03 New Wine in New Wineskins Revelation on Gods Mysteries — Zac Poonen

Understanding the New Covenant Through Revelation

If you want to understand the difference between the New Covenant and the Old Covenant, which is one of the main things we stress in our churches, you need to make a study of words that are found in the New Testament that are not found in the Old Testament.

Commands that are found in the New Testament that are not found in the Old Testament. Promises that are found in the New Testament that are not found in the Old Testament. God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

And if you only hear another brother explain these things to you, it may reach your understanding and you may think, yeah, I got it. You haven't got it. You've understood it. You need more than that for it to change your life.

And that is the reason why some brothers and sisters have sat in our churches for 25 -30 years and still have not come to victory over sin. They still fight and quarrel in their homes. What's the reason?

Because there's no inner hunger after God themselves. They're happy to sit in a good church, listen to good messages. I can tell you this, you are going to have a tremendous shock when Christ comes again.

And I have a fear that some folks who come to our conferences may not even be in the kingdom of God. Anyone who's a hypocrite, anyone who's pretending to have a life which he's not really longing after within, he's not going to be anywhere near God's kingdom.

The Fear of God and the Reality of Judgment

We live in a day when the whole world can be described in two sentences, both found in the New Testament. That's how I've looked at it. Romans, let me just show you those two sentences. One is Romans chapter 3 and verse 18.

This is a description of the entire world. And I'm sorry to say this is the description of all nominal Christians. And this is the description of thousands and probably millions of believers. Romans 3 .18, there is no fear of God before their eyes.

There is no reverence for God in their eyes. That describes the whole world. There is no fear of God. They do and say things without any thought that God is listening, God is there. That they have to give an account for every single word that they speak.

Jesus said that in Matthew 12, read verse 34 to 38. He said that every single word, careless word we speak, we will have to give an account in the day of judgment. I'm absolutely convinced that 99 of born-again believers do not believe that.

They do not believe that every single careless word they ever spoke, they have to give an account in the day of judgment. They speak careless words. They don't even repent of them. Husbands and wives speak careless words to each other.

They don't ask forgiveness. Many, many husbands and wives, they never ask forgiveness from each other. There is no hope for such people. If a person doesn't ask forgiveness when he's done something wrong, according to my opinion, the person is not even born again.

Can you married people tell me when was the last time you asked forgiveness from your husband and wife? Can you brothers tell me when was the last time you asked forgiveness from somebody for what you did wrong?

Think back. Are you born again? That's what I mean. There is no fear of God before their eyes. We say things wrong. We do things wrong and we are too proud to say, I'm sorry. That was my mistake. Please forgive me.

I said yesterday that one of the primary marks of a born-again person we read in Ezekiel 36, you will loathe yourself. You will hate yourself for the evil that you have done. Do you find something like that?

That is the mark of a man who fears God. The closer we come to God, the more we see sin in ourselves and less in other people. The Apostle Paul, when he wrote 1 Corinthians, it was around maybe 20 years, 15, 20 years after he was converted.

And maybe 15 years after he was converted, he said, I am the least of all the apostles. 1 Corinthians 15. I think it's verse 9 or 10. Five years later, he wrote Ephesians and he says in Ephesians chapter 3, verse 8, I'm the least of all the believers in the world.

See how he went down from the least of all the apostles. He's now felt five years later that he's the last and least of all the believers in the world. Go another five years and he writes 1 Timothy and 1 Timothy 1 15.

He says, I am the chief of all the sinners in the world. Was he becoming a greater sinner? No, he was getting closer to God. The closer we get to God, the more sensitive we become to small little sins.

And our heart is very sensitive. When our heart gets hard, we don't feel any sensation. Look at the soles of your feet and compare that to the sole of the feet of a newborn baby. If you take a pin and touch the sole of your feet, you don't feel any pain.

It's become hardened through the years. But if you were to touch the sole of the foot of a newborn baby, immediately it will react. Blood may come. Or you can poke the sole of your foot with a pin and no blood will come.

That is a picture of how our conscience gets hardened through the years. And one of the great works of the Holy Spirit is to make us more sensitive. And if you are not becoming more and more sensitive to sin, number one possibility, you are not really born again.

And number two, if you are, you are not growing. For me, I have come to the conclusion there is only one mark of spiritual growth in my life that I discover sins this year that I never knew were sins in all my previous 71 years.

New areas. Have you discovered some new sin in your life that you did not know up till last year that you discovered in 2011? I can tell you. I can tell you that sins I discovered in 2010 that I never knew were sin in the years before.

That is how I know I am getting close to God. It has been my longing for many years. And I see that that is the mark of God's blessing. I see there is only one mark of God's blessing on my life. It is not the effectiveness of my ministry.

There are a lot of people whom God blesses in their ministry whom He is not happy with. Many of them will stand before Him in the final day and say, Lord, Lord, we prophesied in your name. We planted churches in your name.

We did miracles. We did this, that, and the other. We evangelized. We went here. We went there. And the Lord will say, depart from me, you fellows who live in sin. Is it possible? But those people, they healed the sick.

They did miracles. They prophesied. Their ministry was blessed. But their life was not right. I don't want to be in that category. And so, I see that the mark of God's blessing in my life for myself is that He gives light to me on un-Christ-likeness in little, little areas of my life.

You know, little bits of anger which never are seen in words or even in my face, but which I am retaining. The Lord says, get rid of it. A little grudge against somebody, a little prejudice, a little judgmental spirit, a little pride in something which I think I've accomplished.

So many things like this. A lack of discipline in the way I live. Things like this. And the result is a life of daily repentance. And this became true in my life once I discovered that God's ultimate goal for me is to make me like Jesus Christ.

Completely. Romans 8, 29 says, God's ultimate destination for me is to make me like Jesus Christ. We've all known that in theory. You've heard me preach on it many times. But if you are gripped by it, you will long to be a little more like Jesus Christ every day.

A little more gracious, a little more pure, a little more holy, a little more humble, a little more light on yourself, and a little more light on the arrogant statements we make about our spiritual development and growth.

That will bring a deep repentance that can only come if we fear God. The fear of the Lord is the ABC of wisdom. So the whole world can be described, as I said, in two sentences. There is no fear of the Lord before their eyes.

Self-Interest Versus the Glory of God

And the second statement is in Philippians chapter 2 and verse 21. They all seek after their own interests. You put these two statements together, Romans 3, 18 and Philippians 2, 21, and you have a description of the whole world.

And I'm sorry to say, you have a description of most born-again believers. They all seek their own, not the things of Jesus Christ. And everything they evaluate, how will this affect me? I remember some years ago I went to Dubai and there was a multi-denominational meeting and I spoke to them of believers.

And I said, brothers and sisters, I will tell you things that no preacher who comes to Dubai will ever tell you. Because all those guys come to collect your money. I haven't come to collect your money.

I don't want your money. I'll tell you the truth. It says in 1 Corinthians 10, 31, that whatever you do, do all for the glory of God, even if you eat or drink. In other words, if you guys decided to come to Dubai, you decided to, if you're a born-again Christian, you should have come here seeking the glory of God.

Lord, I want to glorify you and I think I'll do that best if I go to Dubai. Can you honestly say that was the reason? You came here to make money. So what should I tell you? Go back to India? No. There are many people in India who love money also.

Changing your location won't help you. Every beggar in India loves money. Have you ever met a beggar who doesn't love money? I haven't met one. Love of money is deeply rooted in our flesh. But I said, confess your sin.

It's like if a husband and wife, before they got married, they had sex with each other. The problem is not solved by just getting married. They have to confess their sin when they got married and say, Lord, we're sorry.

Before we got married, we had sex. That's a sin. Forgive us. I'm not saying you should separate, remain married, but confess your sin. The same way I said you guys don't have to leave Dubai, but confess your sin that you did not seek the glory of God, you sought your own.

And came here, confessed that sin, asked God to forgive you, and then live here and say, Lord, I want to seek the glory of God for the rest of my life. That's the way to do it. God's not asking you to change your location, but He wants you to be honest.

And I'll tell you something, my dear brothers and sisters, God loves honest people. It's one of the first things I discovered in my Christian life. And that's helped me tremendously. You can go to God, and if you're 100 honest, and say, Lord, there I sought my own.

I'm sorry. You know what will happen? He'll give you a little more light on one more layer of that onion called self-seeking. And you'll be able to peel off one more layer of the onion of seeking your own.

You wouldn't have finished with it. It'll take a lifetime to finish with seeking your own. But you'll peel off one more layer, one more layer, one more layer, and the end result will be that you will get revelation on the nature of God.

You will partake of His nature. His Holy Spirit will be able to possess every area of your inner being, fill every area of your inner being that you confess and acknowledge where your unchrist-likeness lies.

My definition of sin is anything unlike Christ. That is sin. And the only person who can say there is no sin in me is the one who has become totally like Christ. There's nobody like that on the earth.

The Apostle Paul said at the end of his life, I'm still pressing on. And therefore, for me anyway, my entire life's journey is a constant daily, daily, daily, daily discovery of areas in my life that are unchrist-like which I repent, I peel off that layer of the onion and it's replaced with the life of Christ.

This is God's will. So, if that is the world, as I said, there's no fear of God, they all seek their own, that is the definition of darkness. Darkness is no fear of God. Darkness is only seeking your own.

Then what is light? Light is the opposite of that. A tremendous reverence for God. How can you say I'm getting more and more light in my life? Many people when they say I got more light, what they mean is they got some bright idea from scripture.

They're talking about intelligence. It's like some scientist discovers some new theory. Or it's like a little boy discovers that two times two is four. He got some light on it. That's the way some people read the Bible and say I got something.

You haven't got light on anything if you haven't got light on your selfishness. You haven't got light on anything if you haven't got light on your lack of reverence for God in your life. So, in the New Testament there is a word that Jesus used when he spoke about building the church.

New Wine and the Building of Christ's Church

Jesus did not come here just to save sinners. Yes, that's true. He did not even come here to make sinners holy. That's also true. He came here after saving them, making them holy, putting them together and building a church.

A new wine skin. The new wine first and then the new wine skin. It's no use trying to emphasize new wine skin. Oh, brother, we want to build a church in our locality. Have you got any new wine first? What's the use of having an empty wine skin?

Even if it's a new one. We've seen a lot of people through these years who come here and they are gripped by what they see here, the fellowship and the quality of life and the ministry and they say, oh brother Zach, we want to build a church where we are.

I say, brother, start with a new wine. Don't start with a pattern. People look at the pattern and say, this is what we want. We want to reproduce the pattern over there. If you have a new wine skin, it's an empty hollow wine skin, that's not God's will.

We've got to get the wine first, the life of Christ. We've got to have a passion for the life of Christ. Then God will create a new wine skin in which that can be poured. So Jesus spoke about building the church the first time.

He ever used the word church is in Matthew 16 and verse 18 and it's very interesting that that's the first time not in the first time but in connection with the word church he uses another word which is a distinctively New Testament word called reveal revelation in the Old Testament it was understanding in the New Testament it was revelation that's why in the Old Testament you had scribes.

Scribes were people who studied the scriptures but Jesus said in Matthew 13 verse 52 the scribe must become a disciple. Matthew 13 verse 52 the scribe must become a disciple. That's what I say to many of you.

I fear that many of you are becoming scribes who have a knowledge of what you hear. You hear come to the conferences you listen to the tapes and you get knowledge. You're like all these multitudes of preachers around the world who go to the CFC website listen to all the messages and they've got notes for their next Sunday's meeting.

I've got no objection they can do that but they are scribes and they will produce scribes. Only disciples can produce disciples. People have asked me brother Zach can we preach the messages we hear from you?

I said yes I don't have any copyright on it. What God has revealed to me I share with others but you must live it first then you can preach it but if you preach it without living it you will destroy yourself.

You're welcome to preach every single sermon that you ever heard me preach but live it first or seek to live it then you can preach it otherwise it's understanding and the old testament was understanding but in the new testament like we read the scribe must become a disciple and the disciple needs revelation.

There were no disciples in the old testament no disciples of Jesus anyway and they didn't speak about revelation. Maybe a few rare people like Moses and Daniel got a few revelations, David a little bit in fact that word comes only about twice in the old testament.

But in the new testament revelation is a very important word and I believe this is the reason as more and more I've thought about it. Why is it Lord that so many people who seem to have understood what we have taught through many years don't seem to know you as father in the way you have revealed it to me.

They seem to be so anxious and tense and grumble and complain they don't know the father. And why is it so many of them think they are building a church and it's just another congregation and the answer I got is they don't have revelation.

They have understood everything in their head and they think they can go out with that head knowledge and know the father and build the church, it's not possible. Matthew 16, 18 he said on this rock I will build my church.

The roman catholics say Peter is the rock, I say to you you are Peter upon this rock, I will build my church. The protestants don't have an adequate explanation for that verse. They say no, Christ is the rock because Jesus said, Peter said in verse 16, Christ the son of the living God.

You are the Christ the son of the living God. That's right, Jesus said on this rock I will build my church. But there is one thing they leave out even protestant christians and that is verse 17. Matthew 16, 17 blessed are you Simon.

Because flesh and blood or human cleverness did not give you this revelation. My father in heaven revealed me to you on this rock this revealed Christ, this Christ whom you saw by revelation in your heart, on this rock, I will build my church.

You know the apostle Paul said in Galatians in chapter one, we know that he saw Jesus on the Damascus road. That's how he was converted. But that was outwardly with his physical eyes. He saw Jesus in glory a vision and he was converted.

But there is something else that happened in the succeeding days after that that is mentioned in Galatians 1 16, 15 and 16. God who set me apart from my mother's womb called me through his grace was pleased to reveal his son inside me.

That is another thing. He gave me a revelation of Jesus Christ inside in my heart. That was a revelation of who Christ was. And then he went out and built the true church. Many many people have not seen the revealed Christ.

They have seen Christ hanging on the cross, the external Christ hanging on the cross who rose up from the dead. And you tell this person you believe you are a sinner, yes you believe you are a sinner, it's all in the head.

You believe he died on the cross. I feel that many of you have responded like that. It's good. But your life is so shallow because you have not sought for revelation in your heart. You cannot say that the father revealed Christ in me.

That makes a world of difference. Blessed are you Simon. Because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you. My father in heaven revealed. It says in Matthew chapter 11 that I don't know whether you believe this.

Matthew 11 27 see this little statement in the middle of that verse. No one knows the son except the father. Do you believe that. No one knows in the real deep sense of knowing Jesus except God the father.

And God the father can reveal the son to Peter to some others. Why didn't he reveal the son to the Pharisees. Why did the Pharisees think he is Beelzebul. It's possible to say I have accepted Jesus as my savior because externally I know I am a sinner with my intellect.

I know I am a sinner and I know that he died for my sins, I accept him. There is not much change in your life. Your attitude to sin doesn't seem to have changed much because the son has not been revealed in you.

Because you are not interested in revelation. You have to have a hunger for revelation. You have to have a reverence for God to get revelation. You have to consider it more important than everything else in the world to get revelation.

Another thing it says here further down in Matthew 11, 27. No one knows the father except the son. And those to whom the son reveals him. Has Jesus Christ revealed the father to you. Or did you hear some nice messages in CFC explaining how God is a father.

How your earthly fathers care for children. So like that God will care for you. And you brainwashed yourself to believe. It's all in the head. And you go away from the meaning God is my father. And some problem arises.

And you are anxious and tense and grumble and complain. You didn't get any revelation on God as a father. Not at all. It didn't change your life one bit. What a work the devil has done by making people think that it's all in the head.

In the old testament it was there. And that's why the scribes who studied, studied, studied the scriptures finally killed Jesus Christ. And that's why you hear of pastors who preach and preach and preach and then commit adultery.

And that's why you read of you don't read of it. But there are many many people who think they have understood all about holiness and all that who have sexual fantasies and live with dirty thoughts and fight with their husbands and wives and pursue after money and never fulfill their function as a part of the body of Christ.

Dear brothers and sisters don't let the devil rob you of your inheritance. That's all I say. Paul believed in this so much when he was writing to the Ephesian Christians he told them there are some amazing things which I want to tell you Ephesians chapter 1 but I'm praying for you.

I'm praying that the God of Ephesians 1 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the father of glory will give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. He's not saying to the Ephesians please read my letter ten times study it, analyze it divide it into subtopics and topics like they do in Bible schools and you'll understand it.

That's not the way, that's why Jesus never sent his disciples to a Bible school in the entire Old Testament. No prophet, no true prophet came out of a Bible school. There was a great dearth of prophets in the Old Testament.

In the reading Samuel's time there was no open vision. There were no prophets. And I think sometime during that period of Samuel's lifetime somebody started a Bible school. I don't know who it is. Probably Samuel because he thought he could train prophets.

And you read about them in 2 Kings about they're called the sons of the prophets. That means Bible school students and they went through their Bible school got their degrees and came out and prophesied in the King's court.

They were the false prophets you read about in the Old Testament. All the false prophets came out of the Bible schools in the Old Testament and they opposed the true prophets of God like Elijah and Elisha.

I believe you will discover in the final day that no true prophet of God ever came out of a Bible school. They learned at the feet of Jesus they lived before him. They got revelation because the Bible school fills your head with knowledge.

You can study analyze Ephesians and never be a prophet, you'll be a scribe who can explain Ephesians and explain Peter. 1 Peter that poor fisherman wrote something and today people are getting PhD degrees studying 1 Peter.

Peter himself will be surprised if he reads all those theses these people are writing on a simple letter that he wrote they don't have revelation. And you can get up in your church and preach so many things on these different books of the Bible.

If you don't have revelation it's useless. Paul doesn't say study this and read this so many times. He says I'm praying that God will give you the spirit of revelation otherwise you'll understand zero.

And I pray verse 18 not that your mind might understand but the eyes of your heart may be enlightened. That's the difference between your mind understanding and the eyes of your heart being enlightened so that you can know the mighty power that raised Jesus from the dead verse 20 and put everything under his feet and gave him to be the head over you the church.

I know the many years in my life after being born again many many years when I went by when I did not value revelation. I grew up. I grew up in an assembly where we studied the Bible like we study books of geography and history and chemistry and could understand everything.

You can get a degree in that you can get a degree in chemistry or geography or Bible. Just got to study it and have a good mind. But Jesus said in Matthew 11, 25. I thank you Father you have hidden these things from the clever and the intelligent.

Those of you who are clever and intelligent here. You think that's a help to you. No it's a handicap. I'm clever and intelligent unfortunately. But I consider it a handicap and I go to God and say Lord this is alright if I'm doing business in the world.

This is alright if I'm studying some earthly subject. But when I come to the Bible this is a handicap because I have a tendency to depend on my brain to study the scriptures and I'm not in. I want to come.

Jesus said revelation is given to babes. Matthew 11, 25. I thank you Father you have hidden these things from the clever and intelligent and revealed them to infants. And I said Lord I want to be like an infant when I come to you, scripture.

Then I saw Jesus. Then the Son was revealed in me the church as the body of Christ was revealed inside me. Boy what a difference between revelation. And then you can begin to build it. It's like God has given you the pattern inside of how to do my work.

Repentance, Holiness, and the Revelation of Christ

You know in the Old Testament I showed you yesterday. Let me show that to you again Ezekiel 36. How if you really have come in touch with God and the Holy Spirit has come in. One of the results will be Ezekiel 36 and verse 31.

You will detest yourself in your own sight for all your sins. I want to ask you my brother and sister is there ever a time in your life when you have said about yourself oh wretched man that I am. How shall I ever be free from this un-Christ like habit I've got in me whatever that un-Christ like habit is whether it's your tongue or your eye or your thought or whatever it is.

Have you ever cried out like Paul oh wretched man that I am. If you have never cried out even once like that I'll tell you honestly you need to be born again. I've cried out like that many many times when God has given me a revelation of myself.

It's exactly like I've had exactly the same experience as John seeing Jesus and falling and saying oh God I'm the worst sinner in the world. Oh wretched man that I am. How shall I be free from this. I loathe myself in my own sight.

All of us have had plenty of experience at pointing at other believers and saying oh wretched that wretched person and that wretched person and this wretched wife or this wretched husband. That's the mark of the world mark of a godly man.

He says oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death. Shall I wish a blessing for you in the coming months that you'll have many such revelations of your own wretchedness as you see the glory of Jesus Christ.

It has never discouraged me. I don't get condemned. I get encouraged because when John fell at Jesus feet Jesus lifted him up. And I've experienced that again and again. When I see my own wretchedness and fall at his feet he lifts me up and I get a new area of cleansing and victory.

And life becomes progressively better a new understanding of the body of Christ. So that is in relation to our personal life. In relation to the church the Lord tells Ezekiel further on in chapter 40 onwards.

The Pattern of the True Church and Its Counterfeit

Chapter 40 onwards the description of the new covenant church. And in this new covenant church there's some wonderful truths there. I don't have time to tell you all of them. But he says in Ezekiel 43 about the glory of God filling the house.

Verse 5. Ezekiel 43 verse 5 the Holy Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the inner court. And the glory of the Lord filled the house something, a revelation from God and the Lord said to him son of man this is the place of my throne where I place the soles of my feet.

It's a vision of the church where I will dwell among the sons of Israel forever. And he says there's a counterfeit church also those are the people who, verse 8 set their threshold by my threshold and their doorpost beside my doorpost with only the wall between me and them.

This is Babylon. Babylon is pretty close to Jerusalem. There's a wall, just a wall between them. They put their door next to our door. They put their threshold just next to the Lord's true church threshold.

And it's so close that people coming into the church can enter through the wrong door. That's deception. They put their door just next to mine. That's the way of the devil make it look so similar. Use the same language.

But it's not the same who are deceived. God will never allow those who love the truth to be deceived. 2nd Thessalonians 2 verse 10 and 11 says if you love the truth and you want to be saved from sin you will never be deceived.

But if you don't love the truth and you don't want to be saved from sin God himself will deceive you. You'll see these two doors and you'll go in through Babylon because it's just next to each other. This is the one verse that says that Babylon's door is just next door to Jerusalem.

If Babylon's door was a hundred miles away there's no danger of somebody going there. But people are seeking for Jerusalem and they see these two doors. They look so similar, painted alike. And they're going through the wrong door.

They put that threshold just next to mine that door post just next to mine with only a wall between them. And they have defiled my holy name by their abominations. You read in Revelation 17 about Babylon, mystery Babylon full of abominations.

This is it. But as for you son of man verse 10 please describe to my people the true church. Let me paraphrase it. Please describe to my people the true house of God. Why? So that they may be ashamed of what they have built which they call the church what they have built with impurity and strife and they have dared to call it the church of Jesus Christ.

That they may be ashamed. Let them measure what they have done verse 10 with my plan. And this is the very important condition verse 11. If they are ashamed of all that they have done then show them the design of my church.