LIVING FOR ETERNITY

1. PRINCIPLES FOR ETERNITY

This morning we begin a new series

called Living for Eternity. We have taught
series on principles of success on this
earth. Finally total success not only in terms of
what happen on the earth but what happen in
eternity. After we are born again we realized
that we have an eternal home in heaven. God
has a tremendous storehouse of blessings for
us to enjoy, to participate in eternity for
thousands and thousands of years in eternity
we are going to live with God. Jesus did say a
few statements here that we want to read as we
introduce this subject.
 In the book of John 15: 19 “If you were
of the world, the world would love its own. Yet
because you are not of the world, but I chose
you out of the world, therefore the world hates
you.”

Jesus says that although we are in the

world but we are not of the world. So there
must be a difference in our goals, in our
principles that we adhere to that will cause us to
rise to please God. We also want to read II Cor.
5: 9-11 “Therefore we make it our aim, whether
present or absent, to be well pleasing to
Him. For we must all appear before the
judgment seat of Christ, that each one may
receive the things done in the body, according
to what he has done, whether good or
bad. Knowing therefore, the terror of the Lord,
we persuade men, but we are well known to
God, and I also trust are well known in your
consciences.”
 There is a judgment of believers. We
know that there are different types of
judgments. There is a judgment of believers,
the judgment of the saints, not for salvation but
for reward. For as long as we are born again,
we are saved, but the question is whether we
are rewarded up there. Sometimes Christians
may not be rewarded in heaven although they
maybe saved. They may lose all of their
reward, as we will see in I Corinthians later
on. But there is a reward up there and those
who build their works on hay and wood in the
judgment of believers will find themselves
without any reward. The reason for this series
is that we do not want any single here or those
who hear these worlds reach the shore of
eternity and find out that you have no reward. It
will be the most awesome, embarrassing
moment of your life in eternity. You will not
know what to say. You will not know what to do;
you can’t change what has been established for
there is a judgment of believers that we must
live for, that we must live conscious of that. But
many times as we live our lives on this earth we
get caught in the affairs of this life. We forget to
have eternity in our hearts or live for it in
eternity. There are four basic areas of
principles that we want to focus on as we look
into this series this morning “Living for Eternity.”

First of all, we want to consider the book

of I Cor. 3: 10 onwards to verse 15. He is not
talking about the unbelievers. There are
different types of judgment. There is a
judgment of believers. There is a judgment on
nations and there is an eternal White Throne
judgment. There are judgments of believers
that are referred to in verse 10 onwards.

“According to the grace of God which

was given to me, as a wise master builder I
have laid the foundation, and another builds on
it. But let each one take heed how he builds on
it. For no other foundation can anyone lay that
that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if
anyone builds on this foundation with gold,
silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each
one’s work will become clear; for the Day will
declare it.”

Now that Day is the judgment of

believers. Sometimes the word Day or
judgment day refers to the judgment on
nations. Sometimes it refers to the eternal
White Throne judgment. Why doesn’t it refer to
the White Throne judgment because the White
Throne judgment is not going to judge the
works but going to judge whether a person has
received Jesus Christ or not. For all the works
of a sinner are unrighteous, but here is a
judgment of believers where everyone’s works
will be judged, will become manifest for the
Day. Now its not that everyone did not do some
work but is that everyone has done some work
but it’s the quality of the work. The wise man
and the foolish man in the book of Matthew 7,
both built houses. It was not that the foolish
man was lazy. He worked as hard as the wise
man to build a house. Of course the wise may
work a bit harder because he built on the rock
and may need harder foundation. But basically
the foolish man also did a lot of work to build
the house. It is the foundation that makes the
difference and not just the absence of work.

It says “every work will be revealed by

fire and the fire will test each one work or what
sort it is.” The quality. Verse 14, “If anyone’s
work which he has built on endures, he will
receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned,
he will suffer loss, but he himself will be
saved.” Notice he is a believer he will be saved
but he has no reward. Yet so as through fire.
 Howard Picman, the man who wrote
‘Demons and Eye witness account’ lived his life
as a nominal Christian and reasonably
successful but when he met Jesus Christ in a
sort of encounter and vision, the first thing that
happened was a fire that came out from Jesus
Christ and burned his entire life’s work. And
there naked before the Lord, he said, ‘God! I
have visited the poor. I have done charity. I
have done this.’ And as he said that all those
works appeared before him and in a moment of
time fire came out and burned all of them. He
stood stunned not knowing what to answer
God. What is our answer to Him when that
happens? From that day forward, he learned
that many of what we qualify to be success is
not success in God’s sight. He examined his
life and the Lord gave him a chance. He came
back and that’s how he started his ministry. But
here we see that is the quality of
work. Whether it be silver, gold, precious
stones or wood, hay, straw, how do we
determine the quality? That’s principle number
one. It is not just what we do, but it’s why we
do it. If it’s our motivation that determines our
reward in heaven. Something outwardly can
look nice, even charitable, even benevolent, but
if the motivation is not of love, is not for the
sake of Jesus Christ, its wood and hay. Its of
no value and has no power to stand in eternity.

The book of I Corinthians 13: 3 “And

though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor,
and though I give my body to be burned, but
have not love, it profits me nothing.” There is
no reward. There is no profit although on this
earth such works like giving your body to be
burned is very noble. If we all realize how
much God value the reason why we do our
things or do the things we do and not just what
we do we will be more careful about it. We will
not just jump into something just because it is
good. We want to examine ourselves in the
sight of God. “God examine my heart, search
my heart O God, know my heart, try my
way.” Why am I doing the things I do? What is
my motivation for doing all those
things? Whether there be good works, whether
there be works in society, whether there be
areas in our career, why do we do those things
we do? May God change our hearts, motivate
our hearts so that the only reason that we do
whatever we do is born out of a desire to love,
out of a desire to help, out of the desire to show
the manifested Christ in our life, out of the
desire to bless humanity but never out of the
desire to be selfish or out of the desire for
attention or out of a desire for recognition. All
the works that are done for recognition are
burned. For recognition is pride and self
covered in sheep clothing.

Paul says in I Corinthians 13: 13 “And

now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the
greatest of these is love.”

God wants a divine flow of love to come

forth in our heart that we be able to be
motivated by it all the time. Pursue love in
verse 1 chapter 14. “Pursue love, and desire
spiritual gifts, but especially that you may
prophesy.” We always see the second part
desires covet after spiritual gifts. But notice the
first part, it says pursue it. Pursue means it’s
something you got to chase. It’s something you
have to make an effort, to love people, to
sacrifice, to follow the flow of love in our
heart. There will always be a divine flow of love
after we are born again. Roman chapter 5 tells
us that the love of God has been poured into
our hearts and that will from time to time want
to flow forth in different ways. We need to be
sensitive to that flow of love.

Let me read Romans 5 again. The day

that we are born again God has placed His love
in our hearts, we need to be sensitive to that
love. Verse 3, “We also glory in tribulations,
knowing that tribulation produces perseverance;
and perseverance, character; and character,
hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because
the love of God has been poured out in our
hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

Now notice why does he say in verse 5

hope does not disappoint? What sort of hope is
he talking about? The hope of meeting Christ
even though the judgment seat of Christ is not
mentioned. The purpose in Romans 5 is that
the love of God in his heart will flow forth,
whatever he did flow from love. And then the
love helped him to overcome tribulations,
developed his character and it produced
hope. Hope knowing that even though Paul
said on this earth he had tribulations. A lot of
things that he did born out of love were not
accepted. A lot of things that he did born out of
pure love for humanity. A lot of sacrifices he
had made were not recognized. All these
things, Paul said, in tribulations his character
grows because he knew he did it for the love of
Christ. And as he grew in his life, there is a
hope for he knew one day everything he did out
of love that has not been accepted by the
generation that he lived in, one day he is going
to meet face to face with Jesus and that hope
will not disappoint. That hope came out of that
love that was shed abroad in his heart.

We need to be sensitive to the divine

flow of love. There will be times in your life that
the love of Jesus bubbles forth. Sometimes He
may say I want you to do this for this
person. But if you say, ‘God! I am busy.’ But
the love flows forth and the divine flow of love
says ‘I want you to do this. I want you to do
that. I want you to call this person. I want you
to write to this person and encourage him/her. I
want you to show love here. I want you to do
this.’ There is a flow that bubbles forth. We
need to be sensitive to the divine flow of love
for that is where our eternal reward lies. It’s not
a question of just what we do but why we do
it. Whenever you do anything for God, whether
it be out in the secular world or whether it be in
the spiritual ministry, we need to examine our
motives. Why do we want to preach? Why do
we want to minister? Why do we want to lay
hands on the sick? Why, why, why? Because
sometimes the motivation may not be what it
is.

I know many young ministers as they

launched forth, they prayed for signs and
wonders but the motivation for signs and
wonders is not to bless humanity, not because
of the love for the sick but it is to establish their
own ministry. And as a result it never
happen. They did everything according to the
formula of faith but it never worked. It didn’t
happen exactly the way they
wanted. Why? Because God works through
our motivation. Many people desire Kathryn
Khulman’s anointing. They want the same kind
of establishment of recognition but there is a
difference. When Kathryn Khulman moves in
the gifts of the Spirit, she did it because of the
love she felt for the sick, for the dying and for
the Lord. You read her book ‘A Glimpse of
Glory’; it mentioned that before the miracles
happen, she used to visit other ministers who
are having healing ministry. She sees them
doing all kinds of weird thing. She sees them
selling pieces of the tent, doing this and doing
that, giving gimmicks to try to promote their
ministry but the sick was never healed. Every
night she went back and she cried. She said
‘Lord, where are You?’ Those who work close
to her know that after the healing service she
used to go back and cried. One day somebody
found her and said, ‘Why do you cry, there are
so many miracles?’ She said, ‘she cried for the
others who were not healed.’ And all her life
she had the desire to see everyone healed in
her services and she never got it. She wanted
to reach that stage in that level. Perhaps it’s for
some of us here to move into that. But all her
life she wanted that and although she saw
many miracles after the miracle service,
Buckingham found her crying. Why did she cry,
because she performed miracles not to
establish her ministry. She performed miracles
because it started from her heart that cries for
the sick. Her motivation was the love of
God. In the book ‘Glimpse of Glory’ she said
every time when she sees a sick person, she
felt if she could, she would die and give her life
to that person to live. That’s the kind of love
she moved into. I believed she had her reward
up in heaven.

It’s important for us to establish that. I

say this because I feel it’s necessary to say it in

our day, in our time, in our move of God up to

this day. Sometimes ministers push

people. They do things to gain attention. Slain

in the Spirit has come to a stage where people

have begun to push it to gain attention. It has

become almost acceptable among ministers. I

want you to know if people move into that and

continue to do so, and people excuse them and

they excuse themselves but God won’t excuse

them. They will finally move in a way that the

anointing will disperse and disappear. Why do

people push? Because they want to establish

themselves. That’s their only motivation. They

want people to say, hi, there is something

happening. Let God demonstrate that

something happening. Not you or I. We want

to follow the strictness in the Spirit. I know in

my spirit, if you were to be faithful to draw forth

the anointing of God, to draw forth from the

reservoir from our heart, God will manifest the

fullness of the miracles that He wants to. We

will see signs that we have never seen

before. We need to have the right

motivation. That is point no. 1: Why do we do

it.
 Point no. 2 is related and it’s
important. Besides why we need to what I call
have a sense of duty or obligation to what He
has given to us. That works with the why. Point
no. 2, Matthew 25: 14 onwards. “For the
kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a
far country, who called his own servants and
delivered his goods to them. And to one he
gave five talents, to another two, and to another
one, to each according to his own ability; and
immediately he went on a journey. Then he
who had received the five talents went and
traded with them, and made another five
talents. And likewise he who had received two
gained two more also. But he who had
received one went and dug in the ground, and
hid his lord’s money. After a long time the lord
of those servants came and settled accounts
with them. So he who had received five talents
came and brought five other talents, saying,
‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I
have gained five more talents besides
them.’ His lord said to them, ‘Well done, good
and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few
things, I will make you ruler over many
things. Enter into the joy of your lord. He also
who had received two talents came and said,
‘Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I
have gained two more talents besides
them.’ His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good
and faithful servant; you have been faithful over
a few things, I will make you ruler over many
things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ Then he
who had received the one talent came and said,
‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping
where you have not sown, and gathering where
you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid,
and went and hid your talent in the
ground. Look, there you have what is
yours.’ But his lord answered and said to him,
‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I
reap where I have not sown, and gather where I
have not scattered seed. So you ought to have
deposited my money with the bankers, and at
my coming I would have received back my own
with interest. Therefore take the talent from
him, and give it to him who has ten talents.’

The first is our motivation. Why we do

the thing we do. The second is what I call
faithfulness to His gifts and talents in our life.

Living for eternity means that we have

to discover what talents and gifts that God has
asked you to be faithful with. The talents here
can represent spiritual gifting in your life. The
talents here could represent a natural talent in
your life and what God is asking of us if we
want to live for eternity. We are to understand
what we are supposed to do with the gifts or
talents in our life and be faithful to it for the rest
of our life. Whether we accepted or rejected,
whether we are recognized or not recognized,
w are to discover it and be faithful in public and
in private. In times of cheering, in times of
jeering to be faithful on to God. That means
business talent, that means natural gift
talent. That means spiritual gifts and
offices. Point no.2 is faithfulness. Which
means that if there is a gift or talent that God
has placed in your life, you have been too busy
about the things of this world to develop, in
eternity you will have regret. You will lose some
rewards for your lack of faithfulness to those
talents God has for you. If you will realize that
the talents we have and the gift we have in our
lives is not just for an organization, is not just
for pleasing some people, is not just to gain
attention from the world but is that God requires
it of us for the day He made us. The day He
created us He has given us talents. Notice
here that even though the talents may be
different in proportion but every single one has
some talents. Some one, some two, some five
and some ten. Every one of us has talents in
our lives. Those talents have been given by
heaven and we are required to be faithful to
heaven on those things that God has placed on
our lives. Sometimes you may feel like being
faithful. Sometimes you don’t feel like being
faithful but we have to be faithful. Which is why
if God has a call on your life come what may
you have to stick to it. If God has a direction in
your life and He has spoken to you about
certain area or talent in business, then you
have to be faithful to it to develop it. Not so that
you will reap on this earth but so that you could
answer before God when God says, ‘My son or
My daughter, I have given you this talent. What
have you done with it? Have you used
it? Have you done something about it?’ If your
answer is Lord, I have been faithful. Then God
will say, ‘Enter thou into the joy of the Lord, for
you have been faithful with a few things, you
will have much more.’
 In order to be faithful we need to know
what our talents and our gifting are. It’s not as
easy to put into practice as it sound. You just
talk about it because I do know that to develop
a talent, to develop a gift in your life, it takes
discipline too. It’s not just that you have it and
you just flow with it. You could have a gift and
be lazy about it. Notice what cause
faithfulness. The Lord says here in Matthew
25: 26 “You wicked and lazy
servant.” Wickedness has to do with spending
time on the wrong things instead of developing
the talent. This servant must be spending the
time on all the wrong things. He cannot be
spending his time just sleeping. He must be
doing something on this earth. There are a lot
of things on this earth that will rob you of your
time. All of us have been given twenty-four
hours. There are a lot of things that rob our
time. We need to realize that there are robbers
not only of goods and material things. There
are robbers of time. There are things that take
our time away from developing our talents. We
need to guard ourselves against
robbers. Everyone here is careful about
robbery. Although we know Psalms 91 will
protect us yet you do a little bit of minimum
thing. Like for example, you normally do lock
your car. You normally do lock your
house. You normally do the small little
precaution. You don’t want to put sign on your
door ‘welcome thief’ and say I am alright, I am
protected because Psalms 91 says so. Do you
know that I do not lock my door, etc? You are
not going to announce it. You do your minimum
requirement. But have you ever consider there
are robbers of time? Sometimes other people
who are undisciplined will rob you of your time
because they themselves do not know how to
use their time carefully. We need to realize that
time is your most precious commodity. It’s the
most precious commodity. With that time you
could develop the proper talents that God has
placed upon your life. It will make a difference
to the reward that God brings into your life.

Here, the first is wickedness. Spending

time on the wrong things. The second is
laziness. Pure laziness is a lack of discipline. If
God has called you to the business world,
discover all the principles in that area. Meditate
on those principles in that area. If God had
called you to the music ministry, you got to
spend time developing that gift in your life. If
God has called you into a preaching ministry,
spend whatever you can the time developing
the gift in your life. If God has called you into
the healing ministry then you got to do
everything you can to look into the ministry gift
of healing that God has placed upon your
life. We need to be faithful. Faithfulness
means three areas. You will do it even nobody
does it. You will do it even nobody tells you to
do it. You will do it even nobody recognizes
that you do it. That’s faithfulness. Faithfulness
no.2 means that you will do it above in priority
to every other thing in your life. It means that
you will budget your time. It means that you will
choose priority to develop that area rather than
other areas that may eat up your talent. The
third faithfulness means that you will seek out
books, tapes, people who will help you into
those areas. The five talents man did it. The
two talents man did it. Only the one talent man
didn’t do it. It’s not easy in these areas. It
means discipline. That’s no.2, faithfulness in
the gift and talent that God has for you.

In order to develop the ministry of God

or the talent of God, there will be many times I
have had to choose above other things to do
something rather than other things. We have to
make a choice because all our times are
limited. Twenty-four hours is all God gives to
each one of us per day. I will say that there are
a lot of temptations to take time off from
developing those gifts and talents that God has
given to you. We need to resist that and
overcome it and chose to do those things that
God has called us to. Then one day when you
meet Jesus face to face you will be thankful for
every sacrifice you made to develop your gift
and talent. It does mean that anything that
doesn’t develop your gift and talent you are not
interested in. That’s what living for eternity is
like. They can call you an odd ball. They can
call you strange but if you live for eternity your
only motivation is that you chose to live those
things and spend your time on areas that will
develop your talent and your gifting. Other
things you just don’t have any interest and you
will not want to develop interest in those
things. Only when it enhances and helps your
gift and talent then you give your time to
it. Otherwise you say no thanks. That is not
easy. It’s easy to just float along in life and let
life do what it wants with you.
 There have been times when I find it
hard to say to people and say look here, I have
got to excuse myself. I have got this thing to
do. Especially when things are going on. But
when you realize that if you spend every night
going out and you spend every night
fellowshipping, you will not be able to develop
some of the things that God wants you. You
have got to spend your time in prayer. You
have got to spend your time in the things of
God. Of course we want to be balanced. We
don’t want to just have vertical relationship
without horizontal relationship. But yet if all the
time it’s horizontal you are flat. We need to
prioritize both sides. The horizontal is
measured in terms where it helps you
vertically. Where it doesn’t help we need to cut
off those horizontal areas.
 The third area in Mark 10 is to realize as
you live for eternity that you are rewarded
twice. Your greatest eternal reward is in
heaven. But God will also reward you on this
earth. But if you live only for temporal for this
earth, you maybe rewarded just once.

In Mark 10: 29-31 “So Jesus answered

and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, there is no
one who has left house or brothers or sisters or
father or mother or wife or children or lands, for
My sake and the gospel’s, who shall not receive
a hundredfold now in this time – houses and
brothers and sisters and mothers and children
and lands, with persecutions – and in the age to
come, eternal life. But many who are first will
be last, and the last first.”

Remember that the rewards in this life

do not guarantee the rewards in the other life
but the rewards in the other life do guarantee
rewards down here too. So if you live for
eternity don’t have the impression that if you
just go around living for eternity and confessing
this world is not my home. I am just a passing
through. My treasures are laid up some where
beyond the blue. All the time if you are living
for the other world, that on this earth although
you have a mansion in heaven, your glorious
rewards are up there. But on this earth all you
have is a little plastic hut right next to the
Federal Highway breathing in the carbon
monoxide. Living off all the rubbish
dumps. Remember when you live for eternities
you have temporal reward as well as eternal
reward. But if you live only for earthly pursue
you may have earthly rewards.

Matthew 6: 1 Jesus in the Sermon on

the Mount. Matthew 6: 1 “Take heed that you
do not do your charitable deeds before men, to
be seen by them. Otherwise you have no
reward from your Father in heaven.”

Do you notice that? If you seek only a

reward down here, what are the rewards? We
are not talking about dollars and cents and
material blessings. If you only seek for
recognition on this earth, fame and fortune, you
lose your reward.

If for a reward up in heaven, He says, I

will give to you in Mark 10. Lands, houses,
mothers, brothers, sisters, etc. What does that
mean? That means you will have people drawn
to your life as well as material blessings in this
time and in the age to come eternal life. But
here the Pharisees have a different
motivation. The only reason for doing what
they did is religiously and also in the sense of a
social way. They were doing all those things for
social benefits.

In verse 2, this is what normally they do

which Jesus says not to do. “Therefore, when
you do a charitable deed, do not sound a
trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the
synagogues and in the streets, that they may
have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you,
they have their reward.”

Jesus said that they already have their

reward. So the next time you are not
recognized don’t say, “Hey, why am I not
recognized?” Are you going for this earthly
reward or you want heavenly reward. Choose
you this day. Now if you chose the heavenly
reward, you will have heavenly reward. But if
you chose the earthly reward you will not have
any heavenly reward.
 He says in verse 3, “but when you do a
charitable deed, do not let your left hand know
what your right hand is doing.” Some people
not only let their left hand know, they let the left
ear, the left eye and other people left hand and
left eye and every other things know what they
are doing. “Let your charitable deed be done in
secret.” Now here He says, the reward on
earth, “Your Father who sees in secret will
Himself reward you openly.” Now these are
principles Jesus Himself teaches in His
life. This is in the early days of Jesus’
ministry. He has to motivate His disciples and
tell His disciples, look here; I am not here just to
do something on the earth. He says, if you
don’t do it out of love you are wasting your
time. If you do your ministry, even if you did it
for forty years because of recognition and so
forth, not out of the love for God, you lost the
whole thing. It’s a waste of time.
 In verse 5, “And when you pray, you
shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to
pray standing in the synagogues and on the
corners of the streets, that they may be seen by
men.” Which is why we believe in giving honor
where honor is due. But there is a limit to
that. The church or society or any organization
can end up as a place where all people do is
get an early recognition or early reward, which
won’t be right. We need to understand that
Jesus is trying to change people’s life. When
He says here you shall not be like the
hypocrites for when they pray in the synagogue
and in the streets they pray that they may be
seen, that men may recognize them. That man
will say, oh, how wonderful they are. Jesus
says, look at the conclusion in verse
5, “Assuredly, I say to you, they have their
reward.” They have already received their
reward. So in heaven its zero. When you pray
rather hide so that your Father sees you and
the Father will reward you.

So Jesus is strong on those areas and

in verse 16-18 “Moreover, when you fast, do not
be like the hypocrites, with a sad
countenance. For they disfigure their faces that
they may appear to men to be
fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their
reward.” Notice three times Jesus
mentioned. When they gave alms, when they
pray, when they fast, the only motivation they
have is recognition by man. Anyone who has a
goal to be recognized by man is losing his or
her reward. It’s most dangerous because
people who do that are not living for
eternity. They are living for this earth only. In
this life like Peter says, it’s just like a vapor of
smoke. Jesus says, “when you fast, anoint
your head and wash your face, so that you do
not appear to men to be fasting, but to your
Father who is in the secret place, and your
Father who sees in secret will reward you
openly.”

So we see here in the third area that

when we live for eternity, there is eternal reward
and temporal reward. When we live for only
earthly reason, we only have earthly
reward. So don’t feel short changed, don’t feel
jealous of the unbelievers who may put their
goals only on this earthly things because in the
long run they are the losers. And at the same
time don’t feel that to place your goal on eternal
reward means that there are no earthly
rewards. It is also the devil’s wrong
teachings. God knows. Jesus says, He
knows. He knows you need food, clothing and
shelter. He knows you need material
things. God is saying you will never be short-
changed. If you understand His principles, then
living for eternity and being heavenly minded is
not being without earthly things but rather is the
better way to live.

Fourth and last area in Luke 6: 22-

23 “Blessed are you when men hate you, and
when they exclude you, and revile you, and
cast out your name as evil, for the Son of Man’s
sake. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! For
indeed your reward is great in heaven, for in
like manner their fathers did to the prophets.”

The fourth area is that the things that

bring heavenly reward are sometimes
considered failures or unacceptable to people
on this earth. In other words, in this fourth point
that there are a lot of areas which bring
heavenly reward are the total opposite and a
total contradiction to what we think will produce
an earthly reward.
 See you have already past point 3,
which says heavenly reward produces earthly
reward. But not vice versa. But the fourth area
is important. A lot of what is called things or
works that bring reward is not the things that
heaven accept. But the very opposite of what
the world does not accept as things that are
valid and genuine that will bring a reward are
what Jesus says that will bring a reward. What
are some of those things He mentioned
here? Blessed are you when men revile
you. Men persecute you. Men cast your name
out as evil. These are the things that nobody
wants. These are things that people called
failures. What happen when you are
rejected? What happen when you are cast
down? What happen when your opposition
comes into your life? What happen? Does it
mean that you are a failure? The things that
bring heavenly reward but not normally
acceptable to man. Your value system
changed. But when you are living for eternity
you are prepared to do something that the
world consider failure. That the world consider
unacceptable. It’s contradictory to their version
of success. For you, you are going after
heavenly success and what you will do is
contradictory to what the world qualifies to be
world success. You are willing to pay the price
for it. Jesus said, when all these things happen
look up and leap for joy because your reward in
heaven is great.

Notice here that He said, in verse 23,

‘Your reward is great.” The greater it is that
sometimes men do not value something the
greater God considers those things to be great
reward. Now there are some things that you do
that the world will pay attention to. There are
some things that you do that nobody will even
give a look or attention on what you are
doing. But deep in your heart you know that
God asked you to do. Deep in your heart you
know that, that is what heaven wants you to do
so. Surprisingly there is a proportion that is
measured. It’s in worst proportion, that the
worst to the world, the greater the reward
is. So when we live for eternity, we are people
who are willing, but Paul says, to be considered
the dumb, the dust of this earth, so that he
could be faithful to God and receive the
heavenly reward.

Four areas, which we consider when we

live for eternity:

- No. 1 why you do those things you

do?
- No.2 only what you are faithful to in
what God has placed in your life will be
rewarded. If you are faithful to some other
things that God has not placed in your life is
wickedness and laziness.
 - No.3 heavenly reward brings earthly
reward but not vice versa.
- No.4 the things that man consider
unacceptable, failures or rejection are
considered great in heaven. That brings
great reward. May our perspective change
as we consider those things that God has
placed in our life.

2. THE LOVE FOR MONEY

We have started a series called Living

for Eternity. It’s to instill into our hearts and
lives the understanding, the experience and the
awesomeness of how this life on earth is only
preparatory for the other life to come. Even
though on this earth it looks like life could be
quite long. Seventy, eighty, ninety to one
hundred and twenty years. Yet when measured
on or in heavenly terms, they are comparatively
short. The bible in the book of first period even
compared it to just a vapor that is now and then
it pass away. We need to instill that into our
hearts and into our spirits, otherwise living on
this earth can cause us to be stuck to the needs
of this earth, without realizing that we are in the
world but not of the world. We pray that
through this series the truth of what Jesus said
that you are in the world but not of the world
may gather more momentum and be
established in our hearts.

I Tim.6: 10 “for the love of money is a

root of all kinds of evil, for which some have
strayed from the faith in their greediness, and
pierced themselves through with many
sorrows.” And Paul continued, “but you, O man
of God, flee these things and pursue
righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience,
gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay
hold on eternal life.” Verse 17; “Command
those who are rich in this present age not to be
haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in
the living God, who gives us richly all things to
enjoy. Let them do good, that they be rich in
good works, ready to give, willing to share.”

Now verse 10 is a powerful summary of

what we will face on this earth. Of course we
know that it did not say that money is the root of
all evil. In fact God wills prosperity in the life of
His people. He promised them prosperity is a
part of Abraham’s covenant. The part of the
New Testament covenant that Jesus was made
poor that we might be made rich. So God is not
oppose to riches but yet there is a certain thin
and fine line between the ability to possess
riches and between riches possessing us. The
difference is where the word the love, the
desire. The love for money is the root, not just
of one evil but it says of all evil. You could think
of any evil on this earth. Paul says that’s the
root. That means the beginning, the start of
that evil. We know that there are many sins on
this earth. There are the sins of the
flesh. There are the sins of all kinds of manner
of sin. But behind it is the love of money. It’s
not possible to do the wrong thing if you don’t
have available reason. Paul says the love of
money has lured many away from the
faith. What we are preaching is talking about
what Paul gospel is. He reasoned about
righteousness. He reasoned about
temperance. We preach a balance gospel and
we want to preach this part of the gospel where
Paul commanded Timothy to warn, to tell, to
proclaim to the people that the love of money is
the root of all evil. We are going to see how in
the bible there are many examples, but we are
going to pick some examples of the fall of
people who had great potential. Each one of
them fell because of the love of money.

Lets look at the book of Numbers

16. When we live only for this earth, money
becomes overwhelming. There’s a man named
Korah who wanted position. Verse 1, “Korah
the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of
Levi, with Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab,
and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took
men; and the rose up before Moses with some
of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty
leaders of the congregation, representatives of
the congregation, men of renown.” In other
words, powerful figures, leaders and men of
influence. Verse 3, “They gathered together
against Moses and Aaron, and said to them,
‘You take too much upon yourselves, for all the
congregation is holy, every one of them, and the
Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt
yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?”
 So here if you read just from the book of
Numbers, it looks as if Korah was just after
position but the background of Korah needs to
be studied. Korah was actually a rich and
powerful man. Let me read to you from the
traditions of Jews. Let me read to you
something he said that about this Korah from
The Jewish History called ‘Antiquity of the Jews’
by Josephus, the most famous Jewish scholar
and historian. He says when Moses came out
from Egypt, Korah a Hebrew of principal
account, both by his family and by his
wealth. One that was also able to speak
well. One who could easily persuade the
people by his speeches, saw that Moses was in
an exceeding great dignity and was uneasy
about it. He envied him on that account. He
was of the same tribe with Moses and of kin to
him was particularly grieved because he
thought he better deserve that honorable post
on account of his great riches. And not inferior
to him that is Moses in his birth, so he raised a
clamor against him among the Levites who
were of the same tribe and especially among
his kindred. Now in both the other Jewish and
the Mohammedan version of this Old
Testament, it also speaks about Korah as a
man of great riches. What he actually did was
that he wanted the position of power so that he
could acquire more riches. To him riches were
his entire goal. Riches with dignity and with the
honor that comes with it.

So we see how the root of all evil has to

do with the love of money. The love of money
can sometime come in the form of the love for
position because we know that, that position will
bring influence and finances. The love for
money can come in the form of a desire to get a
better job or to change into a better position in
the secular sense. Now we want to be very
balance about it. We realize that God did say
you shall be the head and not the tail. It is a
promise of God to His people that when we
walk with Him righteously with Him, He will
promote us from step to step until you are the
head and not the tail. But I will guarantee to
you this fact that unless we die to the desire for
riches we actually cannot receive it nor can that
promise be activated for us. Sometimes God
allows us to enter a situation where we are
tested. Perhaps to get that new job, to get that
new position, to get that new promotion, you
may have to compromise some principles. You
may have to lose your time with God. You may
have to stay many hours away from your home
and family and you may pull away from
principles that you hold dear in your life. It’s not
worth it. That is what I mean by people who
don’t live for eternity, live only for this earth. We
Christians are caught in a situation where at the
same time we want to succeed in this world and
have abundance in God so that we could enjoy
God’s goodness as well as being instruments of
blessing others. Yet at the same time we need
to understand that there is a danger when you
handle riches. It has to be handled prayerfully
at all times. Sometimes a man may be a very
spiritual man who loves God and praises God
regularly and at all times. But one change of
his job that takes him from his family, requires
another four hours extra per day. You begin to
see that personality change. That man began to
be drawn to live only for this earth and not live
for eternity. So we do not judge the value of a
job based on the pay cheque that comes at the
end of the month. We judge the value of a job
based on the total well-being. Your family, your
time with God, your spiritual life in God as well
as the pay cheque.

Korah allowed the love for money to be

expressed in the love for position. That’s one of

the way the root of the love for money works its
work in Christian life where they want more and

more. Many multi-millionaires have had

enough if they retire right now for the rest of

their lives. Yet people want more. Many multi-

millionaires are still earning more and they got

more money that they can use. They are living

only for this earth. We need to instill into

ourselves that we live for eternity. Now that

love for position, which is one of the roots of evil

that comes from the love of money can also

creep into a minister’s life where the minister

would do anything to get recognition. To do this

and to do that. That is also living for this

earth. It makes a minister unwilling to give

place to another, to count other more worthy

than himself and give it up. We need to watch

that.

Sometimes that is in it seed form. For

example, we were in a church camp sometimes

back, it’s good to see everybody have fun and

fellowship as well as spiritual food. Then there

is a game time. Although I didn’t join in the

game but as I watched the people playing the

game, I realized everybody’s personality came

up in the game. If somebody is quite

aggressive in their work and in the way they

discipline their life, in the game it’s the same. I

mean you could see the aggressiveness. If

someone who just takes life easily, lets say you

are playing volley ball and the ball comes, hi

brother its yours, its yours. You could see all

the personality come out. You could see those

who want personal benefit, when the ball

comes to them and every time the ball comes,

they will say, get away, it’s my ball, my ball. You

may not know I was observing but I was

watching everybody’s personality. It comes out

even in the way we play games. Yet these are

the things that we need to fine tune in our

lives. There is a difference whether we live for

others or we live for ourselves. No doubt when

we are in something, we are there to

win. That’s a good attitude but then at the

same time it balance with participation for the

people. In other words, you can win and yet

help others to win.

In life we realize on this earth out there

in the world, people think that to be a winner
you got to pull people down; you got to step
over their heads. Sometimes you got to
trample on some of them in order to get to the
top. Come what may, by hook or by crook, by
any way possible. But in Christ it is possible to
climb up to be the number one and along the
way be a blessing all along the way. And help
others who are climbing up all along the way. If
you win, they win too. So this kind of attitude
that has to do with living for eternity where you
do not desire things unless they help you to be
a person who could be a blessing to others. In
other words, if you desire something if it helps
the others, then you take it. If it doesn’t help
others, then you won’t take it. So when you are
negotiating a new job or your new promotion,
you are thinking in the end does it really helps
all of us in the family. Does it really help
everybody or is it just I wanting to possess
more finances. So all these evaluations come
in our life and many people are persuaded to
pursue after position to the neglect of all other
important values that cannot be measured by
dollars and cents. Finally when they grasp the
whole of the money, which they love, they turn
around and there is nobody to share
with. There’s no home to go. There’s no love
ones to comfort them. There’s nobody to share
with. The higher they go they found out that the
lonelier they become. In the end all they have
is a lonely life. The last days of life are passed
in loneliness and torment. It’s not worth the
millions dollars. So the love of money leads
people like Korah to go after position but he is
very clever. He hides behind the mask a
spiritual mark. He never said that he loves
money and position. He said, ‘Moses you take
too much for yourself. Everybody can hear God
like you.’ What he wants is, he wants Moses’
position. Somehow, he influenced all the
rest. It look like he was looking for spiritual
position but actually he was after a natural
position.

The second area where the love for

money can hit a person is when you already
have the position. How you got it that’s in your
past. But you already got the position. The
temptation to abuse your office comes as a
result of the love for money. In the book of
Numbers chapter 22, the story of Balaam the
prophet. Now Balaam was already a prophet
unlike Korah, who had no position. His only
position was to help carry the holy things of
God as a Levite. He was not allowed the
priesthood, which he wanted. He was not
allowed the prophetic office, which he wanted
too. Moses had and Aaron had. Now Balaam is
a different case. He had already got a kind of
spiritual position. He was a prophet who had
an encounter and experience with God. But
here comes the love of money unto his life. In
the form of a king called Balak who was the
king of the Moabites.

Verse 4 “So Moab said to the elders of

Midian, ‘Now this company will lick up
everything around us, as an ox licks up the
grass of the field.’ And Balak the son of Zippor
was king of the Moabites at that time. Then he
sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beorat
at Pethor, which is near the River in the land of
the sons of his people, to call him, saying,
‘Look, a people has come from Egypt. See,
they cover the face of the earth, and are setting
next to me. Therefore please come at once,
curse this people for me.”

In verse 7 & 8, so they sought Balaam

to divine or to be able to draw forth an anointing
to curse the Israelites. To abuse his position
when Balaam should not even have asked
God. There are some things you don’t even
have to ask God, you know His answer. When
Balaam came before God, God said, ‘No, don’t
go with these people.’ So the next morning
Balaam came to Balak and said in verse 13,
“Go back to your land, for the Lord has refused
to give me permission to go with you.” So they
went back and verse 15 Balak increased the
pay. “Balak sent princes more numerous and
more honorable than they.” I mean Balak sent
greater influential figures with greater
rewards. It is the love for money that started
drawing Balaam’s attention. Balaam said,
alright let me seek God to see what God would
say. He didn’t have to seek God because God
already told him don’t go with them. But yet he
sought God. And it was like God saying this
way as you read the story. Which if you insist
go ahead, God gives a kind of permissive
yes. He went along the way and he nearly
died if not for his donkey.

When he reached the place where he was

to curse the Israelites in chapter 23: 1-2, they
had seven altars built and then Balaam heard
from God and instead of cursing he blessed the
people. Then in verse 13 they tried
again. They built all those altars again he
blessed the people. Third time in verse 27,
Balak said to Balaam, let us go to another
place. Chapter 24, the whole part of it, again
Balaam blessed the people. Balak was highly
displeased in verse 10. “King Balak’s anger
was aroused against Balaam, and he struck his
hands together; and Balak said to Balaam, ‘I
called you to curse my enemies, and look, you
have bountifully blessed them these three
times.” So Balak angrily strode away. Balak
said he used the name of God in vain, that is in
verse 11, “Now therefore, flee to your place. I
said I would greatly honor you, but in fact, the
Lord has kept you back from honor.”

No! The Lord never wanted him to have

that kind of honor. There are some honors the
Lord wants you to have but there are some
honors the Lord never wanted you to get
involved with. When we live for eternity, there
are some honors that you say no to. Not all
honors are from the Lord. Some are just a
distraction. That’s the second area where the
love of money leads a person to, the abuse of
position. Because they love money they would
trade their position for more money. I could
imagine Balak filled with anger walked away
with all the silver and gold and the reward and
all his princes and Balaam was left there. It
looks like the end of the story, Balaam couldn’t
curse, Balaam couldn’t bypass his office. But
as the money started walking away, Balaam
had a sinking feeling. That was his golden
opportunity to make a million buck and he just
missed it. Then as Balak was going further and
further away, Balaam had this sinking feeling. I
mean he just missed a million dollar
opportunity. Opportunists need to be sanctified
because not all opportunities are from the Lord.

Finally this is the story, that is not in the

bible but you can see the ending that must have
happened. Balaam must have regrets. I mean
he has great regrets. Finally he must have
called back Balak and said I want the gold and I
want the silver. Balak said you could curse
them like I told you to. Balaam use his carnal
crafty mind and said, although we cannot do it,
there is another way that you can cause them
to fall. All in exchange for gold and silver. He
had so many roadblocks along the way. When
he asked God, God said no. When he rode the
donkey, the donkey protested against him. He
got so many roadblocks. He tried to function in
the office of a prophet and curse. He could
not. He went past all God’s roadblocks. Finally
he taught Balak how to cause the Israelites to
fall. Balak followed and Israel fell. Balaam got
rewarded and this is recorded for us in the book
of Numbers chapter 31 verse 8 and verse
16. “They killed the kings of Midian with the
rest of those who were killed – Evi, Rekem, Zur,
Hur, and Reba, the five kings of
Midian. Balaam the son of Beor they also killed
with the sword.” Sadly Balaam was among
those who had to be killed. Verse 16, why was
he killed? “Look, these women caused the
children of Israel, through the counsel of
Balaam, to trespass against the Lord in the
incident of Peor, and there was a plague among
the congregation of the Lord.” In other words,
Balaam valued gold and silver above his
position.

A position given by God is an eternal

position. Some of those positions God give
include natural position, whether in the
business or secular world in the spiritual
kingdom of God. They come from God and
they are bought with the Precious Blood of
Jesus. We must recognize that a position that
comes from God must be guarded. Must be
valued above silver and gold. Let not the love
of money cause anyone to abuse his or her
position. Otherwise the end of Balaam will also
be their end.
 The third incident is a story of
destruction because of the love for money. The
book of Joshua 7, this time is a man named
Achan. Achan was the foot soldier as he was
used for eternity. There is a balance that we
need to understand. For example, if you are
praying or believing God for a house, ask for a
house that you could manage. Don’t ask for a
huge mansion with about one hundred rooms
and you will spend sixteen hours cleaning that
everyday. Or you say that you are rich enough
to hire people, it will cost you twenty thousand
dollars per month to hire people. It’s a waste of
money. See there are ways some where along
the line and there must be a balance in our
worldly possession. We must make sure we
must not be distracted.

Sometimes it comes in a different

way. Some people are so hard up about these
things of this world. It is a kind of childish
attitude going after brand names. People will
go all the way. Drive two hours just to go after a
brand name. Now everything you wear has a
brand. We are talking about a balance. We
need to understand that as long as things are
usable and if they are good enough, there is no
necessity to purposely go into wastage just for
brand name. If you ever buy a car because it’s
prestigious, you are worldly. If you ever buy a
house because it’s prestigious, it’s
worldliness. If you ever do wear clothes
because it’s prestigious rather than its practical
and you feel that it suit you and look good, then
it’s going to worldliness. Of course that doesn’t
mean that we all have to wear slippers to
church, wear shorts to church because that will
save us a lot of money. We want to have a
balance here. At the same time we don’t want
to go to the other extreme of saying the world is
not ours. It all belongs to the devil. We will just
eat plain rice and live in an wooden hut and let
the devil have all the good things in this
world. That is the other extreme. I am not
talking about that. But yet the other extreme is
to spend so much time on worldly things. You
spend two hours planning your shopping, three
hours shopping and five minutes on
prayer. Then it has become a
distraction. When purchasing a car takes three
hours per day, doing all the research, examining
the car engine, car color for six months, it has
become a distraction.

We live in a world where we live on a

fine road. We need to understand of being

distracted and not being distracted. Using

those things that are there and those things that

are not. So this pursuit of brand name is an

unnecessary burden that one places on one’s

life. Usually young people go after it because

young people are insecure. Just like

advertisers advertise cigarette smoking by

using famous people smoking a particular

brand. These advertisements are based on

identification. Just because a famous guy uses

that so you also use that. You can be like

him. It’s a false identification. It says do not be

conformed to the things of this world. Yet at the

same time we are not saying all of us must look

as shabby as possible in church. The more

shabbier the holier you are. You buy thing that

suits you. Buy thing that you could wear and

it’s reasonable but let it not be such a

distraction. If you stand two hours every

morning in front of your mirror before you go off,

there is something that is slightly off balance.

In the book of Joshua 7, he says that he

saw this beautiful mantle and he took it. He
dug a hole and hid it then went back to
fighting. Extra time involved and he thought
nobody knew. God saw it. God knew about it
and God will deal with it. The third aspect of
the love of money manifests in a distraction
upon someone’s life. In the gospel of Mark 4:
19 those that fell among the thorns, the seeds
that fell among the thorns, Jesus interprets as
this: verse 19 “the cares of this world, the
deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for
other things entering choke the word, and it
becomes unfruitful.” When it becomes time
consuming to manage your finance resources;
something must give, something must be
surrendered. I mean some people busy
themselves so much. Handling hundreds of
thousand and millions of dollars but it takes
them so much time. It’s much easier cut down
all those excessive ones and minimizes it so
that you could have more time for eternity. It
would be a more balance approach. Because
in this world you could keep yourself occupied
until you got no time. This is a very busy
world. A world that fills you with all its thrills,
glitters and attractions. If we live for eternity, we
got to watch no. 3 the distraction that is actually
the love of money. If you ask someone, do you
love money? He/she will never say I
do. Unless the real hard nut unbeliever says,
yes, I love money. But if you ask the average
Christian, do you love money? No, no, I love
the Lord. But they go about their lives looking
for position. They actually love money. It’s
hidden in form. Then if you ask a Christian, do
you love money? He/she says no. Then they
use their position in the secular world to get
more money. Side job here and there. A little
here, a little there. Just to get extra money. But
it’s all illegal. You ask them do you love
money. No, no, I go to church on Sunday. I
love the Lord. They will never deny but they
are abusing their position for money. That is
the love for money. That’s what we want to
clarify. That’s the third area.

You are the Christians, are you

worldly? They say, no, no. I am not worldly. I
don’t put make-up. I don’t use lips stick. I don’t
use earring. I don’t wear gold chains. Using or
not using doesn’t make any difference. That
means it’s alright for you to use make-
up. Better don’t go too far. I was telling my
wife, I said, do you know the secret of putting
make-up? She said, I don’t know. Do you know
anything about make-up? I said, it must be
such that it looks natural. If a make-up looks
artificial, it’s no more real make-up. Make-up is
to make you look more natural and fresh. But
some people’s makeups make them look like a
clown. So all those things are not wrong. But
you ask them, are you worldly? They say, no,
no. Do you love money? They say, no, no. But
they are highly distracted by things of this
world. They cannot walk pass a shop without
looking. Are you worldly? No, no. Tongues
talking, Spirit filled, demon casting, bible
carrying but never read. We need bible reading
not just bible carrying. You ask them are they
worldly? They say, no. But they are actually
living for this world. Not for eternity. Because
they are distracted. Distracted by the things of
this life. It occupies their lives. I mean hunting
for furniture, hunting for this and that and all
these things take so much time. But when you
talk about looking for a good version of bible,
they say any version will do. Just go and
buy. Then we called ourselves Christians. We
called ourselves the most spiritual people on
earth, unworldly in the world but not of the
world. But actually we are of the world and in
the world when we are distracted.

Test no. 3. These are three tests

whether you really love money or not. Test
no.3; go back to I Kings 21: 1, this is the story
of Ahab. “It came to pass after these things that
Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard which was
in Jezreel, next to the palace of Ahab king of
Samaria. So Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying,
‘Give me your vineyard, that I may have it for a
vegetable garden, because it is near, next to my
house; and for it I will give you a vineyard better
than it. Or, if it seems good to you, I will give
you its worth in money.’ But Naboth said to
Ahab, ‘The Lord forbid that I should give the
inheritance of my fathers to you.’ So Ahab went
into his house sullen and displeased because of
the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had
spoken to him; for he had said, ‘I will not give
you the inheritance of my fathers.’ And he lay
down on his bed, and turned away his face, and
would eat no food.”

Look at him king of Israel. He asked for

his neighbor’s vineyard, the neighbor said
cannot for good reason. I mean it has been his
family inheritance for many years. Who wants
to sell that? I mean it’s their life’s blood. Their
descendants and their ancestors are supposed
to continue on that plot of land. Ahab said I
want it. I will give you a better land. Even if it’s
a better land, that land has more sentimental
value to them. Ahab fell into an emotional state
of distress. He fasted and he prayed but for the
wrong thing. His wife who is also as bad, in
verse 5 said, “Why is your spirit so sullen that
you eat no food?” Verse 6, He said to her, he
didn’t give me the vineyard. I want the
vineyard. And of course Jezebel was more
cunning that Ahab. She plotted a murder. Got
Naboth killed and then said to Ahab in chapter
21: 15 “Arise, take possession of the vineyard
of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to
give you for money; for Naboth is not alive, but
dead. So it was, when Ahab heard that Naboth
was dead, that Ahab got up and went down to
take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the
Jezreelite.”

The fourth test: Are all your prayers

centered on your need? When you don’t have
your needs met, will you turn your face from
Jesus Christ of Nazareth? A lot of Christians
will love Jesus only as long as He supplies their
needs. He will of course. But there are times
when He will want to watch whether you love
Him because He is the giver or love Him
because of who He is with or without Him giving
you anything. When you were asked, do you
love money? No, no, no. But 99% of your
prayer have to do with Father God who are in
heaven, give me this day my daily bread. Give
me a good job. Give me all my needs for all my
house. Give me all these things. Give me food
on my table. Give me this. Give me that. Thy
kingdom come on earth. Thy will be done on
earth as its in heaven. Amen. 99% of their
prayers have to do with their needs. When if
their needs are not met, they will be bitter at
God. Bitter at the institution of the
church. Bitter at Jesus. Bitter at the
bible. They say God didn’t meet their
needs. Don’t want to read the bible. They
behaved like a spoiled child. They behaved like
Ahab.

When Ahab went out to collect Naboth’s

vineyard, his archenemy Elijah the Thisbite,
came to bite him. Came to teach and bite.
‘teachbite’ that is not his real name. When he
saw Elijah in verse 20, “Ahab said, ‘have you
found me, O my enemy?’ And Elijah said, ‘I
have found you.’ Verse 21, he pronounced a
judgment on him. I want you to notice this
fact. When Ahab was worshipping idols he was
bad enough. He did a lot of other evil things,
which were bad enough. But it was only when
he killed Naboth for the love of money that the
real judgment came. The real judgment came
not just because of Baal. His heart was like a
divided heart. Sometimes he trust Jehovah,
sometimes he trust idols. But it was when he
yielded to the love of money to the extent of no.
2 abuse and compromise principles to murder
that it affected his entire life. He cannot sleep
without money. He cannot sleep if he does not
have what he wants. It’s only when he became
crooked to possess the real judgment came on
him. Because it was a wicked thing to steal, to
rob, to murder, to possess, that’s the extent that
the love of money brought him to. But the point
that we see here is how emotionally affected he
was. Would you if today, you see God will not
steal, God will not kill, God will not destroy, but
God will only say would you be willing to give
up. If today God would to say give up your
house, which you have slogged, you have
worked your sweat out; you have saved and
invested for thirty years. God said, ‘give it
up.’ Would you be able to say yes without a
struggle? If you cannot, you are not living for
eternity.

Now I realize that somehow while we live

on this earth, human being first get tied up and
sentimental to the things that they have to work
for. To the things they possessed. To the
things they accumulated in their short life. But
the test of whether you are living for eternity is if
you don’t have those things, would you still love
the Lord? If you don’t have a roof above your
head, would you still love the Lord? If you have
to walk from place to place without
transportation without any car or any vehicle,
would you still love the Lord? If you have only
one tee-shirt and two pairs of pants, would you
still love the Lord? Or would it occupy your
mind so much that 99% of your prayer is to get
that?

Let me give you a powerful key. We are not

against prosperity, but we are giving you a
powerful way to receive true prosperity. If only
Christians will realize that when they occupy
their time, for example, you live in a small little
hut place in a squatter area, you have two
pants, one pair of shoes and one tee-shirt, but
instead of praying, ‘O God, give me all these
needs,’ you just say, ‘Father, I have needs and
you know about it. I ask for you to supply
above all my needs. Thank you.’ And then the
rest of your time you are praying, ‘O God, I
thank you for Jesus. How wonderful He
is. How wonderful salvation is. Thank you for
the mansion in heaven. Thank you Lord that I
could be a blessing to many. Thank you for
your bible. Thank you Lord for the time in Your
word.’ You spend 99% of your time thanking
God for those spiritual gifts you have received
from Him. Thank Him for the spiritual
blessings. That man will receive
prosperity. He will receive probably a new
job. He will receive finances such that he
cannot dream about above his expectation. We
are not saying that you don’t ask for your daily
bread because it’s in the Lord’s Prayer. But it’s
one of the items in the many things in the Lord’s
Prayer. Those of you who had exercised faith
for cars, house or finances realize this. It is
only when you come to the point where it’s not
really important to you whether you get it or not
then you get it. But when it is very important to
you, you are still attached too much to it. It’s
not surrendered to God. When you surrender it
to God then it comes. So God deals with our
heart’s attachment.

Perhaps you believe in God for a

car. You are so attached. I mean always
praying on that area. Its high full
concentration. But perhaps you have been
praying for six months, it didn’t turn up. Twelve
months, it didn’t turn up. After sometimes you
are happy as you are. You praise God. I mean
that you do the best you can on your little
bicycle. You are still praying for a car but it’s
not so important to you now. You still
remember your request. You still would like to
have it. But it is not so important to you. Lo
and behold it suddenly appears. But when it
was important to you, so important that to have
it was the only thing in life. Most important
thing it will never come because God knows our
hearts. He says that when you love Him above
father, mother, family or any area above all else
and you give up all for Him, then He bless you a
hundredfold in this life and in the life to come.

God is not against your prosperity but

God is against worldliness and covetousness in
our hearts. God will deal with your
covetousness until it is not important and you
praise God and you worship God as you are. It
will come to you. Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and all these things shall be added unto
you. That’s point no.4. If you ask somebody,
he/she says no. But how much of your time do
you spend praying about the things of this
life. 99% they are worldly. They love money
above God. Of all Paul’s prayers, Philippians
chapter one, Romans chapter one he prayed
briefly. I Corinthians one, Colossians one and
Ephesians one and three, of all Paul’s prayers
surprisingly you will find none of them were for
physical needs. Indirectly they applied to
physical needs but one of them was for physical
needs. Philippians one prayed for love to grow
in judgment. Ephesians one prayed for the
Spirit, more of the spirit of wisdom and
revelation. Ephesians three prayed for the love
of God to be established in our
lives. Colossians one prayed that we might do
the will of God. None of them were for physical
needs. How worldly are we are judged by the
extent of our prayer in God. Then we say we
are not of this world. We are so occupied that it
occupied all our prayers. Set yourself
free. With every little you have, with whatever
much you have, be faithful. Thank God as you
are. By all means believe God for the
best. Believe God for abundance. But be
separated from them. Don’t be attached to that
and God will bless you beyond what you asked.

No. 5 II Kings 5, all these are because

of the love for money in different
forms. Naaman was healed by Elisha and he
told Elisha in II Kings 5: 15-16 “Indeed now I
know that there is no God in all the earth,
except in Israel, now therefore, please take a
gift from your servant. But he said, ‘As the Lord
lives, before whom I stand, I will receive
nothing.’ And he urged him to take it, but he
refused.”
 Can you imagine being persuaded to
take something and you don’t want. Some
people don’t even have to persuade. You just
have to put the money out and they will grab it
straightaway. Naaman wanted to give a gift to
Elisha, Elisha said no, thanks. He is satisfied
living in his cave like house with his table and
desk as compared to Naaman’s standard. He
was satisfied as he was. And Naaman said,
‘take.’ The bible says, he persuaded. He urged
him to take. Elisha said ‘no’. All the servants
were watching. There is another man of God
who also did that. Abraham after he had
conquered and freed Lot from captivity and also
freed the king of Sodom and all his people and
won the battle, the king of Sodom said to
Abraham, ‘Give me all the men servants and
the people, you keep all the gold.’ Abraham
said, ‘No, you take back all the things. If any
other servants want to have anything let them
have. I will not even take one shoe’s lace from
you.’
 Blessed be the man and woman of God
who say no to silver and gold. Much less if man
and woman of God ask for money. They have
compromised their principles. It is better to
starve and to go without food than to ask for
money because the integrity of your character
and the respect for your position is something
that money cannot buy. By compromising it the
respect that you have cannot be build up
again. Which is why the fifth test of worldliness
here is the ability to say no to something that
could rightfully be yours. Something that you
could have earned it. Something that is a gift
could you say ‘no’. Some people cannot say no
to a gift. Some people cannot say no to a
better offer. Some people cannot say no if
something glitters like gold. Free this. Free
that. Everything free. In this world,
advertisement attracts people by free. You see
those huge advertisements in the papers or
anywhere; they say free gift and everybody
rush for it. That is the spirit of the world. They
cannot resist something free. Now Abraham
and Elisha did not even receive something
free. It was something that could have been
rightfully theirs because it was through their
gifting, their works and their sacrifices that they
had paid and the other person got blessed. Yet
they could say no. But his servant cannot say
no. His servants disagreed with Elisha’s
principles.

In chapter 5: 20 “But Gehazi, the

servant of Elisha the man of God, said, ‘Look,
my master has spared Naaman this Syrian,
while not receiving from his hands what he
brought, but as the Lord lives, I will run after
him and take something from him. So Gehazi
pursued Naaman. When Naaman saw him
running after him, he got down from the chariot
to meet him, and said, ‘Is all well?’ And he
said, ‘All is well. My master has sent me,
saying, ‘Indeed, just now two young men of the
sons of the prophets have come to me from the
mountains of Ephraim. Please give them a
talent of silver and two changes of
garments. So Naaman said, ‘Please, take two
talents.’ And he gave him two talents of silver.
Two changes of garments, and handed them to
two of his servants; and they carried them on
ahead of him.”

Gehazi told a lie. Gehazi was someone

who could not say no if there is a free
offer. Usually if you see a free offer, you see
the small print there, a lot of other
things. That’s how they advertise today. If you
could not resist something that is free, there is a
spirit of worldliness there hanging in your
closet. The only time I buy anything is really
useful. Like sometimes these books on the
wars on the whole world, that to me is good
research because I was researching on the
wars and the famine. See the connection to
see its fulfillment. In the book of Genesis it
says, if blood is shed there will be the earth will
not produce. So I did research. Then only I will
buy those books. If buying those books they
give some other things like free watches or
some other things then take it. Take it and then
give it away again. But I will not buy anything
just because the free gift is there
dangling. Sometimes in supermarket it attracts
you. You buy $500 worth of goods and you get
this thing free. You go and you spend. But the
$500 is spent on unnecessary things. That free
gift cost perhaps RM50. If you count it’s not
worth. Your over spent your budget. This is
where a lack of temperance of self-control
comes. You cannot say no to something free.

Perhaps it says the first 200 customers

will receive a free gift. I tell you, you never got
up for early morning prayers but when it says
the first 200 customers will get a free gift, from
8.30am before the shop open at 9.30am you
are already there lining up. You are customer
number one. But when the church doors are
not opened, you never line up early to go in to
pray. You say church starts at ten; let me be
there at eleven. Free gift starts at 9.30am,
8.30am you are there waiting. Then people ask
you, do you love money? You say, O no, no, I
love the Lord. But look at what happening. You
couldn’t say no to something free from the
world. It’s a test. Every one will be
tested. Abraham was tested, whether he want
to have something free. He said, ‘no.’ Elisha
was tested with something free. He said, ‘no.’
 There are the five other tests for the
love of money. They are hidden behind all
these areas. Test no.1 for the love of position.
Test no.2 for the abuse of position. Test no. 3
was distraction with worldly things. It takes a lot
of your time. Test no. 4 prayers for earthly
needs occupy 99% of your time. Test no. 5 is
where you could not say no when some carrot
is dangling right before your eyes. So all these
five tests reveal a person’s love for money.

Then we look at the importance of being

able to handle a relationship with money all
through our life. Some people do it well in their
early stages but they fall in the middle or a later
stage. But we must be able to handle a good
relationship with money. For that we want to
look at the book of I Samuel. You notice that
these are the statements always made at the
conclusion of people ministry in bible. To you
how important the final test of a ministry at the
conclusion is whether you have lived in an
unworldly life, whether you have lived a life that
is tempered and balanced between spirit, soul
and body.

In I Samuel, we see here in chapter 12:

3 “Here I am. Witness against me before the
Lord and before His anointed: Whose ox have I
taken, or whose donkey have I taken, or whom
have I cheated? Whom have I oppressed, or
from whose hand have I received any bride with
which to blind my eyes? I will restore it to you.”

Samuel at the conclusion of his public

ministry said, if there is anyone who says I have
taken anything I will repay. If I have taken any
donkey, you say it, you could bear witness and
if it’s true, I will repay. In other words, Samuel
at the end of his life could wash his hands and
said he stayed cleaned from the love of
money. Since the love of money is the root of
all evil. If you could stay clean from the love of
money, you would be free from the root of all
evil. You will be free from all evil if you could
stand with a clean heart and live for eternity.
 Paul in the book of Acts 20 makes this
statement at the conclusion of his public
ministry. Always conclusion must be a good
one. Acts 20: 33-34 He says, “I have coveted
no one’s silver or gold or apparel. Yes, you
yourselves know that these hands have
provided for my necessities, and for those who
were with me.”

I want you to know that is the kind of

reputation that money cannot buy. Something
that we must hold true. That I pray that I could
deposit that into your spirit. Even though in life
and in early ministry we have a lot of
persecutions in different areas but after we
have reconciled with many of them. Not a
single one of them could say that we have ever
compromise when it comes to the
finance. Which is the integrity we have built
over fifteen or sixteen years. We intend to keep
it that way. We pray it could be built into the life
of each one of the minister here and each one
of those here in the secular world. It is an
integrity that money cannot buy.
 I remember my seminary professor,
after we got acquainted, after the fellowship,
years passed by and things became more
amicable and I heard this indirectly. They said,
even though he is not the typical Baptist, and
even though to us in the Baptist church, he is
extreme in his practices, they were talking
about me. One thing we know, he said, he
loves the Lord. Then later on when we were
having hard times with the Full Gospel
fellowship and then later when we restored, we
heard word from some of them, it was whatever
disagreement, whatever there was, but one
thing they cannot find fault is this; one of them
said, though all the seven years we have been
working together, they know that not one time I
asked for finance. Even though they were very
rich. That was the clean relationship we have
with people. That’s the kind of reputation we
need to build. Not just here but also we need to
build to the completion of the entire
ministry. What we are encouraging all of you
here is that in Samuel’s ending, in Paul’s ending
and it’s our goal in our ending of public ministry
and it is a goal we need to set.
 You see sometimes even in the
business world, some of you say why I am not
in the ministry. Isn’t it sad in the business
world, after you have accumulated all your
wealth, all your finances, you are just freshly
retired, you are just about to enjoy your wealth,
your past catch up with you because of the
crooked ways you accumulated your
wealth. You compromised with godly principles
in your business and now your past catch up
with you and you lose all your wealth in your old
age. You got nothing to show after that. You
are brought into a situation where you got no
money in your bank account, no money in your
pocket. Isn’t it terrible that kind of legacies that
can come, where from a multimillionaire you
can be reduced to rags? Instead of rags to
riches, you have riches to rags. I want you to
know that on this earth as Christians we need
to leave a legacy behind. We confess to people
we have a mansion in heaven and yet at the
same time we must show forth a life that is
unworldly, unaffected by this world, unaffected
by the rumors, by the word or anything like
that. That we could stand clean before people.

Jesus could stand up and says, if there

is any sin among you. Jesus said, I have no
sin. Paul could stand although he could not say
about the sin area because he being human
may have fallen here and there in words or any
area. But yet in this area of practice and
handling the love of money, he said he is
clean. That’s the legacies we must have if we
want to live for eternity. Prove it and be free
from all those areas and be
determined. Sometimes we hear of ministers
who compromise on those areas, my wife and I
are grieved because we said when we had not
a single cent for bus fare we walked. We
walked with twenty cents in our pockets. We
walked all the way from the railway station, from
the bus station. We walked all the way to town
on our legs. And even when somebody picked
us up and happened to pass by and gave us a
lift right to the place we were going, they said,
why are you walking? We could not say
anything. We said, praise the Lord. We want
you to know that, that’s the kind of relationship
we must learn. If you want prosperity, you must
have it under controlled. But if prosperity
controls you, the love of money comes. All
other evils will be opened up like a Pandora’s
box. May God preserve us.

I Tim. 6: 10 “For the love of money is a root

of all kinds of evil.” Then the love of money is
something we must be able to handle and
overcome in our life. If you can overcome
money and finances and the love of it, you can
overcome all other evils because the love of
money is the root of all evil.

I will close by reading Hebrew 11 and

show you how others have lived for eternity
successfully. Why was Abraham able to say no
to finances? Because in Hebrew 11 says, verse
8 onwards, “By faith Abraham obeyed when he
was called to go out to the place which he
would receive as an inheritance. And he went
out, not knowing where he was going. By faith
he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign
country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob,
the heirs with him of the same promise; for he
waited for the city which has foundations,
whose builder and maker is God.”

His eyes were on the heavenly

reward. Do you know why Paul never gives up
all his life? Do you know Paul was not moved
by silver and gold and apparel because Paul
says, ‘I seek for the reward up there.’ He lived
for eternity

In chapter 11 verse 23, “By faith, Moses,

when he was born, was hidden three months by
his parents, because they saw he was a
beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the
king’s command. By faith Moses, when he
became of age, refused to be called the son of
Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer
affliction with the people of God than to enjoy
the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the
reproach of Christ greater riches than the
treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward.”

These are people who lived for

eternity. He could have been called the son of
the daughter of Pharaoh but he refused. He
could have the riches of Egypt but he refused
because these people lived for eternity.

3. THREE HIGHER PRINCIPLES

 This morning we are on the third
message on the series of ‘Living for
Eternity’. The first was an introduction. The
second was about how we must handle
finances properly and how we must wrestle with
the love of money. Today we are going to look
at three higher principles above all other
principles and what I called high principles that
must guide our life in the walk and high law of
eternity that governs this natural life that we
have.

So this morning we will look at the higher

laws of God. Why we are talking about this
series is so that we realize that on the one hand
as we grow in faith principles, as we excel in
the things of this life, as we have worldly
success, spiritual success, yet we need to have
our success tempered with a vision and a heart
for eternity. Like the book of Ecclesiastes says
that man is born with eternity in his
heart. Success in this life is temporal but
spiritual success is permanent. Sometimes
they both go together. Sometimes they are
both contradictory.

We look first at Matthew 23: 23 “Woe to

you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For
you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and
have neglected the weightier matters of the law,
justice and mercy and faith. These you ought
to have done, without leaving the others
undone.”

Jesus is speaking to the Pharisees

saying that they have obeyed certain
commandments and among them are the
commandments of tithing, offering, etc although
their attitude was wrong on the obedience in
spite of their obedience to the laws of their
traditions. Jesus is not saying we do not obey
those laws like tithing and offering and many
others sub-law. He said here in verse 23, not to
leave the others undone. In other words all the
other commandments are as important. But
then we realize that there are some that are
higher than others. Some laws are higher than
others. The Pharisees in obeying the other
laws have neglected what Jesus says and is
the phase He used: the weightier matters of the
law, the more important that carry more
weight. Those are higher, supreme and more
powerful than all the others.

We know in life, there are different

degrees of authority. For example, a case
decided in a lower court maybe over turned in
the higher court. Then people can appeal right
up to the highest court in the land, the Supreme
Court. What is decided in the highest level
makes all the judgments of the lower courts null
and void. In a similar way in the natural
scientific world, we have the law of
thermodynamics and there are the laws of
heats that cause an airplane to bypass or
surpass or overcome the pull of the law of
gravity. So we know even in the natural world,
the higher law can overcome the lower law. We
realize that electric power or mechanical power
can overcome the law of friction that prevents
all things from moving perpetually. So there are
higher laws and lower laws in the natural
life. What about in the spiritual world? As we
study the Word, as we gain knowledge in all
kinds of manner of commandments, laws we
need to bear in mind that there are some laws
that are high above all laws because these laws
affect our reward, lack of reward in eternity.

Now there is something mentioned

about the Pharisees. Luke 16: 14 “Now the
Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also
heard all these things, and they derided Him.”
 We just talked about the love of money
last week. And of all people, the Pharisees
especially were lovers of money. They were
supposedly the most religious and spiritual
people in Jesus’ time. They held the laws in
their hands. They have both religious authority
and natural authority in the time of Romans
under the Romans jurisdiction. Here comes
Jesus and He rebuked the Pharisees. The
whole chapter 23 is the utterance of one woe
after another. Now He did not immediately
came to that confrontation. But remember that
every Christian, if they do not watch out have a
potential to become a Pharisee. It is impossible
for one who is neither religious nor experienced
in spiritual matter to ever be a Pharisee. All
they will be is a publican because they do not
know God. All they want is to know God. The
only possibility of Pharisees being made in our
modern era in a Christian world is for Christian
who has come to know God. They know some
of the Word and then move into a Pharisee
attitude. Any move of God can end up as a
new Pharisee of the next move. That’s
dangerous. That is why we need to have this
kind of message although sometimes it’s hard
to teach this kind of message. So we have to
teach it the gentlest way we can. If you think
we are talking about you, well, look up and
praise God and say that may be me and that
may not be me. But all illustration will not be
from here. As we look it is a sort of warning to
us. As God move from move to move and as
new things began to come up in the forefront,
we realize that every old ministry, every old
experience, every old Christian has a potential
of adopting the same position as the Pharisees
unless we know that antidote for that.

The antidote for Pharisaic attitudes is

found in Matthew 23: 23 and in what we are
talking about, Jesus said there are three things
they neglected: justice, mercy and faith. Now in
a cross reference, He speaks about it differently
in Luke 16. He speaks about it in a different
manner. Luke 11: 43 as He was rebuking the
Pharisees He makes almost similar statement
but He says here in verse 42-43 “But woe to
you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and
all manner of herbs, and pass by justice and the
love of God.”

So that tells us that the love of God and

mercy are related as one point in our cross
reference here. But our text will be from
Matthew 23: 23 those things are the
same. No.1 Justice. No.2 Mercy or the love of
God. No.3 Faith. Why are those three areas
important? In I Cor. 13 Paul says it in a
different manner. For there are three things,
there is hope, there is faith and there is
love. And he says the greatest of the three is
love. Do you know that Paul also says about
those three things? But he says them
differently. Love ties up with mercy. Faith ties
up with faith. Hope ties up with justice. The
eternal hope of judgment to come and how we
will do in the judgment. So these three points
are key antidote to prevent those in the old
move from being the new Pharisee of the new
move. Every move of God faces its own set of
Pharisees and Sadducees. The sad thing was
the Pharisee was once upon a time a bright eye
believer.

So these three cures are

important. Justice speaks about correctness in
methodology; whether the methods or patterns
that we use in applying the principles, precepts
and the laws of God are correct or not. Mercy
or love speaks about correctness in
motive. Faith speaks about correctness in the
source of power or the source of energy. These
three must balance up in our life.
 For example you could do the right thing
with the wrong motive. It makes it wrong. You
could use the right method and have the wrong
motive. It makes it wrong. On the other hand,
you could have the right heart and right
intention but you use the wrong method. It
makes it wrong. We are talking about
perfection in those three realms. However you
could also get your motive correct, your method
correct but the source of power incorrect. So
you end up doing by your own might and your
own strength with a pure motive to God and
with a right method but with the wrong
power. You didn’t depend on the power of the
Spirit. You didn’t depend on faith; you
depended on your own strength. You could
depend on your own strength to do the right
thing and it makes it wrong. So if you are
wrong in any of these three, you are wrong.
 How do we define a Pharisee? A

Pharisee is someone who is wrong in either of

these three or all of them. That’s our modern

definition of a Pharisee. A Pharisee is

someone, a Christian who may have the right

motive and of course if you use the wrong

method you obviously have the wrong

source. If you have the right motive but uses

the wrong method you are a Pharisee. Or if

you have the right method, you are doing the

right thing but you are having the wrong motive

of doing those things you are a Pharisee as far

as the bible definition is. We have three simple

definitions in Pharisee. If you are wrong in

method, wrong in motive or wrong in source of

power you are a Pharisee. Having a form of

godliness but without its power. When we apply

these three to our modern Christianity, there are

a lot of Pharisaicsm going on. We need to

check ourselves so that we would be in the

move not against the move, where we will be

flowing along the way and standing in the way

in what God wants to do. Jesus encounter with

the Pharisees was gradual and progressive and

we will see seven encounters that Jesus had

and develop from there and see how they were

wrong in one of these three all the time. Always

wrong in one of these three. Or sometimes

wrong in all the three areas.

Matthew 9: 9 “As Jesus passed on from

there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at
the tax office. And He said to him, ‘Follow Me.’
So he arose and followed Him. Now it
happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the
house, that behold, many tax collectors and
sinners came and sat down with Him and His
disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they
said to His disciples, ‘Why does your Teacher
eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ When
Jesus heard that, He said to them, ‘Those who
are well have no need of a physician, but those
who are sick.” Then look at what Jesus
said, “But go and learn what this means: I
desire mercy and not sacrifice. For I did not
come to call the righteous, but sinners, to
repentance.”

Jesus was just having a good time with

those who have turned to Him. Matthew the tax
collector, sinners and publicans and all these
tax collectors were friends of Matthew. So
Matthew gave a feast. He gave a party. I didn’t
know Jesus attend parties. He does. But make
sure you have as much feasting as fasting. If
all you do is eat, drink and be merry something
is wrong. Sometimes you have to fast, pray
and intercede. It balances up. He was just
having a good time and here was Jesus joining
those folks there sitting down and just making
Himself at home. Here come these Pharisees
who do not mix with tax collectors. Tax
collectors are considered unclean. In fact the
Pharisees had a long book call the ‘Talmud’ that
has all the details of what to do, what not to
do. They follow them very strictly. Some of
them go outside of God’s Word. They ask how
can Jesus being so spiritual mix with these
people. How can it be? They also tried to
imply that Jesus also must be like them. On
what basis are they making the judgment?

See we are talking on the first

level. There are three: justice, mercy and
faith. Justice is not from the normal
word justification or justify. The word
justification or justify is from the
word dikaiosis; dikaiosune actually means
righteousness. The word justice is not from the
word righteousness. The word justice in
Matthew 23 is not the word dikaiosis, it’s the
word krisis, which comes from the root
word krino. This means to make the correct
judgment on the method to be used. This is
why we tie justice to method. Whenever you
use a method you exclude other
methods. Methodology has to be determined
by our knowledge and our ability to judge. All
methods derive out of knowledge. All
knowledge derives out of judgment. So as far
as they are concerned, it is wrong to mix with
the tax collectors. It’s not right. It will pollute
their lives.

What happen is, of those three areas the

Pharisees may be partially correct in
method. They have a point. What they say has
a point. But they were without mercy and
therefore without faith in God. All they want is
to keep themselves pure and holy. Maybe
originally it started all right. Many hard yokes
that man put on another as tradition started out
well. Maybe originally the tax collectors were a
bad influence on the spiritual people. So
somebody came out with a judgment that says
it’s better not to mix with them. Then through
the generations, it developed into a sin just to
mix around with the tax collectors. Maybe that
method started out well. But now that method
had no mercy in it, and it became unacceptable
in God’s sight. It detached faith from its
action. The correct method is that when we are
with the sinners, we should have faith that the
power of God is enough to keep us from
sin. See it’s a lack of faith and a lack of
mercy. They got one right and got the other two
wrong. Therefore the whole action was
wrong.

Jesus said, you folks should go and learn

what it means to have mercy and not
sacrifice. I mean you sacrificed your
fellowship. You sacrificed parties. You
sacrificed this and that but there is no mercy in
your heart. You don’t love the tax collectors.
You treat them as enemies of God. You don’t
have compassion anymore on people because
of your laws. You have gone to the extreme in
your method.
 Now this is important in living for
eternity. Some of us are struggling in our lives
with decisions. Take for example, supposing
that you have a rule to keep and there are
different types of people. There are some
people who will follow the rules strictly that they
forget the purpose of the rule. Why the rule
was made. And as a result by holding on to
that rule, without making special cases on
ground of compassion or mercy, their rules end
up oppressing people. I mean you could be a
stickler of the rule and be very nasty about
it. It’s just like for example, a general rule that
says that only properly dressed people are
allowed into the sanctuary. But what if a
prostitute who is used to dressing scantily,
suddenly felt the urge to come to church? She
comes right off the streets to church in her
street clothes; do you could apply the rule
without mercy? The woman was seeking the
Lord in her heart, but you chased her away and
she is lost for all eternity.

Do you remember there were many

times that people wanted to come to Jesus and
the disciples tried to prevent them from coming
to Jesus? Bartimeus wanted healing, he cried,
‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.’ Poor
man, he cannot see. Jesus was walking along
the way with His group of disciples. Poor
Bartimeus shouted, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have
mercy on me.’ Some of His disciples looked
and just passed him by. Jesus just kept on
walking. But this man couldn’t stand it. He
shouted even louder. Then the disciples came
and told him to keep quiet. They followed the
rules but they don’t have mercy. Finally he
must have made a nuisance of himself. He
became so loud that Jesus stopped and said,
“Bring him to Me.” I wonder how the others
thought who has stopped him from coming to
Jesus. Wouldn’t they feel
embarrassed? Wouldn’t they feel
ashamed? Now we are talking about real
principles. Out here in the life that we live,
whether we live for temporal or eternity, those
who only see the leaves but don’t see the forest
are people who tend to be like the
Pharisees. They are sticklers to the rules and
forgot what is the purpose of the
rules. Sometimes we got to educate these
people.

Like for example, I go to Singapore

almost every week to teach in a church. Every
week I see the same staff in the hotel. It is their
rule that they must see the passport and I must
fill up the forms. For the first six months I kept
doing that until I told the staff, “Look here, if I
were your boss, I wouldn’t want you to do
this. Because your rules say, you got to see the
passport but you see my face every week. You
could practically memorize my passport
number. Why do I have to keep showing you
my passport?” I said, “If I were your boss, I
wouldn’t want you to just know the rule, I would
want you to know the purpose behind the
rule.’ The reason behind that rule is so that you
don’t have people or criminals or all these kinds
of foreign elements staying in your hotel and
bring a bad element on the society. You want
good people and not crooks. That is the valid
reason, which I could think of for that rule. I
said, “You know me. You saw my face for six
months.” From that time onwards they never
ask for my passport. It’s a practical application
we are talking about.

Perhaps some of us are facing a

decision. Perhaps somebody cheated
you. Perhaps somebody robbed you. You got
a point here. You said, “Alright I could see that
guy and get back my money. I could do this
and get back all my money. I could make life
difficult for that person.” But wait, are you living
for eternity or are you living for this earth? You
may get back your one thousand dollars but
lose your soul. Which is more important? See
here we are talking about living for
eternity. There are many times we come across
decisions like that. To the world you look like a
dumb fool. You said, “Never mind, I know this
person is having hard times and if I press every
cent out of this person, his wife and children will
go without food for a month. I will cause him
greater suffering. I would rather forgive the
debt.” Somehow you would ask God to bring
back the money to me, which I too need. So
then you make a decision based on living for
eternity not living for this earth. It brings greater
reward. You bring a smile on the face of our
Father because blessed are the merciful for
they shall receive mercy. So we are talking
about living for eternity. Making decision like
that is based on understanding how all the laws
fit together. Not just seeing the leaves without
seeing the whole forest. So here we have the
Pharisees who were extreme in their methods.

Their next encounter is again in

Matthew 32-34. This is the second encounter
Jesus had recorded. He may have many
encounters but there are seven recorded in the
book of Matthew before the climax of Matthew
23. He says, chapter 9 verse 32 “As they went
out, behold, they brought to Him a man, mute
and demon-possessed. And when the demon
was cast out, the mute spoke. And the
multitudes marveled, saying, ‘It was never seen
like this in Israel.’ But the Pharisees said, ‘He
casts out demons by the ruler of the demons.”

That is a very hard word. Cross

reference also to Matthew 12: 24 “Now when
the Pharisees heard it they said, ‘This fellow
does not cast out demons except by
Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.’

Now Jesus is being accused of being

demonic. They may not be against the casting

out of demons but definitely throughout these

seven incidents; they never had any mercy at

all. So that is definitely something out for

them.
 Secondly, their motives were always

wrong. Their motives were always to get

money out of the people. They were lovers of

money. Like Luke 16: 14 says, Now the

Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also

heard all these things, and they derided Him.

But in the third area of faith the Pharisees

didn’t believe. They don’t have faith that the

supernatural God can still manifest today. They

are only limited or bound by the natural world

and natural methods. As a result if anything

exceptional comes outside of their religious

thinking, it is of the devil. That’s the Pharisee’s

attitude. If you don’t do things my way it’s the

devil. It’s wrong. That’s a Pharisee mind at

work. Jesus was very strict. He doesn’t

associate the Pharisees’ way of thinking. Jesus

of course pronounced a terrible judgment upon

them for judging the Holy Spirit. In other

words, they question the source. They

themselves had no source of power like

Jesus. Is there any other form or source in that

area?
 For example, sometimes you have a

minister who is very effective in soul

winning. Then another Christian will say that

his ability to win souls is due to his kind of

character and training. That is a Pharisee’s

thinking. Don’t you acknowledge the gift of God

on that minister’s life? Can’t you see the grace

of God and maybe an anointing to win souls

working in his life? But you try to explain

everything away by natural means. Or perhaps

a person has an influence on other lives and

their life having an impact on others. You say

that it is just natural charisma. You are on the

borderline of trying to explain away the source

of a person’s power and gifting from God. It is

dangerous.

Korah and all the rebellious folks in the Old

Testament said Moses, “We can do the same

like you.” They never recognized that Moses

had special gifting. They said, ‘we are equal to

you.’ They never acknowledged that source of

power that Moses had. They thought they

could have the same thing that Moses had, the

Holy Spirit. But they must learn to get the Holy

Spirit the same way he got it. So it’s a

Pharisee’s thinking that does not associate faith

with the power of God. Their faith is in

themselves and in their own methods. That

was the second encounter.

Third encounter Matthew 12: 1

onwards. “At that time Jesus went through the
grain fields on the Sabbath. And His disciples
were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain
and to eat. And when the Pharisees saw it,
they said to Him, ‘Look, Your disciples are doing
what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!”

These Pharisees had been following

Jesus everywhere. I don’t know why they were
with Jesus. Because it says in verse 1, Jesus
went to the grain fields and His disciples were
there. They were very hungry. They seldom
stop to buy food. Jesus was that busy in the
ministry and any way Jesus did not eat
much. And so as they were walking across the
grain field the disciples began to experience
what many new Christians in our church
have. When they are new and our church
services go past 3 pm on Sundays, they look
around and find there is no eating shop around,
they are forced to eat whatever they have or
stay hungry. The disciples only found fresh corn
and no eating shops were open since it was a
Sabbath day. So they just went over and pluck
some of the corns and started eating. The
Pharisees jumped up and said, ‘Look! He
broke the Sabbath’s law.” The disciples just
plucked one corn, and the Pharisees said that
was work and that they have broken the
Sabbath’s law. Jesus in verse 3 talked about
exception. We must have the ability to obey
and apply the commandments of God. We
must also have the ability to discern when the
exception is.
 Now I love books. I read all kinds of
materials. Almost in every field whether it be in
science, in math, in arts, in almost every field,
every rule I have found has some
exceptions. Every rule has a small little place
somewhere where there is an exceptional
clause that excludes some. Even some of your
most basic mathematic formula that you learn
has exceptions. So there are exceptions even
what you learn about circles. Being a ‘pi r
square’ the area of a circle. It doesn’t apply
exactly anymore when you go to the higher
math. You find that is not exactly pi r
square. There is still a small little clause when
you handle it in a full circular sense. Almost in
every field when you began an expert in that
field, you find those exceptions are there. We
need to be a master to learn the general rules
and then you learn the exceptions. You could
never learn the exception until you learn the
general rules. If you have no comprehension of
the general rules the exceptions look
meaningless to you.

So in every field of studies there are

exceptions. That is why even in the spiritual
world every exception is not the breaking of the
law. Every exception is the operation of the
higher law. Every exception is not breaking the
law. It’s not just negating the law. You can’t
negate the law of gravity. You overcome it
through a higher law. We know that all have
sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. All
men must die. But then we have Enoch who
didn’t die. Elijah didn’t die. Why didn’t they
die? Not because they don’t need Jesus. It
was through Jesus’ power that they were
resurrected but they didn’t die. They didn’t
follow the bible rule that says all men must
die. I am trying to show here that the spiritual
world had such laws that come in at a certain
point and bring out the higher law that at first
look like it contradict the normal law but it’s
not. Higher laws operate at times when
weightier matters step in. We need to most of
all harmonize these three: Justice, love or
mercy and faith. When we have all three
harmonized then you are in the flow of God.

Jesus replied to them in Matthew 12: 3,

Jesus said, alright, if you want to go by the
rule’s book about breaking the Sabbath, let me
give you scriptures where people broke the
Sabbath. Verse 3, “But Jesus said to them,
‘Have you not read what David did when he
was hungry, he and those who were with
him: how he entered the house of God and ate
the showbread which was not lawful for him to
eat, nor for those who were with him, but only
for the priests?” They couldn’t answer. David
was not a priest. But David ate the priest
food. Exception. Yes, any other people who
ate it would have died. There was an exception
that took place. A higher law was operating. It
says in verse 5, “Or have you read in the law
that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple
profane the Sabbath, and are blameless? Yet I
say to you that in this place there is One greater
than the temple.” And again He repeated to
them, verse 7, “But if you had known what this
means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice’, you
would not have condemned the guiltless.”

They had their method right but their

motives were wrong and their faith was also
wrong. So they were in a ministry of
condemnation, which Jesus doesn’t condone or
accept. This law of the Sabbath has nothing to
do with the original plan of the Sabbath law that
God made. They kept the leaves and forgot the
forest. They forgot why God made the
Sabbath. We must make a qualification
here. No lower law can be broken with principle
involved. In other words, you don’t just
overcome the old law. There are principles in
exception. I mean if you make an exception
everybody will take this truth half bake. In other
words, you say everything has exception. I am
always the exception. Exceptions are based on
principles. What are the principles that you
based your exceptions on? For example, every
other person who sees President Bush in the
White House must come through proper
procedures except his wife and children. Why
are they exempted? It is because of their flesh
and blood relationship with him. Don’t tell me
that when Barbara Bush wants to go to White
House she makes an appointment to go and
stay there. Of course not. There is an
exception made. Exception is not without
reason. Exception is because of the law of flesh
and blood relationship. So every exception is
not unprincipled. Exceptions must come with
principles. An unprincipled exception is only a
false application of a law.
 Jesus keeps on encountering these
folks. Here in chapter 12: 9 the opposition He
had because of the Sabbath day still
continues. “Now He had departed from there
they went into their synagogue. And behold,
there was a man who had a withered
hand. And they asked Him, saying, “Is it lawful
to heal on the Sabbath?’

Again they got their rules all messed

up. They are so hard on keeping the Sabbath
that they had no more mercy left. They don’t
care for that man. They don’t love that man
anymore. You see when you are so occupied
by what you want that you forgot compassion,
love and mercy. You are a bone fide
Pharisee. Just think about the parable of the
servant. The king forgave the servant a great
big debt. Later on this man had another
servant who owed him some money. He
grabbed this servant and said, “Pay back my
money or I’ll put you in prison.” He is more
interested in his money in return. He did not
care what happen to that person’s
soul. Whether the person dies in paying the
debt or lives miserably in paying him the debt,
he did not care. He was selfish. He was living
for this earth and not living for eternity.

What about the rich man and the poor man

Lazarus? There is a poor man who comes to
eat at the rich man’s table. The rich man had
so much even the crumbs were given to the
dogs. The poor man wanted the crumbs badly
but even that he could not have. The rich man
lived for this earth not for eternity. We need to
examine our lives. We are preaching principles
that if we would obey them will bring us into the
higher realm so that we have more reward in
heaven, so that we won’t be so worldly, so
carnal, and so revengeful, so like the people of
this world. So that we can be a new breed of
people. A new creation. A people of love. A
people of worship. A people of power. A
people of compassion. A people full of
mercy. That is what God wants to build in these
last days.

So Jesus spoke to them in verse

11. Jesus said, “What man is there among you
who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on
the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out?”

If a donkey or one sheep happened to

fall into a pit on the Sabbath, the Pharisees
themselves would have helped and taken the
sheep out. But when a man was sick and
needed healing, they wouldn’t allow healing
taking place. What’s the nature of a
Pharisee? They have double standards. They
tell people don’t cheat but they cheat. They tell
others not to bribe but they themselves pay
bribes. Don’t do this, don’t do that but they
themselves do. Double standards. Jesus
pointed to their double standards and said,
“Don’t you have mercy?” Remember this; don’t
give others rules, which you cannot
keep. Before you give a rule to somebody, ask
yourself, ‘Am I able to keep the rules?’ If you
can’t then don’t have double standards. When
we live for eternity, we live for love and for
compassion and for mercy. So Jesus
confronted them and He went ahead and
healed the man. The Pharisees in verse 14
were angry with Him and sought to destroy
Him. All because He healed on the Sabbath.

When a person has a Pharisee’s mind

and thinking a lot of good things look like crime
in their own eyes. It becomes a crime to show
mercy. It becomes a crime to forgive rather
than to take judgment. It becomes a crime
when judgment and punishment are not meted
out but rather forgiveness is given. In their
eyes it become a crime. That’s dangerous
thinking.

The next encounter in chapter 12: 38,

“Then some of the scribes and Pharisees
answered, saying, ‘Teacher, we want to see a
sign from You.’ But He answered and said to
them, ‘An evil and adulterous generation seeks
after a sign, and no sign will be given to it
except the sign of the prophet Jonah.”

Here the Pharisees wanted Jesus to

show them some demonstrations of
supernatural power but all His other
demonstrations they would not accept. They
wanted it on their terms not on His
terms. Jesus said there would be no sign given
under your terms. The only sign given is the
sign of Jonah where the Son of Man will be
crucified for three days and three nights. He
will be in the center of the earth and then He
will be raised. That’s the only sign that will be
given to you. To those who believe there are
many signs. But to the Pharisees He said, no
other sign. If you cannot believe in the Son of
Man, you cannot believe anything. If you
cannot believe that Jesus is the Messiah, you
cannot believe in any other thing. See there
was a law they couldn’t fulfill.

Now cross reference to the book of

John chapter one when Jesus talked to
Nathanael in verse 45, “Philip found Nathanael
and said to him, ‘We have found Him of whom
Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote
– Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.’ And
Nathanael said to him, ‘Can anything good
come out of Nazareth?’ Philip said to him,
‘Come and see.’ Jesus saw Nathanael coming
toward Him, and said to him, ‘Behold, an
Israelite indeed, in whom is no
deceit!’ Nathanael said to Him, ‘How do You
know me?’ Jesus answered and said to him,
‘Before Philip called you, when you were under
the fig tree, I saw you.” Immediately Nathanael
believe and he said to Him, ‘Rabbi, You are the
Son of God! You are the King of Israel.”

Verse 50, “Jesus answered and said to

him, ‘Do you believe because I said to you, ‘I
saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater
sign than these. Most assuredly, I say to you,
hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the
angels of God ascending and descending upon
the Son of Man.”

Jesus promised him a greater sign

because he believed the first sign. In other
words, Jesus was saying to the Pharisees, if
you don’t believe in Me, there is nothing
else. But when Nathanael believed in Him,
there were some other things and signs that he
got. So in Matthew 12: 38 it shows that the
Pharisees had no faith in God.

I think of many ministries and ministers of

God who were struggling in the various
places. Many of them are called to
denominational churches. Then sometimes
when they want to do something in their
churches as a result of some discovery from the
Word, they are hindered because the people
around them lacked faith. So when they want
to do something like healing and deliverance,
they are told, “Don’t.” They want to launch out
into some ministry but the others say
don’t. Lets see the money first then we rent the
place. You say we must go by faith and then
we rent the place. It’s just like arguing with
Joshua. They are standing before river
Jordan. If there was a Pharisee, the Pharisee
would say, ‘Don’t cross the Jordan until it’s
parted.’ Joshua says, ‘No you must enter in
while it’s full. Then it will be parted.’ No, they
say seeing is believing. Joshua says, ‘No
believing is seeing.’ They lived in two different
worlds. Those who live for eternity say,
believing is seeing. Those who live only for this
earth say, seeing is believing. I don’t believe it
until I see. Two different worlds. Two different
personalities. Two different philosophies. Two
different concepts producing two different types
of people.

Our fifth encounter is in Matthew

15. The pressure is now building up. In verse
1 again Jesus and the Pharisees battled. It
looks like they are just crossing swords all
through the gospel. The only problem Jesus
had is with the Pharisees. In fact Jesus didn’t
have any problem with the Roman
government. The only problem He had was the
religious folks called the Pharisees and the
Sadducees.

In Matthew 15: 1 “Then the scribes and

Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to
Jesus, saying, ‘Why do Your disciples
transgress the tradition of the elders? For they
do not wash their hands when they eat
bread.’ He answered and said to them, ‘Why
do you also transgress the commandment of
God because of your tradition?

Jesus pointed out to the tradition that

was contradictory to the Word. So the next

thing they did here is that they put their tradition

above the Word. When you began to move into

methods minus mercy, minus faith in God, your

methods will end up as traditions that are so

heavy that no man can carry. Not only that

Jesus says there are methods and traditions

have become so strong like quick-sand and like

the mud that it said here in verse 6 your

traditions have made the commandment that is

the Word of God of zero power. Jesus says you

have made the commandment of God of no

effect through your tradition. There is no more

power. Which is why we need to understand

justice. See all the time their justice was

wrong. Their judgment was always wrong.

 The basis of judgment was given by
Jesus in Matthew 7: 1 onwards “Judge not, that
you be not judged.” Do not try to cast the speck
out of your brother’s eye, unless you remove
the beam out of your own eye. So the basis of
justice is this: unless we judge ourselves we are
in no position to judge others. Unless we have
done something ourselves we are in no position
to help others. That is why when someone has
a suggestion, someone has something, I would
ask, “Have you done it yourself?” When
someone has a comment on how to dance, I
would say do you dance yourself? Just in the
room. Well, dance physically and let us
see. When someone says, this is the way to do
a prophecy, I would ask, “Do you prophesy
yourself?” Do we charismatic go to the non-
charismatic and ask them whether tongues are
right or wrong? Never. You will never go to
someone who has never prayed for the sick
and ask, “Can you tell me something? What
are the rules about praying for the sick?” No,
we never do that. In a natural, would you go to
a doctor who has never operated anyone and in
fact is a fresh graduate and you are just to be
operated for a sickness, you will never let him
put the surgeon scalpel on your flesh. Would
you give your company account to a person
who is not a qualified accountant? In the same
area, would you in the spiritual basis make a
judgment on something that we lack
experience?

It is important to learn when it’s right to

judge and when it’s not right. There are many
times in our lives that we withhold
judgment. Sometimes people ask me, “What
do you think of this man of God?” I say, “I
haven’t come to his stage, so I cannot say
anything.” We need to know the limit of how
much we can go forth. That’s where we learn to
live for eternity. So here we have in Matthew
15, they have gone so far out from the
Word. By Matthew 15 Jesus says in verse 4,
“For God commanded, saying, ‘Honor your
father and mother; and he who curses father or
mother, let him be put to death. But you say,
‘Whoever says to his father and mother,
‘whatever profit you might have received from
me has been dedicated to the temple is
released from honoring his father or
mother. Then you have made the
commandment of God of no effect by your
traditions. Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah
prophesy about you, saying, “These people
draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor
Me with their lips but their heart is far from Me.
” It was a tremendous encounter.

Now His sixth encounter in chapter 19

verse 3, “The Pharisees also came to Him,
testing Him, and saying to Him, ‘Is it lawful for a
man to divorce his wife for just any
reason?” And He answered and said to them,
‘Have you not read from the beginning what is
so and verse 7, “why then did Moses command
to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her
away?” He said to them, ‘Because of the
hardness of your hearts.’” Did you notice in
Matthew 19 the Pharisees now misinterpret the
Word of God? They apply the Word only when
it’s suitable for them. When it’s not suitable
they don’t apply. I mean you read about the
woman who was caught in sin. They brought
the woman to Jesus and said, “This woman
was caught in adultery in the very act.” But the
bible laws say both the woman and the person
who committed the adultery with her must be
stoned to death. They only kept the part that
suited their purposes but allowed the man to go
scot free. We don’t know what
happened. Perhaps the other person was
known to them or paid them some money or
whatever. We are not sure. But we are going
to see afterward how they love money above all
else. Anything with money will do. Money will
buy their way in power. Although they are
religious money was their god. Maybe the
other person escaped because he was in a
prestigous position. Or because that person
had some influence on them. They could give
some money and the Pharisees will excuse
them. That was the way they were.

In Matthew 23 it says in verse 16, the

Pharisees say “Whoever swears by the temple,
it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of
the temple, he is obliged to perform it.” This is
the kind of people they were. The gold is more
important than the temple. “Whoever swears
by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it
but swears by the altar, it is nothing.” Jesus
says in verse 19, is the altar or the gift more
important. See this is the kind of people they
were. So here they were bringing a law not
because they were interested to help the
people. Not because they were interested to
help marriages. Not because they were
interested to help broken marriages or broken
lives. They were bringing a law to try to catch
Jesus and to get Him to be accused. Their
purpose to ask those questions was not to help
anyone. They had no mercy in their hearts.

Sometimes we have Christians who pick

one portion of the scripture and try to run
another person down with that scripture. Have
you ever seen Christians quoting bible to shoot
another person down. The bible is never meant
that way. I mean Christians argue with the
bible. That’s the sad thing. Christians argue
with the bible in the flesh, quote enough
scriptures to satisfy themselves. But they will
never quote scripture that will be against
themselves. This kind of argument has no end
as long as you are on this earth. A person who
chooses to walk like a Pharisee there is no end
to their arguing until Jesus comes and let God
Himself argue. Which is why Paul says put
away all these fables; forget all these kinds of
nonsense arguments.

Remember in Mark 9 when the disciples

couldn’t cast out the demon and Jesus came
down from the mount of transfiguration? It’s
found in Matthew 17, Luke 9 and Mark
9. Jesus came down and His disciples couldn’t
cast out the demon. Jesus found the disciples
and the Pharisees arguing. Probably arguing
about why the demon couldn’t come out. The
demon possessed boy and the father were
ignored. No money. This is called living for this
earth but not living for eternity. They forgot the
weightier matters of the law and they are so
focused on the lighter matters of the law. They
are so concerned about the dot and the dash
that they forgot the purpose of the law. The law
is not for the every dot and every dash for
argument sake. Because human beings are so
clever, we could argue until Jesus comes. Do
you know that every good intellectual person of
reasonable I.Q. can argue until Jesus
comes? There is no end. The person who
believes God and does not believe God can
argue until Jesus comes. In the end the
solution is both have to have faith. You have
faith that there is no God. I have faith that there
is God. I can bring proof that there is God. You
can say those proofs are subjective. Both
ways. You can always argue until Jesus
comes. That’s why the bible says the natural
man cannot understand the things of the
spirit. They are foolish to them.

So here we have the Pharisees and

they misquoted the bible, one after another. At
first you can see the progression. They started
in Matthew 9 and they started by being extreme
in their methods. Then slowly became more
and more. They began to associate God with
the devil by calling Jesus Beelzebub. Then
slowly they reached a point where their tradition
becomes more important than the Word. Now
they come to the point where the Word is only
used for their own end. Not even for profit to
bring to God or to bring someone closer to
God. That’s the extent of their depravity.

Finally the seventh, last encounter in

Matthew 22: 35 “Then one of them, a lawyer,
asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying,
‘Teacher, which is the great commandment in
the law?

I want you to know that is a very difficult

question because in the presence of the
Pharisees and the Jewish custom, there are
thousands and thousands of laws. No one
could have believed Jesus could have given
such a simple answer. I mean it’s just like
somebody asking and saying, ‘Well, in all your
life in the ministry, what is the greatest
principle?’ It’s very difficult. You could try to
summarize but it’s difficult. To summarize it the
way Jesus summarized it so powerfully. But
here He says of all those principles, which is
the most important. Now if Jesus give the
wrong one He had it. But Jesus said, ‘You shall
love the Lord your God with all your heart, with
all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the
first and great commandment. And the second
is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as
yourself.’”

In these commandments Jesus covers

the three points: Justice, mercy and
faith. Because when you love God and you
love your neighbor, you will have faith in God
and you will be able to believe God in your
neighbor. If you have love for God and you
have love for your neighbor, you won’t be as
judgmental and so quick to condemn. If you
have love for God, you will be like God. You will
be merciful and you will be merciful to your
neighbor. What a fantastic answer Jesus gave
them. What we see here in Matthew 22 is that
they had knowledge without relationship. So
what Jesus is bringing forth is the principle. If
you live for eternity, relationship is more
important than knowledge. To be able to love
another person is more important than to get
your own way. So we have to make decision in
this life. Sometimes it could be your
employees. Sometimes it could be your
employer. Sometimes it could be in your
family’s situation. There are plenty of decisions
you make. Every decision is either for eternity
or for this earth. When you are moved by
eternity, you will think about love and
relationship and not just that un-right. Do you
know some people love to be right? And they
love to be right in the eyes of people so much
that even if they lose all their friends, they won’t
mind. That is living for this earth.
 It’s important to be right and to love
people. We do not want to let the lighter
matters undone. But lets remember it’s
important to love our enemies than to condemn
our enemies. This is the higher law against
lower law. The law of revenge and vengeance
verses the law of forgiveness and love. The
higher law must win and be a better law. Living
for eternity means to make choices in these
three areas: Justice, mercy and faith. All these
three must be equal. You must have the correct
method, the correct motive and the correct
source of power to fulfill.

Finally the climax was in Matthew 23,

Jesus summarized every encounter He had
with the Pharisees. Everything you find in
Matthew 9, 10, 11, 12 rights up to 22 is
there. In Matthew 9, when the Pharisees say
why do you sit with tax collectors in Matthew 9:
11, but they themselves in Matthew 23: 6, they
love the best places at feasts. The best seats
in the synagogue. They themselves go for all
this kind of positions and when Jesus had a
position with the tax collectors they got
jealous. Jesus pointed to the
inconsistency. Then in Matthew 9: 34 when
they talked about calling Jesus the Beelzebub,
we see here that Jesus pointed to them the
source of the power that is in verse 33, they
themselves are serpents, broods of vipers, how
can you escape the condemnation of hell. They
themselves were the evil ones. But they made
Jesus look like He is the evil one. Casting
Jesus in the villain role and they the
hero. Actually Jesus was the hero and they
were the villain. So all these things they
encountered with Jesus.

Jesus summarized in Matthew 23: 3-

4 “Therefore whatever they tell you to observe,
that observe and do, but do not do according to
their works; for they say, and do not do. For
they bind every burden, hard to bear, and lay
them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves
will not move them with one of their fingers.”
 So justice, mercy and faith, principle
one: do onto others what you want others to do
onto you. Don’t do onto others what you don’t
want others do onto you. Don’t require of others
what is not required of yourself.

Principle two: Lets read on verse 5. All

these are principles living for eternity. Verse 5-
12, “But all their works they do to be seen by
men. They make their phylacteries broad and
enlarge the borders of their garments. They
love the best places at feasts, the best seats in
the synagogue, greetings in the marketplaces,
and to be called by men, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.’ ‘But
you, do not be called ‘Rabbi; for One is your
Teacher, the Christ, and you are all
brethren. Do not call anyone on earth your
father; for One is your Father, He who is in
heaven. And do not be called teachers; for One
is your Teacher, the Christ. But he who is
greatest among you shall be your servant. And
whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he
who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Principle two: Humble yourself at all

times. Seek those things that may be invisible
to the world but they are visible in the eyes of
God. Principle no.2 is humble yourself in the
sight of God. Humble yourself in the sight of
man and God will exalt you. That’s living for
eternity. So there will be many decisions where
your decisions will make you more humble in
the eyes of man. You feel more humble. You
feel like a fool. You feel like a fool saying
sorry. It makes you look small. That’s
alright. That’s the cure against being a
Pharisee. Or perhaps out there in the world it
means to forgive somebody or something
against you. Or perhaps your company did
things to you and all kinds of things and you are
in a position to sue the company. Then you ask
yourself, “Shall I operate by the higher law or
lower law? The lower law says to sue. The
higher law says to forgive.” Go by the higher
law and you live for eternity. But your friends
will call you a fool. Your friends will call you
stupid. Your friends will call you all kinds of
names. You will be humbled in the eyes of
man. That’s principle no.2, humble yourself in
the sight of God for the higher
principle. Humble yourself in the sight of man
and God will exalt you. That which is in secret
God will reward you openly.

Lets read on to verse 13 onwards, “But

woe to you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of
heaven against men; for you neither go in
yourselves, nor do you allow those who are
entering to go in. Woe to you, scribes and
Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’
houses, and for a pretense make long
prayers. Therefore you will receive greater
condemnation.”

I want you to know verse 14, there are

some men of God who befriend only the
rich. They befriend only widows hoping that the
widows die and they get all the inheritance. Evil
folks, they are living only for this earth. They
are so conscious about building their ministry
that they forgot to build their reward in
heaven. This is what I tell people saying that
it’s important for us to discern and realize that
the people are needing help. Many times
people are concerned about so many
thousands of other things that they forget the
most basic thing. Remember, no matter how
organized the church is, how organized we
become, if somebody comes and break every
rule, perhaps they may behave in a way, which
is not normally accepted. Perhaps if someone
comes and breaks every Sunday service rule;
they wear slippers to church and men wear hair
long right up to the shoulder. They haven’t
bathed for the past few months. What’s the
most important thing here? Isolate them? The
most important thing is to love them. Forget all
those rulebooks. Forgive. What happen when
a new usher come and doesn’t know the
rules. They may damage some young
Christians and lose them forever. I mean if we
want to be harsh on every rule, it would be
possible. That’s why sometimes when there
are certain events and help is needed but the
people don’t respond to the appeals for help,
we always exercise mercy and
forgiveness. Why, because the higher law is
more important. You could exercise the lower
law and scold them for their lack of
responsiveness but in the end these people
may be hurt and lose their walk with
God. Maybe these people are not at the level
where they are able to flow along at the higher
law. But as for us, the higher law is important.
 It says in verse 15, “Woe to you, scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land
and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is
won, you make him twice as much a son of hell
as yourself. Woe to you, blind guides, who say,
‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing;
but whoever swears by the gold of the temple,
he is obliged to perform it. Fools and blind! For
which is greater, the gold or the temple that
sanctifies the gold? Fools and blind! And,
‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but
whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is
obliged to perform it. Fools and blind! For
which is greater, the gift or the altar that
sanctifies the gift? Therefore he who swears by
the altar, swears by it and by all things on it. He
who swears by the temple, swears by it and by
Him who dwells in it. And he who swears by
heaven, swears by the throne of God and by
Him who sits on it.”
 Principle no.3: The origin and the rule
of the source of all commandments is our main
guideline. This is the principle of
principles. There are many sub-
principles. Jesus says it’s not the gift that is
important but the altar. So our third principle is
that the altar is more important that the gift, the
temple is more important than the gold and
heaven is more important than this earth. May
we live our lives for our heavenly Father
through the higher law of mercy, the higher law
of love, justice and faith. The altar is more
important than the gift, the temple is more
important than the gold and heaven is more
important than this earth. That is the third
major principle. Heaven is more important than
this earth. Make your decisions accordingly.

We continue here. Jesus says in verse

24, “Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and
swallow a camel. Woe to you, scribes and
Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the
outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are
full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind
Pharisees; first cleanse the inside of the cup
and dish that the outside of them may be clean
also. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed
tombs, which indeed appear beautiful
outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s
bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also
outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside
you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. Woe
to you scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the
prophets and adorn the monuments of the
righteous and says, ‘If we had lived in the days
of our fathers, we would not have been
partakers with them in the blood of the
prophets.’ Therefore you are witnesses against
yourselves that you are sons of those who
murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the
measure of your fathers’ guilt.”

The fourth principle: What goes on

inside a person is more important than what
goes on outside. What goes on inside a
person’s heart in life is more important than
what goes on outside. That speaks a long
way. If you can do everything outwardly to a
person but you cannot help them on the inside,
there is not much help. But you could help
them on the inside, you could put peace into
their hearts, you could put joy into their hearts,
you could put love into their hearts, all these are
more important. What goes on in our hearts, in
our lives is more important than what we
outwardly can show and can do the invisible
more than the visible. So of all these three
principles, justice, mercy and faith, remember
correct method, correct motive and correct
source will bring about a balance and prevent
us from becoming a new Pharisee in the new
way.

I will conclude by looking at I

Corinthians 13. Paul says Verse 1-2, “though I
speak with the tongues of men and of angels,
but have not love, I have become a sounding
brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have
the gift of prophecy, and understand all
mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have
all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but
have not love, I am nothing.” Verse one, empty
words. Verse two, empty works. Verse 3, “And
though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor,
and though I give my body to be burned, but
have not love, it profits me nothing.” Verse
three, empty sacrifice. Empty words, empty
works and empty sacrifice. No point in giving
all your body to be burned if you don’t have
love. Then he tells us “Love suffers long and is
kind; love does not envy; love does not parade
itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely,
does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks
no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices
in the truth; bears all things, believes all things,
hope all things, endures all things. Love never
fails. But whether there are prophecies, they
will fail; whether there are tongues, they will
cease; whether there is knowledge, it will
vanish away.”

We have these questions to ask you

that you may search yourself.

Verse 4, love suffers long. Can you suffer

long with people or are you impatient? If you
are, love is not working.

Love is kind. Are you very rough, harsh or

are you kind? The root word is gentle.
 Love does not envy. Do you look at another
person and get jealous at what they
have? Love does not do that.

Love does not parade itself. Are you

someone who always wants to show yourself,
be recognized, and be accepted? If you are,
love is not operating.

Verse 5, love does not behave

rudely. Are you someone who likes to run
people down just to get your own way, and your
rudeness is beyond people’s limit? If you are,
then love is not working. You are not living for
eternity.

Love does not seek its own, is not

provoked. Are you someone who gets irritated
easily, angry easily, upset easily and then
vengeful? If you are, love is not working. You
are not living for eternity. You are living only for
this earth.

And it says, love thinks no evil. Are you

someone who question another person’s motive
or try to look for the best in a person? Are you
someone who suspects someone’s motive or
someone who give him or her the benefit of the
doubt? If you are not someone who gives them
the benefit of the doubt, then love is not working
and you are not living for eternity. You are living
for this earth.

Verse 6, Love does not rejoice in iniquity

but rejoices in the truth. When your enemy falls
and when someone whom you don’t actually
like very much has something bad happen to
him/her, are you grinning from cheek to
cheek? Do you secretly relish that moment of
pleasure because your enemy has fallen? If
you are, you don’t have love. You have only
normal carnal nature that wishes the worst for
his or her enemy. But love is not like that. Love
weeps when the enemy falls because you have
lost someone who you could have won to
God. You know of their punishment in eternity
that they will have to face and you weep for
them.

Verse 7, Love bears all things. Are you

someone who is enduring to the end? Are you
some one who can be trusted? Are you
someone whom others could depend on? Are
you the tower of strength to others because you
can bear anything? Are you someone who
others could share their hurts? Are you
someone who others could lean on? Are you
someone whom others who are weak could
look to you for strength and
encouragement? Are you a tower of strength
for them? Are you someone whom people
could put their head on your shoulder and lean
on in times of discouragement and despair? If
you cannot bear all these things, love is not
working in your life.

Love believes all things. Love seeks to

believe the best in others. Love seeks to
believe what people say. Love seeks to see the
best in another person. Not someone who
question all things.

Love hopes all things. Love looks beyond

this life. Love sees someone who fall,
someone’s problem, someone’s weaknesses
and someone’s failure and says there is still
hope for this person. Love hopes all
things. Love sees the possibility of good in
every person. Are you someone who gives up
on people easily? Are you someone who shut
off people easily? If you are, love is not
operating. Love hopes in all situations and all
things.

Love endures all things. Are you someone

who year in and year out could be a loyal friend
and help? Or are you someone who is only
there when it’s to your advantage? Are you
someone who could endure through the thick
and the thin or are you someone who is there
only in the thin and not in the thick at
difficulty? Are you the friend that stick closer
than a brother or are you who run at the
moment of danger? Love endures all
things. Love is there when someone is
rejected. Are you someone who shares in
another person’s tribulation and not just in his or
her glory? Love endures all things.

Paul says, finally “We know in part and

we prophesy in part. But when that which is
perfect has come, then that which is in part will
be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as
a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a
child; but when I became a man, I put away
childish things. For now we see in a mirror,
dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part,
but then I shall know just as I also am
known. And now abide faith, hope, love, these
three; but the greatest of these is love.”

May we live for eternity. May we live for

love. May we live to love God. May we live to
love our neighbor as ourselves.

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