The Great Mystery of the Church

It's only in heaven that such wonderful gatherings will never come to an end, but here we have to part for a while, but we look forward to the coming of Christ and we will meet Him in the air. Make sure you join me in the air. Be sure that your sins are forgiven and you're walking with the Lord in the light.

In our last study, we looked at one great mystery. You remember that? 1 Timothy 3.16, great is the mystery of godliness. Mystery means a hidden secret of how to live a godly life and godly life means a Christ-like life.

It's a hidden secret how to live a Christ-like life and we saw that it is through the rending of the veil and the new and living way that Jesus made through the veil into the most holy place, into the presence of God and we can live there if we walk this new and living way every day, which is very simple. The rending of the veil symbolizes death to my self-will every day, every moment. That doesn't look so miserable.

It's like a doctor removing a cancer out of your body, cutting out and throwing it away. You're happy to do it. Self is like that.

Self is worse. Self-will is worse than any cancer. You should be delighted that you can put it to death and when you put it to death, it's replaced by the life of Christ.

So, when I give up my life, the self-life, the Holy Spirit gives me the life of Christ and if you find that some people have more of the life of Christ than others, as you do when you look around at believers, it's because they have consistently through the years put their self-life to death and always where there's a death to the self-life, there's a resurrection and the life of Christ comes in. So this is the way for us to go from now till the time Jesus comes again. And as we go this way, what will happen is more and more of the life of Christ begins to occupy our personality and it'll be more that people will see Jesus in us.

Your wife will see Jesus in you. Your husband will see Jesus in you. And just like children get promoted every year from one grade to the next to the next, it is God's will that every year we also get a promotion to a more Christ-like life, to a more Christ-like life.

In 1 John chapter 3, I want you to see what I'm saying here written in scripture. First episode of John chapter 3. What is the hope that we have? Many people say our hope is that we shall see Jesus face to face, but that's only half the hope. Do you know that? The full hope is 1 John chapter 3 verse 2. We will see Him, the last part, and we will be like Him.

Two things. Our hope is double. See the last part? We know that when He appears, when He comes back again, two things will happen.

We will see Him just as He is. We can't see Him now like that, but we will see Him just as He is and we will be like Him. Most of Christendom only thinks of, we will see Him.

You see how ignorant Christendom is of scripture. It's written there plain. Even people who say King James Version is the only Bible, it's written there too, whichever version you took.

We will see Him and we will be like Him and from today onwards, remember your hope is a double hope. And it's just as exciting for me that I'll be completely like Him because I'll tell you I'm sick and tired of what I received from Adam. That's why I'm delighted that one day I'll be completely like Christ.

Not just see Him. It'd be terribly disappointing if I see Him and I carry my wretched self-life into heaven. The blessed thing is that I will also be like Him.

So heaven is going to be glorious because the life of myself would have gone, the life of Christ will be there. Now how do I know, how do you know whether you have this hope in you? You say yes I do. If I ask you how many of you have this hope that you will see Him, you'd raise your hand and if you say now you learned also that you'll be like Him, you say yes.

But hang on. Don't say that so quickly. Read the next verse.

Every single person who really has this hope does something. That's the proof that you have this hope. He purifies himself until he reaches his standard of purity.

If you are doing that, you have this hope. Otherwise it's just empty knowledge in your mind. It won't change your life now, you'll be just the same.

And well, I hope you'll be raptured when Christ comes, I don't know. But if you purify yourself as He is pure, I can guarantee you will be raptured when Christ comes and we can meet you in the air. I want to meet all of you in the air when Christ comes.

And I want to do my part in my own life. I can't do it in your life. I can do it in my own life.

I can't even do it for my wife or my children. In my own life, I have to walk this new and living way of putting my self-life to death whenever it tries to come up and immediately God will replace it with the life of Christ. If we die with Him, we will live with Him, bearing in our body the dying of Jesus, 2 Corinthians 4.10, so that the life of Jesus will be manifest in us.

And that is how we partake of holiness. It's not a self-discipline and trying to deny this and deny that. No, it's seeing the way Jesus walked and running the race after Him.

Turn with me to Hebrews in chapter 12. First of all, Hebrews 11, verse 40. Hebrews 11 is a wonderful chapter, full of amazing miracles.

The Red Sea split open, the walls of Jericho falling down, dead people raised, lions' mouths shut, and so many wonderful things that people, an old 100-year-old man and 90-year-old woman getting a child, Abraham and Sarah. So many miracles in Hebrews chapter 11, lions being torn apart by Samson, all that. And then you think these are amazing miracles.

And then it says, this amazing verse in Hebrews 11, the last verse, Hebrews 11.40, God has provided something better for us in the new covenant. What is better than pulling down the walls of Jericho? What is better than splitting open the Red Sea? What is better than driving away 300 Philistines or tearing a lion to pieces? What is better than that? Do you believe there's something better than that? We are so earthly-minded, we think that killing 600 Philistines or tearing two lions to pieces. No, no, no, no, no.

That's not what is better. The better is that we can look unto Jesus, verse 2, run the race set before us, verse 1, and take up the cross, middle of verse 2, endure the cross, despise the shame, and one day sit down at the right hand of the throne of God along with Jesus. How many of you believe deep down in your heart that I would rather take up the cross every day and die to myself than split open the Red Sea, than pull down the walls of Jericho, than tear lions to pieces, or drive away an army of 300,000 people? No, something far better than that is that every day in the moment of temptation, I endure the cross, verse 2, despise the shame, and run the race looking unto Jesus.

That is Hebrews 11.40, the better thing that God has provided for us. Is there in your Bible? And if you have the habit of reading a chapter and stopping there, okay. But the next day when you read the next chapter, don't start with verse 1. A little bit of advice to you.

Whenever you read the Bible, it's all right to read one chapter a day, but when the next day, when you begin with the next chapter, go back to the two, three verses in the previous chapter, and then read it. Then you'll learn, you'll get some revelation. Because the chapter divisions were not made by the Holy Spirit.

It is made by man just for convenience, so that we can refer to a chapter and verse. So here there's a connection between verse 40 and chapter 12, verse 1 and 2. And you'll never understand it if you forget about verse 40. You read it yesterday, and today you start with chapter 12.

I could show you numerous verses in the Bible like that. Very. Go back to the previous verse and see if there's a connection.

So this is the way of the cross that we are called to walk, and it's a wonderful way. And I can testify to that after many, many years of going that way. It's a life of peace inwardly.

It's a life of freedom from anxiety and tension and fear. It's a life where even if you're very poor, God provides you all that you need. It's a life of overcoming.

It's a life of peace in the home, where your home has a foretaste of heaven. Can you think of heaven, what peace there is there? No angels fighting with each other, and no quarrels or shouting or yelling. Is your home a foretaste of heaven? It should be, if Christ has come and is Lord.

The thing is in heaven, Christ is Lord. They all worship him. And any home on earth where Christ is worshiped and he's Lord, where both husband and wife have accepted Christ as Lord, it will be a foretaste of heaven, and that is the best atmosphere in which you can bring up your children.

All the wealth of the millionaires is not good enough for our children. They must have the atmosphere of heaven, which does not come with a lot of money. It comes through taking up the cross every day.

This is the secret, the mystery of godliness, of living a godly life. Christ came in the flesh, was tempted in every area as he was, as we are. So whenever you're tempted in any area, whatever it is, say, Lord Jesus, you were tempted exactly like this.

Many times when I'm tempted, I say that based on Hebrews 4.15. He was tempted in every point as we are, yet without sin. So whenever I'm tempted with some strong temptation, thought, inner attitude, or word, or any type of temptation, I look up and say, Lord Jesus, you were tempted exactly like this when you were on earth. I want to react to this the way you reacted.

You had the Holy Spirit in you. You've given me the Holy Spirit. Give me the power of the Spirit to put this thing to death.

If you, through the Spirit, put to death the deeds of the body, it says you will live in Romans 8. That's the way we want to go all our life. And God does not want us to be alone in this. You know, in the Old Testament, if you notice, that all the Old Testament prophets were lone people.

Noah, Moses. They were lone people. Only Moses would go up the mountain alone.

Nobody else could go with him. Joshua, the leader. David, the king.

Elijah, one prophet. Elisha. You know, there was another prophet also in the time of Jeremiah, but you never see them working together.

Jeremiah was alone. The other prophet was working somewhere else. You never see two prophets working together.

Except as you come towards the end of the Old Testament and as a foretaste of the New Covenant, Haggai and Zechariah were about the same time. But we don't even know whether they worked together. But as soon as you turn the pages of the New Testament, you see a difference? Turn to Luke chapter 10.

Luke chapter 10. After this, verse 1, the Lord appointed 70 others and he sent them two by two. Not alone.

As soon as you open the New Testament and Jesus Ministries begins, he never sends out any of his servants alone. He sends them with another two by two to go ahead of him to every city and place where he himself was going to come. Now apply that to today.

Every city and place in the world where Jesus is one day going to come, he's sending people out two by two now. When our church started in CFC 51 years ago, there were two of us, only two, and our families. Then God added, we've discovered through the years that there's always two in leadership.

That is why we have never practiced this unscriptural practice of having one pastor leading a church. You never read that in the New Testament. You're going back to the old covenant before Christ.

I don't want to live in BC, which is before Christ. We live in AD, which means the year of the Lord. I know, Dominic, the year of the Lord.

And in the year of the Lord, always leadership is two by two, is two people minimum together. Now you may say that's a small thing. Well, if you call something that God has determined a small thing, a complete change from the Old Testament pattern of a single prophet to two people.

It's not only here. When God wanted to send servants out in the first missionary journey started in Acts chapter 13, God had called Saul and renamed him Paul, and he was going to send him. But Paul, you can't go alone.

You may be a mighty anointed servant of God who's got a wonderful knowledge of scripture, but you cannot go alone. You need somebody else. And so we read in Acts 13 verse 2. He said, separate me Barnabas and Saul.

And you saw how the devil brought a division between them later on. God had said, set apart Barnabas and me for the work to which I have called them. And there was a big work ahead of them.

And they went out together. But it says here when they went out, you read here that they took John verse 5, Acts 13, 5. They took John Mark as their helper. God had not called John Mark, but John Mark was a relative.

I don't know whether a cousin or a nephew of Barnabas. And Barnabas said, maybe he said, Uncle Barnabas, I'd like to come with you. I'm also accepted Christ.

And without seeking the will of God, they added John Mark, and he was the cause of the problem later on. Because later on when they went into Paphos in verse 6, there was a magician there, verse 8, who was opposing them and Saul, filled with the Holy Spirit, spoke to the magician and said, You, full of all deceit and fraud, Acts 13, 10, you enemy of all unrighteousness, the hand of the Lord is upon you, you'll be blind and you won't see the sun for a season. And he became blind.

And that led the pro-council to faith. But you know what happened? John Mark saw all this and got scared and left. That's the problem.

When you call somebody to join you, God is not called, just because he's your relative. This has happened in Christendom. One of the warnings Paul told Timothy, I don't have time to show it to you in 1 Timothy 5, is do nothing with partiality.

Partiality is a terrible sin practiced by many Christians. They want their cousin or nephew to join them in the excitement of Christian work. God has not called them.

There are very few Christians who say, I will not bring my relative or friend or brother or anyone into this ministry if you have not called them. Very few, most people, most Christians, even Christian leaders are partial. They want to promote people who are their relatives, who are not anointed, who are not called.

And so that is not the end of the story. You find later on in Acts 15 when they came back and they could report wonderful things. Churches had been planted, a wonderful work had been done when they obeyed, when God said, separate me Saul and Barnabas for my work.

They went out together and under the anointing of the Spirit, they planted churches. Then after some time, Paul said, let's go and return, Acts 15 verse 36. Let us go once again and visit these churches again and encourage them, teaching us that just because some people have been evangelized, doesn't mean we forget about them and say, there's still the rest of the world to be reached.

We have to reach them also. That's what a lot of people say. This area has already been reached.

Churches have been planted. So let's move over there. That is not the plan of the Holy Spirit.

These people who are brought to Christ have to be built up. Otherwise, you'll be like a lot of evangelists today who bring thousands of people somewhere to Christ. And then that's all, goodbye.

Now I have to go somewhere else. Paul and Barnabas did not do that. And you ask some of these evangelists today, where are those people whom you brought to Christ? Where are those babies? They say, I don't know.

I hope they join some church. It's like a mother giving birth to twins or triplets. And you ask the mother, where are those babies? I don't know.

I just left them on the road. I hope somebody picked them up. That is the type of evangelism going on today.

But it was not done by Paul and Barnabas. They said, let us go back, verse 36, 1536. Hey, Paul, go back.

What about all the rest of the world that needs to be evangelized? What about India, China, and all the other places? You're going to go back to these places where church is already established. Yes. That is God's plan.

Let us go back and see how it's going. Because the babies have to be nurtured and brought up. Isn't that how you do with a baby? You can't just give birth to a baby and wander off and go somewhere else.

That baby has to grow up and become a mature child and that you take care of them. And at that point, again, John Mark causes the problem. Barnabas said, we want to take John again with us.

John called Mark, verse 37. And Barnabas, Paul insisted they should not take him, verse 38. We cannot take this fellow who dropped out halfway just because he saw somebody being delivered from a demon.

He got scared and left. We don't want him to cause trouble again. Just because he's your relative, Barnabas, we don't want to take him.

But Barnabas said, oh, what was he saying? I love my relative more than I love the call of God. Oh, dear. And they had such a fight.

Can you read this? Two people called by God. It's happened again and again in 2,000 years of Christianity. Two people called by God.

They won't get along together. They fight. And the disagreement was so sharp, verse 39, that they separated.

Were they walking the new and living way? Not at all. Was Barnabas denying himself and saying, okay, I don't want to take my relative. Lord, you said Paul and Barnabas.

You didn't say Paul and Barnabas and John Mark, no. We'll go by your word. Barnabas did not say that.

And so they separated, it says in verse 39. And Paul chose Silas, verse 40, and went on to a tremendous ministry, as you read on the chapters, and you never read about Barnabas again in the Acts of the Apostles. But you read about Paul all the time.

What do you learn from that? A lesson for yourself. Don't favor your relatives. Hear God and follow his way.

I've done that. I've never allowed any relative of mine to have any place. I know I remember the early days, some of my relatives wanted to come in.

Some of my wife's relatives wanted to come to a church and become elders. I said, never. I would never let you be.

They got offended. Not only got offended, they turned against me. All types of problems, I don't want to talk about it.

What I say is, if you're serious about going on from individually walking the way, the next step is to build a church. Are you following the Lord yourself? Don't be happy with that. You don't end your life with just yourself.

You should have a fellowship with a local church where you are. Even if it's a single person, God has called you to unite you with one other person. Paul was converted alone, in that house where the Holy Spirit met with him and he got converted.

And one day, he went on for some years, and the time came when God added Barnabas to him. Barnabas also was all alone. But God added Paul and Barnabas and God's work went on because that's the beginning of a church.

I'll tell you why. Because it says in Matthew Chapter 18, today is the day of individualistic Christianity. One pastor leading a church.

But see here in Matthew's Gospel in Chapter 18, Verse 20. You all know this verse. See it in the context that I'm just speaking now.

Where two or three, minimum is two. Let's say two. Where two people have gathered in my name, I'm in the midst.

That is the definition of a church. A church doesn't need 2,000 or 20,000. It begins with two.

Like a husband and wife. The beginning of a church. Because there Jesus is in the midst.

But those two must be united. They must not be in strife with each other. It's not just two people saying we believe in Jesus.

Gathered, now read carefully. Very often people read carelessly, and I'll tell you how people read Verse 20 carelessly. Where two or three gathered together in my name.

No! It does not say where two or three gathered together in my name. That's what I've heard people sometimes. They come together and they say, Lord, you said where two or three gathered together in my name.

I say, no, the Lord never said that. The Lord said where two to three are gathered. Gathered means somebody else did it, the Holy Spirit.

So it's not just two people saying, okay, let's gather together in Jesus' name. That's not a church. It's where two people or 200 people are gathered together with the Holy Spirit.

Plain English teaches you gathered means somebody else did it. It's not just two people deciding to meet together. These are the small, small areas where people read the Bible carelessly, and they don't experience God's promises.

I want to encourage you, my brother, sister, my brothers and sisters who are downstairs, please read God's word carefully. Every word is important. There's a difference between gathering together and being gathered together by the Holy Spirit.

I guarantee if the Holy Spirit gathers even two or three, there'll be a church there. You gather 200 people, there will not be a church. It'll be a congregation just like the Old Testament congregation where there's strife and fighting.

Israel was a congregation. They were not a church. They gathered together and came out.

It doesn't matter if there's 600,000 people. But where two are gathered together, and that is the next step after we come to an individual holy life. What is the next great mystery? I told you there are two great mysteries.

One is the great mystery of how to live a godly life. 1 Timothy 3.16, and the Lord showed us that is through the Holy Spirit leading us the way of self-denial, rending the veil, getting into God's presence where there's fullness of joy. The second great mystery is mentioned in Ephesians 5. There are only two great mysteries mentioned in the New Testament.

One is the mystery of how to live a godly life following in Jesus' footsteps. And the other is in Ephesians 5.32. Let's read from verse 31. He's talking about marriage.

This reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. What's that referring to? A man leaves his father and mother and joined to his wife, and the two become one flesh. That's marriage.

And the Holy Spirit says, I'm talking about something else. The marriage is only a picture of a great mystery. Verse 32, this mystery is great, and I'm not speaking about a husband and wife here.

I'm speaking about Christ and his bride. The church. And when it says the man leaves his father, Christ left his father and came to earth.

What for? To be married to a bride. This is a great mystery. The church as the bride of Jesus Christ and the body of Jesus Christ.

It's a mystery. Built together as one body. It's not two, three different women there.

It's one wife married to one man. Christ came and married the body. And that's why the Holy Spirit had to come.

There were 120 people meeting on the day of Pentecost, praying and waiting on. Think of them as 120 pieces of iron, solid iron devoted to Jesus Christ. That's iron.

But they were not united. So the Holy Spirit, the baptism of fire is like throwing all those 120 pieces into the fire and they came out as one piece. That's what happened on the day of Pentecost.

That is the bride of Christ. 120 people becoming one. Because each of them is walking the way of the cross.

That's the only type of church I want to build. Everything else is a waste of time. The rest is a congregation.

I never in my life want to build a congregation. Because that's old covenant. Israel was a congregation.

The church is a body. Christ is the head and they've worked together. There are differences.

My left hand and right hand are completely opposite of each other. But they've never clashed. They never fight with each other.

Imagine, 86 years these two have never fought with each other. Can you have a testimony like that in your local church? Even though they are completely different opposites. But they always work together.

That is a picture of the church. And different parts of the body. All so different from each other but working together, working together.

This is the only type of church worth building. And I'd rather have a church of 12 people like Jesus had disciples than a church of 1,200 who all fight and quarrel and don't agree with each other. You don't understand what the church is.

Church is not numbers. The emphasis very often is let's get people converted and take them to heaven. Where do we read that in the New Testament? Where do we read Jesus saying go and convert people and bring them to heaven? No.

He said, I will build my church. Matthew 16 and verse 18. People haven't read the New Testament properly.

Or they read it, they don't meditate on it. What did Jesus come to earth to do? Matthew 16 verse 18, I will build my church. And the gates of hell, that is the powers of hell, will not be able to overpower it.

The powers of hell will be able to over a congregation. Even if there are 600,000 like the Israelites, the powers of hell will overcome it. But when I build my church as a body of Christ, the powers of hell will not be able to overpower it.

Why do we find churches today splitting, dividing the leaders themselves, fighting with each other and going to court and all that? Is that the church of Jesus Christ? Not at all. That may be a congregation like the Old Testament congregation. They believe in Jesus.

It's not the church of Jesus Christ. I never want to be associated with any group like that. The church of Jesus Christ is a body where they're not perfect.

As we read in 1 John 3, we have a hope that one day we will be like him. But while we are pursuing that path of trying to be like him, we work together, function together. And we don't let some relative, like Barnabas, who brought his relative in and showed partiality.

That brings confusion. That is exactly what is happening in many, many churches. I don't know if any of you are committing the terrible sin of showing partiality to your relatives.

See what Paul told Timothy. Timothy worked with Paul for many, many years. I want you to turn to 1 Timothy chapter 5. Timothy worked with Paul for many, many years.

He was his closest co-worker. He was like his son. I think Paul must have been about 40, and Timothy must have been about 20 when they began to work together.

And he found this young man so zealous and wholehearted. Remember, Timothy had a father who was an unbeliever. His mother single-handedly brought him up to be a godly young man, and Paul chose him.

Imagine the apostle Paul choosing a co-worker who's 20 years old. I take my hats off to that mother. Her name was Eunice.

Anyway, after working with Paul for many years, Paul writes a letter to Timothy, 1 Timothy 5. And he says, I solemnly charge you. Now, everything in God's Word is a solemn charge. But see how he says this in 1 Timothy 5 verse 21.

Read this verse. I solemnly charge you in the presence of God, in the presence of Christ Jesus, in the presence of His holy chosen angels. Isn't everything written in the presence of God and Christ Jesus? Yes.

Why emphasize this? Because it's a very, very important command. I solemnly charge you in the presence of God, in the presence of Jesus Christ, in the presence of His chosen angels. What is this important thing Paul is saying? Don't do anything with a spirit of partiality.

Timothy, you remember what happened with John Mark and the partiality that Barnabas showed to John Mark. Learn a lesson from that. And don't do anything in a spirit of partiality.

I say to you in the presence of God, in the presence of Jesus Christ, in the presence of the chosen angels, I solemnly charge you. And this is after he had worked with Timothy for 20 years. He's still telling him this.

So don't lay hands on somebody and make him an elder or call John Mark and lay hands on him and say, you join us in the ministry. You will be responsible for his sin. This is the tragedy of so much of Christian work today.

I'm not saying that one should not call a relative. You know that James and John were the first cousins of Jesus? He was not disturbed that he chose them to be his disciples. It may be your first cousin, but if he's wholehearted, I'm blind to relationship.

He's just like a stranger. It may be my brother, my son or cousin or anything, but if he's wholehearted, relationship doesn't matter. That's the point.

People could have criticized Jesus. Hey, Jesus, you're calling your mother's sisters, two children, James and John, to be your disciples. People can say what they like.

Time showed how zealous they were, both of them. So, but be careful that nothing is done with the spirit of partiality. The church is built by people who are walking the new and living way and it's got nothing to do with human relationships.

And I mentioned this again and again and again because it could be possible. There are folks sitting here where you're trying to build a church and you're trying to show favoritism to human relationships. You will destroy the work of God.

Learn from the example of Paul and Barnabas and Barnabas calling one of his relatives. But if we gather together, say, Lord, bring together those who are walking this way. I told you that CFC Bangalore started 51 years ago with two of us brought together.

And let me tell you, we work, he, I mean, my brother, he went to be with the Lord last year. But in all the 50 years that we worked together, let me tell you my testimony before the Lord. Who's listening to me right now? We never broke fellowship even for a single day or a single minute in those 50 years that we were together.

We had disagreements but we never broke fellowship. If there were disagreements, he said, okay, brother, let's see how we should proceed further. Should we modify something? Go your way or my way or somewhere in between.

But we will not break fellowship because this is the work of God. And just like the two hands, as I said, they're opposites. And the brother I worked with, he was very different from me.

He was opposite of mine in many ways. His calling and his ministry was very different. He was not like me.

You know, the Bible says that the glory of God, the church is a place where the glory of God must be seen. That is, you know, in the Old Testament, I mentioned the other day that when Moses did everything according to God's will in Exodus 40, the glory of God came upon him. And that's how it should be in a church.

In a true church, not a visible glory but the manifest glory of God in the presence of the people there. How is the glory of God seen today? In the Old Testament, it was seen with a pillar of cloud or fire. That was the glory of God.

Today, let me show you the glory of God. It's not by these visible things. Turn with me to John's Gospel chapter 1 and verse 14.

This is how the glory of God is seen today and this is how the Old Testament it was a pillar of fire on top of the tabernacle. Here, this is the glory of God that must be seen in a church. I'm saying this to I hope many of you will build churches in your localities.

I hope you will not show partiality to your relatives or friends. I hope you will ask the Lord to lead you to someone whom He has called to work with you. And then, here's the glory of God John 1, 14.

In the New Testament the way the glory of God is seen not a pillar of cloud or fire. The glory of God the word became flesh, verse 14 Jesus Christ is the word and the church is the body of Christ. And here is when Christ dwelt among us we saw His glory and it was not a pillar of cloud or fire on top of Jesus.

The glory was seen full of grace and truth. That is how the glory of God is seen in a church today. That is the equivalent of the Old Testament pillar of fire cloud and fire on top of the tabernacle.

Today it is grace and truth. And so, you may find that God brings two people together and one may emphasize grace and the other emphasizes truth that can be very opposite but they work together because you see that's the only way the glory of God is to be seen and that's exactly when I think of my co-worker who worked with me for 50 years Yeah, he was a very gracious type of person, always counseling people and encouraging them and I was truth and truth can be very hard and stiff and if you heard me you know when I was called, I'll tell you something when I was called I'll tell you the chapter from which God called me, Isaiah 49 I remember the day in my first Bible I wrote it down 6th of May 1964 that is the day God called me, nearly 62 years and maybe He did not let me go for 2 years but finally He let me go and I was reading my Bible and I came to this chapter yes, it was my regular next chapter, I read chapter by chapter and I was sitting in a train, traveling from some ministry and this is my passage and I read here Isaiah 49 verse 1 The Lord has called me from the womb of my mother from the body of my mother He named me and He has made my mouth like a sharp sword I didn't pay much attention to that but as I've looked through my ministry in the last 50 years I found that my ministry has been like a sword, it's not been the comforting ministry of grace and patting people on the back and encouraging them, that's needed so God gave me a co-worker whose mouth was not like a sword and we worked together and then He said not just a sword He said He's made me like a sharp arrow sword and arrow, it's one type of ministry, it pokes it hurts but it's like the knife of the surgeon removing the cancer and God has kept me in that ministry for 50 years and never changed my ministry there are others around me who do the grace part I have to do the truth part the grace part makes you popular the truth part will make you unpopular the Lord says are you willing? I say yes I'm willing but I will not work alone because I recognize and all through our ministry I recognize the need of that brother He recognized the need of me and I recognized the need of him and we saw that grace and truth built our church and it's been going for 50 years in Bangalore and God's raised up other elders and now it's grown to about 700 people there alone and growing forward in unity at every stage God raised up elders who have the same balance and even today there are 4 elders and I see the same balance of grace and truth this is how the church will grow so if you happen to be on one side of this grace and truth you need someone who will balance you the other way and if you get somebody exactly like you I guarantee you'll never build a church he must be exactly like you in your devotion to Christ that's true that brother was exactly like me in his devotion to Christ and sacrifice and everything else but his ministry was exactly opposite because we are building the body and you look at the human body there are bones stiff unbendable that's truth grace the flesh, soft grace flesh and bones if you had only bones try walking up to somebody if you were only bones a church which is like a skeleton it'll drive everybody away or a church which is only flesh won't even be able to stand without bones you'll collapse to the ground just a bunch of flesh you can't build a body but God has made the body with bones and flesh truth and grace truth inflexible absolutely inflexible people try to bend it you can't bend it, strong bone and people have tried to bend us through the years why should you be so strict brother why should you be so strict about asking all sisters to wail their heads you can say what you like brother there are a thousand other churches where sisters don't wail their heads but in this church we obey even the smallest command of scripture doesn't that sound a bit being stubborn yes the bones are pretty stubborn they won't bend that's how we build the body of Christ that's how this body God built the body like that and we try to modify that and say have a gentleness which is not from Christ Jesus was very gentle here's a proof of it there was a woman caught in adultery you know the story John chapter 8 and the Pharisees brought her and said Moses commanded that this woman should be stoned to death because she committed adultery they didn't know that the person sitting there, Jesus was the one who gave that command to Moses from heaven 1500 years ago they were telling Jesus that this is what Moses commanded and Jesus could have said hey I only gave Moses that command what should Jesus do he who was strict about keeping the law a law he himself gave from heaven to Moses Jesus was human he had to think father what should I say here that's why he was you know scribbling on the mud at that time in John chapter 8 and then he got a word from the father he never spoke till he got a word from the father he who is without sin cast the first stone and it says from the oldest onwards they left one by one if any of them had pretended I have no son sin you know what would have happened Jesus would have made a list of all the sins in that man's life they knew that so I say we don't want Jesus to expose all my sins I better go away and they all left but there was still one man left who had no sin in him and Jesus said he who is without sin throw the first stone he had already modified one command that is woman should be stoned to adultery and sent them all away and here is the second command he who is without sin cast the first stone and he didn't do it that is grace and truth he could discern this woman is thoroughly repentant and you and I can't discern he had discernment some prostitutes are not discerned are not repentant but Jesus saw this woman as thoroughly repentant and he said God never punishes a repentant sinner other people can misunderstand what they like he said woman has nobody condemned you I don't condemn you but he didn't stop there he said don't sin again those were his last words read that in John chapter 8 grace and truth don't sin again very firm but I don't condemn you grace and truth Jesus ministry was always like that throughout his life he manifested grace and truth and today it's not Jesus it's a body and in a church grace and truth must be manifested together inflexible bones but covered over with flesh so that when you shake somebody's hand a stranger comes to the church I'm using an illustration he doesn't feel bones he feels a soft flesh but underneath that flesh is a firm inflexible truth that the church stands for this is the type of church we sought to build and we want to build in every place grace and truth and if you see that God will add to your church people who are like bones and people who are like flesh and they can work together and you will see Christ building the church again in your town in this time a body a great mystery how can grace and truth work together how can this hard rigid person who's mouth is like a sword and who's like an arrow work with this person who's so gentle and gracious exact opposite almost but they work together and I work together with people like that for years and you see now God raising up many churches with people who have the same balance of grace and truth so if you are we all are imbalanced in one direction I seek to be gracious in many many situations but I realize my strong point is truth and the brother who worked with me he also sought to be stand up for the truth many times but his strong point was grace so it's not that we are all grace or all truth none of us are like that we have grace and truth but we have a stronger emphasis in one direction it has to be like that so that you can work with another brother who's got a stronger emphasis in another direction and together you work together if you can work with a person who's different from you and not clash with them see why has God made this hand exact opposite of this hand here the thumb is on the left and here the thumb is on the right exact opposites that's how the hands come together have you thought of that that's how God works in the church the body is a picture of the church but the reason they work together this chant doesn't say hey listen you are the opposite of me I can't work with you that's how a lot of people say but if they are both submitted to their head Christ he controls it and they work wonderful things you can do with both hands working together even though they are exact opposite that is a parable of how the church is to be built and this is a great mystery let's turn back to that word in Ephesians 5 this is a great mystery Ephesians 5 32 when I'm speaking about Christ and the church becoming one flesh 31 a man leaves his father and he says I'm referring verse 32 Christ and the church Christ left the father and the two will become one flesh Christ becomes one flesh with me as his bride and I work on earth as his bride and that is how the church is built I believe God wants to see many local churches built in many parts of the world but churches that manifest this balance and no one man can do it alone nobody Jesus is the only one who could do it alone on earth manifesting grace and truth perfectly but ever afterwards it's always been minimum of two he sent people out two by two Paul said Paul you may be a wonderful brother but you need Barnabas and if Barnabas goes away you need somebody else Silas and Timothy and then when Paul established churches when Paul planted churches what did he do there turn with me to Acts chapter 14 you know this is the New Testament pattern in the New Testament pattern when he established a church it says in Acts chapter 14 and verse 23 they appointed elders they did not appoint a pastor they did not appoint one man to lead the church that is going leading the church back to the old covenant ah Moses I'm going now what shall I do I'll appoint one man Joshua he will take over that's how it was in the Old Testament David was underway he appointed Solomon Old Testament was like that one man that's why there was so many problems in the Old Testament there was confusion and chaos till God closed down that old covenant completely and in the new covenant he started sending people two by two and Paul understood that so in every church it says verse 23 every single church he did not appoint a pastor he appointed elders who could manifest grace and truth but time has moved on you know how we saw baptism today few hundred years after Christ they converted that baptism into a child baptism by the time 300 AD or even before that Jesus said children are like the kingdom of God so let's sprinkle this child and call it you know baptism means immersion not sprinkling but they sprinkled that child oh that's good enough how the word of God was modified, modified, modified through the years and some churches I think the cattle church they dipped the wafer into the wine and you have that Jesus gave them the bread and wine separately but here the priest swipes all the wine and gives all these tasteless wafers to people why all this change? Is this Christianity? Modification, modification modification of God's law yeah it's a pathetic thing why do I speak strongly when Jesus saw many people don't speak so hard be a little soft people will turn away I think of Jesus he saw people making money in the name of religion in the temple what were they doing? Selling doves, sheep etc they were helping people you don't have to go to the marketplace to bring those sheep and goats that you have to sacrifice it's a long, many miles away the marketplace in Jerusalem to the temple we offer it to you here goats, sheep, whatever you want the charge is a little higher I understand that but we have to get our commission otherwise how can we do it here if you go there you will get it cheaper but it's easier here of course we make a little money through it they were making a lot of money through it because these poor people had to buy it from them they could charge whatever rate they had because they had a monopoly on who runs this business here and I'm sure the priest in the temple got a little commission from them otherwise the priest wouldn't have allowed that and Jesus saw this and have you read in John chapter 2 he told his listen to this, read it in John chapter 2 he told his disciples, go and get some string go and get some thick string and it says Jesus sat there it's an amazing word, I don't know whether you noticed it he sat on the steps there and he took these bits of string that thick string that the disciples brought and it says in verse John 2 15, he made twisted it, twisted it, twisted it and made it into a thick scourge of cords he made it, he didn't go to the marketplace and buy a rope, he sat there and made it and the disciples were wondering what's the Lord doing what's this for twisted it and then he drove the people out of the temple and said get out of here, don't make my father's house a place of business and I'm sure some gentle believers like we have today if they were there then they would have patted Jesus on the back and said Lord don't get excited, don't get excited, calm down they would have told Jesus to calm down perhaps some of you who feel some preachers in this pulpit are very strong, would tell Jesus calm down, I've had people tell me calm down I'm not surprised they would have told Jesus to calm down and it says he turned the money changers tables and the coins all started pouring out here and there he overturned the tables, verse 15 and the coins all started flying around and I'm sure the children started laughing and enjoying it and some people would have gone and tapped on the back, Lord there's a better way to do it, just tell them to collect the coin and go away, why this turning the tables over and pushing over there are many people who would give advice even to Jesus don't do it like that I'm sure if some of you were there you would have told Jesus that because you don't know the Lord you don't know that God and money are opposites you cannot mix oil and water, oil is good, you put it in your car, water is good to drink, when it's mixed you cannot drink it, you cannot use it in your car either, that's the problem Jesus decided to keep oil and water separate God and money separate where are the churches today where people keep it separate where are the elders who determine to keep God and money separate I've looked for them very rarely we find them we got a few of them who are now leading our churches but it's very rare what are today's preachers and so called evangelists doing I need a private jet to be able to travel have you heard that on television famous preachers I can't afford to stand in the line at the airport and get in those planes, it takes a lot of time and one of them even said there are demons in those planes he said I got to have my own private plane to be able to go here and there to preach the gospel please supply the money, they pass the offering background, etc you know I saw this in India this American evangelist on television in India saying to poor Indian people who earn 1% of what people earn here give some money for me to buy a plane to travel I saw that I felt exactly like Jesus taking a scourge of course and whipping that fellow out of India I'll tell you the church would have been much purer if we had a few more people with that spirit of Christ we are determined in our churches to keep the standard where Jesus set it and if it offends people so be it if people leave our churches, go away it doesn't matter we are not looking for numbers we are looking for quality looking for the standard of Christ in our church and I say this in closing because you heard some wonderful things here and say oh it's great to have a church like that but here's the price you have to pay and so I want to warn you about that before you go away okay let me conclude by reminding you of what I said yesterday in your personal life what happens on the cross do you remember the four things I said yesterday our sins are forgiven number one our old man was crucified with Christ so that we need not serve sin thirdly the devil was defeated on that same cross when he died and fourth Jesus became a curse on that cross so that you and I can be a blessing to everybody we meet let's thank the Lord for that and as I thank the Lord I want you to join me in your mind and say join me and say we want to thank you Lord for doing this let's bow in prayer if you say silently amen in your heart the Lord will hear it Lord Jesus thank you for dying for me on the cross and for giving all my sin so that it's all blotted out you say amen to that thank you Lord for crucifying my old man with you on the cross so that I might not serve sin again thank you for doing that you say amen to that thank you Lord for defeating the devil once and for all crushing the serpent's head so that he cannot touch me he cannot touch my family he cannot touch my church he cannot do anything in our life thank you for defeating satan once and for all and we give the word of our testimony to satan satan you've been defeated on the cross you cannot touch us you say amen to that and Lord Jesus above all thank you for becoming a curse I don't know all that involved in that that you became a curse so that we might be a blessing Lord make us a blessing as we go away from here to every place we go for the rest of our life till we see you again make us a blessing to other people in every place that's why you became a curse we don't want to disappoint you amen thank you Father for these dear brothers and sisters who long to build the church of Jesus Christ please give them their heart's desire help them to be willing to pay the price knowing that the reward in heaven will be great thank you Father for every single brother and every single sister here we pray that you've got a wonderful plan that's why you brought them here and help them not to be discouraged when they find they have to pay the price because you will stand by them and you'll do a work that will last for all eternity we believe you're here Lord Jesus you're not in heaven you're here right now in our midst you heard all that we've spoken in these past 2-3 days and I pray that all of us here will respond as we did just now in your presence thank you Lord we thank you for every brother and sister here we glorify you Father for the work you're doing even here in the United States in these days in Jesus name Amen