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[0:00] Open your Bible to 1 Timothy chapter 6 verses 17 through 21 is my text this morning so we will finish our study of Timothy today which began back in January and just to prepare you for what's next we'll go to the Old Testament and we'll be in the book of Psalms and kind of going not verse by verse through all of the Psalms but picking and choosing some and seeing what the Lord has for us there and we'll begin in Psalm 1 next Sunday.

[0:48] If you don't have a Bible there are Bibles in the pews that you may use if you don't own a Bible please take that Bible home with you today as a gift from our church to you in our hopes that you'll continue to be reading God's Word.

[1:01] If you're in 1 Timothy chapter 6 verse 17 through 21 would you stand with me as we honor the reading of God's Word together. As for the rich in this present age charge them not to be haughty nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches but on God who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.

[1:26] They are to do good to be rich in good works to be generous and ready to share thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future so that they may take hold of what is truly life.

[1:38] O Timothy guard the deposit entrusted to you. Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge for by professing it some have swerved from the faith.

[1:52] Grace be with you. May God add a blessing to the reading of his Word. Would you please be seated. In Luke 12 verses 13 through 21 Jesus teaches a parable in response to a man who wants Jesus to tell his brother to divide an inheritance with him.

[2:17] And there Jesus tells this parable. He said to them take care and be on your guard against all covetousness for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.

[2:31] And he told them a parable saying the land of a rich man produced plentifully. And he thought to himself what shall I do for I have nowhere to store my crops.

[2:41] And he said I will do this. I will tear down my barns and build larger ones. And there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul soul you have ample goods laid up for many years.

[2:55] Relax eat drink be merry. But God said to him fool. This night your soul is required of you and the things you have prepared whose will they be.

[3:08] So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. In this parable Jesus gives an example of a man so caught up in the pursuit of preserving his wealth that he forgets what truly matters.

[3:27] Jesus doesn't mention any details about how this man acquired the land. It's a parable but I think it's safe to assume that Jesus wanted the people listening to him to know that this wealth that he acquired, he acquired legally either by inheriting it or working hard earning money to buy it.

[3:50] It appears that the man in the parable didn't sin to gain his wealth otherwise Jesus would have used that. That's not the point of this parable. However, once this land produced plentifully, his attitude towards his wealth led him to sin.

[4:08] To desire to keep it, to store it, to preserve it, which gave him a false sense of security. His wealth became his God and God was displeased.

[4:21] The man made plans for his future without considering God. And that the land that he owned, even the life that he had, belonged to God, not to him.

[4:34] The man was earth rich but he was God poor and that is a terrible position to be in. To such a person, Jesus says, God will call them a fool.

[4:46] Why? Because a day of accounting will come and earthly riches, no matter how abundantly they are, even if a person acquires all of the riches in the entire world, it will not be enough to gain entrance into heaven.

[5:06] Now, you could come to the end of that parable and you could think, well, if the rich man had cared more for others and given more of his money away, he would have been rich toward God and he would have gained eternal life.

[5:21] Well, God does command us to do good to others, to love others as we love ourselves, but we can only truly do that when we first grasp the love of God for us in Jesus Christ, in the truth of the message of the gospel.

[5:39] Good works won't save anyone. You could have it all and you could give it all away, but if you don't know Jesus savingly, you're in spiritual poverty.

[5:52] The Bible says all of our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. There is nothing anyone can give God to gain eternal life, but there is something that you can receive from God by faith in Jesus Christ, and that's what you most need.

[6:10] That's his righteousness. When you receive that gift of salvation by God's grace, you have true riches, heavenly riches, which change your attitude towards earthly treasures.

[6:25] Instead of holding on tightly to them, you hold tightly to the truth of God and you treasure him who has paid the price to redeem you, to rescue you from becoming like the foolish man in Jesus' parable.

[6:41] As Paul closes this epistle to Timothy, his true child in the faith, two issues remain on his mind in regard to handling treasures.

[6:54] How Timothy, how the Christians in Ephesus, whom he pastored and how believers today handle these two treasures as a measure of their spiritual maturity and devotion to Christ and perhaps even will reveal the true state of their salvation.

[7:11] And so the main idea from our text this morning is that Christians have received something from God to give and something from God to guard. Christians have received something from God to give and something from God to guard.

[7:28] God truly owns everything. We are stewards, not owners of what we have, but so often our sin nature gets that backwards, gets that wrong.

[7:42] Often we act like children in the nursery when it comes to stuff. If it's in our possession, it's mine.

[7:55] It's mine until I don't want it anymore. But if I put it down and someone else grabs it, it's still mine because I had it first.

[8:07] First, our sin nature struggles with the thought that we aren't owners, but stewards of the things that we have.

[8:19] And our sin nature doesn't want to give. It wants to keep. But if you know what you've received from God in Jesus Christ, if you have been born again receiving a new nature, you should realize that what you have gained in Christ is more valuable than anything in this world.

[8:43] And you should be able to say, Lord, what I have is yours. It's not a sin to be wealthy, but it is a sin to keep what God commands you to give because it's his.

[8:59] It truly belongs to him. Paul addresses that in our text this morning. He also addresses a greater treasure that God has given us to keep safe.

[9:12] A treasure we are to safeguard. A treasure that the world doesn't treasure, doesn't value, and that unfortunately fewer Christians value as a result of that and have let their guard down.

[9:29] Paul addresses that in our text this morning also. Christian, God has given you something to give and he's given you something to guard. My prayer for you is that the Lord, through his word, will help you truly understand and reevaluate, I guess, what you have and discern what is truly worth giving and truly worth guarding because there are eternal implications for you.

[9:57] Not in regard to your salvation, but the reward awaits you in heaven, that awaits you in heaven. If you're here this morning and you're not a believer, God has given you this day.

[10:10] He has led you to this place to hear about the greatest treasure that there is. He's been gracious to bring you here to hear the truth that Satan is desperate to keep you in the dark about.

[10:23] God has a word for you this morning, friend. I prayed for you and I hope that today is the day that you receive God's gift of salvation.

[10:33] Again, in our text, Paul says that God has given you something to give and he's given you something to guard. In verses 17 through 19, Paul tells us about the something we are to give.

[10:49] We are to give the earthly treasures that you have received from God. Give the earthly treasures that you have received from God. I want to look again at verse 17. As for the rich in the present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.

[11:11] The rich here refers to Christians in the church in Ephesus. Now, if you jump up to verse 10, Paul warns there about the love of money and how it's the root of all kinds of evil.

[11:25] So I want to be clear here that having wealth is not a sin, but loving wealth is. In verse 17, Paul is giving Timothy instruction on how to counsel wealthy members in his church.

[11:40] If Paul hadn't given this instruction, it could have left wealthy members of the church open to the charge of loving money or pursuing money. So again, he wants to make it clear that being wealthy isn't a sin, but what you do with it or what you don't do with it in light of what God commands here is a sin.

[12:03] Let me also add that having money does not necessarily indicate God's blessing on a person's life. Many godly people are poor. Many godly people today and in the past have lived and are living in poverty.

[12:17] Sometimes having great wealth brings temptation to guard it instead of give it. Paul's instruction here is for Timothy to counsel his wealthy church members to avoid a couple of sins that result from trying to guard what they have received from God to give.

[12:39] But before talking about those things, we need to first identify what Paul means by rich. because you probably don't think you are rich.

[12:50] We live in the most affluent society in the history of the world. Our rich are incredibly rich and compared to them, people, including yourself, seem to have very little.

[13:15] But compared to the rest of the world, we, as Americans, are rich. If you have a home with running water, electricity, air conditioning, a car that runs, you are rich compared to the rest of the world.

[13:34] And though you might know it, they do. Back in January, I went to India and I saw a glimpse of the poverty that people live in outside of our nation.

[13:48] Their homeless don't have shelters. They don't have food pantries to go to. They are totally dependent on the generosity of others. And being Americans, they assume that we had money to spare.

[14:03] I also learned that the goal of just about every young person in India is to make it to America. A goal their parents share.

[14:13] They invest most of their time. They don't really have many hobbies. Their hobby is to study and to go to school and to prepare for tests to get the best grades that they can in the hopes that they'll be able to go to college here and then hopefully stay here because the opportunities that exist here don't exist there or in most other places.

[14:40] Opportunities that we take for granted. To be rich, as Paul defines it here, is to have something to give. To have more than the essentials of food, clothing, and shelter.

[14:53] It is to have an income that exceeds your expenses. It is to have discretionary dollars or mad money or whatever you want to call it. And most of us fall into that category.

[15:06] But if you don't, if you need help, and I mean this sincerely, if you are struggling to make ends meet but can't because of unforeseen circumstances or other things, we want to help you.

[15:22] That's part of what the church is commanded by the Lord to do. We want to help you. Even if it's just managing your finances, we have people in our church who can help you with that and give you counsel.

[15:33] So please see me after church or contact the church. We want to help you. But for the rest of us, living in this present age who have something to give, we are those whom the Bible considers rich.

[15:48] And in verse 17, Paul mentions a couple of dangers that we face that can cause us to sin by guarding what we've received from God to give. The first is the temptation to be haughty.

[16:01] In the Greek, haughty is a compound word that means high-minded. It describes someone who thinks that they are better than others. It describes someone who thinks that they are above others.

[16:14] They look down on others. Wealthy people are tempted to think that they are better than others and that they deserve better treatment than others. It's an attitude that describes someone who expects to be served by others instead of seeking to serve others.

[16:32] The opposite of this attitude is humility, is to be humble. It's to have the mind of Christ, which Paul wrote about in Philippians chapter 2.

[16:45] There he says, do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

[16:58] Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself. By taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

[17:20] Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

[17:36] In his incarnation, Jesus emptied himself, not of his deity, but of his heavenly glory.

[17:47] He completely submitted himself to the will of the Father. He voluntarily submitted himself to the direction of the Holy Spirit. He left behind the eternal riches of heaven, being born to a poor family and dying, owning just the clothes that the soldiers stripped him of and gambled for at the foot of his cross.

[18:13] He left heaven to suffer and to endure the wrath of the Father for the sins that you and I have committed against him. In 2 Corinthians 8-9, Paul says, For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor so that you by his poverty might become rich.

[18:39] The Christian's goal in life shouldn't be to increase in material prosperity, but to increase in likeness to Jesus Christ. To pursue holiness, not earthly riches.

[18:53] If God has blessed you with wealth, if he's gifted you in a career or with an inheritance that has made you rich, richer than others, his expectation is that you use it in some way for his glory and not for your own.

[19:15] Now you might be wondering, does this mean that we shouldn't have any kind of money in the bank account? Does this mean that we shouldn't retire? Does this mean that we shouldn't have some kind of emergency fund in case something happens that needs fixing?

[19:30] Should I just empty out all that I have? No. I don't think so. For some of us, maybe. But for most of us, I don't think so.

[19:41] But what we should see is that what we have belongs to God. And if he's Lord of your life, then he's Lord of your money. Conversely, as a church, we need to be mindful of sinful attitudes that we can have towards the rich.

[19:58] We can be tempted to covet what they have. And in coveting what they have, we can despise them for having more than us.

[20:11] Or we can seek to take advantage of them for what they have, hoping to get a piece of it for ourselves. Also, there's the temptation to treat rich people in the church better than others.

[20:30] James warns about this in James chapter 2, verses 1 through 4. He says, My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.

[20:41] For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, you sit here in a good place, while you say to the poor man, you stand over there or sit down at my feet, have you not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts.

[21:04] There's a temptation in the church to treat rich people better than poor people or those who aren't as rich because in our sinful estimation of them, we see them as having more to give to the church.

[21:22] And thus, we treat them as more important than others. And if we do that, it could tempt us to not confront them when they sin or it could tempt us to allow their opinion to have greater weight than the opinions or the feelings of others, fearing that if we do something that that rich person doesn't like, they might leave.

[21:47] And if they leave, they're going to take their money with them. Conversely, there could be a temptation for a richer person to use their giving to influence the outcomes they desire and the personal agendas that they have in the church and threaten to withhold what God has commanded them to give until they get their way.

[22:10] That's another way Christians can be haughty. But instead, we are to look to the Lord's example of humility and not think that we are better than others because we have more than others or treat others better based upon their wealth.

[22:34] A second danger facing the rich is the temptation to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches. Proverbs 23, 4 through 5 says, Do not toil to acquire wealth.

[22:46] Be discerning enough to desist. When your eyes light on it, it is gone. For suddenly it sprouts wings flying like an eagle toward heaven. We know this.

[22:57] Economies crash, stock markets fluctuate, layoffs occur. People are always scheming and coming up with scams and fraudulent ways to steal from others.

[23:11] The temptation for rich people here is to trust in their wealth to give them a sense of the security that they want rather than trusting in God who Paul says in the rest of verse 17, richly provides us with everything to enjoy.

[23:28] God is a giver and he provides far better security than earthly investments and his wealth is abundant. Psalm 50 verses 10 through 12 reminds us of that truth.

[23:44] For every beast of the forest is mine, God says. The cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the hills and all that moves in the field is mine. If I were hungry I would not tell you for the world and its fullness are mine.

[24:00] When I was maybe seven or eight years old my parents bought me a bicycle. That bicycle came with commands and it came with limitations.

[24:14] I remember they took me out to our driveway and they showed me where I could ride my bike and where I could not ride my bike. They set the boundaries for me.

[24:25] They also told me that if I was going to cross the street I needed to look both ways but to never ever ride my bike in front of a car.

[24:39] One, I think, Saturday afternoon all the kids in my neighborhood were on our street my street and we're riding our bikes up and down and we're having such a great time that I kind of forget some of those commands that my parents had given to me and I'm zooming across the street right in front of a car.

[24:59] And here's the problem. My sister saw it all. And my sister doing what sisters often do ran inside and told my parents that I had broken one of their commands.

[25:17] And my parents took my bike away for a couple of weeks. They put it down in the basement and I couldn't ride it. That was my punishment. And so I learned a few lessons through that.

[25:28] First, the first thing I learned is that my bike wasn't really my bike. my parents gave it to me.

[25:40] They owned it. I could use it for enjoyment but it came with commands and limitations. Second, I learned that there is consequences for disobeying the commands that those in authority had given to me.

[25:59] And third, I learned that it's better to obey than to disobey. Friend, God owns everything. It's all His.

[26:12] What you have is His. What He's given to you comes with responsibility. It comes with commands.

[26:23] It comes with limitations. And if you obey His commands there is joy for you to experience. But if not, there is sorrow. It's not wrong to have things.

[26:34] It's not wrong to take trips, to go on vacation and enjoy what God has given to you so long as the possessions that you have don't have possession of you and that you know that they're God's.

[26:50] In verses 18 through 19 Paul talks about a gain that comes from obeying God's command to give our earthly treasures. In verses 18 through 19 he says they are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future so that they may take hold of that which is eternal life.

[27:12] The rich are commanded first to do good. The verb translated as good describes noble and excellent behavior. Someone who wants to do good because it's the right thing to do.

[27:27] And so Paul says that the rich are to do good works. They're to be rich in good works. Good works again don't save a person but a saved person desires to please the Lord which means doing good to others.

[27:40] They desire to be like God who graciously gave his son who willingly gave his life to save them. In this letter Paul has already instructed believers to use their resources to support their own families in chapter 5 verse 8 to support needy widows in chapter 5 verse 9 and the leaders of the church who take on the primary teaching responsibilities in chapter 5 verse 17.

[28:04] We see a beautiful picture in Acts chapter 4 verses 34 through 35 of the first church the early church and how they treated the things that God had given them. There was not a needy person among them for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles feet and it was distributed to each as any had need.

[28:28] the motivation behind our giving is to obey God because we know what God has given to us and because we want to store up a lasting treasure with him in heaven a place that's eternal.

[28:45] Those who invest in eternity show that they have taken hold Paul says of that which is truly life that which is eternal life. in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus preached about this in Matthew 6 19-20 Do not do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.

[29:19] Jesus and Paul weren't teaching that you can buy your salvation by giving to others. They were saying that true riches the only riches that will survive this world this life are those done or given to glorify God.

[29:39] God reconciles us through faith by grace through faith in his son Jesus Christ and then he gives us the Holy Spirit who indwells us and who compels us to serve him and then he accepts our service to him flawed as it may be and bestows on our service a reward we don't deserve.

[30:03] Those who give don't suffer loss. They gain something better both in this life and the eternal life to come.

[30:17] So now maybe you're asking how much earthly treasure is God calling me to give? And my answer for you is I don't know. I don't know.

[30:30] That's between you and God. But I do want you to look with me at 2 Corinthians 9 6 through 7. The point is this. Whoever sows whoever gives sparingly will also reap sparingly and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

[30:50] each one must give as he has decided in his heart. This is what I want you to really see. Not reluctantly or under compulsion for God loves a cheerful giver.

[31:07] Friend, you'll never be able to out give God. And please understand this. God doesn't need your money. He owns your money.

[31:21] He doesn't need your money. But what he desires is for you to be like him. And God is a giver.

[31:32] What he desires is to be first in your life because God is God. And so often when we hold on to what God has given us to give, we don't act like God and we end up worshiping something that is not God and cannot save us the way that only God can.

[31:51] So give the earthly treasures that God commands you to give. Give what he has given to you. And pray.

[32:03] And go to the Lord, Lord, and just acknowledge all that I have is yours. What do you want me to give? And be obedient when he compels you to give.

[32:15] God has given us earthly treasures to give. He's also given us something to guard, something to keep, something to defend and preserve. And that's our second point. Guard divine truth you have received from God.

[32:28] Give that earthly treasure but guard the divine truth that you have received from God. In verse 20, Paul says to Timothy, O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you.

[32:39] Avoid irreverent battle and contradictions which are falsely called knowledge. Timothy's task in Ephesus was to undo the destruction caused by false teachers in the church.

[32:50] He was to work to ensure that the church fulfilled its duty, its mission, to be a pillar and a buttress of the truth. He was to guard the deposit that had been entrusted to him.

[33:02] He was to guard the gospel. He was to guard the doctrines of God's word, the teachings inspired by the apostles, the scriptures given by God and handed down to him and now have been handed down to us.

[33:17] St. Leo, I think, gave a great quote about what this deposit that's been entrusted to us is. He asked, what is meant by the deposit? That which is committed to you, not that which is invented by you.

[33:31] That which you have received, not that which you have devised. A thing not of wit, but of learning. Not of private assumption, but of public tradition. A thing brought to you, not brought forth by you, wherein you must not be an author, but a keeper, not a leader, but a follower.

[33:51] In our day, in our time, in our place, the church's influence on the world has weakened because many Christians, I think, have let down their guard to become more like the world.

[34:03] Attempts to make the Bible culturally relevant, to make it say what it doesn't truly say, to appeal to people in ways to gain their acceptance, but in doing so, they are letting down their guard and rejecting the deposit that God has given the church to guard.

[34:21] Our task isn't to augment or to add or to avoid the truth God has revealed to us, but to guard it, to keep it, to understand it, to proclaim it, and to expose those who teach it falsely.

[34:44] To fail to take God's word seriously is to fail to take God seriously. And if the church doesn't take God's word seriously, neither will the world and those whom we are commanded to go and share the gospel with.

[35:02] So how do we guard divine truth? Here's several ways that we are commanded to guard God's truth. First of all, believe what it says.

[35:16] You're not going to guard it if you don't believe it. John 5, 24. Jesus said, truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my words and believes in him who sent me has eternal life.

[35:27] He does not come into judgment but has passed from death to life. Believe what it says. And if you believe what it says, then you guard it by obeying what it says.

[35:39] John 8, 31 through 32. Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, if you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.

[35:52] Believe what it says, obey what it says, and love what it says. Psalm 119, 97. Oh, how I love your law. It is my meditation all the day.

[36:05] Study what it says. That's how you guard God's word that's been entrusted to you. 2 Timothy 2, 15. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

[36:22] Study what it says. Share what it says. That's how you guard God's word. 2 Timothy 4, 2. Preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season, in every season.

[36:34] Use it to reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience and teaching. How else do you guard what the Bible says? Well, you guard what it says.

[36:47] You just guard what it says. Jude 3. Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once and for all delivered to the saints.

[37:05] This was primarily Timothy's task. As the pastor, as an elder of this church, but it was a task that he was encouraged to share with the church.

[37:19] A truth to remind them of because Paul closes his letter with the words, Grace be with you. And you there is plural. It's intended for all those in the church.

[37:30] All Christians receive God's word and are commanded by God to guard it, to preserve it, to keep it, to pass it on to the next generation who will then likewise preserve it and guard it and keep it until our Lord comes in fulfillment of all the promises that he's made to us in his word.

[37:54] We are in this present age to guard God's word and to prepare the next generation to do the same thing.

[38:07] By giving to them the truth and helping them understand that what God has given them, he's given them to give and that he owns it all and that there is greater gain to be had in guarding the truth that God has given us and entrusted to us to guard.

[38:34] So how do we adjust our lives to what we've just heard? I think it's simply this, hold tightly to God's word and keep a loose grip on earthly treasures. A loose grip.

[38:45] You know, not a tight grip on your earthly treasures. You have a grip, but it's more like they're sitting in your hand and your hand is open and God can put in there whatever he wants and God can take out whatever he wants.

[38:57] But what you need to hold tightly to is the truth of God's word. Believer, that is what God is calling you to do today in his word.

[39:08] To understand that you are a steward, not an owner. That what you have belongs to him and that you would seek to use what he's given to you to glorify him.

[39:21] And the more you know his word and the more you guard it and keep it, the better you'll be reminded of your place in this world and the future hope that you have in Jesus Christ.

[39:35] If you're an unbeliever here this morning, you've heard the gospel that God is a giver. And in his love, by his grace, he gave the greatest treasure that he has, Jesus Christ, his only son.

[39:50] Who lived the sinless life that you and I are incapable of living. Who left the glories of heaven behind to become a servant. To humble himself in obedience to the father, willingly giving his life on the cross.

[40:07] Enduring that humiliation, dying and bleeding and suffering and enduring the wrath of the father because of our sins.

[40:19] Because God is a just God. He can't sweep sin under the rug. It must be punished and Jesus came and endured that punishment. And he rose again on the third day as proof, as validation that he is the son of God.

[40:36] That he has atoned for our sins. And so look, you can't buy your salvation. You couldn't have enough money to do that. And it's not about the good things that you do. It's just realizing that you are a sinner in need of God's grace.

[40:53] And turning to him in repentance of your sin. And asking for his forgiveness and following him. And he will save you. And he will change you. And he will transform you.

[41:04] And he will give you an eternal life that begins the moment you are saved. And that, friend, is something that all the money in this world pales in comparison to.

[41:20] Because only through faith in Jesus Christ can you have eternal life. And I hope that you turn to him. And I hope that you would call out to him. And he will save you.

[41:32] Let's pray. Lord, today your word confronted us with a topic that is sensitive to a lot of us.

[41:43] Because, God, we live in a very affluent culture. And, Lord, we tend to be of the mind that we're not rich compared to others.

[41:54] We tend to be of the mind that we're more generous than we really are. And we tend to be of the mind that what we have belongs to us and not to you.

[42:07] So this is a hard truth for us, Lord, to hear and to digest. But, God, I pray that you would help us to digest it and to trust it and to understand our place in this world in comparison to you.

[42:18] That our purpose in this world isn't to make as much money as we can, but to glorify you as much as we can with the lives that you've graciously given us and the lives that you've graciously saved. And so, Lord, I pray for all of us that we would reevaluate our lives, that we would reevaluate our possessions, that we would seek you out, and that, Lord, we would, through the guidance of your Holy Spirit, discern what we have to give and what we need to give, that we would be more like you, that we would hold loosely to the things of this world that are perishing, that we would hold tightly to the things of this world, Lord, that these things that go beyond this world, the truth of your word, the hope that we have in Jesus Christ.

[43:00] And so, I pray, Lord, that we would wrestle with what we've heard, that we would submit to your word's instruction, that we would be obedient to what you've given to us, and that we would be more like Jesus Christ as a result.

[43:13] God, for those here this morning, they've been deceived into thinking that the best life is the life lived having the most things. But, Lord, as we've seen in your word, that that is a foolish way to live. In fact, that person, if they continue to persist in their sin, will hear you declare to them, fool, depart from me.

[43:30] God, you've brought them here in your grace to hear this truth, and I pray, Lord, that you would save them from the destruction that awaits them and from the foolishness of seeking earthly treasures, that they would turn to Christ and that they would be saved and you would be glorified through that.

[43:50] Lord, help us to guard your word, to obey its instruction, and to proclaim its truth and be glorified in all that results. We ask this in Jesus' name.

[44:01]  Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.