Three Great Truths

Zac Poonen

1. Holiness comes by looking unto Jesus

"Let us run the race....looking unto Jesus" (Heb.12:1,2)

The secret of godliness is found in the Person of Christ Who
came in our flesh (as 1 Tim.3:16 makes very clear) - and not
in the doctrine that Christ came in our flesh. It is through
His Person and not through a doctrinal analysis of His
flesh, that we become holy.

Any amount of self-effort will never make a sinful heart
holy. God has to do a work within us, for that to happen.
Holiness (eternal life) is God's gift - and it can never be
attained by works (Rom.6:23). The Bible states that God
alone can sanctify us (make us holy) entirely (1 Thess.5:23
says that so plainly that no-one can mistake it). Yet
multitudes of believers are struggling to deny themselves in
order to be holy. They become Pharisees instead.  "The
holiness which is no illusion" (Eph.4:24-Philips) is
attained by faith in Jesus - in other words by "looking unto Jesus".

If we keep looking only at a doctrine we will become
Pharisees. The purer our doctrine, the greater the Pharisees
we will become. The greatest Pharisees I have met on earth
were among those who preached the highest standards of
holiness through self-effort!! We have to be careful that we
don't end up as one of them!

What it means to look unto Jesus is very clearly explained
in Hebrews 12:2. First of all we are to look at Him as One
Who lived on earth "enduring His cross" daily - "tempted in
all points as we are and yet without sin" (Heb.4:15). He is
our Forerunner (Heb.6:20), in Whose footsteps we are to run.
Secondly, we are to see Him as the One Who is now "at the
right hand of the Father", interceding for us and ready to
help us in every trial and temptation.

2. The way of the cross is the way of life

"If we died with Him, we shall also live with Him" (2 Tim.2:11)

There is no way for us to have the life of Jesus manifested
in our body other than by accepting death to our Self-life
in all the situations that God plans and arranges for us (2 Cor.4:10,11).

We must "consider ourselves dead to sin" (Rom.6:11) in all
situations, if we are to overcome sin. We must "mortify the
deeds of the body through the Spirit" if we are to live (Rom.8:13).
The Holy Spirit will always lead us to the cross in our daily life.

We are sent by God into situations where we are "slaughtered
the whole day long" (Rom.8:36) and "delivered to death for
Jesus sake" (2 Cor.4:11). In such situations, we must accept
"the dying of Jesus" (2 Cor.4:10), so that the life of Jesus
may be manifest in us.

3. We are called to be rejected and persecuted by men

"All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." (2 Tim.3:12)

Jesus told His disciples that in the world they would face
tribulation, (Jn.16:33); and He prayed to the Father NOT to
take His disciples out of the world (Jn.17:15). The apostles
taught believers that only through much tribulation they
could enter the kingdom of God (Acts 14:23).

Jesus said that if people had called the Head of the house
Beelzebul, the members of His household would be called by
worse names (Matt.10:25). It is thus that we know we are
faithful members of His household. Some of the names that I
have been called, by other "believers", have been: "Devil",
"Son of the Devil", "Evil spirit", "Antichrist", "Deceiver",
"Terrorist", "Murderer", and "Diotrephes". It has been a
great honour to be identified thereby as a part of Jesus'
household. All who serve the Lord faithfully will experience this.

Jesus also said that a true prophet would not be honoured by
"his own relatives" (Mk.6:4). Jesus Himself was not accepted
by His family members. Every true prophet of God will be
rejected and dishonoured by his own relatives, even today.
In the same way, a true apostle will also be "slandered and
treated as the scum of the world and the dregs of all
things" (1 Cor.4:13). Suffering and rejection have always
been the appointed lot of God's greatest servants.

The teaching that the church will be raptured before the
"great tribulation" is a popular one with most believers
because it comforts their flesh to hear it. But Jesus made
it very clear in Matthew 24:29-31 that He will return to
take His elect only AFTER the great tribulation. THERE IS NOT
A SINGLE VERSE IN THE ENTIRE NEW TESTAMENT THAT
TEACHES THAT THE CHURCH WILL ESCAPE THE GREAT
TRIBULATION BY BEING RAPTURED OUT OF IT.
This doctrine was invented by a man in England in the mid-1800s.

We must now prepare the church in our country for persecution.