And God had to prepare people for many
years to come to that place, particularly through
the Tenth Commandment.
You know, man could keep all the Nine
Commandments, but he couldn't keep the Tenth, because
the Tenth Commandment was, you shall not lust
in your heart, and nobody could keep it.
That's why when Jesus spoke to the rich
young ruler, he listed all the commandments but
left out the Tenth.
Have you noticed that, in Mark 10?
And the rich ruler said, what shall I
do to have eternal life?
He said, you know what the law says,
you must honor your father and mother, you
must keep the Sabbath, you must honor your
father and mother, don't kill, don't commit adultery,
all the commandments related to man, five of
them, he said, I kept all of these.
And Jesus purposely left out the Tenth.
And when he said, I've kept all of
these, then Jesus said, okay, now I'll tell
you about the Tenth.
Give your money away.
He said no.
That's where they failed, and that's where you
and I fail, where we have a lust
for something which God does not want us
to have a lust for.
It could be a woman, it could be
money, it could be property, it could be
anything, it could be your job.
And the only thing we should have a
strong desire for is God himself.
Who keeps the Tenth Commandment?
Nobody.
And those who are honest enough to acknowledge
that enter into the New Covenant, nobody else.
Those who pretend that they are keeping it
will live forever under that delusion and fool
everybody else and may end up in hell.
But those who are humble enough to say,
Lord, I can't keep it, I failed, no
matter how hard I try, I'll still fail.
I'll be better than others, I may be
better than people in other churches, and I
may be pretty good compared to what I
was in the past, but I'll never rise
up to your standard, I give up.
Lord, I want to humbly depend on you.
He forgives us, cleanses us, and leads us
into the New Covenant.
So, that's why God allows all of us
to go through a period of struggling under
the law, being defeated, depressed, discouraged, losing our
temper, lusting with our eyes, watching internet pornography.
All this is evil.
Getting addicted to these things, behaving well in
the church and behaving badly at home, that's
the mark of a hypocrite.
That's the definition of a Pharisee, one who
behaves well in the church and behaves badly
at home.
So, if that definition fits you, you're a
Pharisee.
But the Lord came to save Pharisees if
they acknowledge their need, not if they don't.
If you don't acknowledge your need, he doesn't
save anybody.
He doesn't ask you to be perfect, but
he asks you to be honest, to say,
Lord, I'm a hypocrite.
Do you know that no Pharisee would have
been lost if they had just said, Lord,
I'm a hypocrite.
But it's so difficult to say it.
I mean, do you find it easy to
say that?
Would you get up in the presence of
those who respect you and say, I have
to acknowledge I've been a hypocrite?
Boy, that'll deflate you, but it'll probably save
you too.
That is God's way of salvation.
He doesn't save those who are high up
in their own thinking, but those who come
down to earth and acknowledge their failure and
their sin.
And that's why in preparation for this message
of the New Covenant, God sent a prophet
called John the Baptist.
You know, as soon as the pages of
the Old Testament are over and you come
to the pages of the New Testament, you
see this prophet coming straight away.
And this prophet was to prepare people for
receiving Christ and to enter into the New
Covenant.
And the message of this prophet is the
message that we need as a preparation to
enter into the New Covenant.
So that's why it's very important to understand
the message of John the Baptist.
Because that was the preparation for Christ.
And that is the preparation for us also
to enter into the New Covenant.
So let's turn to Matthew's Gospel in Chapter
3, where we read of the ministry of
this man called John the Baptist.
For nearly 350 years, Israel did not have
a prophet, or perhaps 400 years approximately.
Malachi was the last one.
And you know, he said that the last
word he spoke in his prophecy was curse.
I'll smite the land with a curse.
That was the last word God spoke for
400 years.
So that's why they had something to meditate
on for 400 years, it was this.
I'll smite the land with a curse.
That's how the Old Testament ends.
And then comes this prophet, John the Baptist.
And he says, repent, verse 2, for the
kingdom of heaven is at hand.
I want you to notice two things there,
which you may not have noticed before.
Repent is a 180 degree turn.
It's turning right around from your old direction.
It's not 25 degrees.
It's not giving up, just gambling and drinking
and dancing and things like that.
Okay, that's good.
That's not repentance.
Repentance is a 180 degree turn.
There are a lot of things you can
give up and not fully repent.
There are a lot of things you give
up, you would give up smoking, well that's
bad for you in any case.
Good thing you give it up.
Drinking, that's bad for you in any case.
Good thing you give it up.
But sin is basically wanting your own way.
That's one definition of sin.
My will.
And if you want to know what God
thinks of your will.
You know, our personality consists of our intelligence,
our feelings and our will.
But our will is what we really are.
Because it's with our will we choose to
do certain things.
And if you want to know what God
thinks of this thing called my will.
The Bible calls it the old man by
the way.
God killed it on the cross.
The old man that was crucified with Christ
on the cross.
You never got a revelation on it till
today.
Here it is.
It is your self will.
You're wanting your own way.
When it says in Romans 6.6 our
old man was crucified with him.
It's wanting your own way was crucified with
Christ.
God condemned it to death.
Telling you what he thinks of your will.
All you got to do is agree with
him.
Romans 6.11 says reckon yourself to be
dead.
That means, let me paraphrase those words for
you in Romans 6.
The whole of Romans 6.
You can take time to read it sometime.
Because that's the secret of the new covenant.
You're wanting your own way.
God thinks it's good for nothing.
Must be put to death.
Lord I agree with it.
I accept it.
That is to be crucified with Christ.
Then what do we do then?
Lord I want your will in my life.
That is repentance.
That is why John the Baptist says I
baptize you unto repentance.
And that's why in Romans 6.
Crucifying the old man and burying it is
called.
Testified to in baptism.
This is a close connection.
Many people go through baptism without knowing what
it means.
It's just a ritual for them.
You are testifying there that your old man
was buried.
That you don't want your own will.
I mean you think go to the cemetery
and see how many people are doing their
own will over there.
Not even one.
They're finished with doing their own will.
They're finished with wanting their own way.
Once they died, other people decided where they
would be buried, how they would be buried
and whatever.
They're finished.
My question is have you died?
In the Old Testament you didn't have to
die.
All you had to do is listen to
some preacher.
And go and try and improve your life
a little bit after that.
And you can come to CFC and listen
to some preacher and improve your life after
that.
You'll just be an old covenant Christian.
But if you die to your will, you'll
be a new covenant Christian.
So, repentance means a death to your will.
Because it's our will with which we chose
to fight with people, to argue with people,
to shout at people, to shout at your
husband, to shout at your wife and whatever
you do.
And to be nasty and bitter and gossip.
It's all your will.
You choose your will.
I'm going to do that.
Even people take advantage of the blood of
Christ.
Well, I can always go to God and
ask Him to forgive me afterwards.
Amazing!
They treat the blood of Christ like tap
water.
I can always wash my hands.
It's soap.
Can you imagine a greater insult than treating
the blood of Christ like soap?
Ah, it doesn't matter.
I can always wash my hands.
Would you dirty your hands if soap cost
100,000 rupees a little bar?
No, you'd be more careful.
When we value the blood of Christ, we
are more careful with sin.
It's easy to repent.
It's easy to repent when you see the
price that Jesus paid to save you from
your sin.