The Holy Spirit Comes Inside us to Supply Our Every Need — Zac Poonen

The Old Testament and the New Testament

You know that your Bible consists of two parts. One is Old Testament and the other is the New Testament. And God worked in a different way before Jesus came. And he's working in a different way today.

God's External Help in the Old Testament

It's very important to understand that. One big difference, if you can keep this in mind, in the Old Testament, God helped people from the outside. Throughout the Old Testament, you read that when the Israelites were in a problem, God came and helped them.

When they had a need for water in the wilderness, God provided for them. And they needed to fight their enemies, God came and helped them. He was always outside. Throughout the Old Testament, even at the end of the Old Testament, you see the greatest man of God was John the Baptist.

And even he, God helped him from the outside. And even during the 33 and a half years that Jesus was on the earth, he could only help people on the outside. His disciples were with him and they were with Jesus, but they could not overcome sin.

Peter's Denial and the Inability of External Help

You know, one of the worst sins is to deny that you know Jesus at all. Supposing you're living in a country where they hate Jesus Christ. And a Christian is asked, do you believe in Christ? He can be scared.

He says, if I say I love Jesus Christ, they'll kill me. So I say, no, no, no, I don't love him. That's a terrible sin. Jesus said, if you deny me before men, I'll deny you before my father. But that's what Peter did.

You know, on the night that Jesus is gonna be crucified, Jesus was in the court and Peter was outside and Peter was scared that they would catch him also and kill him. When somebody asked him, hey, aren't you one of the disciples of Jesus?

He said, no, no, no. He said, I don't know, I don't know him. And again, somebody asked him, he said, no, I don't belong to him. And a third time he said, no, that was a terrible sin. It's a sin for which Jesus said, I would deny you before my father.

So what did we learn there? That even though Jesus was with him for three and a half years, and he said so many wonderful things, oh, I'll never deny you and all that. He was the one who said, if everybody denies you, I won't deny you.

And that same night, he denied Jesus Christ. What do we learn from that? You children can make a good resolution. I will not do this wrong thing again. Just like Peter, I'll never do it. All the others may do it, but I won't do it.

But I'll tell you this, you'll do it. That's what we learned from Peter's story. That was in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, many, many wonderful men, they decided they wouldn't do something wrong, and they did it.

David did something wrong. Moses did something wrong. These were some of the great men in the Old Testament, and they did something wrong. So that was the problem. And Jesus came to solve that problem.

Why Jesus Had to Go Away

And when Jesus was going away, he told them, now I'm gonna go away, and I'm gonna leave you alone. And naturally, imagine if you had been with Jesus physically for three and a half years. Children, listen, if Jesus was with you all the time, three and a half years, you'd think, I can do anything.

He's always here with me. If I have a problem, I go to him. But he can only help you on the outside. You have a sickness on the outside, he can heal you. Or there's not enough food, once he fed 5 ,000 people.

It's wonderful to have Jesus with you all the time, because all the external, outside problems, he can solve. But he couldn't solve the inside problem. That's why Peter denied Jesus. In fact, James and John were so bad ones, they said, we're gonna call fire down from heaven and burn up these Samaritans, because they don't receive you.

Jesus said, no, no, no, that's a bad spirit. He don't kill people who don't receive us. Even though they lived and walked with Jesus so long, they behaved so badly. So you can come to this church and hear so many wonderful things, so much about Jesus.

And you can say, Jesus is here in this church. He certainly is. And he can be protected in a while, but when you go home, you do so many wrong things. So that is why we needed the New Testament. In the New Testament, God comes inside.

The Holy Spirit Brings Inner Transformation

In the Old Testament, he was outside. And when he comes inside, he can solve our problem from within, because our problems in our inside, we don't have the strength to do what is right. Peter did not have the strength inside to say no, to temptation, and to boldly say, I know Jesus Christ.

He didn't have that boldness. He was a coward inside, but he didn't know that. He thought he was very bold. He told Jesus, I'll never deny you. Sometimes we make statements like that. I'll never do that.

And within one week or one month, you're doing it. Because we don't have the strength inside. And that is why when Jesus said to them, I'm going away, those disciples were so sad. Naturally, if Jesus was with you for three and a half years and you say, going away, he says, he's going away, you'd feel sad.

But he said, it's good for you that I'm going away. And they could not understand that. You children, you think, supposing Jesus was with you for three and a half years, helping you in all types of things.

And one day he says, he's going away. You'll naturally say, don't go away. It's so good when you're here. He said, no. He told his disciples, it's good for you that I'm going away. Because if I don't go away, God will not be able to come and live inside you.

But if I go away, I will come and live inside you by the Holy Spirit. And then you will never deny me. You'll have the strength from inside to do what is right, to avoid what is wrong. And you will not be like those Old Testament people.

You cannot make the quality of life of any of those Old Testament people your example. Moses was very angry once with the people and God punished him. Say, you'll never enter the land of Canaan because of your anger.

David was a good man, but then he fell into sin all types of sins. And so with many people in the Old Testament. But once the Holy Spirit comes in, when Jesus comes in through his spirit, the Holy Spirit is the spirit of Christ.

Jesus himself is in heaven today. He went up there nearly 2000 years ago, but he can come inside us through his spirit. And when he comes inside us through his spirit, he gives us a power from within to do something, which you can't have if he's on the outside.

If he's on the outside, he can help you only on the outside. So this is the big difference between God in the Old Testament and God in the New Testament. In the Old Testament, God was outside. In the New Testament, God is inside.

Please remember this simple thing. And that is why in the Old Testament, God can only say, I can forgive your sin. Any number of sins, they were forgiven. You come to the Lord and say, Lord, I'm sorry.

You're forgiven. And if your life is like that, where you're always doing what's wrong, whether you're young, a child, or whether you're 70 or 80 years old, and you say you've been a Christian 20, 30 years or 50 years or one year.

If you find you're always doing something wrong and then saying, Lord, forgive me. And then you do the same thing wrong again and say, forgive me. And then you do something else wrong the next day and the next year and the next month and the next year.

You're living in the Old Testament. That's what we've been teaching in the church because you're always doing, God is not there to help you. What you need, even little children, you must say, Lord Jesus, I need the power of the Holy Spirit inside.

The Light of God's Life Within Us

God has made man, made you children in such a way that you can have the power of God inside. It's like in your houses, you've got a bulb. You look up on the roof or in a lamp, there's a bulb there, but that bulb needs something to burn.

You can't give it on, you can't put something on the outside. Something has to come inside that bulb for the light to come. You know what that's called? Electricity. Electricity is a power. When you put on the switch, the power goes into the bulb and it burns.

Now, you put electricity into a table, it's not gonna burn. You put electricity into a chair, it cannot burn. But a bulb can burn. It's like a man, you see, God can't make a tree like him. It doesn't have the power.

Like I said, the table cannot produce light. In the same way, God could not make the stars or the tree or even the animals like him. No, it's only the bulb that has got the power to burn. And it's only you and me as human beings, as men and women and little children, we have the power to manifest the life of God.

Do you know that in heaven, there are some wonderful angels who've got tremendous power? They can move from heaven to earth in a second. They have such power in the Old Testament, it says they killed one angel, killed 183 ,000 enemies of Israel in one shot.

But those angels are like the table cannot receive electricity. They cannot receive the life of God inside. They cannot have God dwelling inside them, not even the angels. But we are like that bulb. That bulb needs power inside.

And all of you need to receive power inside. A lot of older people also, they don't have that power inside. I've seen a lot of Christians, all their life is, oh Lord, I'm sorry, I did it again. I did it again.

You see them 25 years later. Yes, Lord, I got angry again. I got upset. I told a small lie there. And I did this, I did that all the time. So don't follow the example of those older people. They are bad examples.

And there are many, many bad examples among Christians. Even if you see a bad example like that in NCCF, don't follow him or her. The only example we have to follow is Jesus. When I was young, I saw many bad examples around me of people who call themselves Christians.

And I thought, oh, we can never be better than that. Until as I read the Bible more and more, I found that God wants to, like Uncle Bobby just said, to come inside us and work inside us to make us desire his will.

Working Out Salvation Through God's Indwelling Work

Let me read that verse again, which you already read, already heard from Philippians and chapter two. It says here, work out your salvation, Philippians 2 .12. That's what we got to do. Why do we do that?

Because God is at work inside us. Look at that, God is at work inside you, verse 13. You'd never find a verse like that in the Old Testament. The Old Testament, it was always, God is at work outside of you, doing so many things for you.

He gave them manna from heaven for 40 years. He pulled down the walls of Jericho. He spilt over the Red Sea. Everything you read in the Old Testament was on the outside. But now God has given us something inside.

In the Bible, in the New Testament, there's a chapter called Hebrews chapter 11. It's a description of the entire Old Testament saints, what all God did for them. Many, many miracles. And do you know what it says at the end of that chapter?

Hebrews 11 is a nutshell of Old Testament saints, wonderful men who did great works all on the outside, splitting the sea and pulling down the walls of Jericho and killing lions and defeating armies. You know what it says at the end of that chapter?

God has provided something better for us. What is better than splitting the Red Sea? Or pulling down the walls of Jericho or tearing a lion to pieces with our hands? We said, boy, that's great. There's something better than that.

And you need to understand that. It says there in the last verse, God has provided something better. And in the next three, four verses of Hebrews 12, it says, now we can follow Jesus by receiving his life inside us, the way he lived on earth.

Jesus' Prayerful Dependence on the Holy Spirit

Do you know that Jesus also, when he lived on earth, why did he pray so much? You know, prayer is a sign of a weak man. Only weak people pray. Strong people don't need it. A person prays because he's weak.

You pray when you're in trouble. You pray when somebody is sick in the house. You pray when your parents pray when there's no money in the house. When there's a problem, we pray. Prayer is what weak people do.

And we read in Luke's gospel in chapter six, verse 12. At that time, Jesus went to the mountain and he prayed the whole night. Why was that? Because he was weak. You haven't heard that? Jesus was weak, but he never sinned.

You know why he never sinned? Because he prayed. A lot of people don't pray today. That's why they sin. The clear answer to it. And why don't we pray? Because we feel I can do it. And as long as you feel you can do it, you'll keep on sinning.

For the next 50 years, you'll keep on sinning. But when you become weak, you'll pray, oh God, help me. It's like the child who's sick and the doctor says there's no hope for that child. Then you feel weak.

But if the child has only got a little fever or a runny nose, you say, ah, that's not serious. I don't even need to pray. I can handle that. But when it's really serious and the doctor says all hope is gone, then you pray.

That's the type of person who prays, oh Lord, I cannot overcome these bad habits I have. I cannot overcome these bad thoughts. I want to pray. And Jesus prayed all night. That's our example. That's the better thing God has provided.

Receiving the Holy Spirit as a Present Privilege

Jesus is an example for us. Say, live the way he lived. He needed the power of the Holy Spirit to help him within. And the same Holy Spirit, think of it, children, the Holy Spirit of God can come inside you.

If you had said that to some Old Testament person, Abraham or Moses or Isaiah or John the Baptist, you know the Holy Spirit can come inside him. He says, no, that'd be wonderful if I could have it. But no, he's outside.

He's outside. It's a tremendous privilege we have today after Jesus has come, gone to heaven and sent the Holy Spirit. And you children don't think you're too young to ask the Holy Spirit to come and fill you.

Ask him to fill your heart and strengthen you because that is how God works inside us to do his good pleasure. So in John 14, Jesus spoke about this Holy Spirit coming. And then he said something which is a very beautiful picture in John 15, verse five.

Abiding in Christ to Bear Fruit

The last part of John 15, verse five. He said, without me, you can do nothing. You believe that? You say, no, I can do a lot of things. I'm pretty good at some games you play. Maybe you're good at basketball or I'm pretty good.

No, I'm not talking about these earthly things which don't have any value in heaven or in eternity. You can never do anything that has eternal value without me. Let me tell you this. Remember this all your lives.

Everything that you can do without the help of Jesus Christ is something which has no eternal value. You can do it with your cleverness. You can do it with your own ability. That's on the earth. It'll, you'll accomplish a lot.

With your cleverness, you get a good job. You're gonna make a lot of money. But if you want to do something of eternal value that lasts for all eternity, you need Jesus. Without me, you can do nothing.

Well, John 15, verse five. And he uses the example of a branch in a tree. When you see a tree, haven't you seen tree with fruits hanging on it, any type of fruit, an apple or some, any type of fruit hanging on a branch?

How did that branch come to be? How did that branch produce that fruit? If it's an apple tree or pear or anything, how did that branch produce it? It wasn't by the branch struggling. No, there's a liquid inside the main trunk of the tree, which comes up and flows into the branch and produces the fruit.

And you know what the branch has to do? The branch doesn't have to struggle. It just opens itself up and say, oh tree, let your liquid come inside me. Let it come and keep coming. And automatically the fruit comes.

That's what Jesus said in John 15, verse five. You know, a tree, a branch can bear fruit only when it is in the tree. It cannot bear fruit, verse four, by itself. But if it remains in the tree, it'll produce fruit.

And in the same way, if you remain in me, you will bear fruit. So what he's saying is, just like that branch is in the tree and the liquid flows from the tree into the branch and automatically produces fruit without the branch even struggling.

He says, if you depend on me like that, there's nothing that I want you to do that you will not be able to do. Whenever I preach, I say, Lord, I can't preach in a way that'll help people. I can say a lot of clever things from my mind.

But if I am to reach, not people's mind, I'm not interested in reaching people's mind. I'm interested in reaching their heart, changing their lives. I want to go through the years, you're listening to me, through the mind, but I don't want to stop there.

I want to get to the heart. If I only want to go into your ear and to your mind, I don't need the Holy Spirit. My cleverness will do. I can sit down, I'm a clever person, sit down and prepare a message and it'll go through your ear, into your mind, it'll stay there, it won't help you one bit.

But if I come to Jesus and say, Lord, I can't help these people, it's impossible. I may know so much of the Bible, but I can't help them. I want to be like the branch in the tree. Even I do that at my age now.

Lord, I did that even today. I said, Lord, I can't help these children, but if you'll give me the words, I will share it with them. Then it'll go to their heart and it'll change their lives. So that is how we have to live in everything we do.

The Holy Spirit's Power to Keep Believers from Falling

Lord, I cannot overcome my anger. I cannot overcome the fighting spirit I have. I cannot overcome all the wrong desires I have to make more money and become big in the world and all that. Jesus was not like that.

I want to be like Jesus. Well, Lord Jesus said, then recognize you can't do anything, depend on me. And that sap which flows from the trees, a picture of the Holy Spirit that'll come, that is the Holy Spirit will come and give you power to live and to keep you from falling into sin.

Let me show you a verse in the book of Jude. Jude is just before Revelation and verse 24. Jude and verse 24, it says, he is able to keep you from falling. There's a picture, there's a pen. It has no ability to overcome gravity that's pulling it down.

Everything in the world is pulled down by gravity. Gravity is pulling this pen down and it falls. It doesn't have the ability to overcome gravity. Gravity is too strong. Just like that force of sin in your flesh, your children inside your body is too strong.

It's always pulling you down. You decide you're not gonna fight and you fight. You decide you're not gonna tell a lie and you tell a lie. You decide you're not gonna be selfish and you end up being selfish.

You decide you will not get angry, you get angry. It's like this. This pen can decide. I'm not gonna fall, I'm not gonna fall, but it falls. That's exactly your history. But see, now it's not falling.

Why is it not falling? Another life, my life, is holding it up so that it doesn't fall. That's what it says here. Jesus is able to keep you from falling. You can't do that yourself. Sin is like this law of gravity, always pulling you down to do something wrong every day.

But believe this today. Older people, younger people, Jesus is able. Believe Him. Like you once believed that He is able to forgive your sin. Look at all the people in the world today who don't believe that Jesus can forgive their sin.

They're not forgiven. Look at the multitudes of people in the world, millions of people around you. Jesus died for their sins, but they don't believe that Jesus can forgive their sins, so they're not forgiven.

You can never get what you don't believe in. If you, your sins are forgiven because you believe Jesus would forgive you. Now the same Jesus who forgives you can keep you from falling. It says here. And present you one day before the Father, blameless, without any blame, without any fault.

I believe that for myself. I cannot keep myself even a single moment. But my Savior, Jesus, who forgave me, died for me on the cross, will also do this other thing for me. Keep me from falling in, make me blameless, and present me before my Father one day with great joy.

And when I stand there, I say, Father, that's not because of my ability. Jesus kept me all along. When I had to preach, Jesus gave me the words to speak. When I was tempted, Jesus helped me to overcome.

All through life, when I had some need, Jesus provided it. When I had a financial need, when I needed money, Jesus provided that. When I needed strength, Jesus provided that. He is able to provide everything.

God's Promise to Supply Every Need

Okay, I'll give you one last verse. Philippians 4. Now, you children have many needs which the older people don't have. And older people have needs that the children don't have. But here's a wonderful promise for everybody.

Philippians 4 and verse 19. Philippians 4, 19. It's good you children remember this. God will supply all, A-L-L, your need. Not what you want. A good father or mother will not give you what everything you want.

I want this, I want this, I want that. A good father will not give you all that you want. A good father will give you what you need. And that's what God gives. God will give you all that you need. According to his tremendous wealth in Christ Jesus, that means everything in Christ, he will give you and me.

I believe that if you believe it, it'll be yours. If you don't believe it, it will not be yours. I want you children and adults to believe today that your heavenly father will give you whatever you lack in your life spiritually.

Whatever it is, your need, he is eager to give it to you. When you believe, it's like opening your hand and taking what he gives. Like I told you the other day, by grace, grace is God giving you the gift.

Faith is saying, thank you. By grace, through faith, you get what God gives. But if it's just by grace, he's offering it, offering it, and you don't take it, you'll remain poor. You've got to take it.

So when God is able to give you his grace and all that you need, say, Lord, thank you, and take it. So start praying more. And praying doesn't mean you have to kneel down or anything. Whenever you have a little time, Lord Jesus, help me now.

Particularly when you find you're being tempted to get angry or to do something else, quick prayer. Like Nehemiah prayed, quick, Lord, help me right now. And you'll find the Lord coming and helping you.

Amen.