A Witness for God on Earth

So we want to continue where we left off in the morning. We were thinking of our theme here, preserving a pure testimony, like that burning bush. In the Old Testament, God gave laws to the children of Israel.

And if you return to the book of Leviticus, which I'm pretty sure is one of the books you hardly ever read in the Old Testament. There's a lot in the book of Leviticus, by the way. If you want to learn something about worship, you see it more clearly in the book of Leviticus than anywhere else in the Old Testament.

Because, let me repeat this, what I've said numerous times, what most Christians call praise and worship today is praise. It's not worship. There are very, very few Christians on the face of the earth who know how to worship God.

It's a fact. I mean, among all the Christians I've met, I've met so many zealous Christians. They're all very zealous about serving God and reaching out and doing this and building a local church and so many wonderful things.

Rarely do I find someone who wants to be a worshiper. I mean, the men like A.W. Tozer was one of those rare people who died nearly 50 years ago. It's very rare to find people who know how to worship God.

And yet, I'll tell you the reason why this is important. I remember years ago reading what Jesus said to the woman of Samaria when she said, where do we worship? Do we worship here or do we worship in Jerusalem? Jesus said, the place is not important. The Father seeks for those who will worship him in spirit and in truth.

And I got the picture of the Father looking out over a world that he had created and billions of people. Among them, I personally think only about 1% of this world is born again. It's my personal conviction.

You can disagree with me if you want. But my conviction is less than 1% of people in this world are really born again and who are, you know, even got the bare minimum for salvation. And so the Father looks upon this 1%.

1%, 99%, okay, forget it. But these are people who got my Bible, who got my word, who understood that Jesus died for their sins. And he looks among them to see, can I find some worshipers? Most of them, I'm talking about this 1% now, born again people.

He finds them praying a lot. Oh, well, most of the prayers are for themselves. I mean, mostly for physical things.

Some who are a little better off, they pray for spiritual things. But mostly for themselves. And then there are some who are better than that who will thank him.

That's very few. 1 out of 10 who pray, thank God. The percentage gets less and less and less.

And then there are people who do more than thank him. They praise him. So, there's prayer, there's thanksgiving, there's praise.

And when it comes to the smallest circle of worship, very few. The Father seeks. You look at the songs that we sing.

I don't know whether you ever sit down sometimes and read the words of the hymns. I sometimes take a hymn book to read the words of the songs I'm singing on Sunday. To see what am I saying.

Because we get so familiar with the songs that after some time we don't mean it. It just becomes a melody and we know it by heart. And I'm talking about myself.

I've been guilty of it. And that's why I need to go back and say, Lord, what did I say? I remember times when I've been in some church and they're singing, say, song number 212. And we sing it.

It's a very familiar song. And I sing through the whole thing. And I say, okay, now let's sing 350.

And suddenly when we go to 350, I say, hey, what did I sing just now in 212? I don't even remember. And so while they're singing 350, I go back to 212. And I read it slowly.

And I say, Lord, I'm sorry. I sang that without meaning one bit. It was just so familiar to me that I just sang it.

But now while these fellows are singing the other song, I want to go through this word by word. And I don't want to tell you lies. I don't want to just say empty words to you.

I want to meaningfully go through every word there. And I repeat that song to God. Just me.

All the rest of the congregation is singing the other song. There is far too little fear of God among God's people. And that's why they don't know how to worship.

Worship is a very special thing. And we can speak words of worship to God. We can sing.

But the highest form of worship is silence. Where we are God is all in all. And I'll tell you something.

The people who learn to worship God, like Tozer and others, you will discover in the final day, are the ones who are most effective on earth. Even if they did not gather great crowds, you'll find their service was effective. And I remember when I read those words that Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman.

I said, Father, as you seek this world, around this world, among born-again people for worshipers, please make me one of them. I don't know what worship is. And I read so many books, nobody taught me what worship was.

But I said, Father, teach me. Many things in my life, I've asked Dad to teach me himself. My heavenly dad, I mean.

To teach me through his spirit. I want to learn what it is to worship. Because you're seeking for worshipers.

How many of you have felt that there's a need for you to seek the Father? When you're seeking for worshipers, you say, God, have I missed the bus here? Have I missed out something? Because I'm just flowing with the tide of Christendom. I belong to one particular group and they're flowing one way. I just follow along.

Most Christians are like that. Like sheep, you know, the front sheep is going one direction, everybody goes that way. And hardly anybody who stops and thinks, where am I going? Am I following scripture? Am I obeying it? And I saw that worship was not primarily words.

It was an attitude of heart where Jesus became everything. And one of the finest words of worship is what I quoted in the last session too. Whom have I in heaven but you? There's nothing and no one I desire on earth beside you.

Anyone who can say that absolutely honestly, searching his heart to God and mean it. I don't want anything material. I don't want any honor.

I don't want any money. I don't want any spiritual. I don't want any gift.

I don't want anything. I'm happy if I have you. And when I get to heaven, I want you.

Anyone who can say that sincerely and keep on saying it till the end of his life will be a worshipper. And when he's a worshipper, his service for the Lord will be mightily anointed, mightily effective, and eternally lasting. No man can stand against one who is a worshipper of God.

Because God backs up such a man. So dear brothers and sisters, learn to worship. Now I've gone to the book of Leviticus in the Old Testament to learn worship.

Because those are all pictures there. And one of the things I see in the book of Leviticus is there were different type of offerings. There was a burnt offering, chapter 1. There's a grain offering, chapter 2. There's a peace offering, chapter 3. There's a sin offering, chapter 4. There's a guilt offering in chapter 5. And these were some of the main offerings.

And then in chapter 6, he gives some rules concerning these offerings. And when he gives rules concerning the offerings, when it comes to... Let me just show you something. In chapter 6, I'll start with the grain offering in verse 14.

With the grain offering, when he presents it to the Lord, verse 16, Aaron and his sons can eat. Notice this. They offered a grain offering.

And by the way, all the offering offered to the Lord was not with blood. You know, some people say that God accepted Abel because he offered blood. These are people who don't read the Bible properly.

The Bible says God accepted Abel's offering because he accepted Abel first. He didn't accept the offering first. So it had nothing to do with blood.

It's because he was a man looking after flock. He brought flocks. Cain was a man doing work in the field.

He brought grain. There's nothing wrong with offering a grain offering because neither of them were offering a sin offering. They were offering a thanksgiving offering to God.

And it could be grain. It could be flocks. It had nothing to do with blood.

It's the people who say it is blood who have produced this once saved, always saved doctrine that you offered blood and then you can almost live as you like. It's a deception. There's so many things like this in Christendom.

If you read the Bible, you'll never get deceived. I remember once the Lord said to me, those who don't read the Bible, they deserve to be deceived. I believe that.

Those who don't study the Bible, they deserve to be deceived. So they are deceived. Like Abraham told the rich man in hell.

When the rich man said, please send somebody to warn my five brothers. In Luke 16, Abraham said, they've got the Bible. They've got the Bible.

Why do they need somebody to go and preach to them? If you've got a Bible, you don't need anybody to preach to you. That's what Abraham said from heaven. They've got the Bible.

And the Bible tells them to repent. If they don't repent, they don't need anybody to go and preach to them. Why do you need a preacher or some revivalist to come and tell you to repent? It's written in this book from cover to cover.

That's what Abraham said. You don't need a preacher. You just need the Bible.

So you read the Bible, you'll discover that there was a grain offering also. God commanded in which there was no blood. There were offerings of thanksgiving.

Further on, he says, when it comes to chapter 6, the sin offering, verse 23. Even from the sin offering, we read that, verse 26, the priest who offers it shall eat it. Did you know that? The priest offers the sin offering, then he can eat it.

And then the same thing with the other offerings, the guilt offering in chapter 7. The priest shall offer it and he can eat it. And the same thing with the peace offering, verse 11. It says here, verse 11 of the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings.

He offers it and the priest can eat it. But there was one offering where the priest could not touch it at all. And that was called the burnt offering.

And that is the offering that symbolizes what worship is. This is the grain offering, thanksgiving to God, peace offering, and peace with God, sin offering, guilt offering, all that. But when it comes to the burnt offering, the priest couldn't take a part of it.

So we'll come to the burnt offering in chapter 6 and verse 8, 9. Command Aaron and his sons. This is the law for the burnt offering. The burnt offering shall remain on the hearth and the altar all night until the morning.

And the fire on the altar is to be kept burning on it. The priest shall take up the ashes to which the fire reduces the burnt offering. You know, the burnt offering was completely reduced to ashes.

This is what we read in Romans 12, verse 1. I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God. That means since you've experienced such a wonderful salvation, described in chapters 1 to 8 particularly, how will you respond to God when you've heard this wonderful gospel? Present your bodies, let me paraphrase it, as a burnt offering. As a living sacrifice.

For this is your spiritual worship. That's what it says, Romans 12, verse 1. This is worship in the spirit. This is the worship in the spirit that Jesus told the woman of Samaria about.

It's explained in Romans 12, verse 1. This is spiritual worship. This is not worship with words. It's presenting your bodies a living sacrifice.

Now you'll see what I'm coming to in a moment. When the burnt offering had to be laid on the altar, the priest had to make sure it got reduced to ashes. And here's a lovely verse.

Verse 12. Leviticus 6, 12. The fire on the altar shall be kept burning.

It must never go out. Verse 13, repeated. The fire must be kept burning continually on the altar.

It is not to go out. And that was the priest's responsibility. The priest shall burn wood on it every morning.

Verse 12. He must lay out the burnt offering and offer up the smoke. He's not to touch one part of it.

And the fire must be kept burning continually on it. And if a priest didn't do that, he would be sacked. He had no right to be a priest if he didn't do what... He didn't have to do that with the other offerings.

Now when it comes... come back to chapter 1. When it comes to the burnt offering, it says here in Leviticus chapter 1. He can bring, verse 3, an offering. Verse 2, the last part of the animals from the herd. He could bring a bullock.

And it must be without defect. Verse 4. He lays his hands on the burnt offering so that it may be accepted for him. And he shall slay the young bull.

Verse 5. Before the Lord. And he shall skin the burnt offering. This is the important verse.

Verse 6. Cut it into its pieces. You could not take the whole bullock and put it on the altar. You can't take your whole body and say, Lord, here's my body.

Don't say that. That's not the way to offer your offering to God. It says there, you cannot put the bull on the altar.

You got to cut it into pieces and then lay it. And the sons of Aaron then shall put fire on the altar and arrange the pieces, the head and the suet and all that, the entrails and legs, washed with water. And the priest shall offer, see this phrase, all of it on the altar.

All of it. Nothing is for him. Now supposing somebody else can't afford a bullock.

Verse 10. He brings a sheep or a goat. That's okay.

But then again, it has to be cut up again into pieces. Verse 12. You can't take the sheep and put it there.

No. It must be cut, cut, cut into pieces. Remember, you can't take your body and say, Lord, take my body.

Don't say that. It has to be cut into pieces and put on the altar. And then again, verse 13, the middle.

The priest shall offer all of it. Again, the expression. He shall offer all of it.

And then if he can't afford even a sheep, maybe some poor Israelite, he can bring a bird, an offering of birds. And then the priest shall offer the whole thing up in smoke also. And so in all these things, you see, it had to be cut up into pieces.

And when you apply it to yourselves in Romans 12.1, it says, present your bodies a living sacrifice to God. It's like to take the illustration of the burning bush. Lord, I take this little twig here and I give it to you and this twig here and I give it to you.

How does it mean to cut up our body? Now I'll explain. Lord, I'm taking my eyes now, laying it on the altar. I've used my eyes in past years to read what I like, to look at what I like, to go to any internet site I like.

You couldn't do that if you were blind. But because you've got eyes, and I've sinned tremendously with my eyes. Now Lord, I take my eyes and I'm putting them on the altar.

I want it to be reduced to ashes. Now if your eyes are physically put on the altar and reduced to ashes, what's left of your eyes? God has to give you new eyes, raise you up in Christ, and give you Christ's eyes. I'll tell you that'll change you completely.

You will sit in front of your computer and the internet and look at the internet the way Jesus is looking at the internet. You will not go to any site that Jesus wouldn't go to because you don't have your eyes anymore. Your eyes were reduced to ashes some time ago.

You've given your eyes to Jesus. This is worship. This is not just clapping hands and raising hands and swaying and getting emotional on Sunday morning.

That's easy. Any idiot can do that. This is serious Christianity.

This is discipleship. You've got to give your eyes and say, Lord, not only in terms of lusting, I've had another big problem with my eyes. I always look at people with very critical eyes.

I always am a specialist in seeing little specks in people's eyes. If you tell me, I can give you a list of all the people who have got specks and I'll specify which corner of the eye their speck is. I'll tell you what specks they have.

But Lord, those are my human eyes. I lay it on the altar. Burn it up! Reduce it to ashes! Give me your eyes and see.

Help me to look at people the way you look at them. A sinner for whom Jesus died. A soul for whom Jesus died.

That immodestly dressed woman. A soul for whom Jesus died. That woman who's selling her body on the Internet for people to view.

A soul for whom Jesus died. Am I going to fulfill the devil's purposes and promote that? Or pray that Jesus will save that poor person who's trying to make money by using a body which is supposed to be the temple of the Holy Spirit for sin. Lord, let the worldly people do that.

But I'm a child of God. I'm on your side. Give me eyes to look at people the way you look at them.

I look at believers and I see many faults. When I look at my own sin, I know that my sin was nailed to the cross. And when I see that brother's sin, I must remember that his sin was nailed to the cross too.

Not just mine. You know, it's amazing when your original eyes get reduced to ashes and you get Christ's eyes. Your life becomes completely different, I'll tell you.

Or, okay, I put one piece of my body on the altar. It takes time, I tell you. Then I say, Lord, I take my tongue now.

Now, I'm talking about worship, remember? We're not talking about thanksgiving or praise and clapping the hands. We've gone past all that. We're rising up now, pressing on the upward wave.

We're going into worship. And now we're taking our tongue and say, Lord, I've used my tongue exactly as I like in the past. I tell people what I like.

I tell my so-called loved ones what I like. I speak to them rudely and carelessly. Lord, I have hurt hundreds of people with my tongue.

You've got to reduce it to ashes. You've got to reduce it to ashes. All of it, all of it.

And give me your tongue. Did Jesus speak sharp words? Ah, he certainly did. You know to whom? To lovers of money, to hypocrites, to people who are making money in the name of religion.

Yeah, I want to use my tongue to speak sharp words to people who make money in the name of Jesus Christ and to lovers of money. But what sharp words did Jesus speak to an adulteress or a thief on the cross or the woman who was divorced five times? How would you talk to a woman who was divorced five times and is now living with a man who is not even her husband in Samaria? Jesus spoke in a completely different way. It happens like that when you give your tongue and reduce my tongue to ashes, Lord, and help me look at these people and speak to these people the way you would speak to them.

And when you give your tongue like that, say, Lord, at home, in the bus, in the train, everywhere, I want to speak, but I want to speak and I'll tell you, we're not going to get there overnight. I haven't got to perfection yet. But times when I slip up, I go before God and I say, Lord, that was not good enough yet.

I really want to repent. That was a little too strongly. I spoke with my tongue there and I want to repent.

And then we climb a little higher. It gets better and better. But we're daily putting that tongue on the altar.

Lord, reduce it to ashes. I'm serious about it, Lord. I'm not playing games here.

I want your tongue. And like that, piece by piece, Lord, my hands, what a lot of sin I've done with my hands. I want to burn it to ashes.

Piece by piece by piece. You know, the Lord never made that type of rule with all the other offerings. But when it came to the burnt offering, He said, don't put all of it on the altar.

Piece by piece by piece. And all of it, all of it. Now when they did that, see what happened.

Chapter 9, we read here. Verse 22. Leviticus chapter 9 verse 22.

Then Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them. And he stepped down after making the sin offering and the burnt offering and the peace offerings. There are three offerings he offered.

Sin offering, burnt offering, peace offering. And Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting and when they came out, they blessed the people, the glory of the Lord suddenly appeared to all the people. And the fire came down from heaven.

This is the baptism in the Holy Spirit. The fire came down from the Lord and consumed one offering. The burnt offering.

And the portions of fat on the altar. And the people fell on their faces and they shouted. So you see the way for the baptism of fire and to have that fire continuously, like we read in Leviticus 6, you must keep the fire burning on the altar continually.

Take that word. You are not fit to be a priest of Christ if you don't keep the fire burning on the altar always. And the fire will come if you place every piece on the altar.

Some of us are wondering why the fire is not coming. Maybe there is something in the body that's not being yielded. And I think many of you have the experience.

I've had it. So I'm not throwing stones at anybody. Where in our initial time when we give ourselves to the Lord, we give everything.

And then after a while, we slacken off and take back some parts of our body from the altar and begin to be a little loose in our relationship with Christ. We say we don't believe once saved always saved, but we act as though we do believe once saved always saved. I'll tell you a lot of Christians who say, hey, these fellows who preach once saved always saved.

Heresy! Brother, if you're playing the fool with sin, you are no different from them. You are no different from those fellows. Their doctrine is wrong.

Your life is wrong. What's the use of criticizing them for their doctrine? If you can play the fool with sin and you still think you're accepted by God, you believe once saved always saved. I found so many super spiritual hypocrites who look down on others for their wrong doctrine, but I say, how are you living? You're living exactly like those fellows are living.

Even though you say your doctrine is different. If you believe that he who endures until the end will be saved, you take sin much more seriously. Okay, those guys don't take it seriously because they believe once you're saved, you'll always be saved.

It doesn't matter how you live. But you say you don't believe that. Well, let me see it in the way you live.

We're backslidden. We don't take God seriously. That means we have taken things off from the altar and the fire is gone.

The glory has departed. And it's very easy for the glory to come back. Go back to the altar and take those pieces that you took off from the altar of your body and put it back.

Say, Lord, I'm sorry. I took my eyes off the altar. I want to put it back now.

I took my tongue off the altar. I want to put it back. I want to put back those pieces and the glory of God will appear again and the fire will come out and burn.

How can I keep that fire burning all the time? Very simple. Keep every piece of the burnt offering, that's your body, on the altar. Say, Lord, if I'm tempted to take something back, to use it for myself for a while, I'm going to resist it.

Many people, they are destroying their own prayer by praying for one thing and they're not fulfilling the condition. And then what do they do? When that happens, they want to, they say, okay, I don't have the real fire now, so I better produce something that looks like the real fire. Oh, Christendom is filled with that.

And you see that in the next verse. Leviticus chapter 10. Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron.

Now, they were not as wholehearted as Moses. They wanted to get some shortcut to honor from the people. They said, hey, this is great, man.

Look at the way the people respected Moses when the fire came down. We want to do that too. So what do they do? They offer some strange fire before the Lord.

They try to work up something and I'll tell you, there's a lot of strange fire which is not like the burning bush. It's fooling people. It's painted fire.

It doesn't produce heat. It doesn't produce light. There are artists who can paint fire so realistically that from a distance, with a light shining on it, you really think it's a fire.

And there are preachers who can do that too. It's not a real fire. It doesn't have the burning fire of the Holy Spirit.

It doesn't have a burning purity about it. It doesn't have a burning love for enemies and those who disagree with you on it. It's all a painted fire.

This is the picture of Needab and Abihu offering a strange fire before the Lord. And what did God think of it? Fire came down from heaven a second time! But not to consume their offering, but to consume them. Verse 2. Fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them and they died before the Lord.

And Moses said, boy, this is what the Lord has spoken. You've got to treat me as holy if you come near me. And Aaron, his two children are dead.

They kept silent. You know there are many preachers who whose children think, yeah, our Father is a big shot in the church. So we can take advantage of that.

Fire comes to consume them. There's no such thing as hereditary acceptance before God. Just because God accepts Moses and Aaron, He doesn't accept Aaron's sons.

They've got to find acceptance on their own. But Needab and Abihu, they thought perhaps they could take advantage. God doesn't care for that.

God has no partiality. The anointing does not flow from Father to Son. He may be anointed, but he's got to be anointed on his own.

Yeah. There's no partiality before God. Needab and Abihu thought they could play the fool with God and discovered that God is whole.

And it's a very serious thing. What do you think God from Heaven thinks of all this manipulation going on in so many places of false fire and artificial fire? I remember once after one of our baptisms here in Bangalore, we were praying together for some sister who wanted prayer for the baptism in the Holy Spirit. And as soon as I laid hands on her, she started shaking, shaking, shaking.

You think I got excited? I felt sad. That wasn't from the Holy Spirit. I said, this sister has been to some Pentecostal meetings and she has seen all that rubbish going on there, and she's trying to duplicate it.

I said, just relax. You're not going to get anything this way. This type of deception.

Some of the preachers say, oh boy! See what happened to her! That will only multiply more people doing that type of nonsense, strange fire. The real fire of the Holy Spirit. I'd like to see whether that sister is free from sin.

I'd like to see whether that sister speaks respectfully to her husband when she goes home. Then I'll believe it. Not all the shaking in the meeting.

Anybody can do that. Any demon can do that. I've seen demon possessed people shaking in the meeting.

What does it mean? But do they speak respectfully to their husband when they go home? Otherwise there's no fire. They've not laid their tongue on the altar. Jesus came to save us from our sin.

What does it mean to have a pure testimony? It is only the Lord who can make me a pure testimony. I cannot make myself. What does it mean when it says in this verse 1 Thessalonians 5 You heard what I said.

Read the Bible slowly. 1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 23 He's speaking about holiness. He's speaking about this fire that we read in Leviticus.

May the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly. Okay. Let's just stop there for a moment.

Sanctify means to be set apart. It's a word connected with holiness. It's a word connected with saints.

Saints sanctify holy holiness. They're all the same words. And that's why Christians are called saints.

That means set apart. We're not talking about Roman Catholic saints. We're talking about saints who are set apart from the world.

The primary thing that should characterize a Christian is not his doctrine. It's the fact that he's set apart from the spirit of the world. From the spirit of sin.

Set apart. That's the meaning of sanctified. Made holy.

Now the question is in this verse who is going to make you holy? That's my question. The God of peace himself sanctify you. That means he's going to send the fire.

I cannot produce that fire myself. I can produce zeal. All zeal.

The Communists have got zeal. There are many fanatics in the world who got zeal. The Jehovah's Witnesses, the Mormons, they are zealous in their witnessing.

They cross land and sea to make their proselytes. Zeal, that's not fire. Eloquence, there are many politicians who can hold your attention much better than I can.

That's not fire. It's eloquence. And I find many Christians, even many in our churches, I'm sorry to say, are not able to distinguish between eloquence and anointing.

Eloquence will only impress you. Anointing will make you holy. We need to know the difference.

We need to know the difference between zeal and fire. A lot of people have zeal. But they're not holy.

May the God of peace himself make you holy. That means may the God of peace himself set you on fire. He'll do that when every piece of the burnt offering is put upon the altar.

How important is this for God? You know there's a phrase which I find in Acts of the Apostles, which has many times come to my mind. In the Acts of the Apostles, there's a little expression. It's not particularly referring to our witness as Christians, but it's a little expression in Acts 14, which very often comes to my mind in connection with what I'm saying.

Acts 14, this is Paul preaching in Lystra where they saw, you know, in verse 8, a man who was lame was healed. And then all the people came around thinking that these were the Greek gods, Paul and Barnabas. And then Paul speaks to them and turns their attention towards Christ.

And in relation to that, he says in verse 15 and 16, that the God who made heaven and earth and sea, even the past generations, verse 16, he allowed nations to go their own ways. And this is the phrase, verse 17, he did not leave himself without a witness. A little expression.

Now he's talking there about the witness of rain and fruitful seasons and God gave you food and God gave you rain and God gave you all that, which is a proof that he is good. Now I'm not talking about that, but think of this expression. He did not leave himself without a witness.

Many times it has come to my mind. God has never left himself without a witness to his name on this earth. Ever since the day of Pentecost.

Churches may backslide. Elders may backslide. Old churches may go astray.

People may go into counterfeit and false fire and all, but here and there, always throughout the 20th century, God has kept a witness. Somewhere on the earth, sometimes in more than one place on the earth. That is the pure testimony.

May not be a large witness. It's never a mega church. It's usually a small group of people maybe meeting in a house.

But God has never left himself without a witness. I believe that when we stand before the Lord we will discover that all these 20 centuries, there have been people here and there who are not satisfied with the Christianity they saw around them. Who are not satisfied with the casual attitude that many people had towards God's word.

But who would take God's word and obey it. Who would take it seriously and not allow the culture and traditions to influence them. Even in small things.

I'm not talking about just lusting with the eyes or speaking angry words. I'm speaking about such a simple thing like a sister covering her head when she prays or prophesies. Big thing? Smallest of all.

You know what Jesus said? He who disobeys the least of these commandments and teaches other people that these are not important, will be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. He won't go to hell but he will be the least in the kingdom of heaven. And I do not want to be the least in the kingdom of heaven.

I shall preach everything. I will not force anyone to cover their head. But I shall preach the whole truth.

Whether it's concerning wearing jewelry or covering head. Everything written in the word. Nothing outside the word.

I'm not going to talk about family planning and all because I don't find a worse than that in the new testament. And I'm not going to preach old covenant. I'm going to preach new covenant but everything in the new covenant and nothing left out and nothing extra which is my opinion or mine.

At the same time, I will not force one single person to do it. Because if I force them to do it it's a dead work. And they must repent of dead works.

In other words, repent of the fact that you did that to please brother Zach. That's the meaning of repent of dead works. Don't do it.

Many times when people come to me for advice, I say brother this is my advice but don't do it. Please take this before the lord and say lord this is the opinion brother Zach gave me but what do you think? And if the lord gives you peace in your heart do it. Otherwise don't do it and I will not be offended if you don't do it.

You never sin by disobeying me. You sin when you disobey god and his word. So, he never left himself without a witness.

There have always been people in all these 20 centuries who trembled at god's word. Who took every word of god literally. Because millions say this is the bible.

This is the holy bible. There are people who say you must only use king James version. I say brother I don't care which version you use.

Are you obeying it? People are worried about which translation to use. That's the big fight going on in so many places. Brother whichever version you use if you don't obey it, it's worth nothing.

But always god has had a witness. Sometimes it may be one person. Sometimes it may be 10 people.

But there's never been a time in 20 centuries where god has been left himself without a witness. I believe that. And there's a stream like that in the midst of all the chaos and rubbish and muck.

There's a little pure stream that started flowing on the day of Pentecost that kept flowing. Paul and Timothy were part of that stream. Even Paul's co-workers sought after their own.

But Paul and Timothy were there keeping that stream going. There was a John, the apostle. There was a Polycarp after that, his disciple.

And like that, I don't know all their names. It's not necessarily all the ones you read in church history. But god's got a record.

And I believe one day I will see that pure stream of very few people who stuck to the truth. Who kept that witness of god like a burning bush and did not allow even one twig to remain without a fire. Their lives were totally surrendered.

They would obey every command of god whether people accepted them or not. Whether it reduced their congregation or not. They would preach the whole truth, obey the whole truth, but at the same time not judge others or force other people to do what they were convinced of.

Because they didn't want dead works. And that pure stream that's been flowing through the centuries has come down through the years to men like John Wesley and William Booth. Godly men like C.D. Studd flowing into the 20th century.

And I say, Lord, I want to be in that stream. I'm not a famous man like all these great people. I don't want to be.

But I want to be in that stream. In some little corner of the earth. To be a pure, part of that pure witness.

You left yourself without a witness. Lord, don't leave yourself without a witness in India. Well, I want to be part of that.

And one day you will come. And I would have done my job. What about you? Do you know that God wants you to be a part of that stream? That you, in your corner, wherever you are, you'll be a pure witness.

And doesn't matter if other people around you don't believe it. I remember the Lord asked me this in the early days when I was beginning to understand Romans 6.14. More than 30 years ago. Sin shall not have dominion over you.

Sin means all conscious sin. No conscious sin can rule you. A lot of unconscious sins are still in my life today.

I don't know them. But the ones I'm conscious of will not rule you. Because you're not under law, but under grace.

Now, I found hardly anybody in India preaching that. Hardly anybody. It's difficult to find a book in the Christian book shops that spoke on Romans 6.14. And the Lord spoke to me and said, supposing there is nobody in the whole world who believes that this is possible.

Will you believe it? I said, Lord, I'll believe it. And I will not preach it until I've experienced it. I won't preach it until I've experienced it.

But I'll believe it. I'll believe it, believe it. And it took years.

I'll tell you, it took years. It wasn't an overnight thing. But I said, Lord, it doesn't matter to me if nobody believes it.

I remember when we started our little church in our house 35 years ago. There were so few. And we were preaching discipleship, hard discipleship.

Hate your father, mother, brother, sister, wife, children, and your own life and take up your cross and forsake all your possessions. And that's the best way to reduce numbers. We were already so small.

And the Lord said to me, what if everybody leaves you? I said, fine. It's okay. I will still proclaim the truth.

Thankfully, everybody didn't leave. But it didn't make a difference. And I'll tell you this.

If you find your comfort in being with other people, thank God there are some others who believe it, you'll never be a disciple. If you want to be a disciple, each one of you must have this attitude. I don't care if everybody in the church doesn't believe it.

If it's in God's word, I won't just be thumping the Bible and saying this is God's word. I'll obey it. I'll believe it.

And I'll claim it. And I'll fulfill it. And I'm not here to boast that I'm better than others.

No, sir, I'm not. I'm living before God. I have to obey Him because He shed His blood to purchase me.

I can't play the fool after He shed His blood to purchase me. I've got to do what He says. And I want to believe that what He's promised, He'll do.

Take another verse. He who says he's a Christian, 1 John 2.6 must live like Jesus lived by the same principles that Jesus lived. I say, Lord, I want to do that.

I want to live by the principles you lived by. What was your attitude to money? What was your attitude to the Pharisees? What was your attitude to sinful people? What was your attitude to people who hurt you? What was your attitude to criticism? What was your attitude to fame and honor and everything? I want to walk as you walk. I may not be able to accomplish all that Jesus accomplished, but I can walk by the same principles.

I believe it, Lord. And I don't care if nobody believes it. Be a man, a woman like that.

And in your village, and in your town, God will make you a witness for Him. I tell you in Jesus' name. Is the only life worth living? Will you be persecuted? Of course you'll be persecuted.

Will people call you a false prophet and a heretic? Of course. But I'll tell you, they won't call you more than they've called me. They'll call you the devil.

They'll call you all types of names. So what? They call Jesus the prince of devils. But he did not leave himself without a witness.

Now turn to the book of Job and chapter 1. Job Job is a great testimony. Job chapter 1 and you can see the delight that God had in a man like Job. As I've said before, Job was the first book of the 66 books of the Bible that was written.

And in case any of you here have not heard me say that, let me explain why. The book of Genesis, in the beginning God created heaven and the earth, was written by Moses about 1500 years before the birth of Jesus Christ. Job lived long before Moses and before Abraham or probably in some other part of the world around Abraham's time or that time.

And this could not have been written years after Job died because there's so many details of the conversations. I can hardly remember details of conversations from two weeks ago, leave alone something that happened last year. It could not have been written unless it was written pretty soon after it happened.

So, it was written long before the book of Genesis, which means this is the first book in the Bible written. So now remember that. I've got no doubt in my mind, the first book in the Bible that God wrote was the book of Job.

It's been put in the middle of the Bible only because it's linked up with the poetic books Job, Psalms, Ecclesiastes, Proverbs, Solomon, Solomon, all poetic books. The Bible's been divided subject-wise, not according to time. If it were divided according to time, the first book would be Job.

Now, think of this, when God wants to write a book for man, for mankind, He doesn't start with Genesis. He doesn't start with the story of the fall. He starts with Job.

Why is that? We're trying to understand the heart of God here, remember? There's a beautiful expression that some God-fearing scientists in olden times, hundreds of years ago, used when they discovered something in nature, you know, like magnets. I mean, magnets were in the world in Adam's time, but Adam never knew about magnets or how they could use it to produce electricity. Otherwise, Adam could have produced electricity.

But magnets, when man discovered it, and the power that God had put into magnets, and how He could use it, or gravity, how waterfalls can turn wheels, and things like that, when man discovered these things, these are not inventions. Motor car and plane is an invention, but these are discoveries. When man discovered these things, which are in nature from Adam's time, this godly scientist described it like this, I'm thinking God's thoughts after Him.

That means God thought about this millions of years ago. I'm discovering it now. So I'm thinking God's thoughts after Him.

And all the discoveries in nature are thinking God's thoughts after Him. And I apply that to the Bible. There are a whole lot of laws in Scripture.

And I'm trying to think God's thoughts after Him. I say, Lord, why did You, when You decided to write a book for man, start with Job? I want to try and think God's thoughts after Him, because He's given me the Holy Spirit. And I realize that, why didn't You start with a book on evangelism or something like that, which a lot of people are crazy about.

Why start with a book on Job? And the Lord said to me, it's because I'm interested in men and women of God. A witness for me on this earth. I got a glimpse into the heart of God there.

Many of us are mechanical in our study of Scriptures. Use a concordance and study this subject and that subject and the other subject and justification and scientific. All that is good.

But along with all that, try to think God's thoughts after Him. What are you trying to say, Lord? Open yourself to the Holy Spirit. Try and understand God's heart when you read the Bible.

And when I read the book of Job and I say, Lord, this is the first book you wrote and the first sentence it says, there was a man. Not there were 500 men. No! Not there were 30,000 men in that megachurch.

No, sir! There was one man. That's how the Bible begins. There was one man.

And maybe there were 500 Jobs. I'm not talking about all the Jobs in the world. This is the Job who was living in the land of Uz.

This is the person who was living in this particular town. I know there are many people with that name, but I'm referring to this one in this town in this street, this house. That's how God says, there was a man.

There was a woman. I say, Lord, say that about me, please. There was a man who was blameless.

That means according to the light he had and he didn't have very much light in the Old Covenant. He was not even in the Old Covenant. He was before the Old Covenant.

His light was so limited. Mine is a thousand times more than Job's, but according to the light he had, he was in the kindergarten. But according to the light he had, he got 100%.

He only knew C-H-E is cat, but he wrote it correct. I'm further on in the way. I know physics and chemistry.

But what he was blameless. Upright. He couldn't be bent by others.

I say, Lord, I want to be like that, that no one can bend me with anything. So many people get bent when they make some more money, or bend when they get some honor, or bend because they're dealing with somebody that shows some partiality. The world is full of people, even preachers, who show partiality to their own children or to their own close friends in the church, but not Job.

He was an upright man. You couldn't bend him. He feared God.

Reverenced God. And he turned away from evil. Where he saw evil, he turned away.

And long before Matthew Chapter 5 was written about lusting with your eyes, Job says in Chapter 31, Verse 1, without a Bible, without a Sermon on the Mount, without any knowledge of Calvary, without any Holy Spirit, he says, I made a covenant with my eyes that I will not look with lust upon a woman. Job, where did you get that from? Which verse is that? No verse. I just got close to God and I knew that God doesn't want me to do it.

That's the way we stay free from sin. We have a generation today which says, oh, where does it say that Brother Zach, you're teaching something, where does it say that? It doesn't say it anywhere. You've got to know the heart of God.

You'll know that God doesn't like it. How can I explain that to you? Job didn't go by verses in the Bible to avoid evil. He knew in his conscience God, the one whom I reverence, doesn't like that.

I don't need any verse to support me. Beware of living by verses. Asking always, where's the verse for that? Where's the verse for this? If you want to be a burning bush, get close to the heart of God because the heart of God is always on fire.

And you'll get some of that heat and that light and that love for unlovely people. It'll be very easy to forgive people who hurt you if you get close to the heart of God. It'll be very easy to control your tongue when you get close to the heart of God because everything of you will be burned to ashes.

Job lived close to the heart of God. The Bible tells me about a man who was first of all a witness in his personal life. Number one, he was a man who was upright, reverenced God in his personal life.

This is the first book, first sentence that God writes in the Bible. Next, Lord, what's the next thing you're interested in? His family. A man of God has got a family.

He had seven sons, three daughters, and the most important thing was how he brought up that family. His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house. These were grown up sons.

These were not little kids. He'd already brought them up as little kids. They each had their own house.

They all had their own house and then they would come together for a birthday party, one person's birthday, get all his brothers and sisters together and they would hold a feast and probably they had some drinking and all that. They would eat and drink, all the brothers and sisters, and it would not be just for one day. They'd have two or three days feasting for their birthday.

Then when the days of feasting were over, Job would send for them, hey fellas, come here. This is a grown up man calling his grown up sons. Can you get your grown up sons to come to you if you call them? I hope you can.

Job could. Maybe he's 78 years old and he calls his 50 year old son, hey I want you to come over. I've got something to tell you.

Boy, what a father-son relationship that is. Long for that, my brothers and sisters, with your little children. Build up a relationship with them that when they are 50 years old, they will still listen to you because you're their father.

He would call them and they would come. All 10 of them, not 7 of them or 5 of them, all 10 of them, they would come and then he would consecrate them. He says, fellas, I want to pray for you.

Come here, my son. I want to lay hands on pray for you. Come here, my girl.

He's laying hands on 50 year old children. That was a godly father. God is interested in such families.

He would consecrate them and he would do it early in the morning. Early in the morning he would pray for them and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them before the book of Leviticus was written and he would say, oh God, perhaps perhaps I don't know, maybe they haven't, but perhaps my sons may have sinned. Today we have fathers, their sons are sinning right in front of them, sons and daughters.

He says, you must be nice to them. Be nice to them and send them to hell. Not Job.

Even when he had a slight doubt, yeah, when they feast and drink for 3 days, it's possible that they get a bit wild. Perhaps, I don't have any proof. I didn't listen in on their conversation but I know human tendency.

Perhaps they may have sinned and they may have done something that insulted God in their hearts. Lord, I'm praying for them. Please forgive them.

Here is my offering. Call them together. Pray for them.

My dear boys and girls, don't sin. Take seriously. When God wrote his first book, he wrote about such a man who was himself upright, who had a godly family and he did this not once in a while.

He says in verse 5, he did it continually. Then what do we read? One day when Satan comes before the Lord and Satan has seen all the hypocrites that live on the face of the earth and he says, I've been wandering around the earth and let me paraphrase his words. Yeah, God, you got a lot of people to talk about you.

I've been all around the earth and I've seen all of them. A bunch of them are just plain hypocrites. God says, yeah, I know that.

But what about Job? That guy is different. Satan, that's the man, my witness on the earth. I know there's only one but there is one.

God has not left himself without a witness. I want to ask you, when you read this, how does it touch your heart? I said, Lord, I want you to be able to say to God, to the devil, there is a man named so and so that's referring to me, go and see how he lives. Go and see how he lives in his home.

Go and see how he brings up his children. Go and see him. Don't tell me about all the other hypocrites.

I believe God wants many here like that. How can God point to you if you're one of those who lose your temper? Can't get along with some brothers and sisters. Can God point you out to them? No, he can't.

He says, yeah, I know all those people are like that. Do you want to be in that crowd or do you want to be in that pure stream of a living witness? You have to suffer, you have to die, but it will be worth it all when we see Jesus face to face. To be a witness for him on the earth.

Be a worshipper. Job was a worshipper. He was a worshipper that even when his children died, he worshipped.

Let's pray. Let's bow our heads before God. Preserving a pure testimony in your life, in your home, and from there in your church.

Let's satisfy the heart of God these days. Heavenly Father, please don't let one of these words fall to the ground like you took the words of Samuel and took them straight to people's hearts. I pray that you'll take every one of these words, people though they are, spoken by mortal man.

Take it by the power of the Holy Spirit to every heart that there will be fruit for eternity. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.