Why the Old Covenant was Abolished - Zac Poonen - May 25, 2018

[Music] our theme for this weekend is distinctives of the New Covenant and I have spoken on a new covenant for 42 years I remember a story I heard of a great evangelist called DL Moody from this country on 130 years ago he was having a series of meetings for a whole week and every evening he spoke on you must be born again so somebody kept listening you know it wasn't converted listen to this and went to him after the last day and said why do you always speak about being born again because he said you must be born again so why do I always speak about the New Covenant because I want everyone to enter into the New Covenant if you haven't you don't know what you're missing I personally believe that 90% of believers whom I have met anyway are living under the Old Covenant in so many denominations they are born-again but they live by Old Testament standards they keep the Ten Commandments you don't need the Holy Spirit for that those Commandments were given before the Holy Spirit was poured out on the day of Pentecost you can live a pretty good life without the part of the Holy Spirit example Enoch who walked with God Elijah who brought fire down from heaven John the Baptist who was the greatest prophet of all and Mary the mother of Jesus who must have been annexed saintly woman many examples like that I mean they are I cannot imagine any of them what all those prophets would ever engage in pornography or the type of things so-called believers engage in today and who still think they are born-again so you see a lot of believers today are living below even the standards of some of the great men in the Old Covenant why is that the Bible says the god of this world the devil has blinded the minds of those who don't believe so that they don't see the light of the glorious gospel in the face of Jesus Christ and the same devil once if he didn't succeed there that means some people's eyes got opened and they saw the gospel in Christ and got saved his next strategy is to blind their eyes to their inheritance in Christ and I know this from my own experience because I went to what one would consider the best denominations in India when I was converted in 1959 59 years ago I never went to dead denominational churches I went to the Brethren assemblies I went to the Pentecostal Assemblies those were the most evangelical groups in India and in all the 16 years that I went there I never heard one message on the new covenant in 16 years nobody explained what it was and that's how I know it's not preached I never heard one message explaining that I must overcome anger in my life I never heard one message that I must be free from the love of money because in the Old Covenant there was no commandment which said thou shall not be angry the commandment was only thou shalt not murder and the Old Covenant there was no commandment about not loving money you could just keep on accumulating money there was no not a single message I heard which said rejoice in the Lord twenty-four hours a day seven days a week I don't know whether you've read that verse 24 hours a day seven days a week rejoice in the Lord that's Philippians 4 verse 4 I read it exactly but nobody ever told me I used to read it but nobody ever told me how I could get there nobody I never heard a single sermon on be anxious for nothing nothing means nothing Philippians 4:6 I'm talking about New Covenant verses there was no commandment in the Old Testament which told people you must not be anxious there was no commandment in the Old Testament which said rejoice in the Lord always there was no commandment in the Old Testament which says in everything give thanks Ephesians 5:18 but I never heard a message on how to give thanks for every situation so I know that a lot of people who are born again I would say perhaps more than 90% they've accepted the Lord they've got some type of visa to go to heaven and that's about it and there's no development in their life and and the result is gradually the devil leads them downwards if you're not progressing you go down and that's why you see a gradual decline in the standards of born-again believers in the last 75 years especially after the Second World War my belief is that a flood of demons got released after the Second World War that have brought all types of confusion all these false healing ministries fake counterfeits of Holy Spirit's operation and gradually Christian marriages divorce takes place in Christian marriages this decline it wasn't there before the Second World War you know decline everywhere and now you see the type of things that people are talking about or even in so-called Christian churches so it's very important that the Lord has a witness on earth that stands up for what Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit came to do and that requires a number of brave men and women who will stand up for the truth whatever the cost who are not interested in popularity or gain or money or any such thing not even interested in large numbers but interested in maintaining a flaming light a pure testimony for the Lord and many who start well that's another thing I have seen over a period of time decline it's not how we begin our Christian life that's important just like in any race in the Olympics how a person begins counts for nothing it's how you finish and look at the lines of some great preachers how they started and how they finished started very well and it's pathetic the way they finish and look at your own life and ask yourself how are you gonna finish and I'll tell you this if you're not forgetting the things that are behind and pressing on towards the future I'll tell you you will not finish well and by forgetting the things that are behind I don't mean just forgetting our past failures which we would all like to forget but forgetting how much progress we have made so far that's what Paul meant forgetting how much progress I've made so far I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus what was that high calling that's why the way is from Philippians 3:13 what was that high calling of God in Christ Jesus it is God's eternal purpose for us that we might be conformed to the image of his son he ordained that from the beginning he chose us not just to preach the gospel that is secondary when God made Adam it's not because he wanted a servant in the garden and when God saved you it was not because he wanted a servant he wanted a son and a daughter Adam was made in the image of God and before he sent him into the garden Adams first day very first day was a day of fellowship with God he was created on the sixth day and on the seventh day when he says God rested it was just a day of rest for Adams sake it's not because God had to rest so that Adam could realize the most important thing is not work the most important thing is not what I do in the garden the most important thing is fellowship with the God who created me that personal intimate fellowship and that's why God made Adam and Eve separately he could have made two lumps of mud and breathed into them together and made Adam and Eve together and United them but he didn't do it that way there's meaning in everything that God does he made Adam alone and breathed into him and when Adams eyes were opened there was no Eve it was the first person he saw was God and that's what God wanted him to know the first person you must see in your life is me the first person you must see when you wake up in the morning is me because when I have woke up and his eyes were open he saw God there was a lesson there if you want to see it and then God put Adam to sleep and took a rib from his side and went and made Eve somewhere else and when she opened her eyes she didn't even know of the existence of Adam she thought she was the only human being and her eyes were open and who did she see first God not Adam she didn't even know there was a person called Adam and God was teaching Eve when you wake up in the morning the first person you need to see is me not Adam how many Christians have learned that lesson which God tried to teach Adam on day one you know the secret of Jesus life was that he set the father always in front of him this is one of the things the Lord taught me very early in my Christian life and it continues with me today I am a worshiper more than a servant of the Lord he doesn't matter to me if I don't preach it doesn't matter to me if I don't have an opportunity for ministry sometimes I've laid in my bed and say Lord you can take off you can paralyze my body and take my ability to speak or write or anything it won't make a slightest difference to me because nothing can stop me from worshiping you that's what I'm living for I'm not living to preach I'll tell you that honestly I have no interest in being an elder I want to be a worshipper and that's what I have started my Christian life at 59 years ago and this is the way I go today and that's why my life is so restful all the responsibilities of the churches and problems that arise I can be addressed in God because I'm a worshiper first let me turn you first of all to proverbs in chapter 4 and verse 18 if you're living really living the New Covenant life this should be your experience it's a good way to check up you know like people have an annual checkup physical checkup here's a good way to have a spiritual checkup every year proverbs by the way is the most new covenant book in the Old Testament there's absolutely no book like that which has got so much of New Covenant teaching in it in a time before the new covenant was established and proverbs 4:18 says the path of the righteous and by new covenant standards nobody was righteous in the Old Testament so this could not possibly be referring to some old covenant person it is true that God put Abraham's faith to him for righteousness but even he was not righteous in the way the New Testament says in the New Testament we are righteous in Christ and Abraham did not know that nobody not even John the Baptist knew that our righteousness is Christ Christ is our righteousness and the part of such a righteous man is something that begins with the light of sunrise and gets brighter and brighter and brighter as he walks with the Lord until the return of Jesus Christ which is the full day when he will be completely like Christ we shall see him and we shall be like him it says in 1 John chapter 3 and verse 2 and 3 and this is this is God's perfect plan for all who are righteous if you say that you've become righteous in Christ well I'll tell you this is the path God ordained for you from the time you were born again like the Sun rises in the sky and the day gets brighter and brighter and brighter and brighter the darkness gets less and less and less and less and less till it becomes perfect noon deposition God's will is that our life becomes more and more christ-like year by year by year that is the new covenant life if you are not more christ-like this year than last year then what you were last year you're not on the path of the righteous I'll tell you that and if you're married the best person to ask is your partner I'll be honest with you whether you become more christ-like more patient more free from anger not perfect but at least a little better than last year more christ-like than last year we don't preach perfection some people accuse us of that and that's why in our pulpit back home in Bangalore we wrote these words we press let us press on to perfection so that nobody accuses us of being perfect we're not perfect but we are pressing on to perfection we are climbing the mountain we're not sitting at base camp saying we're saved no we're climbing the mountain and as we climb the mountain some Mount Everest for examples 30,000 feet near as you climb it Jesus has reached the top he walked the same way and in his footsteps in the snow I see Paul walking the Paul says follow me as I follow Christ and I can see those footsteps of godly men who followed in the footsteps of Jesus I'm not talking about these pastors who get divorced and continuing their ministry no there are no example for me I'm not talking about these preachers who only interest is to collect money from poor people in order to live in grand style themselves no I'm not talking about these humbugs I'm talking about godly men through the ages godly men and women who have followed in Jesus footsteps for a challenge to my life Paul walked this way and I want to show you a verse as to see how it was in Paul's life turn with me to 2nd Corinthians in chapter 4 second corinthians 4 is a amazing chapter if you I would encourage you to seriously meditate on it it's been a tremendous blessing to me in my life it compares the creation of light Genesis 1:3 God said let there be light on the first day of the remaking of the earth and that is explained here in 2nd Corinthians 4:6 as a picture of Christ coming into our life light coming into our dark hearts the same God who way back there in the darkness when the earth was empty shapeless and dark and we were empty shapeless and dark God who said let there be light one day said to us let there be light and the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ came into our lives and the light came in that was the beginning of our salvation and then we are taken through many trials from that day onwards Paul is explaining his own experience verse 8 afflicted in every way but not crushed this is New Covenant life by the way perplexed you know that in the New Covenant you can be perplexed but perplexity is not a sin Lord I don't know what your will is do you know that even Jesus prayed like that in Gethsemane and he never sinned so perplexity is not a sin to be confused sometimes as to I don't know what God's will is that's not a sin it's part of our education to trust God in the dark perplexity but not despairing persecuted it's part of the Christian life but not forsaken by God struck down but not destroyed and the reason why God takes us through all because so that we can carry in our body the dying of Jesus that means that inward cross with Jesus carried every single day of his life and if I walk that same way you know Jesus said you can't be my disciple unless you take up the cross every day and follow me there was no cross in the Old Covenant there was no such thing as taking up the cross in the Old Testament that is a new covenant blessing to take up the cross why is it a blessing because it is like that that we get the life of Jesus in our body if I take that dying of Jesus in my daily life then the life of Jesus will come forth whatever there's a depth to self there will be a resurrection I don't know whether you realize that that's what we testified to in water baptism when I go down into the water I'm submitting to death and I believe God will raise me up and it's repeated again in verse 11 we who live are constantly delivered over to death for Jesus sake so that the life of Jesus is manifested in our mortal flesh twice it comes if I take the way of the cross the life of Jesus will definitely be increasingly manifest in my life this is the new covenant life this is the son becoming brighter and brighter and brighter and brighter the only way is if I'm willing to take this thing called the dying of Jesus in my inner life and not just in us the wonderful thing is in verse 12 if I take this dying of Jesus in me this life will go forth and produce life in others that is the what starts as a spring becoming a river Jesus spoke about a spring of water to the Samaritan woman in John four in John 7 he speaks about rivers of living water so what begins with the life of Jesus being manifest in my body verse 10 in my flesh verse 11 overflows and Paul's case it produced life in the Corinthians because death worked in him this is an amazing thing this is the way of ministry in the New Covenant it is not just a question of sitting down and preparing a sermon that's the Old Covenant way where you know Moses goes up to the mountain and gets the whole message and comes down and preaches it and the all the prophets were like that they would get in secret with God and hear what God had to say and come forth and proclaim it to the people it was a message and the Old Covenant phrase was come in here in the New Covenant the messages come and see you remember the two disciples of John the Baptist in John chapter 1 asked Jesus where are you living he said come and see and today when people ask Jesus where are you living Lord come and see in this brother's life come and see in this family you'll see me living there come and see in this church it's not come in here come in here is an Old Covenant message the distinctive thing of the New Covenant is come and see and if I cannot manifest Christ by my life I'm not fit to preach in the Old Covenant how you lived with your wife and children didn't matter because the message was not come and see but come and me here Moses all that we read about his family life was that he had a fight with his wife and he didn't circumcise his children according to the scriptures that's all we read about his family life and after that we never read about his wife and chi'lan what happened to the but he was the greatest prophet of his time his private family life didn't matter one bit he was a prophet because the message was coming here Samuel was the greatest prophet of his time he read about Moses and Samuel in Ezekiel but Samuel we read his children were wayward they took bribes as judges in Israel after Samuels time there was a lot of nepotism there appointing his own children as judges his children were wayward till the people came to Samuel and said please get rid of your children and give us some good judges do you know that if Samuel was living today I would never appoint him as an elder in a New Covenant Church because the Bible says a new covenant church a man must tell his children must be following the Lord and Samuel children are not following the Lord I'm just trying to show you how in the Old Covenant your life at home and private didn't matter Samson is considered such a great man of God that his name comes believe it or not in Hebrews chapter 11 and you know how Samson lived so the Old Covenant was like that and David the man after God's own heart what does he do when he's 50 years old commits adultery to cover it up he kills the woman's husband and marries the woman okay he still remained his king he wrote Psalms and he wrote a song even after he did all that in Psalm 37 he says I I was young now I am old Psalm 37 verse 25 23 to 25 obviously I mean he committed adultery when he was around 50 and he died when he was around 70 so he could come back and write songs he wrote Psalm 51 after he molested Bathsheba this is Old Covenant and you look around Christian leaders today they are living in Old Covenant life when a pastor falls into adultery he'll appear on television with tears and say David was restored to the throne even though he sinned with Bathsheba you see the total blindness of Christian leaders do you read about Paul falling into adultery or Peter falling into adultery it is because this dying of Jesus is not working in all these people okay what is the result of this type of working that took place in Paul's life listen to this amazing statement I don't know whether you're even noticed it sometimes we read the scripture and we don't notice something like this I want to show you something here he says therefore because of all these things whatever we suffer it doesn't matter verse 16 we do not lose heart we never get discouraged that's the meaning of that phrase Paul says I never get discouraged I don't care if I'm persecuted imprisoned and whatever may happen I do not get discouraged though my outer man is decaying and that means his physical body was getting weaker and weaker and weaker like all of us but listen to this is the phrase I wanted you to notice carefully our inner man that inner man that was worked inside Paul through the holy s--t is being renewed day by day this is the phrase I want you to see day by day I said earlier I hope your wife or husband will see you more christ-like this year than you were last year but with Paul he was way beyond that he was more christ-like in one day more than the previous day he noticed that did you notice that in that verse our inner man is renewed into the likeness of Christ every single day he says in Philippians 3 I've not yet attained there but I am pressing on the only people who will reach here are those who are pressing on how many of you I mean this is the way you know whether you really understood New Covenant distinctives a lot of people say oh I've heard brother Zack speak on the new covenant I wonder whether you understood it ask yourself whether you have a passion to be more christ-like tomorrow than you are today then you're understood it otherwise you haven't you just got the theory you don't have the passion you got the understanding but not the passion Paul had which says forgetting the things that are behind pressing on to the things that are before I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus and thus he was renewed day by day exactly like the Sun you see the Sun is not static even for a moment I know it's the earth rotating on its axis but whatever it is it's not it doesn't stop for even a moment the Sun is continuously rising the earth is continuously rotating on its axis so the earth gets brought out so the dig is brighter and brighter and brighter and the Sun never backslides you know that it's consistently consistently going up there is no place for backsliding the New Covenant life that is what we see in proverbs 4:18 there's no place to be like the prodigal son to take your inheritance and go off and say I want to enjoy myself and then repent and come back okay that is God second best or tenth best whatever it is but that's not certainly not God's best how do you care for your children you want the tenth best for them or the best if you want to give them medical treatment and you can afford it would you give them the best of the tenth best why do we desire the best in every area whether it's education or medical treatment or food but when it comes to the Christian life why do we accept anything less than the best and the best is that I never backslide not even for a single day the best is that every day I have a passion to be more christ-like than I was yesterday and those of you who think yeah I've heard about new covenant messages before ask yourself whether you wonder whether you're gripped by this if not you haven't understood it it's very easy to know the theory of these things and to know something academically and to be able to explain it to people there were people like that in Jesus time in Israel they were called the scribes and Jesus once said about the scribes in Matthew chapter 13 Matthew chapter 13 he said in the kingdom of heaven whenever Jesus spoke about the kingdom of heaven he's talking about this new covenant life especially pure a disciple it says here in verse 52 let me paraphrase it in the kingdom of heaven a scribe must become a disciple in other words his head knowledge must be converted into practical daily life the way he lives at home the way he lives in his office the way he conducts himself when everybody else is having road rage in a busy time on the roads the way he conducts himself the scribe must become a disciple not have an academic knowledge of the New Covenant I think an academic knowledge of the New Covenant those of you who have heard me on YouTube or CFC India website or heard me at different councils you probably got a lot of it enough to be able to teach other people but the thing you need to ask yourself is whether this day-by-day making progress like the Sun rising in the sky is happening in your life or not that is the distinctive message of the New Covenant which is not possible in the Old Covenant it's not a question of what other people in your church think of you a lot of people in churches are and apathetically law standard and you can be better than them even good churches when you read Revelation chapter 2 and chapter 3 five out of the seven churches planted by the Apostles were in such a terribly backslidden state the elders the Lord says to one of them you're wretched miserable poor blind naked this is a new covenant church elder see how they had backslidden poor the church where published all planted and Paul stayed more in Ephesus than in any other place of all the churches he planted he stayed three years in Ephesus and you read in acts 20 he preached day and night he was a very zealous preacher three years he preached day and night and he showed them by his life how to live but at the end of those three years he says okay I'm going and I know things are going to be pretty bad here in this church once I'm gone the Wolves who you read in Acts chapter 20 the wolves who did not dare to come into the door as long as I was here I'm gonna come right in and they're gonna work havoc among the flock and some of you elders sitting here this he's speaking to four or five elders of the church in Ephesus some of you elders sitting here who look so spiritual you're gonna fight among yourselves and take off little groups from here to follow after you that was not a prophecy no Paul was not prophesying this will happen he was warning there's a difference between a warning in a prophecy Jonah proclaimed judgment in any way in 40 days but it did not happen what God had predicted did not happen because they repented and what Paul predicted the wolves will come in and all of you will split up and make different groups need not have happened if those people had repented like the people in Nineveh but they didn't they probably thought who does Paul think he is as if only he can keep this church pure we're just as good you have that attitude towards a man of God and God will humble you publicly one day and that's exactly what happened in Revelation chapter 2 the Lord tells them you left your first love I'm going to D recognize you as a church and it's because it's not because they lack knowledge if you had gone to Ephesus they could have proclaimed the New Covenant teaching which Paul taught very clearly but they were not living the life it was ahead knowledge they had and that's my dear brothers and sisters I believe that is the danger I see in many churches that have heard me preach in the last 40 years I see this in India to the great danger of knowing these things in our head so well that we can preach about it that we get so many bright ideas from different portions of Scripture and present this light on this aspect of truth and light on that aspect of the truth but we ourselves are not becoming more christ-like day by day what is your passion is it to preach new messages or to become more christ-like many years ago and I began to preach God said to me do you want to impress people how do you want to help them and I must confess as a young preacher you know when I whenever we start preaching everyone every person who starts preaching for the first time honestly will admit this we want to impress and I did want to impress I remember listening to a sermon of mine before we started CFC mo fifty years ago nearly in some place I preached there was a recording of it and I listened to it I said Wow was that me I could sense him that the in the listening to it I could see this guy is trying to impress someone now that was me and I remember the time when the Lord said do you want to impress people and I had to say yes Lord I'm tempted to do that because I was young and I was just beginning to preach and the Lord said if you want to help them then stop trying to impress them I said okay Lord by your grace I will not anymore try to impress people I want to help them help the weakest and the simplest among them sometimes I go to a 10 or 12 year old boy and ask him did you understand what I said in the meeting today and I'm excited when he says yes I'm excited when parents tell me that that 12 year old son listens to me on YouTube I said wow I want to be at that level to help people not impress them not his fancy language and all that the scribe must become a disciple the scribe is always trying to impress his knowledge of Scripture he can coat this coat that coat the other thing and coat different scholars and all that type of stuff a disciple what he says is come and see come and see come and live with me and see how I speak to my wife every day I'm not perfect but the Sun has risen it's not like it was the day I was born again it's not like it was last year I can't say that I've come to the place like Paul day by day I want to get there I'll tell you honestly I want to be more christ-like every day then I know I'm gripped by the New Covenant there are a lot of things in us which we don't see there's a lot of selfishness and pride in every single one of us in you and in me what we know we can get rid of but there's unknown selfishness those of you who are single you'll discover your selfishness from the day you get married you'll suddenly discover that you're not so spiritual as you thought pride is another thing particularly if you are a little gifted selfishness and pride are like two huge onions and we can't get rid of it altogether we can get rid of it layer by layer by layer as and the only ones will get rid of it are those who are passionate to get light who want to forget the number of layers of that onion they're peeled on forgetting what's behind and pressing on to peel off the rest of the onion they will get light that is the new covenant life and I want to challenge you my brothers and sisters to pursue this this is the most wonderful life you can ever live I'll tell you honestly in Hebrews in Chapter eight Hebrews in Chapter eight we read verse seven if read carefully if that first covenant the old covenant given through Moses on Sinai by God had been without fault there would have been no need for a new covenant so the first covenant that God gave was faulty faced up to it I mean it's not like a model of a car which the makers discovered some fault and make a new model where the fault is rectified it's not that God discovered some Fault in the Covenant he made it was faulty because man could not become like Christ not not God's fault because man didn't have the holy spirit the first covenant was a sort of a temporary arrangement until Christ came and the Holy Spirit came a stopgap arrangement it was faulty in that sense because God's will for man was not just that he keeps the Ten Commandments the external obedience keeping the outside of the cup clean that's not what God wanted man God wanted man to partake of his nature within and that could not take place until man's heart was cleansed from sin and that could never happen until Christ had suffered the punishment for our sin when he was forsaken by God for three hours on the cross and experienced what we experienced an eternity in hell in three hours he experienced eternity in hell that's why he said my God my God why have you forsaken me hell is basically a God forsaken experience that's what hell is and that's what Jesus experienced for three hours and being the infinite God he was he still experienced eternity in three hours it's an amazing thing that could so until that happened until man's punishment was completely taken the holy spirit could not dwell in a man because the Holy Spirit will not dwell in a dirty heart however much God loves John the Baptist God the Holy Spirit can not dwell in him the Holy Spirit call he could only be a pawn upon a pawn David Elijah Elijah John the Baptist was not inside anyone when the heart was cleansed when Jesus shed his blood and ascended to heaven and presented the value of that blood before the father then a righteous God could cleanse a man's heart and come and dwell in his holy Smit what he always wanted to do that is the New Covenant and that is why the devil has brought such a lot of counterfeit in the Ministry of the Holy Spirit what do people counterfeit only valuable things nobody counterfeits anything cheap do people make counterfeits of cheap children's toys no they make counterfeits of gold and diamonds so if the Holy Spirit's operation and ministry are counterfeited boy the original must be the most valuable thing on earth it is that is what brings a person into the New Covenant the continuous fullness of the Holy Spirit and the perfect example of that is Jesus Christ I remember as a young Christian I was in a Brethren assembly they don't talk much about the Holy Spirit there and I knew there was something missing in my life I could study the Scriptures I'm we would I mean we would in the in that assembly we would analyze the Bible like you study some chemistry book or something like that we had very accurate understanding of it all with no life and I began to seek God I knew that I needed the power of the Holy Spirit and as a young Christian and I was 22 years old I went to the Pentecostal church and I was very disappointed with what I saw I heard a lot of noise and emotion but not godliness I saw that those pastors loved money more than the elders and the Brethren Assembly I said how could that be I mean if you're filled with the Holy Spirit you should be more free from the love of money and now having observed Christendom for so many years the most famous so-called healing evangelists and television evangelists they are the biggest lovers of money more than any other preacher that itself shows me that's a counterfeit that cannot be the Holy Spirit how can the Holy Spirit make a man love money more after he's filled with the Holy Spirit than he was before that's ridiculous it's a fake and why is it so many millions of Christians blindly sit and swallow all this thinking of these men as a great man of God I'll tell you because the devil knows these Christians don't read the Bible they don't know the truth so anybody can fool them and I'm not surprised when it says in Matthew 7 that in the last day if you want to know what's going to be important in the final examination I call the final day of judgment the final examination like we encourage children to prepare for the final examination if you want to be prepared for the final examination here it is Matthew 7 verse 21 not everyone who says to me Lord Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven but he who does the will of my father I mean if you ask even a ten-year-old boy who can understand English son can you tell me from Matthew 7:21 who jesus said will enter the kingdom of heaven even a little boy can answer the one who does the will of the Father would you give that answer if somebody were to ask you how can I enter the kingdom of heaven would you give that answer or would you say no just ask Jesus to come into your heart that's it christen them has drifted so far away no one will enter the kingdom of heaven who just says Lord Lord the fact that he says Lord indicates that his doctrine is right his mind is right the fact that he says Lord Lord shows he's excited about it also see man's personality is mind emotion and will that's what makes a man's soul this guy's mind is alright he calls him Lord his emotions are also alright because he says Lord Lord the problem is with his will his will is not yielded a lot of Christians their mind is right they even understand the doctrine of the New Covenant their emotions are right they're excited yeah we know about it we're excited about this new covenant truth you can miss the bus brother sister it's your will that matters have you yielded your will to do the Father's will not everyone who says to me Lord Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven Robert he who does the will of my father so we are because we preach that people accuse us you are preaching salvation by works no I am NOT I preach salvation by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ but not a dead faith but what James chapter 2 says faith without works is dead not that faith but a faith which produces works there are two types of faith mentioned in James chapter 2 and a lot of Christians who say they have faith they've got the wrong type of faith the faith which does not produce which works are is talking about he who does the will of my father never there's no contradiction there salvation is by faith but the type of faith which makes a man do the will of the Father and then he says there'll be many in that day in that final day of judgment who will say to me Lord Lord and they talk about the gifts of the Holy Spirit as if that's the most important thing we prophesied in your name it's one of the great gifts of the Spirit in fact 1 Corinthians 14:1 says we must all cover to prophesied we cast out demons in your name most Christians will be astounded if they see a man Jesus name casting out a demon and many miracles not one or two Lord in your name we did in many miracles these are not non-christians in your name in your name in your name three times in the name of Jesus they prophesied in the name of Jesus they cast out demons are the demons left and in the name of Jesus they did many miracles and if they were telling lies and you can't even imagine they dare to tell a lie to the Lord in the final day the Lord said to a lot is that you're a liar you never did any miracles he doesn't say that they did it they prophesied in his name they did many miracles in his name they cast out demons in his name I will say to them I will declare to them I never knew you depart from me you who live in sin so what is important in the final day not how many miracles you did not how many to preached not how many demons you cast out but what was your attitude to sin did you do the will of the Father that's the opposite of sin so all those passes indicate this is what the New Covenant is all about it enables us to be free from sin and to do the will of our Heavenly Father which was God's original purpose for man and the Old Covenant could not accomplish that therefore it was faulty faulty because the Holy Spirit was not given what does it mean when he says I never knew you that's another phrase it's very important to understand in the Old Testament it says Adam knew his wife it's speaking about the most intimate of earthly relationships a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife and they shall become one flesh and that is called knowing Adam knew his wife and they had a child and this is a picture of our relationship as the Bride of Christ in the spirit not in the flesh with Jesus our Lord he says I never knew you I never had that bridal bridegroom bright relationship with you that's what he's trying to say you did a lot of work for me in India many homes there are maids who work in homes it's very common because it's not very expensive because many of those people aren't employed and they'd starve it they are not given a job so sometimes people employ them but if you go to the kitchen of a home there and you see two women both cooking a meal but there's a difference what is it made and the others away but they're both working in the kitchen one is doing it for a salary the other is doing it out of love one has got a relationship with the master of the house as his wife the other is employed that's the difference here perhaps that maid can cook a better meal than the wife it doesn't make a difference the wife is still the wife she's got a relationship it's a relationship that matters not how well you can cook a meal for the Lord not how well you can prophesy and cast out demons what about your relationship can the Lord say to you I know you that's the important thing 1 Corinthians in chapter 6 1 Corinthians 6 it says even if you are joined to a prostitute verse 16 this word is fulfilled the two shall become one flesh it's not just in marriage he was joined to a prostitute his one body with her the two shall become one flesh but he was joined to the Lord for seventeen is one spirit exactly what I said just now where the Lord can say just like that man and one are one flesh you and I are one spirit I know you like that man knows that woman physically I know you in the spirit dear brother sister does the Lord know you in your spirit can he testify about you that he knows you that you always keep your conscience which is a major part of your spirit clean all the time he will not dwell in an unclean heart in other words in Ephesians chapter 5 Paul writes about marriage and more than marriage he speaks about Christ in the church in verse 25 the middle Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her which is an example for husbands to love their wives verse 25 to give themselves up for their wives then he says for this reason verse 31 a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife Ephesians 5:31 and the two shall become one flesh but he says I'm not talking about a husband and wife now verse 32 I'm speaking about Christ and the church there again we come to that Christ knowing us this is a mystery it's great dear brothers and sisters this is the this is the New Covenant where Jesus Christ enters into a very intimate relationship with us in our spirit where he's more precious to us than prophesying and casting out demons and going to church and giving supporting missionaries and named it where he himself is the bridegroom of our soul and we love him with all of our hearts this was not possible under the Old Covenant so let me read this finally in Hebrews chapter 8 hebrews chapter 8 verse 7 if the first covenant had been faultless there would be no need for a second it could not bring the Lord and man into one spirit that first covenant and so there had to be a second covenant and therefore it says here that first covenant has been abolished it is obsolete it says in verse 13 and new covenant and he has made the first covenant obsolete and is gone away so we're just beginning to study new covenant distinctives I hope you will think about what the Lord has spoken to you and ask the Lord to make it real in your life that the scribe will become a disciple let us pray and the seed that fell on the good ground went deep and took root and over a period of time brought forth fruit thirtyfold sixtyfold and a hundredfold Heavenly Father make it so in our lives we pray in Jesus name [Music]

Channel: River of Life Christian Fellowship

Views: 12,150

Rating: 4.8086123 out of 5

Keywords: why, old, abolished, distinctives, new, covenant, zac, poonen, sermon, rlcf, family, conference, 2018, river, life, christian, fellowship

Id: XSLBFVILoTg

Length: 62min 29sec (3749 seconds)

Published: Sat May 26 2018