Entering The Full New Covenant by Zac Poonen

I want to share with you the Commission the Lord has given me Ezekiel chapter 3 Syke three and verse 17 son of man I have appointed you as a watchman in those days zekiel was to the house of Israel today this to the church whenever you hear a word from my mouth warn them from me and when I say to the wicked you shall surely die and you do not warn him or speak out to warn the wicked from his wicked way that he may live that wicked man will die in his iniquity but his blood I will require at your hand but if you have warned the wicked and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his wicked way he will die in his iniquity but you have delivered yourself and then if it's a righteous man and he turns away from his righteousness this is one who's saved once and commits iniquity I place an obstacle before him he'll die and since you didn't warn him he will die in his sin and his righteous deeds which he has done will not be remembered all that he did will not be remembered but his blood I will require at your hand because you didn't warn him but if you warned the righteous man and in response to that the righteous man turns from his sin and does not sin he shall live because he took warning and you also have delivered yourself I have absolutely no doubt in my mind and that is the Commission the Lord has given me for many years so I want to share what the Lord's laid on my heart because I'm concerned that a number of people sitting here are not really born again you have come here because your family members have come here or your parents came here and it's a nice church to go to you don't have to pay any money here are no offerings there are good people and if you're in problems there that are people to help you all these are the wrong reasons to come become a part of this church but like we read in that passage I can't change you I can only warn you so that your blood is not on my hands and I want to speak the truth so clearly that in the day when we stand before Jesus Christ in the day of judgment as we will all stand and you will see me you will not be able to say to me brother Zack you did not warn me you did not tell me the truth you will not be able to say that so I want to share the truth with you do you know that the first word that God spoke in the New Testament was repent that's how the New Testament begins with the message of John the Baptist and that is to show us that that is the first message with which we enter the New Covenant the Old Testament books were related to the Old Covenant nobody came into the New Covenant until the day of Pentecost and John the Baptist was sent to prepare or pave the way for that day and the way he paved the way was preaching repentance what he said we read in Luke chapter 3 he was quoting from Isaiah when people asked him who he was he said I'm just a voice in the wilderness and in Luke chapter 3 he says I'm verse for as it is written in the book of the prophets of Isaiah the prophet the voice of one crying in the wilderness make ready the way of the Lord and I believe this is a word that we need to hear as we approach the second coming of Christ as well make yourself ready make the way of the Lord ready make his paths straight every Valley shall be filled up every mountain shall be brought low those things that are hidden in deep valleys had to be cleansed out and to be raised up to level ground all the pride represented by mountains is to be brought low and the crooked things in your life that are still there which you know are not straight which are crooked the Lord tells you to make them straight and the rough areas in your life and you know what those rough areas are is usually in your speech rough areas you got to make them smooth and then all flesh will see the salvation of God and that is a spirit that we need to have all the time because when you come to the last word of Jesus to the church there are many people who say the last word of Jesus to the church was going to all the world and preach the gospel and make disciples and teach them all that I taught you and there others who say no no no that's not the last word the last word was wait until you're filled with the Holy Spirit and you shall have power from heaven I say no neither of those are the last words of Jesus to his church the last words of Jesus to his church are found in Revelation chapter 2 and chapter 3 repent yeah test of the New Testament begins and that's how the New Testament ends in Revelation chapter 2 he says to the elder even elders have to repent there's no favoritism with God I'll tell you something God doesn't favor a man because he's an elder he doesn't favor me if I don't live and I'm just mean this when I say this if I don't live in daily repentance daily repentance what I'm saying is I have already become like Jesus Christ that's what everybody who's saying who's does not live in a daily repentance or he's not walking in the light that means he's not getting any light on any new on Christ like area in his life because if I see a none christ-like area in my life today I'd like to repent immediately and if I walk in the light I'm making progress towards closer to God I'm definitely going to see something on Christ life maybe it's something I've seen ten times before but which I haven't taken seriously but the Lord points it out to me again so that I can repent I can testify before God my life is one of daily repentance which is a testimony to one thing that I have two things really one that I have not yet become like Christ and secondly that I am passionate about becoming like Christ so any of you sitting here if you will acknowledge that you have not yet become like Jesus Christ and secondly that you're passionate about becoming like Jesus Christ and not just sitting in a church in enjoying listening to the message your life will also be one of daily repentance not once in a while repentance daily repentance so what John the Baptist said repent for the kingdom of heaven is near and Jesus preached repent for the kingdom of heaven is near that kingdom of heaven came on the day of Pentecost that means heavens ruled the life of heaven as now to come into my life and if it hasn't fully come into my life then I have to listen to John the Baptist saying repent yep get into a full possession of the kingdom of heaven the other thing that Jesus spoke until his last words were be an overcomer repent and be an overcomer to five churches and five elders needed to repent of something specific those were mostly obvious areas you know which were very visible there were inner areas in their lives which all seven would need to repent all seven elders in seven churches but hear what the Lord was speaking more about these external things where they had come short but to all seven he says be an overcomer and when you come to the end of Revelation it says in Revelation 21 and verse 7 he who overcomes shall inherit these things and that's referring to the holy city in verse 2 is the one who overcomes who will inherit this God is not going to give everything to everyone but the one who overcomes will inherit these things and he will be my son I will be his God when you read that verse my brother's sister do you find a passion in you to be that Lord I want to inherit those things I mean the world there are a lot of people who want to inherit earthly property and many things from their parents and some of you who did not get much of an inheritance maybe oh I wish my parents had more to give me I'll tell you all those things will disappear here is the inheritance that lasts forever he will inherit these things an eternal wealth and in eternal inheritance if you overcome and that's a daily thing every day of our earthly life we find something that we face that we have to overcome there's a verse that Jesus said in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 6 it's good that you turn to these verses in your Bible and if you have not with you ask yourself why you did not bring your Bible you don't want to know what God's Word is but if you have a Bible turn to Matthew 6 in verse 34 jesus said the last part each day has got enough trouble of its own every single day has got some trouble jesus said that for that day don't worry about the next days is that tomorrow's trouble will come tomorrow don't worry about it but each day has got a certain amount of trouble which has been allotted for that day for you and me and the purpose of that is that we might overcome so that one day we inherit everything in heaven and God will be my father and I will be his son for all eternity I'm looking forward to that I hope you are so here's some of the evidences of repentance we read just one verse in 2nd Corinthians in chapter 7 in 2nd Corinthians 7 now Paul is writing to this church in Corinth as a church because there was a lot of sin in that church and he rebuked them very strongly about their sin and after sometime maybe a euro so later he writes second Corinthians and first Corinthians he rebuked them and they had taken it seriously and they had really repented they had paid attention to him and he says now I read second corinthians 7 verse 9 i rejoice that you were made sorrowful through my letter and see what it produced verse 10 a sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret that means a repentance that you'll never feel sorry about there is a repentance which is shallow which one day you will discover was not good enough but there's a repentance which you'll never feel sorrowful about I'm thankful that I my repentance was thorough and you were made sorrowful according to the will of God so that you might not suffer loss so in repentance if you really got a repentance from the Holy Spirit it'll make you sorrowful about the things you did or the one thing you did or said or your attitude if that sorrow is not there in your life you have to assume you're not really repented you just said you know like some people say I'm sorry many many people who tell someone I'm sorry there's no sorrow in their words it's just a decent civilized thing to say when you hurt somebody you accidentally stamped on his leg or something like that I'm sorry you know I said that husbands and wives must say they're sorry when they hurt each other with words but you can say that because you heard me say it there may be no sorrow in it there may be no sorrow for the way you spoke well it's good you said sorry but there was no repentance there you may get a few marks with your wife but you get zero before God because that repentance was not accompanied with sorrow it's very very important this is sorrow which is according to the will of God verse 10 produces a repentance that leads to salvation there is a repentance that leads to salvation from that sin and there's a repentance that does not lead to salvation from sin in other words if you're keeping on getting angry your repentance is not brought to any salvation to you from that sin you just said I'm sorry now you do the same thing tomorrow and you'll do the same thing 10 years from now because there was no sorrow in it there was no sorrow according to the will of God but if it is a sorrow according to the will of God it will produce a repentance that leads to salvation means deliverance from that sin which you are repenting of you find that is it pornography you're repenting off you can say Oh Lord I'm sorry I looked at those pictures and you look at it again tomorrow or next week it's not a sorrow according to the will of God it's a meaningless repetition and I'll tell you something it's an insult to God to go like that to him and say something that you don't really mean would you go to a king on earth and say something you don't mean I fear that so many believers and many sitting here have become so familiar with God that you don't respect him anymore you just go and say something to him which you don't really mean and say oh I'm sorry about or really is that a sorrow there according to the will of God for what you did and do you really feel that that sin was what nailed Jesus to the cross and which made him forsaken by his father your pornography your anger your bitterness your words or attitudes that if you see that it'll bring us sorrow that is according to God's will and the proof of it will be not that you'll be delivered overnight but progressively you'll be delivered little by little by little it's like a sick person he's getting better and better and better better every day in the hospital he's still in the hospital but he's getting better every day and the doctors can make out hey there's an improvement in this guy compared to yesterday and next week Wow is it a real improvement compared to last week do you find that in your life whatever sin you're enslaved to whatever sin is the thing which you keep falling into falling into falling into okay you're in a hospital you're all in a hospital but can the doctors say there's an improvement in your condition it's getting a little better it's getting a little better your thought life is getting a little purrr because you're mourning over everything that defiles now even though dreams are not conscious sin you don't have to repent over your dreams because you didn't consciously see those pictures in your dreams but you have to see them as an indication of a certain thought pattern that you have had which produces those dreams so even though it's not conscious sin you have to have a sorrow in your heart Lord why am I getting those type of dreams why am I getting those filthy dreams still after so many years of sitting in CFC and listening to message I'm still getting all that filthy stuff or why am I getting all those scary dreams as if the Devils running after me after all that I hear in CFC something is wrong with me and what is that I'm not taking the Word of God seriously there is not a sorrow in me according to the will of God that's it I'm being casual about saying I'm sorry to God or saying I'm sorry to man my dear brothers and sisters please take this seriously if you take every word that you hear from me seriously I can guarantee you'll get a hundred percent in the final examination and the day of judgment no doubt because you know like the teachers say everything that will come in the examination will be from this book physics book or chemistry book this is the portion for the examination nothing outside this physics book will come in your physics question paper I want to say nothing outside the Bible God will ask you in the day of judgment that's the reason why I studied the Bible personally I want to get a hundred percent in the final day many of you studied very hard for your earthly examinations you've studied the subject you are that was coming in the book that was covering the portion for that subject and you really took it seriously why don't you do that for this more important final examination other people may think you're a wonderful brother or a sister it means zero before God a lot of people around the world who praise me I don't even waste my time thinking about it because I say they know they don't even know ten percent of my life you who have known me more than many other people in the world how much do you know of my life some of you have known me for thirty forty years do you know how I speak to my wife at home tell me honestly you don't you know what my attitude to them do you know how I handle my finances you who have known me thirty forty years you don't do you know whether I'm thinking about money all the time you don't what do you know about me five percent and you think I'm a great guy you think that means anything to me someone who does not know ninety five percent of my life things I'm a great guy you got to be crazy to be excited about that some brother maybe some elder brother told you you're a great guy and you keep meditating on that forever don't be foolish wake up and say Lord what do you think about me is the only thing that matters what do you think about me I mean that Brenda brother may have said something to encourage you that's all I try to encourage people all the time I've gone sometimes to people and said you know you got the best wife in CFC then I go to somebody else and I say you got the best wife in searcy what i mean is you got the best wife that you deserve and that's right and he got the best wife he deserved somebody else got the best friends at least I can say that to everybody if you are half-hearted and you got a half-hearted wife that's the best wife you deserve you don't deserve any more better than that because you're half out in yourself but if you're serious can help your partner - be serious - so tremendous thing how we can influence others like one candle that's lit can light up so many other candles I want to encourage all of you my brothers and sisters in this church to be like that be a candle that can light many other candles with the light of the life of God that comes through you Paul goes on to say this true repentance verse 11 what earnestness verse 11 this very thing this godly sorrow has produced in you what vindication of yourselves what indignation what fear what longing what zeal what avenging of wrong in everything you've demonstrated that now your innocent is your repentance like this it produces a godly sorrow setting right things in your own life indignation means a tremendous hatred for that thing that you did or said and what fear what a reverential fear of God what longing to be free from this one what a zeal to avoid the things and areas that lead you into such temptation and what an avenging of wrong what's setting right seriously setting right the things that you did wrong your repentance is not like this I have to tell you the truth that your repentance is not according to the will of God and I'm very concerned about brothers and sisters in our midst who can have a shallow repentance and just say Lord Jesus come into my heart and okay maybe the elders also tell you okay we accept you as a committed member I'll tell you my conviction praise God for all the ways in which elders and deacons try to evaluate you to see whether you're a committed member you deserve to be a committed member of this church and whether you deserve to be baptized but I still want to say the best and most spiritual among them can still be deceived I can be deceived I have baptized people in the old days when we were meeting in our house we're not following the Lord Trey they're lost but at that time I don't know I felt they were genuinely saved but they're on their way to hell today they can't stand before the Lord and say brother Zack baptized me in the Lord say so what you fooled him like I say you know I can lift my check post that bar and say okay and go through but there's another check post further up where God is there and you send you back so you can't go through so don't be excited that some elder lifted the bar and say okay you can go through you can be a committed member and your name is in the list it's good we have to do that because we want to distinguish between those who want to be a part of the family and one part of that family is one part of being part of the family is that you accept the elders in the church hear and obey the Word of God which says submit to your elders we want to know who are the ones who've chosen to be a part of the family and who have decided just to be visitors we just want to know that distinction because we have a responsibility for those who are our children we don't have a responsibility for the children on the streets now we care for them we may give some occasional food packets to the children on the streets but we treat visitors here like the children on the streets we have no responsibility for them we love them we don't hate them give them occasional food packet or something but our our responsibilities for those who say we want to be committed here we want to be part of the family we want to submit to the elders of this church that's the reason but that doesn't mean that we're right in the way we have assessed you so it's very important let every man examine himself the Bible says and I would encourage you to examine yourself judge yourself if you want to be a part of the household of God 1 Peter 4 verse 17 is a verse that I often quote and all of you must know it and remember it 1 Peter chapter 4 and verse 17 says the time has come for judgment to begin with the household of God or the family of God the time has come when I really believe that the time has come for self judgment to begin not outside there with the worldly people but with the family of God and if it begins with us first so it has to begin with us first before we judge others one mark of being part of God's family is that we judge ourselves first if you are not a person who's judging yourself first according to this verse you're not part of God's household you're not part of God's family whatever else you may think you are you have to judge yourself first if you're the type of person who judges other people first and not yourself first I want to tell you the truth my dear friend you're not part of God's household I don't care how long you sat here maybe once upon a time you were and you've drifted away you know you can be part of God's family once and then following sure that happens so mark the mark of a person who's part of God's household or God's family is that they judge themselves first I'm not speaking what I am not done and what I'm not doing I really seek to judge myself every day I meant what I've often said that the happiest people in the world are those who judge themselves always and never judge others be in that crowd I can honestly say before God that I'm very happy I'm very happy 24 hours of every day I can't think of sadness in my life sorrow yes you know if something sad happens to a loved one or something like that we have sorrow sure Jesus had it he wept at Lazarus tomb but there was an inward joy in his relationship with the father perpetually because he loved righteousness and hated iniquity God the Father anointed him with the oil of gladness above everybody else and I want to say to you it's the same law for us that if you loved righteousness and hated sin you'll be anointed with gladness twenty-four hours a day and you'll be able to obey the command which says rejoice and always you'll be able to experience the kingdom of God which is righteousness with joy in the holy spirit all the time once we've come through repentance enter into what we often taught in this church the New Covenant and in the New Covenant there are three standards that we can live at God wants us to live with the highest standard now I want to show them to you in Hebrews 8 in Hebrews a this is the great passage in the New Testament which speaks about the New Covenant which we often speak about in CFC so Hebrews 8 the passages from verse a 6 to 13 where it says that Jesus has obtained a more excellent ministry and he's the mediator of a better covenant better than what God made with Israel through Moses because the promises are better how are they better because Israel was only promised earthly wealth we are promised spiritual riches they were promised in physical healing we are promised spiritual deliverance from sin in that way who is better they were promised many earthly children we are promised spiritual children if we are faithful to God so these were basically the three things God promised Israel plenty of money earthly wealth physical health and many children apply them all spiritually and you enter the New Covenant where plenty of spiritual wealth spiritual healing from all sin and that God uses you to bring others into his kingdom who are your spiritual children we should not be satisfied with anything less than these three I met many married couples who longed to have children they pray they go for treatment in hospitals and spend lakhs of rupees millions of rupees I wish they were a longing like that among believers to have spiritual children do you have a longing like that like the longing that childless mothers have childless women have wives lord I want a child I want a child at least one and in the Old Testament they wanted more you know remember Jacob had 12 and is there a longing in your heart Sarah longing in your heart for spiritual wealth more than your God longing for total healing from all sin and is there a longing for spiritual children these are the the New Covenant equivalent of the Old Covenant promises and what I've mentioned you can take time to read in Deuteronomy 28 these three things plenty of wealth physical health plenty of children that's what we translate into the New Covenant that is why it says we have better promises better because that was only material and the material will all perish one day you can lose your wealth you can lose your health and you can lose your children but this is eternal the wealth we get from God is eternal the deliverance from sin is eternal and the children that the Lord uses us to bring into his kingdom are going to be with us for eternity in heaven it's tremendous joy to be able to see people who we brought to Christ through our life or witness or you know who maybe you just invited them to CFC and as a result they got converted maybe you didn't actually bring them to Christ but you were one link you were the first link that person in your office you asked him won't you come to our Sunday service and if you had not said that that person would never have come and that person will never come into God's kingdom so you're a very important part in that link see there's nobody I'm convinced about one thing there's nobody who can say I brought so-and-so to Christ I never say that if through my ministry somebody came to Christ I always say I was the last link in that chain there were probably 50 other links before me some way back in the beginning somebody gave him a tract or somebody else witness to him and finally I happen to be the last link I can't take the credit for it there are 50 people along the line who deserve that credit and so you don't have to be the last link in the chain to bring a person to Christ I'm happy to be just one link in the chain I don't always want to be the last link in the chain I say just I want to saw a seed maybe ten years later the guy will come to Christ and I was one link in the chain you know that's what it is if people can just look at your life in your office so your uprightness or something that can be a link in the chain that finally leads them to Christ so you must have a longing Lord my life must draw the people to you so these are the better promises now we move on from there we're seven Hebrews eight seven that first covenant was faulty do you know that's the Bible that says the old covenant that God gave through Moses was faulty there was a Fault in it it was incomplete not fault in the sense that God made a mistake no it was faulty in the sense that it could not accomplish what God wanted to accomplish in man and the reason was the fault was not with God the fault was not with man the fault was it was not yet time for Jesus Christ to come and die in order to cleanse man's heart from sin so that the New Covenant could be established and fulfilled so in that way the Old Covenant was faulty in the sense that till Christ came and died and man's heart was clean the Holy Spirit could not come in why could not the Holy Spirit come inside anybody's heart in Old Testament times I think many of them were more sincere than most of us do you think all of us are more wholehearted than John the Baptist I hope you're not so crazy to think like that when I look at John the Baptist I see wow I say Lord where am I the way he I recently again I was I've been many times challenged by John the Baptist he's been one of my great heroes but recently again I was challenged by him and I was reading there's someone coming after me I'm not even worthy to untie his laces I said Lord what a man I'm not even worthy to untie the I mean they didn't have laces those the thongs that tied their sandals I'm not unworthy to open those his sandal thongs I said nor do I have that attitude towards Jesus some of us acted towards Jesus as he was an old buddy of ours that we can slap him on the back and say hi unfortunately that's the type of shallowness in today's Western Christianity that produces all these shallow songs that it's because they they don't know the reverential fear of God they don't know what John the Baptist had that attitude I'm not even worthy to open a shoelace Lord you're so great that I'm not worthy to remove the thongs from your sandals and so he said I got a decrease even where I am I'm not even worthy to open a shul is what I want to decrease even from there he must increase that's a godly man who is a tremendous passion that Christ must increase and we must decrease we're not interested in CFCs name not at all that must decrease I pray that we must decrease Christ must increase you know when I've heard of people who there are thousands and thousands of people from many denominations who now listen to our messages on YouTube read our books and preach them as their own messages fine I say Lord I'm delighted that they're doing it I they don't have to quote me because I have to decrease they don't have to quote this is from Jack Coonan no I want to decrease I said that to the Lord long ago I see I don't want anybody to know about me they must know Jesus do you have a passion that people know less and less about you and that Christ might increase it'll change your whole life I tell you if you have that simple attitude that John the Baptist had he must increase and I must decrease do you want to be more popular and more well-known and CFC or in whatever circle you're known let Jesus be known more let Jesus be honored doesn't matter what people think about me or they forget about me altogether and don't even mention my name is fine that is how that man John the Baptist was and I say when what Heights he could rise to under the Old Covenant and that was a faulty covenant and here we are saying we're in the New Covenant the Holy Spirit has come a lot of people who say I'm filled with the Holy Spirit there's no evidence of it in their life but they imagine you have filled of the Holy Spirit boy you should be way above John the Baptist and in your attitude towards Jesus Christ that covenant was faulty I feel that we have lowered the standard so much in Christendom around the world that it's like these cooperation schools you know why don't you send your children to the cooperation schools because you know they learn nothing there they go through the ritual they love all the subjects physics chemistry maths and history and all they learn nothing because the teachers are not serious and that level of education you know is nowhere compared to the top schools and colleges that we want to send our children to it's like that I see a lot of Christianity just like these third-rate cooperation schools exactly the teachers are like that the teachers in the cooperation school just want their monthly salary and then they go home they're not worried whether the students learn anything and that's the sad state of christendom and it's a terrible thing if you sit in a good school and you're like a cooperation school student that means your life is no better than the life of someone who's in a church way they do not hear about the New Covenant that's terrible there's no excuse for students studying in a top school and getting the type of education and results that one of those cooperation school children get no there's no excuse if you're sitting here and listening to the wonderful truths that you hear Sunday after Sunday after Sunday in the stirring message ISM even the songs that lift us up to the Lord and the examples of godly men and women you see all that and it does not raise you way above the level of other Christians who don't hear these things if your home life is still like everybody else's all the yelling and quarreling and fighting and if your attitude to money is the same covetous old wretched attitude that every other Christian has what's the point you might as well go to a corporation school you might as well go and sit in some dead church doesn't seem to benefit you that your naturist it's reaching the New Covenant the Old Covenant was faulty that's why God established a second the second is way above the first and if you want to know how much above this is the answer who was the mediator of the Old Covenant Moses who is the mediator where six of the New Covenant Jesus how much higher is Jesus than Moses that is how much better the New Covenant is from the Old Covenant that is how much higher I can go compared to John the Baptist how much better of a life can I live than John Baptists as much better as Jesus is above Moses do you believe that I believe it I mean that's the potential and if I'm serious I can get there now I want to tell you in Jesus name if any of you are serious you can get there I'm not talking about ministry we evaluate people by ministry wow what a prophet he was ministry is different ministry is not the test of a man's spiritual level in the Old Testament there was a prophet called Balaam who prophesied about the coming of Jesus Christ you know that but he's in hell today he drifted he went after money so ministry proves nothing it's life that matters I'm not talking about ministry none of us can have a ministry like John the Baptist we can't even have a ministry like each other but life I'm talking about a life that we can come to as much a higher life and John the Baptist as Jesus is about Moses and in her life John the Baptist could not have an inner life externally he was fine but he was defeated in his inner life I know that because he was under the Old Covenant nobody could get victory in the Old Covenant the sad thing is that many Christians who call themselves New Testament Christians even pastors and Christian leaders fall into adultery what's that or run after women were not their wives can imagine any Old Testament prophet doing that Moses or John the Baptist you see what a pathetic level Christianity has come to that we see oh that's okay he's forgiven and David commits adultery and became King again this pastor can come come back I said rubbish I don't believe it I would never allow an elder brother in CFC if he fell into adultery ever to come back he can sit in the back row if he repents he'll never be an elder again not in a CFC church but in other churches they become pastors again just sit around quietly for six months and come back you see this is an indication of the level of Christianity it's like the corporation schools be thankful if you're hearing about the New Covenant so in this new covenant which is so much superior to the old as I said there are there are three stages but let me show you one more verse before I proceed verse 13 when he says a new covenant he has made the first obsolete that's like saying up to 1947 India was under the British rule and those days it was King George the sixth who was the ruler of India I remember those days because I was in Delhi those days before independence King George the sixth was my head of government but a day came and there he was no longer I hadn't finished and I don't want to go back to that nobody in India wants to go back to the British rule this is obsolete the old covenant is obsolete everything written in the old covenant is over now it is not a question of plenty of money and plenty of healing and plenty of children no now it is a new covenant that first is obsolete that's finished God's cancelled it you can't go back to that that was a law which God's cancelled now you don't pay 10 percent to God like income tax the tithe by the way it was income tax the right word for it is income tax people call it the tithe I call it income tax that means they earned something in terms of grain and cattle and the more you earned your 10% you had to give to God here to give more just like in income tax the more you earn the more you give and God was the head of the government and the government workers were the Levites and they had to pay income tax to support the government workers it was entirely Old Covenant but I see in the New Covenant God is not head of government he's a father how many of you pay income tax to your father if you are still thinking of income tax God is not your father that's why we never talk about tithing in this church but that doesn't mean you're not interested in the work of your father as a son or a daughter would be very happy to care for the father's work and business in a responsible I mean if you are irresponsible son or daughter you couldn't care less for God has got responsible children irresponsible children and all of God's work is supported by responsible children the other irresponsible children just enjoy the benefit of the responsible children taking care of God's ministry it's like in every home supposing a performs got five or six children and the father's retired there's no income there and they're living together and the all the children are working to a three pitch in and put in all their money to run the home and the other three lazy children just they earn money but they won't put in anything this enjoy the benefit of it they are three responsible children and three irresponsible ones in that home God has got responsible children irresponsible children in his home but a good father doesn't compel anyone he doesn't want anything if a son is reluctant to give him anything but his dad says hey I don't want anything from you that's what God says God loves a cheerful Giver the Old Covenant attitude of pay your income tax otherwise the income tax authorities will come after you that's how it was in the Old Covenant if you didn't pay your tithe a curse will come upon you but it's not like that when you're a father when God is a father so these are areas which are all abolished now in this new covenant I told you there are three standards like in school you have ten standards here are three the first is verse 12 this is the lowest level is where we enter in after we have repented after all that I've told you so far the first this Christian life is where you recognize that God is merciful to your iniquities and he doesn't remember your sin anymore that's the lowest level at which we can live the Christian life I thank God that God is being merciful to all my sins I've committed so many sins they're all cleansed in the blood of Jesus Christ and not only that wonder of wonders he says he won't even remember them anymore great you've entered the school but you can drop out of the school also but right now you are there if you have repented you are there how do we drop out of school we drop out of school when you stop repenting very simple way to find out the day you stop repenting you have stopped going to school now you stop going to school one or two days is okay but if you continuously live like that you're no longer a part of the school because you're not in not attending so when repentance goes away from your life you can be sure that you're on your way out of the school and that is how there have been people who are in CFC who are no longer here and I don't think they're even in God's kingdom there you can leave CFC and join another church and still be in God's kingdom if you are repenting but if you leave and you stop repenting then you're no longer in God's kingdom and if you sit here and not repenting you're not in God's kingdom so that's the way we drop out of school when we stop repenting like I told you just now but otherwise if you have repenting God is merciful to all our iniquities there is no forgiveness without repentance we teach that very clearly repentance and faith that Christ died for your sins and his blood was shed for you he's merciful to all our iniquities and this wonderful thing that no Old Testament person could experience see in the Old Testament the experience was like this we read in chapter 10 verse three there is a reminder of those sins year after year after year after year you're reminded yeah I am and since you're reminded of your sins and if you're keeping reminded of sins you're under the Old Covenant but in the New Covenant God says I will not remember your sins anymore it's finished there is no reminder of sins that you did ten years ago or yesterday if you have really repented like I said what repentance is and believed in the blood of Jesus Christ cleansing you so that's the lowest level and it's pathetic if you live there forever how many of you parents send your children to first standard and happy that they passed first standard and took them out of school saying my son can now read and write you can add and subtract that's all I want them to know if if your attitude to Christianity is my sins are all forgiven and I'm on my way to heaven you're like those first standard dropouts who finished first standard and say that's all you want we're not like that in worldly things I don't think of a single parent who sent their our children so don't send their children to school at all like in the slums but if you're one of those educated parents who send your child to school I cannot imagine that you'll be happy with your child just passing out a first standard no but this is only the first standard my sins are forgiven God doesn't remember my sins anymore I'm so excited that God does and God looks at my past and he considers as if I had him all my life I was listening to a message of Sundeep my son Sandeep's in his church there and he said something about justification which is a little better than the way I put it he said to be justified means God looks at me as if I've obeyed every commandment all my life I said hey that's a better way man the way I put it I used to put it is I never sinned all my life that's a negative way and he put it the positive way which is I've obeyed all my life see ya that's what justification really means that I have homemade all my life that's the meaning I will not remember and I'm justified in Christ but that's just the beginning then we go to the second standard in this new covenant and that is in verse 11 where he says basically that all shall know me personally you don't need a prophet like in the Old Testament come and say this is what the Lord is like you will know him personally that is you will know him as your father they shall not teach one another saying no the Lord now he's your father all shall know me and in the New Covenant we know him as father Jesus came to reveal the father so that's the next level the second standard there are only three standards in the kingdom of God second standard is to know the father to find a security in him to call Godfather daddy Abba Abba Father that's the second level and many who are BA come to the first level haven't come to this security that God is my dad he cares for me he knows the herons at my head are numbered there many things I'll tell even in my life there are many prayers I won't say God has not answered them God has answered them but his answer is no or his answer is wait every prayer of yours if your if your conscience is clear every prayer of yours will be answered but it's like the traffic signal red orange or yellow green red yellow green red means God says no but he's uncertain don't say you didn't answer is the answer the answer was no sometimes people say God didn't answer my prayer it's not right if my little son comes and asks me something I say no you can't have it he can't say that to his can't go and tell mommy then dad didn't listen to me of course I did listen to him but I said no so don't ever say God didn't answer your prayer say God answered and said no what can be a yellow light where God says my son my daughter wait you're not yet ready to get the answer to that you need to learn something during this process when my when I might pray your prayer is not answered and you're struggling and going through this difficulty which I'm not yet resolving for you because you've got to learn something through it you gotta wait that's the yellow light and exactly like in the traffic light you wait you don't rush when the yellow light is there you wait till it becomes green so that's the third thing God does he says yes you can have that so three answers to prayer no wait yes so when we know God is a father it doesn't mean we get answer to every prayer good a good father also has got these three lights he tells his son no you can't have that or you see son you gotta wait you're not ready to have that yet you're not ready to ride a bicycle to school you gotta wait you can do it one day but not yet or sometimes God says the father says sure you can have that right now so to know God is a father is a wonderful thing and every one of you who is repented you come through the first standard where you know your sins are forgiven you're justified in the blood of Christ you must get promoted to the second standard where you know God as a father personally we're not with somebody else like it says has to teach you hey you know God is your father you know in yourself you know how parents are so happy when the little child begins say Dada or something he doesn't mean anything but dad says here he's calling you dad he's so excited about it God's excited when you call him father he wants you to know him not as distant almighty God but as your personal father your dad you can be intimate with him you can tell him think of earthly father's some of you have had in some of you in CFC have had the blessing of having really good fathers really good fathers who really loved you cared for you played with you and were like a friend to you I I'm delighted when I hear of children who tell me that my dad was like my friend and that's why I grew up so secure many dads are not friends they're sort of distant lords but some of you have had the good fortune of having a dad was a friend God is like that God's the best father in the world and more than any earthly father can be friendly with his children God is a friend to us I'm very thankful for that you know fathers will play with their children get intimate to them that's how God wants to be with us and there are people whose sins are forgiven who know their sins are forgiven on their way to heaven but who don't know God is their father they haven't come to second standard any of you who are like that I want you to get promoted I want you to ask the Holy Spirit to show you read the scriptures if you don't read the scriptures I mean if you don't study the class books you're not going to get promoted to second standard read the Bible and say Lord I want to see God is my father from now on I don't want to sit and first stand it forever saying my sins are all forgiven I'm on my way to heaven I want to get promoted to second stand I want to know God is my father all of you who are in first and it get promoted it's easy read the scriptures and ask the Holy Spirit to teach you so that's the second stage where anxiety gradually disappears from our life worry about what will happen to me what will happen in the future now all the hairs on my head are numbered yeah I'm more valuable than this birds of the air it's wonderful to live like this then you know you're in second standard but that also is not the highest the highest is third standard where we go to verse 10 I will make this covenant with them that I will put my laws the middle of verse 10 into their minds and I will write them upon their hearts so what is it I will put my law into their mind which means I will give them a desire to do my will and not their own will does that happen in your life where you have a desire now to do God's will and not your own will ha then God has done that first part of putting his law into your mind you delight to do the will of God and not your own will Oh wonderful that's how we follow Jesus who said in John 6:38 I've come from heaven not to do my own will but the will of my father and you happen to have that desire to you're different from all the other people in the world there's only other people in the world won't they delight to do their own will they like to respond to other people in the way that they feel they should they don't want to do God's will so that's the first step he puts a desire a delight in my mind to do God's will but then he doesn't stop there because many people who delight to do God's will still don't do it because they don't have the ability but he says I next I'll put it into your heart put it into your heart means I'll give you the strength the grace to do it so God works in us to will and to do like it says in Philippians 2:13 the will and to do of his perfect will that's what happens in the heart like it says in Hebrews 13 you know this verse Hebrews 13 and verse 9 in the middle of that verse it says hebrews 13:9 it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace see what you know what grace comes in your heart so in the mind he first writes God's his law that I wanted to it and then he puts it in my heart and gives me the grace to do it so I mustn't stop with that God has made it in my mind you know like in chemistry you have theory and practical so if you do the theory and you don't know how it works in practical in an engineering college or something you need to know if you're not doing automobile engineering it's not enough just to study the theory of it you need to actually fix the car so there's the knowing and then doing desiring God's will and doing God's will is God writing his law in my mind in my heart so now the question is what is God's law it's basically very simple Jesus somebody asked him and he said it's very simple it's like the two arms of the Cross love God with all your heart soul strength in mind or love Jesus more than father mother brothers sisters property everything that's the commands and their conditions of discipleship and there's no cross without a horizontal arm the horizontal arm is love others as I have loved you so this is God's law that if God has written his law in my mind I will have a tremendous desire to love Jesus a desire to love Jesus more than I love my parents more than I love my property more than I love my house or car or my job or my ambitions or my plans Jesus is supreme and not just that desire he write that into my heart as well that I actually love Jesus more than this that means if a decision comes I have to choose what Jesus says and my parents say I'll follow Jesus or is a choice between Jesus and my job I choose Jesus that because of my stand for Christ I'll lose my job fine I'll lose my job I'm willing to do it Jesus is first he actually brings us into situations where we actually experience that Christ is first I'm so excited I had numerous examples of that when I was working in the Navy where I was willing to sacrifice my job and promotion and everything to put Christ first I hope you have such exciting experiences in your life because that's how God will decide whether you're fit to be led further in his ministry and to put him first above everything in life property people everything that no nobody's opinion means more to you than God's always it's Lord what do you think of me not what people think of me and the second part of that law is that God's love is shed abroad in our hearts where we love other people that's the law which he writes into my mind and my heart he writes into my mind a tremendous desire listen to this God will put into my mind a tremendous desire to love unlovely people in the church not to agree with them but I'll be able to love them and one part of loving them is telling them the truth you you'll tell them the truth it's love doesn't mean you just cover up their faults can love loves the truth but you don't you don't have the spirit of the accuser you have the spirit of a helper you know the devil comes and points out your sin with the spirit of an accuser the Holy Spirit comes and points out your sin with the Spirit of a helper both are pointing out your sin but one is coming to accuse you the other is coming to help you and when we love people we will love with the Holy Spirit's attitude so God is the one you know there are some people you say well I don't know how in the world I can love that person because he's so repulsive I agree I think it must have been very difficult for Jesus to love all repulsive people like you and me and everybody else in the world but he still loved us that was a love of God and that's the law he's gonna put into my mind I'm gonna have a tremendous desire to love people and not just a desire not that I want alarm godly give me grace in my heart to love that person you know I was I've often said this to different people that one of the who did one of the most difficult relationships in the world in families his mother-in-law daughter-in-law the world I mean the world makes jokes of it mother-in-law daughter-in-law that and they ask people do you love your mother-in-law then you must be a really good person and I say in the New Covenant you can have such a love for your mother-in-law you know that it's one way you married women can test your whether you entered in or not how much do you love your mother-in-law and how much you men love your father-in-law especially when he gives you a lot of advice that you don't want and you love him you don't have to do what he says but loving my father-in-law gave me lots of advice I never argued with him I never did any of it but I never argued with him I'm because I went home and my wife and I decided my father gave a lot of advice to my wife as well and she never once argued with my dad just listened but we went and did what we wanted to do after some time they gave up this is a hopeless case these folks won't listen to us you know that is the peaceful way of without quarreling without fighting man shall leave his father and mother and a wife must forget her father's house and cleave unto one another and we decided to cleave one under one another but that relationship I say the New Covenant changes every relationship that what the world calls impossible it's possible so if you still have this mother-in-law daughter-in-law attitude which is in the world let me encourage you to be promoted to the third standard I wonder whether you even go to the second standard taken seriously don't live in that level where you can't love somebody you know how sometimes you people can go around that and say I love that person but I don't like him aha wasn't God said I love you but I don't like you would you be happy with that if Jesus came to you and say I really love you but I just don't like you if you say to someone I don't like you try telling your wife that I love you darling but I don't like you and see we'll see what she thinks you can't say to a person I love you but I don't like you I don't like what you do that God tells us many times I just don't like what you're doing I tell you God loves us in a way he likes us and it's very difficult sometimes to love certain people I don't like many things that people do but I say Lord give me your love for them otherwise you I will say you have not yet written your law in my heart let me humble myself and say I have not passed 3rd standard yet I think I'm in CFC I'm in the height of spirituality and Here I am unable to love somebody maybe your past 2nd standard you know God is your father I want to encourage you to get 100% in 3rd standard as well this is the full New Covenant and God will do it you cannot love certain people I cannot but I say Lord can you you can write it in my heart that's what I do I say Lord the Holy Spirit has to put that love in my heart sometimes we are struggling that's under law to live under the Lord I've got to struggle to love that person ok you've struggled enough you're toiled all night and caught no fish why not listen to Jesus now and let him write his law this is the new covenant I believe that sometimes we haven't understood this fully in CFC it is Jesus who is our Sanctifier we say jesus is my sanctify but then we try to sanctify ourselves you cannot and particularly in the matter of loving others you discover that you cannot now let's learn to us Jesus to put that desire to love that person that unlovely person in my mind and then to give me the ability to love that person as well the New Covenant is wonderful and God says he'll do it but he wants us to open ourselves to him this is what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit this is the fullness of the Spirit that we we preach and CFC it may also include speaking in tongues in the gift of preaching and healing all that but that's ministry but this is the primary aspect of the fullness of the Holy Spirit where we differ from the Pentecostals who emphasize the external gifts so let's pray Heavenly Father helped us to move on from where we are right now to take seriously everything we have heard meditate on it and enter into this life the really experienced father the fullness of the Holy Spirit we pray in Jesus name you

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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: GZk5EXg1ssM

Length: 75min 6sec (4506 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 16 2016