in your Bibles this morning to the Book of Proverbs. In our 1030 service we are continuing our study of the Heidelberg Catechism and the Ten Commandments as summarized and explained in the Heidelberg Catechism. We are doing so with an intent to gain a biblical worldview so that we see all of life through the lens of God's word and the commandments were given to Israel to apply to the entirety of their lives in the promised land so that they might live lives of gratitude and love to the Lord for the grace that he granted to them. And I'm just going to read the catechism, a lesson from the Heidelberg, Lord's Day 42, question 110. What does God forbid in the Eighth Commandment? He forbids not only outright theft and robbery, which governing authorities punish, but in God's sight theft also includes all evil tricks and schemes designed to get our neighbor's goods for ourselves, whether by force or means that appear legitimate, such as inaccurate measurements of weight, size, or volume, fraudulent merchandising, counterfeit money, excessive interest, or any other means forbidden by God. In addition, God forbids all greed and pointless squandering of his gifts. And what does God require of you in this eighth commandment, you shall not steal? That I do whatever I can and may for my neighbor's good, that I treat others as I would like them to treat me, and that I work faithfully so that I may help the needy in their hardship. Last time, we considered particularly the Eighth Commandment. We want to look at a proverbial perspective today from Proverbs chapter 10. I'm going to be reading verses 15 and 16, but I would ask you to either keep your Bibles open or to give heed to the reading because we're going to be looking at a variety of proverbs here with respect to piety, poverty, and prosperity. Proverbs 10, verses 15 and 16. A rich man's wealth is his strong city. The poverty of the poor is their ruin. The wage of the righteous leads to life, the gain of the wicked to sin. There is much confusion in the Christian church today about money, about finances, and about economics. Some examples, some say wealth is contrary to God's will. That is, that God is on the side of the poor. Social justice, devotees, one of their favorite lines. And therefore, they would say, if you're wealthy, you're wrong. That it's immoral to be wealthy. That to be pious means to be poor, or at least close to it. Some others say God doesn't want his people to be poor, but to be wealthy, and that it's God's will that you be wealthy or rich. And of course, this is the health, wealth, and prosperity gospel, which is the most predominant message in the Christian world today. Some others, and maybe coming a little closer to home here, some others say, my Christianity stops at my wallet. at my pocketbook." And they don't want the preacher meddling in their financial affairs. You can preach about anything, but that preaching has to stop when it comes to my wallet. Well, all of that, you see, is evidence of confusion, and we need the clarification of the light of God's word. Last time, we noted that God asserts the right in the Eighth Commandment to regulate economics, and God in the Eighth Commandment asserts the right to regulate my economics as well as your economics. And in fact, God has a wealth of wisdom on this subject in the book of Proverbs. So, a number of points, in no particular order here, following this proverbial perspective and some propositions from the book of Proverbs. So, first of all, wealth in itself is neither pious nor impious. Wealth in itself is neither pious nor impious. Look at verse 16 that we read. The wage of the righteous leads to life. The gain of the wicked is to sin. Notice the parallel. The parallel is both of them have to do with money. Both of them have to do with increase of money and yet in their respective cases they lead to different ends. What this tells us is that money is a tool which reflects your character. Money is a tool which reflects your character. In itself, money is neither pious nor impious. But each, in verse 16, each uses money according to their character. Therefore, it's not money, but what you do with money that's important. In Proverbs chapter 30, for example, verses 8 and 9, you can either turn along if you can catch up. or keep up, or just listen, Proverbs chapter 30 verse 8 and 9 says, remove far from me falsehood and lying, give me neither poverty nor riches, lest I be full and deny you and say who is the Lord, or lest I be poor and steal. Neither poverty nor riches is condemned. Neither is poverty or riches condoned. Because both extremes have their own temptations. That is, riches bring their own temptation, and poverty brings its own temptation. The point is simply this, is that money is not the issue, but character is the issue. The attitude of your heart towards money, alright? Look at Proverbs chapter 15, second point, verse 16 and 17. Proverbs 15, verses 16 and 17. Poverty is not the worst of conditions. Some of us have been poor, although I would suggest that anybody living in the United States of America today is wealthy compared to anyone in the majority world, for example. If you were to go to Central America, where Marica is, Guatemala, or some other Central American countries, if you just went south of the border to Mexico, if you went to Sri Lanka, where the bombings were, you would be shocked, and you would see real poverty. Nobody in America is as poor as that, but that's another point. What Proverbs here says is poverty is not the worst of conditions. Verse 16, better is a little with fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble with it. Poverty is not the worst if you fear the Lord. Verse 17, better is a dinner of herbs, that's not a lot, right, where love is than a fattened ox and hatred with it. You and I are to learn contentment. One person said, he is wealthy that is content, he is poor that wants more. The universe will not fill a worldly heart, while a little will suffice for a heavenly heart. Look at Proverbs 16 and verse 19. It's better to be of a lowly spirit with the poor than to divide the spoil with the proud. Or chapter 17 verse 1, better is a dry morsel with quiet than a house full of feasting with strife. Poverty is not the worst of conditions. This is what wisdom teaches us. I remember Julie and I went to a wedding of a fellow seminarian years ago. He came from a family, John Vrogenduy, what was it, family of 12? 16, right? And he married a girl who came from a family of 12, right? And they were asked at their wedding, said, what was it like growing up in a family of 16? He said, well, you know, we were poor. We didn't have much, but we had a great life. We didn't know we were poor until we grew up. So poverty is not the worst of conditions. Look at Proverbs 19, verse 1. Better is a poor person who walks in his integrity, better is a poor person who walks in his integrity, than one who is crooked in speech and is a fool. Or Proverbs 19, verse 22. What is desired in a man is steadfast love, and a poor man is better than a liar. Poverty is not the worst of conditions. This is what it means to be wise. If we're poor, we ought not to bemoan it, but we should still have principles, integrity, and dignity. Thirdly, Proverbs 16, turn back to 16, Piety consists in righteousness, not riches. Piety consists in righteousness, not riches. Proverbs 16 verse 8, better is a little with righteousness than great revenues with injustice. Poverty, excuse me, piety consists in righteousness. Or verse 16, how much better to get wisdom than gold? To get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver. What are your priorities? What's your heart's desire? If you were like Solomon, given one wish, would you choose riches or would you choose wisdom? See, Proverbs says wisdom is what one should seek, the righteous should seek. Fourthly, some down-to-earth realities about poverty and prosperity. We ought to have no unrealistic idealism or no romantic notions of collectivistic communes or ivory tower wealth. It's not a matter of being condoned or endorsed, but observed about harsh economic realities of life in a fallen world. Proverbs 10, verse 15, that we read. A rich man's wealth is his strong city. The poverty of the poor is their ruin. Poverty is ruinous, not ideal. Proverbs 14, verse 20. Proverbs 14 verse 20, the poor is disliked even by his neighbor but the rich has many friends. Proverbs 19 verse 4, Proverbs 19 verse 4, Wealth brings many new friends, but a poor man is deserted by his friend. Verse 6, many seek the favor of a generous man, and everyone is a friend to a man who gives gifts. I remember when I came home from Saudi Arabia, when I used to work overseas, worked for three months at a time, 12 hour a day minimum, seven days a week, and the company paid all your expenses, including getting there and coming home, and your money would just collect, and when you went to get on a plane and come home, they would hand you a paycheck for three months. Well, you can imagine that was a lot of money, right? Well, when I came home and had that much money in my hand, There was no end to the number of friends I had. Everybody wanted to be my friend because I was buying beers for everybody. I had plenty of friends. That's what Proverbs is getting at here, right? Yeah, you got money, you're spreading the wealth around, everybody wants to be your friend. These are harsh economic realities, right? But of course, they're fair weather friends. Look at Proverbs 18, verse 11, Proverbs 18. A rich man's wealth is his strong city and like a high wall in his imagination. Isn't this what was wrong with the rich young ruler? You know the story of the rich young ruler? I'm not gonna refer to it or have you turn to it, but I'm assuming your familiarity with it. Do you know he's the only person in the Gospels who went away from Jesus sad? Isn't it interesting? Because he had great wealth. Great wealth. See what Proverbs is saying? A rich man's wealth is his strong city. It's his security. It's what he trusts in. It's what is security. Look at Proverbs, fifthly, Proverbs 13, verse 22. Proverbs 13, verse 22. It's pious to seek wealth. All right? It's pious to seek wealth. Verse 22, a good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children. That means grandchildren. That means you've pursued a lifetime of making money in order to leave an inheritance, not just to your children, but to your grandchildren. And Proverbs says that's a good thing. A good man does that. It's pious to do that. Not to hoard wealth, don't misunderstand me, right? Not to hoard wealth. Not to put your trust in wealth, no. But to save up that you can leave an inheritance for two generations. That's a good thing, Proverbs says. Sixthly, piety promises prosperity. Piety promises prosperity. Look at Proverbs 21, verse 5. Proverbs 21, verse 5. The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty. Proverbs 24, verse four. By knowledge, the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches. Proverbs 28, verses 19 and 20. Proverbs 28, 19, and 20. Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits will have plenty of poverty. Piety promises prosperity. Isn't this the fifth commandment? Right? The fifth commandment promises that as well. Why is that? Well, because if you live according to God's word, if you lead a godly life, by and large, as a generalization, you're going to be well off. You're hard work, you're frugal, you're diligent, you save, you're going to be well off. Seventhly, pious pursuits include Motives, look at Proverbs 27, verse 20. Proverbs 27, verse 20. Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied, and never satisfied are the eyes of man. This is talking about greed, right? You know the story about Jay Rockefeller, right? Richest man in the world at his time. On his deathbed, they asked him, Mr. Rockefeller, how much is enough? You're the richest man in the world. How much is enough? With his dying breath, he said, Never satisfied. Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied. And never satisfied are the eyes of a greedy man. This is the allure, isn't it, of the lottery, right? It's the allure of the lottery. If only I won the lottery. If only I had a million bucks. Then I'd be happy. You ever hear the stories of the lottery winners? How many wind up in bankruptcy? No, it's never enough. Don't buy the lie. Proverbs 15 verse 27. Whoever is greedy for unjust gain troubles his own household. Troubles his own household. Eighthly, prosperity is to be properly procured. Proverbs 13, verse 11. Proverbs 13, verse 11. Wealth gained hastily will, or by fraud, see the footnote, will dwindle. But whoever gathers little by little will increase it. If you don't know the miracle of compound interest, you should learn it. That's gaining little by little. All right, you want to know more about that, I have a book to give you, not sell you, I can give you. Proverbs 21, maybe I'll sell it and make a few bucks. All right, anyway. Proverbs 21, verse six. Proverbs 21, verse six. The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor and a snare of death. Proverbs 28, verse 20. Proverbs 28, verse 20. A faithful man will abound with blessings, but whoever hastens to be rich will not go unpunished. And then verse 22, a stingy man hastens after wealth and does not know that poverty will come upon him. Last point, piety not prosperity is the priority. Piety not prosperity is the priority. Proverbs 11 verse 28, Proverbs 11 verse 28, whoever trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf. The cry of the righteous is my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I trust in him alone, not riches. not wealth, piety, not prosperity is the priority. Proverbs 10 verse 22, the blessing of the Lord makes rich and he adds no sorrow with it. In economic matters, your economic matters, my economic matters, our economic matters, we are to seek to please God, to trust in him, to be content either in poverty or in prosperity, and then to pursue piety, because that is what God rewards. We'll continue to look at the Eighth Commandment in subsequent Lord's Days. For now, let's pray. Lord God and Heavenly Father, we thank you for this wisdom on wealth. We thank you that your word is a lamp unto our feet, and in the midst of a confused society, and in the midst of confused church, we're thankful for the guidance of your word. We ask that you would help us, Father, to trust in nothing but Jesus Christ and his righteousness. And Father, we ask that you would give us that blessing of contentment whether we be rich or whether we be relatively poor, that we would be content knowing that we have nothing but that which comes from your hand, and that in Jesus Christ we have all the blessings of heaven, and in him all things are ours. And we ask it in his name, amen and amen.