Narrow Gate, Narrow Path by Zac Poonen

to be righteous and it's very important to understand that then God doesn't look at us anymore as sinners but as righteous in Christ if we have come to him acknowledging that even our good deeds are like filthy rags and the only way we can come into God's presence is by being close to the righteousness of Christ but the Bible says that there is a narrow gate and a narrow way that leads to life turn with me to Matthew chapter 7 and verse 13 and 14 enter by the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction and many are those who enter by it but the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life and few are those who find it beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves so many Christians feel that there's only a gate that leads to life that means I got into the gate so I got into life that's not what Jesus said he said there's a way that leads to life so there it's not just entering through the gate but there's a way that is narrow that leads to life and he also said there are very few who find that way and I think they were very few find that way because most people are not interested in finding the way and it's in this connection that Jesus said in verse 15 beware of false prophets whenever you read a verse you must read it in the context of the previous verses to understand it if you take a verse by itself you may not understand it properly but if you understand it in the context of the previous verses so what's he saying there's a narrow gate and there's a narrow way that leads to life and beware of false prophets so what do you think these false prophets are saying is it possible that some false prophets are saying there's only a narrow gate that leads to life and knocking off something else that Jesus said there is a narrow way as well and I believe that a reason for so many backslidden Christians and the reason why so many Christians never seem to come to a happy victorious life the way God wants them to live is because false prophets have told you all you need to do is get in through the gate and you're okay so I have to check the words of these prophets with what Jesus said there is a gate and a way that leads to life and that is you come to the gate you have made righteous and then there is a part away for the righteous person to walk now how do I know whether I'm on that way or not let me show you an Old Testament verse in the book of Proverbs in chapter 4 in proverbs chapter 4 and verse 18 it tells us about this way that God has ordained for those who are being made righteous in Christ now we understand right at the beginning let me emphasize that we cannot go into God's presence with our own righteousness it's like filthy rags we need the righteousness of Christ but having been made righteous in Christ there is a way and look at it it says in proverbs 4:18 the way of the righteous is the light the light of dawn it's like sunrise now you know when the Sun rises that's just a moment of time you sometimes see in the newspaper Sun rises at certain such a time that's the maunder sunrise but then that's in a moment but then it says the Sun shines brighter and brighter and brighter and brighter until the noonday position that is the path of the righteous is like that that is the way that is a narrow way and the full day is when the Sun is overhead which is the day of Christ's return when we shall be like him completely now my question to you my brothers and sisters is not have you come into the gate my question is are you along this way let me repeat there is a gate and a way that leads to life and let's not change the words of Jesus and if you say there's only again you're cancelling out something that Jesus said and the devil you know Jesus said the Devils a liar and he's a thief he's a thief who's trying to steal something that God wants us to have I know that in my own life even though I accepted Christ more than fifty years ago because I had not seen this path clearly I used to be frequently discouraged and depressed and my life was not like the sun shining brighter and brighter and brighter I was not on the path of the righteous so if I'm not on the path of the righteous what part am i on the result was that I went through a period of backsliding and if I had continued like that even though I had accepted Christ once I would have gone to hell there are very few who find the way to life Jesus never came only to open a door for us he said I am the door we all know that no one can enter into life except through that door but do you know that jesus also said I'm the way I'm not only the door I'm the way there is a gate and a way that leads to life and that way of the righteous we saw in proverbs 4:18 is one where the light becomes brighter and brighter and brighter and along that way there is no backsliding there's no sliding back because the Sun never goes back in the sky not even for one second you don't see it moving but you know that it's slowly moving to that perfect position and it's very important for Christians to understand that when a person is backsliding he's not on the path of the righteous No the part of the righteous is like the shining light that shines brighter and brighter and brighter unto the perfect day we must believe God's Word and hold on to that now you know the great danger is that when we come into God's Word we can try to understand it with our human reason and our human reason is deceptive because the Bible says let me show you another verse in Isaiah chapter 55 I want to show you these scriptures so that your faith does not rest in what I say but on God's Word Isaiah 55 and verse 8 and 9 God says my thoughts are not your thoughts my ways are not your ways as the heaven is high above the earth so different are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts so in other words when you read the Word of God and you try to apply your way of thinking to it you're completely wrong because God says my way of thinking is not your way of thinking we not only need the righteousness of Christ get rid of our own righteousness we also need Christ's wisdom and get rid of our own way of thinking so let me show you when God says my ways are not your ways my thoughts are not your thoughts as the heaven is above the earth so different are my thoughts than your thoughts that means God's Way of thinking is not the way you and I think so that's why it's very important when we come to the Bible that we don't come to the scripture trying to understand it with our human understanding and that is the reason why we do not develop in the Christian life remember these words of Jesus in Matthew chapter 11 I want you to see the words of Jesus so that your faith rests upon scripture Matthew 11 and verse 25 jesus said I praise You Father Lord of Heaven and Earth that you have hidden these things from the clever and the intelligent and revealed them to babes can you think of any book in the whole world that only babes can read understand and clever people can't understand is there any book like that in the world what did Jesus mean that clever people can't understand something of God intelligent people can't understand now most of us are clever and intelligent so it says here God has hidden these things why is it God against clever people and intelligently not at all we got our cleverness and intelligence from God he only gave it how could he be against us he's not against us but the great danger I have seen of clever and intelligent people is that they are proud of their cleverness what did Jesus mean when he said it's so difficult for a rich person to enter into the kingdom of God and that richness can be not only money it can be being rich in our own cleverness and intelligence and education what's wrong in that it's not our wealth that prevents us from God's kingdom it's most rich people are proud is that pride that prevents them from getting into God's kingdom most clever people are proud they inwardly they look down a little bit on other people who are not so smart as they are and that pride makes them blind I don't know whether you realize this the pride it doesn't make us blind to earthly things you can be the very proud person and an excellent businessman you can be a very proud person and a first-class computer engineer or doctor lawyer attorney anything your pride in your cleverness will not hinder you in those professions but when you try to come to Scripture and you come with your cleverness and pride you'll be blind that's the meaning of God reveals it to babes and you remember Jesus picked up a baby once and said you got to humble yourself like this baby so he was emphasizing humility not that we have to become babies again but I could paraphrase these words like this father the great truths of eternity and of your word you have hidden from those who come to it with pride in their cleverness and intelligence and try to understand it like that but you reveal them to those who come with humility like a little baby and I believe that many many Christians do not understand God's ways because they don't come with that humility it's so important so here is a word that Jesus uses here which is never found in the Old Testament it's not explained now we think of explanation we think of a teacher who is explaining scripture to us but Jesus never used the word explanation you read through the Gospels he never used the word explanation he used the word revelation revelation is different from explanation you can have a good teacher who can explain mathematics chemistry physics but not someone who can explain the Bible when somebody explains the Bible to you he's speaking from his mind to your mind and you think you've understood something and a lot of people who understand the Bible so well in their mind still live in sin that's so clear the greatest example is the devil himself he knows the Bible better than any of us he's full of sin so it's not explanation many of us may have understood so many doctrines in the Bible but you're defeated by sin you know why because you haven't got revelation Jesus used the word reveal and I want to encourage you to seek God for revelation many Christians do not seek God for revelation they study the Bible in order to understand and explain just like they study some history book or chemistry book and it doesn't change their life let me show you an example in Ephesians chapter 1 it's very important to understand this because I believe this is the reason you know I have been so distressed when I have seen believers who haven't even heard my preaching on the internet Turin and the churches for so many years and they don't seem to grow and I know they've got it in their head they have not got revelation Ephesians chapter 1 Paul says I'm praying for you that the god of our this is Ephesians 1 verse 17 the god of our Lord Jesus Christ the father of glory may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him now we would say if you don't understand the passage read it 10 times read it again and again and you'll understand it Paul is saying you can read it a hundred times you won't understand it what you need is revelation and revelation comes through the Holy Spirit he says I pray that you will get a spirit of revelation and that doesn't come through cleverness it comes through humility in other words you will understand the Bible only if you are humble you remember when Jesus asked the disciples who do you say that I am Peter said you're the Christ the Son of the Living God now Peter was not an educated Bible scholar he was just a Fisher man there were many people in Israel who spent many years studying the Bible they were called the scribes the Pharisees they read and read and read and studied and studied and you know the entire Old Testament speaks about Jesus every book we read once that Jesus when he was walking to Emmaus he opened the entire Old Testament and showed those disciples how there was Christ in every book that's what he taught them on the way to Emmaus in Genesis he's the seed of the woman and in the offering of Isaac Abraham offering Isaac you see Christ in Exodus he's the Passover lamb it's all a picture of Christ or the sin offering in Leviticus and the brazen serpent lifted up in numbers and all the way to Malachi with his Sun of righteousness now that Pharisees and scribes read that read that read that and it's all referring to Jesus and when Jesus came into their synagogue you know what they called him Prince of devils they were so blind they read the scriptures but they did not have revelation but they could explain it now why do I say that is it possible that we today who read the New Testament could also be spiritually blind to things that the Lord wants to show us because we have emphasised understanding with our mind instead of Revelation in the heart understanding is a thing of the mind revelation is a matter of the heart and that's what Paul is saying he's not saying read my letter 10 times he's I'm praying that you will get revelation from the Holy Spirit and when you get that you will know him in a way that will never come through explanation I thank God when such a time took place in my life I remember when the Lord baptized me in the Holy Spirit and I wasn't sure whether was it a real experience or was it just emotion you know because I've seen a lot of people who claim to be baptized in holy spirit and solely emotion so I said how will I know whether this is real or just an emotional thing so for me anyway this is the test I applied to myself I said Lord if this is really what I experienced was a real fullness of the Holy Spirit then this book that the Holy Spirit has written called the New Testament when I read it it will be completely new to me compared to all the previous years when I was born again for so many years and not really filled with the Holy Spirit it going to be completely new then I'll know it's really from the Holy Spirit but if I read the Bible and it's just like it was before then maybe I just had an emotional experience and so I decided from the very next day onwards to start with Matthew chapter 1 and say Lord now I had already read the Bible and studied in my head for so many years I said now lord give me revelation and that's when the Bible became a new book for me that's when the reality of the spirit filled life became real in my life then I began to experience the things written in Scripture and not just read about them let me give you an example in the Bible it says in the New Testament I'm talking about the New Testament the word revelation is a New Testament word it's not in the Old Testament in Philippians chapter 4 here are a couple of things it says in Philippians 4 Philippians 4:4 it says rejoice in the Lord always now I can read that I can understand it I can talk about it and yet it always means 24/7 that means seven days a week 24 hours a day and yet in my daily life I'm not rejoicing always I haven't got revelation but I've understood it maybe I've memorized it yeah I know Philippians 4:4 rejoice in the Lord always maybe I've got hanging in a wall and my house rejoice in the Lord always but it's not true in my life I'm grumbling and complaining sometimes well then I have to say I've understood it in my head but I've got no revelation the Holy Spirit's not made it real in my life and that's exactly I want to say to you my dear brothers and sisters the devil wants you to be happy with an intellectual understanding of the Bible and thereby you think you know more than others because you've got some doctrine which you think others don't have but what about the reality so to face that reality the first step is to acknowledge that I don't have it if I pretend that I have it I'll never get it I have to first say Lord I don't have it and that's what I had to say to the Lord sixteen years after I was born again after I was baptized and I knew a lot of the Bible I read this verse now I was filled with the Holy Spirit and I read it rejoice in the Lord always and I said father that's not true in my life I can rejoice sometimes sometimes some day is a little better than others but it's certainly not true always is it possible and the devil was quick to say no not possible and that's probably what the devil is telling some of you right now this is not possible so then you have two statements the Word of God you see you believe this is the Word of God telling you to rejoice always and the devil saying is not possible and you make a choice in your life either to believe what God says or what the devil says and unconsciously I don't believe it's conscious I believe you all love Jesus Christ I believe you know that your sins are forgiven I believe that but unconsciously you're choosing what the devil says this life is impossible and because you believe what the devil says it is impossible for you that's the reason why it's impossible because in your heart you say it's not possible I've never seen anybody like that that's exactly what I said I said lord I don't see people around me like that I see the preacher is also grumbling and getting angry and upset not so I suppose it doesn't work but you know there's a great verse that helped me and I want to give it to you Romans chapter 3 when I come to such questions Romans in chapter 3 and verse 4 please remember this all your life Romans 3:4 says in the middle of that verse let God be true even though everyone is a liar can you remember that verse let what God said be true even if everyone around me is a liar I said Lord I'm going to take what you say and not the experiences of people around me so I pursued this path I said lord I will not give up till you bring me into a life where I actually rejoice 24/7 when nothing that happens is going to take away my joy nothing I may take some time to get there but I'm going to get there and godless God will really lead you there if you are serious about it for example one of the things which comes earlier in Philippians 2:14 was do all things without grumbling or disputing no grumbling no complaining in my life that's what the Word of God says it should be my life everything and yet when I looked into my life I found even though I was a born-again Christian and even a lot of other people around me who claim to be filled with the spirit and speak in tongues and all that I would find them grumbling about something I'd find them complaining about something I said well they don't seem to have come to this life there must be something wrong here so I said well I'm not going to make any believer my standard let God be true everybody a liar even though they claim to be spiritual or pastor or preacher or prophet or anything if they grumble and complain they're liars God is true I've got to live a life without grumbling or complaining and I saw in the previous verses how it's going to take place Philippians 2 verse 12 and 13 says the last part of verse 12 work out your salvation with fear and trembling because God is at work in you to will and to work his good pleasure that is an amazing worse verse God is at work inside me to make me do his will to love his will and to do it now that was never possible under the Old Testament and then it says do all things without grumbling and disputing so if you don't believe verse 13 that God can do something inside you you will never experience verse 14 if you're trying to do it yourself you'll never get there when you try to do it yourself like life under the law life under the law was a struggle God gave him so many Commandments and the Israelites tried for 1,500 years to keep it and keep it and keep it and they could never keep it because by human effort they couldn't keep it and that is the main lesson God wanted to teach those Israelites you can try all your life you will not be able to come up to my standards do you know that that was the main lesson that Jesus wanted to teach his disciples if you were to ask me what is the number one lesson that God that Jesus wanted to teach his disciples in three-and-a-half years it was not doctrines about the Trinity and about justification and holiness and all that he wanted to teach them one thing in three-and-a-half years that without me you can do nothing John 15 verse 5 you can try as much as you like you'll get nothing and that's what you see even in the last miracle that Jesus did in the sea here in the Sea of Galilee where after his resurrection we read in John 21 the disciples went fishing and they never caught anything and Jesus comes in the morning and asked them do you get any fish now Jesus was risen from the dead he saw them going for fishing it may be six o'clock in the evening why did he wait till five o'clock the next morning to come when he knew they're not going to catch any fish why didn't he go at six o'clock in the evening when they went fishing to tell them hey fellas you're not going to catch anything let me fill your boat with fish and come home no he allowed them to go out at sea for ten eleven hours struggling struggling struggling struggling struggling getting nothing then he came and said okay have you got anything with all your ten eleven hours of struggle no Lord now I'll give it to you cast your net on the right side what is he trying to teach them you can think you fellows are expert fisherman and you go out and try to catch fish you'll get nothing without me you can do nothing but with me you can do it all so there are like two sides of a coin John 15:5 is one side without me you can do nothing and the other side is Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me if you can keep these two things mind you found the secret without Christ I can do nothing and with Christ I can obey every command he has given me I can do all things Paul found that secret I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me and that's the lesson of that fishing expedition where they failed completely so that's Philippians 2 what we just read God is at work in you now God is at work outside us and is it work inside us now whenever it says God is at work outside us that's speaking about the Ministry of the Father making all things work together for our good but whenever the Bible speaks about God's working inside us that's the Ministry of the Holy Spirit because it's the Holy Spirit who's inside us and what is the Holy Spirit working inside us it says in Philippians 2:13 - will God's pleasure and to do God's pleasure that means first of all he creates in me a desire to do the will of God and the will of God is next verse to do everything in my life without grumbling and complaining now I'm just saying you could take some little verses like this and say Lord that's not true in my life but I want it to be true so often we read the scriptures I'm sure you're read through Philippians - what did you do when you came to verse 14 you probably read it many times but you read it and you go on that's exactly what the devil wants you to do you read it and go on you don't stop and look at that mirror say Lord is that true in my life and you'll see in the mirror of God's Word it's not true you say you have so many experiences you've been a believer for 20-30 years but grumbling and complaining you have missed out on something God wants you to experience before you leave this earth your missed out on the real spirit filled life the Holy Spirit working inside us to make us desire and do God's will so when God puts a desire and I hope he'll put a desire in your heart this evening as you hear God's Word because that'll be the first step is like a little seed and don't start with everything start with one small thing like when you go to school and you find somebody goes to school and find so many subjects okay start with one little subject start with Lord I'm doing us so many things in my life I find I grumble and I complain and the Bible says I must do all things without grumbling and complaining and murmuring and never man water what what your home will be like can you imagine what your home will be like if husband and wife never complained or grumble about anything boy it'll be a little bit like heaven it really will be my when I got married my home is not like that but I can tell you today it is a little bit like that it's a little taste of heaven because we decided we are going to take some of these scriptures seriously which we have just ignored for so many years God gives you a command and you ignore it what an insult it is to God and when you acknowledge Lord it's not true in my life what shall I do about it you read verse 13 God is at work in you God will do that but we have to thirst for it there's an Old Testament verse in Jeremiah 29 which often comes to me in this connection in Jeremiah 29 it says in verse 13 Jeremiah 29:13 you will seek me let's say you're seeking God for one thing God I'm seeking you my father for a life completely free from murmuring grumbling where I will rejoice 24 hours a day good the Lord says you will seek me for that and you will find me what a promise you will find it you'll find this life provided you search for me with all your heart when it becomes the most important thing in your life you'll find it but if it is not the most important thing in your life if making a little more money or doing a second job in order to make some more money or building a house is the most important thing or something else is more important I might as well tell you right now don't waste your time you won't find it somebody else will find it and if he found it it's because he made that the most important thing in life and you say well you mean I'm not supposed to do any other thing no you can do everything else in life but this must be priority you know how we can do so many other work and our mind can be on something that's important I'll give you an example supposing your child is seriously sick in hospital and needs to be in hospital for say 10 weeks you're not going to shut down your home and neglect all your other children and stop going to work for 10 weeks no you will do all your work because you got to cook food at home for the other children and the husband has to go to work during those 10 weeks but all the time father or mother their mind will be on that child in the hospital while they're doing other things even if they wake up in the middle of the night their mind will be my child is in the hospital I wonder how that child is doing you see how you can do so many earthly jobs and your mind is taken up with something very important in your life my child is in the hospital while you are cooking the food while you're doing your work doing anything and it's in the same way it is possible why we are doing so many other things in our life for our mind to be say Lord I want to enter into this New Testament type of life a life filled with the Holy Spirit I'm free from murmuring and complaining where I rejoice always see once we experience that let me show you in other words these are just two or three verses I'm taking I mean there's so many verses in the New Testament here's another one Philippians 4 and 6 I'm just trying to show you how carelessly we take scripture Philippians 4:6 says be anxious for nothing now immediately the devil will say that's not possible in this world that is impossible now we can have a concern for many things but to be anxious means to be in a panic about something to be disturbed I can't sleep at night because anxious it's more than being concerned I think a father and mother will have a concern for their children but to be anxious is a little more serious than that and since we Bank just for nothing but in everything for example right now think for example all of you who are sitting here right now is there something that's really disturbing you something in your home something in your life maybe a sickness maybe a problem that you don't seem to be able to deal with and it's really making you anxious maybe something with your children it's making you anxious and you're it makes you sometimes seriously anxious at night or so many times in a day and here's a word which says be anxious for nothing nothing means nothing what should i do then just forget about it no he said you got to do something about it that matter which is bothering you in everything which is making you anxious Philippians 4:6 take it to God in prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving and tell God about it Lord this is my supplication means a specific request let your requests be made known to God Lord this is the thing that's bothering me I want you to solve it for me I can't handle it myself I can't solve it but I want you to please solve it for me you know this is how the children of God are supposed to live and the peace of God here is a promise the peace of God which is beyond all understanding will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus I want to say if you think things are pretty bad in the world today things are pretty bad in this country let me tell you it's going to be worse in another year or another couple of years and if you can't handle what you're facing today what are you going to do in a year or two now is the time to take these verses and say Lord I want to come into the good of this type of life the Christian where the Christian is supposed to live where there's no backsliding in my life like the son getting brighter and brighter I don't suddenly shoot up in one day become like Christ no it's a slow progress it's so slow that you can't even see the Sun moving and there will be that slow progress which you're not able to observe but boy you find at the end of another year of a year that something's happened I found that true in my life it didn't happen overnight but I determined to pursue this way I'd already got in through the gate but I discovered there's a way and there plenty of false prophets in the world like it says in that verse who hide from me the fact that I need to walk this way who keep on saying the gate the gate the gate have you gotten through the gate that's it brother no there's a way that leads to life so to allow God to make me see things the way he sees them we may think these things are not important let me show you what the New Covenant is about I want to show you maybe you've heard this before but if not if it is and you haven't heard it let me repeat it I want to show you two chapters one chapter which basically symbolizes Old Covenant and another chapter which basically shows New Covenant and you'll see the contrast you know where the Old Covenant is the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20 you have the Ten Commandments and the Ten Commandments are you shall do this and you shall not do this and you shall not do this and you shall not do this but you shall do this and you shall do this and you shall not do this I'm just reading Exodus 20 verse 3 verse 4 verse 7 and verse 8 and verse 12 and verse 13 and 14 and 15 and 16 and 17 those are the Ten Commandments what are the Ten Commandments you shall you shall you shall not you shall not we shall not you shall you shall honor your father and mother you shall keep the Sabbath day holy and you shall not murder you shall not this is the Ten Commandments you shall do this and you shall not do this and you shall not do this now a lot of Christians when they hear the preaching in the pulpit today in this New Testament age hear it in the same way you shall not do this you shall not murmur you shall not complain it's in the New Testament but the spirit in which they hear it is Old Covenant and they try they see ok from tomorrow onwards I'm not going to grumble or complain and they fall and they try all night and discover they haven't caught any fish and we need to go through that till we learn that we cannot do it on our own that takes time with some people but once we have learned that lesson we enter into another level of life where the Lord fills our broth with fish true it's not just a picture it's really true now let me show you the New Covenant you saw what the Old Covenant was full of you shall you shall not I'm trying to explain the spirit of it and if you understand the spirit of it you got to see that you should not bring that spirit when you read the New Testament Commandments now let me turn you to the New Testament new covenant chapter which is Hebrews chapter 8 this is the opposite of Exodus 20 in Hebrews chapter 8 we read God says verse 7 the first covenant was faulty there's something wrong with it that's why there was a need for a second governor why does god did God make a faulty covenant God didn't make a faulty covenant it was faulty because it could not bring man to the life God wanted him to have then why did God give it because God had to teach man you cannot make it on your own just like Jesus had to teach those disciples you try fishing try fishing all night you will not get it it takes a long time for us to understand that why did God make Abraham the great father of faith wait for 25 years before he got an Isaac as a son because he hadn't come to the place where it is impossible for me to have a son in the early stages of Abraham's life when God said you got to have a son I'm going to give you a son he said well Sarah can't have a son but I'm pretty strong still and I can have a son and he did have a son at the age of 86 and the name of that son was Ishmael and he says boy I've made it and when he lifted up his mail to God and said God here's the son God said I can't accept that that's the product of your own strength and I don't know whether you have noticed this verse it's very interesting to see some of these interesting verses let me show you one of these interesting verses in the Oh Testament Genesis chapter 16 and verse 16 Genesis 16 verse 16 Abraham was 86 years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to him how old was he eighty-six what's the next verse very next verse Abraham was 99 years old what happened during those 13 years and if you read the rest of the chapter you find when he was 99 years old Sarah became pregnant and when he was a hundred he got a child so what was God waiting for 13 years there's nothing mentioned there it's a big gap 13 years of nothing you know what God was waiting God was waiting for Abraham to become important at 86 he could say well Sarah can't have a child but I can still have a child God says really okay then I'll wait till even you can't have a child so he keeps waiting waiting waiting just like Jesus waited for the disciples all night to struggle struggle struggle struggle struggle fight and color finally I think they went maybe they went fishing at 6 o'clock they were said by the time is 12 o'clock it's difficult tonight but by the time we came to 5 o'clock in the morning they said impossible then they got it so God waits till we come to a zero point for the disciples that zero point came at five o'clock in the morning then Jesus came immediately for Abraham it came when he was 99 years old and God appeared immediately and gave him a son Isaac and when that zero point comes in your life you'll find that the Spirit of God comes and does a miracle in your life - it's exactly I found that in my life God is waiting for me to come to that place where I say not just with my mind from the depth of my heart Lord Jesus without you I can do nothing and with you I can do everything that you're commanded in Scripture now I know theoretically you all know it you know those verses you can quote them by heart but you haven't got revelation when revelation hits your heart it'll change your life not explanation what you're getting right now is an explanation I often tell people in my church listen brothers and sisters you can trust me I will not deceive you I'm a servant of God I've studied the Bible for 50 years I will not deceive you I will tell you the truth I'll show you scripture for everything I say but after you have heard it from me you got it in your mind you need to take that before God this is exactly what I tell them you'll never get any benefit from it you take that before God and say Lord I got this from brother Zack this morning I trust him he's an honest man is the truth and I've got it from him but I got it secondhand now I want you to convert this to firsthand in my life where it becomes real in my life make it revelation then things will change so come back to Hebrews 8 Hebrews 8 he found fault with that first covenant saying now I'm going worse 8 I'm going to make a new covenant Hebrews chapter 8 and verse 8 and this will not be like the Covenant which was made with the father's and now I want you to see the terms of the new covenant do you remember the Old Covenant you shall you shall not you shall you shall you shall you shall not you shall not you shall not you shall not and nobody could keep it Hebrews chapter 8 this is the covenant verse 10 to 12 just three verses here in three verses the entire New Covenant is explained and that is notice one thing is no you shall you shall not you shall you shall not is not founder at all instead what you find in these three verses is God saying I will I will I will verse then I will I will I will verse 12 I will I will they shall know me you see the difference it took me many years to see that that it was God working in me by which I could come into this life and when it says in verse 10 I will put my law into their mind I will write them upon their hearts I will be their God let's just let's take those two statements what does it mean when it says God says you it's not you you have come to the place where you discover that you can't do it if you come to that place God says now okay then now I will do it I will put my law into your mind which means I will give you a passionate desire to do my will in everything I'll show you in your mind that my plan for your life is the best possible life you can ever live and you'll have a passionate desire to do that plan to fulfill that plan of God at any cost and then I will put that write it in your heart which means I will give you the ability to do my will as well we need two things desire and ability God works in us we read in Philippians 2 to will that is desire and to do that is ability desire alone is not enough but ability and I will give you the desire means I'll put my law into your mind and I'll write it in your heart means I'll give you the strength to do it this is the real Christian life it's a life of rest in God not a life of struggle struggle struggle it's a life of rest in God you know the Bible says there's a Sabbath rest God has designed for his people are you eager to enter into that rest in Hebrews chapter three in chapter four it says so many believers who came out of Egypt never entered that rest they lived that life of struggle in the wilderness they never entered into the rest these things are written for our instruction so what I wanted to do today was just put a little challenge into your heart to show you my brother sister there is a life that God wants you to live on this earth which is way beyond what you're experiencing right now don't miss out on it read God's Word and let God change your way of thinking that's one of the prayers I pray for myself you know when it says in Romans 12:2 that God will renew my mind renew my mind means he will change this Adamic way of thinking to God's way of thinking and it makes a tremendous difference tremendous difference in many areas we may be looking at things just like Adam and the children of Adam look at them and that's why there's so much panic and that's why there's so much anxiety that's why there's so much murmuring that's why you look at the life of the average believer and the average unbeliever there's not much difference I've seen that see for example in some very difficult situation what does the atheist do atheist he gets into a panic how shall I saw this what is the average believer do when he faces a similar situation he also get into gets into a panic what shall I do this practically there's not much difference in the atheists in the believer but in the atheist watches television on Sunday morning the believers singing praises to God on Sunday morning but in that daily life is just about the same you go to the Atheist home and husband and wife are murmuring and grumbling you go to the believers home husband every murmuring there - what is the difference in daily life there's nothing somebody asked me once brother Zack why did you start a new church what is the difference between your chair already hundreds of churches why do you start a new one I said I believe that I didn't start a church I believe God did it but I say the asking then what's the difference between your church and other churches okay I said I'll tell you first of all I want to say our church is not better than other churches that's not for me to decide God is the one who decides which is a good church and a bad church and I will never pass an opinion on that secondly I will not say there are no hypocrites in our church there are hypocrites in our church also like in every Church in the world there are hypocrites and whether you know it or not there are hypocrites in this church also because even Jesus church had some people has a head of hypocrite and your church is not better than Jesus Church of twelve I have never seen a church in the world without hypocrites the percentage may be different then what is the difference I said here is the difference for most churches Sunday is the important day you know where they come to sing and praise and worship God and listen to the message in our church the important days Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday and Friday and Saturday and Sunday afternoon after you go home from the service in other words what I'm trying to say is for us the important thing is not how good was the singing on Sunday morning he doesn't bother me one bit if the music was bad the singing was out of tune and even the sermon was bit boring doesn't matter did you live a godly life on Monday did you live christ-like in your office Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday when everybody else had road rage in this roads were you free from it Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday brother he doesn't matter one bit if the musicians were not singing properly or the sermon was boring that is the difference in other words for us it's not how well the Sunday morning service went you know how some people say boy wasn't that a lovely time of singing we had what's that a rock concert or was it a worship of God in a rock concert they'll say wow that was wonderful we had a good time of singing we Saviour worshipping God and we're not thinking whether he had a good time up there listening to us we had a good time it's all emotion it's a deception I'm telling you the truth you may not hear it from anybody else I might as well tell you and boy that was a lovely sermon if he didn't change your life on Monday and Tuesday if it didn't change the way you behave on the roads when you drive the car that was a useless sermon it stirred your emotions it informed your intellect but it didn't change your life that's what I mean in the New Covenant it is a change life and that's why the Holy Spirit has come he's come to change us from one degree of glory to another and he'll do it if you search for him with all your heart I tell you brothers and sisters I'm not a Salesman trying to sell something I'm trying to challenge God's people not to let the devil rob them of the inheritance with Jesus purchased at such tremendous price on the cross

Channel: SermonIndex.net

Views: 14,620

Rating: 4.9183674 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

Id: _NIJWmmQHPk

Length: 58min 47sec (3527 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 11 2017