We are
all familiar with that verse in Romans 8
.31 which says, If God be for us,
who can be against us?
It's quite a verse, if you don't know
it, It's a good verse to remember in
Romans 8.31 If God is for us,
who can be against us?
Now, if you think about that verse, we'll
see that the most important thing is to
make sure that God is for us.
It doesn't say God is for everybody.
In fact, the Bible says God is not
for everybody.
But it says, if you can only get
God on your side, you know, you've got
it made for the rest of your life.
I can say that from many years of
testimony myself.
The only person I've ever, ever wanted to
be on my side is Almighty God.
I can afford to lose the friendship of
everybody else.
And if I can just make sure that
God is on my side.
Can you imagine, just think for a moment
of the one who runs this universe.
A universe in which the earth is only
a speck of dust.
And all human beings are still smaller specks
of dust.
And this Almighty God is on my side.
What more do you want?
And yet, the vast majority of believers live
defeated, fearful lives.
Because, it's obvious, God is not with them.
Definitely not.
If he was with them, things would have
been very different.
The Bible also says that God resists the
proud.
If you don't know where that is, it's
1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 5.
God is opposed to the proud.
He is against all proud people.
It doesn't matter whether they are believers or
unbelievers.
It's a law.
It's like the law of gravity.
If you jump off the roof of this
building, the law of gravity doesn't ask, is
that a believer jumping off or an unbeliever
jumping off?
It's just the same.
Not even the slightest difference.
If a believer jumps off the roof or
an unbeliever jumps off the roof, the law
of gravity takes over.
This is another law.
God is opposed to the proud.
Now the law of gravity doesn't work everywhere.
You know, you've seen these pictures in space.
Where there's no gravity, where people just float
around.
But this law works even in space.
It doesn't matter where you go.
You'll find for all eternity it works.
Everywhere in the universe it works.
God is against proud people.
Wherever he finds them, even if he was
supporting them for 20 years, the moment he
sees them becoming proud, he turns around and
starts opposing them, even if they are his
children.
This is the reason why you hear of
many great preachers ending up falling into adultery
or the love of money.
It's just the same.
To me there's no difference whether you fall
into adultery or the love of money.
Even though the world is more horrified when
a person falls into adultery, God is equally
horrified when a person falls into the love
of money.
Just the same, because both destroy them.
And the reason is, God begins to oppose
them.
That's why it happens.
God begins to oppose them.
It's a terrible thing to have God opposing
us.
We could reverse that verse and say, if
God is against us, what's the use of
everybody else being for us?
We know that God is for us to
fight against all the enemies of the human
race.
And God sent his son, Jesus Christ, to
this earth to fight every enemy of man.
And if we receive Christ into our life
and allow him to be Lord of our
life, we can be sure that every enemy
that Jesus fought when he was on earth,
he will fight from within us even today,
without any exception.
So, let's look at some of the things
Jesus fought against.
Number one, he fought against sin.
The Bible says in the first promise in
the New Testament, his name itself, Jesus, Matthew
1.21, his name was Jesus because he
came number one to save his people from
their sins.
Now, if you don't make that the number
one goal in your life, I'd say, you're
not going to really have much fellowship with
Jesus because that is the primary aim that
he has.
He didn't come to give us material blessings,
though he does that.
But he primarily came to save us from
our sins.
The word Jesus means Savior, particularly in relation
to being saved from our sins.
And one of the things that we see
very clearly in the New Testament is God
hates sin, even though he loves the sinner.
And the Bible says in Hebrews 1 and
verse 9, that Jesus hated iniquity.
He hates sin.
Everywhere he saw it, he hated sin.
And he tried to instill in his disciples
a tremendous hatred for sin.
You know, in the Old Testament, they had
laws about what they should eat and what
they shouldn't eat.
They were told not to eat pork, and
not to eat things that had blood in
them, and not to eat so many things,
certain types of birds and fish and all,
they were not supposed to eat.
But in the New Testament, Jesus said, what
goes into your mouth can't ruin you, because
if the body doesn't accept it, if your
digestive system is working okay, it gets eliminated.
Or you vomit it out.
But what comes out of your mouth, that's
what spoils you, he said.
And that's because what comes out of your
mouth comes from your heart.
What goes into your mouth goes into your
stomach.
And whatever is bad gets eliminated.
But whatever comes out of your mouth comes
from your heart.
And when your heart is defiled with evil
thoughts, Jesus said, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, there
are many other things enlisted in Galatians 5,
strife, factions, idolatries, many other things like that.
It defiles the man.
And so Jesus was trying to get his
disciples to hate sin like he hated it.
And if he was like that 2000 years
ago, you can be pretty sure that he
is like that today.
So when we say, if God be for
me, or if God is for us, what
is he for me against?
He is for me, number one against sin.
And that's what I've got to make my
number one enemy as well.
And if I make that my number one
enemy, I can be sure of Jesus' help
in my life, in a hundred and a
thousand other areas.
And you know that's the reason why many
of us may not be experiencing the joy
of the Christian life, the joy of answered
prayer, the joy of fellowship with Christ, and
all these wonderful things that you read of
in the New Testament.
Perhaps you're not experiencing it because you have
not made sin your greatest enemy like Jesus
wants you to.
So why not start today and say, Lord,
I want to hate sin more than I
hate anything else on this earth.
Can you think of some human being whom
you hate?
I'll tell you who that is.
The person whom you see, but you don't
talk to.
The person whom you see, but whom you
avoid anywhere.
It could be in the office, it could
be in your home, it could be in
the church.
That's the person you hate, whether you like
it or not, you hate that person.
I want to encourage you to stop hating
that person and to start hating sin.
Just like when you see that person, you
avoid that person, why don't you avoid sin
like that?
Boy, think of how holy you could have
been by now if you had started avoiding
sin just like you avoid the people you
hate.
Why do you avoid certain people?
Why do you avoid going to certain homes?
Isn't it because you hate that person?
It's true.
You can give me 10,000 excuses, but
it's not true.
The real reason is you hate that person.
And so you avoid going to that person.
Just think what a tremendous power hatred brings.
As soon as you see that person, you
want to walk the other side of the
road, you won't go anywhere near that person.
You won't visit that person, you won't phone
that person, you won't talk to that person.
Just think of the power of hatred.
Just think if you channel all that hatred
towards sin.
Can you imagine how holy you'll be?
You won't phone sin, you won't visit sin,
you won't go anywhere near it.
When you see it down the road, you'll
turn this way and go.
Boy, can you imagine what you'll be in
another six months?
It's all got to do with hatred.
Hatred is a tremendous power.
The only thing is you're channeling it in
the wrong direction towards people instead of towards
sin.
Jesus never hated people.
God loves the world, it says.
You cannot have God on your side if
you hate one human being because God doesn't
hate a human being.
I'm just telling you the truth.
The reason why some of you will probably
never have God on your side in your
whole life is because you never gave up
your hatred of somebody.
You keep saying, I don't hate that person,
but you do.
You do hate that person.
You got a grudge against somebody.
You avoid someone.
I'm just encouraging you, my dear brother and
sister, don't waste any more years of your
life or any more days of your life.
Channel it all towards sin.
That tremendous power of hatred that you've got
in your life that has accomplished so much
of evil.
Why don't you channel it towards sin from
now on?
The Bible says Jesus hated sin.
And the reason we don't overcome is because
we don't allow the Holy Spirit to produce
in us a similar hatred of sin.
Jesus came to save us from sin because
he knows that sin destroys us.
There are more commands and exhortations in the
scripture to stop sinning than to be healed
from sickness.
I've heard a lot of preachers in my
lifetime.
Many, many, more than all of you.
And I'll tell you something.
From years and years of observing and listening
to many preachers, I've listened to them personally,
I've read their books, watched them on television
and I'll tell you something.
You'll find one in a thousand telling you
how to overcome sin.
You'll find a hundred at least among that
thousand talking about physical healing.
And probably nine hundred others talking about forgiveness
of sins.
That's about the proportion.
One in a thousand.
You tell me if you find preachers telling
you how to overcome sin in your life.
And yet that's the main theme of the
New Testament.
Sin shall not rule over you because you're
not under law, but under grace.
And I want to say to you, even
though forgiveness of sins is the beginning of
grace, it's like knowing ABC and living in
the kindergarten forever.
That all you can do is say CAT
means cat and BAT means bat and that's
about all your spiritual education is, that you
got forgiveness of sins.
In your daily life, if you're not overcoming
sin, if you're not overcoming anger, if you're
not overcoming bitterness, if you're not overcoming the
love of money in your life, if you're
not overcoming lusting with your eyes, if you're
not overcoming telling lies, if you're not overcoming
deception, if you're not overcoming the spirit of
strife and quarreling and selfishness and pride and
haughtiness and arrogance and disobedience to authority in
the world, in the home or in the
church, if you're not overcoming these things, it's
because you're not experiencing fullness of grace.
You're in the kindergarten, you learn the ABC,
the sins are forgiven, but you haven't understood
that Jesus hates iniquity.
If you want to hold hands with Jesus
and fellowship with Him, you got to go
the way He's going.
You can't hold hands with Him and go
in some other direction.
It is impossible.
The moment you're going in a direction to
commit some sin, you can be absolutely sure
that Jesus has left your hand at that
time.
Sure.
Supposing you're walking hand in hand with Jesus
and you say, well, Lord, I'd like to
go to that pornographic shop and look at
that book.
He said, go, leave my hand, go.
Or you say, Lord, I...
Jesus says, I want to visit that child
of mine in that home.
You say, oh, no, Lord, I haven't talked
to Him for ages.
Jesus says, OK, you go, I'm going to
visit that child of yours.
Can you imagine that Jesus can fellowship with
some people whom you can't fellowship with?
Something must be wrong with you, not with
Jesus.
How is it He can fellowship with that
person, which you can't?
I always ask myself this question.
Can Jesus fellowship with that person?
If so, I must do everything in my
power to fellowship with that person.
And the more Jesus fellowships with some people,
the more I want to fellowship with those
people.
I know that Jesus cannot fellowship with certain
people because they're living in sin.
Well, then I can't fellowship with them either.
I can love them, but I can't fellowship
with them.
The only reason is that they're living in
sin.
So, remember this.
If you want God on your side, you've
got to ask the Holy Spirit to give
you the same hatred for sin that Jesus
had.
You know, why is it that we hate
sickness?
I don't think there's a single person sitting
here who loves sickness.
You don't even love a headache.
Is there anybody who loves a headache?
Or a stomachache?
Or a backache?
Or any other ache?
No.
Why is it we hate it?
Why is it we're willing to spend tens
of thousands of rupees to go to doctors
and get scans and medicines and x-rays
to be free from some little sickness.
It's amazing how much money they won't even
spend ten rupees to buy a book on
victory over sin.
They go and spend ten thousand rupees to
be free from to get some scan about
some backache.
Can you believe that?
That's amazing.
It's because we know that sickness is bad.
We hate it.
With all of our heart.
And that's why we want to get rid
of it as soon as possible.
If our children have got it, we want
to get rid of it from our children.
If only our eyes would be open to
see that no sickness can send you to
hell.
But one sin can send you to hell.
Do you know that?
Do you know that Jesus said?
You read that in Matthew 6, verse 14,
15 that if you don't forgive men their
trespasses, the things they do against you, my
heavenly father will not forgive you.
Let's say you lived a good life for
40 years, came to CFC, sang the songs,
accepted the Lord, took water baptism, spoke in
tongues, did everything good for 40 years and
then the last week before you died you
developed a bitterness against somebody.
One person.
Because of what he did to you.
I mean you got a reason for it.
He did some terrible evil to you and
you just got a bitterness against him.
Maybe he cheated you, maybe he harmed you,
maybe he harmed your children.
Okay, correct.
What you say is right.
But as a result of that you developed
a hatred or a bitterness.
I mean, you smiled at that person and
God saw a bitterness in your heart.
Do you know that all your 40 years
in CFC won't help you?
You know where you'll go if you die
in that state?
Hell.
You say, but what about my 40 years
service?
You know like government service, can't I get
a pension?
It doesn't work like that in the kingdom
of God.
If you don't forgive others, my heavenly father
will not forgive you.
How many people are you permitted to have
a bitterness against?
One?
Two?
And go to heaven?
Not even one.
That's how God hates sin.
And particularly, forgiveness, it's so easy to forgive.
The reason why many people don't get victory
over anger and lusting is because they don't
do the easy things first.
Forgiveness is so easy.
You just can't forgive.
So there's an example of a man who
went to hell because he committed one sin
after living a good life for 40 years.
I want to show you a verse in
Ezekiel.
If you haven't seen it, some of us
don't read the Old Testament enough.
Let me show you this verse.
In Ezekiel, it says in chapter 3, here
it speaks, no sorry, let's turn to chapter
18.
Ezekiel 18.
There's a little bit mentioned through chapter 3
also.
But it's a little more clear in chapter
18.
Verse 24.
I want you to remember this verse all
your life.
This is the word of God.
When a righteous man turns away from his
righteousness.
That's what I said.
He's been righteous for 40 years.
And he turns away from it and commits
iniquity and does according to the abominations that
a wicked man does.
Maybe he does it only for 3 days
or one day after living 40 years in
righteousness.
Now listen to this.
All his righteous deeds which he has done
for 40 years will not be remembered for
his treachery which he has committed and the
one sin which he has committed for that
he'll die.
You say that's not fair.
Isn't it?
You better argue with God on the day
of judgment.
I'm not going to argue with God.
God is the one who has established laws
for this universe.
I didn't create this universe.
I didn't create human beings.
I'm not going to argue with God.
I believe with God with all my heart
that all the righteousness he did for 40
years will not be remembered because he didn't
forgive somebody.
Well, I've never heard a preacher preach on
that verse in my whole life.
Some of you who are fascinated by God
TV if you come across that verse just
tell me.
Tell me if somebody preaches that.
You see, fellows are not leading you to
victory over sin.
They just tell you God loves you, God
loves you, God loves you, God loves you.
You're very important, very important and you live
in sin.
What's the use of that?
God must help you to overcome sin.
It's no use going to a doctor who
says you're good, you're good, you're great, you're
great give me my pay and allows you
to die of cancer.
What's the use of going to a doctor
like that?
Okay.
Now see the opposite of that.
This is the good news.
Verse 21 With a wicked man if a
man who is very wicked wicked for 40
years like the thief on the cross turns
from his sins which he has committed and
observes my statutes practices justice, righteousness maybe just
turn on the last day before he dies
all the sins he committed verse 22 will
not be remembered against him.
See, God's very fair.
Because of his righteousness he lived.
Even if he turned at the last moment
like the thief on the cross.
I want to say to you my brothers
and sisters God is the one who makes
laws for this universe.
You better know his laws before you meet
him face to face.
Hate sin because God hates sin.
It's the first step to a really happy
life.
I want to show you a second thing
that Jesus came to destroy.
It says in 1 John chapter 3 verse
8 The Son of God appeared for this
purpose to destroy the works of the devil.
The last part of that verse.
1 John chapter 3 verse 8 Jesus came
to destroy the works of the devil.
He didn't destroy the devil himself because God
is using the devil to make us strong.
Just by the way, in case you didn't
know if you find a strong believer he's
become strong because the devil was around.
He wouldn't have been so strong if the
devil were not around to test him and
tempt him and harass him and trouble him.
He's become strong because the devil was around.
Thank God for that.
That God has allowed the devil to exist.
We praise God for everything Jesus did.
I praise God that he's allowed the devil
to exist.
And I praise God that he's taken away
the devil's power.
That he can't touch us.
He can't touch us at all.
He came to destroy the power that Satan
has over us.
There is no way in which Satan can
touch a person who's totally surrendered to God,
who's confessed all his sins cleansed in the
blood of Jesus.
He may not be perfect, he may be
battling 101 sins in his life but he
hates them.
He hates all of them and he really
wants to set everything right with God and
man as soon as he gets opportunity.
I tell you the devil can't touch such
a man.
The devil grabs hold of people who've got
bitterness.
The devil grabs hold of people who are
indulging in sin and not hating it.
Not the people who fall but the people
who are not battling sin.
And Jesus came to deliver us from the
power of the devil.
He said in Luke chapter 10 and verse
18, I was watching Satan fall from heaven
like lightning.
See Jesus said way back before Adam was
created He's telling us something here which he
saw before Adam was created.
He's telling you know fellas you're afraid of
the devil?
Let me tell you what I saw.
He was there one of the great angels
in our presence, Father, Son and Holy Spirit
and I saw him being cast down.
We cast him down.
God.
And you know how soon he fell?
The speed of lightning.
The devil travels at 186,000 miles per
second when he runs away from a godly
man, from a humble man.
Resist the devil and he'll flee from you
at 186,000 miles per second.
That's what it says in his verse.
That's the speed of lightning.
300,000 kilometers a second.
And therefore I've given you authority over serpents,
scorpions, over all the power of the enemy
and nothing shall injure you.
Do you know that?
Nothing can injure me if my conscience is
clear, if I've forgiven everyone, if I've confessed
all my sins, nothing can harm me.
No one can harm me.
Nothing shall injure you because I have given
you authority over all the power of the
enemy.
And you've heard me use that illustration of
the difference between authority and power.
See two words there?
I don't give you power, I give you
authority over the enemy.
He didn't say I give you more power
than Satan.
It's not true.
Do you know that Satan's got more power
than you?
But you've got more authority than him.
And the illustration I love to use is
the little policeman standing in the middle of
the crossroads with this huge trucks coming up
at him at 60, 70 miles per hour
and he just lifts up his hand.
Who's got more power?
That truck can run over a hundred policemen.
That driver doesn't have authority.
It's one little finger, one little hand.
Stop.
In Jesus name stop.
That's it.
I don't know how many of you remember
we had a conference here about 20 years
ago and there was a man, I didn't
know who he was, he just came in
from the street and he was crawling up
the aisle like a snake and everybody was
looking down and I couldn't even see it,
you know, until he came right up to
here.
We had just begun our Bible study and
I said in the name of Jesus, lie
down there.
And he went to sleep.
Immediately.
Some of you were here you may remember
that.
Because we're not going to let the devil
interrupt our Bible study.
We continued our Bible study for one hour.
So let's pray.
Amen.
He woke up.
And then we could talk to him.
It happened right here, in the exact spot,
right there, between those two chairs.
I don't have more power than the devil.
No, I don't even pretend that.
But I've got authority.
Why?
Because my conscience is clear.
There's not a soul on earth whom I've
not forgiven.
A lot of people have done harm against
me, more than I've done against you.
Has anybody taken you to a criminal court
yet?
I've forgiven.
My conscience is clear.
Some of you got little complaints, some mosquito
bites here and there you got from somebody.
And you got those complaints.
What is the result?
You hold up your hand and those trucks
come crashing over you because you've got no
authority.
You're a retired policeman trying to hold up
your hand.
The devil doesn't care for you.
Ah, you were once upon a time, I
knew you had power.
Ah, who are you today?
Jesus I know and Paul I know, but
who are you?
Won't work my brother, sister.
The devil is not fooled by the old
uniforms you used to wear once upon a
time when you were in the service.
Once upon a time, I know you were
in the service, but not today.
Authority.
Think if you've lost it.
What's the use?
A hundred trucks will stop when this man
puts up his hand.
But he's got to remain in service.
There's no authority with those who are retired.
Or those who are sacked.
I mean, some of us are not retired,
we're just sacked from service because of misconduct.
What a sad thing when we lose that
authority over the devil and there are so
many ways in which the devil seeks to
make us lose that authority.
You know, he even tried it with Jesus.
He said, I'll give you all the things
in this world.
You think the devil tempts only you with
that?
Can you imagine that the devil thought he
could even tempt Jesus with money.
And he could tempt Jesus with pleasure and
honor and all the things of the world.
He said, just do one thing, just bow
down to me a little bit.
And that teaches us one lesson.
What do you learn from that?
I'll tell you what I learned.
That if I want to get anything in
this world, I have to bow down to
Satan.
That's what I learned from that temptation.
I hope you learned it too.
That if you go seeking after the things
of this world, you can get it.
Even Jesus could have got it.
But the way Jesus could have got it
is by bowing down to Satan.
And the way you'll get it is by
bowing down to Satan.
But you say, but I need so many
things in the world.
Sure.
Jesus says, seek the kingdom of God first.
And these things will be added to you
without your running after them.
That's the difference.
Jesus did not starve.
He fasted 40 days, but he never starved.
He never had to be without clothes.
And he didn't run around in ragged clothes.
He never had to sleep on the pavement.
He never lived in a slum.
No.
But he didn't run after money.
Not even when he was a carpenter.
Because he would not bow down to Satan.
God, because Satan is the prince of this
world.
Jesus said that.
John 14, verse 30.
Jesus said, Satan is the ruler of this
world.
He's got the right to give certain things
to different people.
If you want it from him, you can
get it from him.
But you've got to bow down to your
knee somewhere.
In other words, what does it mean to
bow down to the knee?
You've got to tell a little lie somewhere.
You've got to cheat somewhere.
You've got to do something wrong somewhere.
You've got to put God second and something
else first in order to get it.
Some of you got a lot of things
in your life.
You got promotions in your job because you
put God second.
You didn't kick God out altogether.
You just put him second.
That's all the devil wants.
He doesn't ask you to throw God altogether
out.
He says, just put him second and put
something that I offer you first.
Your job was first and God was second
and something else was first in your life.
God was second and so you got something.
And you're so happy.
And you're also religious, right?
Because you've got God in your life.
That's religious.
A spiritual man has got God first in
his life.
A religious man has got God second.
Did you understand the difference between a religious
man and a spiritual man?
And therefore, a religious man gets a lot
of things in the world.
But he destroys himself.
He never becomes spiritual because God's not first
in his life.
He has fallen for the trap of the
devil which Jesus overcame.
He's bowed the knee somewhere to Satan and
lost authority.
It's very sad.
You know when you put God first in
your life?
I want to tell you what Balaam, you
know sometimes even non-Christian people can say
something which is true.
Numbers chapter 23.
See, Balaam was a man who had some
contact with God.
Because the Bible says very clearly that God
spoke to Balaam.
You read that many times in Numbers 22.
God said to Balaam.
Numbers 22.9. God came to Balaam.
Verse 12.
God said to Balaam.
Verse 20.
God came to Balaam at night.
I mean that's not a false God.
It was not some idol.
It was the same God whom we worship.
It says came and spoke to Balaam at
night.
Okay.
Again it says in chapter 23 verse 4.
God met Balaam.
You can be pretty sure that that man
had some contact with the true God.
And a heathen king called Balaam and said
curse the nation of Israel for me.
Now remember the nation of Israel was God's
Old Testament people.
Not today.
Don't think what you read in the paper
is about Israel.
That's not the Israel the Bible speaks of.
God's not today God is dealing with the
church.
And I'm always disturbed when we sing these
songs about Israel.
King of Israel.
I don't sing it.
I just leave out that verse.
Because to me he's the king of the
church.
He's not king of Israel today.
You know it says here that he got
called Balaam.
Balak the king called Balaam to curse Israel.
And told him in verse 7 the last
part.
Come curse Jacob for me.
Come denounce Israel.
Do you know what Balaam's reply was?
Listen to this.
How can I curse the one whom God
has not cursed?
Think that you can be in such a
blessed position that nobody can curse you.
They may curse but it doesn't it's like
water off a duck's back.
It's like throw a ball on the wall
and even less than that the ball may
make a stain on the wall.
Curse doesn't even touch me.
It just goes past.
Let God touch me.
How can I curse whom God has not
cursed?
How can I curse a man who is
on whose side God is?
How can I denounce whom the Lord has
not denounced?
I want to ask you my brothers and
sisters.
Have you ever denounced somebody whom God has
not denounced?
Be careful.
Believers sometimes speak evil of somebody.
They denounce someone whom God has not denounced.
I tell you that false prophet Balaam had
more sense than you.
He says how can I denounce one whom
God has not denounced?
Be very very careful when you speak about
God's children.
You can say you disagree with someone but
don't ever denounce someone whom God has not
denounced.
Be very careful.
A lot of people have lost out spiritually
because of that.
And then he says in these Israel people
of Israel are so blessed he says in
verse 10 Oh if only I could die
as happy as an Israelite.
Oh that my end might be like theirs.
Today that applies to the Christian.
And then verse 23 No curse that I
am reading from the Living Bible can be
placed on Jacob.
No black magic can be done against him.
Do you believe that?
No one can do black magic against me.
No one can put a curse on me.
They can try.
If they dig a pit for me they
will fall into that pit themselves.
If they roll a stone on me it
will roll back on them.
Not because I have power.
I've got authority.
Who gave it to me?
Jesus.
How do I retain it?
With a clear conscience and with humility.
Because God is on the side of the
humble.
You only got to keep a clear conscience
and humble yourself.
That's all.
Keep your conscience absolutely clear.
If you wrong somebody go and ask forgiveness
immediately because I don't want to lose this
authority.
I don't want to be sacked from service
and lose my authority.
The trucks can run over me.
There are trucks all over the place.
And any of them will run over me
if I lose my authority.
I can't afford to be sacked from service
even for 5 minutes.
Some of you may think it's ok 5
minutes is not a long time.
5 minutes is enough for a truck to
run over you.
And some of you the devil has run
over you.
And you haven't recovered from all the fractures
you got after the devil ran over you.
Have you learned a lesson for the future?
I don't want to lose be sacked from
service even for 1 minute.
I want to keep my authority and it's
so easy.
You don't have to be perfect.
But you have to admit your sin as
soon as you committed it.
You got to go and ask forgiveness from
God.
Don't justify yourself.
The one terrible sin that I have seen
among believers is justifying themselves.
Yeah, I did that but this, this, this,
this, this.
Yeah, I did that but my wife gave
me this fruit to eat what to do
and the wife whom you created that's what
Adam said.
Like I said the other day, go and
read Psalm 51 not one word of self
-justification.
Do you know that when you justify yourself,
you are an abomination to God?
Did you know that?
You know that I never preach anything which
is not in scripture.
I'll show it to you.
I show you verses which you never seen
in your life.
It's in your Bible but you don't read
them.
Luke 16 verse 15 You are those he
told the Pharisees, who justify yourselves in the
sight of men.
You do something wrong and you say no,
no, no, no, it's like this, it's like
this.
You got a hundred and one explanations.
Why?
You are not wrong of course.
You are the great saint who never does
anything wrong.
Somebody tells you that's wrong.
You say no, no, no, no, no, this,
this, this is okay, go ahead.
But God knows your hearts and that which
is highly esteemed among men.
We always read a verse in its context.
There are many things highly esteemed among men.
We can apply to all of them but
in this particular verse, it's referring to one
thing which is highly esteemed among men that
means which men esteem very highly.
What is that?
To justify themselves.
Everybody in the world highly values justifying themselves
and that is an abomination in the sight
of God.
You got it?
That when you justify yourself you are an
abomination in the sight of God.
That's why Adam lost paradise.
Confess your sin, keep it clear and you'll
have authority.
Satan can have no power over us.
Zero.
If my conscience is clear and I humble
myself in every situation.
Humble yourself, keep your mouth shut.
Humble yourself.
Let them accuse you.
Fellows who accuse you to your face, write
letters against you.
Don't reply.
Let them destroy themselves if they want to.
You will remain standing.
A thousand will attack you on the left
side and they will fall down.
Ten thousand will attack you on the right
side and they will fall down and you
will remain standing.
Because you have made the Lord your refuge.
You dwell in the shadow of the Almighty
and you say, He is my fortress.
I will not defend myself.
And you have authority over Satan.
In the name of Jesus.
You have authority over Satan.
But if you don't keep your conscience clear
and you don't humble yourself and you try
to resist Satan like the sons of Sceva.
You read in Acts 19.
The devil jumped.
The man with evil spirits jumped on seven
strong men.
Seven strong men.
This one man got a hold of them
together.
You know like these fellows who do karate.
That's another demon.
Karate or Kung Fu and all that other
stuff.
Seven men knocked them all out.
Knocked them all out.
And said, Jesus I know and Paul I
know.
But who are you fellas?
Just because you know the Bible.
You know they were the sons of a
Jewish high priest.
You know the Bible is quoted this that
and the other devil said I'm not fooled
by all that.
Oh I go to CFC.
Ah he says I know all that.
Jesus I know.
Paul I know.
Who are you?
Don't try it.
Don't ever try it if your conscience is
not clear.
The devil can overpower seven men stronger than
you.
But what a sad thing.
If you live in the world afraid of
the devil.
When we're supposed to have authority.
There's another thing that Jesus was against.
You know we read in Matthew chapter 10.
It's one of the words that he said
very often.
And sometimes we don't listen to it.
I want you to see how in the
space of 15 seconds or half a minute
he said it three times.
Matthew 10 verse 26 Do not fear.
Verse 28 Do not fear.
Verse 31 Do not fear.
Do not fear.
Now how do you distinguish between a command
and a suggestion?
What do you think that is?
You know children sometimes think that what their
dad said was a suggestion.
You know the difference between a suggestion and
a command?
You know a dad may say well maybe
you shouldn't wear that shirt today.
Maybe you should wear the other one.
That's just a suggestion.
It doesn't matter which shirt you wear.
You wear the blue one or the green
one.
It doesn't make a difference.
But when dad says don't do that.
That's not a suggestion.
You know if the Lord said well you
know I don't think fear is a good
thing you know.
You should try and avoid it.
I mean if you can.
That's a suggestion.
But he never said it like that.
He said don't fear.
The same God who said don't commit adultery
said don't fear.
The same God who said don't kill said
don't fear.
Is that a command or a suggestion?
What do you think do not kill is?
Is that a suggestion?
Sort of you know.
I mean if you can help it.
Don't try not to kill people.
Is it a suggestion or is it a
command?
Do not.
Okay.
You show me a place anywhere in the
whole Bible.
It's 1500 pages.
Where in such a short space it says
three times do not kill, do not kill,
do not kill.
In six verses.
Or do not commit adultery, do not commit
adultery, do not commit adultery.
I'll show you where it says do not
fear, do not fear, do not fear.
Why don't we take it seriously?
We think it's a suggestion.
It's not a suggestion.
Do not fear.
So the Lord said to me fear not.
Because fear tortures us.
See 1 John chapter 4 1 John 4
It says fear has torment in it.
He who is fear involves punishment.
Verse 18 or you know King James Version
I think it says torment.
People who are fearful are tormented.
It means they are troubled.
But there is no fear in love.
That means if I know that God loves
me perfectly I can't have any fear.
But perfect love casts out fear.
Because fear involves punishment.
The one who fears, the one who fears
is not perfected in love.
We love him because he first loved us.
We can paraphrase it like this.
The one who fears has not really understood
God's love.
The Living Bible says if you're afraid it's
for fear what God might do to us.
And it shows that we're not fully convinced
that God really loves us.
Anyone who fears is not fully convinced that
God loves him.
Perfected means fully convinced.
That's the right meaning.
If you fear you're not fully convinced that
God loves you.
You're not sure whether God really is on
your side.
That's probably because you've got a bad conscience.
Or because you believe the devil's lies rather
than God's word.
Or you don't take Jesus' word seriously that
you have a father in heaven.
Or maybe you've not received Jesus Christ into
your life as your Lord.
Maybe there's somebody sitting here.
You've not really surrendered your life to Christ.
Then of course you have to have fear.
Definitely.
If your life is not given to Christ.
If you've not loved him who loved you.
Like it says here, we love him because
he first loved us.
If you don't, if all the love that
Jesus has for you, you don't respond and
love to him and say, Lord take my
life.
Then I say you deserve to live in
fear every single day of your life.
But otherwise a person who's wrapped up in
God's love.
How does that song go?
It's Let me just read it to you.
It's 386.
Beautiful.
It's one of my favorite songs.
I just want to show you something it
says here.
Verse 3 Things that once were wild alarms
cannot now disturb my rest.
Closed in everlasting arms pillowed on the loving
breast.
That's the breast of Jesus.
Oh to lie forever here doubt and care
and self resign while he whispers in my
ear I am his and he is mine.
You know I'm lying on his breast and
he says to me in my ear because
he's my bridegroom.
You're mine.
I'm yours.
His forever only his.
Who the Lord and me shall part.
Ah with what a rest of bliss Christ
can fill.
The loving heart, heaven and earth may one
day fade and flee.
First born light, the light that was created
in Genesis chapter 1 before the sun was
created that'll decline in gloom but ultimately when
everything has passed away God and I are
there.
I'm his and he's mine.
That's a blessed position of a person who
is a child of God.
He has no fear.
He has no fear of the future.
He has no fear of the devil.
He has no fear of sickness.
He has no fear of accidents because he's
his.
Your days are numbered.
You know think of that lovely promise.
I don't know how many of you read
this promise.
In Exodus chapter 23 Exodus chapter 23 the
Lord says to those who surrender their life
to him Verse 26 the last part I
will fulfill the number of your days.
Oh as the living Bible says you will
live out the full quota of the days
of your life.
That means God when I was born, before
I was born God wrote in a book
in heaven how many years I'm supposed to
live on this earth and I believe with
all my heart because I've got a clear
conscience because I've sought to humble myself in
every situation I will live out the full
quota of my days.
Full quota of my earthly life is not
going to be shortened by sickness or accident
or anything because God is for me.
I mean God may take his children away.
He took Jesus away when he was 33.
He took David Brainerd away when he was
29 of tuberculosis.
That's alright.
But he lived out the full quota of
his days.
David Brainerd did more in 7 years than
other people have done in 700 years.
Yeah.
He did more for the Lord than all
of us put together.
It's a wonderful life.
No fear of death, no fear of accidents
no fear of the devil no fear of
the future no fear of financial difficulties that
may come in the future.
I want to say one last thing.
Jesus was also against sickness particularly where sickness
was a result of sin.
I want to show you one verse in
John chapter 5.
I'll just say it briefly because Jesus himself
didn't speak much about it.
New Testament epistles don't speak much about it.
There was a man who was lying sick
for 38 years.
One day Jesus went to the pool of
Bethesda raised him from his sickness made him
walk and afterwards verse 14 of John 5
Jesus found him in the temple and said
to him, now you have become healthy and
well don't sin as you did before.
Otherwise something worse can happen to you.
Teaching us that there are some sicknesses which
are the direct result of sin.
There are some other sicknesses which are not
the result of sin like John chapter 9
verse 2 the disciples asked Jesus this man
born blind is it because he sinned or
his father sinned Jesus said no this is
not due to sin.
So when we put John 5 and John
9 together we see there are some sicknesses
which are not due to sin.
John 9 category and some sicknesses which are
due to sin.
John 5 category.
So if you got a John 5 category
type of sickness.
I want to say to you you can
be healed you can be 100% healed
you don't have to have that sickness anymore
if it's due to some sin that you
have not set right.
There are many people in the world suffering
from arthritis and asthma and migraine and headaches
and ulcers in their stomach and all types
of things because of sinful attitudes confess it
Jesus is against sickness I believe basically God's
will for us is help because God is
a loving father and I would never want
to give sickness to my children.
God's a better father than me.
But we live in a world where there
is a lot of sickness because of that
but God is a merciful God.
He's provided us medicine doctors, hospitals and he's
also provided us healing by prayer if we
can trust him so find out from God
whether that sickness you got is something you
can be healed from or you got to
live with.
Generally speaking I say Lord I don't want
to live with this unless some benefit is
going to come to me through it I
want to get benefit out of everything if
some benefit, spiritual benefit is going to come
to me like Paul said I thank God
for the thorn in the flesh but otherwise
heal me.
It's wonderful to live the Christian life God
before us who can be against us let's
pray smile heads for God heads above before
God don't get your priorities wrong don't put
sickness before sin.
Remember sin is number one then the devil
then fear then sickness.
Put it in that order God is against
all of them but put it in the
right order and you'll probably experience deliverance from
all four imagine that if you can get
up from your seats and go home and
be delivered from sin, Satan, fear and sickness,
boy your life is going to be different
from today it's God's will keep a good
conscience go and speak to that person you
never spoken to for so many years ask
forgiveness, call up somebody ask forgiveness, humble yourself
and don't justify yourself and become an abomination
in God's eyes humble yourself and seek fellowship
with everybody in the church with the poor
and the rich and everyone don't just live
for yourself and your family and as quickly
as you seek restoration of fellowship with your
wife when there's a tension between you and
your wife more quickly than that seek fellowship,
restoration of fellowship with God's children and I
tell you God will be with you and
the devil will not be able to stand
before you Heavenly Father I pray that I
don't know how many have years to hear
some will never change I know that Lord,
but I pray that there will be a
number here who have years to hear and
whose lives will be changed who will never
bow down to the devil and lose their
authority what's the use of a little bit
of money and to lose authority over Satan
Lord that's so foolish I pray that people
will see it I pray that we live
on earth in a way that we can
glorify you fulfill your purpose we ask in
Jesus name Amen