======================================================================== THE SPIRIT OF ACCUSATION AND THE SPIRIT OF FORGIVENESS by Zac Poonen ======================================================================== Summary: This sermon emphasizes the importance of forgiveness, highlighting how forgiving others is like producing pearls of divine nature within us. It stresses the need to forgive those who have caused us pain, comparing it to the process of an oyster forming a pearl. The message underscores the significance of forgiveness as a gateway into God's kingdom, referencing Revelation 21:21 where each gate is described as a single pearl. Topics: "Forgiveness", "Divine Nature" Scripture References: Revelation 21:21, Matthew 6:14, Psalms 18:25, Romans 12:19, 2 Timothy 4:14, Matthew 5:48, Luke 6:36, James 4:7, 1 John 1:9 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This sermon emphasizes the importance of forgiveness, highlighting how forgiving others is like producing pearls of divine nature within us. It stresses the need to forgive those who have caused us pain, comparing it to the process of an oyster forming a pearl. The message underscores the significance of forgiveness as a gateway into God's kingdom, referencing Revelation 21:21 where each gate is described as a single pearl. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Well, dear brothers and sisters, I consider it an honor and a privilege to be able to speak to you again. And those are words that many preachers say, but I mean it from my heart. First of all, I consider it a great honor that God called me to serve him. That was 57 years ago. And it's a great honor that God's given me to preach God's word. And to anoint me with the Holy Spirit with the gift of teaching. And I feel greatly honored that so many of you, hundreds and thousands of brothers and sisters, will sit and listen to me for so many years. I think of all the conferences I've gone to in Tamil Nadu right from 1983. That's going on to be 40 years soon. And it's an honor that people keep on listening. I don't take this for granted. And the other thing is, if you've heard me, I don't preach anything new. I'm preaching the same thing I've preached for 40 years. I'm preaching the same thing I have preached for 40 years. That the new covenant is better than the old covenant. That we can not only be forgiven of our sin, but saved from our sin. And that we must love one another. And that we must bring up our children in godly ways. And that we must be patient as husbands and wives with each other. And we must forgive everybody who hurt us. And ask forgiveness from everyone whom we have hurt. And that we must try our best not to be in debt. And we must be faithful with money. Never cheat anybody. These are the things I've spoken for many years. And that we must always humble ourselves and live in low thoughts about ourselves. And that we must always humble ourselves and live in low thoughts about ourselves. We follow you and I, the followers of the saviour, who washed his disciples' dirty feet. And Jesus said, what I do, you do. Whatever I have done, you must also do for one another. So when you see something dirty in somebody, spiritually or in sin, try your best to wash it out. That is our calling. Not to criticize them. Not to go around talking to other people that brother's feet are dirty. Let the pharisees and the accusers do that. Satan is the great accuser we read in Revelation 12. Let's turn to that verse. Revelation chapter 12. And verse 10. Here it speaks of a future day when Satan will be cast down from heaven to this earth. We read that Paul was caught up to the third heaven, which is paradise. That teaches us there are three heavens. One is what the psalmist says, when I behold the heavens, which is the sun, moon and stars. That is the first heaven. The third heaven is where God dwells. In between these two is the second heaven. And you know who lives there? Satan and his demons. They are not in hell. One day we read in Revelation 20, they will be cast into the lake of fire. But today they are in what Ephesians 6 calls the heavenlies. That is the second heaven. From there the demons come here to oppress. And especially God's people. But we must know definitely that this Satan and all his demons were defeated on the cross. That's why the Bible says in James 4, submit to God and resist the devil. We read in James 4, submit to God and resist the devil. First, if you have not submitted to God, do not try to resist the devil. But here is a promise. If you submit to God and resist the devil, the devil will flee from you. This is a wonderful promise. But the devil will run away from you if you resist him. Never doubt it. James 4, 7. Keep it in mind always, James 4, 7. Submit to God, resist the devil, he will definitely run away from you. When somebody runs away from you, it is because he is afraid of you. But don't think the devil is running after you. No, if you live in sin, he will come after you. But if you have confessed your sins and turned away from them, in Jesus' name, you can resist the devil. If the devil is creating a problem in your home, just go to some corner and resist the devil in Jesus' name. You can do that alone. If there are two people agreed on that, even better. But if one person alone can also resist the devil. So here is one area where you got to resist the devil. Revelation 12, verse 10. One day he will be cast down from the second heaven to the earth. We read that in verse 9. And in verse 10, there is a title given to Satan which is not found anywhere else. Jesus called Satan in John chapter 8 a murderer and a liar. Jesus called Satan in John chapter 8 a murderer and a liar. He is a thief who comes to steal, kill and destroy. But here he is called the accuser of the brothers. In verse 9, he is called the deceiver of the world. In verse 9, he is called the deceiver of the world. So here two names are given to him. One is the deceiver of the world. The other is the accuser of the brothers. So he is trying to deceive us. Believers and unbelievers. But if you follow the word of God, he cannot deceive you. And if you live with a clear conscience. But accusing the brothers. That is one area where he tries to get believers to hold hands with him. It says here he accuses the brothers, verse 10, day and night. It says here he accuses the brothers, verse 10, day and night. What is accusing? Telling something against somebody. Most of the accusations in the world are false accusations. Even believers sometimes they hear something and go and accuse somebody falsely. They don't verify it. Without verifying, they go and repeat it to somebody else. Then afterwards they discover that it is a wrong accusation. Then you can go to that person and say, I am sorry I said this against you. But that's not enough, you have already told a hundred people about it. Or you may have said two people and told another two people and another two people. Now it has gone to 500 people like that. False accusations spread faster than the gospel. I am sorry to say that. You ask yourself, how many times you have spoken evil about others and how many times you have given the gospel to others. Just think of the last one month or two months. Have you shared anything from God's word with somebody else? Anybody, even for two minutes. Second question, have you spoken evil about somebody in the last two months? And you will discover that we as believers are sometimes speaking more evil than spreading the gospel. The servants of God spread the gospel which means good news. And good news is not only to unbelievers, we spread good news to believers also like we are doing right now. Because the greatest good news believers need to hear is that they can be saved from all their sinful habits. And I thank God that many of you are sharing that gospel with others. And those who cannot do it on their own, sometimes they say, please listen to this YouTube message of brother Zach. That way also you can spread the gospel to others. But we do it so little. But finding fault with somebody you feel has done something wrong. How quick we are to say that. My beloved brothers and sisters. Please stop that habit. From today. Say to the Lord Jesus, Lord I am sorry for doing that so many years. I did not realize I was holding hands with Satan the accuser. I don't want to do that anymore. Will all of you please say that to the Lord. And anytime you accidentally do it, immediately say Lord I am sorry I slipped up, please forgive me. Determined with all your heart, you are not going to hold hands with Satan to accuse anybody. If you find some brother or sister slipping up, go to the elder of your church and tell him confidentially. See the devil is accusing people day and night. And many accusations that believers speak are sometimes false. Sometimes they pass on what they heard, afterwards they discover it was not true. But the devil in this verse is not giving false accusation. Read it. He is accusing them to God. Now the devil can't go to God and say you, this brother in so and so place committed a murder. He can't do it. Because it's not true. So the devil only accuses to God what is true, never anything false. You and me to other people he may accuse what is false. Because we don't know the truth about so many things. But when the devil accuses to God, he knows that God knows everything, he can't tell a lie to God. He can't accuse you saying that this brother stole 10,000 rupees when God knows you didn't do it. God won't listen to it. The devil is not a fool. He knows he cannot tell a lie to God. Why am I saying this? Because sometimes when we speak the truth about some wrong or evil thing another person did, we think it is ok. We think because it is correct and true, we can say it. But that's exactly what the devil also does. He is speaking the truth. So and so believer did this. And that person actually did it. You may also say so and so did it and it is the truth. You are holding hands with Satan. Now you know what Jesus does when he hears about some false accusation, some evil somebody does. What did we read here? Day and night 24 hours the devil is an accuser we read in verse 10. Day and night means 24 hours. Always accusing some believer in the world about something which that believer did which is correct. Some wrong that the believer did. Which is the truth. Now Jesus also does something 24 hours. You read that in Hebrews 7. And verse 25. It says Jesus is always making intercession for God's people. Here also 24 hours day and night. So picture this in your mind. Some brother or sister in some place does something wrong. Maybe accidentally, maybe deliberately. Because believers also sometimes do something deliberately wrong. And the devil sees it. Immediately he goes to God and sees what that believer did over there. And Jesus also sees it. He says yes father I want to pray for that believer who did that over there. Next moment the devil sees some other person some sister over there did something wrong. And the devil says see there one sister did this to God. And Jesus sees it and he says father. That daughter of mine did something wrong. Please forgive her. He ever lives to make intercession for us. And 1 John 2.1. 1 John 2.1. If any little children I'm writing to you that you don't sin. But if anybody sins we have an advocate with the father Jesus Christ who prays for them. The word advocate comes from the court. In English the word is advocate with the father. That means a lawyer who is standing in the court fighting your case. Picture this as a law court. God is on the throne. God is the judge sitting there. You are the accused person standing there. Because you did something wrong. And the devil is there to accuse you sitting on the other side as the accuser. And the other side Jesus is standing as an advocate fighting for us. Never forget this picture I have painted before you now. I wish I could draw a picture of this before your eyes. In a way that you will never forget. A court. God is on the throne as judge. And here I'm standing as the accused with my head bowed down because I made a mistake or sinned. And here on my left side is the accuser the devil. Accusing me. I know what he says is right because I did something wrong. I cannot open my mouth. But then on the right side I see Jesus. He's standing there saying father. And says I shed my blood for that sin. And this child of mine has repented so that sin is forgiven. I wish I could paint that picture before you that you'll never forget it for the rest of your life. Now that doesn't mean that we should just okay we can keep on sinning because Jesus is our advocate always cleansing us. See sin is like a debt. A debt we owe to God. Supposing there's some very kind man who's already given you 10,000 rupees as a gift. And tells you be careful with it because you must be careful with money. But you are careless. And you lose a lot of that money and you get into debt again. And you have to go to him and say can you please give me another 10,000 rupees. And he's a kind man he says okay I'll give it to you but be careful this time. And again you're careless. And so next week you go to him again. I'm sorry I need another 10,000 rupees. I want to ask you. How many of you will keep doing that even to a kind man week after week after week. If you're a believer won't you feel ashamed. That is what we are doing when we go to God again and again and say Lord please forgive me. Take a simple thing like shouting at your wife or shouting at your husband. That is like wasting 10,000 rupees. Do you believe that? I think it's worse than that. Do you feel convicted that you have wasted the gift of speaking that God gave you. You could have been born dumb like so many children. But you were not born dumb. He gave you a tongue. That's 10,000 rupees. And when you speak evil and shout at somebody you're wasting it. Say Lord forgive me. And the Lord forgives you. And tomorrow you do it again. Your husband, your wife. Or somewhere in the office or somewhere. And you never make an effort to overcome this anger. My brothers let me tell you honestly. I was also defeated like that in the early years of my married life. I was not a saint. I was a sinner whom God saved. He first forgave my sin and then saved me from that sin. But it went after I cried out to God many many times. And God filled me with the Holy Spirit 47 years ago. Changed my life. And I began to battle this sin. And I can say to you today. That sin is gone from my life. God took it away. Not my strength. It's like this electricity which makes the light burn. It's electricity that makes it burn. Not my strength. I just put on the switch. That is how the Holy Spirit fills me. And makes the light drive away the darkness from my heart. And I want to recommend the same to you. Whatever sin you are feeling in. Anger. Or sexual sin. These are the two main sins a lot of people fall into. Cry out to God. Lord set me free. I tell you from my experience. He will set you completely free. Even as a young man you can be free. I was only 35 years old when God began to liberate me. I was a young man with all the passions that every young man has. And the Lord set me free. He can set you free. Please trust Him. And one wonderful thing will happen when we are set free. And when we are thankful to God for having set us free. We will be very merciful to other people. Let me show you a command of God in Matthew 5 verse 48. Have you read this carefully? Matthew 5 verse 48. You must be perfect like your Heavenly Father is perfect. This is not a promise saying one day I will make you perfect like your Heavenly Father is perfect. This is not a promise. It is a command. To whom did He say this? Chapter 5 verse 1 and 2. His disciples came to Him and He opened His mouth and taught them. His disciples came to Him and He opened His mouth and taught them. He opened His mouth and said to His disciples, you must be perfect like your Heavenly Father is perfect. About 45 years, 46 years ago I began to take that command seriously. I said Lord. I want to understand what this means. Holiness on this earth. I know that. I cannot be perfect in love on this earth. I want to be humble but I cannot be perfect in humility like you on this earth. What does it mean that I must be perfect like my Heavenly Father is perfect? What does it mean that I must be perfect like my Heavenly Father is perfect? When you cannot understand the scripture, There are two things you must do. One. Read the previous verses. That will give you an understanding of the verse. Second. Try and find some other scripture which will explain this scripture. There are two principles of Bible study. Read the context, the previous verses. And study other scriptures on the same topic. So when I looked at the previous two verses, It's speaking about loving your neighbor and forgiving them. And verse 44, loving your enemies. Praying for those who persecute you. And greeting those, verse 47, who don't greet you. And he says therefore you must be perfect. So he is not talking about perfect in holiness or things like that. He is talking about how to treat people who behave badly towards us. Our enemies, those who persecute us. You must be towards them like God is. That is the meaning of that verse. Then I go to Luke chapter 6 where the same passage is repeated by Luke. Then also he says in Luke 6.35 Love your enemies. Verse 33, do good to those who hate you. Treat others, verse 31, the way you want to be treated. Love your enemies, verse 35. And then he tells us how to be perfect like our heavenly father is perfect. Verse 36, be merciful as your heavenly father is merciful. Then I understood. I cannot be perfect in holiness, I cannot be perfect in love, I cannot be perfect in humility. But I can be perfect in mercy towards others. What does he mean by perfect? Supposing you are doing a mathematics examination in a class. And there are 10 sums and you get 9 of them correct. That is not a perfect score, you only got 90%. But if you got all 10 correct, you got 100, that is perfect. Now apply that to this verse. 10 people have done something wrong against you. If I forgive 9 of them, I am not perfect. That is like getting 9 out of your 10 sums correct. But if you forgive all 10 of them, you got 100%, you are perfect. So Matthew 5.48, be perfect as your heavenly father means that. Like it is explained in Luke 6.36. Be perfect in mercy like your heavenly father is merciful. That we can do. Have you done it? Have you got 100%? 10 people have hurt you. Even if you forgive 9 of them, you are not perfect. But you can be perfect if you forgive all 10. Now if you look through your life, there are much more than 10 people who have done wrong things against us in our life. And it is very easy to forgive them if you think of how much God has forgiven you. The way to forgive is to remember how much God has forgiven you. The Lord doesn't just say forgive others. When we pray we are told, forgive us our sins just as we forgive others. So the command is not just forgive others who hurt you. See Ephesians 4.32 Read this and remember this. Be kind to one another, tender hearted. Ephesians 4.32 And just as God has forgiven you, forgive one another. So the command is not forgive one another, but just as God forgave you, forgive others. And the next verse says be imitators of God. Chapter 5 verse 1 Be imitators of God. Imitators of God in what area? There are so many areas where I cannot imitate Him perfectly. But one area I can. If 10 people hurt me, I can forgive all 10. 100% When you commit 10 sins, God does not forgive 9 of them. He forgives all 10. Now the question comes. People who are legalistic will say this. Pharisees. And there are many Pharisees among Christians. They are legalists and lawyers in their mind. They say yes, but God forgives me only when I repent. So I will forgive that person when he repents and asks my forgiveness. God has got the right to ask for repentance. But look at Jesus hanging on the cross. Whatever sin anybody has committed against you is not even 1% of the sin of crucifying Jesus Christ. All the sins that all the people in the world have done against you in your entire life. That is not even a drop in an ocean compared to the sin of crucifying Christ. Think of one drop of water in an ocean. All the sins people have committed against you are like one drop. Crucifying Christ is like that ocean of water. When that massive biggest sin ever committed of crucifying Christ. That is the greatest sin ever committed by anybody on this earth. What did Jesus say? Father, forgive them. Had they repented? The people who crucified Christ, did they come and say Lord we are sorry for crucifying you? No, they made fun of him. Saying let God come and deliver him if he is a prophet. They were not asking forgiveness. They were not repenting. If somebody had pulled Christ down from the cross, they would have crucified him again. To people who did not repent, Jesus forgave them. That is your example and my example. God can ask for repentance. Let me tell you something. There are two directions of forgiveness. One is sin against God. Only God can forgive. The other is sin against man. I can forgive that part but God cannot forgive that part. God also has to forgive that. So that is the meaning of the cross. Sin vertically against God and sin horizontally against people. When Jesus hung on the cross, he did not hang there as God. Even though he is God, he hung there as a man. Even though he is God, he hung there as a man. He was saying that as a man. Other times he always said father, father, father. That was the only time he called his father God. Because he was standing before the judge of the universe. Bearing my sin. And your sin. And he was being judged for it. He was sent to hell for three hours. So he said my God, my God. As a man, he said father forgive them. As a man, he said father forgive them. That horizontal aspect of sin was forgiven to those people. But that vertical aspect of sin where they sinned against God by killing the son of God. That was not forgiven. No. Only almighty God in heaven can forgive that. Only almighty God in heaven can forgive that. That is why before 2000 years, every mother should be punished for her sin. That is why before 2000 years, every mother should be punished for her sin. If someone harms me, He has committed a sin against God and he has committed a sin against me. I am not God so I can't forgive them that part. That they have to repent and ask God's forgiveness. But this horizontal part, I must forgive. That's what Jesus did. Whatever evil somebody does against me, I have to forgive because Jesus has forgiven me so much. But if he does not repent, God will judge him one day. Let me give you an example of that. Two verses. Romans chapter 12. What should you do when somebody harms you? Romans 12 verse 19 to 21. Somebody did some evil to you or your family. Never take your own revenge. But leave room for the wrath of God. What does that mean? Read it carefully. That man has done something against you. Don't do anything against him. Be good to him. Let judgment come from God. That's what it says here. The anger of God. Let God come and show his anger on him. That's written there. Leave room for the wrath of God. That means let God come and judge him. Because God says, same verse, vengeance is mine. I will repay. He will repay. Definitely. If that man does not repent of the harm he has done to me, God will one day definitely punish him. But I must not do that. What must I do? Verse 20. When I see my enemy hungry, I must give him something to eat. When I see him thirsty, I must give him something to drink. That way you will be heaping burning coals of the fire of love upon him. When it says burning coals on his head, it is the fire of love that I give to him. Verse 21. When he does evil to me, I don't do evil to him. I do good to him. That is how I overcome his evil with my goodness. Now listen to this. If somebody does evil to you, how do you overcome it? This verse says there is only one way. Do good to him. If your mother-in-law has done some evil to you, maybe she is ungodly, or a half-hearted believer. What should you do? Overcome that evil by some goodness you show to that person. That's what the bible says. You don't overcome that. That person has overcome you with that evil. See somebody did evil to you. And you also became evil. So he has spoiled you. But if you do good to him, he has not spoiled you. He is full of dirt and muck. And he tries to put you into the muck also. But you refuse it. You love him in return. You have overcome evil with good. But it says in verse 29 that God will still punish him. Jesus forgave, but the wrath of God will definitely come on all those people who crucified Christ one day. So all the people who have harmed you, on your family, if you have not forgiven them till today, please forgive them today before you go to sleep. How do you do that? With your word to God. Lord, I forgive that person. And I forgive this person. And I forgive this other person. All the people you can think of who have harmed you. Lord, remind me. I want to forgive everyone in your presence. I forgive them right now. And to prove that, I don't wish any evil for them. I wish good for all of them. I don't want from my side, I don't want any evil to happen to any of them. I will not rejoice if evil befalls them. I will not be unhappy if it goes well with them. Lord, I forgive them completely. And that is the test. Will you be happy if something good happens to them? Will you be unhappy if something bad happens to them also? Then you are really forgiven them. But if something bad happens to them and you say, God has taught them a lesson, then you can be pretty sure you are not forgiven them at all. That is the test. If he is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him a drink. But as I said, that doesn't mean he will escape God's judgment. Let me show you the example of the Apostle Paul. There was a man who harmed Paul greatly. 2 Timothy 4. 2 Timothy 4 verse 14. His name was Alexander the copper smith. And it says, he did me much harm. Paul was a wholehearted radical disciple of Jesus Christ. Alexander was his enemy. Did Paul love him? I am absolutely sure Paul loved him. Otherwise Paul would have been living in sin. And this is just a few days before he died. He says in verse 7, I have finished my course. And the other question is, do you think Paul had any thought of revenge against him? No. Had Paul forgiven Alexander completely? Yes. The horizontal part. The vertical part Paul cannot do. Only God can do. For that, Alexander has to repent and ask God's forgiveness. God says, vengeance is mine. And what did we read in Romans 12? I will repay. Not I might. I will definitely bring judgment on someone who has hurt you. Paul repeats that here. The Lord will repay him according to his deeds. Paul is not saying, I wish some bad thing happens to him. No. Not at all. If Alexander the copper smith is hungry, Paul would give him food. If he is thirsty, Paul will give him a drink. But in the final day, if he has not repented, the Lord will definitely repay him according to his deeds. That is the meaning of Romans chapter 12 and verse 19. Leave room for the wrath of God. Don't try to take judgment. Give place for God to judge him. You don't take that place. Our calling is to forgive and forgive and forgive. If you don't do that, I want to show you a verse. Matthew 6 verse 14 and 15. If you forgive others, God will forgive you. There are two conditions for sins being forgiven. 1 John 1 verse 9. Confess it to God. God will forgive you. Second condition is Matthew 6 verse 14. Forgive others. Many preachers only mention 1 John 1 verse 9. Confess your sin. The Lord will forgive you. I preach that. But I also preach Matthew 6 verse 14. You must also forgive others if your father is to forgive you. So I preach the full truth. Some people preach only half the truth. I have a responsibility for all of you brothers and sisters who look up to me as an elder brother. I take it very seriously. But I must tell you the truth lovingly. I won't tell you half the truth and let you go to hell. I don't want any of you to go to hell. Not only that, I want every one of you to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I tell you the full truth. Confess your sin. Forgive others. Everyone who has hurt you. Then God will forgive you everything. Then I also give a warning. In the next verse Matthew 6 verse 15. If you don't forgive others, then even if you have confessed your sin, your father will not forgive you. What if you obey 1 John 1 verse 9 and confess your sin? But you don't forgive others. Then let me tell you the truth. The blood of Jesus will not cleanse you from sin. Has anybody told you that? Matthew 6 verse 15. If you do not forgive others, the blood of Jesus Christ will not cleanse you from sin. That is the meaning of that verse. Your father will not forgive you. The blood of Jesus has power to cleanse us from all sin. But I have to confess my sin. Turn from it. I may not have victory but I must say Lord I hate it. And I must forgive others. Be perfect in mercy as your heavenly father is perfect. Turn with me to Psalm 18 verse 25 and 26. Please remember these verses all your life. With the kind you will show yourself kind. That means with the merciful God will be merciful to you. David is praying to God. Lord with the kind you also show yourself kind. And with the blameless you show yourself blameless. And with the pure you show yourself pure. But with the crooked person you also show yourself like that. So God will treat you exactly like you treat other people. You did harm against God by sinning. God says shall I forgive this person. Let me see how he treats other people who hurt him. He is so merciful to them, forgiving them, being kind to them. Then I will be merciful and kind to him. Now let me say this in conclusion. I have experienced tremendous blessing in my life. It has been like rivers flowing over me. It flowed upon my children. I find it flowing on my grandchildren now. But if I don't forgive others, it will stop. I have been tremendously blessed by God. Even the help that God has given me up to the age of 82 years is a blessing. I don't deserve it. I am a sinner deserving hell fire. But I said Lord I am a sinner and I want to turn from all my sins. And I want to forgive every human being who has ever hurt me in my life. And knowingly I don't want to do anything wrong. But if I slip up, I will immediately confess it. And if I accidentally hurt somebody, I will immediately ask that person's forgiveness. Even if it's a 10 year old child. I have decided to keep my heart absolutely clear. God's blessing has flown through me. I want it to flow through every one of you to other people also. It should flow upon your children, your grandchildren. And your unconverted relatives also should see the blessing of God upon your life. I have got unconverted relatives and they see God's blessing upon my life. That's how you can be a testimony to your unconverted relatives. Ask God to give you the power of the Holy Spirit. To be merciful to people. To love people. To be good to people. Why? Because God has been so good to you. Because he has been so kind to you. Because he has forgiven you so much. Because he has been merciful to you. Let our CFC churches have that testimony. And let every elder brother in every church be an example in this area. And not just people who preach on Sunday morning. It's the burden God has placed on my heart and I have discharged my burden. Now it is up to you. I believe it is the word of God. I tell you why. Because before I came to this meeting I had something else in my mind to preach to you. But as I came here God changed it and told me what to say to you. That is why I believe this is a word from heaven for you. And for some of you it is a very important message. Now we are going to bow in prayer. Please close your eyes. And while our heads are bowed in prayer. Everyone even children. Before we pray I want you to think for just half a minute. And think about who are the people you have not forgiven. And just say this to God silently. Lord I forgive this person. And I forgive that person. And I forgive this other person. And all those people in that family I forgive all of them. Lord does anyone else I have not forgiven remind me. I forgive all of them. Please forgive me. Cleanse me in the blood of Jesus. And help me to walk in the spirit of forgiveness until you return to this earth. Thank you father for hearing me. I want to leave this meeting cleansed and free through the blood of Jesus Christ. Filled with the Holy Spirit. Filled with the joy of the Lord. More than I have ever experienced in my life. Lord I pray this for everyone in Jesus name. Amen. Praise the Lord dear brothers and sisters. Just little while ago I was with my son Sanjay who was talking to a group of people. And he shared something to that group which I want to share one part of it with my dear brothers and sisters. That spoke to me today. He said do we know how a pearl is formed. All of us know it is formed inside of a thing called oyster. And deep down in the water when nobody sees this pearl is being formed. And how it is formed is one small irritant this oyster faces. And that oyster wills something round and round and round that foreign body that irritant. And from its own body it produces some substance which after many months or years it is called a pearl. And I thought today what brother Zak was sharing about forgiving others. How it is so important. When people trouble us and cause pain to us. When we forgive them that is like a beautiful pearl that divine nature God is producing in us. And when Jesus comes he will reveal to the whole world so many pearls he has created in this earth. May God help us to always have that forgiving nature. I want to keep it in my heart all the days of my life. Dear brothers and sisters such a joy to see you all. God bless. Yeah that is something very good to think about. That little thing that irritates us that has come inside. And we wrap it round with forgiveness and forgiveness and forgiveness like the oyster. That is how we enter through the gates into God's kingdom. There is a verse in Revelation 12 verse 21. Turn it in your Bible. Revelation 12 verse 21. Easy to remember. Revelation last book of the Bible. 21 21. There are 12 gates into God's kingdom. And it says here each gate is a single pearl. Some irritant that is wrapped around with forgiveness forgiveness forgiveness is a gate into God's kingdom. So that is good to hear that at the end. So my wife and my son came in the middle of the meeting. That is why I had to stop the meeting and go and open the door for them. I went to encourage him when he is speaking. And so now I came back and I got a chance to see all of you dear brothers and sisters. ======================================================================== Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/fH0aCeSsFEg.mp4 Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/zac-poonen/the-spirit-of-accusation-and-the-spirit-of-forgiveness/ ========================================================================