Proverbs 11:4,  Riches profit not in the day of wrath: but righteousness delivereth from death.

We live in the days where the great quest of men and of woman is the quest to be rich.

We live in a country where it seems the major motivation for living is to accumulate and consume.

We are constantly bombarded with messages that tell us that living a life without a particular product or service is not a life worth living.

There are products for every part of your body that you absolutely need to function in this world and there is no way you will be able to live without them, we are told.

There were probably advertisers in Jesus day walking the street yelling out information for products made by local craftsmen, perhaps even carrying advertising boards front and back.

But in our day it is rampant with newspapers, radio, television, the internet with its email, blogs, and web sites, facebook and twitter and don’t forget billboards and even T-shirts.

There is no place to go where we are not taught that our whole reason for living is to consume the world’s products..

We were told by our President after that dark day of 9/11 to go buy things to show how patriotic we were.

In President Clinton’s day we were told:  It’s the economy stupid.

In our day it seems the whole reason for government is the promotion of the economy and the creation of jobs.

There is little connection to our Constitution for what goes on in government today.

Every candidate for office is commanded to bring home not only the bacon, but everything else that goes with breakfast.

We also see coming on the scene according to the Apostle John, Satan’s product of humanism, that ultimate man who opposes Christ and commands that all, in order to engage in commerce, must be marked as though people themselves are to become merchandise.

For without such marks men and women are unacceptable to the head merchant, the Antichrist.

What we are experiencing today heads us towards that act.

What is the purpose of all this?

Well, we are told that it is so that all can realize the American dream.

And that dream, is to accumulate as much as possible of that which can be seen, smelled, touched, tasted or heard.

For we live in a material world encouraged and supervised by Satan, the Archenemy of God and His Son Jesus Christ.

Satan boasts about his plan, even having his own song.

This is a song called "Material Girl" which describes the citizens of his material world.

The girl of this song sings about this in this verse:

They can beg and they can plead,

But they can’t see the light, that’s right

Cause the boy with the cold hard cash,

Is always Mister Right, Cause we are

Living in a material world

And I am a material girl,

You know that we are living in a material world

And I am a material girl.

So Satan is bold to tell us clearly that this is his world and he is only concerned with the material.

Do we not see his efforts in every area to remove anything that concerns the spiritual.

Do we not see anything spiritual being compartmentalized so that it is never in the public square.

Remove the Bible and prayer in school, remove prayer in public places, remove any display of the ten commandments.

Get rid of or isolate the spiritual and promote and broadcast the material.

Satan was at this mission of making this world into a material world when he confronted our Lord in one of his weakest moments.

Jesus was led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.

Jesus was led to fast for forty days and forty nights, and when he was extremely hungry that crafty and deceitful Satan saw his opportunity and came to the physically weak Jesus to tempt him.

He came to him attempting to show where his salvation was to come from for Satan’s program is to convince that salvation comes from the material world, the so called real world, that world which can only be known by the use of the senses.

None of that old timey faith required thank you!

Jesus, Satan said,  If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.

Oh, How good that must have sounded.

Bread for a hungry man, sustenance from this world of the material.

Bread that touches the senses, of sight, smell, touch and taste.

A little jam or jelly along with some bright yellow warm butter would do Jesus so well at this time of his work.

Why not, what harm will a little bread do, you might say? Just a little bread!

But Jesus did not succumb to Satan’s temptation instead choosing to provide us a truth about Satan’s material world and its clutches upon mankind which denies any other world.

So any thoughts of comfort, any satisfaction that the eating of bread would bring about, was cast aside and our blessed Lord used the sword of the Spirit that had already been expressed in Deut. 8:3 to thwart the advances of the devil.

And this is recorded in Matthew 4:4, where He said,  It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

In this God has degreed that man shall not live by bread alone.

But as is the case in everything that God says, Satan is fully committed, passionately committed to do the opposite of what God commands.

Satan speaks a resounding NO to this degree and instead he says that in my world, in my world system:

Man shall live by bread alone!, and it is obvious he has done a good job in convincing most men and women of this.

Most of mankind is consumed with the getting of bread.

Most of mankind is consumed with the idea that the only way to get bread is by the sweat of your brow.

That is Satan’s message.

But the message of God is quite different for Jesus clearly taught his disciples this prayer:

Matthew 6:9-11,  After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.  GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD.

We are to note that the source of bread is from the hand of our Father which art in heaven.

We are to stretch our hand out to our Father for bread.

For the source of bread is not to be thought of as from our own hand.

This idea makes all the difference in the world for it shows us that we are to live not by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

We are not to live adopting the message of Satan that Man shall live by bread alone for that statement ignores the hand of God who makes the bread, promoting the idea that man can be independent of God.

Jesus in the same passage in Matthew 6 told his disciples not to be fooled by Satan’s message that this is a material world.

For Jesus told them not to concentrate on the laying up of treasure upon earth, also telling them this astounding idea to take no thought for what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink, nor for your body, or what shall ye put on.

Matthew 6:31-34,  Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?  (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.  But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.  Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

This presents an interesting priority list for it only has one item on the list.

That item is to seek ye first the kingdom of God.

That is the whole list.

All of the other things mentioned are not on list for ye are not to give them thought.

So God gives us a very simple list.

But Satan’s deceptive message is that seeking bread is the only item on the list.

Satan’s message that Man shall live by bread alone means that seeking bread is everything for this is a material world.

But Jesus’ message is to not be concerned about seeking bread for your heavenly Father will provide bread.

The first priority is to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all the bread you need will come, no shopping list required.

The world’s message is that seeking the kingdom of God is foolish.

The world’s message is to seek bread and more bread and more bread but that is Satan’s way, not God’s way.

Satan’s way is that the more bread you have the more security you will have and with more security where will your need be to go to God’s hand for bread?

But God’s way is to take no thought for the morrow.

You are to ask for bread today.

Tomorrow will be today in one day then ask again for your daily bread is the way that God tells us to live for man shall not live by bread alone.

So we are to be warned about the security that riches bring to the mind for as our proverb says:  Riches profit not in the day of wrath: but righteousness delivereth from death.

Where will you be in the day of wrath.

At the bank getting your riches to take to the mountains and hide from God’s wrath.

Or are you depositing your riches in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves cannot break through and steal.

Have you chosen to adopt God’s priority of life where material goods are incidental to life, not worth thinking about or investing your life in, knowing that God will provide if ye first seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness?

Are you resting in this truth or do you think that getting bread all depends on you.

If you do, this is Godless thinking.

Jesus said in Matthew 19:23 that this kind of Godless thinking results for the most part in doom.

For he said that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.

He did not say it couldn’t happen.

He simply said it is very rare for most rich men have decided to live in the material world and trust in their riches to keep them safe.

But Jesus knew how fading riches were and he cautioned in Proverbs 23:4 to labor not to be rich; cease from thine own wisdom.

This wisdom coming from the natural man is to seek to be rich for he only sees with his eyes and refuses to see by faith.

He sees that the rich have power, the rich have comfort.

The rich have many friends, fair weather friends though they may be, but perhaps better than no friends at all.

But Jesus also says in Proverbs 23:5,  Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.

Jesus also cautions that they that hasten to be rich shall not be innocent.

They that hasten to be rich hath an evil eye, not considering that poverty shall come upon him.

Seeking to be rich makes getting riches more important than God’s word and the moral principles that God’s word provides.

Seeking to be rich brings corner cutting and relinquishing of principles in order to reach the goals of the material world.

Seeking to be rich means that one’s hope is built on nothing less than the gold and silver of this world, those things that can be seen and touched.

God has determined to burn this world up with all its treasures, its monuments, its buildings, its grandeur.

God has no use for the treasures of this earth but he rejoices when his children use those treasures in the advancement of His kingdom for this activity takes faith in His word which pleases Him well.

Satan convinces that Man shall live by bread alone but God says riches are not forever.

He says in Proverbs 27:25-27,   The hay appeareth, and the tender grass showeth itself, and herbs of the mountains are gathered.  The lambs are for thy clothing, and the goats are the price of the field.  And thou shalt have goats’ milk enough for thy food, for the food of thy household, and for the maintenance for thy maidens.

And in Proverbs 30:8,  Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me:  Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.