This sermon emphasizes the reasons Jesus came to earth, highlighting the importance of the Holy Spirit's role in convicting, empowering, and guiding believers. It discusses the three areas the Holy Spirit convicts us of: the sin of not depending on Jesus, the righteousness we have in Christ, and the defeat of the devil on the cross. The message encourages believers to live in victory, free from fear and empowered by the Holy Spirit to be a testimony to the devil, demonstrating God's wisdom through their lives.

There are many reasons why Jesus came to earth. Most of us know that he came to die for our sins, but he also said that he came to send fire on this earth. And he said he had a baptism to go through, not the baptism he took in the river Jordan, but a baptism of suffering on the cross. He called it an immersion. Baptism means an immersion. And he said he had to go through an immersion, and only then the fire would fall. So Calvary had to precede Pentecost. And when we look at Calvary, and if you receive only the forgiveness of sins, you missed a major part of what Christ came for. I look at our heart like a cup. You know, there's a verse in the Psalms which says, what shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits towards me? I shall lift up the cup of salvation. I shall lift up my cup, and it's filthy with sin, with years and years of sin. So I need the blood of Christ first. But once the blood of Christ has cleansed me, if I'm delighted that my cup is clean now, it's not dirty anymore, and I stay like that with a clean cup till the end of my life, maybe clean, but I will never be a blessing to anybody else. There's nothing I have to give in that cup to other people. That's why the whole purpose of Christ coming and dying was not just to clean the cup, but that that cup might be filled. Turn with me to John chapter 7. We read in John chapter 7 and verse 39, when he spoke about rivers of living water in verse 38, flowing from our innermost being, that's that cup inside which has been cleaned, cleansed by the blood of Christ. From there, Jesus wanted to fill that with the Holy Spirit, so that rivers of living water will flow out to others. You see, a cup can only satisfy your own need, and if you're satisfied with just that small measure of fullness that gives you peace and gives you joy, it's a very selfish way to live. And Jesus didn't come to earth just to live a life of peace and joy and show how peaceful his own life was. His life was an overflowing life, but wherever he went, people got living water from him. That's how our life is supposed to be, every single one of us, and that's what rivers of living water means. And it says, this he spoke of the Holy Spirit, whom those who believed in him were still to receive, but the Spirit was not given. I mean, he was given in Old Testament times, but only upon people, not inside them. Every person filled with the Holy Spirit, anointed with the Holy Spirit, all the way up to John the Baptist, they were filled on the outside, anointed on the outside. Of course, it's like pouring water on a glass which has got a lid on it. Before it doesn't go inside the glass, it just flows around and blesses millions. But that lid on top of our spirit is called a veil in the Old Testament, that veil blocked off that third part of the tabernacle, and the third part of man is our spirit. It was blocked off and the spirit could not penetrate that because of what the Bible says in Hebrews 10, 20, of flesh. When Jesus died, that veil was rent and he opened the way for the Holy Spirit, not only for us to go into God's presence, that's one part of the truth. The other part of the truth is the veil was rent so the Holy Spirit could invade our spirit and fill us from within. And that's what it means here that the spirit could not be given in that way to dwell within man because in the previous verse, verse 38, he's talking about the innermost being. The spirit was not given to dwell in man's innermost being because Jesus was not yet glorified. Jesus had to die, be raised up, be glorified. Only then could he send the spirit to dwell within man. That's what he longed for. And that's why on the last night before his crucifixion, he spoke a lot about the Holy Spirit. I don't know whether you've noticed that. He spoke very little about the Holy Spirit before that. I mean, there's an occasional reference like this, rivers of living water, without even referring to the Holy Spirit. Later on, John writes that that was referring to the Holy Spirit, but I don't think everybody understood it. In fact, a lot of people don't understand it even today. I never knew for many years of my Christian life after being born again what that verse meant. The spirit was not given. I was so blind. I thought the Old Testament pouring of the Spirit upon David and Elijah and Elisha was the same as the New Testament. And I think that's the understanding of 90% of Christians who are blind. God opens our eyes to show us that they read it in context. The spirit was not given to dwell in man's innermost being and to flow out from man's innermost being. When God opened my eyes, I saw that, that the veil was rent now. God could come inside and dwell within and flow out from within. That's why in the Old Testament, those people who did mighty works for God, the water flowing over them without touching their spirit, you know, delivering Israelites here, there, Samson and David, but they would commit adultery also because the spirit was not within them. But in the New Testament, you can't dream of Jesus sinning or Paul committing adultery or Peter committing adultery. No, that's unheard. That's unthinkable. So when you hear today of a preacher who's preached and been blessed, a blessing to thousands, and then he's committed adultery. So that guy's under the Old Testament. That's the reason the spirit was not within him. It's upon him. Blessing thousands of people. You can live in this new covenant age. And if you don't allow, if you don't walk the way of the rent veil, the spirit won't dwell within. And you can grieve the Holy Spirit. It's very easy. So I see this as the greatest blessing. I know there are times in my life when I have wept and wept and prayed and said, Lord, you can take away anything from my life, but don't take away the Holy Spirit from me. Take not the Holy Spirit from me. That's what David prayed, and that was only upon him. You know, it's so easy for us to lose that mighty anointing of the Holy Spirit. There would have been no church in the world today if it were not for that mighty baptism in the Holy Spirit that took place on the day of Pentecost. And that's why the devil has made that such a controversial issue. I'm not surprised because he wants people to shy away from it. But Jesus spoke so much about it in the last days and see the context in which he spoke. John 14, first of all, he speaks about the necessity of obedience. He says in the Old Testament, people obeyed God out of fear or because they wanted God's blessing. Because the Old Testament people were like children and how do you get children to obey? Two ways, punishment or reward. If you don't do this, I'll punish you. If you do this, I'll give you a reward. That's how we get all children to obey. And as long as people were under the old covenant, they were treated like children. They had to be under law. And you read Deuteronomy chapter 28, the great chapter of punishment and reward. If you obey me, I'll reward you. If you disobey me, I'll punish you. You can see from there the entire law was teaching treating people like little children. Like I said earlier, you can live in a new covenant age and live like an Old Testament person. We are in the computer age today in the world. But do you know that there are people in the world today living in the Stone Age conditions? You go to some of the jungles in some parts of the world, the barbarians who live exactly like man lived 5,000 years ago. So it's possible in a computer age to live according to Stone Age conditions. And it's possible in a new covenant age to live according to the old covenant or with no covenant at all, like the unbelievers live. So it's possible for a believer who was born again to live out of the same principle that the Israelites did, punishment or reward. And there are preachers who encourage that. You better not sin, because God will punish you. You better not sin, otherwise you'll go to hell. You better not sin, otherwise God will give you a sickness. You better not sin, otherwise some suffering will come into your life. And you better obey, then God will bless you, give your money to God. God will bless you with wealth and houses and lands, and it's all back to the Old Testament. There are preachers in our day, and there are thousands of them who are leading people back to the old covenant, making them children again. But Jesus said, in John 14, verse 15, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. This is something completely new. Not because you fear me, not because I'm going to give you a reward. What if I don't give you any reward? I'll serve you. I remember when I left the Navy 47 years ago. God called me about 49 years ago, but the Navy wouldn't let me go for two years. And when I left, I said, Lord, as soon as the Lord called me 49 years ago, I said, Lord, it makes no difference to me now whether I get food or a place to sleep. I love you, and I'll serve you till the end of my life. If I don't have a place to sleep, I'll sleep in the railway station or a bus stand or somewhere like that. And I can live with very little food, no problem, but I want to serve you. It had nothing to do with reward, and it had nothing to do with fear of punishment. I hope you have come there where you are not expecting God to do this for you, expecting God. You know, a lot of teaching on faith today is claim this from God and claim that from God. What is it most people are claiming? Invariably 99% of cases, some earthly blessing, some jobs, some marriage for their children, some healing, something earthly. How many people fast and pray to overcome anger or to overcome dirty thoughts? They never think that is God's blessing. It's a far greater blessing than getting a million rupees. If you love me, you'll keep my commandments. And there we see God treats us like adults. You don't tell a 25-year-old son, if you obey me, I'll give you a chocolate or I'll make you lie down in bed. I won't let you go and play. Those are all for little children. You talk to a grown-up son saying, if you love me, son, do what I say. When God speaks to you like that, you know you're a son. And when you relate to God like that, I obey him not because I'm afraid of punishment, not because I want any reward at all. He's already done more for me on Calvary than I could ever expect that you're a son. But it's difficult to keep his commandments. If you don't believe that, read Matthew 5, 6 and 7. I remember reading it seriously long after I was converted. Many years after I was converted, I never took it seriously. When I took it seriously, I said, Lord, this is impossible. How can you live without getting angry? How can you live without lusting after women as a young man? How can you live without seeking any honor from people? How can you be free from the love of money? These are some of the things written in Matthew 5, 6, 5 and 6, which in this church we've preached for 38 years, but within most churches, I've hardly ever preached at all. Just these few things I mentioned. And yet Matthew 5 and 6 is all about this. It's impossible to live there. The standards of Jesus are so high. He said if every idle word you speak, you're given a count in the day of judgment. Matthew 12, 36 to 38. Who can live according to that standard? And so when we can't keep God's commandment, we say, Lord, how in the world? I love you, but how to your commandments? And the Lord anticipates that question. He says something. And before you ask the question, he gives the answer. If you love me, keep my commandments. And your question is, how in the world can I keep them? Yes, I'll tell you. Verse 16, I will ask the father and he will give you a helper. I like the NASB translation, a helper. And if you read it in its context, it means a helper, verse 15, to keep the commandments. What else does it mean? Dear brothers and sisters, one fundamental principle of Bible study, read a verse in its context, not by itself. The King James Version called it comforter. And a lot of Christians who say the comforter has come, the comforter has come. We sing a song, the comforter has come. What for? What for? To help me keep the commandments. That's why he has come. He said that. You'll keep my commandments and I will ask the father for a helper to help you keep those commandments. It's all one sentence, really. And he'll be with you forever so that you can keep my commandments forever. And that's why I know that I'll never sin in heaven. I mean, if in a filthy world like this, the Holy Spirit can help me to overcome so much of sin, not perfect yet, but so much, imagine how it will be like in heaven. God doesn't have to take away my free will to prevent me from sinning in heaven. He's not going to make me like a robot in heaven. I automatically, I will have complete free will in heaven for all eternity to disobey God, but I'll never disobey God. What a wonderful thing that is. Have you thought of that? You think God's going to take away your free will in heaven? You'll be a robot then. You'll be like the planets. God's not going to reduce us to the state of the planet. The great miracle in heaven will be, I will have free will for all eternity, but I'll never sin. And I've begun that journey here on earth, slowly, slowly get to that place where I'll never sin. I hope you're climbing towards that mountain peak. You're not going to do healing and preaching in heaven. Those are not the mountains I want to climb, but this mountain peak of never sinning, I haven't got there yet, but I'm going to get there. And I know I'm getting there because I'm getting closer and closer in my life. I hope you are. That's how you know the spirit has come. The spirit of truth. Verse 17, whom the world cannot receive, because he cannot, does not know him. But I will not leave you as orphans. That's the other thing the Holy Spirit's come for, to deliver us from being orphans. A lot of Christians are orphans. They don't know God as a father. I mean, they say God is their father. It's like someone whose father is living in a distant land. I've heard of children whose fathers are living in some distant land and they don't see their father for 10 years. But they know there's a father because there's occasional letter from there and some money comes. They've never seen him. They're never related. They've never been hugged by that father. And I think a lot of Christians are exactly like that. They say, way back there, there is a father I have. I know, I've never seen him, but I don't know. But now and then he answers some prayer of mine and I never get a hug from him. I'm not so sure whether he loves me, but I think he does because I read his letters and he says he loves me. But when you're in a troubled, difficult situation and you get all anxious and worried, you know that you're an orphan. Even though theoretically you say you have a father and Jesus says the Holy Spirit comes, you'll never feel like an orphan again. That's the other thing the Holy Spirit's come for, to take away from you disobedience and to take away from you the sense of being an orphan. I don't need fellowship. A lot of Christians can survive only if there's fellowship. I don't need fellowship. I can live 20 years in a prison for my faith. I will not be an orphan because I found my father and the Holy Spirit. It's one of the great things that happened to me when the Holy Spirit filled my life, showed me God is my own father. There's very little of preaching of that nowadays. Go and see in a Christian bookshop how many books there are that encourage you to know God as your father. I guarantee you won't even find one percent of the books there. Go and listen to the preaching in charismatic circles, brethren assemblies, Pentecostal assemblies. There's very little of teaching God is your father. The proof of that being he will take care of you. You don't have to be anxious. You don't have to be worried. You don't have to be living in security about the future. You won't be in competition with others. Orphans are the ones who are always competing with people. They can't cooperate with others, are always jealous of others. If they see two people talking, they're sure they're talking about me. That's an orphan. The person who's not an orphan, he's secure. It doesn't matter if everybody leaves him. Jesus said later on in John 16, you can all leave me. It doesn't matter. The father is with me. See this in John 16 that shows that Jesus was not an orphan. Many had already left him. Now there were these 12 and one of them left him, Judas. Then he tells the 11 in John 16, an hour is coming when all of you 11 also will leave me. You won't stick by me. When the Roman soldiers come, you will run. And you will leave me alone, John 16, 32. You will leave me alone, but I'm not alone. What a great phrase. You will leave me alone, but I'm not alone because the father is with me. You know, when things become tough and difficult, a lot of your good friends don't stand with you. They'll stand with you when things are going well. They won't stand with you. In fact, you know what the apostle Paul's experience was towards the end of his life? Paul was such a radical, wholehearted person. He never compromised. And you know, one by one, people started leaving him. Demas left him, one of his closest co-workers. And listen to this, 2 Timothy 1, 2 Timothy 1, the last letter that Paul wrote in verse 15, he tells Timothy, you are aware of the fact, 2 Timothy 1, 15, that all those who are in Asia have turned away from me. Were they unbelievers? Unbelievers were never with Paul in any case. These were believers who found it embarrassing to stay around with Paul because his standards were too high. So did Paul feel like an orphan? No, not at all. He says, I fought a good fight and I finished my course. He said in 2 Timothy 4, 7, I'm just waiting to see my Lord. He's calling me up there and there's a crown waiting for me. So why did these fellows left me? I feel sorry for them. So an orphan is not always longing that other people will be with him. It doesn't matter if people leave. Absolutely not. Let them all go. The Demases and like we read here, the Hermogenes and the Phygelus, 2 Timothy 1, I'm just reading verse 15. There will still be a Timothy and 2 Timothy 1, 16, Onesiphorus. There'll be a few. The rest, let them go. But Paul did not feel like an orphan. Then Jesus also said, when the Holy Spirit has come back to John's gospel, he says in John chapter 16, before he gets there, he says one thing that you're going to be when the helper comes, John 15, 26, the last two verses, he will bear witness about me and you will also bear witness. This is a wonderful thing, you know. For me, that's a great verse that when I speak God's word, I'm testifying about Jesus. The Holy Spirit also backs that up. It's the only way you should preach. Any of you who preach, even if you're a young brother, you must say, Lord, these two verses must be true in my life. That when I testify about you, the Holy Spirit also testifies along with me about you. That'll go home to people's hearts. Go straight to people's hearts like an arrow. So don't ever go about preaching without the Holy Spirit. I said, Lord, I'll never get into a pulpit if you're not there with me. I wouldn't dream of getting up and speaking anywhere, and the Holy Spirit's also not going to be backing me up and saying, that's right, you better listen to it. It's the best way to serve the Lord. And all of us can be that. You may not be a preacher standing in a pulpit, but even if you're speaking to a person for two minutes, somebody visits your home, or you add a sentence in an email, one sentence, and it's from the Holy Spirit. The guy gets that message, and the Holy Spirit says, listen to that. Dear brothers and sisters, what a wonderful thing, if all of us can seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit, to live like this. They could not do this in Old Testament times. Today we can, from the innermost being. And I want you to come to John 16. You know, there are a number of places in 14, 15, 16 verses, when the helper has come, when the helper has come. Here's another one like that. It's a great study. When you get time, study John 14, 15, 16. When the helper has come, what's going to happen? When the helper has come, what's going to happen? Here's another one. Some of you are saying, are wondering, where am I going? John 16, 5. None of you are asking me, where am I going? They knew he's going away. They were hesitant to ask, where are you going? Because they felt so secure. Three and a half years were the best years of their life. Jesus was always with them. If there was a storm, Jesus would still it. If there were sick people, he would heal them. If there was not enough food, he'd produce the food. There was never a problem Jesus could not solve. And they said, now he's going away. It's like if you had a rich millionaire who lived next door to you and helped you all the time with everything you need. And he says, I'm shifting now. I'm going away. You say, boy, what will happen to me? That's exactly how they felt when they sent Jesus going away. And then he says to them, it's better for you that I go. Because the helper is going to come, he's going to be just like me. It's another millionaire who's coming next door to you, just as helpful as me. So the Holy Spirit's coming is exactly like having Jesus here, even better. Because Jesus could only be outside. The Holy Spirit can be inside. That's why it's better. That means he can do all that Jesus did for the disciples, and he can do more. Because Jesus could only help the disciples on the outside, external problems, storm, lack of food, sickness, all types of external problems, he'd take care of that, not enough wine. What about the internal problems? You think Peter and James, young fellows, age 30, had victory over dirty thoughts? I don't believe it. They were just like any other 30-year-old young man, battled with lust, but Jesus could do nothing for them. I mean, when you're in the presence of a holy man, you sort of get encouraged, but what if he goes away for 10 minutes? You begin to lust all of a sudden. That was their experience. Or they began to fight with each other about leadership, and Jesus said, it's better that I go away. Because when I go away, the Holy Spirit will come, and he'll take care of your external problems, as well as these more serious internal ones. Lack of food and a storm is not as serious as sin in the heart, and that can never be solved if I stay around with you. And so when the helper has come, then the problem will be solved. I tell you the truth, verse 7. Listen to this. This is exactly what I was saying. I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away. It's better for you that I leave. How many of you believe it is better that Jesus did not stay on the earth and be always with me? Some of us would have wished, oh, if Jesus were here next door to me, all my problems would be solved. If Jesus were physically living in your house, tell me what problems could he solve? Every earthly problem. But he wouldn't be able to deliver you from your lust, and your anger, and your bitterness, and your jealousy, and your anxiety, and your love of money, and all the other things inside your heart. He wouldn't be able to do it. And those are much more serious problems than the external problems. And I want to tell all of you sitting here, if any of you think your external problems, whatever you're facing now, are more serious than your internal problems like sin, I want to say to you in Jesus' name, you are carnal. C-A-R-N-A-L, carnal. Don't even dream that you are spiritual. A spiritual man recognizes that his internal problems are a million times worse than any external problem he can face. And if that is how you see your internal versus your external problems, you're a spiritual person. Praise the Lord. We need more people like that. And those people say, yes, Lord, I want the Holy Spirit in me. I don't want someone just to solve my external problems. The Spirit of God comes and He deals with both. It's your advantage. Because if I don't go away, see that in verse seven, if I don't go away, this helper cannot come. I have to be glorified first. You know, if you were on earth and you knew who Jesus was, I would migrate from India to Israel straight away. I wouldn't want to live here. Without a doubt, I would go there. Even if it is a very poor country and I had to struggle, I'd say, Lord, I want to be where you are, the second person of the Trinity on earth. Why in the world should I be living anywhere else than where he is? Would you do that? Yes or no? A few of you anyway said yes. Now let me say, the third person of the Trinity has come here on earth. And he's not in Israel. He's everywhere. Are you eager, desperately eager that he must come inside and fill your heart and be with you all the time? Do you recognize his presence? Do you honor him as you would honor Jesus? Say, Spirit of God, I want you always with me. I never want to do a single thing even in my thoughts that will hurt you or grieve you. And if I accidentally speak a word, I'm going to immediately repent. Do you know that even if you're in a bad mood for five minutes, you grieve the Holy Spirit? I don't think many Christians recognize that. Before I knew the fullness of the Spirit, I used to be frequently discouraged, bad moods and everything. I'm still tempted, but I immediately realized, hey, I shouldn't be in that and repent of it as soon as possible. Sometimes you're under pressure. But as soon as possible, repent and come back. You know, temptation pushes you under the water. Supposing somebody holds your head under the water, what will you do? You'll struggle to get out. You won't be thinking of anything else at that time, other than getting out of the water. Somebody's trying to drown me. Do you feel like that when some pressure makes you feel discouraged, gloomy, depressed, bitter, jealous, or just upset? Do you feel like a person trying to drown you underwater? You can't think of anything else at that time other than getting out. Get out as soon as possible. Then you're a spiritual person. But if you can live with that, who can live with their head underwater for a long time? Dead person. No problem. And that would indicate where you are spiritually. I don't want to ever go back to those days when my life was like that. The helper will help you. It's for your advantage that I go away when the Holy Spirit comes in. And when he comes, he will convict the world of three things, and I just want to mention them briefly. Sin, righteousness, and judgment. Verse eight. The Holy Spirit will convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. And that's how he begins. We're not part of the world, but we were part of the world, and that's how he began convicting us of sin, righteousness, and judgment. If he had not convicted you sufficiently in these three areas, then you may say you're a believer, but you need to ask yourself, has the Holy Spirit really convinced you about these three things? I think a lot of believers haven't really got through to a full conviction from the Holy Spirit in these areas. Well, then we need to get convicted, because it's not as simple as you think. Number one, sin. It's not about the sin of anger, or jealousy, or bitterness. That's not what he's convicting about primarily. The Holy Spirit goes to the root, not the fruit. These are the fruit, anger, bitterness, jealousy, strife, bad words, depression, discouragement, gloom, all types of things. He goes to the root. He says the root is you don't depend on Jesus. Believe means a helpless dependence. You know the word faith, so misunderstood, but what it means is a committing of yourself to Christ, to God, and total dependence upon him, just like a branch in a tree. I believe one of the best definitions of faith is the branch in the vine that cannot produce any fruit by itself. Helpless dependence, that's the picture I always have in my mind of faith. I thank God Jesus used word pictures. There's no preacher like him in the whole Bible. No prophet was like him who used such beautiful word pictures to help us understand, and I believe every preacher must be like that to make truth clear to people. Think of a branch. We don't see so many vines here, but think of a branch in a mango tree. You're just helplessly dependent on the tree, and that's faith. It's not struggling and doing something. It's not trying to work up any faith. When it says the sin is they don't believe in me, that's the sin, verse 9, of sin because they don't believe in me. That means they're not helplessly dependent on me. They're always trying to do things on their own. That's life under the law. There's no faith under the law. That's like a branch cutting off itself from the tree and saying, I'm going to produce mangoes. It doesn't happen. So the biggest reason for sin is that we don't helplessly depend upon Jesus. If a branch is not producing fruit, that means some connection with the tree is severed, broken somewhere. The sap is not flowing as it should. Faith is that. It's not a complicated thing. It's helpless dependence upon Jesus. The total confidence that my Lord is perfectly wise, perfectly loving, and almighty. So he can handle everything. It's helpless dependence upon God, and that is man's biggest sin. If you want to know what the greatest sin is, greatest sin in the world, is that it's described here. You don't helplessly depend upon me. And some of us who think we're pretty holy because maybe you overcome anger. You think you've made great progress. There was a brother I knew in one of our churches, who was a Hindu, who told me, Brother Zach, I overcame anger before I became a Christian. I practiced yoga. There are people who practice Buddhism and yoga and conquer lusting after women, anger. They're able to control the tongue better than a lot of Christians, but it's not the power of the Holy Spirit because it's just an external control. The heart is dirty or probably dirtier than other people's hearts. That's not Christianity. No, the greatest sin is a lack of helpless dependence upon God. If you go back to the Old Testament and the first sin in the Garden of Eden, the choice of two trees before Adam was, do you want the knowledge of good and evil to be within yourself so that you don't need God? You can decide yourself what is right and what is wrong. Or the tree of life where you have to helplessly depend on me always to know what is good and what is evil. Every time I have to refer to him, Adam said, I choose this. Let me have it within me so I don't have to keep referring to God all the time. That was the root of sin. That's how we all became sinners. It's not because Adam got angry with his wife or Adam lusted after some other woman or got discouraged. That's not how sin came. Sin came because he chose a life where I don't have to keep consulting God or depending on God for everything. I can have it resident within me. I myself will know what is good and what's evil and I'll choose. And the world is full of the descendants of Adam today. They don't need God to show what's right and wrong. They say, we know what's right, what's wrong. And if you ever live like that, you're living like a child of Adam. Jesus said, I don't live like that. I'll keep listening to the Father. He tells me what's right and what's wrong. And I do what the Father says. And that's why I say a Christian who does not read the Bible and does not study the Bible, he won't know what God says. How in the world can you know what God says when he's given only one book to the world? Only one. I remember I was convinced about this 50 years ago. There's only one book among all the billions of books in the world that God wrote. And if that is true, Lord, and I want to spend my life studying that and living according to that. I don't care how other Christians live. And that's what changed my life. It changed my family life. It taught me how to bring up my children. It taught me how to handle money. It taught me how to preach. It taught me everything. Just this one book. Follow it. Depend on him to guide you. And the second is righteousness. Of righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see me. The Bible says Jesus was raised again. The last verse of Romans 4 for our justification. It's not enough that he died on the cross. He had to go to the Father and his acceptance there clothed me with his righteousness. No matter if all my sins are forgiven, I cannot come before God my father. I'm not clothed with the righteousness of Christ. And if Christ does not stand before the Father as my advocate. The Old Testament, they didn't have an advocate before the Father. Think if you're in a complicated court case. Really complicated one where you can lose your house and lose your money and I think you'd get a good advocate, right? The Old Testament, they didn't have one before God. Today I have one who's on my side. Therefore I have no fear. I'm clothed with his righteousness. I can go right up to God with boldness. The Holy Spirit convinces me I'm righteous before God. I'm not just forgiven, but righteous, justified. Do you know that? Here's the way I can explain forgiveness and justification. Justification is more than forgiveness. Let's start off as sinners. We are a hundred million rupees in debt. That's in sinful condition. Forgiveness means somebody pays that hundred million rupees debt and we are free. Justification means the man now puts a hundred million rupees into my bank account. Wow. These money illustrations are good, no? We really begin to understand truth so well when we talk about money. Better than any other illustration. But it's a perfect description of forgiveness and justification. My hundred million rupees, is your debt clear brother? Praise God. Why are you living like a pauper then, spiritually like a beggar? Because you haven't understood justification that a hundred million rupees has been put to your account. The righteousness of Christ is yours. You can partake of his nature. You can overcome as he overcame. That is the assurance I have. I have an advocate for the Father. When I go to God, I have no fear now. Do you have a fear whenever you come before God in prayer that perhaps he's frowning at you saying, you didn't read your Bible today. How dare you come and see me? I don't have a father who frowns at me like that. Those of you who don't have the habit of reading the Bible are very happy to hear that, right? I'm not speaking to you. I'm speaking to people, those who spend all their spare time studying the Bible. Not those who are looking for an excuse not to read it. All I'm saying is, the Father doesn't condemn me. For years and years and years, I always felt the Father looked at me with a frown. Anything I did, his voice was, you could have done that better. I tried harder. You could have done that still better. But I got rid of that caricature of God that the devil portrayed before me. False picture of God. I have a father who smiles at me all the time. He's grieved if I hurt him, but he knows I run back to him and hug him and say, I'm sorry, Dad. I slipped up. And he's happy. If you live like that with your father, I have an advocate. Righteousness is mine. And thirdly, judgment. And it's not talking about your judgment or God's judgment. It's talking about the devil's judgment. There are three areas where the Holy Spirit convinces me. One, about the sin of not depending on Jesus for everything. Second, that I can be totally righteous when I stand before God without any fear, because he's there with the Father for me. And I've got his righteousness and he's my advocate. And third, concerning the devil. He was judged on the cross. He was defeated. That's the other thing. The Holy Spirit's not convinced many people. It says here the Holy Spirit wants to convince the world that the ruler of the world has been judged. It is a prophetic statement of what is going to happen in a few hours when Jesus hung on the cross the next morning. The ruler of the world has been judged. Praise God. We don't have to live anymore afraid of the devil, wondering in what way he's going to harm me, in what way he's going to hurt me. No, we don't have to have that fear anymore. I want to say I wish I could deliver every single believer from the fear of Satan. I've heard believers say this, oh the devil did this and the devil did that. It's almost they've got such a small little Jesus and a huge mighty devil. It's not like that with me. Greater is he that is in you than he that's in the world. And the Holy Spirit convinces us Satan has been judged on the cross. This is the life you're supposed to live, brothers and sisters. This is the way we're supposed to live every single day on this earth. One of the verses that's come home to my heart recently. I was speaking in Sandeep's church in the last three weeks and if you go to that church website you can listen to those three messages where I spoke on a very important topic. How a believer in a church must be a testimony to Satan. How God wants us to be a testimony to the devil. The church must be a testimony to the devil. Turn to Ephesians chapter 3. In Ephesians 3 we read about this great mystery that Paul says. There's a mystery that God revealed to me. Mystery means it's not easy to understand it unless the Holy Spirit reveals it. First Philippians, sorry Ephesians 3.4. If you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ which in olden days was not made known to the sons of men but has now been revealed by the Holy Spirit. And what is this wonderful thing that the Holy Spirit revealed to Paul which we can understand? One is that in the church there's no difference between the Gentiles and the Jews. That means there's no caste system in the church. I don't long to spend my time with people who are of my same community. If your longing is to always spend time with people of your community you haven't seen this mystery yet. You pray God will give it to you. Where distinction of community, language, educational levels, social levels all disappears. I tell you it's a mystery because I've seen so many Christians they gravitate towards people of their own community who speak their same language or who are the same intellectual level. They can't fellowship with people who are not at their intellectual level. They fellowship with people who are their own social upper class level or whatever level. These are people who haven't seen the mystery. You can't blame them. There are thousands of people, millions of people in the Old Testament who never saw it and it's revealed by the Holy Spirit. I can't glory that I know it. The Holy Spirit revealed it to me. Maybe he hasn't revealed it to you because you're not open to it. But if you're open he'll show you this great mystery. There's no difference now in the body of Christ between people of different races or language or culture or education or Greek cultured Greek or uncultured barbarian. No difference. Have you seen it? Have you experienced it? I don't mean theoretically but has it become real in your life that you can fellowship with people completely irrespective of all these differences. That's one part of the mystery and it says here that Jesus has broken down this dividing wall. There's a dividing wall. We read in Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 14 about a dividing wall between the Jews and the Gentiles which Jesus demolished and said I don't want any dividing walls between my people. But I tell you many people their fellowship with other believers is with a wall. They look over the wall and say praise the Lord good to see you but the wall is still there. Well they haven't seen the mystery. That's one part of the mystery and he says I was the least of all the saints verse 8. I was given the grace to preach this mystery to the others and to bring it to light and now here's another part of this wonderful mystery that this wonderful wisdom of God verse 10 has to be made known through the church to whom we've always thought of the church as being a witness to the non-christians and to the world. No it says here to God wants to make something known to the evil spirits in the heavenly places. It's like God turning to Satan and saying have you seen my servant Job and like that saying when you know the devil says God most of these guys who say they believe in you are all hypocrites. God says you're right but have you seen Job and today God's Satan says to God all these preachers who call themselves preachers they're all lovers of money. God says yes but have you seen this one that one or the devil says look at all these churches they are either legalistic or they are worldly over this cliff or the other cliff and then God says yeah that's right but have you seen this church and he can point out a church to Satan in the heavenly places and says do you see my wisdom there do you see what my wisdom is accomplished in this person and that person all these distinctions are broken down they love one another and it's not based on community or language or any such thing and they're not living just to impress one another they're seeking to please me in their private life have you seen people in this church how they handle money for example how they speak to their marriage partners at home have you seen it Satan and Satan's mouth is shut. I want to be a person whom God can use to shut the mouth of the devil I want my family to be a family that God can use to shut the mouth of the devil and I want a church to be part of a church that can shut the mouth of the devil I don't care what the world thinks of me or my family or my church I'm really concerned what the devil thinks about because I tell you people in the world don't know how I live in private do you know many of you have known me many years do you know how I speak to my wife at home I mean you see how I speak to her here publicly also nice but what about at home do people see how you speak to your wife or husband at home the devil does he sees every bit of it you do the people around you know what values you have in your mind how you handle money those secret things that you keep your accounts and all that which other people don't know the devil knows everything I'll tell you honestly I'm more interested to know what the devil thinks about me than what any of you think about me because you know less than 10 percent of my life the devil doesn't know everything he can't read my thoughts but he knows quite a bit about my private life and God wants me to be pointed out to the devil he wants you to be pointed out to the devil do you know that the first book in the bible is the book of joe joe lived before moses who wrote genesis so the first book in the bible is joe he lived hundreds of years before moses it's the only book in the bible which has got no reference to abraham isaac or jacob and think of this I thought of it like this when God decided to write a book for man in the very first book in the very first chapter he talks about a man whom he can point out to the devil I said wow lord is that the very first thing you wrote in the bible about a man whom he wanted to point out to the devil I want to be that man I want to be a man like that I want to have a family like that I want to build a church like that not one with great music do you think God is telling the devil Satan can you listen to the music in that church wow can you imagine God saying anything so stupid to the devil you see how those fellows play the drums I tell you it's fantastic it's crazy how Christians get taken up with all these things you think God's boasting about that the devil will say God I'll show you some of these rock musicians they can do it 10 times better than your fellows what is God pointing out to the devil have you seen my servant Joe he is a rich man but he doesn't point to his riches he says what a man who fears God and turns away from evil not one who can play the piano well or drums well or any such thing no not even one who can preach well but who fears God and turns away from evil God is showing this wisdom today to Satan through the church be a wholehearted member of a church like that it's the only church in the world I want to be a part of that God can point out to the devil and show forth his wisdom that's only possible through the Holy Spirit showing me Satan was defeated on the cross he has no right over your life he cannot have any power over you or your family or your church if you stand in the victory of Christ the devil will flee dear brothers and sisters let's remember why Jesus sent the Holy Spirit and let's seek with all of our hearts to be filled to overflowing with this Holy Spirit who will help us to keep the commandments who will witness with us when we witness for Christ who will keep on reminding us to depend upon Jesus and showing us it's a sin not to do that who will keep on reminding us that we have an advocate with a father you know you don't have to fear you've been declared righteous not only your debt has been cleared but heaven's riches have been put into your bank account and it will keep on reminding us you don't have to be afraid of the devil anymore he was defeated once for all on the cross fear can be eliminated from your life and your home forever what a wonderful way to live let's pray thank you Lord Jesus for sending the helper oh I thank you with all my heart for the gift of the Holy Spirit for the presence of the Holy Spirit always all the time always convicting refreshing renewing encouraging lifting up assuring us for the father's smile upon us so that we can live without fear or discouragement in this wretched world and work together thank you for breaking down the walls that the devil had built through many years thank you for fellowship in this church bless everyone here every family every brother and sister pray in Jesus name amen