New Covenant- Repentance & Heavenly Kingdom -5 — Zac Poonen

Seeking God's Kingdom Instead of Worldly Desires

You know, I like that phrase in Matthew 6, the phrase that Jesus uses. Matthew 6, it helps me. Verse 32, Matthew 6, 32, the Gentiles means the non-Christians eagerly seek for these things. It's not just the two, three things listed there.

There are many things that non-Christian, the world eagerly seeks. I've tried to make a mental list, you can write it down also if you like, of all the things which the world non-Christians eagerly seek.

You don't need me to tell you. You know what people in the world seek. Money, sex, comfort, pleasure, sinful or otherwise, position, power, to have a name, even after one is dead, that one was a great man.

Is there anybody in the world who doesn't seek for these things? I mean, even a beggar, if you have the opportunity, you'd seek for these things. Bigger house, better car, more cars, etc. They seek after these things.

Some of these things are sinful, some of them are not. But the world eagerly seeks after these things and the Lord said, don't do it. Let these be added to you as you spend your time eagerly seeking, verse 33, kingdom of God and holiness.

Wholeheartedly Seeking God

See, there's a law in God's dealings with man that it's only those who seek Him with all their heart, Jeremiah 29, verse 13, who seek Him with all their heart who will find Him. The others won't find Him.

So if you didn't find Him, it's because you didn't seek with all your heart. And you didn't seek with all your heart because you didn't think it was so important. You know, people who don't seek for the fullness of the Holy Spirit with all their heart, chances are they'll never be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Do you think God's gonna fill somebody with the Holy Spirit who doesn't value the Holy Spirit? Do you think God's gonna lead somebody into the new covenant who doesn't value the new covenant? You've heard me use this example.

Valuing What God Gives

If you lost 50 paise a coin, I used to say 5 paise, now 50 paise is just about the same value. If you lost 50 paise a coin in the night when you're walking along the grass somewhere and you discover it five minutes later, how long will you spend looking for that 50 paise a coin in the grass in the dark?

What do you say? Five hours? One hour? Fifteen minutes? I doubt even five minutes. Why? After all, it's only 50 paise a coin. I can't spend all my time looking for that. But supposing your office had entrusted you with 200 ,000 rupees in cash which you have to take somewhere else tomorrow and in your hurry you misplaced it somewhere, how long would you spend looking for that?

Fifteen minutes? Say, oh, it's only 200 ,000 rupees, okay. You see the difference? You take leave the next day from work. You won't sleep the night. You shall seek me and find me, says the Lord, when you search for me with all your heart.

When you treat God like a 50 paise a coin, no wonder you don't find Him. When you seek for the fullness of the Holy Spirit like a 50 paise a coin, no wonder you don't get filled with the Holy Spirit even after 20, 30 years of praying for it.

I'll tell you, you won't find it in the next 20, 30 years. You don't understand the entry into the new covenant life even after listening to it for 20 years? Well, you won't enter it for the next 20 years because you're treated like a 50 paise a coin.

Desperate Pursuit of God

When it becomes everything to you. You know why Sadhu Sundar Singh had a vision of Jesus when he was 14 or 15 years old that turned him from his religion to Christ? Because he was so desperate to find God.

So desperate. His mother used to take him to a little guru as a young person and he wanted to know about God. God and his mother died and he didn't know which is the true God. And he said, I'm so desperate.

I've got to find you before 5 o 'clock this morning. Otherwise I'll go and put my head on the rails. Now, don't say things like that because we got more light than he had in his day. But he was not one who knew the Bible.

Suicide is not the answer. But he was, I'm just trying to say how desperate he was. And I've asked myself, have I ever sought God so desperately that I'd rather die than not get to know Him? Boy, if I did, maybe I'll also be having visions like Sadhu Sundar Singh.

And you will too. You see how weak our longing for God is? And we wonder how these great men of God lived the life they lived, accomplished what they accomplished, why God gave them gifts to serve Him, which He never gives you.

Earnestly Desiring Spiritual Gifts

And you always excuse yourself by saying, ah, but I don't have that gift. Well, that's because God didn't feel you were worthy enough to give it to. That's all. You can excuse yourself all your life like that, but you may discover in heaven that God wanted to give you some gifts, but He never sought them wholeheartedly for it.

The Bible says, earnestly desire the spiritual gifts. That's the verse. 1 Corinthians 14, verse 1. Earnestly desire the spiritual gifts. A person who is earnestly desiring something else, not surprising he doesn't get spiritual gifts because he's not so passionate to serve God.

How passionate are you to serve God? Lord, I can't serve you without the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit. I remember when I started preaching, I was scared to stand in public. I never took part in public speaking competitions in my life.

Transformation Through the Holy Spirit

I was just shy and reserved and withdrawn. You think I'm bluffing, it's true. Ask people who knew me when I was 15, 16, 17. And I was so reserved and shy and timid. And when I got selected to the National Defense Academy, my classmates said, hey, you're going to defend our country?

That's what they said. That's what they thought of me. But when God filled me with the Holy Spirit, it was completely different. It changed me. It says, you'll be turned into another man. That's the answer.

I would not dream of trying to live on this earth a single day now without being filled with the Holy Spirit. I'd never dream of getting into a pulpit to speak for even five minutes without being filled with the Holy Spirit.

The Serious Responsibility of Preaching Truth

I'd waste people's time. And I'd waste God's time. And I'd waste my time. And I don't want to do that. It's serious business. You think a surgeon who's doing a delicate brain operation in a theater is doing a more important job than I'm doing here?

You've got to be crazy to believe that. The maximum he can do is kill that man. If I don't preach the true truth, I can send people to hell. That man may die and go to heaven. If I don't preach the truth up here, clearly, people can go to hell, believing me.

Entering the New Covenant Through a Heart for God

I'll make sure nobody goes there unless he chooses to go there himself. Dear brothers and sisters, the new covenant is a wonderful life. You can enter into it. There's no partiality with God. And you don't need to be educated.

Peter didn't come first in his class. He probably failed in a few classes. He was a fisherman. But he entered in the new covenant. And you can. It's not how clever you are. It's got nothing to do with clever.

You can be clever like Paul. He came first in his class. He can be a child of God too. You can be clever or stupid. It makes no difference. You got to have a heart that longs for God. It doesn't matter what your head is like.