Jesus Did Not Seek His Own

So our theme for this weekend is going to be the real Jesus. And it's unfortunate that we have to speak about that because God never intended that there should ever be any other Jesus presented to this world than the real one. Everything valuable has been counterfeited.

People don't counterfeit things that are not valuable. Even in the time of the apostles, we read of Jesus being counterfeited. So I want to turn, first of all, to 2 Corinthians 11.

So you'll see this is not a problem that is a problem of the 21st century. It was there right from the beginning. The devil is a deceiver.

The Bible says he's a deceiver of the whole world. And one way in which he deceives people, particularly Christians, is by presenting a Jesus which is not the Jesus that you read in the Bible. Turn to 2 Corinthians 11 and verse 3. Now these were believers, remember, in Corinth.

Paul is writing to born-again believers in the church in Corinth and telling them, he says, I'm afraid. I am afraid that you believers will be deceived by the devil. Just like the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, by his cleverness.

The Bible says that there's no one among all created beings cleverer than Satan. Read that in Ezekiel 28 where God says about Satan, you are wiser than Daniel. Now God didn't consider Solomon to be the wisest man on earth just like other people do.

His wisdom was earthly. Daniel was the one whom God considered the wisest person and he looked at the devil and said, you're wiser than Daniel. So among all created beings, he's the cleverest.

He's the smartest, the shrewdest, and he fell away. And if any of us think that we can fool the devil, it's not true. He's cleverer than all of us and he studied human nature for 6,000 years.

He studied Christians for 2,000 years and he knows exactly how to fool any Christian today. And anyone who thinks he's smarter than the devil is just fooling himself. Now why has God made it like that? Why has God allowed Satan to be cleverer than even Daniel who was one of the finest men in the Old Testament.

Cleverer than you and me. And the answer to that lies in the answer to this question that we see in the Old Testament. Why did God allow the enemies of Israel always to be stronger than them? Israel was always a small, weak nation just like today.

And throughout the Old Testament you see massive enemies, hundreds of thousands of people coming against Israel and Pharaoh's army coming against Israel. And here was Israel, a helpless group of people. The reason was so that Israel would never, never depend on their own ability.

If Israel was a huge, mighty nation with millions of people, soldiers and others were weak, they wouldn't need God. They could handle the problem themselves. And that's why God has always made his people weak so that they would depend on him.

God has made you and me not as sharp as Satan so that we don't depend on our own cleverness. And do you know who are the ones who go astray in Christianity? Those who depend on their own cleverness. So Paul says, I'm afraid.

You know, when Paul wrote to the Corinthians, he says, you guys are all so clever. Corinth was a place where a lot of clever Christians were in the church and that's why they were so carnal. And he says, I'm afraid of you clever people.

That the serpent will deceive you by his craftiness and he will lead your minds astray from the simplicity that there is in Jesus. That's what he's afraid of. There is a simplicity about the real Jesus.

He's not complicated. And he says, I'm afraid that you with all your cleverness you'll get all these ideas and be led astray from that simplicity and purity that there is in Christ. Whenever your Christianity, please listen to this.

The two words here, simplicity and purity. Whenever your Christianity has got away from simplicity and purity, you can be sure the devil's got the better of you. I don't care what else you do.

I don't care how much evangelism you do. I don't care how much even praise and worship you do. Where you've gone away from simplicity and purity in your life, the devil succeeded.

And how does he do it? It says here, Paul says to the Corinthians, if someone comes to you, verse 4, and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached. So this was happening in the first century too. The name was the same, but it wasn't the same person.

Is it possible that a lot of Christians today are believing in another Jesus? And maybe that's why their lives are so powerless. Because, I'll tell you why. Because Jesus said, he who believes in me, these are some of the things that are going to take place in his life.

And why is it there are so many people who say they are believing in him, and nothing seems to be happening in their life? Their life is so worldly, so defeated, just like any other person in the world. It must be that they are not believing in the real Jesus. I can't think of any other reason.

Or is it that Jesus broke his promises? Or he's changed his mind? He hasn't changed his mind. He's the same yesterday, today and forever. If someone comes and preaches another Jesus, it says in the last part of that verse, you bear it beautifully.

You accept it. Now why do people want another Jesus, and not the real Jesus? If we can understand that, we won't be deceived. Now I'll tell you.

It's because the world, even the Christian world, wants a Jesus who will allow you to live the way you want to live. And continue seeking your own, and go to heaven when you die. A Jesus who will make you rich and healthy like all the other people in the world, but won't tell you to die to yourself.

And that's what everybody wants. It says you bear it beautifully. And there's a lot of that going on today, in the world, in Christian television, in a lot of public crusades.

I think there are a lot of sincere people going to all these meetings, watching all these television programs. But their lives are not being changed. They're not coming into a life described in the New Testament of overcoming and overcoming sin.

They're not coming into the type of family life described in the New Testament. Many of these people, even the people who stand up in the pulpit, are divorced numerous times. It's another Jesus.

It's another Jesus who's not much bothered whether you maintain God's holy standards or not, so long as you get large crowds in. The real Jesus in Scripture was never interested in crowds. Did you know that? You know, when one of the largest crowds followed him once, he turned around and said to them, you can never follow me if you don't hate your father, mother, brother, sister, and your own life, and wife, and children, and take up your cross every day and follow me, and forsake all your possessions.

He said, don't waste your time following me. Where in the world do you find a preacher who preaches like that to a large crowd today? It's another Jesus. It's another Jesus.

Today's preachers, when they look at this great crowd and say, it's wonderful you fellows have all come. Go and bring your friends next time. And it's a type of message that makes them happy, live just like everybody else in the world, and imagine that they're disciples of Jesus.

It is another Jesus. So, what is our responsibility? I think of the words of Jesus when he was with his disciples after his resurrection. And he said to them, as the father sent me, so send I you.

Do you remember those words? As the father sent me, so send I you. Now I want every one of you, if you're a serious Christian, I want to tell you something. Those words are what Jesus is speaking to you.

As the father sent Jesus, I want to say to you in Jesus' name, Jesus is sending you out into the world. Okay. Now let us see, what did the father send Jesus into the world for? Now it's very important, before I come to that, just finish this verse, 2 Corinthians 11.4. What happens when this other Jesus is preached? You see, he's talking about preaching here.

And therefore, that verse primarily refers to preachers. And preachers are not just those who stand in pulpits, you may be preaching at home, you may be witnessing to people. And when you preach another Jesus, the end result, one of the results that comes from preaching another Jesus, is that you receive another spirit.

Not the Holy Spirit. Some other spirit gets into you. And that also I have seen.

When people listen to these preachers, who are preaching another Jesus, who has come to make you wealthy and healthy, and bless you with all material blessings, and that's about the only thing he does for you, and doesn't give you any victory over your anger, and your bitterness, and your grumpiness, and your depression, and your gloom, and excuses all that, just makes you healthy and wealthy, and prospers your business, and is not interested in your reaching out to needy places, to bring people to Christ. What happens is, when people, because they like to listen to this type of Jesus, who makes no demands upon them. And they open themselves up to this type of preaching, you know what happens? They receive a different spirit.

And that also I have seen. It's another spirit. It can duplicate many of the gifts of the spirit, but it's another spirit.

And then, they open themselves to another gospel. A completely different gospel, from the gospel found in the scriptures. So, all that flows from listening to the preaching of another Jesus.

So, that's why it's important for us. So, what's our responsibility? As the father sent Jesus, you and I have been sent into the world. Now, what did the father send Jesus for? I want to show you a verse in John's Gospel, chapter 1. Turn with me to John's Gospel, chapter 1, and see what the father sent Jesus for.

It says here in John 1, and verse 18. Now, it's important for us to understand this, because it relates to that other verse. As the father sent me, so send I you.

So, to try and understand, what did the father send Jesus for? Now, a lot of people will say, he was sent to die for the sins of the world. That was one small part of it. But notice what it says here.

No one has seen God at any time. John 1, verse 18. John 1, verse 18.

No one has seen God at any time. But, the only begotten son, who is in the bosom of the father, he has explained him. The world was full of people who had never seen God, and all the great religious leaders that came before Christ, and subsequently also have tried to explain a God whom they never saw.

I mean, it's like trying to draw a picture of an animal you've never seen in a zoo, or a photograph of, you try and draw it, and ten different people draw ten different pictures. And that's why you have so many religions. People are talking about a God whom they've never seen.

Whom they know nothing about. But there was one person, and that was Jesus, because he came from heaven, being the second person of the Trinity, he came to show the world what God was like. That was the primary reason why he came.

And his death on Calvary was also part of that. To show that God loved the world so much, that he was willing to give his son to save you from your sins. So, Jesus, we can say, primarily came to earth because no one on earth had seen God.

And God loved the earth so much, people on the earth so much, that he sent his son to show these people what I'm really like. And there was another reason for that, because there were a whole bunch of religious people in those days, just like religious people today, called the Pharisees. And they were also people who had not seen God.

But every Saturday, in their meeting halls, they were explaining to people what God was like. And they hadn't seen God. And they told them that God was like this and like this, and drew a picture of God before their congregations, where God was so strict about certain rules and regulations, and only if you did that, and if you did it like this, and you did it like this, then only God would be happy with you.

And those poor simple people were sitting there, listening to these preachers, Saturday after Saturday, and paying their tithes, and they preached to them, God will be very angry with you if you don't pay your tithes, and God will be very angry with you if you do this and do that. And these poor people were slaves. They had the picture of a God who was like a policeman, who was a judge, who was out to catch them for every little thing.

And God sent his son to show them what he really was like. And he came to earth. And who do you think his biggest clash was with? We never read that he clashed with the Romans, or the Greeks, or the murderers of the world, or the gamblers, or the adulterers, or the thieves.

His clash was with these religious leaders who were presenting another picture of God to the people. And I want to say to you, my dear brothers and sisters, if you take upon yourself the ministry that God is giving you and me to go into the world as the father sent Jesus, our calling is exactly the same. When Jesus came to earth, there was another God being presented.

People, of course, they were preaching from the Bible. Now, I know there were other religions in India and other places those days where they were preaching other gods. I'm not talking about them.

They were false. But they were not so dangerous because they were not talking about the true God at all. But in the Jewish synagogues, they were holding the Bible.

They had the Bible from Genesis to Malachi, and they read it and read it, and they presented another God. That was more dangerous. And today, Christians are not going to be deceived by listening to all those false religions.

It's when a man gets up with the Bible and preaches from the Bible and presents, you know, he picks out certain favorite verses and unfortunately, one of the great tragedies today is today's Christians don't know the Bible properly. They don't read the Bible enough. They read so many other things.

They watch so many other things. But they don't know the Bible enough. And so, all these preachers have a heyday fooling all these people who don't know the Bible.

They pick out certain verses and say, don't you see it says here, it says here, like this, and convince people that this is what God is like. And it's exactly the same today as it was in Jesus' time. And Jesus came to show that that's not what God was like.

And can you imagine the anger of these preachers? Because this young man came up and said, God's not like that. This is what God is like. That's why they killed him.

So I want to say that if the Father sends you and me into the world, just like, if Jesus sends you and me into the world just like the Father sent Jesus, our calling is going to be the same. I'm not supposed to sit back and say, well, I just take care of my family and bring up all my children in a godly way and that's it and finally we'll all go to heaven. That's the most selfish way you can live.

Do you think people in the world don't think of their own families? That's all they think about morning, noon and night. And what do you think about a Christian who all he does is say some things about his own family going to heaven when he dies. What about the rest of the world? We're supposed to be witnesses to the uttermost parts of the earth.

We're supposed to stand up and expose the real Jesus and show that all these other counterfeit Jesus is not the real one. That's our calling. As the Father sent me, so send I you.

Because like it says here, no one has seen God at any time. I would say lots and lots of Christians today have not seen the real Jesus. And we, it's a fantastic calling.

I mean, I'm amazed that God would give us such a calling. To show what Jesus is like and it doesn't have to be in the pulpit. I mean, just think for a moment.

You know, the Bible says in the same gospel. Let me read you this verse. John 1, 4. John 1, verse 4. In him was life and the life was the light of men.

You know, this is the big difference between the New Testament and the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, it was the word which was the light of men. You read that in Psalm 119, verse 105.

Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. That's the only light they had. And they'd get up and preach the word and say, that's the light.

Listen to it. But then Jesus came. Because nobody had that life in the Old Testament.

But Jesus came and said, here is the real light. It was his life. There was a life he lived.

Do you think people saw God only when Jesus got up in the pulpit? Oh, no. They saw God when Jesus lived in Nazareth at home as a 20-year-old young man. They saw God when Jesus worked in the carpenter shop.

I mean, you didn't have to wait until he was 30 years old if you went into his carpenter shop and dealt with this young carpenter of Nazareth. 25-year-old young carpenter of Nazareth. You'd have seen God.

You'd have seen something in his life which you'd have never seen in any religious person anywhere in Israel. So he was manifesting God all the time. But 33 years, it was his life which was the light.

Don't ever forget that. And if that's the way that Jesus is sending us to the world like the Father sent him, you may never stand in the pulpit all your life. 90% of Jesus' life, 30 out of 33 years, he never stood in the pulpit.

It was his life which was the light of man. And that means his life at home with his mother Mary and his four brothers and sisters at home and in the carpenter shop and the different people who came and his customers. He was a carpenter earning his living by making stools and benches and tables and things like that.

And people came and ordered things and the way he dealt with them and the way he collected their money and the type of material he... the type of furniture he made for them and he was manifesting a certain life in all those things just as much as when he stood in a pulpit. And that's where all of us have hope because most of us may never stand in a pulpit. But that's not the light.

The light is the life. So just look at it like this for a moment. What does this mean in practical terms? Supposing instead of you, supposing one day the Lord came to you, Jesus himself and said, okay, instead of you going to work today, I'm going to work in your place.

I will go as you. I'll take your name and work in the office as you. And let's assume that he can miraculously put on your face.

And now remember, it's Jesus going with your face and with your name and working in your office. Do you think people would sit up and say, hey, what's happened to this person? He's so different now. Would they say that? That is the challenge that comes to us.

Supposing one day Jesus said, okay, I'm going to go back from work in your place and your wife's not going to see you today. She's going to see me. But you won't know it's me.

You'll think it's still you. I'm going to take on your face. And would your wife say, boy, what's happened to my husband? He's come home a different man.

Would there be a difference? Ask yourself. Or would your wife say, well, that's my husband. Same old person.

Would people at work say, that's the same person. That's a very challenging thing. That is the test.

Please take it seriously. In your home, in your work, you may be a wife. Supposing Jesus says, okay, I'm going to replace you today as a mother and as a wife.

Would people in your home see a difference? Would your children see a difference? Would they say, hey, how come mommy's like this today? And there, I want to say, my brothers and sisters, we see how, unlike Jesus, we have conducted ourselves in our home, to our husbands, wives, children, in our place of work. We're religious. We've got all the trappings of our particular religious denomination.

And you know how various people through the years have had various emphases. And if you're a Christian, you'll do this. You'll carry a Bible.

You'll speak in tongues. You'll grow a beard. Or you'll dress like this.

Or you won't dress like this. What all things the world has heard about, do you think a Christian is seen in the way he dresses? Some people say, oh, you've got to dress shabbily. Then you're like Jesus.

Some people say, no, you've got to dress in a suit and tie. Then you're like Jesus. I want to tell you, it's got nothing to do with these things.

It's a life. Throughout Christian history, the devil has always tried to shift that emphasis from the life of Jesus onto something else. It doesn't matter what it is.

Something other than the life. Dress in a certain way, or your appearance must be this way, or you must sing in this way, or some religious activity is anything other than life. Because the devil knows if you discover that it's the life that is the life, boy, his kingdom will be shaken.

Because his kingdom is the kingdom of darkness. And you can't shake that kingdom of darkness with a particular type of dress, or with a particular type of religious activity, or whether you grow a beard or not, or whether you behave like this or not. Externally, I mean, or with any type of religious activity, or the way you have your meetings, it's got nothing to do with these things.

It's got to do with the life, which is the light of men. That light can shake his kingdom, and that's why the devil has always got Christians concentrating on anything other than the life of Jesus. And if you don't believe me, examine your own life.

Haven't you found yourself drawn to certain people because they dress like you? Their meetings are like the way you like it. What's it got to do with meetings? It's got nothing to do with meetings. It's got to do with the life, the life of Jesus.

And do you see how the devil succeeded with so many of us by shifting the emphasis from life onto something else? It doesn't matter what it is. And then we have all these Christians with their hundred or thousand different emphases, all different from the life of Jesus, and all criticizing each other because these fellows are not doing this, and these fellows are not doing that. In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

And there was something about that life which was different from any other life that was seen on the face of the earth. What was the difference? It was not that he carried a Bible and went to a meeting. It was not that Jesus dressed in a particular way.

I think Jesus looked just like all the other people of his time, dressed like them, and his appearance was like them. And that's why, you know, the chief priests and all were not able to identify him in the Garden of Gethsemane. They'd seen him so many times in the temple.

Why did they need Judas to identify? Do you need somebody to identify a man whom you've seen for three and a half years preaching in the temple and regularly, regularly? I mean, you've seen me much less than that. You'd identify me anywhere. Why do you need some close friend of mine and say, point out who Zach is to me? Why did they need somebody to point out Jesus? Because he looked so much like the other people.

He was not special. And in the darkness, they thought they'd miss him for Peter or somebody else. They wanted to get the right man, which proves to me that in Gethsemane, that proves to me that he was just like everybody else.

It was not in his dress or in a particular way he walked or anything. It was a life that was different. And I want to say to you, my brothers and sisters, the one thing that should distinguish us from people in the world is our life.

It's not anything else. It's our life. And we see here the main characteristic of the life of Jesus.

I want to turn you to John's Gospel, chapter 17, which he said at the end of his life. He himself said these words to the Father. I want you to see these words.

John's Gospel, chapter 17. He said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify thy son, the son also may glorify thee.

And he says in verse 4, I have glorified thee on the earth. I have accomplished the work which you have given me to do. There was only one thing Jesus came, one goal or ambition he had, and that was to glorify the Father.

In everything he did, before he did it, he'd say, will this glorify the Father? And let the Holy Spirit witness to him. And if he felt it would glorify the Father, he'd do it. That's why he prayed so often.

And that's why we don't pray so often. That's why we don't ask the Lord so often. I don't mean kneeling down and going through the ritual of prayer.

I've seen a lot of people who go through hours of religious ritual of prayer who are some of the most carnal and nasty and hard-to-get-along people I've met on the face of the earth. Very religious, very prayerful, just like the Pharisees. But it's a ritual.

For Jesus, prayer was talking to the Father. I mean, will this glorify you, Father? If it doesn't, I don't want to do it. I don't want to do anything that is going to not honor you.

It's not in your will. It won't glorify you. That's how he lived for 33 years.

He never sought his own. He always sought what would glorify the Father. Will that glorify the Father? That was the principle of his life.

And that's how he finished the work. I've glorified you on earth and I've finished the work you gave me to do. Everything he did on earth.

I mean, if his mother sent him to fetch a bucket of water from the well, you know, they didn't have running water in their houses those days. Go to the village well and get a bucket of water, Jesus. And little 12-year-old Jesus would run off to the well and he'd get a full bucket of water.

Not a half a bucket, because that wouldn't glorify the Father. Little things like this. That's, you know, you'd say, what's so great about whether you bring a half bucket of water or a full bucket of water? It's in the little things that you see a godly man.

The little things, the little faithfulness. Faithfulness with money as a carpenter. He was faithful.

He wouldn't overcharge people and take advantage of poor people. It's in little things, in everything. What would glorify the Father here? In every area of his life.

That's why he needed to pray. We don't pray because we think, yeah, we know. I've glorified you on earth and I've finished the work you gave me to do.

And I want to show you, before I move on from this passage, the previous verse. It's the finest definition of eternal life that I've found anywhere in the Bible. You want to know what eternal life is? A lot of people say, eternal life means, I mean, if you were to ask the average Christian, I'd say 99% of those Christians will not give this answer.

I mean, before I showed you this verse, if I were to ask you, what is eternal life? What would your answer be today? Many of you have been saved for many years. What would your answer be? You'd probably say, eternal life means I'm going to live forever in heaven. That's not how Jesus defined it.

If there was one person who could define eternal life, and if you have this, you've got eternal life. If you don't have this, you don't have eternal life. Listen to it.

John 17, verse 3. This is Jesus' definition of eternal life. And that's why we need to know the real Jesus, because there's another Jesus preaching another type of eternal life. This is eternal life, Jesus said, that they may know thee.

To know what God is like. And to know Jesus Christ, who was sent by the Father. The more I know Jesus Christ, that is eternal life.

To know God and to know Jesus Christ. Not to know about God, or to know about Jesus Christ. You may know about somebody, but you don't know that person.

But the way you know your husband, the way you know your wife, if you've been married 30, 40 years, you really know one another. Jesus said, to know him like that, that is eternal life. And the reason why there's so much worldliness among Christians, is because they don't know Jesus.

The reason why there's so much of legalism, and religious rules and regulations, is because they don't know Jesus. And the reason why they don't know Jesus, is because the preachers they're listening to, are not telling them about Jesus. They're telling about all these rules and regulations.

They're telling about psychological techniques to become rich, and how we can get things from God, and teaching a wrong type of faith, than the faith spoken of in the Bible. That's why you see such a powerless Christianity today. Let me show you another verse.

Philippians, in chapter 2. Now this is another very, very important verse. In Philippians chapter 2, we read. See, I want to give you a little bit of the history of this passage.

It's written right there. Paul was in jail, in prison. And Paul was a man who had a great burden, for the churches he planted.

Just like a mother, would have a concern for her children. How are they getting on? I mean, if children are far away, she'd want to know, how are they getting on? She'd want to telephone them. She'd want to get a letter from them, or want them to call.

When here was prison, Paul was in prison, and there was no way of finding out, how is this little church in Philippi getting on? Which I planted some years ago. And he said, I'm going to send somebody to find out. I've got a number of co-workers here with me, and I want to send one of them, because I can't go, they've locked me up in prison.

I want to send one of them to go to Philippi, to stir them up, and to find out how things are going on there. And he looks around at his co-workers, and he can't find anyone, except Timothy. Is it because he had only one co-worker? He had a number of co-workers.

And I want to tell you, Paul's co-workers had a pretty high standard. If you read in Acts of the Apostles, chapter 13 and 15, you'll read there how Paul said, we'll never take that fellow John Mark again on our team. I know he's a fine brother, he's born again, filled with the Holy Spirit, and speaking in tongues and all that, but we're not going to have him on our team anymore, because that guy's a half-hearted fellow, pulled out of work just because things got a little tough.

You know, if Paul selected you for his team, that itself is a great honor. But as people continued, you know a lot of people when they first come to Christ, they're so excited. I've seen a lot of people, a lot of young people when they first come to Christ, they're so zealous, they're full of zeal and excitement and dedication and sacrifice and everything.

And then you see them 10 years later, 15 years later, not at all like that. All the zeal is gone, the fire is gone. It's great when I see young people on fire for the Lord.

And I say, well, I hope the fire will be more 10 years from now, 15, 20 years from now. And people continue. Why do I say that? Because I see a lot of people whom Paul called young zealous people years later.

You know what happened to them? They were all seeking their own. Except Timothy. That man endured.

One man among all Paul's co-workers. I think all of them started out seeking God's glory. Otherwise, Paul wouldn't even have got them on his team.

But after a while, one by one, they began to seek their own. And so when Paul wanted to send somebody to Philippi, he looks around and he says, he ticks them off in his mind one by one. Should I send him? No, he's seeking his own.

Then what about this guy? He's a good chap. He knows the Bible, but he's seeking his own too. What about this person? Yeah, he was fine.

I remember what a zealous young fellow he was when he first came onto our team. But now, he's seeking his own. But Timothy, ah, that's the chap.

He's steadily gone on and on and on and on. You know, I want to say to you, my brothers and sisters, it's wonderful to be zealous when you're first converted. I hope it'll continue to greater heights of glory as you continue because I want to tell you something.

90% or more of Christians do not go that way. There are probably a lot of people sitting here who when you were first converted, you had such a passion. You were zealous.

You wanted to live for God. But where are you today? Lots and lots of people I've seen in India. I don't know all of you, but I've seen folks in India.

Almost all of them backslide when they get married. They're zealous before they get married. They get married, and they have one or two children.

So when I see a zealous young person, I say, praise God, brother, but I'm not going to give a final verdict on you yet. Wait till you have one or two children. Then let me see what you're like.

Well, that's what happened to these people. And Paul said, but Timothy is different. And what was different about Timothy? It says here in verse 21.

Philippians 2, verse 21. Let me read from verse 19. I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly so that I may be encouraged when I learn of your condition.

Because I have no one else of the same spirit. I don't have anyone else whom I can send who's got the same spirit, who will genuinely be concerned about your welfare because they all seek after their own interests and not those of Christ Jesus. When Jesus came to earth, he did not seek his own.

We can say there are two trees, the tree of Adam and the tree of Christ. Everyone, we're all born into the seed of Adam. We can say we were branches on that tree.

And we received the life of that tree. And you know what the life of Adam is, which we have all received from our parents? It's a life that is primarily interested in seeking our own. If I do this, how will it benefit me? If I go and live in such and such a place, how will it benefit me? How will it benefit my family? How will it benefit my children? Of course, I also want to be religious.

I also want to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I also want to speak in tongues. I want to praise the Lord.

I want to be in a good church. I want to give a little money for missionary work. I want to do some type of activity.

All that is okay. I mean, we'll do all that. But basically, my fundamental decisions in life are determined by how will this benefit me? How will this benefit my family? The entire race of Adam is like that.

That's how every businessman lives in the world. How does every businessman live? How will this benefit me? How will this benefit my family? Of course, if my going to church and attending meetings will bring me in touch with other businessmen and other influential people, I'll do that. I mean, there are a lot of businessmen who go to church, but their fundamental aim in life is not glorifying God.

Or politicians. They're politicians. What's every politician thinking of? How will this benefit me? And when you have a race for the president's seat, what are they seeking? How will this benefit me? How will this benefit my family? What about a lot of people who are seeking to be a pastor in some church? What are they thinking of? How will this benefit me if I become pastor of this church? It's the same story in 2,000 years.

This is the tree of Adam. And Jesus is another tree. To be in Adam.

The Bible speaks about being in Adam and in Christ. Now let's look at this tree called Jesus. Jesus came to earth to live by a completely different principle from the life of Adam.

Jesus' principle was, how will this glorify the Father? If I go and live here, will that glorify the Father? If I do this, will it glorify the Father? If I spend my money like this, will it glorify the Father? If I live like this, if I spend my days like this, if I spend my hours like this, will it glorify the Father? That's the principle by which he lived. He wasn't just interested in going to meetings and just doing a few religious activities to ease his conscience and live for himself. That's religion.

Now when a person lives like that and is a worldly unconverted person, that's okay. Because that's how all children of Adam are supposed to live. But when a person calls himself a Christian, a disciple of Jesus, and lives by that principle, that's what the Bible calls Babylon.

That is Babylon. Do you think Babylon is just some particular denomination? Do you think by coming out of some denomination, you'll come out of Babylon? Do you think you get rid of certain habits in your life and then you got rid of Babylon? I wish it were so easy. Do you think if you change the way you dress, you got rid of Babylon? Oh, I wish it were so easy.

It isn't. Babylon goes far deeper than all that. Do you think if you change the style of your meeting in your church, you can say, oh, we got rid of all that Babylon.

We're now in Jerusalem. Is it a style of meeting? Is it a style of dress? Is it a particular subject that you preach on? No, it's much more deep-rooted than that. It's a question of whether we've been taken out of that spirit that is in the race of Adam and we have partaken of the spirit that was in Jesus Christ.

Where he said, Father, I've glorified you on earth. You know, we read of a time when the disciples heard Jesus pray. Wonderful.

It says in Luke chapter 11. He was obviously praying out aloud with his disciples around him, just like we would pray aloud when we are with some fellow disciples. And these disciples, remember, had grown up in the synagogue listening to all the religious prayers the Pharisees prayed.

And here we read in verse 1, Luke 11 1, that they heard Jesus pray and they'd never heard anything like this in their life. And they said, Lord, teach us to pray. Verse 1. Lord, this is real prayer.

This is communing with God. This is not some ritual. This is not something to ease our conscience, looking at our watch, OK, I spent three hours, that's all right now.

I can get up. This is not like that. I mean, we've seen enough of that, Lord, in the synagogues.

This is real. We've never heard in our life anything, any prayer like this, what we heard just now. Maybe it was only five minutes, but it was real.

And they said, Lord, can you teach us to pray like this? And Jesus said, sure. This is how you must pray. The most important thing when you pray is that you must be concerned about the Father's name and His glory and not your own.

See what He told them? When you pray, say, Our Father, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. If that is not your fundamental desire in life, your prayer would be just another religious ritual.

It may be fervent and loud and screaming and zealous. There may be tears. There may be... Oh, actors can do that.

God's not impressed. I want to ask you, my brothers and sisters, I don't speak as someone who's preaching to you. God is my witness that every day of my life, I live in a judgment of myself.

I stopped judging other people long ago. I did do that foolishly for many years and made a mess of my life. But I finished with all that.

I don't judge any of you. It's not my business. I've got enough to do judging myself.

I live before God and I say, Lord, am I seeking Your glory or am I seeking my own here? And I want to tell you honestly, many, many times the Lord has shown me there you are seeking your own, even today. And I believe as I see it, I can repent. I can turn from it and a little more fulfill the purpose with which Jesus placed me on this earth.

I want to encourage you to live like that if you want to live the most worthwhile life you can ever live in this one short life God gives you on this earth. My brothers and sisters, many years of our life have gone by. Some of you who are young, oh, you are the luckiest people sitting here.

Why are you the luckiest people sitting here? Because you can hear this message when you're young. And if you stick to it, imagine what you'll be if the Lord carries when you're 50 or 60 years old like me. Boy, you'd be one of the godliest people on earth if you live like this.

I wish somebody had told me this when I was 19. This is what you got to live for, Zach. This is the only thing you must live for.

I wish somebody had got a hold of me. I was converted when I was 19. And I wish somebody had got a hold of me at that time and said, this is what you must live for.

And if ever they saw me slipping out, I wish I had a mentor who would hold me and say, no, that's not the way, Zach. Don't live for yourself. You'll regret it when you get to the end of your life.

Live for God. Live for the glory of God. I struggled through religious Babylon for many years.

Stumbled, fall, got up, stumbled, fall, stumbled. But I thank God I found something. And I want at least the closing years of my life to go from one degree of glory to another.

That's why I say you young people are the luckiest. Because you can hear this. I'm not saying you live this way.

I hope you do. But whether you will or not, I don't know. I've seen a lot of young people who start off so well.

God blesses them and they get so proud and they get so puffed up that God has to push them aside. I hope that'll never happen to anybody sitting here. But if you're determined like young Timothy, there's an example there in scripture.

Timothy was a very young man, probably about 18 years old. When Paul picked him up, 18 years old. It doesn't say that in scripture, but perhaps I think he was a young man around that age.

And by that time he already had a good testimony in one or two churches around. And Paul picked him up and he was so lucky to have a mentor like Paul. A man who didn't seek anything for himself.

And who was straight in rebuking, correcting Timothy and encouraging him. And Timothy admired Paul. And he took Paul's word seriously.

Follow me as I follow Christ. And I think Timothy said, I haven't seen Jesus, but I've seen Paul. And I know a little bit of what Jesus was like.

Just like Jesus said to his disciples, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. And I believe that's your calling. Your children should be able to say, well, my dad wasn't perfect, but I saw a little bit in him of what Jesus was like.

A fervent desire to glorify the Father. Imagine if your children can say that, well, my mom wasn't perfect, but I saw in her a little bit of what Jesus was like. Her only passion in life was to glorify God.

Think if you've got younger brothers and they can look up to you. You know, it's a tremendous responsibility to be an older brother in a family with younger brothers under you. Or an older sister with younger ones under you.

They're looking up to you. I hope they can see something of Jesus. That's the only life worth living for.

Father, what's your number one request? Hallowed be thy name. It's not easy. I can say it.

I can repeat it. And, you know, like a ritual, from tomorrow onwards you can say, okay, Lord, hallowed be your name. And go around the rest of your life seeking your own.

This is what's happening in Christendom. I've seen people, please listen to me. I've seen people who've heard me preach for 25 years the same truth, and they're seeking their own today.

They'll nod their heads in every meeting. Yeah, Brother Zach, this is it, we got stirred. Thank you so much for that wonderful message.

You see them 25 years later, they're still seeking their own. So I'm not so impressed when people come up to me and say, oh, Brother Zach, that was tremendous. I'd like to see you 25 years later.

What is life? I hope you will be gripped by this. I want to tell you this. I have shared this in many places, in many countries.

Very few, very, very few take it seriously. Everybody would prefer the other Jesus who does not make such demands. People say, oh, Brother, what a strain our life will be.

What a tremendous strain it will be if in everything I have to seek, whether the Father is going to be glorified in it. Do you think Jesus' life was such a life full of strain? You know, people who have a life full of strain get depressed. Do you think Jesus was depressed? Far from it.

He was the happiest person that ever walked on this earth. It's the devil who tells you, your life will get all full of strain and tension if you try to live like this. No.

Jesus said, my yoke is easy and my burden is light. When you come to the end of your life, you'll be a very, very happy person because you live for the same principle, the same thing that Jesus lived for. Father, I have glorified you on earth.

And when the disciples asked him to teach them to pray, he said, pray first. Father, hallowed be your name. Of course, in my life, first of all, I want your name to be glorified in my life.

That's the main thing. You know how much Jesus taught his disciples? Don't live before the face of man. Don't live to impress man.

Don't try to show other people how much you pray. Don't try to show other people how much you fast. Don't try to show other people how much you give or what a lot of work you've done.

What you've done here or what you've done there. Live before the Father. Let it all be in secret.

Let it be in secret. Let it be in secret. Don't let anybody know what you did.

Let your Father see in secret and he'll reward you openly. He kept on telling that. The only important testimony is what your Father thinks about you.

Not what your fellow believers think about you. Whether they think you're spiritual or they think you're humble. It's all fit for the trash can, the garbage bin.

What people think about me and... They don't know me. They see 1% of my life and they try to assess me. Do you know that all of you know about 1% of my life? Maybe members of my family know about 2%.

But the remaining know about 1%. Even in your own family they know so little because they don't know your thoughts. They don't know your motives.

They don't know your goals in life. And you can have all this religious activity on the outside and look very spiritual. I want to say spirituality is determined by what are you living for? Listen to this.

The thing you live for determines whether you're a sinner or a saint. What you're living for determines whether you're a spiritual person or a carnal person. It's not a question of how zealous you are.

There are a lot of zealous people who are carnal. There are zealous communists. There are religious fundamentalists in every denomination who are zealous who are even willing to become suicide bombers for their religion.

What does it prove? It doesn't prove they're right. All these things don't mean anything. If your motivation in life is always, Lord, I will never seek my own.

I've been taken out of that tree. This is the life of Jesus where he never sought his own but sought to glorify the Father. I want to tell you something.

If you take it seriously you may have to take some decisions in your life concerning certain things. It can change your whole lifestyle. And people don't want that.

They want to come for a little conference, weekend conference like this, just feel nice and go back and live the same old lifestyle without too much adjustment. Maybe a little bit of, maybe a little more prayer at home and a little extra money given for God's work here or maybe an extra meeting. But not too much disturbance to my basic lifestyle.

I mean, if you're like that, I say, brother, God bless you if he can. But I don't think much is going to come out of it. But if you come to know God and say, Lord, I am willing to pay the price this weekend.

I don't care what it's going to cost me. I'm willing to give up everything I hold precious. I want to please you.

I want to get some understanding this weekend on whether I'm really following you, the real Jesus, or an imaginary Jesus that makes me feel comfortable and nice. Let's pray. Let's bow before God.