This sermon emphasizes the importance of discipline in various aspects of life, such as time management, financial stewardship, and controlling bodily desires. It also highlights the need to live a non-judgmental life, focusing on self-improvement rather than criticizing others. The message draws parallels from biblical stories like Simeon prophesying about Jesus and the actions of the tribe of Levi to illustrate the impact of Christ's presence and the revelation of inner thoughts when encountering Him.

We've been looking in the last couple of sessions on how we can follow the Lord Jesus better in the new year and on the first watch night service we looked at the importance of discipline in our life that we want to make this year a year when we discipline ourselves and the use of our time and our mind and the way we use our bodies throughout this year. So already six days have gone by. You've got a pretty good idea how it's going to go the rest of the year if you look at how it went the last six days. It's not easy but if you determine and say, Lord I'm going to do it. I'm going to be more careful with the use of my time, use of my money, the use of my eyes, the use of my tongue especially. This is what it means to discipline the body and bodily desires. I believe by the end of the year you'll have made tremendous progress. The other thing, the next thing we said was in the last session that we want to live a non-judgmental life. It's a tremendous thing. It's very very difficult. If you look back at your life you'll find how for years and years and years we've passed judgment on all types of people. It hasn't helped them one bit and it certainly hasn't helped us but it's helped to destroy us but the devil makes sure that Christians don't wake up. Now if it were helping others or at least helping ourselves we could pursue that but it's not helping others. It's not helping us so we got to take some of these matters seriously and say, Lord I want to follow a life where I just mind my own business and I don't want to judge others because very often when we judge others like the Bible says we're actually just exposing ourselves, our true condition. I want to show you a verse in Luke's gospel chapter 2. We read here of Simeon picking up the baby Jesus. He was filled with the Holy Spirit it says and he prophesied. He prophesied something over the baby Jesus Christ. In Luke chapter 2 and there are three things he said about Jesus which were literally fulfilled later on in his life. First of all he said in verse 34 that Jesus was appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel. That means people who thought they were all right when Jesus came into their midst whether it was a synagogue or a group or anything some would rise many would fall. This is exactly what happened. Now if Jesus had not gone there they would all remain in the same condition. They would never have risen or fallen but once Christ came into the midst some rose many fell but the choice was theirs. The second thing he said that is mentioned here about Jesus is that he would be assigned to be opposed. Wherever Jesus went he was opposed. Most of the people in the nation opposed him. Now the reason I'm mentioning all this is because that is how the first body of Christ lived on earth and that is how the body of Christ will live now too. If Christ is really in our midst I believe that 99 percent of churches Christ is not there at all so none of these ministries get fulfilled but if Christ is in a church and people come into that church they will not remain the same. They will not remain the same. They will either rise or fall if it's a church where the presence of Christ is powerfully there but if the presence of Christ is not powerfully there you can sit in the church for 25 years and you may remain exactly the same. Otherwise to me there's one of the marks of Christ being in a church that some will rise and many will fall. They'll be much worse than if they had never come to that particular church or they will be so much better than they could ever have been. The second thing is is assigned to be opposed means the true church where Christ is there will be constantly opposed rejected despised because the whole way of the world is completely opposite to the way of Christ. So if a church becomes very popular and accepted with the world you can be pretty sure Christ is not there. How is it? Do you believe that the world has changed today? You believe the devil has changed? Is the devil no longer the prince of this world? Has the world become more Christ-like that it should receive and accept and make the Christian church popular? No. Jesus was never popular and the time when the Christians were the purest in the first century second century they were not popular they were rejected. Assigned to be opposed and the third thing this is what I want to emphasize today the last part of verse 35 when Jesus comes to a place the thoughts of many hearts are revealed. See Jesus went into a synagogue and all types of people whose thoughts were hidden their thoughts got exposed. People who thought they were very humble suddenly got exposed as being very proud and people who thought they were very spiritual were suddenly exposed as those who were on their way to hell even the elders the thoughts of many hearts was revealed not revealed publicly Jesus doesn't humiliate people by saying you're like this or you're like that no revealed to themselves and what they do with that revelation is up to them and I believe that's how it is with any true expression of the body of Christ today that if Jesus is there anybody who comes into such a church his secret thoughts will be revealed not to others to himself the light of God will shine in and show him his true condition before God it says that in 1 Corinthians 14 also that when there's a spirit of prophecy in a church the secrets of a person's heart is revealed to himself he sits there and he realizes God is showing him something in his inner life now after that God doesn't force him he can respond to that or he can say no I don't want that it's not for me and that's what's going to determine whether they rise or fall if they respond to that and say yeah that's me I acknowledge that they were right but if they justify themselves they'll go down so in many situations whatever Christ came in the thoughts of people were revealed for example think of that time when Jesus came into a synagogue with a man whose hand was withered now he had sat in that church for many that synagogue for many years and he was not the means of exposing anybody's condition he just sat there and everything went on normally in that synagogue until Jesus came and when Jesus came and healed that man the thoughts of many people were revealed some people became furious can you imagine people getting furious when a man is healed and others rejoiced maybe a few people in that synagogue rejoiced wonderful this guy is at last got a paralyzed hand healed but a few people were disturbed because their tradition of not doing any work on the sabbath day was broken so God does that even today he uses different circumstances and situations to expose our real condition you know like I said last time that seeing that man beaten on the road to Jericho the priest and the Levite their heart was exposed they thought nothing was exposed but their heart was exposed now that there was nobody on the road they'd have walked to the meeting in Jerusalem and thought everything was okay but that man lying there just silently he didn't even say a word a beaten up man exposed the condition of a Levite and a priest you know there are all types of circumstances around us that can expose our condition nobody may say anything you don't have to be in a meeting and they got exposed in their condition before they ever reached the meeting in the circumstances of life our attitude to other people exposes our condition and you may think nothing was there but God was trying to speak to you I told you how the attitude of the elder brother got exposed only when the younger brother came back and very often you can think you're very spiritual to somebody whom you don't appreciate very much gets blessed or used by God and you can all work out how can God use him then you see your heart condition which was never revealed until that other situation cropped up the thoughts of many hearts are revealed those are the moments when Jesus is trying to show something so what I want to say is I hope in this year this will not only be a year of discipline and not only a year where we don't judge others but this will be a year when we acknowledge our true condition whenever God shows it it's like a scan I believe you and I are going to get many scans from God free of charge through the circumstances and situations we're going to face this year and what you're going to do with that scan report that God Almighty gives you it's up to you you can tear it up it's what most people do tear it up means you justify yourself and say no no no no it's not like that that's the worst possible thing you can do whereas if you acknowledge the report in the scan you can make progress and those are the ones who will never be deceived let me show you in this connection this verse which we have often looked at in 2nd Thessalonians in chapter 2 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2 it says it speaks about a certain group of people and we must never be in that group of people it's a group of people described in the last part of verse 10 as those who did not receive the love of the truth about themselves so as to be saved or we can say those who did not accept the scan report who thought they knew better than the specialist doctor what would you say what would the doctor say if the specialist say the top specialist in the country has taken a scan of your inner lungs and heart and all and gives you a report and you say oh I don't believe that have to say okay go your way and that's exactly what God says ah you have a reason you to justify yourself for that go your way and at the end of 2010 you won't be in the same condition you'll be worse because Jesus is set for the rise or the fall you cannot remain the same I can tell you straight you will none of us will be in the same position we are in today by the end of this year you're either going to rise or we're going to fall the fall may not be obvious I mean you don't have to fall into adultery or murder or some terrible thing like that fall is something God sees that are you've sunk lower I mean if you got 50 last year and you're getting 45 you still passed but it's gone down and so you're on your way down so it says here about those who did not receive the love of the truth it's not just the accepting the truth it's loving the truth you know how oh I long to see the truth about myself how many of you have that desire oh God I want to know the truth about myself Jesus said when the Holy Spirit has come is the spirit of truth John 16 he said he will lead you into all the truth now to some people all the truth is just all the truth in the Bible they go to a Bible college to understand all the truth no it's first of all all the truth about myself and then all the truth about God that he reveals through the scriptures all the truth about salvation that he reveals through scriptures not biblical knowledge enough people in the world study the Bible are number one candidates for hell no the spirit of truth will lead you into all the truth means first and foremost the truth about yourself which you don't know if you're willing to face up to that and not only accept the truth but see what it says here love the truth do you know the difference between accepting a person and loving a person there's a lot of difference you can accept somebody into your home and you can love to accept somebody into your home oh there's a lot of difference you know that some visitor comes and you receive him another visitor comes and you love to receive him there's a difference he's not receiving the truth here it's loving to receive the truth oh lord I'm so delighted that you showed this to me about myself in this particular situation that Levite and priest had a self-acknowledgement as they walked past that man on their way to Jerusalem they should have thought oh what should I have done they could have had a self-acknowledgement I just ignored it they could have judged themselves but it says here if you don't receive the love of the truth so as to be saved the purpose of loving the truth is so that I can be saved from that thing which the truth exposes in me and if I don't love that the Bible says God himself will send you a deluding influence so that you will believe what is false it's one of the most terrifying verses in scripture so that you can believe what is false do you know the number of people who are already in that condition I've met numerous people in my life who believe what is false God has allowed them according to this verse he's fulfilled this verse in their lives they believe what is false they believe they are born again when they're not born again at all there are many people I met who believe they are filled and baptized in the Holy Spirit they are not filled and baptized in the Holy Spirit at all God has allowed them to believe what is false because they had some emotional experience and battle some words a few years ago I don't want to be in that category I don't want to believe I'm born again when I'm not really born again but where God's eyes and what's he is convincing you and others in the church I don't want to believe I'm baptized in the Holy Spirit just because I want to give a testimony I couldn't care less for my testimony I want to be actually filled in the Holy Spirit God allows people to believe what's false there are many people who think they are building the body of Christ they're not building the body of Christ they're building their own kingdom God allows them to believe what is false oh that they're building the body of Christ rubbish they wake up one day when Christ comes back and discover they didn't build anything but wood hay and straw I don't want that I don't want to imagine that I'm seeking the glory of God when I'm seeking my own honor there could be so many areas that I believe you can believe you're very humble when you're not you can believe you're a very submissive wife when you're not you can believe that you're a very loving husband when you're not you want more revelation on these areas you want to scan or would you rather not know about your inner condition Jesus has come to the thoughts of many hearts and be revealed and the Lord was you know I mentioned last time how this woman caught in adultery it wasn't she who was exposed it was the Pharisees who were exposed when they exposed the woman they were exposing their own condition do you know that how many of you know that that when you expose somebody else's condition you're actually exposing your own condition let me ask you when Noah was lying naked a man of God who saved the world but he slipped up got drunk and lay naked and Ham his youngest son came and saw his nakedness and talked about it tell me whose nakedness was being exposed there it was not Noah's it was Ham's it was Ham's condition that was being exposed what type of man was this when you see the weakness in a man of God and you talk about it it's your condition that's being exposed and that's why a curse came upon Ham and upon his children came so we see here that God uses even the failure of his servant Noah to expose the heart condition of somebody else to see whether well this guy go and talk about it and it exposed the heart condition of the other two sons Shem and Japheth that when they saw it they they heard about it they didn't even want to see it oh imagine you hear something about somebody and you say I don't want to know anything more thank you you know there's a tremendous lust in us to hey tell me what happened what happened give me all the juicy details and as you ask those questions you yourself are getting more and more exposed and exposed and exposed your condition not the condition of those details you're inquiring I mean if Shem had said to Ham tell me what exactly where where's he lying tell me no they wouldn't even want to see it they went backwards and put a sheet over it and said Noah woke up and as a servant of God he blessed Shem and Japheth and blessed others the Bible is full of examples like this of the failure of one man exposed the condition of another they thought they were finding fault with this man Noah little did Ham realize God was just scanning him at that time God allowed Ham to go and see his father naked and then it's where God said let me see what's going to be his reaction and he goes and tells Shem and Japheth and God says okay let me see their reaction because I've got a plan for the children of Noah and I've got to decide which one I'm going to use well certainly not going to be Ham they missed out there are many situations like this you know where the secrets of the thoughts of many hearts are revealed do you know why God selected the tribe of Levi out of the 12 tribes of Israel did God just pick one out of a hat or something and say okay Levi you're the priest no he doesn't do that God doesn't pick things out of a hat he doesn't decide who's going to heaven or who's going to hell he's not he doesn't decide who's going to be an anointed servant who's not going to be anointed he tests Ham was tested Ham could have been do you know that Ham could have even been the forerunner of the Messiah he missed out Shem became that but little did Shem know on that day that he was going to be the forerunner of the Messiah by his reaction to his father lying naked and little did Ham know that he was going to completely miss out just because of one little word he spoke one little reaction and he completely missed out on God's purpose for his life think back over the past years of your life where you have expressed your opinion about this and opinion about that and opinion about that and the other thing whole lot of things which don't even concern you now Noah was Ham's son and his son was lying naked he had every right to deal with him because his son is within your parents boundary I mean you've got children you've got every right to judge them and correct them or if you're an elder in a church you've got every right to correct the people in your church but what if you're not an elder in your church and you go around passing your opinion about everybody in the church that's the spirit of Ham and the result in your life will be like Ham's he doesn't concern you do you recognize that do you know that believers have this terrible terrible habit which the devil just keeps on fostering by giving an opinion and opinion and opinion now you remember in watch night service or last sometime during the last few days I said can you try and fast from giving your opinion for one month just 31 days just fast from giving an opinion about anybody you'll find it difficult to keep it for one day because it's been a habit I want to ask you my straight question my brothers and sisters do you want to end 2010 better than 2009 and just answer the lord and say yes or no if you say yes then please take seriously some of the things I'm saying please take it seriously don't don't justify yourself just take it seriously and say lord okay why did god choose levi turn to genesis exodus 32 exodus 32 you know the children of israel were worshiping idols dancing around the golden calf and the children of levi were also doing that everybody did it and when moses came he read nexus 32 25 the people were out of control and moses stood in the gate of the camp exodus 32 26 and said who is on the lord's side one simple question who is on the lord's side come to me immediately without a moment's hesitation all the sons of levi gathered to him and he said take your sword go from gate to gate in the camp and kill anyone even if it's your brother friend or neighbor those who've been involved in this type of idolatry some are obviously more involved in it or leading others into it and the sons of levi just went out and killed three thousand people with that sword i'm sure that wasn't easy to turn around to a person who they probably have spoken to as friends for so long and say i'm sorry i'm going to stand for the lord and i'll chop off your head you just think if you were in that place would you do what moses told you to do or would you say hey moses come on man give them a chance you want me to go and kill these guys many people can't understand even today when a servant of god deals strictly with a situation it's been too hard they'll never make it to the tribe of levi the sons of levi did and the lord and moses said to dedicate yourself today to the lord so that he will bestow a blessing verse 29 upon you today i don't understand to show you all that but you read in deuteronomy later on that he got the priesthood because of that um you know when when moses blesses the tribes of israel in deuteronomy chapter 33 you find that he says that about levi in verse 8 deuteronomy 33 and 8 of levi all the tribes he said he let your urim and your them into the marks of the priesthood belong to your godly man who you were tested and you said of your father and mother verse 9 i did not consider them he did not acknowledge his brothers he did not regard his sons you observed the word and kept the covenant maybe they cut off the heads of one of their fathers or one of their sons they were just ruthless they did not say oh this is my father this is my son there was no partiality in them do you know that different situations happen sometimes in your family or with a close friend of yours where god is exposing the thoughts of your heart to see whether you'll be partial there whether you are fit to be his representative on earth as his servants oh whether you'll be partial because this is my brother this is my son this is my daughter this is not levi they did not god doesn't pick lots and give an anointing to somebody he tests and those who have an acknowledgement yes lord that's me lord i'm sorry i'm partial there they'll be saved but those who don't love the truth about themselves god allows them to be deceived to believe what is false to believe they're anointed when they're not anointed to believe that they are walking with god when they're not walking with god to even believe they're walking like jesus when they're not walking like jesus at all self-acknowledgement will deliver us from all deception about ourselves there was another man like that in the tribe of levi you read about in numbers and chapter 25 again the children of israel got into worshiping false gods and sex is very often connected with idol worship adultery and idolatry usually go together and even when christians fall into adultery you can be pretty sure there's been some idolatry in their life as well you know idolatry of money or something and god was angry with them and we read here that uh where as a result of this god punished them and 24 000 people died in verse 9 and you know how the whole of israel would have been wiped out except that one man when he saw verse 6 numbers 25 or 6 numbers 25 6 one of the sons of israel brought a medianite woman into her into his tent phinehas the son of eliezer the grandson of aaron saw it he got up immediately took a spear went after that man of israel into the tent and put the spear through both of them and killed him the result was the plague was checked and the lord said i was testing phinehas when he saw this man going in with that woman into the tent to see what would he do what would he do would he be a nice gentle person or would the zeal of my house burn him up lord said because phinehas the son of eliezer son of aaron has turned away my anger from the sons of israel and that he was jealous with my jealousy among them he was jealous for the purity of god's people so that i didn't destroy all the nation of peace and with his children a covenant of perpetual priesthood because he was jealous for his god do you think those other sons of aaron knew that they were also being tested after they say why did god choose phinehas well all of you were tested that day and phinehas the one who passed the test there are many situations that crop up like this where god tests us to see what is going to be your reaction what is going to be your reaction when it's your own son or your daughter you're going to cover it all up okay fine god sees that nobody else may see it because you'll have 101 justifications as to why you're doing it all we are masters at self-justification because we've got tremendous help from the devil whenever you get along that road there's a road called self-justification the moment you get onto that road the devil will come with all his demons and push you and you'll go full speed he'll give you 101 reasons why you can justify yourself be careful we read in the book of job you read in the book of job about his sickness about his financial loss the death in his family but do you know who got tested there it was not only joe it was those three preacher friends of his they got tested god was testing alif as bill dad and so far to see what will these fellows say when they see my servant suffering a financial loss what do these people say when they see my servants children die what do these people say when they see my servant sick and sure enough all three failed the test there was a young guy there called ellie who a young preacher he barely scraped through and missed judgment but the other three god was angry with them he read but you know if you read the book of joe and you read what these three preachers said everything they said was correct according to the letter they were the first legalists mentioned in scripture who go by the letter and judge a person without knowing the real reason now we know as we read the book of job that god was taking joe through a testing to make him a better man but what did they say they were obviously very jealous of the fact that joe was such an upright man such a rich man his business was prospering you asked yourself my brother sister have you ever felt like that about a brother somebody you know or even a relative who is unconverted perhaps you see everything going well with him maybe he's rich he's well off he's able to have things you don't have and his children are all 10 children seven sons three daughters all of them god-fearing and on top of that he's a very spiritual man you know such people are the objects of jealousy jesus people were jealous of him because of his ministry a lot of people are jealous of somebody's ministry they'd be happy if his ministry was not so anointed but they're jealous when his ministry is so anointed and they don't seem to quite agree with the man but god seems to agree with him and they don't like that the world is full of people who are jealous of somebody else's ministry hoping he will fall hoping his ministry will not be so wide hoping that something will happen to his children so that he can come down to the level of the rest of the others who've got half-hearted compromising children but nothing seems to happen and they get jealous and then one day they hear his children die and though they pretend to shed tears because all hollow secretly they were delighted when you find yourself delighted at the fall of somebody you didn't like too much do you know who's getting exposed not him you that person's failure was the way by which god gave you a scan as soon as you heard it that person's prosperity also gave you a scan i mean if these people are honest when they saw joe prospering his children going so well and he's such a spiritual man that their jealousy god was trying to tell them hey why are you fellas unhappy i mean you should be unhappy if he's suffering you guys are unhappy because he's so good isn't there something wrong with you why are you so unhappy when somebody's ministry is anointed and blessed and god is being glorified through somebody you should be thrilled you're not thrilled you're unhappy and when he falls you get a little happy don't you see your condition but they didn't see it what a revelation and remember that's the first book of the bible i told you that job was the first book of the bible and the first book of the bible reveals how jesus did that ministry of the secrets of people's hearts getting exposed and they would not acknowledge it i'm sure if you're honest you will let not you will say that that's been true many a time in past years how is it going to be in 2010 are you going to finish 2010 better are you going to finish with this are you going to get this cancer completely removed from your system or you're going to allow it to linger and linger it's been lingering many years brother sister how long are you going to keep that wretched cancer and i'll tell you another thing cancer never stays the same size it just gets worse and worse and so job's failure exposed the condition of these people who came to see him and his so-called friends his so-called comforters they were not comforters see what one of them said he turned to job chapter eight job chapter eight verse six if you are pure and upright surely now god would rouse himself and restore your righteous estate why hasn't he done that or what about your sons verse four is a message bible says it's absolutely plain that your children sinned against god otherwise why would god have punished them your children have sinned against god that's why he killed all 10 of them little did they know and you know you can read through the book of job and you see that that was their attitude throughout the book finding fault with them finding fault and then the man whom god himself could certify to satan as the one man on the face of the earth whom god could boast about these fellows are picking there picking holes you know that israel in the land of israel the lord said once in jeremiah chapter five i want you to see this verse jeremiah chapter five verse 26 wicked men are found among my people they watch like followers followers are people who are waiting to catch a bird in a trap they're lying in wait they set a trap to catch men unscrupulous men it says in the message bible on the hunt they set traps for the unsuspecting their victims are innocent men and women you know how it says you read in the gospel sometimes the pharisees were just waiting to catch jesus in one word that he said they got it or to see if he would say something by which he would incriminate himself i've met people like that who can come to me at the end of a very powerful meeting and say brothers act you know there's one little thing you said that's not exactly right you think i waste my time talking to them they got exposed all that they could find in that whole message was one little thing maybe the worst was 52 instead of 51 brothers act it's actually should be verse 51 that's how they got out of the message they sat there and the secrets of their thoughts were exposed and the real reason was they were jealous they were getting irritated looking they're waiting waiting waiting to find out they got one thing you go to the wrong verse now i'm just using an example i've come across numerous people like that who are just looking around searching with a microscope to find something some speck in a person's eye so i give you a bit of advice throw away your microscopes let walk in the light of the lord let the lord show you what he's showing in you when you see a speck in somebody else's eye what did jesus mean that if you've got a beam in your eye and how can you take a speck out of your brother's eye what is this beam this beam is a unloving judgmental attitude towards that other brother who's got a speck let me give an example the speck is adultery adultery is that a speck yes in the woman what is the beam in the eyes of the pharisees this massive judgmental legalistic attitude you think such people could help that woman caught in adultery who is the one who helped her the one whose eyes were clear jesus because he wanted to help her the others only wanted to condemn her when you see something wrong in someone ask yourself my brother sister do you want to help him or do you want to condemn him you want to show him up as a failure as a sinner or do you want to save him you know we sing that song he did not come to judge the world he did not come to blame he did not only come to seek it was to say he came and when we call him savior we call him by his name we do not have the right to judge we are not here to blame we're only called to bless and help and love in jesus name and when we love each other he glorifies him pursue that path i want you to see something else in the book of job job started out very well but there's a little phrase there which really caught my attention as i was thinking about it today i mean it's one of those things you know you read the scriptures for years i've read this for 50 years and this is the first time that verse struck me today job chapter one you know they had a time of feasting you read in verse five and job would send job one five and consecrate them rising up early in the morning and offering burned offerings and job said perhaps my sons have sinned against god in their hearts he wasn't sure maybe they hadn't but he said perhaps there is a possibility that they have sinned and the way that came to me is that is how i must live not in relation to others but in relation to myself and if i have children who are under my responsibility i don't have to worry about others to say in a different in different situations perhaps i see can you say that perhaps i see perhaps in that situation i wasn't as pure as i thought perhaps i seemed now if you take that attitude i can guarantee every day god will show you something in the way you looked at someone in the way you spoke to someone or you spoke about someone if you can only say one sentence every day perhaps i said if so lord give me light it's one of those songs we sing if i have not forsaken all give me light that i might see if money has a hold on me give me light that i might see if someone's failure has not wrought concern and care within my heart lord give me light that i might see we're supposed to be following jesus we're not supposed to say well i'm not my brother's keeper like cain said i'm not my brother's keeper perhaps i've seen perhaps there was some failure on my part to show me lord i don't look inside i have sometimes surprised people by saying do you know i never look inside myself never now i remember the old days when i used to and i used to get thoroughly depressed i said i don't need to look inside myself when i look at jesus i immediately he shows me when i saw jesus he immediately saw oh i'm such a so careless with my lips and that doesn't bring condemnation if i look inside i'll get depressed because there's nothing good in my flesh so i don't advise any of you to spend your time introspecting and looking looking inside people who do that and who've got that version of christianity will be thoroughly depressed and they'll get all types of sicknesses in their body too i met people like that very introspective introspective they're the most miserable gloomy looking and sick people i've met if you want to have a cheerful confidence and you want to be in good mood all the time and you want to be healthy don't look inside yourself look at jesus and he will show you little by little as much as you can bear what you need to know every day about yourself i'm telling you my experience i'm a long way from becoming like and i know that better than any of you but i believe i'm making progress i get light i say lord i never will refuse the truth about myself i will embrace it with all my heart when i see something and the lord says that was selfish i say yes lord it was selfish or the lord says that was a little pride yes lord i'm sorry that was pride spiritual pride oh the lord says there you touch my glory oh lord i tremble forgive me i'm sorry i touched your glory perhaps i see it's a wonderful thing that joe could say perhaps perhaps my children have seen not just me when somebody tells you something especially if your children are at home somebody tells you something about them say perhaps my children have seen it's a beautiful very good attitude today your children will become godly i remember when my boys grew up here in this church if any sunday school teacher told me one little thing about any of them i would not defend my children i would say thank you and i would take my children to task because i wanted my children to be safe i didn't want them to be justified by me i would say perhaps my children see they're young they're foolish perhaps they did that and that sunday school teacher is a older person he must he must be right he doesn't have anything against my children he's just telling me the truth have you had that reaction when somebody says something about your children or about you what is your attitude to correction did you say ah perhaps it's true perhaps i've sinned perhaps it was wrong make this a year of self-acknowledgement not introspection not looking inside but when jesus comes and reveals the thoughts of your heart by by a word perhaps or by a circumstance or a situation quickly quickly acknowledge let's be full speed like you would go full speed to the surgeon to get the cancer removed because he says it's spreading you don't remove it you won't you'll die within a week you won't you'll postpone everything and go full speed i want it removed the only person who wouldn't do that is a person who thinks he's pretty much like jesus already you know people say to us sometimes what you fellas you're just sitting and purifying yourself purifying yourself purifying yourself when is it going to stop when are you going to stop this purifying yourself i'll tell you i said i won't say it myself i'll tell you what john the apostle said in one john three it says in verse two that when jesus comes again we will be like jesus because we will see him exactly as he is this is the blessed hope the blessed hope has got two parts one side like a coin you know one side is he is coming back for me the other side of the coin is i will be like him when he comes many people have only got a one-sided hope he is coming you go and ask you don't believe me go and ask any believer you know what is your blessed hope brother what are you waiting for say jesus is coming back anything else no i'm going to be in heaven i i wonder whether even one percent of people will give the correct answer and say i'm going to be like him when he comes you're not interested in that but here it says very clearly we will be like him because we will see him as he is and this is the hope it says in the next verse and if you have this hope you will do what we have what we do purify yourself until you become as pure as jesus is pure have you got there i haven't got there i i tell you honestly many years ago i thought i was closer in purity to jesus than i feel right now the more i see the holiness the total unselfishness and humility of jesus i feel i feel i'm a greater sinner than i ever felt before i can fully understand now how paul said at the end of his life oh i'm the chief of sinners that's exactly how you feel when you come pretty close to god and you don't have much time to look down at other sinners purify himself as he is pure god will show you and show each one of us the areas in our life where we need to see and when he does don't justify yourself that is the sin of the pharisees luke chapter 16 luke chapter 16 jesus said in verse 15 you are those who justify yourself in the sight of men but god knows your hearts luke 16 15 you justify yourselves before men but god knows your hearts and all this justifying yourself before men to make yourself great in their eyes is an abomination to god that's what he says in the rest of that verse all this justify why are you justifying yourself to show people i'm not so bad as you think i'm pretty good uh-huh he says it's an abomination in the sight of god detestable in sight of god it's stinking do you know that to justify yourself is absolutely stinking in god's eyes how many of you know that if you understand that you will never justify yourself because that immediately identifies you as a pharisee if a person has got a wrong impression you can tell him brother it wasn't like that it's like this but when somebody accuses you he's not in the mood to listen to your correction what should you say perhaps i have seen perhaps i was wrong perhaps i was guilty perhaps i did do something wrong there perhaps i did hurt that person i didn't intend to but perhaps i did all of us who are husbands and wives have to acknowledge that many a time we have hurt our partners without intending to we had the best of intentions but somehow we the way it was said was not right you have absolutely zero intention to hurt that person but the way it came out was because we have a flesh in which dwells nothing good if you believe that and i believe it with all my heart it will be not at all difficult for you to say in any situation perhaps i've seen when your wife tells you something about yourself to have the attitude which says oh maybe it's right perhaps i've seen when your husband tells you something to have the attitude yeah perhaps you're right maybe i perhaps i've seen what do i lose supposing i'm perfectly fit and healthy what do i lose by taking a scan do i lose anything but somebody said i want to give you a free scan in the hospital go ahead he looks at you're okay you never lose anything by saying well lord perhaps i've seen show me and if the lord says to me no i don't well i'll tell you something in our younger days we when we are younger we don't hear the lord so clearly we hear our own voice which we imagine to be the lord's voice saying you're okay so you need to grow a little to be able to hear god's voice clearly so those in your younger years when you hear voices saying you're okay you're okay don't fool yourself that that is god's voice when adam sinned the first man that seemed immediately he justified himself there are reasons behind this my wife you gave me this wife so difficult to go straight to the point to beat around the bush beat around the bush and finally say i did it why not go straight to the point and say yeah i did me me the problem is me i yielded i did not take my place as the head of the home i should have put my foot down when i saw my wife talking to the devil and taking that fruit i should have stopped her i should have put her hand back i didn't do it i'm sorry lord my fault and secondly i compounded the whole thing by eating the fruit as well you know when the lord asked him one question did you eat the fruit the right thing adam should have said is lord i did two things for me not only i ate the fruit i failed as a husband boy how delighted god would have been if he had heard such an answer but the children of adam never give that answer i see this great difference let me say this in conclusion one day i was an adam god took me and put me in christ and one mark of it is this adam would not take the responsibility for his own sin he blamed his wife he blamed god jesus when he hung on the cross took the responsibility for other people's sins that's the difference when i'm an adam and i walk like adam i will not be able to take responsibility even for my own sin i will justify myself but when i'm like jesus i'm willing to take the blame for other people's sins there was a great godly man in germany many years ago called henry suso he was a single man a very godly man he lived in a small street and he had a great reputation as a holy man one day a prostitute who bore a child through somebody wanted to get rid of his child and thought the best person to dump the child on was henry susa so he went and knocked at henry susa's door henry susa opened the door here's the woman never seen her before and he she shouted out loud for all the people in the street to hear here is the fruit of your sin and ran off he took this child never seen this woman before and his whole reputation which has built up for years spoilt in a one moment down the street everybody wagging their tongues aha so this is what this holy man has been up to he was broken and just a few days earlier he had prayed oh god make me like jesus and he went and knelt down in his name and took the baby and said lord you know i'm innocent what should i do and jesus said do what i did suffer for the sins of others he never opened his mouth he brought up that child as if it was his own many years later that woman was convicted came back and proclaimed through that whole street that she had told a lie but during that period god had answered henry susa's prayer he had made him like jesus when he would not open his mouth to justify himself see that is a he was in the phd class don't think we can jump up there so quickly god's no woman's gonna come and knock at your door tomorrow and put some sun because we are all in first standard second standard when you get up to phd class maybe you'll get that type of uh test but not now don't worry but let's pass these first standard second standard tests as we go along this year let's pray heavenly father help us as we face this new year to walk the way of self-acknowledgement as you give us light as you show the secrets of our hearts the thoughts of our hearts are revealed help us to love the truth and walk the way every godly man in history has walked the way of self-acknowledgement and humility we pray in jesus name amen