LUKE xiv. 11. “The true riches.”
LUKE xii. 21. “Rich toward God.” JAMES ii. 5. “Rich
in faith.” 1 TIM. vi. 18. “Rich in good works.” MATT. vi.
20. “Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.”

THESE texts give a complete view of the New Testament
teaching on the one subject to which they all relate. The
aim of multitudes in this life is simply to acquire a fortune.
When we come to define riches, we find it difficult to give
preciseness to the idea attached to the word. The man
who has gold enough for all his wants is rich. Money
is but a means to an end, that end being the convenient
attainment of things requisite for comfortable existence.
The soul has wants as well as the body, and the means
by which its necessities are to be supplied may be called
” riches,” the true riches.
I. What are these riches? He is rich who has a good
conscience, a will in unison with God’s, and emotions of
happiness in the contemplation of God; God Himself is
the true wealth of the soul. We are all originally poor, for
we have sinned and wandered from God. But we all, if we
will, may become spiritually wealthy through Jesus Christ
our Lord.
II. How can we acquire these riches? James has given
us the answer: “rich in faith.” It is by faith that we
become rich toward God.
III. How are we to keep and increase these riches?
Paul enlightens us here when he bids Timothy charge his
hearers to be “rich in good works.” The riches of personal
deliverance may be regarded as the one pound which Christ
gives to all who will take it: his own good works are the
improvement which the believer makes on that original gift
This improvement is both personal and diffusive.
IV. The exhortation to “lay up for yourselves treasures
in heaven.”
1. The pursuit of this wealth is attended with no danger
to the character.
2. In the search every one may be successful.
3. This spiritual treasure is abiding.
W. M. Taylor, D.D.