(Spirit-Filled Life) Part 2: The Way to Know God — Zac Poonen

Taking God's Word and Christ's Commands Seriously

Holy Spirit. In our last session I mentioned that one of the first things you need to decide if you want to live an overcoming life is to take God's Word seriously, take the commands of Jesus seriously, not as things to be kept occasionally.

Even the Old Testament Israelites never took the Ten Commandments as suggestions. They were not suggestions. They were not ten suggestions. They were ten commandments and they took them seriously. And I find that most Christians don't take the commands of Jesus seriously.

That's it's absolutely essential. If we don't take the commandments of Jesus seriously, we will live a very superficial Christian life. And not just the commands of Jesus, the commands of the Holy Spirit.

By the commands of Jesus I mean all that He taught in the Gospels. By the commands of the Holy Spirit I mean all that is written in the rest of the New Testament, in the Epistles, where Jesus told His disciples, I have yet many things to say to you.

He told them, but you can't bear them now. But when the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth has come, He will lead you into all the truth. And there were many other things which we find in the New Testament, like rejoice in the Lord always.

If I take it seriously, I remember the time in my life when I took that little commandment, Philippians 4 .4, seriously. Just a few words, rejoice in the Lord always. Five words. I don't know how many Christians have taken those five words of scripture seriously.

For years, for more than 16, 20 years of my life, I never took that seriously. But when I decided to take it seriously, I began to experience it little by little by little by little by little by little.

It was like climbing a mountain. It didn't happen overnight, but I began to experience it. And I want to say to you, whenever, when you begin to take God's word seriously, Lord, I believe you meant what you said.

Don't just glory in saying the Bible is God's word. I find so many Christians who are arguing about a version. Well, I don't care which version you've got. Every version says you've got to rejoice in the Lord always.

Every version says you've got to take up the cross every day. It's no use glorying in a version. This is the version I believe is God's word. If you're not keeping what's written in it, that's more important.

So that's number one. The other thing I want to say is once you take God's word seriously, the next step is to acknowledge that you're not living at that level. You know, when I see a command like do not be anxious or rejoice in the Lord always, it's a very high standard.

And here I find my level is down here. And I have two options. One is to somehow twist that scripture and make it mean what I'm living at, or leave it there and say, Lord, I'm not there yet. Honesty. When you get angry because somebody hurt you, don't call it righteous indignation or some holy name like that.

You'll never get victory. I'll tell you that. Call it anger. When you lust after a woman, don't say, well, I was admiring her beauty. No, call it by the dirtiest filthiest name you can think of. That was sin.

That was adultery. You'll get victory. Otherwise, you'll keep on admiring these beautiful creatures of God and live in sin. Call it by its name and say, Lord, this is your standard. I haven't got there.

But the third thing is to say, I want to get there. That's faith. And I believe that you will help me. So there's first of all, taking God's word seriously. Second, acknowledging that I haven't got there.

And then third, believing that God will help me. Merely taking God's word seriously and merely acknowledging our failure will still make us live at the same level. But if you can add faith to that, Lord, I believe that what you have commanded, you will enable me to live by.

Seeking Genuine Filling of the Holy Spirit

I mean, it takes time. It takes time. I remember when I started praying to be filled, to be baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit. I said, Lord, if it takes me 10 years, I'm going to get there. But I don't want any cheap counterfeit.

I don't want to go to some meeting and somebody lay hands on me and get some cheap counterfeit and go and say, I got it. This is what a lot of people are doing today. Yes. So they go to a church where everybody expects them to speak in tongues.

OK. So they know that as long as I don't speak in tongues, I'm not accepted in this club. So somehow they manipulate something and they say, OK, I joined the club. Is that what you're interested in? I'm not interested in joining any club.

I'll tell you that. I want God's best and I want that which is genuine. If you come to God like that and say, Lord, I don't want a counterfeit. I want the real thing. Then you get the real thing. I want to show you a very humorous illustration of that.

The Bible is full of humor. If you didn't see it, let me show it to you right in the beginning of Scripture. Genesis chapter two. Genesis chapter two. God made a man, Adam. And it says here, the Lord made verse 19, Genesis 2, 19.

He had also made the beasts of the field in the earlier part of the day. I hope you know that the animals and men were both made on the sixth day. The animals, the first part of the day and the man at the latter part of the day.

And then God brought the animals, it says in Genesis 2, 19. To Adam and even the birds and told Adam, give a name to all of these. And he did that and he gave names, verse 20, to the cattle, to the birds.

And then listen to this, and to every beast, but for Adam, there was not found a helper suitable for him. Why does that sentence come at the end of that? Why is it linked to Adam watching all the animals going by?

He watched the pigs and said, no, I don't want a pig. I don't want to marry a pig. And the dog, this was a little better. I don't want a dog, no. Maybe the lion, lioness. No, I don't want that. And at the end, all these beautiful ones, the peacock perhaps, the peahen.

No, I don't want that either. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Lord, I want the real thing. God said, okay, I'll put you to sleep. And he gave him Eve. Imagine if he was satisfied with one of those animals.

Now I'm applying that to you're getting satisfied with something less than what God has for you. That's what I mean. Some cheap counterfeit, which God never intended for you to be satisfied with. Say, Lord, I want the real thing.

And he'll allow you to see one counterfeit, another counterfeit, another counterfeit. And I'll tell you, there are thousands of counterfeits in the world today of the ministry of the Holy Spirit, like those thousands of animals who went by Adam.

Now the question is, will you say, oh, Lord, this is okay. This is better than that one. I'll take the peahen. Or the lioness. Don't. God has got something better for you. He's got the best. That's how I went to God.

And I said, Lord, I went to different groups and I was not satisfied with what I saw there. Because I found what they call the Holy Spirit wasn't really making people holy. And, you know, evil spirits make evil people evil.

You know that what kind of Holy Spirit make people holy. It's simple logic, but people don't seem to understand that. So I turned away from all that. And I said, Lord, I want what Peter, James and John got on the day of Pentecost.

And if it takes me 10 years to get it, I'll wait. It takes me 20 years. I'll wait. But I want the real thing. If it takes, like Adam would say, if it takes me 20 years to get a wife, according to what I should have, I'll wait.

If I have to go to sleep for 20 years, I'll wait for 20 years. But I'm not going to be satisfied with these animals. So I want you to take that position. Say, Lord, I am willing to wait. But I will not be satisfied with the counterfeit.

I want the real thing which you give me. God himself gave Adam Eve and Jesus gave the Holy Spirit to his disciples on the day of Pentecost. And I believe he will give us if we come to him and say, Lord, I don't want to just join a club.

I don't want to find acceptance in a church. I don't want to glory that. Yeah, I'm filled with the Holy Spirit. I don't want any of that. That's all for the honor of men. I'm not interested. I want God to be convinced that I'm filled with the Holy Spirit, not you to be convinced.

I couldn't care less whether you think I'm filled with the Holy Spirit or not. It doesn't make the slightest difference to me. I'll tell you that. You can think I'm carnal. It makes no difference to me.

I hope you can take that position. God, you who see my inner being, have you really filled me with the Holy Spirit? What do you say? Only care for that opinion. It'll change your life. And not only concerning this, concerning everything in your Christian life, care for one person's opinion.

Because I'll tell you this. In the day when Christ returns and we stand at his judgment seat, you will discover only one person's opinion matters. That's why I take that seriously. That's why I live each day as if I'm living at the standing in the judgment seat of Christ.

Lord, it's only one person's opinion with the matters. And so here is a standard. The scripture says, I want it and I want the real thing. So I was mentioning these two things. Let's go back to John 14.

The Spirit Within Under the New Covenant

Jesus mentioned that the ministry of the Holy Spirit, first of all, he's going to be with me forever. And he first of all, helps me to keep his commandments. He's going to be with me forever. And he's going to be inside me.

In the Holy, in the Old Testament, he never came inside anyone. He came upon people. In Judges 6 verse 34, the margin of my Bible says the Spirit of the Lord clothed Gideon. Came upon means clothed. Clothed means like a shirt and clothed with a shirt.

But I can take off the shirt when I go home. And that's how it was in the Old Testament. They have the shirt and then take it off and they put it on again when they need it. But that which is inside is not something I can take off and put on.

The Holy Spirit in the New Covenant comes inside. No one in the Old Testament could experience it. Even John the Baptist, when it says he was filled with the Spirit from his mother's womb, it was on the outside.

That's why Jesus said, even though John the Baptist is the greatest human being ever born, from Adam to Christ, yet the least person who enters into the kingdom of God, kingdom of heaven, will be greater than him.

Why? Because he's going to have the Holy Spirit within, which even John didn't have. And that's what begins with the new birth. Let me turn you to this verse, John 7, where Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit, though he didn't specifically talk about his coming, he used an expression.

In John 7, verse 37 and 38, he said on the last day of the feast, if any man is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Now there are a number of things we learn from that verse. First of all, this is an individual thing.

If anyone, you know, I'm always wary of people who went to some mass meeting and in that emotionally tense atmosphere, they say they got something. Maybe you did, but I don't know whether it was genuine or not.

But I've heard other people who say, well, I was alone with God, all alone and praying to him and God met with me. That's more likely to be true. That's what I've encouraged people in our own church, to seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit and the privacy of your own room.

You know, when Ananias came and prayed for Peter, or prayed for Paul, sorry, and he was filled with the Holy Spirit and Peter came and prayed for Cornelius. I find this, there's more likelihood of your having a genuine experience when you're seeking God alone to be filled with the Holy Spirit than in the emotionally tense atmosphere of a meeting or what they call revival.

In that atmosphere, people can take decisions which are emotional. A lot of that happening in Christendom today. You know, people ask me, Brother Zach, why don't you give an altar call? I'm not against it.

There are a lot of things Christians do. I'm not against. I'm not here to judge anyone. But I say, I have patterned my life and my ministry after the pattern I see in Jesus and the apostles. I never see him giving an altar call.

That's why I never give it. Jesus never said, stand up and come forward. He said, sit down and count the cost. And that's what I say. Please go home. Sit down. Don't get up. Please don't get up. Sit down, count the cost and come back and tell me after a few days whether you want to be a disciple.

It's like Abraham. God told Abraham to offer up his son. But he said, don't stand up and say, I'll do it right now. Don't go around the corner and offer up your son. He made him walk three days to Mount Moriah.

Well, I mean, if you want to test whether a man loves God or his son, you can test it on the backside of the tent. Why do you have to go around three days to Mount Moriah? Because he wanted Abraham to think about it.

Is it worth it serving a God like this who demands my son? Think about it. In the emotion of the moment, Abraham, you may take and offer up your son, but it may not be from your heart when you think about it for three days and then decide it's probably going to be real.

When I proposed to my wife and painted before her the bleakest picture of what I was going to do in the future, serving God in difficult times, I said, don't decide for three days to think about it. Because in three days, all the emotion wears out and you begin to face reality.

And so if there's a mighty moving of the spirit, I say, OK, think about it three days, sit down, count the cost. That's how Jesus did it. And that's why he got some genuine results than a lot of people who make emotional decisions.

There are people who are urged to decide to be a missionary on the spot. How many of you will go to Africa or China? Come forward. Haven't you been in meetings like that? I've seen a lot of these people who come to India.

I watched missionaries come to India for so many years. And I tell you, more than 90 percent of them I have no respect for. I've seen how they live. And I wished I wish you had never crossed the oceans and come to this land to live your defeated life and to show people this third rate Christianity.

Is that what you come here to show the Hindus and Muslims, the third rate Christianity, the way you behave here? I wish you had never come. They were stirred in some meeting. They were told. And then once you come forward in a meeting, you always feel guilty after that if you don't go to India or Africa or China after that, because you went forward once.

This is how the devil gets a hold of people, dear brothers and sisters. God's not going to be offended if you take three days to take a decision, I'll tell you that. But when you take it, say, Lord, I really mean it.

I mean it. So here in John seven, he said, if anyone is thirsty, come to me. Are you thirsty? Come to him. He is the baptizer in the Holy Spirit. It's no use going to a man. Come to me. I went to him and he baptized me in the Holy Spirit and fire.

I went to him for the gift of prophecy. He gave it to me. I didn't want any cheap counterfeit from any man. I want to say to you, anyone think of Jesus standing here and saying, if anyone is thirsty here, come to me.

You've got to be thirsty. You've got to be desperate. Like I said, you've got to read the sermon on the mountain, say, God, I'm thirsty to live this life. This is not a suggestion. This is the type of life I want to live.

I really want it, Lord. I'm thirsty. Tell me what it costs. I'll pay the bill. I want it. Now, there are very few people who are thirsty. A lot of people like to have experiences. If anyone's thirsty, let him come to me and drink.

And I like that expression, drink. Do you know, because that is a lot of people have made people feel it's so difficult to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Well, if you're not willing to pay the price, I agree that it'll be perpetually difficult.

But if you're willing to pay the price, it's as easy as drinking. Do you know the first thing a baby does without even being taught? You've got to teach the baby ABC and 101 other things. But there's one thing you don't have to teach a baby at all.

That's to drink. Where does it learn from? Who taught it to drink? It's the easiest thing in the world. It's the first thing a baby does to drink. It cries out and then drinks. I like that. It's that easy.

And if there's a delay, it's because you're not willing to pay the price. If anyone is thirsty, then come to me and drink. And then from his innermost being will flow rivers of living water. And I always used to place the emphasis on the rivers of living water, rivers of living water, rivers of living water.

Until one day God opened my eyes to see that the main thing in that verse was not rivers of living water, but from his innermost being or from his belly, from deep within, which is what made the difference between the old covenant and the new covenant.

And in this way, verse 39, the spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified. That's the meaning. The spirit was not given to people in this way where he could flow from the innermost being.

There were a lot of people who were a tremendous blessing in the Old Testament. I think of the rivers of living water that flowed from Moses. Don't you think he was a blessing to two million people in the wilderness?

Think of the rivers of living water that flowed from Joshua, but they were all on the outside. But now from his innermost being, it's not going to be something God just pours on him and it flows out like that.

Inner Holiness and Discernment in Ministry

It's going to be from his own innermost being because God has done a work inside him and it's going to flow out and his ministry is going to be an overflow of his life. Why do we find nowadays so many preachers, all of a sudden you hear after they've been preaching 20 years, the guy's been living in adultery or in homosexuality.

And how is it all these thousands of people who sat in the congregation never sensed that something is wrong with this pastor of ours? Because they don't have discernment. Just because a man's very gifted and can speak very well, they don't question, is this according to scripture?

Does he bear witness with my spirit? I mean, I've told people, I was telling somebody the other day, I said, all you've got to do today, even if you don't have any discernment, is to ask yourself one question.

What is this preacher's attitude to money? That's enough. You will immediately discern who is of God and who is not. Because that's how we did, what is Jesus' attitude to money? What is Peter's attitude to money?

What is Paul's attitude to money? Does this guy have that attitude? If he doesn't, I don't care what type of miracles he says he's doing, I don't want to have any part of it. You see, today people are going around saying, we want an impartation of the spirit that's being poured out over there.

I say, no, thank you. I don't want any of that. I want an impartation of the spirit that came from Jesus and the apostles, the day of Pentecost. That's very important. We're living in days of tremendous deception, which is not surprising because the bite Jesus himself said, take heed that no man deceive you.

You know, when they asked him, Lord, what is the sign of the last days? He said, take heed that nobody deceives you. Number one. It's not wars and rumors and wars and famines and earthquakes and all the other thing and Israel coming back to the land.

That's all comes later. Number one, he said, be careful of deception. What did Paul tell Timothy? The spirit speaks expressly that in the last days, many will fall away from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, 1 Timothy 4 .1.

What does he say about the Antichrist in 2 Thessalonians 2? His coming will be with the working of Satan, with false signs and wonders and all the deception of wickedness. Those are the days we're living in.

I tell you, there's a lot of that deception, particularly in relation to the ministry of the Holy Spirit. That's why we need to be rooted and grounded in scripture. It has to come from the innermost being.

And if this guy was a preacher for 25 years and maybe a lot of people were blessed through him, maybe a lot of people were converted. Maybe a lot of people were healed. Think of those people who Jesus said in the last days, many will come to me and say, Lord, Lord, we cast out demons in your name.

We did miracles in your name. And he doesn't turn around and saying, you're a bunch of liars. You never did any such thing. He never says that. He says, it's true all that you did, but you never knew me because knowing the Lord is an inner thing.

You never knew me. It was a ministry you performed and depart from me, you workers of iniquity. That is the issue in the final day. Were your works, works of iniquity or works of holiness? It's not a question of how many miracles you did.

It's so clear at the end of the Sermon on the seven that I'm amazed that people don't see it. Did you live in sin? I don't care how many miracles you did depart from me. It's from the innermost being in the most being means the Holy Spirit's first making me holy inside, holy in my heart, my thoughts.

And from there, you know, like a jug, you pour water into the jug and it finally, it begins to overflow. It overflows. And that overflow is what the New Testament calls ministry. Do I believe in ministry?

Sure, but it must be the overflow of my life. It fills up within then overflows. So in the, in the gospel of John, Jesus spoke about water three times. I want to show you that first of all, in John three, he spoke about being born of water.

Verse five, John three, five, and their water is just a picture of the Holy Spirit. Just like in John, the Baptist spoke about the Holy Spirit as being baptized in the Holy Spirit and fire where fire is a picture of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus breathed on them and said, receive the Holy Spirit. The breath wind is a picture of the Holy Spirit. The number of pictures of the Holy Spirit, wind, fire, and here water born of the Holy Spirit.

Nobody can be born again, really born again without the operation of the Holy Spirit. That is impossible. There is a work that God does inside a person through the Holy Spirit. When he's born again, it's called being born of the spirit, born of water.

And at that point, his capacity is like that of a cup. You know, it says in the old Testament, I lift up the cup of salvation and that cup is filled. But in chapter four, Jesus goes one step further and says, verse fourteen, four fourteen.

Anyone who drinks of the water that I give him, the latter part of that verse, it'll become in him a spring inside a spring of water, well of water springing up into eternal life, eternal life. By the way, let me explain that does not mean living forever because people who go to hell live forever too.

They don't have eternal life. Eternal life is an expression for the life of God because the the dictionary definition of eternity is not that which never has an end but that which never had a beginning and never has an end.

That's eternity. Never had a beginning, never had an end. So what is eternal life? A life which never had a beginning and never has an end. What life is that? It's the life of God. It's not the life of the angels.

It's not the eternal soul which God has put in every human being. People live in eternity in hell. People live in eternity in heaven. But there's only one life in this universe which never had a beginning and never had an end.

That is eternal life. So it's another expression for the life of God. It's another expression for the divine nature. That's why Paul tells Timothy in 1 Timothy 6 .12, lay hold of eternal life. Why should you tell a man who's been a believer for 30 years like Timothy, lay hold of eternal life as if he's not born again?

You know because people haven't understood what eternal life means. It's a gift but it's not something I can get all of a sudden and have forever. The gift of God is eternal life but I have to lay hold of it.

Paul told Timothy that in 1 Timothy 6 .12 and Jesus said in John 17 .3, eternal life is to know God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent and that's a lifetime thing. You think you can know God in a moment?

You can begin to know God in a moment but Paul said at the end of his life that I may know him. It's something growing. So laying hold of eternal life is to lay hold of the knowledge of God and I get more and more of his nature or like we read earlier in 2 Corinthians 3 .18, being transformed into his likeness from glory to glory where the divine nature gradually takes over.

Sanctification and Growth Into Christlikeness

If I were to draw a diagram, every diagram is a poor illustration of truth but if it helps you to understand it, think of your heart like a black circle and when you're born again, the Holy Spirit has come and there's a little white patch, little white circle in the middle of this huge black circle.

This black circle is what we call the flesh and you know that even after you're born again, a lot of manifestations of the flesh that come forth from us but there is a difference between us and that other fellow who is not converted.

We've got this little white circle in the middle. Christ has come in. He hasn't taken possession of the whole life but little by little God's will is that that white circle becomes bigger and bigger. This is what the Bible calls sanctification.

This is what the Bible calls about being transformed into his likeness from by the Holy Spirit from one degree of glory to another bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and in every born-again person there is a that white circle.

If that's not there, it's not born again. You're not born again at all but how much that circle has grown, that depends on the decisions you have made in your life from the day you were born again. Do you know that you as a Christian are today the sum total of all the little decisions you've made, the moral decisions I mean not the decisions you've made in business and all the moral decisions you've made in your life you are today the sum total of that and that has determined the size of how much this white has taken over the black and the Bible says if you really believe 1 John chapter 3 verse 2 that one day when he comes we will be like him.

If you really believe that it says you will purify yourself to his standard of purity. That's a paraphrase of 1 John 3 3. Purify yourself as he is pure. If you really believe, if you have the blessed hope for many people the blessed hope is Christ is coming again.

That's only half. The full blessed hope in 1 John 3 2 is he's coming again and when he comes I'll be like him. Don't ever forget that second part and if you have the full blessed hope that he's coming again and when he comes I'll be like him what will I do?

How do you prove that? Not by arguing about it with others who don't believe in the second coming. No, but by purifying yourself as he is pure by allowing this white to take over more and more. That's why we need the Holy Spirit because it's an inward thing.

It's not external improvement of our character and our behavior you know like we teach our children to say thank you say thank you say sorry. Well that's all good behavior and it's very good but this is something deeper than that.

It's an inward change and a man who's experiencing this can't be preaching for 25 years and suddenly be discovered living in adultery. That is impossible. That is all for this superficial type of Christianity where the emphasis is on the gifts and which builds Babylon.

I've discovered through the years that any church that emphasizes the external behavior and the gifts of the Holy Spirit will end up as Babylon without a doubt. If you want to build Jerusalem you got to emphasize the inward and the outward ministry coming from the inward that will build Jerusalem because Jerusalem is pure through and through.

You read in Revelation chapter 21 Jerusalem is like a city made of crystal clear glass. You can see through. Most Christians are like the glass in these windows. You can't see what's on the other side.

There's something they got to hide inside. That's not Jerusalem. That's Babylon where you can have so many gifts and impress people. It's the inner life that matters and so we see here a well of water springing up to eternal life.

This is more than a cup. You know a cup is a well is more than a cup. A well is that which in many of our homes in India we have a well where there's no running water in the city. People have a well and if you have a well in your own house you're a very fortunate person.

Many villages they have just one village well where like the woman of Samaria came to draw water. You had to go there and draw the water but if you're a rich man you have a well in your own compound and that satisfies your need.

You're not dependent on anybody else. The Holy Spirit comes and gives me something within. You know in where we live in Bangalore very often there's a lot of shortage of water that comes down the main line and they turn it off very often because there's not enough water in the tank and so many days we go without water.

But if you have a well in your own compound nobody can turn off the water. It's there all the times like Jesus said your joy no one can take away from you. If somebody can take away your joy from you, your source of supply is external right.

It's as simple as that. I remember once when I was traveling in a bus in India a crowded bus somebody picked my pocket and when I got on the bus I didn't have my wallet. But fortunately my joy was not in my wallet only my money was there.

And so he could not turn away my joy because that was in my heart. I'll tell you this keep your joy separate from don't keep it in the bank and don't keep it in your wallet let it be in your heart. Nobody can turn off that because it's a well of water springing up calamities and problems around can't take away the peace.

I think nobody can turn off that peace because it's in your heart and you know people say oh it's because that woman was dressed immodestly and provocatively that I lusted. It's the old habit of Adam blame somebody else for your sin.

The Lord asked did you do it? Say Lord this woman. And the Lord asked did you lust after that? Did you lust at the eyes? You say Lord this woman it's the way she dressed. It's the old habit of Adam. Do you think Jesus would have walked past that immodestly dressed woman and lusted?

No he's got nothing to do with the way other people your purity if it depends on the way other people dress and the other people behave then brother you need to have the Holy Spirit inside I'll tell you that.

You need to have something within a well of water where nobody can turn off your supply of holiness or purity or peace or joy or love. If somebody can behave in a bad way towards you and make you behave in a bad way in return.