 In our passage this morning we'll be talking about preaching through his first Timothy chapter 6 We're again in this paragraph beginning in verse 6 running through verse 10 And the title of our sermon from riches to rags from riches to rags and this letter from Paul to Timothy in this section In chapter 6 begins in verse 6 with this now the now godliness is contentment with contentment is great gain For we brought nothing into this world and it is certain that we can carry nothing out and having food and Clothing with these we shall be content But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and harmful lusts Which drown men in destruction and perdition For 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 and here in the context of this letter in Ephesus at the time False teachers in Ephesus were turning from the pursuit of heavenly riches in Christ And now are pursuing this world's riches, which are nothing more than filthy rags by comparison They are by their teaching by their example by their life Leading others astray from the faith in their exploitation of them and teaching them to do the same And it reminds me greatly of the health wealth prosperity gospel that gets preached today That in their own lust they seek worldly riches Teaching others to do the same and leading them away from the faith leading them away from true riches in Christ Leading them away from the simplicity of the gospel and leading them other way to drown in destruction and perdition Do not be deceived by the enticement of wealth The enticement of riches the enticement of abundance or having this world's goods Build up for yourself Treasure in heaven and be rich toward Christ How foolish it is and we'll see today how deadly To go from heavenly riches true gain in Christ to worldly rags Now from last week we began looking at point one on your notes heavenly riches that true gain true riches are found only in Christ Christ and Christ alone is the true treasure of the soul Only found in Christ and that comes with godliness and contentment today We're gonna look at the contrast between heavenly riches now and point two on your notes worldly rags Worldly riches are really only filthy rags when compared with the excellence of knowing Christ and then lastly the hellish result There is an eternal poverty an eternal penalty for turning your back on pursuing true riches in Christ Jesus our Lord Turning your back on Christ is tantamount is like the dog Returning as Peter says to eat its own vomit It is the pig that returns to living and wallowing in its own filth And so last week we took a look first at heavenly riches Paul explains in verse 5 that the false teachers in Ephesus these Huxter charlatans sharks are Expoiding the people to line their own pockets. They're getting wealthy off the people They are the guy today that takes the tide and buys a lear jet Takes the tide and has the the ten thousand square foot house on the beach. They're trying to line their own pockets with Giving the giving of God's people. They're exploiting them to get rich and they're teaching them to do the same You need to be rich in the same way Teaching them to abandon the gospel Abandon faith in Christ and they begin he begins in verse 6 explaining that it is godliness With contentment that leads to great gain And we looked at that from several different perspectives. The first was a spiritual perspective Pursuing heavenly riches Requires a spiritual perspective on riches understanding what real gain is what great gain is and with a true Spiritual perspective on riches the things of this world grow strangely dim They lose their luster because you have in your focus true riches in Christ It just lose their luster and I would not as the poet says change my blessed estate For all the world calls good or great. You are content. You are satisfied in Christ next from verse 6 We saw a godward perspective that comes with through godliness with contentment these together Represent what it means or what it looks like to be a child of the kingdom a citizen of the kingdom Godliness is godward living holy living contentment is Godward sufficiency not self sufficiency, but Christ sufficiency being sufficient satisfied in Christ Next in order to pursue heavenly riches. We've got to have an eternal perspective from verse 7 We look at this temporary world that we live in we brought nothing into this world when we came into it And it's certain we're going to carry nothing out with us in other words We have to get our eyes lifted up out of our temporary Circumstances and place them on Christ place them on our eternal inheritance place them on our hope in heaven We do that by looking forward with hope to our future eternal inheritance which is rich in Christ and then finally we're to have a Satisfied perspective verse 8 having food and clothing with ease. We shall be content Christians are to simply Accept what the Lord provides be grateful for that be content in that and Avoid covetousness and again, this is the heart attitude of the Christian Proverbs 30 verse 8 says give me neither poverty nor riches Feed me with the food allotted to me Lest I be full and deny you and say who is the Lord or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God Now can the natural man attain to True godliness with contentment Can the natural man lift his eyes above his own temporary circumstances and look on his life with a Spiritual perspective a godward perspective an eternal perspective a satisfied perspective. No These things are foolishness to him. He cannot understand him. He's unable because they are spiritually discerned You must be born again If you find yourself in this trap you find yourself on this downward progression of trusting in worldly riches Pursuing the trappings of this wicked world You must repent of your sins put your faith in Christ. You must be born again born of God's spirit You need to cry out to him be merciful to me the sinner and turn to him by faith Only God only God can take the brute beast Enslaved to his own lusts and make him a child of the kingdom only God and only God does that through transforming the sinner Cry out to God. God be merciful to me the sinner Are you sick of living as that dog who eats his own vomit? Are you? Acknowledging before God that you are unworthy to be a son God just make me a servant and then God in his great mercy and in his great grace towards you makes you a son of the kingdom It turned to God to be saved be born again if you are far from Christ this morning And I pray that the Lord would bring you to your senses that you would see Everything that this far country has to offer as nothing more than the pig slop that it really is and that you would turn to Christ To pursue heavenly riches We have eternal gain in heaven in Christ and it is such a horrible tragic Unimaginable contrast for people to deny Christ and seek after fleeting pleasures in this world So last week we looked at point one heavenly riches Next point two Worldly rags. Let's look at what this world has to offer Worldly rags begins with verse 9, but those who desire to be rich Fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition Now the question placed before you this morning is Will you pursue heavenly riches or are you going to go headlong after worldly rags? Your default position outside of Christ is you are just simply in the current of this world You may think of yourself as rich middle-class or poor But if you're in the current of this world, you are enslaved to nothing more than the trinkets of this passing world and you need Christ you need to turn and Flee worldly riches worldly rags and pursue heavenly rich riches from this verse verse 9 I want you to see three points here with respect to worldly rags one I want you to see a great contrast Worldly riches are nothing compared to the hope we have in heaven Worldly riches are nothing compared to gain we have in Christ Secondly, there is a great collapse The desire for these worldly rags will place you on a slippery slope Will put you on a path a downward spiral that leads to hell that leads to destruction and perdition and Point three we're going to see a great and awful consequence a great and awful consequence So point one. Let's look first at the great contrast The main point of our entire text is powerfully communicated through the use of a contrast And that's set up there by the word but a contrasting word in verse 9 The contrast you understand puts you at a fork in the road It puts you at a decision point if you will and it necessitates that you head to the right or head to the left How long will you falter between two opinions? The Bible says choose this day if the Lord is God then serve him if bail then serve him It puts you the contrast at a fork in the road After demonstrating that godliness is profitable for all things having promised promise of the life That now is and promise for the life that is to come and after instructing in verse 6 through 8 That godliness with contentment is truly a means of great gain and heavenly riches in Christ Paul unveils to us in verse 9 the opposing path This is the antithetical instruction. We're talking about and it is a powerful tool If you allow the Spirit of God to pierce your heart with this It is a powerful tool to help you see clearly your plight There is a heaven Antithetically there is a hell There are those who are false and there are those who are true There are the wheat and there are the tears There are the good fish and there are the bad There is a heavenly city and there is a city of destruction And there are heavenly riches and there are worldly rags. What path are you on if you died this minute? Where would you go? If the Lord took you now and you stand before him on judgment in judgment. What would you say? What is your life going to amount to even now? You need to understand you are in the current of a great river and Today you come in that river to a massive granite immovable Boulder that divides the water around it on two sides which side will you take? Are you now even now being washed downstream and washed out by the current of this world? Or are you being led along by the Spirit of God? Those who are led by the Spirit are his if you have not the Spirit you are none of his What current are you being swept away by like God and Deuteronomy 30 the Holy Spirit through the pen of Paul here is Laying before us life and good death and evil Blessings and cursing and this is the pattern of Scripture There is if you will in this contrast in these antithetical positions to steal a liberal term a great big Ugly ditch that separates the two and you are on one side or on the other Those who walk in light Contrast it from those who walk in darkness There are those who are slaves of righteousness slaves of Christ and there are those who are slaves of their sin There are those who have no righteousness of their own and plead for righteousness in Christ And there are those who think of themselves as righteous and are righteous in their own sight Those who are saved from those who are lost There is wisdom of God and the wisdom of this world and there are the wise and there are the foolish And here there are those who strive after heavenly gain And those who follow the course of this foolish world after filthy rags What about you this morning? You've been in this river. You are in the current What about you this morning? Today by God's grace you hear the preaching of God's word and you are placed in the river again at the objecting granite stone Which side will you be washed out on? Today by God's grace it brings you back to another rock in the river. You've passed by many boulders in your life Do you continue to sweep by them in the current of this world? Or will you turn to Christ by faith and allow the spirit of God to sweep you the other side? Will you call to him? Will you give all you are to all he is? The true treasure of your soul or will you flow in the current of this world? Down into destruction and perdition as joshua said to the people choose this day whom you'll serve Or as elijah, how long will you falter between two opinions if the lord is god and follow him? If you falter long between two opinions, you'll be smashed against the granite boulder You must choose christ pursue christ cry out to god The contrast here in verse nine is set on a hinge set on its hinge beginning with the word but but Those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare The word but beginning verse nine alerts us to the contrast It's not a contrast mind you. It's not a contrast between the one who has the 25 foot boat And wants the 80 foot boat Okay It's not a contrast between those who have the ford And desire the lexis It's not a contrast between those who have the iphone 4 and are willing to break their contract to get the iphone 5s It's not the contrast the lord sets up the contrast the but here is between those who are content With the basic necessities of life and those who are not So what are the basic necessities verse eight and having food and clothing and an iphone with these we shall be content No No The godly the godly see the ford as a blessing from god way beyond the necessities And they are immensely grateful to god for the ford. It runs It's not a swim It's going to get me to my job. Thank you god for my ford, right It is discontentment discontentment that always wants something more something new something different, right And it is discontentment that breeds covetousness and greed Now contrasted with the godly described in verses six through eight are those who desire worldly riches in verse nine That word desire is a greek word that communicates want or wish to prefer something But this word this word for desire here also involves your will Involves your intentions your resolve it involves having a purpose a purpose and then Intending to have it and resolving to get it determining to get it So their desire now that desire with that purpose or that intention attached here is for the purpose to be rich That word to be rich It's from a word that means to be filled It's from a root word that means to be filled and here specifically filled with goods Filled with possessions filled with money Filled with this world's trappings these folks In verse nine have determined to pursue getting rich and they are following through with their resolve This is communicating in verse nine the sin of covetousness and greed Now this kind of volitional intentional or resolved Desire that's listed here is great when it's turned toward the lord That's exactly the way that we should desire the lord with intention with purpose in desiring the lord We should with resolve him Pursue the lord pursue his word. It's great when it's directed toward godliness with contentment The word filled for riches here. We are to be filled with a holy spirit We're to be filled with wisdom We're to be full of christ in first Timothy chapter six back in verse 18, which we'll get to in a couple of weeks We are to be rich filled in good works We're to be we're to purpose to do them and we're to be filled with them. Are you filled with good works this morning? Are you filled like that? However, this kind of purpose and intention for worldly rags in verse nine says only leads to a snare and a trap You would fill your intention fill your purpose fill your desire for worldly riches Such that you pursue after the trappings of this world It only leads to a snare only leads to a trap here the snare the trap is covetousness and greed Covetousness so you understand is more than just a desire for money It's the heart attitude of the person that bears the fruit of wanting and seeking and pursuing more Out of the covetous heart flows sin Out of the covetous heart flow violations of god's commands Coveting property leads to stealing doesn't it? That sense it leads to other sin rebellion against authority Is coveting authority? So rebellion is impact and influenced by covetousness Coveting another man's wife Leads to adultery in the heart In that sense it's almost always associated with discontent The person becomes discontented in god's provision Discontented in god's sovereignty Discontented in god's providence over their lives Discontented with their circumstances and because you're discontented with your circumstances You're saying by default you are discontented with god's plan for you. And in that sense colossians three covetousness is idolatry This discontentment is a common characteristic of covetousness Here in Ephesus The common Characteristic of false teachers is covetousness It plagues the church in second peter chapter two peter explains But there were also false prophets among the people even as there will be false teachers among you Who will secretly bring in destructive heresies even denying the lord who bought them And bring on themselves swift destruction And he says in verse two the tragic consequence Many will follow their destructive ways Think the covetousness of a pastor can lead god's people away They can lead people into apostasy It's tragic covetousness is a damning sin Many will follow their destructive ways because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words So your hundred dollar seed and reap a thousand dollar blessing We'll take credit cards visa mastercard Wicked false teachers Their judgment the bible says has not been idol and their destruction does not slumber In addition to pastors Deacons are said in scripture to be free from the love of money They are to flee the love of money in first Timothy chapter three verse eight Likewise deacons must be reverent not double-tongued not given a much wine not greedy for money So pastors are to be free from covetousness Not to be covet deacons are not to covet to be free from greed And here completing the package the author of hebrew says that we're all to be free from the love of money in hebrews 13 verse 5 Let your conduct be without covetousness be content with such things as you have We have covetousness in the 10 commandments Does all this mean then that god condemns being wealthy? Although we are to be content with the basics god does not condemn having possessions As long as it is god in his providence who provides them for you Think about it this way When you are truly content truly content with the basics Then you can clearly and easily see Provision for more as god's blessing remember our ford If you are truly content with the ford Then if someone comes along and just Gives you a lexus You can see obviously and easily that that's just that's just a blessing from god God did that right if you are content with what you have completely content truly content not pursuing or expecting or driving after more Then when god blesses you with more you can easily see that as provision and blessing from god himself And you can praise the lord for it and be grateful to god for it in that sense contentment destroys covetousness contentment destroys greed God warns us about these riches in in psalm 62 verse 10 don't trust an oppression nor vainly hope and robbery If riches increase do not set your heart on them Don't set your heart on what you have set your heart on christ Be content with what you have and look to christ and the lord in his providence and in his provision Decides to bless you with more than praise god What god condemns in the bible is the greedy or covetous or selfish desire for money or possessions That arises from discontentment John Wesley said this Take this to heart. Listen. It is no more sinful to be rich than to be poor But it is dangerous beyond expression There's something about the human heart something about our flesh that craves The security or the hope or the whatever that these worlds riches provides We won't put our faith in christ, but we'll put our faith in our next paycheck Won't put our faith in christ, but we'll put our faith in that next car that bigger house that longer boat that whatever It is dangerous beyond expression is dangerous beyond expression because you have a heart That is desperately wicked Desperately deceitful above all things And your heart that enemy within your own chest Works with the enemy our adversary the devil who works with the enemy this world system that we're in All to produce in you covetousness and greed for everything that this fleeting world has to offer It is so easy to be confused by this so dangerous So deadly because it's so easy to be confused Many see what god has provided for them or they what they they have they see what they have as god's provision for them Rather than their own lust For foolish or harmful things or their own self-indulgent desire They simply see the things that they've had that they've lusted for They would admit that that's god's provision for them when in reality is nothing more than a product of their own lust They say look at how god has blessed me yet. It's put them in a financial bind Is that a blessing from god? No, what they call a blessing is a foolish lust It's the blinding and binding lie of materialism covetousness and greed Remember our ford being immensely grateful for the ford breath contentment with the ford contentment with the ford destroys any discontentment with the ford Guarding yourself from discontentment with the ford blocks sinful desires from worldly rags contentment guards against sinful desire which guards against temptation which guards against the trap of sin Which leads to drowning and destruction and destruction and perdition contentment Those that desire riches Actually think often that they are rich But look at what god promises. Listen again to the contrast Psalm 37 verse 4 Delight yourself also in the lord and he shall give you the desires of your heart Your delight is in god. He'll give you the desires of your heart Does that mean that if I delight in the lord, he'll give me that lexus No Praise be to god that when god causes you by his spirit to be born again. He changes your desires My desire god is to please you Lord to to rid myself of this wicked sin to follow you with all my heart soul mind and strength to inherit christ And he gives you the desire of your heart Your desires change when you're in the lord praise god Psalm 3410 says those that seek the lord shall not lack any good thing That requires that your definition of what a good thing is changes And praise the lord when you're in christ your definition of what a good thing is changes Isaiah chapter 55 verse 1 hope everyone who thirsts come to the waters You who have no money come buy and eat Yes, come by wine and milk without money and without price speaking of spiritual riches here heavenly gain Speaking of christ Why do you spend money? Isaiah says for what is not bread and your wages for what does not satisfy Listen carefully to me and eat what is good and let your soul delight itself in abundance You can have empty rabbit ear pockets with not two pennies in there to rub together But if you have christ you are in abundance You can have your bank account chock full and be impoverished apart from him If you insist on pursuing worldly rags this great contrast between christ and this world's riches If you decide to pursue those worldly rags and these worldly rags cause you to fall Into a temptation and a trap And with this word fall point to i want you to see next on your notes a great collapse They fall into temptation and a trap verse nine those who desire to be rich Fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition Paul says that they fall here. This is a great collapse a great downward progression This verb in peep toe communicates a continuous falling. It's the pattern of your life to fall You're just falling falling falling into temptation as a result of this sinful covetous desire If your contentment isn't in christ, if your sufficiency isn't in the lord If you're not pursuing godliness with content contentment, then you are predisposed to the falling As the temptation comes you fall the next one comes you're just a lackey you fall again The next temptation comes you fall again. If you're not in christ, you are predisposed to this continuous collapse in your life You must look to christ and this is a terrible progression listen to this One they begin by desiring the wrong thing. They desire worldly riches worldly rags rather than heavenly riches two they persist in that sinful pattern And the bible says persisting in that sinful pattern deuteronomy 32 Their foot will slip in due time their calamity is at hand They lose their footing and they fall into temptation and they fall and they fall and they fall Three giving into that temptation over and over and over again They find themselves in a snare in a trap in foolish and devastating lusts And fourth they are trapped in their lust and they are plunged after that into ruin and hell When you are trusting in these worldly rags When you are being satisfied With the things of this world rather than with christ Then when temptation comes along you are predisposed to a fall You're predisposed you will you have no strength in and of yourself to defend yourself against these things You need the spirit of god in you and you will fall and you will fall and you will fall The christian you fall and you fall you end up becoming ensnared to this sin Doled to it your conscience becomes seared You have to trust in the spirit of god look to faith in christ and Cry out to god to rip you from that condition The snare here in verse 7 describes something that fastens or holds fast The snare here is used as a word in the the old testament to describe the seductive woman It's a seductress one definition of snare is that which causes one to be suddenly endangered Or unexpectedly brought under the control of a hostile force There was an elvis song Elvis, you know, I remember most of you don't remember Elvis. I'm old enough to remember Elvis He says i'm caught in a trap I can't walk out. Why could he not walk out? Because I love you too much, baby, right? Thank you very much He's caught in a trap He can't walk out. Why because I love you too much, baby. That's that's covetousness. That's greed I've got my mind on that car. I'm caught in a trap Can't walk out It is a snare. It is a trap those things which you desire Will bring up before your eyes count on it. You can guarantee it will bring before you the baited hook You take the temptation In your desire and you fall you fall into a snare you fall into a trap and you can't walk out because I love you too much, baby What is ultimately the love or desire is that which traps and often it is a love of self That puts you in that position. You're trapped by your own hand Look at an example of this. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 8. Deuteronomy chapter 8 turn there with me if you will Deuteronomy chapter 8 and look down beginning in verse 11 and consider this progression Consider this downgrade this slippery slope Here where the word of lord has to say to us Deuteronomy chapter 8 verse 11 Beware god says That you do not forget the lord your god by not keeping his commandments his judgments and his statutes which i command you today We are to be aware. We're to obey the lord verse 12 Lest when you have eaten and are full and have built beautiful houses and dwelling them When your herds and your flocks multiply and your silver and your gold are multiplied and all that you have is multiplied When your heart is lifted up and you forget the lord your god Who brought you out of the land of egypt from the house of bondage Who led you through great and terrible wilderness in which were fiery serpents and scorpions and a thirsty land where there was no Water who brought water for you out of the flinty rock who fed you in the wilderness with manna Which your fathers did not know that he might humble you and that he might test you to do you good in the end Then you say in your heart my power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth The wickedness of the human heart to deny god Listen, we are in a day and age where we are wealthy beyond imagination compared with those who went before us in centuries long ago We have every resource every pleasure every leisure at our disposal Those poorest among us are rich by the world standards You have everything you've built beautiful houses and you dwell in them You have clothes and you have food you have built up for yourselves treasures on earth We have all these pleasures and leisure And the express danger of that as wesley said Is that we begin to trust in them and we look away from the lord and look to them We say ultimately by my hand and in the power of my strength have I gained all these riches We forget the lord Or to remember the lord when you fall into that trap You become enslaved to many dim-witted and harmful destructive longings many senseless and vicious passions many stupid and injurious desires Desire for worldly riches opens up a pandora's box of evil and harmful and destructive lusts On all of this is self-inflicted All of this damage is done by your own hand Do you sense yourself on a on a downgrade? Can be so deceptive this world's riches Do you perceive yourself on a retreat? From the godliness that you once delighted in Has something replaced christ as the treasure of your soul Take dramatic immediate and drastic action Cry out to god lord help now God grant me the repentance which leads to life Grant god that I should turn from this sin and turn to you in faith Otherwise according to verse nine These sinful desires are those which drown men in destruction and perdition What a contrast right? What a devastating and amazing contrast between the two This temporary life that you're here living Just living for yourself living according to your own lust Indulging yourself in the trappings of this world that will lead you to hell in a moment's notice and christ The treasure of all eternity the treasure of the universe the treasure of your soul A an amazing contrast the infant game The infinite gain of your soul in christ Or the infinite loss of your soul in hell A glaring contrast Repent of your covetousness. If you don't repent of your covetousness It will be the millstone that is hung around your neck that drowns you in destruction and perdition Let me give you another example of this progression this downgrade. Look at james chapter one James chapter one This progression And listen the farther you are down the progression the more precarious your position The closer you get to the precipice Turn from your sin and trust christ james chapter one Any step on that slope is a slippery step Beginning in verse nine And listen to the parallels here so many parallels verse nine Let the lowly brother the humble brother glory in his exaltation The lord says that he exalts the humble he casts down the proud Humble yourself before god humble yourself now before his word and repent of sin The rich will glory in his humiliation Because as a flower of the field he will pass away for no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat Then it withers the grass its flower falls and its beautiful appearance perishes your life on this earth is but a vapor Turn to christ so the rich man he says also will fade away in his pursuits We come into this world with nothing and we're gonna leave with nothing In a moment it'll all be gone trust christ Blessed is the man verse 12 who endures temptation don't be lured away by this world's riches For when he has been approved he will receive the crown of life Which the lord has promised to those who love him Let no one say when he is tempted i am tempted by god for god cannot be tempted by evil Nor does he himself tempt anyone but listen to the progression But each one is tempted here's this baited hook right here's this concealed trap He is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed You see the baited hook and you want it. These are hunting and fishing terms These are enticement terms you see the temptation and you desire it and you grab the hook Verse 15 then when desire has conceived it gives birth to sin And sin when it is full grown brings forth death It all leads to death It's why it's such a foolish foolish and harmful decision to pursue this world's gain This brings forth death leads us to our final point We looked at the great gain of heavenly riches. We saw the contrast between those and worldly rags And next point three we must be warned by the hellish result verse 10 For 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 The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil The love of money That desire for riches is the baited hook It's the concealed trap. It is the sinking ship Certainly the most obvious this baited hook refers to covetousness to greed To materialism, but it also here refers to miserliness Hording up for yourself riches saving all you can you see your brother in need. I'll be warm to be filled brother You hoard your wealth miserliness sinfully saving or holding on to wealth Being a root of evil this root of evil produces fruit after its own kind Wicked men who sin in accord with their wicked hearts that are deceitful above all things and desperately wicked and pursue after worldly riches Produces after their own kind and these Worldly riches are those for which it says in verse 10 some have strayed from the faith in their greediness In this clause in the greek greediness is pushed all the way to the front of the clause for emphasis It's as if paul is saying for greediness Some have strayed from the faith Can you believe it? There's christ and yet there is christ Greediness have led some astray from the faith It is an absurd transaction A foolish and harmful lust that people are led astray for Greediness This life is passing away Straight from the faith is another way to say that they have been drowned in ruin and in hell Now they're in hebrus 6 and hebrus 10 teach. There's no coming back from apostasy If you give yourself after having come into a knowledge of the truth You sin willfully after worldly riches and give yourself to that pursuit and you abandon the pursuit of christ Hebrus 6 hebrus 10 says there's no coming back. There's no longer a sacrifice for sins But a certain fearful expectation of judgment This is a tragic disgusting catastrophic appalling Heart-rending and heart-breaking contrast. Do you see it? Those who have turned aside from the glorious promises of god and our lord and savior jesus christ Now are craving after worldly rags instead To their damnation they crave it It is so tragic that they've done this The verse 10 says they've pierced themselves through with many sorrows and they don't even see it now You'll see it one day. Listen these sorrows are only those that are completely and fully Realized completely and fully experienced completely and fully felt by those who are in hell You think you have sorrow now Just wait Feel the the complete sorrow In hell this is a bitter wound of the heart a bitter wound By giving into the deceptions of this world. They drive a stake through their own heart the word means they're pierced impaled By their own hand by their own doing they impaled themselves On the wickedness of this world on the desire for riches impaling themselves on their own fleshly lusts Many sorrows a deep grief of soul Let me ask you this morning Will you persist In the pursuit of the things of this world Will you persist in the pursuit of the desires of your wicked heart The lusts of your fallen flesh Will you suffer the piercing of your own heart The piercing of your own soul For an eternity in hell chasing after the fleeting wealth of this world You don't have to You can repent of that sin now You can turn from living for yourself now You can pour contempt on the desires of your flesh right now Pour contempt on your pride Pour content on your covetousness pour contempt on your greed pour contempt on your rebellion You can do it right now Just repent Turn from your sin hate Even the garment defiled by the flesh And turned to christ There's one who suffered just such a piercing So that you could be free He suffered such a piercing so that you could be saved From the prophet Zachariah. I tell you now look on him whom they've pierced Look on him whom you have pierced with your sin You might as well have been there at Calvary driving in the nails yourself mourn for him Your sin is responsible for his death Mourn for him that he has been pierced through With the punishment that you deserve That you deserve And grieve as one grieves Zachariah says for the loss of his son Cry out to god god be merciful to me the sinner and god is rich in mercy He is a bounding in loving kindness towards you And he is a rewarder with heavenly treasure Of those that diligently seek him And christ says to me come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden and i will give you rest Are you sick of eating your own vomit in this wicked world? Sick of living in the mire lift your eyes to christ Lift your eyes of the heavenly city and live for him Put yourself god will put you on that path if you'll repent God will sustain you and preserve you and cleanse you and forgive you Give you a heavenly inheritance Christ says take my yoke upon you and learn from me for i am gentle and i'm lowly in heart You'll find rest for your souls the way the transgressor is hard. There's peace in christ Christ yoke is easy and his burden is light Jesus christ is the only and true treasure of the soul The human heart will never ultimately be satisfied with worldly riches With which are really just human filthy rags The human heart is need of the new birth is a need of a transformation And in that transformation the human heart finds its greatest need finds its greatest hope It's greatest joy. It's greatest security. It's greatest purpose. It's greatest satisfaction And it's great greatest treasure in christ jesus our lord amen That's bright My father in heaven god thank you praise be to you lord for your unspeakable grace for this wonderful gift of salvation God we are so easily ensnared God so easily trapped By the enemies of our soul The world the flesh and the devil God protect your people lord from This wicked trap From this slippery slope Lord preserve them by your grace in christ Guard their hearts and minds in christ jesus Help us lord to look on heavenly riches in christ as Everything to us Such that we are willing to give everything we are to everything that he is And god if there's someone here who is on this slope who is Running in the current of this world god i pray that you would crush them against that granite boulder in their river Bring them to acknowledge their hopelessness apart from christ and save their soul for your glory God lift their eyes out of the mire of this world And place them by faith in christ on their heavenly inheritance their hope Save them lord We love you and we thank you god for this great salvation that we have in christ I pray that we would apply the truths of the scripture Such that we may live for you wholeheartedly gone And persevere to the end in jesus name