Bibles again and turn with me
to the book of Proverbs. Proverbs chapter 13. Proverbs 13. Boy, what a blessing this book
has been. You look into these precious
Scriptures And you know, based upon the Lord's Word, you know
the Gospel is there. Search the Scriptures. These
are they that testify of me. And the blessing of being able
to look and look for Him. If we fail to see Him, we've
not seen a right. If we fail to see salvation by
grace, we didn't see right. I'd like to look at Proverbs
13, verses 7 to 9. I've entitled this message, Who Made You Rich? Before we begin, let's once again
ask our Lord's blessing. Our Father, again we ask and we seek and we knock. And
Lord, based upon Your Word, You said, we will find. It will be
open. You will make it known. And Lord,
we realize this morning that You alone, by Your Holy Spirit,
brings back to our memory those things that You have said. Lord,
would You bless these words to our heart for Christ's sake?
Amen. The passage that we'll deal with
today beautifully sets forth the contrast between true and
everlasting salvation before God Almighty in Christ and the
false security that's held on to by the unregenerate sinner
in Himself. Now this, again, this is the
message of this book. Life eternal in Christ, or the
condemnation of life without Christ. Verse 7, Proverbs 13 says, There
is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing. There is that
maketh himself poor, yet hath great riches. There is that maketh himself. The word maketh there, and in
the latter part, he that maketh himself poor, That word right
there means to act. There is an act. There is an emotion. There is
something that is actually done. Though man by nature, because
of the spiritual death, that actually reigns in his unregenerated
soul. Because he thinks himself rich
before God and is increased with spiritual goods, though he thinks
that, the Scripture reveals that the unregenerate, and here again,
the Scriptures alone, sets forth those that are unregenerate,
those that are without Christ, those that do not hear and believe
the one that has sent the Lord Jesus Christ. God Almighty said that. To not
believe the report that God has given concerning His Son, to
not believe the gospel, And as I said before, men will
say, are you saying that it's absolutely necessary to believe
the gospel, the report of the Lord Jesus Christ? Is it absolutely
necessary to believe the message of sovereign, saving, electing,
redeeming grace? Is it absolutely necessary? Yes. Yes. Yes. That's the gospel that
Paul said, I'm not ashamed of. Why? It. I.T. It is the power
of God unto salvation. It. If any man preach any other
gospel than that which we have preached unto you, let him be
accursed. Why would a man stand in a pulpit Sunday and Wednesday
and Sunday and Wednesday and Sunday and Wednesday and set
forth Scripture by Scripture by Scripture by Scripture And
it's the same message of God's purpose to show mercy to people
that He's everlastingly living. Why? Because that is the message
of the gospel. It's the only message. No other
message. And no believer ever tires of
it. If every believer says, tell me that one more time, I just
want to hear it one more time. I've said before, if you want
to know how often a believer wants to hear it, let him be
ready to leave this world. And if there was one, he's on
his deathbed. He's getting ready to leave this
world. You know what he wants to hear? Tell me one more time
how the Lord put away my guilt. Tell me one more time how He
told me, I'm not going to leave you. I'm not going to leave you.
Tell me one more time how He told me, He said, I'm not going
to forsake you. I just want to hear it one more time. I'm getting
ready to leave this world. Tell me one more time how God
Almighty everlastingly loved me and saved me without any input
at all. Tell me that one more time. The
Scripture reveals that those that think themselves rich. There is that maketh himself
rich, yet hath nothing." Now, you know that that right there
is saying that whatever someone is doing and acting out to make
himself rich, here's the end result. He doesn't have anything. Now, you know that's obvious.
There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing. He has thought to have made himself
rich before God by his own works. And he's wretched, afflicted,
miserable, pitied. He's poor, destitute of wealth
in Christ, blind, spiritually naked, robed only with the filthy
rags of his own self-righteousness. But the latter part of that verse,
now listen to this, there is that, there is, there is, that
maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing. There is that maketh
himself poor, yet hath great riches. There is that that is
actually done, acted, that maketh himself poor, and hath great
riches." Now, Matthew 5.3 says, "...blessed are the poor in spirit.
Theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Surely, all those made to see
themselves as being poor, unable to reconcile themselves
back to God, they actually admit, they do admit, they do confess,
they do act in a way of submission before the Lord, I know myself
to be poor. I am what you say I am in myself. The Scripture reveals that the
kingdom of God is theirs. But read the Scripture again. There is that maketh himself
poor, hath great riches. The Spirit
of God in this passage reveals one. that made himself poor. I was born like that. But there
was one, the Scripture says, that made himself poor. And the one that made himself
poor, he has great riches. One thought himself to have great
riches. And the Scripture says he has
nothing. But there's one that has made himself poor. And he
has! For ye know the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes
he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. Two attitudes right here. Those
that think that they've made themselves rich, they don't have
anything. It's not that I believed, therefore
my faith made me rich. No, no, no. Your faith believes
in yourself. You're nothing without Him who
made Himself poor. He is the One who has great riches,
the One that made Himself of no reputation, the glorious Lord
Jesus Christ, who was in Himself Creator, all-powerful, the mighty
God. The Scripture says the everlasting
Father, the Prince of Peace, the Counselor, God Himself made
Himself. Poor. I believe that. And I try to
enter into that. And I say, Lord, thank You for
what You said You've done. And Lord, forgive me for my inability
to perceive what You've actually done. Thanks be unto God. You that made Yourself poor. Lord, You have great riches. What riches? The Scripture says,
My God, but My God, Philippians 4, 19, shall supply all your
need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. What riches? How about righteousness? How about holiness before God
Almighty? How about pardon of sin? How about the pardon of the sin
that I just committed? Just in my thoughts, just the
waywardness, just before I even knew it, before I realized what
I was even doing. How about the pardon that God
Almighty grants unto me because my sin has been paid for? And the blood of Christ has atoned
for it. Satisfied. Put it away. Cover
it. There is that maketh himself
rich, yet hath nothing. There is that maketh himself
poor, yet hath great riches. The ransom, verse 8, of a man's
life are his riches, but the poor heareth not rebuke. The ransom of a man's life are
his riches, Here again, we can look at that two ways. One is
false hope. The other one is total hope.
There are those that think that they have met the requirements
for ransom before God by their own ability. Now, just think
of it like that. The ransom of a man's life is
his riches. And if I'm standing here and
I'm thinking falsely, I need for my life to be right with
the Lord. And men have told me all I've got to do is A-B-C. Now if I will A-B-C, whatever
that is, name whatever you want to name, just any works of self-righteousness,
whatever it is, the ransom of a man's life is my riches. If I think that I have done something
to atone for God Almighty, for myself, I have put away my guilt
by my free will. The ransom of a man's life is
his riches. A false ransom, but that is my
riches. Lord, we prophesy in Your name. Cast out devils in your name.
We've done many mighty works. We did. We did that. Lord, we've done all those things. And he said, I will say unto
you in that day, depart from me, you workers of iniquity.
I never knew you. I never knew you. Stand before
God in your own merit, by your own ability, by your own works,
and He will cast you out. But the eternal redemption of
a man's soul requires a greater ransom, a greater price that
can be paid by man. Do you know that? Nothing short
of the precious blood of Christ is sufficient for that. 1 Peter. I want you to look at
this. I saw something in this today
that is so consistent. It's just absolutely consistent. But I never saw 1 Peter 1, 18-19. 1 Peter 1.18, forasmuch as you
know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things such
as silver and gold, listen to the next thing, from
your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers,
but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish,
without spot. You weren't saved by your silver
and gold. You weren't saved by your empty,
vain works, walks, actions, by your
vain conversations. That unprofitable conduct. That's what it means. Vain conversation. Unprofitable. What can a man
do to reconcile himself back to God? Nothing. Nothing. He
can't do anything. It's empty. Those who by the grace of God
are made to see themselves as poor in spirit, those who have
no confidence in the flesh, that see themselves as needy sinners,
they've got some hope. Back in Proverbs 13, the ransom of a man's life are his riches, Christ's riches. But the poor heareth not rebuke." Those truly made to be poor in
spirit will not hear the rebuke of God. God Almighty has rebuked
them in a substitute already. They're not going to hear a casting
out. They're not going to hear, depart
from Me, you workers of iniquity. I never knew you. To hear Him
say in that day, well done, thy good and faithful servant. To hear Him say into that day,
enter in. Enter into that which has been
prepared for you from before the foundation of the world.
Lord, all of these things that you've prepared for those that
you've everlastingly loved, thanks be unto God. Verse 9, the light
of the righteous rejoiceth, but the lamp of the wicked shall
be put out. I want you to notice in that
that there's two things that's referred to, a light and a lamp.
A light and a lamp. The first one is permanent. The
first one is light in itself. The light, that means that which
is light itself, Christ himself. The Lord, David said, is my light
and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The light
of the righteous rejoices. Now, there's two thoughts here.
Absolutely. Christ, the light of the redeemed,
He rejoices. He said that, My delight is with
the sons of men. I was ever before Him. I was ever His delight. And our delight is with our people. All that the Father had given
Him, He's everlastingly delighted in. Oh, the precious bride of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Precious to Him. Precious to
Him. I'm lost in the wonder. Oh, we
go back and read Song of Solomon again. We went through that book
years ago. I go back and I read those things. Oh, my heart just... Lord, how
is it, Lord, that You could call to me and I could give You excuses? I've already laid down. And You
put Your hand beside the hole of the door, constrained me,
caused me to call unto You. Can You tell me where He is that
my soul loves? Have You seen Him? I found Him,
held Him. He said, I've always loved you. The light of the righteous rejoices. It rejoices in His people. They've been given to Him by
His Father. That's His bride. He loves her. That's His body. He loves His people. but also the light that has shined in
the hearts of God's people. The objects of God's mercy, they
rejoice too. That's the other one. The light
of the righteous rejoices. He rejoices in them, and they
rejoice in Him. The light that they have, the
light that they possess, Christ in you, the hope of glory, the
light of the righteous, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. They rejoice. Thankful. Those regenerated by the grace
of God, they know that God has shown mercy to them. Christ,
who is their light. He who ever lives, they thank
God for him. Thanks be unto God that gives
us the victory. But the lamp of the wicked, the
candle, you may have that in your margin there. The candle. Temporary. That's
what it is. Temporary. The lamp of the wicked shall
be put out. What more do we need to say about
that? Just like those foolish virgins that had no oil for their
lamps. They had a lamp. They had a lamp.
They just didn't have any oil. There was nothing there. It was
empty. The candle of false security
shall be proven to fail in that day. Here's what we looked at. Who made you rich? That was the
title of this message. Shun trying to make yourself
rich before God by your own self-righteous works. There is that, the Scripture
says, maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing. There is that maketh
himself poor, yet hath great riches. Ransom of a man's life
are his riches, but the poor careth not rebuke. The lamp of
the righteous rejoiceth. I mean, the light of the righteous
rejoiceth. but the lamp of the wicked shall
be put out. Come unto Me, the Lord said,
all you that labor, heavy laden, I will give you rest. Take My
yoke upon you and learn of Me. I am meek and lowly in heart,
and you shall find rest for your souls." Who made you rich? A
man is either going to try to make himself rich or God Almighty
is going to make him rich in Christ. He said, Look unto Me. Look unto Me and be saved. May the Lord bless these words
to our heart for Christ's sake.