Maximum And Minimum Christians - Christ's Bride And The Harlot Church - Zac Poonen

as i've studied through the bible i find there are two streams that flow right from genesis from the beginning of human history outside the garden of eden which is genesis 4 all the way to the end of human history in revelation chapter 18 and 19 2021 and it's good for us to see these because whether we know it or not all of us are being caught up in one of these two streams and it's very important that we are in the right stream so please listen as i share the first event recorded after the afterman was turned out of eden is cain and abel offering sacrifice to god and god accepting abel's sacrifice he was the younger brother and rejecting cain's sacrifice and i think the way cain saw abel's sacrifice being accepted was it's the usual way in the old testament fire would come down from heaven and consume that sacrifice and cain saw the fire coming unable to sacrifice and no fire on his and the reason as i have often said which if you heard me before is that in genesis 4 verse 3 it says cain brought an offering whereas abel verse 4 brought the very best offering the first flings of his flock and of their fat portions some people who don't read scripture properly say it was because of abel bringing us a blood offering and cain bringing a grain offering that's not the reason because grain offerings are accepted in the book of leviticus and uh kane was a farmer so he could really bring a great grain offering and abel was a shepherd so he brought the sheep there was no great virtue in that but in it's very clear in hebrews 11 where it says that god accepted abel and by faith he accepted abel and here it says here right here and the lord genesis 4 verse 4 the lord had regard not for abel's offering but for abel and he had no regard not for cain's offering verse 5 genesis 4 5 but for cain the offering had value because of the man who brought the offering verse 4 it was not the question of whether there was blood in the offering or not and cain's offering had no value because of who cain was so there was something in the character of these men that god rejected and which god accepted in abel so that's where we find the difference came so if you think of that that these two streams there are people who offer to god among christians those who bring an offering to god and those who say god must get the very best and you find that even in churches in christians you probably look in your own heart and you see what your attitude is we don't have to judge anybody else but it's good for us to judge ourselves before god and see which of these two streams we fall into are we bringing an offering to god to ease our conscience and to say we have done the minimum required or when we come to off to give ourselves or anything to god that we give the very best see i call this the maximum type of christian and the minimum type of christian those are the two streams essentially the minimum type of christian is the one whose reasoning is what is the minimum i have to do to be accepted by god what's the minimum i have to do to go to heaven what is the minimum i have to do to be accepted in nccf as a good brother or a sister that people don't look down on me or reject me a minimum necessary to be accepted as a committed member of the church and there are others when they come to a church their whole attitude is what is the maximum i can do to build the body of christ in this fellowship god has placed me in what is the maximum i can do in my one life that i have it's a very short life of maximum 100 years that i have on earth for god what is the maximum i can do and each of us can evaluate ourselves and this is not something that once we choose the maximum we'll remain there a lot of people who start off with a tremendous desire to the maximum for god you see them 10 years later they've compromised all the way down because the pleasures of the world and love of money and so many other things come in and they've moved away from the able stream to the cane stream now this is something that flows right through scripture and i won't be able to go through all of them but when you come to the time of david and you don't have to turn there but you know there were two streams there too one is represented by saul and the others by david these are again the day's two streams that flowing from cain and abel now when saul was selected to be king i don't know whether you remember this that they drew lots and they selected saul and when they looked for him we read that he was hiding he didn't want to be the king he was such a humble modest man that even when his name was selected we read in genesis 1 samuel chapter 10 that he was hiding on samuel 10 22 hiding behind a lot of suitcases he's hiding in the baggage it says and they pulled him out and anointed him king and how in such humility he started off when there were people who despised him and certain worthless men genesis 10 sorry 1 samuel 10 27 said how can this wretched saul deliver us and they wanted to despise him but it says he did not get offended he kept silent amazing how he started one samuel 10 27 but the same man you read three or four chapters later he's begun to have high thoughts about himself because he won some victories which god helped him to and then he dared he dared to do what no king was supposed to do to do the job of a priest and offer a sacrifice to god it was god's law in the old testament that a king should never be a priest a priest will never be a king because that was they didn't know that then but that was reserved for jesus christ to be the first king priest after the order of melchizedek today we are kings and priests but in the old testament that king could never be a priest and a priest could never be a king and it was a very serious thing when a king crossed the cross his boundary and decided to act like a priest and when saul did that that's the time when samuel came to him and said god has rejected you when samuel 13 14 and god has chosen a man after his own heart and that was david so he had two streams both started david started humbly too saul started humbly too but once god blessed him and anointed him he began to get puffed up david even after god anointed him of course he failed he slipped up but we never see david as a proud arrogant man looking down on others like saul even when his son betrayed him he longed that he would not be killed so there's there's a difference there between saul and david they were not david was far from perfect he committed adultery but there was something in david's heart a certain humility which even when a prophet came and rebuked and he accepted you know many kings in the old testament would not accept rebuke from a prophet they say who's this guy david did even though he was a king so you see there's a difference there between saul and david saul seeking his own and rejoicing in the fact that he's got a position of authority and david humbly submitting to god's discipline so that's the same stream there that started with cain and abel saul and david and you can meditate more on that and comes all the way down into the new testament and again you see the two streams there in the pharisees and the disciples of jesus in the gospels now the pharisees are great scholars they knew the bible jesus himself gave a certificate to the pharisees in matthew 23 he told his disciples everything that the pharisees teach you you can do it because their doctrine is absolutely right i mean the understanding of their knowledge of scripture rather not understanding of it their knowledge of scripture was excellent i'm absolutely sure the pharisees knew the bible better than the disciples and you see these two streams again the pharisees doing the minimum required to be accepted by god paid tithe of dil and annas and come in but arrogant in their hearts and the disciples who probably didn't know so much of scripture but who gave up everything give up their jobs and gave up everything to follow jesus even some of their preferences do you know that there were two people who were completely two different political parties who became disciples of jesus matthew was a servant of the ruling roman empire he was a tax collector for them that's why the jews despised the tax collectors like zacchaeus and matthew he was a servant of the political system the current ruling political system and there was another disciple in jesus group called simon the zealot the zealots were a party that were determined to overthrow the roman empire they said we don't want rome to rule over israel we are descendants of abraham isaac and jacob we don't want any of these people to rule over us and they were there to a revolut in a revolution overthrow the roman empire of course we couldn't do anything but that they were plotting to do that just like in many countries and here were two people in completely opposite political far right and far left type of people like people talk today and jesus brought them together and i want to say this my brothers uh ancestors i'm absolutely certain that matthew and simon did not discuss politics when they were disciples of jesus like a lot of christians do today who promote their far right view or some other left field whatever it is you've got to be a disciple of jesus and forsake all that if you really want to be a disciple stick to all that you end up like the pharisees and the sadducees and the zealots and etc etc so there were the pharisees who were one stream who they had religion they had a knowledge of the bible but it was all in their head it didn't they always thought of as i said what is the minimum we need to do to please god and here were the disciples who thought what is a maxim we can do to follow this wonderful savior they gave up their jobs they gave up everything to follow the lord so those are the two streams you find coming right through the bible and now we are two thousand years after them and we need to recognize this those streams are flowing in the world and in christendom today those streams are flowing in every church including nccf and we are not here to decide whether the other person is in this stream or that stream all we need to do decide is which of these two streams am i in that's what you need to ask yourself and we shouldn't flatter ourselves even if the elders have a high opinion of you that is fit for the trash can i mean i'm not saying the opinion of a godly man is not important if it is a really godly man and a really godly elder and i believe his opinion would be important for example if i was living in the time of paul and the apostle paul had a certain opinion about me i would certainly think of that as very important because there is a man of god having a certain opinion about me which convicts me so uh but otherwise apart from the opinion of a godly man the opinion of all other people are just fit for the trash can so we ourselves know just ask yourself this question and you'll find out pretty soon which of these two streams you're in do you bring an offering like kane or do you bring the very best like able you do the minimum necessary in order to be accepted by god like saul or you say like david said in second samuel 24 24 i will never offer to the lord listen to this david said i will never offer to the lord that which costs me nothing those are david's words in second samuel 24 24. when he had to offer a sacrifice and the farmer there who was this subject of david said yeah i'll give you everything i'll give you the oxen i'll give you the altar i'll give you the wood everything he said no if i take it free from you and give it to god what does it cost me i'll pay for it and then i'll give it to god because i will never give to my god that which cost me nothing and that is a spirit that characterizes those who follow in this stream where jesus is the leader of that's how jesus came he never offered to the father that which cost him nothing but cost him everything to follow the father for the pharisees it was just bible knowledge going to the synagogue regularly in today's terms going to church making sure you're there present for every meeting you're not a backslider because you're there and every sunday you make sure you attend every meeting and you think that's okay it's not okay it's a question like i often said this people used to ask us in india brother zach what is the difference between your church and other churches i say well in many ways we are similar we meet in church buildings and we've got hypocrites in our church just like every other church but and there are churches which have good doctrines we've got we believe good doctrines but i say there's one big difference i find between us and many other churches for us for most other churches sunday is the important day the day when they go to church as they say it and the day they hear the word of god and they sing and meet together with other believers that's a most important day for them i said but for us in our church the most important day is monday and tuesday wednesday thursday friday saturday and sunday afternoon after you go home in other words it's the way you live at home six and a half days of the week which is much more important for us in our church than the half a day that you come on sunday morning to a church service i said that is one big difference we emphasize on in our sunday morning service not how well you sing or how well you can preach or how many how much offering you give these things don't mean anything to us but we emphasize how you live the remaining six and a half days after the threat service is over actually that's one big difference so that also falls in line with what i said earlier about the minimum necessary to please god and the maximum i can do in my one earthly life it's very very a searching question if you are honest before god you get tremendous light on yourself i keep asking myself that i say lord i have only one life to live and i don't want at the end of my life to be able to look back over my life and say well i kept all the rules i went to church meetings regularly i never committed any serious sins i never molested any woman i never killed anybody and i faithfully gave my offerings and i did all the minimum necessary that evangelical christians are supposed to do i do not want to end my life like that not at all and that's something i shouldn't think of at the end of my life i remember when i began my christian life as a young christian when i was 21 years old i got baptized one of the first verses that the lord gave me one of the very first verses at a time when i knew very little of scripture was from that story of david in second samuel 24 verse 24 where he said i will never offer to the lord that which costs me nothing and the lord said to me there in your life never offer to me that which has cost you nothing i said lord to the best of my ability i will follow that i will not ever insult you by offering you a cheap sacrifice which has cost me zero or cost me very little and you know there are many christians today who sacrificed such a lot to advance in their profession good who sacrificed such a lot to save money to build a nice house okay fine nothing wrong in that sacrifice such a lot to get a good car or fine fine fine fine nothing against all that god is not against any of these things i mentioned the question is how does it compare with what you give to god i don't mean money money is the we don't even i don't say the last thing we don't even talk about it in cfc jesus never talked about giving money he wanted people to give themselves i beseech you brethren by the mercies of god romans 12 1 present yourselves a living sacrifice to god that romans 12 1 is the equivalent i always say that's the equivalent of the old testament type it's not 10 it is your body and your mind i beseech you you have all the mercies of god in the old testament it was in you of all that god has done for you folks all the tribes of israel give 10 of your flock or your brains don't withhold that fine when you come to the new testament it says in view of all the mercies of god god doesn't want your money he owns the silver and gold and the cattle on a thousand hills why does he want your money he's not a beggar he's not harder he says well there is something i do want from you your body romans 12 1 and your mind romans 12 2 if you don't give him that if you don't give him every part of your body and allow your mind to be renewed to think like god thinks which is revealed in scripture you haven't really given what god wants that's what it means in the new testament to give to god that which costs us something so then we fall into the stream of the disciples and it involved a lot of suffering but well that also begins with cain and abel the folks who the minimum christians will kill the maximum christians cain killed abel and saul tried his best to kill david and god protected david and the pharisees killed jesus and the pharisees killed the disciples and subsequently other religious people killed the disciples of jesus in the early centuries and even today that's going on so those who choose to give god the maximum won't have a very enjoyable life they'll be persecuted sometimes physically by death and sometimes by being called false prophets and devil and all types of names and you know i think of when people used to call me all types of names like false prophet and devil and i've been called the whole thing i think of what jesus said if they have called the head of the house bill's people how much more the members of his family you know that verse in the matthew if they have called the head of the family bills a book what worst names will they give to the members of his family i remember reading that as a young christian and i said lord has anybody called me a bad name for being a disciple of jesus i thank god for the privilege i've had through the years of being called almost every bad name because i've stood up for the truth and then i see from that verse that proves that i am a member of his household because that's what he said if they call the head of the household bill zebu how much more the members of his household i said lord i want to be in that member of your household where people have called me by worst names i want to ask you my brothers and sisters you are all many of you are respectable christians i want to ask you if you've ever been called a bad name for being a disciple of jesus by your relatives perhaps or by people who think you're a fanatic or standing up for things which they say why stick up all these silly things other christians perhaps other believers that is one indication that you're in that stream that's flowing towards the kingdom of god now where does this stream end it ends in the last book of the bible in what is called babylon and jerusalem what began as cain and abel and flow through the scriptures it ends in babylon and jerusalem so turn with me to revelation and chapter 17 17 to 21 is the closing chapters of the bible where it speaks about babylon and jerusalem and these are not systems that suddenly turned up it was way back in the beginning where man they wanted to be religious sure cain was not a idol worshiper you know that he offered his sacrifice to jehovah to the true god he did not go from gopher to an idol so those who are in that minimum stream are not idol worshipers they're not non-christians they are people who worship the true god but they give the minimum necessary that was kane's problem and they are jealous of someone else who's more accepted by god that's another mark of being in that minimum stream if you can look at another believer maybe in nccf maybe another brother or another sister who seems to be more gifted than you are who seems to be more accepted by others in the church than you are and you feel a little jealousy and you want to do something to be accepted like them you are following after king let me tell you the truth i've often said in my home church in bangalore i say it's a dangerous thing to come here i said if you're not serious about knowing the truth because you'll hear the truth here and your responsibility before god will increase so if you don't want to hear the church the truth go and sit in some other church and at least you can tell god i never heard it but if you come here you're going to know the truth and your responsibility will increase to whom more is given more will be required jesus said so it's very important to examine ourselves in the light of what god is trying to say to us is your attitude that it came i bring an offering or that of able i bring the very best in everything the best of my time the best of my energy the best of my life i've we we never talk about money because jesus never talked about money the only thing he said be careful that your own love money but he never talked about people coming to give money because he was not interested in that the thing which most because christendom is interested in we decided right from the beginning in cfc we'll never talk about it we are we are one of the only denominations in the world that do not even pass an offering back around in any of our more than 100 churches we are one of the only denominations in the world where our elders are not paid nobody not me and nobody else as a group so because jesus never collected money jesus never expected money from people for preaching no he was free from all that he couldn't live a grand style but he was happy with what he had but he did emphasize that if you want to be my disciple you've got to forsake everything and follow me that means that attachment to the world's pleasures the world's wealth and the world's honor particularly these three things the world's wealth and the world's pleasures and the world's honor if i'm not willing to forsake these i can't be a disciple of jesus so when you come to revelation chapter 17 you read about babylon and this is a system there are many denominations in christianity the talk of some other denomination is babylon and they've told people we came out of those dead denominations and now our church is jerusalem wow i hope so i used to think like that in my early days when i did not know the scriptures and i did not know god but i have come to see now that it's not one particular church that is babylon or another church that is jerusalem no it's a system the world what the bible calls the world is a system and that system can exist in the mind of somebody sitting in nccm you can sit in the mind of somebody who preaches an ncc and everybody who sits here is not necessarily part of jerusalem not at all and there could be his people with the spirit of jerusalem in some other church what is it that makes babylon we've seen some of it already but turn with me to revelation 17 now here it speaks about babylon as a woman a harlot and verse 5 she's not just a harlot uh whereas revelation 17 5 babylon the great now babylon is called great 11 times in revelation one of his marks is greatness greatness in the world or greatness in the church you want to be great in the church you're going the direction of babylon greatness anywhere in this earth in any system whether you call it church whether you call it nccf when you call it cfc whatever you call it babylon is the great you want to be known as a great brother or a great preacher or a great saint you're going the wrong direction the wrong stream jerusalem is on the other hand in revelation 21 verse 2 see the contrast revelation chapter 21 verse 2 jerusalem which is the true church of god is called the holy so these are the two streams the great and the holy and it's only a question of which we want for which we long for which do you want to be do you want to be known as a great sister or great brother or a great young person or not you want to be known the moment you use the word known you're seeking honor if you want to be known to be holy you're in the wrong street the moment you want to be known for something good you are seeking greatness even if it is you want to be known to be holy you want to be known as one of the holy brothers or the holy sisters or one of the holy young people in nccf you are in the wrong stream that is babylon the great jerusalem is called the holy and holiness is something which is lived only before the face of god and it's something only god knows because holiness is of the heart jerusalem holy babylon the great so that's the contrast we see here and the other thing we see here is that babylon uh revelation 17 5 is the mother of harlots not just the harlot but the mother of mother prostitutes that's the word we don't use the word harlot so often nowadays it's they use wars and harlots in those days we talk about prostitutes babylon the prostitute the great prostitute and it's a picture of one who claims to be the bride of christ but plays the fool with the world that's babylon it's a person who claims to be married to christ fools around with the world and it's not just the harlot she's the mother of hollis you know the people who save and they look here and say well it looks as if it says here that this is referring to the city of rome because it says in verse nine the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits and it's well known that rome was built on seven hills and so they're talking about rome there and they say finally it leads to the roman catholic church well even if the roman catholic church is the harlot it's the mother of harlots it's produced numerous harlots and protestant systems and numerous harlots and pentecostal systems because babylon is the mother of harlots so even if something came out of a particular church it's produced so many other harlots all it means ones who claims to be devoted to christ but inwardly is devoted to something in this world that's like a it's like a person's wife inwardly wishing that she were married to somebody else even if she doesn't go and live with that person wishing i wish i have a married to that person i wish i have a marriage to that person that's a harlot she's not a faithful wife and i want to show you in second timothy in chapter three three things that compete with god that lead us to holiday a woman who should be loving her husband loving something else to a greater or a lesser degree second timothy and chapter three we read here about four types of lovers it was two lovers of self again in verse two lovers of money and verse four lovers of pleasure and the fourth is lovers of god the lovers of god are in one stream and the other three lovers are in the other stream the harlot is one who claims to love god but if you look at her inner desires and actions in private and what's mostly going going on in her thoughts is money pleasure and self means honor pleasing oneself with money pleasure and honor entertainment not for the sake of relaxation but entertainment for the sake of pleasure that is defiling movies that defile our mind pleasure the pursuit the inward longing for money beyond our needs to be wise to save up for our children and make sure we have enough to educate them like we ourselves are educated that's a righteous thing to desire we must desire for children for our children what our parents did for us sure but the pursuit of something which is way beyond what we need is a love of money a love of pleasure and a love of honor and that loving honor need not be in the world it can be the church if i love honor i'm in babylon whichever church you sit in because babylon is one who loves honor so that is holla tree the opposite of all that is one who loves god supremely that's why jesus said you know the first commandment is to love god with all your heart and soul and strength and mind that is the salvation is from the opposite of that sin is to not love god with all your heart soul and mind and when it says jesus came to save us from our sins what do you mean it's not just he came to save us from pornography and telling lies and hating people he came to save us from this not loving god with all our heart soul and strength and mind anything contrary to that is sin this is the first commandment and if jesus said that very clearly the first commandment is you've got to love god with all your heart soul strength and mind and when you don't keep the first commandment you're sinning what better definition of sin can then be than that here is god's command let me repeat love god with your all your heart your mind your strength and all your energy and everything disobedience to that is sin and when he said jesus came to save us from sin this is what he came to save us from he came to save us from not loving god with all our heart soul strength and mind that is sin and holiday is to love something else with our heart and soul and strength in mind to some extent you know even if your uh wife loves some other man just a little bit i mean she loves you 75 but she's got a little love for this other man and a little love for this other man and a little love for this other man that's holiday i'll show you all of your husbands who agree there you don't want your husband your wife to give you 75 of her love or 70 of a love and 10 each to three other people well neither does god god doesn't want you to love him 70 and 10 money and love pleasure and love honor no then you shall love the lord your god with all your heart and all your strength and all your mind it's pretty total god's demand of us but that's not unreasonable because all of you husbands demand that type of love from your wives so it's nothing unreasonable that the lord is demanding from us absolutely right that is the bride anything other than that is horritory prostitute a wife who loves some other man 10 percent is a prostitute i would say without any hesitation and that's what's pictured here in babylon one who loves god maybe 70 but he's got other things other loves in his life which are contrary to the love of god and that's harlotry and you see another thing here in revelation 17 that this this woman is pictured like a this babylon is pictured as a woman revelation 17 4 clothed in purple and scarlet and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls this is all decorated with all that is of the world quite a contrast to the bride you see the contrast is what we see always the bride is we read in revelation 19 and verse 8 the bride is clothed in fine linen bright and clean that's it it's not with all these grand gold and precious stones and pearls and purple and scarlet that's the mark of the harlot and here's the contrast to the bright when whenever when a woman wants to decorate herself what is it for to be a to attract other men even though she's a married woman it's not enough that her husband is happy with her she wants to appear attractive to other men that's a prostitute to be decently dressed all that is good good thing but if you want to make yourself attractive to other men that's prostitution without a doubt and when when a christian wants not only to please god but also to please the spirit of the world this prostitution so we see here also this woman is sitting on a beast and i want you to see here that this beast is a political system in those days it was rome and the bible speaks here about a christianity the woman sitting on a beast christianity joining with the political system in the world it did not start in america with the conservative party no it started with rome with the when constantine became emperor of rome until then 300 years christians were persecuted and then constantine became the emperor of rome and he claimed to be a christian and all of a sudden the temples became converted to church buildings and the heathen priests suddenly became christian priests and the top priests became christian bishops and there started the roman catholic church and other churches where you have a hierarchy of bishops archbishops pope and all types of people who are now and big buildings and everything else everything that was of that heathen system in 300 years now became christian it's and the political system supported it if you read the history of the christian church the popes were always getting the support of the emperors in france and germany and all that's how they supported themselves where christianity and politics went together where christians seek to be friends with the political rulers you see that in the united states and you know which party there are two big parties in the united states and you see which party is seeking more for that to use christianity to get votes for yourself you ask yourself be honest and see which party is doing that i'm not for either party i'm a follower of jesus christ and i don't ask anybody to vote for this party or that because i'm a disciple of jesus and i say you decide whom you may be voting is essential but you decide that and i'll decide for myself but i recognize there is a system here where where politicians want to use christianity to get votes for themselves and you see that it's happened in this country for years i've i've watched american elections for the last 20 30 years in in the news and i see what happens politicians trying to woo christian leaders to get votes even going to churches and speaking to get votes for themselves holding up a bible to show i'm a christian it's babylon through and through if you have eyes to see it you'll see it and you have to steer clear of that christianity is the babylon riding the beast all i say is don't get caught up in that system be a disciple of jesus and what does the political system do finally it says here finally when it's all when they've got what they wanted it says the beast will then verse 16 revelation 16 hate the harlot and make her desolate and naked and eat her flesh and burn her up with fire that's what the roman catholic church finally did to the true disciples of jesus they killed them christians were killing christians in the middle ages exactly what happened they joined they joined hands with babylon and finally the beast tore babylon to pieces and we'll see that happening mark my words it'll happen in revelation chapter 18 we see babylon described here in 17 it was described as a political system trying to use christianity for its own benefit in revelation 18 it is money the money is the other the economic system of the world is another babylon you've got to be very careful we have to live here we need to use money to live we need to save money jesus used money he earned money as a carpenter and i'm sure he was very wise in using money and i'm sure he saved money because he had six siblings to look after four brothers and two sisters and he had a widowed mother so i'm sure he saved money he didn't spend every cent he earned the same day and even when he was a full-time worker he had a little bank with judas's bag was a bank where people gave jesus money and they he put it in the bank because the banker was a crooked person but jesus saved for the future the bible says that go to the ant and see how it saves up for the winter season and we need to save up that's okay but when a person gets taken up with money money money money where your mind is always on that that's the danger the way to know whether our mind is on god or on money is to ask yourself and this only none of us even your wife cannot answer for you and your husband cannot answer for you but you can answer for yourself how much of the time is your mind on making far more money than you need there's nothing wrong in that if you can use it to bless others that's good say lord i like to earn a little more money so that i can help other meaty people great that's a very good way to think but i'm thinking of people who are only thinking how can i make more just very greed to have the feeling of being rich i have so much and i tell you you don't have to be a millionaire to think like that i often say do you think the poor beggars who sit in the streets in india don't think about money they're thinking about money 24 hours it's not only rich people who think about it you go to the poorest person do you think there's a beggar in the world who doesn't love money you think there's a homeless man who stands on the streets or sleeps on the sidewalks here who doesn't love money the poorest and the richest all love money it's there it's part of our system and if i face up to it and say lord i'm a lover of money i can be delivered from babylon otherwise i will not be delivered i remember years ago reading this came home strongly to my heart in luke chapter 19. there's a great lover of money there called zacchaeus he was also part of the political system the roman system because he was working for them and getting benefits from them as a tax collector a picture of babylon there zacchaeus working for the political system getting benefits from the political system by being a tax collector for them and cheating people and making a lot of money and built a big house etc but he found in his heart an emptiness and he heard about jesus and he wanted to secretly go and see him and you know the lord who knows people's hearts saw that zacchaeus had a desire for god the holy spirit said when jesus is walking down the road i'm always challenged by the way jesus lived in the prompting of the holy spirit i said lord i want to live like this jesus was walking down the road one day and the holy spirit said stop just look up in the tree there's somebody sitting there jesus stop you're so sensitive to the voice of the spirit when we us when we seek to listen to the holy spirit in the matters of sin you will also hear him telling you in the matters of leading you to serve him in some supernatural way if you don't listen to his voice when he tells you to turn away from sin you will not have these supernatural experiences jesus was so free from sin that he had that voice saying look up there's somebody on the tree you've never met him before and the holy spirit says i'll tell you his name also his name is zacchaeus jesus never met him before and jesus went up there and he called him zacchaeus and zacchaeus was wondering how in the world does he know my name hurry up and come down i must stay at your house not just visit you i'm going to stay tonight in your house and all the people laughter jesus grumbled saying he's gone to be verse 7 the guest of a man who's sinner luke 19 7 but jesus knew the hunger in this rich man's heart he was fed up of his wealth and his pursuit of money and zacchaeus knew that if he wanted to follow the lord he had to set all his financial matters right he did not need a sermon on that no today so many believers need sermons on how to make restitution and how to give back money that you've taken and how to repay your debts and all that zacchaeus needed nothing like that without any sermon he listened to the prompting of god in his spirit and he knew that he should not be in debt he only knew that he must return all the money that he cheated and immediately you know it's an amazing word here in revelation 19 8. zacchaeus jesus and zacchaeus are walking towards his house and as he came to the gate of his house he stopped you never see that anywhere else in the gospels zach he is stopped why i think he was telling jesus lord this house that you see it was built with unrighteous money i can't expect you to come in there and live here tonight it is built with unrighteous money i earned it with unrighteousness but i give you my word right here before you enter the gate i will give back four times that is including interest for all the years i took this money to all the people i'll find out where they are get their address and return four times the money i took from them and then he said that a whole lot of other people i don't know where they are but i've cheated them but i cannot keep that money so the only way i can give it to god is i'll give it to the poor in those days that's how they gave to god give to the poor today you can put it in the offering box so i'll give it to the poor and jesus said this is the only time in all the gospels that jesus ever said these words salvation has come to this house today now zacchaeus had not paid back all the money he'd probably taken a few years to repay all that money he's got to find out where everybody is but jesus knew this man would keep his word god doesn't wait till we finish paying back our debts when he sees your sincere you're blessed from that very moment today salvation has come even before you paid everything back zach is because i know you paid all back and then this is the word that blessed me when i first read it more than 55 years ago the son of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost when you read a verse like that read it in its context i always say read study the bible in its context lost the son of man has come to seek and to save those who are lost in sin in this passage the meaning is the son of man has come to seek and to save those who are lost in the love of money like zacchaeus and i read that i raised my hand to the lord many years ago and i said lord please seek and save me because i must be honest i'm also lost in the love of money i was a naval officer but i don't want to be lost in it lord i want you i can't save myself like i cannot save myself from any sin i cannot save myself from the love of money it is impossible i cannot save myself from sexual lust i cannot save myself from anger i cannot save myself from murmuring complaining i cannot save myself from any money from the love of money but i thank god that the son of man came to seek first and to save those who are lost and i raised my hand and i said lord i am lost please seek me and save me and it did not happen in a moment but over a period of time he delivered me the love of money is like an onion be layer after layer after layer after layer has been peeled off i have not come to the end of the onion i have to honest be honest and say my attitude to money is still today not the same as the attitude of jesus but i want to get there and every time i see a layer of the onion i peel it off because jesus is saving me from the love of money but boy the onion has become a lot thinner than it was once and i'm determined to go to the center of the onion when christ comes back i'll be completely free but i don't want to sit back and say ah when he comes i'll be free no i want to work to i've got to purify myself as he is pure so that is babylon free politics and babylon with money and the other thing you see in babylon is also and i want you to see in revelation chapter 18 is something else i'd like you to see it says here um a lot of description of wealth in revelation 18 verse 12 and 13 gold and silver and stone precious stones and pearls and purple and silicons call it fancy clothes and all that type of stuff and instead of horses and chariots you could say cars and airplanes and everything else and then it says here how uh there's another thing here mentioned which i want you to see here but the lord says about when babylon is destroyed verse 22 revelation 18 22 the sound of harpists and musicians and flute players and trumpeters musical instruments there's a lot of music in babylon did you know that you know who were the first people who invented musical instruments the very first you read about them in genesis 4 they were the descendants of cain the descendants of cain were the ones genesis 4 21 whose invented the liar on the pipe and all that musical instruments were first invented by the descendants of cain not the descendants of evil music has to be sanctified if we want to offer up in worship to god otherwise we can be so taken up with the ability to play music more than to worship god and we have so much of that in christian music today with you see that in all the people who make money as musicians who become millionaires can you imagine becoming a millionaire singing songs to glorify jesus christ what is that it's babylon true and true how in the world can a person sing a song to glorify god and the result become a millionaire it's amazing that christians don't see that because they are not free from the spirit of babylon themselves babylon has entrenched itself so much in christendom that if anyone speaks against it he's considered a fanatic well i'm willing to be considered a fanatic they call my savior guilty so it's okay but it says all this will not be found in you any longer i remember somebody asked me about rock music i said you look at the pictures of these rock musicians on the covers of their cds you can look at them and see they are worshippers of the devil and now it's called christian rock this thing called christian rock i see that's like christian adultery christian murder christian wrong it's amazing that people don't see it i say are you really worshiping god here are you trying to get people to appreciate how well you can strum that guitar and how well you can play this instrument i'll tell you this a day is coming and the sound of artists and musicians and food players and all those musical instruments that were invented from the time of cain's children will not be heard anymore i'm not against musical instruments in the psalms it says there use the trumpet and the harp and everything else to glorify god but make sure it's to glorify god and not to glorify yourself and not just to produce a nice sound it must be for the glory of god all even if you eat and drink it says in one corinthians 10 do it for the glory of god how much more when you play an instrument it must be for the glory of god otherwise it is babylon the truth of god is not proclaimed much in these days unfortunately but having seen that i want to say one more thing before i close hallelujah is a word that is very commonly used particularly in pentecostal circles let me give you a bible study on the new testament use of the word hallelujah i never see jesus using it at least in the gospels i never see the apostles using it in any of the episodes people ask me sometimes hey brother zach why don't you say hallelujah now and then i'm not against it like other preachers say it's fine i when i say i i'll tell you where i'll say hallelujah in the new testament the first time it's the word hallelujah is used only four times in the new testament and all four times are here in revelation 19 verses 1 to very good bible study where is the word hallelujah used in the new testament we say we are new covenant christian fellowship where is hallelujah used in the new testament revelation 19 1-6 and three times it is used because they are celebrating the destruction of babylon is that why you say hallelujah hallelujah revelation 19 1-2 why because babylon has been destroyed again a second time hallelujah because of smoke verse 3 the smoke of babylon rises up forever and the third time they fell down and say hallelujah babylon is destroyed babylon is destroyed babylon is destroyed hallelujah i'm ready to say halloween for that and then finally the last hallelujah is verse 6 hallelujah finally the lord our god the almighty reigns because babylon has been destroyed let us rejoice because now verse 7 it's time for the bride the opposite of babylon to make herself ready for the marriage of the lamb we are preparing the church for this wedding and the bride is clothed has made herself ready verse 7. have you noticed that we are close to the righteousness of christ but there's something we have to do ourselves it says here the clothes that the bride has verse seven she made herself ready didn't say the lord made her ready she made herself ready are you making yourself ready by freeing yourself from the spirit of babylon that's the only way to be a part of the bride of christ and when you have that dress even though you stitch it yourself it is given to her this is the balance is still a gift of god you make yourself ready but even that is a gift of god verse 8 and that is how we are ready for the marriage of the land that's what we look forward to and we pray that we will [Music] be prepared for that day when it says here in revelation 21 2 i saw the holy city new jerusalem coming down out of heaven from god as a bride adorned for her husband and the voice said the tabernacle of god is among men we look forward to the coming of christ i want to be ready i want to be in the right stream and that's the way i think the way i live in secret the sacrifices of god in secret which nobody knows about live before god my brother sister in secret and be ready let your mind be renewed to think as god thinks that the scriptures renew your mind to understand god's ways let's pray heavenly father [Music] in a day of tremendous mixture in christendom help us to separate the good from the evil to choose not just the good but the very best we might keep ourselves pure for you inwardly for man looks on the outward appearance but you look at the heart help us each one we pray in jesus name amen

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Length: 64min 46sec (3886 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 22 2021