Casting Away All Confidence In Self by Zac Poonen

as you all know three-quarters of the Bible of this Bible that we hold is Old Testament and because we preach in this church more than perhaps any other Church in the world that the Old Covenant has been abolished that's very clearly taught Hebrews 8 and that we are all under and we should be under the New Covenant the danger is that a lot of us may stop reading the Old Testament but if you neglect the Old Testament you have neglected three quarters of God's Word the Old Covenant is different from the first 39 books of the Bible the first 39 books of the Bible are called Old Testament by man it's not not written like that anywhere in the Bible just for reference sake we call it the Old Testament but Testament and covenant are the same thing but the Old Covenant is what God made with Israel on Mount Sinai through Moses the Ten Commandments and the 603 other Commandments that God gave in Leviticus and all that that has been abolished because that has been fulfilled in Christ the Sabbath has been fulfilled and the tithing every law has been fulfilled in Christ so we don't go back to the Old Covenant for doing those things command it there but you can understand the New Testament better if you have read the Old Testament because there you see the symbols first of all you see the origin of sin you have to begin with Genesis one two and three in any case and then many other things you see which are even quoted in the New Testament which helps us to understand the New Testament better I'll show you a few examples few turn to Hebrews in chapter 9 it says here in Hebrews 9 verse 1 even the first covenant had regulations of divine worship in an earthly sanctuary and there was a tabernacle and it speaks there this is New Testament Hebrews 9 for there was an golden altar of incense and the Ark of the Covenant and all these things and then it says here into the second most holy place verse 7 the high priest alone could enter once a year not without blood that's teaching us about the tent of the tabernacle so you won't know what that means unless you read the Old Testament that there was a tent which had two compartments and into the second compartment you could not enter and the Holy Spirit was signifying through this verse 8 that the way into the most holy place was not yet opened so you won't understand what that means unless you read the Old Testament so I'm just showing you how there are parts of the New Testament which you won't understand unless you've read the Old Testament while that outer Tabernacle was still standing and that is as long as God was accepting that tabernacle and temple you could not go into the most holy place but now Hebrews 10:19 brethren we have confidence to enter this most holy place that's referred to there by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way which he inaugurated for us through the veil that is his flesh again you won't understand that unless you realize in the Old Testament there was a veil and that that veil symbolized the flesh or the self-will of Jesus Christ the word flesh is used in the New Testament sometimes to refer to just meat and sometimes to refer to our self-will which fights against the Holy Spirit and Jesus had a will of his own which he denied as you know and gets M&E not my will but thine be done and he did denied that not only there but for thirty three and a half years he spent all his life saying no to his own will as a little child he said no to his own will and obeyed his parents all his life he was tempted in every point that you and I are and the way he overcame was he said no to his own will no no no no for thirty three and a half years and finally when every single temptation that any human being can ever face that includes all the temptations you have faced and will face he had overcome all of them you know what he said on the cross it is finished however you understood that word it is finished what was finished for many years I thought it was just the punishment for my sins was finished that's how most people have understood it and that is also correct but that's only like many other parts of scripture only part of the truth there's a depth to the statements of God it is finished meant all the punishment for our sin was finished and every temptation has been overcome that you can ever face he has denied his will it is finished and that self will was symbolized in that veil that hung that's what we read here the flesh of Jesus that was that prevailed at hung in front of the whole most holy place and there we learn that it is our self will that prevented man from going into God's presence he won't understand that unless you read the Old Testament so until the self will of man had been completely conquered and rent away into the holy place would not be open you couldn't go into God's presence that's why nobody could know God his father that's why that place was blocked and now it says here when Jesus completed all that temptation saying no to his self will at every point the veil was torn that's the meaning of the rent veil when Jesus died on the cross that veil was rent and I'll tell you 99% of Christians have never understood that and this is the biggest problem with our life and if you don't understand it you don't get victory over sin it's not just a question of overcoming anger or overcoming dirty thoughts it's a question of crucifying yourself will your stubborn self will which manifests itself in your married life which manifests itself when you're driving on the roads and if you don't put that self ill to death you're not gonna get victory over anger or victory over dirty thoughts because those are small segments cellphone is a big circle one segment of it is anger another segment is murmuring another segment is dirty thoughts and if you just concurrent those who try to conquer those things and your self will remains the same you're gonna have problems all your life and that's why there are people here who have heard about overcoming anger and dirty thoughts for I don't know 20 30 years and you're still defeated have you ever wondered why there's a new and living way it says in verse 20 through the veil and that whale is not anger it's not dirty thoughts it's self will the veil that is his flesh and to go through that veil means I choose every day like Jesus said to deny myself my self will to take up the cross means to put that will to death and go through and this also applies to man spirit which is also symbolized by that most holy place where God cannot enter just like we could not enter into God's presence symbolized by the whale God cannot enter into my spirit symbolized by a veil in my heart that is myself well if that's rent God can come in otherwise he's on the outside and our greatest fashion must be to experience God deep within our hearts to experience his leading to hear his voice and if you want to know that my brother if you really want to know that deeper walk with God learn to deny yourself to Wren you don't have to rent the veil the veil has already been rent to walk the way of the rent veil that means the way that Jesus went then you experience that new life so I'm just telling you how that symbolism helps us understand something's very practical I mean if it's just theory some people study this is just theory of types and all that and I'm not interested in that everything I read in the Bible must be practical if it doesn't apply in my practical life well I'm not interested in studying that so in the same way for example I'll show you another example of how Old Testament is quoted in the New Testament if you turn to Galatians and we read there here it speaks about you know we are now sons of God and not servants and the Old Covenant it says here in verse Jellicle Galatians chapter 3 and verse 24 the law has become a schoolmaster or tutor or governess or what we would call a private tutor in our house to lead us to Christ that means if I were to use an illustration like an ayah someone who takes care of us when a little children holding us her hands and across the road to finally come to the place where we can go on our own so the law was not meant to be our aiya forever you I mean you may have had an ayah at home someone was like a governess to look after you was take you to school or something like that but you don't she doesn't hold your hand forever a time comes when that ayah leaves your hand you can go on your own that's how it should be that's why I say I don't live by the Ten Commandments I needed the Ten Commandments in the days when I was not born again that's why our children they have not been born again so they are under law not children are not under grace they're under law that's why we have to discipline them and punish them and that's why you have to compel them to do things but when they are born again we're free from law because we have learned to walk on our own now if a perch I'll is mentally then the I I may have to hold his hand even when he's 20 years old because he doesn't know how to cross the road and unfortunately a lot of God's children are like that even though they have been born again 20 years ago they still need the law because they are irresponsible but it's not God's will because you obey the law at a deeper level you obey the law in your heart you don't need a law which says don't commit adultery because you don't commit it in your heart you don't need a law which says don't kill because you don't get angry so there's a picture there of the law was like a a tutor or an ayah to lead us to Christ and once he come to Christ we are free free to obey God just like Jesus did and in the Old Testament we have examples for example further down in chapter 4 he speaks about Abraham's to the two people he had children through that's also an Old Testament if you don't read the Old Testament you won't understand it Galatians 4 22 Abraham had two sons now you won't know what that means in the New Testament if you haven't read the Old Testament and that one was by a bond woman and one buys by a freewoman sara was a free woman his servant woman Hagar was a bond woman and the son of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh meaning verse 23 that Hagar son was born in the normal way that all children are born Abraham had the power he was not impotent he had the ability to have children his wife Sarah could not have children she was barren but Abraham at the age of 85 he had the ability to have children and so he had at the age of 86 he got a son called Ishmael through Hagar and you read about that in Genesis chapter 16 but then Hagar I mean Sarah was still barren later on when Abraham was a hundred years old 14 years later by the time Abraham also became important and that you don't read in the Old Testament that you read in Romans chapter 4 that Abraham looked at his own body which was dead till then Sarah's body was dead as far as giving birth was concerned but in Romans 4 we read that Abraham's body was also dead and then he had a child that was a miracle this person had gone beyond the possibility of having children and then God gave my child so that was not the result of normal birth it was through the supernatural empowering of God that he got Isaac otherwise he could not have had Isaac and that's why God waited until Abraham became important because till then he felt I'm capable okay Sarah can't have a child that's fine I'm still capable and I can produce one and you read in the Old Testament how Abraham lifted up Ishmael to gods and Lord please let this be this promised seed you have give promise for me it's an example how of the mistake that a lot of people think that when God gives them a promise they have to help God if God is in a difficult position they have to help God to fulfill that promise that's what Abraham felt because God told him in Genesis 12 you're gonna have seed like the stars of the sky and the sand on the seashore what he meant was you're gonna have a heavenly seed that is the church and in earthly seed that is Israel like the sand on the seashore but he didn't understand that he just knew he's gonna have a lot of children and he was not having any children God said that to him when he was 75 so he waited 10 years no children and then Sarah also said okay we better help God now see God's in a tight spot what do you do when God is in a difficult position we have to help him right that's the stupidity of man all these people for example today what is the application of it for today the application is when you don't have money enough for God's work but God's work has to be done we have to help God you have to write letters to America or Europe to help God you know because God is in a tight spot now and we have to tell them tell man see God is in a difficult position now here in India and we need your help if you guys don't help God's work here will suffer so you guys better help us with sending us money so that we can do God's work here Ishmael Ishmael Ishmael how many of you understood that how many of you have seen that going begging foreign people to be anywhere even India or abroad for money is producing Ishmael it may look very nice do you think his mail was a handicapped child he was much stronger than Isaac he was very strong big and a lot of this so-called Christian work is pretty big but when you lift up that one is he Lord except if God says no I won't accept it because this is produced by your cleverness and your ability and your contacts in different places and that's how you did it I'm not gonna accept it very few people see that you'll see it at the judgement seat of Christ when all of that comes crumbling down and destroyed this wood hay and straw that day you'll discover it but it'll be too late blessed are those who see it now so they don't waste their time producing Ishmael's and building with wood hay and straw the principle is you can't trust God alone you have to help him out and you have to do something without God's leading if you want to know the way God did his work look at Jesus he never sent out any prayer letters he never asked anybody in the world ever for money Paul look at the way the Apostles did it they never asked for anybody so where did all these bright ideas come from from man's clever brain that's what you can learn by reading the Old Testament man's clever brain produced Ishmael and when God saw that you know what God did I'll show you in a moment but it says here that Sarah was the free woman and the son by the bondwoman verse 23 Galatians was born according to the flesh the son by the free woman is born according to the promise that means that was 100% dependent on God alone the other was God plus man that means Abraham also cooperated and he thought he God is helping him but it was just it was almost hundred percent man he had a child exactly like any other person has he thought it was God plus man it was not it 100 percent man but in the done in the name of God I want to produce a child to fulfill God's promise I'm doing all this so that I can promote God's work it's looks very spiritual and if you are fooled by that that shows how carnal you are then he says and then this is also a symbol of the two covenants verse 24 that these are two ways of serving God one is the Old Covenant when Israel was serving that was okay you know for example if people didn't pay that type there's a curse pronounced in Monaca 3:10 cursed are you because you've not given your 10% to the temple you know that's a very favorite verse of pastors today you never find it in the New Testament no because they haven't understood the difference between Ishmael and Isaac and so they say okay it's for God's work we must do this we must raise money give my and that they were forced to do it but in the New Testament says God loves a cheerful Giver so these are symbols of two covenants one came from Mount Sinai and everyone who comes from there our children verse 24 who will be slaves listen to that that is the reason for your slavery to sin everyone who is a slave to anger to dirty thoughts - murmuring complaining grumbling whether you know it or not my dear brothers sisters face up to it you are under the Old Covenant even though you sit in a church that preaches the New Covenant you are under law Romans 6:14 says that sin shall not have dominion over you because you're not under law I can put it another way sin will have dominion over you as long as you're under law that's the meaning of Romans 6:14 till you come under grace there's children who were born under the Old Covenant are bound to be slaves Hagar was a slave Ishmael her son was a slave and he says that's different and even that earthly Jerusalem he says in verse 26 which is the Jewish headquarters those days it's in slavery but our Jerusalem is a heavenly one verse 26 when we talk about Babylon to Jerusalem we are talking about a heavenly Jerusalem the true Church of God described in Revelation 21 and concerning this it has written rejoice o barren woman in verse 27 that's a quotation from Isaiah 54 verse 1 and you know that Isaiah 54 comes immediately after Isaiah 53 Isaiah 53 is the chapter about the cross the death of Jesus Jesus dying for our sins and do you know what's the very next verse after Isaiah 53 Isaiah 54 verse 1 that's quoted here rejoice o barren woman Sarah who did not bear you can break forth shout because the children of this barren woman are more than the one who thought she had a husband so in other words the whole purpose of the cross Isaiah 53 is to lead us to Isaiah 54 verse 1 where we can have children Jesus one will have spiritual children and we ourselves no longer being under law will come into a life of victory this is what we learned from the Old Testament therefore he says in verse 21 28 therefore you brethren like Isaac are children of the promise you're not produced by human effort it's by the supernatural power of God we're supposed to live by that supernatural power of God not by our own cleverness and abilities so I'd we're not to lean on our own wisdom Christ is made unto us wisdom so what out what does the scripture say now further in verse 29 and at that time I don't know whether you read this in the Old Testament again it's the Old Testament in the book of Genesis it says that Ishmael who was 14 years older than Isaac began to trouble his little brother he kept on persecuting him bullying bullying that poor little Isaac and he says exactly you read that in the Old Testament and like that at that time Ishmael was 29 born according to flesh persecuted or bullied the one who was born according to promise it's happening now also that is why you find I don't know whether you know but when we started preaching the New Covenant in the early days boy we were persecuted tremendously by the people of the Old Covenant Christians who did not believe in victory over sin who did not believe that we could live in overcoming life who did not believe that we don't have to send reports anywhere to get money from God we have proved in 41 years through not only in wealthy places like Bangalore but in the poorest villages in India where most of our churches are we have proved that we never have to take an offering we never have to compel anybody to give money we never have to produce Ishmael's in order to fulfill God's promise it's one thing to talk about this in theory it's quite another thing to prove it in practice in my own life my wife and I proved it long before see if she started we decided that that that's the way we'd go after God proved in my life I proved it in our local church in Bangalore and I said until I prove it in the poorest villages in India which is one of the poorest countries in the world that God is the same that those who seek God's kingdom first will find all other things added to them I want to prove to this world that God is the same dear brothers and sisters that is what CFC has stood for it's not just a question of few messages you can get up here and preach some messages and here are some messages what is a lot more than that it's a question of living a life of leaning 100% upon God just like a branch in a tree absolutely helpless and however many years we have been they're still helpless see that branch that produces fruit out of 50 years is as helpless as it was when it started producing 50 years ago that's what happens to some people they get puffed up after a little while when God produces fruit in their life they begin to think there's somebody and then God sets them aside it's very important to remain till the end with that spirit in which God produced Isaac helpless dependence upon God it's so very very important to understand that that's the way I want to live till Jesus comes because that is the New Covenant and that is what he's explaining here so brethren verse 31 we are not children of the slave woman but of the free and so stand fast when you read Galatians 5:1 many people read it all by itself it was for freedom that Christ has set us free stand in that Liberty what does it mean he won't understand that unless you understand chapter 4 verse 21 to 31 sometimes these chapter breaks that come in the Bible which are now not in the original letter all just wrote one letter whenever you read a chapter break in the New Testament try and see the connection there is route to the next verse otherwise you miss something for freedom Christ set us free stand fast in that Liberty and don't be subject to a yoke of slavery that means don't go back to the Ishmael method of serving God that's the meaning Ishmael was a slave stand fast and let all your ministry be the way Isaac was produced you know it's not by depending on our own ability it's so important in everything we do when I seek to preach God's Word I have to be very careful that I'm not depending on my own cleverness and my own ability to move people emotionally or to convince people but to helplessly depend on God otherwise I will produce Ishmael most of the sermons I hear on the Internet are Ishmael's so many sermons and you need to distinguish is this human cleverness or it is something that stirs faith in your heart to trust God that you can also live this way and the reason why I mentioned money so much is because jesus said there are only two masters God and money you either depend on God are you dependent money so dependence on money is what Ishmael stands for and dependence on God is what Isaac stands for so there is where we find a clarity in our thinking that just like the parables of Jesus made certain truths clear for example Jesus could have said God loves you so much that even if you're a terrible sinner he'll welcome you it's a true statement but the story of the prodigal son who went away he's a far more living and realistic and powerful explanation of that truth than just the statement that if you come back to God he'll accept you see a parable an illustration is so powerful no prophet in the Old Testament did it like that Jesus was the master at that he was always he was the first a prophet or servant of God that spoke in parables most of the time used illustrations like salt and light and the eyes in the body and so many things and so many stories all the time to illustrate truth and it's the same principle when we understand these Old Testament stories how they illustrate truth and that's what we see here about Ishmael and Isaac you'll understand freedom in Christ a lot better if you try and see what is the meaning here that's the value of reading the Old Testament like entering through the veil I mean these things have blessed me tremendously not just as a clever thought I mean if it's only a clever idea to you and you pass on that clever idea to other people that's worth noting it must produce a practical reality in my life and that's the important thing so in that connection I wanted you know you read about the deliverance from Egypt is also a picture of salvation the blood of the Lamb put outside is the way symbolizing the blood of Christ and the going into the Red Sea and coming out is a picture of water baptism I mean I nobody would ever baptize children if you see that going into the river and coming out is a picture of baptism today if you understand that in the Old Testament it is impossible to sprinkle children because Moses didn't sprinkle the Red Sea water on those people's heads they went in and out that is baptism and coming out and then another cloud comes down from above as soon as they have come out of that river Red Sea and that is called in 1 Corinthians 10 the baptism of the cloud it's called a baptism and you see that that is the baptism in the Holy Spirit that came from above so you see the symbolism and its meaning and I will tell you how it has meaning because if you ask people what is the purpose with which God baptized people in the Holy Spirit even the average Pentecostal will not be able to tell you he'll tell you it's on it's in order to give you the gifts of the Spirit or to speak in tongues and all that now I I believe in all the gifts in spirit I would not be able to preach if God did not give me the gift of prophecy impossible he gave it to me years ago and that's what I use I thank God for the gift of tongues that liberated me from discouragement if there's one thing that delivered me from discouraging it was speaking in tongues so I'm not against these gifts but you know just that is not the purpose if you look at the Old Testament you understand it better the baptism in the cloud which came upon them when they came out of the Red Sea is a picture of the baptism in the Holy Spirit and then I asked myself what was the purpose of that cloud then I know the purpose of the baptism the Holy Spirit the purpose of that cloud was to lead them step-by-step into the land of Canaan ah now I know the purpose of the baptism the Holy Spirit to lead me day by day into the life of victory that opened my eyes so the baptism in the Holy Spirit the cloud coming down is just the beginning and if they didn't follow the cloud day by day by day by day by day they won't enter the promised land and one day the cloud led them right to the bodies of the promised land after two years and God said go in now and they consulted with men and they went by the majority opinion twelve spies went in ten of the spies said we can't go in even though the cloud had led them right to the border and said go in they took a vote and ten versus two they said 10 people say we can't go in only Joshua and Caleb say we can so the majority wins that is an example from the Old Testament that the majority amongst God's people is always wrong they were God's people they were not Egyptians but the majority vote among God's people was wrong please remember that all your life one man with God is a majority not the majority of people if you remember these simple principles in life you will your life will be useful you won't waste your Christian life I've seen so many Christians I believe they're wasting their life and one day when they stand at the judgment seat of Christ they'll wake up and say boy I wasted my life because I didn't understand the principles I had a Bible I was not like those ignorant people who did not have a Bible in my own language I had a Bible my own language but instead of spending my time reading the Bible I wasted my time and so many other good things there are good things I tell you in the world which can prevent you from reading the Bible too much occupation with music entertainment up to a certain extent relaxation and entertainment even watching an occasional clean 100% clean movie which is very rare is okay but a lot of waste of time in these things he can waste a lot of time on the Internet you can read a lot with a lot of young people nowadays are wasting a lot of time on Facebook they spend more time with Facebook than with God's work no wonder they don't grow you won't grow because you God sees your honoring earthly things more than him I never wanted to be like that in my life I started my life Christian life in the days when there was no television or internet or Facebook or any of those things and I want to live my life like that studying the Scriptures till the end of my life I know that that's the way I can preserve myself in an evil and adulterous generation I can only recommend it to you I cannot force you to do it if you love Jesus you'll say Lord I want my life to count for you in these last days I don't want to waste it so I want you to think about these things seriously and in the Old Testament there's another thing which I want to point out to you which is very significant turn with me to Genesis chapter 16 I told you I would show you this verse when Ishmael was born Genesis 16 and verse 16 we read Abraham was 86 years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to him there's the last verse of Genesis 16 and that is 11 years after God spoke to Abraham and he was 75 to leave or the khaldiya saying i'll give you children i'll bless you so he waited a long time nothing came through Sarah so he decided to take law into his own hands and decided to help God and produce Ishmael and Ishmael persecuted Isaac and the descendants of Ishmael have persecuted the descendants of Isaac through the years through the centuries also and then notice this what is the next verse after the last verse of Genesis 16 last verses Abraham was 86 years old his male was born what happened when Abraham was 87 I don't know 88 89 90 91 nothing it's unimportant what he did next verses he was 99 years old what happened in those 13 years I'll tell you God was waiting for Abraham to become important like we read in Romans 4 for his body to become dead as if God was saying ah Abram you think you can produce a child right to fulfill my promise okay I'll wait I cannot do anything for you till you become important and you cannot have a child then let's see what child you will produce he could produce a child when he was 87 88 89 so God has to wait there's a lesson there for you and me in that you think you can serve God with your cleverness and your ability and your study in that God says okay I'll wait I'll wait till you come to zero I'll wait till you become important helpless till you become like that branch in that tree which says I cannot produce any fruit without the tree have you come to that place you haven't then God has to wait this is a principle throughout scripture he waits till you become spiritually input in and say Lord I can do nothing without you nothing means nothing that is the message of the gap between chapter 16 verse 16 and chapter 17 verse 1 there's an invisible gap there of 13 years with a powerful message in that gap and the message is God waits for you to be impotent and helpless that's all and when he was 99 then we read he read later on and Sarah became pregnant supernaturally because Abraham was impotent now and when Abraham was a hundred years old and very next year Sarah gave birth but before that as a preparation for that the Lord wanted to teach Abraham something in a very special way what you know Abraham didn't understand the significance of why 13 years nothing is happening you know we read in the very often God would speak to Iran Abraham Abraham got to say Abram would say Here I am again he would say Abraham Abraham and you say Here I am but for 13 years God never said anything when God stopped speaking it's there's a message in that also the message is you're too full of yourself you're too self-important that's why you can't hear God's voice okay the God is to wait till you come to the place of helplessness importance spiritually say Lord I can't do it that's how it was with Moses we read in Acts chapter 7 then when Moses is 40 years old he thought all Israel would think God has help called me to deliver you what was God's message to Moses Moses you're too strong you can kill one man Egyptian with the blow of your hand that's not the way I'm going to deliver Israel and God took him to the wilderness and why was God waiting 40 years what is Moses doing the 40 years is hardly anything mentioned hardly anything mentioned you read that Moses ran away to the desert when he was 40 years old next thing you read in Genesis 3 he's 80 years old what happened between 40 and 80 nothing mentioned in Exodus just like what happened here for these with Abraham which was 13 years with Moses it was 40 years God was waiting for Moses to become spiritually important and you know he became spiritually impotent if you compare two verses of Scripture which I want to show you in Acts of the Apostles please turn with me and see this because there's a lesson here Acts chapter 7 and verse 22 acts 7:22 here is the powerful educated Moses he was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians Egypt was like the United States of America today they're one superpower in the world was the level of education and so many things like Harvard University and all was there in Egypt they built pyramids which even today people are wondering how people made it they were brilliant mathematics and science and all that and Moses was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians and he was a man of power a man of power in what in speech he was a powerful speaker and in deeds in action he was a powerful speaker and a man of action and when he was about 40 years old you know he saw one of his brothers being unjustly treated and he struck down the Egyptian verse 24 with one blow of his hand he was so strong he gave one blow to that Egyptian and the Egyptian died he was a muscular strong wonderful speaker capable man and when the Israelites saw that he thought verse 22 he thought his brethren will understand I am the man whom God has chosen to deliver you but they did not understand God says Moses you're too strong it's like God told Abraham you're too strong and so we read that he went into the wilderness and he was in the wilderness for 40 years and then after 40 years see what he says in Exodus chapter 4 X is chapter 4 God calls Moses and tells him to go into Egypt to be the deliverer of his people and Moses says in Exodus in chapter 4 listen to this can you believe this Exodus 4:10 Lord I have never been eloquent neither in the past nor now I was never able to speak properly hey Moses have you forgotten what you were 40 years ago God had done such a work of humbling Moses that he completely forgot all his human eloquence and ability and he says I'm slow of speech slow of tongue how did that happen if God took him away from all those clever Egyptians and put him in the midst of she after 40 years he could not speak he was not eloquent you spent 40 years with sheep you'll also become like that even if you're an eloquent man what you'll not want to learn here is that God never uses a man till he first humbles him makes him a zero the problem that the reason why God cannot use many people it's because they depend too much on their human strength the Bible says in heaven no man will be able to glory here on earth the Lord of Christian people glory that I did this and I did that I preached this powerful sermon and I healed the sick and I did that and I planted a church or all this rubbish in heaven nobody to be able to say it but the man who has learned not to say it on earth as well who's learned without Jesus Christ I can do nothing he's the man who's going to be most effective for God on the earth and you can be like that you young people that's the most important lesson you need to learn you're all powerful eloquent capable educated people you're very smart that's your handicap unfortunately that's why very often God uses people who are not so educated and not so capable and who probably don't even know English properly and God uses them to teach the PhDs God's ways because no flesh can glory in his presence and Moses and Lord said listen I made man's mouth verse 4 in Exodus 4:11 go I'll be with your mouth and he still says no Lord please don't send me I'm not fit that was the man whom God used a man whose human strength had been completely shattered God wanted to use Moses God wanted to use Abraham but he could not use them until they had come to that place these are the lessons we read from the Old Testament now turn with me to Genesis in Chapter 17 after God had brought Abraham to that place was 99 years old God never spoke to him for 13 years he kept quiet and Abraham must have wondered what's happening just like Moses wondering 40 years in the wilderness what's happening finally God spoke sometimes you have to wait a long time and you don't hear God speak to you for a long long time you know what God's waiting for he's waiting for you to become spiritually helpless and impotent and small in your own eyes you become a zero all the high thoughts that you have about yourself because maybe God has used you in the past to accomplish certain things and that has gone to your head and you really think you're somebody okay God says I withdraw my presence from you and I'll tell you something when God withdraws his presence from you you will do the most stupid foolish things and like it says in 2nd Timothy 3 your folly will become manifest to everybody it's a mark that God has withdrawn his presence from you I've seen that happen again and again and again that's why you suddenly hear some pastor fell into adultery and the folly becomes manifest to everybody or he does some other stupid thing the folly becomes manifest to everybody that's because if the guy began to suddenly think he was somebody so doesn't want that to happen so with some of his greatest servants what God has done is break them so thoroughly before they start their ministry so that they'll never make that type of blunder many people have entered into the full-time Christian ministry without being broken thoroughly and that's why they make a mess later on thirty years later so God has to break and break and break it's better that God breaks you when you're a young man so that you don't do some blunder when you're 60 or 70 years old let God break you it's the most important thing is he it's the way he's led even a Jacob you know he was a very strong person very smart very shrewd capable of deceiving his brother and all that but God broke him so thoroughly made him handicapped had to walk with a cane God said now you're Israel from now he'll be Israel the same principle throughout scripture but in Genesis 17 God wanted to teach this to Abraham in a practical way a lesson he wanted to print into his body so he tells him Abraham I'm gonna make a covenant with you and your seed and so listen to this exit I'm sorry Genesis chapter 17 verse 10 this is my covenant which you shall keep between you and your descendants every male among you must be circumcised everyone not only your children verse 12 last party was servant born in your house or a servant that you bought with money from a foreigner they also must first 13 must be circumcised so those servants also came into the Covenant not just his own children more than Abraham's children even the servants in their house and his father said if any uncircumcised male verse 14 his uncircumcised does not allow that circumcision he'll be cut off from the people and cut off from my covenant so this was the significance of the circumcision and just like everything in the Old Testament had a meaning the cloud going through the Red Sea the blood what is the meaning of circumcision it has a spiritual meaning in Jeremiah chapter four he hints at that meaning but he don't understand it fully in the Old Testament in Jeremiah chapter four and verse four the Lord said to God's people Israel through Jeremiah Jeremiah 4 verse 4 circumcise yourself to the Lord remove the foreskin of your heart not your body that's only a symbol there's something in your heart that needs to be cut off but they didn't understand it but once the Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost he explained it now you'll see the explanation turn with me to Philippians in chapter 3 where Paul explains this through the Holy Spirit in Philippians 3 verse 3 we are the true circumcision we worship in the Spirit of God you know what Jesus told the Samaritan woman let me paraphrase it in the Old Testament they worshiped in body and soul but the true worshipers will worship in the spirit my belief is that 99% of Christian churches do not know what worship is because they think it's a question of singing well or singing very emotionally in a way you know how some people put a tremor into their voice to try and emotionally move people okay good Old Testament worship that's not New Testament worship body and soul emotion mind body New Testament worship is worship in the spirit and worshipping the spirit is described in Romans 12 verse 1 and 2 as present your body a living sacrifice to God that means deny your hands from doing what they want to do deny your tongue from saying what it wants to say that's sacrifice sacrifice means I put my tongue on the altar I put my hand on the altar present your body as a living sacrifice I put my eyes on the altar I'm not allowed to look at what I want to look at it's sacrificed you know who are the true worshipers here in our midst not the ones who sang well this morning I'm sorry to disappoint you but I want to tell you the truth so she don't be deceived the true worshipers here but those who put their eyes on the altar during the last one week and did not look at what God did not want them to look at did not read what God did not want them to read the true worshipers are those who put that tongue on the altar for the last one week and did not say what they wanted to say did not and said what God wanted them to say who denied they did not do with their hands what God did not want to do hidden in this congregation are a few people like that maybe you're not good singers it doesn't matter you're not good singers but you're really good worshipers because you know you're presented your body as a living sacrifice and Romans 12 let me turn that because some of you don't know that verse Romans 12:1 and 2 it's not only our body Romans 12:1 2 it says we must present our mind as well first is Romans 12:1 present your body a living whole sacrifice which is your spiritual worship got it which is your worship in the spirit so you worship in the spirit by presenting your body that means inwardly you have gone the way of the rent whale you've denied yourself that means you when your body wanted to do something you inwardly you said no that's the that's dishonouring to God I will not say that you attempted to say something to your wife or to somebody else and you put that to death because he wanted to be a worshipper that's where you learn to worship you wanted to look at something that tempted you and you turned your eyes away you were worshiping at that time did you know that he wanted to do something with your hand or write something and you didn't do it because you felt it would dishonor God that moment you were a worshipper that is your spiritual worship the thing which God Jesus told the Samaritan woman those who worship God must worship Him in spirit it's explained here that inwardly in my spirit in my spirit I decide to control my body my spirit will rule my body my spirit tells my eyes don't look there don't read that don't touch that with your hand don't say that with your tongue and my spirit rules my body I'm a worshiper and spirit ninety-nine percent of Christians their body rules their spirit the Spirit says don't do that the body said I still want to do it okay they can come and sing beautifully here on Sunday morning and imagine that they're worshiping God they're not and further if you want to continue in the spirit of worship Romans 12:2 don't be conformed in your mind to this world's way of thinking like the Phillips translation says don't let the world squeeze you into its shape into its mold now resist it the world is trying to squeeze you into its shape that means to make you think in the shape of the world you say no I'm not gonna allow the world to mold me into that type of thinking I'm gonna think the way God wants me to think that's why I want to study the Scriptures then you will understand what the perfect will of God is so that is worship in the spirit in case you did not know now you know how to come next Sunday to worship in the spirit he doesn't matter one bit to God whether you can sing in tune whether you can sing with the tremor in your voice or whether you can do all these things that clever musicians do it matters immensely to God whether you have denied yourself throughout the week that is worship and this is about the only church in the world you will ever hear that preached let me tell you tell me if you heard that anywhere else most people what they call praise and worship it is not praise and worship the words are praise the words are thanksgiving they say I worship you but they're not worshiping God how did they live the last week it's words empty words that's what Jesus said in mark chapter 7 these people draw nearer to me with their words but their heart goes after their lusts they're not worshiping but we want to make worshipers here because Jesus said you shall worship and then serve you cannot serve God properly if you don't worship that's another thing I learned early in my life that if I wanted to serve God effectively I had to learn to worship Him first I had to present my body to present my mind and let him control it then I could serve otherwise my service can be won't be acceptable by God men may think it's great but and I won't get revelation I'll read the scripture and I won't get revelation I'll still live under the Old Covenant and still practice the practices of most of Christendom which lives under the Old Covenant turn back to Philippians 3 let me show you something more we are the true circumcision verse 3 chapter 3 verse 3 we are trying to understand what circumcision meant cutting off something physical circumcision is the cutting out something and throwing it away so first of all I cut off this emotional type of worship and the clever mental type of worship and I worship in the spirit and I glory in Christ Jesus alone I don't glory in anything that I have done very important circumcision means I cut off all glorying in what I have done what I've accomplished Paul said forgetting the things that are behind he says that later on the same chapter and that means the way I've looked at it is what does it mean to forget the things that are behind for me it means this that anything that I have done for God up until today anything that I've done for God up until today I forget it that means I serve God today as if I have done nothing for God in my life till today you want to serve God effectively that's the way to do it that's me I seek to do it I'm trying to do it like that every day Lord I want to imagine that I've never done anything for you one single thing for you till today but today I want to do something for you out of gratitude for what you did for me this is the first day Lord that I'm really doing something for you that's the meaning of forgetting the things that are behind and pressing the thoughts of the things that are before some of you have done things for the Lord and you're very conscious of it and you remind yourself of it I've done this for the Lord and I've done that for the Lord I'm not just an ordinary brother you'll never be a servant of God you'll never be one till you learn to forget the things that are behind you want the highest Christian life are you are you happy with pass marks 40% you're enough party bug percent are you a 40% Christian or 100 percent Christian you 100 percent or you just want past Fox 40% how can I get to heaven I'm not interested in 40% I don't want pass marks I want 100 percent and if you want to be 100 percent the things that are behind okay and we glory in Christ Jesus not in ourselves and there here's the last the third thing there we have no confidence in the flesh in ourselves so cutting off circumcision with the cutting off of the flesh in the Old Covenant today it's a cutting off of confidence in myself I can do it uh-huh and 13 years God will speak nothing to you of 40 years he will speak nothing you'll come to the meetings but you'll never hear the voice of God right from Genesis chapter 1 we read one thing things happened on the earth only when it says God said something happened God said let there be light God said let the trees come forth without that nothing happens that's the message in the first chapter of the Bible all our cleverness all our ability and all our confidence in our own ability has to be cut off we have to listen to what God says and let that happen in our life and in one day things will happen which haven't happened in your life in 20 years it's amazing have we learnt this circumcision cutting off all confidence in our own ability the world is full of self-confidence you can't get a job in a responsible place as a manager or something if you don't have self confidence in the world you need it in the church is exactly the opposite you have to have confidence in God and zero confidence in yourself out in the world you better be a self-confident person otherwise you won't be able to get a good job but when it comes to spiritual things it's the exact opposite so that is the meaning of circumcision it's a cutting off of all confidence in the flesh a cutting off a walking my own way worshiping God in my spirit letting my body be controlled by my spirit and not by his own desires like Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9 a beautiful way he says it he says I discipline my body 1 Corinthians 9:27 and the Living Bible paraphrase is beautiful 1 Corinthians 9:27 I made my body do what it should do not what it wants to do understood that I Buffett my body make it my slave meaning I make my body do what it should I make my eyes see what it should see not what it wants to see I make my eyes read what it should read not what it wants to read not a lot of rubbish but God's work I make my tongue speak what it should speak to glorify God and not what it wants to speak I make my hands do what it should do not what it wants to do you live like that this coming week he'll be a worshipper next Sunday better than anybody else here even if you can't sing for nuts true those who have ears to hear will hear many have heard this before but haven't taken it seriously God's reminding you again and one of these days it'll be the last reminder Christ will come it'll be too late I don't know how 2016 was for you but in 2017 I hope you'll be a worshipper I want to be a far greater worshipper this year then I have been in all my life I want to forget everything behind me I want to live every day as if I've done nothing for the Lord until that day and to say Lord I want to do something for you today I've done nothing for you till now I want to do something for you and gratitude for what you did for me on the cross that's how I want to live every single day of 2017 that'll save me from becoming conceited it'll save me from comparing myself with other people who I think are not so spiritual or who I think haven't done as much for the Lord as I have done it'll save me from many temptations I want to be circumcised in my heart I hope you want to be also let's bow our heads before God as our heads are bowed before the Lord I want to tell you one another mark of a person who's truly circumcised has no confidence in his flesh you know what it is he will pray a lot more he will pray a lot more he'll be a man of prayer it'll be a woman of Prayer don't you remember times in your some of you been believers for many years don't you remember how in the olden days you used to pray a lot more he's gone from your life he's been replaced by the internet and Facebook and a hundred in one another not evil things good things that is God's Way to eliminate your prayer is the expression of your dependence upon God the Bible says we must pray always seek to restore that in your life this year don't just take this as another message the Lord is speaking to you because he loves you he doesn't want you to waste your life anymore he doesn't want you to be a backslider some of you have become backsliders he doesn't want you to be backslide and backside and backside and he will finally end up with some other people who used to be in CFC are today back slidden he wants to save you from that take your life seriously my brother's sister you young people take your life seriously from now because God wants took your life to count for eternity he wants to do something with your life bow before God in deep repentance begin your day before you get out of bed with prayer with repentance go to bed at night and on your bed before you go to sleep those last few moments repent and pray to God and every now and then during the day you don't have to be on your knees the whole day but every now and then when you have a spare moment ask the Holy Spirit to remind you to pray half minute prayers 15-second prayers you don't have to spend long hours on your knees what does it mean to pray always that means very frequently during the day that's the way to do it start in the morning be a man of Prayer be a woman of prayers and let your prayer be as an expression of your helpless dependence upon God pray for your children or not following the Lord and those who are following the Lord pray that they'll be more effective for the Lord and not just drift along with a good testimony pray for your home that it'll be a witness for Christ and these little groups that will now started pray that you'll be an anointed leader for those groups and that in those groups you'll be able to build up the ones who are meeting there with you to godliness and to become true worshipers it's not you can't do it I hope you realize you can't do it and I hope you'll be cast upon God and say God I can't do it please help me I have no confidence in my ability I'm gonna be totally circumcised I'm not going to do a 180 degree circumcision it's going to be a 360 degree complete circle circumcision 100% 360 degrees complete circumcision no dependence on myself in any area no glorying in the past in any area we glory only in Christ Jesus no worshipping of my body but worshiping of Jesus Christ alone no worshipping of anything holy Christ I believe God is calling our church to serious repentance to serious turning to him everyone old and young so that we accomplished something in this year for the Lord and for his glory that we have never accomplished in our life so far don't sit back and say God can't you see say Lord you can do great things through me I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me make these two verses your motto for this year without Christ I can do nothing nothing means nothing I'll be zero and with Christ I can do all things make these two verses your motto for the new year without Christ I can do zero with Christ I can do everything dear brothers I plead with you take my word seriously I believe I'm speaking in the holy spirit say that to the Lord Lord helped me every day to say without Christ I can do nothing anything I do will only create a mess in your work forgive me for all the mess I've created in your work so far but I believe I don't want to just say without Christ I can do nothing I also want to say with Christ I can do everything that God wants to do in my life in this year the good works that God planned before the foundation of the world for me to fulfill in 2017 will be fulfilled say that to the Lord Lord there are works you planned that I should do in this year before the foundation of the world before I was born I want to I want to fulfill that I don't want to drift along I don't want to be drifting in the sea I want to have direction in my life that direction is not my will but yours every single step be a man of prayer be a woman of Prayer proud to God even now in your heart cry out to God say Lord I want to take it seriously Lord make me one who's dependent on you every moment of this year I want to live one day at a time and every day of this year I want to live in dependence upon you that is the spirit of prayer seeking you seeking your help in the small things in the big things seeking your help in the earthly things and seeking your help in spiritual things in everything I want to lean upon you as helplessly as the branches in the tree our Heavenly Father how greatly you love us our heavenly dad he loved us so greatly he was short is of that in our heart we want your Holy Spirit to fill us as we crowd to you fill us with the Holy Spirit yes Lord fill us deep in our heart the love of God be shed abroad in our hearts and the power of God's shed abroad in our hearts pray my brothers that God will fill you with your spirit he doesn't have to be an emotional cry if it's a sincere helpless cry even if it's in the silence of your heart this is Lord I'm a helpless person fill me with the Holy Spirit right now God can do work in your heart that will have results throughout this year and walk in lowliness of mind and preserve the part of the Spirit in your life walk in lowliness of mind every day destroy those high thoughts bring those high thoughts into captivity to the obedience of Christ let there be a revolution in your life and a revival believe that you'll never be the same God equips you to fulfill his purpose in this year let there be a helpless cry in your heart that never ceases every day as you begin the day in the morning you wake up in your bed the Lord another day I'm gonna lean on you I can do nothing without you today but I believe I can do everything you want me to do today in your power only filled with the spirit I want a clean heart cleansed in the blood of Christ filled of the Spirit thank you Lord Jesus you paid the price and you purchased everything for us we don't want to disappoint you we want to be the type of individuals you want us to be we want to build the type of family you want us to build and we want to build a church type of church you want us to build we wanted to be your church you must build it Lord we are unworthy were vessels unprofitable servants but you still deign to use us yes Lord we believe you will we believe things will be different in our lives especially those who are sincerely calling on you right now thank you Lord thank you Father thank you dad in Jesus name Amen

Channel: SermonIndex.net

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Keywords: Revival, Character Of God, Free Sermons, Video Sermons, Jesus Christ, What Is The Gospel, SermonIndex, What Is The Truth, Zac Poonen

Id: bm4dUpKiBbk

Length: 77min 27sec (4647 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 11 2017