Check out this scripture, Jesus, He's saying this: be careful - Matthew 6:1 - be careful not to do your acts of righteousness before men. In the Hebrew version of Matthew, what do you think that word is? Tzedakah, acts of righteousness, to reveal righteousness. In this context, He's talking about feeding the poor. He says: don't give to the needy before men. Don't do your acts of righteousness to be seen by men. If you do, you'll have no reward from your Father in heaven. Once again, Tzedak, Tzedakah, generosity.
Listen to this scripture, Psalm 37:25-26 says this: I have been young, and now I'm old, yet I've never seen the righteous forsaken, or his children begging for bread. All the day long, he deals generously and lends freely, and his seed is blessed. What's the connection? The writer of Psalm 37 is saying: listen, I've lived a long time, and I've never seen the righteous forsaken. Out of all the adjectives he could use to describe a righteous person, he doesn't say: a righteous person doesn't drink, smoke, chew, dress immodestly, go to the wrong movies, or say the wrong words. He doesn't make it about behaviour. What does he make it about? He says you could tell a righteous person is righteous, because he's dealing generously always; and you've got to understand, in the language, it just makes sense. He would have said: Tzedak people do Tzedakah.
Look at the other one, Psalm 112:5. A righteous man shows generosity and lends freely. He guides his business with fairness. Once again, in Hebrew all it would say is this: A Tzedak person shows Tzedakah. It has a ring to it. Now "the Righteous" is written "Ha tzedak", so its: Ha tzedak shows tzedakah. In other words, the righteous are the generous. It's developing a generous spirit.
How important is this, to develop a righteous spirit, a generous spirit? Very. I'll go where no man will go - I'm leaving tomorrow anyway, alright, so there's this one scripture, if I could be just totally open and honest with you - which I can - that scares me to death. If you have a heart beating in your body, it should scare you, because it's in red letters, and Jesus is pretty serious. This is what He says: Many will say to Me in that day Lord, Lord, and I'll say I didn't know you. Anybody scared yet? Why? Because many sounds like me, right? Sounds like I could be in there, right? Many will say to Me in that day Lord, Lord, and I'll say I didn't know you. They'll say: hold on, no, You must be mistaken. We're the guys who cast out devils, and we're the guys who prophesy. He said: yeah, but I still don't know you. So these people called many - that's a lot - these people called many, not only had cried out Lord, Lord, but they had operated in a bit of power. Now here was what scared me.
I could not find anything that separated me from them. I couldn't. Had I cried out Lord, Lord? Yes. Have you cried out Lord, Lord? Yes. Okay, well that fits. Have you ever cast out devils? Yes, I've done it a few times. Have you ever prophesied over someone, have a word of knowledge, things like that? Yes. So have I - so I and you sound like them. The people, it seems to me, that in this passage Jesus is saying: there are a lot of people at the end of the day, who think they're in, but they're actually out. They're actually surprised that He doesn't know them, and who is He describing there? Pentecostal leaders, people who've thrown out devils, people who've prophesied, people who've cried out Lord, Lord; yet He still didn't know them. That scared me to death. Why? Because I'm them, and 90 per cent of the people I minister to, fit this description! It was terribly scary, so I went to my seminary professor.
He has his PhD in theology, so he should know; so I said: listen, what do we do with this? This was his answer: Shane, that scripture does not apply to you, because you're saved; to which I said: look, I respect that, but with all due respect, they thought they were saved. These people He's describing, they are totally stunned, dazed, amazed and confused that He doesn't know them. He goes: yeah, but Shane it doesn't apply to you, because you're saved. I said: man, with all due respect, that doesn't cut it. He said: it's going to have to cut it, because it's my only answer. I said: well fair enough, he's just - okay, so am I right? We're just all - so for 15 years I've prayed a prayer like this. Lord Jesus, if I'm in that category, please be kind enough to tell me - like at least give me a chance here. I don't want to be totally dazed, amazed, stunned and confused, alright?