Live this Year Fixing Your Eyes on Jesus

May the Lord bless you all in this new year, make it a good one. There's nothing special about January the 1st or December 31st, but it was God who decided that the earth should go around the sun in 365 and a quarter days. So whichever day we choose, whether it's June or July or December or January, once a year it's good to have a spiritual checkup, just like our children get promoted from one class to the other every year, not every month, not every day, but every year. So it's good to see whether we also have got a promotion in our Christian life at least once a year, could be more frequently, but minimum at least once a year. That means we're further ahead spiritually today than we were one year ago. So that's what we need to check up and we got to ask God to give us light and it's a good time also to see where we failed in the last year so that we make sure we progress just like we teach our children to find out where they failed, what subjects they failed in school so that they work on those things. We need to give that exhortation to ourselves. So we turn back to the beginning of the Bible in Genesis and see how Satan led Eve astray and threw Eve, her husband, as well. We can learn some lessons because his tactics are the same. He found it succeeded with the first man and woman and it succeeded with millions of men and women subsequently. The Bible says we should not be ignorant of Satan's schemes. That's what Paul said. We are not ignorant of Satan's schemes in 2 Corinthians 2. So turn to Genesis chapter 3 and we see here when the devil pointed out the forbidden tree. There in the Garden of Eden it was the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Today there are many things that tree represents. All the things that you know God has forbidden which you have read in Scripture. God forbids you from getting angry at people. God forbids you from lusting after women. God forbids you from taking revenge. God forbids you from hating your enemies. God forbids you from having a bitterness against people. God forbids you from murmuring and complaining. There are many, many things like this. The commands of Scripture that God has forbidden are all represented in this forbidden tree. And it says here that the woman saw, Genesis 3 verse 6, that this forbidden tree was something that stimulated her appetite, good for food, a delight to the eyes, and desirable to make one wise. So we can ask ourselves, if God did not want Adam and Eve to partake of that tree, why didn't he make it ugly and covered with thorns and smelly so they wouldn't go anywhere near it? Then there would not be the temptation. Adam had to be tempted in order to become holy. We know that God cannot make a man holy unless that person makes a choice. That's why, despite all our prayers, Oh God, make me holy, make me holy, make me holy, make me free from sin, He cannot do it for you until you make a choice. Adam was not created holy. He was created innocent, neutral. He had to make a choice towards the positive or the negative. And therefore, there had to be something which had to be forbidden in that tree. If God had said, go into the garden and do whatever you like, there would be no test. But there were 10,000 trees there or more. And when it says here in Genesis 3 verse 6, that the woman saw this forbidden tree was good for food, a delight to the eyes, and desirable to make one wise, see what the Bible says in the previous chapter about all the trees in the garden. Genesis 2 and verse 9, that is the way, the same way Eve saw this tree. It says in Genesis 2, 9, that the Lord God made every tree in the garden was pleasing to the sight and good for food. The very thing that attracted Eve to this tree was true of all the trees. Then why in the world would you have to choose this one when all the others were equally pleasant to the sight and good for food and everything else? It's because the devil's aim is always to make us go for what God has forbidden. And if God has forbidden one thing, then the devil's aim is to make Adam and Eve go for that. And implied in that was the thought that God didn't love them. That's what he tried to put into their mind. Because this is what the devil said. First of all, he told them a lie, verse 4, you surely will not die. Even though God had said you will die. That's the other thing, the devil's a liar. Just by the way, this is the first lie in the Bible. The first lie in the Bible, you know what it is? Satan telling man, sin will not be punished. Remember that all your life. The first lie in the Bible, Genesis 3, verse 4, sin will not be punished. And that lie, the devil's been preaching for 6,000 years to man and 99% of people believe it. Unfortunately, so many believers also believe it. Once saved, always saved. And it doesn't matter if you sin, they say. No, God doesn't take it seriously. Where did that originate? The first lie mentioned in the Bible. Sin will not be punished. And Jesus said in John 8, the devil's a liar from the beginning. And he was thinking of this lie when Jesus said that. What is the lie? Sin will not be punished. Don't be afraid. Surely, verse 4, surely sin will not be punished. Have any of you heard that voice? Be careful. Recognize where that voice comes from when you're tempted to do something wrong. But after you've done something wrong, you've not confessed it. Remember the voice that says, no, that's not serious. That's not serious. But God has forbidden. Yesterday is not serious. That is the first lie that men heard from the devil. And the other thing the devil says is, Genesis 3, 5, God knows that if you eat this, you'll be like him. You will be like God. That's the second thing the devil says. The first is a lie, verse 4, sin will not be punished. And the second is, you can be like God. The world is full of people who want to be like God. All the false religions and their leaders have claimed to be gods for centuries. And even in Christendom, when any pastor or preacher tries to control your life, comes between you and Christ, he's trying to be like God. Thousands of people like that, Christian churches, who tell people what God wants them to do instead of allowing them to have a direct connection with Christ. There's only one mediator between God and man, and that is the man Jesus Christ, 1 Timothy 2, 5. There is no second mediator. It's not the old covenant where Moses was a mediator, man was a mediator between God and us. Now it says the man Christ Jesus is the only mediator. You can go directly to God through Christ. You don't need another pastor or preacher to try and act like God to you, to tell you whom you should marry, where you should go, what you should do, or what God's will is for you. God wants you. It says in Hebrews 8, 10 and 11, they shall not teach their neighbor, saying, know the Lord. Everyone will know me personally. You don't need someone to act like God to you. Remember that. The devil's always telling people to be like God. You can be like God. And it's very interesting that that message of the devil, you can be like God, is what Jesus also came with. He came to make us back into the image of God, which was lost. And it says one day when Christ comes back, 1 John 3, 2, we will be like him. We will be like Christ. But it's two messages that sound similar. The devil's saying you can be like God, and the Holy Spirit coming in the New Testament and Jesus coming and saying you can be like God. What is the difference? The devil says you can be like God in having authority and power and ruling over people. And Jesus and the Holy Spirit say you can be like God in humility and love and goodness and character, not in ruling over people. The words sound similar, but they're complete opposites. These are a few things that we must bear in mind as we begin a new year. Our calling is to be like Christ. And if we want to be like Christ, it says in 1 John 3, 1 John 3, it says here in verse 2, we are already children of God because we are born again. But it does not yet appear what we are going to be. What are we going to be? We're going to be like Jesus Christ. When Jesus appears, we will be like him. We will be like him. That's similar to what the devil told Eve. You can be like God. What a different message. It is the exact opposite. Similar words, but exact opposite message. Beware in this coming year of messages that appear to be similar to what the Bible says, but lead you away from devotion to Christ. So, how do we know that we have this hope? If I were to ask you to write down what's your hope when Christ comes again, you'll all say we're going to be like him. But the proof is not that we can make that statement with our mind or with our tongue. The proof, it says in 1 John 3, verse 3, is every day we will purify ourselves. That's the proof that I have this hope. You ask me how do you have this hope, Zach, that you'll be like Jesus when he comes again. And I'll tell you, because every day, and I mean every day, every single day, I seek to cleanse myself and purify myself, to discover areas in my life where either I did not behave like Christ, or I did not speak like Christ, or I did not think like Christ, or I did not have an attitude like Christ towards somebody, or I did not have a motive for what I did, the way Christ would have, the same motive Christ would have. Then there's plenty of opportunity to judge myself every day. So everyone who has this hope in John 3, verse 3, purifies himself. That's how I know I have this hope in me, because I purify myself every day. And I want to ask all of you, is that what you did during the 365 days of this year? Do you seek to cleanse yourself, purify yourself, judge yourself, then you have this hope. Otherwise, it's an empty intellectual hope. If you ask the devil, do you believe that Christ is coming back to rule this earth? He'll say yes. You ask the devil, is Jesus Christ God? Yes. Do you believe Jesus Christ died for the sins of the world? The devil says yes. Do you believe that salvation is only through faith in Christ? The devil says yes. What is there in your doctrinal statement of assurance that the devil cannot pick up and say yes? Are believers going to be like Christ when he comes again? If they cleanse themselves? Yes. So it's not intellectual. How do I know I have this hope that Christ will come again? The proof is not in ticking, yes, I know he's coming again. No, it's in purifying myself every single day as Christ is pure. Now, if we have failed in the past year, that's what we need to do in the new year. That from day one, right from the first of January onwards, you have to say, Lord, by your grace, by the power of the Holy Spirit, I'm not here to cleanse other people. That's not my business. God has not appointed me to cleanse others. God has not appointed me to cleanse other people. God has appointed me to cleanse myself. Not to be a busybody in other people's matters, but to mind my own business. Not even to judge somebody's motives. It's very important in this area. One of the areas where we really need to cleanse ourselves every year is what's mentioned in Isaiah chapter 11. Turn with me to Isaiah 11. Isaiah chapter 11. Please turn in your Bibles, because it's a very important verse. Most of you may know it, but for those of you who don't, Isaiah 11, verse 3. It's a prophecy concerning Jesus Christ. It refers to that someone from the stem of Jesse was the father of David, verse 1. And it says about Jesus that the Holy Spirit will be upon him. And the seven-fold Holy Spirit mentioned in verse 2. And the last characteristic of the Holy Spirit is he puts the fear of the Lord into us. And one mark of a person who fears God. If I were to ask you, do you fear God? You'd say, yes, of course I do. I think all of you would say, I fear God. But here is the test. If you really fear God. Sorry, Isaiah 11, verse 3. If you delight, not just fear the Lord, but if you delight in fearing God, here's what you will do. You will not judge by what your eyes see. And you will not make a decision by what your ears hear. That's very, very important. You know, I sometimes feel that God has allowed the sun to move in the sky to teach us. Don't trust your eyes. The sun doesn't move. It's the earth that's rotating on its axis. But it doesn't look like that or feel like that. You don't feel the earth moving under our feet, even though it is moving at a thousand miles an hour. Don't trust your feelings. They're deceptive. The earth is moving under your feet at a thousand miles an hour and you don't even feel it. Your feelings are deceptive. You think the sun is moving and the sky is not moving at all. Your eyesight is deceptive. Even your hearing. There's a thing called a dog whistle, which only dogs can hear. Very clear. A man cannot hear it. There are frequencies that our ear cannot pick up. But these are little evidences whereby God is saying to us, don't be so proud that your eyes can tell you the truth always, and that your ears can tell you the truth always. Very often they cannot. Therefore, if you fear God, Isaiah 113, don't make a judgment just by what you see or by what you hear. We see so many things in other people. We hear so many things about other people. Don't make a judgment. You can have an inward opinion by which you discern. Can I trust this person? Can I not trust this person? Discernment is one thing. But when I go and express my opinion, I think he's like this or she's like that. And, yeah, I know why he said that or did that. You don't because you don't know his heart. Don't judge. This is one very important exhortation for the new year. It says about Jesus, Isaiah 113, that he, even though he's Almighty God and never sinned, when he came to earth as a man, he feared the Father. And one proof of the fear of the Father was what he saw, he would not judge by. What he heard, he would not make a decision. But, verse 4, Isaiah 114, with righteousness he would judge, which means he'd wait on the Father and say, Father, what is your will in this situation? I'll give you an example of that. In Luke chapter 4, we read of a great revival that took place in Peter's hometown. We read here then, Luke chapter 4 and verse 38, that Jesus went to the house of Simon Peter where Simon's mother-in-law was sick with a high fever. And Jesus rebuked the fever and the fever left and immediately she got up and waited on them. Luke 4, 39. And then, after that, as the sun was set, they brought all the sick people there and Jesus laid his hands on every one of them. That must have gone on till midnight. From 6 p.m. till midnight, he was laying hands on people and healing all of them. We can say there was a tremendous revival in Simon Peter's hometown. Whenever there's a revival in any place, we say, hey, this is the place God is moving, so we must continue here for a few more days and reach out to more people because God is moving. There's a tremendous revival here. That's human thinking. But Jesus didn't go by that. It says early morning, even though he went to bed past midnight, early morning, verse 42, Jesus left and went to a secluded place to pray and say, Father, there's a revival here. Do you want me to stay or do you want me to go away somewhere else? And the father said, go away somewhere else. And then the people came and said, hey, there's a revival here. Don't go away. We need you here. This is the time God is moving, so we must capitalize on that and take advantage of this movement of God. And Jesus said to them, no, I have to preach the kingdom of God in other cities because my father sent me for this purpose. You see how what appeared right to his senses, he did not go by. He did not judge by what his eyes saw or his ears heard. He sought the father's will. Many of us can do a lot of good things and miss the father's will for our lives. There's a saying, there's a proverb in English which says the good is the enemy of the best. God has the best for you and you can choose something good, which is inferior to what is the best. So I'm just giving you an example of areas where we could have not acted or behaved like Christ in this past year. And that's where we need to judge ourselves and see. It's not a question of hurting people and telling lies. Those are obvious sins, but things which are more subtle. Lord, help me to cleanse myself. In Hebrews chapter 12 we read that the Christian life is like a race. A race in which we have to look unto Jesus. Hebrews 12 verse 1 and 2. The last part of verse 1. Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. You know what the finishing line of the race is? Becoming like Christ. What is the starting line of the race? Being born again. Between being born again, the starting line, and the finishing line, which is becoming like Christ, is a race. And we don't just jump from the starting line to the finishing line. No race runs like that. A runner progresses slowly. Think of a marathon race, 26 miles. Step by step by step by step he starts at the starting line and reaches the finishing line. The marathon race is a picture of the Christian life. And it says here that we have to run this with endurance. People who run the marathon need endurance and say, I'm not going to give up. I'm feeling tired. My legs are paining. I'm feeling exhausted, but I'm not going to give up. I'm reaching the finishing line. And that's what a true Christian says. I'm going to become like Christ. I don't care what I have to suffer, what I have to endure, what I've got to lose of earthly things, or what I have to deny myself. I'm determined. My goal is becoming like Christ. My eyes are on the finishing line. And in order to get there, it says in verse 2, I must fix my eyes on Jesus. Or looking unto Jesus, as the King James Version says. And it means looking away from everything else unto Jesus. Looking away from everyone else unto Jesus. There are many things that can distract us on this earth. We have to use many things on this earth. We have to do a lot of things on this earth. Most of the hours of our day are spent caring for our family, doing our earthly job, earning our living. Many things that are all necessary. But in the midst of it all, behind it all, I should be becoming like Christ. In other words, my place of work, if I'm tempted to do something wrong or say something wrong, I don't do it. Because I'm looking at Christ. Even in my work, I'm looking at Christ. While I'm taking care of the children at home, I have to do that in a Christ-like way. And this is what it means, looking unto Jesus and living our daily life, running this race. Looking away from everything else. Looking away from all the other things that can take our eyes away from the Lord. You remember when Peter was walking on the sea, the moment his eyes went away from the Lord, he sank. And that's what happens to us. And then we got a cry out, Lord, save me, like Peter did. And the Lord immediately made him stand. The secret is looking unto Jesus. That is the tree of life. You turn now to 2 Corinthians in chapter 11. It tells us what the tree of life is. Do you know what the tree of life is? It's defined for us in 2 Corinthians 11. The Old Testament is explained in the New Testament. 2 Corinthians 11. He says here in verse 3, I'm afraid for you, Corinthians, that like the devil deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds can be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. So what did the devil deceive Eve from? He took Eve away from the tree of life. And that tree of life is defined here as simple, pure devotion to Christ. That's the tree of life. Because that's what the devil took Eve away from. So today, what is the tree of life? Here it is. Simple, pure devotion to Christ. Looking unto Jesus. That's the thing that the devil will always try to take us away from. Please remember that throughout this year. I don't want to get my eyes off Jesus at any time during this year. I want to keep my eyes fixed on him. I want to keep looking at him. I don't want to be deceived by the devil away from simple, pure devotion to Christ. Okay. One last thing. In Genesis chapter 3, we read that after Adam was driven out of the garden, the Lord put a sword in front of the tree of life. Genesis 3, 24. A sword that protected the tree of life. So if you want to get to the tree of life today, you have to let the sword fall on you. Before that, before Adam sinned, there was no sword. But now, there's a sword in front of the tree of life. And the meaning there is you have to let the sword fall on yourself, life. If you want to get to the tree of life. What is the tree of life? We already saw it. Simple, pure devotion to Christ. I can't get there. I mean, before Adam sinned, you could get there straight to the tree of life. But not now. Now there's a sword in front of the tree of life. If I want to get to simple, pure devotion to Christ, which 2 Corinthians 11 defines as the tree of life, I can only get there by allowing the sword to fall on myself, life. That's why Jesus said you have to deny yourself every day. And the self-denial is not something that you can do once for all. No. You have to do it every day. And if I don't do that, I cannot follow Christ, Jesus said. And I will miss simple devotion to Christ. I will miss the tree of life exactly like Adam and Eve missed it. Remember this, what we read in 2 Corinthians 11 3. The aim of the devil in the next 365 days of this coming year will be to lead you and me away from the tree of life to something God has forbidden or something which is less than the best. You know, they're saying the good is the enemy of the best. The best is the tree of life. And even good things can be the enemy of that. And the devil's aim is to take us away from simple devotion to Jesus Christ. And he'll do everything possible to take you away from that. He'll get you occupied perhaps with all the people who are speaking evil of you or criticizing you or doing harm to you or you got cheated somewhere in your place of work and you spend the next few weeks meditating on how much money you lost. There's so many things you can get distracted by, so many things. We have to make sure that we say no to self. Did somebody speak evil of me? Okay, fine. If I'm dead to self, dead people don't respond to people who speak. They're not even disturbed by somebody speaking evil of them. That's the meaning of dying to self. I keep my eyes on Christ. Say, Lord, I want to be like you. I want to look at you and be like you. The Bible says in the book of Psalms, they looked unto him and their faces were lightened. In his light, we will see light. So this is what is on my heart. I want to share with all of you that it will be true in your life increasingly in this coming year. And I believe if you really persist in this, then by the time you come to the end of the year, you'll be able to look back over a year. It'll probably be much better than the year that's gone by, all the years that's gone by. Lord bless you all. Shall we just pray? Let's bow our heads in prayer. Heavenly Father, we pray that you will make these truths real to us and remind us throughout this year, the new year, through the Holy Spirit, what you want us to do and help us to be alert to the schemes of Satan to stand against him and help us to be alert when we are tempted to judge by what our eyes see and our ears hear. Keep our hearts pure, Lord, looking at you, that we can preserve ourselves in simple devotion to you. Bless everyone here who's gathered here, each one of them, including the children. And we pray the coming year will be a glorious year. As it says in Proverbs 418, the path of the righteous is like the shining light that shines brighter and brighter and brighter until that day when we become like you fully. Help us all, we pray. And build a church, Lord, in our NCF. Make it a strong church, not so much in terms of numbers, but in terms of purity and power, the light of Christ shining brightly. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.