back to Anchor Baptist Church. If you would, grab a hymnal, find a seat, and turn to number
105, "All That Thrills My Soul." Hymn number 105, 105, "All That Thrills My
Soul." On the 1st, "Who Can Cheer The Heart Like Jesus, By His Presence All Define, True
Tender-Pure and Pleasant, I See Really, I Said, Lord, I See, I Said, Lord, I See, I
See." Is with me? Heavenly Father, we thank you again for another opportunity to be here
this evening. Lord, just as this morning, I pray that you'd be with us for the service
that you'd open our ears to the message and just have us have ready hearts to apply this,
also that you would just fill pastor Oz with your spirit, and Lord, that you would be with
those that called on your son's name for salvation today, that they would just get fired up to
get in a good church and to serve you. These things we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. All right,
for our next hymn this evening, turn if you would to 115, "No One Ever Cared for Me Like
Jesus." Hymn number 115, 115. 115, we'll sing there on the 1st.
I would love to tell you what I think of Jesus
Since I've found in Him a friend so strong and true
I would tell you how He changed my life completely
Something that no other friend could do
Oh, whatever your need by Jesus
There's no other friend so kind as He
Take the sin and darkness from me
Oh, how much He cared for me
My life was full of sin when Jesus found me
My life was full of misery and woe
Jesus placed His strong and loving arms above me
And He led me in the way I ought to go, oh Jesus
There's no other friend so kind as He
Take the sin and darkness from me
Oh, how much He cared for me
Every day He comes in me with new assurance
More and more I understand His words of love
I never know just why He came to save me
Someday I see His blessed face above
Oh, what for me, Jesus
There's no other friend so kind as He
Take the sin and darkness from me
Oh, how much He cared for me
Oh, what for me, Jesus
There's no other friend so kind as He
Take the sin and darkness from me
Oh, what for me, Jesus
There's no other friend so kind as He
Take the sin and darkness from me
Oh, what for me, Jesus
There's no other friend so kind as He
Take the sin and darkness from me
Oh, what for me, Jesus
There's no other friend so kind as He
Take the sin and darkness from me
Oh, what for me, Jesus
There's no other friend so kind as He
Take the sin and darkness from me
Oh, what for me, Jesus
There's no other friend so kind as He
Take the sin and darkness from me
Oh, what for me, Jesus
There's no other friend so kind as He
Take the sin and darkness from me
Oh, what for me, Jesus
There's no other friend so kind as He
Take the sin and darkness from me
Oh, what for me, Jesus
There's no other friend so kind as He
Take the sin and darkness from me
Oh, what for me, Jesus
There's no other friend so kind as He
Take the sin and darkness from me
Oh, what for me, Jesus
There's no other friend so kind as He
Take the sin and darkness from me
Oh, what for me, Jesus
There's no other friend so kind as He
Take the sin and darkness from me
Oh, what for me, Jesus
There's no other friend so kind as He
Take the sin and darkness from me
Oh, what for me, Jesus
There's no other friend so kind as He
Take the sin and darkness from me
Oh, what for me, Jesus
There's no other friend so kind as He
Take the sin and darkness from me
Oh, what for me, Jesus
There's no other friend so kind as He
Take the sin and darkness from me
Oh, what for me, Jesus
There's no other friend so kind as He
Take the sin and darkness from me
Oh, what for me, Jesus
There's no other friend so kind as He
Take the sin and darkness from me
Oh, what for me, Jesus
There's no other friend so kind as He
Take the sin and darkness from me
Oh, what for me, Jesus
There's no other friend so kind as He
Take the sin and darkness from me
Oh, what for me, Jesus
There's no other friend so kind as He
Take the sin and darkness from me
As the offering plates are being passed, turn if you would to Mark 10. Mark 10.
Good evening. Chapter 10, 10, Bible reads
And he arose from thence, and cometh into the coast of Judea, by the farther side of Jordan. And the people resort unto him again. And as he was wont, he taught them again. And the Pharisees came to him and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife, tempting him?
And he answered and said unto them, What did Moses command you?
And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away.
And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this
precept, but from the beginning of the creation of God made them male and female.
For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife.
And they twain shall be one flesh, so then they are no more twain, but one flesh.
But therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
And in the house his disciples asked him again of the same matter, and he saith unto them,
Whosoever shall put away his wife and marry another, committeth adultery against her.
And if a woman shall put away her husband and be married to another, she committeth
adultery.
And they brought young children to him that he should touch them, and his disciples rebuked
those that brought them; but when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto
them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the
kingdom of God.
Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child,
he shall not enter therein.
And he took them up in his arms, and put his hands upon them, and blessed them.
And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and
asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?
And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good?
There is none good, but one that is God.
Thou knowest the commandments, do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not
bear false witness, defraud not, honor thy father and mother. And he answered and said
unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth. Then Jesus beholding him, loved
him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest, go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and
give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come, take up the cross, and
follow me. And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved, for he had great possessions.
And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that
have riches enter into the kingdom of God? And the disciples were astonished at his words.
But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that
trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God? It is easier for a camel to go through
the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. And they were
astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, Who then can be saved? And Jesus, looking
upon them, said, With men it is impossible, but not with God, for with God all things
are possible. Then Peter began to say unto him, Lo, we have left all and have followed
thee. And Jesus answered 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 in the gospels, but he shall receive an hundredfold. Now and this time houses and
brethren and sisters and mothers and children and lands with persecutions and in the world
to come eternal life. But many that are last, but many that are first shall be last in the
last first. And they were in the way going up to Jerusalem. And Jesus went before them
and they were amazed. And as they followed, they were afraid. And he took again the twelve
and began to tell them what things should happen unto him, saying, "Behold, we go up
to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man shall be delivered unto the chief priests and unto
the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles,
and they shall mock him, and shall scourge him, and shall spit upon him, and shall kill
him. And the third day he shall rise again." And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, come
unto him, saying, "Master, we would that thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we shall desire."
And he said unto them, "What would ye that I should do for you?" They said unto him, "Grant
unto us that we may sit, one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left hand, in thy
glory." But Jesus said unto them, "Ye know not what ye ask. Can ye drink of the cup that
I drink of, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" And they said unto
them, "We can." And Jesus said unto them, "Ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink
of, and with the baptism that I am baptized with all shall ye be baptized. But to sit
on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give. But it shall be given to them for
whom it is prepared." And when the ten heard it, they began to be much displeased with
James and John. But Jesus called them to him and saith unto them, "Ye know that they which
are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and their great ones exercise
authority upon them. But so shall it not be among you, but whosoever will be great among
you shall be your minister, and whosoever of you will be the chiefest shall be servant
of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be minister unto you, but to minister, and
to give his life a ransom for many." And they came to Jericho, and as he went out of Jericho
with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus the son of Timaeus sat on
the highwayside begging, and when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth he began to
cry out and say, "Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me." And many charged him that
he should hold his peace, but he cried the more a great deal, "Thou son of David, have
mercy on me." And Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called, and they called the blind
man, saying unto him, "Be of good comfort, arise, he calleth thee." And he, casting his
garment, rose and came to Jesus. And Jesus answered and said unto him, "What wilt thou
that I should do unto thee?" The blind man said unto him, "Lord, that I might receive
my sight." And Jesus said unto him, "Go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole." And
immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus in the way.
Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer. Father in heaven, we thank you for this day.
The souls that were saved out this afternoon. And we just ask that you would fill our hearts
with the Holy Spirit and that you would help us to do the work and to do the same prayer.
Amen. All right. Well, we are in Mark chapter number 10 this evening, and let's read verse
number 17. The Bible says, "And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running
and kneeled to him and asked him, 'Good master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal
life?'" And of course this is the famous story of the rich young ruler as he's referenced
in other gospels, and I want to skip kind of to the end of this interaction between
Jesus and this young man before we get into the sermon, but skip down to verse number
24, how it says, "And the disciples were astonished at his word, but Jesus answereth again and
saith unto them, 'Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into
the kingdom of God?' It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for
a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." And the title of my sermon this evening is
The Dangers of Trusting in Riches. The dangers of trusting in riches. Jesus talks about how
hard it is for a person who trusts in their money and their wealth to enter into the kingdom
of God. He even gives us this really extreme metaphor saying that it would literally be
easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to be saved.
I mean that's just an extreme example but that's how rare it is that someone who grows
up rich and trusting in their riches especially actually gets saved. So keep your place in
Mark 10 throughout the sermon but I'm going to give you three dangers this evening of
people that are trusting in their riches. Number one, danger number one is making money
the focus of your life. This is a serious danger for people who have riches and who
trust in riches. The danger with that one of them is that you would make money the focus
of your life. Look at verse 17 again where it says, "And when he was gone forth into
the way, there came one running and kneeled to him and asked him, 'Good master, what shall
I do that I may inherit eternal life?'" Verse 22 talks about how this young man had great
possessions. In other gospels he's referred to as rich. And so one of the Bible definitions
of the word rich is someone who has great possessions, someone who has a lot of possessions.
And I find it interesting the way that this rich young ruler even frames the question
to Jesus to begin with. Notice the terminology he uses. He says, "Good master, what shall
I do that I may inherit eternal life?" I don't think it's a coincidence that this man who
is very rich, who puts his trust in riches, someone who's just kind of obsessed with money,
when he asks Jesus about salvation he kind of uses a financial term when he's talking
about it. Hey, how do I inherit eternal life? Why? Because one of the dangers of people
who are rich and people who trust in riches is that their life centers around money. And
they become obsessed with getting money and it just becomes who they are as a person where
everything is about money. Even to the point where this man is asking Jesus a question
about something spiritual, yet he's still using these financial terms because that's
just how this guy is. He's just a man that trusts in riches. Go to Ecclesiastes chapter
number five. Before I get too deep into this sermon, let me just make it very clear and
preface this sermon by saying there's nothing inherently sinful about being rich. There's
nothing inherently sinful about having lots of money. The Bible talks about how it's wrong
to get money through unjust gain. You're supposed to get money honestly by working hard. If
you've done a great job in business and you've become successful, let me make it clear. I'm
not talking about that type of a person. I'm talking about a person though who loves money
or who trusts in riches. There are serious dangers for those type of people. Look at
Ecclesiastes 5.10. It says, "He that loveth silver." Now look, every word of God in your
Bible is important because this verse doesn't start by saying, "He that has silver," right?
"He that loveth silver," notice, "shall not be satisfied with silver." See, it's just sad
and meaningless for a person to become obsessed with money and to have that be the centerpiece
of their life because the Bible says when someone loves money, guess what? They're never
going to be satisfied with money. And that's kind of what everyone in life is chasing, right?
Is chasing some level of satisfaction, chasing some level of fulfillment in life. And people
who are obsessed with money, they think that money buys happiness, right? That's a common
phrase. People think that money can buy happiness, but the Bible's saying those that love silver,
you'll never be satisfied with silver. That's why it's such a vain and just worthless way
to spend your life is just chasing money, chasing as much money as you possibly can.
You know, the Bible says that's going to lead to a very empty, meaningless, and unfulfilled
life. That's why, I mean, you would think that the happiest people in the world are
these Hollywood actors and actresses and all these celebrities, yet oftentimes they have
tons of depression issues, they're constantly committing suicide, they're constantly getting
addicted to drugs and alcohol and all these issues. Why? Because money does not buy happiness.
It's true. It does not buy happiness. Let's keep reading. It says, "Nor he that loveth
abundance with increase." So if you're the type of person where you just love having
all sorts of goods, and that's what this rich young ruler is, he has great possession, right?
He has all these goods. The Bible says that you're not going to be satisfied with increase.
This is also vanity. And I don't know if you've ever experienced this in your life. I know
I have, where there was something that I really, really wanted, and there's just this item
that I really wanted, and I got that item, and I found it immediately to be disappointing.
Has anyone else been there where you just think like, "Man, this is going to be super cool.
I've been waiting for a long time," and you get it, and it's just like it's nowhere near
as cool as I thought it would be.
I think all of us have experienced something like that, and the Bible's saying that the
type of person that just wants abundance, they just want more stuff, when they get that
increase, it's vain, it's empty, it's meaningless, and you know, we don't want to live our lives
as Christians just serving that which is vain.
Living meaningless lives, verse 11, says, "When goods increase, they are increased that
eat them."
When you get more money and more things, oftentimes what happens is there's more things
that that money needs to be spent on.
One of those things being people.
It's funny how people want to be your friend when you have lots of money, right?
And it's increased those that eat them when you have more goods.
And what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes?
You know, it just gets to a point where a rich man just has so many things that it's
just like all that stuff is good for is just to look at.
You know, who knows who Jay Leno is?
Jay Leno, okay, he owns like, like thousands of cars, hundreds of cars at least, like that's
his big thing is he's super into cars and he just has a crazy amount of cars.
But it's like at the end of the day though, what good are all those cars to him basically
other than just looking at them because you can only drive one car at a time, right?
And even if he drove a new car every day of the year, he probably still wouldn't touch
all his cars because he just has so many cars and it just gets to a point where you have
to ask yourself, okay, at what point is this just vain?
At what point is this just meaningless and worthless, right?
Look at verse number 12, it says the sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eat
little or much, but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.
You know, in our human wisdom, we would think, man, if we just had all this money, if we
just had so much money, we'd be able to sleep great because we wouldn't have to worry about
paying the bills, we wouldn't have to worry about providing for our family, when actually
the Bible says, hey, the guy that just works, the laboring guy who works hard, he could
sleep like a baby whether he's eating a big meal for dinner or whether he's eating very
little.
He could sleep well at night because he's worked hard, but yet the rich man, notice
he's not able to sleep, why?
The abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.
You know, what is this show about a person when they're literally losing sleep at night
over their money, over their assets?
It shows that money is the centerpiece of their life, because if something is just keeping
you up at night and not allowing you to sleep, that is what is on your mind, like that is
your singular focus as a human being and for the rich here, those that have abundance,
they're not even able to sleep at night because of how much they have.
You know, that sounds very stressful and we think that, oh man, what's really stressful
is not being rich, whereas the Bible is saying, look how stressed out these rich people are.
They're not even able to sleep at night because of the abundance of things that they have.
They're always worried about who's coming after them, who's coming after their assets,
are they in any danger, is their company in any danger, right?
They're having to worry about all these things because they have so much, making money the
focus of their life.
Go to Proverbs chapter 30, a few pages back, Proverbs chapter number 30, that's why the
Bible teaches us to have a balanced view when it comes to money, right?
The Bible tells us not to labor to be rich, not to desire to be rich, but at the same
time we don't want to be in poverty either.
Look at Proverbs 30 verse 8, it says, "Remove far from me vanity and lies.
Give me neither poverty nor riches.
Feed me with food convenient for me," right?
So you could have on one hand a rich person and someone who trusts in their riches make
money the centerpiece of their life because they just love silver and they just love abundance
and they love money.
That's wrong.
But also you can have on the other side someone in extreme poverty also make money the center
of their life because of their lack that they have, right?
And so we don't want to be those that are just extremely poor and living in poverty
where all we're thinking about is the next, you know, income that's coming in.
We want to be able to live a middle class, normal life.
That way we could put our effort and energy into serving God and not worry too much about
are we going to starve to death over here.
And also we're not thinking about, oh, you know, I can't wait for the next Lamborghini
and the next private jet and all those things.
Notice how it says feed me with food convenient for me.
Doesn't say, you know, give me a Lamborghini doesn't say feed me with filet mignon every
single night.
Doesn't say those things we want to have some sort of a balance when it comes to this.
Now go to mark chapter number 10 mark chapter number 10.
So like I said, you don't want to be on either side of these things.
You don't want to have poverty or riches.
Now these words are somewhat subjective.
They kind of change with time.
They change with inflation.
They change with culture, right?
And so I'm not putting a specific number on what is rich and what is poor.
But I will say, you know, there was a rich man who was trusting in his riches and the
Bible says that he fared sumptuously every day.
You know, that could be one definition of rich where your life is living a party every
single day, right?
That's one definition of rich.
Or the rich young ruler just says that he had great possessions, just had a ton of possessions.
That could be another Bible definition of rich.
But I'm not saying that, you know, because some people have a weird mentality of this.
They say like, oh, you make $100,000 a year, you're rich.
Oh, you make $200,000 a year, you're rich.
That's not even close really to what rich is in our 2025 hyperinflation society.
So not talking about that, but Mark chapter number 10, the second danger when it comes
to people who have riches or trust in their riches is becoming prideful, becoming prideful.
Look at Mark chapter 10, verse 17 again, it says when he was gone forth into the way,
there came one running and kneeled to him and asked him, good master, what shall I do
that I may inherit eternal life?
Jesus said unto him, why callest thou me good?
There is none good but one that is God.
Notice how the rich young ruler, when he's asking the question of what does it take for
him to get eternal life, his mentality is already on the, well, what do I have to do?
Because the rich often think that they've achieved everything in their life, they've
gotten to where they are by their own intellect, their own strength, their own willpower and
all those things, and so they think, well, it must be the same thing spiritually when
it comes to getting to heaven, hey, just tell me what I need to do, I'll make the checklist
and start getting to work, not realizing that that's not what salvation is, right?
The prideful of this world think I have to do something to get myself to heaven, not
realizing that they are a rotten sinner and that the greatest, richest man in this world
is nothing to the Lord Jesus Christ, and that man needs to be humble enough to realize that
he is a sinner deserving of hell.
And this is why many rich men never get saved, is because they think they're great, right?
And you know, so many people today have been fed this prosperity gospel, right, that says
if you're righteous, if you're godly, if God is on your side, you're gonna have health
and wealth.
And you know what, this mentality harms people because what happens is you get rich men who
genuinely have worked hard, they've done good in life, they've made a lot of money, but
because this lie is out there, they think God must be so for me.
I mean, what do you mean, what do you mean, am I saved?
Look at my life, God's clearly blessing me, of course I'm saved, not realizing that the
prosperity gospel is a lie and you could be unsaved and become rich.
You could follow the principles of the Bible, the principles of being diligent, working
hard, having discipline, having wisdom about you, you could follow those things and get
rich and not be saved.
You could follow the carnal truths of the Bible and reap the rewards of that, that does
not make you saved, that does not make God on your side.
And so many rich men, they're just so prideful, they think, of course God is on my side.
One time I was soul winning in Vancouver, Washington and I went to this very huge property,
out soul winning, this man was out there working on something and I asked him if he was 100%
sure that if he died today he'd be going to heaven and he literally laughed at me and scoffed
at me and pointed back at his house.
He literally said, "Look at what God has given me, I'm building a second house over here
on this property."
And he literally just started talking about all of his riches, you know he's basically
saying like, "Yeah, I had to pull down barns to build other, to bestow my goods."
Right?
And he's like literally that story.
This guy thinks like just because he's rich that God's on his side.
No, he's prideful and he's going to go to hell and look that's sad, I'm not for that.
I don't want him to go to hell, but I'm just telling you this is a danger that men who are
rich, men who trust in riches have, is becoming prideful.
Okay, look at verse number 18 again, it says, "And Jesus said unto him, 'Why callest thou
me good?'
There is none good but one, that is God."
Notice Jesus indirectly is trying to get it through this guy's head that he's not good.
Right?
Why is Jesus saying this?
Because the rich man thinks he's good.
And so Jesus is trying to say here, "Hey, you're not good, buddy.
There's only one good, and that's God."
And of course we know that Jesus is God because, you know, oftentimes the Jehovah's Witnesses
will point to this verse and say, "See, you know, Jesus isn't God because He's saying
that there's none good but one, and that is God."
But hold on.
First of all, there's clear verses in the Bible that teach that Jesus is God.
Let's look at one of those real quick in Hebrews chapter 1.
You know, first of all, when you want to get your doctrine on any subject, why don't we
get a clear verse before you just find a statement that Jesus said to a guy?
Let's find a clear doctrinal verse on the deity of Christ.
Hebrews chapter 1 verse 8, Hebrews 1 verse 8, "But unto the Son he saith," this is God
the Father saying this, "Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever.
A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Thy kingdom."
Here we have a clear verse where God the Father calls Jesus Christ God.
Why?
Because there are three that bear record in heaven.
We believe in the Trinity.
We believe that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are God.
Three persons, one God.
And so when Jesus says there's none good but one, that is God, first of all, because we
know that Jesus is God from clear scripture, that must mean He's good, right?
And you can flip that around.
We know that Jesus Christ is good.
Bible says He hath done all things well, right?
We know that He's never sinned.
Because we know He's good, we also know He's God.
So this is actually a great passage to prove the deity of Christ, even though the cults
like to use it to disparage the deity of Christ.
Go to Romans chapter number three, Romans chapter three, but you know Jesus was kind
of in a cryptic way, in an indirect way, just saying to this guy, "Look, you're not good."
Now, why would He have to say this?
Because rich men often are prideful, right?
Rich men often think, "Hey, I'm good."
Even out-soul-winning, when you ask them the question, oftentimes that's the literal answer
that they give you.
"Hey, do you want to hear what the Bible says it takes to heaven?"
"I'm good."
There's kind of a double meaning there, right?
They're kind of saying like, "Hey, I'm not interested," but really in their heart, what
are they saying?
Like, "Yeah, I'm good."
"Oh, I'm good.
I'm going to heaven.
I'm good.
I'm a good person."
Right?
It's really a double meaning that they're saying.
Romans 3 verse 10 says, "As it is written, there is none righteous, no not one."
There is none that understandeth.
There is none that seeketh after God.
They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable.
There is none that doeth good, no not one.
Now the Bible goes on to describe human nature here in verse 13, "Their throat is an open
sepulchre.
With their tongues they have used deceit.
The poison of asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.
Their feet are swift to shed blood, destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way
of peace have they not known, there's no fear of God before their eyes.
You know, there's kind of two competing philosophies as far as outlooks on human nature in this
world and one says that people are kind of basically good, right?
And this is things that I heard in school growing up that, oh, you know, human beings
are just basically good, but maybe, you know, as a product of their environment or how they
grew up, you know, they could be corrupted and kind of learn to do evil.
Or there's the idea that just man is inherently sinful, and that is what the Bible teaches.
You know, this is what our founding fathers understood and why we have things like the
separation of powers and government, because they understood that man is inherently corrupt.
We need to have checks on man because man is just inherently sinful.
And so, you know, this is a great passage to prove that no one's good, right?
There is no one that is good.
Go to Proverbs 18, you know, the Apostle Paul even said that he knows that in me that is
in my flesh dwelleth no good thing, right?
And that's really what Romans 3 is at the heart at.
It's just talking about us from a human nature perspective, us from a fleshly perspective.
Of course, we know that once we're saved, we are righteous, right?
Because Romans 3 says there's none righteous, no not one.
That's speaking of the old man, the flesh.
Once we're saved, we are righteous.
Once we're saved, our new man cannot sin.
Our new man always wants to do that which is right.
The Holy Spirit guiding inside of us the same way.
Proverbs 18, verse 10, notice this, it says the name of the Lord is a strong tower.
The righteous runneth into it and is safe.
So one of the attributes of a righteous person, what do they do?
They trust in the Lord.
They run to the Lord and the Bible says here that the name of the Lord is like a strong
tower.
The righteous are the ones that do that.
So, in verse 11, the Bible is going to contrast the righteous with, you would think, the wicked,
right?
Like if I was writing the Bible, which thank God I didn't, I would compare the righteous
with the wicked.
But you know what the Bible does here?
It compares and contrasts the righteous with the rich man.
That's not a coincidence.
Look at this.
Verse 11, "The rich man's wealth is his strong city and in high wall in his own conceit."
So notice, you have the righteous.
What do the righteous do?
They trust in the Lord.
The name of the Lord is a strong tower.
They trust in the Lord and are safe.
And then on the other side of that, you would think that the Bible would have said, "Well,
here's what the wicked do," but the Bible says that the rich, what do they do?
The rich man's wealth is his strong city, right?
So he doesn't trust in the name of the Lord.
The name of the Lord isn't like a tower to him.
His riches are what he trusts in.
And many rich men, because of the pride of their heart, think, "I don't need God because
look at what I've done without him," right?
This is what they think.
This is like this Golden Globe Emmy that happened a few months ago where all these stupid celebrities
were congratulating each other on their terrible music and movies, whatever they were congratulating
each other on.
And one of them got up and made fun of the Lord Jesus Christ saying, "Oh, notice everyone's
clapping and thanking different people tonight, but guess how many times the creator of heaven
and earth has been thanked tonight?
Zero times.
Ha, ha, ha, ha."
Everyone starts laughing in the crowd.
Why?
Because rich, oftentimes, are wise in their own conceit, and they think that their riches
is a strong tower, and they think they're untouchable because of their riches, but you
know what?
It's a delusion.
It is a delusion.
It says that they're in their own conceit.
That word "conceit" is an excessively favorable opinion of one's own ability, importance,
wit, et cetera.
Isn't it annoying being around people like that, that think they're so important, that
think they're so smart, they can't listen to anyone else, no one else has any input
or anything like that.
That's an annoying person to be around.
But the reason that they're like that is because of their riches, because they trust in riches,
it's caused them to become prideful.
Go to Deuteronomy chapter 8, Deuteronomy chapter 8.
Deuteronomy 8 verse 11 says, "Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God in not keeping
his commandments and his judgments and his statutes, which I command thee this day, lest
when thou hast eaten and art full and hast built goodly houses and dwelt therein, and
when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and
all that thou hast is multiplied."
Sounds like rich people right here, right?
Notice verse 14, "Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God, which
brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage."
And so you ought to remember that if you're in here and God has blessed you with wealth
and with money, look, there's nothing wrong with that, but the Bible is giving people
like that a warning that, hey, if God increases you and multiplies you in all these areas,
do not forget the Lord.
Do not forget to keep His commandments.
Do not sit here and think that you got to where you are based on your own intellect
and your own will.
The Bible talks about how God is the one that gives us power to get wealth, yet so many
rich people today think they got there by their own bootstraps, by their own intelligence.
You know what?
It's not true.
Anyone who's gotten anywhere in life, God has helped them in some way.
God has given them air to breathe.
God has given them resources and friends and connections.
God has blessed every single person in this world, for God so loved the world.
Okay?
So there's no one in this earth that has just gotten everything on their own.
That is a lie.
Wherever we are, God has helped us greatly in that way.
Go to Mark chapter 10, I'll read for you Proverbs 28-11, the Bible says, "The rich man is wise
in his own conceit, but the poor that hath understanding searcheth him out."
Right?
So oftentimes, the rich, they're super prideful, they're wise in their own conceit, they think
they know everything, but the poor, because they're in a more humble state in life, they
actually search out wisdom.
They actually want to find wisdom, they actually want to know the truth oftentimes, which is
why if you've ever been soul winning, you've noticed that it's so much easier to get someone
that is poor or middle class saved than someone who is rich.
Some of the hardest soul winning I've ever done in my life has been in wealthy areas
in the Northwest, Boise, Idaho where the median home price is like almost $600,000 or something
like that.
The median home price here in Oklahoma City is like $195,000.
And I'm just telling you, the soul winning here in Oklahoma City is way better than in
Boise, Idaho or in Seattle or in Portland or any of these areas.
Why?
Because oftentimes, people that are rich, they're trusting in themselves, they're trusting
in their riches.
Danger number three of someone who trusts in their riches is that they are less likely
to serve God.
Less likely to serve God.
And also, you kind of see a correlation with this in our country in the Bible Belt, which
generally has lower income than the rest of the country.
States like Mississippi, states like Oklahoma, oftentimes the income is a lot lower in these
places, yet church attendance often is higher.
Again, places like Idaho, getting people to go to church in Idaho is very hard because
the people that live there, they kind of live there to just enjoy the state.
And what I mean by that is like, there's always the next camping trip, hunting trip, glacier
climbing trip, water rafting trip, all these different things you could do.
There's a lot of great things to do there, but usually that kind of stuff takes a lot
of money.
And so a lot of rich people move there to just enjoy this life and just live all the
great blessings of life.
And they're not really interested in going to church, they're not really interested in
serving God.
You know, usually it's not rich people that come to church.
Okay.
Look at verse number 19 of Mark 10.
So he had just been asked, "Hey, what do I have to do to inherit eternal life?"
Mark 10, 19, "Thou knowest the commandments.
Do not commit adultery.
Do not kill.
Do not steal.
Do not bear false witness.
Defraud not.
Honor thy father and mother."
And he answered and said unto him, "Master, all these have I observed from my youth."
Now one thing I want to point out in these couple of verses here is that obviously Jesus
is not teaching a works based salvation here.
Notice Jesus did not say, "Hey, you know, here's what you have to do to get to heaven."
Notice how Jesus said, "Thou knowest the commandments."
He's just saying, "Hey, you know the commandments, right?
Here's the commandments."
And he said, "Master, all these have I done for my youth."
Now why did Jesus tell him all these commandments?
Obviously Jesus knows all things.
He knew his response here.
I've observed all these things from my youth.
But the question is, do you think that this is actually true?
That this rich young man actually had observed all of these commandments from his youth?
Of course not.
Right?
This kind of goes back to the pride of rich men oftentimes thinking that he actually has
kept all these things.
Now go to Matthew chapter 5 because Jesus actually clarified a lot of these sins in
his ministry and actually raised the bar of righteousness in his ministry.
Because sometimes what rich people do is they'll change the standard of sin to just not fit
whatever they're doing.
It's just why Donald Trump said, "Hey, if I had done something wrong, then yeah, I would
ask God for forgiveness, but you know, I try not to do things that are wrong."
Right?
That's somewhat of what he said.
I think this was like back in 2015 or something saying like, "Yeah, you know, I don't ask
God for forgiveness because, you know, I don't do stuff that's wrong."
And it's like, what is that?
That's someone that's obviously changed the standard of righteousness that the Bible has
just to fit whatever he's not doing.
Jesus actually raised the bar of righteousness, verse 27 says, "You have heard that it was
said by them of old time, 'Thou shalt not commit adultery.'"
Pretty straightforward, right?
Don't lay with another man's wife, don't lay with another wife's husband.
Verse 28, "But I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath
committed adultery with her already in his heart."
So yeah, the rich young ruler, he might be telling the truth here that he has not murdered
someone, that he has not committed adultery from a literal perspective, but is that just
the only standard for sinning against God?
No, because Jesus said that if you even look after a woman to lust after her in your heart,
you've committed adultery with her in your heart.
Now what man on earth has not done that?
No one, right?
This is something that everyone struggles with.
There's no way that this rich young ruler had never done that.
And so Jesus is kind of bringing this up because it's just such a ridiculous idea that this
man has.
Go to 1 Timothy 6, 1 Timothy chapter 6.
I'm going to read for you James chapter 1 verse 10.
The Bible says, "For whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point,
he is guilty of all."
You know, that's why it's such a silly concept, this idea of repenting of your sins for salvation.
You know, thinking, well, you know, you just got to stop doing the sins that you were doing
and get better in the future.
But the Bible says that once you've committed one sin, you are guilty of all.
You're completely guilty of all.
And okay, so you stopped sinning in one area of your life, but the question is, who's going
to pay for that sin?
You can't pay for it by repenting of your sins.
That doesn't do anything for the sin that's already been committed.
Someone pure and clean had to have paid for that sin, which is the Lord Jesus Christ,
of course.
And then that begs the question, if you could just repent of your sins to get saved, why
would Jesus Christ have to die to begin with?
Why would the sinless lamb of God have to go get tortured on a cross and burn in hell
for three days and three nights if you could just simply stop smoking and go to heaven?
That wouldn't make any sense.
No, you're not going to be forgiven of your sins just because you stopped sinning.
You get forgiven of your sins by trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ.
You don't get forgiven of your sins just because you've never committed murder or adultery.
What about lusting after a woman in your heart?
What about having a foolish thought?
What about stealing?
What about lying?
What about taking the Lord's name in vain?
What about being lazy?
Right?
There's tons and tons of sins that we all commit all the time.
Christians that are saved, I'm talking about, commit all the time.
And you know what?
You don't get forgiven of those sins because you stop one day.
You get forgiven because Jesus's blood was applied to your account.
That's the only way.
1 Timothy 6, 17 says, "Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded
nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God who giveth us richly all things
to enjoy."
Okay, so notice those that are rich are being charged not to be high-minded, not to be
prideful, not to be trusting in uncertain riches.
Go back to Mark chapter 10, Mark chapter number 10, Mark chapter 10, verse 21, notices Jesus's
response after he hears the silly answer, "Oh, all these things have I kept from my
youth up."
Verse 21, "Then Jesus, beholding him, loved him."
That's a pretty impressive, amazing, mature response because I'll just be honest, I kind
of get annoyed very easily by people out soul winning that say things like, "Oh, you know,
I'm a good person.
Oh, you know, I haven't really done anything bad.
Oh, I've kept all these things from my youth up."
That would immediately just tick me off.
That would immediately just make me want to like, "Okay, I'm out of here.
Not wasting my time."
But you know, it's a lot of love and patience that the Lord Jesus Christ has that he beheld
this stupid answer, and that's what it is, it's a stupid answer, right?
But he beheld this answer and he still loved the guy.
He still cared about him and that's the right attitude, all right?
And he said unto him, "One thing thou lackest, go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast and
give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come, take up the cross and
follow me."
You know, Jesus is basically, I think in a way kind of playing with him or kind of messing
with him a little bit where he's like, "Okay, you've never sinned?
Okay, you're good?
You're going to heaven?
Okay, well let's worry about your spiritual bank account then, let's worry about getting
you some riches in heaven.
Hey, all you got to do, sell all that you have, give it all to the poor, and follow
me and you'll be rich in heaven," right?
Because Jesus knew that this would kind of like shock this guy and put him a little bit
on the defense.
You know, Jesus didn't really make fun of him, but he just said like, "Okay, you're
saved, you're good.
Okay, let's take your word of that."
Because theoretically, if you've never sinned, you would not go to hell, right?
If you've never sinned, there's no way you would go to hell.
You would have no need to be saved because you weren't a sinner, theoretically speaking.
Now, of course, that's not possible, right?
And so Jesus is saying, oh, theoretically, OK, theoretically, you've never sinned.
Well, theoretically, if you sold everything that you had right now and gave it to the
poor, you'd be very rich in heaven.
But is that what you see in reality from rich men today?
When we see the rich of this world, are they the ones who are going to be rich in the kingdom
of heaven?
No, they're not.
Why?
Because rich people, one of the dangers trusting in riches or having riches is that the rich
are less likely to serve God.
It's true.
Look around this room.
Look around other churches you've been to, churches that are going out and doing great
works for God, doing real soul winning, preaching the word of God, is not really full of a bunch
of Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk's and these people, they're not the ones that are serving God,
right?
Like we looked at this morning, who was it that is serving God?
The fishermen, the cattlemen, the tent makers, the carpenters.
These people are not rich, right?
They're just regular blue collar guys.
Now go to James chapter number two, James chapter number two.
James chapter number two, look at verse number five, it says, "Parkin, my beloved brethren,
hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which
he hath promised them that love him?"
You know, it's kind of a seeming contradiction, but it's reality that oftentimes it's the
people who are poor physically in this world who will be rich in the kingdom of God.
And oftentimes it's the carnally rich people of this world who will either just go to hell,
unfortunately, or be broke and poor in the kingdom of God.
Why?
Because they're just too invested in their things.
They're too invested in their riches and the things that they have.
Verse 6 says, "But ye have despised the poor.
Do not rich men oppress you and draw you before the judgment seats."
You know, we ought to be aware not to despise the poor.
This is a bad attitude, and I know we talked about this a little bit this morning.
These ideas are kind of connecting, but look, do not despise the poor.
Now obviously in our society, there's a difference between the homeless, drug addicted, alcoholic
bum who does no work.
That's different.
The Bible says to consider the cause of the poor, right?
If someone's poor because they're doing that, that's wicked.
The Bible says if a man does not work, neither should he eat, right?
But then there's also what's known as the working poor, right?
People that work hard, they put in tons of hours into their job every week.
They are not lazy people, yet they still live in poverty.
Do not despise those people.
Do not look down on those people or think you are better.
The Bible talks about to have respect of persons in judgment is not good, right?
If someone walks into church wearing vile clothing and you tell them to sit down and
be your footstool, you're transgressing the law of God.
You're a sinner.
I mean, at that point, it's a wicked mindset.
And Jesus did not have that aristocratic attitude looking down on someone that's poor.
And also be careful of just immediately lifting someone up because they're rich, right?
Because it's just human nature, unfortunately, to just bless the rich and to think good of
the rich and to immediately lift them up.
That's why it says do not rich men oppress you, draw you before the judgment seat.
He's having to kind of remind them of that because people just naturally like and respect
and honor and venerate rich people, right?
I mean, look at Elon Musk, everyone seems to just like that guy just because he's rich.
But you know, you shouldn't just automatically trust someone or venerate someone or look
up to someone just because they have money.
You know, there's a lot more to life than that.
Go back to Mark chapter 10, Mark chapter 10, and we'll see the rich man's reaction here
to Jesus telling him, hey, go sell everything that you have and give it to the poor.
And of course, this is not a commandment of God.
This is not something Jesus is literally telling us to do.
He's using this to illustrate the point that this man does not actually want to serve Christ,
that he does not actually want to be a disciple.
Verse 22, and he, the rich young man, was sad at that saying and went away grieved.
Notice, for he had great possessions.
Why did this man want to not want to take Jesus's advice?
Why didn't he want to go follow Christ like Jesus said?
Because he had great possessions.
And why today are so many people not willing to go to church, not willing to become a soul
winner, not willing to invest their time in reading the Bible, learning, praying for other
people?
It's because they have much possessions, right?
Because they're just too distracted.
There's too much for them to do.
And you know, a carnal person, if they're going to have to decide between going to church
on Sunday or going on some excursion in their yacht or some vacation, the carnal person
is always going to choose the latter.
Right?
And so this person, he goes away sad.
Why?
Because he had much possessions.
You know, if he had nothing, if he was poor and Jesus is offering him to follow him, he'd
be happy.
He'd be excited.
And you know, we see plenty of other people in the Bible that Jesus said, Hey, stop everything
you're doing right now.
Give up your career right now and follow me.
And they said, yes, Lord, let's do it.
They left their nets.
They left everything.
They were willing to follow Jesus.
Why?
Because their heart was not invested in things.
Their heart was not invested in money.
And what we see today, when we go out soul winning into the poor ghetto areas, and we
show up with the gospel of Jesus Christ, it's exciting to them.
It's valuable to them.
It's something that they desire, whereas sometimes people could have so much of this world's
good that the spiritual isn't really attractive to them.
They don't really care because they just are so full on the things of this world.
Go to Matthew chapter 6, Matthew chapter number 6.
Matthew 6 verse 24, the Bible says, "No man can serve two masters, for either he will
hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other.
He cannot serve God and mammon."
God says here that you have to esteem one and hate the other, right?
And hate always doesn't have the exact same definition as we would think of in our modern
vernacular of like to abhor, to look down at disgust at something, that type of hatred.
Sometimes hatred could mean esteeming something less than something else, right?
When it comes to hating your brother, your father, your wife, your sister, that doesn't
mean necessarily to abhor them unless there's some sort of like wicked reprobate or something,
but it's saying to esteem them less than serving God.
When it comes to are you going to serve God or mammon, really how we could tell which
one you've chosen is to look at which one you've esteemed as the priority in your life.
It doesn't mean that whenever you get paid at work you have to rip up your paycheck or
burn it in the fire or something like that, go take all your cash out of the bank and
burn it, give it to the poor, that's not what it means to hate mammon, what it means is
that when you have to choose between things and God, you choose God every single time.
It means that when you have to choose between going to the lake on Sunday morning and enjoying
your nice things, whatever your hobbies is, whatever you could buy with money, whatever
pleasures you can get, if you have to choose between that and going to church, you choose
church, you choose reading your Bible, you choose serving Jesus Christ.
That's how we could tell which one you esteem higher.
Go to Mark chapter 10.
Mark 10.
So again, it's not the quantity of money that matters, it's where, what are you esteeming
in your life?
Are you rich toward God or are you just esteeming riches better than anything else?
Mark 10 verse 23, then we see Jesus' reaction to this conversation, says, "And Jesus looked
round about and saith unto his disciples, 'How hardly shall they that have riches enter
into the kingdom of God.'"
You know, that is just a truth of this world, that it is a rare thing for a rich man to
get saved.
"And the disciples were astonished at his words, but Jesus answereth again and saith
unto them, 'Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the
kingdom of God.'"
So Jesus clarifies here that it's not just those that have money that aren't going to
be saved, but it's those that trust in riches.
Why?
Because what do you have to do to be saved?
Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
That word "believe" in the Bible means trust, right?
We always use this example out of soul winning.
When you get in the plane, you believe the pilot exists, but when you say that you believe
in him, what are you saying?
That you trust him to get you to the destination, right?
It's not that you just believe Jesus exists or even that you just believe he's God.
It's that you trust him to save you.
You trust his works to pay for your sin.
Verse 25, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich
man to enter into the kingdom of God.
And they were astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, 'Who then can be saved?'
And Jesus looking upon them, saith with men, 'It is impossible, but not with God, for with
God all things are possible.'"
So because of this truth in the Bible, I hope you understand that we want to focus our efforts
on the poor.
We want to focus our soul winning efforts on the poor, the working middle class of Oklahoma
City.
You know, we're not going to just beat our heads against the wall and go soul winning
in Nichols Hills every week, right?
I mean, how many salvations will we have at the end of the year if we just went knocking
Nichols Hills every day?
That would be a waste of time.
And look, it's not that we hate rich people.
It's not that we're against people that have money.
We're just looking at a Bible truth here that says that it's rare for rich men to get safe
and that if someone trusts in riches, they dead sure will not be saved because you have
to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, right?
So we want to go to people that are hungry.
We want to go to people that are hungering and thirsting after righteousness and after
the things of God.
And it just so happens that those people are often the poor, that those people are often
regular, middle-class people as well.
Go to 1st Timothy 6, I'll read Matthew 4.3, it says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of God."
Jesus said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit."
Many people dream of being rich, many people long for and are envious of people that were
born into riches and wealth and a rich family, and they think that their life would be so
great if they were rich and they desire all the things that the rich have, but the truth
is that we don't know if this rich man got saved, it doesn't really say in this story.
I think that he probably did not get saved.
I think that sadly this rich man is probably burning in hell right now, and many people
are so foolish to think, "Man, I wish that I grew up rich."
Yeah, but really, do you though?
Because do you even know if you would have believed the gospel if you grew up being a
spoiled little rich brat with everything handed to you and seeing your family members trust
in riches?
What do you think the chances are that you would have trusted in riches as well, right?
So many times we desire things that are not good for us, right?
We're supposed to pray for things in faith and according to the will of God and not pray
for things to consume them upon our own lusts, and yet many Christians say they just want
to be rich, they want to be rich.
Being rich is not necessarily going to make your life better.
Being rich is not necessarily always a blessing.
Sometimes people who are rich have miserable lives and way worse lives than you and I.
Or you can think about this, there's a bunch of poor people in the Bahamas that grow up
in poverty and look, you say, "Well, the Bahamas, poor.
The Bahamas is a poor country."
Yeah the little strip on the beach where all the rich white tourists go from America, yeah
that's a rich area, that's a nice area, but the island is poor.
Those people grow up in poverty and you go to the Bahamas and any store you go into,
grocery store, restaurant, they all have gates and bars and they have armed security.
They have to buzz you into like a grocery store.
You can't just walk into a grocery store there.
I mean it's poverty, it's crime, people are hungry, people are skinny, people are small
there.
Look, those people are poor, but you know what's funny is that they are rich spiritually.
You know what's funny is that these poor people that many Americans would say, "I would hate
to grow up like that.
I would never want to grow up like that."
Those people though, when we show up and preach them the gospel, they are hungry for it and
they get saved.
And you know what, they are going to be rich in heaven, meanwhile all the rich people in
New York City, the rich people growing up in Hollywood think that their life is so great,
but a thousand years from now they will still be burning in hell.
Which one would you rather be?
Which one would you rather have?
Sometimes we complain about our situation in life, but you know what, I would rather grow
up the most poor man on earth and go to heaven than be the richest man who's ever lived and
spend one minute in hell.
You know, be thankful for the lot that God has given you in life.
Don't sit here and be envious of the wicked.
Don't sit here and be envious of the rich and realize that hey, you grew up in a situation
at least to where you were humble enough to realize that you're a sinner needing a savior.
Praise God for that.
Thank God for that.
First Timothy 6 says in verse 6, "But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought
nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out."
Look, every single person when they leave this earth, their bank account is the same
number, zero.
It doesn't matter.
You can't take any of your money with you, all of its vein.
Verse 8, "And having food and raiment let us be there with content.
But they that will be rich," that means you want to be rich.
That could be a Christian.
That could be an unsafe person.
"They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful
lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition."
Hey, let the Bible give you your opinions tonight.
Don't sit here and think like, "Well, I think that I'd be great, my life would be great
if I was rich.
I just want to be rich.
I'm just going to focus on making money."
It's not the way the Bible paints that picture.
The Bible says those that will be rich, that their life is full of perdition, destruction,
foolish and hurtful lusts.
Verse 10, "For the love of money is the root of all evil, which while some coveted after,
they've erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
But thou, O man of God," notice the commandment here, "Flee these things and follow after
righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness."
We are supposed to flee from desiring to be rich.
We are supposed to run away from the love of money.
Again, it's not money that's the issue, but it's desiring to be rich that's the problem.
It's the love of money that's the problem.
People that love money and desire to be rich, their lives are going to be full of all this
destruction, perdition, all these problems.
What we are supposed to do as Christians is follow after righteousness.
Make that the goals of our lives, not chasing after money.
Go back to Mark chapter number 10, Mark 10.
So remember he said that rich people hardly get saved, his disciples are kind of shocked
by this.
Then Peter responds in verse 28 says, "Then Peter began to say unto him, Lo, we have left
all and have followed thee and Jesus answered 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 in hundred fold now and this
time houses and brethren and sisters and mothers and children and lands with persecutions and
in the world to come eternal life, but many that are first shall be last and the last
first."
Remember Jesus told him, hey, go sell everything you have, give it to the poor, you'll have
great rewards in heaven.
And Peter kind of cracks me up, he reminds me of my kids, when one kid does bad, he says,
but I did good.
You know, Peter's like, hey, we've left all, what are we going to get?
It's like, well, you know, you did make the right decision, you did forsake all these
things and any person that goes and forsakes brother, sister, houses, land, all those things,
you're going to receive a hundredfold more in heaven with rewards and spiritual blessings
in heaven.
So it's not like us forsaking the route of pursuing money that we're not going to be rewarded
or blessed for that.
No, we're going to get rewards for that.
It's not the prosperity gospel that you hear, right?
But it is spiritual blessings.
God will reward you for those things.
Go to Proverbs chapter number 11, Proverbs 11.
So what is the message of the sermon is, Hey, let's not be people that trust in riches,
right?
Because there are serious dangers for those that trust in riches.
Proverbs 11 28 says he that trusteth in his riches shall fall, but the righteous shall
flourish as a branch.
No matter how much money you have, no matter how much you've accumulated, no matter how
great your portfolio is, you know what?
It's still not going to keep your mother from dying.
It's still not going to keep you from getting cancer in your old age.
It's not going to keep you from having tragedy strike your family.
You cannot trust in riches and be saved by that.
It'll never ever work.
It's vain.
The Bible says because it's vain know what we should do is trust in the Lord.
It made me think of a couple people Saddam Hussein.
His net worth was two billion dollars when his compound was raided and he was destroyed
and killed.
Did his riches save him at that time?
It doesn't matter how much money he had.
He was destroyed.
Osama bin Laden, his net worth was a hundred million dollars.
These were very, very rich men, but it didn't keep him from getting killed.
It didn't keep him from getting destroyed and cons.
I mean Nebuchadnezzar, great rich man.
Did it keep him from going insane and experiencing the punishment of God?
How about Pharaoh, one of the strongest rulers of the world?
Did it keep him and his armies from being drowned in the depths of the Red Sea, right?
How about the devil, the god of this world?
Is all the money that the devil controls in this world going to stop him from being thrown
into the lake of fire someday?
No, why?
Because trusting in riches is vain.
And what a shame that Christians will do the same things that the world does.
The world who's unsaved, who doesn't have the wisdom of God, will sit there and trust
in riches when it's not going to save them.
And sometimes Christians will do the same thing.
That is vain and stupid.
Go to Proverbs 23, flip a couple pages there.
Proverbs 23, notice what God instructs us in verse 4, says, "Labor not to be rich.
Cease from thine own wisdom.
Quit trying to make excuses for it.
Quit trying to wrap your minds around it.
Don't labor to be rich."
The Bible says.
"Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not?
For riches certainly make themselves wings.
They fly away as an eagle toward heaven."
Money just has a way of just flying away, right?
It's called as soon as you get something your car breaks down, or your kid goes to the hospital,
or you have a medical bill, right?
It has a way of just flying away, and you know what?
Maybe sometimes that's God just causing us to rely on Him.
Maybe God just wants to keep us humble.
Maybe the reason that you're in here and you're a regular middle-class person just like I am
is because God wants us to rely on Him.
Don't sit here and desire to be rich.
Two more places we'll go to, First Timothy 6 and Luke chapter 4.
First Timothy 6 and Luke chapter 4 will be done this evening.
You know, another just application we can make from this truth tonight is that if you
are rich, if you do have this world's good, you know, don't hold on so tightly to the
things of this world.
And the truth is all of us in here have a lot of carnal blessings, a lot of great blessings
just from the fact that we live in America.
You know, compared to many people of the past, all of us in here would be considered rich
to someone in the past, right?
And so we should not just hold on to and value the things of this world so much.
First Timothy 6, 17 says, "Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded."
Right?
Don't be prideful.
Don't look down on other people.
"Nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things
to enjoy, that they do good, that they be rich in good works."
Hey, if you're rich, great, but be rich in good works, too.
Be rich in serving God, too.
Ready to distribute.
Willing to communicate, right?
Being willing to share that wealth by blessing other people in your life, blessing the house
of God, taking care of your family.
Be ready to do those things if God has blessed you financially.
Verse 19, "Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come
that they may lay hold on eternal life."
When you use those things for the glory of God, you're laying up a store for yourself
in heaven.
You're laying up spiritual blessings for yourself in heaven.
Luke chapter 4 will be the last place we turn to.
Luke chapter number 4, last application from this truth is realize that our efforts should
be spent on the poor.
You know, I'm glad that this year we're going to the Bahamas to preach the gospel and not
to insert whatever rich nation.
I'm glad we're not going to the Sydney, Australia.
You know, I'm glad that we're not going to waste our time there.
We need to focus on the poor of this world because they are the ones that are receptive
to the gospel.
Luke 418, we'll end it here.
Jesus said, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach
the gospel to the poor.
He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and
recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the
acceptable year of the Lord."
Hey, let us follow the Lord Jesus Christ's example.
Let our ministry reflect His ministry, where we say, "Hey, God has anointed us to preach
the gospel to the poor."
Let us not despise the rich, or hate the rich, or anything like that, but let us warn them
of these dangers, but at the end of the day, let's focus on getting the gospel to the poor
of this world.
Let's pray.
Lord, thank You for this day, and thank You for the warnings in Your Word.
I just pray that no one here would ever be infected with the love of money, that no one
here would ever trust in riches, but rather our desire would not to be to get rich in
this world, but to become rich spiritually by investing our time, investing our money
and our resources and energy into serving You so that we could reap a spiritual reward.
I just pray for the rich people of this world to be humbled, to have their hearts softened,
to realize that they need a Savior, in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Our last hymn this evening is 134, "My Anchor Holds."
134, 134, "My Anchor Holds."
We'll sing there 134, starting on the 1st.
Though the angry scourges roll, on my tempest-driven soul.
♪ Where he could have ♪