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00:01 Oh father, we thank you for your word. Your word be a lamp unto my feet and lamp and a light unto our path. Oh God,
00:09 we ask that your words will hide in our hearts that we may not sin against you. Thank you for your son Jesus. There is
00:16 no other name. And we ask, oh God, we may lift up his name today as you learn
00:22 from your word that will renew our minds, transform our hearts, and cause our hands to give you praise and cause
00:29 our feet to bring forth your good news. In this we ask and pray in Jesus name.
00:35 Amen. materialism.
00:40 It's quite a big topic um that was suggested by the by the pulpit committee
00:46 and we can and usually in this uh in the settings nowadays there's usually an
00:52 extreme either we think too much of our head about our materials or we think too much of our hands about materials.
00:59 Materialism in the philosophical school is the idea that they say there's no such thing as spirituality. There's no
01:05 such thing as God. So everything that we have here we can touch and see, smell and feel. And this is called
01:10 materialism. Now for all of us who are here today, I don't think that applies to us directly
01:17 because we believe in God. We believe that there is a there is a power that is above us. We believe there are mysteries
01:23 that we cannot answer. So surely then you'll say Mark this is this doesn't make any sense. The hands part is when
01:29 we start to talk about our talk about the wealth that we have and then we beat ourselves saying oh God do we uh uh oh
01:36 God you know thank you for giving me enough teach me oh lord to to to give unto others as well and then because we
01:42 have that mindset we feel so guilty of the amount of money that we might have in our bank account or the dreams and
01:49 aspiration that we have in our head that makes us feel that you know oh maybe this is not of God maybe am I am I
01:55 committing sin and we feel this sense of guilt that we work so hard and even worse we will feel so shameful when we
02:02 work so hard but then end up not acquiring our goals and our dreams. There's a balance here. And actually the
02:10 head and the hands, they do connect. But the issue is that middle point at the
02:15 heart, the longest journey from the head to the heart and from the heart to our
02:21 hands. And James is speaking to our hearts today. And James is actually saying that it's actually very very
02:26 subtle. This materialism, this passage that James is saying, it's actually more
02:32 um it deepens and stabs. Personally even for me it steps you right in the heart.
02:38 Not that I feel that I acquired a lot of wealth but even I still even the amount that I have I feel a lot of
02:43 responsibility but I take forward in faith. So it's quite subtle. It's almost
02:49 like a child with his pet python. There's a story a while back about a
02:56 child owning a pet python. The pet python is about 11 ft long. Eats two eats one chicken every 3 days. And uh
03:04 the python then lets the boy sleep, you know, let him sleep on top of the p uh
03:09 on himself, hangs out with him all the time and so on and so forth. But there was one day that the python stops
03:16 eating. The python had stopped eating for days and so he got very wor and so he got
03:22 very worried because he loved his pet python. So he went to the veterinarian. So he went to the veterinarian and then
03:28 he asked, you know, doc, you know, look at my look at my python. It's been days. It's been days since he ate. It's been
03:34 weeks since he since he ate. And I'm worried because I don't want him to starve. Then the veterary doctor asked
03:41 him this question. Have you noticed if he had started squeezing you bit by bit
03:48 for a while? Like he would just wrap around you and hold you tight for a while but then let go a few seconds
03:53 later. And the kid say, "Yes, yes, that's right. And have you noticed that when you lie down straight before he
03:60 coils around you and and li and lies next to you, he stretches himself out
04:07 right next to you the same length from head to toe. Push. The kid says, "Yes,
04:12 that's right. How'd you know that?" Then the vet says, "You may have to kill your python because it actually is planning
04:19 to eat you. It's stra it's straightening itself out
04:26 because because he wants to see how he can fit you in his body and he's
04:32 squeezing you tightly so that he can deceive you for that final day that he will give you that squeeze that he will
04:39 not let go until you stop shaking. Same thing when it comes to wealth.
04:48 We feel responsible because oh God you've given me this gift. Oh God you
04:54 given me you've given me all these joys. Oh God you give me all these things. So let me teach me oh God to be responsible.
04:60 And we do try to be responsible but then we acquire a bit after a bit after a bit. and we lose our and we lose sleep
05:06 and we and we just aspire to make sure that to make sure that we get enough in our bank account, enough in our assets,
05:12 making sure that we have enough for missions but also for a nice vacation particularly during matafair but
05:21 and of course comparatively I'm looking I'm pre I'm sometimes I feel like I'm preaching to the choir because compared
05:26 to the amount of donations that's been given to ministers in parliament nowadays the amount of money that we
05:31 have in our bank accounts is nothing compared to what's going on out But you see it's very you see ladies and
05:36 gentlemen two things. Number one is very subtle. It starts with acquiring a little bit here, a little bit there
05:42 until I remember Dr. Peter showing this for the first time in another sermon. Then all of a sudden you're getting a shirt of solid gold that weighs for that
05:48 weighs 10 kilos and you're wearing it on your on yourself and you say it's for investment purposes.
05:56 Second thing I want to say is this. Whether you feel you have a lot or you feel I don't have much at all. I'm not
06:02 talking about what you have in your hands or what you have in your head. I'm talking about what you have in your
06:07 heart. When I go to Sabah where and I go to the
06:13 villages where annually one household earns about 3,500 ringit a year.
06:21 Yes, you heard me correctly. 3,500 ringit a year. How do they live?
06:28 But even they therefore will have this dream and nightmare haunting at the back
06:35 of his at the back of their head says I have to get more. I have to get more.
06:41 So whether we're rich or poor in our own eyes, whether we have felt that we have
06:47 controlled our finances well or we have separated from the works from our work of God, James is actually speaking to us
06:53 that is very subtle. And so we begin immaterialism.
06:59 James does not talk about it philosophically. Nor does he talk about the hand about his hands. He's actually
07:04 going through the text and he's giving very practical uh issue giving very practical advice in this passage. But
07:12 also he is mirroring an lifetime struggle that we will continue to have
07:18 as believers in Jesus Christ. Two layers of it. So this will be a two-part passage. The first one is that it is
07:24 about it is a question of faith. And in the second part is a call to repentance.
07:30 The first part a question of faith. In the first verse we see come now you rich
07:37 weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. The question that usually comes out among scholars today
07:43 is who is James referring this to? A lot of people say nah it has to be the he
07:49 must be metaphorically speaking outside the church. You know there are plenty of rich people outside there and James is
07:54 rebuking to those guys who are not inside the church building inside inside the church building thinking that you
07:59 know one day or you know give back your donations make sure you use them correct use them correctly when you guys acquire
08:05 finances make sure you get make sure make sure you use it properly etc etc people thought that James was talking
08:11 outside to people outside the church but actually we come to see and if you have
08:19 been following the series on James uh for the past few weeks and particularly to pastor Masimo's message last week we
08:27 have confirmed that he's talking to believers in James 4:13 he says come you who say
08:34 you know uh to tomorrow we will go uh tomorrow we will go and invest go to a
08:40 place and make money he is talking that the way that he's
08:45 challenging people is number one he knows them pretty well and Number two,
08:52 uh, and and number two, he knows that it is to a people who they have close
08:58 relationship with as a church. And that's why we see as we continue on the text later in 5:7, next week, we see, be
09:06 patient, therefore, brothers and sisters. And so, he is specifically
09:12 talking to the believers. So it's a very very harsh tone to start with but that's
09:17 because he is warning us over something that is vitally vitally important and it
09:24 may change our lives between life and death. He says this then come now you
09:30 rich weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. What misery are we
09:37 talking about? Often times the first thing that comes to our head is judgment. One day we will go before God
09:44 before the plegates and then then God will reveal our lives and seek and then only we'll experience his al the
09:50 ultimate misery in hell if we don't believe in Christ and if we misappropriate our words but that's not
09:56 the case that's not the case we see the grammar here and we see that for the miseries that are coming upon you it is
10:03 a present and continuous tense and so that means he knows for a fact that some
10:09 rich people even though they are either either have acquired a lot of money in
10:14 their a lot of money in their wallets or they are in the midst of trying to do well in their career. He is actually
10:20 looking this passage and says yes you are actually having some misery. Now I
10:27 pulled out some articles and talk about because I had a I had a short stint on psychology when I was in pre-un
10:33 university and it's very interesting for do to to notice that during the time of
10:38 the recession back in the back in the 80s and 90s people were jumping off
10:43 buildings because of the misery they have in their heads saying I have worked so hard and now I've lost everything.
10:54 People die because they've lost some things that on this earth. And doesn't
10:60 wealth cause us a lot of misery? We who we who try we who strive to seek
11:07 a career just for the sake of self- sustenance and just to thrive. Doesn't it cause you a lot of misery
11:15 when it's near the end financial year and you hope your books and I hope that your books will balance and then there's a profit
11:23 that when the auditor comes around we hope that we hope that everything is fine and hunky dory when all of a sudden
11:28 we get some bad news some people have been embezzling from the company and therefore we got we might and therefore the company might might go broke doesn't
11:36 that haunt us if you I have some I have some friends in same same their same age as me. They
11:43 went into in uh stock exchange and they do it stock exchange and they do it online.
11:49 When I met some of them last year, they told me says Mark I I've stopped that
11:55 already. I've gone back to employment just earning enough. And I say why? There was a time that I had gained a lot
12:02 of money and he told me a number. It's about five figures and overnight he lost it all in 2011.
12:12 He works in his apartment on the 11th floor and his mark for a good half an
12:18 hour. I was walking along the balcony rail wondering whether I should jump
12:23 into the pool or jump into the floor.
12:29 Doesn't this wealth give you a lot of misery?
12:35 And James is actually saying it is folly to put so much emotion and so much of
12:41 your life on these things. Here's why. We see in verse two to verse three two
12:46 to verse two and verse three, your riches have rotted and your garments are moth eaten. Your gold and silver have
12:53 corroded and the corrosion will be evidenced against you and will eat your flesh like fire. What is James trying to
13:01 say? Well, a couple of things. Number one is James is actually rekindling the words
13:07 of Jesus. Last last week you heard from Pastor Masimo about how actually James is recollecting the words that Jesus had
13:14 taught about not worrying. It's in the part of the series of the sermon on the mount. This part is actually almost
13:21 verbatim. James is quoting Jesus. He says, 'Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust
13:29 destroy, where thieves break and and where uh and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves
13:35 treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where and where thieves do not break in uh break in and
13:43 steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be. Also,
13:50 James is talking about the foliness of saving and saving and saving and not
13:55 using it for the kingdom of God. So bear in mind, so bear in mind ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters,
14:03 James is not against wealth. He is against wealthy people or people who
14:08 wants to acquire wealth and out of lack of faith in the Lord
14:14 they just keep and keep and keep for themselves.
14:19 Now I have preached this before in youth in this part of the passage and there are two questions that usually come out
14:25 and they say pastor ma what are you talking about gold and silver don't corrode or rust what right
14:31 you know it's one of those things in the in the in the in the chemistry table right one of the elements of the table
14:36 it doesn't rust it doesn't it doesn't decay and what's with this garments being moth eaten well obviously uh I had
14:43 to explain you see gold in the in those days the reason why they will corrode because
14:49 it's old gold. I think some of us might have some from our grandfathers or even or even we acquired it back in the good
14:55 old days. Old gold will uh will after a while will corrode not because the gold
15:00 is rusting but because of the impurities that inside mixtures like iron uh iron
15:07 and other things that usually are very close to are very close to gold. They did not produce they did not have enough
15:13 they did not have the technology to burn the fire hot enough to take off the impurities. So this is what we have old
15:20 gold not like compared to the new gold that we see here today and being moth eaten we must understand first and
15:26 foremost garments and cloth was a new technology not just a new fashion. It
15:32 was a new technology and therefore very valuable things like silk and cotton and
15:37 ca and cash and ca and cashmere and wool. All these things are actually world wealth and if we leave them in
15:44 storage for too long like you know in our grandparents home in a cupboard where we only pull out the blankets once
15:50 once a year or twice a year during Chinese New Year in Cheng Mang you'll notice that there are suddenly holes in
15:55 the blanket. That's because there are moss will go in and eat those claws.
16:02 James is say James is is reflecting the faith that we should have just at the same just uh just as much as Jesus
16:09 himself had said it. He is not saying store up on this earth. What would be
16:16 the best way to ensure that your clothes will not be eaten by moss or your gold
16:22 or your money will not corrode and disappear? The answer to the question is
16:28 use it. use it. Often times we keep them out and
16:34 we dig them and we dig and we take the old gold and we dig it into the ground. We take our well and we hide them hide
16:40 them it and we hide them in places where we hope no one else will see and yet it from the inside out it will rot. It will
16:47 corrode. It will break into pieces and all that you have worked hard for. The miseries that you went through just to
16:53 try and get that amount of wealth suddenly disappears.
16:59 And although we don't have this literally, I'm sure we can think of a few possibilities, right?
17:05 If you leave your money in the bank in the bank, what's the percentage nowadays for interest?
17:11 I already can hear not even worth the time spent inside the bank account. Fixed deposits, I
17:18 understand the interest rate has gone down. Loans is almost impossible to acquire. The only thing that goes up is
17:24 land. But even nowadays, you ask any real estate friend of yours, they'll tell you it's a very slumber bare market
17:32 for real estate. Everything is just going down. Everything that we put our
17:37 hopes in in hope that will help keep us give us a very comfortable and cozy retirement in the years to come, some
17:45 closer than others, is withering away.
17:50 Jesus said, "Store your treasures up in heaven where there will be no moth to eat it and go and and and the gold and
17:58 the silver will never corrode." He's asking you to put he's asking us to put our faith and trust in him who provides.
18:06 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. So the first issue
18:12 of faith is we believers if we truly say that we believe in Jesus Christ where is
18:19 our faith when we handle the wealth or the amount or the or the money or the or
18:24 the blessings that which God has given us? What have we done with it?
18:30 Oh, I managed to buy a house. I renovated it. I managed to turn it over five years later and I managed to earn another 100k. Oh, good for you.
18:37 What's what what what else? More money and more money and more and
18:44 more money. And I would like to apologize if any of you feel offended over the comic that I recommended to put
18:50 onto the bulletin. I think that's I think you expect at least of that from the youth pastor to
18:55 have a comic for devotion. But it's a very very in-your-face
19:02 proposition. It's a very very in-your-face
19:07 proposition. We think that we can plan for years ahead when all of a sudden something strikes us and and we are down
19:14 for the count in the next few months or few years.
19:20 Where's our faith? And the last part is this. You have laid
19:27 up treasure in the la You have laid up treasure in the last days. What does he
19:32 What does James mean by last days, friends? James is recollecting the promise that Jesus is yet to fulfill.
19:41 Jesus had come down to this earth to mention three things. Number one, I have come to bear witness to the truth to
19:48 teach us the way about that he is the way, the truth and the life. And so he died for our sins. And he did say that
19:55 on the third day I will rise again from the dead and then after I rise I will go to my father but one day I will come
20:01 back to you. You see the promises that he makes. So, two things. Number one is he will die. Number two, he will rise,
20:08 but number three, he will come back again. He's talking about the faith that we're
20:13 supposed to have to know for a fact that Jesus is coming back. This is from Acts
20:19 chapter 1. It says, "And while they were and and and while they were gazing into
20:25 heaven as Jesus went, behold, the two men stood by them in white robes
20:32 and said,"Men of Galilee, why do you stand why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus who was taken up from
20:39 you into heaven will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven. He is
20:46 coming back. So when we store our treasures on the
20:51 earth thinking that oh we got a long way to live here got a long way more to go.
20:59 How often do we think of the idea that Jesus is coming back?
21:07 For those who feel fearful I don't blame you. Can you imagine? Can you imagine? Can you imagine if Jesus Christ were to
21:13 come and knocking at our door after this service? What would we say? what we do.
21:20 But I believe ultimately if we have our faith in him,
21:25 we will say, "Jesus, we've been looking out for you.
21:30 So looking forward to have you come." But how many of us can authentically say
21:36 this when quite a number of us buy insuranceances and investments assuming
21:42 that we will live until 150?
21:49 We have brothers and sisters who are losing their lives as sudden as the next day or the next hour.
21:56 It so happens that last week I took a course on uh the theology of persecution and disciplehip. And this is a very good
22:03 question I feel that we should ask ourselves because it's actually quite relevant. Assume jihadists have taken
22:08 over your hometown. Taipingo, Pinang, Sububanga. Let's make it more. Let's
22:14 make it more realistic. Let's say subangaya. Okay. And we have 48 hours to choose from four
22:20 options. Number one, convert immediately to Islam and stay alive.
22:26 Number two, pay an exorbitant tax and stay alive until no more money.
22:34 Well, the second part there is that because according to Sharia law, according to according to Sharia law in
22:39 an Islamic nation, if you don't want to if you don't want to convert, never mind, you pay a tax. For those who went through Sajara form four, form four and
22:46 form five uh some 10 years ago, you will know exactly what I'm talking about, right? Um fortunately, world history was
22:53 thrown out of the window for Sajara form four. Now, we had to learn Islamic Islamic history. And one thing that we
22:58 learned is that is that Muhammad for those who wanted to stay in Mecca or Medina had to pay a tax. And so they're
23:03 asking us to do the same thing. We can keep our faith. But the moment we just keep paying and paying and paying until
23:09 pokai we have to make another decision. The third one and this is a realistic
23:14 and this is a real question that they ask those people in the in a particular village. Leave immediately. Take nothing
23:20 with you. Just start walking. How many of you here are ready for a 4-day track out from Sububanga to another place?
23:30 I hope we've worn sensible shoes today. And the last one is, of course, we die
23:37 by beheading, hanging, burned alive, or thrown off a building. More choices to cut.
23:46 And some of you may be telling me, Mark, you have got to be kidding me. This will never happen in Malaysia, right? This
23:52 will never happen. This will never happen in this place and that place. It'll never happen in my hometown. Well,
23:59 actually, number one, it's happening in someone else's hometown. And number two, they're getting closer. This picture was
24:05 taken in Indonesia. I believe we have an island. I believe there's an we have a we have a neighboring island of
24:11 Indonesia, which we can take a boat towards and spend a nice weekend away.
24:17 But guess what? Transportation goes both ways. Moreover, didn't we see? Didn't this
24:24 happen just last week? Just last week, we saw 50 We saw uh suspects uh yeah,
24:31 suspect suspects of ISIS who were recruiting and getting money. They were being that they were they were being put
24:37 into prison. And this should remind us that actually in two months ago, in the month of
24:42 March, 15 suspected ISIS members planning terror attacks have been arrested in Malaysia.
24:52 It's a very realistic thing. The question is maybe
25:00 so choice two one maybe choice two three and four requires a certain amount of
25:06 faith. Number one to no faith because we just
25:11 dumb God so that we may stay secure. Where your treasure is there your heart will be also. So you value your life
25:17 your heart will value if your heart values your life you will take the first one.
25:24 Options two, three, and four requires a step of faith. Faith that God will provide sufficiently
25:31 as I continue to continue to pay that tax. In the meantime, people may one day ask you, "Hey, why did you just keep on
25:36 paying this money? Why can't you just convert? Then you have a lot of money you can save." Then you can say, "I'm
25:42 glad you asked because I'm storing treasures in heaven when moth will never eat it and rust will never rust will
25:48 never decay it. Would you like to hear about Jesus the savior?
25:53 The third one, walk and leave. There are people who are called to leave here, but then they end up being advocates for the
25:59 gospel, asking the rest of the world to please pray for my nation. We've had that before in Rwanda, in South Africa.
26:06 We've had that before in even for Indonesia where where dictatorship was was overrunning it was overrunning it
26:13 and there were large Indonesian churches nearby in Philippines, Thailand, and America. uh America. When Vietnam was
26:20 under communist rule, Vietnamese ran to America, but then they opened uh the some of the first Asian churches in in
26:26 United States of America. There were missionaries in China in 19
26:32 until 1949 when communist regime took over and and the government told them,
26:37 "You guys had to leave." Guess what the missionaries did? They spent decades already learning Hoken, Tochu, Hakka,
26:44 and and Fu and and and and and Huh. Hoken, Hakka, Cantonese, and Hchu. Guess
26:50 what they did? They came here
26:55 and they planted churches here, too. If God calls you to leave for the sake of
27:01 the gospel, leave your leave your comfortable lives now for the sake of the gospel, the question is, would we?
27:09 And finally, when there's no other way, when one of those guys one day just
27:15 wants to put the gun behind your head and pull the trigger and send the bill to your family for for the bullet that
27:22 he used to to waste your life away, are we willing to take the step and say, "I will believe
27:28 till my last breath." These are steps of faith.
27:38 Now some of you may ask this question and I'm struggling with this too guys. I really am.
27:45 Some of us may then ask this question. I myself asking this question day by day.
27:51 Where can we get such faith? Where can we get the faith that kept the
27:59 12 Christians first caught by ISIS and made popular by CNN to hold their tongue
28:05 and confess their life to Jesus to their very last breath and had that mass killing?
28:13 Where did we get where was where was the faith of our brothers and sisters in China during those dark times of the
28:20 church so that they can keep it and keep it and keep it until now the fastest growing church is now in China.
28:28 What was the faith of our ancestors, our fathers and our mothers that keep that kept us going beyond hunger, poverty and
28:36 and and sickness to continue to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord until we can actually have this luxury of being here
28:43 today. The faith that we can actually find is in Christ Jesus. And I love the way John
28:50 wrote about it in Revelations
28:57 where it says in verse where it says uh let me read from verse 11. And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying now
29:03 salvation and power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come for the accuser of our
29:10 brothers have been thrown down who accuses them day and night before our God. and they have conquered him by the
29:16 blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony. For they love not their lives, even unto death. Therefore,
29:22 rejoice, oh heavens, and you who dwell in them. But woe to you, oh earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you
29:29 in great wrath because he know that his time is short.
29:35 We sang a part of this in the song earlier. There is no other name. The earth will shake and tremble before him.
29:42 Chains will break as heaven and earth sing holy is the name that is Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.
29:52 We know that feeling. We have that hope. We want it to come. But when but can we still sing that when we are facing such
29:59 misery while we're still holding on to our wealth.
30:05 He's come the devil has come to accuse us and so that we so that so that we may be found guilty of our sin. And we are
30:11 guilty. But how do we overcome it? Where is the foundation of our faith? The
30:16 blood of the lamb. We shall overcome it by the blood of the
30:21 lamb.
30:27 Imagine two Jews, one by the name of Ali and Mutu, very Jewish names,
30:34 on the night before, on the night of the Passover. And they're having a conversation. Ali
30:41 was talking to Mu and says, "Hey, Mutu, what do you think of all these things that had happened?" Right? Aren't you a
30:47 little frightened? To which Mu says, "Well, God told us that we are going to be delivered and
30:53 this is what's going to happen, right? And we will be safe as long as we obey him. Did you slaughter the lamb? Did you
30:59 prepare the lamb? Did you slaughter the lamb? Did you put the door? Did you put the blood on the door on on your doorpost and on the lentil? Are you
31:05 going to eat the the the the Passover meal together with your family? Are you going are you packing out your bags and
31:11 get ready to leave this place? Are you are you have you done that? Ali said and Ali said, "Of course I did. I'm not
31:17 stupid." But it all seems pretty scary to me, you know, all these pestilence and plagues
31:24 and locust and flies, you know, and now pe and now the Lord is going to come and
31:29 take our first born. I mean, easy for you, Lamu. You have three children. You have three sons. I only have one and I
31:36 love my boy, you know, I want to make sure he's safe. So, of course, I put the blood on the lantern on the doorpost,
31:43 but it's pretty scary to me. Mu said, "Bring it on. I trust on the
31:50 promises of God." That night, when the angel of death came over and the next morning, they're about
31:57 to get ready to leave. Which one lost his son?
32:04 Aliu and the answer of course is neither
32:14 because death because because because death doesn't pass over on the ground or
32:21 the intensity or the practice of our faith.
32:26 But death passes over us but by our faith on the blood of the lamb. That's
32:32 what silences the accuser. That's what makes us go. That makes us go from death into life. That is the real point of it.
32:41 Not by whether you're going to full-time or part-time or no time. Not by whether Not by whether you not by whether you
32:48 had a good day and you had a good streak of being obedient unto God and then one day you slipped.
32:54 No. No. As the ow him say, I have no other argument. I need no other plea. It
33:00 is enough that Jesus died and that he died for me.
33:06 We overcome him and we overcome the struggles of this world. We overcome our
33:11 issue of faith by just trusting the blood of the lamb. We are not here to judge you on how intense your faith is.
33:18 We want to make sure that your faith is in the right thing that is in Christ Jesus.
33:24 And what happens from that? We then give testimony that the king is coming.
33:29 Long live our Lord Jesus. We give our testimony about that faith
33:35 that we have and also we're not afraid to die.
33:42 If when we leave this place, we go into a beautiful area
33:48 where God's dwelling is, who's still afraid to die?
33:56 That's why even the worst case scenario by the jihadist is nothing. What you want to do? Kill me? Go ahead.
34:03 I trust on the blood of the lamb. And then and from there one day we will all
34:09 rejoice. It's an issue of faith, guys.
34:15 And I'm asking you to take that blood of the lamb. Take that sacrifice that Jesus
34:20 gave. Take that promise that he had conquered sin, conquered death, and is
34:26 coming back. Take it with your whole life and with your whole
34:33 life. Live based on that faith. And I promise you, there will still be challenges,
34:41 but we will have peace in the hope that we have in Christ Jesus.
34:50 So it's a question of faith. Do we have enough faith to overcome the
34:55 miseries? Do we have enough faith that that we know that we actually don't face the miseries because our confidence is no
35:02 longer in cash but our confidence is now in Christ?
35:08 Are we leaving our are we leaving the gifts of God into degradation or are we using it for the furtherance of his
35:14 kingdom? And finally, are we living the our lives now as if Jesus is coming back soon?
35:31 Then fine, then the second part is a call to repentance. Now, if we have this faith in Christ Jesus, I think repenting
35:38 is easy because we want to get rid of all the burdens and all the miseries that go that that that that that we that
35:44 we put upon ourselves because of our lack of faith. But as we put our faith in Christ Jesus, he then calls us to
35:50 repent. What then should we do? The first thing we should look at is
35:56 from verse four. It says, "Behold, the wages of the laborers you who mow your
36:01 fields which you have kept which you kept back by fraud are crying out against you and the cries of the
36:07 harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts." The first thing we need to repent is how we treat our neighbors.
36:18 Do you have a debt to do you have a Are you owing Are you owing people a debt that's causing that is causing our
36:25 neighbors misery because they are living on two cent on the on two on the two cents they have left because they
36:30 because they did not uh get the pay which they which was promised by any of us.
36:40 God is calling us that if we do this by faith then if you are managers,
36:47 if you are managers, if you are directors, please ensure that your staff are taken care of well.
36:56 If you are a business owner and you have partners,
37:02 please hold yourself accountable and please show the faithfulness that you have in God that you will not take
37:10 the bri they will not give the bribe that you will not do the hanky panky as pastor Rama had prayed earlier with
37:16 within our business that we not will not do so and it's going to hurt
37:24 but that is in reflection of the faith that we have on the blood of the lamb
37:31 is actually likened to what Jesus has said before. So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember
37:36 that your your brother has something against you. Jesus says leave your gift there before the altar and go first be
37:44 reconciled to your brother and then come and offer your gift.
37:51 Have we made oursel right with our neighbors? You know, the internet nowadays have made things so impersonal that very very
37:58 seldom do we actually know the names of our neighbors. Oh, they're my friends on Facebook. I
38:04 know. But when was the last time you talked to them?
38:11 And there are often times then that we just out of sheer ignorance, blissful ignorance,
38:17 we mistreat our neighbors by just ignoring them, ignoring their cries, ignoring their wish, ignoring their
38:23 their pains, annoying their struggles. So let's look at our hearts today, friends.
38:30 Have we practiced our faith in front of our neighbors?
38:36 Second one is your lifestyle because we withhold that money from
38:42 others. We then see where James then also said this very practically. You have lived on
38:47 the earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of in a day of slaughter. I think he
38:54 kind of knows the existence of heart attacks from over from from over consumption of food. But I don't think
38:59 that's the point. The point is is that when we acquire that kind of wealth, we
39:05 then pad our hearts. Where our treasures, there our heart will be also. We will feel very comfortable, but
39:10 actually it might kill us one day. Jesus actually told a very interesting story.
39:16 Jesus said this in the parable saying, "The land of a rich man produced plentifully." And he thought to himself,
39:22 "What shall I do for I have nowhere to store my crops?" And he said, "I will do this. I will tear down my barns and
39:28 build larger ones. And there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have
39:33 ample goods and laid up many for years. Relax, eat, drink, be merry."
39:39 But God said to them, "You fool, this night your soul is required of you and the things you have prepared, whose will
39:46 they be? So is the one who lays out treasures for himself and not rich towards God."
39:53 Are we shortch changing ourselves by wasting so much hours on the office so that we
39:59 can actually office an in office or in front of the computer screen just so that we can feel that we break that we
40:05 broken even?
40:10 And for those who say, "Okay, I'm hitting too much on the on the wealthy. Okay, I'm going to get I'm going to I'm going to get at the at the others, too."
40:16 Have we put our ambitions before us to the point that we will risk at nothing to make sure that our ambitions are
40:21 fulfilled including the lives and the lifestyles of others?
40:29 Have you taken from your neighbors so that you can pad your own lifestyle with
40:34 the hope that you can actually uh you can they can actually that they can actually get the lifestyle that you
40:40 want today. I like the irony in in Hillary Duff's
40:46 one of the old songs. We always dress in yellow when we want to dress in gold.
40:55 We need to repent in our lifestyles, brothers and sisters, from our current positions in in current
41:01 positions and roles to even the ambitions that we have in our hearts.
41:08 And finally, this is going to be quite an interesting one,
41:14 the last call to repentance I feel is very very important.
41:20 The ESV says this in in uh in verse 6. I want to mention this uh difference.
41:27 For those of you have the NIV, you may see that it actually reads quite different. Uh ESV it says, "You have
41:33 condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you. In the old NIV,
41:40 he says that you have condemned and murdered innocent men who are not opposing you. So the old NIV last time
41:46 used to say that you know as you steal from your neighbors and let them starve, as you pad your own lifestyles, you are
41:52 actually condemning and persecuting and murdering innocent men and they had nothing against you.
41:60 But the Greek of it actually agrees more to the ESV. And that's why the newer NIV, the NIV 2011, they actually changed
42:06 it. Here's what it says. You have condemned and murdered the innocent one who was not opposing you.
42:16 Of course, then we have to ask ourselves, who is right, who is righteous enough to
42:21 be called the righteous one? Who is innocent enough to be called the
42:28 innocent one who knew no sin? You know when Jesus, you know, when
42:34 Jesus uh was brought uh uh had a had a uh cheating woman put put before his
42:42 feet and the Pharisees says according to the law of Moses, she should be stoned.
42:48 And Jesus says that he who has no sin cast the first stone. Jesus was not being ironic. There was
42:55 one without sin and he did not cast a stone.
43:01 In the lifestyle that we have done that we have put up for ourselves with the treasures that we put around our hearts
43:10 we have actually have shortch changed our Lord.
43:19 but some hope for every one of us and that is he did not resist us. What does
43:27 that mean? He did not resist his love. He did not resist his forgiveness for
43:33 us. He did not resist the grace which we don't deserve but then by virtue we have
43:40 because he had given it to us.
43:46 When we put ourselves as gods and trying to live a wonderful life or have that
43:51 ambition too, we actually condemn our Lord on the cross. And you know what?
43:60 He didn't strike us. He didn't throw that stone at us. In fact, he took the pain.
44:06 He wore the shame. He bore himself on the cross
44:13 so that we may repent and come back to him. and by faith on that blood of the lamb
44:20 we may be made a new and with him.
44:25 So it's a question of faith called to repentance. Repentance with your neighbor, repentance of your lifestyle,
44:33 repentance with your Lord. As I close, I'd like to invite the worship team up.
44:39 And uh I love uh this statement that Ravi Zachchariah said one day. He said men there are many
44:47 men who wanted to be God. They stored all their treasures right
44:52 next to them. Pharaohs with solid gold effiges on their faces.
44:58 Chinuangi with a mosoleium that was that until today is one of the man-made wonders of the world.
45:06 Stalin who was said although he said it's for the pe he did this for the people he himself was actually made
45:11 pretty made himself pretty comfortable. Napoleon who thought himself to be God
45:18 and Mao Zidong who thought that he can eradicate God out of China. There were many men who wanted to be God
45:26 and the ways of the world will tell us we should be like these guys.
45:32 But only one God became man.
45:39 who had proved himself to be the true God by dying on the cross for us, rising up
45:47 again on the third day, and he promised that he will come soon. Church, Jesus has fulfilled two of those
45:54 three promises. Will we be faithful until he will finally fulfills the third one that he is coming back?
46:04 So church, I ask that we may re that we may look into our faith again.
46:11 Not by how we done our faith, but who are we putting our faith upon. Do we put faith in Jesus only on Sundays
46:18 and then every other day we we put our faith in our investment banker, our agents in the stock market,
46:25 our brother and sister, our brother and sister or friend who took a bit who who took a bit of your assets and say,
46:31 "Okay, you know what? I'll keep it there. I'll keep it there." So that you may so you may have a good pension in the future.
46:37 Are we putting our faith in the one who will give us a treasure that will last
46:43 all eternity. From there
46:50 we then see how have we treated our neighbors, how have we treated ourselves,
46:56 and how we treated the blood of the lamb, our Lord.
47:03 that was not against us but saved us. Let's pray.
47:10 Father God, this text, oh Lord, is so hard
47:17 at the same time. It's so true. Thank you so much.
47:25 For even though for even though we abused our neighbors, we fattened ourselves up.
47:34 We even killed you, oh God. We thank you for your faithfulness, oh
47:40 Lord, that you took that pain and shame
47:47 so that we may be made whole and clean once again. We pray, oh Lord, that by that faith
47:53 that we have in you, teach us, oh Lord, to offer our lives to you, to honor you
47:59 with everything that we have and in everything that we do. Oh God, teach us, oh Lord, to practice our faith. Oh Lord,
48:06 teach us to repent effectively that we may see Jesus in our lives and
48:13 that our neighbors and community may may witness your goodness.
48:21 through the grace that you give through us. Let this be our desire. Oh God, let us
48:29 offer our hearts, our soul, our strength, our every breath and every move that we h that we have and take.
48:37 We pray oh Lord that you will use us any way that you wish.
48:44 Thank you for this faith in the blood of the lamb. Teach us the Lord to hold on
48:49 to it steadfastly and repent not just away from sin but running
48:57 towards you. And this we say in Jesus name.
