Counterfeits and Deceptions - Zac Poonen - June 4, 2017

I thought of the subject of being filled with the Holy Spirit and the reason is that there's so much confusion about this subject and so much of counterfeit and that's not surprising if you look around the world people counterfeit only what is valuable nobody counted it's brown paper or newspapers people counterfeit gold and silver and so anything that's counterfeited expensive currency notes I don't think anyone caught up with you in a one dollar note it's only 100 dollar note so anything that's counterfeited should immediately indicate to you that the original must be very valuable so to me that is more than anything else that the devil's counterfeited it's the baptism and fullness of the Holy Spirit and Christendom and this tremendous amount of confusion on that it's like a maze and uh and in that it's those who are wholehearted and really want God's best will not miss out on God's best that I can assure you and we wonder why God is allowed allowed such things why does God allow deception to come into the midst of those who are his people if I know that a man is a deceiver I would not allow him to come to my house and speak to my children but God is a more loving father than I am and yet he allows it so there must be a very good reason where his wisdom is beyond mine let me show you a couple of verses in Scripture in the New Testament in second Corinthians first of all and chapter 11 2nd Corinthians 11 and it says here in verse 3 I'm afraid just like the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness your minds should be led astray from simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ what we see there is that as soon as God created Adam and Eve United them in marriage and sent them into the garden the very first thing we read in Scripture is that the devil deceived them now as I said I would not allow someone who I knew to be a deceiver to come into my home and deceive my children why did God allow Adam and Eve to face the deceiver as soon as they almost the first day of their life God's ways are not our ways God is building a people for eternity and it's not by protecting them from temptation driving them from deception protecting them from evil and you know keeping them protected like in a cocoon that's not the way he wants his children to develop they will not develop there will be spiritual babies all their life and so God has seen that the way this children can develop is by being exposed to temptation for example I would not allow my children to unnecessarily face temptation if I can avoid it but God allows us human to face temptation all the time every day so we see there there is a purpose that if I learn how to overcome this temptation if I learn how to get through this haze of deception I will come out of it a spiritual man if I avoid it altogether I'll be a baby all my life and God doesn't want us to be babies we don't develop by not being tested in all education every promotion is dependent on a test and every test is at a higher level than the previous one and that's how we become more educated in the world and the same principle in the Christian life that is through testing and that testing includes temptation it includes deception and if I can overcome that I become spiritual I become a mature man otherwise we'll all end up in heaven as babies God doesn't want babies and in heaven there's not going to be any testing there's not going to be any deception so there's no possibility of growth in heaven there would have been no possibility of Adam and Eve growing if they were not tempted if they were not open to deception exposed to it because God cannot create a person as a mature Saint a person becomes a mature Saint by choice by a number of choices you can have two people or converted on the same day and 10 years later one is more mature than the other why is that or someone who is converted very much after someone else goes ahead of that person why is that if you look around you can see that probably in your own midst in this church I've seen it in my church too at home that many who were in the church right from the beginning seemed to be I mean though they're willing to help in many practical ways they don't seem to have grown to spiritual maturity whether they can where they can bless and challenge others and many others who've come in much later have come to that maturity why is that so it doesn't depend on the number of years you are in a church that determines whether you're mature or not it's like you know as children grow up just because somebody's twenty years old doesn't mean he's mature person who's twenty years old could behave like a kid and someone else was 10 years old could be more mature it depends all they've been exposed to how their parents have trained them God seeks to train all of us but he can't do much with us if we don't respond so those who don't respond to God's training even though they sit many years in a church listening to the same truths don't mature much whereas others who come in much later and are radical and wholehearted in a very short time they become mature this is a fact it's been true in Christendom all these 2,000 years and it was true in the first century and it is true even today so here it says about God allowing Adam and Eve to be deceived by Satan and to be tempted by him the purpose was that they would grow one step in maturity that wouldn't have been the only test if they had passed that test just like when you pass the kindergarten test you go to the first grade and the second grade there have been many many tests that God took Adam and Eve through but they failed in the very first one and you see with all the great men and women in the Old Testament that God tested them let me show you an example in Genesis 22 about Abraham God called Abraham when he was 75 years old and told him it was a test you know when a man is 75 years old he's probably earned a lot of money built a house retired settle down and that's the time God calls him to leave his country and leave his relatives leave everybody and come where I will show you and I'm not even going to tell you where it's going to be but I'll make you a great nation if you can trust me it was assess is Abraham willing to trust God there and leave his family members never to see them again I've sometimes taught whether God went to some other man in all of the counties before he went to Abraham and let's assume that God went to somebody else and said hey will you I want to make a great nation of you come out from all of the counties and come and follow me to land which I will show you and suppose that man said well Lord don't trouble me now I've retired I've just built my house I'm settling down I can't leave my family and all ungodly to say oh okay then you stay here I won't trouble you and he looks for somebody else and he finds Abraham could I be like that Abraham may have been God's second choice Abraham said okay and fifty years later when he's about a hundred and twenty-five years old we read in Genesis 22 and verse 1 God tested Abraham again that's way after he walked with the Lord for so many years so you find God's constantly testing him to lead him higher to lead him to a greater level of knowledge of God when he passed the test again when he was asked that was a very tough test to offer up his son so if you find that God is leading you to stronger tests remember he's sitting to leave you higher and if you fail in those tests then of course you'll remain where you are God loves all his children equally there's no partiality with God at all among men there can be partiality but with God there is zero partiality all his children are exactly the same term even men and women there's no difference in God's eye they're all precious to him and he wants all of them to advance spiritually to maturity which means he will allow all of them to be tested like all of them are in the first grade and then he tests them to see whether they move on but some don't move on and that is the reason why you see a difference between believers I don't mean the ability to preach or speak because that can be sometimes a a natural ability maturity is not tested by our knowledge of the Bible or by spiritual gifts or our ability to speak because Jesus said that in the last day there will be people who even cast out demons and heal the sick who will go to hell even though they did it in Jesus name now that's amazing that a man healed the sick in Jesus name and ends up in hell and the reason is the Lord says in all the years you are on earth you did all these ministries but I never knew you I never got to know you you know you never got to know me we were not intimate that's what you read in Matthew chapter 7 they say Lord we did so many miracles in your name Jesus yeah that's true I don't question that but I never knew you and that's going to be a big surprise to a lot of people who think they're very spiritual because we have done so much it went to so many meetings and they had so much knowledge of God but they never knew Jesus and I find lots of believers like that sitting in many of our churches they don't know Jesus more and more they I'm just like when you get married you get to know your husband more and more with each passing year but after 20 years if you don't know your husband any more than when you first marry them that shows you've probably never lived with him or you didn't love him you never lived with him or even if you were in the same house you're nothing much knowing much interaction with each other and so after 20 years you don't know your husband and I find lots of believers like that they say when I accepted Christ 20 years ago but what is their knowledge of the Lord it's pathetic they don't know the Lord they're still covetous and greedy and selfish and angry and bitter and complaining and grumbling and if they didn't tell you they were Christians you'd see there's not much difference between them and any unconverted worldly man in the road except that they come to church or they come to a good church they don't know the Lord and that's because remember there's no partiality with God that God tried to take them through some tests and they didn't want to take it seriously they just wanted to attend meetings and sing songs and have a good reputation before people and not get to know the Lord so I want to encourage all of you to know the Lord personally it's the most important thing that's what God seeks to lead you into return with me to second Corinthians again that passage we saw in chapter 11 verse three says I'm afraid he's telling these Corinthians who've been who claim to accept Christ many years earlier he said that's okay you guys have accepted Christ and all that but I'm still afraid that the devil will come and lead you astray and you will end up like those people who say Lord we came to church and we did this and we did that but you don't know the Lord and here is the proof of their spiritual weakness 2nd Corinthians 11 verse for some other preacher comes along and preaches another jesus not the Jesus we preached and you accept it beautifully and he preaches about another spirit I told you about the counterfeit Holy Spirit counterfeits and he urges you to receive another spirit and you receive it and he proclaims a different gospel it's all in verse 4 another Jesus a different spirit a different gospel and you accepted you don't have the discernment to know what is the true gospel and what is not true it's like your sense of taste is gone you don't know the difference between tasty food and garbage I'll be terrible if your tongue is not able to distinguish between food that is good and food that is utterly spoiled garbage if I can't if you can't distinguish between that what is what happened is you'll eat something which is thoroughly spoiled full of bacteria and whatnot and it will kill you finally if you keep eating like that and that's exactly what's happened a lot of Christians their sense of discernment is not developed even after many years they're not able to discern what is the real gospel and what is another gospel and we find multitudes of people today in the world who take a matter of what speak sir of a different gospel the most popular gospel being preached in evangelical and charismatic circles in the world today is a gospel which proclaims that Jesus will make you wealthy and healthy so it's very easy to find out if that is the true gospel or not very very easy if you just use a little common sense you don't even need to know the Bible just a little common sense will help you to know is that the true gospel or not so ask yourself this question is there any human being in the world who does not want wealth and health anybody if you ever come across anybody like that every beggar and homeless person wants well every sick person in the world wants help every rich person in the world also wants more wealth and every healthy person wants more help so you've got a whole range from the poorest to the richest they all want more money and you got the other range from the thickest to the healthiest they all want to help you help so there's not a single human being in the world who does not want help and well and if that is true and it is true why does it say that Jesus came into the world in the world rejected him and crucified him why would the world reject Jesus if he came offering health and wealth the very fact that they killed him proved that he was not offering what the whole world wanted that's just common sense you don't even need to know the Bible to detect that false gospel but yet it's amazing how many millions of Christians in the world today are deceived by that and even many who think we are not deceived and secretly they may be hoping that Jesus would give them more health and well they get disturbed if they're sick and they get disturbed if God doesn't give them some material thing that they long for or some job they desperately wanted and they didn't get it and say why didn't Jesus give it to me they think Jesus came here to earth to give us good jobs nice house a nice car and welcome health even people who say they don't believe that gospel what is it that man does not want we read in Romans in chapter 3 about a description of the human race it says here in Romans 3:10 onwards a description of man around the world all human beings there is none righteous no not one in the whole world a lot of people think they're righteous what the Bible says nobody is righteous not even one there's no one who understands God and here's the amazing thing there is no one who seeks for God is that true look at all the religions where people go on pilgrimages and spend millions of dollars God giving offerings in their temples and mosques and churches and travel here and there and many people who become priests and give up their professions to serve God and it says here there's no one who seeks for God I believe the Bible I believe there's no one who seeks for God everybody is turned aside from God they have all become useless not in the description of the human race if you begin here you can find salvation if you think you are a sort of a good person that's why God found you and that's why you don't find the fullness of salvation if I can face up to this and say Lord in my unconverted state I'm not a righteous person I don't understand God I don't seek after God verse 11 I have turned aside I am useless I'm just reading out what's written here verse 12 I don't do any good not even one person who does good and Lord my tongue is so evil this poison in it and my mouth is full of cursing and bitterness and even if I don't literally shed blood by stabbing them I stab them with my tongue and shed blood destruction and misery are in our parts and the part of living in peace I don't know and I don't have any fear of God this is a description of the human race by God and if you are proud you will not accept it and that's the reason why your experience of Christ is very shallow and will remain shallow forever I want you to be honest take time sometimes to go home and read Romans three verses 10 to 18 and face up to and ask yourself whether that is an honest description of your unconverted condition and I have a feeling that a number of you will say no I'm not that bad no wonder your experience of Christ is shallow and you don't seem to grow much spiritually if you accept the verdict of the Bible it's like you know if a doctor diagnoses you and gives you a a statement about your physical health and your sickness he would accept it but I find that a lot of Christians don't accept what the Bible says about their spiritual condition and if you don't accept what the doctor says about your physical condition he can't help you because he says I'm going to give you a medicine it's probably going to be painful you need to do some surgery you say no no no I'm not that bad then you die of that sickness and that's exactly the reason why so many believers never seem to progress spiritually they remain babes they don't grow because they don't first of all except they're fundamentally sinful condition that there's nothing good in our flesh all recognize that form is a one of the greatest Saints that lived on earth but he says in Romans 7 and verse 18 I know that nothing good dwells in me in my unconverted state have you recognized that I'm trying to tell you how to be filled with the Holy Spirit because I see so many believers their biggest need is to be filled with the Holy Spirit they are not filled with always worth and they remain powerless shallow empty Christians and that's not the way God intends them to be and so they go somewhere and get some emotional experience and say yeah I got it I'm baptized Holy Spirit counterfeit so in order to help you understand how to be filled with the Holy Spirit we got to get a proper diagnosis of our spiritual States in me dwells nothing good this is the Apostle Paul in me that is in my flesh was nothing good in God's eyes and the eyes of people I may be a good person better than some others but if I don't start at this point and say Lord is nothing good in me and that's why I come to you so that you can do something good in me it's great hope Jesus was always trying to emphasize this point and this is the starting point to be filled with the Holy Spirit Luke chapter 18 he spoke specifically to this point in Luke chapter 18 verse 9 Jesus told this parable to certain ones who trusted in themselves that they were good they were righteous they were not like others they were not as bad as others and they looked down at others and said well I'm not as bad as I am and he speaks about you know the story of the Pharisee who prays he wasn't praying to God and you noticed that read the scripture carefully you'll find that verse 11 he was praying to himself he probably didn't notice that the Pharisee wasn't praying to God he was praying to himself and you know what he called himself see what he called himself God at least he was honest there he was his own God he prayed to himself and said God I thank you that I'm not like other people Jesus was so exact in what he spoke a lot of people who pray a lot of Christians of pray they don't pray to God they're praying to themselves they go through words sounds like they're praying to God and not praying to God that's why they don't get me answers if they made contact with God there would be answers but they don't make contact with God because they don't start where we should start Lord there's nothing good that dwells in me that's why I need you so desperately I'm not like you know he compares himself with the worst people in society the swindlers the unjust the adulterers I don't even like this cheating tax collector over there and then he describes not what he is but he describes all the religious things he does very often even though we may not say that we secretly delight that we're not like other people who don't go to church on Sundays we are active in our church and we don't go to work on Sunday we go to church and we do so many things and maybe we put a little money in the offering box as well a lot of things we congratulate ourselves for in contrast there was this cheating tax collector standing far away who wouldn't even lift up his eyes to heaven and he said God all I can say is I'm a sinner please be merciful to me and Jesus said that man went to his house justified and obviously from that point onwards he grew spiritually where is this other man who exalted himself lived in that state forever and I've seen people like that and I believe that's the reason why some people who come to church regularly never grow much never grow much because they have not seen what they are basically that in me that was nothing good that's why they don't come desperately to God I mean think of to use an analogy a human illustration supposing you have the worst type of cancer that anybody would have and here's some doctor who's got a tremendous reputation for curing surgically the worst type of cancers wouldn't you go to him whatever the cost may be even if your insurance didn't cover it they'd want to live you'd go to him and he'd accept his diagnosis that you've got the worst possible cancer but I can cure you but you better acknowledge it and come and say I need help so that's what this tax collector did he said Lord I'm just a hopeless case I want you to save me and make me godly I know I was created to be a reflection of the image of God but that's not what I am I'm filthy I'm just outwardly a Christian going to church and but I don't know you my life doesn't seem to grow spiritually I seem to be in the same state that I've been in for many many years there's no greater joy and victory in my life means it's something fundamentally wrong with my Christianity [Music] so lord I want to accept my condition I want you to help me Jesus once sarcastically told the Pharisees in Matthew chapter 9 when the Pharisees saw it says in Matthew 9 and verse 10 Jesus had a table with some of the worst sinners in town that's not something holy people do holy people don't sit with the worst sinners in town only people sit with holy people but jesus act with the worst sinners and these so-called holy people wondered how could this man be the Son of God if he is sitting with all these sinners and then Jesus sarcastically told them I'm not come for healthy people like you I've come for the sick people because of the sick people who need a doctor she never sarcasm you Pharisees you think you're healthy so you don't need me right there okay you go to church regularly and you're pretty good you got a good recitation and religious people fine I didn't come for you I came for these wretched sinners who know they are pretty hopeless and that's why they killed him the people who thought they were righteous were the ones who killed Jesus Christ and he said I did not come to call the righteous but sinners it's a very important statement of Jesus in the last part of verse 13 I did not come to call people who think they are okay I did not come to call people who think they're holy I came to people who acknowledge that they're sinners and I will tell you something that I've discovered in my life the closer we come to God the more we see our own impurity the further we are away from God the less we see our own impurity and we can think we're pretty holy but that's why the Apostle Paul the closer he came to God the more he realized what a sinner he was his progression in holiness was not I'm becoming holier and holier and holier like a lot of Christians think they are his progression in holiness was very different as I've often said Paul wrote 1 Corinthians when he was 55 years old and this is what he said at the age of 55 by that time he had already been a Christian for 25 years and he had travelled for 15 years to different places planted churches heal the sick but what does he think of himself in 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 9 he says I am the least of the Apostles and I'm not fit to be called an apostle he was probably the mightiest of the Apostles but what was his opinion of himself and the least of the Apostles that's how he felt when he was 55 years old 5 years later he writes Ephesians he's progressed in holiness now and now he writes in Ephesians in chapter 3 and verse 8 now I'm not only the least of all the Apostles I'm the least of all the believers in the world if you take all the believers in the world I'm the least of them that was his opinion I'm the least spiritual of all European of all the Saints in the world because I see so much sin in me you go another five years 1965 he writes in 1 Timothy in Chapter 1 and verse 15 Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I'm number 1 I'm the chief of all the sinners in the world so Paul's progression and holiness was I'm the least of all the Apostles at age 55 at age 60 he was the least of all the believers in the world and at age 65 he was the chief of sinners in the whole world what does that indicate I mean he wasn't living in sin he was probably the holiest man on earth this by human standards but he had come so close to God in those by that time that he saw things in this life as sin which 99 percent of other believers don't even consider a sin it's like you know you can look at your hands and think they're very clean but you look at it under a microscope and you see a whole lot of germs there but you can't even see with the naked eye and you magnify that microscope and you see it even more so it's something like that you know when we come into God's presence it's a we look at the sin through a microscope and thing we think of heart is clean and it's not clean hey I thought it was clean so there's a sense of an awareness of sin in our life which keeps us very humble and low before God it's impossible for a man coming closer to God to become proud it is impossible now I want to say to you my dear brothers and sisters truthfully and lovingly if there is pride in you of any sort pride of some ability you have some knowledge you have some spirituality you have I want to tell you the truth you're pretty far away from God you might as well face up to it maybe you think you're very smart and very clever and not like some of the other dumb people around you I don't feel it sorry for those dumb people I feel sorry for you because you're so far away from God no man can come close to God and lift up his head every person I see in the Bible when he encountered God he fell on his face whether it was Abraham or Isaac or even the Apostle John at the end of his life God is so holy and it's an awesome thing to come into his presence I find so many Christians come so glibly and likely to a Sunday morning service they sing without even thinking who they are singing to just nice to you nice words they're more taken up with the words and the tune more than the person to whom their sing it's because they're not near God it's a nice thing to come along with other people who are sunday morning singing we're missing out on something brothers sisters and if you are aware of that need you will thirst Lord I want this life that some people have got which I don't seem to have even though I've come to this church for so many years some of the others will come after me seem to have gone ahead of me I'll come to know you better what's the reason and when you thirst like that you can hear the word of Jesus in John 7:37 if anyone thirsts let him come to me and drink and from his innermost being rivers of living water will flow and this he spoke verse 13 I know those would be filled with the Holy Spirit so what I'm trying to create in all of you is a thirst for God not for knowledge not for creating a good impression on others in this church consider that as garbage think of the opinion that all the people have in this church have about you take it all and throw it in the trash can they think you're a wonderful brother wonderful sister throw it in the trash can you'll never progress virtually if you treasure those statements that other people made about you you value them I'd advise you to throw it in the trash can with all the rubbish that's there and say Lord what do they know about me you tell me my brother sister how much do people in this church know about your private life how much do they know about how you handle money how much do they know whether you love money or not how much do they know about your thought life the thought you think pretty close to zero what do they know they know that you come regularly to the meetings they know that you sing well perhaps and they know that you help in many ways in the church good man looks on the outward appearance but God only looks at the heart he takes all that outward open inner man and says useless let me see what's in your heart that's the part nobody here knows that's why I say get alone before God and say Lord I'm not thirsty because I'm satisfied with the opinion people have about me I've got a good reputation in this church and that's why I'm not growing spiritually I want to die to the opinions of men I want to be dead to the world and it's opinions so that I can live before you and really make progress my first Lord for the life you came to give if I missed out on it please give me don't let me live my lives on yours on earth and miss out on the most important thing so as I was saying God allows deception and temptation to see what we really want am I happy with these different things in the world that I have or I say Lord the things that are really valuable I have almost nothing of and things that are not going to last for eternity I've got plenty of that but the things that are really valuable I have so little I want that Lord I want you I want to know you better I want to I don't want you to turn to me in the last day and say yeah you did a lot of things for me and you went to a lot of meetings and you gave a lot of money but you never got to know me I never knew you we were not intimate on earth you didn't have time to walk with me and talk with me on earth you were just busy doing things it's like a wife who does so many things in the house but has no time to sit and talk to her husband or no time to go for a walk with him and because he's busy doing so many things in the house a lot of Christians are like that and they find their satisfaction I'm doing this for God I'm doing that for God and the Lord says I don't want all that I want you to walk with me and talk with me I want to know you eternal life John 17:3 is to know Jesus Christ it's not to serve him no it is to know him remember this all your life if you don't know Jesus Christ you don't have eternal life John 17 verse 3 Jesus definition of eternal life eternal life is not living forever no because people go to hell also live forever but that's not eternal life Jesus said eternal life is to know God and to know Jesus Christ personally you know just like you know your husband you know your wife and the more you love one another the more you live together you get to know one another not by living in the same house but by talking to each other if you never talk to your husband you'll never know him even if you live in the same house or 20 years but if you talk to him and you listen to him talk to him and listen to him and talk to and listen to every day in one year you get to know him that's how we know Jesus Christ it's not by working for him you can slog in your house for your husband and do so many things for him yet not know him there are many marriages like that where they do a lot of work for each other the husband works hard and gains the money and the wife works hard at home and does a lot of things but they never spend time together they don't really know each other well they are bored talking to each other we're all busy certainly that's not Christianity that's religion and a lot of reference between religion and true Christianity Jesus defined Christianity as knowing him personally that's why when God created man on the sixth day he didn't send him to work in the garden he said Adam the work in the garden can wait your first day is going to be a day of rest with me seventh day God told Adam no work that was Adams first day his very first day God said no work working late I want you to know me Adam I want you to spend a whole day with me just talk to me and listen to me and Adam and Eve spent that day with God and that's what God says to us the most important thing in life is to sit to get to know him you know the story of Mary and Martha Martha was busy doing so many things Mary was just sitting and getting to know Jesus talking to him and listening to him and Jesus told Martha you're worried about so many things but I'm not interested in all that I didn't come here eat food I came here to talk to you and you had no time to talk to me you were busy serving me I believe that Lord will say that to many many Christians here are no time to talk to me of no time to listen to me you're a busy with listening to Christian music and listening to other things and doing certain a lot of things for me but you have no time to walk with me and talk with me I pray that will change and when we thirst for that type of life she says come to me I'll fill you with the Holy Spirit let's pray Heavenly Father we pray that you will apply these truths to our lives and help us to be gripped by them not temporarily but permanently that this will be our way of life longing after you and knowing you thirsting for you all the time more and more we pray in Jesus name Amen [Music]

Channel: River of Life Christian Fellowship

Views: 17,112

Rating: 4.8811879 out of 5

Keywords: counterfeits, deceptions, zac, poonen, sermon, rlcf, family, conference, 2017, river, life, christian, fellowship, church, god, jesus

Id: F_1DMryalz0

Length: 47min 25sec (2845 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 09 2017