I want to turn today to Matthew's Gospel,
Chapter 16.
These are familiar words that we read here,
where after Simon Peter had got a revelation
concerning who Jesus really was, a revelation that
was given to him by the Holy Spirit
from heaven, the Lord says to Peter, upon
this rock, and we know that rock is
what Peter had just confessed, the Christ, the
Son of the Living God, in verse 16,
upon this rock I will build my church,
and the gates of hell shall not overpower
it.
And that was the first time that Jesus
spoke about the church.
He had never used that word church before,
people who are called out, gathered together, to
be an assembly.
That's what that word means.
Unfortunately that the word church has got so
many different meanings today compared to what Jesus
spoke about.
Today we call a building a church.
That is one of those traditions of men
never found in the word of God.
No building was ever called a church in
the New Testament.
A building made of bricks and stones can
never be a church.
We call a denomination a church.
That's also never found in Scripture.
There is no such thing in Scripture as
a denominational church.
You know, what we see in Christianity today
is not only the word of God, it's
the word of God plus the accumulated traditions
of men for two thousand years that have
been mixed with the word of God.
It's something like the river which starts in
the mountain pure, and after it's flowed down
in the plains for many hundreds of miles,
it's filthy.
It's no longer pure.
And what we see in Christianity as we
see it today, if you want to get
the pure water, the pure truth, you have
to go to the word of God and
not look at Christendom as it is today.
And many of our wrong concepts will change.
We may have to change many of our
preconceived ideas when we compare what is known
as Christendom today with the word of God.
And one of those things is the word
church, or assembly of people called out from
the world, gathered together.
When Jesus spoke about such an assembly or
church, it was people.
He was talking about people whom he was
going to call out of the world, gathered
together into his name, under his headship.
The Bible says that God has given Christ
as the head of the church, not the
head of a building and certainly not the
head of a denomination, but the head of
the body of believers that submits to his
authority, who acknowledge him as Lord.
He is head over that body.
And that's what he was telling Peter here.
I will build my church, which is called
his body.
And the next thing he said was that
this church would be the object of the
hatred and enmity of Satan.
And Satan would seek to attack this church
that Jesus is building in various ways.
But Satan would never be able to overpower
this church which Jesus is building.
Satan may be able to overpower many churches
which men are building, and he has already
overpowered many denominations in the world and many
church buildings.
That doesn't matter.
But the church which Jesus is building, Satan
will never be able to overpower.
We can be sure of that, absolutely certain.
And if this is what Jesus is doing,
building his church in this day and age,
any person who wants to do a worthwhile
work, a work that will last for eternity
and not something that will pass away with
time, must seek to build along with Jesus.
Jesus said in another verse, He who does
not gather with me, scatters.
If you're not gathering along with Jesus, you're
actually scattering, even if you do nothing.
And so it's very, very important for us
to understand what it means to build the
body of Christ, the church.
All of our work for the Lord must
result in building the body of Christ.
Otherwise it's a waste of time.
Something like in Noah's time, you know, the
Lord said, you build an ark and everything
else is going to be destroyed.
And we see that Noah spent all his
energy and all his time building the ark,
because he knew this is the only thing
that's going to remain after the flood has
wiped out the rest of the earth.
He was convinced about it.
And so he spent all his time, energy,
money, all his spare time anyway, building the
ark.
And anyone who understands that the church is
the only thing that's going to remain once
this world has been wound up and God's
plan and purposes are fulfilled, anyone who knows
that will spend all his energy building the
church.
By that I don't mean that everybody will
be in full-time Christian work.
There are a lot of people in secular
jobs who are building the church.
As I said earlier, the Apostle Paul was
in a secular job, earning his own living.
And nobody built the church like him.
So we're not talking only about full-time
Christian workers who are supported by others.
We're talking about every believer who is under
the headship of Jesus Christ, that if you
want to do a work that is worthwhile
and lasting, it must be directed towards building
the body of Christ.
And God's desire is that in every locality
where he gathers people, he spoke about two
or three being gathered together in his name,
that should be a local expression of the
body of Christ.
And the minimum for that is two.
That's why he said in Matthew 18, where
he spoke about the church for the second
time, in verse 17, he also said, where
two or three have gathered together in my
name, there am I in the midst.
Why didn't he say where one person has
gathered?
Where one person comes in my name, there
I am present.
There is no verse like that in Scripture.
Have you noticed that for the Lord to
be present in the midst, the minimum required
is two?
Where two, that's the minimum.
Not where one or two, two or three.
You don't need two thousand or three thousand,
two is enough.
But the minimum is two.
And not just any two, gathered together by
the Spirit, and in the previous verse it
says, two who are agreed.
And the word there is a word from
which we get the English word symphony.
You know when two musical instruments are playing
on exactly the same scale, and at the
same tempo, and the same beat, and the
same tune, it's so harmonious.
And there's a harmony there, and a symphony,
when a number of instruments are playing together
in tune with each other.
And that's the word he used here, where
two people are in symphony, in harmony with
each other, in spirit.
Where two people are like that, there I
am in the midst as their head.
There is an expression of the body of
Christ.
And when there is such an expression of
the body of Christ in any place, we
can be sure Satan is going to attack
that.
Because Jesus said, if two people agree like
that concerning anything that they may ask, it
will be done by my Father in heaven.
It's an amazing promise.
Now there are many, many promises in scripture
for the individual.
Ask, and you shall receive.
If you ask anything in my name, I
will give it to you.
But here is something special.
If two, minimum two, are agreed about something,
agreed on earth, and then they ask.
In other words, they are agreed in spirit,
not just agreed on that matter which they
are praying about.
A lot of people misunderstand this.
They say, well, we are agreed on this
matter we are praying about.
Maybe you are agreed on that matter you
are praying about, but you and that other
person are not one in spirit.
Then it doesn't fulfill the condition here.
If two of you agree on earth, anything
that they may ask, it shall be done
by my Father in heaven.
There must be that agreement, and then they
ask, and it will be done.
That's what that word symphony means.
And I believe that there are very, very
few people who have claimed that promise because
it's very difficult to find two people, even
among believers, who are agreed.
Look at the multitudes of believers who are
husbands and wives.
One would think that certainly husbands and wives
should be agreed.
But there is hardly a Christian home where
there isn't conflict, where rude words are not
spoken.
And do you know, when a husband and
wife are in conflict, it's not the husband
who wins, it's not the wife who wins,
it's the devil who wins.
And when two brothers are in conflict, neither
of them are winning.
One may think I won the argument.
No, you haven't.
It's the devil who wins, always, because he
has succeeded in destroying an expression of the
body of Christ.
And this is what the devil is always
seeking to do, to destroy an expression of
the body of Christ because of difference of
opinion, difference of temperament, different views on some
matter.
And the devil highlights those differences and separates
people in their spirit.
They may agree externally about the thing they
are asking, but inwardly they are not agreed.
And therefore their asking does not have value.
But if they are agreed like that, the
Lord is in their midst.
And then what happens is, in verse 18,
whatever they bind on earth will be bound
in heaven.
Heaven doesn't mean the third heaven where God
dwells.
You can't bind anything there.
Everything is free over there.
He's talking about something below the third heaven
where Satan and his hosts are, which is
referred to as the heavenlies in Ephesians 6
.12. We wrestle with evil spirit forces in
the heavenlies, his principalities and powers in the
heavens.
We already saw earlier that Satan is not
in hell.
He's in the heavenlies.
And from the heavenlies he can roam around
on the earth.
And it's in that heavenlies, the second heaven,
where what we bind on earth will be
bound in heaven.
It's not Satan who is bound.
Satan is free.
Even those demons can't be bound.
One day Jesus will bind Satan in the
bottomless pit.
But his activity is bound.
His work is bound when two people pray
together.
See, there's such tremendous authority here that Jesus
has given to the church.
And that is why Satan knows that his
activity, his work, will be hindered if even
two believers understand this truth and start to
live together in unity.
He knows that if a husband and wife
understand this truth and determine never to allow
any gap to come between them, never to
allow Satan to come between them in any
way, they will have such tremendous authority in
prayer that the devil will never be able
to do anything in their home.
The devil will not be able to attack
their children.
Many children are attacked by Satan because the
husband and wife have provided a gap between
themselves through their conflict and strife and misunderstandings,
and the devil walks right in.
It's like opening the door for the enemy
and saying, come in, attack our children.
And then when their children are attacked, the
husband and wife begin to weep and say,
oh Lord, what happened?
Please do something for our children.
Well, you're the one who opened the door.
God united you and your wife so that
you might be one, so that together you
can be such a force against Satan that
not only Satan won't be able to come
into your home, but that you will drive
him out of your locality.
The Bible doesn't say if you resist Satan,
somehow or the other he won't be able
to get in.
No, it says if you resist Satan, James
4.7, he will flee from you.
It's not just that he can't get in
and keep standing at the door.
James 4.7 says, submit to God first
and resist the devil, and he won't just
stand there.
He can't stand there.
He will flee from you.
That's how it was with Jesus.
The devil couldn't stand around when Jesus was
there.
And there is this amazing verse in 1
John 4, and verse 17, which says in
the last part, as Jesus is, so also
are we in this world.
It's an amazing statement.
As the Lord Jesus is, so also are
we in this world.
Turn to Ephesians in chapter 1, we read
that when the Lord raised, when the Father
raised Jesus from the dead, and He ascended
up into heaven, and He seated, Ephesians 1
.20, at the Father's right hand, in the
heavenly places far above all rule, authority, over
all the forces of Satan in the second
heavens, over all authority, power, dominion, and every
name that is named, not only in this
age, but also in the one to come.
And the Father put all things in subjection
under the feet of Jesus, and then gave
Him to be head of the church, which
is His body.
So it was after everything had been put
under Jesus' feet, after everything had been conquered,
all forces of darkness, everything, that He's been
given as head for us in the church.
Not just for me as an individual, but
for me as part of the church in
fellowship with my wife or another brother, in
fellowship together.
Jesus becomes the head.
There must be a minimum of two.
And then, if everything is under His feet,
and if we are part of that body,
everything is under our feet.
That's why the Bible says in Romans 16,
20, that God of peace will crush Satan
under your feet shortly.
The place that God has appointed for Satan
is under our feet.
There is not a single reason why any
child of God should be afraid of Satan.
And I'm sorry to say, I've met lots
of believers who are afraid of Satan, who
are afraid that somebody might do witchcraft on
them, and that somebody could harm them in
some way through Satanic powers.
Now, it's true that Satan has a lot
of supernatural power, but none of that can
touch a child of God who is cleansed
in the blood of Jesus and who is
under the Lordship of Christ.
Nothing.
Every witch doctor in the world can try
and put a spell on you.
It can't touch you.
But if the devil feels that you don't
know that, then he will try to scare
you.
He will try to put fear into your
heart.
Fear is a great weapon of Satan, and
anyone who tries to put fear into your
heart is an agent of Satan.
Because Jesus never came with a message of
fear.
God has not given us the spirit of
fear, the Bible says in 2 Timothy 1
.7, but the spirit of power.
And wherever Jesus came, He always said, Fear
not.
Do not fear.
And I want to say to all of
you, my brothers and sisters, you must never
allow fear into your life, just like you
must never allow impurity into your life, just
like you must never allow anxiety or bitterness
or an unforgiving spirit into your life.
When I mention all these other things, you
all agree.
Yes, I don't want bitterness, I don't want
impurity, I don't want jealousy, I don't want
an unforgiving attitude, I don't want bitterness, I
don't want covetousness, all these spirits I don't
want.
But when I say you shouldn't have fear
and that fear is in the same category,
many believers don't recognize that fear is in
the same category.
The same God who said, Do not murder,
is the one who also said, Do not
fear.
What's the difference?
Do not murder, do not fear.
If you can fear, then you can go
ahead and murder too.
God has commanded you, Do not murder.
Do not commit adultery.
And Jesus went around saying, Do not fear.
Why?
Because Satan's power has been taken away from
him.
Now this was not true in the Old
Testament.
We read in Hebrews 2 that this happened
only on Calvary.
Before Calvary, there were a lot of powers
that Satan had.
But they were taken away from him when
Jesus died.
One of Satan's aims is to prevent you
from seeing all that was accomplished on Calvary's
cross.
Most believers, I would say 99% of
believers only know that Christ took the guilt
of my sin when He died on Calvary.
That's true.
But that's not all that was accomplished on
Calvary.
Do you know that your old man, Romans
6.6, was crucified with Christ on Calvary?
Don't try to understand it.
Believe it.
We don't need to understand.
I tried for a long time to understand
it and I couldn't.
I decided to believe it.
And that solved the problem.
You don't have to understand how Jesus took
the guilt of your sin.
Leave that with God.
You don't need to understand.
You believe.
Salvation does not come by understanding.
Deliverance does not come by understanding.
It comes by faith.
Jesus took the guilt of my sin because
God's Word says it.
I believe it.
My old man was crucified with Christ, this
old person that I was.
It is crucified with Christ and therefore I
consider myself now to be dead to that.
And I put off that old man.
That's what we testify to in baptism.
Another thing that happened on Calvary's cross was
Galatians 3.13 says Christ became a curse
for us.
There is no curse upon us now.
Nobody can put a curse on you because
it says Jesus became a curse for me
so that the blessing of Abraham through the
Holy Spirit may come to us.
And do you know what the blessing of
Abraham is?
The Lord said, I will bless you and
you will be a blessing to all the
families of the earth.
Now if I can believe that all the
curse that I deserve, Jesus took and He
became a curse for me and because He
has become a curse for me, there is
no curse upon me.
Ten million people can curse me.
It doesn't make a difference.
It won't sit on my head.
It will rebound and go back on their
heads.
They cannot touch me because I believe that
Jesus became a curse for me and what
I have today is not a curse but
the blessing of the Holy Spirit.
What's that?
I will bless you and you will be
a blessing to every family you meet.
I want to live under that blessing all
the days of my life that every single
family that I come across on the face
of the earth, I'll be a blessing to
them.
Now if you don't believe that, it won't
happen.
If you think, oh well, there might be
a little bit of the curse left for
me.
It's not true.
Jesus became a total curse on the Calvary's
cross.
In the same way, another thing that happened
on Calvary's cross was Satan's armor, his power,
was stripped from him and here we read
in Hebrews 2, verse 14, Since then the
children share in flesh and blood.
Jesus himself likewise took part of the same
flesh and blood that through death he might
render powerless the one who had the power
of death that is the devil.
That means up till Calvary's cross where Jesus
died, Satan had the power of death.
That's what this verse says.
But when Jesus took our flesh and blood
and died, he made this one, Satan, who
had the power of death, powerless.
Powerless against whom?
He still has a lot of power out
there in the world among a lot of
people, but he doesn't have power over those
who have accepted Christ's sacrifice on the cross.
He has no power over them.
Satan's power over me, over you, has been
taken away.
He has been rendered powerless.
He is still living.
God hasn't destroyed him.
One day he will be cast into the
lake of fire.
But even though he is living, he is
powerless.
Do you know that Satan is powerless against
you?
That he cannot, if you resist him, if
you submit to God and you resist him
in the name of Jesus, he cannot touch
a hair on your head.
He cannot touch your family.
He cannot touch your property.
He cannot touch anything.
God may permit him sometimes to sift us,
like he permitted Satan to sift Peter.
But if he does sift us, the only
thing that will go from us will be
the chaff, the rubbish.
Not one grain of wheat will be lost.
The rubbish, and many of us, particularly when
we live in comfort and ease, we have
accumulated a lot of rubbish.
And God may allow Satan to sift his
people so that this rubbish is removed.
For example, in countries where Christians are persecuted,
that persecution has come from the instigation of
Satan.
And what has happened?
Believers' property is taken away.
Their material goods are taken away.
Maybe their bank accounts are robbed.
But all those things are not things of
value.
It makes those believers better pilgrims.
That's all.
He cannot rob them of anything of value.
Only the garbage and the rubbish.
And if God allows such a time to
come into our land, it will be the
same.
He cannot touch one thing of eternal value
in our life.
It is impossible.
We must have that boldness when we confront
Satan.
Wherever we confront him, he is powerless.
And because he has been made powerless, it
says in verse 15, Jesus delivers those who
through fear of death were all their lives
subject to slavery.
You know, fear brings a type of slavery.
Fear of man brings a slavery.
That's why we should never fear man.
If you fear God, you never need fear
anything else in the world.
You never need fear any man.
You never need fear any circumstance.
You never need fear the devil if you
fear God.
That's a beautiful verse.
Isaiah 8.13 in the Living Bible.
Isaiah 8.13. If you fear God, you
need fear nothing else.
Now the greatest fear that man has is
not the fear of ill health or the
fear of thieves breaking into his house or
the fear of some harm somebody can do.
The greatest fear, number one at the top
of the list, is the fear of death.
All the other fears are junior fears, smaller
fears.
And Jesus, it says here, through death destroyed
him who had the power of death so
that we who lived under the fear of
death might never fear death anymore.
A child of God should never be afraid
of dying because Jesus has conquered death.
That's why the resurrection of Jesus Christ is
so important.
We are not afraid to die, not only
physically, but in the different situations of life
where the Lord asks us to die to
ourselves.
Consider yourself dead in that situation.
Give up your rights and die.
We are not afraid.
We are ready to do it because we
know that this is the way to life.
If we die with Him, we shall live
with Him.
Satan's greatest power is with the fear of
death.
He frightens a lot of people with that.
And here it says there is no need
for us to fear that anymore.
Satan's power has been taken away from him.
And if we don't understand this, if we
don't believe it, we will not be able
to build the church binding Satan's activity because
Satan is constantly attacking.
And when two people come together, you have
the conflict of two wills, two different personalities,
people who are brought up in two different
ways and backgrounds trying to become one.
And this is one of the most difficult
things for God to do.
Do you remember that word which Jesus spoke
in John 14 where He said to His
disciples on the night before He went to
the cross, He said to them, truly, truly,
I say to you, he who believes in
Me, the works that I do, shall he
do also.
And then He said, John 14, 12, greater
works than these shall he do because I
go to the Father.
How have you understood that verse?
It's a difficult verse.
But we should try to understand the difficult
verses too.
Greater works than Jesus did.
He doesn't say one or two people will
do it.
He says, everyone who believes in Me can
do it.
What are the greater works?
Now generally speaking, when we think of Jesus'
works, we think of His raising Lazarus from
the dead, who was dead for four days.
Does that mean every believer will go around
raising those who are dead for seven days?
Or Jesus walked on the water.
Does that mean every believer will walk on
the water?
I've never seen anyone who's walked on the
water.
Or who raised people from the dead, even
who's dead for one day.
Leave alone seven days.
What does it mean, greater works than these
shall He do?
With five loaves He fed 5,000.
Are we going to feed 20,000?
No.
It's because our mind thinks in terms of
these supernatural miracles.
Let me tell you, the works that Jesus
did was the will of His Father.
That's what He did.
Don't just think of the three and a
half years.
For 33 years He did works.
And He wasn't always walking on the water.
For 33 years He did the will of
His Father.
And we can do that.
And then He said, you can do greater
works than I have done.
What is the greater work?
That is building the church, building the body
of Christ, making two people one.
Do you know that at the end of
three and a half years Jesus had worked
with eleven people and even two among those
eleven were not one.
They were all in conflict with each other.
Who is going to be the leader after
Jesus died?
Not even two people were one.
Why?
Because Jesus had not gone to the Father
and sent the Holy Spirit.
That's the reason.
He says that here.
When I go to the Father and I
send the Holy Spirit on the day of
Pentecost He is going to be able to
do such a work in you that you
will become one.
Two people becoming one is the greater work
that even Jesus did not do when He
was on earth.
Show me any two of His disciples who
were one.
That's what Jesus meant.
And once the day of Pentecost came and
the Holy Spirit had come then two could
become one.
We read in Ephesians 3 that Paul says
I want to tell you about this mystery
that was hidden in Old Testament times.
The mystery of Christ.
Ephesians 3.4 Which in other generations in
Old Testament times was not made known to
the sons of men.
Verse 5 But now it has been revealed
to His holy apostles and prophets by the
Holy Spirit.
And what is this mystery?
You expect to hear some fantastic thing.
And he says to be specific.
The mystery is this that the Gentiles can
become fellow members of the body with the
Jews.
And you say, oh, that's such a disappointment.
You mean that's the great mystery?
That's it.
And now let me explain to you why
it's a mystery.
You know in the entire history of the
world there are no two greater opposites than
the Jews and the Gentiles.
The Jews hated the Gentiles and we know
the Gentiles have hated the Jews through the
years.
And for these two to become one I
mean if you want to have an understanding
of it you just go and see the
cost system in our country.
The high cost Brahmins and the lowest cost
people they will never become one.
They won't even drink from the same cup.
They won't come anywhere near each other.
They'll never marry each other.
They'll be nothing of the sort.
And Jew and Gentile was even greater opposites
than that.
So you can imagine the distance between Jews
and Gentiles.
And when Jesus died it says here chapter
2 verse 14 He made both into one.
And He broke down this dividing wall the
barrier between the two.
He abolished in His flesh the enmity.
This law of commandment.
You see the Jews said unless you keep
our laws you can't be one of us.
Jesus abolished all that.
And reconciled both of these in one body
to God through the cross.
So what did Jesus do?
He took the Jew and said you die
with me.
And He took the Gentile and said you
die with me.
And both of you are dead now.
And I'll raise you up.
And now you're one.
This is the secret of unity.
And this is the only way any husband
and wife can become one.
God says you husband come here die with
me.
You wife come here and die with me.
And now I'll raise you up and you
are one.
But reckon yourself dead now from now on.
But if you don't reckon yourself dead then
there's conflict.
That's how it is.
Death brings peace.
Have you seen what's written on a coffin?
Rest in.
That's it.
That's the secret of peace.
And all conflict is because neither person is
willing to die.
It's through death that this unity comes.
Think if you were living next door to
a house where there's a husband and wife
who always fight.
Every morning at 6.30 in the morning
the fight starts.
And they call each other all types of
names and it's almost like an alarm clock.
You wake up and you hear them yelling
and shouting calling each other names every day.
And you hear it.
And one day it's 7 o'clock and
there's no sound there.
And you wonder what happened.
And you go there to the house and
you find the wife is dead.
At last there is peace.
You know that's the secret of peace in
a home.
One person doesn't have to be the wife.
Whoever is more spiritual must die.
If I die there'll be peace.
But if both don't die there is conflict.
That's the secret.
That's the reason for all conflict even in
the church.
One person must die.
Who must die first?
The one who is more spiritual.
When God had a conflict with man and
there was a distance between God and man
who took the initiative and died?
God.
Because he was more spiritual.
And when there is a conflict between a
husband and wife and there's a distance who
should take the first step?
What's the answer?
The one who is more spiritual.
And if both people think they are spiritual
then they should come close to each other
immediately.
It's the one who is not spiritual who
refuses to die.
The one who is spiritual takes up the
cross immediately.
Ready to apologize.
Ready to humble himself or herself.
Ready to die.
In some cases it may be the wife.
In some cases it may be the husband.
That's the way of peace through the cross.
And when I see Jesus dying for me
that's what challenges me also to be willing
to die and I get united with Him.
And when one partner who is spiritually minded
chooses to die that is what challenges the
other person also to be willing to die
so that they can become one.
I'll tell you this.
There is absolutely no other way of unity.
We spoke about two people agreeing in Matthew
18.
But it doesn't tell us in Matthew 18
how this agreement can come.
That agreement can come we read in Ephesians
2 only when this dividing wall is broken
down only when we die with Jesus on
the cross and say Lord I give up
my rights.
I don't have any rights.
I don't have any demand.
You know it speaks here in Ephesians 2
about a law of commandment.
Verse 15.
The Jews had a law of commandments against
the Gentiles and the reason for a lot
of strife between husband and wife and between
brother and brother is because there are certain
demands.
Laws are like demands.
There are certain demands I have on that
other person.
You must do this.
You don't do it and we can't be
one.
You got to get rid of those demands.
That law of commandments has to be abolished.
In other words in my relationship with my
wife I don't have any demands.
In my relationship with my brother I don't
have any demands.
I don't demand that he should speak to
me with respect or treat me with consideration.
No.
I have no demands.
I have no laws.
No commandments.
I die.
And I am at peace and there is
peace in our relationship and if he chooses
to die as well we can become one.
When only one person dies there is peace
but not unity.
Unity comes when both are willing to die.
Can you imagine the tremendous power that will
be in a home if both husband and
wife are willing to die?
The second best is where one is at
least willing to die and at least there
is peace.
But that peace is only second best.
Unity is the best.
And in a church too.
In relationships if one person is willing to
die there is peace.
But when both are willing to die there
is unity.
And then there is such tremendous power over
satanic forces.
I am not talking just about casting out
demons because demons can be cast out even
by a single believer.
If you believe that Satan was defeated on
the cross in the name of Jesus any
brother, any sister can cast out a demon
in the name of Jesus Christ.
They are not afraid of you but they
are afraid of the name of Jesus.
Every demon was conquered on Calvary's cross.
We need not be afraid of any of
them.
There are times when I have seen demon
possessed people and you get a bit of
a jolt when you see the way they
behave but once you ask yourself this question
that demon inside that person was that demon
conquered on Calvary or not?
Or was he one of those demons who
somehow escaped?
Nobody escaped.
Satan and all the demons were conquered.
And I say to myself that demon is
behaving in a terrible way in that man
or woman but he was conquered on Calvary.
Then we are not afraid.
Last month somebody called me and said can
you please come and pray for a demon
possessed woman?
And when I went there I saw this
lady completely possessed with demons and I sat
down and I told her ask Jesus to
come into your heart.
And the demon spoke through her mouth and
said tell her to do that, don't tell
me.
And he glared at me with his eyes
through the woman's eyes and I glared back
at him and said you were conquered on
Calvary you demon.
Then she turned her face away.
You know if you face the demon without
fear it doesn't matter who what demon it
is and turn away resist in the name
of Jesus.
And of course she was delivered and what
a difference when the demon was cast out.
And I say this is more than that.
This is not just casting out demons.
Any of you can cast out demons if
you believe that Jesus conquered all of them
on Calvary.
You may go out into the field and
there may be nobody there to help you
when you confront a demon possessed person.
Don't wait.
If your heart is clear and your conscience
is clear rebuke that demon in Jesus name
it will go out of that person.
But this is more than that.
This is talking about binding the work of
Satan in a home or in a church
or in your children or in some confusion
that the devil is trying to bring in
a church.
That doesn't go out by just saying in
the name of Jesus get out.
It doesn't go.
It doesn't go out of our children it
doesn't go out of our home it doesn't
go out of our church.
For that it requires two people at least
two people who are one.
And that's why at least the elders in
a church must be one.
Their conscience must be clear and they must
be perfectly one.
We've seen through many years in our own
church in Bangalore in 23 years how God
has given me a tremendous unity with my
fellow elders.
And I'm not exaggerating when I say that
the brother with whom I have worked together
now for 23 years we have never had
a conflict for one day in 23 years.
We are totally different different communities different temperaments
different ministries different backgrounds but we've understood the
cross and we've been one and that has
kept the devil out of our church.
It requires only two people.
The gates of hell can never prevail against
the body of Christ.
We must build that body in different places
and people must be brought in into this
unity.
Very often because we have different temperaments we
think we can't be united.
You know if God really leads the man
and wife together if it is the leading
of God the man and wife will be
totally different from each other.
Different outlook, different temperament common devotion to Christ,
yes but different in almost every other way
because the wife is meant to be a
complement to her husband not exactly like my
wife is very different from me and I'm
thankful for that because it's like when you
look at a situation it's like taking a
photograph and I take a photograph from the
north side and my wife takes a photograph
from the south side and we put the
two photographs together they look completely different but
it's the same building but because her viewpoint
is different from my viewpoint we get a
total picture of the building isn't that better?
And so we come into a situation I'm
using an illustration we come into a situation
and I can look at it from one
angle and she can look at it from
the opposite angle and we get a total
view of that situation in our home maybe
concerning our children that's why God puts opposites
together in marriage and if you are a
foolish husband who forces your wife to be
exactly like you you know, you're going to
be the loser because you hammered her and
hammered her and made her come around to
the same side where you're standing and you
got her photograph also the same as yours
what's the result?
you got one photograph and she got exactly
the same because you forced her to be
like you leave her to be herself that's
the wise husband it could be a wife
who forces her husband to be like her
she's just as stupid and when two elders
work together think of Paul and Barnabas so
different from each other Paul, the fiery person
who, if somebody was half-hearted like John
Mark said, get rid of him we don't
want that fellow again and Barnabas, the gentle
type of person who says, yeah Paul but
give him another chance, man we are, we're
all weak people that one was truth and
the other was grace and you see that
in Jesus the glory of God was seen
with grace and truth combined and God puts
us together with people who are different and
if we can understand that what I cannot
reflect of Christ that brother can and together
grace and truth will be seen in us
Paul and Barnabas unfortunately did not realize that
that's why they fell out with each other
and had a fight but today now we
have light there is no need for us
to get rid of that person who is
different from us he is exactly the brother
we need to build the body of Christ
different from us taking a photograph from the
other side so that together we get a
total view of the situation and when God
can bring this brother who is at this
extreme and this brother who is at this
extreme and make them one because both are
willing to die to themselves for the glory
of God what a tremendous power there is
Satan can never, never, never get into that
work that's why I want to encourage you
when you go out with co-workers and
they are different let God forge you together
and melt you and mold you and make
you one husbands and wives do you know
how much you have lost through all these
years by not becoming one your children have
suffered will you start at least today in
churches co-workers who can't get along with
each other God wants to break down the
barriers and make you one maybe one person
is not sincere well then you can't do
much at least you can die to yourself
and walk in sincerity yourself but if God
finally brings somebody across your path who is
sincere and if two of you can become
one there will be far more power than
when you are alone this is what Jesus
is doing in our day building the body
of Christ not gathering members building people together
into one and two or three like that
is going to be far more effective in
a locality than great multitude of people who
just come and sing songs and listen to
messages and go home so wherever you go
seek to build the body of Christ seek
to make people one that unity is the
most important thing that God requires in the
church today that's right unity comes only
through the cross and it's important that you
recognize that and say Lord if I can't
have unity at least let me seek for
peace I'm willing to die to myself I'm
willing to give up my rights I want
peace at any cost and if you and
your wife are agreed to go this way
there will be such a release of power
in your home from today such as you
have never known before if you and your
co-worker in your church are agreed to
go this way from today there will be
such a release of power in your church
and Satan's activities bound such as you have
never known before and the body of Christ
will be built Heavenly Father we thank you
that Jesus has made a new and living
way for us where we can walk in
triumph over all the activities of Satan we
praise you lead us in that way we
pray that your church can be built the
body of Christ can be built in this
land and in the lands around we pray
in Jesus name Amen