Growing Up In Christian Life — Zac Poonen

I have spoken in more meetings across the world in the last two years than in any other two year period in my life. So I praise the Lord for that. There's nothing that can hinder the spreading of God's word.

In the early days, they tried to kill the messengers and thought Christianity would die by killing all the apostles and other Christians and torturing them in the Roman amphitheaters with spears and lions and all that, but it never killed Christianity.

2000 years, it spread more and more and more and more and pandemic or no pandemic, God's word still goes on. So we praise the Lord for that. But now when we come together at the end of two years, it's good for each of us to look back over the last two years.

Measuring Spiritual Progress in the Christian Life

For example, a lot of our children have, anyway, in most countries in the world, the children have not suffered by losing their school classes. They studied at home, online. And most of the ones I know in India and US and elsewhere, they got promoted every year to the next class.

They completed their courses. And we expect our children at the end of two years, if they were in sixth standard two years ago, they should be in eighth standard now. If a child of ours was in second standard two years ago, we expect the child to be in fourth standard now, not sitting in the same class.

Even during a pandemic time, they're eager to complete their courses. They don't want to sit and fail and sit down in the same class year after year. They want to progress. And that is where each of us need to ask ourselves in the last two years, since we met together, how much spiritual progress have we made?

Has our life become purer? Have our thoughts become purer today than it was two years ago? Have we become a little more humble? That's the mark of progress that you don't have such high thoughts about yourself like you had two years ago.

If so, praise the Lord. Have you learned to love others more? First of all, in your own family, husbands, you love your wives more today. Have you got a promotion from whichever class you were in two years ago to where you are now?

Or are you sitting in the same class? I know some married couples in some parts of the world where they go from fourth standard back to second standard in their married life. And sometimes to the kindergarten and sometimes drop out of school altogether.

That's how it is in the world. They don't make progress. They go backwards in their married life. They may have loved one another and the day they got married, but four years later, they fight and quarrel and that's all right for ungodly worldly people.

Following Christ Through Self-Denial and the Holy Spirit

But if Christ lives in your heart, and that's not enough. If you're listening to him when he speaks to you and when he tells you to deny yourself and take up the cross every day and follow him. And when he urges you to seek to be filled with his Holy Spirit, because you cannot live the Christian life without the power of the Holy Spirit.

I mean, it's like trying to run a car without petrol or trying to turn on the lights without electricity. Not possible, we know that. But you can't live the Christian life without the power of the Holy Spirit.

And you know, the Holy Spirit is like a dove. We read when Jesus was baptized, a dove came over him. The Holy Spirit came in the form of a dove. The Holy Spirit is a real person. He's Almighty God, the third person of the Trinity.

But why did he come in the form of a dove? You know, I heard a story once, it's a true story of a man who was a Christian man who was just outside his house, outside the window. A dove came and built a nest and was there sitting peacefully.

But if the dove heard a door bang in that room, it would fly away. He heard the husband and wife shouting at each other, the dove would fly away. And he said, that was a parable to him. Doves don't like noisy situations.

The Holy Spirit moves away when a husband and wife decide to fight with each other. He comes and settles wherever people are humble and quick to ask forgiveness. It has become my habit over the last few years now, whenever I meet a married couple whom I haven't met for some time, to ask this question, do you still forgive one another?

Are you quick to ask forgiveness from each other? Well, many of them are honest and they say, well, brother Zach, it takes a little time sometimes. I say, okay, thank you for being honest. But just like a man running the 100 meters likes to improve his time or a man running a marathon likes to improve his time, you also should improve your time in the, make it less and less the time taken to ask forgiveness.

Maybe you waited one day to ask forgiveness. Okay, reduce it to half a day and gradually over a period of time, why don't you come to one second? As soon as you discover you've done something wrong, immediately say, I'm sorry.

It is my fault, please forgive me. Do you know what that will do to your marriage if both of you follow that rule? Simple rule, your home will be like heaven. Do you think the devil wants that? No, and that's why he keeps telling you, no, no, no.

You told him exactly what you think he needs to hear that or she needs to hear that. And if you don't speak straight, they won't take advantage of you. And all these stories, lies. As he was singing that song just now, that's the CFC stage.

Mercy, Humility, and the Danger of Pharisaic Self-Righteousness

You'd have probably seen the verse hanging up on top of the singers, be merciful to others just as God has been merciful to you. You know, when we built our first meeting hall in 1981, which is 41 years ago in Bangalore, the brothers asked me, brother Zach, what verse should we put on this screen at the back behind the pulpit?

I thought about it and I said, what is the biggest problem that people pursuing righteousness and holiness like we in Singapore and CFC are going to do? What is the biggest problem that we shall face?

The biggest problem or danger is the danger of becoming Pharisees, self-righteous, thinking that we are better than others and being very unmerciful when somebody else makes a mistake. So I said, I want you to put this verse up on top.

And we've had that verse for 41 years. Be merciful to others, just as God has been merciful to you. I followed that rule myself. To be quick to say sorry to anyone, whoever it is. I've gone sometimes and apologized to people who are younger than my youngest son.

Not that I lost their temper at them, but I remember once in CFC where I corrected a young brother very strongly for the way he was. He was handling the electronic equipment and the recording equipment and something went wrong and something was damaged.

And somebody told me this brother made the mistake. So I went up to him and I said, you've got to be very careful handling these things, they're expensive. And afterwards, somebody told me, brother Zack, that was, he was not the one.

It was somebody else who caused the problem. So I immediately rushed back and put my arm around that young brother whom I had corrected and said, I'm really sorry. I thought it was you, please forgive me.

He was younger than my youngest son. I have followed that policy all my life. I used to tell my children in India, you know how the beggars come to the gate and bang and so many people will get upset with them and say, go away, go away.

I say, you must never be rude even to a beggar because he's part of Adam's race made in the image of God. Maybe due to circumstances, he's become poor. And if you are ever rude to a beggar, go back to him and say, I'm sorry.

I tell you, if you follow some simple rules like this, your life, you'll make, you'll get a promotion just like you expect your children to get promoted every year. You'll be promoted every year and you'll get to know God better and better and better.

See, God filled me with the Holy Spirit 47 years ago and the six months after that, that CFC started in Bangalore and I can really see how God has led me these 47 years. I'm not sitting in the same class, I can say that.

That's not something to glory about. The Lord has just kept lifting me up to a higher class year by year. I wish the same for all of you because your life will be so much more wonderful and peaceful and blessed.

Proverbs 4:18 and the Path of Increasing Light

I wanna share a verse with you from Proverbs chapter four. Please remember this verse, Proverbs chapter four and verse 18. Must remember this verse all your life. It's the verse I usually quote to people when their birthdays.

It's a good verse to remember on the first of, on a new year and at other times. The part of the righteous person and when you accept Christ as your savior, your sins are forgiven and God declares you righteous.

And the part of this righteous person in God's plan is to be like the sunrise. Sunrise is when you're born again. Before that, it was all darkness, all dark night and then one day you were born again.

You can say the sun rose in your life. But the sun doesn't stand there on the horizon. The sun goes up and up and up and up and up and up until it comes right overhead at noonday. And that is a picture of how our Christian life should be.

From the time you're born again, that we get our Christ alive, become more and more Christ-like, Christ-like, Christ-like. And till finally it reaches overhead the day when Christ returns, that is when the sun is overhead and we be exactly like him.

So from the time you're born again, till the day Christ returns and we are made like him, we should not be in the same condition. We should not be defeated by the same sins we were even one year ago. In the schools, they don't give them promotion every month.

No, you know that. They wait 365 days, teach them for 365 days and then check up whether they're ready for promotion. Okay, that's a good way. God has ordained that the earth goes round the sun in 365 days.

It's a good time in which we can check up. So since the last time we all came together in this hall two years ago, have you had a promotion to two higher standards in your life? How's your thought life?

How's your speech? How's your attitude towards money? There's nothing wrong in earning money. You know, you can be a millionaire and still be a wholehearted disciple. But if you love money, you cannot be a disciple.

And you don't have to be rich to love money. Poor people love money too. We have many beggars in Bangalore who are absolutely poor. They sit on the streets. Do you think they love money? Of course they do.

They're the poorest people in Bangalore, but they love money. What does that prove? That love of money has got nothing to do with your bank account, nothing to do with how much you earn. It's an inner thing.

You can be as poor as a beggar and love money. And I know some very rich people, extremely rich people, millionaires. I know some Christians who do not love money, who are large-hearted and generous.

And so those are areas where we need to check up whether I'm not saying whether you become perfect. I'm not saying whether you've got your PhD, whether you've become like Christ. No, have you got at least a promotion to two higher classes in the last two years since we met?

Don't let the years go by without checking up. Which of your parents would not be bothered whether your children get promoted at the end of the year? Not even one. You're eager when the report card comes at the end of the year.

Hey, son, did you get a promotion? Did you go to the next class? And how disappointed you will feel if you feel that he's sitting in the same class next year too. God is like that. He's disappointed. You're not angry with your child.

You're disappointed. You say, you probably didn't pay attention to the teacher in the class. And I would say you probably have not paid attention to what the Holy Spirit tried to teach you in the last year or two years.

Repentance Rather Than Regret Over Past Failure

I'll tell you something. You can do nothing about the past. Remember that. And there's no use weeping and weeping and weeping over the past. It's good to feel sorrow, but there is a saying in English, don't cry over spilt milk.

If you're carrying a bowl of milk and you trip and you accidentally spill something, once you're crying, it's on the ground. You can't drink that milk anymore. It's on the ground. Just be careful for the rest of your trip with that bowl of milk that you don't spill anymore.

So don't cry over spilt milk. Yeah, we feel sorrowful about your failure, but make sure you don't spill anymore. And what is the reason for lack of progress? Primarily a lack of repentance. If you were to, you can test this out.

You ask the average Christian, what is the last message that Jesus gave to the church? Go and ask any Christian. Most of them will tell you, the last message Jesus gave to the church was go into all the world and preach the gospel.

Well, that's the last message he gave when he was on the earth. I say more than that. He said, go and make disciples. Don't just preach the gospel, but make disciples. But that's not the last message.

The last message that Jesus gave to the church is in the book of Revelation. And you know that in his messages to the seven churches in Revelation chapter two and chapter three. And when you get time, you look at it.

To five of those churches who are living in sin, he said, repent. Repent, otherwise I will come and punish you in some way. And to all seven churches, he said, if you overcome, I will give you a reward.

So what is the last message of Christ to the churches in the Bible? It is not go and preach the gospel to all nations. 65 years after he gave that message, he says, repent. That's the last message to the church.

Be an overcomer. That's the last message to the church. John had heard Jesus saying when he was 30 years old, John the apostle heard Jesus saying, go into all the world and make disciples. And 65 years later, at the age of 95, he hears the same Jesus saying, tell the churches to repent.

They are not the type of churches I wanted on the earth. Only two of the seven are the type of churches I want. The other five are backslidden. And the elders were backslidden. And to the last church of Laodicea, you know what he says?

Christ’s Rebuke to the Lukewarm Church

You're supposed to be a Christian church, Revelation 3, 17. And you say, Revelation 3 and verse 17. You look at your earthly wealth and you say, I'm rich. I become wealthy. Yeah, I'm not in need like all the other poor Christians around me in the world.

But you don't realize that spiritually, you're not rich. You're not wealthy. Earthly wise, oh yeah. You've got a grand house and you've got a car and you've got nice clothes and you've got so many other things like that.

But you don't realize that spiritually you're wretched, miserable, poor, blind, naked. You say, Lord Jesus, how many adjectives do you need to use to describe your people? Isn't one word enough, wretched?

No, wretched, miserable, poor, spiritually blind, spiritually naked. To whom is it written? To the messenger of the church in Laodicea, to the leader. And when the leader is like that, the whole church is like that.

So what does he say? I've given up. No, he did not give up even on that church. That's the encouraging thing, brothers and sisters. He never gives up on us. Even if you're in this wretched condition, he doesn't give up on you.

He says, it's because I love you, verse 19. Remember this verse, Revelation 3, 19. Those whom I love, I rebuke and I discipline, be zealous therefore and repent. So he doesn't want this bad student in his class, this Christian who has failed to remain like that.

He says, I want you to pass. I'm giving you another chance. So Revelation 3, 19, do you know this verse? Everybody knows John 3, 16, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

That's a mark of God's love. When I was a young Christian and somebody asked me, how do you know God loves you? I quote John 3, 16. He loves me because he sent Jesus to die for my sins when I was a sinner.

But today, if you ask me how God loves you, I have one more answer. He rebukes me if I make a slight slip up. He disciplines me like a father using a rod on his son to make him more perfect. And that is the proof of his love.

Revelation 3, 19. It is only those who I love, the Lord says, whom I rebuke and discipline. I want to ask you, my dear brothers, please be honest with me or be honest with yourself. Have you ever heard the Lord rebuke you in your spirit?

Rebuke. No, that's wrong what you did just now. That's not the way to speak. That's unrighteous what you did there in the office. It's a mark of his love. If he had given up on you, he would not rebuke you.

You know, the Bible says those who are without discipline are not real children. A man does not discipline all the wayward children on the streets. He disciplines his own children. And so God, God's discipline is a mark of his love.

And the purpose, Revelation 3, 19, is to repent. So I see that repent is the last message of the Lord to his church and be an overcomer. The two are connected. If you repent, you can become an overcomer.

And immediately after that, he says in verse 20, Revelation 3, 20, I stand at the door and knock. Now, many people quote that word to the unbelievers. Jesus is standing at the door of your heart and knocking.

But read carefully, to whom was that word written? In verse 14, to the leader of the church in Laodicea. He's telling an elder of a church to open the door of his heart. Does it mean that he's not a Christian?

He was a Christian, but he backslid. So how can you open the door of your heart according to verse 19? By repenting. When he says, behold, I stand at the door and knock, verse 20, the word immediately before that is repent.

How do you open your heart for Jesus to come and repent? Repent means when you see something wrong in your life, say, Lord, I'm sorry for that. I'm sorry I did that. I've got that attitude, wrong attitude towards that person.

I got upset there, forgive me, I repent. I want to turn from it and I want to give it up, Lord. Please help me. You don't have the power to overcome sin, but God's promises that if you come under grace, sin cannot rule over you.

You preach that for 47 years in CFC. And we've also preached the only people who get grace are those who humble themselves. Now you say, brother Zach, these are all elementary lessons we have heard for so many years, right?

Absolutely right. But what I ask you is, if you have not made progress in your life, you haven't learned those elementary lessons. You know, I remember years ago, I went to an automobile factory in India.

Pressing on to Perfection

I think they were making the new Maruti cars many years ago in India. And I saw on the wall a little notice written on the wall in that factory, and I'll never forget it. It was written on the wall, we aim for zero defect.

We aim for zero defect in making a car. And I've never forgotten it. I said, Lord, that's my aim too. They are aiming for zero defect in making a car. And here God wants to make me his child and make me like Jesus.

I'm also gonna aim for zero defect. I'm not happy if the Lord says, well, you're only 1 wrong. 1 wrong, I'm aiming for 100%. I'm not aiming for 99%, I'll tell you that. I'm aiming for 100 in every area of my life, every subject in the Christian life.

Lord, I want to do what it says in Hebrews 6, verse one, let us press on to perfection. I mean, if you saw those people singing from CFC at the beginning of this meeting, you saw what was written on the pulpit.

That's another word that I chose. I said, everybody who comes to this church must see that pulpit and see what we preach here. Let us press on to perfection, Hebrews 6, verse one. The path of the righteous should be like the sun.

Do you know the sun never backslides? No, it never backslides. From the sunrise all the way up to noonday position, it keeps going up, up, up, up, up, up, up, up, up. Never a moment does it go back. That is the example for us in Proverbs 4 .18.

The path of the righteous, it's like the sunrise that shines brighter and brighter and brighter till it comes to the perfect day when we have become 100 like Christ. You know, that is the message we preach continuously because that is the most needed message.

It's like a doctor who says, if you got a family doctor, the family doctor will tell you, hey, listen, I want everyone in this family to have perfect health. That's what you would want for your children.

Supposing your child has got, say, a number of sicknesses, say seven or eight different sicknesses, and you take it to the doctor, and the doctor says, okay, we'll cure one or two of them. You say, no, I want my son to be cured of all eight.

I'll go to the doctor and say, eight, why do you want all eight to be cured? Why not at least be happy with at least six or seven are cured? No, I want all eight to be cured. Isn't that what a loving father or mother would say?

If your child had eight diseases, would you be happy when the doctor says, I'll cure it of six or even seven and leave one disease still in his body? No. Neither does God want one sin remaining in our life, whatever it is, and you know what sin is remaining in your life or whatever sins are remaining in your life.

I want to say to you, God is very patient. He's very merciful, but he wants to make you perfect. He wants to make me perfect. And that's why we say, let's press on to perfection. So the way to press on to perfection, Jesus said, we got to do something every day.

We must certainly ask God to fill us with the Holy Spirit because it is only the power of God that keeps us strong. God gives his grace to the humble. So we must humble ourselves every day. We must listen to God's word every day.

Daily Consecration and Taking Up the Cross

I want to encourage all of you, my brothers and sisters, when you get up in the morning, before you get out of bed, did you hear me? You say, many of you say, I've got a good habit of reading the Bible in the morning.

Okay, before you even get out of the bed to read the Bible, as soon as you wake up, talk a few sentences to Jesus, to your heavenly father, begin the day. The day begins for you when you wake up. Before you get out of bed, say, heavenly father, my dad in heaven, I'm so happy that you're my dad.

But I'm not telling you words to say, but speak to him. Take a minute. I'm not asking you to pray for one hour. Take one or two minutes. That's not too long. When you wake up and say, Lord Jesus, I want to be a little more like you today.

I want you to make me sensitive to sin. Fill me with the Holy Spirit. And help me to do what you told me to do in Luke 9 .23. You all know Luke 9 .23? Very, very important verse. Luke chapter nine, verse 23, the path of spiritual progress, the pathway to perfection.

Luke chapter nine, verse 23, Jesus said, if anyone wants to come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross every day, not just at the beginning of his life. It's not a thing, you know, you accepted the Lord once and say, okay, I'll take up a cross.

No, every single day. You know, there's no verse in the Bible which says, read your Bible daily. It's a good habit. But for 1 ,400 years after Christ, there was no printed Bible. The first printed Bible was around the end of the 15th century.

So how could people read the Bible for 1 ,500 years? It's a good habit. But there's the only thing the Bible says you must do, Jesus said you must do daily. The only thing is take up the cross and follow him.

So what does it mean to take up the cross? It means to die to myself. In my heart, there is a throne and self sits there from the time we are born. That's why children fight, grab, yell, scream, hurt one another, disobey their parents.

It's all because self is in the throne. That's why we must teach our children from childhood to O .P .O .B and to their parents to break that power of self sitting on the throne. And when we become a Christian, there's someone competing with Christ in our heart for the throne, self.

Self is saying, I've ruled in this man's heart, a woman's heart for so many years. I wanna continue to rule. Self is the one that tells you, don't apologize. It's his fault. There is no situation where it is 100 the other person's fault, except when man sinned.

When man sinned, it was 100 man's fault and God's fault was zero. But in every other problem that has ever happened between you and somebody else, part of the problem is with you. Even if the major part of the problem is with the other person.

Always remember, there's never a situation where 100 the problem is with your wife or with your husband or with that person and zero with you, impossible. As long as we have a flesh that is corrupted by sin, there is sin even in our good actions.

We can be seeking our own honor, motive, your attitude to somebody, even if you never speak about it. That's a sin to have a wrong attitude. How much do you want to be cleansed? Do you only wanna be cleansed like the Pharisees from the outside of the cup?

Inner Holiness Versus Outward Religious Performance

Let me show you two good qualities of the Pharisees. Have you heard me speak on the two good qualities of the Pharisees? Turn with me to Matthew 23. Jesus himself condemned the Pharisees for many things.

He says, you exploit the widows and you travel as missionaries and make people double the children of hell. But you have two good qualities. Number one good quality your Pharisees have is your doctrines are all correct.

Matthew 23 verse three. Jesus told the disciples, everything that the Pharisees tell you to do, do. How can he say that if that doctrine was not correct? Will Jesus tell you everything that the Roman Catholics tell you to do, do?

Or everything that the Jehovah's Witnesses tell you to do, do? Never, because they've got some wrong teachings. But when it came to the Pharisees, everything that they tell you to do, do. That means their doctrines are all correct.

Jesus is saying, you Pharisees, your doctrines are all correct. Second good quality, verse 25. Matthew 23 verse 25. You clean the outside of the cup, but the inside is full of robbery. Inside their hearts is full of sin, but their outer life, it says, Jesus said, is clean.

They were not committing adultery on the outside. They were doing a lot of good things on the outside. They were paying their tithes. They're going regularly to meetings every week. Their external life was good.

Isn't that a good thing? There are many people whose external life is bad. Pharisees were not like that. You remember the Pharisee who prayed, Lord, I thank you that I'm not like other men, thieves and adulterers and all that.

It's true. They outwardly, their life was pure. So that's the second certificate the Lord gives the Pharisees. Your external life is very good. When people look at you on the outside, they think you're a very fine person.

So what are the two good qualities? Absolutely right in doctrine and very good in your external life. Now you examine your own life. What can you boast about sitting in a CFC church? I thank God that I've got the right doctrine.

Good. I thank God that my external life is very pure. I'm righteous with money and so many other things. My external life is all very good. If that's all you can say, my brother, sister, you're no better than the Pharisees.

It's the heart that's important. The thoughts, the attitudes to people, even if you never speak about it, the motives with which you do certain things. The things you do in secret, in the dark, when nobody can see you, how you behave yourself at home, which is really 90 of your life.

That is where God wants us to become truly godly. And I want to tell you that God wants to fill you with the Holy Spirit to make you do that. Let me give you one last verse. Hebrews chapter four. One of the things we have taught in CFC through the years is that Jesus Christ, when he came to earth, came to a man just like us and was tempted like us, but he did not sin.

Hebrews 4, 15. This is the verse that helped me to overcome sin in my life. When I said Jesus was tempted like me and he did not sin, through the power of the Holy Spirit, then he can help me also. Hebrews 4, 15.

He sympathizes with us because he knows the struggle we have against sin, but he was also tempted, but he did not sin. So what? You say, so what? So what is in the next verse? Therefore, because he did not sin, what shall we do?

Just worship him and say, oh Lord, how wonderful you did not sin. No, therefore don't just worship him. Therefore, you draw near to the throne of grace and say, Lord, give me mercy. Mercy is forgiveness for my past failures.

Jesus never needed that. He never sinned, but we needed mercy. And let's ask God for grace to help me in my time of need. What is my time of need? Verse 15, when we are tempted. So we could read it like this.

Let us come to the throne of grace every day and say, Lord, first of all, give me mercy for all my past failures. Cleanse it in the blood of Jesus and give me grace today in my time of need when I'm tempted to overcome because if grace is upon me, Romans 6, 14, sin cannot rule over you.

Grace, Humility, and Practical Christian Witness

It's a wonderful message. For the last 45 years and more, it changed my life completely. It changed my married life. It changed the way I brought up my children. I'm very thankful now my four sons are following the Lord and they are bringing up their children also in that way.

So, so many results come when we humble ourselves and God takes care of our needs. And also as we have served the Lord through the years, Annie and I, God has helped us to support ourselves so that we don't ask anybody for money.

We never send any prayer letters and we have trusted God and we're not supported by anybody. The Lord himself has supported us through our own resources. And I'm very thankful for that. And God has done that.

And that's how the apostle Paul lived, you know. He tried his best not to be a burden to anybody. And that's what we have taught in all of our more than 100 CFC churches around the world now. You know, 11 countries.

That's what we have taught all the elders. Yeah, support yourself and build the church. And we praise God. And I thank God for you all in the church in Singapore that God raised up a few years ago. And through the years, he's added different ones of you there.

And I pray for you, my dear brothers and sisters, that you will press on to perfection. We can do nothing about the past. What about if we have failed in the past? Maybe I should show you one more verse.

Repentance as a Change of Mind Toward Sin

Acts of the apostles. It's one of my favorite verses. Acts 17 and verse 30. Acts of the apostles, chapter 17, verse 30. We have all failed in the past. So if you look back over your life, any of you, and you say, well, my past one or two years has not been too good.

Take this verse. God is overlooking. That means he's not bothering about the time of ignorance. Ignorance means you knew about the Lord, but you didn't know how serious sin is. You are ignorant about the seriousness of sin.