In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of repentance and turning away from sin. He warns against being deceived by preachers who lull people to sleep with their sin. The preacher encourages listeners to live like Jesus and be overcomers, being a witness through their lives on earth. He also highlights the riches of God's inheritance in believers and the need for honesty and humility before God. The sermon concludes with a reminder that God overlooks the times of ignorance and offers forgiveness, but challenges listeners to seek God's blessing and not settle for a comfortable, complacent life.

In Paul's letter to the Ephesians, there are two prayers he prays for the Ephesian Christians. Paul had stayed in Ephesus for three years, and we read in Acts 20 that he had been preaching day and night. As far as we know, every day those three years. Imagine sitting in a church where you had listened to 2000 sermons by the Apostle Paul. That was certainly the most spiritual church in the early days. It became backslidden by the time of the end of the century, as you read in Revelation 2. But when Paul wrote to this church in Ephesians, when we compare it with his letters to all the other churches, he could speak to them deeper things than he could speak to the others. To the Corinthians he said, we determine not to know anything among you, but Christ and Him crucified. Now some people take that verse and say, that's all I'm going to preach, Christ and Him crucified. This is the problem with a lot of Christians, who take one verse and don't read the context. It's a very bad habit I have found among Christians all over the world. They've got favorite verses. Imagine if you got a 10 page letter from your dad, and you just read the 10th line on the fourth page. You completely misunderstand it, if you didn't read the whole paragraph. We never do that with letters. But we forget that all these were letters. And we take one sentence out of somewhere, and produce a doctrine out of it. And that's how all the heresies and cults and Christendom have come forth. Very often people have asked me this question, Brother Jack, what does this verse mean? I said, let me read it with you. And I read the whole paragraph, and without my explanation they understand it. They didn't need to. All they needed to do was read the whole paragraph, instead of picking out one sentence from the middle. When Paul said to the Corinthians, I determined not to know anything among you, but Christ and Him crucified. He goes on to say, it's because you people are babies. I can only give you milk. But he says among those who are more mature, I can speak wisdom in the same chapter. I determined not to know anything among you, but Christ and Him crucified. But, this is 1 Corinthians 2 verse 4, among those who are mature, we speak wisdom. And not the wisdom which this world speaks about, but a wisdom from God. And he says those things are revealed to us by the Holy Spirit. Things which eye has not seen, 1 Corinthians 2 verse 9, which ear has not heard, which has not entered into the heart of man. When you read a verse like that, you think of heaven. Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, which has not entered into the heart of man. But it's not speaking about heaven. Read the context again. God has revealed them. Notice that word again, revelation, to us through the Holy Spirit. Because this spirit searches the deep things of God. And he goes on to say in 1 Corinthians 2 verse 11, nobody knows our thoughts except we ourselves, but the Holy Spirit is the one who knows the thoughts of God. And when He comes into us, fills us, He reveals to us the thoughts of God. This is one of the main ministries of the Holy Spirit. To reveal to me the thoughts of Almighty God. It speaks of intimacy. Who do you share your most intimate thoughts with? You won't share it with a stranger. You won't even share it with your little children who are, if you're doing business, you can't share that with a four-year-old who can't understand. If you have a close relationship with your wife, you will share your thoughts with her. That's the type of relationship Jesus Christ wants to have with us. And you cannot know His thoughts if you don't open yourself completely to the Holy Spirit. As I said the other day, our mind is so much influenced by thoughts from the world. We have the world's sense of values. We think money is great. We think sex is great. We think worldly honor is great. And that's how the devil fools us. He fools us by saying money is great. You got to have it. Sex, that's a great thing. You can't live without that. And the honor of the world, the honor in the church, that's a great thing. And if Satan can convince you that these three things I mentioned are great, he's got you. He doesn't care how many meetings you go to or how many conferences you go to. He has convinced you that money is the greatest thing. Sex is the greatest thing. Honor in the world is the greatest thing. But if you can call the devil's lie and say that is not the greatest thing. Those are servants God gives us. Sex is for marriage. Money is for use in the world. Honor, I'm not even interested in that. Only in the honor of God. Then you can overcome Satan. And that can only come as the Holy Spirit reveals to you the thoughts of God. That's called revelation. Now they could never have it in the Old Testament. And if you come to the scriptures with your cleverness and intelligence, you'll never understand the revelation of God. Like I said the other day, the Holy Spirit is a spirit of grace. God gives grace to the humble. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 11, verse 25. I'm going to come to Ephesians in a moment. Matthew 11, 25. He says, I praise you, Father, that you have hidden these things. Have you ever thought that Jesus would thank God that certain things are hidden from certain men? We think that we should make things clear to everybody, the wonderful truths of God. But Jesus praises God for hiding things from people. Once when his disciples asked him, why do you always speak in parables? Matthew 13, verse 10. He says, so that I speak in parables, Matthew 13, 13, so that these people will not see. Have you ever preached a sermon with the aim that some people should not understand? Jesus was a master at that. And that's the reason why so many people read the Bible and can't understand it. It's written in a way that people don't understand. You think a great teacher is one who can explain things clearly. But Jesus spoke in a way that people could not understand. Seeing, they will not see. And hearing, they will hear but they won't understand. Try and figure out Matthew 13, verse 13 and see if you can preach like that. I speak to them in parables because while seeing, they do not see. And hearing, they do not hear, they won't understand. So don't think that Jesus came here to make things very plain and simple for everybody. It's only a certain category of person that Jesus is going to make things clear to. It's only a certain category of person to whom the Holy Spirit will reveal the thoughts of Almighty God. The rest will imagine that they know the thoughts of God because they are clever to study the Bible and they'll be completely deceived. The Pharisees knew the Bible but they couldn't recognize Jesus. The entire Old Testament spoke about the second person of the Trinity coming to earth. The seed of the woman, Genesis. The brazen serpent in Numbers. The smitten rock in Exodus. The sin offering in Leviticus. And the son of righteousness in Malachi. The suffering servant in Isaiah 53. All the way through the Old Testament, it spoke about the second person of the Trinity and when the second person of the Trinity came, these guys who had studied the Old Testament thoroughly thought it was the devil. Got it? Let me repeat it. The entire Old Testament spoke about the second person of the Trinity from Genesis to Malachi. And yet when the second person of the Trinity came in their midst, they thought it was the devil. Now we come to the New Testament. The entire New Testament speaks about the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. And when the Holy Spirit begins to move among God's people, people think it's the devil. It's the same old story. And they were warned against Jesus, saying, oh that's the devil. They were warned against the Holy Spirit, that's the devil. It's the same thing. Why? Why is these clever Pharisees couldn't recognize the second person of the Trinity? Why is it so many clever people can't recognize the third person of the Trinity today? Are there counterfeits? Oh yes, plenty of them. But why does the devil counterfeit the ministry and the work of the Holy Spirit? Have you ever heard of anybody counterfeiting brown paper or toilet paper or any such thing? You don't go to the market and wonder is that genuine toilet paper or is it counterfeit? If you are going to buy gold or diamonds or a hundred dollar note, you want to make sure that is genuine. Only valuable things are counterfeited. Cheap things are never counterfeited. And if the Holy Spirit ministry is counterfeited, you can be pretty sure it's valuable. If the gifts of the Holy Spirit are counterfeited, you can be pretty sure it's valuable. That, in fact, the devil's counterfeit is what proves to me the thing must be valuable. Hey, I better seek for the real thing. I want to avoid the counterfeit, sure. How? You know people who buy gold, I don't know head or tail about gold, I've never bought gold, but I think people who want to go and buy real gold will be very careful that they don't get cheated because there's a lot of corruption there. Things that look like gold and ordinary people like you and me who are not goldsmiths, we'll be fooled. I know I'll be fooled because I can't make out what's real gold and what's counterfeit, what's just painted to look like gold. A lot of things painted to look like gold, they're not real gold. And a lot of things today that appear to be the Holy Spirit is not the Holy Spirit, appear to be the gifts of the Holy Spirit, it's not the gifts of the Holy Spirit. And the only way to discern is if God gives us revelation. Now Matthew 11, 25, Jesus says, I thank you Father, you have hidden these things from the clever and the intelligent. You know just like, have you heard of people who have a handicap? They have Olympics for the handicapped, you know people in wheelchairs, it's called Paralympics where people in wheelchairs have races. And you feel sorry for people who are handicapped, you know either they've got a lame, a withered arm or a lame leg. Now I'll tell you what handicap is in the Christian life, cleverness. Are you clever? I feel sorry for you, you're the handicapped person. Are you intelligent? You're a handicapped brother, sorry, sorry about it. What to do? Unfortunately, you feel sorry for the man who's limping, I feel sorry for you, clever, intelligent people. You will never understand the things of God. Matthew 11, 25, Father, I thank you, you have hidden these things from the clever and the intelligent. Have you ever read that verse? That's why I say, people who study the Bible in Bible schools go astray. That's why Jesus never sent his disciples to a Bible school. The only apostle who went to a Bible school was the apostle Paul, before he was converted. He spent three years studying under Gamaliel. And when he came to Jesus, Jesus said, I've got to send you to three years to the desert in Arabia to get all that chaff out of your head. That's the unfortunate thing. If you spend three years in Bible school, you probably got to spend three years in the desert to get it all out of your head. So why waste six years of your life? Best don't go to Bible school at all. I thank God, I never went a single day to a Bible school. Because Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. You can't understand by cleverness and intelligence what shall we handicapped people do. I think there are a lot of handicapped people sitting here. Indians are particularly handicapped. I know that. I sought the Lord about this. I said, Lord, what shall I do? I'm intelligent. What shall I do? I wish I were born dumb. I could have understood the scripture. And the Lord said, there's a way out of it. Acknowledge that with cleverness and intelligence you cannot understand the scriptures. I said, okay, I'll acknowledge that. Come to the scriptures acknowledging that you know nothing. Use your intelligence in the world. Sure, if you're doing business, you better use your intelligence. If you're working in computers and things like that, use your intelligence. But when it comes to this book, don't try to use your intelligence. You'll go astray. All the denominations and cults in Christendom have come because clever people have come to this book with their cleverness and the truth is hidden. Then to whom does God reveal it? Jesus said it. Matthew 11, 25 I thank you, Father, you give revelation to babes. What does that mean? Jesus once took a little baby and said, Matthew 18, 4 whoever humbles himself like this child. He was giving an illustration of humility. They asked him, who's the greatest in God's kingdom? He took a little baby and said, here's the greatest. What does he have? Any of you guys can fool a child. You can fool any little baby. But you can't beat him in humility. No. None of us can beat a baby in humility. Think of the thoughts that go through your mind. I've often seen a little three-month-old child lying in a cradle. The most beautiful thing on earth and the eyes of a child are the closest to heaven that you can find on earth. I'll tell you that. Your eyes and our eyes have been corrupted by sin through so many years, polluted. Look at that child, little one-month-old child. It's the closest thing to heaven you can see on earth. And does that child lie there in the cradle thinking, boy, I'm the closest thing to heaven on earth. No. It's got no thoughts like that about itself. It has absolutely zero thoughts of pride. If somebody goes to that child and say, boy, how lovely you are. He doesn't get puffed up. Have you ever found somebody coming and appreciating something in you? Say, boy. You have a battle with pride immediately, right? When they say something good about you, whether you're pretty or intelligent or good or that was a great ministry you did or whatever it is. The primary thing about little children is humility. And so I learned from there that if I have this terrible handicap of being a clever, intelligent person, I can deny it when I come to scripture and say, Lord, when it comes to this book, I'm absolutely dumb. I want to come to this book not with my cleverness and my intelligence. I want to set it aside. I want to come with humility, recognizing that I know nothing unless you reveal it to me by the Holy Spirit. Dear brothers and sisters, if you come to scripture like that, you will see things in this which no clever, intelligent person can ever see or teach you. I'm telling you from my own experience from the time God filled me with the Holy Spirit and as I continue to live in the fullness of the Holy Spirit and walk in brokenness and humility before God, I have seen the most amazing things in scripture that I've never read in a book or heard on a tape. And yet it's in the same Bible, from the same verses, things which I've never seen before. And that can be for you. Paul writing to the Ephesians, as I said, he prayed two prayers. Those are good prayers for us to pray for ourselves. Both concern the Holy Spirit. Both are distinctively New Covenant ministries of the Holy Spirit. See, this New Covenant and Old Covenant is another thing we are completely blind to unless you come with humility. We may think we have understood the New Covenant, but we haven't. As long as you can't overcome sin in your life, you have not understood the New Covenant. The word in the New Covenant is grace. The word in the Old Covenant is law. As long as your Christian life is lived by rules and regulations, you are under law. Whichever church you belong to, however modest your clothing is, you are under law. Because you lose your temper. Because you get anxious. Because you grumble. Because you love money. I don't care how many doctrines you know, you're under law, brother. You might as well acknowledge it. You'll never be free until you acknowledge, Lord, I'm under law. Because I love money. Because I'm anxious. Because I can't control my tongue. I speak rudely to my husband. I'm under law. Even though I'm so modestly dressed, I am under law. I have not understood grace. Oh God, will you please have mercy on a stupid, proud man or woman like me. Please bring me under grace. I prayed like that. If you're humble, to acknowledge your sin and defeated life. But if you pretend, if you come to church pretending that you're spiritual, God will say, I didn't come for you healthy people. I came for the sick. For the sinners. The Pharisees would come to the church because they had a reputation. They'd been there so many years. How could they acknowledge that they were defeated? I remember having been a preacher for a number of years way back in 1974. That's 37 years. I was defeated. My inner life did not correspond with my outer life. And I was preaching. I was preaching in this Baptist church every Sunday. I was traveling to different countries and preaching. I was a hypocrite. And one day the Lord spoke to me. I remember that so clearly. In January 1975. The Lord said, Are you willing to stand up in that church today and acknowledge before all those people who respect you so much that you're a hypocrite. That your inner life does not correspond with what you preach. I was so desperate. I was at that place where I was going to quit the ministry. Just like those disciples were going to quit fishing. Because I toiled and toiled and my life was frustrated and defeated like that empty boat of those disciples. And I said, Lord, I don't care. I'm willing to stand anywhere and tell people the truth. And I'm just going to quit preaching because I'm a hypocrite. If my inner life does not correspond with what I speak, I don't want to speak anymore. That's the day God turned my life around. He filled me with the Holy Spirit once again. And began to give me revelation on His Word. I began to understand things almost from the very next day. Things I had never seen in Scripture before. Even though I'd been reading the Bible for so many years. At least 15 years before that. I began to see things which I'd never seen before. I saw the glory of the new covenant. If you had asked me in the first 16 years of my Christian life, what is the new covenant? I wouldn't have been able to explain it to you. I certainly didn't experience it. I was defeated. I was defeated with my tongue and the eyes. Oh yes. Like all people are. Christians. Then I began to get revelation. Paul's prayer in Ephesians 1 is this. I'm praying, he says. I thank God for all that you have. Ephesians 1.15 You got faith in Jesus, praise the Lord. You got love for all the saints. Now you think if somebody's got faith in Jesus and love for all the saints. Boy, what more does that person need? You don't need to pray for anything for that person. You need to just tell him to go and encourage other people to come to that same life. Now what would you pray for someone who's got faith in the Lord Jesus and love for all the saints? There are very few people like that. You say, hey, you guys don't need any prayer. Just go and pray for other people. Paul says, I thank God for that. I don't deny that's a good thing that you got faith in the Lord Jesus and love for all the saints. Ephesians 1.16 But now I'm praying for you something which you guys need. All of you who got faith in the Lord Jesus and love for your fellow believers, I'm praying for you that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation. Revelation. I pray that you will get revelation on things you haven't understood about God, that you will get into the mind of God and understand the thoughts of God. It's an amazing thing in the knowledge of him. And he says, I want the eyes of your heart to be enlightened. Now he's writing all this in Ephesians. Now in today, many preachers would say, listen to my message again ten times and you may understand it. Or read this letter of mine. Hey fellas, read this letter of mine twenty times and you'll understand it. That is appealing to people's cleverness and intelligence. But Paul was saying, you can read it a hundred times and you won't understand it. And that's why Christians read Ephesians a hundred times and they don't understand. Because what they need is revelation. And what they lack is humility. So Paul says, I'm praying that you guys will get the spirit of revelation, that the Holy Spirit will fill you and give you revelation and teach you things which your cleverness and intelligence will never teach you. That was what Jesus emphasized. You know that verse, I will I say unto you, Peter and upon this rock I will build my church. Our dear Roman Catholic friends will say, Peter was the rock. He wasn't. Peter wasn't the Pope. He was not the rock. If he was the rock, it's a pretty unstable rock because four verses later Jesus called him Satan. Same chapter, Matthew 16, 23. What type of rock is that? Who five seconds later becomes the voice of the devil. Matthew 16 when again, get out of this habit of reading a verse out of context. Read the whole paragraph. Who do you say that I am? Jesus said Matthew 16, 15. You're the Christ, Peter said, the son of the living God. And Jesus said, you're blessed, Simon. Let me paraphrase his words. Your cleverness did not teach you that. You did not recognize me as the Christ, the son of God by your human cleverness. The cleverness of flesh and blood. If cleverness could have revealed me to you, those Pharisees who are ten times cleverer than you would have understood me, Peter. No, it's not cleverness. My father in heaven has given you revelation. And on this rock of revelation, I will build my church. That's the rock. A Christ revealed by the Holy Spirit. It's not Peter. It's not an intellectual understanding of Jesus. It's a Christ revealed by the Holy Spirit as God Almighty. As a man who walked on this earth just like me. 100% God. 100% man. And because He is God, I live without fear of tomorrow. I live without anxiety. I don't believe the devil can touch a hair on my body. Because Jesus Christ is God. I've seen who He is. If you've got anxiety, you need revelation. If you've got fear about the future, if you're afraid that you will die before God's time. You fear that you'll get some disease that'll kill you before God's time. You need revelation on Jesus Christ as Almighty. As the one who says I've got all authority in heaven and earth. If you are afraid that you can't overcome sin, you need revelation that Jesus became a man just like you. And was tempted. As I said yesterday when I understood that, two things happened. One, I had no more excuse for my sin. Because there was one man who walked on this earth with my flesh who never sinned in 33 years. So then it's possible for me. Secondly, I had faith. If one man could do it, so can I. If he had done it as God, then I could not have faith. You cannot have faith for overcoming sin. If Jesus Christ overcame sin as God. But when I saw, when I got revelation, and it's very interesting that God began to meet with me when I was willing to publicly humble myself before people and acknowledge who I was, a hypocrite. Do you remember the time when Jacob became Israel? There was one particular time when God met with Jacob. God had met with Jacob before that as well. He met with Jacob at Bethel. You must read these Old Testament stories, I tell you. And then he met with Jacob at another place called Peniel. And when he met with Jacob, he met with him when he was alone. God usually meets with us when we are alone. That's why people ask me, do you have meetings, tarrying meetings for the baptism of the Holy Spirit? I say no. I tell people to meet with God alone. In a public meeting there can be so much emotion that you don't know whether what you got was emotional or from the Holy Spirit. Whether it was a baptism of the soul or a baptism of the Holy Spirit. God filled me with the Spirit more than once, but it was when I was alone. I don't go for meetings. I don't need to go for meetings. Jesus is everywhere. You can meet with him alone. I'm not against people praying publicly. That's fine if you want to do that. But I prefer to meet with God alone. It says that in Genesis 32, verse 24, Jacob was left alone. That's when God met with him. And the other thing is, when he met with God alone, I encourage people in our church, get alone in your room. I know numerous people in our churches who are filled with the Holy Spirit just meeting with God alone in their room. And the second thing we see there is, God tested him. Okay, Jacob, are you happy? Let me go. Like he tests us. Your sins are forgiven. You're on your way to heaven, right? And you got a good testimony in your church. And you're even an elder brother in your church. What more do you want? Let me go. Jacob said no, nothing doing. I will not let you go unless you bless me. You know God will test you like that before he gives you power. You remember when he went to Emmaus after his resurrection with two disciples? It's a beautiful verse. They reached the house where these two disciples were living. And you know what it says in Luke 24? Jesus acted as though he wanted to go further. Is it right to act? Is it right to pretend? Jesus acted after his resurrection. There's nothing sinful about it if your motive is right. I mean, if I go to a home and I find that they're not particularly keen on giving me a meal, I'll act as though I'm not hungry. Because I see these guys are not so keen on offering me a meal. So, I'm okay, brother. I'm quite okay. I'm not telling a lie. I'm just following Jesus who acted. Because I don't want to embarrass them. Let me liberate you from thinking that sin is in the act. It's in the motive. His motive was, I want to see whether these guys are really keen on having me. That's the exact word in Luke 24. He acted as though he would go further. And let me read that. Luke 24. It says here in Luke 24 and verse 28. He acted as though he would go further. And the next verse says, they urged him. Now, urged is not they just invited him. Urged means they said, hey Lord, come on stay with us. He said, no, no, no, no. I'm going. No, you've got to stay. No, I'm going. It was pretty good acting. And they said, no, you've got to stay. Okay, if you insist. He wanted to be with them because he wanted to bless them. But he wanted to see whether they were eager. That's the way he tested Jacob. And Jacob, shall I go now? You've been blessed enough. You know, that's why many of you have missed the blessing of God for many years. Because he said, are you happy? You say, yeah Lord, I'm happy. I'm on my way to heaven. Okay, goodbye. He didn't want to go. He wanted to bless you further. But he saw that you were happy with what you got. You remember how Elijah tested Elisha. Stay here in Bethel. The Lord sent me. Stay here in Gilgal. The Lord sent me to Bethel. Elisha said nothing to him. They went to Bethel. All that is in 2nd Kings chapter 2. I hope you read the Old Testament. And Elijah told Elisha, stay here in Bethel. He said, no. I'm going to Jericho. Okay, I'm going to go to Jericho. He goes to Jericho. And he tells Elisha, stay here. He said, no, I'm going to coming. Imagine a prophet of God telling you not to come with me. And he says, no, I'm going to come with you. He was acting just like Jesus. He said, I'm going to come with you. You know, these are different stops along the way. Gilgal is the place where our sins are forgiven. The reproach of Egypt was rolled away in Gilgal. Bethel is the house of God where you become part of a church. And Jericho is a place where you experience some power. Manifestation of God. Walls pulled down. Are you happy with all that? He says, no. Then they go to Jordan. Jordan is a picture of death to self. That's the final place. You go through Gilgal where the reproach of Egypt is rolled away. You come to Bethel, the house of God. You come to Jericho where you experience some miracles from God. Answers to prayer. And then you come through the place of death to self. You know, that's beyond everything. And then Elijah says, well, what do you want? Why have you been following me so long? He said, what do you think I want? I don't want to be the elder of the group or director of the organization you started. No, I'm not interested in all that. I want a double portion of your Holy Spirit. Of the Spirit that's upon you. And you know what Elijah told him? He didn't say, oh, that's an easy thing. Just come here and I'll lay hands on you. That's what charismatic say today. Elijah said, you asked for a hard thing. Only he can give it to you. That's what the Lord tested Jacob with. Let me go, Genesis 3, verse 226. He says, I will not let you go unless you bless me. I want to tell you, my brothers and sisters, those who lay hold of God like that will be filled with the Holy Spirit. Continuously. Who will say, I will not let you go unless you bless me. Jacob had spent his life grabbing the birthright from his brother. Grabbing Laban's daughter and he wanted to grab one but he got two. And grabbing Laban's property. He was grabbing money, women, birthright. Finally, he let go all that. And said, God, I'm grabbing hold of you now. That is the place where God is waiting for. Some of you are still grabbing money, women, position, honor. God says, go ahead. You're satisfied with your Christian testimony, right? Everybody thinks you're a wonderful Christian. You go regularly to church. You're not an unbeliever. You're born again. But you're grabbing the wrong things. The day, when that day comes in your life, when you let go all these other things and say, Lord, none of these things have satisfied me. I want you. I will not let you go unless you bless me. That day God will meet with you. And one more thing. And that's the thing I was coming to. God asked him, what is your name? His name was Jacob. Jacob means deceiver. Many years earlier, Isaac, his father had asked him, what is your name? He said, my name is Esau. God asked him this time, tell me your name, as if God didn't know his name. Lord, I'm a deceiver. And the day when God hears you say that, Lord, I'm a deceiver. I've fooled people in my church that I'm a very spiritual man. Lord, my name is deceiver. That day God met with him and said, you will not be called deceiver anymore, verse 29, but you will be called a prince of God. Because now you have power. That's the day the Lord met with me. I said, Lord, I'll stand before the whole church and say I'm a hypocrite. I've been a deceiver. The exact same day, within six hours of that, God met with me and turned my life around. It's never been the same since. God loves honesty. When it says you've got to walk in the light, the first principle of walking in the light is being honest, not pretending. We all love to pretend that we are more spiritual than we really are. The world is full of pretenders, hypocrites, actors, those who act as though they are spiritual, talk high language, sing things which you don't mean. We like to be known as people with tremendous devotion to Jesus Christ, when we don't have it. The Lord says, I didn't come for you healthy people. I came for the sick. You're not among the sick, right? You fellows are all pretty spiritual. Go ahead. That's how the Pharisees missed the bus. And you'll miss it too. If you don't say like the publican, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. You know when God met with Isaiah? In Isaiah chapter 5, He was going around saying, Isaiah 5, Woe unto those who keep buying property. Isaiah 5.8 Woe unto those, verse 11, who are always getting drunk. Isaiah 5.18 Woe unto those who drag iniquity with telling lies. Verse 20, Woe unto those who call evil good. Verse 21, Woe unto those who are wise in their own eyes. But one day he saw the Lord. Next chapter, chapter 6. And he said, Woe unto me. I am an unclean man. And especially Lord, the way I've been using my tongue. This is Isaiah, the great prophet. I've been just finding fault with every Tom, Dick and Harry. And what I said is right. They are like that. These guys are covetous. These guys are drunkard. These guys are wise in their own eyes. But I never saw my own need. But now I see you. Woe is me. And as soon as he said that, an angel, it says in Isaiah 6.6, took the fire from heaven and touched his lips and set him on fire. This is the message throughout scripture. When a man comes before God and says, Lord, my name is deceiver. I know there are 101 things wrong with the people around me. But I see a lot more problems in me. It's like that old song says, it's not my brother, it's not my sister, it's me. Standing in the need of prayer. God will meet with you when you come to that place. It may take you 25 years to get there. Well, you've got to wait 25 years. You may never get there all your life because you're so proud of your reputation. Well, you'll miss it. You'll miss it all your life. But you can get there today. If you want to. That's up to you. Some of you young people, you've got a pretty good reputation, right? Among the other young people, there's a wonderful Christian. You fooled everybody. Nobody knows what's going on in your mind and in your thoughts. Well, I hope one day you will have the humility and the honesty to say you're a deceiver. That day God will meet with you. When will it come? I don't know. That's up to you. And that day you'll get revelation. And you'll wonder why it took you so long to acknowledge that you were a deceiver. I pray, Paul says to the Ephesians, the eyes of your heart may be enlightened. That you may know what is the hope of His calling. Do you know what God has called you for? To be totally full of light. No part dark. Those are the words Jesus used in Luke chapter 11. He said the lamp of the body is the eye. And that is your conscience. When your conscience is clear, your whole body will be full of light and with no part dark. Boy! Luke 11 36. No dark part in it. That means there is no area in my life where I'm trying to fool anybody. I have no desire to deceive any one of my fellow believers about anything about I don't want to pretend to be more spiritual than I really am. No dark part. And He said watch out. It's all here. Luke 11 35. That the light that is in you doesn't become darkness. You know how it becomes darkness? When you pretend. When you look down on others. Spiritual pride. Lord, I thank you that I'm not like other men. I fast. I pray. I thank God I'm not like other women. My clothing is modest. I veil my head. I thank God that I'm not like other women. That man goes to his house. That woman goes to her house damned. Damned by God without even knowing it. Even though he or she has got such a tremendous reputation in the church as a holy woman. Nobody knows how she lives at home. Nobody knows the thoughts going through her mind. Worldly. Carnal. But she's got a reputation. Because of the way she's dressed. He's got a reputation because he preaches. The Lord says, What is your name? Tell me honestly. Tell me honestly today. What is your name? Get up and tell the church what your name is. See, I don't want everybody to know. Okay. I didn't come for you healthy people. I came for the sick. That poor publican who won't even lift up his head to heaven and say, God be merciful to sinner. Goodbye you fellows. I'm going to meet with those people there. And the Pharisees wondered, why does your master sit with sinners? He came for the sick. Do you see why you missed it? A humble person does not have a problem acknowledging honestly his true condition. Don't we do that when we go to a doctor? How many of you when you go to see a doctor pretend that you're quite healthy? The doctor says, why have you come? Well, actually nothing wrong with me. I'm quite okay. You say, why in the world did you come here? Boy, we tell the doctor not only things we have but all the things we imagine that we have. I have this and that and the other. Why can't we be honest with God? I believe this is the single biggest lack among Christians. Some time ago, I preached four messages on uh 16 things the Lord has taught me in 50 years in my life. You can find those messages if you go to YouTube and just search for my name. 16 things I learned. I'll tell you the first two of those things. God loves me as he loved Jesus. That is the truth that changed my life. I am precious to God because there's no partiality with him. He loves the younger brother of Jesus, me, as much as he loved the elder brother, Jesus. That's what brought security into my life. And the second thing I learned was God loves honest people. I've told atheists when I witnessed to them. He's saying, okay, you guys don't believe in God. Would you mind praying a prayer like this? God, in case you exist there, I don't even believe you do. But in case you do, I don't mind you revealing yourself to me. I'd like to know. And if this book is your book, I don't believe it is. Maybe you can speak to me. I tell you God loves that prayer because it's about guys being honest. So many Christians are dishonest in their prayer. All to Jesus I surrender. Take my silver and my gold. Not a mite will I withhold. Wow. When you hear a hundred Christians singing that song in a church, you think, boy, these are the most spiritual people on earth. Not a mite will I withhold. Really? God says, just a pack of lies. Be honest. Be honest and say, Lord, I can't give you everything. I'm sorry. I'll withhold more than a mite from you. I'll withhold a few thousands for myself. I'll give you a little bit. Sing it like that. God loves honest people. I'll tell you. Be honest with God. Don't ever tell him a lie when you sing something. If you come to a verse in a song which you can't really mean, say, Lord, I'm sorry. I can't mean that. He'll love you for it. You'll be more blessed than all those other hypocrites singing that song in that church. I decided that years ago. I will not sing to God something which is not 100% true in my life or at least which I don't want to be. Then I'd say, Lord, I'm not yet here but I want this. That's okay. But he hates pretenders. I wish you would see. I wish you'd get revelation. I believe that many of us are missing the power of the Holy Spirit because when God says, what is your name? We don't tell him we're deceivers. The moment Jacob said, my name is a deceiver, the Lord said, you won't be called a deceiver anymore. Your name is going to be Israel because you have power with God now and power with men. People ask me, what is the mark of the fullness of the Holy Spirit? I personally believe it's power because Jesus said that. When the Holy Spirit comes upon you, Acts 1.8 you shall receive power. Power for what? That also he explained. Power to be my witness. Not to bear witness. There's a difference between bearing witness and being a witness. Bearing witness is like in court. I tell the court or the judge what I saw, what I heard. But being a witness is by my life as well. By my life and my words. And that is the mark of the Holy Spirit's fullness. When the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you shall receive power to be my witnesses. And I remember the days when I began to seek God for that because I didn't have that power. I didn't have power to manifest Christ in my life or in my thoughts or even in my words. So I began to seek God. If you thirst and you come to Him with faith, if you really have a longing, if you're willing to pay any price for the fullness of the Holy Spirit, I can tell anyone sitting here who's been praying for the baptism of the Holy Spirit for many years, I can tell you the Lord will meet with you pretty quickly. If you will say, Lord, I'm willing to pay any price. I'm willing to give up anything. I'm willing to love you more than I love my father, my mother, my wife, my children, my job, my house, my car, my money, my property, my ambitions for the future. I'm willing to go and live in the darkest corner of the earth. If that's where you will send me, I'm willing to go. But if you say, no, no, no, not all that, Lord. I want to live in a comfortable place. The Lord will say, I haven't come for you healthy people. I'm looking for the sick. You know, there are a lot of people who sing that song, Pass Me Not O Gracious Savior while on others thou art calling, do not pass me by. I tell you he will pass you by, no matter how many times you sing that song. You can sing it movingly with tears in your eyes, oh, don't pass me by. He will pass you by. It's not because you sing that song with emotion and tears that he meets with you. It's a question of whether you surrender everything. I'll tell you how I sing it. As far as I know, I seek to live my life constantly surrender to the Lord, not just once, but all the time. And I keep examining myself, Lord, is there anything I've taken back from the altar? We need to check that. I may have placed everything on the altar many years ago and I could be taking it back and I examine myself almost every day. So I sing it, Savior I know you'll not pass me by. You'll not pass me by. While on others you're calling, you won't pass me by. That's how I sing it. And you can sing it that way too. Not a pleading, oh, don't pass me by. Faith, you will not pass me by. Do you have that faith? You will not pass me by. Why should he pass me by when I have fulfilled the conditions, when I've laid everything on the altar? Why should the fire not fall? That's faith. We don't have to live in this pleading. How did Jesus pray? Oh, Father, I hope you will bless me. I can't imagine Jesus praying like that. And when I pray in Jesus' name. But if you haven't yielded everything, it's no use praying. Don't pass me by. He will pass you by. No matter how many times you sing that song, he'll pass you by. Many of you have sang that song many times. Oh, pass me not. While on others you are calling, don't pass me by. He's passed you by for 40 years. But if you surrender all, I remember reading of this man of God. I think he lived in the 1800s. His name was Dr. Walter Wilson. He was a medical doctor. And one day he went to listen to a preacher who preached on Romans 12-1. I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your true worship in the Spirit. And the preacher said, who is asking for your body? Not God the Father. He's in heaven. Not God the Son. He already has a body. You know who's asking for your body? The Holy Spirit. Your body is to be the temple not of the Father or the Son, the temple of the Holy Spirit. What's written in your Bible? Does it say your body is the temple of Christ or the temple of the Father? Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 6, verse 19. He said it's the Holy Spirit who wants your body. I beseech you, brethren, present your bodies to God the Holy Spirit. And this man, you know, you can hear a message like that and it doesn't touch you. But this brother was hungry, thirsty. He was willing to pay any price. And he said, Lord, this is the message I wanted. He went back home and lay down on the floor and he said, Lord, this body is yours. From the crown of my head to the sole of my feet. You know, it's like you sold a house and you let the other owner take it. And you don't walk in later on and say, hey, why did you paint this house black? It isn't your house, right? I thought you sold it to me. Do you ever go to a person who bought your house from you and ask him why he modified it? Why he broke down one room or added another room? Have you given yourself to God completely? Anyway, this is the way he prayed. He said, Lord, this body is yours from this moment onwards. You can blind these eyes if you like. You can take this body to Tibet as a missionary or Greenland. I have no choice on it because it's not my body anymore. You can put cancer into this body. You can do what you like with this body. I hand it over to you completely. God filled him with the Holy Spirit immediately. You know, when the last piece is put on the altar, the fire falls. And he went out from there. He was a medical doctor. He wasn't a preacher, full-time worker. He would go house visiting on house calls as a doctor and led thousands of people to Christ more than many preachers have because he had received power. He was anointed with the Holy Spirit. Yeah, you don't have to be a preacher. You can be a doctor and lead thousands to Christ more than preachers. But the secret of it was surrendering that body. And I believe that if there's a lack in this area, if you find a lack of power, it's because there's something in your life you have not given. I heard of another man who was a great preacher in Boston. A preacher in one of the biggest churches in Boston, again in the 19th century, just like this man too, the one I said earlier. And he was seeking for the, he had heard D.L. Moody preach about the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And he began to seek for the power of the Holy Spirit. And he surrendered everything. This was a great preacher. And he knew he was not filled with the Holy Spirit. He prayed. He surrendered and surrendered and surrendered. Nothing happened. He said, Lord, what is it I have not laid on the altar? And as he waited, I don't know how many days or weeks he prayed. And God said to him, you want power to be a great preacher like D.L. Moody. Surrender it. And then he realized there was something in his life he had not yielded. He wanted power to be a great preacher. You have not because you ask with wrong motives. Not to glorify God, but to get glory for yourself. And I believe that's one of the reasons why many people are not filled with the Holy Spirit. They're seeking glory for themselves. He yielded that also. And God filled him with the Holy Spirit. And God called him to quit his ministry. You're not to be in this church anymore. He went and joined William Booth, who was the founder of the Salvation Army across the Atlantic, the other side in England. And William Booth was a godly man. He knew how to help great preachers. Great, famous preacher come to join the Salvation Army. He said, your job for the next one year is going to be polishing all the boots of all the Salvation Army soldiers. So here's this great preacher, filled with the Holy Spirit, polishing boots. But from that point, God led him on to be one of the greatest men of God in the Salvation Army in the 19th century. But he humbles us first. He brings us down so that we don't destroy ourselves with a big head. To the humble, those who come like babes, he gives revelation. Revelation is our greatest need. Revelation on the hope of our calling, it says in Ephesians 1. I pray that you may see what God has called you for. I wish you would see this, my brothers. Do you really see what God has called you for? He's not called you just to live a comfortable life and drift along on the earth and accomplish nothing. He's called you to be a man of God. He's called you to be a woman of God. Every one of you. I don't care who you are. I don't care how many times you failed and messed up your life. Here is a lovely verse for all people who have messed up their lives. Acts 17 verse 30. Remember it all your life. Acts 17 verse 30. The times of ignorance God overlooks. Praise God. The blood of Jesus can blot out your past, but at least turn today and say, Lord, thank you that you will overlook the days of my ignorance. Now many of you, this is not the first time you are hearing this message. Many of you have heard me numerous times. But you still play the fool with God. You still take sin lightly. You still watch internet pornography. And you say, Oh Lord, I'd like to be filled with the spirit. With which spirit? A pornographic spirit? Sure. You can have as much as you like of it. The devil is just waiting. He may give you counterfeit experiences and counterfeit gifts. Be careful. There is a limit to God's patience with people. There is a verse in Genesis 6. Very serious verse. My Holy Spirit will not always strive with man. Have you read that verse? My Holy Spirit will not keep on forever striving with man. You read it in Genesis 6. There is going to be a limit. You try this patience long enough. Repent. The rest of that verse in Acts 17.30 says, God overlooks the times of your ignorance. But now He is commanding you to repent. To turn around and take life more seriously. And don't just keep coming for conferences and say, I got stirred. Oh that was a great message. Repent. Turn around. And today if you hear His voice, harden not your heart. Because you may not hear that voice so clearly in the coming days. You will go and listen to some preacher who will lull you to sleep with your sin. I pray that you will see the hope of your calling. That God has got a purpose in your life. To live like Jesus on this earth. To walk as Jesus walked. To be an overcomer. If you can hear His calling, I want you to overcome as I overcame. So that you can be my witness by your life on earth. I pray that your eyes will be opened to see what the riches, Ephesians 1.18 of His inheritance in you. This is not talking about our inheritance in heaven. You need revelation on the fact that God, you know one translation says, I want you to recognize that God became rich when He got you. Have you understood that? You say that's impossible. How can God become rich when He got me? I believe it. You don't believe it? Well according to your faith be it unto you. You live a miserable life. I live a very happy life because I believe God became rich when He got me. You say that's conceit. That's not conceit, that's faith. When you believe the Bible, that's not conceit, is it? Conceit is when you don't believe what God says. You are conceited when you act humble and say, oh no, no, no, God didn't become rich when He got a sinner like me. I say God became rich when He got me. Because the Bible says so. That's not some people confuse unbelief for humility. The Bible says, I pray that your eyes will be opened to see what an inheritance God got when He got you. If you don't believe that, read it in Ephesians 1 verse 18. It says, it's a glorious. The word glory is there. The riches of His glory when He got an inheritance in you. Now if you don't believe me, go and ask a billionaire who owns property all across the earth, who owns billions in banks here and there, and then he has, at last, after many years of marriage, after 20 years of marriage he gets a baby. And you ask him, where's your wealth? You say, in this little baby. You mean not in all those billions you own across the world in banks? No, no, no, that's nothing. I'd give all of that up for this little baby. Then you understand the heart of God. His wealth is not in this, the planets and the suns and the moons and stars and all the gold and silver that people seek after. It's in you. So many believers live with a low sense of their own worth, I'm good for nothing, I'm good for nothing. Well, you need to recognize how God loves you as a father. When He brought you, if you're really born again, of course if you're not born again, it's not true, but if you surrendered your life to Christ, in all sincerity, even if you're not filled with the Holy Spirit, you gave your life to Christ because He loved you and gave Himself for you and you love Him, give yourself back to Him. God says, my wealth is in you my son, my daughter. Don't ever again from today onwards have a low estimation of yourself. I'm a child of God. I'm a younger brother of Jesus. I remember when somebody told me, Brother Zach, your wife is like an angel. I said, oh no, she's a daughter of God. Don't reduce her to the level of an angel. Some people think it's an honor to be called an angel. Oh no. Don't reduce me to that level. I'm a younger brother of Jesus. A younger sister of Jesus. Do you know the hope of your calling? Do you know the inheritance He has? Do you know that He has an inheritance in you as a child of God that He does not have in the angels? And the third thing, think about that in the next session, the greatness of His power which He manifested when He raised Jesus from the dead. The greatest manifestation of God's power was not when He said, let there be heavens and earth in Genesis 1-1. No. On the millions and billions of stars and planets came, that's nothing compared to the power that was manifested when He raised Jesus from the dead. And that power we can have. Paul says, you won't understand this by reading Ephesians 20 times. You need the spirit of revelation. And God gives revelation to the humble who will come in humility and say, Lord, open my blind eyes to that which I don't understand. My problem is I've been trying to understand the Bible with my cleverness. I want to come to you with humility. And I believe God will meet with you. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, help us to understand that which we know so little. Help us to be honest, to acknowledge the handicap of our cleverness and intelligence that's blinded us to spiritual truth for so many years. Make us like little babes that we might not miss out on what you have for us. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.