We've been thinking together about the better covenant.
Something better that Jesus has brought us than
Moses brought for the Israelites under the old
covenant.
They knew him as God, we know him
as Father.
They lived under law, we live under grace.
And to know God as Father is as
much greater than knowing him as God, as
Jesus is higher than Moses.
Grace is as much higher than law, as
Jesus is higher than Moses.
2 Corinthians 5 and verse 7 says, we
walk by faith, not by sight.
We may think that if we could see,
it would be better.
The Old Testament people lived by sight.
Do you know that to walk by faith
is as much superior to walking by sight
as Jesus is higher than Moses?
And don't let anyone deceive us on that.
Do you know what Jesus said to Thomas
in John chapter 20?
Thomas was one who wanted to see, and
he saw, and he believed.
Jesus said to him in John 20 verse
29, because you have seen me, you have
believed.
But blessed are those who did not see
and yet believed.
Thomas, what you have experienced is second best.
What those who do not see and believe,
what they will experience is the best.
Now this doesn't appear right to our senses
or to our understanding.
Many of us may wish to, if only
I could see Jesus, there are people who
talk about having seen angels, and even Jesus,
well, I'm not here to judge them, I
don't know whether it's right or wrong, whether
they're imagining or they had a dream or
what, but whatever it is, I believe with
all my heart that it's more blessed to
walk by faith than by sight.
Jesus said those words.
This is one of the Beatitudes, which is
not mentioned in Matthew chapter 5.
Blessed are those who have not seen and
yet have believed, which includes, it certainly includes
me.
I've never seen a light or an angel
or Jesus, never heard an audible voice of
God anytime in my life, but I've learned
to live by faith, and it's the most
wonderful life you can ever live.
The Apostle Peter said, whom having not seen,
you love, loving someone you haven't seen, and
you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of
glory.
The Christian life is a life of faith,
and this is so important that the Bible
says in Hebrews 11 and verse 6, Hebrews
11 verse 6, without faith it is impossible
to please God.
What if you live a good, upright life,
where you do good to others, you don't
harm anybody, but you don't have faith?
Impossible to please God.
What if you give all your money to
Christian missions, live a sacrificial life, but you
don't have faith?
You cannot please God.
Impossible.
We can do so many good things.
We can consider ourselves righteous in many ways,
sacrificial, supporting Christian work, faithful members of our
church for 50 years, and yet if we
don't have faith, the Bible says you cannot
please God, and we will discover that.
If we don't discover that now, we'll discover
that when we stand before God, that God's
word is true.
It is impossible to please God without faith,
and faith is essentially a very simple thing.
Unfortunately, I don't know much about how it's
here, but I would say a lot of
people in India, their understanding of faith has
not come from the Bible.
Their understanding of faith has come from certain
types of Christian magazines and books that emphasize
a type of faith which is entirely related
to possessing earthly things, to possessing physical healing,
prosperity, and things like that.
That is not the faith the Bible speaks
about.
The Bible says Jesus is the author of
my faith, and Jesus was not a wealthy
man.
He was a poor man.
It wasn't faith to make money or to
live in grand houses or own big cars.
It was faith to live an overcoming life.
It was faith to live a life that
pleased God morning till night.
Faith to live in victory over sin, to
put the devil under our feet.
That was more important to Jesus than what
type of house He lived in.
That was the faith which He seeks to
author in me.
He's called the author and finisher of our
faith.
I want you to notice that in Hebrews
chapter 11.
Hebrews chapter 11 we read there is a
wonderful description of all these Old Testament saints.
And these Old Testament saints, even though they
lived in the Old Testament, they lived by
faith, it says.
Not lived by faith, but they did certain
things by faith.
They did not live by faith.
Today we live by faith.
Their faith was related to certain actions, external
actions.
Abel offered an external sacrifice by faith.
And Noah built an ark by faith.
And Abraham offered up Isaac by faith.
Moses split the Red Sea by faith.
And Joshua pulled down the walls of Jericho
by faith.
Daniel shut the mouths of lions by faith.
All these people are described here.
And some received their dead back in resurrection,
verse 35.
And then it says, all of these gained
approval, verse 39.
But, now listen to this.
This is the most important verse of Hebrews
11 for us.
But, verse 40, God has provided something better
for us.
What is this better thing that God provided
for us?
Something better than shutting the mouths of lions.
Something better than slaying Goliath.
Something better than turning armies of aliens away
and splitting the Red Sea and pulling down
the walls of Jericho and stopping the sun.
Something better than all this.
And that is the last person whose name
comes there.
The first four verses of chapter 12 should
actually be the last verses of Hebrews 11.
By faith, Jesus.
Okay, we have read all that these people
did by faith in the Old Testament.
And now we come to what Jesus did
by faith.
He didn't shut the mouths of lions.
He didn't pull down the walls of any
city.
He didn't split any sea.
What did He do?
He endured the cross.
Verse 2, that doesn't sound very exciting.
Despised the shame and sat down at the
right hand of the throne of God.
His was an inner walk with the Father,
where He never did His own will.
That's basically the meaning of endured the cross.
The cross is where my will crosses God's
will.
And I do God's will.
And that's how Jesus lived all His life.
He said in John 6, 38, I've come
from heaven not to do my own will,
but the will of Him who sent me.
He lived, my own will is sin, doing
God's will is holiness.
He lived in holiness all His life.
He despised the shame of people and He
sat down at the right hand of the
throne of God and it says, let us
run this race, looking unto Jesus the author
and finisher of our faith.
Very often people look for faith and this
is how it was with me.
I thought, how can I get this faith?
If I could have faith, I could have
everything and I was always looking for faith
to come in my heart.
I was always looking for faith inside me,
till I discovered that faith has got nothing
to do with what's inside me and that
liberated me.
You see, if I were to cross, if
I had to cross a river and there
was a rickety old wooden trunk, tree trunk
half eaten up across that river, well, I
wouldn't have much faith to walk upon that
half eaten tree trunk across the river.
But if I saw a concrete bridge across
the river, I would walk across it.
How could I walk across one and not
across the other?
It had nothing to do with what was
inside me.
My faith was residing in an object outside
of me.
Faith is based on what I see outside,
it's not in me.
I can never have faith in that dried
up old tree trunk, but I'm gladly across
the river, across the solid concrete bridge.
Or take another illustration, here is a bank
that just opened yesterday with three or four
people who got together, unreliable people, I don't
have much confidence in putting my money in
that bank, neither would you.
But here is a bank next door that's
been going for a hundred years, perhaps approved
by the government of the country, I would
gladly go and put all my money in
there, that's faith.
It's got nothing to do with something inside
me, it's got to do with an object
outside of me, whether the concrete bridge or
this hundred year old bank.
It's the same with faith in Jesus, it's
got nothing to do with what's inside me.
Is Jesus a reliable person or not?
That's all.
And when you don't have faith, you're saying
he's not reliable.
When I don't put my money in that
bank, I'm saying this bank's not reliable.
When I don't put my foot on that
rotten tree trunk, I'm saying this bridge is
not reliable.
When I do put my feet over the
concrete bridge on that, I'm saying this one
is reliable.
That is faith.
And that's why it's such an insult to
the Lord when we don't trust him.
We're saying, I can't trust you.
I'm not sure whether you'll let me down.
I'm not sure whether when I've gone halfway
across, this whole thing is going to collapse,
whether this bank is going to crash, whether
the Lord is going to let me down.
Do you know that the failure of Eve
in the Garden of Eden was essentially a
failure of faith?
The disobedience came out of unbelief.
When the devil suggested to her, and the
devil was insinuating, if you read between the
devil's lines and what he said to Eve,
what he was trying to put into Eve's
mind was, look at that beautiful tree.
Doesn't that fruit make your mouth water?
And you know that that thing can make
you wise.
It'll make you like God.
And God doesn't want you to be like
him.
He doesn't love you.
Yeah, yeah, he's given you all these things
and done a few things for you, but
he doesn't really love you.
If he loved you, he'd allow you to
eat that beautiful tree.
And once the seed of doubt in the
love of God had been planted in Eve's
mind, it was a small step to make
her disobey.
And that's how the devil approaches us too.
Because sin came by unbelief, salvation had to
come by faith.
Faith in what?
In the very thing that Eve lost her
faith in, the love of God.
Faith is essentially believing that God loves me.
And God's love is unconditional.
Human love is conditional.
I love you, if you respond, I'll continue
to love you.
Divine love is unconditional.
God so loved the world while we were
enemies, he loved us.
When we hated him, he loved us.
When we had no interest in him, he
pursued after us.
That's divine love.
And when he never saw a response in
some of us for many, many years, we
spurned his love.
He still came after us.
Is it difficult to have faith in such
a God who pursued after us when we
were not interested in him?
How many of us responded to the gospel
the very first time we heard it?
Not me.
There are very, very few people in the
world who could say that.
But God pursued after us with his love.
The hound of heaven came after us till
he got us.
That's divine love.
And faith is to believe that God is
love.
Perfect love.
That everything he plans for me is for
my good.
That every command he's given in scripture is
for my good, first of all.
And it is possible for me to obey.
That's faith.
I will never ask my little boy to
carry a five ton weight on his head
and then when he can't do it, punish
him.
Would there be any father like that?
If you being evil, know how not to
put five ton weights on your children's head.
How much more?
Your heavenly father will not give you commands
in scripture which are impossible of obedience.
Rejoice in the Lord always.
Is that a burden?
I praise the Lord for the tremendous possibility
of being able to live a life where
I can rejoice always.
Be anxious for nothing.
Is that a burdensome life?
Is there a single command in scripture?
Which is like a five ton weight that
a cruel father is putting on a child's
head?
The devil has for centuries, for millenniums, portrayed
God as a God who makes impossible demands
upon his people.
And Jesus lived a life to show that
the devil was a liar.
And he says to us, As the father
sent me, so send I you.
Go out into the world and prove by
your life that the devil is a liar.
Have you taken that challenge?
We can only do it by faith.
Faith has got two sides to it.
One is John 15 verse 5.
Without me, you can do nothing.
The other side of the coin is Philippians
4 verse 13.
I can do all things through Christ who
strengthens me.
This is faith.
Faith is to recognize that without God I
can do nothing.
And to recognize that if Jesus Christ helps
me, there is nothing that he has commanded
me which I cannot do.
I am sorry that I wasted so many
years of my life not understanding this.
Looking for faith inside me and never finding
it.
Till I realized that it had nothing to
do with me.
It had just to do with confidence in
God.
Dependence upon God.
I realized that faith is that leaning of
the human personality.
In total confidence.
In God's perfect love for me.
In his perfect wisdom.
That's given me commands and that's planned my
life.
And in his almighty power.
That works everything for my good.
That controls the circumstances and people that come
into my life.
This is faith.
It's confidence in God.
Dependence upon God.
It's got nothing to do with me.
It's putting my foot on a concrete bridge.
It's putting my money into a reliable bank.
Well, give glory to the bank if the
bank didn't crash.
It's got nothing to do with me.
If you see me walking across a concrete
bridge.
Relaxed.
Would you say, Boy, what faith brother.
What faith you have to walk across it.
That's not faith.
The bridge is so strong.
And you take the same person and put
him across that rickety old tree.
And I'd be watching every step.
How is it the same person suddenly has
unbelief and suddenly has faith.
You see how faith has got nothing to
do with what's inside.
Don't look for faith inside of you.
It's in Christ.
Do you have confidence that this is God's
word.
That he loves us.
That every command that he's given is for
our good.
That every command he's given is possible.
That when he says, Sin shall not have
mastery over you.
It is possible in your life.
The sin that's ruled you for so many
years.
You can overcome it.
Why is the example of the Israelites perishing
in the wilderness mentioned three times.
In the New Testament.
Three times in the New Testament.
We are warned.
Those whom the Lord saved out of Egypt.
Perished in the wilderness.
Without entering Canaan.
The gospel.
Hebrews 4 says, This is a gospel that
they heard.
I don't have time to show you all
those references.
Read Hebrews chapter 3 and chapter 4 sometime.
This is a gospel that they heard.
The gospel was Exodus 3 verse 14 onwards.
I will take you out of Egypt.
And I will bring you into Canaan.
There were two sides to that gospel.
One negative.
One positive.
I will take you out of Egypt.
I will bring you into Canaan.
And that promise was not fulfilled.
In the lives of all those people who
heard it.
Those elders of Israel.
To whom Moses spoke the word of the
Lord.
Sometimes we think God's promises are automatically fulfilled.
They were not.
Those elders who heard it.
Not one of them entered the land.
There were two young men called Joshua and
Caleb.
Who entered the land.
We read that when they came to the
borders of the promised land.
In Numbers chapter 13 and chapter 14.
They saw the giants.
And those giants are a picture.
Of the sins that defeat you.
The sin that easily besets us.
The giant that stands up in your flesh
and says.
You'll never be able to conquer me.
That bad mood that you often have at
home.
Which makes your home so unhappy for your
husband.
Or your wife.
Or your children.
That irritability.
That anger.
That lust.
That pollutes your mind and makes you ineffective
for God.
That covetousness and greed.
That jealousy.
That bitterness.
Which you can't seem to get over.
These are the giants that stand up and
say to you.
You'll never conquer me.
And you look at these giants that have
ruled your life for years.
And you look like grasshoppers.
That's what those Israelites said.
And they said we can't go in.
And that's exactly what many of you are
saying.
I'll never be able to conquer this.
That's my temperament.
That's because I've been sick for so long.
Or that's because I'm passing through a particular
phase in my life.
And the doctors say these things happen when
we are like this.
What?
You believe the doctors and you don't believe
God's word?
When God's word says sin shall not have
dominion over you if you are under grace.
You are worried about what the doctors say.
That your temperament is such.
Or this is a particular phase in your
life where you have to be depressed and
gloomy.
And make life miserable for everybody else.
No.
I want to challenge you to believe the
word of God.
Does God want me to be moody and
gloomy?
Even for 5 minutes?
Never.
I remember when I read that verse.
Rejoice in the Lord always again I say
rejoice.
I said Lord I understand always it means
24 hours a day.
It means 7 days a week.
It's 24-7.
That's rejoice.
Rejoice 24-7.
And I said Lord.
I have to admit.
I am not doing that.
Do you know the first step to faith?
Is to acknowledge your failure.
Some people are too proud to acknowledge failure.
They've got some theory of victory.
And imagine that they are living in victory
when everybody around them knows that they've got
a bad mood.
They are irritable.
They are not rejoicing always.
What type of victory is that?
Their faces are so long.
It's like that Christian I heard who was
witnessing to somebody with a long face.
And asked him do you want to be
a Christian?
He said no thank you I've got enough
problems already.
That's not a good recommendation for Christianity.
The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and
joy in the Holy Spirit.
A righteousness without joy is an old covenant
righteousness.
The kingdom of God, new covenant righteousness is
peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
It's something which fills my heart with joy.
That is the type of life God wants
us to live everyday.
And when I first saw this many years
ago.
And I said Lord that's not true in
my life.
But I want this life.
I used to be depressed so often in
my life.
And yet I knew that being depressed and
gloomy even for one day was not a
good testimony as a Christian.
And I saw the tremendous possibility that the
gospel opened up for me.
To live a life where I would never
be in a bad mood.
Ever.
Not in the morning, not in the afternoon,
not at night, not on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday,
any day of the week, any day of
the year.
That's what it means to be rejoiced in
the Lord always.
Now as you hear that.
I can hear the devil saying don't you
believe all this.
That's not for you.
That's just for some people.
And you believe that lie of the devil
so long that you live like that.
I want to say to you in Jesus
name.
Tell the devil he's a liar.
He's a liar.
He's been a liar from the beginning.
I told the devil he was a liar.
I said Lord, I said Satan you've made
me depressed as a Christian so often.
You're not going to do that anymore to
me.
I'm going to obey God's word.
I'm going to rejoice in the Lord always.
And I believe I can do all things
through Christ who strengthens me.
It comes in the same chapter by the
way.
Philippians 4.4 Rejoice in the Lord always.
Philippians 4.13 I can do all things
through Christ who strengthens me.
Such a life is possible.
And today I want to stand before you
and say for the glory of God.
God did it in my life.
It's taken place by the grace of God.
Bad moods have disappeared from my life 24
-7.
Is that something great?
Joshua and Caleb entered the promised land.
Not because their muscles were more than the
muscles of the 600,000 who perished in
the wilderness.
It's because they said our God is able
to handle these giants.
I had giants in my life.
I didn't conquer them.
God helped me to put them under my
feet.
And I want to say to you.
There is nothing that dishonors Christ in your
life that God will not help you to
put under your feet.
I don't care what it is.
If you can trust him.
But there is this law in scripture.
It's a law found in Matthew's gospel chapter
9.
Matthew chapter 9 and verse.
It says here in verse 28 and 29.
Speaking about the two blind men.
Who followed Jesus.
And said in verse 27.
Have mercy on us son of David.
Matthew 9.27 And after he had come
into the house the blind men came up
to him and Jesus said to them.
He first asked them what he wanted.
That comes in another gospel.
He asked them what do you want me
to do for you.
That Lord please open our eyes.
And the Lord did not open their eyes
before he asked them one more question.
You go to the Lord today and say
Lord I want victory over my depression.
I want victory over the lust of the
eyes.
I want victory over bitterness.
I want victory over this foul temper.
I want victory over bad moods.
I want to rejoice in the Lord always.
I want to be anxious for nothing.
I want to trust in you.
That sin will no sin will ever have
the mastery over me.
No conscious sin that is.
Nothing that I know to be sin.
I'll have victory over all conscious sin.
And the Lord says I'll do that for
you.
But I have to ask you a question.
Same question he asked these blind men.
Do you believe that I am able.
You know the important words there.
I am able.
Do you believe Jesus says not that you
are able.
I'm not interested.
He didn't tell them to go back home
and do eye exercises for a few months.
And you know try and sit in the
sun and let the sun fall.
He wasn't teaching them all this type of
treatment.
He was only asking them one question.
Do you believe that I am able to
do this for you.
And the Lord is not asking you.
Are you willing to grit your teeth and
determine that you'll never get angry again.
He's not asking you that.
He didn't ask those blind people to do
any eye exercises.
He asked them one simple question which is
what he asked you today.
Do you believe that I am able to
do this.
It's got nothing to do with your ability.
Do you believe that Jesus is able to
keep you from stumbling.
Do you believe that God Almighty can slay
those giants.
600,000 people who were redeemed by the
blood of the Lamb said no.
Two people Joshua and Caleb said yes.
And in my experience in traveling to many
countries.
I'm sorry to say I've discovered that the
proportion is about the same today.
600,000 believers redeemed by the blood of
the Lamb will say.
It's not possible to live 24-7 free
from bad moods.
Two people will say yes.
And the two people enter in.
That's the question the Lord asked the disciple,
the blind man.
Do you believe that I am able to
do this for you.
And they said yes Lord.
And here's the law, verse 29.
Be it done to you.
Not according to my faith.
Not according to your desire.
Not according to my desire.
But according to your faith.
Do you know how much God will do
for you?
Not what you desire.
Not what God desires.
But how much you can have faith for.
You may desire many things.
You'll never get them.
God may desire many things for you.
You'll never get them.
You'll get as much as you have faith
for.
Be it done for you.
Not according to your desire.
Not according to God's desire for you.
If it was according to your desire and
my desire.
We'd have got millions of things by now.
We'd have got victory over hundreds of sins
by now.
If it was according to God's desire.
We'd all have become like Jesus by now.
Every one of us.
We wouldn't need a Keswick Convention.
We'd all have become like Jesus.
We'd be ready to go to heaven.
But it's not according to God's desire.
It's not according to your desire.
It's according to your faith.
And I've thought of it like this.
If one of the blind men said, Well
Lord, I'm not so sure whether you can
open both eyes.
But I believe you can open at least
one.
And that will be good enough for me.
I could see the road.
I could read and things like that.
I trust you for one eye.
You know what the Lord would have said
to him?
According to your faith.
Be it unto you.
He'd have come out with one eye open
and say, Hallelujah!
Praise God!
I can see.
I can read.
And the other blind man would go in.
And the Lord would say, What about you?
He'd say, Lord, you've got no problem.
You can open both eyes.
And he'd come out with both eyes open.
And these people would look at one another.
And the man with one eye open would
say, Hey, how in the world did you
get both eyes open?
I've got only one eye open.
This is a false teaching.
That God can open two eyes.
And the man with one eye open would
start the one-eyed denomination.
And the other man with two eyes would
open the two-eyed denomination.
And each would call the other a heretic.
I'm not telling fables.
This is actually happening in Christendom today.
The man who believes, Jesus can forgive all
my sins.
My sins are all forgiven.
I'm on my way to heaven.
Praise God.
He's got one eye open.
The other fellow went and trusted the Lord,
not only for sins forgiven and for heaven.
He also trusted the Lord that sin would
not have dominion over him.
That he'd be able to overcome sin.
That he'd be able to rejoice in the
Lord always.
That he'd be able to overcome lust and
bitterness and anger.
That he could live without a bad mood
24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
And the one-eyed man would call him
a heretic.
Oh, that's all lies.
The Lord was not partial to either of
them.
To both of them he said, According to
your faith, be it unto you.
Some other person says, Yes, Lord, I'm going
to do eye exercises.
And I'm going to grit my teeth.
I'm going to put my flesh to death.
I'm going to deny myself and do that.
And one of these days I'll get my
eyes open.
Okay, go ahead.
And what's the result of some of these
people who do all these things for so
many years?
They are some of the most miserable people.
Pharisees of the first order that I've seen
on the face of the earth.
Do you want to be like that?
Or you want to come simply to Jesus
in simple faith and say, Lord, I believe
you are able to do it for me.
And when God does it for you, you
can't take any credit.
You see a man who's proud of his
holiness.
That's his human produced holiness.
It's a counterfeit.
You see a man whom God has made
holy by the work of His Holy Spirit.
And there's no pride in him.
He's a humble broken man who recognizes that
God did it all.
I've seen plenty of Pharisees on the face
of the earth.
You think they're finished in the first century?
No.
They're hale and hearty alive today in every
Christian denomination.
People who are conceited and proud.
Who are so proud that they think they're
so holy.
They're denying themselves.
They're taking up the cross.
They're putting the flesh to death.
They're so separated from the world.
And they are superior to so many other
Christians.
Stinking Pharisees of the first order.
God says, they are a stench in my
nostrils.
People who say, stand by me, I'm holier
than you.
The Lord speaks about them in Isaiah 65.
There are many like that.
I'm not talking about that type of counterfeit.
I'm talking about a work that God has
done where you can get no glory.
You see, let me use an illustration.
Supposing I wrote a book.
And you read it.
And you were so blessed by it.
And you say, Brother Zach, that was wonderful.
I'd be tempted to be proud of it.
But if I passed on to you a
book written by somebody else.
And you said, boy, Brother Zach, that was
a wonderful book you gave me.
I won't even be tempted to be proud.
Because I never wrote it.
Somebody else wrote it.
If you have a holiness that came by
gritting your teeth.
Putting your flesh to death.
And doing 101 things disciplined and all that.
And you get holy.
And people appreciate your holiness, you're going to
be pretty proud of it.
And even if people don't appreciate it, you'll
be pretty proud of it.
And everybody will be able to smell your
pride.
That's a holiness produced by yourself.
It's a counterfeit.
But if it is really produced by God.
Where you believe that He was able to
make you holy.
It will be like a book written by
somebody else.
The Lord says, I will write my laws
in your heart and in your mind.
It's not my business.
That was the Old Testament.
Thou shalt, thou shalt not, thou shalt, thou
shalt not.
I'm finished with that.
I tried that for years, even as a
Christian.
I lived under law as a Christian for
so many years.
And I'll tell you, it didn't work.
It could work for a few days, perhaps
after a convention or something.
Where we got all stirred up and revived.
It's like giving an injection to a dying
man.
And he pops up and he jumps about
and you think he's alive.
But as the effect of the injection wears
out, he's back in bed again.
That's how a lot of Christians are a
few weeks after the convention is over.
The effect of the injection is worn out.
It's not the real thing.
But when God does a work, it's permanent.
The path of the righteous is like the
shining light that shines more and more into
the perfect day.
It gets better every year.
I can testify to that.
When the life of Jesus comes in, when
we live by faith, we say, Lord, I
trust you to do it.
I can never do it.
I tried for years to do it.
But it doesn't work.
One of the beautiful examples of that is
in the miracle that Jesus did after his
resurrection.
Do you know the miracle that Jesus did
after his resurrection?
John chapter 21, where he filled the boat
with fish.
The one miracle that he did after his
resurrection was to teach us a lesson on
faith.
Those disciples went out at 6 o'clock
in the evening to fish.
Think of this as somebody trying to get
victory over sin.
Or think of it as somebody trying to
do an effective ministry for the Lord.
They go out fishing.
And they try 7 o'clock, 8 o
'clock, 9 o'clock.
No fish.
10, 11, 12.
And they're about to get discouraged and 3,
4 o'clock in the morning they say,
Okay, we'll give it one more try.
And they try until about 5 o'clock.
They say, Okay, let's pack up.
It's impossible.
They tried every possible way.
They were expert fishermen.
And they couldn't get a single fish.
And then Jesus came and said, Cast your
net on the right side.
And in a moment, their boat was full.
What they could not accomplish through hours and
hours of struggle, In a moment, when they
trusted in the Lord, their boat was full.
What a parable.
Is that how you find yourself today?
I found myself like that in my ministry.
My ministry was a struggle.
But I found it changed when I learned
to lean upon Jesus.
And trust in Him.
I love that song which says, There is
a place of quiet rest.
Near to the heart of God.
A place where sin cannot molest.
Near to the heart of God.
I want to say to you, my brothers
and sisters, I thank God I found that
place.
And it wasn't by struggle.
I tried the struggle method for years.
But I was defeated.
My boat was empty.
But I finally came to the end of
myself.
Have you come to the end of yourself?
It seems to me that we have to
come to an end of ourselves.
Before we can enter the promised land.
There is a lovely verse in the book
of Deuteronomy.
In chapter 2.
I think it is chapter 2.
Deuteronomy chapter 2.
In verse 14.
It says here, The time that it took
for us to come from Kedesh Barnea.
Kedesh Barnea was the place where they were
told to go into the promised land.
And they backed away in unbelief.
That was chapter 14.
From that time until we crossed over into
the promised land through the brook Zered.
Was 38 years.
They spent 2 years to come from the
Red Sea to Kedesh Barnea.
The Lord said go in.
They didn't go in.
They wandered another 38 years in the wilderness.
Making a total of 40 years.
And this is the part I want you
to notice.
Until all the generation of the men of
war perished.
See we have got men of war within
us.
Who are determined to grit our teeth.
Put the flesh to death.
Deny ourselves.
Men of war.
Determined to get victory.
They have all got to die.
Until all the men of war perished.
I had men of war in me.
I was determined to get victory.
I tried every method.
Denying myself.
Putting the flesh to death.
This doctrine.
That doctrine.
I tried every doctrine of holiness.
That there is in Christendom.
And I tell you they all failed me.
And I finally discovered.
What I needed was faith.
That God loved me.
Just as he loved Jesus.
That what he did for Jesus.
He would do for me.
That as he enabled Jesus to live a
life of victory.
Every day on earth.
He would enable me.
Because he loved me just the same.
I was the younger brother of Jesus.
I was also beloved of the Father.
That faith brought me into the land.
And I saw that as my elder brother
Jesus.
Jesus never had a bad mood.
He was never irritable.
He was never long faced and gloomy.
Anytime.
He was never upset.
He never blamed his.
Oh people made me very tired.
I went to bed last night.
He had no excuses.
He was always rejoicing.
Whether he went to bed at 2 o
'clock at night.
Or 8 o'clock at night.
It didn't make a difference.
We always make excuses.
When the real reason is our pride.
The men of war.
Have not perished in us.
We have not come to an end of
ourselves.
How long does it take.
To come to a life of victory.
These people took 38 years.
Because that's how long it took for the
men of war to perish.
It doesn't have to take that long.
It can take 38 days.
When your strength comes to zero.
As soon as that happens.
That's why God allows so many circumstances to
come into our life to shatter us.
Until we are shattered.
We don't realize.
That we are too strong.
That's why we can't have faith.
We can't have faith because we are too
strong.
God has to make us weak.
God had to make the mighty apostle weak.
With a thorn in the flesh that battered
him and harassed him.
So that he could live by faith.
In the Old Testament.
There were two commandments that God gave.
Which are very very important.
They were so important that if you didn't
keep them.
You would be cut off.
You could even be killed.
One was circumcision.
Genesis 15.
Verse 14 I think it is.
The Lord told Abraham.
17 verse 14.
If any of your seed are not circumcised.
They will be cut off.
The other was the Sabbath.
Exodus 31.
Verse 15.
Anyone who doesn't keep the Sabbath.
Will be killed.
What did the circumcision and the Sabbath.
Which we don't practice today.
Mean for us.
They must be having a spiritual meaning.
If they were so serious.
That God said.
They would be cut off.
Philippians 3.3 tells us.
What the circumcision is.
It means no confidence in the flesh.
You see circumcision was a cutting off of
the flesh.
And throwing it away.
Symbolizing.
No confidence in the flesh.
Total confidence in God.
No confidence in my ability.
That is circumcision.
The circumcision of the heart.
That the Bible speaks of.
Is to say Lord.
I have zero confidence in my own ability.
I cut off confidence in the flesh and
throw it away.
I have total confidence in you.
That is circumcision.
That is a life of faith.
Without you I can do nothing.
With you I can do all things.
What about the Sabbath?
That's explained to us in Hebrews chapter 3
and chapter 4.
As the rest of God.
As I said yesterday.
Adam didn't work.
God worked.
For six days.
In Hebrews chapter 4 says.
He who has seized from his own works.
Enters into God's rest.
That's what Adam did.
He didn't work.
When we stop fishing.
When the men of war perish.
When we stop working.
And start trusting.
Think of the multitudes of people in the
world today.
Who are trying to work.
To get forgiveness of sins.
How did you get it without working?
To him that does not work.
Paul says in Romans 4.
But believes.
In him who justifies the ungodly.
His faith is counted as righteousness.
Tell that to all the heathen religions in
the world.
They'd say that's rubbish.
We got to work.
We got to do something.
Otherwise God will never forgive us.
And they're trying, trying, trying, trying.
And you and I have the joy of
forgiveness of sins.
Which they don't have.
What is the secret they've missed?
They're working.
We trusted.
I say the same thing to many Christians.
Why is it you don't have victory?
How is it somebody else got it?
You're working.
They're trusting.
That's the difference.
You're trying to deny yourself.
Put the flesh to death.
Discipline yourself.
Get up.
Read the Bible for half an hour.
And do so many things like that.
And look at the bad moods you get
in during the day.
According to your faith.
Be it unto you.
Do you believe the Lord says that I
am able.
He is able.
To do exceeding abundantly.
Above all that you can ask or think.
He is able.
To keep you from falling.
Trust Him.
Spar heads before God.
The life of faith is very simple.
Many preachers have made it complicated.
Jesus said you must become like little child.
He said I thank you Father that you
have hidden these things from the clever and
the intelligent.
And you reveal them to babes.
You find in your heart this afternoon a
hunger.
A thirst.
A longing.
As you see your empty boat.
Say Lord.
There's something I've missed.
In the Christian life.
There's a secret somewhere.
I seem to have missed.
And all my struggling and my praying and
my fasting doesn't seem to have got it
for me.
Open my eyes Lord.
I want to come to you as a
little child.
I'm sick and tired of trying.
I want to believe.
You are able.
You are able to lead me into this
life.
Thank you Lord.
I want to trust you.
I'm not looking for faith in myself.
I'm looking at you.
I have total confidence in you Lord.
Zero confidence in myself.
And I want to enter into this walk
of faith.
To this life of faith.
Total confidence in God.
Total dependence upon God.
Heavenly Father.
Help us to enter in.
And live this life all our days.
In Jesus name.
Amen.