Praise the Lord!!
It is a joy to meet you again through this episode.
Last week we saw that grace is a loyal covenant and on the basis of the Scriptures,
I said that we should not misuse this loyal covenant.
I don't know how to tell the title of today's episode – I'll read what is said in the Scriptures –
The title is 'How to trample the Lord Jesus Christ?' ie., how to stamp on Christ the God with my feet?
You may think that this is controversial. The Scripture says so and you would understand this when I read the verse as it is.
This is seen in Hebrews 10: 19-29: Let me read the 10 verses and then you would understand
whether what I am going to tell you is right or wrong –
Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus,
by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh,
and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith,
having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
What wonderful words that tell how we should be! Since God has given us a new way,
we should be with a heart sprinkled from an evil conscience and a body washed with pure water.
Our body should also be cleansed along with our heart. Our heart should be true and in faith.
This passage thus begins by telling that we should be with this assurance.
Next we see, Hebrews 10:23: Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering,
for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works,
not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another,
and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
How should we be stirred up? First I said that the heart should be clean.
The Bible says King Jesus has given us a new way and since the covenant has been made by His blood,
we need to cleanse the heart, cleanse the body and should be stirred up in love and good works.
We should gather whenever there is assembly. Then we should exhort one another.
For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth,
there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,…
Today I have been saved in Jesus and God has told me how I should live once I have come into Him.
If we sin now willfully, there would no longer be any sacrifice except the King Jesus.
Let me read it again: For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth,
there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins but a certain fearful expectation of judgment,
and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.
Anyone who has rejected Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot,
counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?'
Just think awhile! These are the verses from Hebrews 10:19-29.
Let me give this as a hint from a verse which is very important.
I don't know who wrote the Book of Hebrews. But it could be said for certain that this is given by the Holy Spirit.
Today when I want to give a sacrifice for my sins, King Jesus became a sacrifice for my sake and has done everything for me.
There is no doubt about this. He carried away the sins of the world – all the past and future sins of everyone.
After this, how does God want us to be? He has borne our sins and He has a demand –
I have carried it away; now you should do one thing. How should we be?
We should be cleansed in the heart and keep on purifying it.
The Lord does not ask us to commit sin and does not say,
you may fall into the lust of the world since you are facing temptation again and again.
Rather He says, Keep cleansing your heart'. Similarly the Lord wants us to keep cleansing our body too.
When we keep doing this do you know what fruit we would give next?
When a man truly keeps cleansing his heart and body, he would be actually stirred up to do good works and give love
– where to go and help? I have plenty of money. I have lot of power. I have lands. I have people. I have talents.
What help should I do to the people? He would be thus stirred up. He would be stirred up when the assembly gathers.
He would want to help the people in the assembly.
That day when the Jews lived under the laws of Moses, if someone committed a sin or wrong
and if there were two or three witnesses testifying against that man,
he would be stoned to death since these witnesses have borne witness against him.
This is what the Bible says. Here the Lord says, Anyone who rejected Moses' law died without mercy
on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot,
counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?.
What does this mean? There was a great punishment in the times of Moses when the laws were misused.
Now God says, I gave you grace. I made a loyal covenant with you.
But you insulted the Spirit of grace and have trampled the Son of God who shed His blood
and gave us the covenant and so just think what would be your state for doing this?
we should understand that the Bible also says that we should not sin.
There is no other sacrifice for your sins except King Jesus.
Once you have come into Jesus, you would get these thoughts only when you go towards holiness.
Only then we would feel like reading about this.
Only when we think, What is holiness? Holiness should be explored. It should be attained and so on,
we would truly want to come out of this world.
Firstly, we would think, let me not spend much time in whatsapp.
We may be spending nearly five hours in Facebook.
We would start feeling that it is not good to spend the time in such unnecessary way
and we would come out of it. We may be chatting with friends and roaming around with them unnecessarily.
Then we would think of stopping this. Next we would have been interacting with certain communities, friends and so on.
We would stop that gradually. At home we would be watching TV the worst thing of all – worse than cell phone.
We would cut off the TV. A man, who thus tries to come out of the world by cutting off such things one by one,
is the one who tries to explore holiness. He wants to be holy. I should not see this. Anyway it is a vain thing.
Whatever it is, cell phone, youtube, pornography, cinema, romantic flicks – it feeds the eyes with lust.
I want to proceed in holiness. In that case why should I need this?
– He would thus desire to head towards holiness. He alone would get the reward. Why?
Because he desires to attain holiness. Is there any other book, except the Bible,
- the Quran or Bhagavad-Gita- that talks about holiness? There are so many gods, statues, idols, and religions in the world.
Does any god or book say that you should live holy?
The so called god enters into two marriages and the god of Islam gives sex when one enters heaven.
What else does he give? Just think. When you examine the religions around you, you would automatically know this.
Yahweh, the God of Israel is the only God who speaks about holiness. Praise the Lord.
How are we worthy to even pronounce His name? It is grace.
He has made a covenant with me. That's why I am able to tell, His name is Yahweh. The God of Israel is a Holy God.
So He would expect only holiness from us. What does the Lord tell the one who does not travel in this way?
You repeatedly commit sin and fall. It means that you are trampling King Jesus under your feet.
You are insulting the Spirit of grace. We should think of this seriously.
This is not said by me and I have not taken it from anywhere. It is the Bible that says this.
Open your Bible and see it. You can see it in Hebrews 10:19-29 from your mobile.
Verse 29 says this. Let me read it one more time: Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose,
will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot,
counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing,
and insulted the Spirit of grace? Think over this. There is no other way.
Christian path is not an easy one. It is not easy to live as a Christian.
It is as difficult as the camel going through the eye of the needle.
Today, we have not even thought about going in the holy way. We have not even begun it.
Having taken the first step in Christianity we think that we have taken the last step in it.
First, come into holiness. Think what should be done to walk in holiness.
Sit as a family – sit as husband and wife. Youngsters, think about it - why do I fall into sin? How to overcome it?
Think. I tell you again: Sin can be overcome. God will help.
He never says, Do sin. But the fact is that you may not sin at all;
yet you are still a sinner because we are sinners right from the womb of our mother.
You cannot go to heaven with your righteousness.
I remember the things that God has done for me – He made me righteous and I am confirming it in this world and nothing else.
Could it be holiness if we watch TV for four hours or so, listen to a good prosperity gospel on Sundays
and talk only positive things for a week saying, I am His son, His nation, His holy generation?
Could this be edifying? Just think deeply.
A holy God is watching you – what does he do? Why is he doing it? and so on.
Days are short. So let us live holy in these short days.
The Bible clearly says, Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth.
Has the Lord ever said in any place, You can live holy only when you become old. So you may remember Me that day?
The Bible clearly tells on how a young man could keep himself clean? By the Word of God.
Every day when he reads the Word, it would speak to him;
he would live a separated life from the world; he would not watch cinema or TV;
would not tell lies; would not gossip; would not be proud
but be humble doing his things without centering on the 'I' saying,
I want to do ministry, I should conduct this; I should do the business.
He would lead a morally good life saying that he should be holy in this world given by the Lord.
God would be watching him. He would give him the due reward at the right time and keep lifting him up.
Don't we have the desire to be so? Suppose, you love someone dearly – your lover or husband
or wife or mother or father or anyone whom you like - , how would you want to please them?
Or may be someone likes you. Your child or wife or husband may love you dearly.
What should they do to please you? They should listen to your words.
Today, if I want to please God, first of all I should listen to His Words.
Such a life alone is a true life. In no other place of the Bible has it been ever said, You may commit sin.
Not in one place! The Lord just says, Go towards holiness. Today we do not enter into it.
In that case our walk would not be straight.
The day when I do not walk in the platform called holiness in my Christian or spiritual life,
it means that I am wandering somewhere and I would keep falling down. Nothing can be done.
Live holy. Do you know what it means when you sin and do not live holy?
Hebrews 10:29. Keep this episode 24 in your mind. How much worse is it to trample the Lord Jesus under the feet?
I am trampling the Son of God, by doing sin, by insulting Him, by keeping the heart and body unclean,
by not getting stirred up for love and good works, by ignoring Him, and by insulting the Spirit of grace.
When telling about this, we may not feel the impact much.
Finally it is said, Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy…
When I say this you may even think, O.K what if I trample on the Son of God. He will forgive me…..
In the Bible we can clearly see how we should live. Let us see a few verses in the Bible and close this.
Trampling the Son of God under the feet is wrong and he, who sins, tramples on Him. This is the truth.
Hebrews 12:11 says, Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful;
nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
Likewise Psalm 86:5 says, For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, And abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You.
Yet another verse in Hebrews 12:4 says, You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin.
Hebrews 12:14 says, Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.
If someone comes and tells you that he has seen Jesus but his life is not proper,
you can conclude that he, who says so without a holy life is telling a lie.
His grace is our worth and nothing else. Today it is not my talent or my holiness. It is His grace.
Yet only when I abide in holiness, I do not misuse this grace. Here is a true incident that happened in Africa.
Once, a pastor was going to do his ministry and there was a heavy rain.
The pastor said to God, I am going for ministry. I have to go through dense forest. So protect me from rain.
The rain almost stopped and there was only a drizzle. He thanked God and kept walking.
Again there was a heavy downpour and he was drenched and somehow he finished his ministry in that wet state.
He then returned home in the rains and everyone came rushing out to welcome him.
They started asking him if he was alright and said that they were scared that something would have happened to him.
He said, I prayed for the rain to stop. I thought God would stop it. But it was not so.
But there was no thunder and I didn't catch any fever. I am good.
But his mother said, We are not talking about it. After you left a few people came to kill you and followed you.
Since there was a heavy rain and the trees fell down, they could not follow the direction in which you were going.
Or else they would have killed you. Only then he thanked God profusely.
Today we ask something from God. But God would make us understand certain things – how His love is.
That is His vast and extensive love. There is a vast difference between His plan and ours.
Let us live without trampling God under our feet.
Let us not insult the Spirit of grace.
Only he, who lives such a life, can be well.
Those who do not live this life should think about what would happen as said in Hebrews 10:29.
Let us pray: Thank You loving God. Loving heavenly Father, thank You for this time.
Loving Lord, we saw how it would be if we trample the Son of God under our feet.
We should not do this Father. Please forgive us if we do this.
On many occasions because of weakness we commit sins and cause hurts and use wicked words.
Change all these habits O Father. We commit ourselves to be good sons/daughters who bear fruits in God
and good friends in the Christian circle by yielding to one another and live happily with the faith
God will take care of all our problems. Bless the people who heard this message O King.
Let none of them, including me, ever trample the Son of God. If we do so, it is woe to us Lord.
Help us to live a good life, without trampling the Son of God.
Give us a good life where You expect our inner and outer side to be clean
and for us to get stirred up for love and good works.
Thank You Father for giving these.
We pray in the name of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, O Father – Amen
Amen.
Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord!
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