What It Means To Grow Spiritually - Zac Poonen

let's just pray heavenly father as we bow before you we thank you for these dear brothers and sisters of eager to hear your word and we pray that your presence will be with us lord jesus otherwise we are wasting our time we lean upon you we ask you to fill us anoint us with the holy spirit for this ministry and even though we are separated by distance there is no distance with you where two or three are gathered in my name even if there are they are thousands of miles apart he said i am in the midst thank you lord jesus you are here help us to sense your presence and to hear your voice through the holy spirit we pray in your name amen okay brothers i think if you were to ask most christians most genuine believers about whether they are satisfied with their christian life and the progress they are making spiritually towards becoming more christ-like which is our goal if if they are honest most christians would say we are not happy with the way we are progressing and we wish it were far better so we need to ask ourselves why is that it was like that in my own life for a number of years after i was born again if i were to draw a graph of my life soon after i was converted i the graph went up because i was a serious christian and then as i got involved more and more in the ministry and that's what happens when you get involved in the ministry and you become well known and people come to know about you and your and you don't have fellowship and i didn't have a local church those days and gradually i found in my life the graph began to go down it was went down pretty low externally my testimony was perfect i i wasn't mr probably misappropriating money anywhere i wasn't fooling around with women i all that was okay outwardly it was great but my inner walk with the lord and my thought life was terrible and i got so fed up with my life that a time came in my life when i said this is nearly 50 years ago when i said lord i want to stop preaching because i'm a hypocrite i'm saying things which are not true in my own inner life it's true what i'm saying is true and it impresses people and they are challenged also but it's not true in my own life so i'd rather quit and find a secular job i won't stop being a christian i'll still be a christian i know that jesus has saved me but i'll stop preaching unless this is a condition i made with the lord unless you do something in my life where my inner life corresponds exactly with what i'm saying in other words my aim was zero hypocrisy i remember years ago visiting a car factory in india and i saw a board which the manager had put up there on the wall saying we aim for zero defect and i've never forgotten that i saw that more than 50 years ago and i said lord i want to aim for zero defect in my life in my speech in my thoughts in my attitudes to people in the genuineness of my love in genuine christ-like humility in my attitude to money in my attitude to women every area i want to aim for zero defect now i know that i will be like jesus only when he comes because the word of god says in 1 john 3 that we shall be like him when we see him let's begin with that verse please turn with me to 1 john chapter 3. you're all familiar with this verse beloved now we are children of god and i think most if not all of you will say yes you're a child of god you know that you're born again there was a time in your life when you repented and received christ into your life i hope you repented before you received christ in your life because most preaching in the world today speaks about believe believe believe there's very little preaching on repent repentance and yet god has joined these two together what god has joined together let no one separate repentance and faith i've always preached repentance and faith together so if you're genuinely repented and believed then you're born again if you've not repented and you just believed you're not born again i want to tell you that and that may be the cause of the problem of some of you but assuming that most of you have really repented and that repentance doesn't mean you've overcome sin overcoming is different from repenting repenting means you're turned around according to the military term about turn so it's turning our back to the world in sin and turning our face to god it doesn't mean i've reached the goal the christian life is a race and it's a long way before i can reach the goal but it's a race that we have to run and the finishing line the starting line of the race is being genuinely born again the finishing line of the race is when christ comes again and we will be like him completely so it says here now we are children of god that's where we begin but it has not yet appeared where we will be that's what the finishing line of the race we know that when he appears we will be like him not before that we will be like him only when he appears and because we will see him as he is verse 3 everyone who has this hope now for many years in my life if you'd asked me what is my hope i said my hope is that i'm gonna see jesus face to face you come again but that's only half the hope according to this verse the full hope is i will be like him because i see him as he is and i never saw that for many years even though it's written there plainly and i doubt whether some of you have seen it what is your hope is it that christ comes again you're going to see him that should be the second part of it i'll be like him when i see him we'll see you seeing him if i'm not going to be like him if there's going to be sin in my life for all eternity even one sin i don't want to live in eternity like that i hope you have a passion to be like christ and how do we know it's very easy for us to say yeah i have that hope intellectually yes but how do you know whether you really have it well it says here in verse 3 you will purify yourself just as he is pure in other words your goal is total christ likeness even if it takes a long time to get there you're gonna make progress that's the point this year has just begun one month is over 2021 you should be ahead of where you were in 2020 examine yourself god has made the earth to go around the sun in 365 and a quarter days and that's a good period of time by which we can evaluate ourselves and see whether we've made progress just like our children we want them every year to go from one class to the next class we don't want any of our children to be sitting in the same class every year we want them to progress to the next class and as much as you parents are eager that your children go from one standard or one grade to the next every year you should be eager to make sure that you are also progressing in the way you speak to your wife ask her whether there's a progress in the way you speak to your husband ask him don't don't yourself form an opinion allow your partner to be honest with you it'll help you she's given to be your helper a helper to make you more christ-like even if she's unconverted god can use that use an unconverted wife to make you more christ-like by giving you more patience etc but evaluate yourself very important now the reason i say this is because if you go a little earlier in this section you know in john's letter there were no chapter divisions these are only made for our convenience it was one continuous letter and earlier on in the letter in relation to the second coming of christ he says in chapter 2 verse 28 little children he's taking talking to believers he will not address unbelievers as children little children abide in christ so that again he's talking about his coming when he appears we may have confidence or boldness and not shrink away in shame at his coming that verse clearly teaches that among little children among believers among born again believers when christ appears there are going to be two categories of people now we know they're going to be two categories of believers and unbelievers it's always there but here if you read carefully it's referring to two categories of believers he's talking about little children little children i'm writing to you john says one group of believers are bold they say praise the lord lord we've been waiting for you we're ready to meet you everything in our life is set right and there is another group that says they shrink away oh lord we didn't know you're coming so soon we're not ready there are things we are not set right there are debts we have not repaid there are people we have hurt whom we have not asked forgiveness from yet there are people who hurt us whom we have not forgiven there are a lot of things we have to set right lord please wait please wait can you wait one more day they shrink away in shame now let's be honest today if christ were to come before i finish this message are you going to be in group one this is with us boldness and say yes lord i'm ready to meet you or are you going to be in that other group that shrinks away in shame in shame because we're not ready the purpose of scripture in the new testament is to help us to grow towards christ-likeness earlier on in the same chapter 1 john chapter 2 john says if you say this is one of the most challenging verses in the entire new testament it is one of the most challenging verses in the entire new testament and that's why a lot of people skip over it don't skip over it 1 john chapter 2 verse 6 the one who says he abides in christ must walk in the same way he walked these are two different things one john 2 6 we had to walk as he walked now 1 john 3 2 we will be like him when he comes what is the difference between these two verses walking is a conscious act normal people don't walk in their sleep it's a conscious act you take one step and the next step and the next step so when it says about walking as he walked it's referring to the conscious part of our life the area of our life which we know whether we are right or wrong do you know that there's a huge area of our lives where we don't know whether we are doing what is right in fact we discover it as we grow spiritually it's one mark of growth is that you discover more and more in your life of areas where you're not christ-like and you judge yourself and repent and make progress that is when an unconscious part of you suddenly becomes conscious to you at a certain time for example you may suddenly discover that all these years of your married life you've not been very gentle and gracious in the way you spoke to your wife or to take advantage of her perhaps or to your husband and you suddenly get light on it and you begin to change you repent or you discover that even though you are generally righteous in money matters as the world recognizes you were not faithful in money jesus did not tell us to be righteous in money that is one level he told us to go one step higher and be faithful with money do you know the difference between being faithful with money and righteous with money there's a world of difference righteous with money means i don't cheat anybody i don't have any unrighteous income in my bank account i've paid all my taxes i don't owe anybody anything i everything i have in my house is righteously paid for and bought no corruption i'm not earning money in a wrong way and i'm not my standards of righteousness and money matters is not at the level of others around me we don't use the word the world people say everybody does it well everybody does it everybody's going to hell i'm not going to do something just because everybody does it is it would jesus do it is that the way jesus would handle money but that is righteousness but faithfulness is a step higher and if we walk with the lord he gives us light on it and that is to see that even though i'm righteous with money do i recognize that everything i have is not mine but is the lord's and do i use it in a way recognizing this is not my money this is the lord's money which he's allowing me to use i've got to be careful with it not just righteous with it but careful how i spend it so that's just one area there could be many many other areas where unconscious becomes conscious so walking as jesus walked is a conscious area of our life where i know my conscience tells me that was wrong the way you spoke or the way you did that or that attitude towards that person or the motive with which you said that was just to get some honor for yourself sometimes after we have done something the conscience convicts us and say hey there was quite a bit of pride in you in the way you did that or spoke that conscience as soon as your conscience convicts us we must confess it and forsake it immediately never never postpone what your conscience if you want to walk as jesus walked number one rule is keep your conscience clear and obey the voice of your conscience always this is one of the rules the apostle paul had turn with me to acts of the apostles in chapter 24 and verse 16. acts 24 16 paul tells us one of the rules he had in his life paul was a very disciplined man and he says one of the rules he had in his life acts 24 16 is he at all times the word always means 24 hours a day seven days a week 24 hours a day seven days a week paul maintained his conscience absolutely clear before god and before men like the two arms of the cross before god and before men always remember this love god with all your heart love your neighbor as yourself keep a conscience clear before god and clear before men that's how paul maintained it and he says one of the reasons why he did that was in relation to the second coming of christ he says in the first part of verse 16 in view of this because of this i'm keeping my conscience clear of course his primary reason he kept his conscience clear i'm sure was because he loved jesus because he had been purchased and he was a child of god and he wanted to please his heavenly father he wanted to please jesus christ that was the number one reason but also in addition because he knew that verse 15 in view of this means acts 24 15 there will be a resurrection of the righteous and of the wicked do you know that there are going to be two resurrections you read that in revelation chapter 20 there's a resurrection of those who are truly born again and then years later a resurrection of the unrighteous so at two different periods of time and people are going to be not everybody is going to be raised up of the dead are not all going to be raised on the same day two separate resurrections and paul says that here there will certainly there's no doubt about it a resurrection of the righteous and of the wicked and i want to be in the resurrection of the righteous so what do i do i don't just sit back and say well 20 years ago i accepted christ as my savior and i'm okay i'm going to church regularly i'm not killing anybody i'm not committing adultery i'm okay no he says in view of this i keep my conscience absolutely clear all the time but that is only the first step i told you that's only the conscious area of our life i illustrate the conscious and unconscious area of our life like with a if you take a cube of ice and put it in a glass of grape juice where you can't see what's under the surface ten percent of that ice cube is on top ninety percent is hidden our life is like that what you see as wrong or right in your life you think you're holy no you're not it's only 10 there's a 90 within you of unchrist likeness which you're unaware of and but if you take a knife and slice off that top ten percent of that ice cube slice it off what will happen and then put it back into the bottle of grape juice something more comes up whatever you slice off that ice cube doesn't remain under the surface something that is hidden comes up still 90 is hidden but it's a smaller amount some something like that that happens when we walk with the lord walk as jesus walked walking is a conscious step conscious act being like christ is unconscious plus conscious a total personality that's going to happen only when christ comes again when we be like him but till then in our conscious life we can walk and that means in that ten percent of our life which we see we can walk as jesus walked in righteousness and humility in love to everyone as far as we know in seeking the glory of god and no honor for ourselves etc keeping our conscience absolutely clear but as i said paul recognized that that was not the whole thing turn with me to 1 corinthians 4 where paul says in 1 corinthians 4 verse 4 he gives his own personal testimony he says i am conscious again that word conscious that 10 what a conscience tells him according to my conscience i'm not aware of anything wrong in my life nothing my conscience is not 99 clear it's 100 clear it's the same thing he says in acts 24 16 always keep a clear conscience before god and before men means i'm ready to ask i have asked forgiveness from everybody i hurt i have forgiven everybody who hurt me i have said all matters right financial matters everything i've judged my motives i've judged my attitudes to people my conscience is clear but he says in one corinthians 4 4 it doesn't mean that by i am acquitted acquitted is a court word in a court a judge condemns a person or acquits a person that quits means the judge says go free you're not guilty he says even though i keep my conscience perfectly clear i cannot say i'm not guilty because he recognizes there is this unconscious area of my life which the lord examines 1 corinthians 4 4 is a great word that explains this and if you are really been walking with the lord you you have found from experience the reality of this all those who have been walking with the lord would have discovered that they saw something in their life at a certain stage which for years before that they didn't even realize was sin but now they realize it's sin even in money matters we find god raises our standard and we realize hey that's a wrong attitude it's not just that i cheated anyone no do you know that the love of money itself is a sin and we are all born with the love of money it's not only rich people who love money we've all seen homeless people beggars have you ever seen a homeless person or a beggar who doesn't love money they love money thoroughly and the rich people love money too it doesn't depend on your bank balance whether you love money or not it is inbuilt in us every child of adam just like sexual desire and the temptation to sin sexually is in every person maybe a little less than women than in men but it is there in everyone and if you recognize something is there you'll fight it if you don't recognize it or you pretend it's not there you just sink into the pit where all humanity is sunk so we progress is where that ice cube becomes smaller and smaller and smaller and smaller we are becoming more and more christ-like as we walk with him and we have to examine ourselves 1 corinthians chapter 11 this is a word that has tremendously challenged me and comforted me one corinthians in chapter 11. verse 31 1 corinthians 11 31 if we judge ourselves rightly and that word rightly is very important we will not be judged what does that mean you know in the final day we're all going to stand before the lord and be judged including believers there are two judgment seats one is called the great white throne judgment seat of almighty god you read in revelation 20 where only unbelievers stand but then there is another judgment seat which is called the judgment seat of christ in second corinthians and chapter 5 and verse 10. and that's that's not for unbelievers that's for believers we paul says to the corinthians you and i are going to stand not in that great white throne judgment seat of god described in revelation 20 but at the judgment seat of christ so that we believers can be rewarded according to the deeds we did in our body whether they were good or bad not everyone is going to get the same reward that's very clear jesus made it very clear there are many stories he said of people to whom he gave money he used a parable of he gave a man went out on a long journey and gave money to his servants to invest and some people brought back 100 some people brought back 50 and each was rewarded according to what they produced and some people did nothing with what god gave them the guy had one talent and he just buried it and he was cast out so there are areas where we are different in gifts and abilities and we will be judged according to our the gifts god has given us for example if god has given me a gift of preaching for example or teaching and also not only the gift of teaching but the opportunity to travel to many countries and physically and through zoom and through the youtube much more will be expected from me than from you to whom god may not have given the same gift of preaching or the same opportunity to reach people around the world so i'm going to be judged by a much higher standard with what i did with my gift than you are so that's like one person that was given five and another person was given two another person was one and he had to produce a hundred percent a man who had five brought five a man who had two should bring only two so god doesn't judge all of us equally when it comes to gifts but there's another parable where jesus said there were ten servants and he gave each of them one talent everybody had only one one is in matthew 25 the others in luke 19 i think where the person who had one talent produced ten another person who had one talent produced only five so both were equal when they started that is not referring to give those two parables one about the pounds and the other about talents one is related to gifts whereas five two and one but the other is one one one and someone produced ten and what is it the what is the one area where all of us are equal when it comes to gifts we are definitely not equal opportunities for example mothers with many children they don't have opportunity to travel here there and everywhere to preach the gospel they are not going to be required to do that they're going to be faithful with their own the way they bring up their children but what is the one area where we are all equal two areas actually when we are all equal one talent to each person some produce ten with it some produce five some produce nothing first of all all of us have got 24 hours a day nobody gets 25 nobody has 23. what you do with the 24 hours it's up to you what another person does with this 24 hours is up to him and there one person may be more faithful in his 24 hours than you are but he had the same opportunity as you the second area where we all have the same amount is in the lusts in our flesh nobody has more lusts don't think that that person has less lusts temperaments may be different temperament has got nothing to do with the lust of the flesh temperaments some people are very outgoing and extroverts and some people are very inward looking and melancholic that makes no difference those are temperaments but if you look inside that man's mind and heart you'll find the extrovert and the introvert have got the same number of lusts the lust of the flesh to be tempted and basically it is to be basically sin is doing your own will and holiness is doing the will of god this is through the years i've discovered all sin it's not you know lusting after women or stealing money or telling a lie no no no those are all the external results or actions basically from within it is doing my own will where self is in the center or sitting on the throne and saying i want to do this you want to do this you want a lust or you want to steal or you want to tell a lie it's that will that produces that sin and so that's if the will is crucified you overcome sin and you need the power of the holy spirit to do that that's why in the old testament nobody could overcome sin they could overcome external sins that's why the ten commandments only dealt with external sins but jesus came and expanded that in the sermon on the mount and said listen the external adultery is uh it starts with the root of lusting in the heart get rid of the root we can say that the old testament was where god gave people a pair of scissors to cut off the fruit as soon as it appears whereas john the baptist says that jesus is going to come with an ax that's laid to the root of the trees you read in matthew 3 and there's a lot of difference between a pair of scissors and an axe a pair of scissors is as soon as a bad fruit comes into your tree cut it off another fruit comes it cut it off another fruit comes cut it off but an axe to the root deals with the root of the problem that the tree just doesn't produce bad fruit you plant another tree which produces good fruit that is true christianity it's not just presenting a good image you know i picture christians like this many christians i've met they're very careful very very careful that people going by the road should not see any bad fruit on their tree so they keep a pair of scissors and look very carefully as soon as a bad fruit comes they cut it off and they go to the market and buy some good fruit some good apples or something and tie it up to the tree so everybody goes by and says wow what a fruitful tree this man has it's all a deception this is the life of many christians it's in presenting an image before people which is not really true it doesn't come from within it's a it's an apple bought in the market and tied to that branch it's artificial or they can hang plastic apples which look sometimes plastic apples look more real and more attractive than real apples it's a deception a lot of christianity is like that we've got to steer clear of that there must be no acting in our lives do you know that the word hypocrite which comes often in jesus speak about hypocrisy hypocrite is not an english word originally it's a greek word and the word hypocrite in greek means actor and so when it's translated in the new testament it's written in greek when it talks about hypocrisy he's talking about acting so when jesus said don't be a hypocrite when he means don't be an actor the pharisees were accused of hypocrisy of acting you know what acting is you so all these hollywood movies there are some biblical movies where some guy will act like moses a holy man of god in the movie as long as the movie is being shot and once the day's film shooting is over he goes back home to live his drunken life with his third wife or whatever it is and fooled around with women and et cetera but that's his real life and the next day shooting film shooting starts again again he puts on the dress of moses that is acting he's not really holy he's just pretending to be and that's what a lot of christians do when they come to sunday morning church service that's when the film shooting begins and they're acting holy singing praises to god which they don't mean i'll give you an example think of the songs you sing in the sunday services and ask yourself you see hypocrisy i mentioned hypocrisy because that is one of the major areas of unconscious sin which we need to get rid of and if you really seek to walk with the lord he will make you alert to it i told you that in 1 corinthians 11 this verse i was coming to that if we judge ourselves we will not be judged what does it mean that means if i judge myself like in these areas of hypocrisy i'm talking about where i see hey i'm acting i've got to get rid of that or any other area i judge myself in areas where other people can't see one day when i stand at the judgment seat of christ the lord will say i've got nothing to judge you in isn't that wonderful wouldn't you like to stand at the judgment seat of christ when he comes again and the lord looks at your record and the video of your whole life and he says i've got nothing to judge you in you're clear well done my good and faithful servant i want to hear that i love to hear that i'll give anything in the world to hear that from my lord that's all i live for that's the thing that gripped my heart many years ago i said lord the honor of man it's rubbish the opinion what people think about zach wooden put it in the trash can i'm not interested one bit in that people can call me a prophet or a devil it is exactly the same to me i can love both of them equally not be puffed up with one comment or discouraged with the other comment because i don't live for that type of trash i put it in the trash can immediately i want to live before my lord to say what do you think about me i remember once saying lord lord jesus can you say about me this is my beloved son in whom i'm well pleased oh god if you can say that about me i'd give anything that's all i want i don't want money i don't want comfort i don't want honor that's all trash i want to hear those words from you not only when i when you come back i want to hear your spirit saying that to me while i'm alive right now you are my beloved son in whom i'm well pleased jesus walked that way and one of the great truths i discovered in the bible is that jesus came to earth just like me not with my lusts no there was no sin in him but he had a will just like i have and he was tempted tempted to do his own will and if he had yielded to his own will once he would have sinned but he never yielded to his own will and that's why we say he never sinned when we when the bible says in hebrews 4 15 he was tempted like us in all points it doesn't mean he had all our lust how could he have that he was not born with a human father he the holy spirit came upon mary and she was a virgin and so the angel told her that holy thing that bone of you will be the son of god he was born holy very clear in luke chapter one and so but he was like us in this way that he had a will of his own that he could say yes to or no to and he always said no to his own will this is the secret of holiness turn with me to john's gospel and chapter 6 john chapter 6 and verse 38 john 6 38 this is the i always call this the one sentence autobiography of jesus a biography is what someone writes about another person's life an autobiography is what a person writes about his own life here is the autobiography that jesus writes about his own life his entire 33 and a half years on earth can be summed up in one sentence i came from heaven that's when he was born and throughout his life is described in this sentence never doing my own will but always the will of my father who sent me that's a sentence that describes jesus own life that's like saying he never sinned that's like saying he always was holy he never did his own will now if he was not even if he didn't have a will of his own then what is the point saying i never did my own will that is meaningless it's only when i have something i can reject it if i don't have it how can i reject it he had a will of his own just like you and i have just like adam had in the garden of eden but he never did it there's nothing wrong in having your own will adam had his own will when he was created he's not like the planets the planets and the stars they don't have their own will they just obey god thousands of years never disobeyed god but they cannot be holy just because they obeyed god for thousands of years they cannot be sinful because they cannot disobey god the trees they obey god according to the laws god has put in them there's no sin there because there's no will sin can come only when somebody has got a will of his own adam could sin because he had a will the trees in the garden of eden couldn't sing because they no never will the stars and planets can't sin they don't have a will but they can't be children of god either you have to have your own will if you want to be a child of god adam did not do god's will he did his own will he sinned jesus had the same will and we find that struggle in the garden of gethsemane and he said oh father for one hour he struggled and sweated great drops of blood and he said not my will but thine be done but he had a struggle inwardly i mean he was tempted as well we don't see it you know it says in matthew 4 that the devil tempted him it was basically to do your own will you know you're hungry you're not stealing anybody else's food you got power you were anointed 40 days ago with the holy spirit the devil is telling him i'm amplifying the devil's words if you are the son of god that's what he told him in matthew 4 if you are the son of god and you'll be proclaimed as the son of god is the river jordan when the holy spirit anointed you and if you are the son of god you got that power these stones turn aren't you hungry after 40 days without food turn these stones into bread you're not stealing you're not stealing somebody else's food you're not cheating yeah and you're using the power god gave you and you're not using the power god gave you to live some luxurious life no for necessity food for the body what's wrong in that i think most of us would have fallen for that you know the number of preachers i know whom god gives some gift just like jesus received in the day of the day he was baptized and they use it for themselves one of the things the lord taught me very early in my christian life especially when i quit my job in the navy 55 years ago and came out to serve the lord full time one of the things the lord said to me was from that incident don't use the power i i have given you to get anything for yourself where did i learn that jesus had power to turn stones into bread but he never used it he said the father will give me bread at the right time he doesn't look like a sin there's a very subtle devil's temptation use the power god has given you to satisfy your need and that's what the lord told me i have given you a gift of preaching never never never use it to get something for yourself money or honor or anything that's the first temptation i've given you a right um i've given you the ability to write books don't be like the worldly people who write books to make money don't be like the christian authors everywhere who write books to make money give your books free put it on the internet so that everybody can take and listen to it and you get nothing out of it you don't get one cent from it i will take care of your needs i tell you all these 55 years god's taken care of me i tell you my brothers and sisters we must be a living testimony you can be a living testimony to this truth i did not seek my own god took care of me that's how it was with jesus so he did not do his own will that is the root of all sin when he was tempted like us he was tempted to do his own will that's what it means and he never did it so even a simple thing like i can use the power god has given me to turn these stones to meet my own need i will not do it if the father tells me to use my power for something i'll do it for example when there were 5 000 people who were hungry needed bread oh then jesus used his power to produce bread from nothing almost from five loaves became 25 000 loaves or more he used this power for others and i have discovered that god gives us the anointing of the spirit to bless others not to exalt ourselves and it's a sad thing that in christendom we have people who use god's power to make themselves famous to make money for themselves and take advantage of other people to lord it over others as some king directors and chairmen and all that and make other people their servants our calling is to go down this has been the challenge for me in my own life there you know a lot of people respected jesus and i know that a lot of people around the world who respect me very highly and the lord told me what did jesus do with that he constantly went down his whole life was going down down all the way from heaven he came down down down down and the last day of his life on earth he was found at the feet of his disciples he wasn't director of some organization or chairman of some organization no no no he was down at the feet of his disciples washing their feet and the lord said to me go that way you haven't gone down sufficiently until you've reached the feet of your disciples and remain there till the last day of your life don't ever climb above that you i'm called you to be at the feet of all the other believers in the world that's my calling i know it i am to be at the feet of every single believer in the world to wash them to clean away their not to crisp not to criticize the dirt on their feet or in their life the multitudes of preachers only criticize the dirt and people's feet oh you're like this and you're like that they are like this they're like this but they don't tell them how to overcome it the years in my life 16 years of my early christian life i was defeated by sin i couldn't tell anybody how to clean the feet how to overcome sin but thank god that god opened my eyes to see that when you are under grace sin cannot rule over you let me conclude with these words in romans chapter 12 in romans chapter 12 and verse 1. it says here you see romans is a great letter explaining the gospel more clearly than any other uh letter or book in the whole bible clearly explaining the gospel starting from zero point all the way up to the final point it starts with romans one and two godless sinners romans one religious sinners chapter 2 justification by faith chapter 3 and chapter 4 and chapter 5 and overcoming sin romans 6 freedom from the law chapter 7 the sovereignty of god controlling everything in our life chapter eight the righteousness faithfulness and the goodness of god this sovereignty faithfulness and righteousness of god in chapter nine ten and eleven in view of all that god has done for us what should be your response that's the question that's what he says here present your body not your money no that's old testament ten percent all the preacher who free all the people who preach 10 are old covenant priests i'm not an old covenant priest i have never in my life preached or practiced giving 10 to god i believe in giving much more than that because your new covenant is much better than the old government but more than money do you know what god wants do you know what is the equivalent of the old testament in the new uh the type the meaning of tithe there are many things in the old testament which i've got a new testament equivalent for example coming out of egypt is coming out of the world putting the blood of the lamb on the doorpost is it putting the blood of christ to overcome our sin the israelites going through the red sea is a picture of our water baptism the cloud coming down from above is a picture of the baptism the holy spirit entering the land of canaan and killing the giants is a picture of an overcoming life overcoming sin everything has got a meaning circumcision is a picture of crucifying the flesh what about tithing what is the equivalent of tightening in the new covenant there they had to count their grain and it was not money they were not businessmen their grain and sheep count 10 and give it to god today people say you count your salary and give it to god and people have a lot of arguments is it salary before tax or after tax these are all covetous people arguing with should i give god 10 after deducting taxes before deducting tax these are people who don't love god at all here we see here the new testament equivalent of typing has got nothing to do with money it's got to do with something more difficult than money it's your body present your body in view of all the wonderful gospel i've told you in chapter 1 to 11 paul says what should you do don't give money to god you think that's the response god wants he owns the silver and gold in the whole world why should he want your 10 but he wants something else from you your body you know in leviticus chapter one you read about the burnt offering don't turn there i just want to share with you the burnt offering they had to put up say a bullock on the altar and then burn it up but the lord said you must cut up the bullock into pieces and i i thought if you're gonna blow it up why should you waste time cutting it there's a spiritual lesson there cut the bullock into pieces and put it there so when we present our bodies to god as a living sacrifice it is said here a living sacrifice go back to that burnt offering in the old testament the equivalent is that i must put myself you know it's very easy to say oh lord i give myself to you the world is full of christians who say that they don't mean it do what the burnt offering they did in the unit cut it up cut it up cut up your body into pieces and offer it to god now you'll understand what i mean lord here are my eyes not my body i'm going piece by piece here are my eyes i have used these eyes to read all types of rubbish in the past to look at all types of things that are sinful in the past i never want to do that again i put it on the altar it's no longer mine it's yours and i tell you it's a daily sacrifice if anyone will come after me jesus said let him take up his cross daily put your eyes on the sack on the altar daily lord i never want to read anything that jesus would not sit with me and uh read with me i never want to look at anything in a way that jesus would not look my eyes are on the altar and my hands lord i've done so many wrong things with my hand written so many letters and all with my hand i never want to do anything wrong with my hand these hands are yours i can't do what i like with my hands anymore these legs of mine have taken me to all types of places in the past where i should not have gone i laid on the altar i want jesus to control me where i go my tongue especially lord this has been a tremendous problem lord i laid on the altar i want you to control my tongue i want to give it to you as a sacrifice i don't want to speak whatever i want very often when people speak to me in a certain way i'm tempted to speak back but my tongue is on the altar now i this is what it means to be a living sacrifice piece by piece by peace and i'll tell you this if you do this your life will be transformed every year you'll get better and better if many people don't do this they don't take scripture seriously put it on the altar and never take it back so many people put something altered they take it back is it costly yes when abraham offered up isaac that was the most precious thing he would have rather offered up ten thousand sheep yeah it is going to be costly when you offer your body god doesn't want your money this is the equivalent of the old testament type a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to god this is what god accepts and it says here in verse 1 this is real worship today the world has got no idea about worship they call praise and worship just singing some songs in the meeting and having a lot of instruments real worship doesn't need instruments or songs it is offering your body that is your spiritual worship and jesus said you must worship in the spirit this is what worship in the spirit means to present our body and then verse two to allow our mind body and mind two things a mind to be changed to be conformed to the way god thinks that's the meaning there renewing your mind as you read god's word and submit to god's word your mind begins to think like god thinks these are the two ways in which we respond to the gospel and if we do that we will have boldness when christ comes again we look forward so brothers no one message is complete in itself i have shared something in this one hour to challenge you if there are things you couldn't understand ask god to explain it to you god is a jealous god he wants the holy spirit to talk he wants to talk to you personally so there's something i left out or something that is not clear go to the lord judge yourself so that in the day of the final judgment you will not be judged may god bless you and help us to be faithful till he comes again thank you all for listening patiently and if you are blessed apply it in your own life first of all and share it in humility with others not to get honor for yourself share what you received in humility let it come forth from your life not from your mouth let us pray heavenly father as we bow before you take a few moments brothers and sisters to close your eyes and you're talking to jesus you're talking to your heavenly father respond to the word of god that you heard say lord i want to make a beginning here is my response i want to do your will i haven't understood it all but help me in my daily life to progress in christ's likeness i pray in jesus name amen so before i close i want to introduce my better half annie is my wife and she's the heart that pumps the blood while i speak that means she prays for me and she wanted to just say hello to all of you she's not going to give a sermon she just wanted to say hello to all of you we have been co-workers together happy co-workers in the lord's vineyard for 52 and a half years very blessed years and very thankful that the lord's given us the privilege to serve you and other people god bless you you already heard a good advice from my husband and we as moms and wives can support our husbands uh to build it how uh build our houses like our homes like the wise man built his house on the rock we as we can become wise women and support our husbands to build our homes so that our children can grow up in a godly way and they can see our lives that we are living to please jesus not grumbling or complaining about our circumstances and trying to live within our means and not to expect more than what we can afford be content with what we have especially in these days when there is so much of heart in those ways we can support our husbands and we can build a strong home that will stand all the testings we faced a little bit of testing this last year through this comet maybe and it's easing out but maybe more testings will come but we can do our part and have a good fuel good future for our children with the lord's help amen

Channel: CFC India

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

Id: KQh5eSphjUQ

Length: 63min 38sec (3818 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 18 2021