0:07 So, for any who were not here yesterday, we look first of all at Psalm 90, and that's a good verse to look at again. The prayer of Moses. He said in Psalm 90 in verse 17, "Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us." 0:26 And I was mentioning our subject, our theme for this conference is is the balance of truth and I was mentioning how there's a beauty and balance. And think of our human body. Because the left side and the right side are 0:43 so perfectly balanced with each other is beauty. If one eye was bigger than the other, it'd be ugliness. The most beautiful face looks ugly if one eye or one ear was bigger than the other. That's a picture of our Christian life. 0:57 Truth, the truth of God is like a body. Think of the truth of God in scripture like your human body. If you have one thing way out of proportion to the importance the Bible gives to it, and you give very little importance to some 1:14 other subject the Bible gives a lot of importance to, you're imbalanced. And it is this imbalance that's caused a lot of confusion in Christianity. And that's the result of multiplied denominations, each emphasizing one 1:30 particular truth, which is in scripture, but neglecting the other. And so, you have many groups which emphasize one to the uh ignoring the other. We considered yesterday how God is light. 1:46 God is love. God is holy. God is loving. There's the kindness and the severity of God. You miss out on one of them, you got a false god. You got some other god than the god of the Bible. The God of the Bible is kind and severe. 2:01 He's holy and loving. We read about Jesus that he was full of grace and truth in John 1:14. There again you see the balance in John chapter 1 and verse 14. The glory of God is balanced. It's not imbalanced. 2:20 It's not all grace. If you got all grace, you're wrong. If you got all truth, you're wrong. It's balanced. Grace and truth. And if you don't study the scriptures or you don't listen to somebody who has studied the scriptures, 2:38 the great danger is that you can be imbalanced. So if you don't study the scriptures carefully yourself, you must be willing to submit to a teacher whom God has appointed in the church. God has appointed apostles, prophets, 2:53 evangelists, teachers, shepherds. Now there would have been no need for God to appoint teachers in the church if you could do it all by yourself. So if you can't find that balance yourself, you must submit yourself to teaching and we have plenty of that now 3:07 in books and on the internet etc. But you got to be very careful. And one advice I would give to you is don't listen to people who cannot show scripture to you. It's a very popular thing nowadays for people to preach a sermon like this. They read one 3:25 verse and they virtually close the Bible after that and then they're giving their own thoughts on that one verse. Now I don't believe that that's the way we should be preaching. We should be comparing scripture with scripture. 3:38 Otherwise we can go astray. You know, you can take any one doctrine in script any one truth in scripture and as I said, blow it out of proportion and you got heresy. Jesus is God and Jesus is a man. They're not two separate truths. He's 3:57 not only God, he's not only man. Before he came to earth, he was only God. But the moment he came to earth, he didn't become 100% man. He was 100% man and 100% God. Not 50% God and 50% man. There's no such thing as 50% God. 4:15 He was 100% God when he was on this earth. That's why we read seven times in the Gospels that people worshipped him. And you don't worship even an angel. Angels refused worship. When John fell down at an angel's feet, he said, "Get 4:30 up." He said, "Worship only God." And yet people fell down at Jesus' feet and he accepted that. Now, all of us may accept that, but do you know there are millions of people in the world who believe that Jesus is only a created 4:44 being. Jehovah's Witnesses teach that. It's heresy. It's a false teaching. And yet they say, "Don't you believe Jesus was man?" Yes, I believe he's 100% man. But not apart from being 100% God. This is very, very important. 4:58 Because if he's not 100% God, I can't pray to him and I will never worship him if he's not 100% God. At the same time, he could never say to me, "Follow me." if he was not 100% man. This is the problem many Protestant Christians have. 5:17 They have fallen over the cliff the opposite side of Jehovah's Witnesses. We can say, "Oh, that Jehovah's Witness teaching is heresy. Jesus is only a man." No, he's only also God. But the opposite heresy, and I call it heresy, 5:32 is to believe that he was only God and he's not a man. So, I pray to him, I worship him, I admire him, I adore him, but I don't believe that I can walk as he walked. How many of you believe that you with all your weaknesses by the power of 5:51 the Holy Spirit can walk as Jesus Christ walked. Do you know that the Bible commands you to do that? Turn with me to 1 John in chapter 2. In 1 John chapter 2 it says "If you say you abide in him, 6:10 you must walk as he walked." If you don't take that challenge, you're indirectly saying, "I'm not abiding in Christ." Sorry, that's only for those who abide in Christ. I'm not abiding in Christ and I would say, "If you're not abiding in 6:28 Christ, you don't have to walk as he walked. Walk as you like." Is it okay to walk like other human beings? What is the contrast to walking as he walked? This is a command. Ought to. Not should try to. 6:45 Ought to. It's a responsibility. The contrast to that is in 1 Corinthians in chapter 3 when Paul is writing to the Corinthians who were walking in a very carnal way. He said to them in 1 Corinthians 3 verse 3, "You are fleshly. 7:11 There's jealousy. There's strife. And when you're like that, aren't you walking like mere men?" That's the opposite of walking as Jesus walked. Walking like other men. Are you supposed to walk like other men? 7:30 No. The Holy Spirit rebukes the Corinthians for walking like other men. For behaving like other men. For speaking like other men. For getting angry like other men, for feeling jealous like other men. Do we take these words seriously? Here's 7:48 the contrast, walking like mere men or walking as Jesus walked. I have to make my choice. And I have seen through the years in 57 years of being a Christian, 58 years, I have seen that the main reason why most the born-again believers do not believe 8:07 that they can walk as Jesus walked, do not even attempt it, and live their entire life wandering in the wilderness like the Israelites, never enter the land of Canaan where the giants are put under our feet, is because they do not believe that 8:23 Jesus Christ was 100% man. They got an imbalanced understanding of truth. They fully believe that he's 100% God, but they don't believe that he's 100% man. Now, we say, "I can I can fellowship with a man who believes that Jesus 8:41 Christ is 100% God." Well, that's what the Jehovah's Witnesses say, "I can fellowship with someone who believes Jesus was 100% man." Well, to tell you honestly, I can't fellowship with either of them. Because it's imbalanced. 8:54 It's like having one side of your body and the other side, imagine if one side of your body was full of muscle and strength and the other side was skin and bones. That'd look really ugly. But that's spiritually speaking, that is the 9:07 description of most believers I've met. They're imbalanced somewhere or the other. Sometimes they overemphasize love but not holiness. Or they overemphasize the deity of Christ but not the humanity of Christ. And so they see Jesus as our savior. 9:25 It's a very popular title of Jesus Christ. He's our savior. He's our savior. But when I ask people, "What did he save you from? Has he saved you from your anger?" No, they say he hasn't saved me from my anger. Has he saved you from lusting 9:41 after women? No, he hasn't saved me from that. Has he saved you from getting discouraged? No, he hasn't saved me from that. Has he saved you from grumbling and complaining? No, he hasn't saved me from that. Has he saved you from the 9:52 love of money? No, he hasn't saved you from that. Has he saved you from the prejudiced way you look at certain groups of people? No, he hasn't saved me from What in the world has he saved you from? Oh, he says he saved me from hell. Well, 10:04 that's finally at the end of our life. What's he saved you from now? Is he going to be a savior only in the future? This is the tragedy I see. Then what does he do for you? He says, "Well, I sin and he forgives me." Then be 10:18 honest and call him forgiver. Don't call him savior. Tell him he's my forgiver. Jesus is my forgiver. Don't call him your savior if he hasn't saved you. You know, this is how the devils deceived Christians. Now, I speak strongly because 10:31 I believe we need some radical surgery among many Christians, and surgery is painful, but it cures the disease. So, the Bible not only calls Jesus savior. Here is a title of Jesus which is in scripture which many people 10:48 don't even know. Turn with me to Hebrews in chapter 6. Then I want to ask you, how many of you know this title of Jesus Christ? And if you do, what does that mean for you? Jesus is my savior. Okay, he saved me from the wrath of God and 11:07 from eternal hell. That's good. I agree with that. But he wants to do more than that. But here is another title. It says here in Hebrews in chapter 6 that the hope we have in verse 19, Hebrews 6:19 11:25 is like an anchor that we have which enters within the veil into the most holy place where Jesus has entered into the most holy place as a forerunner for us. That's his second title. Forerunner. You know, when you look at the three 11:44 parts of the tabernacle, if you study the tabernacle, there's outer court, the holy place, the most holy place. Those three areas represent three different ministries of Christ. The outer play outer court was the altar of of sacrifice, full of blood. 12:03 Jesus is our savior from sin, Calvary. And the holy place was where the incense was burning and the oil and that made the lamps burn. It's a picture of the bapti- And Jesus is the baptizer in the Holy Spirit. So, many know think the full gospel is 12:21 he's my savior and he's my baptizer in the Holy Spirit. Well, that is limits you. It's only two parts. What about the third part of the tabernacle where you rend the veil and go inside? Jesus The veil was rent when Jesus died. 12:35 The third part of the tabernacle, the most holy place, is where Jesus is our forerunner. That's what it says, he's entered within the veil as our forerunner. So, he's our savior. You must know him as the one who's forgiven all your sins, saved you from 12:50 the wrath of God. But, you mustn't stop there. You must move on to know him as the baptizer or immerser in the Holy Spirit like the apostles experienced on the day of Pentecost. Your Christian experience is incomplete if you're not immersed in the Holy 13:07 Spirit. And I'm not talking about what most Pentecostals and Charismatics speak about. I'm not talking about speaking in tongues. I'm speaking about the power to live a Christ-like life and to have a Christ-like ministry. 13:20 That's what I believe the baptism in the Holy Spirit does. He may or may not give you the gift of tongues. That's to me not the most important thing, but it'll be a Christ-like life and a Christ-like ministry because Jesus said, 13:34 "When the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you shall be my witnesses." Not bear witness. Bearing witness is only with my tongue. Read carefully. "You shall be my witnesses." That means by your life and by your words, you will be a witness for Christ. And 13:52 that means my life will be increasingly Christ-like and my ministry will be increasingly Christ-like. I must not be satisfied with the level I'm at. The glory of God is something that must keep on increasing in our life. Like we 14:07 saw yesterday, in the Old Covenant, Moses put a veil over his face because the glory was decreasing on his face as time went on. Then he had to go up the mountain again and again the his face would shine and then he had to cover it up with a veil. 14:23 But in the New Covenant, we read in the last verse of 2 Corinthians 3, it's the opposite. We don't cover our faces or our lives with a veil. We don't have to hide any part of our life. I don't have to uh tell people, "Don't 14:36 come and don't visit me in my house because you may see another person there than what I am in the church." No, we don't have to say that. You can come and surprise me in my house or in my place of work, anywhere. I'm just the same. 14:50 And you'll If you see me a few years later, you'll see the glory has increased. That's true Christianity. And what I want to say is I'm not saying this to condemn anybody. I'm saying this to challenge you to say you should not be satisfied with 15:04 a life where the glory is decreasing in your life, where part of your life is different from what is up front. And you not must not even be satisfied with a life where your glory is stagnant, where your knowledge of the 15:18 Lord is the same. I mean, if you say, "Well, I haven't known my husband any better than I knew him in the first 2 years of marriage and you're married 25 years now, something's wrong. You should be knowing your husband much 15:32 better after 25 years than you knew him just after 2 years. So, how much has our knowledge of the Lord increased? I'm just challenging you to understand what the new covenant life is all about. I believe one of the main reason why God 15:45 has raised up churches like this is to proclaim that which a lot of others are not proclaiming, the new covenant that Jesus established through his blood. Forerunner, that's what he is in the most holy place. And when we go through 15:59 the veil and the veil symbolizes a death to my self life, and that's the reason why many people don't know him as our forerunner because they don't want to die to their self life. You cannot go into the most holy place with your self life. 16:13 You got to get rid of that. You can be anointed and preach and still have your self life. A lot of preachers today have preached very anointed messages and self is very strong in them. Look at the way they run after people's money. It's one of the clearest 16:26 proofs of self is so strong in them. And what I'm surprised is so many dumb believers admire such preachers and give their money to such people. You might as well throw your money into the toilet and flush it down because it's not given to God. 16:44 It's so important in our day for preachers and churches to manifest the true Jesus Christ. The way he lived on earth, why is the church called the body of Christ? Because the first body of Christ 17:02 the way he lived for 33 and 1/2 years is our pattern. In every area, that's our pattern. And for that, I have to see him as a 100% man. That's why he's called a forerunner. That means one who ran the same race that I have to run in front of me. 17:21 And that's why in Hebrews chapter 12 we are told that let us run this race. Hebrews 12:1 enduring without giving up, looking unto Jesus who's gone ahead of us. 17:38 He did not run on another track. He did not run with resources that he doesn't give me. He does not run with not having my limitations. He had my limitations, but he overcame. 17:57 To me, Jesus walking on the water is a very beautiful picture of that. Let me ask you a question. Do you believe Jesus was subject to the law of gravity? Very simple question. Could he jump up and stay up in the air? When he was on earth 18:16 he was God, remember? 100% God. Why couldn't he jump up and stay up there in the air? Simple question. Because he was 100% man. And so when I see him walking on the water I see him subject to the law of gravity 18:34 exactly like you and I would be if we tried to walk on the water. But he didn't. He overcame it. By the power of the Holy Spirit. And to me, that's a parable to me to show that's how he overcame sin. 18:54 Sin, the law of sin is like the law of gravity. It keeps pulling you down 24 hours a day. And anyone who's honest will admit that, even if you're born again. The law of sin pulls you down just like the worst unbeliever pulls you down. 19:12 But he overcame it. Teaching me that though he was subject to the law of gravity by the power of the Holy Spirit, he overcame it. That's the message of Jesus walking on the water. But do you know that's not the greatest miracle 19:24 there? The greatest miracle there is Peter walking on the water. Which do you think is the greater miracle, Jesus walking on the water or Peter walking on the water? It's crystal clear to me. A guy like me, Peter, walking on the water, that's a far 19:38 greater miracle in my eyes than Jesus walking on the water. So that's what I see there as a miracle. That Jesus was saying, "Just like I walked on the water, Peter, you can walk on the water, but you got to come out of that boat. 19:52 You can't sit in the boat and say, 'I believe it.'" And that boat is a picture of the type of Christianity I see all around me where people say, "No, no, no, we can't walk like Jesus. We can't walk like Jesus." And there are multitudes of 20:05 disciples sitting in that boat, and Jesus is, "Come out from there." I remember the day in my life when the Lord told me to come out from there. And believe him. Believe what he's promised in his word and step out. And I discovered 20:20 I could walk, too. But only as long as I kept looking at him. Because the moment Peter looked away from Jesus, just for a brief moment, at the winds and the waves, 20:37 he sank. And we get scared of temptation or the opinions of men or other things, we'll sink. So it's not a permanent victory that God puts something in us uh where like the angels, where I can never be pulled by the law of gravity anymore. Angels are 20:54 not subject to the law of gravity. He doesn't make us like that. He makes us able to overcome this law of sin as long as we keep looking at him. That's why Hebrews 12 is very exact. Let us run this race constantly looking at Jesus 21:14 who suffered the shame, took up the cross, and reached the finishing line. That is the right hand of the throne of God. That's what it says in Hebrews 12:2. He endured the cross, despised the shame, and reached the finishing line. And if 21:30 that is the finishing line you're aiming for, that's the finishing I'm aiming for, I must keep looking at Jesus as a man. I have to see this balanced understanding of truth. He was a 100% God. That's why I'm a worshiper. 21:47 And he's 100% man, that's why I'm a follower. I need both. You remember Jesus told the devil, when the devil told him to fall down and worship him, Matthew 4:10, he said, "You shall worship the Lord your God, and you shall serve him." You see the 22:06 balance? There was always a balance in Jesus' teaching. You don't just serve the Lord. You worship the Lord first, and then serve him. In fact, your service for the Lord will be ineffective if you're not a worshiper. You have to learn to worship God first. 22:22 And that means to make him everything in your life. And I can't backslide from there. Every day of my life, he must be everything to me. I must be a worshiper. I must begin the day by worshiping him. Then I can serve him during the day. 22:36 Otherwise, I can't worship him. Otherwise, I can't serve him. If I don't worship him, I can't serve him. It's worship plus service, the balance. It's grace and truth. Is Jesus our savior and our forerunner? The whole scripture 22:51 is full of this balance. And when this balance is missing, we have heresy. It doesn't look like heresy. If a man says, "I believe Jesus Christ is God, but it is heresy if you don't believe he was 100% man. Just like the opposite is also heresy if 23:11 you believe he was 100% man, but not 100% God. Here we read in Hebrews in chapter 4. Hebrews chapter 2 first of all. Hebrews is the one It's my favorite book 23:28 in the New Testament. Uh and I'm absolutely sure it's not the favorite of most Christians. Most Christians prefer to read Ephesians or Philippians or something like that. But my favorite book is Hebrews because there is no book in the 23:45 entire Bible that describes the humanity of Jesus Christ so clearly as the book of Hebrews. And if that's not your favorite book, I can quite understand it that you're not gripped by the humanity of Christ, and that's why your life is defeated. 24:02 It This was not my favorite book until I saw the humanity of Christ. And I'll tell you something. I was born again and it took me 16 years after being born again to see clearly the humanity of Christ. If you'd asked me theoretical questions like, "Do you 24:15 believe Jesus Christ was a man?" I'd tick off yes, but it didn't have any practical application in my life. If you believe Jesus Christ is God and you never pray to him and you never worship him, it's only a theory that you believe he's 24:27 God. If you say yes, you believe he's a man, but you don't believe you can follow him, it's only a theory. What is the practical result of believing that Christ is God? You worship him. You pray to him. You depend on him. You believe he can do 24:39 everything. You believe there's nothing impossible for him. You believe that every hair on your head is numbered. You don't worry because you believe he's God. In the same way, if I were to ask you, you believe he's a man, what is the 24:49 practical result of that in your life? Can you tell me one result that has come in your life because you believe Jesus Christ is a man? And yet I'm sure all of you would agree he was a man on earth. All of you will agree with it. When he 25:01 jumped up, he he wouldn't stand up in the air. He had to come down because the law of gravity pulled him down. But yet, what is the practical result in your life? And if you examine yourself, you may find pretty close to nothing. 25:13 That's the imbalance. You know, uh God has made the birds with two wings. Imagine if a bird had only one wing. Either wing, left wing or right wing. What would happen? Every time it flaps a wing, it'll go keep going round in 25:29 circles. That's the result of Christianity that has only one side of truth. Whether it's believing Christ is man or believing Christ is God. Truth has got two wings. And if the reason why you may not be progressing in your Christian life, the 25:46 reason why you may not be overcoming things that you should have overcome long ago in your life, is probably because you don't have the other wing of truth. You've concentrated so much on one side and thought, "I'm not a heretic. 25:59 I believe Jesus Christ is God." And you completely left out the other side. So, there's no progress. I was a slave to anger for so many years after being born again. And after serving the Lord, I would lose my temper. But it's gone from my life. 26:17 That's not something to boast about. I'm just saying that I obeyed Ephesians 4:31, which says, "Put away all anger." How much anger is left in your life if you obey that one verse? Let all anger be put away from your life. Is that in your Bible, by the way? 26:37 Ephesians 4:31. Have you taken it seriously? Have you taken it as seriously as the other truth that Christ died for your sins? Have you taken it as seriously as the other truth if you confess your sins, he's faithful and just to forgive you? 26:54 Why is it we don't take some of these things seriously? We think they're suggestions. Do you know this book contains no suggestions? Only commandments. And Jesus said, "If you love me, keep my commandments." And I discovered I said, "Lord, I love 27:09 you, but I'm not keeping your commandment which says put away all anger. I haven't put it all away." And the only reason I haven't put it away, didn't put it away for so many years, was because I loved myself more than I love Jesus Christ. 27:22 I had to face up to that. And having faced up to that, I can say that to every one of you who's defeated by anger, listen to the truth. Here's a diagnosis. This is a result of the MRI scan of your spirit. You love yourself more than you love 27:37 Jesus Christ, whatever you may say. My Jesus, I love you. I know you're mine. It's not true. If it were, your life would have been completely different. If you love me, keep my commandments. Why is there not a 11th commandment in 27:55 the Old Testament? There were 10 commandments there. Why is there no 11th one saying, "Thou shalt not be angry"? How come God never gave that commandment in the Old Testament? You know why? Because they could not have the Holy 28:08 Spirit dwelling in them in the Old Testament. You got to understand this. This is what happened in the new covenant. On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit could come within. Turn with me to John and chapter 14. You know, this is the place where Jesus 28:30 said, "If you love me, keep my commandments." "If you love me, keep my commandments." John 14:15. Um read Whenever you read a verse, don't don't stick to that verse. Try and If you want to understand a verse, read it in its context. 28:48 In the context of the verses that come before and after. Always, this is a simple principle of Bible study. I'll give you two simple principles of Bible study. One, always read a verse in its context. Read the verses before. 29:01 Sometimes the verse before is in the previous chapter because this verse begins with the new chapter. Read the verses before. Read the verses afterwards because chapter divisions were not made by the Holy Spirit. They're made by man just for 29:13 convenience. So, John 14:15, "If you love me, keep my commandments." Let's go to the previous verse. "If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it." Isn't that the most fantastic promise for answered prayer? 29:33 Just listen to this promise for answered prayer. "If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it." You say, "Well, it doesn't seem to work in my life." I'll tell you why because go to the next verse and you'll understand why it doesn't work. 29:48 Because the next verse says, "If you love me, keep my commandments." No wonder it doesn't work. You've taken one verse out of its context. If your dad wrote you a letter or your husband or wife wrote you a letter, you won't take 29:57 one sentence out of page three and understand it. No. You'll see in its context. But, we don't seem to read that and do that in the Bible. We've got favorite verses. "If you ask anything in my name, I will do it." Don't stop there. "If you love 30:09 me, keep my commandments." You do that and you'll experience the answers to prayer as well. But, then you say immediately, "Lord, to keep your commandments, to put away all anger, to rejoice always 24/7, to give thanks in everything, to forgive everyone, even 30:29 that wicked person who did so much evil to me and my children. You want me to forgive him, yeah?" "Lord, I love money. What to do? It's tough." The Lord says, "I know it's tough." Go to the next verse. That's why I'm going to ask the Father 30:48 to give you a helper. Do you read scripture in context? There's an answer right there. Why did he send the Holy Spirit? Because it's so difficult He knows it's so difficult to keep our commandments. Here's a person who says, "Lord, I love 31:02 you." If you love me, keep my commandments. It's tough, Lord. Okay. I'll ask the Father to give you a helper. There's the answer right there before you even ask the question. Before the disciple could say, "That's tough, Lord." 31:17 He said, "No, I'll give you the answer." Before they call, I will answer. There's the answer. I will ask the Father and give you another helper. I wish all Christians, especially those who emphasize being filled with the Holy 31:28 Spirit and baptized the Holy Spirit, would recognize where Jesus first spoke of the gift of the Holy Spirit. It was in relation to obedience to his commandments. And if all Christendom had only got that, we would have had a different type 31:43 of spirit-filled Christianity instead of the counterfeits that are going all over Christendom today. People lying on the floor, kicking their legs, and saying with the they are filled with the Holy Spirit. Any demon can do that. 31:57 Laughing and laughing and laughing. Anybody can do that. Any idiot There are a lot of actual idiots who keep laughing and laughing and laughing all the time. You don't have to be filled with the Holy Spirit for that. In fact, that's not the mark of being 32:08 filled with the Holy Spirit. If you're filled with the Holy Spirit, you'll keep his commandments. See the context. If you love me, keep my commandments and I will ask the Father and he'll give you a helper. A helper for what? 32:20 Not a helper for me to kick my legs. Not a helper for me to laugh and laugh and laugh. Not a helper for me to get all emotional or raise my hands or clap. No, I don't need the Holy Spirit for all that. A helper to keep his commandments. 32:37 And this helper won't be like in the Old Testament, sometimes with you, sometimes not with you. He'll be with you forever. He'll help you every day, 365 days of the year, he'll help you never to raise your voice at your husband or your wife. 32:55 Can you imagine what your home will be like? A little taste of heaven. Who's the one who against it? Who is the one against that? The devil. No wonder he blinds, he blinds unbelievers to the fact that you don't have to do anything to get your sins 33:11 forgiven. You don't have to give money, you don't have to light candles, you don't have to go to any place in the world to get your sins forgiven, freely. And he's blinded believers to the truth that you can walk as Jesus walked by the 33:24 power of the Holy Spirit. He'll be with you forever. David, you know that David wrote scripture when he was 28 years old. 28 years old, he wrote some of the Psalms. 33:42 Inspired the Holy Spirit upon him. But the same man, 22 years later, 24 years later, was sinning with somebody else's wife and went and murdered her husband. Holy Spirit had departed. 24 years old earlier, he was writing 34:01 scripture. There are Christians like that today who started out so well, and they've left God's ways now. Pastors divorce their wives and run after money, but they started out well. So it was with David. That is the old covenant life. 34:19 The Holy Spirit's upon you, you fulfill a ministry, and then you become proud of it and the Holy Spirit departs. But now he'll be with you forever because it says here in verse 17, John 14:17, the spirit of truth whom the world 34:34 cannot receive. And I think what I see there is that if I allow the spirit of the world to be in me, the spirit of the the Holy Spirit will depart from me. The world cannot receive the Holy Spirit because the spirit of the world is 34:48 completely different. And that's why it's very important, my dear brothers and sisters, I wish you'd be gripped by this. If you allow anything of the spirit of the world to enter into your heart, and that can be 35:05 the pleasures of sin, indulgence in your thought life, it can be watching pornography, which I'm sorry to say there are so-called believers who watch. You think the Holy Spirit's there? You know, I'll tell you who's watching 35:25 pornography when you watch them it on the computer. You're careful that no man is there, but the angels and the demons are watching. And the angels are weeping and the demons are rejoicing. So, don't think when you watch that 35:40 pornography on your computer, nobody else is watching you. There are angels and demons, and the demons are just waiting to accuse you to the to God the Father. God, see that fellow? He's supposed to be your child. If you were only aware of the spirit 35:54 world, you'd be a little more careful. The world cannot receive the Holy Spirit. And if I allow the spirit of the world, the spirit of covetousness, the spirit of unforgiveness, 36:12 bitterness, I allow it to come into me, I cannot have the Holy Spirit. But now, listen to this. Here's the contrast between old covenant and new covenant, all in verse 17. If you read carefully, it's all there. Right now, the last part of verse 17, he 36:29 abides with you. He's beside you, the Holy Spirit. Cuz Jesus was there. But in the day of Pentecost, he'll be inside you. And that's the difference. And then like Jesus said in John 7:37, from the innermost being, 36:48 the Holy Spirit will flow through you to bless others. In the Old Testament, it was not from the innermost being. It's like if you pour water on top of this, rivers of water, it doesn't go inside. It just flows out and you can bless 37:03 thousands of people with with that movement of the Holy Spirit, but it doesn't clean your inside because there's a veil, a veil that is not rent, which prevents the Holy Spirit from going in to your spirit. That's how it was in the 37:16 Old Testament. That's the meaning of one meaning of that veil in the most holy place. Man's spirit was blocked. He couldn't go in. And that's why Samson could all be dirty inside, but he blessed people mightily and that's why that's why David could write 37:31 Psalms and he had going committed adultery. And that's why a lot of preachers and pastors today can preach wonderful messages and yet fall into sin or run after money or swindle poor people of their money. Yeah. The Holy Spirit's upon them, but it's 37:48 not inside them. And that's why the Lord will tell such people one day, "I never knew you." But Lord, we did miracles. Yeah, I know you did it. Spirit was upon you, but he was never inside. I never knew you. Get away from me. 38:05 We can't go to heaven just because God used us. There are many people who'll be in hell whom God used mightily on the earth. Balaam is one example. And there are many others after that. Judas Iscariot, do you know God used 38:20 Judas Iscariot to heal the sick? You read that in Matthew chapter 10. He sent out his disciples with power to heal the sick, to cleanse the lepers. Judas Iscariot cleansed the lepers. You read Matthew 10. But where is he today? 38:37 Just because God uses us does not mean he's happy with us. God uses many people. He used Caiaphas. Can you believe God used a heathen high priest like Caiaphas? You read in John chapter 11, Caiaphas prophesied that Jesus would die for the sins of 38:54 many nations, many people. Amazing. So, we have to understand that to move move into the holy place, I have to see Jesus as my forerunner, not only as my savior, but as my forerunner, to see that he was a man just like me. And the Holy Spirit, 39:11 when he comes inside me, something else happens. John 14:18, I'm no longer an orphan. That's the other wonderful thing that happens. I can keep his commandments. John 14:15. And I know I'm no longer an orphan. I have a dad in heaven. 39:27 That's why when the spirit of God comes in and fills us, he cries out, "Abba, Father." So, when we read scripture carefully, I'm just trying to show you that if you don't rush through your scripture reading, but pause and meditate 39:43 and ask the Holy Spirit to open your eyes. Now, I'm not telling you anything which is not written there. I just made you read it carefully, what's written before, what's written after. And if you read all the Bible like that, 39:54 your life will be changed, like it changed my life. I want to encourage you to believe that there's only one book in the whole world written by God. There are billions of books written by man. Newspapers and internet news and all that is all very 40:13 interesting to read, but there's only one book written by man, written by God. And isn't it amazing that there are so many believers who know more about internet news than about the Bible? They know more about 40:33 the latest TV programs than about the Bible. And they wonder why they can't overcome. You'll never overcome in a hundred years. I'll tell you that right now. I can prophesy that. Because the one book God has written is not the what grips your life. 40:49 You get your input from internet news. I'm not saying you should not know the news. We should know what's happening around in the world. We read that Jesus once said spoke about a tower in Siloam that fell and killed a number of 41:02 people. How did he know that? He was in touch with the news, but that wasn't the biggest thing for him. He was in touch with God. So we can be aware of what's happening around in the world, but that must not be the major thing in our life. Man 41:13 shall not live by bread or by all these other things. A man shall live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Now I want to encourage you to learn to know the Bible more than you know all the other things in the world around you. It's the most 41:28 important thing because it's the only book God has written. And if you take it more seriously, it will change your life. And you young people, I wish you take it seriously from a young age. I started studying the Bible when I was 41:42 21 years old, as soon as I got baptized. And by the time I was 28 years old, I really knew it. Cuz I'd spent every spare moment reading the scriptures, studying it, studying it. And it's helped me all these years of my life, and I can give you that as a 42:00 testimony. Take it seriously. So Jesus is our forerunner. Turning back to Hebrews, I was at Hebrews chapter 2. Turn back to Hebrews chapter 2. It says here Jesus had to be made 42:16 like us his brothers in all things. Have you read that? He had to be made like you and me in every area because only then could he be a merciful and faithful 42:34 high priest. He had to be made like us in every area. I mean, it can't be clearer than that. And therefore because he himself was tempted what's the advantage of Jesus being 42:54 tempted? Chapter 2 verse 18. He's able to run to help those who are tempted today. Did you see that? That he runs to assist me when I'm tempted because he knows what it is like 43:10 to be tempted. He knows how tough it is. And he doesn't want me to battle alone. He runs to help me through the Holy Spirit. It's a great verse. Chapter 4 verse 15. Jesus In Jesus we don't have a high 43:32 priest who cannot sympathize with us. You know, we can sympathize with people in areas where we ourselves have gone through their problems. If you had an only child 43:50 that died you'd be able to sympathize with another family that has an only child that died. I can go and comfort them. But I can't sympathize with them as much as you can because you've been through what they're going through now. They 44:09 haven't They had an only child and it died. And you're one of those who had an only child died. You can sympathize with that person much better than me, even if I'm more mature than you. Because you've gone through that. You 44:22 can sympathize with their struggle with sorrow or grief cuz you've been been through it. And it says here Jesus can sympathize with us because he's been tempted like us. He knows how strong the pull of temptation is. So he can sympathize with us. 44:45 And yet he didn't sin. Therefore, he cannot only sympathize with us, but like we read in Hebrews 2, assist us. I don't need only sympathy when I'm tempted. I need assistance. I need somebody to help me. 45:04 But I have to ask for that help. And I can ask for that help from someone who understands fully how I'm being pulled down. It says he was tempted in all points as we are. Are you suddenly sometimes provoked to 45:25 get angry? Jesus can sympathize with you. He was also tempted to get angry. But he didn't get angry. When people called him a devil. When people said to him we were not born of fornication like you 45:46 were. Has anybody ever told you that you were an illegitimate child? That you were born of fornication. Your mother committed fornication with somebody and that's how you were born. You know, in the village of Nazareth every family knew 46:05 that Mary became pregnant before she was married. In a small village news like that can never never be suppressed because that is so uncommon. Mary was not a prostitute. She was a virtuous woman whose testimony 46:24 was well appreciated all over that village. And all of a sudden she became pregnant before she got married. And the baby was born was called Jesus. And he grew up in that village. And I can imagine everybody pointed out 46:44 to him, "That's the one. That little boy there. We don't know which Roman soldier was his father." Can you imagine growing up with that? Can you imagine if one of your children has to go to school and all the children are pointing out to 46:58 your little boy and saying, "He's an illegitimate child." Can you imagine how that child would face it? We have used our imagination for all types of filthy things in our unconverted days. Why not use our imagination to see what Jesus faced when 47:14 he was a child, some good things. It's helped me a lot to see what he went through. It's helped me to love my savior even more that he went through all that for me. It says in John chapter 8 when Jesus said 47:36 to these people, or the Jews, in verse 41, John 8:41, "You are doing the deeds of your father." They said to him, "We were not born of fornication." Did you see the dig there? 47:55 Have you noticed it? I'm sure you read that verse many times. Did you see that they were hitting him under the belt? We were not born of fornication like you. That's what he suffered all his life. Have you suffered with false accusation? 48:21 Have you learned to be quiet like Jesus was and not to threaten but to suffer? There is not a single temptation. Are you tremendously tempted, young men, sexually? Jesus also was 19, 20 years old at one time. He was also tempted exactly like you. 48:41 Hebrews 4:15. But he did not sin once in his thought life. You and I know how difficult it is to live one day, 24 hours, without ever sinning in thought, attitude, 49:00 motive, or even in word, 24 hours. It's really tough. You got to be watchful all the time, pray all the time, inwardly, I mean. Then you see that the greatest miracle Jesus did 49:18 was living 33 and 1/2 years like that, not just one day. And he was tempted like us. You know, it's very easy to say he was not like us because then you can say I don't have to follow him. In all the years that I believed Jesus was a man, but I didn't 49:38 believe he was tempted exactly like me, I didn't go down to the practical things like he was tempted sexually, he was tempted with the love of money, he was tempted to get angry, he was tempted to get anxious, he was tempted 49:49 to complain, he was tempted to murmur, he was tempted to grumble with the poverty in his house and with the way his four brothers irritated him. He was tempted to get irritated back, but he never sinned. I never believed that he was tempted 50:03 like me. And you know the result in my life in all those years, I could safely commit all those sins and not be disturbed. I'm human. Yeah, excuse was always I'm human. Thank God I have a savior who'll forgive me after I sin. 50:22 And I lived like that for years and I was preaching and living like that till a day came in my life when I was fed up. I said, "Lord, this is not the way I'm supposed to live." And when you are fed up with your defeated life, that's the day 50:36 the Lord will show you the way of victory. It took me years. But I thank God I came to rock bottom once and said, "Lord, I'm fed up and I'll never preach again." I really planned to give up preaching 43 years ago. And I'd already been preaching for 10-15 50:51 years before that. When you hit rock bottom and say, "Lord, I'm fed up with my defeated life." He will lead you into victory. I paraphrase Matthew 11:28 like this, "Come to me all of you who are 51:10 weary and heavy laden and fed up with your defeated lives. I will bring you into the rest of victory." That's how I read that verse. Rest is a picture of victory over sin. You read that in Hebrews chapter 4, that the Israelites could not enter into the 51:27 land of rest where the giants were killed in Canaan. So, when Jesus said, "Come to me and I'll give you that rest." Whom is he inviting? A lot of people say he's inviting everybody. No. He's inviting those who are fed up with 51:41 themselves. I've had to say this to people and sometimes in our conferences in India somebody comes to me and says, "Brother Zach, I'm fed up with the church I attend. I want to come and join your church." I says, "Please don't. 51:59 Because we are not a bunch of perfect people. If you're fed up with them, you join us, we will be fed up with us as well." I said, "Come to us when you are fed up with yourself. Because we are a bunch of people who are fed up with ourselves. 52:15 And who came to Jesus. We're not a bunch of people who are fed up with others and despising the others. We were like that, but we were not ready to come to the Lord because the Lord said, "Come to me, those of you who are 52:25 fed up with yourself." That's when we know victory, and that's what happened to me when I when the Lord opened my eyes when I came to that rock bottom of being thoroughly fed up with myself, I saw this other side of truth 52:39 that made me balanced. That he was not only almighty God who could do miracles, stop the winds and the waves, raise people from the dead who were buried for 3 days, 4 days. He was not only that almighty God, he was also a man 52:58 who struggled against temptation and never sinned. And when I saw that, two things happened. One, I had no more excuse for my sin. No more. I could no longer say, "I'm just a man." 53:16 Because I saw Jesus was also just a man. In other words, not that he wasn't God, but he didn't use his resources as God. That's what I saw. If he had used his resources as God as a man, then I he cannot be an 53:34 example for me. He did not. He did not use any power that he doesn't offer me. The same power of the Holy Spirit which he used to overcome sin, he offers me. Yes, if I want it. And that's what helped me. And the 53:52 second thing that happened was first I had no more excuse for my sin. And second I had faith. There was one man who walked overcoming sin, then I can walk too, just like Peter. Jesus is a man. He's walking on the water. I can also 54:08 walk on water. He stepped out and he discovered he could. And here's the beautiful part of it that when he slipped up and fell, Jesus didn't give him a big rebuke. He held his hand. I praise God for that. There are times after 54:25 I saw Jesus as my forerunner, then I also slipped up, but he would hold my hand. He wouldn't rebuke me. He would hold my hand, make me stand, and then say, "Why did you lose your faith?" I like that. 54:44 The kindness and the strictness of God. I I told you yesterday what how he dealt with Adam and Eve. That when Adam blamed his wife, he didn't say, "Why you blaming your wife?" Said, "Okay, I'll ask your wife." She blamed the serpent. He didn't She didn't 54:57 say anything. Okay, let me deal with that serpent. Your head is going to be crushed one day. He solved the problem. Or he told them, "I'm going to solve this problem which you created right now by your disobedience." And then that's the 55:12 kindness of God. And then he turned them out of the garden. That's the severity of God. That's how God is. You got to see God like this, one who's 100% on your side to crush Satan under your feet. And to see Jesus. When I saw that, 55:29 it changed my life. And my turning and looking at the winds and the waves like Peter was there more and more in the early days became less and less and less and less. The glory increased as time went on. Little by little 55:45 one giant after another came under my feet. The giants of unthankfulness, the giants of unforgiveness, the giants of lust and the giants of covetousness. One by one they begin to come under my feet. There are still many more giants I have 55:59 to put under my feet. I know that, but I have hope that the one who helped me to kill the giants that have already been killed in my life will give me strength to face the future. Now I want to give you all that same hope and that's the purpose of what I'm 56:11 why I'm sharing this. God wants you to live in victory every day, 24/7. But it won't happen automatically. See here. How is it written sin? Hebrews 4:16. 56:29 Therefore, whenever you see a therefore in scripture, you must see what it is there for. Why is that word there? Therefore, because Jesus was tempted and did not sin, therefore what? 56:49 How does that affect me? Therefore, let us also do what he did. Go to the throne of grace and find grace to help me in my time of need and my time of need is when I'm tempted. And I can get it 57:08 cuz he got it. How did he get it? Hebrews 5:7. In the days of his flesh, he cried out for help. Loud crying and tears. Father, save me from spiritual death. Save me from sinning. 57:27 And he was heard. The same father is my father. His father is my father. And it says in Hebrews 4:16, it says, "Let's go to him and pray ask for to the throne of grace and say, "Give me grace." to help. 57:50 See, it says here that we may receive mercy, verse 16, Hebrews 4:16, and grace. Mercy is forgiveness of sins. Jesus never needed that. Grace is help to overcome sin. Jesus needed that. 58:09 And we need that, but we need mercy first. We need mercy to help us and then grace to help us. Let me use an illustration. Think about Christian life like climbing a mountain. You know how these rock mountain climbers have to be very careful because you can 58:29 easily slip on these steep areas of the mountain. And here I am, I slip and I'm hanging by my fingers on some rock. And I'm too proud 58:47 to ask for help cuz I'm a mountain climber. Finally, I get tired. I slip and fall and I break my bones. Then I cry for help. That is a picture of a man who's fallen into sin, then ask for forgiveness, and sure enough, 59:06 the ambulance called mercy comes along, picks me up, fixes my bones, forgives my sin, and I'm okay once again. And I go climbing the mountain again. And once again, I'm in a situation. It happens every day. 59:24 I'm hanging on by my fingers. Again, I'm too proud to ask for grace. I resist, resist, resist, resist. Fall and break my legs again. Lord, forgive me. And the ambulance is always there. And this has been our life, always 59:40 calling for the ambulance. And it's always there. Forgive my sins. That's mercy. We need it. But it says here there's a better way. Let's ask for grace to help us not after we have fallen, 59:57 in our time of need. Now, our time of need is not after we have fallen. Before we fall. While we're hanging there, saying, "Lord, I'm slipping now. Please give me grace." And you'll suddenly find 1:00:17 arms lifting you up, putting you on the rock. That's grace. Try it. The next time you're tempted with anger, or tempted to lust sexually, or tempted to do something wrong, and 1:00:36 you're resisting it, you're resisting it, maybe you're sitting at your computer tempted to look at some link which you know you shouldn't look at, and you're resisting it, resisting it, resisting it, and in the past you just fell into it. Next 1:00:48 time, say, "Lord, give me grace." You know what he'll what he'll tell you? Turn off the computer and go somewhere else. You won't fall. Because the Bible says, "Flee from immorality." 1:01:04 Sometimes the help is to run away. But God's grace will always be there. It says, "My grace is sufficient for you." For every single temptation you can face. It was sufficient for Jesus. That's why it's so important to be 1:01:23 balanced in our understanding of who Jesus is. He was God and he was man. Ask God to open your eyes and to give you a balanced understanding of Jesus Christ, your savior and your forerunner. There's beauty in balance. You've had one side of truth all 1:01:43 strength and Jesus as your savior. The other side of truth is all skin and bones. You haven't seen him as your forerunner. Ask God to build up that side and you'll find your Christian life has changed completely. There's a 1:01:56 beauty in balance. And then the beauty of the Lord your God will be upon you. Let's pray. Our heavenly Father, help us that these truths will sink beyond our mind 1:02:14 and go into our hearts. And we'll see the result in our lives in the days to come. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
