How Jesus Lived On Earth - The Real Jesus

Yesterday I was mentioning that there are two trees, two family trees. One is the family tree of Adam and the other is the family tree of Jesus Christ. Romans 5 makes it very clear that people in Adam and in Christ.

And we must understand that to be born again is to be born into another family, the family of God in Christ. That's why the Bible says, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. 2nd Corinthians 5 17.

All things have passed away, all things have become new. I've thought much about that verse in 2nd Corinthians 5 17. I mean has everything become new? I mean our bodies haven't become new.

And we find many other things in our life have not become new. What does it mean when it says all things have become new? And I've come to the conclusion that it's the direction of my life that has changed, completely. It's totally changed.

I haven't reached the goal. The goal is to be like Jesus completely and none of us have reached there. But everything has changed in this sense that I've turned around.

You know a person could be a prostitute, a drug addict, a murderer, adulterer, and in one moment when they turn around, I think Mary Magdalene, when she turned around everything became new. In the sense that she was now, she was miles away from where she had to get, or the thief on the cross, if he had lived a few more years on earth. He had turned around completely.

That's what it means, a new attitude. The principles of the new creation. And we saw that the essence of the life of Adam is to seek one's own.

And in Jesus, he didn't seek his own. So when we think of the real Jesus and we think of, let's start with how it was in heaven. If Jesus had merely wanted to live a holy life, you know a lot of Christians today say we want to live a holy life.

I want to live a holy life. But we need to understand what the root of holiness is. Holiness is not just inner purity and you know dressing modestly and not going to the movies and many many other rules.

It's not that. Because if I seek a holiness like that, and if that was the holiness Jesus sought, he would never have left heaven. Have you thought of that? He was already holy.

What was it that made him leave heavens? Comfort, glory, everything. Because his holiness consisted essentially of not seeking his own. A lot of legalistic holiness is a holiness that makes sure that I'm okay, my family's okay, and I want to live something that sometimes brings a lot of honor to me.

But Jesus, his holiness was such that he couldn't bear to see. Now in such tremendous spiritual need and do nothing about it. I want to say that again.

He could not bear to see other people in such tremendous spiritual need that's here on earth and do nothing about it. If you have a holiness which may be very modestly dressed, a very simple lifestyle, a poor home and you never go to the movies, you've got no television, you have no, you don't look at pornography and you brought up your children well and everything fine. But there are people all around in spiritual need and that doesn't bother you.

That's not the holiness of Jesus Christ. That's the holiness of the Pharisees. We got to see that when we think of the real Jesus.

He left heaven not to become holy. He was already holy. And his holiness, I want to repeat that Charles Finney used to say unless you say something 10 times people haven't got it.

So I don't mind repeating something 10 times because I'm not interested in just saying something. I'm interested in people getting it. That real holiness will make me concerned about people who don't have what I have.

You get that? That it'll make us concerned about people who don't have what I have. Say if I have a wonderful family life with all my children born again and following the Lord and I see somebody else whose children are not following the Lord. You know what a Pharisee does? He says Lord I thank you that my children all good and not like that family out there.

That's a mark of a Pharisee. You know what Jesus would do? Jesus would go and do everything possible to bring that person's children to be like my children following the Lord. Which type of holiness do you have? The holiness of the Pharisees which is totally unconcerned about other people.

Concerned only about oneself or the holiness of Jesus. I have traveled to many countries seen so many different groups who have various emphases on holiness. And I believe that a lot of their holiness has come from either from what they've seen in other believers or heard from other believers and there's been so little of going to the scriptures to see what Jesus was like.

You know the ministry of the Holy Spirit? As I've studied through this Bible through 45 years I have found one verse that'll help you young people and all of you. There's one verse that is the most complete comprehensive description of the ministry of the Holy Spirit more than any other single verse I've found in the whole Bible. And if you keep this in mind you will not be deceived by a lot of things that are preached today as this is the Holy Spirit this is the manifestation of the Holy Spirit.

I'm not deceived I'm not even shaken by these things. I'm not shaken by the things that I see on Christian television or that I see in crusades or reported in Christian magazines because I've seen the scriptures. A lot of Christians are confused because they haven't gone to the scriptures.

Let me show you this verse 2nd Corinthians chapter 3. 2nd Corinthians chapter 3 in verse 18. Now it's good to see these verses. The way I got to know the Bible was whenever anybody quoted a verse if I didn't know what it said I would turn to it.

I've done that for 45 years and that's how I got to know the scriptures. If I read a book and I found a verse quoted in brackets and I didn't know what that verse meant I would put the book down turn to the Bible look up that verse then continue reading the book. I find 99% of Christians don't have that habit and therefore they and then they complain at the end brother I don't know the Bible.

Well you'll never know the Bible if you're not a little more hard-working. You know that Jesus said to Adam, God said to Adam how are you going to earn your bread? By the sweat of your brow. How are you going to get the spiritual bread? You got to work hard.

God doesn't give bread to lazy people physical bread or spiritual bread. But I want to encourage you the reason I say that is not just to know I mean the Pharisees knew the scriptures but they didn't know it they knew it only in their heads. I want you to see the scriptures for this reason mentioned in this verse 2nd Corinthians 3 18 with an unveiled face.

Now the veil is something that hinders us from seeing the truth it's if I were to take my handkerchief and put it on top of this Bible and try to read it I wouldn't be able to read anything and if you put a cloth on top of your Bible and try to read it you can't read it and then the Bible said and here it says a lot of people are reading the Bible with a veil over it. It says here in whenever they read Moses verse 15 there's a veil over their heart they can't read it it's like having a veil over my eyes and I can't read and in those days when they when he talks about Moses that was the scriptures they had the only scriptures they had was what Moses had given today we've got the whole Bible the principle is this to this day when a lot of Christians verse 15 read the Bible there's a veil over their heart they can't see what's written there that's amazing and but when the veil is taken away when a man turns to the Lord the veil is taken away there's only one way for that veil to be removed and that veil is a legalistic mindset it's it's a mindset that looks for verses and to find a technique in scripture it looks for verses to hit other people on the head with and you just get into bondage and bring other people into bondage but when you turn to the Lord and this is the one verse in scripture where the Lord spoken of here is not Jesus Christ but the Holy Spirit everywhere else when it speaks about the Lord in the New Testament it's Jesus but in this one place in the next verse it says the Lord is the Holy Spirit that I'm talking about here we're 17 so it when you turn to the Holy Spirit this veil is taken away you get out of this legalistic mindset if you turn to the Holy Spirit when you read the Bible but if you don't if you don't turn to the Holy Spirit and you don't honor the Holy Spirit in your study of the scriptures you'll go to the scriptures with a legalistic mindset and you'll get it all wrong just like those Old Testament people that's what produces Pharisees but when you turn to the Lord that veil is taken away the Lord is a spirit and where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty just like we sang Jesus set me free what all did he set me free from he set me free from sin he set me free from Satan he set me free from religion and legalism and he set me free from worldliness and he set me free from judging other people and he's setting set me free from minding other people's business and so many things has he done all that where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty we all were safety now we understand it without this veil without this legalistic mindset with a face that's turned to the Holy Spirit let me paraphrase verse 18 with a face that's turned to the Holy Spirit and not trying to analyze scripture or judge other people with these verses or the number of Christians who judge other people with scripture that's a veil you'll never understand it you know that verse in Hebrews 10 which says about Jesus lo I come in the volume of the book it is written of me have you read that verse maybe I should turn to that and show it to you before you get come back to 2nd Corinthians 3 it's a lovely verse Hebrews chapter 10 it says in Hebrews chapter 10 when he comes into the world verse 5 now we're trying to see the real Jesus when he comes in the world sacrifice an offering thou is not desired but a body that was prepared for me and verse 7 behold I have come this is Jesus speaking I have come into the world and the role of the book that's the Bible it is written of me to do thy will O God so when Jesus he didn't have a physical Bible like this but his Bible was he'd listen to it in the synagogue and when he heard it you know what he heard written in the scriptures everything was referring to him not to other people that's a wonderful way to read the Bible Lord everything I see here is written for me it's not written for me to judge all the other people I see around me you get out of this mindset if you wanted if you want the liberty and the joy and the freedom of the Christian life get out of this mindset this veil that makes you look at the scriptures in this other way that maybe you followed for so many years we gotta break out of it the spirit of the Lord is to break us when you say religion bread Jesus set me free from religion this is this religious mindset this avail but now when this veil is removed and I see in the scriptures written to me beholding as in a mirror we come back to second Corinthians 318 now with this unveiled face we see in a mirror now that mirror James chapter 1 I think it's verse 24 or 25 says that mirror is the Word of God when we read God's Word it's like a man looking into a mirror so to paraphrase second Corinthians 318 it would be that we all with this legalistic mindset removed with this veil removed we look into God's Word which is the mirror and what do I see there I don't see commandments I don't see promises I don't see verses to hit other people on the head with I don't see verses to tell my wife you know the Bible says that you got to submit to me the husband I don't see that I don't see a verse where the wife replies you know the Bible also says that you got to love me as Christ loved the church and all these arguments that go on at homes with people trying to scripture to each other I don't see any of those things you know what I see in scripture when the Holy Spirit when I turn to the Holy Spirit not to this legalistic mindset I see the glory of Jesus have you seen the glory of Jesus in scripture you know little little things where you where you don't expect to see it I remember once seeing it when it says that people call Jesus the prince of devils billsable and you know what he said have you spoken a word against the Son of Man it's forgiven what he was saying is I want to paraphrase those words the Son of Man what he was saying is I'm just an ordinary man he who was Almighty God walked on this earth and always always said I'm the Son of Man Son of Man Son of Man I want you the next time you read that verse read that expression to paraphrase it I'm an ordinary man I'm an ordinary man he was not an ordinary man it's a bunch of ordinary men in Christianity who walk around acting like that they're God but the one was Almighty God when he walked on the earth he called himself an ordinary man and he lived like an ordinary man I want to say to all of you my brothers and sisters no matter how much God uses you no matter how much God blesses you always remember you're an ordinary man that's the glory of Jesus and he said have you spoken a word against an ordinary man it's forgiven I saw the glory of Jesus there I remember when Miriam Aaron's sister spoke a word against Moses I mean she was 10 12 years older than Moses if Moses is 80 she was 92 and that's something another thing I saw in scripture by the way you know when we were clapping and praising the Lord it says when the children of Israel came out of the Red Sea and they saw the Egyptians drowned there they were so excited that this 92 year old woman took a timbrel and started dancing and praising the Lord have you ever seen a 92 year old woman of the timbrel dancing and praising the Lord because so excited that Jesus set me free that'd be really something to see well we've become so sober yeah arrow was drowned that's right we're here but Miriam wasn't like that she probably saw all the others like that she took a timbrel got so excited and started dancing and all the others are following her it was really excited but anyway Miriam criticized Moses and said why did you marry this woman it was none of her business who Moses married but he criticized her and God got so upset with most Miriam's how dare you criticize my first of all so who somebody else marries none of your business Miriam just because you're not married it's you're worried about who somebody else married you mind your own business Miriam and you know what she got for criticizing God's servant leprosy do you know what the Pharisees got for calling Jesus a devil forgiveness and Jesus and the Lord asked me this question when people hurt you criticize you do evil to you what do you want them to get leprosy or forgiveness I said that depends and the Lord said that depends on whether you follow me or follow Moses I said Lord I want to follow you when people hurt you what do you want them to get forgiveness I hope it is this is the real Jesus how do we have so many people who say they're following Jesus and they're wishing that some evil will come upon someone who hurts them some evil will come upon someone who's not like them who's got some other group in some religious some calamity hit some other religious group we get excited about it your followers of Moses not Jesus we haven't seen the real Jesus you know because when we go to the scriptures we're getting rules out of it we're getting rules we're not seeing the glory of Jesus we haven't this is the most comprehensive verse about the ministry of the Holy Spirit the first thing the Holy Spirit wants us wants to do when he fills our life is to show us the glory of Jesus Christ in the scriptures in little little passages like this which I just showed you that when people hurt him they didn't get leprosy they got forgiveness and when I see the glory of Jesus it says next thing the Holy Spirit does is verse 18 he transforms me into that same image being transformed now when I says being transformed it's what somebody else does to me it's not me transforming myself see that's the second mistake people make basically two mistakes mentioned in this verse first of all when they read the Bible they don't see the glory of Jesus number one biggest mistake that lots and lots of Christians how do I know because I made it myself for so many years I'm not preaching from some pedestal looking down on people who never as if I never made any mistakes I want to tell you I was in the gutter I made every single mistake any of you have ever made but I learned some lessons from those mistakes one of the biggest mistakes I made was and when I went to the scriptures I didn't seek to see the glory of Jesus there some people go to the scriptures to prepare sermons I finished with that I'm not going to scripture to prepare sermons Jesus did not study the Bible to prepare sermons no I did that for many years I finished with it I want to be like Jesus and he never went to the scriptures to prepare sermons he went to the scriptures just understand his father's will in the volume of the book it's written of me this is the trouble with the leaders of the five churches in Revelation it says John's the Lord told John tell those messengers in that church and in that church in that church they were messengers to the churches when it says angels the word angel is really messenger it's like that in all our in Indian translations messenger of the church tell the messenger of the church there's something fundamentally wrong with you people with you and they why why couldn't they hear the Holy Spirit telling that to them directly for example the messenger in Ephesus why couldn't he hear the Holy Spirit saying hey you've left your first love you don't love the Lord like you did 20 years ago why couldn't he hear that himself why did he need some other prophet to send a letter to him saying listen the Lord says you don't love him like you did 20 years ago why couldn't the messenger in Sardis hear the Holy Spirit saying to him you've just got a name that you're alive you get up and preach and get a name as a great preacher and an elder in that church but God sees you're dead spiritually you're not walking with me you don't have spiritual life I know how things are going on in your home I know how things how you deal with your finances you're dead why couldn't he hear that himself he was not an Old Testament person in the Old Testament I can understand you had to go to Elisha or somebody else to find out what God was saying but he was in the New Testament the Holy Spirit had poured being poured out in all people God had said in the new covenant all shall know me why couldn't those five leaders of those churches hear what God was saying to them why did God have to send a message to them through a prophet you know when God cannot communicate with you directly that's when he has to communicate with you through a prophet there are lots of things God says to us through prophets but those should be in addition in addition to what God is already saying to us directly we read in Acts I'll give you an example of that in Acts chapter 13 we read that the prophets gathered together to fast and to worship the Lord and while they were fasting and worshipping the Lord the Holy Spirit said separate me Saul and Barnabas to the work to which I have already called them that means Saul and Barnabas had already heard the Holy Spirit saying something to them and the prophets only confirmed to them what they had already heard that's the way it should be we thank God for prophets in the church but those prophets should only be confirming what God's already spoken to you in your heart but these guys these five leaders messengers and churches they were not hearing what God was saying and you know why I'll tell you why because they were always preparing sermons for other people they were always busy preparing sermons for their churches that they couldn't hear what God was saying to them and it's the same thing with many many people today very often we find that people are not able to hear what God is saying to them because they are busy finding fault with somebody else criticizing somebody else finding fault with this person that person the other person I want to encourage you when you come to the scriptures say Lord help me to see the glory of Jesus and you know what happens when we see the glory of Jesus when we see the real Jesus immediately we see our need and then the second wonderful thing here the second big mistake is I told you the first big mistake that we go to the scriptures and we don't see the glory of Jesus but try to get messages for other people or find what's wrong with other people that's the first mistake don't ever make it again the second mistake is once we've got rid of that first mistake we've come to scriptures we've seen the glory of Jesus second mistake is that when we have seen our own need in the light of the glory of Jesus we think now we've got to try and change ourselves now I want to tell you right now you can't change yourself for 1,500 years the Jewish people lived under the law and tried to change themselves and you know what they produced Pharisees self righteous Pharisees who killed Jesus Christ that's what you produce when you try to do it all yourself that's what it means to live under the law you can be as anti Jesus Christ as the Pharisees were when you think you're the holiest person around the Pharisees thought they were the holiest people around but they were the worst people on the face of the earth because they killed Jesus Christ the Romans didn't kill him the Greeks didn't kill him Pilate tried his best to release Jesus who was the one who wanted to kill Jesus these people who studied the Bible but they never saw the glory of God there the whole Bible spoke about Jesus Genesis to Malachi if they'd read Genesis they'd see the seed of the woman that's Jesus if they see the ladder Jacob's ladder that went up from heaven that was Jesus the serpent lifted up in the wilderness that was Jesus the Passover lamb that was Jesus Isaiah 53 that was Jesus the son of righteousness Malachi 3 was Jesus it was Jesus all the way in the scriptures and when Jesus came into their midst these guys who had studied the Bible from Genesis to Malachi called him the devil can you see how blind you can be studying the Bible and there was that Roman centurion who had never read one page of the Bible he said boy this is the Son of God how did he get that light which all these people who studied the Bible didn't get that just shows how you can be totally blind when you go through Bible study if you don't constant if you don't allow the whole if you don't open yourself to the Holy Spirit and I tell you we live in a day and age where we have two extremes we have some people who don't honor the Holy Spirit at all because they are so clever they say I've got the Bible and I've got my commentaries and I've got my concordance and I can study and I understand and you'll get it all wrong and then there are other people who the devil has led to the other extreme of all types of fanaticism where they think the Holy Spirit is all excitement and noise and emotion and that's another extreme and I want to tell you the devil's happy with both these groups of people because he's got one people at one extreme and the other people the other extreme this is a disease which I call pendulum itis you know some at one extreme you know how pendulum swings some are some people the pendulum is stuck here and some people the pendulum is stuck there these are the mistakes the Holy Spirit is the one who transforms us into Jesus likeness you cannot understand scripture without the Holy Spirit and you cannot be transformed into the likeness of Christ even if you try for a thousand years the Jews tried it for 1,500 years very often I find Christians are reading the scriptures to get a technique oh I've got to do this now and then it is some see something else of the life of Jesus I've got to add this into my life this is exactly what Jesus spoke about they've got this old garment and they come to a meeting and they get one patch called humility okay I'm gonna stitch this new patch onto this old garment and then they go to another meeting and they hear about holiness and they got that patch onto the old garment and they go to some other meeting and they hear about something else oh I got a I got a witness they put that patch on him here's a garment full of patches and Jesus said this is not Christianity throw away the whole old thing you got to get a completely new garment and you can't produce it this is the ministry of the Holy Spirit so here's the verse the Holy Spirit shows you the glory of Jesus in scripture and the Holy Spirit transforms you into that likeness we've got to submit to it we got to submit to it and let God do that work it's something like you know God producing a baby in a mother's womb no matter how hard a woman tries she can't produce a baby God's got to do it there are millions of mothers through the years who millions of women through the years who tried so hard never got a baby it proves to us that it's God children are God's gift it's like that I mean if producing a child is a gift of God can you imagine something a million times more difficult than that becoming like Jesus you think you can do that you're on your own they're trying to produce a child in a laboratory now in there they say well we don't need God and all we can make a child in the laboratory do you think they'll ever succeed never but do you know for so many years Christians have been trying to produce Jesus on their own I think they're crazy just as crazy as these people trying to produce a child in a laboratory you can't do it what are we gonna learn we can't do it we've got it's got to be a miracle of God a birth of a child being born in a mother's womb is a miracle of God and the Holy Spirit alone can make us like Jesus very important to understand this that's why once you understand Lord my whole life is to be dependent on the Holy Spirit this is new covenant life so when we think of the real Jesus we got to start where up there he was up there in heaven that's where we start looking at Jesus we don't look at Jesus healing the sick and that's many years later let's start with when he was up in heaven what was it that made him come down to earth we got to start there it was a concern for people who did not have what he had did you get that I haven't said it the 10th time yet it's about the fourth time the concern for people who did not have what he had this was his holiness and when we have a little bit of that and what did he have he didn't have money there he wasn't thinking of money he wasn't thinking of all these poor people they are living in such small huts let's get some better housing for them or they are driving old cars let's help them to get there wasn't any cars those days any old carts or whatever it was he wasn't out to get them better bullock carts and no what did he have in heaven he had a life he there was something that was eternal bullock carts and houses in he knew would perish he didn't come to earth to teach people to have better crops and dig better wells and build better houses and live healthier lives no there was something heaven had he knew things which are eternal the life of God the life of purity of genuine humility of love and compassion and they didn't have it and he said I enjoy this in such richness a life of perpetual joy never being depressed and never discouraged you know like the angels in heaven and he said look at all these people on earth they don't have it I've got to get them to this life and what would be the price for it you like to go down you let us suffer be called the devil spat upon treated badly they won't value you they even though you did so much for them they won't value you for 2,000 years they won't value they'll still follow religion in spite of all the preachers that tell them to see the glory of Jesus they are so stubborn they'll still follow religion rather than Jesus are you willing Lord to go through all that sure it's worth it but Lord the angels say you'll get only a few people millions will just reject you and even some who take your name will still follow religion they won't follow you it's still worth it Jesus said to get the few you know that's what the Lord's looking for and I want to say he's looking for people like that right here he's looking for those few who are gripped by his glory and he came for them he said it's worth it billions go to hell but he still felt it was worth it to get a few people would be gripped by this wonderful life they have in heaven that's what he came for a concern for people and he was willing to pay any price to get it when my holiness is something like that I've got the real thing but if my holiness just is concerned with my speech and my the way I treat I deal with everything right financially and I dress properly and I keep my home properly and I bring up my children properly well it's good I'm not saying it's bad it's much better than millions of other Christians but I just want to say that is not the holiness of Jesus that's all I'm trying to tell you I hope we get it that's not the holiness of Jesus the holiness Jesus had a tremendous concern for other people it and many times the Lord spoken to me do you want these people who listen to you to have the life that I've given you I say yes Lord then don't try to impress them help them I remember in my younger days I want to impress people and the Lord said you'll never help them if you want to impress them do you know what is one of the biggest hindrances to God making us a blessing to other people because we try to impress them I want to when we think about Jesus setting me free will you ask Jesus to set you free from the desire to impress people boy that'll be a tremendous deliverance to impress people with my holiness or the way I dress or the way I brought up my children are you guys impressed and we don't say it so crudely but we expect it just finish with it Jesus did not come here on earth to impress people he came here to help them and the Lord said to me if you want to help them stop trying to impress them I said sure I don't want to impress anybody in the world I want to help them I want to help them to come to this wonderful life a little bit of a little taste of it God's given me and I see even that so many people don't have for example I've so many times had to talk to people about do you know that Jesus was never in a bad mood never he was under such tremendous pressure at times tremendous pressure I don't think any of us have a remotest idea the type of pressures Jesus faced on earth every demon was after him God exposed him to all the demons of hell he let him live on earth as a man just like we are and can you imagine how much the devil targeted him I've seen the devil targeting God's servants who are faithful I can imagine how the devil targeted Paul but can you imagine how the devil would have targeted Jesus the pressures he was under but he was never in a bad mood he never woke up in a bad mood he was never in a bad mood if people disturbed him at any hour of day or night this is the life of God you cannot do it you cannot produce it we all admit we can't produce that I mean even small pressures get us worked up but there is a life in Jesus which God can give Jesus said take my yoke upon you and you will find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy my burden is light I want to say to all of you my brothers and sisters there is a life in Jesus far higher than what we have experienced a life of rest in the midst of tremendous activity nobody worked as hard as Jesus did but in the midst of it all he was at rest the inner rest I mean he may have been very busy in the carpenter shop doing so many things and all his six his four brothers and two sisters teasing him and harassing him at home and I can imagine how life was so much a pressure at home he had four brothers and two sisters we read Mark 6 at least two probably more and none of them believed in him if Joseph was probably dead by then and Mary was the only one who believed in him and he had all these younger ones ganging up against him but 30 years or at least for 20 years those younger ones they grew up and he was in rest in the middle of that he would never have a wrong attitude to them how did he live that life this is the real Jesus it wasn't preaching he wasn't just going around showing people how holy he was no let me show you when he come to came to earth what do we read about him it says in Luke's gospel chapter 2 one of the first things I think almost the first thing written about Jesus in Luke chapter 2 you know we saw we're starting with how he came from heaven why he came from heaven we saw that already now we know he's come to earth and what is the one of the first things you know we're going from the kindergarten when a person when we send a child to school we don't put him in eighth grade straight away a lot of Christians try to jump to eighth grade and that's why they have so many problems I want to encourage you to start the kindergarten use the kindergarten the kindergarten is how why did Jesus come to earth number one we saw that he came because he had a tremendous concern for people who did not have what he had and he wanted them to have it and he was willing to pay any price for them to have it that's holiness when you're willing to pay any price for people to have what God's given you I know many times the Lord's you know I've looked at Jesus and I've seen how he called the Pharisees you generation of vipers I've never called anybody by those by such a title you know why shall I tell you why because I don't love them as much as Jesus loved them my love for them is much less that's why I don't have the authority to call them a generation of vipers I've never turned around to a co-worker of mine and said get behind me Satan how dare you speak like that like Jesus spoke to his co-worker Peter you know why I don't love my co-workers as much as Jesus loved his love was so intense and what the Lord showed me was that he had the right and the authority to speak like that because he was going to give his life for them and the Lord asked me before you think that you can speak like that ask yourself whether you're willing to lay down your life for them if you're not willing to lay down your life for them you don't have the authority to speak like that and I say I want to be honest I say Lord I still discover areas in my life where I'm seeking my own I'm sorry to say that I'm working on it but I'm not yet at the place where I'm willing to lay down my life for all these people and shed my blood for all these people so I still don't have the authority to call them generation of vipers and get behind me Satan you know there are young self-appointed prophets self-appointed prophets who get up and try to imitate Jesus oh you generation of vipers and this that the other you religious Pharisees and this just hang on ask yourself whether you're willing to give your life for them before you get up and try to imitate Jesus words it's easy to imitate Jesus words the difficult thing is to imitate his life to follow his life it's very easy to get up and preach like Jesus you'll be the biggest Pharisee of all it's compassion and love which motivated him which brought him down to earth and when he came to earth Luke chapter 2 Luke's gospel chapter 2 in verse 40 now this is a very important verse you probably never hear this message in any evangelical church or preacher because I never heard it and I've heard most of the great preachers in their books and many others in 45 years and I never heard anyone preach on this verse what does this verse say Jesus the child continued to grow and become strong increasing in wisdom and it's this last part I want you to see the grace of God was upon him what he had over him was not a halo but the grace of God was upon him now the reason why I say this is a very important verse is because this is the first man who walked on earth upon whom the grace of God rested the first man upon whom the grace of God rested in the Old Testament you read that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord but all that means is he found favor in the eyes of the Lord it does not say that the grace of God rested on Noah no it nobody in the Old Testament had the grace of God resting upon him because grace came John 1 17 through Jesus Christ Moses brought the law but Jesus brought grace and it says the grace of God rested upon Jesus is very important to see this he was the first person who walked on the earth with the grace of God upon him and he lived and overcame sin and overcame Satan and did everything he did on earth because the grace of God was upon him did you know that as a child the grace of God was upon him and all through his life the grace of God was on him and that's how he lived the life he lived now that's very important for us to understand now grace is different from mercy mercy means forgiveness God Lord be merciful to me a sinner Jesus never had to pray that Jesus did not need mercy because he never sinned you and I need mercy but you and I need mercy plus grace and Jesus had grace upon him that's how he lived now a lot of people can't understand that if I were to ask you this question I mean before you heard my message today if I were to ask you do you think needed Jesus needed grace I think most of you would say no I need grace but not Jesus well yet it says grace of God was upon him now what happens to us when the grace of God is upon us and I'll show you that Romans chapter 6 in verse 14 in Romans chapter 6 verse 14 we see sin shall not be master over you when you are under grace and not under law there are two types of Christians those are under law and those are under grace and to be under law means I'm struggling to please God like all those people tried for 1,500 years I hear some preacher say this what you must do I'm gonna struggle to do that I don't need the Holy Spirit I'm just gonna do it you know there are people who stir people to be missionaries what are you doing they're working making money for yourself and they're heathen perishing out there in Africa and India and China a good guy gets all can disturb this only gives up his job in order to be a missionary and he goes there and he's an absolute flop and a failure and comes back broken down and a nervous breakdown why because God never called him he got moved and stirred by some powerful person with a personality with soul power with human soul power and there's a lot of it going on in Christendom today why were you sitting there and eating so much food look at all those poor people out there hungry starving you get all convicted and you send some money to them this is not Christianity it looks nice but it's not Christianity the father didn't turn to Jesus and say what are you doing sitting here when all those people out there are dying on earth he didn't go like that and Jesus didn't tell his disciples what are you fellas sitting here catching fish when all these people are dying out there in Africa and China and all that he never sent anybody to China or Africa this is all human methods this is the principles on which communism arose why are you there serving as slaves and under your masters when you can break free you've got nothing to lose but your chains workers of the world unite this is human and there's a lot of that human psychological pressure upon people to become missionaries to speak in tongues to go out and give prophecies to people whatever comes to your mind that's a prophecy all this other garbage that's going on in the world today it can be in any area put pressure on people to do something and they do it that's working living under the law and it's a miserable life and Jesus said come to me all of you who are weary and heavy laden with all these pressures that preachers have put upon you come to me I don't put pressures on you like that my yoke is easy my burden is light take my yoke upon you not the yoke that all these fellows are trying to put upon you to do this and do that and do the other thing well life living under the law you got to do this and you got to do that and you got to do the other thing and you got it then only God will accept you and poor simple people like sheep pressurized by all these people with all their psychological manipulations force people into slavery there's a tremendous amount of slavery going on in Christendom today Jesus came to set us free and I tell you this don't ever listen to all these preachers and then you could find some of them arising in our midst too if you're not careful in your church wherever you are Jesus left people free he didn't use you know manipulation of his voice to try and get people to do something there's a lot of that today you know move people now now we're going to give the invitation and you ask the organist to just play something softly so and while I'm praying just keep playing the organ and let's get all these people in a nice sentimental mood and come on get up get up get up get up get up come on come forward Jesus never did it Peter didn't did it on the day of Pentecost he didn't get an organist there to try and move people to come forward no he had the Holy Spirit and today when it's because they don't have the Holy Spirit that they've replaced the Holy Spirit music and pressure and psychological techniques and all this and preachers have to get a degree in psychology now in order to go and preach properly this is the tragedy it is another Jesus it's not the real one don't be fooled by all this when grace is upon us we're not under law we're not letting anybody manipulate us or tell us how we are to behave or how we're to dress or how we're to do this or that the Holy Spirit tells us everything we're not under rules we're under grace and what the one that the mark of being under grace is sin does not rule over us you get you suddenly get a power within to overcome anger and bitterness and unforgiving attitudes and love of money and the Holy Spirit shows you selfishness now don't get discouraged when you get light on yourself you know many people when they hear him when they hear a message they seek the Lord and they suddenly get light on their selfishness they get discouraged I'm not discouraged because I've discovered something through the years which I'll tell you the mark of God's blessing upon my life is that I get light on myself the mark that I'm in the light is that I get light on myself the mark that you're in the darkness is that you don't get any light on yourself you're utterly selfish and you don't get any light on it you're utterly proud and you don't get any light on it you're rude and arrogant and you don't get any light on it boy you're in the darkness sure these are the people who never apologize to their wives never apologize to their husbands because they never make a mistake they're like God already but the rest of us ordinary human beings we haven't yet become like Christ we find we need to apologize pretty frequently we're pressing on you know what happened to Isaiah I want to show you something Isaiah chapter 5 I don't know whether you noticed this Isaiah chapter 5 listen to this this is a preacher and what he's preaching is the truth it's inspired scripture whoa verse 8 woe unto those who add house to house and join field to field verse 11 woe unto those who rise early in the morning that they may pursue strong drink verse 18 woe unto those who drag iniquity with the cords of falsehood you know he's preaching hard messages to all these people verse 20 woe unto those who call evil good and good evil verse 21 woe unto those who are wise in their own eyes and on and on and on and on you know what happened in chapter 6 it says I saw the glory of the Lord and you know what he says then verse 5 chapter 6 verse 5 woe is me do you see a sudden change there and when that happens to you you know you've seen the Lord until then you haven't seen the Lord everything you say may be absolutely right woe unto that Christian group do you know what all goes on there brother I'll tell you here are 25 things that happens in that group and this other group boy you haven't heard the things which go on there I read it in the papers and I read it there and somebody was there told me this here's another 45 things about that group and this other group boy that's the worst of the lot woe unto them and woe unto them everything down to the last thing may be absolutely correct and then one day you see Jesus what do you say woe is me you're getting light on yourself do you see the number of Christians in the world today who haven't seen the Lord they have not seen the Lord they've got a scripture they've got a verse to hit that people up that person on the head with the other person the other person the other person they haven't seen Jesus yet and if you see Jesus you'll see so much of yourself and all that glory of yours will disappear your righteousness will turn into filthy rags and you say woe is me and the moment he said that this is a wonderful thing it says the angel took a fire from the altar verse 6 and touched my mouth with it and my sin was gone my mouth was on fire and the Lord said Isaiah verse 8 say chapter 6 verse 8 Isaiah now you're ready to go and preach for me you want to be ready you want to be ready to be a witness for Christ see the Lord first and you'll see yourself and you won't have so many woes on other people and say woe is me that's why I say the mark of God's blessing on my life is I get light on myself and the fire from heaven touches my mouth oh that's what we need my brothers and sisters have you did you notice this little thing here it's very beautiful in verse 6 and 7 these little things hidden in scripture how did the seraphim take this burning coal from the altar did he take it with his hands have you read it there can you tell me with tongs why because it was too hot for him to touch but what was too hot for an angel to touch could touch the mouth of Isaiah isn't that beautiful the fire of God which no angel can touch can touch me and it can set me on fire I need the fire of heaven and I I can't think of the number of times that I have wept and prayed before God say God you can take away anything from my life but don't take the fire away from my heart or from my lips I wanted to burn like it burned when I was a young man and I became a I'm 65 now I wanted to burn now and if I live to the age of 90 I wanted to burn even more pray that if you don't pray it if you're not earnest about it if you're not getting light on yourself you'll never get the fire on your lips it's when Isaiah got light on his life that the fire came and cleansed his sin and prepared him set his mouth on fire for God and when your mouth is on fire for God God will bring people to you I've seen that happen so many times I love this lovely verse in Luke's Gospel chapter 3 Luke's Gospel chapter 3 there's some wonderful things written in Scripture when the Holy Spirit opened your eyes to it you suddenly see something you you read it so many times but you haven't seen it you can read something and not see something it says here it's a wonderful verse verses 1 & 2 listen to this these are all the great men of the world Tiberius Caesar is a big list of all the greatest men in the world at that time Tiberius Caesar Pontius Pilate Herod Philip Lysanias okay we got the list of all the greatest people in the world now the greatest people in the religious world Annas Caiaphas and the Word of God bypassed all these people and came to one man in the wilderness named John I love that it's happening today the Word of God bypasses all the great men in the world will bypass all the great religious leaders and comes to some humble man seeking God in some wilderness you can be that I can be that and when the Word of God came to him he didn't have to have any advertising campaign say hey I've got God's Word come and listen to me no it says people came to him from all the district around Jordan not because he was preaching prosperity no he was preaching repentance how many people travel long distances into the desert to listen to someone preaching repentance imagine God could do that he can do it today I believe God needs a ministry on earth today in many many places exactly like the ministry of John the Baptist preparing people for the coming of the Lord that's what he did and the church is supposed to do the same thing today to prepare people for the coming of the Lord if you want to follow a pattern of ministry follow the pattern of John the Baptist living before God caring for no man seeking God's face not interested in anybody's money or anybody's honor willing to lose his head telling a king you shouldn't have married that woman somebody else's wife things like that he didn't want to lower his standard he lost his head and you may lose yours so what it's better to do God's will on earth lose our head and go and John was a young man he was less than 33 when he died yeah I believe God wants people like that God wants you and me to be like that when Jesus came on earth the grace of God was upon him that's what we saw in Luke chapter 2 and when the grace of God was upon him he lived under that grace all through his life we saw how he began Luke chapter 2 verse 40 the grace of God now let's see how he died okay we come to the end of his life we saw how he began in Luke 2 40 let's turn to Hebrews and chapter we're trying to see the real Jesus Hebrews chapter 2 Hebrews chapter 2 it says here verse 9 we do see Jesus who has been made for a little while lower than the angels because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor that by the grace of God he might taste death for every man how did he die how could he go through that cross by the grace of God how could he endure all that he endured on Calvary by the grace of God so we saw the beginning of his life in Luke 2 40 we saw the end of his life in Hebrews 2 9 that was by the grace of God and this is by the grace of God and all those 33 and a half years in between the grace of God was upon him and the good news he gives to us is you know what it is let me turn to you turn you to Zechariah chapter 12 that's a prophecy about this new covenant age Zechariah was one of the last prophets in the Old Testament and he preached a wonderful message about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and he said it would happen in Jerusalem none of the earlier prophets said it so clearly as Zechariah Zechariah chapter 12 and he defined the Holy Spirit isn't it good to get a definition of the Holy Spirit he Zechariah chapter 12 verse 10 I'll pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace that was the prophecy nobody could have it in the Old Testament but the same spirit that brought grace upon Jesus life was now to be poured out on those who are waiting for the Lord on the day of Pentecost to pour out on them the spirit of grace and supplication now I want to define that supplication means it's more than prayer specific request prayer would be Lord bless me specific request would be Lord please open my blind eyes it's a specific request Lord bless me is a general prayer supplication Lord and persistent I want this Lord I want pour out your spirit on me I want the gift of prophecy I want to serve you and our supplication to cry out to God God's going to give me the Holy Spirit to make me cry out to him to make me dependent on him for everything I do that's the type of life God wants to give me through the Holy Spirit of a life which is dependent on him see supplication shows a picture of a man it's it's a picture of a man who's helpless I mean it's used in old English about poor beggars who go to Kings and supplicate the King saying please have really can you do this for me God's gonna pour out on me the spirit of supplication all my father in heaven do this for me and all the time and when the Holy Spirit's poured upon you it's the spirit of grace and supplication everything that you need my God shall supply all your need according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus but it comes through supplication and the Holy Spirit comes within us to make us supplicate like that to pray and ask and ask and ask and to get it is there a need in your life a spiritual need is there a place where the devil sort of got a foot into your home or your church or your life supplicate let the Holy Spirit supplicate through you God wants to set you free this is how Jesus lived that's why he went often to the wilderness to pray that he lived that life of dependence on the father prayer was not a ritual to him he wasn't praying by the clock lots of Christians pray by the clock and you read books of these people who spend so many hours in prayer and so many hours in prayer and so many hours in prayer and we've read so much of it that we think spirituality is to spend so many hours in prayer it says only once about Jesus that he spent all night in prayer and that's he probably spent many nights more I don't know but it says only once about him because that was not they didn't measure prayer by the clock in the New Testament times this is a subsequent Christian tradition Oh brother he's a holy man he spends four hours in prayer I'm not impressed by this I've seen some of these holy people are some of the most difficult people to get along with they don't impress me to Jesus prayer was like breathing you breathe for four hours a day Oh brother he breathes for four hours every day but Jesus prayer was like breathing it was were you conscious before I started speaking about breathing they're breathing right now and now when I tell you aren't you breathing all of you suddenly became conscious that you're breathing but before I said it what were you doing for the last 45 minutes or one hour you're breathing without knowing it that's how Jesus prayed it was part of his life is breathing and the more we become like Jesus the more prayer will be like breathing when prayer is a strain have you seen people with asthma this is they have a problem this is not normal and when people have to have a difficulty to pray they've got asthma spiritual asthma it's not normal you got to get over you got to be healed of it we got to see Jesus the real Jesus delivers do you know who prayed and impressed people with their prayer the Pharisees you know who fasted try to impress people with their fasting Pharisees Jesus fasted Pharisees fasted but there was a world of difference between the two Jesus prayed the Pharisees prayed there's a world of difference between the two you need to ask yourself whether you're praying like the Pharisees or like Jesus whether you're fasting like the Pharisees or like Jesus and it's very subtle if you're very conscious of it who how much it's like a man being conscious well I breathed about 10,000 times today did you know that 10,000 times don't you think I'm a great guy breathe 10,000 times today that's what the Pharisees very conscious of what they were doing and how much they prayed and how much I remember when I was a young Christian I didn't know this difference and I said boy I've got to spend all night in prayer and I got on on my knees I was working in the Navy on a ship and I said I'm gonna endure through this and time was moving so slowly it was I thought those mornings are still 10 o'clock at night oh I was determined to go through it oh it's still only midnight finally I got through it on my knees and I had accomplished it it was like climbing Mount Everest I had done something do you think that was even remotely like Jesus praying on it wasn't anywhere near it it was a Pharisee I was trying to get get through a feat and be proud of it no let's see the real Jesus for him prayer was an expression of his dependence on the father father I can't do this without you another thing about Jesus praying was I think a lot of Jesus praying was listening prayer is like speaking on a telephone now the telephone has got a mouthpiece and a earpiece you listen and you speak now what would you think of me if I were on a telephone and I was speaking speaking speaking speaking speaking speaking speaking for one hour you'd say well the other guy the other in the line must be some unimportant fellow because Zack speaking to him for one hour it doesn't give him a chance to talk but supposing I spent one hour and I spoke about two minutes and I listened yes oh thank you but you think boy that other person the other end must be a very important person whom Zack respects a lot and you could just get get that just by listening to me on the phone how do you pray to God when you spend one hour how much have you spent listening okay let me ask you to put it another way when you're talking to a really godly person who you know is a hundred times more godly than you are would you talk more or would you let him talk more there's no catch in this very simple answer I'm not asking what young people today do young people today are so arrogant and proud they think so much about themselves they probably talk a lot but I'm talking what is a normal thing for a humble person to do I think he'd talk more I think he'd listen more not talk more he'd let the other person talk more what do you think if you're talking to God Almighty himself you think you should listen more or talk more what do you think well what do you think is a sensible thing I discovered it was listening what am I going to inform God about in any case which he doesn't know Lord did you know about this this other thing over here and the other thing over here I need to listen the major part of Jesus prayers and this will revolutionize your prayer life if you hear me saying it ten times I've said it only one so far that you got to listen more than you speak let every man be swift to hear and slow to speak have you read that in James chapter 1 especially when we come before God have you read this other verse in Ecclesiastes chapter 5 Ecclesiastes chapter 5 verse 2 don't be hasty in word when you come before God for God is in heaven and you are on earth therefore let your words be few so then how do I spend a lot of time in prayer by listening how do I spend one hour on a telephone if I've spoken only for two minutes listening what did Jesus do in his prayer time Isaiah chapter 50 we're trying to get a picture of the real Jesus now Isaiah chapter 50 verse 4 in the middle of that verse so the Lord God has given me the tongue of disciples and I may know how to sustain a weary one with a word middle it says he wakens me up morning by morning he wakens my ear to listen as a disciple and when I heard the Lord God opened my ear and I was not disobedient and thus I got a word the middle first part of verse 4 to sustain those who came to me who were weary I want to say to you my brothers and sisters we are surrounded by a world full of weary people and we need to have a word from God for them and you're not going to get a word from God for them if you don't develop the habit of listening Jesus who is the Son of God who came to earth was made like us in every way needed to do that every morning it says God woke him up that's great I want God to wake me up morning in the mornings to do what to listen first of all to listen speak Lord your servant is listening if Samuel did that as a child you can be pretty sure Jesus did it as a child to speak father I'm listening I'm listening and he listened so much that suddenly unexpectedly when some person with a weariness came across the spot verse 4 he had a word for that person that's how Jesus lived all the Pharisees came once to stone a woman to death Jesus was listening not to the Pharisees he was listening to God the father the father said just tell them one word he was without sin throw the first stone he was without sin throw the first stone solve a problem you know many problems in your life can be solved if you spend a little time listening many problems in your home can be solved if you spend more time listening instead of explaining all the detailed problems to God which he already knows spend a little more time listening listening Oh for 40 years of my life more than 40 years God has spoken one word to me Luke 10 42 one thing is needful what Mary did you know what Mary did she sat at Jesus feet and listen you know what Martha did she was busy running around doing things not for herself but for the Lord and Jesus told Martha you're worried about so many things one thing is needful what Mary's done listen to me first before you run around doing things for me I remember once on my birthday some years ago I said Lord you have a word for me on my birthday the Lord said listen to me next year I said Lord you have a word for me today on my birthday the same as last year God's helped me to that one word for more than 40 years listen to me listen to me listen to me I want to encourage you to listen because when you listen and listen and listen and listen to the Holy Spirit showing you the glory of Jesus in Scripture you'll have something to tell other people which can help them you may not impress them but you'll help them what a need there is this is how Jesus lived he lived on earth with the spirit of grace and supplication upon him listening father I don't know what to do please tell me what to do once we read he went out early in the morning even though he was helping people to late at night he went out and the father said go there and all the people came in the Lord we need you here he said no I'm going no matter how much pressure they put on him he was going because he had heard his father that's how he lived and that's how he wants you and me to live it's the best life you can ever live on earth there's no strain there's no tension there's so many pressures on earth don't you I mean many of you mothers with seven eight children you must be having so much pressure I realized do you believe you Jesus faced less pressure than you much more than you but his life was a life of rest I'm not saying that he didn't have pressures you have a lot of pressures we have different types of pressures but in underneath it all was a life of rest seek to enter into that that comes by listening by developing a habit of listening while you're feeding a baby while you're cooking your food while you're traveling to develop this habit of listening listening listening and to listen to Jesus more than to listen to the accusations and pressures of preachers use psychology on us and criticisms and everything listen more to the father that's how Jesus lived that's why he could forgive people who call him the devil because he listened to the father more than what they said what does it matter what people call you the devil he knew what the father thought of him that's all that mattered let's pray our heads before God Heavenly Father help us to listen we're such busy people we live in a world where everybody's so busy running from here to there doing this that and the other the whole day and we thank you for giving us an example in Jesus whose life was busier than any of us ours could ever be and you had time to listen because in the midst of everything he did he was listening and I want to be like that one we all want to be like that Lord in the midst of all the pressures of life we want to be listening people you want to see the real Jesus we want to see how he lived on earth and simplicity give us grace to go that way Lord that we can help needy people around us we pray in Jesus name Amen