Repentance From Dead Works - Zac Poonen - March 1, 2013

with the capacity to receive the life of God there were other beings created before Adam like the Angels the angels also have a mind I presume they have emotions and they have a will choose because it's because they have a free will that some of those angels rebelled against the devil rebelled against God and followed the devil followed Lucifer and became demons in the demo but these those angels did not have the capacity to receive the life of God we need to distinguish this fact that when God created man he created man with the capacity to receive his life no angel can partake of God's life eternal life the Bible speaks about eternal life which as I've often said does not refer to living forever because even those who go to hell live forever eternal life is a life that had no beginning and no end that's the definition of eternity and that's the life of God and no angel can have it but man was created with the capacity to receive that life and that's what the Tree of Life symbolized in the Garden of Eden he turned a life the life of God through the Holy Spirit but man rejected that and went for knowledge of good and evil to be resident within himself and that's how death came but when God made man is something like you know electricity you send electricity into a bulb it shines but you say it send that same electricity into this wooden pulpit it doesn't shine because this pulpit does not have the capacity to give forth light you can send any amount of electricity through it but above even a little bit of electricity it gives forth light so man in men and angels this way the man has got the capacity to manifest the life of God and that's the main purpose of a barber bulb is not for decoration this main function is to give light and if it doesn't get light it's worthless and where man was created we must recognize that our primary purpose is to manifest the life of God if you don't do that every accomplishment is a failure we find people on earth glowing in so many things you know on the sports field a the world is full of sports heroes glory in their accomplishments in the athletic field scientists who glory in their scientific achievements Nobel Prize winners and film stars and all types of things people glory in and even among Christians people grow in being great preachers or well-known preachers or gifted and with certain gifts of the Holy Spirit supernatural gifts they've all failed if they have not manifest to the life of Jesus man's primary function is to be the dwelling place of God and that's where that's why even if you're not gifted you're not gifted to speak or any such thing if you manifest the life of God you fulfill your purpose on earth the first dwelling place of God mentioned in Scripture is the burning bush and I've often thought about that you know Moses saw the burning bush right at the beginning of his 40-year ministry when he was 80 years old I want you to see Deuteronomy in chapter 33 to the end of Moses life when he was 120 years old and he was blessing all the tribes of Israel Deuteronomy 33 Moses the man of God blessed the sons of Israel before his death and when he blesses Joseph in verse 13 he says subdues a blessed of the Lord be his land and may verse 16 may he bless be blessed with the choice things of the earth and its fullness and the favour of him who dwelt in the bush see that's how he blesses chosen the favour of him who dwelt in the bush Moses never forgot that that was the beginning of his ministry he was just a shepherd he'd given up being the Prince of Egypt one day he met God in the bush and it changed his life completely because he saw God in the bush God spoke to him and he never forgot at the end of his life he speaks about him who dwell in the bush and that is a picture to me of what God wanted man to be that bush just an ordinary bush not the biggest not the most impressive but a bush that was on fire God was in it God could speak through it that people could stop and see hey this is different now I'll tell you something even if you're not very gifted and speaking or any other other gifts of the Holy Spirit if you really seriously really seriously take this matter seriously to recognize that your primary function on earth is to be the dwelling place of God and that the same way that Jesus manifested the life of God not only when he was preaching he preached only for three and half years and he manifested that life for thirty years before he ever stepped out in the ministry those thirty years were just as important to God as the remaining three and a half you know we live in a Christendom where the emphasis is so much on ministry and gifts and then that's important but not all are called to a public ministry there are many functions in the body in the human body that are not visible functions like the eye and the tongue and the year in the hands but they're very important I mean who would say that the heart and the liver and the kidneys and the internal organs are less important than the visible ones we never see those invisible organs and there are many invisible organs in the body of Christ as well but very very important but there must be one thing that characterizes every one whichever whatever their calling is that they must be the dwelling place of God God must be able to manifest his life through them and if that has been accomplished then they fulfill their purpose I mean Jesus at the end of 30 years never having cast out a demon never having preached a sermon never healed a sick person humanly speaking his major accomplishments were making good stools and benches and furniture but God saw something other than that that in all those thirty years in his home with four brothers and two sisters who probably irritated him in a hundred and one ways he manifests to the life of God and in Nazareth for 30 years he manifested the life of God though he never preached a sermon I say this for the encouragement of people who feel I'm not so gifted but can he manifest the life of God at the end of 30 years the voice from heaven said I'm well pleased with him isn't that a wonderful thing that God will be able to say about you who never stood in this pulpit once in your life I'm well pleased with you because you manifest through the life of God make that your goal and he's not very well pleased with a lot of people who stand in pulpits I'll tell you that because they don't manifest the life of God I'm convinced that God is not pleased with the vast majority of evangelical Christian preachers today I have no doubt about it because mainly because of their wrong attitude to money jesus said you cannot serve God and money and most preachers I've met in my life served money they wouldn't serve if they didn't get money to me that's the difference between a wife and a prostitute prostitute does what she does for money I'm not a wife that's why I say a lot of Christendom is a harlot and because emphasis has been on gift and I believe in gifts I wouldn't be able to preach if God didn't give me gifts Jesus would not have we'd not have none being able to do anything in three-and-a-half years he didn't that gives but what I say is underneath that gives was a thirty years of a life that he lived so I'm concerned about a lot of young people who want to serve God and build a church and preach and all that and they don't seem to begin with the importance of a life be a burning bush and one day God will speak through you but we got to be on fire for God first that is so very important in God knows the right time the Old Testament Tabernacle that is another picture of God's dwelling place and the most important thing in that Tabernacle was not the beautiful curtains or anything not the altar not even the ark no it was the fire of God the present demarked the presence of God in the tabernacle once that was gone the tabernacle was an empty shell in spite of the ark being there I see that to be the condition of a lot of Christians they're gonna do so particular about the pattern and it must be like this is this New Testament pattern this is what it means to be justified by faith roman catholics etc all doctrine doctrine doctrine pattern pattern but if the fire is not there it's no use having even the ark we need to understand that the israelites made that mistake once they thought when they were defeated by the philistines you read in 1 Samuel chapter 4 they thought oh it's because we don't have the ark so they brought the ark in and they I think without the ark about 3,000 of them were killed with the ark about 30,000 per killer that's a huge figure the art didn't make a difference God was not there and that's the tragedy with so many people who seek to follow a pattern I've heard I've had people come to our conferences in Bangalore and say ah brother Zack we want to build a church and we want to follow the same pattern and sing the same songs and follow the same doctor and I said that's not it it's not it the New Testament church is one where God dwells in the midst it's the burning bush it's not a pattern it's not a particular doctrine God dwells and that's the thing we must seek for more than anything else let me also turn you the worst that's come to my mind afresh John chapter one when we think of ministry as I said I don't devalue the gifts of the Holy Spirit we will not be able to serve God without a supernatural anointing I stop for it I continue to seek for it otherwise I would not be able to minister here was a man who was anointed John chapter 1 verse 6 there was a man that came a man sent from God his name was John and dear brothers I want you to put your name there and see that verse can be written about you there came a man to whichever town you're living in sent from God and his name was whatever your name is that's what God wants you to be wherever you are I take that seriously for myself it's not arrogance it's what every one of us is supposed to be men sent by God to a world that does not know him to manifest the life of God in the place where we are that's why he needs so many one man can't do it I mean we can come together for conferences and they listen to a man but in your town how are they going to see the life of God if you're not going to manifest it says he came for a witness verse 7 that he might bear witness of the light that's what we're called to that people might believe through him he was not the light but he came that it might bear witness of the light that was the true light Christ which comes into the world and enlightens every man we're called to be witnesses to Christ but we are eating one step ahead of John it says about John he was not the light but Jesus says to us you are the light Matthew 5:14 you are the light of the world he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John the Baptist it's an amazing thing I've taken it seriously I believe that my calling is greater than even John the Baptist's I don't want to you know have a false humility that discounts the word of Jesus Christ himself he who was least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John the Baptist is a tremendous calling we have to be filled with the holy spirit to manifest the life of God in us it says about Jesus in Acts chapter 10 when the Apostle Peter was talking about Jesus in the house of Cornelius he said in acts 10:38 you know of Jesus of Nazareth how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power and he went about doing good and healing all those oppressed with the devil and this is the point I want you to see God was with him wherever he went the main thing was the presence of God was there because he was filled with the Holy Spirit and that's the main thing and that was true even in those thirty years when he was in Nazareth the presence of God was radiating out from him and dear brothers I want to encourage you to seek for that I you know I when I was when I quit my job in the Navy and the Lord called me out of the Indian Navy I left in the year 1966 I was 26 years old then and I spent nine years traveling around all over India I felt my primary calling was for India and from north to south east to west all over I went to most Christian churches and missions and saw the missions that various missionaries had established through the years and I was so utterly disappointed we're only little more than 1% of the population Protestant Christians include all the Protestant Christians nominal unconverted Protestant Christians is 1 percent of the population and I discovered the problem is not that we are 1% the problem is that quality of that 1% was so pathetic that I said thank God were only 1% imagine water Devine if it was 10 or 20 percent of this type of Christianity that have been a greater disgrace and dishonor to the name of Christ and that's when I realized that what I needed to do who has not gone on producing more of this quality of Christians so I quit every single church I was a part of and I said lord I don't know I'm not I'm not going to be able to change the whole of India or any such thing but in my small corner where I live I want to produce by your grace in your help something that will satisfy your heart a fellowship that will manifest the life of Christ where we will not emphasize numbers of percentage of population or any such thing but quality so I decided then Lord I'm not going to go all over India trying to find out who wants to go to heaven everybody wants to go to heaven only an idiot would want to go to hell everybody wants to go to heaven but I said Lord I want to go around this country looking for those who want to follow Jesus here on earth before going to happen and that's a very small number those who want to die to their own self life and their own ambitions and pursuits and goals and where self is no longer the center of their life but who want Christ alone to be Center and we're not interested in position money honor nothing but that Christ will be magnified in their life and Christ will be manifest in their life I said Lord if I find I once said Lord if I find 11 people like that like you found and say Lord let your servant depart in peace I have done my job if I can find 11 people who are wholehearted and radical like those 11 disciples Jesus found who could turn the world upside down Wow but it's not easy it's easy to gather a crowd it's easy to gather people who want to listen to a good preacher but to be a disciple I want to urge you my dear brothers seek to be a disciple that's why I emphasize repentance strongly repent of everything say Lord I want to repent of every single thing that is unlike Christ in my life Jesus Christ was sent by God not only to die for the sins of the world but to demonstrate on earth how God wanted Adam to live when God made Adam the way he wanted Adam to live was the way Jesus lived on earth Adam failed and for thousands of years every single man failed even Moses Elijah John the Baptist they all failed they tried living under the law they came to a pretty good life they were compared they were much better just like today some Christians are better than other Christians Christians in one group of better than Christians another group and there are so many different groups but nobody could manifest the life of God - Jesus came that's why God said at last I am pleased with one man and he was to be the first of many brothers is very important for us to be gripped by this I mentioned to you in Romans 3:23 that the thank you the definitely the highest definition of sin is to come short of the glory of God anything on Christ like so turn to Romans 8:29 which is my favorite verse when it comes to understanding what our goal in life is everything must lead to this goal Romans 8 verse 29 whom he foreknew and we know that God knew us before the foundation of the world he predestined this is a big word in theological circles predestination unfortunately the argument always goes around predestination to heaven or to hell are they predestined to go to help lead us to go to heaven the Bible doesn't speak one word about predestination or heaven or hell so I don't know what where they're discussing that from but the bible does speak about being predestined to become like Jesus Christ that's what it says here we predestined to be conformed to the image of his son so there is only one predestination that the New Testament speaks about it's and the word predestination means a destination that's determined beforehand and he foreknew and we know from Ephesians 1:4 that God knew us before the foundation of the world so back in eternity before Genesis 1 verse 1 God knew those who would respond to the gospel and 1 Peter verse chapter 1 verse 1 and 2 says he we are elected I believe in election but not random election where God picks names out of a hat elect it says in 1 Peter 1 according to the foreknowledge of God so there is an election but not the way these hyper-calvinist believe it's election according to the foreknowledge of God that means he knew beforehand those who would respond to the gospel and he chose them before Genesis 1:1 before the foundation of the world he foreknew them he chose them and elected them according to his foreknowledge and way back then he already made a destination for them and if you have one of those whom God foreknew knew that one day in your life maybe the 20th century of 21st century you would give you a life to Christ he would acknowledge you're a sinner and give you a life to Christ saying you want to be his disciple God knew that millions of years ago before before he created the angels before human history before angelic history before there was a universe he knew you and right then he also made a destination for you that's predetermined but whether you get there or not is another question that's up to you if God were to make you get to that destination without your permission he'd had to make you a robot God doesn't want to populate heaven with robots robot is something that's programmed to behave exactly like its master has programmed it it'll do whatever you program it to do I mean the planets are an example of that millions and millions of years they or whatever a number of years they've existed they will beg God split second never disobeyed God that's why none of them have collided with the earth till today all these planets they will be God implicitly but they cannot become God's children they are not sinners why are they not why can't even be God's children even though they've disobeyed even though they obeyed completely for so many years because they don't have free will they don't have a conscience and God could have made Adam like that you know shaped exactly like a human being flesh blood bones but inwardly programmed as a robot that would automatically obey Him that's not what he wanted he wanted people who choose this is what has made the difference this is why so many people go to hell this is why there's a world in rebellion against God just because God did not want robots just like as parents how many of you would like a little two-year-old robot coming up to you saying hello daddy I love you so much and hug you that doesn't impress you at all you'd rather have a naughty two-year-old who disobeys you sometimes but hugs you once and one says I love you daddy that means so much more than a robot who says that every day well our father heart is a picture of the father heart of God he doesn't want robots he doesn't want people are forced that's why I says an elder brother I would never force anyone to do anything that's why forcing people to give money or forcing people to do anything he's completely contrary the will of God we don't want robots in the church God loves a cheerful Giver of everything giver of obedience everything to be cheerful voluntary otherwise it has no worth before God and so are the free choice if you want it's your free choice to decide whether you want to go to the destination God is determined or you make your own ambition and plan for your own destination now I want to say most Vonnegut people born-again Christians don't have a clue about their destination if you ask the average born-again Christian 90% of them would say my destination is heaven I lived in that blindness also till I started studying Scripture seriously and I saw my destination was not heaven my destination was to become like Jesus Christ and so I'm not on my way to heaven like you're singing the song as far as I'm concerned I'm on my way to becoming like Jesus Christ and it should be and how do I know I'm going the right direction today you know like if you're in a bus how do you know you're the you're in the right bus putting along across the country trip every hour you should be getting closer to your destination if you're in the right bus every hour you should be the closer to your destination so if I've understood my destination clearly is to become like Jesus Christ at least every year you should be getting closer to your destination your wife should be able to testify about you you're a little more christ-like this year than you were last year your children should be able to testify that you're more christ-like this year than last year not you're earning more money this year than last year imagine and Christians are excited about that what's the difference between that Christian and a worldly person my business is prospering it's doing better than last year well that's what all the people in the world glory in so many Christians they haven't seen their destination properly you know I remember when I began to serve the Lord I had to trust the Lord for my needs and I didn't always have enough for my family in the early days and so somebody sometimes gave me a gift I'd be very happy and I remember once getting a gift like that from someone and the Lord asked me are you happy I said Lord I'm sorry I am I shouldn't be but I am happy and because the Bible says rejoice in the Lord always not rejoice that you've got a little more money today and I learned something that day I said Lord I'm sorry I got a little more joy because somebody gave me a gift I want you to bring me to the place in my life where I'll never be even one degree happier because I made a little money or somebody gave me some money or I made a little money in my business or and neither will I be one degree sadder if I lost some money in my business I said Lord I want you to bring me to that place whatever it costs because that's how Jesus was Jesus was never happier when he got a little money or any lost little money his happiness was in the father his joy was in the father and the Bible says rejoice in the Lord always and I was determined to get there and in my conscious life I've come there by God's grace I can say that today they may be unconscious areas that I'm not aware of there are but my conscious life I worked at it but say Lord I want you to fill me in the spirit and I know I had to eliminate a lot of things in my life too to come here you know there's always things to be eliminated before we can get Christ Paul says in Philippians 3 that I counted everything as rubbish then I gained Christ it's a great verse 1 Philippians 3 and verse 8 it's a great verse I want to tell you if you want to know Jesus more knowing better here's the most you should keep in mind always philippians 3 verse 8 i count everything to be lost compared to knowing Jesus Christ my Lord and I've not only just counted it as loss I've actually suffered the loss of all things and I count it all rubbish that I may gain Christ when the day comes in your life when you realize that everything outside of Christ is rubbish you have made a tremendous leap forward in your Christian life everything outside of Christ is rubbish it's not just money it could be pleasing people this is one of the other thing the Lord showed me was you cannot serve God and money and you cannot please God and please people Galatians 1:10 if I seek to please men I cannot be the servant of Christ so if I don't get rid of that desire and that's a strong desire it's there in us from childhood from childhood you know how children one to please others that's why so many of them get into drugs and other bad habits in school because they don't want to displease their friends they want to please their peers is this desire is there within us we we want to be accepted and I'll be accepted away if I say do something that will please that person now we got to break free from it in his Christians look at the number of Christian preachers who preach things to please people look at them look in your own life and see whether the areas in your life are you want to please people when Jesus made the conditions of discipleship he said the number one condition of discipleship Luke 14:26 he says you must hate your father mother brother sister wife children and your own life brothers and sisters everyone in other words what he was saying is when it comes to you and your dad and Jesus you must say Lord I don't care what my dad my mom says I don't care what my wife says I don't care what my children say I don't care what my brothers and sisters in the church say I am gonna please you it's a condition for discipleship so if you now you realize that all their opinions the opinions of everybody in the world is rubbish it's rubbish is it's it's to be like you've flushed down the toilet I've got to flush it out and people say their opinion about me good or bad it's got to be flushed out of the toilet down the toilet I've flash it out did somebody say something bad about you flush it out clean out the toilet did something say is somebody good about you flush that down too lest you destroy yourself pleasure always the opinions of men are trash everything outside of Christ is rubbish now I'll tell you this this if you don't take the sum of these things seriously you'll never become the strong type of person you're supposed to be this is the price we have to pay and what price is it it's like is it a big price for me to throw the trash out of my house into the garbage bin outside that's not price if I'm gonna get gold in exchange this is this is the foolishness of man they don't realize that hanging onto this garbage they're missing out on the treasure of heaven and they'll the tragedy is some Christians will wake up and discover their folly only at the judgment seat of Christ imagine dear brothers and sisters dear brothers I mean if you are going to be taken up with money and pleasing people all which the Bible says is trash and because of that you missed out on God's destination for your life and his purpose for your life and finally at the end of your life you stand before the Lord and you discover in that day in the clearer light of eternity the trash that you were clinging on to can you imagine the sorrow and regret there will be in your heart in that day now is the time to wake up and repentance means to turn from that Lord I want to consider this all as rubbish I want to turn around from it and really seek your approval in my life I don't want the approval of men anymore it's one of the prayers I don't preach what I don't practice I have often said to the Lord Lord please don't give me any surprises on the day of judgment I pray that many times tell me now what's wrong in my life tell me now things in my life that are not displeasing to you tell me now where I'm coming short of your highest standard I'm willing to pay the price send me the bill I paid I want to fulfill your purpose for my life I don't want just talk about it I don't want to just preach about it get the impression to give an impression that I'm a wholehearted preacher or something that's worth nothing I wanted to be like that in my life and I tell you God sees whether you're serious and donatella honestly there are times when I have wept before God crying out to him Lord show me I want to know I want to know I really want to know that days when I wake up early and cry and see God and say Lord show me where is there a single area in my life where I'm seeking to please some human being any human being is this single area in my life where I am pursuing something which you don't want me to pursue and little by little he shows me he's working towards that final goal of making me completely like Jesus Christ see this is I was speaking about repentance and I'm trying to explain this once you see that sin is coming short of the glory of God coming short of Christlikeness is sin to me there's one definition of sin on Christlikeness that it anything on christ-like in my attitude thought word motive perhaps my motive that was it was a good action but not done with a christ-like motive I have to repent I have to repent of a good action that's why if you turn to Hebrews and chapter 6 we saw about foundation it says don't lay again Hebrews 6:1 a foundation of repentance not from sin alone but from dead works see it's not only sin that I have to repent from that's a pretty Old Testament level in when you come into the New Covenant you repent from dead works that's how you make the foundation strong that's how we become strong men that's how we can build a skyscraper on this foundation I want to build a skyscraper I'm not building a one-story house I'm building a skyscraper for Jesus I want my life to be a legacy I scraper I want my family to be like a skyscraper I want to train up my children like that and I want my church to be like a skyscraper no teeny-weeny little Hut and so I want a solid foundation in other words I want to remove everything that's contrary to Christ's likeness so in the Old Covenant it was just good and evil good works evil works when you come to the New Covenant there's good works even works and dead works the third category crops up in the pages of the New Testament which is never found in the Old Testament the word dead works doesn't even occur in the Old Testament but it occurs in the New Testament and especially in Hebrews and if you turn to chapter and sews we see that here in chapter six verse one turning away from dead works so you need to not only know what series but you also need to know what that works is if you don't know what that works are you can't turn from it and then the foundation is not strong and there again you go to the average born-again Christian or either theological professor asking what's dead works I guarantee that 90% of them won't be able to tell you but it's in the Bible I say haven't you read Hebrews 6:1 what do you do when you come to a difficult verse in the Bible just ignore it and move on that's the way to remain ignorant forever I decided that when I come to some words I can't understand I say Lord it may take me years to understand it but I want to understand it I'm not gonna give up till I understand what it means if you pursue Scripture like that you not only understand scripture to change your life see Hebrews 9:14 the blood of Christ are much more - through the Eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish the blood of Christ we all know it cleanses us from sin 1 John 1:7 the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin but how many Christians know Hebrews 9:14 that the blood of Jesus cleanses us from dead works most people only know one John 1:7 the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin you go to the average Christian and say the blood of Jesus can cleanse you from sin brother yeah I understand that the blood of Jesus can cleanse you from dead works if you confess them their puzzle it's only then that I can serve the Living God it's not enough to be free from sin there were no dead works in Jesus dead works are works done with a wrong motive see for example I can preach it's a very good thing I can preach in a way that hundreds are blessed but if I preach you the motive to make money or to get honor it's a dead work now I'm not saying there won't be any result from it we can do something with the wrong motive or even something wrong and God can still use it one of the great examples is you know for example people ask me this question can God use a woman preacher when the Bible says a woman should not teach what if a woman gets up and teaches contrary to Scripture will God bless her ministry I say why not because if it's the Word of God God can use that word even though the instrument is disobeying God by doing what she's not supposed to do to me that's the same as a preacher preaching for money that's also disobeying God but can God use that man's preaching to bless people and bring people to Christ what about all these television preachers who are preaching for money do people get blessed by it why not that doesn't mean God's sanctioning that man's work it just means he loves those people and he uses that message to reach those people Paul said if some people Philippians 1 he said some people preach out of strife and envy Philippians 1 verse 15 some are preaching out of envy can you imagine a person preaching out of jealousy just because Paul is in jail he says that I've been imprisoned verse 13 my imprisonment is well known and some there are two types of believers that were the reaction to my imprisonment some people he says have got no courage now verse 14 ah what an example Paul is to me willing to go to prison for the sake of the gospel that gives me courage to preach but he says there are some others verse 15 who didn't get a chance to preach when Paul was around he says now great Paul's in jail now there's no doubt with disarmament here to discern my spirit so I can get up and preach now and I can show that I'm also a great preacher and Paul says okay he doesn't matter what does it matter to me verse 18 whether in pretence or in truth Christ is proclaimed I rejoice somebody who gets saved yeah so the Old Testament example of this would be reading in the Old Testament when the children of Israel came out of Egypt once God's they didn't have any water and Exodus 17 the Lord said to Moses strike the rock and he did that in the water flowed 40 years later again there was a lack of water and they came to another rock in numbers chapter 20 and that is 40 years after Exodus 17 now the Lord said don't strike the rock because there was symbolism there Christ has to be crucified only once not a second time so don't strike the rock this time only speak to the rock and the water will flow but you know what Moses did in anger he took the rod and hit the rock he took his rod and hit the rock a sermon of God directly disobeying God did the water flow you know how many people were blessed 2,600,000 men because all the women and children canna can God use a disobedient servant who directly disobeys his command to bless two million people you have the answer right there can God use a woman who disobeys his word to bless people sure but God will deal with a servant later that he can't escape because as soon as the water flowed into what is the two million people I mean Moses could have foolishly thought ah look how I have been a blessing to 2 million people concert I know Moses I've got to talk to you privately these people got the water because I loved them people are blessed not because that is approving this preacher of this woman preacher of this television preacher but because he loves people God loves people but he'll deal with the servant later on that he will he called Moses and said you're not going to enter the promised land what a punishment forty years he had waited to enter the promised land right he comes to the bodies of it and God says no do you believe God is a loving father yes and he's a very strict father it's a very interesting thing for me to see notice one thing and that's something which all of us must know his brothers also I want you to show you a verse in numbers in chapter 14 you know we must read the Old Testament and he learned something about God's ways we're not under the Old Covenant but the 39 books of the Bible the first 39 books of the Bible are still Scripture that's not abolished we must study it to understand God's ways and here's one aspect of God's ways numbers chapter 14 when the children of Israel came to the borders of the promised land after two years after leaving Egypt and they sent spies in to see the land and the spies came back and said it's a wonderful land ten of the spies said but the Giants are so big we can't go in except Joshua and Caleb and all the 600,000 men followed the ten spies and said okay we won't go in now they are already rebelled against God nine times before that I mean I've studied all those nine times in the book of Exodus and numbers in different different times they were rebelled against God now the Lord says in numbers 14 verse 22 surely all the men who have seen my glory and my science which I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness and have put me to the test now 10 times this is the tenth time nine times I let you go this tenth time you did not listen to my voice you will never see the land but my servant Caleb verse 24 and Joshua they have difference for they'll enter him so God gave the Israelites nine chances and then the tenth time he said God the land with Moses he didn't even give one chance the very first time that Moses disobeyed God God said you can't enter the land was that being a little hard on Moses and being lenient towards the Canaanite towards the Israelites no it's a simple principle with God that to whom more is given more is required in a school a teacher will expect more from a 12th grade High School senior than from a kindergarten student much more if a kindergarten student can't add 4 plus 4 that's not serious if a 12th grade student can't add 4 plus 4 that's pretty serious so scheana named Israel who never saw God - face to face on the mountain or any such thing they are permitted to dissipate dissipate dissipate 10 times they can't enter but Moses who seen God face to face he's not even given one chance if an ordinary brother young brother in the church falls into some sin even adultery well he can be forgiven can be he can repent he can even one day become a apostle or a prophet but if a man was an elder brother falls into adultery in our churches in India we'd never let him be an elder again he's out for life why the same principle - Moore was given more is required so the more light we get on these things remember our responsibility increases I often said to our church in Bangalore I said some of you brothers are hearing truths that are almost not preached anywhere in India and you're hearing truths from Scripture which you probably will not hear anywhere else but I said it's very dangerous to keep coming here to this church because every time you hear something like this your responsibility increases a lot of people listen to my messages on the internet I say praise God they're hearing but they don't realize that it's not just hey that's a wonderful message but every time he hears something that spoken to your heart your responsibilities increased you'll notice the same level as you were before hearing that message and God's going to evaluate you at a higher level so if you're not serious about obedience the best thing is not to listen to any messages just say Lord I'm not here is serious about obedience let me go to some dead church where they won't tell me anything new because we think that I got some light on that verse isn't that wonderful I heard another message boy I've got some light on that verse you don't realize that each time your responsibility is increasing and there's more that you have to repent off the degree of repentance God requires then becomes more as I began to take sin seriously in the beginning all I knew was for example I was baptized as a little baby in an Orthodox Church and the one of the first things after I was converted all I knew was I got to get baptized properly that's all I knew so I struggled a little with that studied Scripture and iPhone I had to take baptism I took baptism and once I took baptism then the Lord showed me the next step that I have to make restitution give back money that I cheated the government on in taxes and other things and calculated it and gave it back then the Lord showed me the next step it's like that look and if I at any point if I had not obeyed I'd have been stuck stuck there after that I would earn an increase in knowledge or that you can get stuck somewhere in the kindergarten and keep on increasing in knowledge the spiritual your life can be at kindergarten level and our knowledge can be amazing a lot of people know the Bible so well and they glory in that and I say this I know somebody who can beat you in Bible knowledge that's the devil he knows the Bible better than any of you I say you have a Bible Quiz competition with Satan he beat you outright any day he beat me too but that's not the test the test is not how much you know the Bible it's the life of God and for that I have to repent of dead works not just what is known to be known sin I have to allow the Holy Spirit to show me that there I sought to please some human being and I need to repent of that if I preached anything or even one sentence in a message to please somebody in the congregation or held back from saying something in my message which is the Lord prompted me to say for fear that they may not invite me here again or somebody here would be offended I have to go and repent before God that's why I personally every time I speak I go before God sometime during the day and say Lord show me is there something I have to repent off some something let me not assume that there were no dead works there I want to be absolutely sure that I have pleased you it's so important I if every preacher did that we'd have much better quality I mean in terms of spiritual quality quality not I'm not talking about eloquence and all that type of stuff I'm talking about spiritual quality sermons if you everybody sought to live like that dead works there's so much of it in so many things we do we you know just giving an impression to people which is for honor what was what are Ananias and Sapphira killed for it's not because they didn't give money it's because they are trying to create an impression it was a dead work let's assume that Ananias and Sapphira when they sold that property you know the story in acts 5 say they sold their property for $100,000 and they sat together and decided I think we'll give $50,000 to God and keep the other 50 thousand for ourselves what would you call a brother who sells his property for $100,000 and gives $50,000 to God you'd call him a wholehearted brother Wow and here they're coming in $50,000 that's standing in the same line where everybody else is giving everything that's that problem and as they come in they don't open Ananias never opened his mouth he just puts that money there and walks away and Peter says come back analyze those apostles had discernment I remember once I was speaking on this and somebody asked the question said brother Zack why don't we have that type of discernment today I said hardly anybody will be left in our church but we need to take it seriously and he was judged and and look what Peter told Ananias before you sold the house it was yours God didn't want your house after you sold the house the money was yours not 90% all of it was yours there was no 10% belonging to God there there was no type required and Anais could have sold it for 100,000 and kept a hundred thousand at home and not stood in that line he would have been alive but when he came there and stood in that line pretending that he was as wholehearted as the others he dropped it the first sin that was judged in the early church was hypocrisy there was a giving 50% of one's income to God was a dead work can you believe that who has light on that that you sell your property and give 50% of that to God and that's a dead word a dead work that's so serious that God has to kill you you know it's like Moses losing the Promised Land because of what you call one slip-up so dead works is much more serious than what we know is sin so what I say is if you really seek to pursue and walk say Lord I want to get to that destination every year it was find me closer to that destination to become like Christ completely he'll give you light on some of these things that I've just spoken of and there are many many other things the Holy Spirit can show us amazing things but he will show it to those who are really eager to get to this destination and God alone knows well you're eager for that or not pursue it my brother's it's the only thing worth living for you'll discover the judgment seat of Christ if you don't discover it now that everything outside of Christ is rubbish it's not worth pursuing at all the times of ignorance God overlooked but now you're no longer ignorant he calls us to repent let's pray that we father please help us to take seriously the things we hear and apply to our lives we ask in Jesus name Amen

Channel: River of Life Christian Fellowship

Views: 12,805

Rating: 4.8251367 out of 5

Keywords: repentance, dead, works, zac, poonen, sermon, rlcf, mens, conference, 2013, river, life, christian, fellowship

Id: Z7aDVgH4j-s

Length: 60min 20sec (3620 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 10 2013