True Riches and Wise Fathers

You know, one of the things that we emphasize in all CFC churches, which I think is not emphasized in most other, what I call Babylonian churches, is to judge ourselves daily. We are very careful when it comes to any hurt that we got on our body. We put some medicine or we broke something, we put a plaster on it.

If dirt comes on us, we try to wash it off. But we may not be just as careful with inward defilement. And that's an area where God sees whether you are faithful or not.

Because it is when we are inwardly unfaithful that we are unable to hear God's voice. Let me read a verse to you in Luke 11 verse 34. The eye is the lamp of your body.

When your eye is clear, your whole body is full of light. But when it is bad, your body is full of darkness. See, the most sensitive part of our body is the eye.

It's the one part of our body, it hurts if you touch it. There's no other part of our body that hurts when you touch. But one part of your body hurts when you touch it.

And we are so careful if a little dust gets into the eye, to blow it out or wash it off, because we don't want to lose our eyesight. One speck of dust is irritating our eye. So we need to ask ourselves, see what it says here.

Luke 11 verse 34. If your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if it is bad, there's darkness.

So why is it some believers have more light on understanding God's word? Don't say that's because he's got a gift. That's a silly excuse we make. Be honest and say, he was more faithful, I was not.

Why don't you get light on scripture when you read scripture in the morning? Maybe your eye is not clear. If you try to read physically, if your eye is not clear, you can't read what's written there. It's exactly the same spiritually.

You don't get anything out of that verse you read. For example, did you get anything out of your scripture reading this morning? I hope all of you read the scripture sometime today. Can you think of what you got out of it? Or do you only get something out of listening to daily devotion? God wants to speak to you personally in addition to speaking through others.

We thank God for all the brothers through whom God can speak to us. That's good. But how long are you going to be fed by your father or mother? I mean, babies are fed, fed, fed.

But if you see a 15-year-old still being fed by his mother, something's wrong with him. And I believe that a lot of believers like that. They can only be fed by others.

Can you imagine being 15 years a believer and somebody has to come still put things into your mouth? If you see an older child like that, 15 years old, being fed by his father or mother, you'll say something's wrong with him. Why can't he feed himself? So when you read the scriptures, the personal question we must ask ourselves, am I getting something out of it? Or do I only get it when I go for Sunday to attend the meeting or I listen to a message online? So let me turn you to another verse, Luke 16. And if I'm not getting anything out of it, I must ask myself, why? As we are so sensitive to if I have a pain or ache in my body or a headache or a stomachache, I say, why? I must feel exactly the same way spiritually.

Luke 16, verse 11. If you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, it's about righteous wealth. If you read, every time he speaks about mammon as unrighteous mammon, that means there's so much of evil in it, it's very easy to get your hand dirty.

He's not saying that earning money is wrong. Jesus himself earned money as a carpenter and not only took care of his need, took care of the need of his mother and four brothers and two sisters at home, he earned righteously. So there's nothing wrong with money itself.

But a lot of money that is earned in the world and handled by people, there's a lot of unrighteousness in it. Even believers, I've seen that. For example, borrowing money and not repaying it as soon as possible.

That is 100% unrighteous. 100%, I'd say 200% unrighteous to borrow money from anybody. And when you can return it, you don't return it.

Or you don't discipline yourself to reduce your expenditure so that you can repay that debt. I've done it. I've never been in debt for 85 years of my life, not even for one cent to anybody because I say, Lord, even when I had very little.

And I believe Annie and I have been more poor than anybody sitting here at certain times in our life for some years. But we never got into debt because they say, no, we will not borrow because the Bible says, owe no man anything. I want to tell you, my dear brothers, if you're faithful, it says if you're not faithful with money, who will give to you the true riches? I'll give you a little hint.

So that's what I meditated on. I read a scripture and I say, I don't want to just read it. I want to meditate on it.

And so as I meditate on it, I found for myself the true riches are three things. Number one, total likeness to Jesus Christ. To become a little more like him, a little more like him, if not every day, at least every year, to be more Christ-like and that even your marriage partner should be able to see a difference in you.

If your marriage partner is not able to see a difference in you in six months, take it that you're not faithful in seeking to judge yourself. There must be some difference. Okay, so first is likeness to Christ.

The second is the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Now, a lot of Christians in many churches never speak about the anointing of the Holy Spirit. They feel that's a Pentecostal doctrine.

Now, I believe a lot of Pentecostal anointing is fake because I've seen a lot of it in many Pentecostal churches. But there is a genuine anointing which Jesus had, which the apostles got on the day of Pentecost, which we must have, and not just once. I want to be anointed every single day.

And anointing is not just for preaching. Anointing is to be a godly person. Preaching, very few people are called to preach and stand in the pulpit.

But to be a godly person, everybody is sitting here. And for that, you need the mighty anointing, baptism in the Holy Spirit. That's the second true wealth.

And the third one is revelation on Scripture. That when I read the Scripture, I don't understand what an intelligent person can understand. Intelligent people can understand many things.

But that which even an intelligent person cannot understand, which comes by revelation of the Holy Spirit. Most of the cleverest people in the world are completely blind spiritually. That's why they don't see Christ.

So cleverness does not enable a person to understand Scripture. Now, you can use your cleverness and get some clever thought out of some verse, you know, because you're so clever and you've got such a wide range of knowledge. You can get clever things out of verses.

It's not revelation. How do you know it's not a revelation? Revelation is what changes your life. Cleverness is something you can share about that verse to somebody else.

On Sunday morning, you've got something, at a Sunday meeting, you've got something clever to share to somebody in the verse, and you think that's revelation. Garbage. That's not revelation.

That's just cleverness. And a lot of people I hear sharing things from Scripture, it's cleverness. It's something very clever.

The test is, has it changed your life in some area? Then it is definitely revelation. You've got something from that verse, and it affected you, it changed your life, changed your attitude towards the Lord, changed your attitude towards someone. So what are the three things I have seen as true riches? Likeness to Christ in character, anointing of the Holy Spirit, and revelation on Scripture.

And it says here, that comes entirely out of being faithful with money. Imagine, I can have all these three things in abundance if I'm faithful with money. And not just money, with material things.

When you say wealth, you're not talking just about cash. You're talking about all you possess. That means you use what you have at home carefully so that it doesn't get spoiled.

And if you use something and it's worn out, you seek to repair it instead of throwing it away like some millionaire. Millionaires throw things away. Yeah, who's going to bother about repairing it? A poor man says, no, I'm not going to repair it.

Now I'm not telling you how to run your home, but I'm just saying I've discovered through the years that if people are careless about the way they use their money, they never get revelation on God's Word. You're faithful with little things. Then I want to say in connection with this also, being faithful as a father, since this is being Father's Day, who is your ideal as a father? Who's example you can follow? God himself.

And how does God treat his children? You cannot be a better father than this. So being faithful as a father, you have to look at God, who is the most faithful father of all. And you see his faithfulness, how he is.

And he's not only faithful, he's so loving. Nobody is as loving as God is. So if you want to be a loving, faithful father to your children, here is the perfect example.

Nobody is sitting here, but Hebrews chapter 12, we read about how God is faithful to his children. And his example is a father. Hebrews chapter 12, verse 5, you've forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons.

And the word in exhortation, I looked up the, you know, if you have a Bible on your phone, in the NASB there, you can click on the word and see what is the meaning in its original language. You get a lot of understanding out of it. Now, sir, in the original language, it means encouragement.

So exhortation has got the meaning of, you know, some rebuke or challenge. But more than that, I discovered it says there in the number of times it's used, most of the time it's translated as encouragement. That's the real meaning of that word.

You have forgotten the encouragement that God is giving to you as sons. What is the encouragement? The encouragement is that don't treat lightly the way a father disciplining his son. Is that an encouragement or a rebuke? It all depends how you see it, your children.

You're not to depress you and I don't do anything to harm you. So don't faint when you're reproved by him, verse 5, because it's those whom the Lord loves greatly whom he disciplines. So if God doesn't discipline you, what does it prove? He still loves you, but you don't want his discipline, so he just keeps away.

God doesn't force himself on anybody. If he forced himself on people, everybody would be converted and go to heaven. So he doesn't force discipline also on anyone.

If God sees that you react in a bad way when he disciplines you sometimes, he'd say, okay, I won't trouble you again. Go your way. That'll be tragic.

Whom the Lord loves, he disciplines and he scourges every son whom he receives. The love of God is seen in discipline, in punishing with a rod, or a scourge is a very strong word, it's a whip, and it's for discipline God deals with you as with sons. If God does not discipline you, it says you're not his son.

For example, you see a neighbor's child doing something wrong, you don't go and punish him. He may be doing something terrible. You don't stop him because he's not your son.

But your own son or daughter does something, 1% of that, and you punish him because you love him. So it's very clear that God disciplines because he loves, and all our discipline must be out of love. And a father, his faithfulness is seen in disciplining his children.

When you're disciplined, verse 7, God deals with you as with sons. Because listen to this sentence, the last part of son. What son is there whom his father does not discipline? I'll say there are millions of sons like that in the United States and in India.

So which son is there whom his father doesn't discipline? Hey, whoever wrote to Hebrews, I'll tell you, brother, there are thousands and millions of them today. Why? Because the fathers don't love them. Whom the Lord loves, verse 6, he disciplines.

The father loves, you can't be a better father than God. So don't think you're showing your love to your children. By not disciplining them.

In fact, that proves you don't love your children. God disciplines, and God is a perfect father. Make God your example, you can't be a better father than God.

And that is the reason why we have so many wayward, disobedient children among the children of believers. Everywhere, in every country, who grow up unconverted, not born again, the parents are both born again, the children are wayward, unbelieving, grow up to be children of the devil and go to hell. Because the father's love did not include discipline.

Here is an area of faithfulness, on something good to think about on Father's Day. It says, if, verse 8, you are without discipline, then you're probably not a real son of your parents. Maybe you were adopted, or maybe your parents picked you up from the streets.

You're not really a son, because if you're really his child, he disciplines you. Don't discipline out of adultery. I've got this child out of adultery.

It's not a legitimate child of mine, that's why I don't discipline him. But this real child of mine, oh, I discipline him. There we can, every father and mother can evaluate their faithfulness and see whether they are trying to love in the way the devil loves or in the way God loves.

So faithfulness is a very wonderful thing, and I believe that we should also tell our children so that they appreciate our love. Sometimes our children don't know about how much we love them. I believe that every parent should tell their children the sacrifices they have made for them.

Supposing God made a lot of sacrifices for us and never told us about it. Supposing he never told us that he sent Jesus into the world 2,000 years ago to die for our sins. No, no, no, I won't talk about my sacrifices.

Where would we be today? Isn't it good that the Lord has told us how Jesus lived on earth, was tempted like us and suffered like us and went through all that? Would you tell all that to your children? Say, no, no, no, I don't want to tell all that. Well, God is a better father than you. He tells us all that Jesus suffered on earth because that's what makes us love him.

The more we hear how much Jesus went through for us, the more we love him. And don't try to be a better father than Jesus Christ is, than God is. We need to tell our children to explain to them what all you have gone through for them from their childhood so that they learn to value you and appreciate you.

There is no self-denial in keeping quiet about it because then they will realize what you have sacrificed and if they are grateful, they'll appreciate. So that's another part of being faithful as fathers. And God bless us all.