Yesterday, I was mentioning that there are two
trees, two family trees.
One is the family tree of Adam and
the other is the family tree of Jesus
Christ.
Romans 5 makes it very clear, there are
people in Adam and in Christ.
We must understand that to be born again
is to be born into another family, the
family of God in Christ.
That's why the Bible says, if any man
be in Christ, he is a new creation.
2 Corinthians 5.17, all things have passed
away, all things have become new.
I thought much about that verse in 2
Corinthians 5.17. I mean, has everything become
new?
I mean, our bodies haven't become new.
And we find many other things in our
life have not become new.
What does it mean when it says, all
things have become new?
And I've come to the conclusion that it's
the direction of my life that has changed.
Completely, it's totally changed.
I haven't reached the goal.
The goal is to be like Jesus completely
and none of us have reached there.
But everything has changed in this sense that
I've turned around.
You know, a person could be a prostitute,
a drug addict, a murderer, adulterer.
And in one moment they turn around.
I think Mary Magdalene, when she turned around,
everything became new.
In the sense that she was now, she
was miles away from where she had to
get.
Or the thief on the cross, if he
had lived a few more years on earth.
He had turned around completely.
That's what it means, a new attitude.
The principles of the new creation.
And we saw that the essence of the
life of Adam is to seek one's own.
And in Jesus, he didn't seek his own.
So when we think of the real Jesus
and we think of, let's start with how
it was in heaven.
If Jesus had merely wanted to live a
holy life.
You know, a lot of Christians today say,
we want to live a holy life.
I want to live a holy life.
But we need to understand what the root
of holiness is.
Holiness is not just inner purity and dressing
modestly.
And not going to the movies and many,
many other rules.
It's not that.
Because if I seek a holiness like that.
And if that was the holiness Jesus sought.
He would never have left heaven.
Have you thought of that?
He was already holy.
What was it that made him leave heavens?
Comfort, glory, everything.
Because his holiness consisted essentially of not seeking
his own.
A lot of legalistic holiness.
Is a holiness that makes sure that I'm
okay, my family is okay.
And I want to live something that sometimes
brings a lot of honor to me.
But Jesus, his holiness was such that he
couldn't bear to see.
Now listen to this.
He couldn't bear to see other people in
such tremendous spiritual need.
And do nothing about it.
I want to say that again.
He could not bear to see other people
in such tremendous spiritual need.
That's here on earth.
And do nothing about it.
If you have a holiness.
Which may be very modestly dressed.
A very simple lifestyle.
A poor home.
And you never go to the movies.
You got no television.
You don't look at pornography.
And you brought up your children well.
And everything fine.
But there are people all around in spiritual
need.
And that doesn't bother you.
That's not the holiness of Jesus Christ.
That's the holiness of the Pharisees.
We got to see that.
When we think of the real Jesus.
He left heaven not to become holy.
He was already holy.
And his holiness.
I want to repeat that Charles Finney used
to say.
Unless you say something 10 times people haven't
got it.
So I don't mind repeating something 10 times.
Because I'm not interested in just saying something.
I'm interested in people getting it.
That real holiness will make me concerned about
people who don't have what I have.
Did you get that?
That it will make us concerned about people
who don't have what I have.
Say if I have a wonderful family life
with all my children born again and following
the Lord.
And I see somebody else whose children are
not following the Lord.
Do you know what a Pharisee does?
He says Lord I thank you.
That my children are all good.
And not like that family out there.
That's a mark of a Pharisee.
You know what Jesus would do?
Jesus would go and do everything possible to
bring that person's children to be like my
children following the Lord.
Which type of holiness do you have?
The holiness of the Pharisees which is totally
unconcerned about other people.
Concerned only about oneself.
Or the holiness of Jesus.
I have traveled to many countries seen so
many different groups.
Who have various emphasis on holiness.
And I believe that a lot of their
holiness has come from either from what they
have seen in other believers.
Or heard from other believers.
And there's been so little of going to
the scriptures to see what Jesus was like.
You know the ministry of the Holy Spirit?
As I've studied through this Bible through 45
years.
I have found one verse.
It will help you young people.
And all of you.
There's one verse that is the most complete
comprehensive description of the ministry of the Holy
Spirit.
More than any other single verse I've found
in the whole Bible.
And if you keep this in mind you
will not be deceived by a lot of
things that are preached today as this is
the Holy Spirit.
This is the manifestation of the Holy Spirit.
I'm not even shaken by these things.
I'm not shaken by the things that I
see on Christian television.
Or that I see in crusades or reported
in Christian magazines.
Because I've seen the scriptures.
A lot of Christians are confused because they
haven't gone to the scriptures.
Let me show you this verse 2nd Corinthians
chapter 3.
2nd Corinthians chapter 3 in verse 18.
Now it's good to see these verses.
The way I got to know the Bible
was whenever anybody quoted a verse.
If I didn't know what it said I
would turn to it.
I've done that for 45 years and that's
how I got to know the scriptures.
If I read a book and I found
a verse quoted in brackets and I didn't
know what that verse meant.
I would put the book down turn to
the Bible.
Look up that verse.
Then continue reading the book.
I find 99% of Christians don't have
that habit.
And then they complain at the end.
Brother I don't know the Bible.
Well you'll never know the Bible if you're
not a little more hard working.
You know that Jesus said to Adam.
God said to Adam.
How are you going to earn your bread?
By the sweat of your brow.
How are you going to get the spiritual
bread?
You got to work hard.
God doesn't give bread to lazy people, physical
bread or spiritual bread.
But I want to encourage you.
The reason I say that is not just
to know.
I mean the Pharisees knew the scriptures but
they didn't know it.
They knew it only in their heads.
I want you to see the scriptures for
this reason mentioned in this verse.
2 Corinthians 3.18 With an unveiled face.
Now the veil is something that hinders us
from seeing the truth.
If I were to take my handkerchief and
put it on top of this Bible and
try to read it.
I wouldn't be able to read anything.
And if you put a cloth on top
of your Bible and try to read it.
You can't read it.
And here it says a lot of people
are reading the Bible with a veil over
it.
It says here in whenever they read Moses
verse 15.
There's a veil over their heart.
They can't read it.
It's like having a veil over my eyes
and I can't read.
And in those days when he talks about
Moses.
That was the scriptures they had.
The only scriptures they had was what Moses
had given.
Today we got the whole Bible.
The principle is this.
To this day when a lot of Christians
verse 15 read the Bible.
There's a veil over their heart.
They can't see what's written there.
That's amazing.
But when the veil is taken away.
When a man turns to the Lord the
veil is taken away.
There's only one way for that veil to
be removed.
That veil is a legalistic mindset.
It's a mindset that looks for verses to
find a technique in scripture.
It looks for verses to hit other people
on the head with.
And you just get into bondage and bring
other people into bondage.
But when you turn to the Lord.
And this is the one verse in scripture.
Where the Lord spoken of here is not
Jesus Christ but the Holy Spirit.
Everywhere else when it speaks about the Lord
in the New Testament it's Jesus.
But in this one place.
In the next verse it says the Lord
is the Holy Spirit.
That I'm talking about here.
Verse 17.
So when you turn to the Holy Spirit.
This veil is taken away.
You'll get out of this legalistic mindset.
If you turn to the Holy Spirit.
When you read the Bible.
But if you don't turn to the Holy
Spirit.
And you don't honor the Holy Spirit.
In your study of the scriptures.
You'll go to the scriptures with a legalistic
mindset.
And you'll get it all wrong.
It's like those Old Testament people.
That's what produces Pharisees.
But when you turn to the Lord.
That veil is taken away.
The Lord is the Spirit.
And where the Spirit of the Lord is.
There is liberty.
Just like we sang Jesus set me free.
What all did he set me free from?
He set me free from sin.
He set me free from Satan.
He set me free from religion and legalism.
And he set me free from worldliness.
And he set me free from judging other
people.
And he set me free from minding other
people's business.
And so many things.
Has he done all that?
Where the Spirit of the Lord is.
There is liberty.
We all.
Verse 18.
Now we understand it.
Without this veil.
Without this legalistic mindset.
With a face that's turned to the Holy
Spirit.
Let me paraphrase verse 18.
With a face that's turned to the Holy
Spirit.
And not trying to analyze scripture.
Or judge other people with these verses.
Or the number of Christians who judge other
people with scripture.
That's a veil.
You'll never understand it.
Do you know that verse in Hebrews 10
which says.
About Jesus.
Lo I come.
In the volume of the book.
It is written.
Of me.
Have you read that verse?
Maybe I should turn to that.
And show it to you before we come
back to 2 Corinthians 3.
It's a lovely verse.
Hebrews chapter 10.
It says in Hebrews chapter 10.
When he comes into the world.
Verse 5.
Now we're trying to see the real Jesus.
When he comes into the world.
Sacrifice and offering thou is not desired.
But a body thou is prepared for me.
And verse 7.
Behold I have come.
This is Jesus speaking.
I have come into the world.
And the role of the book.
That's the Bible.
It is written of me.
To do thy will O God.
So when Jesus.
He didn't have a physical Bible like this.
But his Bible was.
He listened to it in the synagogue.
And when he heard it.
You know what he heard written in the
scriptures?
Everything was referring to him.
Not to other people.
That's a wonderful way to read the Bible.
Lord everything I see here.
Is written for me.
It's not written for me to judge all
the other people I see around me.
You get out of this mindset.
If you want the liberty and the joy.
And the freedom of the Christian life.
Get out of this mindset.
This veil.
That makes you look at the scriptures.
In this other way.
That maybe you followed for so many years.
We got to break out of it.
The spirit of the Lord is to break
us.
When you say religion.
Jesus set me free from religion.
This is this religious mindset.
This is a veil.
But now.
When this veil is removed.
And I see in the scriptures written of
me.
Beholding as in a mirror.
We come back to 2nd Corinthians 3.18
now.
With this unveiled face.
We see in a mirror.
Now that mirror.
James chapter 1.
I think it's verse 24 or 25.
Says that mirror is the word of God.
When we read God's word.
It's like a man looking into a mirror.
So to paraphrase 2nd Corinthians 3.18. It
would be.
That we all with this legalistic mindset removed.
With this veil removed.
We look into God's word.
Which is the mirror.
And what do I see there?
I don't see commandments.
I don't see promises.
I don't see verses to hit other people
on the head with.
I don't see verses to tell my wife.
You know the bible says.
That you got to submit to me the
husband.
I don't see that.
I don't see a verse.
Where the wife replies.
You know the bible also says.
That you got to love me as Christ
loved the church.
And all these arguments that go on at
homes.
With people trying to go to scripture to
each other.
I don't see any of those things.
You know what I see in scripture.
When the Holy Spirit.
When I turn to the Holy Spirit.
Not to this legalistic mindset.
I see the glory of Jesus.
Have you seen the glory of Jesus in
scripture?
You know little little things.
Where you don't expect to see it.
I remember once seeing it.
When it says that.
People call Jesus the prince of devils.
Beelzebul.
And you know what he said.
Have you spoken a word against the son
of man?
It's forgiven.
What he was saying.
I want to paraphrase those words.
The son of man.
What he was saying is.
I'm just an ordinary man.
He who was almighty God.
Walked on this earth.
And always always said.
I'm the son of man.
Son of man.
I want you next time you read that
verse.
Read that expression.
To paraphrase it.
I'm an ordinary man.
He was not an ordinary man.
It's a bunch of ordinary men in Christianity.
Who walk around acting like they are God.
But the one who was almighty God.
When he walked on the earth.
He called himself an ordinary man.
And he lived like an ordinary man.
I want to say to all of you
my brothers and sisters.
No matter how much God uses you.
No matter how much God blesses you.
Always remember you are an ordinary man.
That's the glory of Jesus.
And he said.
Have you spoken a word against an ordinary
man?
It's forgiven.
I saw the glory of Jesus there.
I remember when Miriam.
Aaron's sister.
Spoke a word against Moses.
I mean she was 10-12 years older
than Moses.
If Moses is 80.
She was 92.
And that's something.
Another thing I saw in scripture by the
way.
When we were clapping and praising the Lord.
It says when the children of Israel.
Came out of.
The Red Sea.
And they saw the Egyptians.
Drowned there.
They were so excited.
That this 92 year old woman.
Took a timbrel.
And started dancing and praising the Lord.
Have you ever seen a 92 year old
woman with a timbrel.
Dancing and praising the Lord.
Because so excited that Jesus set me free.
That would be really something to see.
But we have become so sober.
Yeah.
Pharaoh was drowned.
That's right.
We are here.
But Miriam wasn't like that.
She probably saw all the others like that.
She took a timbrel and got so excited.
And started dancing.
And all the others started following her.
They were really excited.
But anyway.
Miriam criticized Moses.
And said why did you marry this woman.
It was none of her business who Moses
married.
But he criticized her.
And God got so upset.
With Miriam.
And said how dare you criticize my.
First of all.
Who somebody else marries is none of your
business.
Miriam just because you are not married.
You don't worry about who somebody else marries.
You mind your own business Miriam.
And you know what she got.
For criticizing God's servant.
Leprosy.
You know what the Pharisees got.
For calling Jesus a devil.
Forgiveness.
And the Lord asked me this question.
When people hurt you.
Criticize you.
Do evil to you.
What do you want them to get?
Leprosy or forgiveness.
I said that depends.
And the Lord said that depends on whether
you follow me or follow Moses.
I said Lord I want to follow you.
When people hurt you.
What do you want them to get?
Forgiveness.
I hope it is.
This is the real Jesus.
How do we have so many people.
Who say they are following Jesus.
And they are wishing that some evil will
come upon someone.
Who hurts them.
Some evil will come upon someone.
Who is not like them.
Who has got some other group.
And some calamity hit some other religious group.
We get excited about it.
You are followers of Moses.
Not Jesus.
We haven't seen the real Jesus.
Because when we go to the scriptures.
We are getting rules out of it.
We are not seeing the glory of Jesus.
This is the most comprehensive verse.
About the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
The first thing.
The Holy Spirit wants us to do.
When He fills our life.
Is to show us the glory of Jesus
Christ.
In the scriptures.
In little little passages.
Like this which I just showed you.
That when people hurt Him.
They didn't get leprosy.
They got forgiveness.
And when I see the glory of Jesus.
It says next thing the Holy Spirit does.
Is verse 18.
He transforms me.
Into that same image.
Being transformed.
Now when I say being transformed.
It's what somebody else does to me.
It's not me transforming myself.
See that's the second mistake people make.
Basically two mistakes.
Mentioned in this verse.
First of all.
When they read the Bible.
They don't see the glory of Jesus.
Number one.
Biggest mistake that lots and lots of Christians.
How do I know?
Because I made it myself for so many
years.
I'm not preaching from some pedestal.
Looking down on people.
Who never.
As if I never made any mistakes.
I want to tell you I was in
the gutter.
I made every single mistake any of you
have ever made.
But I learned some lessons from those mistakes.
One of the biggest mistakes I made was.
When I went to the scriptures.
I didn't seek to see the glory of
Jesus there.
Some people go to the scriptures.
To prepare sermons.
I finished with that.
I'm not going to scripture to prepare sermons.
Jesus did not study the Bible.
To prepare sermons.
No.
I did that for many years.
I finished with it.
I want to be like Jesus.
And he never went to the scriptures to
prepare sermons.
He went to the scriptures.
To understand his father's will.
And the volume of the book is written
of me.
This is the trouble.
With the leaders of the five churches in
Revelation.
It says.
The Lord told John.
Tell those messengers.
In that church.
They were messengers to the churches.
When it says angels.
The word angel is really messenger.
It's like that in all our Indian translations.
Messenger of the church.
Tell the messenger of the church.
There's something fundamentally wrong with you people.
With you.
Why couldn't they hear.
The Holy Spirit telling that to them directly.
For example.
The messenger in Ephesus.
Why couldn't he hear the Holy Spirit saying.
Hey.
You've left your first love.
You don't love the Lord like you did
20 years ago.
Why couldn't he hear that himself.
Why did he need some other prophet.
To send a letter to him.
Saying listen.
The Lord says.
You don't love him like you did 20
years ago.
Why couldn't the messenger in Sardis.
Hear the Holy Spirit saying to him.
You've just got a name that you're alive.
You get up and preach.
And get a name as a great preacher.
And an elder in that church.
But God sees you're dead spiritually.
You're not walking with me.
You don't have spiritual life.
I know how things are going on in
your home.
I know how you deal with your finances.
You're dead.
Why couldn't he hear that himself.
He was not an Old Testament person.
The Old Testament I can understand.
You had to go to Elisha or somebody
else.
To find out what God was saying.
But he was in the New Testament.
The Holy Spirit had been poured out on
all people.
God had said in the New Covenant.
All shall know me.
Why couldn't those five.
Leaders of those churches.
Hear what God was saying to them.
Why did God have to send a message
to them.
Through a prophet.
You know when God cannot communicate with you
directly.
That's when he has to communicate with you.
Through a prophet.
There are lots of things God says to
us through prophets.
But those should be in addition.
In addition.
To what God is already saying to us
directly.
We read in Acts.
I'll give you an example of that.
In Acts chapter 13 we read that.
The prophets gathered together.
To fast and to worship the Lord.
And while they were fasting and worshiping the
Lord.
The Holy Spirit said.
Separate me Saul and Barnabas.
To the work to which.
I have already called them.
That means Saul and Barnabas had already heard.
The Holy Spirit saying.
Something to them.
And the prophets only confirmed to them.
What they had already heard.
That's the way it should be.
Thank God for prophets in the church.
But those prophets should only be confirming.
What God has already spoken to you in
your heart.
But these guys.
These five leaders, messengers in churches.
They were not hearing what God was saying.
And you know why?
I'll tell you why.
Because they were always preparing sermons for other
people.
They were always busy preparing sermons.
For their churches.
That they couldn't hear what God was saying
to them.
And it's the same thing with.
Many many people today.
Very often we find that people are.
Not able to hear what God is saying
to them.
Because.
They are busy.
Finding fault with somebody else.
Criticizing somebody else.
Finding fault with this person, that person, the
other person.
I want to encourage you.
When you come to the scriptures.
Say Lord help me to see the glory
of Jesus.
And you know what happens when we see
the glory of Jesus.
When we see the real Jesus.
Immediately.
We see our need.
And then.
The second wonderful thing here.
The second big mistake is.
I told you the first big mistake.
That we go to the scriptures.
And we don't see the glory of Jesus.
But try to get messages for other people.
Or find what's wrong with other people.
That's the first mistake.
Don't ever make it again.
The second mistake is.
Once we've got rid of that first mistake.
We've come to scriptures.
We've seen the glory of Jesus.
Second mistake is.
That when we've seen our own need.
In the light of the glory of Jesus.
We think.
Now we've got to try and change ourselves.
I want to tell you right now.
You can't change yourself.
For fifteen hundred years.
The Jewish people.
Lived under the law.
And tried to change themselves.
And do you know what they produced?
Pharisees.
Self-righteous Pharisees.
Who killed Jesus Christ.
That's what you produce.
When you try to do it all yourself.
That's what it means to live under the
law.
You can be as.
Anti-Jesus Christ.
As the Pharisees were.
When you think you're the holiest person around.
The Pharisees thought they were the holiest people
around.
But they were the worst.
People on the face of the earth.
Because they killed Jesus Christ.
The Romans didn't kill him.
The Greeks didn't kill him.
Pilate tried his best to release Jesus.
Who was the one who wanted to kill
Jesus?
These people who studied the Bible.
But they never saw the glory of God
there.
The whole Bible spoke about Jesus.
Genesis to Malachi.
If they had read Genesis.
They'd see the seed of the woman.
That's Jesus.
If they see the ladder.
Jacob's ladder that went up from heaven.
That was Jesus.
The serpent lifted up in the wilderness.
That was Jesus.
The Passover lamb.
That was Jesus.
Isaiah 53.
That was Jesus.
The son of righteousness.
Malachi 3 was Jesus.
It was Jesus all the way in the
scriptures.
And when Jesus came into their midst.
These guys who had studied the Bible.
From Genesis to Malachi called him the devil.
Can you see how blind you can be.
Studying the Bible.
And there was that Roman centurion.
Who had never read one page of the
Bible.
He said.
Oh boy.
This is the son of God.
How did he get that life?
Which all these people who studied the Bible
didn't get.
That just shows.
How you can be totally blind.
When you go through Bible study.
If you don't consent.
If you don't allow the Holy.
If you don't open yourself to the Holy
Spirit.
And I tell you.
We live in a day and age.
Where we have two extremes.
We have some people who don't honor the
Holy Spirit at all.
Because they are so clever.
They say.
I've got the Bible.
And I've got my commentaries.
And I've got my concordance.
And I can study.
And I understand.
And you get it all wrong.
And then there are other people whom the
devil has led to the other extreme of
all types of fanaticism.
Where they think Holy Spirit is all excitement
and noise and emotion.
And that's another extreme.
And I want to tell you.
The devil is happy with both these groups
of people.
Because he's got one people at one extreme
and the other people at the other extreme.
This is a disease which I call Pendulumitis.
You know.
Some at one extreme.
You know how pendulum swings.
Some people the pendulum is stuck here.
And some people the pendulum is stuck there.
These are the mistakes.
The Holy Spirit is the one who transforms
us into Jesus likeness.
You cannot understand Scripture without the Holy Spirit.
And you cannot be transformed into the likeness
of Christ.
Even if you try for a thousand years.
The Jews tried it for 1500 years.
Very often I find Christians are reading the
Scriptures to get a technique.
Oh I've got to do this now.
And then they see something else of the
life of Jesus and say, I've got to
add this into my life.
This is exactly what Jesus spoke about.
They've got this old garment.
And they come to a meeting and they
get one patch called humility.
Okay I'm going to stitch this new patch
onto this old garment.
And then they go to another meeting and
they hear about holiness.
And they got that patch onto the old
garment.
And they go to some other meeting and
they hear about something else.
Oh I got a witness.
And they put that patch on.
Here's a garment full of patches.
And Jesus said this is not Christianity.
Throw away the whole old thing.
You've got to get a completely new garment.
And you can't produce it.
This is the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
So here's the verse.
The Holy Spirit shows you the glory of
Jesus in Scripture.
And the Holy Spirit transforms you into that
likeness.
We've got to submit to it.
We got to submit to it.
And let God do that work.
It's something like you know, God producing a
baby in a mother's womb.
No matter how hard a woman tries, she
can't produce a baby.
God's got to do it.
There are millions of mothers through the years,
millions of women through the years who tried
so hard, never got a baby.
It proves to us that it's God.
Children are God's gift.
It's like that.
I mean if producing a child is a
gift of God, can you imagine something a
million times more difficult than that?
Becoming like Jesus.
You think you can do that on your
own?
They're trying to produce a child in a
laboratory now.
They say, well we don't need God and
all.
We can make a child in a laboratory.
Do you think they'll ever succeed?
Never.
But do you know for so many years,
Christians have been trying to produce Jesus on
their own.
I think they're crazy.
Just as crazy as these people trying to
produce a child in a laboratory.
You can't do it.
When are we going to learn?
We can't do it.
It's got to be a miracle of God,
a birth.
A child being born in a mother's womb
is a miracle of God.
And the Holy Spirit alone can make us
like Jesus.
Very important to understand this.
That's why once you understand, Lord, my whole
life is to be dependent on the Holy
Spirit.
This is new covenant life.
So when we think of the real Jesus,
we got to start where He was up
there in heaven.
That's where we start looking at Jesus.
We don't look at Jesus healing the sick.
That's many years later.
Let's start with when He was up in
heaven.
What was it that made Him come down
to earth?
We got to start there.
It was a concern for people who did
not have what He had.
Did you get that?
I haven't said it the tenth time yet.
It's about the fourth time.
A concern for people who did not have
what He had.
This was His holiness.
And when we have a little bit of
that.
And what did He have?
He didn't have money there.
He wasn't thinking of money.
He wasn't thinking of all these poor people.
They are living in such small huts.
Let's get some better housing for them.
Or they are driving old cars.
Let's help them to get.
There weren't many cars those days.
Old carts or whatever it was.
He wasn't out to get them better bullock
carts.
No!
What did He have in heaven?
He had a life.
There was something that was eternal.
Bullock carts and houses.
He knew would perish.
He didn't come to earth to teach people
to have better crops and dig better wells
and build better houses and live healthier lives.
No!
There was something heaven had.
He knew things which are eternal.
The life of God.
The life of purity.
Of genuine humility.
Of love and compassion and they didn't have
it.
And He said, I enjoy this in such
richness.
A life of perpetual joy.
Never being depressed and never discouraged.
You know like the angels in heaven.
And He said, look at all these people
on earth.
They don't have it.
I've got to get them to this life.
And what will be the price for it?
You'll have to go down.
You'll have to suffer.
Be called the devil.
Spat upon.
Treated badly.
They won't value you.
Even though you did so much for them.
They won't value you.
For two thousand years they won't value you.
They'll still follow religion.
In spite of all the preachers that tell
them to see the glory of Jesus.
They are so stubborn.
They'll still follow religion rather than Jesus.
Are you willing Lord to go through all
that?
Sure.
It's worth it.
But Lord the angels say, you'll get only
a few people.
Millions will just reject you.
And even some who take your name will
still follow religion.
They won't follow you.
It's still worth it.
Jesus said to get the few.
You know that's what the Lord's looking for.
And I want to say He's looking for
people like that right here.
He's looking for those few who are gripped
by His glory.
And He came for them.
He said it's worth it.
Millions go to hell but He still felt
it was worth it to get a few
people who'd be gripped by this wonderful life
they have in heaven.
That's what He came for.
A concern for people and He was willing
to pay any price to get it.
When my holiness is something like that, I've
got the real thing.
But if my holiness just is concerned with
my speech and the way I treat, I
deal with everything right financially and I dress
properly and I keep my home properly and
I bring up my children properly.
Well that's good.
I'm not saying it's bad.
It's much better than millions of other Christians.
But I just want to say that is
not the holiness of Jesus.
That's all I'm trying to tell you.
I hope we get it.
That's not the holiness of Jesus.
The holiness of Jesus had a tremendous concern
for other people.
And many times the Lord has spoken to
me.
Do you want these people who listen to
you to have the life that I've given
you?
I say yes Lord.
Then don't try to impress them.
Help them.
I remember in my younger days, I wanted
to impress people.
And the Lord said you'll never help them
if you want to impress them.
Do you know what is one of the
biggest hindrances to God making us a blessing
to other people?
Because we try to impress them.
When we think about Jesus setting me free,
will you ask Jesus to set you free
from the desire to impress people?
Boy, that'll be a tremendous deliverance.
To impress people with my holiness or the
way I dress or the way I brought
up my children.
Are you guys impressed?
And we don't say it so crudely, but
we expect it.
Just finish with it.
Jesus did not come here on earth to
impress people.
He came here to help them.
And the Lord said to me, if you
want to help them, stop trying to impress
them.
I said sure.
I don't want to impress anybody in the
world.
I want to help them.
I want to help them to come to
this wonderful life.
A little bit of it, a little taste
of it God's given me.
And even that so many people don't have.
For example, I've so many times had to
talk to people about do you know that
Jesus was never in a bad mood?
Never!
He was under such tremendous pressure at times.
Tremendous pressure.
I don't think any of us have a
remotest idea the type of pressures Jesus faced
on earth.
Every demon was after him.
God exposed him to all the demons of
hell.
He let him live on earth as a
man just like we are.
And can you imagine how much the devil
targeted him?
I've seen the devil targeting God's servants who
are faithful.
I can imagine how the devil targeted Paul.
But can you imagine how the devil would
have targeted Jesus?
The pressures he was under.
But he was never in a bad mood.
He never woke up in a bad mood.
He was never in a bad mood I
don't know if people disturbed him at any
hour of day or night.
This is the life of God.
You cannot do it.
You cannot produce it.
And we all admit we can't produce that.
I mean even small pressures get us worked
up.
But there is a life in Jesus which
God can give.
Jesus said, take my yoke upon you and
you will find rest for your souls.
For my yoke is easy.
My burden is light.
I want to say to all of you,
my brothers and sisters, there is a life
in Jesus far higher than what we have
experienced.
A life of rest in the midst of
tremendous activity.
Nobody worked as hard as Jesus did.
But in the midst of it all, he
was at rest.
Inner rest.
I mean, he may have been very busy
in the carpenter shop doing so many things
and all his four brothers and two sisters
teasing him and harassing him at home.
I can imagine how life was so much
of pressure at home.
He had four brothers and two sisters we
read in Mark 6.
At least two, probably more.
And none of them believed in him.
Joseph was probably dead by then and Mary
was the only one who believed in him.
He had all these younger ones ganging up
against him for 30 years.
Or at least for 20 years.
Those younger ones, they grew up and he
was in rest in the middle of that.
He would never have a wrong attitude to
them.
How did he live that life?
This is the real Jesus.
It wasn't preaching.
He wasn't just going around showing people how
holy he was.
No.
Let me show you, when he came to
earth, what did we read about him?
It says in Luke's Gospel chapter 2, one
of the first things, I think almost the
first thing written about Jesus in Luke chapter
2.
You know, we saw, we're starting with how
he came from heaven, why he came from
heaven.
We saw that already.
Now he's come to earth and what is
one of the first things?
You know, we're going from the kindergarten when
a person, when we send a child to
school, we don't put him in 8th grade
straight away.
A lot of Christians try to jump to
8th grade and that's why they have so
many problems.
I want to encourage you to start at
the kindergarten.
Here's the kindergarten.
The kindergarten is how, why did Jesus come
to earth?
Number one, we saw that.
He came because he had a tremendous concern
for people who did not have what he
had.
And he wanted them to have it.
And he was willing to pay any price
for them to have it.
That's holiness.
When you're willing to pay any price for
people to have what God's given you.
I know many times the Lord's you know,
I've looked at Jesus and I've seen how
he called the Pharisees you generation of vipers.
I've never called anybody by those, by such
a title.
You know why?
Shall I tell you why?
Because I don't love them as much as
Jesus loved them.
My love for them is much less.
That's why I don't have the authority to
call them a generation of vipers.
I've never turned around to a co-worker
of mine and said, get behind me Satan.
How dare you speak like that?
Like Jesus spoke to his co-worker Peter.
You know why?
I don't love my co-workers as much
as Jesus loved.
His love was so intense.
And what the Lord showed me was that
he had the right and the authority to
speak like that because he was going to
give his life for them.
You think that you can speak like that.
Ask yourself whether you're willing to lay down
your life for them.
If you're not willing to lay down your
life for them you don't have the authority
to speak like that.
And I say, I want to be honest.
I say, Lord, I still discover areas in
my life where I'm seeking my own.
I'm sorry to say that.
I'm working on it.
But I'm not yet at the place where
I'm willing to lay down my life for
all these people and shed my blood for
all these people.
So I still don't have the authority to
call them generation of vipers and get behind
me Satan.
You know there are young self appointed prophets.
Self appointed prophets who get up and try
to imitate Jesus.
Oh you generation of vipers and this that
and the other.
You religious Pharisees and this.
Just hang on.
Ask yourself whether you're willing to give your
life for them.
Before you get up and try to imitate
Jesus' words.
It's easy to imitate Jesus' words.
The difficult thing is to imitate his life.
To follow his life.
It's very easy to get up and preach
like Jesus.
You'll be the biggest Pharisee of all.
It's compassion and love which motivated him, which
brought him down to earth.
And when he came to earth, Luke chapter
2.
Luke's gospel chapter 2 verse 40.
Now this is a very important verse.
You probably never hear this message in any
evangelical church or preacher because I never heard
it and I've heard most of the great
preachers in their books and many others in
45 years and I never heard anyone preach
on this verse.
What does this verse say?
Jesus, the child continued to grow and become
strong.
Increasing in wisdom and it's this last part
I want you to see.
The grace of God was upon him.
What he had over him was not a
halo but the grace of God was upon
him.
Now the reason why I say this is
a very important verse is because this is
the first man who walked on earth upon
whom the grace of God rested.
The first man upon whom the grace of
God rested.
In the Old Testament you read that Noah
found grace in the eyes of the Lord
but all that means is he found favor
in the eyes of the Lord.
It does not say that the grace of
God rested on Noah.
No.
Nobody in the Old Testament had the grace
of God resting upon him because grace came
John 1 17 through Jesus Christ.
Moses brought the law but Jesus brought grace
and it says the grace of God rested
upon Jesus.
It's very important to see this.
He was the first person who walked on
the earth with the grace of God upon
him and he lived and overcame sin and
overcame Satan and did everything he did on
earth because the grace of God was upon
him.
Did you know that?
As a child the grace of God was
upon him and all through his life the
grace of God was on him and that's
how he lived the life he lived.
Now that's very important for us to understand.
Now grace is different from mercy.
Mercy means forgiveness.
God, Lord be merciful to me a sinner.
Jesus never had to pray that.
Jesus did not need mercy because he never
sinned.
You and I need mercy but you and
I need mercy plus grace and Jesus had
grace upon him.
That's how he lived.
Now a lot of people can't understand that.
If I were to ask you this question,
I mean before you heard my message today,
if I were to ask you do you
think Jesus needed grace?
I think most of you would say no.
I need grace but not Jesus.
Yet it says grace of God was upon
him.
Now what happens to us when the grace
of God is upon us?
Now I'll show you that.
Romans chapter 6 verse 14.
In Romans chapter 6 verse 14 we see
sin shall not be master over you when
you are under grace and not under law.
There are two types of Christians.
Those who are under law and those who
are under grace.
And to be under law means I'm struggling
to please God.
Like all those people tried for 1500 years.
I hear some preacher say this is what
you must do.
Okay, I'm going to struggle to do that.
I don't need the Holy Spirit.
I'm just going to do it.
You know there are people who stir people
to be missionaries.
What are you doing there?
Working, making money for yourself and there are
heathen perishing out there in Africa and India
and China.
And a guy gets all disturbed and gives
up his job in order to be a
missionary.
And he goes there and he's an absolute
flop and a failure and comes back broken
down and nervous breakdown.
Why?
Because God never called him.
He got moved and stirred by some powerful
person with a personality with soul power, with
human soul power and there's a lot of
it going on in Christendom today.
Why are you sitting there and eating so
much food?
Look at all those poor people out there.
Hungry, starving.
You get all convicted and you send some
money to them.
This is not Christianity.
It looks nice, but it's not Christianity.
The father didn't turn to Jesus and say,
what are you doing sitting here when all
those people out there are dying on earth?
He didn't go like that.
And Jesus didn't tell his disciples, what are
you fellas sitting here catching fish when all
these people are dying out there in Africa
and China and all that.
He never sent anybody to China or Africa.
This is all human methods.
This is the principles on which communism arose.
Why are you there serving as slaves under
your masters when you can break free?
You've got nothing to lose but your chains.
Workers of the world unite.
This is human and there's a lot of
that human psychological pressure upon people to become
missionaries, to speak in tongues, to go out
and give prophecies to people.
Whatever comes to your mind, that's a prophecy.
All this type of garbage that's going on
in the world today.
It can be in any area.
Put pressure on people to do something and
they do it.
That's working, living under the law and it's
a miserable life.
And Jesus said, come to me all of
you who are weary and heavy laden with
all these pressures that preachers have put upon
you.
Come to me.
I don't put pressures on you like that.
My yoke is easy.
My burden is light.
Take my yoke upon you, not the yoke
that all these fellas are trying to put
upon you.
To do this and to do that and
do the other thing.
What a life living under the law.
You've got to do this and you've got
to do that and you've got to do
the other thing and then only God will
accept you.
And poor simple people like sheep, pressurized by
all these people with all their psychological manipulations
force people into slavery.
There's a tremendous amount of slavery going on
in Christendom today.
Jesus came to set us free.
And I tell you this, don't ever listen
to all these preachers.
And you could find some of them arising
in our midst too if you're not careful.
In your church, wherever you are.
Jesus left people free.
He didn't use you know, manipulation of his
voice to try and get people to do
something.
There's a lot of that today.
You know, move people.
Now we're going to give the invitation and
you ask the organist to just play something
softly.
While I'm praying, just keep playing the organ
and let's get all these people in a
nice sentimental mood and come on, get up,
get up, get up, come on, come forward.
Jesus never did it.
Peter didn't did it on the day of
Pentecost.
He didn't get an organist there to try
and move people to come forward.
No.
He had the Holy Spirit.
And today it's because they don't have the
Holy Spirit that they've replaced the Holy Spirit
with music and pressure and psychological techniques and
all this.
And preachers have to get a degree in
psychology now in order to go and preach
properly.
This is the tragedy.
It is another Jesus.
It's not the real one.
Don't be fooled by all this.
When grace is upon us, we're not under
law, we're not letting anybody manipulate us or
tell us how we are to behave or
how we are to dress or how we
are to do this or that.
The Holy Spirit tells us everything.
We're not under rules.
We're under grace and what the mark of
being under grace is sin does not rule
over us.
You suddenly get a power within to overcome
anger and bitterness and unforgiving attitudes and love
of money.
And the Holy Spirit shows you selfishness.
Now don't get discouraged when you get light
on yourself.
You know many people when they hear a
message they seek the Lord and they suddenly
get light on their selfishness, they get discouraged.
I'm not discouraged.
Because I've discovered something through the years which
I'll tell you.
The mark of God's blessing upon my life
is that I get light on myself.
The mark that I'm in the light is
that I get light on myself.
The mark that you're in the darkness is
that you don't get any light on yourself.
You're utterly selfish and you don't get any
light on it.
You're utterly proud and you don't get any
light on it.
You're rude and arrogant and you don't get
any light on it.
Boy, you're in the darkness, sure.
These are the people who never apologize to
their wives, never apologize to their husbands because
they never make a mistake.
They're like God already.
But the rest of us ordinary human beings
we haven't yet become like Christ.
We find we need to apologize pretty frequently.
We're pressing on.
You know what happened to Isaiah?
I want to show you something.
Isaiah chapter 5.
I don't know whether you've noticed this.
Isaiah chapter 5.
Listen to this.
This is a preacher and what he's preaching
is the truth.
It's inspired scripture.
Verse 8.
Woe unto those who add house to house
and join field to field.
Verse 11.
Woe unto those who rise early in the
morning that they may pursue strong drink.
Verse 18.
Woe unto those who drag iniquity with the
cords of falsehood.
You know he's preaching hard messages to all
these people.
Verse 20.
Woe unto those who call evil good and
good evil.
Verse 21.
Woe unto those who are wise in their
own eyes.
And on and on and on and on.
You know what happened in chapter 6?
It says, I saw the glory of the
Lord.
And you know what he says then?
Verse 5.
Chapter 6 verse 5.
Woe is me.
Do you see a sudden change there?
And when that happens to you, you know
you've seen the Lord.
Until then, you haven't seen the Lord.
Everything you say may be absolutely right.
Woe unto that Christian group.
Do you know what all goes on there,
brother?
I'll tell you.
Here are 25 things that happens in that
group.
And this other group.
Boy, you haven't heard the things which go
on there.
I read it in the papers and I
read it there and somebody was there told
me that here's another 45 things about that
group.
And this other group.
Boy, that's the worst of the lot.
Woe unto them and woe unto them.
Everything down to the last thing may be
absolutely correct.
And then one day you see Jesus.
What do you say?
Woe is me.
You're getting light on yourself.
Do you see the number of Christians in
the world today who haven't seen the Lord?
They have not seen the Lord.
They've got a scripture.
They've got a verse to hit that person
on the head with and the other person,
the other person, the other person.
They haven't seen Jesus yet.
And if you see Jesus, you'll see so
much of yourself.
And all that glory of yours will disappear.
Your righteousness will turn into filthy rags.
And you'll say, woe is me.
And the moment he said that, this is
a wonderful thing.
It says, the angel took a fire from
the altar.
Verse 6 and touched my mouth with it
and my sin was gone.
My mouth was on fire.
And the Lord said, Isaiah, verse 8, chapter
6, verse 8, Isaiah, now you're ready to
go and preach for me.
Do you want to be ready?
Do you want to be ready to be
a witness for Christ?
See the Lord first.
And you'll see yourself.
And you won't have so many woes on
other people.
And say, woe is me.
That's why I say, the mark of God's
blessing on my life is, I get light
on myself.
And the fire from heaven touches my mouth.
Oh, that's what we need, my brothers and
sisters.
Did you notice this little thing here?
It's very beautiful in verse 6 and 7.
These little things hidden in scripture.
How did the seraphim take this burning coal
from the altar?
Did he take it with his hands?
Have you read it there?
Can you tell me?
With tongs.
Why?
Because it was too hot for him to
touch.
But what was too hot for an angel
to touch, could touch the mouth of Isaiah.
Isn't that beautiful?
The fire of God which no angel can
touch, can touch me.
And it can set me on fire.
I need the fire of heaven.
And I can't think of the number of
times that I have wept and prayed before
God.
Say, God, you can take away anything from
my life, but don't take the fire away
from my heart.
Or from my lips.
I want it to burn like it burned
when I was a young man and I
became a Christian.
I'm 65 now, I want it to burn
now and if I live to the age
of 90, I want it to burn even
more.
Pray that.
If you don't pray it, if you're not
earnest about it, if you're not getting light
on yourself, you'll never get the fire on
your lips.
It's when Isaiah got light on his life,
that the fire came and cleansed his sin
and prepared him, set his mouth on fire
for God.
And when your mouth is on fire for
God, God will bring people to you.
I've seen that happen so many times.
I love this lovely verse in Luke's gospel
chapter 3.
Luke's gospel chapter 3.
There's some wonderful things written in scripture.
When the Holy Spirit opened your eyes to
it, you suddenly see something.
You've read it so many times, but you
haven't seen it.
You can read something and not see something.
It says here, it's a wonderful verse, verses
1 and 2.
Listen to this.
These are all the great men of the
world.
Tiberius Caesar is a big list of all
the greatest men in the world at that
time.
Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate, Herod, Philip, Licinius.
Okay, we got the list of all the
greatest people in the world.
Now the greatest people in the religious world.
Annas, Caiaphas, and the Word of God bypassed
all these people and came to one man
in the wilderness named John.
I love that.
It's happening today.
The Word of God bypasses all the great
men in the world, bypasses all the great
religious leaders and comes to some humble man
seeking God in some wilderness.
You can be that.
I can be that.
And when the Word of God came to
him, he didn't have to have any advertising
campaign.
Say, hey, I've got God's Word.
Come and listen to me.
No.
It says people came to him from all
the district around Jordan.
Not because he was preaching prosperity.
No.
He was preaching repentance.
How many people travel long distances into the
desert to listen to someone preaching repentance?
Imagine, God could do that.
He can do it today.
I believe God needs a ministry on earth
today in many, many places exactly like the
ministry of John the Baptist preparing people for
the coming of the Lord.
That's what he did.
And the church is supposed to do the
same thing today to prepare people for the
coming of the Lord.
If you want to follow a pattern of
ministry, follow the pattern of John the Baptist.
Living before God, caring for no man, seeking
God's face, not interested in anybody's money or
anybody's honor, willing to lose his head, telling
a king you shouldn't have married that woman,
somebody else's wife, things like that.
He didn't want to lower his standard.
He lost his head.
And you may lose yours.
So what?
It's better to do God's will on earth
and lose our head and go.
And John was a young man.
He was less than 33 when he died.
Yeah.
I believe God wants people like that.
God wants you and me to be like
that.
When Jesus came on earth, the grace of
God was upon him.
That's what we saw in Luke chapter 2.
And when the grace of God was upon
him, he lived under that grace all through
his life.
We saw how he began.
Luke chapter 2 verse 40.
The grace of God.
Now let's see how he died.
Okay?
We come to the end of his life.
We saw how he began in Luke 2,
40.
Let's turn to Hebrews and chapter...
We're trying to see the real Jesus.
Hebrews chapter 2.
Hebrews chapter 2, it says here, verse
9.
We do see Jesus who has been made
for a little while lower than the angels
because of the suffering of death.
Crowned with glory and honor that by the
grace of God, he might taste death for
every man.
How did he die?
How could he go through that cross?
By the grace of God.
How could he endure all that he endured
on Calvary?
By the grace of God.
So we saw the beginning of his life
in Luke 2, 40.
We saw the end of his life in
Hebrews 2, 9.
That was by the grace of God and
this is by the grace of God.
And all those 33 and a half years
in between, the grace of God was upon
him.
And the good news he gives to us
is...
You know what it is?
Let me turn to you.
Turn you to Zechariah chapter 12.
That's a prophecy about this new covenant age.
Zechariah was one of the last prophets in
the Old Testament and he preached a wonderful
message about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
And he said it would happen in Jerusalem.
None of the earlier prophets said it so
clearly as Zechariah.
Zechariah chapter 12.
And he defined the Holy Spirit.
Isn't it good to get a definition of
the Holy Spirit?
Zechariah chapter 12 verse 10, I'll pour out
on the house of David and the inhabitants
of Jerusalem the spirit of grace.
That was the prophecy.
Nobody could have it in the Old Testament.
But the same spirit that brought grace upon
Jesus' life was now to be poured out
on those who were waiting for the Lord
on the day of Pentecost.
It was poured out on them.
The spirit of grace and supplication.
Now I want to define that.
Supplication means it's more than prayer.
Specific request.
Prayer would be Lord bless me.
Specific request would be Lord please open my
blind eyes.
It's a specific request.
Lord bless me is a general prayer.
Supplication, Lord and persistent.
I want this Lord.
I want pour out your spirit on me.
I want the gift of prophecy.
I want to serve you.
And a supplication to cry out to God.
God's going to give me the Holy Spirit
to make me cry out to Him.
To make me dependent on Him for everything
I do.
That's the type of life God wants to
give me through the Holy Spirit.
A life which is dependent on Him.
See supplication shows a picture of a man
it's a picture of a man who is
helpless.
It's used in old English about poor beggars
who go to kings and supplicate the king
saying please can you do this for me.
God's going to pour out on me the
spirit of supplication.
Oh my father in heaven do this for
me.
And all the time.
And when the Holy Spirit's poured upon you
it's the spirit of grace and supplication.
Everything that you need.
My God shall supply all your need according
to His riches and glory by Christ Jesus.
But it comes through supplication and the Holy
Spirit comes within us to make us supplicate
like that.
To pray and ask and ask and ask
and to get it.
Is there a need in your life?
A spiritual need?
Is there a place where the devil sort
of got a foot into your home or
your church or your life?
Supplicate.
Let the Holy Spirit supplicate through you.
God wants to set you free.
This is how Jesus lived.
That's why He went often to the wilderness
to pray.
He lived that life of dependence on the
Father.
Prayer was not a ritual to Him.
He wasn't praying by the clock.
Lots of Christians pray by the clock.
And you read books of these people who
spend so many hours in prayer and so
many hours in prayer and so many hours
in prayer and we've read so much of
it that we think spirituality is to spend
so many hours in prayer.
It says only once about Jesus that He
spent all night in prayer.
He probably spent many nights in prayer.
I don't know.
But it says only once about Him because
that was not they didn't measure prayer by
the clock in the New Testament times.
This is a subsequent Christian tradition.
Oh brother, He's a holy man.
He spends four hours in prayer.
I'm not impressed by this.
I've seen some of these holy people.
They're some of the most difficult people to
get along with.
They don't impress me.
To Jesus, prayer was like breathing.
You breathe for four hours a day.
Oh brother, He breathes for four hours every
day.
For Jesus, prayer was like breathing.
It was Were you conscious before I started
speaking about breathing that you're breathing right now?
And now when I tell you aren't you
breathing, all of you suddenly became conscious that
you're breathing.
But before I said it, what were you
doing for the last 45 minutes?
Or one hour?
You're breathing without knowing it.
That's how Jesus prayed.
It was part of His life, His breathing.
And the more we become like Jesus, the
more prayer will be like breathing.
When prayer is a strain, have you seen
people with asthma?
This is They have a problem.
This is not normal.
And when people have to have a difficulty
to pray, they've got asthma, spiritual asthma.
It's not normal.
You've got to get over it.
You've got to be healed of it.
We've got to see Jesus.
The real Jesus delivers.
Do you know who prayed and impressed people
with their prayer?
The Pharisees.
Do you know who fasted, tried to impress
people with their fasting?
Pharisees.
Jesus fasted.
Pharisees fasted.
But there was a world of difference between
the two.
Jesus prayed.
The Pharisees prayed.
There's a world of difference between the two.
You need to ask yourself whether you're praying
like the Pharisees or like Jesus.
Whether you're fasting like the Pharisees or like
Jesus.
And it's very subtle.
If you're very conscious of it.
How much?
It's like a man being conscious.
Well, I breathed about 10,000 times today.
Did you know that?
10,000 times.
Don't you think I'm a great guy?
I breathed 10,000 times today.
That's how the Pharisees.
Very conscious of what they were doing.
And how much they prayed.
I remember when I was a young Christian.
I didn't know this difference.
And I said, boy, I've got to spend
all night in prayer.
And I got down on my knees.
I was working in the Navy on a
ship.
And I said, I'm going to endure through
this.
And time was moving so slowly.
I thought it was morning.
It was still 10 o'clock at night.
I was determined to go through it.
Oh, it's still only midnight.
Finally, I got through it on my knees.
And I had accomplished it.
It was like climbing Mount Everest.
I had done something.
Do you think that was even remotely like
Jesus praying?
It wasn't anywhere near it.
It was a Pharisee.
I was trying to get through a feat.
And be proud of it?
No.
Let's see the real Jesus.
For him, prayer was an expression of his
dependence on the Father.
Father, I can't do this without you.
Another thing about Jesus praying was I think
a lot of Jesus praying was listening.
Prayer is like speaking on a telephone.
Now, the telephone has got a mouthpiece and
a earpiece.
You listen and you speak.
Now, what would you think of me if
I were on a telephone and I was
speaking, speaking, speaking, speaking, speaking, speaking, speaking, speaking
for one hour?
You'd say, well, the other guy at the
other end of the line must be some
unimportant fellow because Zac's speaking to him for
one hour.
It doesn't give him a chance to talk.
But supposing I spent one hour and I
spoke about two minutes and I listened.
Yes.
Oh, thank you, brother.
You think, boy, that other person at the
other end must be a very important person
whom Zac respects a lot.
And you could just get that just by
listening to me on the phone.
How do you pray to God when you
spend one hour?
How much have you spent listening?
Okay, let me ask you to put it
another way.
When you're talking to a really godly person
who you know is a hundred times more
godly than you are, would you talk more
or would you let him talk more?
There's no catch in this.
Very simple answer.
I'm not asking what young people today do.
Young people today are so arrogant and proud.
They think so much about themselves.
They probably talk a lot.
But I'm talking what is a normal thing
for a humble person to do.
I think he'd talk more.
I think he'd listen more, not talk more.
He'd let the other person talk more.
What do you think if you're talking to
God almighty himself?
Do you think he should listen more or
talk more?
What do you think?
What do you think is a sensible thing?
I discovered just listening.
What am I going to inform God about
in any case?
Which he doesn't know.
Lord, did you know about this other thing
over here and the other thing over here?
I need to listen.
The major part of Jesus' prayers and this
will revolutionize your prayer life if you hear
me saying it ten times.
I've said it only once so far.
That you've got to listen more than you
speak.
Let every man be swift to hear and
slow to speak.
Have you read that in James chapter 1?
Especially when we come before God.
Have you read this other verse in Ecclesiastes?
Chapter 5.
Ecclesiastes chapter 5 verse 2.
Don't be hasty in word when you come
before God.
For God is in heaven and you are
on earth.
Therefore let your words be few.
So then how do I spend a lot
of time in prayer?
By listening.
How do I spend one hour on a
telephone if I've spoken only for two minutes?
Listening.
What did Jesus do in his prayer time?
Isaiah chapter 50.
We're trying to get a picture of the
real Jesus now.
Isaiah chapter 50 verse 4.
The middle of that verse.
It says, The Lord God has given me
the tongue of disciples that I may know
how to sustain a weary one with a
word.
It says, He wakens me up morning by
morning.
He awakens my ear to listen as a
disciple.
And when I heard, the Lord God opened
my ear and I was not disobedient.
And thus I got a word.
The first part of verse 4.
To sustain those who came to me who
were weary.
I want to say to you my brothers
and sisters, we are surrounded by a world
full of weary people.
And we need to have a word from
God for them.
And you're not going to get a word
from God for them if you don't develop
the habit of listening.
Jesus, who is the son of God, who
came to earth, was made like us in
every way, needed to do that.
Every morning, it said, God woke him up.
That's great.
I want God to wake me up morning,
in the mornings.
To do what?
To listen.
First of all, to listen.
Speak Lord, your servant is listening.
If Samuel did that as a child, you
can be pretty sure Jesus did it as
a child too.
Speak Father, I'm listening, I'm listening.
And he listened so much that suddenly, unexpectedly,
when some person with a weariness came across
his spot, verse 4, he had a word
for that person.
That's how Jesus lived.
All the Pharisees came once to stone a
woman to death.
Jesus was listening, not to the Pharisees, he
was listening to God, the Father.
The Father said, just tell them one word.
He who is without sin, throw the first
stone.
He who is without sin, throw the first
stone.
Solve the problem.
You know, many problems in your life can
be solved if you spend a little time
listening.
Many problems in your home can be solved
if you spend more time listening.
Instead of explaining all the detailed problems to
God, which he already knows.
Spend a little more time listening.
Listening.
Oh, for 40 years of my life, more
than 40 years, God has spoken one word
to me.
Luke 10, 42.
One thing is needful, what Mary did.
You know what Mary did?
She sat at Jesus' feet and listened.
You know what Martha did?
She was busy running around, doing things, not
for herself, but for the Lord.
And Jesus told Martha, you are worried about
so many things.
One thing is needful, what Mary has done.
Listen to me first, before you run around
doing things for me.
I remember once on my birthday, some years
ago, I said, Lord, do you have a
word for me on my birthday?
And the Lord said, listen to me.
Next year, I said, Lord, do you have
a word for me today on my birthday?
The same as last year.
God has held me to that one word
for more than 40 years.
Listen to me, listen to me, listen to
me.
I want to encourage you to listen.
Because when you listen, and listen, and listen,
and listen to the Holy Spirit, showing you
the glory of Jesus in Scripture, you'll have
something to tell other people, which can help
them.
You may not impress them, but you'll help
them.
What a need there is.
This is how Jesus lived.
He lived on earth with the spirit of
grace and supplication upon Him, listening, Father, I
don't know what to do.
Please tell me what to do.
Once we read, He went out early in
the morning, even though He was helping people
till late at night.
He went out and the Father said, go
there.
And all the people came and said, Lord,
we need you here.
He said, no, I'm going.
No matter how much pressure they put on
Him, He was going.
Because He had heard His Father.
That's how He lived.
And that's how He wants you and me
to live.
It's the best life you can ever live
on earth.
There's no strain, there's no tension.
There's so many pressures on earth.
Don't you, I mean, many of you mothers
with seven, eight children, you must be having
so much pressure.
I realize.
Do you believe Jesus faced less pressure than
you?
Much more than you.
But His life was a life of rest.
I'm not saying that He didn't have pressures.
You have lot of pressures.
We have different types of pressures.
But underneath it all was a life of
rest.
Seek to enter into that.
That comes by listening.
By developing a habit of listening while you're
feeding your baby, while you're cooking your food,
while you're traveling.
To develop this habit of listening, listening, listening.
And to listen to Jesus more than to
listen to the accusations and pressures of preachers
who use psychology on us and criticisms and
everything.
Listen more to the Father.
That's how Jesus lived.
That's why He could forgive people who called
Him the devil.
Because He listened to the Father more than
what they said.
What does it matter what people call you
the devil?
He knew what the Father thought of Him.
That's all that mattered.
Let's pray.
Let's bow our heads before God.
Heavenly Father, help us to listen.
We're such busy people.
We live in a world where everybody is
so busy, running from here to there.
Doing this, that and the other the whole
day.
And we thank You for giving us an
example in Jesus whose life was busier than
any of us, ours could ever be.
And You had time to listen.
Because in the midst of everything He did,
He was listening.
And I want to be like that.
We all want to be like that Lord.
In the midst of all the pressures of
life, we want to be listening people.
We want to see the real Jesus.
We want to see how He lived on
earth in simplicity.
Give us grace to go that way Lord.
That we can help needy people around us.
We pray in Jesus name.
Amen.