The verse in John's Gospel chapter 1, here
it says, one of the purposes with which
Jesus came to earth, most Christians know only
of the fact that He came to die
for our sins.
But in all the years before He died,
when He was on earth, it says here,
in John chapter 1 verse 18, no man
has seen God at any time.
The only begotten God who is in the
bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.
Before Jesus came to earth, people did not
know God as a Father.
You never see people in the Old Testament
calling Him Father.
He was a great and terrible God to
be feared.
And the greatest revelation that Jesus gave to
His disciples was that God was their Father.
How He laboured to make them understand this,
to find their security in knowing God as
a Father.
And they didn't always respond the way He
wanted to that revelation.
And I believe in our life too, this
is the revelation He seeks to give us.
I believe it's on this foundation alone that
we can progress in the Christian life, that
we can come to a life of victory,
and that we can build the body of
Christ.
I believe it is in this revelation of
knowing God as Father that we find the
answer to many, many of our problems, if
not all of them.
Because when we don't know Him as Father,
we have a caricature of what God is
like.
And the devil is always there, he is
always trying to portray a wrong picture of
God before us.
I know the years in my life when
I felt insecure, inferior, after I was born
again.
And the thing that changed me from an
insecure person who is always trying to create
a good impression before people, before other believers,
into one who was secure, was this one
revelation that God loved me as much as
He loved Jesus Christ.
If you were to ask me what is
the greatest truth I have discovered through forty
years of being a born-again believer, and
through forty years of studying this book, the
Bible, it is this simple truth that God
loves me as He loved Jesus.
And that's, as far as I know, it's
mentioned in only one verse in the whole
Bible, and that's in John 17 and verse
23, where Jesus in His high priestly prayer
says, I in them and thou in me,
that they may be perfected in unity, that
the world may know that thou didst send
me and didst love them even as thou
didst love me.
You know, this whole prayer is a prayer
for unity.
And when we look at Christendom today, we
can see how that prayer of Jesus has
apparently not been answered.
We don't see Christendom united.
But here in John chapter 17 we see
the burden of Jesus' heart, and it comes
out of knowing that the Father loves us
as He loved Jesus.
Now, I find it almost impossible to be
able to explain this, but I believe this
is the greatest revelation that we need, because
when I saw it, it changed my life
completely.
It delivered me from wanting to impress people.
It delivered me from competing with others.
It took away jealousy.
It took away trying to compare myself with
others, and all the problems that so many
Christians have, which bring disunity.
Just this truth, that God loved me as
He loved Jesus.
And if that is true, I believe it's
true, like it says here, that the world
may know that you loved them even as
you loved me.
And from that I learned that the way
God planned and cared for Jesus' life is
the way He planned and cares for me.
And I think of the many times in
the Gospel of Matthew where it says that
this happened so that the scripture might be
fulfilled.
He was born in Bethlehem so that the
scripture might be fulfilled, which is written in
Micah, that He was to be born there.
And then He grew up in Nazareth.
We read in the last verse of Matthew
chapter 2, that so that the scripture might
be fulfilled, that He shall be called a
Nazarene.
And then when He went to Galilee, it
says in Matthew chapter 4, that that was
so that the scripture might be fulfilled, that
that land, the light should shine into that
land.
And right through, in different situations, you find
there was a specific plan that God had
prophesied through the prophets for the life of
Jesus.
And everything right up to His dying on
the cross, even when He hung on the
cross and He said, I thirst.
It says in John 19, that was also
so that the scripture might be fulfilled.
There was such a perfect planning in the
life of Jesus.
God had planned it so exactly for Him,
where He was to be born.
He couldn't be born anywhere.
He had to be born in Bethlehem.
And I believe He had to be born
in a stable.
That was part of God's plan.
He couldn't live anywhere.
He had to live in Nazareth.
He couldn't take a holiday in Rome, because
that wasn't part of God's plan for Him.
His life was so perfectly planned, because the
Father loved Him.
And when I realized that the Father loved
me as much as He loved Jesus, I
believed that He planned my life too, in
exactly the same way.
And that took a lot of insecurity out
of my life.
When I was a young Christian, I used
to look, I was a very shy, reserved,
introverted type of person.
I still am really.
But I used to look at these other
people who were extroverts, who could slap people
on the back and say, Hi, how are
you?
And make friends with people so easily.
And I couldn't do that.
I wished I could be like that, but
I wasn't.
And when I realized that God made no
mistake in making my temperament the way He
made it.
That it was He who determined the color
of my skin.
It was He who determined which country I
was to be born in.
He who determined every last detail of my
life.
I wasn't born just anywhere accidentally.
It was as exactly planned as Jesus' birth
in Bethlehem.
It was because He loved me as He
loves Jesus.
And I realized that every little thing, it
was He who gave me my natural abilities
and everything, because He had a specific plan
and purpose for my life.
And I didn't have to envy anybody else.
If I had become like somebody else, I
would ruin the plan God had for my
life, which could only be fulfilled through the
particular gifts and natural gifts and temperament and
personality that He had given me.
That brought rest into my life.
It delivered me from envying other people.
It delivered me from wanting to be like
other people.
It delivered me from competition with other people.
And it brought perfect rest.
Just this truth that God loves me exactly
as He loved Jesus.
And as He planned Jesus' life, He planned
my life.
I got converted when I was 19 and
I was baptized when I was 21.
And one of the first things that came
home to me at that time was that
God had a plan for my life.
And if I submitted little by little, just
like the pillar of cloud, led the Israelites
day by day, God didn't give them a
map for the whole wilderness and saying, this
is the way you've got to go.
I mean, that would be a more efficient
way of doing it.
But God doesn't do things in efficient ways
as human beings think.
He's teaching us to live by faith and
He doesn't give us a map of our
whole future.
He didn't give me a map of the
whole future.
We still don't know what lies ahead of
us.
It's just like the Israelites went to the
wilderness.
But I realized one thing when I was
a young man, that if I submitted day
by day to what God showed me and
followed the leading of that pillar of cloud,
I would finally fulfill God's plan without a
doubt.
And that helped me so much.
I'm glad I didn't discover that when I
was 40 or 50.
I'm glad I discovered that right at the
beginning as a young man.
That's why I have a great burden for
young people.
I wish I could drill into the minds
of all young people one simple truth, that
God's got a plan for your life.
He's made a plan for your life and
you can never make a better plan than
the one He's made for you.
It's impossible.
And the devil's always trying to tell us
that if you give your life to God
completely, He'll mess it up and He'll do
so many things and you won't be happy.
Don't ask God as to what job you
should do because He'll pick out the most
difficult job in the world and tell you
to do that.
Don't ask God which girl you should marry.
He'll pick out the ugliest girl in the
world and tell you to marry her.
You know, this is the picture that the
devil has painted of God and so many
young people.
Otherwise, why wouldn't every young person surrender everything
to Jesus?
Because they're afraid.
Why was that young person, that rich young
ruler reluctant to give all his money like
Jesus told him to give it all away?
Because he thought God was there to mess
up his life.
God was there to make him poor.
And there are so many commandments in the
Bible which Christians are reluctant to obey because
they feel God has come to mess up
their life.
God's come to spoil their fun.
God's come to take away.
They don't realize that if only they yielded,
if only they surrendered, they could have the
most fulfilling life that any human being could
ever have.
I thank God I believed it when I
was 21.
Today, after nearly 40 years, I can testify
that I could not have planned my life
better than the way God planned it.
But He never showed me what my 40
years of my life was going to be
like.
He showed it day by day.
And He'll show it to you day by
day.
You know, when Satan came to Eve, we
see that he tempted her to eat of
the fruit, but back of it was this
little thought that he put into Eve's mind.
God doesn't really love you.
Because if He loved you, He would allow
you to eat of that tree.
Why has He not given you that which
is so attractive and which appeals to your
senses?
It's because He doesn't really love you.
You know, that's the way He comes to
us even today.
Why hasn't God answered that prayer of yours?
Because He doesn't really love you.
Why hasn't He given you that other thing
which you wanted so badly?
Because He doesn't really love you.
Why hasn't He made you like this or
like that other person?
Because He doesn't really love you.
And it's only when Eve believed that lie
first in her mind.
Yeah, it's possible.
God doesn't really love me.
It's only then that she sinned and took
that fruit.
So, her failure was not primarily a failure
of disobedience.
It was primarily a failure of faith.
Her failure was she did not believe that
God loved her.
If she had believed that, can you think
of what the result would have been?
She would have told Satan, well, yeah, it
looks as though God doesn't love me.
I don't know why He hasn't allowed me
to eat of this lovely fruit.
But Satan, there must be a very good
reason, which I don't understand.
God's wisdom is greater than mine.
My mind is so small like a little
cup, I can't explain all that.
But one thing I'm absolutely sure of, Satan,
God loves me.
And if He's told me not to eat
something, it must be for my very best,
even if I can't understand it.
You know, that's the way to overcome temptation.
There are so many things that God's told
us not to do.
Can you say, when Satan tempts you so
strongly, why don't you yield?
Why don't you enjoy yourself and do that?
Can you say to him, well, I don't
know why God's forbidden it.
It looks okay to me.
But there must be some very good reason.
One thing I know, He loves me, and
it is His love that's forbidden me from
taking part of that.
And in the same way, when He tells
us to do something which looks difficult, to
say, well, it's God's love.
See, holiness is a word that frightens a
lot of Christians.
I don't know why.
When I didn't understand it, I was frightened
about it myself.
To be holy all the time.
Boy, what a burden.
And I want to ask you, brothers, do
you get frightened by the word health?
Healthy.
100% healthy.
Healthy 365 days of the year.
You're scared.
Oh, healthy.
You're me.
Why are we not scared of health?
We know health is good for us.
What are we scared of?
We're scared of sickness.
How many of you want just a little
bit of sickness?
You know that holiness is health.
That's all it is.
Why are we afraid of it?
Because the devils fooled us for years.
Holiness is an expression of God's love for
us.
If you can see it like that.
Think of my little child had leprosy.
And I take him to a doctor.
And I tell the doctor, well, don't heal
him completely, just keep a little bit.
It'll keep him humble.
There are people who say, you know, I
need to sin once in a while, then
only I'll be humble.
Well, I tell the doctor, keep him a
little leprosy there so that he remains humble,
so he doesn't become proud because he's so
healthy.
No, father.
Tells the doctor to do that.
No, we want him to be completely free.
And if he's got tuberculosis as well, we
say we want him to be completely free
of that as well.
I mean, if your child had tuberculosis, how
free do you want him to be from
tuberculosis?
90%?
Would that make you happy?
99%?
Or 100%?
Now I want to ask you, my brothers
and sisters, how free do you want to
be from sin?
90%?
Are you happy?
Maybe some of you got 65% and
you're happy already.
Would you be happy if your child was
delivered 65% from tuberculosis?
How are you happy when you're 65%
free from sin?
You say, well, it was better than it
was before.
Maybe it is, but are you happy there?
Holiness is health.
Sin is sickness.
And the devils blinded the minds of believers
to fear holiness.
And to get all types of explanations as
to why sin is necessary.
To keep us humble and very stupid arguments
like that.
When God calls us to be holy, it's
the same desire that I have for my
little children that they should be completely healthy.
They should be free from all sickness.
If they have a little fever, that concerns
me.
I don't want them to have a fever.
I don't want them to have a cold.
If they start sneezing, I wonder if they're
sick.
Aren't you like that?
But God's like that too.
That's the care God has for us.
His love is so great that He wants
us to be totally pure.
He wants us to be free from dirty
thoughts.
Not 65%.
Not 90%.
100%.
And if the doctor says, well, it's going
to take time.
I say, let it take time, but I
want them to be free 100%.
He wants us to be free from anger.
100%.
Now that's not my word.
Let me read it to you in Ephesians
chapter 4.
Talking about our speech.
It says in Ephesians chapter 4 and verse
28.
Let him who steals, steal no longer.
Do we understand that?
How free do you want to be from
stealing?
80%?
90%?
Or 100%?
Would you be happy if you were just
stealing 10% of the time?
Would you have a good conscience?
No.
I don't think there's a single person sitting
here who would have a good conscience if
you were stealing even 5% of the
time.
Or 1% of the time.
Okay.
Let's go to the next verse.
Verse 29.
Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth.
What's the difference between that and the previous
verse?
Are you happy when your speech is 90
% good?
How is it we don't get convicted about
a few words that are unkind that come
out from our mouth as we get convicted?
If we stole just a little bit from
someone.
It's because the devil has made us selective
in reading God's Word.
We take some things and say, Oh, that's
important.
We go to the next verse and say,
That's not important.
Let's go further down.
Verse 31.
Let all bitterness, all wrath, all anger, all
clamor, all slander, be put away from you.
Well, if we put away all anger from
our life, how much will be left?
Are we scared of that?
Let all leprosy, let all tuberculosis, and let
all AIDS, and let all every other sickness
be put away from us.
Are we scared of that?
That's what we want.
That's exactly what God wants for us.
Holiness is an expression of God's love.
Think how a father and mother will take
a child to the hospital and sit with
it and long for it to be perfectly
healthy.
That's how God longs that all of us
should be healthy.
Free from sin.
Free from sin in our look, in the
way we look, in the way we speak,
in every area of our life and personality.
And the devil has succeeded in portraying holiness
as a burden, as something which some strange
fanatical people speak about.
People are afraid of the word perfection.
I know it's true in my country.
I have been criticized for 25 years by
almost every single group of Christians for preaching
one simple verse.
Let us press on to perfection.
I say, well, it doesn't make a difference.
God's told me to preach it and I'm
going to preach it till Jesus comes again.
Let us press on to perfection.
In every area.
I want my relationship with my wife to
be better this year than it's ever been
in the last 32 years.
Otherwise, I'm not pressing on to perfection.
I want my speech to be kinder this
year than it's ever been in all my
life.
That's pressing on to perfection.
I want to be more detached from the
love of money this year than I've ever
been in all my 40 years of my
Christian life.
Otherwise, I'm not pressing on to perfection.
To press on to perfection is to go
further than I've gone so far in every
area of my life.
I don't reach the top of the mountain
in one day.
It's pressing on.
It's pressing on to perfect health.
Think of the craze that there is for
health in this country.
United States particularly.
You see people jogging so that their cholesterol
level goes down and they're careful with what
they eat.
Even in the tinned foods it's written outside
how much of this and how much of
that so that you know what you're eating.
People are so careful.
Why is it they're not so careful about
sin?
Which destroys.
Why is it believers who should have light
on this are not careful about sin?
How is it a person can have a
lust with his eyes and sleep peacefully that
night?
How is that possible?
How is it a person can speak an
angry word to his wife and not weep
on his pillow that night?
I can't understand it.
Can't understand it.
Jesus said, Blessed are those who mourn.
They shall be comforted.
When you learn to weep for sin you'll
get victory pretty soon.
When was the last time your pillow got
wet with your tears?
Because you grieved God in some way during
that day.
We can argue about doctrines but it's those
who mourn who are going to be strengthened.
Who are going to be overcomers.
Who are going to be filled with the
Holy Spirit.
Who are going to experience perfect health in
every area of their life.
I want to encourage you, my brothers.
Let your laughter be turned into mourning.
There's a great need for mourning.
The Apostle Paul said, I do my best,
he said in Acts 24-16 to keep
my conscience always clear before God and before
men.
That was one of the great secrets of
his life.
It's not that he never made a mistake.
He made lots of mistakes.
He never wanted to give people the impression
that he was a man who never made
mistakes.
Do you know who wrote the book of
Acts?
Luke.
Luke was Paul's closest co-worker.
And I can imagine when he wrote the
book of Acts he would have liked to
leave out a lot of those mistakes that
Paul made.
And Paul must have said to him, make
sure you write every one of those things
down.
Make sure you write there that I quarreled
with Barnabas and we separated.
Make sure you write there that I went
like a fool and shaved my head with
the other Jews after becoming a Christian.
Make sure you write there that I circumcised
Timothy.
And make sure you write there that I
yelled at the high priest and called him
a whitewashed wall.
That was Paul's humility.
I cannot imagine Luke writing that on his
own unless Paul encouraged him to do it.
He was not a man who wanted to
give people the impression that he never made
a mistake.
A lot of preachers like that today.
A lot of fathers who try to give
that impression to the children.
I've never wanted my children to feel that
they had a perfect father.
That will only discourage them.
I never wanted the people in my church
to think that they have a perfect elder.
I wanted my children to know that they
have an honest father.
One who is honest to admit where he
slipped up and where he failed.
I wanted the people in my church to
know that they have an honest elder.
One who is honest to acknowledge where he
slipped up.
I've gone to brothers who are younger than
my youngest son in our church and apologized
to them.
Say, I'm sorry brother.
I was a little hard when I corrected
you.
Forgive me.
Yeah.
We're not perfect.
Only God's perfect.
He's the only one who never makes a
mistake.
Paul made mistakes, but he was honest.
He kept his conscience clear.
And I believe that if God sees that
there is an honesty in us to admit
where we've come short, He will really lead
us to far greater heights of holiness than
we've ever experienced in our life.
I've been amazed how the heights that God's
led me to.
I've been amazed at the revelation on His
Word that He's given me.
I've been amazed how it's really true that
He can keep us from falling.
I thought of this verse, you know.
He's able to keep us from falling.
How does He keep us from falling?
If I stand, I can fall.
If I sit, I can still fall.
There's only one place where I can never
fall.
And that's when I'm flat on the ground.
And if I keep my face in the
dust before God, it is impossible to fall.
That's the secret.
Keep your face in the dust before God.
That's one of those great truths the Lord's
taught me in Scripture.
As long as you keep your mouth in
the dust before me, you'll never fall.
He gives grace to the humble.
And when we are secure in the love
of God, we're not ashamed to admit that
we slipped up there.
We're not ashamed to apologize to younger people,
to wife and children.
Because we see, you know, that wasn't the
way.
That wasn't the way that Jesus would behave.
For many years, I tried to get a
definition of sin from Scripture.
And there are many definitions.
Sin is transgression of the law.
To him that knoweth to do good and
doeth it not, it's sin.
But I finally hit upon what I felt
was the clearest definition of sin.
And that was Romans 3.23. All have
sinned and come short of the glory of
God.
And I realized there that sin is anything
that comes short of the glory of God.
If there is anything in my life that
comes short of God's glory, that's sin.
And that glory of God was seen in
Jesus.
It says, we beheld his glory.
The glory is of the only begotten of
the Father, full of grace and truth.
And so, anything that's below the life of
Christ, the behavior of Christ, is sin.
And I am thankful for this definition because
it's helped me to see that nothing good
dwells in my flesh.
And once I've seen this definition of sin,
my life has been one of continuous repentance.
Every day.
I see things that the Lord points out
to me which are not Christ-like.
And there's room for mourning.
Falling before God's face.
And say, Lord, be merciful to me as
sin.
And discovering new depths of sin which were
not there.
So that I can be cleansed from them.
You know what you're missing, brother or sister?
When you don't deal with what God shows
you?
When you call sin by some more decent
name like a mistake or righteous indignation or
something like that when actually it's just plain
carnal anger.
I call it by some other name.
I call it a mistake or something.
God won't deliver me from it.
But when I call sin, sin.
And say, Lord, that was an adulterous look.
It wasn't just admiring the beauty of God's
creation.
It was an adulterous look.
Then God can deliver me from it.
We've got to be honest.
And say, Lord, this is what it is.
And when we acknowledge this is what it
is then God can deliver us from it.
When we're honest, this is what it means
to walk in the light.
Why are we afraid of saying it?
Because we're not secure in God's love.
Jesus said in John's Gospel, chapter 14 before
he went up to heaven, he said I
will not leave you as orphans.
John 14, 18.
It's a very significant word.
When I look at a lot of Christians
I see they behave exactly like orphans.
I've met orphans in India.
We have many orphanages in India.
Children who never knew in their whole life
the love of a father or mother.
Brought up in an institution as orphans and
I find this orphan syndrome the characteristics of
orphans even when they're 60 years old.
Insecure.
Feeling threatened by others.
Wanting somebody's friendship exclusively for themselves.
Not wanting to share that friend with someone
else.
The characteristics that I've seen in so many
believers.
Feeling threatened by others.
Competing with others.
Trying to show that they can pray better
or sing better or preach better or do
something else better.
This is all the orphan syndrome.
Competing with somebody else's ministry to try and
show that what I'm accomplishing.
Writing reports in an impressive way to impress
people that God's using me.
It's all the orphan syndrome.
Not content with the fact that the father
knows.
Jesus said Your father who sees in secret
will reward you openly.
I was reading this morning in John chapter
7 something that came home to my heart
strongly.
In John chapter 7 verse 4 We read
that the brothers of Jesus told him to
go to Judea and then they said these
words Just meditate on that for a moment.
See the truth in it.
No one does anything in secret when he
himself seeks to be known publicly.
No one does anything in secret when he
wants to be known publicly.
How does this apply to us?
Why is it we don't do things in
secret?
Because we want to be known publicly.
Why is it that our public life is
much more than our secret life?
Why is it the impression we give to
other people about our prayer life is much
more than what our prayer life actually is?
No one does anything in secret who wants
to be known publicly.
But if we don't want to be known
publicly we'll do a lot of things in
secret.
That's the thing.
When I was a young Christian I grew
up in an assembly which emphasized having a
quiet time.
It's a good habit.
I would recommend it to everyone.
But in this assembly we grew up in
we were taught to read the Bible on
our knees.
And everybody would get up in the morning
and kneel down and read the Bible on
our knees and pray.
We had fasting and prayer every Saturday every
week and all night prayers and quiet times
morning and at night.
We had to again read our Bible on
our knees.
Yeah, it was good.
But in spite of all these hours spent
on the knees people were still sour hard
to get along with critical bitter complaining and
no victory over anger and hardly victory over
any sin.
And this puzzled me.
I know times when I've spent 15 minutes
with a man of God and the influence
of that has stayed with me for days.
15 minutes with a godly man can change
the direction of one's life.
Can you imagine what 15 minutes with God
himself will do?
If 15 minutes with a godly man can
do that listening to a godly man for
half an hour can do so much.
Can you imagine what listening to God himself
for half an hour will do?
Then why is it lives were not being
changed when they were all spending half an
hour quiet time with God?
The Lord showed me these people are not
spending time with me.
They're spending time with a book.
Whether it's a chemistry book or a mathematics
book or the Bible doesn't make a difference.
They're not spending time with me.
A lot of people who say they have
a quiet time it's not with God.
It's a...
They're studying a book just like the scientist
studies a science book and he gets proficient
in that particular field you get proficient in
the Bible.
It's not necessary that you get to know
God there.
To know God you have to be humble.
You have to have a sense of your
own need.
The Bible says blessed are the poor in
spirit for theirs is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are the pure in heart for they
shall see God.
And when I saw this I realized that
I needed to get out of all these
rituals.
I saw that what I needed was not
a bunch of rules and regulations because all
these multitudes of rules and regulations didn't help
me to know God and didn't help me
to overcome sin.
I saw there was a purpose in the
law.
See, it's something like this.
This is the illustration that came to my
mind.
Is it possible for me to take a
pig through a long one mile walk full
of dirt and muck and to bring that
pig clean out clean at the other end
of that walk?
Yes, it's possible.
If I tie that pig with ten chains
and every time it is attracted to some
muck this way I pull it and every
time it wants to jump into the dirty
water there I pull it I can manage
with struggle and effort to bring out that
pig clean at the other end.
Those ten chains are the ten commandments.
That's how God kept man clean under the
law.
When they were pulled this way the law
would pull them back.
When they were attracted this way it pulled
them back and they were clean.
Now, it's quite different to take a cat
for a walk through that dirty thing for
one mile.
It doesn't need a single chain.
It comes out absolutely clean and even if
it accidentally falls into something on the way
it'll jump out immediately and without my telling
it it'll just lick itself clean before it
proceeds.
And it doesn't lick itself clean only when
other people are looking.
That would be a pig masquerading as a
cat.
If it's a real cat it makes no
difference whether other people are looking or not.
It just detests that dirty water and licks
itself clean.
It can't proceed.
I've seen cats and it's the same I
suppose in the United States as in America
as in India.
I can't see a speck of dust in
them they're still licking themselves and trying to
keep themselves clean.
I say, boy, what an example for me
to cleanse myself from all filthiness of the
flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear
of God.
It doesn't need any chains.
It doesn't need any rules and regulations.
This is the mistake that churches have made
through the years.
They want to keep the pigs clean.
So we have rules and chains and and
of course they're clean.
With multitudes some rules are written down most
rules are unwritten.
It's just a general impression given in the
church we shouldn't do this we shouldn't have
that we didn't do this and people come
in and say, boy what a clean church.
Yeah.
But the nature hasn't changed at all.
People are afraid to disobey because they may
be thrown out.
They're afraid because they may not be accepted.
If they do something people may frown on
them.
And so that fear of being frowned on
acts like a chain and pulls them back
from something which they always want to do.
Now let's take a picture.
Supposing we had a whole lot of pigs
and cats in our room and we locked
all the doors and kept them inside for
one year.
They'd all be clean.
Every one of them would be clean.
And then if some preacher came along and
opened the doors and they all go out
and they come back that'd be quite a
difference.
The cats would be clean.
The pigs would be dirty.
And you blame the preacher for opening the
doors.
No, no, no, no, no.
They did not become pigs when the doors
were open.
They were always pigs.
This preacher made the dividing line clear.
It's when the doors are open that you
discover who are the pigs and who are
the cats.
We're fooling ourselves that everybody is a cat
by just keeping the doors locked.
It's easy to deceive ourselves.
Lock every door and say we're all cats.
Because we're all clean.
Well, let's test it.
Let's open the doors and see.
The cats will remain cats.
But the pigs will be revealed.
This has an application.
God never intended man to be constantly kept
under rules and regulations.
Now I realize it's necessary for children.
When we have children are under the law.
And we have to make rules and regulations
for them because they don't have wisdom, they
don't have discernment.
And it's our disresponsibility to tell them you
can't do this, you can't go here and
you can't dress like that.
And you cannot have this and you cannot
play this music and you cannot get this
magazine and I'm sorry I will not just
let you go there.
I will not let you spend your money
on this.
That's right.
But it was not God's will that we
should be children forever.
He wants us to be sons who can
decide I don't want that.
I know this is what I long for
my children in the years when I made
so many restrictions on them.
They couldn't do this, they couldn't go here,
they couldn't do the other thing.
But all the time my heart longed that
one day when they grow up they'll see
the wisdom of that and choose it for
themselves.
Isn't that what we parents desire for our
children?
That's exactly what God desires for every one
of us.
He doesn't want us all our life to
be tied with chains and be kept pure
that way.
That's why He abolished the law.
But He didn't abolish the law and give
us nothing else instead.
No, He gave us something better.
Moses went up to the mountain and came
down with ten commandments.
Jesus went up to heaven and gave us
the Holy Spirit.
And if we don't have the Holy Spirit,
boy, you certainly need those chains, I'll tell
you that.
Sure.
You see the trouble with a lot of
Christians today is they are trying to be
free from the old covenant and they end
up with no covenant.
It doesn't mean that everybody who's checked the
law has got into the new covenant.
No.
Most Christians are under no covenant.
The people who are under the old covenant
had a certain standard of morality and godliness.
They're not...
I can not think of a single Old
Testament preacher who would sink so low as
so many television evangelists today.
Under the old covenant.
And these folks are preaching grace.
That's not grace.
That's no covenant at all.
I can't think of any Old Testament preacher
who'd run after money like the preachers today.
How is that?
How did the old covenant lead people to
such a high standard?
It's a deception.
This is false grace that's going around the
world today.
True grace delivers a man.
The law came by Moses.
Grace came by Jesus Christ.
Now I ask a very simple question.
Who was greater?
Moses or Jesus?
A child can understand that.
And if Moses could lift people this high,
how high is Jesus going to lift us?
Much more.
How much more?
As much more as Jesus is greater than
Moses.
That's the message of the gospel.
That's why Jesus said, well, the Old Testament
said, don't commit adultery.
I say to you, don't even lust with
your eyes.
The Old Testament said, don't commit murder.
I say to you, don't even be angry
with your bride.
He didn't lower the standard.
He certainly didn't.
It's like that little, one verse of a
poem that I heard many years ago, which
brings out the difference between law and grace
in the gospel.
It goes like this, Run John, the law
commands, but gives us neither feet nor hands.
Better news the gospel brings, it bids us
fly, but gives us wings.
That's the gospel.
It bids us fly, the law only told
you to run, but it didn't give you
feet or hands.
How can you run?
Isn't it better to be commanded to fly
if the gospel gives us wings?
This is what the Holy Spirit has come
to give.
To lift us higher.
And there we find security.
We don't compare ourselves with others.
We don't compete with others.
We don't look down on others.
Because it's God's grace that made us what
we are.
You know, if you can be proud of
the holiness you have attained to, that's a
pretty good indication that you produced it yourself.
I'll give you an illustration.
Supposing I brought here a wonderful cake baked
by some sisters and I distribute it to
you.
And you say, boy, that's a fantastic cake.
I'm not even tempted to be proud.
I didn't bake it.
I just passed it around.
But if I had made it, if I
had baked it, and I heard all of
you appreciating it, then I'd be tempted to
be proud.
You know, we're tempted to be proud of
that which we manufactured ourselves.
And the holiness you manufactured yourself is the
one you're proud of.
That's why when you feel a little proud
when people say something good about your character,
the sermon you manufactured yourself, you'll be proud
of.
But if God gave it to you, you
say, I'm just distributing what God gave me.
This is the gospel.
I cannot be proud.
Because I recognize what have you got that
you did not receive.
Tell me what it is you got which
you didn't receive.
Not a single thing.
You know, I've seen situations where a brother
can come to a church and feel inferior
because he's a sinner.
He can feel awkward because his children are
wayward and the church is preaching a high
standard.
I have four sons.
They're all born again.
They're all following the Lord.
But I don't deserve one bit of credit
for that.
I fall on my face and I say,
Lord, it's all your mercy.
I dare not ever think that I did
something.
I baked this cake.
I didn't.
You know how we can make people feel
inferior because I have it so good in
my life.
Come and see how it is in my
home.
And that poor brother says, I can never
make it.
I better go to some other church.
We have failed.
That's not the spirit of Jesus.
Jesus came to lift the fallen.
And if I don't, I remember once, I'll
give you an example.
I don't have any daughters.
Once there was a need to give a
word of correction to some of the young
girls, the young teenage girls in our assembly.
And as I was getting up to speak,
the Lord said to me, Remember, they are
your daughters.
Struck me like a revelation from heaven.
Those were my children.
They were not somebody else's children.
And so easy to preach at other people's
children.
And then when I got up, I spoke
to them as if it was my own
daughters.
And I saw that this is how it
should be in the church.
When you see that brother's son going astray,
hear the word of the Lord.
That's your son.
And then you won't point a finger so
easily.
This is the body of Christ.
We say we are one family.
But we behave as though, See what I
did in my little corner with my family.
Sorry, you didn't do it so good.
Why is this?
We are not secure in God's love.
We want to show off.
We are not secure in the fact of
God's love.
We don't recognize that every single thing we
have is what God has given me.
There is nothing we can glory in.
This is what hinders the building of the
body of Jesus Christ.
This is where we have come short, brothers
and sisters.
We have come short.
There is phariseeism.
There is a looking down upon others because
they fail.
One who recognizes that there is nothing good
in his flesh can never point a finger
at another.
It's impossible.
Because he sees, Lord, there is nothing good
in me.
I think of that verse many times in
Ephesians chapter 3 where Paul says, in verse
8, To me, the very least of all
the saints was this grace given.
Grace is always given to the one who
recognizes that they are the least of all
the saints.
To me, the very least of all the
saints was this grace given to preach to
the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ.
If you were to catch Paul by surprise
and cut open his heart to find out
what he thought about himself, you'd see, not
when he's on his guard.
When we are on our guard, we all
say we are the least of all the
saints.
Not talking about that.
But if you catch a person off his
guard and open his heart and see what's
inside, what would you see inside Paul's heart?
A deep conviction that he was the least
of all the believers in the world.
Because he saw his own corruption more than
anybody else.
He saw that nothing good dwelt in his
flesh.
And I believe we need a revelation of
that.
I have no problem with that in my
life from the time I found security in
my Heavenly Father.
I have no problem acknowledging where I made
a mistake, where I slipped up.
And I see that God's given me elders
in the body of Christ to balance me
because I'm imbalanced by myself.
I need them.
I'm not in competition with them.
I thank God for the brothers God's given
me in my country who balance out the
imbalance there is in my life.
The areas in my life where I cannot
reflect the glory of Jesus adequately, I've got
brothers to cover me, to protect me.
And together, we can manifest the glory of
Jesus.
And I praise God for that.
I praise God for a wife who is
different from me, who can balance me out
at home.
And protect me from doing a lot of
stupid things at home.
Just like my fellow elders protect me from
doing a lot of stupid things in the
church.
Do you recognize your need of your brother?
And your sister?
Do you see that child who is going
astray, that young boy or girl who is
going astray as your son, as your daughter?
When we experience the love of God, the
Bible says, the love of God is shed
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.
The same love of the Father which He
showered upon us, we begin to have towards
other people.
This is what it means to be filled
with the Holy Spirit.
The love of God is shed abroad in
our hearts by the Holy Spirit.
May the Lord help us.
Shall we bow before God.
It's good
for us to examine ourselves and ask ourselves
whether we have found security in God's perfect
love for us.
I want to say to each of you,
there is not a single person here whom
God doesn't love.
Despite your failures, He loves you just as
you are.
He is not waiting for you to change
before He loves you.
Exactly as you are right now, with all
the blunders and failures you've made in your
life, He loves you just as you are.
And He welcomes you.
And once you have been welcomed like that,
don't ever forget it.
Remember to welcome your brother in the same
way as God welcomed you.
Heavenly Father, help us to honor you in
our earthly life.
Our life is so short.
Help us to be those who reflect the
love of God in our relationships with one
another.
We think of those who are hurting, those
who are suffering, those who made blunders and
made a mess of their life, those who
failed as parents.
Lord, we would pray with compassion for them.
We are no better than anyone here.
Lord, we pray, comfort their hearts and give
them an assurance that they'll find their children
in your kingdom one day.
Meet with us, Lord, and build the body
of Christ here.
We pray in Jesus' name.
Amen.