The Sin of Being Unloving (Telugu) — Zac Poonen

The Foundation of God and the Mark of His People

So let's turn again to this verse that we have been looking at in 2nd Timothy chapter 2 in verse 19. The foundation of God stands. Sure having this seal the Lord knows those who are his and that everyone who names the name of the Lord abstain from wickedness.

If you find that When a slight wind comes a building is beginning to shake. I'm sure you will not want to live inside that house. Small little wind and the house begins to shake. And you say it's not a good foundation.

So if you find in your life some small trial and your Christian life begins to shake. That is God speaking to you saying your foundation is not strong. So then you must check your foundation. Here it speaks of a firm foundation.

And the mark of a firm foundation is this. From the Lord's side he knows those who are his. But from our side, how do we know we are his? See there are two sides. The Lord knows those who are his because he can see the end from the beginning.

But how do we know that we are his? There is only one way That I Run away from evil. If I name the name of Jesus The word Jesus means he came to save his people from their sin. So then I run away from sin.

That is how I know I am his. That is the thing that distinguishes the people of God from all the other people in the world. Just like on the roads you see a yellow line and traffic going this way and traffic going the other way.

This world is like that. There's a yellow line and there's traffic going this way and going the other way. Most people in the world are running towards sin. That is the way that traffic is going. On the other side of the yellow line, there's a few people running away from sin.

That's all there are only two traffic. So you belong to one of these two. And you can know if you belong to the world if you're running towards anything sinful. And you know that you belong to the Lord if you're on the other side of the road running away from sin.

We cannot know we cannot say we are running away from sin just because we come for a meeting like this. Some of the biggest sinners in the world are sitting in meetings like this. You know when Jesus came to earth He looked at one Roman military man in Matthew chapter 8.

He came and asked him to heal his servant. That was a military man who had never read the Bible didn't go to any meeting never went to any synagogue. He in the eyes of the world he was not a religious man.

But he was a simple man who had faith in Jesus. Jesus said to all the people. You read that in Matthew 8. I have never seen faith like this in anybody in Israel. What a word that was in Matthew chapter 8.

And Verse 10. You know all the people sitting in all the meetings in Israel. I've never seen anybody with such faith. Jesus had sat for 30 years. And Then he also had visited some other synagogues in Israel.

And he said I have never seen anywhere in any synagogue a man who's got faith. Like this Roman military man who has never been inside. And then concerning the people who are sitting in the synagogue. What did he say about them in Matthew 23 Verse 33.

You serpents you brood of vipers. How will you escape the sentence of hell? Imagine if Jesus came into a church today and said you serpents you brood of vipers. How will you escape the damnation of hell?

And Then he needs somebody on the road who doesn't go to any church and says you got more faith than all these people sitting in the churches. And you can say how can that be Lord. He doesn't know the Bible.

He doesn't go to meetings. He doesn't pray like we do. Yeah. We think we are spiritual because we go to meetings. Or we read the Bible. I'm going to pray Fast or we put some money in the offering box.

Loving God Above Every Person and Possession

No. The mark of spirituality is basically two things. That you love God with all your heart soul strength and mind. You love Jesus more than your parents. You love Jesus more than your wife or husband or boyfriend or girlfriend or anybody.

You love Jesus more than your wife or husband or boyfriend or girlfriend or anybody. You love Jesus more than your house and your car and your job. Whether you read the Bible little or less you love Jesus more than anything else.

Even if you don't have a good memory to remember all the verses in the Bible. If you love Jesus with all your heart. More than anybody else. More than anything else on the earth. That's the first sign of a spiritual man.

And the second sign is he loves others like he loves himself. He loves others like he loves himself. Those are not my words. Those are the words of Jesus. He said the whole Bible hangs on two commandments.

Matthew 22. When somebody asked him Verse 36 teacher. What is the great commandment in the law? That is like saying in the Bible, which is the most important commandment. Is it to go to meetings? Yeah, that is written here.

Don't forsake the assembling of yourself together. Is it reading the Bible. Here that also blessed is the man who meditates on a day and night. Is it prayer? It says here pray always. Is it giving? The Lord loves those who give cheerfully it says.

Which of these is the biggest commandment? If you ask Jesus that today He says the biggest is verse 37. I love God with all your heart soul strength in mind. But this coin has got another side. There's something printed on both sides of the coin.

The other is you must love your neighbor as yourself. In verse 40 The on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. So the whole Bible can be summed up in these two words. That's the message of the whole Bible.

So it's not just all these external things that we do that God looks at. For example, we are talking about running away from sin. If the commandment is to love Jesus more than everything else. If the commandment is to love Jesus more than everything else.

Then it means that if there's anything on this earth that you love more than Jesus Christ, you are committing a sin. I always check myself on that. I say Lord is there anything I love more than you? When I travel to different villages and all in India I ask myself a question.

Do I love a comfortable life more than Jesus Christ? Do I complain because somebody doesn't give me a good bed to sleep on? Then I'm not fit to serve the Lord. Do I love good food more than Jesus Christ?

Do I have a complaint if I go to some poor village that they don't give me some good food? Do I have a complaint against anybody for anything they don't do for me? Do I have a complaint against anybody for anything they don't do for me?

If that's the case, then I love Jesus Christ more than anything else. Then I commit a sin. Do you see that as a sin? What does it mean to depart from sin? Anything you love more than Jesus Christ is a sin for a Christian.

I'll explain that to you. The Bible says Jesus Christ is our husband. Supposing you sister, you love some other man more than your husband, is that a sin or not? Anyone. It's a sin. In the same way If there is anything I love more than Jesus Christ, my husband, it's a sin.

That is the rule by which I have lived for 50 years. And so my life is a very happy life. Nobody can make me unhappy. They cannot make me unhappy by doing something or not doing something. They cannot make me unhappy by doing something or not doing something.

Do you know why? Because it says in Psalm 16. Psalm 16. And verse 11. You will make me know the path of life. Psalm 16 verse 11. What is the path of life? What is this path of life that he will make known to me?

That is to live in his presence. In thy presence there is fullness of joy. At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. See, so many people, even young people, married people, think the greatest pleasure is from sexual pleasure.

But it's not forever. It's for 5 minutes. But here, with the Lord, there are real pure pleasure for ever. How many of you can honestly say this? I have found more pleasure in Jesus Christ than in any amount of sex in the world.

I have found more pleasure in Jesus than in eating chocolate or ice cream. Can you say that? You really know Jesus Christ. I have found more pleasure in Jesus Christ than getting one lakh rupees. See, in all these earthly things there is some pleasure.

But it's only temporary. You eat a chocolate or ice cream, how long can you enjoy it? 5 minutes. All the pleasures in the world are like that. You enjoy some cinema, maybe 3 hours. And then you have all those bad dreams that come at your night because you watch that filthy cinema.

You watched a cinema for 3 hours. And the next 25 years you have bad dreams. And the next 25 years you have bad dreams. Is it worth it? What a fool you are. Be wise. But in Jesus There is pure pleasure for ever.

You see, I haven't experienced that. Yes, you have not experienced this because you don't love Jesus more than everything else. You pray one prayer to God. Lord, today I heard in Matthew 22 That the greatest commandment is to love God with all my heart.

Matthew 22, 37, I heard it today. That is the most important commandment. To love you Lord Jesus with all my heart. And Lord, I confess that I have not obeyed that commandment. Like Adam did not obey the commandment and he went out of paradise.

And his life became like hell with his wife and children. Here is a commandment, I have not obeyed. And so my life has also become like hell in my home. Dear brothers and sisters. Keep the first commandment.

There are many commandments in scripture. But all of them come beneath the first commandment. So it's no use keeping those other small small commandments if you don't keep the first one. Sometimes we are proud of keeping small small commandments.

Religious Activity Without Spiritual Love

There is a mark of a religious person Who is not spiritual. See the pharisees were very religious. They would weigh how much mint they had in their garden and give 10 to God. See they used to grow this mint in their garden.

And they would weigh it 10 I give to God. I am so happy because From the mint in my garden I gave 10 to God. What foolish things. I always go to the meeting every Saturday to the synagogue. But they loved money.

They loved honor. They loved themselves more than they loved God. But they kept these small small commandments. There are many people like that. They say I go out for open air. I preach every week we go out for open air and give out tracts.

That's good. But if you do all that. And then you come home and love money more than God. You haven't kept the first commandment. The second commandment. The second commandment. To love your neighbor as yourself.

You know who your neighbor is. Somebody once asked Jesus Who is my neighbor. You know that story in Luke chapter 10. When Jesus said this to somebody Luke chapter 10 The same thing he quoted in verse 27.

Luke chapter 10 verse 27. Somebody knew this commandment. And he says yeah that is the great commandment. And Jesus said you are right. Verse 28 you answered correctly. You do this. But he said Who is my neighbor.

The Good Samaritan and the Sin of Inaction

Okay Jesus said I will tell you. Then he told a story Of one man who was coming from Jerusalem to Jericho. He got beaten by robbers. And he was falling down. And there was a priest going by Verse 31. He saw him.

And he just walked the other way. Then a Levite came. These are all religious people. Where were they going. They are going to Jerusalem for the meeting. They want to be in time for the meeting. See their own brother lying there.

See you must remember. This is not like our seeing somebody on the road. Everybody in India Is not our brother in Christ. No. Those who are born again Are our brothers in Christ. They want to be in time for the meeting.

The others are Our fellow citizens in the country. And our friends. You know just like we have our own Family of father, mother and maybe few children. That is the smallest family. Then we have another bigger family.

Which is the church Of believers In our own town. And then we have a little bigger family Of believers in other parts of India. Outside that is All the other people in this country. We can't love all of them.

Because there are How many 12 crores of them. No, no many. Hundreds of crores of them. But so We can love our own family. And then others in our church. But in Israel it was different. In Israel everybody was your brother.

The whole of Israel was like a church. Because they were all descendants of Abraham. And God said you are all Israelites. You are one family. What the Levites saw Lying on the road was their brother. The application for you is Just like if you saw one Brother from your church Lying on the road.

So when you read this parable Think of one of your brothers or sisters From your own church Lying on the road. So when you read this parable Think of one of your brothers or sisters Lying on the road.

And you see he is from your church. But you leave him and say I am going to go for the meeting. The poor person is bleeding there on the road. That is how serious the sin was. They saw this brother And they walked by.

They knew this is my brother. This is the child of Abraham. But they ignored him and went. Then the Levite came. He also ignored him and went. They are probably busy reading their Bible. Oh Lord speak to me.

The Lord is saying go and help that man. But they can't hear that. Sometimes when we read the Bible We don't hear what God is speaking to our heart. Then when another man came He is not a believer. He says he is a Samaritan.

Now verse 33 Samaritan means like a Hindu. They are good people. But they have got some other religion. So this is not a Christian now. He is not a Christian. He is a man of another religion. And he sees this.

This Christian man lying on the road Whom his brothers did not care for. So he goes and helps them. Picks him up. He cleans his wounds. Takes him to some hospital. Takes care of him And pays for his treatment.

Did he know him? He is not even his brother. But he did it. And Jesus said You want to know who is your brother? Who is the one among these three people Who acted like a brother? Was it the one who was reading the Bible And going to the meeting?

No, this is the Samaritan. Who is not even a Jew. He is an impure. Not even a child of Abraham. Jesus said. And that man said Yeah, this man who helped this man He is the one. And Jesus said one last word.

Verse 37. Go and do the same. Now I want to ask you a question. What was the sin The priest and the Levite did In this story? Did they kick him? Did they spit on him? No. What was their sin? Can you think in this story What was the sin of the priest?

He did nothing. Can you commit a sin By doing nothing? Sometimes we think I cannot commit a sin. I didn't do anything. Sometimes you can commit a sin By doing nothing. That is what we learn from this story.

The Levite came. He also did nothing. Can you commit a sin today By doing nothing? I will give you an example. You like to read your Bible in the morning. That's a good habit. Very good habit. And that is how I learnt the Bible myself.

Always reading. But Sometimes We should not be reading the Bible. We should not be reading the Bible. At some time I will give you an example. I will give you an example. Supposing you are sitting in your home reading the Bible.

Loving One's Family Through Practical Service

And you got 3 -4 small children. And your wife is busy cooking the food. One child is crying. Another one is to get ready for school. And your wife is running around Trying to help all those 4 children.

And you are studying the Bible. You are studying Hebrews 7. And you say Lord, please explain What is the meaning of Melchizedek. And you are meditating on that. Oh God, speak to my heart. What is God saying?

Please shut your Bible And go and help your wife. But you can't hear that. You are studying Melchizedek. For how long? You see how sometimes. What did you do? Did you kick your wife? Did you spit on your wife?

You did nothing. You did nothing. What was your sin? Your sin was you did nothing. You think you are doing a great thing Studying the Bible. That is the time to study the Bible. I will tell you why. I will tell you when.

When everybody is fast asleep. Sit down and read the Bible. But don't read the Bible. When your wife is running around Trying to do some work. That is what Jesus was trying to tell you. Who is your neighbor?

You tell me Inside your house You got wife and 3 children. And there are many people Outside in other houses. Who is your closest neighbor? You look over the wall In the other compound And say that person.

No no no. Your wife is your closest neighbor And your children Love your neighbor As yourself And your children. And when you do nothing. When your wife is in some need And you do nothing. You sin by doing nothing.

Supposing your child comes to you. Say Daddy This toy is broken. Can you fix it? He is only 3 years old And you say go away. I am studying Melchizedek. I will tell you what God is saying. Close your Bible And fix that toy.

For that 3 year old boy You will build some fellowship With your son. You know there are so many fathers Who don't have any fellowship With their children. I was asking one man once He said your teenage children Are all going away from the Lord.

I said do you ever Put your arm around them And pray with them And show them that you love them. They are all 17 -18 years old. We don't put our arm around them. I said did you pick them up And hug them When they were 1 year old.

Then we did it Then we did it. Why can't you do it now. Now they are 18 years old. I said my oldest son Is 40 years old. I still put my arm around him And kneel down And pray with him And pray with him.

I still put my arm around him And kneel down Because I want fellowship. Do you have fellowship Your mothers do. You put your arm around your daughters And pray with them And fellowship with them. What is use acting so loving To all the other brothers And sisters in the church.

If you don't act loving To the people in your own home We sin By doing nothing. When you don't have fellowship With your children You are sinning. When my children were small I said Lord These children are small now As they grow up I want them to become My brothers.

I don't want them to remain As my children. I want them to become My brothers. And that is what has happened today. My children once upon a time Now they have become My brothers in Christ. So when we talk about sin Sometimes we think Sin is not doing Some religious activity.

The Sin of Doing Nothing

So remember There are two types of sins. One is when you do something That can be a sin. Like you get angry Or you lust with your eyes Or you steal somebody's money. But today you have learnt Another type of sin The sin of doing nothing.

When you should be helping And you don't help That's a sin. You see for example In James chapter 4. See James chapter 4. James chapter 4. If you know the right thing To do And you don't do it That's a sin.

James 4 last verse. You know what is The right thing to do To help your wife Or child at that time. And what do you do. You do nothing. It is a sin. Have you read this verse Before That when you do nothing That is a sin.

I am sure you have read This verse But you have not allowed The Holy Spirit to speak To you. I am sure you have read This verse But you have not allowed The Holy Spirit to speak. It is a sin. Sometimes When we do nothing.

So when Jesus Tried to explain Love your neighbor As yourself He was showing How When you can help Somebody And you don't help That person That's a sin. Even when we Give the gospel To somebody Or give a tract To somebody Or witness to somebody Or preach in the open air.

We can do it in two ways. One is I don't want your blood On my hand In the final day of judgment. So here is a tract Now I am finished with you. Next person I don't want your blood On my hand. Here is a tract And hundred people Go by the road.

Here, here, here Take. Now I am free From all your blood. Is that how Jesus came to the world. Did he come to the world To Israel And give out tracts And say goodbye. I am going to heaven. Because then He would only condemn people.

And when we give out Like that We are just condemning people. The bible says God so loved the world. We must have a love For people When we preach the gospel. I am sorry to say. Many preachers Don't love people When they preach to them.

Even many elders In many churches When they preach to God's people They don't love them. They are just hitting them With verses. They use the word Like a hammer To hit people's head. That's not preaching.

The false prophets Are like that. A true servant of God Is like Jesus Christ. Jesus loved people And it is from his love That he preached to people. So if I preach to people It can be a sin. Have you ever felt That preaching to people.

You are sinning. I am going to show you Some sins Which you never thought Were sins. If you name The name of Christ You must depart From sin. And one big sin Among preachers Is preaching Without any love In their heart.

I started preaching When I was about 22 years old. It's not because I am clever. It's because God Gave me a gift. It's not because I am better than you. It's because God Called me for that And gave me a gift.

And when I started preaching I said Lord There are so many Different types of Preachers in the world. Some preachers Shout and thump The table And do all types of things. Some pentecostal Preachers Every one minute They say hallelujah Hallelujah.

And then you have These American preachers Who hold a mic And run up and down The platform. I said I don't Want to be like Any of them. I want to think How did Jesus preach. I used to read The gospels And imagine I can't imagine Jesus running around When he was preaching Because they didn't Have mic those days.

So when he runs There the people Here will not be Able to hear him. So if he runs Here the people There won't be Able to hear him. I said I want to Speak like Jesus. I want to be Simple Like Jesus Was very simple.

The Word of God and Love for God's People

So and then One of the things The Lord said to me Was this. Your heart must Be full Of two things. You want to be My servant. Your heart must Be full Of my word. You must read And meditate And read And meditate Till the word of God Fills your heart.

And secondly Your heart must be Filled with love For all the people You are speaking to. You may not Know them all. But you can Love them. You can Try and Understand What all Struggles They are Going through.

And then The Lord said If your heart Is filled With my word And your Heart is Filled with love For God's people I will always give you a word for them. I said, thank you Lord, that's enough. If that is the way to always have a word for God's people, then I'll do that.

I will fill my heart with your word and you fill my heart with love for God's people and I will not use the word like a hammer to hit people on the head. Have you ever hit anybody on the head whom you love?

No. You don't go to your wife and say I love you and hit her with a hammer on the head. You don't say that to your children, I love you, bang! Whenever people are hitting you with the word of God, they don't love you.

No, the word of God is very sharp. Sometimes a surgeon who loves you may cut you open with a knife. You think does he love me by cutting me open? Yes. Because he is trying to take out some cancer from inside your stomach.

So sometimes the word of God can be sharp. But always in love. Whatever you do which is not in love is a sin. You must understand that. What does it mean those who name the name of Jesus must run away from sin?

Learning to Recognize and Hate Sin

No, I am trying to explain to you these days some things about sin which you may have never known in your whole life. I also never knew when I was young. And I never heard anybody preach and tell me these things.

But I had a great desire in my life. I had a tremendous desire in my life to get rid of all sin from my life. I was full of sin when I came to Christ. Not outwardly, outwardly I looked like a good person.

But my inside and my thoughts were just full of sin. And I said Lord I want to be completely free. In my thoughts, in my words, I want to be completely free from sin. So I want you to show me what sin is.

Why did I have such a desire to see what sin is? Because I saw it was my sin that crucified my savior on the cross. It was not the sin of the world, it was my sin. I looked at Jesus hanging on the cross.

And I said Lord it was not those nails that held you to the cross. It was my sin. My sin nailed you to the cross. And that's such a terrible thing to nail Jesus to the cross. And what is it that nailed him?

My sin. Then I began to hate my sin. I said Lord if it is my sin that nailed you to the cross, then I hate it. But I don't know what my sin is. Please show me what my sin is. Then the Lord began to show me.

The words I speak in anger. My jealousy. My dirty thoughts. My love of money. My loving earthly things more than God. And sometimes my doing nothing when I should have helped somebody. And little by little over the last 50 years.

Just like studying in a school we learn more and more. I learned more and more about sin. When children go to school or college every year they learn something more. Not only every year, every week they learn something more.

I said Lord I want to go through that school. I learned what is my sin which crucified you. So what am I telling you? I'm only telling you what the Lord taught me. It's not only your sin, it's my sin also.

But I've learned to hate it. And even today I pray Lord I still haven't finished my education, I still have to learn what more is sin. Even today I pray Lord I still haven't finished my education, I still have to learn what more is sin.

After one or two years I may be able to tell you something more which I don't know today. It's a wonderful thing. Because we become purer and purer and purer. Because we become purer and purer and purer and purer.

Becoming More Like Jesus

It's like your new born baby has 10 diseases. You take that child to the doctor. And you say doctor you must heal this child of all 10 diseases. The doctor gives one course of treatment and one disease is gone.

You're so happy. But you're not fully happy because there are still 9 diseases there. And then you go through another year of treatment and one more disease is gone. You're very happy. But not fully happy because there are still 8 more diseases.

Little by little. One by one you see the diseases going away. And the child is becoming healthier and happier. Aren't you happy as a mother? Not fully happy because there are still 2 or 3 diseases left.

But very happy because 7 diseases have gone. That's my experience. The Lord has delivered me from so many sins. But I haven't become like Jesus yet. My goal is to become like Jesus 100 healthy. So if you make that your aim also.

I want to be 100 healthy. God will do it in your life. So let's pray.