Blessed is He Who is Not Offended in Jesus - Zac Poonen - May 27, 2020

[Music] we have to be very careful that I speak from my own experience in my younger days of getting bright ideas from Scripture and profound thoughts but not taking them seriously in my daily life it was a wonderful thought there and something that I could bless others with but not actually taking it seriously day by day in my life so I've come to see more and more that God gives us his word for us to live by it was the first words of Jesus in the temptation man shall live not by bread but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God and we know that that doesn't just refer to the written scripture which preceded past tense over the mouth of God many years ago but they're here the references to what precedes right now that means from the Bible I hear a word that God spoke to my heart from some passage just like you guys were sharing now and then jesus said man has to live by that man shall live by that word that proceeded out of the mouth of God today for you personally so it is not meant for just for me to understand or it's good to understand definitely and it's good to share it with others it's more blessed to give than to receive so it's good that we give God's Word we receive but man shall live by it it's very important so I see here I mean a lot of things you would have already heard in the message from all that Jesus taught and also probably shared for I came on but I was thinking of how when Jesus spoke to the disciples of John it was almost like a rebuke that he was giving to this fantastic prophet John the Baptist in 11:6 don't get offended at me just because you're still in prison and you were expecting that I'd do a miracle for you to deliver you because people had their I don't know whether John had a clear understanding of what the Messiah was he did say this is the Lamb of God that's going to take away the sin of the world and he also said this is the one who baptizes in the Holy Spirit but I wonder whether growing up in the Jewish culture whether he felt that the Messiah would liberate Israel from the Roman rule from the rule of Herod and all the others because you know the disciples who walked with him for three and a half years and who heard so much about the kingdom of heaven from him and at the end of that after the resurrection when he spoke to them again we read in acts 1 that Jesus spoke for 40 days to his disciples at different times not continuously x13 and he spoke about the kingdom of God I mean that's what he'd spoken of for three and a half years and he spoke about it again x13 about the kingdom of God and and then he says now wait for the promise of the father and that the question then that comes to them is what is that promise verse 6 X 1 6 are you now going to restore the kingdom to Israel that's the promise that Israel will be free would be the head of the Nations after three and a half years of teaching them about the kingdom of God in those 40 days we read in verse 3 speaking the kingdom God still their mind was so set that Israel is going to be the head of the nations and will deliver us from the Roman rule so that was truth those disciples one can imagine that it was John the Baptist also would have had that in the back of his mind and that's why he was wondering how in the world can this Messiah who's going to deliver us from the Reuben Roman rule still be here lead me here in this prison and then Jesus said don't get offended there are many things about my ways which you don't understand it may lead you through suffering but if you don't get offended and believe that I have the best for you then you will not get offended if he can believe through the darkest night and what I wanted to point out was having given that rebuke a very gentle rebuke for decide for the disciples of John to go back and tell him because John will ask me what did he say he said well he said don't get offended even though you're in prison because outside prison verse fired the blind are seeing the signs and the lame are walking and the lepers are being cleansed the Deaf are hearing the dead are being raised up and all types of miracles are happening and don't get offended that no miracle is taking place for youth and it's a bit of a gentle rebuke but once the those men were seven had gone away verse seven then he begins to appreciate John the Baptist he didn't want them to hear what he was going to say about John the Baptist that this was the greatest man ever born of women verse 11 he protects us from hearing I thought of this you know that sometimes the Lord can be very very happy with us with the way we are living denying ourselves seeking to please and all that we go through and how we faithfully accept whatever trials and suffering comes our way but what we hear from him maybe word of rebuke because he wants us to trust him but behind our backs he'll be appreciating us and that's a great encouragement so don't get offended when you hear what a rebuke in the meeting in a church meeting or when you read the scripture that's just a challenge to help you to grow a little higher it does not mean that Jesus did not appreciate all the sacrifice John the Baptist made for his namesake out there in the wilderness preaching the gospel preaching the good news that the Messiah was coming and we must never never think that the Lord does not appreciate all the little self denials that are made in the stand we have taken against Babylonian christened own men everything else every stand that you've taken for the Lord through the years he may not tell you to your face that he appreciates it but he does because many times you know in the in our battle and unite myself as we struggle through different circumstances and problems and pressures sometimes we wish I said Lord can you just say to me that I'm your beloved son you know I'm your well pleased pleased he's never told me so we just press on in faith just continuing to deny ourselves and continuing to be faithful so that's an encouragement for me to see that when he rebukes John the Baptist to his face he appreciates him so tremendously in behind his back and he says that the least of the kingdom of heaven that means the least in the new covenant we are can rise to a greater height than John the Baptist is a fantastic word that we who are the least in the church if you enter the kingdom of heaven means the New Covenant can rise higher than John the Baptist John the Baptist was such a bold man but we have to face the fact that he sin had dominion over him because he was not under grace and anyone who is not under grace now whoever wholehearted he may be zealous faithful sin has dominion over them in some Arian one evidence of that is here he lost faith and I'm sure in other areas - I don't believe John the Baptist a victory over anger and lust and the things mentioned in Matthew chapter 5 but the least in the kingdom of heaven can enter Matthew chapter 5 and the promise is there john the baptist may not put me out in that grace to love his enemies when we have grace to love our enemies so that is that I always say that the greatest Saints in the Old Testament are not our example our example is always Jesus Paul said follow me as I follow Christ so even though we find many many good things I mean John the Baptist has been a hero of mine for years in my young age because of the bold way in which he stood for the Lord but ultimately when it comes to a life of overcoming it's folks like Paul who could enter that life if John the Baptist is living in the New Covenant you know probably being one of the greatest Saints we acknowledge the other thing I want to say here is that the Lord said here verse 14 he told the Jews if this is if you accepted then this is Elijah who is to come but the Jews did not accept it and because the Jews did not accept see Jesus was referring to the last two verses of the Old Testament Malachi I will send Elijah before the Great and dreadful day of the Lord those are the last two verses of Malachi to turn the hearts of the father's to the children and the children to the father's and they the Jews were saying is this may be the Elijah's but Malachi spoke about and Jesus said yes if you accept him but they did not accept so the Jews are rejected and that's not the allows you to come and therefore the promise in Malachi chapter 4 is still not fulfilled because the condition here is if you accept it then this is Elijah but they didn't accept it and so we've before the great great and dreadful day of the Lord as it says in Malachi 4 God is going to send Elijah and it's not Elijah himself who's in heaven but the Elijah of the last days is the body of Christ the new man the one new man Christ Christ in His Church the body of Christ has one person in unity is going to be the Elijah to proclaim that God wants to restore the hearts of the father's to the children and the children to the father's and that's a very very important thing in God's eyes the restoration of a godly family life and if you don't do that it says in Malachi 4 I'll smite the earth with a curse Malachi 4 6 it's so very important and we must remember that in our pursuit of building the church never forget that the spirit of Elijah is seeking to restore the hearts of the father's to the children and the children to the father's there must be no distance between parents and children in our families there must be a closeness in these last days God wants families that are United families that are godly and that's the ministry of the body of Christ the last days Elijah so the opposite of curse is a blessing so if he says if I don't do this I'll smite the earth to the curse I presume that if you do it you know but he bring his blessing upon us so it's we have to fulfill that which God has called us to do because the Jews did not accept John the Baptist that was not the first coming of Christ did not solve a problem so that's why there is the second coming of Christ see Jesus often Illustrated a truth with a illustration a story or a picture so I have found in my study of the scriptures that principle that's why I used so many illustrations in my own messages because it makes things more clear the children of Israel in the Old Testament coming out of Egypt with the blood of the lamp but outside the door is a picture of deliverance from the world Egypt is the world Pharaoh is Satan delivered from the world and the Satan and through the blood of Christ into the Red Sea is a picture of water baptism the cloud coming down from heaven as a picture the baptism the Holy Spirit but that's only the beginning of the journey for many Christians that's all I'm saying I'm on my way to heaven but you read that Old Testament story that's that's only the beginning God's final aim was to get them into Canaan's land to occupy the whole land of can that's the New Covenant life the land flowing with milk and honey but they did not go there they lived in the wilderness for forty years which is a picture of born-again but living under the law under the Old Covenant in the in the wilderness constantly defeated but Indy came when they went in there going through the river Jordan is a picture of death to self that's where Jesus was baptized symbolizing his own dying to his own self life and entering the land of Canaan possessing the land of Canaan is the New Covenant like the Giants are the Giants of sin anger murmuring complaining lusting after women bitterness grudges unrighteousness telling lies all kinds of things hating one's enemies everything else does it happen all together no did they kill the entire all the Giants in one shot no it was little by little there was a difference between the way the Lord destroyed the Egyptians the Egyptians were destroyed in one moment under the Red Sea they were buried under the Red Sea the Egyptians are a picture of the old man buried in a moment finished but when it comes to conquering Canaan the lusts in the flesh they are conquered you conquer a particular giant you get his territory you can't call other giant you get his territory if you allow him to leave there you never get its territory let's see if that's the land of Canaan and it's progressive once you have occupied the whole land of Canaan we have become like Christ there's not a single lust in the flesh left everything has been conquered so that will happen only when Christ comes again but the tragedy you read in the book of Judges is that the Israelites just a lot of these Canaanites to live there and that's exactly the condition of many believers even those who claim to believe in victory over sin so that is to me a picture of progressive occupation of the land of Canaan and I see the lot of Canaan as all the things in my flesh that dishonor God and you know it says in 2nd Corinthians 7:1 let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit one last verse to court Paul's own testimony he says in 1 Corinthians 4:4 I'm conscious of nothing against myself but there is a mean I'm acquitted because the Lord examines me to paraphrase it in the language of the land of Canaan what he says in 1 Corinthians 4:4 is all the Giants have seen I have killed by the grace of God but there are areas of my life that are UNCHR ice-like which I haven't seen yet there are Giants have not yet seen I can't kill them till I see them but when I see them I'm going to have the same attitude to them that I had towards the ones I've already killed that's the Galatians 5:24 those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affair unless that means that is my permanent attitude to the flesh with his affections unless what I can kill those less holy when I see them I can kill the giant which I see until then I can really say I'm conscious of nothing against myself we should live there most Christians don't even live there they don't even overcome conscious sin they don't see God for grace to overcome what they consciously know is wrong and buddy says but that doesn't mean I'm occupied the whole land where 1 Corinthians 4:4 because the Lord sees there's still like he told Joshua and book of Joshua there remains yet much land to be possessed I hope that makes it a little clarity [Music]

Channel: River of Life Christian Fellowship

Views: 11,461

Rating: 4.9171596 out of 5

Keywords: rlcf, river, life, christian, fellowship, church, god, jesus, bible, scripture, sermon, zac, poonen, blessed, not, offended

Id: ViX0kD-JgCM

Length: 19min 0sec (1140 seconds)

Published: Thu May 28 2020