We see what’s in the hearts of men.  Ever since the fall of Adam, ever since that lust that filled Eve’s heart when she obeyed the devil, and the devil said, “Look, eat of this fruit, and your eyes will be open, and you’ll become your own god.  You’ll be able to make decisions for yourself.”  And at that moment, contentment was lost, innocence was lost.  We became self-serving.  We look, at every place, for exaltation.  We see ourselves as gods.  “I’ll rule my own life.”  And that is, in fact, in every one of us who has Adam as our father.  It’s in every one of us.  We fight it.  Even when you become a born-again Christian, it’s still in you.  The Apostle Paul said, “…in me, (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing” (Romans 7:18).  So, every one of us here is a luster.  Every one of us here contends with covetousness, it’s in us!  And we have to live victoriously over it by our faith in what Jesus did through our redemption and our reconciliation back to Him, dying on the cross, being made sin with our sin, that we could be made righteous with His righteousness.

So, the Lord knew what condition we’re in, and He’s telling us, “Listen, I’m worried about you guys, and I want to tell you something:  It’s a difficult thing for a rich man to get to heaven!”  Do you think that should sober us up a little, especially in this hour?  The majority of us in here are filthy rich.  We say all these—you know—multi-millionaires, we’ve got a bunch of millionaires sitting in here tonight.  These rich people, and we’re thinking of multi-millionaires, billionaires.  And here we are, a people living in abundance, and we’re told to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread…and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from all of these evils” that 1 Timothy is going to talk about here in Chapter 6 in just a moment.

It says the love of money is the root of all of these evils (verse 10)—not of evil.  The love of money is not the root of all evil.  The root of all evil is pride.  Money could make you awfully proud.  But the Holy Spirit, in the context of what’s being said there, Paul is speaking of certain evils that were identified in the context of that chapter—he said all of these come from discontentment.  These sorrows, which will pierce you through and bring you to utter destruction, come from entertaining this thought that gain is godliness.  He said from such, turn away.  Don’t even fellowship with these people.

So, the Christians that you hear today, it’s the most popular message in America, all of these Joel Osteens and the prosperity message and all these things, “and when you get right with God, He’ll make you rich.”  We’re already rich.  Those who say gain—in other words, the more you have, the more holy you are, the more blessed you are of God.  I want you to know, there are a lot of people that don’t have a lot of money who are rich in God.  Amen?  If it weren’t so, we wouldn’t have that same dilemma that we just spoke of out of Psalms and “Why are the wicked prospering?”  Because God makes His sun to shine on all of us.  The rain falls on the just and the unjust.  “The hand of the diligent shall bear rule” (Proverbs 12:24).  There are laws that, if you follow them, you can get much gain and prosperity.