New Covenant: Doctrine or Life? by Zac Poonen

so we call ourselves a New Covenant Christian Church and I think in all these five years there's a lot that you have heard about the New Covenant both in maybe videos that you're watched at home on the internet and also messages that you heard from different ones of shared here through the years so we considered some of the marks of spiritual growth which is the spirit of thankfulness humility deeper fellowship among ourselves what is what are some of the dangers as we seek to pursue this life I think one of the dangers which I have seen because we've been planning churches for 40 years I've seen one of the dangers is particularly for clever intelligent people which most of you are oh it's not all of you is the danger of thinking that because we understand the doctrine and we can explain it clearly and that we are better than other churches that don't understand the doctrine or they don't preach it that can be a tremendous deception the Bible says in John chapter 1 in verse 4 that in Christ was life and that life was the light of men Jesus told us would be to be the light of the world what does that mean in the Old Covenant here we read of the light as the life of Jesus is very clear in him was life and that life was the light of men so that's why he said I am the light of the world in John chapter 18 verse 12 I am the light of the world but he also said in John chapter 9 verse 5 that I am the light of the world only as long as I am in the world once I leave the world I mean it's very clear as long as I am in the world I am the light of the world we know that he's not in the world now he said in John 17 father I'm coming to you and one longer in the world then he gave that responsibility to us he said in Matthew 5:16 sorry Matthew 5:14 you are the light of the world he looked at his disciples and said you're the light of the world so if somebody were to ask you who was the light of the world today say we we as a church you see not Jesus Jesus said he was the light of the world as long as he was in the world we I believe his word in John 9 verse 5 and then he turned around to us and said you're the light of the world now that's an awesome responsibility and that's why we don't like to say it we don't like to say we're the light of the world because we look at the way we're living then some of us may be pretty ashamed by the way we live let's see how can I say we are the light of the world that's what should bring us down on our faces and say why are we living like that why are we living in a world why are we living in a way that we're not the light of the world something's seriously wrong okay if you're newly born again for a couple of years that's okay it's like little children take about two years to get steady on their feet and we read in the Old Testament that when God brought the Israelites out of Egypt it took two years for them to come to the borders of Canaan you read that in Deuteronomy 2:14 then up to two years they came to the borders of Canaan and God told him to go in and they didn't go in so they wandered for another 38 years so what I see from that is Canaan is a life of victory and triumph picture of it and God expected them to come to that in two years so I see that as God's plan that if you're born again if you're really sincerely born again in two years you should come to life a victory if you haven't I think part of the reason is there's not been a proper repentance that means we are born facing sin with God and a back repentance means a 180-degree turn where God is in front of us and sin in the world are behind us now with many many Christians that is not true sin and the world are not behind them and that's because they heard an improper gospel a gospel that emphasized faith believe believe just confess your sin and believe and did not emphasize the most important thing repentance so without repenting or repenting 90 degrees instead of 180 degrees one eye on the world one eye on God they try to believe and confess their sin and imagine I'm okay you're not okay the message that John the Baptist brought as a forerunner to Christ is the message that is the forerunner of the gospel the gospel is salvation through Christ but there's a message that prepares the way for the gospel that's the message on the Baptist but repentance that is a turning around so just like God sent John the Baptist and he said I've come here to raise the valleys and bring down the mountains and make the crooked places straight and to remove the rough places and make them smoothies of four different pictures he used about repentance bringing down all the high thoughts and lifting up all the depressed valleys and making the crooked things in our life straight and making the rough places smooth you read that in Luke chapter three he [Music] spiriting repentance and that was the preparation for faith Paul said in acts 20 I preached repentance and faith everywhere I go so that is the reason why and if that's been true in your case you can see perhaps that is the main reason why people have not grown spiritually or not coming to a life of victory in two years or can be here for five years and still be defeated even though you have heard and heard and heard and heard and still you're yelling at each other at home and still lusting and pursuing out for money and things like that and you could you got all the right theory but the light which is the life of Jesus is now shining and that's okay but the sad thing is it's not bringing us down on our faces in weeping and saying Lord why isn't that happening I've been here so long and why isn't that happening in our life we're not disturbed by it that's the serious thing I've often told people that the fact that you sin is not as serious as the fact that you don't weep after yourself that's more serious that shows a lack of sensitivity it's like you know we give a little injury on our hand we immediately react to it and we want to do something about it if you get a cut you don't just leave it but if you have leprosy you wouldn't even feel that because left lepers don't have sensation so when I sin and it doesn't make me weak it's an indication of our conscience having lost its sensitivity so serious condition that spiritual leprosy I know a lot of people who come to our Church in Bangalore and have said to me out for a few years their brother sang I don't really believe I was saved till I came here I said why he said I thought I was born again and saw the church I attended but I was so defeated by seen and I realized that I never knew what repentance was till I came here I never got a clear understanding of what sin was until I came here so until you understand what sin is how can you repent from it if you never if you know where South is then you can turn around from South and face north well if you don't know where the South is then how do you turn around and face north so if you don't know what sin is you can't repent so you don't know what darkness is you don't know what the light is and that belief I believe is where the devil has blinded so many people concerning what is darkness the darkness in our life is basically due to our self-centeredness that our life is centered around myself we grow up like that the entire world lives a self-centered life whether they are politicians or businessmen or academics or mega church pastors very often it's self projecting themselves and if my life is self centered I'm really following the way that Adam went even if I've added a little religion to it because you know the way Jesus is being preached by many preachers today is he will bless you well who in the world doesn't want to be blessed it's not a single human being in the world who doesn't want to be blessed come and Jesus will bless you and he'll forgive all your sins he will take you to heaven and he will even bless you materially and you make you healthy well every human being in the world wants to be healthy every human being in the world wants to be wealthy every human being in the world wants to be blessed and every human being in the world wants to go to heaven so the entire world should respond to such a gospel and most people do but jesus said the way the life is narrow and very few find it so that must be another gospel altogether and that's the deception that's going on in Christendom today so that's the thing we step to stand against and proclaim as error by the light of our lives in the Old Covenant if you read psalm 119 we read there some 119 and verse 105 saw 119 verse 105 Lord your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path you see there in the Old Testament the light was the written word the law and the messages of the prophets thy word is my light what is the light in the New Covenant the life of Jesus in him was life and the life was the light of men so in what way was Israel supposed to be a light in the Old Covenant by going by keeping the law and keeping everything written in the word as long as they kept those Commandments God was happy with them you are my witnesses but in the New Covenant it's not by keeping certain commandments that we manifest the light so remember this very clearly in your mind in the Old Covenant the world was alight the New Covenant is the life of Jesus that is the light and I believe these two are symbolized in the two trees in the Garden of Eden there was a tree of knowledge of good and evil and there's a tree of life to me in one sense that is a picture of Old Covenant and New Covenant because knowledge of good and evil is not wrong in itself don't be one our children to know what is good and what is evil to do evil is wrong but to know what is good and evil why did God tell Adam if you eat or that you will die why does the knowledge of good and evil bring death you need to understand that you see you could have spent five years here recognizing more and more what is good and what is evil it's evil to shout at my wife it's good to speak kindly to her knowledge you couldn't even many many things and through the years the more you hear the more you hear you understand what is good and evil and you may be sitting around the tree of knowledge you couldn't evil the whole time because this book can be the tree of knowledge of good and evil to you all the tree of life it all depends on how you approach it I show you that from the New Testament this is the big difference between the Pharisees and Jesus the Pharisees knew the scriptures Jesus knew the scriptures the Pharisees pray Jesus prayed the Pharisees fasted Jesus fasted you know the Pharisees even did evangelism they crossed land and sea to make proselytes we read in Matthew 23 Jesus did evangelism traveling around the Pharisees gave their money to God and Jesus gave also so what was the difference there's a lot of similarity and yet one was all religious the other was spiritual living under the Old Covenant makes a man religious living under the New Covenant makes a person spiritual there's a world of difference between the two and it's very very easy to sit in a New Covenant Church and to take the letter of the law and just be a Pharisee to say thank you that I'm not like other men thank you that we're not like other churches and yeah the Pharisees had a pretty good life Jesus himself gave a certificate to the Pharisees do you know that he gave two certificates to the Pharisees good certificates but they weren't all evil now a lot of things wrong with the Pharisees there are two good things he said in Matthew 23 one is Matthew 23 and verse 25 he said you clean the outside of the cup he's not a good testimony that our external life is clean isn't it good not to be a drunkard or a gambler or sexual molester or you know very gracious and good externally you keep your external life clean the Pharisees were like that Jesus gave that certificate Jesus gives you a certificate that your external life is clean as grain as one more certificate he gave to them and that was in verse 2 and 3 he told his disciples everything that the Pharisees sit in the seat of Moses they are the people who proclaim the law everything they tell you to do do he's not a good certificate Jesus wouldn't say everything that the java's witnesses tell you to do or everything the Roman Catholics tell you to do do about whom would Jesus say every single thing that they tell you to do do I would say in a New Covenant Church everything they tell you to do do whatever they teach from the pulpit is absolutely spot-on right and yet they were Pharisees is that possible so what are the two things Pharisees had which are good absolutely right doctrine and a very good external life do you have absolutely right doctrine and a good external life you could be a Pharisee Jesus also had absolutely right doctrine and a good external life but he had something more had an inner life that was pure he had a private life where nobody could see that was pure and full of love that is what makes the difference so all of us sitting here we may have the right doctrine and a good external life everybody sees it and that Myers you think you're a wonderful Christian because they can only see your external life you know all of us we know I mean apart from members of your own family all the others you meet here you actually know only about less than 10% of their life 90% of the life you never see even a wife does not see that major area of her husband's thought life she sees zero in there he maybe they've been married 50 years he could be absolutely impure there and his wife may be thinking she's such he's such a pure man because externally is pure that is the great area of deception and that's a great danger that new covenant churches can face and the only way we can overcome that if I is if you refuse to live before the face of man and say Lord it's only your opinion about me that matters I refuse to live before my wife or my husband or what they think of me it's good it's good to have a good testimony before men let your light shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father in heaven so I'm not devaluing a good external testimony it's very very important I mean if your life is bad before men itself then it's hopeless at least we should come that that is a minimum standard that our light shines before they are see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven what I'm saying is that's not enough Jesus wasn't living before men he lived before his father in Isaiah 53 the well-known chapter about Jesus and his crucifixion and is death on the cross we read these words at the beginning Isaiah 53 I don't know whether you noticed it sometime the little phrase you can miss what is the first thing mentioned in Isaiah 53 it's not about the cross it's not about is bearing our sins and carrying our griefs and being afflicted by God and Smit and all that comes later the first thing mentioned about Jesus in Isaiah 53 verse 2 is he grew up before his father like a tender shoot like a root out of parched ground and before men rest so that verse says he has no form or majesty and nor appearance that people should be attracted to him and he was despised and rejected verse 3 I'm talking but he grew up before his father this is where we had to follow Jesus so the tree of knowledge of good and evil is something that tells us what's right and wrong and I external life he can set it right according to that and yet not enjoy eternal life which is the nature of God within us the person was partaking more and more of eternal life which is the life of God we'll find that his inner life becomes Fuehrer and purest not just as external testimony before men that is New Covenant Christianity that's what Jesus said is the new wine the old wine is what the Pharisees had a good external testimony what a pretty corrupt inner life and I fear I fear that many who understand New Covenant truths could be living like that now we don't want to get a rude shock when Christ comes again and discover that you were no better than somebody sitting in an Old Covenant Church except that y'all external life was better or your knowledge and understanding of good and evil was better that's the great danger so we read in John chapter 5 about this difference in you know Jesus spoke to the Pharisees and he says in John 5 and verse 39 you search the Scriptures well that's a very good thing we do it to a lot of people today don't search the Scriptures I'm sorry to say we have a generation of Christians growing up today who know more about television than God's Word a lot of Christians they consider themselves Christian I don't know how they call since as Christians if they spend more more time before television than the Word of God what's our Christianity is that I can't imagine Jesus living on earth even if you're living today watching television Hall and reading God's Word on knowing God's Word there's something fundamentally wrong with that type of Christianity where they can spend hours watching sport in just a few minutes can God's work and you could be a new covenant Christian with that attitude means that this is a ritual I have to go through because I'm a Christian I have to sort of go through the ritual of reading the Bible every day but my real interest is not sin not sinful things but a lot of other things you know the Bible says all things are profitable all things are lawful but not all things are profitable and the difference between a carnal soulish Christian and a spiritual Christian is this both may stick to doing only lawful things but the spiritual man is from the hundred lawful things that he can do he selects ten profitable things and does that and there are very few Christians who can do that type of selection of the way they use their time or spend their money or the way they live their life and if God sees that I ease my conscience by saying I'm not doing anything unlawful well you keep a good testimony and you may get to heaven I hope so but you can get there with a lot of regret about the way you lived on earth I don't know whether you're familiar with the twist if you're not let me show it to you 1 Corinthians 6 in verse 12 all things are lawful for me he didn't mean by that sinful things Paul had already come to give up sin he was saying among the things that I've given up sinful things but among all the other things in that I can do now which are not sinful they're all lawful but among them maybe only 10% is profitable and I select what is profitable and spend my life doing that yeah I have a little time for other things but those are that's not those another main things in my life and so all things are lawful for me but I won't be mastered by anything he refused to be mastered by anything on this earth you shall know the truth and the truth will set you free if there's anything on earth that masters me I'm a slave to that it may not be a sinful thing maybe a good thing maybe eating may be a sport may be my profession may be a job and then masters me it small it's the most important thing for me in my life I want to say to you my dear brother sister you're not a new covenant Christian at all you're an Old Covenant Christian with a little bit of New Covenant whitewash which fools people but you know in your life what masters you a new covenant Christian is one was mastered by God the law Jesus explained the law once when people asked him he said it just love God with all your heart soul and strength in mind that the Pharisees missed you so coming back to John 5 I was pointing out that verse he was speaking to the Pharisees and he said to them in Matthew 5 as John 5:39 you search the Scriptures which is a very good thing but your mistake is you think that eternal life is there that eternal life is in these pages in ink this is only paper and ink there's no eternal life in paper and ink it can give you knowledge it can give you information correct knowledge correct information it's like reading a good chemistry book you know get correct information on chemistry so you can get correct information about God and about Jesus by reading the Scriptures you but you think eternal life is there it's not there that was the mistake of the Pharisees they thought eternal life is in a book you read it you know the scriptures you know the verses you know all the teachings of the New Covenant and I've already done like no it is these that bear witness of me Jesus said so the Scriptures bear witness of Jesus and if we don't see Jesus in the scriptures then we missed it completely and he says you you're unwilling to come to me that you may have this eternal life so you see the contrast there between the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil we I let me read you like this you go to the verse 39 you search the tree of knowledge of good and evil because you think eternal life is there but it's not there but you won't come to the Tree of Life that you may have eternal life so I believe that is one of the dangers we face was that being satisfied with our external testimony being satisfied that our knowledge of doctrine is all accurate very accurate that we can explain that New Covenant so clearly that other people can understand it understand it what intellectually it just makes you a good soulish Christian not a spiritual because you still may be satisfied doing lawful things and not selecting the profitable out of the lawful but yet your testimony is very good you know if you examine your life and see whether and you constantly I'm gonna ask you do you constantly compare your life with Jesus life or not I seek to do that every day and for many years now I think I understood new covenant doctrine for a number of years now but I've discovered through the years that that's not enough I'm not purifying my doctrine because then I'm very little left to be purified I've studied it pretty thoroughly and I my doctrine is pretty accurate but I'm purifying my life you search the scriptures and you think eternal life is there it's not there and through the Scriptures you're supposed to come to me turn to 1 John and chapter 3 see we've all got this doctrine right because we've heard it many times Romans 8:29 that we are predestined to be conformed to the image of God's Son Jesus Christ that he might be the firstborn among many brothers so we got it right I mean here if you have a questionnaire on New Covenant I think most of us would get probably a hundred percent which only proves you've got a good knowledge you've got a good understanding our intellect is wonderful and the cleverer you are the more you get marks for that questionnaire on new covenant theology but it doesn't mean that necessarily that your life is like that so we've understood our goal is to become like Jesus Christ that's a destination I have to go through and like you've heard me say if you if your ticket says San Francisco to New York and you get into how do you know you got into the right plane well every hour you should be getting closer to New York if you're not you're in the wrong plane you're in the law or wrong flight how do I know that I'm going in the right direction predestined my destination is becoming like Christ every year I should be becoming a little more like Christ and the best person to tell you whether that's right or wrong it's your marriage partner can tell you darling you're becoming more christ-like something has changed in you in the last one year not your knowledge is better or your preach letter or you share better or your pray better for the Pharisees could do all that so 1 John 3 says we know here's the destination in the middle of verse 2 right now beloved we are the children of God verse 2 we are born again but it is not yet appeared what we shall be our destination when he comes we shall be like him we would have reached our destination becoming christ-like but how do you know whether you're going in the right direction then it says in the next verse if you have this hope or if you're going the right direction you will be purifying yourself constantly to what extent as he is pure in other words you will not stop purifying yourself until you become like Christ which is only when he comes again so how do i purify myself there is a cleansing of my life like I've said many times which is the guilt of my sin I can do nothing about it I cannot purify my sin cleanse it away or only the blood of Jesus and his death on the cross that can take care of my past but in this future of my life I have to purify myself with God's help the past God takes care of the future I have to take care of to means the picture of the Egyptians got killed in the Red Sea he buried them all Mazal I didn't have to lift a finger but the Canaanites the Israelites had to kill themselves they ain't God didn't say okay I'll kill the Canaanites for you you see the difference between the two one is the old man that's crucified with Christ the other is the flesh which I have to crucify Galatians 5:25 in Galatians 5:24 says those who are Christ's crucified the flesh but Romans 6 says the old man was crucified by God Egyptians were buried by God the Canaanites I have to kill myself the Old Testament picture is exact that's why it's good to study the Old Testament and the Egyptians are all buried in a moment one moment the old man is finished it's not a gradual process it's like baptism baptism symbolizes your old man is buried and you're up again it's in a moment it's over but the flesh is a lifelong thing it's like the Israelites went into the land of Canaan and each of those giants represent in different lusts in our flesh desires and passions and they had to kill them one by one by one by one and the New Testament speaks about conscious in an unconscious sin and we need to know the distinction it's I have to finish with conscious sin constantly and as I finish the conscious in God shows me a little more or what I was unconscious of on Christ like areas that I didn't know about and I can deal with that and move on that is the mark of Christian progress this is the way that I know I am in the new covenant that someone asked me there's better sang what is the proof that God is blessing you and I said first of all let me tell you it's got nothing to do with my ministry a lot of people who cast out demons and prophesy and heal the sick who will stand before Jesus and say boast about all that in the Lord say I didn't even know you can imagine that anybody who glories in a ministry doesn't have a clue how it's going to be in the day of judgment jesus said that man and John sorry Matthew 7 22 to 23 many will come to me many means hundreds of thousands of people preachers who stand before Jesus and say Lord Lord we did miracles in your name we cast out demons in your name we prophesied that means we preach great sermons in your name and Jesus doesn't say you're telling lies you never did that no that's not what he tells him was it that they were bluffing they wouldn't dare to block Jesus even if they were trying he would have told them hey that's all a lie you never did any of that and you never did it in my name no he accepts it in Jesus name you preached you cast out demons and you did many miracles not one or two you read Matthew 7:23 many miracles but I will say to them depart from me you who lived in sin so that shows me one very important thing about the day of judgment that the important thing in the Day of Judgment will not be how much ministry you had but what did you added you to sin was because when it comes to ministry you can feel so inferior to someone who's so gifted and I've seen that in the church that some are extremely gifted they got ten talents you got only one but God's not going to evaluate us on the basis of how many talents you have you don't have to feel discouraged that you can't preach like somebody else or do miracles like somebody else or cast out demons like somebody else because that's not going to be the important thing in the day of judgment the important thing in the day of judgment is going to be was that sin in your life did you deal with sin in your life and that puts us all on the same level who who here can say that somebody else has got an advantage in dealing with sin we've all got the same flesh we've all got the same access to the Holy Spirit's power if we want to we all have the same opportunity to humble ourselves God gives grace to the humble who's preventing you from humbling yourself getting God's grace nobody only you yourself and if you get grace the Bible says sin will not rule over you when you're under grace I mean this is a verse that I've often I never get tired of repeating it Romans 6:14 says I can never sin as long as grace is over me if I'm under grace during the moments I'm under grace sin cannot rule over me the moment I move away from that covering your grace sin gets power over me and when is it I move under the from the covering of grace when I become proud God gives grace to the humble 1 Peter 5:5 but he resists the proud and I sin because at that moment God has not given me grace I made this a law rule in my life that anytime I slip up even if I slip it up in a word that was done Christ like a one word that was on Christ like that's a sin I say Lord I slipped up there and I know why I slipped up I didn't get grace from you that's why I spoke like that oh that's why I did that thing and I didn't get grace from you because you saw some area of pride in me which I still haven't seen be sure to me that's what I always do and if you do that I guarantee you will walk on this path of self-purification by the power of the Holy Spirit that you will not be the same person next year that you are right now it will be more christ-like you have progress towards your destination you're on the right flight then moving in the right direction I just I just want to save all of you from self-deception the Bible speaks about deceiving ourselves and it's it's one thing for the devil to deceive us it's okay but the Bible often speaks about deceiving ourselves and that's what I'm trying to say I mean here save you from see for example Galatians 6 and verse three if anyone thinks he's a somebody when he's a nobody he deceives himself do you recognize that you're a nobody maybe you recognize that when you got first converted that you're nobody but I've seen very often people after they've been a few years in a church they no longer feel that they are nobodies they are now senior believers they're sort of somebodies in the church that's why they don't grow they're deceiving themselves anyone thinks he's a somebody when he's a nobody he deceives himself do you know that you're supposed to be a nobody till the end of your life because that's the only way we can give Jesus the right place I don't know some of you may have seen that video of mine of a message I gave in CFC Bangalore where I got seven or eight brothers to come up one by one and hold a zero in front of them I said one by one I give them different titles okay here's the most handsome man in the world zero here's another the cleverest the most highest IQ man in the world zero here's the one who won a number of gold medals in the Olympics zero here's the great scientist who discovered great things zero here's the megachurch pastor who preaches well the zero and like that a lot of zeros I just put them all together what are they zero [Music] you know that's actually from a verse that Nebuchadnezzar can imagine getting light from Nebuchadnezzar yeah Nebuchadnezzar once made an amazing statement and Daniel chapter 4 verse 35 if you haven't seen it you've got to see it get some light from Nebuchadnezzar the King after he repented he says in daniel 4:35 all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as zero it's amazing all the inhabitants the earth are zero Paul said that in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 just so that you so that you know that I am scriptural when I teach it 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 6 he's talking about the church in Corinth how it grew I planted that church Apollo's came along later he was a great teacher watered that church but God was the one who caused the growth it's like a little baby you can take care of it but God's the one who brought it to birth and caused the one who caused it to grow so then the one who plants is nothing the one who waters is nothing but God who causes the growth is everything Paul says the same thing as Nebuchadnezzar I may be a great apostle planting churches I'm zero Paul says a polis is a very eloquent teacher he's also a zero holy God that's everything so in that message I finally took another big one and I put it in front of it I think he let me go just one of them I said just one you see how his value suddenly increases from 0 to 10 and that one represents Christ when a person becomes Christ if he doesn't have Christ he's a zero tenor them all together to zeros but one of them gets Christ one in front of me gets value and now I said I want to show you what fellowship does I said one more brother please come in here he doesn't become eleven it becomes a hundred one more brother joining in fellowship becomes 1000 and all the way it becomes four millions so we need to recognize till the end of our life Lord I want to be and I want to be a zero I want to be a nothing before God I believe that God does so many things to reduce us the high thoughts we have is descendants of Adam because we give value to the wrong things why do people get proud they get proud because they've accomplished something people have accomplished something even if they act humble in their mind they think we're pretty important and if you're one of those who's accomplished things in life may God have mercy on you it's good you've accomplished it but don't let it make you think that you're somebody nothing you're zero maybe you're very good-looking every time you look at the mirror you feel so nice that you harness God made you so handsome or so pretty you're another zero you compare yourself with other human beings or not so don't happen to be so good-looking as you are if you have studied chemistry you know what molecules are molecules are all matter is made up of molecules and a good face is just a different arrangement of molecules if those molecules in your face were arranged slightly differently you'd be very ugly so what we are admiring is the arrangement of molecules that's worth noting intelligence and accomplishments and what all stupid things human beings boasted we're all nobodies the only thing that has value is Jesus Christ and how much of his life you have if you don't discover it now I guarantee he will discover it when you stand before Jesus in the day of judgment I have don't have the slightest doubt you'll discover in that day when Christ comes again and you stand before him then accomplishment in any field on earth intellectual professional sport good looks everything was zero and the only thing that will matter in that day is in the one life God gave you on earth how much did you partake of the life of Jesus Christ in your inner life whatever men may have thought of you it's absolutely no difference men thought of the world of Anna's and Caiaphas the high priests who crucified Jesus what did God think of him Anna's and Caiaphas were the megachurch pastors of those days what did God think of it he thought more of a humble fisherman Peter who was not recognized why because he was gripped by the life of Jesus Christ and if you happen to be a very clever respected person like Paul you got to give all that up he says I counted it all rubbish that I might gain Christ there's a way to gain Christ it's not easy but it's possible turn to Philippians in Chapter three he speaks of all his the things he could glory in Philippians 3 verse 4 the last part if anyone else thinks he's got a mind to put confidence so he can glory in the flesh I can glory more than all of you he says I'm first of all part of the nation of Israel God's chosen nation five a Hebrew of the Hebrews that means both my parents were Hebrews not just one of them and I was a Pharisee the highest level of people who obeyed the law and as to zeal I persecuted the church because I was convinced that this Jesus was a false prophet and the Old Testament said we got to get rid of false prophets and their followers so I did that he was completely wrong but he was sincere and as far as the righteousness which is in the law he was blameless he once stood before a high priest and told him all my life I have lived with a good conscience how many people can say that I can't say that I can't say that from my childhood I always honored my parents I never told a lie I can't say that but Paul could write from childhood is just like that rich young ruler who told Jesus all these Commandments have kept from my youth there are a few people who brought up an extremely god-fearing families Paul was one of them he could say all my life I have lived with a good conscience but he was completely wrong keeping a good conscience doesn't mean you're necessarily right he was totally wrong going in the opposite direction but he had a good conscience is it possible for you because it shows how insensitive a conscience you see conscience is something which depends on what we've understood of the truth and if we've understood very little of the truth that's your level of conscience and you could be completely wrong that's why we need the light of the Holy Spirit to show us what we're what we're really like in the light of Christ so he says here I was blameless but all of that I count as loss for the sake of Christ when I saw Jesus and realized what these other things were zero and he says I count all things verse eight to be lost to be zero in view of the surpassing value of knowing Jesus and when he says about knowing Jesus he's talking about life you know Jesus said in John 17:3 this is eternal life that they might know God and Jesus Christ whom they send he's talking about an intimate knowledge not just head knowledge and for him I've suffered the loss of everything I'm willing to get rid of all these zeros I've glory Dan in my life I want to ask you my brothers sisters all of us have accomplished something in life right maybe you did well in school or college or in your profession or in the Bible knowledge or maybe you're respected in this church as a spiritual brother or a spiritual sister you have accomplished something are you willing to count it all rubbish Lord the opinions of all the brothers and sisters my church the elders think highly of me rubbish that I may know Christ and you know that word in the Greek I'm told is I don't know Greek what I already told it the word rubbish he refers to human done human done all the honor of men do you really consider all the honor of your fellow believers in this church and of the elders and this church's human down then you'll come to know Christ the value that's so much and we inwardly glory in it and those are like brakes that hinder our vehicle from moving forward you can have your foot on the accelerator do so many right things but if you've got your foot on the brakes as well you're not gonna go very far that's exactly what happens I have to deliberately see that's all rubbish it's all human dumb I'm not gonna go after human done what do I care about that person's opinion about me why did that mean so much to me why do I sit back and meditate and what somebody else thought about me or what somebody thought about my prayer or my sermon or my it's amazing what all things we can Gloria and is trying to tell you that some of the dangers of people in New Covenant churches concentrate on the life of Jesus inwardly that I may gain Christ and he says this is writing this when he's nearly 65 years old he says I still haven't attained verse 12 I haven't become fully like Christ and therefore I'm pressing on he says there's only one thing I do verse 13 forgetting what lies behind verse 13 now when we look at that verse we often like to use that words to say I like to forget all the mess I made in my life so far but when Paul says forgetting the things behind he says I'm forgetting how Christ like I've already become and he was probably more christ-like than anybody on earth at that time and he says I forget all that all the churches I planted and all the ministries have fulfilled all the people have raised from the dead and all that and see I forget all that I'm pressing on to become more like Christ to lay hold of to the upward call of God verse 12 last part to lay hold of that for which Christ laid hold of me he knows that Christ laid hold of him to make him like Christ he wrote Romans 8:29 by the way so he knows what he was laid hold of he's I'm warning to lay hold of that for which Christ laid hold of me that's the only thing in my life and what about all your ministry Paul it's just an overflow of my life it's not concentrating on my ministry I'm concentrating on becoming like Jesus and there's an overflow from that which results in ministry and preaching and healing the sick and blessing people and planting churches it's just just normal flow I don't get occupied with that there's only one thing I do to become lay hold of that for which Christ laid hold of me make that your goal in other words get to the tree of life don't be satisfied with all the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil I know so much more but what is right and what is wrong and the more I listen to the Internet sermons and more I listen to the messages here I get to know more of what is right wrong and I'm avoiding certain wrong things and doing what's right things it doesn't mean you're becoming spirit it's life it's life there's a difference between imitating Christ you know there's a very well-known book called the imitation of Christ I don't agree with it because imitation doesn't mean that you're the real thing I often use the example of training a dog to imitate a cat I mean there are people who train dogs to do all types of things now well you know a good trainer could teach a dog to say meow meow meow and he does it perfectly until it meets another dog that comes to fight with it and the old nature comes out again does that sound uh sort of familiar in your experience where you've struggled so long to behave christ-like and then all of a sudden you encounter somebody who really works you up and then you're miss cover hey the old man's not really dead no we have to partake more and more of the life of Jesus a cat can never save our bark at another dog it's impossible because of nature it's not he's not being taught to say meow meow its nature we must not rest until Nature has taken over and I often think of this why can't the Holy Spirit do that in you and me if Adam could do such a wonderful job of communicating his filthy nature to me so well from my childhood that I could fight readily get angry readily and scream and yell and steal and tell lies easily what a job Adam did don't you think the Holy Spirit could do at least an equally good job to give me the life of Christ how do you think Adam could do a better job giving me his life then the Holy Spirit can we must not be satisfied with external behavior it's good it is second best definitely it's always good to be with a well behaved person was never gets angry it never gets upset and always very kind that's second best but the best is to have the life of Jesus where it comes from within there is not a pact that's put on because you know if he's only put on you never know when it'll change all of a sudden a little bit of road rage and suddenly this disappears nature don't be satisfied till the Holy Spirit's fully that's why I say the most important thing in the New Covenant is not the doctrine it is a life that comes through the Holy Spirit that's why being filled with the Holy Spirit is the most important thing in the New Covenant do you know that most of us can probably explain the New Covenant better than Peter I don't think Peter could explain that Nocona better than most of you who have sat here for so many years but he was spirit world spirit filled that is the important thing in Genesis chapter 2 we read of these two trees knowledge of good and evil and life and Adam could have easily accessed either of them but by the time Adam is thrown out of the Garden of Eden something has changed notice that in Genesis 3 mm-hmm it says you're now um God put a flaming sword in front of the Tree of Life and there were a number of cherubs cherubim means cherubs plural number of angels that were guarding this tree of life and a sword that turned in every direction now that was not there before Adam sent poor Adamson he could just walk up to the tree of life and take it but now there's a sword you know what that symbolizes it symbolizes depth the self that's the only way to get to the Tree of Life now if I want to get to the Tree of Life the sword has to fall on myself life around the tree of knowledge there is no sword going round and round that's why a lot of people prefer to or the tree of knowledge and satisfy ourselves and so much understanding now off new covenants and we can share things and sing new covenant songs and so many things there's no no sword there so what I say to you there is no cross in your life no cross on which you are being crucified you're at the wrong tree that's the best way to find out if in your daily life there is no cross on which you have to die in your home life going down the roads in your office life in your thought life and you're just lying down in bed before going to sleep or when you wake up in the morning if there is no cross on which you are being crucified on which you die you are at the wrong tree keep that as a principle by which you can discover which tree you're coming you know it's who tree of knowledge of good and evil it's got a lot of fruit in it a lot of knowledge you can acquire about true Christianity New Covenant Christianity and all the rest of it amazing truths which most of Christendom doesn't even know or talk about you go to the internet and listen to all the sermons there and some of the things you know there's nobody preaching there I mean you may hear it in cfcs messages but nowhere else and therefore you can think that I really got something if there's a cross in your life you have really got something turn with me to Matthew chapter 16 you know this is why in many cases a new covenant church is not built because a new covenant church can only be built with new covenant people the new covenant church is built around the Tree of Life not around the tree of knowledge of good and evil you cannot build a new covenant church with new covenant doctrine a bunch of people who have got new covenant doctrine you can't build a new covenant Church they could be around the tree of knowledge of good and evil but a bunch of people have taken up the cross every day for bearing the dying of Jesus in their daily life and thereby have the life of Jesus see Matthew 16 this is the first time that Jesus spoke about building his church he never spoke about it before the first time I will build my church verse 18 the middle and what is the mark of Jesus Church the gates of Hades are the powers of spiritual death will not be able to overpower it the gates of Hades you know Hades is the Greek word for where people go when they die so we could paraphrase it as the powers of spiritual depth will not be able to overcome this church because these are people have already died you heard that story I mentioned before of this missionary in the nineteenth century I think his name was James Calvert who went from England in the days when the Fiji Islands were occupied by cannibals he was a young man 25 25 years old or something had a burden to go as a missionary to preach the gospel to these cannibals in the Fiji Islands and he got into one of those steamships for those days of sailing ships I don't know they went all the way around to Fiji and just before he went ashore there the captain of the ship asked him are you going to go and live here these cannibals you'll die he and his wife and James Keller said we died before we got onto the ship I've never forgotten that we died before we boarded this ship so we're not gonna die now we already died these were the men who knew the Lord maybe James kalbert couldn't explain the new covenant doctrine like we can but he understood what it is to die to himself and his own ambitions and desires who would go into the midst of cannibals to tell about Jesus he's gonna make money what's gonna get and those days there was not even publicity to get Fame there was no media reporting hey this great missionary sacrificing himself you get nothing except the joy of having brought somebody to Christ and yeah these people these are you know I remember as a young Christian stories like this that challenged me it wasn't doctrine that challenged me as a young Christian mm-hmm is a stories of lives of men who who really did something for the Lord before they left this earth I don't think James Calvert was probably a great preacher I think many of us can preach better than him but the man lived a life and these are great examples so I will build my church jesus said and the powers of death will not be able to destroy it because these people have already died like James Calvert said I already died I'm not afraid of powers of spiritual death now coming to attack me impossible the overcome the gates of hell the Bible speaks about Satan having the power of death Hebrews 2:14 he who had the power of death Jesus overcame him who had the power of death but he can't have power over me because I've already died like James Calvert says I've already died how can he kill me I'm already dying I'm not looking for reputation honor position Fame money nothing it's a dead man's not looking for these things but that man can't be offended a dead man is not expecting respect it's a wonderful thing to die with Christ so this is the first time that he spoke about the cross and in connection with this what is this course for anyone see the connection from that time from which time from the time that Jesus began to speak about the church and how it would overcome the gates of spiritual death Jesus Christ told them how he himself must suffer many things and be killed and be raised up the third day that's the first time he spoke about the cross the first time he spoke about the church he spoke about the cross but he was going to die and immediately Peter says no Lord look at the love Peter has for his master I will never let anybody catch you like that and kill you but forbid it and to this loving action of words of Peter see how Jesus replies get behind me Satan only twice Jesus ever said that once was from Satan himself when Satan offered him all the glory of the world he said get behind me Satan the second I was 2 Peter what do you say like that to someone who trying to save your life that's all if Peter was trying to do save Jesus life from being killed just get behind me Satan ET God's Way of he's not our way we wouldn't think of praising a Roman military man like Jesus did a Centurion saying oh I've never seen faith like this in all of Israel we'd say no no I like I like to be a little sober and what I say about him because he may get puffed up he's Jesus so different from us you know when we get to his way of thinking we will find it very different and then he turns around at Peter and says get behind me Satan and to Judas Iscariot who comes to betray him and the Garden of Gethsemane he says puts his arm around his his friend have you come to betray the Son of man jesus was so different and when we become like Christ I tell you will say get behind me Satan to Peter and we say friend to Judas Iscariot that's what Jesus said ask the Holy Spirit to show you Jesus thought says my ways are not your ways my way of thinking is completely different from your way of thinking you're just becoming a refined human being what we need is to become godlike Christ like partake of his nature and human beings may not understand us sometimes they didn't understand him many whip people out of the temple turned that tables of money he didn't say gentlemen will you please remove these coins from here never spoke like that that would be more christ-like right imagine going up to Jesus Christ and saying you should be more christ-like that's how crazy a lot of Christians are because their understanding of Christ's leg is formed in their own imagination not from the scriptures there's only one book in the world that tells me how Jesus was like and survive and why does he turn to Peter like that because he says your mind verse 23 is set on man's interests not God's interest you're trying to avoid the cross from that time verse 24 jesus said it's not only me who's too got to go to the cross if you want to follow me you got to go to the cross as well then I will build a church through which the gates of Hell will not prevail so see that hole verse 18 in the context of was 21 to 24 you see the close connection between building the church and going the way of death to self and how man's interest or the Lord told Peter it's man's interest to avoid the cross God's interest is to go the way of the Cross and the voice that tells you to avoid the way of the Cross is the voice of Satan even if it comes through your best friend Peter or if it comes from the greatest preacher in the world get behind me Satan I listen to now and then two messages here and there by different preachers and I have to say that that's not for me that is man's interests Jesus would make you rich Jesus would make you healthy I say get behind me Satan your mind is set on man's interests not on God's interests how many of you are able to recognize a preacher who is getting you to have your mind set on man's interests your own interests not God's interests as the voice of Satan you don't have to go up to him and say get away Satan but inwardly you have to reject it when I hear a preacher teaching me to seek my own interests and not gods i inwardly say get behind me Satan I don't want to listen to that I hope you will say that at least from now this is the way of life he was yours to hear let him hear what the Spirit says to all the churches there's a lot that God is planned for you and bringing you to this church I want to tell you don't miss it and if you take it seriously and allow the Holy Spirit to speak to you and fill you I guarantee at least from now on you'll have no regret about the way you live the rest of your life I mean we may have a lot of regret about the past but at least from now we'll have no regret about how we live the rest of our days because we've seen the way of the Cross let's bow before God Heavenly Father as we bow before you we pray that you alone who can show us what is light and what is darkness you who way back in the beginning separated the light from the darkness I pray in Jesus name that you will separate the light from the darkness in our mind and in our hearts and in our lives so that we understand what it is to walk in the light and what it is to walk in darkness and that we will not walk along a path which is a mixture of light and darkness and there'll be a clear separation in our light between the two the light which is the life of Jesus and everything else which is darkness help us we pray we ask in Jesus name Amen

Channel: SermonIndex.net

Views: 11,093

Rating: 4.8067632 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: RSP8AzMpBCY

Length: 73min 11sec (4391 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 12 2016