(The Law of the Holy Spirit) the Aroma of Christ's Humility — Zac Poonen

Old Covenant Ministry and New Covenant Transformation

There was an illustration I used which illustrates the difference between the ministry of the Holy Spirit and the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. I want to repeat it because there's so much emphasis today on ministry and gifts.

We don't devalue them. Jesus had gifts and he had a tremendous ministry, more than anything the world has ever seen. I believe in ministry. I've been doing it for 50 years. I believe in all the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

But there's a fundamental difference in the way the Holy Spirit operated in the Old Testament in ministry and in the New Testament. And it's because most Christians haven't understood that or valued that, that we see so much shallowness in Christendom.

That's why you hear of preachers falling into adultery or going after money. It's all because they haven't understood the difference between the ministry of the Holy Spirit under the Old Covenant and the New Covenant.

So what I said was, in the Old Covenant it was like pouring water on a cup that was upside down. And the water overflowed around the cup and maybe blessed thousands of people. Moses had a ministry that blessed 2 million people for 40 years.

And many Old Testament prophets were like that. But the inside of the cup remained unchanged. You see that in the example of Samson, David and many others. Even people like Elijah would get depressed.

Now you may think depression is not a serious thing. I remember once a preacher telling me, well I'm depressed, but Elijah was depressed. And I told him, if Elijah is the author and finisher of your faith, you have every right to be depressed.

But the author and finisher of my faith is Jesus Christ. And he was never depressed. He was never in a bad mood. He was never grumpy or sour. He was never grumbling or complaining about anything. And if he is the author and finisher of your faith, you do not accept depression as normal.

I used to be tremendously depressed in the days before I understood what it was to be filled with the Holy Spirit on the inside. You can have a tremendous ministry and no change on the inside. That's Old Covenant ministry where the water overflows and blesses maybe hundreds of thousands of people.

And the inside remains full of lust and bitterness and the love of money and grumbling and complaining. And such a preacher could even lose his salvation finally. That's why Jesus said, in the last day, not one or two, Matthew 7 verse 22 -23.

He said, many, probably hundreds of thousands of preachers will come to me and say, Lord, Lord, in your name, not in the name of some other heathen God, in your name we prophesied. That means we preached powerfully.

We did miracles in your name. There was water overflowing all over their life. We cast out demons in your name. And Jesus doesn't question that. He doesn't say, you're all a bunch of liars. You never did that in my name or you never did that at all.

They couldn't dare to tell lies to Jesus. I mean, they can fool you and me today saying the miracles happened somewhere else in their ministry. But they cannot stand before Jesus and say, we did miracles in your name if they did not actually happen.

Yes, there was a ministry. But the Lord says, let me see the inside of your cup. Depart from me, you workers of iniquity. There's sin in your life. And that's why we should not be fooled by a person's ministry or his gifts.

In that same passage earlier on in Matthew 7, he said, By their fruit, what's inside, you will know them. How shall we know what's inside of a man's heart? Out of the abundance of a heart, the man speaks.

And so that's the difference in the New Covenant that in the New Covenant, the Holy Spirit fills the inside first. It doesn't mean there is no ministry. But as the inside gets filled and overflows, then there can be miracles, healing, prophecy and everything.

But it must start on the inside. That's why Jesus said, Out of his innermost being will flow rivers of living water. Now, a lot of people have placed the emphasis on the rivers of living water. But the emphasis should be from the innermost being.

Birth of the Spirit and the Well of Living Water

Jesus said to the woman of Samaria, You know, there are three places where Jesus used the picture of water as referring to the Holy Spirit in the Gospel of John. The first is in John 3, where he said in verse 5, Unless you are born of water and the Spirit, and water is just another picture of the Holy Spirit there.

It's not two separate things. Born again or born from above, or born of water, born of the Spirit, all referring to the same thing. He used different expressions there. Born again, born from above, born of water, born of the Holy Spirit.

It all means the same thing. It means a birth that came inside us through the operation of the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is pictured like water here. And the next step, John chapter 4, once you are born of water, when we are born, it's like, you know, like it says in Psalm 116, I will lift up the cup of salvation.

The Holy Spirit comes in when we are born. You cannot be born again without receiving the Spirit. That's very clear in Romans chapter 8 and verse 9. If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he doesn't even belong to Him.

See, there's a lot of confusion concerning this. Is the person who is really genuinely born again, does he have the Holy Spirit? According to Romans 8 and verse 9, if he doesn't have the Spirit of Christ, he doesn't even belong to Him.

The Spirit of Christ is the Holy Spirit. And because we have tried to lock up the third person of the Trinity in a theological box that we have made, according to our understanding of theology, we find that verses in Scripture don't fit into this theological box that we have made.

But they tried to do that with the second person of the Trinity when he came to earth 2 ,000 years ago. The Pharisees tried to lock him up in their theological box and he didn't fit. And when he didn't fit, they said he was bilgeable.

I've tried for 52 years, studying the Scriptures, to get a perfect theology of the Holy Spirit, receiving the Holy Spirit, baptism in the Holy Spirit, and I have to confess I have failed to lock up the third person of the Trinity in a theological box.

I haven't succeeded. And I'm not surprised because he's God. We think in mathematical terms, 2 plus 2 is 4, and length, breadth, and height, and all that type of stuff, and God doesn't fit into all that.

God is a Trinity. Try and work that out, three persons and one God. That itself is enough to confuse us. So I've never tried to fit. My theology of the Holy Spirit is in this verse. John 3, verse 8. The wind blows where it wishes.

You hear the sound, but you can't say where it's coming from or where it's going. So is everyone who is born of this Spirit. I cannot formulate a theology of the Holy Spirit just like I cannot say definitely the wind is going to blow this way or that way.

We read the Holy Spirit can move like a gentle breeze or like a whirlwind. We read that in the days of Job, chapter 38, God spoke to Job in a whirlwind. Mighty whirlwind. And you read God spoke. But in the days of Elijah, there was a whirlwind, and it says God was not in the whirlwind.

And then he spoke in a gentle whisper. So how does the Holy Spirit work? In a whirlwind or a gentle breeze? The wind blows where it lists, where it wishes. You cannot dictate to the Holy Spirit, you must work like this.

Because you worked like this in Job's time, you have to work like that in Elijah's time. Because you worked like that over there, you must work like that over here. This is how so many superficial revivals have taken place, which have no lasting effect.

I hear of so many places where people speak about, Oh, there was revival, revival. And this thing happened and that thing happened. I say, let me see after one year. Let me see after four or five years, what's the result of that?

Are these husbands and wives better husbands and wives? Are these young people who appear to have revival, godly disciples of Jesus? Verse 14. Whoever drinks of the water that I give him shall never thirst, but the water that I give him will now be not just a cup, it will be a well of water inside him.

Notice the emphasis on the inside. Inside him will be a well of water springing up to eternal life. Like I said, coming out of the cup and overflowing, that's new covenant ministry. But it begins with Jesus doing something inside and he doesn't do it for everybody by the way.

If a person is happy that my sins are all forgiven and I'm on my way to heaven and I can prove from scripture, from this verse and the other verse and the other verse that I have received the Holy Spirit, I'm okay.

He's not going to expect to get anything. But it says if anyone thirsts, that's the type of person whom God is going to satisfy. John chapter 7, you go on from a well, the well springing up, which satisfies his own need, begins to flow out and it becomes not just one river, John 7 verse 38, it becomes many rivers.

So, do you see the progression here? Born of the Spirit, a little cup, the Holy Spirit's come in and brought a little change, a new nature has come in, that can never happen without the working of the Holy Spirit.

But then it becomes a well because this person is not satisfied with being born again. He's not satisfied with the sins being forgiven. He wants a well that springs up, that satisfies his need. You know where we live, in Bangalore in India, very often there's a shortage of water.

So the pipe water that comes from the city corporation, sometimes they turn it off because there isn't enough water for everyone. But we happen to have a well in our compound, so it doesn't matter if they turn off the water.

We never have a shortage of water just because of one reason, we got a well inside our compound and the application here for us is that another person's action can never turn off my joy. If somebody else can turn off your water supply, brother, you need a well.

If somebody else can take away your peace, you need a well. If somebody else can take away your joy, something somebody does disturbs your joy or your peace or makes you hate him, you need a well. If somebody's action can make you hate him, you need a well in your heart where nobody outside can turn off your water supply.

Your water supply should not be coming from outside, it must be from within. And yet if you look at your life, you see how often you get into a bad mood because of something your wife said or husband said or something somebody else said or something your neighbor did, they are controlling your water supply.

Jesus said the water I'm going to give him is going to be a well within. This is the ministry of the Holy Spirit within, within. And yet many people who are depressed and gloomy and get into bad moods and get angry and grumble and complain, they have a tremendous ministry.

It's the cup upside down. They are satisfied that people are being blessed and people are being helped. So what? You may never enter the kingdom of God even if you stand in the final day before the Lord and say, Lord, we did miracles in your name.

He'll say, depart from me, you workers of iniquity. It's the inside that matters. From the innermost being, Jesus said here in John 7, 38, rivers of living water, that's the only type of ministry that he's interested in.

The Law of the Spirit and the Aroma of Christ

And he demonstrated that by his life on earth. The law of the Spirit. What did we see there yesterday in Romans chapter 8, verse 2? The law of the Spirit is not a bunch of commandments, is not a bunch of rules, it's not a theology of the Holy Spirit.

It's life in Christ Jesus and it's very difficult to define life in Christ Jesus. It's the life of Jesus Christ which is the law of the Holy Spirit. And what the Holy Spirit brings into us is the life of Jesus.

And this well that springs up is the life of Jesus. And the rivers of living water that is the life of Jesus flowing out in ministry to other people. Not just in words that we do or in healings or miracles that we accomplish but just by our influence.

You know, Paul speaks in 2 Corinthians 2 about the aroma of Christ. Have you read that expression? It's a beautiful expression. 2 Corinthians 2, he says, We are a fragrance of Christ to God. We are not called to be primarily a fragrance to other people.

So many Christians are so eager. People must see Christ in me. That sounds very spiritual. I say let God see Christ in you first before you try to show Christ to other people. When you try to be Christ-like to other people you can be artificial.

You can be manufacturing it. It may not be from the inside. There's so much of artificial humility in Christian circles. Artificial zeal and purity. It's all because we want to be Christ-like to other people.

We want to bless other people. We want to go and help the needy. We want to be Christ-like. A lot of it is just hypocrisy. We are a fragrance of Christ to God. 2 Corinthians 2 .15. Have you read in the Song of Solomon?

It says, Let me read that verse. It's a beautiful verse. In Song of Solomon and chapter 4 is the bride speaking to the bridegroom. You know, we're speaking to Christ. Oh, north wind, awake! Whether it's the north wind of adversity or suffering or the south wind of prosperity and warmth, it makes no difference.

Come, blow into my garden and let the fragrance of my garden be wafted so that my beloved, I'm not worried about the others, my beloved can come into this garden and smell that fragrance and eat its choice fruits.

This is Song of Solomon, chapter 4, verse 16. So, the Holy Spirit comes to fill us, to make us a fragrance of Christ. 2 Corinthians 2 .15. Primarily to God and then to others. The first commandment is not love your neighbor as yourself.

The first commandment is love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and strength. Jesus said to the devil, you shall worship the Lord your God first and then serve Him. Today's Christians have not understood what it is to worship God.

And that's why their service is so shallow. There's so much emphasis today on ministry without worshipping God. And I'll tell you another thing. What a lot of people call praise and worship is not worship at all.

Today's Christians know pretty close to zero about real worship. One of the last men, I think, who knew what worship was, was A .W. Tozer. I hardly know of any other writer who knew anything about worship.

What people call worship today is praise. That's good. Thanksgiving. It's not worship. Thanksgiving, praise and worship are three different levels. We start with prayer. Praise. Prayer, Thanksgiving, praise and finally worship.

Hardly anybody climbs up to that highest level of communion with God. A lot of people are at that low level of prayer. Many people. Some people move up beyond prayer to Thanksgiving, which is thanking God for what He's done for us.

One leper out of ten will come back and give thanks. It's about 10%. And very few move on from Thanksgiving to praise. Praise is, even if God's done nothing for me, I want to praise Him for who He is.

And if you read carefully, you know, the trouble with a lot of Christians is when they sing, like I said yesterday, they don't read carefully, they don't think carefully about what they're saying. The book of Ecclesiastes says, be careful when you open your mouth in the presence of God.

Don't say something that you don't mean. And yet Christians are disobeying that every time they sing. Particularly if you're singing a song that you're very familiar with. Be very careful that you're not telling a lie to God.

Take your singing as seriously as you would if you were signing a document in a court. Sealed with witnesses and the judge and the magistrate endorsing it with a signature. How carefully you would read that document.

Especially if it's got something to do with money or a business contract. You wouldn't put your signature there in a slipshod way. How carelessly Christians sing songs to God. Be careful with your mouth.

And if you read carefully, I've done it. There are times when I've sometimes sung a very familiar song in a meeting, in a service, and at the end of the song I realized, hey, I didn't even pay attention to the words because I've sung that a thousand times and I didn't even think about it.

I just appreciated the melody. And so when the song leader announces the next song, I turn back in my hymn book to the old one. I say, Lord, I'm sorry. I didn't mean this. I've got to go through this.

Let them sing the next song. But I want to say the words of this old, the one they were singing previously, which I sang without meaning it and I've repeated it to God. Have you ever done that? I did that because I realized I told, I spoke to God without even thinking what I was saying.

Would you go before the governor of your state and speak to him things without even thinking what you're saying? We're doing it all the time when we sing to God. That's because we have lacked reverence.

We have a generation of Christians growing up today, particularly among the younger people, who lack reverence for God. And that's why we can say so many things without meaning. And so praise is appreciating God for who He is.

And look at the words of the songs you sing. You'll find a lot of it is prayer, thanksgiving, praise. It's good. But it's not worship. You may call it praise and worship. I want to tell you it's not worship.

And if you don't believe me, if you're serious about Bible study, take a concordance and look up the word worship in the New Testament. I did. And it'll revolutionize your idea of what worship really means.

But if you're too lazy to study the Bible, you deserve to be deceived about worship. I'll tell you the truth. I don't want to be deceived. I've got only one life to live. And there's only one book that God's given me that's shown me how I should live on this earth.

And I don't want to be fooled by Christian tradition, whether Roman Catholic tradition or Pentecostal tradition or Charismatic tradition or Baptist tradition or any tradition. I want my life to be governed by God's word.

I mean, think of example the way sometimes maybe you yourself have gone away from what you call a praise and worship meeting in your church and you've gone away and said, didn't we have a great time today in praise and worship?

Notice the emphasis on didn't we. Did you bother about whether God had a great time? No, it wasn't meant for God at all. It was meant for us. We had a great time. Boy, the music was great. The pianist was great.

The drums were great. And we had a wonderful time swinging our hips. And the guitarists were great. And we enjoyed it thoroughly. What about God? What did He think about the whole thing? It doesn't matter.

It wasn't meant for God at all. It was entertainment. It was entertainment just like the rock musicians entertain people. The only thing is we are using Christian songs. I tell you, the lot of so-called praise and worship in Christian churches today is pure entertainment.

And that's why you find so many Christians never growing spiritually. If a man really worshipped God, it would change his life completely. The way these people in the Bible worshipped God, they fell down before God.

And to me, one of the clearest marks of worship, clearest expressions of worship is what the psalmist says in Psalm 73, verse 25. In my study of scripture, I haven't found a better expression of worship than this.

It's not how well we can sing. I tell you one thing. It may disappoint you to hear me. And I felt God saying to me, it doesn't disturb me. But Lord said, what disturbs me is there are husband and wife here who are not in good terms with each other.

There are two brothers here who won't have fellowship with each other. That's what disturbs me. Many years ago it happened. And I prayed a prayer that day. I said, Lord, from now on, don't let anything that doesn't disturb you, disturb me.

I couldn't care less if the instruments don't play properly or the music is not so good as it should be. I want to be disturbed by the lack of melody or harmony in the church, among people. The lack of harmony in the homes, not in the musical instruments.

I couldn't care less for that. Because God doesn't care for that. That could be just entertainment. What is the melody God is listening to? What is the harmony God is watching for? You think it's in our music?

No. It's in our relationships. That's the melody and harmony He is listening to. I'm not despising. I say we should do our best in everything. We dress with clean clothes when we come to the service. And we should have good music.

But don't let's place a premium on that to such an extent that we miss out on worshiping God, what God is after. Psalm 73 verse 25. Whom have I in heaven but Thee? And besides Thee I desire nothing on this earth.

If a man can fall down with his head down before God, like the people worship God, Abraham and Job and John, etc. And say, Lord Jesus, you search my heart, I tell you the truth, I desire absolutely nothing on this earth but You.

Nothing. I'm not interested in money, comfort, prosperity. I don't care if you don't give me anything. I'm happy that I have you. And you are enough, more than sufficient for me. Maybe you're married and you don't have children.

Say, Lord, that's fine. I'd love to have children, but it's okay if you decide not to give me children. You are enough for me. And if you don't give me as much success in my ministry as you give to that brother there, that's nothing to do with.

I'm not bothered by that. You are enough. I'm not looking for anything outside of You. I'm not looking for a better car or a better house or a better job or anything. I desire nothing but You. I don't even desire a ministry.

I don't desire to be known. I don't desire that people should respect me in the church or think that I'm a wonderful brother or sister. I couldn't care less for that. I have You, Lord, and that's enough for me.

That is a true worshipper. And I tell you, there are very few like that. Very, very, very few. And that's the reason for so much of shallow Christianity. The Holy Spirit has come to make us worshippers, to bring a well within us that makes us completely satisfied with Jesus Himself.

Christ's Character Before Public Ministry

And as He overflows from us, it's not so much in powerful preaching that God gifts very few people with that type of ministry. I remember, you know, when I think of the tremendous need in my own country, my main ministry is in India.

When I think of the tremendous need there is in India and many other countries in the world, I say, Lord, why didn't You, why don't You raise up more anointed teachers and preachers who can preach powerfully the whole counsel of God?

And I've come to see that God could easily do that, but He hasn't done it. I mean, if you're honest, you have to admit, think of all the sermons you've heard in your whole life from the time you were converted.

Well, I think of most of the sermons I've heard in my life from the time I was converted 52 years ago. I would say pretty close to 95 of them were absolutely boring. They never inspired me. They were like dead.

Why is it like that? Some of them claim to be anointed, but they bored me to death. And if you're honest, you'll admit that as well. Why is it that God doesn't anoint more people? Because primarily He's not interested in preaching.

He gives that gift to a few, but primarily He's interested the fragrance of Christ might come forth from our life. Even in a few sentences that you speak. I've met a few people like that who are not great preachers, but there's a fragrance of Christ about their life.

Like it says about the godly woman in Proverbs 31, the law of kindness is on her tongue. A fragrance that comes forth from their life, even if they don't open their mouth. There's something about their appearance and the way they say a few words.

It's like the perfume that some ladies have. You know, I sometimes sit in an airport and I suddenly get a perfume and maybe 15 feet away somebody's walking. Very powerful. That lady didn't say anything, but I sensed there's somebody here.

It's fragrance. That's what it means by fragrance. The aroma of Christ. This is what the Holy Spirit has primarily come to give us. And if you're expecting to be baptized in the Holy Spirit so that you can become a great preacher like Charles Finney or D .L. Moody, you're seeking your own.

And you do not receive because you ask with wrong motives. But if you're seeking God saying, Lord, I want to be baptized in the Holy Spirit because I want the fragrance of Christ to be manifested, first of all, in my home.

That my wife can taste the fragrance of Christ that she never hears me grumbling, complaining, getting angry, bad moods, anytime. Lord, please help me in that, even if I never preach. How many of you would want to be filled with the Holy Spirit for that purpose?

You do not have because you ask with wrong motives. You want to be known in the church as a great preacher. Like somebody you admire. Boy, I wish I could preach like him. Thank God he doesn't give you that gift.

It would destroy you. It would make you proud. Maybe that person you admire, God's broken him through many years before he gave him that gift. It would destroy you if you got it. But the fragrance of Christ in your home, you don't get any credit for that.

God will be glorified. How many of us are interested in that? That our children will taste the fragrance of Christ in the way we deal with them. That your husband will see the fragrance of Christ in your life, in your words.

A well springing up, satisfying you and overflowing. You see, in Jesus' life, I said the law of the spirit is life in Christ Jesus. And you look at Jesus' life and you see the perfect spirit-filled man.

I don't look at today's charismatics to see the perfect spirit-filled man. I have no respect for 99 of them. But I look at Jesus and I see the perfect spirit-filled man. And I see that this man who is the perfect spirit-filled man, for 30 years he never preached.

Even though he knew the Bible more than anybody in Israel at the age of 12, he didn't go around showing off his Bible knowledge. He lived in obedience to his father. What was he doing for 30 years? 90 of his earthly life, he didn't have what we call ministry.

Does the perfect spirit-filled man have no ministry for 90 of his life? Can you understand that? We think of spirit-filled only as ministry. And Jesus demonstrated by his earthly life. Remember the law of the spirit is life in Christ Jesus.

That means look at the way Jesus lived. The Holy Spirit shows us the glory of Jesus in Scripture and reproduces that in us. Why is it that 90 of Jesus' life on earth, 30 out of 33 and a half years, he lived in his home and in his place of work, the carpentry shop.

And 10 of his life, just 3 and a half years, he had ministry. And yet if you were to ask most Christians, I would say 99 of Christians, can you tell me some of the things that Jesus did? They'll immediately talk about feeding the 5 ,000 and walking on water and raising the dead and preaching the sermon on the mountain.

I say, you're telling me about 10 of his life. What did he do the remaining 90 of his time? They don't even know. They never thought about it. Jesus' ministry came out of his life. For 30 years, the well sprung up in him.

The life of God that was manifested in his home to his brothers who didn't believe in him. His brothers would irritate him and they would see the fragrance of God coming forth in response from Jesus. That's the preparation for ministry.

You want to have a ministry? Don't go to Bible school. It's a waste of time. Ask God to fill you with the Holy Spirit so that he can manifest the fragrance of Christ to neighbors and brothers and believers who irritate you and trouble you and speak evil of you.

You've got brothers and sisters where you live in tight circumstances. Jesus was, I mean, humanly the son of a poor carpenter living in a little house. He never had a room of his own. Children who have a room of their own, they're living in luxury.

When Jesus found life difficult, he couldn't retreat to some room and lock himself up there. There was no private room for him. He lived, and this is how God allowed his son, in pressure. He never sinned.

The glory of God was seen in Jesus Christ, full of grace and truth. That's what the Holy Spirit came to produce. You know, when John writes in, when he tries to sum up his life, it says in John 1, we beheld his glory.

The glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. He doesn't think of all the miracles he did. He thinks of his life. There was a fragrance about his life. And later on, when he writes his epistle, the same John at the age of 95, he's looking back 65 years to the life he saw in Jesus.

He wrote one John when he was 95 years old and he looks back 65 years to the three years that he spent with Jesus and he says, I want to tell you about this life, one John 1, 2 that I saw. I said, dear brothers and sisters, I want to tell you about a life that I saw, that I touched, that I handled.

It's not his sermons. He says, that was eternal life, the very life of God that was manifested in a human body. And he says, we are declaring that to you so that you can have fellowship with us, so that you can come into this life.

This is the whole purpose of being filled with the Holy Spirit. And that's why Jesus, as I said, spent 90 of his life just living the life without healing the sick, without raising the dead. Now most people can't understand that.

Today we have so much pressure saying, the world is dying in need and there's so much need. People are dying in sin. What are you doing sitting there doing nothing? What did Jesus have done if somebody put pressure on him when he was making stools and benches and planing wood in the carpentry shop in Nazareth when he was 25 years old and said, what are you doing with all this tremendous Bible knowledge when there's nations that need you?

He wouldn't be disturbed. He just carried on making stools and benches and planing wood. You'd think he's pretty carnal, not concerned about the lost and the dying. Look at all these people. I've come from a country where I've seen missionaries for 50 years.

And I tell you, most of them, 90 of them, I never saw a godly life in them. They had plenty of money because they came from Europe and America and Australia and New Zealand but they didn't have a godly life.

I heard them grumbling, complaining, competing with others. I said, why in the world did you cross an ocean to come here to manifest this life? Who's interested in your doctrine? It's a life that Jesus came to demonstrate.

That's what God looks for. But they came because they went to some missionary meeting where they were challenged about the lost and the dying in India that they must go and reach. What did they reach?

I've seen the result of mission work in India all across the land. It's not produced disciples. No. Many of you may be connected with different missions. Tell me one place where you see disciples and a powerful local church built.