Just a pretty short lesson, really, concerning those who are rich in this world. Verse 17 of 1 Timothy 6, he talks about, charge them that are rich in this world. And we all have our ways of judging things, you know. Somebody asked, a guy one time said, who do you consider rich? And he said, anybody that's got more than me. But you know what? When you go back to the times of Timothy and Paul, every one of us in here would have been considered rich back then. Think about it. Back then, they didn't really have a middle class. You had the rich and you had the poor.

And sometimes those who are rich, even now, and Paul's talking about, Paul writing to Timothy, he's talking about believers here now, sinners saved by grace, Christians, followers of Christ. And we know sinners are saved by grace. They're blessed by grace. If you're a believer, you're blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And there's not one spiritual blessing that you lack. And there's not one spiritual blessing that you earned or deserved.

But God has made a distinction on this earth, for example, in spiritual gifts. Think about in 1 Corinthians 12, where Paul dealt with that. Every one of those believers were equally justified, equally sanctified, equally saved, equally blessed with all spiritual blessings, but they didn't all have the same spiritual gifts. Some had the gift of communication. Some had the gift of speaking a word in season. Some had the gift of speaking the gospel in other languages. And then there are other gifts too. The apostles, they had the gifts of miracles that accompanied the preaching of the gospel. because they didn't have a Bible back then to go to. They had some scriptures from the Old Testament, but not everybody carried around a copy. In fact, one of the reasons we know that the Ethiopian eunuch that Philip went out to preach to, he was a rich man. How do I know that? He had a copy of the book of Isaiah. And poor people couldn't afford that. So you have that distinction.

There are some whom the Lord has been pleased to make rich in material goods, money, whatever. And there are some that God has left in poverty, our Lord himself. One of the silliest things I've ever read about in church history was when some Catholic monks Got together, you know how they have the orders? I think it was the Benedictine order and the Jesuit order. They got together one time to have a debate. And you know what they were debating? Oh, it was so important. Did Christ own the clothes that he wore? They had a formal debate on that. Crazy stuff, you know. But he was poor. had no place to lay his head, you know, he had to depend on others.

And then you think about the, you know, some people say this is not a parable, but that it's a real story, you know, I mean, a historical event. I think it's a parable. The rich man and Lazarus. Remember the rich man who squandered his riches and used them only for himself and he died and he went to hell? then Lazarus who was one of Christ's sheep, he laid outside the gate with the dogs licking his sores, you know, things like that.

And here's the point, there is no virtue in being rich or being poor. And this is what I want to say first. Look here, he says, verse 17, and I want you to notice the context here. Charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high-minded, that's proud, nor trust in uncertain riches, here today, gone tomorrow. Look back in history, you know, the market crash, all that. but in the living God. Now there you go. Trust in the living God. That's what I entitled the message. Who, this living God, not a dead God, giveth us richly all things to enjoy.

You know that statement there is kind of like a theme of the book of Ecclesiastes. If you go through Ecclesiastes, I think there are 12 chapters there. and I've preached through them years ago.

It talks about, you know, most people think of Ecclesiastes, you know, and the word Ecclesiastes, that means the congregation. That's what that word means. But it says in Ecclesiastes that vanity of vanities, all is vanity. And some people say that's the theme of Ecclesiastes, but it's not. The theme of Ecclesiastes is in the last two verses.

Let's read them to you. If I can get back there. Ecclesiastes 12, here's the theme of it, the book. And of course you know it was written by Solomon, who was a rich man, and who was sometimes a very disobedient man. I should have marked this, but I didn't. But Ecclesiastes chapter 12, verse 13.

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Now that tells you, he's gonna tell you the theme of this book, the meaning of it. Everything I've said written up to here, here's the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God, now that means worship God. It means believe God, trust in the living God. and keep His commandments, do what He says.

That doesn't mean work your way to heaven. That's not teaching salvation by works. For this is the whole duty of man, no matter how much you have or how little you have. This is the whole duty. For God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil. There's the theme of Ecclesiastes.

So the theme of Ecclesiastes is vanity of vanities. That's a life without God, without Christ, without grace, without seeking the Lord and finding Him. That's what that is. But the book of Ecclesiastes says this, that just like this verse over here in 1 Timothy 6, he says, Don't trust in uncertain riches. They can be here today, gone tomorrow. But trust in the living God who giveth us richly all things to enjoy.

Now, enjoying them doesn't mean eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow you die. That's Epicureanism. That's hedonism. That's heathenism. That's ungodly. So what he's saying, and when you say trust in the living God, do you know the very first thing that God brings us to by the power of the Spirit through Christ is faith in the living God, where we turn away in repentance from the dead gods. Over in 1 Thessalonians chapter one, it talks about how you turn from your idols. to serve the living God. Because any God that you serve, whether they be many or they be one, if they're not the God of this book, as described by His revelation of Himself as a just God and a Savior, if you're not serving Him, you're serving an idol. So if God has brought you to faith in Christ to submit to Him as the Lord your righteousness, to see that your only righteousness and deservedness of salvation is His merits, you're serving a dead God. And usually, the dead God you're serving looks a whole lot like the one you see in the mirror. Usually. Because we think God is like ourselves. As one old preacher said one time, we reason from the ground up instead of from heaven down. You see, the revelation of God comes from him. And so we serve him as we're brought by the power of God in salvation through the new birth to look to Christ as the author and finisher of our faith, to plead him as our only righteousness.

But he says here, charge them that are rich in this world. Now that could be money, it could be goods, it could be a lot of different things. That they be not high-minded, that means proud. Use it as pride. And there are basically two ways that people can use that as pride that leads to idolatry.

You know, Paul talked about, I think in Colossians, covetousness, which is idolatry. You know what covetousness is? That's the desire, it's an unlawful desire of things that takes, and it's idolatry when it takes you away from seeking and serving the Lord, worshiping the Lord.

You know, Solomon said this is the conclusion of the whole matter, fear God. There are people who are more afraid of losing their bank accounts than they are fearing God. That's what it's talking about.

But one way that a person can be high-minded is when they're lifted up with pride and act as though the wealth that they have was ultimately all due to their merit, their power, their work. And listen now, let me tell you something.

You know, a person who works hard and reaps the benefits of that, that's fine. And they should do that. And you know, the Bible's very clear there. The Bible does not promote a welfare state. It doesn't say, to people who are able to work, it tells them if you don't work, you don't eat.

Now it's not talking about people who are debilitated, who can't do for themselves. And especially in believers, Christians, If there's somebody in this church who because of no fault of their own has lost the ability to earn a living, then we're to help them. But now if there's just a lazy person who won't work, then they don't eat. That's what the Bible says.

So it's not a matter of having to help people, we do. But a person, you know, you all know, I mean, if you don't know anybody personally, you know somebody in history who worked hard and still lost everything they had. And then you've seen people who've worked hard and reaped the benefit, and that's fine, that's a blessing from God.

But when they're lifted up in the way of saying that, I did it all, they don't thank God, thank God for His mercy. That's when they are high-minded. And the first key that we've been talking about here, realize that you should work hard, we all should work hard, but it's God who gives the increase.

It's God who blesses those efforts. It's God who gave you the power to do those things. If you come up with an idea that makes millions of dollars, where do you think that idea comes from? My intelligence? Well, you may be intelligent, and that's good. That's a gift from God too, isn't it?

I think it's, I'll tell you, if you wanna be safe about it, here's the way I look at it. Everything I have is a gift from God. If you think I have the ability to preach the gospel or preach the scriptures, listen, that didn't come naturally.

Whatever, whatever gift it is, whatever we're rich in, whether it's money or whatever, You see in the Bible, you know, some of the God's choice servants were rich like Abraham. Some weren't, like Philemon. He was a servant. So, not Philemon, Onesimus, that's his servant. Okay, but the key in using riches wisely is to recognize that God is the source of all well. Spiritual and physical. and to recognize that the spiritual is more valuable than the physical. Isn't it? Because it's going to last forever. You're going to carry that with you forever. God gave it to you. He won't take it back. It's much more important than the physical.

Well, you know, we have to remember that money is not evil. Love of money is the root of all evil. We read that back in verse 10. And we've got so much scripture there that we can talk about. Let's just turn to a couple of them. Turn to Matthew 6. This is the Lord and the Sermon on the Mount. And he talks about this in verse 24, Matthew chapter six. He says, no man can serve two masters. Now what he's saying here is you cannot serve the Lord with a divided heart. He says, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God in mammon. And mammon is a term that they used back then for material gain, fleshly gain.

In verse 25, he says, therefore I say, and you take no thought for your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor yet for your body, what you shall put on. is not the life more than me and the body more than Raymond? And you can read the rest of it. You're all familiar. I'm gonna read one more verse here. But when he says take no thought about these things, he's not saying don't ever think about them. You have to. If you run a business or if you've got a job, you have to think about that. But he's talking about anxious thought that brings you to worry. to the point that your mind is taken off the things of God. That's what he's, anxious thought. Because that's unbelief. And so he says in verse 33 of Matthew six, he says, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. That's the gospel. Where are you gonna find the kingdom of God? In the King, Christ. Where are you gonna find righteousness? In Christ. Not in anything you own. Not in anything you leave to your children. You can leave billions to your children and that will not contribute even one iota to the salvation of their souls. And don't you hope that they realize that when you're gone. I want them to know that this is the important thing. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. You're not gonna find his righteousness in a bank vault. You're gonna find it in the gospel, in the word of God, how God saves sinners by his grace through the righteousness of Christ.

And he said, all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the mar. That's anxious thought now is what he's talking about. For the mar shall take thought for the things of itself sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

And then one more, turn to Luke chapter 12. You all know this one. Luke chapter 12. I think it's down around verse 13 if I'm not mistaken. Oh, this is where the man came to Christ and talked about his brother holding back from him in his abundance and Christ spoke to him this parable. Verse 16, yeah. And he spoke a parable unto them, saying, the ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, what shall I do? Because I have no room where to bestow my fruits. And he said, this will I do. I'll pull down my barns and build greater, and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years. Take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, thou fool. Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee. Then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself and is not rich towards God.

Now that's what Paul's talking about here. Go back to 1 Timothy 6. Look at verse 18. Talking about those, the second key to using riches wisely in a godly way is that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate. laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come that they may lay hold on eternal life."

Well, do good. Now, we know, you know, go back to the same thing about good works and what people say. He's not saying that good works will earn you salvation because that's against the gospel, You know, Paul had talked to Timothy all the way through this thing about the truth, the doctrine. What's the doctrine of grace? It tells us we cannot earn anything from God. And I know people don't like to hear that because, you know, it's like the Pharisees. They want to say, you mean I've done all this This religious stuff all my life, I've given up this and given up that and not done this and had a miserable time. And it doesn't count for anything. That's exactly what I mean. It doesn't count. Now, when I say it doesn't count, I'm talking about on God's books of judgment, the accounting. Because the only thing that's gonna matter when I stand before God at judgment is how do I stand with Christ who only counts.

But does that mean good works have no place in the kingdom? No, they do. They're expressions of the power of God. Don't you want the power of God to work in you and through you? They're expressions of the power of God. They're expressions of worship and submission to God. They're the fruit of faith in Christ. It's Christ that worketh in us, God that worketh in us to do His good pleasure. They're fruit unto God. They honor Him.

Well, why would I want to do that? Because he's given you everything that you have that's good, especially in salvation. So he's not talking about riches or good works as a foundation of eternal life. The only ground of eternal life is the imputed righteousness of Christ. And that's it. His merits alone. Our salvation is based upon Christ earning power. He earned it. And he earned it by his obedience unto death to the praise of the glory of God's grace. And it is freely given unto us.

Look at it again, verse 17. 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. It's a gift. Salvation's a gift. Eternal life is a gift. All blessings that we enjoy

So laying up in store, verse 19, for themselves a good foundation against the time. Now how can that be laying up in store? Well, the good works that we do has to be done in a particular mindset that shows that our salvation and eternal life and glory are secure, not because of the good work, but because of Christ. And I always go back to that little verse in Matthew 5 verse 16 that shows that. Let your light so shine before men that men may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Whatever you see me do, if you see me sin, my only defense is that I'm a sinner saved by grace. Now that's not to be used as an excuse, but it's to be, listen, you have to use it. I know you do. You know how I know that? Because you're all sinners. And I am too. Paul said, I'm the chief of sinners. That's who Christ came to save. So those who are rich, and I'll say those who are poor, but who believe the gospel and who do good, those who share, express, and evidence their faith and love for Christ and his church, it's clear that they're not doing these things hoping to work their way into salvation.

And another thing, too, is people become high-minded in this thing when they believe that the possession and the gain of riches or material things automatically equals salvation or the blessing of God. Well, I know I'm saved. God's blessed me. Well, what about that guy that just built those barns? He was given riches. And God said, thou fool. You see, you've got to understand that salvation is not wrapped up in the things that I have here on earth. I may have a lot of things here on earth, and I feel like I do. But that's not my salvation.

You talk about our country, and I've often said this, Frank, that that I love America. And I'm a patriot. Now, I'm not an American idolater. I don't believe in the gospel of the flag. But I love our country, and I thank God I was born here and live here. But America is not my salvation. Christ is. I pray for our country and our leaders that they'll come to their senses and that our freedoms will be preserved. But that's not my salvation. The church at Rome was saved under a despot. Many of whom in the succession tried to kill believers. So don't get bogged down in that kind of stuff.

Now God's favor and blessings, Lord bless us. Let us be able to not only help ourselves, but help each other. And that's what he's talking about. Well, he concludes with this. He says, oh, Timothy, verse 20, keep that which is committed to thy trust. Now that's important. That's what I need to do as a pastor. You elders, you believers, this church. What has been committed to our trust? I'll tell you what's been committed to our trust as stewards. The greatest, most valuable, the rarest message in the whole world. I'd rather have it than the rarest diamond. the gospel. And that's what he's telling Timothy, you keep guard, that's what that means, guard it. When people come in to attack it, when false preachers or false brethren come in to attack it, you guard it.

And that which is committed to thy trust. He says, avoiding profane and vain babblings. Now you know what profane and vain babblings are. That's the speech and the talk of false preachers that take people's hearts and minds and eyes away from Christ. Like Paul, I read it last week in second Corinthians 11 that their minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that's in Christ. They come in with religious talk And then in oppositions of science, falsely so-called, the word science there is knowledge, that's what science means in the Greek form. In other words, oppositions of knowledge, the true knowledge of God. This is life eternal, Christ said, that they might know thee, the only true God, in Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. But they say they have knowledge, but it's false knowledge, it's just called knowledge, it's ignorance. You guard against that Timothy.

And he says in verse 21, which some professing have aired concerning the faith. The faith there is that knowledge. It is the truth. It is the doctrine of the gospel. Wherein Christ is revealed and declared in his glorious person, God manifest in the flesh and in the power of his saving work, his blood, His righteousness imputed. They varied. And so Paul ends it, the first letter, with grace be with thee. Amen. Okay.