Let's turn to 2nd Corinthians, Chapter 3.
2nd Corinthians, Chapter 3.
There are some chapters in the New Testament
that are almost devoted to highlighting the contrast
between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant.
One of them is Hebrews, Chapter 8, and
the other is 2nd Corinthians, Chapter 3.
And there are three words here, three contrasts,
three contrasting words that I wanted to speak
about.
He speaks about the Old Covenant and the
New Covenant in the first few verses.
And then he calls that ministry a ministry,
verse 6, of the letter.
And the New Covenant is a ministry of
the Spirit.
Then he calls it, in verse 7, a
ministry of death.
And of course the opposite of that is
a ministry of life.
And then thirdly, he calls it a ministry,
verse 9, of condemnation.
Whereas the New Covenant is a ministry of
righteousness.
So, if we look at these three words,
or these three phrases, the letter or the
spirit, the death or life, and condemnation or
righteousness, we can have a check-up for
ourselves.
We don't want to check up anybody else,
but we can have a check-up ourselves
to see which of these covenants we are
living under.
There are many Christians who concentrate on the
letter.
There are worldly Christians who concentrate on the
letter, and there are legalistic Christians who concentrate
on the letter.
Now, we've always thought that legalists are opposite
of the worldly people.
I mean, if a legalist, we think, concentrates
on the letter, and the worldly person doesn't
bother, it's not true.
There are legalists, and there are worldly Christians,
and they're both carnal.
The spiritual person, he doesn't concentrate on the
letter, he concentrates on the spirit.
Now, this was not true in the Old
Testament.
In the Old Testament, they had to go
by the letter.
You know, God gave them all types of
rules.
If you read particularly Leviticus, it's so complicated
that no matter how many times I read
it, I can't remember it.
And that's why God appointed a whole tribe
called the tribe of Levi to devote themselves
to the study of the Old Testament so
that they could tell people what the law
was in a particular situation.
But in the New Covenant, it's not like
that.
You need to understand this, because if you
don't understand it, we will become either legalists
or worldly, depending on what your tendency is,
or what your current tendency is.
There were people who were legalists ten years
ago who are worldly today.
They haven't become spiritual.
They were according to the letter then, they're
according to the letter today, but they don't
see the difference because they think we're not
legalists now.
We are more freed, yes, we're freed from
legalism to become worldly.
Both according to the letter.
What do I mean?
A legalist will say, Hey, it says so
and so in this particular verse.
Why aren't you doing that?
He's very careful to take one word, one
letter, and check up, make sure that other
people are obeying the letter of the law.
And there are many like that.
In fact, there are whole denominations that are
built on following some particular letter.
There are denominations in Christianity that baptize only
in the name of Jesus.
That's quite amazing because Jesus clearly commanded to
baptize in the name of the Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit.
But then they say in the Acts of
the Apostles, it says they baptize in the
name of Jesus.
And so they say the name, oh, therefore,
it's like, you know, A equals B, B
equals C.
Therefore, A equals C.
In algebra, you learn that.
So, if A equals B and B equals
C, then A must equal to C.
So they say, well, if it says they
baptize in the name of Jesus Christ, and
Jesus had baptized in the name of the
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, then the name
of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit
must be Lord Jesus Christ.
And since there are three names there, the
Lord must be the Father, Jesus must be
the Son, and Christ must be anointed the
Holy Spirit.
Pretty clever, isn't it?
Very mathematical, very much according to the letter,
and totally wrong.
This is the result of going according to
the letter.
Then there are people who say we must
baptize in the name of the Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit means you dip the person
three times.
And if you belong to one of those
who are dipped only once, you go to
their church, you've got to be dipped three
times.
There are so many rules like this in
Christendom.
There are churches where they won't let you
break bread, even if you're born again, if
you're not baptized in water.
At the same time, they'll say baptism is
not necessary for salvation.
We agree you're a child of God, but
you can't break bread with us, even though
you're a very spiritual man.
But this carnal fellow who got baptized in
water, he can break bread with us.
There are tremendous dangers when we go according
to the letter.
Now, there are equal dangers the other way.
You know, a person can react against that
and say, oh well, baptism is not necessary
for salvation, so why do I need to
get baptized?
I mean, those things are all not essential.
So when you go along that line, you
have a bunch of Christians who can all
join together, even though they disagree on so
many things, it's almost as though Jesus never
taught all those things.
And they also go according to the letter
in the sense that if you tell them
it's not good for a Christian to smoke
cigarettes, they'll say, where does that say in
the word of God?
See, they're going by the letter.
They are thoroughly worldly people.
They're also going by the letter because they
say, where does it say you can't have
a television in your home, or you can't
watch a movie, or you can't smoke cigarettes,
or you can't dance in a ballroom dancing.
There's no limit.
You know, there are a whole lot of
people, in fact, in a lot of question
-answer sessions that I have been in, particularly
with young people, most questions, or a lot
of questions from worldly people, are questions of
worldly people who are asking questions according to
the letter.
Can we wear this?
Can we not wear this?
Can we do this?
Can we go here?
Can we do that?
Where does it say in the word?
And if it's not said in the word,
why can't we do it?
Well, there are thousands of things which are
not said in the word.
It doesn't say in the word that you
must have a bath every day.
What do you get from that?
There are all types of things.
You can get into very silly positions if
you...
God's word, Jesus said, if you want to
understand it, you must understand it according to
the spirit.
Jesus was a great person to emphasize the
spirit.
I'll give you an example, a very good
example of this.
Do you know what Jesus himself said?
We know that Jesus preached only what he
practiced.
And we also know that he practiced what
he preached.
And he said in Matthew chapter 5 very
clearly, whoever, Matthew 5 verse 39, the last
part, whoever slaps you on one cheek, on
the right cheek, turn the other to him.
What are you supposed to do?
Whoever slaps you on one cheek, turn the
other cheek to him.
What did Jesus do when somebody slapped him?
He said, I don't remember exactly what it
is, where it is, but when he was
standing before the high priest and they slapped
him, he said, well, if I've done what's
right, why do you slap me?
Let me see, where is that?
Yeah, verse 67.
They spat on his face and they beat
him with their fists and others slapped him
and said, prophesy to us, you Christ, who
is the one who hit you?
Another passage, this is Matthew 27 verse 67.
And in a parallel passage it says, if
I've spoken right, why do you slap me?
He did not turn the other cheek and
say, okay, hit this side also now.
So he did not practice what he preached,
right?
And people who go by the letter will
stumble there.
Jesus followed the spirit of that.
The spirit of that is that I don't
go fighting back with people.
I have a spirit of not wanting to
get my own back.
You know, in Matthew 5 verse 39 he
was saying, don't resist an evil person but
whoever slaps you.
That means the whole principle there is not
mechanically turning the left cheek when somebody slaps
you on the right but the principle is,
I don't resist him.
Now, a person who doesn't understand the principle
will go by the letter.
And that's just one example.
We know that Jesus was one who said
in Matthew 5 there is not a Matthew
5 verse verse 17 Don't think that I've
come to abolish the law.
I didn't come to abolish the law but
to fulfill it.
Because not even the smallest letter or stroke
shall pass from the law until all is
accomplished.
Whoever therefore cancels one of the least of
these commandments Now this is one of the
great verses of legalism.
Whoever cancels one of the least of these
commandments and teaches others to do will be
called the least in the kingdom of heaven.
Now the question is did Jesus fulfill the
law according to the letter?
We know that he did work on the
Sabbath day and that's what the Pharisees criticized
him for.
Because their definition of work was you can't
pluck grain and you can't heal it.
Of course, plucking grain is work.
There's no doubt about it.
And healing a man and telling him to
carry his bed on the Sabbath day John
chapter 5 that's work.
Do you know that in the Old Testament
is it number 16 or somewhere where it
says a man went out to pick up
sticks not to light a fire just to
pick it up to light a fire the
next day.
Because you're not supposed to light a fire
on the Sabbath day.
But he went to pick up sticks and
on the Sabbath day they brought him to
Moses Moses said well I don't know what
to do let me ask God God said
kill him.
Stole him to death.
But here's another guy in John chapter 5
who's carrying a bed not just sticks a
whole bed on the Sabbath day and they
came to him and said who in the
world told you to carry this bed?
He said the person who healed me told
me to get up and take my bed
and walk.
And that was Jesus.
Now what's heavier to carry some sticks or
to carry a bed?
Jesus didn't go by the letter.
There was an Old Testament law I think
it's in Deuteronomy 23 which says the hire
of a prostitute must never be brought into
the house of God.
That means a prostitute has got no right
to pay her tithe.
But we read of one prostitute who not
only took her tithe but took all the
money she saved and bought a bottle of
perfume with it and poured it we read
in Luke chapter 7 Luke chapter 7 in
the house of Simeon or Simon the Pharisee
she stood and poured out the perfume there
we read in verse 37 and anointed his
Jesus' feet with her hair see they didn't
sit at tables it would be very difficult
to anoint somebody's feet like the way we
eat today you know we all sit with
our legs under the table how could anybody
anoint our feet unless they crawl under the
table but in those days as far as
I understand they didn't sit at tables they
used to lean back with their legs behind
them everybody sitting around and leaning down and
the feet were behind and it was very
easy for someone to wash your feet or
wipe your feet and that's what this woman
did but she did it with the hire
of a harlot which is forbidden yeah Jesus
is the house of God he was the
tabernacle of God on earth and here was
this woman bringing this Jesus said she's forgiven
much said to the woman your faith has
saved you go in peace but Simon the
Pharisee couldn't understand that he knew the letters
the scripture very well he said no no
no no no this man can't be a
prophet if he lets this woman go the
same thing with the woman caught in adultery
the law of Moses is very clear that
the woman must be killed and see how
very wonderfully Jesus got out of it by
saying okay go ahead and kill her but
whoever is without sin throw the first stone
and the interesting thing is there was one
person there without sin who could throw the
stone it's not that there was nobody there
was one person that was Jesus himself he
could have picked up a stone and thrown
it to her and said I'm going to
fulfill Moses law sorry about it Moses law
is very clear but he never did it
he said has no one condemned you woman
no one neither do I condemn you now
if you go strictly by the law of
Moses Jesus didn't fulfill it Jesus showed us
that it's the spirit he said God didn't
make the Sabbath on the 6th day and
then said hey we got to get somebody
to keep the Sabbath let's make man on
the 7th day no he said man was
made on the 6th day and then God
made a Sabbath for man everything God made
was for man the laws were made for
man not to make life miserable for man
but to make life better and if we
understand that we will never use God's word
as a stick to beat other people with
or to judge other people or condemn them
neither will we go to the other extreme
like the worldly people and for everything's sake
when does it say that in the word
when does it say I can't do this
when does it say I can't do that
well if you're in the Old Testament you
could ask the Levites when does it say
that and if it's not in the word
you could do it but in the New
Testament there are thousands of things which we
don't do as Christians which are not written
in God's word why don't we do it
because the spirit does not permit me you
know that's how you're supposed to live in
the Old Testament because they didn't have the
Holy Spirit you know the difference that comes
in our life when we have the Holy
Spirit the Holy Spirit tells us Jesus said
don't live by the letter don't always look
for a verse can I do that or
can't do that that's a very low level
to live in in the beginning when we
are babies I suppose you've got to live
like that because you know all children are
under the law we don't treat our little
children as under grace we punish them we
promise rewards for them that's the method of
the law and when we are spiritual babies
that's how we are but God wants us
to grow up where our decisions are made
not on the basis of some letter here
or there but what does the spirit prompt
me what does the spirit prompt me to
do and we don't have to you know
when you go according to the letter one
characteristic of the letter is everybody is the
same all over Israel everybody kept the Sabbath
day same time all over the country they
all if God's word says they got to
dress in a particular way they'd all dress
in the same way there was no change
every priest had to dress the same way
and the law is concerning food there was
a law that in the Old Testament that
you can't eat pork nobody in Israel ate
pork it was uniform throughout but in the
New Testament it's not like that the kingdom
of God is not eating and drinking the
kingdom of God is not clothing or how
we dress or what we eat or whatever
house you live in and yet you know
people who are go according to the letter
can look at a person's house and say
why does he live in a grand house
like that and I would ask them which
verse is that when you go according to
the spirit you don't judge people you judge
yourself and you don't judge yourself by what's
written in the in some sentence we judge
ourselves by what the spirit says see think
of this great shall I call it a
controversy or argument and discussion there is among
a lot of Christians about whether sisters should
wear ornaments or whether sisters should cover their
heads in a meeting now there are two
choices you can go by the letter or
you can go by the spirit you can
take a verse and go by the letter
and a lot of churches that do that
but Jesus came to teach us the spirit
when you read words like that you've got
to understand the spirit of it what does
the spirit of Christ within me say to
do that or not do that and I
decide for myself and you decide for yourself
and if you are following the prompting of
the Holy Spirit to take an action it
will produce fruit in your life to sanctification
you will become a more spiritual person and
if I obey the prompting of the spirit
in my life over a period of time
I will become a more spiritual person see
every step of obedience will definitely make us
more spiritual not if you follow the letter
but if you follow the spirit see a
lot of people who follow the letter are
often judging other people how can they do
that when I don't do that and their
whole life becomes miserable I'm a very happy
man because I don't do many things I
don't judge anybody else who does those things
I wouldn't even judge a person who had
a Christmas tree in his house or had
a star outside his house on Christmas day
it wouldn't disturb me one bit and if
he invited me to a house and told
me to take a gift from that Christmas
tree I'd take it and say thank you
and go home I would have no problem
at all but I wouldn't have it myself
because I have a conviction on it so
one mark of your being a legalist is
that you take a stand for something which
you think you find in scripture and then
you're always judging other people why aren't they
doing it, why aren't they doing it, why
aren't they doing it I remember once one
brother who this is in the early days
in one of our other churches he said
told me about that person was watching television
and the other person was and I said
brother I think you better get television yourself
you seem to be in terrific unrest over
this matter if you're in the spirit you're
not in unrest you cannot be in unrest
the spirit of the Lord brings peace and
rest you can very easily find out whether
you live according to the letter or according
to the spirit so that doesn't mean that
we do what we like that's the other
alternative where you don't live according to the
letter you don't live according to the Holy
Spirit you just do what you like you
live according to your reason that's what a
lot of people do what's wrong with doing
this what's wrong with wearing this what's wrong
with going there I say nothing but if
you ask me why don't I do it
I say because the spirit doesn't prompt me
that I can glorify God by doing that
or by wearing that or by going there
that's the reason why I do it not
because of some letter here no it's because
the Holy Spirit doesn't prompt me to say
that's what Jesus would do and so I
don't do it but at the same time
I don't judge other people because I say
that's their business it's between them and God
so remember that everything we do the Bible
says whatever you do 1 Corinthians 10.31
we must do for the glory of God
whether we eat or drink so any decision
that you take to go somewhere to eat
something to wear something I mean if it
is for the glory of God it will
bless you if it's not if you go
by reason, what's wrong with this you're living
according to the letter you must make a
decision at least today that you will not
live by the letter anymore but you live
by the Spirit now don't think that living
by the Spirit is going to bring you
to a lower level of the Christian life
it's going to bring you to a much
higher level in your heart now you may
think that the person who wears white clothes
all the time is more spiritual than the
person who wears colored clothes that's a crazy
idea which people who live according to the
letter have because it's nowhere in the Bible
that it says that and I think if
we are sensible I understand that Jesus would
have dressed just like everybody else dressed and
that's all we are to do, that's the
spirit of it it's not a question of
whether Jesus wore white or whether he had
long hair or whether he had a beard,
that's not what I go about he dressed
and conducted himself just like most other people
around him so that he wouldn't look odd
and if you dress in a particular way
that you don't look odd you are following
Jesus it's true but if that is your
motive but if your motive is to dress
a little more simply to show you are
very spiritual or to dress more godly to
show that you are somebody special that's going
by the letter that's living according to the
world, legalist or worldly so keep that in
mind, the letter or the spirit is the
one big contrast between law and the new
covenant what's the second word the second word
we saw was death and life in 1
corinthians 2 corinthians 3 it speaks about a
ministry of death he says the letter kills
but the spirit gives life the old covenant
obedience under the old covenant was a matter
of keeping certain rules and regulations it made
people very gloomy death you know you could
say that I haven't done it on the
outside but it brought spiritual death on the
inside for example there was no law in
the old testament which said that you can't
hate anybody there was no law in the
ten commandments I mean hatred is such a
bad thing you and I know that but
there's no law in the ten commandments which
say you shouldn't hate anybody isn't that interesting
that god forgot to put it there he
didn't forget it he knew that nobody could
keep it what's the use of giving a
law which nobody can keep I mean if
you have qualifying in the kindergarten sports race
you say well we're going to have a
hundred meters race and only those will qualify
who run 100 meters in 11 seconds or
something which child is going to qualify nobody
will qualify it's crazy to tell people in
the old testament you shouldn't hate anybody hatred
is death you couldn't do it because they
didn't have the spirit it's just the spirit
brings life so that's another way by which
we know whether we are under the old
covenant that we have a lot of things
inside outside against people but we don't show
it on the outside that is one of
the clearest marks that you are under law
even if you have heard about the new
covenant in CFC for 30 years I'm sorry
to disappoint you but that's where you are
and that's where you've been living for 30
years and that's why your life is so
miserable but as a person who's got life
he he gets rid of it immediately he
doesn't get rid of only the things that
other people can see he gets rid of
things because they harm him I mean if
a thorn gets into my foot I'm not
bothered whether you see it or not what
does it matter to me whether you see
it or not it's hurting me and I'm
going to pull it out and if I
hate somebody it's like a thorn inside me
why do I care whether you see it
or not see that's you've heard me use
the illustration of sin being like leprosy in
the old testament there were laws concerning leprosy
and cleansing from leprosy in Leviticus 14 it's
a clear picture of cleansing from sin you
read Leviticus 14 sometimes a very interesting chapter
how the leper would have to put the
blood on his ear, thumb and foot from
head to foot, cleansed by the blood and
then this oil symbolizing being anointed by the
holy spirit and the oil being poured on
his head symbolizing the baptism in the holy
spirit very interesting, a leper was a picture
of a sinner in the old testament and
leprosy is throughout the old testament is a
picture of sin and do you know what
is one of the primary characteristics of leprosy
that is one of the primary characteristics of
sin also the loss of sensation you don't
feel things in fact that's how they test
for leprosy now our feeling is such that
even if you if somebody touches the with
a feather you feel it, a feather our
skin is so sensitive that's how it should
be but when a person with leprosy loses
sensation in his feet there are actual cases
of rats coming and biting off their toes
at night they don't know about it a
poor man with leprosy just doesn't know about
it, he wakes up in the morning and
he finds blood all over and one toe
missing, because he had no sensation the rat
didn't do that in one second, it ate
and ate and ate and ate and the
leper is blissfully asleep because he didn't feel
anything do you feel sorry for him?
I feel more sorry for the Christians who
got things that the devil is eating away
in their life and they don't feel anything
they are losing things more serious than a
toe but they don't feel it because death
because they have not been careful about the
inner life a man under the old covenant
lives in death because he is careless about
his inner life a man who responds to
the spirit is careful about his inner life
because his spirit you know prompts him to
hey pull that thorn out get rid of
that wrong attitude and he obeys and he
comes to life so if you we are
checking up on ourselves now, remember we are
not checking on anybody else so if you
are the type of person who is always
responding to the spirit immediately hey I have
got to pull that out and that's a
wrong attitude to that person that was a
little good of me to say that word
to that person let me apologize to that
person when you go and apologize to somebody
for a rude word that you spoke you
are pulling something out a thorn you said
something right there is a spirit of death
and a spirit of life you know you
can do the right thing with the spirit
of death or you can do it with
the spirit of life when people come
to me and say thank you for something
or write to me and say thank you
for something it's very easy I am sure
you can find that out too whether that
person is doing it because he heard in
the meeting he must be thankful law number
897 be thankful thank you very much or
whether the person has got a spirit of
gratitude, it's very easy to find out and
I have seen a lot of people who
keep the letter they want to do it
right on the outside but they haven't got
it right in their hard attitude to that
person on the inside you kept the letter
but it's dead they go together the letter
kills well, when I see that I say
ok thank you but I always wonder when
will this poor chap get light that he
hasn't obeyed God at all he just kept
a letter which said express your thanks to
people have you done that?
do you do that?
you see if we don't get light on
these things we're living under an old covenant
for many years I sought the Lord to
see what is the mark of God's blessing
upon a person's life you know, a lot
of people say today the mark of God's
blessing is that he makes you prosperous or
he makes you healthy or children get good
jobs or some stupid thing like that because
if that was the mark of God's blessing
we have to admit that God's blessed millions
of atheists and non-Christians thousand times more
than he's blessed the poor Christians in the
villages of Tamil Nadu that's a crazy stupid
understanding preached by television evangelists who've never been
to the villages of South India we can
live in a world of delusion when we
live in a city and earn pots of
money and have never seen how other believers
live in abject poverty we can spin all
types of theories in our head and they'll
be all wrong no, the mark of God's
blessing is that we become more like Jesus
there is no greater blessing God can give
me than to make me more like Christ
and in order to do that he has
to give me light on the areas of
my life where I'm unlike Christ not according
to the letter but according to the spirit
there was no death in Jesus, it was
all life and when I see something in
my life which hey, that was not that
word I spoke was not according to the
spirit of Christ that comment I made or
the way I did that or it could
be selfishness maybe we are thoughtless when we
sit at the dining table and other people
around the table and we're not thoughtful about
their needs we only think about how we
can stuff ourselves nothing sinful but it can
be unchrist-like, do you know there are
a lot of things which the world does
not consider sinful, can be pretty unchrist-like
but a person who is living according to
the spirit, the spirit will tell him inside
hey, that's not proper, there's no verse anywhere
but it's not according to the spirit of
life you know what it says in Romans
8 verse 2 the law of the spirit
which is equal to life in Christ Jesus
it's a great verse the law of Moses
was ten commandments but the law of the
spirit Romans 8 2 is life in Christ
Jesus it's not a law, it's not rules
it's a life that prompts me it's like,
you know the man with leprosy on his
feet and a thorn pokes him, he doesn't
even know it and do you know that
people with leprosy, one of the things they
have to be taught is every night before
you go to bed, look at your feet
to see if any thorns or nails have
got inside and if any thorns or nails
have got inside your foot, my brother pull
them out do we have to give such
instructions to anybody here?
sit at night and check up whether any
thorns got into your foot during the day
no because if a thorn got into your
foot in the morning, you'd pull it out
within one minute you wouldn't even walk five
minutes with a thorn in your foot, you
don't need a law law saying when you
go to bed at night please check your
feet, you don't need that law because you've
got life in your foot that poor man
doesn't have life in his foot, he's got
death in his foot, so he needs a
law he needs a law another law which
says don't put your hand on a hot
plate that's another law but you don't need
a law which says don't put your foot
hand on a hot plate because you've got
life in your hands where there is life,
there's no need of a law you don't
need a law which says don't put spoiled
food into your mouth because you've got life
in your palate, in your taste buds but
a person who's lost all taste has got
to be told be careful about what you
eat because that food may be spoiled and
your taste buds are all gone, you won't
even know it's spoiled but if you get
bad food into your tongue what do you
do, you spit it out immediately it's life
life is immediate, spontaneous you touch a hot
plate, you react immediately you don't even think
about it it's immediate, we can't say a
living person will never touch a hot plate
but he reacts immediately we can't say a
Christian will never be tempted to lust but
his reaction is immediate he turns his head
away I mean if a person keeps on
looking at it for 5 minutes and then
turns away, it's like a man who puts
his hand on a hot plate for 5
minutes and then, oh, I'm supposed to take
it off okay, that guy's got leprosy he's
in debt a person who's got life is
immediate, life's reaction is always immediate, you see
a snake, you react immediately, you see something
evil a reaction is immediate that's the mark
of life, the spirit brings life you don't
need laws that's why the bible says, if
you're led by the spirit you're not under
the law wonderful version, Galatians 5 it's like
saying, if you've got sensation in your feet,
you don't need the law brother which says,
check up your feet at night there are
Christians who got the very good habit before
they go to bed at night just like
the lepers to check what did I do
something wrong this day start from the morning
did I shout at my wife did I
shout at somebody did I yell at somebody
on the road did I cheat someone these
are the lepers it's good, I'm not saying
it's bad it's good to pull out the
thorns and the nails from your foot before
you go to bed, because it'll be worse
but a person who's got life doesn't do
that at night as soon as he does
something wrong, life says, hey don't wait till
the night to pull out the thorns immediately
you thought you were very spiritual because you
repented every night before you go to bed
aha that's the lepers if you had life,
you would do it immediately you would apologize
as soon as you're aware that's wrong you'd
pull out the thorn because there's life the
more sensation you have the more you feel
pain the less sensation you have the less
you feel so it all depends on whether
you concentrate on the inner life or not
but you allow the spirit to make you
sensitive to anything un-Christ-like in your
behavior, conduct and when you do something which
you hear in the church like learn to
be thankful ok, ah brother, thank you, sister,
thank you you ask yourself, was that from
my heart or was I just keeping a
letter if you ask these questions you'll get
light on yourself otherwise your attitude to someone
can never change and you can follow the
letter I know there are many people in
CFC who hear something good here and then
go and do it and they think they're
spiritual not a million miles from spirituality then
the third word we saw in 2nd Corinthians
3 was condemnation and righteousness see, anything that
makes you feel condemned definitely, that's the law
if you heard a message that made you
feel condemned, either the person preaching it was
preaching under the law or you understood it
in the spirit of the law, one of
the two either from the pulpit it came
in the spirit of the law, or the
pulpit it came in the spirit of Christ,
but you received it in the spirit of
the law you know the new testament, the
words of Jesus are written in the spirit
of Christ, but there are people who take
even the words of Jesus and make a
law out of it so why can't I
get into condemnation and bring other people into
condemnation, so you can have the most spiritual
preacher, Jesus preaching the most spiritual message and
some guy gets into condemnation because he's got
the spirit of the law in him but
if you find, if you keep this rule
before you, anything that brings me into condemnation
is of the law I'll give you some
examples of it, because you may not realize
it you know, when you're prompted to do
something by making you feel guilty that's one
of the classic techniques of preachers and in
the days when I didn't have light and
I was a legalist myself I did it
myself, I'm ashamed of it, I wouldn't do
it now we all grow up or should
grow up for example why do you spend
so much money on yourself and give nothing
to God oh dear, I better give something
to God why?
you suddenly felt, because you got a message,
somebody hit you hard and said, why in
the world are you spending so much money
on yourself and not giving anything to God
and you felt guilty, I tell you, God
doesn't want your money he doesn't want you
to do something out of a sense of
guilt or thousands are perishing in North India
why are you just sitting there on your
chairs I better where in the world do
you see Jesus talking like that do you
know the number of missionaries who have gone
out into many places because they were prompted
by guilt, why are you sitting there doing
nothing when so many people are perishing in
their sins this is making people feel guilty
and making them act, it's a very powerful
technique, you know most people are like sheep
and they are weak and you can get
a powerful soul, power preacher who can make
people feel guilty about this and guilty about
that and guilty about the other thing why
aren't you coming to help in CFC okay,
next they will all be there or at
least 20% will be there because they
felt guilty why aren't you coming for the
prayer meeting I better go for the prayer
meeting not because they have got any interest
in prayer or believe that God answers prayer,
they felt guilty when they heard that message
condemnation is the ministry of condemnation if you
don't do this, God will punish you and
we get scared and do it it's all
condemnation Jesus never said like that he never
preached like that he showed the way of
life he said blessed are the poor in
spirit there is the kingdom of heaven he
didn't say come on, be poor in spirit
otherwise you will miss the kingdom, it wasn't
like that there was a completely different spirit
compared to the old testament thou shalt, thou
shalt not don't do this, do this, if
you do this you will die if you
do this you will be punished you will
be killed, you will be stoned no, it
was so different and the more we, how
shall we get this spirit the contrast of
condemnation the ministry of condemnation is verse 9
the opposite of that is the ministry of
righteousness now even righteousness a lot of people
don't understand it there is a righteousness of
the law Paul said I don't want it
no thank you it's like rotten food when
I've got good fresh food here why do
I want the rotten food, he said I
don't want that I want the righteousness that
comes from God and that comes by the
Holy Spirit by life in Christ Jesus there
is no condemnation to those who are in
Christ Jesus anything that makes you feel you
are good for nothing you are useless whether
your father told you that or your mother
told you that or some preacher told you
that it is a lie even if you
are not converted you are not worthless because
God created you and you've got some hope
of becoming a child of God God is
interested in you even if you have made
a mess of your life you are not
worthless all animals and creatures those are worthless
that's why you can kill lambs and cows
and sheep and chicken and all and eat
them, they are worthless you are not like
that you are worth something what about a
person who has made a mess of his
life can we kill him and eat him
because he is good for nothing no he
is valuable you can't kill him and eat
him unconverted people can we kill them and
eat them they are valuable before God God
loved those unconverted people so much that he
gave his son to die for them you
mean to say they are not valuable which
cow or horse did God send his son
to die for remember that human beings are
valuable and don't let anyone ever tell you
that you are good for nothing you are
useless and you will never amount to anything
it's all a lot of rubbish don't ever
tell your children that even if they do
things wrong a hundred times forgive them, be
patient with them, correct them correct them, correct
them but don't ever tell them that they
are good for nothing they are useless or
they will never make it or they will
never encourage them encourage them, if they don't
get good marks in school keep encouraging them
saying you can make it, you can make
it and don't ever if you are a
parent, don't ever compare your children with one
another and say this one is good and
that one is bad that's not for you
to judge God will judge I've been in
homes where mothers and fathers will say Brother
Zach, our children are all good but this
fellow not much hope for him and I
always say well I think I've got more
hope for him because I read in the
Bible that God picks up the underdog and
God picks up the prodigal son and God
picks up the murderer called Paul as chief
of sinners God picked me and others God's
ways are not your ways I mean the
other person may get more marks in school
and get a better job, but you may
find ultimately in heaven this guy may be
way ahead of him and the younger will
serve the elder that's God's way, from Old
Testament right through I praise God for that
He has chosen the weak and the foolish
and those whom the world considers nothing, to
bring to naught all those whom the world
considers very important that's what the Bible says
in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 so that no
flesh can boast in his presence so don't
let anyone make you feel condemned, that is
an old covenant ministry, a preaching that makes
you feel, oh you're good for nothing you'll
never amount to anything why haven't you come
up to this level well, little by little
he's changing me, I'm not the same as
I was last year and it's slow going,
but I know it's taking place, something's happening
so remember this, the new covenant is a
ministry of encouragement God is called the God
of encouragement in the New Testament God of
encouragement and if we are following this God
we will become like him we will never
say things to discourage people always to encourage
people condemnation you know self condemnation discouragement
oh I failed a thousand times it doesn't
matter, God can still help you while there's
life there's hope, so remember this anything that
brings condemnation or discouragement is of the old
covenant the old covenant, they were all gloomy
and long faced and sad they were just
feeling condemned all the time and that's why
I say a Christian should never be long
faced and gloomy in a bad mood depressed,
I don't believe that I believe a Christian
should always be cheerful and happy in his
heart I mean, there may be a lot
of pressures he's going through a lot of
things he can't understand and maybe a lot
of difficulties at home but he says, Lord,
that's not everything it says rejoice in the
Lord not in your circumstances if it said
rejoice in your circumstances always, that would be
impossible impossible for me but it doesn't say
rejoice in your circumstances always some of our
circumstances are not too good but rejoice in
the Lord always he never changes circumstances change
don't rejoice in your feelings feelings come and
feelings go and feelings are deceiving we don't
rejoice in our circumstances we don't rejoice in
our feelings because all these things fluctuate we
don't rejoice because we've got good people around
us or a good church some of those
good people may turn to be bad people
after some time but we rejoice in the
Lord always because he never changes never this
is the new covenant life this is what
righteousness is righteousness is the life of Christ
no condemnation at all no matter what happens
around me no matter how many times I
fail I don't want to fail but maybe
I do I'm not going to get discouraged
now you try living this life and say
Holy Spirit of God I want to live
this life I heard of tonight I want
to be a blessing wherever I go and
earnestly say Lord I'll never want to go
back to that old life again no burn
the bridges behind you you cross a river
and you burn that bridge saying no I
can't go back I have to go forward
that's how we're supposed to live we're not
going to go back it's like I heard
of one of these Spanish admirals way back
in the 1400s or something this queen sent
him to conquer the Americas or what they
thought was India and they went there and
landed and when he landed he set fire
to all the boats on which they came
from Spain you can't go back unless you
win here win the battle here and conquer
this country and then you'll have then you
can get the timber and make boats and
go back if you don't win, that's too
bad but as long as the boats are
there, you can always run back and go
back home, there is no going back there's
no turning back I've got to win, I've
got to enter this new covenant yeah, let's
pray let's just bow our heads for a
moment and say Lord I want to believe
there's hope for me I can be a
different person from what I have been I
believe I can be changed I believe that
your spirit can change me I want to
open my being Lord to your Holy Spirit
I want the Holy Spirit to come and
flood my heart there's no other way you
can't produce it by determination it doesn't say
determination produces life the spirit gives life so
don't think that some determination or decision you
take is going to make it but if
you open yourself to the Holy Spirit and
keep on opening I want to encourage you
in the coming days keep your heart open
and hungry for the power of the Holy
Spirit that will change your life and seek
God more and more for the power of
the Holy Spirit, whenever you've got a little
time let that cry go out from your
heart Lord fill me with your spirit bring
me to a new level of life in
the spirit Thank you Father, in Jesus name
Amen