Overcomers Will Reign In Christ - Part 4 — Zac Poonen

The Danger of Believing What Is False

God will allow you to believe what is false. I tell you, it's dangerous. We can imagine, I want to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. And deep down in my heart, I don't want holiness. I don't want power to be a witness for Jesus Christ.

False Spirituality and the Love of Truth

All I want to do is speak in tongues, so that I can say, I joined the club. God will allow us to believe what is false. We'll mutter something and say, I think we're baptized in the Holy Spirit. There are multitudes of people like this.

Because they don't take scripture with scripture. They don't receive the love of the truth, so as to be saved. So that's a warning. Or for example, you know, for example, supposing I've always held in my mind a certain doctrine.

And then as I read the scriptures, and I study the scriptures, I find that that is not what the Bible teaches about that particular subject. Whether it's what a baptism, or baptism in the Holy Spirit, or speaking in tongues, or any subject, or holiness, or victory over sin.

And I come to that, and scripture seems to teach that. But I'm stubborn. I say, hey, I can't give up this thing which I've held. Maybe somebody's afraid he'll be thrown out of his church, or somebody will be upset with him, or his family will be disturbed if he accepts that view.

And so he pushes that out, and says, okay, let me go to the next verse. He doesn't love the truth, so that he can be saved from disobedience. See, everything I don't do in scripture is disobedience. So here's an opportunity for me to...

I discover, hey, I haven't obeyed that. And I sort of brush it aside, because that's not what I've always believed, or that's not what my parents believe, or what my church believes, or something like that.

And I put it aside. I can put it aside. And God will send a deceiving influence upon me that'll make me feel nice, that I'm spiritual when I'm not. I want to ask you, my brothers and sisters, have you ever considered the possibility?

Examining Whether Our Spirituality Is Genuine

Please listen. Have you ever considered the possibility that you may not be as spiritual as you think you are? I think most of us have some idea of how spiritual we are. We may not think that we are the most spiritual people in India or the world, but we have a certain idea of this is my level of spirituality.

But have you considered the possibility that it may not be true? That God may be allowing you to believe what is false, that those are the exact words of scripture. Believe what is false because in some area you did not accept the truth about yourself when God tried to show it to you.

You argued against God, or you just turned your head away from that truth. Okay, He's not going to force you. He'll say it and He's going to leave it. I mean, He doesn't treat us like little children.

From the Old Covenant Tutor to Sons Under Grace

Do you know that one of the differences between Old Covenant and New Covenant, among many differences, one of the differences, you'll see that if you read Galatians chapter 3 and chapter 4, that in the Old Covenant, God treated people like little children.

I may show you that verse. Before the faith came, Galatians 3 .23, before the faith came, we were kept in custody under the law. And the law became our tutor. You know, like little children need a tutor.

The law was like a tutor to lead this little child to maturity to Christ. So that now we've come to faith. We're not under a tutor, means we're not under the law now. And now we are sons. It's children, babies who are under the law.

When we become sons, we're under grace, which is a million times higher than law. But because most people in the world haven't understood grace, and have misunderstood grace, they think it's better to be under law than under grace.

It's a million times better to be under grace than under law. The standard is higher. You've now become sons, you don't need a tutor, it says. And then he speaks about verse 4, verse 3, while we were children, you know, little babies, we were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world.

But now, verse 6, you are sons. That's the difference between old covenant and new covenant. One we are babies, the other we are sons. One we are little children, the other we are mature sons. Okay, now let's see.

God’s Patient Treatment of Mature Sons

How do we tell little children? How do we talk to little children? We tell them, come on, you do that. You tell a three-year-old, son, you got to do that. He says, I'm not going to do it. You got to do it.

You have to do it. No, I'm not going to do it. Then daddy takes a stick or something and he makes him do it. You got to do it, you're not going to give in to him. But supposing you're talking to a 23-year-old son.

How long are you going to tell him? You got to do it when he says, I'm not going to do it. You tell him once perhaps, maybe twice. And then leave it. That's what God does. That's the disadvantage of being a son.

That God tells you something, hey, this is the truth about yourself. Ah, you say, I don't want to listen to it. Okay. God says, I'm not going to keep telling you. You're not a little child. You're 23 years old.

You're a son. You don't want to hear it, it's okay. It's terrible that God tells me something and I won't listen to him. He says, okay, go your way. You know, I believe with all my heart that multitudes of believers, God has just left them like that.

For one reason, they don't love the truth. Why is that? Because they're proud. I can't be so bad. After all, I'm pretty spiritual. Really. I would encourage you to consider, please my brothers and sisters, I would encourage you all to consider, there is far more pride in you than you think.

Abundant Grace and Reigning in Life

If it were not so, such abundant grace would be poured upon your life. The result of which would be you would never be discouraged. You would never condemn yourself. Never. You would always rejoice. You'll never be in a bad mood.

You'll always be in triumph. In other words, the type of life Paul describes. That will be your experience when we receive abundance of grace. It says in Romans 5, those who receive abundance of grace reign in life as kings.

What does it mean to reign in life as a king? It means I don't get discouraged like Elijah to sit under a juniper tree and say, Oh, I've had enough. That means I don't fall into sin like David when he looks at a woman and lusts.

It means that I don't get angry like Moses to break even the tablets of stone. They didn't receive abundance of grace. They were under law. They were children who had a tutor. Moses was a child. According to Galatians 3.

Elijah was a child according to Galatians 3. But now God has sent his son so that we don't have to be children. We can be sons. But we got to receive the love of the truth. Then we shall be overcomers.

Overcoming in the Letters to the Seven Churches

It's God's will that every one of us should be overcomers. I was impressed about that in Revelation. You know, I often used to think that we all know out of the seven churches, five of them, the elders were backslidden.

Terribly backslidden. You know, one had lost his first love. And the other was following the teaching of Balaam and going after money and mingling with idols. And another one was allowing his wife Jezebel to influence church matters.

And another one had a name that he was a live great preacher but he was dead. And another one was lukewarm, neither cold nor hot, just satisfied that he had a lot of this world's goods.