Pray this lesson will be as much
of a blessing to you as it was to me when the Lord Showed me this Proverbs 13 18
poverty and shame Shall be to him that refuses
instruction But he that regardeth reproof
shall be honored I Now, often when we are to see what the scripture
is teaching, it's important to start out by seeing what it's
not teaching. Because we know also from the word of God, not
just experience. Experience is never the basis
of anything. Although we do experience the
truth of God, we don't just know it in our heads, we experience
it. But from the word of God, we know that wicked people do
sometimes prosper in the things of this world. We know that poverty
and riches are not a function of wickedness or relative righteousness. This is clear from God's word. And we'll look at a passage of
scripture regarding that in a moment. But think with me about this. We know evil people do prosper
in the things of this world, but we also know that that's
temporary. It's for a short time. But more important than that,
there's a difference in definition of what riches are. So there's
two basic considerations with regard to our text this morning.
It's a thing of timing, but more importantly, it's a matter of
the essence of what riches is and what poverty is. Think about
this with me. Even if there were nothing, no
other riches, but what we call earthly riches. If there was
gold and silver, money, bank accounts, things, stuff in this
world. If that's all there was, if that
was what riches are, let's just limit our thinking to that for
a second. If that's what riches are and that's all that there
is, it's just what you can get and the things that, and the
more you talk about it, the more ridiculous it sounds. Metals,
paper, That's what we value in this world. And like I said,
the more you talk about, the more ridiculous it starts sounding,
doesn't it? But let's just imagine for a minute that that's it.
That's what riches are. Even if that were true, if there
were nothing but earthly riches and those earthly riches were
enjoyed for all of your lifetime, but when your life ends, you
would have none of that ever again, not a bit of it. If God
says you'll enjoy that for your life and then after that you
won't ever have anything valuable ever again. If that were true. And if God said, and remember
there's only nothing but gold and silver and money and big
numbers on your bank statement and things like that. But God
said, if you'll follow me and forfeit some of that in this
life, but in the next life, you'll have everything. You'll have all the gold and
silver you could possibly count. You'll have as much in your bank
account, more than you could ever spend. And you'll have everything
that your heart could ever desire after you die. Even if that was
it, Would it not make sense to follow him in this life and maybe
put off for a time enjoying some of the things that this flesh
enjoys and then for eternity to have everything you could
desire? It would make sense even at that. And that's most people's
idea of what heaven is. You know that, don't you? They
talk about streets of gold and pearls, gates made out of one
pearl, you know, and the scripture talks about that, but you know
why it does. Because we're gonna walk on what is valuable To pick
what people are killing themselves for that. We're just going to
be walking on that in glory It means nothing there. We build
our buildings out of it. It's wood hay and stubble there
It's just materials It's just Billy It's just it's just something
to stand on while we're honoring and glorifying him and worshiping
him and enjoying his glory Whatever that even is It's nothing there. But people read that and they
say, oh boy, I'm going to have some gold there. I don't have
much gold here, but I'm going to have some gold there. That's most people's idea of
heaven, but that has nothing to do with what scripture says
about what glory is, what heaven is, or what's valuable. Now this
is not just a matter of trading good things now for good things
in eternity. Even if it was that, you might
think twice before you started hoarding up things now and forgetting
about eternity. But it's not that. It's very
different. The definition, God's definition
of what riches are and what poverty is and what the natural man's
definition is of those things. Scripture might have come to
your mind already just talking about this and it's a very familiar
one Everybody's familiar with the scripture. What shall it
profit a man? If you should gain the whole world and that's what
everybody's trying to do. They want the whole world And
they'll say no, I don't want to I don't need that much I just
want a couple of million, you know, but you give them a couple
of million What are they gonna want a couple more million aren't
they? If that's all that's important to them, then that's all they're
going to want. But God has, thank God, He's
taught some people better than that. But think about this, if
you should gain the whole world, but lose your soul, then what
have you gained? What have you gained? Alright,
but I want us to look at the context of that in Mark chapter
8. Turn over there with me please, because what does it mean to
lose your soul? What does that mean? How do you do that? That's
what we need to find out because what he's saying here is if you
lose your soul, it doesn't matter what else you have. So what does
that mean to lose your soul? Mark 8, 34. This is important. Now, this is this is the gospel. It's the simple gospel of our
Savior. Mark 8, 34, and when he had called
the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto
them, Whosoever will come after me Come after me everybody else
is coming after something else come after me Remember the rich
young world go get rid of all that and come after me you're
going after the wrong things Come after me. Let him deny himself
and take up his cross and follow me. I If you want me if you desire
me come to me follow me be with me For whosoever will save his
life shall lose it, but whosoever shall lose his life For my sake
and the Gospels the same shall save it now. Here's the content
for what shall it profit a man? If he shall gain the whole world
and lose his own soul So what is it to lose your soul? If you don't have him, if you
don't follow him, if you don't get rid of everything else, if
everything else doesn't pale into insignificance to you and
you pursue Christ and follow Christ and desire Christ and
determined to have him, you've lost your own soul. Or what shall a man give in exchange
for his soul? for whosoever therefore shall
be ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful
generation of him also shall the son of man be ashamed when
he cometh in the glory of his father with his holy angels so
you see this is not it's it's him or everything else you see
that don't you so what is true riches i want you to look at
a passage of scripture with me psalm 73 And I pretty much want
to look at the whole psalm, but we'll skip through a little bit. Psalm 73. Those that refuse the instruction
of God. God said you're going to be poor
and ashamed of it. You're going to regret it forever.
All right, so let's look at psalm 73. I know you're familiar also
with this psalm, but boy When the lord showed me this in a
lot of our texts this morning, I saw it like i'd never seen
it before All right, you remember the story
of this psalm once we start looking at it here truly God is good
to israel even to such as are of a clean heart god is good
to his people Not that god we think of god is good That means
he does good things for his people. No, God is good to his people. You see the difference? God is
good. He's good. Now, how do you know
that's what he's saying, Chris? You look at it with me. But he
said this, now God is good. I know that now. But, as for
me, my feet were almost gone. I almost missed it. I almost
missed that. I almost missed him. I just about
was a goner. My steps had well nigh slipped. It was almost so that I couldn't
say that, that I wouldn't say God is good. I hadn't always
said that. Here's what I used to say. I
was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
This is what we're talking about. The first thing we said now is
we know that the wicked do prosper in the things of this world temporarily,
often, not always. For there are no bans in their
debt, their strength is firm. They're not in trouble as other
men. And then I want to skip down to verse 12. He talks about
some things that happen and don't happen to them because it's not
like you would think as a believer. you know, and religion. We can't
lean into our own understanding in these things. We have to trust
the word of God. We have to take what he said
as truth and not think, because the natural man is going to think,
well, if God, you know, he owns everything and we're his children,
then he ought to be, you know, we ought to just be blessed with
all kinds of physical, earthly, temporal things, you know. You
see, we don't know good from bad, and he does. He knows what's
good for us and what ain't good for us. We don't. We just don't. But look at verse 12. He said,
Behold, these are the ungodly who prosper in the world. They increase in riches. That's
a key verse right there. Now that's not always true, but
it's often true. And he was seeing that happen
and it was eating him alive. It was eating him alive. And
let's face it, have we ever been there? How can I, you know, what do
you gotta do to live in that house, you know? Things like that. You
gotta sell your soul, maybe. Just maybe. Verily, I have cleansed my heart
in vain and washed my hands. And this is, this is just, this
is like looking into a mirror. Washed my hands in innocency
for all the day long I've been plagued. We love to just, you
know, woe is us. You know, everything bad happens
to us. And chastened every morning,
if I say I will speak thus, behold, I should offend against the generation
of that children. When I thought to know this,
it was too painful for me until I went into the sanctuary of
God. Then understood I therein." Now
what happened in the sanctuary of God? Well, to put it in the
words of our text, He was instructed. Remember what I tell you? Those
who refuse the instruction of the Lord, poor. They're poor. So what happened in the sanctuary
here? He was instructed by God. He was reproved. That word's
in our text too, remember that? He was reproved by God. Wasn't
he? He said, it sounds like he was
reproved. He said, well, I was like a beast
before you. That's reproved. When you can
admit you're a dumb animal, you've been reproved by God. He heard from God. He heard from
God. And then look at verse 18. Surely
thou did set them in slippery. There's two things I want us
to think about now. And this is the first, the beginning of
the first one. Surely thou did set them in slippery place. How
could I be envious of them? They're trusting things that
can't help them. They're placing high value on
things that are worthless. And they count that which is
precious to be worthless. You cast them down to destruction.
How are they brought into desolation as in a moment? Because in eternity,
the things that are valuable in this world, they are. You
can buy things with them. They're worthless there. We're
gonna step on them there. We're gonna be spitting our chewed
up gum on it if we have gum there. It's just pavement. And that
which was worthless to you is going to be everything. Everything. Let me say this, I know you've
heard this before, but it's the truth, it's the truth. If the
worship of Christ is not worth anything to you now, it's not
going to be worth anything to you then. And that's all we're
going to do there. That's all we're going to do. As a dream, when one awaketh,
verse 20, so, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their
image. Thus my heart was grieved. I was pricked in my reins, so
foolish was I, and ignorant I was as a beast before they. You just, do you despise reproof
or you take it? When God shows that you're a
dumb animal, this man said, I'm a dumb animal. When he called
that woman a dog, he said, you're a dog. It wouldn't be right for
me to give any of the children's bread to you. She said, that's
the truth, Lord. But he that despiseth that reproof,
you're a goner. You're a goner. Can you take
it? Can you take it? Can you acknowledge
it? Can you justify God in condemning yourself? Not without grace you can't. Now look at this. That's the
first thing now. He heard from God and this changed everything.
It changed everything. He saw that the riches of this
world were not lasting or even important. They couldn't do anything
for those who had them. When it comes to eternity, remember
the rich young ruler in Luke 12, 16. Our Lord spake a parable
saying the ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully
And he thought within himself saying, what shall I do? Because
I have no room to bestow my fruits. And he said, this will I do.
I'll pull down my barns and build greater in there. Will I bestow
all my fruits and my goods? And I will say to my soul, soul,
thou has much good laid up for many years, many years. First of all, the Lord said this
night, thy soul shall be required of thee. He didn't have many
years, but even if he did, what's that? What's that? 53 years have gone by since the
day I was born. Some might say, boy, you're old.
That's a lot of years. It's not that much. Let me tell
you something. Let me stand here in these shoes
and tell you, it ain't that much. It ain't that much. Another 20
maybe, I'll be gone. It's not much. And the Lord said, thou fool. He said, I'm going to eat, drink,
and be merry, and all this time he had no thought for God. How
do you know that, Chris? It doesn't say that in the text.
Yes, it does. It says he was rich toward himself and not God. Listen to it. God said unto him,
you fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee. Then
whose shall those things be that thou hast provided? You're poor. You thought you was rich. You're
not. All that belongs to somebody
else. So is he that layeth up treasure for himself and is not
rich toward God. He's all about my barns, bigger
barns, more barns, because I got so much stuff. I'm just going
to eat, drink, and be merry. I'm going to enjoy all this stuff
for all these years. You've forgotten God. The writer of Psalm 73 got a
glimpse of that, didn't he? He said, their feet, their feet,
my feet almost slipped, he said in the beginning, but they're
sure enough are, they're slipping, they're falling into hell, they're
dropping into hell like flies. Without a thought for God, because
they had too much other things that were valuable to them. He
was enlightened about what the riches of this world really were.
But he didn't stop there. Oh, let's see this. This is why
this message has been burning in my heart since I saw this,
to tell it to you. He didn't stop there. He said,
not only are these who are rich and these things not really rich,
but I am really rich. Not only was I wrong about them,
that's God I was wrong about me. I was wrong about me too. Look what I have. But what do
you mean you're rich? You said you don't have the things
they have. What do you have then? Oh, look at verse 23. Nevertheless,
I am continually with you. Now you tell me what's valuable
to you today. What you have in your bank account.
or this, in spite of the fact that I'm dumb, I'm a fool, and
my feet just about slipped, and the only reason they didn't is
you had me by my right hand. What's that worth to you? Is there anything else worth
anything compared to that? Thou hast holden me by my right
hand, Look at verse 24. Thou shalt guide me with thy
counsel. So maybe, maybe today I won't be the dumb animal I
was yesterday. Maybe just a little bit less.
Maybe God will teach me something. Thou shalt guide me with thy
counsel and afterward receive me to glory. Now you look at
this next verse. I've been dying to go. This is
where I've wanted to be ever since I saw this, right here,
telling you this. May God teach us this to stay.
Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon earth
that I desire besides thee. What else do I need down here? And not just about, oh, we're
going to suffer for a while here, but we're really going to be
happy then. I'm kind of happy now. How about you? I've got
Him now. What else do I need down here?
Isn't that glorious? My flesh and my heart faileth.
There ain't no doubt about that. But God is the strength of my
heart and my portion forever. Would you trade Him? Judas sold
him for 30 pieces of silver. That's how stupid we are. That's
our feet slipping if he don't hold our right hand. He's my portion. For lo, they
that are far from thee shall perish. Thou hast destroyed all
them that go whoring from thee. But it is good for me. to draw
near to God. That's what we read a while ago.
Let's just get rid of everything and go after Him. How about that?
He'll let us enjoy some things in this life. We're not going
to go begging bread. David said, I had never seen
that, and I hadn't either. I've never seen his children
begging bread in this world. He'll give us some things to
enjoy. Oh, but let's hold lightly to the things of this earth.
I enjoy things like you do. Oh, but anything That keeps us
from drawing near to him has got to go. It's got to go. I have put my trust in the Lord
God. And I'm going to tell everybody.
I'm going to declare it. You see that? We got to the whole
way. We just got to. How can you hold
it in when you know what's real when you know what's valuable
and nobody else does? How are you going to shut up
about that? Can't do it. Can't do it. May God give us
strength and wisdom and everything we lack that we might declare
all of his works. All of his works and forget about
ours. Do we know what riches are? Do
we know what it is to be poor? Blessed are the poor in spirit. May God make us poor in spirit
that we might be truly rich. Rich toward God in Christ. Christ is the one thing needful. And if you have him, you have
everything. Everything. May God teach us
that. Let's pray.