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  WALKING AS JESUS WALKED
  by Zac Poonen
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Summary: This sermon emphasizes the importance of living a higher
Christian life, focusing on aspects like genuine forgiveness, serving
without expecting gratitude from others, and seeking to imitate Jesus in
every aspect of life. It encourages a deep understanding of forgiveness,
a joyful and complaint-free attitude, and a heavenly perspective in
daily living.

Topics: "Genuine Forgiveness", "Imitating Christ"
Scripture References: Matthew 6:14, Ephesians 4:32, Colossians 3:1, Revelation 4:1, 1 John 2:6

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DESCRIPTION
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This sermon emphasizes the importance of living a higher Christian life,
focusing on aspects like genuine forgiveness, serving without expecting
gratitude from others, and seeking to imitate Jesus in every aspect of
life. It encourages a deep understanding of forgiveness, a joyful and
complaint-free attitude, and a heavenly perspective in daily living.

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CONTENT
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It's good to see so many of you here. Probably the first time that some
of you are coming here. Welcome.

Our theme for this weekend is the higher Christian life. I want to say a
word about, thank you, about the hymns that we sing. From my own
experience, when I was converted 63 years ago, I used to go to church
and I really enjoyed singing the songs.

After a little while, I would memorize these songs and know them by
heart. What happened then was, gradually I began to sing them without
meaning the words that I was singing. I had some experiences like that.

We used to use a songbook in those days, I'm talking about more than
50-60 years ago. The song leader would say, let's sing another song and
everybody turns to the other song in the songbook. I suddenly realized,
I don't even remember what I told the Lord in the last song.

What I would do is, when the others were singing that song, I turn back
to the song we just finished singing, and I go through it slowly and I
say, Lord, I'm sorry. I just sang this without thinking that you're here
and I'm talking to you. I go through that line by line.

It took me a while to gradually come to the place where, when I sing,
I'm aware that Jesus is right here. That two or three are gathered in my
name, I'm in the midst, and that I'm singing to him. That made such a
difference in my life, that singing was not just a time of entertainment
or having good sing-song time, as they say.

It was a meaningful communication to the Lord. When we sang about the
cross, or even years later, 50, 60 years later, there'd be tears in my
eyes as I sing about, think about Jesus dying for me. The Lord showed me
in Revelation Chapter 5, I want to show you this.

There's going to be a lot of singing in heaven. If you can't keep a tune
on earth, don't worry. When you get there, God will make you so perfect,
you'll be singing along with everybody else perfectly.

But more important than singing in tune, we'll be meaning. So this is
the word that the Lord spoke to me from Revelation Chapter 5. Revelation
gives us a few glimpses of heaven. And one of the glimpses of heaven is
this.

In Revelation Chapter 5, we read about some elders in verse 6. There was
the elders, a lamb was standing in the midst of the elders. And he came
and took the book and the elders and the others sang a new song. It says
in verse 9, worthy art thou, the word new, when it says a new song, the
meaning is something ever fresh.

So that's how it came to me. When they sing in heaven, they may be
singing it for the thousandth time, but it's fresh. And we believe that
the Holy Spirit has come to bring heaven into our hearts, a foretaste of
it, even before we get there.

And so Lord, I want, I said, Lord, I want to have a foretaste of this,
where when I'm singing a song for the hundredth time, it's going to be
fresh as if I've never sung it before. And particularly something like
this, verse 9, they sang this ever fresh song, saying in the middle of
that verse, you were slain. You died on the cross.

Hey, we said that's an old story. That's been, we've known that for 2000
years. But they're singing it as if they're hearing for the first time
that Jesus died for me on the cross.

And that was one of my prayers, and it still is. Lord, when I sing about
the cross, about what you suffered, when you suffered hell for me on
those three hours when you were forsaken on the cross, for my sin, to
save me from the wretched person I was, and to take me into your eternal
kingdom. When I sing about it, let it not be something like some reading
the newspaper or some old story.

Let me realize the seriousness of it. And I'll tell you many, many times
when you sing about the cross, even today, there are tears in my eyes
that my Savior died for me. I want to encourage you.

It won't happen overnight. But if you make a decision today that when
you sing, you're going to try and mean the words that you sing,
especially about the cross of Calvary. I'll tell you, maybe in a year or
two, it will become real in your life, where every time you sing, you'll
be singing directly to Jesus.

It will no longer be a routine sing-song session anymore. And that'll
make a world of difference. It's the best way to prepare your heart to
listen to the message.

It's made a great difference in my life. And the Holy Spirit has come
here to help us. So the higher Christian life, let me turn to 1 John
chapter 2, verse 6. If there is one verse, perhaps more than any other
verse, there are other verses too, that explains what the higher
Christian life is.

It's this. 1 John chapter 2, first episode of John chapter 2, and verse
6. The one who says he abides in Christ, most of us, if not all, we say
we are in Christ. We received Christ as our Savior and Lord, and Christ
came into us, and we are in Christ as members of His body.

Well, if we say that, or we sing that, then we have a responsibility.
It's an amazing verse. To walk in the same manner as He walked.

That is the higher Christian life. The way Jesus walked on earth, that
was the most blessed, the happiest, most victorious, every adjective you
can use, a wonderful life that anybody can ever live. He wasn't the
richest man on earth.

He didn't live to the age of 60 or 70. He lived only up to 33. And he
started his ministry only when he was 30, for three and a half years.

And yet at the end of his life, he looked up to the Father in John
chapter 17. He was praying to the Father. This is the longest prayer of
Jesus recorded in Scripture, John 17, it's a prayer.

Jesus lifted up His eyes to heaven, and He said, verse 4, one of the
things He said was, I have glorified you on earth. How did Jesus glorify
the Father on earth? By finishing the work which you gave me to do. All
through His life, He was conscious that the Father had sent Him to earth
with a particular task to be accomplished.

It wasn't just dying on the cross. It was ministering to so many people,
preaching God's Word, preaching the Sermon on the Mount, healing blind
people, and so many things. And of course, working up to the age of 30
as a carpenter, that was also part of God's will for him to show that
Christianity is not just preaching and singing.

It is practical work, and earning one's living. And he grew up in a poor
home with... Joseph had died, and it was his responsibility to take care
of his mother, widowed mother, and he had four younger brothers and two
younger sisters, Mary's children, and he was the eldest. And it was his
responsibility to earn.

He finished the work God gave him to do, and preaching was only 10% of
that. Three and a half years out of 33 and a half. So, that secular job
that he did, for maybe from the age of 18 to 30, was part of the work
the Father gave him to do.

You say, why in the world does Jesus have to come here and work as a
carpenter? Because, 99.99% of Christians are not preachers or full-time
workers. Almost all of you sitting here, you're not preachers or full-
time workers. You're in a secular job.

So, if Jesus could only be an example to preachers, how would he be an
example to you? In a secular job to be faithful, not to love money, and
meditate on how Jesus was in the carpenter shop. That is the higher
Christian life. Walking as Jesus walked in our secular job.

And I've meditated on that. You know, in a world where there's so much
of stealing and telling lies and cheating people in jobs, I've seen a
lot of carpenters and their work in Bangalore, India, where I live. Most
of them would cheat.

They will not use the wood that they say they are using. And when cracks
come up, they'll patch it up so that the buyer doesn't see it. I'm sure
Jesus was tempted like that too.

When he bought a piece of wood to make a table for someone and a crack
came in, the temptation to cover it up, he says, if it did crack and he
covered it up, he'd tell the buyer, this is cracked and I've covered it
up. Would you like to buy it like this? Otherwise, I'll make another one
for you. You can't make money when you're going to be upright like that
and honest.

But you'll be able to say at the end of your life, Father, I've finished
the work you gave me to do. It's all a question of what your goal in
life is. If Jesus' goal in life was to make money, then he'd be like
everybody else, cover up all these things and pretend that everything he
sold was perfect when it was not.

Remember, he was tempted just like us. The Bible says Jesus was tempted
just like us. And the higher Christian life is to manifest on this sin-
cursed earth where people cheat and tell lies and only think in terms of
profit and money-making and how to take advantage of others to live in
such a way that I would take advantage of no one.

And if there's a loss, I will bear that loss. That's how Jesus lived.
And I can imagine how if a little child came into his carpentry shop and
broke something, he wouldn't get upset with that child.

He'd pick up the child and kiss it and say, it's alright, don't worry. I
can make another one. Imagine living like that.

You're not going to be the richest carpenter in Nazareth that way, but
you'll finish the work God gave you to do. And you may not be a
carpenter, but whatever work you do, there are many temptations. I found
when I was working in the Navy, any place, temptations are the same.

To tell lies, to get some advantage for ourselves. I remember one of the
situations I was in where I was in charge of all the boats in the naval
base in India. They appoint different officers to be in charge of that.

And we have a commander and a commanding officer, a captain, on top of
that. The officers were permitted to use the boats, but they had to pay
for the diesel. So if an officer used the boat, he got a bill for the
diesel and he could use it.

But when the captain used the boat, you know, previous boat officers
would not send him a bill. When he went for a picnic with his family, he
was permitted to do it, provided he paid for the diesel. They would show
it as captain has gone for harbor inspection, official duty, no charge.

So when I became boat officer, for the first time, the captain got a
bill. I sent him a bill. And the second in command, the commander came
to me and said, Lieutenant Poonen, hasn't the previous boat officer told
you what to do when the captain takes the boat? I said, yes sir, but my
conscience doesn't permit me to tell a lie.

In half an hour, they transferred me from that job. I praised the Lord.
I'm thankful for such situations where I said, Lord, I'm not interested
in his writing a good report about me at the end of the year.

I knew I wouldn't get the promotions that I wanted if I was going to
walk as Jesus walked. And I said, Lord, I want to please you. I want to
say at the end of my life that I finished the work the father gave me to
do that I was a witness.

And I'll tell you something, they may disagree with you and all, but
they'll never forget you. And I remember from that naval base, I
resigned when I was 26 and I came out to serve the Lord. But 40 years
later, a colleague of mine who was in that naval base and who met me in
Bangalore in a retired naval officer's meeting, he was an admiral and he
said to me, Zach, I can never forget you, what you were.

They remembered years later that once in their life they met a true
Christian who was different. And I believe that is your calling in mind,
brothers and sisters, wherever you work, people you deal with,
shopkeepers, family members, neighbors, they may be upset with you for
being so upright and all that, but they will never forget you. Remember
this, may people who come across your path and know you well all their
life remember that at least once in their life they met a true
Christian, a disciple of Jesus who would never cheat them, who would
never get upset with them, who wouldn't get angry or upset even if they
were supposed to do something for you and they didn't.

You know, we live in a fallen world and we all make mistakes right from
childhood. I'm 83 years old but I make mistakes now. We'll never do
anything perfect until Jesus comes again and therefore we have to be
merciful to others.

It's beginning with our own home. We must be merciful to the members in
our own home. When they make a mistake say, it's okay.

Did something get broken? It's fine. We can always buy another one or we
can do without it if we can't afford to buy another one. Nothing is so
important that we have to lose our temper and get upset and be bothered
by it for the whole day.

No, there isn't. Think of it like this, 2000 years from now when you
look back over your life and you look at that incident that happened in
your home or in your place of work that you got so upset about what are
you going to think about it 2000 years from now? Is it going to be so
important? So valuable? Not at all. That is the higher Christian life.

And I'll tell you this you will not become bankrupt by going this way.
No. God is a loving father and if you are upright you may not make as
much money as other people, good but he'll provide for every need of
yours.

That's absolutely certain. I've experienced that ever since I left the
Navy 56 years ago. All these years God's taken care of me and my family
without my sending prayer letters or ever asking anyone for money God's
taken care of us.

He'll take care of you. I'll tell you he'll take care of you. You don't
have to be afraid of whatever there may be famine in the land but God
will take care of you.

I'll tell you why. Because of one promise of scripture Matthew 6.33 Seek
first It's a well known verse Seek first the kingdom of God and his
righteousness and all these earthly things, food clothing, shelter the
necessities of life will be added to you. That's how Jesus lived.

Jesus did not live in intention at any time. For three and a half years
he was a full time worker for the father. He would never, he never sent
prayer letters asking for money like a lot of missionaries do today.

He never did that. He never advertised his work. He never asked for
money but he knew the father would provide for him.

Somebody would give him a gift and he would take care of that and he
learned to live simply. He did not go and live in the most expensive
restaurants expensive hotels when he traveled from Galilee to Jerusalem.
Jerusalem was probably 100 miles away from Galilee and it would take him
three days to walk up there and walk back whenever he went there.

You read in the bible that he went from Galilee to Jerusalem but you
forget that it took him three days to go there. He was walking with his
disciples and having fellowship along the way and when he went to
Jerusalem sometimes people would invite him to a home to live in
sometimes he slept under the trees in the Mount of Olives without a
complaint. It's wonderful to see how Jesus lived on this earth and say
Lord this is the higher life this is the way I want to live on this
earth and I believe that the Lord sent the Holy Spirit to enable every
one of us to live this higher life.

So it says in John chapter 16 I want to show you this verse when the
Holy Spirit has come verse 13 you know there is a lot of confusion
concerning the ministry of the Holy Spirit I love my brothers and
sisters in the Pentecostal and charismatic churches but I have to
honestly say I don't agree with their emphasis on what they call
supernatural things their public manifestation of speaking in tongues.
Now speaking in tongues let me tell you is a gift of the Holy Spirit but
it's a gift the Bible says which God gives us let me explain to you
briefly it's a gift God gives to some people not to everyone to when
they have to express what is in their heart to God it's a gift not for
public prayer never it's for private prayer when one cannot express to
God what's sufficiently in one's own language that God gives him another
language. God's given me that gift 47 years ago and I've used it never
in public only in private my communication with my heavenly bridegroom
you know how husbands and wives speak things to each other that they
never want anybody else to listen to that's how we are supposed to speak
to our heavenly bridegroom and for that he gives us the gift if we want
it if we need it and it's a useful gift but the way it is used so often
in other places I don't agree with that's not the primary purpose of the
gift of the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit has come let me show you John 16
13 the Holy Spirit when he has come the spirit of truth he will guide
you into all the truth and the word truth by the way is reality that's
the meaning of truth in the New Testament the opposite of truth is
falsehood the opposite of reality is hypocrisy pretending what is not
true so the Holy Spirit will lead me and you to live a true life that
means what you see me is what I am I don't have another life behind the
scenes I'm not another person inside than I am visible on the outside
now I'll tell you that was not true of my life in the early days of my
Christian life I never knew what it was to be filled with the Holy
Spirit I was born again and I lived the way most Christians live I was
really born again I knew if I died I'd go to heaven but I did not live
on earth the way God wanted me to live it says here everyone who says he
abides in Christ must walk as he walked well I wasn't living like that I
would get angry, upset my thoughts were not always pure and I'd fall and
get up and of course I would always confess my sin to the Lord say Lord
forgive me and I'd be cleansed but I was absolutely certain that I'd
fall again and fall again but always the blood of Christ was there to
cleanse me I treated the blood of Christ like tap water we are never
afraid of getting our hands dirty because tap water is cheap you can
always go and wash your hands that's why a lot of people are casual
about their sin because they say the blood of Christ is there to cleanse
me it's treating the blood of Christ like tap water it's an insult Peter
says the blood of Christ is more precious than all the gold and silver
in the world and in Hebrews 10 in verse 29 it says warns us don't treat
the blood of Christ like a common thing like tap water take it seriously
so I asked myself this question I said if tap water cost a thousand
dollars for a cup boy I'd be very careful not to dirty my hands it's
going to be pretty expensive to wash my hands every time and if I
recognize the blood of Christ is so precious I'll be very careful not to
sin I won't say well I can always go to Christ and be cleansed so as I
said unfortunately I was not taught these truths in the church I went to
when I was converted and most churches they don't teach you to value the
blood of Christ and to stay away from sin or that the Holy Spirit can
help you but all this made me very desperate and I began to seek God and
said Lord I want a better life than this I want a higher life I'm living
at a very low level and that's the level most of the others living at I
once asked a missionary who was 15 years older than me I thought he
would know the answer and I asked him I said brother how do we get
victory over dirty thoughts he changed the subject and talked about
something else I got the answer he hadn't got victory himself and that's
the truth that many many men particularly born again men they've never
taken seriously the matter of having a pure thought life was Jesus
tempted like us yes did he have dirty thoughts no is it possible for us
to come to that life not overnight but get there yes the Holy Spirit
when he's come he'll guide you into reality into a life of truthfulness
reality that means what you see is what I am what you see is what I am
in my home life my office in my thoughts inwardly that is the life the
Holy Spirit wants to come to that's the meaning of truth that's why he's
called the spirit of truth the spirit of reality and it says here
further verse 14 in the middle he will take the things of Christ and
reveal it to me so one of the functions of the Holy Spirit is to show me
how Jesus lived on this earth that's the meaning of that verse he will
disclose it's like reveal disclose is a word which means telling us
something which is a secret you know he disclosed that secret it's not
something openly known it's something which is hidden which he discloses
so there are things about Jesus' life that the Holy Spirit can show us
from the scriptures what you read otherwise in the scriptures is that
Jesus healed the sick raised the dead the sermons he preached but about
Jesus the inner principles by which Jesus lived that's what the Holy
Spirit will show us as we read the scriptures I can give you one or two
examples the higher Christian life turn to Matthew chapter 12 in Matthew
chapter 12 we read of a time when there was a demon possessed person
verse 22 it was brought to Christ he was blind and dumb and Jesus healed
him he immediately began to speak and he could see and all the crowds
Matthew 12, 23 were amazed they said this must be the Messiah that we've
been waiting for all these years the son of David but the Pharisees who
were jealous of this who could never do a miracle themselves who would
just keep preaching the Bible they were jealous and said no this is the
work of demons this man is doing it by the power of Beelzebul which is
another name for Satan the ruler of demons this man is possessed and
ruled by Satan you know it's a terrible thing to call any human being
Satan or ruled by Satan imagine how much worse to call the son of God as
one being ruled by Satan can that sin be forgiven we read of a time when
Miriam Moses sister criticized Moses for marrying a non Israeli woman
and you know God struck her with leprosy yeah you read that in the book
of Numbers just because she criticized God's servant saying Miriam
that's none of your business and Moses had to pray for her to be healed
there was another time when the Elisha the prophet had just taken over
the ministry from Elijah and he was coming back 42 young men you read
that in 2nd Kings made fun of him Elijah had gone up in a chariot of
fire and they made fun of Elijah saying you bald you bald man you also
go up made fun of him and bears came out of the forest and killed all
those 42 young men it's a serious thing to speak against a servant of
God so what is the punishment for someone who calls Jesus the devil
Miriam got healing no Miriam got leprosy these 42 young men were killed
they got death you know what the Pharisees got from Jesus forgiveness
Jesus looked at them and said in verse 32 if you have spoken a word
against a son of man he is forgiven that is the higher Christian life we
don't expect judgment to come on a person who harms us that's the low
level the higher Christian life is alright you are forgiven even if you
hurt me even if you harm me or my family this is what Jesus has taught
us and the Holy Spirit helps us I've heard people tell me this oh
brother Zach the way that fellow treated me I can never forgive him I
say well brother then you'll never get to heaven I'll tell you that
right now if you don't forgive him you're not going to go to heaven I'm
not saying you should forgive him because you want to go to heaven you
must forgive him because Jesus forgave you what has he done compared to
what you have done against Christ the well known Lord's Prayer it's
actually a prayer that Jesus taught his disciples to pray you know what
it is in Matthew 6 in verse 9 our father who art in heaven and one line
of it says give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our sins our
debts exactly like we have forgiven others do you know that when you ask
the Lord ask God your father to forgive you this is the way we have to
pray for forgiveness not just oh God forgive me Jesus said pray like
this forgive me my sins exactly like I have forgiven other people who
have hurt me who sinned against me it's connected there were a number of
requests that Jesus made in this prayer about six of them but out of all
those six requests he mentioned in this prayer he picks out one he
taught us to pray God's name should be hallowed his kingdom must come
his will must be done we must pray for our daily food we must pray for
forgiveness and we must pray for victory over sin and satan then out of
all these six requests he picks out one and emphasizes it you know which
one it is forgiveness you see that in verse 14 he doesn't emphasize the
other five but out of the six he emphasizes this particular one and he
emphasizes IF IF must be in capital letters IF YOU FORGIVE OTHERS THEIR
SINS ONLY THEN ONLY THEN YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER WILL FORGIVE YOU ok Lord
understood no I must repeat it verse 15 IF YOU DO NOT FORGIVE OTHERS
THEIR SINS YOUR FATHER WILL NOT FORGIVE YOU YOUR SINS a double emphasis
on that one out of those six requests in the prayer when you read the
bible carefully you see certain things Jesus emphasizes like you know if
your dad writes a letter to you and he underlines something all of it is
important but the underlined part is very important he is underlining
this remember out of these six requests remember this one thing YOU ASK
FOR FORGIVENESS IN EXACTLY THE SAME WAY AS YOU HAVE FORGIVEN OTHERS
FORGIVE ME FATHER AS I HAVE FORGIVEN OTHERS now if I have forgiven
somebody with saying I will always remember I will keep a grudge against
you you are asking God to always keep a grudge against you because you
are saying forgive me exactly like I have forgiven that guy no I don't
want God to keep a grudge against me it's very very important if you do
not forgive others your father will not forgive you now if God doesn't
forgive a man and he dies in that condition where is he going to go his
sin is not forgiven and he dies is there some place after death some
sort of purgatory where he can get cleansed and have his sin forgiven no
Hebrews 9.27 it is appointed unto men once to die after that the
judgment so if you missed doing something that you should have done on
earth there is no chance for it in eternity you are gone it's over and
it's very clear if you don't forgive others your father will not forgive
you I don't wish that any of you would die like that life is very
uncertain who can say how long you live how can we say the bible says
don't even boast about tomorrow James chapter 4 says your life is like a
vapor you know it's like a little smoke it's there next moment it's gone
it says your life is like that and so don't boast even about tomorrow he
says in James 4 just say if the Lord wills we will live tomorrow and we
will come for the morning meeting here if the Lord wills that's exactly
what it says in James chapter 4 and so it's very important therefore to
have short accounts with God don't take anything on credit say I'll pay
later no, pay immediately pay means ask for forgiveness immediately it's
already been paid on the cross but avail of it now and in order to avail
of forgiveness you must forgive others so I want to pause a little here
this is the higher Christian life I'll tell you why it's higher because
most Christians that I have met I'm not talking about non-Christians
most Christians that I have met and I've been in the ministry as I said
56 years I've had the opportunity to counsel with hundreds and hundreds
of people in many many countries and I'll tell you that most Christians
that I have met have a grudge against someone somebody did something to
them years ago when they were young or did something to their family to
their son or daughter or something and they just haven't forgiven that
person they don't take him to court or anything but they've got this
little grudge against that person they're not forgiven and they're all
the time asking God to forgive him now I don't know how many preachers
have told you this very in plain words as I'm saying right now and
emphasizing it like I am emphasizing it now there are many things in
scripture but some things that need to be emphasized you know Jesus
sometimes used to say verily verily I say unto you truly truly I say
unto you that's the meaning of that verily means truly why does he have
to emphasize that isn't everything Jesus says the truth would he ever
tell a lie every word was true then why did he have to say truly truly
he was underlining certain things why did he have to repeat after saying
that we must pray for forgiveness like we forgive others why did he have
to repeat it in two further sentences saying if you don't forgive you
won't be forgiven if you want forgiveness forgive others why because
Jesus knew human weakness we take some of these things lightly I'm sure
all of you and if you are born in a Christian family you probably heard
this prayer from childhood my father was a born again Christian and from
the earliest childhood he taught me to memorize this prayer our father
who art in heaven hallowed be thy name even before I was born again he
taught us to kneel down on our bed as soon as we woke up and I would
kneel down on my bed and pray that prayer before I got out of bed
everyday I was repeating it like a parrot I didn't mean it but anyway
you've all heard that prayer I'm sure you've all repeated it I want to
ask you how seriously have you taken this one part of that prayer which
you probably prayed for years forgive me exactly like I have forgiven
everybody else the lower Christian life is the type of life most
Christians are living keeping grudges unforgiveness I'm not the judge of
humanity God is the judge but I'm a servant of God who has to proclaim
the truth and the truth is this according to Jesus own words that the
people who die without forgiving others they will not be forgiven for
all eternity and where do they go? well you know now again let me repeat
it's not because I want to go to heaven that I want to forgive people
let me read a verse in Ephesians and chapter Ephesians chapter 4 and the
last verse Ephesians 4 verse 32 be kind to one another tender hearted
and listen to this forgiving each other exactly like God in Christ has
forgiven you it's the same thing because God has forgiven us so much a
million times more than the few things human beings have done against us
we should forgive them I don't believe that any of us me included
realize how many sins we have committed in our life we think of a few
things our understanding of sin is so limited that we are aware of a few
things which are serious we say we've done this but when we get into
I'll tell you from my own experience as I've come closer and closer to
the Lord in these 60 years I've discovered more and more some things
which I never thought were sin wrong attitudes towards people which I
never thought was sin but I get light on it's like you go from the
kindergarten to grade 1 and then you learn something more and you go to
grade 2 you learn something more and if you're faithful in your
education you go up to grade 7, 8, 9, 10 you learn a lot of things you
never learned in kindergarten Christian life is really like that
unfortunately a lot of Christians sit in the kindergarten all their life
they never learn anything new I'm wanting to learn something new next
year and this year which I never know before of Christ likeness what is
unlike Christ in me Lord show me I want to get rid of everything that's
unlike the external things I've got rid of I'm not cheating anybody I'm
paying all my taxes uprightly I'm asking forgiveness from anybody I
accidentally hurt and I'm not expecting anything from people but there
are still inner attitudes and different things in me that aren't Christ
like that God begins to show me I'll give you one example something God
showed me some years ago is it right to expect people to come and say
thank you no we teach our children whenever someone gives you something
that's very good manners and I believe we should teach our children to
say thank you and we must also learn to be grateful to people who do
anything for us Jesus said that if a person gave a person a cup of cold
water he will not lose his reward you remember that verse he told his
apostles if someone gives you a cup of cold water which doesn't cost
anything he will not lose his reward I thought of that verse I use my
imagination when I read these verses and I can imagine Jesus has come to
set up his throne and he calls up some some little boy or some old
sister who lived 2000 years ago at the judgment seat he calls this
person up and says you gave my apostle Peter a cup of cold water here is
your reward do you believe that? I believe it he does not forget a cup
of cold water that somebody gave to one of his children that's amazing
and when I thought of that I said Lord I want to be like that too I want
to never forget the little little things that other people have done for
me and I want to remember that 20 years later, 25 years later when I
meet them I say yeah I remember you gave me a lift in your car when I
was there and I was stuck somewhere thank you very much it was 25 years
ago cup of cold water and so when the Lord forgives us so much we
mustn't forget it that's more than a cup of water he has forgiven us so
much so what I was going to say is something on Christ like I remember
there was a young man in our church many years ago who was the only
Christian in his family so he used to come to the meeting and meetings
were late and he would sleep in our house and he felt so free in our
home he'd get up in the morning and make coffee himself and go to
college from there and we helped him a lot we were very happy he grew up
well spiritually in our home the church was meeting in our home but then
he did well in his profession and got a big job and went off somewhere
else he never wrote any letter to us we were wondering where he was and
I was wondering what an ungrateful person he is after all that we did to
him he doesn't even express his gratitude to us that's the time the Lord
spoke to me he said do you remember that passage where the Lord said to
people I was sick and you visited me I was hungry and you fed me I was
thirsty and you gave me a drink and they say Lord this is in the day of
judgment Lord when did we see you like that and the Lord will say to
them in as much as you did it to the least of these my brothers you did
it to me so here is your reward so what I learned from that was that
when I do something for a brother I must not expect a thank you or a
reward from him the Lord says you have done it unto me in as much as you
did it to the least of these my brothers you have done it unto me I got
light on that verse Matthew 25 that when I do something for any believer
I am doing it unto the Lord and if I am doing it unto the Lord from whom
should I expect thank you not from that person not from that brother but
from the Lord there I got light on something unchrist like in me what
was the unchrist like thing in me I was expecting gratitude from a human
being for what I did for him now most people wouldn't even think of that
as something it's not a sin it's not a sin to expect gratitude but I saw
it as something unchrist like because I must do it as unto the Lord he
is a younger brother of Christ so I have done it unto him the Lord says
I will thank you for it if you expect gratitude expect it from me not
from him boy I was thankful for that because from that day onwards I
stopped expecting gratitude from anybody it was a joy for me to help
people serve people it didn't matter one bit they didn't thank me for it
because I did it as unto a younger brother of Christ a younger sister of
Christ the Holy Spirit showed me what Jesus was like it's a wonderful
it's an exciting journey this Christian life day by day as you read the
Bible the Holy Spirit shows you more and more of Christ let me show you
another example of what this higher Christian life is where you don't
expect gratitude from people you expect it from the Lord and I tell you
you will be a very happy person the people are always expecting people
to thank them they are pretty grumpy inside even if they smile on the
outside they are not very happy inside you will be a very happy person
if you expect your gratitude only from the Lord in the final day so let
me give you another example I told you that Jesus had to walk these 100
miles from Galilee to Jerusalem whenever he came there and Jerusalem is
not his home it's like you are traveling from your hometown to somewhere
else and you are going there for ministry and Jesus went to Jerusalem
and he was preaching you read in John chapter 7 that he was in Jerusalem
preaching John 7 verse 37 on the last day of the feast he got up and he
prayed and he cried out saying if anyone is thirsty let him come to me
and drink John 7 verse 37 it was the feast day in the temple and Jesus
had finished preaching the whole day and at the end of the day it says
in verse 53 everybody went to his own home but Jesus went to the Mount
of Olives it's the same sentence unfortunately the chapter division has
broken up that sentence John 7 verse 53 everyone went to his own home
but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives John 8 verse 1 so I thought about
that by the way whenever you read these chapter divisions ignore them
because that's made by men three four hundred years ago to help us to
refer to verses the original when John wrote it there was no break there
so what I saw there was why in the world did Jesus go to the Mount of
Olives he would have been delighted if some disciple had said hey Lord
please come and stay in our home he would never have said no Mary and
Martha would always invite him but they were in another town Bethany in
Jerusalem what came to me was nobody invited Jesus home imagine a
preacher coming to a new place to preach and nobody invites him home
it's never happened to me I've traveled to many countries but no one's
ever let me in the lurch like that and what did Jesus do he had no
complaints he said well it's not raining I can go and sleep under the
trees on the Mount of Olives no complaints I said Lord make me like that
no expectations that I have come to serve them and they don't care for
me no let me learn to take care of myself without a complaint the next
morning chapter 8 verse 2 Jesus came in the morning and again sat down
in the temple and he began to teach them now I'll tell you how the
average preacher would begin his sermon if nobody invited him the
previous night well last night when I was sleeping under the trees on
the Mount of Olives that would be the first sentence and everybody would
be alert oh we didn't invite him home Jesus never said that he never
gave a hint to anybody any inconvenience that he suffered because of
their lack of concern I tell you as a preacher myself I learned some
wonderful things as the Holy Spirit has shown me this higher Christian
life which makes you live without a complaint against a single human
being your life is one of perpetual joy it is only then that you can
obey the command which says rejoice always 24 7 you sleep peacefully at
night I'm reading my testimony have you ever slept have you ever gone to
bed and found it difficult to sleep because you are tossing around
thinking of somebody who did something against you or said something
against you and toss around and toss around you lose your sleep Jesus
slept peacefully and we can sleep peacefully that is the higher
Christian life it's good for our health as well this higher Christian
life it's a wonderful life it's a wonderful life many people die early
because they keep bitterness they develop sickness see God has made us
in such a way that the laws of the spirit affect the body as well dear
brothers and sisters ask the Holy Spirit to lead you higher I think of a
verse and I'll close with this in the book of Revelation chapter 4 John
was looking at all the things the sad condition of all the churches in
chapter 2 and 3 if you read Revelation chapter 2 and 3 it's a pretty
pathetic picture of the condition of 5 of those 7 churches very bad
state of affairs and John the Apostle looking at this what a condition
these churches are in it must have grieved him so the Lord says to him
in verse 4 chapter 4 sorry verse 1 come up higher come up here and I'll
show you things from here I believe that's what the Lord is saying to
you and me come up higher view things from heaven's standpoint that's
what God wants to do for all of us because it says in Colossians chapter
3 Colossians 3 verse 1 if you have really been raised up with Christ
then seek the things that are above may Christ be seated at the right
hand of God set your mind on things above and not on the things that are
on earth for you have died to this earthly life and your life is hidden
with Christ and God Ephesians 2 says because we have been raised up with
Christ in spirit we are to live our earthly life with our spirit in
heaven while our body is on the earth it's unbelievable but it is true
this is the life the Holy Spirit wants to give us and I pray that we
will all make it our earnest prayer as a result of this weekend's that
we will not only hear and get some information but actually get a hunger
for a higher life than we have experienced so far hunger and thirst is
the first step always let's pray let's bow our heads in prayer there are
many things we heard today don't worry if you don't remember all of them
the Holy Spirit will bring it to your remembrance at the right time but
remember just the first verse that we read in 1 John 2 6 if you say that
you are in Christ you are called to walk as Jesus walked and the Holy
Spirit has come to help you and me let there be a cry in your heart
saying Lord this is the life I want to live please help me this weekend
to understand how I can live this life thank you Heavenly Father for
your word that always seeks to lead us higher higher higher I thank you
with all my heart I pray that everyone here who have taken all this
trouble to come here will go away immensely blessed beyond what they
expected because of your Holy Spirit moving in our midst thank you
Father it will be so in Jesus name Amen

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Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/2qWUqPqM5lo.mp4
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/zac-poonen/walking-as-jesus-walked/
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