Pastor Fortunato1 Timothy 6, we are definitely going to get a gentle reminder because verse number 6 says this, But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment, let us be therewith. Content. Godliness is defined as being with contentment. We have an epidemic. If there's ever been a pandemic, it's been a pandemic of people who are not content. But godliness is defined in 1 Timothy chapter 6. You can't be godly without contentment. Now, you're not going to get these three verses. You won't get it from the news media. You won't get it from Hollywood. You won't get it from Wall Street. You won't get it from the success gurus on how you can make it here in this world. You're only going to get it from God and His Word. And I want to be godly. I am trusting you all want to be godly. We're here gathering around God's Word and He says we need to be, we can achieve godliness. We can. but it's only achieved by being content. I told you we're going to be flipping around our Bibles. Go to Philippians 4, and let's try to get some help from a few verses that will help define what we're trying to understand tonight. Philippians chapter number 4. Bible says in verse number 11 of Philippians 4, The 11th verse says this, Not that I speak in respect of one, for I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. So there's going to be some learning involved with how to achieve godliness with contentment. That's what the verse says. There is a learning process. Brother Danny prayed tonight about David. You know what, David's problem was he wasn't content. And he was looking where he shouldn't have been looking and he stayed looking where he shouldn't have been looking and he wasn't content with the state that God had him in. and he messed up big time. Praise God for a gracious God, but that is a direct violation of what it means to be godly. Be content. And it's whatever state you are in, be content. And that preaches, doesn't it? Can we live it? Easy verses to preach, hard verses for all of us, myself included. to live. But here at Pilgrim, we want to live our Christianity, not just know it doctrinally. The Bible says in Hebrews 13, let's go there. Hebrews chapter number 13, godliness is achieved with being content with whatever state you're in. Hebrews 13, the last chapter in Hebrews, Hebrews 13 verse number 5, The Bible says, let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with such things as ye have. That's personal. That's a personal pronoun. Ye. What do you, what do you, you, you is, we use you. It can mean plural or singular. We have these personal pronouns here that make a distinction between, is it a plural or a singular pronoun? This is speaking directly to you as an individual. As ye have, whatever things you have, it says for he has said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. Count all the stuff up that we have. God says, be content. And you know why we can be content with whatever we have, the things that we have? Because God's not going to leave us. Your things might. But God's not. So how can we achieve godliness? Being content with the state that we're in and being content with the things that we have. Yeah, but all I have is hand-me-down clothes. All I have is leftover food. Well, Hebrews says just be content with that. The things you have, that's the path to godliness. Contentment with the things we have. Hebrews 13, contentment with whatever state we're in. That's... That's Hebrews 13 and Philippians 4. Now go to Luke 3 and we'll…I'm going to step on my toes too, especially with this one. Look, Luke 3, Luke 3. Man, isn't there always something else to buy? Isn't there? We're doing this remodel here at the church house and this just seems like every day there's something new to buy. You go to the grocery store and it's like, really? That's how much peas cost now? That's how much fruit costs now? It's like, man, everything just seems to cost more and more. Watch what the Bible says in Luke chapter number 3, verse number 14. God gives us the cure. Bible says in Luke 3, verse 14, and soldiers likewise demanded of him saying, and what shall we do? And he said unto them, do violence to no man. Okay, Lord. Neither accuse any falsely. All right. And be content with your wages. That's a tough verse. Because we work and there's something that we may even need. And all of a sudden we're not content with the wage that we've made. I'm not saying don't try to work up to past the minimum wage. That's a good thing, by the way, for us fellows. I'm not saying, and the Bible is not saying to do a slack job and not do work diligently. The Bible says quite the opposite. But as diligent as you can work and as faithful as you can be on your job, at the end of the week, be content with what God has provided. The path to godliness is contentment in the state that we're in, the things that we have, and the wages that we make. Go back to 1 Timothy chapter number 6. That's probably enough for us to just close our Bible and pray about all week, but I do want you to do that. I'll try to do that as well, but we're going to get a little bit more. 1 Timothy 6, look at the eighth verse. We read it earlier. I'll read it again. And having food and raiment, let us be therewith content. Do you have food? Do you have clothes on your back? Thank God for it. Be content with what you have. And you see this, but godliness, verse 6, with contentment is great gain. In other words, our lives will, God promises this to us, our lives will be better off if we can learn to live contently. B, B, B. I think B content shows up in some form in all four of those verses that we looked at. We need to learn that and we will have great gain. We'll be better off. A couple of Old Testament verses. Go to Psalms 37. Psalms 37. And we'll look at verse 16. Psalms 37, verse number 16. This is a great one in context of what we're talking about tonight. Psalms 37, verse 16. A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked. Do you have a little bit? Are you saved? You're better off with a little, God says in Psalms, than the riches of many that are wicked. You know how a lot of Christians get off track? They turn on that news, that worldly news media. and they get sucked into the lights, camera, action, fame. And they get googly-eyed over all of the riches. And it's just a distraction to get us off of being content. And so now we're chasing that proverbial carrot of that mammon, that money. God doesn't want us to do that. I'm telling you, we're better off with a little. Little as much when... God is in it. If God ain't in it, I don't care how much we have, it ain't nothing. I'm talking about being content. We're talking about being content with what we have. Go to Proverbs 15. Proverbs chapter 15. I enjoy this verse. I believe I've used it quite a few times. Proverbs 15, look at verse number 16. We're talking about great gain and our life being better off. Watch what it says in Proverbs 15, look at verse 16. Better is little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble therewith. A lot of treasure down here on earth brings people a lot of trouble. Just because you've got some treasures, that doesn't mean you're free of trouble. Matter of fact, a lot of times it brings just the opposite. And the Bible says that better is little. Man, do you fear God? You're better off fearing God and just having a little bit than not fearing God and having a bunch of earthly treasures. It's a horrible thing. People that have a lot of earthly treasures and they don't fear God, they're really miserable. People just spend some time with them long enough and that will reveal itself. Verse 17, better is a dinner of herbs where love is. than a stalled ox in hatred therewith. Now it's great if you can afford a high class, you know, five star, you know, a $50 filet mignon meal. It'd be great if you can do that. Most of us can't do that. But if you can spend $300 on dinner for you and your spouse, and there's no love around the table, you're just better off sitting on your back porch snapping green beans and eating some parsley and oregano if there's love there. In other words, you're just better off. What are we having for dinner? It's the cheap date, you know? Man, everybody will take a cheap date if there's love there. Nobody wants the expensive meal when there's no love. It'd be great to have both, but look, God says it's better. It's better. I'm telling you, we're better off just content. That stalled ox, what a great word picture, than a stalled ox. and hatred therewith. So they take the cattle or that ox, they would take it out of the pasture. They're going to fatten it up for a meal. So it comes from the pasture, it goes into the stall, and then from the stall it ends up on your table and you have a meal. God says, forget all that. You're better off with a little. God wants us to be content. If you want to be depressed, miserable, And discontented just seek happiness in things. And that's the sure fire way. If you've read a great book of the Bible to read after a message like this, I believe we all should read the book of Ecclesiastes this week. Solomon had everything you know what the key word in Ecclesiastes is vanity vanity vanity vanity everything under the Sun under the Sun it's all vanity vanity vanity It's a horrible thing. Solomon had wealth, he had fame, and he had power, and he ended up not content. Now contrast that with David. David's running from Saul. He's got nothing but his harp, and he ends up in a cave. And so he decides to write some Psalms. Matter of fact, go to Psalms 34. We're kind of right there. Go back to Psalms and get the 34th chapter. Psalms 34. What a beautiful song. David wrote this in a cave. Verse number 1 of Psalm 34, I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. David, you have nothing. Saul's trying to kill you. That's okay. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord. The humble shall hear thereof and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together. David, don't you get it? He's trying to kill you. He's magnifying the Lord. The whole Psalm, look at verse 8, O taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth in Him. At least in this Psalm we see David content. We see both sides of David in the Bible. That whole mess with Bathsheba was a discontented David. And you want to fall into sin, just get discontented. Don't be content with what God gave you and you can surefire bet that you'll end up in sin. Solomon had everything and wasn't content. David had just about nothing and he was content. You know what a cave is made out of? Rock. Tell me that ain't a picture. I'm telling you, when you're in the rock, you can be content. You can bless the Lord. It don't matter what you go through. It don't matter what you have or don't have. You can taste and see that the Lord is good. That's good, that's good. What shall profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own what? Soul. You got Elon Musk, you got Jeff Bezos, you got Zuckerberg, you've got Buffet, you have all of these guys, they have gained the world. I can't even begin to imagine how much money... that they have been able to make, let alone the accomplishments. You know, the accomplishments that Elon Musk has made during his short lifetime, it's absolutely, I can't understand how he even has time to do it. He has accomplished a lot. He has gained the whole world. But if that man has not trusted Christ, he's leaving with nothing. He didn't gain anything. You see rich people, they need the Gospel. Don't think it's just the, well, you know, the person strung out on drugs, you know, we got to get the gospel to them. And we do. But that thought doesn't mean that the rich are just as needy. The gospel's for everybody. It's not a rich or poor gospel. But guess what? If your soul is saved and you gain nothing in this world, you've gained. You've got great gain because your soul is secure with Christ. Great truth. All right, back to 1 Timothy. Keep your finger in Psalms. Go to the 49th verse because we're going to flip back there. So I think it's best to get that verse first. It's Psalms 49 and 1 Timothy chapter number 6. Lost my spot, 1 Timothy. Okay, I think I'm just about there. 1 Timothy chapter number 6. Look at this 7th verse. Bible says, For we brought nothing into this world. Young people, pay attention. You think that the toys you have are the most important thing that you've got. And your parents know that because when your brother or your sister or your friend or the neighbor or somebody tries to take them, you lose your mind. That demonstrates a heart that is not content. Your favorite doll, your favorite truck, your favorite whatever, they're not taking it with you. Us adults, we might be able to hide it better because we're adults. We're not taking any of it with us. And verse number 7 brings it home, for we brought nothing into this world and it is certain we can carry nothing out. Hold that thought with Psalms 49. Look at the 17th verse. Look at verse 16 of Psalm 49. Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased. For when he dieth, he shall carry nothing away. His glory shall not descend after him. Go ahead and make the glory out of all of the prized earthly possessions. When you die, your earthly glory is not coming with you. We can't take it. And we all need to be careful of covetousness because if we're not, we'll just keep sinking deeper and deeper and deeper into the quicksand of dissatisfaction. And God says we are never going to achieve anywhere near godliness with a heart like that. Well, I'm not a drunk. I'm not addicted to alcohol. I'm not addicted to drugs. Well, what's the difference if you're just addicted to stuff? It's just a different addiction. If you're not content, God says, wake up. I'm better and you can gain more in finding satisfaction in me. If you desire nothing more than you have, you'll be free from that. And think about this. You're only poor if you want more. I'm not trying to be cheesy, but it's, if you, if we're content with what we have, we can't say we poor, we have everything that we need. People say I'm poor. It's only if you want more. I'll wrestle with it too. I wrestle with it too, believe me, I wrestle with it. Go to the book of Job. Job chapter number 1. Job chapter number 1, we're not taking nothing with us. Here's what Job said. Verse number 20 of Job 1, Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, and said, here's how Job worshipped, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken the way. Blessed be the name of the Lord. In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. How about that? We're all going to come, we came into this world bald, crying, naked and with no teeth. And we're leaving the same way, okay? We're going to be bald, crying and naked and no teeth. We're not taking anything with us. We come in, that's powerful language, and Job says he's going to bless the Lord. We're going out of this world the same way we came in, folks. We came in with nothing, and we're leaving with nothing. Don't let your soul leave naked without being clothed in the righteousness of Christ. That's the covering that we all need. And you can be content and rest content in that. All right, let's do one more verse, 8. 1 Timothy chapter 6. 1 Timothy chapter 6 verse 6, But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment, let us be there with content. This right here is the death blow to the prosperity gospel. The prosperity gospel preaches that God wants you to have material wealth and good health. It is an absolute false gospel. That has infiltrated a lot of minds of saved people. They're saved, they just got caught up and confused and taught wrong, and now they think that God wants to give them material wealth and material health. Now you can have that if you just send me in some money. Well, what, you don't have enough faith? And they dupe a lot of people into doing that. Well, I don't want to send my money in. And they'll tell you, well, you don't have enough faith. Just send it in and trust God and he'll bless you. And well, God will bless you. And we already are, we already have more blessings than we can even talk about. Count your blessings, name them one by one. We'll be here for, well, a long time. We have spiritual blessings. We're seated in heavenly places. God never promised us earthly material blessing. I won't park here because I've gone down this road so many times that you've heard it enough. Who did God promise material blessings to? The nation of Israel. When they obeyed him, they received earthly blessings. So all these prosperity gospel preachers, they steal verses that God gave in context to the nation of Israel based on their obedience to an earthly law, which by the way, that earthly law never saved their soul. But it sure did save their land from going into famine. So anyway, anyway, we have spiritual blessings. God wants you to be content. We are to lay our, where are our treasures laid up and stored up? In where? Heaven. Heaven, that's right. That's right. And if you're walking with God, it doesn't matter what your earthly circumstances are because if you're seeking eternal things, you're not going to cling to earthly things. What are you seeking? Earthly or eternal? When you read 1 Timothy chapter 6 verse number 8, having food and raiment, let us be therewith content. Do we see anything here about material wealth, abundant living, luxuries? God says food and raiment. Now I want to take a little park. I do this sometimes. I want to park on a word. Go back to Genesis 41 for a second. Genesis chapter number 41. The Bible has a lot of information in it. We have to study it. Studying takes time. And when we come across a word like raiment, the Bible will define what it is. It is a word that isn't in use today. But let's see what the Bible has to say about it and we can get some understanding of what it is. So I am not going to tell you what it is. I'll let the text tell you what it is. Genesis chapter 41, look at verse 42. And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand and put it upon Joseph's hand and arrayed him in vestures. of fine linen. We get the word raiment from arraiment. It's short for array. It means, so raiment or arraiment or to array. So when we read Genesis chapter number 41, what was the verse? 42. It says, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen. So what do you What do you think was happening with vestures of fine linen? You get the picture? You get the picture? Raiment being arrayed, that's the root word. Go to Chronicles, go to 2 Chronicles and look at three more quickly. 2 Chronicles, look at chapter 5, 2 Chronicles 5, verse number 12. That's a good verse too. Verse number 12 of 2 Chronicles 5, And the Levites, which were the singers, all of them of Asaph of Heman, so that's a strong name if you're looking for names, Heman, and Jeduthun. with their sons and their brethren. Now here's what I wanted to get to. Being arrayed in white linen. That's raiment. Arrayed. Raiment. Being arrayed in white linen. Okay, go to 2 Chronicles 28. 2 Chronicles 28. Well this is a lot of work to figure out what Raymond is. It's okay. It's good to flip through all these verses that we… I mean who reads through Chronicles a lot? It's good to go through, it's good to get into the book of Chronicles now and then. Second Chronicles 28, look at the 15th verse. And the men which were expressed by name rose up and took the captives… and with the spoil clothed all that were naked among them and arrayed them. What is raiment? It's clothing. They're being arrayed. They're having raiment put on them. It's clothing. Last one, go to 1 Timothy 2. And it's verse 9. 1 Timothy 2 verse 9, And like manner also that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety, not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly, what's the word? Array, array, raiment, array, costly array. That's what raiment is. So there's the word study on that. All right, onward and upward. God says that Christians should be happy, not ...with a bunch of money and material possessions. They should be happy. God wants us to be happy, wants us to be content. Food, do we have it? Raymond, do we have it? Be content. I'll do one more thing about Raymond and... You tell me what you think after service. I don't know for sure. I can't say it dogmatically, but my opinion is that the raiment, some will say when they go to that verse, some of the commentators say, well, that raiment includes not just clothing, physical clothing covering, but a house. You would have a roof over your head and they would say you would be arrayed or you'd have raiment. Now, which one is it? I don't know. I tend to lean toward it's just clothing. Yeah. We looked at David. He was in a cave and he was content. He had food and raiment. He didn't have a place to... That cave wasn't his. Jesus. Jesus, he didn't have a place to lay his head. Jesus was content. Paul. In Acts 28, Paul stayed at a house for two years. He was given an allowance to stay there. It wasn't Paul's house. Paul spent a lot of time in prison. He spent a lot of time being shipwrecked. You know what Paul was? Content. Joyful. He was rejoicing. So, I think we should be content with food and raiment. So, path to contentment. Whatever state you're in, whatever things you have, whatever wages you make, and whatever food and clothing you have, that's the path to godliness. Being content with what we have in those areas of our life.
