======================================================================== STEP BY STEP TO PERFECTION by Zac Poonen ======================================================================== Summary: This sermon emphasizes the journey of pressing on to perfection in the Christian life, highlighting the need to move beyond the basics of faith and continuously grow spiritually. It discusses the importance of spiritual growth, acknowledging that becoming like Christ is a gradual process that requires humility, honesty, and a willingness to learn from mistakes. The speaker encourages listeners to prioritize spiritual health and education, choosing environments that challenge them to pursue perfection in Christ. Duration: 43:09 Topics: "Spiritual Growth", "Pursuing Perfection in Christ" Scripture References: Hebrews 6:1, Proverbs 4:18, Matthew 28:20, 1 John 3:2, Philippians 3:12, Luke 16:15, John 6:38, James 1:22, Matthew 25:40, 1 John 1:9 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This sermon emphasizes the journey of pressing on to perfection in the Christian life, highlighting the need to move beyond the basics of faith and continuously grow spiritually. It discusses the importance of spiritual growth, acknowledging that becoming like Christ is a gradual process that requires humility, honesty, and a willingness to learn from mistakes. The speaker encourages listeners to prioritize spiritual health and education, choosing environments that challenge them to pursue perfection in Christ. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I want to read a verse in Hebrews in chapter 6. Hebrews 6 verse 1. Leaving the elementary teaching of Christ or the word of the beginning of Christ, let us press on to perfection. The entire Christian life is to be a pressing on to perfection. So we must not confuse health with growth. A little baby can be 100% healthy, yet, but it is immature. It does not understand much. Growth comes slowly. We can have a healthy tongue, but yet we may not have grown spiritually. It takes time. The entire Christian life is birth to perfection. Let's turn to Proverbs chapter 4. Proverbs chapter 4 verse 18. I told you that Proverbs is one of those books which has got a lot of new covenant truths in it in the Old Testament. It's one of the closest to new covenant truths. For example, it speaks a lot about the use of the tongue in Proverbs. Sometimes you take time to read Proverbs. I read Proverbs many times. I find it's a very profitable book to read, especially young people. I would encourage every young person to read. There are people who say read one chapter a day in one month. You cover Proverbs and read it again and again. Proverbs 4.18. The path of the righteous. Who is the righteous? The righteous person is the person who is born again. The person who has received Christ into his life, declared righteous by God. He does not suddenly become perfect. Very important to understand that. It's a path. It's a way. Jesus said there's a narrow gate and a narrow way that leads to life. It's not just the gate. And because so many people emphasize the gate, we try to emphasize the way. Not that we ignore the gate. But if everybody's talking about the gate, let's talk about the way. There's a narrow gate and a narrow way that leads to life. I've often pictured my own ministry like this. Jesus said go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creature. He also said make disciples. And Matthew 28. Teach those disciples to do every single thing that I commanded. Matthew 28 verse 20. And I'll be with you always. I've taken that promise very strongly to myself. I have been called, according to Matthew 28 verse 20, to teach disciples every single thing that Jesus commanded. And if I do that, Jesus says he'll be with me always. He'll always be with my tongue to speak if I am determined to do what's commanded in that verse. Not me. You as well. But how many Christians are there who believe that we must do everything Jesus commanded? And Jesus commanded some very strong things like we read earlier in this session. He talked about overcoming telling lies and overcoming anger and so many things. But it's a path. And the path of the righteous person, Proverbs 4.18, is like the light of dawn, like sunrise that makes the day brighter, brighter, brighter, brighter, brighter until the sun comes to the noonday position that is the full day. So being born again is like sunrise. Do you become perfect overnight? No. The full day is when Christ comes back. And when Christ comes back to earth, we read in 1 John chapter 3 verse 3, verse 2 rather, we will become like him when he comes back. What does it mean to be perfect? To be perfect means to become completely like Christ. That is God's goal for us. But that will not happen till he comes again. But that does not mean we should be at the sunrise position all our life. No. It's a path. The path of the righteous begins with sunrise and becomes brighter, brighter, brighter, brighter, brighter until we become like Christ completely one day. So many people confuse. I'm born again. That's it. No, that's not it. From there we have to press on to perfection as you read in Hebrews 6.1. Let us not just stay there all the time. Let's not just be babies all the time. I mean, many of us have got babies. Do you want your baby to remain a baby all the time? You want your baby to be healthy, but is that enough? Oh, my baby is healthy. My baby is healthy. It's not growing, but it's healthy. You're not happy with that. It must be healthy and it must grow. So to be healthy is to be free from conscious sin. That means the sin I'm aware of, I confess and ask the Lord to forgive me and cleanse me. And if I keep doing that, I will gradually press on to perfection, become a little more like Christ year by year by year by year till one day I become like Him. Turn with me to 1 John chapter 3 and verse 2. Beloved 1 John 1 John chapter 3 verse 2. We are children of God. We are born again. We become children of God. But it has not yet appeared what we will be. What we will be is perfect in Christ, exactly like Jesus Christ. And the way I speak, the way I think, the way I look at people, the way my attitude to everything in the world is exactly like Christ. That is when He comes again. But how do I get there? Is it just by waiting, saying one day He'll do it? No. We will be like Him when He appears, it says here. We know that when He appears, we'll be like Him. But until then, what shall I do? What did we read in Proverbs 4.18? Like the sun rises in the sky, more and more perfect, it says in verse 3. If you really have this hope of Christ coming in fixed on you, you will keep on purifying yourself. To which standard of purity? To His standard of purity. It's an amazing verse. The mark of a true disciple of Jesus. It's not that He's become like Christ. No. Paul said at the end of his life, he said, I'm not perfect. And I'll tell you another thing that I've discovered in 60 years of being a Christian, and in the last 44 years of being a more serious, wholehearted Christian, that the more, the closer you come to God, the more you grow in the Christian life, you know what? The more filth you see in yourself. Not the type of filth you think of in the early days of anger and sexual lust and bitterness and murmuring, all that is gone. But, you know, very subtle things, like an inner judgment of somebody which you should not have judged. Mostly inner things, wrong attitudes, wrong motives. It's the finer things of the Christian life which you become more and more sensitive to. And you repent of that. And like that, you press on to perfection. So, that's like we sang in that song just now, Lord help me judge myself each day. If I do that, I press on to perfection. So, we can picture it like this. Our flesh is like a big black circle. In the midst of that, one day I'm born again. Christ comes in. Really born again. A little white circle. Think of a, if I were to draw a diagram here of a big black circle, the unconverted person. And in the midst of that circle, Christ comes in and he's born again and one little white circle has come in, into the middle of that black. The rest of the circle is still black. But this person is a wholehearted Christian. And he wants to become like Christ. He knows that will take a lifetime. And so, God allows him to be tempted. It's through overcoming temptation that we become like Christ. And so, even Jesus was tempted. So, we are tempted. And if you look around this white circle and the edges of that white circle, a battle is going on. Think of a little wavy line on the edge of that circle. Battle, battle, battle. I'm battling with some particular temptations. And over a period of time, I overcome them. The circle, white circle becomes a little bigger. And then around the rim of that circle, again another battle is going on with some new temptations. And I battle, battle, battle, battle over a period of time. I overcome them. The white circle becomes a little bigger. I become a little more like Christ. It's still a way distance to become totally like him. But God allows me to be tempted area by area by area. And gradually, like it says here, I purify myself just as he is pure. It's my responsibility. I can't say, Lord Jesus, make me pure. It says he purifies himself. You remember Jesus said, take my yoke upon you and learn from me. That is spiritual growth. So, it's a picture of, Jesus used pictures that everybody can understand. For example, he spoke about the vine and the branches. And when he spoke about take my yoke upon you, it is a very common picture that everybody in Israel could see. All farmers would have two bullocks, two oxen with a yoke upon them plowing a furrow together. It's never one oxen alone, always two. I mean, those in the villages of India see that regularly. Two oxen with a yoke on top of them. And think if now one oxen has died and now this senior experienced ox has to teach a new ox how to plow a straight furrow in the field. And that's a picture of Jesus teaching me how to overcome sin. And so he says, take my yoke upon you. He's the senior ox and I'm the junior one. And I tend to slow down. I tend to go wayward. And he says, no, no, no. Stay under the yoke. Keep pace with me. Don't rush ahead. Don't lag behind. Don't wander off here and there. Submit to my yoke. Look at me. See how I do it. And you'll do it. That is what Jesus meant when he said, take my yoke upon you and learn from me. Learn from me, the senior ox. And how to plow a straight furrow. You've been plowing all crooked all your life. Now, little by little, you won't become perfect overnight. But a day will come when you'll be absolutely straight if you learn from me. So the question is not, is your life absolutely straight now? Is it straighter than it was last year? Then you're progressing. Or to use the illustration of an education. That's also used in scripture. Hebrews chapter 5. Pressing on to perfection can be learning to plow a straight furrow or the sun making the day brighter and brighter or like it says in Hebrews and chapter 5. And think of this word, verse 8. It says, Verse 8. Although he was a son, referring to Jesus, he learned obedience from the things he suffered. You say, did the son of God have to learn something here on this earth which he did not know in heaven? The answer is yes. As God, how could he learn obedience? Who knew? Many things God knew in heaven. He knows everything. But there's one thing God could never learn. Obedience. Angels could learn obedience. Man could learn obedience. But God? He doesn't obey anybody. He had to come to earth and become a man and then learn to obey his father. Then learn to keep the commandments. And where did he learn it? In the school of temptation. Temptation is where you learn obedience. And when you are tempted, you discover whether you have learned to obey or not. It's like when a student is studying in a school and then finally at the end of the year the teacher gives an examination. Then you discover whether the student has learned anything or not. Examination time tests what you learned in the year. In the same way, temptation tests whether we are growing. So for example a student in first grade. First grade student doing mathematics does not know trigonometry and algebra and calculus and all. It doesn't know anything. It knows addition, subtraction. Maybe it doesn't even know division. Maybe that's in grade two. I don't remember now. But it was something like that. But you start with addition and subtraction. And then how does a student learn addition and subtraction? By making mistakes. 2 plus 2 is 4. But what is 2 plus 24? Oh, I got to work out that. Make mistakes. Finally you learn. 2 plus 24 is 26. So student learns through mistakes. But finally at the end of the year the student gets 100% in mathematics. Does that mean he's understood everything in mathematics? No. But at his level he got 100%. What? Addition and subtraction. That's all. You give him a division sum, he gets zero. He doesn't know how to do it. This is growth. Year by year by year pressing on to perfection. And it says here Jesus also from the time he was a little child, he was tempted in all points as we are. We read that in Hebrews 4.15, the previous page. He was tempted in everything as we are, exactly like us. And in that temptation was the way he was tested. And he learned obedience. As God in heaven, he could not be tempted. He could not learn obedience. But here it says he learned obedience by suffering. What does that suffering mean? Not physical suffering. That is he had only for the last 24 hours of his life. I never read that in all those 33 and a half years anybody beat him or whipped him or hammered him. No. He never experienced any physical whipping or beating for 33 and a half years. But in the last 24 hours of his life he suffered a lot physically. But this is not that. This is the other suffering where when your temptation, your flesh temptation tells you to do what you want to do and God says don't do that. Do what I want you to do. And the Bible says in John 6.38, Jesus said I came from heaven never to do my own will but the will of my Father. So Jesus had something in him, not sin. He had no sin in him. But he had something called my will. And he denied it. You see in the Garden of Gethsemane how he struggled. But he said no I will never do my will. I will never do my will. I will do the Father's will. That is overcoming temptation. In a situation where you know what God wants you to do. In a provocation when somebody provokes you. You know how God wants you to react. Now it is a choice. Would you react like that? Or will you please yourself for example. If somebody yells at me and calls me bad names and does all types of things. My flesh, my natural flesh tends to okay let me relieve myself by giving him a piece of my mind. Telling him what I think of him. But if I say no, I have to suffer. I have to suffer by putting my natural desire to tell him what I think of him to death. That is the suffering spoken of here. I want to do something. God wants me to do something else. I put my flesh to death. That is a suffering. It is an inward suffering that Jesus went through all through his life. It is called suffering in the flesh. Inwardly. Because of that he never sinned. That is what it means when it says he learned obedience. And like that at the end of his life when he cried out on the cross, it is finished. What was finished? First of all our sins were finished. There are many things that were finished. My old man was finished. The devil's power was finished. But one more thing was finished. Every temptation had been overcome in those 33 and a half years. Every temptation that any human being can ever face was overcome in 33 and a half years. It was finished. That means he graduated from the school of obedience. And that is what it says in the next verse. Having been made perfect means he completed his education. So if I were to paraphrase verse 8 and 9, it is like this. When he was God, there is one thing he could not learn. That is obedience. He could not be tempted. Then he cannot be an example for us. If he came here as God, he would be no example for me. He could not say follow me. I would say I can't follow you. It is like an angel coming from heaven with his wings and flying across a swimming pool and say follow me. I would say I can't follow you. Get rid of your wings first. Teach me how to swim. And if Jesus had come as God, he could not have been an example for me. He was God but he took the form of a man who could be tempted to do his own will but he never did it. Always obeyed. And thus he can say, okay, I have come here as a man now. I am tempted like you. But I deny myself. Follow me. Take up the cross. Die to yourself. Follow me. And if you do that, year by year, you will become more and more perfect like Christ. You will be like going from 1st grade to 2nd grade, 2nd grade to 3rd grade. That is what we need to examine ourselves. Now the half-hearted, worldly, carnal Christian never bothers about that. He only thinks I am born again. It is like I entered school. Good. You entered school. But you have been sitting in the kindergarten for 25 years. How many of you would like your children to sit in your kindergarten even for 2 years? Leave alone 25 years. Do you know the number of Christians who are sitting in the kindergarten for year after year after 40 years, they are sitting in the kindergarten. And their boast is I joined school. I am born again. Is that why you send your children to school? Is that why God puts us in the school of temptation? I want to ask you, my brothers and sisters, how far have you progressed in the school of obedience? It says here that Jesus became perfect and let me paraphrase, that means he completed his education, verse 9, and now, here is the paraphrase, now he has become a professor in the same school, he has become a teacher in the same school to teach obedience to others who enter the school so that they can get eternal salvation. That is verse 9. So Jesus is there now as our teacher and he is a teacher because he has gone through the whole thing himself. He can teach us all the way from kindergarten to the highest class because he covered it all. He said it is finished. I have completed my education. And so it is a wonderful, this is the pressing on to perfection. So what does a child do? If he is studying mathematics and makes a mistake in a problem, the teacher doesn't say, okay, you have failed. No, we learn by making a mistake. Here is the correct way to do it and learns correct and the final examination, that student still gets a hundred percent. But he learns through making mistakes and that is exactly how we learn too. As we seek to progress in the Christian life, we slip and fall and we confess our sin and ask the Lord to forgive us. Now, if you argue with the teacher saying, no, no, that is not a mistake, then you will remain in the kindergarten forever. But if you are listening to the Holy Spirit when he says what you did was wrong and you listen to the teacher and say, I am sorry Lord, please forgive me, he will cleanse you from all your sin. So I told you that James was the first book of the New Testament to be written 15 years after Pentecost. The letter of John, the first letter of John was probably the last letter written, which is about 65 years after the day of Pentecost. Many people feel one John was the last book written, we don't know, perhaps even after Revelation. Anyway, it was around the same time, one John, two John, third John and Revelation. So what does John say? Now people have read the book of James, like you heard a little bit about this this morning, and it's very easy to get discouraged when you read James. Oh, if I can't control my tongue, my Christianity is worth zero, where am I? And then John writes his letter saying, but one John 1.9, if we confess our sins, there's hope for you. He's faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So when people got discouraged reading the book of James, they come to John and say, hey, there's hope for me. Okay, I slipped up with my tongue, but I'm not lost, I'm born again, I'm pressing on, I haven't finished my education yet. I confess it. That means to confess is to say the same thing that God says. That's what confession is. God says that was not the right way to speak, like he told Moses. Moses should have said, Yes, Lord, I'm sorry. It's not the way I should speak. And when God tells you in some situation, that is not the right way to speak to your wife. That's not the right way to speak to your husband. Or that's not the right way to speak to your child. That's not the right way to speak in your office. You agree with God, you can be saved. Lord, I agree with you. That is, then I confess my sin. Or you can argue with God. A lot of Christians do. No, no, no. I'm right in what I said. You're arguing with your own conscience. You can convince that other guy, I was right in what I said. You're wrong. What have you gained by convincing him? Your conscience is still shouting at you. You're wrong. You're wrong. You're wrong. Listen to that voice of conscience. Don't try to justify yourself before people and say, I was right. You will never grow spiritually. Jesus told the Pharisees, this was one of their sins. In Luke chapter 16, Luke 16 and verse 15, Jesus told the Pharisees, you people justify yourselves before men. You want to prove to men that you never did anything wrong. That's the way to damnation. That's why you'll remain a brood of vipers till the end of your life. You want some, you discover something was wrong, but you will not admit it. No, no, no. I'm right. You see, particularly if you have built up a little reputation in a church that people think you're a little spiritual or you're a little holy, then it becomes very difficult to admit that you were wrong. That's when your test gets tested. We must always be willing to be absolutely honest. What does it mean to walk in the light? The Bible says the blood of Jesus will cleanse me only if I walk in the light. To walk in the light means just to be honest. And I've seen through my life that sometimes the newborn born again believers are more willing to be honest than some people who've been believers for 20, 30 years. Those believers who've been believers for 20, 30 years are sometimes very difficult for them to admit that they were wrong somewhere. I've seen that. It's pathetic when I see it. I've seen that in CFC churches. People are not willing to admit that they were wrong. But a newborn believer, he immediately says, yeah, I'm wrong. It's like, and then you see, I've seen those other believers. They never grow. I've seen with my own eyes. Believers come up to a certain point and then they get a reputation in the church as holy people. Oh, that's a holy sister. That's a holy brother who's very, very spiritual. They're not like these other carnal ones in the same church. And that holy brother sister becomes so proud. I've seen that with my own eyes. But he doesn't see it himself. Or she doesn't see it herself. You know why? Because they're not broken. They're not humble. They don't listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit. They don't acknowledge I've not yet become like Christ. There are a million areas in my life where I have to become like Christ. Let me humble myself and say I was wrong. They don't have the grace to do that. And I've seen people stagnate, you know, like a stagnant pool. There's water there. But it's a stagnant pool, filth, muck, mosquitoes, insects, rubbish, all types of things, frogs and other things growing there and stinking. A stagnant pool. That's how many Christians are. But a Christian's life should be like rivers. A river is always fresh water. And I tell you this, my brothers and sisters, please take me seriously. There's only one way to remain like a fresh river. And that is if you're determined to press on to perfection. If you keep saying to yourself, I'm not perfect yet. I will be perfect only when Christ comes. But one thing I do, I'll press on to perfection. And I will never, like Jesus said, justify myself before men. The moment I justify myself before men, I'm a Pharisee. Let me take an example. A husband and wife come into a little conflict and immediately one of them says, no, I'm right. What I'm doing right. You're wrong. The way to Phariseeism has started right there. And they don't see it. They claim to be born again Christians. You know, very often I have spoken on this matter. When a husband and wife have a tension between them, who should take the first step to restore that relationship? Very important. In the villages in India, the standard rule is always the wife. Because the husband is the king. He's forever the king. He's never wrong. And in heathen cultures, that is the way. The husband is never wrong. So even if the husband slaps the wife, the wife has to apologize for some stupid thing she did. That is heathenism. But what is the Christian answer? If a husband and wife have a conflict, who should take the first step to restore that relationship as soon as possible? I'll tell you. Let's take an example. Let's go to the dictionary. What is the dictionary? The life of God. God had a problem with man. Who took the first step? Who? God. Why did God take the first step? Because he was more spiritual. So if a husband and wife have a conflict, who should take the first step? The one who is more spiritual. And since both people think they are spiritual, they should be just running into each other's arms. Why isn't it like that? Because they are conceited. They think the spiritual one is the one who will not apologize. Wrong. The spiritual one is the one who apologizes first. Who is quick to acknowledge. He's more sensitive to sin. Spirituality means more sensitive to sin. When you become hardened to sin, you don't feel it. See, try it. If you put a pin to your cheek, you feel it. You put a pin to the sole of your feet, you don't feel it. Why is it? Because the sole of your feet is so hard. So the more sensitive you are to sin, you feel it immediately. The mark of walking in the light is you're very quick to sense that you have sinned. If the sense of having sinned is gradually disappearing in your life, I want to say you're a backslider. Even if everybody thinks in the church that you're a wonderful Christian, you're just fooling yourself. And one day when Christ comes again, you'll get the shock of your life. You'll get the shock of your life. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. She who has ears to hear, let her hear. And everybody thought you were so spiritual and Jesus exposes you for the proud person you were and the people who suffered because of you. You could have been a blessing to so many people, but you were not because of pride. God gives his grace to the humble. So I want to encourage you, my brothers and sisters, always be willing to consider the possibility that you were wrong and be quick to set it right, quick to confess to God, say, Lord, I was wrong. I'm sorry. Forgive me. I'll give you one example. It's an example I use often. Sometimes we don't realize where we've done something wrong. I was thinking of a young brother who years ago came to our CFC church in Bangalore. Fine young brother. We were very close to him and we encouraged him and helped him. He used to sleep in our home because he was young and it was too late for him to go back home. He'd sleep there and I would even lend him my clothes. He'd get up in the morning and go to the kitchen, make coffee himself and go to college. And we helped him so much. Then he grew up and he got a good job and he went to another town. And we never heard from him for years. And I thought, what an ungrateful guy that is. After all that we did for him, so many years we helped him. He doesn't even bother to write us a letter telling us how things are going on. And when I thought like that, just thought, I never said it to anybody. The Lord said, you are sinning. I said, me Lord? What did I do? We helped him so much. Where is my sin? And the Lord explained to me where my sin was and I got light that day. It's like I got a promotion to a higher class. I learned something new. And that was, the Lord said, when you did good to that person, you did it as unto him. You should have done it as unto me. Because you know, Jesus said, if you do it to the least of these, my brothers, you've done it unto me. You remember that word in Matthew 25. So the Lord showed me that when I served that person, even if I served him for years in my house, I was not serving him. I was serving the Lord. Because this is one of the least of his brothers. And I did it as it was unto the Lord. And the Lord said, if you want thanks, expect it from me, not from him. I learned something that day. I must never expect thanks from people I serve. Because I'm not serving them. I'm serving the Lord. If you've done it to the least of these, my brothers, you've done it unto me. I thank God for the light I got on that. But it took me many years to get that light. Because I have to grow to go to fourth grade, fifth grade. I can't learn in the kindergarten what I learned only in the fifth grade. That's why it took me time to learn it. But there are some people, even after 25 years, they don't learn it. Because they have no passion to press on to perfection. They have a great desire that their children must get a good education and go higher and higher and higher. But they themselves don't seem to have much of a desire to press on to perfection in their Christian life. I thank God that God gave me that desire. I can't even take credit for it. But I see in the life of the Apostle Paul, towards the end of his life, Paul says in Philippians 3, he says, brethren, verse 12, I am not perfect. He's absolutely honest. I'm not perfect. I'm not attained. What does he mean, I'm not obtained? I have not become like Christ. That's my goal. I've not obtained it yet. I'm not perfect. But I do one thing. I've not graduated completely from high school. But I'm pressing on. Because one day I lay hold of that for which Christ laid hold of me. Why did Christ lay hold of me? Not to make me a preacher. No, I don't believe that. Christ laid hold of me to make me like himself. And that's where all of us are equal. If I say Christ laid hold of me to make me a preacher, you can't be a preacher because he didn't call you to be a preacher. Preaching is a gift. God gives it to very, very few people. A lot of people try to preach, but very few people have the gift to preach. And if you don't have the gift, you can't do it. I might as well tell you like that. It's like you're trying to go into heart surgery when you've never studied medicine. You'll kill people. And a lot of people will do that when they preach. But if God gifts you, then you can do it. But that's not our calling. Our calling is not to become preachers. Our calling is to become like Christ. And when Paul says I've not become perfect, he says I've not become like Christ. But I press on. And he says further, there is only one thing I do, verse 13. What is that? Forgetting the classes I've already passed in and thinking of the classes I still have to pass in. I want to complete my education. I want to be an overcomer in new, new areas. So as I was saying, here's this big black circle. We're all there when we are unconverted. We are born again. A little white circle comes in. And little by little, we overcome, overcome, overcome. The circle should become bigger and bigger and bigger. And dear brother, sister, in your family life, your relationship with your wife and husband should be more and more heavenly as each year goes by. More and more perfect, not still perfect, completely perfect yet, but better than last year. Your wife should be able to say to you, darling, you're more Christ-like than you were last year. And your husband should be able to say that to you. You're more Christ-like than you were last year. You're not perfect. And I tell you, husband and wife see very clearly that each of them is not perfect, each other. But this is the wonderful thing in the Christian life, to press on to perfection. I want to say one last thing. Some people say, Brother Zach, you preach a high standard. You discourage people. Some people go away from this church, go to some other church. OK, let me ask you a question. Supposing somebody is sick in your house, and you want to take them to a hospital. Will you say, oh, that hospital is too hygienic. We don't want to go to such a hygienic hospital. Let's go to a hospital where there's a little bit of dirt in it, which is not so hygienic. Will you decide that? No. Why do you want to go to the most hygienic hospital? Because you hate germs. Why do you want to go to a church which preaches a lower standard? Tell me. Something wrong with you. Isn't spiritual health more important than physical health? Or let's take the example of a school. You want to say, oh, I won't send my child to that school, because they teach people so well. All the children get good marks. No, no, no, I don't want them to go there. Let me send to another school where everybody's failing. Maybe my child will come first in the class, because all the others get 10%, 15%. My child get 25% and come first in the class. Is that the type of school you select for your kid? That's exactly what many Christians do. They go to some church where everybody's getting 0 or 1 or 2% and they feel very proud. I'm quite spiritual here. Are you crazy or what? Why is it we don't have the same philosophy when it comes to education and health? I'll tell you why. Because we value education. We value health. But most Christians don't value spirituality. I've decided in my life long ago to be spiritual is a million times more important to me than being healthy or being educated. The same for my children. I want my children not just to get an education on earth. I want them to be spiritually minded and wholehearted. And I decided that not after they were grown up. I decided that when they were one year old, when I began to teach them not to tell lies, to honor their father and mother, to be obedient, to be respectful to people. And as they grew up to be faithful with money, to respect the opposite sex. Who's going to teach them all that? They don't come out of the womb learning all that. The parents have to teach them. Do you want it? Do you want perfection in your life, in your family? It's available. I would say to you, go to the church that preaches perfection. Wherever you find it. And don't ever leave it. That's the thing you will not regret it in the day of judgment. Because you will find in that day what the Lord has for you. Because you pressed on to perfection. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we pray that we'll be gripped by these truths that can change our lives and give us an abundant entrance into your kingdom one day. And we can see you one day face to face when you will turn around and say to us, well done, good and faithful servant. That's what we long for. Help us each one. In Jesus name. Amen. ======================================================================== Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/S_JxVCRvbIE.mp4 Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/zac-poonen/step-by-step-to-perfection/ ========================================================================