Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Proverbs. Proverbs chapter 30. Proverbs chapter 30. I'd like
to look at verses seven to nine this morning. Scripture declares This proverb
was written by a man named Agur. Agur. Not a lot is known about
him, but what we do know is that the Spirit of God moved upon
this man to pen this proverb. Let's hear what the Lord has
to say. Proverbs chapter 30. Verse 7
to 9, two things have I required of thee. Deny me not before I
die. Remove far from me vanity and
lies. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with food convenient
for me, lest I be full and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor and steel,
take the name of my God in vain. The Spirit of God set forth the
absolute need of prayer in God's people. Prayer. A heart made tender to draw near
unto the Lord. Prayer, the marvelous blessing
of prayer. Our Lord prayed in Luke 5.16
concerning the Lord praying. The scripture says, and he withdrew
himself into the wilderness and prayed. I thought, what a marvelous
revelation. God Himself, God, God Almighty,
in human flesh, all knew the need of prayer. Prayer. The Spirit of God recorded
these words. It says, Then cometh Jesus with
them into a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples,
Sit ye here while I go yonder and pray." And pray. The Lord of glory, He who spoke
all of this into existence, knew the need of prayer. Prayer. Oh, the blessing. and the need that we have to
pray. We're on this earth. We're living
in a world that is not our home. The Spirit of God revealed in
1 Thessalonians 5.17 through the Apostle Paul, pray without
ceasing. Pray without ceasing. ceasing,
that the believer has a need, a desire, a heart to pray, to
seek the Lord. He prays from a new heart, a
new heart that without that new heart, I want you to turn to
Acts chapter nine while I'm saying this. He prays from a new heart
and without that new heart, He's not, he's not praying. He's not,
I'm not saying he doesn't recite a memorized set of words. I'm not saying that. I have kids,
you know, we teach our children and we talk to them. But with
a new heart, a man, woman prays. In Acts chapter nine, verses
10 to 12, Acts nine, Verse 10, and there was a certain disciple
at Damascus named Ananias. And to him said the Lord in a
vision, Ananias, and he said, behold, I am here, Lord. And the Lord said unto him, arise
and go into the street, which is called Straight, and inquire
in the house of Judas. For one called Saul of Tarsus,
for behold, He prayeth, he prayeth. And as seen in a vision, a man
named Ananias coming and putting his hands on him that he might
receive his sight. I want you to go and find this
man, put your hands on him, because he's seen in a vision, a man
coming, and he's praying, he's praying. Saul of Tarsus was a
religious man, grew up and religion set under doctors, divinity. But God gave him a heart to pray,
and God's people pray. Now in the book of Proverbs,
the words that we're considering this morning, Proverbs chapter
30, verse 79, these are the words that have been recorded of a
prayer that was offered, as I said, by a man named Agur, the gatherer
is what his name means. And this is what this man said
back in Proverbs chapter 30. He says in verse seven, two things
have I required of thee. Two things that I've begged,
two things that I've asked, two things that I've inquired about. And then he's praying and he
says, deny me them not before I die. Now here's a needy petitioner
that has asked the Lord for two things with a pressing heart.
Two things that I've required of thee, that I've asked, I've
begged. A needy sinner, burdened, His heart is burdened and the
scripture doesn't insinuate that the man was dying at that moment,
but rather he knew as all men, God's people, especially, they
know the reality of death. They're going to die. They're
going to leave this world and the uncertainty of its timing.
I know, you know, Unless the Lord returns, I've said so many
times, unless the Lord returns and we're caught up to meet Him
in the air, we're going to die. We don't know when. But this
man, Agur, he didn't know when he would die, he knew he would
die. And he's asked the Lord, he besought the Lord to Give
him two things. I'm asking two things. Two things
have I required of thee. Deny me them not before I die. He prayed urgently. He prayed with a heart like Jacob
did. He was left alone with the man,
the scripture says. He wrestled with a man who was
none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. Scripture says that as
the Lord was wrestling with this man, Jacob. The Lord said unto
Jacob, he said, let me go for the day breaketh. And Jacob said,
I will not let thee go except thou bless me. Unless you bestow
a blessing upon me, is what he's saying. Unless you bestow a blessing
upon me, I'm not gonna let you go. Well, this man, Agur, This
man is praying desperately. Back in Proverbs 30. Two things
have I required. Two things have I diligently
required of you, Lord. And don't deny them me before
I die. Don't deny me of these two things
before I die. Now, you know, he asked in verse
eight, here's what he asked. I'm gonna read the, I'm gonna
just read the first part of it. And we'll look at these verses.
Two things I've asked you. Here's the first of verse eight.
Remove far from me vanity and lies. Remove far from me. vanity and lies. Now, if he would
have asked the Lord for a blessing without the words, before I die,
you know, we could all read his words and agree that the time
of our departure from this world, when we die and the Lord receives
the son to himself, when we leave this world, every believer will
eternally be delivered from the vanity and lies of this present
age. You know, when we die, we'll
be with the Lord. We'll be out of this world. The effects of sin will be gone. But the writer asked this of
the Lord. And he asked him, he said, I'm
asking you this, and don't deny me. That's what he said. Two
things, verse 7, if I require of thee, deny me them not before
I die. He died. We might ask ourselves,
what is it that a believer would ask, request of the Lord to not
be denied concerning these things of vanity and lies? Remove far from me vanity and
lies. Now, we know that he wasn't asking
the Lord to completely remove him from the presence. Romans
chapter seven. Turn over there with me. Romans
chapter seven. I'm gonna read verses 21, 24.
We know that he wasn't asking the Lord to completely remove
him from the presence of vanity and lies, because we know that
while we're in this world, we're all gonna be struggling with
these until we do leave this world. Listen to Romans 7, verse
21, 24. I find then a law that when I
would do good, evil is present with me. I delight in the law
of God after the inward man, but I see another law in my members
warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity
to the law of sin, which is in my members. O wretched man that
I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Beloved,
we all know this. As long as we're in this world,
we're not going to be removed. We're not going to be without
the presence of the effects of sin, vanity, lies, Paul, He's
praying here, and he said, I know, I see in my members, warring, warring. I looked that up. I wonder how
many times I've read that scripture. Warring, warring, yes. It means like a military expedition. Well calculated, well planned.
considering the weaknesses of the enemy and stuff. I see, I
see in me, in my, in my, in myself, in my flesh, a war ain't going on, well-calculated
war. We wrestle not against flesh
and blood, against powers and principalities, spiritual wickedness. We know in this world, all that's
within the world, 1 John 2.16 says this, All that is in the world, the
lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life,
is not of the Father, but of the world. Everything in this world, anything
of this world, is nothing more than empty promise, empty delusion,
deceit. As long as we're in this world,
I can tell you right now, we're not gonna be exempt from the
temptation and the presence, the presence of vanity and lies. But the key to what Ager, the
writer here in Proverbs, back in Proverbs 30 was writing, he
said, remove me, I'm sorry, remove R. from me, vanity and lies. That word far is the key to this. He didn't say remove vanity and
lies. He didn't say remove, you know,
the presence of vanity and lies. That's not gonna be removed.
We're gonna deal with that. But what he said, remove far
from me. And here's what he was actually
saying. Far, in verse eight, It's these
vanities and lies, these objects of temptation that we're always
struggling with. He didn't ask to be removed from
the very presence of it, but he's asked this, from the
power of it. What he's saying is, Lord, turn
these vanity and lies and make them to be as a distance to me. Let them not have dominion over
me. The presence of them is there.
Psalm 119 verse 37, turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity. Yeah, you think, boy, what a
struggle. Turn away my eyes from beholding, meaning to regard
or give attention to it. Lord, don't let the things of
this world, the riches, honors, pleasures allure me, lure me
away from you. The Apostle Paul in 2 Timothy
4.10 said this concerning a man named Demas, a man that went
with him. A man that preached with him.
A man that Paul had a lot of confidence in. The scripture says, Thessalonians,
for Demas, 2 Timothy 4.10, for Demas has forsaken me, he's abandoned
me, he's deserted me. Having loved this present world,
he was well pleased, is what it means, having love. well pleased
with this present world and is departed into Thessalonica. The writer in Proverbs knows
that the presence of sin is there. Vanity lies. Lord, I'm asking
you this before I die. Remove far from me. Don't let them, don't let them
grasp hold of me and keep me lure me away. Demas was lured
away. He was taken away. He said, Lord, don't let me be
taken away. That never happened to me. I'm
going to tell you something. I've seen not as much as many,
but I've seen enough of the sadness of seeing some that have been
in the presence of the preaching of the gospel. Some that I had
been with, some that I'd preached with over the years, years ago,
years ago. And felt in my heart of the surety
of them knowing God, knowing the Lord, believing the gospel.
And then I look now and I see some of them are not here. You
know, you've seen that, I'm sure. They're not here anymore. You
think, what happened? Well, if they were the Lords,
they'd still be here. They went out from us because
they were not of us. If they'd been of us, sure, they
would have remained. Sure, they would have remained.
And this man, Edgar, He's asking concerning the Lord, Lord, these
two things I require of thee, deny them me not before I die. Lord, don't let these things
be denied me before I die. Remove far from me. Remove the grasping holding,
the keeping of, remove these things far from me. Jonah 2.8
says, they that observe lying vanities, those that observe
them, That is, pay regard or give heed to. Love them to keep
them. They forsake their own mercy.
One who's been given a heart to know something of the emptiness
of this world's promises. Continually seek the Lord for
His keeping grace. Lord, keep me. Lord, keep me. Don't let me, don't let me be
drawn away. Somebody say, well, that'll never
happen to me. Lord, don't let me be drawn away. Lord, don't
let me, because I'll tell you what'll happen is, if the Lord
doesn't keep you, you will justify it. You will justify it. Wasn't my fault. It was their,
they did. Believe me. Ager prays, Lord,
move far from me vanity and lies. Then the second request, he asked, give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with food convenient
for me, lest I be full and deny thee and say, who is the Lord?
Or lest I be poor, steel, and take the name of my God in vain. Lord, here's the second thing
I'm asking. Lord, don't give me poverty or riches. Oh, how needful
for this second prayer. We'd all say, you know, by nature,
oh, riches is much better than being impoverished. That's much
better. It'd be better if I had Plenty,
plenty, plenty. Have all I need. Maybe more than
I need. I'd be better. I'd like to be
able to, you know, if I'm somewhere, I wanna, I see something I want. How much? How much? But to be
able to pray from the heart. Lord, give me neither poverty
nor riches. Now that's a prayer that is expressed
within the heart of a new man, wherein is found godly fear,
reverence, where the Lord has imparted life. Here's one that's been made to
know something of the provision and the providential care of
God and its sufficiency. It's enough. It's enough. How
often are we tempted to think, you know, if I just
had just a little bit more, if I just had, you know what, if
I had an extra thousand, I'll tell you what we could do. Well,
if we needed an extra thousand, the Lord would have given it
to us. And here's a man that's praying. Lord, I'm asking you,
I'm asking you, remove far from me Vanity and lies, and Lord,
don't let me be in a position where I'm tempted to deny you,
steal your honor, your glory, dishonor you, dishonor your name. When Jacob turned with me to
Genesis 33, Genesis 33, whenever Jacob met his brother Esau. Jacob had struggled. His brother
had prospered. Jacob was to meet him. He was apprehensive. Genesis
chapter 33. He met Esau after many years. Jacob brought him gifts. Jacob was going to give him gifts
to appease him. When Esau saw all the gifts,
Genesis chapter 33, starting in verse eight, Esau asked him,
he said, what meanest thou by all this drove, which I meant? And he said, these,
these are And he said, these are to find grace in the sight
of my Lord. And Esau said, I have enough. I've got sufficiency. I got plenty. I got plenty. That's worth it. He said, I have enough. My brother,
keep that thou hast unto thyself. And Jacob said, nay, I pray thee,
if now I've found grace in thy sight, then receive my present
at my hand. For therefore, I have seen thy
face, as though I had seen the face of God, and was pleased
with me. Take, I pray thee, my blessing
that is brought to thee, because God has dealt graciously with
me, and because I have enough. He urged him, and he took it.
Both of them said, no, I got enough. One of them said, I've
got plenty. But Jacob, when he said it, his
word meant I have all. I've got everything. I've got
it all. Beloved, this is the heart of
a believer. This is the heart of the desire. Oh, the temptation
is there, believe me, or we wouldn't have been warned against it. But to say, I have all in Christ. Oh, the marvel to behold the
God-given grace of submission unto the Lord who has promised
I will never leave you. I'm never going to forsake you. Oh, how often has that scripture
come back to my heart and yours too, I know that you that know
Him, God's people, are truly blessed to be made aware of the
snares of either having an overabundance of anything or suffering the
severe lack of anything, the temptation of that. I'm telling you, I think of the
temptation, both sides of the coin. The Lord has been pleased
to bless us. If we're not careful, scripture
says if riches increase, remember the rest of it, don't set your
heart on it. If the Lord has been pleased
to bless us and to give us Adequate sufficiency, more than enough.
Let me tell you what the old man's gonna say. Man, you know
what? This is nice, but if we just
had a little more, just a little bit more. Oh, the struggle of having an
overabundance. Lord, keep me also, Lord, from
lack. Lord, don't let me. Don't let
me be found struggling in this world with either extreme. Keep
me, Lord, from the temptation of grasping hold of me of overabundance,
underabundance. Extreme abundance or extreme
need. He says, feed me with food convenient
for me. A daily allowance. Give me, Lord,
what I need. Give me what I need. Give me,
Lord, the prescribed portion is what he's saying. Lest I be
full and deny thee in heart. Nobody would ever outwardly say
that. They're just too embarrassed. You know, he's got too much pride
to say, you know, I've denied the Lord, but oh, I can't, I
can't, I can't deal with the, struggles of my heart and the
temptations that I have. Lord, help me. Lord, feed me
with food that is my daily allowance, what I need, what I need. Oh, lest I be fooled and deny
thee and say, who's the Lord? Who is the Lord? Lest I deny thee and deny that
Lord, you've provided everything I have or Lord, you've kept me
from everything that I don't have. And it was for my good
and for your glory. Lest I be poor and steal and
take the name of my God in vain. What does that mean? Lest I be
poor and count his providential promise. I'll never leave you
and I'll never forsake you. Lord, don't let me be put, Lord,
and let it grasp hold of me that I hear your promise that you
won't leave me and you won't forsake me, and I take that as
being an empty promise. Don't let me do that. Lord, help
me not to do that. Beloved, whether we're rich in
gold, silver, Oh, whether we're rich or poor, in gold or silver,
whether we are, wherever we are, may we be blessed to be poor
in spirit. Needing, Lord, constantly, your
presence, your guidance, your word. Lord, whether I'm rich or poor,
let me be sensitive of my need before you. Lord, let me have
the sufficiency of this day's provision by you, a convenient,
let it be convenient for me, continually feasting upon you,
our spiritual bread, the drink of your blood, resting, Lord,
in you. Two things, Agur said, two things. Lord, I'm asking you, before
I die, I require of you, Don't deny them to me. Lord, remove
far from me vanity and lies. Let them be at a distance. Lord,
don't let them grip me and keep me and lure me away. And give
me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with food convenient
for me. Give me my adequate sufficiency. Give me enough. Lord, lest I
be full and deny thee and say, who's the Lord? Or lest I be
poor. and steal and take the name of
my God in vain. Isn't that the heart of a believer?
Isn't that the heart of one that has seen something of himself? Know something of his frailty?
Know something of his need? One that wants to walk by faith,
believe God? He's asking him, he's asking
him. He don't take any of this for granted. Lord, help me. I pray God bless these words
to our heart, to his glory. for Christ's sake.