01. Grace is superior to Law By Zac Poonen

so our human nature is such that we will never refuse anything that we know is good for us never even little children they know something is good for them they rotate it you know one of the great things that parents have to teach their children the things that are good for them if they can be convinced for example if you can convince them that studying hard in school is good for them in the long run you won't have to force them to study the difficult thing is for them to believe that it is good for them it's more important to do well in your studies then go out and play games so and it's very difficult for adults also to know what is really good for them but once we have convinced that something is good for us nobody has to urge us to do that or seek after that so I'm you know I've been a Christian now for 58 years I gave my life to Christ when I was 20 years old nearly 20 and I'm an extremely happy man because I find that everything God does is for our good so I can't understand why people don't choose it why do people choose things which make their life unhappy and miserable and I mean I have seen through the years that any amount of money is never going to make you happy that's that what is true the things that the Bible says are absolutely right so I find that my great burden is to get people to see that following the teachings of Jesus is for your good it's not for bad you know once when a rich young ruler came to Jesus and called him good master do you remember what Jesus said or do you say this what you call me good there is no one good but God now we know there are many people who are good on earth and we say so it was a good man that's a good sister but when God Jesus said there's no one good but God what he meant was there's no one as good as God absolutely no one that means everything he desires for us is not just good but for our very best so once we understand that he will really try to understand God's laws i I think of man created by God like a gadget made by a manufacturer for example if somebody has made a washing machine or a dishwasher when you buy it is an expensive gadget it comes with a little instruction booklet say this is what you must do and don't do this before you do this they must press this button before you press that button and nobody will ever think of changing that nobody will ever think well I know better than the manufacturer and I can do it we never do that with any earthly gadget because we will spoil it so I believe the Bible is like manufacturers instructions but God is written this product called man how will he function perfectly it's like how will that washing machine function perfectly just open the manufactures instructions do exactly like that it will work perfectly so if I open this book and say Lord I want to do it exactly like you say your this product your life will work perfectly your marriage will work perfectly your children you'll be able to bring them up perfectly everything why does it Manchus it why do people choose another way where so many problems in every one of these areas and if we could convince young people nowadays and our children from childhood that if you follow all the teachings of God's Word it'll go well with you you know the first commandment for children is honor your father and mother obey your parents because it will go well with you so I tell parents when you are teaching and forcing your children to obey you it's because you want it to go well with them as they grow up I want it to go well with my children that's why I compel them to know the Scriptures and to obey their parents or bears because then I knew it'll go well with them and I've seen it happen so that is the first thing we must be convinced about that everything God has said is for our good and the Old Testament there is a word in Deuteronomy and chapter 33 and this is a word which is you know sometimes the Hebrew language has got different translations for some words so sometimes if it's got a different meaning in the margin of your Bible it will be written that this is what the original Hebrew says so here is a word in Deuteronomy and chapter 33 and he's talking about how the Lord came down on cyanides with Moses and the Lord came down from Sinai Deuteronomy 33 verse 2 and the last part of that verse it says at his right hand and here in the margin of my Bible says there was a fiery law some translation says the flashing lightning God gave Moses on the mountain of fiery law that means a very burning hot law and it says in the next words what does that prove that proves that he loves the people that's a very interesting connection between those two sentences a fiery law that means a law with a very high standard oh that proves that he loves the people why do we give some very strict instructions to our children about certain things because we love them we want the best for them we don't want them to mess up their life to different things so they're good parents are very strict about certain things so it's like that with God he gave up fiery law because he loved the people now when you come to the New Testament and Jesus said certain things about Commandments in the New Testament and the New Testament was higher than the Old Testament in terms of standard and one verse that highlights that is Hebrews in Hebrews and chapter three it's comparing Jesus with Moses Hebrews chapter three comparing the New Testament with the Old Testament and in the first verse he talks about Jesus is our Apostle and high priest whereas the Old Testament it was Moses and he compares it by saying verse three the last part the builder of a house has got more honor than the house isn't that right an architect if you look at admire a building you say who is the architect he's got more honor than the building itself so he says that's the difference between Jesus and Moses Moses was just part of his house that Jesus is the Builder so the New Testament standard is higher than Moses we read in John chapter 1 also it's very important to understand this you know like I said at the beginning if you know that something is good for you you will choose it it's because the devil somehow tells us this is not good for you then we are hesitant to choose it but once you have convinced that this is really the best for you you will run to have it and God has convinced me about that I will tell you many years ago when I was a young man God convinced me about one thing that if I follow everything that is taught in the New Testament it'll go extremely well with my life in every area and it has gone well very well it's gone well in our married has gone well with all our four children I just said Lord I'm just a living proof that what you read said in your word is true and all of you must be as you grow older and you know will come to my age you should be a living testimony in your life that I have obeyed God's laws and it is the very best that's why it's gone well so in John chapter 1 in verse it says in verse 17 the law again a contrast between Moses and Jesus Christ the Old Testament in the New Testament the law which was the Old Testament was given by Moses that's everything written in the Old Testament grace was given through Jesus Christ so is grace superior to the law yes how much superior very easy to say that as much superior as Jesus is to Moses if you can see how much higher Jesus the Creator who is Jesus the creator of the universe who is Moses a created human being can you imagine the difference between the creator and the created that is the difference between New Testament and Old Testament but very few people understand that very few people even Christians the Old Testament was primarily dealing with earthly things all the blessings promised in the Old Testament are earthly all the curses are earthly God told Israel if you obey me I will bless you with so many earthly things I'm trying to contrast law and grace difference between Moses and Jesus it's very important to understand this because I'll tell you this most Christians are living at Old Testament level that's why their lives are miserable it's like you know supposing you live today in the standard of the Stone Age people where you don't have electricity they don't have a car and those things they didn't even have wheels even the wheel was a great invention so the skinny man and how people lived in the Stone Age living in rocks and caves and having to for rub stones to start a fire and who would want to go back to that level of life they didn't even couldn't even ride horses those days and today we have cars and airplanes and all who would want after experiencing this life to go back to that old life all of you came to Gulf countries to earn more money so that you could improve your standard of living for yourself and your children good and what a lot of effort people make in India to go through agents and try again and again and again and again just to get a job in the god imagine if we could realize that there's nothing wrong it is very good to you know to be able to improve the standard of living for our children but think if we have the same desire spiritually and I want to improve the standard of life for myself and my children spiritually just like I wanted to improve it financially and materially how much effort I made to do it why not make at least half that effort to improve our life spiritually to make a lot of difference if you do that let me show you in Deuteronomy in the Old Testament and chapter 28 we can say I would say the autonomy 28 is the Old Testament gospel this is the gospel that Moses taught in the Old Testament very clear everything was earthly heaven is not even mentioned here overcoming sin no mention what is the blessings of God that he gives in the Old Testament if you obey God says all that I command you these are the blessings Deuteronomy 28 - which will overtake you one will be blessed in the city you'll be blessed in the country your children will be blessed to us for and those days they had cattle and all that your cattle will be blessed and they had farm have farms and their farms their baskets and and they'll be blessed when they come in there less when they go out and their earthly enemies verse 7 will be defeated see this is a big theme in the Old Testament she read in the Psalms also many times David says Lord smite my enemies don't let them win over me so defeating your enemies earthly enemies was a very big thing in the Old Testament throughout the Old Testament if God blessed Israel they would defeat their enemies that mean enemies means what the Syrians and the ammonites and the Moabites and the Canaanites were their enemies and the blessing of God was you would defeat your enemies verse 7 and the blessing of God was 8 was verse 8 was God will bless your business and you'll be a special people and people verse 10 will be afraid of you and you abound in prosperity verse 11 this is the prosperity gospel there is a prosperity gospel in the Bible only thing it is in the Old Testament that's all I say prosperity gospel is not something new it is there in the Bible but is in the Old Testament and not only prosperity but it says here about the Lord blessing the work of your hands and you will be on top of all the nations of the earth it says here you will be the head verse 13 and not the tail if you obey God and then it says here in verse 15 onwards the curse that will come if you disobey if you disobey God then you'll be cursed and cursed verse 16 and 17 and 18 and 19 cursed cursed cursed cursed and what are the courses that you'll have the Lord will make pestilence pestilence means some serious sickness verse 21 will cling to you you'll have fever verse 22 inflammation and heat and you'll get verse 27 boils and tumors and itch you cannot be healed so the Old Testament curse was you cannot be healed all types of sicknesses but if you obey God you'll be blessed so there are two things we have in the Deuteronomy 20th one is wealth and the other is health and every human being in the world wants health and wealth so what God promised Israel in the Old Testament that's Moses now the Bible says Jesus came with something better than Moses now you can say what can be better than physical health and material wealth every beggar every millionaire wants physical health and material wealth everybody there's not a human being in the world who doesn't want it you want it I want it I mean we're not probably so interested in material wealth but we're all interested in health certainly what is it that Jesus can give he said we saw that Moses only created and Jesus Jesus the Creator and Moses only created being and what Moses brought Jesus brought something far better under grace what is it what can be better than material wealth and physical health you ask the average person in the world is he I don't know so what can be better in the world that material prosperity and physical health as the greatest blessing God can ever give and that is what many many Christians are seeking they call it a gospel it is a gospel good news but it is an Old Testament gospel it is the gospel of Moses not the gospel of Jesus Christ because if you read in the New Testament there is not a single place where Jesus said if you obey me you will have all these things you'll never get sick plenty of money never never never so but yet he says what Moses brought was so inferior to what Jesus brought then you need to ask yourself what is this that Jesus brought which is far superior to material wealth and physical health that's what we need to understand law embrace Moses brought the law Jesus brought grace and when you hear it you'd say it's not all that great let me tell you two things the Bible says about what grace brings grace is not an Old Testament word if you take a concordance the concordance is a book which lists all the places where a particular word comes in the Old Testament or it's like grace or mercy or love the concordance will give you a big list of all the verses where that word comes so you take a concordance and look for the word grace you can hardly find it in the Old Testament law you will find plenty of places grace you'll find so many times in the New Testament because it's a New Testament word and that's what we read earlier in John 1 that the law came through Moses but grace came through Jesus Christ so what is Grace bring I told you what the law brings plenty of money good help now grace brings I tell you do things that grace brings one is in Ephesians in chapter one Ephesians chapter one and verse seven we have the forgiveness of our trespasses that means what we did wrong we are forgiven according to the riches of His grace so the first thing that grace gives us is the forgiveness of our sins that's very important to understand that now the average person in the world if you tell him that forgiveness of sins is better than being a millionaire he can't believe it I mean even among many Christians they don't believe that forgiveness of sins is better than being a millionaire but Old Testament said I'll make you give you plenty of money and the New Testament says I'll forgive all your sins which is better the second thing that grace gives us one is forgiveness of sins the second thing that the grace that Jesus bring gives us is in Romans 6 verse 14 Romans 6:14 it says because you are not under law which Moses brought but you're under grace that Jesus bought sin cannot rule over you so the first blessing is that your past sin will be forgiven the second blessing is in future sin will not rule over you so there's a blessing for the past passing for the future that's what grace does past sin all forgiven in the future sin that ruled you all your life will not rule you any more so we can say that sin is like the sickness of the Old Testament in the Old Testament they were told that sickness will not be in your body in the New Testament it says sin will not rule over you so I told you in the beginning we will always seek what is good for us we know that sickness is not good for us that's why we spend hundreds of thousands of rupees sometimes just to get treatment first to be free from cancer or some terrible sickness but I don't know how eager we are to be free from sin unless you until you see that sin is a million times worse than sickness you'll never seek to be free from it and most people haven't understood that they think of sin like a weakness sickness is really bad but a weakness if my hand is not so strong so just here is thing but sickness is bad but sin is not a weakness sin is worse than sickness see there are people who have cancer and even AIDS who can go to heaven if they believe in Jesus Christ but you can't go to heaven with sin so which is worse we need to see life from the pressed perspective of eternity one mark of children is they don't think much about the future when they are 3-4 years old and they're only interested in what can make me happy right now some toy or something they want badly would you know that is for very short time I mean a three-year-old if you give him a two thousand rupee note he just throw it away it doesn't have any value for it because he's three years old he'd rather have some 10 rupee toy more important for him but that's exactly how man is because that three-year-old child can only think of that small circle in which toys are more important than 2,000 rupee notes and the same way see as human beings most people are so short-sighted we just think of this life and don't really think of as an eternity beyond even believers now unbelievers I can understand they don't know about eternity they think that this life is everything so he might as well enjoy it but if there is an eternity beyond that's millions and millions and millions of years then I realized that even if I live 100 years on the earth it's compared to millions of years in eternity a hundred years on earth is like five seconds or something that's all who would want to be rich for five seconds or healthy for five seconds I don't think anybody would be but that's what everybody's crazy after it's a very very short time in everything the more mature you are the more you think about the future two three year olds don't think about the future even children will go to school they don't study seriously because they don't think about the future the parents had to force them to study if only they could realize that if you study well you can get a good job you can live a little more comfortably if they thought of all that they would really study hard they don't think of it so they have to were a little older before they realize the same way with Christians they don't realize that how you live this life on earth is going to determine your eternity I believe that with all my heart that eternity is more important than time so it doesn't matter if I suffer a little in this earth because to me eternity is more important it's just like a child saying well doesn't matter if I can't play the whole day if I study hard and get a good job I'll be better off than that other child was just spending his time playing the whole day so it's something like that you know Paul said in second Corinthians chapter five if you look at the Bible I call it the manufacturer's instructions God has given some clear teachings in the Bible it's like the instructions for the washing machine don't press this button before you turn this knob okay I do it and I don't try to think that I know more than the manufacture I don't know but that's what we think that we know more than God that we know how to handle this life of ours we don't so here it says in second Corinthians in chapter 5 that one day verse 10 we're all going to stand at the judgment seat of Christ we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ why not just to go to heaven or hell but to be rewarded recompense means not just reward it could be punishment he doesn't use the word reward and reward is always a good thing recompense means given what we deserve that's a better way to put it and what we deserve may be good it may be bad we are recommenced for what we did in our earthly body whatever we did whether it was good or bad so I mean if you really believe just think for a moment supposing you really believe each of you that one day you're going to stand before Jesus Christ judgment seat to be recompense for whatever you did in your body how you spoke how you treated others in whatever you did God is going to evaluate everything I lived for a hundred years everything I did in those 100 years is going to be evaluated by God if I really believed that I would take my life more seriously and I would want like it says in verse 9 our ambition will be to be pleasing to God whether I'm in heaven or on earth my you see a lot of people have ambition it is good to have ambition not an ambition to be great in the world but an ambition to please God that's if you want to ask me what is the greatest ambition anybody can have some ambition to please God Lord I want to please you and if you make that your ambition I'll tell you you won't lose out on other things on this earth no you may not get everything you want but there are a lot of things that you'll be thankful for in eternity if you decide I want to please you Lord I want to know whether this will please you or not Paul says I've got an ambition you know how young people have an ambition somebody wants to be an ambition to be a great cricketer or some particular profession they want to become when they grow up Paul had an ambition the ambition was I want to please God because I know that when I get into eternity pleasing God will be more important than what I accomplished on earth with earthly things whether we live comfortably or earned so much salary is not going to matter in eternity it's needed here of course but we can live comfortably that's okay but I must have priority what is most important there are many things we do in life but all of us have priorities in our life every day there are certain things which are more important for you than other things for example you you decide that going to work is very important every day sure that's a priority for you taking your children to school it's a priority for you good and certain other things you know a little bit of entertainment is not priority if you have time you do that but there are certain things they are essential so in the same way if you're a true Christian that's important if you're a true Christian your priority will be how can I please God in everything in life that's why we study the Scriptures I've studied the scriptures not to produce sermons not at all hey even I was young and immature foolish and stupid those days maybe I studied the sermon I will to produce sermons but not now I can honestly say that today I study the Bible to find out what pleases God what will please my Heavenly Father I want to know I want to know here what what would please my Heavenly Father because my ambition is to please him and I want to encourage all of you my brothers and sisters make it your ambition to please God you will never regret it there may be many things on earth you don't get but I tell you when you and I meet at the judgment seat of Christ you will thank me for telling you this today you will really thank me for telling you this today make it your ambition to please God you won't regret it that day even if you have to sacrifice many things on earth to please God for example in our place of work I can have a choice of pleasing God or pleasing man if your boss asks you to do something which is unrighteous what do you do which is wrong ask you to tell a lie to cheat well you may lose your job if you don't obey Him and imagine at that moment if you say Lord my ambition is to please you and you say I can't do what my boss says he's asking me to write some false account or cheat or tell a lie and I can't do it you may say I may lose my job okay maybe you lose your job but if you did that in order to please God you think God will let you down impossible impossible if that happens we have to say there is no God we must be atheist then if there is a God in heaven he will honor those who honor him I've often told the story of a man who was an unbeliever and who was always writing false accounts in his company to cheat the income tax people his company taught him to do that then one day he became a Christian born-again and he told his boss I'm sorry sir I can't write false accounts anymore well the boss said then you got to resign we need somebody who will write false accounts and in his church the people told him come on and what does it matter man you just write a few things and we got to learn to adjust to the circumstances in this world I just it's a very popular word he said no I cannot just it's against my conscience so he lost his job and I'd never met him he was living in another state of India but he read a book of my he took a train and came all the way to Bangalore just to ask me one question and he came to my house one day and he said brother Zack you don't know me but I read a book of yours and I have come here just to ask one twist and he told me the story how he refused to cheat and he lost his job he said I got a wife and a small daughter I lost my job now it's very difficult to get another one and all the people in my church told me you're a fool if you want to live on this earth you have disorder just a little bit he said brother Zack I want to came here only to ask you one question because I know you are you teach uprightness did I do what was right I said absolutely you did what was right he lost your job you don't have money maybe you'll starve to death maybe your wife will star to death and your daughter will start to death so be it God will be happy with you are you happy with that I said ok now that I have scared you I'll tell you the truth you won't start today because 1 Samuel chapter 2 was 30 God says those who honor me I will honor that is 1 Samuel chapter 2 verse 30 so I said I can tell you one thing I know my god you did something to honor him you think he's going to let you down impossible if that happens you have to say there's no God in her and let's all be a theists a lot of believers live as if they are atheists they live as if there's no God in heaven otherwise why don't they honor him in such situations God says those who honor me I will honor I'll tell you in all the years I worked in the Navy after I was converted I was another seven years in the Navy and boy I had a lot of situations where I had to tell my senior officers I'm sorry sir I can't do that it's against my conscience now you see to say that in a private company is one thing he may just fire you and you lose your job in the military if you tell a senior officer I'm sorry sir I can't do that because my conscience you won't be fired you'll be sent to jail there's a thing called court-martial in the military it's a very seriously I thought it would happen to me once or twice it almost happened right I lived by that verse those who honor me I will honor and I tell you I have experienced it about 58 years in amazing ways if you honor God he will honor you so study the Bible to see what pleases God don't make excuses for your sin nowadays I have heard of pastors who fall into adultery and then after a few months they again become pastors and you know the excuse they make will damn it also fell into adultery and he remained as a king but I say listen that is Old Testament man don't you know the difference is in Old Testament and New Testament can you show me the New Testament Paul falling into adultery and then coming back to becoming an apostle or Peter falling into adultery and coming back to me an apostle don't go to the Old Testament the Old Testament everything was earthly so that is the amount of ignorance there is even among pastors about what is Old Covenant and you cover in the Old Covenant giving money to God was absolutely compulsory even the amount was specified at least 10% and if you count all the offerings in the Old Testament it is about 20 percent not 10% and in the New Testament God says no law give cheerfully but whatever you can give cheerfully give you can't give cheerfully don't give because God Old Testament law is how much you're going to give 10% or 20% in the New Testament laws how are you going to give are you going to give happily the Lord says if you are not happy don't give there's a story of a little girl who you probably heard me say this before went to Sunday School and the mother gave her 10 rupees to put in the offering bag one Sunday school and two rupees to buy some sweets on the way back now when she came back the mother asked her did you put 10 rupees in the offering bag in Sunday school and she said mommy a small girl eight years old she said mommy I was going to put the ten rupees but the Sunday school teacher said God loves a cheerful Giver and I really felt I could give the two rupees more cheerfully then the ten rupees so I put two rupees box and I bought some sweets for 10 rupees do you know that she was hundred percent right she was 100% right because she gave what she could give cheerfully if she was living in the old testament then it was different people don't understand a god like that so many Christians also think God is a God of such strict laws you do this do this no he wants you to be happy he want to give zero fine God's not a beggar he's not sitting like the bigger the tin can saying please give me something so many preachers give that impression of God God is a beggar and he's waiting for all the people to come and put and when I see Christians going and putting in the offering bag is almost like giving money to a beggar here here yeah this is Almighty God it's a shame that's right for 42 years we have never taken a collection I've never in any of our churches 42 years taken a collection I say because of one reason my God is not a beggar he doesn't sit with the tin can collecting money from people he doesn't need your money he owns the universe why does he want your money that's the God we believe in I remember I once went to speak in a Pentecostal Church one of those rare Pentecostal pastors who appreciated what I preached so he told me after the two or three days meetings he said brother Zak I agree with everything you say except one thing you tell people not to pay that 10% if they be cheerful and gave whatever you want he says as it is these people give so little after hearing you they'll give nothing I said it's not like that in our church I preach the same thing in our church I preached for so many years and we have never been in debt we have never had a lack because when people give their heart to God they don't think of money as a big thing and God honors that provides that more than enough always he provides the need of his children so if we can only believe this Oh God really wants to give me the very best we will do everything he says you know take a simple matter of forgiving others whenever I pray for sick people I don't care who it is even if it's my closest friend he asked me if he's sick and he asked me brother Zack please pray for me I will ask him one question I'd say have you forgiven everybody I'd say I'm not because not because I know something in your life or anything no I don't know anything in your life that's a standard question I ask everybody before I pray for them for their sickness have you forgiven everybody because there are many people's whose sickness has come because they haven't forgiven somebody it's true I'm not joking many years ago I read a book I still have it at home with me called none of these diseases if you get ahold of it sometime read it it's not written by a pastor it's written by a medical doctor none of these diseases I think his name was dr. McMillan or something anyway none of these diseases and he is full of stories the whole book is full of stories his Wilson I think his name's Wilson right Walter Wilson that's the name dr. Walter Wilson none of these diseases he says how he went to so many cases of people who were sick and he discovered that they were sick because of some wrong attitude they had some grudge they had against somebody some anxiety they had about something else somebody they hadn't forgiven in case it's practical cases case after case after the whole book is full of that and he says you can be free from all these diseases if you obey the Word of God and He gives example after example operates are below cases who did he just taught them to obey God's Word and maybe they were healed God's laws offer are good just like you know we learned today that all this junk food is not good for our body research has shown that all this plenty of oil and all that is not good for our body we know it and we avoid junk food we want to give good food to our children well the same way with God's laws are for a good and if you know it will say Lord I want to obey all your laws I want to forgive everyone I I want to honor you he doesn't matter if I lose something earthly I'll honor you if I displease somebody doesn't matter and I don't want to displease you and please man sometimes we have a choice in a situation shall I please God or shall I please man and you have to make a choice there and if you decide right at the beginning of your life Christian life I am always going to please God because I'll tell you this many many times in our life we come to a fork in the road I call it a fork in the road the road is going straight it's okay as long as going straight it's okay but then you come to a fork in the road and you have to choose now shall I choose this or this please God oh please man then I come to another fork in the road again it's the same choice please God or please myself one is please go and the others please myself or please man and if every single time I say I'm not gonna please myself I'm not gonna please man I'm gonna please God that was a secret of Jesus life you know everybody will say that Jesus lived the most wonderful life that any human being ever lived but he was not a millionaire and yet he was the happiest man that ever lived can a man not be a millionaire and be the happiest man Jesus Paul what a lot he accomplished in his life he has one secret of Jesus life in Romans 15 Romans 15 we read one simple sentence about Jesus Christ in verse 3 Romans 15 3 Christ did not please himself what did the father say do you remember what the father said at the baptism this is my beloved son whom I am well-pleased so the father was pleased but Jesus did not please himself and he did not please men also he did not please man he did not please himself he always please God so that's what I meant by the fork in the road many times in your life in my life we come to a fork in the road now and I have to take a decision shall I please myself or please God no there's no fork in the road you're going straight then it's ok you know but sometimes the choice comes now if I want to please God I can't please myself on a please God I can't believe this man there is where a decision comes and those decisions which you take many times in your life finally make you the man of God or the woman of God that you become otherwise you become a third-rate Christian just drifting along if you want to be an effective Christian if you want to have no regret when you get up into eternity always come when you come to a fork in the road say I'm going to please God I'm gonna please God I will not please man here I don't care what the consequences are what I will not please man I'll tell you one thing there may be a certain amount of loss you have on earth a little bit of suffering perhaps but God will honor you the honors always honors those who honor him I can tell you that my entire life so if you have some exciting experiences when you live like this you see how God honors you then you look back over your life all of us have got a past can you think back over decisions you took in your life in the past where you please yourself not God where you did something to please a man and you knew that was not pleasing to God but you did it in order to please your wife or to please some relative or please some neighbor you will discover one day when you stand at the judgment seat of Christ that those are the areas where you lost something you really lost something and God could have done so much more with your life so we seek to build a church on based on the New Testament grace otherwise when there are so many Church is already there why should we start another one now hundreds of churches why should we start another one I say because show me the church where they are preaching grace show me the church where they are preaching and overcoming light that you can overcome sin but you don't have to lose your temper that you don't have to lust after women ever that you thoughts can be pure that your tongue can be controlled that you can be a generous man instead of a miser you hate your churches that preach this I hardly hear it everybody speaks about God is about God and he forgives us and he's nice to us and is that in the other word oh you have faith you'll be healed but the important thing in the New Testament is not mentioned so grace there's not a single verse in the New Testament that says grace will heal all your sicknesses if there was such a verse I would have preached it it's not there but it says Grace who helped you to overcome sin grace will forgive your sin help you overcome sin I say that's why we preach that even the very name Jesus most people who use the name Jesus don't know the meaning of it so let me show that to you it's possible there are some people sitting here who don't know the meaning of the name of Jesus Matthew chapter 1 when Joseph was a bit hesitant to marry Mary because she did he did not know that her baby was conceived by the Holy Spirit an angel appeared to Joseph and said verse 20 Matthew 1:20 don't be afraid Joseph take Mary as your wife because this child was born of the Holy Spirit and when he is born the father had to give the name you know he told Joseph when this baby is born you must give him the name Jesus reason because he will save his people from their sins that is the meaning of the name Jesus he will save his people from their sins so when I use the name of Jesus I'm using the name which is going to save me from my sins not forgive my sins which is a good thing but save me from it there's a lot of difference between being forgiven of sin being saved from sin you know the difference for example I get angry and I'm forgiving but to be saved from getting angry that's another thing altogether he came to save us from our sin not keep on forgiving us forgiving forgiveness was there in the Old Testament but now Jesus is going to save us and that is what that is why we need another change because hardly anybody is preaching that you can be saved from your sin I we believe in forgiveness but we says we can be forgiven and saved not only forgiven so I sometimes illustrate that by a story in Matthew chapter 9 in Matthew chapter 9 we read of verse 27 of two blind men matthew 9:27 who came to Jesus and said have mercy on us son of David and the blind men wanted their eyes to be opened and Jesus asked them a question simple question do you believe that I can do this for you Matthew 9:27 not do you believe that you can do it no Jesus never asks us that question please remember when you have a problem please remember this verse when you have a difficulty remember this words Matthew 9:27 he's not asking you can you solve it never he asking you do you believe that I can solve it what a wonderful thing that is I face a problem and he's not asking me do you think you have a solution for it I say I have no solution or what the Lord is asking me do you believe I can solve it for you do you believe I can save you from that you believe I can answer your prayer do you believe I am can do this for you and they said yes Lord he touched their eyes and he said according to your faith be it done for you the it was according to their faith not at me it was not according to my ability Jesus he didn't say according to my ability let it be done no according to your faith let it be done because you just said I can do this for you that's faith so there we get understanding of faith faith is to believe that Jesus can do that so I used to I just thought imagination imaginary supposing one of those blind men said Lord I think you can open only one eye what would Jesus have said according to your faith be it unto you and what would we have got one eye open then he goes out of the room and the second fellow comes in and Jesus says the same thing to him what about you oh I believe you can open both eyes according to your faith be it unto you he gets both eyes open now both his fellows go outside the room and one fellow has got one eye open they also got two eyes open and the one-eyed fellow says how in the world did you get both eyes open please open only one eye of mine and he preaches the Jesus will open only one eye the other fellow creatures the Jesus will open two eyes who is right this is what we see in the world today one eye is forgiveness of sins to Isis user forgive sin and save you from your sin also but when people preach the Jesus will forgive your sin and save your sin they say no no that can't be like that he only forgives that's right he opens only one night we have faith only overnight but if you have faith for both eyes he'll open both so if you have faith only that Jesus will forgive you that's all you get but if you also have faith that sin will not rule over you Lord your grace and he that'll also be true so it's entirely dependent on your faith not dependent on his power remember this without faith it is impossible to please God Hebrews 11:6 so if somebody got more than you this because he had more faith not because God was partially no it's like if the rain falls equally on one area and one fellow puts a big tub out there and you put a little cup how was it you got so little water and he got a huge amount of water he put a bigger vessel out not because God gave him more rain faith is like that you say God I believe you can do this for me you'll find that I'm not talking about things not promised in the Bible to go to God and say Lord I believe you'll give me a Mercedes Benz or a or D car or something I'm not talking about stupid things like that which are not written in the Bible I'm talking about something written in the Bible that sin will not rule over you if you are under grace I meant to guard love with that verse many years ago I said I don't want a single sin to rule in my life I want all of the grace of God what should you believe it I said yes I believe you can open both eyes why should it be only me forgiveness of sins it took me some time because for so many years I had filled my mind with unbelief from Christendom but it is very difficult to break free from that unbelief that Kris and I might fill my head with and to break free from all those cobwebs and had faith that Jesus can do it for me that's why we need another church that proclaims the full gospel okay I'll show you one more words and then we have a break John chapter 8 what is the full gospel here is the full gospel in one sentence that Jesus said there was a woman caught in adultery the Pharisees wanted to kill her and Jesus came to rescue her and then all the Pharisees had to go away when Jesus said only one who knew only someone without sin can throw the stone then Jesus asked a woman nobody condemned you John 8:11 jesus said law the moon said no one Lord now here is the full gospel you want to hear it in two sentences Jesus gives the full gospel number one John 8:11 I do not condemn you number two don't sin any more that's the whole gospel was from Jesus own words it's not don't sin anymore that is second first is I do not condemn you I find so many Christians live under condemnation all the time I used to live like that in my younger days always condemnation oh I failed here lord I failure that every day it was like that condemnation I failure I failed there I failure failure it's as if I can never please God my life was so miserable discouraged condemned till I discovered it Jesus I don't condemn but Lord this woman says I committed adultery oh it's okay it's bad what you did but I don't condemn you but don't sin again so it's a wonderful thing to live free from condemnation first you cannot overcome sin if you are still condemning yourself you have to believe that the blood of Jesus has dealt with your past life because sometimes you know the devil can remind you of some terrible thing that you did 25 years ago some things you cannot even set right messed up maybe your life or somebody else's life and the devil keeps on reminding you nobody knows about it only you and the devil keeps on reminding you you know what he did there or remember what you did there and you know it's true and more you listen to it the more you hear condemned you need to hear the word of Jesus saying I don't condemn yet listen to that word there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus Romans 8:1 John 3:17 God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world you must know these verses John 3:17 God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world Romans 8:1 there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus you cannot go to the second step if you don't take the first one you cannot go to don't sin again if you don't take the first one which is the Lord says I don't condemn you I'll tell you from my own experience as long as I was condemning myself discourage condemning discourage I never got anywhere till I came to a place where I said no condemnation I finished I failed okay I'm not going to condemn myself I confess it the Lord's forgiven me the blood of Jesus is more powerful than my sin grace is greater than sin so I free from condemnation then I can come to the place where I can experience don't sin anymore so I find that most churches are freaking only the first part that's why we want to have a church where we are where we preach the first and the second not just a second no you cannot experience the second if you are not free from condemnation both very often the problem in Christianity is when two things I mentioned people Chris churches do only one for example the Lord says I don't condemn you and don't sin again will take only one although some people say only don't sin again but you can't get that till you first preach I don't condemn you same way you know when Jesus gave the Great Commission he said go and preach the gospel everywhere and make disciples some people take only one go and preach the gospel ever you're going preach the gospel I see he there's another side to it man make disciples both together it's like the two legs a lot of Christians are standing on one leg we need both many many places grace and truth both are there the kindness and the severity of God so we want to preach the whole counsel of God in the church and we're not against any church we're not here to find fault with anybody else but we want to fill up what is lacking it's like if the you know hospital and we have a lot of physicians position position position position residuals and no surgeons well there are some sicknesses that need surgery some cancers need surgery otherwise the guy will never be healed so if you have a hospital with 100 physicians and you want to balance it out I think you will put one surgeon at least there it's something like that in Christianity for 100 people preaching forgiveness of sins and nobody preaching victory over sin or 100 people preaching evangelism evangelism value ISM and nobody making disciples so it's very very important to see why we're not breaking away from any church whether you want to build a church where we present a whole Council of God not just forgiveness but salvation not just conversion but being a disciple and that's what when we do that can be some people saying you're preaching another gospel not really see the man got only one eye opened will always call the two eyed man a heretic where how can you say God opens - eyes he does and I experienced only one eye being open I'd say that's because you had faith only for one eye I got two eyes open it is there anything that Jesus commands in the Bible which cannot be fulfilled let me give you an example Philippians in chapter 4 we read in Philippians I'll just show you two verses just two little sentences and I want to ask you will God give us a command which cannot be fulfilled before asking that will you ask your six-year-old son or daughter to do something you know they cannot do will you tell your six-year-old child now going carry that 100 kilos suitcase on your head even you cannot carry it how in the world can that child carry or anything neither will you ask your child to do something you know it cannot do you know the answer to that as a father or a mother you will never ask your child to do something impossible next question do you believe God is a better father than you sure that is easy okay then do you think God will ever ask his children to do something that they cannot do okay here's what God says Philippians 4 verse 4 rejoice in the Lord 24/7 24/7 is a very common expression nowadays always 24 hours a day seven days a week rejoice in the Lord not rejoice in your circumstances or rejoice in your health your health may not be good circumstance may better rejoice in the Lord 24/7 is it possible or not to rejoice in the circumstances all the time no to rejoice in the weather all the time no to rejoice in our health all the time no rejoice in the Lord always always possible because of my health may change circumstance mijin god never changes and i say if you can't do that whether you know it or not you're a bit of an atheist so one sentence rejoice in the Lord always now don't I'm not asking can you do it what does the Lord say to the blind person do you believe I can do this for you I say yes Lord you can do this in me and here's another verse in the same chapter in Philippians 4 and verse 6 be anxious for nothing [Music] that's an amazing verse is it possible for God to do such a work in my life that I'm anxious for nothing then how should I solve my problems in everything verse 6 take it to God tell him this is my problem Lord and his peace will come into your heart and you'll be anxious for nothing it's wonderful to live the way the Bible tells us to live this is the New Testament gospel we can't do it on our own [Music] you know if we go to some jungle in the Andamans or Africa or somewhere and you see these poor people walking long distances to do their work and you feel sorry for them and you say okay I like to give them a car so that they can move from one place to the other more easily instead of walking so many miles so you go and give them get them a car and you come back after one year and say how do you find it this is this is worse than walking because now we are pushing the car and it's taking much longer to go from one place to the other you say you're pushing the car that's not what a car is meant for me and you're supposed to sit inside and drive it oh hey sir you know I told us that you just gave us a car and said something that'll help you this is what I think of many Christians the New Testament has become a bigger burden than the Old Testament Old Testament they were walking in the New Testament they are pushing the car I am NOT supposed to be pushing it they're supposed to be sitting inside and using the mighty power of the Holy Spirit to get moving that's why I say we must seek God for the power of the Holy Spirit

Channel: CFC DUBAI

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Keywords: CFC Oman, English, Tamil, Gods Love, Oman Meetings, Jesus Christ, CFC Dubai, Zac Poonen, Blessing

Id: O9LX7Pa2JSQ

Length: 77min 7sec (4627 seconds)

Published: Tue May 08 2018