(The Law of the Holy Spirit) God's House - a Three Story Building — Zac Poonen

The Law of the Holy Spirit and God's Ultimate Purpose

It's a great joy for me to be here in these last, I think it's the eighth time I've come. It's always been a tremendous blessing to fellowship and see the opportunity God has given here through this church to reach so many people from this part of the United States.

I was told that there are 17 states, people from 17 states who are here. What an opportunity to spread the gospel. And I've been so challenged to see so many hungry hearts from different places who come at such expense and inconvenience only to hear God's word.

There's been nothing else here this weekend, no entertainment, it's only been God's word. So we praise the Lord and I pray that there'll be fruit from it that lasts for eternity. Personally, I, in India, we are the recipients of the blessing that has come in past centuries, at least for 200 years, from missionaries that have come from the United States, many Western lands, England, Australia, and now, of course, missionaries are not allowed to come to India, but in the years when they were allowed, we have had the history of some godly men and women who've come in the 19th and early 20th century who've had a lasting impact on our country and have brought many people to Christ.

So when I come here, it's just payback time, repay the blessing that we have received through the years from your forefathers. So we praise the Lord that with God there is no respect of persons and we are all one in the body of Christ and we are here to bless one another.

God is never in debt, if America has blessed India in past centuries, God will make sure that India blesses America too, because He'll never be in debt to anybody and He's no respecter of persons. I was thinking of one verse that we could think of today and that's God's ultimate purpose.

In God's work on earth, we thought of the law of the Holy Spirit, of life in Christ Jesus. Ultimately, the Holy Spirit is not just making individual Christians who are godly. He wants them to build homes that are godly.

We spoke a little bit about that. During the last 35 years in our work in India, we have emphasized four things. The foundation of our life as God's perfect love for us, where every person is valuable to God.

Nobody needs to live with an inferiority complex. I have met so many Christians who have feelings of inferiority and I know what that means because God allowed me to go through that in my younger days.

I always felt so inferior because I was not a capable speaker, I never took part in any public speaking in school or college or any such thing. I was not very tall, I was short and I felt very inferior until God filled me with the Holy Spirit and I became a different person.

So I know what it is to feel inferior and when you feel inferior to others, a lot of Christians, if you really ask them to be honest with you, they'll say we feel inferior. And the great danger of feeling inferior is, I know from my own experience, I'm not throwing stones at anybody, I'm giving you my testimony.

The great danger is we will always try to impress people with what we do because we want to impress people that I'm somebody. And that's the most damaging thing for your Christian life when you try to impress people.

God doesn't want you to impress anyone. I remember in the early years when I started preaching, my main aim was to impress people with my preaching. Till God spoke to me and said, what do you want to do?

Do you want to impress people or do you want to help them when you preach? I said, Lord, I want to help them. And He said, stop trying to impress them. I said, okay, I'll try. And it was not easy because we always have a desire to impress.

Even when I prayed in public, I wasn't praying to God. I was praying to impress people who were listening to me. Haven't you found that? That when you pray in public, you're very conscious of what sort of, what are they thinking of my prayer?

And if somebody says an Amen or a Hallelujah, you get a bit excited. And if nobody says Amen or Hallelujah, I say, what's wrong with my prayer? And you say something to make somebody say an Amen or a Hallelujah.

I'm confessing my sins, that's all. But I got light on it. That's a wonderful thing. I used to go home and judge myself and I said, Lord, I wasn't praying to you. I was just going through a drama there.

Saying I was praying to you, but I was more concerned and I judged myself. I said, Lord, I don't want it to be like that. Little by little by little, as I peeled off this onion, that had many layers of seeking the honor of men.

Gradually the onion became thinner and thinner and thinner and thinner. Till I could pray in public and it didn't make a slightest difference if anybody said an Amen or a Hallelujah or whether they were asleep.

I was praying to God. But it took time. It's a wonderful thing to live before God's face. And seek with all your heart to be free from trying to impress people. Find your security in one thing. God, your Father, loves you immensely.

Far more than you think. Beyond our asking and our thinking. He loves you exactly like He loved Jesus, His Son. Do you know how He loved Jesus, His Son? Amazing. He wouldn't allow a storm to drown Him in the lake.

Once we read about two, three hundred people carried Him to the top of a cliff to throw Him down. They couldn't kill Him. How the Father cared for Him. Herod sent his soldiers to kill Him when He was a little baby.

The Father took Him away somewhere else. Imagine having a Father who would care for you like that. That's the thing that comforted me. The greatest truth that changed my life. If you ask me what is the most important truth in this book, I'll tell you in one sentence.

God loves me as He loved Jesus. That is the greatest truth in this book. And if you don't understand that as the greatest truth in this book, I'd say you haven't read the Bible. So many Christians major on other things.

I believe in women wailing their head. But that's not the greatest doctrine in this book. I believe in speaking in tongues. That's not the greatest doctrine in this book. The greatest teaching in this book is that God loves me as He loved Jesus Christ.

And so I will major on that all my life. I decided when I started teaching God's Word that I would place great emphasis in my teaching on the things that the Bible speaks much about. And the things that the Bible speaks very little about, I would speak, but I would speak very little on those subjects.

And the matters on which the Bible is silent, I would give my opinion and give other people freedom to have their view on that subject. That is the correct way of balanced teaching of God's Word. And it's through studying God's Word that I discovered that the most important teaching in this book is that God loves me as He loved Jesus.

Provided, you know that verse is in John 17, 23. He loves me as He loved Jesus, but it was spoken in relation to disciples who had surrendered everything to Him. So, you can claim that promise only if you have surrendered everything to Jesus.

Surrendering Every Area of Life to Christ

The reason why so many of us suffer is because there's some part of our life not yielded. I mean, if you got an umbrella, a really big umbrella, when it's pouring rain, you won't get wet. But if you put one hand outside that umbrella, that hand gets wet.

But if you're completely under this big umbrella, you don't get wet at all. To me, it's like that. When I'm completely surrendered to Jesus, every part of my life, the devil can't touch one fingernail of mine.

Why is the devil able to touch certain areas in your life? I don't believe he can even touch my finances. He can't touch my children. He can't touch my home. He can touch nothing because it's all under the umbrella.

But if you have got, you know, like I was saying earlier, some Christians have got private ambitions which they secretly feel is not in the will of God. Well, that's the thing which the devil will be able to touch in your life.

The rooms in your heart that you don't yield to Jesus are the rooms, whether you know it or not, the devil will occupy. You're not stronger than the devil and he does not knock and say, can I come in?

He just walks in. But he cannot walk into a room occupied by Jesus Christ. There's no area that you have surrendered to Christ where the devil can touch you. You surrender your finances to God. I did that years ago.

The devil has never been able to touch my finances. Never. I've never starved even in days of deep poverty. 71 years, I've never been in debt for a single day of my life to anybody. I don't owe anybody any money.

Never did. Because my finances were surrendered to God ages ago. I got victory over getting angry. I can live with my wife 365 days of the year without raising my voice once. Because I surrendered my tongue to Jesus years ago.

It's that which you don't surrender which the devil takes possession of. Why do you want the devil to take possession of it? God loves you as he loved Jesus. Every area of his life, he wants to transform.

Why do you feel that God will mess up your life? He won't mess up your life. He loves you more than your parents, more than your wife, more than your husband, more than anybody in the whole universe. That's the foundational truth.

The number one truth on which we must rest our life. It's like the foundation of a house. And on top of that house, we have three floors. I told you there are four things we teach. Number one is the foundation and then the three floors.

The first floor is my personal walk with God. I say that's the thing you got to start with. Once you laid the foundation, God loves me as he loved Jesus. The foundation is solid. I'm going to build on that.

Everything in my life, I'm going to build on this. I'm not going to lay a foundation here and go and build over there. That's what some Christians do. Some problem comes in their life and then they forget about this foundation.

That God loves me as he loved Jesus. And they go and build somewhere else and they get into confusion. Everything in my life, I'm going to build on this foundation. God loves me as he loved Jesus. Therefore, he knows what's best for me.

And in my personal walk with God, most important, only two things I say. Always keep a good conscience. And always humble yourself. Always. Don't wait to remove a prick of your conscience even five minutes.

You will slip up. Because like children learn to walk. No child learns to walk from the day it comes out of his mother's womb. It takes about two years for it to be steady on its feet. But they start walking when they're 10 months, 11 months, they're walking.

And God is excited when he sees his children not falling into sin. They're walking. That doesn't mean we never fall. You can be 60 years old and fall outside today. But you have learned to walk. Falling is very occasional.

That is how it should be in a mature Christian. You may fall but it will be very rare. But you've learned to walk. Keep a clear conscience. As soon as you're aware that you hurt God or hurt somebody else, set it right.

The last verse of Psalm 139 in the Living Bible reads like this. Lord, point out anything in my life that makes you sad. I was so gripped by that verse once I printed it out on a card and gave it to everybody in our church.

I said, keep this in front of you. Look at it every day. Lord, point out anything in my life that makes you sad. There are a few things like this that have gripped me which I sometimes keep in front of my table for many years till it sinks into my head that I don't need it on the table anymore.

One was this. Lord, point out anything in my life not that makes you angry. He's not angry with me. That makes you sad. I'm not afraid of God. I'm not afraid that God will hurt me. I'm afraid that I will hurt God.

That's the fear of God I have. There are two types of fear of God. One is the fear that God will hurt me. I have zero fear of that. The other is the fear that I may hurt God and I live in that fear every day.

Lord, point out anything in my life which other people may not know that makes you sad as you look at me and you feel sad about that one area. I say, Lord, I want to make you happy. I'm going to get rid of it.

I'm going to confess it. Do I have to humble myself? Go and ask somebody's forgiveness? I'll do it immediately. Many years ago, I went to a bank to get a check. They asked me to come in the evening at 4 o 'clock and I went.

It was not ready. I got a little upset with the bank manager and said something rude to him. What I said was the previous bank manager was more efficient than you. He told me to come back at 6. As I went out of the bank, the Lord said to me, go back.

Apologize. And don't apologize to him privately, publicly like you spoke to him. I went back. I turned around. I said, Sir, I'm sorry for what I said. I shouldn't have spoken like that. I'm glad I pulled out that thorn immediately.

It would have festered in my heart if I had kept it there. The thing is, if I had postponed it for a few years, that guy would have gone away somewhere. I would never meet him for the rest of my life.

I remember once I had to correct a young brother in our church for something, which I thought he did. Something to do with equipment or something. Afterwards, I discovered that it wasn't his fault. And I had spoken to him a bit strongly.

A young chap, younger than my youngest son. The Lord said, go and apologize to him. I went to him. I put my arm around him and said, I'm really sorry for speaking to you like that. Forgive me. I pulled out that thorn.

What did I lose? Nothing. What did I gain? A healthy heart. Never hesitate to apologize to your wife. I said, Lord, we have a lot of beggars and tramps in India. I said, Lord, if I've spoken rudely to a beggar, I'll run after him and say, Hey, forgive me.

I'm sorry for the way I spoke to you. Humble yourself always. It's the way to glory. It's the way Jesus walked all his earthly days. We have the tremendous privilege of putting our feet in the footsteps of Jesus.

Keep a good conscience. Humble yourself. When people speak evil of you, don't speak back. If people harm you, don't defend yourself. Leave it to God. As a servant of God, the devil is furious with me.

He's got a lot of agents who have tried to attack me and my family in so many ways. That's to be expected. In fact, I want to be the one whom the devil hates the most on the earth. Isn't that a good ambition to have?

I said, Lord, I want to be so devoted to you, the devil hates me. Right from his guts, he hates me. He won't be able to harm me. I'm not scared of the devil because he was defeated on the cross. Every demon was defeated on the cross.

I've sometimes had to, a number of times, had to deal with demon-possessed people and cast them out. Sometimes, they are fierce and they try to scare me. And, just to refresh my own faith, I ask myself, did this demon escape on Calvary?

No, he didn't. He was defeated too. Then I can rebuke him in Jesus' name and tell him to get out. And he goes. So, many people have tried to attack me, but they've never been able to harm me because everything works for good.

So, I just humble myself and keep quiet. I say, I have nothing to say. I remember once a man was so upset with me with some discipline I had to do with a brother. And somebody else got so upset and he heard about it, he phoned me up and began to yell at me on the phone.

He didn't know all the facts. I could have put the phone down and been rude to him. He's a serious man because he's really cursing me. You've got to keep the phone close to you when somebody's cursing you.

Listen to what he's saying. He went on for a long time. I never said a word. He was a believer. I said, brother, have you finished? He said, yes. Okay, God bless you. Put the phone down. Six months later, I get a letter from him.

Brother Zach, I'm so sorry. I understood the situation. Now I understood the whole situation. Please forgive me for what I did. I said, I forgave you long ago. What would I have gained by arguing with him?

Vengeance Belongs to God, Not to Human Conflict

Humble yourself. Always go down. Keep quiet. There are situations where when people have tried to harm me, God has asked me, do you want me to deal with him or you'll deal with him yourself? I said, no, Lord, you deal with him.

He says, vengeance is mine. Romans 12. What's the rest of the verse? Say that again. I might repay. What did you say? Will. Don't change it to I might repay him if I feel like it. Vengeance is mine. I will repay.

Leave it to him. I don't desire vengeance. But God says he'll repay him. What can I do? I don't pull God's hand and say don't do it. That'll be fighting against God. Some people have asked me this question about 2 Timothy 4.

Paul says, Alexander the coppersmith has done me much harm. Do you know the rest of the verse? The Lord will repay him. They have asked me, why does Paul speak like that? Is he upset with Alexander? No.

He's just saying, I'm not going to do anything to him. God says he'll repay him. I'm not going to hold God's hand back. I don't fight against God. He says he'll repay him. Let him repay him. So don't fight with people.

Jesus said, my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, I would fight. All those who fight with human beings, their kingdom is of this world. Do you fight with your wife? That's because your kingdom is of this world.

Whether you know it or not. Do you fight with your neighbors? Do you fight with your husband? Your kingdom is of this world. Read John chapter 18 verse 36. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight.

John 18 verse 36. If it were not, because my kingdom is not of this world, my servants don't fight. And that's what the Lord showed me. And the other verse is Ephesians 6 verse 12. We wrestle not with human beings, but with demons and forces of darkness.

Do you know in the Old Testament, the verse was, we do wrestle with human beings and we don't wrestle with demons. That's the Old Testament. Show me one example in the Old Testament where people wrestled with demons.

Not even one. Not even Daniel. Some people think Daniel wrestled with demons for three weeks. Read the Bible carefully. He was only praying. He didn't wrestle with the demons. The archangel. The first person to fight with demons was Jesus Christ.

In the whole Bible. Everyone before that fought with Philistines, Amorites, all the iths there are. There are many iths in Christendom also today. Don't fight with them. We wrestle not with human beings.

We wrestle with demons. In Ephesians 6 verse 12, the Lord said to me, become Satan. Make one decision in your life that you'll never fight with a human being for the rest of your life. I decided that long ago.

I will not fight with people. If they cheat me, I let God deal with them. And I say, Lord, I will not argue. People sometimes come to argue with me about some doctrine and as soon as I see them getting hot under the collar, I change the subject.

I say, let's talk about something else. I'm not here to fight with human beings. And therefore, I'm able to concentrate all my guns on the devil and demons. And through the years, it's delivered me completely from all fear of demons.

And what the Lord has said to me is, as there was a time when you were afraid of the devil, now the devil will be afraid of you. I believe with all my heart that Satan is afraid of me. He's afraid of everything in your life.

But that's only because you have not surrendered everything to Christ. One. Or because you fight with human beings. Your neighbor, your wife, other people in the church. Well, the devil won't be afraid of you.

But you take a decision once in your life that you're going to completely stop fighting with human beings. And that your kingdom is not of this world. I tell you, the devil will be scared of you. He will.

Because the Bible says in 1 John 4 .18, As Jesus is, so are we in this world. Have you read that verse? As Jesus is. 1 John 4 .18. So am I in this world. How did Jesus live on the earth? Was he scared of Satan?

Was Satan going to attack me next? You know, like some so-called super spiritual Christians are always rebuking the devil. Get away, Satan. Get away, Satan. Was Jesus saying that all the time? Get away, Satan.

He said that twice in his life. Once in the temptation in the wilderness. The other time when he spoke to Peter. He wasn't preoccupied with Satan. There are some believers who they're always preoccupied with the devil.

Particularly among certain charismatic groups. They see the devil here, devil here. I see God everywhere. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. When my heart is pure, I see God everywhere.

I see God in a Judas Iscariot who comes to betray me. And I'll say like Jesus, the cup which my heavenly father has given me, shall I not drink it? So what if he sends it through a postman named Judas Iscariot whose face I don't like?

Doesn't matter. The cup came from the father. Do you reject a letter from your beloved because you didn't like the postman's face? How foolish. Postman looks ugly or fierce. Who sent the letter? The cup which my father has given me, shall I not drink it?

It changes your whole life when you see God. Blessed are the pure in heart. They will see God everywhere. They'll see God in the things he permits in their life. Those who are not pure in heart, they'll see the devil.

They'll see human beings. They'll take out their sword to cut off people's ears. They'll use their tongue to speak evil of others. They haven't seen God. Their God is a teeny weeny helpless God who can't help them.

My God is the ruler of heaven and earth. He controls the whole universe. Nothing happens to me outside of God's permission. There may be some things that can happen next year. I don't know but it won't take my father by surprise.

He's already prepared for it. So that's my personal walk with God. On top of that is the second floor. That's my home. It's been very important for me. My home is more important to me than my ministry, believe it or not.

The Godly Home: Christ First, Marriage Second, Ministry Third

I've always kept that position in all the 43 years I've been married. My relationship with my wife and my children is more important to me than my ministry. I have this order in my life. Jesus Christ first, my wife second, my ministry third.

Jesus Christ and my ministry are different. Christ will always be first in my life. I wanted to marry a girl who did not love me more than she loved Christ. That wouldn't be a good wife. You know all these people who sing, oh you're the world to me.

Well my wife is not all the world to me. Jesus Christ is all the world to me. My wife is second. And I wanted her to be like that. I wanted to marry a girl like that too. And my wife is second even today.

She'll never be first in my life. And I hope I will never be first in her life. My children are not first in my life. My children are third. The Lord Jesus, then my wife, and then my children. I don't love my children more than I love my wife.

That would be contrary to scripture. In India, even among Christians, it is true that many fathers love their children more than they love their wives. That's a tragedy of many homes. All these divorces that take place.

They fight for the children. They don't care about the wife or husband. It's a tragedy of Christendom today because they have not been taught put Christ first. When Christ is first, husband and wife will be very close to each other because Christ is in the middle.

You'll love your wife much better when Christ is first in your life. He's like the glue that holds you together with your wife and husband. You fight with your wife. I'll tell you why. Because Christ is not first in your life.

You fight with your husband because Christ is not first in your life. Something else. And most of the things that husband and wife fight about is earthly things which won't matter 2 ,000 years from now.

Your home relationship is very, very important. It's the second floor. Your ministry is useless only your ministry. It says even your prayers will not be heard. 1 Peter 3, 7 says you husbands, if you don't live in an understanding way with your wife recognizing that she's a weaker vessel you can pray as much as you like.

Your prayers will not be heard. Do you understand now why so many prayers you pray never get answered? You're not living in a proper way with your marriage partner. And you want to bring up your children.

If you want to bring up your children properly the most important thing you can do to bring up your children properly is love your wife. So your home relationship we have stressed that in our church for 35 years.

Not everybody has listened to us. Oh, that's a sad thing. Don't think that everybody who listens to me in CFC for 35 years are following it. I see their lives. I see their homes. I see they haven't listened to me.

They thought they are cleverer and wiser. They messed up their life because they don't listen to God's word. And then once you love your wife it's fundamentally important to bring up every one of your children in the fear of God.

And you got to start when they are one year old. Don't wait. Don't wait. They understand obedience when they are one year old. And you must teach them you got to listen to daddy and mommy. You got to obey daddy and mommy.

And we have been very strict with that. And if you are strict with them up to the time they are get to their teenage years then when they become teenagers you won't need to discipline them so much. Then you seek to win their heart.

I was very strict with all of my four boys when they were young. I believed in the old fashioned biblical way. That the way to get foolishness out of the heart is via the bottom. Some inward connection there.

I don't know how it works but that's how it is. It's in the Bible by the way. It's not an original with me. Proverbs 22 it says Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child but the rod of correction will drive it far from him.

Amazing verse. Do you know that's why God has put a little extra muscle and flesh at the bottom so they don't get hurt. Don't beat them on their legs and all that. There's not enough flesh there. There's a reason why God put a little flesh there on the backside.

God is wise. Proverbs 22 15 that was by the way. Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child but the rod of correction will drive it far from them. That's the way we brought them up. I don't regret it.

But I'll tell you honestly sometimes I did it in anger. Not sometimes, a number of times. I was aware that I was angry and every time I did that I would go to the restroom in my house lock myself up and weep before God.

Say Lord I'm sorry. The discipline was right. The anger was wrong. Help me to overcome my anger so that I can come to the place in my life where I discipline like you discipline your children without anger, with love.

Only then I could come there because every time I slipped up I confessed my sin to God. And after a while my children detected it that dad would rush off to the restroom every time he spanked us and gradually they discovered what I was doing.

And then they respected me that I was a man who judged myself. When they grew up I said you never had a perfect father. I punished you sometimes in anger. They knew that. But I say you had one thing you can be thankful you had an honest father who was honest about his failure and whom God helped.

And I said remember that when you become fathers you won't be perfect. Today all my four boys are fathers. They're not perfect. I say be honest. When you slip up get before God and ask his forgiveness.

So we have to bring up our children. When they grow up older we have to win their heart. I remember once when one of my boys deceived me about something. It wasn't very serious. It wasn't something sinful.

But he was selected to play for a particular sport in his school team. And he wanted to go and play in that team that day and not go to his class. And he thought if he would ask me I'd say forget about the game.

Go and study in your class. I don't think I'd have said that. I'd say go ahead and play. I was not against my children playing games. But he was not sure. So he packed up his sports dress inside his school bag and went apparently to school.

By the time he came back that he had fooled me. So he was 16 years old when he came home. I said hey we need to have a little talk now. Let's go into the other room. And he knew I had discovered. And he came trembling into the other room.

I said let's kneel down now. Let's pray. And I knelt down with him. I put my arm around him. I prayed. I said Heavenly Father as a father that my son should deceive me. Help me to be a little better father.

In Jesus name. Amen. I said okay son you can go. I've got nothing more to say. Ten years later he was speaking to the young people in our church. And he said there's a side of my father that you people don't know about.

You only hear him as the strong prophet in the pulpit. He said I'll tell you another side of him which you don't know. And he told this story. And he said that did more good to me than all the spankings I ever got.

I want to say to you fathers and mothers. Do you seek to win the hearts of your children? That was my goal. My goal was not spanking them. My goal was that they will grow up godly. Not to see me as a father who if I failed I was honest about it.

But who strove to perfection. But who would be honest. And who loved them. Cared for them. And respected their dignity when they grew up to be teenagers. And not treat teenage children like three year olds.

The result is all four of my boys are serving the Lord today. They married God fearing wives. They're seeking to bring up their children in the same godly ways. And every one of them has said to me dad you're our hero.

Of course I have to admit that I had the advantage. They had the advantage of a godly mother who prayed for them. Who gave up her medical profession. And never earned one cent as a doctor in 43 years.

So that she could be a mother. And only help poor people. Freely. And I know my children recognize that because one of our boys when he was in college here he told one of his colleagues the reason I've been protected in college is because my mother prays for me.

Remember that, not my father. My mother prays for me. You mothers, do you pray for your children? We pray for them. Regularly. We pray for our grandchildren now. We don't believe we can make it without God's help.

That's the second floor. Only then can I have a ministry. Because the Bible says if you can't take care of a few children in your home how can you take care of so many in God's home? So that is very important for me.

My home was more important than my ministry. And that's why the devil could not destroy my ministry. Because he's destroyed many people's ministry by destroying their home. He's destroyed many homes by destroying their personal life.

He's destroyed their personal life by getting rid of their foundation. They're insecure. So the foundation, the first floor, the second floor don't try to build the third floor before you've built the first and the second.

The Third Floor: Building the Church as Christ's Body

And the third is the church. And that's also important for me because the Holy Spirit's ultimate goal is not to produce a bunch of holy individuals floating around here and there. God is not, Jesus didn't say I'll build a whole lot of holy individuals who float around here and there.