07 New Wine in New Wineskins - Jesus the Only Thing That Matters — Sandeep Poonen

So as I said this morning we're going to hear at least five brothers who are under the age of 50 who are elders of churches who have a good testimony. You heard brother Victor in the morning. All these brothers are folks who became elders by the time they were 30 years old or around 35 early 30s and that's the age as I said when Ian and I were elders when we started.

Sometimes we think that we need much older people to be elders but these brothers are brothers who have not only been elders but who have learned to work together with others and to submit to spiritual authority through the years and that has been their salvation.

Apostolic Oversight and Spiritual Authority

We have a lot of brothers who are elders and many pastors in many churches who are a law unto themselves and it always leads to confusion. You never read that in the New Testament. In the New type of church we see in the New Testament is that which was planted by apostles and they appointed the elders and the apostles took a fatherly care for the elders.

Paul especially writing letters to them, correcting them, rebuking them, encouraging them. It's very rare to find churches like that anywhere in the world today. Why is that? Has the Holy Spirit changed?

Has Jesus changed? He's the same yesterday, today and forever. It requires people who will have the faith to believe that what God spoke and wrote in the scriptures can be fulfilled today. Now it's a lack of faith.

You say no no no we can't, it doesn't work today. Well according to your faith it be it unto you. It will not work in your case but we decided from the beginning that we would try to stick to the New Testament scriptures in every area and now after 36 years we've seen the result of that.

Unity in Christ Beyond Ethnic and Cultural Identity

How we've been able to work together in glorious unity and fellowship over these years with many many people. In the New Testament there's a wonderful verse in second Corinthians 5 which says we do not henceforth know any man according to the flesh.

We don't recognize one another as Telugu speaking or Tamil speaking or Anglo-Indians or Malayalees or North Indians or Gujaratis or Europeans or Americans or anything. There's no difference in Christ even human relationships.

So today we're going to hear Sandeep Poonen now. He happens to be my son but that's besides the point. He's a brother in Christ and he's an elder in a fellowship that he started in California and he often speaks in a very large church in California for 5 ,000 people regularly and there was a in fact they wanted him to be the pastor there which of course he turned down but he shared a message there which I felt would be very beneficial and I asked him if the Lord led him to share that with us too.

In fact that's what I told the others as well. Don't hesitate to repeat a message which the Lord anointed somewhere. Don't feel that you can't repeat that. Those who always want to hear something new must go to a place called Athens in Greece.

You read about in Acts 17 21 they always wanted to hear something new but in the Old Testament prophets repeated their messages. The gospels repeat what Jesus said and did four times. The epistles repeat many things because we need to hear repetition of the word until the word becomes life in us.

So I'm never ashamed to repeat and repeat until like the Old Testament prophets until the word becomes life. So Sandeep. I wanted to say before I started that we got to hear such wonderful truths earlier today and I had the pleasure of going to Tamil Nadu last week with last weekend with my dad and my brother and we heard brother Victor earlier today.

My heart broke within me as I heard the testimony of testimonies that we heard. How I wish that I had so many of the elders that I've gotten to interact with as my elder. I honestly say that before God.

I'm only 36. I'm young. I wish I had elders like so many of you have to guide me into the truth. This is such an unbelievable gift God has given so many other churches in India. I'm desperate to find one man like this that I could submit to but it seems like God has really blessed the work over here and given so many godly men that I I'm humbled.

I really am to stand on this pulpit. I hope that I honor God through what I share. We were talking about we heard in this morning about Revelation chapter 12 where the dragon the devil was enraged was angry.

The Devil’s Craftiness and the Simplicity of Devotion to Jesus

I thought back to the first time when the devil was ever angry. The devil was cast out of heaven and sure he was angry then but then he saw God create renewed his creation of heaven and earth by creating the sun and the moon and the stars and all of the creation and he created the trees and the fish and the animals and then he watched as God breathed into these these piles of dust that he had formed with his hands and he breathed life into it and this was the darling of God's creation and the devil watched all of this.

He was the greatest in all of heaven besides God himself. He watched all of this and he was enraged and he said in his mind that he was going to corrupt the best of all of God's creation. He wasn't going to go after the animals.

He wasn't going to go after the fish. He was going to go after humans men and women and he saw a man and woman in the garden of Eden and he was enraged. He could have come as a dove. He could have told them hey this is God speaking knowledge of good and evil now I'm okaying it.

He didn't. He could have come as a lion. The devil could have come as a lion roaring and saying by brute force you must eat this and come on it but he didn't. When God wanted to attack the purest and most innocent of God's when the devil wanted to attack the purest and most innocent innocent of God's creation the devil knew that he had to be crafty.

He couldn't fool somebody by being innocent or some kind of vision. He couldn't fool Adam and Eve by being intimidating but he knew that he could fool maybe fool Adam and Eve by being crafty and we know the story of Adam and Eve and we know that Adam and Eve fell because of his craftiness and a lot of us think that Adam and Eve must have not been very smart.

We think we I know I thought this I wish I could have been there in the Garden of Eden. I would have chosen differently. After all it's just a matter of choosing between apples and oranges isn't it? I could make the right choice.

How could they make it? How could they have blown it so easily? But it wasn't easy. The temptation was not easy. It was very very very hard and this is why I find that the temptation to Adam and Eve was very hard.

Turn with me 2nd Corinthians chapter 11 verse 3 and we read here that how the devil was able to deceive Eve was as he came through the serpent he deceived Eve by his craftiness. It wasn't by his brute force.

It wasn't by some kind of twisted logic. It's by his craftiness and then he says I'm a Paulist saying I'm afraid lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness your minds will be led astray from the simple and pure devotion to Jesus Christ.

He's making a comparison here. Paul is saying that just as the devil deceived Eve by craftiness you too will fall. Some of us Christians think that the devil is going to really intimidate us by demon-possessed neighbors or something or we feel that the devil will intimidate us because or he'll fool us because of dreams and visions and he does fool people by demon possessions or by fooled people by dreams and visions but for the best Christians for the most sincere Christians the way the devil will deceive us will deceive.

I hope all of us sitting here who desire to be the best Christians possible is not by brute force is not by some vision but by craftiness and the crafty lie of the devil is that he will say all you need to do is lessen your simple and pure devotion to Jesus.

I think of it like a virus that they put into these computers that hackers put into the computers. It's a small little file nobody even notices it can come through a USB that you put into the computer and it slips in and the hacker doesn't care if it sits dormant for a while but if the hacker knows that the virus is in there it will slowly and surely achieve its purpose.

It will start to destroy the computer eventually until the computer is completely destroyed and I don't know if we have seen our lives and estimated our lives as to whether we are being deceived by this metric.

We all know that we can criticize other people, we can pass on YouTube videos, look at how these people do things, look at how these people are deceived, look at this crazy belief that other people believe, look at how they believe in the prosperity doctrine, look at how they believe this thing about the millennium or whatever.

Well the bible tells me where deception has really started so before I take specks out of ignorant other people's eyes I've got to ask myself if I have the log of deception in my own eye and I have already started to be deceived if I have been led astray from the simple and pure devotion of Jesus.

That's how the devil was when the devil saw that I was converted for the first time when the devil saw that or at least that I renewed my commitment to Jesus recently maybe the devil is enraged but he doesn't come swinging at me if he knows I'm serious he knows that won't shake me he knows it may shake me for a little bit but I'll realize the power of the name of Jesus.

If the devil really wants to get the best of God's new creation he's going to come after us with craftiness and he's going to slip in a little virus that says lessen your simple and pure devotion to Jesus.

And I have a question that I've asked myself and it's an indicting question it's a very convicting question. It's a very simple question this is it. Sandeep, look at your present relationship with the person of Jesus and ask yourself from how you're living your life what Jesus means to you personally not what his theology means to you not as what his doctrines mean to you what does the person of Jesus mean to you.

And that has become a very convicting question for me because I could be doing a whole lot of other things. I could be coming up with much varying all kinds of new creative sermons. I could be going all over the world preaching things.

I could be writing all kinds of songs. It doesn't really matter. This is the question that helps me understand whether I too am deceived. I can talk about false prophets. I can talk about deception elsewhere in the church.

But if I myself have lost the simple and pure devotion for Jesus that I once had I too am deceived. And the deception is coming and it may take weeks it may take months it may take years but that deception will start to rot and start to ruin my spiritual life.

That simple and pure devotion to Jesus is what is the one metric that will always give me an answer of whether I am deceived or not. And as I thought about it I thought about what Jesus could mean to me.

Jesus as a Great Thing Rather Than the Supreme Treasure

And I thought about all different kinds of stages in my life and how I could slip back into past stages of my life of what Jesus could mean to me. When I was born again I think I wanted all of Jesus. I didn't know what all of Jesus meant but in the simplicity and purity of my heart I wanted all of Jesus but over time Jesus didn't become all of my fancy.

And I want to talk about two lies that we as Christians can settle for less than all of Jesus. The first one is where Jesus is a great thing for me now that sounds very good. Having Jesus as a great thing sounds like a very good thing and this is what I mean by that.

This is what I wrote down for it. My main this is how I know Jesus is a great thing for me because the main desire of my life is to maximize my life here on earth and to enjoy as many of its attractions as possible.

Now now that I'm a Christian I might have to avoid some things but I'm still focused on enjoying myself here on earth. So I want to live like a king here on earth maximize all my time here on earth. Of course I'll never deny Jesus.

I'll try to raise my children to be good children and then I hope I go to heaven and be a king once again. So live like a king here on earth don't do anything terribly wrong and then go to heaven and be a king again.

But there could be many things wrong with such things. When Jesus was a great thing for me there was a lot of place in my heart for other things and the biggest thing that co-existed in my heart was the world.

So as a young person I'll still come to church on Sunday but I really enjoy my time on the weekends on Saturday and Sunday with my Friday and Saturday with my worldly friends because the world is so much more pleasurable to me and I desperately as a young person want to be cool and even though I may say Jesus I want to renew my life to be Jesus.

You want to be everything there. That desire and that temptation is still present always attacking me saying you want to be cool you should be cool and affects us in different kinds of stages of life in different ways.

It means we want to listen to the kind of music. We listen to all kinds of music that affects us differently. We listen to music by people who don't know the love of God and so are angry and me. I know the love of God.

I was raised by loving family. I'm not angry but I keep listening to this music by angry people and I find out that sooner or later I'm starting to become angry at God at other people because I want Jesus and I love the things of this world.

I just want to be cool and it's too hard for me to say no to my young friends. I use Jesus like a credit card whenever I'm in help I'll just swipe it normal times once I you every now and then I'll access the blood of Jesus.

But I just want Jesus to advance my career take my children to heaven and I want to maximize my life. I can't say no to the Christian to my Christian friends. I love the things of the world and the world knows it.

So many young people let me ask you this does the world know that there's something different about me because I'm a Christian. It's not so much by my actions but my heart. Or do I have such a desire to be cool that I don't have lost the ability to say no to my friends if I'm married.

Jesus is a great thing for me. So I go to church on Sundays. I want to teach all my children the Bible stories and I'll teach them all the Bible songs. And I congratulate myself that I'm not like that neighbor who physically abuses his wife and I'm not like that other neighbor who believes in evolution and abortion.

I'm different but my children know that I don't really have any personal connection with Jesus. I rarely talk with him and they can see my wife. And I don't really have much of an interaction. If I think back about the last time my wife and I had an interaction with about Jesus and how we could be better disciples of Jesus.

I can't even think about the last time we had such a conversation because Jesus is just a great thing for me. The world the things of the world the pleasures of the world is what is most important to me.

James chapter 4. Verse 4 tells me that I'm an adulteress. That's a pretty strong word. But that's exactly what James tells me I am. I claim to be married to Jesus and fooling around with the world. What a tragic state.

And I can only say it's tragic because I've been there. It is such a horrible place to be. Adultery committing adultery spiritual adultery. Claiming to be married to Jesus. There's one thing good about most such people.

And it was like true about me too. When I was in that situation I knew that I didn't have what the Christian life was promising to offer. I didn't sometimes know what it took many times I didn't want to do what I needed to take.

But I knew something was wrong. And many of you young people may be there. You may be enjoying the world the passing pleasures of this world. You haven't gotten to the story of the prodigal son where life has become all about the pig farm.

You've still got a little bit left of your inheritance left that you're partying and having a good time with your friends. Money hasn't run out as yet. Your energy for the things of this world hasn't run out as yet.

So you say no no no no that Friday nights not big farm to me. It's actually a pretty good old time for me. But you know that when you come to church on Sunday something's not right. Something's not adding up and you want you know Jesus could offer you a better life.

But you don't have the courage or you don't know what it takes. So you don't have what you want. You don't have what it takes to do it. But at least that's what you think. You're willing to admit if somebody were to be real and compassionate to you that I don't have it brother.

I don't have what it takes. I'm missing something. I want that Jesus that some people talk about. As Paul says we've been tricked. We've been fooled by the craftiness of the devil. The devil has fooled us.

He's not robbed us of crores of rupees. All he's taken from you all he's done is put that virus in you that has started to spread and destroy that simple and pure devotion for Jesus. And it doesn't matter if all other things may be looking good.

And we have a good testimony in front of other people. The devil knows the virus is alive and kicking. And so we look around in the church and we say maybe some other brothers and sisters can show me what it means to have that true life.

Jesus as the Main Thing Without a Passionate Love

And we find another set of Christians. But unfortunately the other set of one other set of Christians are probably most prevalent in most churches especially in churches that preach holiness. But it's a different kind of life which is not the life that Jesus offers.

And that is a standard of life where Jesus is the main thing in my life. I talked about Jesus is a great thing but there's plenty of place for other people. But then there's another group of Christians where Jesus is the main thing.

This is how I categorize that. And I've been there too and I'm constantly struggling to make sure that I don't settle in there. I'm constantly focused on making sure that I don't commit any big sin as long as I'm succeeding in that.

I'm fine. I know that just saying I'm a Christian is not good enough. I've been in church long enough so I must also do something with my life that demonstrates that I'm a follower of Jesus. So I'll never commit adultery with another woman's man's wife or with another woman since I'm married.

I will always be faithful to pay my taxes. I'll read my Bible. I'll pray consistently. I'll even try to get victory in some of the thought areas of my life. But still something is missing. I'm missing an enduring joy.

I'll put verses up on plaques on my room and on my Facebook account. But my heart doesn't really long to be close to Jesus. Does my heart. Does your heart long to be close to Jesus. If it doesn't we could be people who are just making Jesus the main thing.

I'm not gonna ever do something terribly sinful. But I'm not excited by the person of Jesus. And so when people are when I when that question is posed to me what does Jesus mean to you. What is the person of Jesus mean to you.

If I'm intellectual and I've studied theology I immediately go to that. Oh yeah Jesus died for my sins. Jesus gave up his life for me. He sacrificed everything for me. He was a propitiation for sins if I've know some better words.

But I don't have any idea what that means. It's never become personal to me. There's been a long time since I've wept. It's been a long time since I've been broken over the fact that Jesus died for me.

It's not personal anymore. It's just a thought. It's just a theory. It's become old news. It's not good news anymore. Or if I'm the emotional type I yeah I think about intimacy about Jesus. But it's all because I weep.

And I think that I love Jesus. Because I watch some movie where Jesus was dying and I say that's great. Or I listen to some moving worship songs and I say yes. Now I love Jesus. But during the day the next day or the few days afterwards my heart is not drawn to Jesus the person of Jesus.

I'm not talking about living this life obeying this command the person of Jesus. Jesus you that's a sign that I mean I may be just making Jesus the main thing. And these are the some some of the things that accompany people who have Jesus as the main thing.

I find that hypocrisy and legalism is abounding in me when I try when I make Jesus just to make thing I'm not truly happy in Jesus. I'm not able to live a life of freedom from sin. I'm living a life of sometimes victory over sin.

But the moment I fail or the moment I get discouraged I'm back to sitting in the back of the hall. I don't know how to get up. So every year for two months I'm sitting in the back of the church not able to testify having a glum face.

And then this is good for another three four months because I get encouraged and then I'm back again. Jesus is just the main thing. And I'll talk about victory over sin and I'll get victory over sin. But it's like a rag being squeezed and a few drops of water falling out.

And I have pride that so easily comes because after years and years of squeezing a rag and water coming out slowly the glass of water has a little bit more water than most people. So I look at the other people and say look I've got a little bit more water than you.

So you've got to respect me. You got to honor me because I scraped and I clawed my way to this kind of righteousness. Honor-seeking is also present. I can never access true faith because I seek the glory of man.

John 541. I go to the Bible thinking that just obeying the Scriptures blindly is going to give me eternal life. I have not found that that is a way of death that the Pharisees had they to search the Scriptures thinking that it brought life.

They were unwilling to come to Jesus. They made their life about a boy obeying the commands. We too can make the our life about getting victory over sin. And I feel that what turns off most non Christians.

And I feel that what turns off most young people in the church are when all the brothers people who are so are supposed to be leaders. We don't demonstrate that Jesus is more than just the main thing.

When we just demonstrate that Jesus is the main thing and my career can also be in there. And I can just do many other things when that I don't have a driving passion for Jesus. People who are young are not happy with that.

I know I'm not fooled by that. They want to see people who are devoted to Jesus. And that's my deepest fear. I don't really fear anymore that Jesus is gonna become a great thing for me. I don't think I'm gonna find myself really committing adultery constantly with the world.

Something has changed that I fundamentally lost that attraction. It still tempts me like anything. But I don't think I'll squall I'll wallow in that mud for too long. That's not gonna be my problem. My problem is gonna be that I'm gonna make Jesus the main thing.

He's the main thing in my heart. But there are corners in my heart. There are certain shelves in my heart that I don't let God touch. Maybe it's my family. Maybe it's my wife. Maybe it's my children. Maybe it's my career.

Maybe it's my bank account. Maybe it's something or the other. Maybe it's some way of interacting with other people that's sinful. And I say God no I can't do it. That's just my personality. And we can answer every theological question the right way.

But we don't have a passionate love for Jesus. If we don't have that we are already being deceived. And we have this concept that a life in balance is the right life. To live a life with Jesus is number one and all the things subservient to that.

That's fine all second third fourth and fifth. But we don't have a life where we're driving hard and hard to Jesus. We don't know what to make of Philippians chapter 3 where Paul says I count all things including my own righteousness.

At last I have no idea of even understanding how to get to that because I have one two three four five. Yes Jesus is number one. But many other things are two three four and five. God calls me to a highly.

I see the life of Paul is a life I want to emulate next to Jesus and I see him having a highly imbalanced life. Jesus had an highly imbalanced life. He failed in most of the metrics of this world. He was willing to count everything as loss for the sake of gaining Christ.

Jesus as the Only Thing That Matters

That was it. That's the third category of people Jesus for whom Jesus is the only thing that matters. We must be so immersed in the love of Jesus that that that he is our only driving passion. What do we make of Matthew 633 where it says seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

And all these things will be added to you. And you tell me hey look it's right there. I've got to seek him for his kingdom first and then all the other things will be their secondary right. So I can have Jesus in his kingdom number one.

And then I can have my career and all of these things. Number two tell you what God showed me about this when this is an attitude when I say God I can have Jesus as you is number one. And all these number two is where I have the mentality of somebody who is a hired slave and not a son.

A son is all about his father's business. A servant is somebody who says eight to five. I clock in and I clock out God I did my eight hours for you. Now it's my time. I do whatever I want. But the son comes out of laboring in the father's vineyard and in the farms and comes home and bees and it is with the father.

He never goes away from the father. He's doing his father's business and then comes home to be with the father. When I seek the kingdom of God first and I say oh God I can fit all other things into it and kind of achieve all these different things for you.

The mentality of God where I say God I have to do for certain number of things as long as I check off these things you're okay with me. Then I have an idea of God as a taskmaster. I don't know him as a father.

I don't know what it means to dwell in the father's house. I want to come in there a few days a week. I want to come in when my money is running out. I've not chosen to abide in Christ. I've not chosen to dwell in God because that's the only place that I really want to be.

And I want to take a couple of verses to illustrate this difference. I spoke the sermon but 18 months ago and I'll tell you I cringe when I hear that sermon that I spoke because I know how convicting that word is still for me.

And if that's one sermon that I feel is the one that I failed most in is that sermon. It is such a constant battle to make Jesus the only thing he the devil is relentless. I desire to be a faithful man of God who wants to serve him.

And the devil says all right. If you are the best of God's new creation I'm going to come and attack you. I'm going to bombard you with my virus from every different direction and it's going to be subtle it's just going to be decrease your passionate simple pure love for Jesus.

And he's got a lot of time. He wants that virus to slowly sit in and there's so many different ways it could come in and it's a constant battle to keep fighting it and say Jesus. I want to renew my love to make you the only thing.

I'm squandering it a little bit. I'm making you just the main thing. Here once again look at this verse. This is what I want to give you is a couple of ways in which I understand the difference between Jesus being the main thing and Jesus being the only thing.

Because if I look at a group like this I think that most of us probably some of us young people may be making Jesus a great thing but the rest of us our battle is to fight between making Jesus the main thing to making Jesus the only thing.

And I want to look at a couple of verses. 1 John chapter 3 verses 2 3. How do I know if I'm making Jesus the only thing. These are a couple of verses that I'm using to apply to my life beloved. Now we are children of God it has not appeared as yet what we shall be.

We know that when he appears we shall be like him because we shall see him just as he is. And here's verse 3. Everyone who has this hope fixed on him purifies himself just as we are pure people who have Jesus is the main thing are purifying themselves as Jesus is pure.

People who have Jesus is the only thing are also purifying themselves as Jesus is pure. What is the difference. This is the difference that I have seen in my life and it has to do with the word purity.

Purity as the Fullness of God’s Love

When you think of the word purity if I asked you to define the word purity what would you say. I thought about this often. This is one of those verses that have made a big impact on my life. What is the meaning of the word purity.

Purity I've usually thought of as being the absence of sin. And so I said okay if I want to be like Jesus because I'm going to see him like they're fully like it is I got to keep fighting sin. So I've got a fighting fighting fighting fighting fighting sin.

And there's nothing wrong with that. Purity does mean partially having a freedom from sin. But I want you I want you to follow me if you can with this when you define something as the absence of something you're only telling me what it doesn't have.

You're not telling me what it does have. If I held up a cup with some liquid in it and I told you it didn't have coffee in it I might be making a true statement but I have not told you what is in the cup.

I have just told you there's no coffee in the cup but what is in the cup. And it's the same thing with my purity. I can hold up this thing called purity and say purity is in the absence of sin. Okay. Does that just mean it's an empty cup or it's got something in it.

And I've seen that to have purity like Jesus is pure is not just to have the absence of sin but to have the fullness of the love of God in me. And that's a subtle difference. But I think an important difference because I can make my God victory over sin.

And when Jesus is the main thing for me I keep asking his job God happy with me and I obey the commands of God. But victory over sin becomes my God not Jesus becomes my God. And I saw this in verse 6.

No one who abides in him sin. No one who sins has seen him or knows him. Every time I sin it's saying that I have not seen God. And since God is love every time I sin I am saying that I have not seen or known the love of God in that particular area.

So I don't have to grit my teeth. I don't have to fight a little harder I need I'd say oh God. Maybe I need to pick up a second wind of strength to overcome this. I tell myself God somehow I sin. That means that I have not known your love like I should.

Purity does not come from me fighting and fighting and scraping and getting all the dirt off my cup. Purity comes from me getting more and more understanding of the love of God over me. I believe that that is a secret of Jesus's life that Jesus was always convinced of the absolute love of God that the father had over him in all situations.

And that's my problem. Every time I sin I'm basic. I have no idea how much God loves me. That's why I choose the pig farm. That's why I leave the home thinking that that pleasure is going to satisfy me.

I don't know the love of the father in that moment when I sin. So when I look at that verse everyone who has this hope fixed on him purifies himself. I don't say oh. That means I've got to fight sin fight sin fight sin fight sin.

And that becomes my focus. No I say God. I need to have a greater and greater revelation of the love of God over my life. I need to know how completely loved unequivocally loved you that I am by you. I don't need to seek any approval by man because you love me so deeply.

Every time I seek the approval of man it's an indication that I don't know your love. Every time I judge somebody it means that I don't know your love every time I look at a woman with lust in my heart.