The Rich Pay-Off
Mentally look through your closet at home. Do you have clothing that you have not worn in years or clothing that you have never worn at all?
God's Judgement on the Rich is real
I. The Warning (1-3)
Love of money - 1 Timothy 6:10; Proverbs 11:28
A. Misery
These rich unbelievers should cry out loud at their sin. Wouldn't it be refreshing to see today? During the Tribulation the rich will cry out loud at the destruction of Babylon because they cannot make anymore money, but this weping should be repentance over sin.
B. Financial Ruin
- Food - Luke 12:15-21
- Clothes
2797 Richest Tomb In Jordan
In the richest tomb yet uncovered in Jordan, archaeologists have found the bejeweled skeleton of a woman. The woman lived during Solomon’s reign and may have been a queen.
Beside her body, workers counted 670 orange carnelian beads, 72 gold beads, four ivory boxes, and a set of silver pins and breastplates.
Encyclopedia of 7700 illustrations
5499 Pink Was Empress’ Property
The Russian empress Elizabeth Petrovna, daughter of Peter the Great, had a strange liking for the shade of pink. She was so jealous of this tint that she issued a decree making it a capital crime for any other woman in her empire to wear a pink garment—visible or concealed. The empress prided herself on being an opponent of capital punishment. But any woman caught in a violation of the pink law was liable to mutilation or deportation to Siberia—or both.
Encyclopedia of 7700 illustrations
- Money
Last days like in Daniel 5:1-31
C. Physical Pain
II. The Reason (4-6)
A. Abusing Workers
Law against abuse - Leviticus 19:13; Deuteronomy 24:14-15; Jeremiah 22:13; Malachi 3:5
B. Self-Indulgent Lifestyle
They were dead even while they are living, like 1 Timothy 5:6
3430* Lord of Hosts - 1 Samuel 17:45; 2 Chronicles 18:18; Deuteronomy 4:19
Trapped In His Cellar*
The French millionaire miser, M. Foscue, in order to hide his treasure securely, dug a cave in his wine cellar, so large and deep that he could go down only with a ladder. At the entrance was a door with a spring lock, which would automatically shut itself. After some time, he disappeared. Search was made for him but to no avail. At last, his house was sold.
The purchaser of the house began to rebuild it and discovered a door in this cellar, and, descending, found him lying dead on the floor, with a candlestick nearby. His vast wealth amassed and hidden was with him. He had apparently gone into the cave, and the door accidentally closed, shutting him in. He died for lack of food. He had eaten the candle and gnawed the flesh off both his arms. Thus died this avaricious wretch in the midst of the treasure which he had accumulated.
—Foster
Encyclopedia of 7700 illustrations
6705 New “Bank” Account Daily
If you had a bank that credited your account each morning with $86,400, that carried no balance from day to day, allowed you to keep no cash in your account, and finally every evening canceled whatever part of the amount you had failed to use during the day. what would you do? Draw out every cent—of course!
Well, you have such a bank and its name is “Time.” Every morning it credits you with 86,400 seconds. Every night it rules off—as lost—whatever of this you had failed to invest to good purpose. It carries no balances. It allows no balances. It allows no overdrafts. Each day the bank named “Time” opens a new account with you. Each night it burns the records of the day. If you fail to use the day’s deposits the loss is yours.
—Robert G. Lee
Encyclopedia of 7700 illustrations
C. Abuse of the Helpless
2585 Greatest Salt Source
The concentration of salt in the Dead Sea is ten times higher than that of any other sea or lake on earth. Every liter of its sea water contains an average of 30 grams of salts and other minerals. It is one of the greatest sources of salt in the world.
No animal or plant can exist here. Few fish are found in it, although it is not true that birds which venture near its vapour fall down dead.
Because of its high specific gravity, no one will ever sink or drown while bathing there. Nobody has ever committed suicide there by drowning. It was said that Vespasian, commander of the Roman legion which later destroyed Jerusalem in AD 70, heard of this fact. He tested it by ordering slaves to be thrown into the sea waves with their hands and feet tied. The slaves floated.
Encyclopedia of 7700 illustrations
They do not oppose because they are either unable or because of Matthew 5:39-42