They that will be rich. That's what I've entitled this
message. They that will be rich. And the word will is they that
purpose to be rich. That's what their agenda is.
That's what their goal is. And you know, that's a very large
demographic isn't it? They that will be rich. They that will
be rich, whether materially or as they think spiritually. Let
me give you some scriptures regarding this thing of riches. The thorn
choked hearer was overcome with the deceitfulness of riches. The poor, the scripture says,
hath he filled with good things, but the rich hath he sent away
empty. The Lord said, how hardly shall
a rich man enter the kingdom of heaven. It's easier for a
camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man
to enter heaven. Now that's hard, isn't it? A
camel going through the eye of a needle. I've read commentators
and they say, well, that's talking about a camel trying to get through
this low part in the temple. No, he's talking about a camel
going through the eye of a needle. James tells us that the rich
man will fade in all his ways And he says, go to now ye rich
men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your
riches are corrupted and your garments moth-eaten. The wise
man said, labor not to be rich and to trust not in uncertain
riches. If riches increase, set not your
heart upon them. The Lord Jesus called riches,
unrighteous mammon. And if we're not faithful in
the unrighteous mammon, he said, who shall commit to your trust
the true riches. The Lord actually said, woe unto
you. Woe unto you that are rich. I couldn't help but think of
the church of Laodicea. The church that the Lord said,
you're lukewarm. He said, you say you're rich
and increased with goods and have need of nothing. But you don't know that you're
poor and wretched and miserable and naked and blind. Now this
will to be rich comes from not being content. Look in verse six of the same
chapter. But godliness with contentment, satisfaction is great gain. For we brought nothing into this
world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having
food and raiment, let us be there with content. Be content with
food and raiment and be content with Christ as your covering
and Christ as your food. I think that's the principle
meaning. Be content with such things as you have. Now, they
that will be rich, the scripture says, fall into temptation. Here's what the will to be rich
does. If that's my agenda, it puts me into a place of temptation.
where we would otherwise not have faced that temptation. How
do you deal with temptation? The will to be rich puts us in
a place of temptation, a very dangerous place, and it's a snare. It is many hidden traps and snares,
many, not a few, many foolish and hurtful lusts and desires,
the desire for pleasure, the desire for popularity, the desire
for power, The desire for security, the stuff which drowned men in
destruction and perdition. That's not loss of being, but
it is loss of wellbeing. These things drowned men in destruction
and perdition. And look what he says in verse
10, four, the love of money. is the root of all evil. Now, money's not evil. Money's
a blessing. Aren't you thankful for the money
you have? And being rich is not an evil. It's really not. You
know, David was rich. The man after God's own heart,
materially, Solomon was rich. Abraham was rich. Job was rich. We can talk about a lot of rich
men in the scriptures who walked with the living God. It's not
a bad thing to be rich and it's not a bad thing to have money.
I'm thankful for, I like to be able to pay my bills. Don't you?
I mean, that's a blessing. It's the love of money. You know,
the Lord Jesus demonstrated to us in his life just how important
being rich is. He didn't have a place to lay
his head. He could have, but he didn't. The love of money. Covetousness is the root is the
source is the origin of all evils. Now, how is that? What do you
mean by that? The love of money is the root,
the source, the origin of all evils. We'll turn with me for
a moment to first John chapter two. Verse 15. John says, love not the world, neither the things that are in
the world. If any man love the world, the
love of the father is not in him for all that's in the world. He names three things, the lust
of the flesh, And the lust of the eyes and the pride of life
is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passes
away, and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God
abideth forever. Now, think about these three
things, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the
pride of life. Simply put, pleasure, popularity,
and power. Those are the three things men
want. Pleasure, the lust of the flesh,
the lust of fallen human nature, popularity, the lust of the eyes,
caring about what other people see, being more concerned about
what men think than what God thinks, being controlled by the
fear of man. And power. Power. The power to
do. The power to have influence.
Power. That's the pride of life. Power. You're not going to think about
this. If you even believe in free will, you believe you've
got some power, don't you? You've got some power to change
things. You believe you have power. The lust of the flesh,
the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. And money can
get you all of these things, can't it? You got plenty of money,
you can have all the pleasure you want. If you got plenty of
money, you can be mighty popular, can't you? And if you have plenty
of money, you can have power over people. Oh, you can get
things done. And that's why men lust after
this thing of money. And that's why the love of money
is the root. is the source, it's the origin
of all evil, which some have coveted after, Paul says. You
know, the Lord said, take heed and beware of covetousness. Now he gives us a double warning
there. Take heed and beware of covetousness,
desiring what you don't have. For man's life doesn't consist
in the abundance of things that he possesses. Which some have
coveted after, reached for. This was their purpose and they've
erred. They've been seduced from the
faith. That's a solemn thing to think
about, isn't it? And pierce themselves through with many sorrows. Now, if all I had to talk about
was the love of money being the root of all evil and covetousness
and so on, if that's all I had to talk about, this would be
a depressing message, wouldn't it? I mean, this message, we
think about this, it kind of makes you feel bad. But let's
consider for a moment the opposite of they that will be rich, they
that will be poor. They that will be poor. That's
their desire. That's their agenda. They want
to be poor. Now listen to these scriptures
regarding being poor. Ten times David, the man after
God's own heart, I want to be like David, don't you? I want
to have the heart of David. I want to be a man after God's
own heart. You know, God said regarding
David, his heart beats with mine. What a, what a, I can't think
of anything better to say about anybody. Can you? 10 times this
man after God's own heart and he had plenty of money. He said,
I'm poor and I'm needy. I'm poor and I have great needs. The Lord heareth the poor. He hath given to the poor. It was to the poor that Christ
said he was sent to preach the gospel. Not the rich, but the
poor. And this is foundational. The
very first beatitude, which is a description of Christian character
is what? Blessed are the poor in spirit. For theirs is the kingdom of
heaven. All of the other beatitudes arise
from this poverty of spirit. Now, what is poverty of spirit? What is the will to be poor?
Now, we read of those whose will is to be rich, and we see the
dangers of that, but there is such a thing as wanting to be
poor. I want to be poor, don't you? I want to be poor in spirit. Whatever the Bible means by poor,
that's what I want to be. That's my desire. I want to be
poor. You know, man's religion has
very little to say about this. We read of the higher life and
we hear of the higher life, but we don't read much of the lower
life, do we? We hear of being filled, but we hear very little
about being emptied. We talk about being uplifted,
but we don't hear much about being brought down. Beloved,
the way up in the kingdom of heaven is always down. Being poor. You're just by definition. Being poor is not about what
you have, but about what you do not have. Now you think about
being poor. What's the emphasis? It's what
I do not have. Not what I have, but what I do
not have. It's about the absence of something
rather than the possessing of something. Here's the spiritually
poor. I have nothing. I am nothing. I can do nothing. That's the spiritually poor. I have nothing. I am nothing. And I can do nothing. I have
nothing to recommend me to God, not a penny's worth of merit.
I am nothing. I know that in me that is in
my flesh dwelleth no good thing. And I can do nothing. Without
me, our Lord said, you can do nothing. I can't hear. I can't
hear the gospel. I can't believe. I can't repent. I can't love. I can't come to
Christ. I can't do anything unless He
causes me to. Do you know that so? Something that goes along with
being poor, the same word is translated a beggar. What do
you think about when you think of a beggar? Two things, beggars
don't work. They don't work. You know what
else you know about a beggar? They're totally dependent upon
charity. Now that describes the poor in
spirit. He doesn't work for his salvation,
he knows he can't, and he's totally dependent upon the charity of
God. And something that goes along
with being poor is being needy. I need the forgiveness of sins. I need God's free grace extended
to me. I need mercy. I still pray, God
be merciful to me, the sinner. I need mercy. I need righteousness. I can't
come up with one. I need a new heart. I can't make
one. I need faith. I need faith given to me. I need
repentance given to me. I need. Being poor I need God
to elect me to salvation. I don't have anything to recommend
me. I need Jesus Christ to actually
put away my sin. I need God the Holy Spirit to
invincibly come with irresistible grace and do something for me.
I need this. This isn't just a doctrine I
believe. This is what I need. I need the grace of God. These are necessities to this
poor man. This poor man cried and the Lord
heard him and saved him out of all of his troubles. Now it's
a good thing to will to be poor. It's a good thing. It's blessed to be poor. And we don't really think that
way, do we? That's not the way we naturally think. I want to
be poor, I want to be rich. Well, how is it a good thing
to be poor? Well, first, because the Lord
said it was. That's enough, isn't it? Any
other reason? Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. You want the entrance
requirement, the kingdom of heaven is? Just have nothing. to have nothing, to have absolutely
nothing to recommend you. What would you think about going
into a grocery store or a department store and the only requirement
is to have nothing to pay? You know, not many people would
be able to get into that store, would they? I mean, if they were
honest, they'd have something. They'd have a nickel or $5 or
$20. What if the only people who could
get into that store were the people who had absolutely nothing
to pay? What if the only people who could
get into heaven were people who had absolutely nothing to recommend
themselves? Would you get in? Blessed are
the poor that have nothing. You can only buy the wine and
milk of the kingdom without money and without price. And if I have
anything I can call my own but my sin, I exclude myself from
the kingdom of heaven. You know, being poor, makes you
a candidate for God's mercy. Now if you, you know this or
so, you think about yourself. If you had $50 to give away,
who would you want to give it to? Somebody that was a millionaire
or somebody who was starving to death and didn't have anything?
Well, you know who you'd give that money to. You know, God's
mercy, he delights in giving his mercy to those who have nothing. He delights in mercy. You know, to be poor is to be
saved. Now, if you're poor, this is
a supernatural work of God the Holy Spirit in you. You wouldn't
be this way. To be poor is to be saved. The
Lord said, to this man will I look, even to him that's poor. and of a contrite, crushed spirit
and trembles at my word. Now in the book of Psalms, the
Lord is said to save the poor and to deliver the poor and to
hear the poor. If you're poor, when you cry
out, he hears your cry. He said to defend the poor. The Lord defends all of his poor
ones. He said to prepare goodness for
them. If you're poor, he's prepared
goodness for you. He said to set them on high. He said to lift them from the
dunghill and set them among princes. That's what the Lord does for
the poor. And I love thinking about this.
You know, it's only the poor that Christ preaches the gospel
to. If you're not poor, the only person you get to hear is me.
And what good is that going to do you? But if you're poor, Christ
preaches his gospel to you through his word, through me. But if
you're not poor, all you hear is me, and that will do you absolutely
no good at all. You know, you can't receive the
truth without being spiritually poor. It is only as I have no righteousness
that I can trust His righteousness only. Do you know it's easy? It's an easy thing. Like I'm
saying, it's easy to trust Christ's righteousness because I really,
that's the only righteousness I have. I don't have any. It's
only as you're poor that you can trust his righteousness.
It's only as you have nothing that you can receive him as all.
If you have anything, you cannot receive him as all. It's only as I have nothing to
pay that I can rely on His precious sin payment. If I've got nothing
to pay, oh, I really believe His payment is the only payment
there is. It's only as I have no way to
God that I can come to God by Him. It's only as a sinner that
I can hear or receive the gospel and receive the Savior. It's
only as a sinner I can receive Him. Never, never graduate from
being a sinner. Never graduate from it. Never
get to the place where you were not made to cry, God be merciful
to me. the sinner. That's all I can
plea. I can't make any problem. Be
merciful to me, the sinner. Now actually, this is the greatest
argument in prayer. Turn to Psalm 70 for a moment. Look what David says in Verse
5, But I am poor, I have nothing, and I have great needs. I am
poor and needy. Make haste unto me, O God. Thou
art my help and my deliverer, O Lord. Make no tarrying. You
know, you'll pray that when you're poor and needy. Look in Psalm
86. Thine ear, O Lord, hear me, for
I am rich and don't need anything." No! You cry out to bow down and hear
me because I'm poor and I'm needy. Turn to Psalm 109. Verse 21. But do thou for me, O God the
Lord, for thy name's sake, because thy mercy is good, deliver me,
for I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me. Now, that's why I asked the Lord
to do something for me. I'm poor and I'm needy. Now, if you can't come into the
Lord's presence with a poor spirit, ask him to give you one. This is where I want to be. I
want to be poor. They that will be poor. It's only the poor in spirit,
actually, that have any honesty. Everything else is just a lie.
Whatever it is we're proud of, it's totally unjustified pride. Completely. The poor in spirit. You know,
all men are spiritually poor, but not all men are poor in spirit.
All men are spiritually poor. They don't have anything. They
don't know it, but they're spiritually poor. But only God's people are
poor in spirit. Oh, they that will be poor. To the poor in spirit, listen
to this scripture. Second Corinthians chapter eight,
verse nine, Paul said, and the poor in spirit understand this.
You know, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. That though he
was rich. Now you want to talk about riches. He's really the only one who
is rich. Everything else anybody has is borrowed, isn't it? He
gave it to him. He can take it back when he's
pleased. Any riches any man accumulates, they're not his. He's the only
rich man there is. And you think of the vastness
of his riches. He's God. He's God! What wealth, what riches He has. Oh, He was rich in praise. The angels praised Him. He was
rich in righteousness. He was rich in all things. Oh,
the riches of Christ. You know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Though He was rich, yet for your
sakes He became poor. Now this is mysterious. Mysterious. It's not just talking about his
material poverty, although he was. He would have been what
we would call a street person. He didn't have a place to lay his head. He didn't
have a home to go to like you and I do tonight, a place to
go lay down. He didn't even have a home. He
was totally dependent upon the charity of others. But that's
not really what this is talking about. I mean, I'm sure it's
included. that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, on the cross,
when He was made sin, He became poor in righteousness. He was made to be sin. Nobody knows what any of this
means. Who can describe the poverty that the Lord Jesus experienced
on the cross? But oh, the results of that.
You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He
was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through
His poverty might be rich. And oh, the riches that every
poor sinner possesses. Yes, I'm poor. That means I had
nothing. I am nothing, and I can do nothing. And yet I have wealth, however
much the Lord Jesus Christ has, that's how much I have, because
I'm a joint heir with him. What incredible, can't even put
a word on it, the wealth the believer has in Christ. Now they
that will be rich, no good comes out of it, does it? You just
fall into temptation and snare and many foolish and hurtful
lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of
money is the root of all evil, which some have coveted after
and have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through
with many sorrows. They that will be rich, that's
not a good thing. Oh, but they that will be Theirs is the kingdom of heaven. May the Lord cause us to see things the way they really are. The way the Lord sees things
is the way things really are. Let's pray.