0:19 I want to turn to 2 Corinthians in chapter 5. Here we have Paul 0:36 writing about his own goal in life. And you know, whenever you see a man who's been very successful in living a godly life and living a useful life for the kingdom of God like 0:56 the Apostle Paul, it's good to find out what was it that drove him and made him accomplish that because Paul said, "Follow me as I follow Christ." So I'll tell you my personal testimony. 1:13 I have studied the life of Jesus and the life of Paul more than any other life in the Bible. I mean, we have great examples in Joseph and David and Daniel, and those are all good for Bible studies, 1:32 but you can get a lot of interesting points from Bible studies of characters in the Old Testament. And there are a few good qualities we can pick out. But nobody in the Old Testament said follow me. Not even one. 1:50 So when I look at Old Testament Bible studies of the lives of Abraham, Isaac, and it's all great, but I see when it comes to Jesus and Paul, I have a clear command from the Holy Spirit through them saying, "Follow me." 2:09 And that's the reason why I have studied those lives. And I would encourage you to do so. You'll find it's extremely profitable. And uh the reason why God gave us Paul also in addition to Jesus 2:26 is because there's a natural tendency in all Christians to feel even though we believe very strongly Christ came in the flesh there's a inward reluctance to believe that we can ever walk as he walked. There's we hear about it but we inwardly 2:46 there's a mental block in our mind which says no no no we can't walk like him and so God given us Paul's example so what about him so here we see in 2 Corinthians 5 the thing that drove Paul in his life he 3:01 calls it his ambition in 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 9 he's talking about in the chapter about being at home in heaven or absent from heaven on this earth. Heaven is our home. 3:18 So he says whether we are at home verse 9 in the middle or that's in heaven or away from home absent here on earth our ambition is to be pleasing to him. And I can say that 3:38 any Christian who has the same ambition will be able to fulfill God's will in his life just like Paul. And when he comes to the end of his life, he speaks in verse 10 3:57 about standing at the judgment seat of Christ. You know there are two judgment seats in the Bible. One is called the judgment seat of God the father. That is in revelation chapter 20 where no believers are standing there. 4:15 It's only those whose names are not in the book of life who stand there to be judged. And they're also going to be judged. We read according to their works because there are degrees of punishment in hell. Hell is not the same for 4:33 everyone. Uh there are lots of people who go to hell but the degree of punishment is not the same in hell just like the degree of reward is not the same in heaven. Now these are concepts which the only way we 4:51 know it is because Jesus said so. He once said that he who knew his master's will and did not do it would be punished with more stripes than he who did not know his mother master's will and did not do it. But here at the judgment seat of Christ 5:10 refers to us believers stand at the judgment seat of Christ verse 10 to be rewarded for the deeds done in the body according to what he has done whether good or bad. And that brings verse 11, a certain fear of the 5:26 Lord. So it's because of that uh that ultimate destination at which we're going to stand that Paul says, I've got an ambition in life to be pleasing to him so that when I stand before the Lord in the final day, 5:44 I can get his commendation. Um, I'll just show you the other passage so that you know it in case you did not know. It's Revelation 20 is the other judgment seat. It's called the judgment of the great white throne in Revelation 6:01 20 and verse 11. And here it speaks about Revelation 2011, a great white throne. It's judgment seat of the throne of God and the dead. Verse 12, the great and 6:19 the small. The books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged from the things written in the books according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead, and um death and hell gave up the dead, and 6:37 they were all thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And if anyone's name was not found, verse 15 in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. So even though when an unbeliever dies, he goes straight away to hell. Jesus 6:52 said that in the story of the rich man, but it's only his spirit that goes to hell because his body is buried on the earth. But in that day, it says the people who are in hell, their spirit is going to come back into their body and there's going to be a 7:12 resurrection. It's not only Christians who going to be raised from the dead. Every human being that ever existed and died is going to be raised from the dead. That's what it says here. I saw the dead. Verse 12, the great and the 7:25 small standing before the throne of God. And the books were opened means the record of their life which is in in their memory was opened and they were judged by what their own memory recorded from the 7:45 day they were born till the day they died. Every thought, attitude, motive, word, they cannot argue with it because it's their own memory. Uh I believe that that God's going to judge us by our own memory, not by somebody saying he did this or he said 7:59 that those things we can argue against but you cannot argue against your own memory. That'll be your memory. Giving a record of your life and every mouth will be shut. What is good or bad will all be seen there. And this is talking about 8:14 the unbelievers who are judged according to the books. And then they were thrown back not into hell but into the lake of fire which is a bigger version of hell. But a similar judgment is there. We read in 2 Corinthians 5:10 for Christians 8:32 and that is for rewards. The other one is for degrees of punishment and here it is for degrees of reward. And Paul says, "My ambition is when I get to heaven or here on earth to be pleasing to him." And like you've heard me say this once 8:48 before that I'm sure every one of us, those of us who do get to heaven, when we get there, we'll have only one ambition. Whatever multitudes of ambitions you may have had on the earth, 9:06 when you get to heaven, you'll have only one ambition, that is to please God. There's no other ambition. And Paul says, "That's my ambition on earth as well." So, it's like going along a straight 9:24 line and when I die and I get into heaven, I'm going to continue on the straight path. Same ambition, no change. Whereas people who have had other ambitions on earth are going to find hey in heaven you got to alter your ambition and how is it 9:41 going to be when we get there. So it's wonderful to have the same ambition on this earth that we'll have when we get to heaven. That's the way to ensure that you have no regret when you stand before the Lord. Just make sure that whatever 9:57 ambition you're you think you'll have in heaven, make sure you have the same ambition here on this earth. There are many things we have to do on this earth but we don't do in heaven. You know, we have to earn our living, we 10:09 got to go to school, we got to get educated, find a job, find a house and so many things. We don't have to do all that up there. But ambition is a driving force in our life behind all these things we do. So we're not talking about different 10:22 things. We're not talking mostly about actions here. There are many different actions or we do on earth which you'll never do in heaven. But the question is what is the driving force in your life? The I want you to understand one thing 10:37 that the the the thing that determines whether you're a saint or a sinner is not the things you do but what is the driving ambition of your life. What is the goal you're living for? 10:55 If the goal you're living for is only to please God, that's the mark of a saint. He may make a few mistakes here and there. That's okay. That doesn't determine. Very often we judge people by the mistakes they make here or the good things they do 11:14 there. Somebody does a good thing or isn't he a good man? He's a non-Christian but he's a good man or fellow calls himself a believer but he slipped up here. God doesn't judge like that. God judges by what is the ambition of 11:28 this man? What is he seeking to live for? That's what comforts us. And if your fundamental goal is to please God, I'll tell you something, God will ignore these little mistakes and slip ups you make along the way. But on the other hand, if your 11:45 fundamental goal is not to please God, but some other earthly ambition, then even if you do a lot of good things like coming to church and giving money to God and helping the poor, you'll find it doesn't count for with God at all 11:59 because your driving ambition is something else. So the goal to which you're for which you're living determines whether you're a godly man or an ungodly man. So it's very important to understand that because that that is 12:17 a word of encouragement for those who got the right goal and certainly it's a word of condemnation for those who try to please God by doing a few good things here and there. And so I was reading this verse the other day. This is very familiar verse 12:33 in Matthew chapter 3. Uh an ambition to please God. I was reading how when Jesus was baptized, you know, I was saying how you read scripture and suddenly it hits you in a new way. So, I was reading Matthew chapter 3 12:52 where Jesus was baptized, uh, Matthew 3:16, and he went up from the water and the spirit of God came descending upon him, and a voice from heaven said, 13:10 "This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased." Now, when you read something like that, how does it hit you? Well, for one thing, we it makes us 13:29 admire Jesus. Well, I'll tell you how it hit me the other day. I said, "Lord, Father, will you be able to say that about me? Will you be able to look at my life and say, 13:48 "This is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased." And I say, "Father, if you can't say that about me, I'm ashamed of myself to call myself a child of God. What am I living for? 14:06 If you can't look at my life and say, "I'm well pleased with you. And I want to say that to each of you sitting here, my brothers and sisters. If you that if that's not the goal of your life, 14:24 you're just a religious person, not a spiritual person. You could end up as a Pharisee and get a big shock when Christ comes back and discover that you're not what you thought you were. So this fits in with Paul's what Paul's 14:45 ambition was. I have one ambition in life to please God and that's not going to change when I go to heaven. It's exactly the same. And then when I look at Jesus life and see how the father was so well pleased with him and I ask this question, 15:02 father, can you be say the same thing about me? And I think the answer I get is there's no partiality with God. The Bible says that Jesus is my elder brother and we are his younger brothers. We are all children of God. He's the eldest 15:22 brother. It's an amazing thing that the Bible says that Jesus is our elder brother. Says that in Romans 8:29 that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And on the day of his resurrection, he told Mary Magdalene, "Go and tell my 15:37 brothers." He called his disciples his brothers. So those of you who have children, if you're a good father, you will never show partiality to any of your children. You will treat all of them exactly alike. 15:56 If you do more for your eldest child, some people are like that. I'm sorry to say. Particularly in many Indian homes, their favorite is their eldest son. You are an ungodly man, an ungodly woman. I'll tell you that to your face. 16:12 Cuz God is not partial. And if you are partial towards the boys rather than to the girls, you are an ungodly person. I have no hesitation in saying that. If you'll do more for one of your children than for the others, you are an 16:27 ungodly person. A godly person will treat all his children equally. He the clever one is not his favorite. The boy is not his favorite over the girls. The eldest is not his favorite over the younger ones. and the youngest sometimes that's not 16:45 his favorite either. All are exactly the same. We don't start like that. We have a partiality towards some of our children. We got to crucify that and say, "Lord, I want to be like you." It's all right for ungodly people 16:59 to show partiality. But if you say you're a child of God and you want to be like Jesus himself, like God our father, then there should be no partiality. So I believe there's no partiality with God. So if Jesus is my elder brother, he 17:15 will not show partiality to him. In other words, he'll do for me. Whatever he did for him, that's my understanding of my heavenly father. That's what gave me the faith many many years ago that what God did for Jesus, he'll do for me. Just this one truth 17:33 that there's no partiality with God. So I see that if the father could say about Jesus, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. It's not an impossible goal 17:51 for us to expect that Jes God can say that about us as well. Why not? Provided I fulfill the same conditions because God has certain laws. For example, he gives grace only to the humble. He's never going to change that law. 18:10 He detests proud people. He opposes proud people. And I'll tell you something very reverently that if Jesus ever became proud, the father would have opposed him. And that I say that just so that some of 18:27 us don't think we are special favorites uh because we've known God for so many years. And that once in a while if we get proud, God won't oppose. I want to tell you, he will oppose you because that's his nature. He opposes the proud. And it doesn't 18:44 matter one bit to him whether you've been a believer for 60, 70 years. If you're proud, he'll oppose you. If you're humble, he'll give you grace. So I see that the reason why Jesus never sinned was because he was always 19:01 under grace. sin shall not have dominion over you when you're under grace. And which means he was always humble. He always decided, I am never never going to allow my mind to have high thoughts about myself. I'm never going to exalt myself over any 19:19 other human being. That's why he became a servant and took the low place and refused to be a king. He was always I mean his last day of his life, he was at the feet of his disciples washing their feet. That was his whole way of life 19:34 and that's why the father was pleased with him. So if we are really longing uh that our heavenly father will say about us about you this is my beloved daughter in whom I'm well pleased. I mean just 19:53 think for a moment to hear those words from God. This is my beloved child. Personally, to you, boy. To me, I cannot think of anything on earth that would mean more to me than that. Is that how you feel about it? 20:13 So then when we look at Jesus life during those 30 years know very often we hear something like that and we think that well then I've got to do a lot of things in order to please God like witness to others and read the Bible 20:32 every day and and do you know that Jesus never had a Bible to read every day. So that's it's good to read the Bible every day because I read the Bible mainly to see what the life of Jesus is like to tell you honestly not to get so 20:47 many laws and all that. But the Bible says that the Holy Spirit in a mirror shows us the glory of Jesus. So the only reason I read the Bible is to see what Jesus is like. And I say I want to be like that. Uh but Jesus himself never had a Bible. 21:06 Paul never had a Bible either. They could go to the synagogue or wherever there was a scroll which is very very expensive because it is made out of parchment and read and then they had to keep it in their mind. The only way they could uh 21:23 read the Bible was bring it back from their memory whatever they had read. Please remember that. That is one reason why we encourage people to memorize scripture not the exact words. It doesn't matter. I don't remember the 21:37 exact words of so many verses, but I seek to memorize whatever scripture teaches. And I would encourage you to really get to know the Bible. I mean, the way I do it, I say, supposing one day I'm locked up in prison for preaching the gospel and they 21:54 don't give me a Bible. I should be able to read the Bible in my mind every day without a physical Bible in my hand. I mean, if you've had the Bible in your hand for 10 years, you should be knowing it enough to be able to remember most of 22:08 it, at least the important parts of it, the promises, the commandments. So, I want to encourage you to do that. Take scripture seriously. But what was it that Jesus did which enabled him to be pleasing to the father in those 30 22:25 years? He never did a miracle in those 30 years. Now, remember this is not at the end of his life. This is at the beginning of his ministry that the father said, "I am well pleased with you." And I never get tired of emphasizing. He had never preached a 22:40 sermon, never cast out a demon, never did a miracle. And yet the father said he was pleased with him. Because many of us who don't have these gifts think, "Well, I can't preach and I can't travel." Well, Jesus never preached or 22:54 traveled. As far as we know, all 30 years, he lived in one small little village called Nazareth. He traveled less in 30 years than almost everybody here. All of us have traveled more than Jesus traveled in 30 years. So it's got nothing to do with traveling. 23:11 All of us have met more people in our life than Jesus met in 30 years. The people that Jesus met were almost entirely people from his own village. Three times a year they used to go to Jerusalem and meet a few people that was 23:23 for a few days but otherwise it was just in a small village that he lived all his life. and he was pleasing to the father. So nobody has an excuse saying I can't do this or I can't do that. I haven't gone here. I haven't 23:38 gone there. If you look at Jesus life, let me show you in Luke's gospel chapter 2. A few things about what made him pleasing to the father. There's very little written about his life in those first 30 years. But the 23:57 few things that are written, we can learn something. In Luke chapter 2, you know, he was 12 years old and he went to the temple. We read in Luke 24:42, he became 12 and he went to the feast. And when Joseph and Mary were 24:15 returning, he stayed behind in Jerusalem. He stayed behind while all the other boys were I don't know playing around. He stayed behind. It was his choice but his parents were 24:34 unaware of it. And the parents uh found him after 3 days. Verse 46. You know they had traveled quite a bit of time. Maybe more than a day they traveled and they suddenly looked for him and they didn't find him. They were 24:47 all traveling as a community of a whole lot of people like going for a conference a whole group of people and they assumed even for 36 hours they assumed he must be somewhere else with one of the other boys and it's only 24:59 after 36 hours they discovered hey he's not here and they walked back 36 hours and discovered that Jesus was in the temple. This shows us one thing that it took a long time for them to walk from Nazareth to Jerusalem. Remember that whenever you 25:19 read in the Bible that Jesus walked from Galilee to Jerusalem, that wasn't couple of hours. It was one and a half days at least cuz these folks walked one and a half days and one and a half days back. So little things like this show us how 25:35 Jesus lived. Anyway, when they came to the temple, they found him. Verse 46, in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed first of all at his understanding of 25:52 scripture and his answers. So the first thing I learned about Jesus life which made him pleasing to the father was that he had a tremendous knowledge of scripture even though he didn't have 26:09 a Bible at home. You want to be pleasing to the father. You know that's the first thing we read about Jesus in his life. And that is something that every one of us can do because we have more than Jesus had. We have the Bible in our own 26:29 language. Whereas if Jesus wanted to read the Bible, he had to go to the local synagogue in Nazareth and ask the rabbi to turn the scroll and read one chapter to him and he had to put it all in his memory. Maybe ask 26:46 him, "Rabbi, can you please read that again or read that verse again? read that. Please read that again. And he couldn't read too much because then he'd forget it and just read a little bit and think about that and then go home and 27:01 think about it and maybe come back the next day and say, "Rabbi, can you turn it to the next chapter and please read a little more?" And the rabbi must have been delighted because I don't know how many boys would have come to him like 27:13 that. 9 10 year old boys coming and asking him to read the Bible to them. It challenges me. that a young 10-year-old boy would go to someone and say, "Can you please read? I don't have a Bible at home. Can you please read the Bible for me? Just one 27:30 chapter or a little bit and then that's enough. Can I come back tomorrow? Will you read something more to me?" You know, like some illiterate boy who can't read or write going to someone and asking to read the Bible. Boy, 27:46 I I say, "Lord, would I be like that? Do I love you enough to take the trouble to spend a little time? Uh cut cut down some of my other activities in a day just to travel all the way somewhere to somebody's house in his case to the synagogue and get 28:05 someone to read the Bible because I I I'm illiterate and just and to memorize it to think about it during the day so that I come back maybe come back next day and say, "Uh, Rabbi, can you please read that to me again? I forgot a little 28:18 bit about what I read yesterday. This is the way Jesus studied the Bible. I don't know when he started, maybe at the age of five because it doesn't you you can't know scripture so well in one or two years. It takes years. 28:36 And he went and he came back and he went and came back and meditated and meditated. And by the time he was 12 years old, all these scholars, he was sitting, it says, in the midst of teachers, in the midst of Bible teachers, and he 28:51 was asking them questions which fox them. And when they said, "No, we think it's like that," Jesus would say, "Hey, this is what that verse means." And they'd be amazed. They'd say, "Boy, oh, we never thought of that, but now we can see that 29:08 that's right." And they're amazed that this 12-year-old boy is giving an explanation to a verse which these guys have been studying for 30, 40 years. So, it shows it's not a question of how long you study. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they 29:27 shall see God. And the Bible has been given to us so that we can see God. And in order to see God, you don't need a clever mind. You need a pure heart. Blessed are the pure in heart. When they open the Bible, they don't get a 29:45 doctrine. They see God. They see Jesus. And that's possible for everyone of us. Are you a mother with many children, no time to go outside the house, always busy? You can be like Jesus. You can be pleasing to the father 30:03 just because you take a little time to read the scriptures. It doesn't have to be early in the morning. I remember my wife could never read the Bible early in the morning when we had little children at home. It was always late late at night after the 30:15 children went to sleep. It does require a little sacrifice. That's true. I mean, if you're not willing to sacrifice time to study the Bible, you'll never know it. It all depends on how much interest you have. You know when people say I don't have 30:31 time because I'm so busy. What if your child was sick and admitted in the hospital? Would you find suddenly make time to go and see your child in the hospital? Spend 2 three hours a day just to do that. See what we want to do. We can 30:49 always make time for. It's what you don't want to do that you find some excuse. I'm very busy. I've had people in CFC some of them not here now who said brother my work is so much I don't find time to read the Bible every day okay 31:07 I'm not surprised when such people drop away finally not at all surprised so remember this if you want the father one day to say to you this is my beloved child in whom I'm well pleased I'll tell you where to begin 31:24 make a little sacrifice is every day to study the scriptures and say, "Lord, I want to see you here in the scriptures. I don't want to just get a Jesus certainly wasn't studying to prepare a sermon or to prepare something to share at the 31:44 next Wednesday meeting." No, he was not at all doing that. We don't study the Bible in order to share with other people. No. We study the Bible to see Jesus, to know God. 32:02 And if that's our goal, there's amazing things that the Lord will show to us even in ordinary scriptures. When you read something, the Bible says, "Blessed is are those who meditate on the day of the on the word of the Lord 32:18 and in the New Testament who seek for the revelation of the Holy Spirit on the word of God. I'll just give you one example. For example, this verse that we just read. I mean, you've read it many times that Jesus when he was 12 years old uh stood 32:33 in the midst of teachers and they were amazed at his understanding. But have you ever thought meditated on a little and asked the Lord how that happened? and how that can apply in your life. And that's all I did. I mean, I didn't 32:46 do anything more than you. I didn't read anything more than you, but I stopped there and I said, Lord, how can that apply in my life? Then I realized that he took pains to study the scriptures. And that's what made the father one day 33:02 say, "It's my beloved son whom I am well pleased." If a father for example writes a long letter to his son who's far away and after a couple of weeks or or a 33:19 month the father says hey son did you read my letter and the son says well I didn't get time dad or I read one or two sentences in it you think that son is a very devoted son of his father if He's really a devoted son and he 33:37 knows the father's given a lot of good instructions in it. He'd read it as soon as he gets it. It's one of the first things I decided when I got converted before I was converted at 19 and a half. I had not read the Bible. I had go to church and 33:52 hear the stories, but I had never read through it. And I said, "Okay, first thing I must do, I must read through this, which is God's word, the only book God has written." And I read through it in 6 months. It's the midst of my work. In the middle 34:08 of my work, I took a little time every morning and whenever I got spare time and I finished the whole Bible in 6 months. I know you can do it. I didn't understand everything naturally because newly converted. But I decided then 34:24 I didn't know all this that Jesus was like this and all. Somehow the Bible says as a newborn babe cries for milk. We if you're really born again, you cry for the word of God. It says in 1 Peter 2, you don't teach a child to cry for 34:40 milk. It's automatic. If it's a healthy child, it will cry for milk. If it doesn't cry for milk, it's a sick child. And every truly born again person who is a healthy child will want to know the word of God. And if you a child a person 34:59 who says he's born again and does not want to know the word of God is a sick person without a doubt. There are a lot of sick people around who say they are born again. So that's the first thing and I see there that Jesus the way the 35:14 reason why he could answer people those teachers was because he didn't just read the scriptures when the rabbi as a little boy when he was seven or eight years old and the rabbi read the scripture to him in the synagogue he 35:27 thought about it and he went home and thought about it and that's what we must do with the scriptures Lord what is there in it what is the meaning of this And if teachers who are 60, 70 years old can learn from a 12-year-old, that's 35:44 because the 60 70 years old, I'm sure they were clever people. Jews are usually all very clever. They read and understood it, but they hadn't revelation. Jesus had revelation because his heart was pure. So that's the first thing I learned from 36:00 him, which is a great challenge to me. And going on from there, I see another thing about his life. When in verse 48, his mother and asked him, "Father, why son, why have you treated us like this? 36:18 We've been searching for you all this time." And look at his answer. Why were you looking for me? You thought you'd find me on the playground. Haven't you seen me all these years? Didn't you know? 36:37 Didn't you know this that I had to be in my father's house or I had to be about my father's business. So two translations possible. 36:55 So that's the second thing I see about Jesus that pleased the father. He longed to be in the father's house and to be interested in the things of the father at a very young age. A lot of people would rather be watching 37:18 television or be in a cinema house or didn't you know that you'd find me in the cinema theater or didn't you know you'd find me in some restaurant having a good time but for Jesus it was where did you expect to find me in my father's house about my 37:35 father's business and at a young age that interest in the things of God, not just in the word of God, but in God's work and he wasn't a preacher. He wasn't going around ministering, but he was 37:54 interested in the things of the father. He was interested. Today, God's house is with God's people. He was interested to be with God's people more than he was with all his worldly friends. I'm sure there were a lot of worldly boys there 38:09 in Nazareth and around there in those days just like today who had that dirty jokes. And do you think dirty jokes are only in the 20th century? You think there were no dirty jokes in the first century? Sure. Or all the bad habits that young people have 38:22 today. They had it in the first century too. But there was certain type of people Jesus associated himself with. That's what he says to haven't you seen me all these years, mom? Where do you expect to find me? 38:39 In my father's house. That is the way we must bring up our children. Our children must love the church and the people in the church more than any other young people of their age. 38:59 That was my longing from the time my children were small. They must love the young people in the church more than anybody else. So that even when they come from their college on a vacation, they want to be with the young people in the church and 39:16 not with all their worldly friends. Are you training your children that way? You if you love the church yourself, you'll do it. But if you love the restaurants and movie theaters, that's where you'll take your children. That's where they'll be 39:31 interested in. There are a lot of dangers when we have a lot of money. I'll tell you that. One of the blessings that was ours when we were now children were small was we my wife and I never had didn't have much money. Then 39:50 we couldn't we couldn't ever afford to go to a restaurant. Of course, cinema theater is out of the question. Not just because of money because we were completely against it. Where do I want to take my children? I'll take them 40:03 where I myself want to go. Is fellowship with the brothers and sisters in CFC just a Sunday morning affair for you and the rest of the time I mean this is an obligation like children have to go to school so this is oh I have to go 40:21 Sunday I have to go or is it something you love to be with God's people? You love to be in, like it says in the margin, the things of my father. I'm interested in that. And you don't have to be very old to be there. Jesus was like that at the age of 40:41 12. This is where I say, you know, if you haven't seen clearly that Jesus came in the flesh, you'll always at the back of your mind, you'll say, "No, no, that's because he was God." That's exactly what the devil wants you to say. 40:56 Oh, that's because he was God. So, my children can't be like that at the age of 12. Sorry. Sorry. You have not seen this mystery of godliness that Jesus came in the flesh. Once you see it, you'll realize he was exactly like us. He was like us as a 41:15 baby. He was like us when he was 5 years old. He was like us 10 years old. He was like us when they're 10 years old. And your children can be like that if you train them right. So and that's a good foundation you can lay 41:30 with your children so that when they grow up they also have this ambition to be pleasing to the father. So to know the scriptures and then to be in the father's house in the father's business that's the second thing that 41:46 even though we are not engaged in any ministry you see as I said Jesus was not engaged in any ministry or preaching or anything but yet he was interested in things concerning the lord's work the father's business so even if you're not 42:03 in you don't have a gift for any ministry or uh you don't have a gift to preach, you don't have a gift to even sing or anything. I want to ask you a question. How much are you interested in the spread of God's word which has 42:22 blessed you so much in this country? Those are the that's the father's business. You know, if a responsible son, his father was a businessman who was trying to spread his stores in other parts of the country, the a responsible son would 42:41 say, "Dad, how are things going? I mean, is our business prospering? Are you able to expand our business?" Irresponsible son will only say, "Dad, can you get me some toys or chocolates or so?" That's another thing I see about 42:57 Jesus. He was interested even though he was not preaching. He was not casting out demons. He was not healing the sick. He was interested in things in the father. You don't have to have any gift. But you can have an interest in know 43:10 wanting to know how is the work of the lord spreading in this land of India where I am or at least you don't think of the land of India at least how is the work of CFC spreading in different places. Do you have an interest to find out? 43:30 I'm not trying to bring anybody under condemnation. I'm just saying that if we refocus our interests on some things that concern God, you would know whether you're a spiritual person or not. I'm just trying 43:48 to look at the life of Jesus because as I said I said dad can you say about me this is my beloved child in whom I'm well pleased. If you have that longing if you don't start with that longing you won't be interested in anything I'm saying 44:05 here. But if you start with that longing my heavenly father can you say about me this is my you are my beloved child in whom I'm well pleased. If that's your longing, it is mine and that was Paul's. My ambition is to please the father. 44:21 Then you will want to find out these things. Then I want you to see another thing about Jesus here and that is in Luke chapter 2 and verse 51. He came to Nazareth and he continued in 44:38 subjection to Joseph and Mary and thus he kept increasing in wisdom and stature and favor with God. So this pleasing God began right there at the age of 12. It says he kept increasing in favor with God. 44:56 God was delighted with these little things I mentioned. And this other thing we see here is that he he was subject to authority. Now that's something which man does does not like. 45:14 Nobody likes to be subject to authority. You think your 2-year-old likes to be subject to your authority? The 2-year-old is compelled to submit to your authority, but left to himself, he'd like to break away from your authority and do what he likes. 45:29 is there. Where did it come from in your two-year-old? Came from you parents. We were all like that when we were two years old. And where did they where we get it from? It came from Adam who didn't want to subject himself to 45:48 the authority of God who said, "Don't eat from that tree." Said, "No, I don't want to submit to that authority." We've all got it. And where did Adam get it from? He got it from Satan. the highest angel. You know, by just by 46:01 the way, we we don't know what his name is. It's not mentioned anywhere in the Bible. Lucifer is not his name. Lucifer is just a Latin word which means morning star or something like that. But whatever his name was, he was the 46:12 highest angel in heaven. And he became Satan only because of one reason. Only one reason. He did not want to submit to God's authority. If you want to know the root of sin, the 46:30 origin of sin, it's here. I don't want to be submitted to anybody's authority. Have you got that spirit? You got the root of sin in your life. That's how the devil became the devil. And he infected Adam with that. And 46:49 every child of Adam, you and I and our children have got that. I don't want to be subject to anybody's authority. They go to school and they rebel against their teachers. They go to work and they'll rebel against the uh people who 47:05 work in the factory bosses and the start trade unions to fight against the authorities and and in the world and in politics fight against government and go on marches. It's there all over and it's more and more in our day. 47:23 And as I've repeated, I've said many times, Jesus submitted to imperfect authority. That's how he pleased the father. There is no perfect authority in the whole world. No parent is perfect. No elder is perfect. Your boss, by the way, 47:42 is not perfect. But why is it you find many people who are willing to submit to an imperfect boss year after year after year but if an elder does one mistake they question that how can I submit to him he did this 48:00 oh really what about your boss who does 10 10 times worse things than that how do you submit to him I'll tell you because you get money and you lose your money. If you don't submit to your boss, but if you don't submit to the elders, you don't lose any 48:18 money. Money is the driving force in your life that makes you submit to imperfect authority day after day after day after day. Even though they make you work overtime and do so many things, unrighteous things, and don't give you a 48:32 promotion, and you still submit because of money. But when it comes to elders, you have some questions. When it comes to your parents, you say, "Well, they they're like this, like." Well, if you think of Joseph and Mary, 48:50 I'm sure they were imperfect. I'm sure they fought with each other. I have no doubt about it. All married couples, at least in their early days, fight with each other. And 49:09 if they're not born again, they'll fight with each other till the end of their lives. And even some born again people who don't have victory over sin keep on fighting till the end of their lives. It's not God's will. I believe if you 49:20 get victory over sin, you'll stop fighting at home completely. Zero. But Joseph and Mary were not in the new covenant. They didn't have grace. The day of grace had not yet come. They were not filled with the Holy Spirit. So they 49:35 were imperfect. And I can imagine many of their decisions were imperfect. And their talking to each other was imperfect. And sometimes they got angry with Jesus as well. He never judged them. He submitted. And the father was watching this for 30 49:54 years. This is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. You know how much God values those who submit to imperfect authority. Not an imperfect authority you have chosen. No, I was in many different churches 50:14 and as long as I was there, I submitted to imperfect authority. But when I realized that they were teaching things which are not in the scriptures, I left it. That was not rebellion. No, there I was submitting to God and his word which 50:29 they were contradicting. Now, you can't do that in a marriage and you can't do that if you're a child at home because if God's kept you there, but you can do that if you're in a church, you can leave it. If you're in an office, you can leave it. But you 50:43 shouldn't stay there and create problems. I don't believe in someone who stays in a church and keeps on, you know, festering rebellion and criticism and all that. I say if you're not happy with something in CFC, I have one bit of advice for 51:00 you. Leave this church and find another one and leave it tomorrow. Find another one where you won't have any problems. But don't sit and criticize authority. God will never bless you for it. He will say about you, here is one who I don't 51:19 know whether he's my child is with I'm whom I'm thoroughly displeased. That's what he'll say. Here is a person with whom I'm thoroughly displeased. You want God to say that about you? So I learned from Jesus that one thing that pleased the father was 51:37 his submission to imperfect authority. And he wasn't criticizing them behind their back. He wasn't talking to his brothers and say, "See what dad did or see what mom did. See what these elders do or see what that person does." He wasn't like 51:52 that. The father would never have said that that he was well pleased with him at the end of his life. These are lessons for us to learn, brothers and sisters. If we really want our heavenly father to say about you and me, I'm well pleased with you. 52:10 And I believe this is the reason also why God cannot commit spiritual authority to many people. As you know, I've had a little bit of experience now in working with elders in many many churches, CFC churches, and I 52:29 see a difference in them. I see elders who have come to eldership very quickly and have never in their life been subject to any authority in their life. They came up very quickly 52:48 and they never had anybody rub them the wrong way. They had a very easy way through life and uh whatever authority they submitted to anywhere it was very pleasant and easy. They were never broken and yeah well in some churches we have 53:05 to appoint them as elders because they are the best of the lot. You know a oneeyed man is king among the blind. So whether are blind people you select a man with one eye and make him an elder. But you find that people who are not 53:17 broken in their life. They are never successful in exercising authority as elders. God never backs them up. They may be able to preach, but God doesn't back up their authority because they themselves have never learned how it is to submit to imperfect 53:36 authority and be broken. So if God allows you in a spiritual situation to face injustice from maybe elders, just jump up and praise the Lord. Leap for joy like Jesus said, "Oh Lord, this is great. You're 53:55 giving me an education here. Instead of complaining and grumbling and going around telling other people what you're suffering and all that rubbish, just leap for joy and say, "Lord, you're giving me an education. You you're 54:07 breaking me." And you'll you'll be surprised one day, maybe a few years from now, maybe 10 years from now, God will give you spiritual authority and you'll have a wonderful ministry. But and I've seen other elders who have 54:23 been through breaking really been broken by being humbled and humiliated and all types of things and when God gives them and they accept it they don't complain and God gives them authority they can exercise it so 54:42 well so I see that in Jesus life I don't know what all he went through in those 30 years at home where all he had to deny himself because never to judge Joseph and Mary even once. Have you thought of it? And all the wrong things that Jesus saw in 55:02 Joseph and Mary, if he had judged them once, once he would have sinned, he could not have been our savior. And there you see the amazing way he lived. Of course, immediately the devil says, 55:19 "Ah, that's that's because he was God. He did not live on earth as God. He lived in our flesh. Tempted exactly like us. Tempted when he was young in his Joseph and Mary's house. Exactly like us when we are under imperfect 55:37 authority. But he did not open his mouth. He submitted to his father. And at the end of not the end of one or two days I mean if we endure that for six months we think we have accomplished a great feat. Boy six months I submitted 55:52 to this terrible elder. Jesus submitted for 30 years. The father doesn't give his approval very quickly. He waits and sees 30 years. At the end of it the father says I'm delighted. 56:12 We don't realize the importance of this. You know, we know terrible sins like adultery and murder and anger and sexual lust and all that, but we don't think of rebellion as a serious sin. It is. It's the root of all sin. 56:28 Rebellion against God, rebellion against authority, God. That's why a child is given only one commandment. You know that. Obey your parents. Honor your father and mother. There is no other commandment for a child. Why is that a child is 56:47 given only one commandment? Because that's the root of sin. And that's why it's so important for us never, never, never to allow our children to rebel against their authority at home. to take that very seriously when they are rude to the 57:06 parents, when they are rude to older people, even if they're rude to your servant at home who's older than them. That's rebellion. I would never allow that. To respect older people, honor your father and mother. If you 57:24 drive that out, if that drive out that rebellion from the heart of your child and obedience that when the father mother says something that they obey, if you don't take disobedience seriously, you're grooming a child for 57:38 the devil. And definitely not someone who will grow up to be useful in God's kingdom. If you want your child to grow up to be useful for God in his kingdom, I'll give you one bit of advice. teach them to honor their father and mother and everything 57:58 that the father and mother says from the time they are one year old. Now, if you haven't done that, you can start now. For those of you who have children at home, start now. Make sure that you 58:16 teach them obedience. And if they wonder, hey, dad, mom, how you come? You become so strict with us, say, well, we made a mistake till now, but we're rectifying it. Tell them straight. We we realize that we were not teaching. It's like if you 58:33 taught you tell them it's like, you know, all these months I was teaching you that 2 plus 2 was five. Now I've discovered that 2+ 2 is four. So I'm just trying to teach you the right thing from now on. Something like that. 58:43 They'll understand it. It's very important. Now I see that in the life of Jesus that he submitted and as he submitted it says in verse 52 he kept increasing in wisdom. Verse 52 in favor with God and man. Then I want to say one more thing. There 59:04 are many things we could see. But you know, do you see what a lot we can get from a small part of scripture like these four or five verses in Luke chapter 2 if you meditate on it? And if you meditate on it because you're eager 59:20 to be pleasing to the father. Okay, here's one more thing. If you turn to uh Matthew chapter 3 once again it says here that the people verse 5 and 59:38 6 Matthew 3 verse 5 and six that from Jerusalem they were going out to him to all Judea all the district around Jordan that means hundreds of people were going to John the Baptist being baptized in the 59:55 Jordan River as they confessed their sins. And there were certain people John would not baptize like the Pharisees and Sadducees. He said, "Get away from here, you brut of wipers. Who asked you to come here?" He was only 1:00:13 baptizing people who confessed their sins. So if you went to the River Jordan and you saw a big long line of people standing there, I mean it's like a railway station. You see a line standing there, they're waiting to buy 1:00:28 tickets. You see a big long line standing at the River Jordan, you know, every one of them is a sinner. And why would Jesus want to go and stand in that life to be baptized? 1:00:48 First of all, people would misunderstand him. I mean, the devil would have told him or his own reason would have said, "Hey, listen. If you go and stand here, a lot of people going to think that there's some secret sin in your life also." 1:01:05 There was no sin in his life conscious or unconscious or secret or visible. But he maybe his reason would have said why why don't you go and see John the Baptist at night or something baptized secretly when nobody's around. 1:01:23 No, he went during the daytime and he was willing to be misunderstood because the father told him, "Go and stand in that line and get baptized." I learned something there. 1:01:42 If when I when the father asks me when God asks me to do something and I'm worried that somebody will misunderstand it and I hesitate or I want to do it at some other time and people will not misunderstand. I'm not going to be pleasing to the 1:02:02 father. I'm sure Jesus reason. You see, he was tempted like us. Hey, if you stand there, they'll misunderstand you. They're all sinners. Remember, they're all confessing their sins. You know what he told John the Baptist? 1:02:17 John the Baptist himself said in verse 14, "When Jesus came to him, standing in line." Can you picture this in your mind? Long line of people standing there one by one and in the middle Jesus standing and everybody saying confessing 1:02:31 their sins. John, I did all this. I did all this. Okay, baptized. Next fellow, John, I did all this. And it says they were confessing their sins as they got baptized. Okay. Next. And Jesus walks up and John immediately recognizes. 1:02:48 He say, "I need to be baptized by you." And Jesus says, "Permit it." Verse 15, "At this time, for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." There was a righteousness in his getting 1:03:07 baptized. Today there are so many people who have taken a baptism as a child and who question whether they should be baptized again or not and all that type of stuff. But for Jesus, he saw something his father had told him to do it. It wasn't 1:03:25 written in scripture. There was no scripture which says Old Testament which says go and get baptized. That was not in the scroll that the rabbi read. But he had a prompting in his heart. here is a man of God. He knew that John the Baptist was sent 1:03:42 by the father. And the ones who rejected John the Baptist were the people who said, "No, this man is not sent by God." And I'm just thinking now, if Jesus did not go there, people would have thought, "Hey, Jesus 1:04:02 doesn't accept this guy, so probably he's not a man of God at all. But Jesus was willing to be misunderstood. Say, "I'm going to stand in line and accept the fact that this is a man sent by God." And that's one of the things he was 1:04:16 proving by getting baptized. This is a man sent by God. And he went there. There was no need for him to be baptized. We know what baptism means. But for Jesus, I'll tell you what baptism meant. The others who got baptized didn't were confessing their 1:04:33 sins. But for Jesus, it was something more than that. Jesus said in John 6:38, and there you'll understand the meaning of baptism for Jesus Christ. It was not confessing his sins because he had no sin. But John 6:38 is the meaning of baptism for Jesus 1:04:51 Christ. Jesus said, "I have come from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me." All his life, he lived by one principle. I will never do my own will. There a lot of things I 1:05:10 want to do, but I'm not going to do it. I'll do what pleases the father. That's how he had lived for 30 years. Never pleasing himself. You read that also in Romans 15 and verse three. 1:05:28 Romans 15:3. Christ never pleased himself. See, we have a choice. Either I please the father or I pleased myself. And Jesus knew that if he pleased himself, he wouldn't please the father. So he never did his own will. So for Jesus, 1:05:45 baptism meant here I'm going down in the water to show that I have died to my own will in everything. And he was raised up by John the Baptist say I'm living only to please the father. For us it is identification with 1:06:05 Jesus in his death, burial, and resurrection. For Jesus, it was I'm dying to my own will and I'm I've done it all my life and I'm going to do it till the end of my life. I die to my own will and I'm willing to let other people crucify me. 1:06:20 I'm willing to let other people bury me, do whatever they want to me, kill me, cuz that's, you know, you put a man under water, you're actually killing him. And Jesus was saying also, I'm willing to let other people treat me 1:06:32 badly because I know my father will raise me up. That was Jesus, the meaning of baptism for Jesus Christ. And he was willing to be misunderstood because other people didn't know that meaning. I mean, we know that meaning 1:06:47 only because after the day of Pentecost, Romans 6 has been written and John 6:38 has been written and Romans 15:3 has been written. We understand it. But the people then didn't understand it and didn't make a difference to Jesus 1:06:59 Christ. So I see there another thing that the father was delighted with in Jesus' case that when he was prompted to do something he didn't bother him that other people would misunderstand him. If that is what the father wanted him to 1:07:16 do he was going to do it. So there are a lot of things we learn from the life of Jesus as to what was pleasing to the father. And one last thing which we all know and that's why I don't want to spend too much time on it. What did he do in those 1:07:32 30 years? Hebrews 4:15. He was tempted in every point as we are and did not sin. That's the other thing we know about what Jesus did in 30 years. 1:07:49 He was tempted in every way. A 2-year-old can be, a 5-year-old can be, a 10-year-old can be, a young 15y old. Is there a 15y old boy here? Is there a 19year-old, a 25y old? Jesus was tempted like you. Exactly. 1:08:09 And with greater pressure than you, because he came from heaven, from purity, he came to the sin- cursed earth. And the pressure therefore was greater than you face having been born in an impure earth. And he resisted it. It wasn't easy. 1:08:28 He had to pray. We read at times he prayed with loud crying and tears. Hebrews 5:7. I'm sure even as a young man when he was tempted, he would go off somewhere and pray and ask the father for help. you know the pressures young teenagers and 1:08:45 young in their 20s face and he had to resist it and the father saw it day after day after day after day after day for 30 years the father said I'm delighted 1:09:04 never did a miracle never preached a sermon never wrote a book never did what today we call ministry Today, Christians appreciate a man who's accomplished something for God. 1:09:21 Oh, he's had a great ministry. Well, what what to do? We we we're like that. But I'll tell you something that when Christ when Christ comes back, it's not just people who had a great ministry who are going to be appreciated. In 1:09:37 fact, Jesus said, "Many who are first will be lost." And you'll discover many many people whom you admired for their great ministry and what all they accomplished for God will be lost. Some of them won't even be in God's kingdom 1:09:52 because he is not evaluating ministry. Jesus had no ministry in 30 years and yet the father said I'm pleased with him. And Paul says, "My ambition is to be well pleasing to him because that's what's going to matter at the judgment 1:10:08 seat of Christ." And I learned from the life of Jesus that ministry is not the matter there. The life we live and why does he say many who are first will be last and last who are first. See, we can sometimes despise a person 1:10:23 because they got no ministry. They're not in the forefront of the church doing this, that, and the other and seen by everybody. But they may be so utterly faithful in their home. Maybe some sister who's god-fearing and really 1:10:40 seeking to pray for her children and bring up her children and the fear of God who's submissive to a hard-hearted husband or whatever it is. And God sees that. God says, "I'm so delighted in that daughter of mine who's living in such a 1:10:57 godly way and doing it only because she wants to please me. That's all. And you see that person coming up in front in the day of judgment and say, "Wow, who is that?" I didn't care much for her in the church. Well, you didn't. 1:11:11 God did cuz he was watching their hidden life. So, I want to say that for all your encouragement, brothers and sisters. Many who are first in this church will be last. Not all. Jesus didn't say everyone who is first will be last, but 1:11:26 he said many who are first will be last. And he didn't say everyone who's last will be first, but he said many who are last will be first. So I'm not saying that everyone who's last in this church will be first or everyone who's first in 1:11:39 the church will be last. But I do believe that many who are first will be last and many who are last will be first because God sees in some people the desire for prominence. I've seen so many elders in CFC churches who want to be known as elders. I'm not 1:11:56 an ordinary brother. I'm a rabbi. Just by the way, it's there. God sees it. You think such people are going to be first in the day of judgment? No. They'll be at the end of the line if at 1:12:13 all they enter God's kingdom. God sees those who are faithful in the little things, who have no desire to be great in the eyes of men, no desire to impress or please people, who would rather be unknown and do things in secret without 1:12:32 their left hand knowing what their right hand did and only to please God. And who are submitting to authority quietly, even if it's painful, say, "Lord, I accept it." was studying his word in secret, wanting to know what God's will is and to please 1:12:51 him. Blessed are you if you're like that. Don't be discouraged. You have a great reward coming up very soon when Christ returns. Let's pray. Our heavenly father, 1:13:11 help us to value the things that you value. to appreciate the things that you do. And we told to run the race looking unto Jesus. And we want to see Jesus in the first 30 years of his life more than in the remaining three and a half years. 1:13:31 Run the race seeing the way he lived. Help us each one. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.
