The Meaning of Faith, Grace, and Salvation - Zac Poonen - June 1, 2014

but sometimes they don't understand the full meaning of those three words so I thought I would speak on them Ephesians chapter 2 all the three words are in this verse visions 2 and verse 8 by grace that's the first word you have been saved and that's another word through faith grace saved and faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God the Bible says that in our attitude to God we must be like children humility but otherwise in our understanding it says in 1 Corinthians 14 and verse 20 don't be children in your understanding thinking but in understanding be men be mature we need to know where we should be children and where we should be grown-up men in simple trust and humility children are our example but in understanding God's Word children are not our example grown-up intelligent men are our example 1 Corinthians 14:20 I say this because a lot of Christians never grow because they don't seek to go into the depths of God's Word they live on the surface there are riches on the surface but there are greater riches in its depths it's like on the earth you know there are some wonderful things on the surface of the earth like fruit beautiful flowers but the real really valuable things like diamonds and gold are not on the surface they are in the depths and that's a parable the way it is in Scripture if you read scripture superficially you'll get a certain amount of wealth it'll be like the fruit and the flowers you can enjoy them but you never become rich with fruit and flowers you dig deep you get golden diamonds in Scripture and because a lot of Christians are too lazy to dig deep they never become spiritually rich and if you're not spiritually rich you can't help others if you're a poor person you can't help others the only people who can help others are those who become spiritually rich through going into the depths of God's Word and that takes effort you know the Lord told Adam by the sweat of your brow you will earn your bread so that principle applies in Scripture as well that is by the sweat of our brow that means by really seeking to understand God's Word and going to the depths of it that we can get spiritual bread for ourselves and for others and it's not God's will that we should forever be just feeding ourselves when you were a child you fed yourself but as you grew up and became a father or a mother you thought a lot about feeding others your children and it's a great blessing to have children those of you who are parents know that why don't we have the same passion spiritually to grow up and have children spiritually to bless them to be able to be a witness to people around us and to share with them the riches of God's Word very very important it will take effort but it's well worth effort think of the effort we take to get an education many of you have got a good job today because you took pains to have an education in your younger years otherwise you'd be a drifter and a homeless person today or think of the effort some of you have taken to establish your business if you were lazy you'd be a homeless drifter I say why don't we put in the same effort that we do to get an education or to make money or to establish our business to study the scriptures that is the test of whether we believe that God is more important than money every one of us let's give the right answer if I were to give you a question paper here and say tell me is God more important than money you'd all right God but the proof is in how much you prove that by the way you live by the things you give importance to and particularly the study of Scripture those who get academic degrees would never get it if they didn't study why did they spend hours studying sitting up late at night because they felt it's worth it in the long run why do businesspeople work too late at night keeping their accounts and things like that because they know it's important do we ever have we ever start up late at night studying God's Word that's a challenge I want to encourage all of you to take now to ease our conscience with a little bit of Bible study Sunday morning but I do it ourselves and say Lord I don't want to always be spoon-fed by others one who is always spoon-fed by others is a child you can be a 70 year old child and one who has grown up this one was feeding himself how soon we teach our children to feed themselves we need to teach ourselves spiritually too to feed ourselves and then to go one step further and start feeding others like mothers feed their children so that's why I want to encourage you to study God's Word it's something that will stand you in really good stead in the long run and I'm very thankful that I started doing it when I was 20 so if you've been late in starting start now and there's so much of you know if you want help in the days when I was 55 years ago and I was converted we didn't have internet we didn't have access to material that we could study or listen to and it is very difficult to find which is a good book by which I could study the Scriptures but today it's so much easier hmm when you have found confidence in someone who's taught you the word you can now go whoever that is and there are many good teachers of God's Word that's been there in that God is raised up in Christendom you can always go and listen to their message on the internet and study the Scriptures verse by verse hmm so to think of these three words let's begin with faith now each of these three words I want to share three things with you concerning each of them which I help my trust will help you to remember first of all faith faith is first of all as I understand it to believe in God's love for us that's very very important you know when the Lord told Peter you're going to deny me and I'm not going to pray that you won't deny me because you got to learn a lesson you're too proud of your self-confidence so your that has got to be shattered hmm and it was to shatter Peters self-confidence that God allowed him to deny Christ three times now some of us don't think realize how serious denying Christ is jesus never said if you commit adultery I'll deny you before my father if you commit murder I'll deny you before my father he never said that but he said if you deny me before men I will deny you before my father so that was pretty serious and those disciples had heard it so think of Peters sin is something worse than adultery or murder imagine a man who committed three murders in a day and this is something worse than that Peter did that night why did God allow Peter to do that because he was such a proud self-confident person and you can never come to faith if you're a proud self-confident person God has to shatter it now I want to tell you if you if you've accomplished something in life or if you're very intelligent or you're rich or you could at something good with your hands or good with your mind and your business is prospered or you've brought up a good family all these things tend to make us very proud and self-confident and one mark of it is we look down on others and God has to you know the spirit of Peter though all men are like this I'm not like this all men may deny you I won't deny you others maybe other Christians may be like this but I'm not like this that's self confidence that has to be shattered and that's why the Lord never prayed that Peter would not fall now I want to tell you something that is the reason why God has allowed you also and me to fall sometimes it's to shatter our self-confidence and if he really loves you he loved you to fall and fall and fail and fail and fail and fail it's till it's completely shattered and you hit rock bottom and that's when Peter the Lord told Peter when you hit rock bottom I'm praying that your faith will not fail and that is that when you hit rock bottom after you denied me three times that you will still remember that I love you and God loves you that'll make you turn back to him and he said then Peter when you're converted you'll be able to strengthen your brothers when that self-confidence is shattered and your confidence is God is built up that God loves you even when you have hit rock bottom and failed completely so from there I learned that faith is to believe in God's love that's the most important thing to know it is the greatest message in the Bible if someone were to ask me what is the greatest message in all the 31,000 and more verses in the Bible his John 1723 my father in heaven loves me as much as he loved Jesus that's the greatest truth in the Bible and if you are gripped in that truth you have understood the greatest truth in the Bible that everything God does is out of love and goodness one day we will discover though if our minds are not understood that fully yet you know people would say how can a God of love send people to hell I will tell you that one day you will discover it is the love of God that sends people to hell if you don't understand that it's because you're immature you're a child in understanding I began to understand it a little bit already I did not understand it when I was less mature and if you don't understand how a god of love can send people to hell just say to yourself it's because I'm still immature I can't understand it one day when I grow up I will understand that it is the love of God that sends people to hell it's a good God who sends people to hell it's a good judge who puts a murderer in prison it's a good judge who sends a sexual predator and those who molest little children to prison it's a bad judge who lets them out on the street he's got a good judge or a bad one so many people who complain that sexual predators and those who molest little children are released too early from prison would still complain that God punishes people they can't understand God is a good god and there are many things about him you may not understand but if you are rooted and grounded in one thing that God's love is perfect that he loves you when you hit rock bottom that in that story of the prodigal son and the son came back with his he had a big lecture to give to his father I'm not worthy and I want to be just in your servants quarters I don't live anywhere else I don't deserve anything the father stopped him he didn't let him complete he just said father I've sinned and the father said stop that's enough I've seen you and I love you and like we sang in that song it's the only time in the Bible where you read of God running to welcome everyone step that that boy took the father took ten steps towards him if you can believe that in when your worst moments and if you can be assured of that you'll never be discouraged and you will never condemn yourself that is faith to believe in the unchanging love of God and it's absolutely unconditional God's love is not dependent on any condition it doesn't mean he won't punish you it doesn't mean he won't send you to hell some people think unconditional love means you do what you like and God lets you go it's a loving father who disciplines his children it says the rod of Correction will drive foolishness far from a child and that is the love of God so faith is first of all to believe that God loves me as much as he loved Jesus and never to be moved from that because if you don't begin there we don't really have faith many people think of faith is trying to believe some verse and I don't have faith to believe this worse and I don't have faith for healing and they try to claim some where's faith doesn't begin their faith begins and knowing God loves me perfectly and everything he does for me he's out of love it looks as if a very simple thing to say but I've discovered that so many believers are not rooted and grounded in that fact and I'll tell you this you'll not really never be discouraged you'll never condemn yourself you'll never be anxious if you really believed then God loved you as much as you loved Jesus and if you're anxious say to yourself my problem is I don't believe that God loves me as he loved Jesus he loves me but maybe a little bit less or so the way to you think the problem is your anxiety it's not that it's faith lack of faith that God loves you as much as he loved Jesus ask God to open your eyes to see that you know like the blind man said to Jesus what do you I want to open our minds to be open lord I want my eyes to be open to see this most amazing truth imagine I can read the whole Bible and know so many verses in it and yet not be rooted and grounded in the most important truth that is in this book so that's the first point about faith and the second thing about faith is it's receiving God's gift that's the second meaning of faith in John 1 and verse 12 it says as many as received him to them he gave the right to become children of God even to those who believe so that verse tells us receiving and believing are really the same thing if you believe without receiving that's not really faith so faith is first of all to believe in God's perfect love for us and secondly is to receive God's gift now some people are too proud to receive a gift and that's the reason why all the religions in the world teach that you have to do something for your salvation it can't be completely free that's impossible God cannot love me so much we have to do something and that's why religious people in the world go on pilgrimages they burn candles and they pray to the Saints and they roll on the ground and do all types of things because it can't be free it can't be a hundred percent gift maybe partial gift but I got to do something now faith is to receive God's gift it requires humility you know when somebody gives you a gift you can there's a certain amount of humility required in receiving a gift particularly when you have more than enough I mean if you're a homeless person you just accept it but if you're a very wealthy person and somebody gives you a gift you you say why do I want it this is the pittance compared to the amount of money I have I mean supposing you have a million dollars and somebody gives you a gift worth ten dollars I tell you it really requires humility to receive it there is a humility involved in receiving a gift and it's because of pride that people won't receive that it's a wonderful thing to recognize that faith is receiving if grace is God's hands stretched out from heaven saying here is my gift faith is my hand just reaching up and taking it if I don't take it I don't have faith it can be stretched out towards me I can say yeah I believe in it I believe in it but if I don't take it I've not exercised faith there are about a billion Christians in the world and they all believe that God so loved the world that He gave Jesus Christ to die for their sins but they're not saved because that is not faith they believe in their head the devils also believe but they don't receive and a lot of things like that where God offers us something you don't receive it you don't have failed so think of it like that or to use another example if you look at the promises of God like a check somebody has sent you and you don't go and deposit it in the bank you just keep it at home or frame it up or something you're going to be poor but when you put it in the bank it gets credited to your account and you can use it the promises of God are like that that's one reason why for some time now I've been praying Lord before I leave this earth I want to claim every single promise for believers for New Testament Christians I don't want to claim the promises for Israel there are many promises for Israel in the Old Testament they're not for me but every promise that God is given for his children for Christians I want to claim every one of them before I leave this earth I mean that's not such a great thing to do if somebody sends you ten checks how many of them will you put into the bank it's as simple as that would you put nine and say well but most of them in you'd never say that because money is so important for us why aren't the promises of God equally important for us why why is even one promise in Scripture left out that you have not in cashed see 2nd Corinthians 1 in verse 20 says single Indians 120 as many as the promises of God are yes and I'm a are yes in Christ and when we say I'm into that then it is for the glory of God so there are two things in that verse I can read this verse like this every promise is being signed by Jesus Christ but if I don't endorse it at the back and give it in the bank I don't get it and my endorsement is come in I mean is a word which means it's a Hebrew word it means it shall be sold so I look at a promise of God in the Bible and say it shall be so I receive it that's faith the third meaning of faith is dependence upon God first of all it's believing God's love second it's receiving God's gift and the third is depending upon God's power you see one of the best examples of this is John 15 I think this is one of the most beautiful illustrations of faith and worse for abide in me and I knew as a branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine neither can you unless you abide in me so here is a picture of a branch in a tree can you think of anything more helpless than that even a child a one-year-old child can do some things on its own can walk you can do number of things on its own but a branch can do zero without the tree it just dries up immediately it's it's one of the pictures of absolute helplessness more helpless than a child more helpless than anything a branch in a tree and it's that helpless dependence upon God that is faith where a branch says I can't produce a single fruit on my own even if I've had 50 years experience in producing apples I can't produce even one on my own today experience doesn't help and the branch says you new branch is not born one Apple yet I'm as helpless as you do you recognize even after being many years of believer that you need that same simple helpless dependence upon God that a person converted today needs it's when that goes away from our life that we begin to have confidence in ourselves which is the enemy of faith you know in the Old Testament circumcision was a very important commandment if you are not circumcised you were cut off from Israel the New Testament meaning of circumcision is no confidence in myself Philippians 3 verse 3 we are the true circumcision it says there who have zero confidence in ourselves so Old Testament circumcision was a physical cutting off of confidence in cutting off of the flesh that circumcision in the New Testament it was cutting off confidence in the flesh whereas that was cutting out for physical flesh the spiritual meaning is cutting off confidence in our flesh no confidence in myself even if I've been a branch for 50 years producing wonderful fruit cut off from the tree I get zero so I'm just like a newborn believer when it comes to helpless dependence upon God the thing is that new born believer may not realize it as much as a mature Saint the more one way to discover whether you're growing to maturity is are you discovering more and more your own helplessness without God are you more and more free from self-confidence I tell you my brothers and sisters self-confidence is like uncircumcision it'll cut you off from God the Lord said that anyone who's not circumcised in Israel is cut off from me so remember that all your life when it says in the Old Testament Jeremiah for be circumcised in your heart not just on the outside have no confidence in ourselves so this is the picture has helped me a lot you know what does God require of me what is the tree require of the branch nothing just depend on me let my SAP flow into you the SAP flows into the branches a picture of being filled with the holy spirit that automatically produces fruit the bra it's effortless it's really effortless if the Brawn just opens up without any of its channels blocked opens up everything inside for the sapped of loin fruit is effortless and that's what the Bible says about being at rest in God there remains a rest for God's people the branch is at rest in the tree and it's possible for you to come to that life he who believes Hebrews 4 says has entered into rest that's one way we know that we have come to real faith if you don't if you're not familiar with that verse it's Hebrews in Chapter four and hmm verse nine there's a Sabbath rest for the people of God and one who's entered into his rest is seized from his own works and we who believe that's that whole section from verses verse three we who believe enter into that rest so what is that it's the rest that the branch has in the tree I'm utterly dependent on God just as much as I was the day I was first converted everything I could never get one sin of mine forgiven without God doing it all not even one life I've done a million sins now I couldn't get even one forgiven without God doing it all on the Calvary it's the same way all through life God has to do it so that's faith helpless dependence upon God so let's go to the next word the next word in Ephesians we want to look at is grace so let me say three things about grace now first of all visions 1:7 says grace these forgiveness of our sins that's we have to begin mercy which is mentioned in the old were C which is an Old Covenant word is a part of grace grace is the big thing that covers more everything but it says you're in Ephesians 1:7 we have the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of His grace so it's by grace that we are forgiven so grace brings forgiveness you think of what grace does for us it brings forgiveness blotting out of our past sins grace says I will not remember your sins anymore Hebrews 8:12 there's a not that God forgets it but he says I will never look at you that's the way I understand it I'll never look at you as one who violated my law so many times in your path life as one who disobeyed me so many times you know so many people are hesitant to go before God because they think oh I I've done so many wretched things and maybe it was yesterday that you did some wretched thing or did something that hurt God and you believe God accepts you today and says I won't remember what you did yesterday or last week or any time that shows how much you believe in the blood and the power of the blood of Jesus Christ and in his promise we confess our sins he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness and to say to us I will not remember your sin anymore the reason why we find it reluctant for find ourselves reluctant to believe that God will not remember our past is because we think that God is like us you know in Psalm 50 God says you thought I was somebody like you God says I'm not like you we find it very difficult to ignore what somebody did to us I mean maybe with some grace we can overlook what they did to us 20 years ago but what if somebody did you something last week you'd say well I've got to remember that for some time before I ignore it or if somebody did something to you this morning God's forgiveness is so complete if you sinned this morning and you confessed it and you turned around from and say Lord I'm sorry about what I did and I want to turn away from it God says I won't remember it that's grace complete forgiveness where there's God says I won't remember that when I'm not going to look at you as the one who behaved badly this morning it's wonderful to live with the father like this I'll tell you people may say well brother if you preach that people are going to take advantage of God and keep on sinning there will always be people evil wicked people who take advantage of God on their evil we get people who take advantage of you so what does that mean you stop being good God is good and if people take advantage of him it their we're ones are going to suffer loss not God so just because some people take advantage of God's goodness and misuse the message of grace doesn't mean we're going to stop preaching it I have understood that if I'm preaching grace correctly and I preached it properly what should be the question that people should ask immediately turn with me to Romans chapter 5 when I preach a message like this Romans 5:20 the middle of that verse where sin increased grace abounded all the more so a sin reigned in death grace reign through righteousness where sin increased grace abounded all the more the logical question then is verse chapter six verse one shall we then continue in sin so if you're preached preached grace correctly as far as forgiveness goes the logical question everybody who's heard you will say oh then we can continue in sin right then we go to the next step that grace is more than forgiveness Romans 6:14 no sin shall not be master over you because you're under grace you misunderstood grace brother he's answering verse one what shall we say then shall we continue in sin that grace might increase no never because grace is supposed to give you power over sin it's not just that he forgives you and ignores what you have done but sin shall not rule over you anymore for you're under grace so when you have understood that the next question is what then verse 15 shall we sin even once see there's a difference between verse 1 and verse 15 verse 1 says shall we continue in sin and verse 15 says shall we sin even once from now on so when a person is understood the second aspect of grace the first aspect is forgiveness full and free the second is power to overcome sin verse 14 sin shall not rule over you because now you're under grace grace gives me power to overcome sin and if I've really understood that then I will say shall I sin even once verse 15 I want to say to all of you dear brothers and sisters that you've really understood grace as not just intellectually because you maybe heard me speak so often about it but really being gripped by revelation in your heart that when I'm under grace sin cannot have power over me if you're really understood it by revelation in your heart you will say well then I don't want to sin even once in future think of that but he's going to live another 30 years let's say you say I don't want to send even once in the next 30 years or do you say well of course I'll sin you haven't understood the message Oh grace I'm not saying will you sin that's not my question my question is what is your attitude to sin is your attitude sin and well of course we'll keep on sinning we've heard this message about overcoming sin so many times so for so many years in this church but we still keep on sinning and I believe it'll be like that in the future too well then I agree according to your faith be it unto you you will keep on sinning but if your attitude is sin shall not have dominion over me because I am NOT under law but under grace what shall I say then shall I send even once take verse 14 and 15 together then you've understood it properly otherwise you haven't understood it properly that's the problem then you look at the past and you say well it doesn't work so far it won't work in the future don't speak that language of unbelief brother sister no matter how many times you've been defeated no mana for how many years you've thought you understood the message you thought you understood you didn't really understand it if you didn't understand it if you didn't really understand let me repeat it I never get tired of repeating it if you really understood Romans 6:14 you will go to Roman's 6:15 shall we sin even once then we need to hear some people ask me brother Zack why are you always preaching about overcoming sin it's like the guy who asked deal moody why you why do you always preach about being born again he says because you must be born again that's it so why do I always preach about overcoming sin because you got to overcome sin you got to hear it until you overcome it you got to take that medicine until it's cured you of the disease you don't say they say well I took it for one day and now you take it until you get rid of that disease think of some medicines you keep on taking until you completely overcome a sickness it's like that I've got to keep on hearing the truth till it's gripped me and laid a hold of me like Paul says that I may lay hold of that for which Christ laid hold of me he says that in Philippians 3 and I pray that all of you will say that that I may lay hold of that for which Christ laid hold of me Christ laid hold of me that he may save me all my sins he did not lay hold of me just to forgive me and leave me in the muck of my sins no he laid hold of me that he may deliver me from sin in actions in words in thoughts in attitudes towards people and even in motive he laid hold of me that he might free me completely from sin in all these five areas deed word thought attitude motive are you passionate about that you know the Bible speaks about the pig that's cleansed and then goes back to wallowing in the mire and the dog that wanted out something then goes and picks it up again what's the picture there and second Peter chapter 2 the last few verses you've been cleansed from something and then you want to go back to it or you vomit out a bad habit and then you go and pick it up again that's a dog going back to its vomit it's terrible pictures the Holy Spirit uses imagine he's speaking to believers there in 2nd Peter chapter 2 2nd Peter chapter 2 it speaks about verse 22 or for dog returning to its vomit that means you gave up something which was inside you and then after a while you went back to eat it up again can you think of a horrible picture you know we got to paint some horrible pictures of sin in our mind to learn to detest it that's why the Holy Spirit pictures know you picture in your mind a dog vomiting out something and then going and eating that now you'd never do that as a human being you'd never vomit out something I'm going lick it up again there you see a horribleness of sin or another picture of a pig wallowing in the mire that's been taken out and cleansed it's clean now and then going wallowing in the mire again I mean as a human being you wouldn't do that if somebody picked you up threw you in in the sewage turn I mean translate mire is sewage then somebody picked you up and cleaned you up and then you want to go back into that you got to see some horrible pictures like I I picture sin as going and licking the toilet bowl licking it licking a toilet ball do you look at sin like that I believe it's worse than that see unless I paint some horrible pictures in my mind of what sin is licking a toilet ball eating my own vomit going back into the sewage drain I won't take sin seriously because we are living in a world where sin is beautified and glamorized in the movies and in TV and on billboards and everywhere there's so many pictures why not put some other pictures into our mind so that we learn to detest this anything that God hates I tell you it really helped you if the Bible uses such pictures why not we use it sin grace is to free us from sins power and just like that grace forgave my sin I didn't do one thing for it he paid it all jesus paid it all all to him I owe we say that about forgiveness when you experience victory you say that about victory also Jesus did it all you mean to say I've got to do nothing well did you have to do nothing to get forgiveness of sins you had to do something otherwise everybody in the world would be forgiven but yet you know that jesus paid it all he paid the full price all you did was accept it grace that forgives in the same way grace that gives us power to overcome sin Jesus will do it but you got to accept it you got to allow him and then thirdly but before I go on let me show you Hebrews in chapter 4 which teaches the same thing Hebrews 4:15 and 16 in the same point grace is not only forgives our sins grace also is help to overcome sin power to overcome sin it says you and Hebrews 4:15 Jesus was tempted in every point but did not sin therefore therefore what is there at therefore therefore let us admire him no that's what a lot of people do Jesus was tempted and did not sin let us therefore admire him no let us therefore go to the same throne of grace that we also can get grace to help us in the time when we are tempted that is verse 16 what is the time of our need the time of our need is not financial need financial need is a pittance compared to spiritual need in the time when we are tempted let us go to the throne of grace to get grace why because Jesus was also tempted like us and he got grace to overcome how did Jesus begin his earthly life let me show you Luke chapter 2 and verse 40 Luke chapter 2 verse 40 it says the child grew is referring to Jesus and the grace of God was upon him do you know the first human being the first human being who walked on earth who was under grace it was Jesus Christ Luke chapter 2 verse 40 what does it mean when it says the grace of God was upon him when something is upon me I'm under that sin shall not have dominion over you because you're under grace why did sin not have dominion over Jesus because he was under grace the grace of God was upon him see lot of Christians they read the Bible so superficially that they never the devil blinds their eyes to the truth we read legal documents more carefully than we read the Bible because that involves money but this involves only a spiritual life we don't care for that shame on every person who reads a legal document more carefully than he reads the Bible I definitely say shame on him such a person will never God will never never lead him into a life because this guy despises God's Word he reads money documents more carefully than he reads the Bible how in the world can God honor me by honor money more than him ask yourself do you read money documents more carefully than you would read the Bible the grace of God was upon him how did he die is it easy to die on a cross to be crucified how did the martyrs face the lions and the burning being burnt at the stake by grace what about Jesus Hebrews chapter 2 verse 9 Hebrews chapter 2 verse 9 the last part it was by the grace of God that he could experience death taste death for us we read in Luke 2:40 that he began as a child with the grace of God upon him we read in Hebrews 2:9 he ended his life on a cross by the grace of God this is how he lived his whole life with the grace of God upon him and the word was fulfilled when you're under grace sin will not rule over you therefore he did not sin now you understand Hebrews 4:15 and 16 he was tempted but he did not sin why just as we read because the grace of God was upon him therefore since God loves us as much as he loved Jesus let us also go to the throne of grace first of all to receive mercy for our past sins Jesus never needed mercy because he was never sinned but we can but we need the same grace that he got to help us in our time of temptation then the third thing grace does for us one second Corinthians 12 verse 9 gives us sufficiency to face every situation in life my grace is sufficient for you and in this particular case Paul had a physical weakness it was a sickness a thorn in the flesh he calls it which he prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed and God said no I'm not going to remove it but I'll give you grace this was not sin because God will not say no to removing sin from our life it was obviously not sin it was not some type of demon possession or some devil sitting on him God will never allow a devil to sit on us it was a trial it was a type of thing which many people in the world face which has got nothing to do with sin trials and difficulties you know physical sicknesses financial difficulties believers and unbelievers can go through that but grace is sufficient to help us in every situation in life so it first of all deals with our past forgiveness of our sins it deals with our inner problem of sin by helping us to overcome it and then it deals with our outward problems of trials and difficulties think of a man's got a very difficult wife he needs Grace to be an overcomer there or a difficult husband he needs grace to be an overcomer to to always live in a godly way even if you're husband and wife are like the devil incarnate is it possible there are many godly men and women who have very difficult partners but they live godly lives because they understood great God's grace is sufficient you know many people think what will happen if a day of persecution comes in some countries that's becoming more and more a reality physical persecution I mean here we think of prayer being stopped in the schools as a persecution that's a lot of rubbish there's no prayer in any government school in India in any case those are not the things you know or there's laws that permit abortion are coming up in this country in India they permitted abortion for years that's not the persecution we face the persecution of early Christians faced was not that the Romans permitted abortion or the Romans did not permit prayer in schools you know when we have never experienced persecution we think these little mosquito bites are persecution and there are Christians taking up campaigns against these little mosquito bites going to China and ask them what persecution is when real persecution comes what is the thing that's going to help us to say to confess Jesus Christ as Lord when somebody's pulling out my nails or putting hot iron upon my body to make me deny Christ what's going to help me that's not like you know prayer being stopped in schools it's called together a different type of persecution or some people say that we preached Christ on the streets and the police stopped us that's not persecution let people pull out your nails and put smoldering iron on your body to make you deny Christ and lock you up in a solitary cell for 21 days without talking to anyone or without seeing sunlight yeah what's the thing that's going to help us grace and she see I don't feel that grace right now yeah you'll get it when you get there it's like I remember the story of Corrie ten Boom Corrie ten Boom was a godly Dutch lady who faced problems with the Nazis and was imprisoned there and she tells in her one of her writings that when she was a little girl her father was a very godly Dutch man and he she she asked this question how will I not deny the Lord and there's some difficulty comes and he told her they were traveling in a train and he said when do I give you the ticket to show as you when you leave the train he says when I actually need it I mean you give the ticket to the to your child and he's actually got to put it at that machine to go through to exit this is the same way and God he'll give you that grace at the time of your need you're like a little child you give that money or that ticket to the child when he needs it I mean you may spend $10,000 on your child in their lifetime but you don't give $10,000 right at the beginning you give them as and when they need it it's like that grace is like that he's not going to give us a whole lot when we don't need it my grace is sufficient means it's exactly equal to what your need is so if the need becomes great one day we'll have more grace and that's the faith we have my grace is sufficient for your need so finally salvation that's the third word salvation has got three tenses past present and future first of all we have been saved from the wrath of God turn to Romans chapter 5 it speaks here much more being justified by his blood we shall be saved from the wrath of God through him that Roth has already gone away you know Jesus said that he's already passed from death to life I'm not under the wrath of God now I have been saved from the wrath of God because Christ paid the price the wrath of God was leasing in that song satisfied when it was poured out on Christ I have been saved from the wrath of God then the present tense I can be saved right now by his life verse 10 the last part if we are now reconciled and me take delivered from the rod of God we shall be saved by his life in the present tense so the first refers to being saved from the penalty of sin the second present refers to being saved from the power of sin that's all the time now I have to be saved so salvation is I have been saved and I'm being saved both the same word it's not just that I have been saved very often we are used to asking people are you saved well are you talking about present tense or past tense are you saved are you saved from the wrath of God yes are you saved from anger and dirty thoughts maybe I hope you are being saved even if you're not completely there is a salvation that must go on in our life in the present tense not just in the past so just like faith has got these three aspects Grace's these three aspects salvation has got three aspects one saved from the penalty of sin second saved from the power of sin which is being happening in our life all the time enemies never be satisfied with just that past tense experience present health is not something we had we must have it now and the third is future where we're going to be saved from the very presence of sin so it's from the penalty of sin the power of sin and the presence of sin Romans 13 it says here in Romans 13 and verse now is our salvation nearer then verse 11 now is our salvation nearer than when we first believed Romans 13:11 last part this is a salvation which hasn't yet come it has come nearer he says now it is nearer than when we first got saved that's talking about a salvation that is future being saved from the very presence of sin where I will not even be tempted you know many people don't distinguish it in temptation and sin so they get into unnecessary condemnation I I will never stop being tempted till I get to heaven remember this Jesus was tempted throughout his earthly life but a day will come when I will not be tempted anymore that's in heaven when I'm saved from the very presence of sin so what is temptation it's a thought that's put into your mind if you get a bad thought that's a temptation it doesn't mean you're guilty that's not you but it's in you reject it say I don't want it that's not me you haven't sinned if you relish that thought for a little while in joy then you have sinned but if you rejected it you know it's like you can't stop thieves from knocking at your door but you can certainly keep the door closed they may knock every day so temptation is like robbers trying to get into your house knocking knocking if you open the door that's sin but when we hear that knock in our mind we can feel condemned oh I heard that terrible thought but did you let it in that's the question and you open the door and say yeah I want that if you didn't say that and you say no I don't want it I'm not going to open the door you have not sinned because it has to be a yielding of our will to accept that in our mind then like James says lust conceives and sin is born you see until a woman agrees to a man she's not going to conceive she may have that egg there but the egg can never produce a baby solely when she agrees to give herself to a man that conception takes place and James uses that example example that lust has to conceive before it becomes sin desire the fact that I got a desire doesn't mean I'm a sinner do I allow that desire to conceive this my when a temptation comes if my will agrees with it so as long as I'm on earth I need to be saved from sin by keeping on saying no in the power of the Holy Spirit by the grace God gives me but a day will come when even temptation will not be there it'll be gone forever from the very presence of sin so let's remember these three words and make sure we experience them in our life I just want to read something which is quite not connected with this but something that I read which i think is very very good for us I think most of you may already know it some of these truths but I thought it'll be good to read it you know it's somebody it's it's not written by me someone I read this somewhere he says there's some things I've learned in life just take a few minutes hmm I have learned that certificates that hang on your wall do not make you a decent human being just shows how much education you got that sometimes it's very hard to determine where to draw the line between being nice and not hurting people's feelings and at the same time standing up for what you believe that's not easy but it's something we have to learn and the other thing is you know people who are very adamant about their particular position no matter how thin you slice it there are always two sides remember that there's your side and there's another side that you don't see no matter how much I care for people there will always be some people who never care back just accept that as a fact of life and remember this it's a lot easier to react than it is to think and then decide what to do so always think first I've also learned that it takes many years to build up trust in somebody but it only takes a few seconds to destroy it by something you do and I've also learned that it's not what you have in your life but who you have in your life that really matters I've also learned that you cannot make someone love you but no one can stop you from loving them and I've also learned that you can get by with your smartness for about 10 minutes but after that you better know something if you want to help people for 10 minutes okay you can talk a lot of rubbish it's I've learned that it takes a long time to become the person that I really want to be so don't get discouraged hmm I've learned that you must always leave your loved ones with loving words because that may be the last time you see them you never know when the Lord will take them I've also learned that you can still keep going for a long time even after you think that you can't go any more I've learned that we are responsible for what we do no matter how we feel about it if you do the right thing it's okay I've learned that either you control your attitude or your attitude towards people controls you and I've learned that the amount of money you have is a lousy way of thinking how important you are or how unimportant you are and this is something good you should never tell a child that its dreams are unlikely to be fulfilled let them dream they may accomplish something that you may never accomplish your biological family won't always be there to help you there are others in the church who will be closer to you than them and no matter how much you are grieving over something remember the world is not going to stop to wait for you to get over your grief you got to get over it I've also learned that our background and our traditions and our circumstances may have influenced who we are but we are responsible for what we become now I've learned that two people can look at the same thing and see something completely different in it and I also learned that the background in which we live is not what is is not all that is offered to us we can change it and no matter how fast or how far you go away you can't outrun God he'll still get you and no matter how far away I've gone he's always waiting to welcome me back and I also learned that if you do the right thing for the wrong reason it's still wrong love is not for me to keep my to pass on to the next person I see and finally even if you live the most perfect life on earth there'll always be somebody to find fault with you so don't get discouraged Jesus walked this way let's pray Heavenly Father it's a wonderful life that you called us to help us to believe in it and to live that life wherever you're always by grace saved through faith in Jesus name Amen

Channel: River of Life Christian Fellowship

Views: 23,317

Rating: 4.8112092 out of 5

Keywords: sermon, rlcf, river, life, christian, fellowship, zac, poonen

Id: wPUePlHbPdc

Length: 65min 1sec (3901 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 01 2014