that the oppressor might increase
his riches or gain for himself. That's one offense. He that oppresses
the poor, he that presses upon, violates, defrauds the emptied,
the brought down, to increase his riches. And the second thing
is this, when the same offender that oppresses the poor continually,
when he giveth, when he continually applies, continually ascribes
to the rich. Now again, you know there's a
sense in which every time we read these proverbs there's a
natural way of looking at it that has no eternal significance
whatsoever. But then there's an eternal way
of looking at it. A way of looking at it that has
eternal significance. And that's what I want to know.
I can read that verse of scripture and I understand it. I mean,
I can read black words on white paper and I can mentally, I understand
what it's saying. But I know this, there is significance
in this passage of Scripture that has eternal consequences. I know that and that's what I
want to know. I want to know when the disciples
asked the Lord, why do you preach in parables? Why do you do that? And He said, because it's given
unto you to know. the mysteries of the kingdom
of God. But to them it's not given. Now
I want to know what the mysteries of the kingdom of God is, Neil.
I want to understand what this scripture means. So the second
point is this, and he that giveth to the rich, he that oppresses
the poor to increase his riches, and then gives what he thinks
he's gotten, riches, and he gives that to the rich. When he gives
that to the rich, now that word rich there, he that giveth, he
that applies or ascribes to the rich. Now that word rich there,
it comes from another word, and if you want to jot this down,
look them up, this is what I did. It's from Strong's number in
Strong's Concordance, it's number 6238. This word, to the rich,
comes from a word that means to accumulate or to grow and
make one's self rich. He that oppresses, that pushed
down, violates, defrauds the poor, the oppressed, the brought
low, to increase his riches, and then he that giveth, he that
ascribes to those that think that they've made themselves
rich, is what the word actually means, shall surely come to want. Now, I want to, I'm going to
just completely bypass the natural meaning because all of us here
understand what it's saying. If you come and you take something
from somebody that's poor and you give it, give what you got
from them and you give it to somebody that's rich already
and doesn't need it, you're going to suffer for that. That's, I
mean, humanly speaking. Now, so naturally speaking, we
would shudder if there was a person that had Virtually nothing. Nothing. A Lazarus that scraped
himself. You know, the dogs licked it.
Somebody came and all he had was an old rag to cover up with. Just a little old cover. Cover
his feet or something like that. And it's just moth eating it.
That's all he got. And somebody came and took that
and gave it to the rich man that fared sumptuously every day.
You'd say, What are you doing? I mean, what kind of low life
would do something like that? But let me tell you this. Is
that not truly, spiritually speaking, is that not the tactics of false
preachers, false religion in this world? who oppose and ridicule
and charge with foolishness and hold resentment in their heart
against the people of God who are truly poor in spirit and
therefore heirs of the kingdom of God. Is this not what they're
doing? I'll tell you. I'm going to show you this in
just a few minutes here. I'm not going to speak long on
this. But is that not what they do? Saul of Tarsus. The scripture says, breathing
out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the
Lord, which really the Lord realized, revealed later, was doing it
to Him. He had purposed in His heart
to take those that were found to be of the way. He was going
to bind them and bring them back to Jerusalem to be tried for
their crimes. And He raised His head in His
hand against the poor. God's poor in spirit. He raised His hand against those
who were the Lord's people. And God stopped Him. Stopped
Him. Zechariah 2.8 gives the Lord's exhortation. of His attitude
toward those that raise their hand against God's anointed people. Zechariah 2.8 says, He that toucheth
you, toucheth the apple of His eye. The resentment, the animosity,
the evil done to God's people, the vexing, the harassment, is
actually done to the Lord. So he that oppresseth the poor,
he that oppresseth God's people to increase his riches, riches
that he thinks that he has before God, thinking that he's done
God's service, those that oppress the poor, those that oppress,
those that violate, those that defraud or wrongs, by not believing
the Lord concerning His revelation of who His people are. He that
violates, He that oppresses the poor. The Scripture says He's
going to come to want. He's going to suffer. But especially when you've done
it unto the least of one of these, my brethren. The Lord said, you
did that to me. You did it to me. That's what
he told Saul of Tarsus. Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
me? Not only are the people of God
found to be the poor, he that oppresseth the poor. Consider
him, the Lord himself, who became poor before God for the sake
of God's elect, the Lord of glory. The scripture says in 2 Corinthians
8-9, For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though
He was rich, yet for your sakes, Paul said, He became poor that
ye through His poverty might be rich. So here the Spirit of
God reveals that the Lord of all, The Lord of heaven and earth,
rich beyond any man's ability to comprehend or calculate, the
servant of Jehovah, made himself of no reputation, took upon himself
the form of a servant, and the scripture sets forth became poor. That's what he said. Though he
was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor. Humble himself as God's servant,
chosen of Jehovah, and through his poverty to humble himself
before God to be his servant. He made sin through his poverty
We would be made rich. By the grace of God, there is
one who is rich in himself. Rich in all of his perfection. Rich being one with the Father,
one with the Spirit of God. He alone who is the God-man mediator
in whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. All the
government is upon His shoulders. Nature, providence, salvation
belongs to Him by gift from the Father that He might give eternal
life to as many as the Father has given Him. John 1.3 says,
All things were made by Him. Without Him was not anything
made that was made. Everything is His by creation. Everything is His by gift. from
the Father. He is rich, rich beyond our comprehension,
but was made poor, made himself poor. He was despised. He was rejected of men, a man
of sorrows, acquainted with grief. We understand a little bit about
grief. Paul refers to them as being
light afflictions. Oh, you don't know what I'm going
through. Paul says these are light afflictions. Consider him. He was acquainted with grief.
He was acquainted with what we know is grief. He knew it perfectly
and we hid as it were our faces from him. He was despised. We
rejected Him, esteemed Him not. Now being made poor for the sake
of His people, for the accomplishment of the work of His Father, surely
He who is truly said to be made poor bore our griefs, carried
our sorrows, He was smitten of God, wounded for our transgressions,
bruised for our iniquities, and the chastisement of our peace
was upon Him. And God, God Almighty, in whom
no lies clear the guilty, when He, the Lord Jesus Christ, He
who made Himself poor before God, when He bore our sins, When
He was made sin, God forsook Him. And through His being forsaken,
we'll never be. Now, He that oppresseth the poor. That one who violates, defrauds,
and wrongs the Lord of glory. by not believing Him, by not
bowing to Him. He who oppresses Him in man's
rebellious heart, He who was made poor before God for the
sake of God's elect, He who oppresses Him, violates Him, defrauds Him
by not giving Him all the honor the glory and the praise for
the revelation of His salvation that He gives sovereignly to
His people. He who oppresses Him by holding
a thought that I will not have that man rule over me. He who does that to spiritually
think that He has increased His own riches, He who does it to
increase His spiritual riches, He who does it by saying, I am
not going to have that man that's set forth as being this sovereign
who only died for God's elect, who has a chosen people, I will
not bow to him. What I am going to bow to is
I'm going to bow to myself and think that I've made myself rich. I'm going to bow to that which
I know. He who oppresses the poor in
order to increase himself, increase his riches, and he that gives
or aligns himself with, or agrees with, those that think in that
way is surely going to come to want. They will find themselves
in the day of judgment to have been deceived. They'll find out
that their works, that which they thought made them rich and
in need of nothing. They're like those at Laodicea. Rich and increased with goods
and in need of nothing. And the Lord told them, He said,
you're poor. You have nothing. They're going
to stand before God in that day and the Lord is going to say
unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work
iniquity. Oh, may the Lord be pleased to
grant unto His people, us sinners, needy sinners. May the Lord be
pleased to reveal to us today, I am poor. I am needy. Yet the Lord thinketh upon me. Thou art my help. and my Deliverer. Make no tarrying, O my Lord."
Now, I can tell you that was out of Psalm chapter 40. And
those truly are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. But all
those words concerning the Lord have been made also the words
of His people that say the same thing. Lord, I need You. Lord, I pray that You'd be pleased
to deliver today from the blindness of sin and unbelief, all that
you've everlastingly known and loved in yourself. Lord, would
you deliver from that spirit of oppression this thought right
here. that I will absolutely not have
that man reign over me but I'll look to myself and to my works
and I will ascribe that which I have and I'll give it also
and be in agreement with those that think that they are rich
like I think I'm rich. That thought will bring a man
to want to be cast out. to be bound hand
and foot and cast into outer darkness. May the Lord draw us
again to count all things but loss for the excellency of the
knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord. And may we consider again
those things that we formerly counted as gain to be dung I
think about that even to this day. Everything that I counted
to be gained to me, I realize now is refuge. It's nothing. And may the Lord give us a heart
and a desire to be found in Him, not having our own righteousness,
but that righteousness which is by faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ, our righteousness alone before God. He that oppresseth
the poor. Oh, and much more, much more
than just poor in this world's goods. Somebody may claim ignorance
in that, but I'll tell you this, no man or woman will ever stand
before God and claim ignorance. God says they're without excuse. May the Lord deliver us from
the oppression of the Lord Jesus Christ, He who made Himself poor. May the Lord deliver us from
thinking that we have earned our riches before God. And give
those to others that are like ourselves, rich and increased
with goods and in need of nothing. Deliver us from that. Because
only by the grace of God will we not come to want. We are what
we are by the grace of God. May the Lord teach us afresh
today for Christ's sake. Amen.