It's keeping our hearts with God and keeping our hearts from sin. And in the last two times, we've considered how this is our great business, how it's the most important thing in our Christian life is that we keep our hearts. And Flaval gave us six things that we looked at to help us to see how important this is. And then now he turns to special seasons in our life. And there's times where we have to be especially vigilant to guard our hearts. And that's where we turn now. And the first season that he turns to is the time of prosperity. And I wanna just open with a question, something for you to think about. And it's this, is prosperity a sign of God's blessing? Now, depending on what comes into your mind, you might be pretty uncomfortable with that question. Many of us are aware of preachers who are preaching what's been called the prosperity gospel or the health and wealth gospel. And some of the largest and fastest growing churches today are preaching this gospel. And it's not only in America, but it's spreading all over the world. And Al Mohler writes this about it in an article. He said, The entire movement presents the gospel as a message that's primarily about earthly rewards. A theology that turns God into a heavenly banker who is obligated to invest his people with material riches if they possess adequate faith and claim these blessings for their own. It's the name it and claim it theology. Now, contrary to this false gospel of prosperity theology, Christ didn't come to make people healthy and wealthy. Christ came to make people holy, to make sinners into saints, to seek and to save the lost. He came to lay his life down as a ransom for many that he might redeem us from our slavery to sin. So the good news is that we will be redeemed from sin, not that we will be completely freed from suffering in this life. And in fact, we know that many Christians have suffered in history and many Christians continue to suffer now. And a lot of times that's because we're taking to heart the words of Christ. He said, if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. So if there's a gospel being preached that isn't also including this, this necessary self-denial of the Christian faith, then be very cautious. There's a good chance it's a false gospel. But not only in denying ourselves are we going to suffer, but we see just the fact that we live in a fallen world, that there's suffering in this life, that we live in a world where the consequences of sin have touched everything. When we think of this then, we have to say that prosperity in this life is by no means promised in the gospel. But that doesn't mean that the Bible doesn't have a theology of prosperity. And if we wanted to work that out, if we wanted to say, okay, what is the Bible's theology of prosperity? One of the first places we'd want to look is in Deuteronomy. And I want to turn your attention to Deuteronomy 6. And in Deuteronomy 6, and then in 8, and then really in several places in Deuteronomy, even the Song of Moses, we see a theology of prosperity, and we really see the main message of the Bible's prosperity theology. So in Deuteronomy 6-10, We read, So it shall be, when the Lord your God brings you into the land of which he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build, houses full of good things which you did not fill, hewn out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant, When you have eaten and are full, and here's the message, then beware lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage. And if you look at chapter 8, there's the same message beginning in verse 6. He's saying when the Lord brings you into the promised land, He brings you into this good land and He describes the land. And it's very much a description of prosperity for God's people. And then look at verse 10. He says, when you've eaten and are full, then you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land, which he has given you. So that's the first thing we see. He says, there is a proper response to this prosperity. Bless the Lord. But then also verse 11, beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments, his judgments, and his statutes, which I command you today. So what we see here, the message of prosperity in the scriptures is if God blesses us with prosperity, we ought to bless God and to keep his commandments, not forget him. That's the proper response of prosperity. So that question, is prosperity a sign of God's blessing, isn't exactly the right question or isn't exactly the question that we want to consider this morning. Although that question's relatively easy to answer, we look at the words of Christ. He says, Our Father in heaven makes His Son rise on the evil and on the good. He sends rain on the just and the unjust. So a wicked man may experience outward blessing and not be blessed. He may even be prosperous. We think of the words of Asaph in Psalm 73. He said, I was envious of the boastful when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. And Asaph said that his heart was grieved and he was vexed in his mind until he went into the sanctuary of God. And then he understood their end, that those who are far from God shall perish. So the perspective of God's judgment cleared up his vexation of mine. So the question is prosperity a sign of God's blessing? We have to say not necessarily. The better question to ask us is this, and we see it in Deuteronomy 8. It's not, is God blessing you, but are you blessing God in your prosperity? Or are you forgetting God in your prosperity? So are you blessing God, or are you forgetting God? Those are the things we need to ask ourselves. Israel had grown prosperous, and in the process, they turned away from God. And Moses had warned them of this. He said, when you come into the land, don't let your heart be lifted up. He said, it's going to be very likely that this happens, and when that happens, you'll forget God. And he said, don't trust in your own strength. If you're in Deuteronomy 8, look at verse 17. He says, don't say in your heart, my power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth. He says, you need to remember that it's God who gives power to get wealth. But then we see also that he said, be careful that you don't follow after other gods. So there were those things. They were tempted to trust in their own strength, to be proud, and to turn to other gods. So that, for us, is a warning. In the time of prosperity, we need to beware of our hearts drifting from God. So this is the first subject that Flavel addresses when he looks at special seasons, and he's reminding us, saying, we always need to guard our hearts. Even though they're special seasons, We always guard our hearts, but there's times when we really need to be extra careful. He calls them critical hours that require more than common vigilance over the heart. He says, in the time of prosperity, keep your heart with all diligence, for it will be very apt to grow secure, proud, and earthly. And then he quotes another man saying, to see a man humble in prosperity is one of the greatest rarities in the world. So the question, the question he puts before us with this topic is, how is a Christian to keep his heart from pride and carnal security under the smiles of providence and the confluence of creature comforts? In other words, how are we to maintain our love for God when we're prospering and when we're enjoying all sorts of comforts in this life? So he gives seven helps for us and in the time of prosperity to keep our hearts humble and to protect us from the dangerous snares of riches. But before we look at this, I just want to suggest that this might be more relevant to many of us than we think. And You may not consider yourself prosperous. You may look at the people next to you and compare yourself and say, well, I'm not prosperous. And you may have very serious financial strains, and I recognize that. And you may even be in a season of adversity, and that's a season that we'll consider soon. And I don't want to make light of that, but I want us to think of what's often a subtle danger of us living where we're living at this time in history, and just realizing that we're enjoying a general level of prosperity that very few people have ever enjoyed. And even now, many of our brothers and sisters around the world don't enjoy the level of prosperity that we do. And just thinking of the types of things that we enjoy, we enjoy freedom. And really at the top of the list there is religious freedom. What we're getting to do right now, there's many brothers and sisters who aren't getting to do this. And we think of We think of our infrastructure, we think of the highways that we have, we think of grocery stores that are available to us so easily and we have food from all over the world. We have microwaves, we have refrigerated air. I mean, you just think of these things that have come with the blessings of living in a prosperous society, modern medicine. We have penicillin and things that not that long ago, if people didn't have it, they could die. So I think there is a subtle danger that is there for all of us just by the fact that we are where we are. But not to downplay that there are some of us who are more prosperous. And as the prosperity increases, the dangers are also going to tend to increase. But another thing to consider too is this whole idea of relative prosperity. You might exclude yourself again because you say, well, really I'm quite poor compared to so and so. But Satan can take any bit of prosperity that we have and he can use that to make us proud. So Satan doesn't care how prosperous you are, he doesn't care how poor you might think you are, if there's any bit of prosperity, and I'm not talking just about wealth, but health, security, whatever it might be, he can turn that against us. So I just want to lay those two things out at the beginning to say, this is relevant. So I just don't want anybody to check out, but at the very least, Consider how you can pray for your brothers and sisters. If you do see a brother and sister who's more prosperous, think about that. Think of the snares they face as we're going through this, and that's a way that you can pray for your brothers and your sisters. So I wanna look at these seven helps for us in the time of prosperity. And the first one is really the most basic, and it's just to consider the dangers of prosperity. So consider the dangers of prosperity. He says, in his words, consider the dangerous ensnaring temptations attending a pleasant and prosperous condition. I wanna turn this to Matthew 19, a very familiar story of the rich young ruler. And there we read, beginning in verse 16, now behold, one of them came and said, good teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? So he said to him, why do you call me good? No one is good, but one, that is God. But if you want to enter life, keep the commandments. He said to them, which ones? Jesus said, You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness. Honor your father and your mother. You shall not covet your neighbor. Are you sorry? You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The young man said to him, All these things I've kept from my youth. What do I still lack? Jesus said to him, If you want to be perfect, go, sell all you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come, follow me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. So we see here that the man would rather, at least at this time, we don't know the end of the story for him, but at this time he would rather have his great possessions than treasures in heaven. So the question is, what did he lack? What did he lack here? He lacked a love for God. We read the words of Christ in Matthew 6, no one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God in mammon. So Jesus, after this account, gives the lesson. He turns to his disciples and he says, assuredly, I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And then he strengthens that with something like a parable. Again, I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Now, it seems here that trust is the issue. Mark brings that out in his parallel account of this. It's hard for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God. We read in Mark 10 24. So this is a very strong statement. It's a very alarming statement. And The question we might want to ask is why is it so hard? Why is it so hard for those who are rich, specifically for those who are trusting in their riches to enter the kingdom of God? If anybody has some thoughts that just maybe some things that come to what? Why are riches a hindrance to our faith? Remove some level of dependency upon Yeah, there's a level of dependency that's removed. We can tend to have a sense of security that we've got this. Anything else? Yeah, yeah, so riches are tangible, and the blessings of God we can't often hold in our hands. Yeah, greater tendency for pride. It's easy to drown out pain with the riches. Whatever pain that might lead us to God, we can numb it with the light. Yeah, easy to drown out pain. It will stifle your prayer life because you're not on your knees. Yeah. Stifle your prayer life. Yeah. And those kind of almost tie together with the security and the pains. And yeah. What's that? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There's enjoyment that comes with blessings. There's pleasures, I guess, that open up to us. Anything else? Yeah, so there's the burden of maintaining those ridges and setting our minds on the maintenance of that. Yeah, very good. Another line of thought, and really it was this idea of pleasure. And when we were meeting, the young men were meeting, we spoke on the love of pleasure. And we talked about how, not just for young men, but really for anybody in our society, this is a snare, and it's always been. So somebody made the comment of, well, in Corinth, The love of pleasure was certainly a problem. I mean, this has always been there. But we considered how in our society, there's almost an addiction to pleasure, to entertainment. And we talked about, well, what drives the economy? Well, a big part of that is entertainment, pleasure, enjoyment, and we go from one enjoyment to the next. And you take that with the fact that we live in a prosperous society, and then that is almost like fuel on the fire. And then our own passions and lusts, which we talked about for youth, are even stronger usually. It's a recipe for loving pleasure rather than God. And that's what I think it ultimately comes down to is loving these things and putting our trust in these things and finding our enjoyment in these things rather than in God. So prosperity, it opens new doors to pleasure and we can seek after those things. And Flavel says this, few, very few of those that live in the pleasures of this world escape everlasting perdition. Oh, how many have been wheeled to hell in the chariots of earthly pleasures, while others have been whipped to heaven by the rod of affliction. So if you want to keep your heart with God in the time of prosperity, the first thing here, remind yourself of the spiritual dangers of prosperity. So the second thing, the second thing is to consider that many Christians have been worse for their prosperity. Many Christians have been worse for their prosperity. He writes how good it had been for some of them if they had never known prosperity. When they were in a low condition, how humble, spiritual, and heavenly they were. But when advanced, what an apparent alteration has been upon their spirits. So the example of Israel is perfect. And we read it in Jeremiah 2, 1 to 3. It says, So the picture is like a faithful bride when they were in the wilderness. I remember that, the Lord says. and it was a land that was not so Israel was holiness to the Lord at that time the first fruits of her increase all that devour him will offend disaster will come upon them says the Lord So then, after the Lord prospered them, we read this, I brought you into a bountiful country to eat its fruit and its goodness, but when you entered, you defiled my land and made my heritage an abomination. And then they began to say, we are lords, we will come to you no more. So when they were in their affliction in the wilderness, they sought after God like a faithful bride. When they were prosperous, they no longer came after God. And Flavel's observation is that outward gains are ordinarily attended with inward losses. And I'm thankful for the examples we have to the contrary of this, but if we think about it, these examples are noteworthy because I think they're so rare. And I was actually, many of you know this man, I believe, And just a couple days ago I heard someone speaking of him and how here's a man who is very prosperous, I don't know economically, but he's been very much blessed by God and used by God to teach God's people. And is a man sought after for his wisdom, for his knowledge of the scriptures, and He is still a humble servant. They say if you find him in the church, you could see him cleaning, you could see him in the Sunday school hour on his knees with the children. Here's a man who's prospered, and yet he's better for it, it seems. He's more a man of God. So there are these examples of men who've been greatly blessed by God, women who've been greatly blessed by God, and we can be thankful that grace can produce those things even in very prosperous people. An example from scripture, Jehoshaphat. We read in 2 Chronicles 17, The Lord established the kingdom in his hand, and all Judah gave presents to Jehoshaphat. And he had riches and honor in abundance, and his heart took delight in the ways of the Lord. Moreover, he removed the high places and wooden images from Judah. So that was very different from a lot of the kings. He was prospered, he was given many things, and yet his heart went after God, and it seems even more so in his prosperity. So we don't see that. We don't see too many Jehoshaphats, and rather what we see is the truth being lived out that we read in 1 Timothy 6 and in verse 10, where it says, the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." So sadly, that's the example we see a lot, that there's a love of money that causes people to stray from the faith. and to pierce himself with many sorrows." So the conclusion that Flavel makes is that he indeed is rich whose graces are not hindered by his riches. He indeed is rich in grace whose graces are not hindered by his riches. So let it keep our hearts humble in prosperity. Consider this negative effect that prosperity has had on Christian men and women, men and women who've paid greatly for their wealth in gaining the world and losing their soul in the process. So the third thing to consider is what God really values. So consider what God really values. And Flavel says, God values no man a jot more for these things. So not even the slightest bit more for these things, for wealth and power and prestige and even health and strength. God values no man by outward excellences, he says, but by inward graces. They are the internal ornaments of the Spirit, which are of great price in God's sight." So this really is a solid, established principle in Scripture. We see many examples of it, and I'll give you just a couple. Samuel When he was sent to anoint Israel's next king, he was sent to Jesse's house, and we read, this is 1 Samuel 16, beginning at verse 6, he looked at Eliab, this was one of the sons of David, and he said, surely the Lord's anointed is before him. But the Lord said to Samuel, Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. And then another example, this is Peter, he's speaking to wives, warning about the preoccupation with outward appearances to the neglect of inward graces in 1 Peter 3, beginning at verse 3. Do not let your adornment be merely outward, arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel. Rather, let it be the hidden person of the heart with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God. So the universal principle that we see here, even though this was written to wives, is that God values what's hidden in the heart rather than the outward things that we often put so much stock in, that we often value. We look really at image far too much. And if you look at the advertisements in our culture, if you consider social media, you'll get a sense of what we value in this society. And a lot of it is a certain image. Even with social media, a lot of it is driven by an image that people want to convey of themselves that's usually a prosperous image. Nobody's trying to say, look how poor and needy I am. But they're trying to say, isn't it great how prosperous I am? Look at these things. So that's what's fueling a lot of this. We put a lot of emphasis on these external things. And the world and its value trains us to show partiality then to the prosperous and the things that the world values. We read in the scriptures that God has different values. God shows no partiality. In Acts we read, this is when Peter's talking about Jews and Gentiles, he says, in truth I perceive that God shows no partiality, but in every nation, whoever fears him and works righteousness is accepted by him. And then there's an example in James, and you remember that example. He's saying, don't show partiality. You've got the wealthy man who walks in. He's wearing the gold ring. It says fine apparel. And you tell him, when you see him walk in, and then you see the poor man walk in, and he's got filthy clothes on, you say to that man with the fine clothes, you sit here in a good place. And say to the poor man, you stand there, or sit here at my footstool. Have you not shown partiality among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brethren, has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he promised to those who loved him? And I'm reminded too of Paul writing to the Corinthians saying, see your calling brethren, not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. So we see here God doesn't care about our apparel. He doesn't care about the rings on our finger. He doesn't care about what we drive, our jobs, these sorts of things. What God is concerned about is not the things that we're so easily impressed with, but he's concerned that we love him. that we trust Him, that we obey Him, that we're more and more putting to death the deeds of the body, and that we're more and more putting on righteousness, and that we're looking like Christ. Those are the things that God cares about, and those are the things that we ought to care about more. And if we're tempted to Be proud in our prosperity. We need to remember what God truly values, that it's not at all the things that we look at. Flaval writes of one man who said when he was dying, I shall not appear before the Lord as a doctor, but as a man. And that's something to keep in mind, too. Consider the judgment. Consider when you're standing before God and all the things that we tend to glorify here on earth will be completely stripped from you. And you stand before God as a man, not as you list it, not as the things that might be on your resume, but you stand before God and then remember what God really values. So now the fourth thing, the fourth thing he says, consider the regrets of dying men. Now he says, consider how bitterly many persons have bewailed their folly when they came to die, that ever they had set their hearts upon these things and heartily wished that they had never known them. Could anyone think of an illustration in scripture of this? Yeah, that was the one that came to my mind, and it's interesting because it's actually after the fact. It's not when he's dying, but it's after he's died, and he's realized that he hasn't paid attention to the things he should have. And we find that in Luke 16, and I want to read that account for us. In Luke 16, beginning at verse 19. So there was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores. So it was that the beggar died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried, and being in torments in Hades he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus in his bosom. Then he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things and likewise Lazarus evil things. But now he's comforted and you were tormented. And besides all this, between us and you, there's a great goal fix so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot come, nor can those from there pass to us." So here we see is a man who has received good things in his life, and he focuses so much on those, and he comes to the end of his life realizing that he's totally put his eyes on the wrong thing. And it's not until after it's too late that he realizes these things. And if we're tempted to set our eyes and our hearts on these things, this is a good parable to keep in mind. And also, as we're considering this, as we're considering the dying regrets of men, it's good ourselves to consider from time to time that we, too, will die. We don't tend to do this, and especially when we're healthy. And speaking to the young men, that was something we talked about, is when you're young, another temptation is you just feel like you've got all the time in the world. And that sickness won't take you, and that nothing, no tragic accident's gonna happen. But it's not true, we need to consider that one day, Unless the Lord returns, there will be people reading in a newspaper about our life or whatever media is available at that time. And we'll be spoken of by people in the past tense. And that's something that's sobering to think about, but it's something that makes us wise and can reorient us. And that's what Moses prayed for. Teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom. And having that wisdom that we would seek after the most important things and that we would know how to seek after those things. So the fifth thing we want to consider is what I'm calling the drag of earthly things. So the pull down of earthly things. And Flavel says, the heart may be kept humble by considering of what a clogging nature earthly things are to the soul, heartily engaged in the way to heaven. So we know that earthly things tend to drag us down if we hold on to them too tightly. It's like going camping with all your kitchen appliances or something. It's weighing you down. He says, they shut out much of heaven from us at the present, though they may not shut us out of heaven at last. And then he gives the picture of a horse. And he's saying, if you recognize yourself as a pilgrim in this world, you will delight in these pleasures, these external things that he's saying weigh us down. You will delight in these things about as much as a horse delights in a heavy burden. And that's true. So another picture though that I want to give is one that we considered last week. And it's not so much the clogging nature, and this drag down, but it's the choking nature of all of these things. And we read that in the parable of the soils. It said, now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they've heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life and bring no fruit to maturity. Now Matthew and Mark speak of the deceitfulness of riches. So here he says, choked with cares, riches, and pleasures, but we could also say choked with deceitfulness of riches. So we know that wealth is seductive. There's a deceit that comes with it, that it's promising more than it can deliver. And when our hearts are set on that, it stunts our growth. as Christians, and it shifts our desires from the pleasures of God to the pleasures of this world, and we begin to feed more on the world than we do on the Word of God. So that's the fifth thing to consider, how these earthly things can drag us down. And the sixth thing is to consider our stewardship. So consider the fact that we are stewards, stewards. And he writes, is your spirit still vain and lofty? Then urge upon it the consideration of that awful day of reckoning, wherein according to our receipts of mercy shall be our account for them. So a very simple but powerful point here is just to remember all that we have, we've received from God. We are stewards. And the great principle here is to whom much is given, much is required. And if we would keep that in mind, I think it would humble us greatly in times of prosperity to know that if the Lord is prospering us, he's also putting on us a greater responsibility. And when we stand before him, he'll know every single mercy that he's given to us. And we will have to give an account for how we've invested those mercies and those graces and gifts that God has given to us. So consider that. and the time of prosperity that you are but a steward. And then the final thing that he draws our attention to are some examples in scripture. And he says there's several examples in scripture where God's mercies come to somebody and instead of lifting them up and making them proud, it makes them humble. And he says, you know, looking at my own heart and for us too, we consider how sometimes the mercies of God come to us and have the opposite effect. So looking here at men and women in the Bible who humbled because of their mercies. And we think of men like Joseph, we think of men like David, Jacob, and the example I want to bring out is of David. Now David, and I'm reading here in 2 Samuel 7, verses 8 and 9. David, you know, had been your classic rags to riches type story. He's pulled from the sheepfold. We read, Now therefore, thus shall you say to my servant David. So Nathan is to go to David, and he's to say to him, Thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the sheepfold, from following the sheep, to be ruler over my people, over Israel. And I've been with you wherever you've gone, and I've cut off all your enemies from before you, and have made you a great name, like the name of the great men who were on the earth. So he's saying, I have greatly prospered you, David. I've brought you from a low position and prospered you. And then he says, your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever. And then listen to David's response. King David went in and he sat before the Lord and he said, Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house that you have brought me this far? I love that. He says, Who am I? You have blessed me so much, and Lord, who am I to receive this blessing? And that's the question that we need to ask ourselves. Who are we that we are so blessed? Note also that David gives glory to God, and in that prayer, just a little later in verses 25 to 26, he says, now, O Lord God, the word which you've spoken concerning your servant and concerning this house, establish it forever and do as you've said. So let your name be magnified forever, saying, the Lord of hosts is the God over Israel. So with these blessings you've promised to me, Lord, let your name be magnified. We also see that the hearts of Hannah and of Mary were warmed to praise and to love of God when God blessed them. You remember Hannah was childless and she was blessed with a child, Samuel. And we read in 1 Samuel 2.1, Hannah prayed and said, my heart rejoices in the Lord. My horn is exalted in the Lord. I smile at my enemies because I rejoice in your salvation. Her heart was warmed by what God had blessed her with. We see in Mary's song, she says, My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior, for he's regarded the lowly state of his maidservant. For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed. So these are just a few examples in scriptures of people who've been prospered by God. They've received incredible blessings and we see how their hearts are warmed to praise and how they are actually lowered in their eyes and give glory to God. So these considerations here that Flavel has laid out are to help us in the time of prosperity. They're to help us to remain humble and to keep us from the snares of prosperity. And just to remind you, as we saw in Deuteronomy, there were those three snares that they had of pride and of self-reliance and of idolatry. are the snares that we face too. And if I were to sum up these snares of pride and of self-reliance and idolatry, I would sum them up by saying, forgetting God. So that's the snare of prosperity is that we would forget God and all of his mercies. So when prosperity increases, so do the temptations to love the things of this world and to trust in those things and to serve those things rather than God. And as we read in the Psalms, if riches increase, do not set your heart on them. Don't make these things your objective in life. Don't make the accumulation of wealth your objective. Not that it's wrong to seek to gain wealth and to do what you do well, but don't set your heart on the accumulation of wealth. Now, if I could underscore two of the considerations that really I think all of them are contained in, the first one would be what we looked at in the words of Christ saying that, assuredly, I say to you, it's hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. All those other things that we looked at, or those first five, including that one, I think can fall into that category of the difficulty of a rich man entering the kingdom of heaven, or somebody who has set their heart on the riches of this life. So the things that we considered, such as what God values, and the regrets of dying men, and the drag of earthly things, all those are falling under this difficulty of entering the kingdom of God. And those are sobering words for us to remember. But the second thing I would say is the stewardship, just to remember that. So if we remember the difficulty of entering the kingdom of God to those who are rich, the snares that come with it, and the fact that we are but stewards, I think those two things can help us greatly when God prospers us. Now just to close, I want to draw our attention to that text again where Jesus says it's more difficult for a camel He says, it's difficult for a man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And he says, it's hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. I say again to you, it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. So what was the response of the disciples? They were astonished, right? And I've wrestled with this and thinking, well, why were they astonished? And I think there's a couple reasons why. And I don't know if one excludes the other, but if you remember in Mark, it was trusting in those riches. It seems that they were making a confession and saying, Lord, who can be saved? Because they understood we trust in riches. And there's an extent which all of us are trusting in riches. We have a tendency to think, if I had this, it would solve this problem, or it would make my life better. And so it's not just the rich that have to watch for this, but it's those who trust in riches. And you can be poor and trust in riches, and trust in them to solve all of your problems. So I think that could be the first thing. They're saying, Lord, who can be saved? Who can be saved? You know our hearts and we're tending to trust in riches and who can be saved. But also, I think it was so contrary to their understanding of prosperity that it just hit them as such a surprise, saying, Lord, it just turned it upside down. If a rich man can't be saved, then who can be saved? And if in considering this, We have that question, who can be saved? Who can be saved? I mean, it's, look at us and the prosperity that God has given us, and you think, is there hope? Well, the words of Christ are filled with so much grace. They were so astonished, and he said to them, looking at them, with men it's impossible, but with God, all things are possible. So with God, even a rich man can enter the kingdom of God. With God, even a rich man can keep his heart in the times of prosperity. And rich or poor, in any season of life, and in any place, with God, nobody is too far to be saved. So if we're despairing Of our condition, if we're ever despairing of anybody's condition, these words are a reminder, it's not impossible with God. And for rich people especially, when we read this, we think, oh my, we are in some great danger, but the Lord is able to keep us from every snare and to keep us chasing after Him, to draw us even nearer and nearer to Him as He's blessing us, and to be those examples that are contrary. that actually are examples of exalting God in prosperity. So, we've got a few minutes and I wanna pray and maybe ask for a couple men to pray for us with these matters and then I'll close us in prayer. convicted by these words, certainly we are a prosperous people, but you have been kind to us to bring us these words, that we could go on in our blind ignorance and continue trusting in ourselves that you bring these words to us, and we're thankful for that. We do pray that we would not lean on our own understanding, but in all our ways acknowledge you. Father, as we sang earlier, keep us hear the cross and pray for Christ's sake. Amen. Amen. Our Father, we beg you that you would help each one of us to do as you have commanded us in scripture, to walk by faith and not by sight. For Father, you warn us time and time and time again in your word that when you bless us, especially materially, Father, that we will take our eyes off of you and place our eyes on those things with which you bless us. And Father, we want to heed your warning. We recognize our own weakness, and we pray that you would help us to keep our eyes fixed on Christ, that you would help us to be near to the cross. Father, that you would help us to walk by that faith, that you have commanded us to walk by. Father, it is so easy for us to trust in those things we can see and hold in our hands. But Father, those things which are eternally valuable that we can't see and hold in our hands are the things which are most important and the things which we are commanded to trust in. We pray, Father, that you would increase our trust in those things and you would decrease our trust in our own riches. Father, we pray in Christ's name, amen. Amen. Father, we do pray that you would help us remember today the words and the conclusion of Solomon, who you clearly blessed much, Lord, that the end of man is to fear God and to keep his commandments. We do pray that you would use this Sunday school to impress that upon us, that we would see the dangers of prosperity and cast our all towards Christ. Father in Heaven, we thank you, Lord, that your ways are not our ways, and that you sent your Son into this world as an example for us. And Lord, he even said that the Son of Man has no place to lay his head, and we see that our Savior was not interested in keeping up all the things, the earthly goods that he could. He loved us, and he wanted us to know the more important things in this life, to love each other, to love you, and to keep our hearts right with you. And as your word says, that where our treasure is, that is where our heart will be. So we thank you for this. Our Father, we thank you for those words of Christ that with you all things are possible. Lord, we pray that you would change hearts in this room and that you would keep hearts Lord, we pray today that you would get much glory as we look at what you do in our midst. We pray, Father, that your word would bear fruit. We pray that we would love you more. Father, we pray that your grace would be exalted. In Christ's name we pray, amen.