Verse by verse teaching - Proverbs 13:18 "How to Be Rich"

The title of the message tonight is How to Be Rich. How to Be Rich. We're going to have a prosperity gospel message tonight. Of the right way. How to be rich. I'll tell you what, your pastor is one rich man. I really am. I'm wealthy. My wife tells me all the time, I'm the wealthy one. I'm the wealthy one. That's what she says about herself. She considers herself very wealthy. And God wants you to be wealthy. Poverty in the Bible is never spoken of in a good way. Never. We've been reading here through Proverbs: the wise man gets wealth, the foolish man gets poverty. And so tonight, though, our Proverbs 13, 18 begins with the word poverty. Poverty. And the Hebrew word translated poverty comes from a root Hebrew root word that means to be destitute. Destitute. And to be destitute means to not have Or possess things that God intended for us to have. To not have to not possess things that God intended for us to have. Solomon is saying that poverty is going to be to the person who refuses instruction, as we'll see here as we move further down the verse. And since God has given us an abundance of instruction in His Word, then it is evident that God does not want us to be impoverished. So if we become impoverished, By refusing God's instruction, then it's evident since God has given us an abundant amount of instruction that God does not want us to be impoverished. Most Catholic. Orders, religious orders and the Catholic religion, they make their followers take a vow of poverty. Y'all ever heard of that? Make them take a vow of poverty in order to be admitted into their sect. And as I was studying for this message, And thinking on poverty, I thought about them taking that vow of poverty, and I thought, I just want to read up on that a bit. And you know, one of the verses that they use. to support their act of making them take a vow of poverty is Matthew 19, 21. And that's where the rich young ruler asked Jesus what he could do to have everlasting life. And Jesus said unto him, In Matthew 19, 21, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come and follow me. Now what a foolish thing to reach for a verse like that and use that as supporting their use of the vowels of poverty. Can you imagine if every person decided they were going to be holy like that, and we all took vows of poverty, and we all sold everything we had, and we gave it to the poor? Now, if the Catholic Church sold everything they had and gave to the poor, what would they have? Where would we meet? Who would fund their priests and their extravagant places that they live in and all the money that they have if we all did this? But Jesus wasn't teaching us to become impoverished so we could go to heaven. He was teaching that rich man that He wasn't quite the man he thought he was, that he really didn't love his neighbor as himself, as he thought he did. And though our life does not consist of the abundance of things that we possess, the Bible says, the Bible at the same time is replete with scriptures that teach us how to avoid poverty. And how to have the things that God designed us to have by following His word so that our needs will be met When we don't have the things God designed us to have, we experience poverty. And God designed us to possess certain earthly things. And you and I cannot function as God designed us to function unless we possess those things. Now, the Bible says in Genesis 1:26, Genesis 1:26. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea. and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. Now, you think back about creation. How much money did God give Adam? None. How much money did Adam have? None. When we're talking about wealth, when we're talking about poverty, we're not talking about The possession or lack thereof of money. But God gave man in his image And gave man dominion over all the animals and over everything that creeps on the earth, God met Adam's God-given need. Understand that. When God created Adam, He created Adam with needs. You and I were born with needs. We were not born with our needs met. We were born in need. The moment we come out of that womb, we are in immediate need. And we continue to be in need until we die and go to heaven. So God met Adam's God-given need for honor. Dignity. Authority. Man has that God-given need. Man needs honor. Man needs dignity. Man needs authority. Amen, Hannah. Hannah's doing her fingers like me. I like that. How did God meet that need? By giving Adam the image and dominion of God on earth. By giving Adam the image of God and the dominion of God, he met Adam's need for honor, dignity, and authority. And then, after God made Adam, the Bible says in Genesis 2:8. And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed. Now, what was God doing when He planted that garden eastward in Eden? And then He puts that man in that garden. God met Adam's God-given need for purpose. Food, pleasure, and comfort by giving him a garden. I would say those are God-given needs, wouldn't you? Then we read again in Genesis 2:18, it says, And the Lord God said, It is not good that man should be alone. Now there is another need expressed for man. I will make him an help meet for him. So, what was God doing? God met Adam's God-given need for companionship. Help love and family by giving him a wife. Here's a kingdom truth for you tonight. God-given needs are met with God-given blessings. God-given needs are met with God-given blessings. Now, here's an opposite truth: God-given needs are lost with God-given curses. Since God-given needs are met with God-given blessings, it is also true that God-given needs are lost. With God-given curses. Joshua chapter 8, verse 34. Joshua 8, verse 34. And afterward, he read all the words of the law. The blessings and cursings, according to all that is written in the book of the law. The book of the law. Is filled with blessings and cursings. With the blessings of the law, God-given needs are met with God-given blessings. With the cursings of the law, God-given needs are lost with God-given curses. Our English word destitute has the idea of our God-given needs literally being set apart. Set away from us. So you have a man with God-given needs, and those needs are set apart from him And now that man is destitute because his God-given needs are not met. Those things are put away from him Poverty is not a lack of money. It's a lack of God-given needs being met. Speaking of John the Baptist, boy, if this doesn't prove it, nothing will. John the Baptist, the Bible says in the Gospel of Mark chapter 1, verses 2 through 6. As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger, that's speaking of John the Baptist, before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his path straight. And John did baptize in the wilderness and preached the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. And there went out unto him all the land of Judea. And they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. And John was clothed with camel's hair, and with a girdle. of a skin about his loins, and he did eat locusts and wild honey. Now John lived in the wilderness. But John never experienced true poverty. See that John the Baptist lived in the wilderness But he never experienced poverty because John had all his God-given needs met. He was rich toward God, as the Bible puts it another place. Now understand God gave Adam a garden, a wife. Honor and an image, right? The image of God, the power of God, a garden, and a wife. And with those, his God-given needs were met. God did not give John a garden and a wife. He gave him a desert and a ministry. But through those things, his God-given needs were met. John had a purpose. He gave John the filling of his Holy Spirit. He gave John prophetic insight. John had great wisdom, great prophetic insight, great fellowship with God. He was filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb. He gave John the Baptist the privilege of fulfilling Old Testament prophecies and introducing the Son of God to the world. That's a rich man. That's a very rich man. Sometimes I drive down the road and I think, man, I'm a very wealthy man, very wealthy man. I thank God For being a child of God. But he gave John camel's hair clothing. I'm not sure how I would like camel's hair. Maybe it would be nice. But it takes some getting used to, probably. But he gave them locusts to eat, that's grasshoppers, and he gave them wild honey to eat. He gave John also, though, the title of being one of the finest men on earth, finest prophets on earth. And so John had everything he needed. He had food, he had raiment, he had purpose, he had dignity. Man, John is still honored on earth today. We're honoring him right now through the scriptures John, in the world's eyes, was impoverished, but John was a very wealthy, very happy, very satisfied man. You can take away a man's money, and he can still be wealthy. If you take away a man's dignity, If you take away a man's purpose, if you take away a man's companionship, and most of all, if you take away a man's walk with God, he's going to be a very impoverished person. He's going to be like a shell, just hollow on the inside. That's how come a lot of rich and famous people kill themselves. They're impoverished. Their God-given needs aren't met. Solomon is talking about poverty denied. Not only poverty, look back in your text, but also shame. He says, poverty and shame. The Hebrew word shame here, it literally means to be lightly esteemed by people It means for people to think very little of you. That's what that word shame means in the Hebrew. You can say that you don't care what people think about you. I think everyone here says, I don't care what people think. But there's not a person on this earth who doesn't want to be respected. Everybody wants to be respected. Honor, again, is a God-given need that every person has, and every person is owed unless they do something to bring that shame upon them. Why is every person owed honor? Because we were all created in the image of God, and God loves that person so much that He sent His Son to die for that person. And that makes that person worth something. Everybody should be honored. Everyone should be respected. When you go into a place of business or you go somewhere and someone treats you with respect, you walk away and you get back in your car and you feel good about it, don't you? Say, well, I like how that person treated me. That was nice. And you remember that person. Honor, again, is a God-given need. And if you want to hurt someone, just attack their honor. If you want to hurt someone, just disrespect them. And again, shame is such a terrible thing because we were created in the image of Almighty God. No man, whether male or female, should ever experience shame. No one created in the image of God should have shame. Because God in His image deserves honor and glory. Unfortunately, we've all sinned and come short of that glory, the Bible say We were designed to be highly esteemed in the grace of God, so there is a God-given need for that blessing. But poverty and shame, the Bible says, look back in your text, shall be to him that refuseth instruction. If you want to be impoverished and not have your God-given needs met with God-given blessings, and you want to have shame that is come short of God's glory. and be lightly esteemed by your fellow man and by God. That shall be, it says, shall be to him that refuseth instruction Refusing instruction. And that word refuse there, it literally means to loosen. You think of a ship or a boat tied to a dock. A horse tied up to a hitching post, whatever you want to think of, and you just go over there. And why is that boat tied to that dock? To keep that boat safe. The horse is tied to that hitching post so it won't get loose because it's valuable to the owner. You go over there and you loosen that rein or you loosen that Rope on that boat, and that's the idea right here. It's taking God's instruction. In untying it and loosing it from off of us, to unbind ourselves from God's word. or that a righteous guidance or instruction of someone that's put in charge, that God's put in charge of us. And why is that important about loosening? It's because God told the Jews to bind his word on them. To bind his word. Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 8. God said, And thou shalt bind them, speaking of his commandments, and thou shalt bind them. For a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. But the person Solomon is talking about loosens them from his hands and his eyes. There have been many godly parents who, when their children were little, they would take God's word and they'd bind God's word. On their hands and on their eyes. Now, don't look at this, and here's how you need to view life: don't do this, you need to do this over here. And those godly parents. Bind God's word upon their little children when they're growing up. And then when those foolish children grow up A lot of them quickly untie, they loosen the godly instruction that was bound on them when they were a child, thinking that they're liberating themselves by loosening it off of them. But they don't understand. Anytime you loosen, because we were designed to operate under God's Spirit, God's Holy Spirit, the operation of inspiration. And so any time you loosen one way of thinking off of you, you can't not have some world view. You can't have some philosophy, some concept, something that guides how you think and operate. Because we don't have instinct, you have to have something that guides you through life. And so, when you loosen God's word, when you loosen God's truth from off of you, the only way to loosen God's truth is to bind the devil's lie. That's the only way. And so they think, well, I'm liberating myself, and they loosen that truth, and I'm going to think this way now, and all they're doing is binding that way on them. And they're binding the devil's lie. The devil tells young people that their godly parents were harsh by making them go to church. By holding them to one of those godly standards, they were restrictive, even abusive, for making them do those religious things and memorize scripture and Not be able to watch the television shows that their friends watch or go to the place their friends go to. And now they can be free now that they're grown. If they'll only loosen God's commandments off of them. But when they put off God's instruction, they enter into poverty. Sometimes, not only spiritually, but also monetarily. A lot of people do that. Deuteronomy chapter 28, verses 15 through 17. Deuteronomy 28, verses 15 through 17, God said, But it shall come to pass if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. to observe, to do all his commandments and his statutes, which I command thee this day, that all these curses now that's where the God given blessings are lost through God given curses, that all these curses shall come upon thee. and overtake thee. Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field cursed shall be thy basket and thy store. You loosen the commandments, and by doing so, you loosen the blessings. You loosen the commandments, and those God-given needs, which would have been met by keeping the commandments, are now lost through God-given curses. Which you brought upon yourself. This is the lot of those who refuse instruction. Look back in your text. But he that regardeth reproof, on the other hand and that word regard, it doesn't mean to bind. But in a sense it does, it means to hedge about, which is like binding. But it literally means to hedge it about, to guard it, to keep it He that hedges about and guards and keeps reproof, so that that reproof shall not be broken in their hearts. When I was growing up, my grandmother used to have one or two of these. Y'all will know what I'm told, people know what I'm talking about. I absolutely love those little things. These little travel alarm clocks. And you open the case up and the little clock face pops open. You wind it. No batteries needed. And I used to go to my grandmother's house and when I got off work and I had a class I'd go to. This was a little later, so I'd go take a nap at grandma's house, and I'd pull that little travel alarm, and I'd set the alarm on there. It'd wake me up and always faithful to wake me up in time to go to my class. And you can't hardly find those mechanical clocks anymore that you know, most all of them take batteries. Very, very hard to find one. But I found one the other day. I wanted to get one for my grandson Gabriel. Not the little travel kind. It was a nice kind that sits up. It's made out of brass. And I found one and I bought him a nice mechanical clock. And it just so happened they came to spend the night with us This past weekend, and here pulls the mail truck up. And I saw them deliver a package to the door, and I thought, How, what a blessing. I think that may be your clock, Gabriel. So he went and he opened it up and he was so proud of that clock and I showed him how to use it and we set the time on it and got it ticking And when it came time for us to take him back to his mother, I was loading his and his sister's luggage up in the back of her car. He wouldn't let me put his clock back there, that luggage. Do you know why? He's afraid it'd get broken You know what he did? He held that clock all the way back. He was so proud of that clock. He wanted to make sure that his clock was protected on his journey home. And that's exactly what we should do with God's word. When we see the keeping His commandments, that word keep His commandments is the same word here that means regard. It's the same Hebrew word to hedge about. To put a hedge of protection. We've heard that before. God, put a hedge of protection. That's the same word talking about here. When Gabriel held that clock. In his lap, like this, and he had his hands like this, that was a hedge of protection around that clock. Something valuable to him that he wanted to keep unbroken. On his journey home. And God's word to us, God's commandment to us, should be something that we want to keep unbroken in our lives and our hearts on our journey home to God. It should be the same way. And the Bible says: if we regard, if we hedge about His commandments, we are going to not have poverty. We are not going to have shame. We're going to have honor, it says in the next part of the verse. Listen, if a boy can be careful with a clock that grandpa gave him. How much more shall we be careful with the priceless instructions that our Heavenly Father has given us? The person who does this, God says, shall be honored. They shall have their God-given needs met with God-given blessings. For that is the natural outcome. Of following God's commandments. And we'll repeat that again. Having your God-given needs met with God-given blessings. Is the natural outcome of following God's commandments? You cannot follow God's commandments and then have your God-given needs not met with God-given blessings. You can't. In the same way, you cannot disregard God's commandments without having your God-given needs lost by God-given curses. Commandments of God are a no-fell recipe. Y'all ever had a no-fell recipe? I mean, some recipes, well, I followed the recipe, it still turned out bad. I've heard ladies talk like that before. God's commandments are a no-fail recipe. If you follow them, life will turn out right every time. Doesn't mean you won't get cancer, doesn't mean you won't die early, doesn't mean you won't become lame or have some kind of bad car wreck. But it means your life will turn out right every time your God-given needs will be met with God-given blessings. Deuteronomy chapter 28, verses 1 through 3. Says this, and it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God. To observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all the nations of the earth. He's talking to Israel as a nation. And all these blessings shall come on thee and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. Notice how that sandwiched in. Verse 1: It shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, if you follow my recipe and my commandments. To observe and to do all his commandments, which I command thee this day. That's the first slice of bread. Then he says that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations, and all these blessings shall come on thee. And overtake thee. That's the sandwich meat. Now, where's the other slice of bread? He comes back again. If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, there it is. So you have God's blessings sandwiched in between two requirements, which are the same. Follow God's word. You do that, and you're going to have a sandwich blessing. All right, that's what you're going to have, or blessing sandwich, or whatever you want to call it. It says, Blessed shalt thou be in the city. And blessed shalt thou be in the field. When you're blessed, your God-given needs are met with God-given blessings. I tell you what, man. There's some things sometimes that I wished I could have gotten for my wife and maybe for myself. But then I think, you know, I can't afford some of those things. But I have all of my needs met and beyond. I'm like King David. My cup runs over. And then I think, you know, if I were to have some of those things, I wouldn't even have time to take care of them. And that would then distract me from what I'm doing in my study at home When I'm working on my books and the evangelistic stuff, I don't want anything to distract me because if I had that, then suddenly I would become impoverished. It would seem like I was more wealthy if I had it, but I actually become more impoverished because it would take away from what really makes me wealthy and what really makes me happy. And that's doing the work of God. And so my cup runs over, just like King David. Adam's cup ran over in the Garden of Eden. Believe it or not, John the Baptist's cup ran over in that wilderness, wearing that camel skin. God gave Adam a garden and a wife. He gave John the Baptist a wilderness and a ministry. And he gave us something else, all different. But I know one thing, Adam lost his blessing because he disregarded God's commandment. John the Baptist had his blessing because he followed God's commandment. The man in the wilderness, the man in the desert, Was more rich than the man in paradise. Isn't that amazing? Absolutely amazing. And then when you look at the very end. You look at that rich man, and you look at Lazarus, and you tell me which one of those two rascals was wealthy. It was the poor man on earth. So, thank God for His commandments, a no-fail recipe that'll bless you every time. Father, thank you so much for your precious word. Thank you for the no-fell recipe of your commandments. Help us to bind them. Help us to hedge them about with a hedge of protection. Lord, let us carefully guard them, that they won't be broken in our lives. May we highly regard them, diligently follow them. And Lord, we thank you ahead of time for the blessings. Father, you've blessed us truly, each one of us, if we're honest Exceedingly and abundantly above all, Father, that we've asked or thought. Definitely, Father, more than we deserve. No doubt. I thank you for your continued blessings. Lord, I pray that this will sink deep into our hearts tonight. It may give us confidence. In following your word in a great joy as we expect, Father, our needs being met in Christ Jesus. In His name we pray. Amen.