Jesus Came to Call Sinners to Repentance

Praise the Lord, I'm happy to be here again with you all. You know, when I was singing these songs, one of the things I have, yesterday I was saying how we must recognize the presence of Jesus in our midst, because Jesus said where two or three are gathered in my name, I'm in the midst. More than recognizing the presence of anybody else, we must recognize that Jesus himself is here. And throughout the meeting, especially when we sing, as I said yesterday, remember we are singing to him, more than the tune or how exciting the words are, must be said to him. It's just like, the best way I like to think of it is, my conversation with the Lord, whenever I pray to him alone, it's like two lovers. Have you seen a couple deeply in love with each other, usually when they are, before they get married, deeply in love with each other and talking to each other. That's how I want my relationship to be with Jesus, even though I've known him for 63 years now. It's a love relationship. And if the Lord ever tells me that I'm never going to preach again, that's fine, because preaching is not my life. I'm not going to preach in heaven. I'm preparing myself for heaven and that is not for the golden streets or the mansions. I don't believe there are any such things there. Those are all picture language. But to be a worshipper, seek to be a worshipper. I would encourage all of you. Many Christians don't know how to worship. They only know how to ask. If you don't believe me, try and examine the prayers you made to God in the last few months or as much as you can remember. Most of the prayers Christians pray are, give me this, give me that, do this for me, do this for me. It's good. The Lord has taught us to ask him. Ask and you will receive. It's not wrong. But there is a word that has blessed my heart and challenged me in John chapter 4. John's gospel chapter 4. It speaks about true worshippers. I want to ask you, examine yourself and ask yourself if you are a true worshipper. John 4 verse 23 and 24. Jesus said, and remember he didn't say this to some great theologian. He said this to a five times divorced Samaritan woman. Probably the most sinful woman that we read of in the gospels. Imagine divorced five times and now staying at home with a man who is not even married to. What type of sinner is that? I've never in my life met a woman like that. And Jesus, if you read that chapter, he was led by the Holy Spirit to go, you probably don't know, the Jews hated the Samaritans. I mean if there is some particular race of people whom you inwardly hate, and there are many Christians who hate some other group of people, despise them for some reason or the other, well the Jews hated the Samaritans like that. A Christian would never hate anybody. But people who are not really filled with the Holy Spirit do hate some groups of people. So the Jews hated the Samaritans and I've heard that the Jews would never go through Samaria when going from Jerusalem to Galilee. They would take the roundabout longer route because they didn't want to go through Samaria. And here it says in John 4 verse 4, he had to pass through Samaria. Why was that? That is the shortest route but the Jews never took it. Why do you have a sentence like John 4 4, he had to pass through Samaria? I looked up a map at the back, sometimes I do that, and I find that is the shortest route, but why in the world does it say that? Because I discovered that the Jews never went through there, they hated the Samaritans. But Jesus was prompted by the Holy Spirit to go through Samaria because there was a needy woman there, a woman who was divorced five times and now is sleeping with a man who is not even her husband. The Holy Spirit cares for such people. That really touches my heart, that the Holy Spirit cares for such women, despised by everybody else, belonging to a group of people who are looked down by others. I wish all Christians would be like that. That is how Jesus is. Those who look down on others. I mean, I have made it a point in India, in India there are many people who are looked down by others and people who have been in a lot of sin in their life, who go to the villages, they are very, very poor. Most of my ministry in India has been in the poor villages where many have not finished school and they live in towns where there is no doctor, no pharmacy, they are sick, they don't know where to go. And because my wife is a medical doctor, we could conduct clinics there every year for thirty years. It was one of the greatest blessings of my life to see poor people who are so grateful. And I learned that from Jesus. He cared for the poor. Let me show you a verse in James 4. I want to educate Christians to be like Jesus Christ. James 4, sorry, James chapter 2. Have you ever read this verse? Why does God choose some people and not others? Here is one reason. James chapter 2 verse 5. Listen my beloved brothers and sisters. Didn't God choose the poor people of the world? You say, Oh God, I thought there was no partiality with you. There is no partiality with you. But wherever he sees someone who is despised by others, he goes for them. And if there is anybody sitting here who for some reason is looked down upon by somebody else, maybe because you are not so smart, maybe because you are from some despised race, maybe you are ugly. There are many reasons why people look down on others. Maybe you are poor. A lot of our village churches, people live in one room houses. Their entire house is one room. You wouldn't believe it. I am not exaggerating. I have been in those homes. They sit on the floor. That is their bedroom. There is a sitting room, dining room, everything. God has chosen the poor of this world to be rich and rich and heirs of the kingdom which he promised to those who love him. And I say, Lord, is it the poor who love you? Well, I don't know why, but I have seen in India anyway, I don't know much about the United States. But I can definitely say in India, it is the poor who love him more than the rich. The rich have plenty of money. They have so much of the goods of this world. The Bible says in 1 John chapter 2, there is not in him. So God cares especially for those who are despised by others. I say that for the encouragement of anyone who is like that sitting here. I mean, you may not be poor financially, you may be well off, but people could be looking down on you for some other reason. Maybe you are ugly. Maybe your weight is a little more than other people. There are various reasons why others look down on you. Not God, you are special in his eyes. And you are also special in the eyes of spiritual men and women. Spiritual men and women will never, never, never look down on any human being. It makes no difference the color of their skin. It makes no difference whether they are obese or slim. Absolutely zero difference. It makes no difference whether they are educated or not educated. God loves the poor. And when he knew, when prompted by the Holy Spirit, he knew there is a despised woman in Samaria who nobody would have anything to do with. The Holy Spirit prompted him. You got to go through Samaria. You know, when I read passages like that, I don't just read it and go on to the next verse. I always have a prayer when I read the Gospels. I read the Gospels a lot more than any other books in the Bible. I read the four Gospels. And that is not to see the miracles that Jesus did. No. I have no ability to do miracles. I don't have a gift of healing. But I have a tremendous passion to learn how Jesus lived on the earth. Because 1 John 2 verse 6 says, 1 John chapter 2 verse 6, that if I say I abide in Christ, I must walk as he walked. I must live as he lived. How do I know how he lived? In the Gospels. There is no other book in the world except the four Gospels that tell me how Jesus lived. That's why I study the four Gospels more than all the other books in the Bible. Primarily, I studied all the books and I keep reading the other books. I read through the Old Testament and I study the Epistles. But especially the Gospels to say, Lord, I want to respond to the Holy Spirit when he prompts me to walk as Jesus walked. And if you must need to go through Samaria, perhaps I also need to go through some places. I want to listen to the Holy Spirit when he prompts me to walk as Jesus walked. I will not serve the Lord for money. And I will not take money for doing God's work. For Jesus is my example. I learned that from the Gospels. And I said, if you prompt me, and I said, Lord, I see, when I look at India, where I lived all my life, I saw all the great preachers coming from different countries. And they never, not even one, would have a big meeting in a village. It was always in the big cities of India. Every single one of them. Because the big cities are where the rich people are. They'll give you money. They can organize big stadiums for meetings. Good. They also need to hear the Gospel. But Jesus needed to go through Samaria. The poor despised people. So I said, Lord, send me to the villages in India. I want to go there. I'm not a big preacher. I want to go to the villages. And God has taken me at my word for the last 47 years, especially the last 40 years. When we began building CFC first in Bangalore, it started in my home on the 17th of August, 1975. In the first six years, we never went outside. ...where we lived to demonstrate the reality of Church as a body. And then we could take that message to other places. But after that, most of my ministry has been in the poor villages. Two of those villages are very poor villages where there was no Christian for 2,000 years. Since the time of Jesus, no church, no Christian. And the Lord took us there. We had conferences in those villages for 1,500 people coming from different places. And there are wonderful churches there in those two villages now. He praised God. I didn't do it. I don't plant churches. Jesus said, I will build my church. He planted them. I just went to pour water on the tree God planted. That's my job. I've never planted a single church anywhere in the world. If I plant a church, it'll wither up and dry. Jesus has planted some churches, and he's told me to go and pour water there. And I've done it. And especially in the villages. I said, Lord, that's where I want to go. And I saw those people, poor, hungry, non-Christian religions, speaking different languages. I would try and learn their language so that I could speak to them. And they forgave me all the mistakes I made when I tried to speak in their language. But I wanted to show them that I really loved them. I saw in India, most preachers, Indian preachers, would go into big cities and earn big salaries and keep asking people for money and live in grand style. I said, I will not be like that. I'll be different. I see that Jesus lived very simply. And I want to be like that. And I've been so blessed by these simple people. God has chosen the poor of the world to be rich in faith. And I have found more faith. I'll tell you honestly, I've learned more about faith for my own life. First of all, from Christ. But secondly, not from the rich people, but from the poor of the world. Just like it could be read in James Chapter 2. God has chosen the poor of the world rich in faith. And the poor are not just financially poor. Those who have a low estimation of themselves. Those who are poor intellectually. Those who are not very educated. Most of our people in our village churches have never finished high school. They now try to send their children to a school, but they themselves have never finished high school. Some of them can't even read. They had to get somebody else to read the Bible for them. It's been a tremendous blessing for me to go and sit on the floor. They don't have chairs and tables in their houses. We sit on the floor and eat the simple food. I've been so blessed. I would encourage you, my brother, sister, the Lord prompts you. You need to go through some place. Go there. Listen to the Holy Spirit. And when we, he went there, it was noon time. We know it was lunch time because it says in the James, sorry, John chapter 4 verse 6, it was the sixth hour. Sixth hour means their day started at six o'clock in the morning. Sixth hour means noon. That's what it means. And Jesus was prompted by the Holy Spirit. It's amazing how Jesus listened to the Holy Spirit all the time. You usually go the roundabout route like the other Jews and the Holy Spirit. Today you go through Samaria. He went through Samaria and when he came near a well, the Holy Spirit told him, sit down here. I have, there's another area where I really long to be like Jesus. I say, Lord, I want to be so sensitive to your Holy Spirit that if the Holy Spirit tells me to sit down somewhere, I sit. I'll go through Samaria, I go. That won't happen overnight. But I want to encourage all of you, if you do just one thing, or let me say two things. One, if you keep your conscience absolutely sensitive to sin, you will hear the voice of the Holy Spirit much more clearly. He will tell you where to go, when to go. For that, you must keep your conscience sensitive to sin. If you've hurt somebody even slightly with one word, one unnecessary word that you spoke to your husband or wife, and the Holy Spirit says, that's not the way a Christian should speak, go and apologize. How long will you take to respond to the Holy Spirit to go and apologize to your wife or your husband or to that brother or to that young brother? I have apologized to people who are younger than my youngest son, because I spoke a little too strongly to them. I've gone to that person as soon as possible, put my arm around him and say, I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have spoken to you like that. I do it because it's the right thing to do. But the added advantage is you become more sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit. So many people say, Brother Zach, I can't seem to hear God. I'll tell you. Keep your conscience very, very sensitive. Forgive everyone who has ever hurt you in your entire life. If there's one person who did some wrong to you 30 years ago, remembering is there. I can't help remembering. We all remember what evil people did, but you must forgive. Forgiveness is an act of the will. I choose to forgive. If you haven't done that, you'll be deaf. I tell you, you'll be deaf. And all of us, even if you're older than six years old, you've got people who have hurt you in your life. Even little children, you remember somebody hurt them. Maybe somebody in school or somebody. Some of them have bitterness against their own parents. I have met young people who have bitterness against their parents. Parents are dead and gone. They just can't seem to forgive the way their dad or mom treated them. I tell you, you're on your way to hell. Let me tell you that. Nobody told you that straight, but I'll tell you that today. You are on your way to hell because you don't forgive your dad or mom for the evil way they treated you. I say not as evil as the way people treated Christ at Calvary. Yours is not even a drop in the bucket or drop in an ocean compared to the way Christ was treated. The Bible says, forgive one another as God forgave you, as Christ as soon as he was crucified. You know the first thing he said? Father, forgive them. The worst sin that was ever committed on this earth was the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. And he immediately forgave. That's my example. No waiting. He didn't wait one second. Father, forgive them. As soon as the nails were put in and he hung up on the cross, he said, Father, forgive them. And have you noticed, I don't have time to show you those verses, they offered him some mixture of vinegar and something else, which is a sort of, those days, a type of anesthetic that in mercy the Roman soldiers would give to these people they crucified. You know, crucifixion was the standard way of, today people are hanged or electric chair. In those days, the worst criminals were crucified. The worst. Others like Barabas and all were put in jail, in prison. But the worst were crucified, like the electric chair today. Or they were injected and killed. And Jesus was treated like one of the worst criminals. And they offered this anesthetic, and notice this, you read carefully, I hope you learn to read the Bible carefully. It says he refused it. Why wouldn't a person take anesthetic? Jesus was human like us, to relieve the pain. Amazing. I learned something from that. He refused it. But you read, at the end of the six hours, just before he died, they offered it again. And he took it. How many of you have noticed that? And when you notice that, you ask why? I go through the Bible always asking why? Why? Why? Or I ask how? How? How? That's how I study the Bible. I'm a very curious person. When I see something go wrong, I ask why? How? When I find some medical problem with someone or in my own body, I ask why? How? So I want to find out. I read the Bible like that. Why did Jesus not take the anesthetic at the beginning but took it at the end? Because once you take the anesthetic, you become sort of drowsy. You're not completely knocked out because it's not such a strong anesthetic like the anesthetics they give you in surgery in an operation theater. But they didn't have those things those days. Just a sort of a little relief so you become a little drowsy. You don't feel the pain so much. But he didn't want to be drowsy. You know why? Number one, he had to forgive all those people who killed him. You become drowsy, you don't think of forgiving others. You have to be alert. I have to forgive these people. They've committed the worst crime any human being ever committed. Before I die, I have to forgive them. Do you have a passion like that? To forgive somebody who did terrible harm to you? Not just reluctantly. Okay, Brother Zach said today we must forgive everybody. I want to go to heaven so I'll forgive him. No! Not for that reason. Because that guy has committed such a crime against you, he must be forgiven. For that reason, not because you want to go to heaven. We are so selfish that we usually do something only if I can get some benefit from it. And if your Christianity, my brother, sister, I'll tell you straight. I always tell people to think straight. If your Christianity is centered only around benefit you can get from it, you don't have the slightest idea of what it means to walk like Jesus walked. Think of your life, the decisions you've made in your life, and see if it is not all centered around how will it benefit me? How will it benefit me? How will it benefit my family? I choose to live in a place because it will benefit my family. I choose a certain job because it will benefit my family. Do you know that in the entire life of Jesus he never chose like that? We can sit in the meeting and sing such wonderful songs. I want to be like you. Really? Well, here's one way, yeah? He never sought his own. What would glorify the Father the most? I'm not speaking, I've not done it perfectly, but I can stand before God today and say, Lord, to the best of my knowledge, ever since my baptism, 61 years ago, I took my baptism about two years after I was converted because I didn't know. I was in an orthodox church where they sprinkled me as a baby and I thought that was good enough. But I studied the Bible and I realized it was not good enough. I had to be immersion baptized. But I studied the Bible and I was convinced about it and I took it. I never did things until I was convinced from scripture. But in those 61 years since then, I'm trying to understand, Lord, I don't want to live a life centered around myself. I want to live a life like Jesus lived, centered around you. And I'm far from perfect, even today. But God is my witness that I have tried to walk that pathway, reading the Gospels. And the other reason Jesus did not take the anesthetic, because he had to provide for his mother. Imagine that. He's got four brothers and two sisters. You read that in Mark 6. Mary's children, but they were not believers. You read in John 7 that they were not believers. They didn't believe in Jesus. Even though Mary must have told them, this elder brother of yours was not born like others. He's the son of God. They would have told mother, tell me another story. I don't believe it. He looks just like us. He's hungry like us. He does everything like us, except that he doesn't sin like us. He doesn't get angry like us. They wouldn't see the importance of that. But they despised him. You read that in John 7. Imagine living at least 25 years with Jesus and not even believing that he's the son of God. They never saw him get angry in 24 years. They never saw him getting in a bad mood or upset or hurting anybody in 25 years. And they still don't believe that he's different. How prejudiced can man be? That's how those brothers were, and sisters. They could have taken care of the mother, but Jesus said no. I am the eldest son. I must take care of my mother, so I can't afford to be anesthetized here. I must. And he handed her over, not to the four brothers and two sisters. He said I can't trust them. I'll hand him over to my cousin, John. John was his mother Mary's sister, whose name was Salome. Her son, two sons, James and John. He handed his mother over to her nephew, her sister's son, John. He said, John, that's your mother from today onwards. And he told his mother, mom, that's your son. He had to be alert for that. There was a thief who was on his way to hell next to the next cross. He had to be alert to forgive him, to give him an assurance that he would be with him that day in paradise. That's why he didn't take the anesthetic. He had to let all of us know in the second part of the second three hours on the cross, that he was actually forsaken. To be forsaken by God is hell. Hell is not just worms and fire. Those are all picture language. Please remember, Jesus used picture language because you cannot understand eternity. He has to show us how terrible hell is by saying it's a place burning with fire and worms never die. They keep biting you and you burn and burn and burn and burn. I tell you this, being thrown into the fire is nothing compared to what hell is like. The real hell is to be forsaken by God. We don't know what that is. There is not a single human being on earth forsaken by God, not even the worst terrorist. He can breathe. You know God gives oxygen to the worst terrorists? And the worst terrorists have children. And the children are the gift of God. To whom does he give it? To the worst terrorists. You think they don't have children? Sure. They produce more terrorists. The blessing of God is on the worst human beings on the earth. It's completely absent in hell. Hell is a place we have completely forsaken. That's the worst part. And fire and worms are just a small picture, just like mansions and golden streets. There are no golden streets in heaven. There are no mansions. What do you do with a ten bedroom house in heaven? I wouldn't know what to do with it. I say, I want to be with Jesus. I don't want to live in a ten bedroom house. I'm not going to be sleepy. What am I going to do there? I'm not going to cook. I'm not going to live there. It's picture language. Because those are things that people value on earth. Gold, big houses. He's using picture language to show you heaven is the most fantastic place of all. It's going to be a wonderful place. But forsaken by God, that's hell. And when Jesus said, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? He was showing us thereby, He was beginning to experience hell. He did not experience hell for the first three hours. He was doing a lot of other things. But from the beginning of the fourth hour, for the next three hours, what Jesus experienced on the cross was actual hell. Because that is the punishment for your sin and mine. I hope you understand that. Christ died for our sins. For little children, and all the movies of Jesus that I saw, I used to feel very, I used to weep many times when I see them hammering Him, whipping Him and hammering Him. But it is all emotional because I saw it the next day, I would live the same selfish life I always lived. Think of all of you who have seen movies of Jesus. Don't you live the same selfish life and yell at your husband and wife the next day after seeing that movie? It doesn't change you one bit. It's all just emotional stirring which means nothing. When I really saw what Jesus suffered on the cross, it did make me weep, I have to say it made me weep terribly, but it changed my whole attitude. Because I saw a little bit, I don't believe I understood it fully. When I see my Savior face to face, I will discover more how much He suffered on the cross for me. But I have seen a little bit, and that has made me immensely grateful that I said to Him, Lord, I will never in my life live for myself. Even if I live another 17 years and reach the age of 100, I will only live for You. Never for a single moment will I live for myself. I will never live to make money or honor or position or anything, because I've seen. I'm not saying something special I'm doing. Even if I live like that for a thousand years, I don't believe I would have repaid my Savior for what He did for me. My eyes have been opened. Some years ago, God opened my eyes to see a little bit of what Jesus suffered in the last three hours on the cross, when He cried, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And I saw it because I had a passion to understand what happened on the cross. I want to tell you something. I cannot explain it to you. You have to discover it yourself. Go to Jesus like I did, and ask Him with the same passion and desire I had Lord, show me what you suffered on the cross. And if you're really sincere, I guarantee it will change your life. It changed mine. Yeah, because you know, till then, I knew the child's story, Christ died for my sins. But as I grew up and I understood the Bible and I began to think about it, what is the punishment for my sin? I've sinned terribly for my childhood. What is the punishment for my sin? I read in the scriptures, the wages of sin is death. Death means not physical death, eternal death in hell. If the punishment for my sin is physical death, and if that's all that Jesus did on the cross, He physically died for my sins and all His blood was shed. I say, Lord, you don't have to do that. I'll die myself and I pay the punishment for my sin. And every human being dies, he's paid the punishment for his sin. Everybody has to go to heaven. If physical death, think of it logically, in a court of law, if physical death is the punishment for sin, everybody who physically dies has paid the punishment for his sin. He has to go to heaven. And if you understand that Jesus physically died for my sin, I'd say to Him, Lord, you don't have to die, I'll die myself. One of these days, I'll die and I'll pay the price. Everybody dies, they pay the price and go to heaven. That's when God opened my eyes to say, physical death is not the punishment for sin. Everybody dies physically, whether they're good or bad. The punishment for sin is eternal death, to be thrown into hell for eternity. And if Jesus was not thrown into hell for eternity, the punishment for my sin has not been paid. I'm trying to argue in a court of law and say, if Jesus did not suffer eternal hell, He did not pay the punishment for my sin. You know very well, that's what He tells others, if you die in your sin, eternal hell is the punishment. And you say, Jesus took it from me. Did you think about that? Has He really taken eternal punishment in hell for you? You know, some things we say so glibly, we don't, we study our academic books more carefully than we study the Bible. You tell your children to study your books, your mathematics book, your chemistry book, and other things in school because you want them to get good marks. And if you're in a profession, you study so much for your profession, because you want to advance in your profession, because you want to make money. I wish you would study the Bible like that. When I was in the Navy, I really studied hard for my profession because I wanted to get a good report as a Christian from every commanding officer of mine, in every ship I got a good report because I thought that was a good testimony as a Christian that I did my job in every ship perfectly. And I said, Lord, when I'm a Christian, I want to study the Bible exactly the same way, every page. God is my witness, I've done that. I would not dare to preach if I'm not a serious student of the Bible. So many people are so casual in their study of scripture, and they dare, they dare to get up and preach God's word without studying the scripture carefully. Imagine a doctor trying to do a surgery who's not seriously studied how to operate on a human being. I wouldn't want to go anywhere near such a doctor. But there are so many preachers who don't have even 10% of that sincerity that a good surgeon has that I must study the Bible properly before I dare to speak on it. Casual, just study that. Earthly professions with a hundred times more seriousness. Yeah, the eternal hell is the punishment for sin. And Jesus took that on the cross and he had to be alert. He didn't take the anesthetic because he had to let us know that he was forsaken by God. You know, in his entire life, he always called him father, father, father, father. Only once in his life, he called his heavenly father, God. That is on the cross. Never before, never after. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? I'd say, Lord Jesus, I know the answer. Being forsaken, I can explain it. Being forsaken is hell. I don't, you don't have to ask why. I'll tell you. You're forsaken because you took my sin there. You think Jesus didn't have enough sense to understand that? All his life he came on earth only to do that. Why is he asking at the last minute, why have you forsaken me? Why is he asking that question? Have you ever thought about it? The most intelligent human being that ever walked on the earth, the one who came from God's presence, whose mind was clear and free from sin. My mind is so polluted by sin and failure through the years and yet I know that forsaken by God is hell and that is the punishment. I can explain it to Jesus. Why is he asking that question? Why? I'll tell you. Because when you're in hell, your mind doesn't work properly. You can't understand. That's hell. He couldn't even understand what I can explain very clearly to you. He was forsaken for my sin. He could not understand. Why have you forsaken me? You want to understand the depth of his suffering? It was real hell that he suffered on that cross. Why did he call him God, God, not father, father like he always did? Because now he was standing before the judge of the universe, taking my sin. He couldn't call him father. See if your father is the judge and you committed a terrible crime and you're standing in the criminal box, you can't say, hey dad. You dare not speak to him like that. He's your dad but he's sitting there as a judge now and you committed a crime. You're in the criminal box. That's how Jesus was. That's why he could not call him dad. He said, my God, I'm my God. Why have you forsaken me? I'm taking you slowly through this so you understand what the cross was. He had to be alert. That's why he didn't take the anesthetic. But in spite of this, there was no rebellion. That's the submission. You see many things you can learn if you read the Bible slowly. If there was a spirit of rebellion in Christ at that moment when his mind is not clear anymore because he's in hell, Judas said, oh God, oh God, why have you forsaken me? In anger. No, he didn't speak like that. Let me paraphrase the words. My mind is all gone. I'm in hell. I can't understand. I know it's because to save Zach from going to hell, that's why I'm here. But I can't understand. But you're still my God. Look at that. Submission. Not oh God. You, I can't understand why you've forsaken me. But you're still my God and you'll always be. That is one of the greatest points in Jesus' life where I see his submission. That even when he was sent to hell, he said, you're still my God. I say, Lord, make me like that. That when I go through the deepest suffering, which I cannot, I'll never experience hell. I'll never get that far. Every suffering you experience which you think is so terrible is not even 1% of hell. Not even .001% of hell. I say, Lord, when I go through the deepest suffering I go through on earth, let me never say oh God. Let me say my God. You will always be my God. Not only that, I will call him my father, dad. I can't understand why I'm going through this. But you will always be my dad. I will die saying my dad. I don't have to say even my God. I have to say my dad. I'm just explaining to you so much you can learn from one sentence on the cross. You've missed so much by not meditating on scripture. You miss so much because you read the scripture. Have you ever read the first psalm? Blessed is the man who meditates on the law of the Lord day and night. You want to be blessed? That's one way to be blessed. Not to read. We can't read the Bible day and night. We can't do that. We've got a lot of other things to do. But meditate? I can meditate when I'm doing some other thing. God has made our mind in such a way that we can think about something while I'm doing something else and do it much better if I meditate on God's word. In a few moments in between my work, I can meditate on God's word. Develop that habit. It doesn't come automatically. But if you practice it, everything practice makes perfect. You keep on practicing something, after sometime it becomes a habit. Don't you know many things in your life? Because you practice it so long it automatically becomes a habit? When you were a little child, your parents had to tell you to brush your teeth. How do you do it automatically in the morning today? It's become a habit. You keep doing something, it becomes a habit. Develop the habit of meditating on God's word day and night. Because it says in Psalm 1, if you do that, you know, maybe I should show you that verse. Because some of you are not so familiar with scripture. Psalm 1. It says there, blessed is the man who, there are certain things he does. One is, he does not walk according to the advice of wicked people. There are a lot of people who listen to the advice of wicked people. They are not blessed. Blessed is the man who, when he wants some counsel, advice, he doesn't go to a clever man. He goes to a godly man. Blessed is the man who, when you want advice, what do you do? You go to a godly person. He does not stand in the path of sinners. He doesn't stand in a line to get a movie ticket, to watch a movie. That's not very good. He doesn't stand in that line. That's the path of sinners. Nor sit in the seat of scoffers. He doesn't sit with those who make fun of God or of other people. Do you make fun of other people? Humor is a good thing and if you want to make fun of somebody, make fun of yourself. I would never make fun of other people. I sometimes say something funny about myself so that people can laugh at me, but not laugh at other people. He doesn't sit in the seat of scoffers. These are all the negative things he doesn't do. But instead, his delight is in the law of God, the Bible, and in the Bible he meditates day and night. He doesn't read it day and night, but during his waking hours he is taking every opportunity to think about what he read in the morning, or some verse that he read yesterday or last week, or something he heard in a meeting. He tries to think about that. Yeah, I heard that in the meeting. Let me think about that a little bit. Those are the people who benefit most from such meetings like this. Those who think about it later and meditate upon it later during the day. You women, when you are cooking something, or perhaps when you are driving down the road or doing something else, having a shower, wonderful time to meditate when you are having a shower, or when you are doing something in a relaxed way, lying down. One of my best times is early morning when I get up in the morning, you know, much before it is time to get out of bed. And some of us older people wake up in the middle of the night as well, precious times. As I have got older, some of my most precious times with God have been in bed and meditating on something about God and His great love for me and something. Those are the best times for me because I find that when I get out of bed and I get up and I have got a lot of things to do, I have responsibility for so many churches, so many elders. There are mails they write to me, texts they write to me on the phone, I have to reply. Often, I hardly ever go to bed before ten thirty or eleven at night, sometimes at midnight. So I am busy throughout the day, right from eight o'clock or seven o'clock in the morning. But I get some wonderful times at night. And if you are busy, like me, then the best time is in your bed when you are alone. Meditate. And if you are like that, it says here in verse three, you will be like a tree, firmly planted. Haven't you seen sometimes when there is a tornado or a storm? I have seen this in India. Many trees fallen on the roads and there is one tree standing there. I say, how is it that tree didn't get pulled out by the tornado or the storm? It had roots. It's not the number of branches or how beautiful it looked on the outside or how much fruit it had. All that stuff is worthless. Number of branches, how beautiful it is or how much fruit. Everything depends on the hidden part of that tree, that which is underground. And I want to say to you, when a storm comes into your life, it's not what you look on the outside or how many meetings you went to that's going to determine whether you'll stand in that day. It is when that hidden part of your life, underground, the hidden part of your life which nobody can see, whether there are some roots in your life. If you have rooted your life in God, if you use the meetings you went to, to allow your life to get deeply rooted in God, you will stand when the storm comes. I have seen so many believers fall away. Many, many, many. I remember in the early days of CFC in my house, the turnover was so great. People would come and go and come and go and come and go. So many people, I remember in the early days we had 60, 70 people coming in the early years and I think about 5 of them are left today. Imagine, 5 trees out of 60 trees standing because so many storms came in between. You've probably seen that in your church, people come and go and come and go. But you won't be like that. You'll be like a tree firmly planted. And you know why? It's not just roots. It's roots are underground doing something which nobody can see. The roots are reaching out for water. There's one thing the roots are always crying out, I want water. And it's searching and there's a stream there, it reaches out. It's amazing how much common sense these roots have. More than many human beings. These roots are looking for water much more than many human beings are looking for being rooted in the Holy Spirit. Remember the water is always a picture of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said the Holy Spirit is like rivers of living water. And these roots are reaching out for those rivers. How many believers are like that? Reaching out for the rivers of the Holy Spirit the roots go in. And the result is always fruit comes in season on that tree. Not only rooted firmly, produces fruit. Do you know my brother, sister that God wants to produce fruit in your life? I don't care if you're a foolish person who never finished high school, not educated, not well versed in education. If you do the things mentioned in verse 1 and 2 and 3, you will yield fruit. Jesus said that in John 15, I have chosen and ordained you that you must go and bring forth fruit. If there's no fruit in your life, go back and meditate on someone. Something is wrong in your life. You're not seeking for the part of the Holy Spirit in your life. You're mingling too much with sinners. Your best friends are not God's people. Your best friends are some sinners in your office or your relatives who are unconverted. They're the ones you spend more time with. No wonder there's no fruit in your life. You'll stand before God one day ashamed that you could never express your gratitude to Jesus for dying on the cross for you. You just went to church. You say, what did you do for the Lord? Well, I went to church. I went to the meetings. I even heard Brother Zach. I sometimes listen to his Brother Zach's meetings on YouTube. Uh-huh. That's all. What is the fruit in your life? Did you influence one person in your life towards Christ? I'm not trying to make you condemned. No. There's no condemnation in Christ. But I hope I will challenge you to follow the things written in Psalm 1. You know, so that there can be fruit. And your leaf will never wither. You know what that means in verse 3? That you'll never be with a long face. You won't be always complaining, ah, so-and-so treated me like this, so-and-so treated me like this, and so-and-so, my boss treated me like this, and didn't give me a hike in the salary. Oh, the number of believers I heard who complain about this and that and the other, their neighbors are like this, and their relatives are like this. Oh dear. I feel like getting away from them. Their leaf never withers. It's always green. I wasn't like this in the early days. I accepted Christ as my Savior, but I never took Psalm 1 seriously. I never sought for the rivers of living water. But I thank God finally I came in touch with the life and the Spirit. Changed my life completely. And this is the best part of it. Whatever he does, he prospers. Verse 3. I believe God's will for us is that whatever we do, we prosper. And immediately say, you mean I'll become a millionaire? See how your mind moves towards money immediately? He's got nothing to do with money. Sorry to disappoint you folks, but it's got nothing to do with money. It's got to do with spiritual prosperity. It's got to do with becoming like Jesus in your character. It's like, it's got to do with never being in a bad mood, even for a minute in your life. That's prosperity. You may be living month to month. It's okay. He will not forsake you. You seek his kingdom, he's promised to give you food and clothing and shelter. There's no promise in the Bible that he'll make his children millionaires. But there is promise that he'll give you food and clothing and shelter if you're happy with that. But your life will be such a blessing to others who are much wealthier than you financially. You want to be that? That's what I wanted to be. I thank God that God has given me the opportunity and the privilege of being a blessing to people who earn a hundred times more than what I earned. I want to be a blessing to them. In eternity, God's not going to check your bank account, I'll tell you that, just in case you didn't know. That's not what he's going to check. He's going to check whether there was any spiritual prosperity in your life. Are you a blessing to others? You're going to be a very poor person. My wife and I lived some time, not now, but sometimes it was month to month. But we were a blessing to so many people. Because we never starved one single meal in our life. None of our children starved one single meal in our life. No. We determined to seek God's kingdom and we proved the reality. Seek his kingdom first and his righteousness. All the other things will be added to you that you need. He did not give us everything we wanted. Thank God, he gave us everything we needed. My God shall supply, you know that verse which says, My God shall supply all that you want? That is in the reversed version of the Bible. Have you read the reversed version of the Bible? Upside down, reversed version. Not revised, reversed version. My God shall supply all that you want. There's no such verse. My God, Philippians 4.19, will supply all that you need. If you're satisfied with that, I guarantee, I can give you a written guarantee, you seek God's kingdom first, till the end of your life, he'll give you all that you need. My wife and I approved that for 56 years, 54 years we're married, 56 years I've been in full time Christian work. All that we needed, every time, whether it's food, clothing, shelter, children's education so that we can train them to get a job on their own, everything. Thank God he didn't give me all that I wanted. I would have destroyed myself, because I would have asked for things that would have ruined me, because I'm so foolish. I thank God that he didn't give me all that I wanted. Thank God he didn't answer all my foolish prayers, but he granted me everything I needed, all through my life. He healed me of the aches and pains and sicknesses that he healed. He kept my wife and me healthy, but he did allow us to experience a few aches and pains, so that we can be sympathetic towards others who suffer. Such a good God, such a loving Father, whatever you do will prosper. I want to come back to John chapter 4. He must needs go through Samaria, and as he came to that well, he sat there, prompted by the Holy Spirit, and he told his disciples, you know, walking so long, they're hungry, and time to eat, there's some good restaurants in Samaria, Samaritan food, and Jesus says, you, disciples, go and eat. What about you Lord, aren't you hungry? No, I've got food that you don't know anything about. You go and eat, I'll just sit here. He didn't act spiritual and say, oh, by the way, the Holy Spirit has told me to sit here. You know the super spiritual language some people use? He just acted as if, well, I'm not particularly hungry now, you go. But the Holy Spirit prompted him, you don't go with your disciples for a meal, sit here. And he sat there. You know, he lived like us, he didn't know what was going to happen next. He lived day moment by moment. And sure enough, at noon, the woman of Samaria came, John 4, 7, to draw water. Now, unless you've lived in a country like India, in the villages of India, you will not understand that properly. So let me explain it to you. In the poor villages, there's no running water. There's no such thing as running water in Samaria. There are no pipelines laid in this ground for water in Samaria. It's exactly like the villages in India where, if you are rich enough to have a well in your house, okay, then you don't go anywhere. But otherwise, you've got to go to the public well where you draw water for the day's needs to your house. So everybody would come to a public well. Nowadays in India, they have a one tap in the center of the village where you've got to use your hand pump and they don't keep a tap that can be opened because people will leave it open and a lot of water will be wasted. They keep a hand pump where you pump and pump and collect water. And you've got to come there and people come there with their buckets to pump and take it for them. And it's always the women. Men are working on the fields or something like that. And it's always at about five o'clock in the morning because the day's work begins for the women in the kitchen and so many other things. The children need water. They come to gather water in the morning. Everyone, nobody comes at noon. By the time half the day is over, your need for water starts at five o'clock in the morning. They get up early in the villages. And I read this and why in the world did this woman come at noon? I know. Because she was divorced five times, mocked at by all the other women. Ah, there's this woman. Stay a little distance away from me. We don't want to be anywhere near you. She was despised, mocked at, laughed at because there was no other woman like that in Samaria who was divorced five times and sleeping around with an immoral woman, sleeping around with a man who's not even her husband. And she got tired of the people making fun of her in the morning. And she said, I better go at noon when there's nobody around. I can quietly collect my water and come even though I have to be without water for the first six hours of the day. This was the woman whom Jesus went to help. I praise the Lord. It melts my heart when I think of how Jesus cared for the poorest of the poor, those who were despised by everybody else. And I ask myself, Lord, am I like that? Do I go for the smart people and the clever people only? Do I look around for those who are despised? Do I look around for the small children? Do I look around for the retarded children? I have a special love for those who are mentally retarded. I was in a meeting some years ago, about 20 years ago, in another part of the US. And a lot of them were Mennonites and they have many children. And you know, a lot of children born to women in their late 40s become, they have Down syndrome when they get to that age. They have babies. So there were a lot of children with Down syndrome in this conference. Unusual number. I have hardly seen so many. I sometimes see one or two. And I would go near them. And I tell you, they don't hate anyone. They got such an innocent look on their face. They don't even understand anything. But I tell you, it melted my heart to see their simple innocent face. And it blessed me. I knew that these children are all ready for heaven. They have not committed any conscious sin. Others may feel sorry for them, but all of them are in heaven. And I said, Lord, if this is a child who is heavenly, he can bless me. I want to be blessed by these little retarded, or today they would say, intellectually limited or something like that. And I was blessed watching all of them and smiled at them. So happy to see them. And I spoke in the meeting and I said, you know, we have a lot of members of the body of Christ here whom you don't even appreciate sufficiently. They can't share powerful words like some others. They can't even pray with you. They can't even say anything to you. But some of those members of Christ's body here, I said, have blessed me in this conference more than many of the others. And I said, it's these intellectually backward children. I've been blessed by them. Yeah, God has chosen the poor of the world, rich in faith. He said, if you want to be, if you want to enter the kingdom of heaven, be like these little children. I've spent many years meditating on children because I want to be in the kingdom of heaven. How many of you have meditated on the qualities found in little six month old babies lying in a cradle? I've done a lot. And because Jesus said, be like little children to enter the kingdom of heaven. So I've done that. I've meditated on this three month old baby lying in a cradle. Lord, how can I be like that? I don't mean in intelligence or in knowing God's word because there's another verse in 1 Corinthians 14 and verse 20 which says, in understanding, be like a man. But in evil, be like little children. That's what it says there. In understanding, 1 Corinthians 14, 20, be like a man. That means understand clearly the truth of God's word. But when it comes to evil, responding in an evil way to somebody who treats me badly, be like a little child. So that's why I meditate on a three month old baby lying in a, newly born baby lying in a cradle. It has got zero evil in its heart towards any human being. There's absolute zero. That's my goal. To be like a little child in relation to evil. 1 Corinthians 14, verse 20. Brethren, don't be children in your thinking. In your thinking, be mature. But in evil, be not a child but an infant. Be like an infant. Infant is just a newly born baby. That's why I meditated on infants and I think, what is going on in the mind of this newly born baby, just one week old? Is it thinking how smart I am? Not at all. If somebody evil went and hurt it, pinched it, doesn't even know who it is. You ask if that baby could answer, do you know who pinched you a little while ago? Don't know. Will you remember his face tomorrow and growl at him? No. What about you adults? You remember very well, right? You remember the evil somebody did to you ten years ago. Be like an infant. Jesus said, the kingdom of heaven belongs to such. Yeah, Jesus, you know once when the disciples asked who is the greatest in Jesus' kingdom, Jesus took a little infant and said, this is the greatest in God's kingdom. You know that verse, Matthew 18. But today, who is the greatest in heaven? Jesus. So I put those two verses together and realized Jesus was like an infant in one way. In understanding, there was nobody as clever as him who knew about the kingdom of God. But in evil, he was like an infant. He had no evil attitudes with anybody. Make that your goal. So when he looked at the Samaritan woman, he did not look at her like the way all the others looked at her. He just, he came not for the righteous, he came for sinners. I love that verse where he says, I did not come to call the righteous. Is anybody here who is a sinner? I want to tell you, Jesus came for you. Anybody who feels he is quite righteous? I am sorry to disappoint you, but Jesus did not come for you. Find somebody else to help you. He came to, he did not come for the righteous, but he came to call sinners, not to leave them in their sin. He said, I have come to call sinners to repentance. There are sinners in the world who do not want to repent. Jesus did not come for them. Is there a person here who has got one sin in your life, you do not want to give up? I am sorry to say, Jesus did not come for you. You better live on your own. If there is one sin in your life that you do not want to repent of, Jesus did not come for you. When I say he came for sinners, he came to call sinners to repentance. That is what the Bible says. So if there is a sinner here who wants to repent of everything that you know to be sin in your life, here is the good news, Jesus came for you. If there is a person who thinks he is righteous, I am sorry, Jesus did not come for you. If there is a person who just says I am a sinner, but you do not need to repent, you do not want to repent, Jesus did not come for you either. But he did come for every sinner who wanted to repent. And I am sure this woman had some desire to turn. She was fed up of her sinful life. I know that. It is not written there. I know it because Jesus went to her and Jesus came to call sinners to repentance. He would not have come to her if she enjoyed her immoral life. No. Jesus does not go to people who enjoy their immoral life. The father of the prodigal son did not go into the far country to pull his prodigal son away from the pigs. You know the love of the prodigal, the father's love for the prodigal son was, let him be with the pigs. Let him starve. Let him eat what the pigs are eating till he gets fed up and comes home to me. If I go and help him now, he will not come home. I want him to come home. If I send him money, he will never come home. If I send him food packets, he will never come home. God will not send food packets to prodigal sons. He will not send money because he wants them to come to eat what the pigs are eating till they get fed up and come home. And when they come home, he will throw a party. That's how God is. That's the God of the Bible. That's the God that Jesus showed to us. One who came to call sinners to repentance. There's joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who don't need repentance. So there was joy in heaven when the Holy Spirit prompted Jesus to go to this woman and to speak to her. Do you know what you see? I don't have time to go. Do you know what you see at the end of John chapter 4? She became the evangelist of Samaria. It says in John chapter 4 that the whole city, verse 39, John 4, 39, many of the Samaritans believed in Christ who was the evangelist. This five times divorced woman who was sleeping with some other man who had met Jesus just for a few minutes and her life was so changed that so many people in Samaria turned to the Lord. Do you believe God can use such a woman? Do you think God uses only men as evangelists? Who are the great preachers you read of in America and other countries? Usually a man, right? Not a woman who was divorced five times and sleeping with a man gets converted because Jesus reaches out to such people and turns her into an evangelist that many of the Samaritans came and what did she do? She didn't preach a sermon to them. It says here she just gave her testimony. This is what Jesus did for me. She wasn't a preacher. She didn't know the Bible, but she could give a testimony. I met Jesus. He said, if you're not well versed in scripture, you can still give your testimony. Has Jesus done something for you? If he can use that Samaritan woman, why can't he use you? Is there a single person sitting here who says, no, I'm more useless than the Samaritan woman? Why don't you let Jesus use you? Trust him. Be a witness for him. And it says here, he stayed two more days, verse 40, in Samaria. The group that the Jews despised. Whatever race you belong to, I want to ask you, please answer to yourself. Do you share the prejudice that people of your race have towards some other races? Then I want to tell you, you're not a Christian. You are not a Christian. Whoever tells you you're a Christian is just deceiving you. A Christian is one who seeks to be like Jesus, even if he's not fully become like Jesus. Jesus would not share the views of the Jews that they had towards the Samaritans. He went there. He stayed with them. And if I have an attitude towards people that is not the spirit of Christ, I have to fight it and kill it. I live in a country where there are many, what they call, castes, even among Christians. Upper caste, middle caste, lower caste, and they despise the lower ones. And there are many parts, part of the country I come from, there are people very proud to say, I belong to such and such a family. So and so big person is in my family. So and so, they value the archbishops and all in my family. Sometimes they talk about it, not Christian functions, but other functions where people come together. And sometimes they ask me, Brother Jack, which family are you from? I said, I come from the family that was kicked out of Eden for sin. But Jesus came for me and saved me. I make it a point to say, that is the family I came from. I don't know which family you came from. I came from a very sinful family, thrown out of the garden of Eden by God. And I descended from that man and woman. But Jesus saved me. What are you glorying in? Ask yourself honestly, what are you glorying in? Are you glorying in some of your relatives or the race you belong to or the color of your skin or some stupid thing like that? I will tell you where you came from. You came from the same family that got kicked out of Eden that I came from. But Jesus came for me and saved me. That's what the woman of Samaria did and that's why God used her more than even his twelve disciples who were in the high caste Jews. He couldn't use them. He used a woman in Samaria. When he wanted to bring a revival in Samaria, he used one of those despised women. I praise God. Yeah, now I want to say one word of encouragement. Jesus did not only go to poor people. You read in Luke 19, there was a very, very rich man, a multi-millionaire called Zacchaeus, who had made all his money cheating people. He was a multi-millionaire and Jesus went by that street where Zacchaeus, this multi-millionaire lived. He must needs go through Samaria. He must needs go through not only Jericho, but that particular street where the multi-millionaire Zacchaeus lived. That's an encouragement to all the multi-millionaires who are probably discouraged that you are not a sinner, you are not an evil woman. This is a very upright. He was not a divorcee or anything. He was a man who lived with one wife. Good testimony. Not a good testimony. Sorry, he was a crook. But he was a multi-millionaire, extremely rich man. It says specifically, he was rich. Luke 19 verse 2. He was rich and that says a lot. It's the opposite of the woman of Samaria. And Jesus says, I'm going to go through there. And he goes through the street not knowing. You know Jesus lived like us. He doesn't know. He walks through that street and as he comes to a certain place the Holy Spirit says, stop. Look up. There's a man sitting there. His name is Zacchaeus. This is how Jesus lived with the Holy Spirit. I long to live like this where I listen to the prompting of the Spirit all the time, where I go, what I should do. And Jesus, he says, Oh, Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus wonders, how in the world does he know my name? I've never met him. The Holy Spirit told Jesus what his name was. When you walk close to the Lord, the Holy Spirit tells you so many things. Come down. Zacchaeus, I don't want to visit your home today, verse 5. I want to stay in your home today. I know everybody thinks you're a crook and you are. But I'm seeing in your heart a spark of a desire to turn to God. Just a spark. I want to fan that spark to a flame. And he came down and everybody complained, this Jesus, verse 7. He's going to be the guest of a man who is a sinner. He's a multimillionaire, but he's made his money unrighteously. It's okay. Jesus said, I came for sinners like that evil, immoral Samaritan woman. I also came for the rich millionaires who've lived, done wrong things. Jesus had no partiality. All types of sinners, multimillionaires, poor despised women, whichever category you belong to or anything in between. I think most of us are in between. I don't know if there's anybody here who's made millions by cheating others. And I don't think there's anybody here who was divorced five times and sleeping around with somebody who's not your partner. We are all in between. And I thank God that Jesus took one from each extreme to say, I came to call sinners to repentance. I thank God for that. And he saved that man because he set things right immediately. He said, Lord, I'm going to return all the money I took wrongfully and I'm going to give them more than interest. I'll pay back five times, four times what I took. And as Zacchaeus went around paying four times in different villages, people said, Oh, I wish I had, Zacchaeus had cheated me too. I'd have got four times back. What a blessing he became. And there's a lot, there's a whole lot of money I still have, which, uh, I don't know where these people are whom I cheated, but I can't keep it with me. I'll give it to the poor because I don't want a single cent in my bank that doesn't belong to me. And when Jesus heard that man's attitude to money changed, he said the only time in the entire gospel where Jesus said these words, Luke 19, nine, salvation has come to this house. What a wonderful savior we have. Jesus did not take the anesthetic because he wanted to save that dying thief to tell him he'd be in paradise. And once he had done the work, but you say he didn't spend eternity. Yes, he did. It's a simple multiplication thing. One human being multiplied by eternity in hell is eternity. One infinite being multiplied by three hours is eternity. You understand that? I'm not infinite. Jesus is infinite. Infinity multiplied by three is equal to eternity. Just like a finite man multiplied by eternal ages is eternity. So Jesus experienced eternal hell in three hours on the cross. He paid the price for our sin completely. And he came to call sinners all the way from rich multimillionaires to sinful divorced women. Praise God. Let's pray. I hope you will pray that the Lord will impress on your heart strongly whatever particular lesson he wanted you to remember from all the many things you heard this morning. And to bring it to your mind at an appropriate time later on. Meditate on what you heard. Heavenly Father, help us all to follow you, to follow Jesus' footsteps more wholeheartedly. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.