For a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer's praise Wow What a feast this morning. Thank you. All the music was so great. You're singing was good What a joy it is to be able to stand up and preach now. I think I'm ready Deuteronomy chapter 8, please Deuteronomy chapter 8 One of the reasons we studied the Old Testament is there are so many things we can learn from particularly about God and how God does things and what he sees. I have a little homework for you this week before next week's message. By the way, the theme of next week's message is Amazing Grace How Sweet the Sound That Saved a Wretch Like Me. When Moses was leading the children of Israel in the wilderness, they lacked water. And God instructed Moses, their leader, that he was supposed to speak to the rock, and that when he spoke to the rock, water would come out and supply the needs of the people. Well, Moses became angry and peeved and upset, and he struck the rock. He did that in front of all the people, and water came out. Now here's the question, did water come out because of Moses disobedience striking the rock? If not, then why did water come out? I mean wasn't God saying it doesn't matter you can speak to the rock or strike the rock or whatever you want to do and water will still come out. Is that what God was saying? Well, you might want to read Deuteronomy 9 to get a hint. It doesn't talk about that, but you might want to figure that out. Now, the reason I say that is because our business is to think God's thoughts after Him. And there are things that happen, and that's why I encourage you to think about it, because we need to try to understand God and why God does what He does, lest we get a wrong impression. The question in chapter nine is, all the things you enjoy, is it because you're so good? That's the question. Well, next week, hope I piqued your interest enough, you'll want to come back and maybe even read Deuteronomy chapter nine before next week. But today, the Jews are about to undergo a great transition. And as I preached a few weeks ago, transitions can be troubling and dangerous. The children of Israel had wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. They're just about to change. Their life is about to change dramatically. And in these transitions, there are adjustments to be made and those adjustments are very critical to our life. You see, they are going from the wilderness dry and dusty land to a land of plenty they've been living in tents now they're going to live in fine houses their menu has consisted of manna every morning go out and get the man inhabit I think that was grits really seems to be But from manna, now they were going to sumptuous meals. They were living in the desert. And that is a desert down there, believe me. And they were now moving into a land of brooks and fountains. I'm sure there was a Lake Lanier someplace nearby where they could go and spend their Sundays instead of coming to church. They were exchanging a simple life for a complex life. Chapter 8 and verse 6, Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God to walk in his ways, and to fear him. For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks and water, of fountains and depths that spring out of the valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines, of fig trees and pomegranates, a land of oil olive and honey shall not lack anything in it a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass my what a change from the wilderness none of these things were evident there verse 10 when thou has eaten that are full Then shalt thou bless the Lord thy God for the good land which he hath given thee. This morning we're going to talk about the danger of plenty. As we march through Deuteronomy, the Lord is preparing them for what he knows is coming. One of the advantages of following the Lord is he knows the way ahead. He understands what is coming up. He understands the challenges that we're going to face. He understands the things that are coming around the corner that we can't see. So once again, he is telling them the blessing, the plenty they're going to enjoy has with it challenges. And they are to continue to obey the Lord and serve the Lord and do right. And remember it was God who gave them these things. Now, the first thing we see in verse number seven is the distraction of plenty. All these things, you see, the fountains and the brooks and the weed and the barley and the fig trees and the pomegranates. You see, they had lived a simple life and no complexity about their life. They had no food to prepare. They just went out and got the manna. They had no clothes to buy. The Bible says that in chapter 7 in chapter 7 that their clothes didn't wear out chapter 8 rather their clothes didn't wear out Their shoes didn't wear out. So they'd have to buy new shoes Ladies there were no purses to match up with the shoes either All they had to do was get up Get dressed and wait for God's instructions. That's a simple life well in the new life They're going to have the God saw down the road. They're going to have crops to grow. Wheat and barley don't grow by themselves. They're going to have bread to bake. They're going to have minerals to mine. They're going to have a beautiful land to enjoy. And though all those things make life more complex and tempt us to forget something very important. Complex life comes with its challenges. When we were very young and our children were very young, Jacksonville, Florida, we bought a swing set. Have any of you ever put together a swing set? I see a few of you have. We had two friends visiting us. Both of them had master's degrees. I'm serious. And we were going to put together a swing set, the three of us. Now the two who were educated had the job of sorting out the screws and the nuts and the bolts and the washers, and there were 10,000 of them. Not making that up. There were also a few parts of a 1937 Ford thrown in just to confuse us. So I'd set these two organizing the screws and the nuts and the bolts. And so we got all those organized and all the pieces, and of course, you know how that goes. This piece looks like this, and I mean, it is a nightmare beyond nightmares. So we spent the better part of a day, it seemed like three, putting it together. And when we got it together, on the bottom of the instruction, it says, now every six months, go back and tighten all the screws and all the nuts. Life is complex. If we did not have enough to do, we have to count those things, and then we have to go back and tighten them up every six months. I mean, life is complex. So these people were adjusting to something they were not used to, and it's easy to be distracted, to be too busy. to be occupied with temporal concerns. In other words, whereas they had a simple life and they just had to see the cloud and the fire and do the things they were supposed to do, now they had many things to care for. Verse 11, beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God in not keeping his commandments and his judgments and his statutes which I command thee this day. Yes, all these things that they had tempted them to forget the Lord. Not that they didn't love the Lord or didn't honor the Lord, but they just didn't think about him because they had so many other things to think about. On the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus brought this into focus, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And all the nuts and bolts will fall into the right place. I just made that last part up. And all these things shall be added unto you. In that passage, Jesus was talking about wealth, about worrying about your wealth, and thieves stealing your wealth, and focusing on your wealth. And then he talked about clothes and food, And those kinds of things for people, some people live just from day to day and those things were concerning to the people like they are to us and to you and me. But then Jesus said, look, set your priorities right. Seek first the kingdom of God. The things that are important to him, let him set your priority system. What is really important? Now, there are many good things. You know, the decisions we make as believers most often is not between good and bad. It's between good and better or good and best. What is best? I mean, I only have so many hours in the day. I only have so much energy. I only have so much money. What am I gonna do with it? Well, Jesus said, seek first. The priority is to please God, to do what God wants, to do it the way He wants it done. And then all these other things fall into line. Many, many people wander around with priority issues all the time. They're trying to balance their life out with all kinds of things. And let me tell you something, here's the key. Seek first the kingdom of God. Do those things which are right according to the word of God first. And then all the other things. will fall into place. Anything that comes between you and being right with God is a sin to you. Anything that hinders your worship and obedience to God is a sin to you. Anything that stands in your way of serving God is a sin to you. Maybe it's a good thing. Maybe it's a valuable thing. Maybe it is a worthy thing. But if it stands in the way of your being right with God, it is sin to you. If you can't serve God because of this thing, it becomes sin to you because it keeps you from doing what God wants you to do. The priority is seek first the kingdom of God. And God rightly saw that as our life becomes more complex, It is easy to turn our eyes away from God, to turn our attention to other things. Don't forget, he says, to serve the Lord. But there's another problem with plenty. By the way, maybe you've noticed that I've noticed that I've been in the ministry a long time. People endure poverty much better than they endure plenty. I've known many people who were poor, who had struggled to make a living, struggled to take care of their family. They seemed to be more dedicated to Christ. And I've seen some of those same people move up the social ladder, move up the economic ladder, begin to make more money than they ever expected to make. They had positions they never thought they would have. And many times, many times, they became distracted. and their life did not count for God as it once did. They were just too busy. They had too many things to do, and they forgot the Lord. So there is a danger in this simple life going away and being replaced by a life that is so complex that it comes before us serving God. But the second one is mentioned in verse number 12, if you would look at that. Lest when thou art eaten and are full, and had built goodly houses to dwell in, and thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied, then thine heart be lifted up. And forget the Lord thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage." Your heart, pride, pride. I'm not like this poor Republican over here. I give tithes, I do this, but he's just a poor sinner. Oh, Jesus said, no, this man who said, Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner, he's the one I heard today. When thou hast eaten under full, when you've built goodly houses, when you've dwelt in those houses, remember they lived in tents? Can you imagine moving from a tent to a beautiful house? What that was like? Can you imagine sitting down to a table that was not filled with manna, filled with good things? Can you imagine having herds and flocks that are doing well? There are places to graze them. There are places to raise them. There's a prosperity here. Silver and gold. Had all the things they had never had before. Everything they had was doing well. But there's a danger. The danger is they're lifted up in pride. Look at verse 14. Then thine heart be lifted up and thou forget the Lord thy God which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage. Remember, you were pitiful without God. Remember before the land how pitiful you were? Remember you were slaves? Remember you wandered around the wilderness? Don't forget. Don't forget it was God that brought you from slavery and Egypt through a terrible wilderness into a land of plenty. Don't forget it was God that gave you the house. Don't forget it was God that provided the food. Don't forget it was God that caused your flocks and your herds to multiply. Remember, you would still be slaves if God had not delivered you. You see, they didn't deliver themselves. They did not have the power and the strength or the wisdom to deliver themselves. They were slaves. They would have been slaves. But God and his mercy and God and his power and God and his grace freed them from slavery. How soon we forget. Most of you, many of you have lived long enough to remember friends of yours that are totally ruined. Some are dead. I have some who are dead. I have some who've turned aside. I have some who are shamed themselves and their families. I have some friends who have turned away from their marriages. I have all those things, except for the grace of God. So would we be. Without God, they would still be slaves. And by the way, they would have died in the wilderness had God not provided for them. They had no way to get food. They had no way to make water. They had no way to take care of themselves. But God provided for them and God gave them things that they didn't deserve. And now the danger is to lift up their heart with pride. In the church I served in Jacksonville, we had a rescue mission. It was a wonderful ministry, it really was. We saw many of those men and women saved and discipled and living for the Lord, had good families, gone back to the families they'd lost. But I remember a story our director of our mission told me. It was common in Jacksonville, and I'm sure every city, that these rescue missions receive food from supermarkets. And it happened to be there was a large supermarket that all the coolers went down one day. Perhaps electricity, I'm not sure what it was, but all the coolers went out. And so they had a whole bunch of food that was going to spoil if they didn't do something with it. So they brought it over to the rescue mission. And the rescue guys in the rescue mission had crab legs and lobster tails and all kinds of stuff. By the way, these guys in the rescue mission had been eaten out of garbage cans not many days ahead. I mean, before they were saved, they were living on the street. So they were living for whatever they could eat, going behind a restaurant, looking in the dumpster to try to find food to eat. Now they had all this stuff to eat. And our rescue mission director said he brought that stuff out and they cooked it all up for these guys and set them on the table. And they turned their nose and said, I'm not gonna eat that. That's probably spoiled. It came out of a supermarket. Wait a minute, didn't you just eat out of garbage cans? What is wrong with you? Oh, because our hearts are lifted up. There's a sweet passage in First Corinthians about the church at Corinth. Let me read this verse, and let me talk to you about that in a minute. My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if there come into your assembly a man with a gold ring and goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment, And you have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing and say to him, sit here in the good place. And say to the poor, stand there and sit there and sit under my footstool. That's James, early church, first century. You mean, wait a minute, you mean Christians were giving preference to rich people and not to poor people? Is that what it sounded like to you? Somebody grown or minor or something, do something. Isn't that what it seems like? Church at Corinth, early church. There's an interesting passage that so many have misunderstood. It says, the sign says, my wireless is out, please stay behind the pulpit. I get these notes on that screen back there, so I will stand still. Okay, the church at Corinth, first century, wonderful passage. People misunderstand that it says the women I'm gonna have a hard time standing still. The women have to come into church with their head covered. And boy, that's caused all kind of angst among people. What does that mean? I was in Romania, and the first time I went to Romania years ago, and there were women who had their head covered and women who didn't. And the women sat on one side and the men sat on the other. So I learned that the women who had their head covered were married women, who professed to be submissive to their husband. One of them said to me, it ain't really so. She didn't say it exactly that way, but that's what she said. But we were in Corinth two years ago, and the guy told me something I'd never heard before. I knew that above the city of Corinth, if you were to stand in the square of Corinth in front of the Bema seat, on the mountain up there was a temple of Aphrodite. And the temple of Aphrodite had a thousand temple prostitutes who roamed the streets, who were available to any man. That was a port city, many merchants and people around there. And some of those women trusted Christ and were saved. Now, to identify themselves with the temple and with their profession, they shaved their heads. Read that passage, you'll see that all makes sense when you read the passage and understand it. They shaved their heads. Now, let me think about this. When they came into church, they were saved now. By the way, they had to be redeemed. Not only did they get saved, but to be freed from that responsibility, they had to be redeemed by somebody who had money. So here were these women in the church with their heads shaved. What do you think? Christians who are now born again, who are not living that way? And the apostle said, ladies, when you come into church, all of you cover your head. Do you understand it? And these women, whose lives were once a life of disgrace now became a life of love and concern and acceptance. Hallelujah. There's a tendency even among Christians to feel proud and to look down on others. When somebody comes into a church like ours, not dressed in fine clothes, we should run toward them and not away from them. Will somebody say amen? Never, never should there be any consideration of wealth or position. We're all just sinners saved by the grace of God. And everyone that God brings into this building is a gift from God and enriches our fellowship. Be of one mind, be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate, and be not wise in your own conceits. When I was a kid in elementary school, we used to choose upsides to play basketball, or dodgeball, or softball, or whatever we were playing. Remember that? Remember there were kids who always got picked last? The ones that nobody wanted on their team? The guys who were fast and smart and good and had great coordination, they were picked first. The Bible says for the Christian, we condescend to men of low estate. There's another challenge in this whole matter in verse 16. He led thee in the wilderness with manna. which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, that he might prove thee, that he might do thee good in the latter end. And thou say in thine heart, my power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth. But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God, for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant, which he swear unto thy fathers unto this day. Self-sufficiency of plenty. Remember the thing I read early in the service? There was a man who had a farm and grew crops. And one year, there were so many crops, the crops were so bountiful, that he said, what am I gonna do? He said, well, I'm gonna tear down my barns, I'm gonna build bigger barns. And then he says, I'm gonna say to my soul, soul, take thine ease. You have much good laid up for many years. Oh, the self-sufficiency of plenty. I have so much, I am so well fixed, I don't even need God. Oh, but God said to him, thy fool, this night, thy soul shall be required of thee, and then who shall these things be? David said in the Psalms that men build monuments to themselves. We try to leave a legacy for ourselves. We try to want to be so that we're important, the self-sufficiency. But we have to remember, if you look at verse 16, who fed thee in the wilderness with manna that thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that thou might, he might prove thee, and do thee good in lattery." And God had a purpose for prosperity. You know, God does, it's amazing. We either think that our lives are just kind of floating around, things are happening, and we kind of, you know, survive this life of ours, or we believe, and certainly as a believer, that God has a plan for us, and that what he puts in our hands, he puts in our hands for a purpose. And I think sometimes we as Americans have just bought into, quote, the American dream, end quote, and we think that we have all the stuff that we can just do, live high and wide. We need to remember that every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, in whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." Everything we have is given to us by God, and is ultimately owned by God. The house we live in was given to us by God, and He owns it. So we ask ourselves the question, what does He want me to do with my house? What do we want to do with His house? the car I drive, the children that God has given me, children are an heritage of the Lord. The money that I possess, the wealth that I have, the plenty that I have, what does God want me to do with it? That's the question. Because God doesn't just arbitrarily do that. Next week, please, great message next week on amazing grace. God gives us what he does for a reason. It was said that the day of the Great Depression, 1927, when the stock market crashed, that there were entrepreneurs and bankers and wealthy men jumping out of buildings. Their life was gone. Their security was gone. May I say to you, he owns the cattle on a thousand hills, the wealth in every mine, he owns the hills, the cattle, and all the other things, and he owns me, and he owns everything I have. Job said, naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away, Blessed be the name of the Lord. I wonder, I've thought about this, I wonder if that would be my attitude. Job lost everything. Not only his wealth, but something more dear than that, he lost his children, lost his family. He was a wealthy man who had land, who had cattle, who had servants, they're all gone. Job said, and we still marvel at it, naked came out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave. The Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. We say we just had bad luck, or the stock market turned down, or I made some bad investments. No, the Lord had taken away, and God doesn't make mistakes, but God gives us prosperity for a reason. It's not arbitrary. God has a design in our lives. Timothy, one of the latter books of the New Testament says, charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God giveth us richly all things to enjoy. You know the difference in trusting in riches and trusting in God? God doesn't change. God's stock market never falls, and God is benevolent. God loves me, and God cares for me, and I look back on my life now, and I will say to you, Jesus led me all the way. This man in Luke that we read about this morning, Jesus told this story, and here's why he told it, now listen carefully. A man's life, Jesus said, consisteth not of the abundance of the things which he possesseth. Why? Because God gave them to him. God gives some wealth and others not. Some of the greatest Christians in the world that I know have less than the poorest person in this room today. It can't be because we are good, because we are better than other people. It can't be that. But we need to understand that our life is not measured. Our wealth, our worth is not measured by what we have, where we live, what kind of car we drive. That is not how God nor we should measure ourselves or should measure each other. This man had an eye problem. What shall I do? Because I have no room to bestow my fruits. This I will do. I will pull down my barn and build greater. And there shall I bestow my fruits and my goods. Let me tell you something, folks. He didn't own anything. He learned an important lesson that night. A lesson from which he could not recover. This night, God said, thy soul shall be required of thee, and then who shall these things be? And then the final part of that passage, Jesus said this, so is he that layeth up treasures for himself and is not rich toward God. Let me ask you a question. In your mind, as you sit there this morning, measure your 401k against what you have in heaven. Jesus said this man made a grave mistake. He was one who had treasure for himself, but he was not rich toward God. God gives us resources. God gives us plenty. God gives us wealth and strength and power and time to do things that make heavenly significance. There are danger in plenty, and we have plenty. We need to be using it for God. Father, thank you for the great challenge of this passage. It'd be such a tragedy for any of us in this room this morning to one day stand before the judgment seat of Christ with empty hands, with no crowns to lay at your feet, with no souls to bring, with nothing to do but things for ourselves, for we assumed that all you have given us belonged to us, and all the time we had was our time, and all the things we possessed were our things, not realizing that you gave us these things to enjoy, but you will also hold us accountable for these things. Lord, teach us to have Job's mind, to have James' mind, to have Paul's mind, who see others more important than ourselves, who are willing to take what you put in our hands and spend it for others, to reach out to others, to never be proud and lift it up in our hearts, but to be humble as you were, who made friends with publicans and sinners. Lord, do a great work in our hearts today to change our perspective, to change our view, to change our look at life and the world. Bow our heads about this morning before we sing a song and go home.