The Fulfillment of the Law - Grace, Sonship & the Final Measure

Pray my beloved. All right, today we are finishing what we started two weeks ago, which is, is the God of the Old Testament different from the God of the New Testament? Is the God of the Old Testament different to the God of the New Testament? And we read from Matthew chapter 5 verses 17 to 19. And today it is part three, and the conclusion.

Okay, just to recap what we said last week, my beloved last week, we said that the law acted like that x-ray machine. The law acted like the x-ray machine that reveals the illness, you go and take all those x-rays to see what the issue is. So the law is like that x-ray machine that revealed the illness.

And we said that the law revealed three things. One, the entire human race are sinners. The law revealed sin.

Number two, the law revealed human corruption. And the law revealed the healing for the human sin and corruption is embedded in the Messiah and the Messiah only. In Christ, in other words, in Jesus Christ.

So even though the law revealed two negative things, but the last one is the positive one. So there is sin, there is corruption, but that is not the end of the story. The good news are coming when the Messiah comes.

He is the medicine to your sin and to your corruption. And the result came out when the x-ray was taken, which is the law, the result came out and it was, what was the result? Saint Paul said what the result of our x-rays were. He said it in his epistle to the Romans, chapter three, verses 12 and 23.

And he says, they all, they have all turned aside. They have together become unprofitable. There is none who does good.

No, not one for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. That was the result. No one is good, but God himself.

Today we wish to talk about between the law and the grace in three categories. Between the law and the grace in three categories. Category number one, between a start and a start.

Category number two, between an end and an end. Category number three, between an essence and an essence. So let's come to the first category, which is between a start and a start.

A start for the law and a start for grace. An end for the law and an end for the grace. The essence of the law and the essence of the grace.

So we come to the first category, the start, how the law started and how grace started. When Moses came down from the mountain, he found the Israelite nation worshiping the golden calf. And while he was coming down, he had in his hands, the two tablets, the 10 commandments.

He had them in his hand. But as he was coming down to give the 10 commandments to the Israelite nation, he saw them worshiping the golden calf, which they made with their own hands and called it their God, who saved them from Pharaoh and Egypt. They ignored, they denied the true living God 40 days only after leaving Egypt.

40 days they forgot about God, what he'd done for them. So the beginning of the law or the start of the law was the 10 commandments. That is the start of the law.

So what did Moses do? Out of anger, he takes the two tablets and breaks them outside the camp where the Israelite was encamped. He breaks them outside the camp. And then what does he do? He comes, he destroyed the golden calf by burning it in fire, grinding it into a fine powder, and then mixing it with water and forcing the Israelite to drink that water, which the golden calf was in it.

He made them drink what they've done. You find this in Exodus chapter 32. And then some of the Israelites said, okay, big deal.

You grinded the golden calf into fine powder and you made us drink it. So what? We'll make another one. Some of the Israelites said, we'll make another one.

Then Moses stood and with a loud voice addressed the entire Israelite nation and said, whoever amongst you is seeking the Lord, let him come and stand next to me. And whoever wishes to go and make another calf and worship it, depart from me right now. The entire tribe of Levi.

Now who is Levi? The son of Jacob, one of the 12 sons of Jacob who was called later on Israel. So Levi is one of the 12 sons of Jacob who was later on called by the Lord Jesus, that angel as Israel, the entire tribe of Levi came and stood beside Moses. They said, we are seeking the Lord with you, Moses.

And some of the Israelite people went to make another calf. So Moses turned to the tribe of Levi and said to them, I want you to walk amongst the entire Israelite people. And whoever you hear saying, we will make another calf.

I want you to kill them all. Even if that person is your father, your mother, your brother, your sister, your husband, your wife, you kill them all. Anyone who says we will make the calf again.

So the Levites started walking in the midst of the Israelite nation. And whoever they heard saying, we will make another calf, they killed them. The Holy Bible tells us that they ended up killing 3000 Israelite people.

3000 souls were killed. When the law came down, that is the start of the law. When the law came down, 3000 souls got killed.

However, when grace came down and the church was born on Pentecost, that is when grace came down. On Pentecost, where the church of Christ, of the New Testament, which is us, when it was born on Pentecost, that is the beginning or the start of grace. Simon Peter stood in the temple and preached for an hour and saved 3000 souls and they were added to the church of the New Testament.

So the start of the law, 3000 souls were killed, but the start of grace, 3000 souls were saved. The start of the law was a deadly start, but the start of grace was a salvific start. Salvific start.

Do you see the difference between the law and the grace? This one kills, this one saves. Now we look at the end of the law and at the end of grace, the second category. How does the Old Testament end? How does it end? Well, it ends with the book of Malachi, one of my favorite names.

When people ask me, Bishop, we're going to have a child very soon, if it's a boy, what names do you have for us? The first name that comes to mind is Malachi, Jeremiah, and there is other beautiful names, but the Old Testament, Malachi definitely and Jeremiah, the top two. So now, the end of the Old Testament ends with the book of Malachi, the last chapter, which is chapter four, and the last verse, which is verse six. And what does Malachi 4, 6 say? It says the following, lest I, meaning I hear the Lord speaking, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse, the law ends with the word curse.

The very word, the last word written in the Old Testament, which is the law, was the word curse, condemnation. And the last word written in the New Testament, the grace, we find it in Revelation 22, 21. In Revelation 22, 21, it says, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

Amen. The law ends with the word curse, and the grace ends with the word grace. That is the end of the law, and that is the end of grace.

Now, we come to the third category. There is the essence of the law, and there is the essence of grace. Let's look at the essence of the law.

What does it say? What does it teach? The essence of the law, the Old Testament says, love the Lord your God with your whole heart, with your whole soul, and with your all strength, Deuteronomy 6, 5. Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, all of your soul, and all of your strength. So the essence of the law is saying, you have to love the Lord God. But the problem, the law demanded from all humanity to love, and all of them failed in loving.

If our father Adam had loved the Lord God with all of his heart, he wouldn't have broken God's law. But because he ate from the forbidden tree, that this tells us all that he had also loved for himself, not only for God. And because he loved himself as well, he decided to do it his way, not God's way.

So the love of the Lord God with all of your heart failed in Adam, the first creation. He loved himself, and he put himself before God. That's why he said to God, I'm doing it my way, not your way.

You see, what you love the most is what you will do. So Adam failed to love God with all of his heart, all of his soul, and all of his strength. Now what is the essence of the grace? For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, so that whoever believeth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.

John 3, 16. The essence of the law says you must love, but the essence of grace says God loves, not you. See the difference? Under the law, you have to love God.

Under grace, God is loving you and begging you, just let him love you. Look what Christ has done. Has Christ abolished the law? Of course not, for he is the fullness of the law.

Far from it. The law still stands, but grace kept the law, but said God this time wants to love you. He's not waiting for you to love him.

He came to love you. Will you let him love you? Will you allow him to enter and love you? You don't have to do it, he's doing it. And John the Beloved said it in his epistle, 1 John 4, 19.

He says, we love him, meaning the Lord, we love him. Why, John? Because he first loved us. We love him because he loved us first.

If it wasn't for him loving us, there was no way for us to love him back. Because what we don't have, we cannot give. Love comes from one source, and one source only, God.

And until God is embedded in your heart, you can never talk about love. Because where are you going to get love from if God is not in you? And this God, his name is Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Not any love, divine, true love, divine, heavenly.

Don't talk to me about love on an earthly level. An earthly level is children's talk, kids stuff. Like the guy will come and say, oh I love you and I can't live without you.

So many people said that, they lost. It is this love that is everlasting. It is this love that surpasses any and every other love.

It is this love that is the foundation to every existence. So the essence of the law, you must love God. But the essence of the grace, God loves you.

And John, as we said, he said it, he said, we love him because he first loved us. It is God who loved us first, my beloveds. Covenant of the Old Testament was between two parties.

It was between God and man. God is always faithful, but man was never faithful. That's why that covenant could not continue.

Because for the covenant to remain forever, both parties must be faithful and loyal to that covenant. Any of the parties is in breach, the covenant lapses, no longer stands. So the covenant of the Old Testament was between God and humanity.

God is always faithful, but the human race was never. That's why that covenant was not able to save us. In the Old Testament, and please pay attention to this.

In the Old Testament, commandments were divided into two categories, the important major commandments and the least commandments. So there was two categories in commandments, the important major commandments and the least commandments. And the Lord Jesus actually referred to the least commandments in Matthew 5, 17 to 19, the topic of us today.

The Lord Jesus in Matthew 5, 19 says, whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. So the Lord says, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments. So now, what does least commandments mean? What are the least commandments? See the least commandments, they seem to the human race as of no importance whatsoever.

Because they are small commandments, we tend to lose track of them and give them a blind eye, or we don't give them enough importance, yet they are foundational. Even the smallest of the smallest commandments, they are the decider whether we make it or not. But because they are very little, we say, oh, it doesn't matter really.

We always tend to lean towards big commandments. And even in the natural realm, we always look at big things. We never pay attention to small things.

You see, if you buy your fiancee a ring and it costs you $2 from the $2 shop, she will look at that and will walk away from you because she is waiting to see something big. I was waiting for a diamond ring, minimum $5,000, maximum $250, if you're rich enough. But she didn't pay attention to the least commandment, even though the ring was $2, but it came from the heart.

What's the point? It's a $250,000 diamond ring, but there is no love. You see, so the Lord says, watch out for the least commandments. They make the whole difference.

I'll give you an example of what the Lord is saying here. King David decided to build a house for himself. Back in those olden days, at the time of King David, the houses were either double story or single story.

Double story for those who were rich and single story for those who were, you know, average, poor to average. But the rich ones could afford to build a double story. So now, however, the king's house used to be three to four stories high.

The highest house ever was the king's. There is a commandment in Deuteronomy chapter 22 verse 8. This is one of the least commandments. It's very tiny.

You may read it and just go over it, breeze over it. Deuteronomy 22 8, it says, when you build a new house, then you shall make a parapet for your roof. Parapet means like an extra wall, like a fence of the roof.

You shall make a parapet for your roof that you may not bring guilt of bloodshed on your household if anyone falls from it. This is a least commandment. When you build a new house for yourself, you better build a parapet wall, like a higher wall to sort of guard the roof, lest you bring guilt of bloodshed on your household if anyone falls from it.

What does this mean? You see, children used to climb up. They always love to climb up. So children would go on the rooftop, and if there was no parapet, meaning there was no wall, was a very big chance that they would fall off the roof and die.

And then you are bringing bloodshed upon yourself. You've just killed a soul. That's why the commandment says, make a parapet for your rooftop.

You know, someone will say, why do I need to know this commandment? I'm just going to build the house the way I want it. Who cares about the commandment? But there is a law, even when you build a house. Wow, looks like God is a great builder.

And until now, we use the word parapet. It's very ancient. Goes all the way to the Old Testament.

Deuteronomy 22.8. So King David came seeking his priest's advice and counsel on what to do. He went to his priest, and he said, I want to build a house for myself. And the king's house is three to four stories high, meaning it's extremely high.

So the rooftop is extremely high. So he asked the priest, shall I build a parapet for my roof or not? They said, may the king live forever. You are the king.

You don't need a parapet. Look at the priest. Sometimes they give the wrong advice.

So they said, you're the king. May you live forever. You don't need to build a parapet.

This is for the poor people. This is not for you. Secondly, you don't have little children to climb up on the rooftop and play there and fall.

You don't. And besides, you've got plenty of gardens. You're very rich, and you've got plenty of gardens.

Your family can go in those gardens and enjoy the day there. They don't need to go on the rooftop. So don't build a parapet.

And besides all this, you're the king. You are the one who oversees all, and no one oversees you. No one is higher than you.

You are the one who sees everyone. Nobody sees you. You don't need a parapet, because a parapet wall was to have a bit of privacy on the rooftop.

It was not only for children to go, but sometimes for even women to have a bath on the rooftop. So that parapet acted as a privacy shield. So they said to him, you don't build.

You're the king. You're the highest. You oversee everyone.

Nobody oversees you. So King David took their advice on board. Build the house with no parapet.

King David failed to fulfill the least of the commandments. Time goes by. One day King David, after a long battle, he used to fight always.

So he said, I'm exhausted. I need a break. So one day he decides himself to go on the rooftop.

Not the children. One day he decides to go on the rooftop, and his eyes fell on Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah. He commits adultery with her and kills her husband.

He brought bloodshed upon himself for not adhering to the least of the commandments. What happened? King David's four sons got killed. Beware of underestimating any verse in the Holy Bible.

Don't ever underestimate any verse in the entire Holy Bible. Don't say, this is, it's nothing. It's easy.

No, no, no. Nothing is easy, simply because it is all God's word, and God doesn't take things easy. He is serious in everything he says, no matter how small or big they are.

Everything is serious with God. You don't play around with his word. King Solomon comes, elaborates a little bit on Deuteronomy 22.8. He says in Song of Solomon, chapter 2, verse 15, look at this.

He says, catch us the foxes. Which one, King Solomon? The little foxes that spoil the vines. Who spoils the vines? Not the big foxes, the little one.

Because the little one, they are so skinny and small, they can sneak in between the fence crevices. The big ones, they're chubby. They can't fit.

But the small ones that you be, you need to be aware of. But we ignore the small things because we're focused on the big things. But the small things lead to big things if we don't adhere to them.

Well, it always started with one cigarette. I went out with me mates, with me friends, downtown brother. And it was a beautiful night.

We were having fun. It was my first time out of the cage called home. And out of the one who imprisoned me called mom and dad, parents.

Finally, the bird is released from this cage. I'm flying. So I'm sitting with my friends, having fun for the first time.

And one of them friends said, bro, try it. I said, what is this? He said, just try it, brother. Don't be a weakling.

Be a man. You need to go with the floor, bro. But you're going to look the odd ones, the black sheep of the fold.

Try it. So he took it for the first time. It's a little commandment.

And I said, okay. So he tried it once. And then he threw it away.

He started coughing. He said, nah, it's all right. I can control myself.

It was just once and that's it. I can say no anytime. So he went again and he tried it again and again and again and again and again.

And then it didn't end up just cigarettes. There was some other stuff in that cigarette that made me fly high. And now it's an addiction that destroyed my entire life.

One little small thing led to massive destruction. The best medication is prevention. Don't wait to get sick and then take medication.

The best medication is prevention. Don't be sick. Why do you need to take tablets? Don't be sick.

So my son, my daughter, avoid places that will lure you in, in doing the wrong things and breaking God's law. Because to break God's law, you will bring bloodshed upon yourself. You either gonna kill your future or kill someone else's future.

No human being was born from their mother's womb to be a drug dealer and a serial killer, a child molester. No one. Everyone was born like a little angel.

It is that first time that I tried it saying to myself, I know what I'm doing. I can control myself. That's what the young people always come back with.

Mom, dad, don't worry. I am smart enough and I'm intelligent enough. I know when to say no and I know when to say yes.

I can manage. Don't worry about me. Don't panic.

Too confident in oneself. Extremely dangerous. It started with a little thing, but it ended up destroying a life.

David, you don't want to build a parapet. It's the law. It is God's word.

No one else's. And we are all the same. We're all the same, my beloved.

So King Solomon in the song of Solomon 215 says, beware of the little foxes, the least commandments, because they're the ones that spoil the vine, the vines, my beloved. When we come to the sixth measure, remember when he said God put six, seven measures. So when we come to the sixth measure, the sixth measure is the grace.

It's the grace. The New Testament measure is the grace. Now the New Testament covenant is between the father and the son.

We said the Old Testament covenant was between God and man, but the New Testament covenant is between God, the father and God, the son. Men are not involved at all. And if we try to enter between God, the father and God, the son, we will ruin the covenant.

Don't stick your nose where it doesn't belong. The father demands, and the son says, Amen. Everything the father demanded, the son fulfilled.

Till the death of the cross, he fulfilled it all. And he said, it is finished. It is complete.

It is done. I've done it all, dad. Since the covenant is between the father and the son, the father is always faithful.

So as the son, always faithful. And the Lord Jesus said it, the cup which my father gave me, do I not drink it? Of course I will drink it. Let it be your will, my dad, not my will.

He drank the cup of death and died on the cross, fulfilling every law and every word the father demanded of the son. Now this measure is the only perfect one out of all the other measures. You know, we said innocence and the garden.

We said the conscience. We said the governments. We said the patriarchs.

We said the law. All of them failed except the sixth measure, the measure of grace. It is the only perfect measure because the covenant is between the father and the son.

Both parties are faithful forever. That's why the covenant of the New Testament stands forever. So now the question is, how do we enter the new covenant? Well, the reply comes from the Lord Jesus and says, on one condition only, you are able to enter the new covenant of the New Testament.

You have to say this, Lord, I deny myself and I choose to live in you for you. I no longer live for myself, but I'm living for you, Lord. I no longer wish to do it my way, Lord.

I want to do it your way, Lord. The new covenant, the only way we enter it is when we deny ourselves and say with St. Paul, I live, but not I, but it is Christ who lives in me. I live no longer, but it is Christ who lives in me.

So how do we enter the New Testament covenant? When we deny ourselves and say, Christ, you do it the way you choose in me, no longer me, but you Lord, that's the way you enter the new covenant. Now, why do you think the church got divided? Because certain church leaders did not do it Christ's way. They did it their way.

They ruined the covenant. That's why the church is in turmoil. And the ultimate reason, one of the main, not the only one, but one of the main reason why the church was divided, it was because of the throne.

Everybody said my throne is first. I'm supreme. It's not about you, my dear leader.

It is about the Lord. The covenant is not between Christ and you. It is between the father and the son.

Leave them alone. Don't try and squeeze yourself in between because you will ruin this covenant because none of us are faithful. It is only Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the only perfect man that was faithful to the divine.

Jesus as the man was the only and is the only and will always be the only human being that was faithful, loyal to God as a human, perfect as God. That's why the covenant is perfect. What we need to do to be saved.

I come, I bow before the Lord Jesus and say, Lord, do in me as you please. This measure, the grace saved the thief that was crucified alongside the Lord Jesus. Saved him.

The first man ever enters paradise was a thief. He was good for nothing. He was absolutely nailed on the cross, dying and going to hell forever.

But this grace saved the worst of the worst of people from sinner to a saint, from someone dead to a living, from a slave to the son, from someone going to hell, he ended up going to heaven. That is the grace, my beloved. The New Testament covenant asks us one thing only.

I want your will. The Lord Jesus says, give me your will. The New Testament covenant asks every single one of us one thing.

Give me your will. When the disciples came, approached the Lord Jesus and they said, Lord, can you teach us on how to pray? He taught them what we call the Lord's prayer. You'll find it in Matthew 6, 9 and Luke 11, 3. He says, every time you pray, you say, our father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done.

Why? Because the will is one of the most powerful tools God ever gave the human being. This will, you can say no, even to God. You can stop God from entering into your life.

If you say no to God, he will never force himself in your life because if he forces it, then he is seen as a thief. Only thieves break in, but the owner comes through the front door. Christ is the owner and he can never accept to come through the window or the roof or the back door.

It is either the front door with the key in his hand or it is nothing. He can never be found a thief and the only way Christ will enter as the owner when you give him the ownership, when you give him your will. A little story.

This man slept in the dream. He found himself owning a massive mansion and while he's sitting in this mansion enjoying it, there was a knock at the door. He gets up, he's the owner of the house.

Usually the owner opens the door. So he opens the door and there was Satan in front of him. Satan comes in, bashes him up and leaves.

After a short while, he wakes up and then he starts thinking. Satan walked in and bashed me up and left so easily. I must be doing something wrong.

So now, sorry, I'll rewind. I'm getting old. He's sitting in his mansion.

There was a knock at the door. He gets up, opens the door. It is the Lord Jesus first.

The Lord Jesus, he doesn't realize it's a dream. He thinks it's reality. So he sees the Lord.

Oh Lord, you came with your own feet to my front doorstep. I can't believe it how blessed, how fortunate I am. He falls at his feet.

Lord, Lord, Lord, please come on in, come on in, come on in. So the Lord comes in. This man is on top of the world with joy and happiness.

He doesn't know what to do. So from that happiness, he says, Lord, come with me, please. He takes the Lord upstairs, the top floor.

He says, Lord, I'm gonna give you this room. This room, it is yours and it is the biggest room in the entire house. The Lord Jesus is very simple, humble Lord.

He says to him, thank you, son. You gave me the biggest room. So the man goes downstairs and sits.

A few minutes later, the knock at the door. He gets up, opens the door. It is Satan.

Satan walks in, bashes him up and leaves. He gets up. He says, hang on.

The Lord Jesus is in my house and Satan was allowed to bash me up and leave and the Lord didn't stop him. I must be doing something wrong. So he runs upstairs.

He says, Lord, please forgive me. The entire top floor is yours. He says, thank you, son.

He goes down. He's sitting. There is a knock at the door, opens the door.

Satan is there, walks in, bashes the daylight out of him and leaves with nobody stopping him. He gets up. He says, no, no, this is not happening.

I can't believe it. I gave the top floor to the Lord. Why didn't he come to the rescue? He goes to the Lord.

Lord, please forgive my ignorance, my foolishness. The entire house is yours and I am your servant, Lord. The Lord says, thank you, son.

Now, who is the owner now? The Lord Jesus. A few minutes later, there was a knock at the door. Who normally opens the door? The owner.

Who is the owner now? Jesus Christ of Nazareth. So it is only normal for the Lord to get up and open the door. So the Lord goes and opens the door.

Satan sees it is Jesus Christ of Nazareth standing there. He fled like a little mouse. That house is you.

When you invite Christ, are you inviting him as someone who is passing by? You know what? I'll give you a room for a couple of nights. Is that okay, Lord? Because I'm too busy for you. But I'm already generous, Lord.

I allowed you two days of the week to be in my house. But please, you need to move on. I have friends, cousins.

I have to attend to my own affairs. I don't have the time. Two days is enough.

Someone will come and say, Lord, isn't two hours more than enough a week for you? Every time I go to this good-looking bishop, Murray, his preaching is three hours. I said to you, Lord, I'm going to give you two. If he preaches more than two, I'm walking away, Lord.

That's it. Tough luck. Is the Lord invited? Is the Lord, when he enters this house, you, does he have only a small portion of this house? If he has a small portion, the enemy will bash you up until you give the whole house to Jesus Christ.

And that's the truth. He is the owner anyway. But he wants you to do it willingly.

Give me your will and let me be free. Don't say, Lord, I'll give you when it feels good, but I'm too afraid or I'm not ready for you. See, like, Lord, if I give you my will entirely, I won't be able to go to Star City Casino anymore.

I won't be able to sniff that white powder anymore. I won't be able to watch pornography anymore. I won't be able to drink and be drunk to the core anymore.

I won't be able to dance and to go with this girl and that girl and everyone under the sun anymore. I can't drive fast with the subwoofer anymore. I'm afraid that I'm not ready for you, Lord.

That's why I'm going to give you my life in drips and drops doesn't work. No wonder we've been going to church for ages, but there is no change, no real tangible change. You know why? Because when we entered, we didn't give all of us to Christ.

We gave him a couple of hours only. The Lord is the rightful owner. Don't treat him as the tenant.

That's why every church leader is a tenant working in the house of the landlord, Jesus Christ. We are tenanted. He's the owner.

I can't do whatever I want. I can only do what Christ commands me to do. Your will, my child, I want it.

Are you willing to deny yourself and follow Christ or are you willing not? You need to choose between the two. Are you willing to follow him or are you willing not to follow him? Which one is it? Halfway doesn't work. One hour for you, one hour for Satan doesn't work.

One hour I praise, one hour I swear doesn't work. One hour in the church, another hour in the club doesn't work. One hour with Christ, one hour with Satan never works.

It is either all Christ or nothing. Remember this always, my beloved. Remember this always.

The thief who was crucified next to Christ definitely was going to hell 100%. Yet grace saved him from imminent death and brought him into eternal life, my beloved. One other thing, grace is not an earthly blessing but rather heavenly.

You see, the law, the Old Testament, on the other hand, says if you walk straight, meaning if you obey God's law and you walk straight in his path, the law says I will bless you if you walk straight. Now grace says if you walk straight before God you will be persecuted. Your blessing is persecution, grace.

The Old Testament law says if you walk straight you'll be blessed. I'll bless your home, I'll bless your family, I'll bless your livelihood, I'll bless everything you have. But the New Testament law, grace, says if you walk straight before God you'll be stabbed, you'll be persecuted.

Look at Saint Paul writing his epistle to his disciple Timothy. Second Timothy 3.12. Look at this. Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.

I'll say it again. Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer. Will meaning there is no two ways about it.

You will suffer persecution and there is no escape from that. Why? Because as Christians, as followers of Christ, we do not live for this world. The world hated the Lord and will hate those who follow the Lord.

That's why we are persecuted. You bring any religion on the surface, not a problem. You talk about Jesus Christ, all hell breaks loose.

Why? Because the ruler of this world is Satan. That's a fact. Please, if anybody thinks there is no spiritual realm, they're mistaken.

If they think there is no hell, they're mistaken. If they think there is no Satan, no foul spirits, please do yourself a favor. Wake up.

Satan is real. Ugly as poisonous, as deceiver, as the father of all lies. The Lord said it.

I mean, look at the world. You could see the fruits of Satan vividly clear. Hatred, envy, jealousy, division, destruction, killing, bloodshed, lying, you name it.

That is the world. Why? Because it is ruled by someone who is all of these things and much more. But when you come to Christ, love, light, construction, holiness, purity, humility, tolerance, all beautiful things.

Why? Because that's who Christ is. If we live in self-denial on earth, we will remain in the covenant of grace. If you want to live, follow Christ.

If you don't want to live, walk away from Christ. It's very simple. And how do we choose whether we follow him or walk away from him? The will.

The new covenant, the grace says, give me your will. Just give it. Don't be afraid.

But why we don't sometimes? Because Satan is fighting us. He's trying to stop us because he knows the moment we give our will to Christ, he's lost us. His business is going downhill.

It's no longer profitable. He's losing profit. His business will go bankrupt.

Therefore, he will do anything and everything to stop you from coming to Christ. The moment you start getting closer to Christ, the friends who were friends are your enemies. The closest people to you don't want to talk to you anymore.

They call you names now. They say, you must be sick. You're a lunatic.

What happened to you? You've changed. For God's sake, what are you doing to yourself? Wake up. Where is that good old friend of ours? We don't recognize him anymore.

Don't listen to the lies of Satan spoken through people. Don't go against people and start retaliating. Pray for those people.

It is Satan who is doing it all. So when people start calling you names, bless them. When people start talking behind your back, pray for them.

When people start stabbing you in the back, forgive them, for they do not know what they're doing, says the Lord. But you continue walking. Never look back, my child.

Remember, we were all in the pig's field, swimming in the filth of this world. It is the Good Shepherd, Christ the King, took me out of that filth, cleansed me, made me whiter than snow with his own precious blood, which he shed on the cross on Calvary, and out of slavery made me the son to the Almighty God. Nothing is worth it in this world.

Don't ever lose eternity for a moment of pleasure in this realm. Don't. The sixth measure, the covenant of the grace, is called the kingdom of Christ and his patience.

The sixth measure, the new covenant of the New Testament, the grace, it is called the kingdom of Christ and his patience. We need to be patient. Why? Because we will encounter persecution in this world the moment we allow Christ to be king over our life.

Because the world doesn't want Christ, since Satan is the ruler of the world. Doesn't want Christ. But the seventh measure, when will the seventh measure take place? On the second return of Christ.

The eternal life is the seventh measure. When we be with him in the Father's house, in the kingdom of God, the Father's house, forever and ever and evermore. That is the seventh measure.

And on the seventh day, God rested. God, he is the Father, and the Father will never rest until all of his children are in his presence, in his house, in his home, safe and sound. When will we be safe and sound? When Christ, the beloved Son, takes his bride, the church, and brings his church, the bride, into the Father's house, then the Father will say, finally I'm at rest, because my children made it back home.

I was concerned for their well-being, but now that they are home, they will never leave. Now I can rest. God's rest is not from work.

God's rest is when we are sin-free. That's the only time God will rest. God always works, and if he stops for a split second, everything ceases.

There will be no more life, no more existence, nothing. God always works, forever. But when does he rest? He is the Father, when my children are home.

My heart is comfortable now. Thank you, Son. Thank you, my beloved Son, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, for being loyal and faithful to your Heavenly Father.

Thank you, Son, for bringing them all back to me. You see, the former Adam lost them all, but the latter Adam, Jesus Christ, the faithful one of the Almighty God, brought all the lost back home. Thank you, Son, for making Dad at peace and at rest.

Thank you, Son. The seventh measure is the second return of Christ, and the seventh measure is called the kingdom of Christ and his glory. The sixth measure, the New Testament church, the time of grace, what is it called? The kingdom of Christ and patience.

The sixth measure is the kingdom of Christ and persecution. If you are patient and endure persecutions for the sake of your Lord Jesus, on his second return, he will give you his kingdom, but no longer persecution, but glory. He who is faithful till the end, I will give him the crown of life, Revelation 2.10. I will give you glory if you endure persecution for my sake on earth, like I did for your sake, like I did for your sake.

I will give you glory when I come back on my second return. This I guarantee for you. So the blessings of the new covenant is heavenly, not earthly.

But he who endures till the end, to the end, will be saved. But he who endures to the end will be saved, Matthew 24.13. If we remain patient now and endure persecutions for Christ's sake, when he returns, he will give us his glory and the kingdom of God, the Father's house forever and ever and evermore. Amen.

My beloveds, our father Noah, you know the great flood, the ark of Noah? Yes, you've heard the story? Well, if you've heard it, you better read the Holy Bible, please. So start reading the Holy Bible, please. I beg you.

You know, at the time of the great flood, our father Noah, he had three sons. In Aramaic, this is the way we pronounce them, Shem, Ham, and Yaft. I'll stick to the Aramaic pronunciation because that's more original.

Shem, Ham, and Yaft. Shem, Ham, and Yaft. This is in Syriac Aramaic.

At the time, there was three continents. Each one took one continent. Are you ready for this? Good, good, good.

Ham, Ham or Ham in Aramaic Syriac means the hot one. Ham means hot in Aramaic. So his name was hot.

Just like me, I'm hot. My name is Bishop Murray. I'm single and available.

I'm hot, you're not. Just kidding. I'm going to do it the American way.

I'm hot, you're not. Get down, brother. Lay me some skin, bro.

What's up? So anyway, see, that's how the hot people talk. Yo, what's up, brother? You got to make it like, you know, like a bit of a drop like this. You know, it's cool.

So anyway, so Ham or Ham means hot. So whose portion was Ham's? Africa. It's hot.

That's why they're dark skin. It's hot. Gave him Africa.

Now, Yaft gave him Europe. Shem gave him heaven. So Ham or Ham got the blessings, earthly blessings.

Yaft received earthly blessings. The descendants of Shem received heavenly blessings. He says, you will be like the stars of heaven.

Now, why? You see, Shem, from Shem came Abraham. And from Abraham came Jesus of Nazareth. But who is Shem? One of his sons, his name is Ashur, the Assyrian people.

Ashurai, the Assyrian people. Was one of his sons. Now, if you go back in the lineage of the Lord Jesus, he is really from the Assyrian nation.

If you take it further, if you take it all the way to Abraham, he's from the tribe of Judah, 100%. Who is Judah? One of the sons of our father Jacob. You see, Israel, that name is given to Israel from Jacob because Jacob's name was changed by that angel who is really the Lord Jesus.

When you read in book of Genesis, the angel that Jacob was struggling with all night long, that angel was not any angel. It was the Lord himself. So, who gave the name to Jacob? Who changed Jacob's name to Israel? The Lord, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the Lord.

He changed Jacob's name to Israel. Jacob had 12 sons. When he became Israel, the 12 sons ended up being the 12 tribes of Israel, the church of Christ of the Old Testament.

So now, if you take it back to Abraham, well, the Lord Jesus, the human side of him, he is born from the house of David, from the lineage of David, from the tribe of Judah, the lion of Judah. The lion, the king of the jungle, symbolically represents the king of all kings, Jesus Christ. Just like the lion is the king, Christ is the king of all kings.

So, he is from the tribe of Judah. He's a Jew. And that's where Jewish people came from, from Judah, Judaism, Jews.

So, he's a Jew. But where did Abraham come from? Shem, from the lineage of Shem, Assyrian. So, if you take it all the way back to Shem, the Lord Jesus came from the Assyrian nation, because the Israelite came from the Assyrian nation.

Abraham was in Babylon, Iraq, Mesopotamia. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the patriarchs, the fathers of the Israelite nation, but he came from Assyria, from Mesopotamia. He gave Shem heavenly blessing.

Why? Because Shem, that's where Christ will come from. And Christ's blessings is the covenant of the grace. His blessings are not earthly, they are heavenly.

That's why when you follow Christ, you'll receive persecution. He will bless you on earth, don't get me wrong. But, his ultimate blessing is heaven, not earth.

Because he says to all of us, earth is not for you. You are passing by. This is transit.

Don't build your home in a transit. You build your home where you belong, heaven. Now, look at this.

God gave Ham or Ham, the hot one, earthly blessings. All the continents now, where was given to Ham or Ham, they are rich with oil. They are rich with gold, with diamonds.

They are rich with so many beautiful minerals. Earthly blessings. Extremely rich.

That's why there is always wars in there. Everybody wants crude oil, wants red mercury. You know, red mercury is much more expensive than crude oil, much more.

Iraq sits on a sea of red mercury. Iraq is number one in diamonds and other minerals. But you know what he gave Yaft, Europe? What kind of blessing? He gave them the brain.

Europeans, they got the brain, baby. America has got the brain. You can't win with America, because they got the brain.

See, when you have the brain, you can control. But you see, the brain alone can be a curse. Because the brain can lead you to self-pride.

So the brain without God is wisdom. Wisdom alone can end up being evil. Wisdom without innocence is no wisdom.

Satan is wise, but Satan lacks something profoundly equal to wisdom called innocence. So since Satan lacks innocence and has only wisdom, then he is evil. Wisdom alone, evil.

Innocence alone, ignorance. Wisdom and innocence put together is the power of God. What is the cross? Wisdom and innocence.

The Holy Bible talks about the Lord Jesus in parallel lines. On one hand says he is the Lamb of God, on the other he is the lion. On one hand, the Lord Jesus said be innocent as a dove, but be wise as a serpent.

Serpent alone is wise, poisonous, evil, Satan. Innocence alone is ignorance. People will take you for a ride.

But when you put wisdom and innocence together, you get the cross. When people look at the cross from outside, they'll say, how can you worship somebody who was crucified and you call him God? How can you call this crucified person your Lord, your Savior, your Redeemer, your God? What kind of a God is this? That is weakness. You see, that's called ignorance.

And when a philosopher comes and says, that can't be God, he died on the cross. Wisdom is talking here, that is evil. But when I am saved, as Saint Paul says, but us the saved ones, the cross is the power of God.

Why? Why the power? Because when I look at the cross, I see what true love is all about. When will you give your life for someone else? When you love that someone else more than you, not equal to you. If you love someone equal to you, whatever they do, you'll do back.

But when you love someone more than you, you will give your life for them because you will see your own life is cheaper than theirs. When Christ died on the cross, he literally said to himself, my life is cheaper than yours, that's I gave it up for you. This is how much I love you.

True love is when you love the person more than you, not equal to you. That's when you will give your life up for them because they are more precious than your own life to yourself. That's why you give it up.

We see this in a very small minute portion on earth in parenthood. You see, God's love is reflected more so in parenthood more than any other rank. That is why mom and dads, please pay attention.

The highest rank on earth is not the Pope's, is the mother and the father. The father and the mother's rank surpasses the Pope's rank by a million miles because it is not out of the good Pope's good parents come, but out of good faithful parents, good Pope's and church leaders come. So the foundation to a successful church leader are the parents, mom and dad.

This is why when God gave the 10 commandments to Moses, he did not say to Moses, respect your bishop, respect your patriarch, respect your high priest, respect your Pope so I can bless you. He said, respect your father and mother so that I may bless you and give you life abundant. Why? Because the father and the mother on earth are the only ones that reflect me.

Are the only ones. And the Lord God revealed himself in the old testament as the father and as the mother. And in the new testament, every time you pray in the new testament, say our father, who is God's father.

You go to Isaiah, the Lord says in the book of Isaiah, if the mother forgets to breastfeed her babe, I will not forget you, says the Lord. He reveals himself as the mother, the provider, the mother provider, the father protector, parents. When the husband and wife get married, they have their first baby, their child comes along.

The mother and the father, but more so the mother sometime, most of the times is the mother, because mother, God gave her something that influences her called feelings and emotions. The female is influenced and driven by feelings and emotions. That's why she talks, never wants to be quiet.

The husband, the man is influenced by logic. Logic is short sentences. How are you? Okay.

Anything else? No. How was your day? Yeah. But you ask the woman, how was your day? Well, let me tell you this.

When I woke up at 735 in the morning, I knew I was going to have a bad day today. It just felt that way. And then after I washed my face and I changed and I had my breakfast, I left.

Guess what? On the way, the traffic was shocking. When I got to work, when this guy came and told me this, I got upset. I cried.

I did. By the time lunchtime came, I was on the edge. I just happened to make it after all these hours home.

Honey, I'm tired. I'm exhausted. I've had a terrible day.

Please cook dinner. I'm not doing anything. I'm going to rest on the couch.

What a newspaper. Like I was just saying, how was your day? You should have said just it was all right or was bad. That's it.

But no feelings and emotions. But the man is logic. Logic sometimes is dumb.

You want to eat something? Are you going to come? Doesn't talk. Actually, speaking of that, I'm going to tell you a joke now very shortly. But the father and the mother, when they have that baby, look at the love.

When the baby has a temperature, the mother goes crazy. I don't care what time it is. Two o'clock in the morning.

Husband, you just slept now after a long day. You were exhausted. I don't care.

You wake up. Now you go to hospital. This moment you take me to hospital.

My son, my daughter are sick. Now we go. I'm not waiting one more minute.

Now you don't want to be comfortable in that bed. It's winter. It's raining.

It's freezing. It is very cozy and very cuddly in that bed. No, no, no.

My comfort is the comfort of my child. I don't live for myself. I live for my baby.

But mother, have you thought about it for a second? All this hard labor, all the sacrifices? Have you thought about it? When this child grows older and becomes an adult, who says that they will respect all this love and sacrifices? Have you thought maybe they won't respect it? I don't care if they do or don't. All I care about, this is my life and I'm giving my life to my life. Why are you doing this, mom? Because I love the baby more than me.

But that's only on a minute scale. Because the Lord says, your parents, even though you are evil, you know how to give your children gifts. If your child asks you for a bread, will you give him a stone? If he asks for an egg, will you give him a scorpion? Yet you, even though you're evil, you still do good things.

You show mercy. How much more your Heavenly Father gives to those who ask of him? How much more? That's why Christ died on the cross to say, this is the true divine love. And no one will understand this until it's embedded in Christ.

An outsider will look at it as foolishness, but someone who is the child of God, by the grace of the Lord, will see it, the power of God, love. Amen. Now, speaking of men, look, I've heard a few comments said about the bishop.

The bishop, every time you say a joke, you always pick on women. Why don't you pick on men? Today, my daughters, is your day. Today, my daughters, is your day, your day, your day, baby.

What's up? All right, here's the joke. It's a joke. Okay, so men, please relax, you know.

A husband and wife were always fighting and arguing. And then the husband kept on complaining. He said, every time we would argue, I would end up with a massive headache.

The husband is saying to the wife, every time we argue, we fight, I end up with a massive headache. I can't handle it anymore. So, being a loving wife, being a loving wife, caring for her husband, she said, honey, I'm going to take you to the doctor, let them do an MRI.

I hope your brain, your head is fine. I just want to feel at ease and at peace. So, she took her husband to do the MRI.

He did the MRI, took the results to the doctor, and now they are sitting in front of the doctor, and the doctor is looking at the results, at the scans, and then his face is saying there is something wrong. So, now the husband gets more worried. And then he says to the doctor, doctor, you look troubled.

Is everything okay? He said, I don't know what to say, but not really. You've got a problem. Oh, ouch.

Come on, doctor, spell it out. What is it? The doctor replied, he said, listen, sir, you have a big problem. I found this issue.

The doctor stated the problem, that this is what the problem is. He says to the man, he said, sir, on your left side of the brain, there is nothing right. And on the right side of your brain, there is nothing left.

You know, left. Did he get it? He didn't laugh. I got excited, man.

Man, when I look on your right side, there is nothing left. When I look on your left side, there is nothing right. But when I look on your right side, there is nothing left.

Not as in left, but there is nothing, it's empty. So you've got a problem, man. Your head is empty.

I'll tell you one thing about the woman's brain and the man's brain, the difference, and I'll leave you with it, and you can go. The woman's brain is made out of many boxes. So is the man's brain made out of many boxes, with a difference.

The boxes in the woman's brain, they are all interconnected with one another. So there's one box feelings, the other box is talking, there's the other box, sad. So when you ask her about one box, she'll tell you all the boxes.

Because they're all linked. The man's brain is made out of many boxes, but none of them are linked. Each totally independent to the other.

There is another difference, there is one box in the man's brain that is absent in the woman's brain. This box in the man's brain is called the empty box. Now what is the empty box? It's my daughter, when you see your husband gone silent on you.

And then you're looking for him everywhere, and you see him sitting on the couch playing video games. And then you get fumed up, like you see me everywhere, washing, cleaning, cooking. And you're sitting so relaxed, it is the Emirates first class seat.

You're sitting there and watching TV and playing games. Get up husband, he will give you the coolest look ever. And then he'll just go back so calmly again to his video game.

You are a volcano, and he is quiet and cool as a cucumber. Until you trigger him and send him to the box of anger, and then daughter, it is World War III. When you see him silent, leave him, enjoy the moment.

He is living in his empty box. Poor guy doesn't mean it. He's just being honest.

Just wanted to make you laugh. Okay, stop arguing, love one another. And that's it.

Let us stand for the finale prayer, please. In the name of the Father and of the Son of the Holy Spirit, one God, Amen. Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is doubt, faith.

Where there is despair, hope. Where there is darkness, light. Where there is sadness, joy.

Oh, divine master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console. To be understood as to understand. To be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive. It is in pardoning that we are pardoned. It is in dying that we are born again to eternal life.

Amen. May the Lord Jesus bless you, guard you and protect you all the days of your life now and forevermore. Amen.

Go in peace, the peace of Christ be with you always, my beloved. God bless.