Zac Poonen - Overcoming the World

i want to turn to a verse in john's gospel chapter 16 these were almost the last words that jesus spoke to his disciples before he went to the cross because after that in john 17 he's praying to the father so john 16 and 33 these things i have spoken to you that in me you may have peace in the world you have tribulation but take courage for i have overcome the world and i believe that as we approach the end of the age and the return of the lord we will need those words more and more because unlike 95 of believers i do not believe that jesus will come secretly and take away the church suddenly before the seven years of tribulation starts we don't compel everybody in this church to believe that you can believe what you like all i say is be ready for the tribulation don't be surprised when it comes so people ask me you mean to say that the lord may not come tonight i said i'm absolutely convinced he won't come tonight. and then people say but if that's the case people will live carelessly it's only the fear that the lord may come any day that makes people holy so then i use an example i said do you know that we are the bride of christ and we are waiting for the bridegroom to come so think of an earthly example where an engaged girl her fiance has gone to some foreign country and says to her well i don't know when i'll come but be faithful to me because i suddenly may get the opportunity to come back and i'll marry you it's something like that the coming of the lord and supposing this girl says or supposing she gets a letter from her one day well i'm not able to come for another seven years will you be faithful to me because i'm not able to have come back and supposing this girl says ah he's not gonna come back for seven years that's great i can fool around with a lot of other men till he comes you think that girl is fit to be a bride when you know that the lord is not coming for the next few years and you fool around that is the way the lord tests you and proves that you are not fit to be in his bride if you really are in the bride of christ even if you know that jesus will not come for the next hundred years in your entire lifetime you will still be faithful this is a false teaching that's been going on in christendom for years that the way to make people holy is teach them christ may come any moment tell this engaged girl your bro your bright room may land up any day so don't fool around with other men is that the way we keep a person as a pure virgin for christ these are all psychological human techniques and unfortunately like i've often said money music and psychology have come into the church to replace the power of the holy spirit and devotion to christ be careful of that be careful that you're not attracted to a church by music be careful that you're not attracted to a church by money or by psychology and psychology can be more dangerous you know the human techniques by which you try to make people holy or a lot very often by fear and one of the ways to frighten people is christ may come so i want to tell you that jesus said in the world you will have tribulation and those were the last words almost that he spoke to the disciples before he prayed in john 17 and john 18 he says let's go to the garden and he went to the garden of gethsemane so think of that just before he went off to die he said you're going to have tribulation so why is it that we hear so much teaching that we won't have tribulation or why is it we are afraid of it in fact he said the world will have tribulation and as soon as you hear the word tribulation you know fear comes that's why the very next words jesus said was take courage courage is the opposite of fear is the reason for not being afraid it's not there are many reasons why we can say i'm not going to be afraid one is well jesus said in matthew 10 that they will not be able to touch even a hair on your head verse 30 the hairs on your head are all numbered therefore don't fear that is a good reason you know jesus said that in matthew chapter 10 and verse 29 the sparrows two sparrows are sold for a cent yet not one of them will fall to the ground without your father verse 28 therefore don't be afraid of those who kill you so in other words one reason we don't fear is the reason given in matthew 10 28 29 and 30 that even if somebody kills my body he can't kill my soul and i must be more afraid of god than of men and that the care of god for us who are his children is much more than this for the sparrows and not one sparrow falls into the ground anywhere in the world i don't know how many millions of sparrows there are in the world but imagine a father in heaven who sees every sparrow that falls anywhere in this huge white world he sees it's fallen there's another sparrow fallen there's another sparrow fallen i mean i have a feeling that sparrows must be falling almost every second and god sees that and if i can believe that if i can believe the words of jesus you think he doesn't know what's happening to me or you and he said the hairs on your head are numbered you think he doesn't know when some sickness comes to you he doesn't know about it you're going to be crazy i mean i'm more afraid of getting sick than losing a hair from my head even though i have very little i'm not so scared about losing a hair in my head but sickness is worse what does it mean when he said the hairs on your head are numbered not one of them will fall without your father knowing about it he knows you see if hair falling from the head is the most insignificant unimportant thing that any of us can ever face can you think of anything more insignificant or unimportant that doesn't even bother you if you wake up in the morning and you find one hair on your pillow how much does that bother you it doesn't even bother me jesus took that example take these words seriously his care for you my brother's sister if you are a disciple of jesus remember he didn't say this to the multitude he spoke this to his disciples so if you're not a follower of jesus forget it this is not for you but if you happen to be a follower of jesus then a learner and a follower of jesus christ then this word is for you that not one hair in your head can be touched without your father knowing about it not one hair can fall without your father knowing about it and therefore we do not fear everything much worse than that somebody hitting me or trying to kill me or whatever it is we don't fear we are more valued than many sparrows but that is not that's only physical harm there's a worse harm that the world can do to you and me and i don't know whether you realize this i think many believers do not the world can harm me in two ways one is physically hurt me kill me and those promises that i just read are referred to that part of the world harming me but there's another way in which the world can harm you and me and that is through cinemas and television and pornography and dirty books and the love of money and many things like this and i'll tell you you'll discover if you don't discover it now you'll discover an eternity that that harm is much worse than if somebody cut off my hand because i'm a christian it is much worse and when we realize that we will be afraid of that also the two ways in which the world can harm me and i want to be scared of the most serious one first and then i won't be afraid of the other one which is not so serious and that's why jesus said in verse 33 of john 16 these things have spoken to me that in me you may have peace peace is the word which jesus always used after his resurrection when he met to the disciples peace be unto you peace be unto you the bible says in hebrews chapter 12 and verse 13 to 17 that we must pursue peace with all men without which we will not see the lord peace between me and god between me and other people is a very very important part of our christian life and in christ i must live in that peace at all times in colossians 3 verse 15 it says whenever that peace goes out of my heart consider it like a referee blowing a whistle in a football game the peace of christ must be your referee it says in the margin of colossians 3 verse 15 referee means one who blows a whistle saying something is wrong the whole game must stop so whenever i lose that peace in my heart i have to say something is wrong now i don't know what it is i want to find out what it is you go to the empire you go to the referee and say what is the foul that was committed and the referee says bring the ball here and i'll tell you what the foul is and then we'll start the game again that's exactly what we have to do whenever we lose peace in our heart please remember this my brothers and sisters it's been a very helpful guideline for me for many many years whenever i lose the peace it can happen any to any one of us to the best of us the referee blows a whistle it may not be something you did wrong it may be something that the other team did wrong another person did wrong the game has to stop somebody did wrong but it disturbed you and you lost your peace haven't you discovered that sometimes somebody else does something wrong maybe in your house maybe your servant maybe somebody in the office or somebody in the church you didn't do anything wrong the other person did something wrong and your peace is disturbed yeah it's happened to me not so much now but i remember in the early days when we'd give responsibility to somebody in the church to do some part of the maintenance or cleaning and they didn't do it that would disturb me and i found i lost my peace because somebody else didn't do his job and then i had to set something right in my heart that i don't have a grudge against him or a bad thought about him but well imagine maybe he was sick and that's why i couldn't come imagine the best about him then my peace comes back but i will be very very careful because our tendency is when somebody does something wrong to attribute the worst possible motive to him and not imagine any good reason why that didn't happen but some very bad reason and that shows how corrupt our heart is and if you cleanse yourself whenever you discover that type of corruption in your heart that you think the worst possible thing about somebody instead of the best possible thing you will gradually become a better person you discover that when somebody says something to you and you attribute the worst possible motive to it that shows the corruption and filthiness of your own heart why not attribute a good motive to why he said that why should it be the worst possible motive you know we there's a verse in proverbs which says as in water face answers to face so the heart of man to man that means when you look in a clear stream of water you can see your face there or we say a mirror and what that verse is is what you see in another person's heart is what is actually in your heart you imagine that guy's motive is bad because that's how you are when you do something like that or say something like that it's with a bad motive and so you imagine that other people are not are also like that but brother sister let me tell you a lot of people are much better than you their hearts are not as bad as yours so it's good to think something good about other people that will make you a better person too so whenever peace is disturbed in our heart for any reason even somebody else's error stop the referees blown the vessel jesus said in me you will have peace i have spoken these things to you that in me you will have peace and i'll tell you it's very very important in the coming days to develop this habit and to learn this lesson of remaining in peace under all circumstances whatever may happen in the world around whatever you read in the newspaper and when i read of all the terrible things that are being done to little children these days you know we were scared for our own children little children in the you know evil world we got to have peace we've got to believe that the angels in heaven take care of the little children of god's people otherwise there's no hope for any of us and so we must believe that we must have peace we must not allow our heart to be disturbed because when the heart is disturbed it's like you know in a clear lake you can see your face but when there's a ripple on that lake you can't see your face so in the same way when our heart is at peace and at rest we can see the face of the lord clearly and hear the voice of the lord clearly but when there's a disturbance and a lack of peace you can't see the face of the lord clearly and you can't hear the voice of the lord either it's like a disturbance on this on the telephone on the phone if you there's a lot of disturbance you can't hear the voice and very very often this is the reason why believers say i can't seem to hear what god is saying to me i'll tell you brother there are a lot of things that are disturbing the peace in your heart get rid of them and you'll the line will become clear because all the disturbance is gone and you will hear the lord clearly that's been my great longing for many many years to hear the lord clearly because of one reason the lord said the only way for a man to live is by hearing the word of the lord not by food the entire world thinks food is necessary to live but in the midst of the world things like that god has a few people who realize that more important for me than food is to hear god speaking to me and that does not mean just reading the bible for half an hour in the morning and easing my conscience it's good to read the bible for half an hour in the morning or whenever you do it but hearing the word of the lord is something i must be always alert to and i must not allow anything to prevent me from hearing that that is why i must recognize the whistle of the referee when i lose my peace in the world you will have tribulation but in me you will have peace that is the greatest preparation for the coming days and for the troubles and difficulties that christians may face in every country jesus said you will be hated by all nations he said that you'll be hated by every nation because of me and the only way to escape being hated is to compromise and hide the fact that you're a disciple of jesus christ i remember in the years when i worked in the navy and if i was in a ship even for a few days i just joined a new ship i felt that within a few weeks everybody in the ship must know i'm a christian not by wearing a badge or anything like that but just there must be something different about my interests and my way of speaking and everything that from the senior officer down to the junior sailors they must know that i'm different that i'm a christian and i'm not ashamed to carry a bible or keep a bible with me on my table there's no law in the world which says you can't keep a bible on your table no i'd keep that and people say hey this guy's a different type of christian there are many ways if you want to let it be known that you're a christian if you want to if you're ashamed of course you won't do that because you might lose your promotion with some fanatic anti-christian who's your boss then you don't want him to know that you're a christian but if there's going to be difficulties for christians i'll tell you that but in these times of relative ease if we are bold and not ashamed to be known as a christian in the more difficult times to come you'll become more bold i'll tell you honestly i was a very timid person very timid i was the shortest and the weakest in my class in school and when they heard i was joining the military academy they made fun of me and say you're going to defend our country that's the type of person i was and i said fine and even in the military academy i was the shortest and the weakest and very timid but when god filled me with the holy spirit i became a different person and that's why i know that the fullness of the holy spirit can make a world of difference in your life it doesn't matter what your basic personality is if you're filled with the holy spirit you will really become another person and that's the real thing but the lord sees whether you're if you're ashamed of being known as a christian why in the world should god fill you with this holy spirit you can pray for 50 years but the lord will say you're ashamed of me why should i i should be i'll be ashamed of you before my father you pray for the holy spirit i'll tell my father not to give you the holy spirit because you're ashamed of me i want to tell you this i believe in my heart that the reason why some people pray and pray and pray and pray have to be filled with the holy spirit they are not filled or get some fake counterfeit filling is because they are ashamed of christ in the place where they should be bold for christ they are ashamed and jesus said if you are ashamed of me before men i will be ashamed of you before the father so i want to encourage all of you before the days of greater trial come don't be ashamed to stand up for christ in your office in your factory i'm not saying you should start preaching but by your way of life and by without making causing offense to others that you make it known that you're a disciple of jesus christ and not the ordinary type of christian whom everybody knows who's compromising tells lies and cheats and all that a different type who's upright who's concerned about others i often think it never i remember joseph when he was in prison instead of being occupied with all his sorrows that my father and my brothers are all far away and i've been accused falsely my brothers hate me this woman hated me and i'm in jail wrongly instead of being occupied with all that he saw two people discouraged in the prison and he went to them and said why are you discouraged i've often been challenged by that even in my younger days when i was working i said lord when i work and there are people around me in my office for working i don't want to be occupied with my sorrows and my problems i want to see if somebody is discouraged or gloomy to go up to him and say hey why are you discouraged can i encourage you in some way and do you know that one single question you read that story in genesis open the way for joseph to become the second ruler in egypt if he had not asked that question why are you looking so discouraged the story would have been very different god honors those who have a concern for others and that's one way we can be a witness in our office not just by giving out tracks any idiot can give our tracks but to have a concern for others to just encourage them not just to preach to them you don't have to preach to them the very first day maybe help them in some practical way if you do that you don't know what can happen so let's seek to be bold for christ because we have peace in our heart and never be ashamed of losing a promotion not getting a job not being selected in an interview because they know i'm a christian it's one of the things i decided very clearly because when i joined the navy i had an ambition a real great ambition to go to the top but when i became a christian i knew if i stand up for christ that'll be impossible then i have a choice my earthly ambition or christ i said i couldn't care less i don't care if i don't get a promotion i don't care for money i want to be a witness for christ and i've never regretted that decision i made more than 55 years ago and you won't regret it because the lord will lead you on from one degree of glory to another always keep that peace in your heart that is more important than anything that the world can do to you the hairs on my head are numbered i'm more value than many sparrows but more than that there's the peace of christ in my heart and as i said the second part of the world ruining me through its influences that can also take away my peace you cannot allow a worldly thought if you're a sincere christian or attitude to come into your heart and remain at peace that's not possible if you can have a worldly selfish attitude towards another person and remain at peace i would question whether you're really born again because when a person is born again he comes alive and he becomes sensitive you see if you put a one-ton weight on a dead man he feels nothing but i mean people like us even a small weight in our hand we can feel it there's a weight there because we are alive and so when we're in our heart if some worldly influence comes in and you're sensitive that means you're alive but for example i'm amazed how a believer can sit in front of a computer and watch pornography and watch it and watch it watch it it doesn't disturb him i wonder if such a person is even born again or if he's born again whether he's lost to salvation how can you can you have somebody stab you and you don't feel it and somebody stabbed you for 10 seconds 15 seconds 20 seconds whatever amount of time you watch pornography and you don't feel it brother you better check out whether you're born again and if you were once upon a time check out whether you lost your salvation repent before death completely enters in and you won't feel anything after some time it's the same way with having a bitterness against somebody the world coming in and making you bitter bitter bitter and you can keep it bitterness is somebody stabbing you and you have a bitterness against your mother-in-law or somebody else a bitterness bitterness bitterness bitterness and you're quite happy you must be dead that's why you don't feel it i've had temptations to bitterness come to my heart and i feel it and i say lord i don't want it if you feel it's okay if you feel it it is okay because that means you're alive i want to be so alive that even a little pinprick i'll feel it ask god to make you sensitive like that when he says the the world coming in is not only to through external tribulation is the world coming in the world you will have tribulation in the world will come into your heart and try to disturb you and the only way to be strong in the coming days is by being very very sensitive to the little things that disturb your peace within in me you will have peace and the thing that's come to take away that peace is the world the spirit of the world the lust of the eyes the lust of the flesh the pride of life which makes me offended that somebody spoke to me like that or somebody didn't show consideration to me or somebody didn't smile at me or shake my hand or all types of things the pride of life that makes me feel i'm very important these are the things that take away that peace so when we think of the world coming in in order to be prepared for the day when the world may persecute me physically let me now overcome the world that's trying to conquer me in my spirit in my heart and if i conquer the world in my heart i'll be able to stand firm against the world when the world comes to hurt me or persecute me because i'm a christian so jesus said in the world you'll have tribulation but take courage because and here's the answer he has given us be bold this is the word of the lord for us today be bold because jesus has overcome the world i have overcome the world and you say lord how does that help me because jesus says if i have overcome the world you can overcome the world too you say no lord you were god no i am god but i lived on the earth as a man otherwise it's no use god telling me i have overcome the world what encouragement that to me it's like a bird telling me i can fly so what or an angel telling me i can fly that doesn't help me and if it's god telling me i've overcome the world that doesn't help me but though jesus was god on earth he overcame the world as a man very very important and that is why i can be bold otherwise you know to tell me that he has overcome the world how does that help me he didn't overcome the world physically he didn't overcome the roman soldiers who came to fight with him they overcame him they overcame him so badly that they nailed him to a cross which was the world that he overcame not the world that caesar in rome overcame that is a physical world the world that jesus overcame was the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life turn with me to 1 john chapter 2 and i'll show you that when you compare scripture with scripture you have the answer 1 john chapter 2. verse 16 all that is in the world and it's mentioned here all that is in the world in other words the lust of the flesh all the passions in our flesh the lust of the eyes i like the i think it's a living bible paraphrase one of those which says the lust of the eyes is the desire to buy anything that you see you see something in a shop i want to buy it. you see another sister wearing a pretty sorry you want that or you want one like that this is called the lust of the eyes you can read it and think only men have it women have it just as much as men the desire to buy anything that you see in a shop or with somebody else the lust of the flesh is the sexual passions and many other passions in our flesh and the third is the pride of life that makes me offended that makes me bitter that makes me refuse to forgive that wants to show that i'm better than other people that makes other people feel small always treats other people as though they are inferior to me this is all the pride of life so many things offended because of the way somebody spoke to me or the pride of life that makes me feel i will only speak to certain important people i remember one or two brothers i think of two brothers particularly who used to be in cfc and thankfully they are not here now they used to always want to see me they had no interest in the other brothers in cfc till one day i told both of them please don't come to my house again till you learn to visit all the other brothers in the church there's a pride in you which makes you feel i only want to see the leaders i don't want to see the ordinary brothers what what arrogance it's like saying i don't want the little fingers on the toes and all i'm going to cut them off you can't do that to the body of christ the body of christ 1 corinthians 12 says the head does not say to the feet i don't need you do you know that have you ever read that verse if not let me show it to you the attitude of jesus to the lowest member in the body of christ you want to really want to become like christ have this attitude 1 corinthians and chapter 12. it says here 1 corinthians and chapter 12 verse 21 the eye cannot say to the hand i don't need you or the head to the feet i don't need you see the feet are the lowest part in the body and think he's talking about the body of christ there think of someone who you know is the lowest most insignificant brother here in cfc who do you think is the lowest most uneducated the most uncultured most insignificant though very shy to talk and not very interesting to talk to think of somebody like that you have no interest in meeting that person do you know that jesus is interested in that person and if you are like jesus you will also be interested in meeting such people and jesus does not say to such a person i don't need you i mean i i can dispose with you fellows i want all the important people here who can do something i don't believe that if i believe that i would never visit a single village in india i'd always be in the cities with the educated people with the graduate scholarships and high level people there are churches like that where all only high level educated people go it's the pride of life and i've seen it in so many believers and that's why they don't get grace because god resists the proud and if you want to know one reason why you're not getting victory over some sins that are keeping on harassing you and troubling you this may be the reason there is a pride in your life which is preventing you from overcoming the world judge yourself and be cleansed from that and when we overcome the world in our daily life that is the best preparation for tribulation for persecution from the world around how do you think paul could face prison and be imprisoned there and have no complaints and from the prison he wrote philippians where he says rejoice in the lord always and again i say rejoice and from that prison he wrote be anxious for nothing how could a man write like that because before the external world troubled him externally he had overcome the world internally so the way to be prepared for persecution and difficulty is by overcoming the world today in times of ease we were taught in the military the more you sweat in peace the less you will bleed in war that means the more you work hard in times of peace to prepare for war then the more victories you'll win in war the more you sweat in peace the less you will bleed in war and i apply that to the christian life today we are living in relative peace around us we are not persecuted we can meet like this here there are countries like china where they cannot meet like this persecution has already overtaken them and before it comes to india how shall we be prepared for it by making sure we have overcome the world inside and the more you sweat in peace the less you will bleed in wartime the less you will deny christ in the time of persecution you know i'm not a natural bold person i'm naturally a coward but when the holy spirit fills me and i lean upon the lord then i'm bold and i don't want a natural boldness the natural boldness will not help me in time of persecution many bold people have denied the lord peter was a naturally bold person see what happened to him even as afraid of a servant girl asking him if he was a disciple so if you're one of those naturally bold people you're in danger but if you recognize your weakness the lord says when when you're weak then like my power can be manifest in you and you cling to the lord that's what i do i say lord i'm not a naturally bold person but i cling to you and therefore i want to cling to you all the time i want to cling to you right now so that this world does not overcome me and then in the time of persecution that world will not be able to trouble me either so please keep these things in mind because i believe that the lord is preparing the church in india for difficult times ahead and by the church i don't mean cfc i mean every individual believer who is wholehearted a disciple of jesus christ we we will jesus said all nations will hate you it'll happen so i'm just trying to tell you how you can be prepared for that day not just by taking comfort from the fact that your hairs will not be touched or that you're more valued than sparrows but by being prepared in our heart by facing that world which is trying to conquer me today saying no to watching those television programs that are not helping you at all some people spend hours and hours watching what they call cereals oh such an interesting story sister is usually sisters have you read the bible do you know the bible you don't know that and you want to watch all these i'll tell you there are more interesting stories in the bible if you take the time to read it that's something that god can help you there to know get rid of these bad habits you you will deny jesus in the day of persecution because you spent your time watching television serials instead of reading the bible and being bold and that day you will cry oh lord i denied you why you got to be prepared for it now don't waste your time with allowing the world to grip you inside and with pollution and dirty pictures and mind and bitterness and an unforgiving spirit you will not stand in that day so let's take the words of jesus seriously in me you will have peace in the world you'll have tribulation and before that external tribulation comes the world with the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the lust the pride of life will try to overcome you make sure you overcome it i have overcome the world he said what did he mean by i have overcome the world i have let me expand it from 1 john 2 16. i've overcome the lust of the flesh i've overcome the lust of the eyes i've overcome the pride of life people don't believe that jesus overcome these things let me show that to you again 1 john chapter 2 and another verse before that 1 john 2 16 all that is in the world the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes jesus did not want to buy everything that he saw he was quite happy with what he had and the boastful pride of life is not from the father it's completely different that is of the world and he says in verse 15 the last part if anyone loves this world the love of the father is not in him so these things that are mentioned is the the world the lust of the flesh the lust of the first prize of life if you love these things if you love these things that are polluting your mind i want to say to you in jesus name in love for you you do not love god even if you sit in cfc the love of the father is not in you you won't hear it straight like this in other churches but you will hear it here if you love the world the love of the father is not in you and therefore verse 15 do not love the world nor the things that are in the world and it's not talking about you know possessions it's not saying that you shouldn't have a house or a car it's talking about the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes all that is in the world he didn't say money car house no the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes it's not these things but the possessive possessive attitude towards these things that you have to be careful about turn also to revelation chapter 3 verse 21 there are two verses in scripture that tell us how jesus sat upon the throne revelation chapter 3 and verse he who overcomes i will grant to him to sit down with me on my throne and listen how did jesus get to the father's throne here's the re the reason is given as i overcame and i'm sat down with the father on his throne you ask god god father why did you allow jesus to sit at your right hand the answer because he is my son no because he overcame the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life therefore he sits at me on the throne and jesus says if you overcome the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life i will grant to you that means it's not something we deserve i will grant to you the privilege of sitting down with me on my throne i don't know what that means but it must be something precious not for honor to me that emphasizes nearness to jesus christ the reward i've said to the lord many times the only reward i want in eternity is nearness to jesus christ and that's what's referred to here i will grant him to sit with me on my throne and the other verse that tells us why jesus was exalted is in philippians in chapter 2. philippians chapter 2 it's very interesting to see that when god sent his son to the earth as a man he did not make different laws for him than he's made for us for example he never made a law like okay the law of gravity will not operate on jesus christ he can fly he can jump up without falling down no the same laws applied to him that applied to us do you know that he even got sick i'll come to that in a moment philippians chapter 2 it says here uh verse 8 being found in appearance as a man he humbled himself very important word he humbled himself meaning read it carefully being found in appearance as a man he humbled himself i'll read it again tell me what you get out of it being found as a man he humbled himself what does it mean it means that if you're a human being the only right thing for you to do is to humble yourself that's the meaning of that the only proper thing for any human being to do is to humble himself and he did that even to obedient to the father to the point of death the death of the cross therefore god exalted him and put him on that high place so he asked father father why did you exalt jesus to the high place because he humbled himself and if you humble yourself the bible says god exalts the humble i'm absolutely sure if god does not exalt a person over any sin it's because he has not humbled himself if you find anger crushing you down brother sister you're not humble whatever you may say god doesn't think you're humble you can think you are other people think you are but when anger can conquer you god is not you mean anger is more powerful than your god you mean anger is pushing you down and god is trying trying to exalt you and he can't because anger is so powerful you've got to be off your head like those israelites who felt that the giants were more powerful than god why does anger conquer you be honest today and say i am a proud person therefore god does not exalt me over anger he keeps on pushing me down i think i'm bigger and more important and better than other people so god keeps pushing me down why does sexual lust keep on conquering you in your thoughts answer it don't say it because brother there's so much temptation in the world it's got nothing to do with that say i am a proud person identify the root cause of that disease and you'll be cured otherwise you'll be giving the wrong medicine and you don't get cured the root cause of the disease is you are proud and god just does not exalt proud people over any sin so if you are defeated by any sin in your life say to yourself god is not exalting me the law was not different for jesus christ god exalted him because he was humble he's sitting at the throne because he overcame and that is the same lord jesus who says to us take courage i have overcome the world you don't have to be afraid and because he had overcome the world so thoroughly you know i'll never forget this beautiful picture it's always been before me in my mind in john chapter 19. first of all i'll show you the secret of it in john 18 then go to john 19. john 18. jesus you've got to picture this in your mind sometimes we must use our imagination picture in your mind jesus stripped just a few torn clothes on him all torn a crown of thorns on his head bleeding from numerous whippings and beatings standing before pilate with all the roman soldiers and the jewish chief priests and pharisees all waiting to see him being killed and pilate in his grand robe sitting on the throne and down below there at a lower level jesus standing and pilate saying are you the king verse 33 john 18 33 are you the king of the jews and jesus said my kingdom i'm a king but my kingdom is not of this world how could he say that because the world had no power over him the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes the pride of life 33 years and a half years he had conquered it conquered it and said my kingdom doesn't belong to this world i have no interest in anything this world can give me money honor position can you say that can you say that my kingdom is not in this world you say then why do you do your job i do a job to earn my living that's all so that i don't become a beggar or dependent on rich brothers in the church supporting me or being a parasite on society i don't want that i don't want to be a beggar why do we educate our children because we don't want our children to grow up to be beggars or dependent on rich people helping them when they're in need no that's why we earn our own living and that's why we educate our children so that they can earn their own living so they can stand on their own feet and not be dependent on anyone but we don't love this world we're not interested in the honor position greatness money anything this world gives if you're like that you can say my kingdom is not of this world i belong to another kingdom if my kingdom here's another proof of your kingdom being of the world verse 36 if my kingdom were of this world servants would fight and i will also fight are you the fighting type that is one of the clearest proofs your kingdom is of this world you fight in your home you fight in your office you fight with the auto rickshaw driver you fight with the porter in the railway station you fight everywhere your kingdom is in this world you want to save five rupees here and two rupees there and that's why you fight with these vegetable vendors and auto rickshaw drivers your kingdom is of this world you fight with people who earn 10 of what you can earn imagine that fighting with some poor man who earns ten percent of what you earn i've seen christians do it they're kingdoms of this world my kingdom is not in the world jesus said be like that my brother if you want to overcome the world determine in all your life 24 hours a day your attitude to everybody in the world my kingdom is not in this world if you're gonna fight with me i'm not gonna fight i'm not gonna fight for promotion in my office or advancement or anything promotion comes from the lord it says in psalm 75 it comes from the lord it doesn't come from man for me if you believe that you'll trust him and you won't be going carrying favor with your bosses my kingdom is not of this world and i do not fight everybody who fights with others is thereby shouting out my kingdom is of this world whatever i may say on sunday morning whatever beautiful songs and hymns i may sing on sunday morning in the church listen to me my kingdom's of this world and the devil says yeah i can see that and god says i can see that too now such a man jesus when pilate tried to threaten him remember you got to understand this before you go to the next verse pilate tried to threaten him a few verses later john 19 verse 10 don't you know that i whose kingdom is of this world pilate have authority to release you or to crucify you what does a normal person say please let me go i won't do it again not like that for jesus christ he stood there and i see him there standing as a king real king maybe his clothes are torn maybe he's bleeding but he is the king in that court that day and says you can have no authority over me. unless it is given to you by my father wonderful words when i was taken to court once by religious people i said those words you have no authority over me except what my father gives you i believe that in any situation that you face in life remember this your boss who threatens you your landlord or anybody your neighbor some enemy you have no authority over me except what my father gives you but before you come there don't forget you've got to go through john 18 36 my kingdom is not of this world if your kingdom is of this world you won't have the boldness to say what jesus said in john 19 11 and that is the reason why many believers cannot say what jesus said in john 19 11. don't you think the name of jesus is so dishonored not before people but before the devil the devil watches how christians are so scared scared to stand up for the lord ashamed of the lord and the devil taunts god and says these are your people see how he's behaving in his office see how he's behaving there on sunday morning they are all very bold to say they are disciples of jesus but see him now dear brothers and sisters i'm not saying this to condemn anyone i'm saying this so that we shall be ashamed of ourselves and say lord forgive me i never want to be ashamed of you i've often thought of jesus hanging on the cross not ashamed to die for us publicly in my younger days that's the thing that you always used to grip me it was very difficult for me to stand up as a 23 year old officer in the navy to proclaim that i am a christian but the thing that always used to encourage me was jesus was not ashamed to be stripped to hang on a cross for me and i said lord help me that i'll look at that and never be ashamed to stand up for you whether i lose my job or anything i want to tell you this my brothers and sisters if you're a disciple of jesus you may not get very high up in this world but you'll have no regret for thousands and thousands of years in eternity thousands and thousands of years in eternity you'll have no regret over the way you lived for the few years that you were on this earth take it seriously you won't get another chance in heaven to show your love for jesus christ as you can do it now now is the only opportunity determined by the grace of god to conquer those filthy habits that are dishonoring christ in your life give up watching those filthy things that dishonor christ in your life give up that fighting and quarreling in the home and in the office and on the roads say lord make me a man of peace and let's be witnesses to for christ by the way we live and one day when persecution comes and whoever may come before us we'll be able to say you have no authority over me except what my father gives you and we won't say that in arrogance we will say that in humility i am a child of my heavenly father you can't touch me without my father's permission no weapon formed against me will prosper if somebody comes to you with a knife or a gun what do you do what do you do i know what i'll do i'll say in the name of jesus put that down we got to be bold god is on our side he won't let us down it's mighty authority in the name of jesus christ if you are seeking the kingdom of heaven first and not the kingdom of this world that's what we are seeking to prepare people for in this church he who is yours to hear let him hear let's pray our heavenly father we thank you for not only your love and your goodness forgiveness so many things you've given us but also the tremendous authority is ours as children of god as children of the king of kings and the authority there is in the name of jesus christ which the devil tries to rob from us through fear through compromise through sin lord we want to be overcomers we want to humble ourselves continuously down to the ground to fall on our face before you thank you that you hear us and i pray for everyone here lord everyone here who is sincere fill them with the holy spirit and the recognition of their authority as believers in christ we pray in jesus name amen

Channel: Perfect Love Network

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Id: wp8Kz-u4pFk

Length: 60min 18sec (3618 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 29 2021