Understanding Dead Works — Zac Poonen

Understanding God's Ways Rather Than Merely Seeing His Actions

So, we've been considering what it means to understand the ways of God. We saw yesterday that the ways of God are as different from man's ways as heaven is above the earth. And we also saw that under the old covenant, God could not reveal his ways to Israel.

They could only see his actions. But he did reveal them to a few people like Moses. And it's the same today. We find there are Christians who are more taken up with God's actions. They're taken up with external things and miracles and things like that, which in the Old Testament even backsliders experienced.

Most of the people whom Jesus healed went to hell. He healed thousands, but only 120 waited for the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. So, we can say even when Jesus was on earth, many saw God's actions, but very few understood his ways.

And that has continued through all these 2 ,000 years. There are Christians who want to see God's actions. That's what excites them. But they don't read the scriptures and find out that a lot of people saw God's actions are in hell today.

It's an external excitement they are taken up with. But if you understand God's ways, there will be a lasting work in your heart that will last for all eternity. And what God could not reveal to the children of Israel, he has now revealed to us as his children through the Holy Spirit, showing us his ways, heavenly ways, different from earthly ways.

Christ's Death and Deliverance from the World's Values

One of the reasons why Jesus died, you know, most Christians know Jesus died only to forgive our sins. That's fundamental. It's like the foundation, very important. But we also read that he died so that our old man may be crucified with him.

And in his death, he defeated Satan. One more thing, in Galatians chapter 1, he died, Galatians 1 verse 4, he died to deliver us or rescue us from this present evil world, that is this world system of this current age where the devil is the ruler of this world.

There is a whole system in this world with its values. Jesus died to save us from that system, to save us from those values of the world. And I want to ask you who believe that Jesus died for your sins, has Jesus delivered you from the values that this world has?

That's one of the reasons why he died, because there are two kingdoms on earth today. You read about one of them in Matthew chapter 4. We saw in Matthew chapter 3 how John the Baptist came and said the kingdom of heaven is near.

But then we read of another kingdom in Matthew chapter 4, a kingdom that is going to come into conflict with the kingdom of heaven. We saw about the kingdom of heaven yesterday. Notice here what it says in Matthew 4 and verse 8.

The devil took Jesus to a very high mountain, and that is in his mind. It's not that Jesus walked up to a high mountain. In his mind. Temptation always comes in the mind. In the mind the devil put a thought, turned the stones into bread.

In the mind he put a thought, come to the top of the temple and jump down. And Jesus overcame those temptations. And this is the last one. In his mind, he took Jesus to a high mountain and showed him in the spirit the kingdoms of this world.

That's the other kingdom. And if Jesus could be tempted with the kingdom of this world and its glory, don't think that you won't be tempted. You've got to be pretty conceited and proud to think that the devil won't tempt you with something with which he even tempted Jesus.

If I were to ask you, will you be tempted by this world and its glory, I'd say yes. My savior was tempted. I'm not greater than him. And if I think I cannot be tempted by this world and its glory, then let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.

It's good to be humble and acknowledge my brother, sister, however spiritual you may think you are, however much you may think you have advanced in the Christian life, we still have not come to the place that Jesus was when he was 30 years old.

We haven't. We haven't overcome all the temptations Jesus overcame by the time he was 30. And even then, he was tempted with the world and its glory. And I've seen lots of believers who think they're not going to be tempted by the world and its glory, and I can see them gripped by the world and its glory in their life and they don't even know it.

That's the sad thing. If the devil can fool you into thinking that you will not be tempted in some area, that's the area you're going to fall. He tempted him with showing him the kingdoms of the world and the glory.

And what is the glory of the kingdoms of the world? What are the things which the world glories in? You know, you and I have got a lot of worldly friends. Think of all the things they glory in. They glory in money, position, and power, and pleasure, and houses, and lands, and property, and their good looks, and all the things the world glories in, intelligence, everything else.

We can be tempted with these things. And the devil said to Jesus, I will give you all of this, not just one bit of it, all of it, but you have to bow down to me. So I learned something there. The kingdom of heaven is in conflict, not with hell and the demons only, but with the world system, a lot of which looks so innocent, which doesn't look sinful.

I mean, anger, sexual lust, and telling lies, and murder, and adultery, that's all sinful. But there is another realm which doesn't look sinful, which is part of the world and its glory. I have seen in some of our churches, some of you sitting here, who want to become elders.

What is that? It's seeking the glory of this world, that's all. Do you know the number one qualification to be an elder? You have zero desire to be an elder. And that's why many people are disqualified.

The moment I hear that some brother wants to be an elder, I'll never make him an elder in his whole life. Because I know he's disqualified, he's completely unfit, because he's seeking the world and its glory, position, power.

You can seek it in the church, because there is an honor in being an elder. And those who are elders, if they glory in the fact that they are elders and they have power over others, they are completely unfit to be elders.

If they preach in such a way that they have power over others, they are totally unfit. But like King Saul, they may continue to sit on that throne for some time, till one day God Himself removes them.

And I've seen that happen. So it's not only out there in politics and the business world, that the world and its glory are there, it's right in the middle of the church. The world and its glory. And remember this, the devil says, he offered it to Jesus and said, I'll give it to you if you bow down to me.

Compromise, Worldly Gain, and the End-Justifies-the-Means Mentality

So what we learn from there is, the only way to get the power and glory of the world is by bowing the knee to Satan to some extent. Now whether you know it or not, if you have sought for and longed for the glory of this world and got it, I can guarantee you got it by bowing your knee to Satan somewhere.

Nobody else in the church may know about it. You compromised somewhere maybe, you told a little lie. You know, for example, in India, there are a lot of people who like to get a job abroad in some other country, and there's nothing wrong in that.

The whole world belongs to God, and you can go anywhere. But they are so eager to get that, that they will make false statements in their application for a visa. Yeah, I've seen that. There are people who go to another country and live there illegally because they're so eager to get the glory of this world, and they have bowed the knee to Satan.

I'm talking about believers. They say, oh, there's nothing wrong in that. Their excuse is, everybody does it. So there's a lot of compromise, and the devil sits back and says, I've got these people. What I could not make Jesus do, though I tried, I've got some of his so-called younger brothers doing now, bowing down to me in order to get something of this world that they could not get in righteousness and honesty.

I got them to tell a little lie. I got them to bow down to me a little bit, to compromise just a wee little bit. It could be in your job where you do something slightly wrong or cover up something, hide something in order to get some advancement or gain.

Do you know that at that time, like Judas Iscariot, you betrayed Jesus for just a little earthly gain? Judas Iscariot bowed the knee to Satan for the sake of a little bit of silver. He betrayed Jesus Christ.

There are lots of Christians doing that today. Just for a little earthly gain, they will tell a lie, they'll compromise, they'll cover up something, and they got it. The devil said, I've got power to give it to you, I'll give it to you.

Is there anybody sitting here, you got something like that? What are you going to do? Did you cheat in an examination and get a degree? Yeah, you got your degree. Nobody caught you. But how has your spiritual life been?

What are you going to say to the Lord when you stand before Him? The one life God gave you, you pursued after something earthly. You know in India, people even give false birth dates for their children to put them into school early, so that their children can finish school early.

What type of, I mean the world is full of people who are bowing down to the devil. It's terrible when God's children do that. What I want to say is my brothers and sisters, there's a world system that is constantly seeking to come into the church and come into your life.

You must remember, God's ways are heavenly. There are Christians who feel, if my ultimate goal is right, it doesn't matter how I get there. There's a saying that the end justifies the means. That means if my ultimate goal is something good, how I get there doesn't matter.

That means if my ultimate goal, for example, is to save souls and bring them to heaven, it doesn't matter how I bring them. Some manipulation, some do a few wrong things in the way, ultimately get there.

Well, that's the spirit of the world. They do all types of wrong things in order to get some right thing done. And then we say, what is the right way? The right way is the way Jesus did it. There was only one perfect manifestation of someone who did everything according to God's way.

And if you want to understand God's way, you look at Jesus. How did he do it? He never used means which were wrong in order to get to an end that was right. How many Christians believe that the way Jesus and the apostles did it was the perfect way?

That we must not do it any other way? I've been around in Christendom a long time, and I find there are very few people who believe that. The Bible says, Jesus said this, that the main power in this kingdom of this world is money.

And that's why Jesus said in Luke 16 and verse 13, you cannot serve God and money. The main power with which the devil tries to draw people is money. And I'll tell you something, there's nothing wrong in earning money, any amount.

But if money has a power to attract you, you will never be what God wants you to be. You will never be what God wants you to be. Money must have no power to attract us. You know, like a powerful magnet, a magnet can attract steel filings and metals, but things like paper, a book will never be attracted by a magnet.

A magnet cannot pull this book, no matter how strong it is. It can attract steel filings and other metals, but it cannot attract paper. Money can attract certain people, but it cannot attract one who is devoted to Jesus Christ.

However strong that power may be, it's like a magnet cannot attract this book, it can't attract me. Have you come there? Then you can say, money is my servant. Otherwise, if you find that money attracts you, you make decisions on the basis of money, it's attracted you, you're to some degree a slave.

Because the devil says, come, I'll give it to you. It's all given to me. I am the one who decides to give it and look at all the people he's given it to. Look at the people whom he's given it to. He's got lots of servants in every religion who get a lot of it by compromise and sometimes in Christian circles, they say, we're doing it for the Lord's work.

What is God's way in the area of money? The answer is in Jesus Christ. Did Jesus, even once in his life, take an offering after he preached or before he preached? Did he even once in his life, after he healed the sick, take an offering before he healed or after he healed?

Now the apostles followed Jesus Christ. Did the apostles ever do it, to take an offering or pass a collection bag around? No. Where have these practices come from? They've come from Europe and America.

And most Indians blindly imitate the Americans. In fact, most of the world blindly imitates the Americans in whatever they do. That must be the right way. The musicians imitate American musicians. The dancers imitate American dancers.

In politics, they imitate the American way. And Christians imitate the Americans. They think that's the best way. India's full of it. Indian Christendom is full of it. We say, but it's for a good cause.

Exactly. The end justifies the means. It doesn't matter how we get there. It doesn't matter if we don't do it like Jesus and the apostles did, so long as our goal is good. That's exactly what the devil says.

Don't worry about how you get there. The thing is to get there. Imagine if Jesus had adopted that method. He would have violated every law of God while trying to save souls. Is it right to adopt any possible method to save souls?

Oh, if that's the case, then you can hold a gun to their head and say, come on, yield your life to Christ. You can be as stupid as that. In the olden days, some Christian missionaries of certain denominations did that.

They converted people by the sword. It wasn't a conversion. I want to say that to be a witness for Christ in this age means that I must have nothing of this world's values. When the devil says, I'll give you this.

What do you want? You want souls? You want to build your church? Bow down to me. I'll tell you how to have a big church. And you say, no, thank you. I'm not going to adopt your methods. I'd rather live with a small church and follow the principles of God's word.

Giving in the New Covenant and the Nature of Dead Works

In the area of money, what is God's way? Jesus taught us in the Old Testament, it was different. It was an earthly kingdom. And the Lord taught them that you must come and give your 10 out there. And if you don't give the 10%, even the last prophet in the Old Testament said, Malachi, you'll be cursed.

But the moment you come to the heavenly way from the day of Pentecost, when the kingdom of heaven came, it's entirely different. Now God says, you don't have to give me anything. No tithe, no 1%, nothing.

God loves a cheerful giver. And if you cheerfully can give zero, that's all he wants. He wants happiness. He wants cheerfulness. He doesn't want anything. He doesn't want your life. He doesn't want anything that you cannot give cheerfully, because what you don't give cheerfully is a dead work.

You need to understand dead works if you want to understand God's ways. In the Old Testament, they did not have this understanding. If you read through the entire Old Testament, the phrase dead works is not even found there.

That was only good works and evil works. If you paid your tithe, that was a good work. If you didn't pay your tithe, that was an evil work. But in the New Testament, there's another category, good works, evil works, and dead works.

And I'll tell you, 90 of Christians or 99 of them don't even know what dead works are. Do you know what they are? We need to understand God's ways. Dead works are works, good works, done with a wrong motive.

For example, preaching is a very good thing. You can preach to bless people, and there are many people who preach wonderful sermons to bless people, but if their motive is to get money, it's a dead work.

If their motive is to get honor, it's a dead work, particularly Christian singers and musicians. It's much easier to preach a sermon for God's glory than to sing for God's glory. When we sing, we are so conscious of ourselves and our voice and the melodious nature of our voice.

I suppose preachers can be tempted too, but singers much more, musicians much more, how well they can play. And it may be wonderful singing, but if the glory is for oneself, it's a dead work. And you know what the Bible says in Hebrews, we've got to repent of dead works.

You want to understand God's ways? Repent of dead works. Motive is so important. You'll see in the final day when we stand before the Lord, the question will not be, what did you do? The question will be, why did you do it?

You know the difference between what did you do and why did you do it? In the Old Testament, there was no question of why did you do it. Did you do it? Supposing a man was coming to pay his tithe and with a long face and said to the Levite, I don't feel like giving this 10%, but God has said, I've got to give it, okay, here it is.

He had obeyed the law. There was no law which said you must give your tithe cheerfully. No. Because there was no such thing as dead works in the Old Testament. And if you have not understood dead works, my brother, sister, you are still under the old covenant.

They didn't have understanding about dead works there. They did not examine their motives in the Old Testament. And if you never examine your motives, you're under the old covenant. Another dead work is where you do something under pressure.

Somebody forces you, forces you to pay your tithe or put some type of pressure on you to do something, come to the prayer meeting, go house to house evangelism, come out into the streets and preach with me and you reluctantly go with no desire to go.

You may preach. You may do house to house evangelism. The whole thing is a dead work. Come on, here are a hundred tracts, distribute them before next Sunday. And you somehow managed to get rid of the hundred tracts, dead works.

You may impress your leader who is stupid enough to tell you to do such things, but you don't impress God. God loves a cheerful giver of anything. Obedience, he wants it done cheerfully. In the Old Testament, God treated us like, God treated people like babies, like little children.

In the New Covenant, he treats us like adults. You read that in Galatians 3 and 4, I don't have time to show it, you read it sometime. Then we were like children, now we are like sons. The early part of Galatians 4, it says there, the difference between children and sons is the difference between Old Covenant and New Covenant.

Children, we don't wait for cheerful obedience. If you wait for cheerful obedience, you'll never get your children to obey. I never waited for my children to obey cheerfully. I said, whether you're cheerful or not, you better do what daddy says, that's it.

That's the only way to get them to obey. Even to come to a meeting, if they said, if one of my boys said to me one day, I don't feel like coming to the meeting, whether we feel like it or not, you're coming.

But when they grow up and become sons, I don't talk to them like that. Do you? Do you tell your 25-year-old son, whether you feel like doing it or not, do it? That's the difference between a child and a son.

And that's the difference between Old Covenant and New Covenant. In the Old Covenant, whether you feel like it or not, you got to keep the Passover. Whether you feel like it or not, you have to go to Jerusalem three times a year.

It was all like that. Whether you feel like it or not, you have to pay your tithe. Whether you feel like it or not, you have to give a sacrifice for your sin. There was no question of whether you feel like it or not.

But in the New Covenant, if any man will come after me, let him take up his cross. There's no such thing as you must take up your cross. You must give. The reason I'm asking you is, dear brothers and sisters, have you understood this as a fundamental principle of God's ways?

Counterfeit Spiritual Experiences and Healing Claims as Dead Works

If you do something out of somebody manipulating you, it's a dead work. I believe most of the speaking in tongues that I have heard in Pentecostal circuses is all a dead work. I have heard sometimes people speaking in tongues openly in the meeting and on the internet.

And it's usually the same phrases, the same five or six phrases that are repeated by everybody. What is that? Is that a language? It's a counterfeit. Ninety percent of the tongues I've heard is counterfeit because they were manipulated.

There is a genuine gift of tongues. God gives it to those. When God gave me that gift, I didn't seek for it. But for me, it's a language. It's a language, not a repeating of two or three syllables. A language with which I can speak to God.

Because I didn't seek for it. Nobody pressurized me into it. Don't look for it. If God gives it to you sovereignly, take it. But where you're waiting desperately. You know there are some people who desperately, oh, I've got to get into this tongues club somehow or the other.

And then somebody will pressurize you into it. And you'd babble something and say, I got it. You got nothing, brother. You just deceived yourself. Forget it. Some of those people who never spoke in tongues are a million times better than you.

There are a lot of dead works in so many areas. For example, when a person is, somebody prays for someone and he's not healed. And he's told, no, you must confess that you're healed. It's a dead work.

How in the world can he say he's healed when he's not healed? Does God tell us to tell lies? But yet I've heard this numerous times in Pentecostal charismatic circles. Oh, brother, confess. I prayed for you.

Now you're healed. Don't say you're sick. Say I'm healthy. So much of deception. And so many people blindly accept it. When Jesus healed, prayed for a blind man, do you know that all the people Jesus prayed for were healed instantly except one?

There was only one person in the gospels for whom Jesus had to pray twice. He never had to pray twice for anybody. But why was there one case in Mark chapter eight where Jesus had to pray twice? And that was not because he couldn't do it in one shot, because he wanted to teach us a lesson, especially in the 20th century.

And what was that? He prayed for this blind man. He laid hands on him, prayed for him. He said, can you see properly? He says, no. Men and trees look alike. Can you imagine how blind a man is if he thinks a man is a tree?

And this guy says Jesus prayed for him. Jesus did pray for him. What did Jesus say? No, no, no. Don't say you can't see. Say you can see. I mean, if he was like one of today's pastors, that's what he would have said.

Don't confess. I prayed for you. I'm Jesus, son of God. I prayed for you. How can you say you can't see? Say I can see clearly. Can you imagine Jesus saying that? That's what I say. A lot of today's Christian leaders are not like Jesus Christ.

Why are so many Christians deceived by the teaching of these leaders? Remember what I said yesterday? If you don't study the Bible, you deserve to be deceived. If you don't follow the example of Jesus, you deserve to be deceived.

The example of Jesus is so clear. Jesus said, you can't see? Fine. I'll pray for you again. I prayed for him again. Now can you see? Yeah, now I see everything clearly. Let me tell you this, my brothers and sisters, Jesus never wants you to tell a lie.

Jesus never wants you to say that you can see when you can't see, or that you don't have any pain when you have pain, or that you're healed when you're sick. Don't be deceived by all these lies. The devil is the father of lies.

And if you confess that you're healed when you're not healed, you're listening to the devil, the father of lies. God never wants us to confess that we're healed when we're not healed. We can confess our hope, sure.

Hope is that which I have not yet seen. I will be like Jesus when he comes again, to say that I'm already like Jesus. That's a lie. You can say, I believe God will heal me. That's okay. So these are many, many examples, I'm telling you, of dead works.

Works done with no joy. Works done reluctantly because some preacher pressurized you to do something. Get rid of it. Don't become a slave of men. Understand God's ways, that God has no value for those things.

Reconciliation Before Prayer, Giving, and Service

Let me give you another example. Supposing you go to God in prayer, or you put some money in the offering box, and you have not settled matters with your wife. You had a disagreement with her, and you spoke rudely, or with your husband.

And you go to pray. I would advise you not to open your mouth, and not to put money in the box, because God will not accept your prayer or your money. We used to have a verse on our offering box some time ago, which said, be reconciled to your brother first.

Be reconciled to your sister first, in front of the offering box. You know, that means a man's going to put a few rupees into the box, and he suddenly sees that verse and puts it back into his pocket.

We were trying to stop people from putting money into the box. And we still are trying to do that. Because we say, if you're not reconciled, there's somebody against whom you have a tension. You hurt somebody.

I'm not saying somebody's got something against you. The world is full of people who've got something against Christians. I mean, India's full of Christians who've got something against me. Israel was full of people who had something against Jesus.

People are against Paul everywhere. I'm not talking about that. Have you hurt somebody? That's the question. Not hurt somebody because you preached the word of God, but in a selfish way, you got angry with someone for something concerning yourself.

If you put money in the offering box, it's no better than putting it in the toilet and flushing it down. God will not accept it. You pray, your prayer will not go beyond the roof. You need to understand God's ways.

In God's ways, God does not accept anything a person gives, prayer, money, service, nothing, if his heart is not clear in his relationship with other people that those whom he has hurt, he goes and asks forgiveness from.

Now if you go to that person and ask forgiveness, and he says, I'm not going to forgive you. Well, that's, your responsibility is over. Then it is between him and God. You've asked forgiveness. Your responsibility is over.

Listening to God Rather Than Performing Religious Activity

There are so much of dead works that are going on in Christendom. And if you want to go a higher level of dead works, you know, this is what I've explained to you of dead works is the kindergarten level.

As you go on with God, you discover dead works at a higher level and higher level and higher level. You can go all the way to PhD in the Christian life. Let me give you an example. Supposing you want to serve God unselfishly, sacrificially.

You want to do something and you don't spend time listening to God. You're busy serving him. It's a dead work. And the classic example of that is in Luke chapter 10, verse 38 to 42, Martha busy. Who was she cooking food for?

Not for herself. She was sacrificing, making food for 13 people, Jesus and his 12 disciples, sweating away in that hot kitchen, working hard, working hard, working hard, working hard, but inwardly having a complaint against Mary for not coming and helping her in the kitchen.

And she comes to Jesus and Jesus says, Martha, let me paraphrase his words. You think I want all your food? You think I'm impressed with all your sacrificial service? Not at all. Not at all. You think I'm ungrateful to you for not being thankful for all the work you're doing for me in the kitchen?

I don't want that work. I don't want all your service for me. Mary has known what is the one thing that is needful. Luke 10, 42, one thing is needful. Sit at my feet and listen to me and then do what I tell you.

That's a higher level of dead works. I'll give you an example. Supposing you're employed in an office and your first day you're going to work, you got a contract and you got selected for the job and you go to the office and as soon as you go to the office, you begin to do whatever you feel like doing, go to this table and pick up some file and start dealing with that and go somewhere else and do this, that and the other.

And you don't go to the boss and say, what do you want me to do? You'll be sacked in one day. What do you do? You go to the office and say, what do you want me to do? That's what Mary did. If you had a maid servant working in your house and she never asked you what she's supposed to do, just went around doing all types of things, you wouldn't keep her for long.

One Corinthians four, verse two in the living Bible says, the most important thing about a servant is that he does just what his master tells him to. That's how Jesus lived his life. He listened. He listened.

Father, what do you want me to do? You read a great example of that at the end of Luke chapter four, where there was a great revival going on. So many people getting healed through his ministry. Everybody wanted him there.

But before he met them, he had already met the father in the morning and the father had told him, go somewhere else. And so when the people pressurized him, you got to stay here, Lord, it's a great revival going on.

No, I have to go somewhere else. If you can yield to the pressure of human beings without listening to the voice of God, all that you do for God will be a dead work. I faced a lot of that in my life. A lot of people pressurized me to go here, do this, do that, do the other thing.

Well, I say, sorry. I'll do what God tells me to do. I mean, you can think I'm unreasonable or proud or you can think whatever you like, but I'll only do what God tells me to do. I'll only go where God tells me to go.

And I've seen the result of that in the last thirty-five years of not listening to the advice of men as to where to go and where not to go. And I've seen the blessedness in the last thirty-five years of going only where God tells me to go.

And I'll tell you this, that's how Jesus lived. These are God's ways. God's ways are not just run around doing something for God. Jesus taught us to pray, Father, thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven.

How is God's work done in heaven? The angels don't go around doing something for God. You know, people sometimes tell others, new people, why don't you do something for God? Can you imagine Michael telling Gabriel, why don't you go and do something for God?

No, heaven is not like that. They wait on God. They do what many Christians don't do, waiting on the Lord. Those who wait upon the Lord shall exchange their strength, Isaiah 40, 31. They shall mount up with wings like eagles.

While other people are just trying to climb that mountain, those who wait on the Lord fly over the mountain like an eagle and go to their destination a hundred times quicker than these people who are climbing up the mountain.

It's much better to wait on the Lord and listen to what He has to say. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. Are you mounting up with wings like eagles and crossing mountains, or are you walking over that mountain?

Jesus' Obedience Beyond Human Reasoning

When you wait on the Lord and listen to Him, that's how Jesus was. I mean, see a classic example of that. The devil tells him, turn the stones into bread. And he says, I mean, if he had used his reason, he'd have said, yeah, reason says I'm hungry.

I haven't eaten for 40 days. There's no sin in eating bread. God has given me power. I've been anointed 40 days ago. I have the power to turn stones into bread. I'm not cheating anybody. I'm not stealing anybody else's bread.

These are just rocks. There are hundreds of rocks here. One rock disappearing and becoming bread won't make any difference. Let me turn these stones into bread and satisfy me. I'm sure my father will be quite happy with my using my power like that.

Jesus did not do it. He did not live by reason. He told the devil, sorry, I haven't heard any word from my father to turn the stones into bread. If he tells me, I'll do it, but I haven't heard any word from him.

So even though my reason says it's okay, I'm not cheating anybody, I'm not deceiving anyone, I'm not stealing, and I need it, all these things are true, but my father has not told me to do it. How many Christians live like that?