0:04 One of the great truths that was restored to Christendom in general after many years of darkness was the truth of justification by faith. If you read Christian history, you know that Martin Luther stood against the entire 0:22 Roman Catholic Church in the early 1500s because that church at that time anyway was teaching salvation by works. And Luther himself was a monk who studied the scriptures and discovered that it was not true. He realized it's Christ who is our 0:42 righteousness that the most holy righteous man in the world who's done the maximum number of good works and the holiest person is still not fit to enter God's presence because even our righteousness is like filthy rags. 1:00 So, that was a great discovery that nobody could boast in his righteousness. I think all of us have understood that. If you haven't understood it, you'll never experience the joy of salvation. To know that it's not because we have done so a lot 1:18 of good things that we are accepted, but in Christ we are accepted. Now, some people right from the first century onwards have taken advantage of that and says, "Well, if it's in Christ that I'm accepted, it doesn't matter how I live." 1:31 Paul speaks about that in some of his letters. And uh why does God allow that? God allows that so that some people will be lost because of their insincerity and crookedness and taking advantage of God's grace. We have to ignore them. 1:49 So, we're not going to change the message of God's grace just because we are afraid some people will take advantage of it. Some people have done that, some churches, and they end up as legalists and preaching a gospel of 2:01 works that leads to condemnation. So, we don't do that, but we do preach holiness. And we need to understand the balance between being justified by faith, which is the foundation, and holiness, which is the superstructure. 2:15 It's because people confuse the superstructure with the foundation that people are confused. So, let me just say a brief word about that from Ephesians chapter 2. Paul said in his day, many preached 2:33 grace, people were accusing him of saying, "Well, it doesn't matter how we live." But when we preach that we have to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God, 2:47 2 Corinthians 7:1, we are accused of the opposite, that we are preaching salvation by works. Well, people will always accuse. The The devil's an accuser of the brethren, and the person who's got an accusing mindset will he his 3:03 he's got a mind that's very sharp to pick out faults in people, just like the Pharisees were waiting to catch people in adultery so that they could stone them. And there are followers of such Pharisees in every church today. 3:19 But we can safely ignore them because they will destroy themselves finally. But we have to be careful that we are not like that. In Ephesians 2, it says here in verse 8 and 9, "By grace you have been saved through faith, 3:35 and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Never forget that. But not as a result of works, that no one should boast." That's talking about the foundation. There is no works in the foundation. That's like saying in the foundation of 3:51 a building, you don't have doors, windows. No, who who places doors and windows in a foundation? Some crazy guy. There are no works in the foundation. But, now you go to the superstructure. In the superstructure, there are plenty 4:05 of works. See the next verse. We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works. You see the contrast? No works in verse 9, plenty of works verse 10, no windows and doors in the foundation, but plenty of doors and windows in the 4:20 superstructure. If you understand that difference, you've understood Christianity properly in a balanced way. Otherwise, you'll be thinking there should be no doors and windows in the superstructure, also. Just make it like 4:31 a cage. And then there are others who will say that no, we got to put doors and windows in the foundation, too. These are the extremes I've seen in Christendom in the last 57 years. So, the Bible says, don't be children in 4:44 your understanding. In understanding, be men. And these are good works, not any good works we verse 10, but good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. There are good works that men can think of doing. Every religion has 5:01 it. Hinduism has it, Islam has it, and every religion has some type of good works, but this is not that. A Christian does not just do any type of good works. You know, you can go out and start an orphanage. But that may not be what God 5:13 wants you to do. Or you may can have a crusade against slavery or you know, unjust political systems. They all sound very nice. But, if that is not what God wanted you to do, you can spend your entire life wasting your life. You know, the 5:31 superstructure has to be according to what the architect has drawn and designed. And he does not design the same type of building for everybody. So, God has got a particular plan for your life. That's why it says not just 5:48 any good works you feel like doing. We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for what purpose? We are forgiven without any works, but now for good works which God prepared beforehand. That means long before you were born, he planned some 6:06 good works for you to do. That you would walk in them. And I'll tell you this and I'm very glad I discovered it maybe a couple of years after I was converted when I was baptized that God had a plan for my life. I had already made a plan for my life. I was 6:23 in the Navy. But I discovered when I was 21 years old that God had a plan for my life. And when I understood that, I said, "Lord, that's what I want to fulfill. I want to live where you want me to live. And I want to do what you want me to do. 6:41 And I want to spend my entire life as far as possible every day being where you want me to be, doing what you want me to do, saying what you want me to say, and not being influenced by men, not being influenced by my own desires 6:59 and love of comfort or any such thing. I want because if I allow those things to influence me, I won't be able to say at the end of my life that I have finished the work God gave me to do. Jesus said in John 17:4, "I finished the work you 7:18 gave me to do." Paul said in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 7 to 9, "I finished my course." And I said, "Lord, these are the only two people in the Bible who said follow me, Jesus and Paul." Jesus said follow me many times. 7:32 Paul said follow me in 1 Corinthians 11, Philippians 3. And I want to follow these people particularly in finishing the work God gave me to do. And I I all of you have that passion. We must teach our children from early in 7:43 life, God's got a plan for your life, you must finish that. And don't follow the plans in the world. If you follow worldly people, you see a lot of Christians they want to accept Christ, they want to go to heaven, but when it comes to 7:55 living in the world they train their children to have the values of the people in the world because they think that's good for them. In other words, have the best on earth and the best in heaven. Those are the people who missed 8:06 the will of God. I don't want to do that. I don't want to train my children to do that either. We have to see, Lord, what is the plan you made for my life and it's different for everyone. So, having said that, I just want to clarify 8:21 that we've understood that justification is by faith. We are declared righteous by God because we believe that nothing that I do, like that song we Rock of Ages, we sing nothing in my hands I bring, simply to thy cross I cling. 8:38 That's the only way I can be saved. That's the only way I can be justified and accepted by God, not only at the beginning of my Christian life. I think a lot of people realize that is the way we're accepted in the beginning, but even if I've been saved 8:51 50, 60 years, I'm still accepted because I'm justified in Christ. There's no other way. Now, in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, see, I'll tell you this is what is was not emphasized in the Reformation, in the time of Luther, and has not been mostly 9:09 emphasized in these last 4, 500 years. There are truths in the Bible that have slowly come up as people have studied it more. For example, Luther, Wesley, great men of God, mighty men of God, much better than you and me, 9:28 they never taught water baptism. They were baptizing babies. And in fact, they persecuted the early Lutherans, persecuted the Anabaptists who baptized adults, born-again believers. So, we can't say that because we've 9:48 understood water baptism, we're better than John Wesley. I think he was a 100 times better godly man than any of us. But he didn't have light on it. And then later on, you know, the having titles, even people like Wesley 10:05 had the title Reverend. Jesus said you must never take titles, but he didn't have light on it. So, we must recognize that this truth has been discovered as we as people have gone more and more into the scriptures. The same thing with the baptism in the 10:18 Holy Spirit. For so many years, people never spoke about the baptism in the Holy Spirit, and yet it's there in scripture. Every single All the first five books of the New Testament begin with teaching on the baptism of the Holy 10:31 Spirit. John the Baptist said it. Jesus said in John chapter 1 Acts 1 before he went up to heaven, you shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit. And yet, that was a truth that was not spoken of in many churches, and even today it's 10:45 not spoken of in many churches. And where it is spoken of in some churches, they go off to some fanatical extreme, which turns other people away. And that's exactly what the devil wants. He wants one group to go to some extreme 10:57 of truth. Even justification by faith. People have taken it to such an extreme, they say, "Once saved, always saved. It doesn't matter how you live. You're going to go to heaven." That's one extreme of truth, and the devil's happy with people who 11:09 live there. And then there are others who react against that and say, "That's dangerous to preach that, so we must preach works, works, works, works." And you produce a bunch of legalistic Pharisees who look down on everybody else. And the devil's 11:20 happy with both groups. The legalistic Pharisees on one side and the once saved, always saved who live in sin on the other side. The devil's quite happy with both of them. The narrow way, which Jesus said very few find it, 11:35 is a way in which there's a deep ditch on either side. Now, I'll tell you something. The only way you can walk on it is if you take the study of the scriptures seriously. And like I've often said, if you know if you got a Bible in your language 11:54 and you don't take time to study it, then you deserve to be deceived. You deserve to be deceived. If you got a Bible If you don't have a Bible in your own language, at least okay, we can understand. But you have a Bible 12:08 in your own language and you don't study it carefully to find out what God has taught about the most important thing on earth, eternal life, then I say you deserve to be deceived. And if you're deceived, you've got nobody to blame but yourself. 12:24 If you just listen to preachers, I tell you there are multitudes of deceivers among preachers. So, that's why I say be like the Bereans. You read about the Bereans in Acts 17. The Apostle Paul spoke to them. It says they didn't just swallow it. 12:44 They searched the scriptures daily to see if what Paul said was right. So, I can imagine in a synagogue Paul got up and preached something and the those Christians say, "Well, praise the Lord, brother Paul. We Good to hear you, but 12:58 we don't believe you yet. We'll check it this week and go back and And you remember they didn't have a Bible at home. Remember that also. They couldn't go home and the parchment Old Testament was only in the synagogue. They had to come every day to the 13:11 synagogue to check if this thing that Paul said, is it right or not. And they'd come back next week and say, "Paul, we agree with you." I wish we had more people like that. But we have a bunch of lazy Christians nowadays all over the world who are too 13:25 lazy to study the scriptures. and that's why they swallow whatever some preacher says and that's why their lives are so shallow. They don't get light on themselves. They're not growing in Christ-likeness. They're not growing in effectiveness for 13:37 the kingdom of God. Or they don't understand exactly what God wants them to do. And the tragedy of it is some of them are going to discover this only when Christ comes again. And they stand before the Lord and say Lord, I missed it. 13:55 Maybe they were saved. Maybe they get to heaven. But that's not enough. Imagine I often think of this. Imagine spending all eternity in heaven but with the regret that I did not live according to God's will in the one life he gave to me on 14:13 earth. I can sing for millions of years, "Lord, I love you. I love you. I love you." But I'll remember that on earth I did not prove that love by obedience to everything God wants me to do. I believe such people will have 14:29 regret. I know people say God will wipe away our tears. But I personally cannot imagine that I can live as I like taking advantage of God's grace and only desiring to go to heaven when I die and living for myself on this earth and then going to heaven 14:45 when I die and thinking that I'll be happy forever. I I don't know about you. I will not be happy. I will look at Jesus and understand how much he loved me, how much he gave himself for me and I'll have eternal regret, eternal eternal regret 15:00 that the one life God gave me, I lived for myself and not for the glory of God. I was gripped by that when I was 21. I'm very thankful 55 years ago. And I'm very very thankful. Otherwise I'd have wasted a lot of my life. 15:19 I'm not saying you got to be in full-time Christian work like me. No, God calls only one in a thousand to maybe go into Christian work full-time. 999 must work in their secular jobs like all of you. But even in our secular jobs, God's got 15:35 a plan for our life. A specific plan. And that's what you must fulfill. And if you're committed to do the will of God alone in your life, all this business of job security and all will disappear. How can somebody take away the job God 15:51 has planned for you? How can you miss getting the appointment of the job God's planned for you? Impossible. That's the wonderful thing of being in God's will. That if you seek his kingdom first and his righteousness, everything necessary for life on earth 16:07 will be provided for you. When you say, "Give us this day our daily bread." He taught us to pray that. Daily. There I'm saying, "Lord, let me paraphrase expand it. Lord, give me a job so I can earn my living 16:26 and earn my daily bread without being dependent on others and always waiting for a handout or a gift from someone. And Lord, please help me to educate my children so that when they grow up, they will not be a parasite on society. They will not 16:40 have to depend on others as beggars, but they will be able to get their daily bread." All that is involved in this simple prayer, "Give us this day our daily bread." "Give me a job. Give me a house to live in. Help me to educate my children." Is 16:55 all in that one sentence, "Give us this day our daily bread." God's interested in that. But if he can understand that he has a plan for our life and we live there, it'll be wonderful. But I want to move on from there. I want to show you something that was 17:11 not emphasized sufficiently in uh I want to mention now is also not emphasized sufficiently, but another thing which I was thinking of this morning in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, we read here by God's doing, it speaks here in verse 17:29 29 that no one should boast before God. Why has God chosen, verse 27, the foolish things? He's chosen the foolish things to shame the wise. And verse 26, he says, "Not many wise, not many noble." 17:47 Because God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. That's not what normal companies and corporations do. They don't choose foolish people. They choose clever people. God doesn't. Is that in your Bible? 18:06 That God has chosen the foolish things? That he's chosen the weak things? The people who don't think too much of themselves, who recognize they're weak. The base things, ones that are despised. God has chosen the things that are nothing, the things 18:26 that are zeros, that he might nullify the things that are. And the whole purpose is so that no one should boast before God. One thing we can be pretty sure in eternity, when you stand before the 18:42 Lord, no one will be able to boast. I often picture that in my mind, you know, this great crowd saying, "Worthy is the Lamb." in Revelation, and I picture myself sometimes lost in that crowd of millions, just one 18:59 person among millions. Here I often stand in the pulpit and people recognize me and esteem me, but not there. In heaven, I'll be just one among the millions. Not recognized, not special, not standing in front of anyone, just 19:19 one among millions standing and saying, "Worthy is the lamb." Meditate on that frequently. It'll humble you. Any of you who have a problem with high thoughts or thinking you're very spiritual and recognized by others as a 19:31 leader or some stupid idea that God said that the devil's put into your mind like that, this will humble you if you picture heaven where everybody's singing, "Worthy is the lamb." Even Paul, when you look look for Paul, 19:42 he's also somewhere there in the crowd. Paul and Peter and you and me. It's only Jesus who's going to be honored there. No one will be able to boast in God's presence in heaven. And the more heavenly you are, you will not boast on earth, either. 19:59 People who boast belong in hell. I'll tell you that. Or people who are inwardly proud and look down on others, they belong in hell. They don't belong in heaven. There's not going to be one proud person in heaven. I can guarantee you that. 20:16 They're all gone to hell long before that happens. Because the devil is the author of all pride. That's how he became the devil. So, no one should boast in before God. It's a very simple statement. But yet, you know, if you look at so 20:31 much of Christendom today, there's such a lot of boasting. Church is boasting that we're better than others and the spirit of the Pharisee, "Lord, I thank you that I'm not like other I want to warn you, be beware of that. 20:44 If God's been good to you, God's given you revelation on things, just humble yourself and give him the glory. Be thankful. But don't let it don't let it ever go to your head. And then he goes on to say, "By God's doing, 21:02 we are in Christ Jesus." I didn't get into Christ by my own doing. And you may say once I accepted Christ and I was saved, but remember it was God's doing. And Christ has become to us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, 21:20 and redemption. And again it says, "Just as it is written, let him who boasts boast in the Lord." So, between these two statements about boasting in verse 29 and verse 31, "No one should boast before God." Verse 29. "And let him who boasts," verse 31, 21:38 "boast in the Lord and not in himself." Do you know the things people boast in? People boast in their accomplishments. There are even people who boast in their children. "My children are have done so well in school or college or 21:53 they've got such good positions or perhaps they're most so spiritual. My My son and daughter are so gracious and so humble and so loving." I feel sorry for you and I feel sorry for your children because they they will imbibe that spirit from you. 22:10 They will destroy themselves. Parents very often destroy their children with with the pride that they themselves have uh in their children and try to communicate it. Be careful. All that instruction you give them about Christianity can be canceled out and 22:27 wiped out by communicating pride to them. We have to be especially careful. God in the final day is not going to judge how much they what marks they got in science or mathematics, but how humble they were. Christianity, I mean in the final day 22:46 human beings are going to be divided not according to their marks in academics, but regarding who was humble and who was proud. And I hope we and our children will be on the right side on that day. And it's our responsibility as parents 23:01 to make sure that I'm only preaching what I've practiced for years. You know, especially if your children do well, you got to really work to keep them their face in the dust. That no one should boast before God. And if anyone does boast, let him boast 23:20 in what the Lord has done for me. It's of him that I'm in Christ. Keep emphasizing that to your children. Keep emphasizing that to yourself. I'm in Christ because of what God did for me. And if I had a desire to imitate God, 23:36 God produced that desire in me. I can't boast over anybody else. And he says here how in Christ, Christ has become my righteousness in verse 30. That we can understand it. That was what was emphasized in the Reformation. Christ has become my 23:51 righteousness. I'm justified in Christ. I have no righteousness of my own that's acceptable before God. Christ has become my righteousness. So that, you know, at the end of my life, if I've served God faithfully for 70 years, 24:05 I have to still say, "Lord, I'm damned, but Jesus died for me." That's the only way I can enter heaven. Just like that thief on the cross who did nothing. I I rejoice in the fact that I enter heaven on exactly the same basis 24:23 as the thief on the cross. He did nothing. He didn't have an option to do anything. I may have served God for 50 years, but I enter heaven on exactly the same basis. And I'll never forget it. And I never want to forget it. 24:40 He is my righteousness. But what I also want to share with you is that Christ Jesus has become to us wisdom. And that is what has not been sufficiently emphasized in Christendom 24:58 even during the Reformation or since then. And most Christians I have met, it's not been emphasized sufficiently. That Christ is, you know, Christ is my righteousness. I find most almost all evangelical Christians will accept I 25:16 have no righteousness of my own. Christ is my righteousness. But will you also say you have no wisdom of your own? Christ is my wisdom. That's what it says here. He has become my wisdom. And I want to say that is the reason 25:32 why I find many Christians don't get revelation when they read the scriptures. They get bright ideas. There's a lot of difference between getting bright ideas. You just got to be a clever person to get bright ideas from 25:44 scripture. Or to prepare a clever sermon from scripture. You just got to be a clever person. But to get revelation for that you have to say Christ has become my wisdom. I have no wisdom of my own. 26:02 And there are very, very few Christians particularly among the educated and the clever who will be willing to acknowledge that. Now I want to tell you you miss a lot if you don't get revelation from scripture. If you're a clever person, you can put 26:18 together verses, put a concordance together, and produce a wonderful sermon. It may not be from the Holy Spirit at all. I have heard a lot of sermons like that. There are clever politicians who can hold people spellbound for 1 hour 26:32 because they are great orators and eloquent. That's not the way God speaks through his servants. So, just like you have I think all of you have recognized that your righteousness will never qualify you for God's kingdom. 26:50 But Christ is your righteousness. Let's learn also that my wisdom will only lead me astray in understanding the truth. Or you may understand partially the truth, but all of the truth, I must be willing to say I have no 27:09 wisdom. Human wisdom will not enable me to understand God's word. Turn with me to Matthew 11:25. Jesus said this, Matthew 11:25. I praise thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth. Now, remember, this is something Jesus 27:28 is thanking God for. It's not just a statement. It's a statement. He could have just made a statement, God has hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and revealed them to babes. That's the statement. God has hidden things, 27:45 the most important things in the Bible, from clever, intelligent people. Are you clever and intelligent? I want to tell you God has hidden things from you. It's unfortunate. You got a handicap. You're clever. You were born with 27:58 intelligence. Sorry. You're going to not understand God's word. Isn't that sad? You say, "Well, you mean God favors those who are foolish and dumb and stupid?" No. He favors those who are humble. The trouble with clever, intelligent 28:14 people is they're a little proud of their cleverness and intelligence. That's what makes them miss understanding God's truth. It's not that Oh, you're clever, so you can't understand the Bible. Then what's the hope for us? I think Paul was one of 28:26 the cleverest men of his day. I believe Paul's IQ was much higher than yours and mine. He was a brilliant man. I think he would have been a top computer scientist or businessman or anything today. But how did he get so much revelation? 28:42 He laid his wisdom down at the feet of the Lord. So, it's In other words, the wise has to become like a foolish man if he wants to understand scripture. That was a great revelation to me when I discovered it. I first discovered that 28:58 Christ was my righteousness, that I had none of my own, that if I came with my righteousness and I had completely missed God's will. The second thing I learned pretty early in my life was that if I came with my human cleverness 29:11 and I was clever, I had to admit that God gave me a lot of intelligence when I was born. That was not my making, so I couldn't boast about it. I was just born with it. But, if I began to think that that that would help me in the world. It helped me 29:25 in my school days. It helped me in when I was in the military. But, when I come to the scripture, I had to say, "Lord, here that intelligence does not help me at all. It's worth zero." So, I don't want to come with that mind 29:39 with which I study chemistry and mathematics to the scriptures. I'll go completely astray. And that's why you find 1,000 and more 10,000 denominations, each holding the Bible and saying we've got the truth. Why is that? 29:55 Cuz people come with their cleverness. Well, you come with your cleverness, you can produce 100,000 denominations, each preaching different aspects of things. It's human cleverness. That's how all the religions in the world came. 30:08 People who've never seen God have tried to talk about what God is like and gradually they get a following and start a religion. It's going to be wrong. It's like, you know, if you go to a country where nobody's ever seen an elephant 30:25 or nobody's ever seen a picture of an elephant, either. And you tell all those students in the class, "I want you to draw an elephant." You think anybody would ever think of a trunk? Impossible, because no animal has it. 30:39 They'll draw something like a lion or something or a big one and say elephant and they'll be wrong. That is exactly how every religion in the world none of them knew God, none of them has seen God, they tried decided to 30:52 talk about God and they all every religion is false. The only one that could speak about it is one who came from heaven. And there was only one. There was only one in the history of the universe world that was Jesus Christ. 31:11 And that's why Christianity alone is the truth. There's nothing to compete with it. Cuz all the others were just men who had bright ideas and with clever men, wise men trying to talk about God. 31:29 And Jesus said, "I thank you, Father. You have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent." That explains to me why there are so many religions. It's all a whole lot of clever people trying to explain God and the only one 31:43 who could really do it properly was the one who was God himself who came to earth and said, "This is what God is like." But we need to remember this for ourselves that there are things in scripture which I cannot understand 32:01 if I use my brain as the primary source of understanding. There's a message I spoke on soul is soul or spiritual which is on the internet. You could listen to it sometime on YouTube where I mentioned a man is spirit, soul and body 32:21 and the mind is a part of our soul. We're not supposed to know God by our mind primarily but in our spirit. In the Old Testament tabernacle, there was the outer court, the holy place and the most holy place symbolizing body, 32:34 soul and spirit and God dwelt in the most holy place, not in the holy place, teaching us that God does not dwell in our mind, he dwells in our spirit. So, it's from our spirit that we need to understand God, and if our spirit in the spirit we get 32:49 revelation, then we can use our mind. We definitely need use our mind. I'm using my mind right now, and you're using it right now to listen. But if it originates there, you'll go astray. That's what I'm saying. We use our eyes, 33:04 but we don't get revelation just by reading. We don't Not just the eyes, not just the mind, but the spirit. And so, the one who is pure in his spirit, who's kept a clear conscience, who walks in holiness, 33:24 is even if he's not very clever, will know God better than the person who's a little impure, but brilliant in his mind. Now, if you're teaching chemistry or physics or some worldly subject, you can be an adulterer and evil, and you can be brilliant in your 33:42 profession, but not not when it comes to the Bible. When it comes to the scripture, your brilliant mind is no value. A pure spirit and a humble spirit has tremendous value. A spirit that keeps itself in humility, in purity, and in love to all people. 33:59 For example, if you have an unforgiving attitude towards somebody, just to take one example. You haven't forgiven somebody. You can be a brilliant professor in the top university. Easy. Because your conscience has got nothing to do 34:18 with your brilliance. But when it comes to scripture, you will not understand it with an unforgiving spirit. If you hate someone, you look down on someone, You can still be a brilliant professor. But you won't understand the Bible. 34:38 And you think you understand the Bible, you're wrong. I've had so many people come to argue with me about this scripture and that scripture. And I try to show them from scripture and I found sometimes they're not able to see it. 34:54 Even though it's crystal clear to me, they don't see it. And then I realize the Lord must be seeing some pride, some little thing there in their spirit that keeps them blind. That even if you explain it, they can't see it. 35:13 For example, truths about the new covenant. I find the vast majority of born again believers have never seen it. Or a new covenant church. What's a new covenant church? Most people haven't seen it. What is a new covenant life? Most people 35:28 haven't seen it. Even though it's written plainly. And you know, they can hear my messages and read it on the internet, they think they've got it. And they can teach it to others, but it is not true in their life. I mean, if you're still defeated by 35:42 anger and sexual lust in your thoughts and an unforgiving spirit, you haven't understood ABC of the new covenant life. Not at all. You can explain it because you understand it in your mind and explain it to other people. That's just 35:57 intellect. It's in the spirit that we need to know God. So, remember this. So, the particular thing which I wanted to show you that the scripture speaks about is about taking up the cross. A subject which is almost 36:20 not preached much anyway in most of evangelical Christianity. Taking up the cross. For me, it has been the central message of my ministry for 40-50 years. What does it mean to take up the cross? 36:38 Let me show you. Everywhere in the Gospels where Jesus spoke about taking up the cross, he said something else also in connection with that, and then you'll understand it. First of all, Matthew chapter 10. I think this is almost the first 36:57 reference for taking up the cross in the New Testament, Matthew 10:38. He who does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. Now, we want to go slowly in this. We really want to try and understand what it means to take up the cross, 37:15 because this is central. Jesus said, "You cannot follow me if you don't take up the cross. You can come to church every Sunday, and you can live a very good life, and give to the poor, and give for mission work, and do 101 37:27 things, and have your weekday meetings, and praise meetings, and everything else, but if you don't take up the cross, you cannot follow Jesus Christ." But if you take up the cross every day, even if you don't do those other things, 37:39 if you don't happen to come to church every Sunday, and you're not able to have any weekday meetings, and you don't go around preaching, you can still follow Jesus. It is the one single most important thing to follow Jesus Christ, to take up the 37:51 cross every day. And we need to understand it. Husbands and wives need to understand it. We need to teach our children what it means. So, notice, "He's not worthy of me." That means I'm not worthy of Jesus. If I don't take up my cross, and another 38:08 place it says every day. I cannot follow him if I don't take up the cross. I need to understand it very clearly. And then he says in the next verse, "He who has found his life will lose it. And he who has lost his life for my sake 38:27 shall find it. A verse which is thoroughly misunderstood by clever people. And I'm not surprised. But what he's referring to is our self life, not our physical life. It's not my going and giving up my physical life. There is a self life that all of us 38:45 have. We are born as children of Adam with self sitting on the throne. Self thinking of itself as very clever, very righteous, and very important. And that's the thing that causes problems in all relationships. What's the cause of husband and wife 39:04 conflicts? Two people who got self sitting on the throne. That's all there is to it. How will they ever become one? They both have to be crucified. That's all. If self is crucified, they'll become one. It's because self is on the throne that 39:18 all conflicts are there. Between brothers, between husband and wife, between people, between churches, whatever it is. Self is on the throne. And that's why this health wealth gospel is so is so popular. You know, if you come and say, "Jesus 39:37 will make you healthy, heal all your sicknesses, and make you wealthy." Tell me anybody in the world who doesn't want that message. We have numerous beggars in India. Everybody Every beggar would be delighted with that. 39:51 To accept Jesus who will make him healthy and wealthy. And all the rich people, they also want health and wealth. Is there a human being on the earth who doesn't want health and wealth? Why did the world reject Jesus Christ 40:04 then? If that's what he came with. I mean, that to me is the simple answer, that that's not the gospel. If that was the gospel Jesus came with, the whole world should have accepted him. Which Pharisee in the world did not 40:17 love health and wealth? Did Herod love health and wealth? Of course he did. Why would he reject Jesus if Jesus was offering health and wealth? Not a soul in Israel would have rejected him. Not a soul in the world would have 40:31 rejected him. That to me is the clearest evidence that this health wealth gospel has come from hell. To lead people astray. Jesus did not say, "Come and be healthy. Come and be wealthy." He said, "Come and 40:51 die." Who wants that? That's what he preached. If you want to hear the real gospel, come and die. To your ambitions, to your interests, to your self life, to your arrogance, to your pride, to your self-righteousness, to everything. 41:07 You want that? That's what I'm coming for. That's why they hated him. That's why they killed him. And if the world hates him today exactly for the same reason. And that's why we have a Christianity that ignores this thing and 41:19 preaches all the other nice things that Jesus will do. I'm not saying that the Lord doesn't bless materially. He does. But I'll tell you what the Bible says. He blesses unbelievers also materially. He makes the sun to rise on whom? 41:37 The good and the evil. He makes the rain to fall on whom? The righteous and the unrighteous. Sun and rain, material blessings are given by God to good people and to evil people. The Muslim sheiks, they may worship a false god, but 41:56 they're extremely wealthy. People with false religions can be extremely healthy. Cuz material blessings are given by God to everyone. It's not a proof of God's blessing. If it were a proof of God's blessing, then we have to say that 42:14 millions of non-Christians are more blessed than Christians cuz they got a lot more health and a lot more wealth. That's not the proof of God's blessing. So, it's learning to lose our life like it says here, if I find my life, I lose it, 42:32 but if I am willing to lose my life for his sake, I'll find it. Now, next reference to the cross, I think it's in Matthew 16. In Matthew 16, he was speaking about the church, the first time he spoke about the church, Matthew 16 and verse 18, I 42:49 will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. And from that time, verse 21, Jesus also spoke about the cross. The very first time he spoke about the church, he also spoke about the cross teaching us 43:03 that that was central to building the church. Not only the cross on which Jesus died, verse 21, I have to suffer many things and be killed, but also the cross that we have to carry, verse 24, I got to take up the cross. This dual 43:17 cross, the cross on which Christ was crucified and the cross on which I was crucified with Christ, Galatians 2:20, and which I have to take up every day now. That is the secret of building the church. And if you want to really build 43:29 a new covenant church, remember the first time Jesus spoke about the church, he also spoke the first time about his death on the cross and about those who follow him also dying on the cross. There's a connection there. You got to 43:41 see it. It's hidden from the wise and the intelligent, but it's revealed to those who are humble enough to come to scripture with an open mind. From that time, Jesus said about taking up his cross. And there we also learn something else. 43:57 There are only twice that Jesus used the words get behind me, Satan. Once was to the devil himself when the devil tempted him in the wilderness, get behind me, Satan. And the second is not to Satan, but to Peter in verse 23. 44:12 When Peter said, "Oh Lord, you're not going to go to the cross." Jesus Peter said it out of great love. I'm not going to let you. I'll defend you. Lord, I won't let anybody capture you and take you to the cross. I love you. I'll lay down my life for you. 44:27 And Jesus said, "That's the voice of the devil." Imagine someone who's trying to show love, trying to protect me from going to the cross. One would have thought that Jesus should have spoken to him a little more tenderly, saying, "Well, Peter, I really 44:43 appreciate your love for me." But you know, God's ways are not our ways. We try to be more Christ-like than Christ himself. I've really seen that. A lot of Christians try to be more Christ-like than Christ himself. They've got a wrong idea of what Christ 45:00 is, first of all. Get behind me, Satan. And why did he speak so strongly? Because he wanted us to understand something. And it's written in scripture for us to learn that the voice that tells you to avoid the cross is the voice of the 45:20 devil. And I'll tell you we hear it frequently. When a problem arises in the home, and the Holy Spirit says to you, husband or wife, "Die." And you don't die. 45:37 Another voice says, "Give your opinion there." Who has the wisdom to say, "Get behind me, Satan?" If you understand this, if you're humble enough to understand this, it'll solve many problems in your life. It'll solve many problems in your home. 45:55 You'll be a happier person. You'll never be discouraged. You'll always live in triumph. You'll be able to rejoice in the Lord always. You'll be able to come out obey commands which says do all things without murmuring and 46:10 grumbling. You'll be able to obey that. You'll be able to obey commands like in everything give thanks. Commands which you don't normally obey for one reason. Because self refuses to die. That's why it's the voice of Satan cuz 46:27 Satan is glorified. Do you know that every time you have a conflict in your homes as husband and wife Satan is being glorified? I don't know whether you know that. It is. Every time you get angry and upset with somebody Satan is being glorified. 46:44 The only anger that Jesus had was when he saw people make making money in the name of religion. He was never angry when they called him the Beelzebub, prince of devils. He was never angry when they spat on him. He was never angry when people argued with 46:58 him and disagreed with him and called him a you Samaritan, you you got a demon. He was not angry. Anything that concerned him he was never angry. But something that touched the glory of God he was angry. But how do you find Christians today who 47:16 claim to be following Jesus, who claim to be born again believers? They're angry when somebody they hurt somebody said something about me. Oh, how dare he say that? They're angry with that person. Or they're angry when somebody speaks 47:28 rudely to them or somebody spits on you. Boy. Imagine overcoming anger there. And when are they not angry? When they see these television evangelists making money in the name of religion they watch it and they're not angry. They are unlike Christ. 47:45 I'm furious when I see television evangelists making money in the name of Christ. That's Christ-likeness for me. If I can sit and watch preachers pleading with people to give them money and I'm not angry. I am un-Christ-like. 48:00 But most people say, "Oh, don't criticize, brother. He's also serving God. He's also bringing people to Christ. Let them say what they like." They could have told Jesus that in the temple. These people are bringing sheep 48:10 to help people sacrifice to God. These people are bringing doves to sell people they don't have to bring their sheep all the way from Galilee. We sell give it to them here. Why did he chase them out? God is hidden the I praise you, Father. 48:27 You have hidden these things from the clever, intelligent believers. You reveal them to those who are humble enough to acknowledge that what Jesus did was right. And what all the ways that man do it is wrong. I've said that for years to myself. I 48:47 said, "Lord, every idea that I have contrary to what Jesus did in scripture is wrong." If I try to be with people making money in the name of religion, I'm wrong. I have to be furious with them. Not just gentle. Say, "Will you 49:04 gentlemen please move your tables from here?" Not like that. Turn the tables and let the money go rolling on the ground. That's Christ-likeness. I've seen very few people who would hit out at money-loving preachers like that. 49:19 Everybody wants to be gentle and nice. They're upset when their their own will is crossed. You see how we are the opposite of Christ? If I am upset because somebody hurt me or said things against me, but I'm not upset when 49:33 people are making money in the name of religion, I am antichrist, the opposite of Christ. I may not even know it. I don't want to be antichrist. I want to be like Jesus. And so, "Get behind me, Satan." Why? Because Matthew 16:23, 49:51 "You're a stumbling block to me. Everyone who does not take up the cross in their life and does not joyfully accept the way of the cross in their life is a stumbling block to Jesus Christ. He will not be able to build a church. 50:05 And that's why most people don't build a new covenant church. No. You and I'll tell you the real reason. It says here, "Your mind is set on your own interests, not God's interests." 50:24 Ultimately, that's the thing. Your mind is set on what you can get out of it. You know, a lot of Christian ministry, I can see through it all. It's a preacher having his own interest at heart. I'll tell you something that God showed 50:41 me when I left the Navy 50 years ago. He showed me something from the first temptation of Jesus Christ. Jesus was tempted, the very first temptation after the 40 years of 40 days of temptation. The last three temptations, the first of 50:57 the three was, "You are hungry. You have a need, but you were anointed. 40 days ago you were anointed. God gave you power, supernatural power. Use your supernatural power now, 51:16 not to steal from somebody, that would be wrong, not to hurt anyone, that's wrong, but to satisfy your own need. What's wrong in that? You have the power to turn stones into bread. Turn it into bread to satisfy your hunger. Use your 51:33 supernatural power to produce bread for yourself." And Jesus said, "No." He did use that supernatural power later on to produce bread for 5,000 people when they were hungry. That he would do. But he would not do it for himself. 51:50 Have you seen that in that first temptation? Well, the way the Lord spoke to me is I have anointed you and given you the gift to preach my word. I know very clearly God gave it to me. Don't ever ever ever use it to make 52:07 money for yourself. Don't ever ever use it to get honor for yourself. Don't ever ever use it to get a position for yourself. That is the first temptation. To use the supernatural power God gives us to get something for myself. Who has 52:26 light on it? Who has seen the first temptation in this light? You think preachers have seen it? You think all these preachers are running after money and honor and position who call themselves Reverend so and so and Reverend Doctor so and so? 52:38 Why do Why does a person call himself Reverend so and so? It's to show that I'm not the same level as you, brother. You're an ordinary brother. I'm Reverend. But who has light on it? That exaltation of one above the other. 52:53 They don't have light on it. The Christian world is full of people. They're evangelical, all right, but they don't have light on this. We say it's a small thing. Why did Jesus speak about it then? Why did he say don't take titles if it is a small thing? 53:09 To me, nothing is small if Jesus taught it. Nothing is small. That's why we teach that a woman must veil her head when she prays or prophesies. It's a small thing. A lot of small things in the Bible. Breaking of bread is a small thing. I do 53:27 it. Baptism is a small thing. I do it. To me, there's nothing small if it is a if it is a command of God. So, we need to understand this. When I seek my own interest, I'm the I the voice of the devil will 53:45 come through me. Get behind me, Satan. Your mind is set on your own interest. Now, I want to say this, my dear brothers, very lovingly. If you have the slightest interest to promote yourself, the slightest interest to promote 54:02 yourself, to show others that you are somebody, whether you know it or not, your voice will have a little bit of the taste of the devil in it. But since most believers don't have discernment, they won't discern you. But 54:18 a man who's spiritual, who's discernment, will see through you straight away. That's why people are scared of a spiritual man because he sees through them. He sees through all their cleverness and their hollowness. He sees this they've got their own 54:35 interest. And Jesus could see through it. Do you think all the other What do you think all the other disciples thought of Peter? Hey, Peter, what a great man you are wanting to defend Jesus saying, "Don't go to the cross." 54:46 And Jesus turns around and said, "Get behind me, Satan." Jesus was the only person there who had discernment to see through Peter's words. It's a most important requirement in Christian leadership is discernment. I've seen that through 55:03 40 years of ministry in all the churches. If you don't have discernment, you a spiritual discernment given by God, you can be fooled by clever people. I thank you, Father, you have hidden these things from the wise and the 55:18 clever and revealed them to babes. What do babes have which clever wise people don't have? Humility. Not this acting humble, but think of a 2-month-old child in in a helpless 55:38 dependence on his parents. That's humility. A helpless Two year olds are not humble. They can be pretty proud. But a one month old child lying in a cradle, think of that. What do you think are the thoughts going 55:56 on through that child's mind? How clever I am or how people are admiring me. He's not bothered if people admire him. It's really beautiful to have the mind of a child. We're not like that. We're not like that. We get puffed up if 56:15 somebody says a small thing about us. But think you go and praise a child, one month old child in a baby, "Boy, you're so good looking, you're so cute." Doesn't make the slightest difference to it. And I praise the Lord that the message of the 56:31 gospel is that I can be like that child once again. Have you heard it? That's the wonderful message of the gospel. Lord, I can be like that. I'm such a proud arrogant person which I got from Adam. I can be like that child 56:46 one day. Helplessly dependent on my heavenly father for everything, giving all the glory to him. A child can say, "I can do nothing." You don't have to teach him the verse which says, "Without me you can do nothing." We quote it from John chapter 15. The 57:01 child knows it. "Without my parents I can do nothing." It doesn't need a verse. It doesn't need any intelligence to understand it. It's that is real faith. Lord, I can do nothing without you. I can't understand the scriptures without you. 57:16 I'm leaning upon you. You see, you know, Jesus pictured us like a branch in a tree. You go to the branch and ask, "How do you produce such wonderful apples?" "I don't do anything." "I'm helpless. I can't produce a single 57:31 apple. I'm just staying in the tree. The tree does everything. Sends in the sap. I just make sure that the channel for the sap to flow is open. The Holy Spirit. I make the channel clear by keeping my 57:48 conscience clear. That's all. If I have to apologize to somebody, I apologize immediately. Otherwise, the channel will be blocked. Many Christians take days to apologize to someone. The channel is blocked all those days. 58:04 They're too proud. They get puffed up with something. The channel is blocked again. So many things block the channel, and we pray, "Lord, fill me with the Holy Spirit." You can't be filled with the Holy Spirit if you block the channel 58:16 yourself. So, when our mind is set on our interests, remember, our thinking will be the thinking of Satan. That's what I learned from this word. So, I hope you understand it. The only way I can do God's will if is 58:35 my mind is set on God's interests. What is the thing that will glorify God most in this situation? What is the thing that will glorify God most in my home? What is the thing that glorify God most in the way I bring up my children? What 58:49 is the way I will glorify God most in the way I run my church? What is the thing that will glorify God the most in the way I relate to others in the church? Not how it will influence me or what I'll get out of it. I don't want to get 59:03 anything out of it. When I come to the cross, I say, "Lord, you've already done so much for me. I don't want any more. It's enough. I don't even have to ask God for anything. He's already done everything for me on the cross. 59:16 Now, Lord, I want the rest of my life to be only in God's interests. Is it possible to come to this life? See Philippians in chapter 2. It's not easy, but it's possible. Philippians 2, Paul says in verse 19, 59:38 "I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, so that I may be encouraged when I learn of your condition." Paul had a great burden for the churches he planted. A true spiritual father will always have a burden for the churches he's 59:51 responsible for. And Paul was a spiritual father. He was concerned. In those days there was no communication, you know, like we have today, email and phone and all that. He had to send somebody to find out, "How are things going there in Philippi? I 1:00:06 want to know how that church is progressing." And he looked around at his co-workers, "Whom shall I send?" And he says, "You know, they're all good people, they're all born again. They all speak in tongues. They've all had a baptism in the Holy 1:00:25 Spirit. Many of them have given up their jobs to serve the Lord. But I can't send most of them because they all seek their own." Verse 21. 1:00:40 "They all seek their own. But Timothy, he's an exception. I'll send him." You know, when I read that, I said, "Lord, if I were in Paul's team at that time, what would Paul say? Would he say, 1:01:02 'Timothy and Zach' or No, not Zach. Timothy. Zach's seeking his own.' I want to be honest. I said, "I don't want to fool myself, Lord. I don't want to imagine I'm more spiritual than I really am. But would Paul have selected me? Paul's 1:01:18 a man with discernment. I always say, 'The opinion of men is fit for the trash can, but the opinion of a godly man is not fit for the trash can." That I'll tell you. I wouldn't throw Paul's opinion in the trash can. I would throw the opinion of 1:01:32 Annas and Caiaphas and all the jing-bang lot of carnal Christians in the trash can, but Paul, if he said something, I'd take it seriously. His opinion is not fit for the trash can. He thinks I'm seeking my own. That only Timothy 1:01:51 is not seeking his own. He must be right. Lord, give me light. Where is it I'm seeking my own? Do you ever feel like that when you read that verse? That such wonderful people who were in Paul's team, Paul could see through them. 1:02:08 That they were seeking their own. You can be in a wonderful new covenant church with all types of wonderful doctrines and teachings and you know in your heart of heart whether you're seeking your own or not. Or whether your mind is set on God's 1:02:22 interests. What will glorify God most in my life? What will glorify God most in my home? And everything governed by that. You say, "Boy, it'll be such a burden to live like that." Not at all. Jesus said, "My yoke is easy. My 1:02:38 burden is light. You will find rest in your souls." In fact, the unrest in your soul is because you're seeking your own interests. There was one man who walked on this earth without seeing his interest at all, Jesus Christ. And he 1:02:50 lived the most restful life. He never had a fear. When 200 people took him to the top of a cliff to throw him down in Nazareth, you read in Luke chapter 4, he just quietly walked away from there. He wasn't afraid. When the soldiers came to capture him in 1:03:06 the temple in John chapter 7, he wasn't afraid because he knew it's only one verse written there in John 7, his hour had not yet come. Therefore, they couldn't catch him. Not because he was stronger than them, not because there were not enough 1:03:22 soldiers to capture him. Only one reason. God's time had not come. And Jesus lived in that rest. Nobody can touch me until my father's time comes. What a wonderful way to live. When your mind is set on God's interests 1:03:41 and we are seeking the glory of God in everything, you will live the most restful life of all. It's not a life of tension. Life of tension is when we seek our own and what we can get, what we can get, what we can get. Now, the thing is 1:03:57 in Adam, we're always seeking our own interests and then we look at Jesus who never sought his own interests and it's a progression. We're not saying we reach there in one day. The meaning of pressing on to perfection is that I want to work my way towards 1:04:13 the place where I will not seek my own in anything. So, we're not saying we are arrived. Paul said in Philippians chapter 3, "I have not yet obtained. I'm not yet perfect." Verse 12, that means there's still a teeny meeny bit of seeking my own. I 1:04:33 discover it in my life, but blessed is the man who discovers it. See, it's a wonderful thing if you discover the areas in your life where you're seeking your own and trying to be free from it. We may not be We None of us are 1:04:46 perfectly like Christ and we will not be like Jesus completely till he comes again. That's for sure. 1 John 3:2, "We will be like him when he appears." But the next verse, 1 John 3:3 says, "Everyone who has this hope will purify 1:05:01 himself." From what? Purify himself from not just gambling and drinking and smoking and saying I've given up these habits, from seeking one's own interests. Self is like a massive onion. Something happens and I get light on one 1:05:19 layer of that onion and I peel it off. I haven't got to the end of it now. Something will happen 1 month later in another situation and I say, "Oh boy, there I was seeking my own again." And I peel that off. If I cleanse myself like that, this 1:05:36 onion of self will get thinner and thinner and thinner and thinner and thinner. And I'll become more and more Christ-like. This is pressing on to perfection. And what Paul is saying is I haven't finished with my onion yet, but it's 1:05:48 pretty it's pretty thin now compared to what it was when I got converted. I hope all of us can say that. If you can't say that, I want to say to you, your being a part of this church from its beginning and all the wonderful truths you can 1:06:03 understand and you can talk about and sing about is worth zero. It's worth zero. Even though you belong to this church, you say, "Well, this is we are a new covenant church." Oh, okay. But if you're still seeking your own, 1:06:18 it's all empty talk. If you're not progressing, that that onion of self-seeking is becoming thinner and thinner and thinner and thinner, you know, then you're really pressing on to perfection. And that'll make your married life more 1:06:32 and more glorious. You can't make your partner glorious, but you can be one yourself. You don't have to feel condemned if your partner is not seriously taking up the cross, but you really need to judge yourself if you're not taking up the 1:06:48 cross. John Wesley had a very wicked wife. Was very evil to him in many ways. But that was a test of his sanctification. He never spoke evil of her. He 1:07:07 lived a godly life even when she pulled hairs from his beard in the presence of others. That's how people knew. But he preached holiness and he lived holiness. So, it's you you're responsible for yourself. 1:07:26 Say, "Lord, I want to cleanse myself from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit." And filthiness of the flesh and spirit is this love of oneself. Just to emphasize it, let me show you I showed you Matt Matthew 10, Matthew 16. Let me show you 1:07:43 Mark chapter 8. Mark chapter 8. Where he spoke about the cross, verse 34, Mark 8:34. "If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me." Immediately after that, what 1:08:01 does he say? "Whoever wishes to save his life, his self-life, will lose it. Whoever is willing to lose his self-life for my sake and the gospels will save it." See, in all three places so far we've seen as soon as he speaks about the 1:08:15 cross, he speaks about the self-life. Now, let's go to Luke chapter 9. Luke 9 and verse 23. Luke 9:23. Luke 9 and verse 23 we read. 1:08:42 "Anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily." And immediately after that, "You try to save your self-life, you lose it. You lose your self-life, you'll save it." Every time he speaks of that cross, immediately 1:08:55 after that he explains what it means. It's your self-life. You got to lose it. Now, let's turn to John chapter 12. Where he speaks about the cross in another way. John 12 uh 24 1:09:17 If a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it'll bear fruit. He's speaking about death to self again. Are you willing to die? And again, he says, verse 25 explains it. If you love your self life, you lose it. And if anyone serves me, verse 26, let 1:09:36 him follow me. Where I am, that is on the cross. My servant will also be there, on the cross. Have you understood it like that? Every time Jesus spoke about the cross, if you look carefully, he explained it immediately thereafter. It is loving 1:09:50 your self life. Putting it to death is the way of the cross. I don't know whether you've noticed it. If you notice it, and you say, "Lord, now I understand what it means to take up the cross. It's to get rid of the self interest, which is 1:10:10 the voice of the devil, always telling people sometimes ask me, "How to distinguish between the voice of the Holy Spirit and the voice of self or the my own voice?" I say, "Here it is. The voice of self will always seek your 1:10:22 own interests. The voice of the Holy Spirit will speak God's interests. You say, "Then who will take care of me?" God will take care of you. You should seek his kingdom first. You can be pretty sure you won't lack anything on this earth. 1:10:40 Jesus was no not a homeless person. Never. He didn't have to beg or borrow. See, I I We must strive to all the power to the of the Holy Spirit to seek to live like Jesus lived by the principles by which 1:11:00 he lived. For example, when the Bible says, "Owe no man anything." I don't know how many Christians take that seriously, Romans 13:8. Don't owe anybody anything. If you have happen to have to borrow in some 1:11:19 tight situation, okay, replay it re- repay it as soon as possible. That means don't be in debt. Now, don't misunderstand me. A home loan is not a debt. When you take a home loan, there's a home there and the money you borrowed, 1:11:33 it's equal. There's no debt there. The balance is equal. That's not a debt. When you borrow money to buy a car, that's not a debt because there's something there to show for that money. It's when you borrowed money and you got 1:11:43 nothing to show for it. That's a debt. You borrow money because you want to go on a vacation and you didn't have one this year. You should not go on a vacation if you have to borrow money for it. Because you got nothing to show for it. 1:11:57 There's nothing on the other side of the balance. That's the type of debt we must avoid. Owe no man anything. And the way I see it is, what does it mean to follow Jesus? I can't imagine Jesus going to somebody and saying, 1:12:10 "Hey, I want to go on a vacation, but I don't have enough money. And my heavenly father let me down. Can you please give me some money to Can you imagine Jesus going and telling somebody that? My heavenly father let me down and so 1:12:22 I'm a bit hard up. Can you give me some money because I want to go on a vacation. It's pretty bad. Everybody goes on vacations, you know." This is the craziness of so-called believers because they don't take God's word seriously. No wonder their lives 1:12:36 are so shallow. No wonder they don't get revelation. No wonder they remain ignorant about the new wine and the new wineskin, the new covenant life and the new covenant church because self-interest. I'm not speaking what I've not 1:12:52 practiced. I'm 76 years old. I've never borrowed one rupee from anybody in my life till today. I obeyed Romans 13:8. It's possible to live like that. But, my wife and I have been hard up sometimes, really hard up. We lived with what we had. 1:13:10 When we didn't have a washing machine, we washed clothes the way Jesus washed his clothes. You know how Jesus washed his clothes? With his own hands. We're a spoiled bunch of people in the 21st century. We think we need this, we need that, 1:13:25 need the other thing. Buy now, pay later. I don't believe it. It's all seeking our own. And then you wonder why your Christian life is not progressing because, you know, I can't just say, "I want to progress here, but I ignore here." Sin 1:13:40 is a big circle with many segments. If I'm careless in one area, it'll affect me in many other areas. And that's why we get dirty thoughts, sexual sin. Let me show you Ezekiel chapter 16. Sexual perversion. 1:14:09 Sodom is a city known for sexual perversion. Sodomy is a word used for homosexual sin. Homosexual sin is not as is just as bad as heterosexual sin. We're not saying that that is in a 1:14:27 special category. It's just the same. Any type of sin, any type of sexual sin outside of marriage is evil. That's what the Bible says, whatever people may say. It's not that those who commit homosexual sin are worse sinners than 1:14:43 those who commit adultery. Just the same. Sex is permitted only in a marriage between a man and a woman. That's it. Outside of that, whatever you may call it, it is sin. But how did it come in Sodom? You read in Ezekiel chapter 16 1:15:02 and verse 48. About Sodom your sister, he's talking about Israel saying, "You people have become like Sodom." Ezekiel 16:48. This was the guilt of your sister Sodom, verse 49. And you would think he'd talk about 1:15:20 sexual perversion. No. He talks about the things that lead to sexual perversion. And if you want to overcome sexual sin in your life, think of these things. Arrogance. It's because you're arrogant that you 1:15:40 can't overcome your dirty sexual thoughts. Number two. Gluttony. Eating eating eating eating and just eating eating eating eating gluttony. I want good food all the time. No wonder you have dirty thoughts. I'm talking about scripture now. 1:16:00 Careless ease, laziness. This laziness, even the world has a proverb which says the idle mind is the devil's workshop. Laziness. And fourth. A lack of care, lack of compassion for 1:16:21 the needy. So what's the what's the connection between no compassion for the needy and dirty sexual theories? This is the guilt of your sister Sodom. Arrogance, gluttony, laziness, and a lack of compassion for others 1:16:41 who are less fortunate than you are. So, perhaps we can start working on these and overcome sexual sin. As I told you, sin is one circle. I can't just get victory in one area. I 1:16:59 have to get victory over all. Sin shall not have dominion over you. It's not just one particular sin. I have to attack sin altogether. Say, Lord, no sin must have dominion over me. Not arrogance, not gluttony, not laziness. 1:17:16 Not lack of compassion. None of them must have power over me. Cuz all it's all because of seeking my own interests. You can say that all these things are seeking my own interests. So, with all the things I shared, 1:17:34 I hope you receive something that'll be of help to in your own life, even if it was not spoken in a very orderly way. I like the way Jesus spoke. It was a pretty disorderly way. You know, the way Paul writes his letters, sometimes he 1:17:50 switches from one subject to another and then goes back to some other subject. The Holy Spirit is like that. He's not so orderly as we think. Because his aim is to bring conviction and not admiration. And I hope you receive something in the 1:18:06 hope that the Holy Spirit will help us. Because wherever there's a death, there's a resurrection. When you're buried in the water, you know that the guy you baptized you will bring you out. Jesus submitted himself. I remember when 1:18:25 I was seeking God for the baptism of the Holy Spirit as a very young man. And I was I'll tell you honestly, I'm I love Pentecostal people, but I was disappointed with what I saw in their churches. So, I stopped going there. I never 1:18:38 there. I just once went only once just to find out what it was like and I was turned away from it. Because I said, "That's not what I want." And I sought God on my own in my room. Said, "Lord, I want the real thing. And if it takes 10 years to get the real 1:18:52 thing, I'll wait. But I don't want any cheap counterfeit." And the Lord led me to see how Jesus was anointed. He was anointed when he submitted to baptism. And the baptism was a symbol of allowing somebody to put me to death. 1:19:10 Romans 6 says that, "Buried with him in baptism and raised again by the glory of the Father." So, I saw that Jesus, when he submitted to symbolically to someone to put him to death, that's one part. And trusted that the Father would raise 1:19:26 him up from the dead in that situation, he was anointed soon as he came out. That's the revelation I got when I was 23 years old. I said, "Lord, thank you. I have understood now. I must be willing 1:19:43 to allow other people to put me to death with faith that you will raise me up. If you don't have that faith, you'll resist it. Imagine when you somebody's baptizing you, you resist it, you know. You'll never be able to baptize you. 1:20:02 So, I I felt the Lord say to me at that time, "As long as you walk this way of death to self, you will have my anointing and power resting upon you. But the day you decide to move away from this path, 1:20:22 my power will depart from you." I said, "Lord, I never want to depart from this path all my life." And that's why for me it has been very central in my life and in my preaching. The way of the cross, the way of death to self, 1:20:39 the way of seeing God's interests in the way of standing against the money changers in the temple and the way of recognizing the voice of the devil when I'm seeking my own interests and seeking to cleanse myself from all 1:20:58 filthiness of the flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God. If If we all about all of us do this in our personal private life, can you imagine what this church will be in a even in 1 year? There'll be such a 1:21:15 power manifested. Such a I don't mean I'm not talking about healings and miracles. Jesus healed thousands of people, thousands, and almost all of them are in hell today. And lots of people were healed miraculously by Jesus himself 1:21:35 who never reached the gates of heaven. That's not my goal. But there were people to whom Jesus made disciples. They have a glorious entrance into God's kingdom. That's what I want to do. So that's what I mean. That we want to build a church that will 1:21:53 have power to make disciples that will give them a glorious entrance into God's kingdom. And along the way, if the Lord also does a few miracles like healing the sick and doing the we've experienced that in our church, too. Praise the Lord, but that's 1:22:08 not our main goal. So may the Lord help us. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, your word is a lamp to our feet. The life of Jesus 1:22:26 is a light for our life. Thank you that we can walk the way that we see in your word and in the life of our Lord Jesus. Thank you, Father. You've not only given us exhortation, but an example that we can follow. 1:22:44 And also godly men like Paul and others that we've come across in our life who are seeking to go this way. Help us to follow them as they followed you, Lord Jesus. And help us to be examples to those younger than us that we can say to them also, "Follow me 1:23:04 as I follow Christ." Help us each one. Help us to build our families for your glory. That we shall you raise our children to be another generation that lives for the glory of God. Help us, Lord, we pray in Jesus' name. 1:23:22 Amen.
