You Must Be Born Again

I praise the Lord for another opportunity to share the word of God. The last couple of days, I have been burdened about those in our midst who have probably first of all grown up as little children in the church and have now come to an age of understanding and probably have only heard about overcoming sin and building the body of Christ and many wonderful truths that belong to the superstructure of the Christian life. And it is possible that many of them who have grown up in our midst as children have never understood the simple way of salvation.

And that is also possible for many others who have come here, challenged to hear messages that urge them to live a holy life, but who may not be having a good foundation. I have seen through the years that many Christians years later when they have problems in their life, the reason is there was never a good foundation laid at the beginning. So I want to make sure that everybody here at least has the opportunity to hear clearly what the way of salvation is that God has prepared for us in Christ.

And for those of you who already know it, you probably know how to explain it to others because it is our responsibility if we have received the good news to share it with others. It's like if we're all like people going through a desert and if we find water somewhere, we shouldn't keep it to ourselves. We must pass it on to other thirsty people around us, not force it down their throat.

There's no such thing as forced conversion because God gave man a free will and anything that's forced is never acceptable to God. So we can only offer the good news, the water of life. And if people say, no, this is poisonous, we don't want it, well, so be it.

We don't force anyone to take it. But it is our responsibility or to use another illustration. If I had a very serious sickness and there's not generally a cure available for it anywhere, but I happened to find a cure that cured me completely, what should I do when I meet another person who's got the same sickness? Shouldn't I tell him, there's a place over there where you can get medicine free, you don't have to pay for it, it's absolutely free, cured me completely.

And if he says, well, I don't believe you, okay, so be it. We don't force anyone. But we would certainly do that if he found water in a desert or if he met somebody who had a sickness like we had and we were healed.

Why aren't we so eager to share the gospel with others? I think it is because we don't realize the eternal consequences of rejecting Christ. Let me show you, therefore, a few verses. First of all, in Acts of the Apostles in Chapter 4. In Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 4, when Peter was preaching and filled with the Holy Spirit.

So, you know, there are some things that Peter said which were a bit foolish, like he denied the Lord. But here, what he said is introduced with this statement in Acts 4, verse 8, Peter filled with the Holy Spirit. This was not the old Peter speaking.

This was Peter filled means controlled by the Holy Spirit. You can say the Spirit-filled life is a Holy Spirit-controlled life. That's why I don't believe in people who talk about one experience of being filled with the Spirit years ago.

The Holy Spirit is not controlling our life today, our words, our thoughts, our actions. We are fooling ourselves that we are Spirit-filled. Then Peter filled with the Holy Spirit, spoke to the rulers and said, in verse 12, There is salvation in no one else except Jesus Christ.

There is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved. And he mentioned that name in verse 10, as the name of Jesus Christ, the Nazarene whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead. That is the only name in which there is salvation.

People can call us narrow-minded, dogmatic, stubborn. It doesn't matter. This is what I believed, which changed my life 54 years ago and I've never changed my view on it.

Right from my kindergarten days, I believed 2 plus 2 was 4. I've never changed my view on that. If people say it's 5 or 3 or 3.9 or 4.01, I say, you can believe what you like, but to me 2 plus 2 is 4. Truth is pretty narrow-minded. Remember that.

If you studied chemistry, H2 plus O is water. It's not H2 plus O2, it's H2 plus O is water. There's no other way.

Truth is very narrow-minded. And people ask us why we are narrow-minded, I say, because it's the truth. There are a lot of other things where you can be broad-minded, you can wear whatever color shirt you like, there's no rule on that, or you can live in whatever type of house you like, but when it comes to truth, 2 plus 2 is 4. Two parts of hydrogen plus one part of oxygen is water.

And there is no other name but the name of Jesus Christ by which any human being in all human history is ever going to be saved. Those who lived before Christ look forward to the death of Christ, who never saw him die. We also never saw him die.

We look back to the death of Christ, but salvation comes only through that name. It's very important for us to understand that. And the great mysteries of how God will deal with those who never heard about Christ, it's too big for my small mind.

And I'll tell you, it's too big for your small mind also. Let's leave that to God. He is more fair and righteous and upright than the most honest upright judge in the world.

So you can be pretty sure he'll do it right. We don't have to find the answer to that. I believe in a just and an upright God, but you are not like that.

You have heard that name. There is only one name. And Jesus also said that in John 14, verse 6. It's a simple truth, but sometimes we forget it.

Jesus said in John 14, 6, I am the way. Not one of the ways, like many people like to say. Many ways to one God, sorry.

I am the way. No one, no one comes to the Father except through me. I've had, when I'm witness to non-Christians, they've asked me, why are you so narrow-minded? Why don't you accept that all our ways to one God? And I asked them this question.

Let me ask you, do you believe the Lord Jesus Christ was a liar? Do you want me to call the Lord Jesus Christ a liar? They say, oh, no, no, no, we don't want you to do that. Well, let me tell you what Jesus Christ said. I am the way.

No one comes to the Father but through me. Either he's a liar, or we are ignorant. He was not ignorant.

Let me show you another verse. It's not just stray verses throughout scripture. It says one single thing.

In John chapter 10, verse 7, truly I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me were thieves and robbers. It's a pretty strong statement to make.

All who came before me and pretended to be the door were liars. I'm the door. If anyone enters, verse 9, through me, he will be saved.

And verse 1, he who does not enter by the door into the fold but tries to climb up some other way, some other way, and there are many other ways, he's a thief and a robber. Those are pretty strong statements. And let me turn you now to Revelation and chapter 20.

It's very important all of us understand what our church stands for. We don't deviate from the truth that has been proclaimed by godly men in 2,000 years. There's always been a small remnant.

There's always been Christians who like to find acceptance before society and be popular with their unconverted friends. I'm not interested in that. I'd rather be popular with God than with my unconverted friends.

I'm willing to offend anybody in the world so long as I don't offend God. And you will discover in the final day, my brother, sister, those are the wise people on earth who decided they'd rather offend people than offend God. Now I do not encourage, you know, witnessing to people in a stupid fashion.

I want to mention that too. There are people who, you know, offend people by the way they present the gospel. Going sticking tracts in every car's windshield wiper and giving out tracts which people just throw on the street and the whole street gets littered.

I don't think Jesus would do that. That was a wisdom in the way Christ proclaimed the gospel and the apostles did. We're not to cause offense, we're not to become a nuisance in society, we're not ashamed of the gospel, but we won't make ourselves a nuisance to society and give the garbage cleaners great work, more work to do by distributing tracts to everybody who throws it on the street.

No. We're wise. And so, I'm not recommending, there must be a graciousness about the way we present the gospel.

I've seen so many people who got such a foolish zeal that they turned people away from Christ. Their message is right, but the way they present it is evil. There's no other word for it.

Evil. They're dogmatic, like the Pharisees were dogmatic. And they don't bring people to Christ.

If some of you are like that, ask yourself, how many people have you brought to Christ with that type of approach? You know, the Bible says, let me read this to you in 1 Peter chapter 3, a great verse for those of us who rightly have a burden to share the gospel with others. There are people who are ashamed of Christ, who will let them, who will let them, their faith be known only in the church. When I was a young Christian, and I was in the Navy, I was attending an assembly in Cochin.

It was a small assembly where people had the freedom, you know, to start a chorus while we were in time of worship and praise to God. And I was, you know, people could pray brief prayers or start a short verse of a chorus. I was just about 23 years old, 24, and I was about to start a chorus, and the Lord said to me, if you sing a chorus here in this church, people will appreciate you.

Will you sing that same chorus out in the streets where people make fun of you? That was a challenge, and I kept quiet. I didn't sing that chorus. I said, Lord, I'll never again sing in the church if I'm not willing to sing in the streets.

I will never sing again for you where people appreciate me if I'm not going to sing in the streets where people make fun of me. So I went to the streets, even though I was a naval officer and people thought I was a bit crazy. For two years, I went down to every street corner twice a week, just five minutes in a street corner with a brother translating into Malayalam, every street in Hernakulam we covered, just preaching the simple gospel.

People out there didn't appreciate us. They thought we were a crazy bunch of people standing up there, but we preached Christ. That's where I learned to preach.

I didn't learn to preach in a church. I learned to preach on the streets where people made fun of me and laughed at me and called me the devil. I'm not ashamed.

I often used to sing that song, I'm not ashamed to own my Lord or to defend His cause. I often thought of Jesus hanging in an underwear on the cross, not ashamed of me or my sin. I said, Lord, let me always remember that whenever I think I should be ashamed of you.

I will never be ashamed of you in the presence of my naval officers and the ship and everywhere. I always wanted people to know I'm a Christian. I do not do unrighteous things.

I do not participate with you in your drinking and gambling and card playing and cinema going and all this type of stuff. I'm different. I'm not better than you, probably worse, but Jesus saved me and I want to keep my garments pure.

1 Peter chapter 3, it says here, verse 15, sanctify Christ as Lord in your heart. That's the first step. Make Jesus Lord in your heart and always be ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you.

To anyone who asks you, why do you have this hope? Why do you say Christ is the only way? Always be ready 24-7 to give an answer. Why I believe what I believe. But do it with gentleness and reverence.

That's the part which is most important for people who preach in an offensive way. If you can't speak the gospel with gentleness and reverence, I have one advice for you. Keep your mouth shut.

You'll do more good for God by keeping your mouth shut than if you preach the gospel without gentleness and respect for human beings. Please remember that. But we stand for the truth.

We don't compromise. So I want to show you the seriousness of this gospel in Revelation chapter 20 and verse 11. Revelation 20 verse 11 it says, I saw a great white throne.

This is speaking about that future day after Christ has returned. It's the day of judgment of the whole world right from the time of Adam. Every human being that ever lived and who died, however he may have died, he's going to stand before this throne.

A great white throne. And him who sat on it, that's God, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away. Think of that.

Any picture this in your mind? Earth and heaven disappearing before the God who spoke earth and heaven into existence many years ago. And I saw the dead, the great and the small. It makes no difference on that day.

Now there's a lot of difference between the great and the small, between the prince and the beggar. But in that day, absolutely no difference. Everybody stands before the throne and the books were opened and another book was opened, which is the book of life.

And the dead were judged from the things which are written in the books. That means there was a book with each person's name. And they were judged according to their deeds.

And the sea gave up the dead who had been drowned in the sea. And death and Hades is the place of the departed dead, gave up the dead which were in them for thousands of years. And they were judged every one of them according to their deeds, which they did on earth.

You think it's important, the deeds you do every day? Very important. And by deeds, it's a big word, which includes our actions, our words, our thoughts are also deeds before God, our attitudes to people, our motives. And then death and the place of the departed was all thrown into a lake of fire.

Is there a lake of fire finally? Yes, there is. This is the second death, the lake of fire and eternal hell. And if anyone's name, this is the verse I want you to notice, if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Is it important for our name to be in the book of life? It is the most important thing on earth. Whatever name, whatever church register your name is in, counts for nothing. There's no church registers, membership list going to be open in that day.

Remember that. He's not going to check which church you attended. There's a book of life and if your name is not there, it doesn't matter how many years you attended this church, I want to tell you, you'll be thrown into the lake of fire.

I believe that. I believed it for 54 years, never changed my mind on it. That's the reason I left my job 47 years ago so that I could travel and preach this truth to people.

It has cost me something. I'm not saying something lightly. I believe this is the most important message that I needed to preach when I was 26 years old.

I quit my job so that I could spend my life preaching and warning people about eternity. I've never regretted it and I believe that in eternity I will see a lot of people who will thank me that I told them the truth without compromise. You can do that too.

You don't have to quit your job and in my case not call me for that, but be a witness for Christ. There are people around you who are headed for that lake of fire, so we need to be alert. I think of a song which says, you were such a friend of mine, but you never mentioned Jesus to me.

You knew where I was headed, but you never mentioned Jesus to me and now you're in heaven and I'm in hell. I say, Lord, help me. Help me.

I don't want to thrust religion or Christianity down anybody's throat, but I want to be a witness. I want my light to shine before men. I don't want to behave in such a way in my office or towards my servants that I make them reject Christ.

The servants in our home, where are they going? Have you got servants in your home? We had one who came to us as a non-Christian. He's a Christian today on the way to heaven and if that servant stands before Christ one day and says, you didn't receive Christ, and that servant woman says, well after I saw the way my master and mistress behaved who call themselves Christians, I didn't want you, Lord. I didn't think that was a true faith at all and I saw the way they were yelling and fighting with each other all the time and treating me so badly.

You'll be there. What will you say to the Lord when that servant woman says that you were the cause of her going to hell because she never saw Christ in you? I take it seriously. I don't believe in social distinctions.

I believe there's only one human race. We are all sinners. All these people who boast about their family and their education and their culture and their position, they don't realize, they haven't seen God.

We're all the same. It doesn't make a difference what race you're from, how much you're educated, what your intelligence level is. When we stand before God, if you don't discover it now, you will discover it in that day.

All whose names are not found written in the book of life will be thrown into the lake of fire. We don't want any of our children to be in the lake of fire. Do you want any of your children to be in the lake of fire? Do you want to just be happy that people in the church think your children are saved? Oh, shame on you! If that's all your desire, people in the church must think my children are saved.

People in the church, do you fear God? What does God think about them? I'm least bothered what other people in the church think about my children. I never wanted my children to be baptized so that people in the church say, oh, Brother Zack's children are baptized. I couldn't care less.

I never told my children, what will people think of you if you dress like this or you do this? I always told them, what would God think if you act like that? Don't train your children to be hypocrites, to put up a good front before CFC and the church. You will regret it one day when you see them cast out into eternal darkness. It's my duty to warn you.

I can't deliver you from seeking the honor of people in the church, but I can warn you, fear God, who can cast both soul and body into hell. Jesus spoke more about hell than anybody else. Let me show you some of those verses.

Matthew's Gospel, chapter 10, verse 28, Matthew 10, verse 28. Don't fear those who can even kill your body. I mean, we seek honor from people who are not even trying to harm us.

Jesus said, don't even be afraid of people who are trying to harm you. If you want to fear somebody, fear him who is able to destroy your soul and your body in hell. Wow, I must fear him.

There are a lot of verses like that. A lot of people think that's an Old Testament message. No.

There is no preacher who preached as much about hell as Jesus Christ. Matthew chapter 9, sorry, Mark chapter 9, sorry, Mark 9 and verse, you know, Jesus spoke about how we treat little ones, little children and simple childlike believers who are also like little children, you know, the poor, the uneducated. Mark chapter 9, verse 41, if whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because of your name as followers of Christ, and remember he's talking to unlearned fishermen, I tell you he will not lose his reward.

We like to give gifts to rich people, to influential people, but to help a poor believer in Christ, to give him a cup of water, to seek, to go to the poor, that's not a burden many people have. When God called me to quit my job, I knew that my calling was a lot to the poor people in India and that's where I spent most of my time. Most of our churches, about 75% of our churches that we planted are in the poor, some poorest villages in India.

And I was, when I was considering marriage, I said, Lord, I want to marry someone who cares for the poor, otherwise my married life will be pulled in two directions, if she's interested in grand clothes and money and things like that. And so when I heard that my wife Annie was, before our marriage, was interested in working among lepers and had gone as the first doctor, lady doctor to work in that leprosy hospital, I said, wow, well, that's the type of person I'd like to marry. God cares for the poor.

The Bible says God has chosen the poor of the world rich in faith. And your Christianity is tested by your attitude to the poor, not the sophisticated, educated Christians. Just like we have to be colorblind when we see people, we don't care whether they are white or black or yellow or brown or red or whatever it is.

We have also got to be blind to social levels, economic levels, when we think of a Christian church. If you're not blind to that, ask God to correct your eyesight. A lot of us need some correction for eyesight because we are colorblind.

We should not be colorblind in the wrong sense. We need to see people as God sees them, truly colorblind. That means it doesn't make a difference.

And if you give one of these poor people a cup of water, you will not lose your reward. But if you cause one of these little ones to stumble, whether it's a child or a poor simple believer who's got some crude ways about him and you despise him because of his crudeness, he's not as cultured and civilized as you are, let me tell you, it's better for you to have a millstone put around your neck and to be drowned in the sea. You'd better be dropped off in the middle of a lake with a millstone around your neck.

Those are strong words. Do you believe this is the meek and mild Jesus speaking? Yeah, it is. And then he said, if it is your hand that's causing you to stumble, cut it off because it's better for you to enter life crippled with one hand than having two hands and to go to hell, verse 43, into that unquenchable fire where the worm never dies and the fire is never quenched.

And if it is your foot that takes you somewhere to some place where you shouldn't be going, causing you to stumble, better to cut off your foot and be lame and enter life than having two feet that took you to wrong places, two hands that made you write and do wrong things, we could add many other things, cut off your eye, cut off your tongue, anything that causes you to stumble, than having all of your full body and to be cast into hell where the worm never dies, repeated twice, verse 46, and the fire is not quenched. If your eye causes you to stumble, throw it out. It's better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than having two eyes to be cast into hell where the worm never dies and the fire is never quenched.

Three times. How many times do you want it repeated? This is Jesus Christ. This is the real Jesus Christ.

And I'm pretty sure that most of us have probably not heard many sermons on these verses. It's not a very popular subject today, but it's true. Because when it says, as we read in Revelation 20, the books are opened.

You know, in those days when John wrote that, books were not like this. This type of printed books began only in the 15th, 16th century. In John's days, a book was a scroll.

You've probably seen that in pictures. A long parchment rolled up and then if you want to read the next page, you turn this side and you read that and return. That's called a scroll.

And the closest to that that we can see today is a videotape. We don't use it much nowadays, but you know what videotapes are? A long roll of many meters of tape. And as it winds, it goes on to the other side.

That's what an old book was like, a scroll. The closest to that, as I said, is a videotape. So we can say, read it like this.

The videotapes were opened on that final day. And the rewind button was pressed. And then God pressed play.

And everything you ever did from the day you were born and thought and said in secret and private, your thoughts and your attitudes are all as the videotape was played on the screen. Why does God do that? Doesn't God already know who deserves to go to heaven, who deserves to go to hell? And the book of life is already there. Those whose names are there.

If it's already there in the book of life, all the others are going to go to hell. Why in the world does the books have to be open and all to be displayed like that? It says everybody was judged according to their deeds. What is the necessity? There is a saying in justice, in judgment in the world, that justice must not only be done, but it must be seen to be done by others.

That's why when in the Supreme Court or the High Court a judge passes a verdict, he doesn't say, OK, that guy's guilty. He writes 500 pages. And at the end, he says guilty.

So that people can read and understand fully why he declared him guilty. That's why they take a long time to go through these court cases. That's why people sit in death row for sometimes for 10 years before they are finally hung.

Justice must not only be done, but people who look at it must see that it's done, not feel that the judge had a prejudice against him or hated him or something like that. So when God plays the videotape of a person's life, he can ask everybody, What do you think? Do you think that person deserves to go to heaven? This guy who called himself a Christian, you see how he lived? You see the type of thoughts and words he did in private? It's all there on the screen now. You see how he handled money? He pretended to be so generous and large hearted and all.

But see now, what are you saying? The whole world will say, guy was an absolute hypocrite. And the world will say, he deserves to go to hell without a doubt. Maybe he sat in CFC.

So what? When the videotapes are open and it's played, a lot of things are going to be exposed, which nobody knows about your life and mine right now. That's where the message of the gospel comes in. There is a way of forgiveness for sins that we have committed.

I want to show you in 1 John chapter 1. Even if you are a 7 or 8 year old child, or a 15 year old sitting here. There are a lot of things in your life, that your daddy and mommy don't know, which are going to come out that day. When the videotape of your life, and you know where the videotape is stored by the way? It's in our memory.

You say, where does God produce all these billions of videotapes? He doesn't have to produce any billions of videotapes. There is no storage place in heaven. When everybody is raised up from the dead in the final day for judgment, their memory will come back.

And stored in our memory, whether you know it or not, is everything that you have ever thought, said, done, attitudes to people, it's all stored from the day you were born. Because a lot of our cells die, we can't remember everything. That's true even of older people.

As I get older, I find I can't remember certain things, which I could remember very sharp when I was 30. But that's because those brain cells are dying. But memory retains it.

I've heard of people who were going through a brain operation, and the surgeon touches one part of their brain, and when they wake up, they can recall something, which they thought they'd forgotten for years. It was there. They couldn't consciously bring it to their memory, but it was there.

I've been amazed to hear that. So, everything will come forth as the videotape is rewound and played, each person one by one. There's plenty of time, we've moved into eternity, there's plenty of time to sit and watch all these things.

That's the day when the word of Jesus will be fulfilled. Many who are first will be lost. Many who you thought were wonderful Christians, you'll get the shock of your life.

And some who were lost, who you despised because they were not so cultured, they were not great preachers, and they just sat there, and they were very faithful in their private life. Maybe they were faithful mothers, they helped others, they were kind and good. You will see that in that day.

They'll be first. 1 John chapter 1, verse 9. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. As it says in verse 7, the blood of Jesus can cleanse us from all sin.

When Christ died on the cross, He was atoning or paying the price for the sins of all humanity. There's some group of Christians who say Christ died only for believers. It's a lot of rubbish.

Because three verses later in chapter 2, verse 2, it is written, for anyone who can understand English, He died for the sins of the whole world. It can't be clearer than that. He died and is the propitiation or solved the problem of sin for the whole world.

How much clearer than that can it be? So don't you believe these Calvinists who say that Christ died only for believers. Don't let God be true and every man a liar. But why is it the whole world is not saved then, if Christ died for the sins of the whole world? They won't accept the forgiveness.

They won't confess their sin. And what is it that's preventing people from confessing their sin? Pride and dishonesty. That's all.

There are only two reasons why people go to hell. Pride and dishonesty. And if people go to heaven, it's because they humble themselves and are honest.

These are twins. Humility and honesty. They are the virtues that you must seek for more than anything else.

Everything else will flow from that. Humility and honesty, they go together. When we are to confess our sin, what do we require to confess our sin? Honesty.

And to be honest, we have to be humble. A proud person will never be honest. He will not acknowledge that he has committed sin.

Think of you husbands and wives. Very often, when I counsel husbands and wives, I ask them one question. Have you ever hurt each other? Everybody is honest there and says yes.

Then I ask the next question. Do you ask forgiveness from your wife when you have hurt her? I mean, it's yes or no. When they say, uh, I know the answer is no.

It's another way of saying no. Why is it so difficult to ask forgiveness from your wife? If you are traveling in a crowded bus in India, you accidentally stamp on somebody's toe, who is standing behind you, and he says, ouch, would you ask his forgiveness? Would you ask his forgiveness or not? Tell me. Stranger? Total stranger? Never met in your life? So ready to say, I'm sorry, please forgive me.

Or if you turn on the road on your scooter without showing a signal and the guy behind you had to brake to avoid a crash. Would you say I'm sorry? To strangers? I remember a wife telling her husband, if you speak to me at least like you speak to strangers, that will be enough. Why is it so difficult to ask forgiveness from a wife or a husband? Pride.

Pride. We are too proud to acknowledge that we made a mistake. That we spoke without temper.

We couldn't control it. And that pride makes us dishonest, that we cover up. I mean, Adam was like that, so we all came from him.

And God asked him, do you eat the fruit? Instead of saying, I did it, he blamed his wife. Blamed God for giving him such a wife, etc. There are people who blame others, and not only blame others, blame God.

Why in the world have you treated me like this? Why in the world have you put me into such a situation? They are ripe candidates for the lake of fire. Because they don't know who God is. They haven't seen that before God, we are worse than a little ant.

They haven't seen the greatness of this God who created the universe. Sometime when you get time, I don't have time right now, I would encourage you to read the book of Job. There are 42 chapters in it.

Go through it. You can do it in one sitting, one afternoon. And I want you to notice one thing in it.

Job was okay in the first two chapters. He did very well. But when the reality of what he had lost, his family, his business, his health, hit him, he began to grumble and complain just like all human beings do.

Except those who are filled with the spirit and have become overcomers. They don't grumble or complain. But Job hadn't lived in a day when they couldn't be filled with the Holy Spirit.

He lived before the day of Pentecost. But he grumbled and complained and very often he justified himself. And there were four preachers.

Four preachers who preached to him. And almost everything those four preachers said was absolutely right. You read it and see.

In fact, some of the quotations is found in the New Testament. That's how right they were. And every time he would justify himself, no preacher could convince him of his sin.

And they were pointing out his sin. You're like this and this is the reason. And you're like this and you're like this.

You know how preachers try to point out our sin? They were doing that. And he was not convinced. And when they were all quiet, in chapter 38, God came on the scene and said, Let me speak.

That's the part I want you to notice. Chapters 38, 39, 40, 41. Just read what God spoke.

He never said a word about Job. You're like this and you're a sinner. He didn't even tell him, you're such a proud person.

It's very amazing how God brought Job down to his face. And when God had finished speaking, Job said, Oh God, I'm insignificant. I'm sorry I opened my mouth.

I'll never open my mouth again. I repent in dust and ashes. You would think that God had manifested His holiness and brightness and shattered Job.

No. He didn't mention one word about His holiness. Isn't that amazing? Do you know what God spoke? He spoke about His greatness.

He said, where were you when I created the stars? Where were you, Job? Can you take an alligator as a pet? And different things like that about creation. You know how I stopped the mighty waves on the beach? With small things called sand. Sand is what stops the mighty waves.

The tsunamis are stopped with sand. This is me. And as he saw the greatness of God, he humbled himself.

That's what you and I need to see. The greatness of God. And we see we're nothing.

It's very easy to be humble when we see the greatness of God. I would encourage you sometimes to look into the sky and meditate on the greatness of God and see how small you are. It would be very easy to be humble.

You'll never think highly of yourself. And then you'll be honest. God knows everything about you in any case.

Be honest before Him. Confess your sin. And when we confess, Jesus who died to take away the punishment for our sin forgives us.

His death paid the price. There are cult groups who say that Jesus Christ was a created being. Well, if He was a created being, He could die only for one person's sin.

I mean, even if one person can die, He dies for one person's sin. Only an infinite God could die for billions of human beings. And when Jesus suffered three hours of hell, when He cried out, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Three hours in hell is not the punishment for my sin.

The punishment for my sin is eternity in hell. So if Jesus was a created being, my sins are not forgiven. But because He was the infinite God, an infinite being could experience in three hours the concentrated punishment of eternity.

What Jesus experienced in those three hours on the cross was eternal hell concentrated into three hours. And if I accept that, I'm forgiven. What happens to that videotape? Sections of it which I confess get wiped out.

You know how we can wipe out a videotape? It becomes blank. And it never gets played on the final day. Isn't that great? That when the videotape, if you have confessed every known sin and you've turned, repentance means just turning, saying, repentance does not mean saying, I'm going to give it up.

It means saying, I want to give it up. Lord, I sincerely want to give it up. Not I will give it up.

It may take me time to give up something. It may take time for you to overcome your anger. It may take time to overcome your lusting with your eyes.

It may take time to overcome some of your bad habits. But do you want to give it up? Then you have repented. And then you can go steadfastly.

It's those decisions that you make that determine where you'll end up in the final day. God has given you a free will. It's one of the greatest gifts he gave to human beings, which he didn't give to the planets.

Those planets don't have a choice when they obey God for thousands of years going in their orbits. You have a choice. And so all of you, young people who have grown up in the church, I hope you will open your life, acknowledge you're a sinner, and receive Christ into your heart.

In the early days, they used to say, believe in Jesus Christ and receive the Spirit. We combine the two and say, receive Christ into your heart. When you ask Jesus to come into your heart, it's the Holy Spirit who comes in.

As soon as you're born again, the Spirit of God comes in. You can go on from there to be filled with the Holy Spirit if you surrender all of your life to Christ. And that's how it should be.

The Spirit of God comes in and makes you a new person. I can't change myself, but the Holy Spirit can. He who created me in my mother's womb can recreate me and make me experience what Jesus told Nicodemus, you must be born again.

And that's what it means to be born again. I was born as a child of my parents. Now I can be born again to be a child of God.

Let me read you another verse in John's Gospel, chapter 1, and verse 12. Verse 11, it says, He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. John 1, 12.

As many as received Christ, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name. And that verse teaches us that believing is equal to receiving. Believing is not intellectual.

Even the devils believe that Jesus Christ is God and the Savior of the world. They are not saved. Believing equals receiving.

Receiving Christ, as many as believed, as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become the children of God. You know, we have the privilege of receiving Christ. Because God has created our human heart in such a way, there's an empty space there that can never be filled to satisfaction with anyone other than Christ.

People try to fill it with alcohol, smoking, prostitutes, money, fame, honor. It's still empty. Because it's made in such a way, only God can fill it.

All that you gain in the world will never fill that empty heart. You need to receive Jesus Christ into your heart. And it's so simple.

You've got to ask Him to come in. John 6 verse 37. John chapter 6 and verse 37.

Jesus says, If anyone comes to me, him that comes to me, I will never cast out. The last part of verse 37. I will certainly not cast out.

That was the verse that gave me assurance in my life 54 and a half years ago. I was tossed about for a long time and I believed that verse. Lord Jesus.

I said, Lord, I've come to you. He said, I didn't cast you out. Believe me.

And I dropped an anchor that day. I've never doubted. And I want to encourage you to believe.

And take your sins seriously. We may say, Well, if every sin I've confessed is blotted out and never going to be shown in the videotape on the final day, I'll be just like all those who lived a pure life. Yeah, no sin of yours will be exposed.

But when the videotape of your life is being played and there are long hours of blank tape, people will wonder what is happening during those long hours. So many hours of blank tape. So many days of blank tape.

Every day some hours of blank tape. What happened? No. It will not be revealed what you did.

But it's going to be pretty embarrassing still. I'll tell you that. So take sin seriously.

A little story before I finish. You've probably heard this before. It's an old, old story of two men who were twins.

Absolutely identical twins. And one of those twins went out and murdered somebody in a fight. And his shirt was all full of blood.

And he ran for his home. Some people heard the crying and called the police. The police chased him.

But he was way ahead of them and ran into his home and told his twin brother there what happened. His twin brother said, give me your shirt, quick. Take my clean one.

He exchanged his shirt. There were people who had seen this person running. They knew what he looked like.

And the twin brother came out and the police caught him. That's what Christ did. And they took him to hang him.

And on his way, as he turned around and told his twin brother who was the real murderer, don't stain that shirt again which I gave you. And that's what Jesus says to us. I took your punishment.

I've given you my righteousness. Don't stain it now. Let's take sin seriously.

I hope everyone here now has at least understood the simple way of salvation to make Jesus Christ Lord of your life. Your name can be in the book of life forever. But you need to follow him.

You can turn around from sin and start following. And after some time, God doesn't take away your free will. You can say, Lord, I'm tired of following you.

I'd like to go back with my friends. He won't stop you. You can go right back to where you came from.

And like Jesus says in Revelation 3, 5, your name will be erased from the book of life. It says that. Be careful that your name is not rubbed out from the book of life.

That's quite a scary verse. Let's bow our heads in prayer. And I want to invite anybody here who's not sure of your name being in the book of life.

I want you to pray a simple prayer in your heart. God can hear your thoughts. You say, Lord Jesus, I'm a sinner.

I have no doubt about it. So many sins I've committed I can't even remember. I confess I'm a sinner.

Guilty, deserving hell. It's not my wife. It's not my father.

It's not my mother. It's not my children. It's me who is the biggest sinner in the house.

Others don't know it. But you know it all, Lord. Today I want to be honest and humble before you.

Acknowledge my sin. I want to turn around. I can't say I'll give it all up immediately, but I do say I want to give up every single thing that displeases you in my life.

I believe, Lord Jesus, you died for me, for my sin. Thank you for taking my punishment. Thank you for rising from the dead, proving that you are the Son of God.

You're alive today, Lord Jesus. Come into my heart. I open my heart for you to come right in.

I receive your Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, into me. Change me inwardly. I yield my life to you, Lord.

Fill me with your Holy Spirit and help me, give me grace to follow you steadfastly till the day I see you face to face. Make me your witness on this earth. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for hearing me.

In a simple transaction like that, it's like a wedding. In a moment, you become a wife. In a moment, you are born again.

Thank you, Lord. Heavenly Father, I pray you'll give an assurance to those here who've never known the seriousness of sin and who've not had assurance. Bring them to that assurance today.

We don't want anybody who has come to CFC to be lost. Don't want any of our children to be lost. We pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.