Spiritual Riches Through Faithfulness With Money (Video) — Zac Poonen

Memorized Promises and Commandments for Christian Living

So, we'll begin with verses we've been memorizing these past few weeks. We'll start with the first one, we'll go quickly through them. The first is a promise from Romans 6 .14. Let's say it together. Sin shall not be master over you, for you're not under law but under grace.

And now make it personal. Sin shall not be master over me, for I am not under law but under grace. Dear brothers and sisters, keep confessing that to the devil, no matter how many times you fall until a day comes when that becomes real in your life.

Okay, the next is a commandment. Let's say it together. Jesus said, he who has my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my father, and I will love him, John 14 .21.

It's very easy when we sing songs of praise to God, like we did this morning, to fool ourselves that we love Jesus Christ. It's a deception. You know whether you love Jesus Christ when you go out from this building, and whether you obey God or not at home.

If you love your wife as Christ loved the church, if you submit to your husband as the church is to Christ, you bring up your children in the fear of God, you don't cheat or tell lies or steal in your place of work, you keep the commandments, you forgive your enemies, love them, bless them, then you love Jesus Christ.

Otherwise, you're in a deception. And you can't have his commandments unless you read the Bible. If you don't read the Bible, you don't love Jesus Christ, because how will you have the commandments? Okay, the next verse.

God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose, Romans 8, 28. That's not a promise for everybody. The check is in the name of those who love God, who wanna fulfill his purpose.

Every single thing, small and big, will work for their good. That's why we give thanks. Next one. Jesus said, every careless word that people speak, they shall give an account for it in the day of judgment.

For by your words, you'll be justified. By your words, you'll be condemned. Matthew 12, 36 and 37. As I said, here's a verse that most Christians do not believe. They keep on speaking careless words, day after day after day after day.

They don't believe. They don't believe that one day every single word they've spoken, they will give an account for it in the day of judgment. That is why I say, even if you speak one careless word, ask forgiveness from God and from the people you spoke it to immediately.

That's the only way to get out of it. Next is a promise. The Lord is my helper. I will not be afraid. What will man do to me? That's something that takes out all fear from us for the future. Hebrews 13, 6.

Okay, the next one, a commandment. If you forgive others the wrongs they have done to you, your Father in heaven will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive the wrongs you have done.

Please remember that all your life. And don't wait till your deathbed to forgive people. Forgive immediately. Matthew 6, 14 and 15. And the next is a promise. God is faithful, let's say together, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation will also provide a way of escape so that you may be able to endure it.

So we can never say in any situation, that's becoming too much for me. Then we are saying that God is a liar, you're unfaithful. But no, God is faithful. Never, never, never. Maybe we are not finding the way of escape.

There is a way of escape in every situation. If we humble ourselves and take up the cross and die, there is a way of escape. And God will control the pressures that we face, that they never become too much for us.

That is our faith in God, provided we are seeking to live in God's will. Okay, then another commandment, which we saw last week. Let's say together, in everything, give thanks for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

1 Thessalonians 5, 18. We're going to make it personal. Say, in everything, I will give thanks for this is God's will for me. In everything, I will give thanks for this is God's will for me in Christ Jesus.

Say that, these promises and commandments, brothers and sisters, the whole purpose of it is that we learn to walk. Like we put our left foot on right foot, and left foot on right foot, and left foot on right would walk.

And that's how we progress. With the promise and a commandment, and a promise and a commandment, we move forward in the Christian life. Okay, the verse for this Sunday is, let's say together, the Lord Jesus says, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in your weakness.

2 Corinthians 12, 9. It's a very familiar verse. Many of us have heard it. Let's say it again. The Lord Jesus says, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in your weakness. 2 Corinthians 12, 9.

Even if you can't remember exact words, if you remember the concept and the truth, that's the important thing. Okay, we read about grace just now. Thank you. You can turn it off. When it's in the living Bible says, my power shows up best in weak people.

Grace as Spiritual Wealth

The weaker we are, the more we can have God's power. The humbler we are, the more we get God's grace. Grace in the kingdom of God is exactly equal to money on this earth. You know, people have a lot of money on this earth, can live very comfortably.

Others just scrape by, survive. And some die because they don't have enough money to take care of themselves. Now you translate that concept into God's kingdom. Those who don't have grace perish. Those who get a little grace just scrape by in God's kingdom.

Somehow or the other, they survive. Most of the time defeated by sin, getting up, defeated, getting up. That's like a beggar living in the slum. The exact picture of a beggar living in the slum in the kingdom of heaven is a believer who's defeated and getting up and defeated and getting up and defeated and getting up, scraping by and complaining and murmuring because he's not getting grace.

He's getting a little bit, just a little bit. Just like that poor man in the slum getting a little bit of money and sometimes he has to starve. You would never want that to live like that physically. I want to ask all of you, why do you want to live like that spiritually?

When you'd never dream of you or your children wanting to live like that in a slum physically. Most believers are living in a spiritual slum because they're not getting enough grace. There's grace and there's abundance of grace.

Compare it with money in the world. There are people who have little money and plenty of money. And there are people who have plenty of money who waste it, who have access to plenty of money and don't take it.

You know, children who've inherited something, a large fortune from their parents but don't know how to use it. They waste it. And there are lots of people like that who, it says, don't receive the grace of God in vain.

It says in 2nd Corinthians 6. And so there are riches and there's grace and abundance of grace. Riches of grace. I want to show you in Ephesians chapter 1. It speaks here about the, there are different type of riches and I want to show you.

It says, speaks about the riches of his glory. In Ephesians 1 .18. And in chapter 2, verse 7, it says here that in the ages to come, that is in eternity, God wants to show the surpassing, it's not just riches, surpassing riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Do you know that in eternity, God wants to make each of us a demonstration to the rest of the world that's going to be in heaven, whoever is there. And each case by case, it'll be like a case study. Here is a man or here is a woman.

And the Lord says to all people in heaven, I want to show you what he was when I found him. The gutter that he was in and see what he became before he ended his life. See how much he could do for me before he ended his life.

See what the riches of my grace could do in him. Remember this, my brothers, you're going to be a case study in heaven and the Lord is going to be able to show to other people. I hope he won't have to show here's a person who just scraped by because he was always complaining about other people instead of working out his own salvation with fear and trembling.

I'll tell you this, one of the ways in which the devil keeps us defeated is by always showing us the faults of other people, maybe in the church. Yeah, he'll show you all the faults of people in CFC and well, you'll be you'll be in the gutter yourself.

So I decided that, I mean, when I was young, I didn't have the wisdom, but now I have. I say, I'm not going to let the devil make me live in the gutter. If people want to, there are people in the church who are hypocrites, let them be hypocrites.

It doesn't make the slightest difference to me. Jesus sat for 30 years in the synagogues of Israel, Nazareth, surrounded by hypocrites. It never, it never polluted him one bit. He didn't judge them. He didn't worry about them.

He lived his own life before God. And that is my example. I can live in a synagogue full of hypocrites or a church full of hypocrites, and it will not affect me one bit. Jesus is my example. If he could live 30 years without becoming impure, I can live.

I believe that. That's the way to live. So make sure that you yourself are going to be a trophy of God's grace one day. He wants to show forth, it says, in the ages to come, not just the drops of grace you got, but the exceeding riches of his grace and kindness towards us in Christ Jesus.

I want to make it personal. Make it personal. That in eternal ages, God wants to take me up and show me to the universe and to the angels. What he could accomplish by giving me riches of his grace, which I received and received and received.

And it's very simple. We know that one law for receiving grace is to humble ourselves. God gives his grace to the humble. The humbler you are, the more you get. If somebody has got more grace than you, one reason is he's humbler than you, whether you believe it or not, whether you like it or not.

He is humbler than you. And that doesn't mean more gifted. So very often, unfortunately, in Christendom, we evaluate people by gift. If somebody can preach well or sing well or do something well, we think he's great.

That is stupidity. Because Jesus said, there are people who do miracles in his name. Miracles. To whom he will say, get away from me, go to hell. I don't even know you. But he'll never say that to a man who lived a godly life.

He will never say to a godly man in the final day. Oh, you never did any miracles. Get away from me. No. It's the one. It's in Matthew 7, 22. Somebody says, we did miracles in your name. He calls out demons and he's like, get away from here.

You lived in sin. It's very important, brothers and sisters, in our day when Christendom has become so corrupt to understand what are the true values in God's kingdom. What is going to matter in the final examination?

What is the subjects that are going to come up in the final examination? Study for the subjects that come in the final examination, just like you tell your children. That's what I tell you. Study for the subjects that are coming in the final examination, not gifts, but grace.

Humility, the character of Christ, not healing and miracles. There's enough written in the scriptures to show us that that will not qualify you for God's kingdom. So don't pursue that. That is only something God gives.

To serve him on earth, God gives it to us. We use it. If he doesn't give it to us, he's not going to ask us why we didn't have it. It's so relaxing for me. I mean, God's never going to ask me, why didn't you heal all the sick people?

I said, Lord, you never gave me the gift. Why don't you do a few miracles, open some blind eyes and things like that? I said, Lord, you never gave me a gift. But he can certainly ask me, why didn't you overcome sin?

That was not a gift. You just had to humble yourself. I know what's going to come in the final examination. And I'm studying for that subject. I'm not wasting my life pursuing subjects that are not going to come for me in my final examination.

Riches of Grace and Glory

Grace is the important thing. The exceeding riches of his grace. And I told you also about the riches of his glory. There are riches of his grace and riches of his glory. Both are mentioned here. We saw that about the riches of his grace in chapter two and verse seven.

And it also is a number of times, for example, Philippians 4, 19. It says, My God will supply all your need according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4, verse 19. My God will supply all your need according to his riches and glory.

There are riches of grace and riches of glory that we can have. How do we get them? I want to show you a verse in that connection, which I want to speak about today. And that is in Luke's gospel and chapter 16.

There are laws in God's kingdom. You know, every day we are obeying certain laws, the laws of that God has put into this earth. Unconsciously, we obey certain laws, the law of gravity, for example. We know that water always falls down.

That's a good thing because we know we follow that law. We keep a cup under a tap and we know the water will come into the cup. Following a certain law doesn't go up. In the same way, there are many, many laws we are unconsciously following.

And here is a law. Luke chapter 16 and verse 11 is talking about riches, how to get riches. We just saw that the true riches are the riches of grace and the riches of glory. Luke 16, 11, Jesus said, if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the true riches to you?

So you see a law there. I don't know whether you see it. How we handle earthly wealth is going to determine how much of the riches of grace and glory we get. It's not just humility. Humility is one law.

God gives his grace to the humble. But the riches of his grace, it says here, if we are faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, then God will give us the true riches. Verse 14, but the Pharisees who were lovers of money scoffed at all this.

I hope nobody here is scoffing at it. They scoffed at it saying, ha ha, why should we be worried about that? We use all the money God gives us and we are wealthy because we know the Bible so well and everybody in the synagogue respects us.

That was the foolishness of the Pharisees. Go and ask those Pharisees in hell today if they regret that they didn't listen to Jesus. Turn with me to the Old Testament. Here is a verse the Pharisees should have read because they studied the Bible.

But you know, when we read the Bible, we have a tendency to skip over verses that are uncomfortable. So the Pharisees probably skipped over this in Deuteronomy chapter eight. You shall remember the Lord your God, for he is the one who gives you power to make wealth.

You recognize that? It's God who gives us the ability, whatever money you have today, whatever you have earned, whatever you have inherited. Deuteronomy 8, 18 says, always remember, I want to encourage all of you, always remember, it is the Lord who enabled you to earn or inherit what you got.

Don't ever attribute it to your cleverness, your smartness, your ability, or any such thing. Or I had a rich dad. There are many people who had rich fathers who wealth was wasted. They got nothing as an inheritance.

We have so many things to be thankful. I believe a truly rich person, if he's a godly person, would be on his face before God and say, Lord, everything I have is what you've given me. I'll never, never, never dream that I got this because of any other reason, except that God gave it to me.

Do you think the Pharisees read that verse and meditated on it? No. How many Christians recognize it today? If they did, they would be humbler people. I think of a lot of young people. You know, I remember seeing CFC when we started 40 years ago.

We were a bunch of poor people. Nobody had a car. Not one. There was one scooter in the whole church. But things have changed in Bangalore. And, you know, software boom and so many people earning. Imagine people earning a hundred thousand rupees a month.

Yeah. Are they lucky? They may think so. If they're not becoming spiritual, if they don't recognize that it's God who has given me this ability, if they don't remain in humility, I tell you, that which you think is so good for you will destroy you.

It's my duty to tell you that. The Bible is full of warnings of people who were covetous, who wanted things that they wanted more than they had. That's covetousness. There's a verse in Colossians in chapter three, which says, Colossians in chapter three, it says here, if you have been raised with Christ, verse one, seek for the things that are above.

Verse two, don't set your mind on the things of earth, but set your mind on the things above. This is a true Christian who lives with his feet on the earth. But his mind on things above. That's a true, that's how Jesus lived.

His feet were on the earth. He worked hard as a carpenter to earn his living. He helped other people. He washed people's feet. His feet were very much on the earth. But his mind all the time was on things above.

In other words, he did his earthly work with a heavenly mind. Everything he did was with a heavenly mind. And therefore he could handle money properly. He never loved it. And then it says, verse five, consider the members of your earthly body dead, dead to immorality that we can accept.

Impurity, we accept that. Passion, evil desire, no problem. And greed is greed in the same category as immorality. Supposing I were to tell you, you're an immoral person, you'd feel insulted. But if someone said, you're a greedy person, always wanting more, more money.

People don't think of that in the same category as immorality. But the Bible puts it in the same category. In fact, it doesn't say immorality is idolatry, but it says greed is idolatry. You may look down on those others who bow down before idols, but you who tell other people don't bow down before idols, do you have an idol in your life as well?

Greed is idolatry. That means I'm bowing down before money and saying, I want you. I bow down before you. You are my God. You will run my life. You tell me, go here, I'll go there. You tell me, go there, I'll go there.

You tell me, I'll sacrifice church, fellowship, everything for you. Do you know how many people there are who will go to a place to make money, who are not bothered whether there's any fellowship, church, anything?

Oh, my idol is there. I must bow down before that. Never mind if there's a church or not. Okay. Watch them after four or five years and see what their condition is. See what the condition of their children will be.

And then they'll say, oh brother Zach, please pray for me. Please pray for my children. They've all gone astray. Well, you reap what you sow. You can't do anything about that. That's a law in God. You reap what you sow.

You've got to be wise. I mean, if you had never been in CFC all these years, I can understand, but you've heard for so much for so long. Greed is idolatry. And there are enough warnings in scripture to tell us about that.

Achan and the Danger of Coveting

Do you know that when the children of Israel went into the land of Canaan, it was the place where God wanted to take them. He didn't want to just take them out of Egypt. A lot of people talk about the Israelites redemption from Egypt.

The Christian world always speaks about redemption from Egypt, the blood of the lamb and baptism in the red sea and all that. But I say that was only the beginning. We preach about entry into Canaan, entering the Canaan and killing the giants.

That was God's purpose. And when they entered into the land of Canaan, see that mighty victory with which they began. I want you to turn to the book of Joshua. These things are written for our instruction in the book of Joshua.

We read Joshua chapter six. They went into Jericho. And I don't have time to read the whole story, but we read they blew the trumpet and marched around the city and the whole walls of Jericho fell down.

And they defeated that land. They overcame it. But Joshua had told them, be careful that you don't take any of the gold or expensive things here in Jericho. Don't touch it. Because God has commanded that must be all given to the Lord.

Don't touch it. But we read that there was one man. This is the first sin that happened after the end of the land of Canaan. You read in the next chapter in Joshua chapter seven, when the people were defeated, they won a victory in Joshua in Jericho with a big city.

They went to a very small town and they got thrashed and they were defeated. And Joshua, it says in verse six, chapter seven, six tore his clothes and said, Lord, what happened? Why did we fail? And the Lord said, get up.

There's somebody in your midst who has sinned. Verse 11, therefore, I consider the whole of Israel has sinned. Somebody has taken something which I said you should not take. And so they threw lots and we read that they finally got a hold of Akon, verse 18.

Akon, the son of Kermai was taken. And Joshua said to Akon, my son, tell me, what did you do? Don't hide it from me. And Akon said, yes, it's true. I've sinned. I know the Lord said that we shouldn't take anything from the city.

But when I saw a beautiful dress from Babylon, Shinar is Babylon, a beautiful Babylonian dress. And I saw 200 shekels of silver lying there in a tent. And I saw a bar of gold, 50 shekels in weight. I coveted them.

I thought nobody's looking. I took it and I concealed it inside my tent under the earth. You know what they did? It says in verse five, they stoned him with stones and they burned them with fire. Who all, verse 24, Akon, his sons, his daughters.

Why do children have to suffer? Well, it unfortunately happens. You have a covetous father. I mean, don't you see in the world even today, a drunken father? Don't the children suffer? Sure. Even the wife suffers if the father is a drunkard.

Here it says, they were all killed. And they learned a lesson. Now I want to tell you something interesting. In the next chapter onwards, when they went into Canaan, the Lord said, okay, now onwards, you can take anything you want.

It's all yours. It was just a test. It was just a test. If only Akon had waited, he could have got a lot more than he got from that little one tent. Only in Jericho, God said, don't take anything. And he gave them the impression that that's going to be the command all during your battle in Canaan.

But it was not. He was just testing them. And very often he's testing us when he asks us to deny ourselves something. Because if you do, you don't know how much he'll give you. I've seen that in my own life.

Every servant of God has seen that in their life. He tests us. See whether you will grab it. Let me show you another example in 2 Kings. These are examples written in scripture. 2 Kings in chapter 5, you know the story of Naaman, a leper and somebody told him he had a servant girl from Israel who said, hey, there's a prophet in our land who can heal the sick.

So Naaman went to Elisha's little cottage with a letter from the king. And when he came to Elisha's cottage, you know, he stood there. And Elisha didn't even come out. It says in 2 Kings 5 verse 9, Naaman came with his horses and his chariots.

Can you imagine this Syrian general coming to this little hut of a prophet of God? And he thought like in Syria, all the false prophets would bow down before him. He thought this prophet of God would come out and raise his hand and smite him because he's a big man.

Just like many preachers who will always fawn over the rich people and do a lot of things for rich people, which they'll never do for the poor. Those are not servants of God. They are servants of the devil.

Any man who fawns over rich people and doesn't care for the poor, I will clearly call him a servant of the devil, not of God any day. And that need not be a servant of God only. It could be a believer.

If you find you're more attracted to the rich people than to the poor people, my brother, you're going the wrong direction. Be careful where you end up finally when you die. But Elisha wouldn't even come out of the house.

I like that. Some of these Old Testament prophets, they're real heroes of mine. Here this general comes to his house and he doesn't even come out to greet him. If it was some poor man he came, Elisha would have come out, but not for this man.

We need servants of God like that today. I tell you, they're very rare. And Naaman came with his horses and Elisha just sent a messenger, told Gazi, go and tell him to wash in the Jordan. And Naaman was furious, verse 11.

I like that. Beautiful. I wish there was a video of this. Naaman furious, this prophet won't come to see me. Doesn't he know who I am? I thought he would come and stand and call on the name of the Lord and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper.

No, no, no, you don't know God and you don't know his true servants. Anyway, he did what he was told to go and dipped in the river and he was healed. I said, boy, he's really a man of God. I got healed.

My flesh has become, verse 14, just like that of a little child. Then he came back to the man of God again. That's one good thing about some of these heathen people, which sometimes even Christians haven't learned.

To be grateful to those who have served you and whose service blessed you. You got something. You got healed from some leprosy in your family or in your life. This man was so proud to come back and say, boy, even though he didn't come out of the hut, at least let me go and thank him.

I can send a message to him, say, thank you very much. He returned to the man of God. And then Elisha came out. And Naaman said, now I know there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel. So here's a present.

I got a gift. And here's another mark of these really godly men. As the Lord lives before whom I stand right now, the Lord is here. I will take nothing from you. Why did Elisha say that? Elisha wasn't working.

How was he supporting himself? He needed food and clothing. And how did he live? What an opportunity to get gifts from him. He could have survived for 10 years with Naaman's gifts. No, I will take nothing.

You know, these are the men. You must read about these men. These are the true servants of God in the Old Testament. And these are the true servants of God today. Because Naaman was an unbeliever. And a true servant of God does not take a cent from an unbeliever.

That's why we don't pass a bag around in a church. I'll tell you why we don't pass an offering bag around. There could be somebody here whose life is not right with God. He has got no right to give money to God.

Go and take it and use it on yourself. There could be an unbeliever here. He's got no right to give money to God. Sorry, we don't want your money. That's the danger of passing a bag around. Because you're collecting from Naaman's and from a whole lot of other people like that.

Elisha said, I'll take nothing. What did Jesus say? Go back to that verse. He who is faithful with unrighteous wealth will get the true riches. We want the true riches in our church. I want the true riches in my life.

From my earliest Christian experience, when I was born again, I said, Lord, I want the true riches in my life. And you notice another reason why Elisha had discernment about this man. Naaman said, OK, you won't take anything.

He urged him. He said, I won't take anything. And Naaman says, yeah, I know all these full-time workers. They just put a little pressure, they'll take it. They're just trying to act spiritual and say, I don't want to.

It says Naaman urged him, oh, come on, take it, take it. And some preachers would have yielded, OK, if you insist, I'll take it. Not Elisha. He said, sorry, I don't want it. I don't want any of it. Are you refused?

Make such men your examples. And Naaman said, OK, let me take some earth from here so that I can stand on this earth and worship the Lord. And listen to his compromise now. This is very interesting. This is what Elisha could discern before he spoke it.

A man of God can discern people just by looking at their face, looking at their eyes and looking at their manner of speaking. Elisha could discern this guy's not only an unbeliever, he's a compromiser.

He says, yeah, the Lord is the true God. See what he said. Now I know there is no God. He said that in verse 15, in all the earth, but in Israel. But I hope. Verse 18, the Lord will pardon me when I go with the king of Syria into the house of the God driven to worship there.

And he leans on my hand. I have to bow myself before that idol. Otherwise, I'll lose my job. I don't want to give up being a general in the army. Otherwise, the king will sack me. He may kill me. So I hope the Lord will pardon me.

Elijah said, Elijah said, go just like God told Balaam, you want money? Go. You want to worship that idol? You say one on one hand, the Lord is the only true God. And then you don't want to lose your job.

So you'll bow down to the idol. It's like today, people who sing praises of God in the church and then in the office, when they collect money to do some puja to some idol, they'll give that money. OK, I'll contribute towards that puja.

I'll also, I also, I mean, I don't bow down before you. But here's some money to worship that idol. Go ahead. What is the difference between such Christians and this man? And what does Elijah say? Go.

You think you're going to get the riches of God's grace in a thousand years? No, sir. He who is faithful with unrighteous mammon. You know, you may say when you're in my office, if I don't, if I say all that, they'll cause me trouble.

I won't get a promotion. My boss will get upset. That's exactly what Naaman thought. I won't get my promotion. The king will get upset. Elijah knew that. But it says in verse 20, Gehazi, he wasn't bothered about all that.

He wasn't bothered whether Naaman bowed down to a hundred idols. He said, behold, my master has spared this man. He didn't, he didn't even ask for money. This fellow came and offered it. And my master just let him go.

My master has let this man slip through his fingers without even giving any money. I will run after him and take something from him. We have a picture here of two types of Christian workers today. One is Gehazi.

And when Naaman saw Gehazi running after him and he said, hey, is everything okay? He said, yeah, everything's okay. Except that my master sent me, you know, once a man's covetous, he can begin to tell lies easily.

Have you noticed that in your life? You're greedy for something. You'll compromise a little and tell a little lie or sign a slightly false statement. So that you can make some profit from it. But my master sent me saying, hey, we two Bible school scholars have just come.