The New Covenant Truth Dutch — Zac Poonen

So brother, Arjan has asked me to share a few words about myself before we begin the message. My name is Zak Poonen. I'm 72 years old. I was converted to Christ when I was 19 and a half. At that time I was an officer in the Indian Navy.

And seven years later the Lord took me out of the Navy to serve Him. And so I've been serving Him for now 46 years full time. And for a number of years I worked among students in India. And then 37 years ago we started planting local churches.

And 47 years ago we also started founding local communities.

The first was in our own home where we started with six or seven people. In Bangalore in the south of India. And that community has now grown to about 400 members. And 30, 40 other churches in villages and towns of India.

And seven or eight churches in other countries. I'm not an evangelist. I'm primarily a teacher of God's Word. And the main emphasis that God has laid on my heart is to show God's people that we're not to live under the old covenant but the new covenant.

In our personal life. And secondly that we must build godly homes. Bring up our children in the fear of God. And thirdly that we must build local churches that are an expression of the body of Christ.

And thirdly that we must build local communities that are an expression of the Lord Jesus Christ. And with this goal I have also written 25 books. We also have a service on the internet via our website.

You can access. Everything is free.

It's called cfcindia .com. So you can read all our books and hundreds of sermons all free. And you can also go to YouTube if you like. There are about 1000 sermons of mine there. If you put my name you can listen to all of them.

That's just a little introduction. Many of you have gone through a bible school course. But that doesn't qualify us to serve the Lord. The knowledge of the bible is good. But it must be converted to life.

Bible Knowledge Must Become the Life of Christ

There's a verse in Acts of the Apostles in chapter 13. Where it speaks about the religious rulers that lived in Jerusalem in verse 27. And those religious rulers, even though it says here in this verse, even though they read the prophets and the scriptures every week, they still could not recognize Jesus.

They studied the scriptures. But they could not recognize him. Every book in the Old Testament spoke about Jesus Christ. Right from the seed of the woman in Genesis. And the Passover lamb in Exodus. The bronze serpent in Numbers.

Like that, in every book, right all the way up to Malachi. But when this person about whom the whole Old Testament spoke came into their midst, they not only did not recognize him, they said he was the prince of devils.

They called him Beelzebul. What does that teach us? That you can study the scriptures as much as you like, and still be blind to Jesus Christ. The same thing is happening today. With so many people who study Greek and Hebrew and so many things in the scriptures.

But they don't come into the life of Jesus Christ. Because they don't open themselves to the Holy Spirit. Look at these words that Jesus spoke to the Pharisees in John 5 .39. Here it says in John 5 .39, You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life.

And it is these that bear witness of me. So they searched the scriptures because they thought eternal life is there. But eternal life was not there. It says in verse 40, You don't come to me to have that eternal life.

So we can take that scripture and apply it to ourselves. Does the Lord have to say to us, You search the scriptures, but you don't come to me. So many people are in that condition. They don't see Jesus in the scriptures.

They see rules and doctrines. They argue about doctrines. And their life is not changed. Because they don't see Jesus in the scriptures. That's the great tragedy. It says in Matthew chapter 11, It says in verse 25, Jesus prayed and said, I praise thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you hid these things from the wise and the intelligent and revealed them to babes.

Have you ever thought of that verse? That the wise and the intelligent are not able to understand. But the babes can understand. Can you think of any book in the world, any book on any subject, that clever people cannot understand, but babies can understand.

Any subject. Babies can understand, clever people cannot understand. Only one book. Jesus said it. You have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent. But you revealed them to babes. What I learned from that is, the cleverer and more intelligent I am, the blinder I am to the truth of God's word.

What do babes have, which intelligent, clever people don't have? Can you think of something? Purity of heart. A little baby's got a pure heart. Clever, intelligent people have got dirty hearts. So that's the first thing.

That is the purity of my heart that will enable me to understand Scripture. Can you tell me something else that babies have, which clever, intelligent people don't have? Jesus once took a little baby and said, learn humility from this baby.

He said, whoever humbles himself like this little child can enter God's kingdom. And is the greatest in God's kingdom. That's in Matthew 18, verse 4. So humility, that's the second thing a baby has. God's not against clever people.

But clever people tend to be proud of their cleverness. And to look down on people who are not clever like them. And it is that arrogant attitude that hinders them from knowing the Scriptures. So why couldn't the Pharisees understand the Scriptures?

They were clever. You know Jewish people are very clever. But why couldn't they understand the Scriptures? It says here in verse 27, the middle of that verse, no one knows the Son except the Father. Did you know that?

That no one knows Jesus Christ except the Father. And no one knows the Father except Jesus Christ. And anyone to whom the Son will reveal Him. And the same way the Father has to reveal Jesus Christ to us for us to know Jesus Christ.

We read once, Jesus asked the disciples in Matthew 16, What are people saying about me? Who do they say I am? In Matthew 16, verse 13. And they said in verse 14, Some say you're John the Baptist, some say you're Elijah, some say you're Jeremiah.

Then he asked, Who do you say that I am? And immediately Simon Peter said, You're the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of the living God. And then Jesus said, You're really blessed Simon, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you.

What he was saying is, you are not the cleverest person in Israel. It's not by your intelligence you knew that I was the Christ. No one knows the Son except the Father. My Father has revealed this to you.

Now we think that we can know Jesus by studying the scriptures. We think we can understand God's word by cleverness and study. You can understand mathematics and science with cleverness, but if you want to understand God's word, you have to get revelation from heaven.

Christ Is Our Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctification, and Redemption

Now it's very important for us to understand this. You know, 500 years ago when Martin Luther brought the reformation to Europe, one of the great truths he emphasized was that man's righteousness is not good enough for God's kingdom.

That no matter how many good works we do, we cannot be accepted by God. And he taught that justification was by faith. That was a great truth. That Christ had to become our righteousness. And that's the only way we can be accepted by the Father.

But what was not emphasized enough at that time, and which is not even emphasized today, is that Christ is not only to be our righteousness, He is to be our wisdom as well. Let's turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 30.

Read this slowly and carefully. First of all it says in verse 29 that no one can boast before God. You cannot boast about your righteousness, you cannot boast about your cleverness. But by God's doing, you are in Christ Jesus.

And Christ Jesus has become to us wisdom from God, righteousness, scientification and redemption. Now we are all willing to acknowledge that Christ is our righteousness. We are willing to acknowledge what it says in Isaiah 64 verse 6, that our righteousness is like filthy rags.

All the holiness I have are like filthy rags. Not my sin, my righteousness. If my sin is like filthy rags, I can understand that. But Isaiah 64 says, my righteousness is like filthy rags. So how shall I stand before God?

Clothed with the righteousness of Christ. No one can ever get into God's presence any other way. Christ is my righteousness, He is my redemption, He is my sanctification. But one more thing. It says here, He is my wisdom.

So that means I have to say, all my cleverness is also like filthy rags. When it comes to spiritual things, all my intelligence is foolishness. The wisdom of man is foolishness to God. And so we need to get revelation from the Holy Spirit.

Let me show you Ephesians in chapter 1. You know, Ephesians, Paul is writing some of the most fantastic things that he has written in any epistle. He says here in Ephesians, in chapter 1, I am praying, in verse 17, that the God of our Lord Jesus will give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.

And I pray that the eyes of your heart, verse 18, may be enlightened. So, what is Paul praying? He says, I am going to write a lot of things to you and I want you to understand it. He doesn't say, read this ten times and you will understand it.

Or, slowly meditate on each verse and you will understand it. In the Old Testament the word was, blessed is the man who meditates on the word of God. But here he says, you need more than meditation. You need the Holy Spirit's revelation.

That's what it says here. I am praying that God will give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation. Otherwise, you will not know Him. You will know the letter of Scripture and you can study it. You can study all the root meanings of the Greek and the Hebrew and you can preach it.

But you won't know Jesus. I remember once, I was asked to speak at the graduation ceremony of a Bible school in India. And there was a young chap there who got the first prize for all the subjects. I had a chat with him after the graduation ceremony.

I said, you've been here three years. And you got the first prize for all the subjects. Have you got victory over dirty thoughts? He said, no. What are you going to study Greek and Hebrew for? You are going to be a pastor of a church.

Do you think all those hundred people sitting there need to know Greek and Hebrew? They are slaves to dirty thoughts. They are slaves to anger. They are slaves to sin. They don't need Bible knowledge.

They need the life of Jesus. And if you can't give that, you are just going to make them twofold the child of hell. And he said, tell me, how is your spiritual condition now compared to three years ago?

He said, brother Zach, to tell you honestly, it's much worse. I said, you came first in the class. But your spiritual condition is worse than three years ago. You know, such people need the Holy Spirit.

Sometimes we can think that we are spiritual because we know the Bible. The spirit of revelation. And he says in verse 18, he doesn't say that your mind should understand, he said the eyes of your heart should be enlightened.

You know the difference between understanding something in your mind and getting light in your heart? We can have so much crammed in our mind and very little light in our heart. So that's what Paul wrote to the Ephesians.

He says, you can read this letter a hundred times. You won't understand. You need God to open the eyes of your heart. Otherwise you'll be like a blind man trying to read the scriptures. How many of you realize that?

That requires humility. Now, I know when I've come to the scriptures, that's how I've come. I said, Lord, in earthly things I'm quite clever. But when I come to this book, I want to come like a baby. Because you don't reveal things to clever people.

I want to come with purity in my heart, with every sin confessed. You don't need to confess all your sins to understand mathematics and science. A man can be a great professor and also an adulterer in his private life.

But you can't understand scripture if your heart is impure.

Sin blinds the eyes of my heart. When I read the scriptures,.

I will understand with my mind, but see nothing in my heart. I started studying the Bible 50 years ago. I never went to a Bible school. But I spent many, many hours asking God to teach me about Jesus from this book.

I knew that the Holy Spirit could teach me. Everything I learned, I learned from the Holy Spirit. Let me show you another verse. Timothy was Paul's closest co-worker. He had lived with Paul for about 20 years.

More than that. Paul writes to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2.

See what Paul says. 2 Timothy 2, verse 7.

Consider what I say and the Lord will give you understanding in everything. Now we would say, read what I say 10 times and you'll understand it. Or meditate on what I say and you'll understand it. But what Paul is saying here, you can meditate as much as you like, you won't understand it.

You can read it a hundred times, you won't understand it. You can have somebody explain it to you, you won't understand it. The Lord has to give you understanding. Timothy, even though you've been with me for 20 years, if the Lord does not give you understanding, you'll only have head knowledge that kills you.

Humility Opens the Scriptures to Us

This is the reason why the great scholars in the synagogues could not recognize Jesus Christ. And this is why Gamaliel's greatest student, Paul, was killing the Christians. What book was Paul studying under Gamaliel for so many years?

The Bible, Genesis to Malachi.

The Bible, Genesis to Malachi.

He studied it, studied it, studied it. And he was convinced that Jesus was a false prophet. And the Old Testament said that false prophets and their followers must be killed. That's the greatest example of how a scholar can be completely blind.

So I want to encourage you, my brothers and sisters, walk in humility. And may you grow in humility. Then you will understand Jesus. Otherwise you'll never understand Him. See, in the Old Testament, the light was in the Word of God.

See, Psalm 119, verse 105. It's a very well-known verse. God's Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. God's Word was the light. What is the light in the New Testament? It's not God's Word.

Did you know that? Jesus said, I am the light of the world. So in the Old Testament, it was the written Word that was the light. In the New Testament, it is the Word made flesh. In Christ, that is the light.

So if you know the written Word, but you don't know the living Word, you won't have life. And it says in John 1, verse 4,. In Jesus Christ was life and that life was the light of men. What was the light in the Old Testament?

Thy Word is a light to my path. And in the New Testament, the life of Jesus is my light. We need to see the difference between Old Covenant and New Covenant. If you try to get light by reading the Bible, you're back in the Old Covenant.

But if you read the Bible to see Jesus and his life, then you get light in the New Covenant. That's what Jesus said to the Pharisees. We saw that in John 5, verse 39. You go to the Scriptures because you think eternal life is there.

It's not there. You don't come to me. Life is in me, not in the book. Do we understand that? For example, if I were to ask you this question, Who is the light of the world today?

Who is the light of the world today?

I think most Christians, 99 of them, would say Jesus Christ. Wrong. I'll show it to you from Scripture. If you read Scripture carefully, you learn many things. John chapter 9, verse 5. John chapter 9, verse 5.

What did Jesus say? While I am in the world, I am the light of the world. During the 33 and a half years that he was on earth, he said, I am the light of the world. He said that in John 8, verse 12. In the previous chapter.

But then he clarified it by saying, that is only as long as I am in the world. The life, we saw that, John 1, verse 4, the life of Jesus is the light. And as long as he lived there on earth, he was the light of the world.

So now he ascended up to heaven. According to this verse, he is not the light of the world anymore. Then who is the light of the world now? See Matthew chapter 5, verse 14 for the answer. Matthew chapter 5, verse 14.

Jesus looked at his disciples and said, you are the light of the world. Have you seen that? So if somebody asks me, who is the light of the world? Then I say, that is me. People are shocked. What blasphemy!

Zac Poonen says he is the light of the world. I say, before you get angry with me, I will show it to you in scripture. Look in your Bible in Matthew 5, verse 14. And just by the way, it is not only me, it is you as well.

Why haven't we seen it? Why are you afraid to say, when Jesus said, you are the light of the world, I am the light of the world? Are you ashamed to say, I am a child of God? How do you know you are a child of God?

Because the word of God says, if you receive Christ, you are a child of God. But there are a lot of people in the world who say, you are arrogant to say you are a child of God. Who said that? But you are not ashamed to say you are a child of God?

Why are you ashamed to say, I am the light of the world? The same Bible says that. Because we want to avoid that responsibility. It is a tremendous responsibility to be the light of the world. You have to manifest it in your life.

Manifesting the Light of Christ Every Day

What is the light? It is not Bible knowledge. Bible knowledge is not the light. Old Testament, that was okay. Thy word is a light unto my path. But what is the light in the New Testament? In Jesus was life, and that life is the light of man.

So what people have to see in me to say I am the light of the world, it is not Bible knowledge. It is not that I can quote this verse and that verse and this doctrine and that doctrine. That just shows I am a scholar, not the light of the world.

It is when I have the life of Jesus that I can say I am the light of the world. And that shows what a tremendous responsibility there is upon us to manifest that life. And until we manifest that life, we are not fulfilling our responsibility.

It is the way we live that manifests the light of the world. Somebody asked me once in India, Brother Zach, what is the difference between your church and other churches? I said, we don't say our church is better than any other church.

Because we don't believe in comparing ourselves with anybody else. We don't say our music is better than anybody else. Or our preaching is better than anybody else. But I will tell you one difference.

For other churches, the most important day is Sunday. For us, the important day is Monday. And Tuesday. And Wednesday. And Thursday. And Friday. And Saturday. And Sunday evening after you go home. In other words, what I mean is, for us the important thing is not how good the music is or how good the preaching is on Sunday.

The important thing is how you live with your wife at home on Monday. And how you behave in your office on Tuesday and Wednesday. And how you behave when you are on the road and other people are not obeying the rules.

And when other people are angry on the road, how you behave. I said, that is more important to us than how good the music is on Sunday morning. So, what I was trying to emphasize by that statement is that on Sunday we are only teaching people how to live on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, etc.

Many people go home after a Sunday meeting and say, boy, we had a great time this Sunday morning. I say, that's just entertainment. You know, it's like going to some... people go to a movie and say, boy, that was great, we had a great time.

I say, that's not what we should be saying. That is not what we should be saying. We should say, hey, we learned today how to live for the rest of the week. How to behave at home, on the road, in the office, everywhere.

That is what we teach in our church. And that is the life of Jesus. We don't manifest the light only on Sunday morning. We have to manifest the light where there is darkness in the world. And that is impossible without the Holy Spirit.

You know, in the Old Testament they could not have the Holy Spirit dwelling inside them. And that's why they could not be a light. But now, after the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit can live within us.

And now that light can be manifested from within. As I've studied the Scriptures through so many years, I've come to one conclusion. That the clearest verse about the ministry of the Holy Spirit is in 2 Corinthians 3, verse 18.

The Holy Spirit Reveals Christ’s Glory and Transforms Believers

There is a lot of confusion concerning the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the world today. But here is a verse that has clarified for me what is the ministry of the Holy Spirit. I've never found a verse that is more complete than this one verse.

You know, it speaks here about a mirror. In verse 18. If you go to James 1 .25, it says the mirror is the law. The Old Testament law was like a mirror. You looked at the Ten Commandments, you saw your sin.

And the law was supposed to show you your sin. Paul says, without the law there is no knowledge of sin. It's like a mirror. You look in it and you see the dirt on your face. So, the law was like that.

But now in the New Testament, when you look into the mirror, you don't see yourself. You see the glory of Jesus. Did you see that? We see as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord. So, when we read the scriptures, for the mirror is the scriptures, what you're supposed to see is the glory of Jesus Christ.

That means when I read the scriptures, I mustn't just see the letters. I must say, Lord, show me your glory. That's what Moses prayed, O God, show me your glory. So, that is what the Holy Spirit does first of all.

The Holy Spirit has come to show me the glory of the Lord in the scriptures. Because it says here in this verse, this is from the Holy Spirit at the end of that verse. So, that's the number one ministry of the Holy Spirit.

As I read the scriptures, to see the glory and the beauty of Jesus Christ. Not doctrines. Not verses. But the glory of Jesus Christ. That should be our prayer. Spirit of God, show me the glory of Jesus as I see the scriptures.

And then, when I see the glory of Jesus, you know what happened to Isaiah when he saw the glory of the Lord in Isaiah 6? What happened? He immediately saw his own need. He did not see his need by looking inside himself.

And we must never try to look inside ourselves. We'll get depressed. There are a lot of people who say you must look inside yourself. Psychologists say that. I never do it. Because I'll get depressed looking inside myself.

But when I see the glory of Jesus, then I see my need. Oh Lord, I'm so unlike you. I'm not as pure as you are. I'm not as humble as you are. I'm not so unselfish and loving as you are. Like Isaiah said, Lord, my tongue is dirty.

So, we see our need when we see the glory of Jesus. And if it stops there, we'll get depressed. Because we see Jesus so glorious and I'm so filthy. So, the Holy Spirit has got a second ministry. And that ministry is mentioned here in verse 18.

What is the second thing the Holy Spirit does? He shows me the glory of Jesus and then he changes me into that lightness from one degree of glory to another. That really excites me. And you can be sure that if you submit to the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit's work in you will also be perfect and complete.

See, I don't have to struggle to make myself like Jesus. This is an amazing verse. The two ministries of the Holy Spirit. First of all, to show me the glory of Jesus. To show me how pure he was and to make me more and more pure like him.

To show me how humble he was and to make me more and more humble like him. To show me how loving he was and to make me more loving like him. To show me how he served his Father with the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

And to give me the gifts of the Holy Spirit so that I can also serve the Father. This is why the new covenant is a ministry of the Holy Spirit. See, 2 Corinthians 3 and verse 6. He says, God has made us servants of a new covenant not of the letter, but of the Spirit.

Because the letter will kill. The Spirit gives life. So, dear brothers and sisters we must open ourselves to the Holy Spirit of God. This is the most important thing in the New Testament. What did we read?

We are servants of a new covenant in the Holy Spirit. And if you don't open yourself to the Holy Spirit you will be just quoting the letter of Scripture. And you will not become like Jesus. You will not have the life of Jesus.

Living by the Law of the Holy Spirit

Let's see Romans chapter 8. In Romans 8 we read about the law of the Holy Spirit. In the Old Testament it was the law of Moses. Romans 8 verse 2. Have you seen this expression? The law of the Holy Spirit.

The Old Testament was the law of Moses. The law of Moses had 613 commandments. The 10 commandments out of those 613 are well known. But there were 603 other commandments. In Exodus and Numbers and Deuteronomy.

The law of Moses was full of a lot of rules. And you had scribes studying those rules. So, if you wanted to know what to do in a situation you had to go to the scribes and the fellow will look up some rule and tell you what it is.

So, if you wanted to understand what you had to do in a certain situation you went to a scribe and he will try to explain one of those rules.

But now we don't have a law full of rules. Now we have the law of the Holy Spirit.

The law of the Holy Spirit does not consist of rules.

The law of the Holy Spirit says here. Did you see that? The law of the Spirit is life in Christ Jesus. There is a difference between that life and law. Many Christians live under law. Not the law of Moses.

But laws made by the pastors and preachers of their churches. And it is such a burden. It makes them legalists. It makes them Pharisees. And there are strong leaders in many churches who say you got to do this, you got to do this.

And they become first class hypocrites. You know for example in India in India many Pentecostal churches they are very strict about women not wearing any ornaments on their ears. And they look down on some woman who wears a earring.

I quote some verse. But they don't see those women who look down on others who wear these ornaments they say you are wearing this 20 euro ring which costs 20 euro. But they don't feel condemned that they are wearing a 1000 euro dress.

That is the hypocrisy I am talking about. They condemn somebody for wearing 20 euros here but they've got bathroom fittings in their house that cost 10 ,000 euros.

They condemn somebody for wearing a 20 euro ring but they've got expensive bathroom fittings in their bathroom.

This is hypocrisy. Laws. Can't see this, can't see that, can't see the other thing. Can't do this, can't do the other thing. But what about life in Christ Jesus? You know, many people say can I watch this television program or that television program?

I say what shall I say? Shall I make a big list of all the television programs you must not see? That's a law. I say much better to live by the life of Jesus.

It is much better to live by the life of Jesus. How does that work?

If you are sitting in front of a television you imagine that Jesus Christ is sitting next to you. And if you think that he will enjoy that program, watch it. And if you think Jesus will say turn it off turn it off.

That's only one simple rule of life. Not only for television but everything. Somebody, one young girl in our church came to ask me how should I dress as a Christian girl? What shall I tell her? That your skirt must be so many centimeters?

I say I am not a tailor, I am a servant of God. Or your blouse must be so many centimeters? No. I said if Jesus was living in the next street and he phoned you up one day and said come to my house. I want to go for a walk with you in the marketplace.

How would you dress to go for a walk with Jesus in the marketplace? That's the way you should dress every time everywhere you go. Don't you want Jesus to go with you everywhere? That's the only rule. Life in the marketplace.

Life in Christ Jesus. For everything. That is the law. The law of the Holy Spirit. Will the life of Jesus permit this? Or will it not permit it? Everything. What sort of jokes can I speak? The type of jokes I can speak if Jesus is sitting there in front of me.

How shall I speak to my wife? When I conduct a marriage. I said where Jesus said if two are gathered together I am in the midst. And I said now you husband and wife you are being joined together? I hope Jesus is in your midst.

You should not be joined together without Jesus in your midst. Then you are like the heathen. But if you are joined together in Jesus name then Jesus is in the middle. So I tell the husband from now you are married now for the rest of your life whenever you speak to your wife remember Jesus is in the middle.

Oh you will speak in a different way then. And I tell the wife from now till the rest of your life when you speak to your husband remember Jesus is in the middle. You will speak in a very different way.

Don't you speak in a different way to your husband and wife if some believer is there? Why is it we speak differently when the believer is not there? A husband and wife can be quarreling in a home. Suddenly the doorbell rings quarreling stops and some believer walks in and the husband and wife are very nice to each other because this believer has come in.

Then he goes away and the quarreling starts again. Why? Because the brother has gone. Who is here now? Only Jesus. And who cares for him? This is the condition of many Christian homes. They say Jesus is in the home.