This sermon emphasizes the importance of being free from the love of money, highlighting the need to serve God wholeheartedly and not be enslaved by material possessions. It encourages believers to trust in God's provision, be content with what they have, and boldly declare that the Lord is their helper, not fearing what man or the devil can do. The message underscores the significance of being free from the love of money to make spiritual progress and live a life dedicated to serving God.

We've been talking these days about being free. You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. It's not just an intellectual knowledge of the truth. When the truth comes into the heart, Christ himself sets us free. That's one way we know whether we are filled with the Holy Spirit. One of the most important things in the Christian life is to be filled with the Holy Spirit. The whole new covenant began on the day of Pentecost when they were filled with the Holy Spirit. In my own life, my whole ministry was revolutionized by being filled with the Holy Spirit. And it's not something once for all, it's every day. I seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit every day. And that's where I differ with the Pentecostals. But I do appreciate the Pentecostals for bringing forth the truth that we must be baptized in the Holy Spirit and fire. Because most other Christians don't emphasize that. So there were a few questions from before, which I'd like to answer before I go into the message. One is about healing. How do we understand Isaiah 53, verses 4 and 5? Where it says, by his stripes we are healed. Because it says, by his stripes we are healed. Whenever we try to interpret a scripture, I want to share with you a principle of Bible study. Take a concordance, and see if that scripture is quoted anywhere else in the Bible. If it's quoted somewhere else, then that is the interpretation. Like this morning we saw about how he took our infirmities and sicknesses, which is from Isaiah 53. When you come to the New Testament, it's explained, not that he took it into himself, but he took it away from people. So we must see, is this verse quoted in the New Testament? If so, see there are different types of healing. There is physical healing from sickness. There is spiritual healing from sin. So when it talks about his stripes, is that referring to my physical healing from sickness? Or my spiritual healing to righteousness? Physical healing brings health. Spiritual healing brings righteousness. So when it says, by his stripes I am healed, which of these two healings is it talking about? So we go to the New Testament, and we read in 1 Peter, in chapter 2, where this word is quoted. Exactly the same verse. 1 Peter 2, verse 24. Christ himself bore our sins in his own body on the cross. Not our sicknesses, our sins. Why? So that we might die to sin, and live to righteousness. So that we might be healed from sin, and be righteous. Because, by his stripes you are healed. That's quoting Isaiah 53. So the answer is clear. The Holy Spirit has interpreted that verse in the New Testament. That shows that this healing is dying to sin, and living to righteousness. I have found that so many answers to questions in the Bible, are somewhere else in the Bible. I have found that so many answers to questions in the Bible, are somewhere else in the Bible. Another question. Today there are many problems with spiritual authority in the church. What should we do if we don't agree with the elders in the church? Every authority is under God. Let me use an example. The Bible says that a woman, a wife, must submit to her husband. But, that is not the full verse. That is a verse many people quote incompletely. Do wives have to submit to their husbands? If it stopped there, then they would have to do everything the husband says. We have a lot of problems in India, where a wife is converted to Christ, and the husband is still worshipping idols. And the husband tells his wife, you have to submit to me according to your Bible, worship this idol. But what does the Bible say? Ephesians 5, verse 22. The Holy Spirit is very exact. Wives be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. So the wife is under the husband, but the Lord is on top. So what does that mean? If the husband tells the wife to do something, and the Lord has told something else in the Scriptures, she must listen to the Lord. That's what we tell all converted wives in our churches, who've got non-Christian husbands. If your husband tells you something against Scripture, remember this verse. You are submitting to the Lord. And so anything where he has said, his word is supreme. Now the same thing applies to submitting to authority in a church. The Bible tells us to submit to the elders. See it says here in 1 Peter 5, you younger men must subject to your elders. But not just that, you must humble yourself, verse 6, under the mighty hand of God. So over the elders is God. So the same principle as in a wife and a husband, if an elder is subject to authority, as an elder or a priest or a pastor or a bishop, or anyone, tells you to do something which is against the word of God, then you do not submit to that person. You submit to God. If your pastor says, we sprinkle you as a child, and that is baptism, if your pastor says, we sprinkle babies with water, and that is baptism, but the word of God says, baptism is by immersion in water, then you must be obedient to God. I did that too. When I was a baby, a priest sprinkled some water over my head and said, I am baptized and you are a Christian. But I read the word of God. And I saw that the water was sprinkled by immersion after the rebirth. And then I discovered all kinds of other things in churches which went against the word of God. And the best thing you can do is to talk lovingly to your elders. I have done that with many Christian leaders. And when I was a young man, they were sometimes twice as old as I was. And some of them are fine, born again Christians. So I would always speak respectfully with them. Whenever you speak to an elder or a leader in a church, always speak respectfully. In fact, we must speak respectfully to all human beings. If you are not respectful, something is wrong with you. So speak respectfully and say, Brother, this is not what God's word says. I have spoken to older brothers and said, Brother, I recognize that you are a spiritual man. And you are better than me. But I am not arguing my version versus your version. When I was young, in my thirties or thirty-five years old, I would say, What you are saying is this, but here is this verse. The apostles say this. So, shall I accept what you say, Brother, or what Paul or Peter says here? So, if the matter is very serious, then you leave the church. See, in the book of Revelation, chapter 2 and chapter 3, I don't have time to show it to you. Out of the seven messengers of the churches, the letter was sent to the messenger of each church, that is, the leader of the church. And some of those leaders were all backslidden. To the leader, Revelation 3, 1, to the leader in Sardis says, You are alive, but you are dead. And to the leader in Laodicea, in Revelation 3, the last church, he says, You are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, naked. Imagine telling an elder that. But to each church, the Lord says, He who overcomes will get this reward. So, five of those churches had backslidden elders. Five of those churches were in a backslidden condition. And to each elder, the Lord said, Repent. Now, supposing they did not repent. For example, Revelation 2, the Lord told the elder in Ephesus, verse 5, Remember from where you have fallen and repent. Otherwise, the punishment is I will remove your lampstand from out of its place. That means I will derecognize you as a church. You will not be my church. You will call yourself First Church in Ephesus. There will be no big board outside First Church in Ephesus. But the Lord will not recognize it. And how does he do that? He goes away. The Lord is not there. But the church, 500 people are still singing and having their meetings and their conferences. Like many churches today. But then it says here, He who overcomes. It speaks about overcomers there. So if an overcomer there senses, Oh, the Lord has left the church. He is not here anymore. What will the overcomer do? What will the bride do when the bridegroom has left the marriage hall? A lot of visitors may be there in the marriage hall. But when the bridegroom leaves, the bride leaves. So, when I sense the Lord has left the church, if I am the bride of Christ and I am an overcomer, I leave also. So, what would have happened in Ephesus? Maybe 8 or 10 overcomers, those 10 of them would leave the church. And they would meet separately. And that's a very small church compared to this 500 first church in Ephesus. That first church in Ephesus would say, Paul established this church. We are the true church. And that was true 40, 50 years ago. But now things have changed and the Lord has left the church. And now the Lord is with that small group of 10 people there. But every week, this first church in Ephesus will be denouncing that group of heretics who are rebels and gone astray and God will curse them and all that they'll say. But the Lord was with them and he built a church there. And that's what happened to us 41 years ago. We were in a Baptist church in Bangalore, in India. We preached about being filled with the Holy Spirit and living a holy life. And I was preaching there every Sunday. And the board of the church the board members said we want you to go. I said okay, I will not cause any trouble. I will quietly leave. And I will not ask anybody else to leave. I will not split this church. Thank you very much for the one year you allowed me to preach here. I gave them a last message. You have come to the Lord to the borders of the promised land. God is asking you to go in but you're turning back. You have to face the consequence of your decision. But I'm going to go on with God. And when I came to meet that evening in my house there were two, three other families that wanted to meet with me. I said okay, I never asked you to leave. We didn't know what to do. We had no plan to start a church. But we said okay, let's pray together. So we knelt down and prayed to the Lord. We said Lord, what do you want us to do? Then we parted and said okay, next Sunday morning we'll meet again. And we started meeting again. And I made a rule there nobody must speak evil of that church, the Baptist church. Nobody must speak evil of their elders. If you meet them on the street greet them warmly. We have no hatred for them. Hatred will ruin us. We are come together to judge ourselves not them. There are many things wrong with us. We are not like Jesus yet. We're not perfect. So let's not spend our time criticizing other groups. Let us judge ourselves. In all these 41 years we never criticized that church. Because that church disintegrated and had a lot of problems. God blessed us tremendously and numbers grew and many, many churches were planted after that. if you humble yourself before God and take a stand for the Lord He will stand by you. How can I know what my spiritual gifts and talents are? That will come as you seek to do whatever you can do with whatever ability you have. I started just going out to the streets preaching and giving out tracts and witnessing and doing whatever little thing I could. I went once to a nominal Christian's home whom I knew and I said can we have a little half an hour bible study every week in your house? It won't take more than half an hour. Oh, he said sure. So I went there and shared for half an hour and went away. And I said can we meet next week? And if you want to invite other people they can come. Half an hour. God began to do a work that family got born again and that man left his job to serve the Lord full time. But I only shared little bit I knew. I was born again just for three years at that time. I tried to do what I could and God blessed it. So as you exercise over a period of time over some years God will show you what your gift is. But it's good for you to get a confirmation from some older brother. Otherwise when you're young you can think oh I've got so many gifts. Maybe you have but I hope some older brother can confirm it. And so the older brother confirmed my gift and that's how I knew I had a gift of teaching the word of God. That I was not an evangelist primarily but a teacher of God's word. Okay now the last question here. Can you tell us what is the most important lesson that God taught you and that's important for young adults? There's a little book I wrote called Principles of Serving God. And by the way all my books are available on the internet free. You can read them. In English and some of them in Dutch as well. You can go to cfcindia.com and you can go to www.cfcindia.com And there there's a book called Principles of Serving God. And I've written there some lessons I have learned. Some important lessons I've learned. And that is also on YouTube as two messages. Some important lessons I've learned in 50 years. And I've listed 16 important lessons I learned. The first of them was God loves honest people. Don't ever pretend before God. Be honest about your sin. Always. In my life the fullness of the Holy Spirit has been very very important for me. I cannot think what my life would have been if I were not filled with the Holy Spirit. Because then God began to open to me this wonderful truth of the New Covenant. That the old covenant was man struggling to keep God's law. And always failing like the disciples failed to catch fish. And the New Covenant is God making me from within keep His commandments. The verse particularly is Hebrews 8 and verse 10. In the Old Testament God wrote His commandments on two tablets of rock. Which Moses brought down from the mountain. Today in the New Covenant which are the two tablets on which God has written His laws. 10. My mind and my heart. I will put my law into your mind, I will write it upon your heart. What does that mean? When God puts His law in my mind, it means He gives me a desire to do His will. And I think God has already done that in many of you. He has given you a desire to do His will. Praise the Lord. But the job is not complete. electricity always has two wires. You can never have electricity with only one wire. And when you put on a switch, all that you are doing is make those two wires touch. When you put off the switch, the wires are separated. You put it on, the wires touch. And the light comes on. So, in the same way, God giving me a desire to do His will, that's good. That must touch another. God giving me the ability to do His will. One is desire, and the other is power. So, He first puts a desire into my mind, and then gives me power in my heart to do it. That's what grace does. See Hebrews 13. If you use a concordance, you can find this out very quickly. Go to heart. All the verses heart, heart, heart, heart, heart. And you'll find out. Here it is, Hebrews 13.9. It is good for the heart to be strengthened or empowered by grace. So, what is it that will strengthen my heart? Grace. So, I see that grace is a power. It strengthens me to do the will of God. And that agrees with what is written in Philippians 2, that God does two things. He works inside me. Philippians 2, 13. Whenever it says God is working inside me, it's always the Holy Spirit. God the Father is in heaven. God the Son, Jesus Christ, is in heaven. The one who comes into my heart is the Holy Spirit. When you ask Jesus Christ to come into your heart, who comes in? The Spirit of Christ. The Holy Spirit comes in as soon as you're born again. Christ comes in means the Holy Spirit comes in. But you may not be filled with the Holy Spirit. But he comes in. See, there's a difference between receiving the Spirit and being filled with the Holy Spirit. Romans 8, 9 says if you don't have the Spirit of Christ, you don't even belong to him. So that's another area where I disagree with the Pentecostals. When you are born again, you receive the Holy Spirit. Otherwise, Romans 8, 9 says you're not even born again. Because Christ is in heaven. When you ask him to come into your heart, it's the Spirit of Christ that comes in. You receive the Holy Spirit. You don't have to wait for that now. But a heart is like a house with many rooms. Supposing you see a house with ten rooms, and there's light in one room, and you ask the question, is there light in that house? Yes. But the nine rooms are dark. Is it filled with light? So has the Spirit of God come into your heart? The one room of guilt he has come. He's cleansed me from guilt. There's light in one room. The Spirit has come in. But I'm not filled with the Holy Spirit. Why? Because I've locked other rooms from him. When Jesus says, I stand at the door and knock, Revelation 3, 20, it's the Holy Spirit wanting to come into these other rooms. Because remember, those words were not spoken to unbelievers, they were spoken to a church in Laodicea. We quote Revelation 3, 20 to the unbeliever, Jesus is knocking at the door of your heart. But read the Bible carefully. To whom was it said? It was not said to unbelievers. It's said to believers in a church in Laodicea. I'm knocking at the door of your heart. Lord, I thought you have forgiven me and come in. Yes, I've come into one room. I want to come into some other rooms. Can I come into your television room? And decide what all programs you watch? No, Lord, please. I watch some programs you may not like. Please, don't disturb me in that room. And Jesus is a gentleman. He will never walk into a room if you don't want him. Can I look through your DVDs, the Lord says, and the type of music you're listening to? I said, Lord, please don't look through that. Because in the midst of all the Christian music, I've got some other music as well. You may not like it, Lord. So we keep that door locked. Okay, the Lord says, can I look at your finances room? Can I check how you earn your money? Is it all righteous? Or how do you spend your money? Are you a miser keeping it all to yourself? Or are you rich towards God with your money? Lord, I don't want anybody to check on my money. I earn it, and I spend it as I like. The Lord says, okay, I won't come into that room, you do as you like. And like that, there are many other rooms. Can I look at your library, the type of books you read? Lord, please don't come there. I get some magazines and books which you may not like. Like that, many, many things. Can I come into your marriage relationship? And how you husband and wife, you relate to each other and talk to each other? Lord, that's a difficult area. The wife will say, I've got a difficult husband, Lord. The Lord goes to the husband, the husband says, Lord, you don't know, my wife is a witch. Okay, I won't disturb you. And we say, oh God, fill me with the Holy Spirit! Every door is locked. You can pray for a hundred years, nothing will happen. How will he come in when all the doors are locked? I'll tell you how you can be filled with the Spirit in one evening. I mean that, I mean that, one evening. Get down, go home, get down on your knees before God. And ask God to show his light into every area of your life. The areas of your life where you've locked the door, preventing the Holy Spirit from coming in. The things you know to be sin. The Lord's not asking you to give them up. He says, are you willing to give them up? That's wonderful. He doesn't ask you to give up anything. Maybe you love rock music. You know that's not helping you to be spiritual. The Lord's not asking you to give it up. Maybe you love it so much. The Lord's asking you, are you willing to give it up? Do you love me more than everything else? Or is there something on earth that you love more than me? And area by area by area. Open the door. Open the door. Say, Lord, I want to get rid of anything in my life that disturbs you. If you read the epistles, you find the church in Ephesus was probably the best church because the most spiritual things are written in Ephesians. But that's because the church in Ephesus was a very radical church. And you know what the people in Ephesus did? You read that in Acts 19. When they got converted, they brought all their books and all the magic and other things and made a big bonfire and burned it all out. And in those days they had DVDs and CDs and they brought it as well. They had such a revival because they were so radical. They became a spiritual church. But if you hold on to things in your life and you think you're a disciple of Jesus, you're only fooling yourself. Other people may think you're a born-again Christian. What's the use of that when the Lord comes and he sends you to hell? You say, Lord, but everybody thought I was a Christian. I was doing full-time Christian work. You know, the Lord Jesus once said that in the last day many people will come to me. Matthew 7, 22. And I'll say, Lord, I did miracles in your name. I preached in your name. And the Lord will say, I never knew you. Go away to hell, all of you. I hope none of you will hear those words. Don't care for the opinion of men. Surrender to God and ask him to fill you with the Holy Spirit. And one more thing I want to say. When you're filled with the Holy Spirit, you have to walk in the Spirit. There is a way to walk. That's called the way of the cross. Or the way of brokenness. Or the way of denying yourself and taking up your cross every day. That, coupled with the fullness of the Holy Spirit, are two of the greatest truths God taught me. That if you're filled with the Spirit, it's like a cup being filled with the Spirit. With water. But if I walk the way of the cross, of brokenness, after a while, the cup will become like a bucket. Then I'll be filled again. Capacity becomes more. And I continue to walk the way of the cross. Death to self, death to self. The bucket will become a big tub. Again, I'm filled with the Spirit. And I continue to walk the way of the cross. The tub will become a lake. Wow! When the lake is filled, that's different from being a cup being filled. And then I continue to walk the way of the cross. The lake becomes a river. And then I continue the same way. And it becomes many rivers. Then the Word is fulfilled. Out of His innermost being will flow rivers of living water. So two people can be filled with the Spirit. One is a cup. The other is ten, fifteen rivers. A lot of difference between a cup and ten or fifteen rivers. So don't think all Spirit-filled people are equal. A cup is full. A bucket is full. A lake is full. Fifteen rivers are full. But there's a lot of difference between that brother and this one who's got a little cup. And if you're filled with the Holy Spirit soon after you're born again, and you do not walk the way of the cross, after fifty years you'll still be a cup. And you can boast fifty years ago I was baptized in the Holy Spirit. I've heard people like that. Carnal, defeated by sin, useless to God, useless to man, not become like Christ. So don't be satisfied with merely being filled with the Holy Spirit. Ask God to increase your capacity and the only way is to walk the way of the cross. Death to self. Death to self. Do you know the most useful work you can do for God is written in John 12, 24. Fall into the ground like a corn of wheat and die. You know what'll happen? Jesus said in John 12, 24 a huge harvest will come from one corn of wheat that fell into the ground and died. These are the two messages that are not being proclaimed sufficiently. The genuine daily fullness of the Spirit with increasing capacity and walking the way of the cross. As you go this way God gives you more and more revelation. As your capacity increases God shows you things in the Bible which nobody else saw before. Others whose capacity is increasing, they're saying it. God began to show me the truth of the new covenant. What I just explained to you. That in the old covenant he wrote it on two rocks there. But in the new covenant he gives me the desire to do God's will and the ability to do God's will. I didn't read that in any book. God showed that to me from scripture and proved it in my life by giving me the desire to do the entire will of God. Everything written in scripture. I've prayed two prayers for many years now. Lord, before I leave this earth I want to obey every single commandment you have given for Christians. I don't want to go to heaven with some commandments incomplete. I do not study the Bible to preach sermons. I study the Bible to find out which commandments I've not yet obeyed. I would encourage you to read the Bible for that reason. To read and see Lord, is there something else I've not obeyed? I want to obey every commandment before I leave this earth. You'll have a very happy meeting with the Lord when he comes again. Before you meet him you have obeyed every command he gave. Because he told his disciples go into all the world and teach people to do everything I taught you. That is not being done. If you go to the CFC India website there is 80 studies I've taken there on one subject. Half an hour each. The title is All that Jesus taught. Spend half an hour a day and in three months you can finish it. All that Jesus taught. Listen to it. It's worth losing a little half an hour sleep every day. Get up half an hour early or go to sleep half an hour late. In three months your life can be different. Your capacity will increase. The second prayer I have prayed Lord, before I leave this earth I want to claim every promise you have given for Christians in the Bible. I don't want to obey Old Testament commandments and promises but what you have given for Christians. If you get ten checks in the mail one day how many of them will you credit into your bank account? Four? Five? You say no I'll deposit all ten. Money is important. If God has given you a hundred promises how many of them do you want to claim before you leave this earth? Half of them? No. Why not treat them like checks? Every promise in the New Testament is like a check. You could have become a spiritual millionaire by now. You are poor because you haven't claimed those promises. So my brothers and sisters there's a big answer I gave as to what was the most important things in my life. And I want to go to the subject today freedom from the love of money. This is just the introduction. I haven't even started. Don't you know we've got all night tonight? You don't want to go before midnight right? Don't you all love Jesus with all your heart? No, don't worry. We won't go until midnight. Luke chapter sixteen. Luke sixteen. I don't think you'll ever hear another preacher preach on this. Why I say that is because I have listened to a lot of messages on YouTube. I don't hear anybody speaking on this. Luke sixteen and verse thirteen. No servant can serve two masters. You go to any Christian and ask him which are the two masters in the world? I guarantee that ninety-five percent of them will say God and Satan. You test it out with born-again believers. Ask them, who are the two masters? Ninety-five percent of them will say God and Satan unless they have listened to my sermon. But it's not God and Satan. It is God and money. See that. The two masters, you cannot serve God and mammon. Mammon means money, house, property, shares, in companies and cars anything that's got to do with wealth. Your assets. You cannot serve God and mammon. It doesn't say you cannot have mammon. You can make mammon serve you. But you must not serve mammon. See, money is a very good servant. But it's a terrible master. God is not saying you should not make money your servant. Where do people put gold in this earth? On their head, around their neck, their ears. Do you know there is gold in heaven also? It must be a good thing if there is gold in heaven also. But where is the gold in heaven? Who knows? On the street, under your feet. If you have learned to put gold under your feet, you're ready for heaven. If gold is still on your head, brother, you better hurry up and bring it down beneath your feet. But most of us, we start with gold on our head. Learn to put it under your feet. I'm not saying get rid of it. Electricity is a good servant. But you play the fool with it, you can die. Fire is a good servant, but it's a terrible master if it burns up your house. So I'm not saying don't have fire or electricity. I said make it serve you. Use money, make it your servant. How to find out who you're serving? Very easy. Supposing there are two men here. A and B. Both of them say Zak Poonen is my servant. Very easy to find out. Tell both of them to call Zak Poonen. A says Zak Poonen, come here. B says Zak Poonen, come here. And wherever I go, that's my master. So in the same way, you look at your life. God calls you somewhere. Money calls you somewhere. Who do you listen to? Whether you know it or not, you are the servant of that one you respond to. It happens even among Christian workers. I've seen that. They start working in one organization. Oh, I have a great burden to work with children. And I want to work with children evangelizing. Then one day they hear that in radio ministry you can make more money. And suddenly they have a burden for radio ministry. Or a man is a pastor in a small church. They love him and he loves them. And then one day a bigger church with more salary invites him. He says, brothers, I've been praying if God would lead me somewhere else. What is pulling him? Money. It's happening in Christian work. It's happening everywhere. It's happening with businessmen. Money is a tremendous power like a magnet to pull people. If you don't break free from its power you'll never be a servant of God. And if you're serious about it, God will do some radical things to save you from the power of money. I prayed many times, Lord, every human being loves money and I'm a human being. It's not only rich people who love money. Have you ever seen a beggar, homeless man who doesn't love money? There is no homeless man in the world who doesn't love money. He doesn't have a cent in his pocket but he loves money. And the rich businessman, he loves money too. So it's not a question of rich or poor. It's not a question of your monthly income. You have to acknowledge love of money is in your flesh. And only Jesus can save you from it. See Luke chapter 17. I'm sorry, Luke 19. Jesus entered Jericho. And in Jericho there was a crooked tax collector called Zacchaeus. He was the chief tax collector who made a lot of money with bribes and corruption. But he began to have a spiritual desire in his heart. He wanted to see Jesus and he was short so he climbed a tree. And you know Jesus lived in sensitivity to the Holy Spirit. He was walking down the road and the Lord can do that for you also if you're sensitive to the Holy Spirit. As he was walking down the road the Holy Spirit said to Jesus, stop. Look up in the tree. There's a man there. Go to his home. That's how Jesus lived. That's how he made such useful contacts. He made useful contacts with people. We are to live like that too. Every day, Lord lead me today to do your will. So he went to Zacchaeus' house. He was walking down with Zacchaeus down the road and as soon as he came to Zacchaeus' house we read these amazing words in verse 8. Zacchaeus stopped. He said, Lord don't go inside. I have cheated a lot of people and built this house with their money. You're a holy man. I can't ask you to come into this house. Before I tell you something I'm going to settle all the people I cheated with. Now remember, this is a very shrewd calculating tax collector. And see how he tells Jesus. Read carefully verse 8. Lord, first of all I give half of all my wealth to poor people. And from the remaining half I will give four times because including interest and all to all the people I cheated. Now which would have been better? Supposing he had said please listen carefully all the mathematical specialists listen. Supposing Zacchaeus said I will first give four times back to people. And from the remaining I will give half to the poor. Which way would Zacchaeus have had more money? Is that a complicated question? Go home and think about it. Is it better to first give away half and then pay back four times? Or first pay back four times and then give half of the rest to the poor? Well the simple answer is this. If you first pay back four times you still have quite a lot left. From that you give half to the poor you have to give less to the poor. Because your wealth is already reduced by paying back to these people. I am sure that a shrewd tax collector would have worked that out. But he doesn't say that. He says Lord I will first give away half. Then I will give four times to the poor. Jesus had a good brain also. Cleverer than Zacchaeus. And he saw this man such a shrewd tax collector is not saying it the other way around. Boy he must be really free from the love of money. And Jesus said salvation has come. When a man is freed from the love of money Jesus says salvation has come. You read through the four gospels. Never did Jesus say about anyone salvation has come to this house. Except in this case. Because he saw this shrewd calculating man becoming so generous. And not doing it in this clever calculating way. But doing it in such a way that he would end up with less. Jesus said this guy is really saved from the love of money. Because he is the son of Abraham. Because that is how Abraham treated Lot. He told Lot even though God called me out of Canaan you had no business to come but you can take first choice. You can take first choice. Take whatever you want. I will take the rest. And he captured all the property of the king of Sodom which enemies had taken away. Abraham had done that in battle. And he told the king of Sodom you can have all your stuff back. That is in Genesis 14. The king of Sodom said no keep it. Abraham said I will not even take a shoelace from you. He said Zacchaeus is the son of Abraham. Like Abraham was freed from that covetous desire for property and money. He told Lot you can choose first. He told the king of Sodom you can take all your money I don't want anything. Zacchaeus was like that. And then Jesus said see the connection now. Verse 10. For means because the son of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. Lost in what? Lost in the love of money. In the context. That's what it means. Jesus has come to seek and to save those who are lost in the love of money. And Zacchaeus was one of them. You know what I did when I read that? I said Lord Jesus I'm lost in the love of money. I'll be honest. I want you to seek me and save me. I cannot save myself. I'm not like all those self deceived believers who think I don't love money. I'll be honest Lord. I love money. Even though I never sent reports about my work anywhere. 50 years in Christian ministry I never asked anybody for my needs. You never sent reports about our work anywhere. In spite of all that Lord in my heart I love money. I want until I have the same attitude to money that Jesus had I have to say I love money. The only person who can say I'm free from the love of money is the man who can say I have the same attitude to material things that Jesus had. I have the same attitude to money that Jesus had. I can't say that even today. I have not yet become like Jesus Christ. My goal is to become like Jesus. I must look at every woman in the world exactly like Jesus looked. It's not enough to say I don't lust after women. That's a negative testimony. Jesus' testimony was not I don't lust after women. His eyes were totally pure. Lord, that's what I want. I want to have the same attitude to material things and money that Jesus had. Until that day comes I shall keep on saying there is still some love of money left in me. Lord, you delivered me from a lot of it but I want to be total deliverance. The Lord says you seek me with all your heart and you will find me. Many believers compare themselves with other believers and say I am free from the love of money compared to that person and that person and that person. And that's how they never become like Jesus. Be honest. Say Lord, seek and save me from the love of money. Say, I'll explain to you. Supposing a child gets 10% in mathematics in the class. You think he can be happy? Yes or no? 10%. He's happy because all the others got five and four and three and zero. He's very happy. He came first in the class. He goes home and says Mommy, I came first in the class. Really? How much did you get? 10 out of 100. You got 10 out of 100 and you came first in the class? All the others got five, four, three, two. That is how we say we are free from the love of money. We compare ourselves with others who got 2% and 4% and 3% and say, I'm free. I'm the best of all these organizations and all these believers. Now you take that same boy and put him in another class where everybody is getting 98% and 99% and 100%. He suddenly becomes very humble. That is the secret of humility and that's the secret of pride. Pride comes when you compare yourself with other believers who are worse than you. Pride comes when you compare yourself with other believers who are worse than you. Humility comes when you compare yourself with Jesus Christ. And you refuse to compare yourself with anybody else in the world. That has been my practice for the last few years. I absolutely refuse to compare myself with anybody in the world. I do what the Bible says, looking unto Jesus I run the race. You know, one translation says, looking away from everyone else unto Jesus. I say, Lord, I want to be like you. How you never loved money. You were totally devoted to God. Money was under your feet because you came from heaven. And you've made me a heavenly person. Make that true in my life. You know, if you're serious, God will answer your prayer. I do a little business to support myself, like the Apostle Paul, so that I'm not a burden to others in my local church. And once I lost a huge amount of money. Because when I was supposed to do something, I'd gone somewhere to serve the Lord. And when I came back, I discovered I'd lost a lot of money. And I said, Lord, why did that happen? Lord said, didn't you pray the other day that you want to be free from the love of money? Oh, that's why you made me lose it. Thank you very much. Do it again, Lord. Free me! I didn't starve. My bank account went a little lower, that's all. But I didn't lose my joy. Because my joy was not inside my bank. Joy was in my heart. I remember once traveling in a bus in India. The buses in India are so crowded, people, like sardines, bang together. So by the time I got down from my bus, I found my wallet was missing. Somebody clever pickpocketed, taking it out without my feeling it. He did such a neat job that I felt he deserved it, because he did it so well. But then, I said, Lord, that's fine. Thank God my joy was not inside my wallet. Only money was there. My joy was in my heart, so I didn't lose that. Some people, when they lose their money, they lose their joy as well. Because the joy was also inside their wallet. Or inside their bank account. Make sure you don't deposit your joy in your bank account. Keep that in your heart. The bank is only for keeping money, not for your joy. But when I got down from the bus, I said, Lord, maybe you want me to pray for this man. Maybe nobody in his life has ever prayed for him. So you allowed him to pick my pocket, so at least one person will pray for his salvation. So, I prayed for him. Another time, I was traveling in a train in India. Also packed, like sardines, all standing up. And it happened to me a second time. I found my wallet missing. This guy also deserved it, because he did it so well. I said, well, again, my joy was not in the wallet. I said, Lord, I'm glad that my joy was not in the wallet. And I prayed for him too. Another time, another person came to my house and actually fooled me and got money from me. And after he went away, I discovered, hey, this guy told me a story and he fooled me. So I said, Lord, I want to pray for him. I was first very angry that he fooled me. Angry with myself that I got cheated by this guy. The Lord said, don't get angry. What did you lose? A few rupees. He sold his soul to the devil. I said, Lord, I forgive him. And I prayed for him. I said, Lord, I want you to bring him back to my house so that I can speak God's word to him. It's amazing what God does. I saw him one day again on the road. And I said, hi, come home. He wanted to come home. He thought he could fool me again a second time. He sat down and he began to tell me a story. And after one or two minutes, I said, brother, I know all about you. And I'm not going to report you to the police because I prayed for you. And I forgave you for what you did. And I prayed that you would come back here. Why are you going around cheating people like this? You know, he called himself a Christian. Christian worker. He said, brother, I was poor and the devil got a hold of my soul. I said, you must stop it. You must now return all the money that you took from people immediately. You don't have to return mine immediately when you get returned it. I don't need the money. But to teach you to be faithful, return it. Okay. He came next morning and returned it. You know, it's amazing when you love people and pray for them what God can do. But, you got to be free from the love of money. You can save souls if you're free from the love of man. Ask God to free you. Say, Lord Jesus, I do not yet have the attitude you have towards material things. Do you get upset when something in your home broke down and got spoiled? In this earth, everything will get spoiled. We must be careful with what we use. But we don't have to get all upset and disturbed just because something got spoiled. If your washing machine got spoiled and you don't have enough money to buy another one, I'll tell you what to do. Wash your clothes the way Jesus washed his clothes. You know how he did it? Do you know how Jesus washed his clothes? With his hands. There's nothing that we have to complain and get worried about. In everything, give thanks. And especially, God, if you're serious about it, I'm telling you from my own experience. I said, Lord, I am dead serious. I want to be 100% free from the love of money. Little by little, God begins to do it. It doesn't happen all of a sudden. God will do it for you. But what will happen is, all of us start serving God in a mixed way. All of us. You and I and everybody. We serve God and we serve money a little bit. Then we hear a strong message on it and we serve God a little more and the percentage increases. But still, there is this section of love of money still. We got to reduce this. Lord, money must come to zero and 100 out of 100 must be God. You got to press on to perfection. And it's amazing what God will do through your life when you're completely free. Let me tell you something. We are running a race. It's called the Christian race. Let us run looking unto Jesus. But we're not running very fast. We're not overcoming anger. We're not overcoming dirty thoughts. We still gossip at home. We still got somebody we haven't forgiven. Why aren't we making more progress? Why aren't we getting more revelation from God's word? Because you're running with chains on your legs. You got heavy weights on your legs. Naturally, you can't make progress. You know what those weights are? The love of money. You got those heavy weights on your leg and you're trying, Lord, I want to run after you. Ask the Lord to knock off the weights one by one by one by one. And you will see a distinct difference in your spiritual progress. To be free from the love of money is one of the most wonderful ways to make spiritual progress. See what Jesus said. Luke 16, verse 15. Luke 16, verse 13. There are two masters. You will hate the one and love the other. If you hate one, you love the other. If you love one, you hate the other. Do you believe that? Do you believe that if you love money, you hate God? That's what Jesus is saying. If you love money, you hate God. Tell me if you get any other interpretation from that word. I know no preacher pointed it out to you like that. But that's what the Lord has called me to do. He has called me to teach people the things that other people don't teach. I'm just reading what's written here. No one can serve two masters. Two masters are God and money. So, you will love God. If you love money, you hate God. And if you hold on to money, you despise God. Do you really believe that you're despising God when you hold on to money? Hold on means not that you don't, you empty your bank account. You hold on tight. You know, what does it mean when Jesus said you've got to forsake all your possessions if you want to be my disciple? What does it mean when the Lord says you've got to forsake all your possessions if you want to be his disciple? Luke 14, verse 33. One page back. So, can any of you who don't forsake everything he has not be my disciple? What does it mean to forsake all your possessions? Imagine, these are all my possessions. To possess it means to forsake it. So, over my palm. Lord, this is yours. I don't possess it anymore. But I have it. We're not supposed to possess things. We have to have them. Abraham possessed Isaac. Isaac had become his idol. God said, kill him. Prove that you love me more than Isaac. So, Abraham went to Mount Moriah took the knife to stab Isaac to death. God said, no, don't kill him. Go home. God didn't take away Isaac. But Isaac, Abraham no longer possessed him. But he had him in his house. He had him in his house till his dying day. That's the difference between possessing possessions and having possessions. Possessions are those things that possess you. I must have them, not possess them. He's not asking you to empty your bank account and put it in the offering box. He's asking you to recognize that everything belongs to God. In the old covenant 10% belonged to God and 90% was yours. You could do whatever you like with 90%. So long as you gave your 10% to God. Some people live by that old covenant rule because they live under the old covenant in their life. But in the new covenant there is no 10%. In the old covenant everything is mine. You don't have to put it all in the offering box. Recognize it is mine. Use it wisely. Don't waste it. Use everything for the glory of God. Maybe you need to buy a house, go ahead. Maybe you need to buy a car or two cars perhaps for your family. Go ahead. But don't possess it. Treat it all as mine. That is how God wants us to live on this earth. That's how money will become our servant and not our master. That's how Jesus lived. Jesus had money not just 2 or 3 cents. Judas was a treasurer with a bag full of money. A lot of people gave money to Jesus. He accepted it. We read in Luke 8 verse 3 that even Herod's treasurer gave money to Jesus. Jesus took it and used it for taking care of his disciples and his travel and food and everything. He never possessed it. He had it. That's the way we must deal with all our possessions. That's the way God wants us to live my brothers and sisters. That's the way God wants us to live my brothers and sisters. God wants us to be free. Before we go away I want to share this word with you. As you go away Hebrews chapter 13 Please take this as a parting word. Hebrews 13 verse 5 and 6 Hebrews 13 verse 5 and 6 Let your character be free from the love of money. Be content with what you have. Don't compare yourself with others. Be content with what you have. Why? Because the Lord himself has said I will never desert you I will never forsake you. Isn't that promise good enough? The Lord says I will never desert you. I will never forsake you. Those of you who feel insecure think of this word from the Lord. Trust in the Lord more than in the social security of the Dutch government system. In India there is no social security. We teach people to trust in something more powerful than human social security. A Lord who has said I will never desert you You are my child I purchased you with the blood of my son Jesus. Even if you are a weak new believer I will not desert you I will not forsake you Live on that and therefore be content with what you have. And therefore we will confess boldly the Lord is my helper I will not be afraid what shall man do to me. It's a wonderful thing if you can say that. Boldly the Lord is my helper I will not be afraid what shall man do to me. I believe with the things that are happening in the world around us We as believers need to have that boldness The devil cannot touch me He was defeated on the cross We must tell the devil How many of you have spoken to the devil The Lord has speak to him The Bible says in Revelation 12, 11 Give the word of your testimony to Satan You've got to tell him Satan you were defeated on the cross I don't belong to you Jesus Christ is my Lord and he defeated you You can't touch me You can't touch my children You can't touch my property You can't touch my family You read in the book of Job that three hedges around God's people The devil himself said that It accidentally slipped out of his mouth and we discovered something If you don't know that verse let me show it to you Job chapter 1 Satan told the Lord Verse 9 That Job feared God for nothing Verse 10 God You have put three hedges around him You have put a hedge around him You have put a hedge around his family and you put a third hedge around all that he possesses A hedge around Job A hedge around his wife and children And a third hedge around his property Thank you Satan for telling me that I didn't know that Boy, Satan regrets he ever said that But still so many believers don't see that verse so he's thankful that people haven't seen it But I'm determined to tell everybody about it There are three hedges around you Satan's a liar but he doesn't tell lies to God, remember There are three hedges around us One around me One around my wife and children Because I'm a child of God And one around all my bank account and house and property and everything And none of this can be touched by the devil unless God permits an opening in the hedge Sometimes God allows it Okay Satan take away his business I will not forsake him but he'll lose a little bit of money He'll come closer to me as a result of that Then he may even allow Okay attack his family But don't touch him Then finally the devil says Okay you can even touch him Give him some sickness He will still love me and serve me Does God have that confidence in you That he can allow Satan to open up one hedge another hedge another hedge and he'll say But that man will still serve me That woman will That woman will still serve me If you're free from possessions Say Lord Jesus Whom have I in heaven but Thee And there is nothing and no one I desire on earth but Thee That is a true worshipper Such a man can say I will not be afraid The devil can do nothing to me Man can do nothing to me The Lord is my helper Dear brothers and sisters Go home with that word Or may it guide you all the days of your life Thank you for listening to my long long sermons Thank you Ariane for bearing with me Let's pray Heavenly Father I thank you for all these dear brothers and sisters who have taken all the trouble to sit here for these two days I pray you'll bless them abundantly Make them flaming witnesses for Christ in this land That the light of the church will never die out in this country The true church of Jesus Christ The light of the world Please bless each one each family Bring back into the fold children who have gone astray And the little children that are growing up now Lord We pray they will grow up in the fear of God And make every family a testimony for your name In Jesus' name Amen