(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Before we read chapter 5 and go through some things in chapter 5, let's turn it over to Nehemiah chapter 9. And I want to show you in Nehemiah chapter 5 what is really a snapshot in many ways of the day that we're living in and the state that we find ourselves in in this nation in America. And in chapter 9, we get a little bit of a picture of how the children of Israel got to the point they were in. Because in chapter 5, the part that I just read to you, we see a pretty grim picture of how things are. We see a pretty bleak outlook. And in chapter 9, we see a little bit of how they got there. Look at verse number 33. It says in Nehemiah 9.33, Howbeit, and this is Nehemiah praying unto God, Howbeit thou art just in all that is brought upon us, for thou hast done right, but we have done wickedly. Neither have our kings, our princes, our priests, nor our fathers kept thy law, nor hearkened unto thy commandments and thy testimonies, wherewith thou didst testify against them. For they have not served thee in their kingdom, and in thy great goodness that thou gavest them. And in the large and fat land which thou gavest before them, neither turned they from their wicked works. And so Nehemiah starts out. He says, Look, we're the problem. We've sinned. We've turned away from God's commandments. We have not followed his laws. We've not been obeying the Bible. Our leaders haven't been obeying the Bible. The government's not obeying the Bible. We personally haven't obeyed the Bible. That's why we're in this position. He says to God, thou hast done right. You've done right. We've done wickedly. It's our fault. It's not God's fault. It's our fault. And then they say in verse 36, Behold, we are servants this day. See, that's the punishment. They turned from God to have followed his commandments, and therefore they said, We're servants this day. We're slaves, as it were. And for the land that thou gavest unto our fathers, to eat the fruit thereof and the good thereof, behold, we are servants in it. They're saying, Look, our ancestors, our fathers, were given this land by God. They enjoyed the fruit of it. Now here we are generations later. We've messed up. We've sinned. Now we're servants in it. We don't own it anymore. We're just living on it. They say in verse 37, And it yieldeth much increase unto the kings whom thou hast set over us because of our sins. Also, they have dominion over our bodies and over our cattle at their pleasure, and we are in great distress. They say, Even our own bodies don't even belong to us anymore. We're just servants to those that rule over us, and we don't own our land, and we're not free. We don't have any freedom, is what they're saying. Go back to chapter 5. In chapter 5, we get more details about some of the problems they were having. And you know, as I was reading this, and I was reading over chapter 5, I couldn't just help but think about our nation. How this is pretty much where we're at in our nation in so many ways. And let's look through some of this. He says in verse 2... Well, he says in verse 1, There was a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brother and the Jews. For there were that said, We our sons and our daughters are many. Therefore we take up corn for them that we may eat and live. Some also there were that said, We've mortgaged our lands, vineyards, and houses that we may buy corn because of the dirt. Now, you probably didn't even realize that that word's in the Bible, mortgage. Who knows what a mortgage is? A mortgage is a house payment. That's when you borrow money to buy a house or maybe you already own your house and then you can't afford to buy food. So you have to mortgage your house. You have to basically borrow money against your house on interest in order to even buy food. That's what we see here. They've mortgaged their lands, their vineyards, and houses that we may buy corn because of the dirt. Dirt means famine. There were also that said, We borrowed money for the king's tribute. What's that mean? These are people saying, We have to borrow money to pay our taxes. Basically, and here's what's interesting. Now the IRS takes a credit card. It didn't used to be so. But today the IRS, when tax time comes around and you owe thousands of dollars to the IRS, they take a credit card now because a lot of people, they don't have the money to pay when that tax bill comes. They have to put it on the credit card. And that's what this is talking about. These people are putting their taxes on the credit card in verse 4. Well, there's nothing new under the sun, isn't there? It's just the same thing that goes on like thousands of years later. They say in verse 5, Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children. And lo, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants. And some of our daughters are brought under bondage already. Neither it is in our power to redeem them, for other men have our lands and vineyards. You say, what are they talking about? They're bringing us into bondage. You know, the Bible says the borrower is a servant to the lender. You know, when you've mortgaged all your property and you're borrowing money to pay your taxes, you don't have a lot of freedom. And you're selling your children into bondage today in America because our government today has a debt of $14.6 trillion. Well, that was the last time I checked. It's probably like up to $15 trillion by now. You know, they have this huge debt. Who's gonna pay that debt? You know, they say that children today are born in America. How much is it that they, somebody help me out, how much do they say that they owe, they're just born owing some huge amount? What is it, somebody know the number? 40 grand. 40 grand or something like, per person. So that would mean like, since I have eight people in my family, our share of that is like $320,000. I mean, how would you like to be $320,000 in debt? You know, as a family, at 30 years old. You know, that doesn't sound good. With nothing to back it up, nothing to show for it, just a bunch of debt. And that's going into bondage right there. When you have $320,000 debt hanging over your head, that's gonna enslave you and bring you into bondage. You're gonna have to mortgage the house for that thing. He says in verse six, I was very angry. And a lot of people today are angry about these things. They're angry when they have to mortgage their house and borrow money just to buy food, just to buy corn to eat, and just to pay their bills and survive. And they don't wanna see their children enslaved to that kind of debt. It says in verse seven, then I consulted with myself and I rebuked the nobles and the rulers and said of them, the exact usury, every one of his brother, and I set a great assembly against him. Now what is usury? I'm gonna talk a lot about usury tonight because I wanna teach you about this. Because this is really the root of the problem here. Besides turning from God, besides breaking God's rules, not serving him, not being thankful for the good land that he'd given them, that's obviously the spiritual root of the problem. But what was being used to oppress them was usury. And Nehemiah, he saw right away what the problem was. He went right to the source, he went to the leaders, he went to the rulers, he went to the nobles, and he said you exact usury, every one of his brother. He set a great assembly against him. That means they got a big crowd of people, almost like a protest, a big assembly of people that were all mad, saying hey, you're ripping us off here, you're stealing from. Now, what is usury? Interest. Interest, exactly. Who knows what interest is? Interest. Now here's the thing, you grow up in America, as I grew up in America, and you go to school, and you're taught that interest is a good thing, it's wonderful, it's loving. And you're taught that usury is bad, but interest is good, okay? And it's wonderful, and it's capitalist, okay? But let me explain something to you. In the Bible, usury is interest. There's no difference, okay? Now in America today, in our vernacular, who's ever, by the way, let me just ask, who knows, who's heard the word usury? Who's heard that word usury? You know, a few people, not everybody. It's not something that we commonly use. In America today, usury is defined as really high interest, like charging somebody 30% interest or above. That's called usury in America today. Now if you charge somebody 5%, 10%, 20%, 25%, that's all fine with Andy. You know, the credit card companies charge 29.99% because they're not supposed to charge 30 because that's usury. You know, 29.99 is fine. Now, that's not what the Bible teaches, okay? The Bible uses the word usury. The Bible doesn't have the word interest in it. And the Bible uses the word usury just to talk about charging any kind of interest whatsoever. And I'm gonna show you what the scriptures say about that in a moment, but let's keep reading. We'll get back to that. It says in verse eight, I said unto them, we, after our ability, have redeemed our brethren the Jews which were sold unto the heathen. And will you sell your brethren? Or shall they be sold unto us? Then they held their peace and found nothing to answer. Also, I said, it is not good that you do, ought you not to walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the heathen, our enemies? Likewise, I and my brethren and my servants might exact of them money and corn. I pray you, let us leave off this usury. He said, let's quit with the usury already. Restore, I pray you to them, even this day, their lands, their vineyards, their olive yards, and their houses. Also, now this is the huge taxes that they had to pay back then. Also, the hundredth part of the money and of the corn, the wine, and the oil that you exact of them. Now, what percentage is the hundredth part? Now, that's a really high interest rate, huh? 1% interest, isn't that terrible? But wait a minute, God called it usury, did he not? He said 1% is usury. So, this modern day lying definition that says, oh, it's only usury if it's 30% or more. That's not biblical. The Bible calls any charging of interest usury. Jump down if you would, I'll just show you one more verse and then I'll get into the meat of the sermon tonight. It says in verse 15, but the former governors that had been before me were chargeable unto the people and had taken up them bread and wine besides 40 shekels of silver. Yea, even their servants bear rule over the people, but so did not I because of the fear of the Lord. Now, Nehemiah, let me just explain this story. Nehemiah is the governor of the land and he's explaining how the previous governors, they were taking all kinds of taxes, charging all kinds of interest rates and usury. They were abusing the people for financial gain, for their own wealth. And he said, I didn't do that because I feared God. I don't charge usury, I don't charge interest. I'm not taking all this money from them. And he said that even the governors before him, even their servants were ruling over everybody. You know, even the bureaucrats, even the employees of the rulers just thought that they were the bosses and they're gonna rule over the people. And you know, our country today is run by millionaires. Now I'm not talking about people that are business people who make legitimate money. I'm talking about the people who are in the Congress and Senate of the United States today have millions of dollars. I don't know if you know that. Who knows what I'm talking about? I mean, you can look, they have to declare their finances as Congressman and senators. They have millions and millions of dollars, pretty much all of them. I mean, if you're a US Congressman, US Senator, you have millions of dollars. Well, let me just explain it to you. They don't get a paycheck of millions of dollars. It's because they're corrupt, it's because they're crooked. They make their money through usury. They make their money through dishonest means. They make their money through taking bribes and conflict of interests and promoting their own business interests through their governing role. Now I want to preach to you tonight about usury and interests. Let me tell you something. It isn't right. The Bible condemns it. Now a lot of people think it's okay. They think it's wrong. And this sermon will be shocking to a lot of people. And they'll be shocked by it. What are you talking about? This is America. It's all about interest payments and taking interest. Look, just because we grew up with something and it's been taught us our whole life that it's right, that doesn't make it right. Let's see what the Bible says because I'm gonna turn with you. And look, I don't want you to just take this blindly for me. I want you to look at every verse in the whole Bible that mentions usury. I'm gonna show it to you. Go to Exodus 22. You say, what's usury? Maybe you're a young person in the room tonight or a child and you're saying, I don't even know what you're talking about. What is usury? Well, let me just explain to you what usury is. Usury is when I loan you money or I loan you food and I make you pay me back more than what I loaned you. You understand that? Like let's say, for example, Brother Garrett, I walk up to Brother Garrett and I say, hey Brother Garrett, I can't afford to pay my rent this month. I need to borrow 50 bucks. Can you loan me 50 bucks, Brother Garrett? And Brother Garrett says, yeah, I'll loan you 50 bucks. When do you get paid? I say, you know, I get paid next Friday. And he says, okay, well, I'll give you 50 bucks today but I'm gonna charge you interest. I'm gonna charge you usury. That means that when you get paid next Friday, you're gonna give me 60 bucks. Now, see, the sad thing is that the average person in America today and even in this church or other churches that would hear me say that, they'd say, that sounds fair. I mean, yeah, you're borrowing money, you pay interest. You get it early, you get it two weeks early, you pay $10 for the use of the money. You used his money, you used his 50 bucks for two weeks, of course you owe him $10 in interest. But wait a minute, God says, my ways are not your ways and my thoughts are not your thoughts. According to the Bible, that is not a legitimate way to make money. A legitimate way to make money biblically is to go out and work and get paid. That's how you make money. Not going and playing a bunch of lotto tickets, not going to the casino and you're gonna win big. Everybody wants to find a way to make money without working and it's not right. God says we shouldn't be hasty to become rich. We shouldn't look for means of dishonest gain. We should labor and work with our hands, the thing that's right, and get paid for the work that we did, not by taking usury and charging people interest. And you say it sounds harmless. It does sound harmless on the surface, but it leads us into the mess that we're in in America today. The financial mess we're in in America today is due to all the banking and all the interest and all the debt and all the compounding debt and the derivatives and all this garbage. That's what is less, because people don't care what this book says. They lean onto their own understanding. They think to themselves, well, it sounds fair to me, but see, it doesn't matter if it sounds fair to you. The Bible doesn't say that it's fair. The Bible says it's not. And so even if it sounds like a good idea, it sounds like it's gonna work out, well, it's just not biblical. And so that might sound like a legitimate way to make money for you, to loan out money, to give loans and to charge interest on those loans, but that is not biblical. According to the Bible, that's called usury and it's wrong. You say, I don't think it's wrong, Pastor Anderson. Let's read the clear commandments of God and let's see if it's wrong or not. And you know what, if I'm wrong on this tonight, well then, I'm wrong on it. But you know what? I'm gonna show you the Bible, clear as day. Look at Exodus 22, verse 25, and tell me if this is hard to understand. It says, if thou lend money to any of my people that is poor by thee, are you in Exodus 22, 25? Now stop right there. It's not rich people that usually need you to loan them money, right? A guy doesn't pull up in a fancy car and a fancy suit and say, hey, can I borrow 10 bucks? Usually, it's people that are poor. And you know, it's not always people's fault. Sometimes people do get in a bind and they need some money, they need a loan, they need somebody to help them till next Friday, whatever. So he says, look, if somebody is poor by thee, thou shalt not be to him a usurer. Neither shalt thou lay usury upon him usury. So he says, look, if somebody's poor and they need to borrow some money, he says, don't be a usurer. Don't lend them money on usury. It says in verse 26, if thou at all take thy neighbor's raiment to pledge, thou shalt deliver it unto him, by that the sun goeth thou. For that is his covering only. It is his raiment for his skin, wherein shall he sleep? And it shall come to pass when he crieth unto me that I will hear, for I am gracious. You say, what's that pledge about? Well, God's telling you, first of all, and we're gonna see other verses that are even more clear, telling you that all usury is wrong, okay? But here we see, he says, look, a poor guy comes to you, wants to borrow money from you. Maybe somebody in church or a friend of yours, they're a little down on their luck, they need a little extra money to get them through till payday. He says, hey, loan them the money, but don't charge interest, just loan them the money. Now, he says, you might take a pledge from them. Like, for example, well, I'm gonna loan you your 50 bucks, but I need to hang on to something of yours just to make sure that you pay me back, okay? And you know, so he says, look, don't take the shirt off their back and then not give it back to them and then they don't, you know, they don't even have a shirt on. He's like, you know, you need to be merciful to people and realize that, you know, you can't just take advantage of people. Now, flip over to Leviticus chapter 25. So that's the first mention of usury in the entire Bible. The first mention of usury is in Exodus 22. He says, look, if somebody's poor, they need to borrow money, don't be a usurer, don't charge usury. Just lend it to them. Look at Leviticus chapter 25, verse 35. It says in Leviticus 25, 35, and if thy brother be waxen poor and fallen into decay with thee, then thou shalt relieve him. Yea, though he be a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with thee. Verse 36, take thou no usury of them or increase, but fear thy God, that thy brother may live with thee. Thou shalt not give him thy money upon usury, nor lend him thy vittles for increase. So he says, don't loan him food and don't loan him money and charge interest. You can loan it to him. You ought to loan it to him if he needs help. The Bible says, give to him that asketh thee and from him that would borrow of thee, turn not thou awake. So sometimes it's good to loan people money, loan them food, whatever, but he says, don't charge interest, don't charge usury on that. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 23, 19. So we've seen it in Exodus, we've seen it in Leviticus. Go to Deuteronomy 23, 19. It says in Deuteronomy chapter 23, 19. So, so far he's told us, don't charge interest of the poor. He told us that twice. Look at Deuteronomy 23, 19. Thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother, usury of money, usury of vittles, usury of anything that is lent upon usury. He says, look, if you loan them anything, do not charge interest, whether it's money, food, or anything else. Now look what he says next here. Unto a stranger thou mayest lend upon usury, but unto thy brother thou shalt not lend upon usury, that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all that thou sittest thine hand to in the land, whether thou goest to possess it. Now you say, wait a minute Pastor Henry, you're saying there it's okay to loan to the stranger. This is a stranger in the Bible. It's not saying somebody you don't know. This isn't don't talk to strangers, okay. When the Bible says the word stranger, it means foreigner. It's talking about somebody in another country. He says, you know, and keep in mind, two of Israel have an adversarial relationship with the nations around them. And so he's saying, hey, no one should charge, basically no Israelite was supposed to charge a fellow Israelite interest, never. When he says your brother, he's not talking about just your brother. When it says your brother, he's saying one of the children of Israel, because they were all called brethren, okay, at that time, because they were all the sons of Israel. And he says, no one in your nation, you don't charge them usury. You only could charge somebody of these other heathen, ungodly nations around you. Why? Because charging interest or charging usury is harmful unto the person that you're charging. And so yeah, do it to the stranger, the foreigner, but not, basically, to put this in modern day, it would be like, don't charge your fellow American interest. Don't charge somebody who's part of your, you know, charge some wicked heathen or whatever. But even that wouldn't even be legit, because back then it was a different situation where they're basically living around heathen nations that were their enemies. So it's basically like, you know, charge of them, but don't, for example, you say, well, I don't think you're turning around. Well, Deuteronomy 14, 21, you don't have to turn there. He tells you, don't eat animals that die by themselves. But he says, you can sell it to a stranger. Now, think about that. An animal that dies on its own, you think you should eat that meat? No, everybody knows that when an animal dies on its own, you throw it out, you don't eat it. Okay, you don't say, oh, well, let's butcher it and eat it. Because if it died, there's a reason why it died. Because there's something wrong with it. It's sick or it has a problem, don't eat it. Eat, you know, an animal that's been butchered, that's killed, and you butcher it on the spot, not it's been laying out in the field. Oh, I wonder when this thing died. You think it's still pretty fresh? Let's go ahead and eat it. He's saying, but he says, hey, don't eat it, but you can sell it to an alien, he says. Okay, so we're not talking about people that you're being kind to. We're not talking about people that you're being loving to. He says, yeah, sell the alien to your old dead animal that you're not gonna eat. But you're, he says, but thou, this is Deuteronomy 14.21, for thou are an holy people unto the Lord thy God, and shall not see the kid in his mother's milk. So he's saying, you know, sell it to the alien. You know, yeah, charge them usury, but don't you dare charge your fellow Israelite usury, is what he's saying. Go to Nehemiah chapter five, or that's where we work. Turn to Psalm 15. In Nehemiah five, Nehemiah got mad and said, ye exact usury, every one of his brother, and I said a great assembly against them. In verse 10, he said, I likewise, and my brethren and my servants, might exact of them money and corn. I pray you, let us leave off this usury. So, so far, just to give you a rundown, Exodus said, don't charge usury. Leviticus said, don't charge usury. Deuteronomy said, hey, don't charge your fellow brother usury, charge it to the alien, but don't charge your brother. And then in Nehemiah, he's rebuking them for charging usury in two places. Look at Psalm 15. So, so far, the Bible's been pretty consistent on it. It's a bad thing to do. Psalm 15, he says in verse one, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle, who shall dwell in thy holy guilt? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart, and jump down, if you would, to verse five. He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent, he that doeth these things shall never be moved. So, according to the Bible, who's gonna abide in God's tabernacle? Who's gonna dwell in God's holy hill? Verse five, he that putteth not out his money to usury. Does that sound like charging interest is a good way to make a living? Does that sound like God wants you to loan people money in charge of interest? If he says, hey, the way to be blessed by God, the way to dwell in his holy hill, the way to abide in his tabernacle is to be the kind of guy who doesn't put out your money to usury. Look, if you would, at Proverbs 28. And you might be able to attack, maybe you can attack one of these examples I'm using, but you can't attack all of them. I mean, you can say, well, you know, that was just talking about the poor people. Just don't charge poor people interest. Well, newsflash, guess who borrows money? Poor people. I mean, I know Michael Jackson probably borrowed a lot of money to buy all his drugs and everything, but typically, when people are borrowing money, typically people who are rich, they're the ones lending out the money. They're the ones who have money sitting in the bank. They're not going down to this loans till payday place across 48th Street. You're not gonna see a Lexus in that parking lot. You're not gonna see a well-dressed, but you're gonna see people that are poor, and they're trying to borrow money, and they're getting charged huge amounts of interest for it. He says in Proverbs 28, eight, he that by usury and unjust gain increaseeth his substance, he shall gather it for him that will pity the poor. Did you see that? God lumps in usury with unjust gain, and he says, if you get your money through usury, he says, you know what? God's not gonna bless that. You'll gather it for him that'll pity the poor. God will make sure that you lose your money, because he'll curse you for that. Look, if you would, let's go to Jeremiah chapter 15. There's a lot of scriptures here on this, Jeremiah 15. I'll read for you from Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 24, he just says, he's predicting some doom and destruction on their nation, and he says, it shall be as with the people, so with the priests, as with the servant, so with the master, as with the maid, so with their mistress as with the buyer, so with the seller, as with the lender, so with the borrower, as with the taker of usury, so with the givery of usure to him, the land shall be utterly emptied and utterly spoiled for the Lord has spoken his word. Just kind of a neutral mention just about usury, just talking about the fact that it takes place. But look, I just wanna read you every mention so you don't think I'm deviating out. Go to Jeremiah 15, it says, verse 10. Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne at me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth. I have neither lent on usury, nor men have lent to me on usury, yet every one of them doth curse me. He's saying, what, what have I done to deserve this? I didn't lend money on usury. And he's saying, yet they curse me. Look if you would at Ezekiel chapter 18. Ezekiel chapter 18, the next book after Jeremiah is Ezekiel. Look at Ezekiel 18, seven. This is talking about a person who has done the right thing. It says in Ezekiel 18, seven. And have not oppressed any, but have restored to the deader his pledge, have spoiled none by violence, have given his bread to the hungry, and have covered the naked with a garment, he that hath not given forth upon usury. Did you see that? So he's just, he's caring for the poor, and he's not giving his money on usury, neither have taken any increase, that hath withdrawn his hand from iniquity, hath executed true judgments between man and man, hath walked in my statutes, and hath kept my judgments to deal truly. He is just. He shall surely live, saith the Lord God. Look at verse 13. This is the guy who's done wrong. He said he's given forth his money, I'm sorry, given forth upon usury, and hath taken increase. Shall he then live? He shall not live. He hath done all these abominations. He shall surely die, his blood shall be upon him. So God's mad at the usurer in verse 13. So in verse eight, the guy who did right, he didn't put out his money on usury. In verse 13, the guy who's wicked is putting out his money on usury. Verse 17, the good guy, it says, that hath taken off his hand from the poor, that hath not received usury nor increase, hath executed my judgments, hath walked in my statutes. He shall not die through the iniquity of his father. He shall surely live. Go to chapter 22, verse 12, I'll just put a few pages to the right of your Bible. There's three mentions in chapter 18 where he said the good guy, he doesn't take usury. The bad guy, he takes usury. The good guy, did I mention he doesn't take usury? Look at chapter 22, verse 12. In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood. Thou has taken usury and increase, and thou has greedily gained of thy neighbors by extortion, and has forgotten me, saith the Lord God. You see, there are greedy people in this world. They're greedy. They want money. They love money, and the Bible says the love of money is the root of all evil. Let me explain something. There's only so much money you can make by working. There's only so much money you can make legitimately, and so people who love and lust after money, they end up looking for dishonest ways to make money, and unjust ways to make money. Some might turn to a life of crime. I've seen some people who are drug dealers, and they have some nice stuff. I mean, they have really nice vehicles, and they pay cash. I mean, they walk into a dealership, and they buy an escalated cash, drug dealers. I mean, I've seen it. Who's known people like that? Who's seen people do that? All right, a couple of us hang around with those kind of people. Just kidding. Anyway, I've known of people like that. They just walk in and just pay cash, buy an issue made in cash, because they're dealing drugs, okay? It's dishonest game. They're selling something that's hurting people for money, for the lust of money, and then there are other people who have other ways of making dishonest game. You know, I've been in the business world a little bit, and I've seen a lot of dishonest things, a lot of crooked things, a lot of contracts where people bid, and it's all rigged. It's all fixed. The prices are fixed. It's all totally rigged. There's backroom deals going on, and everything's a lie. This takes place because people, they don't want to work and earn their money in a legitimate, and what God has told us to do, working with our hands, the thing that's good in his sight. You know, being an electrician, being a plumber, being a carpenter, being a mechanic, working in a restaurant. There are a lot of legitimate ways to build things and do things, and work and make money. You know, or maybe you're landscaping, or maybe you're, you know, or maybe being a pastor, being a preacher, and then I also run a fire alarm business. You know, I worked in a pizza place. I've done that. There are a lot of ways to make money that are legitimate by working. You go to work, you do a job, and so forth, but then there are people who want to take the easy way. They don't want to work. They want to rip people off. They want to charge people 29%, and 16%, and 5.9%, because they're taking advantage of people who need, you know, they can't get a car, they can't get a house, they can't get a place. So they take advantage of that by loaning people money on usury. Now, I guarantee you that 99% of the people in this world will listen to this sermon and say, Pastor Anderson's an idiot. I'm serious. I mean, they look at that and say, you're an idiot. You know, you don't even understand economics. You don't understand finances. You're stupid. They're helping people by loaning up money. They're doing them a favor. But you know what? I can stand here tonight and say, I don't care what you say. The Bible has just shown us. I just showed you. Let me count how many scripts I just showed you. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12 places that specifically say, don't charge usury. Don't do it. He said, if you don't do it, I'll bless you. If you do it, I'll curse you. If you do it, it's unjust gain. It isn't right. 12 verses. How many verses have we seen so far that said, usury's good. Be a usurer. Become a banker. Charge interest. Now look, I'm not mad at the guy or gal that works at the teller in the bank. I'm not saying she's the one. She's not the one charging interest. She's just getting paid a wage to work. I'm not saying like, you're a usurer. You are living off of the poor. You are abusing the poor. And you know what people call me for preaching is a liberal. But look, label me how you want. I'm not a liberal. You can call me that all you want. Call me a hippie and I'm a liberal and I'm an idiot and I don't know what finance are. You know what, I don't really care. This is what the Bible says. So I'm gonna stand up and let me, you say, well how does this apply to my life? Well, and I'm not done. I've got a couple more scriptures on usury that I'm gonna go into. How does this apply to my life? Well, have you ever borrowed money or have you ever loaned someone money? Probably every single person would say it. And I'm not asking for a raise of hands, okay. I don't wanna embarrass people. Obviously, I'm not gonna ask for a raise of hand. Who borrowed more money than you ended? Who's borrowed? Now look, I'll be honest with you. I borrowed money in my life, of course. I mean, in today's world, man, we're kind of in a position like in Nehemiah five. How much you gotta borrow money just to put corn on the table? That's a bad place to be in, but let's face it. We've been there. I remember, let me give you a perfect example. When I was young and I was a teenager, I borrowed some money from my dad so that I could buy a car. Because I wanted to have a car, I wanted to have a job, I wanna go make money, I don't have a car. And so I asked my dad if I could borrow some money to buy a car. And my dad said, yes, son, I will loan you the money to buy the car. He loaned me the money to buy the car. And guess what? He didn't charge me interest because I'm his son, because he loves me, because he wasn't trying to be a usurer to me. He wasn't trying to be greedy of unjust gay. He was just helping me out. Can you imagine that? Just helping me out. Just loaning me some money. He had the money for the car, I didn't. He loaned me the money that I might buy that car. And I bought the car and I paid him back. But I paid him back what I borrowed. He didn't make me pay him back extra than what I borrowed. Now look, I'll tell you right now. There have been many, many people in this church who have borrowed money from me. Please do not raise your hand, okay? And it's not one person, it's not two people. It's not, you're always talking about me. No, many people in this church have borrowed money from me at one time or another because they were in a bind. Because they needed 200 bucks or 50 bucks or five. I've loaned somebody 500 bucks. You're like, oh man, I'm an investor here. Don't ask me for it. I'm just saying, I'm just being honest with you. I've loaned people money. I mean, people have said, I need 500 bucks, I need 200 bucks. You know, I needed 100 bucks. I need 50 bucks, you know. And I've loaned people money. No one can ever say that I charge them usury. Did I ever charge you interest when you borrowed money from me? Never. Because I don't believe it would be right for me when my brother in Christ has a need or needs a little help or whatever the case may be that I would exact usury of them and say, oh, I'll give you 200, but you're gonna give me 250. You know, you're gonna pay me interest. Let's write, you know, 5.99999999% interest. Compounding every second. Okay, hey, we're gonna compound it. And they have their interest rates. They don't even compound every second. They compound, you have to use calculus. I learned about this in calculus class. Because they compound every split second. You say, well, how often do they compound? Not every second, none of them have, I mean, every billionth of a second. I mean, it's just like, you know, it's called, what do they call it? Does anybody know what they call that? Somebody help me out who's worn out on this set. Continuous, it's something like a, I think it's like a continuously compounding interest or something like that. Have you heard anything? I think that's what it's called. Does anybody know what I'm talking about? Have you heard of this before? Yeah, it's continuously compounding. We did some story problems on this when I was taking calculus in college. We did a story problem where we had to figure out like continuously compounding it. Not compounding every month or week or day. It was like just compounding, brrr, all the time. And there were formulas and so it was very strange, man. But anyway, I didn't charge interest of my brother in Christ. And you know, even just a worldly person. Just a person that's just my fellow American. I'm not gonna just start rolling around, loaning people money, charging them interest. If you don't pay, then you know, my friend Tony's gonna get really angry. He might have to hurt you and he really likes to break people's thumbs. I would hate to see him have to do that to you. And we think of it today as like, oh yeah, the loan shark, he's a bad guy. And those check cashing places, those are bad. I don't mess with those places. Because they want to loan you that loan till payday and charge you all that money. But you know, really God's just against the whole thing. He just condemns the whole thing. I mean, he just says, look, if somebody's poor and they can't make it, just loan them the money. And you say, well, what if they don't pay me back? He said you can take a plunge of them. You can say, okay, well I'll hang onto that watch or I'll hang onto, you know, whatever. Just to make sure that they pay you back. Taking collateral for the loan. Collateral is the pledge. That our modern word is collateral. Taking collateral for the loan. But not charging interest, not charging usury. He's saying, well, you know, but how could these banks stay in business? If they're not charging interest, you know, I don't want, I don't take a lot of business. They're the ones who are ripping us off. They're the ones that have got us in all this debt. I mean, listen to me. You may not understand how our country operates, but I do. You may be the dupe of our government today, but I'm not. And just because you're ignorant of how our country operates, that doesn't mean I am. You know this debt that we have? Our government has the power to produce the money supply according to the Constitution, but they don't. They borrow their money from the Federal Reserve Bank system. Now explain to me why a government that has the power to print their own money borrows money. Let me ask you a question. You say, what are you talking about, Pastor Anderson? You, this kooky person. Let me ask you a question. If you had the power to print your own money, okay, which our government has the power to do, okay, I'm not saying they should print their own money by the Bible, but the Constitution says they're supposed to coin money, like metal coins, things that actually have value, like gold, silver, and brass, and copper. But if I had a printing press, and you had a printing press, think with me now, and you could just print your own money, would you be borrowing money? No. Is that a stupid question? Okay, you think that's so good? Why don't you ask that to our government? Hey, idiots, if you have the power to print your own money, why are you borrowing money, if you can print your own money? And why are you paying huge interest rates? You know what the interest rate that our nation pays on its debt? We pay 400 and some billion a year, I think it's $450 billion. They take in 2.2 billion in revenue, I think, right now. Well, a trillion, I'm sorry, thank you. I'm sorry, next week I'll be preaching it'll be quadrillion. They take in 2.2, thank you for correcting me, though, I didn't sound like a fool, 2.2 trillion is what they take in in taxes, corporate taxes, income tax. Our government brings in 2.2 trillion dollars in revenue and 450 billion of that goes to pay interest on their debts. Think about it, do the math on that. I mean, I know it's hard to do that kind of math, big numbers, but we're talking like, what, a fifth? A fifth of what you pay in taxes is just paying interest on the debt. One fifth of whatever the government takes in in taxes, they're not spending it on stuff that's helping us, it just goes to debt. It goes to bankers. So when you pay your taxes, 80% goes to the government, 20% goes to the bankers. And then the bankers get the other 80% through other means. But that's another story that shall be told at another time. And so the bottom line is that this interest and debt thing is made by people who are dishonest. Now, go through it to Matthew 25. Now, you say, Pastor Anderson, I've seen 12 clear scriptures that you showed me. In fact, you showed me every scripture in the Old Testament on usury, from God's law, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Nehemiah, Psalms, Proverbs, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. You've shown me 12 clear scriptures that clearly say, go, charge usury. Why aren't all these other preachers preaching this? Why in the world? How come I've never heard this before in my entire life? It can't be that. Well, because there's one story in the Bible in the New Testament that basically has led people to believe that it's okay to charge usury, and it's the place we're gonna turn right now. Now, let me give you a little tip on studying the Bible. If you got 12 clear scriptures that say one thing, and you got one scripture, or two scriptures that seem to say something different, which one do you think you're interpreting wrong? The 12 or the one? One. Yeah, because you're probably not wrong, well, you're probably not wrong about all 12 of the scriptures we looked at. Maybe you didn't agree with one or two of them, but I just showed you 12 clear scriptures that just bluntly say, don't do it, don't do it, don't do it, don't do it, don't do it, don't do it. So when we get to Matthew 25, a lot of people will just throw all that to the wind, forget all that, and just say, let's open banks and charge interest, and oh yeah, I'll loan you money, but it's gonna cost you. Oh, I'll buy you lunch, but it's gonna cost you. I'll loan you some corn to feed your hungry, starving child, but it's gonna cost you. Well, no, it's not, because here's the deal. There are different things that we read in the Bible. There are stories, and there are statements, okay? Now, let me just break this down. Parables and stories, and then there are statements. Now, clear statements in the Bible is God just telling us this is right, this is wrong. Stories or parables are stories about things that took place or happened. It doesn't mean that everyone in the story or in the parable did the right thing. For example, there's a clear statement in the Bible that says that a man shall leave his father and mother and shall cleave unto his wife, and they too shall be one flesh, and what God has joined together, let not man put asunder. Very clearly, God makes a statement saying, marriage is a man and a woman, that's it, and it's for life. It's not a man and two women. It's not right for a man to have two wives. Everybody agree with that? Yeah, but are there stories in the Bible about people who had two wives? Yeah, who can name these people in the Bible that had more than one wife? King Solomon, King David, Abraham, Jacob, who else? That's all you got? Okay, well, there's more. No, no, no, there's way more. Pretty much all the, yeah, what was the king right after Solomon? Rehoboam, he desired many wives, it says. He's trying to be like dad. Didn't quite live up to dad, but he was working on it. So does that make it right? Can we look at that story and say, oh, well, here's a story where a guy had two wives, so therefore I'm gonna go have two wives. No, because we have a clear statement. So sometimes there are statements in the Bible that contradict stories in the Bible because the statement is telling us, don't have two wives. The story says, hey, Jacob had two wives. So which one do we go with, the story or the statement? We use the statement to interpret the story. Now, I'm not saying the story's not true. The story is true. Jacob really did have two wives and two concubines. That's a fact. He really did, but we use the statement to interpret the story. Here's how we interpret it. The statement tells us, oh, we have one wife, and he also said in Deuteronomy, he shall not multiply wives. Thou shall not multiply wives, and then the kings did it anyway. So we interpret it by saying, hey, they did it, but it was wrong. That's how we use the statement to interpret the story. Now, the Bible says the legs of the lame are not equal. He said a parable, or I'm mixing it up. I'm trying to quote this from everybody. He says basically a parable in the mouth of fools he says can be misinterpreted, okay? For example, we have on salvation clear statements that say believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. We have clear statements that say that whosoever believe in him shall not perish but have eternal life. We have clear statements that say, but as many as received him, that then gave me power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. Then we have parables like a parable about 10 virgins who didn't have oil in their lamp, and they went to the store to buy oil, and then they went and they got to the wedding late, and they knocked on the door, and the guy said, hey, you're not on the guest list. Sorry, I know you're not mature, and people will say, see, well, that teaches that you can lose your salvation because the oil represents this and the lamp represents this, and they go, eh. Yeah, you can't just take a parable and just use that to make your doctrine and contradict the clear statement. I read for you 12 clear statements that said don't do it. Now here's the parable, and I'll explain the parable, and I'll expound it to you. It says in verse 14, the Bible reads, for the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a foreign country who called his own servants and delivered unto them his goods, and unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one. Now talents are pieces of money. Talents are coins. These are either gold or silver coins, and he says he gave them money, according to their several ability, and straightway took his journey. Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same and made them other five talents. Now notice the words in verse 14. The kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a foreign country. Is the kingdom of heaven literally a man traveling into a foreign country? No, he's using an illustration here. Did God really give us gold coins? Has God ever given you a silver coin or a gold coin? Now maybe Joseph Smith, I know he gave you a silver coin, but God didn't appear to you to give you gold and silver coins, okay? So you can't take it literally, folks. It's a parable. He's saying it's like a man who's a businessman who goes into a foreign country. He gives coins unto his servants, and he says, look, I'm going into a foreign country. I want you to take this money and multiply it for me while I'm gone. He gives it to them, and it says they traded with the same. What does that mean? What are they doing? They're money changers. They're trading like, this is like the stock market or currency exchange or the money changers like Jesus chased with a whip and threw out of the temple. You remember those guys? They take it to those guys, and they do a little wheeling and dealing. Okay, they trade that money, and they make more. They turn five into 10. It says in verse 17, likewise he that received two, he also gained another two. But he that had received one went and digged in the earth and hid his Lord's money. After a long time, the Lord of those servants cometh and reckoneth with them. And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliver'st done to me five talents. Behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. His Lord said unto them, well done, thou good and faithful servant. Thou hast been joyful over a few things. I will make thee ruler over many things. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliver'st unto me two talents. Behold, I have gained two other talents beside them. His Lord said unto them, well done, good and faithful servant. Thou hast been faithful over a few things. I will make thee ruler over many things. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art a hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed. Now, I was afraid. Now, hold on a second. Does this sound like a biblical way to run a business? Does this sound right to you? Reaping where you haven't sown? Gathering where, being a hard man? I know you're a hard businessman who reaps where he didn't sow and gathers where he hasn't sown. Is that really, does that line up with the whole rest of the Bible's teaching about how we're supposed to live our life? How we're supposed to work hard and sow the field and reap the increase, not reap somebody else's field and get our money off the backs of other people. But he said, I knew that you're a hard man, you did this. He said, I was afraid and went and hid my thy talent in the earth. Lo, there thou hast that is thine. His Lord answered and said unto them, not the Lord, okay, not like the Lord in heaven. His Lord, Lord means boss. His Lord answered and said unto him, thou waken his lawful servant. Thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not and gathered where I have not straw. Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received my own with usury. Take therefore the talent from them and give it unto him which hath 10 talents. For unto everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall have out of abundance, but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. Now look, Jesus is trying to illustrate a spiritual truth. The spiritual truth that Jesus is illustrating is what's in verse 29 and in verse 30. These are the two things that Jesus is illustrating. Number one, everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance, but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. That is a true saying. That is a true doctrine that Jesus was trying to teach. And also he says in verse 30, cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Here's another biblical truth. If you are an employee that produces nothing, you will be fired. If you're an unprofitable servant, are you listening? If you're an unprofitable servant, you'll be fired. If you go to your job and let's say you're paid to be a salesman, and you don't sell anything, you're gonna get fired. If you go to your job and you're supposed to do electrical work and it took you seven hours to run one piece of pipe, you're fired because they're not making a profit. You have to bring them in money. If the job was bid at 5,000, you went in there and it spent 6,000 and they lost 1,000 bucks, you're fired because you're unprofitable, because people are in business to make a profit and Jesus is teaching these truths. You must do something with what God has given you. If you're a servant of God, you need to produce something. You need to get something done. You need to be like an effective employee would be in the business world. You need to get something done for God and the more you have, the more you're gonna be given and the less you have, God will take away what you even have. These are biblical truths but the story that he's using to convey these biblical truths is about a guy who makes his money as a usurer. Do you understand? But that doesn't mean that it's right to be a usurer. It means that the story is about a guy who is a usurer and that guy is saying, hey, if I give somebody money to go trade at the stock exchange, they better come back with more money or they're gonna be fired. Now look, if you're a stockbroker and people are giving you money in your hand and they're like, hey, invest my money for me and you come back and say, oh, I was afraid. You gave me 50,000, here's 50,000 back. They're gonna say, what? I'm trying to make 10% on this. I'm trying to make 5% on this. I want usury. If they're, retirement account, you come back, well, you gave me 70,000, well, it's down to 60,000. You're not gonna be a successful investment broker or a stockbroker. That's what the story's about. That doesn't make it right. You say, I don't believe you. I'll prove it to you. Because you say, wow, but the guy in the story, he represents God and this represents that. Look, the story is about a usurer. 12 scriptures of the Old Testament said usury's a sin. Zero scriptures said usury is good, okay? I'll prove it to you though because I like to prove everything. Go to Luke 19, go to Luke 19 and we're gonna see the same exact parable in Luke 19 and then I'm gonna take you to Luke 16 and show you that Jesus' parables sometimes talk about people doing dishonest things to you to convey spiritual truth. Look at Luke chapter 19, verse 11. It says in Luke 19, 11. And again, I'm not saying that anybody who worked behind the cashier desk at the bank teller that they're a usurer, okay? I'm talking about people who are loaning people money and charging them interest. It's not right. Don't ever loan somebody in this church interest, on interest. If you ever, and I'm not suggesting loaning out a bunch of money to people. You gotta be careful when you do that, right? But let me say this. If somebody ever borrows money from you, and not even in this church, your family, your friends, you might be tempted to do this. I remember with my little sister, when I was a kid, man, I would have charged her interest if she wanted to borrow money. Me and my sister used to fight a lot for her kids. But that isn't right. And you might have, maybe you've charged somebody interest in the past for borrowing money, or maybe, you know. But you know what, from here, but you probably didn't even know this. But now that you know it, you should not participate in it. You shouldn't have anything to do with it. You shouldn't charge people interest when you loan money. And like I said, I've loaned people money. I've been loaned money, and there wasn't any interest in it. It was just, you know, a loan, that's it. Why would you do that? Where's the problem? To be nice? You know, because you love people, because you want to help them? Because you want somebody to loan you money when you need the help? So you loan unto them because you do unto others as you have them do unto you? Doesn't that make sense? You know, it's not all about greed, and just loving money. Now this guy in the story, he's all about money. All he cares about is money. He says, here's the money. I don't care how you got it, when I get back, double it. See ya. Okay, that's not what God is like. Now he is like that in the sense that he expects us to do something with what he's given us. He is like that in the fact that he wants his servants to work and not be slothful and lazy. But he's not exactly like that guy. You know, and you can't take these parables too far. That's where people get mixed up with doctrine. Look at Luke 19, 11. It says, as they earn these things, see Adam is fake a parable because he was, and we're almost done tonight, because he was nigh in Jerusalem because they thought that the kingdom of God should have made a leap here. He said, therefore, a certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return. And he called his 10 servants and delivered them 10 pounds. Now pounds, again, are coins. Just like in England today, they still call it pounds, but pounds are metallic coins, just like the talents, either silver, gold, copper, whatever. He said, he called his 10 servants and delivered them 10 pounds and said to them, occupy till I come. But his citizens hated him and sent a message after him saying, we will not have this man to reign over us. And it came to pass when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded his servants to be called unto him to whom he had given the money, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading. Then came the first saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained 10 pounds. And he said unto them, well, thou good servant, because thou hast been faithful in very little, have thou authority over 10 cities. And the second came saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds. And he said, likewise to him, be thou also over five cities. And another came saying, Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin. For I fear thee, because thou art an austere man. Thou takest up, that thou layest not down, and reapest, that thou didst not sow. And he saith unto him, out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Now, I knewest that I was an austere man, taking up, that I laid not down, and reaping, that I did not sow. And it's funny, because the word austerity is in the news right now. Who knows what I'm talking about with you? You've heard about the austerity. There is truly nothing new under the sun. But it says, and he saith unto them, out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant, verse 22. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up, that I laid not down, and reaping, that I did not sow. Wherefore, then, gavest thou not my money into the bank, that at my coming I might have required my own with usury? And he said unto them that stood by, take from him the pound, and give it to him that I had 10 pounds. And they said unto him, Lord, he had 10 pounds? For I say unto you, that to every one that hath shall be given, and from him that hath not, even that which he hath shall be taken away from him. But those mine enemies, which would not, that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them forth. So here we have pretty much the same exact story. He's teaching the same truth. The same truths are pretty much laid out there at the end of the scriptures. And he even said to him, he said to this guy, like, why'd you wrap the money in a napkin? You could have at least put it in the bank. You know, at least I could get something. The other guys were going to the stock exchange and trading to make money. Now, look at Luke 16 so I can prove my point. Luke 16, verse one, it's the last place we'll turn tonight. Luke 16, one says this, he said also unto his disciples, there was a certain rich man which had a steward, and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods. And he called him and said unto him, how is it that I hear this of thee? Give an account of thy stewardship, for thou mayest be no longer steward. Now this is a similar story. The other story we looked at, and really, I read it from Luke and Matthew, it's the same story. A guy goes into a far country, he likes to make money on usury, he comes back, he expects him to make money on usury, they didn't do it, he gets mad, he casts out the unprofitable servant, and he says he can no longer be his servant. He's cast out into outer darkness that's weeping and gnashing of teeth, okay? Now, that was that story. In this story, we've got another man, another rich man, just like the rich man in the other story, who has an employee. This guy is wasting his goods. So he's got a steward, he's got a guy running his finances, and the guy's wasting his goods, wasting his money. So he calls him in and says, hey, it's time for you to give an account of the stewardship, turn in all your receipts, turn in all your accounts, turn in all your money, because you're fired. Well, look at the reaction of the guy who gets fired in verse three. Then the steward said within himself, what shall I do? For my lord, take it away from me the stewardship. He's like, I'm fired, what am I gonna do? I cannot dig. He's like, how do I get a job like digging or something? I don't wanna do any real work. Are you serious? He says, I cannot dig, and to beg, I'm ashamed. He's like, what am I gonna do, beg people for money? Am I gonna go on welfare? Am I gonna go get some job as a day laborer, digging? I am resolved what to do, that when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. You say, who are the they? The customers of the rich man, watch. The debtors, actually, which could be called customers in a sense. It says in verse five, so he called every one of his lords debtors unto him. These are people that owe his master money, because this guy's putting out money on usury, you know? And so, they called him in, and he said to the first, how much oest thou unto my lord? And he said, 100 measures of oil. And he said to them, take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write 50. Now, hold on, are you getting the start here? Get the picture. Here's a guy who is a usurer. He's got an employee. He loans out money, and in some cases, goods. Oil, flour, animals, money, coins, whatever. And this guy's getting fired. He knows he's gonna lose his job, okay? So he's like, what am I gonna do? I don't wanna dig, and I don't wanna beg. He says, I know what I'll do that'll make these people let me into their houses or receive me to their house. I can have a place to stay. I can get something to eat. I can come over for dinner, and I can survive. So he goes to a guy who owes his master 100, what was it, the first one, 100 measures of oil. And he falsifies the receipt and says, hey, let's just change it to where you only owe 50. Did he have the right to do that? Did he have the authority? I mean, think about it. What if somebody owed me 100 bucks, right? And I have a receipt that says, hey, so-and-so owes me 100 bucks. And then somebody goes to that person and says, hey, I work for him. He's not gonna notice. Let's change it and just make it 50. Okay, so he's basically stealing, are you getting this? The steward is stealing 50 measures of oil from his master because he says, well, if I can save this guy 50 measures of oil, this guy's gonna have me over for dinner whenever I want. This guy's gonna put me in the guest bedroom, no problem. And he doesn't just do it with one guy, oh no. He goes to all the debtors. He goes to another in verse seven. How much oest thou? And he said, 100 measures of wheat. He said to them, take thy bill and write four score. Let's just say that you owe 80 instead of 100. What, so I don't owe 100 anymore? Nah, just 80, keep the 20. Okay, and then when that guy shows up next week, it's gonna be like, yeah, come on in. You wanna look at some of my other bills with me? And he said in verse eight, look at this now. And the Lord commended. What does commended mean? It means he said positive things about it. He commended the unjust steward. Now was the steward unjust? Absolutely. He's taken bills that say 100, he's changing it to 80. He's taken bills that say 100 and changing them to 50. That's not right. But he said he commended the unjust steward because he had done wisely. For the children of this world or in this generation wiser than the children of light. Who are the children of light? Who are the children of light? The saved. The saved. Now the Bible uses that term in 1 Thessalonians five. He says, you're all the children of light and the children of day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Now, should the children of light be engaging in this kind of behavior? No. Should we be taking bills that say 100 and crossing it out and changing it to 80? Hey, let's change this to 50. Hey, let's rip off the boss and then that way I can come over to your house later and give you a place to stay and feed me. No. Should we be loaning out money on usury and making money? Look, 12 verses in the Old Testament said that. But Jesus is telling this story for a reason. He's saying, learn something here. That the children of this world, that's the unsaved, are in their generation wiser than the children of light. He said sometimes they have more cunning. The guy was smart. Now, look, was the guy right in what he did when he stole the money and changed it from 100 to 50? No, but was he smart? He's very smart. And that's what God's saying, the guy was smart. And he says, we can learn from the story. Even though we don't agree with what the guy did, even though he was unjust, we can learn from his wisdom. We can learn from what he did here. And look what he says in verse nine. And I say unto you, so here's the moral of the story. Is the moral of the story be a usurer? Well, what Jesus said, this guy collected usury. That means it's okay. And that other story, he wanted them to go to the exchangers and get usury. That's not the moral of the story. The moral of the story is in verse nine. And I say unto you, make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting avocations. The moral of the story is this. Use your money that you have to help other people out. Because he's not saying, here's the moral. Steal money from your boss and give it to people and then they'll like you. That's not the moral. He says the moral is, make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when you fail, they may receive you into everlasting avocations. He's saying, look, loan your money out to people. Buy people lunch, buy them dinner. Take care of others and when you fail, they'll take care of you. You take care of them, they'll take care of you. You know, there are many, many people. There was a time in my life when I was making a lot of money. And I was making good money and man, I took everybody out to eat. And I always paid the bill. You know, I'm going out to eat, I take my friends and family out to eat and I pay the bill for everybody. Now that I'm not making so much money, you know, now they're buying me dinner. It's like, it's coming back around to me. You know, there was a time when I always paid for years. And so now it's like, if hey, if I don't necessarily want to pay this time, it's like they're glad to pay because I've already paid. You see what I mean? That's all he's saying. He's just giving some practical advice like hey, you know, don't just blow your money on yourself all the time. You know, take care of other people around you. Have a feast and invite people over to eat and be generous and hospitable and then when you fail, they'll receive you into everlasting avitations. They will take care of you when you're in need. Keep going, there's more to learn from the story. Here's the next lesson. That was lesson one. Use your money to take care of others that can later take care of you when you need it. Lesson number two. Verse 10. He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful all so much. And he that is unjust in the least is unjust all so much. How does the story illustrate that? Because the guy who was the steward, who was unjust, he wasted some stuff. Not a major crime, was it? Just wasting goods? He's wasting too much, you're fired. But then because he was unjust in the little thing, he had no problem being unjust in a big way. Changing bills from 100 to 80 and 100 to 50. That's perfectly illustrated. Look at verse 11. If therefore, you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? God's saying, if you can't be godly and righteous and faithful with your money, God's not going to trust you in other areas either. Because if you're dishonest with your money, you'll be dishonest in other areas as well. He says in verse 12, and if you've not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own? That's another thing that we can learn. Be faithful with what belongs to someone else, and then you'll get your own, okay? And then he says in verse 13, no servant can serve two masters. Here's the other moral of the story. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. God's saying you have to choose in your life. Are you going to serve God, or are you going to serve money? You can't serve both. That's what mammon is, money. It says you can't serve both. This guy was serving two masters. He's supposedly working for his boss. He's really, the customer's becoming his master, and he's doing what's best for them, ripping off the boss, loving toward them, hateful toward the master. And so all that to say this, that's all I've got tonight, but I wanted to just preach that to you, because today we live in a day where we've been deceived, and we believe that it's normal, and it's just become a part of our culture to charge usury and to charge interest. It's not biblical. 12 clear scriptures in the Old Testament said no. Zero said to do it. Well, one parable told in two different ways, in Matthew and Luke, talked about people doing it, but it didn't say that was a good thing for them to do. It was just illustrating an underlying truth. Just like this total thief could teach us something, the stories about usury in the New Testament, they teach us something as well, but they do not give a green light to committing the sin of usury. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word, dear God, and it's a much better economics book than what they have now at ASU, and Father, I pray that every single person here would take this to heart and never commit the sin of charging interest of someone when they loan them money, but rather to put out their money, and maybe take collateral, but never to charge interest, especially not of their brother Christ or of their family or friends, but it's just not a legitimate way to make money, help us all to just work hard, help no one here to go out and buy lotto tickets and go to the casino and slot machines and gamble and charge interest and do all this stuff to try to make a quick buck. Help us all to just be hard workers and to just get paid for the work we do, whether it's electrical, whether it's restaurant, whether it's customer service, whether it's as a medical or whether it's spiritual or whatever the work is, help us to work hard for our money and to earn every penny of it, not to just try to take advantage of other people. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.