In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of desiring to partake in God's nature, which is the greatest gift He can give. The speaker challenges the audience to examine their lives and strive to live like the apostles, who were conscious of nothing against themselves. The speaker shares personal experiences of being a demonstration to others by not making excuses to miss meetings, even when sick, and by not making demands on others. The sermon concludes with an invitation to humble oneself under God's hand and receive the grace to live a victorious life in the spirit.

There is a destructible life that we have all received from Adam. And if we see that it's destructible, and we are willing to lay it down, then God gives us His indestructible life. There is an exchange that the Lord invites us to. And I believe the greatest foolishness of man, of believers, is they are not willing to make that exchange. It's just like the foolishness of all humanity in not receiving the free forgiveness in Christ. I just can't understand why. In many cases I'd say they don't know. They are ignorant. But what shall we say about believers who say they know Christ and still hold on to the life of Adam. If we can only see that the cause of all our problems is the life of Adam we still cling on to. That's the reason why we don't have more of this indestructible life. In the New Testament, we read certain expressions which are never found in the Old Testament. You know the Old Testament was only a shadow. The Bible says the reality is in Christ. Let me show you that verse in Colossians chapter 2. It speaks about all those laws in the Old Testament concerning verse 16 and 17. Colossians 2 verse 16 and 17. There were laws concerning food and drink and festivals and new moons and sabbaths. Everything was a shadow. But it says the reality is in Christ. And when we have found that reality in Christ we don't need the shadows anymore. We don't need laws and rules. Take the sabbath for example which is mentioned here in verse 16. It says don't let anyone judge you concerning the sabbath because it is only a shadow. There are Christians today who feel they must keep one day and seven for the Lord. Well, I don't judge them. But you know the sabbath was a day. Let me just show you, I'll give you one example of how people live in the Old Testament. In Isaiah chapter 58 it describes what the sabbath is. Isaiah 58 and then you'll see how wrong it is. The understanding of sabbath a lot of people have. Isaiah 58 and verse 13. This is an Old Testament commandment. Remember Isaiah is speaking to Jews who were commanded by God to keep the sabbath. If because of the sabbath you turn your foot from doing your pleasure or what pleases you on my holy day. The sabbath God called it my holy day. And in that one day I want you to turn away from doing what you feel like doing, what pleases you. And call the sabbath, that one day and seven call it a delight. Call it the holy day of the Lord, honorable. And again, don't do your own ways. And don't seek your own pleasure. And don't speak your own word. Then you will take delight in the Lord. What is the difference in the new covenant? In the new covenant every day is a sabbath. That's the difference. There it was only one day because man couldn't bear more than that. It was like a shadow of the reality that was to come. There one day, let me read now in verse 13 how it should be in the new covenant. If every day of your life you don't do your own pleasure. Every day you call a holy day for the Lord. And every day you don't do your own ways. Every day you don't seek your own pleasure. And every single day of your life you never speak your own words. But what the Lord wants you to speak. Then you will delight in the Lord. That is the essential difference between a shadow and the reality. That which was only one day in seven now we have the tremendous possibility of seven days in seven. But do you know what the Jews said about the sabbath? They called the sabbath a burden. Oh, one day in seven we can't do what we want. We can't light a fire. We can't do anything at home. It was a burden. So when you tell Christians today that seven days a week you don't do your own will they say, boy, what a burdensome life that will be. You mean I can never do what I want to do? Not even one day? This is the folly of Christians who say they have seen Christ. They haven't seen Christ at all. If you have really seen the glory of the life of Jesus you will see that that indestructible life it was indestructible because he never did his own will. That's why it was indestructible. Adam's life is destructible because we seek our own pleasure. We speak what we feel like speaking. We do what we feel like doing. We seek our own. That's a destructible life. And I'd say most Christians have chosen that. When the Lord offers them this indestructible life they call it a burden. Just like the Old Testament Israelites call the Sabbath a burden. Take the matter of tithing. That's a very popular teaching. A lot of preachers today it's just a way for covetous preachers to make money. Their favorite verse is bring the tithes into the storehouse lest God curse you with a curse. There's tremendous amount of deception here too. It was a shadow. Like the Sabbath, one day in seven belonged to the Lord. And now in the New Covenant all seven days belong to the Lord. Every day is a Sabbath. Every day is a holy day and every day I don't do my will. In the same way, God said in the Old Testament when you reap your crops show your gratitude by giving 10% of your crops. Just by the way, in case you didn't know the tithe in the Old Testament was never money. It was crops. It was an expression of gratitude to God that he'd given them such a wonderful harvest. They were expressing their thankfulness. And in the New Testament it's not 10%. If one day in seven was the Lord's in the Old Covenant and seven days in seven belongs to the Lord in the New Covenant how shall we deal with money and material things? That's why you never find a single commandment in the New Testament which says the tithe belongs to the Lord. Never. I know there are people who preach it. I'll tell you why. Because 99% of believers live under the Old Covenant. Then of course they have to preach the tithe. They have to keep one day in the week holy because they don't want to live the rest of the days holy. They keep at least one day holy. I'm absolutely convinced that 99% of believers live under the Old Covenant. And that's why tithe is a big thing for them. You know what is the standard in the New Covenant? In Luke chapter 14 it says verse 33 Luke 14, 33 No one can be my disciple who doesn't give up all his possessions. It's not 10%. It's exactly like the Sabbath. One day in seven, now it's seven days in seven. In the Old Covenant the Lord said 10% is mine, 90% is yours. Do you know where that is found? Old Covenant. You'll never find it in the New Covenant. You'll never find a teaching in the New Covenant that one day in seven belongs to the Lord. And you'll never find a teaching in the New Covenant that 10% belongs to the Lord and 90% is yours. How is it that multi millions and millions of Christians have swallowed this lie? Shall I tell you why? Having tasted the new wine, like Jesus said, they say the old is better. And that's why they live defeated lives. That's why their home lives are so miserable. In the Old Covenant, you know, they used to come together on one day a week. I'll come to this in a moment. They used to come together once a week on the Sabbath day in the temple. They'd clap, they'd sing, they'd blow trumpets and all types of things. They'd have a wonderful time. And then they'd go back to their miserable defeated life for six days of the week. And they'd look forward to the Sabbath. When they could praise the Lord again. It didn't solve any of their problems. It didn't solve their problems in their family life. It didn't solve their problems in their personal life. It didn't solve any of their problems. But they'd come together on the Sabbath day and have a wonderful time together. You know, that's what a lot of Christians do on Sunday mornings. They come together and they praise the Lord and they have a wonderful time. Or it could be a conference. A weekend conference once or twice a year. They come together and say, boy, this is wonderful. When they go back home, it doesn't solve any of their problems. They live the same old defeated lives till they wait for the next conference. This is like people going to a bar to drink. Here's a man who's got a problem. Serious problems in his home and everything else. And he goes to drink in the bar with his friends and he's so happy. He's in the third heaven in his own understanding. He's so happy. He's with his friends. And he's forgot all his problems. And he goes back home. None of his problems are solved. And what's he longing for? He's longing to come back to the bar with his friends. Many Christians, Sunday is their praising bar. When they come together to praise and they say, it's wonderful. The Lord and I'm looking forward to have a time of praise with my friends. They go back to the same old defeated lives. That's not Christianity. That was Old Testament experience. And that's not how we're supposed to live. That's not the part of an indestructible life. But I pretend to have something indestructible for a few hours on Sunday and live the same old destructible life the rest of the week. So here in Luke 14.33, what does Jesus mean when he says, if you want to be my disciple, you got to give up all your possessions. And you know all these people who major on saying it's only the King James Version. You can take whatever version you like. It says the same thing. You can't escape by saying King James Version. It says in the King James Version too. No type. It's got to give up all your possessions. Possessions are what we possess. And the Lord is saying, if you want to be my disciple, you can no longer possess anything. You can't hold on tightly to material things. You can have them, but you can't possess them. You got to hold everything on earth with an open palm. And the best example of that would be Abraham. Isaac was the darling of his heart. He possessed him. And when he possessed him, God said, give him up. Abraham was called the friend of God. He took Isaac. It wasn't a tithe he gave to God. No tithe. He gave everything when he laid Isaac on the altar. And he really thought, Isaac is going to be killed. And God gave him back. And from that day, Abraham did not possess Isaac. He had him. Isaac still lived in his house. But he no longer possessed him as his own. That is the type of transaction that has to take place in all of our lives. Whenever in our relationship to material things, I have to give up all that I possess. And hold everything as what God has given me to have. If he takes it away, that's fine. If he asks me to give up something, that's fine. And I will have no complaint if he takes it away. And I'll have no reluctance to give something if he asks me to give it away. Because I no longer possess it. I no longer hold it as mine. I hold it as a steward. Not 10%. 100%. If I have a house, it's not 10% of that house that belongs to God. The whole house belongs to God. And say, Lord, it's yours. You can use it exactly as you like. I remember once, in our church building in Bangalore, there were certain tasks to be done by different people who had volunteered to do certain tasks to maintain the place, clean the floor and clean the restrooms and all that. And some of them didn't turn up to do it. And I found, this was many years ago, and I found in my heart a spirit of complaining against them. Why do they say that they will come and do it and don't do it? And the Lord said to me, Do you treat my house as your house? When you're a co-worker with me, there's no such thing as my house and your house. It's our house. And I realized that day that that building, which we called a church building, was my house. And if I could clean the restrooms and toilets in my house, I could do it in the church too. And the picture the Lord gave me was, supposing there was some kind brother or sister who would come to the house I was living in and would every day come to clean it and clean the toilets and all. I mean, he doesn't have to do it. Just does it out of graciousness and love. And one day if he doesn't come, would I have a complaint? No. I say, I'm thankful that he came so many days. And the Lord said, You shouldn't have a complaint if people don't come to the church building either. That's my house. That's your house. And if somebody doesn't come, you do it yourself. So I've gone clean the toilets myself, the restroom myself. Because it's my house. There is no difference between me and the Lord, you know. It's the same with money. We have a joint account with Jesus Christ. My money is His money. His money is mine. It's one with Him. I don't hold something as my own. And I want to say this, my brothers and sisters, this is one of the main reasons why many Christians do not come into this abundant life. This life of consistent Christianity where seven days a week your Christianity is the same. Where Sunday morning you're not specially holy any more than you're on Monday afternoon or Tuesday evening. It's always the same because you don't consider something as the Lord's and something as yours. That was in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament it was like paying tithe was like paying the income tax. How many of you believe that you should give 100% of your what you earn to the IRS? Nobody is so crazy. I mean IRS you give, how much do you give? The minimum necessary. Do you know that a lot of Christians, their attitude to God is the same. What is the minimum I have to give to God? You're treating God like the IRS. No wonder your relationship is so pathetic. Imagine if a wife told her husband, I'll give you 10% of my life. One day in seven I'll live with you. Six days I'll do my own thing. You think you're going to have a happy marriage? No wonder so many Christians have such a pathetic marriage relationship with Christ. It's one day in seven. It's 10% of their income. It's all, they don't have a marital relationship with Christ. And I want to tell you brothers and sisters, if you have this master-servant relationship you will never, ever ever, ever come into this indestructible life. I want to tell you, you got to change that relationship with Jesus Christ and say, Lord you're my husband. I'm married to you. I have a joint account with you. Everything I have is yours. Seven days out of seven I'm your bride. Every day I'm available to you. I'm submitting to you. I'm not living like the Old Testament, one day in seven and one tenth of my income. I've finished with that. I'm not paying income tax to God. He's my husband. He's my bride groom. When we come into that type of relationship, then we experience these wonderful things that the New Testament speaks about which are never found in the Old Testament. I'll give you an example. Jesus said, let me first turn to Philippians 4 verses, I'll show you some verses which are never found in the Old Testament. Never. Philippians 4 verse 4 Rejoice in the Lord always. You'll never find that in the Old Testament because they didn't have a marital relationship with God. How can you rejoice in the Lord always? When you pay income tax to God and treat God like the IRS. Impossible. Rejoice in the Lord always. Rejoice in the IRS always. It's impossible. Rejoice in a demanding master always. But a husband and wife who really love one another, they can rejoice in one another always. Rejoice in the Lord always, 24 7. Verse 6 Be anxious for nothing. Nothing means zero. These verses are just not found in the Old Testament. 1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 18 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 18. In everything give thanks. Nothing is excluded. In every single thing give thanks because this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. I'm just trying to describe this indestructible life for you which is never found in the Old Testament. Everything give thanks. Rejoice 24 7. Be anxious for nothing. Let me show you another verse. Verse Ephesians 5 20 Ephesians 5 20 Always giving thanks for all things. Always giving thanks for all things. This is one of the marks of being filled with the Holy Spirit described in verse 18. When I'm really filled with the Holy Spirit and I have this indestructible life I always, you know these words like always everything, all things is never found in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament it is 1 day in 7, 10% of your income your firstborn son forget about your daughters, forget all your other sons, your firstborn son but today the Lord says all your children are mine. All your sons, all your daughters. Everything that was percentage in the Old Testament becomes total in the New Covenant and if you still live by percentages and deal with God like you deal with the IRS, you will never, never come to this indestructible life. It's got to be total. Forsake all that you have. Give thanks in everything. Always give thanks. Rejoice always and see what it says in Luke 18 and verse 1. Men should pray always. How often are we to pray? Always. Now you know you can read these verses and say well it doesn't really mean that. You know you think Jesus didn't mean what he said? You think he didn't know language properly when he said men should pray at all times? He doesn't mean that we got to be on our knees all the time or in the physical position of prayer but in a spirit of prayer all the time. In a spirit of humble dependence upon God for that is what prayer really means. Lord I need your help all the time. All the time. That humble dependence upon God. Let me show you another verse. These are verses never found in the Old Testament. 2nd Corinthians in chapter 2 and verse 14. 2nd Corinthians 2.14. Thanks be to God who always leads us in his triumph in Christ. How often did God lead Paul in victory? Always. Not once in a while. You get 10% you give 10% to God you'll get victory 10% of the time. You give 1 day and 7 to God you'll get victory 1 day and 7. But when you give everything when you're total, when your surrender is total all these words like always rejoice and always pray and always victory become true. So you see the reason why many Christians don't experience these things is because their surrender to God is not total. They haven't completely given up that destructible life of Adam. There's something they hold on to and the Bible speaks about brokenness. The broken spirit. A spirit that's where my will has been broken by God. Where I don't want to do my own will. It says here he leads us always in his triumph and thus he manifests the aroma of Christ in every place. Let me show you another verse 1 Corinthians in chapter 4. 1 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 4. I'm describing this indestructible life which a man like Paul came to. These are the verses that challenged me and I realized when I read these verses that I was not living the type of life the apostles lived. 1 Corinthians 4 4. I am conscious of nothing against myself. How many of us can say today I'm conscious of nothing against myself. How many of us can say that every single day of our life. I am conscious of nothing against myself. People would think you're arrogant if you said it. Why do they think that? Because they themselves are living third rate defeated Christian lives and they think that is the normal Christian life and they think anybody who says something like this must be arrogant. He's not arrogant. He's just describing the normal Christian life and showing us that whatever you call Christianity is totally substandard. I thank God the day I discovered that. That all the Christianity I saw around me and written in all the books was all substandard. Here in the Bible I saw what the real normal Christian life was. And it gave me such a hunger. I said, Lord I've got only one life to live and I don't want to live that substandard type of Christian life just because all the other Christians around me are living like that. They can live like that if they want. I can't change them. But I'm determined to change myself. And one of my favorite verses was, let God be true and every man a liar. I know nothing against myself but he says at the same time in 1 Corinthians 4 verse 4, that doesn't mean I'm acquitted. He says because the Lord examines me. He says there are things in my life which I don't see. Unconscious areas where I'm not Christ like. But in my conscious area, my conscience is absolutely clear. Look what Paul says in Acts 24 and verse 16. Always. I would encourage you sometime do what I did. Take a concordance and look at the word always. And see where all it comes in the New Testament. And read it, write it down. There are not many verses. Write it down. Always, always, always. And go to God with those verses. I did this. And I said Lord every single one of these verses, I want fulfilled in my life. I mean I'm talking to those who mean business with God. Not those who are playing games. I mean if you're only interested in rules and playing games, you can do what you like. But if you're serious about the things we're speaking about. About this indestructible life. The life the devil is scared of. The devil cannot touch. If you want that life. If you want your life to count for God. If you want to live a worthwhile life before you leave this earth. Let me say to you brother, sister. Do this bit of homework. Go and take the word always. Look in the concordance and write down all the verses where the word always comes. And if there are commands in the New Testament especially. And say Lord, I want this life. Not a one day and seven type of thing. What does it mean when it says in Hebrews 4 there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. There remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. Which they haven't come into. And it's not one day and seven. It's always. Acts 24 16. I do my best to maintain always a blameless conscience before God and man. Can you say that you are seeking. You're doing your very best to maintain your conscience blameless. Always. Always. Always. You know the Bible says don't let the sun set on your anger. In Ephesians 4. That's a helpful time limit God has given us. Be angry but don't sin. Ephesians 4 26. Don't let the sun set on your anger. Now in those days when there was no electricity sunset was usually the time for people to go to bed. So what he's essentially saying in today's language is don't go to bed with some anger still left in your heart. Get rid of it before the sun sets. Get rid of it before the end of the day. Most marriages I've conducted I've given the husband and wife, the bride and the bridegroom one bit of advice. I've said never go to sleep with something unsettled between you. You may have problems. Don't imagine that everything will be as perfect as it is right now at your wedding time. You'll have problems. You'll have strains tensions, difficulties but never go to bed without settling everything between both of you. Is that difficult? It's difficult for a proud person. It's very easy for a humble person. If you have a tension, if there's some type of little difficulty something where you don't feel like speaking to one another, before you go to bed, even if the other partner is not willing, you do your part. Say, I'm sorry. Because even if it's 99% the other person's fault at least 1% is yours. The only case where it is 100% one person's fault is between God and us. And God and us, if we had a problem, certainly it's 100% our fault. In every other case, some percentage of the fault is with one party. All this business of divorce, of innocent party and divorce is all a lot of rubbish. There is no such thing as an innocent party in divorce. Maybe the percentage of fault is 70%, 130%, another but there's no case where it's 100% one person's fault. Impossible. You've got to find some race other than the fallen race of Adam to find that type of thing. But in the fallen race of Adam, every tension has got a certain percentage of fault in one person. So I tell this bride and bridegroom, make sure that you never go to bed without asking forgiveness from one another. And your pride will resist that. Your pride will say, let the other person come first and ask and then I shall ask forgiveness. So I tell them, who should ask forgiveness first? The husband or the wife? What do you think? The sisters may have one answer, the brothers may have another answer. I'll tell you what the answer is. Whoever is more spiritual should ask forgiveness first, should restore the relationship first. And the reason I say that is, when God and I had a problem, you know who took the first step to restore the relationship? The one who was more spiritual. Almighty God. Even though the fault was zero with him, because he was more spiritual than me, he humbled himself to restore that relationship. Is this the life you want? Is this the life you want? Where the fault is zero with you, you humble yourself in order to restore a relationship which has been broken. You're a man of God. You're a woman of God. Otherwise it's just pious rubbish we're singing and talking on in church meetings. So I say, you know, husband and wife, who should take the first step to restore a relationship? Whoever thinks they're more spiritual. And I say to husband and wife, since both of you think you're more spiritual, you should be running into each other's arms. Why isn't it so? Don't you think you're more spiritual than your husband? Don't you think you're more spiritual than your wife? You should be just running. And I say, why should you wait till sunset? I mean, that's the outer limit God has given. A spiritual man doesn't wait till sunset. He settles matters immediately. I do my best to maintain always. Paul didn't say, by sunset I keep my conscience clear. I keep my conscience clear always. That means as soon as I'm aware that I've hurt my wife, I go and say, I'm sorry. I tell you, if there's anything that'll crush your pride and make you a humble man, that's it. To do it immediately. Especially when you have to do it. I know of the times when I've had to do it to unbelievers. I've had to do it to people who are younger than my youngest son. Yeah, when I make a mistake, when I've spoken to someone and it's a bit harsh and rude, I had to correct somebody in the church once and afterwards the Lord said to me, that was a very harsh way you did it. Go and apologize. And he was younger than my youngest son. I went right up to him and I said, I'm sorry. I was determined that I'm gonna live an indestructible life. And no pride from the devil was gonna keep me from that indestructible life. I tell you, if you're desperate, you can live it. Anyone who's desperately wanting this indestructible life will have it. But if you stand on your pride and your dignity and your reputation, I can give it to you in writing, you can come for a hundred conferences, you'll never, you'll just hear all about it. It'll all be theory. You'll never be free from anything. God gives his grace to the humble. There's a wonderful life that God has offered to us. The secret of Jesus' life was that the grace of God was upon him. Now, many people haven't understood this. Many people think that grace means the unmerited favor of God. That's the rubbish that came out of some Bible college. And the multi, millions of Christians who believe that rubbish is amazing. When it says there was no grace on earth till Jesus Christ came, what does it mean? There was no unmerited favor that God got. Everybody gets unmerited favor. What about that atheist down the road who's got health and strength? Where does he get it from? It's the unmerited favor of God that that atheist is getting. But it's not grace. Oh no. Grace is not the unmerited favor of God. Grace is help in our time of need. Let's get a scriptural definition for grace. Let me show you Hebrews in chapter 4. This is the only way we can live this life. Hebrews chapter 4 verse 15. It's talking about Jesus Christ. We don't have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses. But one who has been tempted in all things as we are and yet without sin. Now he's set there as an example. Remember he's talking about Jesus our forerunner and he says he was also tempted like you in every single point. Jesus was tempted to anger. Jesus was tempted to lust. Jesus was tempted to be discouraged. Jesus was tempted to love money. Jesus was tempted to every single thing that you and I are tempted with. And you can see that in the Bible. It says that in the King James version too. Versions don't make a difference when it comes to this. He was tempted in every point as we are but he did not sin. Now that's the point at which the devil says ah but he was the son of God. And that's what Hebrews is written for. He was made in all things like his brothers. Hebrews 2.17. In all things he was made like his brothers like us. Therefore let us therefore verse 16. Because he was tempted like us in every point and did not sin. Therefore let us draw near to the throne of grace with boldness so that first of all we can receive mercy. Jesus didn't need mercy because he never sinned. All of us need mercy because we sin so often. We need mercy for the forgiveness of our sins. And once we've got mercy and our sins are all forgiven that we shall find grace. And here's the definition of grace. Help in the time of need. That's what grace means. Whatever my need is. And my biggest need is not money. I'll tell you that. My biggest need is to overcome sin. My biggest need is to get rid of this destructible life of Adam that I've inherited from my parents and my forefathers. That's our biggest need. And if you see that as the biggest need, you'll come to God for help in the time of need when this destructible life of Adam is seeking to drag you down into sin and death. Say, God, I come to you for grace. The same grace that Jesus had which helped him to overcome sin. How many of you knew that Jesus needed grace when he lived on this earth? I tell you, 99% of Christians don't even know that. Let me show you in Luke chapter 2, verse 40. This is why we need to read the Bible slowly. It's talking about Jesus from the time of his childhood. Luke chapter 2, verse 39, it says about Jesus going back to Nazareth in verse 40. The child Jesus continued to grow and become strong, increasing in wisdom and the grace of God was upon him, which means he was under grace. He was the first man that walked on this earth who was under the grace of God. He had identified himself with us completely. There was no sin in him. But to overcome sin, he needed to be under grace. Just like it says in Romans 6, 14. Sin shall not rule over you when you're under grace. When you're under this waterfall of grace, sin cannot touch you. But if you move out from there, then sin has power over you. And Jesus also needed this grace. The child grew and the grace of God was upon him. He was under grace and so he never sinned. That's how he began his life. What about the end of his life? Let's go to Hebrews chapter 2. How is it that Jesus went to the cross? Do you think it's easy to go to the cross? I'm not talking about the physical aspect of that death on the cross. That many martyrs have gone, but they also needed grace from God. But the greatest agony that Jesus faced on the cross was being forsaken by his father for those three hours. When he faced the agony of hell, the punishment for our sin. This is another misunderstanding among evangelical Christians. That physical death is the punishment for sin. How many of you believe that physical death is the punishment for sin? Just listen to this logic. If physical death is the punishment for our sin, then when we physically die, we have paid the punishment for our sin. And when a man dies, unbeliever, atheist, anybody, he has paid the price for his sins, everybody should go to heaven. Why not? If physical death is the punishment for sin and every man who physically dies has paid the price, he goes to heaven. Physical death is not the punishment for sin. Then did Jesus take the punishment for our sin? If he only physically died, then he didn't take the punishment for our sin. He just physically died like other people physically died. The two thieves on the cross also physically died. What was the difference between the death of those two and the one who was hanging on the cross in the middle? A fundamental difference. It was not crucifixion. It was that before he gave up his breath for three hours, he experienced the punishment for your sin and mine. Being forsaken by God, that is the definition of hell. Hell is the only God-forsaken place in the universe. And Jesus experienced it for three hours on the cross because that's the price he paid for our sin. And for that, you know what he needed? He needed the grace of God. See Hebrews chapter 2. Let's read the Bible slowly. We discover many things when we don't rush through our Bible reading but read it slowly. It'll change our life. God's word is tremendous power. Hebrews 2 verse 9. We do see him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely Jesus. Do you know that when Jesus was on earth, he was made lower than the angels. He was not lower than the angels in heaven. Read it. In any version you like, he was made lower than the angels because of the suffering of death. Angels don't die. But Jesus died. That made him lower than the angels. And we see him for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor. How did he taste this death for us? By the grace of God. You know how he went to the cross and took that agony and suffering? By the grace of God. So we saw how he began in Luke chapter 2.40. We see how he ended in Hebrews 2.9. From birth to death, he lived under the grace of God. And that's how he lived that indestructible life. And that's why we can also live that life if we come boldly to the throne of grace and say, God give me grace to help me in my time of need. We have not experienced grace. We have experienced mercy. And the devil has confused that and told us that that's grace. Those are the drops of grace. Having received forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. Yeah, that is a few drops of grace, forgiveness. But to overcome temptation continuously. To always keep my conscience clear that never can my conscience trouble me about having hurt anybody. As soon as I'm aware that I've hurt somebody, I go and settle it immediately. That's the price for fellowship with God. You remember what Jesus said in Matthew chapter five? He said, when you come with your offering to God, verse 23, Matthew 5, 23, you come with your offering to God and there you remember that your brother has something against you. Why? I mean, it's not that somebody's got something against you because you preach the truth. Israel was full of people who had things against Jesus. Jesus did not go apologizing to them. Oh, no, we need to understand this clearly. Somebody's got something against me. You got to ask, why does he have that against me? Because I preach the truth of God. Well, then hundreds of people have things against Jesus. And there are lots of people in India who hate me because I proclaim the whole truth of God, especially pastors and preachers. I don't have to go and settle things with them. Jesus didn't have to settle anything with the Pharisees, even though they had so many things against him. They got so much things against him. They wanted to kill him. We need to see it in this context. He's speaking about getting angry. Verse 22. You got angry with your brother. You went and said something to him and then you went back and said something worse to him. And then you go to pray. That's the next verse. Always read a verse in its context. Then you won't get a wrong doctrine. You got angry with your brother. You said something. You went back and said something rude to him. And then you go to pray and God says, I won't accept it. Go back to your brother. It may be your wife. It may be your husband. If you said something rudely to him or her, God is not going to accept your prayer or anything in your life. Go back. Settle it. And he doesn't say go back before sunset. That's the outer limit for carnal Christians. For babies. But if you're a spiritually minded Christian, you don't wait until sunset. You go immediately. As soon as you're aware that you did something or you said something to hurt somebody and you know you're guilty before God, you go to that person immediately and reconcile. And then come and offer your offering. I'll never forget a story I heard of a brother in one of the churches in India. Before the breaking of bread, the elder brother was giving a message and he every indication in the message indicated that he was almost coming to the conclusion of his message and one of the things he said was if you hurt your brother, go and reconcile to him. Then come and offer your offering. And this brother suddenly realized when he sat there that there was someone who was not in that church but living some distance away whom he had hurt. And he desperately wanted to take part in the breaking of bread that morning but he heard this word first. First go and be reconciled to your brother and then come and offer your offering. This is a true story. And he began to think Lord if I get up now and go to that brother's house one mile away, by the time I come back this breaking of bread will be over. How can I take part in it? But he kept hearing go first. And every indication when he heard the brother speaking up front, he was winding up his message before the breaking of bread. The next thing was the breaking of bread. But this brother decided to obey God. He got up from that service went out traveled to that brother's house apologized to him and came back and discovered that this brother was still speaking. He had wandered off from the subject. So sometimes when a preacher wanders off from the subject maybe there's some reason behind it. Maybe to help some brother sitting there. Don't judge him too harshly. He wandered off from the subject for about 15-20 minutes and came back and then as this brother walked in, the brother said okay let's pray before the breaking of bread. I'll never forget that story in my life. God honors those who honor Him. Here was a brother who was who had taken seriously I want to keep my conscience always clear before God and men. Always. This is the new covenant life. Always. Grace is sufficient. The reason why we don't receive that grace we're told in 1 Peter 5.5 God gives His grace to the humble. Therefore, 1 Peter 5.5, God gives His grace to the humble. Therefore, what should you do? Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God and He will exalt you at the proper time. I never understood that verse for many years. What does it mean that God will exalt you at the proper time? To many people it means God will give you a mighty ministry. Rubbish. There are many godly men and women who never have a so called mighty ministry. There is only one exaltation. I'll tell you honestly. For myself, there is only one exaltation I desire on this earth. Only one. And that's the exaltation over all sin in my life. I want to be exalted over every single sin in my life. I have absolutely zero interest in any other exaltation on this wretched earth. Not in the church, not in the earth. I don't want to be exalted in the church. I don't want to be exalted in the earth. I'm not interested. But I'm desperately interested in being exalted over sin. And when that becomes the passion of my life, this verse brings new meaning. God will exalt me if I humble myself under the mighty hand of God. There is a promise. No sin will rule over me. Because when I humble myself under God's mighty hand, I, like Jesus, I come under His grace. That's why Jesus said, learn humility from me. How many of us have taken that seriously? Jesus never told us to learn from Him how to preach or how to sing or how to witness or how to do evangelism or how to teach or how to do anything. He said, learn from me for I'm humble of heart. Learn humility from Him. Make it your life's passion. I mean, I decided that years ago that I'm going to look at Jesus and learn humility from Him. So one thing I want to learn, because that's why grace was upon Him all the time. He was the humblest man that walked on this earth. And so grace was upon Him all the time. God didn't treat Him in a special way. What God did for Jesus, He will do for me. I believe that. It changed my life when I discovered that many years ago. That that same indestructible life that Jesus had could be mine. If I were to ask you, do you think Jesus was ever depressed or discouraged or in a bad mood or gloomy? You know the answer. Never. He was never in a bad mood. Now I ask you, do you believe that you can live a life where you'll never be in a bad mood? Never. Not morning, noon, night, anytime. The devil's right there to say no. God says you can. He leads us in triumph in Christ. It is this indestructible life. We don't want to talk theories here. We don't want to talk something that's not real. I know the day I began to long for this. I said, Lord, you never had a bad mood in your life. I never want to have a bad mood in my life. Never. I don't care whether things go right or things go wrong. I never want to be in a bad mood. When I have a headache or when I'm sick or anything, God teaches us through these things. I remember years ago when I had a headache and I said, Lord, what's this for? Everything has a purpose. And the Lord said, this is a higher class than the class you were in. All of Christian life is an education. You have received my grace to overcome getting irritated and impatient with other people when you don't have a headache. Great. Now I'm promoting you to a higher class where you'll have a headache and you still won't get impatient and irritated with other people. I'll tell you, it's more difficult to overcome irritation when you have a headache, in case you didn't know. And I said, Lord, I want to pass this class too. I mean, don't we want to pass every class and go to the higher grade? I remember recently when I was sick for nearly a month, right up to last week almost. I was sick for about 30 days because I exposed myself to, foolishly, to the weather in Europe. But almost every one of those for about 20 days, I had to speak in 50 meetings. I never had so much, so many meetings concentrated over such a short period of time as when I was sick. And I didn't miss a single meeting. I spoke in every one of those meetings, and I spoke for the usual length I speak in every meeting. And I said, Lord, this is something you can just see like that. I mean, what's a cough and a cold for God? But Lord, what are you trying to do through this? There's something I have to learn. There must be some purpose in this. I mean, a lot of meetings, I'd get up and cough and tear my throat and cough and cough and cough. I had to keep excusing myself while I was speaking. I said, Lord, there must be a purpose in this. And I discovered there's a purpose in everything. One of the things the Lord said to me was, I want to make you a demonstration to other people who will miss a meeting for the smallest excuse. Oh, I've got a little headache. I won't go to the meeting today. It's raining today. It's a little inconvenient. I've got a little ache here, a little pain there. I think I'll miss the meeting. I want to make you a demonstration to other people that even when you're sick, you'll not only go to the meeting, you'll speak in the meeting. Okay, Lord, that's great. What else? I want to teach you how to never make a demand on anyone. You know how we tend to be demand more when we're sick? We want people to be nice to us and people to do this for us and serve us. You're to make no demands on anybody whether you're sick or not. Okay, Lord, I'm going to pass. I'm determined to get a promotion to a higher grade. Everything in life is an education. Are we supposed to rejoice always even when we are sick? Yes. How can you pass that test if you never experience sickness? Do you know that Jesus was sick? That surprises some people. It says that in Isaiah 53. When you get time, if you look, compare the verse which is quoted in Matthew chapter 8, very well-known verse. He bore our sicknesses. If you go to the Old Testament in Isaiah 53, it says, it doesn't use the word sickness there, it's translated in the King James Version as griefs. He bore our griefs. And there in Isaiah 53, it says, He has subjected him to grief. And you see in your margin, it says, He became sick. I understood that. That sickness is not the result of sin. Jesus had to go through sickness in order to experience what I experienced. And He became an overcomer there. That was my example. Lord, there is no situation. He was not in a bad mood when He was sick. He never made demands on people when He was sick. It's a wonderful life. It's an indestructible life. He was tested by temptation, tested by sickness, tested by oppression, tested by death, and He overcame. And He says, follow Me. I want to say to you, my dear brothers and sisters, don't settle for the substandard, third-rate Christian life that you've experienced so far or that many preachers offer you. Determine that you're going to live the life that Jesus lived on earth. That is our calling. That's the purpose why God sent His Son to this earth. Not only to forgive our sins, but to give us His very life. Think of this wonderful promise in 2 Peter chapter 1. 2 Peter chapter 1. It says in verse 3. The power of God, His divine power has given us everything pertaining to life and godliness. Do you believe that? Read the Bible slowly. Let me urge you again. Don't rush through these verses. I plead with you, brothers and sisters, let the Bible go through you. Go slowly. I'll tell you times when I've read the Bible and I read a verse like that and I stop. I can't go to the next verse. It's like a red light there. And I'm not going to go through that red light. The Lord says stop. And I read, read, read, read. I can't get to the next verse. Okay? I spend 15 minutes on it or whatever it is. And I think about it during the day and I close the Bible. And the next day I start my Bible reading again. There's a stoplight at that verse again. Sometimes I've been on one verse for 3 or 4 days. Have you ever studied the Bible like that? 3 or 4 days in your Bible reading just on one verse? I'm not interested in going through the Bible. I'm interested in the Bible going through me. It's changed my life since I started meditating on Scripture. Since I started seeing. He has given me everything pertaining to life and godliness. Everything that I need to live a godly life on earth has been given to me. And bad moods is not part of a godly life. Grumbling and complaining is not part of a godly life. There is an indestructible life offered to me through the Holy Spirit. And I'm not my dear brothers and sisters. I don't want to boast. But I'll tell you that God has been good to me. And He's shown me and brought me into this wonderful life and I wish all of you would have it. Your home life would be transformed. You'd taste a little bit of heaven on this earth. Your inner life will be heaven. And the devil's robbing Christians of it. Think how wonderful life will be for your wife if you never have a bad mood. If you're always rejoicing. If you're always praising the Lord. Always giving thanks. Think what a wonderful life your husband will have. If you never have a bad mood. You're always rejoicing. Never complaining. Why do you let the devil rob you of this wonderful life that Christ has purchased on the cross for you? Think if your father was a billionaire and purchased all types of property and you're the only son or daughter and he's written a will and says given it all to you and you allow some crooked cheating lawyer to rob you of 99% of what your father paid such a price to get for you and you live in a little hut. Is that something creditable? Your father's dead and gone. He'd be shocked if he knew that you allowed some crooked lawyer to take away all that wealth that he left for you. But no we wouldn't allow that. We are sharp when it comes to material things. Oh yes. We won't let any crooked lawyer cheat us of money. We allow the devil to rob us left right and center of something greater than money which Jesus has purchased for us. He's written down in his will and says this is for you. Why do you allow the devil to give you bad moods my brother sister? Why do you allow the devil to make you lose your temper? Why do you allow the devil to make you depressed and gloomy and complain and murmur and make demands on others? That's not the life that Jesus purchased for you. There is a life in the spirit. I want to invite you to come to it. All you got to do is humble yourself under the mighty hand of God and he'll give you grace to be an overcomer. 2nd Peter 1 verse 4. He has granted us these wonderful and magnificent promises. There are wonderful and magnificent promises in the whole Bible and it says here is the best of the lot. Do you want to hear the best promise in the whole Bible? The very best out of all these precious and magnificent promises. Verse 4. That you might partake of his nature. Do you know there's absolutely nothing that God can give you greater than that. Do you want to be a miracle worker? That's a drop in the bucket compared to the ocean of God's nature. I'm going to close. If in a dream tonight the Lord suddenly appeared to you and says tell me quickly in 5 seconds one request you have. Tell me what do you want? What do you say? Heal my backache? I hope you won't say something stupid like that. Or something equally stupid. Make me a miracle worker. I'll tell you what to say. Lord, let me partake of your nature. That's it. Will that be the spontaneous reply that comes from your heart? It will be if you realize this is the greatest thing that God can give to a man. To make you Christ like. Oh, I wish we'd be gripped by it. My words are too poor. I wish the Holy Spirit will convince you. Let's pray. There is a life that God offers you. He's not condemning you for your failure. What he says to you is my son, my daughter, come up higher. Come up to a higher level than you're living right now. Honor me not with activity but by receiving from me that which I freely give you. My nature. Value it. Treasure it. It's yours. I purchased it for you, the Lord says on the cross. Don't despise it. Value it. Say, Lord, I want it at any cost. Heavenly Father, I pray that we shall understand. My words are, I'm conscious, Lord, they're unable to express the burden in your heart. I believe you have a burden in your heart and I pray that despite the limitation of my words, I pray that everyone here will be gripped by it, Lord. Those who are slaves, who should be kings, make them kings, Lord. Help them to realize their calling. Not to be a slave of sin. Not to live in fear of Satan. Not to be overcome by the temptations in the world. But to be an overcomer. Partaker of God's own nature. Thank you, Lord, that you'll do it. Please do it for all of us. Let there be a cry in our heart. We want it, Lord. Change our lives permanently. Bring us into the new covenant. Help us to partake of this indestructible life which no temptation, no human being, no demon can destroy. The life of Jesus. Thank you, Lord. Amen.