======================================================================== JESUS SHOULD BE THE GLORY IN OUR LIVES by Zac Poonen ======================================================================== Summary: This sermon delves into the spiritual lessons from the history of Israel, focusing on two journeys: from Egypt to Canaan symbolizing personal victory over sin, and from Babylon to Jerusalem representing leaving dead church practices. It emphasizes the need to have a personal relationship with Jesus, to overcome sin, and to build fellowship with others. The importance of making Jesus the center of our lives, resisting Satan's accusations, and relying on the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome obstacles is highlighted. Topics: "Personal Victory", "Spiritual Renewal" Scripture References: Zechariah 2:5, Zechariah 3:1, Zechariah 4:2, Zechariah 4:6 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This sermon delves into the spiritual lessons from the history of Israel, focusing on two journeys: from Egypt to Canaan symbolizing personal victory over sin, and from Babylon to Jerusalem representing leaving dead church practices. It emphasizes the need to have a personal relationship with Jesus, to overcome sin, and to build fellowship with others. The importance of making Jesus the center of our lives, resisting Satan's accusations, and relying on the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome obstacles is highlighted. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I was reading the book of Zechariah this morning, certain verses in it which I wanted to share with you. I want to tell you a little bit about the history of Israel because the Old Testament was written to teach us spiritual lessons for us as well in this time. In the history of Israel there were two journeys that they made. One was from Egypt to Canaan. They're from Egypt to Canaan and then from Babylon to Jerusalem. These are the two great movements of Israel in the Old Testament and they have an application to us. Egypt to Canaan is a picture of our personal journey from sin and defeat to a life of victory where the Giants are slain, we come to a life of overcoming and that's personal, individual. You can be in Egypt unconverted, you can be in the wilderness, you know, safe but defeated and legalistic or you can come into Canaan and be an overcomer. The second journey is from Babylon to Jerusalem which is a picture of being in a dead church which is not following all of God's Word. You may be born again, you know, the Roman Revelation 18.4 says come out of her my people, come out of Babylon my people. So there are born again people in Babylon, it's very clear. The Lord says you shouldn't be there, you should come out of there, you should come out of a church that's not obeying God's Word. The fundamental principle of Babylon is money, that's the God of Babylon is money and the God of Jerusalem is the Lord Jesus Christ and the Father in heaven. So he's come out of this preoccupation with money and you know Babylon is not a system. In the olden days they said the Roman Catholics were Babylon. There are a lot of Babylonians everywhere. I think there are Babylonians sitting in CFC. It's an individual thing, you can have, you don't get free from the love of money just because you come to CFC. I think there are a lot of people sitting in CFC for whom money is more important than passionately following Jesus Christ. So that's Babylon and you can be in it, you can have the spirit of Babylon no matter where you sit. So the second movement is to come out of this system that is corrupt which finally God will destroy one day and to come out of it into Jerusalem where, like in the tabernacle where every small little detail was in complete obedience to God's Word. If you read the construction of the tabernacle which is the beginning of Jerusalem and the temple and the picture of the church, the interesting thing in Exodus 25 to 40 is every little detail was exactly according to the Word of God. Now in my you know being a Christian over 58 years I have to say I've almost found no church that's interested in obeying every single thing in the Word of God. I mean there are churches that preach many other things but every single thing I hardly find any. So is it you read Exodus 25 and 40 did Moses do most of the things in the tabernacle according to God's Word? No. You read every single detail you read in the last two chapters he did according to God's Word. So Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi are the last three prophets just before John the Baptist in the beginning of the New Covenant. Another significant thing you see in the Old Testament is, which is part of the Old Covenant, all movements were entirely dependent on one man. Whether it is Noah, one man. Others helped him of course. Abraham began with one man. Moses, one man. Aaron helped him but Aaron was pretty useless. If Moses went away they worshiped idols. Then Joshua, one man. When Joshua died Israel went astray. So like that it was always one man. David, for a while he was faithful and towards the end of his life he also backslid and his son went astray. And then the prophets, Samuel, once he died his children were not anywhere near him. They were all lonely men. God could use only one man and if he found one man he was fortunate because in many generations in Israel he could not even find one man. Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, they're all lonely single individuals. But that was not the New Covenant pattern. That is the Old Covenant. In the New Covenant as soon as you come to the pages of the New Covenant Jesus sends his disciples two by two. That one man ministry is gone. That is Old Covenant. Any man who is doing a one man ministry even if he calls himself chief pastor or superintendent, general superintendent or Pope or Metropolitan or Bishop is in the Old Covenant. In the New Covenant there's no such thing. That's why in the New Covenant nobody has a title called pastor, father, reverend. Jesus said you're all brothers, you're all servants and he said you must work two by two minimum and then of course he said where two are gathered in my name there I am in the midst. Very important to understand that. So I believe there are some lonely Christians sitting in CFC. Maybe you're a good brother, maybe you're as good as Elijah. I don't think so but even if you are, you are in the Old Covenant. Even if you're like John the Baptist. Lone, one lone man. It is Old Covenant. These wonderful holy men who could not build fellowship with anybody else. There have been many like that in Christendom. Great men, wonderful preachers, holy men. Who do you fellowship with? They are good people. Don't you think Elijah, John the Baptist were good people? Sure. There are Old Covenant people living in this New Covenant age. Just like there are people in the world today who even though it's an age of computers. There are many in the villages who don't even know what a computer is. But they are living in this computer age. Don't you think? Many in the villages in India have never seen a computer in their life. But they are living in the computer age and there are many Old Covenant people living in this New Covenant age and we should not be one of them. It's not enough to say I come to go to a church where we preach the New Covenant. That doesn't mean you become New Covenant at all. One mark of New Covenant is we overcome sin. Sin shall not rule over you because you're not under law but under grace. That's the Egypt to Canaan movement. The other mark of grace, the other mark of the New Covenant is that you can build fellowship with people. That is the Babylon to Jerusalem. Those are the two movements in the Old Testament. So remember there should be those two movements in your life too. From defeat to victory, Egypt to Canaan and from a lonely holy life to a fellowship life with others. That's Jerusalem. And the thing that if you're not interested in the second thing you're like multitudes of Christians today who are happy that I'm a holy person. And what about your fellowship? See fellowship doesn't mean that you come and sit here with a whole lot of people. This is not fellowship. This is a congregation listening to a message. Fellowship is an individual thing where you you know like the closest is of course husband and wife physical fellowship. But something like that spiritually not physically. Where spiritually I seek to be one with others. Not perfect. I'm not perfect myself. I'm two imperfect people still becoming fellowship. Do you think Peter and John were perfect when they fellowship together? It says in Acts chapter 3 that Peter and John went together. You always see that together. You never see a lonely person in the New Testament like in the Old Testament. Never. Peter and John. Paul and Barnabas. And when Barnabas fell away then Paul and Silas or Paul and Timothy. Even the letters Paul writes says I'm along with Silas and Timothy. So this is a distinct thing. Many have understood the Egypt and to Canaan but they haven't understood Babylon and Jerusalem. So as you approach the end of the Old Covenant age you see two prophets working together. Which is a very amazing thing. It never happened in the history of Israel and that is Haggai and Zechariah. Together. They worked together and you know what their job was? To build the temple. That's a picture of what is going to come in a few years in the New Covenant when Jesus came. When people would work together and build the church. And the interesting thing is Haggai was a much older man and Zechariah was a very young man. It's interesting that God chose an older man and a very young man to work together and they worked together. And the interesting thing is the younger man had more prophecies than the older man. The book of Haggai is just about two chapters and Zechariah's got 14 chapters. So it's not a question of age in the New Covenant. God is a different. I'm not saying Zechariah was more holy than Haggai. But that is God's sovereign choice to give two chapters to Haggai and 14 chapters to Zechariah. And Haggai didn't get jealous of that. Jealousy if it is there in you, you are not only old covenant, I think you're in no covenant. Even Moses was not jealous when the Holy Spirit came upon so many people in Israel. He said, I wish all the Lord's people were prophets, not only me. Jealousy means you're under no covenant at all. I want to say to you in Jesus' name, any of you who are jealous of somebody else in this church, who is jealous of whatever it is, earthly things, spiritual things, ministry, you are under no covenant. At least come to the Old Covenant before you get lost eternally. So Haggai, he was not jealous of Zechariah. Zechariah is such a young man and God is giving so much prophecies to him. Dear brothers and sisters, be very careful. These two people worked together. I want to share with you some of them. Take some time to read Haggai and Zechariah, these two Old Testament books. It doesn't take long. Read and ask God to show you. This is the preparation for the New Covenant. And there's some things that Zechariah said which really, you know, resound in my mind as New Covenant truths that we need to understand. I'm just going to take a few verses from here and there. First of all, Zechariah chapter 2. The Lord says in verse 5, I will be a wall of fire around Jerusalem and I will be the glory in her midst. Number one. Very important to understand this. You know, they were thinking we must protect ourselves from our enemies and in the olden days they used to protect, every city used to protect itself by building a huge wall so the enemies can't come in. So Jerusalem also had a wall around it and the Lord says no, no, no, no, that's not the thing that will protect you. I will be a wall of fire around you. And we also, you know, one of the great things many Christians face is insecurity. Because we're not millionaires who can, even if you are millionaires, how do you protect yourself from sickness? Billionaires also get sick and die. There's so many problems in this world, not only financial, medical problems, health problems, and many other problems. Enemies. Billionaires can get killed by enemies who can come to hurt them. So there are many dangers in this world from enemies, from sickness, from poverty. And the Lord says you can do everything to try and build a wall around yourself by protecting yourself from all these things. But no, you must trust in me. I will be a wall of fire around you. I read that promise as a young Christian and I said Lord that's what I want. I don't want human beings to be my defense and I'm very glad that as a young Christian I learned in my 20s that I need to trust the Lord to be a wall of fire around about me. I don't want to depend on man to protect me. I want the Lord himself to protect me. He'll be a wall of fire around about me, wherever I go. Imagine the Lord himself is a wall of fire around about you. In an insecure world, and these Jews who came back from Babylon to Jerusalem in those days, they were very poor, they were despised, rejected, they didn't have any houses or land. 70 years they had gone away to Babylon. They came back to a dilapidated city called Jerusalem and they were trying to, like a little village, and they were trying to live there. There were powerful enemies around and naturally they were scared. It's like many Christians are scared today in India. There are powerful enemies and you could have enemies in your office who don't like you. What a wonderful promise to begin with, to live this whole new year and the rest of our life. Lord, you are a wall of fire around about me and you are the glory in the midst of my life. You're the only one. There are two things. One, I want you to be a wall of fire around about me that we all like to have, but also the second part is just as important. I must be the glory of your life. Lord, I want a glory only in you. I don't want a glory in who I am or what I am or what I'm capable of. I want a glory you are in my midst, that my only glory is that Jesus is with me. My glory is that Jesus is in my house, not that I'm so educated or I'm so capable or I've got such a good job or I earn so much salary or I'm so cultured. You know, I find many cultured people despise those who are not cultured. It's a very sad thing. You think culture is Christianity? No. There are Greeks and barbarians in the church. Do you know that? And barbarians are very crude people. They don't know how to say thank you or sorry because they are barbarians. They don't know how to blow their nose with a handkerchief. No. They are barbarians. How do you live with such people? I have no problem at all because I don't despise them. Culture is not Christianity. We need to be cultured and considerate but I'm quite happy if somebody is not yet come to that place, if he loves Jesus. Jesus is the glory in my life. I want you to remember this, my brothers. This is new covenant. He's a wall of fire around about me and he's the only one I glory in. I don't glory in my being cultured or educated or civilized or any of these things because if I glory in those things, I will automatically despise some brother or sister who is not cultured, who's not educated and who's not as civilized as me. I'll despise him if he doesn't say thank you. I see that is their culture. I've seen many people who are uncultured in India. You give them a gift, they say eh. I understand that. Eh means thank you. It's translation. They're speaking in tongues and I understand that language. You need to understand that language. They're not cultured to say oh thank you sir. Jesus is the glory. I don't glory in my culture because the moment you glory in anything other than Jesus Christ, listen to me, the moment you glory in anything other than Jesus Christ, you will automatically despise somebody who doesn't have what you have. Could be education, it could be wealth, it could be culture, it could be cleanliness. You go to a home where everything is slipshod and lying around here and there like a mess and inwardly you say thank God my home is not like that. Okay. I'm not saying that untidiness is a great thing but let me tell you this. Some people are so poor they cannot be tidy. They don't have the amount of money you have to keep their home tidy. They don't have the amount of time you have. Maybe they have 10 children. You don't have so many children so they can't keep all their home tidy like you can. There's so many things. We don't allow for these factors. I can say that I never go to a home and despise that home for anything I see there. I can say before God I do not. I remember when I was a young boy, a young believer. I was 23 years old. I was in the Navy. I was a believer and I went to the home of a missionary lady who had sacrificed and come from her country. God-fearing, humble lady would come to India to serve the Lord and she lived in a small house because she was very faithful with money. When I went into her kitchen, her kitchen was an absolute mess. Mess means not it was not unhygienic but it's not everything neatly arranged in its proper place. I said I praise the Lord for this sister who sacrificed so much to bring Jesus Christ to India. This means nothing to me. It means nothing. I will never say I thank God that I am more tidy than her. I'm just giving you an example. It's these little things that ruin you spiritually. You don't realize it. You don't say anything. Of course you won't say anything. You won't speak about that person behind your back also. But inwardly in your mind you've already sinned. You know that you've already sinned when you despise somebody for something that you have which he doesn't have. And the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 4 verse 7 what have you got which you did not receive? What have you got which you did not receive? There are Christian women who glory in how good-looking they are. They admire themselves in the mirror and they admire even the color of their skin. It's all all inward. You never speak one word about it. I'm trying to tell you my brothers and sisters the things that prevent you from becoming really spiritual. The things that prevent you from having sharp discernment in the kingdom of God. There's a lot of difference between understanding and discernment. If you have sat here for 20-30 years you understood almost everything about the new covenant. You can even teach others but it doesn't mean you have discernment. Discernment is a supernatural spiritual ability that God gives you to see through people. To see what a person is really like who sounds very nice and speaks nicely but you can see through that person. But you'll get that discernment. I'll tell you you can listen to this if you decide in your life that you'll glory only in Jesus Christ nothing else. Paul said that God forbid that I should ever glory except in the cross of my Lord Jesus Christ whereby the whole world is crucified to me and I am crucified to the world. He's saying the values of the world mean nothing to me. I've as little interest in the values of this world as a dead man has. Get to that place Galatians 6.14 and you'll get discernment. I'm just trying to show you how very subtly the devil robs us of the possibility of being discerning and discernment is the greatest need among God's people and nobody can give it to you. I can't teach it to you. You have to be faithful in your private life and if you say Lord you are the glory in my midst. I rejoice that you're a wall of fire around about me. That's great but I also want you to be the glory in the midst of my life. I want nothing else but you. I don't want to glory in anything. You've done many things in my life but I don't even want to glory in our spiritual gifts or abilities or spiritual growth or anything. Lord Jesus you are the glory. That was what made Paul the man he became. That's why God could do amazing things through Paul and I want to say to you in Jesus name. You may not have the same. You and I may not have the same ministry that Paul has but God can do amazing things through you if you take this seriously. Lord from today onwards I want you to be the only person I glory in. What you are that you have saved me. You are my Savior. You're my Lord and I want to be like you. You know when we were singing that song this morning and can it be I just want to bring up those words. Can you just put that first verse up on the screen and can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood. Yes go on from there. Died he for me. This is the verse I want you to think of. I don't know how many of you thought of it. We sang it this morning but you know how we glibly sing a lot of things without even thinking about it. It moved my heart afresh because many years ago I prayed a prayer. I said Lord Jesus don't let me ever again sing about the cross without thinking. This is the first time I'm hearing of it. That's after I read once in Revelation 5 that they sang a new song that was slain and the Lord showed me that means it was afresh. It was always fresh for them that Jesus died. I say I want that spirit and I sing it for it came to me afresh today. Died he for me who caused his pain. For me who pursued him to death. Was I the one who pursued him to death? Was I the one who shouted crucify him? Yes I was. I hear my voice in that crowd shouting crucify him. How? By the way I lived. By my careless attitude to sin. Sin was what crucified Jesus and when I sin I'm crucifying him. So died he for me who caused his pain. For me who pursued him to death. Yes kill him kill him kill him and he died for me and I say Lord how can I ever forget this. I pursued you to death and you died there for me and the Lord went one step further as I was meditating on that and that is that yeah that's enough thank you. That I have to be like that. Listen to other people who pursue me to death. I pursued Jesus to death and he died for me to save me. He loved me and the Lord says you may have people who pursue you to death. I mean I've had people who pursued me to get me imprisoned for false charges and okay I gotta love them. I mean I can't say I can reach the standard of loving them enough to die for them like Jesus. That's a pretty high standard but at least I can aim. You know if I aim for the stars I may at least reach the top of some mountain. I may not reach the stars but if I don't aim for the stars I'll be on level ground all the time. So in our pursuit of becoming like Jesus I say Lord I see that standard you had where people who pursued you to death you died for them and if somebody is so evil towards me that they pursue me to harm me and trouble me and speak evil of me and hate me I want to love them. Not only just forgive them but love them. They may not want to have fellowship with me so then I can't have fellowship with them. That's another thing but that's what happens when Jesus is the glory in our midst. Our life becomes one of devotion to him and you know like two lovers want to be together and talk to each other. We begin to speak to Jesus like that. Yesterday a song came to my memory which used to sing long ago and I sang it to the Lord. Wonderful wonderful Jesus who can compare with thee. Wonderful wonderful Jesus fairer than all are thou to me. It's wonderful to be able to sing songs like that and you know you're talking to Jesus himself and say Lord you're wonderful. You're fairer than everything to me. Who can compare with you? Fairer than all the fairest. Jesus art thou to me. I want to ask you my brothers and sisters. Do you ever sing to the Lord like that? Do you have a love relationship with the Lord? Can you say like Simon Peter said in the last day Jesus Lord you know all things. You know that I love you. It's not this human cinema type of love. I'm not talking about that. That sounds soulish. I'm talking of something deeper than that spiritual which brings a devotion that leads to obedience. This is worship where you want to talk. There's nobody else there. You're just talking to the Lord alone. I feel that many of you my dear brothers and sisters let me say this lovingly. You do not know the Lord. You do not know Jesus as your personal friend. I want you to know him. Eternal life is to know him and Paul told Timothy lay hold of this eternal life. Don't be satisfied with just coming to the meetings and singing the songs and get a good reputation with everybody. That's all garbage. Devotion to Jesus to get into a personal relationship with the Lord. I feel some of these old old Roman Catholic saints in Old Testament times had that but what they didn't have is fellowship. They lived all by themselves in some monastery but they had one thing. Many of them had a tremendous devotion to Jesus. I mean I've read some of their I still read and say some of their poems of devotion to the Lord. It really challenges me. Like show me thy face O Lord one transient. Transient means one little gleam of loveliness divine and I shall never think or dream of other love save thine. They had a personal devotion to Christ which I fear that so many believers never have. I wanted that. I want it but I also want fellowship. One is the vertical arm of the cross the other is the horizontal. So when Jesus is the glory in our midst these type of things will happen in our life where he becomes everything to us. I want to encourage you my brothers and sisters to develop this inner life with Christ because it is from there the rivers of living water flow. Proverbs says watch your heart with diligence. Proverbs 4 from there are the springs of life and I fear in this age in which we live in our life is becoming more and more of an external life where we're more occupied with doing the externals of Christianity, right doctrine and going to the right church and we don't want dead churches and we don't want all this soulish emotional singing and all we want solid Word of God all that is good but if you don't have a personal individual relationship with Jesus where you know him and where you can talk to him and you can walk to him read Song of Solomon the way they love each other the bride in the bridegroom if you don't have that type of relationship with Jesus Christ something is fundamentally missing in your life whatever reputation you may have in CFC don't care for that I will be the glory in your midst and I hope that will be true in your life and I want to go on to one or two other verses the Lord says one result of that when you have that type of relationship with the Lord Zechariah chapter 2 verse 8 he says if anyone touches you he's touching the apple of my eye I like that that I have the apple of God's eye now that sounds very arrogant if it were not in written in scripture I wouldn't dream of saying anything like that you say brother Zach only you well can be you also if you have faith for it but if you take if you take a false you know some people have a false humility which says oh no no no I'm nobody I'm nothing if you have that false of humility okay that's up to you you won't enjoy it I don't believe in false humility I say the Word of God says something I accept it the Word of God says I'm forgiven I'm forgiven the Word of God says I'm a child of God I'm a child of God there's no pride there I didn't work to become a child of God it was freely given to me and if the Lord says in the same way you're the apple of my eye I say yeah I believe it you know there's only one part of your body one part of your body which pains just by touching it other parts of the body pain when you gets injured but there's one part of your body that gets pain when you touch it that's the apple that's your eye and it's dangerous to touch it you can get blind and the Lord says you are the apple of my eye that means if somebody touches you not harm you just just a little bit how much is a little touch somebody does speaks one word against you one word somebody did one small thing God says he's doing it against me I believe that for myself and I've seen it I've experienced it it's a very privileged position to be in that's the privilege God gives those who will make Jesus the glory of their life not for any Tom Dick and Harry you know the world is full of people who want privilege without responsibility blessing without commitment but people who come to CFC like blessing without commitment privilege without any responsibility it doesn't work like that in the God's kingdom God is very fair and he treats people according to what they have how they are towards him Jesus said father John 1710 all that I have is yours the father said okay all that I have is yours too it's a great relationship Jesus said all that I have is yours father and all that you have is mine that's why I'm against giving 10% to God all these people who say give 10% to God it's like saying father 10% of mine is yours and 10% of yours is mine how many of you want only a tight from God you want God to give you a tight no I want God to give me everything so I say all that I have is yours I don't want to treat anything as mine you can take it away if you like the Lord gave the Lord is taken away and blessed be the name of the Lord if you live with that attitude all through your life you'll be the happiest man on earth so with that type of relationship with Jesus had that's how we are to be then the Lord says the amazing things for example there's a verse in James which says the prayer of a righteous man avails much does that mean that some of our prayers have more power with God than other people stress unfortunately it's true whether you like it or not everybody's prayer does not have equal value before God if you don't believe that read James chapter 5 and verse 17 onwards the prayer of a righteous man has tremendous power before God much more than some other fellow who's playing the fool with sin he also prays but if you wonder why some of your prayers are not answered there's the answer and not just the righteous man the fervent prayer fervent prayer of a righteous man tremendous results which other people's prayers just don't produce the same result is it because God is partial no it's because God is impartial God is impartial if he were partial then he would say everybody's prayers are the same but he's impartial he treats people the way they treat him you know Psalm 18 we read that verse before with the kind you show yourself kind with the crooked you show yourself crooked there's a great verse I showed it to you once maybe you've forgotten it it's in Psalm 18 if you don't know where it is Psalm 18 verse 25 with the kind you show yourself kind with the blameless you show yourself blameless verse 26 with the pure you show yourself pure and with the crooked you will show yourself as astute that means you can't try to be crooked with God if you try to play games with God you'll find that he's not going to be fooled that's what it means see this is the reason why many people don't have the same type of relationship with God that other believers have because God treats people in the way they respond to him so if you keep Jesus the glory in your midst and say Lord you're the only glory you'll be the apple of God's eye it's a wonderful place to be in okay then I just wanted to do other things let me show you in Zechariah 3 we read about the Lord and Satan now you know in the Old Testament throughout the Old Testament you hardly ever read about Satan after Genesis chapter 3 Genesis chapter 3 you read about Satan and then you read about all through Exodus Deuteronomy Kings and all you never read about Satan who heard Satan hardly ever comes except once it says Satan tempted David to do something wrong but here speaks about Satan where Satan is coming as an accuser this is again New Covenant stuff Zechariah and Haggai are sort of preparing the way for the New Covenant and Satan comes to accuse because verse 1 Zechariah 3 1 the high priest Joshua is a picture of you and me are still our garments are not perfect filthy garments means we have not yet become 100% like Jesus there's still a little bit of dirt in our life and Satan is there to accuse that part then he's not behaving like Christ there agreed the only person whom Satan cannot accuse anything is one who's 100% like Jesus where none of us are like that so there's something Satan can find maybe not conscious sin maybe we have overcome conscious sin but something unconsciously that you did and Satan accuses and immediately the Lord said to Satan the Lord rebuke you Satan I have chosen this person and of course here I am verse 3 standing with filthy garments and the Lord says to them take away those filthy garments and put on him verse 4 the righteousness of Christ great that's wonderful Lord I don't condemn myself because in some area I slipped up or I was not exactly like I wanted to be like Christ like maybe something I said or did was not exactly 100% Christ like and I immediately confess what Satan's accusation is immediately stopped by the Lord himself he's the accuser of the brethren but the Lord shuts him up and clothes me immediately rule the filthy garments I'm cleansed and put new that's the righteousness of Christ on him and here's the best part of it I like this and Zachariah you know Zachariah is a very young man you read that in chapter 2 verse 4 the Lord said speak to that young man Zachariah and this young brother says Lord put a turban on Joshua's head also in other words Zachariah is taking the side of Jesus not accusing Joshua but but making him glorious is it two ministries I see in Zachariah chapter 3 it's it's new covenant it's a real new covenant here are two people Joshua and Zachariah picture this in your mind Joshua and Zachariah and Joshua's got some something wrong in his life like you see something wrong in a brother in the church okay good there are things wrong in all of us and if you live close enough to me you'll see things wrong in me too and Zachariah sees that and he sees Satan accusing Joshua and immediately the Lord rebuking Satan and removing the filthy garments and clothing him with a beautiful garment and Zachariah says not that that's not Lord put a glorious turban on his head as well verse 5 and they obeyed Zachariah angels obeyed Zachariah put a clean turban on his head I say Lord I want to be like that to make my brother glorious it's a great ministry he's got some problem with him but he's sincere he slipped up maybe but he's basically committed to the Lord he's not a half-hearted person living for himself he's basically committed to the Lord and so I see the Lord clothes him like that and accuses Satan I don't want to take Satan's side and say yeah Lord I think there's a little bit of a defect in him I agree with Satan are you like that you screw up your eyes to see something carefully you take out your microscope and see something in that person you say yeah Lord I think I agree with Satan there's some little defect in that brother I'm not saying that we should be deceived I'm not saying that we should call a carnal person wholehearted no no no let's get a balance here Paul did not look at the Corinthian Christians and say oh you guys are all so spiritual that's a lie that's like calling a dirty wall oh this is a clean wall that's not a type of stupidity that God wants us to have it's dirty it's dirty but what I mean is you want to clean it that's the point not that you call a clean wall dirty not that you call a dirty wall clean but you want to clean it so Paul told the Corinthians your carnal your babies but I want to make you spiritual that's the thing so here Zacharias attitude is so new covenant is like you know there are two ministries going on it says Satan is accusing the believers day and night and Jesus is interceding for them day and night you remember that in Revelation 12 10 Satan accuses believers day and night and Hebrews 7 25 says Jesus is praying for them day and night the two ministries going on day and night 24 hours Satan accusing Jesus praying Satan accusing you that's what you see here it's a picture of new covenant Satan accusing and Jesus interceding and the example for us is Zachariah who takes Jesus side so yeah I want to make my brother glorious let me explain again say repeat again not being unrealistic not shutting our eyes and saying oh he's a spiritual man no where is the carnal he's carnal but I if he's related to me and he's willing to relate to me as a brother I don't want to leave him carnal I want to love him enough to tell him brother there's a black mark on your face will you wipe it off you don't love a brother enough to tell him there's a black mark on his face what type of love is it sometimes we no no no we don't say anything that's because you don't love him if you love them you'll see there's something wrong a doctor who loves his patients will tell the patient I'm sorry to say I love you man this was cancer he got cancer that's he doesn't hate him when he says that but he wants to help him to get rid of it so that is the type of love that God wants us to see and let me just say one more thing before I close when you think of this ministry how shall we accomplish it here's the answer Zechariah 4 first of all you see two people in Zechariah 4 you see verse 3 there's a lamp a lamp stand verse 2 and lamps are burning and how are these lamps burning Zechariah 4 to with two trees verse 3 supplying the oil into the lamps all the time those two trees are a picture of two people here Haggai in Zechariah today you and another brother you and another sister pouring the oil so that the church keeps burning like a light it's a beautiful picture not one tree the Old Testament is one tree yet it is the church the church is a lampstand you read in Revelation 1 the church is a lampstand seven lampstand Jesus stood in the midst here is a lampstand but it needs oil and the oil is supplied by two faithful brothers who are pouring that oil in sacrificially pouring their oil and can't you be a brother like that to pour your life into the church so that the church burns and the Lord explains that saying this ministry verse 6 is going to be done not by might nor by power but by my Holy Spirit says the Lord so when you think of all that you heard till now about devotion to Jesus and making him the glory in our midst and being free from fear with the Lord as a wall of fire round about us and always interceding rather than accusing you say how in the world can I do it Lord not by your strength and might forget it seek me for the power of the Holy Spirit that's the answer it'll be done by my spirit and then in front of you were seven even if there is a mountain which you think how will I ever overcome this problem that mountain will be flattened by what by grace a word which is almost never found in the Old Testament prophets the Old Testament prophets never spoke about grace Zechariah speaks about it grace grace the power of the Holy Spirit brings that mountain down so let's conclude with that hope that we have in faith that whatever mountain you see there is in your life after what you heard this morning that the power of the Holy Spirit by the grace of God would make that mountain flat and you think of some mountain in your life but standing in front of you and saying Lord I got this bad habit it never seems to go from me and or like you heard earlier about the way you brought up your children or some mountain something that's horrible standing in front of you some bad habit that you you young people have which you're not able to get rid of some anger some pornography something the part of the Holy Spirit not by your power not by my your might but by the power of the Holy Spirit that mountain will become flat isn't it wonderful to say yes Lord I'm in it will be so your life do you agree with me let's pray I'm sure the Lord spoken to your heart but not a word of condemnation what of hope for the least and the lowest and the weakest person here there's hope not by power not by mind but by my spirit says the Lord that mountain in front of you will become flat say yes Lord it'll be so it will be so I see this mountain in front of me it'll be flat in Jesus name by the power of the Holy Spirit not just empty repeating of Jesus name but through the power of the Holy Spirit Lord Jesus you're the head of the church you came here to build the church you brought all these people here who've taken the trouble to come here this morning they could have sat at home watching television but they've taken the trouble to come here don't let them go away without a word from you straight to their heart that'll change the direction of their life the whole of this year thank you father it will be so I want to trust you I want to trust you Lord do a work in everybody's life pray in Jesus name ======================================================================== Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/dEuaXKwIens.mp4 Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/zac-poonen/jesus-should-be-the-glory-in-our-lives/ ========================================================================