Freedom From This World System — Zac Poonen

Freedom From Sin, Legalism, and the World System

Want to continue our study in freedom that Jesus wants to give us. We looked at that cage from which the bird is escaping and we saw that first of all that cage can represent sin. That's the number one thing, that sin is like a cage inside which we are trapped and Jesus sets us free.

Legalism as a Cage

And then secondly we saw yesterday that the law was also a cage. A lot of people don't think of the law as a cage but it is a cage. Every rule and regulation ties you up. You can't become free. And when we impose rules and regulations on others we are putting them inside a cage.

And that is how most churches that preach holiness operate. And I have seen that most churches that preach holiness people are not free. They're not happy. They look alright on the outside but they're in a cage.

It's like keeping a pig in a cage and saying he's always clean. That's not the way God wants us to be clean. He places us in the world and keeps us clean. So the third cage we want to think of from which Jesus wants to deliver us is the world.

Jesus Delivers Us From the World System

And I want to read first of all a verse in Galatians in chapter 1. Galatians chapter 1 where it tells us why Jesus gave himself on the cross. Verse 4 of Galatians chapter 1 it says he gave himself for our sins.

We can understand that. But he also gave himself so that he might rescue us or deliver us from this present evil world or evil age. Now when the word when the New Testament uses the word world it uses it about a hundred and fifty times across the New Testament and it has two meanings.

One is the people of the world. It says God so loved the world. That's the people of the world. And then in 1 John 2 15 it says love not the world. That's not referring to the people of the world. We're supposed to love the people in the world but don't love this world system.

So in the New Testament the word world is used in two senses. Jesus did not die to deliver us from the people of the world. No. He wants us to live right in the middle of the people of the world. It's a big mistake that some Christians have made in mission compounds where they make a big compound wall and all the Christians live inside that.

That is never God's will. He wants you to live right in the middle of the world but not become part of the world. And that is our calling. But the world system is different and that we're not to love.

And it's from that world system that Jesus died to deliver us. So if Jesus died to deliver us from this world system as it says here and he calls it an evil system. This world is called here an evil world just like sin is evil.

The Bible calls the world system evil. It's evil because its ruler is evil. In 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 4 we are told the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving. So that's the devil.

The devil is called the God of this world. So if you are not delivered from this world system you will be unconsciously having fellowship with the God of this world. And that's the reason why we're not able to fly like the eagle in the air.

We're caught in a cage. Maybe we are delivered from legalism but I have discovered through the years that legalism and worldliness are just two opposite ditches. And a lot of people who run away from worldliness, from legalism fall into the other ditch called worldliness.

And a lot of people who run away from worldliness fall into the ditch called legalism. I say why do I have to fall into either ditch? Why can't I walk this narrow way which is between legalism and worldliness?

This is a cage. This is a cage. And I have seen in many churches where people are trying to break free from the law. Most, particularly young people, most of them end in the ditch of worldliness and they rejoice lying in that ditch.

I am free from the law. And the only one who laughs is the devil. Says great, keep rejoicing in that ditch that you are free from the law. It's happening. I've seen it happen. I've seen it happen with people in some of our churches.

So the Christian walk is a very narrow walk. It's not just breaking free from worldliness, it's not breaking free from legalism. You say which is the worst? I think both are equally bad. Because both of them bring different types of bondage.

Many people who are free from legalism think they are free. They are not free. They are using their so-called freedom to live according to the spirit of the world. And they will never become spiritual.

The purpose of breaking people free from the cage of the law is to become spiritual. But the devil makes sure they don't become spiritual by putting them into another ditch. And I believe that is the thing that many of us need to be careful about.

You have heard me speak much about the dangers of legalism. I will not be faithful to you if I don't tell you equally the dangers of the ditch on the other side. Because Jesus came to deliver us from the law and the spirit of the law.

And he also came to deliver us from the world and the spirit of the world. Because the God of this world is the enemy of Jesus Christ. So I want to show you a verse in John's Gospel, chapter 14. In John 14, Jesus himself called Satan the ruler of this world.

In verse 30, he said to his disciples, I will not speak much with you because the ruler of this world is coming. He's the one who instigated the Pharisees to crucify Jesus. But when he comes, he has nothing in me.

If you are a disciple of Jesus Christ, you should be able to say the same words. The ruler of this world comes and he has got nothing in me. There's nothing of his spirit in me. If you don't break free from this spirit of the world, I tell you, it'll be like chains on your leg.

No matter how zealous you are, no matter how much you pray that God will fill you with the Holy Spirit, you will not become spiritual. Even though you're broken free from the chains of the law and legalism, you'll be held back by the chains of worldliness.

And it doesn't matter whether the chain is on your left leg or your right leg, you will not be able to progress. The Apostle Paul once said, we're not ignorant of the schemes of the devil. The devil has certain schemes and we must not be unaware of his wiles, his tricks with which he trips people up, making them swing from one extreme to the other extreme.

And he knows which extreme you're afraid of. He's seen certain Christians are afraid of worldliness, so he makes them swing to the other extreme and become legalists. And he knows that some of us are now afraid of legalism and he says, okay, that's great.

Let me just push them over and over and over till they fall into the other ditch. So don't be afraid, don't be ignorant of Satan's schemes. You should be able to say, when the ruler of the world comes, he's got nothing in me.

Because if he has got something in you, something of that spirit of the world is in you, how in the world can you have fellowship with Jesus Christ? Because he had nothing of the ruler of the world and his spirit in him.

This is very important. It doesn't matter whether you're an elder brother or younger brother, elder sister, younger sister, there's a lot of people who started their life very well, devoted to Christ and finally came to the place where the world possessed them.

And many, many people who've been destroyed through worldliness. So let me warn you of that. Then let's turn to John's Gospel chapter 16. In John chapter 16, he says in the verse 33, the last verse, the last part of that verse, in the world you will have tribulation.

That is this physical world we're living in. You will have tribulation from the people of the world because they don't like the way you live. But take courage because I have overcome the world. Jesus overcame the world.

What do you mean by he overcame the world? If Augustus Caesar had said I have overcome the world, he meant something else. Alexander the Great said I have conquered the world. What he meant was something completely different from what Jesus said when I have conquered the world.

Alexander the Great was talking about an area of the world, physical domination. Jesus was talking about overcoming a system which was in existence in his day and which is very widespread today. And when it says in Revelation that you must overcome as I overcame in Revelation 321, he wants you to be an overcomer of the world.

So if you don't know what the world is, how will you overcome it? If you don't know who your enemy is, how will you ever overcome it? If you don't know what it is this evil world from which Jesus delivered us, you don't know what it is, how are you going to be delivered from it?

You've got to understand this is a cage that Jesus wants you to fly out from and he's opened the door. But if you don't understand it, you'll be trapped in that cage. You yourself will lock up the cage and sit inside and flap your wings.

There are many people who are doing this, Christians, and they think they are free. They are not free. They are not pleasing to God. Okay, now let's turn to 1 John and chapter 2. In 1 John chapter 2, it says here in verse 15 to 17.

1 John chapter 2 verse 15 to 17. Do not love the world nor the things in the world. And this is not a light thing because it says if anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Or as it says here in the other translation, the love of the world squeezes out the love of the Father.

And perhaps some of you have seen that. That your love for Jesus, which was once so fervent, has been squeezed out by love for the spirit and the things of this world. I mean that's the sort of thing that leads so many people astray.

So you got to be careful that you don't allow this love for the world to squeeze out love for the Father. Because it says in verse 16, all that is in the world, and he defines it, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not from the Father.

And it's very interesting how this is translated in certain other paraphrases. Sometimes lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, pride of life doesn't mean much to us, but it means wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, the lust to buy everything that you see, wanting to appear important before other people.

That's what it basically means. Father's got nothing to do with all this. And if you have any such desires and they are not killed, you live in this cage. You know that the desire wanting to appear important before other people, pride of life, is part of the world.

And if you have that desire to want to appear important before other believers, you are in a cage. And you can clap your wings as much as you like inside that cage, but you're trapped. And that's why the Bible says, always consider other people as more important than yourself.

Philippians 2 verse 3. It does not say, consider others as more spiritual than yourself, because that's not possible. Jesus did not consider other people as more spiritual than himself. Paul did not consider the Corinthians as more spiritual than himself.

Some people try to pretend, oh, others are more spiritual. That's a lie. If I see a carnal believer, how can I imagine that he's more spiritual than me? The Lord doesn't ask me to believe a lie. But I can recognize that he's more important than me.

How do I prove that? By washing his feet. Jesus washed the feet of Judas Iscariot. Don't forget. He washed the feet of Judas Iscariot. Not because Judas Iscariot was more spiritual, but Jesus said, all people in the world are more important than me.

I'm willing to wash their feet. That was great. This is the one we follow. There was nothing of the world in him. There was no desire to become a big person in the church, or a leader, or any such thing.

And all the spirit of everything that tempts us with our eyes, and many other things in the world, Jesus overcame it. And he tells us here, we must overcome it too. Because the world is passing away, and also its lusts.

The desire to have this, and have this, and have this, and have this, and want this, and want this, and want this. It's going to pass away. But the one who does the will of God abides forever. You see, here the contrast in verse 17 is between two types of people.

Only two types. Those who do the will of God, and those who want the way of the world. It's radical Christianity that John is preaching at the age of 95. He says, you either live for the world, or you live out and out for the will of God.

There is none of this middle way, midway position that a lot of Christians think is acceptable to God, where I don't live for the world, and I don't want to do the will of God either. John doesn't recognize that.

He who does the will of God abides forever, and the opposite of that is, you love the world. So if you're not seeking to do the will of God, that proves you love the world in some area. Because the will of God is contrary to everything of the spirit of this world.

How Worldliness Blunts Spiritual Discernment

Now I want to tell you something, that the spirit of the world penetrates every area. When the Bible says that the devil is the ruler of this world, it's like, you know, in India, when the BJP was in power last year, and the years before that, they did things their way.

They passed certain rules, they put certain people in certain positions, in the bureaucracy, in the police, and all that, to control things so that it will be according to their philosophy. And then they got defeated, and the Congress came to power, and then they change all that.

They say, now we've got to change all that. I mean, education policy and the history books are all reverted back, because they say, that's not the way it should be. So ruler means someone who's controlling various things.

It's not just sin. The God of this world controls so many areas which we think are very innocent. And if you don't have light on the schemes of Satan, you'll find that, not that you go to hell, I'm not talking about going to hell, I'm not just interested in going to heaven, I want my life to count for God before I go to heaven.

So I want, I'd say that the thing, some of these innocent things in the world, which have come into Christendom, they don't send you to hell, but they blunt your spiritual edge. And you know, when you have a blunt knife in your kitchen, how difficult it is to cut anything.

There's a verse in Ecclesiastes in chapter 10, which says, and I believe this is happening to many, many believers nowadays, it says in Ecclesiastes in chapter 10, verse 10, if the axe is dull and you don't sharpen the edge, then you have to exert more strength.

But wisdom has the advantage of giving success. Wisdom is to recognize there the devil is not trying to make me sin, but he's trying to blunt the edge of my axe. And then I struggle, struggle, struggle, struggle, the tree is not getting cut.

So many believers who are not falling into sin, who are priding themselves in the fact that we're living upright, decent lives, their spiritual sharpness has been blunted by the devil through worldliness, which doesn't look like worldliness to them.

Many people think that worldliness is going and seeing sexy movies. Well, that is certainly worldliness, but that's not the only form of worldliness. If you watch clean movies so much that you don't have time to read the Bible, your mind may not be polluted, but your spiritual edge is blunted.

Entertainment, Christian Culture, and Spiritual Compromise

Do you know that the entire entertainment industry in the whole world is controlled by the devil? I don't know how many of you know that. The entire entertainment industry in the world, and he's got different levels of entertainment depending on how filthy you want to be.

If you want to be really filthy, I suppose they got these pornographic movies. If you want to be less filthy, you got R-rated movies. And if you got, if you want to be less filthy, they got other levels.

And if you want to be a little clean, but you want to, God, the devil wants to blunt your spiritual edge, he's got movies for that too. He's got various levels of entertainment. The music world is under the control of the devil.

All levels of them, depending on what you want. I mean, if you won't go for the lowest level, he takes some other level. And when a Christian tries to imitate the music of the world, saying that's the way we are going to attract young people to our church, do you know what type of people you will attract to your church?

You'll attract a whole lot of worldly young people who don't want to give up the world. They just put a Christian whitewash on that worldly music and called it Christian. I remember many years ago, when I went to the northern part of Karnataka, about nearly 40 years ago, 38 years ago.

And there, years ago, certain missions had gone, missionaries had gone, and there were people there who claimed to be Christians. Well, they were Christian by name, and I discovered something very interesting.

Before they were converted, they used to sing songs to Krishna. Krishna this and Krishna that and Krishna the other thing, worship songs. And when they became Christians, it was just a change of one syllable.

Krista. Now it was Krista this and Krista that and Krista the other thing. That's about all. They had suddenly become Christians. It was very easy. You didn't have to change much, and their lifestyle remained the same.

And when I see a lot of so-called Christian rock, and it reminds me of Christian adultery and Christian theft, Christian murder, Christian rock, I can't understand it. It's something funny to me. How does it work?

What is Christian adultery? And what is Christian murder? So I can't understand this Christian rock. Rock music is the devil, 100%. I mean, just look at the way these people look, and their dresses, and the filthy songs they sing, and the demon worship, and the drug addiction that's connected with it, and how they say that the proof of a good rock concert is how many chairs are broken in the hall.

That's the test of a good rock concert. Is that of God? It's not even of man. It's of the devil. So how can you have a Christian rock like Christian adultery? But there are Christians who are fooled by it.

I tell you, I have to really say the devil's done a tremendous work. He's done a tremendous work. Fooled believers left, right, and center. Taken away their spiritual sharpness. That's why you don't have prophetic messages in the pulpits in our land today.

Because people are afraid of offending the young people. The young people will leave our churches. I say, let them go. We'll get other young people who are interested in God, who are interested in spiritual life, who are interested in being disciples of Jesus.

You think there are no such young people in the world? I've seen hundreds of them who want to follow Jesus. Those are the only ones we want. So we're not going to lower our standards in order to attract young people.

I've always said, I never want to attract a person to my church by the music in the church. No. I want to attract people by the godliness and the humility and the fear of God that people see in our church.

I don't even want to attract them by the preaching. Preaching can be worldly too. I have of late looked at a lot of the programs that come on Christian television nowadays just to understand what is the spirit behind it.

And I don't want to be critical of everything. I'm saying, I know there's a lot of good that comes out of many things which are not 100 according to God's will. God uses many things so I don't question that.

But my point is, I find a difference between the way the Old Testament prophets spoke and these preachers speak. If you don't believe me, read the Old Testament prophets. Try and get that spirit, how they spoke to God's people.

And then compare the spirit of these people who are preaching in these Christian television programs. There's a world of difference between the two. World of difference. I find that a lot of lot of Christian television is preaching psychology.

They study psychology and psychology teaches that people want certain things and they incorporate that like you take the worldly rock and make it Christian rock. You take what psychologists teach in the world and put a Christian whitewash on it and that's what's being preached.

Make people feel nice. Make people feel important. Make people feel secure and happy. Let them come to the meeting and go away feeling good, happy, jumping and rejoicing even though they're living in sin.

This is not the old revivalists preached. When people like Charles Finney preached, people were weeping. They were not shouting hallelujah. They were weeping for their sin and they turned from their sin and became godly people.

Today people live in their sin. Pursue the world after watching all these programs. Many of you who watch these programs tell me, I want to ask all of you who have watched Christian television, did it make you once weep for your sin?

Once with all the hundreds of hours you watched it. Why is that? They don't want you to weep for your sin. There's a tremendous deception in all this. It's psychology. Psychologists don't make you weep.

Psychologists make you happy. Don't be deceived by it. That's all I can say. I watched it enough to see the spirit behind it. It does not lead people to repentance. You hardly hear. I mean, all that I watched, I never heard people preaching about repentance from sin, give up your love of money, stop lusting with your eyes, get rid of your anger.

No. I've heard people justify their anger, saying you've got to be angry and the excuse he made was God is angry. Oh, it's a clever way to make people comfortable in their anger. I'm not fooled by all this, but I find so many people brainwashed.

There's a spirit of the world in it, the spirit of psychology, the spirit of the world. I'll speak more of that some other time. But what I want to say is, there's a tremendous program that Satan has unleashed, loosed in the world, unleashed and loosed in the world, in order to get people conformed to the spirit of the world while still thinking that they are disciples of Jesus.

Because the moment, if you get the idea, well, I'm not a disciple of Jesus, now I'm following the world, the devil's purpose is defeated. He's got to make you think that you're a disciple of Jesus and make you thoroughly worldly.

Renewing the Mind and Refusing Worldly Conformity

Romans chapter 12, it says here in verse 1 and 2, don't be conformed to this world, verse 2, Romans 12, verse 2, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. So there it teaches us that conformity to the world is in the mind and transformation into Christ-likeness is also in the mind, begins in the mind.

I mean, if my transformation is only in my mind, something is wrong. The conformity to the likeness of Christ in my mind must translate into my daily walk, into my speech, even into the way I dress or the way I behave, my attitude to money, my attitude to people.

It's not just something that stays in the mind. My mind controls my whole behavior. It's exactly the same with conformity to the world. Conformity to the world, now you know, for many many years, especially those who believed in being separated from the dead churches, they preached against worldliness and most people's understanding of worldliness was the dress you wear.

You know, you wear a white shirt or a white sari and you don't wear any ornaments, then you're not worldly. But some of these people who were dressed like that were among the most worldly people I have ever met in my life because they love money, they gossip, they backbite, and they did all types of things like that.

They were thoroughly worldly but they had, the devil fooled them that because they don't wear any ornaments and they wear white clothes now, they're very holy. Boy, what a work the devil has done. We've got to strip this deception away from the eyes of people and say you don't become holy like that.

Now I'm not saying that conformity to Christ in the mind does not change our outward dress and behavior. I'm not saying that, but I'm saying it's not the outward that is important. Some time ago I made a study of the Gospels and it's a study I would recommend all of you who are serious about Bible study to do and it's very easy to do.

I did it in a very short time. I read through the Gospels with a notebook beside me and I wrote down every subject that Jesus spoke on. The first was repentance, Matthew chapter 4. Everything he preached, everything he emphasized like he emphasized listening to every word that proceeds from the mouth of God in the temptation in the wilderness.

Everything that he emphasized or spoke about I wrote down because I said these are the most important things that Jesus spoke about and if he repeated it a second time I put down that verse there and I made a complete study of it and I've got it with me and I won't give it to you because it'll make you lazy.

I want you to do it yourself and it'll benefit you more. We're not going to give out any photocopies of that, but do it. It'll really help you and you know what I discovered? That Jesus never once spoke about anything outward.

He never spoke about how you should dress or what you should wear or never and I discovered that so many Christians when they talk about worldliness that's all they speak about and they're so fussy about these external things, but Jesus was different.

So he didn't even speak about church pattern. It was not so important for him. He's and I it blessed my heart so much to see it because I realized what are the most important things in the New Testament and I saw what it means to break free from the spirit of this world.

Christ's Kingdom and Spiritual Warfare

For example, let me show you a verse that Jesus spoke in John chapter 18. In John chapter 18 and verse 36 Jesus said to Pilate, he said my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world then my servants will be fighting.

All people who fight for earthly things, their kingdom belongs to this world. When you're a Christian you don't fight for earthly things, you fight for spiritual things. We don't fight with human beings, we fight with demons.

We wrestle not with flesh and blood. I remember many years ago the Lord spoke to me from Ephesians 6 verse 12 after I experienced the baptism in the Holy Spirit and I came into this realm of spiritual warfare which I never knew anything about in all the years I was a believer before being baptized in the Holy Spirit.

Suddenly I was transported into the realm of the spirit where spiritual warfare became important, fighting against evil spirits and demons which most people know nothing about. And I suddenly realized that in this warfare, the Lord showed me in Ephesians 6 verse 12, if you want to be effective in this warfare against evil spirits, make sure that you never again fight with another human being.

We wrestle not with flesh and blood but with principalities and the world rulers of this darkness. Now if you want to fight with that, the Lord said you got to stop fighting with human beings for anything.

Never fight with any brother, never fight with your husband, with your wife, with neighbor, anybody. Seek peace as much as you are, as much as possible within you and say I'm not going to fight for earthly things, I'm going to fight evil spirits.

So this is a principle. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants will be fighting for the things in this world. But Jesus would not fight for the things in this world. He told a man whose brother was not sharing the family property with him, said don't call me to resolve that dispute.

No, I didn't come to the world to divide property. So conformity to the world is in our mind and transformation also takes place in our mind and the only way transformation can take place is when I get a new value system in my mind.

Developing a God-Centered Value System

Now whether you know it or not, all of us have got a certain value system in our mind. You were born with a sinful nature. That came from Adam, through your parents. But your value system, you were not born with that.

No. For example, I'll prove that to you. Today you all value money. Does a newborn baby value money? Even a two-year-old doesn't value money. You give him a 500 rupee note, he'll just tear it up and throw it away and cling on to a two rupee rattle or something like that.

He doesn't have a sense of value. That value system has come through the years, you know for example, the desire to impress others. We're not born with that. A little baby lying in a crib is not trying to impress anybody.

But as he grows up in the world, he learns from his parents, from others in his neighborhood, from school, to impress people. To bluff people that he's better than he really is. To cheat people. It's a value system we have acquired and then as we grow up we see advertisements, we watch television, we come talk to people in school, college and gradually our mind has acquired a certain value system.

And if you have not allowed your mind to be influenced by God's Word, that value system is completely wrong. And you'll never be spiritual. I mean no matter how many meetings you go to. Because you're getting all this information but your life is being governed by another value system.

Your value system determines the choices you make in life. And if your value system is worldly, that determines the choice you make. I mean take a simple thing like a young girl going to a shop in commercial street to buy clothes.

And she looks at all the clothes there. I'm not talking about Christians. It could be Christians, worldly, anybody. Let's consider a worldly person first. A thoroughly worldly person goes into that store and how does she select the dress?

She's got a certain value system. You get an illiterate villager from some remote village in India and take her into that same shop and she'll be horrified at the dress selected by this young girl. Because she's got another value system.

Where did this girl get this value system? Through city life, through television, through advertisements, through movies, through watching movie actresses and all the models on television. She's acquired a certain value system.

It's not only girls, boys get it. You know we imitate certain heroes. You see how young girls may want to comb their hair in a particular way because some model on television combs her hair like that.

It's a value system which is gradually influencing Christians. Now is there any sin in combing your hair like this? Not at all. But don't forget that you are being influenced by an ungodly person. Don't ever forget that.

And the fashions of the world, there's nothing wrong, nothing sinful essentially in them. But if you allow this world system, you know the devil puts in a little wedge, very tiny end of a wedge. And you say that's hardly anything.

I know it's hardly anything. But he's going to hammer that wedge and gradually make that opening bigger. That's exactly how he gets into the minds of a lot of our young people today. Through music, through styles and so many things.

No, the worldliness is not in the dress. It's not in the music. It's in the value system you've got in your mind. And the only way to escape the world, Jesus came to deliver us from the world, is that in my mind I refuse to accept this value system.

And I'm not going to let these worldly people tell me how I should dress. I remember one sister came to me and asked me, young sister, how should I dress? I said, imagine that you're going for a walk with Jesus Christ down the road.

And you're going to go and knock at the house of Jesus and say, Lord I've come to have a walk with you. How would you dress when you go to Jesus house to have a walk with him? Dress like that. What rules did I say?

Did I say your blouse must be so much length or your salwar kameez must be so much length? I never said anything. I said just dress the way you would like if Jesus was physically walking with you and you'll feel comfortable walking with that dress.

Go right ahead and wear it. That, you say, well that leaves the door open for a whole lot of people, dresses they like. Sure. I'm not going to make rules. It depends on their spiritual maturity. If they want to live at a low level and say, yeah Jesus doesn't mind my wearing all these tight dresses and exposing various parts of my body.

If that's your Jesus, you better walk with that Jesus. But I don't think that's Jesus in the Bible, that's all I say. There are many Jesuses, you know that? The Bible speaks of another Jesus. But you know, it's not what we preach in CFC.