Our subject is discerning the spirit of Babylon
and some people may not know why we
use the word Babylon because they're not familiar
with scripture.
But if you turn to the end of
the Bible in Revelation chapter 17, it speaks
about Babylon as the great harlot, mother of
harlots in Revelation chapter 17 and verse 5.
So, it's a scriptural word, we are using
a New Testament scriptural word.
It has some connection with the old empire
of Babylon run by Nebuchadnezzar but the Lord
is trying to use that as an example
to warn us and it's called a harlot.
The harlot is a prostitute and it's compared
in Revelation chapter 21 with the bride in
chapter 21 verse 2 is called a new
Jerusalem, not the old Jerusalem which is on
earth.
Babylon is the harlot and the new Jerusalem
is the bride and the bride is the
disciples of Jesus who follow him wherever he
goes.
They are described in Revelation chapter 14 as
these are the ones who follow the lamb
wherever he goes in Revelation chapter 14 and
verses 1 to 5.
So that's the contrast here and we need
to understand what is this harlot or adulteress?
A bride is someone who's faithful to the
bridegroom the Lord Jesus and the adulteress of
the harlot Babylon is one who claims to
be the bride but is unfaithful.
I mean if someone is not engaged to
Christ, in other words doesn't claim to belong
to Christ, they cannot be a part of
Babylon.
A person who belongs to another religion can
never be a part of Babylon.
Babylon refers to those who claim to be
Christians, claim to accept Jesus as their Lord
but are not devoted to him as the
bride and this is described in James and
chapter 4 if you don't have time to
look at these verses you can just jot
them down or listen to this message later
on but I have to go through it
quickly.
James 4 and verse 4 here is how
the spiritual adulteress is described here like this
James writes to Christians remember he's writing to
Christians here in other places he says many
of you brethren my brethren in chapter 3
verse 1 chapter 2 verse 1 my brethren
he's talking to my brethren and to the
believers he says in James 4 verse 4
you adulteresses.
Now he's not saying that to the world
he's saying that to believers who don't have
the spirit of devotion to Christ like a
bride should have to the person she's engaged
to.
The bride of Christ is a picture of
a bride who's absolutely faithful to a person
she's engaged to who's gone on a distant
journey promised to come back and marry her
but the harlot is one who is engaged
but fools around with others while her bridegroom
is away and this is referred to here
in James 4 for you adulteresses and here
is the other person who is attracting the
bride and making her an adulteress it's called
here the world.
You adulteresses don't you know that friendship with
the world that is spiritual adultery is described
so clearly and that is hostility or enmity
towards God so whoever makes himself a friend
of the world is the enemy of God.
Now when it speaks about the world it's
not talking about people no the people of
the world the Bible says God so loved
the people of the world that he gave
his only begotten Son that whoever believes in
him should not perish but this is talking
about a world system where Satan is called
the prince of this world and he confused
his aim is to confuse and deceive those
who claim to be Christians he's not worried
about those who are already in his hands
unbelievers he's concerned with those who claim to
be the bride of Christ to defile them
corrupt them make their witness ineffective make them
compromise in some way lose their testimony go
after other things and lose their devotion to
Christ all types of ways the devil seeks
them to seeks to make them a friend
of this world system when it says the
devil is the prince of this world he's
not a physical ruler on earth he's a
ruler of this world system which runs what
we see in this world so that is
what's referred to here and John the apostle
also writes like this in 1 John chapter
2 this is we need to understand this
Babylon clearly 1 John chapter 2 and verse
15 says do not love the world if
anyone I don't care who you are again
he's writing to believers chapter 2 verse 1
my little children he's writing to those who
are born again he's even writing to spiritual
fathers in 1 John 2 14 that means
not just there are three types of believers
he writes to in verses chapter 2 verse
12 to 14 those who are spiritual babes
newly converted those who have progressed a little
young men and those who are spiritual fathers
1 John 2 14 some of you may
think you're very mature spiritual father you say
I'm not a baby Christian I'm not even
a young brother I'm a mature spiritual father
here is what the Holy Spirit is saying
to you and to me do not love
the world can a spiritual father love the
world can an effective preacher love the world
yes anyone can fall into that if you
say well I'm beyond that I'm a spiritual
father let him who thinks he stands take
heed lest he fall it's behoves us to
walk in humility and when the word of
God says to spiritual fathers love not the
world I want to take it seriously I
don't want to imagine that I can be
careless Jesus was always alert on this earth
when he lived on this earth that's why
he never sinned do not love the world
if anyone loves the world listen to this
don't care you're a new believer or a
spiritual father if anyone loves the world the
love of the father is not in him
and what is the world the lust of
the flesh it's not the people it's the
lust of the flesh 1 John 2 16
the lust of the eyes and the pride
of life all this is not from the
father but it's from the world and this
is going to pass away verse 17 and
the opposite of that is here's the bride
in 1 John 2 17 those who do
the will of God so the contrast here
is between the Babylon those who indulge in
the lusts of the flesh which is usually
all types of sinful pleasures and the lust
of the eyes which refers to adultery and
the boastful pride of life which is seeking
honor and this also includes lust of the
eyes also includes the love for money we
look and see things and we want to
buy them all this is going to pass
away and the one who does the will
of God that's the contrast those are the
people who constitute the bride of Christ that's
just a little brief introduction now when we
trace this back to the beginning uh you'll
see it's a very subtle thing way back
in the beginning when God created Adam he
sent him into a garden and there were
two trees mentioned there were thousands of trees
in the Garden of Eden but two trees
particularly are mentioned one is the knowledge the
tree of knowledge of good and evil and
the other is the tree of life now
there's nothing wrong with knowing good and evil
we know that we teach our children from
the time they are born to know good
and evil why did God forbid that it's
very important to understand it because the origin
of Babylon is also here here are two
trees and one leads on finally to Babylon
in a very subtle way this is not
obvious sin obvious sin is what we saw
in 1 John 2 the lust of the
flesh the lust of the eyes and the
pride of life but here you see a
contrast in the beginning of the Bible the
tree of knowledge and the tree of life
what do you see at the end of
the Bible Babylon Jerusalem how does it end
up there the choice is to have knowledge
of spiritual things knowledge of the word of
God and no life there is a knowledge
which just remains in our mind which is
part of our soul such a person is
a soulish christian not a spiritual christian a
spiritual christian concentrates on life that knowledge leads
to life see knowledge is like food food
is very important we cannot grow without food
we don't have life without food but if
you eat food and it never gets digested
and never gets converted into blood and flesh
and bones you die you can eat as
much as you like but you die that
is what knowledge does knowledge is like food
if it's not digested because the if the
holy spirit does not break it down and
make it part of our inner life of
our spirit our heart it ends up as
knowledge and we end up in Babylon it
doesn't look so dirty as sexual sin it
doesn't look so dirty as the love of
money it doesn't look so dirty as pride
but it leads to Babylon just as much
knowledge many christians who are fairly clean morally
who are not running after money and who
are not seeking honor also end up in
Babylon because their christianity is all in their
knowledge even those who speak about forgiveness or
justification even some who speak about victory over
sin it's not in their life they are
proud how can a man speak about victory
over sin and be proud he's got to
be crazy he's full of the greatest sin
of all the first sin that came in
the universe pride and here he's proud maybe
he's not proud of worldly things he's proud
of his bible knowledge or perhaps he's proud
of his spirituality that is Babylon to have
a good moral life and to be proud
of it is Babylon we read that in
1 John 2 16 the lust of the
flesh the lust of the eyes and the
pride of life so knowledge the bible says
in 1 Corinthians 8 whereas love builds up
the primary mark of life the primary mark
of spiritual life is fervent love for God
and for Jesus Christ and leading on to
loving one another in the church as Jesus
loved us and loving everyone in the world
as ourselves at least a willingness to love
everybody as ourselves we're not it doesn't mean
we've got to help everybody but an attitude
for example to ensure that there is not
a single human being against whom I've got
hatred there's not a single human being whom
I despise that's knowledge you know knowledge puffs
up and whether it's bible knowledge or scientific
knowledge or earthly knowledge it can puff up
a Christian and he becomes a part of
Babylon it's a very subtle thing many Christians
think I'm not a part of Babylon I'm
in a good church oh yeah it's not
a particular church that is Babylon it's a
spirit that can be in a person you
can be sitting in the best church in
the world and be a part of Babylon
yeah it's an individual thing you yourself choose
whether you want knowledge or you want life
for example when you read the bible I'm
sure most of you read the bible are
you seeking for knowledge or life those are
the two trees this book the bible can
be a not a tree of knowledge of
good and evil or it can be a
tree of life to you the choice is
yours if you use only your mind to
study go to a bible school study study
study use a lot of commentaries and this
that and the other concordance it is all
good I use concordances myself but if it's
only going to remain in the mind I'm
going to the tree of knowledge of good
and evil not the bible knowledge perhaps the
tree of bible knowledge Jesus the Lord so
told Adam if you eat of that you'll
die and it's true even today the pursuit
of knowledge any type of knowledge by itself
without life brings death there's nothing wrong in
pursuing knowledge I want to pursue knowledge that
is essential for me to live on this
earth I want to pursue the knowledge of
the scripture I've been studying the bible for
more than 61 years and even today I
say Lord I don't want to study this
book to get knowledge I don't want to
study this book to preach I want life
more than anything else that's what I want
to pursue that's how I stay away from
Babylon so this is the first thing warn
you dear brothers and sisters very lovingly and
humbly I would urge you when you read
the scriptures when you hear a message don't
think of oh I understood something some people
think like this especially those who are preachers
oh I got a point to preach in
my next sermon is that why you're listening
to God's word in a sermon or reading
the bible to get a point to preach
for your next sermon to get honor for
yourself that is Babylon when you preach to
get honor for yourself that is 100 Babylon
we are supposed to preach to point to
Christ to draw people away from ourselves to
Christ we have to point to him so
that people don't see us that's the spirit
of the bride pointing away from ourselves so
that's the first place where we see this
contrast knowledge or life go on to chapter
4 we read about the first sin committed
outside the garden of Eden after Adam and
Eve were turned out of the garden of
Eden we read of Cain and Abel presenting
an offering to God and there again you
see a contrast and there again you see
the spirit of Babylon in Jerusalem the harlot
and the bride why did the fire of
God fall on Abel's sacrifice and did not
fall on Cain's sacrifice that's what disturbed Cain
why is God accepting Abel the way God
manifested his acceptance in Old Testament times was
the physical fire would fall on the sacrifice
as you read in Leviticus and other places
so here the reason why is not because
like some people some preachers teach that Abel
brought a lamb a blood offering there were
offerings given ordered by God which did not
have blood for example grain offering was a
thanksgiving offering what Cain and Abel were bringing
was not a sin offering they were bringing
a thanksgiving offering for the way God blessed
their labors Cain was a farmer so he
brought the grain absolutely right Abel was a
shepherd so he brought the lambs a lamb
rather but what was the difference Cain Genesis
4 3 brought an offering a.n. an
offering Abel was for brought the best of
his flock here again you see Babylon in
Jerusalem or the harlot and the bride there
are Christians who bring an offering to God
a.n. some offering some 10% or
whatever it is the question is not the
quantity no it's not talking about quantity it's
the lamb that Abel brought here may have
been very small compared to the huge amount
of grain that Cain brought it is not
quantity at all it was an offering whereas
Abel brought the best so here are two
types of Christians some will bring an offering
to ease their conscience oh I have to
give something to God I call them the
minimum Christians by that I mean their whole
attitude to Christianity is what is the minimum
I have to do to please God what
is the minimum I have to do to
go to heaven what is the minimum I
have to do to have my sins of
sins forgiven that is called an offering it
always ends up in Babylon the other Christians
like Abel who says Lord what is the
maximum I can give you in this one
earthly life I have you don't have to
be a full-time Christian worker the Apostle
Paul was a businessman who served the Lord
he was a tent maker he was not
a full-time Christian worker he earned his
own living and supported himself and even supported
some of his co-workers he was an
amazing man an example he says follow me
as I follow Christ he didn't bring an
offering he brought the best he gave his
life to God and he said I don't
want to be one like one of these
preachers who are paid by others and look
around for somebody to give money these preachers
who always send out prayer letters to get
money from different places he said I don't
want to be like that he never sent
out a prayer letter he never asked people
for money he supported himself because he wanted
to give the best he says as a
servant of the God I have the right
to be supported because Jesus said the laborer
is worthy of his hire but he says
I don't use that right he was following
a savior Jesus who gave up all his
rights when he came to earth that is
the mark of a man who belongs to
the bride he doesn't claim rights he doesn't
say I have a right to this I'll
tell you the bride of Christ has no
rights if people take away rights from me
he says okay I'm not going to get
offended I'm not going to get hurt he
may be the most respected person in the
church if somebody stands up to his face
and insults him he bows his head and
forgives him that's a true servant of God
he does not seek to exalt himself he
doesn't like some of these big preachers nowadays
run away from the platform as soon as
they finish speaking because they're too big to
talk to ordinary people they may be a
big preacher in the world but they are
part of Babylon don't be deceived by all
that Jesus never ran away after he finished
preaching so that he could not talk to
ordinary people he didn't go around sitting around
with the big shots of the chief priests
and Herod and all after his message he
was mingling with ordinary sinners all the time
before speaking after speaking all the time in
fact somebody like Nicodemus could come and disturb
him in the middle of the night how
free do you feel to go to somebody's
house in the middle of the night and
then knock at the door and say I
want to talk to you that's a man
of God who's given people the impression you
can come and disturb me anytime if I
can help you spiritually come in the middle
of the night I'll wake up and sit
and help you that's the spirit of Christ
which Nicodemus sensed and he went to him
otherwise he would not have done he was
a respectable rabbi he knows that he shouldn't
go and disturb other rabbis in the middle
of the night but he says Jesus was
different he gave people the impression I'm here
to serve you anytime you can disturb me
that's the spirit of the bride of Christ
the same spirit as Christ so we see
these two examples knowledge and life and here
the you give the minimum what is the
minimum I need to do for example what's
the minimum I need to do to have
a good testimony in the church maybe you
want to be a part of a church
and you want to find out what is
the minimum I have to do to remain
as a good member in the church do
I have to come to so many two
meetings a week okay I'll come for two
meetings a week do I have to pay
a certain amount of money in the offering
box you have to take some small responsibility
I'll do that but I'm going to live
for myself the rest of the time the
fundamental principle of a part of person who's
the heart part of the harlot Babylon church
is that deep down in his heart self
is in the center not Jesus Christ not
the kingdom of God but how can I
advance myself if I can use religion to
advance myself let me do it see let
me give you the example of you know
that Jesus drove out some money changers and
the sellers of sheep and all from the
temple why did he do that do you
know that they were doing a very good
service I don't know whether you realize that
they were not there just to make money
of course they were making money but they
were saying there are all these people Jewish
people coming from far places like Galilee and
other parts of Israel coming all the way
to Jerusalem to offer a sacrifice to God
in the Passover time and there was three
times they had to come to Jerusalem and
instead of bringing their sheep and oxen all
the way from their place which is a
nuisance I mean to travel all the way
bringing your animals which for sacrifice with you
these merchants these businessmen said hey you don't
have to bring them we'll give them to
you here we'll sell you these sheep for
sacrifice they were not selling sheep for food
they were selling sheep and doves and all
for sacrifice for a religious purpose and he
says we'll give it to you here the
only thing we have to charge a pretty
high commission and they were making money in
the name of Jehovah in the name of
God from those poor people and Jesus said
he chased them out he says this my
house is the house of prayer not a
place for you to make money do you
know that Jesus never went to the marketplace
in Jerusalem and chased anybody out there's nothing
wrong in doing business there's nothing wrong in
selling sheep or mutt or goats or anything
you like in the marketplace but don't do
it in the name of God if you
do anything in the name of God is
it must be for zero profit that's the
principle anything you do in the name of
God must be for zero gain for yourself
you don't use the power of God to
gain something for yourself never that is Babylon
when the Lord called me for my to
serve him full-time when I was working
in the navy in India in 1964 which
is a long long time ago 56 years
ago one word that the Lord spoke to
me at that time very clearly was from
the first temptation that Jesus faced in the
wilderness in the first temptation in the wilderness
you read in Matthew chapter 4 the devil
came to Jesus and told him well you've
just been let me paraphrase his words a
few days ago 40 days ago you were
anointed with the Holy Spirit and power by
God in the river Jordan now you've got
power now you've been not been eating for
40 days you're really hungry and you can
use up your power to turn these stones
into bread and satisfy your hunger you know
even if you don't eat for three days
it's it's tough you feel really hungry imagine
going with 40 days without food Jesus was
hungry and the devil said you're not stealing
anybody's food you're not asking anybody for food
you're using the power God gave you not
to make money no no no just to
make a little bit of bread to eat
it sounds such a good thing to do
but Jesus said no he said I haven't
heard from the father to do that so
I won't do it he did not use
his power to make bread for himself but
at other times we know he made bread
for 5,000 people 5,000 men and
many women and children 10,000 people another
time he made for 4,000 people multiplied
the bread he he had the power to
make bread and he made it for others
for thousands of others but he never made
it for himself that's the word the Lord
spoke to me and the way the Lord
applied it in my life was I have
given you an anointing to preach that's not
your own ability I know it's not my
own ability because I was a very shy
young man I've never taken part in any
public speaking in school or in the military
academy or anywhere I was very reserved and
not at all the type of person who
could be a preacher but God anointed me
with the Holy Spirit and the Lord said
I have given you power I'll be with
your mouth and I'll give you words to
speak but you must never use the gift
I gave you that I give you to
get anything for yourself Jesus never used the
power to make bread for himself you must
never use the gift I give you to
make money for yourself you must never use
the gift I give you to get honor
for yourself or anything for yourself it must
be all for Christ not 90 percent for
Christ all for Christ I'm not saying you
cannot receive a gift Jesus received the gifts
we read in Luke chapter 8 verse 3
but he was not dependent on them he
was not looking for it he was not
preaching for money he was not preaching for
honor so that is Babylon where you do
a right thing and you're doing it for
yourself to gain something for yourself this is
what the Lord told me when I started
writing books in the world people write books
to become millionaires they get money royalties Christian
preachers write books to make money you must
never write a book to make money that's
why we publish all our books at Christian
Fellowship Center Bangalore and I get zero royalty
from it I don't want it the Apostle
Paul is my example who said follow me
as I follow Christ that's what I've supported
myself all these years that I've been serving
the Lord so I see very clearly so
much of Christendom today is in the spirit
of Babylon seeking gain for themselves preaching for
honor preaching for money writing books for money
this is Babylon but so if you keep
this in mind we'll understand a little bit
of where this all leads let me just
show you another passage in 2nd Timothy and
it'll become clearer 2nd Timothy in chapter 3
Paul is speaking here about the last days
and you know we're living in the last
days and he says here in 2nd Timothy
3 in the last days difficult times will
come or as the living Bible paraphrases it
it'll be very difficult to be a Christian
in the last days not because of persecution
no that is also true but here he's
referring to the fact that there are people
who will have a form of godliness verse
5 this is why it's going to be
difficult to be a Christian in the last
days listen carefully because around you will be
Christians who have an appearance of godliness the
form of godliness is the doctrine those who
have the right doctrine those who preach the
truth we're not talking about people who preach
error people who will preach the right form
of godliness but lack the power you remember
what I said about the two trees in
the garden of Eden it's the same thing
here these are the two trees 2nd Timothy
3 5 the tree of knowledge the form
of godliness Bible knowledge exact correct doctrine but
no life no power to live that godly
life so that's right here Babylon and Jerusalem
are right here in 2nd Timothy 3 5
a form of godliness without power and in
other words they'll be talking about Jesus then
maybe they are full-time workers preaching about
Christ and maybe they become famous in that
city or town or worldwide or whatever it
is but they will be they it says
there are four types of lovers mentioned in
verses 1 to 4 read carefully four types
of lovers the only correct one is the
lover of God the lover of God is
the bride of Christ the other three lovers
are part of Babylon and they are verse
4 lovers of pleasure lovers of sinful pleasure
of sexual pleasure preachers who fool around with
women not their wives and who commit sin
but hide it so that nobody knows about
it and they get a name as a
great preacher but in secret they're living in
sin 100 Babylon would be judged by God
in the final day God is no respecter
of persons God doesn't care whether your world
famous or anything like that he looks for
purity many who are first will be lost
in the final day so lovers of pleasure
more than lovers of God this is the
contrast Babylon consists of Christians who love sinful
pleasure more than they love God who love
pleasing themselves more than pleasing Jesus Christ pleasure
to love pleasure means to please yourself it
could be sexual pleasure it could be any
type of thing you know the Bible speaks
even about gluttony as a sin Philippians chapter
3 it speaks about those whose God is
their stomach people whose God is their stomach
have you ever thought of that as a
sinful thing to make that gluttony could be
a sin to eat to live is right
but to live to eat that's completely wrong
it says in Philippians 3 about those whose
God is their stomach in Philippians 3 19
so that's another type of pleasure we've got
to be careful about a true Christian follows
Jesus and he's disciplined in his life discipline
in the use of his time discipline in
the way he spends his mind and discipline
in the way he lives his life I'm
not saying that he has no time for
relaxation it's perfectly all right to relax to
play games with our children and to go
outdoors to go for a walk to go
for a picnic all that is okay provided
our aim in everything like it says in
1 Corinthians 10 31 whatever you do do
all for the glory of God that's a
true disciple of Jesus you say is it
a high standard certainly is should we aim
for that now Mike I can answer that
question when you say you mean all of
us Christians should aim to live for the
glory of God let me ask you another
question you answer that and then you'll get
the answer to this one do all of
you want to be in perfect health or
would you like to have a little bit
of sickness I don't mean too much sickness
just one percent or five percent sickness how
many of you would say yes I love
I love five percent sickness not even one
I'm 81 years old but I don't love
sickness I'll tell you that I don't want
to be sick not even one percent I
love health I love health a hundred percent
if so I want to live for the
glory of God a hundred percent I want
to do everything for the glory of God
why is it that every one of you
will love health physical health 100 but not
spiritual health 100 what do I mean by
that when your conscience convicts you about something
it's like a sickness it could be a
cancer serious sickness or it could be an
injury a broken bone perhaps now whether it's
a cancer or a broken bone every one
of you will seek to set it right
in some way possible nobody says oh I
got cancer it's okay let me live with
that no you won't say my bone is
broken let me leave it like that let
me leave my hand hanging around no we
fix it immediately we don't wait we go
to the doctor we go to the hospital
we love health so much that we fix
anything even a small injury in our hand
we go and put some medicine or a
band-aid or something there immediately that is
how much we love physical health and I
want to urge you my brothers and sisters
it's very simple to live the Christian life
love spiritual health in exactly the same way
is that too much supposing I were to
say to you I'm going to give you
some instructions on how you can be 100
healthy would you like to listen to that
oh yes there's not a single person who
does not want to be 100 healthy but
I'm sorry I'm not a dietician or a
doctor I can't give you that instruction but
I can tell you how to be 100
spiritually healthy and if you claim to be
a disciple of Jesus Christ and you're not
interested in being 100 spiritually healthy I want
to say to you you're you've got the
spirit of Babylon in it a little bit
and you just leave it like that it'll
grow you know the giants in Canaan had
little children and they would grow up to
be giants unless you until you unless you
kill them as well that's why the Lord
said don't don't only kill the giants kill
their little children so the principle there is
there are small sins in your life the
Bible says in song of Solomon chapter 2
take care of the little foxes get rid
of them get the little one not the
big ones there's little ones the small little
sins the small little scorpion crawling around in
your house the small serpent small one not
big enough to run away fast small one
kill it while it is small so what
does that mean it means that as soon
as you're convicted in your conscience about something
you immediately set it right you don't wait
what do I mean practically you suddenly realize
that you spoke rudely to your wife five
minutes ago and you're aware of it maybe
your wife is kind enough to ignore it
forgive it doesn't say anything smiles at you
but you have still hurt her you must
ask her forgiveness otherwise don't just go to
God and say Lord forgive me that's good
but you know what Jesus said in Matthew
5 verse 23-24 he said if you
have hurt your brother don't go to God
and ask his forgiveness first go to your
brother ask his forgiveness first then come and
bring your offering to God and if I
don't ask forgiveness from another person that verse
is teaching me that I should not go
to God at all in the same way
if somebody has hurt me and I feel
in my heart an anger towards him or
a bitterness towards him you are sinning forgive
him immediately if you don't forgive you are
not interested in spiritual health I want to
ask you do you want to bring an
offering like Cain what's the minimum I have
to do to give to God that is
Babylon so lovers of pleasure 2nd Timothy 3
another lover chapter 3 2nd Timothy 3-2
lovers of money that's the other lover which
is a part of Babylon one who claims
to be a Christian but he loves money
more than he loves Christ how shall we
find out let me use an example supposing
you're married to a very lovely woman as
your wife and you're married you live in
the same house with her everybody knows she
is Mrs so-and-so your wife but
your mind is always thinking of some other
woman not always any most of the time
you do think about your wife now and
quite a bit of the time maybe 25
percent you think about your wife but 75
percent of the time you're thinking of some
other pretty woman somewhere else what do you
think of that type of husband don't you
think he's an adulterer 100 percent an adulterer
even if he's thinking 25 percent of the
time or one percent of the time of
some other woman now my question is is
your mind on money more than on Jesus
Christ there's nothing wrong in earning money we
have to earn money to live Jesus earned
money as a carpenter right up to the
age of 30 maybe from the age of
18 to 30 he was earning money because
he had to support four brothers and two
sisters and a widowed mother at home there's
nothing wrong in earning money and when you
have seven members at home you have to
earn a lot of money and he had
to make a lot of stools and tables
and benches in order to earn money to
support his family there's something wrong in earning
a lot of money but Jesus never loved
money now if some poor widow wanted something
he would make something for her free if
some child came into his carpenter shop and
broke something he wouldn't get upset with that
child he didn't love money but he earned
money it's perfectly all right to earn money
it's perfectly all right to have a savings
account Jesus had a savings account what do
you mean by a savings account the savings
account means you don't spend everything as soon
as you get it that means you get
money today you spend it today that's not
if you you keep some of it whether
you keep it for one day or whether
you keep it for 15 years that's not
the point if you keep it for use
in the future that's a savings account and
many people gave money to Jesus in appreciation
you read that in Luke 8 verse 3
and Judas Iscariot kept it in a bank
the banker was Judas Iscariot of course he
was a crooked banker but Jesus kept that
money in a bag because he didn't use
it the same day that's a savings account
it's perfectly all right because he said well
I may need it tomorrow I've got 12
disciples and some of them got families I've
got to feed them I'm gonna send money
to their home perfectly all right to have
money perfectly all right to earn a lot
of money provided it's earned righteously but if
our mind is always on that how to
make more money how to make more money
how to make more and more and more
and more and to the point where Christ
is excluded and we have one corner for
Christ that is like Cain he brought an
offering and you bring your Sunday morning a
little offering to God it's a deception you're
fooling yourself wholehearted Christianity wholehearted discipleship that is
the bride of Christ so lovers of money
we have to think about money in order
to support our families but I'm talking about
where you're so occupied with it that Christ
is pushed out or you do something unrighteous
in order to make money maybe a little
bit unrighteous just you say that's not so
serious it's just a little bit like saying
it's like saying I put only a little
bit of poison in my food not much
but a little bit of poison why do
you put a little bit of poison in
your food why do you put a little
bit of when you do a little bit
of unrighteousness with money do you see a
little unrighteousness is the same as poison I'm
trying to get your conscience more sensitive so
lovers of pleasure lovers of money and the
third is verse 2nd Timothy through lovers of
self that's the greatest of all where pride
my honor self sitting on the throne see
the essential differences here the harlot is one
who has got self sitting on the throne
inside the bride is one who's got Christ
sitting on the throne inside in other words
everything relates to how how will this affect
Christ in the kingdom of God he lives
an honest life on earth maybe he doesn't
make as much money as that crooked Christian
that's okay but he earns an honest living
but Christ is honored in his life and
everything he brings up his children for the
glory of God bring them up in a
godly way that is also part of Christianity
and I remember when I had four sons
I have four sons and I when they
were a little small I said Lord I
want these little children who are now my
children to one day grow up to become
my brothers in Christ and every one of
them is my brother in Christ today I
work toward that God worked but my wife
and I worked toward we had a goal
because God helped us reach there I don't
take any credit for it my wife and
I don't take any credit for it it
was God who did it but my point
is you must have a goal even if
you have 10 children give them all to
God say Lord every one of them must
live for you every one of them 100
% for you I want to use my
home for your glory this is one those
are following in the footsteps of Abel let
me say a little bit about Christian work
as well there's a lot of let me
conclude here so here are the three lovers
lovers of pleasure lovers of money and lovers
of self in contrast to all that is
2nd Timothy 3 for lovers of God so
Babylon consists of those who love pleasure those
who love money those who love self the
bride are those who love God that's the
contrast here and it says in verse 5
2nd Timothy 3 5 there'll be people who
have the form of godliness who appear to
love Jesus Christ but they don't have the
power that means they love themselves or they
love pleasure or they love money inside so
if you can see Babylon here in 2nd
Timothy 3 1 to 5 the other place
where I want to show you is you
know there's a beautiful verse in Romans in
chapter 11 it's a very lovely verse I
remember God gave me a revelation on this
verse many many years ago on what the
essence of being the bride of Christ on
the essence of the harlot was in Romans
11 the last verse the next verse after
that ignore the chapter division it says therefore
whenever you see read the word therefore in
scripture ask yourself what is it there for
why is the word over here it's connected
to the previous verse Romans 12 1 is
a well-known words present your body as
a living sacrifice to God wholly acceptable to
God and present your mind verse 2 to
be conformed to his the way God thinks
but right therefore connects it to Romans 11
36 very important from God and through God
and to God are all things that have
eternal value to him be the glory listen
to that three things from God anything that
has eternal value is going to be originate
in God done through God's power and done
for God's glory from God through God to
God the opposite of that is that's the
bride of Christ is not that spirit that's
why the bride goes on in chapter 12
verse 1 and 2 to present her body
and mind to the Lord the opposite of
that is Babylon from man through man to
man originates in man's mind done through man's
power done for man's glory you turn back
to the old testament and you'll see that
the origin of Babylon is in Genesis chapter
11 turn with me for a moment to
Genesis chapter 11 the whole earth was using
the same language in the same words they
came to the land of Shinar and they
said to one another listen carefully come they
got a bright idea let us make bricks
and build a tower verse 4 that goes
all the way up to God man trying
to reach God through his own ability is
a bright idea from man and how shall
we do it let us through man's power
let us make the bricks and let us
burn them and let us let us let
us let us chapter 3 verse 3 and
verse 4 this is from man man's idea
through man and what is the purpose verse
4 middle make ourselves a name for our
glory you see the opposite of Romans 11
36 here there it was from God through
God to God here it is from man
through man to man originates in man's mind
done with God man's power and done for
man's glory okay let's move on many few
thousand years later you come to the time
of the one of the world's great empires
the empire of Babylon and you read about
that in the book of Daniel the great
leader of Babylon was a man called Nebuchadnezzar
and one day Nebuchadnezzar walked on the roof
of his palace Babylon was a fantastic city
it had a very famous hanging gardens and
it had a wall right around it I
believe the wall was so thick that our
chariots could right go around on that top
of that wall anyway it was a fantastic
city built by Nebuchadnezzar with all the labor
of people in Babylon and see what he
says in Daniel chapter 4 and you'll see
the spirit of Babylon here also one day
the king was verse Daniel chapter 4 verse
29 was walking on the roof of the
royal palace and he looked around at this
fantastic city that he had built and he
said isn't this Babylon the great which I
myself have built my bright idea this beautiful
building was my bright idea from man I
built it with my power through man and
I built it for my glory to man
the same thing we saw in Genesis 11
you see here from man through man to
man that is Babylon and as soon as
he said it a voice from heaven said
sovereignty has been removed from you and you
be reduced to the level of an animal
that's what happened he became like an animal
eating the grass in the fields that's how
God humbled him and he was like that
for about seven years or so and finally
God restored his health and when God restored
his health you see what he says this
statement of Daniel's sorry not Daniel's Nebuchadnezzar's is
the most thorough statement of the sovereignty of
God and the control of God over the
whole universe that I've seen anywhere in the
Bible listen to me listen to it carefully
this is spoken not by a godly Christian
is spoken by a heathen man who was
humbled by God and who humbled himself as
a result of that Daniel 4 verse 35
listen to this description of the sovereign power
of God all the inhabitants of the earth
are accounted as zero this is where I've
understood this teaching that man is supposed to
be a zero before God see the zero
gets a value when there's a one in
front of it then it becomes 10 you
get a number of zeros say five zeros
and you put one in front of it
there's not value otherwise it's all zero you
put multitudes of men it's all zero till
one that is Christ or God is in
the beginning so that's what we see here
all the inhabitants of the earth are zero
it doesn't matter how many people there are
in your church you call your church a
megachurch all zeros is Christ the center if
Christ is not the center it's a bunch
of zeros I'm not impressed by megachurches I'm
impressed by two or three who are gathered
in the name where Jesus is in the
middle it's Jesus in the middle that makes
a true church all the inhabitants of the
earth are accounted as nothing and God Almighty
does exactly according to his will in the
in heaven and he does exactly according to
his will among all the inhabitants of the
earth and no one can stop his hand
no one can strike against him no one
can push his hand away and no one
can question him saying what have you done
no one in heaven or on earth among
the demons or in human beings what a
fantastic expression of the sovereignty of God it's
similar to what Jesus said in Matthew 28
19 all authority in heaven and earth is
given to me the bride of Christ recognizes
that he the bride of Christ recognizes that
everything must be from God through God and
to God and so if we have that
spirit we can be part of the bride
of Jesus Christ and let me tell you
how God led us a little bit of
our own testimony 50 years ago I was
in full-time Christian work as a preacher
I was traveling to many countries invited to
big conferences but I was defeated in my
inner life in my thoughts I'd get angry
at home and I didn't have victory over
anger my thoughts were not always pure externally
I had a good testimony before people it's
very easy to have an external good testament
but inwardly I was defeated but that was
mostly at home and nobody knows how we
live at home you don't know that preacher
who stands in the pulpit how he lives
at home how he talks to his wife
and when I stood in the pulpit nobody
knew whether I got angry at home or
whether my mind was on money or so
that's how I was but I got so
fed up with my defeated life I didn't
know much about bride and harlot and all
those things I only knew that I was
living a defeated inward life and I got
so fed up I'll tell you what I
even though God clearly called me to serve
him I got so fed up with this
life and when I was around 30 34
years old I said Lord I'm going to
quit full-time Christian work I'm going to
go and take a secular job and never
preach again for the rest of my this
is about 57 years ago oh brother 47
years ago nearly 50 years ago unless you
do one thing for me that's all I
ask I don't want money I don't want
honor I don't want fame I want you
to do one thing Lord for me make
my inner life correspond with what I preach
it must be equal it must not be
that my one leg is so short my
life leg and my knowledge leg is so
long many preachers are like that their one
leg is one inch the preaching leg is
six feet long unstable I said no I
don't want it like that I want my
inner life I want both my legs to
be equal length is anything wrong with the
subject request don't you want both your legs
to be equal length well this is my
inner life must correspond with my external preaching
and I said Lord if you don't do
that for me I can't do it I've
tried so many years I'm just defeated I
will just go and do it I won't
give up Christianity I love Jesus I'm going
to take a secular job and I'll never
preach again unless you do that for me
and I want to tell you in the
mercy of God before I rolled off the
cliff into hell he laid a hold of
me you know what he did it wasn't
some new teaching it was but it began
with being filled with the Holy Spirit he
filled me with the Holy Spirit and I
knew it I had this inner assurance and
he began to reveal to me from God's
word after that that's what I said Lord
if this really fulfills the Holy Spirit the
Bible will become a new book for me
and God began to open my eyes to
different truths and one of the great truths
he revealed to me at that time was
two things Jesus Christ came to earth as
a man exactly like you and he did
not sin and he says follow me which
means it's possible to follow him to overcome
sin and secondly Jesus established a new covenant
when he shed his blood you remember the
last supper he said he passed the cup
around and said this is the new covenant
in my blood he used a word he
never used at any other time the old
covenant was where Moses went up to the
mountain and brought a law the new covenant
is Hebrews 8 where the law is written
inside our heart see the old testament law
was written on two tablets of stone and
that didn't help people to live a godly
life today the Bible can be like two
tablets of stone for us I read it
I understand it but it is not written
inside Hebrews 8 verse 10 to 12 says
the new covenant is God writes his law
inside my heart and inside my mind the
two tablets now are not on rock not
on printed paper the two tablets are my
mind and my heart God says I will
write it in my in your mind meaning
I'll give you a desire to do my
will I'll write it in your heart which
means I'll give you the power to do
my will oh lord that's all I want
I had a desire make make that desire
even more fervent to do your will and
give me the power to do it the
promise in Hebrews 8 verse 11 is I
will write my law Hebrews 10 and 11
I will write my law in your mind
and in your heart and that's explained in
Philippians 2 verse 13 11 to 13 God
gives us the desire and the ability to
do his will so God's grace the purpose
of God's grace is first of all to
give me a desire to do God's will
and then the ability and I tell you
that changed my life and from that time
we started gathering a few people together two
or three Jesus said we're two or three
gathered together in my name I'm in the
midst and we started a church not with
a big crowd just two or three some
then some people would come and go and
come and go and like that God has
multiplied multiplied and now planted churches in 10
countries and many many churches scores and scores
of churches but he did it all but
the point is it began with God bringing
me to the place of a zero point
bringing me down to show me that with
all your effort and with all your knowledge
you cannot live a godly life you need
the power of my Holy Spirit when I
came to that place and I was desperate
and I couldn't care less for the opinion
of men God met with me I praise
the Lord for that and he'll meet with
you my brother it's a message of hope
so I want to tell you something from
this human hand to illustrate one of the
great truths that time God revealed to me
was that he was my father theoretically I
knew he was my father but it's like
some people whose father is working in some
country 10,000 miles away he gets letters
from his father but he never sees his
father he never gets a hug from his
father there are and I felt I was
like that I had a distant father in
heaven I don't know I could read his
word but I never felt I have a
father I never felt his nearness the Bible
says when the Holy Spirit fills us he
cries out from our heart saying daddy that
cry came in my heart when I was
filled with the Holy Spirit daddy you're my
dad in heaven I'm not an orphan anymore
you remember when Jesus spoke about the Holy
Spirit in John 14 he said John 14
16 onwards I will not leave you orphans
one of the wonderful things the Holy Spirit
does is makes us know that God is
a real father theoretically we all know that
that became real to me so let me
quickly conclude with this look at my hand
when I want to hold something tight I
need a solid grip like this I can
hold it with two fingers also but it's
not a solid grip right with all my
hand I can get a solid grip so
I saw there here's how I began to
got my grip on my Christian life the
palm that was knowing God is the father
as a foundation of everything and then the
thumb the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses me
from all sin if I confess my sin
and then the finger the Word of God
meditate on the Word of God blessed is
the man who meditates on the Word of
God whatever he does will prosper someone then
the Holy Spirit the Old Testament they could
only have the Holy Spirit upon them to
anoint them now I can have the Holy
Spirit within to help me within a helper
it's like Jesus living right inside helping me
to do the right thing giving me the
ability to do God's will and then the
next point the word of the cross if
anyone wants to come after me let him
deny himself and take up his cross daily
die to self daily and finally the body
of Christ fellowship with other believers so this
is how my Christian life changed I came
to know God as my father number one
I was sure the blood of Jesus had
cleansed me from all sin removed the guilt
of my whole past I'd never feel condemned
about my past at all I came to
value God's Word this is God the Bible
is God's written word and I believed its
promises I obeyed its commands and I wanted
to obey its commands I asked God to
fill me with the Holy Spirit that's number
four knowing God his father cleansed in the
blood of Christ receiving God's Word being filled
with the Holy Spirit and then I realized
every day I must be willing to die
to myself in any situation if somebody offends
me die so if somebody insults me die
to myself if somebody takes advantage of me
die to myself don't hit back die a
dead person does not respond I used to
think of how does a dead man lying
here respond if somebody insults him no response
what if somebody praises him no response Lord
I want to be dead like that dead
to criticism dead to praise and then finally
I could not live my Christian life without
this fellowship with others who are wanting to
go the same way even two or three
these are the things that changed my life
these are the things that helped me to
recognize what it means to be a part
of the Bride of Christ the Bride of
Christ is not one person it's a group
of people in the Old Testament you could
be one prophet Moses, Noah, Enoch, Daniel, Isaiah,
Jeremiah but not in the New Covenant in
the New Covenant it's a body Christ is
not building outstanding men he's building the body
of Jesus Christ of which he is the
head he's the only head and the best
of us are just members but we must
fellowship with other members and I thank God
for that even in a ministry like this
it's not just me preaching I got my
wife there praying for me behind the scenes
and she follows me everywhere I go she's
my prayer partner that's part of the body
it's the heart that pumps the blood so
that the tongue can speak and I've got
many many brothers in many parts of the
world who pray for me that so it's
a body ministry the tongue is doing something
to be supported by the body so I
believe that I'm only a part of the
body that's what preserves me that prevents me
from going astray it prevents me from being
irresponsible I'm responsible to others with whom I
work my co-workers they can question me
they can challenge me yeah they can they're
free to disagree with me I'm not God
they can disagree with me I praise God
for fellowship God is brought together like this
this is my brothers and sisters is what's
challenging me and this is how you can
build the body of Christ you can build
the true Jerusalem the bride of Christ by
the power of the Holy Spirit where you
are and I pray I never feel in
any message I preached I never feel I've
done full justice to it because I say
Lord who can proclaim your word accurately and
perfectly not me but I say Lord please
make up for my infirmities please make up
for my limitations and let your Holy Spirit
take what I could not express and explain
it to these dear brothers and sisters I
love every one of you I don't know
all of you but I want to say
I love you in Jesus Christ and I
seek to be your servant to help you
in any way I can to lead you
to a godly life God bless you all
I want you to pray with me please
bow your head Heavenly Father I pray that
you will help everyone who has heard your
word today to remember what they heard or
remind them by the Holy Spirit at the
right time and I pray dear Lord that
it will lead to reality in their life
they'll go beyond knowledge to life we commit
each of them to you every one of
them bless them those who are having struggles
and difficulties please encourage them those who are
sick please bring healing to them Lord physical
healing bless those who are struggling with wayward
children bring them back to you whatever other
needs there are we pray for those who
are without job or in poverty in this
time of pandemic please provide their need Lord
and we pray you'll help us each to
be a part of the body of Christ
ready for your coming we pray in Jesus
name amen