Overcoming the World — Zac Poonen

Christ’s Promise of Peace in Tribulation

I want to turn to a verse in John's Gospel, chapter 16. These were almost the last words that Jesus spoke to his disciples before he went to the cross. Because after that, in John 17, he's praying to the Father.

So John 16 and 33, these things I have spoken to you that in me you may have peace. In the world, you have tribulation, but take courage, for I have overcome the world. And I believe that as we approach the end of the age and the return of the Lord, we will need those words more and more.

Because unlike 95 of believers, I do not believe that Jesus will come secretly and take away the church suddenly before the seven years of tribulation starts. We don't compel everybody in this church to believe that.

You can believe what you like. All I say is be ready for the tribulation. Don't be surprised when it comes. So people ask me, you mean to say that the Lord may not come tonight? I said, I'm absolutely convinced he won't come tonight.

And then people say, but if that's the case, people will live carelessly. It's only the fear that the Lord may come any day that makes people holy. So then I use an example. I said, do you know that we are the bride of Christ?

And we are waiting for the bridegroom to come. So think of an earthly example where an engaged girl, her fiancé has gone to some foreign country and says to her, well, I don't know when I'll come, but be faithful to me because I suddenly may get the opportunity to come back and I'll marry you.

It's something like that, the coming of the Lord. And supposing this girl says, or supposing she gets a letter from her one day, well, I'm not able to come for another seven years. Will you be faithful to me?

Because I'm not able to have come back. And supposing this girl says, ah, he's not gonna come back for seven years, that's great. I can fool around with a lot of other men till he comes. You think that girl is fit to be a bride?

When you know that the Lord is not coming for the next few years and you fool around, that is the way the Lord tests you and proves that you are not fit to be in as bride. If you really are in the bride of Christ, even if you know that Jesus will not come for the next hundred years, in your entire lifetime, you will still be faithful.

This is a false teaching that's been going on in Christendom for years, that the way to make people holy is teach them, Christ may come any moment. Tell this engaged girl, your bride room may land up any day, so don't fool around with other men.

Is that the way we keep a person as a pure virgin for Christ? These are all psychological, human techniques. And unfortunately, like I've often said, money, music, and psychology have come into the church to replace the power of the Holy Spirit and devotion to Christ.

Be careful of that. Be careful that you're not attracted to a church by music. Be careful that you're not attracted to a church by money or by psychology, and psychology can be more dangerous. You know, the human techniques by which you try to make people holy are very often by fear.

And one of the ways to frighten people is Christ may come. So I want to tell you that Jesus said, in the world, you will have tribulation. And those were the last words, almost, that he spoke to the disciples before he prayed in John 17 and John 18.

He says, let's go to the garden. And he went to the Garden of Gethsemane. So think of that. Just before he went off to die, he said, you're going to have tribulation. So why is it that we hear so much teaching that we won't have tribulation?

Or why is it we are afraid of it? In fact, he said, the world will have tribulation, and as soon as you hear the word tribulation, you know fear comes. That's why the very next words Jesus said was take courage.

Courage is the opposite of fear. What is the reason for not being afraid? There are many reasons why we can say, I'm not going to be afraid. One is, well, Jesus said in Matthew chapter 10, that they will not be able to touch even a hair on your head.

Verse 30, the hairs on your head are all numbered. Therefore, don't fear. That is a good reason. You know, Jesus said that in Matthew chapter 10 and verse 29, the sparrows, two sparrows are sold for a cent, yet not one of them will fall to the ground without your father.

Verse 28, therefore, don't be afraid of those who kill you. So in other words, one reason we don't fear is the reason given in Matthew 10, 28, 29, and 30, that even if somebody kills my body, he can't kill my soul.

And I must be more afraid of God than of men. And that the care of God for us who are his children is much more than this for the sparrows. And not one sparrow falls into the ground anywhere in the world.

I don't know how many millions of sparrows there are in the world, but imagine a father in heaven who sees every sparrow that falls anywhere in this huge wide world. He sees it's fallen. There's another sparrow fallen.

There's another sparrow fallen. I mean, I have a feeling that sparrows must be falling almost every second. And God sees that. And if I can believe that, if I can believe the words of Jesus, you think he doesn't know what's happening to me or you?

And he said, the hairs on your head are numbered. You think he doesn't know when some sickness comes to you? He doesn't know about it? You've got to be crazy. I mean, I'm more afraid of getting sick than losing a hair from my head, even though I have very little.

I'm not so scared about losing a hair in my head, but sickness is worse. What does it mean when he said, the hairs on your head are numbered, not one of them will fall without your father knowing about it.

He knows. You see, a hair falling from the head is the most insignificant, unimportant thing that any of us can ever face. Can you think of anything more insignificant or unimportant that doesn't even bother you?

If you wake up in the morning and you find one hair on your pillow, how much does that bother you? It doesn't even bother me. Jesus took that example. Take these words seriously. His care for you, my brother, sister.

If you're a disciple of Jesus, remember, he didn't say this to the multitude. He spoke this to his disciples. So if you're not a follower of Jesus, forget it. This is not for you. But if you happen to be a follower of Jesus, then a learner and a follower of Jesus Christ, then this word is for you.

That not one hair in your head can be touched without your father knowing about it. Not one hair can fall without your father knowing about it. And therefore, we do not fear. Everything much worse than that, somebody hitting me or trying to kill me or whatever it is, we don't fear.

We have more value than many sparrows. But that's only physical harm. There's a worse harm that the world can do to you and me. And I don't know whether you realize this. I think many believers do not.

Overcoming the World’s Inner Corruption

The world can harm me in two ways. One is physically, hurt me, kill me. And those promises that I just read are referred to that part of the world harming me. But there's another way in which the world can harm you and me.

And that is through cinemas and television, pornography and dirty books and the love of money and many things like this. And I'll tell you, you'll discover, if you don't discover it now, you'll discover in eternity that that harm is much worse than if somebody cut off my hand because I'm a Christian.

It is much worse. And when we realize that, we will be afraid of that also. The two ways in which the world can harm me, and I want to be scared of the most serious one first, and then I won't be afraid of the other one, which is not so serious.

And that's why Jesus said in verse 33 of John 16, these things I've spoken to me that in me you may have peace. Peace is the word which Jesus always used after his resurrection when he met to the disciples, peace be unto you, peace be unto you.

The Bible says in Hebrews chapter 12, verse 13 to 17, that we must pursue peace with all men, without which we will not see the Lord. Peace between me and God, between me and other people, is a very, very important part of our Christian life.

And in Christ, I must live in that peace at all times. In Colossians 3, verse 15, it says, whenever that peace goes out of my heart, consider it like a referee blowing a whistle in a football game. The peace of Christ must be your referee, it says in the margin of Colossians 3, verse 15.

Referee means one who blows a whistle saying something is wrong. The whole game must stop. So whenever I lose that peace in my heart, I have to say something is wrong now, I don't know what it is. I wanna find out what it is.

You go to the empire, you go to the referee and say, what is the foul that was committed? The referee says, bring the ball here and I'll tell you what the foul is and then we'll start the game again. That's exactly what we have to do whenever we lose peace in our heart.

Please remember this, my brothers and sisters, it's been a very helpful guideline for me for many, many years. Whenever I lose the peace, it can happen to any one of us, to the best of us, the referee blows a whistle.

It may not be something you did wrong. It may be something that the other team did wrong, another person did wrong, the game has to stop. Somebody did wrong but it disturbed you and you lost your peace.

Haven't you discovered that sometimes? Somebody else does something wrong, maybe in your house, maybe your servant, maybe somebody in the office or somebody in the church, you didn't do anything wrong, the other person did something wrong and your peace is disturbed.

Yeah, it's happened to me, not so much now but I remember in the early days when we'd give responsibility to somebody in the church to do some part of the maintenance or cleaning and they didn't do it.

That would disturb me and I found I lost my peace because somebody else didn't do his job. And then I had to set something right in my heart that I don't have a grudge against him or bad thought about him but well, imagine maybe he was sick and that's why he couldn't come.

Imagine the best about him. Then my peace comes back. But I would be very, very careful because our tendency is when somebody does something wrong to attribute the worst possible motive to him and not imagine any good reason why that didn't happen but some very bad reason and that shows how corrupt our heart is and if you cleanse yourself whenever you discover that type of corruption in your heart that you think the worst possible thing about somebody instead of the best possible thing, you will gradually become a better person.

You discover that when somebody says something to you and you attribute the worst possible motive to it, that shows the corruption and filthiness of your own heart. Why not attribute a good motive to why he said that?

Why should it be the worst possible motive? You know, there's a verse in Proverbs which says, as in water, face answers to face, so the heart of man to man. That means when you look in a clear stream of water, you can see your face there or we'd say a mirror and what that verse is, is what you see in another person's heart is what is actually in your heart.

You imagine that guy's motive is bad because that's how you are. When you do something like that or say something like that, it's with a bad motive and so you imagine that other people are also like that but brother, sister, let me tell you, a lot of people are much better than you.

Their hearts are not as bad as yours. So it's good to think something good about other people that'll make you a better person too. So whenever peace is disturbed in our heart for any reason, even somebody else's error, stop, the referee's blown the whistle.

Peace as Preparation for Hearing God

Jesus said, in me, you will have peace. I've spoken these things to you that in me, you will have peace and I tell you, it's very, very important in the coming days to develop this habit and to learn this lesson of remaining in peace under all circumstances, whatever may happen in the world around, whatever you read in the newspaper and when I read of all the terrible things that are being done to little children these days, you know, we're scared for our own children, little children in an evil world.

We got to have peace. We got to believe that the angels in heaven take care of the little children of God's people. Otherwise, there's no hope for any of this and so we must believe that we must have peace.

We must not allow our heart to be disturbed because when the heart is disturbed, it's like, you know, in a clear lake, you can see your face, but when there's a ripple on that lake, you can't see your face.

So in the same way, when our heart is at peace and at rest, we can see the face of the Lord clearly and hear the voice of the Lord clearly, but when there's a disturbance, and a lack of peace, you can't see the face of the Lord clearly and you can't hear the voice of the Lord either.

It's like a disturbance on the telephone, on the phone if you, there's a lot of disturbance, you can't hear the voice and very, very often, this is the reason why believers say, I can't seem to hear what God is saying to me.

I'll tell you, brother, there are a lot of things that are disturbing the peace in your heart. Get rid of them. And you'll, the line will become clear because all the disturbance is gone and you will hear the Lord clearly.

That's been my great longing for many, many years, to hear the Lord clearly. Because of one reason, the Lord said, the only way for a man to live is by hearing the word of the Lord, not by food. The entire world thinks food is necessary to live, but in the midst of the world and things like that, God has a few people who realize that more important for me than food is to hear God speaking to me.

And that does not mean just reading the Bible for half an hour in the morning and easing my conscience. It's good to read the Bible for half an hour in the morning or whenever you do it, but hearing the word of the Lord is something I must be always alert to.

And I must not allow anything to prevent me from hearing that. That is why I must recognize the whistle of the referee when I lose my peace. In the world, you will have tribulation, but in me, you will have peace.

That is the greatest preparation for the coming days and for the troubles and difficulties that Christians may face in every country. Jesus said, you will be hated by all nations. He said that. You'll be hated by every nation because of me.

Boldness and Public Faithfulness

And the only way to escape being hated is to compromise and hide the fact that you're a disciple of Jesus Christ. I remember in the years when I worked in the Navy, and if I was in a ship, even for a few days, and just joined a new ship, I felt that within a few weeks, everybody in the ship must know I'm a Christian.

Not by wearing a badge or anything like that, but just that there must be something different about my interests and my way of speaking and everything that, from the senior officer down to the junior sailors, they must know that I'm different, that I'm a Christian, that I'm not ashamed to carry a Bible or keep a Bible with me on my table.

There's no law in the world which says you can't keep a Bible on your table. No. I'd keep that and people say, hey, this guy's a different type of Christian. There are many ways if you want to let it be known that you're a Christian.

If you want to, if you're ashamed, of course you won't do that because you might lose your promotion with some fanatic anti-Christian who's your boss, then you don't want him to know that you're a Christian.

But there's gonna be difficulties for Christians, I tell you that. But in these times of relative ease, if we are bold and not ashamed to be known as a Christian in the more difficult times to come, you'll become more bold.

I'll tell you honestly, I was a very timid person. Very timid, I was the shortest and the weakest in my class in school. And when they heard I was joining the military academy, they made fun of me and say, you're gonna defend our country?

That's the type of person I was. And I said, fine. And even in the military academy, I was the shortest and the weakest and a very timid. But when God filled me with the Holy Spirit, I became a different person.

And that's why I know that the fullness of the Holy Spirit can make a world of difference in your life. It doesn't matter what your basic personality is. If you're filled with the Holy Spirit, you will really become another person.

And that's the real thing. But the Lord sees whether you're, if you're ashamed of being known as a Christian, why in the world should God fill you with His Holy Spirit? You can pray for 50 years, but the Lord will say, you're ashamed of me.

Why should I? I should be, I'll be ashamed of you before my father. You pray for the Holy Spirit, I'll tell my father not to give you the Holy Spirit because you're ashamed of me. I wanna tell you this, I believe it in my heart that the reason why some people pray and pray and pray and pray to be filled with the Holy Spirit and they're not filled or get some fake counterfeit filling is because they're ashamed of Christ.

In the place where they should be bold for Christ, they're ashamed. And Jesus said, if you're ashamed of me before men, I will be ashamed of you before the father. So I wanna encourage all of you before the days of greater trial come, don't be ashamed to stand up for Christ in your office, in your factory.

I'm not saying you should start preaching, but by your way of life and without causing offense to others that you make it known that you're a disciple of Jesus Christ and not the ordinary type of Christian whom everybody knows who's compromising, tells lies and cheats and all that, a different type who's upright, who's concerned about others.

I often think, I remember Joseph when he was in prison, instead of being occupied with all his sorrows that my father and my brothers are all far away and I've been accused falsely, my brothers hate me, this woman hated me and I'm in jail wrongly, instead of being occupied with all that, he saw two people discouraged in the prison and he went to them and said, why are you discouraged?

I've often been challenged by that. Even in my younger days when I was working, I said, Lord, when I work and there are people around me in my office who are working, I don't want to be occupied with my sorrows and my problems.

I want to see if somebody is discouraged or gloomy to go up to him and say, hey, why are you discouraged? Can I encourage you in some way? And do you know that one single question, you read that story in Genesis, opened the way for Joseph to become the second ruler in Egypt.

If he had not asked that question, why are you looking so discouraged? The story would have been very different. God honors those who have a concern for others. And that's one way we can be a witness in our office, not just by giving out tracts, any idiot can give out tracts, but to have a concern for others, to just encourage them, not just to preach to them.

You don't have to preach to them the very first day, maybe help them in some practical way. If you do that, you don't know what can happen. So let's seek to be bold for Christ, because we have peace in our heart.

Choosing Christ Over Ambition

And never be ashamed of losing a promotion, not getting a job, not being selected in an interview, because they know I'm a Christian. It's one of the things I decided very clearly, because when I joined the Navy, I had an ambition, a real great ambition to go to the top.

But when I became a Christian, I knew if I stand up for Christ, that'll be impossible. Then I have a choice, my earthly ambition or Christ. I said, I couldn't care less. I don't care if I don't get a promotion, I don't care for money, I want to be a witness for Christ.

And I've never regretted that decision I made more than 55 years ago. And you won't regret it, because the Lord will lead you on from one degree of glory to another. Always keep that peace in your heart, that is more important than anything that the world can do to you.

The hairs on my head are numbered, I'm more value than many sparrows, but more than that, there's the peace of Christ in my heart. And as I said, the second part of the world ruining me through its influences, that can also take away my peace.

You cannot allow a worldly thought, if you're a sincere Christian, or attitude to come into your heart and remain at peace. That's not possible. If you can have a worldly, selfish attitude towards another person, and remain at peace, I would question whether you're really born again.

Because when a person's born again, he comes alive, and he becomes sensitive. You see, if you put a one ton weight on a dead man, he feels nothing. But, I mean, people like us, even a small weight in our hand, we can feel it.

There's a weight there. Because we are alive. And so, when we're in our heart, if some worldly influence comes in, and you're sensitive, that means you're alive. But for example, I'm amazed how a believer can sit in front of a computer, and watch pornography, and watch it, and watch it, and watch it, and it doesn't disturb him.

I wonder if such a person's even born again. Or if he's born again, whether he's lost his salvation. How can you, can you have somebody stab you, and you don't feel it? Somebody stabs you for 10 seconds, 15 seconds, 20 seconds, whatever amount of time you watch pornography, and you don't feel it?

Brother, you better check up whether you're born again. And if you were, once upon a time, check up whether you've lost your salvation. Repent before death completely enters in, and you won't feel anything after some time.

It's the same way with having a bitterness against somebody. The world coming in and making you bitter, bitter, bitter, and you can keep it. Bitterness is somebody stabbing you. And you have a bitterness against your mother-in-law, or somebody else, a bitterness, bitterness, bitterness, bitterness, and you're quite happy.

You must be dead. That's why you don't feel it. I've had temptations to bitterness come to my heart, and I feel it, and I say, Lord, I don't want it. If you feel it, it's okay. If you feel it, it is okay, because that means you're alive.

I want to be so alive that even a little pinprick, I'll feel it. Ask God to make you sensitive like that. When he says the world coming in is not only through external tribulation. It's the world coming in, and the world, you will have tribulation, and the world will come into your heart and try to disturb you.

And the only way to be strong in the coming days is by being very, very sensitive to the little things that disturb your peace within. In me, you will have peace. And the thing that's come to take away that peace is the world, the spirit of the world, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, the pride of life, which makes me offended that somebody spoke to me like that, or somebody didn't show consideration to me, or somebody didn't smile at me, or shake my hand, or all types of things.

The pride of life that makes me feel I'm very important. These are the things that take away that peace. So when we think of the world coming in, in order to be prepared for the day when the world may persecute me physically, let me now overcome the world that's trying to conquer me in my spirit, in my heart.

And if I conquer the world in my heart, I'll be able to stand firm against the world when the world comes to hurt me or persecute me because I'm a Christian. So Jesus said that in the world you'll have tribulation, but take courage because, and here's the answer he has given us, be bold.

This is the word of the Lord for us today. Be bold because Jesus has overcome the world. I have overcome the world. And you say, Lord, how does that help me? Because, Jesus says, if I have overcome the world, you can overcome the world too.

You say, no, Lord, you are God. No, I am God, but I lived on the earth as a man. Otherwise, it's no use God telling me I have overcome the world. What encouragement that to me? It's like a bird telling me I can fly.

So what? Or an angel telling me I can fly. That doesn't help me. And if it's God telling me I've overcome the world, that doesn't help me. But though Jesus was God on earth, he overcame the world as a man, very, very important.

And that is why I can be bold. Otherwise, to tell me that he has overcome the world, how does that help me? He didn't overcome the world physically. He didn't overcome the Roman soldiers who came to fight with him.

They overcame him. They overcame him so badly that they nailed him to a cross. Which was the world that he overcame? Not the world that Caesar in Rome overcame. That is a physical world. The world that Jesus overcame was the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.

The Threefold Lust of the World

Turn with me to 1 John chapter two, and I'll show you that. When you compare scripture with scripture, you have the answer. 1 John chapter two, verse 16. All that is in the world. And it's mentioned here, all that is in the world, in other words, the lust of the flesh, all the passions in our flesh, the lust of the eyes.

I like the, I think it's a Living Bible paraphrase of one of those which says, the lust of the eyes is the desire to buy anything that you see. You see something in a shop, I want to buy it. You see another sister wearing a pretty sari, you want that.

Or you want one like that. This is called the lust of the eyes. You can read it and think only men have it, women have it just as much as men. The desire to buy anything that you see in a shop or with somebody else.

The lust of the flesh is the sexual passions and many other passions in our flesh. And the third is the pride of life that makes me offended, that makes me bitter, that makes me refuse to forgive, that wants to show that I'm better than other people, that makes other people feel small, always treats other people as though they are inferior to me.

This is all the pride of life. So many things, offended because of the way somebody spoke to me, or the pride of life that makes me feel I will only speak to certain important people. I remember one or two brothers, I think of two brothers particularly who used to be in CFC and thankfully they are not here now.

They used to always want to see me. They had no interest in the other brothers in CFC. Till one day I told both of them, please don't come to my house again, till you learn to visit all the other brothers in the church.

There's a pride in you which makes you feel I only want to see the leaders. I don't want to see the ordinary brothers. What arrogance. It's like saying I don't want the little fingers and the toes and all, I'm gonna cut them off.

You can't do that in the body of Christ. The body of Christ, 1 Corinthians 12 says, the head does not say to the feet, I don't need you. You know that? Have you ever read that verse? If not, let me show it to you.

The attitude of Jesus to the lowest member in the body of Christ. You really want to become like Christ? Have this attitude, 1 Corinthians and chapter 12. It says here, 1 Corinthians and chapter 12, verse 21.

The eye cannot say to the hand, I don't need you, or the head to the feet, I don't need you. See the feet are the lowest part in the body and he's talking about the body of Christ there. Think of someone who you know is the lowest, most insignificant brother here in CFC.

Who do you think is the lowest, most uneducated, the most uncultured, most insignificant, very shy to talk and not very interesting to talk to. Think of somebody like that. You have no interest in meeting that person.

Do you know that Jesus is interested in that person? And if you're like Jesus, you will also be interested in meeting such people. And Jesus does not say to such a person, I don't need you. I mean, I can dispose with you fellows.

I want all the important people here who can do something. I don't believe that. If I believed that, I would never visit a single village in India. I'd always been in the cities with the educated people, with the graduates fellowships and high level people.

There are churches like that where all, only high level educated people go. It's the pride of life and I've seen it in so many believers and that's why they don't get grace because God resists the proud.

And if you want to know one reason why you're not getting victory over some sins that are keeping on harassing you and troubling you, this may be the reason. There is a pride in your life, which is preventing you from overcoming the world.

Judge yourself and be cleansed from that. And when we overcome the world in our daily life, that is the best preparation for tribulation, for persecution from the world around. How do you think Paul could face prison and be imprisoned there and have no complaints?

And from the prison, he wrote Philippians, where he says, rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say rejoice. And from that prison, he wrote, be anxious for nothing. How could a man write like that?

Because before the external world troubled him externally, he had overcome the world internally. So the way to be prepared for persecution and difficulty is by overcoming the world today in times of ease.

Preparing in Peace for Persecution

We were taught in the military, the more you sweat in peace, the less you will bleed in war. That means the more you work hard in times of peace to prepare for war, then the more victories you'll win in war.

The more you sweat in peace, the less you will bleed in war. And I apply that to the Christian life. Today, we are living in relative peace around us. We're not persecuted. We can meet like this here.

There are countries like China where they cannot meet like this. Persecution has already overtaken them. And before it comes to India, how shall we be prepared for it? By making sure we have overcome the world inside and the more you sweat in peace, the less you will bleed in wartime, the less you will deny Christ in the time of persecution.

You know, I'm not a natural, bold person. I'm naturally a coward. But when the Holy Spirit fills me and I lean upon the Lord, then I'm bold. And I don't want a natural boldness. A natural boldness will not help me in time of persecution.

Many bold people have denied the Lord. Peter was a naturally bold person. See what happened to him, even as afraid of a servant girl asking him if he was a disciple. So if you're one of those naturally bold people, you're in danger.

But if you recognize your weakness, the Lord says, when you're weak, then my power can be manifest in you. And you cling to the Lord. That's what I do. I say, Lord, I'm not a naturally bold person, but I cling to you.

And therefore, I wanna cling to you all the time. I wanna cling to you right now so that this world does not overcome me. And then in the time of persecution, that world will not be able to trouble me either.

So please keep these things in mind because I believe that the Lord is preparing the church in India for difficult times ahead. And by the church, I don't mean CFC. I mean every individual believer who is wholehearted and disciple of Jesus Christ.

Jesus said, all nations will hate you. It'll happen. So I'm just trying to tell you how you can be prepared for that day, not just by taking comfort from the fact that your hairs will not be touched or that you're more value than sparrows, but by being prepared in our heart, by facing that world which is trying to conquer me today, saying no to watching those television programs that are not helping you at all.