(The Truth Will Set You Free) God's Will for Us Is Total Freedom — Zac Poonen

And perfect gift comes from above. Anyone who expects a good and perfect gift from man is going to be disappointed. But if our expectation is from the Lord, He can use any channel, but ultimately our expectation is from Him, we will never be disappointed.

So let's still our hearts for a few moments and say, Lord, I want to hear you speak to my heart. I want to receive what you want to give me. My heart is open to you. I'm hungry, I'm needy, I'm thirsty, and I open my mouth wide.

I open my heart wide. I want you to fill it in these days, whatever limitation there may be in man. Lord, bypass all that and come and meet the need of my heart. Heavenly Father, we pray the Holy Spirit will rest upon us, not only on me as I speak, but on all the people here who are listening.

The Spirit of God will be upon us. Holy Spirit of God, we open ourselves to you. Lord Jesus, you are the risen Lord in our midst. Anoint us, give us a word that will liberate us, draw us closer to you.

Hear us and answer us, Heavenly Father. We seek you. We know it is your good pleasure to bless us and we come to you in faith. It is your good pleasure to give us the kingdom. It is your will that we should be free.

It's not your will that anybody here should be in bondage to anything. We believe that, Lord. Do a work in these days in our midst. We trust you. We wait on you. We pray for the spirit of prophecy in every meeting.

Your name will be glorified. Thank you, Lord. Thank you. We trust you with all of our hearts. We trust you. Be glorified in our midst. We worship you. We give you all the glory. In Jesus' name, Amen. Please be seated.

Christ’s Promise of Freedom Through the Truth

Okay, we are going to begin. First of all, let's turn to John's Gospel, chapter 8. John's Gospel, chapter 8, and verse 32. 31 first, Jesus said to those who had believed in him, If you continue in my word, then you are truly disciples of mine.

And you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. So, that is our theme for this conference. And we don't want to just get a lot of good messages, but we want to actually become free. And I don't know what you are in bondage to at the moment, but the devil's got all types of bondages lined up for people.

And many of God's people are in bondage. And they should not be in bondage. It's not God's will. See, first of all, you must believe one thing, that it is not the will of God for you to be bound by anything.

Passover Liberation and Freedom from Bondage

One of the greatest events that took place in the Old Testament, which God asked the Israelites to commemorate every year in the Passover, was their liberation from slavery in Egypt. You know what the Passover was?

The Passover was the celebration of the liberation from slavery in Egypt. And they had to celebrate it every year with the slaying of a lamb. And it was that celebration that Jesus turned into the breaking of bread when He met with the disciples on that Passover night.

Because that Passover was finally fulfilled the next morning when Jesus was crucified on the cross. So, if you link the crucifixion of Christ back to the Old Testament Passover, what are we supposed to celebrate through the death and resurrection of Christ?

Liberation from slavery. If you had gone to any of the Israelites in those 1500 years when they celebrated the Passover, in fact, the Lord told them, when you celebrate the Passover, the head of the table, the father would sit and he would celebrate the Passover, the lamb, etc.

And his son was supposed to ask him, Dad, what does this mean? It was a ritual. Every time the son had to ask him. And every year the father had to tell the son so that it would go on from generation to generation.

And they'd never forget it. What? That they were not supposed to be slaves. That when they were slaves, the almighty hand of God came and liberated them. That's what we are supposed to be celebrating through the death and resurrection of Christ.

And from that I believe that there is not a single thing that's supposed to bind me. I'm not supposed to be a slave to people's opinions, to the law, to sin, to the world, to the love of money, to nothing.

I'm not even supposed to be a slave to myself. A slave to trying to create impressions on others. There are a hundred and one things that we can be slaves to. And if we can understand this. First of all, it is not the will of God that you, dear brother, sister, even if you were converted this morning, it's not the will of God that you should be enslaved to anything at all.

Not to the devil, nothing. And yet when I look around, I see the vast majority of believers bound. What shall we say is the reason for this? According to this verse, they don't know the truth. That's it.

Or they know partially the truth. For example, many of you are not enslaved to the fear that you might go to hell when you die, right? How did you get out of that fear? Because you knew one part of the truth, that Christ died for your sins, paid the punishment and you're free.

You see what that truth did to you? Do you see how that truth completely liberated you from the fear that you would go to hell when you die? Do you know multitudes of people in the world don't know what will happen when they die?

But you know, how did you get liberated? Because you understood a small segment of truth. What a difference it has made to your life compared to all the other people in the world. Can you imagine what will happen to you if you understand more and more of truth and understand the whole spectrum of truth?

Receiving the Whole Counsel of Truth

If you studied light, you know that white light has got seven colors. It's called a spectrum, which you see in the rainbow. Now, if you take one of those colors, that's right. That's a part of white light.

But it's not all. It's not all. You got to get the whole spectrum to get white light. I remember seeing a picture of something that is in a museum in one place where they put plants under different colors light.

You know how plants grow in the sunlight? Well, they put these plants under different colors of the rainbow in a laboratory. Different, different colors to see how much these plants will grow if they are put in different colored lights.

And they gave the same fertilizer, the same water, the same thing. And they found a tremendous difference. Some plants were this much, very small, because they didn't have the full spectrum of white light.

They got just one side, maybe green, maybe red. That's all in white. All these colors are in white, yellow, orange, everything is there. But if you take only one of them and put the plant under that, it grows one-tenth or less of what it grows out there in the full bright sunlight.

And I think that's a correct picture of the condition of many Christians. They got one segment of truth and they are growing. But their growth is nothing compared to what it could be if they understood the whole segment of truth.

And if the Bible says that the God of this world has blinded the minds of people who don't believe, you can be pretty sure that He has also blinded the minds of a lot of believers that they don't believe some more, which will set them a little more free.

The truth will set you free completely. Many of you probably have a problem, those who have been believers for a long time. How shall I overcome and be free from spiritual pride, which I have a battle with, particularly when I see all the carnality and Christianity around me, and the dead state of other churches, and how wonderfully and richly God has blessed me and given me understanding and truth.

How can I remain humble with all this fantastic experience and knowledge and victory? Does God want a person to be enslaved by spiritual pride? Not at all. If you know the whole segment of truth, you will never be spiritually proud, even when you're the greatest overcomer in the world.

And even if God uses you more than everybody else, you'll still be humble. Nobody was used like Jesus, and yet he was the humblest man that walked on the earth. Nobody was used like Moses in his time, and without the Holy Spirit, without the Word of God, without fellowship, without conferences, that man 3 ,500 years ago was the humblest man on the face of the earth.

It's possible. Everything is possible by the grace of God, but you've got to understand the truth. And now I want to say one more thing, which I've been stressing these days. David said in Psalm 119, Thy word have I hid in my heart, so that I might not sin against thee.

That's verse 9 or 11. Thy word have I hid in my heart, so that I might not sin against thee. Now there's a lot of difference between receiving truth in the head. You know who's got the maximum amount of truth in the head?

Truth Received in the Heart

The devil. And he's completely bound. He's not free. And if you get truth in your head, no matter even if you get all the truth, you'll still be a slave. But when you get it in your heart, if your heart is hungry, you don't want to just study.

You know most people study the Scriptures either to get more understanding, so that they can talk about the Bible with others, or to get more honor, or to preach sermons. Now I'll tell you this, if you study the Bible to preach sermons, you'll be a slave all your life.

Any of you got that habit, get rid of it. Don't be like these Bible college people. Study the Bible to become a pastor, or to become a sermon preacher. Do you think Jesus studied the Bible to preach sermons?

Do you think Peter studied the Bible to preach sermons? No. You stop studying the Bible to preach sermons. Say, Lord, I want to study the Scriptures so that it sings into my heart, and I know the truth that sets me free, even if I never preach another sermon in my life.

I say that to God, I couldn't care less if I don't preach another sermon in my life. I want truth. I want all of God's truth in my heart. And when it's in my heart, I can speak from my heart, it'll go to your heart.

If I cram it all up in my head, I'll speak from my head, and it'll go to your head. This is the reason why so much of ministry in many churches is going from head to head, and people are not being set free from sin.

So, I hope you will understand the difference between understanding what I'm saying, that's easy if you've got a clever mind, you can understand it, you can grasp it, you can probably go home and even preach it.

But if you want to get it in your heart, you don't have to be clever up here. You have to have a hunger, and a thirst, and a terrific sense of need. Lord, I am a needy man, I have come here as a needy man, and I am hungry for your truth.

That man will get it in his heart, that woman will get it in her heart. The rest will get it in their heads like they've got it for 30 years, and say, that was a wonderful conference, and go away and live the same old life that they have lived all these years.

That choice is yours. We can't stop that, even Jesus can't stop it. Jesus said about the good ground are those who receive it with a good heart. You know that Jesus said that in Luke 8? Not a good mind.

The good ground where the seed is sown is those who receive with a good heart. I believe this is the big mistake that perhaps some of us have made. We thought all we need when we sit in a meeting is to be alert, I shouldn't be sleepy, I must be listening carefully, I must take down my notes, all that is good.

But it has only got as far as your mind. And that's why year after year after year, there doesn't seem to be much change in your life. What you need is a hunger, and a thirst, and a terrific sense of need.

Lord, I am the needy person sitting here. I mean, if I can find someone here who feels, Lord, among all the people sitting here, I feel I am the most needy. Brother, sister, you are going to get the maximum from God.

It's like that. God satisfies the hungry and the rich. He sends empty away. That's what the Bible says. He satisfies the hungry soul with good things. And he sends the rich empty away. Let me show you Psalm 103.

God Satisfies the Hungry Soul

Psalm 103 it says, Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. Verse 2, Psalm 103. He forgives our sins. He heals our diseases. He redeems us from hell. Wonderful truths. He crowns us with love and mercy.

He wraps us up with goodness. He satisfies your years. Verse 5, with good things. So that your youth is renewed like the eagle. Now I've discovered one thing as I've grown older. That I can't do anything about the outward decaying of my physical body.

The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 4 .16, the outward man decays. You can't do anything about it. It's gradually perishing. We can't live forever. Doctors say we sort of reach our peak when we're around 25.

And all of you who are over 25, you're downhill. Please remember that. And by the time you get to my age, you realize that you can't do much about the body. But, I'll tell you the good news. Your spirit can be the spirit of a young man all your life.

I believe mine is. I believe my real age is around 25 or something. I feel like that anyway. Because it says, your youth is renewed like the eagles. Yeah, I want to see how many young people have a passionate devotion for Jesus.

I'd like to challenge you in that race. See who's, I mean, 100 meters you may beat me. But in this matter of a passionate devotion to Jesus. That's what it means to have your youth, to have your soul set on fire.

With a love for God and a love for others. And a passionate desire to build the church and the kingdom of God on earth. That's what a young man should have. I want to be young all my life in my spirit.

It says here, He renews your youth like the eagles. Now, I don't know what the eagle does to renew its youth. But I suppose there's some type of thing the eagle does to keep young. And it lives a long, long, long time.

But like you've seen that picture behind me. When the eagle is in a cage. What's the use of it being an eagle? That's worse than a worm. A worm outside the cage is better than an eagle inside a cage. So it's no use boasting, God's made me an eagle.

He's made me one with Christ. Wonderful. But I hope you're not in a cage that the devils put you in. The truth will set you free. So that your youth, the youthfulness of your spirit will be renewed year by year.

I hope you'll see me younger next year than you see me right now. That's my goal. I want to get younger and younger in my spirit. Because it says your youth will be renewed like the eagles. He does it.

He does it. And I have faith for it. Just like I have faith for verse 3. That He forgives all my sins. I have faith for that. And I have faith that He will renew me like the eagles. He'll satisfy all my years with good things.

My brothers and sisters, God is a good God. And we must believe that. This is His will for you. That you should be like the eagle that flies in the air. That's God's will for you. I want to show you in Ezekiel.

The Four Faces of Christian Character

Turn to Ezekiel please. And you know Ezekiel had a vision of the future kingdom from chapter 40 onwards. That's a picture of the New Testament church. But in chapter 1, in his vision, he was in Babylon.

And God gave him a vision of how His glory had departed. And one of the visions he saw in Ezekiel chapter 1 was... Ezekiel chapter 1. He says he saw verse 4. There was a great cloud with fire. And inside that, verse 5, were figures resembling four faces and four wings.

Now this is all picture language. But I want you to understand this picture language. It says here in verse 10. The form of their faces. Each one of these had the face of a man, the face of a lion, the face of a bull, and the face of an eagle.

These are the four faces. They symbolize four aspects of our Christian life. First of all, we are to have the face of a man which is an attitude of compassion and goodness towards others. The tender face of a man.

Not the fierce face of animals. Tender face. You know, a man's face is so much gentler compared to all the other three. That's why I believe that that's the first thing we need to see. A gentle, merciful attitude towards others.

And if your face is not like that, pray that God will give you a face like that. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes chapter 8 or chapter 7, that wisdom lights up a man's face. And your face can be gentle and compassionate towards your children.

You hardworking mothers, when your children irritate you, ask you for a face like this. And all of us, when we work with people who are hard and difficult to get along with. And then it says, the other is the face of a lion.

And that's another thing that we must have. Our attitude to the devil and to sin and to all evil is the face of a lion. It's a picture of dignity and authority. I'm not going to crawl before the devil like a worm and say, oh please, don't trouble me.

No, I'm going to be like a lion before Satan, so that he's going to flee with his tail between his legs. Because I'm in Christ. That's the second position I need to have. My face towards the devil must be that of a lion.

Of a lion. When I proclaim God's word anywhere, my face must be like the face of a lion. Not all the time. When I deal with people individually, it must be the face of a man. But I must also have the face of a lion if I am to stand against God.

And all of you who proclaim God's word when you want to liberate people from the captivity of Satan, you've got to have the face of a lion towards the devil. You don't hate the people, but you see the devil's grip on so many of them.

And I believe Jesus had the face of a lion when he confronted people who were in the grip of the devil. The third thing is the face of a bull or an ox. And that is a picture, you know, oxen were used for two things in the Old Testament.

Sacrifice and service. You know, like bullock carts and plowing the fields. So the ox symbolizes, the bull symbolizes sacrifice and service. And I'm ready for both. I say, Lord, I don't expect to have a comfortable life on earth.

I expect my entire life till the last day on earth to be a life of sacrifice and service to other people. If I'm a servant of God, I'm a servant of all men. And that's the trouble with a lot of Christian leaders and pastors.

Why the grace of God departs from them is because they want to be servants of God, but they are not servants of all men. We must have the face of a bull. And that is to serve and serve. Have you seen these bullock carts?

I mean, if we were in the villages, we'd have seen the bulls plowing the fields. But here at least we can see the bullock carts. And I see the face of those bulls sometimes as they pull those bullock carts.

They've done it for years. And they just plod along. They get whipped and they go this way and that way and the other way. Service, service, service. They get up next morning. What do they think? They think, oh, today is going to be a relaxed day for us.

Oh, no. Which bull gets up in the morning, even on a Sunday, and thinks, oh, today I'll have a holiday. There's no holiday. Perhaps more work on a Sunday. That's how it is to serve the Lord. Are you willing?

And in the Old Testament, you never knew. One day the master will take that bull and lay it on the altar and say, okay, today, goodbye to you. I've got to sacrifice you. Thank you for all the service you gave me for the last 20 years.

Now, I've got to kill you. Is that the way they reward me? After all these 20 years of service? Okay. The bull says, fine. Are you willing for that? Are you willing to be a sacrifice for the Lord? After years and years and years and years of service, to live with the spirit of sacrifice every day, and the spirit of service every day.

That's the meaning of the bull. Sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice. If ever you think, aha, I'm a senior brother now. I don't have to sacrifice like I did in the old days. Brother, forget it. You're not fit to serve the Lord.

If you want to serve the Lord, you must have the face of a bull till the end of your life. Spirit of sacrifice. And the fourth one, is the face of an eagle, it says. The face of an eagle. And that's the thing I want to mention.

That's the eagle that's not in a cage. That's the eagle that's up in the air. And it's a picture of resurrection life, lived in the heavenlies, where a person is living in the kingdom of heaven. Not on earth.

The man and the lion and the bull all live on the earth. But the eagle has gone past the earth, and the reason God chooses the picture of the eagle, is because the eagle flies higher than all the other birds.

The other birds just can't get anywhere near. It's got its nest so high, an eagle won't come and put its nest on these trees, in your compound or anything. No, no, no, no. That's for small birds like crows and all that.

Eagle is way up. It looks for you. You hardly ever see one around here. You know why? Because you don't have any high rocks here. That's why you don't see eagles. An eagle wants to make a nest. It looks for a huge rock.

High one. Because it's the king of the birds. And it's a picture of one that's completely free. You can't put a mountain in front of an eagle, and say, I'm going to stop you with this mountain. It just flies over the mountain.

You can't put a river in front of an eagle, and say, I'm going to stop you with a river. Just fly over the river. You know that's how God wants you to be? That the devil and human beings can never put an obstacle in your path, and say, I'm going to stop you.

You can't stop me, brother. You can't stop me, Satan. I've got a life inside me, which lifts me up above the things of earth. And I just fly right over it. You can't get me discouraged, drooping down in the ground.

Discouragement is like that eagle inside the cage. I see believers sometimes. They're flapping their wings. They praise the Lord, praise the Lord, praise the Lord. They're inside a cage. What's the use of that?

When you flap your wings Sunday morning to praise the Lord, just ask yourself, are you doing that inside a cage? Or up at 10 ,000 feet up in the air? That's where we're supposed to be. Set your mind on the things that are above, and not on the things of earth.

That's the way we're supposed to live the Christian life. It doesn't mean we don't take care of earthly things. I'll tell you this. The more I have set my mind on heavenly things, I've been better able to take care of my earthly responsibilities.

My financial responsibilities, my bank account, looking after my children when they were at home, taking care of my home. Everything just goes better and smoother when our mind is set on the things above.

That's the way we're supposed to be. Like eagles. That's the way we're supposed to be. It's a picture of resurrection life. You know, when God created man, He made him on the same day as the animals. You've heard me say that.

On the first part of the sixth day, He made the animals. The evening and the morning were the first day. Those days, the day started at sunset and finished at next sunset. It's not like us from 0 to 24.

It's from 6 p .m. in the evening to 6 p .m. next day. So the evening was the first part of the day God made the animals. And the morning, which is the second part of the sixth day, God made man. And He made man on the same day as the animals to teach him that it's very easy for you to sink to the level of an animal if you're not careful.

That was the message. Why He created man and animals on the same day. You know, you look inside the animals and their heart and liver and kidney and everything is more or less like a human being. Okay.

But then, He did something to man which made him completely different from the animals and even higher than the angels. He breathed into him. Now a lot of people, they say, when God said let us make man in our image, not a lot of people, some crazy people say this that when God made man in His image it's as if God had eyes and ears.

And I want to tell you the good news that God doesn't have eyes and ears like us. Jesus has when He took a body like ours but God the Father doesn't. Because in that case, the animals are also like God.

No. What is it that made man in God's image different from the animals? Not two eyes and two ears because the dogs and cats have got that. They are not in God's image. It is the fact that God breathed into Him something called a spirit that made Him a living soul with the capacity to receive God's light.

See, like this table has no capacity to receive electricity. You put electricity through this table, nothing happens. But you put electricity through a tube light. Oh, it burns. It's got the capacity or through a filament in a bulb.

It burns. Unlike the table. So animals don't have the capacity like this table doesn't have the capacity to receive electricity. Animals don't have the capacity to receive God's light. But when God made man, He made him with the capacity to receive God's light.

That's what makes you and us different from the animals. And that life is always pulling man upwards. Upwards just like the life of the eagle. But he had this earthly part of his which kept him on the ground.

Earthly Desires and the Call to Heavenly Life

And Satan, when he tempted Eve, he tempted her to respond to this earthly part and ignore the heavenly part. I want to tell you something. Every temptation that comes to you from the time of Genesis 3 onward that the devil has tempted man is always this temptation.

Ignore the heavenly part of you. Respond. Respond to the earthly part. The earthly part of you wants to lust. The earthly part of you wants to accumulate money. The earthly part of you wants something, good food and comfortable life and respond to that, respond to that.

You keep on responding to that for 20 years. You come and sit in CFC for 20 years and respond to this for 20 years. You know what you'll be at the end of 20 years? A thoroughly earthly human being with a lot of knowledge of spiritual things stacked in your brain making you think you're spiritual when you're not spiritual at all.

Another fellow who's got probably 20 of your knowledge may be more spiritual than you because he spent 20 years responding to the heavenly part of him calling him upwards. So you know you are what you are today.

You can't suddenly become spiritual tomorrow. I'm sorry to disappoint you with that. You can't become spiritual. There's no button you press or experience you get here that suddenly you'll go away from the conference as spiritual man.

But you can start. You can start on that road and 5 years from now 5 years from now if you're faithful you'll be soaring like the eagle. What does the Bible say in Isaiah 40 verse 31? Isaiah 40 verse 31 it says Those who wait upon the Lord will gain I would like to put it like this another type of strength another type of power which it is impossible to get humanly speaking.

It's called resurrection power. Those who wait upon the Lord will get this new power and automatically they will start mounting up with wings like eagles. Spiritually speaking they will run and run and run and run and run and run and never get tired.

They will walk and walk and walk and walk and walk with Jesus and never become weary. How many of you got weary about walking with Jesus? No, it is not the real Jesus. You walk with the real Jesus you never get weary.

It gets exciting more and more exciting as time goes by as you walk with Jesus you run with Him run the race walk with Him you never get weary. You know what it means to walk with Jesus? I'll give you one example.

When you are watching a television program and something comes on that screen which Jesus would not see and Jesus gets up and walks away you walk with Jesus walk away. That's what it means to walk with Jesus.

You got it? When you are reading a book or a newspaper or a magazine and there is something there which Jesus would not read He gets up and walks away. You walk with Jesus walk away from that. Ok, I hope you learned something at least this morning.

To walk with Jesus you'll never get weary. Why do you get so weary? Because when Jesus walks away you are still sitting there reading that thing watching that thing no wonder you are tired and exhausted and the devil knocks you down left, right and center.

Walk with Jesus. Walk with Him. When you are tempted to speak that angry word to your husband or your wife because he or she did something terribly stupid and of course you never did anything stupid in your whole life so then what do you do?

And Jesus walks away from there saying, I don't want to hear what you are going to say now excuse me, I'm going you walk away with Him. Walk away with Him. That's what it means to walk with Jesus. I want to do that.

More and more I've learned to walk with Jesus. You will not grow weary. You will mount up with wings but you got to wait on the Lord. It doesn't happen overnight. Those who wait upon the Lord they wait, they wait they know God will do it.

They say, Lord I can't do it I can't sort of try and spring up and fly I can't do it. I can't produce wings and try and fly. You got to do it. You who created the eagle you can do that in my spirit and make me fly like the eagle and break every prison door that's tied me up set me free.

You must believe this is God's will. What I'm trying to do is try and create faith in your heart from God's word that this is God's will for you for every single one of you. When God created man in His image He put something within him which could lift him up to the heavenlies but Adam and Eve rejected that and chose the earthly something to satisfy their stomach something to satisfy their tongue mainly something earthly just like the animals look for something to satisfy their tongue and their stomach.

That's why Jesus also had to be tempted with food because He had to be tempted like us tempted with earthly things and He rejected it. He rejected everything earthly. He was offered the glory of the world.

He said no I live by that principle which God created man with and that's why Jesus lived like an eagle all the time and that's why Adam and his descendants are earthbound. See this verse in 1 Corinthians 15.

Resurrection Life Through Christ

1 Corinthians 15 it says here verse 47 talking about Adam and Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 47. The first man is from the earth earthy. The second man is from heaven. Got it? That's clear. Adam was made from the earth, earthy and he lived for the earth.

The second man came from heaven he had an earthly body but he lived from heaven. Now listen to this verse 48. As is the earthy so also are those who are earthy. All the descendants of Adam behave just like him.

They are interested in earthly things right from the time they are children. But as is the heavenly so also are those who are heavenly. That means when we get really connected to Jesus Christ and get rid of all the things that hinder that connection I can become a heavenly person like him.

And listen to this encouraging word that's a great encouragement. Verse 49. Exactly as we bore the image of the earthy we will also bear the image of the heavenly. You know what that means? That means you know how it was in the old days.

Dear friends how wonderfully I bore the image of the earthy. I was angry, bitter, unforgiving earthly minded loving money fighting quarreling for the smallest things. Didn't I bear the image of the earthy in a wonderful way.