Young People You Can Overcome Sin and Satan

Dear brothers and sisters, I'm very happy to see so many of you, but you know Jesus was never excited about numbers. And in my service for the Lord, particularly in the last 48 years since we started CFC churches, and now there are about a hundred of them around the world in many countries, I have never been excited about numbers. That is one part of my following Jesus as his servant. Jesus was never excited about numbers. Whenever he saw a large crowd, when you get time, you read two chapters, you can remember Luke chapter 14, John chapter 6, two chapters where you read huge crowds. And by the time you come to the end of those chapters, the crowds are dwindling. In John chapter 6 from 10,000 people, it came down to 12 people, of which one was a deceiver. So I see something there that Jesus, what do I learn from that? The world emphasizes quantity, numbers, churches speak about, we've got so many people in our church, we are expanding our church, now we have 6,000, 10,000, 20,000. I tell you something, heaven is not excited with that. And so I'm not excited either, because Jesus looked for disciples. When he wanted to change, to spread his message to the whole world, through many, now 20 centuries, and when he wanted to change thousands of people in these 20 centuries, you know whom he selected, uneducated fishermen. And how old were they, 70, 80 years old? No, they were 30 years old. Young, uneducated people were the ones he chose to be his disciples. I think the only one among them who would have qualified for a postgraduate degree would have been Judas Iscariot. He was the cleverest, and you know what happened to him. There, Jesus taught us right from the beginning of his ministry, I'm not looking for clever people. He emphasized humility more than cleverness. And that is a tragedy in a lot of Christendom today, a lot of preachers and churches. They emphasize numbers, they emphasize theological education, and they emphasize clever presentation of sermons, so different from Jesus Christ. I was converted when I was 19 and a half years old, which is younger, around the same age as perhaps many of you, or even younger, much younger. But that's not the first time I asked Jesus to come into my heart. My father was a born-again Christian from before I was born, and so he would send us to a good Sunday school. And so I must have asked Jesus to come into my heart the first time when I was probably 13. I don't know. But I do know that between the ages of 13 and 19, I must have asked Jesus to come into my heart so many times, because we used to go for meetings, and we had preachers who stayed in our house, and whenever they asked Jesus to come to their heart, I would say, Lord, come into my heart. But I was never sure, because my life did not change. I did not have any spectacular experience. Now, I've been a Christian now for 64 years and more, and in all these 64 years, let me tell you, I've never seen any light from heaven. I've never had any shivering in my body. I've never had what they call these supernatural physical experiences. But yet I know Jesus more intimately than I know any human being, more intimately than I know my own wife. Jesus is real to me. How does that happen without so many people talk about visions and dreams? You don't need all that. I was tremendously blessed many, many years ago by one statement. Let me begin with this. In John's Gospel in chapter 20, we read about Jesus appearing to his disciples after the resurrection. And when he came to see them the first time, it says in John 20, verse 24, Thomas, one of the disciples, was not with them. And they told him, hey, we have met Jesus. And he got so disappointed. And see how the Lord cares for those who miss out on something. Eight days later, John 20, verse 26, this time Thomas was with the disciples and Jesus appeared. This time it was especially for Thomas. I really love that. How Jesus cared for one person who missed out the first time. Do some of you feel you're lonely, just one person? Read this passage. How Jesus cared for one person because he missed out the first time. He said, okay, I'll appear the second time just for the sake of Thomas. And just for your sake, the Lord will do something if you feel lonely and left out. And when he appeared the next time, Thomas fell down and said, Lord, my Lord and my God, John 20, verse 28. And these are the words that blessed me. John 20, verse 29. They have blessed me through all these many years. Jesus told Thomas, you have believed because you have seen me. But more blessed than you are those who have not seen me and believe. And I said, Lord, I've never seen you face to face. I've never seen you physically. I don't even know what you look like. There are so many paintings of Jesus. I don't believe he looks like any of them. He's a million times much better than all those paintings we have seen of Jesus. We'll be so surprised when we see him that he doesn't look like any other paintings you saw. So I said, Lord, I've never seen you. But you said in this word that those who don't see and believe are more blessed than those disciples who saw you after the resurrection. I said, I'm so thankful. I am more blessed, according to John 20, verse 29, than those 12 disciples and even the Apostle Paul who saw Jesus face to face. I have many times wanted to see Jesus. I said, Lord, will you appear to me? And in all these 64 years, he did not grant that request. And I know why. He wants me to be more blessed. That's what it says in this verse. Do you believe this word? That if you don't see, you're more blessed? Most people can't understand that. Of course, I'll be blessed if I see Jesus face to face. I'll tell you, you'll be less blessed. I believe God's word. I've seen through many years that my human mind tells me something. God's word tells me something else. I believe God's word. So that's where I want to begin. Don't look for some physical experience. I've never had a physical experience. I've never had a physical vision of Jesus. But I believe I'm more blessed than the apostles. Because I believe God's word. Faith comes by hearing. And hearing by the word of Christ. Let me turn to that verse. Romans chapter 10. Romans chapter 10 and verse 17. How does faith come? Faith does not come by visions. You think that if you see a vision of Jesus, your faith will be strong for the rest of your life. Do you know that people who saw Jesus face to face were the ones who killed him? People who saw him do miracles were the ones who killed him. And some of those people who shouted crucify him, crucify him. I wonder sometimes whether some of those people were blind people who got healed. Who finally got brainwashed by the Pharisees to say crucify him. So seeing him face to face did not change the lives of many, many people. But think through the years. When you read the history of godly men in the last 2,000 years. People have never seen Jesus face to face. Who are willing to sacrifice everything to serve him. I did not give up my job as a naval officer because I saw Jesus face to face. It is in my heart. And the conviction the Lord brings in the heart by the Holy Spirit is more real than what we see physically. Because what we see physically we can be deceived by. So many things we see and it's not really so. Our eyes deceive us about many things. But what we see in our heart from the Holy Spirit. We can be more sure of that than what we see with our eyes. Our eyes deceive us about many things. Romans 10 17 says faith comes from hearing. Hearing in the heart. And hearing comes by the word of Christ. The word of Christ refers to the New Testament. So if you read the New Testament especially. Read the whole Bible definitely. But from the New Testament especially if you read. Faith comes. And that is the most important thing to be able to come in touch with God. One more verse Hebrews 11 and verse 6. I believe all of you who are listening to me. You want to please God. And if you want to please God. First of all before anything else. Live a holy life. Yes that is pleasing to God. Serving that is pleasing to God. But before anything else it says here in Hebrews 11 and verse 6. Without faith it is impossible to please God. Please remember that all your life. Without faith it is impossible to please God. I don't know why God has ordained it like that. God says my ways are not your ways. My thoughts are not your thoughts. So I humble myself and say Lord. I don't know why you have said. That without faith it is impossible to please you. If you had said without a holy life. It is impossible to please God. I can understand that. But he says without faith it is impossible to please God. So I can't live a holy life without faith. It will only be an external holiness. Like the holiness of Sanyasis and monks and others. Who have an external appearance of avoiding worldliness and all that. But real holiness comes through faith. Please remember this. Everything valuable that you can have in your life comes through faith. And remember again what I read at the beginning. Those who have not seen and believed are more blessed than those who have seen. So the next thing I want to say is. I told you earlier. Jesus did not choose old mature people to be his disciples. He did not choose scholars. You know the greatest scholars in Jesus time. Were the Pharisees and the scribes. The scribes were people who studied the scriptures. And these great scholars who could quote scripture. Were the ones who killed Jesus. That's how blind they were. If you had a Bible competition between Peter or James or John with the Pharisees. The Pharisees would have won outright. Because they knew the Bible much better than Peter, James and John. Yet. Do you know what the Pharisees said about. After studying the Bible so much. For so many years. When they actually saw Jesus. This is what he said. I want you to turn to Matthew chapter 12. Matthew 12, 22. There was a demon possessed man. Who was blind and mute. It's rare to find a person who is both blind and deaf. And can't speak. And this was only because he had a demon. And it says here Jesus healed him. Cast out the demon. And this man could suddenly see. His blindness disappeared. He could also speak and hear. And all the crowds. Said this is amazing. This person must be the son of David. The Messiah. But the Bible studied. The Pharisees who had studied the Bible. Verse 24. They said no. This man is the ruler of demons. In other words this man is Satan. The people who studied the Bible most in the first century. Looked at Jesus and called him Satan. That shows how far astray. Bible study can take you. Without the Holy Spirit. And those simple people who lived there around him. Who had not studied the Bible so much. They said this must be the promised Messiah. Which they called the son of David. So we can learn a lesson from that today. Today also there are so many great Bible scholars. But they are not the greatest saints. They are not the holiest people. A lot of Bible scholars who go to Bible college. And study so much. Their head is full of knowledge. But they are not spiritual. They don't lead people to godliness. One of the things I thank God for. Is that in my entire life. I never went to any Bible college or Bible school. Even for one day. People told me when I left the Navy. Oh brother Zach you got to go to Bible school. You know what I said. I said all the 12 disciples. They never went to any Bible school. How did God use them to turn the world upside down. How did God use them to start a Christianity. That has lasted for 2000 years. If they had gone to Bible school. They would have gone astray. And the other thing I noticed in my life is. The authors. The Christian authors. Who have blessed my life the most. Are people who have never been to a Bible school. I have been tremendously blessed by. In India by people like Brother Bakht Singh. Sadhu Sundar Singh. And Watchman Me. And Tozer. And D.L. Moody. All these people never went to a Bible school. These are some great men. Charles Finney. They never went to a Bible school. They knew God. They were filled with the Holy Spirit. So I said Lord that's what I want. So I say that. Just to tell you that. Bible knowledge will not make you spiritual. We need the Bible. To come to faith in Christ. But mere Bible knowledge. Will not make you spiritual. The Holy Spirit must interpret. That scripture to us. And that's why when you come to the Bible. Let me show you one more thing. In Matthew chapter 11. And verse 25. I'm just trying to lay some foundational principles for you. Right from many of you are young. From a young age if you can understand this. You will not become spiritual by going to Bible school. Most probably you will go astray. I once went to. The concluding graduation service of a Bible school in India. In fact the principal of that Bible school. Invited me to come and speak there. Saying I want my Bible school students to know. How God can use a person who has never been to a Bible school. Zach so you please come and speak. And there I met the young boy. Who had come first in his class. In the passing out class. He had just graduated. He was top of the class. And he said he wanted to talk to me. And I asked him yeah. Sure I'd be glad to talk to you. And he said brother Zach. I'm so defeated in my thought life. I'm disturbed. How can I overcome this? I said you came first in your class in the Bible school. And you're still defeated in your thoughts. What did they teach you here? They taught him Greek. And interpretations and all that. But they never taught him how to overcome sin. I said now you're going to be a pastor of a church. 100 people. Those 100 people don't need to learn Greek. They need to learn how to overcome sin. They husbands and wives need to learn how to live together without fighting with each other. That's what they need to learn. And if you have not learned that in a Bible school, you have wasted your time here. So I had first-hand experience of someone who had gone to Bible school and got nothing out of it. So I want to say this dear brothers and sisters. Don't think that you need a lot of education. Or you need a lot of money. Or any of those things to become a spiritual person. God wants every one of you to be spiritually minded. And I want to try and share with you today how that can be. In Matthew 11, he said in verse 25, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, I praise you that you've hidden these great truths from clever, wise, intelligent people. Are you one of those people who are proud of the fact that you're very clever? You usually come in the top of the class in your school and college. Well, I'm sorry to say that if you depend on that, God will hide his truths from you. And he reveals them to little babies. God, you know, Bible truth is not like studying mathematics and science. To study mathematics and science, you need a good mind. But when you want to study the Bible, it's not a good mind that you need. That's useful, but that's not primary. It's a good heart of humility. So here it says God reveals. Revelation is different from understanding through study. When you study mathematics or science, you don't need spiritual revelation. You just need a good mind and you just study hard, spend a lot of time studying mathematical problems or scientific things, and you understand it. But when you come to the Bible, you can read and read and read and read and read like the Pharisees, and you can kill Jesus. That's what the Pharisees did. Because it's not revealed. Truth is not revealed. Simon Peter, Jesus asked, What do you say that happened? Simon Peter said, You're the son of the living God. And Jesus said, You're blessed, Simon. You're just an ordinary fisherman. But you've understood more than the Pharisees because my father in heaven revealed this to you. You read that in Matthew 16, verse 15 onwards. It came through revelation. There is a knowledge of Jesus that can come through studying. The whole world talks about Jesus Christ. But there is another knowledge of Jesus in your heart that comes through revelation of the Holy Spirit. When you see Jesus in your heart and you don't see him with these eyes, but you know him in your heart, that changes your life. And that is what happens when you're really born again. Christ comes into your heart and you know he's there. And only the Holy Spirit can assure you of that. I can't do that. That's what you must long for. That's why Jesus said to his disciples, when he was ascending up to heaven, He said, Don't start preaching already. No, you need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. So when I read this verse, Matthew 11, 25, that God has revealed these things to the infants, but hidden them from the wise and intelligent. You know what I said to the Lord? I said, Lord, unfortunately, unfortunately, I'm wise and intelligent. What to do? I did not make myself wise and intelligent. I was born with certain genes. I was born with a certain type of brain, which I got from my parents. And therefore, I'm an intelligent, clever person. What should I do now? Am I not going to understand the truths because you hide them from the wise and intelligent? I asked the Lord about it. And I can't. And the Lord said here in verse 25, You can have the mind of a baby if you want. That means not intelligence wise, but humility wise. Jesus once picked up a baby and said, If you humble yourself like this child, that's the greatest in God's kingdom. So I realized the important statement here is God reveals his truth to the humble. So even if you're intelligent, you can be humble. There are many clever, intelligent people who are very humble. And there are very uneducated people who are very proud. So the emphasis here is on humility. Again, that's why he went on to say in verse 29, Learn from me. Take my yoke and learn from me for I am gentle and humble. Do you know Jesus never told us to learn from him how to preach or how to do miracles? There are a lot of people who want to learn those things. Lord, how can I preach better? How can I do miracles like you? That's not what he told us to learn. What did he tell us to learn? You read the entire Gospels. There are only two things Jesus said you must learn from him. Only two things, not even the Bible. He said, learn from me humility and gentleness. A really godly Christian is one who is humble and gentle. And the more Christ-like he is, the more humble he'll be and the more gentle he'll be in dealing with people. He'll be strict, but he'll be gentle and humble. That does not mean he will not be firm against sin. Jesus and Paul preached strongly against sin. Jesus called the Pharisees, you generation of vipers, you hypocrites. Strong words. But he was gentle with the broken-hearted sinners. And once when he saw people making money in the name of God, he took a whip and chased them out. This is the humble, gentle Jesus, remember. So don't get a human idea of humility and gentleness. It's a humble, gentle Jesus who was not bothered about his reputation before men. That's the point. A humble person is not bothered about his reputation before other people. He's not seeking to get a reputation for humility. Are you trying to get a reputation to be a humble person, humble brother, humble sister? You're going in the wrong direction. You're a proud person. You're very proud because you're trying to get a reputation. Oh, I want to be known as a humble sister or a humble brother. That itself shows how proud you are. A truly humble person is not trying for a reputation before anybody. He wants to be humble before God. If God gives him a certificate of humility, that's enough for him. He'll be ready to take a whip and chase out in the church those who are seeking for money, just like Jesus drove them out. He'll be in the church. Like Jesus, he'll say, you hypocrites. Yeah, that's how humble people are. So we have got so many wrong ideas of humility. Think, for example, this verse in James 4. You all believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God. And James, this one who wrote the letter of James, is the younger brother of Jesus. And he was a very, very godly man. He was the leader of the church in Jerusalem in the early days, recognized to be a very godly, humble man. And see how he talks to believers. He says to believers, he's writing to believers. In James 4, he says in verse 4, James 4, you adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity toward God? Is that the way a humble person speaks? Is that the way a Holy Spirit speaks to anybody? Do you believe this is the inspired word of God? That in the inspired word of God, a godly man like James, writing to believers, he's writing to believers. In fact, throughout, right from the second verse of James, he says, my brethren, my brethren, my brethren, my brethren, you adulteresses. So I'm just trying to remove wrong ideas of humility. You see a person speaking gently, softly in a meeting, you think, oh, what a humble, gentle person. The guy may be seeking honor like anything, seeking honor for his humility. So, true humility, I'll tell you what is the mark of true humility. I want to come to that now. If you are really humble, the same James chapter 4, which I will be at, go down to verse, James chapter 4 and verse 6. The mark of a truly humble person is God gives him grace. Not that he gets a reputation before others, that other people say, oh, what a humble brother, what a humble sister. That's all garbage. Dear brothers and sisters, if you want to be a disciple of Jesus, let me tell you one thing. Consider all the opinions of men as garbage. Right from a young age. Lord, because when we are young, you know, we are so concerned about what do people think about me? Do they think I'm spiritual? It's garbage, brother, sister. The opinions of men are fit for the trash can. I understood that long ago. It's one of the things that helped me from a very young age. The opinions of men are fit for the trash can. Garbage. What does God think about me? Does God think I'm humble? That's the only thing that matters. How will I know whether God thinks I'm humble or not? Here it says, guaranteed test proof. Here's the proof. God gives grace to the humble. If I don't get grace from God, whatever I may think of myself, I am not humble in God's eyes. The whole world may think I'm a humble brother. The whole world may think you're a humble sister. But God does not think so because he does not give you grace. So the next question comes, how can I know if humility is the most important thing? We saw that in Matthew 11. Jesus said, learn from me humility. You know, this is one of the main things I want to teach young people. It's one of the things the Lord taught me as a young person. Learn humility. Learn humility. Learn humility. That's when I asked the Lord, how do I know whether I got humility? You'll get grace. So I'll come to that in a minute. How can I know that I got grace? I can fool myself that I got grace. That also the Lord gave me a clear answer in Romans chapter 6. In Romans chapter 6, here is the foolproof method. Guaranteed method by which you can know whether God has given you grace or not. Whether you got the real grace of God or not. Romans 7.6.14 Let me read that verse like this. Sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace. Or put it the other way, if you are really under grace, sin will not have power over you. To be under grace means grace is like an umbrella over your head. You are completely covered by the grace of God. What will happen? No sin will have power over you. You will have victory over your anger. Have you got victory over your anger? If you haven't, go to God and say, Lord, somewhere I am proud. Somewhere I am proud. That's why I didn't get grace to get overcome anger. Because here it says, instead of sin, put your particular sin. Anger will not be master over you. Verse 14. Because you are under grace. Okay, let's take another sin. Dirty thoughts. Young men have a lot of it. Dirty thoughts will not master you because you are under grace. What is your particular sin? Gossiping, backbiting. Gossiping, backbiting will not be master over you because you are under grace. Take it seriously. If any of these sins and any other things I have not mentioned. Love of money. One of the greatest sins that believers are enslaved to. Wanting more and more and more and more, much more than they need, will not rule you. Love of money will not run you, will not be occupying all your mind all the time if you are under grace. So there are many, many ways to discover, Lord, I trusted you, my sins are forgiven, but I am always defeated by sin which proves that I have only received forgiveness but not salvation from sin. I have not come under grace fully. I have tasted a little bit but not all of your grace. I want to taste it. When you are honest with God, God will meet with you. I believe one of the main things God expects from us is honesty. When it says in 1 John 1.7 if we walk in the light as God is in the light, we have fellowship with Him. In simple words, you know what walking in the light means? Be honest. The easiest thing for anybody in the world to do is not victory over sin. Be honest. Even a prostitute can be honest. The woman caught in adultery, admitted yes, she got saved. Those who are honest, a Samaritan woman who met Jesus, think how wicked she was. Five times divorced and now sleeping with a man not even married to him, she was honest and she got salvation. Have you ever met a woman divorced five times and then sleeping with somebody who is not even her husband? I've never met anybody that bad. That was a Samaritan woman and Jesus spoke to her amazing truths about a well of water springing up to life and spoke to her about worshipping in the spirit. Amazing. How Jesus spoke to this woman? Because she was honest. It's amazing what God will reveal to you if you're just downright honest. Don't cover up. If you had a dirty thought, say, Lord, I had a dirty thought. That's honesty. If you had a bitterness against somebody, say, Lord, I had a bitterness against that person. I'm sorry. If you spoke in an angry way to somebody, say, Lord, I'm sorry. I did speak in an angry way to that person. I want to apologize to them. I tell you, you will grow in leaps and bounds in your spiritual life. That's the meaning of walking in the light. Just be honest with God. You don't have to be honest with everybody you meet in the world but be absolutely honest with God. Even if you have a small thought that's dirty or proud or evil, confess it to God and you can have fellowship with God all the time. That's how I seek to live. I'm not perfect but I'm pressing on to perfection and therefore I'm far better today than I was last year or ten years ago. But I've still got a long way to become like Jesus. I'm pressing on. But all I do to press on is honest. Every step of mine is honesty and faith. I trust you, Lord. I trust you. I'm just trying to show you how from a very young age you can start like this. Turn with me now to Matthew's gospel chapter 1. It's the first page of the New Testament. The very first page of the New Testament. The Old Testament is over. Then you come to the New Testament. Matthew chapter 1. And in the very first page of the New Testament there is a promise. It is the first promise in the New Testament. What does it say? In the middle of verse 21. Matthew 1.21. You shall call his name Jesus. Why? Why do you call him Jesus? Because he's going to save his people from their sins. Not he's going to forgive their sins. No. That is in the Old Testament. You read Psalm 103. David says bless the Lord who forgives all my sins. You ask David 1000 years before Christ. David how many sins of yours has God forgiven? Psalm 103. All. All means 100%. David could sing in Psalm 103. God has forgiven 100% of my sins. So if you say that you've been forgiven 100% of all your sins, you're not better than David. Then what did Jesus come to do? If he only brought me as far as Psalm 103. That is 1000 years before Christ. No. It says he will save you from your sins. There's a lot of difference between being saved and being forgiven. Remember this. Very, very important. One of the things I've been stressing for many, many years. Many believers are only forgiven not saved. For example, I ask people what is your Christian experience like? Yeah brother, my sins are all forgiven. I slip up. I get angry. I have dirty thoughts. I confess I'm forgiven. Next day I again do something wrong and I confess and I'm forgiven. So what is Jesus then? He's not your savior because he's not saved you from your sin. He's your forgiver. Be honest and say Jesus is my forgiver. He has not saved me from dirty thoughts. He has not saved me from getting angry. He has not saved me from bitterness. He has not saved me from pride. He has not saved me from hardly anything. But he's forgiven me everything. I will not call him savior anymore. I will call him my forgiver. That's honesty. And I tell you many people are not honest. That's why they don't grow in their spiritual life. They pretend Jesus is their savior. I ask them what has he saved you from? Nothing. What has he forgiven you from? Everything. Then he's your forgiver. Be honest and tell the Lord, Lord you're my forgiver. I want to know you as my savior. I never understood that for many years because no preacher told me that so straight like I'm telling you. Let me ask all of you a question. Has any preacher ever told you the difference between Jesus being your forgiver and your savior? Or you're hearing it for the first time today? Do you understand the difference between being forgiven and being saved? Let me use an illustration. Supposing I have a little six-year-old son and he's standing outside the house and I say, hey, the folks are digging up the road here, making a deep pit. Don't go near it. You'll fall into it. And you know how six-year-old children are. They disobey their father and he goes and falls into that pit. And he cries out from that ten-foot pit, daddy, daddy! And I run saying, what happened, son? Daddy, I'm sorry. I disobeyed you. And I fell into the pit. Please forgive me. Okay, son, forgiven. Goodbye. Have I forgiven him? For disobeying me? Yes. Have I saved him from that pit? No. He's still there. This is the condition of many believers. Lord, I'm sorry for what I did. Okay, forgiven. But tomorrow you're going to do the same thing again. And again and again and again and again. And the sad thing is the devil has kept many believers satisfied with that. What is the meaning of the name Jesus in the first page of your New Testament? The meaning of the name Jesus. He will save his people from their sins. I don't blame you, my brothers and sisters. You know, to use an illustration, if in a school, in a particular class, all the children got zero in mathematics, I wouldn't say they are all dumb. I'd say the teacher is a poor teacher. How can all the children get zero? All the children fail in mathematics in the final examination means the problem is not with the students. It's most likely the problem is with the teacher. So if you have a bunch of Christians, none of whom have got any victory over sin, I don't blame them. I blame their pastor or their teacher or their preacher who has not taught them the meaning of the name Jesus. Who has not taught them that Jesus is not just a forgiver, he's a savior. He saves me from what? People say he saves me from hell. That's in the future, man. Hell is at the end of life. What is he saving you from now? Matthew 121, he's going to save you from your sin. You know what sin is. Your conscience tells you what sin is. You get angry, you get bitter, you don't forgive somebody and you're proud and do so many wrong things. Maybe you cheat or you tell lies. That's sin. And everybody in the world does it. But Jesus has come to save us from it. That I don't tell lies. That I don't cheat people. That I overcome my anger. And I don't get upset with people when they hurt me. I forgive them readily. He saved me from my sin. I want to ask you, my dear young people, have you experienced that? If not, the devil has robbed you of your inheritance. Think if your father was a billionaire and left a will before he died giving you all his money in a bank here and a bank there and some property here and some property there all willed for you and you take it to a lawyer to get the things written in that will in your name and that crooked lawyer cheats you and robs you of 95% of your property and wealth and you sit there suffering in a rented house struggling to survive even though your father left billions for you. And somebody comes to you and say, hey, your dad was a billionaire and you say, yeah, he wrote a will giving all that billions to me, but I never got it. Some crooked lawyer cheated me of it. I tell you, we will not allow it. Even if you're not a very clever person, you will not allow a lawyer to cheat you of billions that your father earned for you. But that's exactly what the devil has done. What Jesus purchased for us on the cross to be saved from all the sins that have made me a slave in my life. Jesus said, I died to save you from it. I sent the Holy Spirit to save you from it. Then why aren't you saved? This crooked not crooked lawyer, this crooked devil has cheated you of it. If it were money, you would go after that lawyer and say, why did you cheat me? But the devil has robbed you of something more important than money. Holiness robbed you of it. And you sit back and say, well, all believers are like this. Just because all the other believers around you are like this, why should you be like that? I was surrounded as a young man by people who were defeated by sin. I was also defeated by sin, as a believer. I believed Jesus died for me, had come into my heart, but I was defeated. I was living just like many of you. You sin, ask the Lord to forgive you. You sin again, and ask the Lord to forgive you. This is a merry-go-round. Not very merry. Very unhappy. Going round and round and round and round and round. Always defeated. Sinning, asking God to forgive me. Sinning, asking God to forgive me. Till I got fed up of it. And I said, Lord, please help me. And I tell you, I wept and I prayed and I fasted. And finally the Lord showed me the way out of it. He filled me with the Holy Spirit. And my life was changed. And I know from my own experience, one of the things I was really a slave to was discouragement. I used to be frequently discouraged. And as a young man, dirty thoughts. Frequently. And I said, Lord, please help me, help me. I don't know why it took me so long. Maybe because I had absorbed all this false teaching that Jesus only forgives, only forgives. He doesn't save. Whatever it is, finally God had mercy on me. And he set me free. Discouragement has gone from my life 100%. I testify that before God. It can go from your life. Because I'll tell you, when you're discouraged, you sin very easily. Haven't you noticed that in your life? That if you go through a time of discouragement, you're so discouraged that you say, okay, it doesn't matter if I sin. And you sin even more. Discouragement leads to more sin. That's why the devil wants you to be discouraged. You're not meant to be discouraged. The Bible says, rejoice in the Lord always. Philippians 4.4 I took a long time to understand that because I didn't have good teachers. I didn't have anybody tell me that you can live that life. Philippians 4.4 Is that in your Bible or not? Rejoice in the Lord always. Not rejoice in your circumstances. No, no, no, no. We cannot rejoice in our circumstances because circumstances are up and down and up and down. All types of things may go wrong one day and something may go another way. But the Lord never changes. It says rejoice in the Lord 24 hours a day, seven days a week. I can do that because my Savior, my Lord, never changes. He loves me eternally. He's always on my side against the devil. So I can rejoice in Him always. My external circumstances may be up and down. I may lose money. I may earn money. I may get sick or I may become healthy. It's got nothing to do with the Lord. And if you're determined to rejoice in the Lord alone, you can rejoice all the time. I tell you there'll be zero discouragement in your life. You got to believe God's Word and you don't have to physically see Jesus. As I said, I've never seen Him. I want to try and lead you young people from the very early in your life into a God-fearing, overcoming life. Don't be satisfied with just forgiveness of sins. Our theme for this conference or this meeting is how to overcome sin by grace. And God gives His grace to the humble. So let me tell you the first step of humility is to acknowledge your sin. That's very easy. If you had a dirty thought, call it a dirty thought. Say, Lord, that was a dirty, filthy thought in my mind. Ungodly evil. Sexually evil. Confess it to the Lord. We confess our sins. He's faithful and righteous to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1 9. But you walk in the light, it says in 1 John 1 7. That means be honest. It's very easy to be honest if you want to be. It's only pride that prevents you from being honest. Be honest before God. You don't have to be honest before men. You don't have to go confessing your sin before men. There are some people who teach that. Have an accountability partner and go and tell him your sin and that will keep you from sin. That is avoiding sin through the fear of man. Next time you're tempted to sin, you say, I have to go and confess it to that person, so I better keep away from it. Why are you keeping away from it? Because you have to confess it to that man. So that's not the way to overcome sin. That is trying to overcome sin through the shame that will come to you by confessing it to a man. That's not the way to victory. Let me show you a verse in 2 Corinthians chapter 7. I want to show you everything from Scripture so that you don't think it is my ideas. How can you perfect your holiness? How to become perfectly holy? How to become 100% holy? Here's the answer. In 2 Corinthians chapter 7 verse 1. Beloved, having these promises, let us cleanse ourselves from all 100% of defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting our holiness. How? Perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Not in the fear of man. Not that I make an accountability partner and say every time I slip up, brother, I'll come and confess to you. And that shame will keep me from sinning. That's the fear of man. Get rid of that. I've never had an accountability partner in my life, thank God, that I have to confess my sin to a man. It's Roman Catholicism that tells you to go and confess to a priest. No. I fear God. I have to go and confess to the Lord alone. And I say, Lord, in that reverence for you, I will be saved from sin in my life. So please remember this because there are all types of wrong teachings in this area. You can perfect your holiness if you fear God and reverence God. Ask God to give you a reverence for Him. That's what the Holy Spirit does in our life, bring us reverence. And so if I come before God and acknowledge and say, Lord, I want to always humble myself before you. I want to live in low thoughts about myself. When I think of myself in relation to other people, I don't want to think of myself as superior to them. No. There's so many ways in which the devil will try to make you proud. You're more good-looking than them. You're cleverer than them. You're smarter than them. You're richer than them. All this is garbage which has no value in the kingdom of God. What value does it have in the kingdom of God if you're more good-looking than somebody else or you're smarter than somebody else or you're richer than somebody else or cleverer than somebody else? Zero. If you humble yourself before God, you can even become proud of your humility. But if you humble yourself before God, in other words, you're free from thinking what do other people think about me? Unimportant. What does God think about me? Seek to live before God's face, my brother, sister. It'll change your life completely. And say, Lord, please fill me with your Holy Spirit that I live in your presence. Remind me always that you're the one who's watching me all the time. I want to live in your presence. Your life will change completely. And say, Lord, I only want your opinion. Humble yourself. And if you did something wrong to someone, immediately ask forgiveness. Call up that person. Write a mail. Meet that person. Some way or the other, ask forgiveness immediately. And if you have cheated somebody, return that money immediately. If you have not paid your taxes properly, pay your taxes. Yeah. I did all those foolish things in my unconverted days. And when I got converted, the Lord reminded me, give it all back. And I remember once I had to save... I was working in the Navy. And I realized in my unconverted days I had cheated the government of taxes. And I calculated it and I had to save up four months' salary. More than four months' salary. That took me a long time. I saved up all that salary and gave it to the government in India, and my conscience was free. You know when I did that? When I was 21 years old. And the Lord told me, if you had not done that 63 years ago, you had been dragging a chain in your feet for 63 years, you would not have made any progress in your life. There are many people who don't settle these things and they've got a chain on both their feet. They can't make progress in their life. Can you imagine running a race, a 100 meters race with chains on your legs? That's how a lot of people, Christians, are running the Christian race. They have not settled in their past life. I asked forgiveness from people I hurt and I settled everything and I said, Lord, I want to live with a clean sheet. Everything settles between God and man. Live like that all the time, my brother and sister. It doesn't matter if you have to give away your money. I emptied my bank account that day. My bank account that day was zero. But my heart was full of the joy of the Lord because I had settled something. And I did not start. God's taken care of me all these 63 years. And He'll take care of me. But settle these matters and I believe God will lead you on and on. The other subject is overcoming Satan. See, a lot of Christians are afraid of Satan. And I want to tell you, you don't have to be afraid of Satan. How do you know that your sins are all forgiven? Because you read in the Bible that Jesus died for all your sins upon the cross. His blood was shed to cleanse your sin. The same Bible also says that when Jesus died on the cross, He defeated Satan. That is something which many people don't understand because their preachers never taught them that. So let me teach you that. Hebrews chapter 2. Listen to this. Hebrews chapter 2 says, as important as knowing that Jesus died for the forgiveness of your sins, it's important for you to know this truth also. In Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 14 and 15. Hebrews chapter 2 verse 14 and 15. Why did Jesus take flesh and blood like us? One, to die for our sins. But here's another reason. Hebrews 2.14 Since the children, that is we, had flesh and blood, He also took part of the same flesh and blood. Why? That through death He might do something. Through death He might forgive our sins. Yes. Through death He can take us into His kingdom. Yes. But something else. That through death He can make the devil powerless. Who had power over us till now. But have made him powerless so that He can set us free. Verse 15. We were slaves to Him all our lives. Many people haven't heard that truth. How many times have you heard a pulpit preacher preaching to you saying Jesus died not only for your sins, Jesus died to set you free from the grip of Satan over your life. Are you afraid of Satan? Are you afraid Satan may do something to harm you? Trouble you? I was. Even after I was born again. I was afraid of Satan for a long time. I was scared. I was afraid to meet a demon possessed person because I wouldn't know what to do. Till I understood this wonderful truth. Just as sure as my sins were all taken by Christ on the cross. He defeated Satan on the cross. He made him powerless. He didn't kill him. Satan is not killed. He is not dead. Satan is still moving around the world. But his power over me is broken. He doesn't have any power over me. Zero. And the Lord said to me in my heart As you were afraid of the devil all these years from now on the devil will be afraid of you. I believe that with all my heart. I believe the devil is afraid of me. Not because I'm special. But because Jesus set me free from that. Some people are afraid. Can you turn around to the devil? He can hear you just like you can talk to Jesus. You can talk to the devil. Can you tell Satan I'm not afraid of you. You're afraid of me. I better not say that. He'll trouble me. That's how scared so many believers are. Because they don't believe God's word. They believe the lies the devil tells them. That I'll harm you this way that way. He cannot touch me. Because my savior died and defeated him on the cross and took away his power over me. I wish all of you would believe it. And that's why if I confront a demon possessed person today I can deliver him in Jesus name. Not in my name. In the name of Jesus demons flee. I've encountered numerous demon possessed people in my life. Every single time I repeat every single time with one sentence that demon is cast out. In the name of Jesus get out of him. Get out of her. And the demon is gone. In the name of Jesus because he was defeated on the cross. Why do I say this? Because I met so many believers and probably some of you sitting here. You're afraid of the devil. Your sins are forgiven but you're afraid of the devil. As long as you live afraid of the devil I'll tell you you'll never be an overcomer. That's why I want you to know this truth. Jesus took on flesh and blood. Why? Read it and read it and meditate on it so that he might make the devil powerless. He's taken away his weapons. It's like supposing a terrorist comes after you with guns, a mighty strong person and suddenly somebody takes away his guns and he becomes paralyzed and he's lying down there. He's not dead. No he's not dead but his weapons are taken away. He doesn't have any guns now and he's paralyzed. Are you afraid of him anymore? No. But if you still think he's strong, he's got his guns with him then you're scared. And many many believers have not understood that Satan was defeated on the cross. Naturally the devil will hide it from them so that he continues to rule them. I believe many of you the devil has hidden this truth from you that he was defeated on the cross because he wants to control you, control your mind and make you his slave. Be free today in Jesus name. Not because you're smart or clever but because Jesus died for you on the cross. Why are your sins forgiven? Not because you're smart or clever but because you confess them. You admit it. The only person whose sin is not forgiven is the one who will not admit that he sinned. If he tries to cover up his sin and say no that is not sin, that is not sin, he'll never be forgiven. But confess it as sin you're forgiven immediately. Believe that Satan was defeated on the cross. One more verse in Colossians chapter 2. God's word is a wonderful book. Colossians 2 and verse verse 14 tells us that on the cross he took away the debt of our sin. You know every time you sin you owe a debt to God. It's like borrowing money from somebody. Borrow, borrow, borrow, borrow, borrow and now you've borrowed billions of whatever your currency is. And like that we owe God such a debt. In verse 14 it says that debt is cancelled. Jesus cancelled that certificate of debt on the cross and not in debt to God anymore because Jesus paid the debt through his blood on the cross. Secondly, verse 15 another thing he did on the cross he took away the armor disarmed rulers and authorities and triumphed over them. Those rulers and authorities are the devil and demons. He did not kill them he made them powerless took away their armor. The devil is like, he's alive but he's like a paralyzed snake. He's a paralyzed enemy not dead but paralyzed as far as I'm concerned. He's strong towards unbelievers and a believer who does not know that Satan was defeated on the cross, Satan is strong towards him also. So from today onwards my dear brothers and sisters I hope you'll be free of the fear of Satan, free of also seek to be free completely from being enslaved by sin. Seek for the grace of God. Always humble yourself, always go down when people insult you keep your mouth shut, that is humility. When people praise you for something, maybe genuine, give that glory to God, Lord I can't touch it it's yours. Never take credit for anything give the glory to God, give the glory to God. Don't sit and meditate on how clever you are, how much more good looking you are than other people how much cleverer you are than others bury all those things, say Lord I'm a sinner whom you saved by your grace, that's all I am. Till the end of my life I shall see myself as a sinner saved by your grace. The more you humble yourself the more grace you will get, it's like water. You know water never climbs up a hill, but water flows down a hill so fast so the grace and the power of God flows down to us humble people. The more humble you are the grace of God comes down to you it's like water coming down from heaven when you go down and you humble yourself, God's grace gives you power and when you're under grace, remember Romans 6.14 sin cannot rule over you one of the biggest problems young people have, which I had as a young person too, is dirty thoughts so particularly men, it's so difficult to overcome dirty thoughts and today's world is full of all that filth that tempts you to dirty things first of all we must avoid them avoid watching movies which are full of filth there are very few clean movies nowadays, most movies have got some filth in them, you watch them I'll tell you, you watch a 2 hour movie and if there's 5 seconds of some sexual evil there, for the rest of your life you'll forget the 2 hours and that 5 seconds will remain in your mind, isn't that right? then you watch another movie for 2 hours where there's 5 seconds of sexual filth and for the next many years is that 5 seconds that will remain in your mind you'll completely forget the story of the 2 hours that is how strong sexually impure thoughts are, to lay hold of your thoughts and remain there forever that's why you must avoid sin, don't expose yourself more to temptation how careful we were when the COVID scare was there COVID, COVID, COVID, we started wearing masks and protecting ourselves I tell you, you've got to be more careful about sin so many people have overcome COVID but sin, they're defeated by so be careful, when we're very careful about these physical sicknesses how much more careful we should be about spiritual sicknesses that defile us, pollute us and finally take us to hell so, especially if you claim to be a child of God the devil is called the accuser of the brothers you know that title of Satan in Revelation 12 if you don't know it says that the devil is called the accuser of the brothers he doesn't accuse the unbelievers they already belong in his camp but Revelation 12 10 he's the accuser of believers whenever a believer does something wrong the devil points out to God God, see that person he claims to be your child and look what he's watching look at that filthy movie he's watching look what he's watching on the phone, some pornography wretched, he claims to be your child accuser, accuser look at the way he's shouting at someone in anger he's supposed to be your child look at the way she's shouting at her husband look at the way he's shouting at his wife he claims to be your child, accuser, accuser accuser and what does God say? Can God defend you when he knows you've done something wrong? Can God defend you unless he can defend you if you confess your sin? If you confess your sin, then the blood of Jesus cleanses you. Then the Lord will take your side. Then the Lord will shut his mouth. That's why it says in the next verse, Revelation 12 11, how do people overcome this accusation of the devil? They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb. That means they went to God and said, Lord, that's right. I did that wrong thing. I had that dirty thought. I watched that filthy movie. I watched something dirty, or I said something angrily, Lord, it's my fault. Please forgive me. Cleanse me in the blood of Jesus, done. It doesn't take even one second to be cleansed, immediately blotted out. Then it says here, you can give your word of your testimony. Verse 11. We all know what it is to give testimony in the church, how Jesus saved me here. It's talking about giving your testimony to Satan. How many of you have given your testimony to Satan? Satan, you can't touch me. You were defeated on the cross, Satan. Have you ever told the devil that in your life? Have you told the devil even once in your life, Satan, you were defeated on the cross. You cannot touch me. My sins are cleansed in the blood of Christ. If you haven't done that, start doing it today onwards. Tell the devil to his face, your sins are cleansed in the blood of Jesus Christ. You honestly confessed your sin and you don't blame anybody else but yourself and you're cleansed and tell the devil to his face, Satan, you were defeated on the cross. I'll tell you one experience I had with a demon possessed person. Once my wife and I are at home and somebody brought this young lady for prayer. I didn't know she was demon possessed. I thought she had just come to know how to be saved. So I told her the way of salvation, how you confess your sin, Jesus died for you. And she was sitting in our sitting room and I told her, ask Jesus to come into your heart. And I said, now tell the devil, Satan, you were defeated on the cross. And this young lady turned around and looked at me and said, I was not defeated on the cross. I said, wow, I didn't realize there's a demon in this woman. It's a demon saying I was not defeated on the cross. So when a demon speaks to me, what do I do? I speak to the demon. So I told the demon, not to the woman, the demon was inside the woman. I told the demon, you were defeated on this cross, you demon, get out of her right now in Jesus name. It did not even take one second, the demon left. Because of Jesus name, not because of me, in Jesus name, the devil is scared of Jesus, he's not scared of anybody else. And if you walk with Jesus, he'll be scared of you too. Then I told that young woman, now tell the devil you were defeated on the cross. She immediately said, Satan, you were defeated on the cross. In that one moment, the word of your testimony to Satan, some of you have given your testimony in the church. Good. Now start giving your testimony to the devil. What testimony? Satan, you were defeated on the cross. Have you ever told the devil that? Do you know the devil can hear you just like God can hear you? Tell him, Satan, you were defeated on the cross, you cannot touch me because I belong to Jesus Christ. You try saying that, it'll change your life. I don't have to say it anymore because I've told it to him so often, he knows what I know. He knows what I believe. In the beginning, you may have to say it many times before you're convinced yourself that Satan was defeated on the cross. So I hope you understood something about overcoming sin and Satan. In conclusion, let me turn you to the Lord's message to the seven churches in Revelation. That is in Revelation chapter 2 and chapter 3, the Lord Jesus gives a message to the seven churches. So when you say, what is the last message of Jesus in the Bible? It is not going to all the world and preach the gospel, that is in Matthew and Mark. The last message is in Revelation to the seven churches. You know what it is? Let me read it to you. Revelation chapter 2 verse 7, to him who overcomes, I will grant this, middle of verse 7. Verse 11, to the second church, middle of verse 11, to him who overcomes. And then to the next church in verse 17, to him who overcomes. And then to the next church from verse 18 onwards, again further down he says, to him who overcomes. Just let me find that verse, unless they repent, to the rest, verse 26, he who overcomes. And then to the next church in chapter 3, in verse 5, to him who overcomes. And to the next church, the sixth one, in chapter 3, verse 12, to him who overcomes. And to the last seventh church in verse 21, he who overcomes. Now I showed you those seven churches, what is the last message of Christ to the church? Be an overcomer, be an overcomer, overcome sin, overcome the attacks of Satan, be an overcomer, be triumphant, be victorious. That is the last message of Christ to the church. I hope you have heard it today. Don't let the devil condemn you, don't let him frighten you. Jesus died for your sins, he loves you, he will take care of you, he will provide for you in every way. If you seek his kingdom first, all that you need in your life will be provided for you. I've experienced this for 64 years, so it's not just for one or two days. God bless you all. Let us just bow our heads before God now for a moment of prayer. While our heads are bowed in prayer, I want you to be very honest before God. Anything that comes to your mind, which you know, Lord, I'm convicted of this, I confess it, please help me, forgive me. Ask God to fill you with his Holy Spirit. Lord, help me to be filled with the Holy Spirit, to be strong, to be convinced that your blood has cleansed all my sin, to be convinced that Satan was defeated on the cross, and you came to earth, your name is Jesus, to save me from my sin. I have not experienced it yet, I know I've been forgiven, I believe you died for me on the cross, I believe you rose up from the dead, I believe you are coming back, but Lord, I want to experience being freed from the power of sin, freed from the fear of this devil. Lord, do that work in me right now, begin it, change my life. Heavenly Father, I pray for the dear young people here, and help them to have a wonderful hope for the future. Please work in their life that what they have heard will bring faith in their heart for a life of victory. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen. God bless you all, thank you for listening.