Seek for Reality in Your Inner Life — Zac Poonen

Praise the Lord. We are glad that we can turn to God's Word again this morning. Since there are many who come newly, newly means say in the last few years, you probably do not know that we, almost from the beginning of our starting out as a church nearly 37 years ago, there are a couple of things we have emphasized more than other things and the reason for that is that those are the messages in scripture which have not been emphasized by other preachers and by other churches.

And even if you go through our website cfcindia .com and look at all the messages there, it looks like it's imbalanced. Every Old Testament prophet was imbalanced because he had a particular message to convey.

Just like every member of your body is imbalanced by itself. It finds its balance along with other members of the body. You can't live just with your heart because if the hand doesn't put food into the mouth, the heart will collapse.

You can't live with any single organ or any three or four organs. And so God raises up at different times. Like in the Old Testament, if you study the Old Testament, you'll find that at particular times God would send a prophet to emphasize one particular thing.

The message of Jeremiah was very different from the message of Hosea. The message of Zechariah was very different from the message of Isaiah. It depended on what was the particular need among God's people at that time.

It's not like teaching a school where you teach the same thing in kindergarten for 50 years and you teach the same thing in the 10th standard for 50 years. The church is not like that. Because even though the Bible is the same, through the years what happens is man's traditions slowly come in and modify God's Word or change God's Word and sometimes replace God's Word.

Different churches are affected in different ways by those traditions and sometimes whole sections of God's Word are neglected. So when God finds that in certain areas in what is called his church certain truths are neglected, he raises up people to emphasize those truths.

I mean if you read church history, that's exactly what happened. That's how God raised up people like Martin Luther and John Wesley and William Booth and different people to emphasize certain truths that were not being emphasized in God's Word.

Grace Is More Than Undeserved Favor

So we have emphasized a lot on the difference between grace and law. So let's turn to John chapter 1 because most people haven't understood what grace means. It's a tremendous misunderstanding in Christianity that grace means God's undeserved favor.

Well, look at this verse John 1 17. The law was given through Moses, but grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. Well, if grace only came through Jesus Christ, is it true that for 4 ,000 years from Adam to Christ people got God's deserved favor?

No. Every human being, the favor he gets from God is undeserved. The atheist gets God's undeserved favor by the fact that he's got health, that he can breathe, but that's not grace. Grace is not God's undeserved favor.

Because when we have that understanding, what it leads to is a lot of people live in sin and say, well, God still blesses me. I don't deserve it. And they live all their life till the end of their life defeated by sin and keep saying God's undeserved favor.

But here there's a contrast. The law came through Moses. Grace came through Jesus Christ. And if you want to know whether grace is higher than law, you just ask yourself, is Jesus higher than Moses? How much higher is grace than law?

As much higher as Jesus is than Moses. So if Moses could lead Old Testament people to a certain standard of life, if your standard of life is lower than that, whether you know it or not, you are living under law.

I mean if a person imagines that he's in 10th standard and he doesn't know addition, he's fooling himself. What type of school is that? You get a 10th standard, you don't know how to add? It's that person deserves to be in the first standard.

He's imagining that he's in the 10th standard. He's not. He can say I'm in the 10th standard, like a lot of Christians say I'm under grace. You're not under grace. So it's, let's turn to another verse.

It's a verse we have often spoken about, Romans 6 14. To me, this is the acid test. You know that expression. The perfect test to find out whether I have fully experienced God's grace or not. And I want all of you to listen to it, Romans 6 and verse 14.

Here again, you see the contrast between these two words, law and grace. Sin shall not be master over you because you're not under law, but under grace. That is so clear. I could word it in another way.

If sin is mastering over you, you're under the law and you're not under grace. If sin rules your life, whether you know it or not, my dear brother, sister, you are under law, not under grace. The Bible says that Satan blinds the minds of those who don't believe, lest they see the glory of God.

Let me show you that verse, 2nd Corinthians in chapter 4. I want to try and make this so clear and simple this morning that even a little child can understand and you'll never be in any delusion about what the Bible teaches in the New Testament or in any delusion concerning your own spiritual state.

In 2nd Corinthians 4, it says, in verse 4, in whose case, the God of this world, that's Satan, has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel, of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

Now, whenever most Christians read that verse, you say, well, that doesn't apply to me because Satan has not blinded my eyes. I believe in Christ. James says, even the devils believe. That's not faith.

It's not the type of faith the Bible speaks about. Unbelieving means those who don't believe what God has said, not those who don't believe in the existence of Christ. If you were to go to the devil with your doctrinal statement and check up with Satan.

Satan, do you believe there's a Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? Yes. Three persons and one God? Yes. Do you believe Christ is the Son of God? Yes. Do you believe he died for the sins of the world?

Yes. This is Satan replying. Do you believe he rose from the dead? Yes. Do you believe he's coming back to judge the world? Yes. Do you believe that if you're under grace, sin will not rule over you? Yes.

Tell me something the devil doesn't believe in the Bible. He believes it more than most believers. It doesn't change him. It doesn't save him because his will is set against God for other things. It's a question of where your will is set, the choices you make.

Your will means the choices you make in your life. We must distinguish between mind and will. The Bible speaks about the mind and the heart. The heart is where you choose. It's your choices that determine what you are, not what you understand.

Faith does not depend, it does not rest in your mind. If you read in the scriptures, New Testament, you'll find that it always speaks about believing with your heart, not with your mind. I found that most Christians believe in their mind.

They believe everything the devil believes and that's why very often their home life is pretty much like hell. Why is that? Because both husband and wife believe what the devil believes, but their heart does not choose like Jesus chose the things of God.

So I want to remove that deception from your heart so that you don't destroy yourself or waste your life. Evaluate your life. You know, sometimes you go to a doctor. I've heard of numerous cases like this.

They go for a scan, a routine medical checkup. You know the number of cases of people I've heard of who went for a routine, you know, not because they're feeling they're unhealthy or sick, just for a routine medical checkup and they discover they've had cancer in their body for three years.

You see a doctor, I felt perfectly okay, and the doctor says that's exactly how some cancers are. You feel perfectly okay till it spreads so much that it bothers you. Then sometimes it's too late. So it's like that in the Christian life too.

You can say, I feel okay. Maybe you do. But God's Word is like a scan. And if you don't read it, you're never going to get that scan. That's why it's so important to read God's Word. And so important to listen only to preachers who turn you to God's Word.

Not preachers who tell you their testimonies. Faith does not come by listening to testimonies. As human beings, we prefer to listen to testimonies. It's more interesting, stories. This person's experience and that person's experience, but faith doesn't come by that.

The Bible says in Romans 10 17, faith comes by hearing the Word of Christ. And the Word of Christ refers to the New Testament. So when it says that Satan has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, there are believers who are unbelieving.

They don't believe something in Scripture. For example, how many of you believe? Let me ask you. That if you are defeated by sin, you're under law. I don't think most of you believe it. You see, whatever Brother Zach may say, I'm all right.

I'm under grace. Well, you can choose what you believe or you can choose to believe what God's Word says. That's what I mean. The God of this world has blinded people's minds saying, don't worry about all that.

You're okay. I want to tell you you're not okay. Romans 3 3 says, let God be true and every man a liar. I never knew victory over sin in my life for 16 years after I was born again. Because Satan blinded my eyes to believe that I had experienced grace fully.

Till the day came in my life where I chose to believe God's Word that said if sin rules over you, you're under law, not under grace. And I confessed to God, Lord, I am under law. Please bring me under grace.

Bring me to the place where 365 days a year, I'll never raise my voice at my wife. Then I'll know I'm under grace. Bring me to the place, Lord, where I do not lust with my eyes. Then I know I will be, I'm under grace.

When I'll speak the truth, even if it costs me money or my life, I'll know I'm under grace. But if I can modify God's standards according to my convenience, they did that in the Old Testament, you're under law.

I'm not saying, you know, there are three types of people. Those who are under no covenant, who don't believe the Bible at all, and those who are under the old covenant, and those who are under the new covenant.

Maybe you're better than those who are under no covenant. You're under the old covenant. You have certain standards. You keep the Ten Commandments, or at least nine of them. You don't murder. You don't steal.

You don't commit terrible things. I'll tell you numerous Old Testament people who live by that standard. I'll show you numerous Hindus and Muslims and atheists who live by that standard. If Jesus Christ cannot raise me to a much higher level than all those people of other religions who believe in other prophets and leaders, I tell you, you are not believing in the Christ or the Bible.

Look at the lives of many people who call themselves Christians. Compare that with the lives of non-Christians. Look at the number of Christians who are unfaithful to their wives, which many non-Christians will not be.

And they call themselves, we are born-again Christians. Rubbish! The God of the world has blinded your eyes. You imagine, maybe you sit in CFC and think, this is a good church. I'll never go to hell if I sit here.

I tell you in Jesus' name, some of you will go to hell, even if you sit here, because God is not going to ask you in the final day, which church did you go to? It's your personal relationship with Christ that matters.

There is only one book that God has given that shows us the way to Him, and that's the Bible. I don't have any doubt about it, because I read it for 52 years, and I know how it's changed my life. And I've seen these promises becoming true in my life.

How it is possible, when it says in God's Word, rejoice in the Lord always, 24 -7, it's possible to come to that life. I mean, it took me many years to get there, but I discovered that if you work at it, you get there, and you come to a godly life.

That's how I know the scripture is true. So the God of the world has blinded people's minds from what? Let's read carefully. 2nd Corinthians 4 and verse 4, not the gospel of forgiveness of sins. Now the good news, gospel means good news, the good news of forgiveness of sins multitudes of Christians believe, and perhaps all of you sitting here believe that.

But that's not what it's speaking here about. It's speaking about Satan blinding people's minds to see the gospel of the glory of Jesus Christ, which I can partake of. Have you heard that gospel? That I can partake of the glory of Jesus Christ, not forgiveness of sins.

That's just cleaning the cup. I mean, if your little boy comes and asks you for a glass of milk, and you clean up that dirty cup and offer him an empty cup, what's that? That's teasing him. You don't clean cups just to display in a shelf.

You clean a cup to put something in it. Why did God clean your heart and forgive your sins? Just to, that's all? To keep you empty? You know that story which Jesus said about a man who had a demon, it's in Matthew 12, and the demon was cast out, but he kept his heart empty.

You know, cleaned up his heart and kept it empty. This is what most Christians do, which they never do at home. They don't clean up a cup and keep it empty. It's always to be used for something. So here's this guy who got the demon cast out and kept his heart empty.

And then when that demon kept wandering around, he said, hey, this guy's heart is still empty. He threw me out, but he hasn't replaced his heart with anyone else. He hasn't got the Holy Spirit to fill his heart.

So he called seven of his companion demons. They say, come here, I'll show you a house we can live in. And he got into that person. These are the words of Jesus. And Jesus said that man's last state was worse than his first.

This is actually the condition of many Christians. Let me show you that passage. Then you will understand how serious this is. Dear brothers and sisters, you have to bear with me this morning. I don't want any of you to go to hell.

I don't want any of our children to go to hell. I don't want any of you to miss what God has for you in this one life before Christ comes back. And I'll tell you, it is not just serving him and going to Bible studies and missionary work.

It's a lot more than that. It's gaining the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So here Jesus speaks about this in Matthew chapter 12, verse 43. When the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest and does not find it.

And then it says, I'll return to my house from which I came. And when he comes there, he finds it unoccupied, unoccupied, swept, cleansed in the blood of Jesus, but empty. Which is the condition of the vast majority of Christians.

And he goes along and takes seven other spirits, more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. To whom did he say that? He didn't say that to the Greeks and the Romans.

He said that to a whole lot of people who are reading the Bible every day and going to the synagogue every Saturday. He said that's how it's going to be with this evil generation. His last state will be worse than the first.

That means compared to what he was when he first became born again, it's going to be much worse now. There are many, many believers, if they're honest, they will say, when I gave my life to Christ, I surrendered everything.

And I did not even watch internet pornography. But brother, as time has gone on, I've got back into those habits that I gave up. Exactly. His last state is worse than his first. He was a far better man on the day he was born again, first.

Ten years later, instead of being from kindergarten, he should have gone to 10th standard. Instead of going from kindergarten to 10th standard, he's dropped out of school altogether and forgotten all that he learned in kindergarten.

That is a condition of many, many Christians. His last state is worse than his first. See 2 Peter in chapter 2. Peter heard Jesus say that and he was inspired by the Holy Spirit to use the same words in 2 Peter 2 verse 20, the last part.

His last state has become worse than the first. Here is the Holy Spirit's interpretation of the parable that Jesus spoke in Matthew 12 that we just read. What is the meaning of that parable? Verse 20, what is the meaning of the demon cast out first?

They escape the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And then they keep their heart empty and they get entangled in them again and are overcome. The last state is worse than the first.

That's the New Testament interpretation of that parable, speaking about people. And in such cases, he says, it would have been better for them never have to be born again at all. Not to even have known the way of righteousness than having known it to turn away from the Holy Commandment, hand it to them.

But it has happened to them according to the proverb, the dog has returned to what is vomited out. You know, when you give up some habit in your life, think back to the day when you were converted. You decided you're never going to watch these dirty movies again.

You vomited it all out because you spent so many years watching filthy movies. You vomited it all out. Now you say, I'm not going to watch any dirty movie. And the dog sees that vomit, which it vomited out a few years ago and says, hey, that tastes nice.

And he goes to the vomit and licks it up again. Have you done that? Are you doing that now? The pig that was washed goes back to the same muck and mire it was in. Believe it or not, this is the condition of many Christians.

False Teachers and the Love of Money

And the reason is they listen to the wrong type of preachers. If you listen to the wrong type of preacher, you will end up like that. God has appointed prophets and teachers in the church. And if you don't recognize the ones God has appointed, you just listen to any Tom, Dick and Harry who picks up a Bible, you will be deceived.

See what that's the subject of 2 Peter 2, where he ends up with these verses. But see how he starts. There were false prophets in those days in the Old Testament. And there will be false teachers among you.

What will be the mark of these false teachers? Verse 3, in their greed, they will exploit you with false words. They'll be interested in your money. Number one mark of a false teacher. He is interested in making you pay your tithe.

And he lives off it. And he lives in grand style, even though you are poor. How many Christians see through a false teacher there? Millions and millions of Christians are fooled, even though it's written plainly in Scripture.

In their greed, they will exploit you. Let me ask you a straight question. How many preachers have you heard in your life, who preach against these deceptive prosperity preachers, who are interested in collecting your money?

Please tell me their names. I'd like to listen to those preachers whom you have heard, who drive the money changers out of the temple like Jesus did. Well, if you listen to the wrong type of people, shall I tell you what the Lord told me to tell you?

You deserve to be deceived. You deserve to be deceived. Because you honor a false teacher above the prophets of God who have written the Scriptures. So, many will follow, verse 2, their sensuality. And because of them, the way of truth will be maligned.

And he goes on to say, these people, they have, if you go further down in reading there, verse, one of the things mentioned about them is, in verse 10, they indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority.

One of the marks of false teachers is, they despise authority. They are law unto themselves. Daring self-wills. And he goes on to say in verse 14, their eyes are full of adultery that never cease from sin.

Enticing unstable souls. Again, it's repeated, having a heart trained in greed. Remember, he's speaking about preachers whose eyes are full of adultery. They like to talk to pretty women. Their heart is trained in greed.

And a lot of preachers are like that. That's why all of a sudden you hear them falling into sexual sin. And things like that. They are called in verse 17, springs without water for whom the black darkness has been reserved.

Yeah, you could read that whole chapter sometime. It's warning us about the type of people we shall see in the last days. And that is, those are the agents of Satan. Who, he uses them to blind people's eyes to the truth.

Truth in the Innermost Being

And that is the reason why we have sought to emphasize, you know, let me turn back to John 1. Jesus said, the word of God says, John 1 17, the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

And I want to clarify to you what truth means. That's another word people haven't understood. There are two types of truth. One is the truth of God's word. Jesus said in John 17 and verse 17, Sanctify them father through thy truth.

Thy word is truth. The truth is found in God's word. That's one meaning of truth. Just like flesh has got two meanings in the New Testament. One, it refers to meat, physical flesh, the flesh of our body.

And the other meaning of flesh, the spirit fights against the flesh. Galatians 5 17, the spirit is not fighting against my body. It's fighting against my self-will. That's the other meaning of flesh.

Fighting against my self-will. When it says Jesus came in the flesh, he came with a body like ours, with a self-will, which he had to deny all his life. You see that in Gethsemane. Father, not my will.

In the same way, truth is God's word is truth. And the other meaning of truth, which is what is referred to here, because we can't say God's word came only through Jesus Christ. It came through Moses too.

So why does it say truth came through Jesus Christ? Which is the truth that came through Jesus Christ, which did not come through Moses? Moses brought the word of God. Jesus expanded on it. But there was another meaning of truth.

When he said, I am the truth. And that means reality. See Psalm 51 and verse 6 for that meaning of truth. Psalm 51 and verse 6. You desire truth. Lord, you desire truth in the innermost being. That's a great verse.

David, when he fell into the depths of sin, adultery and murder, it took him one year to repent. Imagine a man who once walked with God and wrote scripture before he was 30 years old, could drift away so much from God 20 years later.

Some of the Psalms David wrote when he was 27, 28 years old. You see that at the heading of the Psalms where he wrote it. 27, 28 years old, before he became a king at 30. But 22 years later, when he's 52 years old, he commits adultery with somebody else's wife, kills the husband and marries the woman.

How much a man can drift from God. And on his deathbed, he won't forgive somebody who really cursed him. He tells his son Solomon to kill that fellow who cursed me. It's very easy for a man to drift from God.

But when he was convicted of his sin, he wrote Psalm 51 and he acknowledges the sin completely. It took him one year to recognize how a sinner he was because a prophet called Nathan came up to him and confronted him and said, you are the man, David.

Boy, I love these Old Testament prophets. They did not fear the face of any man. They didn't want anybody's money. When rich Naaman came and gave a lot of money to Elisha, he said, keep it. I don't want any of your money.

Where have you seen preachers like that today? Where do you see prophets like Elisha who turned around to Naaman and said, keep your money. Keep your clothing. I don't want any of that. You see more preachers like Gehazi, Elisha's servant who ran after Naaman and said, hey, I'll take that.

If he doesn't want it, that's fine. I want it. So Nathan was a great prophet. He confronted David. Elijah was like that. He confronted Ahab. You see, the mark of all these Old Testament prophets were they were completely free from two things.

From the love of money and from seeking the honor of men. No one can be a prophet of God if he's got any interest in these two things. And they replaced that. They cast out the demons of the love of money and seeking the honor of men and replaced their heart with the fear of God to live before God's face.

And I'll tell you in my lifetime, I've been a believer 52 years. I've rarely, rarely come across a prophet like that in my life. They are rare. They've been rare in every generation. And that's why Christendom is in its state it is.

You read in the Old Testament how Israel used to sing. A prophet would bring them back like Elijah. A man could do the job. But they are rare. But anyway, when Nathan's words convicted David, he wrote, Oh Lord, I'm full of sin from the time I was born.

I was born in iniquity, conceived in iniquity. But you desire truth in the innermost being. What does God desire in the innermost being? Reality. Reality in the innermost being. And nobody in the Old Testament could have it.

That's the point. You desire it, but oh Lord, I don't have it. How shall I have it? Nobody could have it. Because the Holy Spirit did not come to dwell inside anybody. They could drive out the demons, but their heart would be empty.

They could not be filled with the Holy Spirit. Do you know that they had forgiveness of sins in the Old Testament? Psalm 103 says that. Psalm 103, bless the Lord, oh my soul, don't forget his benefits.

Number one of his benefits is, verse 3, who forgives all your iniquities? Not some of them. That was written 1 ,000 years before Christ. In other words, they could clean up the cup, but they couldn't fill it.

The cup remained empty. David could clean up his cup by the age of 30. By the time he was 52, he was a murderer and an adulterer. Just like a lot of believers today, they accept Christ, they're radical, they turn around, accept Christ.

20 years later, you see them backslidden. They've lost their salvation and on their way to hell. And yet, 20 years earlier, they were really born again. But they lost their salvation. Let me tell you my opinion.

There is a doctrine which says, one saved, always saved. I think that doctrine has sent more people to hell than probably any other doctrine that man has preached. Because people sit back and say, oh, I was saved 20 years ago.

It doesn't matter if I commit adultery today and do this, that, and the other. It's possible that some of you sitting here believe that. And that's why you fell into some terrible sins after you were born again.

Because you believe one saved, always saved. The fear of the Lord is what you need, brother. You need to have such a fear of God more than you fear men. The Lord said in Matthew 10. Have you ever thought of these words?

He said in Matthew chapter 10. Two commands. Matthew 10, 28. Do not fear somebody, but fear somebody. Just obey those two commands and you'll be alright. Do not fear those who can only maximum kill your body.

They may insult you, trouble you. Think of your boss. Sack you from your job. Make life difficult for you. Kill you perhaps. What more can they do? That's the maximum. Don't be afraid of them. But be afraid of the one who can destroy both your soul and body in hell.

To whom was he speaking? He was not speaking to the Pharisees. He was very clearly in verse 5. His 12 disciples. Come here, you 12 disciples. You're the ones I've chosen out of the whole world. I want to give you some instructions.

You 12, you're my disciples. Fear God who can cast your body into hell. Where are the preachers who will say that to disciples today? What Jesus said. The God of this world has blinded the minds of people.

Jesus could bring not only grace but truth. That truth which most David longed for. Truth in the innermost being means reality. That means in very simple language that my inner life corresponds to the impression I'm giving people outside of my spirituality.

That means whatever impression you have got of me from watching me on Sunday mornings that is exactly what I am inside. The way I behave in Sunday morning service is exactly the way I behave when I'm at home seven days a week.

In my office, in the bus, in the auto rickshaw, the train, and in my thought life when I'm all by myself in that area where even my wife cannot come in. My thoughts, I am the same. Yeah, that is truth in the innermost being.

Desperately Seeking a Pure Inner Life

But you know, I've discovered one thing with God. It's only if you long for something that you get it. And if you haven't got this life which I'm just describing I can give it to you in writing. You have not longed for it.

How is it most of you have succeeded in building a good testimony for yourself in CFC? You longed for it. You got it. People think pretty highly of you. They mention your name. Yeah, he's a good brother.

If you had longed as much for an inner life before God you would have got that too. You know there are two parables that Jesus spoke on prayer. Only two. In both those parables he emphasized one truth.

You can take time to read it. You know the stories. They are in Luke 11 and Luke 18. One was about a widow who went to the judge Luke 18 and said my enemy is harassing me. Give me justice. I'm not asking for his property.

I am asking you judge to give me my property which my neighbor has encroached upon and taken from me. Isn't that a righteous requirement? And Jesus was talking about man crying out to God God! My property which Jesus redeemed the devil has encroached into it.

My thought life. The devil has encroached into that property. You would never allow your neighbor to encroach upon your property your physical property as much as the devil has encroached into your thought life, right?

When the devil encroaches into your thought life he encroaches some more and you say that's okay. You'd never allow that in physical property. Imagine if your neighbor kept on moving his boundary wall more and more and more and more and more and you just sat quiet and said that's okay, it's alright.

I love them. You'd never do it because we love money. We love property. We don't love a pure thought life. We allow the devil to occupy what's purest for us. Imagine if your father started in poverty in rags worked hard through many many many many years and struggled and struggled and struggled and earned a few million rupees and bought a large bit of land for you his only son or only daughter.

He says my child this is what I labored hard for you. Take care of it. And he dies. And you allow all the crooked neighbors around that to encroach and encroach and encroach and take away 90 of it. What sort of a child are you?

That's how Jesus died to purchase for us a pure thought life. Pure speech. These are the lands he purchased for us. Do you believe that? Do you believe Jesus died on the cross to purchase for you a totally pure thought life?

Totally pure speech. Why have you allowed the devil to encroach and take it away take it away. The sad thing is not the devil's encroach the sad thing is you sit just watch it and don't even allow don't even bother about it.

That widow went to the judge and said give it get it back from me. The judge did nothing. She said I'm going to keep on harassing. She'd go to her his house at 2 o 'clock in the morning and wake him up.