Has Jesus Committed Himself to You — Zac Poonen

Jesus’ Commitment to Those Who Believe

Brothers and sisters, there's a word that came to my heart this today from John chapter two. It's something that I thought about many times, but it came afresh to me today. It says here in John chapter two and verse 23 to 25.

When Jesus was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in his name. Now that was a, so this is the beginning of his ministry. And there were many who believed in his name. Even today we see it's very difficult for a Jew to become a Christian.

So when a Jewish person believed in Christ, seeing the miracles which he was doing, it's really wonderful. But the interesting thing is that Jesus was not so excited about these people believing in him.

Because it says in verse 24, and this is a plot, we had to be careful because many of us also believe in Jesus in the same way these Jews believed. But we need to think of verse 24 and 25 in connection with ourselves.

But Jesus on his part was not entrusting himself to them. They entrusted themselves to him, verse 23, which means they believed in him. But he did not believe in them. So he did not entrust himself to them.

That can happen today. You believe in Jesus and entrust yourself to him. He doesn't believe in you and he doesn't entrust himself to you because he knew all men. And he did not need anyone to testify concerning man.

He did not need someone saying, Lord, this is a good brother. This is a good sister. Please trust him. They know so much of the Bible. No, he did not need anyone to testify concerning him. Oh, this brother is an elder in a church or anything or in a synagogue or whatever it was in those days.

He did not need anyone. And I wanna say brothers and sisters, even today, Jesus is the same. Yesterday, today and forever, he does not need anyone to testify to him concerning you or me. He doesn't need a recommendation about you from some elder brother or any such thing because Jesus himself knows what is in every man.

So why do we seek commendation from men? Why do we seek the approval of men? Paul said he never sought the approval of men. He says in Galatians chapter one and verse four, oh, sorry, verse 10. Galatians chapter one, verse 10.

Paul understood this, that some who believed in Jesus, Jesus did not commit himself to them. And he was concerned that Jesus should commit himself to him because he said, Lord, how can I serve you? How can I live on this earth if you don't commit yourself to me?

And Jesus did not need any man to recommend Paul to him. It says here, am I now seeking the favor of men or of God? If you wanna follow Jesus, brothers and sisters, say that to yourself. Am I seeking to the favor of men or of God?

Am I striving to please somebody? Stop striving. Seek only to please the Lord. If I was still trying to please men, I cannot be a bond servant of Christ. If I seek to please men, I cannot be a servant of Christ.

Those are very strong words. Many, many years ago, the time when we started CFC, 45 years ago, I got those words written in a small plank of wood and I had it in my sitting room for 25 years and more.

I saw it every day in front of me. If I seek to please men, I cannot be the servant of Christ. That's the way, anyway, I started my ministry in CFC and I was very thankful that that reminder every day, I don't have it in front of my, in my sitting room today because I don't need it.

It's been so deeply imprinted in my mind. But in the beginning, you know, we need something that God speaks to us. We need to keep on reminding ourselves of it. The Lord told the Israelites to write the verses of the law on the walls of your house and the doors so that it'll remind you.

Today, people put pictures. I used to have verses to remind me again and again of the most important things in life. And I was very thankful for that. In the early days, we had a verse in every room to remind us because I want the Lord to commit himself to me and I hope that is your desire also, not that you've committed yourself to the Lord, but that the Lord will commit himself to you.

And if you want the Lord to commit himself to you, you need to be reminded frequently of the things that he has said, very important. And if you turn now to Matthew's gospel in chapter 10, here's another very strong statement of his, which is another thing that we thought about much in the early days when CFC and the Lord began, when planted CFC in those early days.

Christ’s Sword and Loyalty Above Family

Matthew 10, 34, he said, don't think I came to bring peace on the earth. You know, at Christmas time, people sing the song, the angel sang peace on earth and goodwill towards men. But if you read the full words that the angel said that time, it is peace on earth and goodwill towards men in Luke 2, 14, with whom he is pleased.

Peace among men with whom he is pleased. Luke 2, 14, that's how it is in the NASB or people of his good pleasure. So it's not peace among everybody. It's peace among those with whom God is pleased. That's what the angel sang.

So here it says, don't think I came to bring peace on the earth. He came to bring peace among those with whom he's pleased, but not on the whole earth. And he says, I did not come to bring peace. I came to bring a sword and he defines what that sword is.

It's not a sword with which we fight for our rights like the world uses their swords. It's not a sword with which we try to overcome people in any way. There are people in Christendom who are fighting with each other to overcome one denomination, trying to overcome another and one preacher trying to overcome another.

And there's a lot of criticism and all that. We're not in that category. We refuse to fight or I refuse to fight even over doctrines. I say, if you don't believe what I say, just forget it. Believe whatever you like.

But I'm not gonna argue with anyone over doctrine. I've had many people come to my house and argue with me over doctrine. And after a while I say, yeah, let's forget it. It's not, because I see you're not interested in knowing the truth.

You just wanted to argue. So, but we do, where is the sword to be used? I came to set a man against his father. The same Lord who said in Mark 7, you must honor your father and mother says here, I came to bring a sword, a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law and the man's enemies will be those in his own family, members of his own family.

What does he mean? He who loves, verse 37, Matthew 10, 37, he who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. That's what he means. That the Lord has come to bring a sword that prevents a man from loving his father or mother more than Christ.

If you're a God-fearing person, you grow up respecting your parents and that's right. And you love father and mother. And even in non-Christian cultures, I know non-Christians respect their parents a lot.

They love father and mother. And then Christ comes in and he says, I've come in between. He always comes between us and our loved ones. And if you don't let him come there, you can't be his disciple. He who loves father or mother more than me, he's not worthy of me.

See, this explains why Jesus did not commit himself to certain people as we read in John 2, 24 and 25, because he knew what was in man. He knew that some of these people, they love their parents more than they love me.

They love their, and like it says here, he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And the same applies to any family member. He knew that a lot of those people who believed in him, they loved their family members more than they loved Jesus.

They believed in Christ, of course. They loved seeing his miracles and people want to go to heaven. A lot of people accept Christ because they want to go to heaven when they die. That's about it. That's not true conversion.

No, it's a hating of sin more than a wanting to go to heaven that makes a person have a proper relationship with Christ, a hating of the self-life that has produced all the sin in our life. There's no hater of that.

It's a very selfish type of Christianity. And the Lord saw that a lot of those people in John chapter two, we read, they believed in him. Yeah, they say, Lord, we believe you're the son of God and we trust you and we want to follow you, but he knew what was in man.

And he sees what is in us today. If anyone loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. If you love your children more than you love Jesus Christ, Jesus says, absolutely, you're not worthy of me.

And you're certainly not my disciple. And if you don't take up your cross, verse 38 and follow me, you're not worthy of me. And then there's these words that come frequently in all the gospels, Matthew 10, 39, he was found his life will lose it, but he loses his life for my sake will find it.

There is not referring to martyrdom. He's not referring to our giving up our physical life. The word there in verse 39 is our soul life. There are different words in the original language for soul life and physical life.

And he's talking here about your soul life. That if I try to find my soul life, that means I like to preserve myself, my dignity, my respect, and I want self to be preserved. You will lose it. But if you're willing to lose all that, lose yourself life for my sake, not just lose it for any other reason, but for Jesus sake, you will find it.

So the most oft repeated statement, that is perhaps the most oft repeated statement of Jesus in the gospels. I think it occurs about six times. You find your life, you will lose it. If you seek to find your life, you lose it.

And if you are willing to lose your life for his sake, you'll find it. If that is the most oft repeated statement of Jesus in all the four gospels, all of us should be able to explain that to someone who asks us from our experience, how we have lost our soul life in order to find Christ and his life.

Will you be able to explain it to someone how you experienced that in your own life? If not, you haven't taken the words of Jesus seriously. This is the most oft repeated statement of Jesus in the four gospels.

It's not just four times, it's six times if I'm not mistaken. So we need to understand this very clearly. And if you turn to Luke chapter 14, we can think about it a little more. In Luke 14, we read in a similar sort of sequence of a statement.

The Three Conditions of Discipleship

In Luke 14, like in John chapter two, where many people believed in him, here it says in Luke 14, 25, large crowds went along with him. And today, if a preacher saw a large crowd following him, the first thing he'd do is take an offering.

Or at least say something that will make himself popular with that crowd. Jesus was so different. I tell you, when you read the gospels, you find hardly any preacher who's like Jesus. I remember as a young man, when I read the gospels and I looked around to see preachers who were like Jesus, who couldn't care for the multitudes, who couldn't care for their money, who were willing to be unpopular with them, but spoke the truth.

I hardly found any. Very, very difficult. Even in today's world. Everybody's after money or popularity. Preachers build their own name and their own kingdom. But look at Jesus here. And this is what it means for any preacher to follow Jesus.

When he saw this great crowd following after him, he turns around and tells them some of the hardest words that he ever spoke to anybody. He's speaking about discipleship. And he gave three conditions of discipleship there in verse 25, sorry, 26, 27, and 33.

Strong statements. All of them were, you gotta put me above these three. In these three areas of your life, you gotta put me first. Now, it's very important for us to understand this because these are all in the concluding statement in verse 26 is he cannot be my disciple.

If you don't fulfill this condition, there's no way of being my disciple. There's no second class disciples. You're a disciple or you're not a disciple. And if you don't fulfill this, you cannot be my disciple.

If you, verse 27, you don't do this, you cannot be my disciple. And verse 33, if you don't do this, you cannot be my disciple. Absolute. There is no second class of disciples. There are no spiritual disciples and carnal disciples, no.

There are disciples and those who are not disciples. And these three statements are very clear. Now, this is important because let me go back to the two great commissions that Jesus gave. Some of you already know about it because I often speak about it, but there may be others here who have not heard me so often.

So let me repeat it. I never mind repeating things for the benefit of young children growing up who are hearing these for the first time in our midst, and also for the benefit of people who've come in more newly and who haven't heard it so often.

The First Great Commission: Proclaiming the Gospel

First of all, in Luke, the first great commission is Mark 16 and verse 15. Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation, to every person. And this is a very simple statement. We've got to go and preach to everyone in the whole world.

And he who believes and is baptized will be saved. This is the elementary gospel. And he who does not believe, no mention of baptism there, he who does not believe will be condemned. And if you go doing this, these signs will accompany those who have believed.

Not every single person who has believed, but the company of those who have believed, these signs will be there. Now, you can't go claiming that if you're not going into all the world and preaching the gospel.

A lot of people like to say, oh Lord, you said we can cast out demons and speak in new tongues and heal the sick and all. Hang on, hang on, don't rush into that. To whom did he say that? Perhaps not to you.

Because you're no interest in going into the gospel, going into all the world and preaching the gospel. No, you're seeking your own. You're probably only interested in making money. You go into all the world to make money.

Here he's talking about those who want to go into all the world to preach the gospel. I'm not talking about going to foreign countries. In the world means that maybe your neighbor or someone living across the street or somebody in your office, that's part of the world you've got to go into.

But your passion in life is to give the gospel to others, to tell people how they need to turn from their sins and believe in Jesus Christ. And to such people, yeah, God will confirm your word with many signs.

And we've seen that even in India. Those who go into unreached areas, even today, some people say the day of miracles has passed. It's not. God doesn't do many miracles in the midst of communities of people who are already born again.

And that did not happen even in the early days. I mean, Paul lived with a thorn in the flesh. Timothy lived with a stomach ache throughout his life. They were not healed. But in the acts of the apostles, whenever they went into new places, exactly like it says in Mark 16, miracles took place.

And we've seen that happen in India today. You go into a new place where nobody's ever heard the gospel. And you go there to preach the gospel to people who don't even know who Jesus Christ is. And I tell you, it'll happen.

The sick will be healed and demons will be cast out. It happens even today. And they speak in new tongues and they are protected from harm in so many ways. And they lay hands on the sick and they recover.

The Second Great Commission: Making Disciples

It happens even today for those who go into unreached areas to preach the gospel. That's one part of the Great Commission. The second part of the Great Commission, it's like two sides of a coin or two sides of a currency note.

If one side of a coin is not printed or one side of a currency's note is not printed, it's fake. In the same way, the Great Commission has got two sides. This is one side. In both cases, he said, go into all the world.

The second one is Matthew 28. Here he says in verse 18, this is the other side of the Great Commission. All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. You go therefore. Now, it's very important to understand this clearly.

Every word is important. Go and make disciples in the whole world, in every nation. That's the same as saying the whole world. There it was, Mark 16, go and preach the gospel to all the world. Here it is, go and make disciples in the whole world.

And why should I go? Now, most missionary challenges are, there's a need out there, so you should be go. What are you doing wasting here doing a secular job when there's a need out there for preaching the gospel and you're sitting here making money?

Go there and preach the gospel. That's how missionary challenges are made today. And a lot of people are moved emotionally by this very clever preacher and they go forward and become missionaries and have short-term missionaries go to Mexico or India or something for three, four weeks, like a holiday for them, or go long-term.

But they go on the basis of somebody challenging them to go. And I've seen a lot of these people in India, those who come short-term and long-term and they are such a disgrace to the name of Christ.

They're not disciples, first of all, young people. They come for fun. They're evangelical tourists and even some long-term missionaries. They've never known what it is to be disciples themselves and they go into all the world, why?

Because they went on the wrong basis. Here it says, go therefore, verse 19, therefore, like it has been said, whenever you see a therefore in scripture, see what it is there for. What is it therefore?

Why is the word therefore there? It's based on the previous verse, not there's a need in the whole world, therefore go. No, that's the wrong way to go. All authority is given to me, Jesus said in heaven and earth therefore go.

In other words, you come under my authority first. Come under my authority in your home. Submit every area of your life to me and then I will send you under my authority and when you go under my authority, you'll see amazing results in your ministry.

But if you go just because you see a need and you think you're quite qualified, you've got a few verses in the Bible, et cetera, you'll make a mess of your life like so many other people have made a mess of their life.

We got to come under the authority of Christ and you don't have to go to a foreign country to make disciples. You can make disciples in your office, you can make disciples among your relatives, you can make disciples among your friends, but you have to come under the authority of Jesus Christ first.

And every one of you is listening to me, if you are really born again, if you're really made Jesus savior, you must make him Lord of your life and come under his authority and then this is your responsibility.

It's not the responsibility of a few full-time workers and preachers to make disciples. No, every single one of us is called to make disciples who has come under the authority of Jesus Christ. All authority is given to me in heaven and on earth.

Therefore, why Lord should I go? Because all authority is given to me in heaven and earth. The Lord says, and you come under my authority, therefore go, where should I go Lord? Come under my authority and I will tell you exactly where to go.

He may never call you to full-time Christian service. There are very, very few who are called to full-time Christian service. Maybe one in 10 ,000 believers. Yeah, one in 10 ,000 believers, I think are called to full-time Christian ministry.

There are hundreds who go out who are never called. I've seen a lot of people like that in every country on earth, there are people like that. But those who go under the authority of the Lord, the Lord backs them up.

And go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them. You have to baptize them as disciples in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Trinity is very important, very, very important.

And then that doesn't conclude. There, does he say now, and these signs will follow those who make disciples? No, no mention of signs or tongues or demons casting out or healing the sick or being unheard by poisonous things.

None of these things here. That was in Mark 16. You know, you go to unreached areas and there are all types of dangers there. And the word has to be preached to people who've never heard about Jesus. They don't even know who Jesus is.

There has to be some confirmation. You know, you got to understand that, certainly. Like I've often said, you go into some village in India where they never heard about Jesus. You go and say, I want to tell you about Jesus.

They say, who is he? Never heard of him. And you say, well, you know, 2 ,000 years ago, a little baby was born. You say, how does that affect me? They say, well, he was born to a virgin and they immediately think you're off your head when you'd say a baby was born of a virgin.

They say that never happens. And this is the son of God. It's a story to them. And he grew up and he did miracles. And then he said, if you believe in me, you'll be saved. And they killed him and he was dying for your sins.

And this guy who's never heard says, how in the world could he have died for my sins 2 ,000 years ago? And then he rose up from the dead. Three days later, you tell him and he's absolutely sure you're crazy.

You say, go and tell that story to somebody else. Then you say, wait, hang on, hang on. This Jesus is alive. Bring someone who is sick here. Bring any demon possessed person here and I'll show you what power there is in the name of Jesus.

And the sick are healed. The demons are cast out and that person believes. This is exactly how the gospel is going even today in India and how it's gone in the early days. That hasn't changed. But here, now we are talking about making disciples.

These people are converted, need to become disciples. They need to love Jesus more than their father, mother, brother, sister, wife, children, property, everything else. And then what do you do with them after that?

Here is the, there it was the word, signs following the spoken word. Here, what happens after they become disciples? You got to teach them to obey every single thing I commanded you. See, that's why we took 10 studies on the Sermon on the Mount.

I mean, that's not everything Jesus commanded, but that's a major part of what Jesus commanded. And it says here, if you become a disciple, then you have to learn and understand and obey all that Jesus commanded.

Teach, not teach them to understand. No, I'm not interested in teaching people to understand the scripture. That is a Bible school, they waste people's time. I want to lead people to obey. It says, teach them to do, which is a lot different from teach them to understand or teach them to study the Bible.

And you can't teach them to do if you have not done it yourself. I mean, how can a person who's never been a carpenter in his life teach other people carpentry? How can a person who's never handled a computer teach somebody computers?

No, teach them to do because you've done it yourself. What? Every single thing that I've commanded, begin with the Sermon on the Mount, if you like. And there are many other things after that as well.

And if you do this, here's a promise. I will be with you always. Now that's another word I've seen hanging up in many houses, lo, I'm with you always. I say, to whom did Jesus say that? Not to every Tom, Dick and Harry.

He said that to those who had a passion to go and make disciples and to teach them everything that Jesus commanded. He says, if you've got a passion to make disciples and teach them everything I commanded, I promise you, I'll be with you always.

But Christians are experts at claiming a promise without fulfilling the condition. And that's why so many promises are not fulfilled. They wonder, hey, God doesn't seem to answer my prayer. He doesn't seem to keep his word.

Of course he doesn't keep his word if you don't fulfill the conditions. Without the conditions fulfilled, how can he even the initial step of salvation, repent and believe and you'll be forgiven. What if a person doesn't repent and doesn't believe?

Can he be forgiven? No. What if a person has no interest in making disciples and no interest in teaching them everything that Jesus commanded like he says here? Can he believe that Jesus is with him always?

Well, not according to this promise. It's very important to always look for the conditions. So if you turn now to Luke 14, that's why we emphasize discipleship because he told us to make disciples. And in the gospels, the conditions of discipleship are most clearly explained in Luke 14, 26 to 35.

That's why we go to that passage. In the early days when the Lord planted CFC in the early days, there were two things we spent many, many months teaching. One was the conditions of discipleship mentioned here because it's so new because they never heard it in any other church where these folks came from.

We emphasized it again and again and again through all the years. We have gone through it again and again and again and again because new people have come into the church who've never heard it before, who were not there in the beginning and children have grown up to become adults who never heard it because it was preached.

And we took studies on that when they were little babies. Now they're grown up, they need to hear it. So we need to repeat this again and again and again. And they also need to hear the Sermon on the Mount.

So those are the two things we emphasized a lot in the early days, Luke 14 and Matthew 5, 6 and 7. And because of that, we had a good foundation and we sought to build on that foundation. Now turn back to Luke 14.

Counting the Cost and Building the Christian Life

In the middle of this section on discipleship, which is verse 26 to 35, the three conditions mentioned in verse 26, 27 and 33, right in the middle, Jesus introduces a parable. He says, here's an example of a man who laid a foundation and he did not complete the building.

Because in the beginning, it says here, if you wanna build a tower, we're not building a one-story building here. The Christian life is not a one-story building. That's the first thing you need to know.

It's not, I wanna go to heaven when I die. That's not true Christianity. That's all right for a dying thief because he can't do anything else. He's hanging on the cross and his life is gonna be gone in a few moments.

There's nothing else he can do. Lord, remember when you come into the kingdom of the Lord, say, okay, you'll be with me in paradise, fine. That's what we tell dying people. But if you wanna be a disciple, if you're not a dying thief, you're a living thief, and that's what we are when we come to the Lord.

Then we have to take seriously what he said here. We're building a tower or in today's language, a skyscraper. We're building a 100-story building. That's the Christian life according to verse 28. The tower was the biggest thing in those days.

Today we'd say a skyscraper, 100 stories, not just a foundation. Your Christian life should be 100 stories high if you wanna fulfill God's will. But it costs a lot of money. If you're only gonna build one story, it doesn't cost much at all, but 100 stories, you better know right at the beginning what you're gonna build because that is the foundation on which you're building.

And it says here, a person doesn't calculate it. He doesn't think in the beginning of how much it's gonna cost in order to build this building. So what happens? He starts building and then he realized, hey, this is gonna cost so much, much more than I thought.

And so he says, it's gonna cost too much. So I give up. So then people laugh at that. Hey, what's this? This man, years ago, he laid a foundation here. 25 years ago, he built a foundation and he hasn't built anything lying upon it.

It's like many Christians who accepted Christ 25 years ago. And what is accomplished in the 25 years? They're not become like Christ. They've not done anything for the Lord. They're not grown in the Lord, just a foundation.

I'm going to heaven when I die. And it says people laugh at them and they ridicule him. And then the Lord uses another example also. There are two parables here, all in relation to discipleship. So from the first parable, what we learned is, discipleship means building the skyscraper.

Not just saying, I accepted the Lord and got baptized. I don't think I would want a single person like that in a church where I'm an elder. Not even one person who just wants to say, I want to go to heaven when I die.

I say, brother, go and find some other church. Don't waste your time here. Or like you've often heard me say, I want to go to a place where they have a good Sunday school. I want my children to grow up in the midst of other good children and get good influences.

Brother, go to some other church. There are many other churches with good Sunday schools with well-behaved children. We're building a tower here. We're building a tower. We want to be wholehearted disciples and we're trying to obey every single thing that Jesus commanded.

That is a tower. So the second illustration here is, again, related to discipleship. A king, when he goes out to meet another king in battle. Now this is Jesus, he's the king. And the other king, Satan is a king of his kingdom.

He's got millions of demons who obey him implicitly more than Jesus' disciples obey him implicitly. The devil's got demons who will jump when he tells them to jump and go when he tells them to go. And here is Jesus with his group of people who are not so obedient facing the devil and his demons.

And he sits down and thinks, do I have enough people to conquer this huge army of the devil with all his millions? Now, I've got only 10 ,000 and he's got 20 ,000. Maybe I've got only 100 and he's got 20 ,000.

And then he says, no, I can't defeat him. So while the man is far away, he sends a delegation and says, let's have peace. Let's not fight with each other. Can you imagine Jesus ever making peace with the devil?

This is ridiculous. So what does he mean here? If, remember that section is about discipleship. If you have 10 ,000 so-called believers who are not disciples, 10 ,000 believers who are not disciples and the devil comes against the millions, I would say to such believers, go and seek peace with him.

You'll never win. But if you've got 10, not 10 ,000, 10 disciples, let 20 ,000 or 100 ,000 or a million come against you. We don't make peace. We'll conquer him and Satan will be crushed under our feet.

That's the point that if you're not disciples, you'll be like this useless 10 ,000 people. And Jesus is not gonna be a king of such people who's gonna seek peace with the devil. So keeping that in mind that the Lord is seeking for those who are wholehearted, radical, who are willing to lose their life in battle so that the devil is defeated.

Discipleship Amid Persecution and Loss

That's how those early Christians were. They never cared for their life. They've never cared to make money. They never cared for honor. Many of those Jewish people were thrown out of their homes. It says, it's a beautiful description of this in Hebrews and chapter 10, Hebrews and chapter 10.

It says here in Hebrews 10 and verse 32, the book of Hebrews written to Jewish Christians. And he writes to those Jewish Christians who suffered a lot when they became Christians. They were thrown out just like today, people from non-Christian religions and some non-Christian religions persecute Christians more than others.

And they experienced it in those days. And he says, remember to these Jews, remember the former days when after you were enlightened, after they were born again, you endured a great conflict of sufferings.

The sufferings very often from his own family. Like we said, Jesus said he brought a sword to come between father and son and father-in-law and son-in-law and mother-in-law and daughter-in-law and mother and daughter, a sword that came right between them and they had a great conflict of sufferings and they were made a public spectacle.

Sometimes they were dragged through the streets, made fun of, that happens even today in India. People are made fun of. I know one brother from one of our village churches and he accepted Christ and all his parents were non-Christians, his family and everybody.