Doing Greater Works Than Christ — Zac Poonen

Yesterday, we were talking about two aspects of being a New Covenant servant. First, we saw how the Old Covenant was, obedience was motivated by the fear of judgment or the offer of a reward. Whereas in the New Covenant, it had to be out of love.

And if love was not motivating us in anything we did, it was worthless. And then the other thing we saw was that the fruit of all our service in the New Covenant was that we'd be more Christ-like. And because that's our ultimate destination towards which God is seeking to lead us.

And if that's not taking place in our life year by year, we have to question whether our service is really New Covenant service. And today I want to speak about another aspect. There was something that just could not take place in Old Covenant times.

Doing the Works of Christ Through Faith

In fact, even Jesus himself could not do it. Do you know that we are supposed to do something that Jesus could not do? It's a pretty daring statement. But that's what it says in John 14 and verse 12. Whenever you come to a scripture which you find difficult to understand or interpret, by all means look at commentaries if you can get them.

But I found a lot of difficult verses. I've never found much help in commentaries. For example, the difference between the old man and the flesh. Most Christians don't know it. And I know I was terribly confused because I thought they were both the same.

We need to distinguish between the things that differ. But it's not my subject right now. John 14, 12 says, He who believes in me, truly, truly I say unto you. The very few statements that Jesus said which began with the words, truly, truly I say to you, you must be born again.

Truly, truly I say to you. Here's another one. Oh, verily, verily. He who believes in me. And that applies to everyone because that's the phrase we use for forgiveness of sins and eternal life. We say, I believe in Jesus and I have eternal life.

He who believes in me out of his innermost being will flow rivers of living water. That's for everybody. John 6, he who believes in me will have eternal life. John 7, he who believes in me, rivers of living water will flow out of him.

And John 14, he who believes in me will do the works that I do. I can't say I accept the first part of John 6. Which is, he who believes in me has eternal life. I must also believe that if I believe in him, rivers of living water will flow out from me.

That's not a separate level of belief. It's the same level of belief that brings me forgiveness of sins and eternal life as mentioned in John 6. And likewise here. If I believe in him, I'll be able to do the works that he did.

And greater works than these. That means things that even he couldn't do. So what do you do when you come to a verse like this? I know what, for years I would just skip over it. And like that rock in the middle of a ploughed field.

Unploughed because I couldn't get it out of the ground. But the time came when I said, Lord I want to grapple it. Because whenever you find a verse that you find tough, there must be some great truth hidden in it.

And you're going to miss it if you don't work at it. God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. And I think of what the Lord told Adam. By the sweat of your brow you will earn your bread. Remember that when you study the scriptures.

If you want bread, you've got to sweat. But if you're lazy in studying the scriptures, you won't get something out from it. So the works that Jesus did. If I were to ask people, the average Christian, the average believer.

Can you tell me some of the works that Jesus did? He'll immediately talk about the miracles. He fed the 5 ,000 and he turned water into wine. I said, you're telling me what he did in 10 of his life.

That's what he did in three and a half years. Tell me what he did in his whole life. Didn't he do anything for 30 years? The works that I do, the works that he did. And I believe the works that he did can be described in one sentence.

I call it the one line autobiography that Jesus wrote of his life. John 6 .38. This is a description of his entire life. I came from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. All his life, he denied his own will and did the will of his father.

From the earliest age, as soon as he came to the age of understanding good from evil as a child. He always did the father's will, never did his own will. So that's a one line autobiography of his whole life.

He didn't come from heaven to earth to die for the sins of the world. He came from heaven to earth according to his own statement. To deny his own will and to do his father's will. That was the cross that he carried for 33 years.

That's the cross he tells us to carry. My will and God's will. That's the cross on which we are to die. That's the cross on which he died every single day of his life. And it's impossible to follow him if I'm not willing to die on that same cross on which he died every day.

Where his will clashed with the father's will. I came from heaven not to do my own will. The will of him who sent me. When he was in heaven, he could say, I do my own will. Because it's the same as my father's will.

But the moment he became a man, just like us. He had what we call my will. Which was different from the father's will. Now that's very difficult for many to understand. Many think it's heresy to believe that.

You know we can be so brainwashed from childhood into having an image of Jesus. I believe that many evangelical Christians have the opposite heresy of the Jehovah's Witnesses. The Jehovah's Witnesses or the Russellites, they believe that Jesus Christ was not God.

He was a created being. Evangelical Christians would all accept that he's God. But for all practical purposes, he was not a man. He was not tempted like us. It's very difficult for people to understand that even though it's written plainly in Hebrews 4 .15.

And if you want to know how strong the feeling of people is against that. There are many, many believers groups in India. Who have written articles against me calling me a heretic. Only for that one point.

That I believe Jesus was tempted like us. Hebrews 4 .15 I wonder if all of you believe it. Because that is the secret of a godly life. It says in 1 Timothy 3 .16 The great is the secret of godliness. Christ was manifest in the flesh.

It means he had a thing called my will that he had to deny on earth. Otherwise he could not have been tempted like us. If he had holiness handed out to him on a platter. It's not handed out to me on a platter.

If I want to be holy I have to battle. But if I have to battle and be holy. And Jesus could live on earth without a battle and be holy. I'd say Lord you don't understand what I'm struggling. But it says we have a high priest who understands.

Who can sympathize with our infirmities. But who was tempted in all points as we are. But did not sin. He is the captain of our salvation. Who never allows us to face a battle he didn't face himself. So this is a great mystery.

Like the living bible says in 1 Timothy 3 .16 It's true that the way to live a godly life is not an easy matter. But the answer lies in Christ who came to earth in our flesh. Now many people would only think of the fact that he came to earth to die for our sins on the cross.

Unfortunately that is all the gospel that many people know. And that's all the gospel we think we have to preach to people. It's enough if they know that Christ died for their sins and they are forgiven and they go to heaven.

Well if that was all I think we could have reduced the bible to about 10 pages. Why has he given us a bible of 1000 pages? Are we supposed to know all these things? Why is the new testament itself about 200 -300 pages if all we need to know is that Christ died for our sins.

There is a lot more in the episodes. Because God wants us to live a holy life. The works that he did was the will of God. He denied his own will and did the will of God. And it's possible for you and me to do the works that he did.

Doing God's Will in God's Time

It's not that he did not do certain things for example. He did not heal everybody. He went to the pool of Bethesda where it says there was a multitude of sick people, John 5. And he healed one person and walked away.

You think the others didn't want to be healed? You think the others would not have believed when they saw Jesus healing this one person? Why did he walk away? He came to do the will of his father. Have you read of the lame man who was sitting at the beautiful gate of the temple in Acts chapter 3?

Peter and John saw him and he stretched out his hand for alms and Peter said, Silver and gold I have none but what I have in the name of Jesus rise up and walk. That man was over 40 years old, lame from birth, had been carried there every day.

Imagine the number of times Jesus passed by him. For three and a half years Jesus went to the temple frequently. He would have seen that man and when he stretched out his hand for alms, you know what Jesus did?

He gave him money. He would see him the next week, he'd give him money. He'd see him next year, he'd give him money. Jesus was so sensitive to the voice of the father. Father, you want me to heal him?

No. No, no, no, no, no for three and a half years. Because if he had healed him, there wouldn't have been that revival in Acts chapter 3 and 4 where 5 ,000 believers were converted as a result of that miracle.

You see the importance of not only doing God's will but doing it in God's time. There's a time for doing something right. And Jesus was so sensitive to that. I want to encourage all of you to study the life of Jesus.

It's the most wonderful study you can do. I've spent my life, 50 years, trying to study the life of Jesus because I know that my destination is to become like him. So if I study the way he lived on earth, I know that is what God the Father is trying to make me like.

And this is one of the things I discovered. That I'm not supposed to do certain things, even if I have the ability to do it, if it's not the Father's will. Somebody else is supposed to do it. It's one of those things which natural man cannot understand.

We think we have to do all the good we possibly can, if I have the ability I do it. Jesus certainly had the ability to heal a lame man. He could raise the dead. But he wouldn't do it. Even Lazarus, if he's sick and he hears he who loves is sick and it says when he heard it he stayed two more days in that place.

This is so contrary to human reason. I mean if you hear somebody you love is sick, seriously sick, you don't decide therefore I will stay two more days here before I go. God's ways are not our ways. And that's what I learned in looking at the life of Jesus.

Not my will but thine. And we need to allow our mind to be renewed. To think like Jesus thought. That's a wonderful thing that the Holy Spirit has come to do. To me unfortunately with all the emphasis on the external emotionalism and all related to what they call is the Holy Spirit.

I think people are completely missed out on the main function the Holy Spirit has come to fulfill. Which is to make us think the way God thinks. To make us look at circumstances, people, the way Jesus would look at them.

That's the whole purpose. So then I begin to understand this is what Jesus did. Everything in life he would seek to do the way the father wanted it. I can imagine as a little boy if he was called by his mother.

He was a 12 year old when he was playing baseball or whatever they played in Nazareth those days. And when it came to his turn to bat. And his mother says, Jesus come here I want to have some help. He would drop his bat and go.

That can be the most difficult thing for a 12 year old boy. His denial, those are the works that he did. To do things that he didn't naturally want to do. Because he knew it would please the father. This has application in husband wife relationships.

Not what pleases me. It's an amazing statement in Romans 15 verse 3 that Christ never pleased himself. Never once did he please himself. He didn't do what he felt would satisfy him or please him. If his mother sent him to get a bucket of water from the village well.

He would take that wooden bucket and fill it up to the brim. Not bring a half bucket or three quarter bucket. If he did a job, he did it perfectly. When he cried on the cross, it is finished. It was a principle that characterized him all through his life.

As a carpenter if he made a table, it would be as perfect as any human being could do it. And if it took longer, he would work on it longer. If it needed work overtime, beyond the time he would close his shop, he would finish it.

Because the principle is finished. Characterized his life. He would never leave a job half finished. Or if he left it half finished, he would complete it the next day. He wouldn't deliver a table or a stool to somebody, to a customer, which was half done or incomplete.

Everything in his life was like that. The works that I do, you can do also if you are willing to deny your own will and not please yourself. This is what will distinguish us from the rest of humanity.

The rest of humanity will only work in a way that so long as people think I'm doing my job, that's enough. But Jesus, that was not enough. Can God certify about it? Approved. That's what I learned from the first chapter of Genesis.

Every day, it says God made something and he examined his own work. Imagine God doing a thing and examining his own work. And it says he saw it was good. And the next day he did something, God examined it and said it's good.

I look at my life and I say, I've done something today. God must examine it. See, that was good. Do you do your work like that? That's how Jesus did his work, every single day of his life. Christian life is very simple.

It's not a tense life. It's a very relaxed life. I remember when I was working in the Navy and I was a Christian. And I wouldn't take part in all their extracurricular cultural activities like drinking and dancing and all that.

But I felt as a Christian I was doing every bit of my job on that ship perfectly. And the commanding officer, when he had to write my annual report at the end of the year, he said to me, Lieutenant Poonen, I can't find a single thing wrong with your work.

But you're so unsociable. You don't mix with people. So I said, sir, I don't do my work to please you. I'm a Christian and I do my work to please God whether you look at me or don't look at me. I do my work perfectly.

But I don't have time for some of these activities other officers engage in. I believe that all of our work must be before God. When I study the Bible, I don't do it to ease my conscience. Oh, I must read the Bible today.

No. I want to know God's mind. I want to know God's mind. And I want to know how can I do it in the way he wants it done. How can I glorify God? We all, I mean, if I were to ask you, how many of you want to glorify God?

All of us would raise our hands and say, yes, I want to glorify God. Listen to this. John 17, verse 4. At the end of Jesus' life, again you find that spirit of it is finished. Which he finally said on the cross.

I have glorified you on earth. John 17, verse 4. Having finished the work that you gave me to do. I am very thankful that God has opened my eyes to see more and more as I have grown in the Lord. That there is a specific task God has given me to do.

And if I listen to him, I will do it. I think of that story. I remember 50 years ago, as a young Christian, the Lord pointed me to one verse in scripture. That he has reminded me for 50 years consistently.

Many times on my birthday, I would ask the Lord, Lord, do you have a word for me? And he would refer me to that verse. Years later, on my birthday, I would say, Lord, do you have a word for me? He would refer me to that verse.

It was Luke 10, verse 42. One thing is needful. It's quite a verse. When Jesus says one thing is needful, you better pay attention. It's not just for Brother Zach, it's for everybody. And what is that?

Mary has chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. And the story is of Mary and Martha. Martha, very busy, doing a lot of sacrificial work for the Lord, not for herself. She wasn't cooking the meal for herself.

She was cooking the meal for 13 hungry men. And that requires a lot of work. To cook a meal for 13 hungry men who had come to visit her home. As soon as Jesus came with his disciples, she went into the kitchen and started working.

You would commend her. And she was disturbed there because Mary was not helping her. And she comes to complain to Jesus. Jesus says, Martha, the problem is with you. You're concerned about a lot of things I'm not bothered about.

She could have said, Lord, I'm doing all this for you. But it's not what I want. What is Mary doing? She was sitting at his feet and listening. That doesn't sound more spiritual than serving the Lord, does it?

How many of you would think that somebody who spends his time sitting at Jesus' feet listening is doing something more important than somebody else who is serving. Getting busy morning till night, running around doing this, that and the other for the Lord.

Well, I hope you will get a well done good and faithful servant when you stand before him. It's not that Mary didn't serve. But she listened before she served. Because she didn't come here. We are not sent here on earth to do something for God.

Don't just waste your time. Go and do something for God. We get all worked up. I better do something for God. It sounds very spiritual. I've discovered, at least for myself, that's not what God wants me to do.

The works that I do, shall he do also. In the fullness of time, God sent his son. God could wait for 4000 years and see millions of people go to hell. He never sent his son. Jesus could come to earth and live for 30 years and not do a single thing to save a soul.

Can you understand that? Not if you are a Martha. You will if you are a Mary. If you have understood the one thing needful. And I'll tell you something. When we stand before the Lord, you will discover that the Mary's accomplished more in terms of eternal values than the Martha's.

Though on earth, the Martha's have more statistics that impress people. It's not a very popular message. You probably never hear anybody else speak about it. But I must be faithful to my calling. It's not all there is in scripture.

I always say I'm a very imbalanced person. Because I'm only one member in the body of Christ. And I don't say once you listen to me, you shouldn't listen to anybody else. You should. But this is one part of scripture.

Like I said yesterday. God's called me to teach the things that other people do not teach in scripture. Not outside of scripture. There's no revelation outside of scripture that I get. But I find a lot of things in scripture that are not emphasized.

Like some of the things I'm saying right now. Jesus, Mary heard. You know Jesus taught us Our father who art in heaven Hallowed be thy name. As the first prayer of mine should be. Lord let your name be glorified.

I prayed that for years in India. Lord I want your name to be glorified in India. I don't know how it will be. But I want it to be done. How did Jesus glorify him? I've glorified you by finishing the work which you gave me to do.

Not the work that a whole lot of other people felt I should do. Not the work that I felt I should do. The work you gave me to do. And that's what Mary was waiting for. Lord I want to listen to you. And I want to do what you tell me to do.

Listening to God Like a Disciple

Is it possible to hear God's voice? In my younger days I worked with a man of God in India called Brother Buxing. I consider him the greatest man of God I've ever met in India. He died many years ago.

It was my privilege to know him when I was in my early 20s. He was converted from a Sikh background. You know violently against Christianity. Before he was converted having torn the Bible and all that.

And then he got converted. And he started reading the Bible. And I remember him saying. When he read the first chapter of the Bible. The thing that struck him. Was this phrase. And God said. And God said.

And God said. And God said. And God said. I read that so many times. It didn't strike me like it struck him. But the way it struck him was. Boy. The God of these Christians is a God who speaks. Whereas the God I was worshipping never spoke to me.

Is your God. A God who speaks to you? Who tells you what you should do? Like Mary could hear? Or is it. One of these other Gods that never tells you what you should do. Are you one of those who hear men.

But you can't hear God? What is the message in the first chapter of the Bible? Every day. God speaks. He who was yours to hear. Let him hear. People are too busy to hear. That's why. There is a very lovely prophetic reference to Jesus in Isaiah 50.

In verse 4 it says. In the middle of that verse. The Lord God awakens me morning by morning. Isaiah 50 verse 4. It's a prophetic reference to Christ. He awakens my ear to listen as a disciple. So Jesus heard the Father every day.

Who are you and I to say. I don't need to hear him every day. Now I'll tell you something. This is not referring to a quiet time. It's good to have a quiet time. If you have the time for it. But this is not referring to that.

It's saying here that he woke me up in the morning to listen. And kept my ear open throughout the day. He was listening the whole time. He was having a quiet time the whole day. Inwardly. Listening. As a disciple.

And because he listened. The Lord gave him verse. First part of verse 4. The tongue of a disciple. To have exactly the right word. For every single person who came across his path. You don't have to be a preacher for this.

The weary one. The first part of verse 4. How many weary people. Come across our path. The path of every believer. Weary unbelievers. Weary relatives. Weary believers. What they need is a word from God.

Not a sermon. A word from God that would really lift them. Help them. Deliver them. And here Jesus had a word because he listened. His attitude always was. Speak Lord. I'm listening. I'm listening. I'm listening.

And because he kept on listening. He always had a word for anybody who came to him anytime. Whether it was a crowd. Or an individual. Whether it was a single woman of Samaria. Or an academist. Or 10 ,000 people.

He had a word for them. Because his whole life he was listening. He did his father's will. Whatever he did. We can also do. But we can only begin by listening. And as we listen. We can do his work. Our father who art in heaven.

Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done. In my life. On earth. As it is done in heaven. How is it done in heaven? I mean Michael doesn't. Archangel Michael doesn't tell Gabriel. Come on.

Go and do something for God. Don't just sit around doing nothing. No. They wait upon the Lord. The angels. That's how God's will is done in heaven. And God says Gabriel I want you to go down to Nazareth and speak to that girl.

Or speak to Zachariah the priest. He goes down and finishes that. Comes back before the Lord. So what shall I do next Lord? That's how the angels do the will of God in heaven. And that's why they accomplish so much.

With so little. And that's why the work remains. Jesus said. I have chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit. And that your fruit should remain. And I have meditated on that.

Lord that's the way I want to do your will. I want to do your will not the way I think I should do it. Thy will be done in my life. As it is done in heaven. And that's why Jesus said about Mary. One thing.

Mary has chosen that good thing which shall not be taken away from her. Sat at Jesus feet and listened. The other thing Jesus said in John 14 .12 was. Greater works than these shall he do. Not just the works that I do.

I've explained that part. Greater works than these. What is the greater work than Jesus did? Something beyond what he did. Is it possible? I mean again if I were to ask the average believer. Can you tell me the greatest work Jesus did on earth?

Well they'd say he died on the cross. Well I can't do that. I certainly can't do a greater work than dying on the cross for the sins of the world. So what else? And they'd say he raised Lazarus from the dead after three days.

What's a greater work than that? Go to the graves. Raise up somebody who's been dead for five days. I don't know of a single believer I met like that in my life who's done it. But yet here it says everyone who believes in him will do it.

This must be something that every single believer. Not just some occasional apostle once in a century doing it. No. This is something that every believer can do. Like I explained the first part. Every believer can do the father's will if he denies his own will.

If he wants to please God and not please man. And every believer should be able to do this greater work. And I meditate on it and I see there's only one work that Jesus could not do in his lifetime. He could not make his eleven disciples one.

Unity as the Greater Work

Despite all his effort. For three and a half years. They listened to the greatest preacher that ever walked on the earth. The man who lived every word that he preached. And at the end of eleven years.

Their discussion was. When he dies who's going to be the next leader? You or me? Can you imagine? What a pathetic situation. Jesus had prayed. Many times more than John 17. Father I pray there'll be one.

There'll be one. There'll be one. Like you and I are one. They were not one. They were still competing with one another. Who's greater? You or me? Who's going to sit at the right hand of Jesus and the left hand of Jesus?

You or me? We better grab those seats before anybody else grabs them. This is how they were. Had they forsaken all? Sure. They've given up. Jobs and professions. Like many of you have. They were utterly dedicated.

It's sacrifice. Peter could have made a lot of money as a fisherman. He quit. Matthew could have made a lot of money as an accountant in the Roman government. He quit that job. In spite of that. They were not one.

I've seen multitudes of missionaries who've come to India. Christian workers in India who sacrificed for the Lord. Who've given up jobs. Just like Matthew. Just like Peter. Just like James. And just like John.

But they're not one with each other. There's competition. There's jealousy. There's strife. Just like pre-Pentecost days. The baptism in the Holy Spirit. One of the purposes was to fuse them into one body.

I picture the baptism in the Holy Spirit like a furnace into which 120 pieces of iron were put in. And they came out as one piece of iron. Melted and made into one. That's another purpose of the baptism in the Holy Spirit.

But how cleverly the devil has led people astray and made this such a controversial subject. Greater works than these shall he do. Jesus said, after I'm gone. Why couldn't Jesus make them one? Only one reason.

Those disciples did not have the Spirit dwelling within them. And if the Spirit is not dwelling within them. If they are not full of the Holy Spirit. It's impossible to make people one. No matter how much they know the Bible.

No matter how much they want to be one. They will not be one. I mean, think of Christian husbands and wives. Forget larger number of 11 or 12 or 100. How many Christian husbands and wives are one with each other?

Who claim to be filled with the Spirit. Husbands and wives who speak in tongues. They're not one with each other. Is that important? If you want to know it's importance. Read John 17. And try and understand the heart of Jesus.

As I told you. The burden God's given me. Is not necessarily the burden God's given other parts of the body. Because we have different functions. And I see the need for others. Whether they see the need for me or not.

I see the need for other members of the body. But I will not do the function of other members. And I'm not going to change what God's called me to do. I picture evangelism and other ministries in the body.

Evangelism, prophecy, teaching. I told you how God's put apostles, prophets, evangelist, teachers. I look at it like this. What is the purpose of evangelism? It is not to take people to heaven. It is to make someone who's not a member of the body of Christ.

A member of the body of Christ. That's how I see it. That is the full good news. So here is someone who's not a member of the body of Christ. Non-Christian, Atheist, Barbarian or whatever it is. It's not just to get his soul saved and take him to heaven.

But to make him a member of the body of Christ on earth. That is the goal. Otherwise we could just save them and say okay forget it. Now we move on to the next person. Yet Paul and Barnabas didn't do that.

After they brought people to Christ. You read in Acts 15. They said let's go back. And see how they're getting along. And you say Paul what do you mean go back? Look at the rest of the world that's not heard the gospel.

What are you wasting your time going back to these people? They've already heard it. Were they wrong? To take a person and make him a member of the body of Christ. I picture it like this. You know I think in illustrations and it helps me a lot.

Here's a potato. Picture of an unbeliever. Here's my body. Picture of the body of Christ. Now I have to make that potato a part of my body. How do we do it? The first step is evangelism. The eye. Seeing.

The hand. Taking that potato. Putting it inside. The mouth. This is evangelism. You put it inside the mouth. Has it become a part of your body? You can keep it there for years. It'll just rot. Okay. The mouth chews.

The throat swallows. It goes down to the stomach. Has it become a part of your body? You can stuff your stomach with potatoes if they're not digested. You'll vomit it all out. It's exactly what's happening today in a lot of evangelism.

People are asked to say the magic words. Lord Jesus come into my heart. Get baptized and you're a Christian. Say okay that's it. If you endure to the end we'll be saved. Hebrews 3 .14 says we are made partakers of Christ.

If we hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm until the end. A lot of people who say they're not Calvinists are actually Calvinists when it comes to their evangelism. Without a doubt. It's almost as though we don't have to hold fast firm until the end.

I have a certain understanding of eternal security which I found from scripture. I've written an article on it. If you go to our CFC India website. Go to the articles. You'll find an article there on eternal security.