This sermon emphasizes the importance of not rejoicing in our own accomplishments or comparing ourselves to others, but rather rejoicing in what God has done for us. It highlights the dangers of pride, boasting in our own works, and the need for humility to receive God's grace for victory over sin. The message stresses the significance of being like the thief on the cross who acknowledged his unworthiness and the need to focus on God's work in our lives rather than our own achievements.

Last Sunday we were looking at this verse in Luke's gospel chapter 10 and I thought we could look at it a little more. Luke's gospel chapter 10. We read here that this 70 verse 17 Luke 10 17 the 70 disciples returned with joy saying Lord even the demons are subject to us in your name. Notice there what they rejoiced in. They rejoiced in something that they had done. They had done it in the name of Jesus so there was a religious angle to it but the point there was demons are subject to us and I think in that sentence the emphasis was on us. In your name agreed but we did that and Jesus said well that's a small thing I mean I've even seen the head of the demons Satan falling as lightning and then he gave them what I believe is a command. Verse 20 do not rejoice in this that evil spirits are subject to you. You know it's very rare to find people who are in the ministry of healing or miracles or casting out demons remaining ordinary people look around and see all the so called great healers miracle workers it's almost impossible to meet them they've become so important so big I mean Jesus was the one miracle worker you could meet very easily Peter and Paul were like that but today's healers and miracle workers they have bodyguards around them secretaries and you can never contact them on a phone you can never email them you cannot get in touch with them at all now those of us who are small and unknown may not realize that temptation but when God has done something through you it's most people not everybody most people tend to rejoice in that in what I did they would not rejoice as much if demons were cast out by somebody else they may not even talk about it but when we did it we can boast about it it need not be casting out demons could be anything you can say I prayed and God helped me to cook a good meal could be that or preach a sermon or anything where we put in Jesus name there you know when we read words like this we really need to let God's word be like a mirror where we see ourselves God's word is meant to be like a mirror if you see yourself continuously in this word and like James chapter 1 he says don't forget what you saw it'll go very well with you we can partake of God's glory more and more and more and more but if I see myself in the mirror and I forget about it or I don't take it seriously then I will remain in the same level forever so here is a very clear command we can say don't rejoice in what you have done for God or what you can do for God or the abilities and gifts that you have which God has given you don't rejoice in those the exercise of those things but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven now who did that none of us can rejoice that our names are recorded in heaven because why because they were not written on the basis of your casting out demons and most important of all they were written before you were even born before you did anything the Bible says our names were written in the book of life before the worlds were created what can I glory about in that and Jesus said if you want to glory in something I mean it's good to glory in something but glory in the fact that God did something for you and not that you have done something for God this is a very important thing there are many things we do for God we serve others we pray we sacrifice we can and in the back of our mind we can keep a record of all these things and the carnal person does the spiritual person is not taken up with what he has done he's taken up with what God has done that's the point of this and that's what I read to you the other day in the message Bible the last part of verse 20 not what you do for God but what God does for you that is the agenda for rejoicing you know what an agenda is an agenda is when people have a committee meeting in any big corporation or anywhere they have a committee meeting before the committee meeting they send out an agenda this is what the things we're going to talk about that's what agenda means and he says if you want to make a list of things a number of things in this agenda that you want to rejoice over let not even one of those items in the agenda be what you did for God every one of those items in the agenda must be what God did for you but is it like that we all have to admit that we have not received as much grace from God as we should have I mean the clearest proof of that is when you don't get victory over a particularly sinful habit for example you don't get victory over anger and you're still losing your temper and getting upset if you take it lightly you'll be like that even after 50 years I'll tell you that right now you'll never change many of us have had sicknesses that we got healed off because we took it seriously some of our children had sicknesses when they were small we took it seriously and we did something about it and those children are healthy today imagine if you didn't take sickness seriously I think all of us have got little children and little babies tend to be sick very soon can you imagine if all of us had neglected our little babies from childhood and never given them any medicine never treated them I think we'd have very few children in the church today we'd have lost most of them why are our children alive today because we took those little coughs and colds and diarrheas and all seriously we don't take anger so seriously no wonder it still continues we don't take lusting in the eyes seriously we don't take internet pornography seriously we don't take telling little lies I don't think any of us tell big lies but little lies exaggerations giving people a wrong impression we don't take it seriously then we continue to do that we'll continue to do it forever and we can think other people do it we don't see ourselves doing it the same thing all these things are evidence of the fact that we have not received grace as we should why do I say that because let's turn to our favorite verse Romans 6 14 it's an absolute statement sin shall not be master over you for you are not under law but under grace that means in very simple words how do I find out whether I am under law or under grace just from that one sentence even a child can answer that if sin rules over me I'm under law I may think oh yeah I'm not under law I finished all this legalism many people think freedom from legalism is now we don't have follow all these little little rules how clever the devil is to make us think we have become free from legalism because we're not so sticky about certain rules that's exactly what he wants you to think because it's not true oh we can wear gold on our body now we're not legalistic I wish it were so easy if the way to get people out of being under the law was giving them to wear gold I say to God I would give a necklace to everybody to get them free from law if that was the way to get them out of it I wish it were so easy it isn't we think we are free from legalism because we can have a television in our home boy if he could get people under grace through giving him a television I say before the Lord I'd give a television to everybody don't let the devil fool you that you're free from legalism because you don't follow any rules on these things you're free from legalism when you don't get angry and you don't lust with your eyes when you overcome sin that's that's this verse where did you get those other ideas from from the devil he wants you to believe that saying once upon a time we were legalistic now we're not now we are more free Jesus said whoever commits sin is the slave of sin but if the Son of God shall make you free you shall be free indeed you shall know the truth the truth shall set you free there's only one freedom that Jesus ever spoke about only one it was not freedom from poverty like a lot of people talk today it was freedom from sin the thing which most people don't talk about it is freedom from the love of money it was freedom from seeking the honor of men it was freedom from seeking to please men in order to please God this freedom from doing things to other people that we don't want other people to do to us that's freedom not freedom to you know dress as we like and wear colored clothes and wear gold and have bigger houses and better cars and that's how they preach in the prosperity gospel it's one of the greatest deceptions in the last 50 years that the devil has put upon Christendom that this is freedom freedom to dance down the aisle in a pulpit in a church they call that freedom there are drunkards who do that in bars that's not freedom we have not got grace if we are sinning and the Bible says in 2nd Corinthians in chapter 12 and verse 9 Jesus said to Paul and that's applies to all of us my grace is sufficient for you that means it is enough for whatever we have to tackle you have a trial a problem grace is sufficient to make you overcome that in other words if I send my little boy to the shop to buy something I'll give him money according to the cost of the item if it costs ten rupees I give him ten rupees if it costs a hundred rupees I don't give him ten rupees I give him a hundred rupees the money I give you is sufficient for what I ask you to buy my son that's the meaning of this verse the Lord saying have I told you to live according to a certain standard my grace is sufficient for that throughout the ages the devil has always said to man God's standards are too high you know the number of people who have told me all brothers act we can't join your church your standards are too high it's like saying I won't go to that hospital it's too clean I'd like to go to a dirty hospital crazy that's that's how people think the devil has fooled man deceived man by saying God's standards are so high don't even try to keep them that's impossible I remember once I was preaching in a church and there were people there from a Pentecostal background who thought the Pentecostals were backslidden and who had left those Pentecostal churches to come out to what they thought was New Testament assemblies I think they even called that church a New Testament assembly and I spoke there on the subject of all seek their own not the things that are Christ Jesus you know what Paul said about Timothy and Philippians too that he was the only one who didn't seek his own and I said this is the essence of Christianity that when Jesus comes into our life we stop seeking our own we seek the things of Christ the kingdom of God first and there was the wife of this elder who came to me after that and said well is there anybody in the world who doesn't seek their own they all seek their own there's nobody I mean we don't believe in a Christianity that doesn't seek its own yep this was an Indian person who had gone to a foreign country to make money naturally they have to say that so if you start with that from the beginning that assumption of course I'll never I'll spend all my life of course I'll be seeking my own all my life then we have to say that God has commanded us to do something impossible but there were people like Paul and Timothy in the first century who did not seek their own the Holy Spirit says that and the moment you say that's impossible it will be impossible now we have to remember my grace is sufficient and God tells us to do something to live at a certain standard his grace is sufficient he gives us enough money to buy what he sends us to the market to buy in coupled with that is that other well-known verse in 1 Corinthians 10 verse 13 God was faithful who will never allow you to be tempted or tested or tried above your ability that means if he gives you a test or a trial allows you to face the temptation God sees can he bear it is he strong enough okay Satan you can tempt him I can think of different temptations that have come to my life in recent years and I have a feeling that the devil would have gone to God and say can I tempt Zach like that God says no next year can I tempt him no he's not ready yet four five six seven eight years no no you can't do it then one year God says okay Satan you can test him now isn't that a great honor that God is saying now you can test it it's like saying can I can I give the student a 10 standard paper no no no not yet he's in the first standard right now next year can I give him a 10 standard paper no not yet three four years can I give him a 10 standard paper no not yet but one day the principal says now you can give him the 10 standard paper isn't that a credit to that student that's how it is and God allows some massive test to come into my life we must see that the devil God stop the devil from sending it into our life for so many years because he knew we couldn't handle it and one day when he said okay that proves his confidence in us he will not allow us to be tested not above our ability but if we fail there it's because we didn't get grace now I come to the reason why we didn't get grace only one reason 1 Peter 5 verse 5 God gives his grace only to the humble he gives his grace only to the humble 1 Peter 5 verse 5 you see the connection now between what I've been saying all this time with the verse we started out with do not rejoice in what you do for God because that's what makes you proud then you won't get grace then you'll be defeated by sin you see how it all links together now but rejoice in what God has done for you you can't glory in that that'll keep you humble it keeps you humble you get grace and when you get grace you get victory over sin that's why that is so important that we never rejoice in what we have done for God there's a expression that often comes to my mind in Acts of the Apostles chapter 7 this is Stephen talking about the wanderings of the children of Israel in the wilderness and you know they made a golden calf and worshipped it and it says here in Acts chapter 7 verse 41 at that time they made a calf and brought a sacrifice to the idol and see what it says they rejoiced in the works of their hands or as the message Bible says they congratulated themselves on the wonderful religious program that they had put together great they congratulated themselves and each other on the wonderful sing-song session and religious program that they had put together they rejoiced in the works of their hands this is the essence of Babylon for so many years many Protestant churches preached the Roman Catholic Church is Babylon get out of it uh-huh I wish it were so easy to get out of Babylon just by leaving the Roman Catholic Church no no no no no Babylon is a spirit false Christianity it's found in every denomination including ours you think there's nobody with the spirit of Babylon in our churches I see it very clearly in some people it's not out there in some other church there it's a spirit where you rejoice in the work of your hands I'll show it to you from Daniel Daniel chapter 4 we read about the beginning of this empire of the physical Empire of Babylon which name is attributed to false Christianity in Revelation chapter 17 you want to go back to the original Babylon it is the tower of Babel where people got together and said we are going to build something that'll reach heaven that's in Genesis chapter 11 but here you see the same thing here in general Daniel 4 where Nebuchadnezzar verse 28 Daniel 4 verse 28 all this happened to Nebuchadnezzar the king 12 months later he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon Babylon was a fantastic city I don't know if there's anything like that in the world today they had a walls around it I believe chariot driven by four horses could go on those walls those walls were so thick they had hanging gardens which were considered one of the wolf seven wonders of the world in those days and Nebuchadnezzar was the man who built it using a lot of slave labor and listen to what he says the king reflected looked at Babylon that he had built walking on the roof of the palace and said isn't this Babylon the great exactly the same expression used in Revelation 17 Babylon the great isn't this Babylon the great which I myself have built by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty from man through man's power to man's glory rejoicing in the work of our hands it could be anything that we rejoice in I cast out a demon in Jesus name Jesus said don't rejoice that's Babylon but aren't we supposed to do it sure we're supposed to do it and just give the glory to God and forget it I did this and I did that you know we may not say it because we would lose our reputation for humility if he said it openly and we all love our reputation for humility right is anybody here who doesn't want a reputation for humility we all wanted I mean if you would like to be known as a proud man or a proud woman we all like I mean if you heard behind your back somebody say oh that's a humble sister boy that's made your day that's made your whole life it means so much to you that people think you're such a humble person you're not like one of those proud arrogant Christians you're a humble person that's why you don't get grace because you care so much that people should think you're humble and you do things to preserve that reputation that Babylon that you have built over so many years you want to build preserve it you're so careful that the structure never collapses this reputation for your humility garbage tear it down and throw it away if you're not getting victory over sin you're not humble no matter how many people think you are if you're defeated by sin God doesn't think you're humble let the whole world call you humble it doesn't mean a thing isn't this what I have done isn't this what I have planned this religious program that I have planned this demon that I cast out this message that I preach there's all spiritual things we can glory in this church I belong to this wonderful family I brought up where all my children are born again what is there that we don't have opportunity to glory in the work of my hands people write books on it how they brought up their family and how they did this and how to do this and how to do that Jesus had don't rejoice rejoice in what God has done for you when you rejoice in what God has done for you you cannot boast boasting let me explain boasting compare boasting with humility and one of the best examples I can find is this supposing a boy gets 10% in mathematics can he boast yes or no if you heard me before you know the answer I got to ask this to a new congregation he can boast if everybody else in his class got less than him he can come home rejoicing mommy I came first in the class how much you get son 10 out of a hundred really you can boast what is it that makes him boast not his marks comparison 50 other students in the class got 7 and 5 and 3 and 2 I got 10 out of a hundred now you take the same boy and the next day you put him in another class a top-notch school where everybody gets over 98% what happens to this proud boy he suddenly becomes humble how did he become humble all of a sudden in one day comparison humility pride comes through comparison humility comes through comparison why don't you get grace because you're proud why are you proud because you compare yourself with other people in the church who are not as spiritual as you are who are not as zealous as you are for the Lord who are not as hard-working as you are who don't cast out demons like you do who are not sacrificial as you are who are not as humble as you are so you don't get grace you live on your reputation your rotten reputation for humility defeated by sin what's yours I don't want that long long ago I said Lord I'm not interested in anybody thinking I'm a humble man I'm not even interested in anybody thinking I'm a very gentle man I don't care whether they think I'm harsh and hard and anything call me the devil if you like I want to know Almighty God my father do you think I'm humble if you think I'm humble give me victory over sin let the rest of the world think whatever they like about me let the rest of the church think whatever they like about me that's what brought me to victory when I finished bothering about my reputation before people I want to tell you my brothers and sisters the thing that hinders many many a person from receiving grace is pride and that pride comes through comparison inwardly unconsciously silently you are comparing yourself with other Christians Lord I thank you that I'm not like other men is that something Jesus spoke about you remember that story the man who got up in the temple and said Lord I thank you I'm not like other men Luke chapter 18 I thank you that I'm a humble brother not proud like these other fellows I don't go after money like these other fellows I earned my own living I brought up my children well my children are doing well in they are obedient many things like that I thank God in this I thank God he say we thank God the Pharisee also said I thank God but he was proud in what he had done I pray and I fast and I go to the meetings and I do this and I know the Bible and I know he just went home rejected by God and that was that other sinner there in the corner who didn't even lift up his head to heaven Lord he said I've got nothing to boast about I'm just a sinner Jesus said that man went home justified justified means God did something for him he went home a happy man accepted by God it didn't matter to him that there were 10,000 Pharisees in that temple who despised him so what God had accepted him what does it matter if 10,000 people despise you of God's acceptance do not rejoice in the work of your hands he says this isn't this Babylon that I have built and as soon as the word was in the king's mouth Daniel 431 the voice from heaven said sovereignty your kingdom has been taken away from you you will now be driven to eat grass like the cattle verse 32 and it says he began to eat grass verse 33 like cattle his feathers his hair grew like eagles feathers his nails like birds claws verse 33 he became like an animal now the spiritual meaning I get from that is when you begin to glory in what you have done you become an animal in God's eyes that's it you are an animal you know like the lion the king of the forest he says who can come before me you rabbits and you deer you're scared of me that's what it means to be an animal Jesus God says you become like an animal when you're like that I created you to be in my image and if you want to know what God's image is look at Jesus Christ I created you to be like Jesus Christ look what you've ended up like an animal glorying in the work of your hands glorying in what you have done and glorying that you're the king of the jungle superior to all the other animals we need to repent we need to give glory to God for every single thing has it gone well in your business give the glory to God have you passed in your examinations accumulated a number of degrees give the glory to God are you doing well in your school or college give the glory to God let's teach our children to give the glory to God always I mean if you're coming last in the class and you're humble that doesn't mean anything but if you're doing pretty well in some area and then you're humble boy that means you're doing something I know people who were humble once upon a time when they had nothing to say about their accomplishments but the test of humility is after you've cast out a demon Lord because our demons in your name the Lord says don't rejoice in this your agenda for rejoicing should not be what you have done but what God does for you see in the New Testament 1 Corinthians in chapter 1 1 Corinthians chapter 1 Paul says consider verse 26 1 Corinthians 1 20 consider your calling brethren there are not many wise according to the flesh not many mighty or noble in your midst Paul says when I look at you Corinthians I don't see many of the brightest and the best people in society in your church I don't see many influential people sitting around in your church it's a message Bible I don't see many people from high society families in your church why is that why are there so many people whom Indians called Dalits and scheduled cars and very dark-skinned people who are born again and love the Lord and so many of our churches I'll tell you here isn't it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that culture overlooks and exploits and abuses God chose those nobody's to expose the hollow pretensions of these somebody's that makes it quite clear that none of you can go by with blowing your own trumpet before God everything that we have right thinking right living a clean slate a fresh start everything comes from God by way of Jesus Christ that's why we have a saying that if you're gonna blow a trumpet blow it for God I like that that's what it means they're gonna blow a trumpet brother sister blow it for God and say God did this I can't no man will be able to boast it says in verse 29 God does everything so that no man will be able to boast I mean the fellas boasting here on earth but I'll tell you something when we stand before the Lord in the final day you will see not one person will be able to boast not even the Apostle Paul who was a million times more useful to God than any of us here today no one will be able to boast all this boasting is here on earth people with a Babylonian spirit who are always comparing themselves with others because they are rejoicing in what they think they have accomplished you know why you rejoice that you you in your humility or your goodness or kindness or love or anything you rejoice because you think you produced it if I made a cake and I distributed it here and everybody said boy what a wonderful cake that is I'd feel a struggle with pride I'd have to battle it but if somebody else brought a cake and passed it round and everybody says what a wonderful cake I'm sitting here I'm not even tempted I mean the other day we had a cake passed round and if somebody said that is a wonderful cake do you get tempted no because you never made it but supposing you had made it oh then you may have had a struggle with pride it's because you have produced your humility you have produced your love that you're pretty proud of it that is the clearest proof God never produced it at all or you're taking credit for something God produced somebody else made the cake and you act as though you you baked it yourself oh that's worse no no one will be able to boast before God we'll see that in eternity notice in Ephesians chapter 2 Ephesians chapter 2 it says verse 8 by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves is the gift of God why is it not a result of works everybody knows in the Christian faith salvation is not a works you ask them why they don't know the rest of that verse the rest of the verses so that nobody should boast that's the reason there's a reason why God has made salvation not a works so that nobody can boast nobody can say well I was a pretty good chap and I never did this and no I think that's why the last person whom Jesus saved on earth was a thief and a murderer who was so bad that the Romans said there's only one way we can deal with this fellow kill him get rid of such people from the face of the earth and the last minute Jesus saves him and takes him to paradise that's the last person Jesus saved when he was on earth before he died he was such a wicked criminal where what did he have to boast about when he was hanging there everybody knew he was a criminal hey you may have something to boast that you're such a you're from a good family and you've been brought up in a good way and you've never done some horrible things that other people have done aren't you pretty proud of those things and you were not brought up in a bad way and all that what was that fellow hanging on the cross had to boast he was a million times worse than you but I'll tell you this that man is enjoying himself today he's got nothing to boast and I think in all eternity if people like him will let's say I've got nothing to say I never cast out a demon I never even read the Bible that's sheer grace but do you know brothers and sisters actually you and I are like that our salvation is like that we think we have done something for God and God must be very happy with us because we do this or we do that come to the place of the thief on the cross think how he's in heaven today I mean he's in heaven today and imagine people going around giving their testimonies and they ask him what's your testimony I did nothing brother I was just a criminal from day one and you mean right up to your death you did nothing absolutely right till my death I did nothing except sin and you're here that's right I'm here well they say God must be a wonderful God he certainly is that man will say what about the rest of us I like to think about people like this and I say Lord if I think that I am one atom better than that thief on the cross I need to work out my salvation I really need to work on my salvation and it's because we think we are better that we don't get victory over sin see the connection we think we are better we not only are better than that thief on the cross we are better than a lot of other people sitting around us in CFC mm-hmm okay was no wonder you're so defeated no wonder you get discouraged so often no wonder you get depressed so often why is it a man who gets grace from God will never be depressed or discouraged I believe that I believe it because I've experienced it for many many years now I'm not boasting I'm just telling you what God has done because I say Lord I will refuse to compare myself with other people John Wesley was one of the greatest men of God as I understand in the history of the church fantastically disciplined man who he was converted very late in life I think when he was 35 or something and he lived up to 88 or something like that there was another great man of God in John Wesley's time called George Whitfield these two were the greatest open-air evangelists in the 1700s both in England both of them brought hundreds and probably thousands to Christ preaching out in the open air but they had completely different view on whether a person could be lost after he was saved once on that one doctrine George Whitfield said a person is saved he's saved forever John Wesley said no you have to endure till the end in order to be saved and so they couldn't work together these were called the Calvinists George John with George Whitfield and the Armenians John Wesley's group and they had their own following George Whitfield died very early but these men had a great respect for each other's the followers usually have problems and George Whitfield said when I die I want John Wesley to conduct my funeral none of you fellows he tells his followers of course John Wesley was honored so at George Whitfield's funeral John Wesley goes and conducts the funeral and one of John Wesley's followers was not very happy that you go and conduct the funeral of this fellow whose doctrine is all wrong comes to John Wesley and us and well brother John do you think you'll see George Whitfield in heaven John Wesley said no he would be so near the throne and I'll be so far behind that I may not get to see him that is the mark of a man of God here's a person whose doctrine is different but John Wesley knew that in the day of judgment God is not going to give us a question paper on doctrine to decide what our reward is because that would be a test of our head he's gonna see what type of people we were in our heart whether we denied ourselves whether we did good to others that's why we're gonna get many surprises in heaven why Jesus said many who are lost will be first and many who are first will be last many who people think you're great those are great guys you may find them lost in heaven because they compared themselves with others there are things they boasted about as I said whenever we compare ourselves we elevate ourselves we look at people who are better than us we get discouraged or we get jealous and like Job's friends we get a little happy when they get sick or lose their property do you ever get happy when somebody more spiritual than you get some problem have you ever found that when somebody who is more spiritual than you faces a problem maybe in his family maybe financially maybe sickness do you find in your heart a little secret delight and you want to tell other people about it only for prayer only for prayer humbugs why is that those are Job's comforters who are a little happy when they heard that Job was sick and he had lost his children he had lost his business as well they pretended to cry with him but they were happy you see there's a lot of this because we don't like somebody to be better than us and then there are other people we look around you know there are some people are so obviously miles ahead of us spiritually that we know we cannot even compete with them and those the people we feel a bit jealous about but then there are other people who are not so many miles ahead of us spiritually those are the ones we compare ourselves with don't glory in the fact that you readily acknowledge that you're not as spiritual as some very godly man I mean if I say I'm not as spiritual as George Muller you think I'm a humble man because of that no George Muller is miles ahead of me there's a question of comparing myself with him no there are people miles ahead of you and that doesn't test your humility that you think that person is more spiritual than you the test is with those who are around your own level your husband and wife perhaps those are the ones and other people around your own level in the church those are the ones you want to exalt yourself over and that's what Jesus said in the story of the laborers in the vineyard you know in Matthew chapter 20 Jesus spoke this story about the people who came at the 11th hour to work work those days was for 12 hours they started six o'clock in the morning and worked till six o'clock in the evening there were people who came at 6 at 9 at 12 at 3 and then there were some people who came at 5 o'clock in the evening just to work for one hour and they got the same reward as the people who work for 12 hours looks a bit unjust but the master said listen you fellows who started 6 o'clock in the morning didn't I agree with you for how much I should give you I'm giving you that why are you upset that I gave this fellow also a little extra their problem was this Matthew 20 verse 12 the middle of this little they see this little expression in the middle you have made them equal to us Lord how can you make somebody equal to me who's been in the church for 30 years this guy just came last year you made him equal to me you know whenever you get that spirit in you that you feel how can that person be equal to me you know you're rejoicing in the work of your hands God has made him equal I rejoice that people are born again last week are equal with me when he come before God they have to come in the name of Jesus I come in the name of Jesus they are cleansed by the blood of Jesus I'm cleansed by the blood of Jesus they're equal with me an acceptance before God that's the thing they're equal Jesus spoke about this in order to deliver us from you know a number of his parables were like this for the Pharisee and the public and Lord I thank you you remember that others which is not a parable where people you know Jesus spoke about two groups of people at the judgment seat one is in Matthew 7 verse 22 where he speaks about people who come at the judgment seat and say oh Lord we did miracles and we cast out demons and we did this and we did that and that's a small list and there could be many other things we did this and we did that and all the things that you got in the back of your head will all come out in that day I did this and I did that and I did the other thing and the Lord said get away from me I don't know any of you now there's another group of people in Matthew 25 who are also standing at the judgment seat of God and the Lord tells them in verse 34 all you people who are blessed by my father come and inherit the kingdom prepared for you because I was hungry and you gave me they are not saying what they did Jesus is saying what they did I tell you that's much better Jesus saying hey you're the fellow who gave me something to eat you're the fellow who came and visited me when I'm sick and what did the righteous say verse 37 when did we do that you see the difference between to these two groups essentially one group says Lord don't you remember I did this I did this I did this I did this I did this and the other group says I don't even remember that did I actually do that did I actually help that person Lord says you you had some of those poor people really Lord I don't even remember it those are the righteous because they never spent their earthly life keeping a record of all that they did that when they stand at the judgment seat they don't even remember what they did Lord when was that did I really do that and I've always rejoiced to see this in Matthew 7 somebody says Lord I healed the sick and the Lord says go to hell and here one fellow says I visited the sick uh-huh come to heaven I really like that somebody just visited the sick and brought some oranges or something like that he goes to heaven the other fellow lay hands on the sick and heal him he goes to hell is that unrighteous it's not the guy who brought the oranges doesn't even remember whom he gave it to and when he brought it this guy who healed the sick he remembers it do you remember all the good that you have done wrong one Corinthians 13 says love does not keep an account of things or love is a very poor mathematician doesn't keep any total of what all it did you know husbands who keep a record of all the good they've done to their wives and all the record of all the bad the wife has done and vice versa these are not Christians not at all not at all pray that God will help you to forget the good you have done that's something I pray Lord help me to forget soon as possible forgetting things that are behind and to forget all the bad that other people have done to me all the good that I have done all the bad that other people have done he'll get grace why did Jesus say don't be called rabbi father master reverend pastor because all those things elevate you above others you're a brother I'm a pastor you're an ordinary person I'm a reverend so-and-so and one fellow is a reverend another fellow gets a right reverend and I don't know the wrong reverend I don't know what left reverend light on there so many of these things this Christendom has drifted so far away from teaching of Jesus anything that you do or say that makes you lift yourself up above others anything that you say in a testimony to encourage people to have faith in God excellent but to show you are better God is using you if that's the motive and God sees that within the next week you'll be defeated by some sin I know in past years whenever I've tripped up somewhere and in my thoughts somewhere I slipped up and I say Lord I don't ask why I know why I didn't get grace I say Lord show me where I was proud and the Lord shows me somewhere down the last one week I compared myself with somebody or I thought if something I'd done that's why this comes and I yes it just made me so alert to this whole thing let your agenda for rejoicing be what God has done not what you have done he has chosen me before the foundation of the world he wrote my name in the Book of Life before I was born those things I want to rejoice in not that God did something through me or has given me a gift nothing not even that I'm better than people in that church down there no I'm not better than anybody no man should boast brothers and sisters let's pursue this with a zeal to go down this way of brokenness and humility and becoming nobody's before God finish with all these somebody's it's all become nobody's and see what a revival will come when God pours out his grace on such people are you praying for victory over sin try this way let's pray let your agenda for rejoicing be what God has done for you always and never what you have done for God not your gifts but God's goodness Heavenly Father give us grace help us to humble ourselves I know you give grace to anyone who humbles themselves it's no use are praying for grace if we are proud and compare ourselves with others give us grace Lord we pray to humble ourselves help us to humble ourselves under your mighty hand to see that we're nothing what have we got that we did not receive every single thing we have from physical to spiritual is of your free gift we acknowledge it Lord we give you glory in Jesus name