The Believer and the Triune God — Zac Poonen

The New Covenant and Knowing the Triune God

Well We don't have a special guest. He's more like our father our brother our pastor. He's been preaching and teaching and pouring into abundant life for 20 years. You can be seated. This is really for our first-time visitors and our special.

You are our honored guests and for those who just joined the church pastor Zach has been pouring into abundant life. Like I said for 20 years. He's planted over 50 churches in his homeland India. He's a great man of God, we love him pastor Zach.

Will you come up is the Lord?

The purpose of our coming together as A church is a number of things we come together to give glory to God's name and To give him thanks as we have done right now. But also to hear his word so that We come into the fullness of experiencing all that Jesus Christ provided for us for many Christians That I've seen around the world it is my sins are all forgiven.

I'm on my way to heaven praise the Lord. But if you read the New Testament, there's a lot more than that. The Bible speaks of Jesus having inaugurated a new covenant. Which was different from the old covenant that God made with Israel.

So I want to speak a little bit about that. And I've titled my message the believer and The triune God. Now, why do I say that? Do you know that under the old covenant? They never knew God as a Trinity.

You read the entire Old Testament and Nobody ever speaks about the three persons in the Godhead. There are people even today among Christians who don't believe there are three persons in the Godhead believe it or not.

They are living in the old covenant. In the old covenant there was no there was only a knowledge of God. But not in his three persons of many things about God. They didn't know. They never knew how much he loved us that was revealed on Calvary.

But when Jesus came Right at his baptism was the first time That you see the Trinity. The father speaking from heaven. This is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased the Son of God. Being baptized in the water and the Holy Spirit descending like a dove there you have the whole Trinity and when Jesus Was about to ascend to heaven.

He told his disciples When you go into all the world and make disciples You got to baptize them in or into the name of the father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Those are his almost his last words so in other words, wherever you go, it's not just enough to make them disciples baptism is important and It must be into the name of the father and the Son and the Holy Spirit so right from day one every believer was to know about the Trinity and In the Acts of the Apostles when it says they were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ a lot of people confuse that let me give you a little principle of Bible study that I've Discovered after 57 years of studying the Bible and that is never get a doctrine from a historical event or section of the Bible.

Jesus healed everyone. If you make that a doctrine you're going to live in a world of unreality. Because the fact of the matter is Jesus does not heal everyone today. He can but he doesn't that for various reasons.

I'm not going to go into that. That's just one example. How you can take a historical statement make a doctrine out of it or Acts 2 for they all spoke in tongues. There again, you can get a lot of people into bondage.

I believe in speaking in tongues, but It's not for everyone. God determines whom to give it to. Another historical section is historical statement is they baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. It's a historical statement.

The commandment is what we must go by. If you replay if you replace the command of Jesus by historical statement, you're gonna get into confusion. So we when I baptized in India If I only baptized people in the name of Father Son and Holy Spirit a non-christian He could go home and his Hindu father could say that's okay.

Father Son and Holy Spirit is Brahma Vishnu and Shiva. You haven't changed your religion. You're still a Hindu. Because they have a trinity in Hinduism to Everything that we have in Christianity is counterfeited by the devil.

The Egyptians have got a trinity that Greeks have got a trinity. The devil's counterfeited everything. So when I baptize the person in India, I baptize him in the name of the Father and the Son the Lord Jesus Christ not any other heathen Trinity and the Holy Spirit so Historic I mean as a record you could say I baptize in the name of Jesus Christ because I was identifying the son as the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now more than that, that's just a statement by way of fact. In the Old Covenant, they were under law. And I find lots and lots of Christians still live under law the Lord demands whereas love invites.

Under the law the commands are always thou shalt thou shalt thou shalt not thou shalt not. But when you read the commands of Jesus notice this difference. He never says thou shalt thou shalt not try and look for those verses in the Gospels.

He doesn't say that he says if You love me Keep my commandments if Any man wants to come after me let him take up his cross and follow me. It's an invitation. It's not a demand you must do it. So The reason why I say that is because I find a lot of Christians look at the New Testament like demanding certain things from them and The result is you know, we become like the God we worship and if your God is one who demands You will be like that yourself.

You will make demands on your wife. You'll make demands on your husband and this is the number one reason for miserable marriages. Because they worship a God who demands and who expects. Implicit obedience and that spirit of inviting that Jesus has is not there.

That's just one thing. I want to say Under the law there were commands that God gave but no enablement to keep them. Whereas under grace and in love in the New Covenant Jesus says take my yoke upon you.

We work together in trying to keep this commandment. Again, if you're under law We will give commands and Not work together. Husbands who expect their wives to do things and never help them. Parents who tell their children to do something and never teach them how to do it or work together with them.

They're under law. Their God is like that they never experience working together with Jesus. Jesus helping them and It's as if the Lord has just told them to do something. They're left on their own. Now if we enter into the New Covenant all that changes.

Eternal Life as Knowing God Personally

When we come to know God as Father Son and Holy Spirit and that's what I want to share with you. Let me show you first of all a verse in John chapter 17. Here is another word that's many Christians don't understand eternal life.

For many people eternal life means to live forever. But people who go to hell live forever, too. But they don't have eternal life. What is the scriptural definition of eternal life. So one that Jesus himself gave in John 17 and verse 3 and If you don't have this you don't have eternal life.

Let me tell you that Eternal life is a gift of God through repentance and faith, but John 17 verse 3 says This is eternal life. This is Jesus definition. That they may know you. The only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent and that if you read the whole section there for chapter 14 to 17 is through the Holy Spirit.

So eternal life is knowing God. And knowing God is different from knowing about God. You may know the God about the governor or the president, but you may not know them personally. There's a lot of difference between knowing about someone and knowing him.

Many Christians know about God and about Jesus Christ, but to know him personally intimately. Let me tell you something else. If you read the Old Testament the word no is a special word. It's used in relation in the relationship of a man the physical relationship between a man and his wife.

Adam knew his wife and They had a son called Cain. It's used to speak about that most intimate physical relationship between man and a wife you apply that to the spiritual realm. To know Jesus Christ is to know him in our spirit intimately as intimately as a husband and wife know each other.

Anything less than that is not eternal life. Let me show you another verse in 1 Timothy in chapter 6. You know, there's so much we miss If we don't read the scripture carefully. Here's another thing. 1 Timothy in chapter 6 and verse 12.

1 Timothy 6 12. Paul's writing to Timothy was already about 45 years old and been with Paul for maybe 25 years wholehearted. Person Paul tells Timothy in 1 Timothy 6 12. Fight the good fight of faith and lay take hold of Eternal life.

What does that mean? Was it because Timothy was not born again. The guy's been with Paul for 25 years. He's Paul says he's my finest co-worker. I mean if you got a letter like that from Paul and you were there saying take hold of eternal life.

What would you do? And when you read that verse, I'm sure if ever you read 1 Timothy you came across that verse take hold of eternal life. What did you do when you read that verse? You just ignore it.

You say I've already got it you've already got it there's no need to take hold of it. But when you realize that eternal life is not just living forever. It is knowing God like Jesus said personally. Knowing Father Son and Holy Spirit.

That's something you've got to take hold of more and more and more and more and more. So, let me break that down. First of all knowing the Father this is something unique in the New Covenant. Not knowing about the Father but knowing the Father.

Knowing God as Father and Receiving Sonship

I Shared a little bit about that last month when I spoke here in the Old Covenant nobody Nobody means nobody could ever call God Father. Nobody could nobody could look up and say father. Because they were not sons, did you know that no one could be a son of God until the day of Pentecost.

Great prophets like Moses Samuel Elijah. The greatest John the Baptist. None of them could look up to heaven and say dad. He was not their dad he was Almighty God and They were his servants they were his prophets they were his servants but Jesus came and Brought us into a relationship Almighty God that he became our father.

It's like a master. Becoming a father. It's like one who was a servant in the home suddenly becoming a son. I wonder whether we've seen the privilege we have compared to all those Old Testament people.

That's why Jesus once said concerning John the Baptist. He said he was the greatest under the Old Covenant. But he said I don't know whether you've noticed this verse. Let me show it to you Matthew chapter 11.

When he was speaking about John the Baptist, he said John the Baptist was the greatest person that ever lived under the Old Covenant. Has not arisen Matthew 11 verse 11 there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist but.

But what. The one who is least in this new covenant kingdom of heaven is greater Than him. Now think of this in the entire history of the world right from Adam up to Jesus the greatest was John the Baptist and Then he says the least person who enters into God's kingdom.

They didn't have God's kingdom or the kingdom of heaven in the Old Covenant is greater than he. Why. Because a son is Greater than a servant today. I've heard many people talk about so-and-so as a servant of God as if that's a great thing.

And then you look at somebody else and say always only a son of God. What do you mean? If I were to introduce you to my in my home saying this is my servant and this is my son. Who would you think is greater or more important?

We sometimes think a servant of the Lord. Wow. Well, I'm only a son of God. If devalued this we haven't understood the value of being a son of God. We inherit a servant doesn't inherit things. A Son is a servant as well.

But he's a son first of all because God has become our father and All that that involves in John 17 23. We see an amazing verse which I personally after studying all the 31 ,175 verses in the Bible I Consider this to be the greatest verse in the whole Bible.

That God loves me as much as he loved Jesus Christ that is the greatest truth I have found in Scripture. John 17 and verse 23. It says I in them and thou in me that they may be perfected in unity so that the world may know that you sent me and when people hear me and see me they must know that the world sent you that God sent Jesus Christ and that God loved me as much as He loved Jesus.

I want to ask you whether you have seen that Seen the importance of the way you live and the way you speak the way you relate to people. People must see you're a loved person. You're someone who's tremendously loved By Almighty God and they will see that when they see a security in your life.

When they see that you're secure in yourself. That you don't feel inferior to anyone that you don't act superior to anyone who you're secure in your heavenly father. You're different from others others may have more than you but you don't envy them.

Others have less than you you don't look down on them because you realize that your heavenly father is Determined what you are to be. There's a security in knowing God. That God loved me as much as he loved Jesus.

There's a tremendous truth in this. Because there are so many implications of this if God loves me as much as he loved Jesus He will do for me everything that he did for Jesus. That's what I mean by knowing the father.

You don't believe that you don't know. God is your father. I mean you may know about him. You may repeat the prayer our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name like a parrot. But you don't know God is your father.

I Did not know I'll tell you honestly. I Received Jesus Christ as my Savior in 1959 when I was 19 and a half years old. But for 16 years after that 16 years after that I Was sincere Wholehearted. I avoided so many sins and all that but I never knew this intimate relationship With God is my father.

And so what was the result? I'll tell you what I'll tell you. What is the result in my life? I was frequently discouraged. I was very insecure. I Always wanted to prove myself to people that I was more than I really was.

I Wanted to act holier than I really was inside. When I preached I was not seeking to help people. I wanted to impress them. That's the mark of an insecure preacher. An insecure preacher is always interested in impressing.

Impressing how people impressed by my message. I was like that. I don't judge people. I mean I was like that for years. But I got so fed up of that type of life. And I said Lord, you got to meet with me and God met with me in a fresh way and filled me with the Holy Spirit 16 years after I was converted I had experienced that fullness before as well, but it was a renewal at that time and then one of the things I said to the Lord when he filled me up fresh with the Holy Spirit was I Said Lord if this is a real infilling of the Spirit when I read the Bible I'm gonna see things in it.

I've never seen before. Even though I'd already read it for 16 years and studied it and I have to say I did for example, I discovered that Jesus came not only to forgive my sins, but to save me from my sins.

Sin shall not rule over you. For you're not under grace. I never knew grace properly before that. I Knew grace has forgiveness, but I never knew grace has helped to overcome every sin. Help to overcome my anger.

So I don't get angry again. Help to overcome lusting after women. So I don't lust with my eyes. Help to overcome bitterness and complaining and all the sins that plague Christians. Who claim to be born again?

Seeking God Wholeheartedly for Victory Over Sin

The Lord says in Jeremiah 29, you will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29 13 and It's because I did not seek the Lord with all my heart to be free from sin. In my inner life that I was defeated.

I just accepted it as normal because people around me were sinning and it was normal and I thought that's about the best there is in the Christian life this endless cycle of Sin. Repent ask forgiveness be cleansed sin again repent.

Confess and ask forgiveness and go endless endless like this year after year after year. If Christians are honest, I believe 90 of them will say that is their life. But I want to say that's not meant to be their life.

Christians are slaves who should be kings. They are bound who should be conquering. But I never knew that till I began to see God with all my heart. You shall seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart.

Think of the things we pursue on earth with all our heart. Think of businessmen who work day and night to Improve their business and dream about it at night as to where they can open new stores, etc. Think of the growth of us stores like Walmart.

It started so small and People would dream to make it bigger bigger because there was a passion. I Don't find that type of passion among many Christians. I find a lot of Christians are just happy if they go to church on a Sunday and sing a few songs and if they feel live a reasonably good life.

But defeated like everybody else in most areas and they're very passionate about making more money that I've seen. It's very unfortunate, but it's the truth. There was an infidel in France in the 18th century called Walter.

He was a Atheist he didn't believe in God. And he looked around at the different denominations of Christianity there were in the 18th century Protestantism and Calvinism and Lutheranism and the Catholicism and he looked at them and he said he examined them and he said they've all got different doctrines these Christians in different groups.

But when it comes to money, they've all got the same religion. He said they all run after it. This is an atheist observation of Christians. I Want to ask you if an atheist observed your life? Would he say that you were different?

Would he say that you were different? That's the challenge that came to me when I read that I said if an atheist could look into my financial affairs and all my private life and everything else. Would he say this Christian is different?

He's not running out of money. Jesus said there's only two gods God and money. The true God and money. When you know the father you become secure. Because you know that God takes care of all your needs.

Wealth does not mean having a lot of money in the bank. The richest person in the universe is Almighty God. He doesn't have a bank account he doesn't have a wallet but he's the richest person in the universe.

Why. Because he has no lack. He has no need of anything. The richest person in the world is the one who has no lack and no need of anything and who's not hankering after something. God is not hankering after anything and Jesus said if you seek God's kingdom first in your life.

You'll be like that. You won't have to hanker after things be worried about something anxious about something everything you need will be added to you. Your life will be relaxed and secure. Because you know God is your father because he knows that he loves you as he loved Jesus.

And when I look at Jesus life, and I See it not only as his life, but I say this is how God loves me. You remember the time when Jesus was speaking in the synagogue and I Mean he had just begun his sermon and they got so angry with his.

Saying that God will bless the Gentiles as well. But they pulled him down from the pulpit and wanted to take him to the cliff in Nazareth. You read that in Luke chapter 4 to throw him down and All you read there is.

I mean, how would you feel if 200 people grabbed you to throw you down a cliff? Jesus was so much at rest. You know what? It says there. He just quietly walked through the midst and went away. I said God my dad.

You love me like that. One day if 200 people grabbed me and want to throw me or a cliff I want to have that confidence in you that you love me like you love Jesus and I can walk through that midst without fear.

There was never a time that Jesus was in a panic there was never a situation. Why he had to scratch his head or say? Oh, I wonder what I'm gonna do now. Because he was secure in the love of his father.

This is what it means to know God. This is what it means to know the father. And my dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, let me tell you this is your inheritance. This is how you're supposed to live.

The devil has robbed you of your inheritance. He's cheated you like some crooked lawyer. Cheating you of your inheritance and you're living at a much lower level. When you shouldn't be living there The Lord says to you today come up higher.

There's much more I have for you my son my daughter. Don't let the devil rob you of what Christ purchased for you at such tremendous cost at Calvary so I'm saying this because I lived so defeated so long and I knew that to live a life of constant discouragement and Depression was not God's will for me to murmur and complain and To have demands on people and to be upset when those demands are not met was not the way God wanted me to live.

And I got fed up of it. If you're not fed up of it, you'll remain there. There's a story that Jesus once said about a widow you read that in Luke 18 who went to a judge and Said my enemy is taking advantage of me.

I get the picture of a widow whose property the neighbor was an enemy was just encroaching more and more upon the property moving the Boundaries and taking over her land and she didn't know what to do.

She had no male member in the house. So she goes pleading with the judge you read in Luke 18 and bangs at his door wakes him up at 2 o 'clock in the morning. And disturbs him disturbs him and the judge said I'm not gonna do anything.

Finally. He gets so Upset that he's being disturbed by this widow. He's okay. I'll let me do something for her and You know what the widow pleaded for give me justice against my enemy those are her words.

She wasn't asking for anybody else's property. She was just saying what is my property? Don't let the enemy take it away from me and Jesus said at the end of that If an earthly judge can do that for a widow Don't you think your God will do that for those?

Who cry? Day and night to him. Luke 18 and verse 7. Luke 18 verse 7. Shall not God Bring about justice for his elect. That's you and me. Who cried to him? Why did they cry to him day and night? Because they are desperate To live a life that glorifies God and they look at their life and their inner life their thought life their home life.

And they say oh my father. It's not glorifying you. The enemy is taking advantage of me. The enemy is coming into my home. The enemy is messing up my relationship with my wife and husband the method enemies Messing up my children.

The enemy is messing up so many things in my home. Give me justice. Says will not your father give you justice if you cry day and night? Will he delay long over them? He will not. Verse 8 says Luke 18 verse 8.

I tell you he will bring about justice for them quickly. But when the Son of Man returns Will he find anybody with such faith on the earth? Will he find you like that who's got faith that my father in heaven will give me justice over my life.

My enemy Satan that he will have no power over me or over my home or over my children. This is your inheritance. This is what it means to know. God is a father Who fights for us who cares for us? We're like little children.

I mean if a father sees his little two-year-old being beaten up by some big man. What did he do? He won't just sit back and watch it. No, he will run to his defense. And I often think of myself. I'm 76, but I still think of myself as a Two-year-old sitting on my heavenly father's lap.

I Say Lord, I'm insecure without you, but perfectly secure, but I'm sitting in your lap. I Always want to be there. I have a father in heaven. You have one but you don't realize what a privilege it is.

He loves you as he loved Jesus everything that he did for Jesus. He will do for you. You remember how when Herod was planning to kill Jesus as a baby long before? The soldiers could get there. God warned Joseph to take Jesus away from there.

You think God will warn you like that. When the enemies of the gospel come to try and harm you he's done that for me. I've experienced it exactly like that. Yes, if you trust God, you know, the thing is we we cannot experience these things if you don't trust him.

If you think God is up there and he's not really bothered about all your problems and all the things you're going through. Well, you won't experience it according to your faith. Be it unto you. You don't believe that God loves you as he loved Jesus.

He will not do for you what he did for Jesus. Okay, according to your faith. Be it unto you. You'll be very very miserable. But that's not the new covenant life. We can know God is a father who loves us as he loved Jesus and be secure like Jesus was.

That's number one. To know God is a father. Then we know the triune God secondly. I hope you're clapping because you've got gripped with that truth and secondly to know Jesus Christ. What does it mean to know Jesus?

Knowing Jesus as Bridegroom and Co-Worker

It's an intimate knowledge of Jesus because then it's like the first person of the Trinity is our father. Jesus is described in the scriptures our bridegroom. Relationship is like a husband to a wife.

It says in Romans 7 about Are being married to Christ? That's a relationship in Ephesians 5 as well. Like a husband loves his wife like Christ loved the church. The relationship is so intimate. It's the closest relationship on earth husband and wife.

In other words, Jesus wants to be one with me as Intimate with me as a husband wants to be with his wife and just like a wife would share everything with her husband the husband it says About husbands that they must live in an understanding way with their wives recognizing.

They are weaker vessels. I Believe the Lord lives like that with me. He lives in an understanding way with me knowing that I'm a weaker vessel. And he cares for me provides for me and I can share everything with him and we do everything together.

That's the way a husband and wife should do it together. Sin came in the Garden of Eden because Eve decided to do something on her own a lot of problems when you Start doing things on your own the same thing in the Christian life.

So to know Jesus is to see that he wants me to work with him together. He says take my yoke upon you and learn from me and that's a picture from in the villages in India. We see that frequently a yoke upon two Bullocks as they plow a field together and I picture this a Senior Bullock teaching an inexperienced new Bullock how to plow a straight furrow.

This is the picture I have of Jesus and the yoke is upon his neck and mine and the Lord says let's do it together. It's wonderful everything the Lord says don't try and do it alone. Let's do it together.

You can do nothing without me. Anything that you think you can do without me will finally amount to nothing. Paul says I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. He got under the yoke. And that's one of the wonderful things I've discovered in everything.

Take the matter of preaching you see I started preaching about 50 years ago a little over 50 years ago. But I remember in the early days It was such a struggle to preach because I Had to impress people.

It's always a struggle when you have to impress people and It was a struggle it was something like getting water out of a Mostly dry well drawing it up pumping it up. But I read in the scripture that our life must must be like rivers of living water flowing out from within.

And I said Lord, I want it like that. And I realized that the Lord would help me. If he had not called me to be a preacher, of course, then he wouldn't help me to preach. He'd help me to do whatever he called me to do if you're called to be a mother.

He'll help you to be a mother. He'll work together with you to be a mother and be a first-class mother of as many children as you have. In my case, he called me to be a preacher. So he worked together with me and I tell you it's made all the difference in my life.

When I decided to work together with Jesus in sharing his word I Say Lord, you know the people. And I remember the Lord said to me as I was seeking how to be effective. The Lord said first of all, you've got to love the people you're speaking to.

If you despise any of them, I Won't give you my word. You've got to love them. You've got to love all of them whether they are rich or poor or Whatever their social level. However, whatever their understanding lack of understanding you got to love them.

So if your heart is filled with love for my people and Your heart is filled with my word I will always give you a word for my people and I've seen that through many many many years. So I want to say to all of you whenever you share a word with someone.

I don't mean just from a pulpit. Even if you're talking to someone who's visiting your home and you want to help them or counsel them. Here's the first thing fill your heart with God's Word that's something you've got to do consistently.

Every day meditate on God's Word and let it fill your heart and then Love the person you're serving if your heart is filled with God's Word and filled with love Jesus will work with you and Your service will be a cooperative service it won't be all alone.

You'll never do it alone God I want to tell you all of you dear brothers and sisters that There's nothing in your life that the Lord wants you to do alone everything even your secular work the Lord wants you to Bring him along and work with him.

He will help you in your secular work, too one of the wonderful things I discovered after Seeking God like this. I discovered in Scripture that Jesus loved me so much. We already saw how much the father loved that he just Jesus loved me so much that he became a man just like me and Was tempted just like me In order to be an example to me.

That is an amazing truth. You know, I feel if you look at her earth from heaven earth will look like a slum a Filthy dirty slum or a sewer that's what this earth looks like because it's so full of sin and Here we are living in this in the midst of this muck and For the Lord to love me so much to come and live in this muck Just like me and live a pure life.

So that he can be an example to me. It's amazing love and And the Lord says I did that To show you that it's possible In the midst of that muck and filth all around you to live in purity. That's the thing that really helped me.

Christ’s Temptation and the Call to Holiness

I'll tell you my honest testimony there like I said earlier I was defeated in so many areas even after being born again for so many years and I was ashamed to let people know it just like many of you are defeated but ashamed to let people know it about how you're defeated in your home life and your language and your thoughts and everything else and your attitudes to people and the murmuring and complaining and Grumbling and many many other things.

I was like that. But I said Lord, I know this is not the way I'm supposed to live because never mind people don't see it. Maybe I can keep a good front before people and impress them that I'm living a pretty good life.