God Loves us as a Father — Zac Poonen

The Devil's Deception About God's Love

Have you ever wondered how Jesus could speak to 5 ,000 people without any Microphone or any such thing? He was a very strong man. We are all weaklings compared. Why is this devil called a deceiver. The very first thing that he did with man as we read in the Bible is he deceived him.

Adam's Temptation and the Question of God's Love

Concerning the real nature of God. We know the story how Adam went into the garden and God had told him don't eat from that One tree. Now, I believe it's all symbolic. I don't know exactly what the tree was.

But the point of that story is this. That the devil came to Adam and essentially told him God doesn't love you because if he loved you Why would he deny you? to take part in this Lovely fruit from this tree because it is a very attractive tree and What God was testing Adam in.

Was can you trust me. That I'm a God of love and that if I tell you not to do something It is for your good. And if I tell you to do something it is for your good. That is faith. So we think of Adam's failure as a failure of obedience.

He's not tell him not to do something and he did it but underneath that Disobedience was a lack of faith. Means I don't believe what the devil was trying to put a thought into Adam's mind one God doesn't really love you.

Otherwise, why should he withhold this Lovely fruit from you. And that is the same temptation with which he comes to human beings today. When something we want badly and we don't get. Or some sickness we pray for and are not healed.

And somebody we pray for doesn't get healed but dies. Always at the back. The devil says see God doesn't love you. Have you heard that thought coming into your mind? God doesn't really love you. If he loved you he'd do something more for you.

That was the thought that came into Adam's Mind. The second thought that God that the devil put into Adam's mind was. Let's turn to that passage it's in Genesis chapter 3 some of you may not be familiar with it.

So let me read it to you. Genesis chapter 3. God had already told Adam. In Genesis 2 16 and 17 from any tree you can eat. But from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil were 17. Genesis 2 17 you shall not eat for in the day that you eat you will surely die.

That's all. And Why did God not prevent Satan from entering the garden. That could have been very easy. And that's also important for us to understand. See if man is not tested He's not proven whether he Supposing God had told him go and eat whatever you like.

It's like if you leave your child at home. Say do whatever you like you never know whether he's going to be obedient or not, but If you allow your child to do a hundred and one things, but one thing you tell him not to do.

Then you can test his obedience, I mean there were 1 ,000 trees in the garden God said don't eat one. It's not such a difficult command. If God had told him all these nine hundred and ninety nine trees.

You cannot eat only this one you can eat that would have been a difficult command. But God told him only one tree you cannot eat all the others you can eat thousands of them so it's not at all difficult, but it was a test of obedience and.

And The devil came and see what he told Eve. Verse 4 God knows. Sorry verse 5. Genesis 3 verse 5 God knows in the day you eat it. Your eyes will be opened. You'll be like God. Knowing good and evil God doesn't want you to be like him.

So he's withholding it from you because he doesn't love you. And once that a seed of suspicion and doubt about God is sown into Adam and Eve's mind. It begins to fertilize there, and you begin to think yeah, perhaps God doesn't love me because it's such a lovely tree.

It says here Verse 6 the woman saw it the tree was good for food and a delight to the eyes and desirable in every way. You see something desirable and good for the eyes and good for food and delight to the eyes.

He said why wouldn't God allow me to have this? Like many things that come in our life. Also. We pray to God and According to our understanding we think yeah, that's delightful. It's good. I don't see any reason why it's not good.

Why does God not give it to me? Why doesn't God answer my prayer and Immediately the devil puts a thought into your minds because God doesn't love you. The basis of faith is to believe even when I cannot understand anything that there's some reason why God has forbidden it or there's some reason why God wants me to go through this trial and so ultimately Faith is based on an absolute conviction that Irrespective of what my senses tell me I Know God loves me.

If you can have that you will have a wonderful life and God will never let you down. But I'll tell you this. That is the area where God where the devil will always try to Knock away your faith. Something or the other you want and you don't get God's.

God doesn't love you. Or something you don't want and something happens in your life, which you didn't anticipate. God doesn't love you. What we learn from here is never believe that lie of the devil.

Walking by Faith Rather Than by Sight

In the New Testament we are told we walk by faith not by sight. Because a lot of things we see Are not real. You for example? We think The Sun is moving. From the east to the west and but it's not moving and you study geography, you know, it's not moving at all.

But a little child who has not studied geography will think the Sun is moving. So we can't even trust our eyes. And I believe that God has allowed that Every day to show us you can't trust your senses.

I heard a story of a two boys in the same family and The six-year-old told his know that twelve-year-old told his six-year-old younger brother See the Sun has moved. It was in the east. Now it is in the West.

And the six-year-old he didn't know anything about geography. But he told his twelve-year-old older brother. No, you remember what daddy told us. That the Sun does not move. Is the earth under our feet that's rotating.

The earth under our feet is rotating at 1 ,000 miles an hour. So The older boy said I believe what I see. I Saw the Sun move. The younger boy said I Believe daddy who was right? You know We cannot believe what we see.

You don't feel the earth moving under your feet right now at 1 ,000 miles an hour you feel you're in a vehicle that's moving at 1 ,000 miles an hour. You know, that's the speed of the earth's rotation on its own axis the Circumference of the earth in the equator is 24 ,000 miles or 40 ,000 kilometers and in 24 hours it covers that period means it's moving at 1 ,600 kilometers an hour.

But it doesn't feel like that under our feet teaching us that not only you can't believe your eyes. You can't believe your senses. You think nothing is moving but the earth is moving in such a fantastic speed.

It's faster than any airplane airplane. You travel at 600 miles an hour or thousand kilometers maximum. But this is one thousand six hundred kilometers an hour. The earth is moving. You don't feel it.

I Believe God has kept these things like that to teach even the clever people. You cannot trust your senses. So don't think that I Believe what I see you'll be thoroughly deceived or I believe what I feel.

I don't feel the earth is moving. So it's not moving. Like that little boy said you can trust what you see, but I believe daddy and you'll discover in the final day That those who have trusted God are the wisest people on the earth.

Paul's Thorn in the Flesh and God's Purpose in Suffering

For example You Know to believe that God is a God of love and we don't understand for he was tested. What can you believe. God is a God of love the devil says when such a lovely fruit. He doesn't allow you to have it.

So in the New Testament you read about a man called Paul the greatest apostle. I Want you to read something to you in 2nd Corinthians in chapter 12. In 2nd Corinthians chapter 12 we read That he had a sickness in his body.

He calls it a thorn in the flesh. We don't know what that sickness was. I personally think it was some problem with his eyes. Maybe some type of pus that was always coming out of his eyes which God could have healed in a moment, but He it says here Verse 7 2nd Corinthians 12 7 the middle of that verse.

There was given me a thorn in the flesh and he even calls it a messenger of Satan to torment me. So here is a problem he's having. With his eyes dripping with some type of pus and it's such a nuisance and He says in verse 8 I implored implored means I pleaded with God.

But three times I said Lord take this away from me. God said no. Sometimes you may think God says no to your prayer because you're such a sinner or Because you're so weak or you're so immature. You're just a kid.

If you're a mature person God will always answer your prayer. Here is one of the most mature or probably the most mature person who was living on earth that that day was the Apostle Paul and he had a serious problem with his eyes and God says no, I won't heal you.

A lot of people think If God can do something, why can't you do you think God is difficult for God to heal that person one word and he'll be Healed. Jesus did it all the time. Jesus healed blind people leave alone.

Someone who has a little problem with his eyes and God says no. Why did he say no. And he gives us the answer in verse 7 To keep me from exalting myself. Why is it a danger to exalt yourself? You know Paul had such a tremendous exit says in that he had an experience once of Being taken up to heaven.

He says in 14 years ago in verse 2. I Don't know how it happened whether I was in the body or out of the body, but I was Verse 4 was caught up into paradise. He had an experience of going right up into heaven while he was on this earth and He didn't know how it was was his spirit taken out of his body and he went there.

Or his whole body was taken there. He said I can't explain it, but I went into heaven. And I heard words in heaven. Can you imagine the experience of going having going up to heaven and seeing things there and hearing things and Listen to this.

He said a man verse 4 is not permitted to speak those things at all. That means What I saw in heaven God said you must not tell anybody now if you go to a Google search of Visits to heaven I Tried it on a once Google search.

I think there are 400 ,000 People who say they went to heaven all lies and They all tell you there are books written what I saw in heaven. First when I God took me there one fellow was written. I spent 23 minutes in hell and all these stories.

Long ago there was a Book a very famous book written by If the title of it is the boy who went to heaven and came back and It was published by one of the top publishers in America Christian publishers called Tyndale house.

Tyndale house is the one that published the Living Bible very well-known publisher and they sold millions of copies. Because everybody wants to know this is a little boy. He can't be telling a lie and his father and he helped him to write because he had an accident somewhere.

And he was in a coma for some days, and he said I went up to heaven and he wrote all that he Experienced in heaven and so many people wanted to read. I Think it's about five or six years later that boy said He told news agency the whole thing was a lie.

My father told me to just write so that you can make some money from this experience of The whole thing was a lie and he invented a story about what he saw and so many people bought the book and they really Believe this is what heaven is like.

And that Christian publisher was so embarrassed that they had published this book That they withdrew it from the market immediately. And all these 400 ,000 people who say they've gone to heaven and hell on the Internet.

It's a deception because Jeed Paul, I believe it and The proof that he went to heaven was he said I'm not permitted to say anything about I heard there. He could have become very famous to say what all I heard in heaven.

But the Lord told him you're not to speak one word of what you heard. Yeah, so I believe God can take somebody to heaven even today. But the proof of it will be he'll never he'll never speak about what he saw there or heard there.

So anybody who speaks about what he saw heard there immediately? I know it's a fake. Because it says a man is not permitted Verse four to speak about what he saw there. This is just by the way. But he had such tremendous experiences to be taken up to heaven.

He planted churches he even raised a person from the dead you read in Acts chapter 20 and he healed the sick people and he wrote scripture and Why wouldn't he was a most outstanding Servant of God on earth and when he asked God for a simple little thing God said no.

So that should comfort us when some prayer of ours is not answered which you think is very good for you and The reason is Paul says here the reason why? God did not heal him was so that he doesn't get puffed up.

You know when God uses somebody mightily It's very easy for him to become very proud and he doesn't remain an ordinary Human being. I've seen so many big preachers like that. You can't go near them. They've got bodyguards around them.

Who don't allow anybody to go and meet them. Paul and Jesus never had any bodyguards around them. Those are real genuine People who knew God so don't be fooled by all these things that we see today and so-called preachers Paul was in danger of becoming proud and he knew it and He says here in the verse 7 last part to keep me from exalting myself.

God said there's only one way I can humble you Paul. I have to give you a little sickness. So that you don't get puffed up because then people will say ah this fellow can heal others. But look at him.

His eyes are always dripping. He's not healed. Why is this important? First of all, let me tell you why I believe it is his eyes. You know in Acts of the Apostles is very interesting when you compare scripture with scripture you discover some amazing things in Acts of the Apostles chapter 16 We read that Paul was Traveling to preach the gospel and We read that Paul Acts chapter 16 verse 6 Paul and Timothy he got Timothy in verse 1 who joined him and In verse Acts 16 verse 6 they passed through Phrygia.

This is all in the area what we today is known as Turkey that area it was called Asia Minor in those days they passed through Phrygia and through Galatia and When they came to Galatia They wanted to go on to speak in Asia Minor.

But the Holy Spirit stopped them. Now when we read in verse 7 the Holy Spirit stopped them. We wonder how did the Holy Spirit stop him is it by some vision or some voice from heaven that said Paul Don't go from here.

Stay in Galatia. No. It's not written here how he stayed in Galatia. He just written the Holy Spirit stopped him but if you go to the letter to the Galatians in After Corinthians you come to Galatians.

There he tells them in Galatians 4. This is what we learn when you compare scripture with scripture verse 13 Galatians 4 13. This is the same place where he was stopped, you know. That it was because of a bodily illness Galatians 4 13 that I preached the gospel to you the first time.

So, how did he get stopped? Not by some vision from heaven or a voice from heaven he suddenly fell sick and he couldn't go because of his sickness some terrible infection that came in his body and He couldn't move sometimes.

You know. You you make a plan to travel somewhere and then you get some sickness that knocks you down in bed and you can't make your travel. But you never think of that as the Holy Spirit stopping you all did.

Act 16 it says the Holy Spirit stopped him here. He says it was through a bodily illness that I got stopped. It's a wonderful thing to live in the will of God where God even stops you sometimes from going somewhere by a bodily illness.

Yeah. So he says the reason I pre I had no what I'm saying is Paul was telling the Galatians I had no plan to stop in your place. Galatia was a area like a district and He said I had no plan to stay there because I was moving on from there to another place.

But when I came there because I got sick and I was in bed. I had to stay there and therefore I preached in Galatia and so Number of churches were formed in Galatia. That's what God that means God from heaven.

So there was some needy hungry people in Galatia who needed to hear the gospel and God stopped him. And there are many ways God can stop us and then he tells us My bodily condition was for was a trial to you and you did not despise or loathe me.

Now do you despise a person who's bedridden with fever? No. Do you despise a person who fell down and had an accident and broke his bone or something? No. When do you loathe. Loathe is a very You know word where you feel repulsed by somebody's appearance.

You know you somebody's leprosy or that type of some physical appearance is loathsome. That's a strong word in English. You did not loathe me. And The literal meaning of that word is you did not spit at me.

That means it was so despising. That means there was something about Paul's physical appearance at that time. Which people felt like I don't feel like looking at him and that was his eyes were you know, if you see a person standing up in front his eyes are always dripping with pus it's a bit of a loathsome experience and why do I say that.

Because He says in verse 15 the middle of that verse I bear you witness that when you saw me you would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me. That's how we know his sickness was a eye problem so when he compares scripture with scripture what we see was that Paul was going through Galatia to some other place and Paul stopped him with Serious eye infection that he had to be there and he said okay.

Let me I'm I'm here I might as well take the opportunity to preach and with all that eye infection he preached and some people were saved. See how God's plan was to use this man's sickness to stop him somewhere.

In order to bring some people to Christ and a number of churches were formed in Galatia. Then Paul realized why God stopped him and that's why he says through a bodily illness. I had no plan to be there verse 13 through a bodily illness only I got stuck there and I started preaching the gospel.

Wonderful thing to learn that when God doesn't breaks up our plans by not allowing us to go somewhere or the other. He has a wonderful plan to do his work see ever since 1975. I Had a great desire that we must plant churches.

Which are according to God's standards. We're not this low-level standards where your preachers will run after money and We're pretty don't preach holiness and where Christians have such a bad testimony because you know, I spent eight years traveling all over India from 1966 to 74 and I was Fed up with what I saw.

I said Lord the problem in India is not that we are only 2 Christians. But the 2 is such poor quality. Such poor quality. I say thank God is not 50 that would have been a very bad name for the Lord.

So I realized that the need is not to increase the number. What's the use of increasing the number of rotten apples? What we need is some good apples some good quality, even if it is point zero one percent.

So that is a burden I had I said Lord we wanted we can't. I'm not here to increase the number of Christians in India. Quantity wise but I want to try and increase the quality of a few Christians at least in Bangalore.

That's how we started so I Like that God opened different different doors and I would go here there and Once let me tell you a story two of our brothers from Kerala went for a job in Bahrain. So since I was going to the Gulf to Dubai.

We had a little fellowship there and also to Doha where we had little fellowship. So I thought I have a couple of days before that in between there Bahrain and Doha Doha I can go to in between Dubai and Doha.

I can go to Bahrain for two days and Then go to Doha. So when I went to Bahrain for two days, I didn't know anybody there Except these two brothers from our church who were there for a short time working.

I just wanted to encourage them. That's all and from there, I Asked the brothers in Doha to get me a visa. And they said the next four or five days are all some hajj holidays. Everything is closed. You can't get any visa for the next one week.

So I got stuck in Bahrain. I Could not go. I Planned only to be there two days and to go on to oh I don't know even one day perhaps and go on to Doha and I got stuck in Bahrain with no plan and Here I was stuck in Bahrain and I said, okay.

I'm here now five six days. I might as well have some meetings and So I said anybody who's interested please call them we'll have meetings in a brother's house and we had meetings for all those four or five days and So many people God brought so many people from different churches and they got gripped and Right there in those five days a church was born a new covenant Church and That is flourishing today.

It has grown since then in Bahrain. I want to tell you that's how the church was started. It is almost like an accident, but in God's plan, there's no accidents. But I was reminded of this how I wanted to go somewhere and God stopped me somewhere.

Paul wanted to go somewhere and he was Stopped somewhere because God had a plan to build something so. But this thing was still bothering him in his eyes and God said I'm not gonna heal you because it'll you'll get puffed up.

Grace for the Humble

You're doing so many wonderful things. Why does God want to protect people from pride? Very important question, you know, if you're a very clever person and you accomplish something or you've had tremendous spiritual experiences.

The great danger always is pride and the Bible says in James and chapter 4. It's a very important verse for us to know James 4 verse 6. It's a law of God that we need to understand. God is opposed to the proud.

But he gives grace to the humble. Now we've been thinking earlier on today how grace. Or yesterday we thought of that. Grace is the power By which we get power to overcome sin. Grace is not a doctrine.

It's a power. The Holy Spirit is called the spirit of grace he gives us power, but that power is not given by God to everybody and There's a reason why great people don't receive grace. Because here it says James 4 verse 6 God gives grace only to the humble.

I Remember when we Started our church. We built our building in 1981 in Bangalore. We put a verse on the wall. One of the verses was God gives his grace only to the humble. Because we were preaching about grace in the church about how grace can help you to overcome sin.

And people wonder why am I not getting it. That verse was always there. He gives it only to the humble. That means God sees something in your life. You're too proud about you look down. Pride means you look down on somebody else who doesn't have what you have.

Maybe you're smarter than them cleverer than them more intelligent than them. Maybe your children are better than them. There are 101 things that can make us proud. Maybe you're prettier or more handsome or something and then you don't get grace because it's a law of God that He gives grace only to the humble and what does he do with the proud verse 6 he resists and opposes the proud.

He doesn't oppose people who are sinners. We think that God opposes all the sinners and he'll give grace to the holy people. No, there's nobody holy. Everybody's a sinner. But among the sinners there are some who are proud and some who are humble.

So the proud people God resists even more and they fall more into sin and the humble among them He gives grace and lifts them up. Very important to understand this and. Then if you turn a couple of pages you come to 1 Peter chapter 5.

Just two three pages you go to 1 Peter chapter 5 and you come to 1 Peter 5 and verse 5 the last part of verse 5. The same thing word for word. God is opposed to the proud but he gives grace to the humble and you wonder.

Hey, why is that written a second time in Scripture. Four pages later. Can you tell me why. I'll tell you my theory. Because he knows that many Christians read the Bible so carelessly they missed it the first time so I say, okay I'll repeat it again for your benefit.

This is the for the benefit of lazy people who didn't get it the first time. God gives grace to the humble. He's repeated it because it's so important. See now you can say why doesn't God give grace to the proud?

The Holy Spirit is pictured like a river. Have you ever seen a river flowing up? I've never seen it. Have you seen a waterfall going up? No a river always flows down when it rains. Have you seen the parts of the field or the road where rain water collects?

Always the lowest places. In the lowest places in the road of water collects. The high places are all dry. Correct. That is a parable and the Holy Spirit is poured out it goes to the Looks for the humblest people.

The humblest people in a church or the humblest people and he fills them. The other people who are pretty proud they keep on praying and fasting and praying and fasting and nothing happens. And they keep on praying and fasting.

I remember one brother who told me brother Zack I prayed for 40 years to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Nothing happened. Yeah. God resists the proud. But he gives grace to the humble. The easiest way to get water to come to you is go down.

Water will you don't have to plead with the water to come down. You'll automatic flow there. But if you are in a high place and you ask for the water to come up there just doesn't come because water doesn't climb.

It flows down. The Holy Spirit is poured upon those who are taking a low place. Now humility is not Inferiority. A humble person doesn't feel inferior to everybody else. Inferiority complex is something quite different.

Christ's Humility Without Inferiority

You know, who is the humblest man who walked on this earth who? Jesus Christ, do you think Jesus had an inferiority complex? People with inferiority complex say oh, I'm no good. I'm useless. I'm good for nothing.

I cannot do anything. Do you think Jesus went around saying that? That's not humility. That's stupidity. If God has given you some gift. Use it. There's no point saying that you can't use it. Humility is very different from feeling inferior.

Jesus did not feel inferior to anybody in the world. He could cast out demons heal the sick and do mighty miracles and but he never lost his humility. The Humility is to recognize I can do nothing apart from my heavenly father doing it through me.

It's like the branch I said in the tree. Which says I cannot produce any fruit. But I produce a lot of fruit when I'm staying in the tree and the sap flows into me and I produce all these lovely mangoes but even if a Mango branch has produced mangoes for 50 years It never becomes proud.

It says if you go to that branch if it could speak and say next year. If I remain here the branch the Mangoes will come but if I think I'm I'm quite capable now and I cut myself off from the branch. There will not be a single mango on that branch after that.

So humility is not saying I'm useless. I'm good for nothing that is all fake. It's all false humility. A lot of people speak like that. Oh, I'm nobody and this they deep down they think they're very Important, you know, sometimes people pray in their prayer.

Oh God, I'm such a wretch. But if you heard somebody else say about you that you're a wretch you get pretty upset. Which shows that you're not really believe what you said to God a lot of fake things.

We say to God humility is not saying all these demeaning things about yourself. Humility is recognizing like the branch. I am nothing apart from God. I'm a zero apart from God, but with God. With Jesus on my side.

I'm extremely valuable. You put a one in front of that zero and I immediately become valuable, but you remove that the one I'm a zero again. That is humility to no matter how much I've accomplished in my life.

I'm a zero. But I don't feel inferior because I got a one in front of me. That makes me valuable and in valuable to God. So God wanted Paul to always remain humble so that he could use him mightily. But you know the tendency to become proud you know that if you accomplish something you become proud a child comes first in the class and he Can be proud and we have to help our children particularly if your children are intelligent and capable.

You really have to help them to remain humble. Otherwise, they lose the grace of God. I remember my four boys when they were annual prize-giving day in the school in Bangalore. They would get their prizes and come home.

And the first thing I would do as soon as we came back home was Okay, boys. Now, let's pray to God number one. Let's pray and thank God for helping you all to do well in your examination and let's give God the glory for all that he did and Now I said Don't ever Show your marks card to anybody.

To show how much marks you got go and hide it and All these cups and prizes and all don't put it in the sitting room go and bury it somewhere else where nobody will see it. We're not here to display How clever we are or how clever our children are.

No. Because I didn't want them to destroy themselves. I said don't ever talk about your accomplishments. Give glory to God and forget it. We have to protect our children because the danger to pride is so much In children, particularly if they are good-looking or Better looking than others or they are smart or capable.

God did so much to protect Paul from getting proud. So I was just telling you that when God did not heal Paul. It was with a very good reason. And God Paul did not doubt God's love. So there must be a good reason and God showed him you're in danger of becoming proud.

All of us are in danger of becoming proud because we have we have a tendency to compare ourselves with others and The devil I'll tell you he's very clever. He'll always make you compare yourself with someone who's got more than you or Who is Better off so that you'll always have a complaint.

He'll never allow you to compare yourself with people who got less than you because then you may be happy. Thank the Lord. I notice in your life. You find out the devil ever lets you compare yourself with a lot of poor people in India.

We don't even have 1 of what you have. Because if you had if you compare yourself with them, you'll be just thanking God every day. And the devil doesn't want you to be thankful every day. He wants you to be unhappy about something.

So he'll allow you to look at somebody else who's got more than you or somebody you think is not as smart as you are. But he's got more than you and you'll feel jealous of him. Oh. The devil is such a clever person always making you to compare yourself with others.

That's what leads to jealousy in some cases and pride in other cases. Both are evil. You must make a decision in your life that I'll never compare myself with anybody. See what it says in 2nd Corinthians.

There's an answer in Scripture to everything and that is why I say you must learn to read the Bible. 2nd Corinthians chapter 8. Sorry. 2nd Corinthians chapter 10. 2nd Corinthians chapter 10 here's a verse about those who compare themselves with others and Believe it or not.

Every one of us has an unconscious tendency to compare ourselves with others even children Compare themselves with others in their class and here is a verse since for all such people 2nd Corinthians 10 12 in the last part of that verse, it says when they measure themselves with each other and Compare themselves with each other.

They are without understanding or I'd say they are spiritual idiots. If you want to be a spiritual idiot Compare yourself with somebody else. Never do it because it'll either make you jealous. Because that guy's got more than you or they'll make you proud that you're smarter than him.

Both ways it's dangerous. So those who compare themselves with others are not wise at all. So that's why we have to be thankful for the way God has made us and Believe that God is a God of love and Whatever he allows something.