As we look at a passage that was written to the nation of Israel, I'll give you a little bit more history about it in just a few moments, but this was written to the children of Israel as they are preparing to go into the promised land for the second time. The second time. As they missed the first opportunity and wandered around the wilderness for 40 years, we see God gives them instruction again as they are going to enter into what he had promised for his people many years prior. Well, let's read starting in verse 10. It says, It shall be when the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities which thou buildest not. and houses full of all good things, which thou filledest not, and wells digged, which thou diggest not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantest not, when thou shalt have eaten and be full, then beware, lest thou forget the Lord, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage. May we pray before we look into this any further. We're grateful tonight to be here, that you've given us the energy, the capability to be here, the mental capacity to be able to understand what is being said. We thank you for the word of God that is literally in our hands tonight. Help us as we examine this passage. May we hear from heaven, in Jesus' name, amen. Today, as you look around at young people today, Most of them are lacking one thing. They're lacking the zeal to succeed. I'm not sure if you've noticed that, but I have noticed that. Even in the few short years between the distance of Thomas and I's relationship to the young people that are school age, we've seen that it doesn't seem as if they may have the same drive that I remember young people having. And I'm sure if we went 10, 20 years, 30, 40, 50 years beyond us, we would possibly see the same thing. People don't seem to have a desire to succeed. Young people don't really want to. What I mean by that is, you bring them out and you have a sports game, and there's two or three teams they're gonna play, and they play those two or three teams, and they end up getting last place. Our kids, they'll get last place, and they'll, oh, okay. No problem. What? No problem. I don't know what has introduced that type of spirit into young people, but it translates not just to sports, but it translates all around. A student will get a grade on a test and it'll be just average. Hey, that's great. No desire to really succeed and depress and to try to do their best. However, there are some that seem to get this and have this eye of the tiger, so to speak, where they just want to succeed at all costs. Today, as we look into this passage, we're going to see a group of people, the nation of Israel, who was bound for success. This was their chance, this was their opportunity in time. They had been waiting and waiting and waiting as they wandered around the wilderness and this was their time to succeed and they had it in their minds that they were going to and they were gonna obey God. But God gives them a stern warning before they go into the promised land and find success. He warns them about some dangers that possibly will come their way in the success. When we think of success we often think of success is only a positive thing and I think it is a positive thing but there also is some tendencies that come with success as well and we could we could use every sort of illustration about success, money, wealth, popularity, job performance, you name it. When it comes to success there also is a danger which is what God warned about here. Some tendencies that I, in my short time, have seen with mine own eyes. People have fallen into the trap that the Israelites were getting ready to fall into. You see, success is a test. We think the test was everything leading up to the success, but actually, success in itself is a test. Our verse said, In verse 12, then beware lest thou forget the Lord which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage. What I've seen is that few people can pass the test of success. Few people pass that test. Oh, it's easy to say when you haven't seen success yet. It's easy to say, oh, I'll be faithful to the Lord. I'll keep on keeping on. Oh, it's just going to be, I'm just going to be steady like I've been all these years. Oh, how many folks have acquired success in one fashion or another, and it has been the detriment of them. The title of the sermon today is Surviving Success. Surviving Success. Throughout scripture, there are several men that found defeat when they got success. seen before this time that everything was fine. However, when they acquired success, something else happened. The first individual that I think of is Solomon. I think to myself, what happened to the guy who earnestly talked to God and rejected all of the wealth and all of the other things he could have asked for and instead, instead, asked God for wisdom so that he can direct God's people What happened to him? Well, not only did God give him the wisdom, as we know, God gave him much more. All the wealth, I believe he got popularity, he got fame, world renown, we know that. Somewhere along the line, his success, I believe, became his downfall. The good gifts God gave him, he misused. How often do we do that? Shame on us. Success was his downfall. I think of David. A man after God's own heart. David, a shepherd boy who was pretty much a nobody. He was the least of all his brothers out there in the field tending some sheep. And yet God raised him up and he was faithful through the time of Saul as Saul was trying to kill him and persecute him and David seemed innocent through it all. And God began to raise him up and he became king of Israel. And we see that as when the kings went out to battle, he stayed back. He found success. And in his success, he ended up finding his demise. His success gave him opportunity to stay back. His success gave him power over people. And he says, bring her to me. Success gave him the opportunity to try to take the husband out and to ultimately do it. Hezekiah being another one who rose to success. Bible says there was none like unto King Hezekiah and God had graciously blessed him. God gave him victory over Sennacherib and he goes down into the temple. You may remember the story and he literally lays out the letter from Sennacherib, that big nasty letter that he wrote, that hateful, evil, evil letter, and he literally lays it out before the Lord because he doesn't know what to do with it. Not long later, what happens? After the success, when a foreign power comes in to survey the kingdom, he takes them over to the riches and starts showing them off all the shiny trinkets and things. And in his success, he found failure. I'm sure there's some even in our midst tonight that may have the same story. God gave success, but the success ended up being misused and turned into disaster. So God gives warning here. We're gonna look at some things in this passage to help give us some insight. And as God gives this instruction to the Israelites, As I mentioned earlier, this is a repeat of the law. Some refer to the book of Deuteronomy as a second law. What I like about what God said here is, in this verse, He talks about how they're going to go in and they're going to inherit stuff that they didn't do. Now, in preparation for this message, I came across something that I never really thought about. This generation that is getting ready to go into the promised land has never done anything. Do you realize that? Because everybody, 20 and up, perished in the wilderness. And everybody else, they were just children. They literally have not done anything. All they have known pretty much in their lives is what they've experienced up to that point, wandering around in the wilderness. And God says, I'm going to do a miraculous thing. Yes, you're going to be involved. Oh, you're going to pick up your sword, you're going to pick up your shield, you're going to pick up your weapons, you're going to go in there and you're going to fight. But I am going to give you the victory over these people and that land is going to be yours. You are going to go into houses that you did not build. You are going to go in and drink cool water out of a well you did not slave for and dig for. You were going to go and pluck grapes off of a vineyard that you did nothing to earn. And it's all going to be yours. And when you have that success, and your bellies are full, and you have no need, He says, in our verse, verse 12, Beware, lest thou forget the Lord, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage. What can we learn from this? Just a few things tonight I think will be a practical help and help to me. Remember the source of your success. A continuation of this story goes on in chapter 8, verse number 18, says, 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, as it is this day. Recognize that God is the giver of every good thing that you have. Young people today, if you have the ability to take and throw a football farther than any other kid in your class or any other kid in your school, God is the one who gave that to you. You did not earn that. He gave it to you in His good favor. If you are the most intellectual in your class, remember, it's not something you developed on your own. God gave you the intellect to do that. If you are the highest paid individual in your career, I'm gonna tell you tonight, God did that. Oh sure, you may have had a part in there, and you may have had some grit and determination. Let me say this, who gave you the grit and determination? God. He's the one that put that inside of you. It all goes back to God. God is the giver of all the success that we have. I think it's important that we make an effort to purposefully thank God. Think about the last time, honestly, in your mind. I'm gonna slow down for a moment. Honestly, in your mind, think about the last time you honestly thanked God for all he's done in your life. And I'm not talking about generic, God, thank you for what you've done and you got me this point. Stop. When's the last time you reflected on your life through the years and watched how God's providential hand guided you all the way to the person you are today and you thanked him for every step along the way? When's the last time that's happened? This week we're entering into Thanksgiving, yes. And at Thanksgiving, what typically happens? We gather around the table. And the typical tradition that everyone has is they go around and they start saying something that they're thankful for. You know, that started because people were thankful to God that God provided what they needed so that they could survive. And not only did they survive, but they had a bounty at that first Thanksgiving. And they did it because they wanted to honor God and thank God for His provision. My oh my, I know it's cliche, but what if that attitude that we have at Thanksgiving one time a year, that last week of November, what if we had that same attitude all the time? I think it would make a difference in that slippery slope of success that so many people fall to. Praising God, not only is it something I think we should praise God privately, but this praise that we have ought to be something that is public. Public. Do you know if you have something good going on in your life, God's given you favor in this area or that area, he's allowed you to succeed in something, and it gets brought up, that there should be little to no amount of time passes before The words fly off your mouth, God is good. And God made this happen for me. You know, I've talked to, I've had the opportunity, of course, probably as many of you living in the area that we live in, to talk with people that have acquired wealth. You can really see the difference between people when it comes to their, philosophy and idea about wealth and where it comes from. You ask somebody, how did you acquire all that wealth? And the worst word in the entire existence of mankind starts coming into play. I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I. What has happened? Well, I'll tell you what has happened. Beware, lest thou forget the Lord which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt. And they begin to talk about all their accomplishments and how they did it and everything that they did to make it possible. However, there are others that say, oh, God made this happen for me. God did it for me. You know, I just credit God for every good thing that's happened to me. You know, I tried, I tried, I tried, I failed, I failed, but God did it for me, and that is the reason why I succeed. It says in Psalm 34 1, the Psalm of David, he says, I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord. Do you know what? We boast in a lot of stuff, don't we? I do. I mean, I'm human, I boast in a lot of things and I boast in this and that and all sorts of stuff, I'm not gonna get into it, I don't wanna confess all my sins in front of you tonight. But I boast in myself, probably like you do too. Instead, flip that around and do what this verse says and boast in the Lord. Because when push comes to shove, everything that I have in life and everything I've accomplished only comes back to one individual. And it's a shame if I think that I get any other credit for it. Beware lest thou forget the Lord which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. Secondly, resist the pride that success brings. Oh my, my. Pride is a seed that thrives in the soil of success. Let me say that again. Pride is a seed that thrives in the soil of success. If you are a successful individual in whatever area, if you have the biggest Sunday school class at Gospel Baptist Church, if you got the biggest bus route at Gospel Baptist Church, if your Awana kids have all their verses memorized more than all the other kids in Awana, you have to beware. Because that seed of pride can get planted down into that success. and it'll grow and begin to take over. And when you try to pull it up by its roots, it will cling on for dear life. I've noticed that pride, pride tends to rewrite history. Pride tends to rewrite history. What do I mean? Says in chapter eight, continuation of this that verse 17 he says and thou say in thine heart he goes through the same pretty much thing again as he talks about you're gonna get this and you're gonna get that I'm gonna give this to you he says in verse 17 and thou say in thine heart my power in the might of my hand hath gotten me this wealth Our pride has a tendency to rewrite things, the things that actually happened. And we begin to change the story. Pride convinces you that you're the person responsible for your success. I've shared this story before, Henry Morris. I was amazed at the story of Henry Morris. who discovered Morse code and invented basically all that. And he was getting interviewed one day. And the way I have heard the story is that a reporter asked, my, my, Mr. Morse, how in the world did you get to discover all this? And how did you get to invent this? And you have just changed the world. And his answer humbled me. Because he said, essentially, I'm nobody. I'm so thankful, he said, that God allowed me to be the person to discover it. He could have chosen anybody in the world to make it happen, but somehow God chose me to do it. That's the kind of humility you need if you are going to succeed in success. We need to pass the test. You may sit here tonight and say, I don't have two dollars to my name. This is not all about money. This is about the pastor who's pastoring a large church started out as nothing and it's grown to several hundred or several thousand. They are faced with this test to succeed through success and to survive it. But pride wants to come in and destroy. If the children of Israel were capable of it, when it was so crystal clear to them that God did it, and you're going to turn around and say, no, I did it, how much more capable are we of doing the exact same thing and repeating history as they did? Pride, unfortunately, makes you unteachable. People that are just starting out, they want all the help, don't they? Yes, they do. They want all the help. Hey, show me how to do this, show me how to do that. Soon enough, they become a success in whatever avenue they're in. Sure enough, they don't want any help anymore. Do you know what? No one is to the place where they have arrived. No one is beyond improvement. What I find is interesting is somebody will be a success in one area of life but they automatically assume that they are a success in all these other areas of life. Have you ever seen that? Just because you're a success in one area does not mean that you're a success in everything else. It's a shame. Pastor Bill and I, we counsel with people often. We counsel together with people often. We've had amazing, I mean, so many different instances that have come through We've counseled very successful, worldly successful people. You know what I found with the people who are very successful? You cannot tell them anything. Can't tell them anything. They already know it all. Oh sure, marriage is falling apart. Families falling apart. Their ministries falling apart. But guess what? They've got it under control. They know the solutions. Stop. They're the ones that got it in that place to begin with. What am I trying to say? Nobody is past improvement. And if God's given you success, have some humility about it. Please, it's for your benefit. And beware lest you forget the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Beware. Pride blinds to your ongoing need of God. Israel thought, my belly's full, I got a roof over my head, it's not leaking, I've got water to drink, I can go out, pick grapes off of a vine, and I'm made in the shade. And in their heart they're saying, I don't need God anymore. The truth of the matter is they needed God just as much in that moment as they did when they were wandering out in the wilderness. However, their circumstances and their success blinded their eyes to see their need for God. And they desperately needed God. If there's one thing you can get from this message tonight, get this, we desperately need God. If you think tonight, I'm doing okay, I'm fine, I'm fine on my own, I've got all this money in the bank and my life is fine, you're in terrible shape. Terrible shape. We desperately need God's help. I remember as a young boy after 9-11, I remember people who weren't spiritual all of a sudden got spiritual. Remember that? It was a wake-up call because there was trouble out on the horizon. I mean, we're planning on maybe this is gonna be a regular thing that is happening, and you know and hear all the news stories. I remember walking down my street in Connecticut, which was not a conservative town, and people were putting yard signs out in their front yard that said, Pray for America. Pray for America. It got people's attention. People realized we need God. U.S. goes over to the Middle East and creates a ruckus over there and things calm down. The churches were full that week after 9-11, you probably remember. Packed out. Couple months later, back to what they were. Why is that? We don't need God anymore. We only need Him when we're in trouble. We only need Him when our back is up against the wall. That's pride, thinking that we have some self-reliance in our own to control our circumstances. If we knew what God was honestly holding back from us, and the trouble He was holding back, we'd probably all be down on our faces on the floor here tonight, praising Him and thanking Him. We desperately, desperately need God, and we cannot lose sight of that. Thirdly, refuse to let the success distract you from the right priorities. If God has allowed you to get success, keep doing the things that made you successful. Can I say that again? Keep doing the things that made you successful. Why is it that as soon as somebody acquires success, what they want to do is they want to coast and take it easy? They've kept the pedal to the metal the entire time, and as soon as they reach what they deem as success, they want to pull off. It's a business owner for years has gripped and white knuckled it, busted their knuckles to try to make their business succeed, and as soon as it has a little bit of success, what do they want to do? Vacation here, vacation there, take off, work one or two days a week. Not wise, not wise. Keep doing what made you successful. What made the Israelites successful is they kept their focus on God. And that was gonna help keep them successful as time went on. If you're a Sunday school teacher and you have a thriving Sunday school class, you probably got that Sunday school class not by doing nothing, but probably by praying for those students week in and week out. Praying that God would send more to you. Probably making it a point to regularly visit or to call the families of those kids that are in your Sunday school class. Possibly writing birthday cards to them and making it your own. As soon as you get a full class, don't stop doing what made you a success. Don't stop. The tendency is to back off, to take it easy. We must keep the main thing, the main thing, Jesus said, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. I believe God in his mercy has withheld some success from us because we are not trustworthy enough to have it. I don't think I'm trustworthy enough to have it. Pastor and I had a conversation just this past week about how money and wealth and success can ruin you. Here's how it goes. I get a check in the mail, Publishers Clearinghouse, for $50 million, imagine. Do a nice, do a bunch of stuff for the church here, you know, of course. And the first thing, what happens? Well, you know, I've got $50 million now and I'm, I mean, even just living off the interest, I'm making more than I'll probably ever use. And so, you know, I'm just, the church, you don't have to pay me a salary anymore. And then as time goes on, I'm basically a volunteer. Time goes on, you know, I got a lot going on, I'm just gonna take a, I'm only gonna come in about three days a week now. Then it gets down to, you know, I just got that nice country club membership over there and they've always got things going on and you know what, I'm just gonna come in, I'm gonna preach on Sunday. That is how human nature works. We understand that, right? You say, why doesn't God, I see God did it for that person, I would say possibly that person's trustworthy. I don't trust myself. I don't trust myself. And often God withholds success because he knows that if he gave it to us, we wouldn't seek him first in his kingdom. We wouldn't, in essence, keep first things first. It's like businesses and so many of them, Christian businesses start up and they're closed on Sundays. You remember that. There's a few that are out still now that are closed on Sunday. I think that's a very honorable thing to do. Not gonna work on Sundays. We'll give God his day. How does that typically go for businesses? It lasts typically for some time. But before long, the greed, and first the things that are supposed to be first come last. It's the demise of human nature. Let your success be used for an eternal purpose. Jesus said in Matthew 5, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. If God's given you success, you have an opportunity to point people to the Lord. You see that. I hope you understand that. You have a special opportunity to point people to the Lord. The trouble is most people out there who have success of some kind do not do that. When a Christian makes it a point and an effort to publicly praise the Lord for what He's done in their life. It is a light that shines out to the world. Do not miss the opportunity that is in front of you. If God's given you wealth, I implore you, use it for the service of God. If God's given you success in speaking, I hope you get up in a Sunday school class and I hope you teach your heart out. If God's given you success in being a people person and evangelism is your thing, I hope you get out in the streets out here and in the bus routes and use it and let God get the glory for the success that you have. And remember, we're living in houses we didn't build. We're picking grapes off vines we didn't plant. We're drinking cool water out of a well we didn't slay for. God did it all. Behind me here is a picture of a child with a few balloons. One of the saddest memories in childhood is when you get one of these balloons. And you get one of these balloons typically at a fair. I remember as a young boy getting one at a fair and they put that little ribbon in your hand and you've got it. The saddest moment is when you're not paying attention quite enough and that ribbon just so gently slips out of your fingers and you watch for it seems like an eternity as that balloon goes higher and higher and higher and soon disappears and is gone forever. This balloon here is a lot like success. Success is like the air that keeps the balloon in the air, keeps it floating. However, the ribbon that is attached to the child's hand, that ribbon is the thing that keeps it grounded. And if the child lets go where the ribbon is cut, the danger is that it is gone forever. God may have given you success, But the thing that should keep you grounded and allow you to survive the success is if you stay grounded to the Lord. And forget not the Lord which brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Don't let your success be your demise. May it be something that God can get the glory for. May we pray. kindness to us. If you would like to know more about the Lord Jesus Christ, you may contact us at the church website gospelbaptistchurch.com or you can go to Facebook and type in Gospel Baptist Church Bonita Springs, Florida. Also, you could call the church office at 239-947-1285. Thank you and God bless.