 What we're going to do is, we're going to take verses one and two together, then we're going to move into verses three through ten and look at them basically, though they are composites, they work together, we'll look at them individually. And so, verses one and two, I'll be honest with you, even before we begin our study here, it's difficult. This is one of those subjects that is a difficult subject to give honor to, to actually give a good amount of information for us to understand. So I'll do my best to, to clarify some of the aspects of this as we look at it. So beginning at verse one, reading to verse two, 1 Timothy chapter six, the apostle Paul writes, Let as many bond servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and his doctrine may not be blasphemed. And those who have believing masters, let them not despise them because they are brethren, but rather serve them because those who are benefited are believers and beloved, teach and exhort these things. We'll be looking at that in not deep and particular detail, but we'll, we'll look at that in a way that I think it helps us to see some practical aspects of the teaching that Paul is bringing related to slavery. Now as we open up chapter six, Paul is continuing a series of admonitions that he'd already begun in chapter five. In chapter five, he'd given instructions concerning how to treat people in church. When we get to chapter six, he opens with instructions about relationships, but the relationships he's speaking about are between slaves and their owners. That's what he means when he writes, Let as many servants as are under the yoke. That's another way of speaking of slavery. So this is teaching related to how Christian slaves are to behave. In order to understand his context, we need to know something about the Roman Empire. We need to remember that the Roman Empire was built on the back of its slaves. It's been estimated that around one-third of the inhabitants of the Roman Empire were slaves. That would mean that there were in Rome, under the Empire's rule, something like 60 million slaves. Question has to be asked, how did so many people become slaves during that day? Well, some had become slaves because they were prisoners of war. Some were criminals who had been sentenced to slavery. Some became slaves through being sold into slavery because of debt. Some became slaves when they were kidnapped and sold into slavery. Some were sold into slavery by their own parents to provide income for themselves. And finally, some were born slaves by parents who themselves were slaves. When you look at the culture of slaves during the time of the Roman Empire, some of the slaves could attain a degree of status, and many of them were treated very kindly by their masters. Some were barbers and cooks, others were butlers or teachers. Even the family doctor might be a slave, as well as a friend. There were those who eventually could buy their freedom from their owner, and others were set free. But in many cases, the life of a slave was one of extreme cruelty. A slave could be condemned to hard labor, beaten, chained. They'd be branded on the forehead if they ran away, even crucified. A slave could be killed for any reason whatsoever, without any punishment to the owner, because the slave was owned by that person. One Roman writer said old slaves should be thrown into a dump. And when a slave is ill, do not feed him anything. It's not worth your money. Take six slaves and throw them away, because they are nothing but inefficient tools. So in spite of all of this, Christianity actually altered slavery in the Roman Empire. And Christianity brought three basic changes that did so. One, Christianity affected the slave owner. You see, up until that time, slave owners could do anything they wanted. But under Christ, they were commanded to treat the slave fairly, and even compensate them. To pay a slave was unheard of. And yet in Colossians chapter four, verse one, Paul said, Masters, give to your servants that which is just and equal, knowing that you also have a master in heaven. That was revolutionary. To command a slave owner to treat the slave fairly and to compensate them was unheard of. That's one of the things that happened. The second thing is that it affected the slaves, because when a slave came to faith in Christ, and this is so important for us to understand in a practical way, by way of application to all of us, when a slave came to faith in Christ, had a relationship with God, it gave that slave dignity. Knowing that the world didn't give to them, but they received it because they were a child of God. And because they were God's children, they had equal value to other people. In Galatians 3.28, Paul speaks of it this way, he says, There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free. There is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. So one, the slave owner was taught, treat them with compensation, treat them fairly. Two, the slave himself or herself would have a sense of personal dignity because they were equal in the sight of God. But three, Christianity destroyed slavery because servants and owners became brothers in Jesus Christ. You actually see this in the book of Philemon. A book that is dealing with a runaway slave. How are you to treat a slave that has run away, but is about to return is the question. And in the book of Philemon, in verses 15 and 16, Paul writes, perhaps Onesimus, who was the runaway slave, perhaps Onesimus departed for a while for this purpose, that you might receive him forever, no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord. The runaway slave is a brother of the owner. And Paul says, treat him with dignity because he's not simply slave. He's your brother. And so Christianity destroyed slavery from the inside. When Paul is speaking concerning Christian slaves, he's saying, you need to live out your faith in two basic ways, one, in an external way. You're to treat your master with respect. As a matter of fact, you should be the best worker. In Ephesians, he speaks like that in chapter six verses five through eight, where he said slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear and with sincerity of heart. Just as you would obey Christ, obey them, not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ. Serving the will of God from your heart, serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free. So he says, serve with a wholeheartedness by way of application, obviously, when we're doing whatever it is that we do for our occupation, when we work our job, we ought to be doing things honorably and right. Because working on that job and people knowing that we're Christians can either give honor to the Lord or it can make his doctrine, even as he says in verse one here, it can blaspheme God and his doctrine, it can make them look ineffective. Because Christians acting badly bring the name of Jesus into disrepute. That's why in the book of Titus chapter two verse seven, Paul would say, in all things show yourself to be a pattern of good works. But notice again in verse two how he says, those who have believing masters, let them not despise them. Let them not despise them because they're brethren. Don't hate your master. That's another interesting thing. So he speaks of not only the external in the way that they're acting, but the internal in the way that they're feeling. He says, your brothers, serve him all the more diligently and do so for his good. Don't take advantage of him because he's a believer. Do faithful service. In Colossians three, 22 through 24, and Paul said, bond servants obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eye services, men, pleases, but in sincerity of heart, fearing God, whatever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord, not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance, for you serve the Lord Christ. That's a general thing for all of us. He asked these nine 10 says, whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might. And so when they were working, they were working as unto the Lord, but also as a benefit to that master. Now let me rush to say this. Paul did not ignore the reality of the institution of slavery. He saw it though in this way, he saw it as a temporary institution, and you adapted to it for the sake of the gospel. When he was writing to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 7 verses 21 and 22, he said, were you called while a slave? Do not be concerned about it, but if you can be made free, rather use it, for he who is called the Lord, called in the Lord while a slave is the Lord's freed man. Likewise, he who is called while free is Christ's slave. So even your owner has a master is what he's saying. If you can be set free, then use it, because you can be useful to the hand of the Lord. But even while you're under the yoke, serve the Lord as you do so. It's interesting, and somebody noted this, and I'll repeat that, because I agree, and pointed out that Paul didn't preach against it, interestingly enough, even though it was evil. Someone said the evil institution of slavery entered into all grades and ranks. It was common to all peoples and nations. The very fabric of society seemed knit and bound together by this miserable institution. War and commerce were equally responsible for slavery. To attempt to uproot it, to preach against it, to represent it in public teaching as hateful to God and shameful to man, would have been to preach and teach rebellion and revolution in its darkest and most violent form. It was indeed the curse of the world, but the master and his chosen servants took their own course and their own time to clear it away. Jesus and his disciples, such as Paul and John, left society as they found it, uprooting no ancient landmarks, alarming no ancient prejudices, content to live in the world as it was, and to do its work as they found it, trusting by a new and beautiful example slowly and surely to raise men to a higher level, knowing well that at last, by force of unselfishness, loving self-denial and brave patience, the old curses, such as slavery, would be driven from the world. So they worked within its confines and actually undermined it by reminding the slave owner, he had a master, reminding the slave that he's free in Christ and creating a family, brothers together, who were able together to realize the evil of slavery in Rome that was built on the back of slaves. Well, the slaves and the establishment of that kind of experience for people slowly was degraded by the love and the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Moving into verse three, if anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and to the doctrine which accords with godliness, he's proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds, destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain from such withdrawal yourself. So notice how Paul moves on in verse three to say, if anyone teaches otherwise, he is proud, knowing nothing. So false teachers who have entered the church are going to argue over his instructions. The fact that they reject these sound words reveals their true character. And so what he's doing at this point is he's beginning to outline the traits of the false teachers. And these traits are really exposed by the rejection of good doctrine. He says that they substitute their shortsighted views of life. They reject the teachings of Jesus. They throw doubt and discredit upon the teaching of his apostles and servants. They stir up discord and they inflame what is called a party spirit. So he's beginning to speak concerning their fruit. Now Jesus said that false teachers produce certain kind of fruit that would identify them. In Matthew 7, 15, and 16, he said, beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by the fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? In Matthew 7, 20, he said, by their fruits, you will know them. So by the fruit, you know them. In my backyard, I have some trees, fruit trees. And each one of those trees that I have is going to produce a fruit, a particular one. Now, when it's not buried fruit, I can't tell the difference between a lemon tree and an orange tree. I really can't. Now, there are those with trained eyes who can, but I can't. I'll walk out and it's just a tree. And so I have to wait until the fruit is produced. And so I'll walk up to the orange tree and I'll say, oh, this is an orange tree. Look, there's oranges. Or I'll see the lemon tree. Oh, there's lemons here. But that's what it is. The tree is there, and then it produces fruit. You'll know it by its fruit. So the fruit that's produced will identify the kind of tree that it is. And by the way, someone lives, it's always easy to see what they actually believe. Because there are people who will say, well, I believe in this or I believe in that. I know what you believe, not by simply your words. I know what you believe by the way you act. Because your beliefs will always be translated into behavior. Your doctrine will always be identified by your deeds. The way you live will tell me what you honestly believe. So it's one thing to say, I believe in Christ. It's another thing to live as if you really exist. And there's a whole lot of people today, as we know, who claim to have a relationship with God, a relationship with Jesus Christ. But by their fruit, you shall know them. If they say that they love the Lord, there's going to be the evidence of that through the love of God in their life and the way that they live and all of that. So in Matthew 12, 33, it says either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad for a tree is known by its fruit. So Paul is simply saying false teachers are identifiable by their fruit. So what is the fruit of a false teacher? Verse four, well, he said, one, he's proud. He knows nothing. So what kind of fruit is produced? Well, he's filled with self-conceit. When it says he knows nothing, he is morally and spiritually dense. So one of the things that's a identifiable trade of a false teacher is arrogance. It's an arrogant pride. They are unwilling to submit to Christ's gospel. They're unwilling to submit to proper teaching. They are filled with pride. And you can see that. Now I realize today that it's anybody who says, look out for this or look out for that, can be branded today by today's standards of everything's okay, can be branded as a hater. I understand that. I realize that you have to be very careful how you present things so that people will actually understand the point. And frankly, and we'll look at this in some detail, as a pastor, I don't want to be one who's always causing problems and arguing with people. So just know that, because I'm gonna give you an illustration. Several years ago now, somebody approached me after a church service and they asked me a question pertaining to something that was on the news, that was on the news, and it was in newspapers about a particular person who was doing certain things, and I'm just kind of keeping it vague for a reason, doing certain things that caused people to say, is this Christianity? Is this what Christianity is all about? Look how hateful this person is, and they were doing some hateful things. So somebody walks up to me after a church service and says, Pastor David, I wanna ask you a question. This person's been doing this, are you aware of that? And I said, yeah, I noticed. I saw in the news and I read in the newspaper. Well, Pastor, is that right? What do you think about that? Now this is a person after a church service speaking to me about whether this person's behavior reflects well on the gospel of Christ. So I said, well, to be honest with you, what he's doing isn't right because it's giving the world opportunity to blaspheme the name of Jesus by his behavior because Jesus doesn't teach us to do the things that this person's doing. So what he's doing, if you ask me, is that right? I'd have to say according to scripture, as I understand it, it isn't right. Oh, thank you, Pastor. Well, I didn't know it, but he was a friend of the guy that was doing all of this. So I get a letter from this guy who was in the newspaper and was on the news and this guy writes me and he tells me off from hello, Pastor David, to goodbye. It's an angry letter through the whole letter telling me what an idiot I am and this and that. At first I thought it was from Marie, but it wasn't. It was from this pastor. He was mad, how dare you this? How dare you that? And then he closed his letter by giving his name and then the letters behind it, Bachelor of Arts, Master of Arts, Doctor of Theology, Doctor of Philosophy, B.A., M.A., T.H.D., P.H.D. That's how he signs it. And then he says, I'm sending copies of this and he names all these well-known pastors to let them know what kind of jerk you are. So I write them back. And I went point by point. I said, well, seeing that you're willing to embrace what somebody else is saying, I said, let's approach what you're saying to me. And point by point I responded and I concluded by saying and this is evidence that you're wrong. And what you did was wrong because this is what Jesus said is right. And I closed it by saying David Rosales, H.S.G., high school graduate. I mean, come on, P.H.D., T.H.D., M.A., Bachelor, if you're wrong, I don't care how many letters you have behind your name, you're still wrong. You can't twist the scriptures to suit your behavior, you see. And that's not because of my pride and arrogance, by the way, it's simply because that's what we're taught in scripture. You do not go out and intentionally dispute and cause problems and that's what Paul is talking about. He's saying there's an arrogant pride that marks them in Proverbs 13.10, by pride comes nothing but strife, but with the well advised is wisdom. So he's saying that these false teachers are unwilling to yield to true and healthy Bible teaching because true and healthy Bible teaching produces godliness. Instead, he gives teachings that produce strife and carnality. He is, according to verse four, one who knows nothing. When he says he knows nothing, he has no understanding of truth. He doesn't understand the work of Christ. He doesn't know the elements of the Christian faith. And according to Galatians six verse three, if anyone thinks himself to be something when he's nothing, he deceives himself. So he doesn't understand the nature of genuine faith in the Lord. Paul is saying he has no depth. He has no understanding of how God works in this world. He has ideas that don't take into consideration all aspects of how faith actually works. But in contrast, a genuine teacher is going to cling tightly to the Bible for its instruction. A genuine teacher receives instruction and willingly submits to the word of God. Like it says in Psalm 119 verse 10, with my whole heart I have sought you, well let me not wander from your commandments. A genuine teacher knows that God is in control and the best thing that you can do is trust him. Like it says in Proverbs one verse five, a wise man will hear and increase learning. A man of understanding will attain wise counsel. And that's why Paul later would encourage Timothy and second Timothy 113 by saying, hold fast the form of sound words which you have heard of me in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. A second thing about him is he's argumentative. He's obsessed with disputes and arguments, notice over words. In other words, he loves the nitpick. He loves to find something debatable that he can argue over. And sometimes there are those who have a spirit like that, who have an attitude like that. They look for a word so that they can begin to debate and argue with you over that word. You know, I've been ministering for quite a while now and every once in a while, there'll be somebody who wants to debate over a single word or a single concept. And that's something that's to be avoided. In second Timothy two verse 23, Paul said, don't have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments because you know they produce quarrels. In contrast, the genuine teacher has a gentle spirit rejecting unnecessary debates. In second Timothy two, 24, the servant of the Lord must not strive, be gentle to all men apt to teach and patient. You see, the wisdom according to James 3.17, that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisy. So he says the fruit of the teaching, well in verse four he says, is envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions. That's the fruit of their teaching. Envy is intense dissatisfaction and longing for what someone else has. Stripe is quarrels, but those who refuse to agree with their opinions. You ever have somebody that's talking to you and you don't agree with them and before you know it, they're getting in your face over that? I've had that more than once. I've had that with pastors. I was seated across from a certain well-known pastor on one occasion, he was sharing his wisdom with all at the table and I looked at him and I said, you know, I don't agree with that. Boy, did he ever get angry. You know, he did because he's not used to people saying, oh, thou fount of wisdom, thou art wrong. And he didn't appreciate that at all. And so that happens. Well, that's called contention or strife, reviling. The word reviling speaks of injurious speech towards those who oppose them or debate their position. They call your names in other words. Evil suspicions are wicked beliefs that they are right and others are out to get them. In verse five, it calls them useless wranglings. Useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth. They're argumentative because there's no truth in them. They are unenlightened. They don't hold fast to the word of God. In Psalm 119, 130, it says, the entrance of your words gives light. It gives understanding to the simple. This kind of attitude destroys the unity of spirit and it certainly undermines the work of the church and that's why Paul would be telling Timothy, watch out for these false teachers. That's why Paul would say, if anyone teaches otherwise and doesn't consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and to the doctrine which accords with godliness, he is proud knowing nothing. That's why he would say that. Their so-called wisdom isn't from the Lord. Now notice verse five, who suppose that godliness is a means or a source of gain. What is their motive? Greed. They use the gospel to make money for themselves and they fleece the sheep. And Paul had a righteous anger and outrage over what they were teaching about the Lord. They had taken the Son of God and made him a source of personal income a few years ago, several years ago now. I was watching what was called Christian TV and there was this particular individual on who was, well, he was fleecing the flock. I'll just be honest with you and say it that way. He was performing as if he had received, he was receiving words from God and calling people's names out in the audience and telling them to stand up. Is there so and so here? I think they're off to my left and he'd call their name as if the Lord was giving the name, you know, Cheryl. Cheryl. Oh, what, Jones, you know, Jones or whatever. Then this woman would stand up and I saw him do that and I said, this is a charlatan. Well, I happened to have his home address so I wrote him a letter in a nice way. David Rosales, HSG. No, I wrote him it. And I said to him, listen, saw you on TV? Saw you fleecing the flock? Wanna warn you? What you're doing, God is gonna deal with. You cannot get away with ripping off God's people. God is gonna deal with you. As a brother, I'm warning you, step away from this and get right with the Lord. Well, he didn't, but he was exposed. It was on national TV. It was exposed in the newspaper. It was fully exposed. And I warned him, I said, you cannot do this. You cannot take advantage of God's people. That's what Paul's talking about right here. That's what he's speaking about right here. He is saying that these people believe that godliness is a means of gain. They believe that selling Jesus is something that should make them rich. He's already stated that teachers who ruled well were to be compensated, but these were the ones he spoke of who labored in the Word and in doctrine. But these false teachers, well, these false teachers were charging fees for their bad teaching. The fruit of their teaching was destroying the body of Christ. It was destroying lives. You know, there are people who have, I have had in the past, they send things to you. This one radio preacher was selling for any offering of any sort, autographed pictures of Jesus. Think about that for a minute. You know, if it wasn't so tragic, I should not laugh. It was terrible. But if you send any amount to my church, he said, I will send you an autographed picture of Jesus. Now, see, I had an uncle named Jesus. I could have sent his picture. Love, chewy, you know, but. I mean, these are the things that they do. I had in my office for a long time a prayer mat. It had four angels with horns. And the instructions that came with the prayer mat was for me to put it on the ground, to take my wallet, pull out the largest bill or my credit card, put it in the center, to kneel, to pray, and then send him the largest offering I could so that he could pray to God to financially prosper me. And I told Raul, that's wrong. You shouldn't do that. It's just not right. But I'm telling you, there have been so many charlatans to this day. And you know, the interesting thing is, is they're preaching false doctrine for the sake of financial gain. In Titus 1, 10 and 11, Paul said, there are many rebellious people, mere talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision group. They must be silenced because they are ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach and that for the sake of dishonest gain. There are those who defend their error. There are those who support them with their finances. And when I've mentioned them by name, I get the letters and I don't care about the letters. It doesn't matter to me that somebody wants to contend. It's just saddens my heart to know that people will contend over something like that. It's so patently wrong, it's unscriptural. Do you continue sending them money? No, you withdraw from them, you avoid them. You realize that they are spiritual arsenic. In Romans 16, 17 and 18, Paul said it like this, I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you learned and avoid them. For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ but their own belly. And by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple. You see, in verse six, he says, Godliness with contentment is great gain. We brought nothing into this world. It's certain we can carry nothing out. 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. A truly godly person is not interested in getting rich off of innocent people. Why? Their soul is rich in God. And that brings contentment. Psalm 37, 16 and 17 says, better the little that the righteous have than the wealth of many wicked. For the power of the wicked will be broken but the Lord upholds the righteous. Notice how he says we brought nothing into this world. It's certain we can carry nothing out. Isn't that true? Of course it is. I recently heard of a man who had his custom Harley. He had done a lot of work on it, loved his motorcycle. And so he was buried seated on it. I don't know where he thinks he's going. Another guy had a Ferrari he was buried in. But the scripture says that we brought nothing into the world and it's obvious that there's nothing that we will carry out. I learned this in a very personal way and if you don't mind I'll share something some of you already have heard before. But I learned this in a deeper way though I've known this of course for many years. I've read my scriptures. I've taught this passage many times. But I learned it in a very deeply personal way when my father went home to be with Christ back in 2001. My dad had something he called the box of treasures, his treasure box. When my dad was dying he was on his deathbed and my father began to give me final instructions. My brother and I were there and he gave us final instructions. And this is what I remember him saying. He said I have a green tin box in my bedroom in the closet on the shelf. He said David in that box are my most important papers. He called him his special treasures. Well when my father died a couple days later my brother was there at the house and he thought it's important to go into my dad's room to go into that closet to take down that important box, that tin box that he had in order that he might open it up to see the important papers because he expected to find insurance papers. He thought that he would find the deed for the house. We didn't know my dad's financial situation. My father was very private when it came to things related to finances. Never spoke to us about finances in our entire life. Never gave me a lecture concerning how to save or what it means to invest. My father never spoke to me concerning purchasing insurance, nothing. I knew nothing about my father in terms of his finances. I did not know how much my dad made a week. I didn't know anything about him in terms of his finances. He kept those things to himself and so we felt that he must have within that little tin, that green tin box, a fireproof box that he had that he must have his insurance in there. He must have the deed to the house in there. That's what we thought he would have. So my brother waited a couple of days and then he went into the room and he thought I'd better look into this to see what dad had and he began to look and so when I arrived at the home my brother was waiting for me in the driveway and I came walking up to him and he said Dave, he said I opened up daddy's treasure chest and I said okay, okay. He says, you know what I found in it? He found cards, cards that were made for him when we were in elementary school. You know those cards that you make happy father's day or happy birthday when you were little and you would outline it. And so you'd have the little hand there and it had our hand and it said happy father's day daddy. As a matter of fact it's kind of funny because my brother Frank never could spell and he wrote happy father's day. My dad used to think that was so funny but it said happy father's day or happy birthday, little cards. See he found my baptism certificate from December of 1950. He found pictures of us when we were in elementary school, a clipping from a newspaper noticing my induction into the army. He found my dad's wedding license. But the insurance policy and the deed to the home were in a cardboard box that were next to this metal box. He didn't care if the insurance papers were burned, he didn't care if the deed was burned. What he cared about was my pictures, my cards. Forgive the emotion. He would think after all these years I'd be over it. I'm not, my heart travels back and that taught me something. I knew it before, I know it more now. I carried nothing into this world and I will carry nothing out. The only thing that matters is what you do for the Lord now. Paul is saying that these people are thinking that godliness is profitable for themself. And he says in this they're wrong because godliness with contentment is great gain. We brought nothing into this world. It is certain we can carry nothing out. In Job 1.21 Job said naked came out of my mother's womb. Naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Jesus in Luke 12.15 said it like this, take heed and beware of covetousness for one's life does not consist in the abundance of things that he possesses. We all know this but we have to remember this. We have to be reminded. In your young you pursue things because things you think that things will satisfy it and to a degree there will always be a sense of accomplishment you had a goal and I think we need to have them. Please don't misunderstand what I'm saying at this moment. We need to have goals. I want to provide for my family. I want to do the best that I can with my life. I would like to be able to leave something behind for my grandchildren. You know that's the mark of a godly man is to do those things but to pursue them with the right attitude. It's the love of money that is the root of all kinds of evil. Not money in and of itself. It's that love, it's that greeted desire to obtain thinking that you're gonna receive some satisfaction by having that material item and all of us know, all of us know once you live for a little while that you'll get a certain phone and you get this certain system and you think this is the best and then the next year they bring the new one out. We know that. Or you finally saved enough until you got the car that you really wanted. There's nothing wrong with having a nice car. Enjoy it, it's great. But you finally get the model and then the next year they bring the better one and you go oh if I'd have waited three months and that's what happens and we know that if you don't know that yet your dad's buying you stuff. Wait until you're older. You'll discover it yourself and it's true. You see he says it real clearly in 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 for the love of money is the root of all kinds of people for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness and pierced themselves through with many sorrows, the love of money. He's not saying riches are wrong in and of themselves. Some of the greatest believers who ever lived were also the richest. Rockefeller, the United States richest man, he owned 90% of the oil production in the United States. This is a man who had a personal worth of something like $360 billion. He made the richest people that we're aware of today Steve Gates and others look like poppers in comparison. This man had $360 billion. He had the majority of the national income, the gross national net worth. He had more of it himself. This guy was an incredibly rich man but he used to like to go into his church and be the janitor because he had a sense of what mattered. He had that sense. He knew that money wasn't gonna give him satisfaction. The richest man the United States had. There's a man by the name of Solomon. All of us know of Solomon. He was the wisest man. He was also very rich. When you look at Solomon, he received wealth through commerce, through trade, gifts, taxes, tribute. It says in 1 Kings chapter 10 verse 21 concerning Solomon during his day, silver was accounted as nothing of value. Then you read the book of Ecclesiastes and Solomon tells you what he had. He says that I had greatness. I enjoyed partying. He said I had my fill of wine. I built great houses. I had vineyards, water pools, servants, armies. I had any woman I wanted. Anything I desire, he said was mine. But in the end he gave a final observation. It's found in chapter 12 verses 13 and 14 of Ecclesiastes. He said this, let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God, keep his commandments. For this is man's all. For God will bring every work into judgment including every secret thing, whether good or evil. I've had it all. I'm summing up 12 chapters of my writing by saying fear God and serve him. Because you're gonna stand before him one day. The love of money according to verse 10 is a root of all kinds of evil. Through greed, they promote themselves and they look for opportunity to make more money. And in doing so, they reject their faith and they go for the gold. Interestingly, he began with slaves. He ends with the rich. Slaves are free in Christ. But the rich can be slaves to greed. The result, they pierce themselves through with many sorrows. They got what they wanted. But they have a burdened conscience that weighs on them. And our prayer ought to be Proverbs 30 verses eight and nine. Keep falsehood and lies far from me. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Give me my daily bread. Otherwise I may have too much in disown you and say who's the Lord? Or I may become poor and steal. And so dishonor the name of my God. Give me moderation, Lord. And anything you can trust me with, give me that. Godliness with contentment is great gain for both slave and the rich man.