Revelation on Christ and the Church

I want to turn to Matthew 16 and verse 18. Jesus said, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church. And the gates of Hades, the gates of hell, will not overpower it.

All these 2,000 years, there's been a lot of controversy of what that rock is. What is Jesus talking about? The Roman Catholic Church says Peter is the rock. He was the first pope.

And the Protestant churches say no. What did Jesus mean saying, upon this rock? Whenever you try to understand a scripture, you must read it in its context. Read the verses before and after, and you will understand it.

Get out of this bad habit that a lot of Christians have of just memorizing one verse, not knowing what is before or after. It's good to memorize verses, but if you don't read a verse in its context, you can get a wrong understanding. He had asked people, who do you say that I am? And Peter said, you are the Christ, the son of the living God.

And Jesus said, blessed are you, Simon, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you. My father in heaven revealed me to you. And on this rock of a Christ revealed by the father, I will build my church.

So the rock is not just Jesus Christ. Because there are millions of people who talk about Jesus Christ. Christ revealed to our heart by the father, just like the father revealed Christ to Simon Peter's heart.

And he said, oh, you're the Christ. Other people are saying different things. You're Jeremiah, Elijah.

But I know, and Jesus said, the father has revealed this to you on this rock. The church is built. It's very important for us to know that, that the father has to reveal Jesus to us.

And we see Jesus in our heart, who he really is. Then we can be a part of that living church that Jesus is building. I want you to see a verse in Matthew's Gospel, chapter 11.

In verse 27, in the middle of that verse, it says, no one knows the son except the father. And no one knows the father except the son. And anyone to whom the son wills to reveal him.

Again, that word, reveal. Revelation is a New Testament word. It's something that God gives light in your heart on something which is suddenly you become aware of it.

That is revelation. In the Old Testament, you never find that word revelation. That was study, understanding.

The scribes would study, and study, and study, and explain the law. But in the New Testament, it is revelation. Simon Peter had a revelation who Jesus was.

And on that revelation, he said, I will build my church. And it says here that even knowing the father, if the son, if Jesus does not reveal the father to you, you really don't know him. I know from my own experience how theoretically I knew God as my father when I was 19 and 1⁄2 years old, when I got converted.

But I got a revelation in my heart of him as my father nearly 16 years later. And then I understood by revelation, John 17, 23, that the father loved me as much as he loved Jesus. You heard me quote that verse so many times.

And you think you know it. I'm pretty sure that most people don't know it. They know the verse.

They try to claim it. But you can know in a time of trial whether you know it or not. Ask God for revelation.

We live too much in our minds. That's OK for old covenant people. And you cannot live the Christian life by just knowing things that you hear in the mind.

You need revelation in your heart. There's a world of difference between revelation and knowing something in the mind. It's the difference between a painted fire and a real fire.

You know the difference between a painted fire and a real fire? Between a photograph of chicken biryani and real chicken biryani? A photograph of chicken biryani only makes you more hungry. Understanding is like that. Revelation.

I find that very few Christians seek for revelation. And many have not seen the real Jesus. For example, it changed my mind.

Just like I said, God gave me a revelation. Jesus revealed the father to me. In the same way, it says no one knows the son except the father.

The father, the Holy Spirit, revealed Jesus to me, showed me that Jesus had walked this earth just like me and was tempted like me. Now in theory, you all heard it. But you're still defeated by sin.

You need, you know what you need? Revelation. Ask God for revelation. On this rock, the church is built.

Many people talk about the local church, but they haven't got revelation on what the church is. Look at the Apostle Paul. He says in Galatians chapter 1, when it says in verse 15 and 16, when he who had set me apart from my mother's womb, that means God had a plan for Paul's life from the time he came out of his mother's womb, from his mother's womb.

And he called him through his grace. And God was pleased to reveal his son in me. This is not seeing Jesus outside on the Damascus Road.

A revelation of Jesus inside his heart like Peter got, Paul got, and it changed his life. For example, you know, I was reading an article recently. Where the author said, Galatians 2.20, I am crucified with Christ.

There is no longer I, but Christ that lives in me. And he was writing in that article, he's a famous author who many of you know. And he wrote that, see, that's it, brothers.

It's not you. It's Christ living in you. See, Galatians 2.20. Do you see an error in that? I saw an error in that immediately.

I say that is Paul's testimony. He's not giving doctrine there. Doctrine is in Romans 6. He's giving his personal testimony that he had come to a life himself where he was crucified.

And Christ was living in him. It was the life of Christ now. But if you apply that verse to all the Christians, say therefore it is true in you, it's not true in you.

You know that in most of your lives it's you. It's you yourself who are living. But it shouldn't be like that.

If you enter into the life described in Romans 6, 7, and 8, you can also come to that Galatians 2.20 testimony. It's no longer I, but Christ that lives in me. But these are the areas where if you don't read scripture carefully, you can be deceived.

Sometimes even great Bible teachers don't explain it properly. Don't respect the person so much that you don't compare what he says with scripture and read it exactly and then see if it works in your life. If it's not working in your life, question it.

I questioned it. I said, I read a book called The Normal Christian Life by Watchman Nee. I'll give you my testimony.

It did not lead me to the normal Christian life. I'm telling you my testimony. If it led you to the normal Christian life, well and good.

But it did not lead me. I needed revelation in my heart to understand. Because in the front of that book is this verse, it is no longer I, but Christ.

That's a testimony. It's not a teaching. It's not a doctrine.

Paul, it was his experience. And it can become our experience. But revelation is a secret.

Don't be satisfied with what you hear and understand. God has made the Christian life dependent on the Holy Spirit. So it says he revealed Christ in me.

Turn with me to Ephesians. Ephesians has got some of the most wonderful truths about Christ and about the church and about our being dead with Christ and buried with Christ and seated with Him in the heavenly places. It's all in Ephesians chapter 2. And about the wonderful truths about the church and about apostles and prophets and evangelists.

It's all there in Ephesians. About overcoming Satan, standing against Satan in spiritual warfare in Ephesians 6. All these things are in Ephesians. But when Paul writes at the beginning, you know what he says to them? He says, I'm praying, Ephesians 1.18, Ephesians 1.18, that the eyes of your heart will be enlightened.

Before that he says in verse 17, I'm praying that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory will give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. Then the eyes of your heart will be enlightened to know so many things. He doesn't say, read this letter of mine 10 times.

Meditate on it, read, meditate. In the old covenant, the emphasis was meditation. Blessed is the man who meditates on the law of the Lord day and night.

And there are a lot of Christians who emphasize meditate on scripture. I agree. But if you meditate on scripture, you'll still be an Old Testament Christian until you get revelation.

Revelation is a new covenant word. Meditation is an old covenant word. I'm not saying you shouldn't meditate.

But if you stop with meditation, it stays in your mind. When meditation becomes revelation, it changes your life. Very often what people share in many meetings is the result of meditation.

And some clever ideas come into their mind and they share it. And one proof of it is of the humanness of it. They feel pretty proud of it after having shared that wonderful truth in some meeting.

They say, boy, wasn't that a clever thing I said? Everybody was pretty impressed by what I said. That is bright idea, not revelation. Revelation will humble you.

You'll share it, but it'll humble you, not make you proud. Bright ideas from scripture will make you proud. When you share it with others.

Whenever you share something from scripture, some really clever thing, and you feel pretty nice about it, that's a bright idea. It just proves you've got a clever mind. There's nothing of the Holy Spirit there.

Holy Spirit brings revelation. And it's like when Isaiah got revelation, he said, oh, I'm a sinful man. When John got revelation, he fell on his feet like a dead person.

That's what revelation does. Meditation makes you lift up your head and tell everybody, you know, this is what I found in scripture. Paul says, reading my letter 25 times will not help you understand.

I'm praying that God will give you the spirit of revelation in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Look at that expression. Revelation in the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Same as we read in Galatians. It pleased the Father to reveal Jesus Christ in me. Same as in Matthew 16.

Blessed are you, Simon. You didn't discover this by meditation. My Father gave you revelation.

On this rock, I will build my church. If you want to build a church anywhere, you need revelation. You need revelation on who Jesus is.

In those days, the revelation was to know that he was God. Because he lived on earth just like a man. He looked like an ordinary man.

There was no halo on his head. There was nothing. He looked just like any other Israeli, but he was God.

The others could not see that, but Peter could see it. That was revelation. Today, it's the other way around.

All Christians know he is God, but they need revelation to know that he was a man as well. That he lived on earth as a man. There's absolutely nothing that gave me faith in my life that I could live an overcoming life like the fact that when I got revelation that Jesus Christ was made like me in all things, was tempted like me in all things, and he did not sin, that he had to pray with loud crying and tears in order to be saved from spiritual death, Hebrews 5.7. And how could I think that I could be saved from sin without loud crying and tears? Some of you are defeated by sin.

I ask you a question. Have you prayed with loud crying and tears for that particular sin you're defeated by? You just casually ask in a meeting, oh Lord, give me victory, and if you think it'll come. That's not how Jesus prayed.

Hebrews 5.7 says he prayed with loud crying and tears because he didn't want the smell of spiritual death in him. And he got it. He lived in purity.

I got revelation on that. I said, Lord, that's how I wanna pray to be free from sin. I don't want any casual request, oh Lord, I'd like to be free from sin.

It's a pretty good idea. But it doesn't really matter if it takes time. We have a verse in our church, Lord, called we are pressing on to perfection.

So we'll never get there. I know we won't get there on the earth. So it doesn't matter if I don't get victory right now.

You're satisfied with that? You can even take a verse like let's press on to perfection to excuse your thoroughly defeated life. They're saying I'm pressing on to perfection. It's like saying I'm working on my PhD but I'm still in the first standard for the last 20 years.

Well, you'll never get there if you're sitting in the first standard for 20 years saying I'm working on my PhD. No, there's a pressing on. Jesus was tempted like us in order to be an example for us and to be a forerunner.

He ran the same race in front of us that he calls us to run. He does not ask us to face a battle he did not face. Every temptation is a battle he overcame.

And he says to us, follow me. Take up your cross. There's no way to overcome unless you're willing to die to yourself.

And that itself is a revelation to know that there is absolutely no way of living an overcoming life if I'm not willing to put self to death every day. But if you're willing to do that, you can be an overcomer. And you can be a co-worker with Jesus in building a wonderful church, even if you're a sister, in your locality.

That'll give you great joy when you finally meet Jesus face to face when you meet him. It'll bring such tremendous joy to you. I want that joy.

I have only one life to live and I don't want to waste that life. Remember this. I've said it for years and years and years.

You have one life to live. Don't live it to please any man. Don't live it to please Zach Funin or anybody else.

Live before God's face and say, Lord, when I see you face to face, I want to have zero regret about the way I lived. I know many years of my life I have regret about. I also have.

Many years of my life I have regret about the foolish, stupid things I did. But from the time I got light, I want to have no regret. I hope you all have a tremendous passion to have a life without regret when you see Jesus face to face.

All the empty praises of men will be worth nothing in that day if the Lord cannot approve of the way you lived. Take it seriously, brothers and sisters. We are approaching the end of time.

There's no time to sit back and relax and take it easy. No. God wants people who are on fire for him or filled with the Holy Spirit who eagerly seek.

Many people come to me and say, oh, brother, I'm not sure whether I'm filled with the Holy Spirit. So what in the world are you doing if you're not sure? Why are you seeking God about it? Yeah, brother, I prayed and nothing happened. Well, you're not serious about it.

I said, I'll tell you how I prayed. I said, Lord, if it takes me 10 years, I'll wait 10 years, but I want the real thing. And I just said, Lord, if it takes me 25 years, I'll wait 25 years, but I don't want any cheap counterfeit.

I want the real thing and I want to be filled with the Holy Spirit every day. You pray like that. Mean it.

And God will fill you and he'll keep you filled and your life will be in an altogether different plane, completely. I mean, it's the difference between traveling in a car and traveling in an airplane. There's a world of difference between the two.

That's the difference between the usual Christian life that most people live and suddenly being transported up into the skies and mountains and rivers and nothing can stand in your way. Mountains and rivers are a big problem when you travel in a scooter or a car. There's absolutely no problem when you're in an airplane.

That's a picture of the spirit-filled life. These little, little things, there are mountains, sure. The spirit-filled man also faces mountains and rivers and wild animals and all those things, but he's over all of them.

The man who's on ground level has tremendous problems. And another wonderful thing happens when you get up into a plane. A lot of earthly things that look so big don't look so big anymore.

You know, people who glory in big houses, they look like toy houses from the plane. People who want fancy cars, they look like toy cars when you're up in a plane. You don't fight over toy cars.

You don't glory in like little children. I got this toy car, you know, Mercedes car, see this. That's all earthbound people.

When you're up in the plane, it doesn't make a difference. That's an example of the spirit-filled life. You're freed.

When you look at another person who's got another type of toy car or another type of toy house, it doesn't mean anything to you. You cannot covet it anymore. You covet when you're on an earthly level.

A lot of the battle, battle against sin, I tell you, I've discovered. The battle is because we're living at an earthly level, and the battle is really tough if you live on an earthly level. Mountains are an obstacle.

Rivers are an obstacle. Other person has got something, better house, better car, better job. That's a temptation.

Imagine if you're up in the skies. These things don't mean so much to you anymore. That is the spirit-filled life.

We get lifted up. I like those expressions in Ezekiel where it says the spirit lifted me up. You know, it comes a number of times in Ezekiel.

If you guys are not familiar with Ezekiel, let me show you one or two places where it says that. In Ezekiel, it says here in, I want to show you what it says here about the glory of God being in chapter 11. Moreover, the spirit lifted me up.

Ezekiel chapter 11 and verse one. The spirit lifted me up. It comes in other places also like chapter three, verse 12.

The spirit lifted me up, and I heard a rumbling sound. Ezekiel 3, 14, the spirit lifted me up. It's a wonderful expression that comes a number of times there.

In all these places. And I say, Lord, that's what I want to experience. The spirit lifted me up.

And I get a completely different vision when the Holy Spirit lifts me up like that. And earthly, the things, you know, like we sing in that song, the things of earth become strangely dim. It's not so big anymore.

Revelation, seek for revelation. Seek for the spirit of revelation. That's what Paul told the Ephesians.

Reading it is good. Reading it 20 times is good. Meditating on it is good.

But revelation, that's why you've heard me say, I'm not keen on reading through the Bible 50 times. I want the Bible to go through me once. That's enough.

Not me go through the Bible 50 times, but the Bible to go through me once. That means every verse that is meant for New Testament Christians to go through me and become a part of me once permanently changes me. Do you have a longing for that? It is with such building blocks of such people that the church is built.

People who got revelation and come to see the Lord. I see a picture in the Old Testament tabernacle of people who are in the outer court. They have no revelation.

They know that Jesus died for me. That's the altar symbolizes that. There's a wash basin there.

It symbolizes baptism. That's what a lot of people are happy with. And then people go a little further inside the holy place of the tabernacle, which is a picture of being baptized in the Holy Spirit and then we are serving God.

Inside, outside in the outer court of the tabernacle, people are just enjoying God's blessings. But people can move a little forward and say, I want to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. I want to do something for the Lord.

And there's a picture of the table of bread speaking about reading God's word. There's an altar of incense there speaking of prayer. And there's a lamp stand speaking of witnessing.

That's what people do when they're filled with the Spirit, baptized in the Spirit. They read God's word. They pray.

They witness. But then there's another compartment beyond the veil. In the Old Testament, they could never go there.

They could have the anointing of the Spirit in the Old Testament. David had it, Elijah, Elisha. But inside the veil was a place of revelation.

God himself in his glory dwelt there. And that is the veil that was rent when Jesus died on the cross. And it says in Hebrews 10.20 that veil is a picture of the flesh of Jesus.

Through his flesh, he made a new and living way into the most holy place. I've heard numerous people speak about it who don't walk that way. If you walk that way, you'll be a very humble person.

If you walk that way, you will have zero love for money. But to understand the way, you just need a clever mind. And I've met lots and lots of people who have a clever mind who can explain it.

But who don't walk the way. Don't worry if you can't explain it. What does it mean that the flesh of Jesus was rent? That when he cried out on the cross, it is finished.

It was not just that our sins are finished. The entire range of temptations was finished. Jesus had overcome every area that any man could ever be tempted by, and the veil was rent.

If there was one temptation that any man faces that Jesus did not face or did not overcome, the veil would have torn up to a certain point and had been stuck at the bottom. Wouldn't have been fully open. But he covered every temptation that any human being can ever face and overcame every one of them.

So the veil was rent. There was not even one stitch left. Rent completely, we can go right in.

Ask God to give you a revelation on that. It means that, what does it mean that the veil is the flesh of Jesus? The flesh in the New Testament, when it refers to Jesus, is referring to his self-will. You can translate it as the self-will of Jesus.

When he came to Earth, he had a will of his own. Which he had to deny. He didn't have that in heaven.

In heaven he could say, my will is the same as my father's will. I do my own will because it is exactly the same as my father's will. But the moment he came to Earth, born of Mary, of the seed of David, the moment he came to Earth, he had this thing called flesh, or self-will.

And he had to say, I came from heaven to Earth, John 6, 38, that I might never do my own will. That I might tear my flesh. Never do my own will so that I can do the will of my father.

I pray that you will get revelation on this. This is the secret of godliness. Jesus, how he lived on this Earth.

To see how he lived on this Earth. And when you see it, you say, Lord, that's the way I want to go. Because you realize that it was the most wonderful life that any human being ever lived on this Earth.

You know, different human beings have got different people who are their heroes. There are young people who have heroes as rock musicians and they will put their posters on their walls and they will dress like them and have hairstyles like them. Crazy.

I feel sorry for such people. There are others who have cricket stars. They want to bat like them and bowl like them.

They'll have pictures of them. Imagine. Because they think that's the greatest thing, you know.

Some people want to be like Bill Gates, billionaire, richest man in the world. Money is their great thing. If only I could have invented, discovered something like that or been a part of a start-up company that could finally make millions when I sell it.

That's their goal. They wish they could do something like that. But those who have seen the most wonderful life anyone lived on Earth, that has lived on Earth, was not lived by a billionaire.

Not lived by a great cricketer. Not lived by a great singer. It is lived by Jesus.

I don't know if he could play any instruments. But I know he could overcome every sin. And when he becomes my hero, just like those young people have heroes whom they want to imitate and be like in every possible way, I say, Lord, I believe with all my heart you're the one who lived the most wonderful life that any human being ever lived since the time of Adam.

I want to see what the secret was. There are people who really study the way cricketers bat and the way singers sing and the way people made money. Lord, there are books written on it.

I want to see the way Jesus lived. I say, Lord, I want to be gripped. I want to find out.

Are you eager for that? Is Jesus really your hero? If so, you will ask him to give you revelation. What does it mean to run behind you, to walk in your footsteps? What does it mean, Lord, that you're my forerunner? What does it mean to look at you who endured the cross, despising the shame, to endure the cross every day, despising the shame because of the joy set before me of living in the Father's presence? Dear brothers and sisters, I want to say to you this is the life that Jesus Christ, our Savior, purchased for us on the cross. What would you think if you spent 10 lakhs of rupees, a million rupees to buy something very expensive and gave it to your son? Maybe some expensive, small, valuable little thing and he just says, who cares for that? How would you feel? That's exactly how God sees a lot of his children.

When Jesus has purchased through the rending of his veil, through taking up the cross, this tremendous gift of a life of daily overcoming, a life of perpetual joy 24-7, a life of never being anxious, a life of never being in a bad mood, a life of constant overcoming, freedom from anger and lust and bitterness and jealousy. And how many Christians does God find in the world who are even interested in living such a life? They all say we are pressing on to perfection. We'll get there one day.

That's what even the unconverted nominal Christian says. He wants you to be an overcomer now. He always used to say, he who has years to hear, let him hear.

I hope many of you will have years to hear. I don't know if all of you will have years to hear. I don't know how many of you will begin to pray with loud crying and tears.

Oh God, I want this life at any cost. I remember as I was seeking God, one of the prayers that came to my heart was the prayer of Jacob. When he was so desperate, he said, Lord, I will not let you go unless you bless me.

Tremendous prayer. You take Genesis chapter 32 sometime and read it. He said, I will not let you go unless you bless me.

All his life he had spent grabbing other things. He grabbed his brother's leg when he came out of the mother's womb. He was grabbing his brother's birthright later on and grabbed two of Laban's daughters, his wives and grabbed Laban's sheep and property.

But he got fed up of this grabbing of women and earthly things. And one day he gave it all up and said, Lord, my hands are empty. Now I am grabbing hold of you.

I hope that day has come in your life. I hope you are sick and tired of grabbing after ministry and position and honor and things on this earth and say, God, I want you now. I will not let you go unless you bless me with this mighty anointing of the Holy Spirit with revelation of Jesus as my forerunner.

I want it at any cost, Lord. Bring me into this life as described in the New Testament. I want to be a true New Covenant Christian and I want to be an effective member of a New Covenant Church.

I pray that every one of you will pray that prayer. And I believe that it will begin with if you are married and you are a parent with a changed life in your home. That's where it will begin.

There's only one place in the Bible where it says, Be filled with the Holy Spirit. That's also in Ephesians. Ephesians is a great letter.

Be filled with the Holy Spirit. And that will lead you, it says in Ephesians 5, into a life of praising God and thanksgiving and into a life of submission to one another. The fullness of the Holy Spirit leads us.

Ephesians 5.18. Be filled with the Holy Spirit. And you will speak in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing to the Lord. And in every situation you will always give thanks for all things in the name of Jesus Christ.

And you'll be subject to one another. It will change your attitude. Grumbling and complaining will disappear from your life.

You'll be singing and making melody to your heart and your heart to the Lord. And you'll always be giving thanks for all things. And in your relationship with others you'll be willing to be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.

This is the result of being filled with the Holy Spirit. And it will result in wives being subject to their husbands. Verse 22.

And husbands loving their wives as Christ loved the church. Verse 25. And then children being obedient to their parents.

And then parents, verse 4, fathers bringing up their children in the instruction of the Lord. This is all the result of being filled with the Holy Spirit. And if you're a master working in an office, you'll be kind and firm with those who work under you.

And if you work under others, you'll be a very faithful servant. This is the picture of a life filled with the Holy Spirit. It affects your home life, first of all.

Be filled with the Spirit leads on into life at the home. That's why I felt that my home life must become glorious. If this is really the truth, it'll make my home life glorious.

It'll be, I mean, my relationship with my wife is going to change. It's not something I have to hide from people. I don't want to hide the way I live at home as though I'm ashamed of it.

Spirit-filled life will change. You know, like Jesus said to his disciples, to the disciples of John the Baptist once who came to him in John 1, and they asked him, Master, where are you staying? And he said in John 1, 39, Come and see. Today they asked Jesus, Where are you staying, Lord? Yeah, here in my servant's house.

Put your name there. My servants are in his house. That's where I'm staying now.

Come and see. Come and see how he lives in his house. They could never say that in the Old Testament.

Moses could only say, Come in here. I've just come down from the mountain. I'll give you the word of God.

But please don't come into my house and see how I live with my wife. There's only one record we have of Moses and his wife. They were fighting with each other.

And his own son was disobedient. He hadn't obeyed God's word in relation to the circumcision. So he couldn't say, Come and see.

He could say, Come in here. Many preachers, our old covenant preachers, they've come out of the closet and say, Here is God's word. And there are so many dumb believers sitting there swallowing that and thinking, Oh, what a great man of God.

Can he say, Come and see? Can he say, Follow me as I follow Christ? Can he say, It's amazing how many people are standing in pulpits today who are divorced. What in the world can a divorced preacher teach me? He can teach me how to divorce my wife. That's all he can teach me.

And look at the number of people sitting and listening to such people. We, in the new covenant, my brothers and sisters, the way to build a church is to be able to say, Come and see. Come and see what the Lord has done in our church.

Come and see what the Lord has done in my home. We're not perfect, but come and see. It's not come in here.

Come in here is an old covenant message. Come and see. We thank God for gifted preachers.

And God has raised up gifted speakers in our churches to preach God's word. That is a gift of the Holy Spirit. But beyond that, those people who speak God's word can say, Come and see.

That is the basis on which we build a church. We need revelation on that. The gates of hell will not prevail against a church which is seeking to follow in Jesus' footsteps and saying, Lord, I want you to give me such a life that I can turn around and say, Come and see.

Turn to Ephesians chapter 3 and verse 10. Ephesians 3, 10. It says here.

It's a great letter, Ephesians. He says, first of all, there's a hidden mystery, verse 9, which has been hidden in God from many ages. Ephesians 3, 9. The mystery which has been hidden for many ages.

What is that mystery which is hidden for many ages? Here it is in verse 10. That the wisdom of God but now be shown through the church to the evil principalities and powers in the heavenly places. That was not possible in the Old Covenant.

The Lord told Israel, you are my witnesses to the world. To the church, the Lord says, you are my witnesses to the devil. To the demons.

My wisdom is to show you as a witness to the demons. Now what's the difference between being a witness to the world and a witness to the demons? The world does not know 90% of my life. They maybe know 5% what they see me in public.

How I work in the office. How I speak in the church. How I relate to people outside.

5% of my life they know. It's pretty easy to be a good witness as a Christian there. But the demons, they know almost 100% of my life.

They know how I'm handling my money at home which even you don't know. They know how I speak to my wife every single day, morning till night. They know how interested I am in bringing up my children in the fear of God.

The demons know that. They know every little detail of my private life. They know all the financial transactions I'm involved in.

To be a witness to the demons, that's a far more important thing than being a witness to men. This is the mystery that was hidden from the ages. That the wisdom of God will through the church be manifested to the demons and the rulers.

That their mouth will be shut when they see the way you live. And I live by the power of the Holy Spirit. And I want to ask you, my brother, sister.

Is your life shutting the mouth of the devil? Or is the devil or is God embarrassed when the devil talks about you and your family life to him? We need to repent. There's a tremendous need for repentance among God's people. Repentance is no use having a good testimony before men.

If your testimony before the devil is not good. The wisdom of God is for you, the mystery of God is that his wisdom should be seen in you to those angels and principalities. And they're watching you all the time.

What does the devil see you looking at on the internet? Your family doesn't see you. Your friends don't see you. But the devil's just looking over your shoulder.

This is the child of God, is it? And he's there to accuse you to Satan, to God. And you're just happy that nobody can see you? Who said nobody can see you? Do you know how many hundreds of demons are watching over your shoulder at that very moment? Do you know how the angels are weeping when they see what you do there? Do you know how many demons are listening when you speak rudely to your wife? I mean, what is the difference between your Christianity and all those denominational people? That you try to have a good testimony before people. Brother, sister, we need revelation.

On what God is looking for in His church. That is how the gates of hell will not prevail against the church. The powers of the hell, the demons will have nothing to say against the church that's living before God's face and not before the face of men.

We need to be completely free from living before the face of men if we want to be a testimony to the devil. Don't be satisfied that other people in your church think well of you. Don't be satisfied that your leaders think well of you.

It means nothing. It doesn't even count for one mark in a hundred. It counts for zero.

No marks. It is your life before God alone that matters. And even in the good things that you do, the motives with which you do it, very often the devil knows.

Yeah, yeah, that was a good thing everybody appreciated but I could see the motive with which he did that. That's important. So brothers and sisters, let's seek God for revelation in the way Jesus lived entirely before His Father.

I love that verse. It's a very lovely verse for me in Isaiah 53. Have you noticed it, Isaiah 53? One of the first statements, you know Isaiah 53 is a chapter where he tells us how he suffered and he was despised.

There are many things written there. He was despised and rejected of men, verse 3, with a man of sorrows and he carried our iniquities and he was like a sheep. The Lord put our iniquities upon him, verse 6. But how does it all begin? What's the first statement there? Isaiah 53 to Jesus, we grew up before His Father.

I like that. He grew up before His Father. That is Isaiah 53.

I say, Lord, I want that to be true in my life that I grow up before God, not before men. Like a tender shoot, like a root out of a patched ground, He grew up before Him. It says in the secret of godliness, 1 Timothy 3, 16, about Jesus, like we've often heard, it is not the doctrine of Christ coming in the flesh, no.

It's the person of Christ, which is the secret of godliness. But not just Christ who was God, but Christ revealed in the flesh who had a will of His own, but who denied it and was declared, let me, 1 Timothy 3, 16, let me paraphrase it. The way to live a godly life, it's a mystery.

But the answer lies not in a doctrine, but in the person of Jesus Christ. If you can see Him, who had a flesh just like ours, who had a self-will just like ours, but who denied it. And the Holy Spirit witnessed that He was righteous.

And even the angels saw Him. The good angels and the bad angels saw Him. Like they're seeing us.

The secret of godliness is there. And that is the one we proclaim among the nations. And that people believe in.

And He was taken up in glory. And as we walk in those footsteps, one day we'll be taken up in glory too. It's a tremendous thing when you see it.

I have to be vindicated by the Holy Spirit. Not by you and me. It doesn't matter what people say.

Does the Holy Spirit declare me as righteous? When the angels behold me, do they see me denying my self-will just like my Savior denied His self-will on the earth? The gates of hell will never prevail against those who have seen this revealed Christ. Blessed are you because my Father in heaven has revealed who I really am and how I really lived. The devil's been defeated on the cross.

We don't have to fight him. You know, there are a lot of people in Christianity now who talk about spiritual warfare. It's like some wrestling match.

I'm not wrestling with the devil. He was defeated long ago on the cross. I resist him in Jesus' name and he flees from me.

What type of wrestling match is this? Where I get into the wrestling ring and the other fellow comes up to me and I say get out in Jesus' name and he runs away. Where's the wrestling? The match is over. I can't understand these people who say I'm wrestling and wrestling.

Brother, I'm struggling and struggling. Are you trying to defeat the devil? Don't you know he was defeated 2,000 years ago? Don't you know it says resist the devil and he'll flee from you? I'll tell you why you're resisting because you're not submitted to God. Then you better keep on wrestling.

You'll never win. I'll tell you honestly. I'm not wrestling with the devil.

I don't believe Jesus was always wrestling with the devil. The devil fled from him. He would say get away Satan and he'd go.

He'd come back again but he'd go again. Don't be fooled by all these people who talk about prayer warriors. What is a prayer warrior? I never find anything like that in the Bible.

You just say pray always and that's what I do which means I live in a constant dependence upon God. That's what it means to me. So much of religious language that is in Christendom which people are fooled by.

Don't accept it. If it's not in the Bible, throw it in the trash. But a lot of Christians pick up these things.

They sound so spiritual. Imagine if you talk about we're going to have a bunch of prayer warriors. I don't know what that means.

I want to pray always. I want to be dependent on the Holy Spirit all the time. I want to resist the devil that he flees from me.

He doesn't come to wrestle with me. He flees from me in Jesus' name because I submit to God. But yet I don't rejoice in this.

I rejoice that God has done something for me that my name is written in heaven. But I want to show my gratitude to Jesus for what he's done for me by walking in his footsteps. And because he says he's building his church and like Eve was called to be a helper to Adam, God has made me a helper to Jesus.

I say, Lord, I want to do this. I want to spend my life building a church against which Satan will not be able to prevail. Even if it's 3 people, 10 people, 30 people, 300 people, it must be a church which Satan cannot prevail against.

I'm your co-worker and I'm sold out to you. How many of you would say that? I hope you will say that to the Lord so that you go away from here. A new generation whom the Lord can depend on to plant churches that Satan cannot put his foot inside.

May God help you. Each one. Brothers and sisters, let's pray.

Heavenly Father, as we bow before you, there are many, many things you have spoken to us in these days and I pray that above all that you will really raise up a new generation, Lord, in India, in other lands. Men and women who are gripped by Jesus who came with a self-will and never, never once did it but always denied it through the will of his Father. Men who are gripped by this new and living way to walk in it, not just those who know the theory of it but who got revelation and who will thereby build a church.

Thank you, Heavenly Father, for these wonderful brothers and sisters whom you have given me as my family. I thank you that you will do a great work through every one of them and especially these younger ones who are coming up. Your name be glorified.

We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.