Clean Transcript

Biblical Wealth - Part 1 of 8

Clean readable transcript. This view follows the Commentary.net cleaned segment text while preserving timestamps for audio follow-along.

• Deuteronomy chapter 8, we're going to read all 20 verses. This is the first sermon in a series of six or seven, however many it takes, and it is on biblical wealth. Notice, if you would please, Deuteronomy chapter 8, beginning with verse 1: "All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers. And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live. Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years."

  #1 | 0:02 to 0:57 | cleaned

• "Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee. Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him. For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey; a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass. When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God for the good land which he hath given thee. Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day: lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein; and when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied; then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God, which brought thee

  #2 | 0:58 to 2:04 | cleaned

• forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint; who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end; and thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth. But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day. And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the Lord thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish. As the nations which the Lord destroyeth before your face, so shall ye perish; because ye would not be obedient unto the voice of the Lord your God."

  #3 | 2:04 to 3:02 | cleaned

• Now let me call your attention to verses 17 and 18. These two verses are going to be our main text for several messages. "And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth. But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth." Everyone knows about those nasty rich men who have all the money, and who use that money to manipulate people, nations, and countries. Now, as wicked as many rich men are, it may surprise you to learn that wealth, per se, is not condemned in the Word of God.

  #4 | 3:03 to 3:49 | cleaned

• Rather, it is commended and necessary when it is used for the right end. Ungodly, unbiblical, and wicked means of acquiring wealth are condemned in Scripture, equally as using wealth for the wrong end or for the wrong purpose. Material riches are regarded by Scripture as neither good nor bad in and of themselves. The goodness and the badness is determined as to how it is acquired and how it is used. Now, there has been a prevalent idea in this country and in Christianity as a whole that wealth and riches somehow are unbiblical or unspiritual. Well, that concept certainly rests upon a false exegesis and a misinterpretation of Scripture.

  #5 | 3:49 to 4:41 | cleaned

• Some of the Scriptures—we'll look at them later, not even necessarily today—but some of the Scriptures that folks usually get that idea from by misinterpreting them are 1 Timothy chapter 6, verses 8 through 10, where the Bible says it is the love of money that is the root of all evil. It's not money, but the love of money. Mark 10, verses 17 through 27, there was the rich young ruler. Luke chapter 12, verses 15 through 21, there were the rich farmer.

  #6 | 4:42 to 5:09 | cleaned

• Now, naturally, all these passages are used by some to try to teach that wealth or riches are evil in and of themselves. We will look at those passages later, as well as some others. One thing the Bible is absolutely crystal clear about, and that is this: there are many dangers, snares, and temptations involved with wealth. The Bible makes that exceedingly clear. There are many dangers, many snares, and many temptations involved with wealth. Well, let me ask the question: Where did the idea arise that wealth and or riches were sinful in and of themselves?

  #7 | 5:12 to 5:59 | cleaned

• Who was the promoter of that concept? I could ask that same question another way: Where and when did poverty become equated with spirituality? When and where did poverty become equated with spirituality? The mentality of many people is that if you are wealthy, then very obviously you must be wicked in some area and in some way. And if you are poor, then somehow you've got to be spiritual or you've got to be at least not as bad as those wicked rich people.

  #8 | 5:59 to 6:36 | cleaned

• Now here's a name that you need to remember: Thomas Aquinas. Thomas Aquinas lived from 1225 to 1274 AD. He was a Roman Catholic theologian, philosopher, and logician. His teachings are summarized under the name of Thomism, from Thomas, Thomas Aquinas. Now listen, Thomas Aquinas was canonized—that is, he was made a saint according to the Roman Catholic theology—in 1327. Now remember, he died in 1274. He was made a doctor of the church in 1567, and then Pope Leo XIII exalted his teachings to the status of the official philosophy of the Roman Catholic Church in 1879. So, anything you want to know about the Roman Catholic Church, in one sense of the word, you might and would probably find in the teachings of Thomas Aquinas, because his philosophy was made the official philosophy of the Roman Catholic Church. Now, what did Thomas do? Thomas tried to synthesize—that is, he tried to bring and bind together—the teaching of Christianity with the teaching of Greek philosophy.

  #9 | 6:37 to 8:08 | cleaned

• Especially the philosophies of Plato and Aristotle. Thomas Aquinas held to a natural theology and that natural reason based upon a natural grace which then would enable Christians to argue—and I don't mean thus, but to carry on a discussion, carry on a dialogue—with unbelievers, even if the unbelievers rejected the Word of God as a supernatural revelation. So Thomas Aquinas certainly either did not believe the Bible, or he did not understand the teachings of the Bible.

  #10 | 8:09 to 8:53 | cleaned

• You say, what are you talking about? Well, look in your Bible, Old Deuteronomy 8, but turn to 1 Corinthians 2.

  #11 | 8:53 to 8:59 | cleaned

• Now, let me tell you once again, as you turn there, what Thomas Aquinas is saying. He is saying that based upon natural reasoning and natural grace, that Christians have the ability to carry on a dialogue and try to convert unbelievers, even if the unbeliever does not accept the Bible as the divine revelation of God. Well, look at 1 Corinthians chapter 2, if you would please, and look at verse 4. 1 Corinthians 2 and verse 4.

  #12 | 8:59 to 9:34 | cleaned

• The apostle Paul says, "And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." Now, we're going to read more, but look what the Apostle Paul is saying. Paul is saying, when I came to see you, I did not try to argue you or rationalize you into Christianity. I did not want your faith to stand in the enticing words of man's wisdom, but I wanted your faith to be grounded by the power of the Holy Spirit of God.

  #13 | 9:34 to 10:13 | cleaned

• Step down, if you would, please, to verse 11. Paul says, "For what man knoweth the things of man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God." Now, underline that. "Even so the things of God knoweth" what? "No man." How many men by nature understand the things of God? None. Now look in verse 14. He says, "But the natural man"—that is the unsaved man, man by nature—"but the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." So he is saying that man by nature does not have the ability, nor does he have the capability, of understanding the things of God.

  #14 | 10:14 to 11:07 | cleaned

• Now, what was Thomas Aquinas doing? He was saying that we could argue, we could rationalize, with unbelievers even though unbelievers rejected the Word of God. Well, 1 Corinthians chapter 2 makes that a very fallacious argument. You cannot, because man by nature does not understand the things of God. Now here's what happened. The philosophy of Thomas Aquinas divided life into two separate spheres or two separate areas. The first sphere or area was the natural or the secular sphere, which was common to all men and society. The second sphere was the sacred sphere of faith, which was reserved to the church and to the Christian. Now watch. He's got two spheres. One over here is the natural or the secular sphere, which is open to all men, and over here is the sacred sphere, which is only open to the church and to the believers.

  #15 | 11:07 to 12:16 | cleaned

• Now, what has he done? He has compartmentalized one's life. He has divided one's life into compartments. So the one compartment then over here, the secular, can be your everyday life based upon your own logic, your own reasoning ability. And the second sphere over here, or the second compartment, is your faith, or your Christianity, or your belief based upon your faith. And he maintained that these two things were totally separate.

  #16 | 12:16 to 12:49 | cleaned

• They did not need to meet. This unbiblical dichotomy made the sphere of faith inaccessible and unapproachable by reason.

  #17 | 12:49 to 13:04 | cleaned

• Now, let me explain something right here. It is true that you cannot reason or argue anyone into Christianity. But it is also true that the Christian faith is the most reasonable and the most logical thing there is, based upon the Word of God. But what he is doing is saying this: You don't need reason. You don't need to think if you are a believer. That's what he's saying. So he's making the sphere of faith inaccessible and unnecessary to reason. And then he takes the secular sphere and says it is unimportant and unnecessary to faith. In other words, you don't need faith to live over here and you don't need reason to believe over here. He's saying they're two totally different things.

  #18 | 13:04 to 13:53 | cleaned

• I'm going to show you before I finish this series, following this philosophy, it's only a matter of time before some people become so heavenly minded, they're no earthly good. Now, since faith, according to the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church and according to the teaching of Thomas Aquinas, since faith then was separated from everyday life, it brought churchianity into existence. You know what churchianity is, don't you? That's when you come to church on Sunday, and you act all sweet and pious and loving, and you worship God, and then you go home.

  #19 | 13:55 to 14:34 | cleaned

• Then Monday through Saturday, you do whatever you want to do, live however you want to live, live like the devil. It doesn't matter. See, that's what this philosophy has done. It has divided life into the secular and into the sacred. What it does is this: it then emancipates the secular life from under the sovereignty of God and the law of God, and that means then the secular life and the secular man is free to run headlong in the world without God and without any restrictions whatsoever. Consequently, we now have a rise in what we would call secular science. Darwinianism, that is, evolution. You have the rise of hordes of philosophies and isms all under the umbrella of secular humanism.

  #20 | 14:34 to 15:32 | cleaned

• I don't care if you talk about existentialism. I don't care if you talk about I'm okay, you're okay. I don't care what ism you talk about. It all comes under the umbrella of secular humanism. Consequently, we also have a humanistic economics which is separate from the Word of God and violative of the Word of God and has only as its end the honor and the glory of man and for the benefits of man.

  #21 | 15:33 to 16:04 | cleaned

• So what Thomas Aquinas did was this. He basically split man into the material and into the spiritual. In doing that, he was following the teachings of the Greek philosophers.

  #22 | 16:04 to 16:18 | cleaned

• Now, the medieval church followed that philosophy as well, and it effectively separated them not only from truth, but also from the real world. I'm going to explain that in just a moment.

  #23 | 16:19 to 16:30 | cleaned

• Now, it was this secularization without God that led to the Renaissance in the 14th through the 16th century, which was totally and thoroughly humanistic. All the Renaissance did was to glorify and deify man. It was the same Reformation in the 14th through the 16th centuries that sought to bring man back under the law-word of God, showing that God was sovereign. So on the one hand, you have the Renaissance, which is humanistic, and on the other hand, you have the Reformation, which is biblical, trying to bring society and culture back under the law of God. It was the same spirit of humanism that produced the Enlightenment of the 17th century with all of its rationalism, skepticism, and atheism. And once again, it was men like George Whitefield and Rowland Hill and the Tennents and many of the other of those men who sought to bring people back to the Word of God and back to the law of God.

  #24 | 16:31 to 17:36 | cleaned

• Now, I'm going to say it again. Thomas Aquinas and his philosophy is pagan to the nth degree. And it was this philosophy that gave contempt for anything material. Now it is true—listen carefully—it is true that the Greeks taught this philosophy before Thomas came along. But it was Thomas Aquinas who made this philosophy popular. It was adopted by the Roman Catholic Church and it was extended throughout Christendom by the Roman Catholic Church. Do you realize there are many Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians that are Roman Catholic to the core and they don't even realize it? Do you realize you can never have been a Roman Catholic, never have gone to a Roman Catholic Church, know nothing about Roman Catholic theology, and yet you can act like a good Catholic? You know why? Because you have unknowingly, unwittingly been influenced by the philosophy of the Roman Catholic Church. Now, this philosophy of Thomas Aquinas gave rise then to the monks, to the monasteries, to the hermits, to the religious paupers, to vagabonds, to ascetics, and to all kinds of numbskulls, basically speaking, who tried to parade their spirituality and their devotedness to sacred things by denying and abhorring anything material.

  #25 | 17:37 to 19:31 | cleaned

• The idea, back in that period of time, was basically this: If you were born poor, don't seek wealth. Because you have the advantage, you're ahead of the game. If you were born rich, tough stuff. The only thing you can do is give it away, become poor like us, so you can be more spiritual.

  #26 | 19:34 to 20:05 | cleaned

• Now, I want to emphasize this very emphatically this morning. I told you before I started this, I wanted you to listen. I remember when I was in college and I took my first course in philosophy. I hated it. I despised it. Why in the world should I want to learn about Aristotle and Plato? You know, that was my idea. And for all of you students who are in college, let me tell you this.

  #27 | 20:08 to 20:51 | cleaned

• And my wife can back this up. I made practically all A's when I was in college. Not that I was just that smart, but I did apply myself. But I had a philosophy. My philosophy was this: If I took a subject and I liked it and I wanted to learn it, I would do well in it and I would make an A. But if I got a subject that I absolutely despised and I hated it, I made sure I made an A in that too, because I wanted to make dead sure I never had to repeat it again. Well, I didn't like philosophy.

  #28 | 20:52 to 21:26 | cleaned

• And I thought, what possible help could knowing what Plato and Aristotle taught help me as a Christian and when I believe the Bible? Until it dawned on me, if I knew their errors, I could spot those errors in my life and in the lives of others, and I could see where an unbiblical and pagan philosophy has invaded my life and the lives of others. By the way, I hope you don't despise philosophy. The word philosophy is made up of two words, phileo, I love, and sophia, wisdom. The word philosophy just means love of wisdom. God is the chief philosopher, for He is wisdom incarnate.

  #29 | 21:28 to 22:21 | cleaned

• Now, watch this if you would please. Greek philosophy was basically dualistic. It means it had two tailpipes. It was dualistic. It had two. Here was the spiritual, here was the material. And Greek philosophy taught that the spiritual was good. And I don't care if you're talking about forms, ideas, that would fit into the spiritual. But they also taught that matter, anything that was made up of matter, was inherently evil in and of itself. That means the world, because it was matter, is evil. Our bodies, because they're made of matter, is evil. Money, because it was made of matter, is evil. Therefore, if you wanted to be spiritual, you had to purge yourself from anything that was material. That was the philosophy of the Greeks. In other words, it didn't matter, and it still doesn't matter, whether you follow the teachings of Plato, Aristotle, or that of the Gnostics or the Manichaeans, each of them believed that matter somehow was inherently evil in and of itself.

  #30 | 22:23 to 23:29 | cleaned

• I want to give you a quote from a book written by Rushdoony, The Flight from Humanity. I read this book a number of years ago. And I have never, ever forgotten this illustration. And while I was thinking about teaching this series, I went back and pulled this illustration out. I want you to understand that it was this philosophy that led to the asceticism and the mysticism of the early church. And when I say asceticism, it means the people were just simply withdrawing from society. They were withdrawing from culture.

  #31 | 23:33 to 24:07 | cleaned

• And they would have these weird, crazy, way-out ideas. That's mysticism. Let me show you the concept that was prevalent in the medieval church. Here's quoting from Rushdoony's book, The Flight from Humanity: "When after a very hot journey, Jovinus washed his tired feet and hands in very cold water and then stretched out to rest, the holy Melania rebuked him. Melania approached him like a wise mother approaching her own son, and she scoffed at his weakness, saying, 'How can a warm-blooded young man like you dare to pamper your flesh in that way?'

  #32 | 24:07 to 24:52 | cleaned

• "Do you not know that this is the source of much harm? Look, I am sixty years old, and neither my feet, nor my face, nor any of my members except for the tips of my finger has touched water. Although I am afflicted with many ailments, and my doctors urge me, I have not yet made concessions to my bodily desires, nor have I ever used a couch for resting, nor have I ever made a journey on a litter."

  #33 | 24:53 to 25:16 | cleaned

• Now let me stop there. Here was a woman that is approaching a man for washing his hands and feet and resting. She says, "Do you not know that this is a source of much harm?" Now listen. "I am 60 years old and neither my feet nor my face nor any of my members except for the tips of my fingers have touched water, although I'm afflicted with many ailments and my doctors urge me.

  #34 | 25:18 to 25:48 | cleaned

• I've not yet made concession to my bodily desires." In other words, I'm spiritual. I'm a super saint. I don't give in to my flesh, nor have I used a couch for resting or have I ever made a journey on a litter. And I love Rushdoony's comment. After quoting that, he says, "We learn nothing about biblical holiness from Melania, although we do begin to realize what the odor of sanctity could have meant." The odor of sanctity.

  #35 | 25:49 to 26:17 | cleaned

• Well, she hadn't washed in 60 years. I guess she could have had an odor. Let me go ahead. He's got one other short paragraph. "Killing the body, short of suicide, was common practice. For the body was treated as an enemy. When a Theban ascetic, Dorotheus, was asked, 'What are you doing, father, killing your body in such heat?' he answered, 'It kills me, I will kill it.' Suicidal self-mortification was called sanctification. The body, the flesh, was the enemy of sanctification, and it had to be whipped, rolled on thorns, and abused in order to enhance spirituality. We are told of Ammonius that he never pampered his flesh when desire rose up in revolt.

  #36 | 26:17 to 27:01 | cleaned

• But he heated an iron in a fire and applied it to his limbs so that he became ulcerated all over." Now, why in the world would people do crazy things like that? Because they believed that the body was inherently evil. Look at those Roman Catholic monks. Why would they crawl on crushed glass? Why would they beat themselves? Why would they cut themselves? Because they believed that their body was evil and they were driving out the evil and denying their body and somehow becoming more spiritual.

  #37 | 27:02 to 27:34 | cleaned

• Did you know there was a man by the name of Simon the Stylite? In fact, there's a whole bunch of people called the Stylites. You know what they did? They got up on a pillar and just sat up on that pillar and refused to come down for 10 or 20 years. You say, well, how did they eat or drink? Whatever anybody had to throw up there or take up there to them, they would not come down.

  #38 | 27:34 to 27:52 | cleaned

• In this same book by Rushdoony, In Flight from Humanity, he talks about one man who happens to look down and he sees a bug biting him and he reaches down and he kills the bug and of course the blood that had been sucked from his body came out when he killed the bug and then he was guilt-stricken because he had killed that creature and thus he went out in the marsh and sat there for, I don't know, several months just letting the insects bite him incessantly. And when he did come back home, no one recognized him. He was so ulcerated and so disfigured from all the insect bites. But he was getting his body under subjection.

  #39 | 27:54 to 28:36 | cleaned

• Now, let me make a statement and listen carefully. That is paganism to the nth degree. I don't care if that teaching comes from Plato, Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, the Roman Catholic Church, the First Baptist Church, the Methodist Episcopal. I don't care what or where it comes from, it is pagan to the nth degree. Sin is not in anything material. Sin is in the human heart. When God created the world, what did He do? He beheld everything that He created and said, "Behold, it is not good, it's not evil, it's good."

  #40 | 28:37 to 29:17 | cleaned

• Matter is not sinful in and of itself. It has never been and it can never be. You remember back in the 1920s and 30s, there was the temperance movement. I'm talking about evil alcohol. Are you listening? Alcohol is not evil in and of itself. If it was evil in and of itself, you couldn't use it in medicine. I'm not telling you to go out and drink. I'm not telling you to go out and get drunk. Certainly not. But the point I'm making is alcohol is not the problem. It's the sin in the human heart that's the problem that leads to the abuse of it. Anytime you start locating sin in anything material, it is pagan to the nth degree. And now you can see then, since they believed that matter was inherently evil, anything that you could do to pamper the flesh, and money could pamper the flesh very easily, that had to be evil as well.

  #41 | 29:20 to 30:30 | cleaned

• Now, let me just lay something out for you. And here's the absolute truth. Men, both godly and ungodly, want and desire material blessings. And if the church refuses to provide the lawful means of acquiring wealth, that is through God's law-word, then the secular world will provide its version.

  #42 | 30:31 to 31:00 | cleaned

• Now, one of the problems that we have in our country today is simply this. We have allowed ungodly men to formulate and dictate ungodly economic principles in our lives. One of these days, I'm going to bring a message and show you, not only historically, but biblically, the truth about paper money. It has a long history. And there's a reason why those hard money clauses are in the Constitution of the United States. Congress shall have the power to coin money and to regulate the value thereof.

  #43 | 31:03 to 31:58 | cleaned

• No state shall make anything but gold and silver as legal. There's reasons why that is in the Constitution of the United States. But you see, folks, when the church refuses to teach the whole counsel of God, and when the church refuses to speak on the issues, then she removes herself from areas of influence. But even worse than that, she turns those areas over to the ungodly. Now, man was made in the image of God. And since man was made in the image of God, I want you to understand that God created him with original righteousness, holiness, and dominion.

  #44 | 31:59 to 32:52 | cleaned

• Look in your Bibles to Genesis 1. I'll come back and deal with this concept a little bit later, but look in Genesis 1. I'm just pointing out the fact that man is a dominion-oriented being. Look in Genesis 1. And let's begin reading there with verse 26. Genesis 1 verse 26, "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." What did God give man? God gave man dominion. Look in Genesis 9.

  #45 | 32:57 to 33:58 | cleaned

• After the flood, when Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth stepped out of the ark, look what God says. Genesis 9, "And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth." Here's the repeat of this dominion mandate. "And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered." Is man dominion oriented?

  #46 | 33:58 to 34:29 | cleaned

• Well, of course he is. And then if you look very quickly in your Bibles to Psalm 8. Like I said, I'll come back to these passages later. I'm just reading them and pointing out one little simple truth. Look in Psalm 8. Wonderful, beautiful Psalm. He said, "O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger. When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; what is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.

  #47 | 34:29 to 35:27 | cleaned

• O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!" Man, by nature, is dominion-oriented. It's just that simple. However, what happened is this. When man sinned, when man fell, when man rebelled against God and His law, that dominion became perverted. And so now instead of wanting dominion for God's honor and God's glory, instead of doing things the way God wants them done, now man wants dominion not for God's sake, but for his own sake. And instead of having dominion over the earth, fallen man now wants dominion over other men. Now, I want you to guess what our Lord did when He came. He came

  #48 | 35:27 to 36:22 | cleaned

• to restore that which He took not away. What did man lose in the fall? Well, we lost our righteousness. We lost our holiness. We lost our life, basically. And we lost the exercise of a godly dominion. If you look in your Bible to Psalm 69 in verse 4, I want you to note what this Messianic Psalm says. Psalm 69 verse 4, and by the way, verse 4 is repeated in the New Testament,

  #49 | 36:24 to 37:03 | cleaned

• as applied specifically to Jesus Christ. Psalm 69, verse 4. Our Lord says, "They that hate me without a cause"—you'll find that in John 15:25—"they that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty: then I restored that which I took not away." What did our Lord do? He restored that which He took not away. Do you remember? The Bible says in Ephesians 4, verses 22 and 24, that He's given us back a righteousness and holiness. You'll find it in Colossians 3, verses 9 through 10. He gave us back, once again, a righteousness and a holiness and a life. The Bible says in 1 Peter 3, verse 18, that He died, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us back unto God. And now, because of what our Lord has done in restoring that which He took not away, He's restored our life, our righteousness, our holiness, and our godly dominion.

  #50 | 37:04 to 38:04 | cleaned

• Therefore, in 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 31, what does Scripture say? "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God."

  #51 | 38:04 to 38:16 | cleaned

• Now, folks, let me tell you something. If we as God's people are to subdue education, government, art, agriculture, business—it takes money. It takes wealth. Do you understand the same principle applies to the church? If we have a Christian or Southern history conference, it requires money. If we go on a missionary trip, it requires money. If we have an evangelistic endeavor, it requires money. You understand the point that I'm trying to make? What has God done? God has brought us back through Jesus Christ to the exercise of a godly dominion, and in that godly dominion, He tells us about biblical wealth and how to use that wealth.

  #52 | 38:18 to 39:18 | cleaned

• Now, today I'm going to cover just one thought, and very briefly. I want you to go back in your Bibles to Deuteronomy chapter 8 and look, if you would, at verse 18. I want you to see the source of wealth. This should be exceedingly plain. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 8. In fact, let's read verse 17, because God is warning us and He said, "And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth." God says, don't you begin to boast. Don't you become arrogant, haughty, and heady, and high-minded. Don't you think that you have that just because you worked for it, and you planned, and you say, no, no, no, no, said God. Look in verse 18. "But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth." God specifically designates Himself as the source of wealth. Did you know that God is the source of all class distinctions? Let me say that again. God is the source of all class distinctions.

  #53 | 39:19 to 40:32 | cleaned

• You say, show me that in the Bible. Fine. Turn in your Bibles to 1 Samuel chapter 2. 1 Samuel 2, look at verses 7 and 8. God is the source of all class distinctions. 1 Samuel 2, notice if you would please, and verse 7. Here it is. "The Lord maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up. He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and he hath set the world upon them." What did the Bible say? The Lord maketh poor and the Lord maketh rich. Who is the source of the class distinctions in this world? God. You know why one nation is rich and others poor? God. You know why some people in the nation are rich and others are poor? God. He is the source of all wealth.

  #54 | 40:32 to 41:42 | cleaned

• Now, I want you to understand that the key issue here is sovereignty. The key issue is sovereignty. God is the sovereign owner and ruler of all. Are you listening? Let me ask you a question. Does not God have an absolute right to dispense His gifts, His grace, His mercies, His blessings as He sees fit? Well, of course He does. If I had 100 bucks in this room,

  #55 | 41:42 to 42:14 | cleaned

• and I said here, Doc, I'm going to give you 20. Doc, I'm going to give you 20. Doc, I'm going to give you 20. Three docs in a row. And then I said, I'm going to give the other 40 over here to change the man. And somebody's going to sit in here and say, well, wait a minute, Brother Weaver. You didn't give me any money. Do I owe you any money? No. Was it not my money? Yes.

  #56 | 42:16 to 42:37 | cleaned

• Did I not have a right to do with it as I please? Yes. May I give it to whomever I choose? Well, of course I can. If I can do that, do you think God is any less able to do the same? God is the sovereign owner of all. And the Bible stresses this truth over and over. Let me show you. Look in your Bibles to Deuteronomy chapter 10 and verse 14. Deuteronomy 10 verse 14. Look what the Bible says. Deuteronomy 10 verse 14.

  #57 | 42:37 to 43:11 | cleaned

• "Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the Lord's thy God, the earth also, with all that therein is." Someone tell me how much of this universe belongs to God? Well, what about all the material blessings and wealth in this universe? To whom do they belong? God. Well, look in your Bibles very quickly to Psalm 24. You know this passage, but I want you to look at it. It's amazing how many times the Word of God repeats the same truth over and over. Look in Psalm 24, verse 1. The Bible says, "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein." How much belongs to God? Absolutely everything. Look at Psalm 115 and verse 15. Psalm 115, verse 15, the Bible says, "Ye are blessed of the Lord which made heaven and earth." Look at Psalm 121 and verse 2. Psalm 121, verse 2.

  #58 | 43:11 to 44:20 | cleaned

• "My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth." Now, if God made it, He owns it, He controls it. Look at Psalm 124 and verse 8. "Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth." Look at Psalm 134 and verse 3. Psalm 134 and verse 3. "The Lord that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion." Over and over, God says He is the owner, He is the creator, He is the one that made heaven and earth.

  #59 | 44:28 to 45:05 | cleaned

• Now, I want you to understand, since God is sovereign, God also rules over His creation. You say, what are you talking about? Well, look in your Bibles, back to the book of Leviticus, chapter 25. And look, if you would please, at verse 23. Leviticus 25. And look at verse 23. Leviticus 25, verse 23, look what God says, you remember, He put Israel on the land, He divided the land to them. He tells the people, "The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me." Who owns this earth? God does. And God has the absolute right to do with this earth as He pleases. And He has the absolute right to tell us how we may use or not use His earth.

  #60 | 45:05 to 46:17 | cleaned

• Now, let me point something out to you. Did you know that God even limits civil government? He not only limits them in a number of ways, but one specific way He limits them is from their expropriating the property of His people. Look in your Bibles to the book of Ezekiel chapter 46. Ezekiel 46. And here it is, let's begin reading there with verse 18. In fact, let's read in verse 16, you can see the context. Ezekiel 46, verse 16. "Thus saith the Lord God;

  #61 | 46:19 to 47:16 | cleaned

• If the prince give a gift unto any of his sons, the inheritance thereof shall be his sons'; it shall be their possession by inheritance. But if he give a gift of his inheritance to one of his servants, then it shall be his to the year of liberty; after it shall return to the prince: but his inheritance shall be his sons' for them. Moreover the prince shall not take of the people's inheritance by oppression, to thrust them out of their possession; but he shall give his sons inheritance out of his own possession: that my people be not scattered every man from his possession." Now, God said the prince, the civil ruler, had no authority to take the property of the other people.

  #62 | 47:17 to 48:09 | cleaned

• Now, if you don't believe that God is serious about this, well, I just challenge you to read 1 Kings 21, where God killed Ahab and Jezebel for stealing the property of Naboth. God said, look, it is mine. Every one of us have heard of eminent domain. What's that mean? That means the state says it can come in and just take whatever it wants to take for the public good. Usually when the state comes in and exercises eminent domain, they either condemn the property or expropriate the property.

  #63 | 48:10 to 48:56 | cleaned

• Now, they are supposed to pay you for it, but that's neither here nor there. Here is what Black's Law Dictionary says. Listen carefully. "Eminent domain. The power to take private property for public use by the state, municipalities, and private persons or corporations authorized to exercise functions of public character." I'm skipping down. "The right of eminent domain is the right of the state, through its regular organization, to assert, either temporarily or permanently, its dominion over any portion of the soil of the state on account of public exigency and for the public good." So the state says we have the right if we want to put a road right smack down through Allison Tyre's house, we have the right to come in and condemn that house and take that property and put our road in it. Why, it's for the good of the community. The community needs a shortcut.

  #64 | 48:56 to 49:57 | cleaned

• Let me tell you something, folks. There have been people that have lived on land with their families for hundreds of years, and the land has been confiscated. Take it. Let me ask you, if you lived on your family farm and someone came along and said, well, I'll give you 2,000 bucks an acre. They're going to raise 1,000 bucks an acre, but I'll give you 2,000.

  #65 | 50:00 to 50:27 | cleaned

• It's not the amount of money that matters. That is your family's inheritance. It has been passed down for years. And now the state says, well, we'll just take it. God says no, the prince cannot do that. If the prince wants to use his property, that's fine. If he wants to give his property away, that's fine. But he can't give ours away. Under scriptural law, all property, the whole earth belongs to God who is the sole owner. Man may only take titles under God and according to God's law.

  #66 | 50:27 to 51:15 | cleaned

• Now, this is why I'm not going to ask that you turn back there, but this is why in Leviticus 25 verses 1 through 7, God told those Israelites every seventh year is going to be a sabbatical year. The land will rest. You're not to plant in that seventh year. Does not the owner have the right to tell you how to use his property? Well, of course he does. In Leviticus 25, verses 8 through 23, it says, let me tell you something else. Not only are you going to let the land rest every seven years, you're going to multiply seven times seven. And when you get to that 49th year, it's going to be a sabbatical year. And the 50th year is going to be a year of jubilee. It also is going to be a year of rest. So two years in a row, you cannot plant. This is my land. You will let the land rest. You will let the land keep its sap. And we'll come back to that thought in just a moment.

  #67 | 51:15 to 52:14 | cleaned

• But since the earth is the Lord's, does He not have the absolute right to kick anyone off His land who will not pay Him His rent? Well, of course He does. Just like if you own houses and a renter will not pay you the rent, you dispossess him, you kick him out, go find you another house. Or if the renter is abusing and destroying your house, you have the right to kick him out.

  #68 | 52:18 to 52:55 | cleaned

• Look in your Bibles to Deuteronomy chapter 7. Deuteronomy chapter 7. Deuteronomy 7, and let's read the first 10 verses. Watch carefully. Look what God says, Deuteronomy 7, verse 1, "When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou;" God's kicking them out. Come bring His people in that land. "And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them: neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly.

  #69 | 52:57 to 54:01 | cleaned

• But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire. For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: but because the Lord loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations; and repayeth them that hate him to their face,

  #70 | 54:01 to 54:49 | cleaned

• to destroy them: he will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face.

  #71 | 54:50 to 54:54 | cleaned

• Now, what did God do? God said, I'm taking you into the land, and I'm going to kick out seven nations that are greater and mightier than you. Why is He kicking them out? Because they would not give God honor and glory. They would not pay their rent. They wouldn't worship the one true and the living God. They worshiped false gods and were wicked, ungodly, and reprobate. And God dispossessed them, rightly so, and brought in the people that said, now you pay me my rent.

  #72 | 54:54 to 55:23 | cleaned

• Let me ask you a question. Why did Judah go into the Babylonian captivity for 70 years? Don't answer out loud. Think about that for a moment. Why did God send the Babylonians? Why did He send those Chaldeans against Judah? Destroy their cities, killed a lot of them, and then took them into captivity for 70 years. Why? Let me show you. I want you to turn in your Bibles two passages.

  #73 | 55:26 to 56:06 | cleaned

• The first one is Jeremiah 50, and the second one is 2 Chronicles 36. 2 Chronicles 36.

  #74 | 56:06 to 56:11 | cleaned

• We'll read Jeremiah 50 first. Watch carefully. Jeremiah 50, we're going to go there first. And when you're in Jeremiah 50, look, if you would please, at verse 34. Look what he says. Jeremiah 50, verse 34. "Their Redeemer is strong; the Lord of hosts is his name: he shall throughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the land, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon."

  #75 | 56:19 to 56:54 | cleaned

• Now wait, you still haven't understood it just yet. "That he may give rest to the land."

  #76 | 56:54 to 57:01 | cleaned

• Now go back in your Bible to 2 Chronicles chapter 36. Here is why God sent the children of Israel, of Judah, into captivity for 70 years. 2 Chronicles 36, look if you would please, at verse 21. The Bible says, in fact, let's read, begin there with verse 19. Here's where they were captured and they burnt the house of God and break down the wall of Jerusalem. All Nebuchadnezzar's doing.

  #77 | 57:03 to 57:30 | cleaned

• "And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof. And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia: to fulfil the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years."

  #78 | 57:31 to 57:54 | cleaned

• The children of Israel disobeyed God. They did not keep those sabbaths. God said, didn't I tell you that I was the owner of this land? Didn't I tell you that land was supposed to rest every seventh year and every 49th and 50th year? I tell you what I'll do. You will not follow my orders on how to keep my land. I'll give my land rest. I'll put you in captivity for 70 years. And I'll see that my land enjoys her sabbaths. The issue is sovereignty. God is the owner of everything, and He is the source of all wealth. One last passage.

  #79 | 57:54 to 58:51 | cleaned

• Look in your Bibles to Proverbs 22, verse 2. I've got a couple of applications, but I'll quote the scriptures there. But look in Proverbs 22. And verse 2, I told you earlier that God was the source of all class distinctions. Here it is again, Proverbs 22, verse 2, "The rich and poor meet together: the Lord is the maker of them all." God makes rich and God makes poor.

  #80 | 58:52 to 59:27 | cleaned

• Now, very quickly, the first application is this: it is not wealth, per se, that is condemned in Scripture. Rather, it is wealth that is gotten dishonestly and wickedly or else wealth used for the wrong ends or the wrong means.

  #81 | 59:28 to 59:44 | cleaned

• Secondly, if we desire wealth, if we desire to prosper and succeed, we must seek God alone. Why? For He's the source of all wealth. What did He say in Matthew 6 and verse 33? "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." You put Him first. You don't seek money first. You seek Him first. And as you seek Him, all the other things shall be added. He deserves first place.

  #82 | 59:45 to 1:00:32 | cleaned

• The third thing is that we've got to learn that motives are important. I'm going to share with you next time, probably, or within the next two weeks, anyhow, that we don't seek wealth for wealth's sake, but we seek wealth only that we may further the kingdom of God and bring honor and glory to Him. The next time you tend to think that anything material is wicked in and of itself, you say, oh, that's pagan. No, I'm not a Greek. I'm not a Roman Catholic. I'm a believer and I believe the Scripture. And you'll find there is a proper way to enjoy all that God has given to us. Let's pray.

  #83 | 1:00:34 to 1:01:42 | cleaned

• Father, we ask in the name of Jesus Christ that You would help us, that You would teach us, build us up in the most holy faith. May we not imbibe Greek philosophy, but only the philosophy of the Word of God and be scriptural in every area of our lives. In Christ's name we pray, Amen.

  #84 | 1:01:43 to 1:02:03 | cleaned

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-06T00:24:59Z