Freedom From Self-Centeredness — Zac Poonen

The Indestructible Life and the Last Adam

And verse 16, that Jesus became a high priest according to the power of an indestructible life and not on the basis of anything external, not according to the law of a physical requirement. The contrast here is between physical requirements and spiritual requirements.

The contrast is between external and inward. Our following of Jesus is primarily inward. And what we see here is that the life we have got from Adam is a destructible life. It's a corrupt life. That's why when Jesus died on the cross, God condemned that entire life of Adam.

Jesus was born of the seed of Adam. You read that in Luke chapter 3, how the genealogy of Mary goes all the way up to Adam. But he was born without sin because he didn't have an earthly father. He was born holy because he was born of the Holy Spirit.

In 1 Corinthians 15, Jesus is called the last Adam and the second man. It's one of those areas where you find even hymn writers have made a mistake. I don't know whether you know that English hymn which says a second Adam came to the rescue.

Jesus is not the second Adam. It's all because people don't read the Bible carefully or slowly. Jesus is never called the second Adam. He's called the last Adam. The Adamic race is finished. There is no second Adamic race.

1 Corinthians 15 and verse 45. The first Adam became a living soul. But the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. He was the last Adam. That was the end of the Adamic race there. And then he's called the first man from the earth.

It's earthy. Verse 47. The second man is from heaven. So Jesus is called the second man. And we're followers of that. That old Adamic race, that old Adamic inheritance we've got from Adam is totally finished.

And if I ever yield to it... You know, this is the seriousness of yielding to the lust of the flesh or the lust of the eyes, even in secret. I'm thereby saying, God, you made a mistake when you condemned all that on the cross.

Some of it is good. And I want to enjoy some of it. I'm going directly against God's condemnation of that life of Adam on the cross. What God condemned on the cross was the life of Adam. Everything that the Adamic race is pursuing after was condemned on the cross.

Jesus lived in complete opposition to what the entire world was running after. And if I run after, you can call yourself a Christian. And if you run after the things that the world's running after, you're saying to God, God, you were wrong in condemning all that on the cross.

Some of it is good. And I'm going to pursue after it. You know, there's a bit of a rebellion there in that type of attitude towards God as a Christian. I have to agree with God's condemnation of the life of Adam on the cross.

The last Adam is finished. There is no second Adam. He was the last Adam and he was crucified on the cross at the end. It's a new creation now, the second man. These are little things, but they mean a lot.

What the Gentiles Seek and the Kingdom of God

Let me turn to Matthew chapter six, what Jesus said in relation to anxiety. Matthew chapter six. We read here. He talks about eating and drinking and clothing and many things like that. And he says here, verse 32, verse 31.

Don't be anxious saying, what shall we eat? What shall we drink? What shall we be clothed with? Verse 32, because all these things the Gentiles eagerly seek. But your heavenly father knows that you need all these things.

The race of Adam eagerly seeks after many things. That destructible life of Adam eagerly seeks after many things. I remember once thinking about that verse. And I said, Lord, I want to find out what are the things that the Gentiles eagerly seek after.

You can either write it down or mentally make a list of. It's a good thing. It's a good discipline. This expression of Jesus. All these things the Gentiles eagerly seek. The life of Adam makes people eagerly seek after certain things.

And you know what they are. Food, clothing, good comfortable life, popularity and advancement in the world. You can make a big list of the things that the Gentiles eagerly seek after. They are doing everything possible to get these things.

Jesus never sought after those things. Now, the question is, are you seeking after the things which the Gentiles are seeking after? Or the things that Jesus was seeking after? You see, a lot of us may hear, may have heard what we heard the last three, four sessions and say, Boy, I want this indestructible life.

Do you really want to seek after the things that Jesus sought after? He said, if you want to seek after the things that I'm seeking after, then seek, verse 33, God's kingdom and His righteousness. And what about these other things we need in life?

They will be added to you because your Heavenly Father knows that you need them. So there's a fundamental difference in which the destructible life of Adam lives on this earth and the indestructible life of Jesus lives on this earth.

If you make Jesus your hero, and you believe that the best possible life that any human being could ever live was the way Jesus lived on earth. I mean, you got to believe that first. And I wonder whether most Christians believe that.

To tell you honestly, many Christians, if you really were to look into their mind, they feel that Jesus missed out on certain things, which He should have had. Like a little more comfortable life. You know, in one place it says that He was so busy serving people.

Let me show you that verse, Mark chapter 3, verse 20. It says, when Jesus came home, Mark 3, verse 20, the multitude gathered again to such an extent that they could not even eat a meal. I mean, Jesus was so taken up with the ministry to people, He wouldn't have time to eat.

I want to ask you, has that ever happened to you, even once, in your entire life? I mean, some of us lived 40, 50 years. Has there been a time, even once in 50 years, where you were so busy serving people that you didn't eat a meal?

Didn't happen even once? What type of life of Jesus are you seeking? Is eating and drinking and clothing and the earthly things so important for you? And it says here that His own people, that's His own relatives, verse 21, when they saw Him living like this, they thought He's off His head.

And they took custody of Him, saying, He has become insane. He's lost His senses. Have you ever served the Lord in such a way that you're so intensely serving people that people have said, This guy's lost his senses.

He's become insane serving other people, that he doesn't even have time to eat. It's not that Jesus starved all the time, but there were times when He was so busy serving people that He didn't have time to eat.

It was true of Paul, it was true of Jesus, and it's true of almost every servant of God that served the Lord faithfully in 2 ,000 years. Because the life of Jesus, when you think of it, think of it from what brought Him down to this earth.

Counting the Cost of Discipleship

We're talking about this indestructible life of Jesus, which looks so attractive, but there's a price to be paid. Remember that there are certain things in the Christian life that are absolutely free.

Forgiveness of sins, that's free. It's a gift. Even the Holy Spirit is called a gift. You can't earn the Holy Spirit. You can't pay for it. The gifts of God are free. But there are certain other things in the Christian life which you have to pay a price for.

You remember Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven was like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man had to sell everything in order to get it. So that wasn't free. There was something he had to pay a price for.

Or He said it's like a man seeking for very precious pearls. He had to sell everything he had in order to get that pearl. To the church in Laodicea, the Lord says, I advise you to come to me and buy, not get free.

Forgiveness of sins is free. Gift of the Spirit is free. But He says in Revelation 3, He's telling Christians, I know you guys are born again, but come and buy from me. You lack something because you are not willing to pay a price.

Come and buy from me gold refined in the fire. If you're not familiar with that verse, I'll read it to you. Revelation 3, verse 18. I advise you, and when Jesus advises me something, I better listen to it.

I advise you to buy from me gold refined in fire. That is not free. That you may become rich and white garments, that you may be clothed. That's not free. The shame of your nakedness may not reveal an eye salve to anoint your eyes that you may see.

That's not free. I have to buy it. You remember the story of the ten virgins. Five of them were without, they had a lamp, but they didn't have that extra flask of oil, and that's why they missed out when the bridegroom came.

And it says they had to go and buy that oil. The wise virgins were those who had paid a price and bought that oil earlier. And the foolish virgins were those who thought everything is free. They didn't buy, and too late they woke up and said, hey, we gotta go and buy this.

Now these things are written for our instruction. Don't think that everything in the Christian life is free. For some things we have to pay a price. And there are Christians, you know how human beings are such.

I mean, most human beings are like this. Anything that they can get free, they are ready. Anything you have to pay a price for, they say, well, I don't know whether I want that. Come to the Christian life like that and say, tell me what's free, I'll take it.

Now I'll tell you, you get such people in your church, you'll never make it a church of disciples. Jesus said, go into all the world and make disciples. To be a disciple, you have to pay a price. To get forgiveness of sins, that's free.

So, there are people, there are many people who come to the church only to get something for themselves. What can I get free from this church? You'll find them in India, you'll find them in America, you'll find them everywhere in the world.

What can I get free? If I come to this church, people will serve me, they'll give me something free. You'll never make a disciple out of that person. You say, but they are so poor. Do you know there was a widow who was so poor, she had only two coins.

You know what she did with those two coins? She gave it to the Lord. You read about it in the Gospel of Mark, and Jesus had called his disciples, saying, hey, come and see this. Have you ever seen anything like this?

And said, look at this widow. And Jesus saw her putting those two coins into the box, and he didn't go and stop her and say, no, no, no. No need to put that, keep that for yourself, you need it. No, let her put it.

Can you imagine Jesus allowing a poor widow to put her last two coins into the offering box? Because Jesus knew his Father in Heaven would never let a widow like that starve. Not in a thousand years. Impossible.

She'd probably starve. What could she buy with two coins in any case? The best thing to do was to give it to God. She wouldn't starve at all for the rest of her life. Jesus knew. All these things the eager Gentiles eagerly seek after.

There are certain things we had to buy. You know, Paul says in Philippians 3, I pointed this out to you, that he had to lose everything in order to gain Christ. Philippians 3 verse 7 and 8. Whatever was gained to me, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

And, not only that, in the last part of verse 8, I've suffered the loss of all things. That was voluntary. Sometimes people rob us. Or if we are Christians, we are persecuted in many lands. They persecute Christians and rob them of all their property.

That's not the case here. Paul was not robbed. He voluntarily gave up. He suffered the loss of all things in purpose to gain Christ. Like that missionary Jim Elliott who went to the Orcas and died there said, He is no fool who gives away what he cannot keep in order to gain what he cannot lose.

That's what Paul decided. I've suffered the loss of all things and it's actually rubbish what I gave up because I gained Christ. So did he get it free? Why is it that the Apostle Paul had a quality of life that most Christians don't have today?

It's because most Christians have come to the church and come to the Lord only to get, Tell me Lord, what's free? I'll take it. The things I have to pay a price for, forget it. Most Christians are like that.

No wonder their Christian life is so unsatisfying and they live this up and down, up and down. In physics, there's a thing called the sine wave. It's just up and down and up and down and up and down all the time.

And that's the type of life they live. And they think that's normal. That is not normal. That is totally abnormal. That is an Old Testament life. The godly men in the Old Testament, they couldn't come to this steady life that we have in the New Testament.

Old Covenant Instability and New Covenant Progress

Think of one of the greatest men of God in the Old Testament, Job. You read in the book of Job that when he lost all his property, his children, one day, he bowed down and worshipped and he said, the Lord's given, the Lord's taken away.

Blessed be the name of the Lord. He was really on a mountaintop. And then, a few days later, he got so sick, full of sores, and he said, well, the Lord can give adversity, He can give prosperity, I accept them both.

Boy, that was a fantastic mountaintop. But you go to the next chapter, chapter 3, you know what happens? He says, why in the world was I born? Why didn't somebody kill me as soon as I was born? Lord, why have you made me a target of your attacks, and you're firing all your arrows at me?

And then he would suddenly jump up and say, yeah, even if he slays me, I will trust him. He's on the mountaintop again. And then he's down in the dumps again a little later, saying, Lord, why are you treating me like this?

And then he's up on top again. Yeah, I know my Redeemer lives. That was his life. One of the greatest men in the Old Testament, up and down and up and down. Do you find your life like that? That's a good Old Covenant life.

Think of Elijah, bringing down fire from heaven. And then one woman scares him the next day and he runs for his life. Imagine that. Imagine a man who could confront 850 prophets and kill 450 of them, running because one woman shouted at him.

That was Old Covenant life. If you're scared to follow the Lord because your wife shouted at you, it's Elijah. It's a good Old Covenant life. But it's not New Covenant. In New Covenant, it says in Proverbs 4 .18.

This is the indestructible life. Proverbs 4 .18. The path of the righteous. And they could never experience it in the Old Covenant because they never could become fully righteous. The righteousness of Christ could become ours only after Jesus died and rose again.

It says He rose again for our justification. He rose again to make us righteous. Nobody could be righteous like we are in the Old Covenant. Because Christ had not risen because the Holy Spirit was not given to dwell in people's hearts.

But once you come to that righteousness, it says in Proverbs 4 .18. The path of the righteous man is like the light of dawn. That is like sunrise which keeps on shining brighter and brighter and brighter and brighter until the full day.

Until the noon day. That's when Christ comes again. So, it keeps on going. It keeps on increasing. The sun never backslides. You know that. It keeps going steadily up in the sky. It never hesitates. It never stops for a moment.

From sunrise is the time when you are born again. Noon day position is when Christ returns again. From that moment till the return of Christ, the path that God has ordained, not the path that Christians walk, the path that God has ordained for the Christians, if they live in God's perfect will, if they live as God wants them to live, is steady progress in increasing likeness to Christ more and more.

They are not perfectly like Christ till He comes again. But they begin when they are born again and it becomes more and more and more and more. Or to use an illustration, if our heart, before we are converted, is like a big black circle.

Nothing good dwells in our flesh. That's our flesh. And in the middle of our flesh, one day Christ comes in. That's like a little white circle that has come into the middle of this black circle. And God's intention is that circle now becomes bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and occupies more and more of this black circle.

That's more and more of your life becomes Christ-like. You become more patient, more humble, more loving, more pure, more good, more everything that Christ was. That is God's will. It's an indestructible life.

Repentance as a Radical Change of Direction

But for that, I have to reject this life of Adam. And the main problem with the life of Adam is it is centered in itself. It's I, me, and my family. If I take this decision, how will it affect me and my family?

Every heathen in the world thinks like that when they take a decision. Every atheist in the world takes his decisions on that basis. Will this be good for me? Will this be more comfortable for me? Will this be better for my children?

What's the difference between your way of thinking and the thinking of any non-Christian atheist in the world? What happened when you got converted? You know the word repentance. There's a message of John the Baptist.

There's a message that we need to hear these days. It's hardly preached. Even where people talk about repent, repent, repent, most people don't know what repent means. I know numerous people who come to our church in Bangalore and said to me, Brother Zach, I thought I was born again before I came to your church.

But now I realize I wasn't born again at all. I was just asked to say these magic words, Lord Jesus come into my heart, and I was told I was saved. I never knew what sin was. I never knew what repentance was till I came here.

Now I understand what sin is. Now I understand what repentance is. And now is where I'm really getting converted. And many of them get baptized, even though they were baptized before. I don't tell them to do that, but they say, I wasn't really converted.

That baptism was worthless. The message of repentance is missing. And even where people use the word repentance in their sermons. You think they're preaching repentance? No. If you don't explain what that repentance is, then you're not preaching repentance.

In our Indian languages, the word used for repentance is clearer. In Indian languages, the word repentance is a turning of the mind. That's how it's translated, and that's the correct translation of that word.

A turning of the mind. A 180 degree turn. This was my attitude towards I was facing sin. I loved sin. I pursued the things that the Gentiles seek after. I was totally committed to this life of Adam, and pursuing after everything that every child of Adam pursues after.

And I was not interested in the things that Jesus was pursuing after when he lived on earth. No, that was all behind me. And then I repented. And a real repentance would be a 180 degree turn, where I say, I've stopped pursuing after all those things that all the Gentiles are pursuing after.

And now I'm pursuing after the things Jesus is pursuing after. How many Christians do you think repented like that? Did you repent like that when you got converted? The chances are no. And I don't blame you.

I blame your pastors and preachers who never told you what repentance was. I mean, if all the children in a school do badly in their examinations, and most of them get 5 out of 100 or 6 out of 100, I wouldn't blame them.

I'd blame their teacher. Something's wrong with the teacher. How in the world do all these fellows end up like this? The problem today, it's just like in the Old Testament, God sent his prophets. You listen, read Jeremiah and the other prophets.

They say, the trouble is with you, the trouble is with your leaders. Your princes have gone astray. Your priests have gone astray. Your false prophets are leading you astray. That's why the people go astray.

So we need to understand, if we want to come to this indestructible world, I have to have a 180 degree repentance. And the chances are that many of us have got a 60 degree repentance, or a 90 degree repentance, or perhaps a 120 degree repentance.

But 180 degrees, that type of radical repentance, very few people have. It's one of the things that I'm very thankful. I said, Lord Jesus, come into my heart maybe about 500 times or a thousand times, I don't know, between the ages of 13 and 19.

But a time came in my life when I was 19 and a half, when I turned around completely. I gave up my earthly ambitions. When I had big earthly ambitions, I gave up saying, Lord, I don't want to live for myself anymore.

I don't want to live for money. I don't want to live for seeking my own will. You gave your life for me. I want to give my life for you. And it made all the difference. And if you have never done that, it's not too late.

It's not too late to turn now. Don't worry about the date when you're born again. Some people ask me, when are you born again? I say, I don't know the date. Dates are not important. Dates are on tombstones and graveyards.

I'm not interested in dates. I'm interested in, are you alive today? Are you alive? Are you full of life? Don't glory in a date. I was born again, so and so date. I was baptized in the Holy Spirit, so and so date.

Are you living today in the fullness of the Holy Spirit? A total turning around from the things that the Gentiles eagerly seek after. That's why I say, make a list of all the things that worldly people seek after.

It won't take you much time. I guarantee it won't take you more than five minutes, less than five minutes. Take a piece of paper, draw a line down the middle, and on the left side write down, these are the things that I know worldly people seek after.

In one minute you could write it down. And then take another minute to write down on the other side, what you think Jesus spent his 33 years on earth seeking after. Not what he did. I'm not talking about his ministry of raising the dead and walking on the water and dying on the cross.

We can't do all that. I'm talking about what he sought after. He sought after his father's will. He sought after the good of other people. He had compassion for people. And then you contrast these two things you have on the list, and it's a list you yourself made.

And you see there this destructible life of Adam on one side, the indestructible life of Jesus on the other side, and you ask yourself, do I really want this or not? Are we serious? Are you serious about your Christian life?

I believe the reason why many people never enter into this life is they're not serious about it. God knows, they're just playing games. They're just using words. They're just feeling emotional. You know, like you see a movie about Jesus, and the way they hammer him and kill him, and you feel so sad.

Oh Lord, I love you. You don't love him at all. It's just an emotion. Temporary emotion. The next day you'll continue to live for yourself. It's a deception, and the same thing can happen in a meeting.

You can be stirred emotionally by a message, and intellectually say, boy Lord, I want to live for you. It's only temporary. It's only temporary. That's why, you know, I never, I don't judge those who ask people to raise their hands and stand up and come forward and all that in evangelistic meetings.

That's not my business to judge them. I tell people when I preach, I preach discipleship because I know the commission the Lord gave me many years ago. There are enough converts in India. But the Lord said, I commanded my disciples to go and make disciples in all nations.

Go and make disciples in India. That was my commission, and I decided I'm going to make disciples. There are enough converts, I'm going to make disciples. And in connection with Jesus' discipleship, the cost of discipleship is mentioned in Luke 14, verse 22.

Luke 14, 26 to 33, and in the middle of that section, Jesus' words, Luke 14, and verse 28. Sit down first and count the cost. First sit down and count the cost. So when I preach in a meeting, I don't ask people to raise their hands or stand up or come forward.

I ask them to go home and sit down and count the cost. Don't be in a hurry to decide do you really want to follow this Jesus that I'm describing? Don't take an emotional decision at the end of a meeting, because it may not mean anything.

Sit down and count the cost. Many people take emotional decisions at the end of a meeting, they stir and they do something. I remember once in one of our conferences, we found a golden earring in the offering box.

We're not people who are coveting other people's gold. So, I announced in the next session, I said somebody has put a golden earring into the offering box and I have a feeling it's a result of an emotional stirring.

It's not the result of a cold calculated decision. So I'd like you to come and meet me after the service is over with your husband or if you're single with your father, because I'd like to return that to you.

And I said, I met this lady, she came with her husband and I said, please take this back. Go home. Think about it for a few days and maybe a few weeks and then decide whether you want to give it to the Lord.

We never got it back, thank God. You see, this emotional stirring which excites a lot of preachers never excites me because I know it doesn't mean anything. It doesn't last. So Jesus said, sit down and count the cost.

Think about it. Don't make a decision in a hurry. I remember when I was proposing to my wife 42 years ago. I was serving the Lord. I didn't have any income. I was just trusting the Lord for my needs and I painted before her the darkest, bleakest possible picture of the future that I could ever think of where I'd be living and how I'd be struggling for everything I need, you know, for food.

I'd probably live in a hut and everything. And then I said, now, don't say yes or no. Think about it for three days and then let me know. I don't want any quick emotional decision. And Jesus says the same thing.

Sit down. Count the cost. Then decide whether you want to follow me. Do you want this life or not? Now I'll describe a little bit about this life. When Jesus was in heaven, he looked down at this earth and he saw how his own life was there, enjoying the glory of heaven, the wonderful joy of being with the Father and the angels.

And it was wonderful. And if he had only thought of himself, he'd say, this is great. But he looked down at this wretched earth and he saw so many people in misery, messing up their lives, destroying their lives, destroying their families on their way to hell and all types of preachers leading them astray.

And he said, I gotta go and bring them to enjoy this wonderful life I'm living. I can't sit here and enjoy this just by myself. I've got to share it with others. They must also have it. And I can imagine, I'm just imagining now, the angels saying, but Lord, you know what'll happen?

They'll treat you badly, spit on you. They won't appreciate what you're doing. They'll call you the devil, kill you. He said, I'll go through all that. Because I want them to have what I have, even if it means I have to pay a tremendous price for it, for these ungrateful wretches.

I will pay the price and transform them. That is the indestructible life of Jesus, where you don't seek your own. Paul says concerning his own co-workers. I'm not talking about unbelievers. I'm not talking about believers.

I'm talking about the highest class of almost the highest class of believers in those days. Paul's co-workers. And Paul was pretty careful about whom he selected to be a co-worker. John Mark and all, they dropped off and he said, I'll never take him again on my team.

He was pretty strict. If you got into Paul's team, that was a great honor. But as many of these people went on with Paul, they discovered it's not easy to live with Paul. This guy's so radical. He doesn't collect money from people and he's living so simply and trying to work with his own hands and support.

This is not... And Demas and all said, hey, I better drop out. I better join somebody else's team. And Paul looked at his co-workers in Philippians chapter 2 and he wanted to send somebody to Philippi to encourage them.

And he thought about his co-workers, A, B, C, D, E, different ones that he had in mind who were with him at that time. Not all his co-workers, the ones who were with him at that time. I don't know who all were there.

And he looked around and he thought about them and he said, I cannot send even one of them except Timothy. Why? Because Philippians 2 .21 they are all seeking after their own interests. Never forget that expression in your life.

Do you know the number of times God has challenged me with that verse? You can be a co-worker of the Apostle Paul and you may be seeking after your own interests. I said, Lord save me from that. That's the destructible life of Adam.

Seeking after my own interests. You think you can preserve yourself by seeking after your own interests. Jesus showed us on earth. He said, if you seek to save your life, you lose it. But if you lose your life for my sake and the Gospels, you'll keep it, you'll find it.

So many people seek their own. They seek to have it very good for themselves and very comfortable for their children. Get as much money as possible for my children. Do those children live for God? Maybe they are born again.

Maybe they are baptized. I remember saying once to people in our church, don't be satisfied that your children are born again and baptized. Is that enough? Are your children disciples of Jesus? Are they living for Him?

If not, go before God. Don't just say, oh, thank you, Lord. My children are born again and baptized. Everybody thinks I'm a wonderful father now because my children are all born again and baptized. You're seeking your own honor.

You've got to go before God and weep and say, Lord, my children are born again and baptized. But they're not disciples. They're not following after you. They're not living for you. They're seeking their own.

And God has to give us light on that. I know through the years the thing that God has given me more and more light on. It's not, I mean, lusting with the eyes and getting angry. These are things everybody in the world knows is sin.

But there are more subtle areas of seeking one's own. Love of money. You may be absolutely honest and upright with money. But do you know that love of money dwells deeply in all of us? It's not only in rich people.

I've never seen a beggar in India who doesn't love money. The poorest man in the world loves money. And the richest man in the world also loves money. It's got nothing to do with your salary or your wealth.

It's got to do with the fact that we've got the life of Adam. And the life of Adam loves money and I'll tell you even if you live as a hermit in the forest, you'll love money. No, you can't escape it by that.

But if you're honest with it and say, Lord, please save me from it. The Lord will save you from it. I remember once the Lord showing me from Luke's Gospel chapter 19. You know, money is the one thing the Gentiles eagerly pursue after.

Now we need money to live on this earth. So I'm not being unrealistic and saying, don't earn your living. In fact, I'll tell you in India, it's so difficult to get a job. So difficult. Because our population increases so fast.