Love Is The Greatest by Zac Poonen

I have been thinking of God's people missing their birthright missing their inheritance losing a large portion of what Christ purchased for us on the cross forgiveness of sins is only like cleaning the cup or cleaning the pipe the channel I mean we clean a cup at home for a purpose to fill it with something useful we clear out a channel or a pipe so that the water can flow so any Christian who is satisfied with back my sins have been forgiven that's great and that's all there is we can say the devil has robbed him of his inheritance in Christ and some of them not some of them but many of them many Christians will discover it only when they stand before Christ the whole purpose of prophetic preaching in the church is to throw light on the schemes of Satan on the ways in which he seeks to deceive God's people Rob God's people jesus said the thief comes to steal to kill and to destroy he wants to rob us of our inheritance because when we arrived a by inheritance we don't don't have the power that God wants us to have then he can kill us easily and take away our weapons take away our power he can destroy our lives and when I see the very low standard and state of affairs among so many Christians and the this even in our churches so many families have not come into the glory of New Covenant life for peace and love joy it really I'll tell you it makes me angry of the devil and say Lord I want to serve you more wholeheartedly I hope it makes you angry to the devil don't waste your time getting angry at human beings that'll accomplish nothing except serve the devil's purposes if you want to get angry and all of us got a lot of anger pent up in our hearts turn it all against the devil let loose at him with all the bullets you have of anger I don't want to waste any bullet on a human being of anger I'm angry of the devil because he's robbed God's people he's robbed my brothers and sisters he's made their lives miserable he's made this world which God created such a terrible place he's fooled people with false religions he's full Christians with a false Jesus he's deceived Christians into thinking something is the Holy Spirit which is not the Holy Spirit at all which doesn't make anybody holy I'm amazed that so many people swallow all this and so I'm concerned that we should not only mean but if you hear the truth you should lovingly share this with others who are blinded if you can't share it in love don't share it if you're gonna share the truth of God in a critical judgmental way or in a way to make people condemned saying why aren't you doing this or why aren't you that's not the way then it's better to keep quiet god never scolds anyone god never tells anybody why aren't you doing this why aren't you doing that preachers say that God never and it's because so many preachers don't know God that they speak like that I know in the days when I knew God so little I spoke like that too I I'm not here to throw stones at any preacher I have sinned in that area myself and so I don't have any I'm not qualified jesus said only a one without us without sin can throw a stone and I can't but I have learned a lesson and I can share with other people I don't do that you know you don't have to do the stupid things I did in my younger days god never scolds anyone and as a father we must correct our children but not scold them there's so much of deception in the world today so much of missing out on what God has offered for us in Christ so much of living under the Old Covenant the Old Covenant was given by God only temporarily to show man that you can't make it to show you your sin and to show man that no matter how hard you try you can't make it I hope all of us have learned that lesson no matter how hard you try you can't come up to God's standard you cannot you may think on the out on the outside you may do a lot of things that appear as spiritual but God is interested in the inside David said in Psalm 51 Lord you desire truth in the innermost being that's where he wants truth and he couldn't get it from anybody in the Old Covenant and he never expected it because he gave the law only to show man and 1500 years he kept Israel under the law you know the sad thing is even today 2,000 years later Christians have still not learned that lesson you can't make it you'll never come up to God's standard no matter how hard you try and that's why you need to first of all find deliverance and freedom from the guilt of the past by receiving Christ as your Savior and accepting his righteousness a lot of Christians know about forgiveness they don't know about justification they don't know that the only way I can stand before God even if I'm forgiven it's and I'm still not good enough so what it might past is forgiven what about all the corruption in your nature and mind today how can I stand before God with all that corruption even if every sin I committed in the past is forgiven that's why I need to be justified justified means Christ clothes me in his righteousness puts his righteousness to my account and God God looks at me he doesn't see all the filth aren't you happy aren't you happy that doesn't see all the corruption he sees me in Christ I rejoice in that and I want you to rejoice in it but more than that I don't have to live with this righteousness clothing me and inwardly forever be corrupt the other part of the good news is that God sends his Holy Spirit within - while clothed in the righteousness Christ while accepted by God inwardly a tremendous transformation is taking place or should take place at the Holy Spirit and this is where Satan has robbed so many of God's people let me turn in Romans chapter eight that says Romans chapter eight it says here in verse three what the law could not do that is what the whole Old Covenant could not do that means what nobody before Jesus came could experience we could put it like that what Moses could not experience what John the Baptist could not experience who was the greatest person gone up to Jesus what nobody in the entire human race up to the time of Jesus could experience what the law could not do God did that's what he did when he sent Jesus in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin and condemned sin in the flesh why why did he do all that why did God condemned sin in the flesh of Jesus when he hung on the cross all sin was condemned there in the flesh of Jesus when he says the second Corinthians 5:21 God made him to be sin on the cross who knew no sin so that so that we might become the righteousness of God in him not some rotten righteousness that I have accomplished by discipline and yoga and controlling myself Paul says I don't want the righteousness of the law I don't want it it's rags I throw it away I want this glorious garment of the righteousness of Christ and so that verse for the requirement of the law might be fulfilled inside us now what is God's ultimate purpose listen here is God's ultimate purpose for you that that holy requirement he had even in Old Covenant times for man which could not be fulfilled through the law what the law could not do can now be fulfilled not on the outside no not that which gives you a good testimony before men but that it can be fulfilled inside you inside whom inside us who no longer walk according to the flesh it doesn't work inside everybody we know that but it will be accomplished in every Christian who chooses who makes a choice to walk according to the spirit and not according to the flesh in other words who is decided I'm going to walk I'm gonna live my life according to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and not according to the promptings of my fleshly nature all of us know we hear those promptings pretty regularly in our life the promptings of the Holy Spirit and the promptings of the fleshly nature and if there's a cry in your heart and say Lord I want to live all my life according to the promptings of the Holy Spirit you know what had happened romans 8:4 never forget this verse if you live according to the promptings of the Holy Spirit not according to the promptings of the flesh God's holy requirement will be fulfilled inside you the Holy Spirit will work it in you he will write he would put his law into your mind and write it into your heart that's wonderful what is that holy requirement of the law let me turn now we're going step by step like doing an arithmetic problem we understood what God's goal is this righteous requirement of the law must be fulfilled inside me if I live by the promptings of the Holy Spirit you know the Bible is really very simple so many preachers have made it a very complicated thing one of the charges God has given me in my ministry is to remove the veil from the scriptures that's over so many people the devils put a veil on people and on top of the whale the devil has put so many preachers that put another rail on top of it making it even difficult people to understand as Jesus said that the Bible can be understood by babes he spoke in a way that little children can understand if we read it simply and if he meditate on it if you take a little time to think about it Matthew chapter 22 you know Jesus was asked once this same question verse 36 Matthew 22 verse 36 somebody came to him and said teacher which is the great commandment of the law and different people have different understandings even today there are some people who call themselves Christians who say the great commandment is the fourth commandment that is you must keep the Sabbath and that lady was the leader of that group said that I think she had a vision or something where she saw the ten commandments of the light shining on the fourth one and I think the Jews expected some answer like that you know the Jesus just says Sabbath or something I had but he didn't say that in fact he didn't mention any of the ten commandments but he said two things which summed up the whole ten commandments he said I'll tell you the great commandment in the law is not one but two two sides of a coin and I have to show you both sides first you shall love the Lord your God listen carefully this is the righteous requirement of the law which God wants to fulfill inside us if it's not fulfilled inside you the devil has robbed you he's deceived you the Holy Spirit is not working in you as he wants to if this is not being accomplished more and more it's not a question of evangelism it's not a question of preaching or even attending meetings lots of people who attend meetings are just religious people here is the righteous requirement of the law which God longs to be fulfilled inside every one of us you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart if I love God with all my heart how much place is there in my heart to love my wife my children my house my job my bank account my money my property my reputation anything there is no place left in my heart for these other things how is it then you love those other things I'll tell you because though you have given some place to God in your heart the righteous requirement of the law to love God with all your heart has not been fulfilled you know that is the meaning of being pure in heart the only man who is pure in heart is the man who loves God with all his heart pure in heart is different from having a clean conscience a clean conscience means you've confessed every sin that you know and you cleanse you say Lord I'm sorry you confessed to God you confess to man but there are a lot of people who have a clean conscience who don't have a pure heart you know that you can confess every sin and yet you may love something other than God well you say brothers aren't you supposed to love your wife sure and I'll tell you something I've learned through 38 years of marriage that I can love my wife far better and far more if I love God with all my heart if I try to love my wife the way all this cinemas teach in the way romantic novels teach I'd have been proud having problems with her even today I'd have been fighting and quarreling even today occasionally like all these people who follow the cinemas do but when you love God with all your heart and he fills your heart with love you love your wife in such a way that you'll never raise her voice raise your voice against her you'll never have a bitterness or a grudge or a complaint against her any day 365 days of the year that's the righteous requirement of the law it comes through not loving your wife but by loving God with all your heart you see this I'll give you an example if let me take an example if I am the right hand and my wife is the left hand how does my right hand love the left hand it's not by always hanging on together I don't have time to always be with my wife I have to serve the Lord and I have got many places and she's not with me my this right hand loves my left hand through the head that's how it loves this right hand knows this left hand is part of the same body and it gets hurt even if a mosquito bites this one does something about it why because it's connected to the head and through the head loves so if this right right hand is completely submissive to the head it doesn't have to love the left hand it'll automatically love the left hand much better than if you just connect these two hands together by some type of wire or I tell you you love your wife much better if you love Jesus is all your heart if you don't believe it try try it from today and tell me a year later it doesn't work it will you love your children better you won't scold them so much but you'll correct them you'll help them you'll encourage them because you love God with all your heart you love the brothers and sisters in the church some of them who are difficult does God love that is difficult children oh yes he does otherwise where would we be who are you thinking of somebody else I'm thinking of myself I hope you're thinking of your stuff and not thinking of so yeah I know that brother over there for that sister over there you see how our mind is God loves his difficult children he loves us and even he fills when we love him with all our hearts we love everyone I'll tell you that I've discovered that more and more and more the older I get and the more I see not because it's written in 1 Corinthians 13 because I've experienced it love is the greatest not even faith today we have a preaching that tells you faith is the greatest every almost every Christian television preachers telling you about faith faith yeah faith is there hope is there one day Christ will come and love but love is the greatest I have no doubt in my mind about it you can have faith for many things and go to hell you know that you can receive many things from God no Christian ever received as much as those Israelites received for 40 years in the wilderness have you ever received bread dropping from heaven into your house even one day of your life well I imagine if that happened one day it went out Jesus sent bread for you it'll stink in one day by the way if you keep it for yourself you got to share it with others but the point is that the Israelites received that for 40 years God was not happy with them they went to hell they had supernatural healing miracles water coming out of a rock all types of things they went to hell you can have faith and you can have miracles and go to hell but they'll never be a person in hell who love God with all his heart and who loved others as himself that'll be impossible so jesus said the greatest commandment is love God with all your heart and with all your soul my mind is a part of my soul in my personality and if my mind also I want to love God that's why you know when I see something on television which my mind says the Lord won't love that I I want to turn it off I want to turn away and if I'm sitting in somebody's house they're watching it well I want to go to the bathroom or something like that and excuse myself and say sorry or it's time for me to leave that's the best thing I'm not interested because I've got only I've got a mind which for so many years in my foolishness I corrupted with sin at least the years that are left to me I want to give it to God I want to use this mind to understand the scriptures and I've tried to use my mind to understand the scriptures for 45 years so that I could use my mind to bless other people to clear out the cobwebs in people's minds about what God is lying about the New Covenant about Jesus while the glory of Jesus why don't you use your mind for that instead of watching filthy movies instead of corrupting it with useless stuff that you read I'll tell you honestly my testimony I'm not trying to be humble I have studied this book Bible for 45 years I still feel I know so little one of the things I recently got I don't usually buy things for myself but I got something recently which has helped me somebody gave it to me something which I could wear I can put a headphone on and keep on listening to the Bible wherever I go so sometimes I have to make long journeys a couple of days ago I had to make a long doing a half our road journey from where I was to the airport and I finished the Gospel of Matthew and boy did I get revelation for the first time for the first time I got to revelation on certain things this is after reading it for 45 years you're missing something love God with all your mind okay I'll give you one of those revelations thank God right in the first chapter of Matthew you know it's something that blessed my heart and I say Lord I want to try and practice this more and more you know in Matthew chapter 1 it says about Joseph discovering that Mary had a child but he didn't know it was by the Holy Spirit he thought she had been unfaithful and become pregnant and so Joseph it says in verse 19 was a righteous man and didn't want to disgrace her I want to tell you what I've said many times before the mark of a righteous man the first mark of a righteous man mentioned in the New Testament is that he does not want to disgrace other people he does not want to expose the sins of other people he wants to cover the sins of other people if you're like that you're a righteous man if you want to go around exposing the sins of your wife your husband other people in the church you are a thoroughly unrighteous person he was a righteous medicine he was under the Old Covenant but he still had grace or he still had an understanding of God to not disgrace her but to send her away secretly so let me just hide the whole thing let her get married to somebody else I won't tell anything about the stories I know about her how happy Joseph must have been that he did that because later on when he discovered the truth how terrible he would have felt if he had gone around telling stories about my Mary before that have you ever felt terrible about telling some story about somebody and later on discovering it was all true how much better it would have been if you just kept quiet at least learn a lesson for the future but you know the I mean I had already seen that before but what struck me was this other part in the New Living Translation it says while he was thinking about this he went to sleep and God spoke to him in a dream and I thought Lord before I go to sleep let me also be thinking about how to do good to somebody what a what a way to go to sleep you may God may speak to you in a dream if you go to sleep like that so many people before they go to bed they're thinking about how they're gonna fight with someone are they gonna answer someone who's gonna argue with them and how they're gonna teach that other fellow a lesson and how they're gonna make a little more money here listen okay even if you spend your whole day doing that just before you go to sleep think about how can I do something good to someone while he was thinking about these things he went to sleep and God spoke to him that I discovered out of 45 years of reading the Bible and just just to show you a taste to encourage you to study the Scriptures there's a lot in here you don't need great knowledge of anything you just need to read carefully and stop and think you know but there's so much in it to love God with all our heart with all our mind is what God wants to accomplish in us and it also says in Matthew 22 in that passage that Jesus this is you should love God with all your heart with all your soul and with all your mind this is the first commandment and the second is like that you must love your neighbor as yourself whatever you don't want other people to do to you don't do to other people whatever you want other people to do to you do to other people so when Jesus said it's the golden rule in Luke chapter 7 treat others the way you want to be treated whenever you're thinking of treating someone in a certain way think yourself would you like to be treated like that when you attempted to yell at the maidservant in your home before doing that just stop a moment at least from now onwards and ask yourself would you want your boss to yell at you like that correct you yes I certainly want I'm working in an office I'd like my boss to correct me if I'm doing something wrong but I don't want to be yell at me as I'm as if I'm a good for nothing useless person treat other people the way you want God to treat you see these are laws in Scripture honor your father and mother and it'll go well with you and we should be a testimony to that at the end of our life my father and mother lived to a ripe old age one was eighty and one was ninety before they passed away but I can honestly say before God I honored them I didn't always agree with them after I left my their home I did as the Lord led me but I honored them till the end of their lives and I want to say it today to you it's gone well with me it has we had a young maid servant who worked in our home for many years and God's my witness that I always tried to treat her the way I wanted God to treat me sure did good as far as possible even after she got married because that's the way I wanted to God to treat me and I want to testify today God's been very good to me I have treated God's children tried my best to help them in many ways God's dealt very well with my own children it's a law treat others the way you want to be treated by God the way you want to be treated it's a simple law do you know how much you miss in the life do you know why there are so many problems in your life because you treat other people so badly I mean it's the most foolish thing to do don't you want it to go well in your life I want it to go well with my life I wanted to go well with my children there's so many wonderful promises in the New Testament that we can claim if you love your neighbor as yourself I tell you it's the best thing for you it's the best thing for for your children and grandchildren the seed of the righteous person is blessed if you want it to go well with your children and their children be a righteous person and God's given me so many promises let me just show you some of the promises God's given me concerning my own children which I've just claimed you know I I mean you can claim it - it's in Scripture this Bible is not written just for me it's for you but we don't we miss something when we don't claim it here is a verse that God gave my wife and me before even I mean right before we had any children it says here in Isaiah Isaiah 54 and verse 13 all your sons will be taught of the Lord as the meaning in the margin says we'll be disciples of the Lord and the well-being of your sons will be great are yours before we had any sons I long before we had any sons days before that the Lord gave that to my wife separately unto me and he said Lord we just claim it in the message Bible it says all your children will have God for that teacher what a mentor for your children then there was another one and that's in Isaiah 59 now I'm just saying this so that these checks are in your name as well take it to the bank of heaven and cash it Isaiah 59 and verse 21 as for me this is my covenant with them my spirit that I have placed upon you and the words that I've given you to speak they are not going to leave your mouth nor the mouth of your children nor the mouth of your grandchildren you will keep repeating these words and it will never start did he go on from generation to generation boy I tell you with all my heart I don't mind if all my children are poor God is my witness he the Spirit of God will be upon them and they will speak God's Word they will be the richest people in the world that's what I wish for my children grandchildren I don't desire anything else because I've known from my own life that money is not everything sure makes no difference to me whether I have much or little I'm just as happy I'm just as happy when I had little as I am today in other words Isaiah 61 and verse 9 I'm reading in the message translation Isaiah 61 and verse 9 in the middle of that verse it says your descendants will become well known all over your children in foreign countries will be recognized at once as the people whom I have blessed it's amazing how specific God's promises can be you can go to God and say Lord I just go to the Lord and say Lord I don't want just my life to be blessed I want rivers of living water to flow out from me first of all in my own home my children grandchildren to my people in my home Church and then to other churches I can't do it God told Abraham I will bless you I will make you a blessing then you'll be a blessing to others I no matter how hard I try I can't be a blessing to anybody I can't even be a blessing to my children but if I open myself up to God and say Lord I give you my word I want to treat other people the way I want you to treat me will you make a covenant with God today if not for any other reason at least for the selfish reason that you want your children and grandchildren to be blessed I mean that's not the best reason the best reason is that you want to glorify God but if you can't do it for any other reason do it because you want it to go well with you and you want to go it to go well with your family treat other people at least from today the way you want God to treat you let God do right that law into your heart that every time you speak to people and every time you have to deal with people you're gonna say I want to in your heart I want to treat you the way God treats me God's been tremendously good I want to be exceptionally good to you I don't want to be miserly and tight-fisted towards you I want to be large hearted if God's been large hearted towards me jesus told His disciples once why should you freely give to others because you have freely received freely you have received he said in mark Matthew chapter 10 freely give the tragedy with so many Christians is they will acknowledge they have received freely what they don't deserve but they don't give they become tight fisted to keep things to themselves and it stagnates have you seen a lake where the water comes in rain falls falls falls falls falls falls and there's no outlet for that lake and you can't drink the water of that lake it's weeds and rubbish and because it's just receiving receiving receiving receiving receiving and next year it will be receiving and receiving and receiving and it'll be filthy and filthy you won't even want to go a swim in that lake there's some Christians like that they receive see see you see they never give anything to anyone they stink and then there are others have you seen a river how is it people can even drink from a river because when you stand in front of a flowing river every second every second the water in front of you is fresh its new its wasn't the water that was there five seconds ago that's gone it's gone it got something and it passed it on it's got something from the snow in the mountains there why I got so much let me pass it on to others and think of the millions of people who get blessed through River love your neighbor as yourself simple devotion to Christ is what leads us into this type of love we read in 2nd Corinthians in chapter 11 2nd Corinthians chapter 11 what is what is Paul is concerned for his flock in Corinth he says I'm jealous for you 2nd Corinthians 11 verse 2 because I promised your hand in marriage to Christ I betrothed you to Christ and I want to present you one day as a pure virgin to her husband Paul was a man who took his ministry seriously he knew that he had to present every one of those people as a pure virgin to Christ and he was so concerned that they were not pure they were fooling around with the world and he says I'm afraid that like the serpent deceived Eve by his cleverness your mind will be led astray you'll be lured away from simple pure devotion to Christ when do you go astray then you have lost your simple pure devotion to Christ oh you don't have to do serious things when you have lost that fervent love for Jesus you've already gone astray my brother you didn't know that you didn't know you had fallen the Lord told that leader the elder of the church in Ephesus in Revelation 2 for you've left your first love you had it once but she just left it and remember from where you have fallen is that a fall it's what he says there in revelation 2:5 remember from where you have fallen to lose your first love to leave your first love for Christ is the greatest fall you can have so bad that the Lord says I'll take over the anointing from you if you don't repent many of us may repent when we lost our temper lusted with our eyes hurt somebody with words did something but when was the last time you repented because you say Lord Jesus I've lost my love for you have you ever wept on your pillow at night and said Lord I've stopped loving you like I did before I've done it I do it often I said to me that's the most important thing I don't care for preaching I'll tell you honestly God's my witness I don't care for preaching that's just an overflow of my love for Christ it's love for Jesus that burns in my heart that's what that's how I was when the Lord saved me 47 years ago and that's where I want to be till today I want to evaluate my life not by ministry not by books or tapes or CDs or outreach the Lord told me years ago don't ever evaluate your life by the success in your ministry evaluate your life by your love for me and I've kept that before me you know it's possible to have a very successful ministry and to have a great outreach and to lose your love for Jesus you read that in Revelation chapter two that leader in Ephesus the church in Ephesus at a wide ministry boy they were reaching people you read in Acts chapter 19 they were reaching all over that area but they'd lost their love for Christ little later what's the use of all that outreach and I say Lord I don't care for outreach I want to love you if there is any outreach it must be just an overflow of my love for you that was denying it in my head with oil my cup runs over but that comes out of my following the Lord is my shepherd so keep that in mind we go astray when simple devotion to Jesus is done that that's gone he gone on to something else something good but it's not simple devotion to Christ does that happen to you the reason why you can't love other people it's because you don't love Jesus with all your heart the reason why we love money it's because we don't love Jesus with all our heart the reason why the world looks so attractive because we don't love Jesus with all our heart the reason why television programs are more interesting than the Bible you want to know but you don't love Jesus with all your heart I tell you honestly every thing change the whole focus changes when you see the glory of Jesus you start loving him with all your heart you see Lord that's where one love you and when we love him like that love will come in our hearts for unlovely people you know the Lord said in Matthew chapter 5 how we were to love and that's been a challenge to me I mean the way we are even supposed to love unbelievers jesus said in verse 43 Matthew 5:43 you have heard that it was said you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy but I say to you love your enemies and I love the message translation here I'm telling you to love your enemies let your enemies bring out the best in you not the worst let your enemies bring out the best in you not the worst and someone gives you a hard time respond with the energies of Prayer for him but then you are working out of your true selves your God created self this is what God does he gives his best the Sun to warm the rain to nourish he gives his best to everyone regardless whether they are good or bad nice or nasty if all you do is love those who love you what reward can you have for that anybody can do that if you simply say hello to those who greet you do you expect a medal for that any run-of-the-mill sinner can do that but what I'm saying is grow up grow up your subjects of the kingdom of God now live like that I like that you know I was thinking the other day how good god is he allows terrorists to live a long life you and I wouldn't do that would we when terrorists get married they get children we would make their wives barren I know a lot of things I would do if I were in God's place which God doesn't do I thank God I'm not in his place but it's taught me something of the goodness of God amazing I mean you can't tolerate some little problem with some brother in the church boy imagine loving a terrorist I say Lord I want to love like you love I really want I know that everything else is Hollow love is the currency of heaven you better exchange your earthly currency for that before you you know migrate and go there if you do please have the currency of heaven the church is supposed to be a little pocket you know like of heaven on earth it's like if you go to Delhi you'll see a building called the Embassy of the United States of America and people who live there belong to the United States they live according to the laws of the United States but it's a little representation of the United States in a country like India so what's our church supposed to be an embassy of the kingdom of God here in Bangalore I hope you're behaving like that and not behaving like all the other people in Bangalore the Embassy of the kingdom of God the Bible says that second Corinthians 5:20 we are ambassadors the thing is in that embassy there's only one ambassador we got 200 ambassadors here let us know you is just putting a bad and saying ambassador you've got to live like one an ambassador of Jesus Christ a representative of Jesus Christ to love people and that can only come if we love God with all our heart and that love for Jesus I was thinking about that you know there are two ways in which I have discovered that my love for Jesus can increase in all these years of my life there are two things I meditate on very frequently only two really one is how much he loved me it says in 1 John chapter 4 and verse 19 we love him because he first loved us on John 4 verse 19 and it says here we love not just love him which means we love other people not because they love us though the verse in the world is we love other people because they love us the verse in the Bible is we love other people because God loved us you see the difference we love because he loved us you asked me why do i why do you love me brother thank because God loved me it's not because you're such a great guy but it's because God loved me that's all you may not be a great guy you may have harmed me in some way you may have spoken against me it doesn't make a difference I love you because God loves me is there nothing to do with how you treat me this is got nothing to do with how you speak about me behind my back God loves me I love because He first loved me you stick to that and you'll be a Christian you changed that verse to we love you because you love me you out in the world again then you're not an ambassador for Christ no we love because He first loved us and so the first thing I need to meditate on is which I've done through all these more than 45 years is how much Jesus loved I've meditated meditated meditated on the cross how much he huh I mean not just in the early days it was just the physical suffering that I understood on the cross but as I meditated meditate meditate try to understand how much he loved me the Lord opened my eyes to see more and more that his physical was not enough you know I was thinking if some non-christian asks me someone who studied the Bible mr. Putin what is the punishment for your sin and I say my punishment no supposing he asked me what did how do you how was your sin forgiven I say Christ died for me on the cross so he died for you on the cross physically what is the punishment for your sin this physical death the punishment for your sin I see no I have to be separated and forsaken by God for eternity and he says really then did Jesus suffer that on the cross our only physical death then my eyes were opened to see that the cup with Jesus prayed and gets M&E Lord Father please take this away from me that cup was not physical death physical death is part of the punishment for sin but it's not all Adam died the moment he ate that tree not physically he didn't physically died 930 years later but spiritually he was cut off from God immediately in the day you eat you'll die and he died that's the punishment Jesus bore on the cross he made him to be sin when Jesus hung on the cross and three hours he cried my God my God why have you forsaken me it's the only time in his life he called his father God he never called his father God in all eternity all the days of his life but once for me he hung on the cross as my substitute bearing my punishment paying my debt paying a debt that I could never pay and he paid it and because he was an eternal being unlike me who's a finite being in three hours he faced the concentrated punishment of what all human beings would suffer in hell for eternity you know concentrated not just me suffering in hell for eternity but all human beings suffering in hell for eternity take all of that punishment and concentrated put on Jesus and three hours on the cross I tell you that really opened my eyes then I understood his struggle in Gethsemane when he said father take this cup away from me I don't want to break my fellowship with you I don't mind physical death I'll go through that a thousand times but my fellowship with you which you and I have had for eternity you may not want to lose that it's like somebody wrenching off your head the Bible says the head of Christ was his father 1 Corinthians 11 we to have your head wrenched off Father I don't want that see we don't understand that physical suffering means so much to us we weep when we see movies like The Passion of Christ or some other film about Jesus because we live so much in the physical world physical suffering is the biggest thing for us physical sickness is what we want healing from more than from sin the physical world means so much to us that's why the physical suffering of Jesus we think so much off what about this fellowship with the father fellowship with the father means so little to most believers because they can break fellowship so easily and forget about it for days on end Jesus wouldn't want it even fellowship to be broken him for a second think of a husband and wife who have a quarrel and don't talk to each other for two days two days no fellowship with the father they may pray religious people pray all religions pray they may pray but there is no fellowship with the father if your fellowship with your wife is broken Bible says that 1 Peter 3:7 your father will not hear you your prayers will be hindered but they can carry on okay let her humble herself and come and ask my forgiveness I'm the head of this home fellowship with God means nothing to 99 percent of believers no wonder they cannot understand in a million years they won't understand what Jesus suffered on the cross but then fellowship in the father becomes more precious to you than physical health I tell you I want to be in that place where fellowship with my heavenly father means much more to me than even physical health then we will understand a little bit of what Jesus suffered on the cross that's when I began to understand it when the spirit meant more to me than physical suffering when break of fellowship with the father was painful then God opened my eyes to see what Jesus went through on the cross see you can hear me I see oh that was a great revelation I thought people say to me this after a meeting where I shared British a guy never thought of that you know they've got something now to talk to other people about or preach to somebody else they're not they're still living in the mind it's a new thought an exciting thought it wasn't a thought for Jesus wasn't a thought for me it was something painful he went through and when fellowship with the father means so much to you that you'll never allow even one moment of anything to break that fellowship if you hurt somebody you go and ask forgiveness immediately whether your wife or anybody because you want your fellowship with the father when it means like that to you you will really value what Jesus suffered on the cross when I saw that I said Lord I see now in the Garden of Gethsemane imagine a conversation like this is the father saying okay you don't have to drink the cup you can come up to heaven because you haven't sinned but all those people will die I thought of myself the father telling Jesus that Jack Coonan will go to hell the Lord thought of that okay then I'll go to the cross for his sake what am I going to give and return to Jesus for that go to a few meetings give out a few tracks give a little money in the box shame on me I say Lord all of my life is yours I don't want anything for myself on this earth I want everything for you all I have is yours it'll never be mine live for you die for you yeah that's what increased my love for the Lord it's preserved it through all these years the second thing which increased my love for the Lord is the knowledge of how much I've been forgiven Jesus said in that story of a man was forgiven 500 another person was forgiven 50 but who was who will who will love more the one who's forgiven more and Jesus said in Luke chapter 7 the one who is forgiven much loves much verse 47 but the one who is forgiven little loves little anybody here was been forgiven little nobody I've been forgiven much I'm amazed that the Apostle Paul who lived according to the righteousness of the law blameless all his life never commit adultery never committed murder never bore false witness honored his father and mother did all that according to the righteousness of the law blameless says about himself I am the chief of sinners how can a man who live such an upright life consider himself as chief of sinners we think chief of sinners is some murder adulterer debauchery whose molested so many women and done all that you think no no no no no the one who says that is the man who lived one of the most upright lives injured in Judaism he's got nothing to do with all these external sins it's a got to do with how much you see the holiness of God and how much you see you have violated that holiness in your thoughts in your heart and all sides I've seen it there are times in my life I say before God I've seen and said Lord I am the greatest sinner on the face of the earth it's a question of how close you are to God you are not close to God you'll think a lot of other people are rotten sinners the devil thinks so maybe you think so too because the closer you are to the devil the more you accuse other people and think they are horrible but the closer you get to God the more you feel how terrible like the public and Lord be merciful to me the sinner and I think of how much he forgave me all the wretched sins of my life he forgave me forgave me forgave me he who is forgiven much loves much don't ever say the Lord forgave you much if you can't love much don't ever say the Lord loves you you can't love him ask the Holy Spirit to fill you to show you the glory of Jesus and to love others as he loved us let's pray Heavenly Father help us not to forget what we have heard but the seed which is the Holy Spirit as song will be watered bring forth fruit I want to encourage you brothers and sisters water the seed let it bring forth fruit for eternity in all of your lives in Jesus name

Channel: SermonIndex.net

Views: 16,340

Rating: 4.7945204 out of 5

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

Id: SVQ9EDkBypw

Length: 59min 26sec (3566 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 05 2016