Three Levels of the Christian Life — Zac Poonen

The Whole Purpose of God and Freedom from the Blood of All Men

We've been thinking about preserving the glory of the Lord in our church. And yesterday I read this verse to you in about the Lord wanting to build a tabernacle to the Israelites so that we could make a home for him and this is the Lord's burden for us in the church.

I want to read a verse in Acts of the Apostles chapter 20. There are two people in the New Testament who said, follow me. One was Jesus. No one in the Old Testament ever said, follow me. All the prophets said, listen to me, listen to me.

This is the word of the Lord. Hear the word of the Lord. Hear the word of the Lord. This is the burden of the Lord. Jesus was the first person who said, follow me. And then after he died and rose again, the Apostle Paul said, follow me.

1 Corinthians 11, 1. Philippians 3, 17. Twice he said, follow me as I follow Christ. And he went on in Philippians 3 to say that not only me, but others who are following after my example. So there are many things we can learn from Paul, for example, how to plant churches.

Jesus did not plant a church, so we can't learn that from him. And how to do the Lord's work in the New Covenant age. So we follow Jesus and we follow Paul as he followed Christ. So listen to what Paul says after staying three years in Ephesus.

It's the longest that he ever stayed in any place. He called the elders together of the church in Ephesus in Acts 20 verse 17. And then he told them something. Listen to this. There are many things here.

I just want to mention one thing. He told those elders, I don't know how many there were, maybe five or six elders of that. It was a probably a fairly large church in Ephesus. And he told them verse 26, I testify to you this day, I am innocent of the blood of all men.

I'm innocent of the blood of all men. Why? He gives us a reason. Now, nowadays, a lot of people, particularly those who have a passion for evangelism, they go and preach the gospel to somebody and they say, okay, I'm innocent of your blood now.

You heard the gospel. If you go to hell, you're responsible. Thereby, they have condemned people. Or you go and give out tracts, you give out a thousand tracts and you say, okay, folks, I'm free from your blood.

You got the gospel. Now, if you go to hell, it's your responsibility. I cannot imagine Jesus or Paul ever doing that. Because a lot of those tracts that people distribute, you find thrown in the trash can or on the road later on.

When can I say that I'm free from the blood of all men? People actually quote Paul, but like most Christians who don't read the Bible properly or read it carelessly, they don't see, how did Paul say I'm free from the blood of all men?

He said, I am free from the blood of all of you people because for means because I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God. If you have not declared the whole purpose of God to people, you are not free from their blood.

If you just tell them Jesus died for your sins and rose from the dead, believe on him, you're not free from their blood. That is the folly of people who just give out tracts and condemn people. God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, John 3 17, but to save them.

If you go around condemning people by giving them tracts, you're not following Jesus Christ, you're following the devil who brings condemnation to people. We must witness to people in order to lead them to salvation, not to condemnation.

And so we see here, that's why we are careful in how we witness. Therefore I declare to you, I'm innocent of the blood of all men because I declared to you the whole purpose of God. We can think of the whole purpose of God like a circle and Paul says, I colored the whole circle.

I didn't just speak one segment of it, which is forgiveness of sins and say I'm free from your blood. Please remember this, in the church, in our church, in CFC, we want to be free from the blood of all people who come and listen to us, either here or on the internet.

And that is by declaring to them the entire purpose of God or what we call the full gospel. Now there are many churches today that are called full gospel churches. I've been to a number of them. I've seen a number of them and I believe most of them do not preach the full gospel.

Because they say we are better than those other people who just preach Jesus forgives your sins. We also preach that Jesus baptizes in the Holy Spirit and some say okay, Jesus heals the sick, but that is not the full gospel.

We need to see what is the full gospel from Scripture. If you read the New Testament epistles, there's almost nothing written about healing the sick. Almost zero, except for one verse in James. There's no verse at all.

So that's not a major thing of what the Apostles preached. So we need to understand what is the full gospel. And if you turn to Hebrews chapter 6, he says there how we must leave Hebrews 6 verse 1, we must leave the elementary teaching about Christ.

That means the basic kindergarten lesson and press on to maturity or perfection. That's the verse we have in front of our pulpit here. Let us press on to perfection. We are not perfect. That verse itself shows we are not perfect.

Some people say we think we are perfect. No, look at that verse. We are pressing on to perfection. If I'm saying I'm on my way to Chennai, it means I haven't reached Chennai. I'm pressing on there. I'm pressing on to perfection.

So it says let us leave the elementary teaching, the foundation, and press on to perfection. Not laying again the foundation. The foundation is repentance from dead works, which means all our activities by which we try to be saved.

No. Faith towards God. Washings or baptisms. Baptism in water and the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Laying on of hands for spiritual gifts and resurrection of the dead in the final, that is the final day, resurrection and eternal judgment.

That's the basic foundation. So spiritual gifts is part of the foundation. Baptism in the Holy Spirit, water baptism is all part of the foundation. That's not a full gospel. That's not the postgraduate level.

When you have got forgiveness and repentance and faith and water baptism, baptism in the Holy Spirit and you've sought for spiritual gifts and you believe in the future resurrection, eternal judgment, you have laid a foundation.

You haven't got to the superstructure. You haven't even begun the superstructure. That's what scripture says. A lot of people think that baptism in the Holy Spirit means I've completed the building. It's an absolute nonsense.

It's the foundation. We believe in it. It's important. Receiving the Holy Spirit and then continuously being filled with the Holy Spirit. So, you remember yesterday I began with this verse in Exodus in chapter 25.

The Tabernacle, God’s Presence, and the Fire of God

God said, I want to build a home for you to build a home for me. Exodus 25 verse 8, let them construct a sanctuary which we know as the tabernacle for me that I may dwell among them. The most important thing there is not the pattern of the tabernacle, that is important, but that God should be happy to live there.

If God's not happy to live there, just having the structure is no use. Very important to understand that and we can have a church according to New Testament pattern and God may not be there. You know in the Old Testament, there are examples where the glory of God left.

They had the tabernacle, the pattern exactly there, but the glory of God left. You know in the tabernacle, the most important part was the fire that dwelt on the tabernacle. There are about 10 or 12 chapters in Exodus that describe how to build the tabernacle and any Philistine, any Amorite, Moabite could have built it, not just the Israelites, if they got that pattern.

We can build it today exactly like that. But there's one thing you cannot and I cannot duplicate and those Amorites and Philistines could not duplicate and that is the fire from heaven. There was only one thing in the tabernacle that was supernatural, divine and that was the fire.

The rest was all human. Any human being, an unconverted godless atheist could have built the tabernacle and I want to say godless people can build a church pattern exactly like CFCs, but what you can't duplicate is the presence of the Lord.

What you can't duplicate is the presence of the Lord in a meeting. You can't duplicate that. The anointing of God that brings the presence of Jesus Christ so real in a meeting that you go away from the meeting saying the Lord spoke to me.

That you cannot duplicate. You can entertain people with wonderful music that people say, wow what music that was. You can entertain people with a very powerful orator who can speak powerfully just like these politicians.

You know, just because somebody grips your attention for one hour doesn't mean God is speaking. There are politicians who can grip your attention for two hours. Political speakers, very eloquent orators.

Don't be deceived by all these things. It's only one thing that marks the fire of God in a church. That is the presence of Jesus Christ which makes us tremble in fear in his presence and where we hear him speaking to us.

The secrets of our heart are made manifest means the things that we try to hide from people, sins in secret and wrong attitudes and wrong thoughts all get exposed not to humiliate us, but to deliver us.

He came to set the captives free. He came to open the prison doors. That is the mark of the fire of God and the anointing in the presence. And that is what we should long for in every single meeting. If I go away from him after speaking in a meeting and I say Oh Lord the presence of God is not there.

There have been some rare occasions like that more in the past where I have fallen on my face before God and wept and I said Lord what happened today? We didn't sense your presence. But I find so many preachers and elders who can go away after speaking in a meeting and feel quite happy because there was nobody to question them.

Did you did you feel the presence of the Lord there? Did you feel people were hearing God speaking to them? If not, I want to say to you you should go and fall on your face before God. Get on your bed and fall on your face and weep.

God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. Blessed are those who weep, mourn for they shall be strengthened. So we're thinking of we want to think a little more of the tabernacle today. So I want to show you something here.

Here's a picture of the tabernacle. I want to talk to you about three levels of Christian living. There's a reason why God has given us so many chapters on the tabernacle in the Old Testament. Not for us to study it in detail, but to understand a principle here.

There were three parts of the tabernacle which speaks about three levels at which you can live your Christian life and it's your choice as to where you live. Outside the tabernacle are the is a picture of unbelievers.

At the left end, which is the eastern end of the tabernacle was a gate which represents Jesus saying I'm the door, I am the way and you enter into the tabernacle. What you see there on the left and that is a picture of salvation.

You come in to be forgiven and the first thing you see there in front of you is an altar which is a picture of where the sacrifices are offered for forgiveness of sins and then you go beyond that, that little circle there is a picture of a like a big tub of water where they washed themselves before they went any further.

So that's a picture of first of all Calvary where Christ died for our sins and sacrificed for our sins and second is what in Titus chapter 3 is called a washing of regeneration. That means we're made anew.

It's called a washing of regeneration in Titus 3 verse 5 and which we symbolize, which is symbolized in water baptism. So that's what we see there, a picture of forgiveness of sins and water baptism and you're in the outer court.

It's a picture of knowing Jesus as Savior from the penalty of sin. That's it. But that's not the full gospel. That's just the beginning. We need to know that because we must be sure, it's very important that all of us are sure that we are really turned from our sin.

You see entering through the gate indicates that I have turned from my sin. And that I have accepted Christ as my Savior and going on from there we come to the water baptism, which is the next step of obedience and I become a part of a local church.

I must be sure that my sins are forgiven. The Bible says in Hebrews 8 verse 12, we emphasize that, that your sins and iniquities I will not remember anymore. And the other thing is we are justified by the blood of Christ, which means not only my sins are forgiven, but I'm clothed with the righteousness of Christ when I come before God.

And that's very, very important as well because so many people live in condemnation. One wondering whether God has really forgiven their sin and the other hesitant to approach the Holy God. You must be convinced that God doesn't remember your sins anymore once you have confessed it.

The only sin He will remember is the sin that you have not confessed. That is not forgiven. But the sin that is forgiven is the sin that you've confessed. And the other thing is that we must be convinced that I'm clothed in the righteousness of Christ.

I stand before God, not that there is a corrupt flesh in me, but I'm clothed with the righteousness of Christ. It's what the Bible calls justified, declared righteous. Not only forgiven. Forgiven means I stand before God as a criminal who has been forgiven.

That's different from standing before God as righteous because I'm clothed with the righteousness of Christ. That is being justified. I feel that many, many believers have understood forgiveness, but they have not understood justification.

Accepted in Christ and because they are not sure they've been accepted by God in Christ, they live in condemnation, doubt whether they can come to God, hesitant. And that's the devil. Justification is spoken so much in the New Testament, particularly Romans 3, Romans 4, Romans 5.

Read it. Meditate on it until you're sure that you're declared righteous before God. You're not standing there as a criminal, forgiven, but one declared righteous, accepted in Christ because I'm clothed in his righteousness.

That's so important. And that is what we see in that first picture of the Jesus knowing Jesus as Savior. But then we go on. There's a covered tent there you see on the right side, which has got two parts to it.

A holy place and a most holy place. And between the holy place and the most holy place was a thick curtain called the veil, which was torn when Jesus died on the cross. And in the Old Testament, people could not go into the most holy place.

They just couldn't go there because the veil indicated there's something in you and that was the flesh, the strong self-will of man, which prevented man from going into the most holy place. And so, but the Old Testament people couldn't, could come right into the holy place, the priests.

In the outer court were only the ordinary people, but those who were priests anointed could go into the holy place where there were three items there. One was a lampstand, the other was a altar of incense and a table of bread.

Knowing Jesus as the Baptizer in the Holy Spirit

Now entering into the holy place is a picture of knowing Jesus as baptizer in the Holy Spirit, the one who anoints me with the Holy Spirit. So I'm trying to explain to you the full gospel. First, you know Jesus as Savior, who has forgiven you, says I won't remember your sins, justified you.

You stop there. Some people stop there. That's the first level of the Christian life. Probably some of you are still there. But you need to go on to know Jesus as the one who anoints you with the Holy Spirit and enables you to serve.

And that's where we know Jesus as the baptizer in the Holy Spirit. And not everybody went in there to the holy place. It was only the priests and they were anointed. The ordinary people were not anointed.

They could not go there. So here is a second level where we don't stop with just thinking of what we got from God. I got forgiveness. I got justification. We're so grateful and we say Lord, I want to do something for you.

I want to serve you. And then you think you can serve on your own. To think that you can serve God on your own and your own ability is as foolish as thinking that your good works will forgive your past sins.

Now we all know that all your good works will not forgive your past sins. But we don't realize that we don't have the ability to serve God. We think we can. Oh well, I can go out and witness. I can go out and do this and do that and the other thing.

Yeah, you can do a lot of things. Like people in the world, non-christians think they can do a lot of things to get their sins forgiven. They light candles. They go on pilgrimages. They dip themselves in some river.

That's the same thing many Christians are doing when they think they can serve God without the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Exactly the same. You can despise them. All those blind people who go and dip in a river thinking their sins can be forgiven.

These blind believers, born-again believers, who think they can serve God without the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Absolutely no difference. They are blind to this. These folks are blind to the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

There are multitudes of believers today who have come as far as the first level of the Christian life and stopped and not gone on to say, Lord, I want to be anointed with the Holy Spirit. Even Jesus did not begin to serve the Father till he was anointed with the Holy Spirit.

What was wrong with his life at the age of 30? Not a single sin in 30 years. Don't you think a man who lived without sin for 30 years ready to serve God? You would think so. Foolish Christians think so.

Jesus did not. He stood in line, went into the River Jordan, and he was anointed. Then he came out and did things he could never do in 30 years. He could live a holy life in 30 years. But he could not cast out demons in those years.

He did not heal the sick in those years. He did not preach any sermons, anointed sermons in those years. For that, even Jesus needed the anointing. That's what convinced me as a young Christian. I grew up in a church that preached about being born again, but did not preach the anointing of the Holy Spirit strong enough.

Yeah, there was, you know, a lot of people go to some church where they occasionally mention baptism in the Holy Spirit. That's like going to some dead denomination church where once in a year they talk about being born again.

Do you think a lot of people in that church will be born again? Where once in a while they talk about being born again? No. Such churches, the vast majority, will not be born again. And churches that once in a while talk about the anointing of the Holy Spirit, I can guarantee the vast majority of those Christians will not be anointed with the Holy Spirit.

They may be forgiven. They live at that first level of the Christian life forever and die there. When God wants them to move on. The full gospel is Jesus is a Savior and Jesus is the baptizer in the Holy Spirit.

John the Baptist said that, behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. And then he also said the same person is the one who baptizes in the Holy Spirit. The first promise in the New Testament is Matthew 121, he shall save his people from their sins.

The second promise in the New Testament is he shall also baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire. Have you experienced that? Very very important. I remember I grew up in a church that did not preach that.

When I was born again, I was baptized in water. I'm studying the Word of God. We studied the Bible like studying chemistry books or physics books. You don't need the anointing of the Holy Spirit to study chemistry or physics.

We studied the Bible like that and we became great scholars of the Bible. But I felt a lack of power in my life. And I said Lord, I want power. So I began to seek God on my own for the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

And God anointed me the Holy Spirit in my room. I didn't need to go to any meeting. I did go to a meeting where they told me to repeat hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. And they're saying your tongue will trip and then you'll speak in tongues.

I said nonsense. I'm not gonna do all that, all that counterfeit. I went back to my room and I said Lord, that is not what I want. That is some cheap counterfeit. I want the real thing and if it takes ten years, I'll wait for the real thing.

God anointed me. My entire ministry changed when God anointed me. I want to urge all of you who think, who are so proud and arrogant to think that you can serve God without the anointing of the Holy Spirit, just humble yourself.

And just like there's no such thing as one saved always saved. There's no such thing as once filled always filled. We always need to be anointed with the Holy Spirit if we want to serve. You can have the anointing and you can lose it.

King Saul was mightily anointed. He lost it. There are many many people who were anointed and who lost the anointing. I think Demas, a co-worker of Paul, was definitely anointed. Paul would never have had a man on his team who was not anointed with the Holy Spirit.

Impossible. And yet he says about Demas in 2nd Timothy 4 .10 He has forsaken me having loved this present world. What happened to the anointing? Gone. So there we see anointed with the Holy Spirit, but that's not the end of the gospel.

Entering the Most Holy Place Through the Veil

Now in the new covenant, what was not possible in the old covenant is go through the veil to the third part of the gospel, which is the most holy place. Jesus as our forerunner. In Hebrews chapter 6 notice how it begins with the foundation and notice how it ends.

Very important. There's a title of Jesus that is only found in Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 6 verse 1 begins with let us lay a good foundation. Not laying it again. And it ends with the we enter through the veil, verse 19 last part.

We have a hope that goes in through the veil into the most holy place where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us. Forerunner means one who has gone ahead of us in this race for us. And so we know Jesus as Savior.

Good. We know Jesus as baptizer. You've got two-thirds of the gospel. The full gospel is when you go through the veil and know Jesus as baptizer in the whole as forerunner. One who went through the veil, denied himself, got into the Father's presence and lived there all his life and opened that way for us, which was not open in the old covenant.

This is the meaning of the rent veil, which has made the full gospel available to us. In Hebrews chapter 10, Hebrews is a great book. You know, I took a study of 70 hours through the Bible and I took four hours on Hebrews alone because I believe it's the most important book for Christians and that's why most Christians don't read it much.

They think it's too heavy. That's why they remain babes. In Hebrews 10, it says we have boldness, verse 19, to enter actually the most holy place by the blood of Jesus, verse 20, by a new and living way, which he inaugurated for us through the veil.

That is the veil is between the holy place and the most holy place. He inaugurated a way for us through the veil and that veil symbolizes his flesh. Do you know the word flesh? It refers to meat sometimes in the New Testament, but it refers to that which opposes the Holy Spirit.

The flesh fights against the spirit. The spirit fights against the flesh, Galatians 5 17. That is, what is it that fights against the flesh in me? It's not my body. Everything, the root of all sin is my self-will, my will.

A little child, a two-year-old child does not lust with his eyes, but he's got a flesh. The two-year-old child does not love money, but he's got flesh. The two-year-old child is not going to commit adultery, but he's got a flesh.

What is it that two-year-old child has got? My will. Every parent knows the big conflict is between your will and your little child's will. That child is born with a flesh called my will and it's not love of money.

It is not lusting with the eyes. It is not any of those things. It is the strength of my will which develops into doing my will when it comes to lusting with my eyes or hating people or not forgiving people or all the other sins you can think of, jealousy, bitterness, everything.

The root of it is my will. Jesus did not have sin in his life, but he had what is called my will. He says in John 6 38, I came from heaven not to do my will. That means I deny my will to do the will of my father.

That is this veil symbolized that will of Jesus that was torn. Torn throughout the 33 years and finally when he died on the cross, the last part of it was torn, you know, on the cross. He said, I don't want to break this fellowship with your father, but even there I give up my will.

That is the most difficult of all, the greatest temptation which we will never face of being forsaken by God. He was willing to accept even that for our salvation. That's how much he loved us and his will was completely yielded right up to there and the last thread in that veil was torn and the way in the most holy place was open.

We don't realize what a tremendous price Jesus paid to open the way for us. And do we value it? Think of a father who spends millions of rupees in order to give an education to his child. The child doesn't value it.

That's exactly how many many Christians are who haven't understood how Jesus rent this veil to open the way for us to enter into the most holy place. If I realize the price, if a student realizes how much money my father has sacrificed his whole life to earn money to give me a good education, here Jesus sacrificed his whole life and even giving up that which he valued the most, the cup he did not want to drink, fellowship with the Father, he even gave up that so that we might get into the most holy place and most Christians do not live there.

The way has been opened but we don't go in. The devil blinds people outside the camp to the fact that Jesus died for their sins. They don't know him as Savior. Once people get into the outer court or knowing Jesus as Savior, he blinds them to the baptism in the Holy Spirit.

And once people come to the baptism in the Holy Spirit, he blinds them to the fact that Jesus can lead you into the holy place. He's a forerunner. So the devil tries to blind people at three places. Outside the camp, you don't know him as Savior.

After you know him as Savior, you don't value him as baptized in the Holy Spirit. And once you know him as baptized, you think you got it? Everybody thinks they got it. The fellow who knows forgiveness thinks he's got it.

Even the unbeliever who's an atheist out there thinks he's got it. The devil is amazing how he blinds people. So here is in the tabernacle, God has described what the full gospel is. You go through the veil into the most holy place.

In the outer court, there are lots of people. And if you like always mingling with people, you'll stay there forever. In the holy place, there are fewer number of people who are anointed, serving, busy serving.

And if you're one of those who love serving, you'll come there. When you get into the most holy place, there's nobody there but God, your Father. And if you're bored with God, you'll never want to be there.

If you like people more than God, you'll never want to be in the holy place. You say the holy place is boring. Talking to God, what is there? I'll tell you something. God is the most interesting person in the universe.

Once you get to know him, once you get to know Jesus personally, you'll never want anything else more than that. You don't have to struggle to say, Oh Lord, okay, I desire nothing on earth but you, Lord.

I'm willing to give it all up. It won't be like that. It'll be, God, Jesus, I found you. I don't want any of this rubbish. I found you. Have you got it like that? You remember how Adam saw all the animals and the Lord asked him, do you want any of these as your wife?

He said, no, no, no, no, no, no. And finally he brought Eve and said, wow, this is it. And that's how it is when a person really sees Jesus. I'm absolutely convinced that most of you have not seen Jesus like this.

That's the grief of my heart. Many elders in our churches have not seen Jesus like this. That's why they're gripped with their ministry. They're always in the holy place serving this, that, that, this.

They're not gripped with Jesus. Devotion to Jesus is the main purpose of the gospel. And that's possible only in the most holy place where you rend the veil. That means rending the veil is what Jesus meant by taking up the cross daily.

You know what it means to take up the cross daily? Rend the veil. It's all the same thing. Say no to my own will every single day. Somebody gets upset with me in the morning and I say no. Somebody gets upset with me in the evening.

I say no to my own will. I will not respond to him in the way he responds. Somebody gets upset with me in the office, on the road, anywhere. I die to my will. I mean, the temptation is to respond, but I will not respond.

The Bible says a gentle answer turns away wrath. And he gets upset with me. I'm going to reply gently. I'm going to die to myself. I'm tempted with 101 pictures and all types of things on the road. And I keep saying, no, I don't want to see that.

I don't want to see that. I'm not interested. I'm not interested in these things. I'm not interested in doing something unrighteous to make a little more money. I'm always saying no to my own will. What is the result of it?

I live in the most holy place all the time. I fellowship with God. When it says in Hebrews in chapter 12 next page Let us run the race looking unto Jesus. What does this mean? Most people who quote this verse don't have a clue what it means.

Run means we are running behind someone who's run in front of us. That means he's the forerunner. So if he was a forerunner, we already see in Hebrews 6, he was a forerunner to go into the most holy place.

And I am to run behind him and endure the cross, despise the shame. Why did he do that? Because of the joy set before him. He endured the cross. What is the joy set before him? It wasn't money. It wasn't any earthly pleasure.

There was only one joy set before Jesus and that was fellowship with his father, which he enjoyed for 33 and a half years. In a sense, he was living inside the most holy place, rending the veil, living inside for 33 and a half years.

He denied himself every day. He took up his cross every day, and he lived in the Father's presence. In Psalm 1611 says, in God's presence, there is fullness of joy. I've made that a rule in myself. Whenever I don't have fullness of joy in my life, I say to myself, I am NOT in the Father's presence.

Because in the Father's presence, there's fullness of joy. There's no complaining. There's no grumbling. There's no anger. There's no jealousy. There's no getting upset. Fullness of joy, only in the Father's presence.

And anytime you don't have fullness of joy, whatever you may say, you are not in the Father's presence. You may say you have a clear conscience, but you're not in the Father's presence, because you're not rejoicing in fullness of joy.

Jesus was anointed with the oil of gladness all the time, because it says in Hebrews 1 .9, he hated iniquity and he loved righteousness. Or in other words, he hated doing his own will and he delighted in doing the Father's will.

He hated saying what he wanted to say. He put that to death and spoke what the Holy Spirit prompted him to say. That is why he was anointed with the oil of gladness, more than others. More than others, because the others didn't want to walk that way.

The others want to say what they like sometimes. Don't you feel like sometimes saying what you feel like? Well, no wonder you don't have fullness of joy. Don't you sometimes feel like doing what you want to do?