Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Proverbs, chapter 22. Proverbs, chapter
22. Verse 7, Proverbs 22, 7, the
scripture declares the rich ruleth over
the poor and the borrower is servant to the lender. You know the Proverbs, we've
said this so many times, it always has a natural meaning and naturally
speaking If one that is said to be rich
monetarily, if he rules well, has a business, man of influence,
if he rules with a heart of compassion, tenderness for those that are
under his authority, a fair man, fair, then they exercise their
position in a commendable way. If he treats his men, his women
with fairness, they'll do anything for him. They'll help him, they'll
work with him, they'll go the extra mile, they'll... just fair,
just fair. But if that one His inauthority
exercises his rule in an oppressive, abusive way. Treating those that
are under his authority in a way that's not honorable. Cheats them. Unfair to them. Doesn't do the right thing. Then
I'll tell you this. It's not God honoring. And those
that are under His authority don't respect Him. Have no respect. Now, that's the natural part
of this verse. Everybody understands that. But
let's do something here and let's don't focus on the natural. Anybody understands that. But let's consider what the Lord
Jesus revealed to the two on the road to Emmaus concerning
these scriptures. The Lord said, told them, expounded
unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself. If we don't see Christ in this
verse of scripture, then we've missed it. You can talk about
all the fairness and workplace. What's that got to do with it? Show us Christ in this picture
and we see a right. Now, I've got two points this
morning in this verse of scripture. Here's my first point. the absolute
sovereignty of God over all men, all women, everybody. God Almighty
is sovereign over everybody, everything. And here's my second
point. Every man, every woman born into
this world is under obligation to Almighty God for His goodness. I entitled this message, Everybody,
Every Man Owes God. Everybody owes God. Now here's my first point. The
absolute sovereignty of God over all men. The rich, the noble, ruleth,
has dominion over the poor, over the destitute. You know, wealth is relative. Somebody's talking about somebody
is rich. Well, how much is rich? How much
is that? A thousand bucks? A hundred thousand bucks? A million
bucks? You know, if a man's got a dollar
And he's in a group of people that have nothing. That guy's
rich. He got something that he can
negotiate with. But listen to me. There is one
who is rich. There's one who's rich. Almighty
God, now you listen to this scripture and tell me who is rich. The earth is the Lord's, and
the fullness thereof, the world, and they that dwell therein. Listen to this one, Psalm 50
verse 10. For every beast of the forest
is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand
hills. Listen to this, Haggai 2.8, the
silver is mine, the gold is mine, saith the Lord of Hosts. I was
watching an infomercial or whatever it was on TV and a guy was showing
$20 gold pieces. He said everybody needs to have
one of these in their collection. Everybody needs one of these.
He said, if you get one of these right here, you got it. And I
read that scripture right there. The silver's mine, the gold is
mine. I said, well, if you got one
in your collection, it's still the Lord's. He gave you the money
to buy it and the sense to think about it. He who is truly Rich. The earth is the Lord's, the
beast of the field is the Lord's, the silver is mine, the gold
is mine. He owns everything. Everything
belongs to Him. The Lord ruleth over the poor. He rules over the physically
poor, the physically rich, The spiritually poor, the spiritually
rich, Almighty God is rich. God is rich. The natural man
accumulates a few bucks and he thinks he's really got something.
But let me tell you what's going to happen when he dies. He don't
have it anymore. Well, what did all of it do for
him in the day of his death? Was he really rich? It was temporal. It's going to somebody else.
Everything that we have, we ain't taking it with us. We think we
are, we're not. The spiritually blind think that
they're rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing
before God because of their self-righteous works. They think that they're
rich. But here's what God says about
them. They don't know that they're
wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. But there are some that truly
have been made to know that they are. Spiritually poor. Poor in spirit. Needy, helpless
sinners who continually long for the God of all grace to have
mercy and compassion upon them. They're rich. That's what God
says. They're rich. Heirs of God and
joint heirs with Christ. This is what James says. Hearken,
my beloved brethren, hath not God chosen the poor, the spiritually
poor, of this world rich in faith? Man or woman believes God. They
have faith from above to believe God. Oh, now there's a rich man. There's a rich man. That man's
rich. God has given him faith to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and not believe on Himself. Not believe
in His profession. Not believe in His faith. Not
believe in walking down an aisle or coming to an altar. I've said
before, an altar, that's carpet. That's carpet. That's some wood
and carpet. What do you mean He came down
to the altar? We have one altar. Christ Himself is our altar.
This man's rich. You know, this is a paradox.
Proverbs 13, 7 says, there is that maketh himself rich. Maketh himself rich. That is
a spiritual, a false religion. He maketh himself rich, and the
scripture says, and has nothing. Has nothing. There is that maketh
himself poor, by the grace of God, and hath great riches. but concerning all men. Now listen,
I'm talking about everybody. I'm talking about believers,
unbelievers. I'm talking about everybody and
every spectrum of wealth or poverty concerning all men. Those left
to themselves in sin and unbelief and those that God's been pleased
to call out of the darkness of unbelief in their rebellion.
All men. All men. Here's what Scripture
says. God rules. Nebuchadnezzar said in Daniel
4.35, He doeth according to His will in the army of heaven and
among the inhabitants of the earth. Everybody. Everybody. He commands the angels and the
creatures of this earth to do according to His good pleasure.
He raises up some men and He abases others. Some he allows
positions of authority and dignity in this life, like the rich man. And others are left in absolute
poverty, paupers, under the bridge, like Lazarus. Some, Almighty God has eternally
chosen, loved, put them in the surety of himself, in electing
grace, for their safekeeping, salvation, redemption, bestowing
upon them the riches of His grace and glory, and others He's left
to themselves in rebellion. But whatever God has been pleased
to do, this I know, the rich ruleth over the poor. Now that's
my first point. Almighty God is sovereign in
all things. Here's my last point, second point. And the borrower
is servant to the lender. Now since God owns everything,
since God Almighty owns everything, then therefore common sense will
tell us He alone is the lender. If God owns everything, What
can I lend that I don't possess? God Almighty is the lender. And if God Almighty, or since
God Almighty is the lender, then everybody else is the borrower.
Now that's just going to have to be, you know, that's the way
it is. If a man or woman is found to
be a rebel against God, left to himself in sin and unbelief,
he is still. the recipient of the goodness
of God. He's a borrower of God's blessing,
kindness in this world right here. Listen to this, Matthew
5.45. He, it's the Lord speaking, talking about His Father. He
maketh His Son, S-U-N. Who owns the Son? The one's rich. One that owns everything. He
maketh His Son to shine on the evil and on the good, and He
sendeth rain, His rain, on the just and the unjust. You know, the Lord commanded
us, Matthew 5, 44, to bless them that curse you. Do good to them
that hate you. and pray for them which despitefully
use you and persecute you. That's what the Lord commanded
us to do. You do good to them. You bless, you do good, you pray
for. Now let me ask you this, has the
Lord not revealed that he's done the very thing that he commanded
us to do? He has lent all men, all women,
that's in this world, physical life. He's lent them breath. He's lent us voices, voices for
His glory. Every man, every woman that's
born into this world, that's whole, that's got a right mind,
they got a voice. Do you know what that voice ought
to be used for? Praise the Lord. Singing of the
praises unto Him. Calling upon Him in prayer. Speaking
lovingly of His people to His people. Everybody that's born
in this world has got eyes. Do you know what there ought
to be doing? They ought to be beholding this
creation and seeing the glory of God, the majesty of God. They
ought to be reading His Scriptures, searching His Scriptures. They
got ears. Every man, every woman that's
born into this world has been lent physical life, ears, eyes,
ears to hear the Gospel. Why? Why is there not No room
left in here. Are men and women not obligated? God has lit them eyes and ears
and voice and a mind for His honor and glory is what they
should be doing. Ears that should hear the gospel
and ears that should refuse to not hear the gospel. I'm not
going to hear something. Oh, the unregenerate. a borrower. He considers not the kindness
that's been shown him, but he's still a debtor. He's still a
debtor. And who the Lord has lent all
the days of his life, that man has benefited from the generosity
of the great lender. and been made to see something
of His helplessness, and see something of His obligation,
that He owes God, He owes God. You know what that man is? He's
a willing servant now. Willing. God's given him a heart
of gratitude and thankfulness, and He's given him a heart of
understanding to know that when I stand before God in that day
of judgment, all that I owe, Christ has paid. Christ is made
good. One given life in Christ, faith
to believe, eyes to see, ears to hear spiritually. Now He knows. All that I owe, I owe Him. For
His mercy to me. That One who is continually coming
to the object of His hope in life, He is an enlightened servant. a willing servant, a thankful
bond slave, who has been blessed and snatched from the bondage
of sin and unbelief. And he's happy. He's blessed. He's happy. He's happy that Almighty
God was pleased to set His affection on him. He's happy that God's
given him new ears now to hear the gospel, and he wants to hear
the gospel. He wants to read God's Scriptures. He wants to
be with God's people. This is his family, the body
of Christ. That sinner's had his debt paid
before God by the blood of the Lord Jesus. That debt of obedience
for holiness, that debt of sacrifice for God's broken law has been
satisfied by Christ Himself. The rich ruleth over the poor. And the borrower is a servant
unto the lender. There's coming a day when the lender himself, the
great judge, is going to call and summon all men, everybody,
everybody to himself. And the books are going to be
opened. Books are going to be opened. There's a passage of
scripture that I, Lord willing, plan to preach on here pretty
soon. It's about this man that went to a far country and he
gave his servants some talents. He gave one five, one two, and
one one. And the one that was given five,
he produced five more. I'll go into all the details,
I'll just tell you the high points. The one that gave two, two more
were produced and what that meant. one, he gave one. And this one
took it and he hid it. And the master came back and
an account was to be given. One had five, made five, well
done. One had two, made two, well done.
One had one, he said, you're a slothful servant. Take that talent and give to
another. And bind this one. Every man, every woman, now listen
to me. Every man, every woman owes God. Somebody said, well, I don't
know. The rich rule over the poor. And the borrower, if you're
sitting here and you've got life, you just took a breath of air,
that's God's air. That's God's air. He lent that
to you. And by the grace of God, he just
lent you another one. And there is a debt. of gratitude
and thankfulness that's owed him, owed him. Someone said,
that's mine. I'm making my own way. Listen,
the servant, the servant, he's the borrower to the lender. May almighty God give us life,
give us eyes to see, ears to hear, and thankfulness unto him
for his mercy and grace for Christ's sake. Amen. All right, let's
take a break.