======================================================================== THE THREE MARKS OF THOSE WHO LIVE WITH GOD by Sandeep Poonen ======================================================================== Summary: This sermon emphasizes the importance of living in God's house, understanding the depth of justification, and embracing humility and brokenness. It highlights the need to recognize God's eternal nature, the significance of holiness, and the beauty of being lowly and contrite in spirit. The speaker urges listeners to abide in God's presence, celebrate His holiness, and maintain a humble attitude even amidst blessings and growth in faith. Topics: "Living in God's Presence", "Embracing Humility and Holiness" Scripture References: Isaiah 57:15, Matthew 23:12, 1 Peter 1:17, Luke 17:7, Romans 6:6, Matthew 25:21, James 4:10, Philippians 2:3, Proverbs 22:4, Psalm 51:17 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This sermon emphasizes the importance of living in God's house, understanding the depth of justification, and embracing humility and brokenness. It highlights the need to recognize God's eternal nature, the significance of holiness, and the beauty of being lowly and contrite in spirit. The speaker urges listeners to abide in God's presence, celebrate His holiness, and maintain a humble attitude even amidst blessings and growth in faith. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ So, we had talked about celebrating in the Father's house, knowing that the Lord doesn't have an issue with us. And we, I have not covered this so much to remember as we sit in the Father's house, that we are dressed in the righteousness of Jesus, not in our own righteousness. So, I will spend just a few minutes to explain that. To make sure that we recognize a little bit more of this beauty of this word justification. To be justified is very different than the truth of forgiveness as we mentioned. I personally think that a lot of us live with God as a God who forgives our sins. We live with God, with God who He is our Father, we sin and we go to God and He forgives us. And then we go out and we do things, we try to please Him and then we sin and He comes back and He forgives us. And over time, this God who is forgiving us, forgiving us, forgiving us, starts to get old. And it starts to get like, I don't know how anybody will just keep on forgiving you. And to really recognize that justification is much bigger than that. That it's not He is just forgiving us. We are getting a lot more than forgiveness. Which is God looks at us just like He looks at Jesus. So, that has to really come home to us. And we have to embrace it. I'll tell you, it's very difficult for a Hindu to believe, for example, that a man who died 2000 years ago, forgives you of your sins. We may have not that much trouble believing it, but for a Hindu, it may be very difficult. I would say though that there are many Christians who may not struggle with knowing that Jesus forgives them. But if you were to say, God looks at me just like He looks at Jesus. It's a very, very difficult thing to say, I accept that. That when you go before God, when you pray with Him, when you pray to Him. When God looks at you, to relax, knowing that God looks at you just like He looks at Jesus. It's a very, very big thing to do. The question is not, does it make sense? The question is, is it in the Bible? Because that's what I'm going to tell the Hindu too. I'm going to tell the Hindu, you know why Jesus forgives you of your sins? Not because it logically makes sense, but because it's in this Bible which is God's word. It's that same book that tells me that God looks at me just like He looks at Jesus. That's what it means to say we are clothed in the righteousness of Jesus. Because God says, no matter who you are, you're naked because you sinned. You're naked because you have sins on you. You're shameful because of your sin. Even if it is one sin, that's what God says. Even if it is one sin, it's as if you're naked. And then God says, but I've clothed you in the righteousness of Jesus. So when we stand before God, we must recognize that it's Jesus' righteousness that is covering us completely all the time. Not the first time we were born again. But every time we come to Jesus, every time we come to God, we have to see that the righteousness of God is covering us and cleansing us. And God looks at us as if we have always obeyed. Imagine the freedom with which you can celebrate if you're sitting in God's house as if you've always obeyed. Have you always obeyed? No, you haven't. But God's truth is that you sit in God's presence, clothed in what Jesus did. If we just act like it's some casual truth, we'll become proud of it. We'll become proud and we'll sit in God's presence as a proud person and we'll be kicked out. But if we wear that robe correctly, we'll be deeply humbled and we'll be deeply grateful. That is why justification is so important. It is much bigger than you think it is. It's much more massive and unbelievable than you think it is. But if we really embrace it more and more and we say, Lord, I want to embrace your justification of me. Which means I want to embrace that you never sinned and your righteousness is now my righteousness. It'll make me extremely grateful for Jesus. That if I sit in God's presence, I'll enjoy it only because of what Jesus did. And that will build loyalty for Jesus. Because there's no chance for me to sit in God's presence without Jesus's righteousness. And that'll build loyalty. But I also wanted to describe what it means to live with God. There's this verse in Isaiah chapter 57 verse 15 that I will use. Isaiah chapter 57 verse 15 For thus says the high and exalted one who lives forever, whose name is holy. I dwell on a high and holy place and also with the contrite and lowly of spirit. In order to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite. There are three places that God lives in that is described in this verse. Isaiah chapter 57 verse 15 For thus says the high and exalted one who lives in forever. That's what that verse is me saying. First place he lives is he lives in forever. Have you ever heard of this land called forever? Have you ever heard of the land called forever? Well that's where God lives. The margin of that my Bible says, instead of who lives forever, it says who lives or dwells in eternity. That's the first place that we've got to see that God dwells. That God is saying here that we have to live with God and this God is one who lives in eternity. Now what does that mean to me? What does that mean to me to live with God who lives in eternity? I want to show you this verse in 1 John chapter 2. It's a really interesting verse for me because I didn't understand it at first. So I want you to turn with me to 1 John chapter 2. 1 John chapter 2 is where you can see this verse in 1 John chapter 2 verse 12. 1 John chapter 2 verse 12. I'm writing to you little children because your sins have been forgiven to you for his name's sake. That's the beginning view of God is little children. And he's talking to different kind of people. And in verse 13 he says, I'm writing to you fathers because you know him who has been from the beginning. And then again in verse 14 he says this again. I'm writing to you fathers because you know him who has been from the beginning. I'm writing to you young men because you are strong and the word of God abides in you. So I see that John is writing to different people. He's writing to little children and saying, little children, I'm writing to you, Jesus has forgiven you. And that's how we talk to children. God has forgiven you, you don't have to be afraid of God. He's writing to young men and John is telling young men, I'm writing to you because you are strong and the word of God abides in you. Your youth is so that you can say God abides in you and then you can overcome the evil one, victory over sin. He's saying that's what John, I'm writing to you young people. And then he says, I'm writing to you fathers, you are the more mature people. This is what I'm writing to you. God has been there from the beginning. That should be the maturity in our growth. I looked at it and read that verse that way and said, when I'm a little child, I drive with God as being the one who forgives me. As I grow older and I become a young man in the faith, I'm somebody who knows that God can help me overcome the evil one. I can have victory over sin. Oh, I thought that was it. No. Then you become even older and you become a father and a mother and you become mature in the faith. And what ends up happening is you get to know this God who's eternal. And I began to think about that. Lord, what does that mean for me to live with you who's eternal? It doesn't sound like such a big idea. It doesn't sound like a very complicated idea. I don't think any of us have any problem believing. Okay, God's eternal. Oh, okay. I knew that. But what does that look like? What does it look like for me to live with God who is eternal? And I meditated on it. Lord, what does that mean? You are outside time. And that has helped me understand that that's where God dwells. Remember Isaiah chapter 57 verse 15. This is where God dwells. So when God invites me home, it says, come and live with me. God says, abide with me. Come and live in my home. Bring your stuff and live with me. When you live in God's home, when you live with God, one of the things that becomes more and more real to you is that God lives outside time. And what does that look like? If you are living with God who lives outside time. This will be the mark of it. You won't get anxious by the things that are bound by time. When God doesn't answer my prayer today, or I have a deadline of next week, or my children haven't gotten their education like I thought they should, they're still struggling with some concepts in 3rd grade. Some of you have children older than 3rd grade. My children are in 3rd and 4th grade. And we get assignments back and they got 50%. And you parents who have children in college, you're like, what are you worried about? They're in 3rd grade. But for me, it's a storm. They haven't figured out multiplication, and they're in 3rd grade. And the parents who are in college are like, calm down. See, they are living outside the time of 3rd grade. They know what it is. I figured out math over time, but my child doesn't understand math, and he's in 3rd grade, or she's in 3rd grade, doesn't know what multiplication tables, and I'm living in time. Then you become a father of a 24-year-old or 20-year-old. And you live outside the time of a 3rd grader. Then you become a different storm, which is, I need to get my children married. They need to get a job. And then that becomes that storm. 3rd grade, multiplication, nah, don't worry about that. No problem, no problem. But my marriage, that's a huge issue. What are my children going to do? Then your children get married. Then it becomes a different storm about grandchildren. And there's retirement. And all these storms happen. But you're very calm when it comes to the 3rd grade parent. Don't worry, multiplication, no problem. It's not a storm at all. That storm has passed. But the storm of retirement, that's a huge storm. And that's how we live. From one storm to the next. I remember this. I had a boss who was difficult for me to work with. That became my big storm. Now I have a boss who's easy to work with. So my boss is not the storm anymore. Just a different storm now. Now it's one of my co-workers. That's a big storm now. Now I'll go to some other work and my co-workers will be fine. And then it'll be something else. It'll be the coffee machine. I'll have all kinds of storms. It's the commute time. All kinds of storms because I live in time. I dwell in a house called time. Children are 3rd grade. I've got a time for that. And what God says is, you come and live in my house. You dwell in eternity. There's no watch. God doesn't wear a watch. He doesn't say what time is it. He doesn't. Time is something that is on this earth. He lives in forever. God is the same. Yesterday, today, forever. And the challenge for me is to mature in the faith. As it says in 1 John 2. To go from just knowing God to be a forgiving person. To go from being victory over sin. And God says, what's beyond that? You know what's beyond that? Is to live with this God who's outside time. The storm is raging and He's asleep. The nails are piercing His hand and He's at rest. This is Jesus who we've read about. Pilate says, don't you know I can release you? Jesus says, no. I'm in my father's house. He's the one in control. I'm not pressured by the situation now, Pilate. You're engaging with me. I'm in my father's house where is eternity. And so this word that we know which is God is sovereign. It's a very big word really. Another way of saying it is God is eternal. God is in control in an eternal way. And we really need to embrace that. And our challenge is, so often I sin, so often we sin. Because we're so time bound. This teacher really needs to do better at teaching my children. This job really needs to work differently. This airline really needs to do things differently. In the way they serve their food on the plane. All of these things, or the way they take my baggage, or the way my traffic works. All these little things. Time bound issues. God's keeping on telling me, come and abide in me. Abide with me. And I'm eternal. And if I'm eternal, you'll relax. Knowing that God can order circumstances. We've seen this in our children's lives. How God has ordered teachers. One teacher to get pregnant and leave. Beautiful celebration for her. So God can bring another teacher that is better suited for our children. And sometimes the teacher is not so suited for our children to help us. To not judge. And God orders everything. Bringing the right help at the right time. Giving us the right references to help us when our children have needs. And when He doesn't reference us, God says, not my time. I live in eternity. And to trust. And as we are handling the church, different situations. When a brother gets married. When a sister proposal works out. All different kinds of things. Caring for different situations. God's timing is perfect. And to trust. And to not try to force God to work in a particular way at a particular time. God, you live in eternity. He'll close doors. Blessed be your name. He'll open doors. Blessed be your name. And we just live in eternity. Because that's where God dwells. What a life of rest we can have. If we will stop looking at our watch and our calendars. And our time frames that are earthbound. And say, God, I'm going to dwell in eternity. That's where God dwells. That's His home. So, ask yourself. Are you abiding with God? It's a very big deal to abide with God. The prodigal son had to come home. And then he had to live in the house. And there's no place in God's house for our time bound issues. God says, stop, stop. All your issues can't stay in my house. You want me to work a particular way and drive a particular time according to your watch? No, throw away your watch. When you come into my house, throw away your watch. I live in eternity. There's no such thing as time. I'll drive as I feel fit. And to some people, He gives different situations. To some, He gives children who are not, have the same DNA as the rest of us. They could have certain challenges. To walk, to talk, to think, to speak, to do math. To each person, He gives. To some, He gives difficult families. To some, He gives easy mother-in- laws and father-in-laws. To others, He gives more difficult ones. To some, He gives easy opportunity to make lots of money. To others, He makes it very difficult to make money month to month. All different challenges. And God says, we all know we all have different trials. To some it's this, to some it's that. But God says, you can all live in eternity. That's my home. Come live with me. And so, it's beautiful to see the father running out to meet me. It's beautiful to celebrate with God. But then God says, you want to not just have the feast. Now you're going to live with me. I always imagine, what must have been the prodigal son's life the next day. Then the feast is over. Now it's normal life. What does normal life look like? Number one, he lives in eternity. I'll take care of all of your issues. I know we are broke. I knew you wasted all my money. It was my money, you took the inheritance and now we don't have money. Don't worry, we live in eternity. We'll figure this out. We may have to have bread and water for the next three years. It's okay, we'll figure it out. There are consequences for the mistakes you made. But I live in eternity. Don't have to bring your troubles. I'm sovereign. I can turn water into wine. I can feed 5,000. No problem. Be anxious for nothing. It's a sin to be anxious. Because God's house is outside time. It's really important dear brothers and sisters. It really blessed me to think of when it said, You know when you know you're growing into the faith? You know when you're becoming a father in the faith? It's when you see me as eternal. Use that as a way of knowing that you're maturing the faith. That you're more and more relaxed. When people bring troubles to you, You're like, it's okay guys. We've got a father. He'll take care of us. He'll help us. Yes, we have to use our wisdom to make decisions in short periods of time. But we've got a father. He's eternal. Outside time. This day will come. This day will go. Next deliverable will come. Next deadline will come. Next deadline will go. My home is eternal. The boat is shaking. The water is coming into the boat. Jesus is living in the father's house of eternal. What a beautiful place to live in. And that's the life I want to live. I want to draw people more. I want to invite people more. I want to ask people to come with me in our church, in our lives. To say, live with God who is eternal. And God's trying to tell me that too in my own life. Suddenly you're getting into so many problems because you make, you want me to come with you into your time bound issue. Live with me. All these problems, will all get solved. That's the first place he lives. He lives in forever. The next place, if you turn back to Isaiah 57 verse 15, those three places he lives in. The second place he lives in is in the high and holy place. It's a sweet resting place to live in eternity. But then this is the other place that he lives is in the high. A very lofty place. And it's the holy place. Isaiah 35 verse 8 says, There will be a highway to holiness. That's what I remember. There will be a highway there and it will be called the highway of holiness. We have to remember this about God's house. God accepts us as we are. God says, if I see you flat on your face and adoring me, I come running out to meet you and to have a feast for you. But as you live in my house, where it's called eternal. The other thing that is in my house is that it is the high and holy place. That is why holiness is so important. That is why a fundamental different attitude towards sin is so important. You know, this is something that I've reminded myself of. As we deal with sin, there are two important people that you need to know about. There is the old man and there is the flesh. These are biblical words. Hopefully you've heard this. This is not the first time you're hearing it. But there are two people or beings in our life that we got to think about. One is the old man and another one is the flesh. And the reason why it's important for me to understand it is because otherwise I can get very discouraged. When I fall into sin, or if I fall into sin more than once, I can think, I wonder if I'm a Christian even. And if your old man is alive, you're not a Christian. If your flesh is alive, you can very much be a Christian. And so to understand that difference has become very important to me because both of them will cause me to sin. The old man causes me to sin, the flesh causes me to sin. But if my old man is alive, I'm not a Christian. If my flesh is alive, I could be a Christian. And my flesh will always be alive till the day I die. So understanding that difference is important because when I sin, who is the one sinning? Is it the old man or is it the flesh? I hope you understand this. So I just want to give you my own simple understanding of it as it's helped me. The old man, and the reason I say that is because in Romans chapter 6, and I don't want to take the time to take you to all those passages. But in Romans chapter 6, it says that the old man is dead. That when we are baptized, the baptism is just a symbol. But what happens when we are born again is that we are saying, Lord my old man has been crucified with Christ. It's killed, it's done away with. The old man is dead. And now we have a new man. And I want to try to give you my definition of what that old man sounds like and what the new man sounds like. So I'm not going to talk about the flesh. The flesh is a completely separate being. But there's an old man that is inside all of us when we are born. That old man has a certain cry. Like a baby has a cry. The old man says, I don't want to follow Jesus. Very simple. All of us have inside of us when we are born this cry that says, I don't want to follow Jesus. The new man has a different cry. The new man has a cry that says, I want to follow Jesus. When you are born again, what God says is, your old man is crucified. And there's a new birth. There's a new birth of a new man that is inside of me that says, I want to follow Jesus. This cry is so important to listen for and to protect. This new man is like a new baby as it grows up. We should never lose that cry. As I said, if the new man is not there, you are not a Christian. And this is the mark of somebody who is no longer a Christian, who may have had a new birth experience. But that new man is dead now. Is somebody who has lost that cry of, I want to be like Jesus. This I believe is the mark of every Christian. Is I want to be like Jesus. Please remember that. Not I will be like Jesus. Not I am like Jesus or I am walking like Jesus. But I want to be like Jesus. And there are many defeated Christians. Who aren't supposed to be defeated. And so I hope there's a word of encouragement even to you, if you're living a defeated life. You can know that there's still that new man in you, if you preserve and feed this cry inside of you, which says, I want to be like Jesus. Don't lose that. That I think is the cry of faith. When Jesus knew that Peter was going to deny him to a servant girl, Jesus still prayed for him. I know you're going to fall, but I pray that your faith may not die. And that faith is, I hope, what I'm praying for you Peter, is that you don't lose this, I want to be like Jesus. I know you just failed and you prove that you're not like me. But I hope you don't lose this cry that says, I want to be like Jesus. Don't lose that. So dear young person, dear child, dear old person, doesn't really matter. You must have confidence that God has accepted you. So important to have that, to enter into God's presence. How will you know from your side, I want to be like Jesus. Don't lose that cry. The moment I say, no, I don't care what Jesus is, I want to do whatever I want, you're on dangerous ground. We can lose our newborn, our new birth. We can kill that new man. And we don't kill that new man by sinning. We kill that new man by losing that, I want to be like Jesus cry. By allowing sin to be like, it's okay, it doesn't really matter. Because that's the one mark about Jesus that separates him from everybody else. Many other people will go to hell who have raised people from the dead. Many other people in all of history will heal the sick and other things and will end up in hell. But what differentiates Jesus from everybody else is, he's the only person who didn't sin. And everybody who follows Jesus is going to have that attitude which is, I don't want to sin. And this is the mark of every person who is a Christian is, I don't want to sin. I don't want to sin. Living in God's house is saying, Lord, I want to keep living in this higher house, which is high, so reverential and where holiness is prioritized. That is why it's a sad reality when so many messages, so many churches, so many Christians don't focus and underline the importance of fighting sin. Now, as we talked about, if sin is all we're obsessed with, and we're not obsessed with Jesus who is free from sin, we can become so focused on our sin that it becomes depressing or legalistic and not freeing. And there's righteousness, but it's really self-righteousness because there's no peace and joy to go with the righteousness. You know, the Bible says that the Kingdom of God is righteousness, joy and peace, but we focus all on righteousness, righteousness, righteousness, righteousness, righteousness, that's not the Kingdom of God, because the Kingdom of God is righteousness, joy and peace. Now some people will be like, the kingdom of God is joy and peace, joy and peace, joy and peace, that's not the kingdom of God either. And so I know this to where I do have to celebrate with God. I have to have the celebration with God. But I live in God's house. The mark that I know I'm living in God's house is that I call God's house a high and holy place. God lives outside time, He's eternal. But I must constantly recognize that if I'm going to live in God's house, it's a holy place. And because of that, when I start losing this cry of, I don't want to sin, and I'm allowing sin to persist, God says, you can't be in my house. I wonder why the prodigal son left the father of love. The same father who was running down to meet the prodigal son, it was the same father, he didn't change. But 5 years earlier or 10 years earlier when the prodigal son left, he left the father's house, the same father, why did he leave? Because the father's house is a high and holy place. It doesn't tolerate sin. The father runs out to meet me. But in the father's house, the father says, look, we don't tolerate sin. That is why it's so important for the message of sin and fighting sin to be expressed in the church. We who live with this father who is love, prove that we are living with the father of love because we take sin seriously. Let me show you this verse as I talk about this in 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 17. This is one verse is all you need to understand what I'm talking about. And to understand this father who we're dealing with. 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 17. Remember, Peter was an uneducated fisherman. I don't think he ever went to school after he became a Christian. I don't think he suddenly became educated. But he had the Holy Spirit. So he understood God's wisdom. So listen to Peter, an uneducated fisherman, less educated than most of us, including maybe some of the children. Less educated than them. Listen to his wisdom captured in one sentence to explain this truth. 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 17. If you address as father, we've talked about God being a father. We talked about who this father is running out the road to meet us. If you call God father, this one who impartially judges each man's work, conduct yourself in holy fear during your time here on earth. One verse. It's not even the whole sentence. In one verse, he explains both the love of God and the fear of God. One sentence. You don't even need more than one sentence. And Peter, the uneducated fisherman, was able to, with the power of the Holy Spirit and with the Holy Spirit's help, was able to write it out so simply. You're calling God father? You think God is the one who runs out to meet you? You really think that? Have you really embraced it? I'll tell you how you'll prove it to me. You live with reverence. You'll know that God's house, when He takes you into the house and celebrates it, He'll show you that plastered all over the walls is this thought that God is holy. That He doesn't tolerate sin. And it'll start to sink into you. Abide in God's house. Don't come just for the party on Sunday mornings and then leave on Monday like the prodigal son. God's inviting you to stay in the house beyond the party, beyond the celebration, which is the first thing. And as we stay in the house, He says, your issues, no worries. I've got this. No worries. No worries in this house here. I live outside time. And I want you to show your children, dear parents, God is wanting us as parents to show our children that we live with God who is eternal. God's got this under control. God's got everything under control. God's got that issue with your fellow student who's constantly teasing you. Let's take it to God. Let's ask God. I remember that one time when I was interacting with the situation where I felt, Oh, you know what? I need to email the principal and let him know about this. Because one of my children was struggling with something in some situation at school. And I felt that school needed to step in and help. And the Lord checked me and said, Hold on. First, why aren't you checking with me? Do you think, Sandeep, that I've created this issue? Not created, that I've allowed this issue in your child's school? Because I'm trying to reach your child. I'm trying to reach your child to say, I'm here. I can solve your problem. If you keep emailing the school and trying to solve all your children's problems for them, you're never going to create an opportunity for me to reach out to them. Maybe I'm the one who's behind this. Who specifically allowed it to cause that trouble in your child's life. So that you, being the godly parent that you are, would encourage your daughter to reach out, or to encourage your son to reach out in this time of trouble. And let her cry to God. And let her wet her pillow to God at night. And then I'll speak to her like I spoke to Samuel when he was a little boy. But it's not going to happen if you keep coming in the way and messing things up. And I'm not against emailing the schools or emailing the worker or anything like that. But where is the place for God to work in some of these situations? Take it to the Lord in prayer. Lord, am I giving you the space? You're outside time. Some of these problems of pain, look at your own life. Look at where God spoke to you most clearly. Wasn't it at the times when it was a moment of pain? Wasn't it in a moment of trouble that that's where God could speak so clearly? Is it going to be any different in your child's lives? Is it going to be any different in our co-workers' lives? In that moment of pain, for us to be able to be messengers of God's word, that we can speak to God, speak on God's behalf into a situation and bring life. But it won't happen if we're constantly getting and trying to make beds of roses for our children. Wanting ourselves to have a bed of roses every day. We don't need God's voice. We don't need God. God says, I live outside time. I know you've got this time bound issue, but come live in my house and rest. When the Pharaoh's army is just at the right time, I'll open the Red Sea. Not before then. I know, I know the Pharaoh's army. I know exactly where they are. I know how fast their chariots are going. At the right time, you'll go through. Because it'll have to be at the right time. Because right after that, I need the Pharaoh's army to go into the water too. Thinking they can catch up with you. And once they're halfway through, the water comes over and closes them. But if I open up the water two days earlier, the Pharaoh's army won't come into the water. At the right time, to maximize my glory, hold on. Hold on. I know the speed of the chariots. I know exactly what I'm doing. I live outside time. I know exactly what I'm doing. And that's the eternal. And then the second one is that we take sin so seriously, that we understand that God is working all of this for our good. And the last place that God lives in that verse in Isaiah 57 verse 15, if we turn back there, Isaiah 57 verse 15, is He lives with the broken and the contrite. And also with the contrite and the lowly of spirit. What if I were to tell you, what if somebody were to tell you, I want to sit with God. I want to sit, I'm going to use the expression that is actually used. I will sit on the mount of God's assembly, and I will be like the Most High. Do you know who said that? The devil. Where did the devil want to live? In God's house. He wanted to live on the mountain of God. Whatever we've been talking this whole time, I've been talking about how we should live in God's house. There's a pride that can come into us as Christians, as we think about the fact that we can live with God. As we start to value holiness. As we start to experience victory over sin. As we start to see God's favor on our lives, and the way God helps in different situations. As we see God trying to, as we see God validating what we are doing, like the devil did, before he was the devil. Whatever his name was. Lucifer, or whatever it was. He was the most beautiful, I think, of God's creation. He was wiser than Daniel. He had unparalleled beauty. One of the most incredible beings that ever existed. What happened because of all of those things of God's favor on Lucifer? Who gave Lucifer all those things? God did. What was the result of God's favor on Lucifer? That Lucifer was more beautiful than anybody else. That Lucifer was smarter than anybody else. That Lucifer was in charge of more things of heaven than anybody else. Isn't that a good thing to be in charge of things in heaven? Not a bad thing. It's a wonderful thing to be in charge. God gave that to Lucifer. But Lucifer became proud because of that. This is not Lucifer having good things on a corrupted earth or in hell. This was Lucifer before he sinned. He was in heaven. Beautiful. Smart. Wise. But then he started to get in his head. I will ascend. And I want to be. It's okay for me to be in God's house. No problem. And you start to act like you deserve to be there. And we have to walk that fine line. We have to really recognize, Lord, I want to accept and embrace your favor on my life. I want to celebrate with you. But I never want to end up like the devil. Who takes it for granted. Who thinks it is something that he deserves. After I have done everything that you have commanded me. Say this to yourself. I am an unprofitable servant. Think about that word. I thought about that word recently. Imagine if I told somebody about my team. Hey, you know what? You are actually rather unprofitable. You are an unprofitable worker. That's not a compliment. You are actually worthless. That word unprofitable is actually used elsewhere in the Bible as being worthless. Imagine if the co-worker would take that as you are clearly not being helpful to me. And God doesn't tell that to us. God doesn't say you are unprofitable. But God says you should have that attitude about yourself. God says well done. Good and faithful servant. What is the servant's response to that? It's not told in that story. In Matthew chapter 25. He talks about these different talents. And he gives one five talents. And he gives one two talents. And he gives one one talent. And the guy who got five talents returned five more. And you know what God said? Well done, good and faithful servant. It doesn't tell you what the servant said in response. It does tell you the answer to that in Luke chapter 17 in a different story. Where the servant had done everything that the master commanded. And now you hear the servant's response. So what does God say? Well done, good and faithful servant. Come in, come in. And what is the servant's response? I'm an unprofitable servant. I only did what was commanded. What do you need God? I'm here to serve you. That attitude of humility and brokenness. Is one thing that's very easy for us to have. When we are a tax collector. Or our minds are filled with thoughts of adultery. And anger and lust. And covetousness. Then it's easy for us to say we are unprofitable servants. But as we start to live with God. And we start to see God using us. Then it changes. Then it's not that easy for us to say, I don't know if we are unprofitable. I think I'm doing what the Lord commanded me to do. And we lose this broken and contrite and lowly of spirit attitude. And God says, this is where I dwell. With the contrite and lowly of spirit. This is something that we have to also guard in our heart. Guard that attitude of Lord, lowly and contrite. After the Lord starts to bless us. Materially, spiritually, doesn't matter in which realm. To really say, Lord I'm lowly and contrite. Lord you've opened my eyes to the truth. And you've not opened my co-worker's eyes to the truth. Lord you've opened my eyes to the truth. You've not opened some other family member's eyes to the truth. Lord you've opened my eyes to the truth. You haven't opened my wife's eyes to the truth. Okay. Whatever the situation is. In a particular situation you think your spouse is wrong or this and that. The question then really becomes of me still is, But Sandeep, are you going to have a lowly and contrite spirit? Or do you tend to think you're better than your wife? You think you're better than your co-worker? You think you're better than your family members? And you clearly know I'm speaking from experience. So difficult to live in God's house. When we become proud, we're kicked out. So let's not think that this is just, you know, party time, celebration. That's the start. And that is who God is. And we should never find that that's the foundation. But God's trying to say, look just don't treat this as a, you know, some casual fun and games. Just like parenting, right? You take your children and you shower them with love. You throw them a feast on their birthdays. You take them to the fair. You take them to have a fun time playing arcades. But that's not life. It's not everyday. It's just that. There's lots of that feeling. But then there's the daily walk with God too. And living in his house is such a place of rest. It's a respect for God's holiness. But it's also a constant, genuine recognition of, Lord, I know I'm obeying you more than I did two years ago. I know I'm obeying you much more than I was obeying you 10 years ago. But I'm as broken and lowly. In fact, I'm more broken and lowly. Because that's what living in God's house does. It makes us more confident of eternity than ever before. It makes us more respectful of God's holiness. And it makes us more enjoying to be lowly and broken. I honestly say this, dear brother and sister. I covet to be lowly. I long to be broken. It's something that I, it's like I have a taste bud in me. That God's awakened it. And I see the beauty of being low. It doesn't matter whether I'm speaking up in front or sitting in the front or sitting in the back. That's got nothing to do with lowliness. That's external things. But in my heart, to be broken and to be lowly, there's an appeal for it. It's like when I see Indian food. There's a natural drawing to it. I see Indian sweets even more. It's like, let me go to that. There's apple crumble and there's Indian sweets. I'm drawn to the Indian sweets. That's my taste bud. That's what I was born with. That's what I enjoyed from my childhood. Some of you, maybe some other food. That's where my food goes. And imagine if God creates that taste bud in us for to be lowly. To be broken. It's not this negative word. That's how Jesus was. Come and learn from me. Because I'm broken, humble, gentle. Learn from me. It's an enjoyable life. I'm at rest. And God can open our eyes to see the beauty in that. It's okay if people criticize me. It's okay if people say things about me. Be broken. Isn't that a happy place to be on your face before God? Okay, just be there. Is it a wonderful thing to be broken and lowly? Yes. I don't need somebody to encourage me to do that because I enjoy it. You don't have to encourage me to go towards the Indian sweets. It's where I go. And God is telling me, partake of my divine nature. As you live in my house, you'll see that the atmosphere of this house is, Be broken. Be lowly. Seek to serve, not to be served. Don't expect anything from anybody else. This is God's house. The eternal, the high and holy place. And the broken and contrite spirit. It's a wonderful thing to abide with God. God tells us, not only come into the house. He not only runs out to meet you. He doesn't just say, come into the house, let's have a feast. He says, Sandeep, I want you to stay here now. I want you to live in this house. It's a wonderful place of rest. Of being nothing. And celebrating God's holiness. Can be a way of life. I pray that Lord will open our eyes. Explore our taste buds. To where the person of God. The divine nature of humility. Will start to become so enjoyable to us. That we'll embrace His holiness, His brokenness. And His eternalness. God bless us. ======================================================================== Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/Z0VWYKXRFT4.mp4 Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/sandeep-poonen/the-three-marks-of-those-who-live-with-god/ ========================================================================