Worshipping God When Suffering by Zac Poonen

[Music] what I've discovered through the many years that I've been a Christian 57 years since I was born again is that the Christianity that is seen in the world and proclaimed by most churches is completely different from the Christianity in the New Testament now most people don't know that because they don't read the New Testament carefully and so they imagine that I'm exaggerating or something like that they're welcome to believe that but for those of you who are serious to make sure that the one life that God gives you on this earth you're going to live according to the way God wants man to live I desire that greatly I have only one life I don't have an opportunity again to live this life and for me the teaching of Jesus in the New Testament and the Apostles gives me a clear direction of that that I can live in such a way that when I come to the end of it and move on into eternity I have no regret when I look back over my life I have a regret over all the foolish things I did in my own converted days and those times but we should not have a regret over the way we live from the time we were converted otherwise conversion means nothing a lot of people who say they're converted live just like everybody else in the world they fight and quarrel and pursue the things that were just like everybody else and I say well their conversion is pretty superficial so whitewash so that's why we speak much in the church about the new covenant it's something most churches don't know anything about Jesus abolished the Old Covenant made a new covenant those of you studied American history you know that up until 1776 the British ruled the United States then the United States became a free country now the question is how many people in you know in the United States would want to go back under the British rule I don't think anybody watch so it's surprising that Christians want to live under the old covenant which is abolished years ago not in 1776 but 3080 many years ago it was abolished the day of Pentecost God finished with our Old Covenant the Old Covenant is only temporary to teach man you God was trying to teach man through the law you can never come up to my standards no matter how hard you try man could keep nine out of the ten commandments for the tenth commandment which says you must never desire anything in your heart that doesn't belong to you somebody else's must not lust nobody in the world could keep it God says that's my standard she can't keep it you can't enter my kingdom it's a good thing God abolished that and found a showed us a way not just to forgive us forgiveness was there in the Old Covenant too but to help us to be free so that we can keep that 10th commandment that we don't desire anything but God in our hearts if you haven't come there my brother's sister pursue it this is the place God is seeking to bring us to where we desire nothing but God in our hearts and when we desire him I'll tell you something when you have nothing left but God you'll find that God is more than enough because he takes care of you he won't let your star no one who's ever trusted God has been a homeless person never in the history of humanity nobody's ever trusted God has had to star or seen his children star God provides these earthly things but he says I want you to recognize that your spiritual life relationship with me is priority so today I want to share something out an aspect of the New Covenant which is not much spoken off turn with me to James chapter 5 James chapter 5 and I want to read from her 7:00 to 11:00 be patient therefore my brother's until the coming of the Lord and the example uses is the farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil being patient about it until he gets the early and latter rain when a farmer saw the seed he doesn't expect a crop overnight no he is willing to wait and wait patiently many months then he gets a harvest and so here it says here then once we have sowed the seed of righteousness and kindness and goodness and lived sacrificial life seeking to please God and blessing other people you may not get the results immediately which farmer gets the result in 1 week 2 weeks he's willing to wait and he says you must wait how long until the coming back of Jesus Christ to earth when he comes back he will get such a harvest that you'd be glad you waited and that you'll be glad that you sowed the right seeds and poured water on your crops and did not bother about people criticizing you or any such thing just love them and bless them and return what a harvest you yet so be patient where's Aid and strengthen your hearts because the coming of the Lord is at hand is it hand means it'll come you know it's just 1,000 years is like 1 day so according to that God's calculation has just been two days since Jesus went up to heaven just two days he's coming back so do not complain brethren against one another don't waste your time criticizing others judging others it's that way you want to get a good harvest because the one who is to judge people is coming he will take care of all judgment you don't have to judge anybody you think something's wrong with somebody leave it to the judge to take care of that he do it he's coming to me it's been a great blessing because my unconverted days you know how I was just like anybody else judging everybody criticizing finding fault we are all experts at finding fault with everybody else never finding much fault in ourselves but I have come closer to God I'll tell you something I have discovered more Fault in myself than in other people because when you come close to God the light shines so brightly on yourself you see things that you never saw before and the light is shining so brightly you know how unis look at the Sun your light eyes are blinded it's like that when you look at God your eyes are blinded that you can't see the faults of people around you it's a wonderful way to live because you see so much in yourself that needs to be cleansed away before Christ comes I hope you're living that life Christ is coming soon all the evil that we see around in the world is exactly as Christ predicted I would precede the coming of the Lord Jesus said it - like the birth pains that a woman goes through before the baby's delivered but the woman looks forward to the baby at the end of the birth pains and all the suffering going on the world today is the birth pains before the coming of Christ and then he says as an example brethren of suffering and patience take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord the Old Testament examples of every prophet in the Old Testament you know suffered at the hands of other people who misunderstood them criticized them in in the history of God's dealings with man God has sent his servants and every true servant of his has been maligned criticized misunderstood declared a heretic Cora falls teacher etc one day God will reveal that those were my true servants they endured it patiently and he says take an example from these prophets and then he takes one example from the Old Testament he says Joe verse 11 we count those blessed who endured you have heard of the endurance of Joel in the Old Testament and seen the outcome of the Lord's dealings that even though a job went through very painful time the outcome he was tremendously blessed at the end the Lord is full of compassion and mercifully saying that in relation to the coming of the Lord God may allow you also go through a lot of suffering and trial but in the end when he comes you see what a harvest you get so just be patient for that you may not see the result in your earthly lifetime also the prophets did not they were killed persecuted all the most of the Apostles were all beheaded and killed they did not see the result in their lifetime but boy what a reward if a awaits them so if you turn to the book of Joel which is quoted here I just want to share a few things from there if you heard me earlier you've heard me say that job is the first book of the 66 books of the Bible that God wrote through man not Genesis Genesis is written put in the 1st of the Bible because it describes creation but it was written 500 years after Joe by Moses so job is the first book when God decided to write a book for man the Bible and he was going to write 66 books the first one he wrote was Joel so its creation the description of creation came 500 years later it's almost as though God said description of creation wait it's not so important I want to speak to man about a man of God so the first book that God wrote in the Bible was not about the creation of the earth it was about a man a man whom God appreciated a man whom God could point out to Satan and say have you all over the earth Satan have you seen a man like this remember that my brothers and sisters that when God wrote his first book he was revealing his heart that the greatest thing he wants to see on earth today is a man or a woman whom he can point out to the devil and say okay Satan there are a lot of hypocrites on the earth a lot of people who call themselves Christians were first-rate hypocrites but have you seen this one one in a million have you seen this one have you seen that one this man that woman a lot of churches teach a lot of wrong things and are more after your money than interested in blessing your soul but have you seen this church not a mega church with this small one here that's the type of person I want to be that's it I have a church I want to build one whom the Lord can point out to Satan and say this one is different that's what God said about Joe there were a lot of hypocrites in Joe's today just like that's been in the history of man wherever there's religion there are hypocrites without a doubt and Christianity's got plenty of them many counterfeits because the original is so valuable you know people make counterfeits only of valuable things like gold and diamonds so if Christianity is valuable you can be pretty sure the lot of counterfeits but in jobs day there were a lot of people who are religious but not genuine but here was one man and the Lord said to Satan verse 8 have you considered my servant job there's no one like him on the face of the earth a blameless upright man fearing God and turning away from evil what I learned from the first book of the Bible is it's not what man thinks of you that's important if God can give you a certificate to the devil you see we know only about 10% of each other's life you know nothing about my private life you don't know how I speak to my wife at home every day you don't know you can imagine that I'm very holy you don't know what my attitude to money is you don't know whether I'm righteous in money matters you don't know whether I pay my taxes you don't know anything about my private life using standing up here and even one another who we meet every Sunday we know very little about each other we know about 10% at the most 90% of our life is hidden private no human being knows it but the devil knows it he sees all the things that you do in private the way you speak to others etc you're handling money matters etc and he's got planned he's called an accuser he's called the accuser of believers particularly so the purpose which Satan is watching is to accuse people who take the name of Christ and say God this guy takes your name look how he behaves look how he's speaking to his wife look how she speaks to her husband this guy supposed to be a Christian look how he handles money and look how he pretends to be so holy in the church in he's a downright hypocrite the rest of his life and what is gone say God's not going to tell a lie he accepts it and he says but Satan have you seen this one and have you seen that one that if you're really concerned about the glory of God's name that's the type of person you should longed to be then among all the hypocrites and deceivers and people who take advantage of the name of Christ on earth that God can point out to a few very few jesus said the way to life is so narrow very few will find it do you want to be one among them I had a great longing for many years in my life ever since I read this verse I said Lord I want to be one of those whom you can find out of the devil I'm not bothered what people think about me or say about me it's worthless they're dust you take breath out of their body just breath and they become dust why why should I worry about their opinion I one who created me he's opening about me is much more important can you point me out to Satan I believe that's a question you should all ask yourself if you're serious about the Christian life ask yourself this question job is one and it was you know job is a very wealthy man by the way there's nothing wrong in being wealthy if God decides to give you that Jesus was not wealthy he was poor so that's also okay many of the prophets were poor someone Abraham was a prophet he was very wealthy and job is very wealthy he was one of the richest men on earth which teaches us that you can be rich and spiritual and you can be rich in a hypocrite or you can be poor in spiritual and we pour in a hypocrite you can be rich and love money and you can be poor and love money too or every beggar in the world loves money every homeless man loves money it's not only rich people who love money and you can be rich and be free from the love of money and you can be poor and free from the love of money our external circumstances don't determine our inner attitudes no so job is a very wealthy man because since he had such a lot in those days wealth was determined by the number of Cathy you had verse 3 sheep camels yoke of oxen hundreds and hundreds of them it was an extremely wealthy man but there was something about Jove he feared God it says God Himself said that there's a man like him who fears me and turns away from evil now remember he lived at a time when there was no Bible no Bible he didn't know anything about the coming of Jesus Christ which would be for the 2,000 years later he lived about 4000 years ago Joe and he had no fellowship he was about one lonely man on earth living for God in the midst of a bunch of hypocrites we have a lot fellowship and don't realize how much that blesses us what job is a lonely man but in spite of all that I want to tell you about something how he lived which tells us why God said he feared God turn with me to job 31 joke 31 mmm job tells us something about his inner life it's an amazing verse I wonder how many men you will find on earth today like that you know what job says I made a covenant with my eyes that I will not guess at a woman to lust after her can you find me a man like that today with the Bible with the knowledge of Jesus Christ people talk about speaking in tongues fullness of the Holy Spirit all these fantastic things people speak so many meetings so many fellowship meetings so many conferences and deeper life conferences and all of that at the end of it all show me men who can say I made a covenant with my eyes that I will never lust after a woman Joe had a wife and he was satisfied with her and job is an old man his children were grown up and had their own home so job's wife was an old lady but she was beautiful in his eyes even though she was an old lady and she said you think old men are not tempted to lust after the younger goes where is the man who can say I made a covenant my eye will not last after a woman and he says something else see that's one of our biggest temptations and the other thing he says is in verse 24 if I put my confidence in gold or in money and my trust in money if I have gloated because my wealth was so great or because by my hard-working hands I earned so much money or my clever brain then I deserve to be punished that's just two areas I'm talking about sex and money this guy was pure without a Bible without fellowship without constant exhortation without any internet to listen to messages we have so much how did he come to this life he had one quality which many Christians don't have he reverenced God he feared God two types of fear of God you know as I've mentioned that one is the fear that God may hurt me I don't have that fear the other is the fear that I may hurt God I want that fear that's the right type of fear to have not that God may hurt me that I may hurt God whatever fear do you want your children to have when they grow up the fear that my dad may hurt me or the fear that I may hurt my dad that's the type of fear God wants he's a father he wants us to be his children and that's a type of fear God had job had he didn't know God is a father like we know he knew God is God but he didn't want to hurt him if he had wealth he knew God gave it to him and he was thankful for it and for such a good God we're blessed him and so much he's blessed him with ten healthy children and wealth and comfort and everything he said how can I hurt this God who has done so much for me I don't want to hurt him and how did he know that without a Bible without any commandment you shall not commit adultery or the new New Testament standard don't lust after one how did this man know that lusting after one is wrong when I'm sure everybody else in the world was doing it that's what the fear of God does you know when you know God he makes you sensitive in your functions two things that are wrong which other people around you don't think is wrong most people live by the standards of others around them if they say it's wrong it's wrong for me they think it's not wrong it's okay but the man who fears God and reverence is God he his conscience tells him things which other people don't even hear and he doesn't matter nobody in the world is following it he's determined to follow that that's the blessed man and we read in James think of job it says consider job my brother is a New Testament commandment and James chapter 5 so that's why I want to consider Joel the Holy Spirit says consider Joe consider how he had not even 1% of what you have as Christians and see how he lived so don't make an excuse saying my flesh is weak my lusts are strong what about him he was also a child of Adam just like us it's a lie that we cannot overcome these things especially if we seek the power of the Holy Spirit we can you know how people say I can't give up smoking I'm so addicted to it till one day the doctor says one more cigarette and you'll die in a few days he suddenly stops how did he suddenly get strength to overcome something because he feared death it's amazing what all will do if your death sugar diabetes however much you like ice cream you'll stop it we we fear love life so much that we will give up many things we think we don't have the strength to give it up but we have how much more we can have if we seek for the power of the Holy Spirit there is no commandment that God is given in Scripture which cannot be obeyed I'm convinced about that if you're not convinced about it you'll never come there when the Bible says give thanks in everything because God controls everything to make it work for your good it's possible no need to complain or murmur if you believe that God is making that evil that somebody did to you work for your good so every commandment can be obeyed if we seek for it is the lie of the devil who keep selling us no no you can't keep it and etc so job is a great example for me because he had so little and he lived such a pure life but I want to go on from that that this wonderful man who was the greatest man of God on earth at that time went through such unimaginable suffering that I mean people read it say this can't be true they immediately said oh this is a fancy story well fancy story how does the Holy Spirit mention it in the book of James it's not a parable it was a real man because people can't believe that a real man could have suffered so much that in one day through an accident and calamity he lost all his property and all his children all his wealth was burnt up some enemies came and we read in job 1 and verse 17 and made a raid and took them and slew the servants and took away all his wealth all his cattle another fellow came and said your children were all eating and drinking in their oldest brother's house way verse 18 and a great wind a storm a tornado came and the house fell upon these young people and every one of them died 10 children who all died because they were all having a feast in a house and their tornado struck it and everybody died and with some Chaldeans came and waited and took away all his cattle and he gets all that news within a few seconds of each other two servants come and say hey Joe all your wealth is gone and the other fellow comes later and says all your children is gone all your children are gone and it says in job 1 verse 20 job arose he tore his robe minzy me that means he wept naturally you'll weep when you lost your children there's nothing wrong in weeping sorrow is not a sin the loved one dies you naturally we but along with who is weeping he did something else he bowed his head fell down and worshiped God that's the first person we read off in Scripture who worshiped God Joe ray bram did it later but what I see there about worship is this his attitude you know somebody think of worship but singing songs and all churches called Sunday morning praise and worship it is not praising worship it's praise and thanksgiving worship is something an altogether different category there are four steps in our relationship with God first is prayer asking God second is Thanksgiving thanking God for what he's done third is praise which is not thanking God but praising him for who he is even if he's done nothing for me and fourth is worship this is the highest worship is is not necessarily with words it can be in silence is more an attitude of the heart where I bow down and you know people who worship God always bow down and that is significant God accept your will for my life whatever it is if you decide to give me something I bow in and worship you I'm sure Jobe worshiped when he got so much to his children and his property and he bowed down in worship and God took them away that's a little more difficult it's easy to bow down and worship and God gives you lovely children and gives you a good job in a good house and money it's quite another thing to bow and worship God when he takes her out to the worshiper true worshiper does both just as quickly and just as readily otherwise we are not a worshiper you know if I can only thank God when God gives me things I unlike anybody else in the world but I'm different if I can bow and worship God when he takes it away what I thought was mine a worshiper says nothing is mine that's what job says here in verse 20 is 21 when I came from my mother's womb what did I have how much money did I have I didn't even have a stitch of clothing on my body when I came I came out naked and one day I will leave this earth and they'll bury me and there'll be no wallet in my pocket when I'm buried I won't be able to take my money with me I won't be able to take my children I came naked I'll go naked and in the short period I'm on earth God gives me things that I can enjoy that I can use for his glory that I can be a witness for him I will accept whatever he sends that's a worshipper for whom God is more important than everything and you know God later on blessed joke when gave him back his wealth and children he had tension and again and property and he says in all these things worse 22 he did not sin he did not blame God whenever a man blames God he sins why did God allow this to me that's a sin it's almost saying this is God who runs the universe is stupid he doesn't know what he's doing that's what he's saying when he blames God joke didn't he could say I'm stupid I don't understand why it's happening that's okay because I don't have the wisdom of God you know God's wisdom is so great I'll tell you even though I've known Jesus for 57 years there are many many things I do not know of God's ways I know a lot more than I did fifty seven years ago it's like in the 12th grade you know a lot more than you were in the kindergarten but I'm still growing a lot more about God I don't know because my mind is limited it's like a cup God's wisdom is like an ocean is it surprising that the ocean doesn't fit into my cup but my cup keeps expanding that's a wonderful thing as I get to know God it becomes a little bigger it becomes like a bucket but even the bucket can't contain the ocean or becomes a tub silicon contained the ocean is growing but it's so much of God that we still don't know but we can grow but it's possible for use to start your Christian life as a cup and remain a cup even after 30 years you don't know any more about God lots of things I understand about God's ways today that I did not know even 10 years ago and much more than I knew fifty years because we are growing so this is worship and the other thing I want you to see here is we read there that after that Satan said boy I couldn't get him I'm gonna prove this guy doesn't fear God God give me one more chance this time to hit his body because I got sin Satan says I know one thing about human beings they love themselves more than anybody else they love themselves more than their children they love themselves more than their wives and husbands and but when it hits home then they'll complain God says okay try it and Satan goes and afflicts Joe with a sickness I don't know whether it was leprosy because it says he had to go outside the city and only lepers went outside the city and he had to take up here to scrape himself and sit there imagine all the sores in his body and this man is the most godly man on earth well you know what he says when he gets all that his wife complaints how can you hold fast your integrity chapter 2 verse 9 when God treats you like this and he said to her you speak like a foolish woman if we accept good things from God can't we accept adversity as well in all this job did not sin and there's something interesting that happened after this and this is what I want to share here there were three friends of his worship chapter 2 verse 11 called Eliphaz Bildad and Zophar they claimed to be friends and for some time they pretended to be friends they sat down with him on the ground for seven days verse 13 and seven nights and wept with him but when you read the rest of the book from chapter 4 onwards you find they were not real friends they criticized him left right and center they claim to know God but I have a feeling reading between the lines that these three friends were jealous of Joe you know if you're a godly man that can be people are jealous of you because your life seems to be so restful and peaceful when their lives are full of turmoil and listen to this if you're a godly man and on top of that you have quite a bit of wealth boy then the jealousy increases like anything I mean if you are godly and you were living in a little Hut or a Shack there'd be a happy okay I'm better often the guy may be godly but if you're godly and you're much better off financially than those guys then the jealousy becomes intense how in the world can he be godly and he's got wealth too and God allows certain circumstances in the life of his servants that exposes the evil and others it's one of the ways you see in Scripture you know the Pharisees had a lot of evil in them but you read in the Gospels that sometimes it got exposed the people come to the presence of Jesus got exposed for example they they had all this bitterness against a woman caught in adultery now there was a law in the Old Testament the woman caught in adultery must be punished and they wanted to punish her and they brought her to Jesus and remember Jesus heaven gave those laws to Moses in the Old Testament so he could have kept it but he said whoever is without sin among you throw the first stone at this woman go ahead go ahead you want to stone her the one without sin can throw the first stone and that's all jesus said and kept quiet and you know what it says there in John chapter 8 the oldest Pharisee walked away first and one by one by one they all left why didn't at least one of them pretend that he had no sin and take the stone because I know what would have happened they were scared of Jesus they're afraid that Jesus would make a big list of all their sins publicly and expose them they said we better not be scared of that we better go away quietly and they went away see the evil in their heart got exposed when they came into the presence of Jesus and that's sometimes the way God uses you know God allows some suffering to come to a godly man even today just like Joe and immediately there are people who are Christians who say ah that's because there must have been some secret sin in his life they are little delighted that that suffering came which didn't come to them and they find some delight in trying to show they were always jealous if this person was far more spiritual than them and they're so delighted now that something has happened to that person or to his family that didn't happen to them and they brought in that say ah must be some secret sin in his life and thereby these hypocrites are exposed what was in their heart hidden for so long their wrong attitude towards this godly man suddenly got exposed it's wonderful how God does it and if that man wants he can judge himself but they don't usually just themselves they live in ignorance of their true condition so these people began to say like that you know I don't have time to read all of it one of the things they said was her job have you ever met any godly man suffering tell me and Joe but already job is living 2,000 years after Adam and we could point out think of know I think abena did they suffer they walked with God that children they live comfortably they were godly men Enoch and Noah job did they suffer no what are you suffering something is wrong some secret sin in your life that's what they said to him and what about your children one of them said in job eight and worse for gob eight words for maybe your sin sons have sinned against God they don't know anything about his sons maybe your sons have sinned against God and therefore God has punished them for their transgression so if you see God and say okay Lord I'm sorry maybe God let mercy on you so this is what these three people said I've learned a lesson from that for myself I read the scriptures not to judge other people as it was in Hebrews 10 which says in the volume of the book it is written about me I read that verse simply reverse Hebrews chapter 10 in the volume of the book it's written about me and so when I read the Bible I see what's written there about me not about other people and so I read about these people these people who were jealous of a godly man and immediately want to judge why did this happen to him I say Lord let me examine my heart do I ever have that attitude when I see another person suffering or anybody I need not be a Christian maybe some friend of mine suffering do I immediately feel ah there must be some sin in his life that shows what an evil person I am not how he'll he is it shows how far from God I am that I don't have the humility to say I know only 10% of his life 90% of his life I don't know if his children suffer how in the world can I say is because they sinned I don't know 90% of their life does any teacher in a school correct the students examination paper and after correcting 10% of it give marks know if there are 10 questions would a teacher correct just the first question and then give 0 or 100 no we understand that but we do it all the time we know 10% of a person's life when we formed a judgement zero or hundred or maybe 15 or 20 that's how we are to read the scripture to get light on yourself and you'll get light even in a book like Joe which I think many people don't read I get light on myself from the wrong attitude of these critics of Joe because such people live even today the world is full of them people who are quick to find fault even in a husband and wife you say you love your wife you love your husband so much ah but how quick we are to say this must be why she did that oh this must be why he did that we are so far from God remember that it Leyva's Bildad and Zophar I'll tell you what God said about them at the end if you turn to the last book of the Bible of jobra last chapter of job job 42 and verse 7 the Lord said to these three people who had criticized Joe saying my anger is burning like a fire against three of you boy for daring to criticize my servant when there was when you fellows a million times worse than him that's basically what he was saying you have not spoken what is right about my servant this is my servant God says this is my song and how dare you speak against him I know everything about his life I know everything about his sons I have allowed him to go through suffering so that he can be an example to people for the next four thousand years and he is today an example to me that's why God allowed job to go through suffering what these guys didn't know that they couldn't imagine that god is going to make this man a testimony and a blessing for 4000 years for Jewish people and Christians and all humanity they could only have this short-sighted view he's suffering because it's some sin in his life and so they said now that your God said every year in the Old Testament Christ had not yet died so there were sacrifices God commanded to symbolize that one day somebody would have to take the price for your sin why did God tell the Jews and all to kill a Bullock or something he was trying to teach them sin is very serious sin cuts you off from me just like you cut the wire and the electricity goes off it doesn't have would be a big gap just a small cut and is gone and so God says sin is very serious it cuts you off from me and there must be a price paid for that sin because if you don't pay a price for sin then the foundations of justice are destroyed God is a just God and so a sinless person has to take the punishment for your sin and there was nobody and Jesus was the one sinless person would come and take the punishment for our sin finally but in the Old Testament they were told to look forward to it and symbolically they had to take a Bullock or a sheep that had not sinned you know animals don't sin and put your hand on it and say okay I'm putting my hand on this Bullock or sheep on this Bullock or sheep is going to take the punishment for my sin oh yeah picture of one day our Christ would take though all the punishment for all our sins so God told Ellie first now go to job because he's the only upright man among all of you and take seven bulls and Rams and ask him to offer that as an offering and then my servant will job will pray for you hypocrites and I will accept him and his prayer so that I will not so that I don't deal with you according to your foolishness that's what the cloud calls all that opinion they had about job your foolishness the way you criticize my servant not knowing anything about his private life you have not spoken about me what is right twice ESS and these three people had to humble themselves and go to job so job is sorry for what we have a we spoke against you please forgive us and God told us to that you only can now pray for us and offer the sacrifice job said sure you didn't have any grudge against that that's another mark of a man of God he doesn't say you guys deserve it no we never speak like that when we realize how much we ourselves have been forgiven by Jesus it is impossible for us to look at another person in a despising way I can say that by God's grace God's forgiven me so much that I can never look at another human being however great a sinner he may be and despise him impossible I say impossible it wasn't like that with me many many years ago those days I did not know or realize how much I had been forgiven and then it was easy to despise others I'll tell you this little thing a little law that you can keep in your mind if you despise any human being even if a non-christian sinner or evil man it shows that you have not understood how much God has forgiven you or you have not seen the gravity and seriousness of sin how much you've been forgiven people are evil what they do is evil that's fine but I say tomato I say I say Lord we all came from Adam that poison of sulfur of wanting to harm others hurt others criticize others find fault with others and justify myself came down from Adam to every single one of us when God asked Adam did you sin he pointed at his wife the Lord hang on I'll tell you who's the cause of this my wife you think that habit doesn't come down he's come down and almost every family my husband I like I wish somebody could paint a picture of Adam pointing his finger at his wife in the Garden of Eden and I wish I could hang it up in every Hall that's it this is how the human race started don't let don't continue like that and I'd like to put another picture next to that of Jesus hanging on the cross fingers pointing at nobody saying I'll take the blame these two pictures are in my mind one is what it means to follow Adam and the other is what it means to follow Jesus I want apologies or this in my life I don't want to blame anybody because I've been forgiven so much and because I've been forgiven so much I'll forgive everyone I'll walk this earth as a man who's been forgiven so much be like that it's made my life supremely happy because I'm not always looking for something to find fault with somebody or some fault in something somebody did or said or I'll tell you this if you get rid of this habit all your life will be much happier one reason you can't rejoice in the Lord always it's because you probably have the habit of finding fault wherever you go you go to somebody's home and you find something wrong there everybody you meet there's something wrong with him except yourself of course this is the deception so we learn something from here the story of Joe of how he was misunderstood are you misunderstood the first book in the Bible God wrote saying the godliest man on earth was misunderstood by religious people you must be willing to face that and when it's all over forgive them like joke did bless them wish good for them that is Christianity if you're not like that just to say I believe in Jesus he died for me is coming back and all it's a lot of rubbish it's better you don't take the name of Jesus he I have sometimes said to people listen you should not bring disgrace to the name of Jesus Christ the way you live you got a Christian name everybody in your office thinks you're a Christian but look at the way you behave it's better you change your name so that at least the name of Jesus Christ is not dishonored it's a terrible thing to be known as a Christian and then to live just like anybody else in the world jesus said you're the light of the world in other words you know the difference between light and darkness it's extreme and when Jesus said you're the light of the world and he was saying that your life must be so different from the people in the world not just what you speak anybody can speak the world is full of religious people who spew forth religious nonsense but life jesus said your life must be like a light not just the words we speak that people see you know you see the light shining up there he's not making any noise with joob lights when they make a noise is something wrong with it this it's burning and you can't ignore it it's there but it's not saying anything that's how Jesus said our life must be you don't need how to speak your life manifest something the way you live and speak and what you live for shows something which even if they don't say anything they they get convicted I remember when I was working in the Navy in India for many years on the ships and in the naval base I sought to be a Christian in the midst of my work and all my senior officers and everybody knew my colleagues that I was not just a run-of-the-mill Christian I was one who had committed my life to Christ and I would be upright and even if I was willing to suffer for it I would tell my senior officer I'm sorry sir I don't drink alcohol I'm a Christian once sometimes it asked me to do something wrong and I'd say I'm sorry sir my conscience doesn't permit me to do that because I'm a Christian they knew me that and what is the result I mean I saw some of them converted my colleagues while I was in the Navy but I remember somebody telling me Zack your commanding officer is in hospital with a brain tumor and he's dying and he was remembering you because I was the only one who came across his path who reminded him of eternity boy was I thankful I was recently in Bangalore at a retired naval officers gathering and one of the Admirals would be my colleague in the Navy he said Zack this is what 40 years ago yet see me he said Zack I can never forget you how you gave up everything for Jesus Christ I found I didn't preach much to these people but I found they couldn't forget I remember another naval commander who I met in a bank once and he said he said are you the guy who had Bible verses written on your scooter is I remember that fought for 40 years earlier it's not our words and I had never even preached him I'd never even met him do you know that the way you live is making an impact on people around you who may never say a word to you but when they approach death they'll remember you as the one person who lived for Jesus Christ and showed them there was a life beyond the grave that you need to live for we don't have to preach all this and I didn't you know in the Navy I couldn't as an officer go around preaching to others but I could live the life that people saw I was different now I wouldn't do anything wrong as very compassionate towards people with made mistakes sailors would sometimes make a mistake and say it's okay forget it so jobs life is the thing we are told to look back to never mind the people misunderstand you and particularly as a Christian what does it mean to follow Jesus Jesus is the greatest example I mean job is a very poor example of a man who suffered is excellent but nothing compared to Christ because when we read in Isaiah 53 let me show you something about how it was with Jesus Isaiah 53 is a great chapter of Jesus sufferings there's a prophecy about how Jesus would come and suffer written 700 years before he came and it says here the first thing it says is he grew he would grow up before his father before God like a tender shoot like a root out of a parched ground this is the true Christian who grows up before God but in the eyes of the world it says Jesus did not have any form or majesty even though he was King of Kings that pshoo people should be attracted to him he was not like these handsome film stars giving an aura of greatness no all through his life you know it's interesting that the priests and soldiers who had seen Jesus for three-and-a-half years seen him so clearly because he was a great miracle worker when they wanted to capture him to kill him they said we won't be able to recognize him so they had to get one of his disciples Judas say will you in the darkness go and identify Jesus because he looks just like everybody else there was no halo around his head like you see in these paintings no I want to tell you that there was no halo there they'd have identified him easily then he was just like anybody else that's a Roman Catholic thing that they put around Jesus head he was just like anybody else and that impresses me that he lived on earth he is his character was his light not his height or his face or anything like that and it says here he was as far as his appearance is concerned there was nothing attractive horse to his appearance was not one that we should be attracted to him so Jesus was not seeking to draw people with his appearance or his personality just by his life and in top of that it says he was despised and rejected by men verse 3 why was he despised even though he lived such a good life because he exposed religious hypocrisy that's why he was despised by the religious people because he would come in there and show how they would praise such wonderful prayers in the church in their synagogue and then in their private life they'd squeeze money from the poor widows because the widow didn't pay rent last month or something that he spoke about that in Matthew 23 and that really infuriated because these are the church leaders who are collecting rent from poor widows and oppressing them when they couldn't pay and Jesus came in and exposed all this hypocrisy he said you guys just clean the outside of the cup make it look nice and inside is full of muck so that infuriated them and therefore he was despised and rejected they called him Prince of Devil's and things like that he was a man of sorrows acquainted with grief despised verse three isaiah 53:3 and we did not esteem him and even when he hung on the cross and people made fun of him they did not realize that he was actually taking their sins those people who crucify them he was taking their sins and he said to them for I said Father forgive them well they don't know what they're doing they don't realize that I'm dying for their sins these guys were crucifying me yeah they it was our griefs that he took he was pierced for our transgressions so what I see there is the way that Jesus has taught us to follow is not a way of you know what the world calls blessing and prosperity it's a way of suffering and misunderstanding but a life in which when people misunderstand we respond in love and goodness because we know that this will work for my good do you know that when you when somebody misunderstands you and speaks evil of you if you react in the same way you're going to be just as evil as him yeah and the devil has killed two birds with one stone he made that guy evil towards you and the devil didn't touch you you reacted evil towards him when the devil's kill two birds with one stone why are we so foolish why should we save somebody behaves in a bad way in I mean silently the message that comes Oh through me is if you serve the devil I'm going to serve the devil - is that stupid if he hates me and I hate him in return that's what you're saying you said the devil I'm gonna serve the devil - you yell at me I yell at you it's like saying you serve the devil I'll serve the devil - it's foolish Jesus you couldn't make Jesus do that they cursed him and crucified him and he said Father forgive them they don't know what they're doing his attitude was you sir the devil I'm gonna serve God this is the Jesus we follow and if that's not the way you're living my brother sister the devil's got plenty to accuse you - God you make carefully concealed evils from other believers and get a reputation before them but at that very moment the devil saying God look at that hypocrite he goes to NCC F not just any Church all over the way he lives may that may the devil's mouth be shut I've often felt Lord I want to be a person who shuts the mother the devil when he's he's got nothing to say against me before God I'm not saying that they never slip up but if I slip up I'm going to confess it immediately the devil's mouth shut do you know that I'm not saying that you got a life you live a life where you never slip up that's impossible on this earth because we have a corrupt nature but I see it's like if a thorn gets into your foot what do you do how long do you wait till you pull it out that's how long you should wait before you confess your faults and your sins you don't even even if you are doing the most important work you'll stop that and pull out that thorn because it's uncomfortable to have a thorn in your foot when when you're working or doing something if something gets into your eye how long do you take dust gets into your how long you take before you get someone to blow it out up or some water we take care of a body so carefully you get a cut immediately you want to put a band-aid or something that's what I'm saying as long as we live on desert our soul will be affected in some way immediately said it right confess it to Jesus how wonderful we know that every sin is been dealt with on the cross when Jesus died all I have to do is acknowledge my error say Lord I'm guilty don't be like Adams blame somebody else you know those two thieves wrong on the cross both were murderers and thieves the two sides of Jesus why did one go to heaven in the other go to hell when both were equally evil one single reason the thief on one side said Lord I'm guilty the other fellow said get me down from the cross I don't deserve this punishment maybe I deserve deserve a couple of years in jail but not crucifixion crucifixion so the worst of criminals well the other guy said I deserve this I am the worst of criminals I don't deserve two years in jail I deserve crucifixion and if I were to paraphrase Jesus words to him is it so really you deserve this then you're fit for heaven because heaven is for those who will acknowledge their guilt not for perfect people but for those who will humbly acknowledge they kill because I'm dying for such people you will be in paradise with me today what was the difference between these two one acknowledged his guilt unlike Adam who blames somebody else he said I'm guilty I'm not blaming my parents that they brought me a badly I'm not blaming bad company that led me astray I'm not blaming those other gangsters who took me into their gang no no no no I'm blaming only myself I did not have to go and steal that money I stole it I can't say my fellow robbers encouraged me to do it no no it's me I didn't have to go and kill that man I killed him not because I was becoming a gang of murders evil I'm just me evil person but lord please remember me when you come into your kingdom that's what he said he didn't know how to take 2,000 years the Lord said I would you know no way two thousand years today you will enter my kingdom you'll walk with me in paradise to me this is a wonderful thing in heaven the angels are surprised when jesus walks with a forgiven sinner in paradise that's going to be the joy we have when we meet him face to face one of these days but it'll be for those who are absolutely honest who are not here like job's friends to criticize others and blame others and say Lord I'm the one to blame I take the blame for my sin and who are not interested in judging other people the Bible says Jesus said don't judge lest you be judged yourself because in the measure in which you judge you will also be judged that's a metric chapter 7 verse 1 in other words if I've been very hard in judging somebody for a sin I tell you this I might as well warn you right now God's going to be very hard in the way he judges you I'll tell you something a law that I found in Scripture God treats you like you treat other people you in India we have made servants who work in our homes and I've always felt I'm a street than the servants who work exactly like God treats me with mercy do they make mistakes who is there who doesn't make mistakes and when they make a mistake let me not jump on them God doesn't jump on me if I make a mistake he's so merciful to me not only that even in our dealings among ourselves his fellow believers we make mistakes we accidentally hurt one another be merciful it's one of the great jesus said blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy not everybody is going to obtain mercy from God the merciful will obtain mercy and let me read you in other words from James we read one about job in the book of James is another word from from James he says in chapter 2 and verse 13 judgment will be without any mercy from God to those who have not shown mercy to other people I'll tell you something about the day of judgment that's coming every one of us will have to give an account of our life to God one day and in that day God is going to be merciful to some people you know who those have been merciful to others I want to be in that number I've not been in that in previous unconverted days but boy since quite some years now in my life I've decided I want mercy in the day of judgment and I want to one way I can prepare for it is by being merciful to everyone I meet and if I meet some godly man like joke today who's suffering maybe in his body maybe got cancer suffering maybe his children are suffering maybe he's suffering financially I will not judge him I will not act like God and say I know why that happened I don't know why it happened I want to get alongside him and help him and encourage him and bless him and see him through that trial that's a godly man and if all of you like that I'll tell you something this church will be the body of Jesus Christ because that's how Jesus was he didn't come here to condemn people he said very clearly in John 3:17 God I did not come to condemn people but to save them some people have the habit of witnessing to others by giving out tracts good but after that they say okay his blood is not on my hands I've given him a gospel you have condemned is that why you view the gospel to people just to say hey I'm not responsible for your soul if you go to hell I already warned you no Jesus did not come with that attitude and I don't want to go with that attitude I want to save people I don't want to say I gave you the gospel what hell is your responsibility no I want to save them till the end of my life I want to try my best to save them they don't get said okay I feel sorry for them but I'm not going to condemn them that's God's business there's so many things we can learn from the book of Job of his attitude and the attitude of these people who appear to be his friends word secret jealousy and and wrong attitudes you know there are two types of sins one a sins of action and the other sins of attitude sins of action are you slap somebody or you tell a lie since of attitude are jealousy some bitterness unforgiving spirit and sins of attitude are a million times worse than sins of action very often what we confess is the sins of action oh Lord I stole something there I did something there look for the sins of attitude towards other people if you want to be a true Christian deal with that first your attitude towards your husband and wife to begin with is there mercy is there humility is there a recognition that we are all every one of us a part of a fallen race I don't despise non-christians no I don't despise any human being I say Lord I'm part of the same race and I could have been like that I think of the worst terrorists and say boy I'm better now no I'm not better than that guy came from Adam and he had an upbringing which made him a terrorist if I had that upbringing I repeat a terrorist - that's what I say it's not because I'm basically better than him that he became a terrorist that became a saint no I had a better upbringing so thank you lord I was allowed to hear the gospel from childhood and I could hear about Jesus and changed my life from a very young age I don't look down on others here's another Christian maybe he didn't have the opportunities I had always be merciful merciful merciful and recognize that God allows us to be misunderstood by others seem by religious people and to suffer and when that happened do what job did forgive them and pray for them that they'll be blessed and you'll you'll be amazed how your spiritual life will not be like climbing a ladder it'll be like a rocket going up into space and in a very short time he'll become a spiritual person and what you could not accomplish in many many years can happen all in a few days if you really pursue this path say Lord my calling in life is to follow Jesus let people misunderstand me like people criticize me I will not defend myself many years ago a very godly man told me three things I was only in twenty three or so and he said to me as a servant of the Lord he knew I was coming out of my job to serve the Lord he said remember three things one never tell your financial needs to any human being tell it only to God and I've done that for fifty years I've done it God's taking care of me I've never had to tell my financial news when we were very poor and we were poor my wife and I lived simply that's all and we never bought things we could not afford secondly he said to me live very simply don't live unnecessary expenditure on things you don't need but also I've tried to follow and the third thing is head was very important he said if people accuse you keep quiet don't reply leave it to God to reply to them you know like in the courts there's an advocate who please your cause right and if you try to say something and say listen I can handle your case just leave it to me I have an advocate in heaven the Bible says Jesus Christ is our advocate leave it to him he can handle things better than you when people accuse you keep your mouth shut never mind for what what is that guy's opinion worth anyway I always say man's opinion is fit for the trash can so if 10,000 people call me a prophet I don't become a prophet do you think you'll become a prophet of 10,000 people call you a prophet 15,000 people call me the devil I don't become the devil I decide myself what I'm going to be before God it's not what people call me or say about me recognize that I often say that to myself if 10,000 people call me a prophet I will not be a prophet if ten thousand people call me the devil I will not be the devil it's I God who decides what I am and who I'm going to be and I want to live before his face so I hope you've been blessed from the life of Joe whose great example for us and even greater example is Jesus himself let's bow our heads in prayer Heavenly Father we thank you for your word which gives us light on ourselves first of all on how we are to live on this earth in the few years that you give us help us to please you first of all and to be a blessing to others in the measure in which we can and love us to grow in this grow to please you and grow to be a blessing to others and above all to be merciful to one and all fill us with the Holy Spirit sometimes our nature is so strong that we do things that displease you but we want the power of your Holy Spirit to be able to please you in our lives we thank you Lord Jesus you're coming back soon and we're looking forward to seeing you face-to-face thank you in Jesus name we pray amen

Channel: SermonIndex.net

Views: 68,909

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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: L4j24IDP9zE

Length: 73min 21sec (4401 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 29 2016