Proverbs 19.4, wealth maketh
many friends, but the poor is separated from his neighbor. Being separated from your neighbor
being sort of the opposite of attracting friends, the one person
that you're maybe considered most likely to be friends with
is somebody that lives right next door to you. but he separated
even from his neighbor. Now, right away, we're skeptical. When you heard that verse read,
you were skeptical. Your mind immediately probably
took a cynical view of this verse. You begin to think to yourself,
if wealth makes friends, they're not gonna be real friends. It's
the wealth. It's not the person that they're
attracted to. It's the wealth. And that's not
unwarranted completely. I wanted this verse to say that. When I first read this verse,
I thought, well, that's what this is teaching. I wanted it
to say that these were fake friends and what a shame it was that
the poor couldn't even find a friend in his own neighbor. I read it 10 times, wanting it
to say that. About how wrong it is to befriend
somebody just because they're wealthy and to despise the poor,
but it just isn't there. And it's not there for one simple
reason, because that's not the truth of this verse. That's not
what's being taught. For one thing in the scriptures,
poverty has no virtue in it. There are those who express in
this world great concern for the poor, but I feel like most
of the time it's something else about the poor that they're interested
in, like maybe a vote, rather than their lot in life that concerns
them. A poor man's vote counts just
as much as a rich man's vote. And so a lot of people love the
poor, you know, in this world. But there's no virtue in poverty. Turn with
me to Proverbs 6. Proverbs 6 6 Go to the ant, thou sluggard,
consider her ways, and be wise, which having no guide, overseer,
or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth
her food in the harvest. How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard,
When wilt thou arise out of thy sleep, yet a little sleep, a
little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep, so shall
thy poverty come as one that traveleth in thy want as an armed
man. Now, I've used that verse on
Vicki. Don't tell her I said this this
morning. She's in the nursery, I think. She actually slept later
than me, like twice in our lifetimes. And when that happened, I left
a note, I wrote it out on a piece of topping paper and said, how
long will thou sleep, oh sluggard? And I laid it on her. I laid
it on top of her, so when she woke up, she would find it. But that's irrelevant. But you
see how in this, In this verse, poverty is warned against. It's not something
that's virtuous or desirable. Not physical poverty. Neither
is there in God's word any sin in wealth. Money is not the root
of all evil. Scriptures do not say that. Listen
to 1 Kings 10, verse four, when the queen of Sheba had seen all
Solomon's wisdom in the house that he had built. She saw the
palace that he lived in and the meat of his table. You probably
ate about like we do now, don't you reckon? I had a baked potato
about that big last night. with brisket in it, brisket stuffed
potato, you ever had one of those? I bet Solomon didn't have that.
It had half a canister of sour cream on it and a big old handful
of cheese. I highly recommend. But you see
my point, we're rich, we're rich, we're wealthy. the meat of his table and the
sitting of his servants and the attendance of his ministers,
he had people waiting on him, and their apparel and his cupbearers
and his assent by which he went up unto the house of the Lord. There was no more spirit in her
and she said to the king, it was a true report that I heard
in my own land of thy acts and of thy wisdom, how be it? I believed not the words until
I came and mine eyes had seen it. And behold, the half was
not told me that wisdom and prosperity exceeded the fame which I heard. He was very prosperous, rich,
wealthy. Nobody ever read that passage of scripture and said,
boy, that's the, and got mad at Solomon. You just, you know,
I said, boy, he was a, you know, wouldn't have liked him, you
know. Of course wealthy people have
to be careful when it comes to friends. When we're talking about
unearthly matters because our verse is a, as all scripture
really, all the types and pictures, the parables, the stories in
second Kings that we're reading about the different kings and
men and situations and circumstances and All of that, it has to do
with earthly things that teach spiritual lessons. And that's
what this is. Everybody knows that's true.
A wealthy person's gonna have a lot of friends. The poor, not
so much. But there's no virtue in physical
poverty, nor any sin inherent in wealth. But all of us are
wealthy. We just don't often think of
ourselves maybe that way. Don't look at the super wealthy
of this world and famous and the things that we make people
rich for in this world are strange. But don't look at them and say,
well, I'm not wealthy. Go down to one of the tent cities
in downtown Nashville. Go find a good bridge down there
and maybe talk to some of the folks that live under it. And
then come back and tell me what your status in this world is. And I'll tell
you this, when you go down there, see if you see any virtue down
there. See if you see a better class of people. You
know, we tend to think of wealthy people, oh, they're a bunch of
snobs and they're proud and, you know, they're entitled and
all that. Do you think you'd go down to those that live under
a bridge and find a better class of people down there? Not in
my experience. You know what those people are
like down there? They're proud. They're entitled the world owes
them something They're bitter So what is the
lesson of this verse we see the earthly teaching here What's
the lesson that's as in all of Scripture especially these Proverbs
were given an earthly reality and taught by a spiritual lesson
and This one teaches us by comparison
and contrast Spiritually speaking everybody is poor And it's just the opposite To the earthly physical Status
of folks Most people that are wealthy consider themselves poor. Like most people in my situation,
they'd say, man, he ain't got two dimes to rub together. It's
relative, isn't it? I live pretty well. I eat really
well. I get to go fishing every once
in a while. I get to garden. I get to do things I enjoy just
whenever I want to. Wonder what Solomon would have
paid for my television back then in his day. People say, oh, the television
is evil. Really? You got a window to the world
in your living room, to the whole world. We just take that for granted.
Wealthy, wealthy. Spiritually speaking it's the
opposite Everybody that's poor thinks
they're wealthy Listen to Revelation 317 Because
thou sayest I am rich Now this is spiritually speaking So well,
you know And they blend, they go together. Earthly wealth and
status will make somebody think that they're spiritually fine,
right? What this world's church calls
prosperity, you know, is earthly gain. And because thou sayest, I am
rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing, and
knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind
and naked. You see, everybody's poor spiritually,
but they don't think that way. Just the opposite in earthly
things. Here's what God says about that. I counsel thee to
buy of me gold, tried in the fire. What do you got that's
worth anything to me, God says. What do you got to bargain with? That thou mayest be rich, and white raiment, that thou
mayest be clothed. You see what kind of clothes
he's talking about? Why white clothes? Well, because
that's the righteousness of Christ. And that the shame of thy nakedness
do not appear, and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve that thou
mayest see. He's clearly telling them to
do things that they've got no power to do. What are you going
to pay God for what you need? What are you going to give? But
I like verse 19. Listen to this. As many as I
love, I rebuke and chase. He's not condemning them. He's
just showing them what they are. Boy, that's beautiful, isn't
it? You're wretched, miserable, poor,
blind and naked. But I love you. And I rebuke and chasten. Be
zealous, therefore, and repent. Repent. Your thinking is all
wrong when it comes to true wealth. The gold of this world is worthless. It just is. It'll buy things
in this world. No question about it. But in
light of spiritual reality, Listen to what the scripture says. Only
the Lord's gold, tried in the fire, is valuable. That's why he says, buy of me
gold that's tried. And we know the cost of that
which the Lord gives, which he says you've got to have. The
gold that's making you confident now, it's making you poor too. the fancy clothes that you wear
now, you think you're, you know, people can't see what a wretch
you are because you're wearing fancy clothes. You're really
naked. But listen to what he says. Ho,
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 or without price. If you can figure out how you
can buy from God that which you truly need, you'll know the gospel. What God demands there in the
book of Revelation, buy of me, I counsel you. Buy of me gold
tried in the fire. Buy of me white raiment. That
puts us on the spot, doesn't it? We realize I've got nothing
to pay. I can't afford that kind of clothing. But you come without money and
buy wine and milk without price. 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 And not only is the wealth and
Prosperity of this world deceptive and fleeting and I have more
scripture about that listen to first Timothy 617 charge them
that are rich in this world and this is just a First Timothy,
Paul saying to Timothy, charge them now that are rich in this
world. There's a warning for them that they be not high-minded,
nor trust in uncertain riches, because that is the tendency
of our flesh, our nature, to be confident in that which only
gains status in this world, status that we can see and enjoy in
the flesh. He said, charge them now. Don't
be high minded nor trust in those riches, but in the living God
who giveth. Don't trust in what you have,
trust the one that gave it to you. who giveth us richly all things
to enjoy. What a beautiful, beautiful,
there's so much in that. I thought about, you know, everybody
that's not a millionaire thinks about being a millionaire at
one time or another. And when I think about that,
I thought, you know, if I had millions of dollars in the bank,
I don't think I could eat any better than I do now. I eat what I like. That might
be red beans and rice. It might be a filet on a special
occasion. We've been known to do that.
I couldn't eat any better. Mexican food, that's pretty cheap. My favorite food. What would
I do, travel the world? Not my thing. Some of you might
love to do that. It looks prettier on TV to me
than it does in real life. It's a lot easier, a lot cheaper. You know what I'm saying? I love
to go and see people at conferences and things like that. I might
enjoy myself on a trip to Europe or something like that. But to
me, it's about who you're with. Don't you think? It's about who
you're with. I'd rather be right here with
y'all than in Greece with a customer or something, you know what I'm
saying? Or whatever, whoever. The wealth of this world is fleeting,
and God giveth us richly all things to enjoy. Everything that's
worth having is free. Mark it down. God gave it to
us. God gave it to us. We didn't
buy it. We didn't pay for it. Proverbs 23, for labor not to
be rich. Cease from thine own wisdom.
Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? For riches
certainly make themselves weeds. They fly away as an eagle toward
heaven. That doesn't mean don't work
to make money. Why else would you work? You
know what I'm saying? I like to be pretty honest with
y'all. I've never worked a job in my life in this world, you
know what I'm talking about, that I did it, you know, for
the fellowship or for, you know, just the joy of working at that
place. It just didn't work out that
way for me. Some people, maybe so. But it's not talking about that.
It's not talking about supporting your family. It's not even talking
about if you want to have wealth in this world, fine. But don't
let that be your goal. Don't let that be the pursuit of your heart. Don't set your eyes upon that
which really doesn't exist. In light of eternity, it's just
paper. You ever think about that, just
even in earthly terms? Why is a dollar bill worth a
dollar? What makes that, what about a
hundred dollar bill? Why is it worth a hundred dollars?
Just because we say it is. If we stop saying it is, then
it's just a piece of paper. That's all it is. Goods, services,
labor, those are worth something, always. But a $100 bill, it ain't
worth nothing but just because we say it is. But also, not only is the wealth
of this world vain, but also the friendship of this world.
Our scripture talks about wealth and friends. Think about the
friends of this world. Listen to James 4.4. You adulterers
and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world
is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a
friend of the world is the enemy of God. They don't go together. That doesn't mean don't have
any friends that aren't believers. That's not what that's saying.
The world, the friendship of the world, Doesn't mean don't have friends.
Just don't be a friend of this world Christ crucified Paul said
God forbid that I should glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ Save in the cross Because by that cross by Christ and what
he did this world is crucified unto me and I unto the world
So wealth Maketh many friends we see that we acknowledge that But that's not the kind of wealth
you need nor the friends that you want True wealth must be obtained
from God and it don't come cheap It comes free to you But it's
not cheap And the one true friend of sinners
is not the friend of the wealthy, but of the poor, wretched, miserable,
blind, and naked. God says there in Revelation
3, 17 through 19, where we read, you're a disaster, but I love
you. You may not have any friends
in this world, but you've got one in me. That's the friend you need. I'd much rather be wealthy in
this world than poor. I'm thankful that I'm a wealthy
man. I enjoy so much of this world's luxuries. I don't need
anywhere near half of what I enjoy in this world. But may God give
us grace to understand what true wealth is. What's eternally valuable, even
priceless, and what a true friend is. A friend to my soul is a friend
indeed.