After they start believing in the Lord, many brothers and sisters forsake and expend for the Lord and they carry out their tasks amidst great adversity. Some make frequent donations, some busy themselves with spreading the gospel, some give sermons wherever they go, and some even abandon their marriages and serve the Lord for the rest of their lives…. Many brothers and sisters believe that this is to worship God in spirit and in truth. But have we ever considered whether we pay this price to love and satisfy the Lord? If we think about it carefully, although we work and preach the gospel for the Lord, sometimes we still show off and testify ourselves through propounding the Bible to win the esteem and support of others, and to establish our own position and image. Although some brothers and sisters forsake, expend, toil, and work, they possess many impurities, and they do these things for the sake of gaining rewards and crowns, and so that they may enjoy the blessings of the heavenly kingdom…. We can then see that we pay a price and expend ourselves not with an honest heart out of consideration for God’s burden and to satisfy God’s will, but rather we work, preach the gospel, give things up and expend ourselves in order to satisfy our own selfish desires, and we struggle for our own futures and positions. This is not worshiping God in spirit and in truth. Paying a price and expending in this way is bargaining with God, and it cannot win the Lord’s approval. The Lord Jesus said, “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name? and in your name have cast out devils? and in your name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess to them, I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:22–23). The Lord condemned people who preached and worked for Him as people who worked iniquity. This was because they did not worship God in spirit and in truth, nor did they expend sincerely for God. Instead, they wished to work for the Lord in exchange for rewards and blessings. They struggled and toiled for the sake of their own final destinations, and for fame, fortune and status. Ultimately, not only did they not win the Lord’s approval for the price they paid, but on the contrary, they were condemned by the Lord. Take the Pharisees of that time, for example. For generations, they read the Scripture and attended the temple in all weathers to worship Jehovah God. They traveled over land and sea to spread the gospel of Jehovah, they expended by giving up their families and businesses, and they suffered much. But nothing they did was done for the sake of loving God or satisfying God, but rather was done for the sake of their own positions and livelihoods. When the Lord Jesus came to perform His work, they knew perfectly well that the works and words of the Lord Jesus possessed authority and power, and that it all came from God, yet they did not seek or investigate at all. Instead, they defined the Lord according to their own notions and imaginings, believing that a man who was not called Messiah could not possibly be God. In particular, when they saw the growing number of common people who followed the Lord Jesus, they became afraid that no one would follow them anymore, and that their positions and livelihoods were unsustainable. And so, they took every opportunity to attack, judge, condemn, and blaspheme Him, until finally they crucified the Lord Jesus. From this, we can see that the Pharisees did not worship God in spirit and in truth. They appeared pious on the outside, but their essence was hypocritical and deceitful, and therefore the Lord Jesus rebuked them, saying, “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!” (Matthew 23:13).