0:07 I believe that Jesus came to make the way to God more simple than it was in the Old Testament. The Old Testament there were so many complicated laws that they had scribes who studied the laws 0:24 and could explain it all to people. So, to understand what the Christian life is about, I want to share something from Hebrews. You know, we live in days before we get there to 2 Corinthians. Turn with me to 0:43 2 Corinthians chapter 11 verse two. 1:01 This is the mark of a true servant of God, the Apostle Paul. I'm jealous for you with a godly jealousy. A true servant of the Lord will have a godly jealousy 1:21 to protect the people to protect God's people from being led astray. And the picture I The picture I have in mind is Abraham's servant went all the way to 1:41 Mesopotamia to find a bride for Isaac in the Old Testament Genesis 24. It's a picture of Abraham sent his servant to find a bride for his son Isaac. It's a picture, an Old Testament picture 2:00 of God sending the Holy Spirit to find a bride for Jesus Christ, his son. And Abraham's servant had to travel that far country find the bride and bring him back bring her back over a long journey with many dangers along the way. 2:23 Cuz Mesopotamia to Canaan was a long distance. I don't know how many days it took. But can you imagine how there would have been so many other people there on the way. They they see this pretty girl, Rebecca. And they would like to come and talk to 2:43 her, be friendly with her, or attack her. And Abraham's servant jealously would protect her. Don't talk to them. Avoid them. They're Protect yourself. Preserve yourself for Isaac. Isaac is waiting for you over there. 3:01 That's what he would tell her. And in that long journey what do you think she would have been asking Abraham's servant? Tell me more about Isaac. I'm not interested in his wealth and all that, but tell me more about him. 3:16 What's he like? What type of person is he? If you were the bride if you were put yourself some of these Old Testament stories, you put yourself there and then you'd understand how it is. So, what I often do I put myself there 3:31 and I think what would I'm the bride of Christ. Like Isaac was waiting Isaac was waiting for Rebecca, Jesus is waiting for me. And I'm passing through this journey and the Holy Spirit's guiding me. It's a long journey. And there are many enemies trying to 3:47 draw me away from my bridegroom who's waiting for me. And if I'm like Rebecca I'd be asking the Holy Spirit all the time. Tell me, what is Jesus like? I want to know. He's going to be my bridegroom one day. Tell me more about 4:03 him. I'm not worried about all these other people. I want to know about him. I don't want to know about what type of tent he lives in or how much money he has. What type of person is he? Don't you think Rebecca would want to 4:16 ask for that? I believe that's the mark of the bride of Christ. And if I'm part of the bride of Christ, I'd be asking the Holy Spirit. Tell me more about Jesus. I'm going to marry him one day. And you have come Spirit of God to bring 4:34 me all that way. During this journey I want to know more about him. So, keeping that in mind, let's turn to Hebrews and chapter 11. Uh Hebrews 11 is all Old Testament. 4:55 And there were great men of God in the Old Testament beginning with Abel Enoch Noah Abraham Jacob Moses many many others who did wonderful things for God. When 5:13 you think of Moses, what a mighty man of God he was. Leading 600,000 men altogether 2 million including the women and children through 40 years through uninhabited deserts leading all the way to the land of Canaan. 5:31 Bringing them out of Egypt. Tremendous miracles. There were people who raised the dead like Elijah and Elisha. And at the end of it look at the last verse. Hebrews 11. God has provided something better for 5:50 us. Do you really believe that God, my dear brother, sister, think put your name there. That God has provided something better for you than Elijah did raising the dead? Than Moses did bringing the Israelites 6:08 through the Red Sea? God has something better for you than anyone in the Old Testament experienced. According to your faith be it unto you. That's a law of God. If you expect little from God, that's all you'll get. If you expect more 6:26 you'll get more. It's entirely up to you how much you get from God according to your faith. God has provided something better for us. And then you ask yourself, what is the better thing? What is better than raising the dead? 6:41 What is better than getting manna from heaven every day for 40 days? What miracles? Boy, if I got it for one day I'd be testifying it about it for the rest of my life. Amazing miracles. What is better than that? And then you read in the next verses. 6:57 It's unfortunate that there's a chapter division there. There should not be a chapter division. God has provided something better for us and goes on to tell us what that better thing is in the next four verses. And that better thing, if you would read 7:11 it, it doesn't sound like better than raising the dead. It doesn't sound like better than manna coming from heaven every day for 40 years. What is the better thing? Let us lay aside every sin and that entangles us. 7:29 And let us fix our eyes on Jesus. Chapter 12 verse two. The author and perfecter of our faith. And what is the better thing? Enduring the cross. Like Jesus did. 7:47 Cuz it says we are to follow him. Let us run the race. Jesus is the author and perfecter of that faith. He's gone ahead of us. We are to follow him enduring the cross. Cross, shame. Are these the things better than raising 8:06 the dead? You ask yourself. Now that many of you've been Christians for many years. Do you really believe that if God gave you the option of raising the dead or dying to yourself and being put to shame by others for Christ's sake, which 8:23 would you choose? You'd say, "Boy, what a testimony I can be if I raise the dead in Jesus' name." Then your eyes have not been opened to the way of the cross as far superior even to raising the 8:41 dead. My eyes have been opened. If the Lord were to ask me, "Zac, do you want to raise the dead or die with Jesus every day?" I'd say, "Lord, I want to die with Jesus every day." Cuz I've seen the glory. I've seen what happened after Elijah 9:01 raised the dead. You know what he did? One woman scared him to death and he ran away for his life. Jezebel said, "I'll kill you. I'll take off your head today." And he ran for his life and hid in a cave. And said, "Oh God, please take away my 9:17 life. I'm fed up with my life." One woman. This man who was not afraid of 450 prophets was afraid of one woman. There are some men like that today also. Afraid of one woman. There's something far more glorious than 9:37 all this. To follow Jesus in the way of the cross where we never get depressed. We are not afraid of anybody, man, woman, or 10,000 prophets of Baal or any Jezebels or anyone. Our eyes are fixed, verse two, on Jesus who despised the shame 9:57 and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. That's where we we are going. That's the journey. He had his eyes on the end of the journey and we have the eyes on the end, not the journey itself. These people who run the 10:11 marathon races. It's very tough. Running 26 miles and more. They got the eye on the finishing line. I want to get there and get the prize. And that's our calling on this earth. So, I want to share a little bit about what this means. 10:30 Fixing our eyes, verse two, or looking unto Jesus. The author and finisher, perfector of our faith. Who all his life endured the cross. Did you know that? When Jesus said, you got to take up the cross and follow me. 10:49 Do you know that Jesus took up his cross every day? Throughout his life, when he was at home with his brothers and sisters irritating him, he would just die to himself. Every day he took up the cross. Not just for one or two days, for 30 11:07 years. He took up the cross and all the way till the end. When he came to the end, he could say, "Father, I have finished the work you gave me to do." What is the work that the Father gave him to do? If you understand that, 11:25 we'll see what it means to follow Jesus today. We have to know our theme of our conference is has been to all shall know me from the least to the greatest. So, to get there, we want to first clean out our past 11:46 record, our past life. So, let's turn back to our theme verse, Hebrews 8:11. And let's look at what it says here, Hebrews 8:11. They don't have to teach every everyone 12:05 his fellow citizen know the Lord because all will know me from the least to the greatest. Why? Because the next word for means because. I will be merciful to their iniquities and I will remember their sins no more. 12:25 You have to begin there before you get to know the Lord. All will know me because, for means because, all will know me because I don't remember their sins anymore. So, I want to ask all of you, do you know that Jesus has not only 12:45 forgiven your sin, but God says, "I will not remember your sin anymore." It's very important cuz I know the number of times in my younger days when this verse was not emphasized to me as a young believer, I was tortured in my mind. I was born 13:03 again, baptized, and was tortured in my mind by memories past failures. And my past failures were not all that's gross, but even the little things that I did, little lies that I said, or cheating. 13:22 And I said, "Lord, it bothers me." Till one day I remember very clearly, I was standing on the ship, on the deck of my ship in 1961, about a year after I was baptized. I just remember I was on duty on that 13:41 ship, and suddenly this verse came to my heart. I will not remember your sins anymore. It's a verse I'd read, it just came home to my heart. It liberated me. I want to make sure everybody here who is born again here, who's confessed your 13:59 sin, to know once and for all in a way that you'll never doubt it again, that God says to you today, "I will not remember your sin anymore." So, don't keep remembering the foolish things you did 14:17 in the past, the evil things you did. It doesn't matter how evil they were. If you've confessed them, repented of them, the blood of Jesus has cleansed it all away. Like we sang, the anger of God against sin. He's God is angry with sin every day, 14:35 the psalm says. And that anger of God against sin, the righteous anger of God against your sin and my sin, was finished on Calvary. When Jesus said, "It is finished," the anger of God was finished. And don't let the devil torture you 14:54 with the memory of your past failures. It's gone. When you get into eternity and in heaven, there'll be no record of it. Nobody there will ever know what you did in your life. Isn't that wonderful? All the wretched things you and I have 15:13 done, no record of it. It's gone. The blood of Jesus blots it out. It wasn't there in the Old Testament. You have to see the wonder of the new covenant. How was it in the Old Testament? Turn to Psalm 32. Psalm 32. 15:48 Verse one. This is the blessedness of the Old Testament. How blessed is he whose sin is forgiven, transgression and sin is forgiven, and his sin is covered. Not blotted out. You know the difference between covered 16:09 and blotted out? Supposing I write a all your sins on a board here and put a sheet over it, it's covered. Nobody can see it. But if you lift the sheet, you can see. If somebody lifts the sheet, they can see all that you did. 16:27 But if I take a wet cloth and wipe it all out, it was written there, all your sins, it's all wiped out. There's no way you can bring it back. No way. That's new covenant. I want to ask all of you, do you really believe God has wiped it all out? 16:46 Or do you get tortured by the memory of something you did 25 years ago, 10 years ago, last year? Tortured. The devil loves to torture people with the memory of You know, you remember what you did there, you remember what you did over there. 17:04 You still feel that's covered. You're under the old covenant. Have you come into the new covenant and say it's blotted out? It's not covered. I'm not in Psalm 32. I'm in the new covenant. My sins have been blotted out. 17:23 There's no record of it. It says, "My sins I will I will remember no more." That means it's gone. In time and eternity, there will be no record of your sin. But I want to warn you, there is one way by which it can all 17:43 come back on the board. I must give you that warning before I close this subject, I mean. Turn with me to Matthew chapter 18. I'm going to speak about my favorite topic these days, 18:01 for the last few years. You know what it is? Forgiving others. Matthew 18. Peter says in verse 21, "How often shall I my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Seven times?" 18:21 When the Jews, they said three times. Peter said, "I'm a Christian. I'll forgive him seven times." Jesus said, "What rubbish? Not seven times, but 70 * 7." And another place he said, "If your brother sins against you seven times in 18:35 one day, and he repents, forgive him." Then he gave a parable, very interesting parable. A king wanted to settle accounts with his servants. And then he wanted to settle with one man who owned 10,000 18:52 talents. That's a lot of money. It says in the margin of my Bible, it is the one talent was worth 15 years of your salary. So, 19:11 1,000 10,000 talents. You know what it is? 150,000 years of salary. Work that out. And this guy, where can he pay it? But he dares to tell the king 19:30 The king said he's got to be sold as a slave. And everything must be sold. But he said, "Please, verse 26, have patience, I will repay you everything." What rubbish. Where is he going to repay 150,000 years' worth of salary? 19:45 The king knew he cannot pay it. You know, that is the extent of our sin, of our debt to God. Our sin is like a debt to God. And here it says one talent is worth 15 years of a laborer's wages. So, 10,000 talents 20:02 is a 150,000 years salary. That is the extent of our debt to God. And he says, "Have patience with me. I'll pay." And the Lord says, "I know you can't." He released him. And what a wonderful word. He forgave that debt. Imagine, brother. 20:21 I don't know whether any of you have been in debt. I've met people, brothers, who've been in debt. They're tortured by the fact that I can't repay it. I can't repay it. I don't have any resources. "What shall I do?" They beg, borrow. 20:39 It's a terrible thing to be in debt. I've never known the that problem because from the beginning of our life, my wife and I decided we will never borrow one cent from anybody. We live simply. We will never be in debt. In my entire 20:57 85 years, I've never been in debt to anybody. Because the word of God says, "Owe no man anything." I will never believe in buy now, pay later. That's a debt. Anyway, so this chap was released of the debt. He was so relieved. 21:13 And look at this. This slave, verse 28, went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him 100 denarii. 100 denarii is the wages for 3 and 1/2 months. Where is 15 years wages and 21:35 3 and 1/2 months? And he caught him by the throat. Said, "Pay up." He said, "Please." He said the same thing that this guy said to the king. "Please forgive me. I'll pay you." He was unwilling and went and threw him in prison. 21:54 And when his fellow slaves, verse 31, saw what had happened, the way this guy demanded from this man repayment when he himself had been forgiven such a lot, they went and told the king. Now, this is the part I want every one of you to 22:10 listen carefully. The king called him. "Come back here, you wicked slave." Now, here I want to show you how that which is blotted out can come back on the board. Retyped on the board what was once blotted out. The Lord said, "Come here." 22:32 Should you, verse 33, shouldn't you have slay mercy on your fellow slave? Just like I had mercy on you. I believe that's exactly what the Lord is asking perhaps some people sitting here. Don't you think you should have been a 22:48 little merciful to that person who did something wrong against you or your family? Some relative of yours, a relative of your husband's or brother's or your wife's. Yeah, I know they did something wrong. Sure. He owes you something. 23:05 Cuz he hurt you or he hurt your children or your family. But shouldn't you have mercy on the way God says I had mercy on you? And so the Lord moved with anger, verse 34. Can God be angry? Can God ever be angry with one of his 23:23 children? Read this. The Lord moved with anger. Handed him to the torturers. In today's term, those are the demons. And until you repay all that you owe. And 23:42 where's he going to repay it? Whom is he talking to? Verse 35, "My heavenly Father will do the same to you." He's talking to Peter. Peter is his disciple who forsook everything to follow him. I said, "I don't care. I don't care if you forsook everything 24:02 to follow me. If you treat your fellow believer like that, if you treat another human being like that after I forgive you billions and trillions what you owe me, my heavenly Father will teach you a lesson." He'll treat you like this. He'll hand 24:20 you over to the demons to torture you until you repay all your debt, which you can never repay. If you don't forgive your brother from your heart. Not externally tell him, "I forgive you." But in your heart, you've got nothing 24:38 against him. He did some terrible evil. I know. But remember what I said yesterday, the worst evil was the crucifixion of Christ. And I remember seeing a movie about Christ. You know, there are movies made about crucifixion. 24:57 And I still remember this picture in that movie. Uh This is a person who was telling the story to somebody in the movie. And as he was telling the story, he it was pictured there how this Roman soldier was taking the hammer 25:16 to nail the hand of Jesus. And when he turned around, this chap saw it was him. He himself was there. The thing was so vivid. "It's you who are nailing Christ to the cross." That was the message in that movie. 25:35 And I saw it and I never forgot it. Was it a Roman soldier? No, it was me hammering my sin. And the Lord said, "Father, forgive him. He doesn't know what he's doing." Do you believe that when you sin, you crucified Christ? 25:54 It was quite a revelation for me when I saw that. When I sinned, I was hanging hammering the nails into Jesus' hands. And he forgave me. And I said, "Lord, I want to be like that to everyone." My life has been changed since I 26:12 understood this clearly. This is what it means to follow Jesus first of all. That I've been forgiven and I forgive others. Then we can begin the journey. You remember Jesus said, 26:28 "The way to life is in Matthew 7. And verse 14. The gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to 26:47 life." Simple question. Even a child can answer it. Tell me, how do you get to life? Is it only a gate? Or is it a gate and a way? Even a 10-year-old here can answer it. 27:04 But there are many preachers who don't believe there is a way. Just a gate. They've changed it. They said there's only a small gate that leads to life. Once you're saved, you're saved forever. You don't have to walk any way 27:22 to get to life. That gospel is being preached in America. It's a false gospel. Once saved, always saved. That has sent more people to hell than any other doctrine that I can think of. But Jesus said very clearly, "There's a 27:38 gate and a way. And then you enter life." I don't know whether all of you believe it. And that is how it's interpreted also in the New Testament. Turn to Hebrews in chapter 3. Hebrews chapter 3. And verse 14. 28:05 Have you read this verse? "We have become partakers of Christ if a big capital I F. Are you a partaker of Christ? If you hold fast 28:24 the beginning of your assurance, that's entering through the gate, firm all the way through the way until you reach the finishing line." There's a starting line, there's a track, and the finishing line. There's a gate, there's a way, and the 28:39 end. And you hold fast the beginning of your confidence firm until the end, then you become partaker of Christ. There are verses like this which completely ignored by many preachers today. Jesus said, Matthew 24 29:02 and verse 11. He's talking about the last days. You know, if somebody asks you, "What is the sign of the last days? Tell me one sign that Jesus said." The disciples asked for one sign. We talk about many, many signs of the 29:21 last days, but Jesus The disciples asked, "Tell us." Verse 3, middle of verse 3. "Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the one sign of your coming?" They asked for one sign of the coming of Jesus. And Jesus said, "Okay. 29:40 The one main sign. See to it that no one deceives you, verse 4." So, what is the one sign? There'll be a lot of deception in the last days. Verse 11, many false prophets will arise and mislead 29:56 many. We are living in that day. And those are not non-Christian leaders. They're so-called Christian preachers who will not tell you about a gate and a way, will tell you about the other gate. And let the people perish. 30:13 And he said, "I'll make it clear to you." Verse 13, the one who endures to the end will be saved. Who preaches that today? Who preaches that one sentence? The one who endures to the end will be saved. I've done it all my life. 30:34 But many people say, "You've accepted Christ, right? Brother, you're saved. You don't have to endure until the end and all." Those are verse 11, the false prophets who will mislead many. And I have become very unpopular 30:50 with many of these false prophets. The false prophets will call a true prophet a false prophet. That's how they deceive people. But read the word of God, man. What does it say? What did Jesus say? Be careful. So, I want to talk to you about a little 31:08 bit about this way. Hebrews 12, we read God has provided us a better thing, fixing our eyes on Jesus who ran a race. Let us Hebrews 12:1, let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. 31:27 It's a race. It's not just getting selected to join the starting line. You know, recently there was an Olympics in Paris. And it would have been a great honor if you were selected just to be on the team of your country just to come to the 31:44 starting line. And if you won all the heats and came to the starting line of one of the races, that's a tremendous honor just to come there. But that's not the race. You just came to the starting line. The prize is for those who finish the 32:00 race. So, it says here let us lay aside every burden and run with endurance, chapter 12, verse 1, the race set before us. That is chapter 11:40, the better thing than all the Old Testament people had. God has provided something better for 32:19 us. What is that? A race where Jesus is our forerunner who's gone ahead of us. He also ran the same race endured the cross every step of that way despised all the shame and reached the finishing line. What's the finishing line? 32:38 The throne of God. Verse two. And Jesus wants us to get there, too. That is the finishing line. Going to Revelation chapter three. I'm showing you all these verses so that you clearly understand what the Bible teaches. Revelation chapter three. 32:57 Verse 21. He who overcomes we have to overcome sin that is our flesh the world and the devil. These are our our enemies. 33:16 Our flesh temptations in the world and the devil. We have to overcome. And how do we do it? Verse 21, Jesus says, "As I also overcame." This is the point I want you to notice. Jesus had to overcome something. 33:36 And I'm set down with the Father on his throne. He didn't just sail up to the throne. He overcame for 33 and 1/2 years a race taking up the cross every day. He cannot possibly tell us to take up the cross every day 33:53 if he did not take up the cross himself. Imagine a angel coming with his wings and saying, "I'm going to teach you to swim. Come to the swimming pool." And he flies across and says, "Follow me." Say, "Don't tease me. 34:12 You get rid of your wings and then come and teach me how to swim." That's what I'd tell the angel. And if Jesus came here as God and lived as God and never sinned and says, "Follow me." I say, "Lord, don't tease me. I'm not God. I cannot follow you." 34:32 This is the wonderful gospel many have not understood. He came as a man. A man just like us. He did not have sin in his flesh because he was not born of Adam. We have 34:51 from our birth we have sin in our flesh. But was he tempted? He was tempted exactly like us. He had to fight exactly like us. He had to overcome just like us. That's written here. Read verse 21 carefully and meditate on 35:06 each word. He who overcomes I will make him sit with me on my throne exactly like I overcame. I said, "Lord, did you have to overcome something?" Yes. How did I sit on my father's throne? Not just because he died on the cross. 35:25 It's not that he died on the cross, therefore the Father said, "Come and sit with me on the throne." No. I overcame. In 33 and 1/2 years I overcame. The Father says, "You qualify to sit me on the throne with me on the throne." And 35:38 Jesus says, "You also overcome." Where is the overcoming? Just accepting Jesus into my heart? Is that overcoming? Lord Jesus, come into my heart, forgive my sin. What have you overcome? You have overcome nothing. Your overcoming starts the day you 35:55 accept Christ. That's when the race begins. You come to the starting line and you say, "Praise the Lord, I've reached." What have you reached? You have reached the starting line. That's the gate. There's a way. The race to be run. Then you reach the 36:13 finishing line. If we endure until the end, we'll be saved. If we hold fast the beginning of our confidence, Hebrews 3:13, firm until the end we'll be made partakers of Christ. So, this is a great mystery. Many Christians, have you heard this preached 36:32 anywhere? I'm almost certain it is not. Now, I'll show you 1 Timothy and chapter three. 1 Timothy chapter three, verse 16. By common confession 36:52 great is the mystery of godliness. The word mystery is a new covenant New Testament word. You'll never find the word mystery in the Old Testament. Cuz there was no mystery in the Old Testament. Everything was straightforward. 37:08 Mysteries means the definition of mystery is a secret that can be understood only if the Holy Spirit reveals it to you. You cannot understand it by study, intelligence uh studying the the commentaries, going 37:26 to Bible school, nothing. It has to be revealed to you by the Holy Spirit. And revelation is not teaching. Teaching is some teacher comes and teaches teaches teaches teaches and you understand. That's how we learned CAT was cat and 2 37:41 + 2 is 4. From that time onwards we That's not revelation. It's teaching teaching teaching teaching. But revelation is it's it's a hidden thing which God reveals to you by the Holy Spirit. And it says here the 37:59 mystery of godliness is very great. And what is the mystery of godliness? The Living Bible paraphrases it very well. The way to live a godly life 38:17 is a great secret. That's the meaning of that. The way to live a godly life is a great secret. I'm sure all of you who have sincerely tried to live a godly life and failed and failed and failed again and again 38:36 you say, "Boy, there's some mystery here. There's some secret I've not yet understood." It was true in my life. For 16 years as a born-again Christian even preaching I was defeated. I'll tell you honestly. The way to live a life of victory was a 38:55 complete secret. I could not understand it. But it says here it's a great secret. Great is this mystery of godliness. Only the Holy Spirit can reveal it. And what is this mystery? It's mentioned here. Jesus 39:13 came in the flesh. Not in sinful flesh but in our flesh. And flesh means more than body. The word flesh in the New Testament In the Old Testament, flesh means meat. But in the New Testament, it does not mean only our body. 39:32 You got to understand what flesh means. I'll show you that before we go proceed. Then we come back to this verse. Turn to Galatians. We're are a Bible study here and good for you to take seriously. God gave us scripture so that we compare 39:46 scripture with scripture and understand the truth. Never take one verse by itself. Do you know how the Satan tempted Jesus to commit suicide? Satan tempted Jesus to commit suicide. Jump off the temple. 40:06 It says in Psalm 91, he will say he will give his angels charge over you to protect you lest you even dash your foot against a stone. Read that in Matthew 4. It is written. Why did this devil quote the Bible? Because in the previous temptation, when 40:22 he tempted him to turn the stones into bread, Jesus said, "Ah, Satan, it is written. I go by that." So, Satan said, "Aha, you go by it is written. Okay, I'll give you another it is written. It is written, Psalm 91, he'll protect 40:37 you that you don't get hurt." And you know what Jesus said? "It is also written, you shall not tempt the Lord your God." What do you learn from that? Meditate on that. The whole truth is not contained in it is written. The whole truth is contained in it is 40:55 written and it is also written. If you take only it is written, you can go astray. Satan can make you do something completely against the will of God if you go by it is written. It is written, his angels will protect you, 41:09 jump off. Jesus balanced it by saying, "It is also written." Let me tell you something, most of the wrong doctrines in Christendom have come by people saying it is written. And there are not enough people who study the Bible well enough to say, "It 41:24 is also written." It is written, there is a gate to enter life. It is also written, there is a way. Not only a gate. Do you understand it now? How it is written alone can be the weapon of Satan. It's countered by it is written and it 41:41 is also written. There's a gate and there's a way. It's not complicated. It's very simple for those who have a desire to know the truth. But we're trying meaning of flesh. Galatians 5 verse 17. Please turn to Galatians 5:17. 42:02 The flesh fights against the spirit, the Holy Spirit, and the spirit fights against the flesh. And these are in opposition to one another. What does flesh mean? My body? The Holy Spirit is not fighting against this body. 42:19 This body is his temple. The body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. How can you fight against it? What does it mean the flesh sets his desire? My body is not against the Holy Spirit. This is the temple of the Holy Spirit. 42:30 And the Holy Spirit is not against my body. He He wants He wants to preserve his temple. Flesh means something else here. Not this flesh. Flesh means, let me tell you in a nutshell, it means your self-will. That is the definition of flesh in the 42:48 New Testament. Your self-will fights against the Holy Spirit telling you to do God's will. That's That's the meaning of this verse. And the flesh fights against the spirit and the spirit is fighting against your self-will. 43:05 And saying, "Got to be crucified that so that you can do God's will." And these are in opposition to one another. What are in opposition to one another? Not my body. My will versus God's will, always in opposition. Now, let me ask you a question. 43:22 Did Jesus have a flesh? What do you think? Not sinful flesh. In other words, did he have a will that he had to deny in order to do God's will? So, very crucial question because that 43:39 is the secret of living a godly life. I took to understand it. You can understand it in a moment today if you open. Let me show you John chapter 6. I want to make it plain to you from scripture, so you're not listening to Zac Poonen's 43:58 teaching. You're listening to the word of God. John 6. I want to show you the one-line autobiography of Jesus Christ. You know the difference between biography and autobiography? All of you, do you know? Biography is what's your life story 44:17 written by somebody else. Autobiography is you writing your own life story. Okay, the biography is written of Jesus is written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. Four biographies of Jesus' life. And here is Jesus' autobiography in one 44:37 sentence. John chapter 6 verse 38. One sentence. I came down from heaven to do what? You say he came down to die on the cross. No. That's one part of it. 44:55 I came down from heaven to deny my own will, that is the flesh, and to do the will of him who sent me. So, if you were to ask Jesus, "What did you do for" or you ask an angel in heaven, ask the Holy Spirit, "What did Jesus do for 33 and 1/2 years?" 45:13 You say he came down to die on the cross. I say, "No. That is only one small part of God's will." Towards the end, when he came to Gethsemane, there was the cross, God's will, and there was his own will, which did not want to go to the cross. 45:31 You remember what happened in Gethsemane? "Father, please take away this cup. I don't want to go this way. But not my will." That is the death of the cross. You want to know what it is to take up the cross? There it is. 45:49 It's painful. I don't want to do it. But because I love you, I'll do it. I'll deny my own will. Not my will, but thine. He said that on the last day of his life, and he said that all 33 and 1/2 years. That's why I say in one sentence, 46:07 "Why did Jesus come to Earth?" Here's the answer. I came down from heaven for what? You say he came down to die on the cross, but Jesus himself says, "I came down from heaven to deny my will and to do my Father's will, of which one small 46:21 part was dying on the cross." That was one part of it, but it was not all of God's will. All of God's will was you must live for 33 and 1/2 years and demonstrate to man how with a will of your own, 46:40 you can deny it every single day and please the Father and say at the end of your life, John 17 verse 4. "Father, I have glorified you on Earth. 47:04 How? I finished the work you gave me to do." Hey, I say, "Lord, have you gone to the cross yet?" No, no, no. That's just the last part of it. He's He's putting a full stop at the end of the sentence. The cross was a putting a full stop at 47:23 the end of the sentence. There were 33 and 1/2 years that led to the cross. What did he do those 33 and 1/2 years to say, "I finished the work you gave me to do"? He was looking forward to the cross as well. It included that. 47:35 But what did he do for 33 and 1/2 years? He said that, "I came from heaven not to do my will, but to do the will of my Father." And he did that and he said, "I finished the work you gave me to do." "If you overcome as I overcame." What 47:48 did Jesus overcome? Now, understand it. His own will. He fought it, denied it every day. I will not do my own will. When his brothers irritated him, when he was a 20-year-old young man in Nazareth, 48:06 and his brothers, 17 years old, 12 years old, 14 years old, his sisters, 13 years old, 12 11-year-old sister irritating him. God Father, let them say what they like. I will not respond. I will not respond. Not for 1 day. 48:23 For year after year after year after year in that home in Nazareth, he denied his will. You think that was easy? No. But he sought for the power of the Holy Spirit every day. Through the spirit, he denied his will and he says to you, 48:42 "I will not leave you without power. I'll give you the same spirit that I had for 33 and 1/2 years to do the Father's will. That is why I have the confidence from the time I got understanding on it nearly 50 years ago. I said, "Lord, now I know 49:00 how I can finish the work you gave me to do by sending me to this Earth." I believe with all my heart that God sent me to this Earth. I hope you believe it, too. Your birth was not an accident. It was not an accident. There are some parents who say, "This 49:19 child of mine was an accident." What rubbish. What an insult to say that this child was an accident. We didn't want to have him, but he got born. People may call a child an accident, but God says, "No. If he's a born again, 49:31 I had a plan for his life. Whatever his parents may say, I planned for him to be born and I planned for him to live this type of life. I was born in November 1939. And my parents did not know what I was born for. 49:51 Now I see why did God send me to the earth? Why did God send you to the earth? Take it seriously. You're a child of God, it's exactly like Jesus was sent to this earth. We're not boasting. We're just saying what God has sent 50:08 said. And I'm called to follow in Jesus' footsteps. Who said, "Not my will, but yours, Father." He did it faithfully every day. From childhood. For example, I've thought, "How did he know the scriptures when the at the age 50:26 of 12?" Did he come to birth with a Bible crammed in his head? Then he was not like me. I did not come to earth with a Bible crammed in my head. I had to work hard to study to get to know the Bible. And I'll tell you how Jesus got to know 50:41 the Bible. I think from the age of six or something or seven, he would go to the synagogue, which is the only place in Nazareth where there was a Bible. A scroll which contained the Old Testament. And he'd go up to the rabbi there and say, "Rabbi, 50:55 can you please read something from the Bible to me?" And the rabbi would learn to turn to some prophet, Isaiah or something. Okay, "Let me read Isaiah chapter 1." He'd read a few verses, and Jesus would say, "Okay, stop, rabbi. 51:08 Let me think on that. I'll come back tomorrow." He goes home, meditates on that one chapter, thinks about He's to retain in his mind what he heard. Seven-year-old boy comes back next day, "Rabbi, can you go to chapter 2 now?" 51:24 And the rabbi is delighted. He's never seen a seven-year-old boy coming and asking to read the Bible. I'd be excited if a seven-year-old came to me every day and said, "Well, Isaac, can you please read some next chapter on 51:36 the Bible for me?" I said, "Boy, I'm sure the rabbi felt like that." And he said, "Sure, my son." And like that for 5 years, he went through the entire Old Testament. And then he went to the temple one day at the age of 12. 51:55 And those priests who were great scholars were wondering, "How in the world does this 12-year-old boy know such answers? Not just the facts." Those those people sat there, went through Bible schools, and knew the facts written in the Old 52:09 Testament, but Jesus gave them revelation on the meaning of those words. And they were absolutely amazed. Because when he meditated on what he the rabbi read to him, he'd go home and think about it, and he'd get revelation. 52:23 If you meditate on what you read, you'll get revelation. If you don't meditate, you just got facts. Like going to Bible school. Many people read the Bible like people studying the Bible school. Read study it, you'll get nothing. What you need is 52:34 a revelation of the Holy Spirit. You remember when Jesus, Matthew 16, he asked the disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" Matthew chapter 16, verse 13. 52:58 "Who do the people say that I am?" They said, "Some say you're John the Baptist come back to life. Some say you're Elijah come back to life. Some say you're Jeremiah come back to life. God sent Jeremiah again to the earth. 53:12 Or one of the prophets." Then Jesus said, "Forget about them. Who do you, disciples, who do you say I am?" And Peter says, "You are the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus said, 53:29 "Not your clever. No. Simon, son of Bar-Jonah, you got a revelation." You see the word revelation there? "Your human intelligence did not reveal this to you. My Father in heaven has given you a revelation." Revelation is different from what you 53:51 learn by study. You can study and learn that 2 + 2 is 4. You can study and learn that sodium plus chloride is salt. That is study. You don't need revelation. Revelation is something God gives you supernaturally. And I've had some amazing revelations on 54:10 different parts of scripture. Some of them I shared with you today. Revelation. Blessed are you. A man who gets revelation is blessed by God. Study. Any idiot can study the Bible. But revelation comes to those like Peter. 54:29 Who said, "Lord, I'm going to follow you till the end." Anybody sitting here who says to Jesus, "I want to follow you till the end." You'll get revelation from the Father. And you'll be blessed. And then, listen to this. 54:46 What is the subject? Who is Who am I? You're the Christ, the Son of the living God. This is a revelation you got, Peter. And on this rock, which rock? This Christ, the Son of the living God. Not Peter. The Roman Catholic says it's 55:04 Peter. But Peter's a bit of a shaky rock. He denied Jesus a few years later. I wouldn't like to be founded on him, thank you. But Jesus, he's he just said, "You're the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus said, "That's it. What did you say just 55:20 now? Christ, the Son of the living God. That is the rock on which I will build my church. Unshakable. And the powers of hell, verse 18, will never be able to overpower it." Why is it so many churches are overpowered? Because they're not built 55:39 on the revealed Son of God. They're built on the historical Jesus, who they heard about, yeah, he died on the cross. Have you got revelation that this is the man who for 33 and 1/2 years denied his will, said, "No, no, 55:56 no, no, no, not to my will, not my will. Yes to the Father's will." For 33 and 1/2 years. And then died on the cross, which was his last action of denying his own will and doing the Father's will. And he sat down at the right hand of the 56:09 throne of God. And he says, "If you overcome like that, you will sit with me at the right hand of my throne." Brother, sister, you're hearing somethings today you probably never heard in your whole life. And some of you are getting revelation. 56:23 I guarantee it'll change your life like it changed mine 50 years ago. When I saw the way to the Father's throne, to Jesus' throne. It is today, like Hebrews 12 says, "Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of my faith." 56:38 That means the one who came to the starting line and went to the finishing line. He's the author and the finisher. I'm going to come to starting line, same starting line Jesus started from as a baby. I start when I'm born again. And I 56:50 want to run this race. The thing is, for 16 years of my life I hung around on the starting line. Wasted my life. Just, "Lord, I sin and I'm forgiven. I sin and I'm forgiven." I was just going up and down on the starting line. 57:04 "Lord, I'm forgiven. Thank you for forgiving forgiving me." I never ran this race. The race is not witnessing and giving out tracts, and that's all service. The race is following Jesus who went denying himself to the cross. 57:19 All the way, every day taking up the cross. But thank God he finally opened my eyes, and my life was changed. And when you get revelation like that, as you read here Matthew 16, what happened after that? On this revelation, 57:36 I will build my church. That is when I got understanding what is the true church of Jesus Christ. It's not just gathering a few people and saying, "Okay, let's sing a few worship songs, and then we'll get somebody to preach a message, and then we'll see the 57:50 benediction, and then we'll have some lunch together. That's a church." Garbage. That's a man-made congregation. The church of the living God is based on revelation. A Christ revealed to you who for 33 and 1/2 years said no to his 58:09 flesh. And yes to the Father. And he sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. And he says to you, "If you overcome like me, you will also sit down." How many of you want to follow? Some people say yes here and there. 58:24 "I will use you to build a church against which, verse 18, all the powers of hell will not be able to destroy it." And I remember when I started serving the Lord, and I said, "Lord, as I got revelation on this, I said, "I never want to build any other 58:40 church." I don't want to build a structure that'll collapse when Christ comes again. I want to build Church means people, not a building. I want to build people who will survive and be overcomers, and will sit with Jesus on the throne. 58:58 I want to sit there myself, and I want you to sit there, too. And it can happen, brother, sister. This is true Christianity. It's a great mystery. Let me come back to 1 Timothy 3. 1 Timothy 3, 59:16 verse 16. Great is the secret of godliness, of living a godly life. Jesus was revealed in the flesh. With a self-will, but he denied it. He was vindicated in the spirit means the Holy Spirit bore witness to him. 59:32 He has never done his own will. That's the meaning of indicated by the spirit. In 33 and a half years, he never did his own will. He always did his father's will. And even the angels saw that. Says here, seen by angels saw that he never did his 59:49 own will. However painful it was, he denied himself, took up the cross. That is the one we proclaim among the nations. He's now taken up to glory. That is the Christ we follow. And he's got a title, you know. The title is mentioned in Hebrews 1:00:09 chapter 6. It's a title which is not known by many Christians. They know him as savior. Have you heard him as savior? Yes. Have you heard that Jesus is the good shepherd? Yes. Have you heard him as the way, the truth, and the life? Yes. 1:00:23 Yes. So many good titles, no? I'm the good shepherd. I'm the way, the truth, and the life. I'm the savior. But here is a title which is not known so well. Hebrews and chapter 6. We have a anchor. Hebrews 6:19. 1:00:51 This hope we have and the hope is to be able to enter sit at the right hand of the throne of God. We have as an anchor for the soul. To this within the veil means inside the presence of God. In the Old Testament, the veil was what blocked the presence 1:01:06 of God. Where Jesus has entered as a forerunner. How many of you know Jesus as forerunner? As savior, yes. Good shepherd, yes. The way, the truth, and the life, yes. But forerunner. 1:01:25 I want to ask all of you, have you ever in your life heard a sermon by a preacher who spoke about Jesus as the forerunner? There are so many messages on the way, the truth, and Jesus the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus the good shepherd. 1:01:39 Jesus the savior of the world. Jesus is the coming king. Jesus is the healer. He's the baptizer in the Holy Spirit. All true. What about this title? Completely missing. Isn't it a amazing thing that the devil has hidden this title from so many 1:01:54 people? Because all those other things what Jesus does to you. He saves you. He baptizes you in the Holy Spirit. He's a good shepherd who takes care of you as a sheep. But forerunner means he's in a race where he's asking 1:02:08 you to follow him. He's run the race. This is what we read in Hebrews 12. Looking unto Jesus, let us run this race. So the one who's gone in front of us is called a forerunner. What was the race he ran? In the military, we were taught 1:02:24 left, right, left, right, left, right. What is the race Jesus ran? Not my will, but thy will, father. Not my will, but thy will, father. Not my will, but thy will, father. That was the left, right of the race Jesus ran. 1:02:37 I want to ask you, are you running that race? Not once in a while. Not just a few decisions in your life. Jesus ran that race every single day. And let me tell you in a few words, this is what it means to take up the cross. 1:02:56 To take up the cross is to put to death your will and say, "Lord Jesus, I want you to be my forerunner. You are my forerunner. I never saw that till today. I want to run the same race behind you. Just left, right, left, right. I run 1:03:12 like that behind you. Not my will, but thy will, father. Not my will, but thy People insult me. Father, what should I do? Forgive him. Somebody is my enemy. What should I do, father? Not my will. Love him. Somebody hates me. What should I do? Do 1:03:29 good to him. Dear Lord, I want to pray. Good. Don't tell Don't tell anybody you're praying. It's all written in the sermon on the mount. This fellow treated you badly. Do some good to him. Not my will, but thine. Every day. You 1:03:46 say, "This is pretty exhausting." Yeah, without the power of the Holy Spirit, you'll get give up in no time. I like a beautiful translation of Proverbs chapter 14. I'll This is the last verse I'm reading. Proverbs 14 1:04:05 in the 14th verse in the Living Bible. It says here in Proverbs 14:14, the second part of it, "A good man will be satisfied with his way." The Living Bible has got a beautiful paraphrase of it. "The godly man's life is exciting." 1:04:23 I like that. I'll tell you honest my honest testimony. My life has been exciting the last few years. With the opposition of men, the opposition of the devil, and all types of things. People people calling me a heretic and the devil and all types of 1:04:40 names. The godly man's life is exciting. I'm supremely happy and that is my testimony every day of my life. If you find a man who's happier than me every day, please, I'd like to meet him. I tell you honestly, no one can take away my joy. 1:04:58 Jesus had It says he endured the cross. You know what Hebrews 12:2? Do you remember that verse we read? He endured the cross for the joy set before him. It wasn't a burden. Oh, I've got to take up the cross. I've seen believers talk 1:05:14 like that. Brother, I have a cross. That's not the real cross. If it was a real cross, you'd have a joy and a sparkle in your eye. Say, "Hallelujah! I got a cross today." That's the real cross. The other cross is oh, Lord, you brother, you don't know 1:05:27 what I'm going through. That's a fake cross. Throw it away. Take the real cross of Jesus. It says in Hebrews 12:2, "Who for the joy set before him endured the cross." That's the only cross that's worth taking. Every other cross is a 1:05:44 counterfeit. If it doesn't bring joy into your life, that's not the cross of Jesus Christ. Who for the joy set before him endured the cross. Hebrews 12:2. I could go on for another hour, but you'll get tired. Okay, we'll continue tomorrow. Let's 1:06:03 pray. Heavenly Father, I cannot open anybody's eyes. But your Holy Spirit can give revelation to all those who are seeking humbly for revelation because they want a 1:06:22 transformed life. Not another theory. Not another message to temporarily stir them for a half an hour. But a message that will transform their life for the till the end of their life, till you come again. That will enable them to sit with you on 1:06:40 your throne. I can't do it, Lord. I've just shared your word, but only the Holy Spirit can give revelation. I pray. Please, Father, move at least some hearts here or many, perhaps, if not everybody, 1:06:58 who will seek for the revelation of the Holy Spirit on the secret of godliness. Christ came in the flesh and remained pure in his spirit all his life. Lord, we want to everyone here to know 1:07:15 the secret the secret of godliness. Help us, we pray. Jesus' name. Amen.
