Study Scripture Carefully

The first words that Jesus spoke in his ministry that's recorded in scripture immediately after his baptism in the river Jordan, I don't know whether you all know what it is, the very because immediately after the baptism he went into the wilderness to be tempted immediately and the first words written in scripture are words that he spoke to the devil in Matthew 4 verse 4. Man shall not live by bread alone but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Those are the first words which means there's something very important about the first words that come out of Jesus mouth in his public ministry. The first thing we need to see there is it is not he didn't say about he wasn't referring to the Bible it says they're not the words that proceeded hundreds of years ago from God's mouth through Moses no we must read carefully every word in scripture is important the word that proceeds present continuous tense which means there is a word that's always coming forth from the Lord all the time it's like the oxygen in the air that we breathe all the time God is always speaking whether we hear it or not is another issue but when it says proceeds its present continuous tense and man if we are to live we can live only if we receive that word that is proceeding from God's mouth all the time and so in the early stages of our Christian life when we are born again we begin with reading God's Word that's how we first understand it and we seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit and as we read God's Word and are filled with the Holy Spirit we'll begin to hear God speaking on the basis of his Word of course to our hearts according to our need at each time this is the wonderful thing of the Christian life and it can make a tremendous difference in our life if we develop this habit of listening and reading God's Word seeking to hear God speaking to us through it in that connection let me read to you to Isaiah chapter 50 Isaiah 50 and verse 4 this is again referring to the Lord Jesus it's a prophetic reference to Christ because in verse 6 it says I gave my back to those who strike me and my yeah I gave my back to that's referring to Christ and my cheeks to those who pluck out my beard so we know very clearly that's referring to Christ so here's something earlier referring to Christ the Lord God that is the Father was for Isaiah 50 verse 4 has given me the tongue of a disciple that means the disciple is one who hears and obeys so Jesus was saying my father has given me a tongue of someone who is listening and obeying and he so that if I if I speak the word that the father gives me I will be able to sustain all the weary people who hear me and that is how the words that Jesus spoke sustained so many weary people and I sustain people through 20 centuries because he heard the father and when did he hear the father verse 4 he wakens me morning by morning and he doesn't just wake up when he wakes up he wakens his inner ear referring to Jesus every morning when Jesus woke up the father woke up his inner ear to listen as a disciple now we must apply that to ourselves we are supposed to walk as Jesus walked I want you to take that verse my dear brothers and sisters verse 4 and make it a rule in your life that when you wake up in the morning as we all do that you will remember that it is God who woke you up I mean if you're a child of God that's the way I want to see it when I wake up finally in the morning in between I make toss and turn and wake wake up a few times but finally when I wake up in the morning I want to believe that it's my heavenly father who's woken me up and he wants me to hear him as soon as I wake up he wants my ear in a year to wake up also to listen as a disciple means as one who is saying Lord what do you want me to do today please guide me not just to hear for information a lot of people read the Bible and want to hear God in order to get some information or to be able to preach to others no no no this is not he's not it's not he's waking me up to listen so that I can be a preacher no so that I can be a better disciple so that I can follow him today in a better way I may never preach what the Lord said to me that day I found many things the Lord speaks to me I preach about it ten years later it's not something that I have to speak about the same day but it's something I have to listen to in order to obey he awakens me to listen as a disciple a disciple is one who hears and obeys and then it as it says in verse 6 it may take us through a difficult path so this is the way we must begin our day so I've often said this to people when you wake up in the morning remember it is God who woke you up and the first words you speak before you get out of bed must be to your heavenly father I wish somebody had told me this as soon as I was born again I missed so much I had to learn this myself so many things in my life because I didn't have a spiritual father or a godly elder to guide me many things in my life I learned over a long period of time years that I wasted because I didn't have a spiritual father or guide you folks are so blessed to have such godly elders who can guide you and lead you don't ever take them for granted be highly respectful and thankful to any godly elder you have in your church who has led you to the habit of listening and following in the footsteps of Jesus and many people who don't have it I didn't have it in my younger days and so I wasted many years of my life there's no excuse for any of you to waste even a single day of your life because you have godly elders anyway so I began to read the scriptures and I every day in the morning I used to be in the Navy and first thing I did when I got it because I was an officer I had a room to myself I would get out of bed and kneel down by my bed for 15 minutes or so and pray and then I would sit at my table and open the Bible and keep a notebook and read and ask God to speak to me and I did that for six or seven years while I was in the Navy and all those seven years after I was converted I was in the Navy and then the Lord told me to leave quit my job and in those seven years I had really come to know the scriptures I've learned from that that you can be a you can be very well versed in the scriptures if you read the Bible every day for six or seven years anybody can do it so I want to share with you some things I learned from the gospel of Matthew see the gospel of Matthew is the very first gospel in the new covenant it's not the first gospel that was written probably Mark was earlier but in God's sovereignty he has allowed the gospel of Matthew to be put as the first book in the New Testament and so we recognize that and we want to see what is it that God speaks here so it begins with the genealogy of Jesus Christ and many of you just read through that sometimes and get nothing out of it now I'll show you how every word of God is inspired by scripture and you'll get something if you meditate on it so let's read through I'm not gonna read every verse but I want to point out certain things here the entire genealogy is not of Jesus is not given here that's given in Luke chapter 3 here it starts with Abraham because the gospel of Matthew is written primarily to the Jews but the point I want you to notice is you know there are certain things you must look your mind normally in the in a Jewish genealogy they never put a woman's name you go to Luke's gospel even Mary's name is not there that's amazing they do not they the Jewish genealogy only puts the names of men and here you see the same thing father of so-and-so father of so-and-so father of so-and-so all the men except for the names of four women come in here and that's significant so when I see something odd like that that in a genealogy where only father name men's names are to be there I suddenly see the names of four women that's significant I say okay let me study them the first woman mentioned here is what verse 3 Matthew 1 verse 3 Tamar now Tamar by the way I don't have time to turn you to the Old Testament but if you read in the Old Testament you can read about it in Genesis I think it's chapter 39 where Judah it says here Judah had a son had two sons by Tamar and Tamar by the way was Judah's not his wife it was his son's wife his son had died this was his daughter-in-law he had a son through his daughter-in-law as a terrible thing in the book of Leviticus we're told that that's a terrible sin to have sex with your daughter-in-law and that's the first thing mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus you know we would think that the genealogy Jesus has to be so pure a very godly godly people and the first thing you read is of a woman who had a child from her father-in-law there's a genealogy of Jesus Christ I mean if any of us in our genealogy it was written that somebody in one of our ancestors had sex with his daughter-in-law we'd be ashamed of it but it's put there in the first page of Scripture of the New Testament and then we go on and we see another name another woman Rahab verse 5 Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab and Rahab you read in the book of Joshua was a prostitute how many of you would like if your genealogy was printed out to point that to let it be known that one of your ancestors is a prostitute remember this is the genealogy of Jesus Christ the Son of God prostitute and the third woman's name is Ruth verse 5 Matthew 1 5 Ruth is a Moabite and if you go to the Old Testament and you read in Genesis about where Moab came from Moab is the father of the Moabites Moab was a son of Lot born by Lot having sex with his own daughter that's worse than daughter-in-law Lot's daughters had sex with the father and the son was Moab and lo and behold her name is here one of the Moabites one of the descendants of the Moabite is Ruth so Ruth traces her ancestor back her ancestor was someone was born with Lot committing adultery with his own daughter okay so you see how sex is involved in all these three cases illegal sex and the fourth one the fourth one is verse 6 that's Sheba that's the fourth woman and you all know about her she was the wife of one of David's soldiers and David saw she was a pretty woman and called her and raped her and had a child through her and killed her husband and married her Wow that's worse than all the others now the point I want you to see is the only four women mentioned in this chapter Moab got something which is illegal sex or something which should be one should be ashamed of now why does the Holy Spirit writing the genealogy of Jesus even mention it there was no need to mention these women's names he could have just mentioned the names of the father the son son for the next son father son father son because in the rest of the chap rest of that chapter is only father and son why did he specifically mention these four names of these people who had some sexual failure or sin I'll tell you that's the advantage of meditating on scripture to show right in the very first paragraph of the New Testament that Jesus Christ came to save sinners and not the righteous before you read that statement later on in God Matthew you can see it in the very first six verses this is the advantage of meditating on scripture comparing scriptures through scripture and I'm just showing you one way to study scripture if you're serious you get such a lot from those first six verses I get such a lot from that I said Lord you are not ashamed to be identified with the worst sinners of all with sexual sins the worst type of sin and to have an ancestry like that and not just to have that but to publicly make it known to everybody this is my ancestry I've got nothing to be proud of I came through a line of sinners because I came not to call the righteous but sinners so I find tremendous comfort in my heart when I read that it destroys all the pride I can have in my life which makes me look at other believers and think I'm better than them or makes me look down on someone who had a very sinful past or who had a sinful genealogy it teaches me and Jesus identified himself with the worst of the worst it teaches me another thing never to despise any believer whatever their background and whatever their past life may have been like to value everyone and not to be proud of the fact that I have not fallen into all those sins but sometimes that can be a subtle pride in us oh you know we didn't come from such a filthy background like some of these other sinners yeah it's there in the back of our mind even we don't express it and we can have a sort of a hidden pride and that's what hinders our spiritual growth and I'm really convinced that that is the reason why many Christians many believers never come to a close relationship with Jesus Christ because he's the friend of sinners and we are not and so we can't get close to Jesus you can't get close to Jesus I'll tell you that straight to your face if you're not willing to be the friend of sinners if you're going to be the friend of righteous people Jesus and you would be quite far away from each other there was no sin in Jesus he never sinned but he was a friend of sinners that's my example I must be free from sin in my life but I must be the friend of sinners it's a wonderful truth that we can get right from the very first paragraph of Scripture and if you study Scripture like this you'll find this so much in Scripture that's hidden there waiting for somebody who God sees is eager to dig it out okay then let me show you another thing the New Testament is full of promises wonderful promises the Old Testament also had promises but the New Testament promises are significantly different and so let's go to the first promise in the New Testament you hear it is in Matthew chapter 5 the very first promise in the New Testament Matthew 1 verse 21 isn't it important if that's the first promise in the New Testament that we should take it seriously and here is a promise that nobody could experience in the Old Covenant and that's why it is written in the New Covenant Matthew 1 21 you shall call his name Jesus Jesus means Savior Yeshua and the meaning is he was his Savior because he will save his people from their sins that is the first promise in the New Testament yeah have you noticed that when you read your many of you read through Matthew 1 many many times have you noticed that that is the very first promise in the New Testament and that is the meaning of the name Jesus that when you pray in the name of Jesus you pray in the name of Jesus we ask we are praying in the name of one who came to save people from their sins father I'm asking for this in the name of one who came to save people from their sins that's the meaning of Jesus so we can pray with authority we ourselves want to be saved from our sin otherwise it's emptily using the name of Jesus the name itself Jesus you call his name Jesus because he came to save his people from their sins not forgive their sins no no no no no forgiveness of sins is in Psalm 103 David says 1,000 years before Christ was born in Psalm 103 David says bless the Lord who forgives all your iniquities all your sins are forgiven that's Old Testament but here it is not you shall call his name Jesus because he forgave his people from their sins no it is he will save his people from their sins if it is if Jesus came only to forgive people their sins that is Psalm 103 not Matthew chapter 1 Matthew chapter 1 is he came to save his people so Jesus is not a forgiver but a Savior and many people call him Savior but I ask him what have you been saved from I sometimes talk to people and said you said Jesus as your Savior has he saved you from your anger no what do you do when you're angry you ask the Lord to forgive you he forgives you has he saved you from lusting in your mind no you haven't what do you do you ask the Lord to forgive you has he saved you from the love of money no he hasn't saved you from that you ask the Lord to forgive you as he said you getting getting upset with things when things go wrong in the home no he hasn't saved you from that but you confess and you ask forgive you I said then be honest and say Jesus is my forgiver he has not yet saved me he's not my Savior yet he's my forgiver but people say he's gonna save me from hell oh that is at the end of your life I'm talking about right now he is only your forgiver be honest don't call him your Savior if he has not saved you from your sins you're telling a lie if you get angry with your wife and your husband don't call Jesus your Savior you confess it I know call him Jesus is my forgiver from now on be honest say Jesus is my forgiver he hasn't saved me I still get upset and angry every day he hasn't saved me yet but I want to tell you the good news he can save you that's the first promise in the New Testament we could go on and on let me rush a lot of things we could discover in Matthew chapter 2 I won't go into that right now there are many precious things there I'll tell you I leave it to you to find out yourself Matthew chapter 3 is the second promise in the New Testament Matthew chapter 3 11 where the same Jesus John the Baptist says I can only baptize you with water but he Jesus will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire so once you're saved from your sin number one what's the second thing you need to get the baptism in the Holy Spirit and fire baptism is a Greek word which means immersion it's not sprinkling water on the head that's sprinkling baptism is immersion just like we are immersed in water in the name of the Father Son and Holy Spirit when we take water baptism in the same way it says Jesus will immerse you in the Holy Spirit not that's just if you have the Holy Spirit who comes into your heart and proves that you're a child of God no more than that he will immerse you just like there's a lot of difference between water being poured on your head and you're being immersed completely in a tank of water world of difference when it's poured on your head you just get a little bit wet with that water and many people's experience in the Holy Spirit is something like that like a little water sprinkled on them but here it says you'll be immersed that means completely drenched in the Holy Spirit and fire why is it some people are always on fire for God because Jesus immersed them in the fire that's why you cannot produce that fire yourself Jesus will immerse you whenever you read baptized that read it as immerse then you'll understand it better he will immerse you in the Holy Spirit and fire so if you want to be on fire for the Lord all the time you ask Jesus to immerse you in the Holy Spirit and fire that's the only way it's not my worked up zeal that you're going to be fiery for the Lord so these are the first two promises the first two things I need to experience in my Christian life I need to be saved for my sin and I need to be baptized immersed in the Holy Spirit and fire that's God's will okay then I want to move on to something else I could spend a lot of time just going through the temptations chapter 4 and goes a lot more in chapter 5 6 & 7 the Sermon on the Mount we have a whole study on the Sermon on the Mount on our website you know CFC website got all that Jesus taught you could look into that when you get time go to the CFC website and look for all that Jesus taught and you'll see them many things in Matthew there but I want to move on to chapter 8 after the Sermon on the Mount in chapter 8 it says Jesus came down from the mountain after preaching to his disciples and first of all a leper came to him is the first story mentioned in the Gospels is of a leper and again a picture of a sinner leprosy is one of the clearest pictures of sin where they had to stay away from the people and they were not allowed to mingle with the people and there was no cure for it and Jesus touched and healed the lepers and when the man said just said out I will you please hear me and Jesus said yeah I want to hear you and he healed him so that's the first thing the Lord does when you come to him as lepers spiritual lepers and he heals us after that what is the next thing we read it's very significant but we read immediately after the healing of the leper these are spiritual truths and there's a sequence in it okay I come to Jesus as a spiritual leper because of my sin and the Lord cleanses away my sin and I'm like a leper who's been cleansed so what do I do next we read in Matthew chapter 8 the story of a centurion each thing there's a something to learn we should learn something from the leper going to Jesus now we read something from a centurion a Roman centurion this guy was not even a believer he was not a Jew he was a Roman the centurion was a man who had a hundred soldiers under him and he was in the Roman military he had probably a captain over him on top of him and he was under the captain and he controlled these soldiers and when the centurion came to Jesus he came with this request in Matthew chapter 8 and verse 6 Lord my servant is sick at home paralyzed I have a servant who's paralyzed at home now I see something significant here that a centurion as a Roman soldier he seems to be a very compassionate man that he cared for his servant was probably some Jewish person who was serving him but he had care for a servant who was paralyzed I mean most centurions got rid of that servant and say let's get another person I don't want a servant who's paralyzed but this person kept a servant who was paralyzed who could probably do very little for him and he says my servant is lying paralyzed at home how many people would keep a servant who's paralyzed centurion must have been a good man and he's fearfully tormented he's probably demon-possessed as well this servant verse 6 and Jesus said to this centurion I will come to your house and heal him and the centurion said Lord I'm not worthy you see some you know when you read these things you see so if you meditate you get some qualities about the centurion first of all he must be a very compassionate man to keep a servant who is paralyzed and demon-possessed at home and not check him out of the house and even more so that he traveled a long distance probably some miles to come to Jesus to ask Jesus to heal the servant of his what a compassionate centurion this was and he says look at the centurion see now they see the centurion's humility he says I'm not worthy that you should come to my house and Roman centurions are usually arrogant people who have just used to giving orders to people and he looks at Jesus and remember Jesus looked like a carpenter that's what he looked like he's just an ordinary person and he says Lord please come and heal if you say a word come to my home and say a word my servant will be healed and Jesus said I'll come and heal him and he says Lord I'm not worthy you see the humility of the centurion also there so many good qualities in this centurion I am not that you should come under my roof see I find that the Lord always takes note of those who are humble God gives grace to the humble he's delighted when he sees someone who's humble we sometimes take it for granted of course Jesus should come into my house come to my heart but here's the centurion who says I'm not worthy that Jesus would come to my house do you recognize that we're not worthy to have Jesus come and dwell in our heart or in our home I feel like that all the time I'm not deserving or worthy that the Son of God should come and dwell in me or dwell in my home or no the centurion was like that so he says don't come to my house Lord because I'm not worthy that you should come to my humble dwelling just stand here and speak the word and my servant will be delivered he'll be healed of his paralysis and it will be delivered from the demon and he says I know because I'm saying verse 9 I am a man under authority and I've got soldiers under me and I've got authority over them now listen to this carefully I am a man under authority and I've got authority over soldiers under me and when I say to a soldier go he goes when I say to another come he comes or I say to my slave do this and he does it and he says I know Lord Jesus you've got that type of authority too if you say from here to that demon go he knows he knows that that demon will go or to the paralyzed man be healed he knows he'll be healed that was faith but what I want you to see here is this word authority and the this matter of being under authority comes right there in the beginning of the Gospels that Jesus had authority because he was under authority that's what the Roman centurion now you see Jesus the Roman centurion did not know anything about father son and Holy Spirit or anything about the Trinity even the disciples didn't know anything about the Trinity then but the he recognized something in the bearing of Jesus that this was a man who had authority he recognized that you know military people those who are in the military usually recognize people others who are in the military there's something about the bearing of a man who is on the military he's got an authority over him in his bearing itself and that's because he's for years and years he's been trained to have authority and be under authority so he knew that Jesus was like that so I want to say a few words about this matter of being having authority and being under authority why did the Roman centurion have authority like he would tell us verse 9 to a soldier go and the people person would go and if you told another come and he would come how did he have that authority to tell these people that they would obey him instantly because he was a man under authority verse 9 there are two things in verse 9 I'm a man under authority that means he had a captain or a general over him and because he was under authority obeying that person 100% therefore he had authority over others and when Jesus heard this listen to this verse 10 he said I have never found such great faith with anyone in Israel right at the beginning of the Gospels you find this amazing story of a man who had authority because he was under authority and therefore had tremendous faith as well so I see there that great faith is always connected with being under the authority that God has appointed and Jesus says I've not found such great faith in any of the Jews here this man is a Gentile a Roman and he has more faith than all of you so I learned something from their faith is one of the most important things in the New Testament it's not emphasized so much in the Old Testament so I learned something from here how can I have this great faith that like this man had and I believe it is through being under authority and that's something that our generation of Christians need to learn when we say we want to follow Jesus we accept Jesus as our Savior and we want to follow him how are we to follow him are we going to first follow in the by following him in the way he preaches or the way he cast out demons yeah yeah we would all like to follow him in those areas but when you look at the life of Jesus he did not begin by healing the sick and casting out demons how did he begin what are the first statements mentioned about Jesus in the Gospels before he started his ministry turn with me to Luke chapter 2 Luke's Gospel chapter 2 we read that he was lost in the temple and it is this father Joseph and Mary forgot about him and went back and found him talking to the priests this is in Luke chapter 2 and verse 46 they heard this sound so I'm sitting in the temple listening to the priests there and asking them questions and all those scholarly priests when they heard Jesus they were amazed at his understanding and knowledge of the scriptures and the way he answered some of their questions now how that he was only 12 years old remember how did he know the Bible so well that he could teach some of those scholars sitting in the temple who had studied it for years I believe it is because he didn't come from heaven with the Bible in his head no he was born just like any of us with no knowledge at all it was knowledge that he acquired by the age of 12 so then I use my imagination and say well I presume that maybe from the age of 6 or 7 he started going to the synagogue in Nazareth and asking the rabbi there to read some scripture for him and the rabbi would read something delighted the rabbi was delighted this young six-year-old seven-year-old is coming to me to read the Bible and he would open the Bible and read a little bit and then Jesus would say stop let me meditate on that it go home and come back the next day and I rabbi can you please continue for more you left off yesterday he did that for five or six years every day by the time he was 12 years old he really knew the scriptures and that is how we can know the scriptures too that's the first thing I learned when I became a Christian that the way Jesus if I want to follow Jesus I'm gonna follow him here first of all here what he did between the age of 5 to 12 he went there was no printed Bible those days if he had a printed Bible he'd have read it at home but he had to take the trouble to go to the synagogue get the rabbi to open up the scroll of scripture and read it take that home in his mind meditate on it come back the next day and read some more what diligence for a six-year-old boy and by the age of 12 he knew it so well that he could question the teachers and I said Lord you came as a man I don't believe you came with supernatural powers you came and you and being an example for me I can follow you and I believe that if you could know the scripture in six or seven years by constant study I with a Bible in front of me can definitely know the scriptures and that is how I started studying the Bible when I was 19 years old 19 or 20 years old and by the time I was 26 years old I really knew the scriptures because I believe that Jesus could know it by the insects here so can I so I say if you have been a believer for five or six years and you don't know the Bible I'll tell you what you should go to God and say Lord I'm thoroughly ashamed of myself I don't I have a Bible with me and I don't take double to meditate on it and study it every day and you Lord Jesus you did not have a Bible and you went every day to walk to the synagogue ask the rabbi to open the scroll read the scriptures meditated on that remembered it went home meditated and came back the next day asking to read out the next passage Wow help me to follow you Lord many of us say I want to follow Jesus follow him here first in the study of the scriptures in meditating meditating and knowing it so well in six years that you could even share share it with others okay what's the next thing we read here in Luke 2 51 he went to Nazareth and he was subject to Joseph and Mary subject to his earthly parents whom God had appointed certain earthly parents to I mean they were his earthly guardians I would say and he was subject to them that's all it's written all that we know about Jesus from the age of 12 to the age of 30 was he was subject to Joseph and Mary listening Joseph died perhaps by time Jesus around 18 but he was subject to Mary subject to earthly authorities for 18 years in fact all those 30 years and then of course we know he was a carpenter also working to earn his living but just this part he was under authority continued in subjection to them Luke 2 51 he was under authority for 18 years and not a perfect authority may Joseph and Mary were not perfect they were far from perfect sometimes we say well I'll submit this elder if he's a perfect brother but there's no perfect brother on the earth and Joseph and Mary was certainly not perfect and God sent his son to and told him to submit to imperfect authority for 18 years some of you who are quick to criticize elders in your church saying they're not perfect you'll only submit to perfect authority you're not following Jesus Jesus was submitted to imperfect authority for 18 years that's where God touched him and that's how he came out with a great authority then you can go back to the centurions words I'm a man under authority you remember what we read in Matthew 8 therefore I have authority that principle I'm under authority and I have authority Jesus was under authority for 18 years 30 years actually all the way from he was he was a child then he went out and had authority so I want to say to you my brothers and sisters the reason why many Christians don't have spiritual authority today in their life why the devil can harass them in their home and trouble them in so many ways they don't seem to have any authority over the devil's activities in their home in their life is because they themselves are not willing to be under authority look for authority wherever you go all my life before CFC started see if she started 50 years ago before that I was always under some authority I submitted to authority all from the time I was born again at the age of 19 and a half all the time till I was 35 and a half 16 years I had God never gave me authority or anyone but I was subject to authority wherever I went whatever church or most of the time it was imperfect authority people who did not understand the new covenant God said keep your mouth shut and obey them sometimes I would be misunderstood falsely accused and I was once misunderstood in a church and they did would not in a church without speaking regularly and because of some misunderstanding they did not allow me to speak in that church for years and the Lord said keep your mouth shut and don't defend yourself and he tested me to see whether I'd obey that so I kept my mouth shut and I did not defend myself and after he tested me then he started CFC and gave me authority spiritual authority now I'm convinced that many many young people do who should develop to become godly men with authority one day are not developing because they don't submit to authority in their younger days they don't submit to their parents they think they know more than them and they think the parents are dumb or something like that even if your parents are unconverted they may not be able to guide you spiritually but the Bible says only your father and mother and Jesus did that otherwise he would not have exercised the authority he had your husband for the Bible says wife submit to your husbands your husband may not be a spiritual man submit to many wives think well I know more than my husband okay Jesus knew more than Joseph and Mary didn't he did he submit to them or did he say to Joseph and Mary listen I know more than you don't try to tell me what to do that's the attitude of some wives who think they are more spiritual than their husbands I have zero respect for such wives zero meaning zero they have not understood the ABC of the Christian life I have seen some smart young people who think they know more than their parents okay you do perhaps but you still need to be subject to your parents and authority otherwise God will never back you up I want to tell you that I am a man under authority therefore I have authority you know what the first sin in the universe was the first sin in the universe was when God created the universe he created some angels and you read about the head of the angels in Isaiah 14 in Isaiah 14 there's an angel who's called we don't know his name he's called the star of the morning in Isaiah 14 verse 12 and that phrase star of the morning is in the Hebrew it's hell or a shining one and in the Latin into which the Bible was first translated the start of the morning in Latin is translated as Lucifer that's how we get the name Lucifer referring to the devil that's not his name the devil's original name is not mentioned anywhere in the Bible he's known as a star of the morning anyway let's call him Lucifer since he's not like that now you it says here in verse 13 as I have 14 verse 13 you said in your heart I will ascend to heaven I will raise my throne above the stars of God I will ascend verse 14 above the heights of the clouds I will make like myself like the Most High God that was the first sin that came in the universe it was a sin of an attitude not a sin of action not a sin of word not a sin of deed but of an attitude first sin and became the universe a sin of attitude I will be in in his mind it says he said in his heart verse 13 he didn't speak with his mouth the first sin in the universe was something that came in the heart without opening the mouth without an outward action just a thought that came in his heart which he chose I will ascend I will go up that is why when Jesus had to bring salvation he said I will go down that is the opposite of what Lucifer became the devil in that moment he decided I'm going to ascend I will ascend verse 13 I will raise my throne and verse 14 I will ascend I will make myself like the Most High and the Lord says you'll be thrown down to hell verse 15 so because sin came by a created being wanting to go up and up and up to be like God salvation had to come by God coming down and down and down and down and down and becoming like man that's the only way salvation could come by defeating this spirit that wants to go up and up and up and up now that spirit that wants to go up and up and up climb higher and become great is all over the world today the devil is infected all human beings with that everybody wants to show that I'm better than the other person and climb over others and speak in a way that they want to show that I'm clever or better superior to these people men and women that's the spirit of the devil Jesus came to save us from that and that is why the first commandment God gives to children is obey your parents honor your father and mother the first commandment he gives the wives is be subject to your husbands respect him there's no salvation outside of submitting to authority when you're under authority you can have authority when Jesus finally concluded his ministry on earth and just before he ascended to heaven you know what he said in Matthew chapter 28 and he when he was sending his disciples everywhere he didn't say there's a great need in the world so go and preach the gospel everywhere and make disciples that's not what he said why did he tell people go and make disciples of all nations in Matthew 28 19 please turn with me Matthew 28 verse 19 today people say there's a great need in Africa or a China or India or somewhere therefore go and make disciples no it's not like that here see the reason therefore go therefore therefore means whenever you see the word therefore you must look and find out what it is therefore wherever you find the word therefore see what it is therefore why is it there verse 18 all authority there you come again with that word authority all authority in heaven and earth is given to me therefore go not there are needy people in India needy people in China needy people in those islands therefore go no no no that is how people say it today okay you can go on that basis but that's not the basis Jesus said he said all authority in heaven and earth is given to me therefore go and I'm very thankful see I've been serving the Lord for 60 years now full-time Christian work and I did not step out because there was a need somewhere here or there I stepped out only because Jesus Christ called me and said to me all authority in heaven and earth is given to me you go and make disciples that's what he told me 60 years ago and that's the thing I seek to here today also and that's why I do what I do it's not because there's a need it's because all authority in heaven and earth is given to my Lord and Savior and he has told me to go and I do it and nothing can stand against me as long as I'm backed by his authority that's the only way I would ever dream of serving the Lord if I go by need there's a need here need there the world is full of me I'll be I'll go crazy because there are people who inviting me here inviting me there all the time I'm invited all over the place and I say no I can't go I'm under the authority of the Lord he tells me to go somewhere I go I'm man under authority that's when I go somewhere I have authority to speak everywhere I go to speak with the Lord send me to go he gives me a word he gives me an authoritative word and he doesn't my age doesn't matter I'm 86 years old but God gives me word to speak and he can give it to you my brother that's my reason why I'm preaching this message is to tell you that you can have authority in your life if you will be under authority remember the first sin in the universe was that a created being was not willing to subject be subject to authority okay our time is running out let me go to the next let's come to the first sin in the human race we saw the person in the universe which is in the angels okay let me ask you a question I don't know how many of you will get the right answer God created Adam and Eve and he gave Adam as a head over his wife Eve what was the first sin man committed the human human being Adam are evil the among human which is the first in the human being committed I tell you for years and years and years I did not know I had the wrong answer and most people most Christians have the wrong answer now I'll tell you and I'll show you what is the first sin that the human beings committed it was not eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil that was the third sin now I'll tell you the first sin the first sin was your Matthew Genesis chapter 3 when the devil's came in a form of a serpent in inside a serpent and spoke to the woman Genesis 3 1 Oh has God told you not to eat of the garden tree fruit from the any of the any of the tree of the garden and the woman began to converse with the serpent and the serpent had to discussion with even and Eve got tempted what was her first sin as soon as the serpent began to tell her to do something she should have told the serpent hey serpent God has given me an authority here standing next to me we read in verse 6 that Adam was standing right next to her he wasn't somewhere else in the garden right next to her Adam her husband is standing there she should have said you serpent God has given me an authority my husband let me ask him so the first sin committed in the universe in the human race rather was a lack of submission to authority she did not submit to the authority of Adam who was given to her as her head okay now what is the second sin the second sin was when Adam saw Eve talking to the serpent he did not intervene and said hey keep quiet don't talk to that serpent he did not exercise his authority as the head even though God had appointed him as the head of the home there are many husbands like that today who just allow their wives to do whatever they like and don't exercise authority as the head of the home and the wife takes over the home there are preachers who allow the wife to take over the church we read of one elder in the church in Thyatira in Revelation chapter 2 where the Lord has to say to the elder of the church in Thyatira you have allowed your woman to become a prophetess in your church she was the authority in that church Thyatira elder's wife you see that today also in some places and that brings chaos and confusion into a home and chaos and confusion into a church where a woman becomes the authority that's why Paul says I do not allow a woman to even speak in the church yeah many people don't understand that that is the second sin first was that Eve did not submit to authority in the second was Adam did not exercise his authority the third sin was that Eve took the fruit and ate it and the fourth one was that Adam also ate it so I hope you've understood that the first sin in the universe was a lack of submission to authority and the first sin in the human race was a lack of submission to authority and so Jesus in order to save us from the sin came and subjected himself to authority for 30 years to show us that is not a shameful thing to submit to imperfect authority to submit to perfect authority everybody can accept but to submit to imperfect authority Joseph and Mary Jesus the perfect person submitting imperfect authority that is why he had such a fantastic ministry of authority for three and a half years and that is where God will test every believer to see whether they will be subject to authority then they can have authority and that is why the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 13 to all believers Hebrews 13 it says unto all believers Hebrews 13 17 very important word for all believers if you're part of a local church please listen to this if you're a lone wanderer I have nothing to say to you you should belong to a church God doesn't want lone wanderers you should belong to a local church God is not gathering individual believers he's Jesus said I will build my church and church consists of number of believers who have come together you know it's two or three and it says in a church there must be a leader Hebrews 13 17 Hebrews 13 verse 17 obey your leaders and submit to them what is that authority submit to authority because those elders are watching over your souls one day it says here your elders in your local church will have to give will give an account for you to God listen to verse 13 some Hebrews 13 17 when you stand before the Lord in the final day he's going to call your elder of whichever church you belong to he say come here let me ask you about this this person here this this young man this young woman this brother this sister tell me did he submit to your authority and it says here let those elders be able to give an account for it for you in that day with joy and not with grief so that in that day when you stand before God for judgment the thing God is going to test is not whether you committed adultery or told lies first of all he's going to check did you submit to this authority because they will have to give an account for you and God calls the elder and said how did this brother behave in your church how did this sister behave and if they can do this with joy and the Lord can if they can say to the Lord he was such a wonderful brother and wonderful sister they submitted 100% to me as an elder then they can do it with joy but it says here in verse 17 they can also do it with grief where they can't tell a lie to the Lord they just say Lord I'm sorry to say they were a bit rebellious they thought too much of themselves and they wouldn't listen to me they thought they were very clever you know even if the elder is younger to you in age if God has put him as an authority you got to obey him Paul told Timothy in one Timothy 5 about dealing with some people are older than him treat them with respect but they had to submit to Timothy as the authority so this is not something we can take lightly because it says in the final day when you stand before the Lord he will check up with your elder how you how you behaved in church they will either do it with joy or with grief and if they're to do it with grief listen to this supposing the elder is going to say Lord I'm sorry to say they were pretty rebellious or they never had any respect for the eldership it will be unprofitable for you Hebrews 13 17 there the question is not that you have dirty thoughts or did you tell lies or did you steal money no those things will come later how did you relate to your elders so right from the beginning you see the principle of authority is so important so when you study scripture carefully we discover so many things which we would not have known otherwise it's wonderful God took me through 16 years of my Christian life being subject to imperfect authority in many churches I had a gift to speak and people were so jealous of that that they would not let me speak they would suppress me and the Lord said keep your mouth shut and I kept my mouth shut they accused me falsely and the Lord said keep your mouth shut I kept my mouth shut be under authority and I submitted to these imperfect elders in many churches for a number of years then one day God anointed me and gave me authority when I was 35 years old for 16 years I never had it I was just taught to be subject and to obey whether they did right or wrong I had to submit to authority and now when I I didn't understand it all but I knew that the Bible said I must submit to my elders so I did it and I'm very thankful and I want to encourage all of you you young people respect your parents be subject to them you brothers and sisters in churches be subject to your elders even if they are imperfect like Joseph and Mary if Jesus could subject himself to Joseph and Mary you better submit yourself to imperfect elders in your church and I'll tell you God will see that and the blessing of the Lord will be upon your life and one day he'll give you authority to you know let's pray bow your head for a moment and ask the Lord to show you and speak to you at least one thing that you learned from the meeting today say Lord please show me how you identified with the worst of sinners in Matthew's Gospel chapter 1 you see nothing to glory in identified with the worst of sinners in your genealogy and how you submitted to authority in your in your home how you broke that spirit of rebellion that was there in Lucifer and Adam and Eve Heavenly Father thank you for your word and so much in the scriptures little things that we don't see thank you the Holy Spirit comes to open our eyes help us to walk in the light you give us father I pray in Jesus name Amen thank you brothers and sisters for listening patiently God bless you