Partaking of Jesus’ Life Through Death to Our Self Life by Zac Poonen

[Music] let's turn to 2nd Corinthians in chapter 11 this passage has been on my mind a blade Paul was a true Shepherd a spiritual father and he was concerned with the Corinthian church which he had planted well like his children that they should not drift away from being a pure virgin for Christ so he says I'm jealous for you with a godly jealousy 2nd Corinthians 11 verse 2 for I betrothed you to one husband that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin see just like every man would like to marry a pure virgin is the same with Jesus Christ and Paul was the one who was representing Christ to these people as his servant and he felt a responsibility to make sure that in the day when Christ came back he could present these people in the church in Corinth as a pure virgin to Christ a very very few elders and Shepherds and fathers who have that type of burden for the churches they planned but Paul had it he that's why he wrote so many letters to them and that's why he exhorted them and challenged them and rebuked them and in Corinth he even handed one person over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh I mean he was pretty radical you can't do that unless you really love the Lord and love the church but he loved the Lord of the church so much that he wasn't even willing to hand over someone to Satan because he wanted to present this church finally as a pure virgin to Christ and he was not bothered what people thought about or whether people thought he was too hard or any such thing those things didn't bother him at all he was a servant of the Lord and he didn't want to please any human being so he says Mike burden is that one day when Christ comes back I'll present you as a pure version now it's not entirely up to Paul it depends on the cooperation of the Corinthians as well so what he was going to do his part I picture this in my mind I get the picture of Abraham's servant you know who had been sent by Abraham to Mesopotamia to get a bride for Isaac it's a picture of the Holy Spirit and the servants of God going out and trying to bring a bride for Christ and it was a long journey from Mesopotamia all the way to Canaan where Isaac was and when he was bringing Rebekah on that long journey over many many weeks I picture like this if there were some other handsome guys along the way who tried to get friendly with Rebekah Abraham's servant would just chase them off he was determined to protect her and present her as a pure virgin to Isaac in that long journey and this is really the task that God gives to his servants to preserve the church in this long journey between the time they're converted to the time they meet the Lord is the responsibility we have for our children as parents to be able to present them as pure virgins to Christ and for a church and he says but verse 3 I'm afraid lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness your minds should be led astray from that simple pure devotion to Christ your mind can be led astray from simple pure devotion to Christ to something else something else which doesn't look bad but which takes you away from that simple pure devotion to Christ and the craftiness of Satan this scene he says in verse 4 and people who come and preach another Jesus whom we have not preached and you receive a different spirit which you have not received or a different gospel which you have not accepted another Jesus a different spirit and a different gospel we see plenty of evidence of that today in the world today in Christendom Christendom generally is preaching Jesus whom you can follow without dying to yourself daily isn't that amazing jesus said if anyone comes after me let him deny himself luke 9:23 take up his cross daily and follow me that's the real Jesus but you hardly ever hear that preaching today today there's a Jesus you can follow without denying yourself without dying to yourself without taking up the cross how many of you being led astray by that Jesus do you think you can follow Jesus even for one day without denying yourself without taking up your cross then it is another Jesus not the real Jesus subscription you can't be deceived if you read the words of Jesus clearly but the servant comes with his craftiness and mmm-hmm offers and other Jesus will make you healthy and wealthy and externally happy without your having to deny your some or a different spirit a spirit that the the real spirit is called the Holy Spirit what does it mean to have a different spirit evil spirits make people evil unclean spirits make people unclean so what were the Holy Spirit make people holy but that's not what is being preached in most churches today they don't teach that the Holy Spirit will make you holy lady said the Holy Spirit will make you make a lot of noise and clap and shout and jump and dance I'm not against any of those things but if you do all that you don't become holy that's not the Holy Spirit well they say the Holy Spirit make you speak in tongues I'm not against that either but if that's all this fear it does and doesn't make you holy that's not the Holy Spirit that's what I mean by a different spirit and remember this is connected with Paul saying that I'm afraid that the serpent with this craftiness will lead you astray so that at the end of it all you'll find that you're not really a virgin ready for Christ he been led astray by another Jesus and a different wholly different spirit it claims to be the real Jesus and claims to be the Holy Spirit but it is not and I've seen plenty of that and a different gospel a gospel which does not tell you how you can be saved from sin but how you can be saved from poverty and saved from sickness now it's good to be saved from poverty and sickness I'm not against that just like I'm not against speaking in tongues or jumping and dancing and praising the Lord but if you miss the main thing which is being saved from sin and you just become healthy and wealthy that's a different gospel I've got nothing against someone saying god bless me with good health i can say that i seventy six years old i hardly ever been sick in my life it's God's goodness preserving me so I'm not against it I'm thankful for it we can if you're healthy we can sell a lot much better and God provides us enough for our needs and most of us more than we owe more than our needs and that is the blessing of God too but if I am health and wealth and I'm not safe from sin that is a different gospel to me the central part of the gospel is not health and wealth it's it's a byproduct you seek the kingdom of God in His righteousness these other things are added to you but when these added things become central it's another gospel so you see there's a lot of that going on today and it's the craftiness of the devil that's so many people who go through Bible schools and go study the Bible so much don't seem to see that this is another Jesus this is another spirit it's another gospel so that's why we have to be very careful the days we live in when the when the disciples asked Jesus about the last days when many people speak about we're in the last days and the disciples asked Jesus what will be the sign of your coming they asked for one side turn with me to Matthew 24 and verse 3 as he was sitting on the Mount of Olives the disciples came to him privately saying tell us when will all these things be and what will be the one sign of your coming and at the end of the age they were not asking for many signs they were asking what is going to be the sign that your coming is near and you know what he says you know we think of famines earthquakes wars those are the things that come first to our mind when we hear about the coming of the Lord because you read that and that is also true famines earthquakes and Wars but then he mentions you know much later in verse 7 but the first thing he says is see to it that no one deceives you so what is the one sign that Christ coming is near massive deception and it's not the non-christians who are being deceived I mean they don't even know the Lord he's saying to his disciples see that no one deceives you you disciples see that no one deceives you that means there's gonna be in massive deception among Christians and that's going to be the sign of his coming so if we are in a time when we see wide-scale deception being practiced you know it's to me it's one of the signs of Christ's coming his nearer and among all the signs that he mentioned like Wars rumors of wars and all all those things he he mentions only once wholly in verse seven he doesn't say it again and but when it comes to deception you see how many times it repeats it first 11 many false prophets will arise and will mislead many and then he goes on to say again in verse 23 if someone says to you behold here is the Christ there is don't believe him they're deceiving you again he repeats in verse 24 false Christ's and false prophets will arise will show great signs and wonders so as to mislead deceive if possible even the elect so what's he speaking about again and again and again deception deception deception deception much more than he spoke about wars and her families and earthquakes and yet the vast majority of Christians view us and what are the signs of the Lord's coming they would talk about famines and earthquakes and wars which he mentioned only once this is the craftiness of Satan that he gets you occupied with the things that you can't do anything about I mean you can't do anything about an earthquake what can you do about that you can't do anything about a famine going on somewhere you can't do anything about there's a war between nations but you can't do something about deception if that comes your way and that's the one thing Satan doesn't want you to think about he wants you to think about all these other things that are signs of the Lord's coming and be occupied with that and not be worried about the one thing jesus said and then you remember what Jesus said at the end of it verse 25 behold I have told you in advance again he speaks about deception if they say to you he's in the wilderness or easin the inner rooms or like some people say he's come secretly and taken away the church don't believe them he is not gonna come secretly just as the Lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west so will my coming be it couldn't be clearer than that and there's so much of deception concerning the rapture and the church being taken up as to when it will happen you know that most Christians believe it's going to happen secretly and suddenly they don't believe that the coming of the Lord would be like the lightning that shines from the east to the west even though Jesus said it so clearly they will it's gonna be secret nobody's gonna know about it how in the world did the devil manage to put such a lie upon Christian number so many centuries and among so many good people it's because they don't read the Scriptures carefully this is a doctrine that came up in the last 150 years it was never preached for eighteen hundred years the church will be secretly raptured there is going to be a rapture and Christ comes again this is just one area of deception just mention that so that we can be clear on it in 1 Thessalonians we read about the rapture 1 Thessalonians in chapter 5 chapter 4 sorry 1 Thessalonians 4 here is how the Lord will come verse 16 now notice that things mentioned here which are the predominant things that are mentioned by the Holy Spirit about the second coming of Christ the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout the voice of the Archangel the trumpet of God and then the dead in Christ those are alive will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air and is this gonna happen like a thief in the night that's another deception a lot of Christians say the Lord's gonna come like a thief in the night we won't be ready for it again because they don't read scripture carefully let me read it to you for you know full well chapter 5 verse 2 it's all the same subject you know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night violent where's for you brothers are not in darkness that that day should overtake you like a thief you see the point he's gonna come like a thief in the night for all unbelievers if you're an unbeliever he's certainly gonna come like a thief in the night so if you say the Lord is gonna come like a thief in the night for you you're an unbeliever for believers he says you brothers are not in darkness that you should but he should come for you like a thief in the night you're gonna be awake your sons of light and the sons of the day so these are some areas where we've been deceived I mean Christendom has been the scene let me give you another verse 2nd Thessalonians in Chapter 2 we request you brethren with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to our rapture the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and our being taken up to be with him don't be shaken don't be disturbed by some spirit or message saying that as that the Lord has come secretly no no no no no don't be deceived by such teaching let me say to you that they will not come until first there's going to be a great falling away among Christians and the man of sin the Antichrist is revealed to me it is so crystal clear that Christ will not come till the Antichrist is revealed and I might as well tell you that 95% of believers don't believe that I didn't believe it for many years till I study the scripture carefully many people say hey listen if you say that you're going to make people live carelessly people are going to live very carefully they don't know when the Lord's coming he may come tonight so I better be ready and I say well think of the illustration Paul uses of a bride waiting for her bridegroom think of a think of a practical situation where a girl here been engaged to some man who's had to go on business or in the army or something to a distant country for a long time here's a a virgin keeping herself ready for a waiting for her bridegroom to come supposing she knows he's not gonna come for three years he's being posted there for three years he won't get any vacation he won't be able to come for three years and she says ah in that case I can fool around because he's not gonna come for three years what type of bride is that she's a harlot do you keep a bride pure by saying you better keep yourself pure because he may come any day no you test the bride by saying he's not gonna come for five years let's see whether you keep yourself pure so this false teaching that the sudden coming of the Lord is going to make people holy is a deception if a person is wanting to be holy because he's afraid he'll be caught by the Lord in sin he's not a virgin at all he's not part of the bride he's a harlot he's just thinking of himself he doesn't want to be caught in the last moment the Lord comes I'd save the Lord I say it to a true disciple of Jesus supposing you know the Lord is not gonna come for 15 years how are you gonna live the next 15 years carelessly in sin and just before two days before it's coming you're gonna set everything right I'd say you're a harlot without a doubt you're a harlot the person who's the Bride of Christ it doesn't matter if he never sees the Lord coming in his lifetime it doesn't matter to me the Lord doesn't come for the next fifty years that's not gonna make me any less holy tomorrow because my holiness has got nothing to do with the coming of the Lord he's got to do with the fact that Jesus loved me and gave himself for me and that my sin crucified Christ that's why I hate sin not because I'm afraid of I might be caught with the Lord suddenly coming and I want to say that to all of you any of you who are who take sin lightly any type of sin you take your anger lightly or your dirty thoughts lightly I don't believe you have seen enough that it was your sin that crucified Christ I think you can take it lightly though I can just confess it and get the blood of Jesus to cleanse me so this is where we can be deceived from that simple pure devotion to Jesus Christ so turning back to 2nd Corinthians in chapter 11 if you see there you know the pause tremendous passion as a true father and Shepherd to protect his flock from this type of deception he says I have a godly jealousy there is a jealousy which is good a godly jealousy I don't want you to fool around with other men it's like a a man telling his fiancee to whom he's engaged I'm jealous for you that you must not be interested in any other man but me is that wrong no that's the right type of jealousy Paul had it that these people in Corinth should not be devoted to anyone other than Jesus Christ they should not be led astray by false manifestations of the Holy Spirit they should not be led astray by another gospel and anyone who doesn't have that type of passion I don't believe such a person should have a preach you should go and do some of the business he's not fit to be a servant of God who does not have a passion to preserve God's people in purity that's a passion Paul had what would you think of Abraham's servant bringing Rebekah from that long distance and he just allows her to fool around with other men on the journey to meet Isaac he'd be an unfaithful servant and I tell you there are thousand thousands of unfaithful servants in Christendom today and the proof of it is they don't seek to preserve the church in purity and purely from sin and worldliness that's the tragedy so Paul didn't have Paul was faithful there and seeking to preserve the church in purity and he's baffling not the devil's persecution see the devil is pictured in the Bible as a lion in 1 Peter 5 he says a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour that's one picture of the devil and the other picture of the devil is as a cunning serpent seeking whom he may deceive so in the Garden of Eden when the devil wanted to tempt Eve to turn away from the tree of life and partake of the tree of knowledge of good and evil he did not come as a lion he could have got into the lion and roared it even frightened her and made her eat he knew he wouldn't succeed we would run away but he came as a cunning serpent and that's where he succeeded so the lion speaks of persecution the devil's attacked the church with persecution through the years but he's never succeeded in destroying the church with persecution persecution only has made the church pure in every country why do we have some of the finest Christians in the world today in China and in the olden days in communist countries people who were imprisoned for the faith there were some of the finest Christians because then the devil came at them like a lion or in the first century all the apostles were killed and beheaded and whatnot he came at them like a lion it didn't kill the church it made the church pure but when he came as a serpent from the fourth century onwards he came as a serpent and began to deceive and infiltrated the church and brought worldliness and corruption into the church then he succeeded in corrupting the church and through the years it's been through deception that he's defiled and corrupted Christendom more than through persecution there was an old Christian who in the early days who said that the blood of the martyrs is actually the seed of the church so that means when the martyrs shed their blood it was the seed that is going to produce new churches and new believers so here also Paul doesn't say I'm afraid 2nd Corinthians 11:3 Leicester's the devil like a lion will lead you astray no as a lion he cannot lead us astray he says I'm afraid that he will come with his craftiness like a serpent and lead you astray he can lead a Christian astray by making him love money there's one of the biggest things that leads Christians astray today all little little sins that people don't take seriously and what are they going to be led astray from second Corinthians 11:3 from simple pure devotion to Jesus Christ so when I compare that with the record in Genesis chapter 3 of how that's what is mentioned here like the serpent deceived Eve so that reminds us of Genesis chapter 3 so what did the serpent take Eve away from he took her away from the tree of life to the tree of knowledge of good and evil and told her that that's how you'll get life he told her that if you eat of that you will be like God those are his exact words read in Genesis chapter 3 and he tempted her with the same sin that he himself was tempted by you read in Isaiah 14 that he wanted to be like God that's how he became the devil so he put that same desire into Eve's heart you will be like God you will have life if you take part of this tree but that was not the right tree it was the tree of life that he led her astray from because that's what God wanted her to partake isn't it very interesting that you read in Genesis chapter 3 that the devil's temptation was God knows that you will be like him that's why he doesn't want to read of it temptation was you'll be like God then you find Jesus coming and saying you can also be like God same message how do you distinguish the two Satan is saying you can be like God and Jesus also saying the same thing the big difference is Satan says you can be like God with authority and power and Jesus says you can be like God in character in love and humility and so a Christian who seeks Authority and power is going to be led astray a Christian who seeks character and love and humanity is going to on the right path so what I see there is being led astray from the Tree of Life his called here in 2nd Corinthians 11:3 if I take this the into as the interpretation of Genesis step 3 the Tree of Life is second Corinthians 11:3 simple pure devotion to Jesus Christ so anything that leads me astray from simple pure devotion to Christ is leading me astray from the Tree of Life if you turn back to Genesis chapter three you read that that before sin came into the world Genesis chapter 2 it says the Tree of Life where Genesis 2:9 was in the middle of the garden there was one tree right in the middle of the garden and that was not the tree of knowledge of good and evil that's somewhere on the side right in the middle of the garden God put the Tree of Life second Genesis chapter 2 verse 9 that's what he wanted Adam and Eve to go and take but he left the choice to them he was not gonna force them because he doesn't force anybody to accept his life or even to come to heaven he wants men to choose for himself just like he gives us freedom today to choose for ourselves simple pure devotion to Christ the life of God you can choose that or you can choose knowledge knowledge of the Bible and you know the number of Christians who've chosen knowledge of the Bible knowledge of the Bible means knowledge of what is good and evil over devotion to Christ and being attached to him but anyway Adam and he could have gone to that tree of life easily straight away but after Adam sinned you could not go to the tree of life easily you could still go but it says here in Genesis 3:24 the last part God station angels cherubs with a flaming sword turning in every direction to guard the way to the Tree of Life that was not there before sin came but the moment sin came there was this flaming sword that went around the Tree of Life and and all this is symbolic so today if you want to go to this Tree of Life you can't just go and take it you can't just go and take of the life of Jesus the sword has to fall on your self life if you don't let the sword fall on your self life you cannot partake of the life of Jesus Christ that's the message you're so plain and that's where the devil leads us astray by saying no I'll show your root to the Tree of Life where you don't have to slit yourself like there is no sword come I'll show you and he leads you to some other tree and tells you that's the Tree of Life there's no sword in front of it and you can follow Jesus without denying yourself you can follow Jesus without judging yourself you can follow Jesus without taking sin seriously you can follow Jesus without dying to yourself great and that's the Christianity that Satan has offered the world today and vast majority of Christians have swallowed it but it's not the Tree of Life how in the world could you get to this life without the sword falling on you that is the craftiness of Salem there is a sword in front of the Tree of Life and this fits in with everything that is taught in Scripture see second Timothy in Chapter two so let's look at first Timothy first first Timothy chapter one then we go to second Timothy chapter two in first Timothy chapter 1 Paul says verse 15 this is a faithful saying very rarely Paul uses that expression this is a trustworthy statement this is a faithful saying what is it Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners that's the first statement which is a faithful statement a trustworthy statement and that's why we must begin I am a sinner Christ Jesus came to save wretched miserable sinners like me amazing grace that saved a wretch like me that's the first step the second trustworthy statement is in 2nd Timothy in 2nd Timothy 2 where we go to you know we go from one to the other 2nd Timothy 2 verse 11 this is a faithful saying again the same expression it is a trustworthy statement what is it now if we die with him we will live with him if you let the sword fall on you you'll get to the Tree of Life many have accepted the first trustworthy statement in 1 Timothy 1 but they don't believe this is a trustworthy statement they don't believe this is a faithful saying as faithful as the other one what would you think if somebody came and said no no it's not only Jesus Christ to save sinners but other people who can save sinners there are other religious people who can save sinners you say that's impossible there's only one there is only one way a 1st sinner to be saved 1 Timothy 1:15 it is a faithful saying only Christ Jesus can save sinners I think all of us would fight for that and not allow another teaching that somebody else can save sinners but when it comes to the second statement I wonder whether all of you are equally firm insane we cannot live with him if we don't die with him you believe that do you believe it as strongly as you believe the first faithful saying I don't think most Christians do they said we can live with them without dying with them what does it mean to die with them what does it mean to take up the cross every day is this the only way to get to the life of Jesus I started a second Corinthians in Chapter four he in second Corinthians four he speaks first of all about the new birth that's the first thing you know just like we saw the first trustworthy statement his Christ Jesus came to the world to save sinners the second trustworthy statement is if he died with him we will live with him in the same way here the first step is the new birth second Corinthians chapter four verse six just like God said light shall shine out of darkness he's talking about Genesis 1 the first day God said let there be light he says that's the first step in salvation into the darkness of our heart God said let there be light and the light of the knowledge of the glory of God verse 6 Sean into our hearts and we got lightened and we were born again Christ Jesus came to save sinners the first statement now we go to the second statement how do we get this life of Jesus now in us the tree of life verse 10 there's only one way to get it always carrying about in our body the dying of Jesus because that's the only way the life of Jesus will be manifested in our body and that's why every day and many times a day verse 11 we are constantly delivered over to death that means we are brought into circumstances every day always constantly means all the time we are delivered over to circumstances where we have to die we are delivered over to death and the purpose is that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh I mean words could not be clearer than that that there is only one way to the tree of life by the sword falling on yourself life it's everywhere in scripture if you want to see it but if you don't want to see it you don't see it and if I'm really serious you know the Bible says God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him he is not a reward of every Tom Dick and Harry he's a reward Hebrews 11:6 of those who diligently seek Him earnestly diligently for in other words if a person is sick and tired of his Adamic life and his murmuring in his complaining in this grumbling in his anger and his bitterness and his dirty thoughts and his jealousy and every other evil that we've inherited from Adam and when a Christian begins to manifest all those things just like the unconverted people have covetousness and love of money and deception and all those things and he's happy with it he says well as long as we're in the world we'll be like that we just confess and get forgiveness confessed and get forgiveness confessed get forgiveness endlessly he's not passionate about getting the life of Jesus and the life of Jesus these things I mentioned were not there they were just not there in the life of Jesus but most Christians I don't have a passionate desire are not diligently seeking to have the life of Jesus and I say that even in churches where I have preached this truth for years I mean I just preached the truth for 40 years in India but I still find a lot of people are not diligent to have the life of Jesus and I presume this is the same over here in this church there could be people here I don't know your lives but I presume there must be people here who Satya for years were not passionate to get the life of Jesus then sort of content with their defeated life do you think you'll get the life of Jesus not in a hundred years how much they'll tell you that not in a hundred years he didn't sit in this church for a hundred years and listen to message after message after message you will not come to the life of Jesus because you are not the God is a rewarder of those who seek him and you're not diligently seeking for the life of Jesus you're content with your defeated life God never showed me the truth till I was sick and tired and fed up with my defeated life and I said Lord I cannot go on like this I'm just an outright hypocrite and that's when the Lord met with me I've discovered in my life he's a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him like it says in Jeremiah 29 and verse 13 he will seek me and you will find me only when you search for me with all your heart what about somebody who doesn't see she's always hard he won't find him he'll find some third-rate Christianity and be happy with it because he doesn't want to pay the price for the real thing you have to be a prize for the real thing that price is depth to self and the wonderful thing here is you see verse 10 and 11 years speak of the life of Jesus coming in a past in us as we choose the depth to sell the dying of Jesus he's not the dying he died on the cross of Calvary you need to understand there were two dying's of Jesus one is the death he died on the cross for the sins of the world we have no part in that we have absolutely no part in that he died alone for the sins of the world but there's another dying of Jesus which was there in his life every day every day he died to his own will have you ever thought of that how could he possibly tell us to take up the cross every day listen carefully If any man will come after me Luke 9:23 what should he do deny himself every day take up his cross die to himself every day and follow me but if I say Lord you never deny yourself every day you never took up your cross every day you took a toll 'i'm on the last day of your life then he's not an example for me then i can't follow him but he did deny himself otherwise what does he mean when he says follow me and the only way you can follow me is by doing what i did deny yourself every day take up your cross every day then you can follow me because that's the path I went so that's called the dying of Jesus a dying that went through all through his thirty three and a half years he chose that way of dying to self every day in other words he said no to his own will and yes to the will of his father he said that in John 6:38 I came from heaven not to do my will the will of him who sent me that's called the dying of Jesus and when I take that into me the life of Jesus is a reward God gives if we die with him we will live with him that's a faithful trustworthy statement and not only that here's the wonderful thing verse 12 is a step further just like Jesus died so that we might have life it says here in verse 12 that if I allow this death of dying of Jesus to work in me others will get life through my ministry isn't that amazing now if I don't allow the life of the dying of Jesus to work in me others will won't get life through me they'll get knowledge a lot of preachers are communicating knowledge to people they go away after listening to somebody and say boy we learned something today we learnt the meaning of some verse in Romans or Ephesians or limiting us or have a cook or something like that that's not like that's knowledge and you don't have to die to yourself to communicate knowledge to other people if you're a clever person you can study the scripture carefully use a concordance and all types of things and gets a lot of bright ideas and air it out on a Sunday and impress people you don't give them life but if you die to yourself it says death works in us verse 12 but life in you so the first thing is life in me and then goes on to life in you in other words the Holy Spirit comes in and rewards me if I choose the way of the dying of Jesus and brings life within me and then that life flows out of me as the rivers of living water and blesses other people this is the way God wants every single child of his to walk it's not just for a few preachers or some specials Christians who are at a higher level know John Jesus made that very clear in John chapter 7 he said in John chapter 7 and verse 37 and 38 John 7:37 and 38 If any man is thirsty let him come to me as I have often said Jesus did not invite everybody to come to him there was a qualification if you have thirsty now for example if there's a job offered in some cooperation here saying you've got to be a graduate the college graduate to get this job and you're not a college graduate and you go there they say hey not a college graduate there's no no point coming here this is only for those who are college graduates sorry go home you understand that that there's a condition to come there to qualify for that job you got to be a college graduate and you wouldn't even dream of going there thinking you'll get that job if you're not don't have the qualification but yet people think they can come to Jesus without being thirsty how's that there's a condition to come to Jesus just like this you've got to be a college graduate to get that job to come to Jesus and you've got to be thirsty if any man is thirsty come to me what about if you are not thirsty don't even if you come you'll be rejected it's like the non college graduate coming for that job is rejected you're not thirsty and you come to Jesus because some preacher told you come to Jesus he'll accept you I never preached that that's why I never give a altar call I never give an altar call because jesus never gave an altar call I never seemed doing it once in his life he didn't say stanlon come forward he always said sit down where you are encounter caused so that's what I preached sit down and count the cost of being a disciple are you thirsty if you're thirsty go to Jesus if you're not thirsty you can come forward in hundreds of meetings nothing will happen I've seen a lot of people who go forward to altar calls nothing happens in their life they all they go through some emotional experience but let find me a man who's thirsty desperate longing for the life of Jesus I don't care even if he sits in that chair never comes forward he'll find the life of Jesus in him the condition is thirst if any man is thirsty and if you come to him it says he who believes in me do you follow do you come under the category of he who believes in Jesus Christ I think all of us will say yes I do if you do then it says rivers of living water will flow out from you verse 30 38 you'll never be drying I believe that I remember the years after I was born again when I was dry as a desert my Christian life was dry as a desert my inner life I would go to a meeting and get excited in the singing and all that emotionally stirred but I was drying frequently discouraged blew me I couldn't say rivers of living water but flowing out from me but I believe in it and I realized that I was not thirsty it's not enough to believe you got to be thirsty and if you're sick and tired of being dry like a desert you'll find rivers of living water but if you are happy with that condition you'll remain like that forever there was another verse where Jesus told certain type of people to come to him at 11:00 I'm just trying to show you that Jesus did not invite everybody to come if you're thirsty come in another place he says in Matthew 11:28 come to me those who are weary and heavy-laden not everybody again notice come to me anybody no no no no no those who are weary and sick and tired of their getting angry often sick and tired of their lustful thinking sick and tired of their love of money sick and tired of their worldliness sick and tired of their murmuring complaining sick and tired of that jealousy sick and tired of their worldliness ah Lord says come to me but what about the bunch of satisfied Christians who sit in so many churches who are not sick and tired of that defeated life well quite content who fight in quarrel at home and they are quite content with it because they say I'm a Christian I've accepted Jesus as my savior the Lord is not inviting such people to come stay where you are but if you are sick and tired of your defeated life come to me and I will give you rest rest means freedom from those sins and I'll tell you why I say that you know we got to compare Scripture with Scripture this rest is what the Old Testament Sabbath symbolized the Sabbath was such an important commandment in the Old Testament that if a man dissipated he was killed he read in numbers chapter 15 or 16 where a man went out to pick up sticks on the Sabbath day and he was killed he said you can't do any work on the Sabbath day it was symbolic of a life of rest that God wants to give us as his children so when Jesus had come to me I'll give you rest what does he mean let's compare Scripture with Scripture Hebrews chapter 3 in Hebrews chapter 3 we read about certain people in the wilderness who disobeyed God and did not enter Canaan you know the story two million Israelites six hundred thousand Israelites perished in the wilderness and men male Israelites perished in the wilderness they did not enter Canaan and we are told here hebrews 3:16 who provoked him when they heard not all those who came out of Egypt Joshua and Caleb did not provoke him they went in but with whom was he angry for forty years God was angry with certain people for forty years because those whose bodies fell in the wilderness they did not enter kin and what is Canaan called here look at the name given to Canaan here God said he swore that they would not enter his rest the land of Canaan is called God's rest he swore you will not enter into this land of rest because you didn't trust me you thought the Giants were too strong it's a picture of believers who have come out of Egypt by the blood of the Lamb baptized in the Red Sea baptized in water but they won't enter into the land of victory or the land of rest because they said the Giants are too strong this sin that defeats me is too strong for me I can't overcome it and this other sin that defeats me is too strong for me I can never become it this giant keeps on knocking me down knocking me down and like the ten spies we say the land is a wonderful land I've heard some here and there a few believers testify about this wonderful life of Jesus they're coming to is really a wonderful life but we can't go in because the Giants are too strong for us exactly like those ten spies and God was so angry says you'll never enter it because you think those giants are stronger than Almighty God and that's what there's a lot of believers think that this sinful habits that are acquired from Adam is more powerful than the Holy Spirit that's an insult to God the Bible says greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world and when I say that the one is in the world is greater than Jesus Christ I'm insulting God that's exactly what the 10 spies said and God said you will never enter into my rest he will perish in the wilderness and that's what happened to them and why didn't they enter in verse 19 because they had unbelief they did not believe that God was stronger than those giants why is this being written in the book of Hebrews that Christians you believe that God is stronger that your sins are stronger than God you also will not enter into this rest so when Jesus said come to me those are weary and heavy-laden I will give you rest he's saying I will lead you into this land of Canaan I will lead you into this rest this rest where the Giants are defeated in your life therefore therefore what verse form let us fear do Christians have to fear some people say no they've got one worse you're not I don't have to be afraid of the devil that's for sure I don't have to be afraid of men that's for sure there the word is fear not I will not be afraid what can man do to me but I must fear something else I must fear where God has made a promise of entering into his rest sin will not rule over you we come short of it we don't enter in that we should fear don't use the word fear not over here he says let us fear very often Christians take the wrong person upright in the wrong place so let me make it clear again I must never be afraid of the devil he is defeated no man can harm me you don't have to be afraid of people no weapon formed against you will prosper and every tongue that rises in judgment against you you'll condemn isaiah 54:17 this is the heritage of the Lord servants but we have to fear unless God's promised a life of rest from me and I don't enter into it I want to ask you all my dear brothers and sisters do you have that fear then God has promised me a life of victory and I don't seem to be experiencing it and I don't even seem to be bothered by it that's serious let us fear because we had good news preached to us a life of victory like the Israelites had but it did not profit them because they did not have faith in it so verse 9 there's a Sabbath rest for the people of God so you see the land of Canaan is also equated with the Sabbath also called rest a life of rest and do you know that when God made Adam on the sixth day what was his first thing God's seventh day was Adam's first day was a day of rest and it's very interesting when I saw that that as soon as God made Adam he's Adam the first thing you need to learn is not going to work in the garden that can wait the first thing you need to learn is to be in fellowship with me and be at rest let's spend 24 hours together and learn to fellowship with me and be at rest then you can go and work in the garden the law was not like that the law said six days you work and then you shall rest but that was not God's original plan for man God's original plan for man was one day you rest then go and work that is true Christianity God has delivered us from the law and brought us to God's original purpose for man which is I enter into rest and then serve God I'm not supposed to serve God till I come to this rest my service will be empty dry and we like trickles of dirty water coming out of my heart instead of rivers of fresh living water coming out so it's a wonderful thing to recognize this that I can come to this tree of life if I allow the sword to fall upon me this is a trustworthy statement if we dine with them we will definitely live with them there will always be a resurrection I remember the first time God showed this to me when I was seeking the baptism in the Holy Spirit as a young 23 year old and just been baptized two years earlier I was baptized when I was 21 and I studied the scriptures and I was in a Brethren assembly where they never spoke about baptism in the Holy Spirit but as I read the scriptures I saw that the thing that changed the Apostles on the day of Pentecost was this baptism in the Holy Spirit that timid fearful Peter suddenly became bold and those people were sitting behind locked doors suddenly they threw the doors open and they were not afraid of anybody they were not afraid of being jailed or persecuted or anything there's only one thing that changed them it wasn't a pep talk that somebody gave him wasn't some preacher who stirred them up it was the baptism in the Holy Spirit and fire that's why Jesus told them don't ever try to go out until you are endued with power from on high I know you're all very zealous to serve me but hang on you wait till your endued with power from Allah and then you'll be my witnesses so I saw that and I began to seek God about it and I'll tell you honestly the truth I went to the Pentecostal church and I was disappointed I love the Pentecostals I love all of God's people but what I saw was disappointed I heard a lot of noise and excitement emotional stirring but I didn't feel it they didn't preach victory over sin they didn't preach the life of Jesus and overcoming life so I came away disappointed and I never joined them in my life but I said Lord I want to seek you and I don't want a counterfeit I don't want emotional excitement I don't want a lot of noise I want the real thing that just gives me the power of God in my life that which gives me an anointing in my ministry and that which gives me the life of Jesus and if it takes me 10 years to get there I'll get it I wait 10 years but I don't want any cheap counterfeit so I sought the Lord in my room and as I was reading the Bible and I was seeking God the Lord pointed me to his own baptism the time when the Spirit of God came upon the Spirit of God came upon Jesus when he was thirty years old when he accepted baptism and to me more than the baptism the symbolic meaning of it was what came home to me there was no need for Jesus to get baptized John the Baptist said I don't you don't need to go back there I need to be baptized by you why did Jesus stand in that line of sinners waiting to be baptized I mean his reason could have told him if he had lived by reason you know if you stand in line the sinners people will think that you've also sinned in your life and maybe there's some secret sin in your life that's why you're getting baptized because John the Baptist said his baptism was a baptism of repentance and maybe there's some repentance you need in your life people will misunderstand you but Jesus refused to listen to that voice of reason the father told him go and stand in that line and get baptized never mind how many people misunderstand you how many people say what they want about you see that the true servant of God is like that he doesn't care about the people misunderstand him he's only concerned about what the father says and he told John the Baptist sufficient let us fulfill righteousness right now it is needed for me to be baptized for thus I can fulfill all righteousness and so he submitted to John the Baptist pushing him under the water which symbolized people in the world putting him to death you know that daily dying in some way or the other provoking him putting his self life to death and he did not resist it he yielded to that depth that's the meaning of baptism I yield to people crucifying me and as John the Baptist lifted in mop out of the water he was testifying I know that my father will raise me up that if I die I will live it was a new way that Jesus was proclaiming there in that baptism that had never been heard of in all the four thousand years of man's history up until then if I die and accept death at the hand of others God will raise me up and that was the meaning of baptism and as soon as he came up Spirit of God came upon me and the Lord said to me that is the way to have the power of the Holy Spirit this is an answer to my question how can I have the power of the Holy Spirit said if you choose this way of death to self I will raise you up and my power will rest upon you as long as you choose this way and if ever a time comes in your life where you feel this is not the way for you my power will depart from you that's the word I heard 53 years ago have never forgotten meant there I understood the close connection between the Holy Spirit's power and the way of the Cross but in the life of Jesus the way of the Cross between the sword and the tree of life they're very closely connected and anybody who shows me a tree where I can get to without a sword that's not the tree of life that is another Jesus another spirit another gospel that's what Paul is trying to say because the real tree of life has got a sword in front of it there's absolutely no way to get to it you can try all surround it but is going round and round it says all 360 degrees it's the sword is going around it whichever way you come to it you have to die that's the only way to come to it and there are Christians throughout the world today who are trying to come to the life of Jesus without that sword falling on their self light and they never seem to attain to it now I just want to ask you my dear brothers and sisters some of you have heard the message of victory over sin here in this church for many many years are you frustrated are you satisfied with your substandard life feeling that there's really nothing better that I can have at least this is better than what I had before well if you're satisfied - that you're not thirsty for more you won't get any more he's a rewarder only of those who diligently seek Him but if you come to scripture and say Lord there's a lot more in scripture than I have experienced right now and I want to have it and if you're thirsty and if you're weary and heavy-laden he will bring you into a rest there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God let us fear lest we don't enter into that rest let's choose that way of death - south we conclude with 1 Peter chapter 4 in 1 Peter 4 he speaks about judging oneself as the mark of those who belong to the family of God here he speaks about the household of God in 1 Peter 4 verse 17 the household of God are the family of God which is the true Church of Jesus Christ he says the time has come 1 Peter 4:17 for judgment to begin in the household of God he's not talking about that future judgment where all men will be judged he's talking about a present judgment like he says in 1 Corinthians 11 if we judge ourselves rightly we will not be judged that's what he's talking about here this judgment must begin with the household of God and it must begin with us first in the world they put themselves first in everything except judgment judgment they put others first isn't that right in everything I'm first I'm first I'm first but in comes to judgment they judge other people first Jesus comes and delivers us from that world and reverses it that we learn to put others first in everything but when it comes to judgment we put ourselves first it's the reverse of the world so it says if we judge ourselves first to me that is the mark of being part of the family of God that's the mark of that I am part of the family of God that I judge myself so I see from that that this should be the characteristic of everyone who's a part of God's family that that's one characteristic about you that you don't judge others you judge yourself first in any situation you don't think of what he should have done what my wife should have done what that brother should have done that doesn't interest me I did I die to myself I'm not here to get my husband a wife to die to themselves hi a judgment begins with me I want to be a part of the household of God I was part of the household of Adam for years I've finished with that I'm now part of the household of God the household of Adam Adam didn't judge himself when God asked him did you eat that we blamed his wife since Lord look at her she's the one who caused me to sin that's how I was all over Adam but in the household of God I judge myself first what did I do wrong where did I slip up Lord let me judge myself first he says for example it says here let none of you suffer verse 15 as a murderer or is a busybody in other people's matters the number three number of things mentioned in verse 15 let me just mention two of them a murderer do you know who's called a murderer in 1 John chapter 3 Cain do you know why he murdered because of jealousy the first murderer in history murdered because of jealousy jealousy that God had blessed another brother more than him they both came with an offering but the fire fell on Abel's offering and not on him and he became a murderer do you think there's jealousy among believers oh you bet there is jealousy because someone else has been blessed more than you ask yourself don't be too sure it's not there some of your criticisms of others may arise from a jealousy that that person has been blessed more than you maybe he's blessed spiritually maybe he's more gifted than you more capable than you maybe he's richer than you he's far better off than you are in the world and that can cause a lot of jealousy all such jealousy indicates if you don't have the life of God let none of you suffer because of this jealousy so here's the first area where we can all judge ourselves and that can be very easy in a church where there are different standards of living you know in India the standards of living a very very the wide range of standards of living in India because there are rich people and poor people and they both get converted and the Bible doesn't teach communism which is everybody share equally some people think Christianity is communism that means everybody put all your wealth together and everybody has shares equally it's something like you know you've got all these fingers and one is too long so let's cut them all and make them equal well that's not the way God made it he's made some big and some small so I've learned to leave that as the way God's done it well he's made some people rich okay and some people are poor but some poor Christians won't accept that I've seen it in India I've seen it among believers they haven't learned to judge themselves first they're jealous then why is God given that person so much and not so much to me I'll tell you brother sister judge yourself if you want to be a part of the household of God don't waste your time judging other people jealousy was the first sin that came in the Bible out after the Garden of Eden once Adam and Eve were kicked out of the garden the first sin manifests itself is jealousy that's why I talked about it and I've seen it in the church and it's destroyed people just like it destroyed Cain he became the Lord cursed Cain saying you'll be a wanderer I've seen Christians who are jealous who become Wanderers they never wonder means one who cannot come into fellowship with others they're always lone people always have a complaint against somebody else there wanders they cannot come into fellowship they've gone the way of Cain like it says in the book of Jude they've gone the way of Cain the other sin here is being a busybody verse 15 in other people's matters troublesome meddler that's another thing I found very much among Christians instead of being occupied with judging oneself they're always nosy about what's happening about other people's lives they want to know who's pregnant and who is falling in love with somebody how does this interest you I don't understand this these are called nosey Parker's troublesome meddlers busybodies and other people's lies i can garantee nin my life those people who have that type of attitude they never grow in their Christian life I see the mirror and year after year after year up here I'm talking about India I don't know you folks who they remain in the same place and if you're like that I can tell you in 20 years you'll be in the same place you're in today because you're a nosy Parker always being interested in things that have got nothing to do with you you're curious about matters that don't concern you the solution that all that is judge yourself let the sword fall on all these Adamic characteristics that are found in your life even though you claim to be a believer and you claim to be a part of a church that is preaching the New Covenant and all this high sounding language but you behave just like any other Christian in any other dead denomination let's take it seriously and say Lord I want to judge myself I want to be a part of the household of God and I want to take seriously from this day onwards I don't want to believe that I have come to the Tree of Life if I have not allowed the sword to fall on these filthy habits that I have in my life I want to take it seriously I want to diligently seek you and I believe that you'll reward me as bar heads in prayer I want to plead with you in Jesus name you probably heard many challenging messages in the past but they did not produce results because you allowed the birds of the air to take away the seed he allowed the devil to take away that which the Lord convicted you about don't let it happen this time determine with all your heart that you're gonna press through into the life of Christ Lord I don't care what price I have to pay I want to count everything else as rubbish like Paul said in order that I might gain Christ and have his life help us Lord each one here to enter into this life to gladly choose the way of the Cross because you went that way help us to see your example and follow you we pray in Jesus name Amen [Music]

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

Id: wSW6_KkogtY

Length: 73min 26sec (4406 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 26 2016