Purity in Us and Our Children — Zac Poonen

Pure Testimony Versus a Large Testimony

We have been seeing in these days That God is not looking for a large testimony but a pure testimony. I believe this is one of the biggest mistakes that Christendom has made. The difference between large and pure is the difference between Babylon and Jerusalem.

Now I've preached that for 35 years, but I find many people don't understand it. In the book of Revelation, Babylon is called the great city. Great. Huge. Big. 11 times. Jerusalem is called the holy city.

Know the difference between a great city and a holy city? That's the difference between Babylon and Jerusalem. That's the difference between a Babylonian church and a Jerusalem church. To build a great city, you need gifts.

You need eloquence. You need great men. You need great preachers. You need good music. You need a lot of money. But to build a pure church, you need people who are wholehearted. They don't need money.

Even without money you can build Jerusalem. You can't build Babylon without money. You can build Jerusalem without any music. 3 ,000 people were converted on the day of Pentecost without any music. It's a great deception today to think that you require music to lead people to Christ.

The New Covenant and Wholehearted Obedience

It says before they went to the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus and his disciples sang together, sang a hymn. They didn't have any instruments. I would have loved to have been there without any instruments.

Jesus is leading that singing. There is so much of deception in Christendom today. And the number one reason for this deception is they don't read the Bible slowly. And they don't have a clue that the old covenant has been abolished and there's a new covenant established.

There was one truth I would like to travel all over Christendom preaching is, dear brothers, the Holy Spirit was poured out on the day of Pentecost. The old covenant has been abolished. Don't live by Deuteronomy 28.

Live by Romans chapter 6, Romans chapter 8. These are Romans chapter 12. These are the chapters we must live by today. But like Jesus said in his lifetime, they have years but they will not hear. Because their heart goes out to their greediness and their covetousness.

The Lord told Ezekiel, you are like a person playing a nice instrument whom they would like to listen to but they're not going to listen to you. The Lord said to Ezekiel these words and I want to turn to it in chapter 33.

He was speaking to Israel in Babylon. Now I told you that books like Jeremiah and Ezekiel are tremendous messages for today's Christians. Ezekiel 33 verse 30. I have felt like this many times. Ezekiel 33 verse 30.

As for you son of man, I'm reading in the message Bible. You've become quite the talk of the town. Your people meet on the street corners in front of their houses. And in a mocking way, they say let's go and hear the latest news from God.

And they show up as people tend to do and sit in your company. They listen to you speak, but they won't do a single thing that you say. They flatter you with their compliments. Ezekiel 33 verse 30. So the people talk about you in their houses and speak to one another saying, hey, let's go and listen.

What's the message that's come forth from the Lord? They'll come to you as my people, sit down, but they're not going to hear, they're not going to do one single thing that you say because all that they care about, verse 31, is making money and getting on in this world.

All that they care about is making money and getting ahead in this world. And to them, you are merely entertainment. A country singer who sings sad love songs playing a guitar. They love to hear you talk, but nothing comes of it.

But when all this happens, and it's going to happen, they will one day realize that they had a prophet among them. So the church is not here to convert the world. We're not here to convert India. I don't believe the whole of India will ever be converted because there are few, Jesus said, who will find the way to life.

And he knew better than you and me. We can have desires, but God wants all men to repent. He wants all men to come to the knowledge of the truth. Even in Noah's day, I believe that if there was a big rush of thousands of people who wanted to get into the ark, God would have said, okay Noah, I'll change the dimensions of the ark, make it bigger.

But God knew there's not going to be a big rush for the ark. Have you ever thought why God gave Noah just those dimensions for the ark? Imagine if a hundred thousand people wanted to get in. God knew it wouldn't be a hundred thousand.

God knew it would be only eight. That's why he gave those dimensions. He said the animals have got more sense than these people. They'll come, but not people. Many times God said through his prophets, these animals have got more sense than human beings.

The ox knows his master, but my people don't know my master. Noah is called a preacher of righteousness. The last days will be like the days of Noah. And he was a witness right up until the end, 120 years he preached the truth.

He was like a burning bush in his time. God in his midst. The people knew he was with God. They called him crazy, all that, but God was with him. The church is to be like that, dear brothers. It's very, very important that none of you elders ever get excited when people come and join.

Make sure they are disciples. If they are not disciples, I can give it to you in writing. There'll be a pain in your neck. They'll create problems in your church, and you will be responsible for allowing them, every Tom, Dick and Harry to come and join.

When Jesus said go and make disciples, you were just interested in making your congregation larger and excited when more people came. Remember all your life, Babylon is a great city. Jerusalem is a holy city, and if you study church history, all the great movements that came throughout history through great men of God whom God raised up, whether it's the Salvation Army or the Methodist Church, or different groups that God raised up, the founders were very godly men.

Almost all of them, the founders were very godly men. The early leaders, one or two leaders, were very godly men. They knew God, and usually they were very poor. They were not rich, and they had a vision from God.

They knew God, and they knew how to build a church, and then came another generation which knew the doctrine, but did not know God. The founders knew God, the followers knew the doctrine, and the result was the followers were excited when numbers started increasing.

Hey, we were unpopular for so long, now we're getting a little popular. That's when you've got to be scared. You don't have to be so scared when you're rejected, despised, unpopular. You've got to be scared when you're getting a little more popular and accepted, and people join you because you've got a reputation.

Because then comes the time when all types of people come in who spoil your testimony. People wonder why we don't allow visitors and unbelievers to come to a conference like this. What will happen? You know, we hire these premises, and the people who loan us these premises don't know who is part of CFC and who is not.

Some visitor comes along, gets upset with something, and goes and yells at them. Who gets the bad testimony? We. But we don't want to be a bad testimony. That's why we don't allow visitors. In spite of them, some people come sneaking in because the elders don't vet, who all don't test out whom they are sending.

Let them come along, let them hear the gospel. And because of you elders are foolish, you get a bad testimony for us here. That's why I say we've got to be careful. Some of us think we have more wisdom than the elders who plan these things.

You see how you can ruin the whole testimony of CFC by allowing somebody to come here who's not really a wholehearted believer. We're not here for outreach. We are not here to convert people. That you got to do in your local church.

We're here to consolidate people and say we want to be a burning shining light here for the Lord. We want everywhere we go. When we have a conference like this, everybody must know we're different. So it's good to humble ourselves and accept the admonition of the elders in these cases.

This has happened more than once. But you know people are slow to learn a lesson. Charles Finney used to say, unless you tell a person something ten times, they don't hear it. Because they are so proud.

They think they know better than those who are preaching to them. In many many areas I find that. Dear brothers and sisters, it's good. If you have godly elders, they have some wisdom and they take some decisions.

And it's good for you to know that. What is our aim? God wants the whole world to be saved. He wants everybody to repent. So do we. But they have to pay a price. We believe in teaching that the Bible says in Philippians 2 .14, do all things without murmuring and grumbling.

We believe it must be like that. All things. If I have to die, I die. If I have to die of a stomach upset, I'll die. But I will not murmur or complain. Impossible. That's my belief and I won't blame anybody else.

Because I believe I live under the sovereign rule of a father. And the Bible says in Zechariah chapter 2, 5 and 8 that he'll be a wall of fire on about me and anybody touches me is touching the apple of God's eye.

I am the apple of God's eye. Have you ever tried touching the apple of your eye? Don't try it. I'm just saying that sometimes we accidentally do it. But it hurts. The most sensitive part of our body is the apple of our eye.

And the eye and the apple of God's eye. You can also be if you believe it, but you've got to be wholehearted. And so if some bug or germ or bacteria touches me, they're touching the apple of God's eye.

I believe that. I resist it and curse it in Jesus name. Dear brothers and sisters, be wholehearted. Let me give you a word concerning our physical body and healing. Because that's a very important thing that we face these days.

The Body as the Temple of the Holy Spirit

I know many times I've thought of poor people in our country, in our villages. They go to a hospital and they charge them ten thousand rupees just to stay there in the hospital for two, three days and afterwards say everything's okay with you.

To hear that everything's okay with you, they spend ten thousand rupees. This test, that test, blood test, scan, x-ray. And I have sometimes gone before God and wept and said, Lord, what will you do for the poor people in our country?

They don't have ten thousand rupees. They earn ten thousand rupees in a whole year. How in the world can they go to a hospital? You got to heal them. In Jesus name. I want to share something with you that I have sought to live by for many years in this matter of the human body.

Because it's very important. We live in a world as the flu, there's all types of things and I know I travel around to all types of places, eat all types of food and go all types of places, here, there, everywhere.

I really need God to give me strength in my body and health in my body, otherwise I would have died long ago. So here's a word that's helped me a lot. I want you to listen very carefully and read slowly, 1 Corinthians chapter 6.

Because this is very practical. Our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit. Does God take care of his temple? Let me ask you, do you take care of a house that you build? Supposing you've spent a hundred million rupees, a hundred million rupees to build a house, will you take care of it?

You sure will. Do you know how much God paid to get my body? You know how much he paid? The blood of Jesus Christ. Tell me how much that's worth. Will he take care of his temple? I believe he will. Whether through medicine, surgery, anyway, but he'll do it.

Okay. 1 Corinthians 6 verse 12. All things are lawful for me. But all things are not profitable. There are two levels at which you can live the Christian life. If you always ask, is this permitted? Is this permitted?

You're like the person who's living on the edge of the cliff. Supposing there's a cliff there and you build your house just on the edge of the cliff so that your children can play near the edge of the cliff.

You lose some of your children one day. I will not build my house on the edge of the cliff. That's to say what is lawful. Oh, I haven't fallen over. I haven't fallen over. Many times young people ask me in question time.

Can I permit to do that? How far can I go? What type of movies can I watch? They're trying to find out how far can I go to the edge of the cliff? It's like little children on a railway platform saying how close can I stand to the edge of the platform when the train comes whizzing by?

These are games for children. A sensible person will stand up a distance from the train when the train is coming by on a platform. So I'm not interested in saying which movies, can I watch this one? This is PG -13.

This is R. Can I watch? Can I watch? Brother, if I have got... I'll give you a little principle. If it is doubtful, it's dirty. If it's doubtful, it's dirty. You've got to be absolutely sure in your heart.

This is lawful. But here's what's profitable. If you want to be a burning bush for God, determine one thing in your life that you will never live by the principle of, is it lawful? But is it profitable?

It's the one who lives by the principle of, is it profitable? And only chooses the things that are profitable that's going to hear from Jesus in the final day, well done, good and faithful servant. Those who live by, is it lawful?

Is it lawful? May get to heaven and the Lord will say, oh you finally made it, did you? I don't want to hear that. What do you want to hear from God? All things are lawful, but I will not be mastered by anything.

See, it's a very important principle that, I'm talking about the human body now. There are two areas where we have to be very, very careful in the human body. One is being mastered by food and the other is being mastered by sexual desire.

I'm telling you how I try to keep my body. I will not be mastered by anything. It's lawful, yes. But I will not become a slave. Food, now he speaks about food and sex in the next verses, and you can see it's not my idea, it's here in scripture.

Food is for the stomach. The stomach is for food. But one day God will destroy both of them. A day is coming where there'll be no stomach and no food. In the new, you know, heavenly body. But yet the body is not for immorality.

That's the second thing he speaks about. Food and immorality. The body must not be given to immorality. The eyes or anything in the body must not be given for immorality. But for the Lord. And when I give my body for the Lord, look at this promise.

The Lord is for my body. That is the promise I have taken for years. I said, Lord, what shall I do with this body? I'm not going to use this body to make money. I'm not going to use this body just to enjoy good food.

I'm not going to use this body for immorality. I'm not going to use this body to get honor for myself. I'm going to use this body 100 for you. The Lord says, I will be 100 for your body. Isn't that a wonderful promise?

Is that in scripture or not? Do you believe this is the word of God? I have proved it for years. The body is for the Lord and the Lord is for the body. I believe that. Many a times when I've traveled 16 hours at night in a bus on a bumpy road to go to some conference in some village down in Tamil Nadu.

I mean my body is like yours. You shake and can hardly go to sleep because the roads are so bumpy and you have all these cars and all types of things whizzing past you and all that and the best thing is to shut your eyes and trust God as you reach the other end after 16 hours and go straight into a meeting and have four meetings a day and go on for three days like that.

You can't do it unless the Lord is for your body. I believe all of us must be a living testimony to the fact my body is for the Lord and the Lord is for my body. It's in scripture. Don't you want, you know, one of the things I prayed is I said Lord every promise in scripture in the New Testament I want it in my life.

Supposing your dad was a billionaire and died and left ten houses as an inheritance for you. Will you occupy only one of those houses? Yeah, let anybody take the other nine. Let some crooked lawyer take the other nine.

Let some crooks go and occupy the other nine. We will never do it because we are lovers of money. We are lovers of good houses. What about an inheritance that Jesus purchased for us on the cross? Why do we let the devil take away 90 of it?

I want to ask you my brothers and sisters. How many of you will pray this prayer? Lord every promise you made for the church in the New Testament. I want to experience it before I die. If you haven't prayed that prayer, pray it now.

I'm not talking about the Old Testament of a lot of money and all that. I'm talking about New Testament promises, which are all yes in Christ. So here's a promise. The don't be taken up with food and don't be taken up with immorality.

The body is for the Lord. Now you keep watching internet pornography and you say oh Lord heal me. Why should he heal you? What should I pray for you? Oh Lord this brother is so sick. Now he can't sit and click on those pornographic sites.

Please raise him up so that he can sit healthily at the computer table and watch the pornographic site. Is that why I should pray for you? Lord this brother is so sick now. He's no opportunity for lusting after all the women on the street.

Please raise him up so that he can walk along the street and lust after the women again. Why do you ask for healing? The body is not for immorality. The body is not for just eating and eating and eating.

Sodom, Self-Control, and the Roots of Sexual Sin

Do you know there's a close connection between overeating and excessive sexual desire? Turn for a moment to Ezekiel chapter 16. Ezekiel chapter 16. When you think about Sodom, it's become a word in the English language.

Sodomizing people. It's talking about homosexuality and the people in Sodom were renowned for that. God destroyed that whole city by fire for their homosexuality. It says here the reason why, what was the sin of Sodom?

It's very important to understand. When we think of the guilt of Sodom, we immediately think of homosexuality. But see what God says in Ezekiel 16 verse 48. As I live, declares the Lord God, Sodom your sister, have done not done as you have done.

Behold verse 49. This was the guilt of your sister Sodom. An interesting thing, he doesn't even mention homosexuality there. Notice this. What is the guilt of your sister Sodom? Arrogance. Pride. I'm smart.

I'm clever. I'm rich. I'm spiritual. Abundant food. Plenty to eat and eat and eat and eat. There were gluttons. No wonder they became homosexual. Abundant food and careless ease. Lazy lifestyle. Sleep.

Don't get up in time. Sleep. No time to read the Bible. Watch television till you get groggy and go to sleep. That's Sodom. No wonder they had problems in the sexual area. Careless ease. And another thing, when there were poor and needy people around, they did not help them.

Why couldn't they help them? Because they had to spend it on food. For themselves. They had to spend it on careless ease and they didn't care for the poor and needy. No wonder God condemned them to homosexuality and burnt up their city.

Why isn't homosexuality mentioned here? The Lord is dealing with the root cause of the problem. The problem came up and the root cause was abundance of food and careless easy lifestyle and arrogance and pride and not caring for the poor and the needy.

So I tell people, when you want to overcome sexual sin, if you have a tremendous problem with the lust of your eyes and sexual desire, which is uncontrollable, shall I tell you where to start? First of all, humble yourself.

You are too proud. You say, what's the connection between pride and sexual desire? Very close connection. Second, you eat too much. You've got to get rid of your love for food first. If you want to control your eyes.

And you've got too much of a lazy lifestyle. No discipline. In other areas of your life. Plenty of food, plenty of money, all to spend on yourself. You don't care for the poor and the needy. Well, then you deserve to be defeated by sex all your life.

There's a way out is there, if you want to take it. The Bible says, God will never allow us to be tempted beyond our ability, but will make a way of escape. And I show you the way of escape and say, no, I don't want that.

Then live with your immorality and your sin and keep on, like they say, confess my hope. One day I will get victory. You'll be 75 years old still lusting after women. One day I will get victory. It'll never come.

Because you never took the way of escape. God showed you. Get rid of your pride. Get rid of your gluttony. Get rid of your careless lifestyle. Care for the poor. And you'll suddenly find victory in the areas where you've been struggling for so long.

The body is not for immorality, but for the Lord. And the Lord is for the body. That's one promise. Second, back to 1 Corinthians 6. Verse 15. There are three things mentioned about the body here, which I want you to see.

And all are dependent on this, that my body is for the Lord. It's not for food or immorality. We eat in order to live. We don't live in order to eat. Did you hear that? We eat in order to live. We don't live in order to eat.

The world lives in order to eat. We eat in order to live. And if you are a person who always loves the best type of food, don't be surprised if you are defeated by sex even when you're 80 years old. You got only yourself to blame.

You will never be the man of God that God wants you to be. Never. You'll never build a home or the church God wants you to build. Take it seriously. God wants a witness for him in this generation, in this age.

You see, I deny myself this, deny myself that, deny myself this, deny all this. I say yes and some more also. We'll tell you about that later. But I will also tell you this. It will be worth it all when we see Jesus.

It'll be worth it all when we see Jesus. One look from his dear face. All self-denial and the thought of it, I'll forget about. Dear brothers and sisters, it's worth it all. I don't have to wait till I see Jesus.

Today I can say it's worth it. It's worth it. I have never made a sacrifice in my life, but that the Lord has given me a hundred times better things in return. He tests you. Will you deny this one little thing?

Oh, it is so difficult to deny. Okay, don't deny. You don't know what you missed. You were going to get something a hundred times greater, but you missed it. It's like that parable that, I think I read it in C .S. Lewis's book about a man with this ugly chameleon or ugly gecko lizard sitting on his shoulder.

You know, it's a picture of some dirty lust. And there was this angel standing before him saying, shall I take this away? And as soon as he says, this lizard says, no, no, no, we are good friends. Remember?

I won't trouble you again. I won't trouble you. I promise you I won't trouble you. Don't let him take me away from you. And this man is torn between the desire to listen to what God is saying and what his lust is saying.

And he tells the angel, why don't you just pull it off? The angel says, no, I can never do that without your permission. I will never force you. If you permit me, I'll take it off. But if you don't permit, it's your choice.

And this chap is torn between the desire. Do you understand that? You've experienced that in your life? The desire to please God and this lust here. Finally, he shuts his eyes and tells the angel, okay, take it off.

And the angel pulls it out and the claws of that lizard are in his flesh, tear his flesh. It's a very painful experience. Tears and the blood is flowing and the angel throws that lizard down to the ground and suddenly it gets transformed into a big white horse.

And the angel says, now you don't have to walk. You can ride this horse and go much faster in your Christian life than you could until now. And that man says, boy, I wish I had done this earlier. What I missed all these years.

When are you going to do that? When you're 80 years old or when you're 18 years old? When do you want to start riding on a horse? When do you want to get rid of this ugly lizard who says I'll behave myself and I'll help you and all that?

Dear brothers and sisters, be wise. The second promise is, verse 15, the first promise is my body, the Lord is for my body. It's a promise. The second, verse 15, my body is a member of Jesus Christ. My body, my body is a member of Jesus Christ.

I thank God for that. My body is a member of Christ. I don't have any right. See, for example, you cannot make my hand move. You can make your hand move, but you can't make my hand move. Only my head can make my hand move.

That's the meaning of my body is a member of Christ. My body, my physical body is a member of Jesus Christ, the head. He tells me what to do. That's why Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter 9, I discipline myself and I tell my body to do what it should do, not what it wants to do.

It's a beautiful translation in the living Bible, 1 Corinthians 9, 27. I make my body do what it should do. Not what it wants to do. So one, the body, the Lord is for my body. The second, my body is a member of Christ.

And the third promise is in verse 19, my body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. I have claimed these promises for my body for many, many years. Lord, I never want to use any part of my body to make money or to live myself.

I want to earn my living. I don't want to be a beggar dependent on others. I want to earn my living. But my goal in life is not to make money. My goal in life is not to get honor for this body. My goal in life is this body will be used for the Lord completely.

And therefore I claim according to your word, unless God's word is a lie and I throw it away. If I throw it away, then I don't even know whether Christ died for my sins. Because the same book tells me Christ died for my sins.

I never saw Christ die for my sins. I believe it because it's written in the book. But the same book tells me that the Lord is my body. How can I be selective? Ah, this is right. That is wrong. No, I take the whole thing.

And the whole thing works. Lord, number one, you are for my body. Number two, my body is a member of you, Jesus Christ. Lord of heaven and earth. And number three, my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Lord, take care of your temple. We must be bold in our faith. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive because you don't ask in faith. You ask wondering whether your father in heaven is a person who delights to see you suffer.

Delights to see you tortured by the devil. By the way, there are some people whom the father will allow the devil to torture. And those are those who have not forgiven others. I don't have time to show it to you.

Forgiveness and the Seriousness of Sin

Matthew 18, Jesus said there was a man who was forgiven 10 ,000 talents, maybe a hundred million rupees. And some other brother of his owed him a hundred rupees. He cut him by the throat and said, pay back your hundred rupees.

And the king heard it and said, come back here. I forgave you a hundred million rupees and you couldn't forgive that guy a hundred rupees. Come back here. You got to pay back the whole amount. Do you know there's such a thing in the Christian life as being unforgiven?

Forgiven we know. We confess our sins. He's faithful to forgive us our sins. All hundred million sins are blotted out. Then we go out and don't forgive somebody else for what he did. God calls us back and say, all those hundred million sins which are blotted out are put back into your account.

And now I'm going to hand you over to the torturers. That's the word in Matthew 18 towards the end of that verse. Torturers and they're going to torture you. They're going to make you sick. They're going to give you arthritis and migraine and every imaginable thing because you will not forgive that person.

A loving father. Like I told you the other day, if your children go astray, pray that they'll have a car accident and break their bones. God is a loving father. I'm a loving father too. I tell you God is my witness that if my children go and serve the devil, I'll pray that God will break their bones in a car accident or something.

See, we're not radical. We play the fool. We think physical health is more important than spiritual sickness. It's not. Sin is a million times worse than AIDS. I would rather get AIDS than live defeated by anger.

How many of you will say that? Many of you have a problem with anger. Will you stand before God today and say, Lord, I would rather get AIDS than live defeated by my anger. Believe me, you'll get victory over your anger pretty soon.

You say, oh brother, my father had it, my grandfather had it, but you don't have to have it. They were not serious about their sin. The fundamental problem with many, many believers is they're not serious with their sin.

They like these concepts of a burning bush and all that, but do you know what a burning bush does? It gets rid of every bug and bacteria in the whole thing. Okay. In the Old Testament tabernacle, we read that the fire was on the tabernacle the whole time.

That was the mark of God's presence. And that tabernacle is a picture of my body. I want the glory of God upon me all the time. You have to have a passion for it. The Lord says you will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart.

When you take little sins seriously, you hurt somebody, you'll immediately go and confess it to your wife. I'm sorry. That sentence I spoke to you five seconds ago, five seconds ago, not five days ago.

That sentence I spoke to you five seconds ago. I'm sorry, darling. It was a little hard. Please forgive me. I'm sorry. You do that and I'll tell you, you'll get victory like that. Do you know how Jesus got victory?

He was tempted like us. He was made like us. Now I'll show you the secret. Hebrews chapter 5. Hebrews in chapter 5, we read that Jesus was tempted like us in chapter 4 verse 15. Tempted like us in all points, Hebrews 4 verse 15, yet never sinning once.

Earlier on we are told in chapter 2 verse 17 that he was made like us in everything. I believe the Bible when it says made like his brothers in all things. Some people say not all things. Well, I'll tell you this.