Q&A: HOW DO I NOT WASTE MY LIFE LIKE SOLOMON IN SELF-INDULGENCE, PLEASURES & MATERIALISM?

but what does God say about over indulge errs that this is literally what was written on the paper and under enjoyers and then they cite that's Ecclesiastes the ECC else and the simple answer Christ offers us in every age the same truth we all need to deny our selfishness and to live abundantly for him so that answers it but I think what they're asking is how do you interpret Ecclesiastes so let's let's start heading to Ecclesiastes okay we have a sword drill okay please the estie's one charge and what you do is open to the middle of your Bible to Psalms and then go to the right proverbs and there it is Ecclesiastes it's a little twelve chapter book that has a lot of interesting elements in it and by the way this is a conclusion of Ecclesiastes and that's why I said to this question what does God say about over indulges and under enjoyers that's what the whole book of Ecclesiastes is about and God wrote the conclusion and and many of you probably memorized it let's hear the conclusion of the whole manner fear God and keep his Commandments for that's the whole duty of man for God will bring every work into judgment and that's that is the same simple answer the Lord is always given we all need to deny ourselves we need to live among that Lee for him 1st Corinthians 10:31 whether therefore you eat or drink whatever you do do it to the glory of God and Micah 6:8 what does the Lord require thee but to do justly and walk humbly with God and that concept is permeating the Bible but let let's look at this and what we're looking at is the fact that no obscure verse in Ecclesiastes and we're gonna go through all those verses that they asked about but no obscure verse now remember most cults have found an obscure verse that they build their cult around but no obscure verse in God's Word ever will negate the rest of the clear and powerful passages so if ever reading along and you read this and you go huh oh no what about this those are always congruent when you see God's plan no little plucked out of its context verse in Ecclesiastes or anywhere else negates the rest it fits with them so that's important to always think about anytime you're studying the Bible and God has already clearly said that he desires us to walk in the spirit and so anything in Ecclesiastes is not countering that also the Lord has clearly said and Jesus over and over said in his earthly ministry and by the way every if some people say they seem to think that the red letters the words written in LED red letters are more impactful in other words what's written in red in your Bible the words of Christ but Peter tells us that it was the spirit of Christ that that breathed out through every one of the Old Testament writers so in other words if you really want to know what Christ said the whole Bible should be in read all of the Bible it's Moses didn't think that up those aren't Moses words those are God's words that he used the instrumentality of a servant Moses so these these words were looking at in Ecclesiastes aren't Solomon's words they were inspired they're breathed out through the Spirit of Christ which was prophesying through them so we know that the Bible is engineered so that no one part of it is is detachable from the rest it's all a wonderfully orchestrated message so we're not supposed to live for less flesh in the eyes and pride and we're to take up our cross daily but what does that have to do with Ecclesiastes well the Lord does say he has given us all things richly to enjoy that's first Timothy 6:17 and so and he says we're supposed to live life more abundantly and that's John 10 and so the same author that says all those things will balance it for us if we'll really take our time to walk through it so so it's not like one little verse pulled out negates everything else this is the core of the Bible and the author of both the old and new testament says I've given you everything richly to enjoy and I want you to live life and not just live it I want you to live it overwhelming over flowingly abundantly so what is Ecclesiastes and these are what the questioner this is the first of the questions that that you saw previously what is Ecclesiastes 5 1 through 7 8 to 17 18 to 20 teaching us from God that's really I think what they were asking and so to answer that what we have to say is what's the big picture remember you never just dive in and start dissecting one verse before I mean if in anything I mean recently arriving along one of my children so what's a marine biologist and I said well bio is life all logia means to study and marine means something that lives in water they study it but I said why do you ask there's just a bigger picture here are you talking about saltwater are you talking about freshwater are you talking about plants are you talking about animals I mean you have to back up so if you want to know what Ecclesiastes 5 is all about you have to step back for a second and say well how did we get Ecclesiastes 5 who is this author because the author of scripture colors the message doesn't change the message the scripture is one of the most beautiful illustrations of inspiration is by a guy named gal sin he was a theologian who wrote a beautiful treatise on inspiration what he said is the pure light of God shines through the stained-glass windows of the 40 biblical authors it never ceases being the pure light but it takes the color of the author what is the color that Solomon brings that's the first thing and then what exactly is the structure the message the content of Ecclesiastes so before you can look at this and this and this those pieces you have to look at what are what what is the full 12 chapter treatise that you're pulling these out of what is the the type of literature what is it saying and then who wrote it what coloring comes through and and all the way through I mean you could do this for any book of the Bible Luke writes in Greek that that is parallel with the most marvellous writers of all history Luke's Greek is unparalleled Peters Greek is just what he was it's more like a a farmer blacksmith kind of talk that is very much a fisherman's type of talk Paul should have been a lawyer I mean he reasons boomp ba-bump ba-bump and that shows up so the the author colors but then the structure of what we get so who is Solomon and just just for a moment I want you to think with me Solomon more than any other person in history had the world at his feet now think about why Ecclesiastes is written like it's written it's written about contentment is written about material possessions it's written about pleasure and God is always in the background of those what is going on well if you think about Solomon look at chapter one and we're in the book of Ecclesiastes and this is the simple run-up to his message verse 16 it says I have communed with my heart saying look I have attained greatness I have gained wisdom and and all more than Alba for me in Jerusalem my heart has understood great wisdom and knowledge and on and on he goes he was unsurpassed in his education analogy god gave him remember his wish and what do you wish for I want wisdom and God made him unsurpassed in in his understanding secondly he was unbridled his ability and desire to pursue and find pleasure look what he says in chapter 2 verse 3 I searched in my heart how to gratify my flesh with wine while guiding my heart was wisdom and how to lay hold on folly till I might see what was good for the sons of man as you under heaven and all the days of their lives in other words he says I have unlimited budget I have unlimited power I have unlimited ability to process I'm going to I'm going to explore everything this is an amazing man he was in the peak of worldly fame you know that everybody's sought audience with him in the ancient world because it says he was wiser than and names off all the you know he's in the ezra height and whoever the all these people are known in the world Solomon surpassed them all because God blessed him and so he was worldly famous popular prominent and people sought him out and finally he was possessor of uncountable wealth and possessions in fact I was adding up if you look if you ever even want to think about it his father in first chronicles 20 to gave to here I mean first maybe a second Samuel now I'm gonna have to look now you've got me thinking about this because it actually counts how much he gives his son and what he does is he gives him in the millions of ounces let me just see if I can find those reading it this afternoon and it's let me try now first Chronicles I shouldn't quote some unless I've looked it up but I read it here it is it's it's first Chronicles it is first Chronicles 22 and what it says in first Chronicles you should always think what you thought first it says that this is what Solomon Solomon inherits you talk about uncountable wealth how would you like a dad that passes on to you five thousand tons of gold tons five thousand tons you how many ounces that is 160 million ounces of gold what was gold spot Friday close 13 something I don't know what it was but it's 13 hundred and some dollars an ounce and he had 160 million ounces throw the three zeros on there and you've already gone beyond the wealth of anybody that's alive today the only people who have that much money are in debt that much like our government and you know others and then you go 1.3 we're talking about 200 billion plus dollars nobody has that type of wealth today that was the starting point for Solomon and he just went beyond and that was just the gold he it also says in first chronicles 22 not only have I given 5,000 tons of gold I have given 1 million talents of silver and that's 1.6 billion ounces of silver ounces spots silver Friday I looked it up was 20 bucks an ounce that's 32 billion more dollars and change so he's got 200 billion and hard stuff and 30 billion and change that's a quarter of a trillion dollars that was what his father had saved for the construction projects so he had uncountable wealth we don't even know what and we're not talking about paper nowadays people have electronic wealth and paper wealth this was hard this was was actual okay now where does where does this writing occur some have said that Solomon's three books flow from the periods of his life the Song of Solomon was when he was a young man and loved and that you talk about that is a beautiful effect internally in Song of Solomon when you get to the eighth chapter it says the setting of the book Solomon owned all these farms and everything and nobody had Facebook back then or any Instagram or anything else so really people didn't know what he looked like I mean how far away I mean did most people stand from the king with with no photography available back then so he went to one of his farms one day dressed up like a farmer and worked the fields it was a vineyard actually and he worked across the vine from the prettiest girl in the vineyard and he spent the summer harvest year or the fall or whenever they harvest with that young lady and gradually the whole book of Song of Solomon see him falling in love with this girl and then he makes a promise and she said yes she'll marry him and when she gets all ready to marry him he disappears and she thought another one you know you know made promises and fled and a few days later the trumpet sounds and the owner of the vineyard shows up and he's riding a chariot and he has these mighty men with him and everybody says it's the king it's the king and he pulls up and all the workers stand in front of the vineyard because there's that's who they work for and the king takes off his his you know headdress or whatever he was wearing and he starts walking looking and as he walks down the workers he can't help but smile and he looks her in the eye and all of a sudden she goes it's you see that's what Song of Solomon is about and the whole thing is a portrait of Christ in the church and we see him and know him and love him but that's his first book his second book is from the wisdom of a mature man at a Zenith and proverbs just flows from all of that but then Ecclesiastes is from an old and bitter man looking back and his wasted opportunities and that's really the flavor you get so to understand Ecclesiastes you have to understand even not only who wrote it but what was going on in his life and the stage and and what he's doing and so Solomon basically is writing from the that that he's wasting his life he was the richest man who ever lived god blessed him with any pro yet you talk about a genie bottle how would you like the guy to the University whatever you want I'll give you and he he asked well he had personal visits not just once did God meet with him he would offer these sacrifices and the Lord would appear and meet with him and he had all this blessing he had the the blessing of the wisdom God gave him he had his father's inheritance plus he expanded that he tried we already read that in chapter 2 of Ecclesiastes the wine women and the palatial living and you know what the the setting is for cleese yes teas he's the proverbial womanizer of all 700 wives 300 concubines and he never met a woman he didn't like and was always looking for one more and nothing satisfied him and the hands that start out at the beginning of his life is the wise sacrificial son of David the man after God's own heart the man that the Bible writes about more anything else those hands that had been spread out to God in prayer the rest of his life were pulled back instead and it ends up his hands are grasping the idols of paganism because these women he married draw his heart away from God and even to this day if you go to Jerusalem there's a hill it's called the hill of offense it's still there from Solomon and by the way the United Nations buildings on top of it isn't that fitting I mean the hill of offense where his pagan wives had all their temples to their idols it's still in Jerusalem court saddles are all you know broken up and carried away because they were made of precious metals but on that spot still today we remember the the women who stole his heart in his heart of zeal for the living and true God became cold and distant and empty and and from that final era trickles out this Spirit of God and book that that we're wondering about Chapter five so I mean that changes everything so what is it Cleese es T's basically after a life of pursuing things solomon confesses something and look at look at the end of the book chapter twelve in fact I know some of you are always on the prowl for some good verses to memorize well here that the conclusion is I remember I had to learn this way back at Lake Lansing Baptist Church in Lansing Michigan when I was in high school youth group it was part of what she had to learn to to get a scholarship for camp and and this verse summarizes how how parallel the scriptures are the old and the New Testament because look what it says after this entire 12 chapters he says let us hear the conclusion of the whole manner fear God keep his Commandments for this is man's all for God will bring every work in the judgment everything we do in our life all the wine the women and the palatial living and everything else Solomon says is going to be brought into judgment including every secret thing like we looked at this morning God's wrath is focused on even the secret sins and he knew it and by the way remember what Jesus said and in it it is very much jesus knew solomon he knew him personally in fact he knew his thoughts he knew his deeds he knew everything and you remember jesus says what does it profit y'all know that verse though you gain the whole world you're the smartest and got the every woman in the world and your father gives you two hundred and thirty billion dollars worth of hard assets what does it profit you if you lose your own soul so after a life of pursuit of things solomon confesses with christ that one may well gain the whole world and still lose his own soul he's talking about that what he's saying is all that matters is God and so only in the Lord is there any hope for this life solomon proofs in fact you could you could always almost title Ecclesiastes is a funny name in Hebrew Co helis is what it actually is called it's the the preacher or the the one who declares but but actually this would be a best-seller if it says rich Jew the richest Jew with all the women offers advice on finance and and family you know or something like that it would be a best-seller you know but actually Ecclesiastes it kind of masks the message but do you know what his message is only in the Lord is there any hope for this life none of us in this room or on earth today could experience what he experienced no one else will have the acuity of mine he had and the unlimited quarter of a trillion dollars to build and do and go and have whatever you want as much as you want I mean he ate it says in the Bible that silver became like rocks like stones on the ground they just they had so much silver they threw it on the ground he only let gold touch up he a dime gold he sat on gold I mean nobody in the history of the world not even the pharaohs were like that in fact some of the pharaohs used his money because they came up and stripped it all and took it all away from his son all the temple gold everybody wonders where all the gold go where do you think it went she shacked the the pharaoh came and stripped everything and hauled it away under REO boom his son we must meet the one shepherd look at chapter 12 verse 11 you talk about connecting the bible you talk about this being relevant to us solomon under the inspiration of god says the words of the wise men are like goats and the words of scholars are like well driven nails given by one shepherd if you will say whoa wait a minute when is God ever called a shepherd well who was Solomon's dad David he said the Lord is what my shepherd yeah see he grew up knowing that the Lord was a shepherd and what he's saying right here is in verse 11 he says the this we have to get to know that one shepherd and we know when that one shepherd walked the earth and John 10:9 and 10 he says I am come that you might have life the the thief the devil and his minions come to kill and steal destroy but I'm come that you might have life and not just barely eke out an existence but have life that is more abundant so Ecclesiastes is a phenomenal book it's inspired by God so the wisdom literature all of it is from God and we have to realize that this is just set in the middle of five books this this is the you know this question takes us to the fourth of the five books but job job is all about Christ our Redeemer I know that my redeemer lives and he gives the truth about suffering Psalms that that Solomon's dad wrote Christ is a shepherd that he talked about Proverbs of Solomon wrote Christ is the wisdom incarnate and all the way through proverbs it talks about in points toward that one who was with God laying the foundation world and wisdom it's a personification of wisdom but now we get to Ecclesiastes Christ is the only hope of contentment and that gives the truth of God on life contentment by the way is not commanded it's offered we are offered contentment we have to learn it and then of course Song of Solomon God on love but that's the wisdom literature if you remember a while back this was a question I just brought the chart back we have the beautiful structure of the Bible that we studied that night there are 17 books in a row before we get to the center of the Bible which have these five wisdom books and then it's followed by 17 more prophetic books and all of the the beautiful parallelism in the way that is Rou put the books of Ezra's on that put the books in order that we have in our Bible today but job is a wisdom book about suffering in Psalms about worship and proverbs about living and song sound about loving but this fifth chapter is is taken right out of the center of the Bible giving us a theology a framework from God about how to have a godly life Ecclesiastes is a a very important book to have a structure for how to process your job your money pleasures recreation where work fits and how God overshadows all of those things and that's why Ecclesiastes was written it's it's very very very big and vital book so Ecclesiastes is from God God divinely inspired Solomon to record the truth of what it takes look at this to have contentment contentment in life as a believer Ecclesiastes was not written hanging out there it was part of a master plan see God master planned the Bible and he had Moses do part of it and then he had Samuel and and all of the the the priests you know record all those chronicles and stuff and he had David put in all that worship stuff and drove way back and then he had Solomon fit in and and this this book is about contentment it's a philosophy of life that's why a lot of people Ecclesiastes is hard to read because it's philosophy it's not fun it's it's provocative a philosophy of life for us as Christians the Lord has given us revelation now remember Ecclesiastes is inspired and inspired means it's revelation it is God giving us something we wouldn't know if he hadn't given it to us and it flawlessly comes to us without error the very breath of God to help us govern our temporal life see we are here temporarily remember Peter says we live in tents and Paul talks about that he says my tent temps speak of temporality our temporal lives on earth he didn't leave us alone to kind of come up with her own plan so please est is that plan we might distill the essential truths if you read all 12 chapters to hit this fifth chapter Solomon says life apart from God and there's a key word a hovel it means a vanity that's the name of one of the two sons of Adam and Eve that the life is just you know Abel was was just like a breath like just a vapor he lived a little while and his brother killed him and and even that God designed but apart from God life is vain and life with God look at this this is where some Christians are life with God can be vain if contentment is not practiced Solomon was with God remember if you've done the walk through the Bible stuff 400 steps you know that that we're doing in Nepal which parallels the walks through the Bible remember Saul had no heart David had whole heart Solomon had what half heart he was a believer he was living with God but his life was vain because he didn't learn what Paul says godliness with contentment is great gain and I have learned Paul said in whatever stadium to be content if you don't learn that life just is vanity just chasing after wind the key word of this book is vanity 37 times Ecclesiastes uses the word vanity the key phrase is under the Sun 28 times that's that that is it's only in this book God inspired Solomon to use this this concept that's only in this book and it means when you read the book vanity is is just you know chasing after win and never getting something you're always it's elusive and under the Sun means from an earth is all there is perspective if you live under the Sun it means this is all there is I'm just gonna live for the moment kind of an epicurean philosophy so what you can learn and in fact that's I told you it's philosophy of life and some of your thinking will never get too you're right we I told Bonnie I said it took me all afternoon to type my notes on this question I said honey if it took me all afternoon to type it'll take me longer to say it remember I only type with two fingers but there are wrong philosophies I'm interested you can see this if you look at Ecclesiastes 1 starting in verse 4 you have one of the most beautiful illustrations of some wrong philosophies without the addition of God humanism is great that means your glorious so exalt yourself and that's what Solomon does and life is a constant promotion of human dignity personal worth inherent value totally apart from the Lord that's what humanism is and mankind is in charge and by studying hard work we continually better ourselves we're evolutionary and we're just going to get better and better if I wait till next Sunday if the Lord tarries when we look at the fact that God does not intervene in the earth directly with a zap until the sixth seal of Revelation humanity is able to destroy itself just left to ourselves and we'll cover that next week and we're doing a job right now epicureanism starts in chapter 2 look what what we've already read but look what Solomon says I said my heart come now I will test you with mirth I will enjoy pleasure but this was fantasy and he searches how to gratify verse 3 is this is the epicurean member Paul saw the Stoics they're kind of like the Puritans and the Epicureans they're like Californians you know I can say that because I'm from California I live there we had children there did you know California is like a cereal box when you take out the fruit and the nuts the fruits and the nuts all you have left are the flakes you know and there are a lot of epicurean philosophies in California and life is a party and go for it and this makes life a chase for satisfying lust and by the way lust is reptilian that means the longer you feed it the bigger it gets and it's impossible to satisfy it because there's a diminishing return on every feeding so you feed your lust you feed your last you feed your last did you did you read you want to read something sobering read the testimony of this guy that just got convicted and a thousand years prison sentence in Cleveland the one that in that chained up and incarcerated three women and raped them for a decade Reid hoodie said he said his life was ruined by pornography because what excited him here it took this much to excite him it took this much to excite him finally he couldn't be excited so he had to enslave three children and keep them for a decade that's Epicureanism at its hilt life is a party go for it and you chase trying to satisfy lust and it's impossible you can never satisfy lust it is it is weld Solomon said it the eyes of humans are never satisfied you think that you want to be satisfied with art you'll never have enough Jay I mean William Randolph Hearst the remember the guy Patty Hearst what father our grandfather the richest man at one point in America was an art addict and he bought all the art of Europe and he kept sending people out to buy it and they would find that he already had it because he was never satisfied he already had the art and Epicureanism which this book and materialism I mean starting in verse 12 then I turned myself to consider wisdom madness and folly and what he starts talking about is he talks about the fact that that no matter what he went for all he could get whether it was you know having all the books or remember he says of the reading of books there's no end worth is based on things and possessions and accomplishments and degrees and everything else and never satisfies and then he then he talks about in Chapter three fatalism life is rigged so resign yourself to live passively and it produces despair and resignation and cynicism I mean look at how Nietzsche and others ended their lives you know with syphilis and blind and and they were the the great you know fatalistic philosophers and then Salman goes on and says he talks about the fact was God even involved and deism says God is busy he's with other things go it alone and so you get detached and you get lonely and get in despair I mean that's why a lot of people don't like Ecclesiastes it's kind of sad and then mere religion you live by man's rules a man wisdom instead of God's Word and this life has as Paul says a form of godliness but it denies the power and then cleese EST studies wealth and that's now we've gotten right here and right here see you knew I was going somewhere that's the question and and you understand that he's he's gone from God and one through eight to wealth in nine onward which we're gonna look at and and what Solomon finds is that if you're living for wealth it's just an endless chasing after stuff and status and pleasures chasing and you never get them I mean when you get them it's not what you wanted you want another one or a different one or a bigger one or more of one or whatever and then finally the book ends with a study of morality try your best as much good as possible which is what moralists say and this is powerless in the presence of ever-growing wickedness see solomon found his heart was getting more and more wicked the darkening by the pagan I mean his wives were worshipping idols that needed human sacrifices and he is declining in the darkness like con Joseph Conrad said oh the heart of darkness and that's what he's feeling his morality was was not able because it morality is powerless in the presence of ever-growing wickedness and that's the problem America has right now ever-growing wickedness we've removed anything that can stop the wickedness I'm talking about our nation not us and we're reaping it that's it's not gun control its heart control we need in this country bad hearts use guns badly good hearts don't but we don't want to deal with the heart we just want to deal with controlling stuff so what now we have eight minutes what is Ecclesiastes five about and I'm glad whoever asks I've forgotten now who asked the question the first look look at the beginning of chapter five and and I'm not gonna go through this except what he's talking about here is summarized in verse two do not be wrath with your mouth and and let not your heart under anything hastily before God because God is in heaven and you're on earth therefore let your words be few what he said is the first part is be honest to God realize God here's what you say don't rashly talk and make vows and promises because even if the people around you forget God never does in fact I had a great talk with one of our teenagers this morning walking across the fellowship center I says how you doing and and this person said well I'm not getting to my Bible reading because I'm so busy with other my games in my computer and television I said you want any advice he said I have a lot of some advices here's the advice make a sacred vow god hears it say that I won't start my games and my television my internet and my poking and whatever pinning and everything else until I make room for you and it was amazing he said he hears that I said mm-hmm and he'll give you the strength to keep your your vow to him that he's first now this is what we're gonna like it be honest to others and now be honest to yourself and so let's get into this nine lessons about wealth from Ecclesiastes five okay look at verse 10 and this is I'm glad they asked the question in fact I had this written in my Bible I actually look at this and I know that that I heard this in a sermon somewhere because I write in my Bible and I do go to church myself you know when I'm not here and and this is kind of a combination of things that I have heard over the years preach time but look what it says verse 10 he who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver nor he who loves abundance with increase this is vanity whoever loves money never has enough money that's John D Rockefellers mantra remember he said all I want is one more dollar all Solomon is one more wife whoever loves possessions it's not just money money is distilled time it money it gives us the opportunity to look for happiness because we don't have to work see back then you had to work to eat if you had money you didn't have to work until the money ran out so you could look for something whoever has the opportunity to look for something never has enough of what they're looking for the more you have the more you want it's the first lesson God wrote this and God says the more you have the more you want it's an endless vicious cycle we're I mean when we're when a teenager you dream of this when you get there and have it your dream of that when you're there your dream of this and it's just like endless until you're too sick and and you you can't have any more and you're getting weak but it's just I'm talking about human nature the more we have the more we want now look at the the other half of verse 10 he who loves abundance is never satisfied with increase whoever loves wealth or abundance is never satisfied with his income the more you have look at this the less you're satisfied God is saying be careful these are laws built into the universe where we live and the first law is the more you pile up the more you're gonna want to pile up and then the more you have piled up the lesser pile satisfies you david was literally the wealthiest man that's ever lived ever with he's the one that gave the million talents of silver and a hundred thousand talents of gold to his son solomon the bulk of his estate was given to him david who had everything david never lost a battle David was never even wounded in battle David's name he's a one named person his first name and he's known around the world two three thousand years after he'd lived he's unbelievable yet he didn't have enough he had to walk up to the edge of his his balcony and he had to look around and look for someone else Bathsheba a young young girl the more you have the less you're satisfied solomon knew that from his own dad in his own life now now look at verse 11 what it says when goods increase the increase who who eat them consumers increase the more you have the more people including the government will come after I was just sitting at a conference my right so Jay was with the Christian medical and dental and I was sitting talking to doctors and I said what is one of the thing they struggle with you struggle with this doctor and they says everybody that sees me wants something they want my money they think I'm rich they don't realize all the government regulations and Medicare downsizing and sequesteration is lowering my income and all my staff is bleeding me because I don't get as much in I've got to pay out in me but this doctor said it seems like I'm on everybody's list well you know what the more goods you have the more wealth the consumers increase and the more you have the more people will come after it whether it's you know you got to carry a million dollar umbrella of liability insurance or ten million because the more you have the more people will want it and verse 11 continues and what benefit are they to the owner except to feast his eyes on them the more you have the more you realize it does you no good you got to protect it all you got to put your treasures buying cases with with burglar alarms I mean everybody has a burglar alarm don't they you have to have one in your car you have to have one in your house and you've got a higher security being live in gated communities because what benefit is all the stuff because you can only look at it from a distance because it does you no good because everybody wants it in it this I mean this should be a Bible study on Manhattan for those people that are rushing around with their flash trading making a million dollars some of them a day and they're so unhappy and their wives are divorcing and that's what all the TV series are about the more you have the more everyone will come after it and the more you can just look at it you can't even use it they have all the gizmos but they don't even have time to enjoy them and now it's one minute's time to go and we'll pick up there look at verse 12 this is so pretty the sleep of a laboring man is sweet whether he eats little or much but the abundance of the rich will not permit him to sleep as walking I was watching or reading a little piece on Bloomberg about how the restaurant tiers of Manhattan have to labor to give something new to those ultra the uber wealthy and and you know they're they're stuffing cockroaches with hummingbird tongues because they I mean no no people people eat bugs and and they they have to be exotic it has to be something no one else has ever seen or heard of and it has to cost a lot but look the ability to eat hummingbird tongues stuffed in you know what Evers permits him no sleep but the the poor labor that works up here in Goebbels or wherever doing the vineyards is so tired after he works all day long as an undocumented labor her and gets just enough money to buy food on the way home in the old car that barely runs in his little family packed in a room and all eight or ten of them are in there and they eat it all boy does he sleep with no little pills right see God says wealth is to test our hearts and to see if we're going to get our want or under control if we're gonna find real satisfaction from him only Christ can satisfy us whether we can find that did you know john d rockefeller the first billionaire in history couldn't he was sick he had you know some type of like anorexia nervosa kind of a he was shriveling up until he started giving us money away at age 53 they thought he was going to die at 53 and so on wisely counselling him start giving your billions away and he lived to 98 and the Rockefeller Foundation still going on so let's all stand it's 716 up we went over time see the more time you have the more you want it even happens in church but we'll have to pick up there next time because did you know it actually even gets better than this and so and you ought to see the other questions that are coming after this one I just saw someone said can you summarize in only one night 2nd Peter and I thought that would be a challenge and and etc but here the conclusion of the whole matter fear God and do what he says that's our whole do yep so we started last time and I'm just gonna pick up especially for anybody that missed it the simple answer I mean if we were trying to get through everything I would just answer this way that the simple answer is Christ offers in every age the same truth we all need to deny our selfishness and live abundantly for him so we aren't supposed to over indulge and we're not supposed to under enjoy in fact of all people in the earth we're supposed to be living life most abundantly and escapades that's what you said about me this morning escapades well I'll tell you another escapade I did an escapade once delivering Bibles in Albania or around albania and i got caught by the army and imprisoned it was very fun but a different escapade was I was with my wonderful wife Bonnie and we were thinking we would never travel again the rest of our life because we were expecting our second child and so I took her on a trip to Europe a shoestring trip to Europe the idea was we'd sleep on the trains and she was about eight months along I was the only one that slept on the train you know because she couldn't find a comfortable spot but we we did save up our money and one night we stayed somewhere and it was at knowing Schwann Stein if you've ever heard of it in garmisch and southern Germany it's the castle that Disney World is got in the center the model of the castle what we were staying at is in the center of all the Disney properties it's really pretty and we were staying there and we were alone there was nobody else there it was February and freezing cold and wet and damp and and so I thought wow we're gonna have fun so we sat at this restaurant for two and a half to three hours eating and and we were as normal we just were sitting there eating and reading and discussing the Bible and at the end of two and a half hours the couple we didn't see around the corner came to our table and they said we've watched you for two and a half hours and we have one question why are you so tranquil did you know we're supposed to be the ones enjoying life that the world sees tranquility the the reality of Christ so we went to Ecclesiastes and we looked at who wrote Ecclesiastes and then we looked at what's the context and I'm not gonna repeat all this and we got to write there and then we started jumping into the fifth chapter and we learned this whoever loves money it's not has money so the predicator is whoever loves money never has enough and that means the more you have the more you want if you love wealth you're never satisfied with your income it's kind of the one more dollar syndrome and so that means the more you have the less you're satisfied and Christ came to satisfy us and and we are to be living the life that that the unsatisfied emptiness of the world longs to know about what we have and as Goods increase the Bible says so do those who consume them and so that's the more you have the more people including the government are going to come after it and and what benefit are they to the owner except to feast his eyes on you get to the point where you have so much you can't even enjoy it because you got to protect it and guard it you're working all the time you can't even use it and then finally we ended last time with the labor of the the sleep of the labor is sweet whether he eats little or much but the abundance of the rich man doesn't even let him sleep and I ended with a commentary on you know just good old hard work and how people that are poor and work hard dropped into bed and fall asleep and those who are rich and have everything can't sleep because either they're eating too exotic food or they're worried you know about the markets going 24 hours and they're not able to keep up with it and so the lesson is the more you have the more you have to worry about so let's continue in doesn't like me tonight there we go let's continue look at verse 13 and if you're in Ecclesiastes 5 I actually have these written in my Bible I actually heard this as a sermon once and and I'm not sure what the sermon said but I know what I wrote in my Bible and that's what I wrote up here and if you look at at verse 13 there is a severe evil please I ask you is 5:13 which I've seen under the sun riches kept for their owners to his herte and basically the idea is the more you have the more you can hurt yourself by holding on to it now we're gonna go in a moment to the New Testament parallel passage which the Apostle Paul remember the Bible that Paul read and studied and had his devotions out of was the Old Testament so the biblical writers Christ himself and the Apostles knew the Old Testament very well and and therefore you see a lot of selections of this in fact Paul says about this one he says those that want to be rich pierced themselves through with many sorrows and the idea is that that our wealth can become like a sharp piercing object to us if we're holding too tightly to it and and he said a severe evil I've seen rich is kept for their owner to his hurt and so the more you have the more you can hurt yourself by holding on to it in other words wealth is not the the purpose of wealth that the Bible presents is that that God is the owner we are a steward and as he gives us wealth he's looking to see whether or not we're holding it thinking were the owner it's a test of our understanding of our role as stewards that that all that I have comes from you for all I have belongs to you nothing I own nothing I possess is by my own hands it's by your faithfulness I'm quoting a hymn so please take this offering from our heart of Thanksgiving for you've given all I have the heart of a believer is one who says that all I have belongs to you I must Stuart it's just like children children are a gift from the Lord I didn't pick him God sent them they didn't pick me God sent them and we are stewards raising children on behalf of God in his place in this world they don't belong to us they belong to him money it's the same and and we have to realize that so our wealth in verse 14 says or wealth lost through some misfortune the more you have the more you have to lose and if you notice David the US Federal Reserve Bank you know what's on all of our money that's actually a privately held corporation they are buying government bonds and bonds have switched in their interest rate and so the value of them is decreasing and the US Federal Reserve has lost one hundred and ninety two billion dollars in the last few weeks it's a lot of money they lost it faster than America's losing money you know our fast and we're going in debt the more you have the more you have to lose the Federal Reserve only has thirty two billion dollars in capital left if they keep losing at this rate not only is the US government going broke the Federal Reserve which prints the money is going to go broke but the what the Lord is saying is we can the more we have the more we can lose and it's just a principle of wealth we need to think about here's another one naked a man comes from his mother's womb and as he comes so he departs and I always say a a little picture that's just in my mind Bonnie and I were driving across the country headed to speak at word of life back in the old days when we used to drive this motor home with all the kids in the back and you know I just drove for thousands of miles and I just had nothing to do but look out I mean that was before you know smart phones and everything and so you just didn't do anything but think you know and I was driving along and I says hey honey quick look out the window and it was the most amazing thing there was a little house you could tell some older person lived there everything about it was old everything it just looked old old car old furniture that looked like it was from the 20s you know the the old metal kind that used to just be one piece metal that moved and rusted and everything and it was just there but what I saw just glancing is I could tell the people died because the kids were hauling everything out of the house and he had three piles you could tell what it was they were wrapping some things in in u-haul blankets those were the treasures I mean that was the furniture that was probably worth something they were wrapping it up and you could see them carrying it out putting it in this little tiny trailer then by the road where the Motorhome passed there was this mound I mean you could tell these people were Depression era people I mean they saved every milk carton bales of newspapers I mean everything made of aluminum foil they just and it was just that was the trash pile and then the yard was filled with what tables it was the yard sale naked a man comes from his mother's womb as he comes so shall he depart no u-hauls go behind her says I've done 300 funerals nobody has taken anything with them so far that I've noticed you have to either send it ahead or it goes in the trash the yard sale or your kids wrap it up and put it in the u-haul and do something special with it you don't take it with you and see the the wealthiest man of all time Solomon said I was born with nothing and I'm departing and not taking anything with me that's that's what a Stewart it's what we do with what we were entrusted with that matters forever it's not how much is on our trash yard sale and treasure pile after we die it's too late then it's what did we do with it while we were operating and designating and finally the other half of the verses he takes nothing from his labor that he can carry in his hand the more you have the more you can send ahead to heaven let's see that's what we don't realize that Christ offers I mean the US government arming the Federal Reserve right now is experiencing negative the effects of the bond values going the wrong direction did you know God offers ten thousand percent interest I remember when I was 13 years old our church was having a bond sale and I had a coffee can where I put everything that I earned I don't know why I didn't put it in the bank had it in a coffee can no I guess I don't know why maybe I didn't know how to go to the bank but I had at my coffee camp and I remember they said we want you to buy a bond and I asked my parents should I buy it and they said yeah they're paying 13% interest any of you alive back then do you remember 13% under Carter or whenever it was I don't remember when it was but 13% every dollar you get 13 cents your money doubles every 7 years or last 6 years whoa who wouldn't want Church bonds at that God offers 10,000 percent a hundredfold that means for every seed you put in you get a hundred in return it's unbelievable turn and what Solomon was saying is you take nothing from your labor you can carry in your hand but God adds in the New Testament which you can send it ahead and that's that's really the the ultimate lesson well now let's go to Matthew 6 because let's see how Jesus applies this that's Ecclesiastes and a lot of people there's a lot of disputes about queasy asses anyway if you read old study Bibles they say that it's just the bitter words of an you know empty words of an empty person or whatever but of course I don't believe that I don't think you do either it's an inspired book Jesus considered it Scripture Jesus called cleese yes keys Scripture so what does Jesus think and so look at Matthew 6 and these are the the very very very in fact I printed them out for you but you should look at them in your Bibles so that that you make sure that they're highlighted but basically these are the principles that Jesus who happens to be the owner who's entrusted us with our life and any treasure we ever have in this life this is what he says don't and this is not a basketball term layup it's actually a see I dunno sports some of you think I don't know anything about sports but tests are reads oh is the word you might recognize that Cerritos sounds like thesaurus it's the same idea it's the idea of piling up in fact it's used for stacks of coins if you can think of a money changer that's sitting at a table exchanging money he would have stacks of all different denominations of coins in the old days so what Jesus is saying don't stack up for yourself so he's specifically talking about wealth earthly wealth but the key is this don't make stacks in your mind or in your plans or anything else and say this is mine because it's not not if you're bought at a price not if you're a slave of slaves didn't possess anything their master owned everything including them we are slaves we are bond slaves of Christ so when he purchased us anything attached to us belongs to him now most attached to us is you know sinful and he washed it away but any possessions attached to us are no longer our own and so what the Lord is saying is don't once I purchase you don't believe that anything you had in the past or isn't it comes in the future is for you to stack up for merely self as the questions start out over indulgence just living for myself kind of the rich man that built his barns too big that says eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we die let's just have a good time that whole idea Jesus said is wrong don't do that because Moz will get it rust will get it and destroy it thieves will be after it and steal it but see Jesus remember in Matthew 6 he's already started out by saying that there are two doors or gates there are two roads that extend from them and now he's talking about to Treasuries everything is Jesus is a master communicator and Treasuries Jesus always is the contrast he's always saying there is a straight and narrow way and there's a broad way and there's a wide gate and there's a narrow gate everything with him was a clear-cut choice here's the same thing to Treasuries you can have an earthly Treasury you can spend your life and I can spend my life just never quite having enough always needing to to work a little longer get a little bit more because you never know how much medicals going to go up and we got to have enough so that we can never have a care in the world when actually the Lord says that His grace is sufficient and most powerful in our times of weakness he in pendants especially financial independence I mean we think that's biblical that's more American than biblical financial independence isn't really a biblical principle dependence is and the Lord says if you are finding your independence from care your independence from anxiety by having this huge earthly Treasury watch out because Moz and rust and thieves are going to get it and not only that but I'm gonna have to pry it out of your hands by death that's not the wisest way to do it but verse 20 and it's the same term that's the reeds o so actually this is a good word piling is good if you pile for your account in heaven you see that it's the Lord actually has opened you know a 403b or a 401k it's actually a 10,000 H you know ten thousand percent in heaven he has opened accounts for us in heaven and we accrue interest take for example just Jillian's knife so I'll talk about her did you know that if you invest in a young lady or a young man or a young couple or anybody know the laws last week whoever it is if you invest in their ministry then everything that they accomplished for the Lord the Lord adds it to your account in heaven you are a partaker in what they do and that's the way you deploy your treasures into heaven you still hold them but you're a steward of them and you say Lord instead of saying this is all mine see it's all yours how much do you want me to live on how much do you want me to have to take care of and we're going to get to that it's very interesting when you get to Ecclesiastes what Ecclesiastes says is the and we're going to get into the whole savings thing but we are to be stewards of these treasures and and laying them up in heaven and the only way that you get them to heaven is you have to deploy them while you're on earth it's very interesting how we think that we're supposed to hold everything to the very last minute and the Lord says no right now lay up your treasures in heaven surrender it all to me because there are no mahse in heaven there's no rest in heaven and thieves can't get in to have them because outside are all the sinners and they're never gonna be allowed in but look at the byproduct what it does for us in verse 21 it starts giving us an anchor now it's very interesting in the book of Hebrews the book of Hebrews talks about our souls being anchored in heaven and that that the anchors cast in heaven now of course we know that it's Christ and he's he's in heaven and he's he is the one who's gone before us but he said that that another element is this idea of wherever our treasures that's where our hearts I mean if if you know that someone is near something valuable to you and if it's really valuable to you you're watching them because it means a lot to you you don't want them to harm you know your car or your child or whatever because we connect to whatever our treasure is now here's another one of the tooth look at this there are two doors there are two roads there are two Treasuries but look at this our wealth determines who our real master is if if our master is the Lord our treasures are in heaven our treasury is his control and he is our master because either will hate the one who love the other will be loyal the one despise the other you can't serve God and wealth and yet in America there are a lot of people that are their Idol is not Buddha or Ashtaroth or Bale it's money and security and success and and and and they lust after comfort and convenience and security and those are the three dangers of the culture we live in we we lust for comfort we long for security and conveniences prime did you know if it rains church attendance goes down White's it's not convenient to go out in the rain yet I can remember in my escapades going to churches where people walked three to four hours whatever the weather and there were holes in the ceiling because we met in barns and outdoor buildings and during the services when it would start precipitating whether it was snow or rain all they did is break out you know tarps or blankets and they would sit on backless benches kind of like in a locker room they that's what the seating was like wooden benches and they would have blankets and tarps on their heads going down the rows as it rained now you see that in football games you see that in soccer games you go to our soccer fields whichever direction it is I guess it's that way on a rainy day when the attendance is down in church and it's packed they're out there under their umbrellas they wouldn't miss it it's interesting to think about how how we are so easily seduced away from our master but seek first and this this is the bottom line seek first god to rule over everything over our treasures over our lives over everything that we have so let's see if this will work now here we go so let's let's look at at some applications of this now here is a great book if you've never read it randy Alcorn he really believes what he writes because he lost everything because of abortion protesting he's a pastor of a church out in the northwest or was I don't know where he is now but randy Alcorn was a pastor and he believed that abortion is murder as I do only he laid down in front of the cars in front of the clinic so that nobody could come in to have their abortion and they arrested him and under the federal racketeering laws they invoked for abortion protein you can kill someone to get out of jail and you know six months but boy you lay in front of an abort Clinic and we're gonna put racketeering charge and federal charges against you and they did and they took everything he owned house savings that's what racketeering charges do and he said great take it all and he dedicated all of his books to a Christian foundation and he's a best-selling author and now he worked he used to work for six dollars an hour as a kind of a janitor at the church he still preaches but he's the janitor I think that's great it's a great idea a very humble way to do it and he writes books now and the government can't take anything because they can't take if you live in poverty there's nothing to take you can't take blood out of turnips you know but look what he writes he's real serious about this he wrote this he who lays up treasures on earth that's what we just saw Matthew 6:19 spends his life backing away from his treasures to that person death is lost now just sit for a minute and think tonight if you were facing death in the morning would it just be loss like losing everything it's gonna all be over that's because primarily everything that's precious to you is here he spends his life moving away from his treasures and he has reason to despair if everything that's precious and valuable is is all that stuff were guarding and hoarding and trying to earn more of and get more of and enjoy more of than we're backing away from all through life our treasures but he who lays up treasures in heaven that's the other treasury in Matthew 6:20 looks forward to eternity he's moving daily toward his treasures to him death is gain why did Paul say for me to live is Christ and to die is what that's cuz his treasures were in heaven and any said I counted everything but loss for Christ it doesn't mean he got rid of everything Paul doesn't look like he got rid of everything he's traveling all over the place and he's got books and parchments and clothes here and there but the ownership of it was totally surrendered it no longer belonged to him it belonged to the Lord and he spends his life moving toward his treasure and has reasons to rejoice here's another thing I'll corn said is that passing of time causing you and me to despair rejoice the older we get the closer we get to our lives being over to being seventy nine point six if you're a woman in seventy eight point or seventy eight point two if you're a man that's the average life so if you're getting close to these two numbers is it causing despair or rejoicing God's kingdom is to be our reference point we need to see all else in light of the kingdom we should be compelled to live as we do not because we treasure no things but because we treasure the right things we treasure what God says is going to last forever and it's all connected to him and last thing that Alcorn says you can tell I really like him it's a great book that treasure principle is one of those little they're only this big books and it's just fabulous but we often miss something in missionary martyr Jim Eliot's famous words he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep the game what he cannot lose we focus on his willingness to go to the mission field that willingness started when he relinquished his hold on things as being mine if you read the the journals of Jim Elliot that Elizabeth Elliot his wife wrote after his martyrdom he came to a point where he said nothing is mine my possessions my career my future my plans anything even my life is not mine it's the Lord's okay now I told you we'd parallel this so let's go to first Timothy chapter six and I want to walk through with you real quick Paul's take on this now remember Paul was reading this all through his life reading the Old Testament and so he actually in in first Timothy 6 is right in 2 Timothy Timothy is a pastor and he's writing to him and giving to him the principles for his own life and for him to teach in the church at Ephesus and look at chapter 6 verse 7 if we brought nothing into this world and a certain we can carry nothing out then it sound like what we just read in the cleese ask these five you can see the reverberation and here's the lesson always remember things are only temporary things are temporary people last forever that's why people are never an interruption things are interruptions you know you're a lot more stops working or your binder stops working or your car stops working that's an interruption but people are never an interruption because things are temporary people last forever we brought nothing into this world it's certain Paul says we can take nothing out number two look at verse eight having food and clothing with these we shall be content isn't it interesting food and clothing food just enough I mean back then you couldn't store I mean they didn't know about y2k back then and you know having enough food for a lifetime you know get C rations and MREs and everything else they just lived pretty close to to the cycles of life and covering you know so you don't freeze to death so enough to eat to go on living and clothing that is enough to be content did you know we have been trained in discontent better homes and better gardens that means mine's better than yours and I want mine to be better than yours and that's what we've been schooled in in America it's discontent my teeth they're not white enough my skin is not nice enough you know my hair I don't even worry about that you know what I mean if we just we are schooled in this contempt and we want you know better toothpaste and better shampoo and better cars and better electronics but you know what the lesson the Lord cities only seek necessities food and clothing are necessities wait for the rest do you remember when people used to wait until they could afford something to buy it have you ever thought that that could be part of the Lord's will this idea of going into endless cycles of debt I mean look we have a trillion in student loans a trillion dollars in student loans and then when they graduate with their student loan degree they can't even get a job to pay back the student they would have been further had to learn a skill and just be a normal person with a skill then have a degree and a trillion dollars of debt and no job I'm just talking about I'm not time.i any individual I'll talk about where our whole culture is gone that no one has thought through the ramifications that god says seek necessities I mean you go out and shop until you have enough food to eat enough clothes to wear but wait for the rest the furniture the new car the latest electronics the comforts the conveniences everything else that's biblical it's American to just buy it you know and mortgage the farm to get what you want now because we're not willing to wait and liquid paul told timothy and by the way these principles have been universal in the church until modern times that's why every time there was a great missionary movement in the 18th century in the 19th century and the 20th century people just lent did you know they can't go anymore they have student loans they can't go anymore young people can't go did you know you can never that will never leave you the rest of your life you can't bet you can't declare a bankruptcy for student loans it's with you for life the IRS will follow you to the grave avoid a consuming desire for prosperity Paul told Timothy those who desire to be rich and this is the hole their churches in this town that teach people you need to dream big you need to want and and ask God for this big stuff did you know that is a veiled form of what God says is dangerous it's this health wealth prosperity God wants you rich mentality that Christ and the apostles didn't know anything about it's a modern invention actually it's not modern because Jude talked about and Peter 2nd Peter talks about it too but I mean it's it's in addition to the gospel but it's been around from the beginning those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare see the temptation is once you start getting riches you want to protect it you want to hoard it you want to propagate it and multiply it and everything else and into many foolish and harmful us I mean this guy that recently exposed you know I don't even know all the sports players name but they're all taking this steroid cocktail things so they can bulk up and this guy in Miami or I don't know where he was was selling it to him and the whole thing was exposed because of greed because people were greedy and it got out now all the players going to be you know not allowed to play anymore poor guys they only make a few hundred million dollars you know and I don't know what they'll do but many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition I mean money is is such a snare for the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil for example neglect the family I got to work all the time why do you have to work all the time well because we have to have a new car so I'm gonna get a second job to have a new car and then we've got a remodel and so I'm gonna do third job so I do that and what the Lord says why don't you live in a house trailer be happy and content spend time with your family then working three jobs so you can have you know what I mean it's just if we step back and think about it nobody in their deathbed with the resuscitator on says why we showed or spent more hours at work what do they all say in the hospital rooms with tears I wish I would have spent more time with you you know the people around you when you die are the people really matter those who you should spend time with now too right and and what the Lord says is all kinds of evils come from this drowning desire for more stuff which some have straight from the faith you understand that believers were getting a meshed in this in their greediness and they've pierced themselves through with many sorrows they've left serving the Lord so that they can serve wealth and money here's another one first Timothy 6 11 but you O man of God flee these things flee what flee verse 10 flee materialism flew harmful lust the temptation the snare that that desiring to be rich brings flee that by the way Timothy was pastoring one of the wealthiest churches of the ancient world ephesus ephesus only was rivaled by rome ephesus was unbelievably wealthy and so timothy was was around people and he had to keep reminding them by his own choices to flee wealth and loving wealth and pursue righteousness godliness faith love patience gentleness flee materialism and pursue those things here's the next one the fifth one is in verse 12 and 15 and 18 it repeatedly says the same thing fight the good fight of faith lay hold on eternal life to which you were called and have confessed the good confession look at this we can start living like this world is not my home I'm just passing through I'm just in a tent having his home earthís camping I've ever gone camping I mean real camping I don't mean motor homing I mean camping or you get damp at night you have to put newspaper under your sleeping bag you know because it absorbs the wet and it rains on you and everything is clammy and wet and you go out you can't even start the fire and raccoons have gotten into your cooler you know what I mean camping where you're all dirty and the kids are tracking dirt into the tent that's what life is supposed to be like heaven heaven is home eternal life is where we're headed life is camping did you know when you can't for a while you can't wait to just roll it all up shove it in the car and go home and put everything in the washing machine and dry everything and just get into a comfortable place with no sand you know and bugs and everything else that's what life is supposed to be like it's supposed to be a little bit uncomfortable here on earth remember lust for comfort lust for convenience lust for secure and we pass up laying hold on eternal life because that's what we were called to and confess a good confession which he will manifest in his own time Paul's now referring to Christ he is the blessed and only potentate the king of kings and Lord of lords who alone I mean look at this build-up who alone has immortality dwells in unapproachable light that's where you're going that's what eternal life is knowing as seen or kensa see to whom be honor and everlasting power amen now storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come that they may lay hold on eternal life he says either you're laying hold on material possessions or you're laying hold on eternal life you can't have two masters you can't have no one can serve both cling to eternal life is the lesson there two more we hope sometimes I think I write on it too much and it doesn't like me there we go pin your hopes on God command those who are rich by the way let's define rich in in the New Testament world there were three levels of people there were rich people there were normal people kind of like at the gas station you know premium regular unleaded you know four so it's just like life is like a gas station there were three grades of people in Christ I'm poor people only had I mean did not have today's food so they did not have today's food like like no food for today so because they didn't have any money to buy food or any food they sat and begged and you knew they were poor they were destitute they did not have any possessions they did not have any thing to get through that day and they were poor there were a few of those then there were normal people you know what a normal person had they had food for now in other words they had food at home they had breakfast they had food for their family that lived at home and the man went out and worked and he earned enough money to buy and bring home with him enough to put in the house so they would have breakfast and enough for them to eat and most people back then that that were normal people were laboring people that just kind of like our Americans today 80% of America lived from paycheck to paycheck 70 high 70s paycheck to paycheck if they had one bump in the road no savings to speak of that is normal they just in the Bible these people here were the ones who were normal they just had enough and this is the daily bread give us this day what does it say in a Lord's Prayer our daily bread this is normal people lord help us turn enough so we can make it through today rich had enough stored up for a while they didn't have to go out and work today in fact they didn't have to go out and work this week and the richer they were the further out there their extent of their possessions were this is where almost every one of us in this room are today we have multiple of almost everything we have multiple vehicles we have multiple changes of clothes we have food so much that we have to rotate it and throw some away because it expires you know and in the freezer and the power goes out you guys throw all that stuff away you know what I mean it's just we buy every standard most of us tonight are rich so the reason I said that is if I can go back now come out without oh it's gonna stay there I thought I'd erase all that but this is what I'm getting to we're rich so the Bible says command that's a this is pastor Timothy hearing from Apostle Paul command the people in the church who are not destitute who are not only having today's food but have more than they need for today which I would say about 99 percent of us in the congregation the rich in this present age not to be haughty in other words saying my stuff's better than your stuff not to trust in uncertain riches thinking if I keep piling it up no matter how much medical goes up I want to be able to have the best care there is because that negates trusting in the Living God see that's the problem of of over trust in uncertain riches he gives us richly all things to enjoy and and I added the constant concerns people have I hope I have enough to I hope that this investment will I hope this job will last whatever the Lord it is no surprise when we lose our job it's no surprise when we lose anything our health anything it's no surprise the Lord says pin your hopes on God and do what he asked you and then the last principle and we're gonna have enough time to finish this verse 18 says give until it hurts let them do good whose to them look at the we're one verse away he said command those who are rich that's us let them do good that they may be rich in good works and look what anybody that has more than they need for today is supposed to be ready to give willing to share we're supposed to be prowling around looking for ways to give away what we're entrusted with so that it we get ten thousand percent interest in heaven did you know you get negative for keeping it on earth you get ten thousand if you transfer it to God's ownership and so you don't give everything away that's the answer for the rich young ruler you get rid of everything that was for him to get saved to see whether he was going to obey the Lord for us we realize we are rich but it belongs to the Lord and so we go through life being rich in good works looking for ways to to use our resources for the kingdom constantly looking for worthy ones to invest in and willing to share I mean if you find someone has less than you you're willing to share you want to get [Music]

Channel: DTBM

Views: 26,267

Rating: 4.8455391 out of 5

Keywords: Bible, God, Jesus, Christian, teaching, biblical, teach, sermon, trinity, church, lesson, traditional, truth, true, divine, theology, freedom, guilt, testament, pure, interpret, spirit, holy, John, Barnett, christ, father, heaven, hell, doctrine, doctrinal, sinful, forgive, forgiveness, history, teachings, chapters, verses, discover, the book, ministries, dtbm, Dr. Barnett, controversial, repent, helpful, sin, the, book, dr, john, doctor, barnett, training, videos, series, resources, savior, god, jesus

Id: 2_NGClVBOzg

Length: 87min 59sec (5279 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 09 2020