This sermon emphasizes the importance of hallowing God's name and living in a way that glorifies Him. It discusses the need for a new heart, filled with the Holy Spirit, to overcome sin and idolatry. The focus is on seeking a new covenant life, walking in God's commandments, and loathing one's own sinful ways. The goal is to have the church resemble the Garden of Eden, a testimony of God's holiness and power.

Praise the Lord, brothers and sisters. It's wonderful that the Lord has given us the opportunity to come together so freely in this land. We don't take it for granted. There's been more persecution of Christians in India in the last two, three years than I've seen in my whole life. So, that's the fulfillment of the words of Jesus as we approach the end of time. It's not going to be popular to be a true Christian. It's not going to be popular to proclaim the standards of Jesus Christ. It's not going to be popular to proclaim the standards of the Bible and the New Covenant. And it's not just persecution from the world and non-Christians. There is another greater danger that we face and that is deception from within Christianity. The devil is pictured in the Bible as a lion who fiercely seeks to attack God's people and that is persecution. He's also pictured as a serpent, a snake, and a dragon, who snake is a picture of deception, the wily, clever snake. And in the Garden of Eden, when the devil had the option of either coming as a lion and roaring at Adam and Eve and compelling them to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil or coming as a snake and very subtly inviting them without threatening them to partake of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, he came as a snake. He's a very clever person and up until that time he was the cleverest of all created beings. He was obviously cleverer than Adam and Eve because he fooled them. And I find that the devil is, we need to recognize that the devil is cleverer than all human beings and the only way we can overcome his deception and not be afraid of his persecution is if we really seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit, not with the counterfeits that are going around in Christendom today, but with that genuine fullness of the Holy Spirit, a baptism in the Holy Spirit and fire, a continuous burning of that fire, a continuous fullness of the Holy Spirit, a continuous overflow of rivers of living water, whichever picture you use, a continuously having our vessels full of oil so that the lamps can burn every day. And if we choose the way of the cross, the way of death to self, which the Holy Spirit led Jesus along and will lead us along, then we will not be deceived and we will not be afraid of persecution either. We believe God will give us wisdom to overcome Satan's wiles and grace and power to overcome persecution. So we don't live in fear, but we have to be careful, we have to be wise in these days. And the devil is not interested in attacking all Christians. If you turn to the book of Revelation and chapter 12, I want you to see how it will be in the last days. It's very important to see this. The book of Revelation is going to be very living and interesting as we approach the end of time. Revelation chapter 12 and verse 17 says, the dragon, that is the devil, and we are told in verse 9 that he is the deceiver of the whole world. So it's his deception that is mentioned, dragon, serpent, deceiver, it's deception that is mentioned here. And we read that he also persecutes in verse 17, the dragon was enraged with the woman and went off to make war with the rest of her children. The woman is a picture of the nation of Israel through which Christ was born and through that came the church, that's the rest of the children who keep the commandments of God. Who is the devil angry with? Not every Christian, only those children who obey God's commandments. Now if you're one of those who don't obey God's commandments or who feel that some commandments are not so important, they don't have to be obeyed because you are cleverer than God, God gave the command but you decide you don't have to obey it, well the devil is not going to be angry at you because you're on his side. You're one of those who's helping him to teach that some commandments are not important. I mean we are cleverer than God, we can decide that some things written in the New Testament are not for us today. I mean there's so much of that in Christendom today, some things written in the New Testament are not for us today. Who do you think proposed, taught that? The devil. So he's only angry with those who are determined to keep all the commandments of God. You remember Daniel in Babylon, Old Testament Babylon, he's a great example because in Babylonian Christianity today, if you want to stand up against it, you got to be like Daniel and the one thing written about Daniel is Daniel 1 verse 8, he refused, he determined in his mind not to pollute himself and if you look at the commands he was emphasizing, it was not that the other Jews were committing adultery and he said no or the other Jews were committing worshiping idols and he said no. It was small commandments, small little commandments about certain types of food mentioned in Leviticus 11 that you should not eat and in Proverbs 23 it says a certain type of wine should not be drunk, very small commandments and Daniel said I don't care if it's a small commandment, I'm gonna obey God. All the others said no no no that's not so important. They had, they could accomplish nothing for God in Babylon and I'll tell you this, those who are not particular to read the New Testament, to know what God has commanded will not be able to stand against Babylon and if they build a church, it'll be another Babylon. So the devil is angry with those who keep the commandments of God. Jesus said there's only one proof that you love him. Everybody sings Lord we love you, we love you, we love you but Jesus said in John 14 verse 15, if you love me keep my commandments and I'll tell you something, whenever you try to keep the commandments, you've got a bunch of Babylonian Christians who will say ah you're being legalistic, you're living under the law and so many Christians get scared and back off. Okay okay that's a small commandment, we won't do it because we don't want to be legalistic. I'm not scared. I'm not scared of the devil coming through these false Christians telling me that I'm legalistic because I'm obeying the commandments in the New Testament. Whether it's a small commandment or a big commandment, I am not big enough to question God or his word. Give me a few people like that and we'll shake this country for God. I hope you'll be one of them, brother or sister, who are more interested in pleasing God than in trying to get a name for yourself or backing off because when you love Jesus and you want to keep your commandment, somebody calls you legalistic and you get scared and you love that person's honor more than the honor of Jesus Christ. Shame on you if you're like that. I don't believe that you belong in this midst in this congregation if you've got that type of spirit. We're not building such people. We're building a group of people who will keep the commandments of God and are not scared of the charge of legalism or of coming under the law. I know what it means to come under the law. In simple words, it means to try to keep God's commandments in my own strength. That is living under the law, in simple words. In other words, one who does not seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit to obey God, I'm not under law. I was in the old days when I was defeated by sin and the clearest proof that you're under law is Romans 6 14. Sin shall not rule over you because you are not under the law but under grace. If you are overcoming sin, you are not under law. Those fellows who accuse us of keeping the commandments, they are defeated by sin. They are under law. They say all these things doesn't matter. We got to love everybody. Well, love everybody. There's sin in your life. Then you are under law. The proof that a man is not under law but under grace is that sin cannot rule over him. That's how I know for myself. If sin rules over me, I am under law no matter which church I go to, no matter which doctrine I believe. Even if you sit here in CFC. You're under grace when sin is under your foot. So remember that he's angry with those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. To hold to the testimony of Jesus Christ. That means they stand true to the witness that Jesus gave on this earth. There's a testimony of Jesus and that refers to his earthly life. The way he lived and he spoke. What is your testimony? When you say the testimony of Zaccaruno, the testimony of others is not just the words I speak. It's my life. It's what people see of my life, my wife, my children, my neighbors, the people I deal with in the church and my words. That is my testimony. So what is the testimony of Jesus? It's the way he lived and spoke and did things on earth and there are very few who hold to that and say that is to be the testimony of the church today. The testimony of the church must be the testimony of Jesus and we read in Revelation in chapter 19 that the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Revelation 19 verse 10. Prophecy is the greatest gift in the church. We are told to seek for the gift of prophecy if we want to build a new covenant church and prophecy is not predicting the future like in the old testament. There's a very small part of that in the new testament. Also maybe one percent where people like Agabus fulfill it, but 99 percent of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus. Revelation 19 verse 10. The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. The important thing is not the words, the spirit. When I listen to a man prophesying, which means speaking God's word from a pulpit, I listen to his spirit and I encourage all of you to listen to the spirit of people who preach. Don't just listen to the words and say the doctrine agrees with our doctrine in our church. The devil comes as an angel of light and his ministers are ministers of righteousness and you will be fooled if you go just by the words. Listen to the spirit. The spirit of that man must be the testimony of Jesus Christ. He must not be exalting himself. He must be drawing you to Christ. He must be connecting you to Christ not to himself. He must be talking about Jesus and following Jesus, taking up the cross and following him. That is the testimony of Jesus and that is the spirit of prophecy that builds the true church of Christ. So please remember that the devil is angry with those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus and who are not scared of standing up for that as I said when opposed not by non-Christians but by believers who do not have light on the new covenant. Now let's turn to Mark's gospel in chapter 2. In Mark's gospel chapter 2 we read this expression which we have as our theme for this conference new wine in new wineskins. Mark's gospel chapter 2 we read how verse 18 John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. John 2 verse 18 and they said to him to Jesus why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast but your disciples do not fast. People under the old covenant and under the law that primary emphasis is on why don't you do this small little things. I mean fasting is commanded in the old testament. Jesus spoke about it in the new testament when that becomes the major thing in your life something is wrong. That means you're not questioning why don't you live a godly life? Why don't you love Jesus with all your heart? Why don't you forgive others? Those are not the questions. You know I've had this spirit of checking up on the small things. I've had people in different parts of the world when I they ask me about our church and say do you break bread every day? I know they are from the Plymouth brethren. Some people say do you people speak all speak in tongues? I know they are Pentecostals. Do your sisters cover their heads? They are from the groups that believe that in America the Mennonites and all. Now we do all these things. We break bread. We our sisters veil their heads and we speak in tongues and but that's not the main thing for us. I've never had anybody ask me do you people love one another? You see how the devil has taken away. It's not that we ignore these small commandments as I said earlier but that's not the major thing. I want to know whether you love one another. I want to know whether the elders are humble servants of the people. That's what I want to know. I don't want to know whether the elders are great preachers who can organize and administer a church. No. Are they humble people? Are they servants? Do they love money? Those are the things I'm interested in. So but these people are particular about the small thing and that is the mark of having the old wineskin of the law and Jesus said when the bridegroom is with them the attendants of the bridegroom cannot fast can they? Or the bride cannot fast when the bridegroom is there. But if the bridegroom is taken away, verse 20, then they will fast. We're living in the days when the bridegroom has gone away. He's going to return and that is why we fast. There's no law on that. That's up to you. But we do and we seek God. It's an expression of fasting is an expression of our longing for our absent bridegroom. If it is not that your fasting is a ritual that you do to get honor from others and you talk about it to other people. But if it is an expression of your longing for an absent bridegroom it's a good thing. You see how the spirit of the fasting is more important than the fasting itself. And then he says no one can sew a patch of an unshrunk cloth on an old garment. You know in those days they didn't have teralene and all that they had cotton and you know that when you get a cotton cloth and you want to stitch a dress with it you must put it in water and shrink it first. Otherwise your dress won't fit you if you stitch it first and then wash it. And so an old cotton garment has shrunk from its original size. And if you then put a patch from a new bit of cloth onto that the old garment has already shrunk. This new patch when it is in the water it will shrink. And what will happen it will tear the old garment. That's what he's saying. So he's saying you can't take a little bit of new covenant truth and add it to your old covenant legalistic life. It just won't work. It'll tear the whole thing. It has got to be an entirely new garment. It has got to be an entirely new covenant from A to Z all the way. I'm sorry to say that there are some people who like certain things that we preach and say ah that's a good thing let's have just victory over sin. And they take that patch and put it onto the rest of their old covenant church and old covenant life and it doesn't work. That's what he's talking about. And then he uses this expression no one puts new wine into old wineskins. You see the picture there. That's what a wineskin looked like in the old days. It was made of leather and you see the grapes are being crushed and the wine goes into the wineskin and when the wineskin is new it has not yet stretched. You know when grape juice when it ferments it expands and the wineskin stretches and it can hold it. But if you put this new wine into an old wineskin which is already stretched to its maximum limit and then when the grape juice ferments and becomes wined up it'll burst. The power of that wine is so strong it'll burst that wineskin. And so Jesus said new wine and the wine will burst the skins and the wine is lost and the skins are also destroyed. So it's not enough just to have new wine but you must put it into fresh wineskins. So he was telling these people who were particular about fasting and things like that. He says it's not being taken up with this letter of the law. You must understand the spirit. That's the new wineskin. And then you see another example after that in verse 23 when the disciples were going through the grain fields again the Pharisees were saying see they are doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath and Jesus supported them and defended his disciples saying even David ate what was not strictly according to the law permitted to be eaten etc. You read that we don't have time to go into that. But the point is this we have in Christendom people who go by the letter of the law and judge others. And there are others who keep those commandments but don't judge others. They keep it in the right spirit. It's not that we neglect the commandments. I don't believe there's a single commandment in the New Testament that we must neglect. Once the day of Pentecost was come everything written in the epistles is for us. But we don't keep it in the spirit of the old covenant. So this new wine and new wineskins. The new wine speaks about this new life of Jesus that is communicated to us through the Holy Spirit. And that's why we read in Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 18. Ephesians 5 and verse 18 it says don't be drunk with wine but be filled with the Holy Spirit. Wine there is used as a picture of the Holy Spirit and says that physical excitement that comes through wine in the New Testament the equivalent of that is being filled with the Holy Spirit. So the new wine is the fullness of the Holy Spirit. The old wine was that life under the law also given by God but we read that the old covenant was abolished on the day of Pentecost and the new covenant was established through the blood of Jesus Christ. And that life in the spirit is described as a new wine. It's the life of Jesus the Holy Spirit could not dwell in any man right from the time of Adam up to Jesus not even John the Baptist. The Holy Spirit came upon people. I've often used the example of a glass. If you keep the glass upside down and pour water on it the water will flow around the glass and picture of blessing many people that's how all the Old Testament people blessed people. The glass was upside down their heart was closed but the spirit came upon them and flowed and blessed millions John the Baptist Moses Elijah everybody but on the day of Pentecost that glass could be turned up and so that the spirit could fall inside come inside man's heart cleanse it fill it and then the water overflows and flows to others and that's a different type of blessing. See Samson could accomplish God's will but his heart never got changed even David his heart wasn't changed. John the Baptist sat in prison doubting whether Jesus was the Messiah. His heart could not be touched because nobody's heart was clean. The Holy Spirit could not come into an unclean heart. The first human being that walked on the earth inside whom the Holy Spirit came and dwelt and overflowed was Jesus Christ and on the day of Pentecost the new covenant was established where Jesus said you can have the same experience. I praise God. I'm not a follower of Elijah. I'm not a follower of Moses or even John the Baptist whom I admire a lot because none of them had the Holy Spirit within. I'm a follower of Jesus Christ. I hope you are where the Spirit of God comes inside and gives us power inwardly to overcome the lust in our heart and overcome sin and that overflows into a life of blessing and I'll tell you this I believe the words of Jesus in Matthew 7 verse 14 the way to life is narrow and very few find it. I don't want to make you feel condemned or guilty but from what I have seen even in our own churches very few have found a way to life even in cfc churches very few can testify to an overcoming life in their personal thoughts in their family life or in their church even among the elders very few have found the way to life. Why is it? Because they are not hungering and thirsting for it. They're satisfied like Jesus said they drink the old wine and they say the old is enough. They say old is enough. Why seek for the new? I remember years and years in my life when I was satisfied with the old wine till a time came in my life when I was fed up and I said Lord enough of that I don't want to I want the new wine. It's very important for us to understand this and the new wine skin is this new covenant church which is very different from the old covenant congregation that Moses had. That was a huge we can say a mega church with a one-man leader and any mega church with a one-man leader is an old covenant old wine skin and there are believers sitting in those churches. There are new wines sitting in the old wine skins after a while the new wine will run out because you keep on hearing the message in those churches whatever life you got by listening to a godly man will disappear and you'll be left with an old wine skin and maybe you do a lot of good a lot of social work and even mission work but it will not accomplish what God wants to accomplish through a new covenant church. So it's important for us to understand that. Let me turn now to John's gospel chapter two. In John's gospel chapter two we read about the first miracle that Jesus did. Have you ever thought about it? Why did almighty God the father and the holy spirit lead Jesus to do the first miracle as changing water into wine? Why didn't he do what we would call a more spiritual miracle like raising Lazarus from the dead? Start off your ministry with a spectacular thing like raising Lazarus from the dead. I think with my human wisdom that's what I would have suggested. I would never with human wisdom dreamt of suggesting turning water into wine. Say lord that's a marriage feast. Why in the world they already had one round why do they need to have another? Are you going to start your earthly ministry with giving extra wine to people who are already drunk some? You know what God says my ways are not your ways. My thoughts are not your thoughts. As the heavens are above the earth so are my ways and your ways. My thoughts and your thoughts. One of the great things I learned from John chapter two is my human wisdom is not good enough to do God's work. I'll do it wrong. I'll go and do raise Lazarus first instead of turning water into wine. Water into wine. I said oh I'm not I'm a man of God. I'm not going to be involved in all that. That is how stupid we are. We think God is not interested in these earthly things. Is God interested in making sure that a wedding doesn't end in a fiasco with embarrassment? Jesus is interested in a small thing like that. Amazing. I'm so encouraged that he's interested in the down-to-earth ordinary practical things of daily life. But more than that I think the meaning behind that first miracle is connected to the new wine. We read there in the marriage in Cana and marriage is a picture of Jesus and his bride. Look at the spiritual meaning of that. Jesus and his bride. The church. And there we read first of all the old wine. There was an old wine served there. How was the old wine produced? Through many hours of labor and crushing. In the old days they used to get people to stamp on it. Hours of stamping on the grapes and that's how they produced the wine. I presume they washed their legs before they stamped the wine. But that's how they produced the wine in those days. It's called trampling the grapes in the pit. In the pit and that's how they produced the wine. A lot of labor and effort. That's life under the law. And what happens? Finally it runs out. You're frustrated. You're depressed. You're discouraged. I believe that all depression and discouragement and bad moods are clear proof that a man or a woman is living under the law. I know it was like that in my life even after being accepting Christ and being baptized. I was bad moods, depressed, discouraged. I did not know that I was under the law. Till I really experienced what it is to be filled with the Holy Spirit. To understand the new covenant. To have faith in this new covenant life. And to go all out not only for the new wine but also for the new wineskin. And to take up the cross and follow Jesus. Then I was delivered permanently. Permanently from depression, discouragement, bad moods and a hundred and one other things like murmuring, grumbling, complaining which most Christians live with imagining this is the normal Christian life. Oh how the devil has fooled you to make you think that is the normal Christian life. That is not the testimony of Jesus. Where do we see Jesus in a bad mood, grumbling, complaining, upset because somebody called him the prince of devils? Never. Are you holding to the testimony of Jesus or the testimony of some earthly preacher whom you admire? You say oh that brother he's a godly man and he lost his temper. So what? Are you holding on to that man's testimony or the testimony of Jesus? I remember a preacher once was depressed and who said to me well Elijah was also depressed. I said well if Elijah is the author and finisher of your faith you've got every right to be depressed. But Elijah is not the author and finisher of my faith. Jesus is the author and finisher of my faith. I hold to the testimony not of Elijah or Moses or David but of Jesus. Many Christians go to the old testament to find comfort for their sin. When they commit adultery they go to David. When they get depressed they go to Elijah. They go to this book not to get victory over sin but to find comfort in their sin and God says go ahead. You will be deceived because you come to my holy word not to get freedom from sin but to find comfort for your sin. When they fight with other believers they go to this book and say Paul and Barnabas also fought. God says you will always fight in your life because you go to my book not to obey me but to find comfort in your disobedience to justify your lack of fellowship with other believers and you will always be like that till you humble yourself, repent of your sin and say Lord this is not the way I should live. Maybe you've lived like that for 10, 15, 20, 30 years. Humble yourself and say Lord I've missed it for 30 years but I'm going to get it now. New wine and new wine skins. That's what I want. So you see how the old wine was produced with a lot of effort and you have put in a lot of effort to try and live this Christian life. You heard the message in the church how you must live this godly life and you tried and tried and tried and tried and failed miserably. How was the new wine produced? In a moment by the command of Jesus. In a moment. That is how grace is but it doesn't mean that we have to do nothing. That's the other extreme. You know Christians have this disease called, many Christians have the disease called pendulumitis. Have you heard of pendulumitis? You don't see much these days. The olden days used to have clocks which had a pendulum. When it goes to one extreme you know pretty soon it's going to go to the other extreme and so Christians are like that. They went they have lived their life in one extreme then they swing to the other extreme. That means they have lived their life struggling struggling struggling struggling struggling struggling and failed. They say ah let's come to the other extreme. We do nothing. Jesus has done it all. He's in us and God sees him doesn't see me. Doesn't matter how I live. I don't have to try to be patient. Christ is my patience. I don't have to seek to love. Christ is my love. Even though the bible has commands like pursue after love. No no no they don't look at those commands. Christ is my love and I tell you there's some very famous bible teachers. Very well-known bible teachers in in Christendom. I won't mention their names who teach that. But what is the test? Has it produced patience and obedience and love in your life? If not you're living in a delusion. I'll tell you that. I read a book called the normal Christian life and I'll tell you honestly it did not lead me to the normal Christian life. Maybe it led you. It didn't lead me. It did not lead me to the place where I could overcome sin. I have a great respect for Watchman Nee but I don't I only say that book didn't lead me to the normal Christian life. Because it did not show me how Jesus was tempted like me. It didn't show me how I needed to be filled with the holy spirit. It didn't show me how the new covenant was better than the old covenant. That's why. He was a godly man. A great respect for him in many areas. What I say is let's hold to the testimony of Jesus. Did did Jesus produce that wine from nothing? He could have those empty water pots in Cana. He could have said be filled with wine. They'd have been filled with wine but then he would have done it all himself. He wanted to teach from the beginning of his ministry that whether it's life or ministry it's a partnership. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. And in the villages in India we know what a yoke is. Two bullets under one yoke. It's not one bullet doing all the job. The yoke is on the other bullet as well. Maybe the one bullet is senior experienced and perfect and the other bullet is me weak inexperienced but I he needs me. Wonder of wonders he needs me. The head 1 Corinthians 12 cannot say to the foot I don't need you. I may be the foot the lowest member in the body but the head Jesus does not say to the foot we read in 1 Corinthians 12 never says I don't need you. He needs me. And so in the Christian life whether it's serving God or living the Christian life it's a partnership. It is not I do everything or he does everything that is pendulumitis. It is a partnership. One of the clear verses that describes that is Romans 8 13. If you through the Holy Spirit put to death the deeds of the body you will live. That's the new covenant life. Through the Holy Spirit I need that power but I have to do it. The Holy Spirit will not do it. I can't do it. That's life under the law. The Holy Spirit will not do it by himself. Romans 8 13 is the balance. You through the Holy Spirit put to death the deeds of the body you will live. That's the new covenant life and that's it's I mean the glory goes to Jesus because however much water I pour into the water pots it'll never become wine. In all the miracles of Jesus he taught his disciples you do the easy part I'll do the difficult part. You pour the water I'll turn it into wine. You bring me five loaves and two fishes I multiply it into thousands of loaves and fishes. You cast the net on the other side I will fill it with fish. That's another picture in John 21 life under the law. Struggling all night and catching nothing life under the law and then Jesus could have commanded all the fish to jump into the boat but then it would have been his work. He said no you got to do something too Peter. Cast your net on the other side. They do that and the fish come into the net. So always you see that. What about the raising of Lazarus from the dead? You do what you can do. What is that? Roll away the stone. I'll do the difficult part. Raise him up from the dead. Every single miracle teaches us one lesson. It is a cooperation but we have to do the easy part. He wants us to do that so it's not he doing everything or me doing everything. The wonderful thing we read in the miracle at Cana is this that when this new wine was tasted everybody had to acknowledge boy we have never tasted wine like this. This is far better than life under the law and I'll tell you this if you really experience the new covenant you will never want to go back to life under the law again. You will never want to go back to that life of grumbling and occasionally getting angry and depressed and lusting after women and all. No it's like asking the prodigal son after he's eaten the fatted calf do you have a little hunger to go back to eat what the pigs are eating? He said no thank you. You can keep that if you want but I've got it. You know every brother or sister's here who still thinks getting angry once in a while is okay. It's like saying once in a while I like to eat that pig's food and I don't eat it every day but once in a while boy those what those pigs eat and I tell you you you can't understand what pigs eat until you go into the villages in India. Really see what the pigs eat. That's lusting after women. It's what the pigs are eating. Some people like it. You can get pig's food through the computer nowadays. Plenty. Some people want it. Go ahead. If that's what satisfies you go ahead and I know why because you're hungry. A hungry person has to go and eat what the pigs eat whether it's pornography or running after money. Something to satisfy him but the one who's sitting at the father's table he has no hunger for pig's food. You're trying to eliminate. You're trying to avoid pig's food without eliminating your hunger. It's not possible. Sit at the father's table. Put something in place of that pig's food. Then you won't hanker after that. You can't overcome that the desire is so strong. I mean hunger is such a strong desire within us that we will eat the pig's food if you have nothing else to eat and I believe that. When people go to prostitutes, people commit adultery, people watch pornography, people tell lies and in order to get something and cheat in their business they're all looking for something. They think this will bring satisfaction. It won't brother. It'll satisfy you for a while. It's exactly like the prodigal son hungry looking for something eating the pig's food and I see believers like this. They're not in the father's house and then I see a few, few there be that find it who have acknowledged their sin, bowed their head and said father I'm a sinner. Oh I'm, I've dishonored you so much. I'm a wretched man who shall deliver me from this. They come to the father's house and they eat and they eat every day three meals a day at the father's table and one of their old friends comes says hey you want to come and try some of the pig's food. The new pigs out there with special type of food. Say no thank you brother. You can have it. I'm not interested. You're not interested? It's tasty man. Say what you like. I'm not interested. Have you come there? Have you come there to turn away from internet pornography? Have you come there to turn away from all the things that satisfied you in the old days? Let me turn you to a wonderful prophecy in Ezekiel. Ezekiel chapter 36. Ezekiel 36. You must remember that when it speaks about Israel prophetically in the future it's referring to the church and to new covenant believers. I mean the clearest proof of that is I don't have time to show you that in Hebrews chapter 8 where it speaks about the new covenant. I will not remember their sins anymore. I write my laws upon their mind and their hearts and I'll be their God and their father. That is said this is a new covenant I'll make with Israel. But that is the church. The church is called in Galatians 6 towards the end of the chapter the Israel of God. Israel was a prince of God and the true prince of God today is not the physical nation of Israel or the Jewish people. It is the church, the body of Jesus Christ. That is the true Israel despite what all the messianic Jews may say. I'm not fooled by all their arguments. Ezekiel 36. Therefore verse 22. Uh let's go a little back back up. It speaks about the old covenant Israel. When they came verse 20. Ezekiel 36 20. This is an amazing passage. Ezekiel 36 and 37 which I would encourage you to study. I'll skim through it. Please study it on your own and you'll see it's new covenant life and new covenant church. It's new wine and new wineskins and that is because God set aside the Jewish people in the nation of Israel and he's replaced it with the church. The body of Jesus Christ. There is no Jew or Gentile before God today even though there's a movement among some Christians to say that the Jews are special. The thing that Paul fought tooth and nails and there's nobody special. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. What advantage do you have? He says in Romans 2 that you're a Jew. All have sinned. God has declared the whole world guilty so that he can have mercy upon all. So we read in Ezekiel 36. When they that is the old nation of Israel came to the nations they profaned my holy name and they said these are the people of the Lord but look at the way they are living and the Lord says in verse 20. I had a concern for my holy name which that old covenant nation of Israel profaned in the world. That's why he chose the church. You need to understand that. There was a reason. God wants his name to be glorified. Our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name. That's the most important prayer to pray. That name was dishonored by the Jewish people and when it is dishonored by the church God sets aside that church like some of the churches in Revelation. Gradually he set them aside. He gave them a warning but if they didn't repent he would set them aside and there are hundreds of churches like that today but God has set aside because the way they live, the way they fellowship dishonors God's holy name. The people in that church are not praying hallowed be your name. They're sticklers from some little doctrine fighting quarreling about all types of earthly things. They're not concerned that the name of Jesus is dishonored because of the way they squabble and fight and live in impurity. So that's what he did to Israel. You profane my holy name so therefore I'm going to do something. Verse 22. I am about to act. Wonderful verse. I like that. I am about to act. Now that action would come. It was still another five six hundred years before the day of Pentecost but Ezekiel was prophesying in the middle of verse 22. I'm about to act for my holy name which has been profaned in the world. That's why the day of Pentecost came and the church was established. I will vindicate the holiness of my great name which has been profaned among the nations. See the number of times profaned, profaned comes in verse 20, 21, 22, 23. We need to understand this is the opposite of hallowed be thy name. I feel that many Christians do not pray hallowed be thy name. They do not have a burden that the name of Jesus is dishonored by the testimony of my church or the testimony of my home or the testimony of my life or the testimony of my children the way I brought them up. It's not hallowing God's name. We need to be concerned about that instead of arguing and fighting about doctrine and so many other things and imagine that you're building a new covenant church. First of all fall in the dust before God and say Lord I've dishonored your name by the way I live with my wife, the way I brought up my children, the way we fight and quarrel in our church and the ways and the way I exalt myself as an elder in my church. Forgive me. I want to pray from now on hallowed be your name. The Lord will build his church through you. I remember when I was a young man and the Lord said to me from Colossians 1 verse 18 that in all things Christ might have the preeminence and the Lord said to me if that is your goal in life that in all things Christ might have the preeminence and you become nothing I will back you till the end of your life. The Lord has backed me and I want to walk that way till Jesus comes. That in all things Christ might have the preeminence that the name of Jesus will be glorified. Make that your goal. My brothers and sisters some of you who are finding failure in your life in your home in your church start praying hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in my life in my home in my church as it is done in heaven. It's a good prayer to pray. I will vindicate the holiness of my name and the nations will then know the world will know that I am the Lord because I will prove myself holy not from heaven but in your church in your home in your life I will show myself as holy and I will take you from different nations gather you from different lands and that's how he's gathered us as a church and bring you into your own land which is the true church of Jesus Christ and what will he do? I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean that's referring to the cleansing of our heart by the blood of Christ and you will be cleansed from the filthiness of your idols. All sin is idolatry when you worship money more than God when you worship a pretty woman more than God when you worship a naked woman more than God that is a form of idolatry which is no better than any idol that any other religious people worship. In fact those religious people who worship clothed idols are better than you who worship a naked woman on the computer screen. You're an idol worshiper and he will cleanse us from the filthiness of our idols filthiness of those filthy things you see in the movies those r-rated movies which have got five second sex scene. Isn't that an idol? You say but it's such a lovely story go ahead in a thousand years you will not come to the new wine or the new wineskin you will sit in conferences and imagine that you are doing God's will you're not. You've got to take seriously Lord anything that takes the place of God in my life is a sin and he has to cleanse us from the filthiness of our idols and he says I'll give you a new heart that's a new covenant promise a completely new heart I cannot produce it I can improve the quality of my life and I've seen one thing many Christians when they come to the church all that they have done is they live a better life they try to serve others and help others and they think that is Christianity. No it's a new heart it's not a pig acting clean it's a cat that loves to be clean a new heart a new spirit and I will remove that hard heart from you I've seen boy the number of Christians I've seen with a hard unmerciful heart towards other people who have wronged them I will never forgive that person you know what you need brother you need to be born again you need to be born again God will give you a soft heart that's ready to forgive anybody and then I will put my spirit inside you is the cup turned up so that the Holy Spirit fills inside first and not you have to walk in my commandments like the law says I will make you walk in my commandments I love that I will make you walk in my commandments I remember some time ago the Lord saying to me don't testify I got victory over sin say it correctly Jesus keeps me from falling same thing but it's got a different ring about it I got victory over sin or Jesus keeps me from falling I will cause you the Lord says to walk in my statutes and you will be so careful to observe all my commandments when I do that work in you you will automatically I know I had no desire in my own to seek God's I remember when I was born again I had such a love for God's word nobody told me to read it or study it God created that desire in me that's how I knew I was born again a baby cries for milk not because you instructed hey you should be crying for milk it's automatic and if you don't have a desire for the milk of God's word I'll tell you what you must be born again you need to be born again some people say brother I have no interest in the Bible I'll tell you you need to be born again brother you need to be born again maybe you imagined you were but you need to be born again properly not just with outward refinement and sit among the midst of other believers and then I will save you from all your uncleanness verse 29 verse 28 you will be my people I'll be your God that's the church and I will multiply the grain and the fruit of the tree verse 30 that's the fruit of the Holy Spirit and you will there will not be the disgrace of a dried up life in you anymore the famine and then you will remember this is a very important verse then I believe this is one of the primary marks of a man who is really born again you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that you did which were not good and you will loathe yourself what about the early days the early days you loathed other people they were not like this and they were not like that and they're not part of my group and they're not like this and they are wrong here they're wrong there but now you are born again God has put his spirit within you and you loathe yourself the mark of new covenant believers they loathe themselves and I'll tell you my own testimony as I've come closer to God through the years I've learned to loathe myself more and more I'm not so quick to judge others as I was in the olden days because I find plenty to judge myself in every day is a day of repentance for me I will loathe myself because of all the things I have done in the past which makes me extremely thankful to God for his mercy and makes me extremely merciful to others when I see them doing wrong I see believers who are hard on others they don't loathe themselves they loathe others and the Lord says I'm not doing this for your sake by the way I'm not doing this so that you can get a name if you're a great believer no I'm doing this for my own name be ashamed and confounded in your ways verse 37 but sorry verse 35 people will one day say this desolate land has become like the garden of eden do you know that the church is supposed to be a testimony like the garden of eden in the midst of a dry and barren land I want my church to be like the garden of eden not full of weeds and thorns of strife and impurity and disunity and all that like a garden of eden make that your goal if you guys are planting a church anywhere make sure it's like a garden of eden only God can do it God planted a garden in genesis 2 man didn't do it man can cultivate it but God has to plant it and you can't build the church brother and you can't plant one no matter how hard you try God has to plant it we can cultivate it we're just gardeners but God has to plant that garden and that's the church but if you want this it says in verse 37 you have to ask me to do it for you you have to ask me to do it for you you don't ask me to do it for you I won't do it if you're happy with your third grade good for nothing life and family life and church go ahead stay there but those who are fed up will seek me and say lord I want something better and then when the lord does that work people around will know verse 36 last verse verse 38 sorry chapter 36 verse 38 they will know that I am the lord and then in that chapter 37 he speaks about the bones becoming an army there's a whole lot there you can meditate on let's bow our heads before God now heavenly father help us to honor you to understand what it means to satisfy your heart to live the life you want us to live to build the church you want us to build we pray in Jesus name