaten. They were all in the garden of Eden. So many things. 18:28 And the one thing, one tree that God told them not to go, that's where they went. If they were thankful, if they just gone around the garden and say, "Lord, I'm thankful for this and thankful for that and thankful the other 18:39 thing." They would never have gone to that tree. So many things depend on having a thankful spirit. I want to encourage that in your homes, dear brothers and sisters. Learn to be thankful for your wife. Learn to be thankful for your husband. you were when 18:57 you first got married, I hope. Or are you still sincerely thankful for your marriage partner today? And by all means, tell tell him, tell her that you are thankful for her. But I've discovered the best way to discover whether you're really 19:15 thankful. Is this how I test myself? When my wife is fast asleep, she can't hear a word I'm saying. I look at her and I say, Lord, thank you for giving me this woman to be my 19:33 wife. What she has meant for me. I want to thank you with all my heart out of all the world. You chose the best person for my wife. And she hasn't heard a word of it. I'm not saying it to restore some fight at home or any such thing. 19:47 I'm sincerely telling the Lord what I mean. And I do that now and then. Start doing it. Don't let your wife or husband hear it alone with God. Sincerely say, "Lord, I'm thankful." 20:05 Look at your children. Say, "Lord, I'm thankful." It'll make a world of difference to the spirit in your home. I'm not teaching psychology, by the way. I'm teaching exactly what the Bible says. When you're filled with the 20:17 spirit, you'll always give thanks for all things. And if you're not doing that, say Lord, I want to start doing that in every little situation. Another reason we can give always give thanks for all things 20:35 is Romans chapter 8 and verse 28. Well-known verse, godliness with contentment is great key. Romans 8:28 says, "God makes everything and everything means 20:54 everything work for our good." We know that God causes it's not automatic. It is only for those who are called. It doesn't happen for everybody in the world. The number of people God has called. I've often thought about how 21:13 many people in the world, what percentage of the people are born again. I think of India. In India, we have a population of about two or three billion people. But onethird of the whole world 21:27 is in India. And uh out of that uh 1% of the nominally Protestant Christians that means they were born in a Christian family and from 21:43 that maybe five or 10% are born again. So it's a very very small number that's born again. And I apply that to the rest of the world and so many other countries with other religions and all that. The number of people who are born again in 21:59 this world is very very small. I don't know one or two%. And for that small group of people, it says in Romans 8:28, God causes everything to work for their 22:18 good because we love him and we are called according to his purpose. Now, if you really believed that, that listen to it. Take it seriously my brothers from today it can change your life if you believe that every single thing at least 22:33 from today onwards that's going to happen in your life it's going to work for your good you lost your job okay doesn't look like a good thing in the eyes of the world but do you believe God can cause it to work for your good 22:49 that's the point or some other problem that arose sickness or even death can cause it says God causes is all things that a ll must be put in capitals. All things I have believed this verse for many years in my life and 23:07 it has changed my life. That is why I can give thanks for all things. It's not a blind or forcing myself to give thanks for which something I don't believe is good for me. No, I give thanks because I believe it is good for 23:20 me. God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God. I'm I love God and I'm sure most of you here probably all of you love God and not only love God. It says those who are called according to his purpose. Aren't 23:36 you called according to his purpose to be saved and to become his child to live for eternity with him? Then here is the promise dear brother sister remember a ll all things some difficult circumstances in your home some 23:51 sicknesses in your home you say how in the world can that be good for me? I don't know because I'm not God. But I can tell you God's word is true. Let the Bible says, "Let every man be a liar and let God be true." Do you believe that? 24:06 If you don't know where that verse is, it's in Romans chapter 3. Very important verse to remember. Romans chapter 3. Let God be true. Verse 4. Romans 3:4. Let God be found true. Even if every other human being on earth is a 24:25 liar. What a verse. That everybody around me is a liar. But God is still true. And what does he say? He makes every single thing work for your good. You have read that verse many 24:44 times. Will you believe it today or start believing it today? Lord, everybody's a liar. If they don't if they don't believe that, they're liars. And maybe you've been a liar, too, because you didn't believe this till today. But you're not going to be a 25:02 liar anymore. You're going to believe it and you're going to live by faith in that. And what is the ultimate good? Is it? I mean, if God allows you to lose a job, is it so that you get a better one? That's not it. That's not it. God's got 25:17 a much higher vision for you than that. If you don't marry that pretty girl, is it good because he's got a prettier girl for you? No. You may end up marrying an uglier one. But, but there's something else that God is working in. It's not a 25:31 prettier girl or a higher salary or a better house. No, no, no, no. These are all cheap earthly things that we think of. The good is mentioned in the next verse. Many people know Romans 8:28. They don't know Romans 25:49 8:29. The good is that in the middle of verse 29, we will be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. Now, I want to ask you, how many of you believe there's anything better that we can have than being made like Christ? Is there something better you 26:08 can think of? to become a millionaire, to own a whole lot of property, to travel the world and be a tourist seeing all sides of places, compare, put it all on one side of the balance, and the other side of the balance is be made like Jesus Christ. 26:24 Oh, this will this will weigh down like anything. That's nothing compared to this. The greatest good that God can do to you, for you and me, is to make us like Jesus Christ. First of all, are you convinced about that? Before we proceed 26:39 further, you say you're a Christian. You say one day when Christ will come, we'll be like him. What does the Bible say? When we be like when Christ comes, we'll become millionaires or we'll own a lot of property. The things that people are 26:52 hankering for on this earth. No. God says when Christ will come, you'll become like him. That is the greatest good that almighty God can do for any human being. Do you believe that? Praise God. And that is the good to which is 27:12 mentioned in Romans 8:28. All things work together not to make you richer. Not to give you a prettier wife or a handsome husband, but to everything is working together. You lose that job and you lose that money and some somebody 27:27 treats you badly. Somebody puts you in prison perhaps for the gospel sake. It is to make you like Jesus Christ. That is the good and that is why we are content with everything. It's not a meaningless saying thank you Lord like forcing 27:44 people to say thank you. Say thank you. Say thank you. No, it's a meaningful thank you. I believe that every single thing Lord that you have planned for me and that you allow to happen in my life is working for my good. I'm going to be 27:59 a little more like Christ. And even as I look back over the 65 years of my Christian life, I have experienced numerous forms of opposition and many many problems in my life from people just like Jesus faced from religious people, harassing and 28:19 troubling and all types of things. And I can say today as I look back over 65 years of my Christian life that every single thing in every one of those things has made me a little more Christlike, a little more thankful for 28:37 everything. A little more faith in God. A little more faith in the fact that almighty God can do anything. He controls the universe. that I can honestly pray my father who art in heaven who runs the universe. You know that the Lord taught us to pray like 28:54 that. We're not just to pray, oh God, I used to pray like that. Oh God, give me this and oh God, give me that. Now I pray, daddy, you who rule this universe, who controls everything that happens in this universe such that nothing happens to me 29:11 by accident. Jesus said the hairs on your head are numbered. Amazing. You wake up in the morning and you find one hair of yours on the pillow. Do you worry about it? I mean, I have so little hair. I don't worry about 29:29 it. One hair is gone. And Jesus said that God knows that was at about 2:38 in the morning. That hair fell off your head. You didn't know it. 2:38 in the morning when you were fast asleep, that hair fell off from your 29:47 head. I'm not exaggerating. I'm telling you what Jesus said. It has brought rest to my heart. Not because of the hair on my head, but because it shows me that the most insignificant thing that happens to me was known and determined by 30:05 God. What is there that God doesn't know? If if he if he knows the hair that falls from my head, can you think of anything in my life which is more least important than that, less important than that? Jesus took that insignificant 30:21 thing to tell us there is nothing that God knows does not know. Or he spoke about the sparrow that falls to the ground. Let me ask you in the last one year, how many sparrows have you found dead on the ground? I haven't found even 30:38 [Music] one. Somewhere they have fallen. I know. But God knows about them. If you ask God, he'll tell you the exact number of sparrows that fell in every part of the world. He knows it. I'm not telling you some strange doctrine. These are all 30:53 written in the gospels. In the gospels, you have read and believed so so many years. But if you really lay hold of it and say, "Lord, it's true." It'll change your life like it changed mine. It'll remove complaining and 31:07 grumbling from your house 100%. What will happen to your house if complaining and grumbling disappeared from your house 100%. It'll be a a little foretaste of heaven. Don't you want your house to be like that? Learn to be 31:27 thankful. Lord, I want to thank you for everything. There's so many things you've given me. I told you that list of things which even the secular people say which I read out if you got these things you're better than 95% of people in the 31:39 world and yet look at the things we complain about and we can teach our children to be thankful for little little things. So godliness by itself if it doesn't have contentment and thankfulness I would say is a fake godliness and god God is giving us a 31:58 little test to find out if our godliness is genuine and that is godliness with contentment. Lord, I cannot understand why you have allowed this to happen in my life, but I'm thankful. Maybe some years from now, I will know 32:17 why. But right now, I am thankful. And there are so many stories that Christians have told about things that appeared to be evil but turned out to be good. For example, I've asked 32:36 people, what do you think is the greatest sin that anybody committed in this universe? The greatest is not the sin of Adam is not the sin even of Lucifer who rebelled against God. No, the greatest sin that was committed in this universe and on this 32:54 earth was the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Do you all agree that was the greatest sin? Say yes or no. Okay. Now tell me another thing. What is the greatest good that happened on this 33:12 earth? The crucifixion of Jesus Christ. So what do you learn from that? This is the God we worship. This is our heavenly father who could take the greatest evil that man could ever do and turn it into the greatest good for 33:30 humanity. So what do you learn from the cross of Calvary? Well, you learned something new today. You till now you knew that Jesus died for my sins. I can go to heaven. But today you learned something more. That on Calvar's cross I 33:44 learned that my father in heaven can turn the greatest evil into the greatest good. And if he did it, then he can do it for you and me today in our lives. And the evil that you suffered from other people is not even a fraction of the evil that was done on 34:01 Calvar's cross. Then you mean that little he turned that greatest evil into the greatest good. You think that small little problem you're facing, God cannot turn it for good. Don't insult God by doubting him. You know, doubt. When you 34:16 doubt God, it's like saying, "God, I don't trust you. I know you've written all these things in the Bible, but it doesn't work today. I know I heard today that the greatest evil turned out to be the greatest good, but it doesn't. So, I 34:28 don't believe it. Then be honest and say, I am an unbeliever. Yeah, you're an unbeliever. You don't believe in a God who can take care of these things. All of us on earth have already faced many, many trials and problems. I have certainly in certainly 34:46 and especially since I'm a servant of the Lord that I'm a target of Satan. All types of things people have said and done to me and I say okay I can testify today every one of those things has turned for my good and I want to live such a life of 35:04 thankfulness without any complaint about anything and without any complaint about anybody. What is the first thing that Jesus did when he was crucified? Very first thing you know what it is. 35:21 Father forgive them. He would forgot about all his pain. You know when you have crucified the pain is so intense that he forgot about it and said oh God these people forget about my pain. But these people what a terrible sin they've 35:35 committed by killing me the son of God. They don't even realize how serious is. Father please forgive them. That is Christianity. When you see somebody has done some evil to you, a child of God, you know that's a terrible 35:50 evil. Terrible evil. When a person hurts a child of God, what should you say first of all? Father, forgive him. Have you done that? And especially if it's going to work for your good, you should say, thank you. Please forgive 36:10 him. There's a great statement that God makes in the book of Zechariah. It's it's good to teach our children also this. How valuable are we in God's eyes? How valuable are you in God's eyes? You may be an insignificant person 36:28 and you think of yourself as a nobody and people in your office and your neighborhood think of you as nobody. Your relatives think you're crazy to follow this faith and u to follow CFC of all churches. You're crazy. But do you 36:42 know what God thinks of you? Joshua, sorry, Zechariah chapter 2. If you have never read this verse before, read it now. Zechariah chapter 36:59 2, the Lord says in verse 8, Zechariah 28, thus says the Lord in the last part of that verse, the one who touches you is touching the apple of my eye, God's eye, God is saying if anybody touches 37:17 you, that means tries to hurt you, he's touching the apple of eye. You know the center part of our eye is the most sensitive part of our body. Other parts of our body get hurt if you scratch it or cut it or anything. But there's one part of your body, only 37:36 one part of your body that hurts when you touch it. You don't have to do anything else. You don't have to hit it or anything. Just touch and it hurts. The most sensitive part of your body. Don't test it out. But it is the most 37:54 sensitive part of your body. You're the center of your eye. And that is the thing God takes as if you anybody touches you, my son, my daughter, you know what he's doing? God says he's touching the apple of my eye. He's hurting me immediately. 38:13 I found tremendous comfort in my life from such verses so that I don't have to complain against anybody when they do something to me. Immediately my prayer is father forgive them. Have you developed that habit? If you meditate on the cross, what is the 38:32 first thing you meditate on? Father forgive them for they don't know what they're doing. Don't you think that should have an effect in your life? that that should be your response when somebody treats you badly. I'm sure all 38:44 of you have experienced being treated badly by others. We should not have to wait to think whether we should forgive him immediate. Lord, make my response immediate. Father, forgive him. The guy's done something terrible. I I told you earlier about 39:03 future forgiveness. That means I forgive people for the rest of my life. If anybody hurts me, I forgive him right now. So I can never have a grudge against anybody. It's a wonderful way to live. You will give thanks for 39:19 everything and for everyone in Jesus name. That is a godliness with contentment. And it says here godliness with such contentment as great gain. So there are things that we need to look around in our life and say Lord I want to be thankful for all that 39:36 you've done for me. I'm thankful for the fellowship you have brought me into. Thankful that you helped me to understand these truths. I'm deeply thankful that God opened my eyes to show me that I need not live a defeated, miserable 39:56 life. I used to be angry. It's gone from my life 100%. The Holy Spirit did it. broke me through different circumstances and did it. 40:14 And lusting with the eyes such a big problem for men that even when they're old and married, they're still doing it. God delivers us completely from it. We were all like that as men. 40:32 You should be able to testify one day, God has delivered me. It's a wonderful thing. Does the Lord taunt us by saying if you lust with your eyes after a woman, pull out your eye. What is he saying? He doesn't want 40:51 us to lose our eyesight. Why is he saying pull out your eye? because he says it's better to have one eye and go into heaven rather than have two eyes and go to hell. Do you believe that's 41:09 true? I think many people don't believe it. Let me read it so you see it again. Matthew chapter 5. In the Old Testament, the law said you shall commit and not commit adultery. Verse 27. Matthew 5:27. But I say to you, 41:27 everyone, no exception, believer or unbeliever or whatever he calls himself, spiritual believer or whatever name you call yourself by, everyone, whatever doctrine you believe in, whichever church you belong to, CFC believer or 41:45 anything, if you look at a woman with lust for her in your eyes, you have already committed adultery. Adultery. If your right eye makes you stumble like that, tear it out and throw it from 42:03 you. Why? I is a very important thing, Lord. Because it's better for you to go to heaven with one eye than to go with two eyes to hell. That's what he says in the next verse 29. And then he's talking about sexual sin 42:24 with your right hand. Read it in the context. If your right hand makes you do something like sinful, cut it off so that you can never sin with your right hand again. It's better for you to go to heaven with one hand missing than to go 42:44 with two hands to hell. There's hardly a church in the world that preaches these things. I know the commission the Lord's given me many years ago. He said, I want you to listen to all the messages all the churches are 43:01 preaching many many years ago. And then I want you to read the Bible carefully and compare the two and see which are the commands in the Bible that others are not preaching. many things everybody's preaching repent believe in 43:17 Christ and you can your sins will be forgiven be filled with the spirit all that but which are the ones which are never touched and the Lord said make that list and you preach that that has been my commission from the lord since some 43:29 years and that's what I've been doing people ask me brother Zach why are you always preaching against anger and lustful thoughts the lustful eye what shall I do if God told me to do that you go to the old testament prophet 43:43 prophets, they were given a specific command. Ezekiel, you preach this. Isaiah, you preach this. Jeremiah, you preach this. They were not just to imitate some other prophet. They were given a specific command what to do. And 43:57 I know what the Lord's commissioned me to do. It's made me very unpopular in many places. Most people call me a heretic. That's fine. I remember I was comforted once by what the Lord said. You know, sometimes you can be tempted to discouragement, 44:12 but I refuse to get discouraged. In the early days, I did get discouraged, but no more. It's gone from my life completely as I understood some of these truths that I'm sharing with you, godliness with contentment. And in that context, I remember once the 44:26 Lord comforting me from a verse in Ezekiel 33. Ezekiel 33. You know when I've been in many situations where a lot of people are critical and you may find yourself in some situation where many people are critical about you maybe some of you in 44:43 some local fellowship where you started gathering together and the pe the church that you left they got a whole lot of people criticizing you. Now here's a word to encourage you Ezekiel 33 and verse 30. As for you, son of man, your fellow 45:00 citizens and you talk about that as your fellow Christians who talk about you and they're not taking saying good things about you. They're talking about you in the walls and in the doorways and they make fun of you saying come now let's go 45:15 and see what is this message so-called message he's bringing from the Lord let's go and listen to it and they come to you as people come and sit before you verse 31 as my people and hear your words but they won't do them they just 45:32 listen and go away and they want to do the lustful desires that they have in their life because their heart is always going after money, money, money. They won't listen to you and you are to them just like a they come to listen to a musical 45:50 performance. Let me paraphrase that. You they've come to you to listen to a musical performance. You're like one who sings a sensual song by one who has a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument. They hear your words, but 46:04 they do not practice them. But when it finally comes to pass one day, they will know that a prophet was in their midst. That'll take a long time for them to know that. So never get discouraged, my brother, sister, with 46:24 opposition or ridicule or anything. Let your godliness always be accompanied with contentment. Always giving thanks. Giving thanks for your husband. Giving thanks for your wife. Giving thanks for your children. You see, some of them are 46:40 not converted. Don't worry. Pray for them and give thanks to them. That'll bring them to the Lord. Tell them that you're thankful that God gave them to you despite all their limitations and weaknesses. The spirit of thankfulness, 46:55 I believe, must pervade our churches and our lives and our homes. It'll make your home have a little bit of the atmosphere of heaven. It's a very simple thing if you believe Romans 8:28 and 47:13 29. Lord, everything is planned by you. And that is our testimony to the God of this universe. Lord, everything is planned by you. I want to say one concluding thing which I always say nowadays in my messages everywhere. I repeat it again 47:32 and again and again and again and again and that is in the Lord's prayer. Our father who art in heaven, my name is not important. Hallowed be thy name and thy kingdom come. Thy will be 47:49 done. And then he goes on to say, this is what I'm thinking of. Verse 12, Matthew 6:12. Forgive us our debts, our sins exactly like we have forgiven others who hurt 48:07 us. Now think of it seriously. Don't don't jump into the next verse. You are asking God to forgive you in exactly the same way that you forgave that guy who did some terrible evil to you. Okay, stop and ask yourself, how 48:25 have you forgiven that guy? You have forgiven him with a grudge in your heart. Yeah. Yeah. You've said you've forgiven him, but you got this grudge in your heart against him. And you're saying, "God, forgive me in exactly the 48:38 same way. Don't keep a grudge in your heart against me always." Isn't that what you're saying? Think about it before you pray that prayer again. Lord, forgive me exactly as I have forgiven that other person. I want to you to forgive me like that. And then 49:01 he repeats that out of all the requests in the Lord's prayer, this is the one he repeats in verse 14. If you forgive others their sins, your heavenly father will not will will forgive you. But if you do not forgive 49:19 others, your father will not forgive you no matter how many times you pray for it. And this is not he didn't say God, he said father. That means he's talking to born again children of God. Your heavenly father means you're a 49:35 born again child of God. Your heavenly father will not forgive your sin. And you say, "Why?" Because there's some guy out there who did some harm to you 10 years ago, you still haven't forgiven him. And that that the other fellow who cheated you a few 49:51 months ago, you still haven't forgiven him. And that other guy in the church who spoke evil against you and against your family, you still haven't forgiven him. My brother, sister, if you're like that today and you die, where will you go? I'm not trying 50:11 to scare you. No, I don't believe in scare tactics. I'm just asking where will you go if your sins are not forgiven? What have you preached to others where they will go if their sins are not forgiven? Do you think you're some type 50:25 of special favorite that even if your sins are not forgiven, God will take you to heaven? I don't believe that. I don't believe God can take me to heaven if there's one person I have not forgiven on the earth. That's my 50:38 conviction. I believe that there's one human being anywhere on earth whom I've not forgiven. God will not forgive my sin. And let me tell you, I'm not a Roman Catholic. I don't believe that after sin, after dying, there's some 50:52 place where God will purify me and finally take me to heaven. That's a lot of garbage. There is no such place. There is no purgatory. is nothing. It is appointed unto men once to die and after that the judgment. Now dear brothers, please I'm 51:06 not trying to scare you. I'm only telling you exactly what Jesus taught. Like I told you, the Lord told me, look for the things that other people don't preach, which are in the Bible and preach them. That's all I'm doing. I hope all of you will take that 51:24 seriously. And the best way to obey God is because I'm grateful. The second best way to obey God is because I'm scared. Whichever way I mean, choose the best way. Lord, I'm thankful that you made me your child. I want to obey your 51:41 word. But if you don't take that higher step, at least Lord, I'm scared I'll go to hell. I want to forgive that man. You'll be forgiven. I have been preaching this now. I've been preaching for 60 years, but especially in the last two or three 51:59 years, the Lord's been emphasizing me, preach this, preach this, preach this, preach this, preach this. And even today, I didn't come here planning to preach this. But as I was closing, the Lord said, remember, preach this? And I asked the Lord once, what 52:15 does this mean, Lord? Does it mean that your coming is near? That is why you're telling me to preach this particular thing again and again to the people who are under my who are part of my responsibility in my flock that none of 52:29 them should miss out on God's kingdom. Perhaps it is perhaps the coming of the Lord is nearer than we think. Let's bow before God. Take a 52:52 moment to think of even one person or more than one person you still have not forgiven. Maybe a small evil they did to you or a big evil I don't know but maybe 53:11 they hurt your family. Maybe they hurt one of your children in such a bad way that you said, "I'll never forgive that guy." Please withdraw that [Music] statement. Is there anyone that comes to your mind? I believe the Holy Spirit is 53:27 quick to bring people to your mind immediately. Then stop. The best way to do it is name them one by one in your mind. Lord, I forgive this person. And I forgive that person and I forgive this 53:50 person. And I forgive this brother and I forgive this sister and I'm never going to take back that forgiveness. I forgive these people today. It's permanent. If I see them, I will not have anything against them because they 54:08 are forgiven. They don't owe me a debt of even an apology. No, I have forgiven them. Take as long as you like and if you think the list is long, go home and continue and then say, "Thank you, Lord, 54:29 for forgiving me. I don't deserve it. I have been living with this unforgiving spirit all these years against some people who did harm to me. And I never heard a preacher tell me that I wouldn't be forgiven. Thank you 54:47 for waking me up today. I want to live a life of godliness with perfect contentment. No complaint against any human being on the face of the earth. Zero. But a deep thankfulness for everything you have done. I've been 55:06 complaining because I compare myself with this person, that person, the other person. Lord, there are so many things you've done for me, even materially, physically, financially, health-wise, so many things. I want to be thankful, thankful, 55:17 thankful. And I want to think of the many, many things I've been unthankful for all these years. I want a godliness with contentment. And if you've done your part, the Lord says you're forgiven. Heavenly 55:35 Father, please help us not for this not to be an emotion of the moment but something that we will live in all our days. I believe this will make us happy people supremely happy such that we will always give thanks and rejoice in all 55:54 circumstances. In your presence there is fullness of joy. We could not come into the fullness of your presence because we hadn't forgiven some people. But now we have come into your presence and as your word says in your presence 56:09 there is fullness of joy. I pray that every brother and sister and young person whose head is bowed here today will experience that fullness of joy and experience that godliness with contentment about their circumstances 56:26 that they have no complaint about anything but only thankfulness. Make it real in our life. Lord, thank you for hearing us in Jesus name. Amen. 56:38 [Music]
