Two Levels of Faith in the Christian Life | Zac Poonen

if you turn with me to revelation chapter 2 and chapter 3 we're familiar with the message the lord gave to the seven churches the churches were all believers nominal christians were not found in those early days nominal christians came after persecution stopped wherever there's persecution of christians there won't be any nominal christians because what do they gain so these churches had believers but many of them were not wholehearted believers they were there accepted the lord and they were born again and so the lord says these words to each of the seven churches in first of all in revelation 2 verse 7 to him who overcomes now if everybody was an overcomer there there's no point the lord saying that there's a special reward he gives to the one who overcomes that's in the church in ephesus revelation chapter 2. now we go to the next church which is the church in smyrna chapter 2 verse 8. this is a good church and they've gone through tribulation and they've been faithful and we don't see anything bad or wrong that the lord corrects in this church but even then he says in verse 11 to him who overcomes so even in a good church everybody was not an overcomer and then you find the church in pergamus which is also had some defects in it verse 17 to him overcomes and then the church in thyatira where actually the elder's wife was running the church if you read in verse 20 that is in a pretty bad state and to them also verse 26 to him who overcomes and then we go to the fifth church sardis chapter 3 verse 1 which is a really bad state they had a name that they were alive the elder versus one but he was dead to them also verse 5 him who overcomes and then we go to the church in philadelphia which is probably the best church you know the lord says some wonderful things about them and says i'll make you a pillar but who is that verse 12 he who overcomes so even to a good church he doesn't say all of you are going to be pillars he says in your church those who overcome i will make him a pillar in the temple of my god and i'll write my new name upon him and then the last church which is the worst laodicean church to them also he says in verse 21 he who overcomes so when we read that to the good churches and the bad churches the lord says you must be an overcomer so the great danger of sitting in a good church is that we can think because we have good fellowship and all the believers are good to us and we have a good relationship with everyone there's no conflict or strife we can think everything's okay but remember even to the good church the lord says i want to see who overcomes here because that's an individual thing he who overcomes means each individual it's possible for a husband to overcome and wife may not be an overcomer or vice versa and then when you come to the end of the book of revelation you read in revelation 21 see this was revelation 21 and verse 7. he who overcomes will inherit all these things that are mentioned in this book and i will be his god and he will be my son and so we find in in the new testament there are two levels at which we can live the christian life and you see that not only in revelation in revelation there were these believers who were members of the church and in the midst there were those overcomers so our aim we're not here to classify in a church who's an overcomer and who's not that's not our business that's god's business which he takes he'll take care of in the final day but we have to make sure that in our own heart we have a real desire to be overcomers to be in that number that the lord's looking for and if you turn to the earlier books in the new testament you find jesus emphasizing this too turns for example to john's gospel chapter 10. in john 10 jesus says in verse john chapter 10 and verse 10 in the middle of that verse i have come that you might have life and that you might have abundant life so you see the two levels there again there's life and there's abundant life to use an illustration if you think of a person lying in a hospital bed he's not dead he's got life and comparing with someone who's playing in a basketball game or something running around that person's got fullness of life abundant life if you only think of life both are alive but there's a lot of difference between that sick person who can hardly get up and this person is so active running around and playing games in the christian life also there are these two levels and throughout the new testament you find this challenge to press on to abundant life to be an overcomer and never to be satisfied with i've got life because jesus came not only to give us life but abundant life now turn to the episodes one corinthians for example what paul writes to the corinthians he sees something very similar in fact you see this throughout the new testament in one corinthians and chapter three one corinthians three he's telling the corinthian christians i could not speak to you as to spiritual men but as to carnal men infant they're not unbelievers they are infants in christ they are babies not grown up and so he says you're not spiritual you're carnal or soulish and you're an infant when you should have grown up and therefore i gave you milk to drink and not solid food you know a baby can't eat solid food so a newborn baby just wants milk so in god's word also there's milk and there's solid food there are some people when you go into a deeper study of god's word yeah so well i'm not interested in all that i just trust jesus and they think that's a very spiritual attitude to have on the contrary they are indicating that i am a newborn baby and i want to remain a newborn baby all my life those are the type of corinthian christians they had so many problems in their life because they didn't think of growing up from babyhood and paul tells them that and he says one evidence of this babyhood in verse 3 is there's jealousy see if you are jealous of somebody else another believer or anyone else an unbeliever jealous of anything maybe that he's financially better off or he's got a better house or a better car or a better job or spiritually that he's more spiritually minded or that he's got more ability to preach god's word or that he's more respected in the church there are all types of things that can cause [Music] jealousy and jealousy love is never jealous we have numerous examples in the world of parents who could never afford to go to college who were just working with their hands poor people but then children they send their children to college and the children get more qualified than them i've never seen a parent jealous of his son or daughter going to college and getting more qualified than him why is that even though that son or daughter knows much more than the parents no father or mother is jealous why because love is never jealous no parent is ever jealous if his son or daughter excels in some area where he himself could not excel love is never jealous so when you are jealous of someone not only does it prove as it says here you're still fleshly 1 corinthians 3 3. you're at the low level you're a baby but it also proves that you don't love that person as i said compare your attitude to that person to the love of a parent to the child where there's real love so the uh an infant is one who's still jealous and not only jealous it says in verse three there's strife whenever there's conflict it's an indication of babyhood you know our children small children the smaller they are the more they fight and quarrel for little little things for absolutely unimportant things they'll fight a fight about it so fighting with each other is another mark of babyhood if a husband and wife are quarreling it's a mark of babyhood i'm not saying they're not christians paul didn't say you guys are not christians he says you're christians all right but you don't seem to be grown up you're still and so i can't share with you some of the wonderful things in god's word now some of us you know have been in rlcf for quite a while you've heard numerous messages from scripture which are at a very high level but it's not a question of hearing those things how much do they register within you if it doesn't register within you it's almost as good as not having heard it see for example in studying math in school mathematics if the teacher is explaining multiplication and you stood you sat there and you heard this wonderful teaching on multiplication and everybody seems to have understood it you also seem to have understood it when the teacher explained it it was clear maybe the teacher explained it on a board and you saw it and it is clear but then when the teacher gives you a problem to solve a mathematic of multiplication problem solved you can't do it so that proves you didn't understand it a lot of listening to messages is like that at the time when you're listening you think oh yeah i got it boy that was a very challenging message but when the time comes in the future days to apply it doesn't seem to work that means you didn't understand it so these corinthians were like that and they were not growing up and there were many things that paul could not tell them see for example in 1 corinthians chapter 2 verse 6 you know there are many people who chapter 2 verse 2 first of all i determine not to know anything among you except jesus christ and him crucified now i've heard some people say well that's the only thing i want to know christ and him crucified and they think that is a spiritual thing to say it isn't what paul is saying is i can't tell you anything more than the fact that jesus died on the cross that's about all your that's about all you know christ and him crucified that's all you know he says i could not share with you the more mature things verse 6 the wisdom which i can share with mature people i could not share with you so it's quite likely there are a lot of things in scripture which the lord wants to show us which affects our life it's not just a question of head knowledge i've seen a lot of people who because they hear so many messages and they watch me on youtube they understand so many things and if their mind is clever they can understand it so well that they can even preach it to somebody else but it isn't true in their life you can preach about being free from anxiety even though you're not free from anxiety yourself now it's not only the corinthians i want to show you another example in hebrews and chapter 5. you see this is pretty universal in the first century that there were people in churches where the apostles themselves were preaching who didn't seem to grow to become overcomers in hebrews chapter 5 he says the time has come verse 12 hebrews 5 verse 12. the time has come by now you should have become teachers but you i find that you're still at this level where somebody has to teach you even the simple principles the elementary principles means the kindergarten lessons of the word of god he's saying you you christians and these hebrew christians you've been christians for so long and you should have been teaching others by now but you're still in the kindergarten it's like saying hey you've been going to school for 15 years by this time you could have been a teacher at least in the kindergarten class because you're 21 years old now you've been going to school for 15 years but sad to say you're still in the kindergarten you're still trying to figure out how addition works and subtraction and how to spell simple words you're in the kindergarten even though you're 21 years old now any father or mother would be terribly grieved if their child is like that even if your child is 12 years old and still in the kindergarten you'd be disturbed if your child has sick two years in the kindergarten instead of one year why is it that many christians don't apply the same rule to their christian life am i in the same level i don't mean in understanding understanding we can know so many things i'm talking in the level of our life the level of our life is determined by whether we overcome sin where whether we overcome the lusts of the flesh whether we overcome pride whether we overcome the temptation that comes from the sinful pleasures in this world are we still drawn to them do you yield to them to be tempted by them is okay but do you yield to them then you're not an overcomer well if you're a newly born again baby it's okay understandable but if you've been in a year if you've been born again some years ago there should be a progress he says the time has come hebrews 5 12 and you should have been teachers and you're not able to eat solid food verse 12. so you still need milk and then listen to verse 13 what is the definition of those who are still drinking milk spiritually speaking everyone who partakes only of milk hebrews 5 13 is not accustomed that means not able to handle the word of righteousness it's solid food you know you can't put solid food in the mouth of a two week old baby a two week old baby can only drink milk it'll choke if you put some solid food into its mouth so there are two pictures he uses one is of children who are in the same level of kindergarten and the other is of a baby who's not able to eat solid food and what is this solid food the solid food is described in verse 13 as the word of righteousness the word of partaking of god's own nature of holiness and love and humility the life of christ the nature of christ becoming more and more in us it's not knowledge a person can have so much knowledge in his mind of scripture even teach it and still be a baby spiritually i've heard a lot of preachers pastors who've been pastors for years but look at their life their babies they still yell at their wives and they love money and those are all marks of babies but they preach so much and they and christians who don't have discernment listen to these men and say wow what a wonderful message it hasn't made them grow they just admire one sermon after another you've got to be very careful dear brothers and sisters that you don't become a sermon taster you taste different sermons and say wow that is a great message you need to evaluate yourself and see how much effect is that sermon having in your life otherwise you're only accumulating in knowledge it's like food you know it's good to eat food to use another illustration if the food we eat does not get digested and it's not converted into muscle and blood and flesh and bones you might as well not eat if you're gonna eat and it's not getting digested you throw it up then it's as good as not eating so the person who's accumulated a lot of knowledge and that knowledge digestion means that knowledge is not converted into life that's the meaning of digestion spiritually just like the food you eat gets digested and becomes blood flesh bones and that's how children grow but if it's not digested not converted into something that makes you grow then it's useless so this is what is happening to the early christians they were not interested in overcoming life they had life but they didn't want abundant life in the old testament there's a picture of this that about two million people israelites left egypt six hundred thousand men many women and children a total of two million but out of those two million people only two entered the land of canaan they all came out of egypt they put the blood on the door and came that's a picture of being redeemed by the blood they all went through the baptism of the red sea that's a picture of water baptism the pillar of cloud coming down from above is a picture of the baptism in the holy spirit and led them they experienced all that they even experienced answers to prayer sometimes we think that if we get answers to prayer we must be spiritual no the people who experienced them you know in the bible you read about some people who experienced one miracle they were lame they started to walk or they were blind and they could see or they were demon-possessed the demons were cast out but they were dead and they rose up one miracle they can testify to but do you know what the 600 000 uh men in who came out of egypt could testify to they'd say if they were giving a testimony in your church they would say you know brothers and sisters we got our bread from heaven every morning i mean if you got bread from heaven you'd probably be talking about it for the next 20 years they've got bread from heaven not just one day every single day for 40 years isn't that a fantastic miracle you read in the psalms psalm 105 106 that their clothes never wore out for 40 years there are sandals with which they walked in the desert never wore out for 40 years if snakes bit them they'd be supernaturally healed when they were thirsty water would flow out from a rock for 40 years their entire 40 years was a daily miracle but they never entered canaan were they redeemed by the blood of the lamb yes were they baptized in the red sea yes but was god happy with them no turn with me to 1 corinthians chapter 10 i told you it's the corinthian christians to whom paul wrote some of you are carnal you're not overcomers you're not becoming spiritual and i can't speak to you like spiritual people and then he not only told them about that jealousy and strife which indicated they were babies and they could only drink milk he gives them an example from the old testament he says that 1 corinthians 10 verse 1. he says my dear believers in corinth let me tell you something i don't want you to be ignorant of this that all those jewish people came from egypt verse 2 they were baptized into moses in the sea a picture of what a baptism in the cloud a picture of the baptism in the holy spirit they ate the same spiritual food which is a picture of going to church and listening to the same message they all drank the same spiritual drink they had received the holy spirit but verse 5 with most of them god was not happy why is he telling the corinthian christians this he says you also may be redeemed by the blood of the lamb and you may be baptized and may have experienced the baptism of the holy spirit you may be reading god's word but verse 5 may be true of you that god's not happy with you and so they died in the wilderness it's the minority with whom god is happy two out of six hundred thousand men joshua and caleb these warnings are there given to us to challenge us not to discourage us but to challenge us and say don't make the same mistake i told you about the hebrew christians who were not growing up they're only drinking milk look what he tells the hebrew christians in chapter 2. turn with me to hebrews chapter 2 and verse 3. hebrews chapter 2 verse 3 how will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation now i don't believe you all any of you have rejected god's great salvation but it's possible that many of you have neglected you know the difference between rejecting something and neglecting something you can reject a child or neglect a child here they were not rejecting this great salvation no they were neglecting it that means they had the opportunity to make use of the salvation and become overcomers and they didn't and so they remain babies every one of us must examine ourselves to see whether you are neglecting this great salvation that was purchased at such a tremendous cost for us on the cross so we need to ask ourselves how can we be overcomers let me just show you a few things turn to one john in chapter one john in chapter five here also he speaks about overcoming how to overcome the world and the world is described before we go to that chapter 2 you see what the world is described in 1 john chapter 2 all that is in the world 1 john 2 16. the world is described as the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life three things that describe the world the world not the physical world but this world system that's run by satan the world system that's run by satan consists of the lusts of the flesh sinful pleasures that cater to our body sexual pleasure etc sinful sexual pleasure and sinful many other things that appeal to our eyes and gluttony these are the lusts of the flesh and the lusts of the eyes is the temptation to in a paraphrase i think living bible it says to buy everything that you see the temptation to buy something that you see in somebody's house not because you need it but because you covet it it's a lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life he categorizes world's attractions under these three categories and he says here in verse 15 of 1 john 2 if you love these things you cannot love god you you can't love both this the world is described here like a another man who's trying to win you the bride of christ to himself and if you're engaged to christ as your bride room and you are drawn to this person called the world with his sinful pleasures and attracting you with everything that can draw you away from god you're a harlot so now we come to one john 5. this world how to overcome it 1 john 5 in the middle it says this is the victory that has overcome the world our faith whoever is born of god overcomes the world means has the capacity to overcome the world just like a little child when it's born a normal child has the capacity even though in the beginning it can't even get up from the cradle that child has got the built-in capacity one day to walk run climb mountains grow up become tall get a college degree capacity is all there whether he attains all that is another thing so whoever is born of god has got the capacity to overcome all these things which i described as the world if we believe this is the victory that overcomes the world our faith so we need to understand a little more about what faith is you know there is dead faith in the living faith james speaks about faith without works and faith with works and if it is only in the in the head something i believe factually two plus two is four that's one type of faith or san francisco is in california that's an intellectual knowledge believing something a fact jesus christ is the son of god it's like believing that san francisco's in california he died for the sins of the world he rose up he ascended to heaven and he's coming back to this earth it's just like believing that loveland is in colorado there's no difference between believing that and believing all these things i just said about christ that's faith without works james speaks about that but the faith that the bible speaks of is not just knowledge of certain facts many christians even this say they are born again it's just a knowledge of certain facts and they've repeated certain words but real living faith is a dependence upon god a helpless dependence upon god like a branch in a tree that is faith and when a branch is in a tree it's bound to bring forth fruit because the sap which is a picture of the holy spirit flows from the tree to the branch and in a sense it's effortless producing fruit but we've never when have never lived that life in the beginning it's a struggle to come to that level life of faith but once you come to the life of faith it's effortless the bible speaks about the rest of faith in hebrews 4. it's a struggle to get there but once you get there you come to a place of rest where it's almost spontaneous so our faith is tested in the different situations we find ourselves in [Music] it's very interesting that many people many christians think only of justification by faith but if you turn with me to romans romans is the great book which speaks about how god declares us righteous by faith but that's just laying the foundation you believe that christ died for you and you have received him as your savior and made him lord of your life you're declared righteous and here's described in romans 5 1 verse like this having been justified by faith we have peace with god through our lord jesus christ that's the basic kindergarten lesson i have been accepted by my father in heaven my sins are forgiven not only sins are forgiven justified means i have been declared to be a righteous person just as if i had never sinned in my life and just as if i'd been righteous from day one of my life that is the meaning of justified it's an amazing thing that the blood of christ does for us not only forgive our sins but justify us and we have peace with god through our lord jesus christ but then it doesn't stop there it says now we go on to verse three tribulations we rejoice in tribulation see first of all verse 2 we rejoice that we have been verse 2 we've been introduced by faith in to this grace in which we stand and we exult in that we exalt is a word which means we greatly rejoice i'm supremely happy see that's something that comes here it's the elementary stage of the christian life and if you notice here in romans 5 i just want to show you the three times where that word exalt comes you see it's like a growth in the christian life the first level is where we exalt or excited and so taken up with the fact that verse 2 we are justified our sins are forgiven and we stand in god's presence accepted we exult in hope the glory of god we get one day but the second stage when you go on from there is verse 3 where we get excited about the trials we are facing very few people go through that who pass in this class to exult in hope of the glory of god yes everybody would like that but verse 2 to exult in tribulation it's not that the tribulation itself is something exciting but because the tribulation brings about perseverance and proven character and makes me proven character means it makes me like christ that's why i exalt in trial i first start and exalt the fact that god's accepted me i'm his child and i've got a hope for the future that i move on to the next class which is exalting in the trials god sends into my life that's how we overcome you can't be an overcomer if you don't have anything to overcome and that's why the once we come to the level of justified by faith which is described in verse 1 the next step is to exalt in tribulation and finally it says in verse 11 we exalt in god himself that is the highest level of the christian life where i'm not even rejoicing in my own spiritual growth and my overcoming sin and my pressing onto perfection no even that becomes a stage to the highest level where i glory in god himself i'm taken up with god himself like the bride is taken up with the bride room in the song of solomon that jesus himself is what satisfies me not the fact that i've got victory see for example if you get victory over sin for example you're defeated by anger and a day comes in your life where you're finished with anger or it's exciting or you're defeated by anxiety and the day comes in your life you're finished with anxiety or you were always complaining or murmuring about something and you're finished with it and you come to the place where you can give thanks in everything good you rejoice in that but there's a still higher level where you don't rejoice in your victories you rejoice in god himself the person of god see even victory is a gift god gives you but now we go beyond the gift to the giver himself in romans 5 11. so this is what spiritual growth is this is what it means to be an overcomer and tribulation and trial is a very important part of it the same thing we read in james in chapter 1. in james chapter 1 we read first of all he says to these believers they are born again believers james chapter 1 verse 2 consider it all joy my brothers when you encounter various trials it's amazing how a mature christian is excited when he comes into a trial just like a worldly person is excited when there's a hike in his monthly salary he goes to work one day and the boss says i've decided to double your salary huh he's excited that the spiritually minded christian is excited when he encounters various trials he says wow this is going to increase my perfection for him salary is perfection this thing's going to increase my perfection he's excited about it he doesn't say oh no what is this trial that's coming to my life we need to look at trials from god's viewpoint in our indian school system the final examination that comes at the end of the school year is very very important because your promotion to the next class is not dependent on all the tests you did during the one year that may be the system in some schools in the indian schools it was the final examination so people had to really work hard to pass in the final examination they looked forward to it because the final examination is a tough examination different subjects why do they look forward to it why does a parent tell his child well even if he got a fever my son go and write that examination never mind if you got a stomach ache or a headache go and do that examination sending a sick child to school because the child will not get promoted to the next class if he doesn't pass that examination so that's what it says here consider it a great joy that you're facing this examination now because this trial verse 2 will test your faith verse 3. this trial will test your faith like the examination tests a student's knowledge and that will produce endurance which will finally make you verse 4 perfect lacking in nothing that's an overcomer if you wanted a definition of an overcomer here it is one who endures in trials verse 4 james 1 4 allows the trials to have a perfect result in his inner man so that it makes him complete and perfect lacking in nothing he gets a hundred percent because he's faced these trials in the power of the holy spirit in faith and he's an overcomer you know you remember he looked at one john 5. this is the victory that overcomes all the temptations the word our faith my faith when i face a trial that is for my good i mean many children say no no mom i don't want to go to today's exact tough examination i don't want to go for it but the parents will say you've got to go for it otherwise you'll sit in the same class next year so a sensible student even if he's sick he'll go and do that examination because he says his promotion depends on that to the next class to the next level so it's the same with trial the bible speaks about trials as the means by which we become overcomers so if your aim in life is to avoid trials you'll never be an overcomer that's the reason why god allows many tribes in the lives of his children you know what is the last sentence that jesus said to his disciples at the end of the last supper before they went to gethsemane and to the cross jesus gave them a long sermon they have two long sermons of jesus in the gospels one is the sermon on the mount three chapters matthew 5 6 and 7 and the other long sermon of jesus is at the last supper john 13 14 15 16. [Music] and what is the last sentence you remember this the last sermon before he went to the cross chapter 17 is a prayer that is addressed to the father but the last sentence of john 16 which is the last word he spoke to his disciples was i have said these things to you verse 33 john 16 33 that in me you'll have peace in the world you will have tribulation imagine that's the last thing that jesus told his disciples you'd think that you'd give them some word of comfort you know we come to the church always expecting a word to comfort us and to encourage us and to say everything is okay god loves you he has accepted you that's the mark of a spiritual baby who every day comes to get a chocolate mom give me a chocolate give me an ice cream there's a pretty foolish father a mother or father who keeps on giving chocolates and ice creams every day to their children as if that's their only food you know how parents tell their children to eat the vegetables and things which are not so tasty but it's good for their body so jesus knows what's good for us and the last word he speaks is in the world you will have tribulation there again trials you're going to have trials but don't get worried be bold i have overcome the world i also face trials for the 33 and a half years that i was on earth jesus says i faced many trials in the 30 years in nazareth and the three and a half years of my ministry and now i'm going to the cross i've overcome the world and i want you to share my victory what is the world the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes the pride of life all the temptations that come to us from the devil he overcame all of them it's a great statement we read in john chapter 14 also in the last message that jesus spoke at the last supper he says in john 14 and verse 30 in the middle of that verse the prince of the world is coming that's the devil but he finds nothing in me you remember he was jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness right at the beginning of his ministry being tempted by satan for 40 days and at the end of it we read those three final temptations but he was tempted for 40 days not only 40 days he was tempted for 33 and a half years every day but he never yielded even in gethsemane a thought was put into his mind don't go to the cross but he overcame it and went the prince of the ruler of this world comes but he has found nothing in me he had tried at every single point to penetrate me couldn't get in he was an overcomer the prince of this world and that's what he's saying in john 16 33 i have overcome the world and i want you to overcome the world as well that's what we read in one john 5 4 this is the victory that overcomes the world my faith which is my helpless dependence upon the tree jesus he i cannot bring forth fruit i cannot be an overcomer but if i helplessly depend upon the tree upon jesus and say lord i want your sap the sap of the tree the holy spirit to keep on filling me every day i don't want just one experience of being filled with the holy spirit i thank god for every experience of the holy spirit but i want to be continuously filled because i want to be an overcomer every single day i want to overcome the way i speak that my speech will always be with grace you know what it means to overcome in your speech let me show you colossians and chapter four colossians chapter four colossians 4 6 let your speech always be with grace seasoned with salt so that people who listen to you get a taste of it you know if you put one spoon of any food into your mouth you immediately know whether it's god's salt or not it should be like that with our speech that people who listen to us immediately they say there's grace in this person's speech i don't mean when you preach i mean in our ordinary conversation especially at home with your husband your wife with your children even when you're firmly disciplining your children there must be the discipline of grace not a discipline of anger we all start with anger at least that's how i started as a father and i knew that was not i was a babe but i wanted to grow i wanted to be an overcomer so every time i disciplined with anger i would get alone with god immediately and actually weep before god alone and say lord i'm sorry the discipline of my child was right the anger was wrong help me to eliminate the anger from my discipline to do it the way you god disciplines us but he never does it with anger he does it in love i want to do it like that lord let your speech always be with grace make it a goal in your life dear brother sister if you haven't reached as yet don't get discouraged say lord i'm gonna get there it took me i'll tell you honestly number of years to get there it was not overnight it as a result of many years of weeping praying fasting crying out to god repenting and little by little by little by little i became an overcomer i remember i'll give you one example you know i knew that getting irritated was a sin and with when you have small children at home it's very easy to get irritated because they do something on the other to get on your nerves every child is like that and i remember once then i battled that i said lord i got to overcome this getting irritated with my children when they're small i want to don't want to get irritated i want to overcome it so i got to some level and then one day i had a severe headache well i believe romans 8 28 all things work together for good what's the good out of this headache now lord tell me uh did you ever have a headache when you were on earth why this headache and this is what the lord said to me in my heart you have overcome irritation from your children with your children when you didn't have a headache now i'm promoting you to a higher class where you overcome getting irritated when you have a headache and that is a higher clause it's a little more difficult so god is always leading us higher you could resist this much pressure so many pounds per square inch and now i'm going to increase the pressure a few more pounds per square inch because i want to make you a strong overcomer it's like these people who go to the gym you know they are working every muscle and there are so many different machines there in the gym to develop your hands and shoulders and legs and stomach your belly and your back and neck and everything and all these things and these guys who go to the gym they are determined to be strong they have these pictures outside of the gym of these people with muscles bulging all over their body and say i want to be like that and they work at it they work at it not the fellow who goes once in a month to a gym who's going to get that type of body he goes at it every day and works it works it works at it and that's how the christian life is and do you think it's enjoyable there it's it's a strain every muscle develops when it's subject to a strain you know essentially what is happening in a gym is they are subjecting certain muscles to a strain you subject that particular muscle on your hand to a strength it becomes strong you subject the muscle in your leg or tie your back to a strain it becomes strong and they do it more and more and more and more every muscle becomes strong and it the body becomes muscular now there's a lot of difference between obese fat man and a muscular man obesity in the christian life is like knowledge although so many people got such a lot of knowledge but it hasn't become muscle they are not overcomers and so that's the meaning of trial god allows trial so that just like that in the gym they subject their muscles to resistance we resist and we overcome i remember once one of my grandchildren when he was only about seven years old asked me grandpa why is why why doesn't god kill the devil well when a seven-year-old asks that question i say hey he wants taking the christian life seriously whatever he's heard i said okay i'll tell you and i told him how we develop our muscles by you know when you stretch a spring you can your muscles in the hand will get strong when you walk or run you're subjecting the muscles in your leg to some resistance so it's by resistance that we develop muscles so i said god has allowed the devil to exist so that he'll resist you and if you resist him so that he will tempt you rather and if you resist him just like in the gym your muscle becomes strong for example i said to him the devil will one day say to you don't obey your dad or mom your dad and mom tell you to do something don't do it what are you going to do resist him say no i'm going to listen to my dad and mom or when the devil tells you sometimes you did something wrong but hide it tell a lie resistance you know i'm going to tell my dad and mom the truth i see you know that's how you'll become strong now you see your good friends will never come and resist you like that but god's allowed the devil to exist to retempt you so that you can become strong yeah and i want to say that not only to little children but to grown-up people as well james says we rejoice in trials count it only joy when we encounter trials the actual translation of james chapter 1 verse 2 is when you face a trial count it only as joy because that is going to make you perfect verse 4 and complete lacking in nothing that's an overcomer if you want the definition of an overcomer there it is in james 1 4 perfect and complete lacking in nothing that's like the man who's gone to the gym and developed every muscle in his hands his neck his shoulder his belly his thighs his legs everywhere lacking in nothing god wants to do that spiritually for us make us completely wise so let me go back to this last verse in revelation chapter let me conclude with this revelation 21 and verse 7. this is what god says he who overcomes will inherit everything that god has for man and i will be his god and he won't be a little baby in heaven he will be my grown-up son that's my dear brothers and sisters that's what god wants every one of us to be grown-up mature sons and we all know in our homes the difference between a immature little child and a grown-up responsible son that's what god wants us to be and the more we face those things the more god can use us to fulfill his purpose here on earth to use you to bless others there is a particular task that god has for every one of you brothers and sisters he planned it when you were in your mother's womb and that's why on a particular day in your life he allowed you to hear the gospel and come to christ you made a lot of blunders in your life but god's blotted all that out in the blood of christ and now he's brought you to the place where he says i want to fulfill something in your life even if you wasted many years of your life don't get discouraged you can still make it take your life seriously at least from today and say lord i want to be an overcomer and i believe god will help you that's bower heads heavenly father thank you for this time i pray that you'll help us not to forget all that we have heard and help us to experience it in our daily life to remember what we've heard today the spirit of god will remind us help us to overcome in our home in our place of work at all times in jesus name amen

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Keywords: zac poonen cfc Christian Fellowship Church Church Fellowship Christian Zac Poonen, Sermons, CFC

Id: mg2voxDeUmQ

Length: 62min 59sec (3779 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 09 2020