(Manitoba 2001) God Will Be Your God Always — Zac Poonen

The New Covenant Replaces the Old Covenant

Let's turn again to Hebrews, in chapter eight. We were looking at how God has abolished the old covenant and established a new agreement with man. And if we live in this new agreement, we can get everything that God has promised under it in our life.

If we have faith, if we understand the terms of this new covenant, we saw that the emphasis in the new covenant was not on what we are to do, but on what God has promised to do for us. In the old covenant, the emphasis was on what we must do, what man has to do.

You shall not do this and you shall not do that. And why was it proved to be faulty? Because it only showed man's inability to rise up to God's standards. By the law came the knowledge of sin. All the law was like a mirror.

The Bible says that. The law was like a mirror. And all that a mirror can do is show me all the dirt on my face. It can't wipe it away. And that's all the law did. And if you look at the law, it will show you how dirty you are.

That's about it. And it showed me how helpless I was to live up to God's standards. But God has made a new covenant where He says, I will cleanse away that dirt which the mirror shows on my face. The Lord says, I'll wipe it off.

I'll cleanse it away. I'll cleanse your heart so thoroughly, so perfectly. There won't even be a memory of what was done in the past in my mind anyway. I will not remember. God does not look upon us once we have confessed our sin and turned to Him and asked the blood of Christ to cleanse us.

God doesn't look upon us anymore as those who did that then and that way back there. And the second thing we saw yesterday was that under the new covenant, God says that we wouldn't have to teach everyone, our fellow citizens, our neighbors or our brothers, saying, know the Lord, because everyone would personally know the Lord without any secretary or pastor or preacher in between.

You didn't need to have a prophet to come and tell you what God's will was because we would all have the Holy Spirit. And we could access our Father directly through Jesus Christ. We could go to Jesus directly.

And God is very jealous that we don't go to someone else. He wants us to go directly to Him. He doesn't want us to go through somebody. The relationship in the new covenant between Jesus Christ and man is like a husband and wife.

And when a husband and wife talk to each other, they can talk to each other. They don't need a secretary in between. They speak to each other intimately, closely, without anybody in between. That's exactly the relationship that God wants you to have with Jesus Christ.

And He doesn't want any preacher in between you and Jesus Christ. That's like a secretary between a wife and her husband. What do you think a husband will feel if some secretary comes between him and his wife?

That's exactly how Jesus feels when some man puts himself between you and Christ. Don't allow that to happen. No man is to come between you and Christ. You are to have a direct connection with Jesus Christ, the Head.

There is no Moses, no high priest today. Christ is the high priest. You go directly to Him. Lots and lots of believers are living under the old covenant because they were not told of the freedom and liberty and provisions God has made in the new covenant.

God's Law Written on the Heart

The other thing God says here in verse 10, we want to look at, is God says, I will put my laws into their minds and I will write them upon their hearts. You see, in the Old Testament, God wrote the laws on two tablets of stone.

And those two tablets of stone are replaced now by my mind and my heart. God says, I will write my laws upon your mind and your heart. You couldn't keep my laws under the old covenant, but now I'm going to write it so that from within, I will give you my spirit, I'll give you my nature, and I'll give you the desire and the ability to do my will.

You know, there are two things we lack, even when we know God's will, what it is. God's will is very clearly revealed in scripture. There are two things we need still. However clearly you may hear a message in a meeting, lots of us have gone to many, many meetings, and we have heard very clearly what God's will is.

But there are two things we need. One is a passion or a desire to do it, and the other is the ability to do it. Those are the two things we need. And we have found in the past, many times when we have heard the word of God, we say, yes, it's right.

But after some time, we find there is no desire to do it. There is no, and if we want to do it also, we don't have the strength to do it. So what is God saying? God says, I will write, I will put my laws into your mind.

If I were to paraphrase that, that means, I will give you the desire to do my will. And then He says, I will write my laws upon your heart. And that means, God says, I give you the ability to do my will.

Now, once God has put within me the desire to do His will, and the ability to do His will, my problem is solved. This was a problem that the law could never solve. The law only told you, do it. This is God's will, do it.

And we couldn't do it. And now in the new covenant, God says, He's going to do it. And He does it by the Holy Spirit. That's what it says here in Hebrews 8. Now, I want you to turn to Philippians and chapter 2, and you see the same thing there which God says He will do.

God's Promises Rather Than Material Claims

Now, you see, the wonderful thing about knowing what God has promised to do is that we can go to Him and ask Him to do it. Now, a lot of people are asking God to do things which He's not promised to do.

There's a lot of teaching on faith today, which is mainly teaching people to claim material things and physical healing. A lot of things which God is not... I mean, God may do it, but He's not promised to do it.

He may give you a car or a house, but there's no promise in the Scripture which says He'll give you a car. I know millions of Christians in India who don't have a car. If there was a promise like that in the Bible, they'd all have got it.

But people are teaching people to claim these things. But there are certain things God has promised. And then it doesn't matter whether you're in India or Canada or Africa or in some jungle, God will still do it for you if He's promised.

There are lots of things He's not promised which He gives you like, well, that's all an extra. And those are obviously the things that are not important. You can live without a car. People have lived on earth for more than 5 ,000 years without cars.

But these are the things God's promised. Christians have lived for more than 1 ,600 years without cars. But here's something that God promised all Christians right from the time of Pentecost. Philippians 2, it says here that God works in us, verse 13.

And whenever you read in the Bible that God works inside us, it's always referring to the Holy Spirit. You see, our Heavenly Father works outside us in all our circumstances and in all the people who meet us.

But the Holy Spirit works inside us. Our Heavenly Father works in all the circumstances and people that have anything to do with us to make everything work together for our good. That's a promise in Romans 8, 28.

I'll come to that in a moment. But here it's speaking about God working inside us. So this is wonderful. When you're a child of God, I have Jesus Christ in heaven praying for me. I have the Holy Spirit inside me, working inside me, making me want to do God's will, giving me the power to do God's will.

And I have my Heavenly Father working in all the circumstances that touch my life to ensure that all of that is something I can handle, that is not too much for me, and that it works for my good. It's wonderful.

The Holy Spirit works inside me to desire God's will. And if any of you today have a desire to please God, have a desire to turn from sin, don't ever think that you have that desire yourself. It's because the Holy Spirit works in you.

You know, I've had all over the world different people come to me and say, Oh, Brother Jack, I want to turn to God, but I don't know whether I have blasphemed the Holy Spirit, that sin which doesn't have any forgiveness in this world or in the world to come.

And I tell them, How in the world do you have a desire right now to turn to God? Tell me. How in the world do you have a desire to turn from sin? Are you so conceited to think that you produce that yourself?

No, no human being can ever have a desire to turn from sin. The very fact that you desire to give up sin in your life proves that the Holy Spirit is working in you. How do you know the Holy Spirit is working in you?

You can easily find out. Do you desire to give up sin in your life? I'm not saying whether you got victory, that's not my question. That will come at the next stage. First of all, desire. First the desire, then the ability.

Do you find in yourself a desire to please God? Do you find in yourself a desire to do the will of God? Do you find in yourself a desire to live a life that pleases God in your words, in your actions, in everything in your life?

Baptism as the First Step of Obedience

Some of you who took baptism today, why did you do it? You knew you'd have to pay a tremendous price. Let me ask you, who gave you the desire to do it? Don't be conceited to think that it was you. It was not you.

It was the Holy Spirit working in you, giving you a desire to obey God. Look at some of the other cowards around you who did not take that step. Do you think you're better than them? You're not better than them.

The Holy Spirit gave you a boldness, which some people double your age did not have that boldness. They were cowards. They feared men. And you didn't fear men. How did you do that? Don't say the Holy Spirit's not working in you.

Of course He's working in you. You would never have got into that water if that Holy Spirit didn't work in you. It's those other people who resisted the Holy Spirit who stood back on land. You know that?

It's true. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. The Holy Spirit gave you the desire to do the will of God. God works in you to will His good pleasure, what is pleasing to Him. And once the Holy Spirit, the same Holy Spirit, this is the blessed part of it.

If the Holy Spirit did one part, don't you think He'll do the other part? Of course He will. Do you think the Lord will carry me halfway through the river and say, Oh well, I changed my mind, I'll dump you here.

I can't imagine that. I don't know how in the world you ever think God will do that to you. That He took you up, carried you halfway across and got fed up and dumped you there. The devil does things like that.

The Holy Spirit doesn't. If the Holy Spirit worked in you to give you a desire to do God's will, I want to tell you the next thing He's going to do is He's going to give you power. Ability. It says here God works in you to will and to do.

Two things. He will put His laws in my mind and He'll write them in my heart. That's the Holy Spirit. You've already begun to experience the Holy Spirit. Giving you a desire to do His will. Giving you the ability to do it.

Despite all the opposition. It's wonderful. That's God who did it. Give Him the glory. It's when you think that you did it, that you've begun to be proud of it or you get scared what's going to happen next.

If you did it, you better get scared about what's going to happen next. But it wasn't you. It was the Holy Spirit who gave you the desire and the ability to do the will of God. And the same Holy Spirit who led you one step will lead you the next step.

The next step, that pillar of cloud that came down from heaven, led the children of Israel step by step by step by step by step. It's wonderful. And, you know, you take that first step, it's so scary.

I think of some of you who are, you know, I realize how difficult it is for some of you to take that step of baptism. But I want you to think of a passage in Matthew chapter 14. Matthew chapter 14, we read, Jesus told His disciples, verse 22, to get into the boat.

Matthew 14, 22. And to go ahead of Him. Then He sent the multitudes away. The 5 ,000 who had been fed. And the boat was many miles away, many furlongs away from the land, verse 24, battered by the waves, for the wind was contrary.

Walking by Faith in the Storm

Isn't it interesting? I want you to just see something here. It says in verse 22, He urged, He compelled His disciples to get into the boat. What's the meaning of compelled? Urged. That means they didn't want to go.

But He urged them, get in. You know, there are people who don't want to get baptized. And the Spirit of God urged them, go ahead, get in. And they obeyed. And you think that if you would obey God, now everything has to be calm and quiet.

But it's not like that. It's calm and quiet when you don't obey God. But when you obey God, what happens? It says here, the boat was battered by the waves, for the wind was contrary. Let me ask you, when is the devil going to be angry with you?

When you obey God or when you don't obey Him? You know the answer. I want the devil to be furious with me 365 days of the year. Because I know that I'm obeying God. Any day the devil is happy with me, I say, oh God, what did I do wrong today?

Why is he happy with me? Why is he leaving me at peace today? The waves battered against that boat. The wind was contrary. Imagine, now Jesus urged them to get into the boat. Supposing they had disobeyed.

Supposing they had disobeyed. Like some people the Lord spoke to today and they disobeyed. Supposing you were like that. Supposing these disciples had disobeyed and stayed on the land. And not got into the water.

Do you think they'd have faced the storm? Yes or no? No. There was no storm on the land. The storm was because they got into the boat and obeyed Jesus. But then, what happened? It says here, while they were going, Jesus came walking to them on the water.

Do you think they'd have got that experience if they'd stayed on the land? No. They'd never have got that. They went and they saw Jesus coming to them. And that was a wonderful experience to see Jesus walking on the water.

And then, that's not all. Jesus said to them wonderful words. Verse 27. Words that He often spoke to people. Don't be afraid. Verse 27. It's I. I'm here. You know, that's the word He always spoke to those poor, weak disciples who had obeyed Him.

They were threatened by waves. They were threatened by the rulers of the synagogue. These were poor, weak, 27, 28, 30-year-old young men. Threatened by these 60-year-old, grey-bearded rulers of the synagogue.

They were scared. And Jesus would also say, Don't worry, I'm with you. I'm with you right here. Take courage. And Peter, he said, Lord, if it's You, command me to come to You on the water. And Jesus said, Come.

Had Peter ever walked on the water before? No. He was going to step out into something he had never experienced before. And I believe some of you are going to step out in the coming days into something you have never experienced before.

But it's going to be exciting. It can be scary. Have you ever tried getting out of a boat in the middle of a stormy night and trying walking on the water? That's scary. But if Jesus says, Come. You don't have to be scared.

He told you to come. And some of you stepped out and came. And Peter, can you imagine him stepping out of the boat? And all those who sit inside the boat say, Hang on, don't go out. It's scary. It's risky.

Nobody's ever done this before. And there's security inside the boat. And all these things people tell you. Same old thing. And Peter says, No. Jesus has said, Come. And I'm going. I'm not going to be held back by the 11 of you trying to pull my legs and hold me back.

Just leave me alone. Well, Peter, goodbye then. You're going to sink. We'll survive in this boat. I'm not going to sink. Jesus told me to come. And he stepped out. And the law of gravity was overcome as he walked on that water.

That's how Jesus calls us to walk. Not on solid ground. There wouldn't be anything great in that. But on uncertain, unstable ground. And you walk. And you walk. And you walk. What an experience. And you heard a testimony from my brother just now.

20 years from now, many of you will be getting up and giving a similar testimony. How you walked on the water. I believe that. I believe that. But you've got to take that first step when everybody's trying to hold you back.

You've got to take that first step. Let those who want the security of the boat stay there. You want to go out to Jesus. You want to walk. When he tells you to come, you want to walk by faith. And, you know, in that walk, after a little while, it says here, you know what happened.

He took his eyes off Jesus for a moment. And that's the thing you've got to watch. This is written for our instruction. He took his eyes off Jesus and he looked at the wind. And the moment you take your eyes off the Lord and begin to look at the storm that people are trying to work up around you, you'll begin to sink.

But in that moment when you begin to sink, do what Peter did. Lord save me. Just pray that simple prayer. Please remember this. In a moment when you don't know what to do, say, Lord save me. Lord give me wisdom here.

I don't know what to say. God can give you wisdom, exactly what to say to people who ask you. You don't even have to think. The Lord says, I'll give you wisdom in that moment as to what to say and how to shut the mouths of these people who question you.

And Jesus held his hand and made him walk. One of the wonderful things I see in the Gospels is these exciting experiences that Jesus took his disciples through. Always keeping them in a place of weakness so that they would have to trust him.

God Will Be Our God in Our Weakness

You know it says in the promise in the New Covenant is, in Hebrews 8, let me turn back to that. I will put my laws into their minds. I will write them in their hearts and, listen to this, I will be their God and they shall be my people.

Do you know what the Lord is saying to you today? I will be your God and you will be my people. I will be your personal God. I will make your circumstances such that you won't need to trust in men, you'll have to trust in me.

You know in the Old Testament we read that God always made Israel very weak, surrounded by armies that threatened them, like the Egyptians. And the Lord went with them and defeated the army. He always wanted them to trust in him.

God has made his people weak because he wants to be our God. If he was strong we would not depend on God. Do you know what has ruined Christian ministry more than anything else, particularly in the last fifty years?

Mission work, evangelistic ministry. I'll tell you. I come from India where I have seen mission work across the country of all denominations. People who speak in tongues, who don't speak in tongues. People who baptize as children, people who baptize as adults, people who baptize as believers.

Every shade. I have been in and out of all these missions. Most of them come from America and England, Western Germany and Western countries. I will tell you as an Indian, what has destroyed Christian work in India?

Money. Why did Jesus send his apostles out without money? Because he didn't want to destroy them. What did Peter have when a beggar asked him for a little offering? What did he say? Silver and gold I have none.

But what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus of Nazareth rise up and walk. It's a lot different today. That power has gone. Money has come in. I heard a story once. You know the Roman Catholic Pope said they descended from Peter.

They say Peter was the first Pope. And they have come from there now. I don't want to speak evil of anyone and I don't want to despise any system. I don't agree with the Roman Catholics. But I heard a story once of the Pope or some of his representatives taking people around this huge empire they have in the Vatican in Rome.

And telling someone, well you see all this. We don't have to say like Peter today. Silver and gold I have none. We got plenty of that. And that man said neither can you say like Peter. In the name of Jesus of Nazareth rise up and walk.

You know you can't say one. You can't say the other either. Why did Peter, why did God make Peter so poor? He'd have to depend on God. Why did God make Paul so poor? The Bible says, you read that in 2nd Corinthians 11.

It's touched my heart sometimes. The greatest apostle and evangelist of the century today. There are evangelists who are living in their private jets and speed boats and vacations and that. This man Paul was a million times better than all of them.

There are times when he says he did not have money to buy food. He did not have enough warm clothes to keep him warm. That's what it said in 2nd Corinthians 11. This man was the greatest apostle of the century.

God kept his greatest servants poor. So that they would depend on God and not on money. And through the years Satan has led Christian organizations and Christian institutions. The leaders of Christian organizations and institutions to become so rich in money.

They can spend lavishly. They can go here. They can go there. They can travel what they like. They can have vacations. They can do this. They can do the other thing. And they have no power. Compromises.

And they say they are following Paul. Just talking empty doctrines. Where is the power in their life? Where is the anointing in their life? Don't envy them. Don't envy those leaders of yours who can handle millions.

And say they are servants of Christ. Servants of him who had no place to lay his head. The foxes had holes and the birds of the air had nests and he had no place to lay his head. And these people are saying they are servants of his.

I say don't take the name of Christ. Don't take the name of some heathen God. Don't take the name of Christ and say you are a servant of Christ. You are not. That's how it is with so many people today.

And I tell you, if God loves you, he'll keep you dependent on him. And he'll make your circumstances such that you'll have to depend on him continuously. You won't have access to great resources on earth because you'll have to depend on him.

When we have access to so much on earth, we don't depend on God. And that's what's happened. People don't need faith today. Because they've got money. And God says, I will be their God. And they shall be my people.

Christ Meets Us in Every Trial

You remember the stories in the Gospels. Every story, every incident was to teach people to depend on him. If they went out into the lake, there'd be a storm. That was to teach people to depend on him.

Another time when Jesus was in the boat, there was such a storm, the boat almost sank. And Jesus stopped it. If they'd go to a marriage, the wine would run out. And Jesus would take care of that. If they'd go out for a meeting with 5 ,000 people, there wouldn't be enough food.

And Jesus would take care of that. His closest friend Lazarus would get sick and die. And Jesus would take care of that. Do you find, tell me, do you find a single situation in the Gospels where somebody came to Jesus with a problem and Jesus began to scratch his head and say, I don't know how to solve that one, that's a tough one.

Never! And do you think that you're going to have some big problem today where you go to Jesus and he's going to scratch his head today and say, I don't know, that's a tough one. Never! Of course you're going to face problems.

That's good for us. I've faced all types of situations in my 40 years. That's how I came to know the Lord. Just imagine if the Gospel stories were like this. And Jesus went to a wedding. And there were no problems there.

There was plenty of wine. They all had plenty of wine and they had a good time and went home. And then you go to the next story and you read that they had, there were 5 ,000 people but fortunately some stores were open nearby.

They could go and buy some food and they all had plenty of food to eat and they went home. And then they got into a boat to go across to the other side of the lake and everything was very calm and they reached the other side peacefully.

Just imagine if you went on like this, like this, that Lazarus was sick but fortunately it wasn't very serious. He recovered by the time Jesus came. And then some blind man came to Jesus and Jesus said, Well, I can't help you.

I'll give you a little coin and you can go home. Can you imagine if the Gospel stories were like that? And even the little children would say, We don't want to hear those stories anymore. But it was never like that.

Wherever Jesus went there was a problem. Wherever He went. And He solved every problem. You show me one problem in the Gospels He couldn't solve. Show me one. What is that meant to teach you? If you've got Jesus with you, wherever you go you'll have problems.

You want them or not? And He will solve them for you. Tell me which is better? To get into a boat and go through a calm sea and reach the other side or to get into a boat and have a fierce storm that almost sank the boat and to have Jesus stilling it.

Which is better? Isn't it the second one? Okay. Now apply it to today. That's alright in the Bible. Now apply it to your life from tomorrow onwards. Now what do you want? You want a calm, smooth life for the next few years?

No storm, nothing? Or do you want to face a storm starting tomorrow morning and Jesus will come and still it? Which do you want? Right. I tell you, I'm not joking. And I'm serious when I tell you, I have learned to know the Lord in the storms of life.

When things went calm, I learned nothing about the Lord. What do you learn about the Lord when there is no storm? What do you learn about the Lord when there's plenty of food to feed the 5000? What do you learn about the Lord when there's plenty of wine for the wedding feast?

Do you learn anything? No. It's when you face a difficult situation. That's when you come to know what God can do. And that's why God will arrange difficult circumstances for you. So that He can prove to you that He is the Almighty God.

And He is your God. And you are His people. And He will never desert you. He will never forsake you. He will never let you down. No matter what happens. And then at the end of some years you'll have a testimony.

Otherwise you won't have any testimony. Think of it. One of these days we're going to go to heaven. And we're going to hear of those saints. We're going to hear Paul tell us many other experiences which are not written in the Bible.

Difficult experiences that he went through. We're going to listen from Peter. A lot of Peter's biography is not written here. I don't know what Andrew went through. It's not written here. I want to talk to him in heaven.

We're going to have a wonderful time in heaven. To talk to all these saints who didn't tell us in the Bible what all they went through. I don't know what Thomas went through. I've heard he came to India.

Preach the gospel. But what all he went through, I don't know. I'd like to talk to him. But I'm sure he didn't have an easy road. They killed him. They speared him to death in one place. What all interesting stories.

And then they'll ask you, Well brother, tell me your story. How was it? Sister, tell me what did you go through? What are you going to tell us? I sort of had an easy time through life. Is that what you want to tell them?

When somebody tells you, You know, I stood up for Jesus Christ and they threw me to the lions in the first century in the Rome. I saw that lion coming roaring at me and God gave me such tremendous grace to praise him and to sing a song all the time as I went into the lion's mouth I was singing and he ate me up.

Then he'll ask you, tell me your testimony. I got a bit scared. One day they had a baptism and I got a bit scared to go inside because I was wondering what people would say to me or do to me. And you're going to tell that to the man who put his head inside the lion's mouth for Jesus sake.

Hang your head in shame. Hang your head in shame. You older people who are supposed to be an example to the younger people still sitting as compromisers. I wish we could have a baptism tonight and get the rest of you baptized.

If I were sitting here like some of you I would go to that lake tonight and have another baptism. I'll tell you that. I don't want to disobey God. Maybe I missed the first chance but I'm going to take the second one at the earliest opportunity.

That's for sure. What testimony are you going to give to those Christians? You're scared of some preacher who's going to tell you something and you're going to one day give your testimony to a person who faced a lion in the Colosseum in Rome 2000 years ago.

People who were tied to stakes and told to deny Jesus Christ and they'd be let go and they said we're not going to deny Christ. You can burn us. And they burned him. There's a story of this man who was the elder in the church in Smyrna.

There's a story that's come down from history about this elder in the church in Smyrna called Polycarp. When he was a very young boy he had given his life to Jesus. They say that he spent a lot of time with the Apostle John.

And he was the elder in Smyrna. And when he was about 90 years old or more, the Roman soldiers were sent to catch this man. And he said, white haired, white bearded man and they felt sorry for him. And the magistrate said, just say Caesar is Lord.

Just deny Jesus for a moment. You know what he said? He said, 86 years I have served my Saviour and my Lord Jesus. He has only done me good all these 86 years. How can I deny him? And they tied him to the stake and they set him on fire and burnt him to death.

You're going to meet him in heaven. And he's going to ask you for your testimony after he's given you his. I hope you'll have a testimony to give him. My brothers and sisters, these are the disciples of Jesus who've gone ahead of us.

What are you going to face compared to them? What people faced in those days. Some of you probably don't really know your own history. I don't know. But I've read a little bit about what the Anabaptists faced three, four hundred years ago for their faith.

They suffered. They loved Jesus. They trusted Him. They were betrayed. They were killed. Be bold. They knew God. Today people live with that doctrine and have become rich. Those early founders from whom many of you descended, they were not rich.

They were not millionaires running colonies in the name of Christ. They were running for their life. They were poor. They leaned upon God. Today people carry their doctrine and have become millionaires on earth and say they're following Jesus and keep most people poor in the colony and a few people remain handling millions.

Do you think the early Anabaptists did that? Do you think this is community? This is a deception. There's more community out there where people share with one another than two, three people controlling millions of dollars and keeping everybody poor and dependent on them and calling it community is the worst deception there is.