What Christ Accomplished On The Cross by Zac Poonen

the first time that Jesus spoke about the church the first time the word church is mentioned in the Bible is in Matthew 16 and verse 18 now in our last study we saw that this great mystery which is hidden from ages what is it it's about the church and now owner turn to Ephesians first before going to Matthew in Ephesians 2 you read there that this mystery is something where we saw in Ephesians 3 that the Gentiles visions 3 6 should become fellow members of the body now there as I said that doesn't look like a great mystery that Jews and non-jews should become one in Christ but the point is how do they become one this is the mystery individual Christians here and there that's not a great mystery people have accepted the Lord you know what they say save souls it's easy to go around saving souls but to make them into one body that's a mystery and the mystery is not individual salvation I want you to understand this it's the local body of Jesus Christ and if you want to know how difficult it is to build that just look around and see the amount of confusion there is in so many churches and the only way that it can be done is if he can understand what happened on the cross of Jesus Christ it says when Jesus died he made Ephesians 2:14 both groups into one in the Hindu caste system there are the upper-class Brahmins and the lowest caste oh I don't know what they are I'm not very familiar with it but there's a group called The Untouchables I mean there are so much untouchable that I've heard that the upper caste people if that person walks by and the shadow falls upon this upper caste person he's got to go and have a bath that's how much that's why they keep these people at a distance and to bring even an upper caste and lower caste person who's come to Christ one see what a massive problem it is even in India and the Jews and non-jews was far more separated then upper caste and lower caste in India the greatest difference in caste system in India is nothing compared to the way the Jews looked at non-jews now we can read in the Acts of the Apostles that Paul said no there shouldn't be any difference but you try and go into villages of India and convert the Brahmin and the lower caste person and say now you got to mingle together and break bread together and drink from the same cup and then you'll see what a difficulty it was to make Jews and Gentiles together we read it so easily in the scriptures but it was a tremendous problem but when Jesus died it says here he broke down Ephesians 2:14 this barrier of the dividing wall if that barrier is not broken down you can never become one with another person and he abolished this enmity there is in the flesh you know that there is an enmity in your flesh you love yourself you never fight with yourself you never find your left hand hitting the face or right hand eating the face you never fight with your but he fights with your wife she's supposed to be one flesh with you it says you got to love your wife as your own body if you want to know how difficult it is for two people to become one go and ask any married couple honest married couple who will tell you the truth of how it is in them how difficult it is to live at peace with one another even for one month it's possible it's possible if you understood the way of the cross you have not understood it even one week will be difficult and imagine this mystery is where people who are so different like us to become one body just like this human body it's a real mystery I tell you that's why people shy away from it and say no the main thing in the judges evangelism reach out to others and collect money and do social work and care for the orphans and care for the widows never talk about becoming one well that is the most difficult thing of all it's like sending your school child to a school where they never teach difficult subjects like maths and science you go to the school and they teach you how to play marbles and about something about geography and little history and you send your child to a school like that you wouldn't but that's what's happening in Christendom today the most important subject is left out but the the easy ones are all talked about see this is the problem and we need to understand this and when we proclaim the whole purpose of God this is part of the whole purpose of God that we have to become one in our marriage we have to become one and in our church we have to become one and we are so many different cultures and are bringing them differences of opinion so as I was saying in Matthew 16 Peter got revelation that Jesus was the son of God then he so he said Peter Matthew 16 he asked who do people say that I am who do you say that I am Peter said in Matthew 16 verse 16 you're the Christ the Son of God and Jesus said that's great you're blessed because it was not your human cleverness that revealed this to you but my father in heaven and now I say to you on this revelation that you got it's like a rock on this rock I'll build my church this is why the Roman Catholics have not understood this they thought Peter is the rock actually in the Greek language one is Petros and one is Petra across is a small stone you're Peter you're a small stone but on this Petra this big rock I will build my was drawing a contrast and which was this rock this revelation that you got this revelation that people never get in the Old Testament now Peter you need to get a revelation of the church you got a revelation about me I'm the son of God now I'm going to build my church on this revelation you got to see the church as a revelation from God I hear I meet so many people who come to our conferences and hear about the church and one body and all it they go back and nothing happens where they are because they haven't seen it as a revelation they haven't seen it as the most important thing you know supposing you're given a job in an office a new job that you got and you go to the office and they tell you the most important thing you have to do is this there are certain secondary things and less important things and you spend the whole day doing the less important things how long will you last in that job they say listen you're supposed to spend 90% of your time doing this most important thing and you haven't done it you waste all your time doing the 10% stuff this is exactly what is happening in Christianity the great mystery is not bringing souls to Christ the great mystery is how can God bring people who are so different from each other and make them one body I will build my church Matthew 16:18 and all the gates of hell means the powers of spiritual depth Hades is a word referring to the place of the dead so gates of Hades means the powers of spiritual depth the powers of spiritual death will try to crush your life out of you but they will not be able to do it he will overpower it that's the meaning of the resurrection Jesus overcame Hades in the power of death and the church is supposed to do that see it's the powers of spiritual death depth that bring conflict in a church that bring conflict in your home and they're always trying to overpower you but jesus said the church that I built if you get revelation on it you will build a church the gates of Hell will not be able to overpower Satan will not be able to come in and that depends on unity right at the center in the leadership that is why I keep stressing that if God is building a church in any place he will usually start with two people who are dissimilar from each other and he will make them one as a demonstration to Satan but here are two people who are completely opposite to each other and I have made them one you know this is how it was in the church in Bangalore let me tell you a little bit that God began this work through brother Ian Robson and myself and we are different in every possible way he's an anglo-indian and I love Mullaly and you go through India you will never find Malayalees and anger and it's getting on together anywhere maleeh alleys are a pretty proud bunch they're the closest to the Pharisees I've seen in this land and I suppose the angler loons are like that too but they never get along with each other if you don't believe me just go around and see how many male Ollie's an angler let's work together we'll never find it you you who are male Ollie's here tell me how many anglo-indian friends you have you don't have to go far to find out they just don't hit it off with each other in this country and God in His great wisdom brought two of us together and if you know him and you know me you see we are completely different from each other in every possible way and God said I'm gonna make you the beginning of church but you'll both have to die to your own individual preferences and choices and we are very different as individuals and in the beginning we were very careful not to hurt each other like you know in a marriage during the honeymoon period you don't argue with each other or anything yeah you keep quiet about everything but we got over that honeymoon period pretty quickly and then we begin to be frank with each other and we say now we are our bond is strong enough we can handle saying I don't agree with you no scare we won't break up and now we have experienced that for 41 years and I want to tell you not one single day have we broken fellowship in 41 years and but we are different and we have expressed our differences but we are one and that is the main reason why in 41 years Satan has never been able to come inside our church never he's tried so many ways through the years and he and I know that he faced all types of problems from outside but it never broke our fellowship because right in the leadership for two people who had become really one we don't agree with each other in everything let me show you what the Bible says in Ephesians 4 we want to find a scriptural basis for everything Ephesians 4 it says I want to put two verses together and the two verses are Ephesians 4 verse 3 plus verse 13 so read verse 3 and was 13 together it reads like this be diligent that means work hard to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace until we reach the unity of the faith so we haven't reached the unity of the faith but until we reach the unity of the faith which is until we agree 100% on every single thing what should we do preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace who is very honest here okay you haven't arrived at that perfect understanding of all the details of the faith never mind preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace until we arrive at the unity of the faith and the perfect knowledge of the Son of God as a mature man to the measure of the stature of which belongs to the fullness of Christ that's coming well that's a long way off but until we reach that perfect measure of a mature perfect exactly like the son of God verse 13 that fullness that belongs to guys till we get there what should we do preserve the unity of the Spirit and that's what I would say to every married couple here that's what I'd say to every elder you don't have to have the whole church united that's almost impossible but if you can have the leadership united that will spread and there's a little core that starts with two and becomes three and four and five and six and eight and there's a core that's kept increasing in a Bangalore it's not just two now a core of people and it's not all it's not all the people who came right at the beginning some of the people who came in the vini are not even here and some of us a tea over years are not in that core but there are others God is brought who really willing to pay the price and I'll come to a few in a moment to how to build this core that's what's preserved the church that's like saying in a family what you preserve the unity of the family children quarreling with each other aren't important every home children quarrels husband and wife should not quarrel it's exactly what I'm saying because husband and wife are the leaders of the family the elders in the family if they are perfectly united let that shit'll quarter quarter like anything that family will be strong the devil will not be able to come in that Hall no matter how much the children quarrel but the moment the father and mother start quarreling the children being United is no use there'll be a divorce the family is broken up so what do you think the devil is aiming at he's not aiming at the children fighting with you so he knows he'll accomplish nothing there he's always aiming to bring a division between husband and wife he's always aiming to bring division among the elders because if he succeeds there he's broken the family we must have we Paul said we are not ignorant of the schemes of Satan and that's why we don't find body being built first of all why is the church called the body of Jesus Christ why is that title given there are many titles to the church the bride you know Israel is also called a bride of Jehovah people of God Israel is called the people of God a holy building his rail is called a building and many titles the kingdom of priests kings and priests Israel is called a kingdom of priests but there's one title never never given to Israel body never you read the whole Old Testament many titles given to the church are given to Israel but not body body came only after Jesus Christ came in a body so when the church is called the body of Christ it is supposed to do the same thing that the first body of Christ did what is the first body of Christ do immediately people say in it miracles no don't they don't you think he did a lot of other things than miracles he preached he obeyed Joseph and Mary for 30 years he was a carpenter he made tables and benches and can you tell me in one sentence that sums up everything that Jesus did he did the will of his father in that one sentence that includes his obeying Joseph and Mary it includes his being a carpenter it includes he's going to the cross it includes his preaching it includes his miracles and includes everything when you say he came to earth to do the will of his father and in order to do the will of his father he says in John 6 and verse 38 I deny my own will when we see that Jesus came like us that is another mystery great is the mystery of godliness 1 Timothy 3:16 Christ came in the flesh what does it mean Christ came in the flesh he did not have sin in him he did not have any lusts in him he did not have unconscious sin in him then how is he like us he had a self will like us and it was a will that was contrary to the Father's will and so John 6:38 I came from heaven not to do my own will but the will of my father what is that sentence plainly mean in plain words it means my will was not the will of my father doesn't it mean that I did not do my will but I did the will of my father what does it mean in heaven from all eternity he could say I do my own will because it is the same as the will of my father that's what he said for eternity but the moment he came to earth in our flesh there's something he took on called my will otherwise he could not have been like us just to make him look like us and have blood and flesh and bones that's not enough the most important thing he had to be like us was my will that is why he was tempted like us if he did not have this thing called my will he would not have been tempted like us that is this beginning of sin you see in a little child for example given 1 year old that 1 year old is not tempted with sexual sin not tempted with the love of money he's not tempted with an unforgiving spirit not tempted with jealousy not tempted with all the things that we call sin but what does it have parents tell me self-worth and you see that very very quickly you heard me tell that story of that little boy whom the father told sit down and he said I won't sit down sit down I won't sit down the father takes a stick he sits down he says but daddy inside I'm still standing up now the question is how do you make that inside fellow sit down that is what God wants to do and I want to tell all of you you can obey God on the outside but inside you there's something which wants to do your own will unless that is crucified you will never be able to follow Jesus you can sit down on the outside and sing all the right songs and do all the right but inside there's someone standing up that's the thing called my will Jesus crucified that that's how he could say at the end of my life I finished your work father you think it is easy it says in Romans 15 and verse 3 Christ did not please himself have you read that he never pleased himself are you tempted to please yourself sometimes how many times in one day it's because you want to please yourself that you answer back to that fellow who got angry with you in your home or in your office to please yourself it's because you want to please yourself that you indulge in what you look at on the computer or do something else or read some news article which is only gonna provoke your lust you want to please yourself and Jesus never pleased himself think of living one day without pleasing yourself in anything it's a feat if you can come to the end of the day and say today I never pleased myself in anything I only thought to please God and to bless others Jesus lived like that for thirty three and a half years it wasn't a strain it's a strain in the beginning you see how little children when you teach them swimming in a swimming pool they stand by the edge of the same wool for a long long time I remember my son teaching his little boy swimming once I went with him to the sailing pool and he put the you know the floaters things that prevent them from drowning on him there's only around two or three years old and he put him on that low diving board and the boy would look down and scare and the father went from behind and pushed him and he got all you know struggling but he had these floaters so he didn't drown he came out of the pool and he ran back on the diving pole and began to jump in and out again and again now he was excited in the beginning swimming is difficult if any of you have learned swimming your struggle struggle struggle and then you see these people who even just lie down on the back as if it's a wooden floor or something it's amazing how they do it enjoy it we think denying yourself and doing the will of God is such a struggle in the beginning it is but after a while you'll really see how wonderful it is how people love to go swimming that which they were so hesitant to do in the beginning that's how it is you know Christ never pleased himself he lived the most wonderful life you know if you believe like I do that the most wonderful life anybody ever lived on this earth was Jesus Christ not David who was very rich or Solomon or Abraham rich Abraham or Joe Jesus the most wonderful life if I really believe that I'd say Lord I want to live like that tell me the secret of that life how is it a certain much such a blessed life we say Christ as my hero you really want to follow him you want to find the secret of his life I'll tell you here it is he never pleased himself he never did his own will whenever the thought came that was a temptation he put it to death say no I will please do my father's will that is the secret and you can have it you can live that way at home every single day and your home will be like a little heaven at least from your side and if your wife also decides to live that way your home will really be like heaven and yet people know that and they don't want it and think even a church more and more people I live like this the fellowship between them will really be heavenly and it's a greater testimony when we can disagree with each other and still not break fellowship I once asked the Lord this question I said there are so many areas in which Christians even born-again Christians disagree for example baptism there are people who say you can be baptized as a child yeah there are some born-again people in the Catholic Church and the CSA Church really pouring in people would they take an infant baptism then there are people who say you must be baptized in the name of Jesus we baptize in the name of Father Son and Holy Spirit and then there are disagreements about baptism holy spirit should we speak in tongues or not speaking tongues there are people like the 78 vendors who say you must keep the Sabbath so many disagreements should we have a pastor or should we have elders see all these things need only one line answers and I said Lord if there was one more chapter in the Bible you know Revelation chapter 23 which has infant baptism is wrong problem solved people are filled with the spirit don't have to speak in tongues problem solved there should be no pastor in a church only elders problem solved and you just need a chapter with about 30 verses so many problems in Christianity would be solved I say why didn't God add such a chapter didn't he know as he looked into the future the amount of conflict there will be will the church go through the tribulation or not go the tribulation verse 6 the church will go through the tribulation from the salt what is the other problem in you have I'll give you the other verses 7 whatever it is just one chapter why didn't all wise God who knew the whole future not put that chapter in the Bible the Lord gave me an answer it blessed me the Lord said when people don't see eye to eye with each other when they don't agree with each other their love is tested and they can show their love in a greater way when they don't agree with each other than when they agree with each other and I've seen that in working with my fellow elders here that my love is tested not because they say yes yes yes I don't say yes yes yes to them and they don't say yes yes to me thank God we love one another when we disagree because not because we hate one another but I view things in a certain way and they view things another way and I see we don't know what's right God has put us together it doesn't matter we love one another our love is tested you know if you have got a wife who's completely the opposite of you you can be absolutely certain god only chose that wife for you yeah my wife is completely different from me completely in many ways she's so friendly with everybody I make enemies everywhere I go I remember one man who knew us very well he was not very happy with me but he used to come to our church now and then he sent a greeting for my birthday and the best thing he could think to say about brother Zack on his birthday was brother Zack has got a good wife I tell you honestly I remember on my 50th birthday somebody read that out I said great I agree with that it's know we are different so when newly married couples of people are engaged to get married come to me I draw a little diagram for them I draw an and a piece of paper I draw an egg and I said now I'm gonna break that egg with my hand now here's the broken egg I draw two halves with all the jagged edges jagged edges are pretty pokey you try and take one of those broken eggs and put it on your cheek it hurts and I say to this boy and girl you know you're like that you think you're all very nice and you love one another what do you got all these pokey edges that would hurt each other but now I'm going to put them together and see what ever there's a jagged edge here there's a depression there and wherever is a jagged edge here there's a depression here just fits it's a whole egg again I said that's how God wants to make you one dissimilar but exact opposites becoming one that is how God builds the body but you must allow for that person to be different from you and work with that person in his differences for example take this a simple movement of an elbow it says in Ephesians 4 it's a great verse there speaking about building the body of Christ Ephesians in chapter 4 it speaks about verse 16 the whole body Ephesians 4:16 is fitted and held together think of a body we're not fitted with screws and nuts and bolts know we are fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies and according to the proper working of each individual part makes the growth of the body building up of itself in love never joint is the shoulder is one joint you know it's working perfectly when there's no noise here's another joint think of this as one brother this is another brother they work perfectly when this muscle says I want to pull the muscle on the other side says I yield when the muscle on this side says I want to pull the muscle on this says I'll yield but if both these muscles are stubborn this muscle says I want to pull and says no no this my turn to pull now I'm not gonna make you go down to the hand like this you don't even think about it but the joint is working so wonderfully think of a husband and wife work like this you wanna pull I'm ready to yield you want I'll yield but when there's noise you know whenever there's noise cutta cutta cutta clock means arthritis it's called arthritis the Lord of arthritis and many families they move but it's a pretty painful movement even in a church shouldn't be like that that which every joint supplies think of it you know how many joints there are in the fingers so many all joints but no sound perfect this is why the church is called the body of Christ Israel was never called by that name because they could never be this why because they did not have the Holy Spirit only one prophet had the spirit upon him today we every one of us can have the Holy Spirit which brings the life of Jesus into us and when the life of Jesus flows it connects us to the head Christ we functioned perfectly you know why these things are working together it's not because they are very intelligent they are both obeying the head the head tells this muscle pull and the factor of the other muscle yield and then the head tells this muscle pull and the head tells this muscle yield and they're obeying immediately think of someone playing a keyboard head is saying come on playing this they're all working so perfectly it looked so effortless but everything is an order from the head instantaneous obedience that's how someone plays the keyboard this is why the church is called the body of Christ is your church functioning like this is your home functioning like this you see how the devil is blinded you to this so now we come back to Matthew 16 the first time that Jesus spoke about the church see something else also the first time that Jesus spoke about the church he also spoke about the cross see the connection there Matthew 16:18 is the first time he ever used the word church I will build my church and the gates of Hell are gonna fight against it but there's going to be a solution from that time verse 21 from that time when he spoke about the church Jesus began to tell them how he must go to the cross and suffer and die be killed and be raised the third day and Peter a great loyal Peter saying Lord I will not allow anybody to catch you and kill you this will never happened to you and look at the Lord rebuking Peter get behind me Satan you're a stumbling block to me you're not your mind is not on gods interests your mind is on man's interest can you imagine Jesus rebuking someone calling him Satan when all he did was showing his love saying Lord I'll never let anybody kill you I will never let anybody touch you a man expressing his love like that I mean if I was there I'd said Peter I understand your love but you know I have to go to the cross but that's not how Jesus said it why does Jesus use some strong words the he wanted them to understand how serious a mistake it is to avoid the cross to say don't go to the cross like Peter was saying is the voice of Satan that's what he wanted us to see and that is the voice of Satan because your mind is only thinking of your interests not God's interests I learned something from that you know what I learned every time I hear a voice in me saying don't die to yourself on the cross I know it is the voice of Satan you know where I learned it here this is where I learned it I thank God that Jesus turned around and told Peter get behind me Satan I've learned something from my whole life that the voice that tells me not to die to myself is the voice of Satan and further in verse 23 the voice that tells me not to die to myself is that which makes me seek my own interests and not God's interests and I learned from there that God's interest is that I should die on the cross all that I learned from that one verse I thank God for that and then Jesus said it's not only me verse 24 if you come after me you also got to die on the cross and if you try to save your life verse 25 from going to the cross you will finally lose it this is a mystery the way of the Cross when I was 23 years old I was working in the Navy and I found a great lack of power in my life I knew the Bible I studied the Bible there was no power and the Brethren assembly I went to never thought about power from God so somebody who was a believer told me hey if you want to know about that go to the Pentecostals they are the ones who talk about spirit baptism and power of the Cross so I went to some Pentecostal pastor and both of us and we was seeking for the power of the Holy Spirit and he said to me this is in Kerala he was supposed to be a man who had create ability to lead people who the Baptist and Holy Spirit and he told me keep saying hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah after some time your tongue will trip and you will speak in tongues and then you were so the other brother did it I don't know what happened I said I'm not gonna do that I know the Bible no the Apostles were not just keeping on saying hallelujah on the day of Pentecost in the Spirit of God fell upon them they spoke in tongues and I said listen in any case Lord I came back home I'd been to the church I saw a lot of noise and everything and people babbling something back in four to three syllables ba ba ba ba ba ba that was it and they called that speaking in tongues and I came back home and I said lord I don't want this I don't want this type of rubbish I don't want this type of tongues I want the power of the Holy Spirit what I get angry I want you to control my mother tongue before speaking in other tongues other tongues can wait let's control the mother tongue first that's what I want so I never went back I never in my life joined the Pentecostal church after that but I began to seek God and I prayed life faster than I sought God for the power of the Holy Spirit and the Lord showed me how he himself in the River Jordan went down into the water he allowed John the Baptist to bury him and came up and I learned from that that Jesus was submitting to somebody killing him burying him believing that the father would raise him up from the dead that was the symbolism of baptism and as soon as he came up Spirit of God came upon him and I got my answer and the Lord said to me if you choose the way of the Cross death to yourself let people crucify you bury you I will raise you up don't resist it see if you resist when somebody's putting into the water in Baptism you'll never be baptized so submit and your power will rest upon you and the day you stop going that way you lose my power now we have spoken about this so many times but we really have to die there's a dear brother arjan here a friend of mine he told me a lovely story yesterday I'll tell you for the benefit of all of you there was some place where they were acting a drama of the crucifixion and they had one fellow standing like this and people had to pretend to spit on him and all that and while he was hanging there this is one chap standing there actually spat on him and he said you wait till I come back from abroad I'll teach your left that's what happens with a lot of people say I want to die with Jesus all that type of stuff till somebody actually irritates you and all that is acting disappears dear brothers and sisters we have to die not pretend to die not act as if we are dying it's not a drama it's a real thing if you want to follow me you're going to take up the cross and die and God will raise you up that people spit on you let them abuse you let them kill you the Lord said to me if you choose the way of the Cross you'll have my power rest upon you but the day you decide no I've had enough of that my power will depart from you and that is so imprinted in my mind you know the Lord said that to me 1963 53 years ago yeah more than that 1963 and I've never forgotten it there are many times I've wept in my bed and said Lord I never want to go any other way and go the way of the Cross and no matter what happens whatever people do to me I will not retaliate I will not fight back whatever they do they can take me to court they kill me then do what are we like I will not fight back I will not if you hate them that is a way of fighting back I will not hate if you wish evil for them you know if you don't say it like this fellow who was acting you just wish boy follow I'll teach him a lesson you just wish that Yemen day there's a verse which blessed me and used when I used to meditate on this matter of dying from the Old Testament which it says you know in in the book of Job job says you know I wish I had died in my when at Birth job in chapter 3 and verse 11 and he describes that what death would have been if I if I was like a miscarriage he says in John 3:16 that means I died as a baby and then he describes what death is like that and I said Lord if I really die with Christ it could be something like this 4:17 the wicked will cease from raging and the weary are at rest I this wicked man Zach ponen will stop getting angry and I will be at rest and I'm a prisoner and I'm at ease and I don't hear the voice of the devil anymore the task master and the slave verse 19 is free from his master great I said I want to die I want to die with Jesus and I can't say that I followed that faithfully all these 53 years but I understood the principle of it sometimes I would slip up and fall and get up and repent and it took me time to learn how to really die and things would come and I would get discouraged and then after a while but as I developed a ministry unfortunately I got taken up with my ministry and I did not I sort of ignored my life you know when your ministry becomes very important it's a great danger it happened to me I began accept to be accepted and traveled here and there and I began to slacken off in my inner life and that's when I began to see God again I said Lord I'm a hypocrite I want you to meet with me fill me with the spirit again and that's how we met with me a second time what I want to say is there's a very close connection like that was in Jesus Baptists between his choosing the way of death and the holy spirit coming and even many of you are seeking for the fullness of the Holy Spirit I believe I was I want you to see there's a very close connection between the way of the cross and the fullness of the Holy Spirit and I believe that is what our dear Pentecostal charismatic friends have missed they've understood the importance of the fullness of spirit but they haven't seen that the death of the cross is very closely connected the spirit drove Jesus to the cross it says he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem it says in Matthew 26 after the Last Supper they sang a hymn and went to the cross he went to the cross they know that that's one of the things he did before you after the Last Supper they sang at him magan's singing at him before going to the cross he was so excited and I say Lord that's what I want to go but over the period of years as I've struggled and failed and I gradually come to understand that the way of death is the way of life if we die with him we will live with him so I want to say something about the cross the cross order what has happened on the cross of Jesus Christ briefly first of all let me show you Colossians chapter 2 Colossians chapter 2 it says on the cross when Jesus died he verse 14 he canceled the certificate of debt which was against us every sin that we commit is like a debt that I owe to God I commit a sin okay I owe something to God do you know in the Old Testament how God taught that when you sin you must bring a goat and kill it rather how much does a goat cost two thousand rupees three thousand rupees imagine if you had to pay 3000 rupees every time you committed a sin you will stop sinning pretty quickly they had to bring a goat and kill it and so when I see seen as something serious it's a debt okay I owe three thousand rupees to God now because I sinned here then little later the day I sinned again okay another three thousand rupees and then afterwards I got angry with somebody another three thousand rupees then I had a dirty thought another three thousand rupees by the end of one day I'm already in debt for some million rupees and I've lived like that for so long what a massive debt I've got to God that's what he was teaching those people bring that goat bring that bullock sacrifice it because you sinned he was teaching them that you're in debt to God when you sin and what a massive debt we have accumulated from the time we were born and it says Jesus took that whole certificate of debt and tore it up on the cross that's what he did on the cross the cancel that entire certificate of debt which was against us and he took it out of the way nailing it to the cross it's picture language but our debt is gone imagine if you had a debt of many billions of rupees and you're always afraid to see the man to whom you owe money he comes that way you go this way and so we ran away from God why why are people afraid to go to God because he's the one coming to collect the debt that's why they're running away from God and to see that it's gone somebody paid that billion or trillion rupees and I'm free boy how grateful I should be to that person for the rest of my life he paid my debt and set me free that's the first thing that happened on the cross and how did he do it by shedding his own blood giving up his life it was not just rupees it was a life that he gave up you know there are some groups that teach that Jesus was not God he was only a man or he was an angel Joe as witnesses and different groups like this christadelphians and Mormons in there are different groups they always have a problem with the deity of Christ but do you know if that Jesus Christ was not God think of it supposing he was a highest of created beings that's a created being means not the Creator and I have sinned and Almighty God makes someone he has created killed him for my sin tell me even a human judge will not allow it that's completely against all principles of justice supposing I sinned and my father or mother come and say no no no I will die in place of my son which judge in the world will allow that person to be hanging in place of me cannot be and he you're trying to say is God is unjust to kill some holy angel for me that cannot be number one reason number two even if God permits one Holy Angel to die for me can only die for one person he can't die for billions and billions of people who have sinned no no okay you allow one person to die for one then billions of angels have come to die for all the billions who committed sin so second reason why it cannot be a created being third dying on the cross is not the price for my sin physical death is not the punishment for sin because if physical death is the punishment for sin when I died I paid the price everybody who dies should go to heaven because they died so if Jesus only physically died I see you don't have to die for me Jesus I'll die myself what is the punishment for your sin hell and if Jesus did not suffer hell on the cross he has not paid the price for my sin but he did suffer hell do you know what hell is hell is to be forsaken by God and that's what Jesus experienced for three hours hell is not physically a place it may be but the important thing is forsaken by God and that's what Jesus experienced on the cross for me that's what he struggled with and gets cemani father take this cup away from me it wasn't physical death he was not afraid of physical that he'd be ready to die a million times for me and you but the separation from the father Oh father do I have to go through that you and I have been together for eternity and some angel can tell him but Jesus it's only for three hours and you'll come back together again no I don't want to lose it for one second see we don't have that type of attitude to losing fellowship with God we just tell a lie or get angry with somebody and lose fellowship with God you fight with your wife and you don't talk to her for one hour you don't have fellowship with God for one hour it doesn't bother you afterwards you go and apologize but you've lost fellowship with God for one hour it doesn't bother you and me because we don't value it Jesus didn't want to lose it for one second because he knew this is the most important thing in life and you've become a spiritual man when you realize that fellowship with God is the most important thing in life I never want to lose it even for one second and Jesus struggled with that and Gethsemane and I can imagine the father saying to him okay Jesus you don't have to go to the cross you've lived a perfect life come from Gethsemane straight up to heaven but Zack phonin will go to hell he says Acton I'll go to hell okay father I'll go to the cross the day the Lord opened my eyes to see that I wept and wept and wept and wept I said Lord now I know I see your love for me and get cemani and I was a child I saw it on Calvary that you died for me the whip and the beating and the crowd no I seen Gethsemane the Mich sure understanding of what the cross was for Jesus he suffered hell that I might never go there and you know what it brought in my heart tremendous hatred for sin I said Lord I cannot sin again because I know what it did for you not just the physical agony of beating and all that but you went to hell because of my dirty thoughts because of my anger because of my unforgiving spirit I'll never want to do those things again because that's what crucified you it's i who drove that nails into your hand that's what he suffered so he did face hell so if he faced hell the next question is fourth it's three hours in hell enough because the only three hours he is forsaken at the end of three hours he was again fellowship was restored he said father at the beginning of the three hours he never called him father you know why he called him my God my God my God he never in his eternity he never called him as God all his life on earth he never called him God he always said my father my father but when he stood there hanging with my sin he was standing as a criminal before the judge of the universe and he could not call him father because Zack ponen sin and sins were on him he said my god my god I don't know why you're forsaken because you know when a man goes to hell he can't think I mean I can say it's for my sin God but he's he's in Hell now he can't even understand why have you forsaken me as if he didn't know if he's in his senses he didn't own but he's facing hell when you got to hell you don't understand anything about God why have you forsaken me but one thing he said even if you have forsaken me which I don't understand he wants to my god he didn't say Oh God defiant way my god I don't know why you're forsaken me but you're still my god that is submission I said Lord you did that for me three hours is not enough because the punishment for sin is eternity in hell can a man suffer eternity in hell in three hours no but an infinite being can suffer the pains of eternity even in one second because infinity into 1 is equal to eternity into 1 that means eternal punishment can be experienced by an infinite being even in a moment so if Jesus was a created being was not infinite then my sins are still there unpunished so these are the four reasons why I say Jesus could not have been a created being he was Almighty God who took my punishment I say that because nowadays there are so many clever people who have so many questions my debt is gone but there's something else that happened on the cross as well Paul says in Romans 6 that my old man was crucified with him as well Romans 6 verse 6 my old self was crucified with him so that this body that commits sin can be done away with so that I might never be a slave of sin anymore now this is going one step further the first was canceling the debt of my past for that he suffered eternal hell in those three hours now we're talking about the future that I might never be a slave of sin that also has taken care of on the cross he took me into himself why how did he do it because I was chosen in Christ and you also if you're born again Ephesians 1:4 before the foundation of the world you know that God knows the future maybe you accepted Christ last week when did God know about it did he know about it last week or did he know about it earlier did he know about it before you were born did God know about me that when I was 19 and a half years old I would accept Christ when did God know that when I was born before I was born 100 years before I was born 2,000 years before I was born Friesians 1/4 says before Genesis 1 verse 1 before because God never learns anything you know that he God never said oh I learned something that Coonan is gonna accept me he knew that from eternity that is God way back in eternity he knew that one day i disobeyed him so Lanier's what one day I would yield my life to Him you disobeyed him for so many years but God knew that one day you would obey Him so he chose your name from eternity past hey this is you and if this is Christ he put you into Christ when not when you accepted him that's when it actually happened but when did it happen in God's mind in eternity past you're there in Christ you know you're not even born even Adam has not been created yet but you are there placed in Christ in terms of the future Christ comes and dies on the cross hey you are in him and you die with him Christ is buried and you're buried with him Christ is raised from the dead hey you're in him you're raised from the dead he goes up to the heavenly places and you are there Ephesians 2:6 we are seated with him in the heavenly places in our spirit in my body I'm here on the earth but Ephesians 2:6 I'm seated with Christ in the heavenly places that is why it says set your mind on things above look at things from God's viewpoint when you look at things from God's viewpoint you will not fight about these silly things that people husband and wife fight about at home you leave it you'll see in heaven I'm not gonna fight about it I look at this from Heaven's you find I'm not gonna fight about it here your whole life will be changed if you recognize that you were placed in Christ and your Ephesians 2:6 I'm seated in the heavenly places in Christ this is what he accomplished on the cross and when you accept this position the other thing that Jesus accomplished on the cross Colossians chapter 2 is he defeated Satan on the cross at Colossians 2:15 he took away the armor of all these evil rulers and authorities and defeated them and Hebrews in chapter 2 and verse 14 it says he became like us that through death he took away the power of Satan and Satan was defeated on the cross you know that Satan is scared not of you and me but of Jesus I've always seen that when casting out a demon he's scared of Jesus if your life is clean you know the demon once said Jesus I know and Paul I know your name will also be there he also I know because his life is clean he knows that Satan was defeated on the cross you never have to fear Satan any of you if you meet a demon-possessed person and your life is clean tell that demon to go in Jesus name one word you've seen that again and again and again with one word the demon goes every time we have seen it and you can do that too because he was defeated that's why I always tell believers to speak to the devil and tell him you are defeated on the cross all these things happen on the cross that is how we build the church that's why Jesus spoke about building the church and taking up the cross together the gates of hell the pars of Satan cannot touch your church if you choose the way of the cross in your personal life in your home life in your relationship in the church look at all these people in some churches seeking for position wanting to be elders to dead people seek for position a very fact that you are seeking for a position shows you are not dead and I have to say to you what Jesus said to Peter caraway is Satan your mind is set on your own interests to be somebody in the church not on gods interests you're a stumbling block to Jesus Christ dead people don't seek their own interests dead people don't seek honor dead people don't get offended if somebody does not somebody rebukes them or somebody does something evil to them or even spits on them calls them the devil you get offended with something in the church somebody didn't smile at you somebody didn't do this somebody didn't do that you know what I should say to you get get away Satan your mind is set on your own interests you're a stumbling block to the church in your hometown why because you don't die we preach in this church the power of the Holy Spirit and the way of death the two go together but I've seen that dovey priestess for so long very few people are gripped by it their life becomes heavenly the only thing that can release this from the earth is the cross the cross through Jesus and he was released from the earth Macross slays you and me we are released from the earth and will be seated with Christ in the heavenly places think how your marriage will be if husband and wife are both seated in heaven and they look at everything from Heaven's viewpoint you think you'll be fighting so much at each other if you're seeing everything that happens from a heavenly standpoint not at all you'll bring the atmosphere of heaven into your home but the only way to get there is by dying even Jesus went up to heaven through death and you and I can go there too that is the full message of the gospel and such people can build a church and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it let's pray think about what you just heard you don't have to judge your wife or husband or anybody else in the church ask yourself whether you have chosen this way of death that Jesus chose wholeheartedly to your own will or there's something inside you standing up saying I will not sit down I will not die then you're a stumbling block to the work of God even if you're an elder brother you're a stumbling block to the work of God you've got to repent and this is the reason why you're not filled with the Holy Spirit choose the way of depth and the fullness of the Spirit will come very soon Heavenly Father I believe there are at least some here who are seeking you with their whole hearts who want to go this way oh god please give them an assurance in their heart that you heard their cry you'll meet with them you'll fill them with the Holy Spirit and that rivers will flow through them we pray in Jesus name Amen

Channel: SermonIndex.net

Views: 13,940

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

Id: rQHPQhWSyKw

Length: 68min 57sec (4137 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 31 2016