Being Broken to Be a Nobody

This is a seven and a half minute video, which is the daily devotion that we have every day on our CFC website. I mean, if you subscribe on WhatsApp, it'll just come to you every day on your WhatsApp file. And this was the daily devotion of 19th April, a couple of days ago.

I'll share something after that. When Jesus began the Sermon on the Mount with these words, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the whole kingdom of heaven. He came to earth to give us the kingdom of heaven.

And he told us there's only one type of person that can get it, the one who is poor in spirit. What is the most important requirement for fellowship? If I were to ask you, for fellowship between two brothers, what is the most important requirement? We'd say walking in the light. But you know, one brother can say, well, he's not walking in the light.

That's the problem. I'm walking in the light, he isn't. What do you do then? Okay, then we move on to something else, say love.

And this brother will say, well, I've got love, he doesn't have love. What do you do then? Or you say humility. And this brother says, I'm humble, all right, but he's not humble.

Where do you go from here? Holiness. I'm holy, he's not holy. And that broken fellowship remains.

But when it comes to being poor in spirit, a man says, I'm poor in spirit, but he's not. That proves he's not poor in spirit. Because a man who is poor in spirit is aware of his own need.

That is the mark of a man who is poor in spirit. He is not aware of the need of others. He's aware of his own need.

Lord, I'm a needy person. His face is in the dust. If you read the book of Job, you have a classic example of this teaching.

Job and his three preacher friends, they're saying, this is why your God is punishing you. This is why you're sick. This is why your children died.

They must have committed some secret sin. And every time Job saying, no, no, no, it's not like that. You don't know I've done this.

I've cared for the widows. I've not made money. My God, I don't even lust after women.

And so many each is back at, it reminds me of some brothers, some husband and wife trying to get them together. This is like this. It's like the book of Job.

And some brothers try to get them together. It's like the book of Job. He's got an answer and he's got an answer and he's got an answer.

And there's one young fellow called Elihu. He was better than the others. He said some good things, but he also couldn't solve the problem to Job.

And then God said, let me speak now. All you preachers, shut up. Let me speak.

And what does God say? Does God say, see how holy I am? No, no, no. There's not one word about his holiness. He asked Job, Job, where were you when I created this universe? Where were you? Tell me.

Can you make an alligator your pet? These are the type of questions he asked Job. Do you know where the snow comes from? Can you produce it? Nothing about holiness, not a word about holiness and sin or any such thing. We try to convict people about sin and those preachers try to convict Job about his sin.

No, no, no, no. God has another way. His ways are so different from man's ways.

The more you know God, you know God if you read the scriptures. You'll see his ways are different. And he says, and Job listens to all this, not one word about Job's sin.

It's all about how great God is. And every time God speaks, Job becomes smaller and smaller and smaller and smaller and smaller and smaller. Finally, he says in chapter 40, God, I'm nobody.

You know, that's what he said. I am a nobody. God said, at last I have accomplished in Job what I wanted to accomplish, to bring him to be a nobody.

Turn to that verse and that is the end result of God's working in Job. God is so full of compassion. What those preachers could not succeed in.

Job finally said in Job 40 and verse 4, after he heard God speak about his greatness, I am nothing. Job 40 verse 4, I am nothing. I lay my hand on my mouth.

I've spoken once. I will not answer. I will not justify myself anymore.

When God can bring you to the place where you say, Lord, I'm nothing. I will lay my hand on my mouth. I've got no answer.

I will add nothing more. He has succeeded. Job was a perfect man in chapter 1. Perfect according to the light he had.

He had so many good things. He never lusted after women before the Bible was written. Don't you think he's a million times better than today's believers? He helped the poor.

He didn't make money, his God, all these things were there, but there was one thing Job lacked. He was proud of his righteousness. And I believe that is a problem with many of us.

We have heard about victory over sin. We have experienced some victory in our life and we have got many good qualities, but we are pretty proud about it. And the proof of it is you get offended when you don't, you're not given prominence.

And you justify yourself when you're corrected. God has to do a work in you like he did in Job. You're an excellent brother, excellent sister, like Job was in chapter 1. But he was not a broken person in chapter 1. By the time you come to the end of that book, he's a broken man.

And finally, in chapter 42, he says, Oh Lord, verse 46, I repent in dust and ashes. He put his mouth in the dust and said, I'm a nobody. I'm living in repentance, repentance, repentance, repentance before you from now on.

And God said in verse 7, the last part, My servant Job has spoken what is right. Can the Lord say that about you? My servant, brother so and so, sister so and so has spoken what is right. What is that? I am nothing.

I'm a nobody. I will not open my mouth and justify myself anymore. I shall from henceforth live with my face in the dust and ashes, and in repentance and brokenness every day.

That's what God is looking for. That is a lesson we can be gripped by right now and forget tomorrow. Very easy.

It's a wonderful thing if we could listen to it every day. It's only seven minutes, just the last part of it especially. Or if husband and wife could remind each other.

We have so many clever things that we can share with each other. We know the Bible. We think we've got revelation and we're in a new covenant church and all types of things.

But I don't know how effective our life is for God. God could take a small boy like Samuel and make him a prophet. God could take and pick up an unknown man like Abraham who was an idol worshipper and change him into a person who became a blessing to millions.

He could pick up ordinary fishermen who are not even educated, never went to college and did a mighty work through them that lasted for two thousand years. But there's one thing God did with all of them. You know how long it took for Jacob to become an Israel, a prince of God? God had to work on him and work him and break him over a period of 40 years, disappointing him.

He married the wrong woman. He thought he was very smart. He got a father-in-law who was smarter than him.

God taught him a lesson through that. He had to live with his father-in-law. That's how God broke Jacob.

Imagine living with your father-in-law for 40 years or 20 years. That's enough to break anybody. Moses, the great man who almost became a pharaoh.

God broke him also by making him stay with his father-in-law for 40 years. Just imagine if you had to live with your father-in-law, however good a father-in-law he is, if you had to live with him, the humiliation of a man having to live with his father-in-law, dependent on his father-in-law supporting him financially for 40 years. That's enough to break anybody.

The proud next pharaoh of Egypt was broken. I'll tell you, my brothers and sisters, we have so many good qualities, but brokenness can be sadly lacking. Like Job said, I'll put my hand on my mouth.

I will not say anymore. I'm nobody. I'm nothing.

We can say it in a moment of revelation when I see the greatness of God, but in a day or at the most a week, it's forgotten. We are back to the old. This is how we gravitate towards the old Adamic flesh.

We had to fight it, fight it, fight it constantly not to go back there. That's why Jesus said you've got to take up the cross every day. And when we break bread, that broken bread is symbolizing I want to be broken like that.

I'm taking part in it, Lord. Your body was broken. You never resisted the Roman soldiers who came and hammered the nails.

All the other thieves and prisoners would resist and kick and curse. Jesus would stretch out his hand, go, yeah, yeah, put the nail. It was painful, but he stretched it out and he put his legs one on top of the other.

Those soldiers must have been surprised what a submissive prisoner this one is, because Jesus was a broken person. Almighty Son of God came on earth when people insulted him and called him the devil. You know what he said? Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man is forgiven.

That's not just those Pharisees who are forgiven. Read that in Matthew chapter 12. Whoever for the next 2,000 years speaks a word against the Son of Man is forgiven right now.

That's what I call future forgiveness. The Lord showed me that some time ago. And the Lord showed me, you got to be like that.

So I said, I am. I'll be like that. And so I said, Lord, whoever speaks a word against Zach Poonen for the next rest of my life is forgiven right now.

So that when someone comes to me later and says, Brother Zach, do you know somebody said this against you or wrote this against you? I say, yeah, I forgave him last year. And they wonder how. I said, because I learned future forgiveness from Jesus.

Whoever speaks a word is forgiven. Imagine if a husband and wife could live like that. Imagine if brothers could live like that.

And not only that, whether your attitude towards your boss or any human being, say whoever does something or says something is forgiven right now. And not just with words, it's easy to say with words, I'm forgiven. But the words must be backed up by actions.

And that's how it was with Jesus, not just words. He was broken and he manifested it on the cross and in everything that the Lord, the Father allowed him to go through. I'm sure there were many, many situations, particularly in the first 30 years where his will was broken.

If Moses and Jacob had to live with their father-in-law, it was just as difficult for Jesus to live with Joseph and Mary, who were not spirit filled people, who were they had not been converted. They were not born again. They were just like ordinary human beings, Jewish people, little God fearing.

But I'm sure they fought with each other. They made so many mistakes. And just like parents would have demanded so many things of Jesus, which was unrighteous and too demanding.

And how do you think Jesus reacted? He would never disrespect his parents, even though they were so imperfect. He would never speak about them. He never turned around them saying, how can you tell me that when you're so imperfect yourself? And he was perfect.

And Jesus says, follow me. And I will make you also a fisher of men to make other people like that's what we are testifying to the breaking of bread.