Discipline Your Body - Zac Poonen - April 6, 2019

how to be the man God wants us to be for his church we've seen a number of things today and I want to speak today about another very important aspect of our life and that is the use of our physical body in 1 Corinthians 6 we're told your body verse 19 is a temple of the Holy Spirit please remember that a lot of people respect a church building they would never smoke inside a church building but I tell such Christians that's not the building where God dwells God dwells in your body how can you smoke there you wouldn't get drunk in a church building why do you sit in home and make this the real temple of the Holy Spirit drunk or you wouldn't think of damaging a church building do you think do you do things to damage the real temple of the Holy Spirit your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit therefore verse 20 this body was bought with a price therefore glorify God in your body you know the value of an item is not determined by its size or shape or anything a small bit of gold is worth much more than this table size doesn't make a difference what was the price paid for your body says it was bought was 20 bought with a price the blood of Jesus Christ how do you evaluate that Peter says it's worth more than all the silver and gold in the world therefore because such a price has been paid for your body glorify God in your body like I said the Old Testament burnt offering the bullet to be cut up present your body as a living sacrifice glorify God with your eyes glorify God with your tongue glorify God with your hands and every part of your body you know the Apostle James says well James the elder says in chapter 1 the letter of James and this is the brother of Jesus Christ the younger brother of Christ who wrote this verse 26 james 1:26 if anyone then applies this yourself considers himself what we would call spiritual and he cannot control his tongue he's deceiving his own heart his religion is worthless the man who cannot control his tongue his Christianity is worth zero that's what he's saying all your Christianity is worth zero if you cannot control your tongue when you speak to your wife when you speak in your office if you join the road rage on the roads when the traffic is heavy your Christianity is worth zero the tongue is the test one test of our Christianity so the body is very very important turn now to Genesis chapter 1 where we read of what was created who was created on the sixth day everybody says Adam and Eve before that on the sixth day the animals it says on the fifth day at the end of the fifth day was 23 the sixth day begins in verse 24 on the sixth day verse 24 the Lord said let the earth bring forth living creatures and all that all the beasts of the earth and the creeping cattle and everything was in the first part of the sixth day and the second part of the sixth day God said let us make man and how did he make man that he says in Genesis chapter 2 that verse 7 the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground our body is made of mud and water a lot of it is water in this body his mud and water it's clay and the Lord God made mixed water with the mud and shaped this man mud and water with the same mud and water with which animals are made even though God didn't actually make them he created them but their body is also mud and water and when an animal's body disintegrates in a man's body disintegrates is the same dust it becomes finally the only thing that made a difference you know animals have got heart liver kidneys hands eyes legs and all the parts of the body animals have it too the only thing that made a difference is in verse 7 it says God breathed into man his breath that's not the breathing through the nose which the animals also have this is breathing God's Spirit which created a spirit within us animals don't have a spirit within them they have a body they don't have a spirit they have a spirit and the primary part of that spirit is conscience that came into man when God breathed in that's animals don't have that because God didn't breathe into them so when God breathed into man II got a conscience which alerted him to the voice of God within a spark of God's life saying that's wrong that when I even a little child when it does something wrong it's awareness conscience that's why it hides or you know a little child can never tell a lie with a straight face why is that because the conscience speaks up so there's a difference but what we learned from that the first part of the sixth day with Martin water God made the animals second part of the six days with Martin water and a conscience he made man so what we learned from that is when a man does not listen to his conscience he becomes like mud and water he becomes exactly like the animals that's what we must realize when you don't listen to your conscience there's no difference between you and an animal so in us there is you know the dust of the earth pulls us down and we read in Genesis 3 in verse 14 that the Lord told the serpent which is the devil and the serpent physically dust will be your food Genesis 3:14 so the dust of the earth is the food of the devil the food of the serpent and that is the dust we are made of there's a curse on this the Lord told Adam Kirsten is the ground verse 17 3:17 Jens reason the ground is cursed and that is the dust from which our body is made and that's why we get weak we perspire our bodily functions get weaker as we grow older Paul says the outer man decays even while we are living and not only weakens we get sick and then we die because there's a curse on the earth that's why we die otherwise we wouldn't die what about Jesus death the Bible says in Galatians 3:13 he became a curse for us he could not have died if his body was different from ours he was made his body was made of the same dust he came from Mary's womb with the same dust and with the conscience and that's why that body died and there's a verse in Isaiah 53 verse 4 which says Jesus was acquainted with sickness he read the margin of the Bible it says griefs but the margin says sickness I believe Jesus experienced sickness in his body that's the only way he could identify with us when we're sick when you're sick you can like you know sympathize with someone else who's sick and Jesus had to go through that like he had to go through temptation so there's no sin in dying everybody dies godly people die and it's not a sin to be sick and it's not a sin to be weak as we grow older so remember that because some people think if you're if you're sick something is wrong with you no not necessarily weakness sickness death they're all because there's a curse on the earth but what I want to say is there's a double pull in our body animals have only one pull they're made of the dust and they're pulled to the dust that's why you see every animals looking down you never see a dog or a cow looking up never they're always looking down they're made of the dust and they look down to the dust all the time the only man that looks up you know why cause he had a conscience that tells us this we are answerable to someone up there and the moment we stop listening to our conscience we become like the animals looking down and the things of Earth so that's where we have to be careful that we keep our body listening to our conscience if you don't allow your body to listen to your conscience you've become like an animal you'll be like those animals that were created in the first part of the day without a conscience just body the mud and dust with all types of passions and dogs don't have any idea of sexual purity they have no desire to conquer gluttony or the love of food no they just eat and and they can have sex with any female dog they don't get married or any such thing and when man descends to that level where you can have sex with anyone he's become like mud and dust that's it he's become like the animals whether he knows it or not I mean it may look very polished with a tie and a suit and all but it's like an animal in God's eyes very important to remember that our body must be subject to our conscience if we are to live as children of God so when we find this upward pull of the breath of God pulling us upward and the downward pull of our body pulling us down to the animal level of the earth we stand in between these and make a choice to which of these pulls am I going to respond my conscience is always pulling me upward and the body is pulling me downward the lusts in my body pulled me down words and it was that pull of the body that brought sin into the world the first sin came through pride rebellion against God and discontentment in Lucifer those are the three things you suffer had pride of his beauty and intelligence and rebellion against Authority wanting to be like God wanting them no subjection to Authority and the other was discontent with being just the head of the Angels I want to exalt my throne above the throne of God he says in Isaiah 14 but Sinan man came through yielding to the lust of the body it says the Genesis 3 the woman saw the tree was good for food Genesis 3:6 her delight to the eyes stomach eyes and she took with her hand and ate to the entirely body conscience kept saying to her God has said don't touch it don't know sorry don't eat it don't eat of it but she ignored the voice of conscience said my body my mouth is watering my eyes are longing for it I like it and my hand will take it this is how sin came when the desires of the body took over and suppressed the voice of conscience and Eve descended to the level of an animal she had the choice to go to the tree of life and receive the life of God but she didn't choose that and that is the choice that all humanity is making around the world today and sorry to say that many Christians are making also and that's why the Bible speaks a lot about the body the temptation that came to Eve was through the body and Jesus who came like us and was tempted like us his first temptation was also through the body turn the stones into bread Satan said it's very interesting Satan started with the body and Eve was hale and hearty in a beautiful garden and tempted Jesus that fasted for 40 days desperately hungry in the wilderness exact opposite of the Garden of Eden and there he was tempted in difficult circumstances and Jesus said no I will not respond to the pull of my body if I have not heard from my father in heaven man shall not live just on food but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God and I have not heard a word from my father's mouth telling me to turn the stones into bread so I won't do it see how Jesus he did not you know he wouldn't have harmed anybody he wasn't stealing bread stealing bread I can understand is wrong but if you have power for something like you say let's apply it to today I've got money to buy something why do I need to pray about it I've got the money let me going buy it that would be like Jesus saying I've got the power it's my own power I'm not having anybody I'm gonna buy it and I'm buying it for a need in my body Jesus lived at a much higher level to apply to ourselves it is I've got money it's my money I'm not having anybody else I'm gonna buy what I like for the spiritual man will say no have I heard from my father man shall not live by bread alone or by all the luxuries around us there's nothing wrong with them nothing wrong with food but have you heard from your father you see this there you see the tremendous difference in standard at with Jesus lived and compared to the average Christian who thinks he's very spiritual today Jesus lived moment by moment saying if the father if you tell me to do it I'll do it well see how can we keep on listening well I'll tell you if you walk with God for 30 years like Jesus did it'll be pretty automatic you'll sense it without having to wait we have to wait a long time to know the Father's will because we hardly listen to him most of the time but imagine someone who walked from childhood listening listening listening listening to it he would know immediately whether the father is permitting him to eat that bread or not and that is the place to which God wants to bring us where we listen to conscience so much that in a sense we don't even have to ask without our asking we know what the Lord wants us to do that is the place to which the Lord brings us it's not always I have to ask him yes or no yes or no yes or no no it becomes spontaneous because it says by the renewing of your mind you will prove Romans 12:2 the perfect will of God so the body is very important and it's in this body that attempted through food and that's why the Bible says that we must discipline ourselves turn with me to 1 Corinthians in chapter 9 don't you know his bolt now remember Paul is telling to this very indisciplined group of believers in Corinth who were so bad that they would even bring food to the Lord's table and not share it with the poor Oh brothers you read that in chapter 11 but he tells them don't you know 1 Corinthians 9:24 everyone runs in a race but only one person wins and listen to this world 1 Corinthians 9:24 run in such a way that you'll win so he's saying the difference in the Christian races everybody can come first in other races only one person can come first but he's telling this anti Corinthian church which is a pretty backslidden Church listen you fellas can come first I don't care how far your backside and start now I'll show you how all of you can come first and win the first prize that's a wonderful thing I'm not in competition with you I'm not trying to make you second no I don't want you to be second I want to be first and I want you to be first - that's what Paul is saying otherwise they could never have competed with Paul hear about the first prize straight away he says you run in such a way that you can win this prize even though in the world only one person who wins a prize was twenty four in this race you can all win the prize but learn something from that guy who wins in the athletics in the Olympic Games he exercises self-control he disciplines himself he's disciplined in his eating he doesn't eat whatever he likes he doesn't just sleep as long as he likes he exercises he keeps fit in order to win that marathon race or the hundred meters race they practice for years day after day after day after day and then then it was a wreath now they were in a medal and he says they do it just for something perishable but we are going to get an imperishable award in the final day you must discipline yourself you must discipline your body therefore I run verse 26 in such a way I box not beating the air now listen to this words I discipline my body very important 1 Corinthians 9:27 I discipline my body and make it my slave otherwise I the great Apostle Paul after having preached to others will be disqualified when I come to the finishing line you know there are cases like this in the Olympics where a person comes to the finishing line it's excited that he came first and the Empire says sorry you're disqualified you cross the track somewhere over there in this in your second round around the stadium and he knows it only when he reaches the finishing line that he's disqualified so he says you can do such a lot and then come to the end and the Lord says disqualified why Lord because you didn't discipline your body and make it your slave he says that if I don't discipline my body and make it my slave I can go around preaching the world around the world preaching to others and I'll be disqualified at the end you see how important this body is to be the type of man God wants you to be and the Living Bible paraphrase sometimes a living Bell para is excellent I make my body do what it should do and not what it wants to do got it that's discipline my body wants to do certain things but I don't allow it to do that I make my body do what it should do many Christians even those who are filled with the Holy Spirit never make much progress in their Christian life because they do not add discipline into their life our body must be disciplined disciplined in eating see one of the three needs God has given us need for food and need for sleep and need for sex these are three legitimate desires you don't have to be ashamed of any of them if you if you're not hungry you're safe if you don't have sexual desire you're sick if you never feel sleepy you're sick all three are desires legitimate desires but all of those three can be abused you can become a glutton and eat and eat and eat and eat and bein disciplined and destroy your body or you can sleep and sleep and sleep and sleep and be lazy and be useless to God and to man or you can be sexually indiscipline for the unmarried or unmarried and you ruin your life we had to be disciplined sexually before marriage and after marriage so in these three areas we need to be disciplined in the matter of food it's by you know occasional fasting Jesus fasted we read in Luke chapter seven he was not an extremists when people saw him eating they would call him a gluttonous man Luke 7 34 John the Baptist verse 33 Luke 7 33 John the Baptist came without much eating and drinking he was very disciplined like an ascetic and the Pharisees said he's got a demon he doesn't even eat properly the Son of Man came with plenty of eating and drinking and they say he's a gluttonous man and a drunkard why did they call Jesus a gluttonous man because he was not an ascetic saying I won't eat that I won't eat this I won't even this he enjoyed his food and I have a feeling if somebody else the Lord would you like a second helping so sure thank you he didn't feel that his unspiritual some people think is unspiritual to us for a second helping I mean but he remember the one who said thank you for the second helping was the one who got fast for 40 days so if you follow him follow him in both areas a fasting and feast not just one I don't mean 40 days but I think it's a very very good discipline to fast I did it regularly in my younger days it says you shouldn't talk about when you are fasting but you can encourage other people to fast by saying you did I mean Jesus himself told others that he had fasted for 40 days so I would fast because it helped me in two ways I felt when this when I was in the Navy I'd work on a ship and I would go without a meal sometimes for a day a whole day just drink some milk or liquids and the reason was I said Lord maybe one day you'll call me to serve you I thought he may call me and I may go to places where I don't get food I must not be a slave to food that is a main reason I wanted to break this slavery to food or slavery to good food so one way to overcome that slavery was by fasting and the second advantage of fasting is when I fasted even for one day I would really feel so hungry that I would know what a hungry man in the world feels like you never know what a hungry man in the world feels like unless you've gone without food for 24 hours and that gave me compassion for poor people and a lot of them in our country who they're hungry and longing for food and I say I need to experience that and I've never fasted more than three days and that was at a time when our church the early days of our church in mercy in direction for CFC and this other brother and I decided we fast for three days and see the Lord like it says in acts 13 it says those early people fasted and prayed and worshiped God and God spoke to them and we wanted that's all there is a value in fasting and also for casting out demons you know we encountered demons in the villages of India and you can't really serve the Lord in the villages of India as you don't know how to cast out a demon because a demon-possessed person doesn't need counseling he needs deliverance it's a lot of difference between counseling and deliverance so there was you know Jesus had given as a disciples authority to cast out demons he said go and cast out demons but there was a man who brought his child to the disciples and they couldn't cast it out in acts 17 sorry Matthew Matthew 17 verse 19 they came to Jesus and said why couldn't we drag it out and Jesus said because your faith is so small I told you you have authority to cast out demons but you saw that demon and you didn't have faith that I gave you that authority to cast it out and why is your faith so small even if your faith is like a mustard seed you could have told that even a mountain to get out leave alone a demon but where's twenty-one you need to pray and fast to have that type of faith and the time to do it is not after you encounter the demon you must pray and fast before so that when you encounter the demon you cast out that demon and faith and I'll tell you this I'll tell you my testimony I have never till today and we cast out many demons I have never - today has seen a single demon that did not go with one single command in the name of Jesus get out of him or her goes if you have faith if you pray and fast if you keep your body under control and that's for anybody it's not there's nothing spectacular about casting out a demon then the demons are not afraid of you or me for the name of Jesus they're really scared so so there's a value in fasting and that's disciplining the body I would encourage you young people especially and then the other thing I would do was I said as a discipline I would just fast once a week just to keep my body so that like Paul says I discipline my body and make sure my body doesn't become a slave to food and even when eating sometimes it's good not to take a second helping just to discipline your body and not to you know we see read about Daniel that he did a selective fast where he did not eat enjoyable food for three weeks or something so that's another type of fast where you can't go to a total fast from all food but say I will not eat anything which is really enjoyable which I really like I just eat simple food for two three weeks because I'm seeking God about something so there is a place for that type of control of disciplining of the body and if you've never done it in your life this is not from scripture John Wesley said if you've never fasted I don't even know whether you're born again because Jesus never said if you fast what did he saying John Matthew 6 16 when you fast you read Matthew 6 verse 16 when you fast verse 17 when you fast anoint your head and wash your face he never said if you fast do you know the difference between if you fast and when you fast simple English so Jesus expected this disciple to spot but it's not compulsory it does not doubt shalt fast like thou shalt keep the Sabbath day no it was not a spirit of the law but that is a great help to control our body and the other areas control our expenditure with money which I have already spoken about now I want to say a word about sexual passions I believe God has given us sexual desire in our body it's a very good desire if I were to paraphrase when God you know I asked people this it's not just humorous but it's it to help you know in a lot of people I've got a crazy idea about sex there's something evil particularly in India a lot of people husbands come and tell me in the villages in our brother tell my wife that sex is not wrong in marriage it's not wrong for a married couple so I have to have believe it or not I have to have meaningful married couples and tell them and that's because they've got these wrong ideas about sex being something evil because their minds have been saturated with what they see in the movies it's all evil so I asked him this question when God created man and woman in that perfect earth in heaven he blessed them and what did he tell them Adam and Eve have sex it's a better for his act ponens paraphrase but but please read it in the scriptures Genesis 1 he blessed them worst 28 and said be fruitful and multiply what does that mean did he say shake hands and have children what did he mean when he said then be fruitful and multiply in plain words have sex and have children and then he said in verse God saw everything he had made verse 31 it is very good so that's what I tell people husbands and wives God said god bless that many who said have sex have children and he says to you who are married have sex and have children and it is very good Genesis 1:31 but if you outside marriage it's not only bad it's evil it's demonic it's of the devil it's two extremes that's what sex is so that's why before we are married we have to discipline ourselves in this area it's an area where we have to fight as young men fight and overcome there's only one way we have to battle in it it begins in our thoughts and it begins in a disciplined way of life in what we read and what we watch and see we have to be very very disciplined with our eyes and our thoughts and no one gets perfectly from day one all persons who got victory over sin started with the defeated life but they were determined to get victory because they read in Romans 6:14 sin will not be your master and there are many people for whom sexual sin is a master they stimulate themselves to enjoy sexual pleasure before getting married and that's why Jesus said Jesus is very dignified in the way he spoke about it but see what he says in Matthew chapter 5 about sexual sin verse 28 this applies to married or unmarried women men rather especially for men Matthew 5:28 it's only for men I say to you everyone every young man listen to this who looks at a woman there's nothing wrong in that with lust for her that means you lust after her body year her bodily shape and want to see her naked or imagine that you're stripping off her clothes I've already committed adultery with her in your heart and there are two ways you can do it one is with your eyes verse 29 and the other is with your hand verse 30 Jesus is very plain without going into details don't sin when you lust after a woman with your eyes or your hands and that's where we need to discipline ourselves and say lord I want to win this battle before I get married second best is to overcome it by getting married to avoid fornication I have a wife but think of the example of Jesus who was tempted exactly like you and me in the sexual area no less if he was tempted less than us then he was not tempted like us he cannot be my forerunner I want to say to all of you young men Jesus had the same passions in you that you have when he was 14 15 16 singing all the way to 33 and a half never sinned once and the Apostle Paul who was defeated by lust for years even as a Jewish person see what he says in Romans chapter 7 Romans chapter 7 Paul says I could obey all the nine Commandments without a problem because nine Commandments were external all external don't bow down to idols don't honor your father and mother don't keep the Sabbath don't steal don't commit adultery don't murder etc but when it came to the tenth commandment Romans chapter seven verse 7 the law said you shall not covet you shall not in the margin says you shall not lust after your neighbor's wife or your neighbor's daughter and by the way every girl who walks down the road is your neighbor's daughter you shall not lust after basically you should not lust after any woman or desire sin verse a taking opportunity through that commandment produced in me lusting of every imaginable kind boy look at the honesty of this man I was a young man like you Saul of Tarsus says I just lusted and lusted and lusted and lusted and lusted I lusted after neighbor's daughters left right and center I could not overcome and the commandment thou shalt not lust resulted worse than in death in me and sin 11 deceived me and killed me law is good but I am corrupt I am a flesh verse 14 sold into bondage the flesh is sold into bondage to sin but Romans 8 verse 2 the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus set me free from the law of sin and death what the law could not do God did now because I walk according to the spirit Romans 8 for that Romans that command thou shalt not covet is now fulfilled in me the requirement of the law is fulfilled in us verse 4 what is the requirement of the law you shall not lust after your neighbor's wife or daughter it's fulfilled in us because we walk according to the holy spirit so he's saying the holy spirit has enabled me to overcome this lusting habit in me he says boy I lusted more than you guys but the Holy Spirit delivered me what a testimony and it's always good to listen to the testimony of a man who was just like us tempted like us Finn like us of course Jesus never failed but Paul did Paul honestly says he failed in many ways but he overcame said Paul thank you for your testimony thank you for your ruthless honesty it encourages me that our defeated person like me can also overcome by the power of the Holy Spirit and determined to walk according to the spirit but it's a daily matter and as you go along it will become easier and easier and easier and easier I sometimes use the example of lust like a snake inside my flesh putting its head up through this hole in the box it's like a box full of snakes that's my lust in my flesh and one of this thing called sex lifts its head through the hole in the box and all in the past years I was feeding at milk aha some more milk here you are some more milk here you are and the snake is getting stronger and stronger and then I get born again and I'm still not completely freed from giving milk to that snake and then one day I just said I'm gonna get victory over sin then I get a a big club and I bang that snake on the head when it puts his head out in the snake it's a surprise hey what happened I've changed and following the Lord now and this he doesn't die it just becomes a little weaker because I fed it for so many years then next time puts his head it gets another whack and he gets weaker and weaker and weaker his actually happens brother you determined that you're going to seek the part of the Holy Spirit and you're gonna overcome your thoughts you're gonna overcome your desires passions and God will help you and they one day that snake not dead paralyzed its I mean the lust is still there but it's not so strong now we cannot saying you cannot be tempted like someone said temptation is like a fire even if you are a hundred years old it can burn you so always be careful so there's no time when you say oh I won't be tempted anymore in India I'mI'm 200 but it becomes so much easier as time goes on if you determine to be you know like I tell people when you're sitting at your computer all by yourself and nobody's around and you're tempted to click on some pornographic site there's only one thing you can do do what it says in 1 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 18 flee from immorality 1 Corinthians 6:18 run away from immorality don't walk away run away towards the computer and run go for a drive God meet a friend or go out somewhere but don't open that if you follow that rule fleeing you're acknowledging before God Lord this is too strong for me otherwise why should I flee I don't stand there and say I believe in Romans 6:14 you can't conquer me no no no no it says resist the devil he'll flee from you but when immorality comes you better flee who is stronger tell me who's stronger Goliath or Bathsheba who do you think is stronger bat shingle if you knock down David in a moment immorality is stronger than the devil because the devil is defeated on the cross you can resist him it says in James horse and he will flee but when the temptation to immorality comes you have to flee it's not only written here Paul told Timothy see that in 2nd Timothy in chapter 2 and verse 22 great verse 2 2 2 2 2 Timothy 2:22 flee from youthful lusts Timothy is a 45 year old man or 50 year old man you see I don't care if you're 50 years or 50 year old those youthful lusts can enslave you Timothy there's only one advice I can give you don't resist it run away from it when you're tempted run you don't have to run from other temptations the other temptations you face and you overcome but immorality there's only one solution run and then pursue righteousness with those who call on the Lord from pure heart seek fellowship with godly people and another verse I can show you in relation to sexual sin is Ezekiel and chapter 16 Ezekiel 16 and verse is talking about Sodom and we all know that Sodom was known for not just sexual sin but a lot of perverted sexual sin it says that in Genesis chapter 18 and why was Sodom how did sort of fall into this terrible situation of being full of perverted immoral people Ezekiel 16 was 48 talks about Sodom and your sister Sodom is referring to Israel like Sodom verse 49 Ezekiel 16:49 this was the guilt of your sister Sodom not sexual sin first of all it ended up in perverted sexual sin but where did it begin arrogance you know a sexual sin begins with pride and arrogance and you don't judge that pride and arrogance that you see in yourself second abundant food you know gluttony we call it gluttony today eating and eating and eating and eating way beyond your what you need to eat always wanting to eat and eat and eat and eat never fast never discipline yourself and third sleeping and sleeping and sleeping and sleeping an easy lifestyle not working hard in whatever you're supposed to do careless ease third and fourth not considerate of poor people selfish with your money what is the final result sexual sin so if you want to overcome sexual sin try and follow these steps humble yourself the object of arrogance discipline yourself marry of food discipline yourself marry of sleep and be considerate of people who are needy around you that's why the sins of Sodom is mentioned is these are the sins that led to the to the sin of Sodom so I want to say also what about healing because that also concerns our body in 1 Corinthians 6 we read these words first of all something I said in the previous session also you know I said in the previous end there three levels you can live unrighteous righteous and faithful so here we read about the three levels in verse twelve in money you can be unrighteous or you can be righteous or you can be faithful I told you that in relation to money faithful is more than righteous in the same way here in relation to the body verse 12 all things are lawful but all things are not profitable so there are three levels you can live unlawful lawful profitable unlawful is so many things which are forbidden by God lawful is bare minimum I just about scrape in India pass marks and an examination is 40 percent I got 40 percent but profitable is go away beyond that to get 100 percent that's pursuing out to perfection and we must never be satisfied with 40 percent we must have a passion for hundred percent and we must grieve when we come short every time we come short I sometimes ask this question in the final examination one student gets 40 percent another gets 99% may ask which student will come home rejoicing yes so 140 percent because he thought he's gonna fail he comes excited mom I pass great let's celebrate and the other guy who got 99 percent oh I missed 100 percent by one mark that's the type of difference between the person who says I'm going to heaven my sins are all forgiven crisis in my heart I'm okay and the other guy says oh Lord I slipped up there just that small slip in my thought he did I should have got 100 percent today about 99 are you like that that's a test of a you press on to perfection you live at the just the lawful level there's nothing wrong in that don't say I wanted ever the profitable level there are hundred lawful things whatever that only ten are profitable those are the only ones I take I will not be mastered by anything that's what he says food is for the stomach some work as food God will destroy all of them so here it says the body is for the Lord last part of verse 13 the body is not for immorality but for the Lord and the Lord is for the body this is a great verse I have often used it for myself you know I believe in praying to the Lord for healing every time I am sick I don't believe that every sickness will be healed I'm not one of these Pentecostal healers preaching such things unrealistic things that torment to people many people who have sicknesses and sometimes incurable sicknesses I see that's because I told you the beginning our bodies under the curse there will be sickness there'll be death but I believe that every time I am sick I should pray Paul had a thorn in the flesh and he prayed he didn't just leave it and say well it's a sickness a part of life no he prayed it says in 2nd Corinthians 12 when it didn't get Healey prayed a second time and he prayed a third time and if he didn't get an answer the third time he de parada fourth time he de parada 300th time the point is not that he prayed thrice he prayed until he got an answer where God said my grace is sufficient for you I'm not gonna heal you so basically I this is how I pray whenever I'm sick whether it's a fever or a coughing a cold or any such thing and by God's grace God's preserved me amazingly all these nearly 80 years the my say Lord my body is for the Lord that's the first part of that sentence and therefore I believe you are for my body if my body I have absolutely I can honestly say I had zero desire to do anything but the will of God with his body I have no desire to do anything outside the will of God in this body I'm no desire to go to any place which is not the will of God for this body I have no desire to decorate this body with fancy clothes is a devil which God doesn't want I have no desire to indulge this body in any way which God doesn't want the body is for the Lord I'm not using this body just to become a famous man or a rich man or any such thing I want to earn my living and take care of my children that's another thing the body is for the Lord and therefore I say the Lord is for my body that's number one and secondly I say verse 19 this body is the temple of the Holy Spirit Lord first of all this body's for you so you are from my body so you must heal me and this body is the temple of the Holy Spirit so to keep your temple in good shape I keep my earthly buildings in good shape not keep your building in good shape and at the end of that if I'm not healed I say Lord tell me why you told Paul my grace is sufficient for you okay maybe this his sickness you're not gonna heal me then give me grace but I will not leave you without either you either give me grace or give me is healing I always say that you have to give me either healing or grace and I leave it to you to decide which of the two is better for me that's my position on healing and I found it has helped me tremendously sometimes he heals and sometimes I need a thorn in the flesh to keep me humble and broken before the Lord and so I leave that in God's hands but the way we use our body is very very important it's discipline our body let me show you one more verse Philippians 3 the reason I say that is many people are filled with the Holy Spirit they don't cooperate with the Holy Spirit in discipline in the body and that's why they never come into the fullness of a spirit-filled walk with the Lord they have an experience of being filled with the spirit but never walk with the Lord like that Philippians 3 says brethren verse 17 follow my example and observe those of us who are walking in the same pattern that is verse 13 those who want to press on to perfection let's have this attitude who are perfect and many walk not like us verse 18 they are the enemies of the cross of Christ and I tell you that even weeping who are these enemies of the cross of Christ you think there are people who are attacking Christians know their God is their stomach that's what it says here in the margin that God is their belly their God is their stomach they worship their stomach their belly the belly says I want this food I want that food I want this and it keeps on feeding the belly now I'll just point out in a moment that we are not ascetics you're not to go to that extreme of asceticism but we this is one extreme of worshipping food and worshipping our stomach whatever the stomach wants I want I want I want I want and then stomach will never stop and they beg God is their belly and their mind is set on earthly things but our citizenship is in heaven one day verse 21 God will transform this body of our humble state into the body of his glory until then I'm not going to yield to every you know demand of my stomach he's talking about people whose God is their belly who are idol worshippers which Idol do they worship their stomach it says be careful that you don't be like that then a word about asceticism you know it says don't eat this don't eat that don't dodge ice-cream things it says don't listen to such people Colossians chapter 2 if you have died with Christ verse 22 the elementary principles the world why if you are living in the world do you submit yourself to decrease such as don't handle this don't taste that don't touch this it's a swarm of external discipline there's a place for discipline I already mentioned that but don't make that your religion your religion is there are people like that will become some settings that they want this they won't eat this they won't do that you know it's easy for us to make a law for us us like that and we become legalists and sometimes I just break the law to show that I'm not a legalist I don't want to be a legalist in anything in any area so there are things which are not sinful but they say don't do this and don't do that don't do the other thing it all regard deals with commandments of men teachings of men these have an appearance of wisdom of self-made religion and self abasement and severe treatment of the body you know there are people like that who speak about a severe discipline of the body to be holy but it is no value against the flesh the flesh still makes yourself so that's the opposite of you know gluttony and then this false asceticism and I'll tell you something more about it in 1 Timothy 4 it says in the last days the Holy Spirit says some people will become crazy after this type of religion of asceticism listen to this the real secret of godliness 1 Timothy 3:16 is that Christ came in the flesh says their mystery or secret of godliness is to see that Christ came in the flesh but kept his spirit pure and you can you can go in that way and keep your spirit pure but that is the real mystery of godliness but chapter 4 verse 1 forget the chapter division saw the same paragraph the Holy Spirit says in the last days some people will fall away from this faith which failed that the secret of godliness is Christ came in the flesh was tempted like us and you see plenty of people like that fallen away and they will pay attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons and hypocrisy of liars what is this doctrine of a demon asceticism verse 3 don't get married don't eat this food don't eat non-vegetarian you must be vegetarian so many rules to be holy all of which God has created to be gratefully shared for everything created by God is good and nothing to be rejected if it is sanctified by the means of Word of God and pray we pray over that food we can eat it I'm not saying we foolishly eat things which we know medically are not good for us I don't mean that but it says here there's an asceticism with some crazy Christians have thinking that holiness comes by disciplining ourselves in these external ways now that's the opposite extreme gluttony and laziness and all that the narrow way is always between these extremes there's a big cliff this side there's a big cliff that side and if you listen to the Holy Spirit he'll walk like Jesus walked he could fast for forty days and he could ask for a second helping so much that people call him a gluttonous man that's a balance and that's how we can discipline our body in the matter of food the matter of see Jesus could pray all right at the same time in a boat when he was going to sleep he said hey give me a pillow I want a comfortable sleep have you have you read that he asked from below say Lord can't he be rugged and sleep on the wooden board of that what no I like a pillow I like to have a little comfort when I sleep I like that this is the Jesus I follow was not an extremists in all these areas so whether its food or sleep and for married people do you know the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 7 there is even in marriage there is a place to restrain yourself for a period from having sex with your wife for the sake of prayer says that in 1 Corinthians seven about restraining yourself for a certain period from for the sake of prayer in 1 Corinthians 7 and verse 5 so there's a lot more to be said but I trust we have understood something of the importance of the body to be the man God wants you to be may God help us all let's pray Heavenly Father we pray that you will make these truths become life in us in reality in our daily walk and pray in Jesus name

Channel: River of Life Christian Fellowship

Views: 169,674

Rating: 4.8235846 out of 5

Keywords: discipline, body, mens, leadership, seminar, 2019, zac, poonen, sermon, rlcf, river, life, christian, fellowship

Id: g6ZSqjtYxQQ

Length: 57min 43sec (3463 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 08 2019