In Our Obedience to the Scriptures (Dutch)

I want to read a verse in Hebrews and chapter 12. I want to read from verse 14 to 17. Pursue peace with all men, and sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.

We want to read the scriptures slowly, if we read fast we don't get the meaning. If you don't pursue sanctification, and you don't pursue peace with all men, let me tell you according to the word of God, you will never see the Lord. Many Christians say the Bible is God's word, but they don't believe what's written inside.

I believe it with all my heart. It's changed my life in the last 50 years. It's changed my family life, it's changed my church life.

I have no doubt this is the word of God. I have no doubt that if you do not pursue sanctification and peace with all men, you will not see the Lord. And I do not doubt that if you do not pursue holiness and peace with everyone, then you will not see God.

One of the mistakes Christians make is that we already have a theological understanding in our mind. It's like the shape of a bottle. Or a plastic mold.

You know, that's how they make plastic in different shapes. They have a thing called a mold. And they pour the plastic into it.

And it comes out in that shape. And then you pour another plastic, it comes out in the same shape. Now, many Christians have got a mold in their mind.

They have a certain understanding of theology, which is a certain shape. And different groups have different shapes. And then they take Scripture, and pour it into that mold.

And it will always come out in that shape. And then give that mold to the children, and the children get the same shape. And then, generation after generation, they pour it into that mold.

That's what made the Pharisees reject Jesus Christ. They had a mold, where they felt the Messiah must be like this. He must deliver them from the Romans.

And when Jesus came, and he had no desire to fight the Romans, they rejected him, because they said, this doesn't fit into our mold. And so they said, he's a false teacher. And finally they said, he's the prince of devils.

And then they killed him. That's the danger of having a predetermined mold into which you pour Scripture. So, if you want to know the truth of God, Scripture must be your mold.

And you pour your mind into that, and it comes out in the shape of Scripture. And then if some things are wrong in my mind, I have to change it. Now, we read a verse like this, and we may say, oh well, even if I don't pursue peace with all men, I will see the Lord.

And even if I don't pursue after sanctification in my life, I will still see the Lord. There's a great danger there. Because then you're putting your mind against the teaching of the Holy Spirit.

And not only that, you can miss in your one earthly life what God has for you. And so that's why it says in the next verse, see to it that no one comes short of the grace of God. What does it mean to come short of the grace of God? To come less than the grace of God.

That means the grace of God wants you to live at this level, and you live at a much lower level. Spiritually speaking, the grace of God wants you to live like a millionaire, and you live like a beggar. Yeah, there are beggars also on the earth who survive for many years.

But the Bible says we are supposed to be kings and queens in Christ. I'm not a beggar in Christ. I was a beggar in Adam.

But when Christ came into my life, and the Holy Spirit put me in Christ, he made me a king. Not in an earthly way. I don't need much of the earthly things.

They're going to perish in any case. But spiritually, you're supposed to be a king and a queen. So when it says don't come short of the grace of God, what it means is when God wants you to live like a king, don't live like a beggar.

Because you despise those spiritual blessings for the sake of some earthly blessing. And this is a warning. It's a strong warning.

Listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying to you. In verse 15. See to it.

Make sure that you don't come short of the grace of God. That no root of bitterness springs up in your heart, causing trouble. And many are defiled by it.

He's not talking about bitterness. He's talking about a small root of bitterness. Bitterness is a tree.

If you wait until it becomes a tree, it's very difficult to pull it out. Bitterness means a wrong attitude to some human being. And the best time to pull it out is when you see a small root.

If you don't pull it out when it's a root, you will destroy yourself and you will destroy many other people with you. How can your root of bitterness defile many people? Because I've seen this in believers for 50 years. When they have a little root of bitterness in their heart, it always comes out of their mouth.

They will speak about it when they sit around their dining table to their children and husband and wife. And in the sisters' prayer meetings, instead of talking about prayer, they'll be gossiping about all these problems other people have. In the sisters' prayer meetings, they'll be talking and gossiping about these things.

Anyone can do it. Brothers and sisters, it doesn't matter. Many people are defiled when I have a small root of bitterness against someone else.

And then it says, Make sure there is no godless person like Esau. In verse 16. Why is Esau called a godless person? He was a grandson of Abraham.

He was the grandson of Abraham. He was the son of Isaac. Can the son of a godly man become godless? Yes, that can happen.

I see it happening everywhere. Don't be a godless person like Esau. You can't say, My father was a godly man.

My grandfather was a mighty man of God. Yes, Esau could say that. I've seen many people glory like that.

I come from a godly heritage. That may be true. But you could be a godless person like Esau.

Who came from the most godly heritage in his generation. There was nobody on earth who had such a godly heritage like Esau. But the Bible calls him a godless person.

Why does the Bible call him a godless person? Because he sold his spiritual birthright, verse 16, for a single meal. He had a birthright. And the birthright was not just earthly property.

If it was only earthly property, then of course it doesn't matter. But he could have been the ancestor of Christ. I mean, God could have called himself the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Esau.

But God didn't say that. He calls himself later on the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Before they were born, God said, I have chosen Jacob.

God is sovereign in his choice. But it says in 1 Peter chapter 1, we must always compare Scripture with Scripture. Most of the wrong doctrines in Scripture have come through taking one Scripture and not the other Scripture.

There are a lot of wrong teachings concerning the sovereignty of God because of one teaching of Scripture. And then there are others who take the other side of Scripture. So very often you have Christians who are strong Calvinists and some Christians who are strong Armenians.

But they've both got the same Bible. There's truth there and there's truth here. And you've got to be careful that you don't have a mold where you reject all other truth.

I'm not a Calvinist or an Armenian. I'm a follower of Jesus Christ and the whole Bible, especially the New Covenant. Remember that Satan came with a Scripture to Jesus Christ.

Don't think that every Scripture that comes to your mind comes from the Holy Spirit. Satan can quote Scripture to lead you astray. He quoted Scripture to Jesus Christ.

Why won't he quote it to us? He told the Lord Jesus, it is written, he will guard you in all your ways, lest you dash your foot against a stone. And Jesus said, yes, but it is also written, you shall not tempt the Lord your God. You read that in Matthew 4. So, Satan said it is written.

Jesus said it is also written. The whole truth of God is not found in it is written. It is found in it is written and it is also written.

Like God made birds with two wings. If it had only one left wing, it would move but it would keep going around in circles. Clockwise.

And if it had only the right wing, it would still go around in circles anticlockwise. That's how I find many believers. Some have got one truth and they keep going around clockwise and other believers have got the other truth and they go anticlockwise.

And both of them say, it is written. I know. But I say it is also written.

So 1 Peter chapter 1, it says here, that we are chosen in verse 1. We are elected and we are chosen. But it says in the next verse, that we were elected according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. So why did God choose Esau? According to this verse, according to the foreknowledge of God.

Sorry, why did he choose Jacob, not Esau? Because of the foreknowledge of God. He knew long before what Esau was going to choose. God knew millions of years even before he created Adam what Esau was going to choose.

He knew what you were going to choose. And he already knew what you were going to choose, what I was going to choose. And we are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God.

And God already knew, Esau is going to despise his birthright. And according to Hebrews 12, if you do that, you are a godless person. What is our birthright? I'm not talking about some houses or lands that you get from your parents.

That will all perish. There is an eternal birthright that God has purchased for us in Christ. Let me tell you what it is.

It is to partake of God's own nature. What is the greatest blessing that God can give us? What is the mark of God blessing a person? Today many people would say He makes you rich. You get a lot of money.

You get a better car. Or you get a better house. That's a deception.

You know, I've been, we have some churches in Muslim countries. And I go there once a year to some of those countries. And do you know what, in the Gulf countries, what they say? They say Allah is the true God.

Because He has given us all the oil. And all the nations of the world come bowing down to us to get oil from us. Look how Allah has made us rich.

And it is true. He's made all those people very, very rich. In India, the Hindus worship the goddess Lakshmi.

And the Hindus consider Lakshmi as the goddess of wealth. And the richest businessmen in India they worship this goddess. They go to the temple and worship this goddess.

And they have become billionaires who come in the list of the world's hundred richest people. Indian people, they say Lakshmi is the true God. He has made me rich.

And there are Christian television preachers who say Jesus is the true God. He will make you rich. It's all confusion.

Who is the true God? Is it Allah? Or Lakshmi? Or Jesus? Because all these people seem to be making people rich. Do you see the deception of this prosperity gospel? Then they say Jesus will make us healthy. But there are many, many people of non-Christian religions who are much healthier than Christians.

Their God seems to be making them healthy. These are not the tests of God's blessing. Not wealth, not health.

Because people in all religions have got health and wealth. And sometimes people in false religions have got more health and more wealth than many Christians. But what does the true God give to his children? The nature of God in Christ.

That the devil cannot give anybody. The devil can make people wealthy. In fact, he told Jesus in the temptation Look at all the glory of the world.

Money, honor, position. We read in Luke chapter 4. He told Jesus. Luke 4 verse 5. Satan led Jesus up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.

And he said to him in verse 6. I'll give you all this domain and its glory. And now listen to this. Because it has been handed over to me.

Who gave it to the devil? Not God. God gave it to Adam. God said Adam, the whole earth is to be under your feet.

All the gold and all the silver and all the animals, they are yours. But Adam took it and gave it to the devil in the garden of Eden. When Adam and Eve submitted to the suggestion of the devil, they became his slaves.

And when they became the slaves of the devil, everything God gave them became the devil's. So what Satan said is true. All of this has been given to me.

He could have said Adam gave it to me. And now he says I am the one who decides to give all this to whomever I wish. All this wealth I can give it to the followers of this God or that God or the other God.

That's up to me. But you have to bow down to me a little bit and I'll give it to you. Whenever you want to get anything from the devil, you have to bow your knee a little bit to him.

He said to Jesus if you will bow down to me I'll give it all to you. And he tells Christians today if you will bow down to me just a little bit tell me what you want. Do you want money? The devil says it's all given to me by Adam.

God never gave it to me but Adam gave it to me. God gave it to Adam and Adam gave it to me. And now I decide whom to give it to.

Do you want money? Do you want plenty of money? I'll give it to you. But you have to bow down to me a little bit. You have to tell a few lies.

You have to cheat on a few taxes. You have to take advantage of some poor people. You have to be a little selfish.

And you have to be a little miserly and keep things for yourself. Stingy. These are ways in which Satan says you bow down to me.

You do all these things and I'll make you a very rich man. You can still go to church and call yourself a Christian. No problem.

Because nobody in your church will know that you're cheating on the taxes and telling lies here and there. You can even be an elder in a church. No problem.

That's only Sunday. Monday to Friday you just bow down to me and do what I tell you. I'll make you rich.

I'll give you everything you want. Do you want honor in the world? Position in the world? Come to me, the devil says. I'll give it to you.

But you can't live by Christian principles. You have to compromise some of the things you read in the Bible. And then the devil says, do you want to be a popular preacher? Do you want to be a famous preacher and have a huge church? Do you want to be a famous preacher and have a big church? Sure, come to me.

I'll make you a famous preacher and give you a big church. Of course. I'll make you a famous preacher and give you a big church.

But you have to bow down to me a little bit. That means don't preach everything in the Bible. You must only preach those things which will make people happy.

Tell them that they are God's children. Tell them that God loves them. Tell them they have the wonderful mansions in heaven.

Tell them all those beautiful things. But don't tell them about their sin. Don't tell them to repent 180 degrees.

Don't tell them to love their enemies and to stop loving money. Don't tell them all these strong things that Jesus taught. From all the things you find in the Bible select all the things that will please people and preach only that.

And never preach anything negative. Always positive. We must be positive the devil says.

I mean don't be like Jesus who called people a generation of vipers. Don't say things like that. No, no, no.

If you say things like that your church will become very small. The devil says I'll give you whatever you want. You just bow down to me.

Just a little bit. Just a little bit. And do you know the number of preachers who are bowing down to Satan today? They make a lot of money.

They've got their private jet planes and their houses in some seaside resort. All money taken from poor people in their congregations. Some old pensioner will give that type.

Some person will borrow money and give it because they think that the way they get healing in their body. And the preacher collects all this money and he buys his private planes and he employs all the pilots to drive him around the world. It's a big business racket.

Just like the people in the temple were making money in the time of Jesus. But the sad thing is there's nobody like Jesus to drive them out of the temple today. People are even afraid to talk about them.

It's just a big problem. The devil is there to offer us many things in the world. That's what happened to Esau.

For the sake of something in this world he gave up his birthright. I've been serving the Lord full time for 42 years. And I know the numerous times when the devil has told me to keep quiet on something.

Don't speak on that. They'll get offended. I say, if the Lord tells me to speak on anything I'm going to speak it.

I'm not going to listen to the devil. I mean, if it's not in the New Testament then of course I don't preach it. But if it is in God's Word especially in the New Testament it's all for me.

All Scripture is inspired by God. And it is given for us to make us perfect. And when we seek to follow all of Scripture we must be very careful that we don't sell our birthright for some earthly benefit.

Because sometimes one decision we take can ruin our whole life. Esau took one small decision. It says many years later oh, he felt so sorry.

He went to his father and wept and said, please give me the birthright. And it says in Hebrews 12, 17 that even though he tried to get the blessing with many tears he couldn't get it. It's possible that you can miss something that God has because you have a predetermined mold in your mind.

For example you may have always heard that you can never get victory over sin. That if you speak about victory over sin you're just proud. And you say that if you speak about victory over sin you're proud.

I'll give you an example of a very proud man in 2 Corinthians 2 verse 14. It's also in your Bible. Not only in my Bible.

Read it in your own Bible. 2 Corinthians 2, 14 And like I say read it slowly. Thanks be to God.

Listen to this now. He always leads us in his victory in triumph in Christ and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Christ in every place. There are 2 words I want you to notice there.

All the time in every place. Always in every place. Always means 24 hours 7 days a week.

Every place means every place in the world wherever I go. What does God do? He leads us in his victory in Christ. Not once in a while.

Not most of the time. Always. Who was this proud man? It was the humble Apostle Paul.

Are we accusing him of being proud? He was a million times humbler than you and me. But he spoke the truth. Because we have not experienced something we may think nobody has experienced it.

One of the great dangers we have is blindly believing what our forefathers taught us. If Martin Luther had blindly believed what his forefathers taught him there would be no protestant church. But thank God he questioned what he heard in the Roman Catholic Church.

How did he question it? He compared it not with what his mind told him. He compared it with what he read in the book of Romans. And he said hey the book of Romans teaches something different from what the Roman Catholic Church says.

And he said what shall I choose now? Shall I believe what my forefathers taught me? Shall I believe what my church leaders teach me? They have a mold how to get salvation. But Paul's letter to the Romans teaches something else. What shall I choose? He said I stand on the word of God I'm not going to change.

Those are the men whom God has used men who took that position those are the type of men God has used through the centuries. Thank God for men like that. I think it was in Netherlands 500 years ago there was a man called Copernicus.

And if you have studied geography you have heard about Copernicus. He was a man who questioned what his forefathers believed. All over the world people believed that the earth that the sun goes around the earth every day.

And it looks like that because it rises in the east and sets in the west and rises again next day in the east. And Copernicus's father believed that his grandfather believed it and his great grandfather believed it and for generations they believed it. Now Copernicus could have said I don't want to question all these wise fathers and everybody in the world seems to believe it.

And the people in the churches also seem to believe it. But he was a bold man. He did not allow his mind to be poured into a mould that other people had prepared.

He said let me find out for myself. And he studied science and astronomy and he discovered that the sun doesn't go around the earth at all. That the sun appears to go around the earth.

It's just revolving around its own axis the earth. And that actually is the earth that goes around the sun in one year. And I'm sure when he first said that he had a lot of opposition.

People could have said how dare you question what people have believed for so many years. But he dared to stand up for what he believed. I don't know whether he was a Christian but he had some boldness to stand against all the scientists of previous generations What is the result? Because of that one man's conviction the whole world finally realized he was right.

Today everybody in the world believes that the earth revolves around its own axis. I tell you that man was a bold man. But I don't find many Christians who are bold like that.

They blindly believe what other people say even though they've got a bible to tell them something different. I grew up in a church which is called the Syrian Orthodox Church in India. They pray to Mary they pray for the dead all types of things.

They do sacrifices so that the dead people can go to heaven. When I was 19 I was born again and I started seriously reading the bible. And I found so many things in the bible which were different from what my orthodox church believed.

And I decided what shall I do? Shall I believe the bible or believe all these what my forefathers believed for so many years? One of my ancestral uncles was one of the saints in the orthodox church. But I decided 50 years ago I'm going to believe the bible. If I find something in the bible which is against what the church teaches I choose the bible against the church.

That one decision is what changed my life. I decided to follow Christ. Not a corrupt backslidden church.

And as I studied scripture I didn't come to decisions quickly. I wanted all of the glory of Christ in my life. I didn't want only forgiveness of sins.

I wanted all the glory of Christ in my life. It's like I said the other day. If your father is a multi-millionaire and he's written a will for you and he's left houses for you in Amsterdam and The Hague and Appeldoorn and Rotterdam and all over the place what are you going to do? Are you going to be satisfied with one little house? Okay, I got one house here.

No! He's left so many houses for you. Why do you want to be satisfied with one little cottage in one place when he's built huge buildings for you? Yeah, when it comes to these earthly inheritance we are all very careful. I don't think there's a single person sitting here who will give up your father's inheritance.

You won't let any crooked lawyer cheat you of your earthly inheritance. I want to say in the whole counsel of God God has given many things to his children. But don't let your church tradition rob you of your inheritance in Christ.

That's what I decided. Okay, there may be some good men in that Orthodox church and I'm not here to judge them. But I had a verse for me.

Romans chapter three. It's a wonderful verse. Romans chapter three.

Verse four. In the middle of that verse it says Let God be true and every man a liar. That is the verse I have lived by for fifty years.

Let God's word be true. And every man a liar. I don't care how which church that man belongs to.

I don't care who that person is. I don't care what a great church leader he was. God's word is true.

And if I find something in God's word, which somebody else doesn't preach, I'm not here to judge him. If he gives up his inheritance, that's up to him. But I am going to get my inheritance from God.

And that's what made me go more and more and more and more in an understanding of God that changed my life. One of the first decisions I had to make was concerning water baptism. That's not necessary for salvation.

Salvation is by repentance and faith in Christ. The thief on the cross never got baptized. But he went to paradise.

If your only interest is to go to heaven, you don't have to take water baptism. Baptism is not necessary to go to heaven. But it is necessary for obedience to God on this earth.

So I was sprinkled as a little baby when the Orthodox Church, and I started studying the Scriptures. And I found that was never done in the Scripture. I found even Jesus was immersed in water when he was an older man.

And I decided, I'm going to obey God. Okay, I got thrown out of my church. That doesn't matter, I got accepted by God.

You know, when the blind man's eyes were opened in John chapter 9, he got thrown out of his synagogue. But we read in John chapter 9, as soon as Jesus heard that he was thrown out of the synagogue, Jesus went and found him. That's wonderful.

Let me show you this. John chapter 9. He had a simple testimony. They asked him, Are you going to question all what our leaders have said? He said, I don't know whether you say your leaders are the man of God or the other man is the man of God.

No. He didn't, he said that. They said in verse 29, We know God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man Jesus, we don't know where he is from.

Verse 29. They made fun of him, saying, Oh, you are a disciple of this man. We are disciples of Moses.

Verse 28. He said, All that I don't know. One thing I know.

I was blind, now I can see. And that was his testimony. And then, it says in this verse, in verse 34, Oh, you are a sinner and you are trying to teach us.

Verse 34. And they put him out of the synagogue. Now listen to this next verse.

This is a wonderful verse. Jesus heard that they had put him out of the synagogue. And he went and found him.

And he gave him a further revelation, which he never heard before. Now I find the same thing in my life. Jesus heard that I was put out.

And he came and found me. And he gave me further revelation. You know, whenever Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever.

And whenever he sees that you suffer because you took a stand for him. That you are persecuted by other Christians because you took a stand for him. And for his word.

He will come and find you. Like he found this man. And he gave him a further revelation of himself.

And I tell you the amazing revelations that God has given me in his word in these last few years. Not revelations that just inform my mind. Revelations that are far more important than discovering that the earth revolves on its own axis.

I mean, Copernicus' discoveries are nothing compared to the revelations Jesus gave me from his word. I don't regret the decision I took years ago. Let God's word be true.

And everything else a lie. And I decided that day. If in my life I ever find anything in scripture that has to make me change my opinion.

I won't take a decision in a hurry. I took one and a half years to study the scripture about baptism. Then one day I decided I'm going to be baptized in water.

And that was a turning point in my life. And then as I sought scripture. I was getting to know more and more of the Bible.

But it was head knowledge. I didn't have power in my life. Power to overcome sin.

Power to be a bold witness for Jesus. Power to preach the word of God with an anointing. Whenever I preached the word of God.

It was such a struggle. You know in India we have. There's a great shortage of water in India.

So in many villages. They dig a deep well 600 feet in the ground. And have a narrow pipe going down.

And at the top they have a hand pump. And you pump and pump and pump and the water comes out. My preaching was like that.

I would struggle and struggle and struggle and a few little bit of water would come out. But I read in the Bible that if you believe in me Jesus said rivers of living water will flow through you. And this he spoke about the Holy Spirit.

John 7 37 to 39. And I said Lord. My life is not like rivers of living water.

My life and my ministry are like the hand pump. Nobody pumps a river. God pumps the river.

But my life is such a struggle. It's so difficult to overcome sin. It's so difficult to give one sermon.

Struggle struggle struggle struggle. Lord I don't know what it is. I want rivers of living water in my life.

Not one river. Many rivers to flow in many directions. And where you know in the old civilizations people used to gather around the rivers.

That's why you find the big cities in the world always around the rivers. Where there's plenty of water. Whether it's Amsterdam or Paris or all the cities in India are like that.

Whether there's a river there'll be people. Why? Because water is so essential. Where the rivers are the trees are green.

Everywhere else it's so dry. And I realized that it's rivers that draw people to Christ. Rivers of living water.

And I began to seek God. Because I saw in scripture I needed the baptism in the Holy Spirit. I said Lord you can give me whatever gifts you like.

But I want rivers of living water to flow through me. Because you said that can happen to those who believe in you. And those days I was in a brethren assembly.

The brethren assembly don't believe in the baptism in the Holy Spirit. They never preached it. But there were many good things there.

They studied the Bible. They taught me to study the Bible. But they studied the Bible like they study history books.

Or chemistry books. We become experts in history and chemistry. And you can become an expert in the Bible.

With all the understanding of the tabernacle and the future and all that. But defeated in their life. No overcoming anger at home.

Boring sermons in the meeting. And the young people are driven away. They would rather watch Discovery Channel on television than sit in a church meeting.

Because that Discovery Channel is more interesting than the church meeting which is so boring. And they would ask me, Brother Zach, you think these church meetings are boring? I say yes, they are boring. But it shouldn't be like that.

And I got a challenge in my life. I said, who is the one who has given these television producers such fantastic ability to make programs so interesting? I'm not talking about filthy movies. Those are for people with corrupt minds.

I'm talking about clean scientific programs that are so interesting. Which, there's nothing wrong in a Christian watching it. Because it's all about nature.

But they present it in such an interesting way that young people and children are gripped for one hour, two hours. And these young people and children go and sit in a Christian meeting and they are bored in 15 minutes. And we blame the young people.

Oh, this generation has no interest in God. No, that's not the reason. The leaders are not filled with the Holy Spirit.

That's the problem. Don't blame the young people. So I asked myself, who is the one who has given these television producers this fantastic ability to make these wonderful programs? Clean programs about nature and science.

But so gripping. You don't lose your attention even for one minute. I realized it was Almighty God.

It wasn't the devil. The devil doesn't give anybody intelligence. He doesn't create anything.

God gave them intelligence. And this God is my father. You mean this God will not give me the same ability to make a church meeting more interesting than Discovery Channel? You think God is interested in those programs in Discovery Channel? He's more interested in what happens in the church.

And I had the faith. Lord, I believe you can anoint me with the Holy Spirit. That I can preach God's word in such a way.

That people will not lose their attention even for one minute. Just like those people don't lose their attention when they watch some scientific programs. And it doesn't matter whether they are grown up or young people.

I believe God. You know there's mighty power available with God. But we don't have it because we have sold our inheritance for some earthly wretched inheritance here.

We've sold our heavenly inheritance. And we've come short of the grace of God. What does the grace of God offer us? Let me show you three verses.

What the grace of God can give us. First of all, I want to show you in Ephesians 2, 7. A little phrase. And then I'll show you the three verses.

There's a little phrase in Ephesians 2, 7. About what the Lord is going to show through us in the ages to come. And that expression is this. The surpassing riches of His grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Wonderful. The overwhelming wealth of God in Christ in His grace. Not the drops of grace.

No. Not even riches of grace. The surpassing overwhelming wealth of grace.

Not a few cents. But billions of euros. Not a few cents of grace.

But billions and billions of the wealth of that grace. Have you got that? Or have you got a few drops? A few cents. We live like beggars when we should live like kings.

Because the devil has robbed us of our inheritance of God's grace. He robbed me of that for many years of my born again life. Because I had this mold and I thought, oh, I must just believe what all my forefathers believed.

Do you send your children to a place where your great-grandfather went to? No. If there are better schools today, you send them there. Do you take your wife to the same hospital that your great-grandmother was taken to? No.

There are better hospitals with more technology today, you take them to the best hospitals. But when it comes to a church, you say, oh, my great-grandfather went to this church. Why do you send your children to the best schools and take your wife to the best hospitals, but when it comes to a church, you go to the one your great-grandfather went to? Let me tell you the truth, whether you like it or not.

It's because you care more for education and health than for spiritual riches. Spiritual truth doesn't mean much to you. Education, that means a lot.

That's why you don't go to the old-fashioned schools, you go to the latest. Physical healing means a lot to you. That's why you don't go to the outdated hospitals, you go to the ones with the latest technology.

But when it comes to spiritual truth, we go back three, four hundred years and say, that's the right thing. If Martin Luther was like that, we would never have heard of him. He would have just been one more monk in the Roman Catholic Church.

Now let me show you the three verses. Number one. Ephesians 1, 7. The first thing we get from the grace of God is forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace.

You can't get it any other way. You can't get forgiveness of sins by works. Forgiveness of sins which brings us to salvation.

Not full salvation. The first step of salvation. Just like in grammar, we learn past tense, present tense, future tense.

In salvation also, there is past, present, future. Salvation in the past tense, when I received Christ as my Savior. I'm saved from the wrath of God.

From the judgment of God against sin. I'm saved from the punishment of sin. Because Jesus took my punishment.

Then salvation in the present tense. Now. I need to be saved from the power of sin.

Every day. I need to be saved from the power of sin. Then in the future, I will be saved from the very presence of sin when Christ comes again.

And in the future, I will even be saved from the presence of sin when Christ comes. I'm saved from the punishment of sin. I'm saved every day from the power of sin.

And in the future, I will be saved from the presence of sin. So, the salvation has three times. And the forgiveness of sins is the first.

Now we go to the second. What we get through grace is Romans 6 and verse 14. This is victory over sin.

Not just forgiveness of sins. Romans 6, 14. Sin shall not rule over you because you're under grace.

You're not under law. How do you know whether you're under law or under grace? All of you sitting here. If you're defeated by sin, according to this verse, you're under law.

You got those few drops, the scents of grace for the forgiveness of sins. You were satisfied with that. You didn't go on to the wealth of God's grace to receive power to overcome sin.

I want to say to you in Jesus' name, sin shall not have dominion over you when you come under grace. Because the power of God was able to keep you above the power of sin. Like Paul said in Romans 8, 2. The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death.

There is a law called the law of sin. It's exactly like the law of gravity. It pulls people down everywhere.

No matter how holy you are. Here is a holy book. The law of gravity will pull it down.

Even the Bible. The law of gravity is pulling it down, pulling it down. The law of sin pulls everyone down.

In every part of the world. But now see, it's not falling. Why isn't it falling? The law of gravity is trying its best to pull it down to the ground.

But it's not falling. Because there is another law. The law of life in my body.

Which is overcoming the law of gravity and keeping this Bible from falling. That is how the law of life in Christ Jesus can keep me from falling. I can't do it myself.

This Bible can't just stand there and keep itself from falling. But if it allows my life to keep holding it up. I may get tired.

But Jesus never gets tired. He can keep me from falling forever. If I put myself completely into his hand.

But if this Bible is unwilling to give itself completely into my hand. No, no, no. I'll just give one small corner to you.

I can't hold it. We give one small corner of our life to Jesus, you'll fall. Give yourself completely to him.

Jude 24 says he can keep you from falling. Keep you from falling? Jude 24. And the last thing.

What grace can do. 2 Corinthians 12 verse 9. When Paul was facing a tremendous trial in his life which he called a thorn in the flesh. And there was no freedom from that trial.

God allowed that trial. God allows trials in our life. And sometimes even when we pray he doesn't take it away.

But the Lord said. My grace is sufficient for you. Because my grace is my power.

This trial will make you weak. But my power will keep you up. So he says.

Oh, then I'm very happy verse 10 with weakness, insults, distress, persecution, difficulties. Everything. I'm happy.

That's the third thing that grace does. It gives us power to overcome every trial we can ever face in life. Three things grace does.

One, forgive your sins. Second, give you power to overcome sin. And third, give you strength to face every trial without grumbling and complaining.

But giving thanks in everything. Out of these three, have you experienced only one? Do you grumble? Are you keeping on falling into some sin? Then we must remember that first verse we read in Hebrews 12. See to it that you don't come short of the grace of God.

Dear brothers and sisters. There is a voice from heaven speaking to you today. My son, my daughter.

Come up higher. Don't live in the low levels you've lived in for so many years. Break with all those traditions and ideas you have had.

Believe the word of God. Let God's word be true. Every man a liar.

That's free. As we bow before God, I want to encourage you to say, Lord, I want to believe your word. I want to trust you.

I want to obey your word a hundred percent. Give me grace. In Jesus' name.

Amen.