The Simple Gospel Message - Part 5 — Zac Poonen

The Father as Both Just Judge and Loving Parent

Well, let's take an illustration. Supposing I'm a young man, and I went and robbed a bank, and I'm caught, and I'm taken to court, and sitting in the court as the judge is my own father. And I say to him, well, dad, you know, I'm your son, don't forget that.

And I know I made a mistake, I'm really sorry. And dad says, oh, well, okay, son, you go. You're free. You think they'll keep him on that court bench anymore? But you say, why can't he do that? And I say, why can't you do it?

I'm sorry for what I did, dad. You know what a good father will do? He'll say, listen, son, I'm not here as your father. I'm here as a judge. You did something wrong. Your father will do that if he's an upright man.

Any father who's not a crook will do that. And he'll say, listen, you got to be punished, you got to be fined. Supposing, let's say, let's assume, the fine is a hundred thousand rupees, you're fined hundred thousand rupees or you go to jail.

Where do I have hundred thousand rupees? I don't have it. Then what does my father do? He bangs that hammer. He says, okay, finished. And then he gets down from his seat and he takes off his judge's robes.

And he becomes my father all over again. And he comes to me and says, son, he takes out his checkbook and writes a check for, how much? One lakh. He says, here you are, son. Go and pay the fine and go free.

Can I complain? Can I say he didn't love me? Can the government say, he didn't practice justice? He gave me the full penalty of the law. And then he came and paid it himself. That is the message of Christianity.

Christ's Death as the Payment for Sin

If you never understood it before, you can understand it today. God says, I can't let you go just because you say, oh, dad, I'm sorry, please forgive me. He says, no, I'm a just God. The foundations of the universe are based on justice.

I can't let you go just because you say, I'm sorry. You ought to be punished with death. And then he came down from that seat as a judge. He came as a man in the person of Jesus Christ. And he was crucified and he hung on the cross and died.

He says, okay, I paid your price. Now when my father comes down and writes the check and gives me the check, what do I have to do? All I have to do is take it. Say, thank you, dad. I'm so thankful. And Jesus said, that's all you got to do.

Take what I'm giving you freely. Take it. I can't be free if I don't take it. Just because my dad wrote the check does not mean I'm free. I have to take it. I have to say, thank you, dad. Then I go and take the check and give it and I'm free.

So that's what the message of Christianity is. Receive this offer free. You don't have to pay anything. That all that heavy weight on your conscience of all the sins that you committed from the day you were born till today can be forgiven like that in a moment because the price for the entire thing has been paid.

The Resurrection as Christianity's Second Foundation

Secondly, I'm trying to explain what true Christianity is so that even if you are a Christian you understand the basis of your faith. That's number one. That's what makes the Christian faith distinct from all the other faiths in the world.

Number one, Christ died for our sins. And then secondly, there's another very important foundation to the Christian faith. And that is that Jesus Christ was the only person in the history of the earth to come up from the grave alive never to die again.

Do you know the Bible says that man's greatest enemy is death. That's why everybody in the world is afraid of death. The fear of death is the greatest fear that people have more than the fear of robbers.

I mean, people are afraid of robbers because they're afraid the robbers will come and kill them. That's why they give them the money. Say, take the money and go because they don't want to die. Fear of death is universal all religions because death is man's greatest enemy.

And the proof of it is that man has conquered so many other things but he's never been able to conquer death. You know there are many diseases that man has conquered now with antibiotics. Man has conquered space.

But he's never been able to conquer death. Death has conquered everybody. So that's man's greatest enemy. And how do we know that Christ is speaking the truth? Because he conquered death. He died, he was buried, three days later he came out alive from the grave conquering man's greatest enemy proving that he was almighty God himself.

Faith Begins with Christ's Death and Resurrection

So my faith as a Christian rests on two things. Not be good, be kind, don't tell lies. That's all like physics, geography, chemistry and all much later. ABC first. Kindergarten. Foundation. Your physics and geography and chemistry is based on knowing ABC.

Do you think any of you would have studied, been able to study geography or history if you didn't know ABC? And lot of people think, don't know, they're thinking about you know, be good, be kind. No, no, no.

Hang on. Start with the foundation which is Christ died for our sins and Christ rose up from the dead. That is what we base our faith on. And once we have received Christ into our life, God gives us the power of his spirit within.

The Holy Spirit's Power Over Sinful Habits

You know, it's like electricity. Like I said, that tube can't burn without electricity. When electricity goes in, it's easy for that tube to burn. If electricity doesn't go in, you can keep on preaching to that tube to burn, it won't burn.

Jesus Christ offers us the power of his spirit within to help us overcome these habits that are destroying us. I want to ask you young people, do you have habits that you're ashamed of, that you wouldn't even want your closest friends to know that you indulge in?

You not only know they are filthy, they are destroying your body. They've made you a slave. You know what a slave is? A slave is someone you tell him, do this, and he'll do it. The Bible says sin is like a master that tells you, come on you young fellow, I want you to commit this sin right now.

And they go and do it. The fellow is a slave. And tomorrow the sin will come up and say, come on, do it again. He'll do it again. He's a slave. And Jesus Christ doesn't say, be free from it. He says, I'll give you the power within.

Like electricity coming in. See, I thank God that Christianity is not just a preaching thing. Come on, burn, burn, burn. No, that's a wrong understanding of Christianity. God says, I'll give you power.

Like the electricity coming in. I'll make you burn.