In this video, the speaker focuses on the verse in Romans 8:31 which states, "If God be for us, who can be against us?" The speaker emphasizes the importance of having God on our side and highlights that God is not for everyone. The speaker shares personal testimony and encourages viewers to seek God's favor in their lives. The speaker also discusses the concept of righteousness and the consequences of sin, referencing verses from 1 John chapter 3. Overall, the message emphasizes the need to understand God's laws and to strive for victory over sin with God's help.

We are all familiar with that verse in Romans 8.31 which says, If God be for us, who can be against us? It's quite a verse. If you don't know it, it's a good verse to remember in Romans 8.31. If God is for us, who can be against us? Now, if you think about that verse, we'll see that the most important thing is to make sure that God is for us. It doesn't say God is for everybody. In fact, the Bible says God is not for everybody. But it says, if you can only get God on your side, you know, you've got it made for the rest of your life. I can say that from many years of testimony myself. The only person I've ever, ever wanted to be on my side is Almighty God. I can afford to lose the friendship of everybody else. If I can just make sure that God is on my side. Can you imagine, I mean just think for a moment of the one who runs this universe. A universe in which the earth is only a speck of dust. And all human beings are still smaller specks of dust. And this Almighty God is on my side. What more do you want? And yet, the vast majority of believers live defeated, fearful lives. Because it's obvious, God is not with them. Definitely not, if He was with them. Things would have been very different. The Bible also says that God resists the proud. If you don't know where that is, it's 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 5. God is opposed to the proud. He is against all proud people. It doesn't matter whether they are believers or unbelievers. It's a law. It's like the law of gravity. If you jump off the roof of this building, the law of gravity doesn't ask, Is that a believer jumping off or an unbeliever jumping off? Not even the slightest difference. If a believer jumps off the roof or an unbeliever jumps off the roof, the law of gravity takes over. This is another law. God is opposed to the proud. Now the law of gravity doesn't work everywhere. You know, you've seen these pictures in space, where there is no gravity, where people just float around. But this law works even in space. It doesn't matter where you go. You'll find for all eternity it works. Everywhere in the universe it works. God is against proud people. Wherever he finds them, even if he was supporting them for 20 years, the moment he sees them becoming proud, he turns around and starts opposing them, even if they are his children. This is the reason why you hear of many great preachers ending up falling into adultery or the love of money. It's just the same. To me there is no difference whether you fall into adultery or the love of money. Even though the world is more horrified when a person falls into adultery, God is equally horrified when a person falls into the love of money. Just the same, because both destroy them. And the reason is, God begins to oppose them. That's why it happens. That's why it happens. God begins to oppose them. It's a terrible thing to have God opposing us. We could reverse that verse and say, if God is against us, what's the use of everybody else being for us? But we know that God is for us to fight against all the enemies of the human race. And God sent his son, Jesus Christ, to this earth to fight every enemy of man. And if we receive Christ into our life and allow him to be Lord of our life, we can be sure that every enemy that Jesus fought when he was on earth, he will fight from within us even today. Without any exception. So, let's look at some of the things Jesus fought against. Number one, he fought against sin. The Bible says in the first promise in the New Testament, his name itself, Jesus. Matthew 1.21 His name was Jesus because he came number one to save his people from their sins. Now, if you don't make that the number one goal in your life, I'd say, you're not going to really have much fellowship with Jesus because that is the primary aim that he has. He didn't come to give us material blessings, though he does that. But he primarily came to save us from their sins. The word Jesus means Savior, particularly in relation to being saved from our sins. And one of the things that we see very clearly in the New Testament is God hates sin, even though he loves the sinner. And the Bible says in Hebrews 1 and verse 9 that Jesus hated iniquity. He hates sin. Everywhere he saw it, he hated sin. And he tried to instill in his disciples a tremendous hatred for sin. You know, in the Old Testament they had laws about what they should eat and what they shouldn't eat. They were told not to eat pork and not to eat things that had blood in them and not to eat so many things, certain types of birds and fish and all they were not supposed to eat. But in the New Testament, Jesus said, what goes into your mouth can't ruin you because if the body doesn't accept it, if your digestive system is working okay, it gets eliminated. Or you vomit it out. But what comes out of your mouth, that's what spoils you, he said. And that because what comes out of your mouth comes from your heart. What goes into your mouth goes into your stomach. And whatever is bad gets eliminated. But whatever comes out of your mouth comes from your heart. And when your heart is defiled with evil thoughts, Jesus said, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, there are many other things listed in Galatians 5, strife, factions, idolatries, many other things like that. It defiles the man. And so Jesus was trying to get his disciples to hate sin like he hated it. And if he was like that 2,000 years ago, you can be pretty sure that he is like that today. So when we say, if God be for me, or if God is for us, what is he for me against? He is for me, number one, against sin. And that's what I've got to make my number one enemy as well. And if I make that my number one enemy, I can be sure of Jesus' help in my life in a hundred and a thousand other areas. And you know that's the reason why many of us may not be experiencing the joy of the Christian life, the joy of answered prayer, the joy of fellowship with Christ, and all these wonderful things that you read off in the New Testament. Perhaps you're not experiencing it because you have not made sin your greatest enemy like Jesus wants you to. So why not start today and say, Lord, I want to hate sin more than I hate anything else on this earth. Can you think of some human being whom you hate? I'll tell you who that is. The person whom you see, but you don't talk to. The person whom you see, but whom you avoid anywhere. It could be in the office, it could be in your home, it could be in the church. That's the person you hate. Whether you like it or not, you hate that person. I want to encourage you to stop hating that person and to start hating sin. Just like when you see that person, you avoid that person. Why don't you avoid sin like that? Boy, think of how holy you could have been by now. If you had started avoiding sin just like you avoid the people you hate. Why do you avoid certain people? Why do you avoid going to certain homes? Isn't it because you hate that person? It's true. You can give me 10,000 excuses, but it's not true. The real reason is you hate that person. And so you avoid going to that person. Just think what a tremendous power hatred brings. As soon as you see that person, you want to walk the other side of the road, you won't go anywhere near that person. You won't visit that person, you won't phone that person, you won't talk to that person. Just think of the power of hatred. Just think if you channel all that hatred towards sin. Can you imagine how holy you'll be? You won't phone sin, you won't visit sin, you won't go anywhere near it. When you see it down the road, you'll turn this way and go. Boy, can you imagine what you'll be in another 6 months? It's all got to do with hatred. Hatred is a tremendous power. The only thing is you're channeling it in the wrong direction, towards people instead of towards sin. Jesus never hated people. God loves the world, it says. You cannot have God on your side if you hate one human being, because God doesn't hate a human being. I'm just telling you the truth. The reason why some of you will probably never have God on your side in your whole life is because you never gave up your hatred of somebody. You keep saying, I don't hate that person, but you do. You do hate that person. You got a grudge against somebody. You avoid someone. I'm just encouraging you, my dear brother and sister, don't waste any more years of your life or any more days of your life. Channel it all towards sin. That tremendous power of hatred that you've got in your life, that has accomplished so much of evil, why don't you channel it towards sin from now on? The Bible says Jesus hated sin. And the reason we don't overcome is because we don't allow the Holy Spirit to produce in us a similar hatred of sin. Jesus came to save us from sin, because He knows that sin destroys us. There are more commands and exhortations in the scripture to stop sinning than to be healed from sickness. I've heard a lot of preachers in my lifetime. Many, many, more than all of you. And I'll tell you something, from years and years of observing and listening to many preachers, I've listened to them personally, I've read their books, watched them on television and I'll tell you something. You'll find one in a thousand telling you how to overcome sin. You'll find a hundred at least among that thousand talking about physical healing. And probably nine hundred others talking about forgiveness of sins. That's about the proportion. One in a thousand. You tell me if you find preachers telling you how to overcome sin in your life. And yet that's the main theme of the New Testament. Sin shall not rule over you, because you're not under law, but under grace. And I want to say to you, even though forgiveness of sins is the beginning of grace, it's like knowing ABC and living in the kindergarten forever, that all you can do is say CAT means cat and BAT means bat and that's about all your spiritual education is. That you got forgiveness of sins. In your daily life, if you're not overcoming sin, if you're not overcoming anger, if you're not overcoming bitterness, if you're not overcoming the love of money in your life, if you're not overcoming lusting with your eyes, if you're not overcoming telling lies, if you're not overcoming deception, if you're not overcoming the spirit of strife and quarreling and selfishness, and pride, and haughtiness, and arrogance, and disobedience to authority in the world, in the home, or in the church. If you're not overcoming these things, it's because you're not experiencing fullness of grace. You're in the kindergarten, you learnt the ABC, the sins are forgiven, but you haven't understood that Jesus hates iniquity. If you want to hold hands with Jesus and fellowship with Him, you've got to go the way He's going. You can't hold hands with Him and go in some other direction. It is impossible. The moment you're going in a direction to commit some sin, you can be absolutely sure that Jesus has left your hand at that time. Sure. Supposing you're walking hand in hand with Jesus, and you say, well Lord, I'd like to go to that pornographic shop and look at that book. He said, go, leave my hand, go. Or you say, Lord, Jesus says, I want to visit that child of mine in that home. You say, oh no Lord, I haven't talked to him for ages. Jesus will say, okay, you go, I'm going to visit that child of yours. Can you imagine that Jesus can fellowship with some people whom you can't fellowship with? There's something must be wrong with you, not with Jesus. How is it He can fellowship with that person, which you can't? I always ask myself this question, can Jesus fellowship with that person? If so, I must do everything in my power to fellowship with that person. And the more Jesus fellowships with some people, the more I want to fellowship with those people. I know that Jesus cannot fellowship with certain people because they're living in sin. Well, then I can't fellowship with them either. I can love them, but I can't fellowship with them. The only reason is that they're living in sin. So, remember this, if you want God on your side, you got to ask the Holy Spirit to give you the same hatred for sin that Jesus had. You know, why is it that we hate sickness? I don't think there's a single person sitting here who loves sickness. You don't even love a headache. Is there anybody who loves a headache? Or a stomach ache? Or a back ache? Or any other ache? No. Why is it we hate it? Why is it we're willing to spend tens of thousands of rupees to go to doctors and get scans and medicines and x-rays to be free from some little sickness. It's amazing how much money they won't even spend 10 rupees to buy a book on victory over sin. They go and spend 10,000 rupees to be free from to get some scan about some back ache. Can you believe that? That's amazing. It's because we know that sickness is bad. We hate it with all of our heart. And that's why we want to get rid of it as soon as possible. If our children have got it we want to get rid of it from our children. If only our eyes would be open to see that no sickness can send you to hell. But one sin can send you to hell. Do you know that? Do you know that Jesus said you read that in Matthew 6 verse 14-15 that if you don't forgive men their trespasses the things they do against you my heavenly father will not forgive you. Let's say you lived a good life for 40 years came to CFC sang the songs accepted the Lord took water baptism spoke in tongues did everything good for 40 years and then the last week before you died you developed a bitterness against somebody one person because of what he did to you I mean you got a reason for it he did some terrible evil to you and you just got a bitterness against him maybe he cheated you maybe he harmed you maybe he harmed your children ok correct what you say is right but as a result of that you developed a hatred or a bitterness I mean you smiled at that person God saw bitterness in your heart do you know that all your 40 years in CFC won't help you you know where you'll go if you die in that state hell you say but what about my 40 years service you know like government service can't I get a pension it doesn't work like that in the kingdom of God if you don't forgive others my heavenly father will not forgive you how many people are you permitted to have a bitterness against one, two and go to heaven not even one that's how God hates sin and particularly forgiveness it's so easy to forgive the reason why many people don't get victory over anger and lusting is because they don't do the easy things first forgiveness is so easy just because you can't forget so there's an example of a man who went to hell because he committed one sin after living a good life for 40 years I want to show you a verse in Ezekiel if you haven't seen it some of us don't read the Old Testament enough let me show you this verse in Ezekiel it says in chapter 3 here it speaks no sorry let's turn to chapter 18 Ezekiel 18 there's a little bit mentioned in chapter 3 also but it's a little more clear in chapter 18 verse 24 I want you to remember this verse all your life this is the word of God when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness that's what I said he's been righteous for 40 years and he turns away from it and commits iniquity and does according to the abominations that a wicked man does maybe he does it only for 3 days or one day after living 40 years in righteousness now listen to this all his righteous deeds which he has done for 40 years will not be remembered for his treachery which he has committed and the one sin which he has committed for that he'll die you say that's not fair isn't it? you better argue with God on the day of judgment I'm not going to argue with God God is the one who has established laws for this universe I didn't create this universe I didn't create human beings I'm not going to argue with God I believe with God with all my heart that all the righteousness he did for 40 years will not be remembered because he didn't forgive somebody well I've never heard a preacher preach on that verse in my whole life some of you who are fascinated by God TV if you come across that verse just tell me tell me if somebody preaches that you see fellas I'm not leading you to victory over sin let me just tell you you're very important very important and you live in sin what's the use of that? God must help you to overcome sin it's no use going to a doctor who says you're good you're good you're great you're great give me my pay and allows you to die of cancer what's the use of going to a doctor like that? ok now see the opposite of that this is the good news verse 21 if a wicked man if a man who is very wicked wicked for 40 years like the thief on the cross turns from his sins which he has committed and observes my statutes practices justice, righteousness maybe he just turned on the last day before he died all the sins he committed verse 22 will not be remembered against him see God is very fair because of his righteousness even as he lived even if he turned at the last moment like the thief on the cross I want to say to you my brothers and sisters God is the one who makes laws for this universe you better know his laws before you meet him face to face hate sin because God hates sin it's the first step to a really happy life I want to show you a second thing that Jesus came to destroy it says in 1 John chapter 3 verse 8 the son of God appeared for this purpose to destroy the works of the devil the last part of that verse 1 John chapter 3 verse 8 Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil he didn't destroy the devil himself because God is using the devil to make us strong just by the way in case you didn't know if you find a strong believer he's become strong because the devil was around he wouldn't have been so strong if the devil were not around to test him and tempt him and harass him and trouble him he's become strong because the devil was around thank God for that that God has allowed the devil to exist we praise God for everything Jesus did I praise God that he's allowed the devil to exist and I praise God that he's taken away the devil's power that he can't touch us he can't touch us at all he came to destroy the power that Satan has over us there is no way in which Satan can touch a person who's totally surrendered to God who's confessed all his sins cleansed in the blood of Jesus he may not be perfect he may be backlinks 101 sins in his life but he hates them he hates all of them really wants to set everything right with God and man as soon as he gets opportunity I tell you the devil can't touch such a man the devil grabs hold of people who've got bitterness the devil grabs hold of people who are indulging in sin and not hating it not the people who fall but the people who are not battling sin and Jesus came to deliver us from the power of the devil he said in Luke chapter 10 and verse 18 I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning see Jesus said way back before Adam was created he's telling us something here which he saw before Adam was created he's telling you know fellas you're afraid of the devil let me tell you what I saw he was there one of the great angels in in our presence Father, Son and Holy Spirit and I saw him being cast down we cast him down God and you know how soon he fell the speed of lightning devil travels at 186,000 miles per second when he runs away from a godly man from a humble man resist the devil and he'll flee from you at 186,000 miles per second that's what it says in this verse that's the speed of lightning 300,000 kilometers a second and therefore I've given you authority over serpents, scorpions over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall injure you do you know that? nothing can injure me if my conscience is clear if I've forgiven everyone if I've confessed all my sins nothing can harm me no one can harm me nothing shall injure you because I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy and you've heard me use that illustration of the difference between authority and power see two words there I don't give you power I give you authority over the enemy he didn't say I give you more power than Satan it's not true do you know that Satan's got more power than you? but you've got more authority than him and the illustration I love to use is the little policeman standing in the middle of the crossroads with this huge trucks coming up at him at 60, 70 miles per hour and he just lifts up his hand who's got more power? that truck can run over a hundred policemen that driver doesn't have authority it's one little finger one little hand stop in Jesus name stop that's it I don't know how many of you remember we had a conference here about 20 years ago and there was a man I didn't know who he was he just came in from the street and he was crawling up the aisle like a snake and everybody was looking down I couldn't even see it till he came right up to here we had just begun our Bible study and I said in the name of Jesus lie down there and he went to sleep immediately some of you were here you may remember that because we're not going to let the devil interrupt our Bible study we continued our Bible study for one hour let's pray Amen he woke up and then we could talk to him it happened right here at the exact spot right there between those two chairs I don't have more power than the devil no, I don't even pretend that but I've got authority why? because my conscience is clear there's not a soul on earth whom I've not forgiven a lot of people have done harm against me more than I've done against you has anybody taken you to a criminal court yet? I've forgiven my conscience is clear some of you got little complaints some mosquito bites here and there you got from somebody and you got those complaints what is the result? you hold up your hand and those trucks come crashing over you because you've got no authority you're a retired policeman trying to hold up your hand the devil doesn't care for you ah, you were once upon a time I knew you had power ah, who are you today? Jesus I know and Paul I know but who are you? won't work my brother, sister the devil is not fooled by the old uniforms you used to wear once upon a time when you were in the service once upon a time I know you were in the service but not today authority think if you've lost it what's the use? a hundred trucks will stop when this man puts up his hand but he's got to remain in service there's no authority with those who are retired or those who are sacked I mean, some of us are not retired we're just sacked from service because of misconduct what a sad thing when we lose that authority over the devil and there are so many ways in which the devil seeks to make us lose that authority you know, he even tried it with Jesus he said I'll give you all the things in this world you think the devil tempts only you with that? can you imagine that the devil thought he could even tempt Jesus with money and he could tempt Jesus with pleasure and honor and all the things of the world he said just do one thing just bow down to me a little bit and that teaches us one lesson what do you learn from that? I'll tell you what I learned that if I want to get anything in this world I have to bow down to Satan that's what I learned from that temptation I hope you learned it too that if you go seeking after the things of this world you can get it even Jesus could have got it but the way Jesus could have got it is by bowing down to Satan and the way you'll get it is by bowing down to Satan but you say but I need so many things in the world sure Jesus says seek the kingdom of God first and these things will be added to you without your running after them that's the difference Jesus did not starve he fasted 40 days but he never starved he never had to be without clothes and he didn't run around in ragged clothes he never had to sleep on the pavement he never lived in a slum no but he didn't run after money not even when he was a carpenter because he would not bow down to Satan God because Satan is the prince of this world Jesus said that John 14 verse 30 Jesus said Satan is the ruler of this world he's got the right to give certain things to different people if you want it from him you can get it from him but you got to bow down your knee somewhere in other words what does it mean to bow down the knee you got to tell a little lie somewhere you got to cheat somewhere you got to do something wrong somewhere you got to put God second and something else first in order to get it some of you got a lot of things in your life you got promotions in your job because you put God second you didn't kick God out altogether you just put him second that's all the devil wants he didn't ask you to throw God altogether out he said just put him second and put something that I offer you first your job was first and God was second and something else was first in your life God was second and so you got something and you're so happy and you're also religious right because you got God in your life that's religious a spiritual man has got God first in his life a religious man has got God second did you understand the difference between a religious man and a spiritual man and therefore a religious man gets a lot of things in the world but he destroys himself he never becomes spiritual because God's not first in his life he has fallen for the trap of the devil which Jesus overcame he has bowed the knees somewhere to Satan and lost authority it's very sad you know when you put God first in your life I want to tell you what Balaam you know sometimes even non-Christian people can say something which is true Numbers chapter 23 see Balaam was a man who had some contact with God because the Bible says very clearly that God spoke to Balaam you read that many times in Numbers 22 God said to Balaam Numbers 22.9 God came to Balaam Verse 12 God said to Balaam Verse 20 God came to Balaam at night I mean that's not a false God it was not some idol it was the same God whom we worship it says God just came and spoke to Balaam at night ok again it says in chapter 23 verse 4 God met Balaam you can be pretty sure that man had some contact with the true God and a heathen king called Balaam and said curse the nation of Israel for me now remember the nation of Israel was God's Old Testament people not today don't think what you read in the papers about Israel that's not the Israel the Bible speaks of God's not today God is dealing with the church and I'm always disturbed when we sing these songs about Israel King of Israel I don't sing it I just leave out that verse because to me he's the king of the church he's not king of Israel today you know it says here that he got called Balaam Balak the king called Balaam to curse Israel and told him in verse 7 the last part come curse Jacob for me come denounce Israel do you know what Balaam's reply was listen to this how can I curse the one whom God has not cursed think that you can be in such a blessed position that nobody can curse you they may curse but it doesn't it's like water off a duck's back it's like a throw a ball on the wall even less than that the ball may make a stain on the wall curse doesn't even touch me it just goes past it can't touch me how can I curse whom God has not cursed how can I curse a man who is on whose side God is how can I denounce whom the Lord has not denounced I want to ask you my brothers and sisters have you ever denounced somebody whom God has not denounced be careful believers sometimes speak evil of somebody they denounce someone whom God has not denounced I tell you that false prophet Balaam had more sense than you he says how can I denounce one whom God has not denounced be very very careful when you speak about God's children you can say you disagree with someone but don't ever denounce someone whom God has not denounced be very careful a lot of people have lost out spiritually because of that and then he says in these Israel people of Israel are so blessed he says in verse 10 oh if only I could die as happy as an Israelite I know that my end might be like theirs today that applies to the Christian and then verse 23 no curse I am reading from the living Bible can be placed on Jacob no black magic can be done against him do you believe that no one can do black magic against me no one can put a curse on me they can try if they dig a pit for me they will fall into that pit themselves if they roll a stone on me it will roll back on them not because I have power I have got authority who gave it to me Jesus how do I retain it with a clear conscience and with humility because God is on the side of the humble you only got to keep a clear conscience and humble yourself that's all keep your conscience absolutely clear if you wrong somebody go and ask forgiveness immediately because I don't want to lose this authority I don't want to be sacked from service and lose my authority the trucks can run over me there are trucks all over the place and any of them will run over me if I lose my authority I can't afford to be sacked from service even for 5 minutes some of you may think it's ok 5 minutes is not a long time 5 minutes is enough for a truck to run over you and some of you the devil has run over you and you haven't recovered from all the fractures you got after the devil ran over you have you learned a lesson for the future I don't want to lose be sacked from service even for one minute I want to keep my authority and it's so easy you don't have to be perfect but you have to admit your sin as soon as you committed it you got to go and ask forgiveness from God don't justify yourself one terrible sin that I have seen among believers is justifying themselves yeah I did that but this, this, this, this, this yeah I did that but my wife gave me this fruit to eat what to do and the wife whom you created that's what Adam said like I said the other day go and read Psalm 51 not one word of self justification do you know that when you justify yourself you are an abomination to God did you know that you know that I never show to preach anything which is not in scripture I'll show it to you I show you verses which you never seen in your life it's in your Bible but you don't read them Luke 16 verse 15 you are those he told the Pharisees who justify yourselves in the sight of men you do something wrong and you say no, no, no, no it's like this, it's like this you got 101 explanations why, you are not wrong of course you are the great saint who never does anything wrong somebody tells you that's wrong you say no, no, no, no, no this, this, this, this okay, go ahead but God knows your hearts and that which is highly esteemed among men always read a verse in its context there are many things highly esteemed among men we can apply to all of them but in this particular verse it's referring to one thing which is highly esteemed among men that means which men esteem very highly what is that to justify themselves everybody in the world highly values justifying themselves and that is an abomination in the sight of God you got it that when you justify yourself you are an abomination in the sight of God that's why Adam lost paradise confess your sin keep it clear and you'll have authority Satan can have no power over us zero if my conscience is clear and I humble myself in every situation humble yourself keep your mouth shut humble yourself let them accuse you fellows who accuse you to your face write letters against you don't reply let them destroy themselves if they want to you will remain standing a thousand will attack you on the left side and they will fall down ten thousand will attack you on the right side and they will fall down and you will remain standing because you have made the Lord your refuge you dwell in the shadow of the Almighty and you say he is my fortress I will not defend myself and you have authority over Satan in the name of Jesus you have authority over Satan but if you don't keep your conscience clear and you don't humble yourself when you try to resist Satan like the sons of Sceva you read in Acts 19 the devil jumped a man with evil spirits jumped on seven strong men seven strong men this one man got a hold of them together you know like these fellows who do Karate that's another demon Karate or Kung Fu all that type of stuff seven men knocked them all out knocked them all out and said Jesus I know and Paul I know but who are you fellows just because you know the Bible you know they were the sons of a Jewish high priest they know the Bible they quoted this that and the other devil said I am not fooled by all that oh I go to CFC ah he says I know all that Jesus I know Paul I know who are you don't try it don't ever try it if your conscience is not clear the devil can overpower seven men stronger than you but what a sad thing if you live in the world afraid of the devil when we are supposed to have authority there was another thing that Jesus was against you know we read in Matthew chapter 10 it's one of the words that he said very often and sometimes we don't listen to it I want you to see how in a space of 15 seconds or half a minute he said it three times Matthew 10 verse 26 do not fear verse 28 do not fear verse 31 now how do you how do you distinguish between a command and a suggestion what do you think that is you know children sometimes think that what their dad said was a suggestion you know the difference between a suggestion and a command you know a dad may say well maybe you don't you shouldn't wear that shirt today maybe you should wear the other one oh that's just a suggestion it doesn't matter which shirt you wear you wear the blue one or the green one it doesn't make a difference but when dad says don't do that that's not a suggestion you know if the Lord said well you know I don't think fear is a good thing you know you should try and avoid it I mean if you can that's a suggestion but he never said it like that he said don't fear the same God who said don't commit adultery said don't fear the same God who said don't kill said don't fear is that a command or a suggestion what do you think do not kill is is that a suggestion sort of you know I mean if you can help it don't try not to kill people was it a suggestion or is it a command do not ok you show me a place anywhere in the whole Bible 1500 pages where in such a short space it says three times do not kill, do not kill, do not kill in six verses or do not commit adultery do not commit adultery, do not commit adultery I'll show you where it says do not fear do not fear, do not fear why don't we take it seriously we think it's a suggestion it's not a suggestion do not fear that's what the Lord said to me, fear not because fear tortures us see 1 John chapter 4 1 John 4 it says fear has torment in it he who is fear involves punishment verse 18 you know in James version I think it says got torment people who are fearful are tormented means they are troubled but there is no fear in love that means if I know that God loves me perfectly I can't have any fear but perfect love casts out fear because fear involves punishment the one who fears the one who fears is not perfected in love we love him because he first loved us we can paraphrase it like this, the one who fears has not really understood God's love the living bible says if you are afraid it's for fear what God might do to us and it shows that we are not fully convinced that God really loves us anyone who fears is not fully convinced that God loves him, perfected means fully convinced, that's the right meaning, if you fear you are not fully convinced that God loves you you are not sure whether God really is on your side that's probably because you got a bad conscience or because you believe the devil's lies rather than God's word or you don't take Jesus' word seriously that you have a father in heaven or maybe you have not received Jesus Christ into your life as your lord maybe there is somebody sitting here you have not really surrendered your life to Christ then of course you have to have fear definitely if your life is not given to Christ if you have not loved him who loved you like it says here we love him because he first loved us if you don't, all the love that Jesus has for you, you don't respond and love to him and say Lord take my life then I say you deserve to live in fear every single day of your life but otherwise person who is wrapped up in God's love um how does that song go it's let me just read it to you it's 386 it's one of my favorite songs I just want to show you something it says here verse 3 things that once were wild alarms cannot now disturb my rest closed in everlasting arms pillowed on the loving breast that's the breast of Jesus oh to lie forever here doubt and care and self resign while he whispers in my ear I am his and he is mine you know I am lying on his breast and he says to me in my ear because he is my bridegroom you are mine I am yours his forever only his who the Lord and me shall part ah with what a rest of bliss Christ can fill the loving heart heaven and earth may one day fade and flee first born light, the light that was created in Genesis chapter 1 before the sun was created that will decline but ultimately when everything has passed away God and I are there I am his and he is mine that's a blessed position of a person who is a child of God he has no fear he has no fear of the future he has no fear of the devil he has no fear of sickness he has no fear of accidents because he says your days are numbered you know think of that lovely promise I don't know how many of you read this promise in Exodus chapter 23 Exodus chapter 23 the Lord says to those who surrender their life to him verse 26 the last part I will fulfill the number of your days oh as the living Bible says you will live out the full quota of the days of your life, that means God when I was born, before I was born God wrote in a book in heaven how many years I am supposed to live on this earth and I believe with all my heart because I have got a clear conscience because I have sought to humble myself in every situation I will live out the full quota of my days full quota of my earthly life is not going to be shortened by sickness or accident or anything because God is for me I mean God may take his children away, he took Jesus away when he was 33 he took David Brainerd away when he was 29 of tuberculosis ok that's alright but he lived out the full quota of his days David Brainerd did more in 7 years than other people have done in 700 years he did more for the Lord than all of us put together it's a wonderful life, no fear of death no fear of accidents, no fear of the devil no fear of the future no fear of financial difficulties that may come in the future I want to say one last thing Jesus was also against sickness particularly where sickness was a result of sin I will show you one verse in John chapter 5 I will just say it briefly because Jesus himself didn't speak much about it New Testament epistles don't speak much about it there was a man who was lying sick for 38 years one day Jesus went to the pool of Bethesda raised him from his sickness made him walk and afterwards verse 14 of John 5 Jesus found him in the temple and said to him now you have become healthy and well don't sin as you did before otherwise something worse can happen to you teaching us that there are some sicknesses which are the direct result of sin there are some other sicknesses which are not the result of sin like John chapter 9 verse 2 the disciples asked Jesus, this man born blind is it because he sinned or his father sinned Jesus said no, this is not due to sin so when we put John 5 and John 9 together we see there are some sicknesses which are not due to sin John 9 category and some sicknesses which are due to sin John 5 category so if you got a John 5 category type of sickness I want to say to you, you can be healed you can be 100% healed you don't have to have that sickness anymore if it's due to some sin that you have not set right there are many people in the world suffering from arthritis and asthma and migraine and headaches and ulcers in their stomach and all types of things because of sinful attitudes confess it, Jesus is against sickness I believe basically God's will for us is help because God is a loving father and I would never want to give sickness to my children God is a better father than me but we live in a world where there is a lot of sickness because of that, but God is a merciful God He has provided us medicine, doctors, hospitals and He has also provided us healing by prayer if we can trust Him so find out from God whether that sickness you got is something you can be healed from or you got to live with generally speaking I say Lord I don't want to live with this unless some benefit is going to come to me through it I want to get benefit out of everything if some spiritual benefit is going to come to me like Paul said I thank God for the thorn in the flesh but otherwise heal me it's wonderful to live the Christian life God before us who can be against us bow our heads before God while our heads are bowed before God don't get your priorities wrong don't put sickness before sin remember sin is number one then the devil, then fear then sickness, put it in that order God is against all of them but put it in the right order and you will probably experience deliverance from all four imagine that if you can get up from your seats and go home and be delivered from sin, Satan, fear and sickness, boy your life is going to be different from today it's God's will keep a good conscience go and speak to that person you never spoken to for so many years ask forgiveness, call up somebody ask forgiveness humble yourself and don't justify yourself and become an abomination in God's eyes humble yourself and seek fellowship with everybody in the church with the poor and the rich and everyone don't just live for yourself and your family and as quickly as you seek restoration of fellowship with your wife when there is a tension between you and your wife more quickly than that, seek fellowship restoration of fellowship with God's children and I tell you, God will be with you and the devil will not be able to stand before you Heavenly Father I pray that I don't know how many have years to hear some will never change, I know that Lord but I pray that there will be a number here who have years to hear and whose lives will be changed, who will never bow down to the devil and lose their authority what's the use of a little bit of money and to lose authority over Satan Lord that's so foolish I pray that people will see it I pray that we live on earth in a way that we can glorify you fulfill your purpose we ask in Jesus name Amen