Discovering the Root of Sin — Zac Poonen

Salvation From Sin, Not Merely Forgiveness

You shall call His name Jesus because He will save His people from their sins. That's the very first promise in the New Testament. There was no such promise in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, they could only hope for forgiveness of sins and sins being covered.

But there was no promise that they could be saved from their sin. So, if you say you're a Christian and all you have experienced is the forgiveness of sins, whether you know it or not, you're living in the Old Testament.

Now, in the language of the world, that would be like living in the Stone Age. You know, when people are not living in the current world and the advancement that there is in society and science and all that, they're living in the Stone Age.

This is the Computer Age. And nobody who lives in the Computer Age wants to live in the Stone Age. But Christians are not living in the New Covenant. They're living in the Old Covenant. Because they don't know what it is for Jesus to save them from their sins.

The False Assurance of Salvation From Hell

They're not saved from their anger. They're not saved from their lust. They're not saved from pornography. They're not saved from bitterness. They're not saved from the love of money. They're hardly saved from anything.

And they imagine that they're saved from hell. It's one of the greatest deceptions of all. There is no salvation from hell without a salvation from sin. And just by the way, there is not a single verse in the entire New Testament which says that Jesus came to save us from hell.

That's not the meaning of His name. Many people use the name Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. It's become such a popular thing. In the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus. Every prayer ends in the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus.

They rebuke the devil in the name of Jesus. But if you ask some of them, what does His name Jesus mean? Here it is, in the very first page of the New Testament. You shall call His name Jesus, Matthew 1 .21, because He will save His people, not in their sins, but from their sins.

So, every time I pray in the name of Jesus to the Father, I'm saying, Father, I'm praying this prayer in the name of One who came to save me from all my sins so that I don't live in sin anymore. Is that the way you pray?

Or is the name Jesus like a mantra, some type of magic word by which a lot of children's fairy tales where people use a magic word and something will happen. That's how a lot of Christians use that name.

They don't even know what it means. So, I find many people don't know what salvation from sin is because they don't know what sin is. If I were to ask you to define for me, what is sin? What did Jesus came to save us from?

Sin as a Root Rather Than Its Fruits

My guess is that most of you won't be able to define sin. We can say certain things are sin, but those are the fruits of sin. What's the root of it? You know, like a tree produces mangoes or apples because it's an apple tree or a mango tree.

There is a root which produces certain type of fruit. And the Old Testament law could not deal with the root of sin. That's why people couldn't be saved from sin. Forgiveness of sin is something like this.

Here is a tree that's producing bad fruit and you take a scissors and cut it off. That's all the law could do. Then it again produces the same bad fruit, cut it off. And next time again it will produce the same fruit, cut it off.

That's how a lot of Christians are living. Sin comes out of their life. They ask the Lord, please forgive me. It's cut off. You've got to do the same thing tomorrow. It comes out again, cut it off. Can you say that such a person has been saved from sin?

Not at all. But the sad thing is that so many Christians are satisfied with that life. I'll tell you my own experience. I was born again when I was 19 and a half years old. Really born again. I knew that Christ had come into my heart and my sins were forgiven.

I was baptized when I was 21. I left my job in the Navy when I was 26 to serve the Lord full time. But I was not saved from my sins. I was forgiven. I had no doubt about that. But I was still defeated by sin.

Right up to the age of 35, I thought there was nothing better than that. When I studied the scriptures, I found King David also had forgiveness of sins. He says that in Psalm 103, Bless the Lord, O my soul, who forgives all my sins.

But he couldn't say, bless the Lord who gives me victory over my sin. He forgives my sin. But when I see Bathsheba, oh, I fall. But then I go to God and ask Him to forgive me. That's how many Christians are.

Lord, You've forgiven my sin. But when I see some pretty woman, I fall again. But please forgive me. This is King David's experience. That is Stone Age, BC, before Christ. What is the whole purpose of Christ coming and the gift of the Holy Spirit?

A lot of people talk about speaking in tongues. Is that all that we get more than David had? Is your testimony only this, bless the Lord, O my soul, who forgives all my sins? Or is it, I come in the name of Jesus.

You know, David never knew about Jesus. He never knew about one who could save him from his sins. None of the people in the Old Testament knew that. So, we need to understand what exactly was the purpose of Christ coming.

Becoming Sick and Tired of Defeat

I'll tell you, I discovered it 16 years after I was born again. And the reason was, I was sick and tired of my defeated life. And I learned one thing from that. The reason why many Christians never come to a victorious life is because they are not sick and tired of their defeated life.

I mean, if you can live in a big style, and you're quite happy to live there, just have a bath every day and go back and live in the big style, you're welcome to do that. The life where you fall into sin is exactly like living in a big style.

And when do you want to leave it? When you're sick and tired of living in that big style and say, I want to live a clean life. I don't want to live in this filthy muck called sin. Then when you're sick and tired of it and cry out to God, then we'll be delivered.

Israel's Deliverance From Egypt as a Picture of Salvation

There's an Old Testament example of that I'll show you in the book of Exodus. In Exodus chapter 2, we read the children of Israel, they were in Egypt. Do you know that they lived in Egypt for 430 years?

And most of those 430 years they were slaves. These big pyramids that you see in Egypt today, do you know that a lot of them were built by Israelites? Israelites who were made to slog and slave from 6 in the morning till late at night, carry those big stones and build the pyramids which people look at today.

They think the Egyptians built it. The Egyptians didn't build it. The Israelites built it. They were the slaves for 400 years. And why did God allow them to be there? When did he deliver them? You know, those Israelites were supposed to be children of God.

But they were slaves. Egypt is a picture of the world and Pharaoh is a picture of the devil. And they were slaves to the world and the devil exactly like many Christians are today. Slaves to the pleasures of the world, the sins of the world, the riches of this world, the honor of this world, the power and position of the world.

They seek it exactly like that. And there was a day that came finally in the lives of those Israelites when they were delivered. And I want you to see when that came. In Exodus chapter 2, it says here, in the middle of verse 23.

Exodus 2, verse 23, in the middle, the sons of Israel sighed. Sighed means, Oh God, how long are we going to be slaves? That's a sigh. They sighed because of the bondage and they cried out, Oh God, how long are we going to live in this bondage?

And they cried for help because of their bondage rose up to God. They sighed and they cried and God heard their groaning. And God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And God saw the sons of Israel and God took notice of them.

In the very next verse you read, God met with Moses in the burning bush and said, Come, it's time to deliver Israel. Now, I want to apply that to Christians who are slaves to sin and to the world and its lusts and its passions and its pleasures.

And they seem to be content in that defeated life as slaves to sin, slaves to their lusts. But in the middle of all these Christians who are slaves to their lusts, here and there, you'll find some Christians, very few, some Christians who sigh, Oh God, is this all there is to Christianity?

That I have to live defeated? That I have to keep sinning with my eyes and my tongue and my thoughts? Is that all there is in salvation? And they cry out, Oh God, won't you deliver us from this? And the cry of these few Christians who cry like that comes up to God.

And God hears their groaning, verse 24. And God remembers the covenant that He made with the blood of Jesus on the cross of Calvary. New covenant in His blood. And God takes notice of these few Christians here and there who are sighing and groaning, who don't want to sin anymore.

And He takes notice of them. And He delivers them exactly like He delivered those Israelites from Egypt. What was He waiting for? He is waiting for that cry and that groaning, that longing. But where He finds the vast majority of Christians quite satisfied with their defeated life because they believe there is nothing better, God leaves them in Egypt, defeated by their sin.

So, I want to ask all of you sitting here, either you are free from sin, you have been saved from it, or there should be a cry coming up from your heart, Oh God, when are you going to deliver me? Or you're quite satisfied to be defeated.

Everybody sitting here is in one of these categories and you alone know which category you're in. See, we can hide our sins from so many people, but we can't hide it from those who live at home. Your wife knows whether you have victory over sin.

Your husband knows whether you overcome sin. And people in the church don't know because they see you only for 2 -3 hours a week. And I'll tell you who knows best of all, your children. Your children know very well when they grow up.

The reason why the children of so many believers have gone astray into the world is because they have seen that their parents were first class hypocrites, who preached a lot of stuff, but never lived it at all.

And that's the reason why most Christians' children go astray. I've seen it around the world. People who, believers who look so holy, just wait till their children grow up and let's see how those children behave, let's see how those children live.

And you'll know pretty soon whether the parents lived in honesty at home. There's an ancient book written by, it's not in the Bible, but it's written by a very godly Jewish man, in Old Testament times.

And he wrote in that book, don't, I'm going to paraphrase his words, don't assess a man until you see how his children have grown up. Then you can decide what type of man he was. Some of you who have small children, I like to wait till they grow up.

Then I'll know whether you lived a different life at home or not, or whether you were a first class hypocrite, sitting in church, pretending to be a very fine Christian, but living a totally different life at home.

Nobody in the church knows, but their children do. And why is it you live like that? Because there's no sighing and groaning in your heart to be free from these things that dishonour God. So, we read a verse in Matthew chapter 3, which John the Baptist, you know, John the Baptist was the forerunner of Jesus Christ.

Repentance and the Root of Sin

And he preached a message of repentance. In fact, all the prophets, every true prophet of God always preached. There is no prophet who does not preach repentance, not in the Old Testament, not in the New Testament.

John the Baptist was the forerunner of Jesus Christ and he preached repentance. Repentance means turning around from sin. Now, you cannot turn around from sin until you know what sin is. You know, if you think sin is just gambling and drinking and going to the movies, you give up that, you've given up sin.

I can show you a million people in India who never drink, who never smoke, who never gamble and never go to the movies, who are non-Christians. Have they repented? Sin is much more than watching dirty movies.

It's a lot more than that. And until you know what sin really is, you can't say you've turned around from it. Maybe you've given up some bad habits. I mean, there are people who give up smoking when the doctor says, if you continue smoking, you will die of lung cancer and they give it up.

It's not because they fear God. It's because they fear death. John the Baptist said this. He says, in verse 10 of Matthew 3, the axe is laid at the root of the tree and this tree which is not bringing good fruit is going to be cut down and thrown into the fire.

That's the way Jesus saves us from sin. In the Old Testament, we can say the law was like a pair of scissors. You know, there is a lot of difference between a pair of scissors and an axe. You can't cut down a tree with scissors.

You can cut out the fruit with scissors. So, many Christians, all they've got is a pair of scissors. As soon as some sin comes into their life, they cut it off. Oh Lord, God of Jesus, cleanse me, cleanse me, cleanse me.

They can't stop the fruit from coming out. It comes out in various sins in their life which they themselves know is sin. Their conscience tells them that's sin. That's a dirty thought. That word you spoke is a sinful word.

And that attitude towards something in the world, towards money or honour or position, it's sinful. But it comes forth and we say, Lord, cleanse me in the blood. We cut it off, cut it off, cut it off.

Is this all there is in the Christian life? John the Baptist says, no, there's more than that. What you need is an axe. Jesus did not come with a pair of scissors. He came with an axe to lay at the root of the tree and tear out this tree which is not bearing good fruit, which is what?

This thing we got from Adam called our human nature or what the Bible calls the flesh. And cut it down and throw it into the fire. You can't make the tree better. Some of us are trying to refine the nature of Adam.

You can't do it. That's a human self-improvement program that they teach in all the management seminars and big corporations. How to treat your employees better and how to get more customers. You know, sales people are taught how to speak to people and how to be nice to others.

That's not Christianity. That's just refining human nature. And a lot of Christians who sit in churches are listening to talks that tell them how to improve their human nature. Be kind to others, be good to others.

And if you've got a car, bring some old ladies to the church and they do all these good works. It's refining human nature. It's just like we teach our children, say thank you uncle and say I'm sorry for doing that.

It's just refining of human nature. It's not cutting down the tree. It's just trying to put a good front. That's not Christianity. They teach that in the management seminars and corporations. Christianity is something completely different.

Jesus says, this nature you inherited from Adam is evil. It's corrupt. Nothing, like Paul said in Romans 7 .18, there is nothing good that dwells in my flesh. It's got to be cut down. So, Jesus comes with an axe.

And you know, when you cut down the tree, then this fruit stops coming. And that's a better way than keeping on going around with the scissors every day. We are always afraid whether somebody would catch some bad fruit coming out of us.

That's how a lot of Christians live. They live always trying to keep good testimony before other people in the church. Nobody must see anything bad coming out of my life. As soon as it comes, cut it off.

You don't have to have all those worries when the tree itself has been cut down. So, when you look at the root of sin, I want to show you something. Some of it you may be already familiar with. But it's good to see the root of sin.

Lucifer, Adam, and the Desire to Be Like God

Where did sin begin? Let's turn to Isaiah chapter 14. The one who was the head of the angels once upon a time, before Adam was even created. He is called here the star of the morning, verse 12. We don't know his real name, Isaiah 14, 12.

That word star of the morning is translated in the Latin as Lucifer. And so, people somehow think that's his name. We really don't know what his name was. It's not given anywhere in the Bible. But let's call him Lucifer.

What did he say? He was the head of the angels and he said in verse 13 and 14, You said in your heart. It's interesting that sin did not begin with spoken words. It was just in the heart. In his heart he said, I will ascend, raise my throne above the stars of God.

And ultimately, verse 14, the last part, I will make myself like God. I want you to listen to that phrase. I will make myself like God. That is the root of sin. When I want to be like God, that's the root of sin.

And that's how Lucifer became the devil and he was thrown out immediately from God's presence. And sometime later, we don't know how much later, God created man and woman. And you know the story, He sent them into the garden of Eden and the devil came in the form of a snake.

In a snake. He came in a snake. And the devil can possess human beings. The devil can get into animals. You know once Jesus cast 2 ,000 demons or more into 2 ,000 pigs. So the devil could get into animals too.

And here the devil got into a snake and he spoke. It's the devil speaking to Eve. And what was his temptation? It wasn't just eat from this tree which God has forbidden. Disobey God in what He has said.

Because if you do it, what is it in verse 5, Genesis 3, 5? You will be like God. You see the temptation? Tempting man to be like God. The same thing he had himself years ago which made him the devil. He wanted this new race of humanity also to become like him.

And he knew the way to make them like him to be cast out of God's presence. He knew why he was cast out. He was cast out of God's presence because he wanted to be like God. He says, if I can get these people to want to be like God, they'll get thrown out too.

And he tempted them saying, you'll be like God. And Eve fell for the temptation. Which temptation? To be like God. And Adam was standing next to her. He heard it. Be like God. And so he also ate of that tree.

The Antichrist and the Spirit of Self-Exaltation

So that's the root of all sin. The desire to be like God. When you come to the New Testament, you know, the Bible says, the last days before Christ comes again, there will be a world ruler called the Antichrist.

But John the Apostle says, let me read that to you, 1 John 2, verse 18. Children, it is the last hour. When was it the last hour? 95 AD. Before the end of the first century, it was already the last hour.

Today, we are in the last minute. Children, it is the last hour. And you have heard, 1 John 2, verse 18, that the Antichrist is coming. But long before he comes, even now, there are many Antichrists have already arisen.

And that's one proof that we have the last hour. Now, what is the mark of the Antichrist? Antichrist means against the spirit of Christ. And he says, there are many Antichrists. That means there are many people who have the same spirit, even though they are not the final Antichrist.

There are many people who have got that same spirit that the final Antichrist will have. And where were these people sitting? They were not sitting in Caesar's palace. They were sitting in the church.

See what he says in the next verse. These people with the spirit of the Antichrist were sitting in our midst, in our churches and they went out. If they had belonged to us, really, they would have remained with us, verse 19.

But they went out in order that it might be shown that they don't really belong to the body of Jesus Christ. Now, why did they go out? How did they sit there and finally go out? They went out because there was a strong preaching of people like John.

The type of preaching we don't hear nowadays in many pulpits. Nowadays, a lot of preaching in the pulpits is psychology and self-improvement and a lot of music, a lot of emphasis on money. Money, music and psychology have replaced the power of the Holy Spirit.

Money, music and psychology. That sums up what happens in most churches today. An emphasis on money, emphasis on music and psychology. The Antichrist sits there comfortably because sin is not exposed.

And these Antichrists, what is their basic desire? You can understand it when you understand what is the spirit of the final Antichrist. Let's turn to 2nd Thessalonians, chapter 2. In 2nd Thessalonians, chapter 2, it speaks about the Antichrist who is going to finally come.

He is called here the man of sin, the son of destruction. In 2nd Thessalonians, chapter 2, it says here that the day of the Lord, don't be deceived, verse 2, the last part, that the day of the Lord has already come.

The day of the Lord hasn't come. Jesus has not returned. And let me tell you something, He says, let no one deceive you because that day will not come, the day of the Lord. Christ will not come until first the man of sin is revealed.

That's so clear. The son of destruction. That's the Antichrist. What are some of the characteristics of this Antichrist? He opposes and exalts himself over every object of worship. That means he wants to be worshipped just like Satan, Lucifer wanted to be worshipped.

See, God is the only one who's got the right to be worshipped. Even the angels do not accept worship. You read in Revelation that when John the apostle fell down before an angel, the angel said, get up.

Don't worship me. Only worship God. That's what a true angel and a true servant of God would say. Don't worship me, worship God. But the Antichrist, he exalts himself and wants to be worshipped. Do you know when you want people to admire you, you got the spirit of the Antichrist?

Did you know that? When you want people to admire you and respect you and honour you. I'm not saying if they do it, they may do it, but when you want it, people may admire you and respect you and appreciate you, you can't help it, but if you desire it, you got the spirit of the Antichrist.

A man who's got the spirit of Christ does not desire it. He does not desire any such honour from men. People give it to him, it's fine, but he doesn't desire it. When people want to be leaders in a church, that's the spirit of the Antichrist.

You may not know it, but it is. The spirit of Christ is not one who wants to be a leader. The spirit of Christ is one that wants to be a servant, to wash people's feet. If you have a great desire to wash people's feet, that's the spirit of Christ.

But if you have a great desire to be honoured in the church and to be exalted and to be a leader, that's the spirit of the Antichrist. You can detect it pretty quickly. And all of you can know whether you got the spirit of the Antichrist or the spirit of Christ.

But this person, the Antichrist, wants to be exalted, to be worshipped by people. And see, it says here, he takes his seat, 2nd Thessalonians 2 .4, in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.

That's the same old root of all sin. Wanting to be like God. We saw that with Lucifer. We saw that's how he tempted Adam and Eve. Be like God. And in the final day, the Antichrist is going to also say, I am like God.

You must worship me. You must respect me. And so, when John says, there are only little Antichrists sitting in our churches, they are not the final Antichrist. But they got the same spirit. And what is that spirit?

Wanting to be like God. You know, in Revelation, we all know the number 666. And many people have wondered, what does it mean? Revelation 13, verse 18. The number of the Antichrist, the number of his name is 666.

I'll tell you the spiritual significance of that. 6 is the number of man. Because man was created on the 6th day. God is a trinity. Father, Son and Holy Spirit. When man, whose number is 6, wants to be like God, the trinity, you have 666.

Man who wants to be like God, the trinity. That's the number of the Antichrist. We read in 2 Thessalonians 2 .4 that he sits and wants to display himself as God. You can never be saved from sin till you get out of your system the poison that came to our first father and mother, Adam and Eve.

The desire to be like God. What does it mean to be like God? Let me just mention a few things. One, God never makes a mistake. Never. He never has to apologize to anybody. Because He never makes a mistake.

Daily Forgiveness and Conscious Sin

If you have never apologized to your wife, you are probably God. Right? If you find it difficult to ask forgiveness from your husband, you are probably acting like God. Because God is the only one who never makes a mistake.

And you live at home acting as though you never made a mistake. You find it so difficult to ask forgiveness from somebody because you are God in your own thinking. You are one who never makes a mistake.

You try to give people the impression that you have never made a mistake. Spirit of the Antichrist. All human beings make mistakes. Jesus said, pray like this, our father who art in heaven. You don't have to repeat it.

But this is the spirit in which we must pray. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. How frequently do we have to pray that prayer? Is there any request in that prayer that teaches us how often we should pray that prayer?

Can you think? Is it once a year? Or once a month? Give us this day our daily. So obviously that's the spirit of every prayer that we should pray every day. He didn't ask us to pray for our bread once a week.

Or once a month. Or like our monthly salary or weekly salary. Give us this day our daily bread and also daily forgive us our sins. That's the next request. As we forgive those who sin against us. So obviously we should be praying every day for the forgiveness of our sins.

But you say, well, Brother Zak, you talk about victory over sin and at the same time you say praying for forgiveness of our sins every day. That's right. There are apparent contradictions in the Bible which are not real contradictions because we don't understand scripture or write.

There are two types of sins that we all have. One is conscious sin and the other is unconscious sin. When the Bible speaks about victory over sin, it only speaks about victory in our conscious area. You cannot have victory in your unconscious area because you don't even know it is sin.

It's like a student who studies in a lower class. He studies addition. He studies mathematics. He studies addition and subtraction. That's all he is conscious of. There are other things in mathematics like multiplication and division.

He hasn't come to that yet. That's next year. So, you can't hold him guilty for not knowing multiplication and division because he hasn't come to that yet. And when he gets an examination in his class, he is not going to be given a question on multiplication and division.

He is only going to be given a question on addition and subtraction. You know how it is with your children when they go to school. Then he goes to another class and he learns about multiplication and division.

Then he'll get questions on multiplication and division. But there are still higher things like algebra and geometry. They won't give him questions on that because that's in the next class. This is how we progress spiritually too.

Progressive Sanctification and Spiritual Growth

The areas we have light on, where we are unlike Jesus Christ, that's the conscious area of sin. But there are a thousand areas where we don't have light, where we are totally unlike Christ. But you don't have light on it yet.

And you won't get light on it if you don't get a promotion to the next class. You know, a person can sit and fail in the first grade for 10 years. Now, we rarely find a child in school who sits in the same class for 10 years.

But I have seen lot of Christians who sit in the same class for 10 years. If you lost your temper, if you used to lose your temper at your wife when you were married and after 30 years you still lose your temper, you are sitting in the same class for 30 years.

Leave alone one or two years. Aren't you? You are supposed to have got victory over sin long ago. But you have been sitting there for 30 years. If you lusted after women with your eyes and on the computer 10 years ago and you are still doing it, you are sitting in the same class for 10 years.

When are you going to get out of it? That's what I mean. God wants you to progress but you are sitting in the same class. And you are not sighing and crying, Oh God, deliver me from this slavery in Egypt.

That's why you are still a slave there. But there are a few who sigh and groan and cry that God hears their sigh and cry like it says in Exodus 2 and He delivers them. And you think there is no deliverance because you yourself have not been delivered.

There is deliverance and people are experiencing it here and there. And you think they are bluffing. They are not bluffing. They sighed and groaned and cried and they got deliverance. But you seem to be quite content with your defeated life and that's why you sit.

There is a higher life and God is always calling us saying, My son, my daughter, don't live in that low level that you have lived for so long. Come up higher. But there are only very few who respond to that call.

Most people are satisfied with that low defeated life. Do you know that your home is supposed to be a foretaste of heaven for people who live there? A foretaste of what heaven is like. The love, the joy, the peace, the humility, the purity of heaven.

Is that what you are experiencing? Is that what people come to your home, taste of? Do your children who grow up there get a foretaste of heaven? Many Christian homes are a foretaste of hell. How in the world do we find so many believers today divorced?

Divorce is from hell. 100%, not 90%, 100 from hell. How is it there are so many divorces among Christians? And they get married again, get divorced again. Pastors divorced. This is hell. And you got to write in Christian pulpits.

There are pastors who speak in tongues who are divorced. What type of tongues is that? That's a demonic tongues. Divorce? I can't understand it. It's amazing how the devil has fooled Christians left, right and center.

They think the important thing is preaching and shouting and praying and music. No, it isn't. It's purity. And if that's not there, what you got is hell. So, there's a verse in 1 Corinthians 4 where Paul says, he talks about victory in his own life.

It's an amazing statement. I wonder how many Christians would be able to say this. 1 Corinthians 4, verse 4. Remember, this is a human being born of the race of Adam, just like you and me. But he has experienced such salvation in Christ.

The name of Jesus who came to save from sin. It's become so real for Paul that he can say, 1 Corinthians 4, verse 4, I am conscious. See the word conscious? I am conscious of nothing against myself. What a word!

I am not conscious of a single sin in my life. People think that's boasting. Well, if it was boasting, then we've got sin right in the middle of the Bible. Can you imagine the Holy Spirit making Paul commit sin right in the middle of the Bible?

When he says, I am conscious of nothing against myself. That's not boasting. That's giving a testimony. What Jesus has done for me, He has fulfilled the meaning of His name. He has saved me from conscious sin.

I mean, if you have not experienced it, it's because you don't believe it. Have you read that verse, the last verse of Matthew 13 which says, Jesus could not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.