Trusting God in All Situations (Telugu) — Zac Poonen

Trusting God by Addressing the Root of Sin

We were trying to see what is the root of sin, which will enable us to depart from it. See, if you've got a bad tree in your compound and you want to prevent it from bringing forth all the bad fruit, it's no use cutting off the branches.

You have to cut the root out, then there'll be no problem at all. If you don't cut the root, it'll keep on producing the things which you don't like. Now many of us, I know, you don't like sin in your life.

Maybe you've got a few bad habits and you say, I want to get rid of this habit. But it's no use getting rid of that habit because another branch will come out somewhere else. You must go to the root. You pull out the root and all these things are taken care of.

So it's not a question of departing from one sin. You've got to get the root and pull that out. For example, we first looked at pride. It says in 1 Peter 5, verse 6, in the previous verse 5, it says God gives grace to the humble.

If God gives grace only to the humble, what should you do? Therefore, humble yourself under the mighty hand of God at all times. And He will exalt you at the right time. Exalt you over what? He's not going to make you the prime minister or chief minister.

He's not going to make you a big businessman. He was not even going to make you an elder in the church. He's going to exalt you over sin in your life. When you read this verse, what do you understand by it?

Many people think, oh God will exalt me. That means I'll be a big man in the world or a big man in the church. Is that what you want? I don't want that. I'm not interested in being a big man in the world or in the church.

I want to be exalted so that sin is under my feet and Satan is under my feet. So, when it says God will exalt you, He will exalt you over sin in the devil. See, when you get angry, the devil is sitting on your head.

Whenever you see a person angry, if you look carefully, you'll see the devil sitting on his head. You can't see him because he's a spirit. You can see the devil is moving that person. Now that devil must come under your feet.

How to do it? You humble yourself under the mighty hand of God. How do you humble yourself? When somebody shouts at you, humble yourself means keep your mouth shut. Be nice and good to that person. Then you're humbling yourself under God.

God will exalt you. I'll show you one example in the Old Testament. You turn to 2 Samuel 16. See, David was the king for a number of years. But he had a son called Absalom who wanted to push his father out and become the king.

He had a son called Absalom who wanted to push his father out and become the king. One day he gathered a lot of people and pushed David out and started ruling as the king. So David with a few friends had to run for his life.

Because his son wanted to kill him. So while David was running away, there was an old relative of the old king Saul who was very angry with David for having replaced Saul as the king. So that relative's name was Shimei.

He was very happy. Now David is being kicked out. So he went and met David. And we read in 2 Samuel 16 verse 5 that when David came out, this man from the house of Saul called Shimei continually cursed him.

He kept on cursing him, calling him all times a bad name. And verse 6, he threw stones at David. And she said to him in verse 7, get out, get out you man of bloodshed, worthless fellow. Verse 7, See, because you killed Saul, now God is punishing you for that.

So one of David's soldiers, verse 9, Abishai said, let me go and cut off his head. The king said no. Verse 10, middle. If the Lord has told him, curse David, why should I say, why have you done it? See, somebody was cursing him.

But what is David saying? This man cannot open his mouth unless God has given him permission to do that. My God has given him permission to curse me. Then why should I fight against him? Because if I fight against him, I am fighting against God who has given him permission to shout at me.

What a wonderful way to look at it. Next time, somebody gets angry with you, you say the same thing. God has given him permission to get angry with me. Why should I, if I fight with him, I will be fighting against God.

So what shall I do? When God has told him to get angry with me, Why has God allowed him to be angry with me? So that I can overcome the spirit of revenge. So that I can overcome anger in my heart. And I can become a better person.

Then God will exalt me over anger in my life. Because I humbled myself when somebody shouted at me. We can learn some wisdom from David who was a man after God's own heart. The only sad thing we read is that later on in his life, David did not endure in that spirit.

Because later on he tried to take revenge on Shimya. But that is because he did not have the Holy Spirit inside him like we have. These Old Testament people like Job and David and all, sometimes they could come up to a great spiritual height, but then they would sink down again.

Do you know why? Because they did not have the Holy Spirit permanently living in their heart. This is one of the great blessings of being born again. And if you walk with a good conscience always, What does that mean?

As soon as you commit a sin, confess it. Do not wait for five seconds. Suppose you get a thorn in your foot. How long will you wait to pull it out? Five minutes? One minute? No. As soon as the thorn gets into your foot, you will stop and pull it out.

Now from today onwards, You confess your sin like that. Anything you did. Maybe you lusted with your eyes. Maybe you got angry. Maybe you got bitter. Maybe you did something wrong. As soon as you know it, pull it out.

Lord, I am sorry. I hate this. I do not want to do it again. Please help me. Cleanse me in the blood of Jesus. And the thorn has gone out. If you leave that thorn in your foot, Even for one day, Your foot will get infected.

And it will be a big problem for you. And we know that. That is why we pull it out. But sin, if you do not confess it, Immediately, It will remain like a thorn inside. And it will destroy you. So, keep a good conscience.

You can have the Holy Spirit filling you all the time. Then we do not have to go up and down like these old testament people. We will keep on going slowly up, up, up, up, up, up all the time. Do you know that is God's will for you?

If you are born again, The Bible says, you are righteous in Christ. And if you are righteous in Christ, Then, see this is the way God wants you to walk. Proverbs 4 verse 18. The path of the righteous is like the light of dawn.

Proverbs 4 verse 18. That is like the sunrise. It is all dark. One day we are born again. Here it says, that is like the sun has risen in our life. Like 6 o 'clock or 7 o 'clock in the morning. The sun has risen.

And the darkness is gone. But then, it says here, This keeps on shining brighter and brighter and brighter, Until it comes to the noon day position. That is the path of the righteous. So, how does God want you to live after you are born again?

You see the sun, Goes up and that is how God wants you to live. Brighter, brighter, brighter, brighter. The sun never goes back and forth. That is backsliding. God never wants you to backslide. You even remain in the same position.

Brighter, brighter, brighter. You should not be in the same position you are, Even if you were born again one year ago. Just like you don't want your child to sit in the same class he was last year. Like you want your child to grow one class, second standard, third standard, fourth standard, like that.

And then like the sun goes up, God wants you to go up and up and up every year. God will exalt you. What do you have to do? Humble yourself. So, I always tell people, You have to do only two things. Keep a good conscience, that means immediately confess sin.

Secondly, humble yourself. See this wonderful word in Proverbs 22. This is a great word. Proverbs 22. There are two things mentioned here in verse 4. One is humility. The other is the fear of the Lord.

Fear of the Lord means, I hate sin. As soon as sin comes, I want to get rid of it. That is the mark of the fear of the Lord. Fear of the Lord is to hate sin. I told you yesterday about Job. God said he fears God and turns away from sin.

So, there are two things. If you humble yourself, and you always keep a good conscience free from sin, here it says you will get a reward. Spiritual riches, spiritual honor, spiritual life. That is a reward for those who humble themselves and keep their conscience clear.

So, I said those are the only two things you must keep in mind. As soon as you are aware of some sin, immediately go to God. If you have hurt somebody, go and ask forgiveness. Keep your conscience clear.

Just like you wash your hands as soon as it gets dirty. How many times do we wash our hands? Because it gets dirty so many times in a day. We always keep soap in the bathroom. Because we have to wash our hands.

So many times a day. And that is how we must keep our conscience. Always clean. You never like to have your hands dirty. If your hands are dirty ten times a day, you wash it ten times a day. If it is dirty two times a day, you wash it two times a day.

But you always keep your hands clean. Look at anybody's hands here. You will never find anybody's hands dirty. Because they always like to keep it clean. That is how we must keep our conscience. And we must humble ourselves.

Then we don't have to have this up and down experience. We will be like the sun going up and up and up. Then I was speaking about faith. I told you that pride is one of the root causes of lot of sins.

Unbelief as a Root Cause of Sin

And then the other root cause of all sins is that I want myself to sit on the throne of my life. I must remove myself and put Jesus in the center. And I have to do that every day. That is what it means to take up the cross every day.

And then I was speaking last session a little bit about faith. And this is another root cause of many sins. Unbelief. So one is pride. The other is the self-centeredness. And the third is unbelief. We have to get rid of these things.

The root from the root of our life. Now let me show you a verse. In Hebrews in chapter 3. I don't know whether you have noticed this verse. Verse 12. He is talking to believers. He is not talking to unbelievers.

He is saying brethren. Brothers. Take care lest there should be in you an evil unbelieving heart to fall away from the living God. What is an evil heart in this verse? If I ask you do you have an evil heart?

You say no, no, no. I don't have an evil heart. I don't hate anybody. I don't have any dirty thoughts in my heart. And I try to love everybody. You can do all those things. And you can still have an evil heart.

Here it says an evil heart comes not by hatred. Or by adulterous thoughts. But those things will also give you an evil heart. Pride can give you an evil heart. But here it says your heart can become evil with unbelief.

Now I don't think many Christians think unbelief is a sin. I don't think many Christians think unbelief is a sin. If Jesus Christ wrote 5 sins that are really bad, what will you write? If you write 5 sins that are really bad, what will you write?

If you ask this question to the ancient world. Idol worship. Murder. Adultery. And telling lies. Stealing. That's what they say in the old testament. In the new testament. What is the list of 5 sins you will make?

You look at the sins that Jesus hated. Shall I tell you? Pride. Pride. That is not even one of the 10 commandments saying thou shall not be proud. But Jesus hated it. Number 2. Hypocrisy. Pretending to be spiritual.

When you are not spiritual. That's what Jesus hates. Unbelief. That is not even considered a sin in the old testament. But here it says it is an evil heart. Jesus so many times he rebuked his disciples saying, people of unbelief how long will I be with you?

He rebuked people for pride. He rebuked people for hypocrisy. And he rebuked his disciples frequently for unbelief. You must recognize unbelief as a sin. Another thing we would say is selfishness. It is another thing Jesus always rebuked.

Like you know I said about the Levite and priest who selfishly walked leaving that poor man on the road. And the fifth thing that Jesus spoke about was dirty thoughts. That was not in the old testament.

There is no commandment saying you shall not have dirty thoughts. So the five sins that Jesus hated are not even mentioned in the old testament. Pride. Hypocrisy. Unbelief. Selfishness. And dirty thoughts.

You never find it mentioned in the old testament. Why? Because they were children in the kindergarten. And now God has brought us to a new covenant. Our standard is higher. And God shows us the things that he hates.

I mean murder, adultery, stealing even worldly people know it is wrong. Even the government knows those things are wrong. They will catch people who do that. It is a very serious thing to tell a lie in a court.

They will put you in jail. Those even worldly people know. But worldly people don't think pride is a sin. Is any worldly person who thinks hypocrisy is a sin? Is any worldly person who thinks unbelief is a sin?

Have you met any worldly person or even nominal Christian who thinks that selfishness is a sin? Or that having dirty thoughts is a sin? These five things no worldly person even thinks it is a sin. But these are the five things Jesus spoke about the most.

Nominal Christians don't think any of these things are sin. Now let me tell you the sad thing. Even many believers don't think these five things are sin. Let me ask you all sitting here. If you hurt somebody you will go and confess it.

When did you go to God and confess, Lord I am sorry I am so proud. Have you ever confessed that sin? Have you ever gone to God and said, God I am such a hypocrite. I am pretending to be holy when I am not really holy.

Have you ever gone to God and confessed, Lord I am unbelieving. I am sorry I didn't trust you there. I doubted so much. I got so anxious and worried because I was unbelieving. Have you ever gone to God and said, Lord I am sorry I acted so selfishly in that situation.

Do you go to God and say, God I am so sorry I had a bad thought about that brother. These are sins even believers don't confess. Why is that? Because we are living so far away from God. And even after 20 years of being a believer we are living so far away from God.

We are not obeying that verse which says depart from sin. They say we name the name of Jesus. But it says if you name the name of Jesus you must run away from sin. You must confess these sins. So unbelief is called an evil heart in this verse.

Treating God's Promises as True

Why is unbelief such a serious sin? When God says something and you doubt it. That is like telling God you are a liar. Is that a serious sin or not? Let me use an example. Like I said earlier today. My son in college asks me to put 3000 rupees in the account so that he can pay his fees tomorrow.

And I phoned my son. Son I have transferred 3000 rupees to your bank account. And I have verified with your bank it is credited to your account. And supposing he tells me. I don't believe you. How will I feel as a father?

It's like slapping me on the face. That is unbelief. For example. When God says I have forgiven your sin. I will not remember it anymore. And you say oh I am not sure. Maybe God still remembers what I confessed 20 years ago.

That is like telling God you are a liar. I don't believe you. That is like slapping God on the face. Or supposing God says. 1 Corinthians 10 .13 That is a wonderful promise. 1 Corinthians 10 .13 He will never allow you to be tested more than you are able to bear.

Impossible. It's a promise. I will never allow you to be tested beyond your ability. And it says in that verse God is faithful to do that. He is faithful. He will not allow you to be tested beyond your ability.

So supposing you come to some trial. And you say like many believers say. Oh God this is becoming too much for me. That means this 1 Corinthians 10 .13 is a lie. Have you ever said that? Oh God this is becoming too much for me.

You know what you are saying at that time? This 1 Corinthians 10 .13 is a lie. You said it will not become too much for me. But it has become too much for me. But it says there. That in that trial he will make a way of escape.

That in that trial he will make a way of escape. What is that way of escape? You have to humble yourself. You have become too small. You have to escape. Supposing some enemy has locked you in a room. He has closed all the doors.

He is coming to kill you. And there is only one small outlet for the water to go out. One small pipe. You cannot escape. But if in that time by some miracle you could become the size of an ant. You can go through there.

The way of escape. That is an illustration. In every situation. Humble yourself. Become small in your own eyes. And God will make a way of escape for you. This trial will not become too much for you. I have found that in so many situations in my life.

You say why does God allow these trials in my life? To make you strong. Isn't it good to have some experiences of some storm that came into your life. And Jesus stilled the storm. It's good to have such experiences.

We should not pray oh God don't let any storms come into my life. Some people pray like that. But then you have no experience of God. Suppose Peter came home from the boat one day. And his little boy asks him.

Daddy how was your trip today with Jesus? It was very pleasant. We had a calm. We came across. Nothing happened? No nothing happened. But supposing he says. Oh my son I will tell you what happened today.

We were in the boat. Such a storm and waves we thought we were drowning. And then suddenly we saw Jesus walking on the water. And we were scared we thought it was a ghost. And he said it is I don't be afraid.

And son you know what I said. I said Lord if it is you let me also come out. And Jesus told me to walk. And I got out of the boat. And I walked on the water. His mouth will be open. Daddy you walked on the water.

Yes he said Jesus power is so great. He could not have had that testimony if he did not face a storm. And if you don't face any storms in your life. You have no testimony. See I believe when we go to heaven.

We will be talking to so many believers. Listening to their testimony. Somebody will tell us how the lions came to eat them. And they believed in Jesus. And they were faithful till the end. And they overcame.

Another person will say. I had a very difficult mother in law. But I kept on loving her loving her. And she finally got converted. What all testimonies we will hear. And then they will ask you what is your testimony.

I had a mother in law. We just fought till the end of our life. And then she died. Any other testimony. Most of the time I fought with my husband. He was such a bad man. Finally he also died. But I got saved.

What sort of testimony you are going to give to people in heaven. You will feel ashamed. You say Lord I don't want to give that type of testimony in heaven. I want to tell people how I went through trials.

But I believed. I believed he would never let me be tested beyond my ability. With a difficult wife. Or a difficult husband. Or a difficult mother in law. God will never allow me to be tested more than I can bear.

I am going to have a testimony when I go to heaven that I overcame. That I loved people. That even though my daughter in law troubled me so much. I loved her. You will have a great testimony in heaven.

And you will become a saint on this earth. And God will make you a blessing to hundreds of people. You know one day the bible says you and I are going to reign in heaven. And we are going to reign on this earth for a thousand years.

Learning Love Through Trials

And God is teaching us how to rule in love. See in this world everything is rulers by dictatorship and hatred and selfishness. But in the kingdom of Jesus Christ. All ruling will be in love. So he is preparing you for that kingdom by teaching you to love people.

You know some unlikable people come into your life and God says now you must love them. And you learn to love them you are being prepared to reign one day with Jesus Christ. So I have decided long ago in my life.

That I am going to love everybody. I am going to love my enemies. I am going to love those who hate me. I am going to love those who speak evil about me. Because I belong to another kingdom. I don't belong to this kingdom where they are fighting and quarreling for all earthly things.

I have faith. That my God will not allow me to be tested beyond my ability. See some of us have a doubt whether God is very eager to bless us or not. For example when you pray. Lord fill me with the Holy Spirit.

That is a very important prayer to pray. I have prayed it hundreds of times in the last 50 years. Thousands of times. Lord fill me with the Holy Spirit. Because it says in Ephesians 5 .18 be filled with the Holy Spirit.

You are born again. You have the Spirit in you. But you must be filled with the Holy Spirit. That is like saying If your heart is like a house with 100 rooms. And if you got light in one room. You can say the house has got light.

But it is not filled with light. Because one room has got light. 99 rooms are dark. But if all the 100 rooms are filled with light. Then you can say it is filled with light. In the same way. You can have the Holy Spirit.

Or be filled with the Holy Spirit. When you are born again. You have the Holy Spirit. But that does not mean you are filled with the Holy Spirit. Because there may be some areas in your life. That you have not yielded to Jesus Christ.

For example. You may not allow him to tell you. Which television programs to watch. So the television room in your heart is locked. So that is dark. You won't allow Jesus to tell you What books to read.

You want to read whatever you like. Look at whatever magazines you like. So that book room in your heart is also locked. So that is dark. Or your money. You don't want Jesus to tell you How to handle your money.

So this finances room is also locked. So so many rooms in your heart Are locked from Jesus Christ. You have allowed him to come only to one room. Forgive my sins. That room is open. And he has come in.

One light in one room. But your heart is not filled with light. Do you have the Holy Spirit? Yes. Are you filled with the Holy Spirit? No. Whose fault is that? Yours. You have not opened every door of your life to Jesus Christ.

Opening Every Area of Life to Christ

You know that well known verse. Jesus says, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone opens the door, I will come in. That is not only once. Once I open to one door in my heart. Lord come in. Forgive my sins.

But he is still knocking at another door. I want to come into this television room also. Will you let me in? Will you let me control your remote? Who, you want to control it or you want Jesus to control it?

He said, no Lord, let me control that. That room remains dark. Will you allow me to decide what type of music you listen to? Lord, there is some cinema music and all. I really like to hear that. Okay, the Lord says, I will not come to that room.

One more room is dark. And you fast and pray, Lord, fill me with the Holy Spirit. Fill me with the Holy Spirit. In 100 years, you will not be filled with the Holy Spirit. You lock all the doors and you say, fill me with the Holy Spirit.

Why? Because you do not have faith. You do not believe that Jesus is coming to bless you. He is coming to bless you. I remember a story of an old lady who was living in a house. She was very poor and she did not have money to pay the rent on the first of the month.

On the first of the month, somebody knocked the door. She kept quiet. I will pretend that I am not here. This must be the landlord who has come to collect the rent. And she lived locked inside in fear the whole day.

The next day was Sunday. She went to the church. And one brother said, Sister, the Lord told me to come and give you some money yesterday. I came to your house and knocked a long time to give you the money, but nobody opened the door.

Oh, it was you. You came with some money for me. I thought it was the landlord who came to collect the rent. That is how many believers are. The Lord says, I have come to bless you. You think he has come to take away something sweet.

Do not be like that foolish woman. Jesus has come to bless you. Every area of your life. Lord, I only want to listen to the music you tell me to listen. If I see all these filthy television things, I will have bad dreams at night.

It is because I spend all my time that I do not have time to read the Bible. You are wasting your life. Do not let the devil fool you. What is faith? Faith is to believe that God has come to rob me of anything.

Any area of your life that God will not take away anything. I will tell you what he will take away. He will take away the rubbish and the useless things in your life. Is not that a good thing? When the garbage truck comes to collect all the garbage from your house.

What do you say? No, no, no, do not take this. I like this. Please keep this. Oh, you said take it away. It is all stinking. Take it away quickly. That is what the Lord says. You have got some stinking sins in your life.

If you allow me to come and take it all away. Your life is stinking because you do not let Jesus clean it up. You can become such a sweet, glorious saint. But you do not let Jesus do that. What is faith?

God has come to bless me. He is more eager to bless me than I am desiring to be blessed. Do you desire to have victory over sin? Faith means you believe that God is hundred times more desirous to give you victory over sin.

Do you want to be filled with the Holy Spirit? Faith means you believe that God is more eager to fill you with the Holy Spirit. You know, that was money for me. I used to pray. Fast. Lord, fill me with the Holy Spirit.

But I never believed. I am very eager to be filled with the Holy Spirit. But God is not so eager. God is not so eager to fill me. That is unbelief. Here is faith. Believe that God is more eager to fill you with the Holy Spirit than you are to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

God is more eager to give you victory over sin than you are to get victory over sin. God is more eager to make you a glorious Christian than you are to be one. You take a simple promise like this. And this promise is for those who have faith.

I told you, if you don't have faith, it is an evil heart. We miss many things in our life because we don't believe. I'm talking about faith for the things God has promised. Like sin shall not rule over you.

Rivers of Living Water Through Faith

Here is another promise Jesus said From your innermost being rivers of living water will flow. This is speaking of the Holy Spirit verse 39. If you believe The Holy Spirit will flow from your innermost being and bless many many people.

You think of this big river Godavari that flows through Andhra. How many hundreds of thousands of people are blessed by the water of that river. Drinking water and so many things they can do with that.

And all those by the side of that river everything will be green. You will never find a desert beside the river. It's always green. And Jesus says Your life can be like that. Not like one river. Many rivers.

It's like 9 or 10 Godavaris flowing out of my life. How many hundreds of thousands of people can be blessed in so many places. For whom is this? Is this for some apostle or prophet or somebody? No. He who believes in me.

Why has it not happened in your life? You don't believe. When I was a young Christian Just about 22 years old I read this verse. And I said Lord. I am a young boy. I don't know much about the Bible. But I read it And I study it.

But I will believe in you. I will believe that From my innermost being. Rivers will flow to bless people. Because Lord You never said He who believes in me and is 50 years old. Then only the rivers will flow.

No. Even if you are 15 years old You believe in him. God can make you a blessing. You know how much we are missing By not believing. What a wonderful thing it is If all of us become Like rivers of living water Flowing out from us.

In the past. So many evil words Have come out of our mouth. Everywhere we go We have hurt people. We have gossiped And spoken evil of people. That is like spreading filth. Wherever you go. Now this year.

Finish with that. Say Lord I want pure rivers of life To flow through my mouth. Who is going to do it? God will do it. What is my duty? I believe Lord I believe your word is true. I will not have An evil heart of unbelief.

It is a wonderful thing To believe that. God is more eager To bless you Than you are to be blessed. I want to say one more thing About faith. In Luke chapter 22 Jesus told His disciple Simon. Jesus told his disciple Simon Simon.

Satan has desired Permission to sift you like wheat. But I have prayed for you. What for? Not that you will not fall into sin But that your faith may not fail. Not that you will not fall into sin But that your faith may not fail.

In verse 34 Peter thought you would deny me But he lied to you. You denied Peter Not once Three times. Then Don't you pray that Peter will not fall? He has to fall. Why does he have to fall? Because he is such a proud man.

See how he speaks. Even if everybody denies you. Verse 33 I am ready to go to prison with you. Such a proud man. I am better than all these others. Then God had to humble him By making him fall. Sometimes God allows us To fall into sin To humble us.

And God will not stop it. He will allow you to fall. Because you are such a proud person. He tried ten other ways To humble you. He did not succeed. Then God says what to do? I tried to humble him in ten ways.

He does not listen. Okay. Let him fall into sin. Then he falls. Then you humble yourself. But the Lord told Peter When you have fallen. When you reach the bottom of the pit. Do not lie down there and get discouraged.

Do not lie down there and get discouraged. Okay, I am such a sinner. God does not love me anymore. Is somebody here saying that today? Maybe you have fallen very badly. Maybe you have gone away from God so much.

Maybe you have made a mess of your life. Maybe once upon a time you were a good believer. Now you are backslidden. Backslidden and gone right back into the world. And you have made a mess of your life.

And you have developed all types of bad habits. And you say God will not accept me again. I am too bad. Jesus is praying for you. What is he praying for you? That even when you have fallen Your faith will not fail.

What is faith? Faith is that even when you have reached the bottom. You will believe. God still loves me. That is faith. No matter how much I have fallen God still loves me. He wants me to come back to Him.

God's Love for the Fallen

That is the story of the prodigal son. He was there in the far country. He had ruined his life. Wasted his father's money. One thing he was sure. My father still loves me. He will at least accept me as a servant.