Obedience and Rewards - A Revival Message

The challenge tonight is called Obedience and Rewards Part Two. As part of the message tonight, I would like to emphasize again that we Christians are saved by grace, and it is a gift from God, as per Romans chapter 6, verse 23, which says, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And then we have also John chapter 3, verse 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

We also have the teachings from Romans chapter 7 and 8 to remind us of this great grace from God. Such teachings by the Apostle Paul do not overrule what the Lord Jesus had said in John chapter 14, verse 15, if you love me, keep my commandments. And then Jesus proved to us that his commands are to be kept nearly 40 years later, after the initial writings by the Apostle Paul.

Jesus proved in Revelation chapter 2 and 3 that his commandments must be kept. He spoke to seven churches there, and if those commands were not kept, which he gave us, and if they're not repented of, there would be serious eternal penalties. So when we keep the Lord's commandments, we please him, we grow in the Lord, and we experience great blessings.

The Lord also reminded us in the very last chapter of the Bible, what is very important to him. And in the King James Version, we read in Revelation chapter 22, verse 14, blessed are they that do his commands, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. So we had found previously that also the commandments from God help us to defeat sin.

And we gave many passages on that in a couple of the messages ago. Tonight, we would like to share again how pleased God is when we say no to sin and do his will. Not only that, God also wants to bless and reward us when we say no to sin and do his will.

The Lord Jesus highlighted also in Revelation 2 and 3, when he spoke to the seven churches, there he listed many rewards when they overcame sin. So last time, the Lord had me share that I was a refugee in the Second World War, that my father was shot by the Russians, and that I grew up as a refugee, very poor. Later, I was able to go to Canada, and with income from cleaning jobs, I was able to hire some tutors to educate me.

I ended up as an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto, teaching business and finance. And this was followed by running a $900 million corporation in Germany and Switzerland. Later, when I returned to the United States, the Lord saved me through a grave vision in 2004.

After I became a Christian, I wondered, what does it mean to live based on the Bible? I saw many other Christians who said they were Christians, but they were not doing what the Bible said. But when I prayed, I said, Lord, I love you so much. Thank you for saving me from hell.

And the answer came back, if you love me, keep my commandments. And you find that in John 14, verse 15. And so I shared with you last week three situations where the Lord gave me great, great blessings when I was obedient.

The first example comes from Mark chapter 16, verse 15. And God said unto them, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. That was God's son, Jesus.

I was instructed in a dream to present a Bible to one of the presidents in Hitachi Chemical in Japan. I did not know that this executive had forefathers who were first Christians in Japan in the 16th century. They were martyred.

This Japan businessman had raised his hand to heaven and said, Christian God, if you are real, send me a sign and I will believe in you. A few days later, a reluctant businessman came. That was me.

And I presented him with a sign from God that God was real. And this Japanese president was overwhelmed. And next time I saw him, I saw the Bible on his desk on the morgue in many spots.

It was the proof of God being alive. The sign was his word, the Bible. Great blessings came to me because I was obedient.

The second example I had given last week was from Exodus chapter 20, verse 8. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Now, we Christians keep the Sunday holy, which is the first day of the week where Christians also met in the early days. But I have found now that very few Christians keep the Sunday holy.

It's a catch up day for most Christians. They work hard. And I did not have to work on Sundays.

And I wanted to keep a day of rest. And I wanted to follow the Bible since I was just saved. But I was in a large corporation where people were expected to work whenever the chairman said you work.

And so he said, let us work. When I refused to work on a Sunday in a major company, I told them that I had scheduled to go to church and I would do the work on Monday. But they terminated my employment.

But it was a great, great blessing, beloved. I was entitled to eight months severance pay. They gave me 3.5 years severance instead.

And God did that. And I could study for the ministry for three years. The Lord also helped me to start a Bible study at the head office of this company.

They had 200 employees. And by the time I left, 95 people came to the last Bible study when I left there. Now, God did all, beloved.

And I praise his name. The third example was I was in an airplane reading my Bible. And Jesus said in Matthew chapter 5, verse 32.

But I say unto you that whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causes her to commit adultery. And whosoever shall marry her that is divorced, committeth adultery. Now, I had just gotten saved and I was divorced.

I was living common law with a woman that I had promised to marry. Now, with the Lord's help, I told that woman that I had become a Christian and that I could not proceed with that marriage because it was sin. I listened to seven hours of pain.

Now, prior to that, and while in the airplane, I was thinking about a cancer operation on my face. I had a large, black, festering skin cancer on the right-hand side of my face. I had covered it up.

A biopsy confirmed that it was cancer and that it was malignant. When I was obedient and stopped the adulterous relationship, the Lord granted me a miracle. The next day and when washing my face, the cancer fell off my face and into the sink.

The hospital said, we have the biopsy to confirm a malignant cancer. It fell off. We must operate because there will be roots in your face, cancerous roots.

They must be removed. They did the operation and cut my face open, but no roots of cancer could be found. God blessed me and encouraged me with a great miracle after being obedient to the Word of God.

Tonight, I would like to continue in sharing blessings the Lord gave me when I was obedient. The fourth example, I was reading in Exodus 20, verse 15, thou shalt not steal. I was also reading about the tax collector Zacchaeus, who had stolen much money from the people in excess taxes.

In Luke 19, verses 8 and 9, it says, and Zacchaeus stood and said unto the Lord, behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold. And Jesus said to him, this day is salvation to his has come to this house for so as much as he's also a son of Abraham.

Now, I was a new Christian and I had taken things from the company in Europe because I was in the top position and I thought I owned everything. But it is called stealing by God. Also, some goods were sent to me from Germany from my mother, hidden in toys to avoid taxes.

So what should I do, Lord? I have taken things from companies and stole them and stole from the government. What should I do? The Lord answered, if you love me, keep my commandments. I repented of these things and wrote the government about the things my mother had sent me.

The government wrote back and said these things are considered heirlooms and you do not have to pay taxes on them. So that was a great blessing. Since Zacchaeus confessed stealing, I confessed one day before the church I went to at that time that I had stolen things from my company.

And I shared the story from Zacchaeus. I gave a gift to the church as a gift for the poor, as is told to us in Scripture through the story of the tax collector Zacchaeus in the Bible. But please don't think good of me.

I fear God and God helped me to do it. Now, there was a great reward. The money was used to help a homeless shelter, a small tent city in the town we were in.

We went and the women of the church cooked and we delivered hot food regularly to these homeless people. The government told us we were not allowed to share Christ. However, the Lord allowed and helped us.

We were singing Christian songs with them and I was able to share Christ Jesus. Many lives were touched by the Lord and we were full of joy. Then the Lord later on allowed me to travel to many countries, including Mexico.

And there a young Christian woman begged me to help and pray with her demonically oppressed father. He said he had committed an unpardonable sin of not paying taxes and he could not be saved. He had great open wounds on his back.

The doctors were unable to help him. When I met with him, he told me he had stolen taxes from the government and God would not forgive him. Many pastors had tried to help him, but he would not change his mind.

I asked him, did you repay the government? He answered, the government says I do not owe money, but they are wrong. They won't take my money. I have stolen and I cannot be forgiven and I can never be saved.

I shared about the great forgiveness from the Lord. He said he could not apply this to himself. I asked him, do you believe the Bible? He said he did.

I asked him whether we could read a story together and he agreed. The Lord helped me and reminded me of the story of the tax collector Zacchaeus. We read it together and I asked him, when Zacchaeus repaid his debt to the poor, was he forgiven? And this man answered and he said, yes, he was forgiven.

I said, suppose you repaid your debt by paying to the poor, would you think that Jesus would forgive your debt? And he was all surprised. He thought for a moment and then he said, well, he forgave Zacchaeus. So, yes, he would forgive me too.

And I asked him, do you believe this? He said, yes, Jesus says salvation came to the house of Zacchaeus. He said, I believe. I said, now you have to repay your debt, though, and you have to repay your debt to the poor.

Would you do that? And he said, well, I don't have all the money right now, but yes, I want to do that. So he said then that he would give double to the poor and he believed that Jesus would forgive him and set him free and save him. He then signed a check for half of the amount because he didn't have all the money and would pay the rest later.

And so the money was given to 240 children on the garbage fields of Nairobi, Kenya. Salvation came to this man's house. He repaid his debt double and the portal that was used by the devil to give him open wounds was closed.

His mind that could no longer think straight was healed by the Lord. This man was set free from a demon, a great blessing. Again, all glory goes to God.

Please don't think good of me. I did what the word of God says to do. Give all glory to the Lord Jesus and to the Father.

Here's a fifth example. How do I live with the Bible? What do I do? What the Bible says was the question. I had difficulty being truthful.

It's called lying. I read in Exodus chapter 20, verse 16, thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. In other words, don't lie.

I read Acts chapter 5, verses 1 to 11, where Ananias with Sapphira, his wife, sold a piece of land. They seemed to be very, very good Christians, and they brought some of the money to the Apostle Peter. But he used a little white lie, according to our thinking, where he didn't state the overall amount of the sale correctly.

And Peter said, while it remained, was it not your money? And after it was sold, was it not within your own power? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied unto man, but unto God. And Ananias fell dead to the ground. And then later on, his wife came, and she repeated the same thing as her husband had, and she fell dead to the ground.

And verse 11 tells us, and great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things. So scripture says, examine yourself. I found when I examined myself for my business practices, and I had run a big corporation, I always spoke in a way to get what I wanted.

Often that included white lies. Now, God does not stand even for little white lies. And he took Ananias and Sapphira's life as related to us in Acts 5. They fell dead.

And that was after the Lord Jesus had come back to life and during the period of grace. They fell dead. God ate sin.

And I was wondering if I couldn't stop lying, was I going to fall down dead? I cried out to the Lord Jesus. And I said, Lord, you always tell me you love me, but you also tell me to keep your commandments. Lord, I love you, but I'm not keeping your commandments.

I'm untruthful. I cannot stop. Please help me.

And I couldn't stop. Then I read Isaiah chapter 6, verses 5 and 7. And there the prophet cried out to the Lord and said, woe is to me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.

Then flew one of the seraphims, which is an angelic being, unto me, having a life cold in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar. And he laid it upon my mouth and said, lo, this has touched your lips, and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin is purged. Praise God.

I repented before the Lord of the sin. I also cried out to the Lord, and I cried out, woe is unto me. I am a man of unclean lips.

Please help me, Lord. Be merciful to me, a sinner. I confessed my sin, but I was not able to stop.

But three days later, I did not have to lie anymore. I don't remember anything touching me, but God did all and was merciful to me, and the reward from God was he intervened. Praise God.

He helped me and healed me, and I can tell the truth. Praise God. The sixth example is forgiving those that hurt me.

I read my Bible again in Matthew chapter 6, verses 14 to 15. It says, for if ye forgive man their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you forgive not man their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

I had been misused as a child at the age of 10 years. It cost me 50 years of my life. It affected me, and I could never admit this nor share this with others.

When I got married, I never shared this with my life. Also, my wife was misused, and she never shared it with me. She could not do it either because we were so ashamed what had happened to us, and we could not share it.

We lived together, but there were some secrets, which is not good. When my two daughters turned 10 years old, I could no longer hug them nor kiss them, and I didn't know why. My daughters thought I did not love them anymore.

Later on, I found out from a Christian psychologist that I had a mental block. I feared if I hugged or kissed my daughters, I would do to them what was done to me. It also affected my marriage, and it ended in divorce before I got saved.

I don't want to embarrass anyone with this confession. It is something that is happening now, and I can give you an example later on that as well. We never confessed this.

Also, in addition to that, I was rejected as a refugee and hunted, so I didn't trust people. I couldn't really love people because I didn't trust them in the first place. It was a terrible life.

When I became a Christian, I thought these issues must be dealt with, and I prayed, Lord, what do I do? What am I to do? The Lord answered, if you love me, keep my commandments. I said, Lord, I'm trying to keep your commandments, but what do I need to do here? The Lord led me to James 5, verse 16, where it says, Confess your faults one to another and pray for one another that you may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

I had heard so much gossip in the Western churches. I didn't trust anyone in a Western church. I contacted a Christian psychologist who told me that I must forgive the person that misused me to close an open door to the devil.

In Matthew 6, verse 14 to 15, I quoted it, but I'll quote it again. For if ye forgive man their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you forgive not man their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

So then also the psychologist told me that in Matthew 18, verse 34, God allows a tormentor in our lives if we don't forgive others. Even so, we think we cannot possibly forgive what they did to us, but God requires that we forgive. It creates an open door to the devil or great illness, and likely the devil had access to my life because I had not forgiven the person that misused me as a child.

I repented before God. With the help of the psychologist, I wrote a letter of forgiveness in year 2005, but I did not send it. The person who had misused me was 6,000 kilometers away and was now 90 years old.

The psychologist said, we don't need to mail the letter. The letter is to set you free because you need to be obedient to God. Now, something very unusual happened because the person misusing me had lived with guilt, but on the day I forgave, the person knew that forgiveness was given.

The person taking care of that person told me they did not know about my letter. They were 6,000 kilometers away. How the person knew, I do not know, except for God.

So God did this. That person had lived with guilt all their life. The reward from God was that after I was obedient, I was set free from the tormentor.

I now can share without being embarrassed. You see, I was born again. And when we are born again, we become pure and white with a new spiritual being on the inside of us, acceptable to God because of Jesus, his son.

The old misused body will die and turn to dust. Praise God. God has also used this in my life to help others.

I spoke to 90 young violent offenders in Oklahoma who were in a boot camp for six months run by a pastor friend of mine, Pastor Derek Melton. They were 16 to 18 year olds. They had used weapons in attacks.

They did not go to jail, provided they got through a very tough boot camp for six months. I spoke and told them that I had a tough time myself, that my father was shot, that I was persecuted, and that I was misused as a child. I told them that through Jesus Christ, we could be born again and receive a new sinless being on the inside of us that was acceptable to God.

They would have to confess their sins and ask the Lord Jesus to be their savior, and he would give them eternal life. They were all lounging about half asleep with feet up on their chairs. I thought it's no use to give an invitation.

But then I did, and I got one of the greatest cares in my life. Forty young violent offenders jumped up and came running towards me, towards the altar, falling over each other. But they came running to be saved.

The guards and the police that were there allowed me to speak with each one and pray for each one individually. Through their tears, so many told me that they were sexually misused. It should have been their parents that should have been in jail, not these young people.

The Lord gave many new birth that day, praise God. I'm told that some of these are in ministry today. Don't think good of me.

I only share it because of the greatness of God and because it may help someone who's listening to me. All glory belongs to God. And I need to stop and wind up the challenge.

But here is a closing. You have heard another message about miracles from God, where he changes lives and gives salvation. And where sin was defeated through repentance and following the scripture.

I started with his call to obedience. It started with his call to obedience and to follow him in spirit and in truth. His call was, if you love me, keep my commandments.

John 14 verse 15. By doing what he had said to do has been my greatest experience and blessing and joy in my life, in the world. It far exceeds teaching at the University of Toronto or running a major $900 million company or experiencing untold riches and living in castles.

I have found why I was born. I have experienced true joy and blessings through salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ and following him. And I know my destiny.

I know where I will be going soon for eternity. I will be in the blessed arms of my savior and lord. His incredible blessings and rewards have overwhelmed me, even when writing this down, I was weeping earlier today.

You must also understand I'm just a speck of dust, a kernel of sand, a tiny blade of grass that withers away. My joy is that all was done by him and through him, our mighty God and savior. And through his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, through an unprofitable servant doing his duty.

And Luke 17 10 calls us unprofitable servants. Beloved, we are praying for revival. It starts with each one of us, how we will deal with sin.

Second Chronicles chapter 7 verse 14 says, if my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. So there are four steps. A is humbling ourselves.

It starts with confession and repentance and doing what the Bible says. The Lord Jesus preached repentance. The apostles preached repentance, repentance, and John the Baptist preached repentance.

The second step was pray. The third step, seek the Lord's face. That means get very close to him.

And the last step, four, turn from any ways that are sin. Yes, we are to be obedient to the Lord. We will experience incredible rewards even before eternity.

We can experience this great joy by receiving rewards here on earth. That is why the Lord reminded us in the last book of the Bible and the last chapter of the Bible in Revelation chapter 22 verse 14. Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have a right to the tree of life and may enter in through the gates into the city.

So let us pray. And I'm going to say a prayer about this message first, if I may. Heavenly Father, thank you so much for your continuous reminder to love you and keep your commandments.

Thank you for your mighty answers to prayers and the evidence of your rewards and love when we respond in obedience to you. Lord, you have helped me in so many different areas of sin, and I'm so very grateful. Thank you, Lord.

You require change. You require confession, and you require repentance. Also, you help us with repentance and lead us to it.

Thank you so much. Lord, I continue to request through your grace, through your spirit of truth, that I may recognize myself in your light and see the depth of any remaining sin. Help me through your word that I may be convicted by your standards, by your thinking and speaking for my ways and my doings, for my words and my actions.

Don't allow me to delay or be lukewarm in dealing with any sin. Help me to fear you so that I might have the spiritual wisdom you promised and ask you for help to change. Bind me to the measurement of the sermon on the mount that you spoke, that I might see myself as you see me, that I might judge myself as you will judge me.

Help me to repent of sin and follow you, my Lord, in spirit and in truth. Give me through your Holy Spirit sensitivity to recognize everything that happened to me, and especially your loving guidance to repentance, and that I may respond to it willingly and immediately. Answer my prayer by giving me a broken heart, not one that is self-righteous and self-satisfied, but one that is always able to weep anew over any sin and is then able to rejoice for your forgiveness and implement change with your help and for your glory.

I thank you that you will answer this prayer because you're pleased more than anything else with a sinner who repents and who draws near to you after being washed by you. Therefore, you also require tears of repentance from us to understand your heart of wrath and anger against sin and how much we urge you when we sin. O Lord, forgive me, forgive us, forgive this nation.

Lord, the fear of you, our God, is no longer evident in our country. We Christians in Western nations are now affected by spiritual blindness. We can no longer see the obvious.

The proof of this is that you have put us under judgment, as per Romans 1, and pastors, churches, denominations, leaders, and the average Christians are not doing anything to respond to you. We disregard and disrespect your judgment against us. No one wants to talk about it, Lord, yet you will send further judgments if we do not repent and turn around.

By abandoning the fear of you, our God, your wisdom seems to have left us, Lord. We seem to be blinded and do not realize that we negate your judgments and do not respect you as God. Our fear is no longer what you spoke about.

We call it a reverential fear with our falling into sin in so many different areas, and we feel you will overlook all. O Lord, forgive us. We have been blinded by the evil one, and our hearts are hard and impenitent.

Lord Jesus Christ, you came to destroy all self-righteousness and hardness of heart, and you gave your life on a cruel cross that you would redeem us and give us a new heart that is soft and humble. Lord, help us all on this call to continue with a prayer of faith until hard hearts are melted and we are able to weep over the things that we have done to you, our God, our Lord and Savior, and to any fellow man. Lord, please continue to give me the tears and the grace to weep over my old nature, over my hardness, the lack of mercy.

I have to share your great salvation and not withholding kindness to my neighbors and fellow man. Help me to stop where there is evil, speaking about others, my jealousy, my envy, my insincerity, my dependence on wrong things, dependence on the material things of the world, and lack of my dependence on you, my God, and your Holy Spirit. Bring about the complete change in me.

I thank you, O my Lord and God, that you are reminding us of further repentance and change, and that by taking place, that our love for you and our neighbors will grow exponentially. Continue to remind us through your saying, if you love me, keep my commandments. We praise you as the redeemed here on earth, and we want to be prepared for your return soon so that we might enter to be with you in glory and in the arms of the Lamb of God, our Savior.

Help us to do your will in the meantime, and where we fail, give us tears, repentance, and change. In Jesus' name, amen and amen.