Full text of Zac Poonen’s sermon titled ‘Sixteen Truths That I Have Learnt’ (Part 2) — September 10, 2022.
Listen to the MP3 Audio here:
TRANSCRIPT:
Zac Poonen – Bible Teacher
In our first session, we considered four truths that I have learned through my life. Number one, God loves Jesus’ disciples as much as He loved Jesus.
And I want to mention a word about John 17:23, which I quoted then. I said that that was only for the disciples of Jesus and not for the whole world. John 3:16 is for the whole world. And I’ll tell you why.
For John 17:23 is in the middle of the Lord’s prayer for His disciples. And He said in John 17, verse 9, ‘I ask on their behalf, I do not ask on behalf of the world.’ He was saying this prayer is not for the whole world. This prayer is only for My disciples who forsook everything to follow Me. And they have stood by Me all these years, they’ve given up everything to be My disciples. So I know, Father, You will love them, who? These 11, as much as You love Me, not all the others in Israel. But in the footsteps of those 11 are many today who also decided to be wholehearted disciples of Christ at any cost. So this verse applies for them, it’s not for the rest of the world.
And the second thing, said was God delights in honesty. And the third was God delights in cheerful givers. And the fourth was we must treat every human being with dignity.
Now we go to number five: HOLINESS COMES BY LOOKING UNTO JESUS. It’s the Holy Spirit who makes us holy. But He can make us holy only as we look unto Jesus. Sometimes these chapter divisions, which are made by man in the Bible, can prevent us from seeing a glorious truth. There are many things like that, like Romans 7:25 with Romans 8:1. Let’s read them together. Or the last verse of John 7 with the first verse of John 8. There are many verses like that, and this is one of those places.
Hebrews 11 is the great chapter of people of faith. We thought about Abel yesterday.
But God, Hebrews 11:40, with all these mighty men of faith mentioned in the Old Testament, who split the Red Sea, pulled down the walls of Jericho and stopped the sun and all types of things. All those fantastic things, it says here in verse 40, at the end of it: ‘God has provided something better for us…’ Have you noticed that?
Better than stopping the sun, better than pulling down the walls of Jericho, better than doing all the miracles, raising the dead like Elijah did. Better than all of that. And what is that? Hebrews Chapter 12, verse 1 and 2, we can run the race, looking at Jesus, enduring the cross, verse 2, despising the shame.
You mean enduring the cross is better than raising the dead? You mean enduring the cross is better than pulling down the walls of Jericho and splitting the Red Sea? Yes, sir, it is. If you have eyes to see it, very few have seen it. Most believers think, I’d rather raise the dead than take up the cross every day. I’ll tell you, I would rather take up the cross every day than raise the dead any day. Because that is a better thing.
It says here very clearly, ‘God has provided something better for us.’ And that is chapter 12, verse 1 and 2, something better than everything mentioned in Hebrews 11. So whenever you read Hebrews 11 and these fantastic things that people did, remember the last verse, there’s something better for you. That is to take up the cross and follow Jesus. And the reason is many Christians haven’t understood that.
OK, we’ll come to that in a moment. So we are to lay aside every encumbrance, verse 1, and the sin which so easily entangles us. It’s more important to give up sin than to do all the miracles mentioned in chapter 11 and run with the race, the race looking unto Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.
So what we learn from that is that the way to live a holy life is not just by judging ourselves and any amount of self-effort. The maximum self-effort you make following all the rules that you hear in the church will never make you holy. It comes by looking unto Jesus. We are to live our entire life, it says, running the race, fixing our eyes on Jesus. That’s a great verse, fixing our eyes. That means there are a thousand and one things that will try to distract you from that. And you don’t look at Jesus, you look at the way somebody treats you, or you look at some circumstance in your life that’s making life difficult, or you look at some shortage of money, or opposition, or sickness, or a hundred and one things to turn our eyes away from Jesus, that’s why we have to fix it.
The only way I can be holy is if I fix my eyes on Jesus, and look unto Him, and run the race behind Him. In other words, I got to see the footsteps of Jesus.
I told you how some religious people whose wrong doctrine I exposed took me to court for 10 years. I remember the first day I went to court, I’d never been to court for 59 years, I never knew what it was. And naturally it’s a new experience and you feel a bit perturbed in your spirit. Now as soon as I entered the court, God was so good to me, Jesus said, ‘Don’t be afraid. Religious people took Me to court before they took you. So you’re only walking in My footsteps. Huh, didn’t you want to walk in My footsteps?’
I said, ‘Yes Lord.’ That excited me. What a word, it liberated me completely.
I said, ‘Lord, what are those?’
‘The footsteps of faith and love. Faith in a heavenly Father who’s in complete control of the circumstance right now. And He will never allow it to go one second longer than He has planned. And second, love for your accusers and your enemies. Don’t ever give up that.’
I said, ‘Lord, I’m determined to go walk that way.’
And the very first day I grabbed the hand of my accuser, said, ‘God bless you.’ He was shocked. And I kept that attitude throughout. It’s wonderful when you look unto Jesus and He says, I went through this before you.
The Bible says Jesus was tempted in all points as we are. Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 15. We don’t have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weakness. But we have a high priest who can sympathize with our weakness. Why? Because… what is our weakness? Our weakness is not physical weakness or financial weakness or intellectual weakness. Our weakness is that we sin so easily.
You recognize that your greatest weakness is not your blood pressure or your cholesterol level or anything else like that, which you’re so worried about. It is the fact that you sin so easily. That is your greatest weakness. Not your financial hardship or the fact that you lost your job. If we can see this, my greatest weakness in my life is that I sin so easily. In my thoughts, in my attitudes. And He can sympathize with our weakness.
Why? Because He was tempted in every single point exactly as we are. 16 years of my Christian life, I never believed it. I always believed Jesus was God. He was not like me. He overcame… one day God opened my eyes to see one simple truth which is written here that He overcame as a man.
And since that day, I’ve always spoken about it and used the illustration of an angel with the wings trying to teach you to swim. He flies across the swimming pool and says, follow me.
And I say, dear angel, I’d love to follow you, but I don’t have any wings.
Get rid of your wings.
Have a body like mine that’s pulled down by gravity. Then you can teach me to swim.
So if Jesus lived on earth as God and says, ‘Follow Me,’ I’ll say to Him, ‘Lord, I cannot follow You. You are God. I’m a man. Take a body like me that’s tempted, tempted, tempted morning till night, then overcome without sin, then I can follow You.’
And the Lord says, that’s exactly how I lived. I came with a body like yours, with a will like yours, not a sinful nature like yours because He was born of a virgin, born of the Holy Spirit, but tempted like us, with a will like ours. But He never did His own will.
See John chapter 6 and verse 38. I call this the autobiography of Jesus’ life. He describes His entire life in one sentence: I came from heaven never to do My own will, but the will of My Father. Doing my own will is sin.
See our definition of sin may be dirty thoughts, telling lies, fighting with people. No, no, no, no, no. That’s a very cheap definition of sin.
You want to know the proper definition of sin? Doing what you want to do. I do what I want to do, that’s sin. I want to go and live here, never mind what God tells about it, I want to do that. You say, what’s wrong in going and living there? Nothing wrong. But if that’s not God’s will for you, it’s a sin.
Let me give you an example. With the very exhausting pattern of life that Jesus had, morning till night, people coming to see Him, going here, going there, early morning, going to prayer. At the end of one year, don’t you think there’d be anything wrong, there’d be anything wrong in His taking a one-week break and taking a trip to Rome, just for a little sightseeing? What’s wrong in that? Sightseeing is not a sin. I’ve done it. You’ve done it. And just to relax is not a sin. Take a trip to Rome, there was enough money in the bank, and come back.
Why didn’t He do it? Why would it have been a sin for him to go to Rome? Because in His Father’s plan for those three and a half years of His ministry, that was not included. That’s all. No other reason. He would not have sinned if He had gone to Rome. He would not have lusted after anybody or taken up with any of the sights or the money or anything. But He would have sinned in the sense that that was not in His Father’s perfect will.
Many of us don’t have that understanding of sin, because we don’t look unto Jesus. So holiness comes not by avoiding certain things like lusting with my eyes, getting angry, we hear about so many things in the church, don’t have a bitterness against anybody. Yeah, all that is good, but the top heading is doing my own will. That is sin.
It says in John 6:38, I never sinned means I never did My own will. So even a simple thing like going to Rome would have been a sin for Him. Why? Because it was not in His Father’s will. Now very, very few Christians live like that. That’s why there’s a lot of sin in so many Christians. That’s why their life is so miserable. That’s why so many other things enslave them. Because their definition of sin is wrong. We must have a passion in our life to do the will of God and to do that I have to deny my own will. That is looking unto Jesus.
Otherwise, you know, in Ephesians 4:24, there’s a word, a little expression called the holiness of the truth. You see the last part of verse 24, we’ve been made in the likeness of God, has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
There is a paraphrase of the New Testament written by a man called J.B. Phillips. And he paraphrases it as, beautiful paraphrase. I like to read many, many paraphrases and translations of the Bible to get different different aspects of that phrase. And every other phrase in the New Testament. Very often I read the Bible, I go to that same verse and many, many translations paraphrase to get the maximum out of one verse. He paraphrases it as the holiness which is no illusion.
You know what the word illusion means? Illusion means something imaginary. The holiness which is not imaginary, which is genuine and real, the holiness of truth, the holiness that’s real, not imaginary. You know children live in an imaginary world and sometimes we can imagine things. And a lot of people, their holiness is imaginary, it’s not genuine. They don’t tell lies. They don’t write false accounts. They go to church meetings regularly. They don’t yell at their wives. And they avoid certain bad things. They don’t lust after women. They don’t commit adultery. They pay all their taxes. And they think they’re holy. The holiness which is an illusion.
Look unto Jesus if you want real holiness. He never did His own will. So the question is, do you have a passion never to do your own will, but in every single day of your life to do the will of God? God doesn’t speak every moment saying do this, do this, do this. We’d be robots then. God doesn’t want robots.
You know I remember in my life, in the early days of my life, I used to have very clear direction from God. Even sometimes when I travel, when I should travel and many many things, little little things. But as I’ve grown older, so many times I seek God and I have no answer. Sometimes I pray for days. Lord what shall I do here? No answer. How do you want me to spend this money? No answer. And I got disturbed about it. It doesn’t mean I’m backsliding. I used to hear it so clearly in the younger days.
And then the Lord opened my eyes to see one wonderful truth. Simple really. He says, ‘God is like a Father.’ The Lord asked me, ‘How do you treat your children when they are two or three years old? Brush your teeth, have a shower, change your clothes, go to bed. And the same child is 20 years old, what do you tell him? Brush your teeth, change your clothes. No. You hardly tell him anything. As they grow up, you tell them less and less and less and less and less. If they have learned from you, they do what is right.’ And He says ‘That’s how I treat you. You’re grown up. I don’t have to tell you everything.’
Boy, how that liberated me that I cannot expect God to speak to me so clearly like He spoke to Abraham. Abraham or Samuel, Samuel. No, no, no. God doesn’t say, Zac, Zac. I never heard that. Because I’ve grown up. And He guides me. He says, you’re grown up. I’ve changed your mind. And how did it come? By looking unto Jesus. I see His example. He never did His own will.
So from today onwards, remember sin is doing your own will. Get that definition very clearly. And there are many, many subheadings to that. Lusting, getting angry, bitterness, grudges, all types of things. But basically, it’s doing your own will. So that is the holiness which is no illusion.
And Jesus is called in Hebrews 6 and verse 20, our forerunner. Hebrews is a great book. Great book. And I wish more Christians would study Hebrews than the other books in the New Testament. I have a series in our CFC website called Through the Bible in 70 Hours. Sixty-six books in 70 hours. But I spent four hours on Hebrews. A bit out of proportion, right? But it’s because Hebrews is such an important book. It changed my life. There’s no book in the New Testament that tells us so clearly that Jesus was tempted like us. And He overcame. And this word forerunner, you never see that anywhere else.
Hebrews 6:20: Jesus our forerunner. What does that mean? He ran the same race that I have to run in front of me. All I have to do is look for His footsteps. This marathon race, I see the footsteps of Jesus marked on that track. Ah, here it is, here it is, here it is. Tempted like me in every point, overcame, overcame, overcame, overcame. Like in the military, they say left, right, left, right, left, right. Tempted, overcame. Tempted, overcame. Exactly like me. Tempted to do His own will. Never did His own will. Tempted to do His own will. Never did His own will.
Looking unto Jesus is the secret of the Christian life. The secret of true holiness. And once I understood that, I could believe that God would do for me what it says in 1 Thessalonians, in chapter 5 and verse 23:‘May the God of peace make you holy completely.’ Only God can do that. But God can do that as I give up my own will. Your entire spirit, soul and body be without blame. That means no conscious sin. We have to live without conscious sin every moment of our life. Even though there may be a lot of unconscious sin.
Looking unto Jesus in the moment of temptation, looking unto Jesus, Lord, give me grace to overcome here. That’s what it says in Hebrews 4:15. He was tempted in all points as we are. Therefore what? Therefore let us also come to the throne of grace and get the same grace that He got to deny His own will.
You know that Jesus got grace?
Romans 6:14: Sin shall not rule over you because you are under grace.
How many of you know that Jesus needed grace to overcome sin?
Luke chapter 2 verse 40. Looking unto Jesus.
Luke 2:40: The Child Jesus… This is like when He was a child. He not only increased in wisdom, His body, soul and spirit. We saw in 1 Thessalonians 5.23. Man is spirit, soul and body. We must preserve spirit, soul and body in holiness.
Here it says, all three are here in Luke 2:40: His body continued to grow and became strong. His mind (His soul) increased in wisdom. And His spirit, the grace of God was upon Him. Jesus needed the grace of God upon Him and that is why He never sinned. That is from His birth. And at His death, Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 9…
Hebrews 2:9, it says, even His death… He accomplished on the cross by the grace of God. Not otherwise. It wasn’t that He grit His teeth and said, ‘Father, I’m willing to go anything.’ No, no, no, no, no, no, no. The grace of God helped Him to go to that terrible death on the cross. Birth to death, He was under grace. And we can be under that same grace if we humble ourselves because God gives us grace only to the humble.
There was no exception. Jesus also received it all through His life because He perpetually lived in humility. And anyone who walks in the footsteps of Jesus in humility will receive that grace. There’s no partiality with God.
You know, that word, there’s no partiality with God is a great verse. I’ll tell you how it helped me in Romans chapter 2. That’s what encouraged me.
Romans chapter 2, a simple phrase, sometimes you meditate on a phrase and you get light. Romans 2:11, what do you get out of this verse? There’s no partiality with God.
You say, well, I know that. But don’t just know that. Meditate on it, brother. I meditated on it. And I thought, I’ve got four sons. Everything — God is my witness — that I did for my eldest son, I did for the other three, everything. If I try to give a certain amount of education for my first one, I gave it to the other three. If I bought things for my first one, I did for the other three, with my limited resources. No partiality. If I punish my eldest son for one thing, I punish the other three. If I did something for one, I did it for the other three. No partiality.
Then I thought, the Bible says that Jesus is my Elder Brother. Romans 8:29 says that. Jesus is my elder brother. There’s no partiality with God means whatever He did for His eldest son, Jesus, He will do for me.
Boy, you know how that verse helped me, Romans 2:11, perhaps you got nothing from it. I got a lot from it because I didn’t go to the next verse. I stopped there.
I’ll tell you my honest testimony. Sometimes my Bible reading in the morning is one verse. And I think about that for 15 minutes, 20 minutes, or whatever length of time, then I close the Bible. The next day, I say, what should I go? And the Lord says, don’t go to the next verse. Same verse again. Same verse again. It’s like a red light, and I don’t move the car. It’s a red light today also, next day also red light, that means I can’t move from this verse. Have you ever read the Bible like that?
Or do you say, well, I’ve got to finish the Bible in one year. Well, do that if you’ve never read the Bible before. Read, read it one year. Once you’ve got through that, or do that in addition to these small times of meditating. Psalm 1 says the man who meditates on God’s Word, he’ll prosper in everything he does. Have you read that verse? Meditate on God’s Word and you’ll prosper in everything in your life.
I say, ‘Lord, I want that.’ I’m not talking about financial prosperity, I’m talking about spiritual prosperity. I have to meditate on God’s Word and turn away from sin. So meditate on God’s Word. He’s our forerunner. And He’s now at the right hand of the Father to help me.
So looking unto Jesus is the secret of the Christian life. Seeing how He overcame… I used to think, Lord, when I’m tempted in my mind, I’d say, Lord, how did You overcome when You were 19 years old and tempted with the same temptation to sexual thoughts and You overcame. You pleased the Father. I’m going to do the same. Give me the same Holy Spirit. Give me the grace. He’ll do that for you.
Okay, number six: THE WAY OF THE CROSS IS THE WAY OF LIFE.
2 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 11: ‘It is a trustworthy, faithful statement: If we died with Him, we will live with Him.’ Isn’t it a wonderful thing to live the life of Jesus on earth in this body? And there’s only one way to that. Die with Him.
I’m very thankful for one thing. I was baptized in 1961, January. And I started studying the Bible immediately. And I was challenged to read the Bible when I witnessed to another person and he challenged me with a question in the Bible to which I did not know the answer. I was ashamed. I said, ‘Lord, that’ll never happen again.’
I’m witnessing to a non-Christian. And he questioned me about something in the Bible which I didn’t know the answer to. And I said, Lord, that’ll never happen again. From today, I’m going to study the Bible.
It was a non-Christian who stirred me to study the Bible. And I decided that day, if there is an answer in this book, in these 66 books, to any question, I want to know it. And that’s been my passion from that day. And in about seven years, I really got through the Bible. And since then, I’ve been reading again and again and again and again. And even today, after 63 years, when I read the Bible, I get something out of it. It’s amazing. This is like a well that never runs dry.
I don’t know how many of you are diligent students of the Bible. But it’s an amazing thing. There are a lot of things you’re missing when you don’t know it. If we die with Him, we will certainly live with Him.
So the way of the cross is described another way in 2 Corinthians in chapter 4. I want you to look at that.
2 Corinthians 4:10-11. You know the meaning of 24/7. Very common expression used nowadays. 24/7 means 24 hours a day, seven days a week, or what the Bible calls always. So here’s something I must do 24 hours a day, seven days a week, always.
Verse 10, ‘always carrying about in my body, what? The dying of Jesus. Why? So that that pure, holy, loving life of Jesus will be manifested in me. Now, isn’t that your passion? I hope it is. If you’re born again, that the pure, holy, full of love life of Jesus will be manifested through you.
Well, here’s the way to do it: 24/7, carry in your body this dying of Jesus. Now, I never understood that when I first became a Christian. And as I told you, after I got baptism and I started studying the Bible, I found something missing in my life. I didn’t have power. And I heard of people who spoke about the power of the Holy Spirit. And somebody said, you’ve got to go to a Pentecostal church. Because I was in an assembly where they never preached about the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
So I went to a Pentecostal church, I was young, I was 22 years old or some 23 years old. And there was a Pentecostal pastor, who was supposed to be a great person who led people into the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I said, okay, I want the baptism of the Holy Spirit. So he said, let’s pray. And he said, keep saying hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah.
I said, please. That’s not what the disciples did on the day of Pentecost, when they were filled with the Holy Spirit. Nobody told them to say, keep saying hallelujah. But he said, you keep saying it and after some time, your tongue will trip and you will speak in tongues.
I said, thank you, goodbye.
And I never went back to a Pentecostal church again. God bless them, 95% or 99% of that tongues is fake, not genuine. Sixteen years later, God gave me the genuine gift of tongues, when I did not seek it. And I did not have to keep repeating anything, it came from heaven. But that time, God had to wait for me to give me that. But at that time, when I sought God for the power of the Holy Spirit, He said, I’ve got to teach you something else before all these tongues and all.
How did Jesus receive the anointing of the Holy Spirit or when did Jesus receive the anointing of the Holy Spirit? When He submitted to John immersing Him in baptism. So baptism is symbolic. Here’s John the Baptist, putting Jesus completely underwater. If you keep a person underwater, he dies. So it was symbolically putting a person to death. If you don’t lift him up, he’s dead. It was symbolizing other people putting Jesus to death every day of his life in some way or the other. And Jesus not resisting, submitting. You have to submit when somebody immerses you in the baptism tank.
And John lifting Him up from the water was symbolizing the Father raising up from the dead those who submit to the dying of Jesus. That means when somebody irritates me, I say, Lord, I want to die. Go down. When temptation comes, lusting, I want to die. Dead man’s eyes cannot lust. In every situation. And then when Jesus came up, the Spirit came upon Him. That’s what came to me.
And the Lord said to me in my heart, if you choose this way of death all your life, My Spirit will rest upon you all your life. It will flow. The Spirit will flow through you like rivers of living water. But the day that comes in your life when you don’t choose this way of the cross, My Spirit will depart.
That was such a word for me, and I’ve tried my best. I haven’t always been faithful, I must say. In the early days before I was filled with the Spirit again, 47 years ago, I went through a long period of four or five years of backsliding because it was a time when God was crushing me like Moses in the wilderness through difficult circumstances, different difficult people, and the Lord said, ‘Keep your mouth shut and submit to those people who oppress you.’
And I did that for four or five years. I was very discouraged. God had to break me like He broke Jacob. And the day came when He empowered me, and Jacob became Israel.
But this is what He said to me: The day you move out of this way of the cross, of death to self, the day you start resisting when people put you to death, when people want to immerse you, as it were, into death, and you say, no, I’m not going to go down, My power will depart from you.
So I’ve been very careful. Whenever people have insulted me to keep quiet, when people write articles against me, okay, I accept it. It’s all just somebody’s putting me to death, okay, I’ll accept it. People shout at me, okay, I’ll die.
What I ask myself is, how will a dead man react to this situation? I know what to do. How will a dead man react? I sometimes imagine myself lying there dead, in a coffin. And somebody comes and pokes me or calls me a devil or something. No reaction. I say, Lord, that’s what I want to live.
Or even praise. Oh, Brother Zac, you’re a great prophet. No reaction. That’s more difficult. I’ll tell you. Try it. To be dead when somebody praises you and says, boy, you did that? You preached like that? No reaction.
You work on it, it’ll be true in your life. There’ll be no reaction. You don’t learn to die in a moment. It takes time to learn how to die. Just like it takes time to learn how to live. Just like it takes time to learn any trade. Any trade. Carpentry. You’ll bang your thumb a few times, but a day will come when you learn it. Learn to die.
You’ve probably never heard that message anywhere else, but I’ll tell you, we’ve preached it for years in CFC. Learn to die. The way of the cross is the way of life.
So 2 Corinthians 4, always carrying in the body this dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus will be manifested in my body. That’s what I wanted.
If you have a passion for the life of Jesus to be manifest in your body, here is the answer: In every situation, choose the dying of Jesus. That is, the dying to his own will. The dying to my way of reacting to this situation at home, in your place of work, on the streets when some other driver cuts into your way, when you have right of way. Oh, those are trying times. Jesus was not tempted in driving a car. He never drove a car, but He was tempted in other circumstances when somebody cut into His way in some other way. He died, and I want to die.
Not only that, verse 11 is something further: we are constantly delivered over to death. God allows us in situations to deliver over, yeah, this brother is coming now to trouble my son. I hand him over. Let him kill him. You know, inwardly. So God allows that fellow to come in, inwardly kill you and you say, I accept it. Let this guy crucify me.
Why? Not only that the life of Jesus will come up in you, but so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in my mortal flesh, and as this death works in me, verse 12, it will work in other people to whom I minister God’s word.
If any of you are getting light through my message today, it’s because the death of Jesus has been working in me. Death works in me, verse 12, and life in you. That’s a secret, brothers. I learned it some years ago. I offer it to you. Choose that way. It always works. It will work in your wife. If you let death work in you, life will work in your wife. You will lead her to a more godly life.
Some of you are so worried, my wife is not so spiritual as I am, conceited person that you are. Why not choose this way to make your wife spiritual? Those of you who are very eager to make your wife spiritual, here’s the way. Let death work in you, life will work in her. If she responds to it, I’m not guaranteeing it, but at least it will be offered to her. You offer a million dollars to somebody, he says, no, thank you, I don’t want it. Okay, then leave it. This is more than a million dollars. The life of Jesus is being offered, and they don’t take it, we can’t do anything. But it will be offered if death works in you. It’s a wonderful way.
And so in God’s love for us, it says in Romans 8 and verse 36, great verse, have you ever thought of it in this connection?
Romans 8:36, ‘Lord, for Your sake, we are being put to death the whole day long.’
Have you, any of you experienced that working in a difficult boss in an office, perhaps? Or working with a difficult wife, perhaps? I’ve never had a difficult wife to work with, so I don’t know, I can’t be an example to you there.
But I’ve worked with some very difficult believers, just as bad as working with a difficult boss. Delivered to death 24 hours, that’s what it says here. We are put to death the whole day long. Some of you who think that you’re having a very tough time, brother, you don’t know what I’m going through. 24 hours a day I’m suffering, oh, this verse is for you, brother. Put to death the whole day long, sheep to be slaughtered.
But in all these things, verse 37, we conquer. Not conquer, but overwhelmingly conquer, more than conquerors. Because of Him who loved us and who’s dying, I accept in my body, the way of the cross is the way of life, if I choose it. In other words, very simple, in every situation, to say to yourself, what will a dead man do here? How will a dead man react here? I used to often ask myself that question, how will a dead man react here? I want to react exactly like that. I’ve chosen the dying of Jesus and through the years, life has come in me and flown out through me, rivers of living water to other people. It can be for any of you.
There’s no partiality with God, remember that. What He did for Jesus, He’ll do for you. What He’s done for me, He’ll do for you. He is no respecter of person. God does not love me more than He loves you. Choose this way.
Okay, let’s go to number seven.
Number seven is, THE WORLD’S OPINIONS ABOUT US ARE FIT ONLY FOR THE TRASH CAN.
The world’s opinion about us is fit only for the trash can. Are you worried what people think about you, what other believers think about you, or anybody in the world thinks about you? Isaiah chapter 2 and verse 22.
Isaiah 2:22: ‘Stop regarding man, because his breath is in his nose. Why should you esteem a person whose breath is in his nose?’
In other words, what he’s saying there is, this man who’s got some good or very high opinion about you, put it in the trash can. Bad opinion about you, put it in the trash can. Because he’s a man whose breath is in his nostrils, is in his nose. The meaning is, you take out that breath, what’s left of him? Dust. Give him time, it’ll become dust. Even his bones become dust.
So, here you’re standing in front of a pile of dust, and you’re worried about what that pile of dust thinks of you. Crazy! That’s the meaning of this verse. His breath is in his nose. When that breath goes, he’s a pile of dust, and you’re worried about that pile of maybe ten people standing there in front, all of them, their breath is in their nose. What does it matter?
I’ll tell you, this is what helped me to, I told you, preaching in the open air. It was very difficult for me in the beginning because I was scared about people who worked under me or over me seeing me and thinking I’m some crazy lunatic standing out there.
And then this helped me. Their breath is in their nose. Maybe there are twenty people standing there who, some working under me and some officers above me. Their breath is in their nose, whatever uniform they may wear. They all became piles of dust in front of me. I was preaching to piles of dust. Didn’t matter to me what they thought of me.
This is how you can be liberated, my brothers and sisters, you who are very nervous to speak in front of people. Why are you nervous? Because what will they think of me? Will they have a good opinion about me after I finish speaking? Will they talk about it to others, oh, this brother said something which really helped me. Pile of dust. Be free from the opinions of men. The opinions of good people and bad people are fit for the trash can.
I would make one exception. If a man like Paul, if I was Paul’s co-worker, and Paul said to me, hey, Zac, this habit of yours is not too good, or this way of speaking is not too good, then I would listen. Because this is not a pile of dust. This is a man who is filled with the Holy Spirit. What he speaks is… a man who has walked with God for many years, my senior, 30 years my senior, and he’s walked with God all those years, boy, I better listen to his opinion. It will help me tremendously. That’s the only exception I make.
I would always listen to the exception of a man of God. I remember years ago, when I was a very young Christian, a very godly man, the only man of God I ever respected in India till today. And I was blessed to know him. And when I came out to serve the Lord, this is going back 55 years ago or 56 years ago, he told me, he said three things. I never forget the three bits of advice he gave me. One, never in your life make your earthly financial needs known to anybody. Now, there may be some people who need to do that, but because I was in full-time Christian work, I had to be very careful, more than other people, that I would never let my needs known to anybody. I’m not saying you can’t go to a doctor and say, I’ve got a stomach ache. Don’t take what I’m saying to ridiculous extremes, particularly financial needs. Never make your needs known to anybody.
Secondly, he said, live very simply. Even when you have plenty of money, don’t waste it. Don’t buy unnecessary things and go on unnecessary trips and all that. Yeah, we need a certain amount of relaxation and certain amount of clothing, but be careful. We’re not here to dictate how much you should spend, but be very careful that you don’t waste money on yourself.
And third, if people accuse you of anything, keep your mouth shut. Don’t reply. Whether they write about you or speak about you. And all these 55 years, I’ve kept those three bits of advice which helped me tremendously. Never made my needs known to anybody in all these years, never depended on anybody, never took a salary for my ministry from the Lord for anywhere, and tried to live extremely simply all these, all the years, till today. I hope to continue like that till I die, or till the Lord calls me home, or till He comes.
And thirdly, kept my mouth shut when accused falsely. So it’s a wonderful life.
Let me turn you to Galatians chapter 1 and verse 10. Another verse that’s helped me greatly, Galatians chapter 1 verse 10. I remember I got it written on a wooden plaque. Many years ago, I got somebody to paint it for me on a wooden plaque.
Galatians 1:10: If I seek to please men, I cannot be a servant of Christ. The last part of Galatians 1. If I seek to please any man, I cannot be the servant of Christ.
So I wrote it, got it written on a wooden plaque, and it was in my sitting room for 20 years or 25 years. Every day when I sat there, I saw it. This is after CFC started, and I would see it, and it sunk in. Now I don’t need it, hang it up anywhere, it’s written inside my mind. If I seek to please any human being, I cannot be the servant of Christ. It doesn’t say you can be a second class servant of Christ. That would be okay. No, you cannot be a servant of Christ at all. Not second class, third class, or millionth class. Completely out of the question.
You seek to please one human being, I’ll tell you in Jesus name, you’ll never be a servant of Christ till you get rid of that habit. When you do anything, it must be to please Christ. If I seek to please men, I cannot. It doesn’t say I’ll be a second class servant of Christ. No, I cannot be a servant of Christ at all.
I believe this is the reason why many, many people never come to a more anointed ministry or anointed life. Because they always got one eye looking on, oh that guy sitting there, what does he think of me? I say it doesn’t matter what he thinks of you. If he’s a godly man and he loves you, he’ll probably come and tell you afterwards what he thinks of you. Because he loves you and then listen to him.
But if he’s not a godly man, forget about his opinion. And the vast majority of people who sit and listen to us are not really godly enough to advise us. A godly person who loves you, don’t even worry about his opinion. If he really loves you, he’ll come and tell you honestly and be open to such an opinion. But otherwise, if I seek to please men, I cannot be the servant of Christ. So we must seek only God’s approval over our life and our ministry.
Lord, do you approve, you know that phrase which came at the baptism of Jesus, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased…’ this number of times I’ve cried out to God in prayer, oh Father, I want that, I want You to say that over me. This is my beloved son, I know I’m your beloved son, but in whom I’m well pleased, that second part of it, I want to hear it from you and if there’s any little thing that is not well pleasing to you, please show it to me, that I can get rid of it, so that I can get that approval from you. This is my beloved son, in whom I’m well pleased, I plead with you, my dear brothers, be a man of God and seek for this approval from morning till night. Ask Him whether you’re spending your days and your time and your money in the way He wants to, can He approve of the way you spend your time, the way you spend your money, the books you read, how much you’re reading the Bible, can God say, I’m well pleased with the way you study My word.
Can God say that about you, My son, I’m really happy with the way you take time to study My word and to become familiar with My commands and My promises. If not, whose approval are you seeking? Somebody in your church, who says you’re a great brother, because whenever there’s a picnic, you come along and help in so many ways and you’re there to provide food on the days we’re all eating food, you bring your little snack also. You’re a great brother and you come to help to arrange the chairs and arrange the tables and you’re a great brother. Know what you’re waiting for? Or the Father looking at your life and saying, I’m pleased with the way you study My word every day. In the midst of all your busy schedule, you find time for My word so that I can speak to you. I’m well pleased with you.
Okay, number eight: WE MUST BE CONTINUALLY FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT.
That’s the other thing I’ve learned in the last 63 years.
Ephesians 5 verse 18.
Jesus’ life and service were all… this was the secret, because without it we cannot become like Jesus. We don’t have the same ministry that Jesus had. We will not be able to do all that He did. But if we want to be equipped to serve God, there’s absolutely no other way. But to be filled with the Holy Spirit, to fulfill the ministry He has for you. And for me to fulfill the ministry He has for me.
So Ephesians 5:18, look at the whole verse. Don’t read half of it. It says here, ‘Don’t get drunk with wine but be filled with the Holy Spirit.’
So I ask people this question. Supposing you saw a man coming into church one morning drunk, staggering into the, supposing he was a good brother in the church, and you saw him coming staggering into the hall Sunday morning drunk, I would ask you, would you think that was a sin for him to come like that?
Of course brother Zac, what do you think? Terrible sin to come drunk like that to the church.
Okay. What if he came to Sunday one morning to the church without being filled with the Holy Spirit? Would you call that a sin? It’s in the same verse. Same verse says two things. Don’t get drunk with wine, but be filled with the Spirit. You say the first is a sin. What about the second?
He came drunk with wine and you say, what a sin. He came without being filled with the Holy Spirit. You say, oh that’s okay. That’s just a weakness. Then call the drunkenness also weakness. When he comes staggering drunk into the halls, it’s not a sin. It’s just a weakness.
You see how inconsistent we are in reading and studying God’s Word. How did I discover both of these are sin? Because I meditated. I didn’t just read the verse and go to the next verse. I stopped there. Many times I’ve seen a red light. Stop. Stop. Don’t go forward. And I stop and I think about that verse and I discover, hey, if the first part is a sin, the second part is also a sin for myself. If the first part of that verse is not doing it as a sin, the second part not doing it is also a sin. Don’t get drunk with wine. If I get drunk with wine, I’m sinning. Be filled with the Spirit. If I’m not filled with the Spirit, I’m sinning. Take it like that and you will take the matter of being filled with the Spirit as seriously as avoiding some sin.
So the whole secret of Jesus’ life and ministry was He was filled with the Holy Spirit. And for His life, to produce the fruit of the Spirit and anointed with the Holy Spirit to fulfill His ministry. Both. He was filled with the Spirit from His mother’s womb. Like John the Baptist. But John the Baptist was only anointed for a ministry. He could not overcome sin. You know he lost all his faith when he was imprisoned. He lost his faith. He was in prison and he was expecting Jesus to release him. And when Jesus did not release him, and Herod still locked him up in the jail, he sent his disciples to Jesus and said, are you really the Messiah?
Have you read that? This man who had seen heaven open and the voice from heaven saying, ‘This is My beloved Son.’ You’d say, if I saw something like that, I’d never doubt it. Really? John the Baptist doubted it. Just because he did one prayer of his and it was not answered. Do you doubt the power of God because one prayer of yours was not answered? You’re in John the Baptist’s shoes as well. One prayer of his, Lord, deliver me from this prison. Why in the world am I here? I’ve served you faithfully. No answer. Next day, no answer. Next day, no answer.
Then he sends his disciples to Jesus. Are you really the Messiah? Or did I make a mistake? Did I imagine that voice from heaven? He had unbelief because he was not filled with the Spirit. He was anointed. The filling of the Spirit in the Old Testament was only upon, never in. It came in only on the day of Pentecost. First person who lived with the Spirit in was Jesus Christ. And He said, if you thirst for that life, come to Me, John 7:37. As the Scripture has said, from his innermost being, rivers of living water will flow. That did not happen in anybody’s life in the Old Testament. From the day of Pentecost onwards.
I remember in the early days of my life and my ministry. I’ll tell you exactly what my ministry was like. In India, we have, in the villages, there’s no running water in the houses. The pipes are laid out in the cities. In the cities, most houses have running water. But in the villages, no house has running water. If you have a well, perhaps, and some of the poor people don’t have a well, there’s what’s called a hand pump in some central place in that small village. And early morning, the women will come with pots to fill up water for the day. And it runs dry, they’ve got to come again.
You know how this hand pump works. It’s not flowing, it’s not like a tap you open. Because some people leave it open and all the water gets wasted. And so they don’t want that. So they make sure no water is wasted. And how do they do that? You have to pump it. You pump it and a little bit will come into your pot and pump some more, some more will come in, pump some more. I’ve done it and I know. Pump some more, pump some more. And the pot gets full and you take it home.
My ministry was exactly like that. Struggle, struggle, little bit comes out. Struggle, struggle, little bit comes out. My life was like that. And my ministry was like that. It was far from a river. You know how a river is. God pumps the river. And it’s pumped permanently. It just flows and flows and flows and flows. You don’t have to do anything. You don’t even have to lift a finger. The river just flows. You look at any river flowing and what do you do for that? You don’t do anything.
And imagine Jesus said in John 7:37-39, he who comes thirsts, comes to Me.
Turn to John 7. Let’s read that verse. It’s a great verse. Only two conditions for this life. Read it carefully and you’ll find it. I’ll tell you why this is a very interesting verse. Because…
Before John 7, excuse me. Turn first to Matthew 12. Then we’ll come back to John 7.
Matthew 12:18: It says about Jesus. The Father is speaking about Jesus.
“Behold, My Servant whom I have chosen; My beloved in whom I am well-pleased; I will put My Spirit upon Him…
Verse 19: He will not quarrel with anybody. He will not cry out. His voice will not be heard in the streets. That means when He speaks in the house… He won’t be shouting, so that people on the streets hear him. I’ve heard some preachers shout and Hallelujah! Some people ask me, Why don’t you keep saying Hallelujah, Brother Zac? Like some of these other Pentecostal preachers.
I say I have so much to say in one hour that if I fill it with a thousand Hallelujahs. Half an hour of my time will go. I don’t have time to waste. Half an hour saying Hallelujahs. I have to fill up the full one hour with solid truth. And in any case I’m going to be saying Hallelujah for all eternity in heaven. So I’ll wait for that. And just by the way, Hallelujah is never found anywhere in the New Testament, except in Revelation in heaven. Just by the way, in case you didn’t know that.
And Jesus never said once Hallelujah in any of His sermons. Just for your information. In case you’re tempted to imitate these Pentecostal preachers. I follow Jesus. I don’t follow any preacher. There’s nothing wrong in saying Hallelujah. Say it all your life if you like. But don’t waste people’s time. Sometimes people say Hallelujah because they’re trying to think what is the other thing I have to say? Okay, if you’re that type of preacher, you’re stuck. What is your next point? Then say Hallelujah. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! I’m thinking what is my next point?
Okay. I permit you to do that. So that you don’t bore people. They’ll think you’re praising the Lord. But actually you’re just thinking about what’s your next point. I tell you all these tricks that preachers do.
So, He will not cry out or He will not shout.
But, we read in John 7… Now come there.
John 7:37: Jesus stood and cried out. Wow! We just read He doesn’t cry out. The only time in Jesus’ sermons that He cried out all the rest of the time He spoke very softly. Gently. He didn’t have to yell and scream. That’s all.
You know, I heard of a preacher who had his points written down in his sermons 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and point 4 he had written this is a weak point, so bang the table and shout. That was just to emphasize the point he knew was weak.
So, Jesus once He cried out and when was it? When He talked about being filled with the Holy Spirit. He says it were — I’ve said so many things to you but this is something you have to hear. That’s why He shouted and cried out. If anyone is thirsty… I can’t do it for you if you’re not thirsty. You have to thirst. And thirst is not like well, I’d like a glass of water right now. Yeah, my tongue is a little dry. But if this glass of water I had to pay a hundred thousand dollars for it I’d say, well, thank you I’m not that thirsty. This is a different type of thirst.
Not, yeah, I’d like to be filled with the Spirit I heard it’s an exciting experience I’d like it. It’s like saying, yeah, I’d like a little sip of water right now. That’s not the type of thirst I’m talking about.
But if you’ve been wandering in the desert for three or four days without a drop of water and you’re dying now, dying of thirst, really dying, you’re losing your life and somebody else says, you want water? Give me your entire life savings. You say, take it. Give me that water. That is the type of thirst that Jesus is talking about.
How many of you would be willing to give your entire life savings to be filled with the Holy Spirit? Ask yourself. How many of you thirst like that? Lord, I want it at any cost. I remember the days and nights I’d cry out to God when I was in bed Lord, I want to be filled with the Holy Spirit, I want to be filled with the Holy Spirit, fasted and prayed for days and days on end along with another brother who was also seeking along with me defeated, frustrated… Lord, I want to be filled with the Holy Spirit, I want to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Nothing happening. Went on for months, I never gave up. I said, Lord, I don’t care how long it takes; I got to be filled with the Holy Spirit and I must know it and I must see the rivers of living water flowing out through me I don’t want to just claim it and say I got it just to give a testimony yeah, I also got it
I’m not interested in giving a testimony about it, I couldn’t care less whether other people think about it that I’m filled with the Spirit or not. The opinion of others is fit for the trash can. But Lord, I want rivers of living water to flow through me and I want to know it. And in the mercy of God, He met with me. I’ll never forget that day.
It was not when I was living a wonderful overcoming life, it was when I was rock bottom defeated, defeated, defeated, frustrated, discouraged, praying, no answer to prayer, nothing happening, and I came to the place where I said, ‘Lord, I’ll quit preaching in my ministry because I’m not living the type of life I should be living; I’m preaching things that are not true in my life. I will go — I won’t give up Christianity, I love Jesus, I’ll go and sit in the back of some church but never preach again for the rest of my life.’ That’s exactly what I told the Lord in the end of 1974 December. I’d come to rock bottom, that is what nearly 48 years ago, nearly 48 years ago…
And all of a sudden when I least expected it, a couple of weeks later, on the 12th of January 1975, as I was kneeling in prayer along with another brother who was praying for me, a visiting brother, who had come down from England to Bangalore, I was filled with the Holy Spirit. I knew — it was an assurance, no feeling… that brother said to me one word that liberated me, he said, ‘Zac, it is unthinkable that God will call you to serve Him and refuse to fill you with the Spirit.’ Simple sentence but it produced faith in me. Then as he prayed for me, he also rebuked the spirit of unbelief, and I was free, and I didn’t need any experience. I said Lord…
You know faith was born in my heart just like when I was sure I was saved, no feeling, just sure. Thank You Lord, I said, for baptizing me in the Holy Spirit, and before I knew it, I was suddenly uttering some syllables that I didn’t plan to utter. I didn’t know what it meant. I stopped and went back to English and again I found myself saying things which I couldn’t — I didn’t understand what it was.
So when I finished praying I asked him, well what happened, he said yeah you were speaking in tongues just now. I said really? OK. But my life changed from that day. Suddenly I began to be free from discouragement. My depression was gone, and I began to be encouraged. I remember I was praying upstairs with my wife… Annie had been filled with the Spirit even earlier. She had experienced the baptism in the Holy Spirit four or five years before me, and she had already received the gift of tongues then; maybe she was praying for me.
But she said the moment I saw you coming down from upstairs, and I saw your face I knew something had happened to you. She sensed it immediately, and six months later the first CFC church was born in our house. And ever since it’s just been like the Bible says from glory to glory. Not perfection, that’s still a long way off. I’ve not become like Jesus. Like Paul says I’m not perfect but I’m pressing on, but the rivers have been flowing and they have never stopped. It’s a wonderful life.
Let me turn to that… 2 Corinthians 3:18, here’s how the ministry of the Holy Spirit is like… when we turn to the Lord, the Holy Spirit…
It says in verse 17: the Lord is the Spirit.
2 Corinthians 3:16: ‘when you turn to the Lord, the veil is taken away…’ between you and the Father, between you and Christ. And this is the one place in the Bible — the only place in the Bible where the Holy Spirit is called Lord, it usually refers to Jesus or the Father.
But one place in the Bible where the Holy Spirit is called Lord, it says in verse 17: when you turn to the Lord, and it says in verse 17 that that Lord is the Spirit… turn to the Holy Spirit, the veil is taken away… you suddenly see the face of Jesus, and we’ve come to liberty.
And then with that unveiled face verse 18, you see the glory of the face of Jesus, the Holy Spirit now begins to work to transform you into the same image from one degree of glory to another till the day Jesus comes, or till the day He calls you home. What a wonderful life.
Yeah I can say I’ve tasted a little bit of that and it’s given me a taste for passion for more and more and more and more. It’s a wonderful life, but we need to ask further. Even after I got I’ve been continuously desiring more…
1 Corinthians 14 verse 1
After God met with me, I went to 1 Corinthians 14:1, I said Lord, I want to pursue after love. I want my heart to be filled with love for Jesus Christ and love for everybody I meet… nothing but love in my heart for every human being however they may treat me. And I don’t want to stop there and my love for the people in my church particularly must make me want to give them a gift because God so loved that He… what’s the next word?… gave, God so loved that He gave. When you love you give. When you love your wife or your children you give them gifts, and I said Lord I love my church, I want to serve them with Your word, then I must desire earnestly just like I desired earnestly for the baptism of the Holy Spirit; I must desire earnestly for spiritual gifts especially prophecy.
And let me tell you something: prophecy in the Old Testament was predicting the future. Prophecy in the New Testament is not predicting the future; don’t believe the lies the Pentecostals teach. People who predicted the future in the New Testament was only rare one Agabus among all the thousands of people filled with the Spirit, one Agabus, there may be one rare Agabus today. But he also never told people what to do. You read carefully in Acts 12 and Acts 21, the prophecies of Agabus, he said something will happen but he never told anybody, he never told Paul or anybody what to do… a prophecy that tells you what to do is a false prophecy; he’s a false prophet, because God is the only one who’s got the right to tell you what to do. He may predict what will happen but not to do… read Acts 12 and Acts 21 carefully.
But here prophecy is described in 1 Corinthians 14:3 as speaking to people for edification, exhortation, consolation, which means speaking to people to build them up spiritually and to challenge them spiritually to a greater height and to comfort them. Comfort, challenge, and building up. That can be given in one sentence, can be given in a three hour message, it can be given on a phone, when you’re talking to somebody on the phone, prophesy, say a word to him, that will encourage him. Challenge him, comfort him, you can prophesy on the phone.
When you’re writing an email, add a few sentences that will challenge, comfort. You can prophesy over email, you can prophesy over the phone. You can prophesy… why do you always lust to prophesy from a pulpit, that is seeking honor.
I want to prophesy from the pulpit! Why not prophesy over the phone? Why not prophesy in an email? To so many people you can do that every day; don’t lust for honor, that’s how the river will dry up, even if the river started it will dry up. It has dried up in many people, because when God gave it to them they began to seek honor.
So earnestly desire to prophesy and God is my witness that for more than 47 years I have earnestly desired to prophesy and even today I earnestly desire that I will speak to people to encourage them, challenge them, comfort them, build them up. If you have that desire and you earnestly desire it, you know just like you have earnestly desire to get a job or as I told you earnestly desire to immigrate to the United States, earnestly desire to get a better job or to get a higher salary we earnestly desire 101 things, earnestly desired to marry the wife you married perhaps; earnestly desire to prophesy. In all those other things you thought you were seeking your own good this is a better place for me, I can live with my family and children in a better country. Good, good, nothing wrong in that but now earnestly desire for somebody else that you can build up somebody else even if you are not a preacher.
I didn’t start my life as a preacher. I started my life as an ordinary brother, and I said Lord I want to serve others, and I started preaching when I was 23 years old, 2 years after my baptism. Many of you had been baptized more than 2 years ago, why aren’t you sharing God’s word with others? I’m not talking as a pulpit preacher; I’m talking over the phone, in an email or in personal conversation, maybe in 2 minutes. You can prophesy in 2 minutes.
Why are you not as eager to bless others as you were eager to get a better job, as you were eager to do anything to immigrate to this country? Why are you not so eager to bless others? Are you going to always live this selfish life wrapped up in yourself? Whatever is good for me I’ll seek, I’ll seek, I’ll seek; I’ll do anything to get it but nothing for others. Then you have not understood the life of Christ at all.
No, the life of Christ is one way you live to bless others. So seek earnestly to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, we bow before You. We pray that every one of us will be challenged in a way that we’ll never be the same again. Help us we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
For Further Reading:
Sixteen Truths That I Have Learnt (Part 1): Zac Poonen (Transcript)
The Way To Find Rest In Your Soul: Zac Poonen Sermon (Transcript)
(Married Life And Raising Children) – Building Fellowship (Pt 1) – Zac Poonen (Transcript)
Marriage, Family and Parenting: Paul Washer (Transcript)