Loving Christ Supremely — Zac Poonen

Worshiping Christ Above Everything

Praise the Lord. I want to ask you, every day of your life, can you say these words in Psalm 73, verse 25? It's a verse that I started my Christian life with, 55 years ago. And the Lord said, this is the way you must live.

And I've tried to live according to it. Psalm 73, verse 25. Speaking to the Lord Jesus, as we do today. Whom have I in heaven but Thee? And besides Thee, I desire nothing on earth. If you can say that, you're a worshipper.

And if you can mean it, that means you're saying to Jesus, Lord, from the depth of my heart, I can say to you, I'm not saying this before men. I desire no one on earth but you. If I have you, that's enough.

And I desire nothing on earth but you. That means I don't desire a house, or property, or money, or health, or wealth, or anything. If I have you, that's enough. I'll tell you honestly, don't say that too quickly.

Think about it. If you say it, you've found the secret of worship. Most Christians never worship. They sing. They give praise. They thank God. A lot of our singing is praise and thanks. That's not worship.

Worship is here. When you fall before Jesus and say to Him, every day of your life, Lord, I desire nothing but you. Why do I say, why should we say everything every day of our life? Because it's so easy to say that one day, particularly when we are young and we are not married, and we are very dedicated and wholehearted, and then other things come along.

We get married, and we have children, and we have accumulated little wealth, and then we need to say that again. Because it's very easy to lay your Isaac on the altar and a few years later take him back.

What is it that the Lord was testing in Abraham? Am I really more to you than the most precious thing on earth? And I believe the reason why many Christians do not progress in their Christian life is because they cannot say this.

You don't become spiritual by knowing more of the Bible. It's good to know the Bible. But you become spiritual when you are a worshipper. We must be worshippers more than anything else. That is the greatest thing of all.

Job's Worship in the Face of Loss

The first book of the Bible written was the book of Job, and what we see there is a man who worshipped God. Job chapter 1 is a very important chapter. It's the first chapter that God wrote in the Bible, long before Genesis.

Job lived 500 years before Moses who wrote Genesis, and in the first chapter of the Bible you read of a worshipper, not a preacher. You read about preachers later on in the book, and God said, I hate those preachers.

But the contrast you see in Job is between three preachers or four preachers and a worshipper. Job was a worshipper. He wasn't just quoting scriptures to others. He was one who, when he lost everything, it says he bowed down and worshipped God and said, I came into this world with nothing, naked.

I didn't even have a stitch of clothing when I came to this earth. Everything I had on this earth, God gave me, and he has every right to take it all away. And he has taken it away. All the wealth I accumulated, all my children, I worship God.

That is the first message that God wanted man to hear. That's why he wrote that in the very first chapter of the very first book of the Bible that God wrote. That's important to understand that. And that's the type of person about whom God could boast to Satan.

Remember this, my dear brothers and sisters. Whatever this church may think of you, counts for zero. The opinion of this church about you is fit for the trash can. Throw it there. But what the devil thinks about you is more important than what everybody in this church thinks about you.

And of course, what God thinks about you is most important. But remember this, that the devil's opinion about you is much more valuable than the opinion of men. Because most people don't know anything about your private life or a lot of details of the way you live at home, how you talk to your wife.

The devil hears it all the time. So don't be fooled by people thinking you are very spiritual. Throw that in the trash can and ask yourself, what does the devil think about you, who sees you all the time?

What does the devil think about Job? God could boast about Job to the devil and say, have you seen that man? He's not like those preachers, Eliphaz and Bildad and Zophar and not even like Eli, who's a little better than them.

Job, there's not a man like him on the face of the earth. That is the challenge that comes to us from the very first chapter, the very first book of the Bible. And that can be our testimony too. If we can say this every day of our life, Lord, I really desire nothing on earth for you more than you.

Freedom From Complaining Through Single-Hearted Devotion

When I get up in the morning, I seek to worship God all alone. I don't even have to open my mouth. Worship is something from the heart. And all you have to sincerely say to God as you begin every day is, Lord, this day I desire nothing but you.

I'll tell you what will happen in your life. You'll be 100 freed from murmuring and complaining. Do you know why you murmur and complain at home or a place of work or when the traffic is heavy? It's because we desire something other than Jesus.

You want a comfortable life. You want less traffic on the road. You want the food to be up to the mark or something else. You don't want to be irritated at home. That means you are more important in your life than Jesus Christ.

If a man says to Jesus, I desire nothing but you. I don't desire a comfortable life at home. I don't desire that I should be free from all tension and free from sickness or free. Everything must go smoothly according to my way.

A lot of Christians are like that. They imagine that they love Jesus Christ. I tell you they don't. And because they keep on increasing in Bible knowledge and in a church like this, you can increase in Bible knowledge by leaps and bounds and fool yourself that you are spiritual when you are not.

Permit me to speak to you lovingly as a father would to his children. Make this the goal of your life, my brothers and sisters. This is what Jesus came for. He didn't come to produce a bunch of people who sing well or increase in knowledge.

He came because he loved us and he wanted a people who will love him supremely. Once he told his disciples, if you love even your father or mother or wife or children more than me, you are not worthy of me.

That's what he said in Matthew 10. Do you know that? If you love your job or your money more than Jesus, Jesus says you are not even worthy of me. Imagine hearing Jesus say to me, you are not worthy of me.

Oh Lord. Why is everybody in the church thinking so highly of me? If you turn around and say to me that I am not worthy of you, does the praise of men mean more to you than the approval of God? Dear brothers and sisters, live before God's face.

I urge you. It's very easy to slip back from that. You know, maybe we turned wholeheartedly to God in the day when we were converted and sinners, but things have gone well with many of us in the last few years.

Maybe you have prospered in your business and you are part of a good church now. You are not part of a dead, backslidden type of church. All these things can go to our head and we can be…. I believe that's one of the great dangers of people pursuing holiness, that we can begin to think, wow, like the Pharisee, Lord, I thank you I am not like other men.

I thank you that I am not like other churches. We are not like other churches. We are special. We are different. We hear the truth. We preach the truth. We are not ashamed. We are not after money. We are after God and all this type of stuff.

I thank you, Lord, that I am not like other men. That's exactly what the devil wants you to think. You can never think like that if Jesus is the passion of your heart. If you say to him, Lord, I desire nothing on earth but you.

Loving Christ More Than Ministry, Marriage, or Recognition

Even ministry is not important for me. I say that. I have been 50 years in the ministry. But I say to the Lord regularly, Lord, my ministry is not my God. You can take it away. My health is not my God.

Money is not my God. I am prepared to live very simply all the rest of my life. Jesus is everything to me. Those are the people who will live the most useful life for God on earth, even if they are not great Bible teachers or evangelists or church leaders or anything.

Many who are lost on earth will be first in that day. Because the Lord is looking for those for whom he is most precious. Those of you who are married, husbands, let me ask you. What do you desire from your wife?

Do you desire someone who cooks well or who keeps house well? You ask yourself as a husband. What do you desire most of all if you are a good husband? If you are one of these useless worldly husbands, you would want someone who cooks well and washes your clothes, keeps the house.

But if you are really Christian husband, what do you want from your wife most of all? It doesn't matter one bit. If she doesn't know how to cook or keep house, if she loves you with all her heart, that's what you want.

But that's exactly what Jesus wants too. It's not your service. It's not attendance in church. It's that he is more precious to you than anything else on earth. That's the secret of a good marriage. And that's the secret of a good relationship with Christ.

And that's a way to spiritual growth. And the reason we read the Bible is because it's only through the Bible that I get to see more and more of my bridegroom. I feel sorry for people who don't read the Bible regularly and study it.

Because I don't believe they'll get to know Jesus. How can you know Jesus without... Which book in the world tells me about Jesus? No book except the Bible. And if you are really passionate about knowing Jesus, you got to read the Bible.

That's what happened to me. When I was converted, and God gave me that verse right at the beginning, 55 years ago, I became passionate to read the Scriptures and to study it because I see here is where it tells me about my bridegroom.

I want to know all about him. And I see something happening in America nowadays. In churches that I preach, I find a lot of people don't even bring a Bible. I don't believe that was true in America 60, 70 years ago.

But we become lazy. They don't even bring a Bible to a meeting. Can you imagine children going to school without bringing their school books? This is a tragedy. I remember in our church, we had the option of projecting every verse on the screen, Scripture, so that whenever a verse was quoted, it was projected on the screen.

I said, I'll never allow that in my church. It'll make people lazy. They won't bring their Bibles. And the end result will be, they'll never know their Bibles. People who don't bring a Bible, I can tell you in Jesus' name, you don't know the Bible.

You will never know it. There's something about even people on the street seeing a man taking a Bible and going to a meeting. It's a witness for Christ in a godless world. In our church back home in Bangalore, whenever I quote a Scripture, I see everybody's head is down.

Everyone. Because they've got a Bible. When I preach in most churches in America, they're looking up and staring, and I guarantee they don't even know what the verse says. They're not interested. It's because they don't love Jesus.

You cannot be like that if you love Jesus Christ. My desire, my brothers and sisters, is not to instruct you. It's to lead you to love my Savior. To lead you to know Him and love Him. Because this is what the devil is leading people astray from.

Spiritual Maturity Through the Holy Spirit

We've got to see that. In 2 Corinthians, Paul was writing, let me begin with 1 Corinthians. When Paul wrote to the Corinthians, in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, he says, Brethren, I determined, verse 2, to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

Now there are many people who quote that verse and say, that's all I'm going to preach. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. But you know that was spoken to people who were babies. That's milk. He says in chapter 3, verse 2, I gave you milk to drink.

That's milk. That's for a baby. Jesus Christ died for your sins. Did you sin? Just confess it. The blood of Jesus will cleanse you. That's baby food. So to boast and say, Oh, I'm a preacher. I only preach Christ and Him crucified.

Well, then you must be preaching to babies all the time. Your church must be full of babies. See what he goes on to say. I determined not to know anything but Christ and Him crucified, so that your faith should not rest in the wisdom.

And yet, 1 Corinthians 2, 6,. Yet, we do speak more than that wisdom among those who are mature. But you guys are not mature. Because you're not mature, I can only tell you, Christ died for your sins and your sins can be forgiven.

Don't worry. God loves you. No matter how much you sin, He'll forgive you. The blood of Jesus is always there. That's because you're babies. But among those who are mature, I can speak wisdom. It's like you tell a kindergarten class, Listen, children, let's learn to say CAT is cat and BAT is bat.

And let's learn 2 plus 2 is 4. How long are you going to sit learning that? It's like a kindergarten teacher saying, I'm determined not to know anything among you except reading simple words and adding couple of digits together.

But among those who are little mature, those who want to press on in their education, then we can teach them something more. We can teach them physics and geography and history and calculus and mathematics and so many things which you babies are not interested in.

That's what Paul is saying. Among those who are mature, we can speak wisdom. Not the wisdom of this world, but the wisdom of God which is like a mystery, a hidden wisdom, which God predestined for our glory.

I don't believe we can partake of the glory of God fully if we don't seek to press on to maturity. We must not be satisfied as babies. And when we seek to press on to maturity, it says here, there are things which our human eye cannot see, verse 9, 1 Corinthians 2, 9, which our human ear cannot hear and which our mind cannot understand.

But God, verse 10, reveals them through the Holy Spirit. That's why a person who is wanting to press on to maturity, he's got a passion to be filled with the Holy Spirit, to be baptized in the Holy Spirit and fire.

He's got a passion that the Holy Spirit will fill his inner being so that he can show him those things which human eyes can never see. Things revealed by God through the Spirit. It's the very thoughts of God.

It says in verse 11, in the last part, the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. You know, it's an amazing thing that the Holy Spirit has come to reveal to me how God thinks. Like a wife, after she's lived with her husband a number of years, knows how he thinks.

I mean, the day she gets married, she may not know what his favorite food is or what he wants at home or different things or what he values. But after she's lived with him a few years, she knows so many things about his way of thinking and his way of living.

And that's one of the wonderful things, that we come to know the thoughts of God if we are really walking with the Lord every day. And the more we get to know the thoughts of God, we begin to behave like Him.

It's been a tremendous grief to me to see, a real grief to my heart, to see people who have heard some of these truths for so many years, still losing their temper at home, still murmuring and complaining.

I say, what in the world have you been listening to in the church all these years? Just accumulating knowledge? Just trying to get a reputation before other believers? You're a hypocrite, I say. You're a first class hypocrite.

Repent of your hypocrisy. I don't want your blood to be on my hands and that's why I say that. Get to know the thoughts of God. Humble yourself, grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Don't be satisfied that you're better than others. Press on. This is God's burden that... And later on in 2nd Corinthians, he writes to the Corinthian church, 2nd Corinthians chapter 11. He says the reason, you know, Paul spoke very firmly to these Corinthians.

In chapter 4 he said, Shall I come to you with a rod? Only a father would speak like that. Shall I come to you with a rod, he says. And he says in 2nd Corinthians 11 .1 I wish you'd bear with me and little my foolishness.

You know, they thought, this guy speaks so strongly. And chapter 10, verse 10, His letters are weighty and strong. He speaks so strong, this man Paul. But his personal presence is very unimpressive. He speaks strong, but he's not a very impressive personality.

He says, ok, chapter 11, verse 1, You can bear with me and my foolishness, whatever you may think of me. The reason I speak like that, he says, I'm jealous for you with a godly jealousy. You know, that's the heart of a true shepherd.

A true shepherd is not one bit bothered what his sheep think about him. He's bothered the sheep will get good pasture, and be healthy, free from sickness, and grow. And that's how Paul was. I'm jealous for you, he says, with a godly jealousy.

Because I'm like a person who's preparing a bride for Jesus Christ. A bride for Jesus Christ that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. The Lord is looking for a pure virgin. And a true shepherd will long to make the church he's responsible for to present it as a pure virgin to Christ one day.

Preparing Children and the Church as Christ's Bride

I believe all of us should have that heart. I mean, if you're parents, you need to have such a heart for your children. And you got to start very early when they're one year old. Start preparing them to be a pure virgin for Jesus Christ one day.

If you work on it from the time they're one, you will achieve it. The Bible says, train up a child. When he's young, when he's old, he will not depart from it. And you determine that in your heart, more than anything else, you're going to prepare your children to be a pure virgin for Jesus Christ.

Protected from the influence of the world. Living in the midst of the world, but not of the world. You're not making your children monks and nuns who have no contact with the world. They live in the midst of the world, but they're unaffected by it.

Think of Moses' mother, who trained her son just for a few years so well, that when he grew up in the midst of Pharaoh's palace, the most wicked place on the face of the earth, he came out pure. At the end of that time, saying, I don't want the wealth of the world.

I don't want the honor of Egypt. I want the reproach of Christ. I want to be with God's people. I mean, if an Old Testament mother like Jochebed, the mother of Moses, could do that, why can't we do it today with the power of the Holy Spirit?

Why can't we train up our children so that when they grow up, they're going to refuse the wealth of the world, and refuse the honor of men, and refuse the pleasures of sin, and decide to live for Jesus Christ.

Every one of them. If you have ten children, all ten. That must be the passion of our heart, a godly jealousy, because we believe this is the most important thing in life. Yes, we must train our children to have some earthly profession, important, very important.

I believe that, that I must train all my children to earn their own living, because I don't want them to become a parasite on the church, or a parasite on society, or beggars, and tramps, and homeless.

No, we don't want our children to be like that. But that's not the main thing. The main thing is that they must have a passionate love for Jesus Christ. And the same with, we have a responsibility for one another.

Don't say, that's the responsibility of the elders. We got some elders in the church, they'll do that. Don't say like Ken, am I my brother's keeper? You are your brother's keeper. Don't say, am I my sister's keeper?

You are your sister's keeper. If you're older than other sisters here, you have a responsibility for them. If you're older than other brothers here, you have a responsibility for them. It's like in a home, you know.

It's not dad and mom who takes care of everything. Think of a home with 10 or 12 children. Don't you see the older children taking responsibility, the older boys and girls doing things around, so that, I mean, dad and mom have very little to do, when the older children take responsibility.

Think of a church like that, where the elders can sit back, because there are others who have grown up to maturity, and who are taking responsibility to encourage and shepherd, and maybe call up the other brothers and find out how they are.

That's what it means to be a brother's keeper, to be a sister's keeper. Not just to see if they're sick, but, you know, to fellowship with them once in a while, to see how they're going spiritually. That's a responsibility we have.

I remember once in my own church, in a bit of a humorous way, and I said, a lot of you like to be elders, right? Okay, I'm hereby appointing all of you as elders to everybody younger than you. Right now.

Now take responsibility for them, and shepherd them. Bless them. Encourage them. Find out how they're growing spiritually. There, you're elders now. What more do you want? What does it mean? You want a title?

You want to stand up in front? Oh, no. Be mature. Let's take responsibility. Just like, what would you think of a home with our 10 or 12 children? Here's the 20-year-old boy sitting lazily around, and the 19-year-old girl just lazing around and making mom and dad work hard in the kitchen and mow the grass and do everything in the house, and the children all lazing around.

What type of home would that be? But I tell you, many churches are like that, where they leave the elders to do everything, and they take no responsibility. Now that's okay if you were born again yesterday, and I say, if you're born again within the last two years, permitted.

But if you've been a believer for more than two years, it's about time you began to help the little babies and the ones younger than you. Not just sit back lazily and think only of yourself, and have your whole life centered around yourself.

Am I growing spiritually? Everything's okay with my family? No. That's not the way. That's the thought life of a baby. A mature person always thinks, how can I help somebody else? How can I bless somebody else?

I don't want any title or position in the church, but I want to be mature, and I want to have a godly jealousy that that person should be a pure virgin for Christ. And he says, I'm afraid, 2 Corinthians 11, 3, that like the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness.

Humility and Resistance to Satan

If any of you are... I mean, it's good to be smart and clever. That's okay. But if any of you are proud that you're smart and clever, I tell you, you're no match for the devil. He's smarter than you. He's cleverer than you.

He's craftier than you, and he'll make a complete fool of you if you're proud of your smartness and your cleverness. The only person whom the devil cannot tackle is a person who is humble. He's scared of humble people.

The only person the devil is afraid of is a humble man or a humble woman. He can tackle all the other Christians. He can tackle the people who are proud of their knowledge and their ability and their spirituality and every one of them.

He's scared of the humble. He was scared of Jesus because Jesus was the humblest man that walked on this earth. He was scared of him. He was scared of Moses in the Old Testament because Moses was a humble man.

It's true. So, if you really want to overcome the devil, pursue humility. He'll run away from you. He's scared of people like that. Such a man resists... You know that verse, 2 Corinthians 4... Sorry, James 4, 7.

A lot of people know only the second part of that verse. Resist the devil and he'll flee from you. You know what the first part of that verse is? Submit yourself to God. Humble yourself before God. Then resist the devil.

He'll flee from you. Because God gives grace to the humble. Turn to that verse for a moment. James chapter 4. It's important to know these great verses. James 4, it first says in verse 6, God gives grace to the humble.

That's the introduction. James 4, 6, the last part. God gives greater grace. And that grace, verse 6, is given to the humble. And since God's greater grace is given to the humble, you guys should humble yourselves.

Submit to God, verse 7. And then resist the devil. And the devil will flee from you. The devil does not flee from most believers. I'll tell you that. He does not flee from most believers' homes. The devil is ruling in many homes.

He rules over many husbands in homes. We need to be reminded of that. I remember once preaching in a conference back in India. That when you get angry, you know the devil is sitting on top of your head.

And I remember one sister telling me that once she lost her temper at home. And her little 7 year old girl said to her, Mommy, you remember what brother Zack said that when you lose your temper, the devil is sitting on top of your head.

And she said, that really spoke to me. My 7 year old daughter told me that. She heard what you said in the meeting. Yeah. Resist the devil and he'll flee from you. But otherwise, if you're not humble, and you're not seeking to go down and humble yourself, you're not getting grace.

And one mark of not getting grace is you're not able to overcome sin. Because it says, sin shall not rule over you. Romans 6 .14, when you're under grace. That's the clearest proof of a man receiving grace from God that sin cannot rule over him.

When sin rules over me, I have to fall before God and say, Lord, I have not got grace from you. And I have not got grace from you because whatever other people may think of me, you see that I'm not a humble man or a humble woman.

Forgive me. I don't want to fool myself and live on this earth. I want to take my Christian life more seriously. Dear brothers and sisters, please take the word of the Lord today. Forget the past. Acts 17 .30, God overlooks your times of ignorance.

But he commands everyone to repent today. And take it seriously. Resist the devil. It's not God's will that we should be running away from the devil. I'll tell you what God's will for us is. That the devil should be running away from us.

That's from James 4 .7. But that's only before humble people. Take James 4 .6 and 7 seriously and go before God and meditate on it and say, Lord, why isn't the devil running away from me? Why isn't the devil running away from my home?

Why isn't the devil running away? Why isn't he scared when he sees that I'm coming somewhere? It should be like that. That's because the devil says, Jesus I know and Paul I know. And so and so I know and so and so I know.

But who are you? I know all about your life. I know all your pride. You're trying to resist me? What a shame. It shouldn't be like that. So Paul says, back to 2 Corinthians 11 .3, He says, I'm afraid, lest like the serpent, the devil deceived Eve by his craftiness.

Your minds should be led astray from the simple pure devotion to Jesus Christ. That's why I started the message with Psalm 73 .25. I'm afraid that the devil who deceived Eve by his craftiness, who told Eve, Ah, it's not serious.

The Tree of Life and Pure Devotion to Christ

A small sin is not serious. You think God's worried about you're eating a little fruit from this tree? Surely. Don't you know God is a God of love? Don't you know that He overlooks mistakes? It's okay.

Sin is not a serious thing. And look how good it is. Just once, it won't matter once. Deceived. Deceived her. And you know, for many years, I used to think, okay, the tree of knowledge of good and evil, I can understand.

That means to know what is good and what is evil. In other words, a life where I know what is good and evil, I don't have to consult God about it. Then that's what the devil was trying to get Eve to partake of.

You know, if you get this knowledge of good and evil in you, you won't have to keep referring to God every time. Shall I do this? Shall I not do this? Shall I do this? Shall I not do this? You won't have to.

You'll be a little more independent of God. You won't be an evil person. Look around at the world of the atheists and non-Christians. There are a lot of very decent people in the world. I've known atheists who won't tell lies, won't cheat, are faithful to their wives, don't murder anybody, who more or less keep the Ten Commandments, don't worship idols.

You know, they are good people. They have a knowledge of good and evil. But their knowledge is, they don't need God. They've got the knowledge resident within themselves. They say, why do I need God? I'm not like these murderers and thieves and adulterers.

I'm living an upright life. That's exactly what Adam got and Eve got when they partook of that tree. And that's what the devil wants because that doesn't look like evil, right? You look at these lot of decent people and say, what's wrong with them?

A lot of Christians even say, well, they'll go to heaven, right? What happened to Adam and Eve when they got the knowledge of good and evil? They were turned out of God's kingdom. That's what the devil wanted.

We need to understand this. And then I used to think, what is the tree of life now? I never understood it fully till I read this verse. 2 Corinthians 11 The devil led Eve astray from the tree of life.

What was the tree of life? Simple, pure devotion to Jesus Christ, to God. To love God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind. A verse that we can quote very glibly. What does it mean? It means to say to Jesus, and today for us, this is the tree of life.

To me, this is the tree of life. The devil led Eve astray, we can say, from the tree of life. And that tree of life is defined here as devotion to Jesus Christ. Simple, pure devotion to Christ. It is to turn to Jesus and say, Lord, I desire nothing on this earth but You.

And when I get to heaven, I desire no one but You. I am not looking for the golden streets or the pearly gates or mansions. What will I do with a ten bedroom mansion in heaven? Is that what you are looking forward to?

You know, we sing in that song, I am satisfied with a little cottage below, but I've got a mansion over the hilltop. Is that what you are looking forward to? I'll tell you honestly, I am not interested in a ten bedroom mansion in heaven.

You can have it if you want, even if God gives it to me. That's not what I am interested in. What are you looking for? Crowns? Going around with crowns in heaven? How many crowns? Four or five? One on top of each other?

Is that what you are looking forward to? Or some others say, well, I'll be finished with all this sickness and the problems I have here. I'll tell you honestly, my relationship with Christ has come to this place where I say, Lord, I am willing to be sick for all eternity if I can be with you.

I desire nothing in heaven but you. I don't even desire hell. I once said to the Lord, Lord, I am ready to go to hell if you are there. That will be heaven for me. I desire nothing in heaven but you. I don't know who this guy as Esaf was who wrote that, you know, Psalm 73.