Colonial Sunday, October 20, 1996

 My Sermon is entitled, "Pay Your Debts & Live Off the Rest." It was published in book form in 1715 in a collection of sermons entitled, The Way Out of Debt. It’s quite typical of the sermons I like to preach --biblical & practical. We Puritans are nothing if not practical! This message is based upon  II Kings 4 and Romans 13.

 Let me start with II Kings 4. The words read contain two general parts -- a complaint & an answer to it. First, we have the pitiful complaint from the poor, distressed widow to the prophet Elisha. The woman was married to another prophet. He was a good man. Yet he died in debt, the debt was more than he was worth. Now, it seems in those times that there was a custom among the Jews that someone in debt would have to turn over their children as bondservants to pay off the debt. The woman goes to Elisha with her problem.

 Notice how readily and with what fatherly tenderness the man of God receives the complaint, and how with great affection he relieves her distress. First, he lends an ear to her lamentable cry. He is touched at the heart to hear her sad story. And he’s moved both in sympathy with the distressed widow and with her fatherless children. And Elisha said, "What shall I do for thee?"  vs. 2. He then shows her how to get out of debt - without selling her sons as slaves. He says, "Go & fill your vessels with oil. The prophet does a miracle similar to our Lord’s fishes & the loaves miracle, and increases the amount of oil, so that she might sell it and get out of debt.

 Notice her great faith, shown in her obedience to the prophets instructions. She believed and acted. That’s faith - belief & obedience. She did what the Man of God told her to do.

 Now, there are several doctrines to be noted and gained from this text. Doctrine #1: It is a sad and lamentable thing to be deeply in debt. The Word of God clearly sets it forth as a sad thing to be in debt. It is to be feared!

 In Matthew 18, in the parable of a certain King who sought to settle accounts with his servants, Our Lord himself sets forth the sad perplexities and woeful consequences of being in debt. Thus in the Old Testament and in the New - a debtor is a sad & lamentable person. God himself is displeased with debts. In fact, God calls the worst thing in the world, namely our sin, by the same term. "Forgive us our DEBTS"  -Matt. 6:12. In other words, debts are such a bad thing that God uses the word itself to describe that which God abhors - sin!

 The next doctrine we gain from this text is this:  It is a great blessing to be out of debt! To be out of debt is to a great freedom to be thankful for, for it makes life more enjoyable and has many advantages. The blessing of God is upon a man who is diligent with his hands, frugal in his management, & free from debt. That person has something to spare. He can give of his own to the poor, while those who are deeply in debt can not. Debtors can not give to the Lord’s work. They rob God of his due offering!

But God will repay the truly charitable, and make him feel more & more able to do good in his generation, which is the most desirable thing in the world -- to do good in our generation.

 We must not withhold from the Lord his due. Therefore, we must encourage one another to stay out of debt. We must especially caution young beginners in the world to shun something so sad & lamentable as debt! We must do this by encouraging young people to shun bad company & idleness. Much time slips away in ill company, nothing is gained, but much is spent!

 The next principle doctrine for us is this: Proportion your expenses to your ability to pay.  Proportion your laying out to your income. "Cut your coat according to your cloth." No man should seem richer or more honorable than he really is. It’s safer to underdo. Store is no sore. Losses, sickness & other calamities may come upon the family.
  Be therefore frugal! Get what may be gotten. Save what may be saved. "Gather up the fragments that remain," Jesus said in John 6:12. Listen to what he is saying! The wasteful person & the spendthrift shall be judged accordingly.

 I must mention here, however, that  people who fear God sometimes get into debt. This happens through divine providence and humane imprudence. We are often the miserable cases of our faulty entanglements. Good honest, God-fearing people are not always wise in this world. We should not condemn a person & think that they have deserted God if they have fallen into debt. Just remember our Old Testament lesson where a prophet of the Lord had fallen into debt. Not all of our debt is due to our sinfulness. Sometimes we’re just not as wise as we should be in the ways of the world. Debt is a slippery thing. And when people fall down the slippery hill of debt it’s hard to climb back up again.

 Of course, other times people are in debt due to imprudence, negligence, or extravagance. And they must not blame God. They must pay their debts.

 Romans 8:28 is a comfort to us:  "We know that in all things God works for the good for those who love him." God can wean us from this world and teach us much through our experience of indebtedness. This is a great spiritual comfort to us that is better than silver and gold.

 Although these spiritual comforts will not pay our debts! They must be paid! This is abundantly evident from our New Testament text, Romans 13: 7 -- "render to all their dues." Give the creditor his due! Vs. 8 -- "Owe nothing to anyone, but to love one another." "Owe nothing to anyone" means pay your debts!

 I can not fulfill the great commandment - "Love thy neighbor as thyself" if I do not pay my debts to my neighbor." I must "do unto my creditor as I would like my creditor to do unto me!" This is simply grounded in the laws of nature and reason. It is self-evident. But it takes on even more importance since it comes from the Word of God itself. Debts to the merchant, the tradesmen, the farmer, the inn keeper, are to be diligently paid. We must not withhold another man’s due, which is his right.

 This is in keeping to the afore mentioned Golden Rule - doing as we would be done unto, and not dealing as we would not wish to be dealt by. What good is our religion if we are unjust & dishonest in our dealings with men? We must be willing to sell all that we have to get out of debt. It is not sin to be poor, but to lie in debt is slothfulness and sin.

 And so, our next doctrine: God can help his people get out of debt - even though they owe more than they are worth!  God can do it! He can find it in his heart to do it, and he can find a way to do it!

 The Lord’s hand is not shortened, nor is his arm weary. He can work marvelously and miraculously - for all, but particularly for the poor, for the debtor who cries to him for help. He can give us great blessings. He can melt the hearts of our creditors to extend the time of payment. God has innumerable, unimaginable ways to help his people. As the scripture says, "He can do exceedingly, abundantly, above what we can think or ask."  God provided for the Israelites through the wilderness to the land of Canaan. How can we question the power of God? How can we think that he would not do as much for us? Is God not your Father?   As Matt. 7 says, "If you being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will God your heavenly Father give good gifts to you, his children?"  "For the Father himself loves you."  John 16:23

 Can you believe that God is able to help you out of debt?  Of course he is! "He will never leave thee, nor forsake thee!"  -Hebrews 13:5. Jeremiah 39: "I will surely deliver thee, because thou has put thy trust in me." Of course, we must do our part.   "Faith without works is dead." God says, "work out your salvation with fear & trembling."    Arise & be doing! God said to Jacob: "Do good, and invariably thou shall be fed." Work with your hands & you shall be supplied, and have the means to help others.
I Thess. 4:  Do your own work. Work with your own hands, as we have commanded you

 So, plead to God that you might get out of debt. Tell God that you wish to do good in your generation. And that to do so, you must be unencumbered by debt. If you have nothing else left you when all your debts are paid, but love to your neighbor, and hope for yourself, you are rich and happy. Being out of debt, you have the great comfort & cheer of a good conscious. So work hard & pray hard to get out of debt.

 There is one final doctrine I must mention. It is this: If it is a sad, sad state to be in debt and owe another man money, what is it then to be in God’s debt? What is it to owe your divine Creditor millions and millions of dollars for your sins?

 You know, you are indebted to God’s mercy. The merchant has a book for those who owe him money. The tradesmen has a book, the shop keeper has a book. And, God has a book. That book will be opened at the Last Day. There is prison for those who are in indebted to God & never settle the account. On judgment day there will be no bail for unbelievers. There will be divine justice. It involves a prison with no bread and no water. The prison is filled with fire and brimstone, the wrath of divine fury. On this earth, a debtor may possibly defraud his creditor, and escape from justice. He can perhaps flee the country, and perhaps gain an abundance of riches in another land. But where shall the sinner flee from God’s presence? Or who can he get to protect him from the wrath of the Almighty?

 It is a sad and lamentable thing for a man to be deeply in debt to God. But know that your Spiritual Debts to God have been paid by Our Lord and Savior. He helped you out of a debt that you could never pay. You who are in Christ do not owe a penny to God. Christ has canceled the debt on the cross.  - Rom 8:34. The only thing you owe is a debt of gratitude. It is in turning to Christ and saying in faith,
"Thou, O Lord, has answered for me. Thou O Lord, has paid my debts."

 I will close with this scripture: "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might be rich."  II Cor. 8:9. Christ emptied his treasure and went to prison for us. He endured the torment of hell for us so that we might find relief. So, unless you owe more than Christ is worth, you have nothing to fear.

 Go to Christ and to the Father.  Mercy himself will save you!

Rich Knight