The Riches of His Grace — Zac Poonen

The Riches of Grace and Spiritual Wealth

In Christ We have redemption through his blood The forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace. Let's pray Heavenly Father As we come before you In the name of Jesus our Lord and our Savior We pray that you'll pour out your spirit upon us then we shall see your glory hear your voice and.

And everyone here Lord will receive something from you according to their need. There is tremendous riches with you Lord. We pray you will give us from that wealth. There is there We humbly ask in Jesus name.

Amen. In the verse that I read in Ephesians 1 verse 7, there's a little expression called the riches of His grace. I was born again 50 years ago When I was 20 years old, I wish Somebody had told me at that time That grace was not just forgiveness of sins, but there was a wealth in grace That I could have If I wanted.

When you don't know the truth you live in poverty spiritual poverty today among Christians, especially among Pentecostals and Charismatics. There is a gospel being preached that Jesus will Make you wealthy on earth something far greater than that Spiritual wealth and Spiritual health which is a million times greater than material wealth And physical health there's nothing wrong in being healthy.

I Praise God for that God provides all our earthly needs. But if we are satisfied with Material wealth and physical health that God gives us Tremendous hunger and thirst of spiritual wealth and spiritual health We can miss out on the most important thing That Jesus came to give in the riches of his grace.

Spiritual Blessings in the Heavenly Places

Let's let me read another verse. Ephesians chapter 1 verse 3 Blessed be the God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Who has blessed us. He's blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.

That means that every blessing of the Holy Spirit spiritual blessing means that Can be mine and yours? If we seek for it in Christ. And if we seek In our spirit to dwell in the heavenly places rather than on earth.

Why is it have such a tremendous attraction for believers. Because Their mind is set on earthly things Jesus said Seek the kingdom of God first. The Bible says in Colossians 3 verse 2 3 if you are dead with Christ and Risen with him seek those things which are above When Christ sits at the right hand of God.

And if I spend my life Seeking for those things which are above Do you think God will not give me What I need for the things on earth, but if I seek for the things of earth I may get the things of earth, but I may miss the most important things of heaven.

That's the great danger and that's the danger facing particularly Pentecostal charismatic Christians in our day. That's what all the Christian TV programs are preaching. They are not leading people to heavenly wealth or to spiritual health.

They are leading people to an earthly wealth and a physical health. I Want to say to you my dear brothers and sisters. Don't let the devil rob you of What Jesus purchased for you on the cross? Supposing your father was a billionaire who had a lot and lots and lots of money.

And before he died he wrote a will in your name Leaving you all the property he had in Brisbane and Melbourne and Sydney and all over. And all the money he kept for you in various banks and supposing you gave that will to a lawyer To execute it for you.

And he cheated you and Took away 99 of your wealth that your father worked so hard to get for you. And allowed you to get a small bit so that you live in a small little apartment Here in Brisbane struggling to earn your living.

I don't think any of you are so dumb and stupid To allow a lawyer to cheat you of that. You're all smart people, but You're not smart spiritually. The devil is more crooked than any crooked lawyer on this earth.

He has cheated God's people of what Jesus died and wrote in his will for them. And he's made them happy with Petty things which have no value in eternity. And that's why he has deceived so many Christians with a false gospel.

The Word of God is true. If you set your mind on the things above and seek the things of God you will have those earthly things Which God wants you to have. Many of you your Grandparents are from Romania perhaps Which is a poor country Faced a lot of persecution.

I can understand that. I've lived 70 years in India. That's my home. I live there. And I remember when I went to Romania for the first time a couple of years ago. I saw that In all the countries of the world I traveled Romania was most like India.

The people in Romania were most like Indian people. I've never found Any people in the world which are so similar because there was in India also we had a lot of poverty. We still have and a few very rich people, but most people are poor.

And those That earlier generation, you know your grandparents Who came into the baptism in the Holy Spirit in Romania? And who had the power of God? They were not very rich like many of you are. They didn't have the comforts and the cars and the Type of houses you have but they knew God In a better way than this generation knows God.

Did they starve? Maybe they went through a lot of persecution, but the persecution only helped them to know God better and their testimony In those days of persecution became a testimony to people all over the world.

Are you following in their footsteps? They sought God's kingdom first and The earthly things they needed were added to them. I had the same longing in India. I said Lord in a poor country like India, I Want to prove That God's Word is true in the 20th century.

And so when we started our work, I Said Lord, I want to prove it in my life. First of all in my family And in the churches we plant That we live by the principles of God's Word And we will not lack any earthly thing.

I used to work in the Indian Navy And God called me. I was a naval officer. And God told me to leave my job 44 years ago and I decided to trust the Lord. In all these 44 years As a servant of the Lord I have proved That God is a loving father that if I seek the heavenly things The earthly things I need will be added to me without my seeking it.

The help that I need and God's kept me in health for 70 years. I couldn't do that on my own. God's provided all the need of me and my family. But one of the things I discovered I'm sorry to say that I wasted many 16 years of my Life after I was born again, not understanding the riches of his grace.

You can be satisfied with a ministry a lot of Christians. Even preachers they may not be so many of them are interested in money, but other people are interested in the ministry. Oh, they want to preach, you know, even that is not the greatest thing the greatest thing is grace and And most Christians I have met in my life 99 of them do not understand grace.

Except forgiveness of sins. I never understood it. So what I want to share with you this morning Is to is what this phrase the riches of his grace means so that you can become a Wealthy person or begin to become a wealthy person even before you leave this church building this morning.

If you will listen carefully. And open your heart and if you have a hunger and a thirst, you know, one of the things that Jesus said Was that God satisfies the hungry and the thirst. The Old Testament prophecy in Isaiah says I will pour water upon the dry ground.

Many times it says I will satisfy the thirsty. Jesus said in Matthew 5 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. They shall be satisfied. They shall be filled. What if you don't hunger and thirst for righteousness, but you just ask for it.

Well, you may not be filled. There are a lot of people who ask God. Saying Lord make me more holy. Give me this victory over this habit or that habit. But they never get victory. Do you know the number of young people Who speak in tongues.

But who also watch internet pornography. Who got in who have immoral relationships with the opposite sex, but they speak in tongues. It's a deception it is Jesus, you know the meaning of the name Jesus a lot of people don't know it.

They say Savior. Yes. But saved from what? That's the important thing the very first time. We read in the word Jesus comes in the gospel of Matthew where an angel spoke to Joseph. He explained to him the meaning of that name.

Jesus Saves His People From Their Sins

Matthew 121. He told Joseph you can get married to Mary because the Holy Spirit has produced that baby and you shall call his name Jesus. Why? Because he will save his people from their sins. That's the meaning of Jesus.

Every time you take the name of Jesus in prayer or when you resist the devil. Remember that name means the name that of one who came to save you from your sins. When I pray in the name of Jesus, I'm saying father.

In the name of one who came to save me from all my sins, please answer this prayer. Yeah, when you pray with understanding. It'll be answered when you resist the devil and Say Satan I resist you in the name of Jesus who came to save me from all my sins.

He will flee from you. I've seen it and I believe it. But if you try to resist the devil in the name of Jesus and you have sin in your life. You will have to flee from him because he will say Jesus. I know Paul.

I know. But who are you? So we got to understand. That something new came when we have the name of Jesus. They never had it in the Old Testament the Lord Jesus brought something Which Moses could not give all the Israelites for 1 ,500 years.

And that is called grace in John chapter 1. We read Moses brought the law and the law was good. The law was so good that the standard of the life in Israel was better than the whole world for 1 ,500 years.

The people of Israel had the highest moral standard in the whole world. You know why? Because they had the law. Adultery was not so much heard in Israel as in the other parts of the world. Murder was not so much in Israel as in the other parts of the world.

False swearing was not so much in Israel as in the other parts of the world. In Israel children learned to honor their father and mother unlike other parts of the world because they had the law. But we read in John chapter 1 and verse 17 that Jesus brought something else.

Moses brought the law. Jesus brought grace. There was no grace in the world before Jesus came. No the first person Who had grace from God? was Jesus Christ. Nobody else had it before that. And the words the word grace is a New Testament word.

It's never found in the Old Testament. I Translation and translates it as grace. It means favor. Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord not grace. Grace is a distinctively New Testament word and Jesus brought it.

Grace Produces a Higher Life Than the Law

Now the question is If the law Could make Israel Live so much better than the rest of the world. What about grace. How should that make Christians live. It should make Christians live even better than those who are under the law the kingdom of heaven.

That's why Jesus said in Matthew 11 and verse 11 he said That the greatest man ever born of women was John the Baptist. But the least person in the kingdom of heaven, it's going to be greater than John the Baptist.

The kingdom of heaven is the church of believers. Do you know that your life? According to Matthew 11 11. And it doesn't matter what your age is. You can be 16 years old or 50 years old. If you enter into God's kingdom.

Spiritually you're born again into God's kingdom and receive grace from God. Do you know that your life can be higher? spiritually than the life of John the Baptist. You tell me how many Christians have you met.

Who you felt their life was better than John the Baptist? I've met very few. Who I could say that man is a really godly man. How many people have you heard preaching? Who had more fire in them than John the Baptist?

95 of the Christian preachers I heard were so boring. I never felt like this. They were not like John the Baptist. Why? The devil has robbed them of grace. They have not got the riches of grace which God wanted them to have like I told you a cheating lawyer.

Can cheat you of your inheritance from your father? The devil has cheated God's people of their inheritance from Jesus Christ. He cheated me For 16 years after I was born again. Baptized in water baptized in the Holy Spirit speaking in tongues preaching.

I was defeated by sin. Yeah. Because the devil cheated me, but he's not cheating me today. No, because I have known the truth and the truth has set me free just like Jesus said. And I'll tell you this when you know the truth the truth will set you free.

And the devil's main aim is to blind your eyes so that you don't see the truth. Because he knows if you know the truth you'll be free. Your life must be a threat to the devil. I want my life to be like that.

I Want the devil to be so scared of me? That he's scared where I would go and preach the truth. You know your life should be like that the Bible says we are to walk as Jesus walked on this earth. The devil was scared wherever Jesus went because he's afraid people will get liberated.

They will know the truth and they'll be free. This is coming there. He's gonna tell them the truth. Do you know that Jesus said as the father sent me so send I you. You are the light of the world. He said Who is the light of the world when Jesus was on earth?

He was the light of the world. But he told his disciples in Matthew 514 you are now the light of the world wherever you go light must drive the darkness out. But as I said, I never understood that. I wish when I was 20 years old.

Somebody had come and told me that. That this is the whole purpose to be baptized in the Holy Spirit and fire. Yeah, many of your older generation. They had a baptism of fire and I fear I think the early Pentecostals and Charismatics had it.

But I fear that in the second third generation. It's a painted fire. It looks like fire. But it's not fire. When you come close There's no light. There's no heat. Because it's a painted fire. I was not born in a Pentecostal family.

I was born in an Orthodox Church. Syrian Orthodox, it's just like your Romanian Orthodox. I Was baptized as a baby. Everything I discovered I discovered by reading the Bible. That's how I was born again.

That's how I understood I must take water baptism. That's how I began to seek for the baptism in the Holy Spirit. That's how I opened myself to the gifts of the Holy Spirit. And that's how I opened myself to understand what grace really means and I want to share with you.

Grace as Power for Holiness

First of all, many people have the idea that Grace means God's unmerited favor. That means when God shows you favor, which you don't deserve. They call that grace. That is a lie. It's a lie of the devil.

That's what they teach them and them in Bible seminaries. I Thank God that I never went to a Bible seminary. I Sat at Jesus feet and learned like the Apostles did. Grace is not God's undeserved favor.

I'll tell you why. Every human being in the world gets God's undeserved favor. You think that atheist who doesn't care for God? That God is not blessing him, look at all the godless people in the world who got money and health and all that.

It's all undeserved favor. They should all be demon possessed. Why are they not demon possessed because God is merciful to them. Every human being gets God's undeserved favor. Nobody deserves favor from God.

Even Abraham Didn't get deserved favor. Undeserved favor, but it was not grace. Grace came through Jesus Christ. So grace is not undeserved favor. All the billions of people in the world get undeserved favor.

Grace is something else and The devil has fooled Christians by saying that grace is God's undeserved favor as if you got it and nobody else got it. We don't think I'm sorry to say that a lot of Christians.

They don't think. You know. They don't read the Bible enough. They listen more to Christian television preachers and they read the Bible and Then they deserve to be deceived. We have a generation growing up today that does not study the Bible.

I Want to say to you in Jesus name if you spend more time watching television Then reading the Bible you will be deceived by the devil and you deserve to be deceived. You don't respect God's Word. I started studying this book as soon as I was born again.

I was really born again. When I turned around to the Lord, it was not sort of half. It was a complete turn. And I had such a tremendous hunger for the Word of God that's not special that's natural if you're really born again.

Today a lot of people are not really born again. You know the difference between a premature baby and a full-term nine-month baby. When a full-term nine-month baby comes out of the mother's womb, you know what it does it cries and You know what?

It's crying for. It's not crying for money. It's crying for milk. It won't be satisfied with anything other than milk and the Bible says as newborn babes. 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 2. If you're really born again, if you're a newborn baby.

Desire the pure milk of the Word of God. In the New Testament 1 Peter 2 2 says the milk is the Word of God. And if you were born again and You didn't have a cry like all good healthy newborn babies have for the milk of the Word of God I would say you were a premature baby.

You need to be put inside an incubator. You know how. Little babies are born sometimes a little early. Sometimes they're born at six months. No, they can hardly cry. They don't have any strength. I Look at a lot of today's born-again Christians.

They're just like those six month old. Unfit to be there to be put in the incubator for ages. And some of them are pulled out by some eager evangelist when they are five months in the womb because he's got to count up his statistics as to how many people he brought to Christ and These people are even worse.

You don't even know whether they'll survive. They are too weak to cry out for milk. They have no interest in the Word of God. You don't even know whether they are born again properly. That's the condition of people today and then people get them to come on now.

You got to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. Hang on. They're gonna be born again probably first. They got to repent first. They got to turn from their sin. That's a tragedy today. I mean if you really believed That of all the books in the world all the millions of books in the world.

There's only one book that God Almighty wrote the Bible if you really believed it. Don't you think you'd spend all your time studying this? I studied it when I was working in the Navy on the ship. In between we've got a little free time.

I'd go into my cabin and study this book. It changed my life when we come to God's Word. We discover that grace Is something that can take us all through life just like Jesus. I want to show you some of you may have wondered why I said Jesus was the first person who received grace.

I Want to show you Luke chapter 2 verse 40. Luke chapter 2 verse 40. It says here about Jesus the child continued to grow and The grace of God was on him. What was on Jesus Christ. The grace of God the grace of God was upon Jesus Christ as a little thing.

He grew up with the grace of God upon him. And that's why he lived the life. He lived. Because he came to earth as a man. Even though he was equal with God the Father from all eternity is the Son of God.

He came to earth became just like us and if we need grace he needed it also. Otherwise he wouldn't have been like us. And that's why it says as he grew the grace of God was upon him. Okay, that's what at his birth.

Let's go to his death. In Hebrews chapter 2 we read about how Jesus died. Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 9 it says here about Jesus. He's now crowned with glory and honor the last part of Hebrews 2 9. That by the grace of God, I'm reading from Hebrews 2 verse 9 by the grace of God He tasted death for everyone so how did Jesus have the Ability to die that terrible death on the cross.

I don't mean the nails and the whipping and the crown of thorns. There are many martyrs. Even in your country Romania who suffered like that. Not for one day. Jesus suffered only for one day few hours.

There are many people who have suffered in communist prisons for many years. But I'm not talking about that suffering. I'm talking about that agony that he suffered for three hours when hell. He suffered hell for three hours forsaken by his father.

Because that was the punishment for our sin. Do you think the punishment for your sin is a crown of thorns? Do you think the punishment for your sin is putting nails through somebody's hand? Do you think the punishment for your sin is physical death?

Punishment for sin is hell. Eternity in hell and if Jesus had to take your punishment for your sin and my sin He had to suffer the agonies of eternal hell. Otherwise, he didn't take the punishment for my sin because the punishment for my sin is not a crown of thorns.

It is not nails through the hands. It's not even physical death. You think God punishes people with sin and say, okay. You'll die physically and that's the end. No, he sends them to hell and That's why we read in Genesis in on the cross when Jesus hung there for the last three hours.

He suffered the agonies of an eternal hell. That's why he cried out my God my God. That's the only time in his old life that he looked at the father and called him God. He never called him God. He always called him father father.

Because he was equal the father of all eternity. But when he hung on the cross He was standing before the judge of the universe. For your sin my he was forsaken for three hours. What you and I would have experienced for eternity you know like the punishment of an eternal hell was concentrated into three hours and Put upon Jesus on the cross.

How could he bear it. How could anyone bear it. I mean one day in hell we will not be able to bear. How could he bear the agony of an eternal hell in three hours because he was an infinite being. But he did it he tasted it it says here Hebrews 2 night by the grace of God.

So we saw he began his life for the grace of God upon him. He tasted death by the grace of God his whole life. It was grace that enabled Jesus to live the way he lived. How was Jesus so free from the love of money.

How is Jesus all able to overcome all temptation the grace of God? How was he. But how was Jesus able to forgive all his enemies the grace of God. And do you know? That if you receive that grace You can live the way he lived.

That is the message of the new covenant. Even John the Baptist could not do that it says in 1 John and chapter 2 and verse 6. 1 John 2 verse 6 it says the one who says He abides in Christ must walk in the same manner as he walked.

I Want to read that slowly. If you say you abide in Christ. And I think all of you say that then you have to walk in the same way. He walked on this earth. Are you walking the same way Jesus walked on this earth?

You say that's not possible. You know, who told you that? The devil. Anything that God says the devil says no the devil. God told Adam and Eve don't eat of that tree. The devil said no you can eat it.

God says you must walk as Jesus walked and the devil says no, that's not possible. And do you know for how many years you have believed the lie of the devil. After I was born again, I believed the lie of the devil for 16 years and said it's impossible to walk as Jesus walked.

Who told me that? The devil. God says one thing the devil says the opposite naturally and You have a choice either believe God or believe the devil, but I thank God that a day came in my life. When I decided to believe God and his word.

And I said I'm gonna believe God's word from now on not the lies of the devil and it turned my life around. I didn't change overnight. Because I lived for so many years in the long wrong way I had to turn around and come back.

But little by little I found a change coming in my life. Little by little of my I found a change coming in my family life. I who was frequently discouraged and depressed. Discouragement and depression disappeared from my life.

When I understood that I could walk as Jesus walked when I could understood the meaning of grace I discovered that I could live 365 days of the year. And never get angry with my wife even once never raised my voice and 366 days in a week I Experienced it.

I'm not talking theory. But it was not like that before I was defeated. Before I was defeated in my home life. I was defeated in my thought life as a born-again dumb speaking Christian, and if you're honest didn't say the same thing.

The thing is we are afraid to be honest. We have to keep pretending that we're holy when we know that our thoughts are impure. When we know that we the way we speak at home is not the way a Christian can speak.

When we know that we love money more than we love Jesus Christ. But we're ashamed to admit it. Well, I was not ashamed to admit it to the Lord. I said Lord, it's true. I'm sorry. I'll tell you the truth Lord.

I love money more than I love you. But I don't want it to be like that. I want you to save me from it. I'm defeated by anger. I'm defeated by depression. I'm born again, but I'm defeated in my thought life.

This is not the way the devil has robbed me of my inheritance which my heavenly father willed for me. Dear brothers and sisters I'm telling you what God did for me as a defeated Christian. He set me free.

He showed me what grace was. That's what I want to share with you. First of all in Hebrews in chapter 2 verse 17 we read That Jesus was made like us and everything. That's the first thing I discovered which I never knew.

I Thought always he was God. When he lived on earth, he was like God. How can I ever follow him? But it says in Hebrews 2 17. He was made like me in everything. The only thing he didn't have was sin. I was born in sin.

He was not he was born holy. But other than that, he was exactly like me in everything. He hungered like me. Felt tired like me. He was tempted like me. That's the other thing Hebrews 4 verse 15 It says he was tempted like me in everything.

Not just tempted in everything. You've got to read carefully not just tempted in Everything but tempted like us in everything. There's a lot of difference Between saying Jesus was tempted in everything and saying Jesus was tempted like us in everything.

That's what it says here he was tempted like us in everything, but He did not sin and he did not sin because he received grace. Can I get that grace? I cannot overcome sin without grace. That is impossible.

Sin is too strong for me. The devil is too strong for me without grace I'll be afraid of the devil. With grace the devil will be afraid of me. Isn't that a good exchange to get rid of being afraid of the devil and get the devil afraid of you.

Tell me honestly, how many of you really believe the devil is afraid of you? You really believe the devil is afraid of you? Are you afraid of the devil as a Christian for many years? I Was afraid of the devil.

I Thought he would harm me here and harm me there and I was scared. What's he gonna do to me next but no more. It's gone. It's not only gone. I believe with all my heart the devil is afraid of me now.

Authority in Jesus' Name and Spiritual Warfare

In India we come across demon possessed people just like Jesus died in the villages. I'll tell you my experience. I Have never till today seen a demon possessed person. Where the demon doesn't go immediately.

When I rebuke it in the name of Jesus Christ every single case 100 success. Not because of me. Because of the name of Jesus once the demon-possessed woman turned around to me and said I told her tell the devil That you were defeated on the cross and she turned around to me and said I was not defeated on the cross.

Oh This was a demon. I said you're a liar. I Wasn't talking to the woman. I was talking to the woman inside her. I said you're a liar said and get out of her right now in Jesus name. I said I told that sister tell the devil now.

He was defeated on the cross and she said it because the demon had gone. It's a real brothers and sisters. I remember I told another Woman asked Jesus to come into my heart into your heart and another voice said tell her don't tell me.

Somebody else living inside her. I said get out in Jesus name went. I told her now accept Jesus as your heart. She's received Jesus. We're living in a world Exactly like we read in Jesus time the devil's got here and there and God wants you To be full but you've got to live a pure life.

The devil is not scared of people who live in impurity. The devil is not afraid of people are watching internet pornography on the side. There are young people and married people watching all that rubbish.

The devil is not scared of people who don't know the Bible who don't value God's Word even Jesus. When the devil tempted him he used God's Word. He said it is written. The devil came again Matthew 4. He said it is written and he came a third time.

It is written and the devil left him. Do you know the Bible like that even Jesus the Son of God? Needed to know the Bible to drive the devil away. How do we think that we are smarter than Jesus Christ?

My brothers and sisters I want to say to you the devil has robbed you Of something you should have the grace of God it says in Hebrews 4 Because Jesus was tempted like us verse 16. Let us come to the throne of grace.

To receive mercy. Jesus didn't need mercy. Do you know the difference between mercy and grace? I Never knew it for a long time. Mercy means forgiveness for our sins. It is an Old Testament word David said thousand years before Christ Bless the Lord.

Oh my soul who forgives all your sins who heals all your diseases. That's mercy. But there was no grace David could not say in Psalm 103 bless the Lord. Oh my soul who gives me victory over sin in all temptation.

He couldn't say that. If he looked at a woman he'd fall that's David. But he could get forgiveness. That's Old Testament. And when you look at a woman and you fall you're like David. Old Testament you need grace.

You need mercy to forgive your past sins, but you need grace to overcome sin. And that's what it says in Hebrews 4 16 first you get mercy. Jesus never needed mercy because he never sinned but we need it because we've sinned so much in our life.

So first when we come to God, we said Lord, I'm sorry for all the sins I've committed. I want you to cleanse me forgive me and God has mercy on me and cleanses me in the blood of Jesus Christ. But then what do I do after that now Lord, give me grace.

It says in Hebrews 4 16, we come to the throne of grace to get two things mercy and grace and What is this grace called? Help in time of need that's a wonderful definition of grace. It's from the Bible Help in time of need and my time of need according to verse 15 is temptation.

When I'm tempted Like Jesus was tempted I need help and That help is called grace so that I don't fall. Do let me use an illustration. It's like supposing you're climbing a mountain, you know, there are people who climb mountains rock climbing and supposing you're climbing a mountain and you're About to slip and you're holding on to some cliff with just your fingers and you're too proud.