The Christ Life for the Self Life — Zac Poonen

From the Written Word to the Word Made Flesh

Well, I think that was the perfect preparation for the message. This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine. In the old covenant, the only light they had was the written Word of God or the spoken Word of God through the prophets and the Ten Commandments.

The Word of God says in Psalm 119, Thy Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. But in the new covenant, God has given us something more. Jesus said, I am the light of the world, the Word made flesh.

So, we have the written Word plus the Word made flesh. We have guidance in God's Word and we have an example in Jesus as to how it works. And so, when Jesus turned around to His disciples and said to them, you are the light of the world, we need to understand what that means.

The Christ Life Replacing the Self-Life

My subject today is the Christ life for the self-life. The self-life is what we've all inherited from Adam. And we've seen in our life and in our surroundings and in our homes the evil consequences of that self-life manifesting itself.

That's the root of all sin because self is in the center. So, when Jesus came, if He only came to forgive our sin, then it would be just like in the old covenant. You know, David could say in Psalm 103, Bless the Lord O my soul who forgives all your iniquities.

He said that 1 ,000 years before Christ, looking forward to the death of Christ. We look back to the death of Christ, but if all we can say is, Bless the Lord who forgives all our iniquities, we haven't really got much beyond the old covenant.

The old covenant was a system under law, but Jesus Christ brought grace. And grace is one of the most misunderstood words in Christendom. Grace forgives our sin, but it does more than that. Grace gives us power to overcome that sin.

And He gives us the Holy Spirit, who is called the Spirit of Grace, so that we can be the light of the world. So, Jesus didn't expect us merely to proclaim His Word to others. That would be old covenant.

You know, Moses goes up to the mountain, hears God, and comes down and tells people what God has said. Jesus said, when the Holy Spirit has come, you shall be witnesses unto me. Acts chapter 1 and verse 8.

Acts 1 verse 8 says, you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. Now, that was not possible in the old covenant. They had the Holy Spirit upon them, but now the Spirit of God was going to dwell within them, which is more than in the old covenant.

And notice that word, not you shall bear witness to me, which is different from you shall be my witnesses. It's a question of being, not bearing. Many have misunderstood that because they don't read the Scripture carefully.

Bearing witness means just speaking with my words what Jesus did for me, what He did on the cross, and I can be a very faithful witness. But being a witness is with my whole life. And it is here where we need to understand what Jesus meant when He said, you are the light of the world.

Jesus and His Disciples as the Light of the World

Now today, if you were to ask most Christians, who is the light of the world, they would say Jesus. But please turn with me to John chapter 9 and verse 5. In John chapter 9, verse 5, Jesus said, while I am in the world, or as long as I'm in the world, I am the light of the world.

So He was the light of the world only for the 33 and a half years that He was here. Those are His own words. Then He went up to heaven. So, who is the light of the world now? Turn with me to Matthew chapter 5 and verse 14.

Matthew 5 and verse 14. We read here, you are the light of the world. Now put those verses together. While He was in the world, He was the light of the world, and went up, He said, you are the light of the world.

So if somebody asks you, who is the light of the world, you've got to say, me. I don't know how many Christians would dare to say that, and yet, is that what Jesus meant? We are so, I believe that most Christians live substandard Christian lives.

Now it's like, none of us would like to live in a home without electricity. 200 years ago, people lived without electricity, but we don't want to live in that stage. When electricity is available, we might as well make use of it.

I want to say to you, my dear brothers and sisters, Jesus has made provision for us not only to forgive our sins, but to give us His Holy Spirit within, so that that light which He manifested when He was on earth can be manifested in our life.

Eternal Life as the Life of God

This is the good news. This is the full good news. We all know that well-known verse, God so loved the world, and that includes you and me, that He gave His only begotten Son, John 3, 16, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish.

That's one part of it. But have forgiveness of sins? No, more than that, eternal life. And I want to tell you something about eternal life. Another misunderstood word. Eternal life is not a life that never ends.

People who go to hell have a life that never ends. That's not eternal life. They don't have eternal life, but they exist forever. Eternal means something that had no beginning and has no end. It refers to the life of God.

Look at that verse, God so loved us that He wants us to have His life in us. That is the meaning of that verse. And in order to give us that life, He gave His only begotten Son, that if I believe in Him, and believe means if I depend on Him, I will have this eternal life.

He cleans up my heart so that I can have something within. So don't be satisfied, any of you, with just the forgiveness of sins. He wants to replace that Adamic, self-centered life with a Christ life.

We've got to believe it first. You know, there are so many things written in Scripture which will never be ours until we believe it. Think of the millions of people for whom Christ died in this city and in this country.

Why haven't they got forgiveness of sins? Only one reason. Did Christ die for them? Yes. Why haven't they been forgiven? Because they haven't believed. They don't accept. There are billions of people like that in the world.

Christ died for all of their sins, but they don't believe. Now is it possible in the same way that God so loved us that He wants to give us eternal life and we don't experience it? Why? Because we don't believe.

We don't believe. It will be possible for us. This is the good news, and just like the unbeliever needs to hear the good news that your sin can be forgiven, brother, you don't really work for it. You got to receive.

I want to say the same thing to all of you. You can have this life of Jesus. It can solve so many of your problems. It can make your marriages so happy. It can make your home a little bit like heaven.

Galatians 2:20 and the Christ Life

If you understand how I can have this Christ life for my self-life. I never understood it myself for many years after I was born again. I knew my sins could be forgiven and I lived in an endless circle of sinning, confessing, being forgiven, sinning again, confessing, being forgiven, sinning again, confessing and being forgiven.

I never seemed to break out of this circle. That's old covenant. Grace is God can do more for us than that. So I want to show you a verse which describes the testimony of the Apostle Paul. Galatians chapter 2 and verse 20.

In Galatians chapter 2 verse 20, many of you probably know this verse, but I want you to look at it very carefully, very, very carefully. Now he's not quoting a verse, we are quoting a verse, but Paul was giving his testimony.

Remember this. He was giving a testimony, not my sins are forgiven. That's a good testimony for us to give. But Paul gave more than that as a testimony. And I believe we should have this testimony too.

We must know this verse really well. I want to encourage all of you to memorize this verse because this speaks about the Christ life for the self-life, perhaps better than any other verse in the Bible.

Not just my sins are forgiven. We should be able to testify exactly like Paul because there are two people in the Bible who said, follow me. In the Old Testament, nobody could say follow me. The first person who said follow me was Jesus Christ.

And the second person was the Apostle Paul. In 1 Corinthians 11, 1, he said, follow me as I follow Christ. So let's look at this verse, Galatians 2, 20. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live.

In other words, it's not self controlling my life anymore. What a wonderful place to come to. All the problems are because we've allowed self to control our life. And Paul came to that place where self did not control him anymore.

It is no longer I who live, but he goes on to say in the same verse, Galatians 2, 20, but Christ lives in me. That is the Christ life. The self-life has gone and the Christ life has come. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I still in my flesh.

That means I'm tempted all the time. The flesh nature is still there, but I have a power within me to conquer it. The life which I now live in the flesh, it says in this verse, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and delivered Himself up for me.

Faith means I live in dependence upon the Son of God. And one of the clearest and best definitions or explanations of that was when Jesus said, I am the vine and you're the branches. Or if you've never seen a vine, it's like an apple tree and it's branches.

The branches helplessly depend on the tree for the sap, which is a picture of the Holy Spirit that just produces fruit. So if you were to ask that branch, how do you produce such lovely apples? He said, I just depend on the tree.

I don't produce it at all. I can't. I'm absolutely helpless to produce one apple, but as long as I depend upon the tree and the tree, I allow the sap to flow into me without any obstruction, the apples automatically come.

And I want to say to you, dear brothers and sisters, this is what faith means. To recognize, first of all, that I cannot produce the life of Christ. I can improve my Adamic life and get a good reputation before others.

He's a very decent person. He's a very humble person. He's a good person. All that, it's just the human life improved and polished up a little. It's not the Christ life. And in a moment of pressure and temptation, the old Adamic life still comes out again, which I've covered up very carefully.

It's like training a dog to, you know, dogs are nowadays trained to do all types of things. Think of a dog trainer, trained a dog to meow like a cat all the time. And this dog so perfectly does it. But when another dog comes to bite it, the old dog nature will come out again.

This is how it is. Most Christians are acting like Christ. They come to church to be taught to behave a little better, to give up this way of speaking, and to give up this way of doing things, and to be a little more generous, and to be a little more kind.

It's just improving the old Adamic nature. It's teaching a dog to behave like a cat. It's not a cat. But how easy it is for a cat to behave like a cat. That is what God does. He gives us another nature within.

It's not the improvement of the Adamic nature. It is another nature. It's the Holy Spirit coming in and giving me the very life of Jesus Christ. How can I have this? Turn with me again to Galatians 2 .20.

Crucified with Christ and Living by Faith

The secret is there. A verse that we must memorize, Galatians 2 .20 again, I have been crucified with Christ. There is the secret. There was no crucified with Christ in the old covenant. It's not improving the old nature, it's crucifying the old nature.

It's not it's putting it to death. And if I say, Lord, I recognize this life is good for nothing, it has to be crucified, then He will give me that life of Christ. And notice what it says in the last part of that verse.

An expression that we all use, I live by faith, towards the end of that verse. I live by faith in Christ. I want you to combine these two. I have been crucified with Christ and I live by faith. And I want to tell you, you cannot live by faith and dependence upon Christ if you're not willing to be crucified with Christ.

There's just no way. What you call living by faith is not really living by faith. It's totally substandard. It's a counterfeit. Real living by faith comes when I'm willing to be crucified with Christ.

When I accept what Jesus said, if you want to follow Me, you've got to deny yourself and take up your cross every day and follow Me. Those are the words of Jesus in Luke chapter 9. Let's turn to that verse in Luke's gospel, chapter 9 and verse 23.

Denying Self and Taking Up the Cross Daily

There's something that Jesus told us to do every single day. And that's connected with what we read here. Luke 9 and verse 23. And Jesus was saying to all of them, anyone, anyone sitting here wishes to come after Me.

Do you want to come after Jesus? Do you want to follow Him? There is only one way. You have to deny yourself, which means no to this self-centered life. This self that sits on the throne that says, I want my way.

I'm going to do it my way. I don't care what you think. We see that in children and it's there in us too. You got to deny that and take up your cross means put that to death. How often? Daily and follow Me.

Do you know that's the only thing that Jesus ever said we must do daily? He told us to pray always, but He told us to take up the cross daily. We've been taught as new Christians to read our Bible daily, very good habit.

But if you read the Bible daily and you don't take up the cross daily, you'll be a self-righteous, legalistic Christian. And you'll be a pain in the neck to other people preaching verses to them which are not true in your own life.

And if you live like that, continue to grow up like that, you'll be an old cranky person when you grow old instead of radiating the beauty of Jesus Christ. I have to take up my cross every day. In other words, it's something I have to do every day.

We make decisions every day. Many, many decisions in our life. And in those decisions, very often I come to a fork in the road. Shall I do this or shall I do that? And God sees what I choose. I need to seek the power of the Holy Spirit at that particular time to say, Lord, I'm tempted to do this, but I know this is not pleasing to you.

I want the power of the Spirit to choose this. It's a decision you take. For example, when you're tempted to reply to someone who yelled at you, road rage or office rage or home rage, whatever it is, how do you respond to that?

You're in a fork in the road. Shall I respond as Jesus would or as this life of Adam within me has done for so long? It's a fork in the road. And I take a particular decision at that point in a moment of time how I'm going to respond.

Or it could be another temptation in your office to do something slightly unrighteous. And you're tempted because you may be some financial gain if you do that unrighteous thing or sign that false statement.

And you have at the fork of the road again, shall I choose this or that? If you were to ask yourself a very simple question at that time, what would Jesus do here? You would know the answer immediately.

The Holy Spirit comes within us to constantly show us the life of Jesus. That is his main job, to show us the life of Jesus and to see whether we choose it. God doesn't force us to go this way. You know, God could have made us like the planets.

Human Free Will and the Choice to Obey God

I mean, constructed like a human being of flesh and blood, but inwardly without a will of my own. It's been very easy for God to make Adam just like any other human being, but inwardly programmed like the planets to automatically obey God in everything.

He would walk up to the tree of knowledge of good and evil and turn away from it like a robot because he's been programmed, that's not for you. And then he'd walk up to the tree of life and eat it because he's been programmed.

It was not his choice. And he would keep the Sabbath rest just like programmed inside and there'd be not a single second in all his 900 years that he would ever disobey God. Like these planets have obeyed for millions of thousands of years, never disobeyed God, but God didn't want that because God didn't want robots in heaven.

That's why he gave man a free will. Would you rather have a three-year-old naughty child or a three-year-old robot who comes and says, hello daddy, what can I do for you? I love you so much. Every father would say, give me that three-year-old naughty child any day.

Because there's something, and when that little child hugs you and says I love you, that means more than any robot can ever say to you. Because there's no meaning in that, that robot is programmed to say it.

That's why God has given us free will. But the danger of free will is that you go against God and that's what happened with Adam. And that's what we see in Jesus' life. Let me show you the one-sentence autobiography of Jesus, John chapter 6, verse 38.

John chapter 6, verse 38. Here is the one-sentence description of how Jesus lived his entire life on earth. He's talking about himself, how he lived his life on earth, John 6, verse 38. He says here, I have come down from heaven.

He's describing his own life, remember this is the autobiography. And during his entire life on earth, it's summed up in this sentence, I never did my own will, but only the will of him who sent me. If you want to understand what it means to deny yourself and take up the cross, that's it.

To say no to what I want to do in every situation and to choose what God wants me to do. And if I read the word, very often I know very clearly what God wants me to do. If you just read the New Testament, that'll show you what God wants you to do, even if you don't have time to read the Old Testament.

If you read the New Testament completely and meditate on it, it'll show you what God wants you to do. And in those situations which are not described in the New Testament, can I watch this television program?

Can I smoke cigarettes? Can I get drunk? Can I watch this R-rated movie? The Holy Spirit within will prompt you on the basis of what you've read in God's Word, whether it's right or wrong to do it. What is God's will?

In that fork in the road. So here is the fork in the road. My will or God's will. And if I choose to be crucified with Christ, if I choose to deny myself and say, Lord, I choose your will, and the Holy Spirit helps me to do that, the way I speak, the decisions I make, what I decide to read and watch in life, over a period of time, that Christ's life will become manifest in you.

Do you know that today you are, spiritually, the sum total of all those little decisions that you've made in your life so far? From the time you accepted Christ, when you were born again, and you became a child of God, you took certain decisions at the hundreds of thousands of forks in the road that you came across every day.

Shall I, in this situation, shall I say what I want to say? Or shall I say no to that self-centered life which says, speak like this? Or in some other situation, do this or do that? Or when I have a wrong attitude to someone, and the Spirit of God says, put that to death.

That's not the right attitude to have to anyone. And I put that to death, and I seek to have the power of the Spirit to show the love of Christ to that person. Imagine if a person consistently chooses, not my will, Lord, not the way I want it, but your way, consistently, by the power of the Holy Spirit, you can't do it without that, over a period of 10, 15 years, he's going to be more Christ-like than another person who just kept choosing his own will and kept in this endless cycle of having his sins forgiven.

So that's what I meant by saying that your spiritual level today is the sum total of all those decisions that you have made every day. And you can change it from today onwards. You can't do anything about the past, God's willing to forgive that, but your life can be completely different.

You can experience this Christ life that delivers you from anger, from sexual lust, helps you to hate pornography, helps you to speak kindly to people, helps you to have control over your tongue, control over your thoughts, over your moods.

Imagine living a life where you're never in a bad mood, a single day of the year. You're tempted, but not discouraged, overcoming. Why wouldn't anybody choose this life? Because the devil's fooled so many people.

Let's expose the lie of the devil and say, Lord, I want to be different from today. I believe that I can experience in my life that life that the Apostle Paul experienced. I choose to die to myself. We don't hear much about that in a lot of preaching about death to self, and yet that is the central message of the New Testament.

The Dying of Jesus and the Manifestation of His Life

Let me show you 2 Corinthians in chapter 4, where Paul says similar words to what we read in Galatians 2 .20, but again, he's speaking the same thing. Galatians, sorry, 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 10.

In 2 Corinthians 4 .10, he says something that he does always, not just once a day, but always. He had a perpetual attitude in his life. 2 Corinthians 4 .10, always, means 24 -7, carrying about in my body the dying of Jesus.

What is the dying of Jesus? It's not dying for the sins of the world, I have no part in that. I can't carry in my body dying for the sins of the world, no. That was what He did alone on the cross. This is another dying that Jesus did every day of His earthly life.

That's what we read earlier in John 6 .38, not my will, but the will of the Father. I carry in my body that dying to my own will always, and what is the result? The Christ life becomes manifested in my body.

Imagine that. This is the secret. It's exactly the same as in Galatians 2 .20, I choose the cross every day of my life. I say, Lord, I want to carry in my body the dying of Jesus. Think of the wonderful life, the most useful life Paul lived.

This is the secret. He decided, and God's given you a free will to choose whether you want to go that way or not. And I tell you, you can leave this service, and you will face that choice many times even the rest of today, and tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day.

We can have a wonderful time of praise and worship here, and it's so emotional. Tears come in our eyes as we sing some of these moving songs. They come in my eyes, praise God. But if I go out from here and live for myself, all that is empty.

I often say in our own home church, I say, brothers and sisters, for us the important day is not just Sunday where we praise God. If you live Monday, and Tuesday, and Wednesday, and Thursday, and Friday, and Saturday saying no to your own will, and saying yes to what you know the Holy Spirit says, this is the way Jesus wants you to live, and speak, and do, and then you come on Sunday morning to praise God, even if you can't sing two lines in tune, God will listen to your praise.

But you can have the most beautiful voice, and six days of the week you're just living for yourself, pleasing yourself with impure thoughts, and angry words, and bad moods, and wrong attitudes to other people.

Do you think God's going to listen to your beautiful voice on Sunday morning? I want to say it, no. People can admire it, and think you're a wonderful singer, but God doesn't listen to it at all. That's why I often say in our church the important day is not Sunday, it's Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, how you live, and then you come along with God's people to praise and worship Him, and to listen to His Word.

That is true Christianity. Always bearing in our body the dying of Jesus. You may think, boy, what a strain that is. It's not a strain. Do you think Jesus was living a stressful life, oh, I can't do my own will, I've got to do my Father's will, no.

Christ's Yoke and Rest for the Soul

It was the most relaxed life. All stress comes because we're doing our own will. We're seeking to please ourselves. The life of Adam is what causes stress. The life of Christ is a life of rest. He said, take my yoke upon you, Matthew 11, 29, and you will find rest for your souls.

You will find freedom from tension and stress. Your health will be better. Take my yoke upon you, that is take up my cross. Take up this cross, take up your cross like I took up mine. Take my yoke upon you, and in Jesus' day, and like we do see in the villages in India, the fields are plowed with oxen, two oxen.

They don't have tractors in the poor villages, and the oxen have a yoke upon their necks. And that's how they plow the fields. And that's the picture Jesus is using because in the fields in Israel, that's how they were plowing the fields.

And I see the picture here of a senior ox teaching a junior ox that's had the yoke on it, newly put on it, how to plow a straight furrow. And it's as it were, the senior ox telling the junior ox, now you've got to do, you've got to keep pace with me.

Don't rush ahead, don't lag behind, don't veer off in another direction. You've got the yoke upon you. As long as the yoke is upon you and upon me, I'll teach you, I'll teach you to plow absolutely straight.

But you've got to listen to me, you've got to submit to me. I'm the leader here. Keep the yoke upon you and move at the same pace and the same direction, and you will learn to do it yourself one day. This is what Jesus is saying, take my yoke upon you and what is the result?

You will find rest for your souls. You'll find that peace that passes understanding. You'll find a joy unspeakable and full of glory. These are New Testament expressions. Why is it that you cannot honestly testify that I have peace in my heart at all times, that I'm free from unrest and free from stress?

There may be physical stress because of our work, we can be exhausted, that's different. But an inner rest at all times. I want to say to you in Jesus' name, this is your birthright, my brothers and sisters, don't let the devil rob you of it.

You're supposed to live a life free from stress. You will find rest for your souls. There's a promise of the Lord, if you take that yoke, you will find rest and he keeps his promise. And that means following in his footsteps, not my will, but the will of the Father in every situation.

Brokenness, Moses, and Dependence on God's Power

And that's the difficulty God has, you know, in breaking us, breaking that, you know, the Bible, we speak about the need for people to be broken. This is what brokenness means, brokenness to this self-will.

All the great men in the Bible had to be broken. Moses was a very capable and efficient man at the age of 40, and the Bible says he thought he could lead Israel and God said, no, you got many abilities, but you're not broken, you're too strong, you're too full of yourself.

And that's why God took him away for 40 years and broke him so thoroughly that at the age of 80, he said, Lord, I'm not the man. I thought I was 40 years ago, but I'm not the man and God said, now you're ready.

What we learn from that is very often when we think I'm capable and I can live the Christian life and like some of you may be thinking and I can serve God, God says, no, you're too full of yourself, you're too full of thinking that you can do it on your own, you need to be broken.

And see the difference, when he was 40 years old, he could use his own strength and smite an Egyptian and kill him. And when he was 80 years old as a weak man, he lifted up the rod of God over the Red Sea and buried the entire Egyptian army underneath it.

That's the difference between human power and God's power. The enemies will come beneath your feet. I mean the enemies of the lust in your flesh and every sin that rises up within you that you've been enslaved by, which you're ashamed to let other people know.

Are you like that, my brother, sister? Are there things in your life you're ashamed to let other people know, the things you do in secret, practices that you have, which you're ashamed of? You wouldn't want other people here to know it.

Things that you watch on the computer that you'd be ashamed to let people know, and yet you can't seem to get rid of it, habits. I want to say to you in Jesus' name, if you will open up your heart to the Holy Spirit and say, Lord, I want to go your way, I want you to break my will, do what you like, but bring me into this Christ life, you will come to a life of rest.

Peter's Brokenness and Readiness for Ministry

Everyone has to go that way. When Peter, think of a New Testament example, he was so full of himself, he said, if everybody denies you, I won't deny you. And it's possible for you to think like that, I'm a pretty capable, strong Christian.

And as long as you think like that, you're not fit to serve God. I know God had to break me through many, many years, and that's why the Lord allowed Peter to fall into a terrible sin of denying Him three times.

And sometimes God's last resort to break a man is to make him sin. He tries every other way to break a person, to humble a person, and when he does not humble himself in any other way, he allows him to fall into gross sin, to break him.

It's a terrible sin to deny the Lord, because you know, Jesus said, if you deny me, I will deny you before my Father. He never said, if you commit adultery, I'll deny you before my Father. But He said, if you deny me, I will deny you before my Father.

It's a terrible sin. And He did it three times. And he was broken. And then the Lord said, just like He told Moses, now you're ready, Peter. You were not ready till now, you were too full of yourself.

The one who said, even if all men deny you, I will not deny you. Later on, after the resurrection, when Jesus appeared to Peter and asked him at the Sea of Galilee, after he caught that boatload of fish, do you love me, Peter?

You can see he's not the old Peter anymore. See what he says, Lord, you know all things. Do you love me? And in the original language, the word Jesus uses for love is of higher love. Do you love me with that supreme love that a man has for God?

And Jesus, and Peter's reply is, no, Lord, I don't have that. I have this lower level of love for you. Again, Jesus asked him a second time, do you love me with that supreme love that a man should have for God more than anything else?

If it was the old Peter, he'd say, yeah, sure. He said, no, Lord, I have this lower level of love for you. And then Jesus came down to his level the third time. It's not so clear in English, but that's what he was saying the third time.

Okay, Peter, do you love me at least with this? Peter was broken. He said, Lord, you know all things. You know that I love you with this level of love. That's all I have now. And from there, the Lord lifted him up, shepherd my sheep, tend my lambs.