Are You Religious Or Spiritual？ — Zac Poonen

The Light of God’s Word

I want to first of all show you a verse in Psalm 119, Psalm 119 and verse 130. There are some very lovely verses in Psalm 119. If you take time sometime to read it, probably take you only five minutes, but you'll come across some amazing verses and one of those is this verse.

The unfolding of your words gives light. It gives understanding to the simple. God's Word is like something wrapped up. Until you unfold it, you can't see what's inside. It's like, you know, you have a closed Bible, you don't know what's inside.

When you open it, you see God's, the verses in Scripture are also like that. I believe each verse is like something closed and it's unfolded. You get light and light is life. Otherwise we just get understanding and this is the type of understanding that God wants to give to the simple.

And when it says simple in this verse, it's referring to those who are unwise, not stupid, but who don't understand. You know, just like in the world, you talk about simple people who can't understand intellectual matters.

In the Bible, when it talks about simple people, it talks about those who can't understand spiritual matters. So those who can't understand spiritual matters, God's Word is unfolded and gives light and understanding.

So that's what we want to do today. I want to take you through a brief Bible study through, from Genesis to Revelation. It's not going to take a long time, just the usual time. But to show you the difference between being religious and being spiritual.

Religiosity and Spirituality Throughout Scripture

We've often spoken about it. In fact, it's been one of our themes in this church for many years. You don't hear much about it in other churches, religiosity and spirituality. What's the difference between being religious and being spiritual?

And through the years, many new people have joined this church. We praise the Lord for that. And there's often a need to go through again, truths that some of you may have heard years ago. And even if you heard it years ago, it's good to refresh our minds.

So throughout the scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, you find two streams of religiosity and spirituality. Those who understand spiritual reality and those who are just religious. And very often they look the same on the outside.

It's like real diamonds and fake diamonds. They look the same or a real currency note in a counterfeit. They look the same unless you look very carefully. And if you were buying gold or diamonds or you heard there's a lot of counterfeit currency around, you'd be very careful when you go to purchase something to make sure you don't get a fake.

Now you're not going to lose much in eternity if you collected a lot of fake gold or counterfeit currency, but you're going to lose everything if you had a fake Christianity, which is just religious, not spiritual.

It's far more important to discern between religiosity and spirituality than a piece of glass and a diamond or a counterfeit note. I wonder if you realize that. You know, if you don't see that seriously, I don't think you're going to get much out of this study.

But if you believe that your relationship with God and to be right with God and to be sure about our eternal destiny is far more important than any amount of deception that any person can do to you with offering you counterfeit stuff.

If you believe that's more important, eternity is more important, then you'll pay attention to what I'm saying. See, right at the beginning you find two trees in the Garden of Eden, Genesis 2, and right at the end of the Bible you find two systems.

The two trees have developed into two systems, big huge systems. One is called Babylon and the other is called Jerusalem, but it started with these two trees and went right through the Scriptures and you will see that.

And these two trees, you know, they are mentioned in Genesis chapter 2. They are called the Tree of Life in verse 9. And the Tree of Life was right in the middle of the garden, that is in the center of Eden, showing that it was the most prominent thing and that which God wanted Adam to partake of.

And then there was somewhere else the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. And there you have the origin of true spirituality and religiosity. Spiritual people look for life. Religious people look for a knowledge of good and evil.

Now you would think knowledge of good and evil is a good thing. We teach our children the knowledge of good and evil. To know evil, that's a bad thing, but to distinguish between good and evil, isn't that a good thing?

Religious people think so. So religious people are not evil. They won't get a, they won't be classified as evil. We can say there are evil people, there are religious people, and there are spiritual people.

There's a lot of difference. But ultimately, in eternity, the religious people are going to spend eternity with the evil people. That's a sad thing. That's the tragedy. You think the Pharisees went to heaven?

They went where the other thief went, the one who did not repent, who was a murderer all his life. They went where the terrorists and the murderers and adulterers have gone, in spite of all their religion, in spite of their paying their tithe, in spite of their going to synagogue every day all of their lives, in spite of their keeping all the commandments, external ones I mean.

It was Jesus himself who said concerning them in Matthew 23, how will you escape the damnation of hell? This is why it is serious. When you realize that there are evil people in the world, religious people, and spiritual people, and the religious people are consigned to the same eternal fate as evil people, then you realize that Christianity teaches something very different from what most religions teach.

Most religions teach there are good people, evil people, God will take the good people to heaven and the evil people to hell. Well, that's human understanding. If you don't believe the Bible is the Word of God, then of course that's what you believe.

I believe the Bible is the Word of God and I believe there's only one person who walked on this earth who could tell us about eternity, nobody else. The rest are guessing. Like I use this example, if you get a room full of people who have never seen an elephant or even a picture of an elephant and does not know that such an animal exists, and if you ask them all, tell them all there is an animal in India called an elephant.

Can you draw a picture of it? I guarantee if a hundred people are drawing it will be a hundred different pictures because none of them have seen it. This is how we have so many religions in the world.

Nobody's come from heaven, nobody's died and come back and told us what heaven is like. Everybody's guessing, but there's one person who walked on this earth, who came from heaven. That's why I believe him.

I believe what he says is right and when he tells the religious Pharisees that they're going to hell, I believe it and I don't want to be in that category. Therefore I want to be clear that I want to be spiritually minded, not religious.

The Tree of Knowledge Versus the Tree of Life

And when we see that religion comes through the knowledge of good and evil, what did Adam get through partaking of that tree of knowledge of good and evil? He got the knowledge of good and evil resident within him and the Lord said you will die.

The day you eat it you will die spiritually. He died physically also, but that also in God's reckoning one day is a thousand years and the Bible says one day is a thousand years and no human beings ever lived more than one day in God's eyes.

Everybody died before they were a thousand years old. So in the day that man ate, they died. Adam died physically and spiritually in the day that he ate of it. And yet so many Christians think that because I know what's good and evil and I can decide myself, I don't need life.

I can decide myself which TV programs are good to watch and which are not. I don't need to pray. I can decide myself which movies are good and which are bad. I can decide myself whether Harry Potter is a good book to read or not and whether it's good for my children or not.

Well, I hope you'll see your children with you in eternity. I hope you're not feeding them with poison in the interest of increasing their knowledge. We've got to be very careful in the day and age in which we live.

You must remember the entire education system of this world is under the control of the devil. That's why they teach evolution. That's why they teach against God. That's why they teach against creation.

The financial systems of the world are under the control of the devil. The entertainment systems of the world are all under the control of the devil. If you are not watchful, you've got to be very careful about the things that come from the educational systems and the financial systems and the entertainment systems of this world.

You can think that this is good and this is evil because your forefather partook of that tree and because you go to church and know a little bit of the Bible, you think you're alright. Dear brother, sister, what you need is life.

Jesus did not come to give us the knowledge of good and evil. He came to give us life. The knowledge of good and evil is like a law. We can say the whole law. What was the law? It was the knowledge of good and evil.

What you should do and what you shouldn't do. Even for small things like if you found a nest on the ground with a mother bird and baby birds, the law told you what to do, what you could take and what you should let go.

There were small, small things. If you had leprosy, what you're supposed to do. If there was pollution in the house, what you're supposed to do. The law was very clear. This is good, this is evil. But it didn't bring life.

All those who are under the law died spiritually. So there are in the world, we can say the lawless, who don't believe in any law, the legalistic and the spiritual, or the worldly, what we'd call the worldly and those who are strict legalists and the spiritual.

There's a lot of difference. Many legalistic people think they are spiritual. They're not. The Pharisees thought they were the most spiritual people on the face of the earth. And I believe that even Peter, James and John in their younger days must have thought, if you had asked Peter, can you tell me some spiritual man that you know, they'd point out one of the Pharisees.

And they must have got the shock of their life when they heard Jesus lambasting the Pharisees and saying they were going to hell. The people whom they thought were the most spiritual people on earth. Jesus said they were going to hell.

The unfolding of your word gives light. There's no other way to get it. So this is where religion begins. When I live by my own understanding of what is good and what is evil. And I don't want God to give me life and the life within me prompting me to hold back from something.

And that life comes to us through the Holy Spirit. That's why it's important that every person not only receives the Spirit when you're born again, but is filled with the Holy Spirit because that's to be alert to what is living and what is dead.

The tree of life we can say is a life full of the Holy Spirit. And that's what Adam rejected. And that's what God placed in the middle of the garden. And that's what God places in the middle of the church, the Holy Spirit.

And when the Holy Spirit is not recognized in a church is most important. You'll end up with a so-called good church that's avoiding evil things, doing a lot of good to the community and helping people and all that.

But finally, the vast majority of that church going to hell. That'll be tragic. So let's remember that this is where religiosity and spirituality begins. One more thing I want to say here before I move on.

The Way of the Cross and the Tree of Life

When Adam and Eve sinned, it says here that the Lord put a chapter 3 in verse 24. He put a flaming sword in front of the tree of life. Up till that time, there was no flaming sword. Before sin came, the tree of life, Adam and Eve could access it easily.

Just walk up and take. But not now. As soon as sin came, God put a flaming sword going around and around to guard the tree of life. And it meant that nobody could come to that tree of life now without that sword falling on them and killing all that was of Adam or what we call the flesh.

That's the meaning of that symbol there. That sword fell on Jesus and he took the punishment so that the way to the tree of life is opened. But it also has to fall on this Adamic part of us called the flesh.

And that's what Paul says in Galatians 2. I am crucified with Christ. The sword has fallen on me and therefore Christ lives in me. I've come to the tree of life. That's the meaning of Galatians 2. It's right here.

The sword of life, the flaming sword has fallen on Christ and on me. I am crucified with Christ. So now I can come to the tree of life. Christ lives in me. I have his life. And this is why just like we say the Holy Spirit must be central in a spiritual church, the way of the cross must be central in any spiritual church.

You avoid that way, you'll only go to the tree of knowledge of good and evil. You know when I have question-answer sessions in different conferences, it's very easy to see when looking at these questions whether these people who ask the questions are interested in knowledge or in life.

And I tell you a lot of them are interested in knowledge. Curious things about why does it say this and this way. We get a lot of emails and the people who answer these emails, I tell them don't waste your time answering questions about knowledge.

Christianity is full of people who say why this verse, what does this verse mean and what does that verse mean? Very few who are hungering and how can I have more of the life of God? I wish I could meet a few people like that.

Those are the only people I want to meet. I'm not interested in meeting people who want explanations on verses in the Bible. I'm not interested one bit because I know where to lead them to the tree of knowledge of good and evil and to spiritual death.

So when you go to the Bible, seek for life and not for knowledge. And when you share the word, don't share knowledge. You'll kill people. Share life. Share what God spoke in your heart, brought life into your heart.

That's prophecy. Sharing information and knowledge. It's just like getting up in here and saying two twos are two, four and two threes are six and two fours are eight. It's all true. It doesn't help anybody spiritually.

That's knowledge. So we got to move on. Please think about this. Knowledge or life? The second example where you see a contrast is Cain and Abel. Now these folks didn't know anything about religiosity and spirituality but we can see there with the eyes of the Holy Spirit, the New Testament eyes, a principle there in what these two people did.

Cain and Abel: Maximum Devotion Rather Than Minimum Religion

And it says here about Cain that he brought an offering to the Lord and Abel also. Genesis 4 verse 3 and 4. And like you've heard me say many times, in contrast to what most of Christendom says, there are a lot of things we preach which are very different from most of Christendom.

And this is one of them. Most of Christendom says Abel brought blood, therefore God accepted him. In other words, it doesn't matter how you live, so long as you have blood, he'll accept you. In other words, if Cain had brought a lamb, even though he had bitterness in his heart against Abel, God would accept him.

Absolute rubbish. Jesus said that if you've got something against you, and you come and bring an offering, even if there's blood in it, God won't accept it. Go and settle that matter with that person, and then come.

But it's very clear here. The way Christendom reads Genesis 4 verse 3 is like this. See how it can be very subtle, the difference. It came about in the last part of verse 4. This is how most of Christendom reads it.

And the Lord had regard for Abel's offering, and therefore he had regard for Abel. Wrong. And the Lord did not have regard for Cain's offering, and therefore he had no regard for Abel. Wrong. Read it carefully.

The Lord had regard for Abel, for the person, therefore he accepted his offering, whatever it was. It was not a sin offering. They were bringing a Thanksgiving offering. And if you're a businessman running a shop, your Thanksgiving offering is money.

If you're a farmer, what you bring is grain. If you're a keeper of flock, you bring sheep. There's no question of blood there. It's a Thanksgiving offering, and God sees the attitude of heart which brings that offering.

All of us who are Christians, who are born again, bring some type of offering to God. And your offering can be either like Cain's or like Abel's. And you need to see the difference. And there you'll see the difference again between religious people and spiritual people.

So the first one I showed you was knowledge in life. And here I want to put it as maximum and minimum. Abel, it says here, brought the very best of his flock. Verse 4, Cain just brought an offering. That was the difference.

That God saw in Abel's heart, I want to give my very best to God. The very best and the most that I can have. The maximum. What is the maximum I can give to God of my life and everything. And Cain's attitude is, well, he's not an atheist, by the way.

He's not a worshipper of idols. It says he brought an offering to Jehovah. Verse 3, he came to the true God. And you may be coming to Jesus Christ. You're not a non-Christian. You come to Jesus Christ, but your attitude when you come is, what is the minimum I have to give to be accepted?

What is the minimum amount of my life I must give? What is the minimum amount of my time I must give? What is the minimum I have to do to be accepted as a good member in this church, where they'll allow me to come for the breaking of bread?

What is the minimum of my money that I must give to God? The whole concept is minimum. And that shows they don't love the Lord. If you're always thinking, what is the minimum I have to do for my husband?

What is the minimum I have to do in the house? I'll tell you, you don't love your husband at all. If you say, what is the minimum I have to do for my children? You don't love your children at all. And you're busy on your errands and your other work and your friends and all, what is the minimum I have to do at home?

You're not a good wife or a mother. Likewise a husband who says, what is the minimum I have to do to keep my wife happy? You don't love your wife at all. And when a person's attitude to God is, what is the minimum?

I have to give him some type of offering. After all, he died for me. Okay, here it is. I want to tell you, my brother, sister, whether you know it or not, you know it today, you're just a religious old person.

It's easy to be spiritual. If you love somebody, it's like, what type of wedding gift would you give to a neighbor's son or daughter getting married? I mean, you don't know the neighbor very well, but they give you an invitation and you go for the wedding.

It's normal to give some type of gift. You're not going to give them a check for one lakh rupees or a million rupees. Far from it. What if your son's getting married? Would you give that cheap gift? What's the difference?

This is your son. You may give him a house or a car. But to that neighbor whom you know so little, well, I have to give him something. I mean, we all think like that. It's got to be decent. And let me give a decent gift, but not so expensive.

I tell you, that is exactly how most Christians treat God. You have to give him something. Yeah, it must be a little decent. It can't be sort of cheap. So I'll give him a little bit. That's exactly how Cain came.

That is the mark of all religious people. Minimum. What's the minimum amount of my time I must give to God? I sometimes get letters from people who've said, I've retired from government service, Brother Zach, can I join your organization?

I'm willing to take some post there. And I say, we don't pay any salaries. And we get a reply after that. The guy has spent all his life living for making money in some government service. Now he wants to make money after he's retired in the name of religion.

Can you beat it? This is the type of hypocrisy we find among Christians. But there's plenty of that. The minimum attitude, and you ask yourself, my brother, sister, whether there's anything of that, because that type of religion will gradually make you evil.

It made Cain evil. It made him jealous. If you find yourself in competition with other brothers, like Cain was in competition with Abel, if you feel jealous that somebody else is being more accepted by you, I'll tell you the reason.

Because you're one of those minimum Christians. Otherwise there wouldn't be jealousy there. Abel was not jealous of Cain. He was quite happy at rest. If there's unrest in your heart when you think of some other brother or sister, you are a minimum Christian.

If you're disturbed and something good happens to somebody else, you're one of those minimum Christians. The fire fell on Abel's offering and Cain was disturbed. Why? Are you jealous of somebody whom God has blessed?

And when you hear something bad about them, are you glad to believe it? Because you're always jealous of that person. You're a follower of Cain, all right. And you'll end up where Cain ended up, no matter how many meetings you come to in CFC.

I've got to tell you that because I don't want your blood on my hands in the final day. Thirdly, a third example of religion and spirituality is in Abraham having Ishmael and Isaac. And you know how God gave him a promise.

Abraham, Ishmael, and Isaac: Human Effort Versus God’s Power

He had that promise when he was 75 years old. We read in Genesis 12, I'm going to make you a great nation, he said in Genesis 12 verse 2. And I'll bless you and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.

Now how would that happen if he didn't have any children? How was he going to make this man a great nation when he and Sarah had no children? And they went on and on and on, 10 years, no children. And finally, Sarah, Genesis 16, said, hey, 10 years gone by, I mean 10 years after they came to Canaan, they'd probably been married 40 years, I don't know, no children.

Sarah said, see, God said that we're going to have a great nation and it hasn't come through me. So the Lord has prevented me, verse 2, from having children. So take my maid, I can obtain children through her and we'll adopt that child as our child, we'll help God and otherwise God's name will be dishonored because God said, I'm going to make you a great nation and imagine if we die and no children are there, God's name will be dishonored.

We've got to help God out. See, that's the attitude of the religious person. I've got to help God out because God's in a tight spot. So I'll use my cleverness and my power and my wisdom to do something for God.

And so they produced a son called Ishmael. You know, by the way, this started with Abraham using his own wisdom to go to, I don't know whether you realize where this all began. You know, some of these things, when you trace it to the root, you find when you don't consult God and you use your own wisdom to do something, it leads to many other problems along the way.

We read that God told Abraham to go to Canaan and as soon as he went, it says in Genesis 12 verse 9, he journeyed on in the Negev and as soon as he landed in Canaan, there was a famine. Imagine landing up in the place where God told you to come and there's a famine there.

It's like the Apostle Paul, we read in Acts 16, I don't have time to show it to you. He got a vision one day, a person saying, come to Macedonia, which is Philippi, and help us. And he was sure, God's leading me to Philippi.

So Philippi and Macedonia are the same. He went to Philippi and the first thing that happens is he's locked up in jail. Now he could have said, well did I get that vision from God? When you get a vision from God you end up in jail?

Yes! Because the jailer needs to be converted. And I have a feeling that God saw the hunger in a Philippian jailer and wondered, how in the world can I reach that Philippian jailer? He'll never go to a meeting.

How can I reach that Philippian jailer who is hungry for God? I have a feeling Paul would have said, I'm ready to go to jail if I can win a soul. Would you be ready to go to jail, have your feet in stocks, to win a soul for Christ?

God saw there was one man who was willing to go to jail to win souls for Christ. God said, okay, I'll send him to jail. And he went to jail and he was praising the Lord and the Philippian jailer got converted.

And I have a feeling that Philippian jailer was one of the elders in the church in Philippi later on. Think what would have happened if somebody like Paul was not there, who was ready to go to jail, ready to pay any price to serve God.

Those are the ones God uses. The rest of us will just attend meetings and sing songs and drift along on the earth. It's useless. I want to tell you, you should not drift along on this earth as a useless person.

Say to God, Lord, I want my life to count for eternity. I want my life to be a blessing to others. If I have to go to jail, I'm ready to go there if I can build your kingdom. Be radical. Anyway, there was a famine in the land and so immediately, without consulting God, Abraham went to Egypt, Genesis 12 10.

And when he came back from Egypt, you know who he brought back? An Egyptian servant maid called Hagar. He would never even have seen her in Canaan if he had said, oh God, there's a famine. What shall I do now?

There was a famine in Elijah's time. He didn't run off to some other place. God brought food through the ravens and he could have done that to Abraham too. When we use our human wisdom, when God has told us to go somewhere and we find it a little difficult and we back out and say, no, no, no, that can't be because if God sends us someplace, there'll be no difficulty.

Wrong. When God sends us there'll be a lot of difficulties. There'll be mountains, but you'll overcome them. But see the consequences of that. From Hagar came Ishmael. From Ishmael came the entire Arab nation and so many other problems.

So many religions, etc. It all started with one man not consulting God. Do you know the consequences of your not consulting God in something can affect your children and grandchildren and so many others.

It's true. It's a wonderful thing if you're a righteous man. The blessing flows on to your children and grandchildren. And likewise the other way around if you're evil. Anyway, they didn't have children so they decided to help God out and got Ishmael and he took Ishmael and said, oh God let Ishmael live before you.

Will you please accept Ishmael? And God said, no, I will not accept Ishmael. Genesis 17, verse 18 Abraham said to God, oh that Ishmael might live before you. Genesis 17, 18 He's a healthy, smart, strong young man.

Can't he be the one through whom I'm going to, your promise is going to be fulfilled? God said, no. What is produced through your cleverness, through your back sliding, through your going to Egypt when I never told you to go there and through the wisdom of your wife and through your power will never accomplish my purpose.

And so what do we read? Genesis we read in Abraham was 86 years old we read in Genesis 16 verse 16 when Ishmael was born. Genesis 16 last verse Abraham was 86. What's the next verse? Abraham was 99. Why is it the Holy Spirit just left out blank 13 years in Abraham's life?

Nothing, nothing. God was waiting for the strength of this man that could produce Ishmael to come to zero. Abraham was not important he could produce a son he produced Ishmael. Sarah was barren but Abraham was not important.

God said I'll just wait till this guy gets important and he can't have a son in any case he himself can't have then he'll trust me that is the 13 years of waiting and very often God has to wait in our life till the strength of self comes down to zero then we will become spiritual but as long as we think I'm clever I'm smart a lot of people like that you know who come to church and judge the elders and pass opinions about various things in the church.

See this church has been going 38 years and I'll tell you something the people who have criticized us the most are the ones who have never planted one church in their whole life. It's like bachelors criticizing parents that they're not bringing up their children properly.

And after they criticize and leave us they still don't plant one church. They are the great critics who can sit in their armchairs do nothing for God and criticize men who are struggling and laboring out in the field to build God's church.

Don't be one like that because you'll destroy only yourself like some people have. God waits till all that strength of human cleverness and wisdom comes down to zero. And when he was 99 years old God said okay I'm going to multiply you Abraham.

You're important. You multiply. How do we know that Abraham was important. You read in Romans chapter 4. I don't have time to show it to you. It says he looked at his own body. It was as dead as Sarah's womb.

It was. God said okay now when you get a child how will it be not through your ability. Right. And he got Isaac. See that's the difference between old covenant and new covenant. In the old covenant it's the law.

I with my own ability try to keep God's will. In the new covenant it's the Holy Spirit coming and empowering me. It's like in the old days there was no electricity. The kings in India used to have servants who stood behind the screen and would keep pulling a rope so that the fan would go round and round and round and round.

It was by human power. The guy would get exhausted in 15 -20 minutes and replaced by another servant. This is life under the law. Struggling struggling struggling to overcome sins. Getting exhausted. Think how it is when electricity has come.

Nobody is struggling like that. Of course you got to put on the switch but then the power takes over. This is life under the Holy Spirit. In a sense it's almost effortless. I remember the days before I knew what it was to be filled and baptized in the Holy Spirit.

Even preaching a sermon was like the hand pump. Struggling struggling struggling. A few drops of water come out. But life in the Holy Spirit is like rivers who pumps a river. It's effortless. God pumps it.

That's life in the Holy Spirit. Dear brothers and sisters. And even overcoming sin it's not that there's no battle but you got to battle with God on your side. That's the difference between Ishmael and Isaac.

God's power or my power. And the end result is when I have done something with my power I get the glory. Abraham. How did you get Ishmael. He stretches out his chest and says that's me. And you ask the same Abraham.

How did you get Isaac. His head is bowed. If you can do something and you're pretty proud of it. You can be pretty sure it is Ishmael. Are you proud of something you have done for the Lord. Some Bible study.

You take somebody you brought to the Lord somebody you prayed for and he accidentally got healed. And you're pretty proud of it. That's your power your glory. And it's God's power. You will shrink away and say that was all of God.

It was all of God. That's the difference. So you can examine in your life all the things you take credit for. You know how smart you are in your work. You're smart. Right. You're not stupid like some of these other fellas.