Secrets of New Testament Victorious Life

I'm happy to be here again. I was born again 55 years ago, when I was 19 years old. And although I studied the scriptures, I was baptized when I was 21, and then I started studying the scriptures. As I read the scriptures and studied it carefully, I found that the early Christians and the Apostles, as we read in the New Testament, seemed to have a quality of life which I did not have as a born-again Christian. And when I looked around in the assembly that I was attending, which was claiming to be a New Testament pattern assembly, you know, they respected God's Word, they broke bread every Sunday, etc., I found that the people around me didn't have that life either. At least I didn't see it in their life, and they didn't preach about it. But I read the scriptures and I said, there's something here which I seem to be missing. You know, I read words like this. I'll show you some verses. 1 Peter chapter 1. And he's talking to believers, and he says in verse 8, Though you have not seen Him, means you have not seen Jesus, you love Him though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him, and you greatly rejoice, with joy inexpressible, or unspeakable, and full of glory. Think of that expression. A joy which is so great that it cannot even be expressed, and filled with glory. And to tell you honestly, I looked at my Christian life and I said, Lord, that's not true in my life. I mean, I have a certain amount of joy that my sins are forgiven, and I know I'm going to heaven. I don't have any doubt about that. But I can't say that I have joy inexpressible and full of glory all the time. It's just occasional. Sometimes, and then most of the time, very often I speak discouragingly. Repeated. Then, I just want to show you a few verses in the New Testament that showed me the type of life that these early apostles had, which was a challenge to me. It says in Acts chapter 24, Paul is giving, I'm sorry, 23, and verse 1, Acts 23, verse 1, I have lived, Paul says, looking at a counsel, I have lived my life with a perfectly good conscience before God up to this day. Imagine being able to say that. He was converted on the road to Damascus, and this is probably 20 years later, when he stands before the high priest, and he says, I have lived with a perfectly good conscience till this day. And how is that? Was it because Paul's conscience was less sensitive than mine? Because I didn't seem to be able to live like that. I'm sure his conscience was more sensitive than mine. So there I see a quality of life in chapter 24. And you know, he's speaking the truth. Obviously, he's not telling a lie. Acts 24, verse 16, he says, I do my best to maintain always a blameless conscience before God and before men. So it was not something that happened easily, what he said in chapter 23, verse 1, when he said, I have lived with a perfectly good conscience. It came because he says in verse 16, I do my best. You know, just like we encourage our children to do their best in the examination. And if some child got a very good score, it's certainly not because he was lazy. He did his best, and he got a good score. And we tell our children, listen, you didn't get a good score because you didn't do your best. You can do much better than that. You were just lazy, playing the fool, and so you just passed. I don't want you to just pass. I mean, how many of you are happy with your children going to school and just sort of passing? Just sort of made the grade to go to the next class. I never wanted that for my children, I'll tell you honestly. I want them to do their best. Even if they didn't top the class, at least they did very well in each subject. And for that, they had to do their best. And so Paul says in the spiritual life, I always do my best. So I realized that there was a reason why these people came to this life. That I didn't have that same passion to always do my best, to keep my conscience clear. Just like I was teaching my children to always do their best in school, or like businessmen are always doing their best to prosper in their business. All of you know in your own professions, how you seek to do your best so that you can retain your job or get a better job. And if I really believe, if I really believe, that the things of eternity are more important than the things of time, and if I really believe with all my heart that my life before God is more important than my life on earth, then I felt, why am I doing my best on the things of earth but not on the things of heaven? I joined the National Defense Academy in India when I was 15 years old, 1955. And I joined the Navy. And from the very beginning, I did my best. I did my best to really be a top class naval officer. And later on when I was converted, I said, well, if I really love Jesus and I believe what I say, see I would witness to people all around, I would witness people in the Navy, I would witness people on the train, the bus, everywhere, I'd give out tracks. And if I really believe what I'm telling these people, that eternity is more important than this world, and heaven is more important than earth, and the things unseen are more important than the things that are visible, if I'm not a hypocrite, if I really believe that deep down in my heart, then I should be doing my very best for the things of eternity as well, not just for the things of time. And I saw that if I did that, I could come to the same life as the apostles. And when a person was not doing that, whatever he may say with his lips, in his life deep down he believed that the things of this earth are more important than the things of heaven. I would encourage you to ask yourself whether you believe what you proclaim, what you sing. See, Paul said another thing in 1 Corinthians 4, he was talking about his conscience and the way he lived. He says in verse 4, I'm conscious of nothing against myself. You know, our life is divided into conscious and unconscious. There are many parts of our life that are unconscious, we don't know. There could be hidden selfishness in your life, in my life, which we don't see. So God doesn't hold us responsible for that. But the areas where we can see, that's the conscious area of our life. In that area, we should be able to say, like Paul, I have done my best to keep a clear conscience. I'm conscious of no area in my life where I'm displeasing the Lord. See, most Christians I found when I was young and I used to go to this New Testament parent assembly, that though they were New Testament in pattern, you know, for example, they had elders and breaking of bread, and would sing all these songs and they preached a new birth. They were New Testament in pattern, but not New Testament in life. There are two things, pattern and life. Like Jesus said, a new wine and a new wineskin. Or, you know, those days they didn't put wine in bottles, they put it in a skin. And he said, new wine must be put into new wineskins. So, I saw that many people were talking about the new wineskins, it's easy to have the new wineskins in a pattern. Having a pattern in a church doesn't cost us much. You know, the Roman Catholics have a particular pattern for their service. The CSI churches have another pattern for their service. The New Testament assemblies have another pattern for their service. The Pentecostal assemblies have their pattern. The Brethren have their pattern. There are different patterns. And the change of pattern is very easy. You know, you just modify certain things in the way you conduct a service and the pattern is different. So, we move from, I grew up, I was born in the Orthodox, Syrian Orthodox church. That pattern was very different. So, you could change a pattern. That's very easy. But, more than the pattern was the life. Life was important. Pattern was like, you know, all the parts of our body. 10 fingers, 2 eyes, 2 ears, etc. But the important thing in the body is not the fingers and toes and all, but it's the life. I mean, what's the use of having 10 fingers and 10 toes in a very sickly life where I'm always in bed, sick, can hardly get up and go to work. You wouldn't want that life. I mean, if someone were to offer you all the parts of your body, but a very sickly physical condition, where you've got tuberculosis and asthma, but the parts of your body are all there. And they say, would you prefer that or would you prefer a few fingers missing, but healthy? I'm sure all of us would say, give me health, man. I don't mind a few fingers missing. What am I trying to say? In our physical body, life is more important than the parts of the body. Of course, the best is to have both. But if it's a choice, we definitely prefer life. I mean, I don't mind losing a little finger if I'm perfectly healthy. But I don't want to keep all my fingers and be sick all the time and lying in bed. It's like that. That's a picture of how if we major in our life on pattern more than life, there's something wrong. Because we don't do that in physical life. In physical life, we value life and health more than the parts of our body. You know, we lose vision a little bit, start wearing glasses, we lose our hair, we become weak. But if you're healthy, you're okay. We're not worried about parts of our body becoming weaker if there's life. So that's the thing that's important even in the Christian life. Paul said, I've got nothing, nothing against myself. And he spoke words like this. He challenged the Christians. Think of the type of things he told the Christians to live by. Let me show you one or two verses. He's giving about his own testimony. 2 Corinthians chapter 2. I'm just quoting Paul again. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 2 and verse 14. Thanks be to God. Of course, he gives the glory to God for this. He doesn't take the credit for himself. He doesn't say, with my determination and gritting my teeth, I accomplished this life. No. Thanks be to God, 2 Corinthians 2 verse 14, who always. What is that word always? Always. Remember that? We saw it earlier. I keep my conscience always clear before God and before men. I'm conscious of nothing against myself. And thanks be to God always leads us in triumph in Christ. That means a life of victory in Christ. This was what Paul experienced. He's not telling people you should be like this. He's just giving his own testimony. And he doesn't take the credit for himself. He says, God has done such a work in me that God leads me in triumph in Christ all the time. And the result is, when I'm living in victory in Christ all the time, not defeated, defeated by sin, defeated by anger, defeated by dirty sexual thoughts, defeated by bitterness, defeated by an unforgiving spirit, defeated by the love of money, defeated by anxiety, and constantly confessing and forgiveness, confessing and forgiveness. And most Christians live in that merry-go-round. You see the merry-go-round in these parks and fairs. You sit on that horse and you just go round and round and round. You don't make any progress. There's a lot of movement and activity, but you're always in the same place. And a lot of Christians are like that. There's a lot of activity and meetings and witnessing and reading the Bible and praying, but spiritually they're in the same place. They never seem to overcome the sins that plague them. It's like a child sitting in the kindergarten forever. Going to school every day for year after year after year, but no progress in the kindergarten. Still struggling with learning how to add and subtract. Still struggling how to read the letters and the words. You would never want a child like that. Maximum one year in kindergarten, that's all. You'd want to move your child out of the kindergarten in one year if something's wrong. So, I wonder if we have the same passion in Christian life. So, Paul says, as a result of this God leading us in triumph, He's manifesting through us a sweet aroma. Now, aroma is the opposite of stink. Aroma means like a perfume. A perfume coming forth from our life, the opposite of which is a stink coming forth from our life. And if we are honest, we have to acknowledge that very often the testimony of Christians is stinking. If people could go into Christian homes and see how the husband and wife live with each other, how they speak to one another. I mean, you don't go there because you only see them in the meeting. See, actually we know only about 5% about each other. You may think you know somebody very well, but really you know only 5%. You've never lived in their house. And it may be another story inside the house. And I'll tell you who knows us best. Our marriage partners and our children. And if you're living in India, your servants who live in your home, they know you better than all the believers in the church because they see you 7 days a week. Believers just a few hours a week. So here he's speaking about always there's an aroma, there's no stink coming forth. Paul says in our life. And when I looked at my life, I said, Lord, I'm born again, but that's not true. I seem to have missed something in my life. This is how I was seeking God in the 1960s and early 1970s. I was really defeated frequently and I was thinking, Lord, there's something wrong here. I can't say in verse 15, I'm a fragrance of Christ to God. There was something about these apostles, there was an aroma of Christ and a fragrance of Christ, not just to people. I can fool people, you know, if I see them only occasionally in church, I can pretend to be very nice and kind, but a fragrance of Christ to God. That means it's not that people are smelling me, but God. It's a fragrance of Christ to God. That means God is watching me all the time. The way I live at home, the way I handle my money, the way I file my tax return, the way I speak to my wife, the way I bring up my children, my goals in life, the thoughts that I allow to go through my mind, the things that I watch on the computer. That in all those things, God who's watching me 24 hours is getting a fragrance. And not a stink. The first requirement is to be honest. You know, if you go to a doctor and you don't tell him your problem honestly, he's never going to cure you. You go there and pretend that everything's okay. He says, go home, why are you talking to me? We go to a doctor to tell him honestly, this is my problem. I'm having this terrible problem with my body. He says, let me give you, let me take a scan. And he says, there's something seriously wrong with you, and you acknowledge it. And then he says, okay, it can be treated. So it's the same thing with God, you know. To walk in the light, the Bible says, the blood of Jesus will cleanse us from sin. Only if you walk in the light. Many people say, the blood of Jesus will cleanse us from all sin. Hang on, that's not what the Bible says. If you read it carefully, 1 John 1, you must read the Bible carefully. 1 John 1 says, it says, if we walk in the light, as God is in the light, then, then only, the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. But that's not how we often hear it. You say, hey, the blood of Jesus cleanses you from all sin. You say, read it exactly. If we walk in the light, means I'm, the first thing about walking in the light, means I'm absolutely honest. The blood of Jesus cleanses me from all sin. I say, Lord, I just want to be honest with you, I'd just like to go to a doctor. I think most of us may be more honest when we go to a doctor, than when we go to God, and acknowledge our need. You go to God and say, Lord, my thought life is pretty filthy. I want you to do something about it. The way I speak to my husband or wife, it's not at all good. It's a sickness, Lord, it's a spiritual sickness. I want you to do something about it. I can't say, thanks be to God who always leads me in victory, and the sweet aroma of Christ is coming forth from my life 24 hours a day. No. Something is wrong. It's like going to a doctor and saying, can you treat me? Now there are sicknesses the doctor cannot treat, but the Lord says, I can handle you if you come in honestly and tell me. I can cleanse you and change you and lead you into this type of life. Let me show you another verse, Romans chapter 8. See, those early Christians like Paul, they had a lot of persecution, which we don't have. Our lives as Christians is fairly comfortable. I mean, it's rare that a person can say they've even been beaten, or that anybody's called him a bad name because he followed Jesus. Persecution is almost absent. The type of persecution people complain about in America is they don't allow you to pray in the school. That's persecution. Or they allow abortion. Is that persecution? That's not the type of persecution mentioned in the Bible. Persecution mentioned in the Bible is beating and whipping and imprisonment and death and beheading and all that type of stuff. So, they faced it. Now, there are countries in the world today where they face it even today, like in China and some communist lands. And they faced it in the first century. And in the midst of all that trial, to be a conqueror is more difficult than when everything is smooth and easy and comfortable. See, the average Christian chooses a comfortable life. But Paul said in Romans 8, I want you to read verse in Romans chapter 8 and verse 35, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? He was gripped by the fact that Jesus loves me. God loves me intensely and he never allows anything to happen in my life which is not for my good. Everything that God loves in my life is for my good. Okay, now who shall separate me from the love of Christ? And look at the things he mentions. Tribulation, distress, these are things he experienced. Persecution, famine. You know there are times when Paul didn't have enough to eat because he didn't have enough money. Nakedness means that, not physically naked, but that he would shiver in the cold. We read in one time where he was in a Roman prison and he writes to Timothy, Please bring my blanket when you come. Why? Because he is shivering there in the cold. Second Timothy 4, please bring my cloak. I say, hey Paul, can't you get another one? He says, no, I don't have the money to buy another cloak. So Timothy, please bring the cloak with you. It says in Second Timothy 4. Bring it when you come. He really suffered a lot for Christ's sake. Persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, or sword. Finally, Paul even faced the sword. His head was chopped off by Nero, the emperor. And he says his Christian life was such that, verse 36, for the Lord's sake, all day long we are considered like sheep to be slaughtered. Wherever he went to preach the gospel, he was beaten, hammered, and sometimes shipwrecked. I'm not saying that we should go looking for beating and hammering in prison. That's not my point, not at all. Paul didn't go looking for these things, and we don't go looking for these things either. But they happened to him. But the point I want to say is, verse 37, not these verses 35 and 36. In all these things, we are all the conquerors. That's the point I want to stress, that when he faced situations which were much worse than any of us have ever faced in our life, he was triumphant. He had that joy inexpressible, full of glory, in the midst of the most difficult circumstances, that Christians face in those days. And he said, I'm convinced that nothing can separate me from the love of Christ. Verse 38 and 39. Angels, principalities, that means demons and whatever, any powers, height, depth, any non-creative thing can separate me from the love of God and Christ. He wasn't thinking of making more money, and getting more honor, and that sort of thing. He said, I've got one life to live, and I want to let the fragrance of Christ be seen in my life by everybody who comes and even examines my life closely. If somebody lives in my home 24 hours, they should be able to see the fragrance of Christ. If somebody were to examine all my financial affairs, they would see the fragrance of Christ, the uprightness and righteousness. Which I'm sorry to say, is not found with many Christian workers today. It's a very sad state of affairs. So, there are many other things, you know. And because he lived this type of life, he challenged other people also to live like this. He told them, for example, in 1 Thessalonians 5.18, he says, my brothers and sisters, he's writing to the believers in Thessalonica, you must give thanks in everything. For this is God's will for you. Verse 16, you must rejoice always. Think of words like this, they're not suggestions. There's a difference between a suggestion and a command. If you work in an office, and your boss gives you a suggestion and a command, there's a lot of difference. A suggestion is optional. If you want to do it, do it. If you don't want to do it, do it. It's just a helpful suggestion. But a command is, I want you to do this, I want you to finish this work by today, or by the end of the week. That's different from a suggestion. In the New Testament, there are no suggestions. God doesn't give suggestions. Even in the Old Testament, He didn't give Israel ten suggestions, He gave them ten commandments. There are no suggestions. It's not, 1 Thessalonians 5, 16 doesn't say, well, if you can, try and rejoice all the time. No, just rejoice always. Verse 18, in everything give thanks. This is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Now you'll never find verses like this in the Old Testament. You research through all the 39 books of the Old Testament, you'll never find anybody saying, thanks be to God who always leads us in victory, I will rejoice in the Lord. No. You read the Psalms, for example. Read through the Psalms and see the great man of God, David, the man out of God's own heart. You know what he says? Many times in the Psalms if you've read it, you know that, Lord, why are you allowing these enemies to triumph over me? Why are you allowing them to persecute me? Smite them, Lord, and smash their children on the rocks and break their heads. I'm triumphant. It's an altogether different life in the New Testament. He's not praying that his enemies will be killed. No. Jesus taught us to forgive and love our enemies. That's the freedom of Christ. No, but because of one reason, that these early Christians really believed deep down in their heart that everything seen was temporal. That things that aren't seen are eternal. That the inner life was much more important than the external life. See 2 Corinthians in chapter 4. 2 Corinthians 4 in verse... You know, all the affliction that Paul went through, he calls it only for a short time and very light. You know, he was beaten and hammered and in one place he says I got 39 stripes on my back five times. Stoned three times and shipwrecked and imprisoned and all that. But what does he call all that in 2 Corinthians 4, 17? Momentary means only for a short time. Only for a short time means maximum 30-40 years. 30-40 years, momentary compared to eternity. You enjoy yourself for 30-40 years, momentary compared to eternity. You realize comparatively the value of time compared to eternity. Even if you live 70-80 years or 100 years on this earth, when you compare it to eternity, it's like a couple of seconds. That's all. If you suffer, it's for 2 seconds. If you enjoy life, it's for 2 seconds. If you make a lot of money, it's for 2 seconds. If you're poor, it's for 2 seconds. It's really a couple of seconds compared to eternity. So he says, OK, I had all this suffering but it was only for a couple of seconds. Momentary. And the other thing is he calls it all light affliction. It wasn't very serious. No, because it wasn't serious because God gave me grace to handle it. I handled it sufficiently. And he says, the best thing is all this God is using to produce from me a tremendous weight of glory beyond all comparison in the future. That means God uses these trials and testings that come into our life to make us really godly men and women. I want to say to you, my dear brothers and sisters, God wants men and women to suffer as those early Christians. And you've got to take that challenge. And he says, because, there's a reason why I'm like this, because, verse 18, we do not look at the visible things. If you look at the visible things, you will not call it momentary, you will not call it a light affliction. You'll say, oh boy, I've been suffering for so long and it's pretty heavy to look at the eternal things. We do not look at the things which are seen, but we look at the things which are unseen. Because all the things we see are temporary. And all the things we can't see are eternal. So there's a contrast between what we can see visible with the eternally invisible things. I mean, theoretically, we all believe it. And if I were to pass a paper around and say the visible things are temporary, you'd all say yes. But it's one thing to know that in our head, it's another thing to live according to that principle every day. And the other thing he says is, in relation to the inner man and outer man, verse 16, our outer man is not so important. It can decay. But the inner man must be renewed day by day. He says this is testimony. That means I'm becoming more and more like Jesus. Day by day. Started off, I was not like Christ. None of us are. When we are born again, there are still so many sinful habits in our life. We're not like Christ. Our sins are forgiven. But our nature doesn't change overnight. You know that. We all know it. And I certainly saw it in my own life when I was born again. My nature didn't change overnight. Not even before I was born again. But my attitude to sin changed. Sure. I knew my sins were forgiven. I knew Christ would become Lord of my life. But I still lost my temper. I still had dirty thoughts. I still told an occasional lie if I was in a tight spot. Of course, I would confess it. All these things I would confess and say, Lord, I'm sorry. It offends me. But it wasn't victory. I couldn't testify like, so when I read all these things as I'm Christian, as a young Christian, I said, Lord, there's a life these people had which I have to say, I just don't have. That's the first step. Confess your sickness to the doctor. And then when I compared these verses, these verses I quoted just now to a number of verses, and I read the Old Testament, I never found these verses in the Old Testament. Not even once. There's no command there in the Old Testament that you must always count it all joy and you must not look at the things that are seen, you must look at the things that are unseen. No, Israel was always told to look at the things that are seen. I'll give you prosperity, I'll give you health, and I'll give you a land. There's all earthly things they were occupied with. It's a completely different world into which the apostles lived. And I saw Christianity was so different from that Old Testament. A true Christian doesn't pray the type of prayer that David prayed against his enemies and their children and all that in the Psalms. No. He prays like Jesus, Father forgive them because they don't know what they're doing. You don't hear that type of prayer in the Old Testament. No. Even the great prophet Elisha, you read in 2 Kings 2 when somebody just made fun and some bears came and ate up those young people. When Miriam criticized Moses saying why did you marry that non-Jewish woman? You know what she got? Leprosy. Just for questioning why a servant of God married an unbeliever wife. It's pretty severe, but when they called Jesus Beelzebub, or prince of devils, you know what they got? Not leprosy. They got forgiveness. Jesus, if you spoke against another man you got forgiveness. The New Testament life is now completely different from the Old Testament. Completely. That's what I discovered. And I said what is the secret? That's what I wanted to find out. And I discovered the secret was the day of Pentecost. They were filled with the Holy Spirit. That was the thing. They got a power within them which those Old Testament people just didn't have. You know the Old Testament people the Spirit came upon them. That means anointed them to serve. Samson could kill a lion with his bare hands. Kill 300 fish all by himself. And Joshua would stop the sun. And Moses could split the Red Sea. That's the Spirit upon them. It's a mighty thing. They would do so many wonderful things. Elijah would put his shawl on the river and the Jordan would split open and Elijah would do the same thing. You know Elijah fed the multitude before Jesus ever fed the five loaves and two fish. There's a time in 2 Kings where you read there wasn't enough food and Elijah said fine let's pray. And they prayed and everybody was fed just that little bit of food. They were real miracles because the Spirit of God was upon them. But there's a lot of difference on the day of Pentecost because the Spirit of God came within. That's what made them live triumphant lives. And that's why in the Old Testament even though the Spirit was upon Samson even David the Spirit of God was upon him. But when he saw a pretty woman he committed adultery with her murdered her husband and married her. He's the man who was anointed. So when I look at the Old Testament examples even John the Baptist the greatest of all the Spirit of God was upon him and he was a mighty prophet left so many people to repentance. But when he got locked up in prison he lost his faith. There's a story in Matthew 11 that he sent disciples to Jesus and said hey are you really the Messiah? I mean he had seen the Spirit of God come upon Jesus he heard the voice from heaven this is my beloved after all that just because Jesus did not open the prison door and set him free he lost his faith. He said are you really the Messiah? Do we wait for another one to come? Paul never said that he didn't give up his faith like the early Christians. So I saw there was something different in the New Testament there's a difference between Spirit upon and Spirit within. Turn to John chapter 7 and you see something there. It says here that Jesus said in verse 37 if anyone is thirsty let him come to me and drink. So the first requirement is thirsty. Thirsty means you long for something it's not just water. A man can have a thirst for power in the world a thirst for money a thirst for dominion countries can have a thirst to rule other countries thirst is a broad expression used in the English language for many things that you want desperately. So if anyone thirsts let him come to me the Lord says and secondly the third requirement is he must have faith. If you don't have faith you don't get anything. So two very important requirements to live the type of life that we just read about. That's what I discovered. One I must have a desperate thirst Lord I want this life at any cost. Now a lot of people don't have this thirst. They read these verses and say well I'll keep on losing my temper till the day I die. I'll keep on lusting after women till the day I die. I will keep on being anxious and worried and fearful till the day I die. I will keep on grumbling and complaining till the day I die. There's no thirst for a life of rejoicing always and giving thanks and everything and wanting to live in triumph and having the aroma of Christ 24 hours a day there is no thirst for that life. That's the reason most Christians don't enter into it. The first condition is thirst. You have to have a thirst and then second step you've got to believe that God can do it. Not whether you can do it. You and I can't do it. Impossible. You remember when the blind men came to Jesus and Jesus didn't ask them can you stretch your eyes he said do you believe that I can open your eyes and that's what the Lord says to us do you believe that I Jesus says can lead you into this life. Can you do it or not? Like he asked the disciples do you believe I can fill your boat with fish? These nets you've been struggling all night and caught nothing. Will you listen to me? I can fill your nets with fish. And he says if you have thirst and if you believe in me listen to this verse 38 from your inside rivers of living water will flow. The important thing is from the inside. That was not true in the Old Testament. And that's why it says in the next verse this he spoke about the Holy Spirit because verse 39 the spirit was not yet given to flow from the inside. Not yet given to flow from the inside because Jesus was not yet glorified. I used to be puzzled with that verse for a long time because I said hey David had this Holy Spirit and Gideon had the Holy Spirit and Samson what do you mean the Holy Spirit was not given until I compared it with verse 38 and I found him speaking about coming from the inside. Ah that was different David didn't have it but he did over it and I pour you know buckets of water or a jet of water a hose not one drop goes inside but it flows out and it quenches the thirst of thousands of people it's flowing over this person that's called the anointing upon the Old Testament the spirit of God came upon people. God took off that lid the veil was rent and God could penetrate the most holy place the inner man the spirit of man and the spirit of God came within now when the hose the water falls from heaven it doesn't just flow from the outside it goes inside fills up the heart and then overflows outside so it cleans up my heart first instead of Jesus and Samson and David on the outside and being dirty inside like they were no the inside gets cleaned up it means I have a pure heart I get victory over sin in my life and from that life flows out blessing to thousands or millions of people and for whom is this verse 38 he who believes in me that means every believer do you know this is not only for apostles and prophets and some special servant of God it's for you if you have thirst and if you have faith can you imagine what will happen to your own life so I began to seek God for this I said Lord I want this at any cost I don't want this third rate superficial Christian life that I see in myself and I see in a lot of Christians around me I want the thing these people have in me I had a thirst and I began to seek God it took a long time to believe it first of all because my mind was so full of unbelief that it wouldn't happen to me it wouldn't happen to me it may happen to a hundred people but it won't happen to me till the day came in my life and I said it will happen to me not what I can do and I want to testify my life turned around it's been a different life since then it's no longer serving the Lord it's not like a hand pump struggling, struggling, struggling it wasn't like that before you know you see these hand pumps in India struggle, struggle, struggle and a few drops of water come out that was my service to the Lord it all changed it became like rivers in many directions and I want to say to you that's what God wants to do in you however weak you may be it's an inner life that God can give every one of us it's not by going to Bible school I never went to a Bible school the apostles never went to a Bible school the prophets never went to a Bible school they were open to the Holy Spirit but the devil's done a tremendous work he's made us afraid of the Holy Spirit because so many Pentecostal people have made such wild claims and they do so many stupid things in the name of the Holy Spirit and they say oh, dangerous well, I didn't want that either in fact when I was 23 years old I did go to a Pentecostal church and I saw what was going on there and I came back to my room and said Lord, I don't want that I want what Peter, James and John got on the day of Pentecost and if it takes me 10 years to get it I'll wait 10 years but I want the real thing I don't want any counterfeit currency I want the real thing or nothing I don't want any counterfeit experience just to boast to others I want something that changes my life inside changes my family life and it did change my family life so that the home becomes a little bit like heaven don't you like to have a home that's a little bit like heaven a life that is free from bad moods and gloom we may have pressures I've faced a lot, I'm a servant of the Lord I've been a servant of the Lord for nearly 50 years I've faced a lot of pressures but before I knew this fullness in the Spirit I didn't know that you know, you can have the Spirit of Christ in you because you're born again ok, let me just show you this last thing in closing turn with me to Leviticus chapter 14 and we'll close Leviticus 14 it's a beautiful picture the cleansing of the leper how was the leper cleansed? the leper is a picture of the sinner and these Old Testament examples have got beautiful illustrations the leper, when he's cleansed he brings his guilt offering verse 14 and the priest should take that guilt the blood of the guilt offering Leviticus 14, 14 and put one drop of that blood on his right ear one drop on the thumb of his right hand and one on the big toe of his right foot that's like saying from head to foot symbolic of being cleansed in the blood of Jesus Christ it's a symbol for the blood of the ear hole the thumb and the toe and he'll do that then the priest next step verse 16 the priest will dip his right hand in the oil that is there and put the oil on top of the blood that is on the ear hole verse 17 and the thumb and the right toe so on top of the blood he's put the oil and the oil is a picture of the Holy Spirit so when we receive Christ the Spirit of God comes in it can't be born again if the Holy Spirit doesn't come so if a man doesn't have the Spirit of Christ it doesn't even belong to him so we are cleansed in the blood and we receive Christ as our Lord and the Spirit comes in good then third step verse 18 the rest of the oil he must pour upon the head of the slaver that is being filled with the Holy Spirit that's the part and because we are prejudiced by what we have seen in some fanatical groups I want to encourage you you don't have to go to any Pentecostal church or anywhere else go to Jesus he's the great baptizer and the Holy Spirit I went to Jesus and I don't believe in a once for all filling it must be continuously filled I pray every day I want to be filled with the Holy Spirit so that I can live the life of the Apostles we are cleansed lepers thank God for the blood of Jesus thank God the Spirit of God has brought life to us ask God to pour his Spirit upon you I guarantee it will change your life it won't be the same we cannot live this Christian life on our own we need the power of the Holy Spirit let's pray let's bow our heads before God and say Lord I will not David Jacob once said Lord I will not let you go unless you bless me and that's a good prayer to pray I will not let you go unless you bless me seek it seek God for the power of the Holy Spirit to be filled with the Holy Spirit continuously every day that is the only Christian life worth living and when you come to the end of your life you'll be able to look back over your life with great satisfaction that you fulfill the will of God that's heavenly power that each one here the Word of God will not be taken away by the birds of the air but it will not sink in shallow ground but fall where there is great depth of earth and bring forth fruit Lord create a hunger in our hearts help us to seek you and find this experience this fullness and not to the rest until we experience it every day I pray in Jesus name Amen Thank you