Inward Brokenness and Outward Fruitfulness - Zac Poonen - May 27, 2017

[Music] let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us the prayer of Moses that we all saw in Psalm 90 I pray that will be our prayer throughout and when we think of the tremendous difference there is between what we are in Adam and how Jesus was on the earth we can only we can often get overwhelmed how will this ever take place in me especially when we see so much of failure in many areas of our lives it's easy to get discouraged easy to condemn ourselves I want to tell you something that I've learned through these years if you condemn yourself and you get discouraged that's the surest way to go into more defeat it's exactly what the devil wants you to do condemn yourself because you're not as like Jesus is or they are discouraged because you're not made all the progress that you want we must refuse to get discouraged no matter what happens we must refuse to condemn ourselves you just take a decision it's a matter of your will one of the things we all need to learn is to live in our will and not in our feelings I never knew this in my younger days I used to get tremendously discouraged in the early years after I was born again because I was so frequently defeated I'd get all stirred up in a meeting and then be defeated during the week as a young man and I never realized that when I got discouraged I became more weak for the devil to knock me down further it was only much later that I learned that I have to live in my will not in my feelings feelings go up and down and are deceptive it depends on the weather it depends on whether you suddenly got a gift or something like that things are so deceptive but if I learn to live in my will Lord my will is set on your side that even when things seem to be all wrong around me Lord my will you sit on your and I refuse to live by my feelings it may take a little time but if you develop this habit he'll really help you for example forgiving people see forgiveness is not a feeling it's not a question of I feel that I've forgiven him I've chosen in my will to forgive every single person who has hurt me do I remember what he did against me sure I remember until the end of my life because I have no control over my memory but I'm not living in my memory I'm living in my will and so I can say before the Lord I've forgiven that person you know that even God remembers everything we have done when God says in Hebrews 8:12 I will not remember what I will not remember your past he's not saying he's forgotten it he's saying he's chosen not to remember it's not that he's forgotten how can God forget something that I did 60 years ago when I remember it myself you remember some of the evil things you did in your early unconverted days using God's forgotten it has God got a for a memory than you he remembers it then how did you say I will not remember your sins against and you he says I will not hold that against you whenever you come before me I will not hold your past against you and that is how we forgive other people I mentioned that because so many people live in a under condemnation that who I still remember what he did to me you'll remember that all your life that doesn't mean you haven't forgiven that person don't condemn yourself these are the little ways in which the devil condemns people I told you earlier about the difference between temptation and sin the double condemn so many people just because they get tempted you'll be free from temptation only when you get to heaven as long as out you're on earth you'll be tempted and Jesus was tempted and that's a thought put into your mind if you reject it you have not sinned you're as pure as ever it's when you accept it in your mind that you sin the same way understand this that you have no control over your memory don't condemn yourself because you remember the people that a hundred people did against you you saying your will or have forgiven that person and if you want to make it even better to make sure you forgiving him pray that God will bless him Oh bless her mightily and that you will rejoice when you hear that God has blessed that person lightly then you know you're really forgiving that person so it's a wonderful thing to come into this life we were speaking about being balanced there are many many areas in the Christian life where we need to be balanced in now Jesus when he spoke to the Pharisees he spoke about their inner life and their outer life in Matthew chapter 23 he said your outer life is so clean Matthew 23 and verse 26 the inside of the cup is dirty or the outside is clean here's another area where we need to be balanced the inside and the outside of our lives it's ugly when it's imbalanced just like the two sides of our body I keep referring to that the two halves of our body if you draw a line down the middle it's so perfectly balanced on either side and that's what makes it beautiful the eye is the same size years the same size and in the same way think of that picture draw a line down the middle that my inner private life is exactly like my outer public life that what people see of me on the outside is exactly what I'm on the inside is that possible that is the life that Jesus wants to give you you cannot produce it yourself the Pharisees couldn't do it but they didn't want it of course it could not be accomplished in the Old Testament Old Covenant because the Holy Spirit was not dwelling within I agree but now it's possible to live that life and yet I say the vast majority of Christians would not like you to live in look into their private life into their inner life into the way they handled money they will not like you to enter into their thoughts to see what they are thinking about why is it like that is this the only type of salvation that God has given us that will in one side of my body only my outer life will be clean if you have a longing I believe that everything begins with a longing you shall seek me and find me the Lord says when you search for me with all your heart so determine that first of all let me show you that verse in Jeremiah 29 and verse 13 you will seek me and you will find me when you search for me with all your heart it was in the defeat of my life when I was very and heavy laden with my own defeat that I began to see the Lord many years ago and I began to seek the Lord and I said Lord grant me one one thing only I wasn't even seeking for the fullness of the Holy Spirit I'm saying please make my inner life correspond with my outer life will you pray that prayer Lord I want my inner life to be exactly like my outer life as clean there should be no difference just like left half and right out of my body if you're earnest he's the reward of those who diligently seek Him you seek him with all your heart you'll find him but I remember that day it was in January I remember the day so vividly it was the 12th of January 1975 what 42 years ago I had come virtually to the end of myself and I said Lord you got to meet with me this is the only thing else for not asking for any gift or honor anything just make my inner life correspond to the outer life I was praying and fasting and praying and seeking with others this is what I wanted and God saw I was desperate and he asked one last thing of me I didn't know it was the last thing I've been preaching in a church in a Baptist Church every Sunday for six months and I was not preaching what was true in my inner life I was a hypocrite inside and the Lord said will you get up in that church this Sunday morning and publicly acknowledge that you've been a hypocrite I said Lord I'm ready to do it I couldn't care less for the opening of anybody anymore I'll do anything if you can bring me to this life and that was quite something you know it's quite something to get up before people who has steam you so highly and who have heard you preach wonderful messages to get up there and publicly say I've been a hypocrite all these years but I was so desperate I wanted God's best and I was willing to do anything and I wasn't telling a lie I was gonna tell them the truth I've been a hypocrite it was the truth absolute truth that's the day God met with me I didn't anticipate it I didn't expect it I didn't know that God would meet with me unexpectedly he came and filled me with the Holy Spirit and my life has never been the same since that day in these last 42 years I've learned something from that if you are desperate just for this one thing that your inner life was called exactly as pure as your outer life you know God will be so delighted with you because he finds very few Christians wanting that the vast majority of Christians like the Pharisees just make sure that everybody thinks brought highly of me let them never discover all the secret things I'm doing which are not up to the mark the longings I have and what I'm thinking of most of the time seek God with all your heart how is this possible well first of all you got to see what I saw that the most wonderful life that any human being ever lived on the earth this earth was the life of Jesus Christ I'm sure all of you will agree with that but I want to ask you do you really want to live like Jesus lived you got to be so gripped by it that the most wonderful life that anyone lived on this earth was the life Jesus lived and then you simply must remember he wasn't rich he wasn't famous he was persecuted today of course he's famous but in that time he was he was hated persecuted and yet it was the most wonderful life that anyone lived so if you admire that say Lord that's the type of life I want I'm not interested in money or honor or any such thing I want to be able to live the way Jesus lived if you have that passion I believe God will give you the desire of your heart not in a moment but little by little by little by little how did Jesus live that life if he was exactly like us and tempted like us in every way and become our forerunner it was because he was filled with the Holy Spirit every day he would wait upon the father from morning onwards I want to be filled with the Holy Spirit and be sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit more sensitive to the voice of the Spirit than any other voice he heard I'll give you one or two examples of that because that's something we must develop there was a time when Martha and Mary Jesus visited their home and you remember Martha was very busy serving in the kitchen she was doing a very good job sacrificing and trying to make food for Jesus and his 12 disciples and we read in Luke chapter 10 that Mary was just sitting at Jesus feet Luke chapter 10 verse 39 just sitting at Jesus feet and listening to his word now here are the two sisters who invited Jesus to their home and Martha is very busy cooking a meal sacrificially perspiring sweating away in the kitchen and here's Mary sitting at Jesus feet just listening to what Jesus is speaking and Martha gets all disturbed because this her sister is not helping her comes to Jesus and complains and Jesus said something to her which is a very very important word God spoke this word to me 55 years ago and I've never forgotten it one thing is needful Luke 10 verse 42 one thing is needful in your life when mary has chosen that good part I'm not interested in your sacrificial service for me the world appreciates that the world will appreciate a Martha whose sweating it out and doing something or the other for the Lord here and there they wouldn't appreciate a Mary sitting in Jesus feet but you said that's the thing that's important to sit at Jesus feet and listen every day man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from God's mouth and Mary understood it and I tell you it's much easier to go out and do something for the Lord than to sit at his feet and listen but I discovered in my life that this is the being the most effective way to serve the Lord as I studied the lives of some very godly people in in in the past few centuries I discovered that there were some people who in a very short time accomplished so much wherever they went you'd see there was success in their ministry and their labors well if they go here in the planet Church here and they go there and the furniture said they go here lunches I meant if I came across a few people like this some I read about and one or two I met and I said Lord that's the way I want to live I only live a most useful life and what the Lord showed me was that God's work was like a huge garden fruit garden and Here I am appointed to collect the fruit and bring it to the master and I can go into that garden and beside myself where I'm going to go which part of the garden the garden is huge hundreds of square miles and I say okay I'm gonna go over there and sit under that tree and collect some fruit from my master I live really love Jesus and I want to collect food him and I sit there maybe for a few years finally I'm able to collect the fruit from there and bring it to the master and I discovered there's a better way instead of going and sitting myself under some tree waiting for the fruit to fall I go to the master and say I listen to him I sit at his feet and say Lord this is a Martha way go and do something for the Lord they always people say why do you why aren't you doing something to the Lord go and do something for the Lord instead of that going and sitting like Mary at Jesus feet and saying Lord where do you want me to go what do you want me to do and the Lord says go to that tree over there and he gives me the exact location I say okay I go there where the master tells me to go and I sit there and in a few minutes that fruit is all falling he said master knew which tree had the fruit ripe and ready to fall now I just collected what earlier on I waited years to collect here in a very short while I've got a basket full in about a day and I get my and give to the Lord and I said already want me to go next he says now you go over there to this corner and I discovered boy if I live my life like this I'll be able to accomplish the most for the Lord start like Mary sitting at Jesus feet and listening instead of just running around trying to do this and not making our own plans to serve the Lord and that's what's changed my life and God wants you to know that one thing is needful because when you do that God will begin to work in you first and then through you see this balance that we find in Philippians there are many verses in scripture which speak of this balanced Christian life that we've been talking about here's another example of this you know when you read a word like this it's a fantastic challenge Philippians 2 14 and 15 do everything without grumbling or disputing or complaining just sing about one sentence imagine if you did everything in your home everything everyday morning and morning tonight without ever complaining or grumbling from morning till night both you and your husband or wife can you imagine what your home will be like it will be heaven on earth you think the devil will allow that no he'll allow something to come up to make you grumble about something I'll complain about something if this is not done if that is not done or some misunderstanding what a word it is to do everything without grumbling or complaining is this a small thing no it says that is the only way verse 15 that you can prove you're a child of God did you read that in the next verse dude like this so that you may prove that you are blameless and innocent children of God in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation now read it as I've often said read the verse in its context if you were to ask the average Christian why do you call the world a crooked in a perverse generation they say it's full because it's full of adultery and terrorism and all that no no no no in the context the world is a crooked and perverse generation because they are grumbling and complaining all the time that's what's referred to here read it in his context in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation that are always grumbling and complaining all the time you shine as lights in the world nice to picture God looking down from heaven at the planet Earth and everywhere he looks every part of the earth there are people grumbling and complaining about something or the other humbling them complaining about their parents or about the government or some new laws or some financial difficulty or some sick or always finding something to grumble or complain about every single day and this is what God hears darkness darkness darkness but in the midst of this earth covered with the darkness of grumbling and complaining here and there he sees some spots of light a few of his children not all is children a few of his children who never grumble or complain about anything but are always giving thanks for everything how can we live such a life that's how Jesus lived here's the answer Philippians 2 the previous verses we always read everything in context in context we can understand it the last part of verse 12 work out your salvation with fear and trembling work out your salvation from grumbling and complaining in the context that's what it means with fear and trembling how can I do that because God is that working you to make you fulfill his good will which is to do all things without grumbling and complaining that's how I see this message so it begins with God working in me here's the balance God working in me and then I work it out then my inner life will correspond with my outer life I must open myself for God to work in me it's not me determining okay from today onwards I made a resolution and I'm going to live a godly life now you won't accomplish it it'll be just like the resolutions of maybe in the past you need to say Lord I cannot live this life but I want you to work in me and whenever the Bible speaks about God working in us it's always referring to the Ministry of the Holy Spirit and what he's saying there is let me work in you listen to the voice of the Spirit and obey that those promptings and work it out to work out is to do what the Holy Spirit prompts us within and we got to develop the habit of listening to the voice of the Spirit like Mary in those days it was Jesus who was on earth the second person of the Trinity today it's the Holy Spirit the third person of the Trinity but the Holy Spirit speaking just like Jesus spoke when he was in Israel but we have to have years to hear why did Jesus often say he who has ears to hear let him hear it's a phrase that comes every now and then it's because not everybody has the time or interest in wanting to listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying we think we can manage on our own and we have to a humbly acknowledge I cannot do it Lord and one of the reasons why God allows us to fail and fail and fail and fail is to teach us that lesson you cannot make it on your own I used to wonder in those days why God was allowing me to fail and fail and be defeated and defeated and defeated and I now realize as I look back even that was serving a purpose because God cannot do a work in us until we have come to a complete end of ourselves this is a great truth that we see many times in the New Testament I see pictured in the story of Lazarus who was sick you even Mary and Martha send a message to Jesus saying the one who you love is sick now if you hear that somebody you love is very sick you'd go immediately but see how Jesus did it in John chapter 11 have you noticed it in John chapter 11 the sisters of Lazarus Lazarus it says and worse 1 John 11:1 was very sick and Mary and Martha sent a message to Jesus saying Lord verse 3 he whom you love is sick in any of them did you now to mention the name Lazarus they they knew he'd understand the one you love is sick sick means seriously sick and listen to this when verse 6 when Jesus heard this now if you and I heard it we'd rush when Jesus heard this he stayed two more days in the same place Jesus acted so contrary to the way other human beings react he heard that the one whom he loved the sick is okay then we better stay here two more days that's God's way God says my ways are not your ways my ways are as different from your way of acting as heaven is above the earth what is he waiting for he was waiting for Lazarus to die and I I get a spiritual lesson there that Jesus was waiting for Lazarus to become totally incapable of doing anything then he said I'll come and do something for you it has a spiritual lesson for us as long as Lazarus was struggling to live he said now I can't count him not yet ready and day after day he sinks and sinks and finally he got even lift a little finger and then he dies then he can do nothing and just to make sure he's dead they put him in the tomb and he's there for four days and then Jesus comes and says Lazarus come forth and he rises up this I discovered is the way the Lord wants to work with me I cry - lord please come and help me I need help I'm sick he says no I gotta wait don't you don't you love me I'm the one you love come and help me no I've gotta wait for some more time do you wonder why the Lord is waiting and not answering some of your prayers you haven't died yet you're sick I know you're safe this is bad but he's waiting for you to die I mean spiritually inwardly that means when you come to the point where you cannot do anything and you know you cannot do anything because this is the principle with which God works he waits until we give up on thinking that we can manage it because if we or if we overcome in our own ability we will take the credit for it I managed to come to that life where I never grumble or complain and that'll be that won't be victory see to grumble and complain is like a hundred-foot pit and Here I am in this hundred-foot pit called grumbling and complaining and I get delivered out of that and fall into a thousand-foot pit called spiritual pride is that victory that's what happens to a lot of people they get victory over some dirty habit and then they fall into a much deeper pit called spiritual pride who say I don't even realize it and God doesn't want to give us that type of Italy because that's a defeat he wants to bring us to a victory where I will not fall into that pit called pride and that the only way he can do that is by allowing us to repeatedly fail till we come to an end of ourselves one of the best examples of that is in John's Gospel in chapter 21 God works in us to bring us down to zero and then if we cooperate with him and work it out we will come into this life described in the New Testament this is called a way of death this is the way of the cross many people don't understand what the way of the Cross is they know the cross on what Jesus died but the cross in your life let's cross that killed Jesus has to kill all your confidence in your own ability to be able to live this Christian life and we think we don't have confidence in ourselves we have a lot of confidence in ourselves why did the Lord tell Abraham I'm going to make a covenant with you he said in John 7 answer in Genesis 17 circumcision circumcision is the cutting off of the flesh physically but it had a meaning the meaning is we have no confidence in the flesh maybe I should show you that before we come to John 21 turn with me to Philippians 3 where the meaning of circumcision is explained the Old Testament circumcision was such an important thing that the Lord said if any person born in Israel is not circumcised he will be cut off from the covenant with me I will have no agreement my covenant with Abraham and the seed will be cut off if you are not circumcised what does that mean how does it apply for us in the New Covenant here it is Philippians 3 in verse 3 we are the true circumcision who have no confidence in the flesh so the meaning of circumcision in the Old Testament it was a cutting off of physical flesh in the New Covenant it was a cutting off of confidence in our flesh confidence in our own ability and if that confidence in our own ability is not cut off we're not in the Covenant the Lord said that Abraham every soul that is not circumcised will be cut off from the Covenant and that has an application for us today now we turn to John 21 we read about a bunch of disciples who were very discouraged Peter especially was very discouraged because he had denied the Lord three times in the previous chapter he had met him after the resurrection but he was still discouraged he felt I can never be an apostle again that's finished I could have been but in the moment of testing I failed not once three times I failed there's no hope for me and so he says well there's one thing I can do I can fish I can't be an apostle but I'd go back to fishing and there were some other discouraged disciples with him as well Thomas John 21 to Peter Thomas Nathanael James and John and two others Simon Peter said I mean if I were to paraphrase Simon Peters words what he's saying is I'm fed up of being an apostle I tried and I failed I better go back to my earthly job of fishing and they said then we feel the same way too we're pretty given up and they went out and here it is just like Lazarus trying trying trying to live and dying they tried all night and they caught nothing and when the day was breaking maybe five o'clock in the morning Jesus stood on the beach and they did not know it was Jesus and you see the sense of humor some people think Jesus never had a sense of humor here it is he looks at them and says well folks did you get any fish last night he knows that they didn't catch anything do you get any fish he went out fishing right you thought you could do it without me he answered him no you thought you were expert fisherman you couldn't be apostles but you could be fisherman you know when God has called us to something and we turn away from that and go and do something else which we think we can do because we're good at it he'll make you fail even there if he loves you if he has a calling on your life if he doesn't have a calling on your life he will succeed in that worthless human task maybe you'll become a millionaire and you'd be a failure in God's eyes because he went after something which is not what God called you for but if he loves you he'll allow you to fail they're like he allowed these disciples to fail in fishing and then Jesus said cast your net on the other side and the number was so great what is the lesson of the story you can toil all night and you won't get it now Jesus mule even the previous evening maybe they went out fishing at about 7 o'clock and evening Jesus knew they'd catch nothing why did he wait 10 hours and come at 5 o'clock in the morning why did he make them waste their time why didn't he come the previous day 7:30 itself says don't go fishing you won't get anything I'll tell you right now I'll tell you where to cast your net they would not have learned the lesson which there was so important for us to for them to learn this is the last miracle that Jesus did before he ascended up to heaven you're eating the next chapter that he ascended up to heaven Acts chapter 1 is the last miracle and what is he trying to teach them in the last miracle you cannot do anything on your own I believe that's one of the greatest lessons that he wanted to teach the disciples and which he wants to teach us that's why he didn't come at 7:30 in the evening because they wouldn't have learned that lesson he allows them to go and try and try and try and try I know it was like that my life I tried and tried and tried and I failed and then I tried and tried and tried again I passed it and I prayed and I failed then they had finally you know III look at it like this they went out at 7 o'clock and they tried 8 9 10 o'clock no fish maybe you try some more by then they came to midnight no fish and he said well I wonder what's happening there other boats and all catching fish but we don't see be catching anything we'll try we're not going to give up well determined to get fish this night by the time it came to 5 o'clock in the morning they'd given up no hope that's the moment the Lord was waiting for there's no possibility of getting fish now the Lord says have you come there now ok now cast your net on the right side and the Linette was filled I believe that's how God fills us with the Holy Spirit as well when we come to the end of ourselves Peter needed to deny the Lord to come to the end of himself that was his spiritual experience he thought he was so zealous and he said even if everybody denies you I won't deny you many of us can have pretty high thoughts about our own spirituality and our own ability like Peter even have all deny the Lord I'm not going to be I'm a zealous Christian and the Lord said okay Peter he got to learn a lesson and it's very interesting what the Lord told Peter at the Last Supper in Luke chapter 22 how would you pray for someone if you knew that he's going to face a tremendous temptation within the next few hours you'd pray lord please protect him that he doesn't fall in that temptation let's see how Jesus prayed for Peter he said Simon verse 31 Luke 22:31 Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail and when you have turned again strengthen your brothers and he said Lord I'm ready to go to prison and that I'll never deny you and he says Peter before the crows tonight or early morning you will deny me three times now if Jesus knew that he could look into the future and see Peter is going to deny me don't you think he should have been praying father please help Peter not to deny me isn't that how you would pray if you knew that son brother's going to fall into some temptation wouldn't you pray Oh God don't let him fall that's why we must remember God says my ways are not your ways he has to fall he has to fall I mean God wants him to fall God wants you to fall yes it's unbelievable right he did not pray like you and I would pray Lord keep him from falling he knew that he would be tempted what does he pray if I were to paraphrase Jesus words he was saying Peter I'm not going to pray that you won't fall I know tonight you're going to be behind me three Dan but I will not pray that you don't fail I'm gonna pray that after you fail and you hit rock bottom that you don't lose your faith that your faith does not fail and what does that mean that when you hit rock bottom you believe that God still loves you that your father in heaven still loves you that's the meaning of your faith will not fail and if some of you are there you've been trying for so long for a life of victory and you've been - you heard this message many times and you're still defeated your inner life is nowhere near your outer testimony before men but you don't want people to know it you're trying you're trying and it's only failure failure failure maybe you haven't come to that rock bottom place of defeat yet maybe you're to go little longer but if some of you have already come there you have hit rock bottom there's no hope at that time the Lord says I don't want your faith to fail remember even there your father loves you your faith does not feel me in scale means Lord I've hit rock bottom I failed you so badly but I know you still love me that is my faith not failing and I've hit rock bottom please remember this if you don't need it today you will need it one day and the days to come and you come into some situation where you feel that you've let down the Lord so badly you who thought you were so strong remember at that moment that your Father in Heaven still loves you that is the proof that your faith hasn't failed that's what jesus prayed father's faith should not fail and sure enough he denied the Lord three times and he went out and wept and what was what happened in John 21 was the completion of the work that God did in Peter teaching him the simple lesson without me you can do nothing you may think you're the strongest or disciples you'll deny me before a servant-girl you may think you're an excellent fisherman but you'll fail I don't know what your area is but I find that God has to break us in our strong points we all have certain areas in our life we're very strong in Peters case it was fishing or it was I will never deny you those ways two strong points I can never deny Jesus no matter what happens and in earthly terms fishing was a strong point okay God says I got to break you in both those points you'll never be useful to me until I've broken you in your strongest points you think you're a wonderful zealous wholehearted disciple of mine I'll make you fail there you think you're a wonderful fisherman I'll make you fail they're all so earthly why spiritual wise you'll be a failure then you'll be ready to be my apostle God's ways are not our ways he trains us through failure he trains us by bringing down to us to a zero point then he will fill us with the Holy Spirit then you see how that boat was filled with fish that's a lesson we learned from that so when we read so about that balance God working in us and we working out our salvation this is how God works in us we think God works in us to do great miracles in us what does it mean when it says God works in you too willing to do his good pleasure he's working you to bring you down to zero to realize your helplessness to make you so dependent on the Lord that you will be I mean to me it's been a tremendous pleasure to be brought down by the Lord to this point I thought I had great gifts and abilities but the Lord made me fail thoroughly and I had to learn the lesson which I never forget now because it has been so deeply drilled into me the lesson of the branch in the tree John 15 and verse 5 I am the vine you are the branches or you see people in Israel knew about the vine but you don't have to think of the vine it you could say I'm the apple tree if you're more familiar with apple trees you could put the tree you're familiar with the Lord says I'm the apple tree and you're the branch which produces the apples but the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine neither can you unless you abide me verse 4 and if you abide in me you'll bear much fruit and here's the lesson which we all need to learn john 15:5 apart from me you can do nothing we think we have learnt it I thought I had learnt it but we are so full of self-confidence we are not circumcised completely sometimes our circumcision is not 360 degrees it's a partial circumcision we still have a little bit of confidence in ourselves then God has to work in us some more just like he waited for Lazarus to die he waits for us to come to an end of ourselves that's a lesson in many of the miracles that Jesus did I believe Jesus knew before he went to Cana at the wedding at Cana they're gonna run short of oil you think he didn't know that he knew many things that were going to happen in the future but he didn't do anything about it when did he make that extra wine when they came down to zero now you know when people plan for a wedding they always plan excess so that they don't run out of food then those days they don't run out of wine and they must have planned very carefully but despite all their planning they failed and when it came to zero and they turned to Jesus so we've got nothing then the Lord did a miracle for them it's the same lesson with Lazarus with a fishing all night and catching nothing with a wedding oh let me give you another example in John's Gospel in John chapter 5 Jesus went to the Pool of Bethesda and it says in John 5 and verse 2 there was a pool of bethesda and verse 3 they lay bare a great multitude of people who are sick blind John 5:3 lame withered waiting for the moving of the waters now what what do you think a multitude refers to would that be ten people would he call ten people a multitude twenty perhaps lying around the pool I would say maybe two or three hundred that he would say is sort of a multitude to three hundred people lying there sick lame blind withered and the Lord comes there he who has power to heal all these sick there are other places when since jesus healed them all but he goes in here and he goes to one man and he's the other all the other three hundred by themselves one man verse five a certain man was there who had been there for 38 years Lane and Jesus went to him and said do you want to get well and said sir I've come to a zero point verse seven I've given out let me paraphrase his words I came here thirty-eight years ago and you know once a year an angel comes here and stirs the water and anybody jumps in first gets healed the others don't get healed so I sat very close to the pool and I thought I'd make it but somebody jumped in before me and I missed it I said I'm going to make it next year and next year I sat really close to the pool but sure enough just as the angel stir the water somebody else jumped in I missed it again and I tried again thirty or forty or fifty after a few years after about thirty-eight years of trying I just gave up and I moved away from the pool I'm sitting here in a corner I've given up I know there's no hope for me the Lord says you come there have you now you can be healed arise take up your bed and walk and Jesus doesn't heal anybody else what is the lesson there you know what that 38 years signifies have you ever thought of it 38 years I'll show you another place in the Bible where it speaks about 38 years turn with me to Deuteronomy and chapter 2 it's wonderful to compare Scripture with Scripture this is the Word of God nobody else could have written a book like this is the inspired Word of God and if I compare Scripture with Scripture and study I learned things from my own soul and here's what I learned from that 38 years that man lying there Moses is describing to the Israelites when they came to the borders of the promised land and after all that first generation had perished in the wilderness Moses tells them that many years ago your father's word perished in the wilderness came to this place called Kadesh Barnea it was two years after they left Egypt that they came there and the Lord said go and possess the land just two years they sent the spies the spies came back and seized a wonderful land but 10 of them said we can't possess it the Giants are too big only Joshua and Caleb sket said we can go in but all the 600,000 people sided with the other ten so we won't go in will die and God said you're turning away from what I'm telling you to do you will wander that two years were already over for the next 38 years this where the 38 years comes in you will wander in the wilderness till you come to a zero point so you come to an end of yourself then I'll bring you into the land before he says in Deuteronomy 2:14 the time that it took for us to come from Kadesh Barnea until now that we have crossed over the brook zeroD is 38 years and what happened in the 38 years all the strength strong men perished they had come to 0 then they could enter the land that's the significance of this man lying in 30th years indeed it's a picture of man under the law in Egypt is a picture of man in sin in the wilderness is a picture of man under the law never able to come into the life of victory sin shall not have dominion over you when you're under grace when you're under laws sin will have dominion over you that's Romans 6:14 so anybody who over whom sin has Dominion he's proves there by these under law you may not realize it he's under law what is being under law law is to struggle and struggle and struggle and try to please God that's what the Israelites did for 1500 years they never succeeded that's what it means to be under law human struggle crime keeping the commandments he'll be defeated sin will not rule over you when he's finished with being under the law and come under grace and that took 38 years and so here this man he had come to the end of himself and the Lord raises him up and says okay you can go in all these miracles I see a parable and that is you've got to come to the end of yourself before I can do anything for you if that takes time so be it you got to come to a zero point and that's what we see in the story of Lazarus as well so when it says God is working at you like we saw in Philippians in chapter two let's get back there see this is very relevant to the life we are living Lord I want to live a life without grumbling and complaining I want to live a life where I'm always giving thanks I want to live a life where I rejoice in the Lord always this was my prayer I really wanted it how to get there and here I saw God is to work in me and bring me to the place where I learned that light the branch in the tree I cannot produce anything if you go to a branch in an apple tree and say boy how do you produce these wonderful apples such sweet apples the branches I can't do a thing you cut me off from this tree I've been in the street for 50 years every year producing wonderful apples would you cut me off today that's the end I will not be able to produce one more Apple the production of the apples has got nothing to do with me the branch will say I recognize my helplessness I recognize that without the tree I can do nothing I learned that 50 years ago after 50 years this is still my testimony I can do nothing I'm just staying in the tree in a helpless dependence upon the tree the tree sends this happen that liquid SAP is a picture the Holy Spirit I just yield and the fruit is produced it was a great day in my life and I discovered that this is the way to produce fruit not by running around and trying to do this that and the other and saying I'm gonna do this I'm gonna do that it'll come to failure I'll be like those disciples who toiled all night and catching nothing but waiting on the Lord saying Lord I want to live in helpless dependence upon you and once you learn that my dear brothers and sisters you will discover not only in your life but even in your ministry that God is able to accomplish something wonderful and at the end of it you will not be proud because he brought you down to zero think of Peter for example what was the preparation for Peters tremendous success on the day of Pentecost he preached a sermon you read that sermon in Acts chapter 2 it only takes about ten minutes imagine if you brother or sister you preached a sermon for 10 minutes and the result was that 3,000 Jews not just ordinary people some of the most difficult people to be converted Jews 3000 Jews who were against Jesus got converted at the end of your 10 minute sermon and not only that got converted all 3,000 got baptized and not only that all 3,000 got filled with the Holy Spirit boy can you imagine what the size of your head will be when you see that happening through your ministry how is it Peters head didn't swell what do you think Peter would have said when some of the other apostles came and slapped him on the back and said wonderful Peter what a fantastic ministry you have you brought 3,000 people to Christ man you say you know what I did six weeks ago I denied the Lord three times cannot be me I am a total failure I discovered that I thought I was strong the Lord showed me that day when I denied him three times before a servant-girl that I was a nobody and I remain a nobody all my life this is God's work he could not be puffed up his head remained the same size and it remained the same size from the end of his life because God had done such a thorough work in him of breaking him I know God had to break me otherwise any success in my ministry would have ruined me long ago God has to break you my brothers and sisters that's the only way he can do his work through you and as long as you remain unbroken and you're trying to do this that and the other for the Lord and you think that years now I'll do this and now I understood the truth and now I'll go and I'll pray and I'll ask claim the fullness of Spirit I'm going to do and do this Jesus says Lazarus is not yet dead I gotta wait he'll wait in wait he won't come to you I'll tell you he won't come to you it may not be two or three days it may be two or three years it may be twenty years he says I'll wait that man at the Pool of Bethesda here to wait for 38 years but the point of it is when you come to the end of yourself whether it's in one night like Peter denying the Lord three times or thirty-eight years the point is when do you come to that zero point of absolute helpless dependence of the Lord that's the day the Lord will meet with you and so if you find that you've been praying and praying and praying for power and it's not yet happening just say to yourself I haven't come to that zero point yet I haven't come to that place of utter brokenness that's why the Lord is waiting he's not given up on me he's just waiting he's just waiting till all that confidence in myself is gone til I'm circumcised 360 degrees we have no confidence in the place out in the world they look for self confidence if they want to give you a job in the Christian Church is the exact opposite in the Lord's work it is you have to come to zero so that no flesh will glory before God that's why it says in 1 Corinthians in chapter one why does God choose not the great mighty clever billionaires in the world to be his servants see your calling brethren 1 Corinthians 1:26 there are not many wise people according to the flesh not many mighty not many noble is God against wise people and noble people and didn't Jesus die for them why doesn't he call them because it's very difficult for such people to be humble why did Jesus saying a rich person cannot enter the kingdom of God very difficult for a rich person to enter the kingdom not because it was wealth but because most people who make wealth are proud how smart they have been to make that wealth the wealth is not what's keeping them out of the kingdom is their confidence in their own ability is in their pride see what I've accomplished can't go to the eye of the needle how can you go through the eye of the needle when they're big as a camel see what I've accomplished but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise God has chosen those who are nothing verse 28 what is the purpose so that no man verse 29 will be able to boast before God I want to say to you my dear brothers and sisters that is the reason why God is waiting he sees in you a still he sees in you still a little tendency to boast if you accomplish something and God says I don't want you to I don't want to ruin you I don't want you to ruin yourself I have to wait some more I have to wait some more till you are absolutely sure that you are incapable of doing anything for the Lord that your words will accomplish nothing for the Lord that your ministry will accomplish nothing when you come to that place boy the Lord will immediately come and fill your net with this so that's the lesson I learned from all these examples God has to work in us and we got to work it out and we allow God to work in us our inner life will become exactly like our outer life and when we see the wonderful work God has done in our inside we will not take any credit for it we will not say well I managed to make my inner life pure no you can never make your inner life pure it's that helplessness to which God is trying to bring you in the world people try to raise themselves up and God seeks to bring people down right down right down to zero it's not only here in the Old Testament - at the age of fourteen Moses was a mighty man powerful in words mighty in strength we read with one blow he killed an Egyptian King right how strong he was with one hit he killed him and it says in Acts chapter seven Stephen says Moses was mighty in words and he says in acts 7 he taught the Israelites will recognize that God has sent him to deliver them plus his know Moses you're not ready you're too strong I have to wait for you to die and so he sends him to the wilderness and to Humble him this mighty Prince of Egypt you know how he humbles him he makes him live with his father-in-law for forty years if any of you had to live with your wife's father for even one year in the same house can be pretty humiliating I'll tell you God as amazing ways of humbling people 40 years the mighty Prince of Egypt helplessly dependent on his wife's father to take care of him he's come down at the age of 80 he came sole down to the bottom but when God says I'm you're ready to serve me now come it with Moses he says not me Lord I can't speak he can't speak he was a man powerful eloquent man at the age of 40 what happened to him what a work God did in him by making him realize he could not even speak this eloquent man and God says now you're ready now when you deliver the Israelites your head won't swell you'll realize that early I did it when he was 40 years old he could feel an Egyptian with one blow imagine if he had to kill all the Egyptians one by one how long it would have taken naught is I'll show you a better way just lift up your hands your rod and let the Red Sea cover all the Egyptians they'll die in a moment that's a quicker way than you go in killing them one by one he couldn't take any credit for that I want to say to you honestly from the depth of my heart if God is delaying and doing your work in you it's because he's afraid you take the credit for what he's done he has seen you take the credit in the past days for something that he accomplished and he says okay you haven't learned the lesson yet he'll take you through other situations and see whether you'll bow before him and say Lord that wasn't me he sees whether you'll repent of taking the credit for the successes you've had earthly successes in your work in your office in your business or spiritual successes or glorying in your any ability you have to serve God he says I can't use you a little thing buffs you up you hardly do anything for me and you your head swells I don't want to destroy you you're not ready you have to die and he waves let's get there quickly say Lord bring me down to that place where I know without you I can do nothing and when you get there God is done is working you he will fill you with the Holy Spirit's work out your salvation with fear and trembling fear and trembling means Lord I'm so scared I tell you I can know why Paul preached with fear and trembling I can say before God that almost every sermon I preached now you don't see it but I preached it fear and trembling before God what am I afraid of I'm not afraid of your opinion God's freed me from the opinion of men long ago but I'm afraid that I may speak what I want to say I'm afraid that I will speak what my clever mind says I should speak or I'm afraid that at the end of it I'll take some credit for it that's what I fear and tremble for there's never a time I get into the pulpit now without fear and trembling there's never a time I try to do anything for the Lord now without fear and trembling but it wasn't like that in the early days I was so confident I was an uncircumcised Christian but a lot of confidence in my ability and got it to bring me to such terrible failure that I came to the place where I almost gave up preaching that's when I was ready now I want to say to you that to encourage you God loves you my brothers and sisters God loves you immensely and he wants to do wonderful work through every single one of you that's why he called you that's why I saved you you're a member of the body of Christ there's a purpose don't don't live on earth thing in God there's no purpose for you there's a purpose which he brought you here allow God to do that work of breaking to make you small don't ever ever ever exalt yourself over any brother in your church take the low place pray that God will give you the grace to wash the feet of the disciples to all your life that's all you want that's my prayer no I want to spend my life watching the feet of the disciple that's all I don't want any position or honor or to be recognized or any such thing just seek to go down in a world where everybody is seeking to go up seek to go down like Jesus and you'll get that quickly and God will be able to accomplish this purpose through you as well before God in prayer it doesn't matter if you didn't understand these principles that I shared shared with you today it's not a matter of understanding it's a matter of hunger in your heart if you got a hunger in your heart even if you didn't understand a word of what I said you say Lord all this is too deep for me to understand I don't know what it means to come to an end of myself or to die to myself say Lord I don't know but I want you lord I want you more than anything else on this earth I have a passion that all of my life will belong to you that no part of my heart will be kept for myself every bit of it will be yours Lord I'm sorry for the times that I've glory in what I've accomplished I'm sorry Lord that I've taken credit where I shouldn't have taken credit forgive me help me to keep my face in the dust all the time but Lord fill me with the Holy Spirit at any cost fill me with your Holy Spirit I want to live this life Lord I want to be unseen unknown on this earth I want to die to myself I want to be dead to the world and it's praise and it's honor I don't want men to see me I want them to see Jesus and me it doesn't matter if they think less of me I want them to see Jesus in me and exalt Jesus Christ I don't want anybody think I'm a clever guy or a smart guy I want to go down I want Christ to be exalted in my life I mean it lord please meet with me I want it and if I have not come to that zero point yet bring me there quickly Lord I don't want to waste any more time on living my own life I want to live the way you want me to live yeah I believe God to do a quick work in you Heavenly Father as we bow before you today please help us to understand what you're seeking to do in each of us I don't believe any words of mine can ever make that clear but your Holy Spirit can take feeble words and bring it home to every heart so that you can accomplish your purpose in them Thank You father let your word bring forth fruit that will last in every life I pray in Jesus name Amen [Music]

Channel: River of Life Christian Fellowship

Views: 57,298

Rating: 4.8013902 out of 5

Keywords: inward, brokenness, outward, fruitfulness, balance, truth, zac, poonen, sermon, rlcf, family, conference, 2017, river, life, christian, fellowship, church, god, jesus

Id: sSmF-DiN3EI

Length: 66min 57sec (4017 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 07 2017