How to Get Rich.

How to Get Rich.
BY REV. S. P. LOG, A. M
I Cor. 1:4-9.
1 THAK my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God
which is given you by Jesus Christ; that in every thing ye are
enriched by Him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge ; even as
the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you ; so that ye come behind
in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ: who also
shall confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of
our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto
the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
Sanctify us, O Lord, through Thy truth :
Thy Word is truth. Amen.
Beloved in Christ:
The Cburcli at Corinth was a mighty monument both
of the power of Satan and the power of the Gospel. The
church at Corinth, according to this epistle had some
members who were no honor to that church. Paul tells
us it Avas a fact that some were not only guilty of forni-
cation, but even in their own families. Oh, what a shame
and disgrace to that church to have such members. Then,
again, there were some members who were going to law
with each other, a thing that two Christian people never
should do. Right is right and w^rong is wrong, and God's
Word must settle any question between church members
without going to law. There was another disgrace that
was found, though, and that, as an evidence of the power
of Satan in that church, was the fact that some people
when they went to the Lord's Supper drank so much wine
that they became intoxicated. Another great disgrace to
the church of that day was that some of them publicly
709/
710 THE ETERAL EPISTLE.
denied the resurrection of the body. It was these evi-
dences of the devil in the church at Corinth that moved
the apostle Paul to pen this beautiful epistle.
But Paul was not so narrow minded as to judge a
whole congregation by a few bad members. It is always
a mistake to judge a family by one bad one in the family,
as it is a mistake to judge a city by a few bad men in
it, or a congregation. The apostle Paul looked upon this
church at Corinth which he had established, together with
Silas and Timothy, in the year 54, as a noble church, a^^
a church that demanded much grace; consequently he
said: "I thank my God always on your behalf, for the
grace of God A^hich is givien you by Jesus Christ; that
in everything ye are enriched by Him, in all utterance,
and in all knowledge."
As a congregation the one at Corinth was not rich in
this world's goods. He refers to that in another chapter
when he says there that the church of God in this world is
not noted for its wealth, nor for its great and noble men,
but rather for those in poverty. The church of Corinth
itself was not rich, but Corinth was a very rich city. It was
one of the most noted cities of the Orient; it was one of
those cities that stood for learning and for the highest
wisdom of the then known world. That congregation .was
rich in doctrine, rich in the Word of God, rich in conse-
crated men and women, who gave their lives for their
Master. The question arises this morning
HOW SHALL WE GET RICH?
And the answer is found in this text of mine:
I. Get your salvation right away.
I. Enjoy your salvation every day.
II.
I. We all Avant to get rich, but Oh, what a narrow
view of life it is simply to think of this world's posses-
sions. I say to you : Get your salvation riglit away. "I
thank my God always on your behalf for the grace of
God Avhich is given you by Jesus Christ."
How did that church at Corinth get the grace of
EIGHTEETH SUDAY AFTER TRIITY. 711
God? They got the grace of God through the preaching
of the Word by tliree men — Paul, Silas and Timothy;
and hearing this Word they heard of tlie grace of God,
accepted Jesus Christ, became rich in all things through
Him; they did not put this matter off from time to time.
The AYorld, my friends, can never buy your salvation. If
you had the whole world to-day as yours, you could not
buy the forgiveness of a single sin. It was that curse in
the church of God in the days of the Reformation that
made Luther arise and fight. Those men were not only
selling forgiveness of the sins of the past, but even for
money selling the forgiveness of the sins they should com-
mit in the future, giving them a certificate, for money,
that they might go on and sin all they pleased, and finally
be saved. That wasn't Bible doctrine; it wasn't true,
and consequently Dr. Luther arose in the power of God
and held up the pure Gospel, that man is saved by grace,
by faith alone in Jesus Christ. The world cannot buy
salvation. In those days there was a great cliurch to be
built, called St. Peter's, and no money on hands to build
it; and therefore the devil put it into the hearts of those
people at Rome, that if they could just make the people
believe that they could buy forgiveness of sins, there
would be no want of money, nor was there. It was the
money that the people gave out in Europe for the forgive-
ness of their sins that built that large St. Peter's cathed-
ral at Rome, and that church stands there to-day, a monu-
ment of the folly of men obeying Satan rather than God.
The Lord said ^'Seek ye first the kingdom of God and
His righteousness, and all these things shall be added
unto you." Christ knew what true wealth meant. He
knew what you need to be rich. You need to be a saved
man; you need to be a saved woman; you need your dear
children saved; that is what you need, and you need it
right away. A man has no right to put off one hour his
soul's salvation. When the soul itself is worth more than
all the world, how can a man afford for sixty minutes to
run the risk of that soul being lost? If you knew that
tomorrow forenoon by a little negligence you might lose
your home, for nothing in the world would you fail to
712 THE ETERAL EPISTLE,
be on hands to secure that home of yours; and yet your
soul may be lost this evening; it may be that you are an
unbaptized man, that you have never put your full trust
in the Lord Jesus Christ, tliat the curse of God is resting
upon you. How shall we get rich? Get rich right away
by getting your salvation; and remember, as I said a
moment ago, the world cannot purchase it for you. Only
Jesus Christ can save souls. "I thank my God always on
your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by
Jesus Christ.'^
And, again, Jesus Clirist crucified is our Savior. ot
far along in this letter Paul writes these memorable
words: "And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not
with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto
you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know
anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him cru-
cified." Kemember, my friends, that salvation is not only
in Christ, but it is in Christ on the cross; it is in Jesus
Christ the God-man, able to pay the debt of the world
because He is God; paying the debt of the world be-
cause He is man ; paying for your sins and for mine, be-
cause He is suffering, finishing our redemption He fin-
ished His life on the cross, and gave it up tliat you and
I might live. My friends, the only hope of ever getting
rich is to get the crucified Lord as your Savior, and the
only way to get Him as your Savior is to get Him wholly
and solely by grace. "By grace are ye saved."
We are all natural Pharisees. We all imagine that
in some way or other we must do something to earn our
salvation, and yet it isn't true. Salvation through Christ
must come alone as an object of mercy, and you and I
can do nothing but simply cast ourselves down at the
Savior's feet and say. Here I am,
"In my hands no price I bring.
Simply to Thy cross I cling."
"But drops of grief can ne'er repay
The debt of love I owe;
Here Lord, I give myself away.
^Tis all that I can do."
EIGHTEETH SUDAY AFTER TRIITY. 713
And then comes the merciful Savior and says: "The
Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was
lost," and He picks us up, and like the good Shepherd,
presses us to His bosom of love, carries us home to the
Father and says. Forgive this dear sheep, this poor, lost
sheep, for the Shepherd's sake. Yes, this dear sheep was
lost ; I found it. It deserved death ; I died for it. It could
not help itself ; I lifted it up, bore it on My shoulders, and
bring it home ; Father, receive this child for My sake."
Such, my friends, is salvation; get it right away;
and the covenant is this: He that believeth and is bap-
tized shall be saved. These are the words of the Lord our
Savior and He cannot lie. Oh, dear friends, get rich, and
have salvation right away.
II. Then, if you want to get rich, enjoy your sal-
vation every day, by sowing more every day, growing
more every day, and reaping well on the last great day.
"That in everything ye are enriched by Him, in all
utterance, and in all knowledge; even as the testimony
of Christ was confirmed in you; so that ye come behind
in no gift." What a Avonderful statement. That in every-
thing ye are enriched by Him, by Jesus Christ. I do not
think that Paul was thinking at all about earthly posses-
sions, but even if he was, it is true. Do you realize this
evening, my dear hearers, that you haven't got one foot
of ground that you did not get through Christ? Do you
realize that when God made the heavens and the earth,
He made them with His Word? And do you realize that
the Word that made the worlds is the same Word of which
John says it became flesh and dwelt among us? Do you
realize that the Maker of heaven and earth is the Incar-
nate Savior? And therefore you have not got a thing in
this world that you did not get of Jesus Christ your
Savior. But, as I said a moment ago, I do not believe
that Paul had in mind earthly possessions ; he was speak-
ing about the salvation of this church, and that they were
enriched in Him in all these things. "In all utterance."
It is always difficult to translate any language into an-
other. The word here translated "utterance" in the Eng-
lish, is called "doctrine" in the German Bible; there are
714 THE ETERAL EPISTLE.
other translations which make it "speech'' or "preaching
of the Gospel." The word "logos" in Greek may mean
the Word itself; it may mean the doctrine of Christ; it
may mean the preaching of the prophets and of the
apostles and of the servant of God. o difference which
translation we take, it is true that a man should every
day of his life sow more of the Word of God. It is not
enough simply to be a saved man ; we should also sow the
Word of God every day. We should try more and more
to send the Word of God out among the heathen; we
should every day try to sow it down deep into our own
minds; we should every day teach it and preach it to our
families and to our fellowmen. Since we shall all reap
what we sow, it is surely necessary that we sow good
seed, and where is there any better seed than the Word
of God?
How few people there are who really enjoy their sal-
vation. We have so many who look upon the churcli of
God as a kind of a place to go to once in a while, and
when they do go, they think they have rendered God a
most wonderful service, instead of feeling that this is the
place where God comes to serve us; instead of feeling
that this is the place Avhere we can meet with God's chil-
dren and sing praises to His holy name and enjoy the
blessing of being together as men and women and chil-
dren of the great family of God. In a colored assembly
in the South not many years ago, a man said to tlie lead-
ing man among them : "How does it come that you peo-
ple assemble here and worship God? Why do you not
worship Him in your little huts? Why do you come to-
gether as you do?" ow this colored man was not an
able expounder of his own thoughts, but he had a way
of illustrating what he meant, and so he took a stick and
began to scratch around in the coals of fire until he had
every coal separated from the other, and soon they no-
ticed that the fire was out and every coal was black.
"ow," said he to this man who was finding fault with
him for meeting with God's children, "if I had kept those
coals together they would have burned ; there would have
been a brifi^ht flame there and we would be warm our-
EIGHTEETH SUDAY AFTER TRIITY. 715
selves, but pulling them apart they are black and the
fire is out; and just so it is in this world," said he, "if
every man were to be a Christian in his own home
and never associate with the Christian congregation, he
would soon become a black coal, no fire left in him, and
the consequence is he would go back to heathendom.'^ And
that is why tliere are so many people in the present day
who tell us that one day they went to Sunday School;
one day they were good Christian church members; but
what are they to-day? Heathen in a Christian land. Black
coals. - We cannot touch them without getting our fingers
dirty. They are not living in the flame of God's eternal
kingdom. "ot forsaking the assembling of yourselves
together as the manner of some is," is the Word of God.
I would therefore say, enjoy your salvation. Sow every
day.
I would also say. Grow every day. Let us not al-
ways be little babes in Christ. The apostle Paul tells us
that he gives to the babes milk, and to the growing men
meat. How many people there are, just as soon as tliey
are catechized and confirmed, seem to think now they
have got all they ever need. Oh, dear friends, that is
only food for the babes. The Christian ought to remem-
ber that God's Word is a mighty deep and that lie never
can fathom it, and if you do once learn to enjoy the
growth in God's grace, then, m^^ friends, there will be an
enjoyment in your whole life that you never possessed be-
fore. It is a noble thing to be worth while having some-
body thank God that you are living. "I thank my God
always on your behalf," said Paul of the Corinthian
church. It is a good thing for you and me so to grow
that somebody in the world is blessed because of our
growth. It is a good thing for us every day to learn some-
thing new of Him who knoweth all things. Surely, my
friends, we do know that the world is full of lies; we do
know that there are teachers who are not safe. Get
knowledge from Him who knoweth all things. Get knowl-
edge of God. And when you get knowledge today, it only
enables you to get more knowledge tomorrow. I could
have the testimony of every Sunday School teacher in
716 THE ETERAL EPISTLE.
this church, that he is learning more of God's Word at
every succeeding teachers' meeting. Why? Because all
that he has learned in the past is only enabling him to
learn more the next time. How easy it is for you to do
to-day what one time you could not do at all. What has
enabled you to do this? Only constant, diligent labor.
I am satisfied there is not a young man in the world that
can come out of the seminary and step into this church
and do the Avork that is to be done here; it would simply
be impossible; it is only the strong man physically who
has been trained for years to do much and do it easily,
that could ever do the Avork that is to be done here. And
so, my friends, it is in the study of God's Word. Let us
not be satisfied with the Christianity that has simply
kept what it had twenty jeavs ago, yes, possibly even
longer than that, and does not know anything more to-
day. How many of you parents would like to be tested
right now in reciting the ten commandments? Do you
t;now them? How many of you would be willing to stand
a public examination right now in Luther's catechism?
Do you know what you once knew, or have you forgotten
all about it; or are you to be pitied because you never
did know these things? And who wants to stop with a
few^ little lessons out of God's great Book? When I
can assure you that the history of the United States can
be found in half of one of the chapters of Kevelation;
when I can assure you that the history of the four uni-
versal kingdoms of the world are contained in two chap-
ters of Daniel; who is then going to say, I can fathom
that great book in a year and a half or two years?
Enjoy your Christianity by sowing every day and
growing, until it can be said of you as it was said of the
church at Corinth, that in everything ye are enriched by
Him, in all utterance and in all knowledge. Spurgeon
used to say : "When I was a young man my mind was all
confusion, but when I was converted to God, I put Christ
in the center of my brain and wrapped all knowledge
around Him." That is what made Spurgeon such a
powerful preacher. Oh, that we would all this morn-
ing let the Sun of Bighteousness shine in on our brain,
EIGHTEETH SUDAY AFTER TRIITY. 717
and search and learn, and wrap around Christ all our
knowledge. That is why a college that has no religion
in it, never makes a scholar. You cannot show me a single
college in the world that does not teach religion that
ever made a man of God or a powerful man in this world.
The great wise man wisely said : The fear of God is the
beginning of all wisdom. You might send a man through
all the secular schools of the world, and through all the
secular colleges of the world, if that man has never been
in a Sunday School or in a church, or never had any re-
ligious instruction, that man with all his diplomas has
never even made a beginning of wisdom. Is that man
wise that doesn't even know why we live? Is that man
wise that is searching knowledge and is losing his soul?
Is that man wise that does not know the first great truth,
why we live and where we are to spend eternity?
Enjoy your salvation, not only by sowing every day,
and growing every day, but by reaping well on that last
great day. "So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting
for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ ; who shall also
confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the
day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful by whom
ye were called unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ
our Lord." Oh, says Paul, I cannot be with ypu any
longer up at Corinth, but I ask you as a church to sow
every day and grow every day, and reap well on that last
great day by being blameless. Isn't that a beautiful aim
in life, to be blameless on that last great day? Isn't that
worth living for? You and I are all guilty of weaknesses
these days, on all sides; but our aim should be to live
ever}^ day nearer and nearer to Jesus ; our aim should be
every day to get homesick for the coming of Christ. ow
Jesus is walking with us through His promise, as He
walked with those two young men from Jerusalem to
Emmaus when their hearts were burning because of His
presence. ow Jesus abides with us, and breaks bread
with us, and we welcome Him, but we reach for His hand
and cannot touch it. The difference between a true Chris-
tian and one that is none, is known by his desire for that
718 THE ETERAL EPISTLE.
last great day. The man who is no child of God shivers
when he mentions death; he trembles when he speaks of
the Judgment. The true child of God, like John of old
on the Isle of Patmos, looks heavenward and cries, "Lord,
come quickly. Come quickl3^'^ The day of the Lord is
coming for you and for me, on that day when my soul
takes its departure; for me it is the day of reaping, for
there will be no change in my soul from that day until
the last great day; but the day of the Lord, I take it to
be that last great day when the harvest Avill come, and let
us so live that on that day we will reap well.
We want to get rich. When do we know whether the
farmer is prospering? ot so much in tlie fall when he
turns up the soil and sows his wheat; not so much on the
clear winter day when we see tlie field covered with green
wheat; not so much in the spring when the snow melts
away and we see the green carpet still covering the earth ;
we are not quite sure when we see the tall wheat waving
in the wind in the months of May and June; we are not
quite sure when he reaps the wheat and hauls it into the
barn; we never know exactly what his harvest is until
the threshing machine has done its work and pulled away
from the barn; then the farmer stands up and looks at
the record, and says, I have soAvn, and I have reaped,
and I have threshed, and now this* is the harvest; and
it is that, that decides as to how he prospered. And so
if you want to get rich, don't show me your house, and
your barn, and your mines, and your fields, and your
bank accounts. Rich people in this world's goods are like
the big oaks that grow very large but have nothing on
them but a few little acorns. The man that is really rich
is the man that can say right now. My soul is saved and
I enjoy my Christianity; I am going to try to be honest
and upright and grow in grace and strength and live for
the glory of my Father in heaven, and for the welfare of
my friends and my foes, alwaj^s asking the guidance of
the Holy Spirit, sowing every day, and realizing that I
hope to reap more, and on that last great day when I
stand before my Master, I will not trust in my righteous-
ness, but alone in His great mercy and forgiveness; and;
EIGHTEETH SUDAY AFTER TRIITY. 719
when I breathe my last breath my last sin is committed
and the last one forgiven, and on that morning of the
resurrection I want to stand before Him with His per-
fection, blameless; then I Avill be rich. Oh, the riches of
the blameless man on the Judgment day, standing before
his God! This is wealth.
If I were to tell you in a few words what you need
to-day above everything else, I would say that you need
six hearts in one; I would say that you need three hearts
out of the Old Testament, and three hearts out of the
ew, all in your own one heart. What do I mean?
I mean that first of all you need the heart of a Jacob,
who, wrestled that night with the angel of God, and when
in the morning he was commanded to desist, he said.
Lord, I will not let Thee go except Thou bless me; that
is the heart that you need. ot to let go of God in His
mercy until He blesses you.
Then you need the heart of a Job. Wealthy as he
was in the possession of lands, with a large family, with
all the kinds of animals that made him the most wealthy
man and the most noted man of the East, he is tried by
Satan, with God's permission. The animals are stolen
and burned; the house topples over and the family is
killed, and all that he has is swept away from him in a
single day; then he shaves his head and kneels down in
the dust and says : ^'aked came I out of my mother's
womb, and naked shall I return thither; the Lord gave
and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of
the Lord." And when Job said that, he was richer by
far than he was when he had all his possessions. That
is the heart that you need, and that is the heart that I
need.
And then we all need the Old Testament heart found
in the 73rd Psalm, when Asaph looked up and said:
^^Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none
upon earth that I desire beside Thee. My flesh and my
heart faileth : but God is the strength of my heart, and
my portion forever." That is the heart that you need,
that finds nothing in all the universe so precious to you
a« vour God.
720 THE ETERAL EPISTLE.
Then you need three hearts that are found in the
ew Testament also. Christ had been up on the moun-
tain of Transfiguration, with James, and Peter, and John,
and when He came down to the rest of the disciples there
was a great multitude following Him, and among them
was one man Avho came and said, I have a son who is a
deaf mute and possessed of the devil, and this Satan
within him throws him down on the earth and makes the
foam come out of his mouth and wallows him in the diist;
I have been to your disciples and they cannot help him,
and I ask Thee, O Savior of the world, to help this boy
of mine. Then the Savior looked at him and said. Why,
this poor boy! How long has he been in this awful con-
dition? Ever since he was born, said the father. What
I want to know, said the father, is this : Is there any help
for this my boy? Yes, said the Savior, there is, if you
can believe; to !)im who believeth all things are possible.
And there vras a new light came to that father's heart.
Is it possible that this, my boy, possessed of the devil,
foaming and groaning in the dust of the earth, this boy
whom Satan has thrown into the water and I have pulled
him out, this boy whom Satan has thrown into the fire
and I have snatched him from the fiames, this boy who
has been our care from infancy for myself and my wife,
is there any hope for him? And with tears rolling down
his face he said to Christ, I believe : help Thou mine un-
belief ! And Jesus commanded the demons to leave him,,
and there lay the boy as if dead ; and Jesus took him by
the hand and lifted him up and gave him back to his
father and said. This can only be done by fasting and
prayer. And the father's heart that said. Help mine un-
belief, is the heart that you and I need this morning.
Then you remember the story of the Pharisee who
thanked God that he was so much better than his fellow-
men, and how he thanked God that he was so much better
than that poor publican; and then you remember how
that poor publican, knowing that there was no hope for
him except in the mercy of Christ, did not look up, but
simply looked down, and he knew where all the trouble
was; it was right in his own breast, and he struck upon
EIGHTEETH SUDAY AFTER TRIITY. 721
his own heart : Here, my God, is the trouble, right here ;
God be merciful to me a sinner! That is the heart that
^ye need this morning, the publican's heart.
And there is one more thing that I believe we need.
When Christ as a little child was taken into the temple,
there was an aged woman and an aged man there w^ho
had been waiting to see the Savior; and Simeon of old
took the little child in his arms and lifted his voice of
thanks to heaven and said : "Lord, now lettest Thou Thy
servant depart in peace, according to Thy Word; for
mine eyes have seen Thy salvation." Oh, how rich Simeon
was that morning I May God give us these six hearts this
evening in one, that we may be rich to-day and rich for-
ever. Amen.
PRAYER.
O Father in heaven, Thou who didst send Paul and Silas and
Timothy to that great city of Corinth, determined to preach nothing,
but Christ and Him crucified, and by the preaching of those men didst
establish Thy Church, and didst thereby give us this great epistle
written
by Paul to show us how we can be rich in all things through Christ,
we pray Thy rich blessing to rest upon the message of the evening.
Give Thy rich blessing to every father and to every mother in this
house. We ask a special blessing upon these hoary heads. It will
not be long, O God, until some who are sitting in this house this even-
ing will know of the things they are asked to believe now. It will not
be long, O God, until some of us younger people will go home before
the aged ones, to stand in Thy presence and see Thee face to face. Lord,
help us to sow good seed; help us to grow a great harvest; help us
to reap well on our last day, and may the harvester, by the
mercy of Christ, be found blameless. We ask all these favors in the
name of Jesus, who taught us to pray:
Our Father who art in heaven ; H'allowed be Thy name ; Thy
kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven; Give
us this day our daily bread; And forgive us our trespasses, as we for-
give those who trespass against us; And lead us not into temptation;
But deliver us from evil ; For Thine is the kingdom, and the power,
and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.
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