True Holiness - Zac Poonen Feb. 20, 2011

I want to speak today on true holiness there's a need to recognize true holiness distinct from counterfeit holiness or Old Testament holiness which came short of God's standard I find that most Christians I have met born-again believers that I have met are either scared of holiness or don't know anything about holiness in fact they're afraid of that word and that's because the devil has fooled Christians not allowing them to see that holiness in our spirit in our heart is exactly the same corresponding to help in our body who's afraid of perfect health why should we be afraid of perfect holiness because we don't realize the damage that sin does inside just like I've met people who had cancer and never discovered it till two or three years later by which it had already done a lot of havoc inside their body if we are injured on the outside we know it but what goes on inside sometimes we don't know and sin is like that one of the great things that all Christians need to see is sin is the sickness of the soul and just like you would want to be totally free from all sickness if you are sensible you'd want to be totally free from all sin and just like you realize that sickness only destroys your body you need to recognize that any sin that you tolerate in your life is destroying you inwardly the full effect of that you may realize only when you stand before Jesus Christ on the day of judgment when it will be too late and the devil knows that and he's makes sure earth that he blinds Christians to this reality so holiness is not something we should be afraid of but something we should long for to look at the amount of money you spend and the effort you spend to be healthy we should if we spend 10% of that effort and time to be holy all of us would have been a lot holier than we are right now I want to turn you to 1 Peter chapter 1 in verse 15 it says here in 1 Peter 1:15 2:17 like the Holy One who called you be holy yourselves in all your behavior every part of my behavior must be characterized by holiness because the one who called me is holy children must be like their father verse 16 because it is written you shall be holy for I am holy and verse 17 if you address his father the one who impartially judges according to each one's work conduct yourself in fear during the time of your stay on earth fear the fear of the Lord is very very important if we are to pursue holiness so before getting into that let me explain the difference between temptation and sin because a lot of people are confused in this area if a thought is flashed into your mind that is temptation when you yield to it in your mind it is sin turn to James chapter 1 James chapter 1 we're told the distinction the difference between temptation and sin and verse 14 James 1:14 everyone is tempted when he's carried away and enticed by his own lust and the word lust only means strong desire by itself it does not refer to anything sinful we are told in Galatians 5 that the holy spirit lusts against the flesh proving that the word lust is not evil the holy spirit has a strong desire against our evil nature within us so this strong desire which by itself is not sin entices us and the next verse says verse 15 when the strong desire or lust has conceived it gives birth to sin there must be a union for conception this strong desire if my mind agrees with it there is sin but if it's only a desire it's not sin we need to understand that that a thought flashed into our mind is not sin when Jesus was in the wilderness tempted by Satan Satan flashed thoughts into his mind turned the stones into bread he said no go to the top of the Mount top of the Temple in Jerusalem and jump down and prove that you're the Messiah it was not actually on top of the Mount of top of the temple that the devil said that it was they were in the wilderness it was a thought in his mind why don't you go to the top of the temple and jump down or in his mind the devil showed him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory and said I'll give this to you if you worship me thoughts came into Jesus mind evil thoughts which he rejected temptation which he rejected so we don't have to be condemned if a thought is flashed into your mind it could be the most evil thought imaginable we cannot avoid it as long as we live on this earth if you reject it in your mind there is no conception but if your mind accepts it yes I'd like that in a moment your same conception has taken place it's like a pure virgin girl walking down a road we have recalled a virgin Bride of Christ that's why I use that picture and here on the other side of three handsome young men the world the flesh and the devil trying to attract us remember the devil comes as an angel of light that's why I say looks attractive to many believers too and invites this girl come and the girl is attracted to all these three handsome rich men but she says no there's no conception was she attracted yes that she conceived no are you attracted by temptation yes that doesn't mean we're evil if you don't yield to it in your mind you do not sin we don't have to pretend that money is not attractive you don't have to look at a pretty girl and say she is ugly that would be telling a lie that's that's not that's not the way to overcome temptation too we can be honest truthful and say yes I'm attracted but I refuse it that is overcoming sin we don't a lot of Christians are living a life of pretense the Lord is very very compassionate toward sinners that's one of the great truths we read in the Gospels and so anyone here who feels you're such a wretched sinner you messed up your life so much you're good for nothing I want to tell you that Jesus is fantastically compassionate towards you more than you can realize he's not angry he's sad because you're ruining your life with sin because you've messed up your life he's sad when Jesus was on earth you never find him getting angry at sinners murderers adulterers thieves he was compassionate but he was terribly angry with people who pretended to be holy but sinned in private and if you're one like that pretending before people in the church to be holy and unrighteous and sinful in your private life doing things dishonouring to God but giving everybody the impression in the church that you're a wonderful holy person I want to tell you in Jesus name Jesus is terribly angry with you he would say to you the words that he said to the Pharisees you generation of vipers how will you escape the damnation of hell he never said that to sinners he said that to hypocrites people will pretend and those are the ones who got to be most scared in the day when Christ comes back they need to tremble today because their judgment is going to be the worst so how shall we come into this holiness that the Bible speaks about when God created man the first thing we need to learn is the fear of God the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom meaning it is the ABC when children go to school the first thing they learn is ABC they don't learn that they can't learn geography history science nothing and in the same way in the Christian life the first thing you need to learn is the fear of the Lord the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom the ABC of wisdom in other words all the rest of your spiritual education depends on first of all learning the fear of the Lord if you only want an academic knowledge of the scripture you don't need to learn the fear of the Lord it's like studying chemistry or mathematics or physics or anything you can study the Bible like that like they teach in a lot of seminaries it's not knowledge that's going to make us spiritual if Bible knowledge could make people spiritual we should be having the most spiritual people on earth in the history of Christianity today look at the number of amount of knowledge there is you can have the Bible on a CD and an iPods and all types of things it hasn't made people holy because they haven't learned the ABC the ABC is the fear of God that's the reason why knowledge can destroy you if you don't have the fear of God and when it comes to the fear of God I told you that when God made man he created him on the sixth day at the end of the sixth day and for man the very first day was the Sabbath day his very first day God said I don't want you to work I want you to fellowship with me that's the first thing he taught Adam fellowship with me and then go and work and so that whole day he was with God he wasn't even tempted that day the next day when he went to the garden he was tempted and if he had carried that presence of God I experienced on that first day with him into the garden his life would have been so different why did God allow him to go alone into the garden because that was the only way to find out what choice Adam would make when God created the planets and the stars he made them without freedom of choice they have obeyed God for thousands of years better than any human being but they're not holy they can't be sinners the Stars they can't be sinners they can't be holy they can't be children of God why because none of them have got freedom of choice and if God could have made Adam looking like a human being but programmed inside like the robots that people in Japan make and then he would never have been holy he looked like a human being you know spontaneously doing everything God wanted him to do never touching the tree of knowledge of good and evil he would never have been holy he'd never have been sinful he would not have been a child of God he'd have been a robot so freewill is essential to be holy but not only freewill dogs have got a free will but they can't be holy either because there's something else they don't have it they don't have a conscience dog he animals are not moral beings that's why they're not going to be any animals in heaven it's only God's children and to be a child of God you need freewill and a conscience only Adam and the angels have that that's why the Angels could sin Adam could sin and when we exercise our free will as our conscience prompts us in the right direction that's the way to be holy if we go against our conscience we become sinners it's as simple as that so when we think of the fear of God which is the first thing I want to talk about I want to share three things first of all the fear of God concerning holiness the first time the word fear of God occurs in the Bible is in Genesis chapter 20 and Genesis chapter 20 in verse 11 where Abraham had just told a lie saying that Sarah his wife was his sister in order to save his own life and the King discovered that and later on ah stay bruh ham why did you tell me this lie and the Abraham replies in Genesis 20 and verse 11 because I thought surely there is no fear of God in this place and they will kill me because of my wife that's the first time the expression fear of God comes in the Bible and it interested me because it was related to sexual sin abraham was afraid that those people would sexually sin against his wife and he refers to that as no fear of god where there is no fear of God there's plenty of sexual sin so when it says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom this is one of the first areas where we need to learn the ABC because all human beings are tempted in this area from a very young age I ask the Lord once I said Lord why do you allow sexual desire to start in little children when they are 12 13 years old when they can't get married for another 10 years or more why didn't you allow you know people to be like innocent little babies till they're about 20 and then when they are ready to be married let sexual desire come up then it would protect them from a lot of problems in their teenage years God in His great wisdom has allowed us to have strong sexual desire from our teenage years and the answer I got from the Lord was because Lord said because I want man to overcome this before he gets married if you don't overcome it before you get married the chances are pretty slim that you'll overcome it after you get married because the desire is so strong and that is why it's a sin for people who are not married to have any type of sexual contact it is a clearest proof they do not fear God at all I don't care what church they go to I don't care what activity Christian activity they are engaged in they don't fear God they don't know the ABC this is the area where God is going to test every man and if men are tested in this area because they lust after a woman who is immodestly provocatively dressed it's absolutely righteous on God's part to punish that woman who tempted that man by being dressed in that way so this is an area where all sisters need to be very careful I want to say to you all sisters in Jesus name very lovingly as a father I would say to you don't cause more problems for men than they're already facing in the world in this area they struggle as it is and don't add to that when if you're a Christian let the worldly people do that I plead with you in Jesus name change the way you dress so that you dress in a way that will honor God and not like the way these models and film stars dress who is your example when God looked around Israel to find a young 19 year old girl to be the mother of Jesus do you think he picked on some girl was provocatively dressed walking down Israel no he looked for a godly young gold Mary would ask yourself all you young sisters if you were living in Israel would God have chosen you that's a pretty good question it's a very important area sexual temptation men and women have to be very very careful in this area I remember a young sister once came to me in our church and asked me brother Zach how shall I dress as a young girl I said I'm not going to give you any rules because each culture there are different types of dresses they wear but I would say this you know in your mind what can stimulate and provoke other people if you don't know ask your father or your husband don't ask your mother she may not know but ask a man a man will look at you and immediately tell you whether it's provocative or not I mean it's men who can detect this much quicker that's why I say ask your dad or your husband and I said now I'll tell you I'll give you a guideline if Jesus were living in the next street and he called you up and said come with me I want to go to the marketplace with you today how would you dress to walk with Jesus in the marketplace that's the way you should dress all the time I said that's the only guideline I want to give you don't dress like that only when you go to church and then dress like worldly people when you go to work oh no don't you want Jesus with you when you go to work I tell you you need him more there than in church and if you a dress the way you are now young sisters would Jesus be proud of you and said this is my sister look at the way she's dressed would he be ashamed you know it's so easy to think jesus is with us Jesus with us he's not with you it's very important the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom we'll never make progress just like you tell a kid if you don't learn your ABC you're not going to make progress in your education in the same way I'd say if you don't learn the fear of God all your spirituality is just a lot of hot air there's nothing in it the other area is let me read a verse in 2nd Peter chapter 1 in 2nd Peter chapter 1 and verse 14 it speaks about the whole chapters dealing with false prophets which means teachers who teach wrong doctrine and the interesting thing is this wrong doctrine is not necessarily in the words of fundamental doctrinal statements it's not there that they are in error they are called false prophets in verse 1 in verse 14 we are told that these preachers have got eyes full of adultery can a preacher or a pastor have eyes full of adultery that's what it says here in 2nd Peter 1 14 it's speaking about false prophets the whole chapter and they never cease from sin with their eyes you look at them and you think they're godly men because they know the Bible so much they can preach so well and they entertain you so much but their eyes are full of adultery Christendom has seen such preachers for all these 2000 years Peter writes about it in the first century about false preachers of God eyes of adultery that's where their doctrine is wrong unfortunately Christians think false prophets remember verse 1 is talking about false prophets false prophets are those who got some doctrinal error well this is their biggest doctrinal error their eyes are full of adultery but hardly anybody thinks of that is a doctrinal error it cannot cease from sane and that's why it's so important to be careful with our eyes a man who fears God is careful with his eyes the second thing mentioned in verse 14 is they have a heart trained in greed they love money the two characteristics of false teachers is their eyes are full of adultery and they love money they urge poor people to pay their tithes and give their money so that they can write their drive their fancy cars and buy jet planes and buy expensive houses from the money taken from poor people can you imagine Jesus doing any such thing these people are not representatives of Jesus Christ they are the number one hypocrites agents of the devil who bring a dishonor upon the name of Jesus Christ we have to learn the fear of God and when such preachers don't have the fear of God themselves they're going to produce a generation of people who don't have the fear of God but you are losing with Bible knowledge who's got the most Bible knowledge in the world the devil it doesn't make him spiritual and Bible knowledge will not make you spiritual so please keep that in mind the other area where the fear of God is tested is in James chapter 1 we read in verse 26 James 1:26 this is an amazing verse it says here in James 1:26 if anyone thinks that he is religious that is as we would say he thinks he's a very spiritual person but he cannot control his tongue he is deceiving his own heart and let me paraphrase the rest of that verse his whole Christianity is worth zero now I don't know how many people believe that if you cannot control your tongue you can be preacher choir member rushar pastor whatever it is your Christianity is worth zero what type of Christianity are you going to give to other people this is the area where we need to learn the fear of God in the use of our eyes and the use of our tongue we may say well what to do I don't have self-control I want to control my tongue but I cannot well how is it when you have a couple of visitors in your home you don't yell at your husband or wife how is that do you how do you suddenly develop self-control when a couple of people sitting there in their room it's a it's a lie to say you don't have self-control the reason is not that you don't have self-control you don't fear God you fear a couple of brothers sitting there in your church sitting there in your couch and then you'd be careful how you speak to each other at home but once those two people have gone away and you think the house is empty but Jesus is still there you say oh Jesus who cares for him you get back to your normal behavior husband and wife with each other do you see how we deceive ourselves by saying Christ is the head of this house he's not you don't recognise his presence you fear those two visitors who came to your house much more than you fear God who's all the time there when God made Adam his first day was a day spent in the presence of God and that's what we need to develop the sense of God's presence wherever I go Lord thou seest me all the time jesus said we read in acts 2:25 he set the Lord always before him all the time he lived in the presence of the Father and that's how we are to live that's the meaning of the fear of God turn to James chapter 3 it speaks about this tongue again James 3 and verse 6 it says you're a tart tongue is like a fire a world full of sin James chapter 3 and verse 6 the tongue is a fire the very world of iniquity and it's right inside our mouth and it says further down in verse 8 no one can tame the tongue no one can tame the tongue it says we've tamed lions and elephants but no one can tame the tongue and that's the significant thing that happened on the day of Pentecost the day that the Holy Spirit came upon people and filled them we read in Acts of the Apostles in chapter 2 while those disciples were waiting in the upper room on the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit came and filled them within and this is the first mark that came their Acts chapter 2 verse 3 there appeared to them tongues as of fire resting on each of them now I'm not speaking about what's written the next verse of speaking in other tongues I'm talking here about speaking properly in our mother tongue first and this tongue of fire symbolized that the Holy Spirit was now going to take a control of this tongue which was once set upon by the fire of hell as we read in James 3 which is now going to be set upon by the fire of the holy spirit this tongue would be purified that is the first sign of being filled with the Holy Spirit as the people ask me what's the sign of being full of the Holy Spirit well you get control over your mother tongue if you don't get control of your mother tongue and you speak in other tongues that's useless but that's what's happening a lot of churches today they praise God in other tongues on Sunday morning and go and shout at their wives with their mother tongue and Sunday afternoon I said that's a deception that's not the fullness of the Spirit the fullness of this Spirit will give us control over our and control over a tongue and that's where we learn the fear of God the second thing I want to move on to is the grace of God the fear of God is a New Testament concept we are told for me before I move on to that let me show you this one verse 2nd Corinthians 7 and verse 1 it says here in 2nd Corinthians 7:1 we are to perfect holiness see the last part of that verse perfect holiness in the fear of God the fear of God is a New Testament concept is there we are to cleanse ourselves as we fear God we cleanse ourselves of impurities that we find in our own life the grace of God is the second thing I want to mention the first thing the grace of God does for us is mentioned in Ephesians 1 and verse 7 Ephesians 1:7 we read the grace we are given the forgiveness of sins redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace our first problem is the guilt of our past life that needs to be cleansed away completely and for that we have the blood of Jesus Christ according to the riches of God's grace he blocks out our past and every single person sitting here you can be absolutely sure if you turn to Christ today and say Lord I've committed unimaginable sins in a moment if you have turned you believe that the blood of Jesus was shed for your sin every sin can be blotted out in a moment your record can be clean wonderful message of the gospel but it doesn't stop there it goes on to say in Romans 6 and verse 14 what grace can do for us in Romans chapter 6 and verse 14 we read the further thing that grace does for us sin shall not be master over you see this is our second problem even if our past sin is forgiven if sin is still controlling my life controlling my eyes controlling my tongue controlling my attitudes to people I'm a slave I'm supposed to be a slave of Christ but I'm a slave of sin I said Lord is there any deliverance from this sin I mean I'm often thought about when I preaching the gospel to a non-christian who doesn't know anything about the gospel I say hey do you know that Jesus can forgive all your sins in a moment and he asked me but sir I have what about this anger will Jesus deliver me from this anger will Jesus deliver me from this lust to watch pornography and if I have no victory over those areas I say well Jesus can't do all that but he forgive you all your sin let's see I don't want this gospel thank you do you blame him for rejecting this third-rate gospel that is being preached by so many Christians that Jesus will forgive your sin but of course he's too powerless when it comes to anger or these giants of canaan are too strong for our God that's a lie Jesus can make you master see sin can come under your feet you have not because you don't believe you don't ask you don't believe what that grace can bring you there to be under law is to struggle struggle struggle struggle to overcome sin it's like the disciples fishing fishing fishing all night and catching nothing constantly defeated but when Jesus came in a moment the nets were full of fish that's what grace does when I come to him and say Lord you can do what I can never do in my own strength I mean if you have failed repeatedly I want to tell you it's because you've been trying in your own strength and you try for another hundred years in your own strength you can make any number of new year resolutions you will not overcome till you come to God and say Lord I need grace I need the power of your Holy Spirit I don't need only forgiveness I need grace turn to Hebrews in chapter 4 Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 15 here we read about the example Jesus has given us the wonderful thing about the New Covenant is God doesn't give us just Commandments he gives us an example the Old Testament the only had Commandments do this do this do this it's like trying to teach people swimming on a blackboard move your legs like this move your hand like the nobody learned swimming that way in the New Testament Jesus says follow me he jumps in to the pool and said do what I do that's a wonderful thing about the New Covenant we have an example an example of one it says in this verse who can sympathize with our struggle he knows that when we get into the swimming pool we drown because the power of gravity is so great and he has experienced that power of gravity he was tempted like us he felt the pull of temptation but he did not sin and one of the great examples of that is his walking on water you remember that time when he walked on water gravity pulled him down like sin pulls us down sin is like gravity but he overcame gravity and walked on the water a picture of his overcoming sin and then the greatest miracle there is Peter walking on the water Peter he tells Peter to come out of the boat and Peter walks on the water Peter can overcome sin Peter can overcome the law of gravity picturing the fact that we can overcome the law of sin that pulls us down but the moment he turned his face away from Christ and thought the temptation was too great for Christ to overcome immediately he began to sink and he cried out saying lord save me and Jesus immediately held his hand and kept him from falling and sinking that's what it says in Jude 24 he's able to keep us from falling now I want you to look at Hebrews 4:16 the next verse to the one that we just looked at the verse we saw before was that Jesus is tempted like us and did not sin in other words he was pulled by the law of gravity but he overcame he was pulled by the law of sin but he did not sink therefore therefore whenever you see therefore in Scripture find out what it is there for therefore means it's referring to the previous verse let us draw near therefore link to the previous because jesus never sinned let us draw near with boldness to this throne of grace there was no great in the Old Testament Jesus brought this this throne of grace so that first of all we receive mercy which is an Old Testament word referring to the forgiveness of all our past sins and find grace to help us in the time of need the time of need according to the previous verses temptation picture a mountain climber who's climbing a mountain and slips and is hanging by his fingers over a cliff but too proud to ask for help he slips and falls and breaks his bones then he asks for help and the ambulance called mercy comes along forgiveness of sins Jesus picks him up forgives his sin fixes all his broken bones and he goes climbing again again he slips and he's about to fall this is a picture of just about to fall in time of temptation this time he is humble enough to say help me Lord I'm going to fall and he finds strong arms lifting him up and placing him on solid rock that's grace grace to help in time of need so this is what you can do when you're tempted and to do a little homework start with the sin that you have fallen in the most can you think of that right now that's right what you're thinking of right now that's the sin next time you're tempted in that area instead of being too proud to battle and try to climb try to climb you're fallen so many times before you reach the bottom and break your bones and ask for mercy ask for grace to help you in your time of need Lord I can't make it help me and I'll tell you you'll experience a miracle you'll find yourself standing and you'll wonder hey how did that happen that was grace not the grace that forgave you but the grace that gave you victory over sin now in the beginning like a child learns to walk it may take a little time but the child never gets discouraged you see these ten month old children trying to walk they fall get up a thousand times but they walk they run and you who've been defeated defeated defeated I want to tell you in Jesus name you can walk in victory God can help you grace can help you to be an overcomer then finally let me say one more thing we need to understand what it is to walk the way of the cross jesus said in Luke chapter 9 and verse 23 Luke chapter 9 and verse 23 if anyone he was saying to all of them he's saying to all of us today anyone sitting here wishes to come after me do you want to come after Jesus there is only one way he must deny himself take up his cross daily and follow me if Christians don't understand the fear of God they don't understand what the grace of God can accomplish here is another thing they don't understand what it means to take up the cross and that's what I want to explain to you in very simple words from John chapter 6 and verse 38 John chapter 6 and verse 38 this is a verse which I call the one-line autobiography of Jesus life he's telling his own entire life story in one sentence I came from heaven and Lord what did you do on earth what did you come for many would say he came to die on the cross that was just the last part of his work I came not to do my own will here's my will here's God's will I came not to do my own will but to do the will of him who sent me that's where he died to his own will he carried a cross every day for 33 years that's the cross he asked us to take we don't have to be physically crucified but every day numerous times you have the desire to do what you want to do to speak to somebody the way you want to speak to look where you want to look and there you see the will of God is different and if you're willing to die you can follow Jesus and the Holy Spirit is the one who teaches us the fear of God the Holy Spirit is the one who gives us the grace of God and the Holy Spirit is the one who will give you strength to deny your will to say no to your own will and to do the will of God this is the only way to follow Jesus and as we do it we will find we are perfect Adonis inwardly it will bring spiritual health into our life you'll feel like a spiritually fit person don't be afraid of perfect holiness let's pray it's powerheads before God if God has spoken to you he respects your dignity as a human being he doesn't want to shame you and so he speaks to you privately in your mind something that even your neighbor never heard what he said to you will you say Lord I want to obey that is the proof that you fear God that what God spoke to you in secret you will obey say Lord fill me with your Holy Spirit that's the secret of spiritual strength to become truly holy God desires the best for you and that's why he called you to this life Heavenly Father I believe with all my heart that there are a number of people sitting here you have spoken too clear as crystal I pray that the devil will not deceive them that they will respond in their heart to you right now and say yes Lord I want your way I messed up my life long enough I want to learn the fear of God I want to know the grace of God I want to go the way you went the way of the Cross help them each one Lord in Jesus name Amen thank you man

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Keywords: True, Holiness, Zac, Poonen, Feb, 20, 2011, H, 264

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Length: 41min 57sec (2517 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 20 2011