(The Fire of God) the Fire and the Sword — Zac Poonen

The Fire and the Sword at the Tree of Life

To Genesis and chapter 3. I want to continue from what we were considering last Sunday about the baptism of fire. The very first time in the Bible where we read about fire is here in Genesis 3 in the last verse and it says here that God put a revolving sword of fire to guard the way to the tree of life and he stationed a number of angels known as cherubs also around it.

The tree of life is a picture of Christ and Adam had the opportunity to receive Jesus but instead he went for knowledge. Now you'd think he's a fool right to go for knowledge instead of Christ but a lot of people who think he's a fool are also going today for knowledge and not for Christ.

There's a world of difference between the two and those who go for knowledge, Bible knowledge, become religious and those who go to Christ become spiritual. The Pharisees were religious and Jesus was spiritual.

Paul was a spiritual man but before he was filled with the Holy Spirit he was a religious man. He was at the tree of knowledge but one day he moved to the tree of life and what all of us need to ask ourselves is which tree are we going to?

It's very easy to mistake one for the other because you can hold the same Bible and go to the tree of knowledge but the way to find out is this. It's very easy to find out whether you've come to the tree of knowledge or the tree of life.

In front of the tree of life there is a sword and a fire. You got to get past that. Now if you happen to find a Christianity without a sword and a fire it's almost certain that you're religious and it's possible sometimes in our early days of zeal when we are converted and accept Christ as our Savior that we come willing to pay any price and come to the tree of life and we're willing to receive the fire of God in our life and allow the sword to slay our self-life but then after a period of time due to many reasons one of the reasons could be that you mingle too much with religious people or half-hearted people.

You lose the fire and you get rid of the sword and when that happens immediately you move to the tree of knowledge or it could be that you marry the wrong person and then also you cool off or you may have got married and marriage became everything to you even replace Christ in your life.

Very often I tell young people I won't say you're wholehearted till you get married and have a couple of children. Let me see how you progress in that movement from single life to married life and becoming a father of one or two children then I'll tell you whether you're wholehearted or not because it's very easy to be very zealous and appear to be wholehearted when we are young and it's activity you know even the communists are zealous and the Naxalites are zealous and there's something in human nature that makes us passionate about something I mean the most zealous people on earth today are the suicide bombers whether it's in Sri Lanka or Palestine or anywhere.

So zeal is no indication people are fanatics for so many things people can be fanatics for Christianity but I'm not impressed by not at all any more than I'm impressed by suicide bombers or Naxalites or zealous and willing to lay down their life.

The mark of true Christianity the mark that you've come to the tree of life is that you have found Jesus and been found total satisfaction in him and he is everything to you you love him with all your heart and in your daily life you will find as a result of that that as you partake of the fruit of the tree of life it will make you more and more Christ-like.

That's the unmistakable mark of true Christianity and we have a lot of counterfeit today you have a lot of preaching today which does not have a fire and does not have a sword and wherever you hear preaching whether it's from a preacher or from television or in a CD or read a book in which you find there's no fire and no sword you can be pretty sure you're sitting at the wrong tree.

Bible Knowledge Without God

That's why a lot of Christian books I have no time to read because I don't find any fire and I don't fire a sword. A lot of messages by the time I listen to it for five minutes I switch it on I say I don't have time to listen to that because there's no fire there there's knowledge plenty of knowledge explanation of this and explanation of that and we love to have a lot of knowledge there's a tremendous craze for knowledge.

In fact the Bible says that in the last days Daniel 12 I think is verse 4 or something it says knowledge will increase including Bible knowledge the tremendous craze for Bible knowledge there's never been so many Bible schools and colleges in the history of Christianity as there are today and there are never been so many carnal Christians in the history of Christianity as there are today and there never been so many people who are ignorant of God as there are today among Christians.

See knowledge has replaced life and it's very very important for those of you sitting here because you know you can come and listen to a good message and be excited about it. John the Baptist preached Herod it says like to listen to him.

Didn't change his life but he was interested to listen to all these information about the Bible. I want to ask you my brother sister do you come here to get information about the Bible information about this thing and that thing and you want to know more and more and it doesn't change your life.

You're in great danger. Jesus looked at the people who had knowledge in his day the Pharisees and said to them how will you escape the damnation of hell. That's pretty strong words to people who believed in the Bible and people who came regularly to the meetings.

Imagine telling people who believe in the Bible and come regularly to the meetings how will you escape the damnation of hell. I would say that to anyone who does not seek to come to the tree of life who tries to avoid the fire and the sword in their Christianity.

Calvary, Pentecost, and the Way to the Tree of Life

So what does that fire and the sword mean. The sword speaks of the cross and the fire speaks of the fullness of the Holy Spirit. It's Calvary and Pentecost. It's pictured there right there at the beginning of Scripture.

You come through to the tree of life to Christ and the fullness of Christ through the cross and through Pentecost. Not just the Calvary where Jesus died but the Calvary where I died with Christ. Everybody likes to accept the cross where Jesus died.

But it's more than that. The way to the tree of life has been open but it's called the new and living way. And in the Old Testament there was a curtain in the most holy place of the tabernacle that blocked out the most holy place.

And in that most holy place was the fire of God. Nobody could go there. You couldn't get to the fire of God. You couldn't get to the tree of life. It's the same picture in the tabernacle too. You could not get to that fire until one day when Jesus died on the cross it says that curtain that veil was rent from top to bottom.

You know that rending of the veil is a picture of the cross of death to the flesh to self. And that's called the new and living way. So there's the rending of the veil and the fire in the most holy place.

It's the same thing. The sword and the fire. Calvary and Pentecost. So many people have separated these two. I told you the other day how Christians have separated what God has joined together. It's not just in marriage.

Today we have multitudes of people who imagine themselves to be believers who divorce. I don't know how a believer can divorce. You must be having zero respect for the teaching of Jesus. But today the sad funny fact in Christendom is that there are people who are divorced to apostates and they speak in tongues.

Have you ever heard of a deception like that? They claim to be filled with the Holy Spirit and they divorce their wives. What God has joined together they separate. The same way in the message of the gospel.

Repentance and faith were joined together but man has separated them. And that's why there's so little of the fruit of Christ likeness. Repentance and faith are like husband and wife. A wife can't have a baby on her own.

A husband can't have a baby on his own. It's when they come together. It's the same way. Repentance and faith is what produces the baby called the new birth. If you have only faith, sorry you can't be born again.

If you have only repentance, sorry you can't be born again. It's when the two are joined together. In the same way, the life of Christ, if we are to experience it, it's the sword and the fire. And also man is separated.

It's denying self, being filled with the Holy Spirit. If you separate these two or you have just one of them, you're not, you probably got a counterfeit what you think you have. And the proof of it will be that you are defeated by the same sin year after year after year after year.

The Danger of Accepting Defeat by Sin

Now one of the amazing things to me, I'm really surprised at how some Christians can be defeated by the same sin year after year after year after year, five years, six years, ten years. Okay that's understandable.

But the sad thing is it doesn't even disturb them. They accept it as normal. They get angry. Ten years later they're still angry. They accept it as normal. They lust after women. Ten years later they lust after women.

It's accepted as normal. They tell lies for little things. Ten years later they still tell lies for little things. They accept it as normal. I mean that's like you're seeing your child fail in the first standard and fail a second time and a third time.

A child is 16 years old and still sitting in first standard and you accept it as normal. Which of you would accept that as normal? Why not? Why don't you accept your 16 year old child still sitting in first standard failing failing failing as normal?

Why do you accept your defeat by sin year after year after year after year? It is ten years for normal. I'll tell you why and please listen to me. It's because education is more important to you than God.

The day when God becomes more important to you than education, that day you'll take sin seriously. I tell you you would be disturbed if your child failed once in the same class. Imagine if he failed twice.

Boy that would really work you up. You'd be concerned about a dud of a child who's failing three four times in the same class who can't add five plus five. You know I've come to see this. God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

And we can pray for the fire of God in our life. We can pray Lord and can say so many things. Lord I want to walk the way of the cross. I want to follow and all that. But if God sees that we're not dead earnest about it, He'll just pass you by.

Somebody else will get blessed and you get passed by because He sees you're not dead earnest about it. You're not really serious. You'd like to have some information but you're not serious. So please remember these two things dear brothers and sisters.

I say this for your good so that you're not deceived by a lot of Christian preaching today which is not according to Scripture and the proof of it is it's not leading you to godliness. The fire of God is always along the way of the cross.

Counterfeit Self-Denial and the Doctrine of Demons

I remember when I was seeking for the baptism of the Holy Spirit as a young man of less than 23 years old or around 23 years old. God showed me so clearly at that time that there was a very close connection between choosing the way of death to self and the power of the Holy Spirit.

Now I've never forgotten and as I've grown as a Christian and I look around at Christianity I see these have been separated. I see these have been counterfeited just like a lot of other things have been counterfeited.

See for example we have counterfeit self-denial. Counterfeit self-denial is where our self-life is never crucified but we deny ourselves in some external things. A lot of heathen religions teach that type of thing.

They teach fasting. Now I believe in fasting. I believe fasting is one form of self-denial but it's not a substitute. You know you can have a fruit without the tree. You know that. You can have a fruit without the tree.

Fasting is good but if it doesn't come out of a tree of death to self it's pretty worthless. That fruit will just rot after some time but if it's part of the tree it's always fresh. It's like that. You know there's there are people who even some denominations in Christianity who say we shouldn't get married if we want to serve the Lord full-time.

Do you know that the Bible calls that a doctrine of a demon? Pretty strong no? That any group that preaches that you shouldn't get married in order to serve the Lord and there are groups like that in Christendom.

Let me read to you a verse just to show you counterfeit forms of self-denial so that we don't fool ourselves. 1 Timothy chapter 4. I want to read in the Message Bible. The Holy Spirit makes it clear.

1 Timothy 4 verse 1. As time goes on there are some who are going to give up on the faith and chase after demonic, demonic illusions put forth by professional liars. Now you think these people are con men out in the world.

No they are Christian priests and pastors who will teach you demonic illusions. Now when you think of demonic illusions you expect them to teach that Jesus Christ is not God and go around killing people, go around committing adultery.

No no no. There wouldn't be any illusion there. The devil is not a fool. He comes as an angel of light. He doesn't come with horns and hooves and with a hideous face. You'll run away from him. No he comes as an angel of light teaching things that look like holiness.

These liars have lied so well for so long they have lost their capacity for truth. They will tell you not to get married. That's the way to be holy. They will tell you not to eat this or that food or you know you must be a vegetarian to be holy or something like that.

Now you need to see the place where this comes. Real holiness is mentioned in the previous verse. Chapter 3 verse 16. Real holiness, real godliness is a secret and that secret is seen in Jesus who came in the flesh.

When we see that Jesus came in a flesh like ours but without sin but it was a flesh just like ours with a will and he lived such a holy life and we see his holiness was not in the type of dress he wore.

No. Many people think holiness is in the dress people wear. No. It's it was in an inner life which is manifest in the flesh. In contrast to that the Holy Spirit says in the next verse people will go and teach you some other way of becoming holy.

So this type of this is the false type of self denial. You give up this, give up that, give up the other thing and you're holy. It's a deception. Holiness is an inner thing. Self denial is an inner thing.

My self, my sense of reputation and my dignity and my name, I don't live for that anymore. I live for the dignity of Christ and his name. My prayer is hallowed be thy name father not hallowed be my name.

True and False Fire

So that's a counterfeit cross. There's a counterfeit fire also. You know I mentioned the other day how in Leviticus chapter 9 and chapter 10 you see the contrast between the true fire and the false one.

In Leviticus 9 we read about verse 24 the fire came down from heaven when the offering was put there and then Neda ben Abihu over next verse chapter 10 verse 1 produced a strange fire. So today there's a counterfeit self-denial and there's a counterfeit cross.

There's a counterfeit fire as well and even where there is where people understand the real way of the cross they ignore the the baptism of fire and many people who believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit don't teach the way of the cross and when these are separated you don't you don't get to the tree of life.

In front of the tree of life remember there's a fire and a sword. There's a sword of fire. Please remember that and you won't go astray. The trouble with the lots and lots of people who are preaching the baptism in the Holy Spirit in all their churches is you'll never hear teaching on the on death to in those churches.

You'll never hear about the way of the cross the way of self-denial the way of being crucified with Christ and then you have other churches which talk about self-denial and the real self-denial and being crucified with Christ but never believe in the baptism in the Holy Spirit.

They say it's all counterfeit. What a work the devil has done separating what God has joined together so that you don't get to the real life of Christ. So I want to encourage you not to allow the devil to deceive you.

Come to the scriptures and see what the Lord is offers the Lord offers to you the genuine part of the Holy Spirit the fire of God burning inside. See that fire of God I said the other day burns up our self-life first of all.

It reduces me and my sense of importance to ashes and then I can never one mark of it is that such a man can never be offended. If you hear that somebody spoke evil about you behind your back you won't have any grudge against him because you've died.

That's one way you to know whether you're dead or not. What was your reaction when you heard somebody spoke evil about you? Did it disturb you? Well then you're only playing dead. You're not really dead.

You know the difference between playing dead and real dead. If there's a real dead man here you can say what you like about him. Even his expression won't change. But when children play games and they play dead you find out pretty soon whether they're dead or not.

And that's how it is. Many Christians are just playing dead. Somebody says something about them or to them or hurts them and they're not dead at all. The Bible says in Romans 6 11 consider yourself to be dead.

That's one of the wonderful things Jesus accomplished on the cross. And many people are trying to bypass that and get to the life of Christ some other way. I just want to tell you there is no other way.

Following Jesus Through Death to Self

Jesus said where I am there shall also my servant be. You know where that verse comes? Let me show it to you. John's Gospel chapter 12. Where I am there shall also my servant be. It's in John 12 sorry John 12 verse 26.

John 12 verse 26. If anyone serves me he must follow me. And where I am there my servant will be also. Where is he today? He's at the right hand of the Father. I want to be there. Don't you want to be there one day?

Now the question is how did he go there? What was the route Jesus took to the right hand of the Father? It was the way of the cross. If I bypass that way of the cross I'm not gonna get there. Look at verse 24.

Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies it remains alone. He's speaking about death. That grain of wheat is Jesus first of all. He was the grain of wheat that fell into the ground and died and from it has come hundredfold thousandfold fruit.

And he's saying where I am in the ground dead buried there my servant will be also. We must read it in its context. And then verse 25 also refers to the same thing. If you love your life you lose it. You try to preserve your self-life I mean.

You try to preserve your dignity, your reputation, your name, your this and that and the other. You don't want anybody to hurt you. You want to take care of yourself. You lose it. I tell you you lose it.

But if you're willing to lose it for my sake the Lord says your life in this world if you hate it you'll have life eternal. Again it's speaking about the way of the cross and then he says in verse 26 where I am there my servant will be also.

So Jesus went that way and when we say we want to follow him that is the way to go. It's not an unhappy way. A lot of people think that the way of the cross is a gloomy miserable unhappy way. It is if you don't get the fire.

People who preach self-denial without the baptism in the Holy Spirit yeah they're pretty gloomy I'll tell you that. But if you combine the two you're not gloomy because the fruit of the Spirit is joy.

I'll tell you this I found this in my life. I've never had so much joy in my life as when I knew what it is to be filled with the Spirit and walk in the Spirit. Bad moods disappear 100%. Discouragement disappears 100%.

You get up every morning in a good mood. You never have a dirty dream. Is that a bad life or a good one? You never have a scary fearful dream. Never! Because the fire burns everything up and you've chosen the way of self-denial.

Where I am there will my servant be also. My brothers and sisters please listen to me. The devil is robbing you of your inheritance in Christ. There's something Jesus purchased for you on the cross and you're living with something substandard.

That's why I have this burden to share with you because I don't want the devil to rob you of your inheritance. I don't want you to get to heaven and discover there was so much the Lord had for you on this earth and you missed it.

And the tragedy is if you miss it your life will be so miserable that you won't be able to witness effectively to others. Or even if you bring somebody to Christ you'll bring him to the this third-rate substandard life that you yourself have.

You know we can never lift ourselves any higher than we are ourselves. If I'm standing on a one-foot stool how high can I lift another man from the ground? One feet. One foot. That's all. But if I'm standing on a three-foot table I can lift another man to a three-foot table.

If I'm standing on a six-foot ladder I can lift another man to six foot later. You cannot lift a person higher than you are yourself. A lot of people are going around witnessing. It's good but they shouldn't forget they're not going to lift people higher than they are themselves.

Christ's Power Over Sin and the Witness of a Holy Life

And it's a pretty pathetic witness very often. I've often thought of it like this. Supposing I'm a defeated Christian who only believes in forgiveness of sins. Jesus can forgive all my sins but of course he can't give me victory over my anger.

He can't give me victory over my lust. He can't give me victory over my covetousness and my fighting habits and he can't bring peace in my home between me and my wife. Okay but I believe that Jesus died for my sins and I forgive him.

I go and witness to a heathen person, a non-christian. I say I want you to receive Christ. He's our savior. And that chap says I'd really like to. Can he forgive all my sins? Yeah I say he can forgive all your sins but he says I have another problem.

I keep fighting with my wife. Can Jesus deliver me from that? No he can't deliver you from that but he'll forgive all your sins. You'll keep fighting with your wife because I keep fighting with my wife you say as your testimony and so he'll do that.

He hasn't done help me in that area and that chap says I have another problem. I keep lusting with my eyes. I go to the internet and watch pornography. Can Jesus deliver me from that? No no no he can't deliver you from that.

I still keep doing those things. What sort of witness is that? A powerless Jesus who just forgives sins but can't deliver you from one single thing. That was the sin of the Israelites when they went to Canaan.

Oh these giants are so big. God can't overcome them. God said he was so angry with them. He was angry because they dishonored him by saying that those earthly giants were more powerful than Almighty God.

And when you allow sin to rule over you. I want to put it straight to you. If you allow sin to rule over you. Any sin you are saying you're glorifying the devil and saying the devil is more powerful than Christ.

You're saying the opposite of what the bible says. Greater is he who is in the world than he who is in me. It's not true. Acknowledge that it Christ is more powerful than the devil but you've tied Christ's hands by your unbelief and your unwillingness to follow him when he calls you.

You want to go your own selfish way and you want to live an overcoming life. It is impossible and I'll tell you something. Your children will see it and they'll follow you along that way of selfishness and they're not married yet so they don't have anybody to shout at but there are other forms of worldliness.

They'll go for rock music. That's what they'll want. It's just another form of self. You've got one form of self. They've got another and you try to get rid of their form of self but you haven't got rid of your form of self.

What does it mean? What difference does it make? Have you seen that the evil you see in your children is just another form of self which you have yourself. It's not the same shape. It's not the same manifestation.

Yours is one manifestation. Theirs is another. What's the use trying to get rid of theirs? Get rid of what is in you first. Let the sword fall upon you. Do you believe that Jesus is worth it? Supposing you see Jesus there as the tree of life and you see this fiery sword around and you realize there's no way of getting through to him except the sword falls on me and the fire burns me up.

What will you say? Will you say, well I'll think about it Lord and come get back. I don't want to pay all that price to come to you. This is exactly the reason why I find so many Christians who are so dissatisfied and unhappy and miserable and gloomy.

That's not true Christianity and unfortunately I'm sorry to say I've seen it in a lot of missionaries who've come from other countries. I think of wonderful godly missionaries I met in my life they're probably about two percent two out of a hundred really godly people who I praise God that such men crossed the oceans and came to this country to manifest Christ.

But more than 90 percent of the missionaries I met I find they were grumpy and sour and defeated by sin and after many many years in this land they're sour. That shows they didn't serve God. I was telling somebody the other day who were talking a lot about ministry.

Serving God Through Sanctification

I said I want to tell you something about ministry. How do you know you're serving really serving God? Let me show you a verse in Romans 6 and verse 22. In Romans 6 verse 22 it tells us one way by which we know whether we are really serving God and not serving ourselves.

Do you know that suicide bombers believe that they are serving God? They are told by their mullahs that you you're serving God and you go straight to heaven as soon as you die and I think lots of them really believe it.

What about you? Is it possible that you think you're serving God too? Maybe not as a suicide bomber but by coming to the meetings and you don't go to some dead church you come to this church and you think you're serving God.

I don't want you to be deceived that's the only reason I'm telling you straight. Romans 6 22 says this. Now you have become free from sin and you have become a servant of God. You're serving God and you derive some fruit from it and that fruit is sanctification and it ultimately ends in eternal life.

Now many Christians know only Romans 6 23 the next verse the gift of God is eternal life. It's amazing how people go for the easy verses and they don't realize the context in which it is written. Eternal life is a gift of God I believe that with all my heart but it it also tells me the path to it.

I seek to be free from sin I seek to serve God and the fruit of it is sanctification which leads to eternal life. That's verse 22. I'm not reading anything out of context it's verse 22. That means I've discovered this in my life when I'm really serving God it makes me holier.

If it doesn't make me holier then I'm not really serving God. I'll give you an example. You remember the story where Jesus went to the house of Mary and Martha and Mary was just sitting at Jesus feet listening.

Do you know that listening to God is also a form of service? It really is I'll tell you that and Martha was had no time to listen she was busy in the kitchen making all the curry and rice or whatever they make those days and working hard sweating away in that kitchen and put 13 people 12 disciples and Jesus and her family slogging away and she secretly congratulating herself that oh I'm sacrificing so much for the Lord I'm doing this for the Lord and inwardly criticizing her sister who was not doing whatever as much as she was doing.

I found Christians like that who do something for the Lord and inwardly congratulate themselves for what they're doing and inwardly compare themselves with others and thank God Lord I thank you. I'm not like those people are not doing anything for you and then she comes and stands before the Lord and that's a picture of the way you and I will stand before the Lord one day when he comes again and Martha comes and stands before the Lord expecting to get a reward an award a commendation and instead of that she gets a rebuke.

She says Martha you're not serving me. You thought you were but you were not serving me at all and the proof of it is there's so much grumbling in your heart against somebody else. There's so much criticism there was so much finding fault.

You're not serving me. If you grumble and criticize your your husband or your wife you're not serving God. You're not holy. You're a million miles away from holiness. That's what Jesus told Martha. Those who serve me will become holy.

They won't have any criticism of other people. Look at Mary sitting here. She doesn't have any criticism of you. She doesn't say why doesn't Martha come here and and consider the seriousness of listening to you.

No that's her business. If she doesn't want to come that's fine. I want to hear. Look at Mary that one thing is needful he said in Luke 10 42. And Mary has chosen that good part. Let me tell you this my brothers and sisters so that you'll never forget it.

Listening to God Rather Than Pleasing People

If you're really serving God you will not have any inward criticism of somebody else who is not doing what you think they should be doing like Martha. There are a lot of people who come to our church and say why don't you fellas engaged in evangelism.

Why don't you fellas send people to North India. I've heard those stories for years. I don't judge them. I'm sitting at Jesus feet listening to what he tells me. I'll do what he tells me not what these fellows tell me.

They're not my master. They're not my lord. I'm not their servant. If they want to be agitated and agitated and upset that I'm not doing what they think I should do. Let them be agitated. Let Martha all the Martha's in the world continue to be agitated.

I still will not do what they tell me to do because they are not my master. People who don't hear God who don't know God they'll get upset. Oh this fellow says I should be doing this. Well I better do something of that.

If you are moved by the pressure of these strong personalities in Christendom you will never serve God in your whole life. So that's an example. I'm just telling you how the fruit of our service is holiness.

If you're not becoming holier you're not really serving God. Whatever you think you're doing you think you can think you're serving God by coming to the meeting. Well it should make you holier. It should completely change your home life.

It changed mine. I used to get angry with my wife when I was first married. I didn't know victory over sin. I didn't come out of my mother's womb a holy child. No I was a sinner like every other child of Adam.

And when I got married I knew nothing about victory over sin. I knew forgiveness. I didn't have victory over sin. But it's changed. Boy has it changed. It's like heaven. Now. I know what I'm talking about.

You know the way the sword and the fire the baptism of fire and the sword that destroys yourself. Like choose it. And you'll come to a wonderful life. I'll tell you that you'll come to a wonderful personal life.

You'll come to a wonderful family life. You will not be disturbed if you don't get that promotion in your job. You won't be disturbed if you get sacked from your job because you're the apple of God's eye.

How can he let you go. It's impossible my brothers and sisters. Don't let the devil cheat you of your inheritance. Please don't let the devil make a fool of you. Please let the light of God shine into your heart.