The Gospel of the Grace of God (Tamil) — Zac Poonen

Humanity’s Inherited Inclination Toward Sin

Yesterday, we considered how sin came into the world because of the choices that Adam and Eve made, which meant that they rejected God. All through our life, we are faced with choices. When God made Adam of the dust of the ground, and He breathed into him something that would pull him up to heaven, Adam was faced with a choice.

He had this body that was always pulling him to the earthly things, and a spirit that was pulling him up. And you and I have that, and we are always making a choice, either choosing something earthly or something heavenly.

It's not that we cannot use earthly things, but it's a question of what we give preference to. All of us have a tendency, not only to choose the earthly things, but to choose sinful things. You see that with little children.

You don't have to teach them to tell lies. You have to teach them to speak the truth. You don't have to teach them to fight. You have to teach them to live in peace. And it doesn't matter what religion the children are.

Which shows us that religion is all man-made. Children are all born the same. And they all have exactly the same nature that leads them to sin. You don't have to teach a child to be selfish and grab things for itself.

You have to teach a child to share and to give to others. You don't have to teach a child to be disrespectful to parents and disobedient. You have to teach a child to be respectful and to obey. And like that we can make a list of so many evil things.

And you can say all those evil things you never have to teach a child. It just does it by itself. And then you make a list of all the good things and you find a child never chooses that automatically.

You have to teach the child to choose it. When a child is very small, it's very innocent. So it can't easily hide its feelings. But when we grow older, we become more clever. And we learn to hide all that which the child cannot hide.

For example, it's very difficult for a 3 year old child to tell a lie. It can tell a lie. But if you were to ask that child, did you eat that chocolate which I told you not to eat? Even if it tells a lie, it says, no mummy, I didn't eat it.

No mummy, she says. But you can see from the face, it's telling a lie. But if you wait another 10 -15 years, and when that child is say 18 years old, it can tell a lie so convincingly that there's no change on the face.

It's still telling a lie, but it's covering it up so beautifully. As we grow up, we are still selfish, but we cover it up. Because we know that if we show these evil things, we will get a bad testimony.

So even though we grow up, inwardly we are just like that child. Selfish, quarrelsome, lying, cheating, everything. But it's all whitewashed with a nice appearance. And then, if you go to church and you call yourself a Christian, and then you are taught in the church that a Christian must behave like this, then we start behaving like that.

Particularly when we are in the presence of others. For example, you almost never will see a husband and wife fighting in a church service. Even if they don't like one another, they will not fight in the presence of others in the church.

But the moment they go home, they start their fight. And there are so many things that we do in the presence of other Christians because we want to get a reputation. But when we are by ourselves in our home, the real nature comes out.

So most Christians live like this. And they think Christianity is just behaving nicely on the outside. If you control your anger on the outside, then that's Christianity. No, that's only keeping the anger inside.

That doesn't make you even a Christian. See, for example, supposing you go to a shoe shop, and there is a salesman who is trying to show you the shoes you can buy. And he shows you one pair of shoes, and you wear it and you say you don't like it.

And he is so nice, don't worry sir, I will get you another one. And like that he brings 10 -15 pairs of shoes, and he is always so nice. And after looking at 15 -20 pairs of shoes, after wasting more than half an hour of his time, you say no, I don't want any of these.

That man may be boiling inside hating you, but he won't show it. So, thank you so much for coming here. Please come again, we would like to serve you. And once you have gone out of the shop, he will be cursing you to his friends.

Do you know that most Christians are exactly like that? And the church, they are so nice and well behaved. I mean, look at all of you sitting here, you look like the holiest people on the face of the earth.

But how do you behave when you go home? What are the thoughts that go on in your mind when you are by yourself? If you have access to the computer, what sort of sights do you go to on the computer? It is one of these tremendous deceptions that is going on in Christendom, that Christianity is just something on the outside.

Those people are, Jesus does not call them Christians. He calls them hypocrites, actors, who are acting a part. That is not Christianity. So, when we talk about the full gospel, what is the good news really?

Is it just that it makes us behave like that good salesman in a shoe shop? Because he wants to retain his job, he will never lose his temper. He knows that if he loses his temper, he will lose his job.

We, we don't have a job, but we have got a reputation and we don't want to lose that reputation. Just like that man doesn't want to lose his job, you don't want to lose your reputation as a good Christian.

The Gospel of Grace Versus the Law

Now, what I want to tell you is, under the old covenant, this was the best life anybody could live. That's why there was no gospel in the Old Testament. Nobody was told to go and preach the gospel in the Old Testament because there was no gospel.

Because the gospel was something that changes us on the inside. And that could not be done in the Old Testament. Now, let me show you a verse. In Acts of the Apostles, chapter 20, verse 24. Here, Paul calls the gospel, the gospel of the grace of God.

So, today I want to tell you something about this gospel of the grace of God. This is not a gospel of the law. That was not a gospel at all. That was a teaching of the law. The whole that Israel had in the old covenant.

This is the gospel of the grace of God. And one fundamental difference between life before the day of Pentecost and after the day of Pentecost is this. See, Moses and Elijah and John the Baptist, they never preached the gospel of the grace of God.

Nobody in the Old Testament could preach that because there was no gospel. And when there is no gospel, even though there were some mighty things they did, do you know that they even raised the dead in the Old Testament?

Elijah raised the dead. Elisha raised the dead. Elisha's dead bones raised the dead. It's amazing. What a fantastic miracle that a prophet's dead bones would raise a dead man. There is amazing miracles under the law.

But that was not the gospel of the grace of God. Raising the dead is possible without the gospel of the grace of God. The Old Testament is the proof of that. Healing the sick. There are numerous cases of sick people being healed in the Old Testament.

In the wilderness we read thousands of people were healed. It was not the gospel. The gospel of the grace of God is not necessary for healing. To be rich, you don't need the gospel of the grace of God.

Solomon was the richest man in the face of the earth. He didn't need the gospel of the grace of God for that. Forgiveness of sins. You don't need the gospel of the grace of God to have your sins forgiven.

Psalm 103 and the Blessings Available Under the Old Covenant

Let's turn to Psalm 103. In Psalm 103 we read, This is Psalm of David written 1000 years before the gospel of the grace of God. This is a man who lived 100 under the law. He knew nothing about Jesus Christ because nobody in the world knew anything about Jesus Christ.

He did not have the Holy Spirit within him. He had the Holy Spirit upon him. Nobody could have the Holy Spirit inside until they came into the gospel of the grace of God. But look at the blessings he had even without the gospel of the grace of God.

Number one, verse 3, all his sins were forgiven. And number two, all his diseases were healed. And number three, his life was saved from hell. And number four, he had the blessing of so many material things on this earth.

So many good things he could enjoy. So what do we see? He had forgiveness of sins, healing from sickness, deliverance from hell, and material prosperity. Let me say that again. What all can you get without the gospel of the grace of God?

Forgiveness of sins, all your sins, healing from all your diseases, your life redeemed from the pit of hell. David did not go to hell. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob went to heaven without the gospel of the grace of God.

And number four, blessed with so many material things. Now what I am trying to say is, anybody who preaches that these four things are the result of the gospel of the grace of God knows nothing about the gospel of the grace of God.

This is one of the greatest deceptions going on in the world today. They are preaching Psalm 103 as the gospel. They do not know that it is in the Old Testament. What does the gospel of the grace of God do for us?

Rejecting Prosperity Teaching as the Gospel

In John chapter 1, you know sometimes when I hear people preaching the gospel today, I wonder if their bible consists only of the Old Testament. They go to Deuteronomy 28 and say how God will bless you and prosper you and all that.

It says there that God will bless your business. God will give you health. God will give you prosperity. You will never be in debt. In those days animals were their wealth. Your animals will multiply.

Deuteronomy chapter 28 verses 1 to 14 is their gospel. In fact there is only one thing from that passage which they do not preach. That you will have many children also. That is the only thing they do not preach.

Everything else they will preach from there. I said Deuteronomy 28 is not the gospel, it is the law. Psalm 103 is not the gospel, it is the law. The law was given by Moses. John chapter 1 verse 17. The law was given through Moses but grace came through Jesus Christ.

There is no grace before Jesus Christ came to this earth. Some people say grace is God's unmerited favor. That was a definition invented by people who know nothing about the grace of God. Because unmerited favor all the people in the old testament had.

All the atheists in the world have unmerited favor from God. If they did not have unmerited favor they would all be sick and dead by now. The whole world is benefiting from the unmerited blessing of God but that is not the grace of God.

Respecting Scripture Through Obedience

You know Christians are so slaves of traditional teaching that it is very difficult to get out of our head what we have heard for so many years. That is because they do not read the bible. They boldly say this is the word of God.

But what sort of respect do they have for this? They carry it to the meeting and there are some people who teach like this, if you keep the bible on a table you must not keep any other book on top of it.

You think that is what God wants you to do with the bible? Is that how you show respect for God's word? There is only one way to respect the word of God. Read it. Study it. Meditate on it. Believe it.

Obey it in your life. It does not matter where the bible is lying on your table. All these wrong ideas people have. So I want to explain to you what the gospel of the grace of God is. First of all it came only through Jesus Christ.

The Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Grace

The word grace is never found in the old testament except as a prophecy of the future. I will show you one example of that. In the book of Zechariah 12. In the book of Zechariah we read in chapter 12 verse 10.

It is a prophecy of the future. When it speaks about the house of David it is talking about the Jewish people. I will pour out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace. Well the first fulfillment of that was on the day of Pentecost.

There may be a greater fulfillment of that in the days to come. But the spirit of grace, that word is found for the first time there. The Holy Spirit that was poured out on the day of Pentecost was the spirit of grace.

In Hebrews chapter 10 verse 29 also it is called the spirit of grace. So that is what the Holy Spirit has come to do. To give us grace. To communicate grace within. Where should we receive grace? That is also written in scripture.

It says in Hebrews chapter 13 verse 9. In the middle of that verse. It is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace. Through grace we are strengthened inside our heart. For what? Not to make money.

Not to get healing. No it is something other than that. Not even to escape hell. That is through the blood of Jesus which forgives our sins. This is not talking about the forgiveness of sins. This is talking about the heart being strengthened by grace.

Grace Cleanses the Heart From Sin

Why do we need the heart to be strengthened by grace? Because sin seeks to enter our heart. Jesus said it is out from the heart that comes out evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, lies, all types of evil.

It comes out from the heart. How does it come into the heart? From something that the Bible calls the lusts of the flesh. We all have desires which seek to lead us to sin. We can say our heart is like a home.

If those lusts can get inside the heart, they corrupt it. Once our heart is corrupt, it will come out through our mouth. Jesus said in Matthew 12, Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. When you speak an angry word against someone, it does not come from your mouth.

It comes from your heart. Your heart is angry with your husband or wife. That is why you speak those angry words. It is from the heart that you start lusting with your eyes after women. It is your heart that makes your hand go to click the mouse on some internet pornographic site.

Out of the heart proceed all these evil things. And the law cannot help you. The law only gives you commandments. Don't do this, don't do this, don't do this, don't do this. And if you do it, you will be punished.

And so people don't do it. You know the ten commandments. If anybody disobeyed it in Israel, they would be punished. That ten commandments is the basis for almost all the laws in all the world. If you murder somebody or rape somebody, you are punished.

If you make a false statement in a court, you can be punished. That is all in the ten commandments. That is all on the outside. But if you keep it all inside, if you keep your hatred for somebody which is just like murder inside your heart, you can't be punished.

If you keep your adultery inside your heart, you can't be punished. So we can say the law only made people keep all the sin inside the heart. It doesn't come out. So if your life is like that, there are all types of evil in your heart but outside you are living a nice good life.

I want to inform you something which you may not have known till today. You are not under the grace of God. You haven't understood ABC of the gospel of the grace of God. You are under law. You believe in Jesus Christ dying for your sins.

That I know. But having believed that, you are living your daily life under the law, not the grace of God. Grace of God is to strengthen your heart to keep all these dirty things out of your heart. What did we read in John 1?

The law came through Moses but grace came through Jesus Christ. What did we read in John 1? The law came through Moses but grace came through Jesus Christ. Let me show you a verse in Romans 8. Why am I showing you all these verses?

Faith Founded on the Word of God

A lot of preachers just take one verse in the beginning of their sermon and then carry on forever with their sermon. What is the result of that type of preaching? Your faith rests on the wisdom of men, not on the word of God.

And that is like building a house on sand. No wonder your life shakes when there is a trial. No wonder you fall when there is a temptation. Because you put your faith on the wisdom of men. That is why when I preach, I like to quote verse after verse after verse.

So that your faith will rest on the word of God which is like a rock. I have been a believer for 50 years and I have founded my life on God's word. And I know what stability it has brought in my life.

That is why I say like Paul, I am not ashamed of the gospel of the grace of God. Romans 8. Here it says in verse 3, there was something the law could not do. What the law could not do? It could not deliver me from sin in my heart.

The Law Cannot Produce Inward Righteousness

You know Paul says in another place, according to the outward righteousness of the law, I was blameless. Philippians 3. What was the righteousness of the law? Outward righteousness. And he says according to that righteousness, Philippians 3 .6, I was blameless.

That means all that the law required to me on the outside, I was perfect. I got 100 out of 100. But he tells us about one commandment which he could not keep out of the 10 commandments. He says 9 commandments, no problem keeping all of them.

But the 10th commandment, do you know what the 10th commandment was? That was the only commandment which was inward. You shall not desire your neighbor's wife. He is not talking about grabbing her, just desiring.

Anybody who even desires his neighbor's wife has broken the 10th commandment. Or your neighbor's house. You don't have to steal it. You desire your neighbor's house, you have broken the 10th commandment.

Or anything that is your neighbor's. For example, your neighbor's daughter. If you desire your neighbor's daughter, you have broken the 10th commandment. Do you know that every woman in the world is either your neighbor's daughter or your neighbor's wife?

Your neighbor means any other person in the world. And so, when Jesus said you should not lust after a woman, it is the same as the 10th commandment. Who can keep that? Nobody can keep it. And Paul is very honest.

He says in Romans 7, when I read this commandment in Romans 7 .7, the last part, I would not have known about coveting or lusting unless I read the law which said you shall not lust, you shall not covet.

But he said, I found inside me a lusting of every kind. He is honest. This is the apostle Paul. He said, I discovered in my heart a lusting after other people's wives and daughters. Now, most men will not be honest.

They will pretend that they are very holy. The wonderful thing about Paul was that he was honest. Salvation is for honest people. God kept the 10th commandment there for one reason, to find out who all will be honest and say, Lord, I have disobeyed it.

It need not be lusting after women. It could be lusting after your neighbor's sari. I wish I could have a sari like that. Or something you see in your neighbor's house. I want that. Do you know it is a disobedience to the commandment?

Because it is a dissatisfaction with what God has already given you. That is why it is a sin. God was trying to teach his people, be satisfied with what I have given you. I have given you a wife. Why do you want other women now?

You have already got 200 saris in your house. Why do you want some more? See, we are covetous. No matter how much we get, we want more. And that shows we are discontent with what God has given. So, Paul is honest.

Listen, I found desire, desire coming up for this and that and the other thing. How? And he says, what a wretched man I am, verse 24. How will I ever be set free from this? And he says, the law could not help me here.

Grace Accomplishes What the Law Could Not Do

But what the law could not do, Romans 8 verse 3, God did. Shall I tell you in one sentence, what the gospel of the grace of God is? Here it is. What the law could not do, God did. What law cannot do, grace can do.

That is why it is good news. Here is a filthy heart that cannot be cleaned up. The law could do nothing about it, but grace comes and does it. Let me use an illustration. Supposing you have some terrible disease inside, and every type of treatment could not cure it.

And you are sick and sick and sick and sick. And then one day, a doctor prescribes some type of special medicine or antibiotic, and you take it and this disease, you are completely healed from. Was that medicine or antibiotic a good news or not?

Now tomorrow if you meet another fellow who has got the same disease, what can you tell him? Hey brother, I had that disease for 25 years. All the treatment could not help me. But this medicine called the grace of God, when I got it, it healed me.

That is the gospel of the grace of God. The Holy Spirit of grace gets inside and does something. Why couldn't He do it in the Old Testament people? Because He could only come outside. The Holy Spirit could not dwell inside a heart as long as it was not totally cleansed from sin.

And the blood of bulls and goats in the Old Testament could not remove sin. But once Jesus shed His blood and ascended to heaven, the Holy Spirit could come. Because now people's hearts could be completely cleansed in the blood of Christ.

And for the first time from the day of Pentecost onwards, the Holy Spirit could dwell inside man and strengthen him with grace in his heart and do what the law could not do. What is that? Make his heart free from sin.

Strengthen him so that when the lust of the flesh tries to get in, it can push it out. That is why it says it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace. I am not preaching theory. For sixteen years of my born again life, I never experienced it.

But then I knew and experienced what it is to be filled with the Holy Spirit of the grace of God in my heart. Then I began to experience this. And it says in Romans 8 verse 2, it says this is a new law I am living by now.

Not the law of Moses, but the law of the Holy Spirit. When you say Paul, how many commandments are there in the law of the Holy Spirit? There are no commandments. The law of the Spirit is not commandments.

The law of the Spirit is a life in Christ Jesus it says here. The law of the Spirit which is life in Christ Jesus has set me free from this other law of sin and death in my life. So now what happens? This righteous requirement of the law which says you shall not covet, it says in verse 4 it can now be fulfilled inside me.

Because now I am living in the Holy Spirit. So this is the gospel of the grace of God. And that is why it says in Romans chapter 6, Romans chapter 6 verse 14 is a very simple verse. It is talking about sin in our heart.

Romans 6 verse 14. In the olden days when we were under the law, we could keep away from sin on the outside. But in the heart, sin was ruling us. Making me bitter, lusting, selfish, proud, angry, jealous, longing for earthly things.

I was under sin's power. Because I only had a law. But when the Spirit of God came and brought grace into my heart, it says now verse 14 Romans 6 verse 14 sin cannot rule you anymore. Because now I have come under grace.

True Grace Delivers From Sin

Now if I were to ask a 10 year old child, son just read Romans 6 verse 14 and just from that one verse can you tell me the mark of somebody who is under law? Just from that one verse. He will say yes.

If you are ruled by sin, you are under the law. Everybody here who is ruled by sin, you are under the law whether you knew it or not. Can I ask that 10 year old boy, can you tell me son from that same verse who is under grace?

He will say sure. If sin cannot rule you, you are under grace. Now you tell me brother, sister. Have you been deceived all these years? By a false grace? Just like there are counterfeit 500 rupee notes floating around.

If you hear that Coimbatore is flooded with a lot of counterfeit 500 rupee notes. Next time if in a shop somebody gives you a 500 rupee note, what will you do? Wait let me see. We are so careful not to get false currency.

What about false grace from the preachers who have deceived us? Any preacher who has not led you into victory over sin is a deceiver. Because he has not preached the true grace of God. This is not something in the 21st century only.

Do you know there were such false preachers in the 1st century also? See what Paul says in 1 Peter 5. 1 Peter 5 verse 12. He says I have written you a brief letter to testify that this is the true grace of God.

Why does he have to use the phrase the true grace of God? Why do we have to say this is a true 500 rupee note? Because there are counterfeit 500 rupee notes. Why does Peter have to say this is the true grace of God?

Because even in the 1st century there was a false grace of God. See Jude says in the book of Jude in verse 4. He says there are some ungodly people who have turned the grace of God into licentiousness.

Who have turned the grace of God into a license to commit sin. Do you know what a license is? You know a driving license. When you get a driving license for a scooter, you can drive a scooter. That is a license.

So there are some preachers who preach the grace of God in such a way. Now you got a license to commit sin. Under the law you could not because you will be punished. Under the law you could not because you will be punished.

Now you got a license. If you sin, the blood of Christ is there. If you sin again, the blood of Christ is there. If you sin 50 times a day, the blood of Christ is there. What is this? Is this grace? It is a license to commit sin.

What about tomorrow? Yeah, you will sin again 50 times tomorrow. But don't worry brother, you got grace. License to sin, the blood of Jesus will cleanse you. It is one of the greatest deceptions that has been going on in Christendom for 2000 years.

That is the exact opposite of grace. Grace is to deliver us from sin, not to give us license to sin. He says there are ungodly people who have turned it into a license for sin. And why do you accept such a message?

Because you like to sin. You can continue to watch internet pornography and you get license to sin. Lord, please forgive me. It is cleansed. You can watch all those dirty, filthy movies and pollute your mind and say, Oh Lord, please cleanse me, the blood of Jesus.

Do you think godly people under the law would ever do it? Can you imagine John the Baptist sitting and enjoying all these filthy Hindi movies? No. He was under the law, he had some fear of God. It is these filthy Christians who got a license to sin, who watch all these filthy movies.

Is that good news? That under the law your heart was filthy, under the grace your heart can be more filthy. Is that good news? Then we can ask, why is it so many people are not free from sin and seeing this grace of God?

Eden and Calvary Reveal the Seriousness of Sin

I will tell you. Because we have not seen how serious sin is. The devil told Eve, sin is not such a serious thing. You just eat one as if God will punish you for that. If you want to know how serious sin is in God's eyes, first go to Eden and see how God turned Adam and Eve out of Eden for one sin.

That is the first message in the Bible, God is a holy God. He hates sin. People who live in sin go to hell. Whether they call themselves Christians or whatever they call themselves, sin is serious. The second place where we can see the seriousness of sin is Calvary's cross.

What do you think held Jesus on the cross? Do you think it was the nails? No, not at all. It was your sin. My sin. He could have easily come down. But if he had come down, our sin would never have been forgiven.

If you want to see how much God hates sin, look at Jesus crying out and saying, My God, My God, why have you forsaken me? And the answer is, because of Zacphan's sin. My sin? Is that why he was forsaken?

Yes. How can I play the fool with sin now if my saviour was forsaken because of my sin? Oh, the devil has fooled Christians. By making them think sin is not a serious thing. Dear brothers and sisters, go to Eden, go to Calvary.

Those are the only two places you need to go to see how serious sin is. Then, if you love Jesus at all, if you are thankful to him for dying for you on the cross, you will hate sin like anything and you will want to be free from it.

If you hate sickness more than you hate sin, you haven't understood the seriousness of sin. No sickness will take you to hell. AIDS cannot take you to hell. But sin can take you to hell. The gospel of the grace of God has come to save us from it.

Call to Receive the Grace That Overcomes Sin

I want to invite you to open your heart. Say, Lord, open my eyes. Let me see this wonderful gospel. Fill me with your Holy Spirit. Give me grace in my heart to overcome sin. God will hear your prayer.

Let's pray. While our heads are bowed in prayer, this is a very solemn moment and I want to invite you to respond to the word of God. Say, Lord, I really want to take sin seriously from today. I don't want to know the theory but the reality of the grace of God in my life.

Lord, please help me to understand. Save my soul. Fill me with the spirit of grace. In Jesus' name, Amen.