Keys to Gods Abundance

In this series, Derek Prince works through The Promises, The Conditions and The Purposes of God's abundance. The messages were originally given in 1978, so some of the Dollar prices are out of date, but the principles are enduring.

The Promises

Introduction Five Principles: Principle 1 - God's Provision is in His Promises Principle 2 - The Promises are our Inheritance Principle 3 - The Promises are an Expression of God's Will Principle 4 - All of God's Promises are Available to us through Christ Principle 5 - The fulfillment of God's Promises does not depend upon our circumstances, but upon our meeting God's conditions Promises, Conditions and "No" is an Answer Is Abundance Absolutely Good? The Source of Abundance Obedience to God Brings Abundance

The Conditions

Introduction to the Conditions The Divine Exchange Jesus Exhausted the Povery Curse Five Conditions: 1st Condition - Our Motives and Attitudes Must be Right 2nd Condition - Faith is Essential 3rd Condition - Giving is a Scriptural Way to Show Honour 4th Condition - Right Thinking, Speaking, Acting 5th Condition - Let God Add in His Way and His Time

The Purposes

Purpose 1 - To Provide a Dwelling Place for God Purpose 1 continued - Solomon's Temple Purpose 2 - God's Provision for His Dwelling Place in Our Day

Introduction to The Promises

In beginning this morning I just want to put before you some of the basic words or concepts that are used in this connection. Theyre not all synonymous, they have different shades of meaning. Ill deal with the positive and then Ill deal with the negative. There are about four main groups of words on the positive side. Rich and riches; wealth and wealthy; prosper, prosperous, prosperity: thats a verb, an adjective and a noun. And again, abound, abundant, abundance. Just let me repeat those once so that you can absorb them. Rich and riches. Wealth and wealthy. Prosper, prosperous, prosperity. Abound, abundant, abundance. Now, theres an important distinction. When we use the words rich and riches, wealth and wealthy, we speak about somebody who has considerable financial and material assets. But when we speak about prosper and the related words and abound and the related words it does not necessarily imply that the person who does that has a lot of money in the bank or owns great material possessions. So, theres a difference. Actually, Gods promise is more specifically abundance than it is wealth. I think in a little whilemaybe we should deal with that now. Abundance really means that you have all that you need and something to spare to give to others. Thats the essence of abundance. Ill say it again. It means that you have all that you need, there is no need in your life, no lack; and you have more than you need to give to others. The word prosper, especially as its used in the Bible, has a connotation of success. It doesnt necessarily mean tremendous material wealth or possessions. One of the most interesting exampleswell, let me put two scriptures together.

In 3 John 1:2. John says: Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health as thy soul prospereth. I think thats a beautiful statement of the will of God for the committed believer. Gaius, to whom that epistle was written, was a model believer. If you study the epistle, he was walking in all the truth that God had made available. The apostle John writing, I believe, as the mouthpiece of the Holy Spirit said to him, Beloved, I wish above all things [or I pray above all things] that thou mayest prosper, be in health as thy soul prospereth. Those are the three realms: the spiritual, the physical, the material. The will of God is good in every one of them.

The word thats translated prosper there means literally to have a prosperous or successful journey. In Romans 1 Paul says, hes praying that he may have a prosperous journey by the will of God to the Christians at Rome. Its the same word. I believe God answered that prayer and you can find the answer described in Acts 27 and 28. But Paul did not travel first class, he traveled as a prisoner in chains. He went through a tremendous storm, it seemed as if the whole ship and all who were on it would be lost. They survived the storm, no one on the ship was lost, they arrived in the islands and had what you would call a spiritual revival and when they left, the islanders loaded them with all that they needed for the rest of their journey. He had a prosperous journey but it wasnt exactly a comfortable journey and he didnt travel first class. So, I want you to see that when we use the words prosper and abound were not necessarily talking about people whom the world would classify as being very wealthy or very rich. So, just quickly again, to lay the basis, lets take those four different concepts and I think now you can see a certain difference. Rich and riches. Wealth and wealthy. Those are basically synonymous. Prosper, prosperous, prosperity relates to doing the thing successfully. The opposite, in a sense, is failure. Abound, abundant, abundance means that you are not living in want or lack or frustration. You may not have much, you may not have anything in the bank. I always say about Jesus, he didnt have a big bank account though they did have a bag in which they took the offering. But, my description of the way Jesus lived was he used his Fathers credit card and it was always honored! Actually, very wealthy men really dont need a lot of cash. I was with a wealthy man in one place once and he went into a restaurant and gave me a beautiful meal and he didnt even produce a credit card, he just signed his name on the bill. That was enough, they knew it would be taken care of. So, lets not just focus on the idea of having a lot of money in the bank, thats not essentially what were talking about. Lets look at the opposite words which are pretty obvious, I think. The ones Ive listed are as follows. Poor and poverty. Want, need, lack. Fail and failure. I think its pretty obvious how they relate to the other words that weve spoken about. Ill just go through them again. Poor and poverty. Want, need, lack. Fail and failure.

Principle 1
Im going to state five basic principles. The first principle is that Gods provision is in his promises. Id like you to turn to 2 Peter 1, well just read verses 24: Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord. Without pausing to dwell on that, notice that the Christian life is a life of multiplication. Its not static, its not just holding on to what youve got, its not even merely addition. Its multiplication. Its all through the knowledge of God and of Jesus. Everything that we ever need is all channeled to us through God and through Jesus. We dont need any other ultimate source of

supply but God and Jesus. Then verse 3 comes out with a most amazing statement. According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness . . . Stop there and note the tense. Its the perfect tense. Its very, very emphatic in the Greek language. God has already given to us all that we are ever going to need for time and eternity For every area of our lives, for life and godliness. God has already given it to us. I want to emphasize that. Many, many times we pray on the basis of a misunderstanding. Were asking God to give us something he has already given us. Its not easy for God to answer those prayers because in answering them he would support the misunderstanding. Sometimes we have to adjust our thinking in order to pray the kind of prayer that God is able to answer. Now, the second half of verse 3 says: . . . through the knowledge of him that has called us to glory and virtue. Notice again its all included in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. The Greek says called us to his own glory and virtue. Not our glory, its his. Its not our virtue, its his. So, God has already given us everything were ever going to need and its all in the knowledge of Jesus. The Greek word can be translated acknowledging. It means both knowledge and acknowledging. Its not merely that we intellectually know about Jesus, it means that we effectively acknowledge him in our lives. Verse 4 contains the next vital part of this revelation. Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises . . . Heres the key. God has already given us everything were going to need. Where is it? Its in His promises. In the promises of His word. The way I present this is Gods provision is in His promises. I think if you can grasp that and hold onto it it could have a tremendous effect on your Christian life. Id like you to say that with me. Gods provision is in his promises. Lets say it again. Gods provision is in his promises. Now, looking at the end of verse 4 we come to another breathtaking statement. It says: . . . by these [thats the promises] ye might be partakers of the divine nature . . . I just wonder whether contemporary Americans understand that language. I dont know how to say it any better. It means that we become partakers of Gods own nature. We receive the actual nature of God. We become divine. You might say thats a risky thing to say, and it is. But Jesus said when he was challenged about being the Son of God, he quoted one of the psalms and he said, If ye called them gods unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken. Thats quoted from a psalm which says, I said ye are gods. God actually spoke to

man and said, I said you are gods. Jesus gives us the divine commentary. What was the basis? Its because the word of God came to them. If ye call them gods unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken. So, because the word of God comes to us through the promises of God, we can become partakers of Gods nature. We can become divine. I realize that statement can be taken and misused but I believe it is actually, in the way that Ive presented it, an accurate representation of what the scripture teaches. Then the final part of that revelation is: . . . having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. In proportion as we become partakers of the divine nature we are delivered from the corruption that is in this world. The divine nature and corruption are incompatible. The divine nature is incorruptible but everything in this world is corruptible. As we become partakers of the nature of God, we are delivered from the corruptible. Id like to go through that again and I invite you to meditate on it because the scope of that revelation is such you cannot absorb it in just a few minutes. It demands that you expose your whole mind and being to that truth and really live in it. Going back to verse 3. Gods divine power has already given unto us everything were ever going to need for time and eternity. Its all included in knowing or acknowledging Jesus. The provision of God is in his promises. As we appropriate the promises we become partakers of Gods nature. And as we become partakers of Gods nature we are delivered from the corruption that is in this world. I think Im going to say that again. It may not come out exactly the same but Ill do my best. Why dont we say it together? Or rather, you say it after me. God has already given us everything were ever going to need for time and eternity. Its all included in knowing Jesus. Gods provision is in his promises. As we appropriate his promises we become partakers of his nature. And as we become partakers of his nature we escape the corruption of this world. All right. After that I think the only thing you can say is praise the Lord! Principle number one, Gods provision is in his promises.

Principle 2
Principle number two, the promises are our inheritance. Thats what God is bringing us into. Theres a very simple parallel between the Old Testament and the New. In the Old Testament under a leader named Joshua, God brought his people into the Promised Land. In the New Testament under a leader named Jesuswhich in Hebrew is the same word as JoshuaGod brings his people into a land of promises. Old Covenant, a Promised Land. New Covenant, a land of promises. Turn for a moment to Joshua 1 and just see the basic conditions which God gave to Joshua. Joshua 1, beginning at verse 2. The Lord is speaking to Moses. He says: Moses my servant is dead . . .

I think thats very significant. I think before we come into something new there always has to be a death of something old. I think the spiritual life, in a certain sense, is like the seasons of the year. There is a continuing, ongoing cycle of seasons. We have spring, summer with its abundance. Then we have the fall, a time of withering. Winters a time of death. And then spring, the time of renewal and resurrection again. I find this is a principle that goes through our lives. God only blesses that which has died and been resurrected. When I was reasoning with the Lord about that because it didnt fit in with my own personal wish and desire at that particular moment, I said, Lord, why is it that you can only bless that which you resurrect? I felt I got this answer. Because when God resurrects something, he only resurrects what he wants. We have given it to him and given him the right only to resurrect that which he wants. So, there had to be a death of Moses and of that whole generation, in a sense, before the new purpose of God could be unfolded through Joshua. Moses my servant is dead . . . Somebody said once God buries his servants and carries on his work. And God gave great attention to burying Moses, thats a significant thing. I mean, he did it in person. Thats remarkable. Also, God is really an understanding person. He didnt ask the children of Israel to act as though they didnt care about Moses, he gave them 30 days to mourn for Moses and get it out of their system. Then he said, Now, get ready, were going to move on. I find that thats true. I find people who dont know how to express grief and just bottle it up and it comes up later. Its very unhealthy to adopt this spartan attitude, I really dont care. You know, somebody has died but Well carry on. It doesnt work. Its much better to say, I do care. Its painful but Ill get over it. Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people . . . And as I was reading that verse this morning I noticed something Id never seen before, that God wasnt going to leave any of the people behind. We would be very content in most circles today if we could get 90 percent of the people over. God said everyones got to go. I really believe thats how God views our situation today. Everybodys got to go. . . . thou and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel. Notice the tenses. God says there, I give them the land. Its present tense. At this moment I am giving them the land. Then he says in verse 3: Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses. Once God gave it, it was given. But from then on it was in the past tense. Now Ive given it

unto you. And from that moment onwards, as I understand it, the land legally belonged to the children of Israel. We have to distinguish between the legal and the experiential. Many times when you talk about being baptized in the Holy Spirit or receiving some further provision of God, you talk to somebody from a fundamentalist background and they might say, I got it all when I was saved, theres nothing more to get. One way to answer that is, If you got it all, where is it all? Nevertheless, I do believe that, in a sense, its correct. Legally when you came to Christ you became an heir of God and a joint heir with Jesus Christ. The whole inheritance is legally yours.

Theres a great difference between the legal and the experiential. My little quip about this is if Joshua and the children of Israel had been fundamentalists, at that point they would have lined up on the east bank of the River Jordan, folded their arms, looked across the river and said, Weve got it all. Legally correct, experientially incorrect. If they had been Pentecostalsthis is just a sort of, you know, a parablethey would have crossed the River Jordan, lined up on the west bank, folded their arms and said, Weve got it all. But theyd just gone one stage further, thats all. The interesting thing about the children of Israel taking the Promised Land is that God brought them in by a miracle. He gave them their first victory over Jericho by a miracle. After that, they had to fight for ever other thing they got. Dont expect to get your inheritance without conflict. The way that they were to get it was every place that you put the sole of your foot upon shall be yours. So, legally its all yours. Experientially youve got to move in and assert your claim to what God has given you. Put your foot on it. I think thats a very vivid picture for asserting, God has promised this to me and I know lay claim to my promise. So, The second principle is the promises are our inheritance.

Principle 3
The third principle is the promises are the expression of Gods will. God never promises something that was not his will. Its very important to understand that. Suppose I have a young son and I say to him, Now,if you sweep the garage out and put everything in order there and do a good job, Ill give you a dollar. So my son goes in, sweeps the garage out, does a good job and everythings beautiful. He comes back and says, Dad, I want my dollar. What would you think of me if I said, I never meant to give you the dollar. It wasnt my will. I mean, youd write me off as a failure as a father, as an unreliable and undependable person. So it is with the promises of God. We never can come to God at any time having met the conditions and expect God to say, I didnt really mean to give it to you. I was just leading you on. Its obvious that when we look at it, God doesnt act that way. The promises that God gives are the expression of what he wants to do.

When we know Gods will we pray with confidence. Turn to 1 John 5:1415: This is the confidence that we have in Him . . . Thats in God. The word translated confidence there means freedom of speech. It was a very important word in the political background of the Greek people. One of the things that they fought for in democracy was freedom of speech which is, of course, very familiar to American democracy. This word means basically freedom of speech. This is the absolute freedom we have to say what we believe about God. This is the confidence that we have in him. I point that out because I think that confidence needs to be expressed in what you say. If you dont say it, you dont have it. This is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us; and if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him. Notice once we know were asking for something according to the will of God, we know we have it. Not were going to have it but we have it. Mark 11:24, Jesus says: Therefore I say unto you whatsoever things ye desire, when ye pray believe that ye receive them . . . When? I didnt hear you. When we pray. . . . and ye shall have them. One thing is present, another is future. The receiving is present, the actual experiential working out of what we have received is often future. But if we dont receive now we wont have then. One of the great keys to successful petitioning is receiving when we pray. Therefore I say unto you whatsoever things ye desire, when ye pray . . . The King James says believe that you receive but the Greek says believe that ye receive them and it shall be given unto you. And here John says if we ask anything according to his will we know that he hears us. And if we know he hears, whatsoever we ask we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him. One of the devils favorite tactics is to get us to put off to some future moment the thing that we ought to appropriate now. In my book Faith to Live By I illustrate this with a story thats always been very vivid to me. As a young man about 20, a student at Cambridge University, the university gave me a grant to go to Greece because I was studying Greek philosophy and culture to look at the monuments and the statues and all those things. I went with another friend of mine who is the son of the vice chancellor of Cambridge University, a close friend of mine. We stayed in a hotel in Athens. After about three days I got tired of ruins, antiquities an all the rest and decided Id seen enough of them. So, we had a good time in Greece!

Every day when we walked out of our hotel there was a little group of shoe blacks on he sidewalk waiting to polish our shoes. If youve never been in the Middle East or the Mediterranean countries you wont understand this. But in those countries shoe blacks are determined. I mean, they are going to polish your shoes whether you want it or not. Its even worse in Cairo. So, theyd say, Shine your shoes? or Polish your shoes? or whatever it is. We would say in Greek no, "ookh!". When you say no in Greek you say "ookh!" and you throw your head back at the same time. They polished our shoes anyhow. So this wasnt working. One morning my friend thought up a scheme and when we got out of the hotel door and the shoe blacks approached us and said, Polish your shoes? he said "aurion". How many of you can guess what "aurion" is? Tomorrow, thats right. And that took them off their guard. We got by the without having our shoes polished because they didnt quite know, do we or dont we? I think many, many times when youre on your way to appropriate Gods blessings the devil says "aurion", tomorrow. You just hesitate for a moment and you dont appropriate. The scripture says what is the accepted time? Now. People say today is the accepted time. It doesnt say that. It says now is the accepted time. Now is the day of salvation. God lives in eternal now. When you need God its never yesterday and never tomorrow, he never says I was and he never says I will be, he always says I am. The third principle is Gods promises are the expression of his will.

Principle 4
The fourth principle, all Gods promises are now available to us through Christ. Turn to 2 Corinthians 1:20. There are many different ways of translating this verse and different translations follow different ways. Personally, I still think the King James says it about as clearly and emphatically as is possible to say it. I dont want to go into the various possible ways of rearranging the words. 2 Corinthians 1:20 is a key verse, especially when youre dealing with dispensationalists, people who say this was for yesterday and thats for tomorrow and meanwhile, lets live on crumbs. For all the promises of God in him [Jesus] are yea and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us. I looked at it in the Greek this morning, you could translate it something like this. God gave all the promises to be yea and he fulfilled all the promises to be amen in Jesus. I mean, its just another way but whatever way you look at it or whatever translation you follow, there are certain key words that dont change. First of all, all the promises. Not some but all. Secondly, are. Not were, not will be. And then, in him. There is only one channel through which God makes his promises available to us. Only one. Its Jesus. And then it says to the glory of God. Every promise that we appropriate in the will of God glorifies God. God has so arranged his promises

that when we appropriate them the result is he is glorified. See, Romans 3:23 says: All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There are different ways of translating that. But in essence I understand it to mean by our sin we have robbed God of his glory. How do we repay it? Romans 4 says about Abraham Not being weak in faith he gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that what God had promised he was able to perform. How do we give back to God the glory that our sin has robbed him of? The answer is by believing his promises. When Abraham believed Gods promise he gave glory to God. So, all the promises that God has given us are now available to us in Christ and they are for Gods glory. Then, what I like about the King James is the two little words that come last. By us. Its not by the apostles, its not by the early church, its not by special Christians, evangelists or missionaries. But us means you and me. So, all Gods promises are now available to you and me through faith in Christ. So all Gods promises are now available to you and me through faith in Christ. You dont need all Gods promises right now. You couldnt claim all Gods promises just in one moment but any promise that you need and that fits your situation is available to you right now. The way I sum this up is this: Every promise that fits our situation and meets our need is for us now. Id like you to say that after me. Every promise that fits our situation and meets our need is for us now. Lets say that once more. After me, not with me. Every promise that fits our situation and meets our need is for us now. Thats The fourth principle, all Gods promises are now available to us.

Principle 5
The fifth principle is the fulfillment of Gods promises does not depend upon our circumstances but upon our meeting Gods conditions. Thats very important. When God gives a promise it is not limited to a particular set of circumstances. It doesnt have to be easy for God to do what he promises to do. And one of the big snares is when were confronted with a promise of God we say, Yes, I see that but in this particular situation it would be too much. So our faith wavers. The truth of the matter is Gods promises do not depend upon the circumstances in which we find ourselves. They make no difference. You can be 100 years old, your wife can be 90 years old but if God says youre going to have a son, youre going to have a son. It doesnt not depend on anything around about you or in you, its nothing physical, nothing temporal, nothing in this space-time world can change the eternal promises of God. Thats the lesson, thats why God so often allowed the men of faith to get into totally impossible situations. He wanted to make it absolutely clear that in no case were his promises dependent upon a favorable set of circumstances. So, usuall y hed let the circumstances get just about as

unfavorable as they could be. Like, you know, Elijah wants the fire to come down so he douses the sacrifice in water three times and lets the water run around and be in the ditch and says, Now lets see what God can do. And when the fire came it burned up the water, it burned up the dust, it burned up the wood, it burned up the sacrifice. Gods fire has got no more problem with a ditch full of water than a dry ditch, it doesnt make any difference. Perhaps the most remarkable example of this fact is the provision of God for Israel in the wilderness. For 40 years he fed, clothed, provided for, guided something like three million people: men, women, old people, infants, cattle, everything in a totally barren desert where there wasnt water, there wasnt food, there was just nothing. God went out of his way to say, Make it difficult and let me show you what I can do. In fact, he made it difficult. He was the one who arranged the situation. Its most important to understand that you must not let your focus move from the promise to the situation because thats when you begin to sink. The Fifth principle is that the fulfillment of Gods promises does not depend upon our circumstances but upon our meeting Gods conditions.

Im going to read through those five principles just to fix them in your mind and then were going to go on. The five principles are, 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. First, Gods provision is in his promises. Second, the promises are our inheritance. Third, Gods promises are the expression of his will. Fourth, all Gods promises are now available to us through Christ. And fifth, the fulfillment of Gods promises does not depend upon our circumstances but upon our meeting Gods conditions.

TWO Promises, Their Conditions and "No" is an Answer

Now I want to consider two specific promises of God which are basic to everything were going to talk about. Theyre both found in the psalms. The first is Psalm 34:910. Ill read the King James Version. Basically theres no significant difference in any of the versions. O fear the Lord, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him. The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing. Then a similar promise in Psalm 84:11. Keep your finger in Psalm 34 because Im going to give

you a little test on it in a minute. For the Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. Notice the clear statement at the end of Psalm 34:10, They that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing. At the end of Psalm 84:11, No good thing will God withhold from them that walk uprightly. Before we plunge into claiming the promises lets do this logical thing and examine the conditions. Heres where many people go astray. They say, Ooh, thats a beautiful promise, I want that, but they dont pause to examine the conditions. Most of Gods promises are conditional. He says, If you do this I will do that. There are some unconditional promises of God, Acts 2:17: I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh. I understand that to be an unconditional promise of God at a certain time. His promises of the restoration of Israel is unconditional. Thank God it is because if either the church or Israel ever had to qualify, it would never happen. There are some things that God says Ill do unconditionally when it suits me. But most of them are conditional. Now, just a little exercise in analysis. I find in those three verses, Psalm 34:910 and Psalm 84:11, I find three conditions. Those promises are only for people that meet three conditions, that have three qualifications. Id like you to look for a moment and see if you can pick out the three simple conditions. We must fear the Lord, seek the Lord and walk uprightly. Lets say that again. We must fear the Lord, seek the Lord and walk uprightly. Provided we meet those three conditions then the scripture says God will withhold no good thing from us. Isnt that exciting? One more thing that you have to see and here you have to use your best logical mind. Theres still one further point. As you know, I was a logician before I was a preacher and I find it sometimes useful. I better not say any more about that! When we say God will withhold no good thing weve got to consider the full implications of the word good. I suggest that before we jump in and say this is for me or why didnt God do it, we need to ask two questions. First of all, is the thing good in itself? Or, in a philosophic phrase, absolutely good? Okay? Thats invariable. A thing thats absolutely good is always good. The second thing that we have to ask is is the thing good for us in our particular situation? Thats the variable. A thing that is absolutely good in itself may not always be good for us in our particular situation. You will find if you havent already discovered that when God deals with us he doesnt just hand out the absolutely good, he determines if its good for us in our particular situation. Sometimes he withholds the absolutely good because it wouldnt be good for us in our particular situation. How many of you have ever discovered that? You take the father of a young boy growing up whos just got to the age where he can qualify for his driving license. The father would like to give him a beautiful sports car. That in itself, lets

say, is a good thing. But the boy is undisciplined and hes presumptuous and he doesnt give heed. The father knows that if he gave the boy the car at that particular point in his life he might kill himself. So he doesnt give him the car. Thats a very crude example but over and over again youll find that we are in a situation where we ask God for something thats good, God doesnt say it isnt good but he says its not good for you just now in the light of your character, your situation, your weaknesses, your problems, your misunderstandings. You know, looking back over a walk with the Lord that has lasted 37 years, I thank God for the prayers hes answered but I also thank God with all my heart for the prayers he didnt answer. Do you know that? Oh, when I see where I could have been if God had answered some of my prayers I just say, God, thank you that you were wise enough not to give me what I asked for. Not because God withholds the goods, He never withholds the goods in the sense if its good for us. But much that is absolutely good may not be good for us in our particular situation. I think if you see that it solves a lot of the problems of unanswered prayer. It isnt really unanswered prayer, just God answered a different way from what you expected! A lot of people say some people dont even realize no is an answer.

Are Riches Absolutely Good?

Now, the next thing we need to do is ask ourselves about the subject that we are dealing with. Riches, wealth, prosperity, abundanceis it good? Is it absolutely good? I think its most important to ask ourselves this question because I think theres a kind of religious tradition thats very prevalentmaybe more in Europe than in America. But certainly in Europe, that anything nice is sure to be bad. You know, put it this way, the worse the medicine tastes the more good it does. I went through a tremendous personal struggle when the Lord saved me and baptized me in the Holy Spirit to get out of a background that Id grown up with which, in essence, was if youre going to be a Christian, prepare to be miserable. I remember hearing Pat Boone giving his testimony once in which he said that as a young boy growing up in high school he came to the conclusion if he were to become a committed Christian it would mean 70 years of misery and heaven at the end. He wasnt sure that heaven was worth 70 years of misery. Well, you can laugh at that and it may not be so true of all American Christians but it really is the basic attitude of east European Christians. Thats one reason why there arent many European Christians. I mean, I say that. Less than 5 percent of the people of West Germany attend any kind of church. I think less than 3 percent in Britain. Thats partly cause and effect. Who wants to go to a place to be made miserable? I mean, theres enough misery without running after it. I dont want in any way to be sarcastic or negative but this past year, almost a year ago, some of us were in a tour in Italy and we went to Assisi, the hometown of St. Francis. Ive always had a deep admiration for St. Francis but frankly, at the end of that tour I had to take exception with some of the things that he had said. Yet, I think that St. Francis as much as anybody has influenced tremendous numbers of Christians. Ill just give you an example of some of the things that I could not accept. One thing, he called his body the ass. He, in a sense, I would say, deliberately abused it. Well, I find that the Bible calls my body the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Thats a very different concept. Then he called death his sister. I find the Bible calls death the last enemy. I dont want death as a member of my family. I mean, Im not being sarcastic or cynical. And then, he wanted to be married to poverty. I want to ask this morning is poverty good or bad? Are riches good or bad? I dont want an emotional answer, I want a clear, logical, scriptural answer. I dont want to be married to something bad. In fact, I want to get disassociated from anything thats bad. My thesis is that riches or wealth are essentially good, absolutely good. All right? Ill say that again. My thesis is that according to scripture riches or wealth are essentially good. There are multitudes of scriptures we could look at but I want to content myself with very few. The first is in Revelation 5:12. This is the voice of the angels and the living creatures and the redeemed and the saints in glory. What they are saying is surely right. I mean, it doesnt need to be edited or amended. Theyre saying with a loud voice: Worthy is the Lamb that was slain [thats Jesus Christ] to receive . . . And they list seven things. Seven, I believe, is the number of perfection. . . . power and riches, wisdom and strength, honor and glory, and blessing. My conviction is every one of those seven things is essentially good. They belong by eternal right to the Lord Jesus Christ. The second one mentioned there is riches. Lets look at the others. Power, wisdom, strength, honor, glory, blessing. That puts riches in very good company, doesnt it? I mean, all of them are excellent things. On the other hand, nearly all of them can be misused and abused. Obviously, power can be misused and abused. Strength, richeswisdom can be misused and abused. I believe Solomon is an example of a man who had tremendous wisdom and misused it. He ended up in idolatry. So the fact that a thing is absolutely good in itself does not mean that it cannot be abused or misused. But, we would be very foolish to refuse the thing because it can be abused. This is one of Satans frequent traps. For instance, I was with a Pentecostal missionary organization in East Africa for 5 years. And after about a year my wife and I realized that they practically never exercised any gifts of the Spirit. We said, Why dont we have any gifts of the Spirit? They said, Oh, in Canada theyve been misused. Well, you know, thats not logical. So, theyve been misused, does that mean were not to use them? If thats the way the devil can stop us using good things then therell be nothing good left because the devil can always find people to misuse any good thing. Youll find multitudes of Christians are influenced to that point where they no longer appropriate what is good and what is theirs by right because somebody has misused it. I dont care if the whole world misuses riches. If its good, I want it. Or wisdom, or power, or strength, or glory, or blessing. Lets read that verse. Verse 12. Not saying with a loud voice, lets just say the rest. Im sure it

cant be different in any of the translations. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing. After Ive said those words out loud I feel wonderful. I mean, I dont think theres anything evil in any of those things in essence.

The Source of Riches

Now, lets look at another fact. Turn to 1 Chronicles 29:12. David is praying to the Lord and he says very simply: Both riches and honor come from thee . . . Theres another basic principle. What is the ultimate source of riches and honor? The answer, God himself. God is the ultimate source of riches and honor. Say that after me. God is the ultimate source of riches and honor. There are many other passages in the book of Chronicles which confirm that but we wont look at them. Now turn to Deuteronomy 8:18: But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers . . . Who gives us power to get wealth? God, thats right. Many men misuse that power but it comes from God. Why does God give it to his people? Its very interesting. That he may establish his covenant. Its part of his covenant commitment to his people. God is the one who gives us power to get wealth. When I see the people that get wealthy I see it does not depend on education. Did you know that? A lot of educated men cant cut it and a lot of men who cant even spell their name right get very wealthy. There was a man in Britain some years back, he was interviewed in the newspaper. This is just a little illustration. He couldnt read or write. He applied for a job as a janitor and they said, Youre very suitable. And then they said, Sign your name on this application form. He said, I cant sign my name. They said, We cant give you the job. Having been turned down as a janitor, he started to sell cigars. And, he became a millionaire. So, a man interviewed him and said, Isnt that remarkable! You cant even sign your own name and youve become a millionaire! Think what you would be if you could sign your name. He said, Id be a janitor! I mean, if you think about the people you know, youll find that it doesnt go with education. The most unlikely people get rich, really. If it happens anywhere it happens in America. Im not saying there arent basic principles, I think you can pick them out. The principles, actually, were going to be looking at. But nevertheless, that ability is not to be explained purely in natural terms.

Obedience to God Brings Abundance

The next thing I want to sayand were still in the book of Deuteronomy, well turn to chapter 28is that obedience to God brings prosperity and abundance. Why dont we say that while were looking for it. Obedience to God brings prosperity and abundance. Just look what God says in Deuteronomy 28. This chapter, as many of you know, is divided into two portions. The first, which is shorter, is the blessings that follow obedience. The second, which is much longer, is the curses which follow disobedience to God. Well look, for a moment, at some of the blessings, looking at them very quickly. It shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God . . . I want to point out to you that in that verse is really the basic requirement to belong to Gods people. Its if you will listen very carefully to Gods voice. I think if you go through scripture youll find the basic simple requirement for being one of Gods people is that youll hearken to the voice of the Lord. Turn to Jeremiah 7:2223 for a moment. God is speaking to Israel about redemption out of Egypt. He says: For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices . . . God did not deliver Israel from Egypt on the basis of their giving him burnt offerings or sacrifices. Thats a historical fact and an interesting one. . . . but this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God . . . I think thats the shortest way in which you can sum up Gods requirements to be one of his people. Obey my voice, and I will be your God. And in John 10:28 exactly the same principle is carried on into the New Testament. Jesus says: My sheep hear my voice and they follow me. Thats all you need, basically, to belong to Jesus Christ, to be one of his sheep. You hear his voice and you follow him. I want you to realize that because a principle that runs all through scripture, the key is hearing and obeying Gods voice. Lots of fundamentalists interpret that as if Jesus said, My sheep read the Bible and they follow me. But he didnt. He said, My sheep hear my voice.

Do you know its possible to read the Bible without hearing the Lords voice? Its also possible at times to hear the Lords voice without reading the Bible. What is the one basic requirement? To hear the Lords voice. Particularly if you study the conditions for healingand I studied them when I was sick in hospital. I discovered almost every promise of healing related to how you hear. Lets go back to Deuteronomy 28: It shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the lord thy God . . . The Hebrew says if you will listen listening. Do you know what that means? Listen with both ears. God showed me all this when I laid sick in the hospital and I was seeking healing. I said, What does it mean to listen listening? He said, Youve got a right ear and a left ear. To listen listening means to listen to me with your right ear and your left. Then I saw how many people listen to God with the right ear and the devil with the left. What do they end up with? Confusion, because theyve got two different things coming from two different sources and meeting inside them. Then God says in verse 2: All these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee . . . You know, its beautiful to be overtaken by the blessings of the Lord, isnt it? Some people run after them but I like to live the kind of life where the blessings run after me. Ill point out to you later thats really one of the keys. Verse 3: Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and in the field. Verse 4: Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store. Every trip to the supermarket will be a blessing. Verse 8: The Lord shall command the blessing upon thee in thy barns, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto . . . Youll never do anything that isnt blessed. Verse 11: The Lord shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground . . . [verse 12] The Lord shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand . . . You just read through those carefully. There is no area of our lives that is omitted from the blessing of God.

And then just further confirmation. If you look in Deuteronomy 29but dont lose 28, were going back there. Deuteronomy 29:9. Some statements in scripture are so simple. Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and do them, that ye may prosper in all that ye do. Prosper in all that we do. Well, that leaves no room for failure, for frustration, for defeat, for anything but success. Now, look very briefly at the opposite, the curses for disobedience. Deuteronomy 28 again, verse 29. Please note this is following on verse 15. We ought to read verse 15 because its so exactly the opposite. But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God . . . Theres the basic point of departure from God, its not listening. Again, I venture to suggest to you if you trace the history of men or tribes or nations that have got away from God, it always begins there. If you cease to listen. Its very subtle. We can still maintain outward conformity to Gods requirements for a long while after weve really ceased to listen. But the problems begin when we do not any longer listen to God. Verse 15, the latter part: . . . all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee. The list of curses is very lengthy, you might do well to read it for yourself. I think you could find, as Ive said to people before, that youre enduring a curse instead of enjoying a blessing. Youre in the wrong list. Lets look at verse 29. This is just part of the curses. And thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper . . . Whats that? Curse or blessing? Curse. Not prospering is a curse. Would you say that? Not prospering is a curse. Only one more and were going to stop for this morning. I havent got as far as I intended to but Ive got as far as you can take. Deuteronomy 28:4748, bearing in mind this is still under the curses. Because thou servest not the Lord thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things . . . Please note thats the will of God. What is the will of God? That we serve the Lord with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things. Whats the alternative? Thats painful. . . . therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the Lord shall send against thee . . .

Let me point out to you that if the Lord sends your enemies against you, you have no option, you are going to serve them. When Judah transgressed, God said to them, Youre going to put your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon. You dont have an option. They said, We wont. God said, You will. I have seen believers whove transgressed and rebelled against God. God has turned their enemies loose against them and they have had to serve them. Theres just no alternative. If God says youll do it, youll do it. . . . therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the Lord shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things . . . Look at that list for a moment. Hunger, thirst, nakedness, want of all things. Picture it. No food, no drink, no clothes, nothing. Sum that up in one word. Poverty. I would say absolute poverty. Which is it? Curse or blessing? Curse. Lets say that. Absolute poverty is a curse. Lets say it again. Absolute poverty is a curse. Thats all were going to do this morning.

The Conditions - Introduction

I just want to go back over what I said yesterday by way of introduction. The theme of what were studying together is Gods Abundance. We took certain key words and phrases, positive and negative. The positive ones were rich and riches; wealth and wealthy; prosper, prosperous, prosperity; abound, abundant, abundance. We pointed out that the last two sets of words do not necessarily indicate ownership of large amounts of money or material possession. Rather, the key thought about abundance is we have enough for ourselves and something over to give to others. An example of abundance that I used in my book, I believe, in Faith to Live By something comes to me while Im saying that. I really deeply appreciate our Catholic brothers in the Charismatic movement and its a great honor to me that the Catholic Charismatic movement published the book simultaneously co-published it with Christian Growth Ministries. I think thats historic. Really, its one of the honours I feel God has conferred upon me because the theme of the book is the just shall live by faith. That was the very text that started the reformation. When Catholics and Protestants can publish a book together on that theme we have come a long way! But what I want to say I want to say tactfully and carefully. When I submitted the original draft of the book to my Catholic brothersbecause they wouldnt publish something that was out of line with what they believed the thing they questioned was the teaching of abundance. Its rather remarkable. I made some adjustments in the material which I feel has improved the book so Im grateful for the questions that they asked. We need to know that for some sections of the Christian church the concept of abundance is almost offensive. Its remarkable but true. I really was able to make it acceptable to them by pointing out that abundance does not necessarily mean great sums of money in the bank or great material possession. It means that we have more than enough for our own needs.

Theres one or two clear reasons why God wants us to have abundance. One is that its more blessed to give than to receive. So, if we only have enough to receive, we would only have the lesser blessing. But God wants us to have the greater blessing so he gives us enough not merely for our own needs but over an above that we may have the blessing of giving as well as of receiving. God, I believe, has promised to his people abundance. As I understand it, abundance is the level of Gods provision for his people. So weve spoken about the positive words. Lets look at the negative words for a moment and continue the review. The negative words were poor and poverty; want, need, lack and failure. I introduced failure because in many ways failure is the opposite of the scriptural concept of prosperity. Prosperity, again, doesnt necessarily mean the ownership of vast resources, it means you get the job done successfully. When Jesus sent forth his first disciples he told them, Dont take anything spare. Dont take two coats, dont take two shoes . . . At the end of his ministry he reminded them of this and said, When I sent you out like that, did you lack anything? They said what? Nothing. So, they didnt have a great entourage, they didnt have a lot of unnecessary equipment but they had everything they needed. Ive been a missionary in two fields. Ive seen missionaries with cars and houses and salaries who lacked a lot of things. I just need to make these concepts clear. The key concept really, are abundance and prosperity. Now I want to give you five basic principles without dwelling on them that we looked through yesterday. 1. Principle number one, Gods provision is in his promises. If we fail to claim Gods promises we cannot expect to receive his provision. 2. Principle number two, the promises are our inheritance. In the Old Testament it was a Promised Land. In the New Testament its a land of promises. 3. Principle number three, Gods promises are the expression of his will. When we know Gods will we pray with confidence. 4. Principle number four, all Gods promises are now available to us through Christ. Every promise that fits our situation and meets our need is for us now. 5. Principle number five, the fulfillment of Gods promises does not depend upon our circumstances but upon our meeting Gods conditions. The outstanding example of this, I would say, is Israels 40 years in the wilderness when God fed something like three million people without any natural resources whatever. We looked at two specific promises of God, the first in Psalm 34:910: O fear the Lord, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him. The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing. And Psalm 84:11: For the Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.

We pointed out that there are three conditions implied for receiving those promises.

First, we must fear the Lord. Second, we must seek the Lord. Third, we must walk uprightly. On the basis of meeting those conditions then God assures us that nothing that is good will be withheld from us.

We need to understand that we have to consider what is good in two aspects. The first is is the thing good in itself, is it essentially good? Thats a philosophic term. Thats invariable. The second question is is the thing good for us in our particular situation? Thats variable because a thing may be good essentially and yet, in our particular condition, with our character weaknesses or our special problems, it might not be good for us. God in his wisdom overrules. He does not always give us that which is essentially good if it is not good for us in our particular situation. Thats one reason why we pray for things that apparently the word of God assures us we will have and we dont necessarily get them. Im the only person here today that has that problem, I know! Just be sympathetic with me because Ive had that problem. You never have but you could have. And when it happens just bear in mind exactly what Eric was saying, Do not doubt the goodness of God. He always has your good as his ultimate objective no matter what happens. Then we began to examine the question what are we to say about riches or wealth or prosperity? Are they essentially good? My answer is absolutely yes. In Revelation 5:12, riches belong by right to Christ and theyre associated with power, wisdom, strength, honor, glory and blessing. Those are seven things that are absolutely good that belong by right to Jesus Christ and to the people of God. In 1 Chronicles 29:12 we saw David told us riches and honor come from God. God is the ultimate source of riches and honor. Deuteronomy 8:18, Moses reminded Israel dont forget its God who gives you power to get wealth. He does it that he may fulfill his covenant with your fathers. And then we looked in Deuteronomy 28 and 29. Deuteronomy 28 lists, first of all, all the blessings for obedience to God and then all the curses for disobedience to God. This is a very important chapter that every one of us needs to be acquainted with. We need to know the difference between a curse and a blessing because many of us at times are enduring curses when we should be enjoying blessings. We saw that prosperity and abundance are listed under the blessings, not under the curses. Likewise, we saw that poverty is a curse. I think we could look at that scripture and move on from there. Deuteronomy 28:4748. This is part of the long list of curses that come for disobedience. Because thou servest not the Lord thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things . . . Note, thats what God wants us to do. To serve him with joyfulness and gladness for the

abundance of all things. We have more than enough of everything. Thats fantastic. But whats the alternative if were unbelieving and disobedient? Remember, the root problem of Israel that kept them out of their inheritance was not fornication or idolatry or murmuring. What was it? Unbelief. Because of unbelief they could not enter in. In the chapter that Eric read we were warned the same thing can keep us out of our inheritance: Unbelief. Whats the alternative to receiving Gods blessing in this connection? Verse 48 says: Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the Lord shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things. You take those four things and put them together: hunger, thirst, nakedness, want of all things without food, without drink, without clothing, without anything. I suggest to you the correct description of that is absolute poverty. You could not have more poverty than that. Please note, its a curse. Id like you to say that because its kind of liberating. Poverty is a curse. Poverty is a curse. Okay, now youve got it. Its a simple message but its profound.

The Divine Exchange

My purpose tonight is to show you that the curse was dealt with by the death of Christ on the cross. Consequently, we are released from the curse. The key scripture thereand its a very important oneis Galatians 3:1314: Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ: that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith One of the great basic truths of revelation is that on the cross there was divinely ordained exchange. I believe this is central to the entire gospel message. If we do not understand this much about what took place when Jesus died on the cross we really have no anchor for our faith, no stability, no solidity. On the cross by the fore ordained purpose of God there was an exchange, very, very simple in its basic nature. Jesus the sinless, obedient Son of God took upon him all the evil that was due by divine justice to all our rebellion and disobedience that in return through faith we might receive all the good that was due to the perfect obedience of Jesus. More simply, Jesus took all the evil that was due to us that we might receive all the good that was due to him. This was the exchange. You can work this out in every aspect of what took place on the cross. Its not my purpose to do that tonight but here is one main aspect of the exchange. Jesus was made a curse whats the opposite of a curse? Blessing. that we might receive the blessing. Theres the exchange. The curse was due to our disobedience but Jesus as our representative and our substitute took the curse upon him that we might have what? The blessing. Jesus took the

curse that we might receive the blessing. Say that. Jesus took the curse that we might receive the blessing. The evidence that Jesus was made a curse was that he hung upon the cross. Now, in Hebrewand it just so happens its true also in the Swahili language used in East Africathe word tree is used for a beam or a trunk whether its growing or whether its cut down. Thats not easy for some English speaking people to understand. It speaks about Jesus hanging on the tree, it was a cut down tree but it was still a tree. And the Old Covenant said cursed is every one who hangs on a tree. So when Jesus hung on the tree, that is the cross, this was Gods visible demonstration to the universe that Jesus had been made a curse. He hung there a curserejected by man and forsaken by God, neither on earth nor in heaven. Totally alienated, cut off, rejected, forsaken, all summed up in one evil, ugly word a curse. Why did Jesus become a curse? That we might receive the alternative, the blessing. One of the themes of Galatians is that through faith we becomeno matter what race we may be fromthe children of Abraham by faith. So as the children of Abraham we are entitled to the blessing of Abraham because Jesus bore the curse and through faith in him we become children of Abraham we are entitled to the blessing of Abraham. Thats very clear. I want to read it again because I want you to absorb it. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law [thats the curse of the broken law, Deuteronomy 28 which is the whole list of the curses for breaking the law], being made a curse for us. For it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: that he blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles [thats most of us here tonight] through Jesus Christ: that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. What was the blessing of Abraham? We dont need to speculate about that because its revealed in scripture. I suggest you keep your finger in Galatians 3 and turn to Genesis 24:1. Abraham was old and well stricken in age . . . I object to that translation because it gives you the impression he was hobbling around with a cane. All it says is he was well advanced in years. I think its pretty obvious he was not hobbling around with a cane because quite a number of years later he made a long journey to Mount Moriah and came back again. It says: . . . the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things. What is the blessing of Abraham? What does it cover? All things. Are you sure? What does the blessing of Abraham cover? All things. Now, in this connection Paul says that we must receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Were back in Galatians 3:14. What I believe that means is that its only through receiving the Holy Spirit that we can receive the blessing. The Holy Spirit is the administrator of all the inheritance. If you look in that same chapter that we looked at, Genesis 24, youll find that theres a beautiful parable. I didnt intend to get into this because when I get into it its hard to get out of it. But now Ive got into it, I might as well stay there.

If you read Genesis 24 its the story about how Abraham obtained a bride for his son Isaac. Its a very, very simple but beautiful parable in which there are four main characters. Some of you have heard me teach this before. Abraham the father represents God the Father. Isaac the only begotten son represents Jesus Christ the Son. Rebekah the bride represents the church, the bride of Christ. Theres one other, in a sense, the main character. The servant, the nameless servant who represents who? The Holy Spirit. Read the chapter with that in mind one day and it will open up almost limitless truths to you. Notice that it says at the beginning of the chapter every thing that Abraham owned was under the control of the servant. The servant was the administrator of the entire estate of Abraham the father and Isaac the son. Thats true of the Holy Spirit. He is the administrator of the entire wealth of the godhead. We are heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. But the administrator of our inheritance is the Holy Spirit. So apart from the Holy Spirit we cannot receive or enjoy our inheritance. When it speaks about our inheritance as the children of Abraham, it speaks specifically about receiving the promise of the Spirit because its only the Spirit that brings us into all the blessings which are our inheritance. The blessing of Abraham is in all things. But the administrator of the blessing is the Holy Spirit. Thats why it speaks specifically about receiving the promise of the Spirit. I dont usually speak about things like this because I have reservations about very finicky interpretations of names and numbers. But, there is, I think, a very beautiful thought here that before either Abraham or Sarah could receive their inheritance, each of them had to have a name change. Theres no question this is significant. Abrahams name originally was Abram. It had to be changed to Abraham. Sarahs name originally was Sarai. It had to be changed to Sarah. I do not question that its extremely significant that in each case a particular letter had to be inserted in their name In each case it was the same letter, the Hebrew letter H which is the breath letter. You cannot say H without breathing. Thats what makes it somewhat difficult for people whove grown up in English immediately to get the correct pronunciation. I believe this is just a very particular way of showing us that neither Abraham nor Sarah could receive their inheritance apart from the Holy Spirit, the breath of the Almighty. This is likewise true of us. Its only through the Holy Spirit that we can understand and receive and enter into our inheritance. In a certain sense, every one of us has to receive the breath of the Almighty before we qualify for the inheritance.

Jesus Exhausted the Poverty Curse

Now, viewing again the fact that Jesus was made the curse that we might receive the blessing, and seeing that the blessing of Abraham comprehended all things. I want to focus tonight upon one specific aspect of curse and blessing. I want to tell you tonight that Jesus on the cross exhausted the poverty curse. When I saw that exactly 10 years ago by revelation while I was preaching in a meeting I would

have to say it had a profound influence on my subsequent Christian experience. Thats why I was so quickened when Eric read the words I will reveal to them the abundance, because I do not believe we can really perceive this abundance unless God reveals it to us. Its clearly stated in scripture but it takes a revelation. We remember that the curse was you will serve your enemies in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things. Thats the poverty curse: hunger, thirst, nakedness, and want of all things. I was in the city of Auckland in New Zealand in l968 or 69, I forget which. I was preaching in a series of meetings and Id announced that my theme would be Gods Financial Provision. Wed also arranged to take up a special offering for the expenses of the speaker, et cetera, at the end of that meeting. I was preaching what I believed about Gods will for abundance and prosperity and as I was preaching I saw in my minds eye the figure of Jesus on the cross. I saw him hanging there as he undoubtedly did hang there stripped of all his clothing. Though I was preaching all the time, my mind was viewing Jesus on the cross. As I saw him there mentally I saw by revelation that he totally exhausted the poverty curse. The Holy Spirit went over the four aspects of the curse for me. He was hungry, he hadnt eaten for nearly 24 hours. He was thirsty, one of his last utterances was I thirst. He was naked, the soldiers had stripped him of all his clothing and shared it amongst them. They cast lots for the extra garment, the seamless robe. And he was in want of all things. He didnt have a burial robe, he didnt have a tomb, he had nothing. He was buried in a borrowed robe and in a borrowed tomb. He was totally in want of all things. Why? Because in the divine purpose of God he exhausted on our behalf the poverty curse. Hungry, thirsty, naked, and in want of all things. Though that didnt register with me exactly as a life changing truth at that time, I would have to say, that revelation has changed the course of my life. Its given me a kind of basis for my faith for prosperity. Ive seen the absolute finality of the exchange that Jesus took the poverty curs e that we might receive the blessing of Abraham, that we might receive our inheritance administered by the Holy Spirit. I do not say this without a solid basis in scripture. Id like you to turn, if you will for a moment to 2 Corinthians 8 and 9. There are two verses in these two chapters that go beautifully together. First of all, let me point out that 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 together contain 39 verses. They deal exclusively with one subject which is what? Money, thats right. Some people would say, Brother Prince, why are you talking so much about money? Love is what really matters. It always amuses me because in 1 Corinthians Paul has one chapter on love and it takes 13 verses. In 2 Corinthians he has two chapters on money and it takes 39 verses. Exactly three times as many verses! Does that mean that money is three times more important than love? No. But it means that without rightly acting in matters of money were talking empty talk about love. Look then at these two verses that balance one another in 2 Corinthians 8:9 and 9:8. Start with 8:9: For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ . . . I want to say two things about grace. Its most important. Few people really understand the nature of grace. First of all, grace can never be earned. Anything that can be earned is not grace.

That excludes most religious people from the grace of God because they think they can earn it. Consequently, they never receive it. Now, there are things we can earn but grace is not one of them. Bear that in mind. If theres anything you can earn, it is not grace, its works. Secondly, theres only one channel of grace. John 1:17: The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Any form of grace that ever comes to us comes to us through Jesus Christ. All right? Going back to 2 Corinthians 8:9: "For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. You know, I used to quote that verse might become rich. The Holy Spirit said, "Take another look." It says be rich. You can become rich and become poor again. But when youre being rich youre being rich. Its permanent. Whats the exchange? What are the two simple words that are set against one another? Jesus took the bad which was poverty that we might have the good which was riches. Jesus took our poverty that we might have his wealth. Now, when did Jesus become poor? Its important, I think, that we see this. Some people believe that he was poor all through his earthly ministry. I would say he wasnt wealthy, he didnt have riches but he sure had abundance. Any man that can feed a crowd of 12,000 is not exactly broke! There never was a single situation in the whole earthly ministry of Jesus where he lacked anything. Not one, I challenge you to find it. Even when he sent his disciples out they didnt lack anything. He had unorthodox ways of doing things! I mean, when he wanted the tax money instead of going to the bank and cashing a check he sent Peter to the sea and got a fish. But the result was the same. I want you to review that because its important. He was not wealthy but he had abundance. He was never worried, he was never perplexed, he was never under pressure, he never panicked; he was calmly and completely in control of every situation and he never doubted, as Eric said, that this Fathers goodness would come up with everything he needed. The Father never failed him once. Thats not poverty. Whats poverty? Weve defined it. Hungry, thirsty, naked, and in want. When did Jesus become poor? He began to become poor the moment he was identified with our sins. From that moment onwards he went deeper and deeper into poverty until on the cross he represented absolute poverty. Why did he become poor? That we might be rich. Lets face the fact his poverty was not spiritual. Is that agreed? He was really poor. Therefore, by all the laws of logic, our wealth cannot be spiritual either. Its not talking about spiritual blessings. Thank God theyre there but this is talking about the nitty-gritty, practical, material world. All right? He became poor very really poor, absolutely poor in the physical, material sense that we might be rich not in the spiritual sense. Thats provided for by other provisions of God. But that we might be rich in the sense of having every need met and having something over

for other people. Thank God I dont need to argue that because its stated in scripture. Look on to 2 Corinthians 9;8. And God is able . . . Lets pause there. Do you believe God is able? Its important that you do. I do. I mean, to me it would be illogical to speak of God the way we speak of him and to say hes unable to do this. God is able to make all grace abound toward you . . . What is it? Its grace. Dont imagine you can earn it. This is one of the big problems of Christian people. I believe in being industrious, I believe in working hard and faithfully, I believe in proper stewardship and management. But all that doesnt earn what were talking about. How is grace received, through what? Through Jesus Christ by faith. Thats right. Thats why some Christians lead good, honest, moral, hard-working lives but they know nothing of Gods abundance, because theyre trying to get it by earning it. Dont misunderstand me. I believe its altogether wrong for a Christian to be lazy or dishonest or irresponsible. I can give you scriptures for all that but I wont do it. But when youre not lazy and not irresponsible and not dishonest, youre still not earning Gods grace. We are talking exclusively tonight about grace. Interestingly enough, in these two chapters that deal with money the key word is grace. It occurs seven times in chapter 8 and twice in chapter 9. Were talking about grace that operates in the realm of money. Some people couldnt believe that grace and money could ever get related. God is able to make all grace abound toward you . . . God is not stingy with his grace. He doesnt give you just enough, he gives you enough and more. Its abundant, its overflowing. . . . that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to all good works. Ive changed it at the end because in the Greek language every word is from the same root. Youll find that in that verse there are two abounds and five alls in one short verse. Id like to read it that way and Ill use my right hand for the alls and my left hand for the abounds. Are you with me? God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to all good works. I dont know how language can say more than that. Its almost incredible you can get so much

into such a short sentence. What does it describe? It describes Gods grace. His grace in the financial and material area. The exchange: Jesus became poor with our poverty that we might be rich with his wealth or enjoy his abundance. Now, I believe weve established that clearly on scripture. For my part, when I can establish something on the basis of the cross, for me its settled. As far as Im concerned, whatever was done at the cross, its final. It can never be undone. Satan cannot change it, unbelief cannot change it; its settled. We may not appreciate it or appropriate it but it cannot be undone.

1st Condition
Ive said we cannot earn Gods abundance but I want to add we need to meet the conditions for receiving it. Do you see the difference? Were not talking about earning it but we are talking about the conditions upon which God makes his abundance available to us. I want to go through these now rather quickly because time is running out. I want to outline five conditions. First of all, our motives and our attitudes must be right. When we come to this realm of money theres a long of wrong motives. Thats why, I think, some people are afraid of it because theyre afraid of their own motives. We all do well to examine our motives very carefully when we come to the question of money because its a big source of temptation for wrong motives. Then I want to say certain things that are specifically wrong and I have a whole list of scriptures for every one of these things. Im not going to give you the full list. A, it is wrong to make wealth our God. In Colossians 3 Paul says that covetousness is idolatry. In other words, when we become greedy and grasping for money we are making money our god and that is idolatry. I think its very clear that the United States of America is full of that kind of idolatry where people are greedy for money and money, in effect, becomes their god. Also, in 1 Timothy 6:10 Paul says: The love of money is a root of all evil. The King James says the root of all evil but thats somewhat overdone. What the Greek actually says is the love of money is a root of all evil. So when we love money, out of that evil love of money, that covetousness, all evils can spring forth in our life. So qualification number one, it is wrong to make wealth our god. Number two, it is wrong to seek wealth by wrong means. There are many scriptures, Ill read Proverbs 28:8. I dont even remember what it says but Ive got it underlined. Incidentally, the book of Proverbs is full of all these principles. It says this and its very interesting. He that by usury and unjust gain increaseth his substance [or his wealth], he shall gather it for him that will pity the poor. Thats really significant, isnt it? A man may go out to get a lot of money for himself by crooked means, but ultimately it will come to the man who will pity the poor. You see, I want you to

understand this. There are laws that govern the behavior of money just as certain as the laws that govern the crops we plant in the earth. In Jeremiah 17:11 it says: As the partridge sitteth on eggs and hatches them not, so he that getteth money and not by right, shall leave it in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool. Were not talking about crooked ways to get rich. See, it is wrong to trust in wealth. Proverbs 11:28: He that trusteth in his riches shall fall. Ive seen that happen to many people in my lifetime who trusted in riches and fell. Jeremiah 9:2324: Let not the mighty man trust glory in his might, let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the rich man glory in his riches: but he that glorieth, let him glory in this, that he knoweth me that I am the Lord who loves justice and mercy. Were not to boast or glory in wisdom, strength or riches. Theyre all good things but none of them should be the thing in which we glory. Paul said, God forbid that I should glory in anything but the cross. Because, thats where all my problems were forever resolved. Lets never forget it. And, it is wrong to use wealth selfishly. Proverbs 11:24. I hope I stir up some of you a desire to spend more time in the book of Proverbs because this is the book that promises wisdom to a young man. Any of you young men who want to become wise, you should spend time in the book of Proverbs. Proverbs 11:24 is a beautiful scripture. There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; there is that withholdeth more than his meet [or right], but it tendeth to poverty. There are some generous people who are always giving and always getting riches. And there are some stingy people who never give and yet get poorer. So its always wrong to use wealth selfishly. In Luke 12 Jesus told the parable about the man who built the bigger barns and filled them with his produce. The Lord said, Thou fool, this night shall thy soul shall be required of thee. And then he said, So is he that is not rich towards God. The first direction in which we need to be rich is toward God. Those are wrong attitudes or motives. Also we have to be very careful in our attitude toward the poor. The whole Bible consistently warns us against oppressing or exploiting the poor. There are multitudinous scriptures, Ill just take a series of scriptures in Proverbs. Proverbs 21:13: Who stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard. Thats a very, very solemn warning, isnt it? If we dont listen to the cry of the poor, one day well cry and we wont be heard.

Then Proverbs 22:16: He that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches, and he that giveth to the rich, shall surely come to want. One final scripture on that in Proverbs 29:7: The righteous considereth the cause of the poor: but the wicked regardeth not to know it. That really places a tremendous responsibility upon us not just to be indifferent but to have a concern for the needs of the poor. One mark of righteousness is that we consider the cause of the poor. One thing Ive noticed in the generation that is now growing up I dont know where to begin or end with that but I have noticed especially in my own black daughter Joska, a real sense of social responsibility. Sometimes it gets a little awkward, she doesnt want to eat because there are people starving somewhere else. And things like that, but I do believe that the generation now growing upwell, you know, the people that are anywhere from 15 to 30, lets saythey have a much greater sense of social responsibility than my generation did. I have to say this, frankly thats true. I think thats from God because the righteous consider it the cause of the poor but the wicked regardeth not to know it. Hes indifferent. He says, So what? No skin off my nose. and goes his way. The next thing, going further, is all believers are required to show mercy to the poor. Again, well go to the book of Proverbs. Youre beginning to be able to find the book of Proverbs. Proverbs 14:21: He that despiseth his neighbor sinneth: but he that hath mercy on the poor, happy is he. Proverbs 19:17: He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord; and that which he hath given will he pay him again. When you give to the poor youre lending to the Lord. I want to tell you from experience when the Lord pays you back he doesnt forget the interest! Proverbs 28:27. Sometimes I try to find reasons for Gods goodness to me and its really contrary to what Im telling you this evening because Im amazed at Gods goodness to me. I really am overwhelmed. What Eric said about me is really true. I am overwhelmed by the goodness of God. Its not a religious act, it isnt just a theology; I cannot find words to express how amazed I am at Gods goodness to me. As I say, I never believe I can earn it but I think when I ask myself sometimes, Why is God so good to me? I think there are two things that I can say about my own experience. Neither of which I deliberately worked out in order to achieve Gods goodness, but

the first wasas you know, my late wife and I, we took care of a lot of unwanted children. The first demonstration of religion is to care for the fatherless. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is to visit the fatherless and the widows. Thats the first practicing aspect of religion that God cares for. Secondly, again its well known that my wife and I were both deeply committed to the wellbeing of Israel and the peace of Jerusalem. I still am. Though I never could earn Gods goodness I have to say I think those are two things that has caused God to look upon me with favor. I commend them to you because God is no respecter of persons. Theres one last scripture about the poor that well look at, Proverbs 28:27: He that giveth unto the poor shall not lack; but he that hideth his eyes shall have many a curse. Let me go through that because it got a little involved but its quite simple when you see it in outline before you. This is all in the first area of conditions for prospering. Our motives and attitudes must be right, specifically it is wrong to make wealth our God, to seek wealth by wrong means, to trust in wealth, to use wealth selfishly. And then in our attitude toward the poor it is wrong to despise or oppress the poor. On the contrary, we are required to show mercy to the poor, its part of our faith. Theres two other scriptures I will give there about showing mercy to the poor. Theyre so powerful. One is in Daniel 4:27. Heres where Nebuchadnezzar had this dream which Daniel interprets that Nebuchadnezzar is going to be driven out from his palace and from human intercourse and hes going to have seven years living like a beast in the field. Daniel is really troubled about having to interpret this dream for the king and he said, King, if you take my advice you might postpone your problems if you do just one thing. And this is what he advised him to do in Daniel 4:27: Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by showing mercy to the poor . . . Whats the alternative to leading a wicked life? Its showing mercy to the poor. Had Nebuchadnezzar done that, who knows whether he might have been spared that judgment of God. And then without looking at it, in Galatians 2:10 Paul records the situation where he and Peter and James had their confrontation about the gospel to the Jews and the gospel to the Gentiles and they came to the conclusion that Peter and James were to go to the Jews, Paul and his group were to go to the Gentiles and that whole problem and tension was resolved. But they said one thing, we want you to remember the poor. Paul said, I already was very zealous to do that. Notice whether you preach to the Jews or to the Gentiles, one essential part of the gospel is remembering the poor. I think thats a part thats

been forgotten by most fundamentalists. I dont say that theyre greedy or selfish persons but they dont include in their religion the thing that God said is primary of true religion which is to visit those in need.

2nd Condition
Im not doing as well getting through in time but Im going to go quicker. Let me just emphasize this. Conditions for prospering. The first one is our motives and attitudes must be right. I dealt with that whole area. Condition number two has already been touched on this evening by Eric. Faith is essential, theres no substitute for faith. Romans 1:17: The righteous will live by his faith. Every area of righteous living must be based on faith. Whatsoever is not of faith is what? Sin. When you handle your money in an unbelieving way, thats sinful. The entire disposing of your money must be based on faith just like the way you eat or anything else you do. The entire Christian life is based on one simple principle, faith. Whenever we depart from faith we get into sin. Faith consists in acting before you get whats promised. So, Luke 6:38, Jesus says: Give and it shall be given unto you . . . Which comes first? Giving. Thats faith. You say, I dont have it. God says thats faith. Give and it shall be given unto you . . . You say, Ill wait til Ive got it to give. God says thats not faith. Give and it shall be given. 2 Corinthians, and weve been there once, turn back to it for a moment. Chapter 9, verses 67. Paul is talking about money and he says: But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. We dont need to read further. Which comes first? Sowing or reaping? Sowing. If you never sow youll never reap. Isnt that right? Thats faith. You see, every time farmer sows his field hes exercising faith. Hes believing that all that seed hes throwing away is going to come back multiplied. Paul says its exactly the same in giving. Its important to see this. We know there are laws governing agriculture. Many people do not realize there are laws governing money. Gods laws. So, if we want to reap what do we have to do? Sow. And the measure in which we sow will determine the measure in which we reap. Sow sparingly and how will you reap? Sparingly. Sow bountifully and you will reap bountifully. Furthermore, I think we can take it further in two respects. Sowing is not just scattering seed just anyway you happen to be. If you were to walk down the main street of your city scattering seed

right and left into the gutter you wouldnt reap much of a harvest. Some Christians give but they give like that, they just throw it out anywhere. On the contrary, sowing means you pick the best soil, you make the best preparation, you chose the right time, you sow the best seed. Thats completely different. Thats how we should handle our finances individually and collectively. Choose the best investments, choose the best time, do everything to secure the maximum return. Thats providence, thats wisdom. Sow and reap. Another thing is if you sow barley you wont reap oats. Did you know that? I really believe it goes this far with money. If you sow dimes youll reap dimes. If you sow quarters youll reap quarters. If you sow dollars youll reap dollars. Whatever you sow will come back multiplied. I believe thats implied in what were seeing. Let me tell you from experience, dont start with the ambition to sow a thousand dollars. Because its got to be out of faith. Faith grows. Let me just say this. I hope I can say it with humility. For me today, its as easy to have faith for a thousand dollars as it was to have faith for a hundred dollars ten years ago. I know inflation has taken care of a lot of that! But basically, I think in different categories today because Ive matured my faith. I know theres much higher figures. Im not speaking as a person that specializes in faith for finances. There are brothers that have that ministry. I know one man whos a missionary and God has challenged him year by year to determine in advance how much he personally will give to God out of his own finances. Two years ago he promised God $25,000. He doesnt do this idly, he waits on God to get the figure. Do you know what he promised God last year? $100,000. Out of his own finances. Hes not a wealthy man, hes a missionary in a poor country. But thats faith. Faith grows. Its a little mustard seed when it starts but it can become a big shrub if you cultivate it. Im not saying that God will lead all of us along that line but Im saying the principles of faith work. Let me tell you something else. This may not be the right place but it comes to my mind. Im related to a very wonderful group of Charismatic believers in Jamaica. The Bashams know them and some of the rest may know them. Two years ago Charles Simpson and I were down there preaching to them. Theyve really entered into the things that were talking about: relationship, commitment, covenant. They care, theyre a beautiful group of people. Charles, at my insistence, related to them how at one time the people in his fellowship prayed and decided what they would make available of their personal finance and possessions to God for his kingdom. It was a sum that ran into several million dollars. So, Charles didnt want to tell this in Jamaica but I kind of pressured him into it. It was very interesting, I went back the next year. Do you know what they told me? And, they are not legalistic in an y sense. They said, We called our people together and we asked them all to pray and determine what we collectively could make available to God for his kingdom. Jamaica is a small nation. It has about two million people, its economically on a very low level, its under real economic pressure. Do you know what they came up with? More than four million Jamaican dollars. A Jamaican dollar at that time was worth a little more than an American dollar. So, God has shown me dont ever say these people are too poor, it wouldnt work for them. If you are poor, you better take the root out. Thats the faith root. I am absolutely convinced myself

that just as the principles of agriculture work all over the world for black people, brown people, yellow people, white people, people of any background or race, I am equally convinced that the divine principles of finance work all over the world for any kind of people anywhere. I used to tell these people in East Africa, which is a poor country though not one of the poorest, I said, Do you think God loves the Americans more than he loves you? They didnt like that because they were always asking the Americans for money. Then at the same time they wanted to be, "indigenous." You know, "independent." I said, Just bear in mind dollars dont grow in Africa. I was trying to challenge them to believe that God could provide for them in their situation with the same abundance that he could provide for any of his people anywhere in the world. I was working with young people who were students and they were all of the poor. It was a continual struggle for them to raise the money for their school fees because there was not free education in East Africa. I went back in l976 at the end of the year. Two of my former students met me, entertained me and took me to lunch in one of the best restaurants in Nairobi. I didnt care about the food because by the grace of God I eat in all sorts of restaurants everywhere. It really did me good to see that it works in East Africa. It works anywhere. You find the right soil, follow the right principles, sow the right seed and youll get the right harvest. But, it must be in faith. Malachi 3, we wont dwell on this but just look there. Malachi 3:8. Youll notice here in these verses, Malachi 3:8 and following we have the curse and the blessing, weve come back there. Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me, but ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. I dont want in any way to be legalistic but I just want to say that if you withhold Gods portion from him youre robbing him. And robbing God leads to a curse. It leads to the poverty curse. It leads to the sickness curse. Its very clear. Whats the remedy? God says: Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and prove me now herewith . . . God says youve got to put me to the test. Dont wait for the abundance and then bring the tithe, bring the tithe and Ill see to the abundance. Always it must be in faith. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse . . . prove me now herewith . . . if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. Whats the blessing? Is it spiritual? No, sir. Its very practical. Its financial, its material. Ive been in prayer meetings where Christians pray, Lord, open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing. It sounds good but I always want to get up and shake them and say, Listen, it doesnt come by praying, it comes by tithing. You could pray forever and if you didnt obey youd have no claim to the blessing.

Then God says: I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts. All nations shall call you blessed . . . Its very clear what the blessing is, isnt it? Its not confused, its not obscure; its real. As soon as we get outside the four walls of a church building we all know what it is. Its just while were in church we get so spiritual that we dont care about money. I dont believe it.

3rd Condition
Principle number three, this is also very important. Principle number three. Giving is a scriptural way to show honor. Okay. Money and honor go together. Ill give you three scriptures. The first is in Proverbs 3:9 10: Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine. The teaching is bring God first his portion freely and youll be prospered and blessed with all the rest. But, in bringing God his portion, the firstfruits, you are honoring the Lord. So, giving according to scripture, honors the Lord and withholding dishonors the Lord. Those of us that do not give according to the principles of God, we are dishonoring the Lord. Then it says by giving we honor our parents. This is very significant. Matthew 15:4. The Pharisees were criticizing Jesus for not keeping the traditions of the elders. Jesus said, You keep the traditions of the elders but break the commandments of God. He gave them one specific example. He said: God commanded, saying, Honor thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. But you say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift [?korban?, something devoted to God] by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; and honor not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Notice how we honor our parents. How? By giving them of our substance. Withholding that which they need financially and materially is dishonoring them. This is a very penetrating scripture. If our parents are well provided for we dont have all that obligation in that area but we do have the obligation to honor father and mother. Which is the first commandment that carries a promise with it. I want to tell you from long experience in the ministry of deliverance, people that do not honor their father and mother never have it well with them. They can be saved and baptized in the Holy Spirit and do all sorts of things but theres always something missing in their lives. We really cannot talk about honoring our parents if we do not meet their genuine financial and material needs. Then, along the same line, 1 Timothy 5:1718:

Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the word and doctrine. What kind of honor are we talking about that we give to elders? Well, the next verse makes it absolutely clear. For the scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. And, The laborer is worthy of his reward. So, we honor elders by showing them financial appreciation for their services. I once remarked that if you double zero you still got zero! This to me proves that basically in the set-up that Paul envisaged there was a regular recognized remuneration for the elders. Because, you cant double a vague figure. I mean, Im not forcing a point, Im just saying to me the implications are clear. So notice, what we do with out money determines three things. Whether we honor God, whether we honor our parents, and whether we honor our spiritual leaders. In each case money is an essential factor in honoring. I dont say that to bring anybody under condemnation because Im convinced that most of you are already doing that. But its good to see these scriptural facts.

4th Condition
The fourth principle is right thinking, speaking and acting. I want to put the emphasis on thinking. I want to suggest to you it is impossible to think wrong and live right. And it is inevitable if you think right you will live right. Joshua 1:8. This is the instructions to Joshua when he was to lead Gods people into their inheritance. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous and then thou shalt have good success. To me, thats the most total promise of prosperity and success that a person could ever wish. Then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, then thou shalt have good success. What are the basic requirements? Three. Meditate in the law of the Lord, speak the law of the Lord, act the law of the Lord. Its what we think, its what we say, its what we do that determines what we experience. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; thou shalt meditate therein that thou mayest observe to do. I sum that up in think, speak and act Gods word. Then again in Psalm 1, in a sense, an even more embracing promise. In Joshua its spoken to one man but in Psalm 1 its absolutely generalany person that meets these conditions. The first 3 verses.

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Notice that last little sentence. Whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Will you say that with me? Whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. There is no room for failure there. Everything he does will succeed. What are the conditions? I suggest to you there are three negative conditions, two positive. The negative conditions, the things you must not do, are stated in verse 1. You must not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, stand in the way of sinners, or sit in the seat of the scornful. Notice theres a gradual slowing down. If you begin to walk in the way of the ungodly you then stand and finally youll sit and youre there. Youve got to avoid that evil progression from walking to standing to sitting. Many Christians actually accept the counsel of the ungodly in many areas of their lives. Then they wonder why they dont prosper. This is the primary requirement, we do not walk in the counsel of the ungodly. Then there are the two positive requirements in verse 2. He delights in the law of the Lord. And secondly, He meditates day and night in the law of the Lord. If I were to pick out one thing thats absolutely central to prosperity in the scriptures, its right meditation. Its what you think about, the way you think, what fills your mind and occupies your mind is really going to determine your experience. So on the basis of meeting those five conditions, three negative and two positive, the Bible says of any person, whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. That includes every single person in this room here tonight. According to my understanding of this scripture, if you accept the Bible as the word of God, here are principles which will guarantee success for every person in this room. In fact, in the name of the Lord and on his behalf I promise you total success if you will meet these conditions.

5th Condition
The final conditionand I can do this very quickly but its very important, I dont want to leave it out its this: Let God add in his way and his time. Dont go out and grab for it, let God add it. Thats faith. You meet the conditions. You dont make the harvest grow. I always remember years ago when I was in Ireland, there was a little boy of 6 whose parents gave him some potatoes to plant. You know, potatoes are the staple crop of Ireland. He went out and planted his potatoes. A week later he was out to see if they were growing. No sign of growth and two weeks later he dug them up to see if they were growing. Well, you can dig potatoes up three or four times and they dont grow.

Some Christians are like that. They plant their potatoes then dig them up to see if theyre growing. No. This is the essence of faith is you let God do it. That doesnt mean youre slack or indifferent or super-spiritual. Were coming back then to the principle that God has to add. We can do it very quickly, just whisk through the scriptures. Notice Deuteronomy 28, talking about the blessings, verse 2: All these blessings shall come on thee and overtake thee . . . You dont run after them, they run after you. What a relief! You go to bed at night and you wonder as you go to bed what blessing will have caught up with me by the time I wake up in the morning! All right? Jesus said dont be careful. He said the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches will choke the seed. Thats the wrong attitude. Proverbs 10:22, have you been to the book of Proverbs before tonight? I think you have. Now youre beginning to discover Proverbs has got a lot to tell you about prosperity. The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it. What a verse! You dont seek riches, you qualify for the blessings. Matthew 6:33, a very familiar verse but well look at it and read it. But seek ye first . . . Money in the bank. No. A good investment. No. . . . the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. All your material needs will be added to you if you seek Gods kingdom. And finally, Mark 10:2930: Jesus answered them and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospels, but he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time . . . Thats not the next world. Are you agreed about that? What will you receive a hundredfold? . . . houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions . . . Dont leave out the persecutions.

. . . and in the world to come life eternal. Notice, forsaking everything for Christ in this life leads to results in this life. They are not all stored up for the next world. Okay? Now, I just have to close with this personal testimony. In l946 I did that. I had no children, I wasnt married. But, for the sake of the Lord and the gospel I forsook everything in the worldly sense that I had. Im not making myself a hero. I really didnt see the spiritual principles. It was like, I think, drawing teeth out of me. I let them go because God put me under such pressure there was nothing else I could do and stay right with God. But I gave up my country, I gave up my family, I gave up my profession, I gave up my career, I gave up my money, I gave up everything. Im standing here tonight 32 years later and telling you that God has been absolutely faithful to his word. He has added abundantly all the things that are listed in this verse. So, I want to say it works. Praise God, it works. Just for the sake of being complete, I want to just read the list of conditions without commenting, and close.

Number one, our motives and attitudes must be right. Number two, faith is essential. Number three, giving is a scriptural way to show honor. Number four, the basis is right thinking, speaking and acting; with the emphasis on right thinking. And, number five, we have to let God add in His way and in His time.

Purpose 1: To Provide a Dwelling Place for God

To close my message this morning I need to just quickly review some of what Ive said and then move on. As a matter of fact, I really dont intend to much by way of review. I just want to point out that abundance is a blessing and poverty is a curse. Its very important to see that. Some things in the spiritual life we can see in various different aspects but there are certain things we need to see very clearly in black and white. I believe thats one of the things we need to be very clear about. Abundance is a blessing, poverty is a curse. Would you like to say that? Abundance is a blessing, poverty is a curse. The good news of the gospel is in Galatians 3:1314: Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: that we might receive the blessing of Abraham through faith, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit. Another thing that we need to see clearly in black and white without any blurred edges is that on the cross, by divine arrangement, an exchange took place. Jesus took the evil that

was due to us that we might receive the good that was due to him. You can view this exchange from many aspects. He was made sin that we might have righteousness. He died that we might have life. He was rejected that we might be accepted. He took our sicknesses and our pain that we might be healed. In him our old man died that the new man might come to life in us. The specific exchange we looked at in this series was the curse and the blessing. He was made the curse that we might receive the blessing. Specifically, he bore the poverty curse. When he hung on the cross he exhausted the poverty curse. God had told Israel that if they broke his law they would have to serve their enemies whom he would send against them in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness and in want of all things. When Jesus hung on the cross he exhausted that curse. He was hungry, he was thirsty, he was naked, he was in want of all things. He didnt just take a little part of our poverty, he took total, absolute poverty. He owned nothing. He lost his clothes, he was buried in a borrowed tomb and in a borrowed burial robe. It was utterly complete. Before he died he said, It is finished. It is exhausted, theres nothing more to do. This is very specifically stated in regard to poverty in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9. Bear in mind that the entire theme of these two chapters which contains 39 verses is money. Let no one ever tell you that its not spiritual to talk about money. If its not spiritual to talk about money then Paul was a very unspiritual man. Id rather be unspiritual like Paul than spiritual like the people who dont want to talk about money! Let me also point out to you that Paul said to the people to whom he had ministered, the elders of the church at Ephesus, I call you to witness that I am pure from the blood of all men, for I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. And all the counsel of God includes money. I want to suggest to all of you leaders that we will not be pure from the blood of all men if we shun to declare to Gods people every part of his counsel. When Paul said, I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God, the implication was there might be many pressures that would cause him to keep quiet about some aspects of Gods counsel. We know in fact that this is true. I think thats a challenging statement for all of us who are in leadership and minister the word. Will we be able to say in due course to the people whom we have led I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Therefore, I am pure from the blood of all men. Its a very solemn challenge. Turning to 2 Corinthians 8:9, here the exchange is explicitly stated by Paul. We see that its grace and we know that grace comes only by Jesus Christ. For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. Thats the exchange. Jesus took our poverty that we might have his riches. I prefer to say his abundance. And in the second part of the exchange its 2 Corinthians 9:8. Paul states it that way. He uses the word abundance. "And God is able to make all grace . . .

Notice again its grace which comes by Jesus Christ. . . . all grace abound toward you; that you, in all ways having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to all good works. I put all at the end because in the Greek language its the same root word thats used. I think well do it with the hands once more. Ill use my right hand for the alls, my left hand for the abounds and the abundances. So, God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to all good works. Five alls and two abounds. Thats grace, its the result of the divine exchange. I dont believe any of us could ever exhaust the abundance of God. Its inexhaustible. In a certain sense, God is profligate in some ways with his abundance. Out of all the millions of acorns that come down in a certain area even in the State of Michigan, maybe a hundred oak will emerge. God doesnt consider the other million acorns wasted. Hes just profligate, hes abundant. Hes not stingy. If theres one thing thats totally alien to the character of God, its stinginess. I want to point out to you, and this is where we move on today, the purpose for abundance at the end of 2 Corinthians 9:8. It says: . . .that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work. The purpose for which God supplies abundance is not merely selfish indulgence. I believe God likes to see us enjoying his provisions. I believe that makes him happy. But, thats not the ultimate purpose, merely our enjoyment. Its that we will have enough to every good work that we will be able to do with complete sufficiency everything that God asks us to do. One of the remarkable things if you read the New Testament is that they never said, If we have enough money well do this. You just dont ever find them talking about it like that. They just said, Well go here, well go there, well do this. Money really wasnt a question. Though they had much to say about money and they were very practical in handling it, their plans didnt depend on money. Thats very different from the contemporary church where so much of what is planned is dependent on money. I believe in being practical and I believe its very legitimate to make a budget. But, I do observe that some religious groups tie themselves down by their budgets. I dont believe God is going to be tied down in that way. In fact, Ive got one conviction about God, hes not going to let us tie him down anywhere at all. The moment you tr y to tie God down hell slip out of your noose. Thats not by our rules, our systems, our theology, our finance. Nothing is ever going to tie God down. Dont ever try because its a waste of your time. I want to speak about one specific good work for which God provides abundance. I believe this is the primary good work. It is that we may provide him a dwelling place. I believe

thats been the purpose of God from creation onwards. Gods aim has been to dwell with man. We often talk as though the ultimate was to get to heaven but I find in reading the Bible the ultimate is to get heaven to earth. In the closing chapters of the Bible we dont find earth going up to heaven, we find heaven coming down to earth. I believe thats the ultimate thrust of Gods purpose from creation onwards, its to dwell with man. There is a sense in which God lifts man up to his level but theres another sense in which God comes down to mans level. And God, ever since he began to plan and practice redemption has always purposed the result of redemption will be that God can dwell with man. Im going to view just two historic examples of this out of areas that we might consider in the Bible. Two specific periods in history where God asked his people Israel to provide him with a dwelling place. The first dwelling place were going to consider is the tabernacle of Moses. The second is the temple of Solomon. I want to point out to you that in each case God provided his people with abundance in advance that out of that abundance they might return to him all that would be needed to provide him with a dwelling place which would be suitable to his glory. He gave very precise specifications as to the kind of dwelling place he wanted. He didnt leave one measure to chance, not one material. Everything was precisely specified and I want to say that everything was on the highest level. There was nothing cheap, nothing shoddy, nothing second hand in anything that God required in his dwelling place. I believe that agrees with the very nature of God. Lets then view, first of all, Gods provision for the tabernacle and the way it came about. Then, lets view Gods provision for the temple of Solomon and the way it came about. Then well give that an up to date application for you and me. Turn, first of all, to Genesis 15, I just want to read two verses there. In this chapter God makes a covenant with Abraham. He also gives him a preview of the captivity of Israel in Egypt. He gives him a kind of experience of a vision in which he goes through in his own personal experience the affliction of Israel in Egypt. We only need to read verses 13 and 14. Genesis 15:1314: And the Lord said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them [shall be in slavery]; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; and also that nation, whom they shall serve [thats Egypt], will I judge: and afterward shall they [Israel] come out with great substance. The modern translations say with great wealth. Notice that when God predicted the captivity of Israel in Egypt and then their deliverance, one of the points he emphasized was when they were redeemed and delivered they would come out with great wealth. This is not an accident, it was part of Gods foreordained purpose. And then we see this fulfilled if we turn to Exodus 12. This is the immediate result after the Passover night when the homes of the Israelites had been spared and every firstborn of the Egyptians had been killed. Verse 35:

And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment . . . The word borrowed is not really quite right in modern day. It means they asked for. What does it say in the New American Standard? They requested. Thats right. Because, if you borrow a thing youre morally obligated to return it. But theres not that implication there at all. And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have such things as they required. And they spoiled the Egyptians. The Living Bible says they stripped the Egyptians. They really took everything the Egyptians had. Gold, silver, raiment. Anything that they set their eyes on and asked for they got because the Egyptians were so frightened that all they wanted to do was get rid of these people no matter what is cost. Now, you can say was that just? And you know, I find some people today are very concerned that God ought to be just. I just want to tell you, God is always just. Hes more just than we think he is. God had been keeping a record, reckoning. He reckoned that the Israelites were due about four hundred years of back pay! So, they collected in one night! Thats justice. A lot of people wouldnt see it that way because they didnt keep the same reckoning that God kept. Theres a beautiful description of this in Psalm 105:37. Speaking about the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt it says: He brought them forth also with silver and gold . . . Whenever you read the word silver in the Old Testament, bear in mind its the modern Hebrew word for money - keeph. . . . and there was not one feeble person among their tribes. Thats redemption. Please note. It covers every area: the soul, the body, the substance. 3 John 2: Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, as thy soul prospereth. Redemption makes the total provision for the needs of the redeemed. It was all done through faith in the blood of the Passover lamb. And that faith released the supply of every need: spiritual, physical and material. Something like three million people marched out of Egypt. Not one of them limped, not one of them hobbled, not one of them used a cane or a crutch. I tell you, we have a long way to go to get to that standard. I believe its Gods standard. I believe redemption is complete, it covers every area of our lives. Its also very practical. How were they ever going to get through the wilderness if they were

sick and crippled and lame? Bear in mind that they were underprivileged people. Theyd been slaves. They hadnt had the best of food, they hadnt had proper medical care, they didnt have a social security system. But, when God redeemed them he took care of everything in one act. So, they came out wealthy, with abundance of gold and silver, everything that was precious. God had a purpose. Lets turn back to the book of Exodus, chapter 35. God had given Moses the plan for the tabernacle, the tent, the place where he was going to dwell in the midst of his people. Then he said to Moses the people are going to provide the material and the labor to build the tabernacle. We read in Exodus 35:4: Moses spake unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, This is the thing which the Lord commanded, saying, Take ye from among you an offering unto the Lord: whoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it, an offering of the Lord . . . I dont want to make any kind of legalistic point out of this but in the Bible, buildings were never built out of tithes, they were always built out of offerings. Tithes took care of the ministers, offerings were used for the buildings. I think thats a very practical principle. If we divert tithes to buildings then were not going to have the ministers to minister in those buildings. Whereas, if we use tithes for the ministry and the ministry produces fruit and blesses the people, then those blessed people will have plenty to give in offerings for the building. I wouldnt ever make a law out of that but I think its a very useful principle. Today in many sections of the world we have churches, buildings, but we dont have the people to minister. What good is a building without the people who can minister in it? So, you can just note this. Its always out of offerings that buildings were constructed. Nobody was obligated to offer. Tithing for Israel was totally different. Tithing was demanded. In fact, the tithe didnt belong to Israel. God said, All the tithe is mine. If you hold on to it youre a thief. You remember we read last night in the book of Malachi that 1,200 years later God said, Youve been robbing me. You know, it frightens me to think that God keeps accounts for 1,200 years and then suddenly presents the bill. How would it be with some of us if God faces us with the bill even for the last 10 years? Verse 5: . . . let him bring an offering: gold, and silver, and brass, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats hair, and rams skins dyed red, and badgers skins, and shittim wood, and oil for the light, and spices . . . onyx stones, and stones to be set for the ephod . . . And then in verse 10: And every wise hearted among you shall come, and make all that the Lord hath commanded . . . And then the whole list of everything thats going to be needed is given. To me its very interesting, theres only one man that I know of in the Old Testament of

whom it is said specifically that he was filled with the Spirit of God. I believe its implicit in other language but the only man of whom it is actually said that he was filled with the Spirit of God was Bezaleel. Not to preach but to make jewelry and furniture and supervise the entire construction.

That always blesses me because I have become so convinced that the Holy Spirit is practical. It delights me that a man had to be filled with the Holy Spirit to do the job right. I believe that somehow the inheritance of Bezaleel has stayed with the Jewish peoplemaybe in a diminished measurebecause when he comes to jewelry and precious stones theyre still at the top of the list. As a matter of fact, in the last decade or two, Israel has become number one for diamond cutting in the world. Its taken it from Holland. Thats a kind of inheritance thats never departed from the Jewish people. But thats by the way. Notice they were to bring out of the abundance that God had provided for them through redemption, they were to bring back enough to make God the kind of dwelling place he required. He gave them no options about the dwelling place. There was not one significant option in this dwelling place. There was to be gold, there was to be silver, there was to be bronze, everything had to be made just the way he required. But, he was not unreasonable because hed given them everything that they were going to need and he also breathed his Spirit into the men that were going to do the job. Let me say in this context how much I enjoyed that play we just witnessed. I believe we all did. I used to be opposed to plays in church because I thought they werent spiritual. But the Lord has been showing me lately that when Gods people get it together and really become properly related with one another that hes going to release tremendous creative ability in every area: drama, music, poetry and so on. And, its beginning to come. I see that redemption covers every area of our lives and has to be expressed in every area of our lives. I look forward to much more along that line. I believe Gods people should have a total life. They shouldnt depend on the world for anything. Im quite serious when I say I feel sorry for people whose life is sucked out of a television tube. You know, I mean, what a thin measure of life theyve got. How thin theyre spreading the butter. My life has been much more exciting than most television series, I have to say that. I believe any life in God should be exciting. I dont believe it should be drab or humdrum, dull; but always stimulating. Its creative. I see with joy Gods creative ability being released amongst his people once again. I dont believe he releases it until we reach a certain point of maturity in our relationships. I notice the communities that have come to that point, God is releasing creative ability amongst them and through them. Now, lets go on to Exodus 36 and well read a few verses there. Then wrought Bezaleel and Aholiab, and every wise hearted man, in whom the Lord put wisdom and understanding to know how to work all manner of work for the service of the sanctuary, according to all that the Lord had commanded.

Let me point out that the ministry of God under the Old Covenant required skill. We can read about how they had to cut up all the sacrificial animalsthe sheep and the oxen but you put a person like me in front of a dead ox and tell me to get out the kidneys and all these other things, I wouldnt know where to begin. Actually, it takes a lot of skill to be able to minister the sacrifices according to the requirements of the law of Moses. Another interesting thing, by the way, is in the Hebrew university in Jerusalem they are giving courses in temple worship. Its an acknowledged part of the curriculum in the Hebrew university. I think theyre aiming at something. Going on, chapter 36, verse 2: And Moses called Bezaleel and Aholiab, and every wise hearted man, in whose heart the Lord had put wisdom, even every one whose heart stirred him up to come unto the work to do it: and they received of Moses all the offering, which the children of Israel had brought for the work of the service of the sanctuary, to make it withal. And they brought yet unto him free offerings every morning. And all the wise men, that wrought all the work of the sanctuary, came every man from his work which they made; and they spake unto Moses, saying, The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work, which the Lord commanded to make. And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make anymore work for the offering of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing. We dont often see that in modern congregations, do we? The trouble wasnt they didnt have enough, the trouble was they were bringing so much they didnt know what to do with it. Thats Gods abundance and the purpose for which its given. Redemption provides abundance but the goal of redemption is the dwelling place for God to dwell amongst his people. Out of what God gives us through redemption he asks us to give back to him that which will provide him with his dwelling place.

Purpose 1 Continued - Solomon's Temple

We can see the same again with the temple of Solomon. Just turn, for a moment, to 1 Samuel 16 and just read the beginning of the life of David. Samuel had come to Bethlehem to the home of Jesse to get the next king of Israel. And hed seen all Jesses sons and the Lord said none of those is the one. In verse 11: Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all thy children? And he said, There remaineth yet the youngest, and, behold, he keepeth the sheep. He was so unimportant they didnt even count him. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him: for we will not sit down till he come hither. And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful

countenance, and goodly to look to. And the Lord said, Arise, anoint him: for this is he. Thats a picture of Davids beginning. The youngest son in a not very wealthy family, out on the rather barren mountains of Judah looking after his fathers sheep. And yet, before the end of his life David had come to a place where he disposed of the equivalent of many millions of dollars. A fantastic sum of wealth which accrued to David in less than 70 years because he died at age 70. Yet, when he died he bequeathed to the house of God, to the temple that Solomon was to build, probably the equivalent of about a hundred million dollars of his own private fortune. One thing we have to see, and its very significant, is during the reign of David there was a fantastic increase in the wealth of Israel. I dont know of any way to calculate it but it must have been multiplied, I would think, hundreds of times over. What was a poor little struggling nation that made its living out of agriculture and husbandry and cattle and sheep, by the end of Davids reign was fantastically wealthy. That was no accident. Partly it was the result of Gods blessing on David because whenever God finds a man after his own heart to lead his people, he will bless his people through that man. But apart from that it had a further purpose. At the end of Davids reign God wanted Israel to be ready for the construction of the temple that Solomon was to build. Again, Gods purpose was a dwelling place where he could be amongst his people. And again, every detail of that dwelling place was precisely defined. Nothing was left to the imagination of the builders. Turn on to 1 Chronicles 29 and look at the figures of what was given for the construction of Solomons temple. I really suggest that it would bless you to read 1 Chronicles 28 and 29 through by yourself. They contain some of the most glorious language found anywhere in writing. Theres a kind of wealth and a beauty about this language that is really staggering. Ill read it in the King James Version beginning in verse 2. David said: Now I have prepared with all my might for the house of my God . . . One of the things I notice about David was whatever he did he did it with all his might. When he danced he danced with all his might. When he prepared the house of God he didnt do it half-heartedly, he did it with all his might. I think God is turned off by halfhearted people. It grieves me to see people half-heartedly praising the Lord. Either praise him or dont praise him. If youre going to praise him, praise him with all your might. Now I have prepared with all my might for the house of my God the gold for things to be made of gold, the silver for things of silver, the brass for things of brass, the iron for things of iron, and wood for things of wood; onyx stones, and stones to be set, glistening stones, and of diverse colors, and all manner of precious stones, and marble stones in abundance. That may not be the most accurate translation but youll have to agree with me for language its beautiful. I read that and I just get blessed. Onyx stones, stones to be set, glistening stones, and of diverse colors, and all manner of precious stones, and marble

stones in abundance. Note the word abundance. God is not stingy. Moreover . . . Now thats what David had prepared in general. Now he says moreover. . . . because I have set my affection to the house of my God . . . And again, thats a key phrase. What you set your affection on is what youre going to do properly. . . . I have of my own proper good [my own private fortune], of gold and silver, which I have given to the house of my God, over and above all that I have prepared for the holy house, even three thousand talents of gold, of the gold of Ophir . . . Then he goes on to list the silver and so on. Its difficult to find an accurate equivalent in modern monetary system for a talent. I would say that a talent of pure gold of Ophir was worth at least $25,000. Probably a good deal more because every time we turn around the dollar has gone down in value. So, David provided in gold the equivalent of 75 million dollars. That doesnt include the silver. I suppose probably everything he gave out of his own private fortune, not out of the state treasury, out of his own private fortune probably amounted to a hundred million dollars. Do you remember what he said earlier? Presumably when he was still a shepherd. He said, The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. And God surely honored that confession! Then in verse 6 we read what the chief of the fathers gave out of their own private possession. Then the chief of the fathers and princes of the tribes of Israel, and the captains of thousands and of hundreds, with the rulers of the kings work, offered willingly [this is entirely a freewill offering], and gave for the service of the house of God of gold five thousand talents . . . According to my calculations thats 125 million dollars worth of gold. David and the elders between them gave the equivalent of 200 million dollars of gold apart from silver and precious stones, wood, marble and all those little odds and ends. Out of their own private fortunes. Thats staggering! And remember, David started as a little shepherd boy on the barren hills of Judea. All that developed in less than 70 years. Practically, you could say, in one generation. I want to suggest to you that something very similar is happening in our world today. You can talk about inflation and you can moan about prices but the fact of the matter is there has never been so much money available anywhere in the world, I would guess, as there is in modern America today. The amount of money in this nation I dont believe anybody could count it.

I live on a small little island in the center of Fort Lauderdale called Sunrise Key. Its got about 50 houses on it. I just sometimes sit down and try to think what those houses and

the property there is worth. Theres not a house on that island that would sell for less than $200,000. The man opposite me this is good news for me he refused $100,000 for a vacant lot. The man kitty-corner from me offered his house for $495,000 for quick sale! Did I ever do myself good when I moved there! I have to say that again. Did the Lord ever do me good when he moved me there! I dont want in any way to seem boastful or arrogant. I acknowledge its all the Lords doing. I find that across this nation God is beginning to prosper his people in a staggering wayif weve got the faith to plug in. If weve got the vision. On my way back from the mission field in Kenya in l962 as a humble, poor missionary with my late wife Lydia, we stopped off in London. I was asked to give a talk to the students of a certain Pentecostal Bible college. I had just begun to read these scriptures and believe what they meant. I told those good, nice Pentecostal Bible students that I believed at the close of this age God was going to release unimaginable sums of money to his people on the basis of what he did for David. They looked at me in blank unbelief. I mean, it didnt even register. I said to myself, All right. If they wont believe, Im not going to waste my efforts on them. Ill find people that will believe. I believe Ive found them! I believe that God is paralleling in our day what he did for Israel in the day of David. Because, God has got a purpose. Whats the purpose? Well, weve always seen it never changes. Its a dwelling place. God wants a dwelling place. He wants to dwell with man. And hes very precise, he never varies in the specifications of his dwelling place. Hes not stingy. He wants everything of the highest quality. Relax, Im not talking about building a super auditorium. Incidentally, one of the brothers related to me out of sheer pressure because they have nowhere to put the people who were coming, a five or six thousand seat auditorium. Theyre buying property all around as if it was going out of style. Every time you turn around theyve bought a new house. They need several acres of parking and they reckon that its going to cost between five and six million dollars and they intend to do it cash. Praise God, I found a man! Its faith. Now, you can borrow that money. If you borrow five million dollars youll end up by paying ten million dollars in interest. Why do that? I mean, again I dont want to be legalistic. Far from it. But the Bible says the borrower is servant to the lender. When we borrow we become servants. God said to Israel, If you will obey me youll be the head and not the tail, youll lend and never borrow. Please dont run away and make a doctrine of that but I do believe that if God could find people that would believe him, we would be astonished at what he would do.

Purpose 2 - God's Provision for His Dwelling Place in Our Day

Now, Im coming to the third and this is the closing section of my message. Gods provision for his dwelling place in our day. Turn to 1 Corinthians 3:1617: Know ye not . . . And almost every time Paul says know ye not the people didnt know. Did you now that? And furthermore, most people still dont know today! You can read know ye not maybe half a dozen times in Pauls letters and almost always the people didnt know what he said know ye not. Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? Notice the word dwell? This is Gods dwelling place. The Greek word is "naos" which means a building built to be the dwelling place of a god. Thats the specific Greek word. If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple you are. You remember that Stephen made the religious Jews mad with rage when he reminded them that the most high does not dwell in temples made with hands. But Peter says God dwells in a temple built of living stones and we are the living stones. We are the temple. Were talking now about Gods ultimate dwelling place which is not made even of gold or silver or any of the marvelously precious materials that God lavished on the temple of Solomon, but something infinitely more precious. Bear in mind people are always more precious than things. When God wants the most precious dwelling place of all, its made up of people, not materials. We are the people. This is Gods dwelling place. If God was so particular and so lavish about the tabernacle of Moses and even more so about the temple of Solomon, both of which perished, were very temporary buildings, do you think that God will be less particular or less lavish about his ultimate, eternal dwelling place? Which is you and me. I personally believe that those examples are given in the Old Testament of the tabernacle and the temple because God wants us to understand, to make and complete his dwelling place it going to cost a lot. Can you accept that? We cannot pay for our redemption. The salvation of a soul cannot be measured in terms of finance. But when it comes to preaching the gospel to all nations, bringing people into a right relationship with God and one another, presenting them with the teaching that they need, doing all the work thats involved, in terms of the modern situation in our world I believe its going to cost billions of dollars. Im talking about literal dollars. I think thats only practical. I think its utterly unrealistic to talk about getting the job done without finance. I have a kind of friendship with Bill Bright of Campus Crusade, a man whom I love and respect. I wouldnt necessarily do everything the way he does it but I have a deep respect for him. Bill Bright has set his sights to raise one billion dollars for Campus Crusade by l980. Do you know what I hope? I hope he gets it. It wont leave any of the rest of us any poorer. I think when Bill Bright talks in those terms financially to get the gospel to every nationwhich is his aimhes realistic. I think its going to cost in terms like that. I believe God has the money ready.

Lets look at just two scriptures and I think youve got the message. Praise God were not taking an offering. Well give you time to digest this before we give the punch line! Turn to Haggai. Do you know what Haggai means? Haggai means my peace. Thats the meaning of that name. One of the things I believe is God is going to teach his people to enjoy his feasts again. Really, I do believe that. Furthermore, Im inclined to think that our feasts are going to begin to coincide with the Jewish calendar. Thats just a thought that comes from somewhere. You dont have to act on it but I think youll find it will work out. Were going to start in Haggai 2:6. For instance, at the season of the Passover or one of the Jewish feasts, when you greet people you say, Khag sameosh. Khag haggai. Khag meaning the feast, sameosh meaning happy. Have a happy feast. Ill say that to you. Khag sameosh, have a happy feast. Enjoy yourself. Haggai 2:6: Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land. That is quoted in Hebrews 10. It is specifically applied to the close of this age. The writer of Hebrews says when God shakes the heavens, thats the ultimate, thats the close of the age. I want you to see were talking in terms of the close of this age. That sets the historical period. I will shake all nations . . . And I believe many of us will live to see that happen. God is going to shake all nations. . . . and the desire of all nations shall come . . . Thats a legitimate translation but I think in the modern translations it says something like the precious things of all nations shall come, the treasures of all nations, is that right? The wealth thats very down to earth, isnt it? What is the wealth of all nations coming to do? . . . I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord. What house? His dwelling place. Hes not talking about the temple that was built in the days of Haggai because that temple disintegrated, it was knocked to pieces 19 centuries ago. Were talking about the close of this age. Gods dwelling place at this time. He says, Ill fill this house with glory. But, he says in order to do that the wealth of the nations is going to come because its going to cost money to do it. How unspiritual! And then God makes a very important statement, verse 8: The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts. Hes the Lord of armies. If anybody contests his claim he can fight them. Thats what it means.

Bear in mind silver in modern Hebrew is money. God says the money is mine. The gold is mine. You realize that. The devil has no legitimate claim to any wealth at all. It all belongs to God. You say the devils got a lot. Thats right. And you remember what Jesus called him. A thief. Thats how he got it. He stole it. He has no legitimate claim to it. When Jesus died and rose from the dead all the treasures of this entire earth became legitimately his. Hes the heir of all things. We are co-heirs with him. Do you realize that? We share the inheritance. So, in actual fact, we have a legitimate right to the silver and the gold through Jesus Christ. Then God returns to the theme of the glory. The glory of this latter house . . . The ultimate house of God. Or, the glory of this house. You can translate it either way. . . . shall be greater than that of the former, saith the Lord of hosts: and in this place [in this house] I will give peace. Its very obvious that that does not refer to the temple that was built in the days of Haggai because that perished in war. Its perfectly clear that the reference is not to that temple. It is the dwelling place of God at the close of this age. What is Gods dwelling place at the close of this age? You and I, his people, his completed church, his body. The Lord says for that purpose the wealth of the nations will come. God states any money thats needed, bear in mind, I own it. You dont have to go pleading to the devil for money. What youve got to do is pry it loose from his dirty fingers. He doesnt have a claim to it. I believe every word Im preaching. Maybe you think Im being super-dramatic but Im not. I actually believe what Im saying. If I can convince you, things will happen. One last picture and its very close. Its in line with the one in Haggai. Isaiah 60:15. This is one of my favorite passages. This is spoken to Gods people again at the close of this age. Its very clear. Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. This is a sovereign act of God. Its nothing weve earned, its Gods program. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people . . . Thats happening, that sets the scene. . . . but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. In nearly all the prophecies that relate to the close of this age the are two themes. Darkness and light. The darkness is getting darker, the light is getting brighter. And there is less and less

possibility of confusing the two. Many interpreters of prophecy have focused almost exclusively on the darkness. Theyve spoken about the antichrist, the great tribulation and all that. All that is true but its not the whole truth. Just as the darkness is getting darker, so the light is getting brighter. I want to remind you we were never commissioned to wait for the antichrist. We are commissioned to wait for the Christ. So many, I would have to say, preachers are almost advertising agents for the antichrist. He doesnt need them. Our business it to proclaim the Christ. I want to tell you that Jesus is already reigning and hes going to reign without ceasing until every enemy has been put under his feet. So, in the midst of the enveloping and surrounding darkness God says, My light is going to come upon you in a way its never come before. Then he says in verse 3and this is the Prince version which is slightly different from the King James but probably the same as the New American Standard: Nations shall come to thy light . . . I like that translation. I believe at the close of this age God is going to deal once again with whole nations. For a long period God has been dealing primarily with individuals. At the beginning of this dispensation or this period of Gods dealings, God dealt with Israel as a nation. The Messiah came to Israel, Israel as a nation rejected him. It says in John 1 he came unto his own people, his own people received him not. Then it becomes an individual matter. But as many as received him . . . After that its no longer national, its individual. Any individual in any nation who receives him. So it has been for maybe nearly 19 centuries. I believe at the close of this age the emphasis is going back to nations. God is going to deal with whole nations as collective units. It says in Matthew 25 when Christ sits on the throne of his glory, all nations shall be gathered before him. And he will separate them as nations the sheep from the goat. Bear in mind the basis of his separation is how they have dealt with the Jews. Nations shall come to thy light, and their kings to the brightness of thy rising . . . I believe we have a message which many of earths rulers need. I think its a standing reproach to the church of Jesus Christ in America that presidents have had to seek to a fortune teller in Washington D.C. Why didnt they come to the church? The answer is because we werent ready for them. I believe God is going to raise up men like Joseph and Daniel who will have the counsel thats needed by the rulers of earths greatest empires. Verse 4: Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together, they come to thee: thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side. [verse 5] Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged . . .

I believe thats happening in our day. We are seeing what God is doing. Because we see we are flowing together. This meeting is a group of groups who have flowed together. Is that right? Our heart fears. I tell you, when you see what God is going to do it will cause a hold awe. God said that all nations would fear because of the prosperity he would procure for Israel. And then be enlarged. If theres one thing that Gods people need in a spiritual and not physical sense is an enlarged heart. Weve been so small minded and so narrow in our vision that we didnt make room for what God intended to do. . . . because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee . . . Thats fascinating. I believe thats a secret. This is my own private little theory. I believe there is great wealth in the sea which is yet to be recovered and made available to man. Anyhow, the next part of the verse is perfectly clear. . . . the forces [or wealth] of the nations shall come unto thee. Do you believe that? I believe that. Why will it come to us? That we can complete the dwelling place of God which is made up of what? Living stones, people. Millions and millions of people, many of whom have never yet been reached even once with the gospel message of Jesus Christ. Nearly one billion people in China practically unreached. Its going to cost a lot, its going to cost lives, its going to cost time, its going to cost everything we have. Its going to cost money. I just want you to believe that God will make all abundance available to us for the work of completing his dwelling place. Amen.