In this video, the speaker discusses the connection between light, truth, and love in relation to walking in the light. The Psalmist prayed for God to send out His light and truth to lead him. In the New Testament, it is mentioned that the fruit of the light consists of goodness, righteousness, and truth. The speaker emphasizes the importance of honesty and truthfulness, stating that it is what will make a difference in eternity. He also mentions the story of the thief on the cross who recognized Jesus' righteousness despite the accusations against him.

We want to have three bible studies, these three evenings, in relation to what we are considering in these days about walking in the light, and there is a very close connection between light, as we saw, and love, and also between light and truth. The Psalmist prayed like this, in Psalm 43, and verse 3, O send out thy light and thy truth, let them lead me, let them bring me to thy holy hill. So light and truth are linked together. When we come to the New Testament, it says here, the light and truth that lead us to his holy hill, in the New Testament, in Ephesians 5, and verse 9, it says the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, and righteousness, and truth. To walk in the light is to walk in the truth. It's not perfection, perfection is a long way off, but truthfulness, honesty. God can do tremendous things for us when we are honest. The first sin judged in the early church was not adultery, it was not murder, it was not theft, it was plain simple dishonesty. My dear brothers and sisters, please remember this all your life, when you are dishonest, when you come to the church, pretending to be something that you are not, you are walking in darkness. When you claim to have a holiness, which you don't have, you are walking in darkness. To have no part dark in our life, does not mean to be perfect, it means to be honest. I believe the woman caught in adultery, had no part dark in her life, but the Pharisees who accused her, had many parts dark in their life. How is that? How can a woman caught in adultery have no part dark in her life? She got salvation, because she was honest. I am sorry to say, I have seen through the years of my experience in CFC, many brothers and sisters, even young brothers and sisters are not honest. They think they have fooled the elders, they haven't. We may ignore them, but they are destroying themselves. I want to say to you, you destroy yourself, when you are not honest, when you are not absolutely honest. It is the fruit of the spirit. We have the fruit of light here, as mentioned as goodness and righteousness and truth. I want to show you John chapter 3 and verse 21. John 3.21. He who practices the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be manifest as having been wrought in God. What does it mean to have your deeds manifest as being wrought in God? He is not perfect, but he is honest. To practice the truth. For years and years and years, I have travelled up and down different churches trying to teach people, speak the truth. I have succeeded with some people, but with the vast majority, I have not. I know brothers, ancestors, who tell me lies straight to my face, half lies, half truths. It never goes well with them. I have never seen a person with whom it has gone well, who has tried to fool and deceive the elders in the church. Never. And any of you who are trying to do it, I can prophesy over you, it will never go well with you. It will go well with a woman caught in adultery who was honest. It will never go well with a person who is dishonest. Ananias and Sapphira pretended to have something, a dedication they didn't have. And it is not only they who died. In the church in Corinth, Paul says, there are people among you who have died, who are weak, who are sick, because they don't practice the truth. They don't come to the light. It is the easiest thing to do, to be truthful. God is not asking you to be perfect. He says, be honest. What was it that saved the thief hanging on the cross? I am sure all of us sitting here are, humanly speaking, far better than the thief hanging on the cross. Why is it that that man entered paradise? Paradise is the place full of God's light. How did he enter that paradise? I want you to turn to Luke's gospel chapter 23. Luke's gospel chapter 23. One of the criminals, verse 39, said, Are you not the Christ, save yourself and us. See, we need to understand here something. Crucifixion was the worst punishment reserved for the worst criminals. And those who were lesser criminals were put in jail. Crucifixion is like hanging. So, when this chap was, I mean, this man on the cross, this man, this criminal, he wasn't saying, I have not done anything wrong. No. How can a man who is a criminal say, I have not done anything wrong? What he was saying is, I am not so bad that I have to be crucified. I don't deserve the death penalty. Maybe even 25 years in jail or something, but not death penalty. I am not so bad. So, you are the Christ, save me from this unjust punishment. I am not saying I have not done anything wrong, but I am not so bad that I should be crucified. Isn't that what some of you are saying? I am not so bad. Those are the words of the thief who went to hell. Be careful that you don't say that yourself. He went to hell because that was his confession. I want to paraphrase his words. Ya, I am a criminal, but I am not so bad as to deserve crucifixion, which is reserved for the worst of criminals. But the other thief, on the other side, he said, verse 40, Don't you fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving what we deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong. You know why he was saved, this thief? Not because he said, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. No. Lot of people say that, who never go to paradise. This man was saved because before he asked the Lord for salvation, he made a confession of truthfulness. I deserve this. It is the righteous punishment for my deeds. Then he said, Lord, remember me. Jesus said, No problem. Paradise is made for honest people like you. You think he was better than the other thief? He was probably worse. Jesus said to the Pharisees, the prostitutes and thieves will get into God's kingdom before you. Why? Is there a single religion in the whole world that tells religious good people, prostitutes and thieves will get into God's kingdom before you? Only Jesus Christ preached that gospel. Nobody else has preached it. Show me in any religious book, in the world, where any religious leader said, prostitutes and thieves will get into God's kingdom before you. Only Jesus Christ. That's why I know the Bible is the word of God. That's why I know that Jesus Christ spoke the truth. And the more I have seen Christianity, the more I'm convinced that the amount of religiosity that I've seen in every denomination, including CFC, religious people who are not honest, I speak the same message, prostitutes and thieves will get into God's kingdom before you, not because you're evil, but because you're not honest. When we are not honest, what happens? The same thing that happened to Ananias and Sapphira, the same thing that happened to the other thief. I wish I could convince you about the tremendous blessings that can come upon your life, if you decide at least from today, that you are going to be 100% honest with God. And 100% honest with man does not mean, please understand me, does not mean you have to go to man and confess all the sins that you've committed in your life. That's not what I'm talking about. What I'm talking about, be honest. Don't pretend to be an angel, when you're a devil. That's what I mean. If you're a devil, you say, I'm a devil. It's pretense I'm talking about. There's a lot of pretense. And that is the reason why many people never become strong spiritually. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 11, and I'll tell you some other people who died like Ananias and Sapphira. 1 Corinthians 11, it says, verse 28, let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. I've had to tell certain people in CFC, you have eaten the bread and drunk the cup as a hypocrite. There's been secret sin in your life, and you have eaten the bread and drunk the cup. Have you confessed that sin? We don't want to know all the sins you've committed in private, but the sins you've committed in the church. Which sin? The sin of eating the bread and drinking the cup as a hypocrite. You have let a man examine himself, and so let him eat the bread and drink the cup. We're not asking for perfection. Remember, the cup is for sinners. It's for women caught in adultery. It's for thieves who have murdered and killed and stolen, but who are honest. It's not for people who pretend that they are holy. For this reason, if a man eats and drinks, verse 29, and does not judge himself, he eats and drinks judgment to himself. For this reason, many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you sleep in death. Let's apply it spiritually. Why are so many believers spiritually weak? Why are so many believers spiritually sick? Why are so many believers spiritually dead? I know, I've thought a lot about it, and the only answer I get from the Lord is, they are not honest. That's why. They are pretending. What can I do? One of the words the Lord has spoken to my heart is, son of man, speak to them, whether they will listen or not listen. One day they will know that God spoke to them. Don't worry, your responsibility is over once you have spoken the truth. The easiest thing in the world to do is to be honest, just to be yourself. I believe that if we were honest, we would have made a lot more progress spiritually. Many people who speak a lot of high-sounding religious language tell lies because they want to seek honour with me or with others. That's why they tell lies. And many of them fall away from the Church, not because they are more evil, but because they are dishonest. And I've noticed with people who fall right away from the Church, that one of the first sins that becomes manifest in their life is telling lies. They begin to tell outright lies because they have lost the strength of that light that was shining when they were in the Church. They've gone away from that, they've moved into darkness, and lying becomes nature to them, second nature to them. And if we don't get rid of this habit, I'll tell you this, Jesus said, Satan is a liar, and he's the father of lies. No one can say he's walking in the light if he does not speak the truth. We have to get rid of all pretense from our life. Pretense is self-righteousness, trying to show that I'm righteous. I want to show you that this is the reason why we don't have a solid foundation in our life. See, in one John, there are two places where it says, we call God a liar. You know, we know that Jesus was called the devil, Beelzebub. The Pharisees called him Beelzebub, you're the prince of devils. And we know that Satan is a liar. Jesus said that in John 8.44, he is a liar. There's no truth in Satan. Everything that Satan tells is a lie. And when you tell a lie, you're in fellowship with Satan, whether you know it or not. And when they told Jesus that he was Beelzebub, they were telling him, you're a liar. Isn't that a serious thing, to call Jesus a liar? Would any of you do it? Turn to Jesus and say, you're a liar? That's what the Pharisees did. Now I want to show you from scripture, how it is possible that some of you sitting here have said to Jesus, you are a liar. Have said to God the Father, you are a liar. I'll show you two passages. You may not have noticed it, like many other things we don't notice. First in 1 John chapter 1, verse 10. If we say we have not sinned, we make God a liar. You see how? You can say God is a liar. When I have sinned and I pretend I have not sinned, then God must be a liar. Have you done that? Dear brother, sister, have you done it? We're not asking for holiness, we're talking about honesty. Some people say, oh brother, it's all condemnation. You mean speaking the truth is condemnation? That's a lie of the devil. It's to deliver you from condemnation. God says speak the truth. If some preacher sets impossible standards and condemns people, that we can understand. But this is a standard which a thief on the cross got. Okay, he got 100%. If a murderer hanging on the cross can get 100% in this area, why can't we? He got 100% in this subject, speaking the truth. We deserve this. Have you ever thought about this? I have thought about it. Supposing I die after having faithfully served God for say 50 years and I die and I wake up in hell, what will I say? You know what I'll say? Lord, I deserve this. Will you say that? Or will you say, hey, how do you send me here? That's why you're not saved fully. You don't believe you deserve hell. You believe that because you did so many things faithfully for 50 years, you don't deserve hell. I believe I deserve it. I believe today if God gives me what I deserve, it's only hell. And that's why I'm saved. I say like the thief on the cross, the good one. Not the good one, the really bad one. But the honest one. I deserve this. It is a righteous punishment for me. But Lord, remember me. That's how I'm in paradise. But if some of you sitting here think, if God sends you to hell, no, I don't deserve that. That's exactly the reason why you don't grow spiritually. You have not come to the place of that thief on the cross. You're on the thief on the other side, who says, yeah, I know I'm bad, but I'm not so bad. My dear brother and sister, please be honest with me right now. Isn't that what some of you think about yourself? Be honest now. Is that not what some of you think about yourself? I'm bad, but I'm not that bad. I hope sometime before you die, you will come to that place. Then you'll experience salvation. The sooner you come there, the quicker. I came there long ago. Long, long ago, I came to the place where I said, Lord, I deserve it. And my life has been a very happy life. I don't call God a liar. Do you call God a liar? Can you think back to a time when you sinned? You sinned. You knew that you sinned. And you came to the meeting, pretending that you had not sinned and broke bread. You called God a liar. You are part of the gang of Pharisees who turned around to Jesus and said, you're a liar. You're the prince of devils. You're a liar. I never want to say that in my life. I want to say, Lord, I've sinned. I don't want to be like Adam, to say it's my wife. It's the circumstances. It is the pressure of this. It is the pressure of that. You lose your temper at home. And you say, well, what to do? I had a lot of pressure in my life today. It's not pressure. Take the blame and say, it is my filthy, corrupt, demonic nature that made me lose my temper. Call it that. You'll be saved from it. Yeah. So I got saved from it. Lord, it's my filthy, corrupt nature. It's not circumstances. It's not my wife. It's not this person. It's not that person. It's me. What did I say? I said, I deserve it. It's me. Salvation. Salvation comes quickly to such people. How much we blame other people. So and so is the cause of this. And so and so is the cause of that. And what happens? That person who you think is the cause of your problem, you won't talk to him. You won't talk to her. Adding to your darkness. And you don't realize you're drifting further and further and further away from God. You're calling God a liar because you say, I haven't sinned. It's this fellow who did it. Putting the blame on somebody else when you yourself allowed your corrupt nature to get the better of you. Dear brother and sister, wake up before it's too late. Listen to the thief on the cross who went to paradise, who says, follow me. Can you follow him? I want to follow that thief on the cross all my life. And that's why that thief got discernment as to who Jesus really was. He said, this man has never done anything wrong. How did he know that? He had never walked with Jesus for 33 years to make such a statement. How can you? Just listen to this. Here is a man you've never met. I don't believe that thief ever met Jesus. Hanging on the cross, he looks at this man. Supposing there's a man you've never met. And lot of people are accusing him. This fellow did this and this fellow did that. That's what's happening on the cross. Remember? Jesus hanging on the cross. This fellow doesn't know he's the son of God or anything. But he sees all these people saying, this fellow did this, this fellow did this, this, this, this. We meet sometimes people like that, who accuse somebody of this, this, he's guilty of this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this. And the thief listening to all this, could have thought like this, well, there can't be a smoke without a fire, right? I mean, they can't have all these accusations. This fellow must have done something wrong for all these fellows to gang up and accuse him. There's no smoke without a fire. And he could have turned around and said, I don't know who you are, Jesus. Why don't you just admit to something at least that you did wrong? But he doesn't say that. He listens to all these accusations. And he sees Jesus saying, well, no reply. No reply. He must be righteous. Have you understood that? This man could not have done anything wrong. That's why he's so silent. He's got such a clear conscience. His face is so clear. God gave him discernment, which those people who studied the Bible for 50 years did not have. This fellow who never read the Bible, who spent his life murdering, stealing, got discernment. Blessed are you, thief on the cross, for flesh and blood did not reveal this to you. But God in heaven revealed who this was, hanging on the cross, that he never did anything wrong. But why did he get that revelation? Because he was honest. Why don't we get revelation on knowing God, on Jesus, on the scriptures? Shall I tell you? Because we are not ruthlessly honest. I have met very few people in my life who are ruthlessly honest, who love the truth so much that they will rather die than tell a lie, rather die than pretend before other people that they have an anointing that they don't have, rather never want to give other people a false impression. I remember once in a meeting, I was speaking somewhere, and just to encourage people I mentioned about somebody who had been healed through prayer and in the break time. Lot of people came to me, brother please pray for me. I thought boy, I think I have given a wrong impression to these people that I have got some gift of healing. So I got up in the next meeting, hey listen, I want to tell you the rest of the truth. There are 100 other people I prayed for who never got healed. I mean I told you about one case that got healed, but I think you fellows got the wrong impression. At least 100 people I prayed for who never got healed. And the percentage is about 1%. I don't have any gift of healing. Somebody asked me in one place, brother Zak, do you have a gift of healing? I said no, my gift is honesty. I said not healing. If people are not healed, I say they are not healed. There is no pretense there. I don't want to pretend. It's absolute truth. I think 1% of people or probably 0.1% of people I prayed for got healed. I mean that, God healed them. I myself was surprised when they were healed. It wasn't due to my faith or any such thing. It's like you know, I always think some of the answers I get to prayer are like, you know the church praying, Oh God, release Peter from prison, release Peter from prison, release Peter from prison. They are all praying, God we trust you, we trust you. And then the knock on the door, Peter comes there. And they say no, that can't be Peter. And he walks in, hey! That's the type of answers to prayer I've got is like that. I'm the most surprised person. So I just want to be honest with you. I'm not such a great man of faith and power and all that type of stuff. And I don't want to pretend that I am. I just want to be honest. I have doubts, I have fears. But I don't live by my doubts or fears, no. But these things come in my heart. I don't want to pretend that I don't have them. What a tremendous liberation it is to be known as you really are. That nobody will discover some secret in your life that you have carefully hidden away, hoping, hoping, hoping that nobody will ever discover it. What a torment that is. You know there is an expression in English called skeletons in the cupboard. I don't know whether you've heard it. That some people have got skeletons in their cupboard. That means some things in their life which they have hidden very carefully and they hope nobody will ever discover it. But it rattles, these skeletons. Sometimes the door and one bone falls out. Have you ever got anything like that in your life? I've seen that sometimes. With some CFC people I'm talking about. What a blessed liberation it is. I won't call God a liar. You understand what I mean? I'm not talking about confession of sin. I'm talking about not pretending to be something that you are not. Not pretending to be a holy angel when that's not the way you have lived. We call him a liar. The second place in 1 John where it says we call God a liar and that is dependent on the first one. You see, if you call God a liar, like the thief on the cross, I don't deserve this. Then what happens? There are another area where we call God a liar is 1 John 5 and verse 10. The one who believes in the son of God has the witness in himself. But the one who does not believe God has made God a liar. See that's the second way we call God a liar. Okay, if you didn't learn anything else this evening, you learned two ways of calling God a liar. As far as I know, I can't remember any other place in scripture where it speaks about calling God a liar. John speaks about calling God a liar. One is, let me repeat what we saw in 1 John 1.10. When we have sinned and we say we haven't or when we say we say, it doesn't mean with our mouth. Let me paraphrase 1 John 1.10 like this. When we give people the impression, I haven't sinned, I've lived like an angel. You call God a liar. Because God has spoken to you and said you have sinned and you come as a holy person, break bread and drink the cup. You call God a liar. Don't do it. That's why you're weak, that's why you're sick and that's why you may die before your time. And the second is 1 John 5.10 where when God has said something and we don't believe him. Again we call him a liar. That's why unbelief is a terrible sin. See if you go and commit adultery, you're not calling God a liar. Okay, it's a terrible sin to commit adultery but at least you're not calling God a liar. You go and kill somebody, that's a terrible sin. But at least you're not calling God a liar. But when you don't believe God, you're calling God a liar. Do you know the seriousness of that? That's why unbelief is such a serious sin. That's why the Bible says, take heed brethren that you don't fall away from God, Hebrews 3.12, by an evil heart of unbelief. Not an evil heart of adultery, not an evil heart of murder, but an evil heart of unbelief. Take heed. So what is it that makes your heart evil? Unbelief. Why? Because unbelief is one of the greatest sins because it's turning around to God and saying, you're a liar. Why do we call him a liar? Because such a person, verse 10, 1 John 5.10, has not believed the witness that God has borne concerning his son. Now an atheist, he's not calling God a liar. He doesn't believe that there's a God at all. He doesn't believe that God sent his son or any such thing. He doesn't go to the meetings. He doesn't believe anything. But we're talking now about people who say, yeah, I believe the Bible and I believe that this is God's word and I believe that Jesus died for the sins of the world. But he does not believe the witness that God gave concerning his son. And you say, what is that witness? That witness is this, verse 11, that God has given us eternal life. And this life is in his son. And you don't believe it. God says, I've given you eternal life. You say, well, I'm not so sure. You call God a liar. And there are numerous believers who do that. For years and years, I called God a liar when he had given me eternal life. And I said, well, I'm not so sure. It's like if I'm in college and my dad says to me, well, son, I've sent two thousand rupees into your bank account for you to pay your fees. And I say, well, dad, I'm not so sure whether you've done that. What am I calling my father? What? A liar. And if I don't believe the witness that God himself has given, that he's given me eternal life in Christ, I'm calling him a liar. Then I might as well be an atheist and say, I don't believe the Bible at all. Then it's okay. And then it says in verse nine, if we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater. Sure. You believe when a man says, listen, fella, I'll do this for you. Or I've done this. I've credited that amount to your account. Is he telling the truth or not? We very often do believe. At least some men are trustworthy. Not all. A lot of people are liars. When they say, I'll repay that, they don't repay it. But you know, some men at least on earth, who when they say, I'll repay that, they mean it. There's a very common lie that they speak of in America. It's called the check is in the mail. It means that money which I owe you, I've already mailed it. Absolute lie. The check is in the mail. But there are at least a few people who when they say that, they're speaking the truth. The check has been mailed. And when God says it, isn't he reliable? Is there a single person here who has truly been honest with God, like the woman caught in adultery, like Mary Magdalene, like the woman who washed Jesus' feet, and like the thief on the cross, let's take the worst criminals of all, and who found salvation in Christ, you've been honest, and who doubts whether God has given you eternal life? Why is that? Don't you realize it's a serious sin to call God a liar? Now, if you yourself have been dishonest, or you're keeping a grudge against somebody, then you deserve not to have any assurance of salvation. You don't deserve assurance of salvation if you've got a grudge in your heart against anybody. Who do you think you are to deserve assurance of eternal life when you've got a grudge in your heart against someone? You deserve to go to hell. If you die tonight, I believe you will go to hell. Because Jesus says that if you don't forgive somebody else, God won't forgive you. If you've got a grudge in your heart against someone, and you die in that condition, I can give you a written guarantee that you'll go to hell. I don't care which meeting you came for, or how many conferences you came to. And you'll deserve it. Because you're asking God to forgive you a million sins when you can't forgive somebody one sin. Do you think such people deserve to go to heaven? Not at all. But if you have forgiven everybody, and you can honestly say, I don't have a grudge against anyone, I've forgiven everybody who has harmed me, but I haven't got victory. I'm a sinner. I'm still struggling. Brother, there's a seat reserved in paradise for you. Definitely. How much victory over sin did the thief on the cross have, who went to paradise? He had not even conquered murder, leave alone other sins. He went to paradise. Do people who don't have victory over sin go to paradise? Sure! If they're honest. What about people who have got some victory over sin, but who are dishonest? Hell! Without a doubt. Imagine that. People who've got some victory over sin go to hell, and a fellow who's got no victory over sin goes to heaven. Isn't that unrighteous? No. Because God has reserved paradise for honest people, not for hypocrites and humbugs. It's not a question of victory over sin at all. It's a question of honesty. Lord, I deserve this. It is a righteous punishment for me. I'm not only bad, I'm terribly bad. Paradise is for such people. But Lord remember me. How can a man who feels like that, keep on accusing others and criticizing others and finding fault with others? We've had one or two brothers like that in CFC in past days, who were always finding fault with something or the other. Do you think the thief on the cross was always finding fault, that fellow, that sister is not dressed properly, and that other brother is like this, and that other person is like this. You think he had time on the cross to think about all that? Those are for hypocrites and humbugs, like Pharisees. The other ones have time for all that. This guy had no time but to think of Lord, I deserve this. Will you please remember me? He was justified. Jesus told a story in Luke chapter 18. Luke chapter 18, he spoke about, he told this parable especially. Now many times when Jesus told a parable, we're not told for whom he told that parable. In fact, we never read, as far as I can remember, an introduction to the parable like this, that this parable is meant for this category of people. When he spoke about the sower and the seed, or when he spoke about the hidden treasure in the field, or when he spoke about the pearl of great price, it is never mentioned, this is for this category of people. Even the prodigal son story, there is no introduction saying this parable is meant for this category of people. But here is the one parable, as far as I know, the only parable, where it says this parable is specially meant for certain category of people. Luke 18 verse 9, he told this parable for those type of people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and looked at other people with contempt. Looked at people in other denominations with contempt, who believed that they were in the best church in the world, and everybody else was not in a good church, and they boasted that they themselves were very holy, and other people were not so holy. Now I am not saying that every church is the same. We have certain distinctives as a church, and we praise the Lord for them, but there is a different thing when you boast about it. It is right to be a Christian. Salvation is only through Jesus Christ. And when I say I am a child of God, if I say it in humility, recognizing that God made me his child, then it is alright. But if I say it with boastfulness, it is a different thing. If I look at other people with contempt, that is different. And I want to say to you, anyone sitting here, if you consider yourself very holy, and you look down on somebody else with contempt, this parable is specially for you. Yes, it is. And the parable is this, that one man who went to the temple, who knew the Bible so much, and he was a Pharisee, he had a great reputation among men as a holy person, and he said, Oh God, I thank you, I am not like other people. He didn't say that to God. He knew that God wouldn't appreciate that. But the Bible says in verse 11, he said it to himself. You notice that? He said it to himself, which means, in other words, he thought like this. He was thinking, I am not like other people. He never said it. We don't say it. Would you ever say that to God? You know that God won't appreciate that. It is only something we think. Yeah, I am not like those people. I am not like that community. I am not a swindler, or unjust, or adulterer, or even like this fellow standing here. And he is saying to himself, I think of all the good things I do. I fast twice a week, and I pray three times a day, and I pay all my tithes. I am sure that guy doesn't. And the tax collector who was standing in the corner, he had no time to compare himself with other people. He was like a thief on the cross. He was so conscious of his own sin. He beat his breast. Oh God, is there any hope for me? I am so much of corruption, Lord, I see in my heart. I am the worst of the lot. God said, you are justified, go home. This man, verse 14, went home justified. Do you see who gets justified? This man had the same spirit as the thief on the cross, as the woman caught in adultery. He said, yes Lord, I have done it. I don't pretend I have not done it. And Jesus said, I don't condemn you. These fellows may condemn you, I don't condemn you. Don't sin again. You are okay. Do you see how Jesus is? He is the same today. Many of us have missed enjoying his wonderful salvation, because we have looked at others with contempt. We have pretended to be holy. We have called God a liar. And therefore we are not sure whether we are justified. Justified means declared righteous. God looked at that tax collector who had cheated so many people, who had swindled. He said, you are righteous. And he looked at this man who was boasting about the number of meetings he went to, and the number of times he prayed, and the tremendous testimony he had in the church and said, unrighteous, get away from here. What did that man have? He didn't fast as much as this fellow. He didn't pray as much as this fellow. He hadn't gone to as many meetings as this fellow. He did not know the Bible as much as this fellow. In fact, every way you look at him, he is much worse. But he had one good quality which this guy did not have. Honesty. He was truthful. This person was pretending. And I tell you, that is what is going to make the difference in eternity. That is what will make the difference in eternity. God is going to draw a line and separate the truthful people from the dishonest people. And some of these dishonest people will be pretty good people. They fasted, they prayed, they went to the meetings, they never missed a conference. And here are guys who never went to a conference. They are truthful. Justifying. Do you know that it is your privilege to be justified, to know that I am declared righteous before God, that God Almighty has declared me righteous. Do you know that? Can all of you sitting here who claim to be born again lift up your head and say, God has declared me righteous. I have no doubt about it at all. I can say that because I have been honest with him about my sin. Not just the sins I committed, but wherever I see corruption in my flesh, I say, Lord, it is true. That is what I am. I haven't tried to disguise it and cover it up with prayer and meetings and trying to act holy before other people. No. I say, Lord, that is what I am. And I have gone home justified. I have gone home and God says, you are okay. And he doesn't remember my sins anymore. You can be a happy person if you are honest about your sin, where you have pretended like Ananias and Sapphira. Confess it. If your sin has only involved God, confess it only to God. Don't go and confess those sins to other people. But if your sin has involved other people, go and confess to those other people, like Zacchaeus. You hurt somebody, go and confess to those people. If like Ananias and Sapphira, you fooled the elders in the church, go and confess to the elders. I was a hypocrite there. I didn't really sell that house for that much. I sold it for more. I pretended, Peter, I am sorry about it. They wouldn't have died. Peter gave a chance to Ananias' wife. Tell me, Mrs. Ananias, did you sell this house for this much? She looked so holy and said, that's right, Peter. Shall we pray that God will send such days once again to the church? I pray that with all my heart. Lord, send such days again to the church, where Ananias and Sapphira will drop dead and people will be afraid. It says next verse, people were afraid to join the church. Are people afraid to join your church? Look at the number of churches we have today where people live in sin, they fool around, they come and break bread. And the churches, and the excuse is, the church is a hospital. They don't want the treatment, they won't take the injections, they won't listen to the doctor. But they say, we are coming to the hospital. Brother, the hospital is not meant for people who don't take the treatment offered by the doctors. No. We have no place for patients who want to treat themselves. Go and find some other hospital. If you come to this hospital, we will tell you what medicine you must take. You need to take some injections. You need to undergo surgery. We can treat any sickness in this hospital. Because we believe we have the mightiest doctor, Jesus Christ, in our midst. Consultant in all diseases. But you got to accept the treatment. And if you don't accept the treatment, then you got to go and find some hospital where they allow you to treat yourself. Lord, send us apostolic days once again, where untruthfulness will be publicly exposed and judged. Are you afraid of that? I hope not. I hope we are eager for that. Every person who loves the truth will be eager and say, Lord, send such days into the church again. Who are the ones who are afraid of that here? The ones who got some skeletons rattling in their cupboards. Get it out. Get it out. Progress spiritually instead of living forever with skeletons in your cupboard. Love the truth and you go home justified. Jesus Christ died so that I might be clothed with his righteousness. Not only forgiven. You know the wonderful thing about the blood of Jesus Christ? First of all, I am forgiven by the blood of Jesus. Second, I am cleansed by the blood of Jesus. I am purchased from the slave market, redeemed by the blood of Jesus. I am justified by the blood of Jesus. Justified means the blood of Jesus has cleansed me so thoroughly, if I am honest, like the thief on the cross, that I stand before God totally righteous, clothed in the righteousness of Christ. And that's how I stand before him. The Pharisee stood before God in his own righteousness. Lord, I fasted, I prayed. Now you may not be saying about fasting and prayer, because you probably don't do that. But you may be boasting about something else. Lord, I've got victory over this, I've got victory over that and I'm standing here. Lord, I got baptized in water. I do this, I do this, I do this. And you go home with all your sense of guilt, with sicknesses in your body, with problems in your mind. When you can go home, justified, happy, if only you were honest. This is so gripped my heart, that wherever I go, I preach it. Brother, God loves honest people. Some of you may have seen that book of mine, Principles of Serving God, where there is one chapter on 16 lessons that I learnt in my life. In the 40 years that I've been a Christian, some lessons, some things, important truths, 16 truths that I've learnt in my life. Number one, one and two anyway. God loves us as he loved Jesus. And God loves honest people. They are two of the greatest truths I've discovered in my life. I wish somebody had told me that as a young man. Nobody told me that as a young man. God loves you as he loved Jesus. God wants honesty from you, first of all. What a difference it would have made in my life. But I discovered it the hard way. I want to share that with you, brothers and sisters. You can be justified, you can stand before God completely free from guilt. As a righteous person, without any doubt in your mind that God has accepted you. I have nothing to boast about. But the righteousness of Christ clothes me. And while the righteousness of Christ clothes me, as God works in me, I work out my salvation and I become holier and holier inside. But the more holy I become, still it's only through the righteousness of Christ I'm accepted. Do you know that I'm accepted before God today, exactly on the same basis I was accepted before God 44 years ago. No different. I'm not more accepted today. I was accepted just as much 44 years ago. Why? Because 44 years ago I had the righteousness of Christ. Today I have the righteousness of Christ. But underneath that clothing of righteousness, of course my life has become holier. That is not what has made me more acceptable to God. Some of you think that's what's making you more acceptable to God and that's why your life is so miserable. That's why you got restlessness in your mind, sickness in your body, because you are trusting in your own righteousness. Listen to this wonderful truth how we are justified by the blood of Jesus Christ. The righteousness of Christ clothing me, I am exactly accepted before God today as on the day I first accepted Christ. The righteousness of Christ clothing me and that also teaches me that I am accepted Christ on the same basis as you are. I'm not better than you when it comes to being accepted before God. Somebody who is accepted Christ now, is accepted just like me. Can you accept that? Or do you have to say to God, Lord I've served for, I worked for 12 hours, how can you make me equal to these fellows who came at the last minute? God makes you equal. Can you accept it? I say sure. Lord, I'm delighted that you made that fellow who was converted yesterday equal to me. Can you say that? I can say it. I'm so excited that God has made me equal to that fellow who was converted yesterday. If you have understood that, you've understood the righteousness of Christ. But if you think you're a bit senior, I'm sorry to say some of our elder brothers haven't understood this. They think they are senior. That's why they make such a mess of their work in their church. God save us from it. Ask God to show you what it means to be justified by the blood of Jesus Christ. Let's pray. I really believe that God has spoken something very clearly to some of you today. And it can change your life. He can make you progress like a rocket going up into the sky. When you get rid of your own righteousness, you can be absolutely certain about being accepted by God. Never again will you call God a liar. If you'll be honest and recognize that despite all your seniority, you're accepted by God on the same basis as that new believer clothed with the righteousness of Christ. I thank God that a million years from now, after I've become holy in heaven, I will still be accepted by God in Christ. I never want to be accepted any other way. That's why I'm so happy. Be happy, brother and sister. Jesus has died for you. He's risen. He wants to clothe you. He wants to take away your dirty old garments. I gave him my old tattered garments. He gave me a robe of pure white. I'm feasting on manna from heaven for Jesus made everything right. And at Poonan.org forward slash Zach. That is P-O-O-N-E-N dot O-R-G forward slash Z-A-C for video messages, audio messages, and books by Zach Poonan that can all be downloaded freely. Our mailing address is Christian Fellowship Center, Forte da Costa Square, Bangalore 560 084 India. If you would like to receive a weekly message by Zach Poonan by email, please go to our website and send us an email to the address given there. The Lord bless you richly.