Filled With the Spirit and With Mercy — Zac Poonen

Being Born of the Spirit

Since we were talking about the fullness of the Holy Spirit earlier, I thought it continue start from that point. It says in Romans 8 and verse 9. Romans 8 verse 9 and the last part. Romans 8 verse 9 the last part it says if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ He does not belong to him.

The Spirit of Christ is the Holy Spirit and that verse teaches us that You don't belong to Jesus if you don't have the Holy Spirit. So which teaches us one thing. That when we are born again, we are born of the Holy Spirit.

You cannot be born Without the Holy Spirit's operation in your life. Jesus spoke about that in John chapter 3 to Nicodemus. I say this so that We don't confuse what it means to be born of the Spirit. To be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Jesus said in John 3 verse 3 unless a person is born again. He cannot see the kingdom of God and He said that in other words Unless you're born of water and The Spirit verse 5 John 3 5 he cannot enter the kingdom of God is really the same thing.

Water is one picture of the Holy Spirit. Fire is another picture of the Holy Spirit and you see these expressions born of water even the Holy Spirit and John the Baptist saying baptized or immersed in the Holy Spirit and fire in the Old Testament We read of cleansing by water and cleansing by fire.

Cleansing by fire is a more of a inner thing. You know when you pull out gold from the Bottom of I mean not the bottom but from deep down the earth. It first comes up with a lot of mud and all that and you use water to clean it First and then you put it into the fire to purify it completely.

So there are two operations of the Holy Spirit and that's why water and fire are used. So when we receive Christ into our life Jesus Christ himself is in heaven at the right hand of the Father and He hasn't come back to earth yet.

He's coming back a second time in the future. So when we ask Christ to come into our heart is the Spirit of Christ that comes in. It's the Holy Spirit and if a person is genuinely born again, unfortunately a Lot of people who say Lord Jesus come into my heart.

They haven't been genuinely born again. It's just a Phrase that has become very common many of them have not repented and Those are empty words, but if a person's really sincerely in the Lord alone knows Where that whether that's taken place or not, and that's usually manifest later on in their life.

You'll see by their fruit. You shall know them, but if where a person's really born again, the Holy Spirit has come in. Now When you look at the acts of the Apostles, it's clear that the Apostles had were given a special authority by God not only to Lay hands on people that they might receive the Holy Spirit.

Now a lot of people try to duplicate it today. Now, let me tell you my own testimony. I have never in my life Seen anyone who can lay hands on 12 people and make sure they're all filled with the Holy Spirit.

But the Apostles could. There was no trial and error with the Apostles if they laid hands on one person or 25 people they were filled with the Holy Spirit. But it's not it's not true today. I've never seen it and I don't believe anybody has that gift and people assume that they have that gift and it's not true.

When Ananias laid hands on Paul, he said I want you to be filled with the Holy Spirit. He was filled with the Holy Spirit. But all this trial and error and trying to coax people and make them speak in tongues and all there's something fake about it all and You see the result in the lives of those people that there's not much difference between many people who claim to be Pentecostal filled with the Holy Spirit and some God-fearing Baptist who doesn't even claim that.

Why is that? We should not live in a self-deception. I'm not against these things. I believe in being filled with the Holy Spirit and I believe in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. But we need to make sure that we are not deceiving ourselves in this area so the Apostles were not only are given the authority to Lay hands on people and be filled with this.

It was a special authority, which is never given to anybody else. They were also given the authority to tell a person your sins are forgiven. Jesus gave that authority personally to the Apostles in John 20 23 said if you If you forgive Somebody's sins they are forgiven.

Now, I don't have that authority. I Can't go to somebody and say listen, I'm telling you your sins are forgiven. But the Apostles had that authority and we need to understand why God gave this authority, especially to the Apostles.

To tell a person to they themselves with their own authority could forgive somebody's sins. Jesus did it, you know, Jesus said to people your sins are forgiven. I'm telling you that and the Apostles went around saying that too.

But we can't say that today if somebody Comes to me and says I want my sins to be forgiven. I Turn him to the scripture. But when the Apostles for 30 years, there were no scriptures you know the first scriptures are written about 25 years after the day of Pentecost and Even after they were written for the first century or for a couple of centuries.

How many people had a Bible? There was no printed Bible till 1400 the 1400s. So we must remember that in the first two centuries or number of centuries people never had a Bible. You couldn't turn them to 1 John 1 9 and say if we confess our sins He's faithful and just to forgive us how in the world could they have an assurance of forgiveness?

If somebody went to John and said I'm a sinner I want to receive credit. John would say I'm telling you your sins are forgiven. He had that authority from John 20 23. Now today when we quote 1 John 1 9, we are actually quoting John again the same John Who told people verbally?

Your sins are forgiven has written in Scripture That if you confess our sins God is faithful and just to forgive us. So it's the same way that they were given an authority to lay hands on people that they'd received the Holy Spirit for example Philip preached in Samaria we read and they were.

They'd believed in Jesus, but they hadn't received the Holy Spirit and then Peter and John came and laid hands on them. Some of these things can confuse us and One of the principles of Bible study that I have discovered through 55 years of studying scripture is Never get a doctrine from Acts of the Apostles.

The Acts of the Apostles is a history books inspired scripture. But it was not given to us for doctrine. It must be compared with other portions of Scripture. Because it's through Taking doctrines out of the Acts of the Apostles.

That the Pentecostals say in Acts 2 4 they were all filled with the Holy Spirit they all spoke in tongues. So they say all must speak in tongues. The Hutterites take Acts 2 44 and say they all had all things in common.

So we must have all things in common. Now if you stretch that you can say Paul shaved his head. So we must all shave our heads. It's that's also written in Scripture. There's so many things written in the Acts of the Apostles which are not Doctrine but it's a history.

It's true history is inspired by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is just recording. What actually happened? It's like Psalm 14 1 the fool has said in his heart. There is no God. It's in Scripture. There is no God, but it's the fool who said it.

So there are many things like that in Acts of the Apostles but when you when you want to get a clear understanding of doctrine we go to the teaching of Jesus and The teaching in the Epistles, which is the teaching of the Holy Spirit.

We can't go to the Actions of Jesus in the Gospels and produce a doctrine out of that Jesus walked on water. So all must walk on water or Jesus Multiplied five loaves and fed five thousand so we can multiply loaves.

That's a false teaching you can't take the history in the Gospels or in the Acts and Make a doctrine out of it. And this is the confusion that has come so much in Christendom and if you understand this simple principle People say Jesus healed them all so we must have meetings and heal everybody.

It doesn't work. We're just deceiving ourselves and more so deceiving other people. So having made that clarification, let me just say were a few words about the fullness of the Holy Spirit. The psalmist said I will lift up My cup the cup of salvation and that is the first step when we are born again, we come to Jesus and We are born of the Holy Spirit or born of water in the Holy Spirit water is a picture of the Holy Spirit in Way back in the Old Testament and even in the New and in John's Gospel, there are three places where water is used as a picture of the Holy Spirit and Something we can learn from that John 3 verse 5 We are born of the water in the Holy Spirit that's when we lift up the cup of salvation and Can we be filled the day we are born again?

Growth in the Fullness of the Holy Spirit

Yes Cornelius was filled with the Holy Spirit John and in Acts 10 and Ananias came to Paul in Acts chapter 9 and laid hands on him and said God sent me to fill you with the Holy Spirit and in Acts 19 we read about some disciples of John the Baptist getting baptized in water believing in Jesus and Paul laying hands on them.

They were being filled with the Holy Spirit was all immediate. But it was a cup. What happens when we walk with the Lord is? That If you really take up the cross and walk with the Lord our capacity our inner capacity in our spirit increases and The cup becomes like a bucket or a well.

Now you pour a cup of water into a well, it's not full. It needs to be filled again. And so in John chapter 4 you read of the Holy Spirit as a well of water. This is a second stage. We begin with a cup of water where we are born again born of water in the Spirit.

John 3 5 and John 4 14 the Lord says The water that I give him will become a well of water springing up into everlasting life. The great mistake that a lot of people make is If they had an experience of being filled with the Holy Spirit once they think that's it no, as our capacity increases we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit again and The cup when it becomes a well.

It's not full of the Holy Spirit. If it's only got That measure it's a well means it's much more full than a cup of water and this pictures a person whose life is Not just got the bare minimum, you know a cup of water can satisfy your thirst up to a certain point.

But a well a well is endless. If you have a well in your house, it's not like having a cup of water. It's you can draw and draw and draw and it's a it's picturing a life of it's springing up a life springing up with joy and Victory and peace.

Now most Christians don't live this life. They just do the cup and the cup gets dry pretty quickly. Most born-again people are there. But we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit to be like a well of water.

Where our inner life is springing up all the time that we never never in our life are without joy. Never in our life without peace. Never without love to others. It's a wonderful life. It's it's what Jesus does to us by Creating within us a spring.

That's the real word a spring that keeps springing up never-ending. Flowing you can't do it. This is the fullness of the Holy Spirit that affects our personal life and then in John 7, there's a third picture of water in the Gospel of John and that is He who believes in me verse 38.

John 7 38 from his innermost being will flow rivers of living water. And that's more than a well. So here's a cup and then a well and the river. There are three degrees of fullness. So the well can increase its capacity within us and finally become one river and many rivers flowing from us in many directions and If we walk with the Lord that can happen to any one of us because it's he who believes in me.

That's the condition in verse 38 but if you don't believe If you're not surrendered completely, you're not walking with the Lord. If you're not capacity is not increasing you can be a cup for 50 years.

You may scrape it to heaven, but you will never accomplish what God wanted you to accomplish on this earth. And a lot of Christians, you know who are gloomy depressed and frequently upset and bad moods.

They don't have a well springing up in their life at all. They got a cup. They drink a little water and they're most of the time they are thirsty and that's why they are gloomy and depressed and Discouraged and Complaining and grumbling.

What they need is Jesus to to thirst and come to Jesus and say Lord put a well in me and A river is something that goes beyond a well. A well is just what satisfies me my joy my life my peace and My victory.

But a river is something that blesses others so that is God's ultimate will for us. God told Abraham I will bless you and You will be a blessing to all the families of the earth. That's a wonderful promise in Genesis 12.

I will bless you and you'll be a blessing to all the families of the earth and We are told I don't know whether you've noticed this verse in Galatians chapter 3 which says Galatians 3 14 that the blessing of Abraham comes to us through the Holy Spirit.

Galatians 3 14. Galatians 3 13 says that Christ when he died took away the curse. That's the negative aspect of salvation. The curse is gone and some people stop there my sins are forgiven the curse is gone.

I'm not going to hell. But brother sister, there's more than that. Verse 14 says the curse is now replaced not with emptiness, but with a blessing. It's the opposite of a curse so God takes away the curse and gives us a blessing and that blessing is called the blessing of Abraham and What is the blessing of Abraham.

I will bless you and Every family on earth will be blessed through you and that that is those are the rivers flowing out from you and me if we walk with the Lord and allow the Lord to increase our capacity first of all our own life will be filled with joy and victory and freedom from bad moods and freedom from discouragement and gloom and Anger and bitterness and telling lies and every other wretched thing that we got from Adam.

But then it'll overflow from us to blessing to others that every family on Earth that I meet. We don't meet all the families on the earth, but every family on this earth with that I meet Will get some water from me something of the Holy Spirit some touch of the Holy Spirit, maybe Just a little encouragement.

I don't even have to speak words. I mean Just my presence with them can bless them. Imagine if every one of us sought to live this life. And this is not for some special mature Christian. The condition is he who believes and If you have not experienced it, that means your your belief has been at a very low level.

Lord don't let me go to hell. Okay, you've got a cup of water and you won't go to hell and I tell you a lot of those people when they stand before the Lord they're going to be tremendously disappointed that their life could have counted so much more for God and They were satisfied at the cup of water when it could have been rivers.

Don't you think you'll have some regret when you stand before the Lord if God says, you know, I wanted to Let rivers flow out through you in so many directions and all your life you had faith just for a cup of water so the fullness of the Holy Spirit is a Something that constantly we need because our capacity increases.

That's why Ephesians 5 18. The literal translation of this verse is be being filled with the Holy Spirit. It's it's not just once be filled with the Holy Spirit. You know the twelve disciples in Ephesus Paul laid hands on them and they were filled with the Holy Spirit.

But to the same Ephesians 12 people and others he says in Ephesians 5 18 be filled with the Holy Spirit. Now they could have turned around and said well Paul you laid hands on us some years ago and we were filled with the Holy Spirit.

Yeah, but then you got a cup. I want you to have rivers. That's why to those Ephesian people who in Acts 19 were filled with the Spirit. He says again in Ephesians 5 18 be filled with the Spirit. Our people who have been filled in spirit wants to be filled with the Spirit again.

Yes. You are like I said, you pour a cup a cup into a bucket and there's not much in it Is to be filled again and the bucket can become a tub and got to be filled again. The tub can become a lake got to be filled again or a well and then it can become a one river and many rivers.

It's all a question of where does your faith stop if your faith stops at a bucket that's all you'll have but if you say Lord, I Want to have all that you want me to have. I want to accomplish all that you want me to accomplish.

I don't want to leave this earth before you have accomplished through me all that you wanted to accomplish in Saving my soul. And it doesn't matter whether your brother or sister. Maybe it's only brothers who stand up and preach in the pulpit.

But many sisters can be a tremendous blessing to others. I mean, don't you meet with people? What does it mean to be a blessing to every family on the earth? Somebody comes to visit you and you can be a blessing to them.

Rivers can flow from you to that person. That is something of Christ flowing out from you. The Holy Spirit does lifting up that person's spirit encouraging this is the way God wants every single person in the church to be and It does not depend on ability does not depend on the knowledge of the word, you know today knowledge of the word is very important.

I agree, but that's if you're called to a ministry of preaching and teaching. I Don't believe that everyone in our churches should have the knowledge of the word that I have. I'm called to preach and teach therefore I must have knowledge of the word and I say that particularly because as I said for 1400 years people didn't have a Bible.

How in the world could have they have a knowledge of the word. Imagine if you never had a printed Bible in your Ever had a printed Bible and all you did was heard messages in the church. I mean, that's all they did in the early days.

How would you know the word? How would you know be able to quote this verse and that verse and this verse in the Psalms and that verse in Proverbs? And this verse in Ephesians and that version that's learning.

How would you be able to do it when you don't have a Bible? How did Christians live for 1400 years? How did God expect them to live. A lot of knowledge of the Bible can be intellectual and Very often when people quote this verse and that verse and the other words it's just to impress you with their knowledge or Give you an intellectual grasp of truth.

It doesn't make you more spiritual. I know a lot of people who can quote verses and verses verbatim and without from memory and I don't consider them spiritual at all. I've heard preachers like that who caught huge sections of Scripture.

I don't get anything out of it. They try to impress me with their knowledge of Scripture, but I don't get any fullness of the Spirit from them. So remember. As much as it is important to know God's Word and I'm not despising that I spent years studying it and I could encourage all Of you to study it.

Don't let that be a replacement for the Holy Spirit flowing through you. Blessing other people and don't let your lack of understanding of God's Word Make you feel inferior. You can you can be a blessing to others if every area of your life is surrendered to Christ.

The Inner Life and the Fullness of the Spirit

You've probably heard me use the picture, you know in the Old Testament. How is the fullness of the Spirit. I some time ago I used that illustration here. Here's a a cup and you put a lid on it and you pour water on it.

You know pour a river on it it flows and blesses millions but the inside of the cup is still dirty because this. There's this lid on it and that's a picture of the veil that blocked off the most holy place the inner spirit of man.

So the Holy Spirit could only be upon people in the Old Testament. Because there was a veil that blocked off man's spirit and floored and blessed. Moses blessed many people. Even when he disobeyed God God told him to speak to the rock in Numbers chapter 20 and Moses hit the rock.

Can God bless a disobedient servant of God? Yes. Two million people got water that day when Moses disobeyed. God uses disobedient servants to bless two million people. That's the example. Jesus said that also.

Many will come to me in the last day and say Lord. We healed many in your name. Were those people blessed who got healed? Yes, but the man himself who healed them the Lord says get away from my presence.

I don't want you Goes to hell. God uses disobedient servants. So if you admire a man For his ministry, he'll be led astray. Whatever ministry it is its character is the inside of the cup that Jesus always emphasized and On the day of Pentecost the veil had been rent.

The lid was removed. Now the Holy Spirit could come within like. You know Jesus told his disciples the first time he spoke to the disciples about the coming of the Holy Spirit was in John 14. And this is how he put it.

He said now John 14 and verse 17 the Holy Spirit is with you. But the veil has not been rent. But once the veil is rent John 14 17 the Holy Spirit will be in you. That's what happened on the day of Pentecost.

And that's what it says in John 7 39 that the Holy Spirit was not yet given in this way. Because Jesus was not yet glorified. So the Spirit could not flow from the innermost being. The significant thing that John's Jesus spoke about John's About rivers is that it would flow from the innermost being.

John 7 38 many people emphasize the rivers and for many years I used to think about the rivers the rivers the rivers till I saw what Jesus is emphasizing was the from the innermost being. Which is unique for the New Covenant in the Old Testament.

It was not from the innermost being and then we understand John 7 39 Which says the Holy Spirit was not given in this way because Jesus was not yet glorified. There were people filled with the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament that is from upon them, but from within and That's why in the New Testament Jesus is the first example.

From him in him the Holy Spirit flowed from within. That's why for 30 years He never did anything which we call ministry never preached a sermon never healed the sick. Never cast out demons, but he was full of the Holy Spirit for 30 years.

His life was perfect and then After that his he had this ministry. It's not that he was not a blessing to others for 30 years, but he wasn't a blessing in but supernatural gifts of ministry. I'm sure anybody Jesus spoke to in those 30 years in Nazareth was blessed.

Even if he didn't have supernatural gifts. But then he was anointed. For with supernatural gifts to be able to deliver people who were in bondage. See for example a person who's demon-possessed any amount of counseling won't help that person.

You can counsel that person for a hundred years. You got to deliver the person or the demon. Unless you deliver the person from a demon which can be done in a moment. Counseling won't help that person.

I've come across numerous cases like that. So there you need an anointing and if you don't and God gives that anointing if he's called you for that ministry but even if he's not called you to ministry of delivering people from demons or prophesying or Leadership you still can have rivers of living water flowing from you as a as a sister as a young person in a church.

If every area of your life is yielded to Christ. To use an illustration if you think of your heart as a house with many rooms in it and You receive Jesus into one area of your home of your heart, which is the guilt room.

Let's call it the guilt room. You feel guilty because of all the sins you're committed from your childhood and you ask Christ to come in the Holy Spirit comes in. The blood of Jesus cleanses you from all sin and light has come in.

The Spirit of Christ is there. But he's not filled you. So you look at a house with ten rooms and there's light in one room. And if you ask somebody is there light in that house, sure. Is it filled with light?

No. Because nine rooms are dark. That's how it is with many people. They are they've received the Spirit, but they're not filled with the Holy Spirit. Because there are areas of their life, which they have not yielded.

The Lord asks you can I come into your library and look at all the books you read? Some believers say no, there are certain books I like to read, you know certain love stories and all which you may not want me to read.

The Lord says, okay, I won't come in. He stands at the door and knocks if any man opened the door, I'll come in. You want to preserve certain books you want to read that you don't want Jesus to just determine what you read, okay keep them.

So that room remains dark. Or maybe you have television in your home. The Lord says Can I come in there and decide what programs you watch and you say no certain things you may not like Lord. Okay, your television room remains dark.

You may be watching what you call clean programs. But some things which you may Jesus may not like to sit and watch with you. To me the test is always can I do this in fellowship with Jesus anything? If I can't do something in fellowship with Jesus, I don't want to do it.

When he said take my yoke upon you and learn from me. It's like the yoke upon two bullocks and we're going together. Jesus and I are in it together and If there's anything in my life That I can't do with Jesus.

I've decided long ago. I don't want to do it. However, right it may be there are many things in our life my brothers and sisters which are lawful, but a Spirit-filled Christian still will not do it. Even though it's lawful.

Holiness, Discipline, and Profitable Living

Turn with me to 1 Corinthians in chapter 6 verse 12 All things are lawful for me. Now you need to understand Paul was a man who was free from sin. So he's talking about lawful things which are not sinful.

He wasn't saying adultery is lawful or telling lies is lawful. Here's a man who's free from sin. He says I've come to a life where I've discovered lots of things I can do which are perfectly right lawful righteous.

But among all those hundred things that are lawful There may be only ten things that are profitable so I'm only going to do those ten things which are profitable. Other Christians may live at a lower level and say well, I'm not doing anything wrong.

Fine, but Paul says I'm not going to live at that level. I've got only one life and I wanted to count for God. I'm not going to spend my life doing all the lawful things that we can do. Only the profitable things and I believe that's what makes the difference between a Christian Who's immature and mature a Christian who's carnal and spiritual?

That the baby Christian always asks this question. What's wrong in this? What's wrong in that? Can I do this? Can I do that? But as a spiritual Christian asks himself, is it profitable? Not is it lawful?

It's like children who say how close can I go to the edge of the cliff? Without falling over. It's only children who ask such questions. How close can I stand at the edge of the platform and the trains coming by?

Babies ask such questions. Grown-ups say I'd like to stay as far away from it as possible. Can I watch this type of movie or that type of movie? Who asks these questions? You can ask a question. Is it lawful to watch this or is it profitable to watch this?

For children, it's okay. It's lawful. But for a grown-up adult Whose life he wants to count for God. He's going to live at a much higher level. Is it lawful? All things are is it profitable rather is all things are lawful, but all things are not profitable.

If you just take that one verse and examine your life You'll find why you have not grown so much in your life. Because you're not disciplined. Discipline is the one thing that most Christians need and Which they don't like and they don't do and they wonder why somebody else who was born again long after them Has gone way ahead of them spiritually.

Why is it some people who joined this church much later are far more effective in this church than some of you who've been here for ages? Why is it some who've come later. Have mechanic show a greater spirit of service to this church than others have been here for years.

Who just drift along? Who come and sit and warm the pews warm the chairs and listen and receive and receive and receive and Give very little in terms of service it's because There are a serious Christian says I want to do what's profitable.

I want my life to count for God. And I wish all of us were like that. It's true that Jesus said among them there were laborers who? Started at 6 o 'clock in the morning and worked 12 hours and Yet the Lord rewarded those who came at the 11th hour.

They got the greater reward. And what was the Lord teaching us through that? That you can consider yourself a senior Christian because you've been born again for so many years. Or a senior member of our LCF because you've been here from the beginning.

The Lord says that counts for nothing with me. You could be a senior person and a useless person. Because you're just full of yourself. You're just spending your time doing what is lawful and Someone who's come at the 11th hour Can be far more effective.

That's what the Lord's trying to teach. So you need to ask yourself. Are you a Christian who's really effective for the Lord and someone who that means someone if if you Died today our LCA would be a loser or are you a person if you died?

People won't make any won't see any change old church going on. Well without that person also. Then you need to ask yourself whether you're really a committed member of the body of Christ because you know If I lose my little finger one day a little finger is not the most important part of my body.

But if I lose it one day boy I'm gonna really feel his absence. I really am. Even if it's a very small member, it's not like I have to lose my leg or my liver or something like that. Even a little finger.

So even if a person's not a very gifted member I believe We must be such committed members of a local church. That our absence will be felt. Hey something's missing. Because there was a person there who was such a blessing to the church in some way it may be a sister who was just an encouragement to others or Who served in such ways that when she's not there you feel it.

Every brother and sister in the church must be like that and I don't mean just practical service that's also very important because I Think there are a whole lot of gifts that come under. This one gift mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12.

I want to read to you the list of Gifts mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12. There are some spectacular ones. You know when people are filled with the Holy Spirit and anointed to serve there are some spectacular gifts.

1 Corinthians 12 28 God is appointed in the church first apostles. I mean that's God's choice. It's God who decided that the first. The number one gift in the church is apostles. Those who plant churches who guide the elders etc and second prophets.