Turn in your Bibles this morning
to Matthew 13. Christ said, My sheep hear My voice. And then in another place, He
said this, He that is of God, hears God's Word. And my aim today is to give you
many of God's words. And my message today I have entitled,
True Riches. I could have called it, in light
of this text, real treasure. But I want you to notice, first
of all, in Matthew 13, something that Christ says in verse 44. Matthew 13 and verse 44. Again, the kingdom of heaven
is like unto treasure hid in a field, the which, when a man
hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goes and sells all
that he has and buys that field. If you'll hold your place here and turn with me in the book
of James, James issues a very stern warning
by the Spirit of God to those who are rich in this world and
who desire to be. James chapter 5, he says, Go
to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall
come upon you. If you look back in verse 13
of chapter 4, he says it something the same way. Go to now, ye that
say, today or tomorrow we will go into such a city and continue
there a year and buy and sell and get gain. He issues these
warnings. He says, you make these plans. You're going to go and you'll
go to this city and you'll get gain. Well, the Scripture says
in Luke 6, Woe unto you that are rich, for you have received
your consolation. That's all you will ever receive,
whatever consolation. that your wealth gives, which
is none at all, that's all you will ever receive. Then he continues in James 5
and verse 2. He says, your riches are corrupted
and your garments are moth-eaten. What you think is fine and good
and be desired, he says, they are nothing but rubbish and damaged
goods. And he simply states the words
of Christ in Matthew 6, who said, Lay not up for yourselves treasures
upon earth where moth and rust do corrupt, and where thieves
break through and steal, but lay up for yourself treasures
in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where
thieves do not break through nor steal, for where your treasure
is, there will your heart be also." He says, whatever your treasure
is, whatever you value above all things, there your heart
will be also. And then notice what he says
in verse 3. He says, your gold and silver
is cankered And the rest of them shall be witness against you,
and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure
together for the last days." What does he say? He says great
wealth testifies against you before God. And not only that, it consumes
you like a fire, and the only provision that it might ever
provide for you is simply that in these last days and not in
the great eternity that is to come. He says in verse 4, the hire
of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is kept
back by fraud cries, and the cries of them which have reaped
are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth." In other
words, he says in verse 5, "'Ye have lived in pleasure on the
earth and been wanton, ye have nourished your hearts as in a
day of slaughter." And what he's saying there is self-consumed
wealth is like fattening yourself for the slaughter, just like
the swine. And not only here, but in a great
number of places in the Bible Do we have warnings along the
same line? He says in Isaiah 5 and verse
8, Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field,
till there be no place that they may be placed alone in the midst
of the earth. Then he says by Christ again
in Matthew 19, "'Verily I say unto you, that a rich man shall
hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto
you, 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
all through this book we find the words of Christ like this
again in Luke 1. He hath filled the hungry with
good things, and the rich he hath sent away empty. Woe unto you that are rich, for
you have received your consolation. Let no man seek his own, but
every man another's wealth. And if you would turn with me
over in 1 Timothy, in the sixth chapter, and listen to what the
Apostle writes in 1 Timothy 6 and verse 7. These are serious words. 1 Timothy 6 and verse 7. For we
brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry
nothing out. And having food and raiment,
let us be therewith content. But they that will be rich That
means those who would be or desire to be rich fall into temptation
and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown
men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the
root of all evil, which while some have coveted after they
erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many
sorrows. But thou, O man of God, flee
these things, and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith,
love, patience, meekness, fight the good fight of faith, lay
hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast
professed a good profession before many witnesses. I give thee charge
in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ
Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession. that thou keep this commandment
without spot, unrebukable until the appearing of our Lord Jesus
Christ, which in His times He shall show who is the blessed
and only potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who
only hath immortality dwelling in the light which no man can
approach unto, whom no man has seen nor can see, to whom be
honor and power everlasting. Amen. 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 gives us richly all things
to enjoy, 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." Now, there is an amazing thing among mankind, and that
is that men by nature seek to strike it rich without really
working. But in salvation, They seek to
be rich in it by their working. Now, believers in the Lord Jesus
Christ, they seek not material wealth nor spiritual wealth by
their works. You see, both are God's to give. Somebody says, well, I have what
I have because I worked really hard to get it. Well, for everyone
that says that, I could line up beside them a multiplied millions
of people who have worked just as hard as they work, and maybe
even harder, and yet they haven't come to that point. Why is that? Because all things are of God
to give. And he is not saying that we
are to be indolent or lazy or slothful or any of these things,
but that we are to do the things that we ought to do. He says
a man who will not provide for his own house is worse than an
infidel. But in the final analysis, all
things are God's to give or withhold. He raises up and He brings down. He makes rich and He makes poor. And so the Lord's people live
in the knowledge of that, and that does not mean that though
they are poor in the things of this world, that does not mean
that they are not truly rich. And they know the difference. Look back here in our text, because
the Lord Jesus Christ, here in Matthew 13, 44, uses a word that ought to catch
our attention. He speaks of treasure. Now, I can guarantee you this.
You don't know what treasure is, and I don't know what treasure
is, and no one else in this world really knows what treasure is,
but Christ does. And he speaks this parable, he
gives these words to his people, and he tells them that the kingdom
of heaven is like unto a treasure. In other words, if it were to
be that you or I had hardly enough to eat in this world or enough
clothes to cover our backs and live, as we say, hand-to-mouth
every day of our life. If we have what he's talking
about here, we have a real treasure. I've thought about it lately,
how many people who lived their lives, most all of their lives,
putting their money in stocks and in all these companies. They were making money, as I
say, on paper. But in the last few years, all
they looked to, all they hoped in, all that they trusted in,
would be theirs for their comfort in their old age or their old
days or their retirement years. And they look at it now and what
was much is nothing. I know lots of people who have
come to that place. But if you notice here, our Lord
is talking about something that is a real treasure. What is it? It is the gospel
of salvation in Jesus Christ. He is talking here about the
riches of God's grace. And he's talking about something
that is unseen to the natural eye. He's talking about something
that is spiritual, which means it is the only truly real thing
that there is. And he is likening it to a treasure. When I was a boy, we used to
cobble some things in a box and call it a treasure. We'd put
a few things that were shiny, maybe had a couple of coins or
a fake stone or something like that, and we would play pirates
or something, and we would put that in a little cardboard box
and call it a treasure. Well, it isn't much different
than our day. He says, you take the money, the things that canker
and rust and that thieves try to steal, and you regard it as
everything to you when all it is is a handful of trinkets and
not a treasure at all. The Scripture says that unto
the Lord's people in this book are given exceeding great and
precious promises. Do you believe that? That there
are promises made by God here to the people who are in Jesus
Christ that are actually in His sight exceedingly great and precious. If you look back in Matthew chapter
12, and at verse 35, he says, a good
man out of the good treasure of the heart. Now, the Bible
says there is none good, no, not one. And yet, at the same time, God
is infinitely good. But he says, a good man out of
the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things, and
an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. If I talk about the things that
are natural to us, they're just evil treasure. But if we talk
about the things that are of God, the gifts of God, that which
He gives us in grace in the Lord Jesus Christ, that's good treasure,
he said. It's the gospel of Jesus Christ
of whom it is said, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom
and knowledge. Where are all the treasures of
wisdom and knowledge. They are in Jesus Christ. And that is true also of what
preaching, what true preaching really is. If you look down in
verse 52 of Matthew 13, it says, Then He said unto them, Therefore
every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven."
That's every preacher, every teacher who is instructed, truly
taught of God by His Spirit and the Word of God of the kingdom
of heaven is likened to a man that is a
householder. which brings forth out of his
treasure things old and new." This morning coming to the service,
I heard, as I turned on the radio to make sure our program came
on and was what it should be, I heard a bit of the previous teaching. And it was done by a man who
followed Martin Lloyd-Jones at Westminster Chapel in England,
London, England, and a man who now lives retired in the U.S. He was teaching. I don't have
any doubt that he knows something about the gospel. But all he
was bringing out was things for the family, things for the life,
things for this, things that any knowledgeable, true psychiatrist
or therapist or whatever they might be, they would be given
the same kind of stuff basically. Any so-called moral teacher, he didn't have any treasure to
give. He didn't take out any treasure of the Old and the New,
of the Old Testament and the New Testament, the things of
Jesus Christ, the main issue, the main problem that is behind
all the family problems and such that make up what this world
is all about. Everything is because of sin. I told my doctor that. I don't
think he agreed with me. But all affliction in our body,
everything that we suffer in this body is at least in one
way or another the consequence of sin. So the man who truly preaches
the gospel, Whoever He is and wherever He is, He takes of His
treasure, things old and new, things from the Old Testament
and the New Testament, all the things in this book which is
Christ's book, and they all speak of Him. Paul says to the Ephesians,
in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of
sins according to the riches of His grace. There is only one kind of riches
that are going to last. There is only one coin for eternity,
if you will. Only one currency. for eternity. There's only one standard in
the sight of God Almighty, and that is the riches of His grace. Peter said we're redeemed by
the precious blood of Christ. And he went on to describe the
Lord's people as heirs, heirs of God. He describes them as being joint
heirs with Jesus Christ. What does that mean? It means
that those who are joint heirs with Christ, they get it all. Everything. That inheritance that He describes
as an eternal inheritance. When houses are consumed under
the coming wrath and judgment of God when He says that the
elements will melt with a fervent heat, and all the things of this
earth will be purged with fire. When all the mansions of this
world go up in smoke, when all the coins melt down to nothing,
when everything is consumed by God, this all-consuming fire,
There will be an inheritance left for the people of God, the
inheritance of the saints in light, that eternal inheritance
that He speaks of. Now, I want to read you a lot
of verses to show you this in this book. You don't have to
look at all of them, but listen to them. Isaiah 36. and wisdom and knowledge shall
be the stability of thy times and strength of salvation. The fear of the Lord is his treasure." The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom, he says. The fear of the Lord, reverence
for God, Believing God and vowing to His Word, His truth is His
treasure. The Apostle Paul, he writes to the Corinthians in II Corinthians
4, he says, we have this treasure. in earthen vessels. Do you know what an earthen vessel
is? It's just a clay pot. Men who have what they think
are valuable things, they put it in what appears to be a valuable
container. And actually, in my days, I've
seen some things that, for the most part, you could throw the
contents away and take the container. It looked more valuable than
the contents did. But what he's saying here is
that the most valuable thing in this world, and he's talking
here about preaching the gospel. He says, the most valuable thing
of this world, the treasure of this world is in human vessels. It is proclaimed by faulty clay
individuals who in themselves are oftentimes failures and never
to be trusted in, but God has given this treasure in earthen
vessels. that the glory might be to God. The man I heard on the radio
this morning, he is a doctor, he is an educated man, he is
a very articulate man, he is a very personable individual. But he obviously does not have
the treasure. This is a treasure, this gospel.
You can't look at me. You can't watch me. You can't
examine my life. You can't look at my whatever
it is you hold up as a high standard and determine whether or not
I know the gospel or preach it by that. He says we have it in
earthen vessels. That the excellency of the power
may be of God and not of us. That's why I told you I want
to speak God's words this morning. Because if you believe me, just
because I said it, I could prove to be the phoniest character
in the world. My words could fail, but His
words never fail. And he calls it a treasure. Paul
again to the Corinthians, he says, for you know the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your
sakes He became poor. Now listen to this, that you
through His poverty might be rich. Everyone that Christ died for,
Everyone that he came into this world, his people that he came
to save from their sins, his poverty, the rich one, he became
poor that we through his poverty might be rich. Paul, when he preached, He preached
praying as He did for the Ephesians. He said that the eyes of your
understanding be enlightened, that ye may know what is the
hope of His calling and what the riches of His glory, of His
inheritance in the saints. He said, that's what I want you
to know about. and the glory that is in Him
and the inheritance of all that are in Him by grace. He has done
all that He has done. Paul says that in the ages to
come, He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness
toward us through Christ Jesus. And here is this man Paul, Saul
of Tarsus. who undoubtedly was brought down
from his high horse, and his place in life, and his station
in religion, and counted it all but lost and done, that he might
preach Christ. And then he writes, and he makes
this statement, he says, unto me, who am less than the least
of all saints. Is this grace given that I should
preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ? If you take a small child, or a
person from way out away from civilization, And you just hand
a big diamond, let's say the Hope Diamond, put it in their
hands and let them examine it. Well, the child, they might just
take it and rub it in the dirt and just do anything with it,
eat it. The man who's out there who's
not aware of anything like that, he may take it and glue it to
a tree or something. Why is that? Because they don't
have any understanding or knowledge of the worth of things. And that's the way we are as
sinners. We don't have any right estimate or value of the worth
of things as they truly are before God. And that's why we'll scrabble
our lives away to make a buck. And he says, what shall it profit
a man if he gained the whole world and lose his own soul? He says in Colossians, to whom
God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this
mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of
glory. He writes to the Romans, O the
depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God,
how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out. But he says, for the vessels
of mercy, which he hath aforeprepared unto
glory, he'll make known the riches of his glory. Believers are, as Paul says,
sorrowful sometimes. yet always rejoicing. He says they are poor, yet making
many rich, sometimes as those who have nothing, and yet possessing
all things. Can you see that? It says of Moses in Hebrews 11,
that he esteemed the reproach of Christ. That means he esteemed
being mocked because of his association with the living God. He esteemed
the reproach of Christ greater riches than all the treasures
of Egypt. For he had respect unto the recompense
of the reward. God had given him an understanding
to know that the one who had the riches of Egypt would one
day wind up with zero. And the one who was reproached
for Christ's sake would one day have everything. Everything. You remember Lazarus,
who died as a beggar at the door of the rich man? God said to that rich man, when
he cried out in hell and begged for a drop of water, send Lazarus
with a drop of water to cool my tongue, for I'm in torment.
He said, you've had your riches. And in this life, Lazarus had
sorrow and weakness, but now he's rich. It says, by Peter, to whom coming,
that is Christ, as unto a living stone, disallowed of men, but
chosen of God, and precious. Or maybe we can hear Peter as
God through him calls him to recall a passage from the Old
Testament when he said, Wherefore also it is contained in the Scripture,
Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious. And he that believeth on him
shall not be confounded. unto you therefore which believe
he is precious, but unto them which be disobedient the stone
which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of
the corner." He said, to you who believe.
And this world is full of people who claim they believe, and it's
a big lie. Because it says, unto you who
believe, he is precious. And that's what this parable
is all about. He is absolutely precious. Which means he is the one to
be had if it means the discarding of everything else. He's precious. He is precious,
whether or not any believes on Him or not. But unto those who
truly believe, He is precious. Because all righteousness,
holiness, redemption, all spiritual blessings, everything that is
truly valuable, everything that is real and lasting, is in Jesus
Christ. Now, notice what he says here
in Matthew 13 and verse 44. He says, these riches are said
to be hidden. Hidden. This treasure is hidden. Hidden in a field, which on one
hand simply means hidden in this world, from Adam's day till now. Because when Adam and Eve sinned
in the garden, God said to them, spoke to them of this very treasure. He said, the woman's seed will
crush the serpent. in all those Old Testament types
and shadows that we find. He is Christ, the Spirit of prophecy. God, when Adam and Eve sinned
and came, as He came before them and they were found naked in
His sight, it says that He slew animals and clothed them and
made coats of skins for them. What's that? That's Christ. He died to make a covering for
his people, coat of righteousness. The lamb that Abel slew, and
God had favor on his sacrifice. All those Old Testament sacrifices. That priest that entered in once
a year into the holy place and offered up sacrifices to God. All these things. Christ hidden in a type and shadow. And they are hidden simply according
to God's sovereign will. That's what Christ said. It says
in Matthew 11, at that time, Jesus answered and said, I thank
thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast
hid these things from the wise and prudent. To those who think they can by
searching find Him, to those who think by working they can
explain Him, gain Him, have His favor by something they know
or do. He says, you've hid these things
from the wise and prudent. Oh, but you've revealed them
unto they. Even so, Father, for so it seemed
good in thy sight. And all things are delivered
unto me of my Father, and no man knoweth the Son but the Father,
neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever
the Son will reveal him." I want to ask people sometimes,
do you ever wonder why? that the worship of God just
really doesn't mean anything to you? Or why what he says in
this word, really you can take it or leave it? Or why you have
no heart interest in the most precious, glorious thing that
there is in this world? And the reality is that every
one of us is shut up to this undeniable truth. No man knows
the Father, save the Son, and He to Whomsoever the Father will
reveal Him. And likewise, no one knows the
Son, save the Father, and He to Whom the Father will reveal
Him. Men and women live their days
blinded by the devil and this stupid evaluation of things,
thinking that one day they'll get into this business of the
Bible, one day they'll get down to this matter of truth and God
and eternity and salvation and sin. No, you won't. God leaves you to yourself. You'll
count all these things like a coin that jingles in your pocket in
a house you can put your lock on and a piece of land or something
like that or a savings account, whatever it is, you'll count
it as something and you'll die with nothing. Nothing. You see, he's hidden in this
book. This book is just another book to men and women who have not
received the work of God's Spirit to show them Christ, to show
them their selves. This book is hidden to those
who are described as dead in trespasses and sin. You wouldn't ask a dead man how
much something was worth, would you? It's described as being hidden
to those that are perishing. He says, if our gospel be hid,
it is hid to them that are lost. in whom the God of this world
hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light
of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should
shine unto them." You see, if you were a congregation
of blind people, it wouldn't do them any good to change from
a 75-watt bulb to a 100-watt bulb, would it? Because the problem is not with
the light. The problem is with your inability to see. And God alone can give that. It's described as a mystery that
has to be revealed by His Spirit. Paul says, but we speak the wisdom
of God in a mystery. even the hidden wisdom which
God ordained before the world under our glory. He says, the
mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but
now is made manifest to his saints. All of these treasures are hid
in Christ. As a matter of fact, He is the
treasure. And yet, Isaiah says that He
hath no form nor comeliness that we should desire Him. There is nothing about Christ.
There is nothing about salvation by grace. There's nothing about
God Himself and all His promises that the natural man would ever
desire. As a matter of fact, it's like
handing something to a child who doesn't know the value. Hand
him a hundred dollar bill on one hand or an ice cream cone
in the other hand. See which one he takes. And we'll never give up the things
of this world. We'll never give up our own righteousness,
our own way, our own thinking, our own sense of values until
He shows us something better. Until we're made to see that
Christ is wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. He's everything. Well, how is this treasure found? Well, the thought, it says here
again, the kingdom of heaven is likened to a treasure hidden
afield, the which when a man hath found it. And the notion
here in the original words is unexpectedly found. He wasn't looking for it. And
he still wouldn't be looking for it. unless God showed it
to us. I remember reading years ago
about two men in Australia that came upon the world's largest
opal. And I don't remember the details,
but it was astounding. The world's largest opal. They were out looking for something
else. I believe they were out digging for gold, and they came
upon this stone, precious opal. But what struck me was they named
it. They called it the welcome stranger. And that's what the Lord Jesus
Christ is when he comes to sinners like us. who in our blindness
have had this misguided sense of values and everything. We've written what was really
lost to be profit and what was really profit to be lost in our
lives. And He reveals to us the welcome
stranger. Christ. He's everything. Unsought. Unwanted. and unexpectedly found. You remember Noah? Did you know
that Noah was no better than every person who perished in
the flood? In himself, as he proved after
the flood. But it says that Noah found grace
in the eyes of the Lord. Paul in Romans 10 said, Isaiah
is very bold and saith, I was found of them that sought me
not. I was made manifest unto them
that asked not after me. And God is elect throughout the
ages. been living their lives, marrying, giving in marriage,
all that stuff that characterizes life. Moving here, doing this,
making this move, making that move. But if they're His people, they're going to be found of
that One whom they sought not. They're going to find the treasure
in the least likely place. They're going to hear the gospel
of God's truth and grace and mercy to sinners in Jesus Christ
from probably the least likely one. But when God brings it home to
their heart and enables them to believe on Christ, they're
going to know they've found treasure, or the treasure has found them. And what does it say they do?
It says, when a man hath found, he hides it. And all that simply means is
he regards it as something so precious that he guards it. He regards it as a precious thing. And I'll tell you what, if you
ever know Christ, if you ever know that gracious salvation
and mercy that's in Him, you'll guard it. You'll guard it that
the cares of this life, or the lusts of this life, or the riches
of this world, or Satan, or anybody else, steal it away. I'll tell you this, I'm not going
to leave my children anything monetarily. It doesn't look like
it. It's going to take it all to keep us breathing. But I hope to leave them one
legacy. That is the knowledge that above all things, even above
them, the thing that I counted most precious was Jesus Christ
and this precious gospel. I'm not trying to write a book.
I'm not trying to leave a big legacy of that kind. But maybe
they'll pick up an old CD or an old tape or an old article
wherein I tried to set forth before them the most precious
thing that I possessed, the truth as it is in Christ. And the very thing that men and
women say they want so much, joy. Well, here it is. What does he find? He finds this
treasure, and he sees the value of it, he guards it, and it gives
him great joy. And for the joy thereof, he goes
and he sells all that he hath and buyeth the field. Now that doesn't have quite the
significance to us as it did under Jewish law. Because when
a man bought a field, bought a piece of ground, whatever was
in that field was his. And that's the thought here.
He found out that what he was so had found was so valuable,
so to be desired, so necessary that he was willing to turn loose
of what he never was willing to turn loose of before. That's what the Lord's people
do when they come and they're brought to see Christ and Him
crucified in their place and the full pardon of sin and perfect
imputed righteousness, the very righteousness of God laid to
their account, the gift of righteousness, the gift of grace, the gift of
faith, the gift of Christ Himself. And that old profession of religion
that they once held to, Sell it all. That old feeling that
they thought they had as a young person in that old revival meeting,
sell it all. The very things that they counted
nearest and dearest in this world, their possessions, whatever it
takes in order to have this, be gone with it. And Paul expresses
it like this. He said, the very things that
I thought were gain to me, I now count them as done, as
refuse, as nothing, that I may win Christ and be found in Him. He said, He that forsaketh not
father and mother, sister and brother, husband and wife, yea,
his own life, cannot be my disciple. If any man loved the world, the
love of the Father is not in him. All said but what things were
gained to me, those I counted loss for Christ. One old writer said, the gospel
does not receive from us the respect which it deserves unless
we prefer it to all the riches, pleasures, honors, and advantages
of the world and to such an extent that we are satisfied with the
spiritual blessings which it promises and throw aside everything
that would keep us from enjoying them. For those who aspire to
heaven must be disengaged from everything that would retard
our progress. Sells it all. Buys the field. And that is by in this sense
that we read in Isaiah 55 when God said, O everyone that thirsteth,
come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money Come ye, buy and eat. Yea, come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price. For wherefore do you spend money
for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which
satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me, and
eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself
in fatness." by, without money, and without
price. What's that? Grace. The free
grace of God in Jesus Christ. Because unto you that believe,
He's precious. Sometimes in my own flesh, I'm
no different than anybody else. I'll get to wanting. And then the Lord, by His grace,
will remind me of His precious gifts of grace to me. And I'll think to myself, how
could I so foolishly want this, that, or the other when I have
everything? That's what God says. All things are mine. All souls
are mine. Everything's mine. Cattle of
a thousand hills are mine. And I'll tell you, I found it's
better to trust Him in these material things to give you what He knows is
best for you than to spend your life trying to get what you want. And He might just give it to
you. When those Israelites, they were fed with manna from on high. But they wanted the flesh. They
wanted some flesh. They wanted some meat. And so God sent the quail, came
into the camp, and they ate. And they made themselves sick
until it says that it came out of their nostrils. They vomited
in the sickness of that until it came out of their nostrils. And that's the way it is with
the riches of this world. Christ said, Seek ye first the
kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be
added to you according to His wise will, according to what
you need, according to what will work for your spiritual and eternal
and even present good. God help us to see it and to
rightly value Christ, His gospel, His truth, His sacrifice, His
word. Because if we don't, we are truly
poor. And we'll be eternally poor.