The Gospel of Christ's Glory — Zac Poonen

The Gospel of the Glory of Christ

If you have read the Bible, you are familiar with this verse, even if you don't know where it is, 2nd Corinthians 4, verse 4, the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God.

Now, when you read that verse, who do you think of? Who do you think Satan has blinded the minds of? We always think of the unbelieving. That means those who are not born again. But through the 50 years that I've been a believer, I've discovered that there are a lot of unbelieving among believers.

You know, if you say you're a born-again believer and you don't believe all the promises of God, you're unbelieving. You don't believe all the commandments of God are to be kept, you're unbelieving. If you don't believe that everything that God has spoken in His word, every command is for our good, you don't believe that, you're unbelieving.

So, I find there are a lot of unbelieving people among believers. And the God of this world, that's the devil, blinds the eyes of, of course, he blinds the eyes of the unbelievers so that they don't even know that Christ died for their sins and He's the only way to the Father.

The devil blinds their eyes, but he blinds the eyes of many believers so that they miss God's best. I found very few believers who really passionately desire God's best every single day of their life.

Some begin like that and they cool off after a few years. It's very, very sad. If you really believe that everything God has promised is for your best, everything God has commanded is for your best, you would wholeheartedly long for it and your life will be like a flaming fire that becomes hotter and hotter and brighter and brighter as you grow older in the Lord.

Beyond the Gospel of Forgiveness

Here it speaks about what exactly Satan blinds our eyes to. It's not the Gospel of the forgiveness of sins. It's really sad that most believers, all that they know is the Gospel of the forgiveness of sins.

That is milk and that Christian who is only knowing that is like a baby who is only interested in drinking milk. And there were people like that in the first century also, not just 21st century. The Corinthians were like that.

They were babies. Paul says, I cannot write anything to you other than Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Now, some people think that is the only thing we should preach. But Paul said to the Corinthians, you people are babies.

That's why I've got to tell you only about Christ and Him crucified for our sins. But if you are more mature, he says in 1 Corinthians 2, I would have taught you many more things. What is beyond Christ crucified?

Beyond Christ crucified is Christ risen from the dead and ascended into heaven and got all authority in heaven and earth and communicating to us the mighty power of His Holy Spirit. So, here he says, the God of this world blinds people's eyes so that they don't see.

And notice how he describes the Gospel here. The Gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God. Now, this is the Gospel not of forgiveness of sins. It's more than that. It's the Gospel of the glory of Jesus Christ which we are supposed to partake of.

Christ Reveals the Father

I have been greatly challenged by two statements of Jesus Christ in the Gospels. You put them together and you see what a fantastic calling, our calling is. And then we will see how short we come of it, how we disappoint the heart of God by the way we live and the type of Christians we are.

Why did Jesus come to this earth? There are many reasons we can say. But here is one. John chapter 1 verse 18. John 1 verse 18. This is the Gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God. Remember that phrase?

Satan blinds people's eyes so that they don't see the Gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God. Remember that. The Gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God. Have you heard that?

The Gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God. John chapter 1 verse 18. No one has seen God at any time. But the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him. So one reason why Jesus Christ came to this earth long before He died for the sins of the world.

For 33 and a half years He showed this world what God was like. When He put His arms around the lepers, He was showing what God is like. On the last day when He knelt down and washed His disciples' feet, He was showing what God the Father is like.

When you get to heaven, you will see the God the Father is a very humble person. He hates proud people. A lot of believers are proud. That's why they don't get grace from God. That's why they are defeated by sin.

When Jesus drove the money changers out of the temple, who were making money out of poor people, selling sheep and doves, He was showing what God is like. God hates those who try to make money out of their Christianity and their preaching and their healing.

He drives them out. He drives them out of the temple. He drives them out of the world and out of heaven one day. There will be nobody there in heaven who is making money in the name of Christianity. Not even one person.

Jesus demonstrated what God was like. No one has seen God. And if you want to know what God is like, you got to look at all these aspects of Jesus. How He put His arm around the leper, how He washed the disciples' feet, how He drove out the money changers from the temple.

He came to explain to the world what God was like. The Pharisees did not do that. The Pharisees in the synagogue preached all their big sermons, but they did not know God. And they couldn't explain what God was like.

Now, towards the end of His life, on the last day, the last supper, we read in John 14 that Philip asked Him, one of His disciples, Lord, just show us the Father once and then we won't need anything else.

Just once. Help us to see God. And Jesus said in John 14, that's verse 8, Jesus replied saying in verse 9, If you have seen me, you have seen the Father. You can say that Jesus was like a transparent window, glass, clear glass.

You could look through and see the Father. Everything about Jesus, the way He lived, the way He spoke, the way He did, His attitude to money, His attitude to women, His attitude to enemies, His attitude to little children.

Everything. You saw what God was like. If you have seen me, you have seen the Father. And that's why we are not afraid to go near God. See, the mark of all false religion is that they are afraid to go near God.

But Jesus demonstrated that the only people who have to be really afraid to go near God are those who are hypocrites. If you are pretending, sitting in the church, pretending to be holier than you really are, I tell you, you got to be scared to go near God.

He will burn you up. It says that in Isaiah 33, Who can dwell with the everlasting burnings? The sinners are terrified in Zion and trembling has taken the hypocrites. Who can dwell with the everlasting burnings?

But if you are honest, even if you are a woman caught in adultery, you can come near God. If you are honest and you are a five times divorced woman like the Samaritan woman, if you are honest, you can come near God.

But if you are a hypocrite, giving other people the impression that you are holier than you really are, I tell you, you got to be scared. You can sit in the church, but you can't come near God. He will burn you up.

A lot of people sitting in the church yesterday are going to be burnt up one day when God appears. It's a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God, the Bible says. So, Jesus said, if you have seen me, you have seen the Father.

And no sinner needs to be afraid to come near God if he is 100 honest. It's all that God requires. Total freedom from hypocrisy. See, in the Old Testament, they did not have such a knowledge of God like Jesus revealed.

They had the Ten Commandments and a lot of Christians think they are very holy when they keep the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments was an Old Testament standard. There is no, one of the commandments was not thou shall not be a hypocrite.

Is it there in the Ten Commandments? It's not there. Or you shall not be proud. That's not in the Ten Commandments. But those are the things that Jesus emphasized. He hated hypocrisy and pride more than murder and adultery and everything else.

The Church as the Body of Christ

So, Jesus came to reveal what God was like. And he said, if you have seen me, you have seen the Father. Now, listen to this very, very important responsibility that he has placed upon his disciples and he has placed upon us.

You are going to put it next to this verse. The first verse is, if you have seen me, you have seen the Father. John 14, 9. Next to that, next line, you have to read this verse. John chapter 20 and verse 21.

John 20 verse 21, the last part. As the Father sent me, so send I you. That is a word that Jesus spoke to all his disciples. And if you are a disciple of Jesus, he has spoken that word to you and to me.

The first line, put these two lines together. If you have seen me, you have seen the Father. No one has seen God at any time. But Jesus came and explained what the Father was like. That was his calling.

If you have seen me, you have seen the Father. As the Father sent me, so send I you. So, what should you and I be able to say to the world? If you have seen me, you have seen what Jesus is like. You see your calling now?

You see your calling? If you have seen me, you have seen the Father. That's what Jesus said. As the Father sent me, so send I you. It means our calling is not just to go and preach to people and give them tracts and tell them Jesus died for your sins.

Much more than that. Any sinner can do that. But to be able to tell people, if you have seen me, you have seen a little bit of what Jesus is like. And then we see what a tremendous calling it is. This is the gospel of the glory of Christ.

Not that Christ died for your sins, just keep on sinning and Jesus will keep on forgiving you and take you to heaven. That's a false gospel. The gospel of the glory of Christ is that your sins can be forgiven and cleansed away and you can be filled with God's Holy Spirit.

And when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, what will happen is the same thing that Jesus, same ministry Jesus had, you can have. He who has seen me has seen the Father, Jesus said. And we will be able to say, if you have seen us, you have seen what Jesus is like.

If you come to our church and you see our fellowship together with each other, you will see what Jesus is like. All men will know you are my disciples and you love one another. That's the whole purpose.

That's why the church is called the body of Christ. When Jesus came to Nazareth, He lived there with a body. And it's in that body that He showed the world what God was like. If He had not come in a body, if He had come as a spirit, nobody could have seen Him.

But because He came in a body and lived in Nazareth and moved around in Galilee and Jerusalem all over, people could see in that body the way He spoke, the way He looked, the way He touched, the way He did, His attitude to money, His attitude to so many things.

This is what God is like. Do you know why the church is called the body of Jesus Christ? Why is it called the body of Christ? Because the same ministry that Jesus did, now we are to do. It's an awesome responsibility.

And I find that most Christians haven't taken it seriously. The vast majority of Christians that I have met, their only interest is to go to heaven when they die. I will tell you honestly, I raise my hand to heaven and say, I am not interested in going to heaven when I die.

I want to be a witness for Christ on earth now. To show the world the gospel of the glory of Jesus Christ. I don't care where I go when I die. I will be with Jesus. I told the Lord once, Lord, if you are in hell, I would like to go to hell.

I don't want to go to heaven if you are not there. To me, heaven is the presence of Jesus Christ. And that's why my heaven has already begun. Because Christ is with me now. That's the real gospel. It's not a physical location with streets of gold and big mansions and all.

I am not interested in all that. It's the presence of Jesus. Think of a marriage. For example, my children are all left home now. It's my wife and I live together. But my house will be empty if my wife is not there.

What will I do sitting alone in that house? Even if it's a big 14 bedroom house, I will be bored. But if I am in a little hut and my wife is there, that makes it a home. That's how it is. I really mean that.

Even after 42 years of marriage. That's exactly what I say. But think if you go to heaven and Jesus is not there. Will you be happy? With the mansions and the golden streets and all. No, I wouldn't be.

I'd be lost. I'd say, Lord, where are you? It's the presence of Jesus Christ. And if that is what you look for, that's what you look for even now. Lord, I never want to lose your presence. This is the gospel of the glory of Jesus Christ.

That I can partake of that nature of God now. That I can share in the glory of God now. I can have the presence of Jesus with me now. I don't have to wait till I die and go to heaven. So that I can reflect his glory to other people who meet me.

And dear brothers and sisters, if you have not seen, I want to say this very lovingly and very humbly. If you have not seen this, you have not seen the gospel of the glory of Jesus Christ. You've seen a gospel that your sins can be forgiven.

And the God of this world, I'm sorry to disappoint you. But I have to say to you that the God of this world has blinded your eyes from seeing the gospel of the glory of Jesus Christ. But today the Lord is trying to open your eyes to see it.

So that you don't miss out what you can be on this earth for Christ. See, I keep telling people, you don't need to be filled with the Holy Spirit to go to heaven. No. Not at all. The thief on the cross was not filled with the Holy Spirit.

He went to paradise. You only need the blood of Jesus Christ to cleanse you from sin, to go into God's presence. Nothing else. The fullness of the Holy Spirit is not to go to heaven. It's to live here on this earth.

The Holy Spirit and Christlike Living

I don't need to be filled with the Holy Spirit to go to heaven. I need to be filled with the Holy Spirit if I am to reflect the glory of Jesus on this earth. In a wicked world where there's so much of temptation and so much of sin and so many people provoking us and making us, trying to get us angry and offended and upset.

To live without getting angry and without getting upset and never to be discouraged and never to have a bad mood. That you need the power of the Holy Spirit. And the blood of Christ will not do. The blood of Christ only deals with my past life.

That's very important. I often think of that in that song we just sang, you know. There's power in the blood. There's power in the blood. Would you over evil a victory win? That's one of those verses.

Would you over evil a victory win? There's power in the blood. I disagree with it. You can't get victory over evil by the power of the blood of Jesus Christ. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from sin.

A lot of these songs we sing, they're not in the Bible by the way. If you want victory over evil, you need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Not just be cleansed with the blood of Jesus Christ. The blood of Jesus Christ will cleanse me from guilt.

The power of the Holy Spirit will not cleanse me from guilt. No. We need to understand. When Christ died on the cross, He shed His blood to cleanse all my past life. But what about living tomorrow in the future and living an overcoming life?

And showing Christ through my conduct and behavior and my attitude to money and my attitude to people. How will I show that? The blood of Christ. The power of the Holy Spirit. That will bring the glory of Christ through us.

You know, for so many years after I was born again, after I was born again and after I was baptized in water and after I knew the power of the blood of Jesus to cleanse my past life, I did not know the power of the Holy Spirit in my life.

Even after I spoke in tongues, I did not know the power of the Holy Spirit in my life. Till I saw the gospel of the glory of Jesus. I saw the tremendous possibility that I can live on earth like Jesus lived.

Without being afraid of the devil. Never depressed or discouraged or gloomy or anxious or worried or afraid. Always rejoicing. Always thankful. No murmuring, no complaining, no grumbling about anything.

That's how Jesus lived. That's the gospel of the glory of Christ. I have to say, I have to confess it. For many years, Satan blinded my eyes as a believer because I thought everything was in the blood of Christ.

And that's what the devil would like you to think. And yet God has given us the gift of his Holy Spirit. And you know, when people ask, someone were to ask you this question. Why did Christ die? Can you show me some scripture?

Why did Christ die? Most people who know the Bible will refer to 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 3. Christ died for our sins. According to the scriptures. I think all of you sitting here know that. Christ died for our sins.

That's not a new message. Every Christian knows it. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 3. Even if you don't know the reference, you know that truth. Christ died for our sins. Now, shall I show you something from the same Bible, from the same New Testament, as to why Christ died, which will surprise you this evening?

I like to surprise believers with verses from the Bible, which they think they have read, but which they haven't read properly. That's my special ministry God has given me. To show people on the scriptures, verses they have not read properly.

Christ Died So We Would Live for Him

Why did Christ die? Here it is. 2 Corinthians 5 verse 15. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 15. Please remember this reference. Christ died for everybody, so that they should never again live for themselves.

But only for Him who died and rose again. Do you know that that's why Christ died? Have you seen that in the Bible? Why is it you did not see it? I'll tell you. Because the God of this world blinded your eyes.

So that you don't even remember there's such a verse in the Bible. That Christ died that you might never again, for the rest of your life, live for yourself. Can you say today honestly, that because Jesus died for me, I do not live for myself anymore.

I do not live to make money. I do not live for honor. I do not live for the approval of men. I do not live to satisfy my own lusts. I do not live to please myself. I live only for Him who died for me.

If you cannot say that, the God of this world has blinded your eyes, so that you haven't seen the glory of Christ. That's why your Christian life is so shallow and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down.

And you look around at other believers, their testimony is also we are up and down and up and down. And we think that is a normal Christian life. It is not. That is the third rate, good for nothing, substandard Christian life that most Christians live.

But that's not the normal Christian life. It's not like the apostle Paul lived. Paul lived a life where he said, thanks be to God who always leads us in victory in Christ. 2nd Corinthians 2 .14. Always in victory.

He never said, thanks be to God who sometimes leads us in victory and sometimes we are human, we get discouraged and again God lifts us up. That's not the type of life Paul lived. That's the thing that challenged me as a young Christian.

I looked around at the believers around me and I found most of them were defeated most of the time. Even if they did get victory, it was now once in a while. It was not a steady, continuous, steadfast, consistent Christian life.

But when I looked in the Gospels and I saw the testimony of people like Paul, who said follow me as I follow Christ, I found he lived another type of life altogether. I said, Lord, that's the life I want.

I don't want to look around at the Christians around me. But one thing, the Christians around me were honest. They said, don't follow me. Apologies. But Paul said something else. He said, follow me as I follow Christ.

The Purpose of the Holy Spirit

The God of this world had blinded my eyes for years after I was born again. I'm seeing the Gospel of the glory of Christ and I did not know why God gave me the power of the Holy Spirit. You know, you can receive the Holy Spirit and you may not know why He gave it to you.

And you can still be frustrated. I got a picture once in my mind. Supposing you visit some jungle where there are all barbarians who have no contact with civilization. You feel sorry for these poor people who are trudging along in the jungles and you decide to get them a car.

Next time you go, you give them a car. You say, listen, this will make your traveling much easier. And you come back after one year and ask them, well, how do you find using the car? You say, this is much more difficult.

They say, why more difficult? Because before that we could walk. Now we have to push this car and keep moving from one place to another. We are moving much slower than before. Then you say, hey, you are not supposed to be pushing the car, man.

You are supposed to get inside and drive it. Oh, we didn't know that. We thought you gave us a car so that we have to push it and go from place to place. This is a perfect picture of people who claim to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

I have seen that. They are just as depressed, have bad moods, lose their temper, just like other believers who are not filled with the Holy Spirit. Why is that? Something is wrong. They are not living an overcoming life.

I know it is like that with me. Till I saw why. Let's turn back to John's Gospel, chapter 20. Do you know this is the first time that we read that Jesus breathed on His disciples and said, receive the Holy Spirit.

Many thousands of years earlier He had breathed on Adam. And Adam became a living soul. He breathed on Eve way back in the Garden of Eden. Eve became a living soul. The same Jesus, now He has come to earth and He breathes again on His disciples.

This time to give them something more than Adam and Eve got, He gave them the power of the Holy Spirit. John chapter 20, verse 22. He breathed on them and said to them, receive the Holy Spirit. Now, we've got to study scripture by reading a verse in its context if you want to understand the meaning of the verse.

Listen to the full verse. When He said this, then He breathed on them. When He said what? As the Father sent me, verse 21, so send I you. People who look at you must be able to see me. You can never do that without the power of the Holy Spirit.

So I'll breathe on you. So that you'll have the power of the Holy Spirit. Then I understood, why did God give me the power of the Holy Spirit? Like those barbarians discovering, hey, now we know why He gave us a car.

Then I realized God didn't give me the Holy Spirit just to speak in tongues or to heal the sick. He gave me the Holy Spirit so that I can tell people, if you look at me, you've seen what Jesus is like.

If you come and live in my home and see how I never lose my temper, you see how Jesus lived. You see how I never grumble or complain, I'm never in a bad mood, you see how Jesus lived. That's the reason for the power of the Holy Spirit.

And I tell you, most Christians do not experience the power of the Holy Spirit. They've got it like those barbarians got the car. And they're pushing it around. And their life is just as defeated, just as miserable as all those other people who don't have the power of the Holy Spirit.

Sometimes they are worse. I've seen people who claim to be baptized in the Holy Spirit whose life is ten times worse than those believers who don't even claim that. It's just like those barbarians. They say, we could move much faster before we got this car.

Now we are pushing it. We are slowing down. Because they don't know. Why did Jesus breathe on his disciples and give them the power of the Holy Spirit? As the Father sent me, so send I you. That means, as I never lived for myself on this earth, but lived only for the Father, you go and live for me.

Christ died that I might never again live for myself, but for him who died and rose. See, how does the devil blind our eyes? I'll tell you. He tells you that if you don't live for yourself, your life will be very unhappy.

The Lie That Self-Denial Makes Life Miserable

If you want to be happy on this earth, seek the things of earth first. And make sure you take care of yourself and your family just like every godless unbeliever and atheist. Just how do they live? Live like that.

Of course, go to church and read the Bible and do all that. I don't mind. But the basic motivation of your life must be to live for yourself and your family just like every godless atheist. Then you'll be happy.

Has it made you happy? Has it delivered you from grumbling and bad moods and murmuring and complaining and anxiety and fear? No. That godless atheist has also got murmuring and grumbling and anxiety and fear just like you as a Christian.

What is the difference? You say, I received the Holy Spirit. Did it make a difference? Just like the barbarian saying, I got a car. Something is missing. Something is missing, brother, sister, in your Christianity compared to what you read in the Bible.

Don't compare yourself with other people and say, I'm better than them. It doesn't solve the problem. Some god of this world has blinded your eyes so that you don't see the gospel of the glory of Jesus Christ.

And I'll tell you why. Because the devil says, if you try to stop living for yourself and only for the glory of Christ, your life will be very, very unhappy. You'll be poor. God will ask you to do some very difficult things.

Because the devil is portraying such a wrong picture about God. You know, if you give yourself completely to God, he'll make your life miserable. A lot of people think like that. Don't give completely.

Just give a little bit, just enough to go to heaven. The rest of your life you better run yourself. Just like everybody in the world. Because otherwise you'll be very, very unhappy. This picture in the back of the mind, you know, that God is out to make your life as unhappy as possible.

Supposing you are seeking God's will. Shall I take this job or that job? Which is the job with the lower salary? That's the one God wants you to take. That's what the devil says. Or if you say, Lord, I'll marry anybody you want me to marry, the devil will pick the ugliest woman in the world and say, marry her.

That's how the devil says. And a lot of people believe that. So, I'm scared to give myself completely to God because he may tell me to take the job with the lowest salary, the most difficult, most uncomfortable job and marry the ugliest woman in the world and live in the smallest little hut possible.

You know how the devil makes people feel that God is such a spoiled sport. He's here to…. Is your father like that? If you had a good father, how many of you can say a good father will always make me choose the most difficult, most unhappy, most miserable life that I can ever live on this earth?

What an insult. What an insult to say that God is worse than your father. God is a million times better than the best father anybody ever had. That's what Jesus tried to tell people. Then why is it that lives of Christians are so unhappy?

Because they are living for themselves. You know, Jesus' life was the happiest, the most wonderful, the most perfect life this world has ever seen. We all say that. But if you see the reason, the reason was he never lived for himself.

That's the reason. And he told us, if you seek the kingdom of God first and his righteousness, all the other things on earth will fall into their proper place. But if you don't seek God's kingdom first and his righteousness, then you'll have a little Christian whitewash or paint.

Inside you'll be just as miserable and unhappy as any atheist or unbeliever. And I really believe most Christians are like that. If you look at the way many Christians live in their home, there's not much difference between the way they live in their home and any unbeliever lives in their home.

In some unbelievers' homes, there's more patience and goodness than in the lives of many Christians' home. Many Christians' home, they're just selfish and seeking their own and living for themselves just like any godless person.

It's because the devil has told them, don't try all this radical, wholehearted committing yourself totally to Christ. It's risky. It's not. It's a lie of the devil. You know, one of our callings is to expose to the world that the devil is a liar.

I want to spend my whole life showing the world that the devil is a liar and that everything the devil says is a lie. And I want to live my whole life proving that everything God says is true. That's how Jesus lived.

Wholehearted Obedience and Repentance

From the beginning, the devil told Adam and Eve, don't obey God 100 and all. It's all going to be very difficult. Little bit if you disobey, it's not serious. A little bit if you disobey, it's not serious.

Go into this total 100 obedience to all of God's commands. Don't try that. You'll be very unhappy. Can you tell me, dear brother, sister, many of you have been believers for many years. Can you say honestly, to the best of your knowledge, you are seeking to obey God 100 in every commandment is given in scripture?

If not, can you tell me why? I will tell you. Because the devil has told you that 100 obedience is not possible. That's exactly what he told Eve. And she believed it. And she lost out on paradise. Or the devil told Eve, it's not necessary.

Maybe he doesn't tell you it's not possible, but he tells you it's not necessary. For example, when the Bible says, put away all grumbling and complaining, the devil says, not necessary to put it all away.

And it says in Ephesians 4 .31, put away all anger. He doesn't really mean put away all anger. Sorry, he told Eve, when God says, don't eat of that tree of knowledge you couldn't eat, it doesn't really mean you can't.

You can take a little taste of it. It's alright. I tell you, I've hardly met Christians in my life, in any country, who believe that they should obey God 100%. I think most Christians will be happy if they obey God 75%.

They think, I'm pretty good. Compared to these other people who obey only 10 or 20%. What a work the devil has done. What a fantastic work the devil has done. In making believers so foolish as to compare themselves with other believers.

And feeling happy. You know, I think of this like a student who got 10 in mathematics. 10 out of 100 in class. Will he be happy? What do you think? Yes or no? Sorry? That's right. If all the others in the class got less than him, he's very happy.

He's so happy when he comes home. Mummy, I came first in the class. How much did you get my son? 10 out of 100. I came first in the class. All the others got 6 and 4 and 3 and 2. That's exactly the condition of many Christians.

They compare themselves with other people and they say, I'm so happy. So much better in our church. So much better in my life than other people. Compare yourself with Jesus Christ who got 100%. There's only one person God has given us to compare ourselves with.